Duty Neglected!

Life tends to get crazy and out of control from time to time, I just have gone through one of those times and completely neglected this site. Luckily, I still remembered to write to Dayne.
Dayne is doing Ok. He tends to get frustrated at times when he would like to work harder than they do. He also seems to be in a more difficult area where finding people to teach is even a challenge. He says that he can't take pictures because the area is too dangerous to take his camera into. Thank goodness he doesn't live in that area! His letter last week focused on a discussion they had with an inactive member and his girlfriend. It was a very good experience and was quite serendipitous as a man they didn't know flagged them down and took them there.
In his previous letter he was talking about a greenie and described some of his area, "Elder andros didn't really like Argentina at first ha ha, its a
good thing he isn't in my area or else he would have gone home. He couldn't believe that there were stripped cars burnt on the side of the road. Here people steal cars, strip them, then light them on fire. In my area i see crazy things every day.." Wow, a far cry from where most of us live. He hasn't had any great funny stories lately, I am waiting for tomorrow's with great anticipation.
Dayne has begun his fifth month, ironically it is his dad who is keeping track. I'm sure the blessings are there, but I miss him terribly. Boy do I love to teach and never would I deny him of that experience.
I hope to be back soon and climb on my soap box! Stay tuned...

Update for week of 9/28

Dayne's letter this week brought back many memories for me. I hope that this will get read and that someone, somewhere, will learn something from his words. Dayne's own words say it best, so I will paste them in a moment; but first of all I of course need to add my own commentary. My biggest shock is that Dayne is being made fun of as he has always been the king of cool, second of all, why in heavens name are you elders and prospective elders out there if it isn't to work diligently ( see D&C 4) and do the Savior's work? You have been called to a sacred calling and it needs to be taken seriously.

I absolutely know what I am talking about as the summer of '85 in Rome saw it's share of rule breaking. Luckily I was blessed with a tender mercy, because I too like to have fun, and was not invited to anything due to a companion situation. What a blessing that was. It still makes me feel sick to think how I would have felt had I participated. This is a very serious work that can be done with a degree of fun; the trick is to keep your eye "single to the glory of God."

(Dayne) "As far as the work in Argentina, it is tough but rewarding. I can really feel that i am being blessed and Heavenly Father is helping me. I am trying to be 100 percent obedience so I am able to have the spirit and find the people that are ready to receive our Heavenly Fathers gospel. It's not easy because not many missionaries have the same desire unfortunately. When i first got here i was devastated to see what went on in the mission. My mtc teacher gave me advice before i left, he told me I´m a natural leader and I cant be afraid to be the best missionary I possibly can. It is really tough though but through the scriptures i find strength. That is why the scriptures are so important in our lives and you all should read them every day. They help us through our problems and we can feel our Heavenly Fathers and our Saviors love for them. I really look up to Nephi because he was the younger brother and he wasn´t afraid to be too righteous. He also obeyed no matter what his brothers did to him. He was really blessed and the spirit was strong with him. I get made fun of by others missionaries but its going to be worth it in the end. I've been blessed and Heavenly Father has been humbling them. In the MTC we watched a re run talk that i´ll never forget. I can´t remember who it was ha ha but it was a twelve apostle and i have who it is in my notes. In the talk he said salvation isn´t cheap and its not meant to be. A mission isn´t easy and its not meant to be. It was even tough for the Savior to upon all of our sins and sorrows but he did. This talk gives me a lot of strength and I´m really trying to just focus on my investigators. THis talk applies to all of us though. Life isn´t easy and its not meant to be. Salvation isn´t cheap. Whenever we need help with life I know we can always turn to our Savior Jesus Christ because he has felt everything we have gone through and he is helping me a lot in my mission."

And now for the humor, "I only have one funny story to tell you about this week. It was my companions birthday and for his birthday we went to a members house and ate cake and empinadas. After we ate he went outside and they threw buckets of nasty crap all over him. It was funny and disgusting ha ha i was just glad it wasn´t me.
The members here aren´t quite used to my sarcasm yet. I was at the bishops house for lunch the the bishops wife was listening to me read out loud in the Book of Mormon to help me with my pronunciation. At the end of the chapter she always asks me what i read. There was one chapter that was only six verses and i had no idea what it said. As always she asked "what did you read?" I replied by saying "I read six verses." she just sat there looking at me and didn´t really understand until we explained to her. I don´t know if sarcasm exists in argentina ha ha."

Update for the week of September 21

Dayne's letters are getting shorter and shorter, but that's OK because he seems to pack a lot into them. One of my favorite times of day was when Dayne would come home and share with me some of the funny things that happened during the day, that chat is what I miss the most now. He hasn't had any funny stories to regale me with, however I received one on Monday. In his own words: "I have some good stories this week, the first one is amazing! It was raining really hard one day so the streets were pure mud. One truck slid into the zanca and we tried pushing his truck out. My companion was pushing and slipped in the mud and fell in the zanca, his whole body went under and the funny part is that a guy peed in it right before he fell! As he started to slip there wasn't anything i could do besides get a big smile on my face and watch him fall. I really don´t think the zancas are the sewers because i don't see poop in them but all of the sinks are hooked up to them and they are full of rotten water. he was pretty upset and I couldn't stop laughing. He didn't appreciate it but i didn't care. We went home early that night because his whole body was soaked, ha ha."
Well, that was a good laugh at the expense of Elder Elder; I hope he was able to get his clothes white again!

Dayne is getting used to the food and had to eat something he thought he would never have to eat again...gnocchi! I served them to my family once and he didn't care too much for them. They are little boiled Italian potato cakes and they are yummy! Of course I always eat them with sauce.

I say good night and GOOD LUCK to Elder Elder! That son of mine can be motivated when he wants to get things done. Actually I just wanted to say that again, Elder Elder!

Update on Dayne

I'm a bit slow getting this up as it was last Monday and Tuesday that I heard from Dayne. His 2 letters were more like "notes", but it's good to hear from him whatever we can get. Here are some excerpts from his letters:
All of the argentines have a hard time saying my name and so do the other elders in our apartment so they all call me tatty. It sounds pretty funny with the spanish accent. Nothing funny has really happened yet. It was a great week with a lot of success. We found seventeen new investigators and got two more baptism dates. For a district activity today we watched madagascar two and played soccer for an hour. It was fun playing soccer because the churchs have cement soccer courts that we play on. I did a companion exchange with the zone leaders and went to another area. it was fun because the part of the mission i went to was nice and actually a city and not dirt. I enjoy the little stinky shacks and dirt roads though. Its fun to see frogs hopping around as we walk to the bus stop. All the kids go through the garbage out in the fields looking for cool things to play with. The area that im in is really ugly. I hear that other parts of argentina are super pretty. The food here doesnt have much flavor so i dont know if dad would be able to survive here without having any salt on his food. I love it here and the members are amazing. I love going to church because the spirit is so strong and there is actually an argentine that speaks pretty good english. I can understand most things in the lessons but cant say much. I just sit there and look cute and occasionally bear my testimony and say something. i need to go so see you later!"
"Hey! I made it back to the computer today and the computer screen is bouncing around like crazy and I think I’m getting hypnotized. We just go to random computer places and pay to use a computer. I don’t know my physical address because we have the mail sent to the mission home. I think we get it once a week so you can send it there if you want to send me random things. I don’t think you will have to worry bout me getting fat here, ha ha, the food isn’t the best and the cookies that everyone loves here, I don’t like. Luckily there is a store with American food like peanut butter. It was 20 pesos for a jar but it was worth it because that is all I eat. ? I was just thinking about the day we first got here. The first thing elder coats said was that this place looks like it is from the movie I am legend and to my surprise that is one of the nicest areas. It is warming up here and I think summer is going to be miserable. I am loving it here though and it’s going to be weird coming back to America when its I’ll be so used to Argentina. It was cool, last week I saw a dog that had a tumor in its chest that hung down a foot and was the size of baseball. It almost dragged on the ground and just had long stretchy skin up to its chest. I try not to touch the dogs much because a lot of them have flees. We work hard out here. we don’t have a dinner break so we get back to the pench at nine thirty eat, plan, and get to bed."
It sounds like he's getting along quite well and adapting, except for the food that is. We miss him, but are glad that he is serving the Lord and his children.
There should be another letter tomorrow.

The first day of no school

I think that everyone is now back in school, my 13 year old daughter was one of the last, going back today. It was a different kind of milestone for my friends (if that's OK if I call you friends)the Frandsen's, as today was the first day that their little princess did not go back to school. I don't know why I was so touched by that little girl and why my heart is so broken over the grief and despair of a mother who has lost a child. It's a pain that I hope to never feel; nonetheless, it touches me deeply. Vittoria was the subject of my blog on August 21st, the day that I found out about her death. The poor little thing, not even eight, had been through so many surgeries that it was almost routine; except that this time father wanted her home.

We go through life not really knowing what each person we interact with in a day is feeling. We must be kind, lend a smile, somehow uplift everyone with whom we come in contact with each day, for a smile or a kind word is all that I have that may give my friends, or anyone else that is suffering, a glimpse of a smile on their faces. It may be that the biggest sourpuss or the one with the meanest disposition is the one who is suffering the most. Put self aside and reach out to lift and brighten the lives of others. I had no idea what to say today, even felt as if I was an intrusion on the day when I phoned; hopefully I was able to lift, maybe just a bit, even in my blundering way. May we search for peace because life is too short.

Woo Hoo, I got an email!

Oh yea, I feel lucky today, except I still don't feel well. I certainly didn't do ANY labor today.

Dayne arrived and is doing well, the food all has an Italian twist; except my pasta always came with sauce, not grease, lol, poverino! At least the Tattersall's always get to the bathroom first! He said,"I´ve been here a week and it has been really good, and nothing like i expected. Let me give you a visual of what its like. Close your eyes and imagine nice water fountains off the sides of the streets, nice brick homes and a nice clear view of the ocean. Do you have a good visual? Well i regret to inform you that it is the oppositte of that. I teach people that live in little shacks along dirt roads, trash everywhere, and open sewers (zancas). It reminds
me exactly of the shanty towns they built i think in world war two. It has to be the
dirtiest place i have seen in my life, but i love it. The name of the area is something like Thomas Flores. I don´t know about when they starting building the area but there sure aren´t flowers now. The people here have absolutely nothing. They are way humble and will do anything for the missionaries. You could consider them well off or wealthy if they have a cement path to their door, which isn´t many. After my mission we should move down here ha ha just kidding. . Luckily we don´t live in that area. We take a twenty minute bus ride from our decent pench(apartment) into an area then we walk in to where we teach."

It sounds like Napoli; hey, I loved Napoli, but the stench, rats and piles of garbage aren't things you can ignore. The language is the usual, you get to your destination and wonder what they taught you in the MTC. At least the children get a laugh at his expense! He thinks it funny that all they have to do is bend over to reach and the dogs run off, he's never seen so many; just as Pavlov's dogs learned to associate, these dogs have learned that the reach means thrown rocks.

It was so good to hear from him, although a physical address would have been nice. If anyone wants to write, he can be reached at dayne.m.tattersall@mylds.net. I'll update when I get a physical address.

Ciao!

Fifth disease

The fifth disease, that is all it is called, as in the fifth disease of childhood; and I have it! Granted, I don't have a doctor's opinion yet, but I'm sure. The swelling, itching, sniffles, itching, stomach ache, itching and sunburn although I haven't been in the sun since Wednesday, all symptoms. The ironic thing is that as in other things, you are contagious before you know you even have it. One thing I know is that I haven't been this miserable in a very long time! I need to take benedryll just to sleep.

Now that we have focused on me, we can talk about Dayne. He left the MTC almost a week ago Monday. He arrived safely in Argentina where he is in a "good area" with a "good Elder". I would feel better about the area if I knew the statement wasn't just rhetoric. I'm sure Napoli was a "good area" also. Anyway, his trainer is Elder Elder. I had to enlarge the pic just to make sure it wasn't a typo, we could imagine Dayne going 'no way, no way' after hearing who his companion is. I'm sure he's having a great time introducing him. I'm anxiously awaiting pday in hopes that he can email. The picture with the mission president and his wife is in the slide show.

Now I am off to take my benedryl.

Back to School

I can't believe that summer is over, it began with Dayne home from school and it will end with him arriving in Argentina. I should have more news from him tomorrow.

I spent my last day of summer with my hydro training friends in the rain, no laying out the morning of Tuesday the 25th. Of course it cleared up by afternoon when I was well on my way to the days duties.

I work in the Riverton high school counciling center. What a crazy day it was, the students have weeks before school to get schedules adjusted and yet it seems they all waited till today. With a school of close to 3000 students, you can't expect much on the first day but mayhem.

I will hopefully get back tomorrow, but then again, Friday is a party for Taylor and she is working me pretty hard to get ready for it.

Ciao!

ps; i did receive notice that Dayne's friend Andrew Carver made it safely to Guatemala.

A sad day

I received some very sad news today, a little girl that attends my daughters school went in at the end of July for routine heart surgery just as she does every summer. However, this time her little heart just couldn't pull through. After additional surgeries to stop leakage, the little angel died Sunday. The news hit me very hard, when I last saw her I had no idea that was to be it. I had a special attraction to her from the beginning, she had something that drew me in. Then I found out she spoke Italian, better than me, and the bond was forged. I had the priveldge of substituting her class many times. Heaven has gianed another angel as we on earth are left to mourn. May God bless you, my friends the Frandsen family as we all feel your loss. A blog of Vittoria's fight can be found at http://vittoriascorner.blogspot.com

#%*! A wasted 4 hours!

There are times when a person has what seems to be a great idea. I had a surprise in the mail today in the form of a letter and pictures! As a result of trying to share them with the world, I wasted 4 hours of my life, with only 3 posted pictures to show for it. Who's to tell me that my pictures can't be found because they are private, when I have them listed as public! Well, a lesson learned? doubtfully.

As you can see from the new pictures, Dayne is short. Well, we all knew that anyway; you can see that Dayne is finding a way to entertain himself, even if it means opening the Christmas presents that I meticulously wrapped and made penguins with dates on them so there was a gift a day in December! Never mind mom's hard work, glad you like the rubber duck son!

Well, it's off to take care of the rest of my life which I have neglected all evening.

I'm back!

Wow, it's crazy how life can get so busy. Dayne has just over 2 weeks left in the MTC, time started going a bit faster when I quit waiting for him to come home! He says the language is coming along, and this is really crazy, his friend from high school, Kirt Davis, just received his call to the same mission! I think he will be there in October or November. His life long friend from the neighborhood just received his mission call to Russia and it includes at least one of the Stans.

Today we went to the farewell of the son of family friends. Dayne gets to meet them curbside so now Steve is bragging because he gets to see dayne and we don't.

So Gordon went hunting this weekend and I have been going crazy with unfinished projects around the house; I did some painting! I was up until almost dawn trying to get everything done. I painted a wall a lovely creme shade, put up a curtain rod and put up the drapes that have been waiting patiently to be hung for almost a year. I wanted to get my table up and I didn't get to the clostet, but I did clean and the paint/drapery job looks awesome. Thanks Rhonda for your help. Next up: put up the table, paint the North wall sage.

Is there any lipstick on my teeth?

Dayne is doing well, not many changes since last week. He did say the others don't appreciate his "immodesty", I guess they were never athletes. He says that he speaks Spanish so well people ask to see his green card. I hope the people that associate with him appreciate his humor as much as I do because I miss it terribly!

I was once told that you know a true friend because they will tell you if you have lipstick on your teeth. Well, that has been upped one by my dear friend Jean from exercise class. Four of us were lounging around the pool after class when all of a sudden Deanne yelled out, a bee! She had felt a pinch on her skin. It got my attention because the gal next to me was stung one day in class. Jean meekly confessed that it had been her and not a bee. She had gotten hold of what she thought was a string and pulled, thus causing Deanne to cry out. It was a long hair growing on her back! We had a good long laugh over that, and declared that only a true friend will tell you that you have a long hair on your back, or anywhere on your body for that matter. Guys, or anyone else that doesn't get this, believe me, it's a huge issue with us women!

Finally a delightful Sunday!

Today was about as perfect as a Sunday could get. After the meetings I was able to relax until it was time to fix dinner. Dinner was swift with no complaints, just compliments! Then a pleasant evening getting projects done. What peace! At one point we were all in the family room together, doing our own things, enjoying one another's company. Oh, did I mention that Taylor was the only child at home today and Gordon was in an exceptionally good mood? I think I will savor this day for a few more minutes before I turn in for the day. Hello Monday!

And we hit a month!

I didn't think it would ever happen, I've lost track of how long Dayne has been out. I still miss him a lot, it's just much more bearable now. They are still having trouble getting visas and some of the elders are getting reassigned. He has a new calling, that of District Mother, in his own words, "My calling is the district mother. I tuck kids in at night and tell everyone bedtime

stories. The stories are amazing because they just give me a random thing to talk about

and i just tell the story without thinking about it so they are pretty amazing". I'm

glad to see that my Dayne is still alive and well. He has a terrible itch to get away

to the mountains, but sadly, they are on campus!

My topic of a friend for life, will have to wait another day, I'm so tired that I cannot

keep my eyes open!

Another week gone by...

I never thought it would happen, I have actually lost count of the weeks Dayne has been gone. He has had My calling is the district mother. I tuck kids in at night and tell everyone bedtime stories. The stories are amazing because

they just give me a ranother pday and I'm thinking it has been about a month. My dayne is still the same, even back to his original weight. He reports that he has a new calling, that of district mother.

A moment of Joy

Just as I was missing my son terribly, a neighbor dropped by with a picture of him with her son. There is no better gift a mother could receive, he looked happy and that is what matters. One reason I was missing him so much was because today a group of friends and I from our water aerobics class went with our Russian friend Jenny, who is also in the class, to the Oquirrh Mountain LDS temple open house (SLC UT). There were close to a dozen sister (girl/21 years and older) missionaries at the open house. I have a soft spot in my heart for them because almost 27 years ago, August 4th to be exact, I left home for my mission in Rome Italy. I spoke to all the sisters finding out where they were from, how long they had been here, did they know English before and so on. I guess that got my emotions going or something. I even had to stop in to the work place of a friend of my son's to somehow touch a part of life before I dropped him off, thanks for putting up with me Scottie! It was a great afternoon and I hope that poor Jenny's brain didn't explode with all the information input, we love you Jenny! I think we did our job in educating her about Utah.

Like the man who built his house upon the sand...

Picking up and adding to a phrase of my son, on a day that was hotter that Gwen Stephani and Gavin Rossdale, I chose to have a yard sale. Yes, I was foolish just like that man who built upon the sand. Notice that I said "I", when you and you alone are the one to decide something, the responsibiltiy lies with you and no one (should they?) else feels any responsibility. After a hot day, and let's not forget the rain, it's no fun to clean up alone.

I also haven't grasped the idea of a yard SALE. My almost 13 year old was frustrated with me because every time someone came up that looked like they could use a little boost, I gave items too them free of charge. I'm very quick with my handy dandy calculator, so try as you might, even if you read this blog, you will never know who you are; except maybe the cute little boy who wanted a gift for his mother. I gave him a small bottle of body wash and you have never seen anyone so excited. OK so I wasn't meant for the dog eat dog world, but the infectious smile of a child is worth more to me than any money is.

Dayne reported in on Thursday as anticipated, only I haven't had a chance to write. He had the opportunity to teach his not so knowledgeable about girls companion, all about them. There might be a problem with the group getting their visas, regardless of what happens, I feel that it's all in the Lord's hands. We might not know why certain things happen, it's only at the end of whatever the situation is, that we can look back with wisdom. He also had to teach volunteers the lessons, not fun. As I look back on all that was accomplished in two months it's quite amazing, but while you're in the midst of it, it seems like you will never catch on or get it right. He reports that he is no longer allowed to play basketball because of his amazing skills, this week slam dunking the ball one handed after a spectacular 360. He also bore his testimony in spanish, well done son, bravo.

"quiero dar mi testimonio. el evangelio de Jesucristo
es verdadero. Yo se que jesucristo camino la
tierra y murio por mis pecados. La expiacion es real.
Yo se que el padre celestial escucha mis araciones.
A traves de la expiacion, familias pueden ser eternas.
Yo se que thomas s monson es el profeta verdadero
hoy. My spanish isn't the best yet so the conjugations
might be wrong but if you can't understand it ask ron
if you can borrow baxter."

If you didn't understand that last line,
watch Ron Burgandy:Anchorman

buenas noches!

You haven't changed a bit...

This is the blog I didn't' get written the other day; a friend and I, along with our daughters had a very long day yesterday thanks to a bite from a ground squirrel. Although for me it ended up a good thing, I felt bad for my 12 year old because we were 5 hours later than I had said. She was good about it anyway. I need to back up a week or so ago when an old college friend found me on facebook. We had gone our separate ways years ago and she was wary of starting up anything new when she saw conservative on my profile (can you say sick of taxes!). I could not convince her, no matter how hard I tried, that I was the same old girl underneath, actually a square peg in a round world hole. The encounter with the furry little critter brought me to the Children's hospital in town where I had just found out my friend has a coffee cart. I got to the third floor just in time and it only took a few seconds for her to recognize me. I just happened to be dressed funky (retro vintage) that day, like we did in college. She realized that I was the same after all and despite our different paths, the love and friendship we had is still alive. If you read this, I love you Annie and thank you squirrel!

Hotter than...

It is so hot today and I am so miserable that it got me to thinking, unless hell really does freeze over some day, I better live a good life because I imagine fire and brimstone is at least as hot as the weather today. Only good works for me!

It has been such a crazy week that I have hardly had a chance to think about Dayne, but I did anxiously await his letter. I told him in one letter not to stress out too badly because once you get to your country you realize that they are speaking something else anyway. So my advice was to work hard, but don't beat yourself up if you're not as fast learning things. I guess this was his reply, he said he wasn't going to learn Spanish anymore, he was going to teach and convert by his good looks. He told me his new favorite word which has a connection to a family joke. He also likes gym period because basketball is so fun; he towers over everyone and even slam dunks the ball! Do you know my son? He's a 5'8" Tattersall. Need I say more?

"Is that you Baxter? Bark once if you're in Milewakee".

Who doesn't love a computer?

I decided to tackle this topic today when my husband decided to write my son a letter...

A friend of mine who ran a computer magazine once told me that since your ordinary guy can no longer tinker with car engines, the computer has taken it's place. Well, I'm very confident in saying that my husband never would have been deft at car tinkering. He sits down at my son's lap top to write the letter; of course, I have learned how to do everything myself but I must walk him through every step. One thing I didn't mention was that if you rest the heal of your hand on the computer it will switch pages on you, minor detail. I hear him hen pecking away and what seems like forever later, when he should be about done I hear yelling. He had rested his hand and then instead of reversing he x'd. I know because I did it also, but at the beginning! Oh my, the entire letter lost! Much to my amazement however; he jumped right back on and wrote again. That was a proud moment!

I love computers and am lost without one, but my husband would like a world without them. then at least he could relax some!

Computers...worth it, but sometime a pain!

My computer has been a thorn in my side for some time now as the DVD component stopped working. I finally ordered one and tried to install it, ha! no one told me about that little thingy ma jig! Luckily a friends's son came to the rescue. With the dvd up and running i discovered that my stopzilla had not been up for a while, thus the snails pace. I have upwards of 20 trojans on the thing and need to wait until tomorrow to fix it. I did finally get one thing done which has been a great frustration. Tommorrow we will hopefully be fast again. You don't realize how intertwined out lives are with computers til we are without them.

Last week was one big frustration. I am looking forward to a fruitful and somewhat frutration free week. I hopefully took it all this past week. Clouds rolled in Sat. and it has litterally been a big pain. P-days are Thursday, so I won't be hearing much until then except what is passed along to me.

Tuesday is Bastille day and I will wait until then to share my thoughts on the subject of freedom.

Until then, adieu.

What you see is not always what you get!

I was musing today (something my husband says is dangerous) about something a young girl at the check out and her friend had said to me my last night in England. She said I was so lucky to be going home and when I asked her why she said it was because everyone was nice in the States. I asked if everyone wasn't nice there and I was told no, they are mean. Of course this is a generalization, but I think I know what she meant. My friend who moved there has had some character building experiences and i think the difference is that they are always nice to your face, but you don't know who actually might be harboring a grudge or two. I found everyone to be quite friendly, but isn't that the beauty of visiting and not living somewhere.

My Dvd drive is now up and running thanks to a friend's son, yeah! You dont' realize how much you rely upon it until it doesn't work!

PS

If anyone knows how to get the gadgets to work, please let me know!

Musings on motherhood...

Today as my husband attended a funeral for a friend's mother, it got me to thinking about why as mothers we raise our children the way we do and is there a correct way. Once at a family party for this same friend's birthday, I was speaking to a nephew of his who had to get himself up for school, now that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard of one, and basically be responsible for himself. He was also failing whatever grade he was in at the jr. high. At the other end of the Spectrum you have the"helicopter" parent whose children don't fail no matter what the parent must do. I have also known these parents and the children almost always end up failing sooner or later. Is the answer the same as in most things, moderation? I have done my best to support and encourage my children without doing for them. So far, the oldest two (Dayne is #2) have been successful so far. the most fun I have had is being involved with them in high school. Now I must work there to get my fill. Number three child on the other hand, gives me grief no matter what I do. So maybe in the end it's pure luck!

A few things to report...

I finally recieved a letter, two in fact, by way of email. Unfortunately in order to forward them, gordon insisted I edit them. I say everyone knows Dayne well enough to read all. He is a character. He likes the food as much as i did and said some elders have put on 10 in one week. he has been eating fruits and salads and says he would rather be in Argentina eating old snake from a tree (ask me when you see mme next). He has been putting oranges in the other boy's pillows, one elder slept with it 2 nights! Probably was wonderign why he didn't sleep well. He seems to be doing well and enjoying it. I have been too busy the past few days to miss him too much. I'll be back...

Empty Mailbox

I am a sad mother this morning. I wish I had something to fill this blog, about my son at least. what I should be doing is calling banks to find out my balances. ouch. That one is not difficult to put off. Well I must go and hopefully next post I will have something to talk about.

When is P-Day?

Today marks a full week of Dayne's missionary life. So then I ask myself the question, when is p-day? I recieved a forwarded letter today from a friend of his, but nothing from Dayne. what could he be thinking??? Doesn't he know that an email goes home every pday...mothers are waiting for them! Pday is over at 5, so he better have a very good excuse.

I think back 25 years ago when my mom had to let me go, she had no choice in the matter as I did what I wanted. It is so difficult to let your little boy go, really, isn't that how we mothers still see them; I can't imagine having to send a daughter off. I'm sure that I carelessly forgot to mail a letter here and there, as there was no such thing as the world wide web back then and pc's were just appearing.

If anyone sees my son, tell him to write home! I would at least like to get his email!!!!

Yeah a letter!

I finally received a letter; it also had some writing from day 2 so I think someone didn't get it in the mail too quickly. I guess after one day there isn't much to say, but I do know that the Cafe Rio burrito he had as a last meal made it very unpleasant for his companion! His companion is an Elder Pearson from Pleasant Grove. In his group is a boy from Riverton who he didn't know, but he knew Dayne, awkward. He leaves for Argentina on August 31 st. Well that's about all he wrote, except the P.S. that said he should have listened to his mother! It just makes more work for me now.

I'm still working on the slide show...fell asleep while trying last night, enjoy the sights till it's up.

Sunday Afternoon

I'm getting along, my little friend migraine is with me. I am told that I will receive the letter tomorrow...the holiday got in the way. I think I will fix dinner and sleep today.

Title of Liberty

i saw a banner on a home the other day that said:

LIBERTY
RIP
1776-2009

It gave me something to think about, something my Romanian friends saw coming from the beginning, after living under communism, you never let your guard down. I love you Polipovs, thank you for teaching me the meaning of patriotism!

Happy fourth of July

It's been a busy day, breakfast at the park, poolside sun, bbq with family, very anti climatic. I am still waiting for some sign that my son is alive; a neighbor did see him from far away. Who knows, maybe that's where Elvis is hiding out!

Okay, now it 's really time to go to bed. Gordon wants to know what I do up so late on the computer...I guess now he can see for himself!

I am still waiting for Dayne to come home and tell me about his day. I think it's time I faced reality!