Happy Holidays...Missing Our Boys.

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas this week. We were so blessed to have seven of our nine children home, healthy and happy. As for the other two...I am sure they had a wonderful Christmas in their respective MTC's. We hear from Travis on Tuesdays and Seth on Thursdays, so they will have much to report, I am sure. I have heard from numerous people the Christmas in the MTC is an amazing experience!

It was strange to not have the boys home this Christmas. We remembered all of the funny things they would do as we opened presents, and reminisced as a family on Christmas morning. A few months ago Wayne's brother Ryan relocated to the Auburn area and has been living with us. He is a perfect fit for our family, and helped ease the pain of having Travis and Seth gone. Ryan is so helpful to our family and the kids just love having him around. He can relate to them in a special way that is different from a parent. He is a blessing to us all.

The kids enjoyed their gift and the time we spent with our extended family on Christmas day. Spending time together playing games, eating fudge, and just talking brings great memories for years to come. Our lives are so busy, that we all appreciated the time we spent home on Christmas day.

Speaking of busy, we have been fortunate enough to have our special twins come to visit. You may remember Landon and Lillie from previous posts. They are precious and are going through some adjustments in life right now. We are able to have them over on the weekends to get to know all the kids in our home and play together. The twins are half brother and sister to Seth, Tess, Ethan, Aarun, and Alyssa. It is good bonding for all of the children to play together and have fun. We hope to have the twins on a regular basis (on the weekends) for the next 5-6 months.

Seth and Travis are scheduled to leave the MTC/CCM in the next two weeks. They will arrive in their first areas within the first week or two of January. They are both nervous, and a bit worried about how their Japanese and Spanish are coming along. They have a good attitude, and have great faith that the Lord will take care of them. We feel the same way, and pray for them daily. We are very excited to talk to Travis as he travels from Utah to Tokyo and then by the bullet train from Tokyo to Hiroshima. When Seth left for the CCM (MTC in the Dominican Republic) he called us from Texas and Florida. It was great for us all. I have not seen or spoken to Travis since October 21st. I realize that this is only two months, but it feels like two years already! I am so excited to hear his voice and tell him I love him! When I find out when he is travelling, I am going to take the day off from work so that I can sit by the phone for his call. I know this may sound silly...but I am just SO jealous of all those great stay-at-home mothers of missionaries that get to wait by the phone. Since I am not a stay-at-home mother, I am going to pretend to be one....and wait anxiously all day for his call. It's just one of those silly things we do as mothers. It seems so important to me right now to hear his voice. We do not expect to hear from Seth when he transfers from Santo Domingo to his first area, since we heard from him when he left Salt Lake City. We will be anxious to hear from them both again on Mother's Day (which is a Sunday...so missing work required!).

We are looking forward to a new year, with many new adventures and blessings! 2010 is just around the corner...we hope to continue with our family traditions, and begin a couple of new ones as well. I have developed a new system for cleaning the bathrooms. I am going to give it a test drive once we all head back to school. Our poor children (and Ryan) all share ONE bathroom among the 8 of them. So, you can imagine that it needs a good cleaning everyday. We have not yet developed a good system for this chore...until now. I'll post on how my new idea pans out!

Lastly, I am posting a portion of Travis and Seth's last emails. I think they speak to how well they are doing, and how they are growing so much. Enjoy...

"Hey mom, its snowing today! Guess what, I get to ride the bullet train from tokyo to hiroshima! I'm pretty exited! Christmas here is sure to be exiting! did you get Becca or Grandpa N's addresses yet? I would really love to write them! The picture printers are all fried. I'll probably mail you the memory card soon. I'm sending a letter today! I got your package, thanks so much! sorry if this seems rushed, but I just have no email time right now. I'll send better letters!"

Love, Travis

"Hey Dad/Family-
I didn't get your email, but I would love to see some of those pictures. Anyways, I heard that Duke and Blue ran away. That made me kind of sad. Hopefully Duke will take care of Blue and they'll come back. I miss them a lot. I also heard that Brother May is getting better which is awesome to hear about. He is an awesome guy.

Well, thinks here have been better. My spanish is actually way better that it was a couple weeks ago. I can defintiy feel the Lord's hand in helping learn spanish. Speaking of hands, I had an awesome experience at the temple yesterday, which I feel like is ok to share with you. I was going through the temple for a man named Andres Hilario. Before we started and during the session, I had been praying to know if he had accepted the gospel or not. When the session ended and I had a few moments to myself, so I prayed one more time. Right then and there my hand was warmand I felt like someone was shakingit. I know that it was Brother Hilario and I know that he has accepted the gospel. It was an awesome experience.
I have been reading the book of mormon a lot. I cant stop sometimes and I'll have to force myself to start studying other things. I dont know why I didn't enjoy it as much before my mission as I do now. There area so many things that I have noticed and learned that I have never before noticed and learned. Its amazing. It truly is another testament of Christ.

It has been kind of rainy here in the DR. It's still warm but it rains. The weather is exactly like it is in Florida. Yesterday, before the rain came in, there was the most amazing sunrise that I have ever seen in my life. There were all these clouds which relfected the sun in many different ways so that there were different shades of res, orangs, pink, purple, yellow and so on. It was awesome. I wish I could have taken a picture.
Only two more weeks till I'm in the field. I dont really know what to think about that. I excited but dont know what to expect at the same time. I dont know whether I'll be in the city or in the country, or if I'll have an American or a native companion. All well, I know the lord will take care of me. I definitly plan on buying Raid though for those spiders and any other pre-histori sized bug I might encounter on this island. Maybe some mouse traps too. wait lets make them rat traps. Those will probably be better.

Tell Ethan, Aarun, Evan, and Amanda(if she is healed) to keep dong well in basketball. Alyssa in gymnastics too. Athletics has definitly helped prepare for my mission. Athletics teaches you how to work hard and how to push through hard times. Man, I really miss track. Iget to play basketball here which is fun because there are some elders here that are pretty good, but for some reason I have been missing track a lot. All well, I need to focus on my mission.

Well, I have to go. I miss all of you a lot and love you too. I appreciate all the support you give me. Dont worry about me too much, the Lord will do that for you. have a Merry Christmas and I'll see you in a little over a year and ten months."

Love, Seth

Update!

Well, it has been a while since I posted an update on the boys. Seth has left for the MTC in the Dominican Republic. He tells us they eat a lot of bananas, have Fruit Loops for breakfast everyday along with large amounts of rice and beans. They are also served some sort of "mystery meat" with lunch and dinner. The weather is 80 degrees each day...Seth is nervous about how hot it will get in the summer! We have been looking forward to the boys calling home on Christmas, but we have learned that they are not permitted to call home from the MTC's. There are simply too many elders and not enough phones. Can you imagine the phone bill? So, we will be waiting to hear from Seth in May, on mother's day. By then he will have been out for 6 months, that's 1/4 of his total mission! Seth is enjoying learning Spanish. He has spent a lot of time writing his friends back home. He has spent less time writing his family back home. I am wondering if he felt that he needs to be a good example and missionary to his friends back home. We are hoping that we will continue to get some letters from him every other week or so. He is able to send a quick email home every Thursday. I look forward to hearing from him! He says he is not able to take pictures without permission from the CCM president. I am wondering if some of the young elders spent a little too much time taking photographs! Seth sounds great, he is maturing each day. He is working hard, his testimony grows more each time we read his emails. I can tell that he is settling into the routine of the CCM very well. Seth was called as travel leader for the trip from Provo to Santo Domingo. He was very nervous. I am sure that he was called because of his quiet, calm nature. He did a great job, he recalls that he had to watch over one elder who got airsick! Good Luck Seth, we miss you!

Travis is on cloud nine in the Provo MTC. He is loving every minute there. He has times when he struggles with the language, but he is persevering and trying his best. I try to remind him that he is not expected to be fluent in Japanese prior to arriving there. He is the only elder in the MTC going to Hiroshima. I have asked him why this is the case, but he has not given us an explanation. He is quite the opposite of Seth, he writes us long letters every week. I enjoy hearing from him! He does not write as many letters to people outside of the family, so we hear from him regularly. He is asking for photographs...quite the opposite of the CCM. Travis states that the Japanese people love photographs, and that is how they get to know each other. I have sent him some, but I know he wants more. Travis has grown so much in the nearly 2 months he's been in Provo. In some ways it feels like he's been gone for a year or more, but then other times it seems like two months! Strange. Travis was called as district leader. His district was composed of only 6 elders, but now they have received a whole crew of new missionaries, so he has more responsibilities. He will be a fine leader, he is very humble and hard working.

Well, both boys are fine. We are so busy that I find several days go by without me missing them. It seems selfish to miss them, as they are doing a great work. I look forward to them being placed in their first areas as "real" missionaries and hearing all about their challenges and successes! We'll try to post more regularly!