Waterford always starts the day after Labor Day. That extra week of summer was great this year because we were all able to help my brother Matt and his family move into their new house. They have moved here from Pittsburgh and we are so excited to have them living close by! But really, the summer started to feel long (for all of us) and so the boys were pretty ready for school to start. This year Elliot is in the 10th grade and Clark is in the 7th grade.
The time finally came for Tess to leave the MTC and head off to Poland. She got to call us from the airport in Salt Lake and for a few more minutes from JFK airport. It was fun to talk to her – she was excited to be on her way, but she was understandably a bit anxious about the whole thing. It was wonderful the next day when we got the e-mail and photos from President Engbjerg It felt good to see a smiling Tess with all the other missionaries having arrived safely at the Warsaw airport. She stayed at the mission home for a couple of days to recover from jet lag and then traveled down to Katowice with her new companion, Sister Rouse. We have received a couple of e-mails from her and she sounds upbeat with a little underlying anxiety about the language, food, etc. I'm sure with prayers and faith that she will adjust well.
In last month's update we shared some photos of a cute family we know that lives in Barcelona Spain. Well, we knew Marta was planning a Madrid temple trip with her family and that she had asked the mission president for permission to visit Phillip for a few minutes. We also e-mailed him thinking that if he understood that this would probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity, that he might give them permission, but he said no and quoted the rules from the handbook. So we were a bit disappointed, but were obviously willing to be obedient. Well, we all followed the rules, the mission president included, but then Heavenly Father said yes to all of us and organized the whole thing with amazing detail! Marta and Pere arrived in Madrid on Monday and took a package for Phillip with a cake, other treats and a tie to his Branch President in Pinto, who gave it to Phillip. The rest of the week Marta and Pere took turns spending mornings and afternoons working in the temple while the other one was outside the temple with their kids. That Thursday when they were both outside the temple making the switch, a group of missionaries started coming out of the Stake Center to go to lunch in the MTC cafeteria. Unbeknownst to them, Phillip was at a Zone Conference with a visiting authority and he "happened" to be headed to lunch when Marta spotted him and called to him. They were able to visit for a few brief minutes and take a few pictures. To top it off, that day Phillip had decided to wear the tie they had given him in the package earlier that week, so Marta got to see him wearing the tie! It was a teary experience for all of us, as we realized again that the Lord hears and answers our prayers and that he is absolutely in the details of our lives, especially when we are obedient.
After about three years of dealing with water leaking through our kitchen windows, we were finally able to find a good contractor to help us solve the problem. It turns out that it was really our bedroom window above the kitchen window that was actually leaking. Apparently it had not been installed properly and when we would have a driving rain, our kitchen window would start to leak. So we decided to get new bedroom windows and of course this time they were installed properly and one week later the whole project was put to a test with a major rainstorm. No leaking! Wahoo! And just in time too...I was starting to get used to the look of beach towels on my kitchen window sills – scary.
It has probably been about 18 years or so since we have done any canning. With a big family it didn't really make economical sense for us to buy fruit and can it when we could buy it cheaper by the case at the case lot sale every year. However, we all know that store bought peaches can't really compare to home bottled peaches and this year I had the sudden urge to can peaches. Apparently I am feeling autumnal, because I also jumped at the chance to learn how to make and bottle applesauce and not only that...I begged some zucchini from a neighbor and have made a couple of batches of zucchini bread. I know...a bit much. Now I'm starting to get excited about baking with pumpkin!