A Long, Good Post! with Exciting news!

Today is an exciting day! My Mom left a message on my phone last night saying "Jocelyn, you're not going anywhere tomorrow night are you? Seriously be home!" {okay weird!} so I tried calling her back....BUSY. Okay I'll try and be home, but why? I try calling her again....she answers! What's up? she tells me that Mark, my youngest brother, is expecting to get his mission call tomorrow night. {meaning tonight!} And that I needed to be home so they could do the whole conference call thing and we could all find out where he's going to serve his mission. {YEAH!}

But wait let me get you up to date on why we are SO EXCITED!

Mark is the youngest of 7 kids. {spoiled rotten!} and up until 7-8 months ago we didn't even think he would serve a mission {for the church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints.}

I got a phone call from my husband Ryszard back in December , he told me to "sit down"

"okay Ryszard what is it I have things to do."
"sit down" so I sit. "your Brother Mark was in an accident at work. He's okay but he's at the hospital."

"Ryszard this isn't funny"

"I'm not joking, I wouldn't joke about this!"

Now it's not like I thought he would, but the story he was telling me was a little too familiar with an incident he had already told me about, where the guy ended up paralyzed. But Ryszard was mentioning real places, that he wouldn't have otherwise known. So now I was beginning to worry, I needed to talk to my sisters, my Mom, anyone out there in Utah who knew what was really going on. I tried my sister Karilyn- no answer. My mom- but she was working. My sister April- she answered! Do you know what's going on with Mark?? {This is how I first heard the story and I must warn you there will be some pretty yucky pictures coming up, so brace yourself!} Somehow while working on some strapping my brother had gotten into a fight with a nail gun. One of the framing nails had entered into his check and got stuck right up there in the bone. possibly in his brain.{ouch!}

My sister told me he was being transferred to another hospital for more test and then surgery, and that she'd call me later with more information. A little while later I got a call from .. Mark! what? "hello"

"Hey!"

"hey yourself!" Mark called me and was talking, that's a good sign! But he was still waiting for surgery to remove the nail. {3 1/2 inch nail I might add! double ouch!} We talked for a little bit then I let him get some rest. {he needed it right!} He went on to have surgery. They thought they could just go in and slowly pull the nail out, but it was wedged in there good { must be all that yummy milk my brother drinks} So they ended up having to go in through the skull.

I talked with my Mom often, to see how Mark was doing. She told me how he was different. He was calm, quiet, and reflective. {Mark? that's so not Mark!} "He's just so different," she said," his spirit is shining through!" Mark recovered so well without an issues, or side affects {amazing} During the whole process, Mark never said, "Why me?" He always felt that the Lord had something for him to do. And he finally figured it out. A mission!

So hence all the EXCITEMENT! Ryszard and I are so proud of Mark for making the decision to serve a full time mission for the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saint. We can't wait for all the great experiences we know he'll have. And what an amazing adventure it will be for him.

And YES! I will be waiting by the phone for that very special call when my brother becomes this:

A Missonary!