Talking to our missionary on Mother's Day

My favorite part about Mother's day this year was talking to James in Chile. We got to talk to him for about 40 minutes, we were supposed to have an hour, but due to a mix-up with the phone number, we got 40 minutes. Also keep in mind, that 40 minutes was split up between 10 people. He says he is doing great. He had trouble speaking English, but the longer we talked, the easier it seemed for him. He told us a little about his typical day, it starts at 7:00 A.M. ( most of the missionaries start at 6:30 and end at 10 P.M.) and they have to be home by 10 P.M. and in bed by 11 P.M. Since they have their main meal in the afternoon, they work straight from 3 -10 P.M. each day without a break. He said they eat at members homes on the weekends and his Mamita (not sure how to spell it) cooks for them during the week and washes their clothes. He didn't have it that good at home. He loves it there, and he loves the people. It was wonderful talking to him. Even Joslynn (or baby J. as he calls her) talked to him. As I think of more things he told us I will include them on our blog. We love you James.

How to Succeed in Business without really trying...

Can you find RaNae?

I taped bits and pieces of RaNae's Musical this year, due to some technical difficulties, missing button, and a very unsteady hand, not to mention a bad seat made for a bad video on my part.

But, you have to see RaNae's character...she played Mr. Gatch a business man with sexual harassment issues. She also played a secretary and a pirate. My batteries ran out (thank you Ethen) and I missed the end. Anyway, she was awesome, I wish I had her courage and abilities. We are so proud of her and all her accomplishments. Enjoy!

Happy 16th Ethen!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Ethen! #16

Ethen had his 16th birthday on Wednesday. It is so hard to believe that he is 16 already. I remember that little kid that would just smile all the time, and do whatever you asked him. He is so tall now and still has the great smile. He had a sleep-over party this weekend. He had 10 kids ages 13-16 stay over. We had a little problem with some girls showing up, but I was the mean mom and took care of that. I about had a heart attack when Aidan came to me that night and said, "Mom, why are there girls in our house?" Then we had a kid that ate too much and spent the night throwing up. Other than that... my opinion, girls were easier for the teenage sleepover. Anyway, we love you Ethen.

Seminary Donuts

Yesterday was Seminary Sunday in our ward. RaNae and I both spoke at church. In my talk I shared a story that I had shared with the kids in Seminary just before Easter. For those of you that don't know, I teach early morning Seminary class at 6:00 A.M. Monday through Friday during the school year. This year we are studying the New Testament. So many people really loved this story, so I thought I would share it on my blog as well.

Seminary Donuts
There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending school in Utah. In this school Seminary classes are held during school hours. Brother Christianson taught Seminary at this particular school. He had an open-door policy and would take in any student that had been thrown out of another class as long as they would abide by his rules. Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period and no other teacher wanted him, so he went into Brother Christianson's Seminary class.
Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just seconds before the bell rang and he would sit in the very back of the room. He would also be the first to leave after the class was over.
One day, Brother Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him. After class, Bro. Christianson pulled Steve aside and said, "You think you're pretty tough, don't you?"
Steve's answer was, "Yeah, I do."
Then Brother Christianson asked, "How many push-ups can you do?"
Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."
"200? That's pretty good, Steve," Brother Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"
Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300 at a time."
"Do you think you could?" Again asked Brother Christianson.
"Well, I can try," said Steve.
"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," Brother Christianson said. Steve said, "Well... I think I can... yeah, I can do it."
Brother Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday."
Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts. Now these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited-it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend.
Bro. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want a donut?"
Cynthia said, "Yes."
Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"
Steve said, "Sure," and jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk.
Bro. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.
Bro. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe do you want a donut?"
Joe said, "Yes." Bro. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?" Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.
And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten pushups for every person before they got their donut.
And down the second aisle, till Bro. Christianson came to Scott.
Scott was captain of the football team and center of the basketball team. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship. When Bro. Christianson asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"
Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own pushups?"
Bro. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."
Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."
Bro. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten pushups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?"
Steve started to do ten pushups. Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!"
Bro. Christianson said, "Look, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.
Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow. Bro. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.
Bro. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"
Jenny said, "No."
Then Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve,would you do ten pushups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?" Steve did ten, Jenny got a donut.
By now, the students were beginning to say "No" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve was also having to really put forth a lot of effort to get these pushups done for each donut.
There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.
Bro. Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to make sure he did ten pushups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts. So Robert began to watch Steve closely. Bro. Christianson started down the fourth row.
During his class, however, some students had wandered in and sat along the heaters along the sides of the room. When Bro. Christianson realized this; he did a quick count and saw 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.
Bro. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.
Steve asked Bro. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"
Bro. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your pushups. You can do them any way that you want."
And Bro. Christianson went on.
A few moments later, Jason came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled, "NO! Don't come in! Stay out!"
Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."
Bro. Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten pushups for him."
Steve said, "Yes, let him come in."
Bro. Christianson said, "Okay, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?"
"Yes."
"Steve, will you do ten pushups so that Jason can have a donut?" Steve did ten pushups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
Bro. Christianson finished the fourth row, then started on those seated on the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each pushup in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. Sweat was dropping off of his face and, by this time, there was not a dry eye in the room.
The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders and very popular. Bro. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut?
Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."
Bro. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten pushups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?"
Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow pushups for Linda. Then Bro. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"
Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked, "Bro. Christianson , can I help him?"
Bro. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, he has to do it alone, Steve, would you do ten pushups so Susan can have a donut?"
As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 pushups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
Brother Christianson turned to the room and said. "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, plead to the Father, "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, he collapsed on the cross and died. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten.

Don't forget to eat your donut!!

Happy Birthday RaNae!!!

RaNae wanted Key Lime Cheesecake for her birthday "Cake" this year. She also wanted take-out Chinese for dinner. Since her birthday was on Sunday this year, we bought it Saturday night, and reheated for Sunday. I just made rice, since reheated Chinese food rice is nasty. I can't believe she is 18. Why do they have to grow up so fast? She got a new phone for her birthday this year, she is excited it has unlimited minutes and texting. The catch, she pays the monthly bill. We love you RaNae. Happy 18th!

Bethany Celeste...Kid #5

Bethany is my sweetie. She has a huge heart and is always willing to give up anything for someone else. She is the best babysitter ever! I truly mean that, she is the best. Joslynn absolutely adores her. She is very good with kids, and so sweet natured, and just always knows what to do. She loves being in the Young Women's organization at church. She has grown up so very much in the last year, I really cannot believe how much she has changed and grown into such a lovely young lady. She has many good friends, and worries over how to spend time with all of them. Clarissa adores Bethany as well, almost to an obsession. Clarissa hates to be without Bethany, they are best of friends, and like most sisters have their disagreements as well. Bethany will be in 7th grade this next fall, and she is looking forward to going to public school for the first time. I know she will do great, she is so strong and faithful. We love you Bethany!

Kid #4 Corey Gardner Henderson...

The many faces of Corey. He is a crack-up. He is an excellent student. He, like RaNae, doesn't have to study hard or work for perfect grades. (Wish I could have done that!) He is very tender-hearted and still tells me he loves me daily (Don't tell anyone, he might stop) and I get hugs and kisses regularly. Yes, I love it. He is very athletic, and does well at whatever he tries. Well, he tried wrestling for one day, didn't like it though. Boy was I glad, I hate watching wrestling. He is our voice guy, always making weird voices, and it does get somewhat irritating sometimes. But, that is Corey. He has a temper, but is able to control it, most of the time. You definitely know when he is unhappy with you. He doesn't fake anything, ever. He has a girl following, that we try to ignore, he does too. So other than hearing the occasional, "Hey mom, see that girl, her name is... and she is fine.", we try and avoid the subject of girls, for now anyway. He knows the rules, and he still claims a fear of most girls, especially the really cute ones. Ethen and Corey definitely talk about girls a lot more than James did, they aren't quite as shy. Corey is a ton of fun, we love him and appreciate all he is to our family.

Rock Island High National Honor Society Ceremony 2009

RaNae had her National Honor Society Ceremony this past week. She has been so busy lately with one thing after another. She goes to Seminary in the morning, then heads to school followed by her practice for the musical she is in, and then off to work, and returns home just before 11 P.M. In spite of it all she still has straight A's and is preparing for college as well, lots of scholarship essays to write and so forth. What a gal! We love you and are so proud of you sweetheart!

Easter

These are some pictures from Easter Sunday. We had Stake Conference this Sunday, it was a broadcast from Salt Lake, it was awesome. We had a nice Easter dinner, and the Adamson children joined us for dinner, their dad was in the hospital. He is doing better now. We missed James a lot this weekend, I hope he had a nice Easter as well. I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter. Love you all!

Happy Easter!

Dancing with the Hendersons

Joslynn had pulled a dress out of her closet to wear. Aidan decided he needed to dress up as well and put on some of his "church" clothes. Then he wet and combed his hair and also Joslynn's as well. Then they did a little "dancing number". By the time I got my camera out, this is what they showed me. Enjoy!

Kids #3....Ethen Miles

Ethen, Ethen, Ethen...He is our crack-up kid. He keeps us laughing, and laughing and laughing.

His passion right now is making movies. He makes these short 1-3 minute movies that are usually hilarious. He posts them on his Facebook page for all of his friends to see. Every time he has friends sleep over, he makes a new movie. Every time he is stuck at home, he makes a movie. I am always amazed at what he does, even if it is very silly. Now, at school, Ethen is very serious, I am very proud of all of his efforts at school. He really hates math, so Algebra has been no fun at all for him, but he tries really hard. He does quite well at everything else. Last year, his English teacher entered a poem of his into The America Library of Poetry contest, and his poem was picked to be included in their collection of poems for 2008. I actually accused him of plagiarism because I thought it was so good. Nice mom, huh! Anyway so now he is a published poet, among many other things. Although he didn't win the contest, he thought it was very cool that he owns a book that has one of his poems in it. He played football this last fall for the Freshman and Sophomore teams. He was very overwhelmed by doing both, that meant practice with the Sophomores and two games a week so he could play for both teams. Right now he is doing Track and he runs the mile. His season is just starting, so we will see how it all goes. He is also very artistic and loves to draw, most of that is quite funny as well. Maybe he can be a comic book artist or something. We are very proud of him, he is awesome. We love you Ethen.

Countdown...Kid #2...RaNae

RaNae is one of our "Brains" in the family. She doesn't have to put much effort into studying or working on anything to have it be absolutely Excellent! She carries a 4.0 grade point average quite effortlessly, sometimes I wish I could see what she was capable of if she really tried a little harder. But then again, maybe not. I already feel quite "stupid" next to her. She is definitely our "Social" child, she has been quite involved with Choir, and theater during her high school years. She is in her 2nd year of Chamber Choir, which is a performing choir for the school. She has been in all of her Musicals, and most of her other plays performed at her high schools since her freshman year. She is in the "Natural Helpers" group at school, which helps intervene and help other students who need someone to talk to or get help that they might not seek from others. She is our argumentative child, and keeps us on our toes most of the time. She is a very good young lady, and hasn't (as of yet) caused us any unusual heartache (minus the normal everyday trials of having a teenage daughter). We are very proud of her and all her accomplishments, her two younger sisters adore her, and love spending time with her (I am sure Joslynn will too). She plans on attending BYU Idaho in the fall, she is going to major in English Education and hopes to teach high school-aged kids English/drama one day. I know she will do very well in college and we look forward to seeing the many wonderful things she will yet do in her life. We love you RaNae!

Serving the Lord

We got an e-mail from James today. I wanted to share a paragraph from it. He says,

"We have an investigator that we just taught the first lesson. When I taught, the spirit was helping me to know what to say. It was awesome. The spirit was especially strong when I taught about the first vision. It was so cool to open up the pamphlet, show her the picture of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father standing over Joseph. And then to see her face light up when she saw it. I love being a missionary!! On the last visit she called us angels. I have never been so happy in my life. I know this is really the Lord's work. And it is the greatest blessing in the world to help God's children come unto Christ."

It is so awesome to see him so happy, he truly has been preparing to serve this mission his entire life. We are so proud of him. We love you, James!

Countdown of kids...Starting with #1...James

James is an awesome young man. He is now serving a two-year mission for our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He graduated in the top 15% of his class, and lettered in Track and Cross Country (several times). All of his teachers and coaches loved him, and he was always a favorite with his classmates. Despite the fact he was very quiet and sometimes a bit of a loner. He is serving in Chile, the northern part. He is really enjoying the food and the people. He is still struggling with the language, but is confident it will come soon. He is an incredible artist, his favorite type of art to draw is more animated type art. But he has been trying a little bit of everything to keep his options open. He plans to either go to BYU in Provo, Utah or maybe an art college somewhere. He is a very sweet and loving brother and son. We love him so much, he has been an absolute joy to see grow into this incredible young man. We are so proud of him and all of the decisions he has made, it will be amazing to see what he will do with his life. He is our oldest, and he has been a wonderful guinea pig for us, hopefully he can forgive us for any mistakes we have made as his parents, we sure have enjoyed seeing him grow up.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day. May the Irish in all of us be fulfilled today. Our closest relatives from Ireland are the Calahans. My dad's mother was a Calahan. Seth wanted me to mention that his middle name is Calahan. Anyway have a great day. Seth always calls it Green Patrick's day! So have a Happy Green Patrick's day!

James' latest letter

We got James' latest e-mail on Tuesday. So I panicked for 24 hours. It was a great e-mail , he seemed really happy and excited. I guess he had a zone conference on Monday, so that is why he didn't e-mail until Tuesday. So, I am happy to know he is safe and sound and very happy right now. He said they are hoping for 10 baptisms in the next couple of months, if all goes well. He said he is enjoying the food and he really loves the rice they have down there. He told us about a hot dog they ate recently (they eat a lot of hot dogs down there), he said it was as long as his forearm and twice as thick (I hope he didn't mean the hot dog was twice as thick as his forearm). Sounds like too much hot dog for me. He also told us about his mamamita who washes their clothes and cooks some of their food. It is nice to know he is being taken care of even though I can't be there to take care of him. I must say in his defense, he has been doing his own laundry for a while, the cooking was going to need some work. It sounds like he is now in Alto Hospicio, I will include some pictures off of Google earth of his area.

The picture of the bigger city is Iquque, the city next to where he is.

Warm day and the park

Last week we had a warm day. Remember a warm day to us is anything above freezing. With all of the below 0 temperatures this winter, we had an almost 50 degree day and spent it at the park. The winds were so strong it made it hard to fully enjoy it, but the kids did their best. I really love the pictures of them fighting the wind.

New Punishment for the Hendersons

We have found a new alternative to "Time Out". We now put our kids in the computer and retrieve them after they feel they have learned their lesson. It is actually quite effective, and find out how you too can effectively "Monitor" your kids. Just send $19.95 for your "Monitor" kit.

Plus $5.99 shipping and handling.

Ha ha!!!

Life's Changes...

I hope this doesn't seem too tacky to share on my blog. But I thought it might be the easiest way to let everyone know, without making anyone feel awkward or uncomfortable. For those of you who knew I was expecting in September, the news now, is that I am not. I had a miscarriage on Sunday/Monday the 22nd and 23rd of February. I am doing okay now, but I lost a lot of blood and still feel very weak and tired. I was 11 weeks along, but after the D&C I found out it was a blighted pregnancy and the baby never actually developed from the fertilized egg, although the placenta and amniotic sac had developed until I miscarried. So even though I was still experiencing all the hormonal symptoms, the baby was never going to develop and eventually miscarried. It was a very scary night/morning for Harry and I, but I am so grateful he was there with me. So, I am trying to gather all my energy and return to a normal life, but it is taking longer than I thought. I saw Dr. Maurus again yesterday and he said it would take 2 to 3 months to fully recover,from the blood loss, but hopefully in a couple of weeks I would feel much better. I am grateful to the Hollands for teaching Seminary last week and this week for me, that has been such a great help, thank you so much. And thank you to Harry and the kids for all their help and understanding, you guys are the greatest. I love you!

James' MTC stay

James loved the MTC, he made many friends and had a blast. He was there from Dec. 17th till February 16th. His missionary companion in the MTC was Elder Rowe, from Orem, Utah. They had a lot in common, such as track and cross country in high school. Here are a few pictures he sent home. These pictures are scanned and crooked, sorry. And I couldn't make them any larger either. Of course you can click on them and see them a little larger, but then you see the dust and other junk on the scanner bed that I did not realize was there. OOps!

Update on Elder Henderson

Elder Henderson is now in Arica, Chile. He is very close to the border of Peru. He is currently waiting for his Visa to clear, and then is supposed to go to another area. His companion's name is Elder Despain, and he is from the Seattle Washington area. He has been out for 14 months, and James says, "he may not be Latino, or a Native of Chile, but his Spanish is excellent. They only speak to each other in Spanish, unless James can't understand him and needs some help.

James didn't take these pictures, we got them off of Google Earth. James says there are hundreds of dogs in Arica, and he has to do some major dog poop dodging. I am going to try and do some more blogging than I have (yes it has been three months) and keep everyone up to date on where he is and how he is doing.

If you would like to write him here is his e-mail address and his mission office address:

JamesS.Henderson@myldsmail.net

Chile Antofagasta Mission

Sucre 220, Oficina 504

Edificio, Bolnes

Antofagasta, II Region

Chile