Hurray for school holiday! Abe was out of school on Friday and the rest of the kids are out today, for Labor Day. There is talk of doing something "fun" (Mikayla and Eden are already out shopping), but my most favorite days are ones like this past Saturday where everyone worked hard a good part of the day, cleaning and organizing and repairing projects, then made dinner together (individual pizza's) and the remainder of the day was spent with extended family and dear friends at a nephews baptism and the reception of one of Jordan's friend girls. I guess my lack of "yellow" personality is emphasized on those days=) but I do love them!
Friday, Fred and I went on a date to see another of Jordan's friend girls at her reception and then went to the "dollar" theatre to the T.C. Christiansen movie called "17 Miracles" about the Martin and Willie Handcart companies. It had it's mediocre moments in the first half, but it got better and brought back many sacred memories of Trek and renewed my appreciation for the sacrifices of the early pioneers and especially for Levi Savage, who I had previously learned to love, but was once again endeared to. I often forget how much impact one righteous, devoted person can make in the lives of people even many generations after they have passed on. His story teaches me some of the same lessons as Pahoran about humility and refusing to be made low by offence.
Abe came home from school onThursday all excited about upcoming class office elections and announced that he wanted to run for Vice President. My Abe?! I tried not to show my shock and was as encouraging as possible. I did try to positively explain that being a class officer would probably include socialization with other people and being in the occasional spotlight. He seemed aware and explained that he didn't want to run for President because they had to give a lot of speeches and he didn't want to run for secretary because they had to write "A LOT", but the idea of being involved in planning all of the "fun" activities seemed highly motivating. We will help him make posters for his campaign tomorrow (which runs through the 12th) and if nothing but the desire comes from this, I will count the Charter School a success for him. I am still a little shell shocked, but now all my children with "Yellow" personalities will have at least tried their hand at running for school politics, which is interesting to me. It seemed a natural extension of Jordan and Eden's personalities, but this is such a SURPRISE from my boy who I can't convince to continue in Young Artists, a community youth choir, even though he enjoys singing, just because of the once a semester concert stage fright factor--and that's in a large group. I will be so curious to see how this experience impacts him. One of the little girls that Fred home teaches, who is Abe's peer said he spends all his free time at school reading. I know he hasn't made any close friendships and doesn't seem that interested. After all books are friends and his 3 best friends, Leah, Charlie and William, who are all neighbors, are anxiously waiting for him when he comes home. For that reason, he won't have "public recognition" in his favor, but just the experience will be so good for him. I am really proud that he has decided to take a step towards contributing and being involved. I hope he'll keep taking those steps--no matter how the elections turn out, because those opportunities for responsibility and leadership are just around the corner for him as he prepares for the Aaronic priesthood next year.
Mikayla is headed off to Disneyland this week. She flies out with the her best friends family on Thursday and will stay until the 15th. Her best friend has been trying to talk me into this excursion since we moved here and now her dream to show Mikayla "the magic" is finally coming true! Mikayla has literally earned it but the house won't seem the same without her this week. Fred and I were talking about her going away to college on Sunday and were being all weepy when she came home from church and joined us on the hammock. She thinks we're wrecks. That would be true.
Mikayla and I had a sad experience on Tuesday. Last week during dinner clean-up, a mouse ran out from under the stove for a second. Being in a newer house has given me a comfort level that something that size couldn't get in, but I could hear him for the next few days whenever the house was quiet and the little kids were constantly asking if I'd seen the "cute little mouse" that day. Because of Fred's medical experience with Hantavirus, I know the real danger and disease that can be spread by mice, so I know we can't co-exist, but it is always a huge moral dilemma for me and as much as he hates it, Fred knows that he has to deal with the problem in private and in silence. However, this particular mouse was too smart for traps and was constantly startling me. Tuesday, I could hear him moving around, so Mikayla and I sneaked into the kitchen and found him on the pantry shelf. We spent the next forty minutes trying to trap him humanely, half the time with him staring at us from the back of shelves, but he was seriously like Houdinini and we finally lost him back under the stove. Only a few minutes later, I went into the kitchen and opened the dishwasher to load it and realized that the mouse was caught in the door. I wasn't sure what to do because I didn't know if shutting the door would hurt him or free him, so I yelled for Mikayla and with both of us traumatized, I slowly opened the door. and he immediately dropped on the floor with no sign of life, which was strange because he was very much alive the second before. I was so distressed at what I had inadvertently done, especially after spending almost an hour trying to be kind that I burst into tears. Mikayla told me that as soon as she had seen the predicament she had silently prayed that the little mouse would be okay and now he was. She hadn't intended him to be "okay" in that way, but without that prayer he most likely would have had a slow death and I am sure the Lord intervened to spare us and him. We had a little cry and then we buried him under the Willow tree by Mikayla's fish. Having had Chester (our guinea pig) and now Maunzy (our chinchilla), rodents seem more like pets than pests. We haven't buried any spiders yet, and some of those just have to go, though I did cry once, in the farmhouse, about accidentally killing one of those. I'm no tree hugger; I understand that sometimes life has to be terminated and if I am conscientious about turning on my emotional detachment button, I can use a fly swatter without a problem =) but life is sacred and this experience reaffirms to me that Heavenly Father is mindful of us in the smallest details of our lives.
