Missionary Monday

My dear brother,

I hope that you are doing well. I’m sad that you haven’t received any of my emails in the past few weeks. There was not one last week (because of the 4^th I thought you would be checking your email the following day), but there were emails the weeks before. I was a little confused about why you hadn’t responded. I don’t expect large responses at all—I know your computer time is short, so you can make my emails short and sweet if you must. I’m going to send this twice today just to be sure you get it.

So, yes, the husband is home. It’s wonderful to have him here—a little more like life should be. But now the poor guy is on his pediatric rotation, which means he must spend every 4^th night in the hospital caring for sick children. He is ready to be done with medical school. And we are all certainly ready to have a little more time with him. There are so many choices and changes coming up in the next year for our family. We are working on the husband’s residency applications that we will send out to about 80 programs. It’s like fishing, with a lot of lines in the water. Then we just wait to see what bites, and once we get a few fish on the line we size them up and rank them from most to least desirable. Funny thing is, each fish (program) is doing the same thing with all its applicants. And, then a big computer decides which fish and which fisherman are most suited for each other. So, I guess it’s not anything like fishing after all.

We received some disappointing news the other day; the Radiation Oncology program in our state (most likely) won’t be offering any spots this year. So, by the time you get back, I’ll be somewhere else. But, home is wherever my little family can be together—maybe it will be in the great state of Texas. The husband enjoyed his time there on rotation, and when I was with him I liked it too. The people are very kind—hospitable and accommodating. There is something to that “southern hospitality.” The husband is still listening to country music stations. But I’m sure that any state is different from a missionary’s perspective. Did you get the letter where I confessed that I asked your mission president for permission to go to your ward in San Antonio?

Many things have been happening lately. Baby J knows how to crawl. It’s actually more of a hobble/hop crawl and every time I watch him make his way across the room it makes my day. He keeps one leg strait and scoots his lower body forward in one swift hobble. He’s just seven months and he’s already trying to pull up onto furniture. Yesterday at Sunday dinner my father in law said, “He is such an Ike baby….I see so much of his uncle JD in him.” And, he’s right. Jdog somehow ended up a lot like his momma. I would feel bad for him, but he does have a couple handsome uncles, so I don’t think he got too short sided. ;)

We have had a few very busy weeks in the Francypants family. My nephew Shmibbers was baptized and the husband’s brother Esteban got hitched. He had been engaged for a little while, but it was a rather quick decision to move their wedding up a few months. It was a beautiful ceremony—a white wedding in the Manti temple. Great grandpa performed the ordinance. As I sat there reflecting on the covenants we make with God—from baptism to sealing marriage vows—and all that is promised to us I felt so humbled. Sometimes I feel like such a small piece in God’s puzzle. But as I witnessed the progression of promises made in the last few weeks, I felt the Holy Ghost testify that God knows me, and knows how hard I am trying to live up to the covenants I’ve made with him. How often am I like Celopas, whose eyes were holden on the road to Emmaus—walking with God but not able to see Him? I know I feel His presence and His spirit. I need to trust and rely upon the truth that fills and burns in my heart.

Atrain is doing alright. I feel like he’s going through a bit of a rough time right now. A lot has been happening in his busy little life, and I think he’s also trying hard to interpret and keep up with it all. It’s got to be hard for a little guy when his brother begins to encroach upon his time and territory. I’m sure that the craziness of the past month has also taken a toll on him. We’ve been talking about feeling the Holy Ghost and how it’s hard to feel His happy feelings when we make bad choices. Yesterday out of the blue he said to me, “I will make good choices mom, so I can feel the Holy Ghost.” I told him I would do the same. Last night I sat with him reading the “You are Special” book Grandma gave us a few Christmases ago. We read it again and again, and talked about the message. I hope he knows how special he is to me. There is nothing more important than my Atrain and Jdog. I want to try harder this week to help my boys feel that. Especially when life gets busy I want my boys to know that they are the most important pieces of my day.

I sure love you, brother. I get to teach Relief Society on the first Sunday of next month and I think I need to teach about missionary work—having a game plan about what to do when you’re asked, “What is the difference between you’re church and mine,” like I was that day in Texas. (Did you get that letter?) Any pointers? I’m sure you have a lot. Keep up the good work, brother. I love you.

Love,

MJ