December started out really rainy. On the first, Naomi was supposed to march with the Knight Riders in the Davidson Christmas parade, but it started pouring rain just as the parade was starting and Mr. Scaringelli got everyone and their instruments back on the bus. It wasn't worth possibly ruining some of the instruments. I was really looking forward to a parade, but ... We went to lunch at Tenders as a family and then Steve took Nick to have his hair cut so he would look sharp for the Christmas concert. Jessica, the girl who gave Jeremy his last stateside haircut was there and was excited to find out that Jeremy was in Brazil already. She gushed about him and how amazing it was that he would go and teach people about the gospel for two years.
December 4th was an exciting day for me because I was able to finally accomplish something that had been bothering me for longer than I want to admit. I finally had enough time to properly clean the carpet on the stairs. Some of you out there are thinking this is really weird, but those of you who really enjoy a clean house will understand my excitement.
That night was the middle school band concert. The seventh grade band is huge. The kids all love to play and they love Mr. Scaringelli. Their improvement from the end of year concert to now is a testament to Mr. Scaringelli's ability as a teacher.
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| Naomi in the middle of all her band friends. |
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| Naomi got to announce one of the songs. |
December 5th Steve came home from work halfway between frustration and laughing. He had worked his Excel so hard that day he had broken it and the guys in tech had to reinstall a newer version in order to handle everything Steve needed it to do. He was frustrated because he didn't get as much done as he had hoped, but he was laughing that he broke Excel. He may have to invent his own computer program that will do everything he wants/needs without choking or breaking.
That night Naomi was part of the Beehive/Activity Day Girls talent show. She sang one of her favorite songs, "Birds" by Thomas Sanders. She was nervous about singing acapella, but she knocked it out of the park.
Two nights later, on December 6th, Nick got to sing a solo at his chorus Christmas concert. He did an amazing job as well. I didn't know he could sing like that. If we can get a little bit more confidence behind the voice he will be really good. Watch out girls!
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| He loves being in the choir. Chorus is his favorite class. |
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| Singing his solo!! |
December 7th Nick ran in the Huntersville 5K. He ran it in 20:40 and placed 2nd in his age bracket. His good friend and LNC cross country teammate, Thomas Shockley, placed 1st. It was a fun night.
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| Starting line |
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| Finish line |
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| Nick was mentioned on the LNC Facebook page. Pretty cool! |
Saturday, December 8th, we got all the Christmas packages mailed out, cleaned the house, repaired a leaky faucet, repaired the woodpile stand, scrubbed the kitchen floor and helped the Adams pack up with piano for their upcoming move. PHEW!!!!
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| Steve, Sam and Ryan getting the piano packed up and secured for the move. |
It is a good thing we got everything done on Saturday because we were hit with a snow storm on Sunday that shut Charlotte down for a couple of days. I wasn't complaining too hard. All I really wanted for my birthday was a little down time. Church was cancelled because of the snow/sleet/ice/hail storm. Happy 49 to me. But wait, there's more...
The roads were such a mess for a couple of days that school was also cancelled which also meant no seminary. We had three days of sleeping in and snow. It was glorious!!!! The kids had e-learning days for school. They had to check in to each class at a set time and complete an assignment in order to be marked present for the day. I love this because now we don't have any make up days. Unfortunately, Steve had to go into the office on Monday. South Charlotte did not receive the type of snow we did in the northern part of the county. Thankfully, there weren't many people on the road so his commute was not as stressful as it could have been.
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| Steve took this picture of his traveling adventures. It was slippery. |
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| Our backyard with the glorious snowflakes coming down. . |
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| The front yard. The hill coming into our neighborhood was a sheet of ice. |
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| It was cozy warm and festive in the house. |
That night we lit a fire in the fire pit and roasted hot dogs for dinner. It was fun to sit out in the snow around a warm fire. We turned this whole thing into an adventure.
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| Hot dogs around the fire pit for dinner. |
I also used the time to get the trim in the master bathroom painted. It was a productive several days.
December 12th I had a dream that Jeremy had a layover in Charlotte on his way from Sao Paulo to Brasilia. It was great to see him, even if it was only in a dream. I went to lunch with Sandra and then back home to bake cookies for the teacher cookie walk the next day.
Later in the day we got our last emails from Jeremy while at the CTM. Next week he will ship out to Brasilia, which is probably why I had the layover dream. We also got a load of pictures!
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| The view of Sao Paulo from his window at the CTM |
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| Another fun day in the classroom. |
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| Jeremy, Bryner, ?, Speth, ? and Johns |
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| He loves the birds in the trees. |
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| Christmas lights at the CTM |
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| This is how they stay cool. They take turns sitting in front of the fan drinking guarana . |
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| Jeremy and Jelani - Jelani is from our stake here in Charlotte. |
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| Jeremy and his companion, Elder Brynner, in front of the temple. |
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| Cool picture of the cloud and the angel Moroni. |
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| The Brazil flag in it's natural habitat |
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| Jeremy and buddies at the temple. |
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| Our last photo of Jeremy at Mr. Cheney's |
December 13th I was supposed to sub, but the teacher had accidentally double-booked a sub. I was happy to get to have a day to myself. I went to the mall and went into all my favorite stores. As luck would have it, my absolute favorite store (The Loft) was having a sale on the two things I needed - cardigans and gray pants. I used the birthday money Mom and Dad had sent me and now had three cardigans and a my gray pants. That night I attended my first "Favorite Things" party. We all brought our favorite treat to share and two wrapped favorite things gifts. We drew names and exchanged gifts. There were so many fun things. I got a complete card-making kit complete with embellishments as well as a food scale. Now I can measure by weight as well when I cook.
December 14th I got to be Mr. Willets for the morning. I love being with the kids at the middle school. They have such a positive energy. It was the first day of midterms for Nick so he only had a half day. He was so excited to not have a full day of school again until after the new year. That night Naomi attended the 7th/8th grade Winter Formal and I worked the Spirit Store at the basketball game. I love meeting the parents of the students.
December 15th was a day Naomi and her friends both looked forward to and dreaded. The final season of Voltron came out. Naturally this required a viewing party. We had snacks and drinks and pizza and watched the entire final season of Voltron in one sitting (5 hours). It was glorious and the girls loved it.
Naomi also dog sat Felix for the day and the night. Felix followed her around and sat wherever she was sitting the whole day. It was funny the watch. That night, he would not calm down and go to sleep. I guess he had too much excitement all day with the party. Anyway, Steve and I both took turns trying to get him to go to sleep and stop barking. Finally, at 11 p.m, we got Naomi up and told her to keep him quiet. She was the one in charge anyway. She ended up sleeping in his pen with him all night to keep him quiet. Whatever works. Welcome to the life of a "mommy".
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| Lucy, Ashley, Naomi (with Felix) and Bella |
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| Felix loves Naomi. |
December 18th, Jeremy left the CTM for Brasilia. I stalked the Brasial Mission Facebook page for pictures and was rewarded late in the day with proof that Jeremy made it okay and he was happy. There were 21 missionaries that arrived on the 18th so he was in good company. President Cooper and his wife served them lunch and then gave each of them their assignments.
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| Add caption |
December 19th each of the 7th grade teachers planned something special for their homeroom students. Dr. Kendrick's tradition for the day before Winter Break is chicken and waffles. The parents donated all the ingredients and supplies. I went in to help make the waffles and serve the kids. They had a blast and loved the special treat. After we had cleaned up, I went to the library to help out until Nick texted that he was done with his last midterm. I took him home and then returned to the library to help with the end of year things Mrs. Rogowski wanted done before Winter Break. The middle school let out at 11:30 and Winter Break officially began!!!!!
That afternoon we got a surprise email from Jeremy. He is in a place called Itapoa and his companions name is Elder Menjivar. He is from Baltimore, Maryland. Jeremy was excited that his first companion was bilingual since it would help him learn Portuguese more effectively. Elder Menjivar is also a district leader which means he is a good missionary and an excellent trainer for Jeremy. They live in a little place above a barber shop that plays club music all day long. Their area is very poor. Jeremy called it an invasive favela (ghetto). It was not supposed to happen and is not recognized by the government as an official city. He is happy and that is all that matters. His time in the CTM was rough on him with all the sitting and schedules and rigid rules. The mission field is where he always wanted to be anyway.
December 20th I locked myself in Jeremy's room to work on Nick's Trail to Eagle book. Everywhere else in the house Nick would see what I was doing and I wanted it to be a surprise. I also listened to the Book of Mormon while working on this project. Back in October, at the General Women's Conference, President Nelson had challenged the women to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. Between Nick's Eagle Court of Honor, Jeremy leaving the beginning of November and seminary I wasn't able to start in October and finally had the chance to begin in December. I had listened to a little bit of it while painting the trim in the bathroom, but hadn't really gotten that far. I was determined to finish by December 31st. I loved the experience of listening to the Book of Mormon while creating a memory for Nick.
I also finished painting the master bathroom and got it cleaned as well. It was an amazingly productive day. That night, Naomi went ice skating with the Young Women. The mall closest to our house always sets up an outside rink around the holidays. Naomi has always wanted to give it a try. I went over a little early to pick her up and got to watch some of the fun. The girls were really enjoying themselves. They were all so amazed that Naomi was good at ice skating. We did go roller skating every week for the three years I homeschooled. Ice skating is not that much different. Young Women has been such a good thing for Naomi. We had an incredible group of girls that are her age. I am grateful for the church and its programs for the youth. Both Naomi and Nick are better for it. I believe that the youth program also helped Jeremy have the courage to go on a mission.
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| Haylie and Naomi taking a break. |
December 21st, Steve took the day off. We got the grocery shopping done together and wrapped all the presents. We had both been running for so long it was nice to have an unplanned day to just get stuff done.
December 22nd, Steve, Nick and Brother Smith went to the school to chop up and remove a fallen tree. One of Brother Smith's assignments at church is to provide firewood for families that need to heat their homes. When I saw the fallen tree at school I saw a win-win situation. The school was happy to not have to pay someone to remove the tree and Brother Smith loved having more wood to help the families in need. An added benefit was that Nick LOVED helping chop up and load the wood into the trucks. They got all of the branches and smaller stuff taken care of and need to go back one more time for the bigger stuff.
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| Nick using the chainsaw and loving it!!! |
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| It was a big tree - lots of wood. |
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| These are the coolest mushrooms I found growing in our yard. They look like flowers. |
December 23rd, we only had sacrament meeting and the Christmas program for church. We decided to use our extra time baking cookies and delivering them to some of our favorite families. This is when is really starts to feel like Christmas to me. I loved baking with my mom and sisters.
December 24th I spent the morning with Nick helping his clean and organize his room. When he got his new furniture forever ago we had to throw his room back together in a hurry. We kept saying we would organize it when we had time. Well, today we made time to get it done. We weeded out all the clothing that was too small and got rid of things that he had been keeping just because. His room is clean and dusted and vacuumed. Much better (even he agrees).
We got Jeremy's "transfer poetry" email. WOW. It is so good, it will get its own blog post.
That night the moon was really cool. Naomi took several pictures. Our favorite two are below.
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| Full moon |
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| The clouds moved in for a cool effect |
December 25, 2018 - Christmas Day! We opened presents, had waffles and sausage and hashbrowns and orange juice for breakfast and got to talk to Jeremy via Skype. He was also able to send pictures off his camera. Best Christmas ever! He and his companion were originally supposed to go to the bishop's house to make their calls, but that fell through so Elder Menjivar got permission from President Cooper to take the bus to his previous area (Planaltina) and visit some friends there who would have the technology to let the elders make their calls home.
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| Naomi got the Kalimba she was really wanted. |
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| Steve got his metal detector. |
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| Nick wanted a training mask for running. He joked that it made him look like Bane from Batman. |
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| Naomi also got the rest of the My Hero Academica books from Nick. |
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| New headphones from Naomi. Now the music will sound even better.. |
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| I got this gorgeous lamp for the front table. |
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| My mom always puts so much thought into the ornaments she sends each of us. This year I got a sea angel from the Jim Shore collection. One year she sent Jim Shore Santas from around the world. Jeremy's Santa from from Brazil. |
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| We hooked the computer up to the television. I loved seeing his face. |
Jeremy was so excited to show and tell about everything that was going on. He said there are no addresses is in Itapoa. Everything is divided into blocks. Everything goes by what they are next to. For example, the LDS Church is on (I can't remember the name of the block) next to the really good bakery. Some of the main streets have names, but not very many of them. He said he played pool with the owner of the barber shop and beat him. They are also teaching several people. We got to say hello to Jeremy's companion who seems really nice. To make things easier when it came time to say goodbye, at the suggestion of a seasoned missionary mom, we got helium balloons the day before so we could inhale the helium and sing his some Christmas carols with our helium voices. Naomi rewrote the words to "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" to say "We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Two Years!" It worked. Both Jeremy and Menjivar loved it and it did make saying goodbye much easier. I am so grateful for modern technology!
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| One of the rooms in the church. |
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| Elder Menjivar is the one in the middle. He is Jeremy's new companion. |
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| Arriving in Brasilia and meeting their new companions |
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| Jeremy, Elder Menjivar, unidentified Elder and Elder Speth (one of Jeremy's room mates from the CTM) |
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| Soaking up the sun in Itapoa |
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| This is the church in Itapoa. Jeremy said it was weird going to church in a building that was not just a church. |
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| I loved this poem because it sums up how I feel about being a missionary mom. |
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| Thank you Maughans for these wonderful ornaments. |
The rest of the day after talking to Jeremy was filled with more goodies deliveries and talking to family. It was an memory-filled Christmas for sure!!
December 26th Steve had to work. The kids and I straightened the house. Naomi wanted to change up the curtains in her bedroom and had picked out some fabric earlier in the month. We took advantage of the free time and made her curtains. She has the makings of a fine seamstress. Her stitching in so straight. The curtains look professionally done. After making curtains with Naomi, I taught Nick how to make individual turkey pot pies.
December 27th, Steve and Nick went to get the rest of the tree. Nick was excited because today was the big stuff and Brother Smith had someone bringing some equipment that would make moving the big logs easier.
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| Getting ready to cut and move the big stuff. |
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| They would not have been able to lift these heavy logs themselves. |
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| Stacked on the trailer and ready to go. |
While the boys were playing with power tools and heavy equipment, Naomi and I went to see Mary Poppins Returns. It was as good as the all the hype. We loved it!
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| Mother/Daughter date at the movies. |
December 28th, We had a family meeting to discuss what everyone wanted on New Year's Eve this year and Nick wanted to give making sushi a try. We watched a couple of videos and then Steve and Nick headed out to get all the stuff they would need to make sushi, won tons, gyoza and beef and broccoli. I stayed at home to finish the last three Eagle books for the grandparents. I did finish Nick's in time for Christmas.
December 29th we were up and out the door by 5 am. It was the youth temple trip to the Columbia Temple. We drove down as a family just to have some time together. At the temple, they didn't need my help so I sat in the waiting room with the intention to keep reading the Book of Mormon (in 3 Nephi and going strong), but ended up having the opportunity to talk to a family that was waiting to go the wedding of their son. Brother Tincher came in about half way through the time to tell me that Nick was doing the baptisms and asked if I would like to go watch . It was so peaceful to watch Nick baptizing several of the youth.
Nick drove a good part of the way home in an attempt to get all his hours in so we can go get his license. We also finished up the New Year's Eve shopping and chilled the rest of the day.
December 30th - I FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! I loved the experience of reading it in such a short period of time. It is a great story packed with doctrine.
December 31st we went to see Aquaman in the morning (WOW!! Really good and highly recommended). We started cooking the Chinese food about 3. Bishop and Sister Arias came by to sample the cooking about 4:30 and the Muller's came by about 5:15 for dinner. Bishop took Nick for a ride around the block in his Crossfire convertable. He loved every second of it. Sara and Ravyn had to leave about 6:30 for another engagement, but we kept Carson and took him to the Bishop's house for a night of games and fun. The Millers and Smiths were there as well. The adults played some games while the kids goofed off together. The highlight of the night was playing "The Office" trivia. After the Dundie awards, the youth decided to go for a night walk. They got back just before midnight when we all watched the ball drop in Times Square and suddenly it was 2019!!
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| Nick, the master sushi chef |
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| The Dundie Award winners! The grand prize was a stapler in jello. It was such a fun night. |
Here is a portion of Jeremy's email for the week.
And now, a list of things about Brasil that make it cool and fun.
- There are like, a bazillion fruits. It took me a solid week to figure out that cajá and caju are two different fruits. We have only found out about two fruits that they don't have in Brasil: Cranberries and huckleberries. That's it. Here's a small list off the top of my head of fruits Brasil has that America pretty much doesn't: Jaca, Cajá, Caju, Goiaba, Lychee, Cupuaçu, Guarana. I know that there are more.
- You never have to ask if a dog is a boy or a girl. Neutering/spaying is a foreign concept here essentially.
- 99% of shops and similar establishments are open front. Doors? Ha! I laugh at doors! Even the churches are open front. (With the exception of the Catholic church, the Universal church, and the wonderful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). All the better for the hundreds of Pentecostal churches to scream hellfire into the streets and such. (We watched an "exorcism" from the street one time. Lots of dancing.)
- Is it a barber shop, church, drugstore, supermarket, bar, clothing store, lan house, restaurant, or cosmetics store? If not, you probably won't find it, at least not here in Itapoã. I swear every third building is a barbershop.
- Cars with loudspeakers drive around and the driver yells into a mic about the low prices of any one of the dozens of supermarkets. I've also seen some of the churches do this. This is how advertisement is done.
And now a small list of things that happened to me:
-I was bitten by a parrot.
-I was peed on by a dog.
-I helped set a concrete patio.
-Took a picture of some owls (pic included)
-I stared at a wall for a solid 90 minutes.
-I watched two hours of children's youtube while waiting for lunch at a member's house, and some of it is still stuck in my head.
-I saw our apartment behind a field reporter while watching the news at a member's house. (Yeah someone was killed in Itapoã, and we live on the main street, so...)
-I saw a giant minion made of christmas lights in front of a shopping mall downtown. (picture attached)
-I played with a ton of dogs.
-I attended a primary program at church.
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| Two owls in a tree. Jeremy is loving the birds in Brazil. |
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| The minion at the mall. |
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| The parrot just before the bite. |
Thank you for a fun 2018 and here is to a focused and adventure-filled 2019!!
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