Christmas 2013

(Yes, I know this is now almost 6 months old...I'm just a little bit behind!) Merry Christmas 2013, Our Dear Friends and Family! We hope our greetings find you well and happy! Steven, our oldest, turned 18 and graduated from high school in May, then left on July 10th to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salem, Oregon. I have sorely missed his pleasant presence, his good example, and the role he filled as mediator between parent and siblings. I miss his thoughtful gestures, his perceptive intelligence, his help around the house, and the fun we had together. We need to learn how to play games again without him! We look forward to his weekly emails, and I marvel at the wisdom and maturity he is gaining through this experience. He is discovering who he is, who God is, and how he can help others to that knowledge. We miss him immensely, but how could we want him anywhere else when he is doing so much good? Daniel, recently 17 and a junior in high school, is in the middle of his most demanding year of high school with ACT’s and AP and concurrent enrollment classes. Due to the right combination of hard work, talented players playing as a team, and a demanding coach, Steven and Daniel’s high school soccer team won the 2A soccer championship earlier this year. Daniel is looking forward to starting practices in January for the upcoming soccer season. After a frustrating summer of unsuccessful job-hunting, Daniel secured his first “real” job working at Shopko here in Spanish Fork. He spends a lot of time in his bedroom doing homework (“My life is all about Calculus!”), listening to music, playing his Nintendo DS, and reading. Julia, 15 and a sophomore, loves to learn about so many things! She plays the violin, guitar, and piano. She enjoys her cousins and friends, school (other than the 2-3 hours of homework nightly,) choir, orchestra, and soccer. She is a great example to us all in her dutiful daily scripture study and journal-writing. Michael, 13 and a freshman, is a very smart and gifted but reluctant pianist, violinist, and student. He enjoys friends (especially his cousin, Guts,) video games, and sports. He went through a brief time of fanatically collecting decks of playing cards, but that stopped abruptly when his money ran out. Michael is generally easy-going and has developed a soft spot for his little brothers Matthew and Jonathan. I have been pleased to watch Michael serve willingly in a leadership capacity in his church class, which sometimes requires him to do good things he doesn’t feel like doing. Alyssa will be turning 12 in January and is anxiously anticipating graduating from the children’s Primary organization at church and joining the Young Women’s program. Alyssa loves practicing gymnastics, drawing and making crafts (but not cleaning them up,) playing soccer, eating and baking treats (she and Natalie are the fastest cookie-bakers this side of the Mississippi,) playing with her cousins, and interacting with little children. She suffers frequent headaches, and we are still trying to figure out a cause and manage them better. She is still taking (forced) piano lessons, and I am hoping she will learn to enjoy it. Alyssa is part of the 5th/6th grade show choir at school, and while she is gifted with grace, she does not have an outgoing personality, so it has been fun to watch her try something that stretches her. Natalie, recently 10 and a 4th grader, is one of only two early-to-bed-early-to-rise, punctual people in a house of otherwise night owls and procrastinators, which is a constant source of frustration for her. (There are so many opportunities to learn how to live with different people in a big family like ours!) She is a die-hard BYU sports fan (second only to Hugh) and regularly watches the games and reads post-game stats and analyses. She is responsible about getting her homework done and is already studying for the big school spelling bee coming up in January. She plays the piano usually willingly and is progressing well. More often than anyone else in the house, she ambitiously makes waffles or multigrain pancakes from scratch for the whole family. Matthew, who just turned 8 and was baptized, is a fun, energetic little 2nd grader. I was recently thinking about how amazingly pleasant he is compared to what a difficult baby he was! Matthew loves his family, friends, school (especially math,) sports (especially soccer and basketball,) and video games (some favorites being “Plants vs. Zombies” and “Don’t Starve”). He loves to watch BYU sports with his dad and siblings. Matthew takes piano lessons willingly but without enthusiasm, but again, I hope that will come as he develops the skills and realizes that he can be good at it. Emily is 6 years old and in 1st grade. She is excited about doing well in school, making new friends, reading, piano, and soccer. She spends most of her time after school playing with her little sister, Katelyn, and occasionally with friends (I have learned that attending a charter school 4.5 miles away makes it harder for children to maintain friendships in the neighborhood.) Emily and Katelyn are very much into Barbie and My Little Pony. They enjoy dressing up, role-play, and coloring. Katelyn, 4, gets the best of both worlds with a little brother to play with during the day and a big sister to play with after school. When she isn’t playing with her siblings, she likes me to read to her or play card/board games with her. She loves visits from Grandma Dosdall and Aunt Jeannie, when she has someone’s undivided attention, which is such a great blessing to me and the kids. Nearly every night when we are gathered for family prayer, Katelyn says she is grateful “that Jon-Jon is cute, and for my sweet Mom.” Melts me every time. Our baby will turn 2 in January! Jonathan is adorable and adored by everyone in this family. He has flaming red hair, blue eyes (unique in our family) and his own opinions. He loves his daddy more than anyone or anything in the world, which makes my life interesting when Hugh is not available and Mom just won’t do. Jonathan loves pushing buttons, throwing and kicking balls, and getting into things. He still doesn’t talk much, but we sure delight in watching him learning new things all the time. Hugh continues to plod on in his tax accounting job for the LDS Church in Salt Lake City. The commute has now stretched to nearly two hours each way – so I am pushing harder for a deadline on either a new job or a new house closer to the job. In any case, we appreciate how hard Hugh works to provide for us. Hugh makes an effort to take the kids to at least a couple of concerts on Temple Square each year, as well as various BYU football, soccer, and basketball games when possible. He continues to play the organ and teach the adult Sunday School class at church. As for me, I was recently released from a nearly three-year stint as president of our congregation’s Relief Society (the women’s organization.) I am grateful for the lessening of my burden and responsibilities, but more than that I am grateful that I had to do things which pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me to grow. I am now teaching 8 year-olds in Primary, and that will be wonderful, too. This has been a difficult year for me in many ways. I have struggled with challenges which have caused me to question my beliefs and even lose my faith for a time. I am coming out of that dark place with deeper empathy for others, a greater capacity to love, and an understanding that my belief is a choice. I had to ask God, “If you are really there, and if you love me and have power to help me, please let your light and power shine through me to make the world a better place, and make me more than I can make of myself.” I choose to trust in the power and grace of Jesus Christ to heal my sorrows and help me to see and then overcome my weaknesses. And so I hope for you: enough joy and sorrow, health and sickness, peace and turmoil that you learn to recognize the difference, and most of all, that you always choose light over darkness.