11/12/2013: 3:15 pm Pick up my Mom from the St George Shuttle
5:00 pm Pick up Papa Murphy's Pizza for Travis and Julie's kids because we are babysitting for a week, while they are in Florida at a convention. We have a temple session with our ward. We take Dallin, Bethany and Takoda so they can babysit. Takoda will stay the night with Mike at Travis' because Justin and Kammi are going to the hospital early the next morning to have a baby we hope! I will stay home with my Mom and get up early to help get Justin's kids off to school.
7:00 - 9:00 pm Temple
10:00 - 11:00 pm Visit with Mom
11/13/2013: Midnight : Can't sleep. I try not to think about maybe receiving our mission call but I am a bundle of emotions. There are only two other times I can remember being all jumbled like this.
First one was at my Grandma Helm's house. We slept there because she lived close to the LAX airport and Mike was coming home that next morning. He had been serving for two years in the Uruguay-Paraguay Montevideo Mission.
Second one was the night before our wedding. I listened to the rain all night long.
11/13/2013: 8 am Get kids off to school. Mike needs me to watch Travis' kids so he can do some things for Why'rd.
9 am Run by the Post Office to check for mail. I doubt that the call will come because Monday was a holiday and there was no mail that day. Mom and I unlock the box and it is empty. Oh, well. Tomorrow then. But people are starting to text me asking if the call is here.
10 am Mike not quite ready to go, so I tell him I would like to go back up the hill and check the PO Box one more time. Mail delivery is guaranteed to be in box my 10 am. It is unusual not to get any mail in my box. Mom and I go back up the hill. I timidly unlock the box and there is mail! I am looking for normal letter sized envelopes. There are four sitting inside a bigger envelope. I tell Mom that none of those letters are from the Church. She said, "No, it is the big one." I say, "I don't think so." But as I look closer, I see Elder Michael Lamar Burnett and my heart stops.
I pull the envelope out of our tiny PO box and set it on the counter and start to cry. So does Mom. I comment to her that I am not sure I want to do this. Reality has it. Then I corrected my statement to her because it sounded like I didn't want to do this mission which is definitely not the case. I DO but I know the heartache of leaving my family will be difficult. We wipe away our tears and then take a photo of the envelope and I text Mike first. This was his response via text:
10:23 am :)
10:23 am :0)
10:23 am :.)
10:23 am :>)
These all came every 5 seconds. Couldn't tell he was excited, huh!
Then I send a group text to my children and my siblings. Driving all the way back to Travis' was fun. Nothing but text alarms going off. My phone actually was feeling a bit warm from all the great activity.
Plans to meet out at Laura and Dale's at 6 pm were made. She would provide dinner. Arrived at Travis' and gave Mike a big hug and kiss and on with the rest of the day. He did his errand and then came back to watch the kids.
Mom and I went to the hospital to wait for Kammi to deliver baby. Got there about 2 pm and visited with Justin. Things going well. I showed him the envelope and then he took it back to share with Kammi.
My last text from him was about 4:50pm. Brought kids into the waiting room about 6 pm, but still no word. We waited til about 6:20 pm and decided we couldn't wait any longer and left for Dale and Laura's. Finally got a text at 6:37 pm. "She's here!!! Kammi did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was a relief, because I really expected she would deliver more like 4:30 pm.
7:15 pm We finally get everyone connected with Facetime, Briana and Matt, Travis and Julie, Kammi and Justin, speaker phone with Rhonda and Anna and Sally and not sure who else. Videos are going and cameras too.
Mike lets me open the envelope because it is my first call. I want him to read it because he has the louder voice. I open it and it only takes me 1 second to see where we are called and I smile. I know Mike hasn't seen it yet. I hand it to him to read and as he finally sees where we are going , he chokes up and cannot read it. I take the letter back and read:
Dear Elder Burnett:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Uruguay Montevideo Mission. Your primary assignment is to labor as an office specialist. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 23 months.
You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Monday, January 13, 2014. Your assignment may be modified according to the needs of the mission president.
The letter continued but too much celebration was happening to read the rest out loud. Candiss won the prize (yet to be determined) and had guessed Uruguay. I came a close second, Argentina. The letter was dated November 12, 2013 and signed by President Monson. I checked to see if my letter read the same and fortunately it did!
8:00 pm Laura left for work and the rest of us headed back to the hospital where we greeted the newest addition to our wonderful family, Baby Girl Burnett. She has yet to be named. She arrived at 6:34 pm. Weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20" long. She looks alot like Ashlen and of course has red hair! I gave Kammi a huge hug and more tears. She did a natural delivery with a midwife and nurses. Hard work!
A GREAT blessing day for our family.
Thank you to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. All that we are and all that we have are because of Their great love and sacrifice for us.
It is now past midnight and I am very happy tired! Good night everyone.
