her call, my heart

The phone rang at 7:15 a.m.  

I picked it up and heard on the other end of the line:

"This is the post office.  We have a mission call here for Sister Kara Allred.  

Would you like to come pick it up or do you want us to bring in to your mailbox?"

I hung up the phone and my heart skipped a beat.

We opted to have it delivered.  And when I went to the mailbox and slowly opened the door.  

There it was.  Big and white and real.  

And again, oh my little heart. 

We had been waiting and wondering and praying.  

This was a big night. 

   Family and a few close friends were invited and happily and excitedly began to arrive.

Where was my daughter going?  

I had stared at that envelope all day sitting there all alone on my kitchen table.  I had picked it up, looked at the postage, felt it's weight, tried to see through it.  Within that envelope was the next 18 months of her life, and a part of mine. 

  It was really hard to wait for her to come home that night. 

My heart couldn't take it much longer.

She appeared calm.  She smiled.  She talked. 

 She held that envelope tightly.

But she was nervous.  Sick to her stomach nervous. Like I had never seen her before.  

And then she just did it.  She opened that big, white real envelope and announced in front of the people she loves the most her sacred call. 

"Dear Sister Allred, You are hearby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the Florida Orlando Mission.  You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language."

"You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel.  As you devote your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all personal affairs, the Lord will bless you with increased knowledge and testimony of the Restoration and of the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

"The Lord will reward you for the goodness of your life.  Greater blessings and more happiness that you have yet experienced await you as your humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among his children."

And that was it. 

 Florida.  

Orlando. 

 Spanish.

 And after all the hugs and tears and maps and advice everyone left.

 And Kara, or should I say Sister Allred did this:

And my heart, my mothers heart, my heart that loves this girl more than words can express practically burst out of my chest.  

She was really doing this.  I was going to have to let her go.  She knew it and so did I.  In some ways I wanted to join her there on the floor, but I didn't.  I let her lay there for a while and then I pulled her up, hugged her tight, looked her in the eyes and told her she could do this.  We could do this.

And my heart.  

Well, it's going to be just fine because it is connected forever with hers.

 My daughter, my firstborn, my friend and now.......

my missionary.

james bond

 

 

It is so fun having Kara home from college. 

 

It's fun because she comes up with something like this to do on a cold December night while mom and dad are out.

 

The kids were spies, the string was something dangerous (deadly laser beams, I think), the goal was the treasure box.

 

And the rest was fun.

The kind of Kara fun that we have really missed around here.

 

 

 

Mission Accomplished!

 

wisdom

She had just finished all of her finals.  

She had just passed her dorm cleaning check.  

She said goodbye to her roommates, packed up her clothes and hopped into our waiting car.

  The car that took her straight to the oral surgeon.  

It was time for the removal of her wisdom teeth and it was a heck of a way to start her Christmas break.

They had me come back with her.  The only good thing about that was the pictures I was able to take.  I really didn't like witnessing her being anesthetized.  I know I'm a nurse, but when it's my own kid, it really bothers me.  She was talking to me one minute and then mid sentence her head rolled to the side and she was out.  Disturbing how powerful those drugs are.
 I didn't like it at all.

Before she was out I did manage a few pictures of her in that gorgeous blue hat.
  The surgeon tried three times to get her IV in.  His exact words, "I can't remember the last time it took me 3 times to get in an IV."  She has some very impressive bruises as proof.

That's my girl.  

Her comment right before this picture was taken, "Could it really get any worse?  I mean look at that zit right between my eyes!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that yes, indeed, it would get worse.

The next day she actually felt well enough to go play in the snow for a little bit.  Her cheeks were huge and she was quite bruised.    One of the things that I love most about Kara is her self confidence.  She took this picture of herself and then showed it around to everyone laughing right along with them.  That night she had several friends over, too. 

 Never in a million years would I have ever done that.

Overall, she did great.  She was happy to be home, happy it was Christmas, happy to play in the snow, and happy to take pictures of herself, her chipmunk cheeks and that lovely zit.

And I'm just so happy she's home, cheeks and all.

glimpses....

 

...of a glorious graduation

 

(with very little commentary)

 

 

 

 

 

I do have to comment on this picture. 

 This captures the moment of Kara's big graduation blunder.  Instead of going to get her diploma and following the students ahead of her OR simply following the red carpet/bridge which clearly marks the correct path, she decided to head right up onto the stage.   No big deal. Only a few thousand people witnessed it.  

We caught it all on tape. 

 

I am still laughing about it. 

 

 

 

And I must comment on Silas's graduation lei's.  Really?!

Do you think you have enough?

There was gumballs and chips and candy and popcorn and...

 

....oh, hamburgers!  Yes, there were hamburgers!

 

 

 

 

 

A glorious day for our glorious girl!

 

 

senior pictures

 

 

 When you take Senior pictures, you try to capture who your Senior really is.  I have seen pictures of kids proudly standing with their cellos or in their full  baseball uniform, dirt still on the knees from that last exciting game even.  I have seen some really fancy in tuxedos or ball gowns and some pretty casual.  I have even seen some with kids faces surrounded by candy!

 (that would actually be something that I would do, if they did fancy things like that way back then!) 

 

We started out Kara's shoot at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens, one of her very favorite places.   We took a ton of pictures and they turned out great, but when anyone thinks about Kara and what her passion was all throughout high school, it wasn't the gardens. 

 

 

 

 

Kara's passion was her school.

 

  She devoted 4 years to Student Government.  She was completely devoted to her classmates, to her teachers, to the sports teams, the choirs, the band, the drama department, even the FFA.  She attended hundreds of sporting events, plays and concerts.  She was involved in every pep assembly, spirit bowl, and fundraiser.  She painted her face, her clothes, and what seemed like endless posters in Caveman colors.  She stayed up until the wee hours of the night planning and decorating for every school dance. 

 

She was at that school more than she was at home. 

 

 And so we decided that that is where we should take her pictures.  We grabbed an old desk from a neighbors garage, an apple and that worn out sweater and we made our way to good ole AFHS.

 

And that is when she came alive. 

 

 

 

 

And that is our Senior. 

 

Most comfortable in her gray t-shirt, her worn out Vans, swinging on a swing or sitting on the bleachers of her beloved school. 

 Always smiling, always friendly, always doing her best to make it the best day ever for everyone she meets. 

 

That is Kara.

 

I think they're gonna miss her.

 

nerd herd

 

I was lucky enough to spend the evening of my birthday at the scholarship banquet at the high school.  I was lucky enough to watch my beautiful daughter get recognized for her hard work and her amazing intelligence.  I was lucky enough to spend one last evening with her in the halls of this great school that she loves so much.  I was also lucky to cheer on and congratulate so many of Kara's friends who were also there.

 

  Kara and these friends nicknamed themselves the Nerd Herd way back in 7th grade when they were first grouped together in their advanced  English/History class.  They were a studious bunch.  They were serious about school.  They loved their honors and advanced classes.
 They grew to really love and respect each other.
And yes, they were in fact, a little bit nerdy. 

 

 

As this Nerd Herd grew and matured they remained studious, they still loved their advanced classes, but they relaxed a little, grew into their own, found their little niches in the high school society and their nerdiness kind of faded.  And through all of the changes and growth they always remained close.  Really close.  It was fun to watch their friendship.  It was fun to hear Kara say during her Senior year, "Mom, all of a sudden all of the popular girls are in love with my friends."
 These nerds were nerds no more. 

And so we gathered in the high school auditorium to celebrate their achievements and to celebrate all of their hard work in all of those hard classes. It was a great celebration.
 Here are Kara and Reese showing off their identical scholarships.
  Now isn't that cute.

 And, come on, admit it, a little bit nerdy.

And this birthday girl thinks a full tuition academic scholarship to BYU and a Regence scholarship on top of that is one of the best presents she's ever received. 

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday to me!