Hungry

I love it when these guys come over to eat dinner at our house. They're not your typical dinner guests. They're missionaries. They bring more than an appetite for food. They bring a hunger to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a desperate hope that we have someone in mind for them to share it with. They make our kids want to bounce off the walls with hyperactive happiness. They make us want to be better people.

One of my favorite things to do when they come over is take a picture of them and e-mail it to their mothers to show them their bellies are full of a home-cooked meal. Taco Bell didn't make any money off them that night.

One of my favorite things to observe is the sparkle in my husband's eyes as he talks to them and reminisces about the 2 years he put his life on hold, at the ripe old age of 19, to serve a mission in Argentina. No family, no girls, no music, no movies, no ESPN. Just 2 years of searching for people who were internally searching for the full gospel. 2 years of living expenses paid for out of his own pocket. He refers to those years as some of the best of his life.

My dad did the same when he served a mission to Florida. My four brothers saved up their hard-earned money and spent 2 years each in the countries of England, New Zealand, Peru and Argentina. My nephew is finishing up his service in Chicago. He wants to extend his mission a little longer because he's on such a spiritual high. Go here to see an important reason why they sacrifice so much to go.

Someday when my boys, and maybe even my girls, serve their missions, I will let them go knowing they will be taken care of wherever they are. And maybe every now and then I'll get an e-mail from a mom who fed them a home-cooked meal. ☺

Seen And Heard

A crew of diverse characters unusually getting along.
A scurvy pirate and his first mate,
who moonlights as a basketball player.

A lonely leper pumpkin.

The tooth fairy.

Candy negotiations.
Notice the socks used as boundary lines.

A new bathroom (you can see the before here).

Hot dog cravings.

A pretty girl.

A handsome trumpet player.

A borrowed car....

For a first date.

Kickball games with good friends.

Good dreams.


Onions make me smell like B/O. Especially when I have to cook 50 pounds of them.

Your husband truly loves you when he slices 50 pounds of onions even though you are the PTA member who volunteered to do it, and then lets you go to bed while he finishes cooking the last batch.

Summer is allergic to 1% milk. She can only have skim and 2%. I can personally guarantee that she's not allergic to 1% milk.
(Summer is our neighbor. We affectionately call her "the Buzzard" because she circles around in front of our house on her bike waiting for us to get home.)

There is a boy named Keith in Audrey's class and spit comes out of his mouth when he talks.

You can go broke if all of your school-aged children make straight A's on their report cards at the same time.

The ladies at church like to hit on my husband. Right in front of me. But he pays them no attention. He likes a woman with a good strong B/O.