This Is Us

In one of our favorite TV shows, This is Us, they don't worry too much about chronological order and just present what the characters are dealing with in great honesty.  Things jump back and forth in time and build to give you a great picture of the characters and their relationships.  I don't think I can be as skillful as they are, but I'm going to steal their format.

1. Eliza started 18th grade and texted me a first day of school picture. I talked to her in small snatches and heard the good she is doing to help Willa transition to living in Provo--mostly from Willa. Evan helped Willa move in. They are both just excellent at doing and being good where they are.  And here is to 2L! Best of luck, baby girl! Your mama is praying for you.

2. Wyatt had his senior year picture at Briarwood with the kids who went there.  Keep in mind, Wyatt only went to elementary school here in Kansas. Our big girls went to school in several states. The kids in this picture I have known since they were five. It's a bit heartrending to see them all grown up and starting their senior year. We also went with Wyatt to redeem one of his Christmas presents: a Weird Al Yankovic concert at the Starlight Theater. It was an awesome night! That man has a crazy amount of energy for a 60 year old and was supremely entertaining. When he said he was done we were surprised because the time had flown. And then after much elaborate protesting that he couldn't, he came back with a Star Wars themed encore of The Saga Begins and Yoda--dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi, of course. It was epic. Such a fun night with our son.

 3. Eve and Griff are working on growing up. Sometimes, like when Griff wants to quit everything and falls apart before meals only to have a major personality change when calories arrive in his system, we wish it would happen sooner.  Most of the time we are amazed at how fast it is happening. Six and three-quarters is a fun age where reasoning is really starting to kick in and vocabularies are still exploding. Evie is a delight. She loves me fiercely and finds friends everywhere we go. I'm so relieved that her intense need for calories isn't quite as extreme as her brother's. But she still has the trait. I would like it if her palate allowed for more foods than pizza and treats these days. She has even started to complain about chicken nuggets.

Griffin trying a warmie on UV

Snacks with Ryne right before Evie's first piano lesson with Hong Hong from Hong Kong. She is lovely.

 4. Jim Kuklenski, our neighbor, died unexpectedly on Tuesday. He went to the hospital with chest pain and seemed to be stable; but when Mary went home to check on Eddie who was sick, Jim had an aortic dissection and died. Jim taught us to keep the second great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself because he loved us as his own. He brought us tomatoes from his garden every summer, offered use of his truck whenever we needed, helped right our basketball goal after it was knocked off center by a falling tree, and brought over his chainsaw when Wyatt was struggling to remove a tree stuck on a giant old root in our front yard.  He brought us fancy goldfish for our pond. We are heartbroken for Mary and her two sons, Michael and Eddie. We are praying fervently for them to be carried and comforted through this hard, hard thing. I brought them some of my mom's muffins, hugged Mary and cried with her, and left with tomatoes and a cucumber from their garden.

5. I made muffins this week because I have been missing my mom so, so much. It helped that I got to go to the temple with myself, because it felt like I was with her. I keep wanting to take a picture of her white satin slippers that I get to wear when I'm in the temple. They have Patty R and Patty L written inside them in her handwriting. I feel like I'm walking in her footsteps when I go to her favorite place and wear her shoes and the Hugs, Mom necklace over my heart. It's very comforting.

And then today we had the most amazing sacrament meeting. A young newlywed couple was baptized and the ward was just on fire with excitement about it. So many people testified of the power of living the gospel and the power of the Book of Mormon and following living prophets.  Then a girl from Lawrence stood to bear her testimony and talked about how her parents did the same thing this young couple did and got baptized soon after they got married. When she said that she was so thankful that she got to be born in the covenant and receive every blessing for her whole life, it was like I was thumped in the chest. That blessing of being born in the promise of two people who have decided to follow Jesus and live so that they can be together in the eternities makes for such a peaceful, happy way to grow up. Tears came to my eyes as I thought of the gratitude I have for being born in such a covenant. I thanked this girl's mother for her daughter's testimony, and she said, "Yes, every good thing in my life has come from being baptized." It was another powerful way to be grateful for my mom. And my dad.  Thank you Dad!