A Full Plate

Something about too many things happening at once, puts me in survival mode.

On July 25, my son Justin, had his missionary farewell and going away party. After feeding and entertaining about 100 guests, the mad rush began to have him all packed for Nicaragua, and the rest of us all packed for our new home La Verkin, Utah. My goal was to drop Elder Moore off at the Missionary Training Center, and keep driving South. I did not want to return to the house I had called home for the past 17 years. I was ready for my new start.




Brooklyn and I arrived in La Verkin on the evening of Wednesday, July 28. We had a couple of days to just rest while waiting for our trailers to arrive on Saturday. How one person can have so much junk remains a mystery to me. I will forever be grateful to my boss and his wife, Mike and Heather Fronk, for driving 3 huge truckloads of important and not-so-important crap to my house down here. They blessed my life incredibly by their willingness to help me with this monumental task. To add to their generousity, when I told Mike I was moving, he asked me to work remotely from home. I couldn't be more blessed in that area of my life.




The trailers (a big one and a small one) arrived on Saturday and the unload began. Many people contributed to getting my stuff down here as well as getting it out of the trailers. I am thankful for the service they provided. I believed that when I finally got here things would settle down for me and I might be able to find the peace I have been seeking the last six years.

On Sunday, I received the phone call that my Granny, Mabel Florence Lindsay Pennington, had finally entered the next life after several months of illness. She was 95 years old. The funeral was planned for the following Saturday. We made preparations for the 25 hour drive to Tyler, Texas. My parent's expedition was loaded with luggage as well as 8 people...Papa, Grandma, me, Brooklyn, Ginger, Bailey, Laynie and Lori. We had four people who could drive. We made the drive straight through taking turns at the wheel. When people weren't driving they were sleeping.





What a beautiful weekend it was as the descendants of my Granny gathered to pay tribute to her life. All 28 of her grandchildren were there...travelling from California, Utah, Arizona, North Carolina and other places. It was the first time I had felt whole in a long time. Many of her great-grandchildren were there as well as her great-great-grandchildren. After the funeral in Tyler and the burial next to my Papa, Hugh Smith Pennington, in Longview, we travelled back to Tyler for the luncheon. It was a beautiful time. Family pictures were taken. One was taken of the cousins with all 28 of us lined up from oldest to youngest. I am the fifth oldest.



Afterwards, we went back to the hotel where we all were staying. We had fun getting reaquainted, swimming and sharing stories. The men cousins decided we should all meet out at my cousin Byron's barn for a party that night. So off we went to another amazing event. My aunts and uncles barbequed sausages, made homemade peach ice cream, and just loved us. There was so much happiness and love that was felt this weekend. I cannot imagine Granny could have been any happier.

My granny left a wonderful legacy. She was honored in the newspaper the following day as a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who was instrumental to helping the church grow in East Texas. I am proud to be called her grandaughter.

So many wonderful things. But even wonderful things can be stressful. I have a trick to survive mortality. Tunnel vision. I only take one step at a time, looking to the next thing to be accomplished. If I look anywhere else, I become so overwhelmed and feel as if I will crush under all the responsibilities. Life is hard, but life is also meant to be lived. I for one am living life...hook, line and sinker...even though it is not my choice !

A Very BIG Day....

July 28...was a very big day. Elder Justin Lee Moore entered the Missionary Training Center to begin his two year service in the Nicaragua Managua North Mission. Wow! That pretty much sums it up.

I had a blessing on Tuesday. I needed one. Mixed in with this was that after I dropped him off I would be moving to our new home in La Verkin, Utah. I wished I could have spent more time focusing on him. There were so many distractions, packing up, cleaning, etc. I am so grateful for the friends who came to help me. I honestly couldn't have done it without them. I did leave a few loose ends, and I feel bad about that. But I just needed to move forward.

Justin said he wasn't scared or nervous, but simply excited as he would finally get to do what he had been preparing for for the last 19 years. Having two full-time missionaries creates some bewildering feelings. I am okay though because some of my very best friends have also had two missionaries out at once. There is one thing you can count on in this life: Whatever situations come your way, someone else has already been there.

Back when Brandon left on his mission, the family entered the mtc, watched a movie together, sang and prayed. Then the missionary went out one door, while the family went out another door. But my favorite part about the old way was that upon entering the mtc, I was able to put Brandon's missionary tag on him. Now, you just drop your missionary at the curb, give a quick hug, and drive away. No pinning on of the missionary tag. For some reason, this part bothered me, and I mentioned it to Brandon.



On July 19, I had my birthday. I received a gift from Elder Brandon Moore. Inside the padded envelope, was that very same missionary tag I had pinned on him almost twenty months before. It said, "Elder Moore" and underneath had the name of the church in Spanish. It was exactly the same as the tag Elder Justin Moore would be receiving. Brandon said I could put it on Justin, take some pictures, but then he asked me to send it back to him, because it was his most special tag. What a thoughtful and meaningful thing for him to think of. That made the day even better.



After packing til 1 am, picking up a few forgotten things the next morning, making sure I was on all Justin's bank accounts, etc. we were off. We ate lunch at Goodwood and then drove to the Provo Temple. We took some last minute pictures, gave some lengthy hugs, said our I Love Yous....and then hopped back in the car to follow the protocol the church set up to drop off the missionaries.

We entered the Missionary Training Center driveway and were waved on to a "number on a stick". All along the drive there were missionaries waving and smiling on the curb with tags on that said, "Host." I decided maybe Disneyland isn't the happiest place on earth after all. We stopped at our post, five elders greeted us, we gave the last hug, took a picture, and then sent Elder Moore off with another elder and his luggage following closely behind. Only three questions were asked of him: Do you have any car keys? Do you have a cell phone? Do you have your immunization record?

As we drove away, I was pretty numb. Two of my boys are gone. It is now just me and Brooklyn. Two years seems like forever from the beginning, but at the end seems only like a blink of an eye. I can't wait for Dec. 10 of this year to get one of my sons back...and July 28 of 2012 to get the another one. But for now I take comfort that their testimonies are being strengthened and that they are in the service of our Lord. May God bless all of us.

Mother's Day

I have to admit that I love Mother's Day. I have no expectations and I am never disappointed. I am always happy to wake up just knowing that I was blessed to be a mother.




The day started perfectly as Brooklyn, Kelli - our wonderful interpreter, Brooklyn's dad Marshall and I walked over to Spence and Sandy Lloyd's home. They are long time friends. Spence, on this morning, is known as Patriarch Lloyd. Brooklyn received her patriarchal blessing. It was beautiful and the best way to begin the day.

We then attended church. After church, Jaime received the office of Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. I have enjoyed watching him learn and grow in the gospel. This was a big step for him and one that he did not want to take until he felt prepared to accept the responsibilites of this priesthood.

We returned home to a wonderful meal and awaited the phone call from Elder Brandon Moore. His girlfriend Amber was here. When the phone rang we all jumped. I grabbed the phone and handed it to Amber to answer. I gave her first dibbs at talking to "her missionary." After her time was up, I spent three hours listening, laughing, counseling, and sharing. It was a delight to hear Elder Moore's voice. The next time I talk to him will be face to face! The time is flying by.




As I fell into bed, I couldn't help but smile...for I am truly blessed this day. I will forever be grateful for my 3 beautiful children who are always so good to me.

The White Envelope - April 28, 2010

You know how it goes when you are waiting for your son's mission call...you keep checking and checking and checking the mailbox...only to see this:



The mail usually is here by 3:00...but it is 5:00 and still no sign of the mailman. About 5:45, I hear it...the soft hum of the little white truck. It is here !!!!



Justin didn't get home from work until 9:00 p.m., so we invited all his friends to come at 9:30. It was a packed house! The suspense was thick as people were guessing where he would go. As for me, I don't like to play that game....it is what it is :) Justin only had one desire...he wanted to go someplace really, really poor. He began to read:



Dear Elder Moore:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Nicaragua Managua North Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish Language.

The crowd roared. And the boy has looked like this ever since!



Congratulations Elder Moore! You will make a great missionary :)

The Dreaded Organ

So about six months ago I was called into the Bishop's office. I was released from my calling as Laurel advisor and asked to be the Ward Organist. Interesting enough, I don't play the organ. The Bishop explained that the new organ we had was actually an automatic organ. He said his 3 year old could do it. Well, if a 3 year old can do it, than most certainly I can! Of course, he said with a smile, "You will actually be more of an organ operator." So I accepted, but I was still hesitant.

I had a quick organ lesson by the stake organist...who by the way showed me the organ shoes I could purchase if I really got into it! I most assuredly told him that I was just an "organ operator" and wouldn't be purchasing the shoes. Being an organ operator involves dialing up the hymn on the computer and pushing a series of buttons to start the intro and to start each verse.

The first Sacrament meeting I played, there was a glitch. The organ stopped playing on the second verse. It started again on the 3rd and then stopped again on the fourth verse. Because I do play the piano, I quickly started playing, but since I don't play the organ, the pedals were not involved and it sounded like a very half ditch effort at best.

A few weeks went by where everything went well, but you can never trust an organ too long. Once again, it betrayed me. The hymns are dialed up by a computer. When I went to dial up the hymn, it was all in Spanish. I quickly shut the organ down, while the congregation...and me...waited for it to reboot. When it finally did, it began playing "Joy to the World"....in February no less. The organ was redialed and began playing the hymn. It played the introduction and then continued on to the verse....only it wasn't the verse...it was the introduction again. AAAAGGGGHHHH! The substitute chorister stopped the singing and said, "Let's start over." And so we did.

Well, along comes April. Things seem to be going well. Until today. Every song the organ belted out was off tempo. My poor sister Ginger is the chorister. She is just waving her arm to the music. Three quarter notes are held for one count...one count notes are held for three counts. It was a disaster.

The one thing I can say is that I make sure that everyone knows I am not an organist and I am not the one screwing up. It is that blasted organ. During the prelude, I will start the organ and then go get a drink of water. Or during the hymn I will itch my nose or turn the pages of the hymn book to the next hymn. Anything so the congregation knows I am not responsible!

Sometimes people say they move to get out of callings. I am not moving to get out of this calling...but it is definitely one of the benefits of moving :) I can say that I don't get flustered when this happens because the last five years of my life have made me no stranger to embarrassment. I am now so use to embarrassment that I just take it all in stride. It is just one more story I will have to tell in the coming years. But I will say, with my whole heart, that I will celebrate next week when I play that *#%@ organ for the very last time. Sorry people in the ward...the entertainment will be over!!!!

Young Women's General Broadcast

We were so happy to receive tickets to go downtown to the Conference Center for the Young Women's General Broadcast. It is such a wonderful feeling to be among so many great young women. It was wonderful to listen to our leaders speak to us. They really care about our happiness and want us to know how loved we are.

Brooklyn and I sat in the section of the conference center designated for the Deaf. They have two televisions there - one has an interpreter on it and the other has captions. It was fun to sit by those girl and I loved how they sign the hymns because many of them do not use voice at all.

It was also so nice for me to be able to share this evening with Brooklyn. Usually we are invited to the stake center to watch the conference via satellite transmission, but without captions Brooklyn doesn't know what is being said. Once we had an interpreter come to sign for us, but they turned the lights down so everyone could see the screen and Brooklyn couldn't see the interpreter...so usually we just watch it on tape delay on the television that night. I have always felt Brooklyn missed out on the spirit that is there when all the Young Women are joined together. Going to the conference center gave us the best of both worlds. We felt the spirit of being with the other girls and she was able to "hear" the words which were being spoken.

We also loved sharing this evening with Ginger and Bailey. They had never been before so it was wonderful and exciting for all of us.

March Madness!

When most people hear the words "March Madness" they think of college basketball. But for our family it was just a March filled with many big things.

As most know, we are a basketball family and the kids both had stellar years with their teams. Brooklyn attends Summit Academy Jr. High. Their team took first place in the charter school basketball tournament this year. They had amazing coaches and learned so many wonderful skills.



In Church Ball, Justin's team also took first in Regionals. Thanks to Matt Lym for doing a great coaching job. He always looked so calm, like he was sitting on the front row of an NBA game just taking it all in. The boys showed great teamwork and they were a joy to watch.




One of the other really great things that happened for our family is that Justin was ordained to be an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. His papa ordained him. It was wonderful to have so many men that have influenced his life for good stand and put their hands on his head and bestow upon him this great gift.





The following week Brooklyn was scheduled to have her second cochlear implant surgically put in. Because Justin had been ordained to be an Elder he was able to give her a blessing before her surgery. This was a beautiful bonding experience and I think something they will both treasure in the coming years.




Brooklyn had her cochlear implant surgery at LDS Hospital on March 29, 2010. There is a 5 week healing period, and then she will be able to have the external piece mapped and attached. This implant is newer and has some wonderful features. She will be able to hook her ipod directly into it and it has a telecoil which may allow her to hear on the phone. We are excited to see if this brings new benefits to her. It is a long process, so even though some things will show immediately, most we won't know how well they are working for many months.





Many exciting things are happening in our family right now. I think 2010 will turn out to be quite an adventurous and great year! Stay tuned :)