I Hope They Call Me On A Mission...The Call To Serve.....

Finally in December he recieved that big envelope in the mail that held his future call in it.

We all had to wait till my husband got home from work to open it.  I think that was the hard part, having the envelope there, but waiting to open it.  Where would he be going??

We have a video of him opening his mission call.  which I have tried to upload, but unfortunately at this time it is to long.  I'm going to try to edit it. 

Here he is getting ready to open the his mission call.  Inside the envelope is a letter telling him where he is called to serve and a booklet with all the things that need to be done before he leaves on his mission.  Looking back I realize I should have read through that booklet.  But I wanted my son to be in charge of preparing.  My Son was called to serve in Mexico.  I can say that he was happy.  I have watched the video a few times this week, and he just looked happy about this call.  From December to April we have been going through and doing all the work it takes to send a young man off on a mission.  If I thought all the appointments and such were a lot to apply to serve a mission.  All the preparation after receiving the call is about as daunting.  It was a learning experience for our whole family.  Since December I have thought a lot about Hannah from the Old Testament.  Wanting to have a child and promising to give him to the Lord.  How hard it must have been for her to give her young son to the priest at the Temple.  It has been a hard few months helping my son to prepare to leave, but in my heart I have known that it was the right thing for him.  This was one of his dreams ever since he was a young boy.  I'm very proud of him and his choices.
G.G.

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission.....Waiting for the Call....

This is another short post...Once all the appointments and paper work are done the application to serve a mission gets sent to the church headquarters.  Other than helping in the doctor and dentist appointments I wasn't involved much in this process.  My son and the Bishop worked together to get this part accomplished.  I wanted my son as a young adult to be in charge of these changes in his life. I think it was a good experience for him.  At some point in November 2016 all his paper work was submitted.

And then you wait.  The wait is usually about 2 weeks.  So every day you check the mail box looking for a big envelope.  I have to say it was the first time in a year that I was excited to look in the mailbox.  The previous year going to the mailbox caused anxiety for me as I was taking care of a legal issue and while it all ended very positively for me most of the correspondence was through the mail and sometimes just thinking of it was not fun.  But waiting for "The Call" that was fun.

I think the other thing about waiting for "The Call" is that everyone had their hopes of where my son might go.  I was hoping he would go to England or Scotland as that is where our ancestors are from.  My daughter probably hoped he would go to Japan as she loves Japan. My husband was thinking he might go back to New Jersey.  My son just hoped he did not go somewhere in Utah.  Friends and family members made guesses on my facebook page.  My brother came the closest to where he got called to by guessing New Mexico... This part was all very much like planning a vacation, you are planning and dreaming but nothing is really real or set.  There is more relaxed day dreaming than there is reality.

G.G.

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission....Paper work and Appointments....Oh My!

It's been almost a year now since my son graduated from school.  I guess we thought he would already be on his mission.  What we did not realize was all the paper work and appointments that you have to go through to just apply to go on a Mission.  I'm not even sure that is correct "apply to go on a mission."  My son did all his applications to college on his own.  I never saw anything that he sent in.  He was accepted to all the colleges that he applied to so he must have done well.  But to me it seems the process to go on a mission was ten times harder than the application to go to college.
I would advise if you want to leave soon after you graduate from high school to start the process while in high school. I didn't realize there would be so many forms to fill out.  Not only are there forms to fill out there are doctor appointments, and dentist appointments.  Appointments with Bishops and Stake presidents and more papers to fill out.  The process for my son seemed to take months, I think maybe he dragged his feet a little on it all.  We started the process in May of  2016 and the final paper work was not mailed out till November of 2016.  My son chose to deffer college until after his mission so all those months of paper work and appointments were also filled with his working a full time job that helped him save money to pay for the mission.  I was glad for those months as I drove him to work every morning and just got to watch him grow and change.
     The appointments to the doctors were to make sure he was healthy and able to serve any type of mission.  We also made sure he was up to date on all his vaccinations.  The dentist appointments were the same were his teeth healthy, were there any problems.  We had all of his wisdom teeth taken out.  I can see why they would want this done, having an infected wisdom tooth is not fun.  That happened to me when I first moved away from home and was living in New Jersey.    At this stage of the mission process you are not really thinking that you are preparing your child to leave you.  I don't think they are really thinking of that departure either.
G.G.

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission....

My son will soon be leaving on an LDS Mission.  He has most likely wanted to serve a mission since he was just a little boy.   In Primary they sing this song.. I hope they call me on a mission when I have grown a foot or two.

 My husband and I are converts to the church and I spent many years helping in the Primary and listening to children sing this song.  Each year children would fill out papers about themselves as they had a "Spot Light Child" each week and one of the questions was always where do you want to serve on a mission.  I wish I had those papers to see where my son might have said he wanted to go.  I asked him and he can't remember...and I can't either.

I look at my son and I'm so proud of him that he wants to serve a mission.  He has always had that as a goal in his life.  My husband and I have never really pushed our children on the mission subject.  We never sat him down and said we expect you to do this.  In fact I feel very blessed as while most teens tend to fight going to church our children have gotten up each Sunday on their own and willingly attended all 3 hours of church.  They have also gone to their week night meetings.  There has never been a struggle to get them to go.

With my son Sunday seems to be the day that he actually gets up and gets ready on his own.  The nice thing about moving to Utah has been that church is walking distance away.  For many years he would get up early and leave before us so that he could help put out the Sacrament.  We never told him to do this, he did it all on his own.

Before living in Utah, we lived in New Jersey.  My Son was the only LDS student in his school or maybe one of the only students.  I remember him coming home and telling me about how he shared with his classmates that he would some day go on a mission.  He told them that he had promised Heavenly Father that he would not date until he returned from his mission.   His classmates did not know what a mission was and thought he was going to be a Spy and go on some top secret government mission.

I have loved watching my son grow up.  He has grown that foot or two...he has spent the last year working full time to raise money to go on his mission.  My biggest fear two years ago was how ever will we help pay for this mission?  A good friend told me if you send your child on a mission the funds for that mission will come.  And so I gave all that worry to Heavenly Father.  I gave him our finances, and said my son wants to go on this mission and I will trust that you will help us.  It has been amazing to see all the changes Heavenly Father has placed in our lives to help us with this mission.  He has over and over showed me that he knows what our needs are and that he will be there to help us.

I go from being excited for him, to nervous, to heart aching sadness...I have been helping him prepare and trying to block out the fact he is leaving all at the same time.  While I know that the best thing for your children is for them to move on and experience life and go on adventures, I also miss those sweet years of being with my children.  Someone once said that the teenage years are meant to help you want your children to leave.  But I was lucky and got really good teenagers and still have a hard time letting them go.

There are all these books out there to prepare your missionary for their mission... I'm wondering are there any books on how to prepare yourself to let your missionary go?  I've already told my best friend I'll be texting her alot... So as these weeks fly by and my son gets ready to go, I'll share our journey with you... At least with typing on a computer there will be no tear stained sheets of paper.
I can't believe how one moment you can be so excited and the next so sad... Just another roller coaster for my life...
Do you have a child serving a mission?  Or have you had a child serve a mission?  What did you do?  How did you feel?  Would love to hear your stories...
G.G.

2017 My Selfish Year....

2017 is my year to take a new path.  Over the past two months I have been contemplating what I want to do this year.  What my goals are, and in all my thinking I have come to realize that it is a good year to be selfish.  I think this decision comes from the comment given to me last year close to this day.  A person told me they thought I was one of the most selfless people they had ever met.  And thinking back on the situation I was in I realized this was not a good thing.

My ability to be selfless led me into more pain than I really ever want to experience again.  I look back at  the last few years and see that I have put others first to the point of harming myself both physically and emotionally.  I look at all the sacrifices I made for others and realize in it I totally lost my sense of who I am.  I know there must be a balance between being "selfless" and being "selfish"  and that is really what I hope within the next few years to figure out.  Since I had gone too far to the extreme of selflessness I now have decided to go to the opposite extreme of being "Selfish".  You may think this an awful step, but I think really it will be a wonderful step for me.

I have decided that this year is about taking care of myself first.  I will be healing myself, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.  Because I feel that somewhere within the last 6 years I have lost myself.  Does this mean that I will not help others?  No.  It just means that all the things I chose to do this year will have to also be healthy for me.  I will no longer be the one who gives all the breaks to others at work and takes none for myself.  In fact when I see people doing this I tell them, take your breaks too.  I will no longer be the person who drops their plans to run to the rescue of others, but never has the same happen for them.  I will no longer be the friend who continues to contact people and never have a reply back.  If asked to help on any level I will think of all the good and negative of a situation and then decide if it is a healthy situation for me.   One of the great lessons I learned last year was that my health is more important than anything else.

I fought a battle last year, a battle that went on from about March to November.  I won the battle, but it wore me out.  My husband commented that all we do is work, and run around.  I told him I'm not doing that this year.  I've already started the process of my selfish year.  The first thing I have done is spent the last two months cleaning my house.  I have been cleaning it out, and organizing it.  Because once spring is here I will be spending my days off in my two favorite places, the Temple and in Gardens.  The house can collect dust and dirt all summer, I plan to spend as little time as possible in it.

I have been looking at all the aspects of my life and planning my changes.  I am no longer being the "Star" employee...I don't need to be the " Exceeds Expectations" employee...I no longer need to be the "Manager of the Month"...I actually don't even care to be a supervisor.  I play two roles in my new job, sometimes I'm a supervisor and sometimes I'm just a cashier.  I joke that I suffer from multiple personality disorder as each role has different rules and not only do I get confused as to what I'm allowed to do, most of the people I work with get confused too.  I even wear different uniforms for my roles.  But I have found I simply have no desire to be a supervisor.  I like to just have an easy day with no responsibility.  I've asked to be supervisor less and cashier more.  Because I've realized that I no longer need my job to define me.  My job is just a means to get money to do the things I want to do. I don't need the thrill of being in charge.  I watch people who desperately want it, and feel sad for them, because really it's not important in the long run.  I also have started asking for weekends off, and have started to ask for more Sundays off.  I told my supervisor just this week, I don't mind working Sundays, but schedule me so I can go to church.  Soon I will have my schedule figured out so that the important things are first and work is second.  The nice thing is that my supervisor will work with me so that I have the right balance of work and home life.  I have told my fellow associates and supervisors that this is my Selfish year...I am glad they understand.

Last year a lie was written about me.  It hurt.  I spent months writing in a small journal about the hurt of the lie.  I also fought to have the lie exposed.  But in the process I also showed mercy and let the the battle be ended without causing huge damage to others.  This year I have slowly burned that journal and the papers with the lies.  I have found that an important thing in life is to talk positive about yourself.  So every time I think of the lie,(which thankfully is not often anymore) I quickly think of my new positive self affirmation.  I tell my self  "I Am Calm, I Am Sweet, I Am Successful."

 Here are the things I have learned you need to do during a selfish year... Turn off negative thoughts... Do you think negative thoughts about yourself?  I sometimes do, and so this year my goal is to quickly change to positive thoughts.  I have come up with what I want to be, I have thought of the positive things I want people to think when they see me and I say them to myself over and over. My husband said when he met me I was the sweetest person he had ever met, and that somewhere in the last six years I have lost that level of sweetness...So I'm trying to find that again...I'm not sure if I can, but that is why I say I am sweet....People always seem to comment that I am Calm...so that is why I say I am Calm...And who doesn't want to be successful....

Look in the mirror and appreciate yourself....Do you look at others and think how great they are and then look at yourself and not think you are great...you need to stop doing that if you do... make this your year to build yourself up. Say positive things about yourself even if you don't believe it at the moment... the more positive you put out the more will come to you.

Tell the people who have always been there for you that you adore them...And let go of the people who really never are there for you... This will be a year of letting go of people and loving people for me...One of the things I have read on line is that people pick words to study throughout the year.  I have a few words I'm studying.  Friendship....I don't think I understand what friendship really is, or what a true friend is to what an acquaintance is....so I'm going to be studying Friendships this year.  My other word is Desire... I want to learn what it is to Desire to Know God...I don't want to know God to earn blessings, I want to know what it is to Desire to know God..Because I love him and for no other reason.  I get so tired of hearing people say if you do this God will bless you.  I just want to Know God because I love him, not because there is some blessing to be received.

My selfish year is about finding the best version of me and finding my inner magic....because I have lost who I am. I will spend this year finding out who I want to be and become that.  I think it will be a wonderful, magical journey.  And I will be sharing it with you.  Along with my husbands new job and my Son's mission and my daughters adventures.... I look forward to this new year.... Do you have any plans for your new year?  Do you have a word you are studying?  Are you cleaning out your house, changing your life?  Dreaming some great dream.... I'd love to hear about it.
G.G.
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Our Bowlby Family Christmas Letter...A bit about our Crazy year.....

Merry Christmas Friends and Family,
    I have to say that "A Charlie Brow Christmas"  is my favorite Christmas movie.  So most of the people who received Christmas cards from me got something that looked like the above card...Though some people got one of my own Christmas card creations....I love receiving mail this time of year and it's been nice to actually go to the mailbox and not have anxiety about what might be in the mailbox...it's lovely to receive cards and see how peoples families have changed and read all about the lives of friends who live far away.

So here is a little of the craziness of our little family.  In the spring I quit my job that I had worked at for 5 years.  I jumped right off the cliff so to speak and decided to let Heavenly Father take my life where he wanted to.  It was not at first the easiest thing I have done in my life but looking back it was worth it.

I started a new job a couple of weeks after leaving the old job.  It was really the Hand of God I'm sure.  I wasn't really looking to start working, I had thought it would take me a few months and many interviews to find a new job. And I was looking forward to resting.  The people who helped me put my resume together did an impressive job, as the first place I went to hired me on the spot without even asking any real interview questions.  I have since enjoyed the blessings of more pay, better benefits, and so much less work I sometimes just want to laugh.  I often wonder why I did not leave so much sooner...But I know there were things I needed to learn in the leaving process.

I spent a lot of my spring and summer at the Ashton Gardens. My favorite spot was "The Secret Garden"  I enjoyed taking photo's throughout the year and sending friends cards and letters.  I hope to put my favorite photo's together this year and make a coffee table book with my favorite quotes and photos.   I also enjoyed taking many of my friends for walks in the garden.  My plan is to get my house super organized this winter so that I can spend my days off this spring and summer in the garden or at the Temple.  For those are the places where I find God.

This past Monday which seems already so far away my husband and I went to a "Gentri" Christmas Concert.  I met one of the singers in the Secret Garden this past summer and have to say I've become a fan of  their "Boy Band".. Their music is beautiful and listening to it helped heal my wounded soul.  I was so glad for that chance meeting.  As I look back on this year I can say that it was a most wonderful year and I'm sorry to see it ending.  I'm thankful for the lessons I learned and for the Lord being there for me.  I love my Savior with all my heart and know that he lives.

Jim my Prince Charming had a busy year at work.  I think he had many many hours of overtime this year.  There were some weeks where it seemed as if we were ships passing in the middle of the night. He was my champion this year allowing me to make changes and helping me to stand up for myself.  He also has helped many people with their cars...He has again found friends with a love for old cars and they have found that person who has the ability to figure out the problem no one else seems to get.  I like to call him "The Sherlock Holmes of Old Cars"...And when he goes off "Sherlocking" it is easy to understand that it's just something he has to do..

I think Jim looks forward to the new year and new car projects. But we are also planning on spending more time going to concerts, the gardens and the Temple together.  I also hope to fly him out to New Jersey this Summer, He misses the ocean and all his friends and family.  Maybe not quite in that order....

Gabrielle is now a Junior...Her favorite class is Japanese which she excels at, her least favorite class is English...Oh the headache of having to deal with figuring out what that poet meant when they wrote their poem...She took a photography class and now is giving me advice on how to take better photos...

Soon after her 16th birthday she earned her "Red Jacket" in karate...The Red Jacket is given to those who are teachers at the Karate school.  Soon after that she became an employee of her Karate school and she now teaches at least twice a week for about 4 hours a night.  The Karate school owners would love to have her there 4 days a week, but I am not yet allowing all her time to be consumed by her job, as she needs to have time to just hang out with friends.  I love driving her back and forth to her Karate school and listening to her "work stories."...She used to hate my work stories and not understand why I needed to tell about my job, but now I think she understands..Some days you just have to tell someone what happened at work... She is looking forward to some trips in 2017 and moving up to the next belt level which I think is Red/Black..

Jacob graduated this past spring...How can that be?  He also quit one job and started a new one this spring.  He now works for McDonalds and despite what the world says he really loves his fast food job.  He never comes home smelling of grease or fries and he has a very consistent schedule..And lucky for him it is always morning hours...He chose not to attend college this fall but to put in his church mission papers.

It took many months to get those papers filled out...And so Jacob got a little taste of what being a working person was all about.  I have enjoyed watching him move slowly into adulthood.  I sometimes listen to him talking and wonder where did my little boy go, as this is a much more mature person I am listening to.

We had fun this Thanksgiving walking around Salt Lake City and loved this outdoor art display.  I can say to my children...You are here...You are in Utah...But soon Jacob will not be here.  He will leave for his 2 year church mission.  He is going to Tampico, Mexico.  He is excited and nervous.  Isn't any leap of faith exciting and scary?   We now have a few months of getting visa's, passports, clothing and time to enjoy each others company until he leaves..Oh how hard that will be...

Merry Christmas to all of our family and dear friends...May you have a wonderful new year too...I look forward to another crazy year...I'm getting used to it...I hope to soon start blogging about Jacob's mission so that you can all share in his adventure....
Kimberly

Reflecting on the path I took this year and planning my new year....

As the holiday season starts to surround us, I took time today to go out into my garden and reflect on this past year.  I want to be more prepared for next year, and in thinking about the state of my life and where I have been, and where I would like to go.  I realize that I accomplished many of my goals that I had last year. I also feel I have changed in major ways this past year.  At the beginning of this year my goals were to find a new job, to draw closer to the Savior and to understand his life and teachings more, to improve my budget and enjoy my time with my family.

When I thought of my spirital walk I thought of myself being like Mary, sitting at the Saviors feet and learning about him.  I remember recieving an e-mail in January from my Sister in Law about how glad she was that the previous year was over and that she hoped for a clam, storm free new year.  I wanted that too.  A year of Calm.   Looking back I realize you don't learn when life is calm.  I began my year reading the New Testament and thinking of the Savior, how nice it would be to say I sat at his feet and learned and it was a calm experience.  Instead he took my hand and asked me to walk into the refiners fire.  I took his hand and said I would do as he asked me.  I walked through Hell for a very good friend.  I often hear a song on the raido that says "I'll walk through hell with you, and if your wings are broken I'll give you mine."  I'm not sure of the whole song but when I hear it I think of this dear friend.  I would walk through Hell again for them, and I know they would do the same for me.  I stood in that buring fire and knew the Savior was changing me, and I trusted him.  I did not blame anyone for the pain that happened.

One thing I have always wanted is to see an Angel.  I have always thought seeing an angel would be this great thing.  As I went through the refiners fire this past year the Savior taught me one lesson after another.  One was that we are Angels.  Each of us has the ability to be an angel to someone in need.  When I was in need, friends were there for me.  I was given blessings, I received phone calls at the most perfect time, friends constantly cared for me through e-mails, texts, phone calls and visits.  These people were God's angels.  Every part of the trial I endured, every turn on the rocky path of change brought a new person in my life who cared for me. I was surrounded by Angels.  I also realized that I was an angel to others.  One of my desires is to bring sunshine into this world.  To bring hope to others.  I was able to help many even as I learned and suffered with my Savior.  I learned about issues that made me more compassionate, and allowed me to be of help.  In the process of refinement I realized that my soul, and the standards of God were the most important to me.  I learned that I could not walk with blinders on and pretend all was right.  I realized that Integrity was important to me.  I had gone so long feeling that I was slowly lowering my standards, and at some point I realized my standards and my integrity were what were important.  My desire to always be worthy to attend the Temple and be near to God was most important to me.

I spent this year changing.  I'm thankful for that.  I'm thankful for a new job where I can work with integrity.  I was glad when I went to orientation and my supervisor said "This is not a glamorous job, it is hard work, but it is honest work."  I want honesty, and integrity in my life.

My new job has helped me reach some of my goals.  I am better off financially.  One of my goals was to save money, and to stop using credit cards.  I have done both this year.  I look forward to the new year where I hope to save more, and to rid myself of credit card debt.  Now that I no longer use Credit cards I am paying what I have down faster.  I also look forward to making even better budget decisions.

I have been blessed to have more time with my family.  I have had more energy, and I no longer have stress that came with my old job.  I walk out the doors of where I work and leave every thing from work at work.  I never realized how much I was bringing home in my old job.  My daughter recently said how nice it is that she sees me leaving for work happy.  That I don't say "pray for me I'm going to Hell"  as I walk out the door.  I wonder why did I stay so long.  But I think perhaps it was for that friend, I was supposed to help that one friend get out of hell with me.

I have to say I am thankful for it all.  I'm thankful I took the Lord's hand and walked a rugged path.  I realized that you can have "Calm"  in your life even in the middle of a storm.  You can make your own calm when all the world around you seems out of control.  You do it by caring for yourself.  By finding quiet.  By holding onto the Savior.  The blessings come after your trial of Faith.  I have seen so many blessings, and continue to receive more.  One thing I know is that Blessings from God are not wealth or material things.  Blessings are revelation, increased knowledge, and the spirit guiding you.

As the path of this year comes to an end, do you find you have changed for the better.?  Have you had a challenging year?  Have you moved closer to the Savior or have you moved away from him?  Are you planning your next year out?  As I cleaned my garden today I thought about this year and how quickly it has gone.  I have felt gratitude for my trials.  I have realized I changed in large ways and in good ways.  

My path this year began in the Temple, and I'm glad to find it is ending with me still attending the Temple and Learning more about my Savior.  I hope next year to attend the Temple more often, to cherish every moment that I can with my family.  

Have you started to think about your goals for next year?

Let me know what you plan to do. 

G.G.