10 Years on 10-10

October 10th this year marked 10 years since James entered the Missionary Training Center, ready to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Managua, Nicaragua Mission.

Apparently, when James opened his mission call no one knew where Nicaragua was. His brother actually thought he had been called to Africa. Wherever it was, James was excited to go.

James loved his mission. He loved the people he met, the places he visited, the experiences he had, and the effect those experiences had on his priorities and his testimony of Jesus Christ. He loves to tell stories about his mission, and I love to hear them.

I spent the last week scanning the last of his massive stack of mission pictures, and so, I thought I'd share a few favorites to celebrate the 10 year mark. (Get ready, there are quite a few)

Baptism in the Pacific Ocean

Climbing a palm tree

Playing "Dust in the Wind" on a recorder

Burning trash

James and his Companion, Fausto Barillas

Killing his dinner

Filling the font for a baptism with help from the fire department

Information booth in city park

In the city park

James with companion Jose Ortiz

Knocking Doors

Making nacatamales

Buying ice cream, riding a bike taxi and stopping for some scripture reading

Friends in Nicaragua

Walking through the rain forest

Holding a pet monkey

Washing clothes in the pila (washboard sink)

Holding an old church sign

I LOVE these pictures! Isn't little mission James so adorable?

Anyway, We didn't do much to celebrate but James did get out his original name tag to wear around the house for a little while. It still has his "new missionary" orange dot stuck to the back from his first day as a missionary. 

I'm very proud that I have married such a wonderful man and an honorable return missionary. I'm a very lucky little lady.

A Little Amateur Applique

Oh man, I've got some serious blogging to do! I have been MIA for a little while, but I'm back with a few pictures and stories to share.

My lack of job has left me bored and lonely at times in good old Ann Arbor and so I've picked up a new hobby or two to pass the time. One of these being quilting.

You may recall from an earlier post that my Aunt recently had a baby. I thought this a perfect time to pick up a few how-to books and teach myself to applique quilt. I was almost certainly pretty fairly sure that I could possibly maybe do it on my own from the instructions in a book.... and so that's exactly what I did. I must say, considering my "jump into it" attitude, it didn't turn out too terribly awful.

I first made a few applique squares, like this one ...

And this one ...

Then I framed the squares, sewed them into rows and columns, added a border, pinned some batting, slapped on my backing, quilted the three layers together, and bias taped that sucker finished! Phew! Hours (more like weeks) later I had myself a baby blanket. Not too shabby, huh?

Of course, the final product had to be quality tested to make sure it was comfy enough for new baby Crew. James was the closest thing I could find to a baby around my house - so he got to be my baby blanket Guinea Pig. 

James deemed it baby worthy with two thumbs up. After the James stamp of approval it was shipped off to be with its new owner. Happy Birthday baby Crew!