To Char, With Love From Mitzi

To Charise From Mitzi

La, la, la long long long long long long! My hair was way long! I was really enjoying it being so long. It was the longest it had ever been in my life. When I heard that I had Char, for Christmas this year, I knew it had to go! I found out I had Char in the middle of the “breast cancer scare.” I knew that I needed to cut my hair and give it to Char. So Char, I haven’t donated it...It is here under my tree waiting for you to pick it up today in case you need a wig someday. You can choose to donate it if you feel secure with your hair.

Then in August we went on the cruise to Alaska. They had a 5K on the ship called “On Deck for the Cure.” Now even though we had found out at this point that Char was clear for now, I know this is something that will always be watching. So I decided to walk for the cure. Carrie and Mom joined me. It ended up being lots of fun. Char came and joined us for the last lap. She even said, “if on of you has me, you can use this as your service.” Um YA!!! You betcha!!

Char I am glad you don’t have cancer, and still have boobs and still have your hair. I am so glad you live here by me so we can share our daily wo’s together. I love you big sister. Merry Christmas!

 

WWAD?

For Christmas this year, I had Ashley. Now this may sound like a silly "service." It was definately one that I benifited from more then anyone else. I looked at the things in Ashley's life that make me think "wow! She is amazing! And I went from there. I decided that through the year, I would think "What Would Ashley Do?"

First of all, Ashley is is an incredible wife. She is so patient with her husband. My brother Chuck is an amazing person with many wonderful qualities but sometimes we communicate differently.  Ashley has mastered communication with love techniques. I decided to look at him through her eyes and try to better understand him throughout the year. I have really enjoyed the past year's visits with him.

During a particularlly difficult week in Utah, I was so grateful that he was there with me; it was so reassuring to have his shoulder to lean (and cry) on. But as with all big families, sometimes we all communicate in different ways, and misunderstandings might happen. This year, when a misunderstanding occured, I found myself thinking of my sweet sister Ashley, and I would ask myself, "WWAD?"

I looked at the things that make her who she is. I looked at the trials she has had in her life to make her a stronger person. In Ashely's job, she brings healthy food to lots of people. I decided to emulate this and help at the Bishop's store house. I filled many orders for people in need that day.

In March, Lani and I had babies. I found myself saying "wwad?". So I made a moby wrap for Cora, and at the same time, I made one for baby Hadley. BTW, Lani the money for that moby wrap that you gave me, was put back on the IOU list to give back to you.

Now, perhaps my most Ashley moment of the year was in the recruitment of our two sisters. This one may have been purely selfish, but in discussions with each of them, I was very Ashleyesque. And it worked!

In August, they started asking for vounteers to work doing laundry in the temple. I thought, now that could be rewarding! And that is something I could totally see Ashley doing with her sisters. So Lani and I looked into it. We started in September with Char. It was so fun!

On another note, I want to talk about the amazing service that I witnessed: When David passed away, it was so amazing to watch my brothers and sisters rally around and all work together so selflessly. I could see the attributes we have learned from this tradition being used all around me. I saw plane tickets donated to people in need. I saw someone watching 5 kids under the age of 6. I saw someone listen to the spirit whisper that he was needed now and he jumped on a plane 3 hours later. And his cute wife rallied around to make it happen. He had to face the hardest person to face while out in Utah. I have heard he did it with such grace and poise.

I saw someone take 13 kids ages 8-15 to Salt Lake Temple Square to see lights and sleep at a hotel for the night just to give the parents some much needed quiet grieving time. I saw someone love and care for a grieving widow. I saw people worry for their sweet cousins. I saw people doing laundry, cleaning houses, and doing hair for others. I saw girls stay up into the morning hours to finish the photo boards to remind everyone of the life our David lived, especially the poor sweet grieving widow. It truly was one of the most amazing, spiritual weeks of my life. I love the feeling that service gives.

To Mitzi, from your big brother!

It has been a joy giving service this year to my little sister and East Coast buddy!

My season of service for Mitzi went through three phases. After we received our assignments, I went out of my way to do a couple of items with Mitzi in mind. In November and early December, I got really busy with work, traveling, and illness, and I slacked in my service for Mitzi. But in mid-December I re-energized my efforts, prayed about opportunities to serve Mitzi, and got to work on some inspired thoughts.

1) Let's go fly a kite:

As I first thought about ideas for serving on behalf of Mitzi, I thought of some dear friends of ours that have three kids (a boy then 2 girls), just like Mitzi. I thought it might be nice to do something to give the mom a break one day.

One Saturday, our family finished some morning errands and while Ashley went home to give Charly a nap, I decided to take Lucy and Leland to go fly our kites. But first, I called to see if the father of the family wanted to join us in order to give the mother a couple of hours to herself. But the father was out with his son, volunteering at an Eagle Scout project (cool huh?), so I asked if I could take her two girls (identical ages with Leland and Lucy).

We spent 2 1/2 hours flying kites, chasing the ice cream man down the street, making a HUGE mess of ice cream, and watching a girls soccer game at the park. The mother was very grateful for the time alone to clean her house because her mother-in-law was coming to visit that next week.

2) Visit to NC:

The second thing I did in Mitzi's name isn't really a "service" per se, but rather something I did for myself and Mitzi. A few women in our ward were planning a trip from Richmond to go to the Raleigh temple and back on one Saturday. Ashley asked if I could watch the girls so she could go. After thinking about it for a day, I decided I would rather go along and see my sister!

You see, I have begun to feel poorly about how often I go out of my way to spend time with my East Coast sister. I feel like I need to make the effort to go see her for no other reason than just to visit (instead of as my hotel to stay in before I fly out of RDU to some other destination). She has done it a few times for us, and used to do it all the time for our other sisters when she lived out west.

So, I used some of my saved time to take a half day off of work and we drove down on Friday afternoon. We spent two nights together and had lots of fun. I love spending time with you Mitzi!

During the visit, Mitzi made some observations about my behavior, including a habit I had developed for complaining and my tone of voice when talking to my wife (among other things). At first, I was inclined to allow myself to be put off by her comments, but on the way home, I talked to my wife and said, "I want to try to work on these things, because I know that Mitzi is mentioning these things out of love for me and for you (Ashley)." So, over the past month, I have made it a priority to be more positive and try to talk more kindly to my wife. I still have a LONG way to go, but I know of a few instances where it has really helped.

3) Scarves to homeless:

This past week, as I thought and prayed about serving on behalf of Mitzi, I became inspired to do something small to help homeless people stay warm in the cold weather. I have no idea how this relates to Mitzi, but whenever I would try to think about serving Mitzi, I felt this was something I should do. Maybe it is because we were California-raised, so the cold hits us hard.

As I was packing up our car to drive to North Carolina, I felt the inspiration again and decided I could not ignore it anymore. So, even though we were supposed to be getting on the road soon, I went in and asked Ashley to help me go through our huge container of scarves, hats, and gloves that we have accumulated over the years. (You have no idea how often warm-weather friends and family love to give scarves and hats to their cold weather family and friends).

We split the huge stash in half, put it in a bag, and took a half hour out of our trip to go into downtown Richmond to visit the "warming shelter" the city had set up. I took Leland and Lucy in with me and we delivered a bunch of scarves, two pairs of gloves, and a few hats. This was a great chance to talk to the girls about helping those who are much less fortunate then ourselves.

4) Garden boxes:

Two years ago (I think?), Mitzi started gardening and has done a great job with her raised, square-foot garden. Her successes inspired Ashley and I to try our hand at growing some herbs and vegetables.

I was inspired by a sub-irrigated garden container we saw at the farmer's market, but determined that I could create my own with some enhancements. I built three large containers and we had a very prosperous harvest this year of basil (3 types), bell peppers (2 types), chives and oregano. (Our tomatoes and zucchini were not so successful.)

I will post more specifics on my container gardens later with pictures, but they are quite similar to these (Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3) and here is a quick peek:

Mitzi suggested that her secret service Santa plant a garden (or make the goal to do so in the spring) as part of this season of service. Well that wouldn't be anything new for us because Mitzi already inspired us last year.

However, last week, when I was at Lowe's for a Build and Grow, I saw a bunch of sturdy containers on a great sale, so I bought 10 of them to develop into sub-irrigated garden containers and give to our friends who might enjoy gardening, but can't go full out planting in their yards. I will keep you updated on my progress as I make them and give them out to friends in the next two months.

CONTEST FOR RICHMONDERS: If you have read this far you deserve a reward! So, if you live in the Richmond area, post a comment saying you want one, and you have won yourself a free sub-irrigated garden container perfect for planting herbs or a couple tomato or pepper plants!

SEMI-CONTEST FOR RALEIGH(IANS?): If you are a friend of Mitzi's living in Raleigh, post a comment and we will see what we can do to make some for y'all (but you may have to cover the cost of materials).

5) Visit on Christmas Day:

My final thing is another that is not really a "service" for Mitzi, but rather following-up on my goal to spend more time with my East Coast sister.

Ashley and I had planned on heading back to Richmond on Christmas night (Saturday night), but at the last minute decided we would stay an extra night at Ashley's father's house. When we told him, he said that he regrettably had made plans to go out of town to visit friends since his youngest daughter would be staying with her mother for Christmas night.

Ashley turned and said, "We could go ahead and go home like we planned originally, or we could go see Mitzi." I was grateful for another perfect non-reason to go see my sister.

To: Mom, From: Mitzi

Mom,

As you know, I have always been your baby-hungry child.

When you wrote the post on your blog about the African Maternity hospital, it really hit me.

I thought of a few different ideas of what I could do. I almost did my own little KAM group for the season. But the post about the Maternity ward kept nagging at me. So I wrote a letter to some ladies in my ward:

Hello Ladies,

I am writing because I need some help . Last year our family started a new tradition. With funds being tight for many of my family members, we decided to try something that didn't cost money. We each drew a name and we did service in the name of that person. I started a blog (feel free to click on the link and see what I am talking about) that we all posted our service projects on. So on Christmas morning, we woke up and got to read about all the service that was done on behalf of everyone else. It was such an amazing experience that we decided to make it a tradition. This year I have my mother. She is currently serving a mission in the Republic of Congo in Africa with my father.

As the Sr. Missionary couple in the area, my mom is in charge of finding service projects for the elders to do. One of the service projects that she set up was at the Maternity hospital. She mentioned that they usually take their babies home in a pillow case or towel (only hours after giving birth) b/c they don't have blankets. Most of these babies will sleep in a cardboard box in a one room house. She mentioned the need for receiving blankets. (feel free to read the details of their service in the links provided above.)

So this is where you come into the picture...

I thought it would be great for my service in behalf of my mother to make a few blankets myself to send. But I thought it would be even better if I could get some women together to make more then a few to send. I will be having 2 receiving blanket making parties. The first will be on Tuesday, December 21st from 9:30-3:30. The second will be a date in January for those of you that would love to help and serve but if this time of year is just too darn crazy! Children are welcome to come and play with my 2 girls while we sew and cut. If you don't know how to sew, don't be scared, there will be cutting and other things to do. I will have some munchies so we don't starve. If you have a sewing machine or serger, please bring it with you. If you have any flannel that you would like to donate, I would be more then happy to come and pick it up from you.

So...let me know if you are interested. I would love any and all help . I am not expecting people to come the whole time so feel free to pop in and out as needed.

Thanks so much,
Mitzi McBride

That was the email that I sent out to my ward Google group list. I am happy to say that I had 6 ladies show up to help me out. I had others that donated gently used blankets and some that donated fabric for the blankets. On our first work day, we made 31 blankets and received donations of another 9 that were gently used.

So, I have 40 blankets that are ready to ship.

Now in addition to the 40 blankets that I collected from my ward, Ashley gave me 2 that she sewed about a month or two ago. As you know, Pam put together a Bodell sewing day. Between the ones they made and the ones made by Tiffany, Hock and Katherine Kenny that were given to Pam to ship, she has an additional 50 blankets to ship.


For a grand total of

90 Blankets

for the African Maternity hospital!!

Mom and dad, we love you so much and we are so grateful for the example you are setting for us all. I am grateful for this opportunity we have created for ourselves to feel the true meaning of Christmas. I love you all!

Love, Mitzi

To Mitzi, Love Amy

Enjoy a night off!

This year my family is doing service projects instead of gift giving.

We are all assigned a sibling and with them in mind, we are to do a service in their name.

I have been assigned my sister Mitzi. She had 3 kids under the age of 3.
She barely gets time to breath let alone date night.
In my sisters, honor, I would like to take your kids for an evening:
Thursday, December 17th
4:00-9:00 pm
Dinner, games, crafts, and movies for the kids

All ages welcome (even babies)

For those of you who don’t know me, we are new to the ward (about 6 months now). We moved from Las Vegas. I have 4 kids, Darcy age 12, Dixie age 10, Dillon age 7, and Denim age 5. I work for Alaska Airlines and unfortunately I work often on Sundays. My husband is the Ward Mission leader and I served in the Primary Presidency for a few months before I got my Sunday work assignment.

Please RSVP so I can make sure I have enough food and activities for your child(ren). Make sure you give me your child’s name and age. I will have my 2 daughters there to help.

Please make sure to pick up your child by 9:00 pm as it is a school night.

What can you do? Temple, Christmas Shopping, Date Night, read the Ensign without being interrupted, take a bubble bath, scrapbook, UFO (Un-Finished Objects), basically anything that is hard to get done with little hands and eyes about.

I sent this out as an email to all the ladies in my ward and handed out flyers one Sunday. I ended up with 13 kids (NOT counting my 4). I had 1 – 7 year old, 1 – 6 year old, 2 – 5 year olds, and 9 – under 5 years old! It was crazy! I was so tired after that night. Now keeping Mitzi in mind, I didn’t want to just watch TV with the kids. I made play dough (from the Bodell Bistro, also thinking of Mit) and the kids played with play dough and they decorated sugar cookies. I made signs that each had a letter of Merry Christmas Mitzi, but you can’t see it too well and it was too hard to get all 13 + my 4 together so we did it in groups. I am so thankful I don’t have 13 kids...Mit you are a great Mom! Love, Amy

Merry Christmas to All of You!

For another service project, Mike and I bought a DVD Recorder. I have recorded all of the family videos that I have to DVD. Now I need to find a good editing software. I used a trial version of one to show you a few clips. Sorry that there is a water mark in the middle of the picture for a bit. I have spent WAY too many hours trying to find a program that was as user friendly that didn't have a watermark. So for now, know that the whole DVD doesn't have this watermark. This was only b/c I tried to clip pieces to show here on the blog. Enjoy! I love you all! (Tiff...sorry! The video that I spent hours converting for web, was from before you were born. I have some from After you were born that we can watch when I come.)I am glad I am doing this now. You will see that some of the videos are starting to deteriorate pretty bad. Merry Christmas!
Love,
Mitzi

Merry Christmas Bill!

In honor of Bill and his many many hours of service he has given to Cole, I decided to make baby quilts for the neo-natal intensive care unit. They use these quilts to put under the premature babies to give them a piece of warmth and "home" while they are in the hospital for many months. When the babies are finally released from the hospital, they give the quilts for the babies to take home w/ them as a memento.

Merry Christmas Bill! I am so glad you are a part of our family. You are an inspiration to many of us. I love you so much and I am so glad that you are married to my sister. Merry Christmas!