--> {For 18 months – Jan ’17 to Jul ’18 – I’m posting our letter to Miranda while she's on her mission to Cochabamba, Bolivia. Our letter titles are taken from a list of family sayings & catchphrases we recorded onto a pillowcase she has with her. You can read her adventures on her mission blog: www.hermanamadsen.blogspot.com!}
Subject title because I forgot some pics of Derek opening his bday presents from the family before we left! He got a 3DS from Carlie, and some games from the kids. =)
And here is one of the pics that was stuck on the GoPro from our trip: A school of yellow fish that was darting around underneath Dad. =)
So Monday, when we were talking to you, we were walking around on this beach:
And at the same time we got this from home:
We gladly kept touring around and enjoying the balmy weather before we had to get on our plane that night at 7:45. We stopped by the little green church we had driven by so many times:
We ran up to Ke'e beach at the beginning of our favorite hike at the top of the island to gather some sand for our collection:
We made sure we made it down to Poipu for our 3rd and last "local" burger at Merriman's... it was really so so so so delish.
Then we flew home overnight, not sleeping on the plane flight; watching many episodes of Designated Survivor with Keiffer Sutherland. We got home at 9ish Tuesday morning, and just went straight to sleep for the day! But that night, I stayed home to wait for Kierste, who wasn't back from the movie ("Wonder" about the boy with facial malformations/ for activity days) by the time the family went with G&G Madsen and G&G Levie to:
Apparently, they changed up the format, and everyone really loved it even more than before... and before was pretty awesome. =) You'll have to ask them about the changes they made, because I didn't get to go!
Wednesday, we went to Morgan's basketball game. It's still so fun to watch him =)
Thursday, Derek had his band concert while Dad had bball practice and Morgan was totally sick. The kids all took turns at a mild stomach bug. Halle, Kierste, Morgan, Connor, then Carlie on the weekend. Derek came out conqueror!!! Just like you usually did. =)
So Natalex posted pics of new little Lucy Joy... sorry if I forgot she was born on Dec. 1st!!
Then on Friday night, we went to see Wayne Burton =) in concert with Monica Moore Smith (with the AF Orchestra). Remember she did those music videos, first as a Taylor Swift lookalike, and now on her own and collaborating with Colby Ferrin. Now she's in some movies, too. It was a really great concert.
Then Saturday, we had our neighborhood Progressive Dinner that Jen Platt puts on. We LOVED it like we always do, but at the very end, we heard that the Olivers bought a *22 FOOT* Christmas tree at the Cmas Tree Farm by Grandma's house... and took it home themselves... it took 7 hours to heft it into the house and stand it up... so we all went over to see it. Holy cow. And they have 3 holes in the wall from trying to stand it up. Hahahaha! Their kids are never going to forget this Christmas... the one where they couldn't decorate the tree, and they had a spider infestation, but who can deny that's a really really cool weird tree???
Bethany posted about all her running. It's so impressive!!!
Another Lucy Joy picture:
And I just wanted to get these pics during sacrament meeting today, during Silent Night:
Then we celebrated my birthday at G&G Madsen's. Doesn't this room look amazing?
And finally, we wanted to show you the things we bought for you in Hawaii. They'll be waiting here for you, unless you really want them with you in Bolivia. =) Notice the hot model wearing a gorgeous green sarong, the classic beauty "wearing" a rainbow dress, and the handsome young man wearing "friendship" shell necklaces; one white and one pink (we may or may not be sending the white one to Paris) and a fresh-water pearl bracelet.
Phew that was a busy week! This next one is just as busy!
Hey, we have been trying to do some of the Light the World campaign days. It's hard with such a busy schedule, but so many people are squeezing it into their day, so we're trying to do the same. So the things we were able to do this week, were:
*Day 3 - "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days:" Derek played with Zeus.
*Day 4 - "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself:" In HI Dad & I found a lady in line at Lappert's, the gourmet icecream shop we had been frequenting, and gave her our punch card that was more than half full. We were leaving for home and didn't want it to go to waste!
*Day 5 - "Honour thy father and thy mother:" We treated our parents to the Madrigal Feaste.
*Day 8 - "Love your enemies, less them that curse you..." I didn't spread a piece of gossip to Dad about a ward member that I saw at the gym. Whenever I workout at Orange Theory, it's like a ward reunion over there. =)
*Day 9 - "I was sick and ye visited me:" Derek & I went Christmas shopping, and started buying the stuff for our NICU mom kit project for Christmas. Instead of the Cmas Boxes we've done in the past, we're going to make welcome kits for moms who find themselves unexpectedly stuck at the NICU without necessities that would make them feel like a clean human. This idea started when Martha found herself there, and Kiri & Aaron came to visit and brought her a gift bag of things like this. Martha said it was so nice to have some snacks & things. So each kit will be in a cute tote and have:
toothbrush
toothpaste
comb
deodorant
makeup remover pads
snacks
feminine pads
tissues
notebook/pen
baby blanket
preemie outfit
When I called the NICU, the nurse said you'd be surprised how many people don't expect to be there, so they don't even have clothes or a blanket to take their baby home in. We invited the neighborhood to contribute if they want to, so we'll wait to see what people bring us, then go fill in all the cracks for 20 kits. I'm so excited!
Instead of Christmas presents to the siblings this year, Jodie has organized an Amazon wish list for one of the families by her that lost everything in the Houston floods, and we are all spending the amount we would have given to the siblings and ordering those things to be sent to Jodie and she takes them over to them. They have 2 boys that chose some gifts, and the parents chose kitchen appliances, etc.
I'm telling you these so you'll know how we are celebrating Christmas here... feeling a little more like you, who are called to full time service, so you are ALWAYS on His errand and working as His hands, feet, mouthpiece; the body of Christ on the earth. =)
Also, so many people in our neighborhood are taking refugee families and doing Sub for Santa for them, so they are buying the Cmas presents, but asking the neighborhood for specific sizes of warm clothing, coats, boots, etc. to give to them with the gifts, so everyone is sifting through their closets and posting what they have so we can clothe & warm up these families who aren't prepared for the cold. It has already been such a great season already, and we still have 2 weeks til Christmas!
The Edwards are going to Guatemala for Christmas with the Spencers, and Rachel is doing one of her 10 hour projects collecting school supplies, like learning materials to take over with her and distribute at a school when they do their humanitarian work, so we contributed to her pile of supplies through Amazon, too. I'm always so proud when the YW actually set a goal to do something they wouldn't already be doing, and work hard to reach it. Remember that? The difference between the girls who didn't really have to think about it and they're receiving their medallion, and the girls who dug in deep, worked for hours & hours, and developed into better people? I absolutely love it.
And the memes. Mostly about babies and kids, since Natalex just had Lucy.
And some classic Mormon memes:
Love you little girl!!!! xoxoxooxoxoxxooxooxoxoxoxoxoxo
P.S. I forgot to say that our Christmas cards came right when we got back this week, but I wish they had been in time to put one in your package! So here's a picture of the card front:
And a picture of the back:
And California is on fire again. It is so sad how many people are losing their homes near Santa Barbara. It is so huge. And another fire started up near San Diego. Just pray for rain and safety. =(
