Phone calls and photographs

Traditionally missionaries are allowed to call home to chat with their families from the airport as they leave the MTC and fly to their mission destination. Rebekah informed us of the day and the time frame in which she would be calling home, and we sent her a "burner" phone that she could use to call us and then throw away, rather than have her buy a calling card and then fight for time at one of the very few pay phones still installed at the airport. Interestingly enough, the five other members of Rebekah's family would be in four different places when she called. Julianne and I would be in New York City that day, Bryan would be already at work getting ready to teach an early class, Lilian would be at her grandparents house, leaving Brandon as the only one here at home. So in the package with the phone was information as to where each member of the family would be and what phone numbers she could use to contact each of us if she had the time.

Rebekah called Bryan first and was only able to chat for a few minutes seeing as he was already teaching. But to hear each other's voices and say a quick hello and I love you was I'm sure, certainly worth it. The phone call to Lilian was brief as well, but Lilian was delighted that Rebekah would call specifically to talk to her. Brandon excitedly texted me with the news that he had also received a phone call from his sister. Julianne and I were in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty when Rebekah's call came through. And because we were out on an island it was at times hard to hear and the call dropped a few times. But we were both able to spend some time talking with Rebekah. She said she was extremely excited to go to London. She told me more about her Visitor Center training at the MTC and the time she spent at Temple Square. She said that she had been made that travel leader...but considering it was only her and Sister Griffeth, it wasn't that great of an honor, really. :) I told her how much I loved her, how excited I was for her new adventure in London and how proud I was of her. We eventually hung up and I found myself thankful for my sunglasses so I could shed a few private tears as we walked with our group back to the ferry boat. 

A few hours later my phone rang again. This time while I was at my hotel. Rebekah had made it to her layover in Detroit and was letting me know that so far her travel had gone well. It was nice to talk to her a second time because this time the connection was better. I was really glad we had sent her that burner phone so she had the opportunity to call again easily. She didn't have much time...her layover was brief and they were getting ready to board, but considering the next time I will hear her voice is at Christmas, I was happy to take any few minutes I could get.

The next day this picture showed up on Sister Jordan's (Rebekah's mission president's wife) Instagram page and was sent to me by a friend. (It also showed up on a Ireland and UK Missionary Momma's Facebook page that I follow.) It said, "New missionaries and their trainers today! We know they are going to be great missionaries!" It was the first time I had seen a picture of Rebekah since she left 3 weeks earlier so I was so thankful for a social media savvy Mission President's wife! Plus, it was confirmation that Rebekah had indeed made it to London and was where she was supposed to be.

(Rebekah is 2nd from the left on the 2nd row.)

Then on Thursday (still in NYC) I got a text from a Jennie, a neighbor from home who was in London with her daughter Morgan. They had stopped at the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center and looked for Rebekah. They asked a senior missionary couple if they new her. (Keep in mind Rebekah had just arrived in London the day before.) They said they did know her and that though she wasn't there right then, she was due back in a few hours for a song practice. Apparently Elder Holland was coming that weekend to speak to all the missionaries in both London missions and Rebekah was part of the musical number. Jennie and Morgan told this couple that Rebekah was a beautiful singer and they responded that they already knew. :) Jennie felt bad that she hadn't been able to give Rebekah a hug from me and send a picture. I was just happy for the update! How kind of Jennie and Morgan to even stop by and ask. It meant a lot to me.

(And how interesting to hear that Rebekah was going to hear from and sing for Elder Holland for the second time in a month! Remember, he came to the MTC her first week there and she sang with the MTC choir for the musical number in that fireside as well.)

So I wasn't too surprised when this picture showed up on that same Facebook page later.

(Rebekah is on the front row to the left of center wearing a red jacket.)

But what did surprise me was when I was standing in line for a smoothie at a little cafe in Brooklyn on Saturday morning, scrolling through my Facebook feed...and randomly came across this picture on the Hyde Park Chapel Visitor's Center page.

In this close-up picture I'm sure you can see her sweet face singing at the fireside for Elder Holland. What a treat!

Turning eight

Happy 8th Birthday to my Lilian Mae!

Her birthday was during the last week of school and happened to fall on Field Day. She was so excited... games and treats and bounce houses, etc. It was like her whole school was celebrating with her.

And then with knowing that all her cousins, grandparents and aunts/uncles were coming to her baptism and BBQ a few days later, it seemed like she was being celebrated in grand style. So yay for me...because I didn't have to worry about trying to talk Lilian out of a friend party and could keep it simple on the actual birthday.

So we decorated the house with lots of white flowers and doily decor thinking it would work well for a baptism as well.

And then Julianne created a treasure hunt for Lilian to follow to find her birthday presents. The clues were even rhyming! And Lilian loved it.

I can't believe my baby is getting so grown up.

It's great to be eight

Eight-years old is a biggie as far as birthdays go...at least when you are a Mormon. Eight-years old means you get baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lilian's baptism came only 2.5 weeks after we dropped Rebekah off at the MTC. When filling out her mission papers back in January, Rebekah debated long and hard as to what day to put as her "date of availability." She very much wanted to be here for Lilian's baptism on June 6th but was worried about running into missionary backlog if she put her availability as the second week of June....many of the graduating high school seniors would be putting that week as their date as well. Would she get pushed back further into the summer at that point? So May 9th (her 19th birthday) was officially submitted as her date of availability and then we waited and wondered...there was always a chance she wouldn't go till early June anyway. The call came with an MTC entrance date of May 20th. Rebekah and Lilian both were a little sad. But so as to help Rebekah feel like she was involved at least a little bit, she helped Lilian pick out her baptism dress before she left.

Lilian's baptism date was only 3 days after her birthday. I couldn't have planned it better myself. How wonderful to have her baptism be a big part of her actual birthday celebrations. The baptism was in the afternoon so it was nice to have the morning be leisurely in getting Lilian all ready including Julianne's "dunk-worthy" hairstyle.

(Lilian and Camden shared their special baptism day.)

It's been a long time since we last had a baptism in our little family. And yet now that our caboose was finally getting baptized, it was in some ways a little sad along with the happy. It was most definitely an important day in her little life, and for me, a very real "she's not a baby anymore" moment. I'm glad that because she is a girl, I was the one to meet her back in the dressing room after her actual baptism to help her get dried off and dressed again. When Rebekah got baptized, I had been so mentally overwhelmed with getting everything ready for the big day...and then the actual moment happened so fast. It wasn't until she was standing in the dressing room afterwards, shivering and dripping water all over the floor with an enormous smile on her face that the emotion of it all truly hit me. I pulled her in for a big hug, wet clothes notwithstanding, and told her how much I loved her and how proud I was of her. It was a moment that stuck with me, so when Julianne got baptized, I made sure to do the same. I wasn't the first one to see Brandon, dripping wet and smiling in the dressing room. His father was there with him that time. And that was good and fine. But I missed that first wet hug. So to have that experience one last time with Lilian was priceless. Grinning and dripping and shivering....and so beautiful.

The little peg-doll was a gift from a neighbor....painted to look like Rebekah the day she left for the MTC, our own "mini Sister Croft." We decided to bring her along to any and all family activities while Rebekah was gone (Flat Stanley style).

After the baptism everyone came over to our house for a BBQ. The Croft side of the family took the opportunity to get a big family picture seeing as only our two missionaries Rebekah and Jordan were missing.

And a couple of pictures with my parents as well...

TGIF

Today is Friday.

Friday is lots of things.
First and foremost, Friday starts the weekend. Which means anticipation of a Saturday where maybe life slows down a little bit. Or if not, at least is different. It does not mean sleeping in...because weekend or no, Brandon will still have gymnastics.

Sometimes Friday means date night. But only if it is an early date night...because, gymnastics. Did I mention that already? And I drive carpool Friday nights.

Friday means I stay up late. Not because I get to sleep in on Saturdays (see above). But because usually Julianne is out on a date or at a party and I feel like I should wait up for her as a good Mommy is wont to do.

Friday is garbage day. So after sending Lilian off to catch the school bus, I run around the house in a mad dash to get all the house garbages emptied and into the big, black garbage can and out to the curb in a race against the garbage truck's arrival. Sometimes I miss it. Sometimes I purposely decide the big, black can isn't overly full anyhow so I'm not going to worry about it. Sometimes I think I really ought to deal with it all on Thursday night but usually I'm not that organized.

Friday used to be Winder Dairy delivery day and oh, how we would look forward to that chocolate chip pumpkin bread that was on our standard order. But then Bryan decided that paying $2.99 for a half gallon of milk when you could pay $2.50 for a whole gallon at the grocery store down the street was just ludicrous...my protestations of taste, quality and convenience notwithstanding. We put a stop to our Winder Dairy deliveries. And it was for the best, it really was. But I do miss that pumpkin bread.

If I'm really on the ball, Friday means dry cleaning pick-up. Or drop off if I've left something out on Tuesday.

Friday is early-out schedule for Lilian. Which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Early-out throws my schedule all cockeyed what with having to remember that Lilian comes home two hours earlier that day. I'm always worried that I'll forget and be having a lovely lunch somewhere with a friend, only to get an indignant call from my 2nd grader wondering where I am and what she's supposed to do in the meantime?

But most importantly? Friday is P-DAY! At least for these next couple of weeks while Rebekah is at the MTC.
P-Day means an email. And if I'm lucky and happen to be on-line at the right time, a little back and forthing with the emails which kind of, sort of feels like texting? Hey, I'll take it. Because once she gets to London we'll have a 7 hour time difference. Which means I'll be up in the middle of the night if I want to back and forth email with her. And really, I'm not sure how often it will happen. Oh, I'm most definitely willing to give up sleep for it...maybe just not every week. Realistically, I'm not entirely sure what time she'll be on-line today. So no guarantees really, of anything more than a newsie little email from my missionary girl. But when you are really missing that missionary girl....an email is worth its weight in gold. (Well, emails don't actually weigh anything...but you get the idea. Just go with it.)

So, TGIF!

Missionary photo shoot

Singing the praises of our friend and photographer Jon Woodbury again this morning. He took some absolutely incredible pictures of our missionary girl. He took Rebekah's senior pictures last year, her mission pictures this year...in a few years we'll have him photograph her wedding. He's watching her grow up through the lens of his camera!

Here's some of my favorites....
(And forgive me for the sheer number but I was having a ridiculous time just choosing a few...they are all just that good!)

Saying goodbye

Yesterday we dropped Rebekah off at the Missionary Training Center in Provo to start her mission. Called to the England London Mission, we were informed she would spend 3 weeks in the MTC before heading across the pond. There is an MTC in England and we were asked often why Rebekah wasn't starting there. And the answer...who knows? But I'm thankful. Because, baby steps. I can't talk to her or see her or do anything more than send her letters and emails. But it is kind of comforting to think she is just a little over an hour drive down the freeway. (The same amount of drive time to Logan and her home at USU this past year interestingly enough...just in the exact opposite direction.) And having her at the Provo MTC means I can easily send her packages of any and all things she may have forgotten...or just cookies and treats. Originally we thought her stay there would be just two weeks. But we've heard the reason for that third week may have to do with visitor center training. Because while serving in London, some of her time will be spend working in the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center.

(Rebekah's picture was already up on the missionary board a the stake center when she went to get set apart as a full time missionary. Also...she found this in a fortune cookie right before we left for the MTC. I thought it was rather appropriate...)

I kind of dreaded this day. And yet as it got closer I just wanted to get it done with. The past two and a half weeks were a mad dash as we scrambled to get everything done before the big day. With Rebekah in Logan finishing up winter semester, we didn't have a lot of time to do our shopping and mission prep leisurely.

Example...
Me: "Rebekah, you need to come home more weekends so we can do mission shopping."
Rebekah: "I have lots of homework....I need to pass my classes, Mom."

How do you argue against that?

So between dealing with shopping and planning and lists and prep, we also had to deal with putting together a big open house after her farewell. And so by the time yesterday arrived I was completely burned out. As much as I hated the idea of saying goodbye, I knew there was no fighting it...it was going to happen. So I was almost wishing it here faster, just so we could get going already. Let's just do this thing, you know?

Her arrival time for the MTC was 12:30. We sent everyone off to school and work in the morning, finished up packing...and then checked everyone back out of school, picked up Bryan from his office and headed to Provo early. We landed at the Provo Temple around noon with just enough time to take some pictures and spend some time saying goodbye. The MTC is drop-off only so it has become fairly common for missionary families to do exactly what we did...and we saw lots of missionary hugs and pictures and goodbyes.

I held it together fairly well at the temple. Rebekah let me hold her hand as we walked back to the car. And then kept holding it through the 3 minute drive across the street to the MTC. Because she would've had to climb over me to get out of the truck, I got out and helped get her suitcases despite there being a person there assigned to help Rebekah with her luggage. Which meant that I was kindly offered the opportunity to give Rebekah one last hug before she walked off. I told her I loved her. I told her I was so proud of her. I told her to enjoy this awesome adventure. I kissed my baby on the cheek and then watched her walk away.

Then I got in the car and Julianne passed me some kleenex. All of us were crying at that point. But because it was lunch time we stopped at Cafe Rio on our way through town. A word of advice...if you have just dropped your missionary off at the MTC, waiting in line to order food is not the best time to start looking at all the texts and messages that have come in on your iPhone. I got plenty of strange looks as tears started pouring down my face...and I decided that maybe I should wait to read all the friendly messages of support until after I was in the privacy of my own home.

Except that arriving home was worse. I felt like I had handled things fairly well with the goodbyes and the MTC drop off. There were tears yes, but a respectable amount. However when I walked in my house and saw all of her belongings, the things that she hadn't taken with her but were still sitting out, all the evidence of her being there just a few short hours before...reality came crushing down on me. And that's when I lost it. Julianne, Brandon and Lilian all took naps, so emotionally drained. I went to my bedroom and read through all my messages. Every text, email and facebook comment brought a new wave of tears...but I was SO thankful for the support and love. And the tears were cathartic.

It's been not quite 24 hours since we last saw Rebekah. I'm doing better today, but am still emotionally fragile. I hear that's normal. I've been told that over the next few weeks I'll find myself surprised by emotion creeping up on me at random times. That makes sense. I'm glad that we had a year of Rebekah at college...because once again, baby steps. She could call and text and there were visits every few weeks. But we got used to her being gone. So this mission thing isn't cold turkey for us. And for that I'm thankful.

I put a letter in the mailbox this morning. She should get it tomorrow. I ordered a missionary countdown map so we can start marking off the days. I'm a missionary momma now, as crazy as that thought it. I'm excited for the experiences and growth and adventures Rebekah will have. I'm excited about the people she will meet and the friends she will make. I'm so proud of her desire to share with the people of Great Britain the message of a God who loves us and knows us individually and personally, a Savior who atoned for us, the joy of eternal families and the knowledge that a prophet lives on the earth today.

My Rebekah...she makes my heart happy proud.