Long overdue . . . the big welcome home

So, I have some catching up to do. This last year I pretty much completely stopped blogging mid-February and didn't really pick up again until then end of summer. There was a LOT that happened during that time and there was no time to write about it. I don't want to miss the chance to document events for our family history. So, here I go with the first installment. Feel free to skip this since it is definitely "old news."

Last January we began to get VERY excited for our son/brother Brandon to return home from his mission to Ukraine!  The end of January we made a paper chain to track the days remaining.  Note to anyone thinking about doing this: don't.  It made it seem like the time was going slower!

On Easter at the end of March we showed the days remaining.  Getting closer!

Brandon came home on April 30th. The two months prior were really busy with birthday celebrations and a spring break trip, but somehow I felt I still needed to completely clean every corner of our home. I think I wrote about that previously - it felt like I was welcoming home a "new baby" and I wanted everything to be perfect and accommodating.  Plus, it kept me busy and distracted.

We also prepared Brandon's room.  Uhhhh, actually, he doesn't have a room anymore. So we prepared his corner of the bonus room and tried to make it as familiar and welcoming as possible.

We each wrote special notes to Brandon and posted them above his bed - things that remind us of him or things we wanted to do with him when he was home.

The day before Brandon arrived,  Bailey composed him a song, to the tune of "One More Day" from Les Miserables:

We tracked the flight across the ocean

And our good friends the McDonnells helped us make welcome home signs for the garage door and for the airport.

I can't even describe adequately how excited we were driving to the airport. On the way we watched/listened to a youtube video - a montage of missionary homecomings set to a song called "I'm Coming Home". Bailey and I had watched it at least 10 times over the previous year. I know it made me sob every single time. If you know a missionary and feel like crying click on this link.

And then, we held up our sign and waited. We were a bit of spectacle in the airport. It's not like the SLC airport, where missionaries come home all the time.

And then, walking towards us was . . . . Brandon.

I got the first hug.

In true Porter fashion, the entire family was jumping up and down and crying but Brandon was calm and composed and smiling his famous half smile. He was also pretty exhausted, after being up for 24 hours straight.

Bailey was excited to see that Brandon had grown a bit and was still taller than her.

Once we retrieved his bags and drove back to our home, we took time to get the famous Brandon "squeezy hugs."  Oh wow - we missed those bone crushing hugs for the two years he was gone!

We showed Brandon around the house,

including his former room, now turned into an Aubrey sanctuary.

And here the kids are with the final link in our countdown chain.

That night Brandon gave us gifts from Ukraine and we had the first family prayer with all the family present in two years.

The next day Brandon was to be released as a missionary at 11 a.m.  

We picked up the kids from school to take them with us for this special event.

I love this picture. I snapped this at the end of the Stake President's interview, after he was officially released and just before he removed his missionary nametag. It was a bittersweet moment for Brandon.

Next we went to our family's favorite restaurant in Vancouver (the only place where everyone can find something to eat) - Sweet Tomatoes.

Later that day we drove to Deseret Book and the Distribution Center in Portland and loaded up on some fun stuff.

Below, Bailey and Dan are demonstrating the ridiculous amount of stuff we found in Deseret Book. Brandon is doing his typical straight face, watching the rest of us be goofy!

The next morning when Brandon awoke we had a "happy birthday" celebration for him since he had been gone on his 21st birthday.  

He had breakfast in bed, of course, served by two lovely waitresses.  Who is that trying to steal one of the sausages??

Biscuits and gravy, sausages, and strawberries.

 And he received some gifts, which he may or not have picked out for himself the day before.

Oh, it was so, so, so good to have Brandon home safe. We all agreed that he was the same Brandon, with the same sense of humor and gentle spirit, but even better. More mature, more spiritual, more seasoned by life. We were so glad that we got him at home for 7 weeks before he left to BYU.

Peace in my corner of the earth

I have always loved Christmas. But I have noticed in the past years that the events and preparation and shopping and traditions and chaos of the season have overshadowed the joy for me a bit. It has been increasingly difficult to find the peace that should be paramount in the season that celebrates the good news of our Savior.

This year I did my very best to be intentional about my preparations for Christmas. I wanted less stress, less last-minute running around, and more time to do things that are meaningful to me.

I made a list in November of all the important "have-tos." Then I made myself cross a few things off the list. Anything that could be done early, I did then. I tried to anticipate (for once) the types of last minute gifts that would be required . . . a gift for the teacher, a tip for the newspaper carrier, pjs for the Giving Tree at the school, neighbor gifts, gifts for the kid's friends . . . Dan and I planned and shopped for our gifts for the kids and each other.  I planned ahead and scheduled some things we have always wanted to do at Christmas, like ride the Polar Express train. The busy part of the season was pretty much done by the second week of December. Even the kid's concerts and the ward Christmas parties were done within the first few weeks.

I'm still a little surprised how well it worked. Certainly, it happens to be a pretty calm December for us. We aren't traveling anywhere and aren't expecting company. And we were super busy in November, so December has felt quiet in comparison. And, my kids are getting older and are mostly helpful.

For whatever reason, I have felt less stressed, less busy, more grateful, and more calm. I have experienced an unexpected blessing: because my busy errands were done early I have been able to be involved in more service. And I've had some interesting experiences. Moms (like me) tend to chat with friends about how unprepared we feel for Christmas. In past years I have commiserated in these conversations about how much more I have to do in not enough time. This last week when I was talking to neighbors and friends about their Christmas preparations I felt some whisperings of inspiration about specific things I could offer to do to help them. And when I felt these inspirations come I was able to act on them. In past years I might have been too intent on my own to-do list to notice needs around me or too busy to follow through. These are simple, not very extraordinary things I've been able to do, but it doesn't matter. As I have had the chance to help in simple ways I feel the love of my Savior and I know that He is pleased when I love as He does.

This year I have a new understanding of the connection between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It has been a wonderful and eventful year in our home, with Brandon coming home safe from his mission. At Thanksgiving my heart was filled with appreciation for the blessing of having my family together and for the joy the gospel brings into my life. As Christmas approached and I had time to think and continue to express gratitude to my Heavenly Father, I realized that the gratitude of Thanksgiving points directly to Christ, for whom we celebrate at this season. Everything that is good about my life is because of Him, and I continue to experience guidance and direction and comfort as a gift of His atonement every single day.

Let it snow!

Snow is a rarity here in the Pacific Northwest, so when it falls we get very excited. Because we are not equipped to handle snow here, even a skiff causes the cancellation of school, panic on the roadways a run on the grocery stores for essentials.  

Every few years we will get a surprise snowstorm. Sometimes it's a big event, like 2008, when so much snow fell two weeks before Christmas that the entire city shut down. We were literally housebound for 10 days before Christmas (the roads were as slick as a skating rink), which was the best gift I could have asked for!  But most years we get nothing or a tiny bit of snow that melts in a few hours.  

Last Friday a storm was forecast, but snow was not foretold. What do you know - the weatherpeople were wrong!

Joseph was getting over a bit of a cold, but we couldn't let a little illness keep us from playing in the snow.  So we did. We started in our back yard.

Checked out the icicles on Bailey's car

And then decided to try out the neighborhood sledding hill

Which was kind of a bust because the snow was too powdery to be slick.  But it was worth a try!

After awhile we decided to head back home.  And this is when I made a real mistake. Having not driven on snow recently, I somehow forgot how difficult it is to drive up a snowy hill.  The road that I took home was a very steep. I got about 2/3 of the way up before my wheels started spinning. That was bad enough, but then I started sliding down the hill.  I somehow maneuvered the car to the curb which stopped my downward slide and was trying to figure out what to do next. In my exuberance to get out in the snow I had forgotten my cell phone at home. We were in an isolated part of the neighborhood and there weren't many houses around, so I figured we would have to leave the car stuck and walk home or to a neighbor's house. 

Right at this moment I saw a big Fedex truck at the top of the hill. I saw the female driver look a little confused at my snowstuck vehicle, and then I realized she intended to come down the hill.  "Nooooooo," I shook my head at her, panicked by the implications. Undaunted, she began the drive down. And she immediately began to slide, of course. The narrow road has a steep dropoff on one side and her truck was fishtailing back and forth very close to the dropoff, and then she corrected and started sliding directly toward where Joseph and I sat in the van.

(Dan pointed out to me that these events must have happened in mere seconds, but they felt much longer to me.) 

I realized immediately that we were going to be hit - HARD in just a minute by a very heavy vehicle, and then both of us would slide the rest of the way down the hill or would go off the dropoff on the other side of the road.  I quickly moved my car away from the curb and started sliding down the hill again. And then. . . . surely I must have had guardians angels watching over me. I knew without really looking that there was a small alleyway off to my right. It was covered by snow and not really visible - a roughed-out road being used for the construction of a nearby home. I turned the steering wheel sharply and somehow backed myself into the alleyway, a half second before the truck careened by the spot where we had been stuck in the snow. 

Let me pause this narration to point out that Bailey recently took her driver's test and was tested on backing around a corner. This is pretty hard for the teenagers to master, and I pointed out to her that I didn't think I could back around a corner. Well, it turns out I can. At least I can when my life and the life of my child are in danger. 

The Fedex driver was able to stop her slide by running into the curb a few hundred feet down the hill and she got out to apologize. I was still in shock and told her that it wasn't her fault. The road was just plain scary. After I composed myself, Joseph and I inched our way down the hill and home.  

And that was my scary snow experience.  Because our roads are narrow and hilly and aren't cleared or salted, there is probably a good reason that everything is cancelled when it snows!

The bitter cold has continued now for a week and a little bit more snow has fallen. This morning was a 2 hour late start for school and more snow is forecast in a few days. By the weekend we are supposed to get rain and warmer temperatures. I feel torn about that. On the one hand, I'm tired of being freezing cold and trying to talk my kids into wearing warm coats when they go outside (they are used to just wearing hoodies or light jackets all winter). But, the snow is beautiful and it makes it feel like Christmas. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Washington!

Thanks Given - Photo Shoot

After we had stuffed ourselves sufficiently with Thanksgiving food, we decided to take some photos outside. We followed the last vestiges of light to the front yard. Bad light or not, we laughed and goofed off and had a great time.

One of the aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ which resonates profoundly with me is the knowledge that families will live together eternally.

Times like this, when we are able to gather all our kids around us, I feel a little glimpse of heaven.  

Even though we are more than a little goofy.

Joseph and Brandon doing "Shoulder Angel" a la the comedy show Studio C.

Bailey holding her "baby" brother. He didn't appreciate it.  

Acting out their favorite show - Dr Who

Look. . . Bailey and Aubrey can dance and flap their wings like birds - or something like that.

 

There is nowhere I would rather be and nothing I would rather be doing than helping with the development of these incredible people.

But wait . . . we can't leave Angela out of this love fest!  She took a lot of the pictures, but we captured a few of her and Brandon.  

 Including one with the siblings doing their favorite stalker-creeper- photobombing poses.  I love it!

 Happy Thanksgiving!