What Might Be The responses to getting our mission calls

Well as all know Katie and I are going on a mission but for the last couple of days I have been trying to think how we might react when we get our calls this is my feeling how are reactions may be....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_phU1coQCU or possibly this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

Mom, it's your birthday

Hi! Happy birthday to our mom!! Yes, today is her special day, and Christian and I just wanted to say,

WE LOVE YOU, MOM!!

We are so grateful for all that you do. It is loads, most of which we probably do not quite understand yet. But we hope one day we can raise our families in homes as happy as the one we've been raised in. It has been our world for so long, and we absolutely love it. It will be hard to be away for so long, that is for sure. But it has given us the invaluable foundation we hope we'll just keep building on. Thanks, mom. You mean the world to us!! :)

And for all that I don't quite know how to say, here is a song from Candace:

She hit the nail on the head!! "Not to mention the meeeeals..." Thank goodness for Phineas and Ferb!! Haha :)

30 days and counting!

Hello! Happy Monday!

Well, I blew it with all the build up about when we can turn in the papers--sorry to be crazy. Here is the official turn in day for sure according to President Hall:

September 8!

That's 100 days before we are available to serve, which is the new magic number. So, as of yesterday, that is the official day. :) Sorry I am so confusing. I think we can count on this to be the day, though. I really do! And I can already tell that the name of the game for these next thirty days is patience. Gotta work on it. But we can do it. AH!

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing great and August is just moving along happily for all. :)

Something 'Bout Love

Hi! Katie here. :)

I am so excited to be serving a mission so soon. LDS sister missionaries, I think, are so lucky because the decision to serve is so personal. For me the whole process seems more and more to be rooted in love. The love of my supportive family members, learning to better love the gospel I've been raised in and the Savior, recognizing His love for me and my family and the people I meet, learning to love my own decisions and trusting that the right things will happen. It is just so happy! I feel so much so that it is such a privilege for me to get to serve, and I am so grateful that my summer has turned out the way it has; I have loved it. Anyway, I just can't hold it in today: I love that I get to be a sister missionary! :)

And since we're on the subject of "Things Katie Loves," would you like to know what else I love?

Okay, I will tell you: David Archuleta. And he says that there's "Something 'Bout Love," and if he says it...it must be true. ... :)

See? He's great!! Such a good boy!! As for our "papers" update: because we had to do a few things for our medical papers, the earliest they can be sent in is tonight. SO, sorry for the anticipation build-up last post, but tonight really could be the night! I'll keep you updated. And maybe David Archuleta will write a song about us getting our mission calls that I can post on the blog next time we hear about the progress! I guess we'll just have to wait and see... :)

So I say to myself, "Self, we almost have some mission calls!"

Hi! Happy today!

Well, big news today. :) Christian and I went in tonight for our final interview before being issued a mission call! The logistical process of "becoming a missionary" is fairly simple, but it is very structured. It involves multiple meetings with various church leadership to establish recommendations, completing physical and dental examinations, and filling out a personal contact information and an interests/leadership section (KIND OF like what you would see on a college application). And so we've done all we were asked to, and the very last step is to meet with the stake president for a final interview. And tonight we did!

Not only was today the last step of the paperwork process, but we got a little bit of a surprise. President Hall said that he was going to try to submit our paperwork TOMORROW so that we can get be in the cue to be issued a mission call by the General Authorities NEXT THURSDAY, which means we might have our mission calls before the end of August!! Before we all get too excited: because of when our availability date is (Christian's birthday! December 17), we might have to wait until August 17 (120 days before we are available to serve) to actually turn them in. But Pres. Hall told us that he wanted to try to get them in tomorrow, so there is a small chance that we could get our call a few weeks earlier than we had anticipated. It's crazy! It's a small chance, but it's there nonetheless. :)

What an adventure it has been! How crazy is it that this is just the beginning? Well, maybe crazy is not the right word. It's unexpected, and it's different. Definitely happier than anything I could've come up with myself. I sure am grateful for that. :)

Anyway, we have to do some little odds and ends with our medical forms tomorrow morning, and then we will keep you posted on the status of our papers from there. Holy cow--we'll know where we're serving so soon.

Holy cow. It's real.

It's a funny thing to not know anything about where I am going to spend an 18 month chunk of my life--I've told you before I really love my plans, and now my plans are to not have plans...at least not like I am used to. I feel like I should be more nervous, but I'm not. I just want to GO. It's hard to not want to when it just feels right. So I say to myself, "Self, why make it hard?" :)

So anyway, we are excited. :) Thanks for being supportive and interested in our little journey--it's important to us, and we really want to be just where ever we are called. Whatever this experience is--crazy, unexpected, different--it's our life, and we are grateful that it is the way it is right now. We are just happy to be in the midst of a truly joyful adventure. :) We love it! And, most likely, we love you too!! :) Thanks for sharing such a special time with us. :)

ROCK ON, MISSIONARY MAN!!

Hi! Katie speaking. Happy Sunday!

GUESS WHAT.

CHRISTIAN JUST TURNED IN HIS PART OF HIS PAPERS!! Wahooo!! We are so excited. He is going to be a GREAT missionary. AH! I just can't believe it. We are going to know where he is going so soon. My guess: Guatemala. And my hope is that he goes to Australia. My reasons: It's an English speaking mission (so no language barrier and you get to start proselyting quickly), it's totally foreign (how adventurous), and there would generally be warmer weather (farmer's tans galore!!). Sounds stupendous! It's fun to think about where he'll go. I get antsy thinking about it for me. So I just like to focus on Christian. Ultimately, here ever he goes, he'll be awesome. No doubts. :)

Anyway, before I post Christian's "mug shots," I wanted to tell you about this cool tradition the family has started. Every week we spend a night studying "Preach My Gospel," which is the manual LDS missionaries use for proselyting. I love this book, and I LOVE studying it with my family. It's a really happy time to learn from my family members. They all pick out different things to talk about--things that I'd have missed or don't understand--and they explain it in ways totally new to me. It's awesome to hear the perspectives of those people that are most important to me. I love it! We studied it together today, and I am just happy to have such a supportive and insightful family. I feel so lucky!

WELL. Here's what we've all been waiting for, THE MISSIONARY MAN!

This is the one he chose to put on the forms! How handsome!

Had he been asked to serve in Hamstertown, this is the picture he'd have chosen!!

This is me making Christian do weird things again!

He'll be thrilled when I am no longer his "companion" :)

ROCK ON, MISSIONARY MAN!

Let's all together "thank goodness" that Christian is normal. THANK GOODNESS!! :)