September

Isaac started his mission in September.  We made a quick trip to Utah to drop him off at the MTC.  It was hard to see him go but he got his mission call in March and he was ready to go.  Will hit his one year mark almost exactly the same week that Isaac left and I think having gone through it with Will already helped make it easier this time around.  Being able to see the growth in Will and know of his happiness allowed us to feel excited for what was ahead for Isaac.  It has been weird to have him gone and our family seems so much smaller now.  

I have been pleasantly surprised at how well the three kids at home have adjusted.  I was worried about Eli.  The boys have always been a unit--they are so close in age and have been such good friends.  I worried Eli would be lonely especially since he hadn't really made a lot of friends yet.  I should have trusted Eli more because he has made it a good transition for the girls.  He is kind, fun, and patient with the girls.  He gives them attention and plays games with them or talks to them about their artwork or helps Piper with her volleyball.  I'm thankful he is the brother still at home, if I'm being honest.  I don't mean anything negative by that towards Will and Isaac--they are great big brothers--It's just that Eli's personality is the right one for building his little sister's up right now.  The girls adore him.  Piper said to me the other day, "I think Eli is the perfect person."  He isn't of course, but the fact that she sees him that way says a lot about him.  I can take no credit whatsoever.  I just pray frequently with gratitude for him and the example he is to his sisters.  He feels hugely uncomfortable with compliments so this will embarrass him. It has been a blessing for me to spend more time with him without his two bigger brothers around.  I have gotten a better picture of who Eli is in just the last four months than I probably ever have in his entire life.  Seeing him grow as his own person not in the shadow of his brothers is actually really great.  Anyway, I guess the purpose of saying all of this is to admit that even when something hard happens like saying goodbye to another son, good things can come of it. I don't always remember that before or during the moment.  

Isaac leaving was the biggest thing that happened to our family in September but I managed to capture a few pictures of the other parts.

 The girls set up a lemonade stand with the neighbor girls.  Felicity wanted to do that all the time in Japan but that would not have gone over well.  She was so excited when I said she could do it here and she, Piper, and the neighbor girls worked for days making their signs and even came up with a bean bag game.  They set up their stand and the neighborhood was so generous.  It made me love living in this quiet, small neighborhood.  It's not full of old people but there are plenty of oldies and they would stop by and give ten times the amount the girls were asking.  The girls were so proud and happy with the money they made.

Eli got all his blacksmithing equipment back and didn't waste any time getting back into his hobby.  He's made lots of rings and lots of swords.  He's also given himself lots of scars, blisters, and burns.  

Eli also went to homecoming.  Some guys from his priests quorum convinced him to go and when he said he didn't know anyone they set him up with a cousin of one of the guys.  Eli went to her house to ask her out officially and the guys in his quorum all went with him to hype him up.  He did not know that he had to ask in a creative way and wasn't a fan of making it an ordeal...they do things differently in the West than in other places of the states and especially in Japan.  He had a great time and I ended up being the photographer by default.  I showed up thinking it would just be all of us moms taking a few photos (which Eli thought was weird) but it turned out to be a whole planned out photoshoot except the other moms couldn't find a photographer.  I offered to take them and Eli was really chill about having his mom there to take photos on his first ever date.  

Finally, and back tracking a little bit, Isaac got ordained to be a temple worker before he went on his mission.  Since he couldn't get his license in time before he left for the MTC, I ended up being his driver.  He had a six hour shift so I would drive up, do a session, and then either run errands or go for a long walk, or visit a friend from Denver.  Then, I'd meet him back at the temple, grab him so food, and head home.  We did this for sixish weeks.  It turned out to be a blessing for me.  Not only did I get the opportunity to do a session each week but I got two hours of uninterrupted time with Isaac.  He would talk and talk and tell me all the funny things the old guys would say in the locker room or during their shift.  He said it made the temple seem less scary and weird. I'm so glad he did it and so glad I got to support him in doing it.