release time

last night we got to be a part of something wonderful, as dominique was released honorably from her missionary service in the new zealand hamilton mission of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. we have watched from afar as our girl has grown and changed, as she has tirelessly served her heavenly father each day and we are so, so proud of her and what she has achieved.

after a meeting with our stake president, family were invited to join in, as she was officially released! i know there are so many wonderful things ahead for her and can't wait to see where life takes her next.

besties reunited! ♥ 

church in bunno

church in bunbury was quite the event... with my children finally being used to morning church again, the trip just completely threw joseph as he was more than ready for a long nap before church even started. madeline was happy to sit with her dad and cuddle, which was ruined by him having to take joseph out and put him to sleep. oh kids...

we got to listen to one of the most amazing talks though, a girl i know had just returned from the jakarta, indonesia mission and by chance was giving her homecoming talk the day we happened to be in bunbury for the weekend and at her ward, even funnier as there are two to choose from.

it left such an impression on me, as she spoke of points relating to their mission theme that i even emailed her later that day to ask for the theme written down. she gave an incredible recount of her mission and some wonderful stories of great faith.

obedience is the price

faith is the power

work is the committment

love is the motive

the spirit is the key

christ is the reason

what a wonderful day to happen to attend her ward! i am so grateful constantly for the sacrifice made by the missionaries of our church, what wonderful blessings come to them and to their families from their service ♥

missionary mail

monday brings missionary mail and photos from dominque in new zealand. she is currently serving in pukekohe with sister park from utah and by the looks of it, having the time of her life.

she hasn't changed one bit, seeing the pictures of her... and i know she has made the best decision she has ever made in her life - because by the time she is done, everything will be different!

she is a legend, i love her, i'm so proud and miss her every day. ♥

mothers day 2015

another mothers day has come and gone... and i have to admit, it was not the best... joseph hasn't been well for a few weeks, although as it was originally just a very runny nose, we hadn't taken him to the doctor. on tuesday morning he woke up and coughed and coughed and coughed, so i bundled him off to the doctor, only to have them test him for whooping cough! personally i don't think that's what it is, he isn't terribly ill, even now... but as there has been a few cases in perth recently, they had to check for it. i am feeling pretty blessed that he has been immunised, so if by some crazy chance he has contracted it, it would be an extremely mild case and not potentially dangerous! anyway... because of that, we are on house arrest. :( he can't go anywhere until the results are back - which won't be until tuesday, blergggg. he seems okay and is on antibiotics, so fingers crossed.

so, no church for us today, although doug went (he had a speaking assignment...) which meant i missed out on hearing him speak and hearing my primary children sing, they had practiced and practiced for weeks to sing "i often go walking" to their mums. devastated. 

there was good parts of my day though... i got a gorgeous white cardigan and some lollies from the kidlets...

 i got to facetime with my mum in France, where she is living it up with dad and my brothers family... i am so grateful for her and every little thing she has done for me over the years. some people are insulted when they are told they are turning into their mother... i however take it as a compliment, there is no one i would rather be. she is loving, generous, compassionate, christlike and so so so talented. she is an amazing cook, can sew anything, makes beautiful creations out of old junk and is one heck of a snappy dresser.

mama you are the queen of my heart!

the highlight of my day though, was talking to doug's beautiful sister, serving in the new zealand hamilton mission. she has been been out just 17 days and in the field just 5 days, but as it was mothers day she was entitled to a call home. it was so nice to hear from her and actually get to see her face! i already miss her so much and it was the best to see her!

all in all though, my mothers day was okay... because i got to share it with these two adorable monkeys that i get to call me "mum". how grateful i am to be their mum and for every single day i have already had to spend with them and every one i'm yet to have. even the hard ones when someone is in tears most of the day (and yes, that someone is sometimes me!) i love my babies - and i am so glad to be 

a mum

sister kendall is off!

well it's official, we have a missionary in the family. niques was set apart last night in samoa "with a healthy body and a sharp mind" ready to serve the lord in the hamilton, new zealand mission. she has worked so hard, for so long and is finally there - and we could not be prouder if we tried. 

return with honour my little sister. it has been a joy watching you grow and i know you will be a fine missionary 

♥

niques is going on a mission!

oh. my. gosh. it is finally happening!! after over a year of preparing and trying her butt off to get there, niques got her mission call today!

dear sister kendall... you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, labouring in the hamilton, new zealand mission, reporting to the auckland missionary training centre, april 23rd 2015.

new zealand! how exciting. we are stoked, she is excited... and it's all go go go.

good things come to those who do!

the countdown is on!

i cannot believe this is happening. in less than 2 days we are off to samoa to see mum and dad. i am so, so excited (not about packing... blergggggh) and can't believe that the time has passed so quickly since we booked. tick tock, tick tock...

this is really happening... mum i'll see you soon!

sister kendall

dominique and i have a joint pinterest board - called sister kendall, which is mostly inspiration for mission clothing. the description for the board says, "i refuse to look like an idiot..." and she is doing well to ensure she doesn't. seeing as her papers will be going in soon... today she had a trial run of packing, ensuring that everything she packed could be worn with multiple other items... so it was a fashion show in my bedroom.

she has certainly done well though... with the cheapest sister missionary wardrobe the world has ever seen... between random things she has, hand me downs, things from my closet (mostly also from the opshop and hand me downs) and opshop finds

from top left...

1. cardigan a hand me down from a past sister missionary to me, dress from the local op-shop

2. dress and cardi from the op-shop

3. cheap $3 cardigan from supre, op-shop dress (worn as a shirt) and restyled skirt (bit of running in on the sewing machine, really not bad for a first attempt)

4. dress from 3, cardi from 2

5. dress from 1, worn as a skirt, shirt $10 from valleygirl, hand me down scarf from a friend of mine

6. cardi from 1, shirt from 5, $10 maxi skirt from dotti at harbourtown

i can't wait to see what else she comes up with... but there'll be 18 months worth of opportunities! 

sister kendall here she comes!

drive up to clackers

we drove up to clackers today to get the bassinet for baby k2. i was thinking the other day that we pretty much have everything sorted (except i haven't packed the baby bag, better get on to that...) and then suddenly realised that we didn't have a bed for the poor baby! maddie will be staying in her room a little longer (until aunty niques leaves on her mission - more on that in just a moment!!) and so the little man will be bunking with us, in what exactly? oops. off to clackline we go to collect the bassinet from mum and dads. we had a nice visit with the gorgeous family who are renting their house and then attacked the dusty cobwebby shed for the cot. thankfully it was easy to find and easy to remove so we got on the road and headed over to visit aunty jenny and uncle mat, who had a lovely roast waiting for us for lunch! yummm. 

this was definitely the highlight of the day for maddie, thus the appeal of this post. jen bought mat a freaking ride on esky for christmas and it's pretty much the greatest thing i have ever seen in my life. he and maddie rode up and down the deck out the front of their house, her squealing with laughter and calling "more more more!" as well as climbing on it everytime it was left unattended. oh uncle mat. always the apple of maddie's eye. (ps. if your husband has to have one, you can order it here...)

we got this wonderful snapchat from niques on our way up to clackers, saying that her mision papers are finally complete and being processed. so excited for her! we of course will be bummed to have her leave, but we are so excited for what is in store. it's about 4 or so weeks from here to hear where she will be off to, so watch this space, more news on that to come.

maddie will be moving down one room into the big girl bed when she departs and babyk2 will be taking up residence in maddies room... but there's no rush. i am happy to keep her for as long as she needs to stay. there's more than enough room in our cosy little house. 

parent updates!

these beautiful people are away having the most amazing time of their lives - and being that it's my dad's birthday today i thought it might be nice to give you an update on what they have been up to. 

they have settled in well to life in the islands as you can see from the picture above and are working hard at church college... dad teaching workshop (ie. being a mechanic and showing other people how to do mechanic like stuff) and my mama is teaching cooking and sewing.

they have been touring the island and exploring to their hearts content and even went on a weekend trip to american samoa on a little plane a few recently. i know they're working hard whilst  having a good time - but isn't that important too?

it's almost been 6 months, which means a third of the way through - which means there's only just over a year until we get to have them home. i am waiting patiently, cause i know that heavenly father needs them where they are - but it doesn't stop me missing them. 

so... without further ado - happy birthday daddy and be safe... we'll see you when we see you!

pressies from saaa!

we got a package from samoa today! mum and dad went shopping and got us some little gifts, packaged them up and sent them via friends to australia - which were then posted to us! what fun!

we got a little mini blue lavalava for madeline, that mum had made herself and sewn into a wrap around, so all i had to do was add elastic for the waist, a book about iesu (jesus) that i am sure oli (doug's samoan mother) will love to read to her granddaughter at christmas time when they visit, a paua shell necklace with matching earrings, mother of pearl starfish earrings, a teacup ring and a hand printed scarf from mum's friend marita for me and a purple lavalava for doug. 

it was so lovely to receive such a sweet gift and know that they are thinking of us while we are missing them so much. can't wait to visit next year!

mum and dad leave

and just like that - they're gone. mum and dad left this afternoon on their flight to nz, where they'll spend a few days before they fly out to samoa to begin their mission. we were so lucky to spend yesterday (which conveniently happened to be mothers day...) with them.

 it's so hard to believe that for the next 18 months that i can't just pick up the phone, drive an hour - or just have mum and dad nearby. but i know that they are needed there, that they will help people in ways i don't even know about - and be so much to so many. so i am doing my best not to cry and upset mum more about leaving. 

  

last night we went with them to be set apart at our stake presidents house and it was an amazing experience. they were promised so many wonderful things for their faith and i know it will be something they will remember forever. good luck mum and dad! we love you heaps and can't wait to see you again.x

freshly set apart elder & sister goodlet with our stake president

clark is out of here!

our little clarky has taken off for the philippines last night. niques and i were lucky enough to be there as he was set apart, though doug was unfortunately still at work... it was such a lovely thing to be a part of, though hard for him... vivienne was called away to nz earlier this week, her mum has been ill for quite some time and isn't expected to last much longer. but it was amazing! i know he will be a wonderful missionary and i am so glad we have been able to be a part of his journey right up til now!

we had a "last supper" at macca's in tuart hill (clark has been eating for two... (years) for quite some time now) before they went off to the airport, which is where we snapped this shot - full of crazy people haha.

clark and our stake president minutes after being set apart as elder f.

i couldn't resist putting these pics up from clark's last sunday at dianella either. apparently it is tradition for someone in their family to ruin every family shot they have - and looking at these, i am guessing it was tayla's turn this time around.

best family. i am sure the next two years will fly by.