Carolee

My friend Carolee died the end of November, 2013. She had been fighting cancer. I first got to know her as my visiting teacher. She was faithful about coming every month. So generous and kind. She was constantly offering me items from her garden and trees, books to borrow, etc.

I got to know her better through playing the organ. She was one of the ward organists, and had been doing it for years and years. Again, she offered to help me, to give me organ arrangement books, showed me the settings she had put on the organ. Just so kind, and so much energy! Even when she didn't feel well she still carried on in her callings.

Her playing of the organ was amazing to me. Though she didn't keep time very well (“It's always been a struggle of mine”, she confessed), the fact that she played at all was an incredible feat. She couldn't see the notes very well because of her failing sight. She couldn't feel her feet while she played the pedals. She also lost some feeling in her fingers after her back surgery. She basically played the organ from memory. I know I could never do that.

I felt prompted to visit her about two weeks before she died. She had been doing so well with her chemo treatments, and then suddenly wasn't. I visited her at the hospital. I know she recognized me, but could only say “okay…okay”, over and over. In retrospect, I think she was trying to tell me that she was okay, and that it would be okay. I think, in a way, she was trying to comfort me. At the time she had a nurse sitting with her, making sure she kept her oxygen mask on (she kept trying to take it off). She said “pray”. That's the only other word I heard her say besides “okay” and “yes” the last few times I saw her. The nurse offered a prayer of comfort. It was such a lesson to me. She was constantly turning to her Heavenly Father in her time of need. And even though she couldn't say the words, she was praying in her heart.

I’m glad that I got to know Carolee. I hope that I can be as stalwart, as faithful, and as strong as she was. Thank you for blessing my life, Carolee!

Like a Three-Legged Puppy With One Eye

This is one of the saddest things I've seen. Ever.

Here's a translation:

To Santa, From Jakob. No toys for me! :( I tried to find my Bakugan.

Do you know why there are no toys for me? Because I lost one of my Bakugans.



I seriously wanted to cry when I read that note that he wrote.

He lost his little Bagukan toy randomly, and I know it's somewhere in the house but we can't find it. He even bought it with his own money and everything. Poor guy. We told him that that's not how Santa works, though - not giving toys at Christmas because of losing a toy. He ended up writing a new note to Santa, telling him that he tried and tried to find his other Bakugan, but proceeded to ask for a ton of Bakugan things, including watch and calendar.

In other Jakobisms...

He has to read 20 minutes every school night. So one night he read about 15, and I told him that that was good enough, and I would write 20 minutes on his sheet. With big round eyes he said, "You're going to LIE about my reading time???" I told him, no, I wasn't, because the night before he had read at least 5 extra minutes that I hadn't counted into his reading time, so 15 plus 5 makes 20 minutes. I'm glad he is now aware of lying, and I'm glad that he was going to make sure that I didn't lie, either.

Another time that Jakob lost a different toy (sensing a trend, here), I told him to patiently look for it, and we'd be able to find it. A long time ago I had told him that he can always pray when he needs help finding toys, or if he's scared, etc. So I was in the other room, kind of looking for his toy, and I heard the end of a prayer that he was saying: "...please bless us, that Jakob can find his toy..." It was so sweet, and it made me so excited that his little seed of faith has started to grow, and that he thought to pray all by himself. I also said a little prayer in my heart, not necessarily to find the toy, but to help answer his prayer, so that he knows that Heavenly Father listens to him, even when it's over something that I would deem unimportant, but is very important in Jakob's little world. We found the toy half a minute later. I then told him that Heavenly Father helped him find his toy, and he said, "No, you helped me find my toy." I then explained that a lot of times Heavenly Father works through other people and other things in order to answer our prayers. We then said a thank-you prayer. I loved having that teaching moment.


And, unfortunately, we might have to have another teaching moment sooner than I would like. One night, Jakob asked, "Dad, does Lady Gaga have a lot of sex?" Pete answered, "Well, Jake, I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" Jakob replied with, "Lady Gaga is a hot woman. So she must have a lot of sex." Pete said, "Lady Gaga is not a hot woman. And, I don't think she's married, so she probably does not have sex, because only married people have sex." Aye, carumba. Not looking forward to that talk at all.

Ah, the joys and adventures of raising children.

A Child's Prayer

Heavenly Father, are you really there? And do you hear and answer every child's prayer? Some say that heaven is far away, but I feel it close around me as I pray.

Ivy's prayer face, 16 months old

Heavenly Father, I remember now something that Jesus told disciples long ago: “Suffer the children to come to me.” Father, in prayer I’m coming now to thee.

Troy's prayer face, 2 1/2 years old

Pray, He is there; speak, He is listening. You are His child; His love now surrounds you.

Brock's prayer face, 2 1/2 years old

He hears your prayer; He loves the children. Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.

Jakob's prayer face, 2 1/2 years old

The Good With The Bad

Lately in Jakob's prayers:
"Please bless us that we can be good...or bad."

Pillow Talk

(I wish Rock Hudson wasn't gay... sigh...)


I love bedtime at our house. The kids adore taking baths. They're all clean, with teeth brushed. They're in warm feety jammies. We say family prayers, then I read them a story. And a couple of weeks ago we started adding individual prayers for Jakob and Brock.



Jakob's prayers: He does fairly well by himself. He does get the "please bless"es mixed up with the "thankful for"s sometimes. For instance: "Please bless us that we were safe today. We're thankful for we can sleep good tonight." And he'll repeat a lot. "Please bless us to have Thy Spirit with us tomorrow. Please bless us to be safe. Please bless us to have Thy Spirit with us tomorrow." And yes, he prays in plurals.

Brock's prayers: I have to help him. So I'll prompt him with, "I'm thankful for my blessings." He says: "You thankful for you blessings." Or I'll say "Please bless me" and he says "Please bless you". So now when I prompt him I have to say, "Please bless Brock" so that he'll say his own name. Like one of those super-conceited people that only refer to themselves in third person. "Steve wants to go to the store, because Steve needs some candy!"



And this is Pete's and my bed. Notice where my pillow is. Yep-the center. So, Pete sleeps on his side of the bed, and the lucky sucker gets to cuddle with me while I sleep in the center of the bed. He gets to cuddle with me for two reasons: one is I love to cuddle; the other is I'm freezing cold when I come to bed, always.

Even if we go to bed at the same time, he always falls asleep before me. (Something about getting up at 5:30 a.m.-wuss.) One night I cuddled up next to him, and he goes, "Go away! Sleep on your side of the bed! I'm tired and I need to go to sleep." Well, fine! I can take a hint. Or a shove. I crawled to my really cold side of the bed and fell asleep. The next day when Pete got home from work, I was shooting him dirty looks, and he's like, "What's wrong?" I was like, "You were kind of mean last night." He didn't remember that at all. He was asleep the whole time! We've had big old conversations that he doesn't know we had, because he was sleep talking.

Now I just need to figure out how to use it to my advantage. "Honey, you said you'd take the kids all day Saturday to the park. What, you don't remember that conversation? You totally agreed to it last night when we went to bed." Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!