February (Eli-centric)

February felt like the month of Eli.  He had lots of exciting things happen for him that month.  He has been taking a jewelry making class as an elective.  He was trying to find something to fill the requirement and he thought it sounded fun.  He's the only boy in the class but he loves it.  Eli loves all things creative.  His pieces have all been really interesting--it's so fun to see what his brain comes up with and how he interprets things creatively.  He made a necklace and some earrings that looked like drapes or little pieces of fabric made of metal.  His teacher entered it into a scholastic contest and Eli won Gold Key (which is the highest level).  They had an awards ceremony in Denver with all the artwork, ceramics, clothing design, and jewelry pieces displayed.  I went up to Denver with him and his girlfriend Abby for the day so we could celebrate with him.  

Eli also got his college acceptance letters.  He applied to both BYU and the University of Utah.  He did a bunch of research while applying and saw that the U had the degree he wanted--material science--but BYU did not.  We told him that we couldn't really afford to send him to the U because he didn't have in-state tuition and the GI bill wouldn't cover much of it.  He found out that if he applied to the U's honors program he could live on campus all four years which would greatly lower the cost and then after a year he could get the in-state tuition, making the cost a little more than BYU.  Also, his girlfriend was thinking of going to the U.  He got into the U's honors program and also got accepted to BYU.  When we went to his cousin Abby's wedding we stopped in Provo so he could go on a tour of BYU with his other cousin Gabe.  Eli was pretty adamant that he was only going to spend time with Gabe. When we got back, he accepted the U and we all moved on.  Fast forward a month and Eli started sharing that he had been having BYU pop into his head fairly regularly and he wondered it that was the spirit telling him he had made the wrong decision.  He also wondered it it was partly because his girlfriend's parents were forcing her to go to BYU.  Mike and I sat down with him for multiple conversations to help him figure out his thoughts.  Mike and Eli went and did a comparison of classes at both schools and discovered that while BYU didn't have material science as a major, many of the classes required for the degree would overlap if he took Chemical engineering at BYU and if he still wanted material science, he could take that degree and easily move into material science.  Also, he's taking AP Chem this year and realized that he has a gift and love for chemistry.  So, after a lot of talking, praying, and just thinking in general, he has changed his mind and will be headed to BYU after his mission.

Which leads me to the next big thing for Eli.  He got his mission call in February.  I wrote about it in the last post so I won't go into that today.  His girlfriend got her mission call to Seoul, Korea and a really good friend from our ward also got his mission call.  It's fun to see them all getting calls and supporting one another.  

The only other thing I can remember, and that I thought to take photos of in February is that Felicity got sick.  Fever, diarrhea, and barfing.  She stayed home from school for an entire week and didn't move much from the couch. The first night she barfed about 5 or 6 times and it was waking up Mike and Piper so I went downstairs to the guest room and slept on the queen bed with her.  It was better anyway, because the bathroom is closer for her.  It was a long night and she has such a tender heart that she kept crying, not about barfing, but because she thought she was putting me out and making my life harder.  She kept saying she was sorry that I had to stay up with her and that she had to stay home.  I kept telling her not to apologize for being sick and that it's my job, a job I chose and want.  I want to take care of her and it isn't a hardship for me.  Thankfully, I didn't get her sickness even though I shared a bed with her.