A Letter From My Dad

When I set up WhiteBinder a year and a half ago, I had a couple of items in mind that I wanted to make absolutely sure got posted there. One of those items I finally posted this weekend. It’s a letter from my dad that he wrote to me when I was on my mission. Posting this letter was really important to me because of the experiences my dad writes about in the letter and because I knew that this was one of the few things in my collection of articles, spiritual thoughts, etc. that really couldn’t be found anywhere else.

Hopefully, you’ll see why it took me so long to get the story posted. I had to edit my dad’s letter to remove the personal parts that weren’t relevant to the story and I had to transcribe a number of follow up letters between my dad and others that he sent me which continue the story he starts in the letter.

My dad wrote me the letter when he was an officer in the Air Force and stationed on Guam as the Chief of Safety for the Air Force’s Pacific region. There had been an accident involving an Air Force plane in New Delhi, India and my dad led a team investigating the accident. My dad’s story starts after their investigation is over and they’re given a tour of the Taj Mahal and other sites in the city of Agra. I don’t want to say any more because I really want you to go and read the letter yourself and come back and tell me what you think.

I’m very proud of my dad. He’s the most compassionate person I know. As a lot of you know, after he retired from the Air Force, he went back to school and earned a Masters and a Doctorate in Audiology. Right now, my dad is spending his Thanksgiving in the same place he’s spent it for the last several years. He’s in Ghana as part of a humanitarian aid group he organized shortly after he became an Audiologist. He’s there with other medical professionals and volunteers (26 this year, a record) operating a free clinic and distributing free medical supplies.

I am grateful for the example my dad has always been of love and sacrifice. He loves everyone he meets, and everyone he meets loves him. I hope by sharing his letter to me, other people will have a chance to “meet” my dad and feel that love, too.

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Hannah Turns 3

I started this post on Hannah’s birthday, November 16, and never posted it until today:

I know there has been some debate about this, but as her mother I can say with confidence, “Happy Third Birthday Hannah!” Hannah is so tall, articulate and social that sometimes it seems like she should be turning four today, but our little Hannah was born in North Carolina about halfway through Rob’s last year of law school. It seems like we have known her forever though.

Hunter and Emma woke up early this morning to decorate the house as a surprise for her and when she woke up and saw it… she cried. She wanted to be the one to decorate. She eventually got over it and realized there was still a lot to help with. One of the things Hannah says most is “I do it my-sef.” She wants to do things on her own whenever possible. She is a sparkly girl and usually happy and sunny. She loves her “own milk” as it is known in our house. She outgrew her lactose intolerance long ago, but still will only drink soy milk. If she mistakenly picks up someone else’s cup of regular milk, she instantly makes the yucky face. That’s our girl, so unique!

She loves everything princess and sings along to all of the princess and Barbie movies and songs. Her favorite colors are pink and purple and she keeps telling me she needs more princesses in her bedroom. She is sharing a room with Emma, so we still have some compromising to do on that request. She loves to play and keeps me busy playing in her imaginary world. She is a super little sister and a great big sister too. We love you Hannah!!!

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Preschool Friends

 

Ryan, Hannah, Krista, Lindsey, Joey

Hannah has preschool every Tuesday morning. The mothers of the kids participating teach the lessons, and it was my turn yesterday. Because it was Veterans Day, we talked about our country. We had a brief talk about why it’s great to live in a free country and did this fun flag craft. This group is still pretty young, so there isn’t a strong structure to the class, but we played freeze dance to some patriotic songs, played outside some of those classic kids games like Duck duck goose and London Bridges, marched around with the flags they made and had plenty of play time. We talked about the different colors on the flag as they ate their snack of jello (red), banana (white), and sprinkles (blue). This is a fun group and I always enjoy teaching them!

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Making a Commitment

This year will be a different one for us on Christmas day. Rob and I have decided to give each of our children just three gifts. This will be symbolic of the gifts brought to baby Jesus by the three wisemen. At this time of year I usually spend a lot of time shopping and preparing for the big holiday. I hope that by simplifying the gifts, I will have more time and energy for building faith and participating in service with my children. It’s so easy to get through the Christmas holiday and realize too late that there were very few opportunities to really celebrate the true meaning of the day. I was hesitant to do it because I worried that the kids would be disappointed on Christmas morning. Especially since this year we will not have any visitors and there will be a lot of the day left to fill with less gift opening to fill it up. I have mentioned it to Hunter and Emma, and they seem surprisingly happy with the idea. I did hear Hunter say to Emma, “They can be better if we have less of them.” Rob and I had decided to do this last week, and then today I went to a meeting at church that really convinced me that this is a good decision for us.

In my enrichment meeting I was reminded of the counsel given by Sister Julie Beck, our Relief Society General President: “We must stand strong and immovable in faith, strong and immovable in family, and strong and immovable in relief… as you focus on essentials (you) will be given the courage to forego the frivolous.” I’m looking forward to a holiday season with a focus on faith, family, and service (relief)!

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Super Readers To The Rescue!

Erica tipped me off that Super Why is Owen’s favorite TV show and I should check it out. My kids love it! Even Hunter and Emma don’t mind watching it. I think they like to see how excited the little girls get. Hannah and Sabrina both think it’s the best show ever. Hannah answers back when the characters ask questions, they both dance along, and Sabrina will bring me the remote and say, “Wuh-Why.” The kids have assigned themselves characters, so in our house Hunter is Super Why, Emma is Wonder Red, Sabrina is Alpha Pig, and Hannah is Princess Presto. The show starts with a common childhood problem like: Wyatt’s baby sister won’t stop crying. Then the kids all get together and go into a fairy tale to see how they can solve the problem. For example with the crying problem they go into Jack & The Beanstalk to see how Jack stops the giant from being so noisy. It’s a blessing and curse having TiVo, because you can save several episodes and play them over and over. I’m not sure what it says about my mothering, but we have had a couple of Super Why marathons where the girls watch it several times a day.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v14y8EQ8TWk&NR=1

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