More on the Magnificent Seven

Last October was the, 177th SemiAnnual General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One of my favorite talks, "O Remember, Remember," ( http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-775-24,00.html)was given by President Henry B. Eyring. He spoke of his journaling experiences, and explained, "I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: 'Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?' As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done." I have tried to include his question in my own journaling, and I by doing this I have found something very interesting. I could write something new everyday regarding the many ways I am blessed by having my husband, my parents, my children, and my amazing brothers and sisters. Like I've mentioned before, my brothers and sisters are absolutely amazing! My mom fell February 18th, my dad fell the 21st, and we got to Vegas on the 29th~ the same day my dad came home from the hospital. For those who don't know, my dad has no use of his right arm and hand. He is right handed. His radial nerve was severed during a surgery that was meant to replace an old artificial shoulder joint with a new titanium one. When my dad fell on the 21st he broke his left arm, leaving him without use of either hand. When Redge and I arrived my siblings had already done the following: removed doors from my mom's bathroom for her wheelchair; installed handicapped bars; made and stored food; grocery shopped several times; taken both my parents to doctors appointments; picked up perscriptions; took turns sleeping at my parents' home so my mom was never alone; bought a shower stool, lap desk, trays, books, and millions of other things to try to make my parents' lives as comfortable as possible; they never left my mom alone for a minute; visited my dad in the hospital; and took care of their own families. Melinda flew in from Costa Rica with her daughter Molly (who looks exactly like me) to help my mom, and offer a moment of reprieve to my other sibllings who all live locally. I need to add here that my brothers and sisters don't have easy lives. They have great lives, but not easy~ especially not the past few weeks. Jeff, the oldest, is a CPA. We are currently in the middle of tax season. He is also a High Counselor in our old stake, and serves with the Young Men/Young Women Organization. On March 1st he had this huge leadership training thing. He ran the shindig. In the middle of tax season. Luckily, he married Marci. She's the manager extraordinaire! She works 30+ hours a week, and runs their 4 daughters wherever they need to be, and keeps track of it all! On top of that, Marci is really fun! Naomi is the baptism coordinator for her stake, which worked well for us getting Taite baptized in her stake, and the fact that her husband, Mark, is the 1st counselor in their bishopric, made it that much easier. Naomi's degree is Elementary Education, and has a licensed pre-school in her home. She's a great teacher, and she puts her heart and soul into the kids in her classes. Mark is very busy with his insurance company, and is currently in Chicago for the new business he is starting. They have 3 awesome kids that they are constantly helping, loving, teaching, and running. Josh, their oldest, will soon be 18, and his eagle project was last Saturday. So, in the middle of my parents' ailings Naomi is also trying to teach, support her husband, do her own calling (on the day of Taite's baptism Naomi was at the stake center from 7:30AM to 2:30PM running the whole baptism thing~ while the rest of us left the church at noon & went back to Naomi's house to eat and party,) attend to the needs of her children, coordinate an eagle project, and make sure Josh was ready for his first real art show~ which was held the night before the eagle project.
By the way, the Eagle Project was a huge success, and we all appreciate everybody helped Josh! Quincy and Mo are just as busy as the others! Quincy works for Pulte Home where he runs the show for a Del Webb Community in Mesquite. He also has the deacons to run. He's currently preparing to take 19 boys to scout camp! At home, Mo runs the 4 boys to and from school, games, friends, scouts, and finds time to play girly stuff with Mae. On top of that~ Mo is pregnant with number 6! Melinda and Heath have been in Costa Rica now for several months, and I still think it's amazing that they decided they could spare Melinda for over week to fly to Vegas in order to help my parents. Jenn is a total saint! With 4 kids ages 5, 2, and 10 months she has got to be crazy busy, but when you add in that her husband, Nate, is just finishing his first year of medical school,
Jenn still cuts a few heads of hair at home, and her two youngest kids are twins, you have to wonder how she does it! But, she does, and still finds time and energy to get to my parents' house every single day! Eric has a crazy work schedule as a paramedic, the most famous paramedic ever, I might add! For those who don't know~ he is the paramedic who saved Roy Horn, you know, Roy from Siegfried & Roy! I'm so totally not joking! He was on Dateline and everything! At any rate, Eric runs himself ragged with saving the lives of everybody all over Las Vegas, but he still finds time to help my entire family. So, by the time I got to Vegas my job was so easy! All I had to do was upkeep what my brothers and sisters had set up before I got there! However, my siblings didn't see it that way at all! They kept calling me, coming over to check on me, and saying things like, "Thanks so much for being here," "Thanks for taking care of Mom and Dad," "Please tell Redge how much we appreciate him letting you be here right now." Little did they know how relieved Redge was to not have to take care of me! He pretty much had a reprieve himself! He didn't have to take care of Arthur or me! Redge is used to having to run Reece, Seth, and Taite. He was grateful to have a week of not running Arthur and me, as well! I am so grateful for my family. I'm grateful, and as Grandpa Bird said, "I'm humbly proud," of the people my brothers and sisters have chosen to become. I'm especially grateful for my parents, because they're the ones who taught us how to get to where we are now.