January & February…

In January we had the pleasure to go to Boise on the 30th for a Baptism. Joe Saville was Baptized and we were able to spend the whole weekend with his family.

Isaac went shooting with all the guys and I made a cute Valentine’s wreath. Isaac got to shoot an AR15, a Shotgun and a .22 Pistol.

This is my Valentines Wreath…

And this is Joe’s big day…

Also in January Jack celebrated his 5th Birthday and his mom sent me some fantastic pictures of him an their little family.

February was pretty low Key. For Valentines Ben and Sam came and spent the weekend with us. We found out that they are expecting their 2nd baby when we took them to dinner at The Bohemian Brewery. We played BANG! with them and had a fun weekend. David made me Chocolate Covered Strawberries and bought be other goodies and I bought him some treats as well. I didn’t get any pictures this year though. But I do have pictures that Grandma Egley sent of Valentines for Gabriel.

And I have 1 picture of Ben long boarding down the street and Jenna and Isaac were following him.

Then in the end of the month Madison had a Violin Recital. She did fantastic!

Madison Playing Mosquito Dance

Also in February Hyrum Joseph Egley joined the family on February 3rd weighing 7lbs 14oz.

Then Alex turned 2 on the 5th and Wyatt turned 1 on the 23rd.

Happy Birthday Gabriel!

Today is our sweet Gabie’s 6th Birthday. David and I both took the day off. We stayed home together and built a Lego “G” for his Birthday Cake. It was harder than we thought it would be to get it looking right. But in the end I think it turned out OK.

When the kids got home we took the remaining wish lanterns from last year down to the lake to try releasing them again. Last year it was just so cold and we couldn’t get them to go very well. We did 3 last year and still had 7 left. We got 4 up very high in the sky. We had one go up and come down on the icy lake and then it went up again for a little while. The last one we sent fell on the lake too soon because the wind caught it and pushed it down and it got wet so it didn’t go up again. We have 1 left and I’m not sure if we’ll get it sent up or not. I feel so good that we got at least 4 sent up into the sky. They were beautiful against the mountains.

We also released some very bright beautiful balloons with some simple love notes on them, and we then headed home. We grabbed some Pizza and came home to eat. When we were done with dinner we labeled all the books that we have here and sorted them into categories. We are still waiting for the scholastic order to arrive then we’ll have all our books. We’ll get them sorted into boxes for the Hospitals and get a final count.

We invited the Bastian Family over for some cake and we had fun visiting with them. We still have a lot of cake so if you want some stop by tomorrow and please enjoy. We did make pound cake this year and the white pound cake from the boughten box was fluffier and pretty good. The Chocolate pound cake we made is also good but it’s kinda dry. I don’t know if I’ll do that again in such small squares.

Overall the day has been really good. I haven’t been too emotional. I’ve focused on celebrating the fact that Gabriel was born today and got to be with our family no matter how short the time. What a great blessing it is to be his mother and have been able to have him here with us for a little while. Won’t it be wonderful when we get to celebrate his birthday with him again.

Happy Birthday Gabriel! Mommy Loves and Misses You!

Oh and a couple weeks ago I put together a new floral arrangement for his headstone to go there on his birthday. My sweet mom took those down today and sent us a picture. I love it when we can brighten up such a sad location.

My Missionary, Gabriel

I have this thought continually running through my mind but I’m not sure how to express it. I haven’t written an post about my feelings or thoughts for quite sometime so I’m feeling a bit exposed and vulnerable. It’s nothing shocking it’s just an observation I’ve made in the last week and I feel very prompted to write it down here.

I believe between Gabriel’s Birthday quickly approaching and the happenings in my very good friends life right now these thoughts have taken form. These are things I’ve thought about before but not so seriously. I’m really not sure why I’m so focused on them either but I just can’t stop thinking about it. Maybe as I put my thoughts into words I’ll figure out why my thoughts are so persistent.

My friend has been preparing for her 2nd son to return from his 2 year LDS mission this last month. We’ve talked about it a lot, about her fears and excitement. Her 1st daughter has also received her mission call and they have been waiting for the whole family to be together to open it. So my thinking all began on Wednesday after we went to the gym and she mentioned her anxious feelings around her son returning. She was worried about about relationships and how he may have changed. She knew these worries were very illogical but her insecurities kept them in her mind. As I thought about our discussion throughout the day I just kept thinking, if my son was returning from his mission how would I feel? Now obviously I’m thinking about Gabriel and the fact that I believe he is serving our Father in Heaven on a mission right now and has been for 4.5 years. But since he will not be coming home from his mission for a very long time my circumstances are very different.

I thought of the shear excitement I would have if I had a day to look forward to to see my son again. If I knew on 00/00/0000 he would be home and we would be able to talk and discuss all the things we’ve missed and all the things he’s learned. That I’d be able to hug him, kiss him hear his voice and see him interact with his Dad and Siblings. I think the only feelings I’d have would be great joy. Joy beyond anything I can imagine.

Then yesterday we were invited to witness this 2nd son of my friends be released from his mission by a member of our Stake Presidency and also be present when her daughter opened her mission call. When I asked how it went when my friend saw her son again she said it was so wonderful. Of course none of the things she had been worried about happened. As I listened to her and watched her with all 7 of her children home she was so happy her whole being seemed to glow. I have to admit at that moment I felt so happy for my friend and yet a bit envious.

President Hilton released my friends son and as I watched him be released I think I saw a twinge of sadness on his face. I’m sure to be done serving his full time mission is a bit of sad thing. Then the daughter opened her mission call and as she read the spirit was so strong it filled the room and the hearts of everyone present. She was called to serve in Milan, Italy and we all yelled and clapped for her. Such an exciting call and she was so happy to be going on a mission for her Father in Heaven. Most everyone was crying and excited and it was wonderful. Jenna was crying and I thought it was just because her best friend was crying too but when we came home she was still overcome with emotion so I talked to her about it. She told me that the spirit was so strong there that she knew she had felt Gabriel there with us. I told her I was sure she was right and at that moment when I was trying to console her the thought came to my mind. Of course he was there, he wanted us to see the joy he feels by being able to serve our Father in Heaven. He wants us to know how happy he is and how important the work he is doing is. I have known these things for quite a long time but I don’t think I completely realized or understood it until I saw the joy, peace & love in that daughter of Gods face. Even then it didn’t click until Jenna told me that Gabe was there and that she felt him. Then I knew he wanted me to know that, that is the joy, peace and love he gets to experience daily.

I know that my son is a Missionary of Jesus Christ. I know that right now he’s probably called Elder or Brother Saville more than Gabie Baby. I know that he is in the place he is supposed to be. And although my heart aches for the day he will return to me or I will join him I know All is Well. When that day arrives what an amazingly wonderful day that will be. I’m sure I can’t even imagine the joy we will all feel on the day we are reunited.

I struggle frequently with feelings of sadness because my son needed to return home so soon. I need to remember on those days the feelings in that room when I saw so much love and joy. I need to remember how the spirit is speaking to me right now so I will remember that Gabriel is so happy and is a missionary that I’m so proud to call my son.

This experience has brought forth so many tender feelings. I think it has been a tender mercy sent to me from my Father in Heaven, to help me realize and know beyond any doubt that Gabriel is a missionary and all the work he is doing is so important it is worth the time we are apart, however long that must be.

Isaac’s Wolf Badge

Two weeks ago Isaac received his Wolf Badge and 1 Gold and 2 Silver Arrows at Pack Meeting for Cub Scouts. He and David have worked hard to get it all done and he is loving it. I gave him a big hug after he pinned on my mothers pin but he wasn’t very happy about that. Next time I’ll get a hug not in front of everyone. I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.