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.
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| 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
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| 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. |
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| I love the content look on Spencer's face in this picture |
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| 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.
- 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
- 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 14th
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
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