JT and Alex

OLD POST:  Alex leaves on his mission to Brazil tomorrow. If all goes as planned, JT will leave on his mission a few months before Alex gets home. ‪#‎4yearsapart‬ ‪#‎alexgoestoBrazil‬ ‪#‎missionsaregreat‬

UPDATE:   These two have known each other since JT was 7 months old.  Alex is a year and 3 months older than JT.  Alex left for his mission November 18, 2014 and JT will leave July 13, 2016.  Alex gets home 3 months later in October.  CRAZY!  They will not see each other for almost 4 years.  I miss these two! 

Little bit of history into these two...

This picture means so much to me. It tells a long story of the history between these two siblings. You see they are 19 months apart in age and by the time JT was 3 years old and Rylee was 1 1/2; Rylee spoke better English than JT. It was the first red flag in JT's life. His hearing was tested, but he just had a severe speech delay. This later went on to effect his language comprehension and JT struggled to communicate and to understand what he was being tested on. JT went to speech at Desert Sage when he was 3 years old. Rylee and I would attend, watch, and learn how to reinforce what he was learning at home. His speech was clear. He had a word for bananas, but it was a word non of us had ever heard before. We honestly thought that he might have been born to the wrong family. We thought the way he clicked that he might be speaking some Africian dialect.
Anywho, the year he was 4 he went to a special needs preschool class 4 days a week. At the end of that school year I went to observe a kindergarten class and I knew he wasn't ready. My husband and I counseled and prayed. It was a tough decision that I knew would effect JT the rest of his life. One of things that troubled me was JT and him going on a mission. At the time I was making this decision boys were encouraged to go at age 19. So most boys JT grew up with in scouts would graduate high school and have a year of college before they put in papers to go on a mission. If I waited to put JT in kindergarten, JT would have no year of college. He would graduate high school and then turn 19. Well, June 3, 2016 JT turns 19. I can't believe all those prayers and walks with friends about this day is finally here. On one of those walks, a wise friend asked me, "Have you ever heard a parent regretting that they waited a year to put their child in school?" No. I never heard that. I heard regrets about pushing their child to go in early but never a regret for waiting. So it was decided. No kindergarten for JT until he was 6. Which fast forward also meant that he would plan and prepare to serve a mission right after high school. Going back to the 6 year old JT, after many more years of intense therapy through school districts, private care and NACD, JT was able to get off his IEP when he was in 3rd grade.
JT never hated that he was a year behind in school until high school. He wanted to play catch up the summer between 8th grade and freshman year. Ryan and JT had a plan to take his whole freshman year over the summer and go to high school as a sophomore. Glad that didn't pan out. Poor child would have been overwhelmed.

Now looking at this picture of my 2 kids 19 months apart I think of how much they have grown and taught each other. She will miss JT. And I will miss watching them together. They are so fun.

My cute boy

So many people have asked me about JT's upcoming mission and what it entails. To be honest, I don't know much. I never served a mission, but my husband served in Spain and I have lots of friends who have given me some helpful tips and advice. There is also a few white envelopes that have come with lots of information about his mission from the church.
Here's what I know. JT will no longer be called JT. He will be set apart and called Elder Nuttall starting July 13th. He will fly to Salt Lake City and report to the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) for 2.5 weeks before he flys to Australia. When he flys there he will lose a day. They are 18 hours ahead of us.

I know that JT will have a Mission President and his wife, and lots of couple missionaries that will take care of my boy while he is gone. This Mission President assigns JT to his mission companions and those companions can change every 6 weeks. JT will be assigned to work in a certain area with his companion and follow guidelines and rules for all missionaries.
I know that JT is allowed to write home once a week on P-day (preparation day). I will look forward to those emails. JT is allowed to call home/ or skype home twice a year on Mother's Day and Christmas. Because of the time change it might be Christmas Eve and the day before Mother's Day, but I will be happy for those communications.
JT is planning on paying for his mission. He has been working hard and saving his money. Missions are cheap compared to college tuition, so his Dad and I look forward to helping our son out in the future with college. JT is allowed to bring certain items on a list that fit in 2 suitcases on his mission. He is prepared in almost everyway. I can't help but be proud of him. He is such a good boy.

For years now I have thought about those young men that serve missions and come back as men. They wear black tags with their names proudly proclaiming that they are messengers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They get doors shut in their faces and have hard days. My hope and prayer is that when you see one of these young men, you will think of JT and be kind to them. Each missionary is someone's son or daughter.

JT is playing Tenors or 4 drums.  He is having a lot of fun his senior year.  Love my boy!

J.T's Mission Call

https://youtu.be/ovVDhA_2YKM?list=LL2f5pUdWrhmvJ-nbnEYhFmw

Australia Brisbane Mission on July 13, 2016. Click on the link to see the FULL video.

This mission call came in the mailbox on February 24th.  Ryan's bday.  It was a sweet blessing.  We know that Ryan will be with JT on his mission.  It's weird to think that all of this is a blessing.  I mean your friend dies.  Not only dies, but kills himself during JT's junior year in high school and a year and half later, we feel at peace.  We know that Ryan didn't know everything in this life, but he does now.  JT can now go teach that truth to others in Australia and Ryan will be his angel looking out for him. 

Thanks to all the people who came to JT's mission call opening.  It was wonderful to see the love of his friends at this big moment in his life.  It is a big deal.  JT is going to be a great missionary!  LOVE MY BOY! 

I'm so proud of JT. James Tyler Nuttall. His mission papers are in and we are awaiting the lovely call to serve from Apostles of the Lord. I'm not a patient person and most of you know this about me. I don't know why I'm so anxious. I guess I just want to know where my son will serve for the next 2 years on his life after high school.
So to pass the time, I pray multiple times a day for his call to be the right call. Then I do research on how missionaries are assigned and I feel at peace. So excited, but the waiting is slowly driving me crazy. Patience is a virtue. Just not my virtue. His papers have been in for 2 weeks. It could come anytime now or not until 3 weeks from now.

If you want to know more here's my favorite quote from today's research by Henry B Erying:
All my life, from the time I have been a young boy and as far back as I can remember, I have had experiences feeling of the Holy Ghost. … But I’ve never felt what I have felt as I have … participated in the assigning of missionaries. …
“We go into a room, and … it will be a two-or three-hour session and sometimes longer. Because of technology, it is possible for us to have your picture and the information about you displayed. And then quickly, on that same screen, all the missions of the Church with all of their needs are displayed. Within minutes, and sometimes less than a minute, the impression comes so powerfully that it would be, if it were a single instance, something that you would never forget. Can you imagine sitting there for hours at a time, having that happen time after time without interruption? I testify to you that it is real. …
“… In a world so large, the Creator … somehow not only knows you but loves you enough to ensure that your call is where He needs you to go to teach the children of our Heavenly Father.” Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Called of God” (devotional address delivered at the Provo Missionary Training Center, Aug. 26, 1997).

18 years ago in January Travis Nuttall and I moved to Phoenix with our 7 month old JT. We were recruited fresh out of BYU and started a real job as a civil engineer at American Engineering/ later becoming RBF. This place of employment was more like family for the 9 years Travis worked there. And Doug Baker was Travis' first boss there. Today is Doug Baker's funeral. It brings me back to those early years in Phoenix. Doug and his wife Kathy were one of the nicest people we met in Phoenix. Jimmy Baker and Candice Baker also worked there at some point. We later moved into a ward with Andrew Baker and Shannon Vaden Baker and got to know more of Doug's family. He has a great family. I am so sad for their loss. Doug fought a brave fight with cancer and I know he is free from those earthly pains and happy on the other side of the veil. I love that I know the Baker family and I'm thinking of them a little more during this time of grief. Thinking about this great man just makes me smile. Not smile because he's gone, but because I am proud to have known him. He was such a good, patient, happy man.

Flicker - JT on Pinnacle Percussion

SO...JT decided that he wasn't busy enough his senior year with work, school, church, filling out mission paperwork, and being a student.  He along with Johnny, Mallory, Reid, Jackson, Miguel, Michael, Cody, and Roslyn from the OC drumline tried out and made the Pinnacle Percussion Winter season.  This is their show.  JT would go to practice twice and week and most Saturdays.  Busy boy.  Where does he get it from?  

https://youtu.be/sOsZJVo5qR8