July 9, 2023
Snowflake, Arizona
Dear Flammly,
Lots of work and lots of learning this week. Also lots of joy! Family members are already starting to arrive for the reunion that officially starts on Wednesday evening, and it has been fun to be with them and especially to have lots of time with Nana and Grandpa this week.
The 4th of July was full of yummy food! We went to a flag-raising by the Main Street Chapel in the morning, and then came home for freedom toast with Nana and Grandpa. (Usually we go to Show Low and do that with the Baileys there, but there was illness and we stayed in Snowflake).
I loved working all together in our kitchen to prepare food for the cookout. Each of us chose part of it to work on, and it turned out soooo yummy! We had hot dogs with pico de gallo, coleslaw, broccoli salad, grilled veggie kabobs, root beer, mac and cheese, and homemade ice cream. The weather was weirdly hot and windy, so we ended up eating inside.
Then we went swimming, just us and Nana and Grandpa. I was trying to keep my hair dry, but the others played Monkey-in-the-Middle.
Other highlights of the week:
Going to the temple with DC on Wednesday. It had been a while since I did an endowment session, and I learned so much and felt love from Heavenly Father so clearly! I am really grateful for a couple of things the Spirit taught me, too, that are helping me with problems I've been facing.
A sweet little Young Women class activity at my parents' pool. Only 4 girls came, but one of their moms filled in for the other leader and I loved sitting and visiting with her while the girls swam and frolicked in the water.
Enjoying a "Super Dad" date with my Dad (it was my Father's Day gift for him 😊). We went running on the S Trail (I was relieved it went well -- Dad just ran his 14th marathon in June and I've only been running about 20 minutes regularly!) and then we got breakfast at Cupido's. It was so fun to spend that time together! My Dad is one of my most favorite people in the world -- I feel soooo lucky to have him!
An outstanding FHE lesson from Rosehips, reading from the Book of Mormon (Alma, Amulek, Zeezrom) and sharing her thoughts and testimony and watching the video to go with it. The Spirit was strong! It was so awesome!
Having our traditional post-haircut root beer floats on the front porch in the windy heat.
A moonlight walk with Ham. He's been on such a late schedule -- he was literally nocturnal for the last part of the semester, and is still having trouble getting to sleep before the wee sma's. I took a nap that day so I could stay up late with him and talk when he was feeling awake. The full moon on the desert landscape after a long, hot day is a breathtaking, unforgettable thing.
Running with Exacto. Yesterday we did about 3 1/2 miles and he told me about the Navajo creation story and also how the stars were placed so randomly over the sky. He took Navajo during his last semester at BYU and really enjoys learning more about that culture and its history.
Watching My Hero Academia with Ham. Not sure how much DC likes it, especially since he's on a super early schedule and is always falling asleep by the time we start watching, but it's still bonding time for the flammly, I guess! 😪😂
Progress on the basement bedroom project. Drywall was finished this week, then painting, then the flooring got started yesterday. We've been hoping to use the room for people to stay in during the reunion, but we'll see! 🤞
Rosehips helping me make a busload of whole-wheat pancakes for the reunion (multiplied this recipe times 17!). And practicing our duets together for the flammly recital.
Dinner at the ramada with about half the Bailey family, including my sweet brother and his family here from Wisconsin! I loved pushing little 3yo H on the swing. He's a smart cookie and we talked about all the things we could see from there. Last night we had dinner at Streets on Main and it was so yummy and fun. We came home and had s'mores (or just a couple of sugar-free marshmallows, in my case) by the fire pit.
Yesterday I had a migraine and spent most of the day in bed. (That was not a highlight, btw.)
I have been reaching for heaven a lot, needing help with knowing how to be a parent to adult children. I realized this week that I have been trying to coach--or even manage--their choices way too much. These grown-up sons of mine are smart and they are good! I love the people they have become and are still becoming! And they were God's children before they were ever mine. He is totally aware of what experiences they need and what choices they are making, and He loves them even more completely than I do (that part is hard to imagine).
I just get to keep loving them and cheering them on. I have had a couple of ideas come to me of things I can do that would be good in supporting them. But mostly I need to watch and love, not judge, pray hard, and then let Him work in their lives as they choose to let Him.
E, F, and H, if y'all ever do want advice about anything, you can ask! 😅 And I am always here for you with love. Always.
A quote from C.S. Lewis this time. I just finished reading his Letters to Children, which I highly recommend. Such a lovely peek into his life and mind!
This is from just a few weeks before his death, in November 1963:
Dear Ruth. . . ,
Many thanks for your kind letter, and it was very good of you to write and tell me that you like my books; and what a very good letter you write for your age!
If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so. I'm so thankful that you realized [the] "hidden story" in the Narnian books. It is odd, children nearly always do, grown-ups hardly ever.
I love that -- "If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so."
He is so good! I love Him with all my heart for His watchful care over me and all the good things in my life.
Love to each of you,
Mommy
P.S. Another letter excerpt that made me giggle:
Dear Martin,
Thanks for your letter of the 15th. You don't tell me how your sister is; be sure to mention this the next time you write. I think your proposed metre is far too rollicking and comic for any original in so solemn a metre as the Virgilian hexameter. To such a time as yours I would put only works like
"A pound of that cheese and an ounce of the butter," Aeneas replied with his usual stutter.
Makes me think of the poem ChatGPT wrote for your prompt "Tell about a pingpong match in the style of the Iliad." 😆
P.P.S. This afternoon after church, Johann was shrieking relentlessly for no apparent reason. I was about to cause another "solar eclipse" (this is when the parakeets get temporarily banished to the bathroom with the door shut), but Exacto turned on some Enya for him and he switched to warbling! This song seemed to work the best (Orinoco Flow was maybe too rhythmic and he fell out of his trance). . .
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