U4ia: Sunday, December 09

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So Miranda came home from her mission a couple weeks early to have some surgery, but I have this great excuse to still write our family history down, since her novio is still on his mission in Paris, France for the next year. So until May 9, 2019, I'll still write a missionary letter for our blog posts. =)

Here's the letter you should have happily been reading December 10th.

On Monday, December 3rd, my niece Kate (my brother Allen & Martha's 8 year old) was flown to Primary Children's for brain surgery. She was in a car accident with some of her siblings, and they slid on snow into a power line.

Little miracle that happened: Miranda had been having a feeling that she shouldn't come to our house to go to Carlie's concert, but she couldn't figure out why. Right when she called me and was telling me, Martha rang through to say she was on her way in the helicopter to Primary's and Kate had bone fragments in her brain; could I go to Utah Valley to relieve Allen, who was with the other kids at the ER, so he could come up to Salt Lake, too? It would have taken me at least 45 min to get to them, and I had Miranda who was on the other line, waiting to help. She's been there so many times for her treatments, she knew exactly what to do. She got there in about 10-15 min.

By the time I got there, the kids were being discharged, but I was able to leave the nurse, who was trying to surreptitiously tell me they were worried about Dennis, who had been driving. But I told her to hold her thought before she said anything, and I ran over to Dennis and bear hugged him. Told him accidents happen and it could have been any of us driving, and the same thing could have happened. I was pretty forceful about saying Do you understand me?!?! When I got back to the nurse, she said, "Never mind. That's exactly what I was trying to tell you." We needed to keep our eye on him... he was harrowed up for the rest of the night and into the next day.

When I got to their house to hold the little ones, I found the coolest ward on the planet. THIS is what ministering looks like:

A completely transformed house,

blessings for all the kids in the accident,

and then I witnessed my niece Abby (18 - receiving the blessing) direct willing volunteers in saving the 800 loaves of freshly made bread they needed to deliver the next day, starting at 5:30 am. These men gathered around and took direction from her, finding ways to be there to deliver bread all day. It was so amazing. I'll never forget. New squad goals.

So the subject title of our letter could better end in: "...my sister to live and come home to us."

Meanwhile, the show goes on! Carlie was in a Madrigal Feaste that night, a medieval-Christmas-themed dinner theater performance for the whole family. A 3 course meal, and choral/ play-acting interaction.

Lone Peak has some cool cool cool stuff!

Tuesday after school, I found this little one just diving into the snow. He just wanted to be in it. He went all over the yard, just sliding through it. He is SO his father's son.

That night, Miranda went to a cool Spanish cultural night with a choral celebration of Navidad... she keeps having to go to these as an assignment, but what a great experience!

Wednesday, I went back over to Allen & Martha's, and held their little sick kids and cleaned up... little Zion had a fever, so I gave her some IBU profen, then held her with a cool wash cloth while it kicked in. She was so snuggly and sweet.

As soon as she knew I was taking a selfie, she wanted to be in it; but she was so miserable, she couldn't give much of a smile.

Then her meds started working, and she jumped up to start decorating the tree. A cute little band about her height was fully decorated; the rest of the tree, not so much. Haha! Here she is in a caped dress I had brought her... she will ONLY wear dresses, even if she has to wear sweat pants underneath because it's freezing outside. Tiny little princess.

So they had to put Kate under heavy sedation, the heaviest possible for her, to stabilize the swelling on her brain. She went into a deep coma, and Allen & Martha came home that night to stay with their kids for a few days to help them all get better. Most of them had fevers and couldn't swallow very well. BUT the doctors told them that they fully expect Kate to come out of this and recover; they just have to assess what damage she'll sustain from the swelling and bleeding in her brain. But huge blessings!!

Thursday, Miranda studied... with her trusty sidekick.

Even if Morgan's seminary teacher challenged them to do this, I still love it.

During Carlie's dance performance that night, there was a number by the Special Ed kids and their peer tutors. What a great idea! I just loved it and had to share with you.

And then Carlie was adorable, as usual.

Then, that night, as Carlie was LITERALLY in the middle of describing to me how she had no friends that notice or care about her, a guy knocked on the door to kidnap her for some late night snack. He & his GF were out delivering stuff, and decided they needed to make Carlie feel loved. Hahahahahahahahah! No one cares!!! Hahahahahhaha!!!

Friday, President George H.W. Bush died. I thought this was a remarkable picture. Whether I agreed with any or all of what they all did in office or stood for, this is a lot of power all in one place. And George W. was sitting across the aisle because he was speaking soon.

Also that day, we had a death in the family... Halle & Kierste buried her in the snow in the yard.

The gold star on the cupboard makes it look like Carlie has a cute little mullet. =)

Connor knows how to play hard with his friends. I love their creativity.

And Chloe got a little confused.............

............ This is Carlie's thrilled face:

That same night, Miranda went on an outing =) with Mitchell to the new tree exhibit at the Art Museum.

Saturday, she went on a temple photo tour to all the temples in UT county. =)

Luckily, since I had been helping at Allen & Martha's and super busy, I cancelled hosting part of our neighborhood progressive dinner. We went to it, but I left this Christmas decorating/ Mommy's been gone/ work in progress behind us.

More.

And

That night, I made our neighborhood Light the World donation. All week, I collected money on Venmo from neighbors, recording it on a spreadsheet, and reporting our total every few days to the neighborhood. Instead of giving neighborhood gifts and goodies, we all donated our $$ to the campaign. Here's the resulting report:

Sunday, Miranda celebrated with her roommates, a semester of fun together. Maddie is moving out, so they invited friends over for games & treats... Good luck, Maddie!

Meanwhile, we celebrated Alex & Natalie's little Lucy's first bday... her Golden Birthday, turning 1 on the 1st!!

When we got home, my kids decided they hadn't had enough to eat, so they made egg salad sandwiches together. No wonder they're growing & shooting up... STAHP IT.