This boy is "off-track" at BYU-Idaho, which means its his freshman year break. Most college kids get the summer off, but Trey has been home since Christmas and will return to school on April 23rd to complete his first year. I have LOVED having him home, but we don't actually see that much of him because he got a job at American Alloy, which is a metal fabrication and machining company in our Spokane Valley industrial park. At the initial interview, they told Trey he'd be working the 6:00am to 2:30pm shift in either shipping or paint. I told him, "How lucky! You'll be up early, work hard and then home with time in the afternoon and evening to do other things" He's also taking one online class. Well, the first day came and they ended up putting him in the welding section, where he grinds off the little imperfections after the robot welds big pieces of metal together. The end product is a big, heavy server frame used for securing data storage. This is hard labor. He is lifting and moving these heavy frames all day, or holding a grinding tool that is spitting sparks or hot bits of metal at him. He wears goggles (obviously) and gloves, but when I picked him up the first day, I noticed his gloves were worn quite thin and had a large hole. I said, "Can't they give you a new pair of gloves?" to which Trey said, "They do. Every day!" WHAaat? And then he said, "Oh and by the way, I guess we're behind schedule on a big order, so tomorrow I start at 4:00am. 
"Yikes!" I said, "That's early! But pretty cool because then you'll be off at 12:30pm" 
"Wrong. I'm working 10 hour shifts"
"Oh, so you'll work 4, 10-hour days then?"
"No. I'm actually working Saturday too, so I'm working 6, 10-hour days."
"Can they even do that?" 

Turns out they can, and he has worked incredibly hard. He comes home exhausted, filthy and stinky, smelling like a sweaty penny. He burned through his initial stash of T-shirts pretty quickly, so we shopped Value Village (second hand store) for more, but shirts and sweatshirts only last about a week before they're totally trashed. We've learned that when their welding team is caught up on orders, he gets to go in at 6:00am, and he doesn't have to work Saturdays, but either because they quickly fall behind, or because the swing shift isn't fully staffed or for some other reason, Trey has grown accustomed to setting his wake-up alarm to 3:00am, which means he goes to bed at 7:00pm. He is paid overtime and he has made a nice chunk of change to put in the bank! 

Since being home, Trey is also working on his mission papers. This means he is filling out an online submission form and checking things like visits to the doctor and dentist off a list of preparations to serve a 2-year mission for our church. He will submit this form before returning to school and will put the end of July as his availability. One of Geoff's ENT partners will be removing his tonsils on April 9th, just after our spring break trip. He is NOT looking forward to this, but it will mean less infections, which he is prone to. We are all very excited to find out where he will serve. We tease him that the schedule a missionary keeps will be "nothing" compared to what he's been up to at American Alloy!

When I found out that baby #3 was going to be a boy, I knew I was specializing. I truly felt so lucky to be able to raise multiple sons. Trey has been a happy, busy, vibrantly curious, super creative, expressive child who has always had a thirst for novelty and a discerning taste. I will miss him terribly, but I know the Lord will use him in marvelous ways to help and serve others. He is pure JOY.