My Porter

In my post yesterday, I mentioned my son, Porter is on a mission for our church.

 He left August 18, 2010 and he won't return until August of 2012.

(For those of you who don't want to do the math, that's still 10 months away...)

His mission is a two year commitment.

I'm so proud of him.What he's doing isn't easy.

But...
I miss him like crazy.

Porter is kind, generous, compassionate.

He has a fun sense of humor, a huge heart, the ability to love unconditionally,

...and a great laugh.

We get letters and emails from Porter every week and we get to talk (Skype if we're lucky) to him twice a year - on Mother's Day and Christmas Day.

That's all the communication we get. And I understand why.
The church wants missionaries to focus on what they are there to do.
I get it.

But...
There is a hole in my heart because he's not here.

A mission requires sacrifice - for all involved.
Porter is sacrificing 2 years of his life to serve the Lord.
We are sacrificing 2 years with him so he can serve the Lord.
And it's worth it.

Every day he's out there he is learning and growing.
I can't begin to explain the exponential growth that he has gone through in the past 14 months.

He's learned to trust the Lord.
To follow the promptings of the Spirit - to follow where it guides.
He's learned to put his needs aside and be concerned about the needs of his fellow man.

He's gained confidence in himself. He is learning to be a leader.
But most importantly, he's learned the true JOY you feel when sharing the gospel.

Sacrifice is giving up something of great value...

...for something of far greater value.

Thank you Porter for giving these two years of your life to your Savior.
I know He will accept your sacrifice.

I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise they name, O Lord: for it is good.
Psalms 54:6

linking up with lovelinks

Tuesday Ten: Randomness

Going back to reality after 5 days off was really hard.

It was our first Thanksgiving in North Carolina and I wanted to make it special for the girls.

We had a lot of fun just the four of us.

So... here are ten things I enjoyed about Thanksgiving weekend.

(1)

The process of cooking Thanksgiving dinner. The pies I made were the best pies I've ever made!

(2)

The weather was gorgeous on Thanksgiving day. It was in the 70's. Seriously folks... I had doors and windows open all day! Holla!

(3)

A day at the salon with my girls. We had so much fun. Two full heads of color and a perm (no, not me) later, we all felt like brand new girls!

(4)

Waking up early on Thanksgiving morning to a quiet house and the smell of the turkey in the oven.

(5)

Spending Saturday afternoon with Jay and Greg having a movie marathon. The fact that my husband sat and watched Gnomeo & Juliet, Labrynth, and Haunted Honeymoon with us makes me love him even more!

(6)

Kicking off the Christmas season!!! It's my favorite time of year.

(7)

Getting an email from my son; who is on a mission for our church; with an MP3 attached so I can hear his voice! (The last time I heard his voice was Mother's Day!) 

(8)

Finding the perfect Christmas presents for the hard to buy for people in my family (and getting to cross those "to do's" off my list.

(9)

Finishing my handmade present for my brand new niece that I'll get to meet over Christmas!

(10)

Spending a couple hours in the backyard with Greg and the girls and taking fun pictures.

This post is a link party with Miss Mommy.

Self Imposed Time Out...

I need to vent...

I have spent the last 3 months working on a project at work. 

Hours of my time and hard work

and it was all just thrown out the window today.

I'm so frustrated I could scream!

I had a meeting right at the end of my day where I was told that the group I was working with was going a different direction. 

Now I have brought the frustration home with me and here I sit...

mad.

I'm mad at myself most of all because I have worked with this group before.

I knew something like this could happen.

And still it blindsided me.

How can I be a good wife and mother when I feel like this?

How do I keep from bringing this kind of stuff home with me?

Hopefully by writing this I can let some of it go.

We're supposed to decorate the Christmas tree tonight.

I want to be happy for that. I want to smile and laugh and enjoy the precious few years I have left with my almost grown children. 

*DEEP BREATH*

hold it...

*RELEASE*

Okay, I think I'm ready to be part of the family now. 

Thanks for listening.

Tuesday Ten Edition: Ten Joys

I took an unexpected hiatus from blogging for the last couple of weeks. I'm not sure why other than I got a bad case of "Overwhelmed".

(side note: I can't say "overwhelmed" without thinking of 10 Things I Hate About You and the ability to be "whelmed" in Europe)

I started this blog as a journal for myself and a way to stay in touch with my family. I quickly learned about the amazing blogging community out there and I wanted to be a part of it.

You women out there are seriously amazing!

Then I did what I always do. I bit off more than I could chew personally, and put too much pressure on myself. I found myself checking my blog 10 times a day to see how many hits I had.

And feeling like a failure when it wasn't as many as I thought it should be.

So I did what I always do and stopped.

I walked away.

And while I had my back turned on my blog, I realized something.

I love it.

I need it.

It's cathartic for me. So... I'm back.

I'm back for me.

Because this is one of my joys.

So in honor of coming back to something that brings me joy, that will be my Tuesday Ten.

"10 Things That Bring me JOY"

(1)

My husband. Just thinking about the joy in my life because of him brings tears to my eyes. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for bringing us together.

(2)

Baking. (I really enjoy the fruits of that labor!)

(3)

Phone calls from my Mom. She is one of my best friends. I've learned as an adult how rare that is.

(4)

 Playing with my dogs. They are the sweetest things ever.



(5)

Quiet Saturday mornings. When the girls are still asleep and Greg is at work and I have the house all to myself for a little while.

(6)

Crocheting.

(7)

Random Hugs from my daughter. She squeezes so tight and when I try to let go she says, "Not done yet." Those are some of my favorite words now.

(8)

Date night on the couch.

(9)

Traveling. (I hope to do more of this in the upcoming years!)

(10)

This blog and the blogging community I have found.

This post is a link party with Miss Mommy

Superwoman Saturday: Week 3

I guess it's time to get real. This wasn't a good week for me at all. 

Monday I had team meetings all day, including lunch out. 

Tuesday was another round of team meetings followed by dinner out. 

By Wednesday I was burnt out and overwhelmed with all the work I needed to catch up on. I was supposed to cook dinner that night but it wasn't going to happen. So...we had burgers and fries from a great diner up the road from us. Plus I fell back on my favorite comfort food, dry roasted peanuts and plain M&M's. 

Thursday was better. I finally got my head back on straight. I thought about what happened this week and realized there were several "areas of opportunity" for me to work on. 

The falling down is just as important as the getting up. Because it's the areas we fall down in that we'll be more careful with going forward. 

I now know that when I have a stressful week at work coming up I need to have a plan so I don't fall back on the trap of eating peanuts and M&M's. 

I need a plan for eating out with my team because it's going to happen again and again.

Mostly I need to shake off this week and re-focus on my objectives. I need to remind myself that one of my goals is not to beat myself up when I fall. I'm learning to love myself now while striving to become better. 

In this one thing, I succeeded this week.

I went out Thursday night and bought Jillian's 30 Day Shred and Yoga videos. For the next month they are my workout plan. I've heard over and over again that they are great workouts, plus they're only 20 minutes long (the yoga is 30 minutes) so I have no excuse not to get them done.

I'll let you know next week how it goes....if I can lift my arms.

...................................................................................................................................................................

If you have something you would like to work on please feel free to link up and grab my button to add to your blog. I can't wait to hear from all the other Superwomen out there!

Settling In

Have you ever moved somewhere and just knew you were home? 

I was born in Provo, UT and when I was 3 months old my family moved to Denver, CO. That's where I lived for the next 30 years of my life. 

My husband was transferred to West Virgina so off we went. 

I loved West Virginia. I made life long friends there. Friends that I consider family and I love. 

But for the four years we lived there, something was missing. We knew we weren't there to stay, so we never felt settled all the way.

We now live in North Carolina. We just moved here three months ago, but as soon as we drove to our new little town, I knew we were home.

I just felt right.

Everyday I find something else I love about living here.

I have found a peace and contentment here that I haven't felt in a long time.

This place just fits.



Tuesday Ten

This is my first Tuesday Ten so I'm going to start with 10 things about me.

1. I'm a Colorado Native.

2. I've been married for 12 years (13 years in two months).

3. I have 3 kids, Porter, Jordin and Jay.

4. I am a brand new blogger.

5. I am left handed.

6. I now live in North Carolina.

7. I love to read.

8. My favorite games are all the Lego Video games (Lego Batman is the best).

9. I love dogs and own 2 Australian Cattle Dogs.

10. Some days chocolate is my best friend (plain M&M's mixed with dry roasted peanuts).

Tuesday Ten is a link up party with Miss Mommy.