The Mothers Day Call

13 May 2012: Mary (age 57) with her Mothers Day gift!

As always, my awesome children made Mothers Day a memorable event!  My son-in-law Chris had to work, so Sarah went to church with us.  After church, she picked Chris up from work and they came over to spend the rest of the day with us.

Sarah was tricky about the gift she and Chris and Dylan gave me.  Usually she gives me a new Willow Tree figurine for my collection, so she put my actual gift into a small box that was similar to the Willow Tree boxes.  She fooled me!  As it turned out, they got me the new Zelda, Skyward Sword game for Wii that I've been wanting since Christmas.  I love it!

They also gave me this gorgeous card!

26 Apr 2012: Elder Jacob Carter (age 20) on the left, 

with Elder Nelson at the Oakland CA Temple.

We all agree, however, that the very best part of the day was getting to talk to our missionary, my older son Jacob!  Missionaries are only allowed to call their families twice a year, on Christmas and Mothers Day, so we awaited with great anticipation Jacob's call from the Santa Rosa Mission in Northern California. 

Just before 4:00, the phone began to ring... 

Dylan (age 14) went first, talking to his older brother for more than 15 minutes.

Then Chris (age 34) took his 15 minutes to chat with his brother-in-law.

Remember, Jacob and Chris have never yet met in person!

Next, Sarah (age 22) spoke to her younger brother.

Finally, Mom got to talk to her son for about 45 minutes! 

We spent about an hour and a half in all on the phone with Jacob.

Ed was at his mom's place when Jacob called, so Jacob called him later on his cell phone.  (Which is why there's no picture of Ed talking on the phone.)  Jacob reports that they had a great talk about missionary work that got him all "pumped up" for the concluding months of his mission.

Yes, I said "concluding" months.  This was our final phone call from Elder Carter, because he will be home before next Christmas.  In fact, Jacob told me that President Bunker put "November 1st" in the computer as Jacob's departure date.  That means he will be home in only five and a half months!  That's less than six! 

All in all, it was a pretty wonderful Mothers Day.

Oops!  Almost forgot that Diego got to have a moment with Jacob, too.

He barked excitedly and then he tried to take the phone in his mouth,

which caused him to hang up on Jacob, so we had to wait for him to call us back!