Elder Thompson, the Missionary

After we dropped Cache off at the MTC (June 27) I was reading the book 'Pete the Cat' to Tessa and Greta. (If you haven't heard it, or seen it, check out the links.) I suddenly had the idea to make a spin off of that book for Cache for Christmas. Well, busy-ness settled in and I didn't start right away. Then about mid September I started feeling spiritual impressions that it was something that I really needed to do. So I slowly got to work---but I do have 4 other children, I am the Primary President (and it is the busiest time of the year for Primary) and we were well into the Cross Country season--so it was really slow. Also, I am definitely (and obviously) not an artist so that made things really (really, really) slow. 

During much of the process I kept telling myself that I didn't have any business doing it. And I really didn't, except that I couldn't deny the heavenly help I was receiving and the impressions to finish that I continued to have. I was constantly given ideas for elements and layouts and how to accomplish the illustrations. So I kept plugging away.  Bit by bit.  Then while driving home one day I heard a snippet from a BYU devotional. The speaker said something to the effect of "Be grateful for what you have and do not focus on what you lack." I decided that I needed to apply that to my book project. After that, I let the verbalization of my artistic weaknesses be put to rest and I dug in and worked without complaint. I found it amazing how much more quickly it came together after that. All in all, the completion of this book is truly a miracle in many ways.  There are quite a few things in the book that bug me, but honestly I can't complain because of all of the help I received and the way I was expanded.  I also had so help from my family to take care of much of my home management duties so I could work on it. It was a family effort. I'm so thankful for the whole, very challenging, process. I grew a lot during it!

All of that said, I'm thankful it is finished and I can move on to other things.

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In my opinion, one of the best thing about this book is all of the elements that references things Cache likes, has done or things he'll relate to.  I definitely know the source for the idea to implement those elements!  It makes the book endearing, made it lots of fun to make and fun to read.   I hope it all makes him laugh.   

Another thing I did was alternate the use of water color and paper pieced people.  All of the pages that he is saying he loves his mission, he is paper pieced.  Those pages are also representative of 'outputs' he's done.  So I used that platform for his expressions of him loving his mission (except the final one, but what I used was fitting, I thought). 

Back cover

The man behind the red door is from Killer Bunnies, which references The Princess Bride (both of which he likes a lot).  The windows in the house are from a publication at BYU with stories he wrote.  The bushes are his 1st grade report card, the window in the car is Y mountain and the license plate says 'Boy Scouts of America'.  

Notice the gold door house--a roof from Preach My Gospel, front windows with the scriptures, side windows with his mission call letter.  The bus driver is his mission president, BYU Presdient, Cecil O. Samuelson is a passenger, the route name is a friend's name, the license plate is President Monson's signature scanned from his mission call and the ad on the bus is the oral surgeon who took the twig out of his cheek from a bike accident when he was 12.  

I will eventually get all of the book posted here on my blog (it will probably be a long time though) but if you want to see the rest of the book, I can send you an invitation to my book online.  You can either email me for a request or leave a comment with your email address so I can send you an invite.

Hurricane Sandy

We watched Hurricane Sandy with great interest because Cache is serving right where it was predicted to hit the hardest.  However, it took a different path and left his area of residence practically unscathed (a few trees limbs down).  So while he avoided that peril, he did go without power for 5-6 days (not sure of the exact number).  Since getting gas has been a challenge, they hadn't been able to leave their immediate area to go be on the front lines serving.  Between having to stay in their apartment from Sunday to Wednesday and lack of work after I think he was a bit frustrated. (During that time, his companion ate some cashews hidden in some pesto so Cache had to administer the epi pen. That was probably a tall order for him as he was the one the Jr. High called me about for blacking out in biology during a movie and the one who didn't stay vertical for the required missionary TB testing and shots.  Missions are character builders all around!)

According to Google's crisis map for Sandy, this was the only gas station opened near his area for a week. 

We didn't hear from him again this week :( so I'm not sure what this past week has been like for him but I pieced together from his mission president's weekly letter that he has been able to get out this week and work on clean up.  I'm thankful for that--what a great opportunity for him.  And in the mean time, I hang on again to get news.

Two things I know from this:  1) Watching images on CNN and Weather.com is no way for a missionary mom to spend her time!  They always show the worst when there are other areas that are faring better and I knew the mission president went to every precaution to make sure all missionaries were safe.  So I could have gotten by with only watching 2-3 updates on Sandy instead of what I did and saved myself a whole lot of emotion (I can't say fear was really what I was feeling, because I knew he would be all right, but it was very gripping and consuming for me to watch).  2)  This is the place Cache should be right now.  I'm confident he was put there for his own personal growth and to help and reach certain people.  I'm thankful for that comforting knowledge.

New Glasses for Tess

Ellen recommended plastic frames for Tessa this time around because of gymnastics (she just has to wear a strap while at the gym).  While these were not my favorite of the 3 choices she had (yes, only 3 because of her small size. . . ) it really is a no brainer she picked these because these have purple and pink and jewels and stars.  Does it get any better???  The ones I liked best were brown, even though other colors could be ordered.  But I knew well enough to not even try to have that conversation with her (see her kindergarten post).  She is pleased as punch with her new look.  And I like it too.

This picture cracks me up!

In other Tessa news, she read a book called Shoe La La.  She promptly got her shoes, some jewels and a glue gun and went to work.  This picture is after she wore them once and a few jewels had fallen off.  The jewels on the heel crack me up--she says they didn't bother her at all! (??)  She's such a funny girl!

One final thing:  Last week in FHE, Tom asked what happens to people who die without gospel ordinances.  Tessa quickly answered.  "They go in the index."  That might not be funny to many, but we laughed quite a bit.  Since she has witnessed a fair amount of indexing, that is exactly what she thinks happens.  We'll have to address that a little more to make sure she understands the whole process.

Halloween

Last February Tessa announced that she wanted to be a CTR ring for Halloween.  I wrote it on the calendar so we didn't forget.  I knew it would be an easy costume to throw together and I knew it would prevent the rounds she would go in deciding what she should be. She loved it and got lots and lots of comments about it.  And it couldn't have been easier--a CTR shield left over from Primary with an embroidery hoop glued to it.  I Velcro-ed a headband to it and stretched the headband around her middle.  Easy-peasy! 

Greta has a long history of loving bunnies so a costume decision was easy for her.  I was all over that especially since I've been captive to a huge project and needed something very low key. (Hopefully sharing of that will come very soon--an end is in sight!!!)

They wanted to make thank you notes again this year to give to candy-givers.  I love that they think to do this on their own.  The top left pumpkin is 'wearing sun glasses and saying 'Thank Yooooooo'.  We had fun doing glitter even though we accidentally dumped out an entire container and made a huge glittery mess all over the kitchen!

These girlies are fun!