Where's Topher?

I guess we need a swing.

Team Rivalry

There are two things you need to know to understand this story. The Eagles are the local (meaning Philadelphia, which is our closest big city) professional football team. The Iron Pigs are the local (meaning minor league and not as far away as Philadelphia) baseball team we saw play on Friday.

On Saturday Topher and I were buying a few items at Home Depot. He noticed that the cashier had an Eagles lanyard around her neck. That prompted this conversation.

Topher: Oh, are you an Eagles fan?

Cashier: Yes, are you?

Topher: No, I'm an Iron Pigs fan.

The cashier was very amused by this exchange but had the self control to just smile and ask Topher about his new favorite ball team. 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Phoebe and Sophie got to join forces with all the chorus kids in our school district tonight as they sang the national anthem for our local AAA ball team. We decided to turn it into an adventure for our whole family. Cooper's face doesn't represent how he actually felt, the kids loved it! The girls did a good job singing and some of the kids even followed the game. The night was kind of long for Topher, but ending with fireworks helped.

Now He's Sleeping In

After three years of early morning seminary and one year of evening seminary, Peter graduated from seminary! We drove an hour to the Stake Center on Sunday night and attended his seminary graduation.

Well done, Peter!

The Master Is In

On Saturday morning we hauled ourselves out of bed earlier than the boys do for seminary. We drove nearly three hours south, parked in a garage, walked a mile, sat in stadium seats for almost three hours, took some pictures, walked another mile back to the car, then drove nearly three hours back home. All of that was worth it to celebrate my brother Jordan graduating with his Master's Degree!

Congratulations, Jordan! And Congratulations, Leah! Speaking from my own experience, a Master's degree for one spouse is often earned by both spouses.

Hearts and Smiles

Phoebe was heart attacked tonight by two of the older Young Women in our ward. We saw them pull up to the house and thought they were going to knock on the door. After a few minutes they drove away. We walked downstairs to figure out what had happened. That's when we saw hearts on the storm door.

The messages were all very sweet. They were also accurate. They praised her kindness, her artistic abilities (both performance and visual), her intelligence, and her beauty.

Friday Night Fun

Our weekend was packed full. I think school today will be a break in comparison. It started on Friday with Peter attending Prom with his pal Jillian.

Then I took the three younger kids to the Fun Fest at the elementary school. Topher and Sophie jumped on bounce houses for an hour and a half while Phoebe (who I failed to take pictures of that night) played games and hung out with me and a few other friends. 

I had misunderstood the payment directions and only had enough cash for Topher and Sophie to participate in the activities. Phoebe was fine with just walking around with us. However, the person in charge of taking money and handing out activity wrist bands was her elementary school gifted teacher. When he saw she wouldn't be able to play any games he pulled out his own wallet and announced that he would pay for Phoebe. Phoebe and I both insisted that wasn't necessary, but he had such happy memories of being her teacher for three years that he paid anyway. It was very sweet and Phoebe is determined to find a way to pay that generosity forward.

You Can't Stop the Beat*

On Tuesday we went to our final (I think) school concert of the year. Phoebe's middle school chorus preformed with the many high school choral groups. She did a great job and was a joy to watch!

The middle school has two singing groups and they each sang two songs. The high school has seven separate singing groups and they each performed multiple songs. Then the middle school and the high school joined forces for two songs at the end. Throw in a handful of student awards and recognitions and the concert was nearly two and a half hours long without an intermission.

Topher slept through the last thirty minutes.

Even with a concert that long, we were still glad to support Phoebe!

*This was both the title of one of the songs Phoebe sang and also how I felt near the end of the concert. I began to doubt that it would end.

Speaking of Mothers

My Mother's Day was full. I knew in advance that my Primary music leader, my second counselor, and my secretary would be out of town. My first counselor and I figured we could manage the group and I happily said yes to subbing for music. I also knew one of my CTR 4 teachers would be gone (she had found a sub). I'm already down one additional teacher and a nursery leader. I thought I would send my counselor to one of those open spots and prayed we could find one more person.

Last Thursday my first counselor tested positive for COVID, which meant I was suddenly the only leader for Primary on Mother's Day.

On Friday the other CTR 4 teacher texted to say she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be at church on Sunday.

I texted a handful of people to see if they could help. They could not.

Our CTR 4 class is tiny and I had a hunch that at least one of the kids wouldn't be there on Sunday (her mom was the one that had COVID). I asked one of my wonderful Sunbeam teachers if we could just send the CTR 4 kids with her. She said yes. That meant I could move the sub from CTR 4 to CTR 5 where we have a teacher gap. Nursery was harder to cover. The husband of our lone nursery leader ended up getting a sub for his own class (he teaches Peter and Cooper) and helped as the second adult.

After getting to church early to set up the room (we meet in the end of the gym which means we need to roll out giant rugs, set up about 30 chairs, and bring in chalkboards every Sunday), directing the Primary kids as they sang Mother, I Love You in sacrament meeting (without a rehearsal with me since I'd been in Idaho the week before), and listening to the sweet talks (including Cooper's), I made it through Primary. That included conscripting my pianist to fill in for me as the nursery music leader at the very last minute when one of our more active Primary kids decided to bolt instead of going to his class when I dismissed everyone. She kindly agreed. I found our escapee and talked him back into his class. 

Oh, and leading music time was just as fun as I expected it be. I'm looking forward to subbing again this coming week. Seriously, it's my favorite.

After that long day at church, Bryan gave me a few sweet gifts and made a delicious dinner. And the kids all agreed to a Mother's Day picture.

I also took a nap.

It was a long but good day.

Honor Your Mother

Cooper gave a beautiful talk in church on Mother's Day. I definitely teared up a few times. He shared it with me so I could post it here.

Honor Your Mother

Exodus 20:12 says, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Blessings will come from honoring your parents, and today I will focus on honoring mothers. How can we honor our mothers?

As the words to the primary song go, “When my mother calls me, quickly I’ll obey.” As simple as these words are, they are very true. I have personally found that obedience to my mother is one of the best ways that I can show my love for her. There is nothing my mother wants more than to see me grow and become a spiritually strong and Christ-like son of God. She raises me to become the best I can be. Like the young men of the great Army of Helaman who attributed the spirit they felt to their mothers who taught them, I am grateful for my mother for teaching me the gospel. Alma 56:48 says “We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” Our mothers do know what's best for us and we should obey them.

Perhaps the greatest example of the honor we can show for our mothers is by looking at how Jesus Christ treated his own mother. In Galilee there was a marriage, and Jesus’ mother was attending. Jesus and his apostles were needed at the wedding when there was no more wine. Jesus then asked his mother in John 2:4, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” At the time, “woman” was a highly respectful term. Jesus was respectfully asking what he could do to serve his mother. Both respect and service are great ways to honor our mothers. Respect is looking up to someone, understanding and abiding by what they say, and being polite when speaking with them. Every time we choose not to talk back to our mothers or even fight with our siblings shows mothers that we love them and want them to be happy. Service shows that we not only love our mothers but are willing to spend our time helping them, when they spend so much of their time helping and raising us. This can take many forms, whether it's doing a chore you weren't asked to do, offering to help your mother with the things she needs, and caring for her when she is sick. When Jesus was suffering on the cross, his disciple and his mother were standing by him. Jesus speaks to this disciple in John 19:27, saying “Behold thy mother!” and the disciple took his mother to his home. How true! Behold the remarkable nurturing of your mother as she sacrifices time to fulfill her sacred role in the family. These are all how we can honor our mothers: obedience, respect, service, showing the deep love and charity we have for our mothers. Though there are many, I would like to talk about one other thing we can do through the power of prayer. Pray to know what you can do to honor your mother. Every person is in different circumstances and the best person we can get assistance from is God. Pray for your mother. Ask for her to receive blessings, and not only can we pray, but we should then seek to fulfill the things that the spirit prompts us to do. Finally, in a 1973 talk, Thomas S. Monson said “May each of us treasure this truth; one cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.” When we honor our mothers, we honor God. I bear my testimony that I know we can feel joy and the peace the spirit brings when we honor our mothers. I know my mother also feels joy when I honor her. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.