Peter: Week 9 in Pictures

Peter: Week 8 in Pictures

Peter: Week 7 in Pictures

 

This is the only picture he shared from last week. Well, there was one other, but it was of street names, so I'm not going to post that here.

And with that we're caught up!

Peter: Week 6 in Pictures

Peter: Week Five in Pictures

Peter: Week Four in Pictures

Peter: Week Three (Which Was Week Before Last) In Pictures

This picture deserves context. These two elders have known each other for over a decade, ever since their dads were in the BYU MBA program together and we participated in a babysitting co-op with them and two other families. Every Friday evening for about three months these boys, and their siblings, got together for a playdate while the parents took turns going on dates. Did either of them realize this and recognize each other? Nope. But the other elder's mom saw a picture of Peter on the mission Facebook page and knew right away what family he belonged to. She contacted me and told me they were serving in the same mission.

And I think that's very cool.

I don't know what church this is. I should probably ask.

Peter: Week Two in Pictures

Peter: Week One in Pictures

Delayed Check-In

For those following along at home, the Philadelphia Mission, where Peter is serving, moved their Preparation day (P-day) from Monday to Thursday this week. 

Why is this a big deal? The missionaries can only call home once a week, on their P-day. This is a huge difference from when Bryan served in the late 90s. At that time, missionaries could call home twice per year, on Christmas and Mother's Day. The rest of the year they relied on letters to communicate with their loved ones. The change from twice a year to once a week is relatively new, maybe in the last five years.

The P-day change means that we didn't talk to Peter today, but hopefully we will on Thursday!

Fewer People

 Our house was kind of quiet today.

Not silent, and not bad, just quieter than it's been in a while.

That is all.

Called, Again

Tonight something happened that Peter has been hoping for ever since he got his mission call in September.

He switched from a service mission to a teaching mission.

We got the word a few weeks ago that his request to transfer had been approved. We've spent the time since then trying to get him ready. Many errands were run today gathering all the needed items.

And then we drove him down to the mission home this evening and dropped him off.

There were tears, at least from those that were in the van as we drove away.

It was a mixture of happy and sad tears, but mostly joyful.

Bros

I looked over the other day to see all three boys standing in my bedroom doorway, hugging. So, of course, I took a picture.

Linguists

Right now I'm listening to Peter speak Spanish while Cooper speaks Portuguese in response.

It's pretty cool.

Daily Updates

Part of Peter's time as a missionary is spent doing service. He works at food bank, a Habitat for Humanity store, and the temple. The rest of his time is spent serving with the teaching missionaries in our area. An unanticipated benefit of him serving his mission from home is that we've gotten to see him interact with the Elders. He loves finding people to teach. He loves coming home and telling us about the lessons they had that day. He loves the companionship of teaching the gospel with his peers. I'm sure that we could hear all of these stories in letters or over video calls, but it's pretty cool to watch it happening in real time.

The Art of Togetherness

I've been taking a Zoom watercolor class this month. It's stretched me outside of my comfort zone. On On Monday, when everyone was home for the holiday, I pulled out my $6 watercolor set and sat at the table to practice. Almost immediately, Topher joined me and wanted to paint, Then Sophie and Peter and Phoebe joined too. Phoebe didn't stay with us too long since she had a stomach bug and had to go through up.

And on that note, here is the art we created this week.

Topher:

Sophie:

Phoebe:

Peter:

Me:

Topher, inspired by a piece Sophie created:

Sophie, the piece that inspired Topher:

Off to the Temple

Ten Times Two

Peter turned 20 in December and I still can't quite wrap my brain around it.

He got missionary things for his birthday like scriptures and the black suit he's wearing in the picture below. A benefit to him being on a service mission is that we got to celebrate with him. Sadly, he was sick on his birthday and it was pretty low-key, but we still made (and purchased) his favorite foods and he opened gifts.

I don't think I've been stunned by any other birthdays, but two decades of parenthood doesn't seem quite possible. I keep thinking that I have three teenagers at home, but I don't, I only have two. Peter is not a teenager anymore.

Time is weird.

All the Books

These two pictures popped up in my photo memories today. I was admiring how cute these little guys were when I realized something. This is Cooper at 18 and 19 months old. He's comfortably reading those books that have regular pages. I know we had board books available, but he had definitely been thumbing through standard picture books for some time. 

I chatted with a friend (she has five kids, her oldest is Topher's age) last night who told me that they've kept most of their books packed in boxes so their kids wouldn't destroy them. I don't think it occurred to me to keep books out of my kids' reach. In fact, I'm pretty sure I actively put books in their hands as much as possible. Have books been destroyed over the years? Yes, but mostly from overuse. We've had an occasional tear here and there, but it's generally been from excited page turning.

My purpose in writing about this isn't to say, "Look at my amazing children." Rather, I'm curious why they didn't rip up books the way some of their peers did. 

Service at Home