Missing Big Brother on His Mission

We had a sweet moment with Nathan tonight. He was wandering through the kitchen and he stopped in front of our “Jordan (Elder Anderson” shrine. He was looking at the stickers on his “called to serve” poster and then he said "Called to Serve." As I approached, he put his finger on Jordan's picture and rubbed it up and down and said, “Jordan.” Then he read the writing at the top of his mission map and said, “Ohio Columbus Mission.” It was sweet and it made me a little teary. Sweet Nathan was thinking of his big brother tonight. I know he misses him but I think the visual stickers help him understand how long he will be gone and the map shows him where he is.

#AutismAndMissions #MissingOurMissionary

Southern Utah

We LOVE southern Utah and it's red rocks. The more I see of the world, the more I realize how beautiful this earth is to explore! God sure has made a beautiful place for us to live!

Sweet!

I snapped this photo during family scripture reading the other night. So sweet!

Cherry Plum Jam

We have these ornamental plum trees that produce "cherry plums." They are about the size of a cherry but they are a tart plum (which I happen to love). We got a LOT of cherry plums this year. I only harvested one of our three trees and made a bunch of tart plum jam! I did learn a new trick this year though--instead of cutting all the seeds out one by one, I put them in my crock pot and cooked them down and then strained out the seeds. At least I didn't have to turn my fingers purple cutting the seeds out:). Yummy!

#CherryPlumJam

A Little Love

Me and my boy! Last night after our family scripture reading together, Nathan just pulled my head down onto his tummy. So, I lay there while we were talking. He doesn't usually crave physical contact because of his autism, but every once in a while he will surprise me. I love my boy and am thankful he will let his mama love on him every once in a while.

#LoveMama #Autism

Growing Like Weeds

Jacob is now officially an inch taller than I am. He is now 5'9 and 1/2!!! He has grown 3/4s of an inch since May 20. Talk about growing like a weed. Noelle has also grown 3/4s of an inch since beginning of June. She is now 5'4 and 1/2! I think I'm going to be the shortest one in the family soon.

#GrowingLikeWeeds

Water Slides

Our boy who usually HATES getting wet LOVES these slides at the Provo Rec Center. I get quite a workout going with him up the stairs (3 flights) and then sliding down over and over for over 2 hours. Nathan doesn't like getting his face wet but he will tolerate getting it wet for these slides. They are so fun!

We went to Provo Rec after we dropped Jordan off at the MTC and it did help distract us from the fact that we were going to miss our son for 2 years.
‪#‎Slides‬ ‪#‎Autism‬

And He's Off....

Well we dropped Elder Anderson off at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah on Wednesday. We are excited for him and a little sad for us. He will receive 3 weeks of training at the MTC and then will head to Ohio.

He will so an awesome job teaching people the gospel of Jesus Christ. He told us the night before he left that if he didn't know the gospel was true there is no way he would leave us for two years. Might I add from a mom's perspective that there is no way I'd let him go for two years with only 4 phone calls allowed if I didn't know this is where God wants him to be right now. God has given us family members a measure of peace in the days since he left and so I have to "let go and let God."

#MissionaryWork #2Years

Excited and Not Sad

Sweet Noelle prayed the other night, "Bless that we will be excited for Jordan to go on his mission and not sad." Yup! He leaves next week...so that is a great prayer for right now.

#FamilyPrayer #Mission