Letter #17--Dear Doctor

Today is my baby's first birthday.  In honor of his birthday I decided to thank the doctors who have helped my four little children come into this world.  So I bought some little bundt cakes, wrote a thank you letter to Dr. Smith (delivered Katrina, Marcus, and (other than doing the actual catching) Duncan, Dr. Hansen (my first ob/gyn, delivered Amelia) and the rest of their team and ran them up to their office.  I hope this little treat brightens their day.  Happy Birthday Duncan!  And happy August 10th to the rest of you!

Letters #11-16 To my long lost husband and oldest child

     Boyd and Amelia went for a week long camping trip.  (No this picture is not from the trip--it's from the hike we did 2 days before their trip.)  I thought it would be fun for them to be met with some letter love when their adventure was over.  I've been sending them letters (3 each) care of Grandpa and Grandma Bartlett--Boyd and Amelia (and everyone else who went on the trip) slept there one night before beginning their backpacking journey.  Now I'm just hoping they stop at Grandpa and Grandma's again on their way out.  It's going to be a bit of a downer if they don't and G and G end up just forwarding those letters home.  That wouldn't be as much fun at all.  Cross your fingers that all the letters make it to Grandma and Grandpas' house before the campers stop in Tridell.  If they stop at all...

Letter#10--Dear Elder Palmer

I have another nephew on a mission.  Actually I have 4 nephews and a brother-in-law on missions with another waiting to leave in June.  We are very blessed.

But I just wrote an e-mail to my brother's son Eric, Elder Eric Palmer. He is the 2nd handsome guy from the left.

He is serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  In Africa.  Pretty different from Phoenix, or North Salt Lake, or Richmond, or even New York City.  To hear Eric talk (or to read his words) it sounds like he's serving in some crazy place like, I don't know, Boise, Idaho.  This boy can roll with it like no other.  He truly can go with the flow, and be very happy with the flow.  I'm inspired by his letters.  He has to be outside his comfort zone, but that's alright, he's there to serve the Lord, not to be comfortable, so all is well!  What an example he is to me.

Another thing I love about Elder Palmer is...

He loves my kids. 

And my kids love him.  Whenever they are together, which is never enough since his family moved to Virginia, my kids can crawl all over him and tease him and bug him, just like he is their big brother and guess what?  He LOVES them right back.  I've never seen him get tired or annoyed with their loving but sometimes seemingly endless pestering.  I'm not saying he doesn't get bothered, but he never lets my kids think he's bothered.  He loves them.  So his love for my kids makes me love him even more.

As Eric would say, he's the man.

Letter #9--Dear Amelia

Oh we had a doozy of a morning.  I felt so bad sending my sad and upset oldest girl to school today.  And to top it off, even though she had set out her school library books the night before, there they were, still sitting on the ottoman.  Now, bad things were going to be happening for Amelia at school too.  I wanted to be a rescue hero mom and run the books over to her, but we were loaning the truck to a neighbor so Boyd had the van--no car seats.  (Why didn't we all walk over?  I don't remember.)

Then I had a bit of luck.  The neighbor taking the truck ended up running late, so when she called, I asked if she could run the books over to the school.  She said she could, so I tucked an I love you letter into the bag with the books.  This at least made me feel a little better.  I think it made Amelia feel a little better too. 

Letters #3-8 Dear Elders and Sister

In Primary we had a lesson on being good examples/missionaries to those around us in our daily lives.  I teach the 4 and 5 year olds, so lessons are pretty basic.  Their attention spans are not so very long.  Some things they really liked though...

*  Seeing pictures of the missionaries serving from our ward, some of whom are good friends of their families.
*  Marking on a world map where those missionaries are serving.
*  Coloring pictures of themselves as missionaries to send to the "real" missionaries serving in our ward.

Along with the pictures from the Primary children, I included a letter of my own.  Some of these missionaries I have extra fond feelings for as they are some of my last group of students I taught.  These are the kids that performed for some of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.  They are the kids that knew my first baby.  Now those 6th graders are serving missions.  Awesome.  When I find the pictures I have of these boys at the Olympics, I'll add them to the post.

Sister Natalie N., serving in Arizona

Elder Ryan S., serving in Missouri

Elder Bryson R., serving in Singapore

Elder Weston M., one of those loved 6th graders

Elder Will C., another one of those very loved 6th graders

Elder Will C. (not the same Will C. as above!), serving in London

A note to me

     Marcus participates in a little neighborhood playgroup on Fridays.  It is just four boys and we rotate who is hosting.  There is no schedule or anything, just playing.  We recently had a new family move into our neighborhood with a little boy the same age, so my neighbor Jane invited her and her son to join.  Then, last week I was thinking about doing a neighborhood preschool again, and Jane and I talked to her about joining in on that as well.  I had asked her (Kim) to give me her address, phone number, etc. when she came to pick up her son.  Well, rather than giving me a paper with just those basic things on it, she gave me a hand-written note expressing her thanks at being included and that she and her family had felt warmly welcomed to our neighborhood. It made my day!

Letter #2--Dear RaChelle

     Letter number two is not a happy one.  I found out on Facebook that a friend of mine from my Carolyn street years had a 16 year old son pass away.  I wrote to let her know how sorry I am and that she and her family are in my prayers.  I don't know the details, but no matter what happened, my heart breaks for her.  Is there anything more heartwrenching than losing a child?  It has made me love on my children just a little bit more than usual.  A reminder that every day together is a very good day.