From Mom to Kevin

Dear Kevin-

Wow, your mission chart is now half filled in!  Time is flying by. It is hard to believe that you have been in Brazil for a year now. It is so good to hear from you each week and of your hard and dedicated work.  Keep it up and you will continue to be blessed and find happiness in the Lord’s work. You must be a great missionary, if you were able to train your greenie well enough for him to be a trainer!!!!!!   Tell us about your new companion and area.

 This week Rachel had 3 lacrosse games.  Her team is doing very well- they are undefeated!  This is their last week with 2 more games- we’ll see if they can hold on to that title.

 The weather continues to be crazy here- raining, raining, and raining, then a sunny day. We are starting to wonder if they will ever be able to pour the cement where they ripped out our sidewalk.  We call it the moat now, because it is always filled up with water.

Me and Jessica have been working a little on building a structure in the back yard that Jennifer and I started when she was here out of the wood from the 4 trees we cut down in the front.  It is starting to look like something finally- and hopefully with the sun out this week we can finish it.  It is an arbor-gazebo type thing we are building on the cement.  We still have lots of tree branches stacked in the backyard- I’ll have to come up with some more projects to make with them or we will just have lots of firewood to burn this summer!

Rebecca came again for FHE on Monday- and the Elders came too.  Dad gave a nice lesson on one of the general conference talks, sent Rachel off to lacrosse practice, then played some liars dice.  Rebecca and Jessica looked up institute classes, and went to one on Tuesday night.  Jessica looked pretty excited to get out and do some socializing- she’s been home a couple weeks now and getting a little stir crazy.  She has been enjoying cooking and trying out new recipes.  I enjoy her cooking- and her cleaning up the kitchen!  She continues to apply for jobs, but hasn’t had any luck yet.  She has done some babysitting though.  Jessica went to Tanasborne Ward today.  Rebecca wasn’t able to- dinner schedule with her folks didn’t make it possible, but she met up with Jessica later for the CES fireside.  Jessica came home happy- had a good time at the singles ward, then dinner linger longer, then the fireside.  Things should pick up socially as the college students start coming home for the summer.

 The Relief Society had a birthday party on Thursday- They had a Jeopardy game, and I was the host.  It was fun.  They also had a cake decorating contest.  At home when trying to decide what cake to make I dug out all our old kid cake pans.  The girls voted for the Cookie Monster.  So I baked it, Jessica made a giant cookie for him to hold, and did most of the decorating.  It won the most creative.  When I was asked to tell about the cake I told them that I had bought the cake pan for your 1^st birthday.  And what a coincidence- it was your mission 1yr bday too!  So here is a picture of your cake:          

HaPpY 1 Year on your Mission!

We thought of you as we ate it.

  Well, Steven W. is now married.  We went to his reception at his parents’ house last night.  He looked good, and Kristi looked very happy.  We enjoyed the refreshments- cake pops (cakes rolled into balls, put on lolly pop sticks and dipped in chocolate). They are quite the rage here now.

Well, that is all I can think of for this week.    Keep up the great work; we continue to pray for your safety, and success. And have faith in you and your new assignment as Zone Leader. You’ll do great.

 Lots of Love,

MomJ

 PS.  Do you get to call home for Mother’s Day?

Kevin is 17.

Rachel said that I should post more often, just shorter blogs. I seem to put it off- so when I get around to it, they are long entries. Here it is a week gone by again . . . . and Kevin is now 17 years old! It was a busy day- in the way that no one was home at the same time except early in the morning, and late at night. So Kevin opened his gifts before school at 6am (this was early for Melissa and Rachel as they had no school that day due to parent conferences). He got iPod speakers, desk (also a head board and night stand that is yet to arrive), a thing that allows him to play his iPod through the car speakers, money, and iTunes. I think he was pretty happy with it all. We had apple coffee cake and hot chocolate for breakfast. I cooked roast beef for Kevin's birthday dinner, and we all ate it when we could. Kevin and Jessica ate it at 4:30 before they headed off for band practice. Jennifer ate next before going to work (YAH she got a job at Joanne Fabrics!), Melissa and Rachel ate a little later after violin lessons. I saw Brian in the driveway as he came home from work as I was leaving to take Jennifer to work and told him we were the only ones that hadn't eaten yet, and he waited for me to get home so we ate together. We all had cake at 10:30pm when we were finally all together again. The picture tells the tale- Melissa dead tired!

This is kind of the schedule we are on nowadays- all going where ever, whenever. As I type this it is 3:30 and I'm cooking hamburgers for Kevin and Jessica. So if anyone has some easy crock pot meals they can share with me that would be great- dinner that I can have ready for those to eat, when I'm not home yet from a music lesson etc.

I mentioned that Jennifer finally got a job. She had been babysitting for a lady in the ward a couple hours a day in the mornings, and applying where ever she could. I was surprised to learn from other moms how hard it is for youth to get hired around here. She applied for about 20 places, and even interview for Target, Fred Meyer, and Kohl's. The jobs that make you apply on line take about an hour to do. It was getting discouraging as the days went by. Hiring got a little better as stores were looking for temporary employees for the holiday season. So that is what Jennifer was hired for at Joann's. She'll get about 20-26 hours a week. She has been working the 6pm-10pm shift and has worked the cutting table and cashier. As soon as her schedule is set a little bit, she will hopefully work also for Graphic Products in the mornings rolling vinyl. A big thank you to Tina Appel, Jennifer's Laurel advisor, for taking her out job hunting!

As for my latest projects, I've been working on some quilts for the DI that our RS had. There was some donated fabric in the RS closet that we've tied. I put together 2 baby ones, and now am working on finishing of the edges of a King sized one our presidency tied at our last meeting. I've been helping with the dresses for Jessica's women's choir group Les Chanteuses at school. First we measured them for the order, now they arrived so we are marking the hems, and will try to have them ready to wear for their concert on Wednesday. I am just extra hands on this project, and do what they ask. The dresses are nice- black with velvet bodice. The last two years the girls have voted on a style and bought their own. The dresses were pretty ugly on the girls last year. This year the director decided to invest in a group set. I'm glad she did, and I'm glad she picked out the dress she did. The girls have moaned about them as they try them on, but I tell you- they have looked very nice on everyone!

Well, that's all I've got to write about for now- so long.