Mission Calls on Skype and Real Life

On Saturday morning, we Skyped with Derek, Becky, Gma and Gpa Bates at Derek's house from Panguitch. The kids all got to open their mission calls, and were very excited to say the least. Then, on Sunday morning in Gma and Gpa Black's ward, Koria and Kimball joined three of their cousins in singing "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" for the meeting. It was a great weekend, and I started to reflect on our own missionary service, as I often do, and thought I'd take a few extra pics when we got home of Jared and my mission plaques. They hang in our back room on the walls, along with a few other memories and pictures from our missions. We hope our children always have an attitude of service, including a desire to share the gospel. Our family, along with the gospel, combine for our most important priorities in life and beyond. Thanks for all of the opportunities this weekend from many of our family members, to celebrate missionary work in action!

I've gotta say too, we sure have changed. No more long blonde hair, functioning memory, ability to sleep in past ... well, maybe my dedication to waking up early and exercising have gone downhill. At least I still shower regularly.

Crazy to think I didn't know Jared when this pic was taken. We knew each other when mine was taken, just not his. Seems odd to think that there was a time when that was the case.

Here's the backs of the kids' mission tags and a map of each of their missions. Thanks for all the hard work, Derek and Becky. I tried to convince K&K to wear their tags for the song on Sunday, but they weren't quite that brave.