Happy Mother's Day and an Andrew Update

Family photo summer 1964 Columbus, Ohio 

Denise, Mom, Scott, Dad, Beth (Kyle wasn't born for another 10 years)

These are some of my memories of my mom, but I cannot swear that they are 100% accurate (I can't help how I remember things):

My mom has a can-do, no nonsense attitude. Growing up I had the impression that there wasn't anything that she couldn't do.

For example: In Scituate, Massachusetts (I was 9-12 years old there) we had a mantle to our fireplace and I guess my mom didn't like it. I remember her taking a crowbar and prying off the wall herself. Don't remember if she had to repair the wall underneath it, but it looked just fine when she was done.

Next we moved to Metairie, Louisiana (I was 12-18). The kitchen was the smallest I have ever seen in a regular house. It basically was a square shape with a very small built-in pantry. The fridge was opposite the pantry...when you opened the fridge door and the pantry door at the same time the doors would hit each other and meet in the middle of the kitchen. That's how narrow it was...and it wasn't too much longer than that either.

Anyway, mom occasionally said she was going to take an ax to the pantry. I didn't believe her. Turns out she wasn't fooling. She tore down the pantry...and then of course had to fix the ceiling, floor, and wall.

My mom is artistic. She didn't have too much time to draw and paint while we were growing up, but we had a few things that she had done in her younger years and I do remember her dabbling just a little. After I left home, she started painting again. Besides oils she started taking watercolor classes and also has done some drawing. I love the fact that I now have a few of her pieces in my home. I would like to paint beautiful pictures too...and I have tried, but I have a long way to go.

She currently lives on the Pacific coast in Brookings, Oregon where she in very involved in the local art group. She's been on the board and had other jobs at the Manly Art Center. She headed up the annual Azalea Arts Festival a few times and is currently knee-deep (chin-deep?) in helping out again this year (it's held every Memorial Day weekend).

I never remember the house being messy...and I can't say I really remember her cleaning. Did she get up in the middle of the night to take care of things? Don't know. Don't know how she did it. I haven't been able to follow in her footsteps in this category. I seem to always be cleaning and yet my house alway seems messy.

I remember when I was a teenager in high school, Mom and I would play scrabble almost every day. She's also an avid crossword puzzler and I love to work on them together when we are visiting each other. She knows a lot of stuff!

So, Mom, Happy Mother's Day and thanks for all the great times. Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

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While I was typing up the post for my mom, we received Andrew's call for Mother's Day. He was just transferred on Thursday, so it was really good to hear from him. Depending on where he was transferred last week, it might have meant that come July when the mission presidents were changed and some of the boundaries were being changed that he might have been switched to a different mission. Though the chances were small for that happening, it was still possible.

His new area is Waterloo, Iowa, therefore he will still be in the Iowa Des Moines mission come July. He says it is larger than Fallon but smaller than Sioux City where he had just been serving. It is about 220 miles directly east of Sioux City (for a comparison, Fallon is 200 miles from Sacramento). He is the district leader, and Sister Evans, who was in his district in Sioux City and was transferred with him, is still in his district. She and her companion, Sister Myers (who was in Andrew's MTC district), are serving in Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls and Waterloo are like Sparks and Reno...sister cities. The Cedar Falls ward and the Waterloo ward share a church building. Andrew hasn't been to church yet, but says the ward is like ours...with 2 large families. They are the Jolleys and the Osterleys. I asked him to figure out if we are the Jolleys or the Osterleys and get back to me.

Andrew's new companion is Elder Chris Wilson from Eugene, Oregon. Elder Wilson has been out for 6 months and has been in Waterloo, his second area, for 6 weeks. The population of the area there is about 50% black. Previous Elders lived in a more dangerous part of town and got their car shot. Andrew says they are in a safer area now, but they have already been tracting in the ghettos. I told him to just be obedient and then I wouldn't worry about his safety.

Andrew was able to have 2 baptisms on Tuesday in Sioux City before he left, so that was a nice way to end his time there.

He's planning on finding out what his address is and emailing it to us in tomorrow's email.

Below is the plaque that the ward had made...and after only a few months, we finally got a picture of Andrew to put in it (had to find a photo and blow it up and crop it...I chose a photo from outside the Salt Lake temple the day before he entered the MTC)... and it will go up in a display case outside of the Bishop's office.