Merry Christmas from The Sanders Family

Christmas 2015

Our family is growing older and is moving on to a new phase in life.  It has been exciting. 

Tilly:  I turned four years old a few weeks ago.  My favorite things this year were swimming this summer and learning to ride my bike without training wheels.  I stay home with my Mom while the big kids go to school.  I like to go to the park and read books with Mom.  I am excited to go to preschool next fall.

Marlee:  I am six years old.  This year I had fun when I got to watch movies and start piano lessons.  My favorite things are my stuffed unicorn, coloring, reading, and getting presents.  In school my favorite subject is art.  My teacher told my Mom that I am a math whiz.  I got to sing in the Gilbert Youth Chorus during the spring and I got to play soccer during the fall.  I am looking forward to Christmas. 

Karalee:  I am nine years old.  This year I got to play volleyball, soccer and take piano lessons.  I might be able to play basketball next year.  I like sports.  My favorite sport is soccer.  In school I like all subjects.  I really like playing at recess.  I had fun going to sea world and universal studios with my family this year.  It was a fun vacation because we got to stay at my cousin’s house.  I love being in activity days at church.  I am looking forward to playing basketball next year.

Bryant:  I am eleven.  I played basketball during the spring and I played soccer this fall.  I also take piano lessons from my mom.  My favorite things to do are, reading and playing video games.  Math is my favorite subject at school, mostly because it is easy.  I got to play in a whiffle ball league during lunch time with the other 6th graders who signed up.  My favorite vacation this year was camping at Bear Canyon Lake with my family and lots of our friends.  We got to go kayaking.  I am looking forward to junior high and becoming a deacon next year.   

Spencer:  I am fourteen.  This year I got to play co-ed soccer, flag football and basketball for my school.  In football we got to go to the playoffs.  We made it to the semi-finals.  In school I am learning Latin, which I don’t like, and I sing in the choir, which I like.  I think it is pretty cool that I am now taller than my Mom.  I am 5’10”.  I still play the piano and have enjoyed learning some current pop songs this year.  I like to read, play sports, and play video games.  My favorite trip this year was when I got to go to Rocky Point, Mexico during fall break.  It was cool to skim board, ride on the banana boat, and to see sting rays while I was snorkeling.  I am excited to go to mountain man rendezvous and on a stake pioneer trek next year.

Mindy:  I have hesitated to write a Christmas letter this year.  There have certainly been many good, fun, blessed things that have happened in our family…but it has also been a growing year with several hard challenges.  I have not known quite how to express how I’ve felt.  Then I came across this scripture that sums up my feelings for this year, “…the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him” (Alma 58:11).  I am grateful to have felt the hand of the Lord during both the good times and the hard times this year.  I enjoy keeping up with the kids and their activities and I’m glad I still have Tilly at home with me for another 1 ½ years.  This year I enjoyed date nights with Chad, playing volleyball on Tuesday nights, accompanying various musical numbers, working with the young women in the ward, and vacationing with my family.  I am looking forward to a trip with Chad at the end of this month in celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary. 

Chad:  This year I officially got old.  I injured myself playing flag football in March and didn’t get better like I wanted to.  I ended up with meniscus surgery in October and everyone keeps telling me I am not young anymore.  We had a great time on our family vacations this year in California, Rocky Point, and camping up at Bear Canyon Lake.  I enjoyed playing sports up until my knee surgery so now I enjoy watching my kids play sports.  I am serving in the Elders Quorum presidency and my job continues to keep me pretty busy as well.  Life is good and we have been very blessed this year.

Letter - Rocky Point toy delivery, Linking ourself to our generations

December 20, 2015

It’s been a good week.  Monday I didn’t have a lot going on other than a chiropractor appointment, grocery shopping and picking up the kids from school.  I taught Spencer, Karalee and Marlee piano lessons that evening. 

I looked down at Spencer's hands while I was teaching him a lesson and realized he has man hands!  It is crazy that he is so big now.

 Tuesday Tilly’s friends Emma and Jane came over to play.  Since LBC doesn’t meet regularly anymore we’ve set up a weekly playdate on Tuesdays with Emma and Jane.  Spencer got his braces off just before noon that day.  His smile looks so nice.  That afternoon Tilly and I went to visit Puring in the hospital.  Monday she called me to let me know she was in the hospital because she wasn’t breathing well.  We had a nice visit with her.  Bryant went on a nature walk with the 11 year old scouts at the Riparian preserve that evening.  Karalee had activity days and got to do a $1 white elephant gift exchange.  For mutual Spencer and I and all the YM and YW went to the Mesa temple Christmas lights.  That evening mine and Chad’s group of friends invited Spencer and his friend Danner to play volleyball with.  Danner’s parents play too.  Spencer and Danner played well.  They are athletic and are picking up the game quickly.  Chad isn’t yet able to play with us while he recovers from surgery.  Hopefully he’ll be able to play again soon.  Chad’s recovery is going well though.  He no longer needs crutches at all and he is strengthening his leg so that his limp is less noticeable.  He rides our stationary bike every night and he also does all his physical therapy exercises.

Last day of braces!!

Tilly couldn't quite make it all the way onto the chair before she fell asleep!

Wednesday evening Chad and I had his Christmas work party.  I didn’t eat much lunch and only had a snack that afternoon so I was looking forward to a nice dinner.  We ate at a fancy Italian restaurant in Scottsdale.  I was pretty hungry and decided to order Ravioli.  When the served them there were only 5 ravioli.  The dish cost $26, so each piece of Ravioli cost over $5!  I was still hungry when I got home.  However, it was still a nice evening visiting with Chad’s boss and coworkers.  His boss is really a kind man.  Probably the most genuine of all the bosses Chad has had thus far.

Thursday Tilly, Spencer and I went to lunch.  Spencer got to come because he had a ½ day schedule due to finals.  After lunch we went to visit Puring in the hospital again.  (Puring is my former neighbor who took the missionary lessons in our home and was baptized.)  Puring’s daughter Nanita told me on Wednesday that Puring was pretty confused but when I saw her I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.  Puring didn’t recognize us at all.  We had just had a nice visit on Tuesday, but on Thursday she didn’t even know who we were.  A couple other people from our ward went to visit her as well and she didn’t recognize them either.  She wasn’t even recognizing her daughter!  It was so sad.  I thought she was going to die.  However she has since recovered and it’s been reported that she recognizes everyone now.  I’ll have to pay her a visit tomorrow.  I wonder if she maybe suffered a stroke.  They did a MRI and hopefully that will show what happened.  Thursday afternoon Bryant had a wax museum project at school and he had to dress up like Gandhi.  Bryant played Christmas carols after school with his band while parents picked up their kids.  Spencer had a basketball game Thursday afternoon and sadly lost.

Tilly and I had fun exercizing on Thursday morning.  She rides her bike while I run/walk.  We didn't have anything going on that morning so we were able to stop and play at the park for awhile and then stop to play in the leaves.

Bryant dressed as Gandhi

Playing Christmas carols after school while parents picked up their children.

Friday the kids were excited about their Christmas parties at school and that they only had to go to school until noon.  When the kids got home we packed up our stuff and waited for Chad to get off work a little early so we could leave to Rocky Point to help deliver the toys that our ward raised for the needy children there.  We collected over 1800 toys!!  Not all of those were from our ward; we enlisted help from the stake and from our family and friends.  We left around 3:50pm and got to Rocky point around 8:15pm stopping in Gila Bend to grab a quick bite to eat and for one other quick bathroom break right before we crossed the border.

Saturday morning Chad and the boys left to the church at 7:00 to help set up.  I opted to keep my little girls at the hotel along with our friend’s little girls so they wouldn’t be in the way and because it was going to be a long day for them to hand out toys for several hours.  The event was supposed to start at 9:00, so the girls and I got there about 8:30 after packing up all our stuff and checking out of the hotel.  We got there just in time to rehearse our Nativity program.  I was asked to be in charge of putting together a Nativity program before we handed out toys.  I found a script online which Chad and I shortened and then we found all the correct verses in the Spanish Bible and then Chad translated the closing paragraph into Spanish.  Chad was the narrator and all the kids in the group who wanted to participate were the actors.  It went well.  After we acted out the nativity for the families we had a solid line of children for over 2 hours coming to pick out a gift. It was a wonderful experience.  We left Rocky Point a little after 1:00pm yesterday afternoon and got home around 5:45pm stopping only in Ajo for a late lunch.  It was a very quick trip, but everything went smoothly and it was a neat experience to be a part of that effort.  It's good to be back at home now though. 

Beautiful sunrise from our hotel on the beach

All the little girls watching a movie in our room while everyone else got things set up.

The Nativity cast members

My darling Karalee angel

Spencer and the other boys playing soccer and basketball with the Mexican kids.

Tilly was a great little helper.

The girls had fun playing with the empty boxes as things were winding down.

After we got home yesterday evening Chad asked me if I wanted to go on a bike ride with him.  Of course I said yes.  We rode to the tunnel that goes under Germann rode and then came back a different route.  It was a nice cool, but not cold, evening for a bike ride.  After the bike ride the older kid’s and I went to our neighbor’s annual Christmas party and had a nice time visiting with our neighbors.  Chad stayed home with Tilly as she has the croup and had a light fever yesterday.  We brought them each a plate of food though.  After two days of traveling, we didn’t stay long at the party because we wanted to go to bed early.

Today was our ward Christmas program.  Chad, Spencer and I sang in the ward choir and Bryant sang with a group of primary children on one number.  For my laurel lesson we watched Mr. Krueger’s Christmas, ate chocolates and I gave the girls a little Christmas gift.  We’ve had a nice relaxing evening together as a family.  We ate BBQ lasagna for dinner, played Guesstures and now the kids are making a fort to sleep in while they watch Mr. Krueger’s Christmas.  I’m getting really excited for Christmas.  I’m happy the kids are out of school for the next two weeks.  We’ll have to do some fun Christmas activities this week.    

The kids' fort

My quote today is from Elder Packer,

“When we say temple I would list what in essence are Latter-day Saint synonyms for the word: marriage, family, children, happiness, joy, eternal life, resurrection, redemption, exaltation, inspiration, revelation.  All of these words in their own way are synonyms for the word temple.  The word temple to the Latter-day Saint suggests a reverence for life.  It embraces a concern for the young and the very old in the family.  The world now fosters another view of these family connections.  There is a growing tendency to establish centers for the care of the very young and of the very old.  This responsibility is being shifted outside the home and family.  There may be times when institutional help is needed for the care of the infirm.  But we are becoming too free nowadays to shift from the family the privilege (I call it a privilege rather than a burden) of caring for family members.  It is wrong.  We should not disconnect the generations in this way.  We should not unlink ourselves from our generations” (The Holy Temple, Boyd K. Packer, p. 292).

I love that raising my children at home is linking myself to their generation.  I’m so glad I get to stay at home so I can learn about my children, learn what they love, know when they’re sad, be there for them when they learn new things, etc.  It is a blessing.  I’ve almost finished reading The Holy Temple and I have loved it and learned a lot.  I appreciate Pres. Packer and his wisdom.

Love,

Mindy

P.S. Here are videos of the two particular songs gave me so much stress at the BFHS concert that I accompanied last week. They challenged me. I was glad that I didn't botch up the choirs' performances. My Spencer has a duet starting around 1.36.00 in Let it Snow. He did awesome... I'm a biased, proud momma though.

Let It Snow - BFHS Jr. High Honor choir 2015
https://youtu.be/GWy2kxXvA20

The Prayer - BFHS High School Honor Choir 2015
https://youtu.be/JlJPEcc8LJM

P.P.S.  Here are pictures from Dec. 7-13th.

Silly Tilly

Marlee was sick Tues. Dec. 8th and couldn't keep anything down.

She's still cute even when she's sick!

Spencer playing in a basketball tournament Friday, Dec. 11th.

Chad giving Spencer some pointers.

Making snowflakes to hang up in our home.

Tilly in the petting zoo at our neighborhood HOA shin dig.

The girls having fun!

Nativity script in English and Spanish

Nativity

(ENTER JOSEPH AND MARY)

Luke 2

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; …

 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

(ENTER BABY JESUS)

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

(ENTER SHEPARDS AND ANGEL)

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

(ENTER MULTITUDE OF ANGELS)

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

(ENTER 3 WISEMEN)

Matthew 2

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

11 ¶And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, andfrankincense, and myrrh.

We gather each year at Christmas to hear this story of Jesus. We give gifts in remembrance of the Wise Men and their gifts to the Christ child, but more importantly to celebrate the gift given by our Father in Heaven.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” -John 3:16

(EVERYONE SING SILENT NIGHT) 

Spanish version (stage cues are still in English)

Enter Joseph and Mary

Lucas 2:

 1 Y aconteció en aquellos días que salió un edicto de parte de Augusto César, que toda la tierra fuese empadronada.

 3 E iban todos para ser empadronados, cada uno a su ciudad.

 4 Entonces subió José de Galilea, de la ciudad de Nazaret, a Judea, a la ciudad de David, que se llama Belén….

 5 para ser empadronado con María, su mujer, desposadacon él, la que estaba encinta.

Enter Baby Jesus

 6 Y aconteció que estando ellos allí, se cumplieron los días en que ella había de dar a luz.

 7 Y dio a luz a su hijo primogénito, y lo envolvió en pañales y lo acostó en un pesebre, porque no había lugar para ellos en el mesón.

Enter Shepherds and Angel

8 Y había pastores en la misma región, que velaban y guardaban las vigilias de la noche sobre sus rebaños.

 9 Y he aquí, se les presentó un ángel del Señor, y la gloria del Señor los rodeó de resplandor; y tuvieron gran temor.

 10 Pero el ángel les dijo: No temáis, porque he aquí os doy nuevas de gran gozo, que serán para todo el pueblo:

 11 que os ha nacido hoy, en la ciudad de David, unSalvador, que es CRISTO el Señor.

 12 Y esto os servirá de señal: Hallaréis al niño envuelto en pañales, acostado en un pesebre.

Enter multitude of Angels

13 Y repentinamente apareció con el ángel una multitud de las huestes celestiales, que alababan a Dios y decían:

 14 ¡Gloria a Dios en las alturas,y en la tierra paz, buena voluntad para con los hombres!

 15 Y aconteció que cuando los ángeles se fueron de ellos al cielo, los pastores se dijeron los unos a los otros: Pasemos, pues, hasta Belén, y veamos esto que ha sucedido y que el Señor nos ha manifestado.

 16 Y vinieron deprisa y hallaron a María, y a José, y al niño acostado en el pesebre.

 17 Y al verlo, dieron a conocer lo que se les había dicho acerca del niño.

 18 Y todos los que oyeron se maravillaron de lo que los pastores les decían.

Enter 3 wisemen

Mateo 2:

1 Y cuando Jesús nació en Belén de Judea en los días del rey Herodes, he aquí, unos magos vinieron del oriente aJerusalén,

 2 diciendo: ¿Dónde está el Rey de los judíos que ha nacido? Porque su estrella hemos visto en el oriente y venimos a adorarle.

 11 Y cuando entraron en la casa, vieron al niño con su madre María, y postrándose, le adoraron; y abriendo sus tesoros, le ofrecieron presentes: oro, e incienso y mirra.

Entonces nos reunimos cada ano en Navidad para escuchar esta historia de Jesus.  Damos regalos en recuerdo de los Reses Magos y sus regalos al nino Jesus, pero lo mas importante para celebrar el don dado por nuestro Padre Celestial.

Juan 3:16 Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo que ha dado a su Hijo Unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna.

Everyone sing Noche de Luz

Letter - Spencer's Birthday, Title of Liberty Type and Shadow

December 6, 2015

Fourteen years ago today my life changed forever.  I became a mother which is something I had always wanted to be.  Spencer turned 14 today.  He is such a good young man.  It is an honor to be his mother.  I’ll type up and include the hand written letters Chad and I wrote to Spencer today.  Giving our kids a hand written letter on their birthday is a tradition we started this year on Bryant’s birthday.  However, we didn’t write one for Tilly last week since she can’t read.  Hopefully she’ll forgive us for that.

Last week was stressful for me.  I had some big things I committed to do and some other things I was responsible to do and I wasn’t sure I would do well at them.  I’m starting to feel worn out from so many responsibilities.  The commitment that was stressing me out the most was accompanying for Spencer’s choir concert.  A couple of weeks ago his director asked if I would help accompany for tomorrow night’s concerts and when I agreed she gave me four songs.  They were all quite challenging for me.  Each of them has required lots of practice and I don’t have enough time to put that practice in.  I am doing well to play through each song once a day and I haven’t felt like I’ve improved enough to play them in the concert.  I’ve had a really bad concert experience before and I was scared that would happen again.  Finally last weekend I texted his director (Is texted the past form of text or is it just text?  That has been bothering me.) and told her I needed to come in to rehearse the songs with the choirs to see if I was even going to be able to play the songs well enough to keep up with the choirs in the concert.  I started praying that I would be able to play the songs well enough so I would be able to keep from making a fool of myself and so that I wouldn’t detracting from the choir’s performance.  Tuesday morning I was finally able to put in about an hour of practice before I went to rehearse with the choirs.  That day the songs finally started to come together for me.  The rehearsal went well and I now feel better about performing tomorrow night.  I know my prayers were heard and answered.   

For mutual Tuesday night we had a combined YW activity and we watched “Once I was a Beehive”.  It was such a cute, funny movie.  I recommend it. 

Wednesday Spencer had an interview with the bishop in preparation for his ordination to a teacher.  Right after that we hurried over to the Karalee’s and Marlee’s school Christmas concert. 

Thursday Spencer had a basketball game.  I can’t remember what else I did that day. 

Friday morning I took Chad’s truck to Walmart to get him new tires and an oil change for his Christmas gift this year, which is what he asked for.  Walmart had a good sale and we didn’t want to miss it.  I don’t think he’s going to be surprised by any gifts on Christmas morning this year which is sad … maybe I can find something small to surprise him with.  Friday night Chad and I went out to dinner at Chipotle and then to the theater to watch the final Hunger Games movie.  It was good.  I especially liked the ending.

Tilly and I rocking the early morning look.  Photo credit- Marlee

Yesterday morning we had a birthday party for Spencer.  We invited all the deacons and a few of the boys who have already moved into the teacher’s quorum.  We had an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, played basketball, steal the bacon-which was a big hit and was funny because the boys dove and rolled trying to get away from each other, British bulldogs (aka run sheepy run if your part of the Angle family), and then more basketball.  We went to In-n-Out as a family for a late lunch which was Spencer’s choice.  Then last night we had our ward Christmas party.  Chad was in a play that was put on after dinner.  The play was a spin-off of the Grinch.  It was about the Grinch’s brother the Grunch.  It was funny.  Chad was part of the chorus.

Today has been relaxing.  I haven’t had meetings.  We fasted that Chad’s knee will heal correctly and that I will have a second wind, or more like a third or fourth wind, in my calling as young women’s president.  I think I’m struggling because my 2 year mark is coming up.  That’s a long time, but I think I will still be in there at least through girl’s camp this summer.  I’m looking forward to camp though and I can do it if that is the Lord’s plan for me.  I wouldn’t be sad if I got released though.  J 

Spencer got a cell phone and some wheels for his birthday.  Fun fact - we got that nice bike for $5 at our neighbor's garage sale.  Nothing in the world wrong with it except it needed air in the tires.

I love the content look on Spencer's face in this picture

Karalee being silly!

For my quote today I’ll include part of my combined YW lesson on missionary work today: 

Another way we can be missionaries is to defend our beliefs.  A few weeks ago I was listening to my scriptures while I was straitening my hair for church.  I was listening to Alma 46.  The chapter heading of that scripture stood out to me.  It says:

Amalickiah conspires to be king—Moroni raises the title of liberty—He rallies the people to defend their religion—True believers are called Christians—A remnant of Joseph will be preserved—Amalickiah and the dissenters flee to the land of Nephi—Those who will not support the cause of freedom are put to death. About 73–72 B.C. 

I have been taught that the book of Alma is a type and shadow of our day.   Two definitions of types and shadows:

• ·         “There are many accounts in the scriptures that are intended to be ‘shadows’ or ‘types’ of something else. A type is a symbol that foreshadows a future event. We can learn more about an event by studying the details of types or shadows that foreshadow that event. https://www.lds.org/manual/old-testament-seminary-teacher-manual/genesis-continued/home-study-lesson-genesis-19-27-unit-6?lang=eng
• ·         “‘Typology is a figure of speech that moves in time: the type exists in the past and the antitype in the present, or the type exists in the present and the antitype in the future.’ The implications this has on our understanding of scriptural history are profound.” http://www.ldsliving.com/Types-and-Shadows-The-Old-Testament-Revealed/s/5129

So now that we know that the Book of Alma foreshadows our day and the things that will take place let’s read that chapter heading again.  There were two things that really stood out to me.

Amalickiah conspires to be king—1. Moroni raises the title of liberty—He rallies the people to defend their religion—True believers are called Christians—A remnant of Joseph will be preserved—Amalickiah and the dissenters flee to the land of Nephi—2.Those who will not support the cause of freedom are put to death. About 73–72 B.C. 

1. President Monson and other general authorities have given us a modern day title of liberty.  Pres. Monson said, “Inasmuch as the trend in society today is rapidly moving away from the values and principles the Lord has given us, we will almost certainly be called upon to defend that which we believe. Will we have the courage to do so?” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/be-strong-and-of-a-good-courage?lang=eng
2. Those who do not defend the gospel may risk spiritual death.

“President Thomas S. Monson has been raised up for our time. His life and teachings are the message God has sent to protect and bless us today.” https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/10/the-book-of-alma-lessons-for-today?lang=eng

Love,

Mindy

Letters to Spencer for his birthday:

My Dear Spencer,

Happy 14^th Birthday!  I love you so much.  You are and always have been a joy to raise and a great blessing in my life.  You, as the oldest, have been through many things with Dad and me.  You helped us get through many trials with the light that you possess.  I hope you will always keep that light within you and that you’ll seek more light, knowledge and understanding throughout your life like we learned at stake youth conference a few weeks ago.  Just last night Dad and I were talking about when you were born 14 years ago.  You changed our lives completely.  You paved the way and made us parents.  Since you are the oldest we have probably made the most mistakes on you.  I’m sorry for those mistakes.  I hope you know that we love you and that Dad and I are doing our best.  We love being parents.  We hope that after you serve a full time mission, you will find a worthy woman, who desires to be a mother, to take to the temple to be married to her for time and all eternity.  I love the temple.  Its blessings are worth every sacrifice it takes to get there.  I want you to know that I am impressed with the young man that you have become!  I was particularly impressed that you did all the requirements to earn your Duty to God for the Deacons.  Especially that you did it on your own without prodding from me.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday today!

Love,

Mom

Dear Spencer,

Happy birthday!  I can’t believe you are already 14 and it’s even harder to believe that you are only an inch or two away from what I was as a senior in high school.  I am very proud of the young man you have turned out to be.  I know being the oldest child has extra responsibilities and pressures that come with it and you do a great job with all of that.  You are a great big brother and a tremendous help to your mother and I.  I admire how you honor your priesthood and serve other without complaint.  You will be a great missionary with those traits.  There will be some challenges as you get closer to your mission as Satan doesn’t want you to serve.  Please come to me or mom with anything you struggle with and we can help.  We went through that as well.  I love you and hope you have a great year.

Love,

Dad