The only constant is change.

It has been way too long since I have blogged.  There have been so many changes.  Mary completed her freshman year at BYU and will be serving a mission in the Fortaleza, Brazil mission.  She has not arrived there yet as she has been waiting for her visa to arrive.  She has been reassigned to Cedar City, Utah.  She loves it.  I miss her so much.  I remember reading the story of mother Teresa.  When she left her home land (Eastern Europe) at age 18 to enter the convent in Ireland, she and her mother knew they would never see each other again.  Travel was difficult in those days and money was scarce.  I think about the sacrifice of her entire family as she left to serve God.  I have gained a glimpse of that sort of sacrifice.  Fortunately, we only have to endure the separation for 18 months.  She left for the MTC on July 21, 2015.  She is going on her 3rd month of service.  Since she has been gone, I do feel a stronger measure of the spirit in our lives.  It has been such a blessing having her serve a mission.  I enjoy getting her letters every Monday.  It has been difficult not being able to hear her voice or see her.  She will get to call once she gets to airport on her way to Brazil which should be in the next few weeks.  I can hardly wait to hear her.  Today was the Saturday session of the 185th General Conference.  It has been nice spending the day home together as a family and listening to our church leaders give us counsel.  Elder Holland talked about the love of a mother and how the Savior's love is the only love which can come close to that of a mother's love.  We love our children so much.

Liz is in the 7th grade now.  She is in middle school and will turn 13 next month.  She is playing on 2 soccer teams and had found a new passion, playing the drums.  She is also working on playing the piano and Irish Whistle.  She has lots of nice friends and went to her first year of girl's camp this past summer.  She loves all sports.  She is a loving girl with a strong personality.  She will lead in whatever field she pursues.  She misses her sister very much, although she doesn't like to admit it.  When out 9 month old puppy Wallace died last week, the first thing she did was write Mary.  Yes, that was very hard on our family.  He developed a seizure disorder over night.  We took it very hard.  He was a happy dog.  We would like to think that he is with Ricky and Linsey now.  They needed a puppy in Heaven.