To Bill, Love Amy

When I found out that I had Bill I thought of what a Rock Star of a Dad he is. There are so many things I could have chosen.

One of my favorite Bill stories was when he and Char went to go see Cole for the first time. Here was a baby Boy that 13 (I think) adoptive parents came and saw what it would take to be a parent to this little boy and they turned around and left. What did Bill say when he saw this little Boy? He went to the nurse and asked for a diaper, “My son needs a diaper change.” The nurses cried because they knew someone would take good care of this little boy who need much attention.

As I thought of Bill and Cole for some reason my thoughts kept returning to “Make a Wish”. This is a program that grants wishes to terminally ill kids. When Bill brought Cole home, he could have qualified for this program. But now with the love, attention, and miracles that Bill and Char have given Cole, he no longer qualifies.

So Bill, in honor of the fact that because of you, Cole doesn’t need “Make a Wish” I chose to do something with them. They have a program called ribbon and bows. It is for people like us who want to help even if it is in a smaller way. It puts on some finishing touches to a childs wish.

I contacted the director of the NW Make a Wish and gave her a link to our web site. She loved it! I chose to put together some backpacks of things to help kids when they went on the airplane for their wish. I am a Mom that knows what is good to pack on a trip that requires airline travel. I got back packs full of fun things that make the trip better.

Here is what was in each pack:

• Backpack
• Disney Crayons
• Disney Card Game
• Disney Coloring Book
• Sunscreen
• Pirates Booty
• Cups of Noodles
• Chicken Salad in a Can with Crackers
• Granola Bars
• Corn Nuts
• Beef Jerky
• Hot Coco
• Hawaiian Punch Singles for Water Bottles
• Oatmeal
• Gum
• And my favorite to travel with, Flips

Here is the info I was given. We helped two “Make a Wish” kids, and each one had a sibling, so 4 in total.

3-year-old Jennifer is going to Disneyland with her mom and dad and 5 year old brother! She is so excited to be going on an adventure with her family. She is hoping to meet the Princesses (it has been arranged that she will have a Princess lunch, but that is a surprise). Jennifer has been battling rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of cancer. She has had chemo, radiation and surgery, and she is such a little fighter. No one is more deserving of a perfect get-away than little Jennifer. Thank you for helping make her trip perfect.

Isaac is going to Disney World in Florida! He will also visit Animal Adventure and Universal Studios. He is staying at Give Kids the World, a villa as remarkable for our wish kids as Disney World. All of the children who stay there must medically qualify with an illness and all of their facilities are accessible to everyone! There are unlimited train rides around the campus, an ice cream parlor open 24 hours a day, two restaurants and everything is complementary. Isaac has heard about Give Kids the World from his hospital friends and he can’t wait! Isaac loves animals – he is looking forward to visiting with the Disney animal characters. Isaac is 7 years old and has had congenital heart disease his whole life. Thank you for helping him have the trip of a lifetime!

Side Note: When I saw Aunt Lanae (our Startup Aunt) at David’s funeral I told her about what I was doing. She loved it and said it would have been so nice to have that. Carole Joy also stayed at “Give Kids the World” and she said it was amazing!

I will be getting photos back from both families that I will do a follow up posting after their trip.

I love and admire you greatly Bill! Love, Amy

PS…doesn’t that first photo look a bit like our Coley?

Merry Christmas Wayne

One of the things that Lani and I loved the most about living in Spokane was the opportunity we had to have regular visits from the Dittbrenners. My favorite visits took place while I was working as an intern with the Spokane Shock.

With the Shock one of my responsibilities was to help plan and organize all of the in-game entertainment that took place during breaks in the actual game. One of our most popular contests was the "Outback Pass, Punt, Kick Challenge". For this contest contestants have to throw a pass from the goal line through the uprights, then make a punt from the 10 yard line through the uprights, and then for the final phase they have to make a field goal from the 20 yard line. For those of you that don't know the uprights on an arena football field are half the width of regular uprights so making the field goal is very difficult.

One day my boss and I were having a meeting to discuss whether either of us knew someone who had experience kicking (we were hoping to find someone who could make the field goal because we wanted to make the event more exciting). I suggested that we use my brother-in-law, who had kicked in college at Dixie State.

I called Wayne and we figured out a way for him to fly up to Spokane so that he could show off is kicking skills. We had a lot of fun and Wayne put on a great show in front of over 10,000 fans including his wife and four kids. It was really fun to watch him go through the kicking routine. Check out this video to see him in action (sorry, after 3 tries and sucking up everyone's bandwidth trying to post- we will try again later- it is worth coming back for!).

After the game Wayne and I had a really good talk. We talked about my goals and discussed one of the goals I had made on my mission, which was to win a championship ring. As fate would have it, the Shock ended up advancing all the way to Arena Bowl XXIII (which is the Arena Football League's equivalent to the Super Bowl).

I called Wayne to invite him to the game. In talking with him, it was evident that he had a few things going on, but he dropped everything to come up to Spokane and support me.

The game was a lot of fun, and the Shock ended up winning the AFL Championship. I found out after the game that I would be one of the few interns that would receive a Championship Ring. I was so excited and Wayne was so excited for me.

After the game Lani, Wayne and I all went to the different after parties that the team was throwing to celebrate the win. It was awesome to have Wayne there to take part in an exciting time in my life. I think Wayne had a good time, but what really stood out was how proud he was of me for accomplishing one of my goals. I felt really special that Wayne had made the effort to come up and be there for it.

The time Lani and I had in Washington was awesome and we really loved living by Wayne, Amy, and the kids. During my time up there I really grew to love Wayne and developed a brotherly bond with him. Unfortunately, I had quite a struggle figuring out the best way to honor him this Christmas.

Initially, I decided that to honor Wayne I would volunteer to help with setting up at the Kids Are Music shows and ride on the Kids Are Music float in the Town of Cary Christmas Parade. I knew Wayne and Amy had done Kids Are Music for awhile and thought that helping with those things would be a good way to grow closer to Wayne. However, after doing the set up at a few shows and riding on the float, I concluded that those activities were really more fatherly responsibilities than a service to Wayne. After this realization I felt a bit distraught knowing that I still hadn't really done something that would be a cool service in honor of Wayne.


The next Saturday, a Christmas miracle occurred. When I received word from Mitzi that she had hurt her foot while hanging Christmas lights. I thought "this is perfect!!!" In honor of Wayne (who hurt his foot a few years ago while hanging Christmas decorations), I will do some service for Mitzi."

That night, with the help of Houston, I baked Mitzi some cookies and took them over to her. Unfortunately, the service for Mitzi idea never really got off the ground, because her foot healed much faster than I anticipated. I was more or less 0 for 2 in performing a cool service idea for Wayne. In reflecting on my time with him I came up with the perfect idea.

I decided to host the first ever "Wayne Dittbrenner Football Day Camp" in which I will teach my nephews (and any nieces who are interested) the basics of Wayne's favorite game. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with my plans and it rained everyday this week. However, I believe that will work out well because now we can schedule the camp for a day when Dillon can come out to North Carolina and participate. We will even provide a room for him at the Hock Football Training Facility here in lovely Cary, NC.

During this exciting one day camp participants will learn the fundamentals of throwing, route running, catching, and maybe even kicking (though Wayne is much more qualified to teach that skill than me). Campers will also be treated to lunch and game film (Wayne's highlight video of kicking for the Shock).

Merry Christmas Wayne. I'm really glad that we had the opportunity to bond while we were both living in Washington. Thanks for being a great older brother and friend.

Hock

PS. When are you coming out here to visit? We miss you.

The Glory of God is Intelligence

The recipient of my service this year is our beloved “Hock”. I am honored to have him, as he is a continual example to us of selfless service year round.

As we were on our mission and involved in service 24/7, I wanted to think of something that would be an extra stretch for me. As the last month became packed with things we needed to do, I decided that I wanted to make time to do my project. I decided to think of what Mike would do with his time. I have had the opportunity to teach a 9 year old sweetheart, Rein, how to read and do some math throughout the past year.

As we neared the end of our mission, I considered telling Rein that our lessons were finished, because I had so much to do. Then when I thought of Hock and the sacrifices that he made for his education, I decided to make teaching Rein a big priority during my last month. I decided to move it up a notch, and dedicate my efforts to Hock.

The Congolese French first reader book was very boring. We had worked on it for months and she had learned the sounds and basic words. However, I wanted to teach her to love reading books. I went to the only bookstore in town and found some cute little French/African storybooks about children.

 I bought them up and took them to read with Rein. We had a wonderful time reading the books together. We loved the book on “Bananas” and then the book on “A New Dress”. We would read them and study the darling paintings, and together we would laugh and squeal with delight. I left one or two books with her at a time, and then traded the next week.

On our last day in the Congo, I took the time to go for one more lesson. When I said goodbye to Rein, I gave her a cute pink blanket to use in her new room and a CTR ring. But I think her favorite gift was the book that she chose about a little girl who grew out of her dress, so she got to choose new fabric for a new dress, African style. Everyone tried to talk the little girl into choosing bright African prints, but she stuck to her favorite fabric and ended up with a darling white dress with red polka-dots.

Rein and I both learned from these lessons. She grew in knowledge and ability and self confidence.
I grew in appreciation of the education that we have been blessed to obtain in our lives.


Thanks, Michael Hock, for being such a great example to our children and grandchildren on the value of education.  You're the best!

To the Young Mother

What has happened in Tiffany's life this year? New baby, new house, husband works crazy hours, her family has slowly moved farther away. 

I wish that I could have lived close to you this last year Tiffany. I would have watched Brooklyn while you packed to move or went to doctor's appointments. I would have brought you food when you were tired and 8 months pregnant. I would have hung out at the park with you to chat. Since I could not do those things for you, I found someone close by me that I could serve and help through some of those transitions in life.

I found a friend here in VA who was going through some of the same changes this year. She has moved twice in the last few months, has a 2 1/2 year old, and just had a new baby this month.

When she first moved into the ward earlier this year, I invited her to outings and befriended her... giving advice on preschools and home buying. I had her son over for a play date with Charly, while she moved the first time to their temporary home while they continued the home buying search. Her little boy even has soft curls just like Brooklyn. I was supposed to watch her son the day they closed on their house, but it was rescheduled and then I was unavailable for the new closing date.

So many people think to bring women food right after having a baby, but I like to take food when they are 8 or 9 months pregnant. Near the end of pregnancy, you are so tired and just burnt out. It would be nice to not have to cook. So, I took this friend a meal one night making 2 dishes from that cookbook you gave me when you were in Richmond.

Every time I would serve my friend, or even see her, I would think of Tiffany and how much I wish we could live closer together. One day, when we don't have the entire United States between us, I will bring you dinner when you are feeling worn out or plan play dates with Brooklyn so you can run errands. But for now I will serve those young mothers around me and swap parenting tips with you via Facebook.

The Feeding of the 100... well... kind of

Do you have any idea how hard it is to do this kind of service when you live right next to the person and speak daily and know 99.99% of what is going on in their life? Let me tell you... it is no walk in the park! My favorite are the Mitzi quotes over the last 6 months...

"So you don't HAVE to tell me but if you want to, we could help each other with our service gifts!"
"So you don't have to tell me, but do you have one of the Dittbrenners, Gates', or Conleys?"
"I'm wondering what to do for my person... do you know what you are doing yet?" 

argh! But... I was determined to come up with SOMEthing and try my best to keep it a secret.

One thing that is not a secret is that out of the many heroes in my life, one of the greatest is my older Sister Mitzi. From a young age she took me under her wing and let me be her shadow. I wanted to do every thing with her, like her, and because of her.

I remember as Mitzi got older and realized there were other friends out there, I starting to miss hanging out with her. Mom took me to the store to get her a birthday gift. I had a certain amount of money and knew immediately what i wanted to get upon walking down the aisle... A BARBIE BATH! Of course Mitzi was getting too old to play Barbie's, but I thought if I gave her such a COOL Barbie accessory... who could pass that up! She would have to come back to the good ol' days with her and I in Barbie land!

Well, the birthday cake was cut and Mitzi opened presents. When she finally opened mine, I was very excited! But to a "too mature" Mitzi, she was not nearly as excited. I'm not sure if she rolled her eyes, or maybe I even heard mom whisper to Mit that she would take it back the next day, but I remember thinking my plan did not work! I quickly decided if Mitzi was too mature for Barbies... I WAS too mature for Barbie's too! It didn't matter how much I liked them, I wanted to be like Mitzi more!

Mitzi eventually moved out and started a life in the real world. My mom often says that is when I blossomed which makes me laugh because I just think, "the house was so quiet once Mit left, I had to do SOMEthing." :)

We have both grown up and gone our separate ways, but this year we were able to find our paths back to each other again. It made me very nervous and worried not knowing how my inner-little-Lani would handle being known as Mitzi's little sister again. I spent years trying to find my own self instead of hiding behind her that I just didn't know how it would work.

Let me be clear that being Mitzi's sister is a wonderful gift, it is just too easy to hide behind Mitzi because she is so amazing. I was worried that I would become lax, I guess, and not feel that I had to "fill the quiet in the house" anymore since Mitzi would be around. Sorry if this doesn't make sense... one of these years I'll get this written before 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve.  :)

Our first week in NC, while looking for a place of our own, Mitzi and Mike offered to have us stay with them. The first few days were a blur. I felt like there was a constant flow of children of all ages, genders, and colors and occasionally a parent or two.

As children would cycle through the McBride house, somehow food just kept appearing on little plates with names on it. I wish I would have counted the Mac & Cheese, Juice Boxes, chicken nuggets, pizza slices or something in the first few days. At some point Mitzi tried to explain that it was not always like that, but it was due to Spring Break so all the kids were out of school. But that still didn't explain the strangers and lack of other parents!

A piece of me kept thinking, "Hey people! I just want my sister all to myself for one HOUR so we can have one decent quiet meal!" But then I would quickly remember that is not Mitzi's way. I could tell that Mitzi probably just wanted to sit down, relax and have a nice meal with us too, but that is not Mitz. If there are people that want friends and food, then her house is the place to be.

Soon after we moved out on our own, I was trying to think what I could do for a service for Mitzi for Christmas. I had recently reviewed the story of the feeding of the 5,000. I kept seeing parallels in my lifestyle and Mitzi's in this story. Here is the Lani version of Mark 6.

Mark 6:30-32 talks about the apostles having an intense time preaching the Gospel along side of Christ. They are exhausted and Christ says they can go rest and finally get some food because they have been so busy preaching they haven't eaten. Verse 33 as they are headed their separate ways to rest and eat, people recognize Christ and follow him. Although not as close to Christ as the Apostles, the multitudes of people feel like they are because they have been so welcomed by Christ.

In verses 35-36 it seemed to me the apostles said "It is getting late, we are hungry, when can we send all these other random people home?" But that was not the Lord's way. Instead he said, "How many loaves have we?" and began feeding the food for the apostles to the multitudes. I do not mean to make light of this special story, but simply to apply it to my life.

Although sometimes I just want to relax with my own sweet sister, and sometimes we are about to do just that, if some random stranger comes along, no matter how tired she is, SHE WILL WELCOME them... AND FEED THEM and hang out with them and put our plans on hold! It is a special gift and I love her for it.

I decided as my service, I was going to try to have a Mitzi-esque outlook on feeding others. My goal was the feeding of the 100. Any time I knew someone in the ward that was struggling or having a bad week I would make them dinner, and usually not just any dinner... but a MITZI recipe! You know... a FAAAAANNNNNCCCCYYYY one! We are not just talking my usuals! Even if that meant doing things with raw chicken that I usually like to avoid!
I think I perfected her chicken pasta recipe through this service! Note: There were some nights I was in a hurry and went to my go to meals. (Yes Amy... your taco stew is pictured below in that big pot!)
I enjoyed the time that I had to cook and think of my big sister and her many hours in the kitchen serving others. My feet would be tired, my back would ache, and then I would still have to go deliver. But somehow all those things left my mind as soon as I saw the faces of the extremely grateful mothers and families of our ward. I received a few thank you cards that really should go to you as well as the many verbal thanks of many including the Hopkinsons, the Hubbards, the Wallaces, the Abhaus, the Gatlins, and a few others here and there.

In addition for signing up every chance I got through the Relief Society, for many weeks when it was my night for dinner swap, I would find at least one other family in need. It became this wonderful challenge to think of someone in the ward that could maybe just use a break. This weekly reminder to serve was wonderful for me!

The 100 was getting hard to meet by the deadline, so although I would have done these things anyways, maybe we can count hosting your Surprise Farewell party (really surprise since you thought we were celebrating a MISSION FAREWELL when you saw the sign!) and White Elephant Party.
I had planned to go finish the 100 with Mike at the Food Bank since I knew he was a "foodie service" too but a last minute trip to UT changed our plans. Maybe we can all go for a date night now! But in so doing I'm afraid I ruined the surprise! Because the Canadian throughout a "Hey Lan, help Mitzi with the groceries... it can be your food service!" DOH!

Note to self: Specifically clarify with Mike when things are secrets from his wife! Well, she played along and did not act like she knew anything.

And of course it was always fun when I would be in the middle of kitchen disaster feeding 60 people (including our families though) and I see that silver van pull up in my drive way!
And then... because it is Mitzi... she can't NOT help! So above is Mitzi doing her OWN Christmas Service one night with me because how could she NOT chop peppers when she saw what I was doing. The picture with us two is really me saying, "No, I'm REALLY ok! You can leave now so I can get back to serving you!"

Big sister, I love you SO MUCH! I am SO GLAD Heavenly Father blessed me to be your little sister. I would not be the woman, mother, or sister I am today without you as a constant example. I am SO grateful to have been blessed with such a wonderful example of charity and love. I often wonder how did I get so lucky to be blessed with such a great big sister that is not only a best friend, but an amazing example of who I want to be when I grow up... and always has. I love you and am SO GLAD I live so close to you! I can't wait for many more memories in the future!

Love, Lan-Bon