VALENTINES DAY AT NORTON ELEMENTARY

I went to Tiffany's school to help her with all the valentine activities. It was wild!!! I decided it was a smart thing I did not become a Kindergarten teacher!! It takes lots of patience. The bottom pic is Kelly, she is in the class room next to Tiff, this is their third year teaching side by side and they have a good time. This year they moved from 2nd grade to K. I think they are crazy but they seem to love it. They have adorable children. We started the day making a valentine mouse, they had to cut, yes cut with scissors, 4 or 5 hearts and glue them at certain places, and then add whiskers, etc.. are you getting the picture!! Some of those mice you wouldn't have recognized!! Then we moved on to decorating heart sugar cookies. Yep, another mess. Best of all was giving out the valentines. THe kids were so excited to give them to their friends they just couldn't stand it. We had to help them because most of them couldn't read the names. To end the day and try to quiet them down a little Tiffany read in a chapter book that they love, I think it is a Juney B. Jones book, anyway, one little guy was glued to her side and she finally told him he needed to sit down because she was getting hot, she kept reading and he decided he would cool her off and got a piece of paper and began to fan her. I busted up laughing, and then she did and then all the kids wanted to fan her. It was so funny. The greatest part of the day was as they were leaving they all hug her bye and then look at me, who they don't know very well and hug me too. Watching them and seeing their innocence and love helps me understand why Jesus loves little children and admonishes us to be "like them."

Here they are! My 5:50 am seminary kids

A year after we moved to Georgia I was asked to teach Seminary. I taught for 5 years before I was asked to do something else. Then two years later they ask me to do it again. I was shocked and nervous. I know what all it requires and that made it hard to say yes, but I did. These are my kids: 1st pic: (L to R) Kelsey, Kelli, Ashley, Steven
2nd pic: Christopher, Amanda, Aubrey, Matt
3rd pic: Mandy, Jeremy, Stephen, Kylie
I was missing: Jonathan, Andres, Josh, Brittanie
We are studying the Old Testament and we start at 5:50 am (they don't all get here then, but several do) It is a sacrifice for them but I promise them all the time that the payoff is fantastic, they just can't see it yet. I still remember my days in seminary and I hope years from now they do to!! Some of my favorite stories that we have done are: David, Esther and Job, so far. Look them up, find all the ways they apply to us today!!

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!!!

SUNDAY DINNERS

I love them! Almost every Sunday our whole family comes over and we cook and eat together.

It is chaotic at times, loud, crazy, etc.. and I couldn't be happier!! Sure we argue sometimes but I really feel like these dinners hold us together and keep our bond growing. Family is everything to me and all of them being together is my "Favorite Thing"! This particular sunday was a new recipe we tried, it seemed to go over pretty well. You can probably tell we max out the table, it isn't quite as crowded as usual since we are missing Zach. We need a bigger table and dining room! (hint to Donnie) I want my family to know I appreciate the sacrifices they make to be here sometimes, they get out in rain storms, give up valuable study time, sleep time, and money for gas. I know they will be blessed for it!!

I love each of you very much. (note Sarah in the pic, they may not be married yet, soon, but she is part of our family already)

MY FANTASTIC DAUGHTERS!!

Yes, I have the best daughters in the world!! For my birthday they made one of my favorites, Monterey Chicken (we took pictures and I can't find them) they also did my favorite veggie, carrots. They did my next favorite dessert, chocolate chip cookie cake, because my favorite, chocolate layer dessert, we had last week. I just sat and visited with them while they worked. For birthdays in our family I always have their favorite meal and dessert so the girls make sure the same happens for me. I know that Donnie is as grateful for them as I am because he is off the hook! My family went together and got me a camera, of course I was throwing big hints around. It is wonderful, now I can take pictures and download them and blog away, all by myself!! I had a great day!

Our Missionary Son has found the Internet!!!

This is his mission president. (Notice Zach's hair!)
1st "real" email from Zach

I live in a kind of apartment on the outskirts of town it is an ok place there are 4 elders in the place me 2 other Americans and an south African which comes from jo'burg. eating is good I don’t have as big of an appetite here but I think that’s just because I'm not used to the food yet but we eat rice a lot and I like the local dish called fu-fu( we get it at restaurants) and we eat a lot of spaghetti. We only get 100 cedi a month which is about $105 dollars so money is tight. I hand wash all my clothes and we do it an interesting way but you will see in the pictures. My bed is too small for my body and yes I sleep in a mosquito net (I got pictures of all of this). Yes I take my doxy every day and I haven't got malaria yet!! My companion elder Johnson is very nice and is a good missionary. And we walk everywhere!!! We walk an average of about 8-10 miles a day and I now know why I need the hankies (we sweat alot!!!!!) I got to perform the baptism this past Saturday and it was pretty dang cool!! And something I figured out the other day is that most elders are out for 730 days but I got 731 because of leap year...lol.but I’m out of time so send this to everyone and tell them I love them and if there are questions unanswered just ask but ill talk to ya'll next week. Elder Collins!!!!!!
Feb. 18
hey so yea i let a kid in the mtc cut my hair with my little trimmer!!! and i lost 10 pounds in the MTC but now i dont know because we dont eat very healthy out in the field..lol.. but i think im just losing muscle :( but o well. so in my mission it is probably over 50% Americans so i probably will have more american companions. so i did get the first letter from you and Kristi during the week( k's was long..lol) but thats all i got so far but i get mail on Tuesdays . yea i can only e-mail family. we get 1 hour on the internet. I dont know the number of people we are teaching but it's a lot. well in my area we we can't really contact because my area is a university but its all good. church is pretty much the same out here so. tell ryan and austin i said hey.ok so i will do the pictures next week and i will try to remember my pin but idk and my card expires like july of '09.ok so some things that i would like to have.- speghetti and rice sauce/spice packets( thats all we eat)- quacker oatmeal little packets( a lot there isnt really anything good for breakfast here)-power bars-mashed potatoes and gravy packets-pictures- family( have none) and friends ( K!, jenny, liz, etc)-shoe soles( the dr.scholles shoes soles stink i need reg ones.)- if dad could do this i need as much info on these religions as quick as possible- cathelic,presby, muslem-candy-starbursts thats it for now and im out of time so tell everyone i love them and i write some more experiences next week if you dont have any more ? loveelder collins

My Baby boy is in Ghana!!

This is Zach's first picture in Ghana!! Can you find him?? You get two guesses!! ha ha!! This is his MTC group. The couple on the left are the new MTC president. The couple on the left are the old MTC president. He looks happy and that makes me happy. I will update you a little on the week of his leaving. We took him to every eating place he even thought he might like before he left. He actually was sick of eating out by wed. We did alot of last minute running to get odds and ends he needed and I cried a bit at times. My other kids said I was "spontaneously combusting" Zach and I would be in the car and he would be jabbering away (not often for him) and I would start thinking "this won't happen for a couple of years" and yep... the tears would start. I couldn't help it. Wednesday I woke up with my stomach in knots, knowing this was his last day at home. I did my best to get through the day. That evening we went to the Cheesecake factory, it was awesome. It was a nice evening together. Around 8:45 the Stake president came over to set him apart. Yeah, you guessed it I was doing all I could to not fall apart. He received a beautiful blessing. Our Stake president is kinda new and doesn't know Zach and yet said things about him that only someone who spent time with him would know. He told him his call to Ghana was because of the choices he had made in his life, that it was a very special call that few US boys get. (look at the picture, only 2 this transfer). Zach was a little leery when he blessed him that he would have no long term problems from his service in Africa, Zach wanted to know about the short term illnesses!! So we finally went to bed that night with Zach all packed up. Tiffany and Ryan spent the night so that Tiff could go to the airport with us. At the ticket counter we incurred a slight problem and Salt Lake fixed it quickly, but while we were standing there a lady at the counter next to us tapped me and said I am praying for you. I am a mom who has sent her boys off to serve and I know how hard it is. OK, I bet you can't ever guess what I did??? Yep cried once again. The ticket lady looked at Donnie, me and Tiff and said I will give you one gate pass to walk with him, I looked at Donnie with such a desperate look what could he do but say "it's hers". Come on he has teased me for years that Zach is my baby, so of course it should be mine. I wanted to tell him so many things before he got on that airplane and I couldn't get any of them out. I am so proud of him for being so willing to go serve this mission. He has never faltered or questioned going. He was actually so excited I don't think he even thought about the fact that he wouldn't see us for 2 years. Donnie said at some point he will probably feel a little homesick. I'm not so sure! It was the greatest, saddest day for me. His room is so clean and so empty. We got to talk to him for just a short time on Friday from the MTC. He sounded great. Now we are waiting to hear from him again. Moms, I would say prepare yourself, but I don't think it is possible! ( the website with the picture is: ghanagazette.blogspot.com)

Thanks goes to Gretchen!!

Wow, props to Gretchen for adding pictures to my blog!! Is she good or what. As soon as I get some more pics from her I will add them also. Go to her blogspot to see some good ones of the gang at our house this weekend. I want to do a blurb on each one of us, but I want a picture to go with it, soooo keep watching for the greatest blogspot to hit the internet!! Talk to you soon. Oh yes, she also added the vote for what I should be called, please VOTE I need help!!!