First P-day in Ghana

Parker flew to Ghana on Wednesday August 4th.  We didn't hear from him until the following Monday.  Let me just say, Brian and I were both feeling a little anxious.  It was really weird to have no communication from the mission home.  NOTHING.  We just sent our 18 year old across the world with no phone and only $200 and didn't receive a picture, a text, an email, or anything to know he had arrived safely.  It made Brian and I both a little stressed.

A few things on that: 1. I knew no news was good news so that helped. 2. There were several parents on the Ghana Accra mission FB page asking if anyone had heard from their sons and by Friday, someone from the mission home mentioned they arrived safely.  3. I know I can't even imagine how busy the mission staff must be.  4. The mission home/senior missionaries/mission pres and wife  made a yummy meal for the incoming Elders and sent them home with leftovers!  That is a lot of food, and I'm grateful.  Parker ate "some sort of spaghetti" for dinner, dinner, breakfast and lunch.  It was nice for him to have something somewhat familiar for his first couple of days.  6. Not hearing from him made our Monday morning call even more amazing.  

I love and miss my baby boy.  

He is five hours ahead.  I woke up at 3:00 am to go to the bathroom, and I saw a messenger notification.  Parker had sent a few pictures and responded to a couple of things we had sent.  I sent a message back his way and then he responded.  

Then he called!!!  

I woke Brian up right away, and we were able to visit for about 10 minutes before the connection went bad.  Brian and I couldn't quit smiling.  It was Wonderful being able to see and hear from him.  

He was positive and looked great.  We could hear he was overwhelmed too.  He said he couldn't understand anyone.  They speak three or four tribal languages in his area....but not English.  He was also in a temporary threesome.  His companions would visit with each other  in their native language some, and he would feel more out of place.  New food, new culture, new country, new everyday life....I can't even imagine how exhausting that would be.  But he is doing it...and we are so proud of him and happy for him and praying so hard for him.  A mission will be a blessing for  Park for the rest of his life.

Later, when Brinley called, he was able to jump back on the phone call.  That was so fun!  I love that Brinley and Parker will have this shared missionary experience now and in the future.  I hope Tanner and Aubrey will both choose to serve.  

This is from the day before he flew to Ghana, but I wanted to include it because Bri had his camera on.

This was from the phone call from Ghana.  We were cracking up because Parker's companion thinks Brinley is pretty.  He said he would pretend he was a non member so she would teach him the lessons.  So Parker had pointed the phone camera at him and introduced him as "Brother Opoku-Ware" instead of "Elder," and then Parker and his two companions just busted up laughing.  

It was great to be all cracking up together over the phone even though we are all separated from each other.  I am so grateful the phone policy for missionaries has changed.  Up until a couple of years ago, it was only two calls home a year!  It was also so reassuring for me to see Parker just having fun with his companions.  It was like he was hanging out with Harper and Cole and just having fun with his buddies.  

It's Saturday night.  Can't wait to talk to both of my missionaries in 48 hours!

Permian Volleyball is INTENSE

Who knew volleyball could be so all consuming?  I sure didn't.  Aubrey has been a very busy girl.  Throughout the summer she has had Speed and Strength training M-Th for 1.5 hours and then two days a week an additional 1.5 hours of volleyball in the field house.  In addition to that, they had to join summer league with their assigned team.  She had two games every Tuesday and Thursday night.

A few weeks before school started she had a volleyball camp plus summer league.  (She skipped Speed and Strength.)  Then the week before school started she had "two a days."  (Basically 5 hours of volleyball a day split into two workouts.)  "Two a days" ended on Thursday August 5th, and she had two out of town tournaments the following two days.  

Sunday was a day of rest.  Whew!  Then Monday, the day before school started, she had a game at 6:15.  She had to be at school at 2:00.  What the heck?  I really do not like it when coaches try to take over my kids' lives.  (They don't mind nearly as much as I do.)  

Briana, Breena & Aubrey   They were able to meet at Chic for breakfast and walk into their new school together for day one of high school.

Then...can I just keep typing the word "then"....she had a game the very next night, which was also the first day of school.  She didn't even go to all of her classes on the first day of school.  

Wednesday she just had practice after school and THEN Thursday was an all day tournament in Monahans. (What's school?)  Friday there was no practice after school and Saturday, today, she is at the second part of the Monahans tournament.  

She will have at least two games a week with an occasional Fri/Sat tournament mixed in for the next three months.  (And then basketball will start.)  I am just kind of wondering how she is going to keep up with all of her school work when she is missing so many classes.  She will also be adding early morning seminary this year.  (6:45).  

She is finally enjoying volleyball....so that is a bonus.  Most of the summer she was not really sure how she felt.  She is definitely more comfortable with her teammates now and more confident in her skills.  She is also a good student so that will help.  I really don't see how the girls who might struggle with school will be able to keep up with their classes and this schedule.

She played on the same soccer team with Macy for several of their elementary years, but they always attended different schools.

Aub is on JV white.  They won their Monday and Tuesday night games this week and made it into the gold bracket for the Monahans tournament.  (Bri is there watching day two of that tournament now.)

Grandpa came this week to cheer her on AND take his AMAZING pictures of her team in action.  When Aubrey shared some of these with her teammates, they wanted to know when he would be coming back!

Aub is #6.

Landry Ward

Aub in action!!

Macy

Dylan Sanchez

Kaydence maybe?

Maya!  (Great picture Grandpa!!)

I hope Aubrey will be able to adjust happily to this intense volleyball season!

Tanner's River Trip

Tanner was invited to go with his friend Eli on a weekend camping trip.  We've met Eli about three times for a total of about three minutes.  He and Tanner are on the same basketball team, and he seems really nice.  I've never met his mom.  I don't even know Eli's last name.  

If you would have told me 10 years ago, heck even six months ago, that I would have let one of my kids go out of town with us being so in the dark, I wouldn't have believed it.  But such is life and such is parenting.  

Let me just say this, parenting teens isn't for the faint of heart.

I did insist, much to Tanner's dismay/annoyance, that I speak with his mom before we gave the okay.  She seemed really nice and then I met Eli's grandma the night I dropped Tanner off at her house.

He was gone for three days and seemed to have a great time.  I was glad both Naomi and Yolanda sent me a few pictures.  

The Organizing Bug--I've Caught It

I listened to a book called Real Life Organizing by Cassandra Aarssen, who teaches organizing, and I loved it.  It just clicked for me in a new way.  She talks about four ways you might lean towards organizing your stuff instead of putting everyone in the same box.  For example,  some people prefer  to see all of their items and some prefer them behind closed doors.

I am definitely in the  ladybug category.  I like hidden solutions and macro organizing.  I like to be able to put things away quickly.  (She advises no lids for easier clean up.  I love No Lids!)  As she talked, I visualized areas that were working for me in my home already, but it was so nice to hear the why!  And, now that I know what I lean towards, I can continue finding solutions for different spaces.  

Aubrey listened to several of Cass' podcasts while painting and enjoyed them.  (She is a cricket.  Hidden solutions with micro categories.)  We've done a lot of de-cluttering and organizing, and it's been a blast!

Painting Tanner's old room.  She volunteered to paint in order to earn some money.  She worked her tail off in between morning workouts and evening volleyball games.  She made $220 which she plans on using for more school clothes and extra fun money.

Aubrey did the spices.  BLESS HER!  We didn't get a full before picture of the entire cabinet, but here is one section.  And here are the after pictures.  It's so great not having to dig through each spice to find the right one.  Aub labeled the lids!  (You can kind of see that in the last picture.)

We went to Walmart, Target and At Home to find bins for the pantry.  I'm glad Aubrey spotted these white bins at At Home right when we were leaving.  I had given up.  I threw out two garbage bags of expired food.  So sad and wasteful.  I hope with everything having a place there will be less waste.

Isn't this pantry just beautiful?  One thing Cass says to do is use the SPACE acronym when tackling any area. 

S-sort (put things in 4 boxes/piles as you are going through a shelf or drawer: trash box, donate box, doesn't belong here box, stays in this space box)

P-purge (really important, de-clutter, get rid of stuff you don't need)

A-assign (decide were it will go)

C-contain (once the container is full...that's the limit, helps keep area clean, helps use vertical space)

E-evaluate (use the area for awhile and tweak as needed)

We have donated multiple trunk loads of nice things we weren't using.  I know others will be able to use and enjoy them, and we don't have to live with random stuff.  The items in this picture are from the room Tanner moved out of.  It was easier to go through because he and Park both moved out of that room and left all the stuff they didn't want.  We have also thrown out tons of stuff that just wasn't worth donating but has somehow been taking up space in our house for too long.

Here are a couple of pull out drawers in my bathroom.  I found long, narrow bins at the Dollar Tree and they are perfect.  The space is utilized much better.

Band-aid drawer before:

Band-aid drawer after:

Before:  Extra deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush drawer.  I had this one clear bin.

After:  I split the toothbrushes from the toothpastes and added the deodorants to the pull out drawer with the soaps.

Beautifulness!  Two bins really in one little drawer really help divide the supplies and use the vertical space.

Aub was brave and took everything out of her closet.  She then put it all back together but more organized.  Here is mostly just the stuff she didn't want anymore.  With Parker just leaving, she was also happy there was an extra closet to move Brinley's stuff to.  Aub really hated how cluttered and messy that made her closet feel.  Sadly we didn't take before closet pictures, but here are her after pictures.  

All the the baskets and bins I found from the Dollar Tree and At Home have been out of stock since we cleaned them out.  I am really hoping they will get the same ones in so I can continue with the same bins.

Brian is a Blessing

I love my guy.  He is kind.  He is faithful.  He is intuitive.  He is thoughtful.  He is dedicated.  He is spiritual.  He is funny.  He is selfless.  He is a keeper!  

He gave father's blessings for back to school.  I LOVE these.  He gives very thoughtful counsel.    I am always impressed, so grateful and buoyed up for each one of us facing the new school year.  I feel badly that he doesn't receive one himself.  Here are a few notes I jotted down afterwards:

First day of 9th grade

Aubrey: 

Learn/practice being patient.

As you put Heavenly Father first and prioritize Him, things in your life will fall into place.

Remember grades matter this year (She is starting high school.)

Pray often

Blessed to block out the bad, maybe recite a scripture or think of a hymn.

First day of 11th grade

Tanner:

Blessed to be able to block out bad around him.

Repent often as needed.

Think about your church calling, learn more on how to fulfill it (He is 1st assistant in the priest quorum.)

Might need to take yourself out of situations to avoid bad things.

Be kind to those around you.

Focus on choosing harder right for future good.  (This was in references to school classes I believe.)

Brian, Aub and me  Taken the night before school started.

Mom/Me:

Pray for guidance.

Blessed with patience as I practice being patient.

Pray to know who to help w/ my calling.  (I am currently serving as RS president.)

Taco Villa Monday on Thursday with Benja

The day after Elder Vore (aka Benjamin, aka Benja) got home we gathered at Taco Villa.  It was also the first week of school, so no teens, tweens or children were there.  I got to sit next to Benja and it was fun to listen in on the conversations he was having.  

He was also really cute to ask about Brinley.  I could tell he was really interested in her current assignment.  She is serving as an STLT which is a sister Assitant to the President/AP.  Benja was an AP for the last several months of his mission.  He said their mission doesn't have STLTs because it hasn't been authorized by the area authorities, but he thinks it is an excellent idea and would be really helpful.  I hope he and Brinley will be able to catch up about their missions in December.

Benja, Joseph, Kerry, Dad/Grandpa

Kerry, Brian and I all attended this Taco Villa gathering.  Everyone was in shock.  Brian would love to go each week if it worked with his schedule...Kerry and I...not so much.  It just kills my day to take a 1-2 hour lunch every Wednesday.  Plus we hang out as a family for hours on Sunday night.  Plus I eat out a time or two during the week with my mom or friends and that's not good for my health.  But it was awesome hanging out with Benjamin and the Vores on Thursday!

Kyla, Brit, Me, Benja, Joseph, Dad, Kerry, Bri, & Ang

 

Benja

We like this guy!  Benjamin served well in the Little Rock, Arkansas mission.  Welcome Home!

Ang w/ her baby boy.

The airport group.  Back row-ish: Grandma and Grandpa Honey, Brian, Emily Martin, Joseph, Laurel and David King, Me  Middle-ish: Charity, Benja, David Martin, CJ King, Ethan McKown, Grandpa Vore, Ang, Chris, Lauron, Adam, Amberly Jackson  Front: Kate Martin, Gram, Isaiah Martin, Haley Jackson, Kyla and Ryan McKown

The original Vore fam minus Erin.  Lauron (15), Chris, Benja, Joseph, Ang, Charity & Adam

We love this cousin.  He is a year older than Brinley and three years older than Parker.  He and Brinley were besties until they were around six or seven.  Benjamin paved the way for Parker at Permian.  He and Parker's paths didn't really overlap but they participated in football and track and hung out many a Sunday night and during family vacations together.

Gram and Gramp welcoming another missionary home from serving.  They are great to support in so many ways.  

After the airport, we gathered at the Vores for his release.  It was great to visit a little more with him.  They also brought in Rosas (Mexican food) which was delish.

The kids started school this week and so neither were at the airport but Aub was able to come by after volleyball practice.