UNTITLED

I’m leaving this post untitled because I want you to be able to draw your own conclusions.

Last night, I woke up in the wee hours. Because I lack any kind of self control whatsoever, I got out of my bed and checked the computer for Trammell’s weekly email. It comes in the middle of the night Tuesday. Rather than wait until some coherant hour on Wednesday, I would rather lean into the screen with bleary eyes and search for the one line I am looking for.

“Good Morning Family! I hope that you are all doing well. I can’t wait to read this weeks emails later today. And last weeks. And the week before that. But I skim over them every once in a while and am glad to hear that everything’s going well. Things are going great here!”

He’s happy. That’s all that matters to me. I allow myself to breathe and continue with his letter. It was fabulous, as usual.

Not wanting to wake Brian, I slid back into bed silently. But I couldn’t fall asleep. Parts of the letter kept coming back to me….. parts that held answers to some of my rhetorical questions from yesterday.

Answers come in different ways. And people get different answers to the same question. I will refrain from commenting. Once again, I want to allow people to draw their own conclusions and find their own answers.

Here are some snippets from Trammell’s letter.

“Transfer calls came this morning... and- I am not going anywhere- thank goodness! But Elder Godfrey is coming down to the city! He is the new AP! I am excited to be able to see him a lot more and to learn from him again.”

Elder Godfrey was Trammell’s trainer. His first companion. He was everything we prayed for………and more. We haven’t met him but we love him. We love him for showing Trammell “how it is done.” We love him for setting Trammell up for the remainder of his mission.

“Her husband's name is Laay. He is good. He has great faith. He has some amazing experiences with prayer. Last week Laay went to buy a space to sell goods. He needed a hundred dollars, he said, “Eh, it’s just a hundred dollars, I don’t really need to pray about it.” Those were his exact words. Well, the first four places he went couldn’t loan/give him money. Finally he prayed, then called his brother who came immediately, gave him the money, and they went and bought the place. Man that was so cool! It showed that no matter what- whether small or big- we should ALWAYS pray unto the Lord! I know that when we do that, then He will consecrate our efforts for our good! I have seen this so much! That a little pray here or a little prayer there has so much influence on the things that we do, and that he will truly consecrate it for our good. I learned this last night. We have to be in the house by 8:30 at the latest. You know me- I like to be obedient, and so we left and literally as we left from our appointment, a powerful wind came- man it was so hard to ride back in this wind and we only had 15 minutes! So I said a quick prayer. I prayed that we would be able to make it back on time and that the Lord would give us strength to make it back. Then we just pedalled as hard as we could! Miraculously we made it back at 8:29! I know that when we turn it over to the Lord first, and then work as hard as we can, He will take what we do and then make it complete and whole."

Lastly, I would like to share Trammell’s companion’s email that he sent Brian. Trammell’s companion and his family joined the Church in Cambodia a year ago. He is now serving a mission and his father is the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency up in Siem Reap (6 hours from the mission home- Trammell’s first place – home of Elder Godfrey for the last 9 months.)

Here it is- unedited.

"dear brain thanks for your worry for me and your son i have tow sisters i am so exitet to hear general conference now i am so happy in 2 branch some time i miss my family but elder cox help me to be joy and work hard i forgot homsick elder cox know cambodain alots i can not help him because he know more khmer than me i just help him to pronounciation more clearly i love him he try to study and obedint exactly i love this work love from elder da"

Well there you have it.........24 hours of my thoughts. Scary, I know! Thanks for letting me take this very public 24 hour journey and for sharing it with me.

I'm Bugged and I'm Thinking!

It's dangerous when I think too long! So consider this a warning!



A friend of a friend of a friend posted some recent vacay pictures of her daughter (12 year old) and a friend on the beach in Hawaii……….in bikinis.

Yes all involved are LDS.



This sparked questions from her readers. Evidently, in the past, she (mom of bikini wearer) had railed on others who let their daughters wear bikinis. So now, her readers wanted to know why the rules had changed.

They questioned her in their comments. And she responded with what I feel was an "excuse." Because if she really felt okay with it, if she really felt justified, she wouldn't have responded at all.



Here are her reasons as to why it is now okay for her daughter to wear the bikini.
1) It was her husband’s decision
2) You have to pick your battles
3) It wasn’t a huge deal since her daughter is innocent and sweet and commandment obeying.

This is bothering me. This has made me think all day. The whole MODESTY issue and bikini’s has been bothering me for some time and has been exacerbated by silly, exaggerated, facetious talk that there is such a thing as a “modest bikini.” I know people are joking when they use that term, but it bugs me.

So……..what do you think about modesty and bikinis and short shorts and tank tops?

First of all, I will admit
1) I do have an advantage in that I will not have to face this issue because I have all boys. (I know - you can bring up girlfriends and future wives.)
2) I am NOT perfect and I am NOT trying to set myself on a pedestal as an example of someone who lives ALL the commandments.

I would just like to have a discussion and hear where YOU are coming from.

Here is my opinion.
How we appear on the outside is often an indicator of how we feel on the inside. How we dress really does affect how we act. Sorry, but we are judged by how we dress. No it’s not right. It’s not fair. But it is true.


I'll come back to that....but first -
Why do we obey commandments?

Some of them ring true to us. We hear the prophet say something and for some reason (the Spirit) it sounds “right.” We don’t need to be sold. We just do it.



Many times, this obedience is born out of love of the Lord. We love the Lord and we want to do what he wants us to do. We also may choose to obey because we have had success obeying other commandments and see that obedience has brought us joy or happiness or at least helped us avoid disaster in the past.

Sometimes we reluctantly obey out of duty. We know we probably should do our visiting teaching and even though we don’t want to do it, we have enough of a testimony of other things that we are betting we probably SHOULD do this too.

Sometime we obey out of fear. We understand that there are blessings and consequences attached to commandments. Because we are afraid of consequences, we obey.

I have not addressed modesty yet. I don’t know if I will get to. I don’t want this to be a 50 page post. And I’m evaluating my own obedience to commandments in general.


Are there commandments that we can afford to ignore? Are there commandments that are less important than others? Just thought questions.

Should I Be Worried?

I drove up to the school the other day.

From the parking lot, it’s easy to see the Varsity practice field.
While waiting for a car to back out, I scanned the field for tiny baby.

He’s easy to spot since he’s sooo short. I didn’t see him. But he could be on the sideline. Nope. He could be getting a drink. He could be getting something out of his lacrosse bag. He could be running an errand for the coach. He could have gotten demoted to another team on another field. The possibilities are endless.

So I parked and headed to the girls’ lacrosse game. That’s when I saw the ambulance on the path near the lacrosse field. Interesting.
But there were no flashing lights, no paramedics, no throngs of curious bystanders.

Right then, my cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is John Doe (someone whose name I didn’t immediately recognize) and I have Andrew (another name I didn’t immediately recognize) here with me. He had some breathing difficulty at practice.”

OHHHHHH! I’m starting to come to! It’s the Athletic Trainer and he has Parker. (All my kids go by their middle names, so when someone uses their first name…….well….you can’t really expect me to respond.)
Okay, so he has Parker and Parker can’t breathe. Is that all?
Phew!

He told me that he was near the field and the coach called him over. The coach doesn’t like to handle non breathing kids by himself. Weird.

Parker’s pulse was up over 100 and he was pale and had difficulty getting air. The trainer took him to the training room and had him lie down and elevate his legs. Within minutes, his color returned and his pulse was down around 65. He was fine.

I told the trainer that I was already at the school and I would be right down. It’s one of the few rooms in the school that I don’t have an all access pass to.

Parker was fine. He looked fine. The trainer said that Parker did mention a recent chest injury. Oh yeah that……….that was 2 months ago or at least a month ago. He pulled some muscle or something and was in major pain for awhile. The doctor is the one who decided it was nothing. (after I had diagnosed it as nothing)

But while we were in the training room, the trainer also noticed that while Parker has a very straight spine, two of his ribs (back ribs) were out of place. Hmmm….that might lead to discomfort. He asked if he could pop them back in. Sure! It’s not my back you’re manipulating. He popped Parker’s ribs back in, gave him some ibuprofen, and sent us on our merry way.

Parker went back to practice (to watch, not to play). I went to the girls’ lacrosse game. And we never did figure out why the ambulance was there

Friday Foto Finish

Today, I am playing along with Candid Carrie/and her Friday Foto Finish Fiesta.
Check out her site and play along!

I wouldn't be recording history if I didn't mention our not one - but TWO snowdays!

Yep, yesterday was a snow day.

And today is ANOTHER snow day!

Next week is SPRiNG BReaK 2009.........so this is a bonus!

Who can complain about that? Not the kids! They're still asleep.

This week's Friday Foto Finish pictures sum up our Snow Celebration!

Here's Garrett's car. He's not going anywhere today.

Here's Parker. You can't see him? I guess that's the point. It's 10 am and you probably won't see him for awhile.

Here's the aftermath of Snowday 1's Movie Binge. We'll clean it up and start Snowday 2!

Hope your weekend started yesterday and is as great as ours!

VOTE for the BONEHEAD BROTHERS (in 50 Words or Less)

In our high school, Student Council isn't called Student Council.

It's called Student Leadership and it’s a class.

And it's obviously a very SERIOUS class!

If you are interested in running for any Student Body Office, you have to FIRST run the gauntlet and be accepted into the class.

It’s that time of year – time to apply to get into the class. And it is no simple task.

There are three steps to getting in-
1) Hand out four or five (I can’t remember) recommendation forms to your teachers. Four of the five must be core teachers. So you can’t just give them to the PE, Pottery and Choir teachers. You have to be on the good side of your Calc teacher too. Step one also includes writing an essay answering 2-3 specific questions about why you should be in Leadership, how you have shown Leadership and if you were in charge of coming up with a new all school activity, what would it be.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s pretty competitive. If ONE teacher has a beef with you or takes off a point or two, you will probably be cut.
If you successfully navigate this step, you can go on to step TWO.

2) “Write a personal statement telling the student body why you would do a good job representing them, your ideas for the school, who you are, why you should be elected, etc.” This is limited to 50 WORDS. 50 Words! That’s a lot to say in 50 words. Everyone who passes step 1 (and this will be about 30 kids per grade) will have a teeny tiny picture and their 50 word statement put on a poster. Students will have a week to peruse the posters of candidates for their grade and then the student body will vote. The 30 or so kids per grade will be pared down to 15ish.
If you are voted in by your classmates, you will proceed to step 3, the final elimination!

3) You will face a jury of current student body officers and teachers in a 10 minute interview. You will have to think on your feet and answer questions regarding yourself, leadership issues, and pseudo scenarios like “If you are an underclassman and you were put in charge of a committee and some of your committee members won’t pull their weight, what would you do?”

So the Bonehead Brothers both made it through the first round. Phew!!!!!

They spent the weekend crafting their 50 WORDS. So much to say. So few words. They typed and cut, typed and cut and checked the word count over and over.

We’ve been involved in leadership for years. How many ways can you say, “I’ll listen to your ideas.” “I’ll be responsible.” “I’m creative.” Yada yada yada.

AND – WHO READS THESE? Seriously, how many freshmen are going to stand in the hall or the caefeteria and read 30 of these 50 word biographies?

Here is Parker’s 50 Words:

“Maybe you have seen me around. Maybe you haven’t. Since, I’m a foot shorter than everyone, maybe you thought I was a teacher’s small child. I’m actually your classmate. I was the little flare behind the massive bonfire at Homecoming. I’m small, but my ideas are BIG!”
Garrett is getting ready for his senior year. This is old hat for him and BORING. Those applying for the class their senior year tend to be a little…………silly?

Garrett came up with a few gems and had a hard time deciding what to use. Are you ready?

Option 1 – “Yuo juts psent 30 esconds raeding this, when yuo mhgit as wlel just vtoe fro me adn be dnoe. Vote for Garrett Cox!”

That wasn’t even 50 words.

Option 2 – “Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I’ve just been handed this urgent and horrifying news story. I need al of you to stop what you’re doing and listen! Vote for Garrett Cox!!!! (oh yeah, and by the way, Id be a good leader.)

Hmmm…….meaningless quote from Anchorman that everyone swears ALL the students will “get.”

Option 3 – “We were both young when I first saw you, I close my eyes and the flashback starts: I’m standing there on a balcony in summer air. See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns. See you make your way through the crowd and say hello. Vote for Garrett Cox.

Yeah – another meaningless 50 words of Taylor Swift. A sure vote getter.

Option 4 – “Hi, I’m Garrett Cox. It stinks that I only get 50 words to write about why you should vote for me because I feel like I could go on and on about my leadership qualities, or use catchy sayings, or do something funny but……..”

If you turn in more than 50 words they just cut you off at the 50th word.

Option 5 – “Insert a really corny and stupid campaign joke here that gets you to vote from…..then go vote for me. Vote for Garrett Cox.”

Well, we’ll see what he turns in. Actually, we won’t. I’m not going up to the school and standing in front of a poster and reading 30 little entries to find Garrett’s. We’ll see if the boys get voted in DESPITE their 50 Words.

Treasures from Trambodia

I CANNOT believe that it was 20 years ago, the doctor handed me this little bundle of joy! He was born on Good Friday and came home from the hospital on Easter Sunday. He has brought joy to our home ever since. I cannot think of a better way for him to celebrate his birthday than in service to the Lord! Happy Birthday Trammell!

Trammell's mission has been incredible. He is loving every day in Cambodia. And we LOVE getting Trammell's emails. When printed out, they are are 2-3 pages of 8 point font full of miracles. If we took out the words "AWESOME" and "AMAZING," they would be one page.
They usually read, "On Monday, the most awesome thing happened....

On Tuesday, we saw another miracle.... Wednesday, we could really see the Lord's hand in our work..... Thursday was amazing because...." and so on.

We really can't complain. We LOVE to hear these stories. We love to see these miracles through Trammell's eyes. We are thrilled that he is thrilled with each and every day of his mission.

However, we want the dirt! We want to hear about where he lives, what he eats, the bugs, the spiders, the hardships, the food, the culture.

Okay, he did tell us about the scorpion bite.

But, we also want pictures! He hasn't sent a single picture home. I have sent him memory card after memory card, so he could just pop one out and mail it home. I'm beginning to wonder if he lost his camera.

Thanks to Elder Godfrey and his incredibly generous parents, we received a CD of pictures this last weekend. So here are some shots of Cambodia! Some of them we have seen before. Some are new! We loved every single pic!

Maybe this is why he isn't sending pics! And as if it isn't hot enough!
Youth in the church building - notice the gorgeous doors to the classrooms!

I have NO idea where this is or what they are trying to accomplish. It is obviously some kind of service project. I know that some of the service they perform there includes working in rice paddies, assisting dentists, helping people build huts etc. The road to Angkor Wat.....which explains why their shoes look like this:

The apartment is Siem Reap that Elder Cox and Elder Godfrey shared with another set of elders.
I have more! I'll share some more in the future!

Tiny Baby Did NOT Get Killed!

It was quite a night!

Parker played his JV game and he played really well. The final score was 9-0. He scored three goals and had an assist. So he did his job.

Then I took him over to the Varsity game.

Garrett scored a goal..............not his job and not normally done with a long pole.

At half time, the score was 14-0. After a few minutes in the third quarter, they put Parker and some of the other JV players in. Parker had a great time.

The coaches loved when Parker had the ball and the other team’s defensemen took his stick (over 6 feet long) and put it between Parker’s legs and lifted. Parker rode the stick like a hobby horse AND kept the ball. A penalty probably should have been called. Parker fell off the hobby horse and rolled around the net and took a shot. He missed, but it was fun to watch.

Then during the last minute of the game, Parker was running with the ball with a defenseman pummeling him with a stick. The d-pole was getting frustrated and started trash talking Parker. The ref heard it and threw his flag. The guy got a one minute personal foul for “Unsportsmanlike Behavior.” One minute in the box. But then, the guy turned to the ref and said, “What? He’s like HALF A MIDGET!” Oops! The ref pulled out a second flag. Sorry! Two minutes in the box. There were only 12 seconds left in the game by then so it didn’t really matter.

But Parker emerged victorious and unscathed. Thanks for your well wishes and prayers!