Dear Elder,
Hi! How are you this
week? I’m glad to hear that you had a
happy New Year painting someone’s house.
I’m sure they really appreciated it!
Thanks for your last letter, we really liked it. I am so sorry, but the rest of the family
didn’t write to you this week. Our
Sunday meeting schedule changed and it kind of messed us up. So anyway, you’ll have to just settle for a
letter from me this week.
Let’s see…looking back at your last letter, you wanted to
know what was in the Daddy Survival Kit I made for Emerson. The kit was in an Altoids tin and came with
an instruction kit which said the following:
The cover said something like: Pocket Daddy Survival Kit,
Made especially for Emerson. The title
page said: “Guaranteed Authentic Gift
From the Heart. No money was spent in
the making of this kit (that’s why it’s so lame).”
The instructions said the following:
Smarties--In Case of Boredom: Grasp one Smartie in fist. Present both fists. Have child lift one finger at a time until
child finds and eats candy. Repeat. In
Case of Injury: Use as a decoy from the
pain. In Case of Hunger: Surrender all candy to child immediately to
prevent screams.
Quarter--In Case of Bored Child: Make quarter disappear and then pull it out
of child's ear. In Case of Hungry
Child: rush to the nearest candy machine
and insert. Administer machine contents
immediately. In Case of Bored
Daddy: Spin on table repeatedly.
Chapstick--In Case of Boredom: Apply chapstick to child's lips and hope that
for some reason they find it endlessly fascinating. In Case of Injury: Apply to own lips and give the child
"medicine kisses." In Case of
Diaper Rash: Use as emergency
ointment. **Legal disclaimer** Do not
use on lips afterwards.
Postits--In Case of Boredom:
Draw progressive pictures on the edge of each sheet and entertain child
with the flip book you made. OR use with
enclosed mini pen to draw pictures for
the child or to let the child draw on
the paper themselsves. OR let child stick notes on the wall, the furniture, your face. . . wherever .
Balloon --In Case of Boredom: Use balloon to make one of the following, Instant
Ball: Inflate and tie. Weird Loud Noise Maker: Inflate and then pull neck of balloon to make
it scream louder than your child.
Rocket: Inflate and tie. Pull on tied end and release to launch.
Pins--In Case of Damaged Clothing: Use as an instant sewing kit. In Case of the Wiggles: Pin wiggly child by
the pants and shirt to couch or any other soft surface.
Ear Plugs--When all else fails: Smoosh into each ear canal
for instant peace and tranquility.
So there you go, Matt.
Yes, everything was new and unused.
I said I didn’t purchase anything to make the kit, but notice I didn’t
say anything about begging, borrowing, and stealing.
Send you the comics that Thomas made about me… well, I’d
scan them, but they are in pencil so I don’t think that would work out so
well. Here are what they said:
#1 A bald stick
figure is sitting at the computer. “Mom,
you like to make blogs. You also love
Lilly more than me.”
Next frame: A random person is talking to Mom. Person--“Hey, what have you been doing today?”
Mom—“I just sold my son to buy a plane ticket to go see my
granddaughter.”
#2 “Mom, you are
great because even when you do get sick, no one ever knows.”
Mom—“Ooh…my head hurts so bad.”
Thomas—“Hey mom! Will
ya do something for me that would really hurt bad if you had a headache?”
Mom (with a smile)—“Sure!”
#3 “Mom, you have
short, curly hair. Just telling you so
you know.”
There is a picture of the bald person that is supposed to be
mom with an arrow pointing to her head and the words, “Obviously short curly
hair.”
Next Frame: Another picture of the bald person that is Mom
with another arrow pointing to the head and the words, “This is my mom before,
with longer hair.”
#4 “Mom, you are
great because you think of others before yourself.”
Bald, stick-Mom holding a box: “I can buy these shoes!”
Next frame: “…for my
daughter.”
So, there you go. He
drew the cartoons on a square piece of paper, made it into a pinwheel, wrapped
the pinwheel, and gave it to me in a humungo box that weighed nothing. It was such a fun present!
Well, Katrina got call-backs for the school spring play, “The
Crucible.” I asked her if she thinks she’ll
get the part and she said, “Well, I’m a sophomore.” Which I think means that Mr. Moss is more
likely to choose a senior or a junior.
She finds out tomorrow.
Thomas has been practicing for the play. He was pretty disgusted that they made him
sing on the first day of practice.
Miriam is trying to teach him to sing in a way that doesn’t strain his
voice so much, but he can’t figure out how to sing the way she tells him
to.
Dad returned the tablet he got for Christmas. He said he is trying to get less
connected. He has been reloading bullets
a lot these days, and sometimes has Thomas help him. He is selling some of his surplus gun stuff because
the price of everything has shot up due to the possibility of new gun control
laws being passed. He is gearing up to
work on the house so that we can paint and floor the upstairs and get new kitchen
cabinets. He has to tear out the old
cabinets and the old pantry.
Miriam’s application to the U of U has been accepted, and
she is so excited! I really don’t know
how she’ll be able to afford to go there, but she hopes she can. She and the other kids are gearing up to go
to youth conference this weekend.
I just got done Skyping with Cassandra and Lily. They’ve been sick, but seem to be feeling a
bit better. Lily just sat on her mommy’s
lap and visited with me. That shows you
that she is under the weather, ha ha. I
get to go up to Texas again in February because Jessica is getting married. I
have met her fiance and he is a really great guy.
Celeste is getting married in Mesa in March and I am going to her
wedding, too. It’s such an exciting
time! Dad is so sweet to let me go like
this. I wanted him to come with
me, but he says that someone needs to stay with the kids.
Besides me being gone for all those days, I’ll be gone this
Friday night for youth conference. Poor
Dad will be all alone for more than 24 hours, and Friday is a holiday, too. He hasn’t complained at all, but I know how
hard it is on him. It’s hard on me, too!
Yesterday we were watching home movies, Matt, and it was so
nice to see your face and hear your voice!
You are such a wonderful young man.
I wish I could just go back into those movies and give you a big hug. Yesterday was also our first day on the 1:00
schedule and then I was in meetings till 7:00.
It’s a hard schedule because even though we are all home together in the
mornings, it’s not the same. We didn’t
even get to eat dinner together as a family.
Saturday, though, we were together most of the day. First we went to Lowes to pick out cabinets,
tile, and carpet. At the front of the
store in a weird place, I saw some wallpaper with swirly leaves that I
loved. I thought I’d just check the
price to see how much wallpaper is running, and I found out it was usually $21
a roll, on sale for $1.34. I bought all
of it, ha ha. I’ve been looking at
decorating styles and trends, and this will be perfect. I plan to only paper the big wall that goes
across the kitchen and living room. We
will match the colors of the paint to the wall paper. Beige for the walls, cream for the trim, and
lighter beige for the ceiling. So
exciting!
Next we went to the laundry and the kids and Dad worked and
earned money while I slept. We went to Café
Rio that night because Dad wanted to take Jon out to thank him for taking care
of the house and mail when we were gone.
He also wanted to take Miriam out for her gift from the heart. We had Katrina and Thomas earn money at the laundry so that they could come, too.
Preston also came and we had a really fun time eating and visiting. Last week I went to a training to do assessment testing in schools. Actually, I'm already treained because it is the same thing I've been doing for a year and a half, but now I am trained to use an iPad instead of paper and pencil. Dad's teacher's aide was sick this week so I also subbed a day with him. That is all good because I need to sub twice a week to make ends meet. We spend so much on food these days!
Well, that's about all I can remember about what we've done this week; the rest is a blur. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Matt, I am glad that you follow the rules, and I don't think that makes you a Pharisee. God's laws keep us safe and teach us how to be like Him. Your mission rules keep you safe and close to God as well. I am very proud of you. It is good to read about all the people that you are teaching, and I pray that all goes well with them.
Love,
Mom
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