Day 57 ~ More Thomas Memories Made

The last few days have been exciting for Thomas!  On Thursday night, he had his DARE graduation.  DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education.  His class selected his essay to be read at the ceremony, so Thomas, along with 3 other 5th graders shared their thoughts on the importance of being drug free.  Then by random drawing, Thomas was selected to read his essay at the next O'fallon City Council meeting.  He was quite impressed!   Here are Thomas's thoughts that he shared that night:

Dear Myself,

My name is Thomas Mattei

     I am 11 years old, I’m in 5^th grade, I’m great at video games, I have 2 parents and 4 brothers and 1 sister, I live in 7 Little Oaks Court  O’Fallon MO and I like to play with my friends and play video games, and I’m a little nervous, sometimes excited, or I’m angry or sad.

     My strengths are being a good friend and family member, I’m good a video games like I already said, I’m wanting to play hockey which I did play a while back and was really good at it, I’m also going to play trumpet and I’m in the choir at my school.

     I feel great about the D.A.R.E program, and it’s important in 5^th grade so young people can learn how drugs affect your life and they can cause bad injuries and sicknesses.

     In middle school I want to play football, be in the band, and I want to join the computer club, and I also want to join any other club that seems interesting and similar with me.

     When I’m in high school I’m still thinking of football, band and that’s all I’m probably going to be in until I find out about more clubs.

     I think after my graduation I’m going to go to college complete my Eagle Scout and get a scholarship to BYU Idaho and between college I’m going to serve a mission since I’m Mormon and I’m going to preach the lord and teach others about god and my religion.

     In my future I think it’ll be wise to be drug-free cause, I have a heart defect and even smoking can cause heart disease even for non-smokers, so I need to keep my heart safe and I’m dreaming of becoming a video game creator and I don’t want any bad ideas for a video game if I accomplish my goal.

     I pledge to be Drug-Free because I want to have a solid heart and help others on my way to growing up and I want to keep others and I safe so everyone can have a good future and we can all reach our goal, and I say if anybody wants to take drugs change your mind and CTR which means Choose The Right and  follow god and what he says and we all want to stay healthy and never stop realizing their goal and for people who do drugs they don’t ever realize what they lost like their career, their friends, maybe even their families and we don’t want that to happen anymore and there’s always a life lesson every day of your life, and I’ve studied presidents for a while and a saying that John F. Kennedy used was…

     Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country…

-John F. Kennedy

     And by that we need to help our country and what that can also do about being drug-free is to help your country be drug-free instead of helping only yourself but to help others, and you don’t have to be selfish and look after only yourself.

From,

Myself

Thomas Mattei

Then on Saturday morning, Thomas earned his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do!  We are very proud of Thomas for all of his accomplishments!

Day 64 ~ A Few New Pictures

Well it finally came!  My Mother's Day card from Greg with a memory card enclosed!  It doesn't matter that the card was a week late   - I love, love, love looking at pictures, especially those from my kids, far away.  There were only about a dozen pictures that he's snapped over the last couple of months, but I'll take what I can get!   It occurred to me that these are likely the last pictures he'll be sending home. About 9 more weeks!  We're seriously in the home stretch now!

 These two are from a pizza challenge he participated in - He and Elder Dela Cruz had to eat the whole thing!

 Alas, they couldn't do it!  Boy do they look miserable!

Day 67 ~ My Favorite Color

It's funny how my favorite color typically changes.  Mike's favorite color is blue.  Always has been, always will be.  I've been stuck on purple for a while now. I tend to lean towards purchasing purple things - phone, purse, I even have a purple stethoscope.   This whole post came about as a result of a conversation with Garrett.  He has 4 favorites - too hard to decide!  It was just refreshing to have a simple conversation about colors with him.  No earth shattering news to share - just a simple message.  I love purple!

Day 70 ~ Random Photos

Just pictures for today, because I'm all out of stuff to write about.  These are pics of Todd from 2002, so he was about 5.

 With Teddy, his BF across the street.  Mike and Greg's Red Cherokee - saw one today that reminded me of it.

 The fire truck would come for our block parties.  Miss those days!  Todd with Michael and Teddy.

 We used to go to Six Flags all the time when the kids were small.  Todd on the carousel.

And finally Todd at the New Orleans Riverwalk from our trip back home in Summer 2002.

Day 71 ~ Short, but Sweet

Short, but sweet - that's how I would describe our conversation with Mark this morning. It was only about a 30 minute conversation, just enough time to know that he's doing well and is ready to get to New York.  It was strange, he sounded different.  I wasn't expecting that.  But it was different in a good way - very mature sounding.  I know, Mark???  He said that Spanish is coming along well, probably not as good as he would like, but well enough to get by once he makes it to New York.  He's just anxious to get there!

So, yes it was short, but oh so very sweet!  I will have to cherish the memory for quite a while.  Christmas is a distant 7 1/2 months away.  That thought makes me a little bit sad, but I'll take comfort knowing that's he's heading to where he longs to be and just pray that he's happy.  I know that the Lord will bless him as he teaches and serves, and that he will be a blessing to others!

I trust that he will love New York and certain people in New York will love him too!  I sure do!

Day 72 ~ The Day Between Two Phone Calls

This sounds like a rather odd title to a posting, I know.  Yesterday after a day at work that can only be described as horrendous (trust me, that's all you want to know about it), I got home just in time to talk to Greg.  He filled us in on what he's been up to and what he's looking forward to in a couple of months once he's home.  All of the kids, except Todd, who was sleeping, were able to talk to him for a while.  We were able to conference in his grandparents as well.  It's so reassuring to hear the sound of his voice and know that he's not just okay, but doing really, really well!  When he said "bye", I was, for once, excited.  Because the next time I hear his voice he will either be on his way home or already in my arms.

Tomorrow morning, early, will be another phone call.  Actually in just a few hours as it's technically already morning!  As early as 6, our time, Mark will be calling from the airport.  He will be on his way to New York.   It seems rather odd to me because I hugged him goodbye two months ago.  But he hasn't really started his adventure yet.  Tomorrow it begins!  I can only imagine how excited he must be.  I wonder if he will be able to sleep tonight, and also wonder how he managed to get everything packed again.  He spoke to Mike for a few short minutes this afternoon, asking him to please increase the limit on his Amex card so that he can check another bag at the airport.  That means he had trouble packing all his "stuff".  But, really how do you pack when you're going off for two years and make it fit in 2 suitcases and 2 carry-on bags????  I'm so eager to talk to him.  His letters, emails and pictures convey an excitement that I long to confirm in his voice.

My pictures today are of both these boys at the MTC.  Both think they can climb walls and are some kind of superheroes.  And to me they are!

Day 73 ~ Happy Mother's Day

Well unfortunately I worked all Mother's Day weekend.  Luckily I was able to spend some time with my mom on Friday.  She helped me around the house a little and then we went to Target to get some stuff for a package for Mark then on to lunch and the post office.  She gave me a card and I cried.  But I'm crying at just about every tender little thing these days.  I love my mom dearly and know I'll never tell her enough!  So many things I admire about her. . ..

Day 76 ~ Countdown to Graduation

Lindsay slept in on Thursday and then decided not to go to school.  She has a severe case of Senioritis, I'm afraid.  Thankfully her grades are such, that she is able to afford a day off now and then.   Part of the day was spent cutting out her wallet sized senior portraits and stuffing her graduation announcements in envelopes.  It will be here before we know it - just 22 more days until she's officially a high school graduate!

Day 77 ~ Long Day

Wednesday's blog was dedicated to the tired and weary.  I went to bed on Tuesday a little before midnight.  Garrett joined us in bed about 1:30 as he often does, and then got up three separate times vomiting.  By 3:30 after stripping the sheets, putting him in the shower twice and making sure he was okay    - I was wide awake and sleep was nowhere to be found.  I tossed and turned and at 5:30 got up, dressed and headed out the door to work.  It was a busy work day as usual and when I got home by 8:30 I was fairly exhausted.  Garrett was better by day's end, by the way.  Thankfully Mike and Lindsay split the day taking care of him so I could make it to work.  These pictures with Garrett are from a couple of weeks ago after a long night at work.  So I thought they would be appropriate here.

Day 78 ~ One Week to Go

Today I will get my last email from Mark while he is in the MTC.  Next Tuesday, I will get to talk to him on the phone as he waits in the airport for his flight to New York.  He's doing so well and I'm so proud of him.    He sent some pictures home last week, so I will share one or two, or maybe five.

You can read about his most recent adventures at www.marksnymission.blogspot.com

Yes, so proud!  

Day 79 ~ , Today, Tonight and Tomorrow

Tonight I am pondering what I have to share.  I feel that I didn't get a whole heck of a lot accomplished today.  I spent way too much time in front of this computer screen,  but no, I was not mindlessly gazing. It's ominous when one can look back on the hours spent in a day and nothing really significant comes to mind.  At least on first thought.  Just because I didn't get my basement completely cleared, cleaned and in immaculate condition (I really wanted to at least accomplish the clearing and cleaning, immaculate would be a stretch!), doesn't really mean the complete day was a wash.  I just tend to nag on myself when I spend too much time here staring at this monitor.

But I actually had a purpose to the staring . . . I spent some time scanning older photographs.  I'm working on a project for Mother's Day.  Shhh. Don't tell.  Granted, it likely will not be ready by Sunday, but it's a work in progress and our moms are patient!  So I started off scanning and of course things started going wrong, one by one.  Most of my time with the computer is actually spent putting out fires.  I know they are useful and really make us work less, but sometimes I wonder about that. Long story short, the scanning project took a very long time.  Then later, Lindsay and I spent some time looking at off-campus housing at BYU-Idaho.  We made a decision and then after dinner I was back on again completing the housing agreement and paying the deposit.  Seems strange and sad to think of another child gone, so I won't now.  Tomorrow is another day.

And here I am again.  Today  really is 79 days until Greg is home.  So if I don't write my blog - I'm officially behind.  Seems like I predicted that happening.  Oh well!  Tomorrow is Greg's and Mark's Pdays or preparation days.  So I will be writing emails to both of them.  Should I write them tonight or in the morning?  I'm thinking now - while I'm already here typing.  Tomorrow will be good for cleaning and I can ban myself from the computer (until I blog).  Next thing to ponder - should I write one letter to them both like Mike does, or two separate ones?  I always opt for the latter - that way I can individualize them and they're more special.

My pictures tonight will be some of the ones I was scanning earlier today.

Todd's first day of preschool

Pop Pop feeding Garrett

Greg and Mark as Santa's helpers

Cute little Lindsay

Thomas and Lindsay

Cute one of Thomas

I miss these two!

A favorite of Mark

Thomas and I at Yellowstone

Another favorite