Hi love of my life with a grape sushi souffle cream puff on the side?  This is your 40 year old sister with cottage cheese legs sending love on cyberspace~! Oh my precious sister, I'm about to say all the things we're not supposed to say, so forgive in advance.  I've missed you somethin turibul lately.  I always miss you but sometimes it just hurts.  Annie and I went in your room and just missed you. You leave a very empty place, and it's summer, and the kids are home, and we miss you. Okay, I said it. But wouldn't it be worse to not know that, or feel it?  Part of the joy of being loved is the pain of being missed. That's one of my very famous quotes I just made up. It's positively illustrious.  

Hi my sweet sister!  I love your "win" headband. I want to make Family Home Evening signs in Japanese, for some reason those words are so funny. Katai no Yube, right?  We loved the pictures of the dog menu, feeding the dear, most of all your beautiful smile.  We love and miss.

Things have been crazy sauce with chunks of organic craziness floating in it. I am still reveling in the joy of our rescue, our own tender mercy, signed sealed and delivered by our loving Heavenly Father. I don't know if anyone told you, but Jeff was hired on a Wednesday at 3 in the afternoon, and there was a company wide hiring freeze instated first thing Thursday morning, just hours later. Heavenly Father really truly signed that tender mercy in a way that we could know that he would gather us with great mercies.  

I am enjoying a tiny bit of room to breathe, most of my students took July off, and I took July off with the theater kids, and I almost feel like a little Molly at home, making dinner, serving up food storage extravaganze, passing out chastisements, nagging, laughing at their antics.  I NEVER REALIZED HOW PRECIOUS IT IS TO BE ABLE TO BE WITH MY OWN CHILDREN ALL DAY!  Most of the teaching happens in the moment when the issue arises, and it is the most important thing just to be there. There is a saying that goes " a happy mother is worth a thousand books on child care".  I would also say "a present mother is worth a thousand laminated lessons".  Another saying goes "Mother's don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys, don't let 'em play geetars n drive them old trucks, make em be doctors and lawyers and such", but we'll save that one for another time, another starry sky, another campfire.  Anyways, I testify to the enabling power of the Atonement. I have been able to do so much more than I am capable of in my real life. I can't even keep my kid's shoes tied, their fingers out of their noses, a pair of clean undies on their little chicks and all seventeen food groups on the table and the cat outside.  I, like you, testify of divine help.  

That was funny. I'm at your house and the oldest three are at a preisthood meeting with Jeff, and the youngest three are downstairs rolling themselves up in blankets like burritos, fighting, rolling around on the wood floor and hurting themselves. Just as I was writing how important it is for a mother to be with them, they were all three screaming "MOOOOM" t the top of their lungs, and of course, being the sweetheart that I am, I ignored them to write to you about how important it is to be with them in moments like that. 

Mooks got home from EFY, absolutely loved it, even cried when he left and said his testimony is burning now.  Coy is in BOTH PLAYS, Laura told him he had to be in hers, he is a professor, sings, dances, holds a girls arm, and then his Narnia play is in two weeks. It is so unbelievable. Chuck Wilson came up to me in church today and said "what happened to our boy?", and he cried. He loved him when he was a deacon and hard and shyer than heck, if heck is shy.  He's in college, growing a goatee and he is so good, and great. He and Mook just make a movie for a contest, it's so funny. They spent about 20 hours on it.  Spen is mr. "mom, will you take me to the rec center" 40 times a day.  He needs more spiritual somehow, praying about that. He's good, it's just he's not hungry, know what I mean? We've been cranking the sound system we bought for theater, and it is SO FUN!  He has a new friend that is really rich and he's loving going to do things, going out to eat, all the things this kid takes him and his mom pays. He is a cute, funny kid.  He's pretty social, LOVES his cell phone, and is constantly reading Mckay's texts.  Now that Jeff has a job,  I hope to get Spencer in piano lessons. He's so talented but he's still learning the same song he was a year ago because of his loser mother.  I want to fix that, I want to fix a lot of things, but on the other hand, these kids have learned lessons no amount of money could buy, in fact, lessons only no amount of money CAN buy.  I praise the Lord and trust His higher purposes. Joseph is fun. He went to state in track, paid for track himself, paid for his shoes himself, and did awesome.  We've been doing a lot of landscaping lately, Dad rescued me on a giant arbor at Marcia Matheson Slichta's.  He probably spent 16 hours or more building with us, and he was so so sweet.  We are still finishing work on Sue's and we have three more Slicta projects.  I'm trying to decide what if anything to continue doing. I want to be one hundred percent home, but it's hard to give up theater when I make enough in two hours a week to cover a mission payment, and all the kids still want to do it so badly,and there is nowhere else to send them.  I'm so grateful for prayer to figure it all out, for fasting, for revelation, for REPENTANCE!  I am so excited to start new, a new chapter of our lives, leave the darkness behind and take the lessons along, and set new goals, love love love my children.  I think one of my personal mottos is learn, serve, celebrate! Seth is absolutely crazy man. He is into reason and logic, reasoning why he shouldn't do exactly what I want and providing logic to show that he's right. Just kidding. He is so so so much fun. The boys put him in their video over and over. He is a little brother of teenagers and goes around singing these pop songs, it's so funny.  He got a new bed with little drawers so all his possessions in the world are collecting there, a little Barbie purse with some pennies in it and stickers over the picture of the Barbie, his little boy doll, all of his little treasures. He's had an infected eye and looks like he's been in a biker fight.  He said when were dead Jesus can make us alive.   He is so much fun.   

jen, I love you. 

Jenny!  I love you so much!  You can not believe the example you are setting for me. It is absitively posolutely amazing. Thank you so so so so so so so so much.  My life has been pretty good.  I am just starting our football season tomorrow.   I am super super super super super excited.  It is going to be a blast.  I also just got back from EFY, and it was super super and super super spiritual. My testimony is like exploding in my heart. It was a blast. So anyways, you're the best, Love Mookie with the phone call hair and mullet to boot.  

Jenny I fegotted something to say a long time.  They said I always hadded to draw so I always hadded to draw every Sunday.  I want to be with you. You're my friend, my best friend.  Love, Seth. 

Hey Jenny, I'm sorry that I haven't written in a while, and that's my fault. I'm sure Mom already told you about my plays, college, and possibly the video me and McKay made, and with those my life has been pretty hectic for the last long while. It's fun though. We miss you so much and can't wait until you get home! Enjoy yourself til then (your letters are wonderful!).

- Coy (The Professor and Eugene Fodor)