Austin is 20!!!!! (December 8, 2015)

My first child is no longer a teenager!

I really cannot believe he is a 20 year old! 

1.  He is on his last few months of his mission and he is not ready for it to be over.   He loves the people of Korea...he even loves a lot of their food!! He has learned a lot this last year and has grown in so many ways.  He truly is a servant of the Lord and loves what he is doing.  I am excited to see him in a short few months but, also know it will be a tough transition for him as he tries to figure out what his mission for his life will be.  I am so grateful to be his mom and to have had the opportunity to raise him all these years.  I know I will always be his mom, we have just entered a new time in our lives where I can be more that that!! I love Austin and am so proud of him!!

Happy 20th!!!

Austin's 19th Birthday (December 8, 2014)

This birthday was bittersweet for me.  It was the first of many that will not be spent with the rest of his family at home.  As he is now out on his own I know that this is the beginning of a different time in his and our lives.  I am so very grateful he is serving a mission for the Lord and I know that the people of South Korea are blessed to have him there just as he is blessed by the many wonderful people he has met there.   

19 things about our missionary

1.  He did not eat spicy food before his mission. At. All!  I don't like spicy so I don't cook it.  He can now handle spicy food!

2.  He has lost some poundage while serving in Korea and is looking quite dapper!

3.  He can speak Korean...I find this amazing.  I know that the gift of tongues is truly one of the amazing blessings that the Lord blesses our missionaries with!

4.  Austin does not have air conditioning or central heating in South Korea! Yikes! He hasn't complained about it all.  

5.  Austin loves to give talks in church even in another language.

6.  Austin loves disney music. :)

7.  Austin plays the piano and has been trying to improve his skills while on his mission.

8.  He loves to sing and has continued to do that while serving the Lord.

9.  He is tenacious.

10.  He wants to do some acting when he comes back.

11.  He is an Eagle Scout.

12.  He is a hard worker.

13.  He is faithful.  He has gone through some hard things on his mission and his faith has never waivered.

14.  He has a strong testimony of his Savior, Jesus Christ.

15.  He wants to be an English professor.

16.  He likes Naruto...he will have some catching up to do when he gets back.

17.  He loves reading and is constantly asking for new church books for us to send him.

18.  He will be attending BYU Provo in the fall of 2016.

19.  This may be obvious but, he has dedicated 2 years of his life to serving a mission for the Lord.

We are very proud of Austin and the man that he has become! I am grateful he choose to serve the Lord for 2 years.  I am SUPER excited for February 2016 when I can give him a big HUG!

Bringing Austin to the Temple

Words cannot describe the feelings in my soul the day we brought our oldest son through the temple. 

 It was absolutely amazing.  I am so grateful for the blessings that Heavenly Father 

continues to pour out upon our family!

 Horrible picture of me because it was windy...but whatever!!! It was an amazing day!

Where I have been and what I have been up to..

I so badly would love to keep my blog updated but, have had a seriously hard time doing this.  The past several months have been a complete whirlwind.  I am hoping that life will settle into a new normal now and maybe I will even be able to finally revive this blog.

Two weeks ago we dropped our oldest off at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. What a bittersweet moment that was! We miss him lots but, are extremely proud of him for what he is doing!

My hubby underwent surgery on his neck last Thursday for a severely herniated disc that did not respond to any of the other methods he had tried to get it fixed.  The recovery has been a bit bumpy and to be completely honest I am exhausted and worn out.  I have been very well taken care of by family and the ladies at church though!

So with all of this behind us all I need to do now is to concentrate on homeschooling my kiddos and continuing to grow this sweet little baby boy who will join our family around the end of May!

Here is a link to my son's blog with his first letter from the MTC!
http://elderlynn.blogspot.com/2014/03/mtc-week-1-feb-26-march-6.html

Austin's mission call!

On December 23 we received the letter in the mail we had been waiting for!!!! It was a large white envelope addressed to Elder Austin Michael Lynn...we had only been waiting 2 weeks since we had submitted his papers so we were a little surprised to have received his call so quickly!  We waited until that evening for him to open the envelope and find out where he had been called to.  There was a lot of anticipation building up to it.  He opened the envelope and read his call to Korea Seoul South Mission! To report to the MTC in Provo, Utah on February 26! What???!!! That is only 8 weeks away and Korea! Wow! We were surprised and thrilled and a bit overwhelmed.  Austin will be an amazing missionary. He is ready to give the Lord his all and I know it won't be easy for him or us (esp. his poor mom who is going to miss him tons!) but, I know 100% that this is what  he should be doing.  I can't think of a better way for my 18 year old son to spend the next 2 years of his life than dedicating to the Lord.  We are so proud of the young man Austin has become.