To Chuck From Lani

As a young 9-10 year old (Houston's age now) I remember being in grade school and we were supposed to dress like our favorite athlete. In my mind, I was the little sister of a big time football star so I proudly wore my big brother Chuck's football jersey.

I used to love sitting with dad and Chuck and watching sports. It instilled a love of competition and athleticism in me which paved my life. My love for sports led me to a life on the path of athletics which taught me many important life skills as well as to a husband that loved sports like I did.

When Chuck was a Senior I went to every one (minus 1) of his football games, even his away games! I loved it and loved the sport. It didn't matter if he was playing or not, Chuck was an example to me.

Having sports a part of my kids life has been important to me. I feel it teaches life skills that every child should have. At this level my kids are at, youth sports is heavily dependent on the coaches.

We signed 3 of our kids up for soccer. Not my best or favorite sport, but a sport I have come to really learn and enjoy. The director was begging for more coaches.

So, in honor of Chuck and our shared love of sports, despite not having a ton of spare time or ANY knowledge of the game other than the shape of the field and color of the ball, I signed up to assistant coach not 1, but 2 soccer teams.





Hadley and AJ's 6-7 year old team, and Hunter's 4-5 year old team.

For me not knowing anything about soccer, and not thinking I even liked the sport, this was a big deal for me.

Some days I would even bring my little assistant with me.

I ended up researching the game and learning to really enjoy it and might even coach again it was so fun!

The second thing that came up while thinking of how I could serve Chuck this year was when AJ asked for a "picture book" for Christmas. He wanted it to be like one I had created for Michael but wanted it to be about him. It was pretty close to Christmas and I was pretty busy- but I felt like that is probably how Chuck felt when mom asked him to help with the book. So I decided to make it a priority.

Thinking of Chuck diving into helping mom on her temple book inspired me to make this happen. So I spent a few VERY late nights gathering and compiling 2 picture books of AJ's life to give to him this morning on Christmas. They bring me joy and are very precious to review how blessed we have been especially throughout AJ's life.

Chuck, I am also blessed to be your sister. You are a wonderful brother and I am grateful that Heavenly Father sent us to the same family so we can learn and grow with each other throughout this earthly life.

I love you big brother! Love, Lani

Merry Christmas Amy from Hock

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The day we found out about AJ's brain cancer and the days that followed were looooong days. The day we found out I hardly slept at all. The next day was his surgery. Lani and I (and many of you) fasted all day.

It was fairly late in the day that our surgeon came out to speak with us and tell us how the surgery went. We were then able to go and see our baby in the ICU. He hardly moved and looked like he was in a lot of pain. There was not a bed next to him, but there was a chair. After seeing the room/sleeping conditions and knowing that Lani and I were exhausted, sweet Aunt Amy suggested that Lani and I go home and get some sleep and that she would stay with AJ overnight. 

I felt conflicted about leaving him, but knew how tired we were and that he would be in great hands with Amy. It was a wondering respite. Lani and I were able to see our other kids and put their minds at ease. We were also able to go and partake of the sacrament and thank our Heavenly Father for the miracles we had seen over the previous couple of days. Amy stayed with AJ in the uncomfortable room and held him much of the night. My love for Amy increased greatly through this experience.

Not long after brain surgery, AJ went down to Jacksonville, FL for Proton Radiation Therapy for 6 weeks of proton radiation treatment. Once again Amy was a super hero for our family. She volunteered to stay with AJ and Lani in Jacksonville for a few days to keep them company and help out. 

We are also grateful that Wayne also came down for a while and many others watched our kids in NC- we are grateful to all of our angels!

Last Christmas, Amy was once again a super hero for our family. 

When Houston lacerated his spleen and broke his rib, Lani and I had to spend several days with him in the hospital. Once again Amy and the Dittbrenners volunteered to help, by taking our other kids home and staying with them for several days.  

Earlier this week I had a chance to ask "What would Amy Do?" and help out Bill and Charise. On Saturday, Bill and Char rented a kiosk at the mall from 8:00am - midnight to sell LulaRoe apparel.  They planned on taking their kids have and keeping them there all day. 

As they described their day and their plans to have Cole and Savvy there, I thought, “this sounds awful”. A full day of them working with kids asking, “how much longer” or "Mom, what can I do" (it's possible that Cole and Savvy would not have acted like that, but I know my kids would have, so I assumed they would as well). 

I thought about Amy, and knew that if she were here, she would offer to take the kids, so I called Charise and asked if I could take Cole and Savvy for the day and have them sleep over so they wouldn't be exhausted the next day. I know that watching two kids for 20 hours isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, but I'm not Amy, I'm me! For me 20 hours is a long time.

We had a good time. Cole and Savvy joined us for family Christmas shopping and then came home for pizza night/movie night. The next morning I woke up and made them breakfast so they could be on time for church.

I love Amy. I'm grateful for her and for all of the times she has served my family and been an example to me of what it means to show our love for Christ through service.

To Tiffany from Mike

Helllooo

Channeling my Mrs Doubtfire here. I felt I needed to do everything I could to gain a competitive advantage in baking and designing a Christmas cake so that I could suitably honor my service recipient. I needed mad baking skills. Therefore this:

And this. This recipe calls for egg whites. Don’t worry, I washed my hands thoroughly.

I should have kept my hoot (ers) on. This was the hard part and I needed to draw inspiration from somewhere. 

Shazam. Sprinkling candy cane particles for added effect.

Do you know how hard it is to do the “R” in Christmas? Really hard. But hey, nothing wrong with spelling CHRISTMAS, CH8ISTMAS

Tara pointing out my incredible artistic talent, what a beautiful wavy line symbolizing how arbitrary our decisions in life can be, also known as the Artist formerly known as Prince.

Lucky recipients. My Home Ministry Family. See how delighted they are. They have never seen anything like this, well, maybe at the Pompidou in Paris.

After completing my service, I can say, I nailed it (inside joke for my recipient—trust me, it is funny). And my French has improved beaucoup as it usually does when your baking skills increase. Je suis tres bon boulanger. Mon gateaux est tres magnifique. (although I am not sure if cake is masculine or feminine). Kriss and Ed can let you know.

True story, I watched my first episode of "Nailed It" yesterday. I walked in on my 3 daughters watching this show. It is a baking competition where they pit 3 contestants against each other. Each of these contestants has various levels of competence when it comes to baking (now you know the reference for the inside joke above). In this episode, they tried to imitate a French baker’s artistic cakes and failed dramatically. I mean, they were not even close. Definitely cringe worthy. But here's the thing. Having tried to bake and decorate a cake for my HM family a few weeks ago, I can tell you that baking and creating an art piece is really very difficult. Tiffany has an excellent talent for this. She is a baker extraordinaire. And from what I hear, it is mainly self taught. She has taught herself well enough that she can sell these creations. That is pretty impressive. I see myself as one of the competitors and Tiffany as the French Chef. As I have gotten to know Tiffany a little better over the last several months, I recognize her as very talented woman. And it has been fun to see our kids get together over the last little bit. 

In addition to baking the cake, I also made dinner (no, not frozen pizza or fast food). I actually made a full meal. I know Tiffany works hard as a mother so I served my wife by letting her take the night off and once again, nailed it!

to Char from Dad

This is posted by Ed Gates.... not Kriss

My service will be directed to Charise Kehaulani Johnson/ Gates

In the past I have tried to keep my recipient anonymous till the end of my dissertation but this year for some reason,I did not know who I had till yesterday,yes folks the 24th of DECEMBER 😳🤔😘

Now before you all start to judge me may I give a little background.
When your Mom got her name I went to my email to see who's name I had but I didn't  get the email with any name!
I can remember trying several times but with the great internet we had I got aThanks I bit frustrated 😡
And I even tried at the job site but there I got so involved in serving that I never took the time to get the name.
So at one point I decided to serve the whole year and when I would find out, I figured I would be able to direct my efforts to that person! With all that said you all may now see why I can now direct all my service to Charise.😍😘
Char is no doubt a person who goes out of her way to serve anyone and everyone she can.😇
She seems to always have a great smile and always,always upbeat and talk about Charie Land,
 Can anyone of us say that any given time that we have not referred to "Charie land"
If water could run up hill in her mind it may happen!
There were many many times during this past year that I wished I could have had that Charie world at my side.
My responsibility changed very early in the construction of the temple where I was asked to be the inspector which gave another set of eyes to watch over the work which was being done by local men.🤔🤔Theses men were not familiar with the quality of work that we needed to try and get! needless to say many frustrating times we would have to do things twice and sometimes three times!😡😡😳
Yes there were many things and many times I had to try hard to be positive and I thought about Charie Land,  So yesterday when I found out who I had,I was thrilled that I could write and tell Charise how proud I am of her and that what she is and has is an unusual gift 🎁 I hope that some of that world will rub off on me😁

To Darcy from Grammy

Dearest Darcy… Our precious oldest granddaughter.

What a great young woman you have become.  We are so proud of you!  You have blossomed in many ways.  You have been an example to all of us with your family history work, and I hope to follow your example.  You were chosen to represent all the young adult women to be the first girl in the church to conduct a YSA general broadcast.  You are becoming a strong, valiant woman and I know that your Heavenly Father is proud of you too.   

I want to have family history be a special part of this next year.  I have been blessed to have had many opportunities to serve during this past year, but I haven’t lived by a temple.  However, I went to the temple in New York City last week.  We did initiatories and when they asked if we had brought any family names, I realized I have a long way to go to keep up with you.  My goal this next year, as a gift to you, is to do 10 family endowments, some sealings and some initiatories.   Since we don’t have a temple right now, it will take some travel and coordinating, but I really hope to be able to do it.

For my gift to you this year, I was able to “Light the World” at the Manhatten Temple.  When given the opportunity to choose a gift, I decided to donate 5 blankets.  Thinking of you, freezing in the Idaho weather, I think it was a good gift to give in your honor. 

Thanks for being a good example to all your younger cousins.  We love you dearly.  From Grammy.