I FOUND YOUR RETAINER!!!!

Or JOSH did....it was just sitting on your cubby shelf when I came in your room to day to lay on your bed and try to SMELL YOU....
SO A PACKAGE will be on its way SOON!!!
LOVE YOU BUG!
xxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxx
Mom

Letter from Sam...pics at END :)

family!! WHAT UP!!

 

so mothers day is obviously this week!! and I will most likely be calling at around 4:00 birmingham time... I hope that's o.k!! it's going to have to be, because I really want to go to the members house that we're going to.

 

Holy cow spencer is home! that is so nuts! I miss him soooo much! and can't imagine how outstanding a missionary he was while he was out here on the field! that's so funny that ashlyn, taylor, and brynn went on dates with spencer's friends! that's rad! who did spencer take? how is he doing? be honest is he weird? If he's weird, it means he was a good missionary. so that's ok :) seeing the pictures of everyone made me a little trunky, but then my companion slapped me and said hey, quit being sad haha so i've been doing good ever since then!!

 

This week has been my favorite on the mission so far! a lot of really great things happened! I got a European style hair cut that looks pretty fresh I must say. this kid in my district cuts hair. we're a little worried that he's in the 2% because guys shouldn't be able to cut hair like he does haha.  We went to Derby on Monday and went to the big shopping mall there, and got some pretty sweet stuff. I got mike some shoes for his birthday, but unfortunately he's gonna have to wait a couple months.  We eat doner's probably twice a week! I love them so much holy cow. On wednesday we helped a less active move. here's the situation. she didn't tell her husband she was moving out, because she was afraid of what he would do to her, and so she called up the ward and said basically 'I need to pack up everything and be out of here in 3 hours. so I need as much help as possible!' so there we're probably 25 of us in her small home packing up her stuff, hauling it to her moving truck, and trying to get out of there before the husband arrived. thank goodness we did, and then moved all of the stuff in her new apartment. that's going to be quite a shock for the husband to walk in to his house and see that more than half of the stuff in the house is gone! sad situation and she was crying mostly the whole morning! keep Maria in your prayers. 

 

At district meeting on thursday, we ripped up dirty church shirts, and wrote on them our title of liberty! sweetest idea ever from my district leader, and now I carry it around with me everywhere! the spirit was so strong in the meeting as we all shared why and what we wrote on our each individual title's of liberty.  My favorite member went to the temple on saturday for the first time after getting baptized last year! and it was so great to hear all about her experience and it strengthened my testimony a ton.  Friday was so weird knowing the spencer had slept at our home! but on friday we went to Birmingham to have a meeting for the trainers and the greenies! it was so good to be reunited with all of my friends from the MTC, and also meet a bunch of new friends as well serving in the mission! this mission is full with amazing missionaries.. and is now the biggest mission that has ever been in Europe (number of missionaries)

 

Edward isn't really progressing. he is still smoking, and would feel uncomfortable at church because he does have to smoke! we are fasting and praying for him, and hopefully things pick up again with him! We saw Reg. and Kitty again on saturday! and they are always so great to be around, and so hilarious! we are planning on teaching them the restoration tomorrow!

 

Yesterday for p-day we made a harlem shake video that is pretty hilarious and I will try and get it posted as soon as it is ready! I love the mission! we have so much fun together! yesterday when we were on our way to play football, I had a prompting to knock on a door, however, Elder Pauly and I we're not in our proselyting clothes, and the impression I got was that we needed to knock on her door on our way back from playing football. We knocked on her door on our way back, and she had just walked in the door 30 seconds before we knocked! we then asked her if she was relgious.. the usual.. yada yada, then she preceded to tell us that she only listens to the holy spirit so she probably wouldn't listen to what we had to say! we started laughing and then explained to her we believe the exact same thing, she was super stoked to read the book of mormon and asked us to please come back and visit her soon this week! how cool is that?? another miracle! ~

yesterday we had to break into a members home because she gave us the wrong key to feed her cat while she's on holiday. that doesn't look fishy at all when two men who they've never seen before are breaking into their neighbors home! haha so many people we're getting upset at us. it was hilarious!

 

Everything is still going great! I love my family more than anything in the world, and you all mean so much to me. I can't wait to hear from you guys on sunday for mothers day!

 

Love you so much!

 

p.s. I've lost 15 lbs in England.. weird huh? i guess we just bike all the time or something! also, i found ramen.. so don't send me that! but still orville redenbacker would be nice!! Love you!

 Something about just SEEING where he is really brings me peace.

 Also seeing that they are still SO REAL and being BOYS does the same for me..

MY BABY IS H O M E !!!!!!

No words.

 

THIS IS WHERE HE BELONGS!!!!

 I thought Michael's sign was hysterical as he MOCKED me...WHO is coming home???

 So HAPPY to have him HERE...but SO FELT that ONE missing boy...

 

                            We stopped at Betos on the way home (Spencer's request) and some of da Brethren tracked us down:)

                                                                         Reunited....

My brothers came to welcome and swim for the weekend! Megan outfitted everyone in Ryan shirts.

 

So....HE IS HOME. Sam we missed you BIG. I KNOW you felt it. I was SO HAPPY when Susan called me to tell me that her Aunt and Uncle were taking you out for dinner again! Is there something you can think of that I could send them as a THANK YOU that they might appreciate from the States?

Spencer's Homecoming talk will be on the 19th. We had a huge BBQ and gathering Thursday night...it was so PERFECT and RIGHT to have all the boys back. Our home is shaking with delight. Kim brought him her chocolate chip cookies...she loves us the way we LOVE to be loved:) Tammy came  by too...Perk showed up after taking his girlfriend to THE ROOF...it was her birthday dinner:)
Kim and Karie, the Cardins, geez... a LOT of people came to welcome him! HE is SO LOVED. WE are so LOVED. My heart can't put the right words on the JOY I feel when we are surrounded like that. Baby Cooper is too cute for words...Mike is getting "ready" for Wednesday...Spencer is SO going to miss him. Friday I set Spencer, Mike King, Ruben, and Cole Wharton up for a blind date to Iron Man 3. Mike Cooper took his girlfriend. Brynn Willis helped me a ton...she got Taylor Nelson to go with Cole, Aslynn to go with Mike King and she went with Ruben. It was 6 and I still didn't have a fourth...but GOD provided the Ram in the thicket:) I went to show Holly Bergmann's home and the potential buyers had a DARLING 20 year old daughter that came with them. I just had 20 seconds of insane courage and asked her and she was HAPPY to do it! Dad and Spencer came to pick me up...(we had been shopping for new shoes for him when I had to run to the house) and she just came with us to dinner. What a trooper. So SPENCER proudly wears the badge of having a date the second night home. Those boys are too funny. I love how much they all loved it.

It was great to have my bothers here too...all is well in Logan and the kids are as adorable as EVER! Elle is into telling JOKES....we now have a storage of them. I told her to write you a letter with them all. Her favorites are "Your Momma is SO FAT...". Graham is ALL OVER the pool like a fish!. Haven just  turned 11 on Friday. Drew and Laikyn are MORE inches taller.
Spencer is at Coopers having Sunday Dinner. I am being a big girl and sharing since Mike leaves Wednesday. The Cooper's have been such a blessing  and such dear friends to us throughout our lives. I am sure we CHOOSE each other before we came. I am eager for Karie to be DONE with school so we have more time to spend together.

The Sunshine has made the WHOLE WORLD feel better. It will get up to 72 today:)

Really Lovey...your letters and pics are AWESOME SAUCE!! THANK YOU!!! It really does matter to me. When I woke up Tuesday to the extra pics I danced! Let me see your apartment? What is your favorite food so far? Do you have everything you need? If YOU want to take Susan's Aunt and Uncle out I would be SO HAPPY to add money to your account! I love that when I get up your messages are already here. Although I am EXCITEDLY  subtracting an extra 15 min from sleep so I can still get on my run on time:) Never been so HAPPY to get up earlier.

You are LOVE and LIGHT and ALL THAT'S WONDERFUL in the world. YOU DARE GREATLY!!! This week I've read another book for my list of Books I need you to read---ALL of us to read so we can talk about it...it's entitled DARING GREATLY by this most astonishing woman named Brene Brown. She is my soul sister. So she starts her book by telling us what it means to DARE GREATLY:

The phrase DARING GREATLY is from Theodore Roosevelt's speech "Citizenship in a Republic." The speech sometimes referred to as THEN MAN IN THE ARENA was delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910. This is the passage that made the speech famous:

"it is not the critic who counts; not the  man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have  done them better.
The  credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust  and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly...."

YOU my SAM, YOU are DARING GREATLY. I hope you can print this out and put the quote somewhere in your scriptures for the harder days. YOU are IN THE ARENA. You have chosen your worthy cause. YOU KNOW GREAT ENTHUSIASMS, great devotion....I am so proud and LOVE YOU SO MUCH for WHO you are and  the choices you make. The book is really about being vulnerable enough to BE your TRUE most authentic self...and being brave enough to let ourselves be seen. It's when we are ALL IN....I love that you and me...we get to be ALL IN with each other...we trust each other enough to show up exactly as who we are....Thank you Lovey.

Get your most perfect self ALL OVER EVERYONE this week!!!
There is only ONE COMMANDMENT....
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
Mom

Waiting

Hmmmmmm. As I was singing and dancing and crying and listening to my HAPPY (Ipod) Playlist through the empty house, I tried to remember what it was like when I was WAITING for you to be born. That feeling like you would NEVER get born... I remember how grateful I felt not to have the fear I had with the first 2 births. I remember wondering WHO you were and WHAT you would look like. I remember hoping that I would be able to be alone with you without many visitors on the first day so we could just BE you and me. I wanted to name you ANDREW. Dad won me over with Spencer. You are SO a SPENCER.
But TODAY. I will not forget today. I am OVERWHELMED with excitement and JOY. The anticipation has abated and its  almost like you are already HERE. The empty spaces you left here are already beginning to fill in anticipation of your physical self getting here. I can FEEL you here. It is the strangest, most WONDERFUL warmth. I could NEVER have imagined, even in my best imagining that YOU would BE so PHENOMENAL. There are no words for WHO you are and the place you hold in our family...IN MY HEART. I have 20 hours. Your love has arrived ahead of you. My arms ACHE for the holding. 20 hours. WELCOME HOME seems pale in reference to this occasion. YOU SO BELONG TO US!!! Everyone knows I have not been the most generous sharer when it comes to these 2 years. Those who know you GET ME!
Making Pumpkin Bars, crying, cleaning sheets, marinating chicken, getting your stuff out of the basement storage room. Missing Sam.

FINAL EMAIL FROM SPENCER!!!!!!!! 3 days peoplexxooxx

hey family

i love you guys this week has been so great but sad and sweet and everything at the same time, yesterday the hispanics in our group threw a big party and we ate tons of food and at the end each member individually got up and said how greatful they were for me and starting the spanish work here, not needed to mentioni was really emotional and so were the members, they then sang para siempre dios este con vos, and it was awesome allthough hispanics are aweful at singing it was the sweetest moment of my mission, i dont know what life is going to be like but i vow to be the best i can be when i return home.

im not sure about pg parks and rec, what do we do? what are the hours? but the answer is probably yes i would love to work with zach, i cant wait to see you guys and the boys, and dont freak me out about school or work the first week im home please i have no clue but i will figure it out its not a decision i want to make without knowing anything.

i love you fam see you ina few days.

mom dont complain about the short message you know i love you.

Email from BAM 29 April 2013

 MY BOY!!!

 Sam says this reminded him of Harry Potter and the magical phone booth:)

family!!

 holy cow another week has gone by! these weeks go by so fast! it seems like honestly yesterday I was writing you guys an email! this week was fantastic.  Tuesday we met susan's uncle Reg, and his girlfriend/partner I don't know what to call her, but her name is kitty haha! they are so nice and so funny! they immediately got us some chocolate and drinks and insisted that we stay and chat for a while so we did! They then on saturday took us to get fish and chips which we're absolutely amazing! it was this way cool shop with a beautiful view outside! I'll send some pics.  we then went back to their home and shared a spiritual thought, and it was really good! they are probably my favorite people i've met here so far.  later on tuesday we went on like an hour bike ride to this town at the edge of our area, and it was an amazing bike ride! I took some sweet videos, but unfortunately I can't send any videos home with the email, so you'll just have to wait for my SD card to run out of memory and then i'll just send the whole thing home! i've taken like 30 videos haha i'm sad you can't see them yet! Wednesday I went on exchange with the district leader in a city called Derby! it's a way sweet city, with a ton of really old, huge churches!

 

Anyways so I was using his normal companions bike on the way to a Dinner Appointment, and all of the sudden, the left pedal just fell completely off of the bike! so I had to put my foot on the right pedal, and then scooter the bike for like 3 miles! there was definitely a lot of people laughing at me! it was humiliating haha just scootering a bike around a big city,right through their shopping complex (it was a place a lot like the riverwoods) but all in all it was actually hilarious. it was funny cause these 8 year olds passed me on an actual scooter laughing. oh well! 

 

 Friday was awesome, we taught a lesson to mr. williams, (77 parkinsons) and when he said the prayer, after he finished he said he felt really good and felt something really strong while he prayed! woo! We also taught Edward about temples, and how he has the opportunity to be married to his wife for eternity if he keeps it up! he is so stoked about that and really wants to get baptized! but guess what.. he has a real phobia of water! we had to promise him like ten times that he would only be underwater all the way for maybe a second. we'll see how that works out!

 

We did a ton of service on saturday, and got fed for all 3 meals! Sundays are always way rad here, because the members always cook feasts on sundays! There was this girl on the street yesterday who heard my american accent, and then her and all her friends kept on asking me to say things in my accent and then giggling, and then my companion in his german accent.  it was so funny! then they asked if me and my companion wanted to spend the night at their place, we then explained why we didn't do this and gave them books of mormon:) haha i've never had so much fun in my life!

 

We're going to Derby today to go shopping in that sweet mall place, and hopefully buy something cool!

 

Have so much fun with spencer! you know how much I would love to be there! but just know that I am praying for you guys and my spirit is there? (I don't think that's actually possible) but what i'm gettin at is, i freaking love my brother and you guys are lucky as heck to see him!

 

Mom- I don't need ramen or orville redenbaker, but they really don't have it in any stores i've seen! just send me a package with some snack food maybe? i don't know you'll do good either way!

 

Love you so much family! talk to you next week

 

Elder Sammy