Two Years

Well I was planning on getting this posted yesterday, but I ended up having a much busier day than planned, so it is going to be a day late. :)  Yesterday, July 15th 2012 marked two years since I returned home from my service in Uruguay as a full-time missionary.  It was an emotional day, with lots of wonderful memories.  I dug out my old journals and read through some notes, and found some pictures I want to share with everyone. 

This is one of the first families that I ever taught on my mission.  I never understood a word that they said to me, but they loved me all the same.

One thing about Uruguay that really surprised me was how COLD it got during the winter!  I just looked up the average lows, and they're only in the low 40's with an occasional drop to the 30's, but when there are no heating systems and its really humid, it makes it FREEZING!!!!  This is my morning study.

Another thing to love about serving a mission is that no matter what the weather, you preach the gospel!  It also rained a lot!

Doing laundry was always a highlight on P-day......

One thing I learned though was that Uruguay is a truly BEAUTIFUL place.  This a beach we got permission to visit on one of our P-days.

This is a Carpinchu!  They are everywhere in Uruguay, I always found them really cute

This one is a classic.  We couldn't find the ping pong net, so we naturally used toilet paper. :)

and we can't forget the best part of serving a mission, helping people come to Christ!

True to my character, I spent two weeks once in an area very sick, this is the sister that stayed with me while my companion went out and proselyted with another sister, we called her Mama Maria.

Even though the look disgusts me now, this was one of my favorite meals, it's called a chivito, it's basically a hamburger with a fried egg and bacon on it, I always added avacado if possible

I had a lot of interesting companions.  I often got asked if this one was my daughter

baptizing this man made every hard day of my mission worth it.  His name is Carlos, he is my best friend!

safety pins and duct tape became my best friends for quick fix-its

This is one of my companions that changed my life, and taught me a lot about what true friendship is

This was my last lunch appointment before I came home.  This man, Hermano Carlini, taught me more about myself than anyone else ever could.  I miss him dearly

And this is me and the Elders I went home with on our way to the airport.  It was an awesome ride!

I'm so grateful for the experience that i had in Uruguay, and I will never forget it.

If you are tired of reading, you can end now, but to close I'm going to share the last email that I prepared to write home but never did.  I've typed it up below.  It sums up my thoughts and feelings rather well.

Well here it is the final email from the mission.  I guess it’s supposed to be inspiring, so I’ll try and do my best!

It’s hard to believe that all my life I’ve always heard, “when I was on my mission,” and “ the mission is the best two years of your life,” “you’ll never forget your mission,” and “ I don’t go a day without remembering something from my mission,” and I never, ever even imagined that I would be able to join in with the conversations, but here I sit, two days away from putting an eternal seal on my personal missionary service, and I’m so deeply grateful for it.

But even though the mission has been the best experience in my life, it has also been the hardest and most challenging.  For the past year and a half I have personally witnessed my loving Heavenly Father put me through my refiner’s fire, and slowly, he has put all of the pieces back together. I left the USA as on person, but am coming home a completely different one.  I’ve changed so much, but the change hasn’t just been a physical one.

I remember in the CCM (MTC) one day we watched a devotional giving by Elder Holland.  In the talk he quoted something that went like this.

He said, “Come to the edge”

 I said, “No, I shall surely fall.”

He said, “Come to the edge.”

I said, “No, I shall surely fall.” 

He said, “COME TO THE EDGE.”

So I went, and he pushed me off. 

And it was then that I flew.

I remember that seventeen months ago when I heard this quote, I liked it, but now, seventeen months after I understand it, and I’ve experienced it.  And it all goes back to my farewell talk when I said that we can’t be comfortable, and when we are, God invites us to come the edge.  He doesn’t make us go, but invites us, and when we decide to go, he pushes us a little farther, so that we can find out that we have hidden wings and that we can fly, even when everything else around us tells us that we can’t.

Through the past eighteen months I have personally witnessed so many miracles I can’t even number them.  I’ve witnessed people completely change their life to find what true happiness is, and I’ve also witnessed people openly reject this happiness even when they have received the testimony that it is true.  I’ve entered into houses where a family of six sleeps every night on two twin sized beds in the middle of winter with only a mere sheet blocking the glassless windows from the biting cold air.  The floor in their house is made of gravel, but in spite of all, they are in the church on Sunday, to partake of the sacrament and renew their baptismal covenants.  I’ve met other people who barely have enough food to feed their family, but yet every week invite the missionaries to eat with them, because they know that by serving the missionaries they are showing their faith, and when we show our faith, we receive blessings.  I’ve also seen other marvelous things, but could never write them all.

But what I’ve learned from the past eighteen months is that Heavenly Father loves us, and that will never, ever change.  It doesn’t matter how poor, humble, rich, or prideful we are, he love us, and wants to help us.

Thanks for reading!

Lacey

Top Two Favorite Dates

 As I've been going through and trying to figure out what to put on this blog I thought it would be fun to reminisce a little bit about when Erik and I were dating.   Last night before going to bed we began going over some of the dates we went on and we both picked our favorites, so I've decided to post them. :)

Lacey's

In order to fully appreciate my favorite date a little background needs to be given.  When I met Erik I had only been home from my mission for two months or so.  Coming home was really exciting, but really hard.  Some things had changed in my personal life that I wasn't expecting, and I often found myself feeling alone, frustrated, and confused.  To wrap it up in a nutshell it was a rather dark time in my life.  Thankfully BYU-Idaho has a great counseling program on campus that is free to students, so I signed up to get an outsiders view and opinion.  (And just FYI I"m not embarrassed at all to share that I have been to counseling before.  It truly helped me through some really tough times in my life, and I will never be ashamed of the help I received there. :) )  Anyways, through talking with my counselor we often discussed my "inner child," a psychological concept that can be argued and discussed, but can't be proven, and how maybe there were some things that I was missing from my childhood and wished I could still have.  Now with that back ground, I will continue with my favorite date. :)

Before Erik and I started dating we were close friends, and already knew a lot about each other.  Erik was aware that I was going to counseling, and when we started dating I began sharing with him what I had learned during my session and what my goals were for the week and so on, so Erik was aware of my "inner child."  One night when we had nothing planned he came over to my apartment and asked me if I had a lot of homework to do for that night.  I said no, and he asked me if he could take me out on a surprise date. I readily accepted, and we were off in my little red car.  As I drove us to Idaho Falls I asked Erik where I needed to be going.  He informed me that he needed to get something at Toys R Us.  I looked at him confused, but he insisted, so I pulled into the parking lot and we entered the store.

It had been years since I'd entered Toys R Us and I'd forgotten how many toys there really are there.  Once we entered I asked him what we were looking for.  He then looked at me and said, "You have thirty dollars, get whatever you want."  I looked back at him, confused, and he replied, I want you to let out your inner child and pick something out for her, something that Lacey Junior would want to have.  I couldn't believe it, someone was actually willing to buy something for a twenty-two year old that could be better suited for a six year old.  I went to work looking at all of the toys.  I went up and down every isle, looking at prices and trying to decide what I wanted.  Finally, in the last isle, I found this.

Yes, it is a very large stuffed penguin!  When I laid eyes on this baby I instantly knew what I wanted.  We checked out, and "Gus Gus" was now my new best stuffed animal friend.  After getting Gus Gus we enjoyed a yummy dinner at Pizza Hut, another one of my favorite places, and headed back to Rexburg.  That night as I was going to bed, with Gus Gus wrapped up in my arms, I realized that there was something different about Erik William Miller, little did I know that that difference was because he was the man I was going to marry.  

Erik's

 I probably should have put Erik's favorite date first because it was our official first date, but oh well. :)  In reference back to how I was before my mission, lets just remember that I was confused, and sometimes did not the smartest of things.  I ran into a boy that i knew before my mission one day at work, we began to go on some dates, and quickly began "dating." I use the quotes because we never really did, but that's a different story.  Anyways, during these few days that I was "dating" this boy, Erik and I were good friends and texting a lot.  I knew that Erik and his roommate were planning a date for the coming Saturday.  I asked him who he would take and he said he had been asking girls with no luck.  Soon Friday came, and I asked again who he had found to go on the date.  He said he asked 13 different girls, and none of them had said yes.  I felt so sorry for him and wanted to offer to go with him, but knew that I had a "boyfriend" and couldn't.  Well that night I was heading out to spend the evening with this "boyfriend" and in the process of going to dinner we talked about our little relationship and decided that we had been dumb, rushed into things, and that we really didn't want to be dating.  It was a mutual understanding.  After dinner and a movie I went home, and instantly texted Erik.  Without a boyfriend I was free, and I wanted Erik to have a date.  Erik readily agreed to take me, so Saturday afternoon he came over and picked me up.  He informed me that we would be finger painting, so I dressed in some old clothes, and it's a good thing I did.  Here's how the date played out.

It started innocent enough.  We were painting, getting our hands dirty, and just having fun, when all of a sudden, (Notice Erik looking at the piece of paper in his hand, fyi, it's full of paint)

BAM! Yes, I got a piece of paper full of paint straight to my face! (Look at how smug and proud he looks!)

needless to say, I was shocked,

but I quickly retaliated, and we had a full fledged paint fight.  he got me, I got him, and in the end, we were both completely covered

After we finished up, we all looked like this

Brad, Erik's roommate, had made peach cobbler for dessert, but it was clear that Erik and I wouldn't be eating in our current states, so we took a half an hour break to shower and clean up.  Erik walked me home where I showered and got all of the paint of my body and out of my hair.  I've never had such colorful water while I showered.  While I was getting ready Erik walked back to his apartment, showered himself, and then came back to get me.  Once we were all clean, we had dessert.

  After we ate Erik walked me back home again and the date was over.  I was going to bed that night I was surprised at how much fun I had on the date.  I was comfortable, felt like myself, and wasn't worried about what others thought of me.  I didn't think much about it, but little did I know that it was the start of the best relationship I would ever experience.

So there you have it, our two favorite dates.  If you made it to the end of this post I'm impressed, because it's long, but it was really fun to write.  Until next time!

Lacey

Baby Feet

Today I was folding some laundry when I came to the new little socks that Heidi got on clearance for our little Elijah William.  It amazes me how small they are!

As you can see though, we've already had a run-in with the sock monster, the bottom sock on the right is already missing it's match, we hope we find it soon!

As cute as these socks are, as I looked at them I began to get a little worried.  For those of you who know me really well will know that I don't have regularly sized feet.  The actual foot part is normal sized, but my toes is where we meet the problem.  Those in my family "lovingly" refer to them as finger toes, and sadly their not far off.  My second toe is actually longer than my big toe, and the worst part is at my last ultra sound the technician actually got a real good close up of Elijah's feet, and she commented on the size of his toes!!!!  It was awful!  So sadly the poor child will be stuck with my feet, but at least he is a boy and they make boy shoes in all sizes.

After finding the cute socks, Heidi and I also hit up a store called H&M and they had some boy clothes on clearance, so we stocked up on a few more!

All of these minus the monkey jump suit on the right were all under seven dollars!  The monkey jump suit was going to be a Christmas Gift from Grandma Heidi, but she ordered it with some new shoes for Kevin, and Kevin was so excited to get his shoes that he opened the box, and Erik saw the jump suit so we got it early.

I picked this one out especially for Erik.  Underneath the monkey it says "Daddy & Me"  Erik is so excited to be having a little boy that I couldn't resist!

Needless to say we are both very excited to welcome our first son here! Erik is even beginning to feel a little bit of Elijah when he moves which is really fun for him.  It's such a huge blessing for us to be able to have this opportunity to have a child.  Many times I look at our situation and wonder "why now?"  But I know that it is all in God's plan and that it will all work out in the end.  I'm so excited to be a new mommy and to have a little spirit of my Heavenly Father to take care of!  It's going to be great!

Well the introduction looks good so I guess So I'll continue.  Here goes

4th of July

Our 4th of July celebration started last night when Katherine, Andrew, and Andrew's little sister Amanda came over to spend the night.  Just my luck though, I've come down with a cold and haven't been much of a party animal. :(  This morning we woke up and went to see the new Spiderman movie.  It was a good show and we all enjoyed it.  After the credits rolled I was really not feeling well so we came home and while Kevin fired up the grill and the others began preparing lunch, I laid down in the bedroom for twenty minutes or so.  When the burgers were ready I zombie walked to the kitchen where we enjoyed a meal of homemade burgers with watermelon, corn on the cob, chips and dip, and a strawberry/blueberry yellow cake for dessert.  After dessert Katherine, Andrew, and Amanda headed back home to the city and I went back to bed.  Erik had to watch the movie "12 Angry Men" for a class so I watched/dozed through the movie with him.  After that Kevin, Heidi, Erik and I broke out some games and played for a bit.  Now I am just waiting for it to get late enough to crawl back into bed and hopefully sleep my cold away.

It's really hard having a cold when I'm pregnant.  The only medication my OB said I'm allowed to take is Tyenol and Sudafed, and although the tyenol is working great on my headache, the Sudafed isn't doing much for my runny/stuffy nose and as a result I have a nice red swollen nose, but that is how it goes I guess.  

I'm also realizing as I type this that I don't take near enough pictures.  I would love to post one now of our day but don't have one, I'll have to get better at that.

So that was our celebration, small, but very fun.  Now we're just hoping that I can feel better. :)  

Well thanks to all who read, hopefully I'll get better at this as time goes on. :)

Lacey

So I've decided that since I don't have a whole lot to do during the days that I am going to fight my way through figuring out how on earth to get a blog up and working.  As I've looked at others I guess the first thing I should do is say a little bit about myself, but then again the only people who will be reading this are those who already know me, so maybe I'll just start updating.  We'll see how it goes.