For New Year’s Eve, my teenagers had a stake party to attend, our little ones were in bed, Drew and I were home awaiting the time to retrieve our teens, and our recently returned missionary was home with us.  We were trying to figure out what to do and decided to watch a movie that came out while our missionary was serving.  We chose Man of Steel, the new Superman movie.

ign.com

During one scene, as we are learning about Superman’s past, as a child on earth about 7 at the time, we see that he is completely overwhelmed by his senses.  He is in the classroom and as the sounds and sights become too much for him, he runs from the classroom and locks himself in a closet.  The teacher and the class follow him, ask him to let them in or to come out, and then they call his mother to the scene.  She stands outside the door and begins to talk to him.  Because he is comfortable and safe with her, he tells her his concerns and she helps him to refocus enough that he emerges from the closet.

ign.com

During that scene, I could not help but feel sincere appreciation for our Father in Heaven’s plan.  He gave to each of us a mother and a father to guide us and help each child.  Mother’s inherently know their children because of the amount of time they spend taking care of them.  Mothers who are trying to do what our Father in Heaven intends them to do, deeply care for their children and their welfare.  They know what struggles their children have.  They know how to talk to them so they are comforted.  They know what will get through to that child.

This of course, does not invalidate the father’s role.  He too has a unique interest in his child and a specific role to fill in how his child develops.  The movie depicts both of Clark’s fathers fulfilling their responsibilities to him, his birth father and his adoptive father.  I loved the perspective that Clark Kent had two sets of parents who loved him, sacrificed for him, made provisions for him, and each did what they thought was best for him and gave of themselves—-true parenthood, sacrificing of self for the growing generation.  Of course, in the movie, as it should be in real life, the sacrifice was for what the parents felt were moral reasons.

What a wonderful gift—individually tailored assistants, tutors, nurses, counselors, guides, teachers, psychologists, etc…  If each of us parented like that…..what an amazing world we would have!!  Even though that is not each person’s reality, it is what was intended by the plan.

Our Father in Heaven knew we would not be perfect, but He also knew, that if given the chance, most of us would step up and learn to love and fulfill the responsibilities placed upon us by parenthood.

When I dropped my teens off at the stake activity, I spoke with another mother and father of 10, who were expressing their concerns for their youngest who is 11.  They shared specific details of his personality and why they are concerned.  The mother talked about the specialists she is looking at to help him with her concerns and the prayers she is offering to know how to help him.  The father spoke of their discussions with their doctor and his counsel and advice.  Those are the same things I do to help my children and I am sure they are the same things you do to help yours.

Isn’t it a wonderful thing that the most powerful being in the universe cares so much about each of us that He gave us each other.  Now I know there are some mothers who do not understand their role, or take responsibility for it, but those are the exception, not the rule.  And provisions are also made for those who are not capable or willing to be parents to allow others to fulfill that role for their children.  The parents I spoke of above actually adopted the particular child I was speaking of.  And of course, Clark Kent’s (Superman) mother on earth, found him, but she still loved him and cared for him as if he were her own.

Love does not come through biology.  It comes because of service and sacrifice.  If you do not have it for your children today or for the teen they have become, or if love in your marriage has grown cold, you can have it back.  Start serving and sacrificing for the person you need your love to grow for.  It will come in time.  But that can be an entire post all on its own.

I just thought that scene in the movie was a beautiful description of an eternal truth.  It is something we can all strive for.  Happy New Year!

Do your boys struggle to find things??  I think it is a man problem.  Not one of the men in my home can find something that is lost, the remote control, telephone handset, car keys, wedding rings, socks, cub scout uniforms, scriptures, phone numbers, you name it.

en.wikipedia.org

The other day the remote control for the television was lost.  Drew had arrived home from work and wanted to sit and watch the news and no one could find the remote.  Now this was a little bigger tragedy than it would seem, you see, with our lack of discretionary funding, we have really old and worn down electronic equipment in our home.  The satellite receiver will only work with the remote.  We cannot change the channel without the remote.  The smallest individuals in the house are banned from remote usage because usually they lose the batteries from the back or just plain misplace the remote, which is what had happened this day.

Drew was kind of on the war path and declared that no children could have any privileges until the remote had been located.  (I was cooking dinner, so I was off the hook.)  They were all looking for half an hour, to no avail.   Then Sport piped up, “We should have Mom look for it.  You know it isn’t really lost lost unless Mom can’t find it.”

topzoneonline.com

I have to say, I thought about that statement and recalled several times just in the last week where something was lost and I found it within about five minutes—an extra wallet, a back pack, a scouting uniform, scriptures.  I thought it was funny that the kids, or at least Sport, knew that was the pattern as well.

So I looked for the remote.  I looked for half an hour.  I couldn’t find it.  I declared it lost.  We did other things with our evening.  After the kids went to bed, Sun came in and said, “Look what I found…”  Drew and I turned around.  It was the remote.

“Where did you find it?”

“In my knitting bag.  I just reached in to get something and there it was.”

I have to say that I thought it was really funny that even though I didn’t find it, their sister did.

I still think it is a man disease.

Wow! 

I cannot believe Smiley is 9 today!!!  Congratulations!  Isn’t it so very cool to have your birthday on New Year’s Eve?  He was due the week of Christmas and then he was a week late!  It is NOT cool to have your eight baby be an entire week late.  None of my babies were late, except Smiley!  I guess everyone has to have their own time table, huh?

This week we have had his grandparents visiting.  It would be a lot of fun, except Grandpa got sick the day after he arrived and has been in bed ever since.  We thought they were going home right away, so we celebrated Smiley’s birthday on Saturday so they could be here.  At our house, the birthday person chooses dinner and dessert.  So last Saturday, we had pizza, soda, and chocolate cake, all from the store, and none homemade.

 This morning, Smiley woke up and said, “I think we should celebrate my birthday again today.”

“Smiley, everyone celebrates your birthday because it is New Year’s Eve!  Everyone is going to have a big party.”

His response:  “Then I think we should have cake.”

OK, Dad and I can manage that.  The other exciting thing for Smiley today is stay-up night.  Another tradition at our house, when you turn nine, you get to have an extra hour to stay up on Fridays, and you can watch things on TV that little children (under 9) cannot.  He is  pretty excited about that part.

The difficult part for us is that Spike will not stay in bed if no one is in the room.  Now we do not have anyone else in there for an hour on Fridays.  That will be a lovely adjustment!  I might actually have to train him to stay in bed!  (After training eight of them, I have been super lax in this particular area with this particular child.)  Drat!

I realized the other day, that we are no longer a family with little children.  Yes, we have one, but that is very different than a family that has most of the children under 10.  Most of our children are 9 and older.  The house functions so differently.  I really like it!  We are just one year away from having seven of the kids in or through the youth program.  Crazy!

Anyway, happy birthday Smiley!  We love you, and your very forth-right attitude!
Love Mom and Dad

growingyourchild.com

Do your children have ‘spots’ at your house?

Let me explain.  The other day as I was busy typing up our Christmas letter on the computer, my children were sporadically placed throughout the family room, reading books, watching TV, working on their computer (big kids are home), or whatever.  Someone got up to do something, a younger brother jumped into his place and began reading his book.  The person who got up, returned to the room and immediately complained. 

“Mom, would you tell [insert sibling here] to get out of my spot?!  I left for [whatever, usually justified by the words ‘doing what you told me to’].  And while I was gone, [said sibling] took my spot.”

To which the sibling who theived the seat replies, “Well, I am only sitting here because [insert a different sibling’s name here] is sitting in my spot!”

I tell the first complaining sibling to find another seat and just deal with it.  A completely different sibling leaves the room.  Complaining sibling steals the seat of the leaving sibling.  When she returns, the above conversation happens again.

As we are discussing the merits of the arguments, the baby comes in and begins pushing Smiley out of his chair and says, “Hey! That’s mine spot!!”

Seriously?  To which I say, “Get the baby another chair.  Everyone else, practice your negotiation and conversational skills and work for your place.  I have to get back to this letter.”  And I did.

Does this happen at your house or only mine?

I had the thought this year that I would post our family Christmas letter on my blog.  I don’t even know if my friends actually read it, and I know that most of my family doesn’t, except my very favorite Aunt Janell! (Love you Auntie 🙂  And I can actually say that because no one else is reading it….

So, here we go.

2013 has been a very emotional and difficult year for me personally.  I have learned that I am not as nice as I thought I was, I still really stuff my negative emotions and try to eat them away (guess I will keep working on that for 2014), I have rejection issues, and I don’t always make wise or good choices when I am sad and disappointed in my life or myself.  Lovely, huh?  The biggest issue I learned that I still have a lot of personal and emotional work to do to bring myself into harmony with my desires and beliefs.  I still have places where repentance and the atonement need application.  It is so much nicer and easier to just believe that I am basically a good person with no need for change, which is obviously not true, or I would no longer be on earth.   So apparently there is still a lot of work to do.

My sweet husband is my ever faithful companion in the process who still loves me and cherishes me even when I make mistakes.  That was a new revelation to me because all of these years, I have been hoping that he wouldn’t see any of my deficits and I could hide my mistakes from him.  That of course, is just ridiculous, but it is what I was hoping for.  Alas, our relationship in 2013 is finally at a place where I can admit that I really messed something up.  Guess what?!!  He has not disowned me or ever once even hinted that he is horribly disappointed.  He just listened to my complaints, hugged me and discussed with me the doctrinal principles that we try to teach our children in the process of helping them to learn to use their agency.  Who would’ve thought I still needed to learn a few things too?!  Go figure.

My oldest child, Slim, reminds me constantly that I am not getting any younger as he continues to jump through hoops and reach milestones that I never imagined would actually come to pass, not because he wouldn’t or couldn’t do it, but simply because I was never going to be old enough for him to do those things.  This coming May 2014, he will graduate from his university.  His applications are in for grad school, and we are all anxiously awaiting the path he will take.

My second oldest, Spanky, has been dealing with dating drama.  He really didn’t date much in high school, because there really isn’t anyone here to be dating and the distance makes it difficult.  He saved up all that adolescent drama for his young adult life, post mission.  I won’t go into any of the details, but just know that Drew and I have been laughing hysterically as we listen to his stories and perspective and the lessons learned.  It has been quite entertaining.  Then to have his oldest brother tease him and poke and prod him about sharing information and details with him has been pretty funny.  It is really nice to see that now that they do not live in the same house, their relationship has grown into one of respect and admiration.  Spanky has gained enough self-confidence that his brother’s relentless teasing nature no longer hurts his feelings.  Yea!  Growth!

Our missionaries are making arrangements for the home phone calls for Christmas day—TOMORROW!!  We are so very excited for that and are so very grateful for their service and love.  They are both doing well!  Tammy is in Wisconsin!  Scuff is still in Colorado…still waiting for his visa to Brazil.  The only issue, is that we packed him for Brazil, short sleeved shirts and slacks, not even a jacket on the list, but he is serving in the Colorado snow.  If his visa does come through at any point, he will travel from winter in the Rockies to summer on the equator–quite a shift.  I imagine he’ll mail a few things home, like gloves, hats, and a coat.  We are so very blessed and love them dearly!

Sport has been trying to do all of those things necessary for college bound seniors.  His college applications are in.  He finished the work of his Eagle Scout project and now has to complete the paperwork.  Scholarship paper work and FAFSA stuff all are on his agenda.  I think he has been my most overwhelmed by the amount of extra things he is required to do to go where he wants to go.  But he is almost finished.

Speedy has traded the relaxation of a home schooling environment for the constant demands of every teacher in each subject believing that their class is the only one that should be important and require every ounce of the student’s attention and effort.  To say he has been stressed, would be an understatement.  However, he is also really, really enjoying having friends around again.  Our two years of home schooling were exactly what his self-esteem needed.  He grew in a well-rounded and wholesome environment that has allowed him to successfully combat the experiences of high school.

Sun is in the middle of that process.  She is learning about herself and the world around her.  We are only one semester into the process, but I think slowing down and listening to her feelings and emotions will help her to gain confidence in her abilities and personality.  At first she was very concerned that she would not have the social relationships and would miss her friends.  Recently, she told me that she was glad she was at home, and she has enjoyed it.  We are going to have to really buckle down this next semester and work harder.  She does great the first month and not so much the next two months and then has to pull it out in the fourth month.  I had another child who functioned like that.  It is a process of teaching them how to manage that part of their personality so it can function properly in the world around them.  That is one of our goals for 2014.

Shorty is completely pre-teeny!  Oh my goodness.  At the end of the school year 2013, there was only the hint that it was coming because he was getting broader, everywhere.  By the end of 2013, the attitude has kicked in—super emotional and tons of drama over minor issues.  It isn’t anything his brothers or sister have not done, but the magnitude of it always surprises me.  He is happy that his brothers are home for the Christmas holiday and I think he is feeling more accepted and actually has someone at home who will go and do things with him, which helps the attitude.  Plus he is packing away the food, which has been completely contrary to his nature.  I know the growth spurt is on the horizon, probably in the next four months………I’d better pull out the bigger clothes.

Smilely’s cognition has recently changed.  His brain is more capable of analyzing and thinking logically.  I love it when they make that change.  There is so much more you can discuss and reason about.  Now, all of the children, except Spike, have reached that developmental milestone.  This summer we reached another milestone, all of the children, except Spike, are swimming.  That was a major goal for the year.  I had three children who were not swimming and it was really bothering me.  We had a friend move into a complex with a swimming pool and they invited us to swim with them weekly.  Within the first two weeks of swimming, the first child took off.  By the end of the first month, the second child was swimming confidently, and by the end of the summer, Smiley was swimming too! 

The important thing about swimming was what it taught me. I am not a swimmer.  I can do it, but I do not like it and I do not do it well.  I was not confident in my ability to teach my children to swim because of my perceived incompetence at the activity.  Throughout our experience, I learned that I am the best teacher for my children.  Not because I know the subject matter best, but because I know my children best.  I know when to push them and when to back off.  I know when they are at their best and when they need to rest.  I may not know the best techniques or be an expert on the information, but I am an expert on my children.  I am the best teacher because of our relationship.  That was news to me too.

Then of course, there is Spike.  What a joy he is—so much work, but so much joy!  He is my very most high maintenance child, with the most drama ever!  He likes things his way.  He has taken over all of the door responsibilities in our home.  If anyone needs to go in or out, it is his job to open the door.  If you open the door for yourself to go out, he cries and yells at you and insists that you come back in so he can open the door.  If you come into the house and he is in the front room, he insists you go back out, knock, and then he will let you in.  If you do not knock, he will not answer the door.  Sure it is cute, but we cannot always bow to him or he will become a dictator and always insist on his way, which he is obviously already struggling with.  We went through a little phase where he would not change his clothes, especially if it meant getting dressed for church.  Knock on wood, I think we have bypassed that phase.  For 2014, our goal is potty-training.  Wish us luck.  Then, once again, all of the children will be using the toilet.  Hip, hip hooray!

That, for us, my dear friends, is 2013.  Have a great Merry Christmas tomorrow!  Remember that we celebrate because we love our Savior and hopefully with our annual remembrance, our hearts will be more focused and dedicated to serving Him in the coming year and changing those things about ourselves that bring our behavior closer to His.  Merry Christmas friends!

byubookstore.com

LOOK!!!  Drew got me a Christmas present!!!   A blue BYU Santa hat!!!  I am so excited and sporting it today! 🙂  Sorry I don’t have a photo of me….maybe Sport will help me with that later. 🙂

I love Christmas!!

Tomorrow my crew starts arriving.  Blogging will probably be pretty scarce over the holidays!! 

Have a GREAT couple of weeks, enjoy your family and remember our Savior Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate.

Have you ever had to come face to face with yourself and really evaluate your behavior?  And then you see how truly ugly it is??

freegreatpicture.com

I kind of had to do that yesterday.  I think I woke up a little grouchy.  I have obviously been feeling overwhelmed with life details.  I help everyone manage their emotions, drama, and details, but I do not take enough time out for my own emotions, drama, and details.

Last week was bad, in the ‘busy’ department.  We knew this week was going to be bad.  Monday Spike woke up with some kind of stomach bug–puking and diarrhea, so there was all of that extra laundry, extra trip to the grocery store, extra cleaning of floors and people.  Sun is trying to finish off all of her extra projects and finals for homeschooling.  Company is coming on Friday, so we have been planning extra cleaning but that isn’t happening and then there is all of the extra projects and field trips at work and school that need you to bring in just one thing.  (Seriously?  For me this week that has meant:  marshmallows, two gifts for the gift exchanges, making bread sticks, two movie tickets—just this week!  And three basketball practices, 4 surprise visitors, 1 planned visitor and today is only Wednesday!)  I am beginning to see why I have been feeling overwhelmed.

how I felt.

Tuesday morning, my sweetheart pulled me aside to say, “I am having a really hard time.  Thank you for doing this, but I need that.”  I heard, “You aren’t doing it right again.  Quit doing all these things I said were important yesterday, and do this instead.”  Then, same morning, I get a phone call from one of my emotionally high maintenance children abroad telling me his grocery shopping list and menu desires at 7:30 a.m. when I am late getting people out the door.  There were also extra requests from my sweetheart and the children, “Please proofread this or that, which needs to be turned in today.”  I thought I was taking it all in stride.  I was not.

Drew could tell I was irritated.  On the drive to school and work, he asked if I was alright and I told him I was just frustrated.  He took the opportunity to try and tease me back into a better mood.

That was a mistake.

His efforts to calm me down

He kept poking me (literally) while I was driving.

“Is this bothering you?!”

“Yes,” with eye contact.

“Should I stop it?”

“Yes,” again with eye contact, while driving.

He still kept poking me.  Then he put his finger on my nose.  (Now, this entire interaction took maybe a minute, 90 seconds, tops!)

But internally, I hit the roof.  Externally, I calmly said, “How about I pull the car over and walk home and you drive the boys to school?”

“Great!  Ya!”

So I did.  That was it.  I pulled the car over, put it in park, turned off the ignition, took the keys, got out and started walking home.

I made it four blocks before I ran into our car at a cross street of my homeward path.  They opened the door for me.

“Has your brisk morning walk cooled off your temper?”

My behavior so stunned their sensitivities, they were able to find humor in the situation and their laughter and smiles softened my heart.  I too found the situation slightly silly and amusing.  I got into the car and we discussed the situation later.

Success!

I guess after I pulled the car over and got out, Sport said, “Hey!?  What just happened??”

Drew:  “I guess your mother is angry about something and is more upset than I thought she was.”

Sport:  “Well, FIX IT!” and they came to pick me up.

In discussing the morning’s activity, Drew asked me to explain why I was so upset.  I related the stress I have been feeling, and the lack of support and cooperation I feel.  My sweetheart said, “Carin, we have had no idea you have been feeling this way.  You didn’t bother to say, ‘Hey, this is a bad morning, back off.’ ”  Drew has been feeling like things are seriously improving in our relationship.  I have not been so sure.  I know he is happier.  There is serious opposition going on here.

I recognized that because I struggle to trust others with my feelings, I often don’t share them, even with the people I live with.  I mask them and hide them, looking on the outside like all is well and under control.  Internally however, every carbohydrate in the house and I have become fast friends, sharing secret rendezvous.  The scale validates our relationship.  I hate that I use food to manage emotions.  So irritating.

I guess I should just be really grateful that I am not using more destructive things to manage my emotions.

On the bright side of things, Spike got up this morning and said, “Mom, my tummy feels better.”  No one else has thrown up yet…….
so we shall see……..

One of my dear friends spoke in church on Sunday.  He told us a story I wanted to relate because it was so very sweet and personal.

His grown son, Jack (name has been changed), had recently returned home from prison.  They were very excited to have him home and grateful he was coming.  When he arrived, he wore his hair very long, down to his waist.

able2know.com

His father saw this as a continued sign of his rebelliousness and asked him to have it cut.  He refused.  It was a warm contention for several weeks and months.  Jack’s older brothers tried to tell their father what Jack’s hair meant to him.  They explained that in prison, Jack was told where to sleep, when to sleep, what to wear, when to eat, where to eat, what to eat, when and if he could exercise and what that looked like.  The only freedom Jack had while in prison, was what his hair looked like.  So to Jack, he could not give up his hair as it represented his only freedom while he was in prison.

Their father, as the boys were young, always had control of their hair.  He kept it off their ears and collars.  He usually gave them a buzz-cut or a flat top.  As they became teenagers, the father had to let go of complete control and they agreed to let their mother cut their hair to their liking, however, if the father did not approve, he had veto power and everyone knew Dad would then cut their hair as he had in the past.  So the hair issue, to the father, was a big deal.

etsy.com

When Christmas morning rolled around and the father opened his gift, inside the small silver box, he found a lock of hair.  At first, he did not know what to make of it, but as he looked at Jack, he noticed that Jack had cut his hair.  His first thought was, ‘Yes!  I won!!’  But then he related, “My thoughts should have been: ‘Jack gave me the only thing he had to give, his hair. My son gave me himself.’ ”  Then he asked each of us to think about what we could give that would constitute the giving of ourselves.

Now my friend’s story is made more poignant if you know the rest of their story.  My friend’s son is a returned missionary.  He injured his back, had a bad surgery, and got hooked on pain killers which led to further drug use, and eventually his time in prison.  He had been married and divorced and had two or three children who are now young adults. 

I was living near my friend when his son returned home from prison.  I was wary of my interactions with Jack, but I soon leaned Jack had a heart of gold.  He loved people, all people.  He was kind to them and treated them with respect.  He had a great sense of humor. 

We live on the corner of a busy street.  People come around the corner of our street pretty quickly.  As we were getting out of the car, on the street side, in front of our house one day, a car came screeching around the corner and honked its horn right behind us, then pulled up in front of us and stopped.  It was Jack, who was laughing hysterically.  He had just frightened the snot out of his Bishop.  Jack was sweet and adorable, even considering his past struggles.

valleyoflife.com

Last year, Jack died.  We all mourned.  I am sure my dear friends, whose baby he is, miss him dearly.  In fact, I know they do.  He died in their home, his home.  I miss Jack too.

I also know that one day, because of the atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will see Jack again.  His parents will again embrace him and love him.  He will be free from the pains and sins that beset his mortal body and he will be whole, maybe even with long hair.

If you are a BYU fan, this is a must see!!  I watched it this morning!

Here’s the email that came with the video:

BYU Students Show World Wide Cougar Pride, Win National Film Competition

What happens when you put advertising, film, animation, and music students together and ask them to show why BYU has the most loyal fans on the planet? Well, Hyundai did just that and challenged 25 traditional football powerhouse schools to pitch a film concept to best demonstrate their fan loyalty. The Laycock Center for Creativity and Collaboration answered the call, won $10,000 to make a film, along with six other finalists, and then just won the grand prize in this national competition and an additional $10,000. What happened when the students put this together you might ask? After watching the video you just might say, “Magic Happens!”

Please watch, like, and share the video. We hope we made you proud to be a loyal cougar, true blue through and through.

Hyundai | Lens of Loyalty | BYU

It made me cry! 

GO COUGARS!!!

Tonight is our ward Christmas party and as luck would have it (or providence, maybe) I am in charge of the program for the third year in a row!  When I found out our Bishop had assigned the Primary to be in charge of the organization of the ward Christmas party, I just gave him that look.  ‘What?’

You realize that last year you assigned the Relief Society to be in charge of the ward Christmas party and at that time I was in charge of that organization’s planning committee, so last year I was in charge of the ward Christmas party?  And the year before I was in charge of the Christmas party by special assignment?

He started laughing.  I didn’t think it was funny.

I told him that if next year he assigns the ward Christmas party to the organization I am working in he is in trouble.

But here is the funny part about this year.  We are doing the program Misty put out a little while ago.  I have been trying to request one of the parts to be assigned to a specific young adult in our ward.  He is relatively new and from Utah.  I looked up his phone number on our ward directory on lds.org.  It was a Utah phone number.  That seemed reasonable.  I called the number.  A man answered.  It sounded like hospital stuff in the background, which is where this man works.  I explained who I was and asked if he was attending the ward Christmas party.  I could not understand his response.  Three times I asked him to repeat himself.

Then he said, “Oh, you are having trouble understanding me because of my accent.  I am wondering where the party is.  Is it at your apartment?  I can come if you give me a ride.”

“If I give you a ride?”

“Yes, it is cold outside.”

At this point, I was feeling uncomfortable.  I didn’t remember the man I was calling to have an accent.  And I was pretty sure he had a car, but not positive.  And I live within walking distance to my building, and most in the ward know that.  And hello, it is the WARD Christmas party!!  You think I am hosting that at MY apartment, when I live in a house and am mother to nine children??!!!  So I told him I would call him back.

“Ya, ya, text me.”

I did not.  I decided, once again, to use the ward website, although it has not been very helpful so far.  I decided to make my request through email.  So I sent the following:

“If that was you on the phone, I am sorry for the confusion.  I didn’t remember you having an accent.

OK…next.  The ward Christmas party is this Friday at the church @ 6 p.m.  I need a reader for the program and was wondering if you would be willing to be one of our readers??!!

Let me know if that will or will not work for you, as I will need to find someone else, if it is not possible for you.  Also, the program is easy enough that we will not need a rehearsal…..we will just read it straight from the script and I will get you a copy today or tomorrow.

Thanks!”

No response.

The next morning, unfortunately, I sent a text to the previous cell number.  “I sent you an email yesterday.  Did you get it?  I sent it to your hotmail account.”

Response:  “Nope.  You have my hotmail account?”

Me:  “I think so.  Is it…….”

Response:  “No, hehehe, that’s not me.  Where did you get that?”

Me:  “On the church’s website.”

Me:  “What is your email address?”

Response:  “claudethewise……”

What??!!  The guy I am calling is Ross.  Claude the wise??  Who is that?!!  Oh well.  People are a little strange these days so I forwarded the above email to the new address.

No response.

The next morning I pray, “Please let me figure this program thing out.  I really need to know if I have a reader or if I need to find someone else, not to mention now, if this isn’t Ross, some strange person has my cell number and my personal email.”

Later that evening, I received a text response:  “Hey, sorry I think you made a mistake.  This is not brother Ross.  Try to contact that person with email you found on that church website.  Sorry.”

Finally, honesty!  Yesterday morning I just called one of my awesome stand-by’s and asked him to read the part.  He said yes…and I KNEW it was his phone number.