newest email

it's monday, which means an email from colby...  it's on the "Colby's Letters" page

He is enjoying the camel back we sent him... he fills it with gatorade when they are on their bikes =)  he is enjoying his companion, they are getting along very well, and he is just excited to be there and spreading the message of the gospel.  we love him tons!

each monday we receive an email from colby... todays is in "colby's letters" =)

the computers in the family history center (where they go each week to send their emails) are apparently super slow, so we might have to wait for pictures.  he's having a hard time uploading them.  he thinks it would be simpler to just send me the sd card when he fills it up, and purchase a new one...  bummer.  i was hoping for some pictures of my boy... =(  he sounds great tho... =)

email!

Today we received our first email from Colby since he arrived in Oklahoma.  He is well and happy... click on "Colby's letters" above =)

(When I copied and pasted it it showed up in all caps, grrrr..... I have no idea why, sorry...)

Hmmmm...

It is the end of day five for Colby in Oklahoma.  I wonder what he is doing, and where he is.  We haven't heard from him since he arrived at the Mission Home in Tulsa, so we don't know where he has been assigned.  The Oklahoma Mission covers parts of four states...Oklahoma (of course =), Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas.  He could be anywhere by now =)  we are hoping that tomorrow is his p-day (preparation day, when they can do laundry, relax, exercise, grocery shop, etc)  so he can WRITE A LETTER TO HIS FAMILY!!  We are dying to know what he's been up to since he arrived.  I'll post it as soon as we get one =)  until then...

photo of the week...

Rian so enjoys getting letters from Colby.  She gets all excited and can't wait to get them open.  She colors him pictures all the time to mail to him, and when you visit her one of the first things she will tell you is that "Colby on a mission.  He be back two years."  It's so cute.  So when I saw this picture I had to post it.  I love, love, love it!

Three Weeks

Has it really only been three weeks since Colby entered the MTC?

I will be totally honest... it seems so much longer =(  It was great to talk to him today, and he sounds so sure of himself and so wonderful.  There is a definite change in him in the last three weeks.  He is so ready to serve, and I'm excited he is finally in the field.

I got an email from my sister Nancy today (she lives in the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission, but don't tell anyone...)  One of the Elders in her area went home today, so there is a possibility that Colby could be assigned there!  With my luck it won't happen, but it would be so nice for me to know that someone he knows is close by for his first few weeks.

Since Colby left life hasn't been too exciting for us, until two days ago.  Ashlee and Steven welcomed cute little Ella Rainn into their hearts, home, and lives, and we are so excited to have her safely here.  She is simply beautiful!  Next week Austyn has high school soccer tryouts, a fourth year overnighter and hike, and things get exponentially busier after that.  That's good I guess... it will keep my mind busy and not worrying about Colby.  Not that there is anything to worry about, he will be fine, and do fine, and get along fine.  It's all me.  Hopefully the next 101 weeks won't be as long as the last three weeks =)  I promise that as time goes on, I will handle this better...

Phone Call!

Yesterday we learned that Colby would be able to call us this morning before he headed out to Oklahoma, needless to say we were excited!  I was a little nervous, wondering if I could say goodbye all over again, and worried that I wouldn't hear the phone ring this morning (our only phone is downstairs, and it's hard to hear it when it rings.)  We thought he would be calling before 6:00 am.  He had to be at the travel office at 3:00 am to get to the airport to make his 5:55 am flight to Denver.  So I expected an early phone call.  I woke up at 5:50, and panicked!  Did the phone ring, and I didn't hear it?  Is he going to even call?  Needless to say I spent the next little while straining to hear the phone, and "sleep" at the same time.  I have one ear, that since my tumor removal last summer, still doesn't hear very well, so I layed on my back, and propped up my pillows so my ears were both available to hear any noise at all.  Pathetic, I know, but I didn't want to miss it!  I must have dozed periodically, because each time I looked at the clock about half an hour had passed.  Finally at 8:00 the phone rang!

I lept (don't you love that word?) from my bed, ran down the stairs, and grabbed the phone and it was COLBY!!  It was SO good to hear his voice!  He sounded truly wonderful!  He was in Denver, with a few other Elders and two Sisters who are all headed to Oklahoma.  He has a layover there for a few hours, after which more missionaries will join them, and they will ALL head to the Oklahoma Mission together.  (As I type this he is on his next flight from Denver to Tulsa)  His whole district at the MTC is headed to the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission.  Pretty cool, if you ask me =)  I thought he might end up flying by himself.

He had a funny story about packing his luggage, and an encounter he had at the security check... I had his luggage all packed correctly when he left home, one suitcase for the MTC, the other he wouldn't have to touch until he got out in the field.  I even had his backpack all packed as his carry on so he would have what he needed for the mission home stay, and still be able to get through airport security (small bottle of shampoo, body wash, etc, in the ziplock bag) anyway, in his panic to get packed and keep his luggage under 50 lbs, he ended up carrying on his first aid kit that I had packed in one of his suitcases.  (The mission home one, which he didn't even need to get into, grrr...) =)  He didn't think about it until he got to security and tried to get through with a rather large bottle of peroxide =)  He was so embarrassed!  The security lady just laughed and said, "Sorry Elder, I've got to take this..."  good thing peroxide is cheap.  AND after all that stressing over how much the luggage weighed, the airlines didn't even weigh it!  He was a little ticked, that he could have shoved his first aid kit in and not worried about it, instead of dragging it with him all day today...  oh well, at least he's prepared for any emergency =)

While we were talking on the phone I asked him if the other missionaries were on the other phones around him also calling their families... he told me there was only one phone, and that while they were waiting for their turn (they each got 20 minutes.  we talked for 20 minutes 23 seconds =) they were talking to investigators!  He looked at the cover of the pamphlet they were showing to someone, and said "yup, that's the pamphlet on the Atonement!  They found an investigator!"  Too funny!  They didn't waste any time at all getting down to business. 

He lands in Tulsa about 12:30 our time, and will probably spend today, and possible tomorrow there.  We are so excited he's finally on his way.  He is an exceptional young man, and we are so very proud of him.  We love you, Elder Haymond!