7 Again...

Okay--my daughter did 7 things that make her laugh, so here's my version.

7 People That Have Always Made Me Laugh (in order of hilarity):

1. Levi (often when I was angry with him about something. . . "I know I'm laughing, but I'm still mad at you!")
2. Joanie (she's gone now, but man was she fun!)
3. Alexa (in her letters home)
4. My Dad--especially when I would hear him laughing as he watched "The Red Skelton Show" when I was a kid.
5. Christina
6. Casey
7. CNMI Politicians

Life in 7's

I was tagged by mainegirll--cool.

My life in 7's:

7 things to do before I die

1. See all of my children happy and faithful.
2. Have another 25. . . 30? 50? (at the very least) happy, healthy years with Casey.
3. Serve a mission for the Church.
4. Spend a few days with Cassie and Dave.
5. Go to the National Archives and weep unashamedly (over the Founding Documents).
6. Drive the perimeter, Rt. 1, of the U.S.
7. Own a brand-new Lexus. Oh yeah.

7 things that attract me to my honey

1. His sense of humor.
2. His uncanny ability to converse intelligently on just about anything.
3. His interest in people.
4. How much he likes the "little kids."
5. He's fun.
6. He is the most interesting man I have ever known.
7. The patience he has with me.

7 things I say most often

1. "Just a minute."
2. "We'll see."
3. "Now that's an interesting thing."
4. "Man-oh-man"
5. "mmm-hmm"
6. "What's up?"
7. "I may have told you this before, but..."

Saints and Soldiers

I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago and was very moved. It's evidently based on the real life experience of a small group of U.S. soldiers in Belgium during WWII who come upon an ally with critical intelligence that they need to get to command asap--the problem is, they're stranded behind enemy lines. One of the scenes in the movie sticks in my mind as an excellent example of the individual ways in which we interpret our life's experiences. Similar, in fact nearly identical, events can be realized in such completely different ways from one person to the next. This movie also made me think a lot about how dependent we are on one another and how much we influence and are influenced by each other--we truly are brothers and sisters.

"Saints and Soldiers" is very well done; I highly recommend it. (I would not recommend it for the under PG13 crowd unless a parent has seen it first to make that determination.) You can find more information on the movie at www.saintsandsoldiers.com.

I Hope They Call Me on A Mission!

"They" did! On Friday, September 30, 2005, Alexa received her mission call to the Idaho Pocatello Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We were sooo excited. Grammie H. called here to get her phone number at work--she had promised that she would call her as soon as it arrived. So later I phoned back to see if Grammie had gotten in touch with her and she said she had and that she was coming up right after work with Mal and her roommate.

This all happened early Saturday morning for us, so I figured out that we should be hearing from Alexa sometime between 11 and noon. We told all the kids and decided that when she called whoever answered would holler to the rest and we would all get on the phones and then Jacob would turn on the theme to "Star Wars"...then Dad's voice would say, "Alexa--where is your mission?" Unfortunately, by the time everyone got on the phones we were all so excited and all talking at the same time (you'd think I'd be used to that after all these years!), that I couldn't hear what Alexa was saying--or even if she was saying anything. Anyway, everyone had to hang up the extensions and we finally got the word and the chaos did finally subside! She had us all guess before she would tell us--Jake got the closest with Utah. She has to be in Utah a lot earlier than we thought, and she said, "Mom! You've got to get here!" because I was leaving the day after Thanksgiving to go back and go with her to the temple, but that will be cutting it too close, so now I'm leaving a week earlier.

It was so fun to go to Church on Sunday and tell everyone. Our branch president announced it and there was an audible "OH!" from the congregation. It was great. Then, of course, those who were connected to that area started talking with us after the meetings--one of our current missionaries is from there, one of our friends here was born there and lived there for quite a few years, other friends have a friend from Mongolia that is serving there now, and still another has a nephew who enters the MTC in 2 weeks who is going there...the Church really does make it such a small world!

I'm so happy for and proud of Alexa. I'm excited for her to go to the area of the country where she was born--we left when she was two and have never been back since then. She actually has been to Idaho before when we went camping at Redfish Lake up in the Sawtooth Mountains, but of course she doesn't remember it. What a beautiful state it is! I think she'll be impressed by the incredible Rocky Mountains; I know she'll fall in love with the people she serves.