Anna and I were happy to see the new year come this year. 2014 was a very hard year for us...we had two miscarriages last year (one at 3 months and the other much shorter), we lost Anna's older brother to suicide. The trials were hard and at times we felt like putting up our hands and saying no more Lord we can't take it. But looking back we realize how much empathy we learned this year and we also learned what it meant to be served by others and the kindnesses that were shown us. Those that meant the most were the unsolicited acts of kindness where people just acted without saying "What can we do" like the Plaiziers who heard by accident that we had the first miscarriage at 3 months and showed up on our doorstep with a plate of brownies and big hugs or Anna opening the door one day to find a bowl of hot soup and rolls for her and the kids with coloring books and a movie from Amy White. We committed to show more love to those around us. I heard a quote the other day that said "Your mess is your message" and I loved it. How perfect it was to describe that your trials really shape who you are and what you learn. My mess is my message and it grew a lot in 2014 of which I have complete gratitude for now.
Anna fell into a deep depression after her brother killed himself in October and I had been praying about how to help bring her out of the darkness that was surrounding her. I decided I would give her a gift for Christmas that would carry on throughout the entire year in 2015. Let me explain a little back story here...Last year I gave Anna a year of dates...each month I had a preplanned prepaid date planned for us to do and each month she would open an envelope and we would go on the date...it was my way to give her my time. This year I thought I would do something similar but instead of a date I thought what would be the best way to help her out of depression and I thought the prophets always teach us to focus on others and we will see depression dissipate so after much prayer I prepared 12 acts of service we would do, 1 each month, as a family and sealed each one in an envelope that we would open on the first FHE of the month. In this way we would be giving our time to others. I prayed that Anna would be open to this and that it wouldn't seem like another thing on her list that was already weighing her down. Slowly Anna has come out of the dark and is back in the light and thankfully a week before Christmas she came home from church and said..."I got the clearest impression that we need to serve more in 2015 today"...I said a silent prayer of gratitude to my Father in Heaven for softening her heart. Our first act of service was to go to the temple, which we did, and serve those who couldn't serve themselves while Anna still is able to go to the temple before Maggie (the name we have chosen for our new baby) comes in March.
Each year we choose a theme for the year that we hope to adopt into all of our family activities. This year we have chosen D&C 4:2 "O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength..." We have since found out that it is also the Youth theme for 2015 which is fitting as I am in YM. I'm really excited to see what experiences we have this year and how it changes us as a couple and also our girls and I hope that the 12 acts will be something we carry on for the rest of our lives.
As mentioned above for our January 'Act of service' we went to the temple. For February we decided to Heart Attack some neighbors who meant a lot to us and who are always a great support to us and our girls. Here was the card when Anna opened it...
So we sat down with our girls and cut out hearts and the girls loved adding their special touch to each heart coloring frantically to make sure each heart had its own unique abstract design. We put on our coats and crept out into the darkness and across the street to the Echols door and plastered their door with hearts.
The girls were so proud of sneaking up to doors and not getting caught. We next went over to Alexanders (Gma Marilynn and Gpa Sherm) who our girls just adore and look up to.
We often find them sneaking over there when they are on their back porch and just hanging out with them in the summertime...here is a photo with Sherm from last summer.
Don't you love this photo...you can see the love they have for him in their faces...we are blessed to be surrounded by such great friends and neighbors.
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