Sunday, January 18, 2015
Dear Riley,
Ohmyverycrazygoodness!!!! You might not get this before
you’re in Thailand!!!! (But I’m really
hoping you can spend some time emailing me one last time from the MTC!)
Taking Dad away for his birthday was such a great
thing. I bought a “romance package” at
the Little America Hotel. There was a rose, chilled
sparkling cider, chocolate covered strawberries and truffles waiting for us in
our room. Plus they had made a heart
with rose petals on the bed. It was
really nice and luxurious. We were right
downtown and walked to the Market Street Grill for dinner. Of course it was delicious. Dad wondered why I didn’t order their clam
chowder instead of salad. Truth be told,
I like the recipe I make better than the recipe they now serve there. It has much more character and I can’t think
of why it would have been changed.
Our room was really cold, that’s the only complaint I have,
and no matter how much we moved the thermostat, we couldn’t get it to feel
warmer than probably 69. But we slept
really well: from 10:30 – 7:30. That’s
NINE hours. After getting ready in the
morning, I googled “breakfast nearby” and pulled up this place which was ranked
so high by so many users, we decided to try it.
It’s called The Park Cafe and it’s a hole-in-the-wall place. It’s across (south) from Liberty Park (where
the Tracy Aviary is) in an old house.
People were coming from all around the block to go there and there was
about a 30 minute wait. The hot
chocolate was the best I’ve had in such a long.
The food was respectable. It’s
been around for about 10 years and they only serve breakfast. It was
fun to discover something new.
After checking out from the hotel, we went to the DraperTemple. I’ve only been there one other
time. It’s such a beautiful small
temple. I wished we had taken you up
there before you went in to the MTC. As
I took a seat in the chapel waiting to be called for the session, I started
crying and I wasn’t sure what had triggered the tears. So I started tracing my thoughts and realized
that it was the mural in the front of the chapel; it portrays the resurrected
Lord addressing Mary at the tomb. I
realized that everything that transpires in the temple centers on that moment
and the belief that life continues for us all because of that moment.
And of course, I thought of Eric. I miss him!
We miss him. Of all the kids,
Elise probably spent the most time with him because she had sleepovers with
Liesel. Elise called Liesel to wish her
a happy birthday and got Eric’s voicemail (Liesel has his old phone) and she
started crying. So I cried with
her. Everything hinges on that moment
of resurrection, which is REAL!
With yesterday fresh in my thoughts, sacrament meeting was
so meaningful today. KK spoke. I don’t know if you remember that R spoke alone in the summer as she was preparing for the Bar when they were
asked to speak earlier and couldn’t. But
her assigned topic was hope. Her talk
was insightful and I was finding plenty to take from it. And then she shared a personal story which
floored me. She had grown up in a
single-parent home with a twin sister and a sister 10 years younger. K and her sister helped to raise their
little sister, driving her to and from things and helping her with homework and
listening to boy troubles. When they
were living in Oregon, she got a phone call that her little sister had a
seizure while driving, causing an accident in which she was terribly
injured. She headed down to Provo and
found her sister in the ICU where, after spending a week on life support, this
sister had died. Her twin sister
returned to Oregon with her, bringing her three children with her. They spent 10 days consoling one
another. Not long after her twin sister
returned home, she had surgery and there were complications. At first things looked optimistic, but they
started to grow more grave. So Sister
K rushed back down to Provo, to the same ICU unit and the same team of
professionals attending her remaining sister.
And sadly, the same result.
Within six weeks she lost her sisters, 25 and 35, and all the siblings
she had. She said that she wished she
could tell us that she was a beacon of hope and that her testimony of the
atonement of Christ carried her through these dark days. But she said instead that she knew despair
through these events. Though she didn’t
feel peace and hope, she was comforted through the goodness of others and she
has faith that she will someday be able to see this as a blessing. I cried.
I too have lost a younger sibling and found comfort in a twin. But the thought of losing so much so quickly
makes my troubles seem like child play.
B also gave a good talk today in her homecoming. It was so nice to see her. I thought as we sat in her front room
visiting with the same people as we did for her farewell that it just seemed
like yesterday. Do you think I’ll feel
that way when you come home? Like it was
hardly a blink? Maybe. But everyone else’s pregnancies always seem
to fly too.
Josie: Her newest
book love is A Porcupine Named Fluffy.
Remember when I read it the first time and I could hardly breathe
because I was laughing so hard? I sure
do. In fact there was some time that you
kids didn’t want me to read it because my laughter was too disruptive to the
story.
Josie: Saturday after
Dad and I got home, we took the kids up to play laser tag. Josie stood up to the measuring plaque to see
if she was tall enough to play laser tag and the entire family let out at
Whoop! when she was just above the required level. And would you guess that her first code name
was “Giggles”? (The score board was
down, so we don’t know how we did, sorry.)
Josie: Saturday night
Dad took Elise and Parker to the fund raiser at UVU and I had the little
girls. After Josie’s bath, we were
planning our story, but their room was a disaster (a manageable disaster) which
took us 20 minutes to clean up. And it
wasn’t without some frustration from me directed towards Aleah who wasn’t
responsible for anything. So story time
was spent cleaning up and Josie was offended.
Here were her prayers, “Heavenly Father, Mommy’s being mean. She won’t read me a story. And. We miss Riley because he was never
mean. He was always nice. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Oh, Heavenly Father, please bless Sister
S. In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.”
Elise has had fun with her peg puzzle from Mr. A’s class
this week. Between Elise and Aleah, we
had three birthday parties to manage this week.
Actually, Aleah caught a ride both to and from (Grandma and Grandpa Parish were so nice to
do this one) her Friday party in American Fork because Dad and I were gone.
Did I tell you Parker was asked to preference? It’s this next Saturday. Eggs Benedict made him miss you this morning.
If we made any mistakes on your MP3 player, it was
unintentional. There was one song, “I
Love the Lord” which is Nephi’s psalm set to Be Still My Soul. I figured it was a good gamble because it’s
scripture and an approved hymn tune. But
if you don’t feel like it’s perfectly in keeping with the approved music
guidelines, I’m all for perfect obedience.
This is it! Jump in
five, four, three, two…
I love you,
Mom
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