Creamers Visit

I was so excited last week to get a call from Julie & Nathan Creamer, our friends from Virginia. They were in Las Vegas and on their way north to Salt Lake City and wanted to come visit us. I was so excited to visit with them and to meet their little boy Jack. Max and Evan played together just like last summer and never missed a beat. After lunch we went to a park down the street where lots of energy could be burned up. It is always fun to see friends especially when we have been apart for some time. We hope to see them again in April during Mark's next R&R trip home. We miss you Creamers!!

New Blog Site

Since the article published in The Spectrum last Saturday, I have had a tremendous response from our local community and from our friends back east. Jill Mortenson, a mom here in St. George, created a blog spot for the Afghanistan School Supplies project. It is GREAT! There is a button on the top of this blog that you can click to take you directly there. Once you are at the site, please feel free to copy & paste the button on to your blogs to help pass the word along. I am excited to use this site to update the progress of this service project.

So, check it out .... http://www.writingabrighterfuture.blogspot.com/ or click on the button to the left!

THANK YOU JILL!!

Date Night with Max!

Last night Max and I went to see his first movie in a theater on "the big screen". We went with his cousins to celebrate Glenn's birthday (Mark's brother David and family). We saw The Princess and the Frog which was good but according to Max, "its too long mom ... come on lets go play with the guns!" The guns were at the arcade in the lobby that we went pass to get our popcorn and drink. Of course we had a bathroom run which also included Max running through the lobby back over to the arcade, spilling of the popcorn mostly in my purse and of course spilling of the drink - thankfully only minimal damage. Afterwards, we did waste $3.50 on the arcade and then when I asked him what he wanted for dinner it was Taco Bell with "no salad on the tacos mom!" We had a good time inspite of less than a 30 minute nap yesterday. I had a good time as well ... honestly this was probably the first movie I have been to in a theater in probably 3 or 4 years. I know - I really need to get out more!

Headline For A Day ...

The Spectrum, St. George's Daily Newspaper published an article on our School Supplies Project yesterday morning. I made the front page with a follow-up on A3. Here is the link that will take you to the full article. There are two pictures but, with the link you only see the REALLY bad picture of me. Of course it was large and above the fold line on the paper. It was kind of weird to drive to the gym yesterday morning and see my picture in all my neighbors driveway! The important thing was the article and so far I have had quite a few responses by email and phone from people here in town wanting to help support our project. Mark and I posted the link on our Facebook pages and have had several responses from that. One manager with Rubbermaid is contacting their sister company to see if they would donate chalk, markers, etc. that they produce. Several others are contacting their childrens school to see if they can collect supplies and have more letters written to the kids or the soldiers. Either way, the word is spreading about the need and I am so happy to be part of something bigger than our own worries! One lady here in St. George offered to make a blog spot for the cause and another lady called me to say that every fall when school supplies go on sale, she buys $100 worth and would like to donate all the supplies she has on hand to us. Another contact of mom's (Grandma Tippets) has made 8 helmet liners and will be bringing them down to us on Tuesday from Cedar City.

There are a lot of wonderful people who are willing to help & support complete strangers. For this I am grateful simply because I truly want to help the children of Afghanistan who can not help themselves with these basics. Again, Mark and I are grateful to everyone who can help with either spreading the word, donating their time, money or start a drive in their local area. This is a great way to start off the year!

First Primary Activity

It's official ... Max is now a Sunbeam in our ward's primary at church! He is so excited and this past weekend he was able to go the "kick-off" party for the new year. The kids were up at the church for a pancake breakfast at 8:30 am prepared by our Bishopric! They played several games in the cultural hall and the kids got to meet who their new teachers would be. I have been asked to teach the 6 year olds and I have 4 active kids in my class. This past Sunday was my first day to teach and they are going to be lots of fun. The last class I was asked to teach was the 4 year olds and there is definitely a difference! I'm looking forward to this new year and getting to know these kids. In the mean while, Max is one of 6 kids in the Sunbeam class and his teacher definitely has her hands full. On Sunday, Max would turn around in his chair look at me and say, "Mom, are you ok? I love you. Do you need me to come sit with you?" Hopefully as time passes he will learn to stay with his class and be a good listener with his teacher. Our little boy is growing up so fast!

School Supplies are Rolling In!

Just before Christmas, my neighbor contacted me about collecting some school supplies through her daughters 4th grade class. I was excited that she was interested in promoting this service project and sent her some information! This past weekend, she delivered to me the boxes of supplies that they had collected along with a class picture and letters that the kids had written to the kids in Afghanistan! They did an amazing job and as I was sorting through all the things, I decided to give our local newspaper (The Spectrum) a call to see if they would be interested in the story. Sure enough, a reporter called me yesterday afternoon and today she and a photographer came out to take some pictures. By the time the reporter had called me, I had already sent 4 boxes of things earlier in the day but, still had a couple more boxes to fill. Of course, I ended up crying as I was telling the reporter why I was doing this. I asked her, "Do you have kids?" She said no, but the photographer said yes, two. I said, when we can send our kids off to school knowing that they are safe to walk, have a warm building to meet in, a clean cafeteria, indoor plumbing, a fun and safe playground and not have to worry about getting hurt by any crazy explosions ... that's why I am doing this service project for these kids! The pictures of the kids is reason enough for me to want to help them! It seems so unfair that so many children are born in to poverty or in to extreme social and economic measures while so many of us were blessed to be born in to just the opposite circumstances. I pray that the educational supplies that we send will in the end help other children know that education will bring them a better future and hopefully one that is filled with hope and love. I'll be anxious to see how the article comes out and to see what other kind of response I get. See the side bar for the total amount of supplies that I have sent thus far.

Christmas Wrap-Up

The holiday came and went so quick. Max and I had so much fun with Justin, Mark all our cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents! While they were here we went swimming twice at the indoor pool here in Santa Clara, Justin & Mark went shooting with James, David and Grandpa Bridges, we went hiking in Snow Canyon twice, we drove to Pipe Springs, AZ to see a historic landmark (in the snow), we had endless bowling tournaments on Unlces James Wii, watched a great fireworks show on New Years Eve, ate lots of great meals together, decorated endless cookies, watched lots of football all while we laughed and told stories together. But the holiday soon came to an end and we had to take Justin and Mark back to the airport to catch their redeye flight back to Virginia. Before we dropped them off at the airport, we took some time to drive down the Las Vegas strip where Justin especially enjoyed seeing all the hotels, water fountains, lions, crazy people and drivers! The Luxor hotel is Justins favorite he thought it was sooo cool how it was black with the laser lights and single spot light going up in the sky. Someday we'll have to get a room there for him to stay in. Justin would think he had died and gone to heaven!

Mark and I went out to dinner on New Years Eve to celebrate our 7th Anniversary before he left. It was said that we had to be apart on the 3rd but, we were grateful for the time we did have together that night. It was to think about all the things we have done over the past 7 years and where we'll be in the next 7 years.

I'm still waiting to hear from Mark from Afghanistan. I certainly hope and pray that he is safe and that his flights are going ok. I can't wait to talk to him again!