Mother worry . . . . irrational or not?

So, last week when Brandon emailed from his mission in Ukraine he said he would be transferring to a different area of the Ukraine in a few days.  He forgot to tell us where his new area would be, so we were left wondering for a week.  In that letter he also talked about how bitterly cold it suddenly had become:

"Well, this week suddenly it got WAY cold, way fast!  For most of the winter it's been hovering right around freezing, but this last week it shot down to -13 degrees  all of a sudden!  I stopped looking at the thermometers after that, for fear that it would get lower.  It's pretty hard to get out the door, motivation-wise, when you lose feeling in your face and knuckles after a few minutes outdoors!"

I started looking up the weather in Ukraine, and it was, indeed, crazy cold.  Like -10 to -15 during the day, with wind chill putting it down to -24 or so.  Ok, so then I started to worry about my boy.  I really have worried very little about him on his mission.  He is doing great, I know he is where he needs to be right now, and I know he has the Lord's protection.  But, my understanding about transfers is that he would need to take all his worldly possessions down to a train station, wait for a train, and then ride to somewhere else in the Ukraine by himself, where he would need to walk to his new apartment.  All in the bitter, bitter cold. My mother worries started to escalate.  I said many prayers over several days prior to the transfer (so did the rest of the family) and the day he was transferring I pretty much had a day-long conversation with Heavenly Father as I went about the business of my day. I asked that Brandon be safe and not be adversely affected by the cold, that he would find his new home without trouble, and would quickly settle into his new area.

So, it was with great anticipation that I waited for his next email to arrive - early Monday morning. I actually woke up during the night to check the email to make sure all was well.

And he, in typical teenage boy fashion, he pretty much blew off my concerns and answered none of my questions.  How did he get from Lugansk to Donetsk - public transportation, car, etc?  He didn't say.  He did say, "you should know that transportation is really well organized for transfers and you don't have to worry about that."  Okay - I get it.  I'll try not to worry about it anymore, because someone over there in Ukraine is figuring it all out for the missionaries.

As for the cold, this is what he said, "Yes, it's cold!  I need to buy a scarf today.  First time in my life!  It's been good, though.  Bundled up right, you don't really feel much of it.  A good coat does wonders."  And, we did find out that his transfer was to the mission office in Donetsk, where he and his companion work every Tues, Wed., and Thurs. doing projects for the mission president in the office. So, instead of being outside on the streets from 7 a.m. to evening every day like he was in his last area, his outside time is more limited.  I did feel better. I even felt kind of silly for worrying about it.

Then this morning Dan was on the computer and he saw a news article on MSN.  "Uh oh," he said.  "I'm not sure you want to read this."  The title of the news article is "Dozens freeze to death as extreme cold grips Eastern Europe."  And the story is mostly about Ukraine, where people have been found dead on the streets from the cold.  This is the link to the story.

So, yeah.  Maybe I'm not so crazy to worry after all. And yes, Brandon, perhaps buying a scarf would be a good idea!  But I will trust that you will be safe and will continue to solve your challenges yourself.  But that doesn't mean I will stop praying with all the energy of my heart for your protection.

Toothless

Guess who lost his first tooth when we were in Utah? Yep, that's our cute little Joseph, who has reached that monumental life transition of losing the first tooth.  It wiggled out in Utah, when he was getting ready to drive to church with Grandma and Grandpa (Dan and I were at the Tabernacle Choir broadcast).

That night he very painstakingly wrote a letter to the tooth fairy.  
 

"Dear tooth fairy   this is my first lost tooth and I whant two dollers  I hope you injoy your gob (job)  love Joseph"

The letter and the boy are so darn cute that the tooth fairy came through with the exorbitant gift of two whole dollars.  What are you going to do with your newfound wealth, Joseph?  (He is actively wiggling out the second tooth, because he can see the great money-making potential in this gig.)

Happy things

Things that made me smile this week:

• When the sun came out all day yesterday and the skies were bright blue after it rained all last week. I swear I felt 10 pounds lighter all day in the sunshine, I couldn't keep a grin off my face. It didn't matter that it was only 40 degrees - the sunshine made all the difference. (Sunshine is always better after a period of rain).
• Watching Bailey make her first ever basket during a game in the YW church basketball game.  More on this later . . .
• Spending two hours talking with Aubrey while she did an expert job of curling my hair with a wand curler.

•  The moment when Joseph mistakenly called me "Mrs. Clarkson," the name of his 1st grade teacher. All of our 1st graders have done that - and they all have idolized their 1st grade teacher.
• Making cookies with Joseph and letting him do all the "hard cooking work."
• Reading Brandon's letter about how warm his Russian coat is - "I could be naked under that coat, if that didn't violate certain modesty codes."  Oh, Brandon - even from way across the world you still make me smile!
• The chance I had to re-paint a wall in our bonus room this week. I love painting a wall - it makes me feel very zen.
• The moment when one of the kids said something and Dan and I responded with the exact same sentence. We laughed - we obviously think alike.

I'm sure there are more, but these are a few moments I want to remember.

Uhaul Adventure

Oh, we certainly know how to have fun in the Porter family.  What could be as fun as riding all around Portland in a Uhaul truck?

A few weeks ago for our date night Dan and I drove all the way to the biggest Costco in the world (seriously) in Hillsboro, Oregon. We've been looking for a few furniture pieces - mainly kid's bedroom furniture. While there, I was really taken with a particular leather couch.  I've looked at leather couches for at least ten years, but this one seemed to be just right.  Not so soft that it would scratch easily, not too plasticky looking, comfortable yet tailored.  We also found a nice TV cabinet for the bonus room and had an impetuous moment and decided to get both.

And yet, there we were 45 minutes from home, with only our van, which would definitely not be able to carry our new furniture purchases.  

So we bought the furniture and Costco agreed to hold it for up to 24 hours.  We strategized on the way home. The next day was exceedingly busy . . . starting with a 6 a.m. temple trip (Bailey and Tiffany were going), basketball (Dan and Joseph were going), musical theater class for Aubrey, some activity for Bailey (I've forgotten), and an assignment to clean the church. We accomplished most of those things in the morning and then ran down to the Uhaul store to rent a big enough truck. Joseph was pretty excited that there was a seatbelt for him, so he was able to join us for the adventure. 

 

Buying big purchases in Oregon is generally a really good idea for us Washingtonians, as Oregon has no sales tax.  However, any tax savings were entirely negated by the cost of the Uhaul (the initial rental was pretty cheap, but then we had to pay 90 cents a mile - and we had to drive way back to Hillsboro!)  So, in the interest of maximizing the use of our truck rental, my accountant husband thought that we should visit more furniture stores in Portland to look for some other furniture pieces we need. He figured that the more pieces of furniture we found, the better deal the cost of the truck rental would be.  Are you following that accountant's logic?

It was a brilliant plan. Except that furniture shopping for me is about as enjoyable as prying off my fingernails with a knife. It's probably mainly because I really don't like spending money. And furniture is a big expenditure and commitment, so I generally agonize over choosing something I can live with for at least a decade! 

We had a list of a few things we have needed for a few years, but now were becoming urgent as we prepare to move everyone's rooms around (Aubrey will take over Brandon's room, Joseph will take over Aubrey's room).  So I hesitantly agreed to the plan - we would sweep into the furniture stores in Hillsboro with our master plan and list and would emerge victorious, all with minimal emotional trauma. 

So, we bounced and jostled in our Uhaul to Costco, where we loaded up our stuff. Then we followed our GPS to many more furniture stores in the area. Just imagine the look on the faces of the salespeople as we drove up in a huge Uhaul to look at furniture. They probably thought it was their lucky day . . . this family was going to buy out the store and load up their truck. 

We really tried to buy something. We looked and looked, but my dislike for furniture shopping was incredibly compounded by the time pressure of the situation. We couldn't find what we were looking for, and even if we could I doubt that I could have made the decision (because all furniture decision making falls to me - Dan doesn't have any house decorating design sense whatsoever. It's true.)  By the end of the day I was a nervous puddle, whimpering that I didn't even want any furniture - I just wanted to go home and eat chocolate.

Joseph had fun trying out this power-assisted chair at a furniture store.  "Can we buy it, Mom?  It's so cool!"  Yep, Joseph. Maybe when I'm 90 and have lost all sense of pride and style.

So, we didn't buy anything else that day.  But we did get the TV console and couch home.  I can't say much about the console yet - it is still in its box until we reconfigure some things. But the couch is just wonderful.  Exactly what I wanted!  I'm proud of myself for discerning just the right balance of look and comfort for our personal style. I like it so much that Dan talked me into getting the matching love seat to replace a chair we had in the family room. This time we didn't rent a truck . . . . luckily the love seat fit just perfectly in the back of a friend's pickup!

Dan misses having Brandon around to help move furniture. Let's just say that all of the rest of us together can't hold up one end of a couch while Dan holds up the other. Somehow we got the furniture into the garage and house, but it required an emergency call to a friend's husband.

 

And that's how we have fun on a Saturday afternoon here in Vancouver.

New Years Porter Style

 This is how we do New Years:

We invite anyone available to come over - kids are invited, too.

We raid Costco for lots of goodies.
We play games.

We let the kids make a big mess.

We go outside with noisemakers at midnight and wake up the neighborhood.

We love it.

(Bailey and Brandon weren't with us for this New Years Eve - 

Brandon for obvious reasons  - he was partying in the Ukraine. The missionaries were allowed to stay up late and watch "17 Miracles."  

Bailey spent the evening at the youth Multi-Stake dance. She didn't want to go but had a wonderful time.)

Quick trip

On the 29th of December I had the chance to make a short visit to Moses Lake, WA.  (A friend rode with me to keep me company on the 5 1/2 hour car ride. I dropped her off to visit relatives in Tri  Cities.)

It is always nice to return to see the people I love in a place I remember well, but this time I was especially going to visit my Grandpa Palmer, who is very ill.  It was sad to see him in such a weakened state, but wonderful to have a chance to express love in person. It was also great to see Grandma Palmer and help her with some things around the house. My parents and my sister Kara were also there (they had driven from Utah the day that we flew back home after Christmas).

 

While in town we met my Aunt Lora, Uncle Brent, Aunt Hollis, Uncle Barry, their daughter Kendra, and her kids at a famous pizza parlor called Chico's Pizza.  I had forgotten how good it is. Really - the best pizza.

 When we got to Chico's, Kara gave me an awesome "anniversary present" - a maple bar from Safeway and orange Tic Tacs.  It is our own private remembrance . . . . but now I'll share it so it won't be private anymore. When we were kids we would sometimes walk around the town (which consisted of about two streets) on a Saturday, looking through the few stores. We would always end up at Safeway, where we would each buy a maple bar and orange Tic Tacs. Which we would take across the street to the library and eat outside on the bench. After which time we would go inside the library and find a book to read in the big clawfoot bathtub lined with carpet squares. Ah . . . small towns. Simple pleasures, good memories.

 

It was great to see everyone in ML, especially Grandpa and Grandma. It is good to see that Grandpa is at peace and not in a lot of pain right now. I was glad to have a chance to be with him for a bit. Our prayers will continue to be with him.

Check out this fancy restaurant

On our anniversary - the 28th of December - we didn't feel like going out. We had just returned from vacation and were kind of partied out.

Aubrey and Joseph put together a plan to make us dinner - all by themselves! (Bailey was gone at a friend's house).  And they did. While we relaxed in the den, Aubrey ran back and forth with questions . . . "How do you know if something is boiling too hard?" "How high should the stovetop be to cook something sort of cheesy?"  "Which tablecloth can we use?"

Finally we were escorted into the dining room. On the menu: cheese quesadillas, sliced bananas with peanut butter, orange slices, and no bake cookies.

It was a delicious and thoughtful gift given by two amazing kids!

Santa is very accomodating

Thank goodness Santa was willing to work around our crazy travel plans. Because we didn't fly home from Utah until the day after Christmas, Santa knew that he couldn't deliver any large items to us on Christmas.  But, because he is a truly jolly old elf, he delivered some smaller items on Christmas morning and then made a special delivery just for us two days later . . . back in Washington. So, we were lucky enough to celebrate Christmas twice.  Including two Christmas Eves. We didn't re-do all the traditional Eve events, but the kids did have another late night Christmas movie marathon and did set out their stockings again.  And Santa very kindly filled them again.  It was all very festive and fun, and Dan and I were thoroughly exhausted by the end of it (being Santa's helpers is draining, you know).
 

There were lots of squeals and happy faces.

Joseph was completely caught up in Christmas excitement.  Six is a great age! He was also a great cleaner-upper of all wrapping paper and garbage.

 

Below, the cute aprons Aunt Kara made us for Christmas.  Mom and Dad woke up early with us to join in the excitement.

The final pictures before we got ready for church and ate breakfast  (french toast with buttermilk syrup and sausages - yum!)

After a beautiful Sacrament Meeting (including an "instant choir" in which Aubrey and Grandpa participated), we came back to relax for the rest of the day. We took these pictures in front of the tree.

Whew - that night we packed up, talked to Brandon via Skype until 1:20 a.m., and then left for the airport  by around 8 a.m.  After arriving back in Washington and trying to unpack, we prepared for our second Christmas Eve.  This time the kids opened their sibling gifts before going to bed.

 

 Bailey had scoped out the perfect Hunger Games shirt for Aubrey on Pinterest and ordered it!

Santa visited during the night and left a few more things which were too big for us to take home on the plane.

The kids had camped out in the bonus room watching movies until who knows what time.  Regardless, they were full of smiles and ready to go at 7 a.m.!

 

 A few images from the morning.

 

 

It was a delightful Christmas Day . . . again. We just ignored the outside world and played with toys all day. And slept.  Don't forget the nap - it's my favorite part of Christmas Day!