He Is Born

Acts of Service

Sophie is playing the lead in her school musical (in two of the four shows, all the speaking roles are double cast) and they open tomorrow night. She wanted to review her lines this evening after rehearsal, but I was making dinner, Phoebe was doing homework, and Bryan was picking up Cooper from a track meet. Topher offered to read opposite her. She reported that he did "a really good job."

This picture makes my heart happy. Yes, it's so cool that she's got this role. And it's great that Topher can read well enough to do this. But the real joy comes from watching Topher serve his sister.

Do Unto Others

We attended both our old ward and our new ward on Sunday. We went to our old ward at 9:00 to support our young friends and watch their Primary program. It was both wonderful to witness and so sad to see all these kids that I don't get to work with anymore. We got lots of hugs and some shared tears.

Then we went directly to our own meeting which starts at 11:00. That included our second and final practice for the Primary program. Right after that was a baptism for a young man who had a remarkable conversion story. By the time we got home we had just enough time to change, make a quick dinner, wolf some of that food down, and get back in the car.

Cooper, Phoebe, and I spent the hours from 5:00 until 8:30 preparing, serving, and cleaning up dinner at a local emergency shelter. It functions out of the basement of a church during the six cold months of the year to provide food, shelter, and showers to those without. I was simultaneously incredibly thankful that it exists and incredibly sad that it needs to exist. The people we served were so thankful. Phoebe took the job of handing trays of food out the window between the kitchen and the dining room. I joined her near the end. One woman came up to the window and asked if we were from a school. I told her we were from a church. She asked which church. I answered, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." She grinned, said thank you, and left.

I didn't anticipate how exhausting standing for three and a half hours would be. After that very long day, I fell asleep at 10:30, which is a totally normal time to go to sleep, but not at all normal for me. I slept for nine and a half hours that night.

I guess the moral of this story is that spending a full day serving others leads to a really great night of sleep.

Love Day

We did some Valentine's Day celebrating and these are the only two pictures I took today. Sophie asked for festive butterfly heart hair.

Both Topher and Sophie came home with lots of treats from school. The big kids had no such parties at school, but they did have a special combined youth activity at church. They ate heart shaped waffles and played a version of family feud where all of the questions were about them. And Sophie had a Primary Activity Girls gathering tonight. They painted jars in pink, white, and red.

I also made what was meant to be a fun holiday dinner with pasta and meat sauce and crusty bread and salad. But we had to rush to eat it in order to get to the activities at church and didn't have time for the activity I had planned. We were each going to write something we loved about every member of our family. I explained it and showed them the papers. Now we all have Valentine's Day homework and are supposed to fill those out over the next few days.

My favorite part was getting Valentine's from Topher and Sophie and a big, beautiful bouquet of roses and lilies from Bryan.

Love In Action

My body has been trying to be sick for a few days. I was feeling a few symptoms, but holding it at bay so I could get through some big commitments. Those commitments are done and my body has responded by plunging into a wicked cold. Instead of pushing through like I've done in the past, I'm deliberately taking a sick day today. Bryan took care of getting the kids out the door and I am making myself stay in bed as much as possible.

Because of my thyroid issues I can't take regular cold medicine. I ran out of my supply so Bryan made a quick store trip between meetings. He asked if there was any comfort food he should pick up for me. In a moment of self pity I told him I couldn't eat any of the comfort food anyway, so no. He suggested BBQ potato chips and I agreed, those sounded good.

I slept while he shopped.

When he retuned home he had a grocery bag of goodies. In addition to the chips and cold medicine he had picked up sushi and cherries. He knew what I wanted even when I couldn't think of it.

As I looked at the treats he had picked up for me a thought popped into my head, "This is what love looks like." And it's true, at least for me. I was too tired and sick to think of anything I wanted to eat, so he took the time and mental energy to think about what might make me happy. These aren't his sick day foods (McDonald's french fries, if you're curious), they're mine. And they have helped. It's a seemingly small thing, but it makes a big difference.

I really love him.