Remembering

My newest favorite chapter is Helaman 5.  So much happens!

Helaman turns over the Judgment Seat to his son, Nephi and gives him some great advice.  The word "remember" is used @ 15 or 16 times in the first verses, that's why it's sometimes called "The Remember Chapter."  That is such an important word.  We tend to remember things that really matter to us.  I asked the youth what they remember their parents telling them.  The answers were unique.  From, "Remember who you are" to "Don't do anything stupid" to "Clean up your room!"

I remember reading once that a Mom asked her kids what the one thing was that she said the most.  These were little kids.  The answers were "Get your shoes on!" - "Come on!  We're leaving!" - "Stop fighting!" and "Clean up this mess!"  It really shocked her that those were the words her kids remembered.  It really shouldn't be surprising.  We usually save the most special words for special times.  We have a life to run which requires us saying some of those Mom-isms.  (Over and over and over!)

What do you remember your parents telling you?  One thing I remember my Mom saying is, "People are more important than things."  I remember the day she taught me this.  She was sitting at her desk writing notes to people.  She loved to send people handwritten notes and cards.  I asked her why she did this and she taught me that taking care of others is more important than taking care of "stuff".  It has had a big impact on me.   For years I would start my day by thinking, "Who needs something from me today?" and I would write, call, drop something by, or just say a prayer for them.  I would do it before I started doing all the "stuff" that I needed to do.  It was a great way to start the day!   I have let that fall by the wayside and I miss it.  (Disclaimer:  I never was perfect in this regard at all!  But I tried.)

Well, the second half of Helaman 5 is completely amazing!  Nephi and Lehi (who are brothers) quit their prestigious positions of leadership and travel all over the land as missionaries.  Are they successful?  YES!  8,000 baptized in just Zarahemla alone.  But as most good things go, they run into some trouble and get thrown into prison.  A few days pass before they are to be put to death.  As the guards prepare, they notice that Nephi and Lehi are surrounded by fire!  And they are not being burned!  Then there are earthquakes and clouds of darkness!  It's quite a scene!   And finally, they hear a still, small voice speaking to them, telling them to repent.  One of the guards recognizes what is going on and explains it to the others.  Jesus Christ is speaking to them!  And they find themselves included inside the ring of fire.  And then the part that brings me to tears......they hear another voice.......the voice of Heavenly Father bearing witness of His Son.  It is a wondrous miracle that we don't talk about nearly enough.  The Lamanites that witness this, number @ 300 people.  They are converted and go tell all the other people and most of them are also converted, in fact at this point, more Lamanites are converted than Nephites.  So we have a little switch-a-roo in righteousness, really all starting with the missionary labors of Nephi and Lehi among the Lamanites.  Meanwhile there is great pride which has slipped in to the very happy and peaceful Nephites.  The pride gets so out of hand that many Nephites join with the Gadianton Robbers.  Talk about a story twist!

It's a great story.
A miraculous story.
Quite the turn of events.
Quite a lot to REMEMBER:

Remember how quickly people can turn.
Bad to good.  Example:  Lamanites.  Don't think that others are not ready for the gospel.
Good to bad.  Example Nephites.  Don't think that others are so converted that they will not fall away.  

It's a great chapter, great story, and now I hope you will look it up, and remember it!

If you break my cell phone.......

I absolutely love this picture of the Savior.  It speaks to me. This is my "go-to" picture.  He is holding up the light and reaching out to me.  Right to me.  At least that's how I feel when I look at it.

I'm so grateful that we aren't forced to follow Him.  There is no force or coercion or fear pushing us.  We get to make our own choice.  We can follow closely behind, staying as close to Him as we can, or hang back a little, or just move along very slowly.  We can even stray and come join Him again.  It is our choice.  He loves us no matter where we are on this journey of following Him.

Today we talked about Justice and Mercy in seminary.  We talked about how the students would feel if a little brother broke their cell phone!  They would want justice! 

"What have you done?!  You should not have been touching my phone!  I need this phone and now it's broken!" 

But their little brother would want mercy. 

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! Don't be mad!" 

Justice vs mercy.  Some of the kids said they would have a hard time forgiving their brother.  "He shouldn't have touched it.".  Some felt bad for the little brother "He's so sad about what happened!" But they all agreed they should receive a new phone!  :)

Now look at the opposite example:  What if you got caught cheating on a test in school?  It truly was your one and only time you ever cheated!

The teacher would demand justice!  "You get an automatic "F"!" 

But you would beg for mercy! "This is the first time I ever did anything like this! I didn't have any time to study!  I won't do it again, I promise!  I need a good grade in this class!"

(In this example the kids unanimously said, "Teachers never show mercy!")  :)

I'm grateful that I have a Savior who is able to mediate my injustices and hear my cries for mercy, and fulfill them both, in His loving and yet very painful and agonizing way.  His infinite and eternal way.  I felt like I received this, this very morning.  I did not properly prepare my lesson for today.  This has never happened all year.  I prayed (begged/pleaded) while driving to seminary, for help.  I didn't deserve it (needed mercy) because I had procrastinated (needed Justice).  But the kids deserved a good lesson because they make such a sacrifice to be there! 

I received mercy today.  And to show my thanks, I'm doubling up my preparation for tomorrow's lesson!  And the one after that, and the one after that, and so on......until June 8th (who's counting??)

Now if you break my cell phone?  That will put my ability to show mercy to the test.  No one breaks my cell phone but me!  (yes, I've broken more than one cell phone.........Reid has been merciful!  Thank you, Dear!)

One thing on my Grateful List

I'm feeling grateful this year for the opportunity I have to teach seminary.  It has been so, so hard on me.  Physically this year the kids have made me sick!  Ha, ha, it's true.  I have one boy in particular who has made me sick.  Physically, but not spiritually.  Oh, if you could meet him.  He has so many health and mental issues.  He had a traumatic birth and he was left with some serious issues.  His father committed suicide a few years ago.  The very first time I met him, I had no idea about any of this.  He looks normal.  He was walking towards me and I had this amazing "whoosh" feeling go up and down my whole body and I just KNEW he was a very special spirit.  I can't describe it.  When I learned that he has disabilities, then I understood why the Lord blessed me with that experience.  Because without knowing that he is a Celestial spirit, I would be very frustrated with him as he interrupts and makes noises and makes slow comments.  I would surely be complaining about him every day.  But the Lord blessed me with seeing him as a Celestial being stuck in his crazy body, and I love and respect him.  I let him sharpen his pencils while I'm telling a story.  I let him tap his pencil during movies.  I let him hug me every day because he loves to hug me.  But he is often sick.  He sneezes on me and coughs on me.  I'm pretty sure my sickness recently has been from those hugs.  But I'm getting hugged by a celestial being!

I drive home and I see the sun rising.  How can you have a bad day when you've seen the sun rise that morning?

I study the Book of Mormon every day.  I read from it and delve into it and mark things every day.  

There's plenty of things that make being a seminary teacher not only hard, but sometimes even miserable!  When I'm driving down the driveway in the pitch black in my same old skirt, nylons, and heels, freezing in my car, waiting for the heat to kick in, trying to see out a fogged up windshield, or one that needs more scraping, and I start wondering what on Earth I'm doing out here, the only car on the road??  What kind of craziness is this??  But then I arrive at the church.  The lights are on.  The building is warm.  And floods of parents pull up in cars and drop off their kids.  It's an amazing scene!  Such devotion from tired and busy parents.  It reminds me of the feelings I've had as I've watched lines of parents dropping off their sons and daughters at the MTC.  What kind of craziness is this?  The Celestial kind.  I'm afraid if I lived in Provo I would go sit and watch that scene every Wednesday.  It strengthens my faith and makes me choke up with tears just picturing it.

I am so, so grateful for the support I get from my family.  We really can't do hard things without our loved ones pushing us along.  Seminary is one of those callings that is a "family" calling.  Dad pays a great price.  My kids pay a price.  I'm not as available as they'd like.  I can't get away easily.  I get sick.  I am often too tired.  But they support me.  I'm so grateful for this.

I'm grateful that I occasionally get these bursts of appreciation for being a seminary teacher.  Maybe I needed to miss these 3 days of teaching, to appreciate the experience once more.  

I often tell the youth stories from my life or really cool things I've learned in the scriptures and I'll think, "I don't think I've told my own kids this story!"  or, "how can I share this insight with my own kids?"  But I think they know how much I love the scriptures and love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And they had seminary teachers who told their life stories and shared their insights.  And their kids will have seminary teachers who will do that, too.  Maybe they won't hear mine, but that's ok.  Sometimes we learn better from people other than our parents.  We're all trying to do that for each other's kids.

So as thanksgiving approaches, to my list of gratitude, I add, "Being a seminary teacher."  I hope you get the opportunity to do so some day! Knowing that comes with all the sunrises, cold mornings, sickness and hugs that go with it.

Believe!

I have 32 seminary students who come to class every morning at 6:15 AM to learn about the Book of Mormon.  They are awesome!  I just love these kids and the sacrifice they make daily to strengthen their testimony. 

I have always loved the Book of Mormon.  I don't remember the first time I read it.  I do remember my Dad reading a Children's version to Jody and I as we went to bed at night.  Maybe my first reading was when I was a Freshman in seminary, like some of my students.  I can still quote a few of the Scripture Mastery verses I memorized at age 14.

I have always thought it was a correct book.  I remember actually being surprised to learn that other people had doubts about it!  I just never have.  It's felt right to me as long as I can remember.  I have felt my life change by making this book part of my daily life.  When it's not, I feel an emptiness. 

My copy is pretty worn yet I just don't want to replace it.  It contains years and years of my study notes.  I have added some notes to my cell phone, but I still like the feel of opening my leather book, smelling the familiar smell, and knowing that I can flip to literally any page and see what I have marked.  These are special things that bring back memories and feelings to me.  Some of my markings are worn and I find myself wondering why I marked a particular verse many years ago?  But I love knowing that sometime in my life, that verse was meaningful enough to me that I marked it!  I have page corners turned down, lots of cross references, and even a  ripped page from one of my babies.  It makes me smile when I come to that page, remembering how hard it used to be to fit in a minute or two for personal study.

About 10 days before seminary started, I was looking frantically for my precious book.  I couldn't imagine where I would have put it.  I checked the lost and found at church.  I looked at all the normal places in my home.  I recruited Claire and Reid's help.  We looked under couches, in my car trunk, in closets that I hadn't even opened.  I was desperate.   I wrote to my other kids and asked for their prayers, and in our family prayers we would pray that "Mom would find her scriptures."  It came down to minutes before I had to leave for our Seminary Back-to-School night, with actual seminary starting the very next morning.  I sat down to dinner and asked Reid to pray for my book as he blessed the food.  I quickly ate and got ready to go.  And then, it happened.  A modern day miracle!  There it was, right on my desk in the kitchen!  The most obvious place of all and where all 3 of us had already looked multiple times.  I cannot describe this moment.  It was such joy and I knew I was the recipient of a miracle!  How did it get there?  Who put it there and when?  I have no idea but I am as positive as I can be, that it was not there the past 2 weeks, or even minutes earlier.  I sit at my desk every single day and had never seen it there before. 

I believe in miracles.  Small and large.  Modern and centuries ago.  Miracles are real.  God is in our lives.  Teaching, testing, blessing, providing, taking away, putting people in our lives and keeping us protected.  Reid and I got on our knees right then, next to the door out to our garage, and said a prayer of thanks.  Then we got in the car and drove away.  God took that miracle right down to the very second that I needed it to happen! 

Talking Teeth

I'm a flossing convert!  I used to floss regularly  (like, once-every-few-months-regularly!) 

But I got tired of my dental hygienist telling me I wasn't flossing enough.  So I decided to give it my full effort and BOOM!  I love it!  It didn't happen over night or even over a week.  But it happened.  I love the feeling of freshly flossed teeth now.  And I love how short my teeth cleaning's last now.  I feel like my breath is fresher all the time, not just after flossing.  I don't know why I'm blogging about this except that I wonder if someone had told me how awesome it can be, if I would have converted earlier.  Here's to flossing!  Give it a try and keep at it!  And you can be a convert, too!

The Millennium

Some may look at the Title of my Post and think it's going to be about this:

The Millennium Falcon

I'll admit:  I'm a Star Wars fan for the most part.  I haven't weighed in on how I feel about the new movies yet, but the old Luke and Leia movies were fun and exciting and clean and inspirational.  But I divert. This post is about this:

The Savior's Second Coming and the Millennium

We talked alot about the second coming of Christ as we studied the New Testament and I learned an awful lot.  I would love to know more!  I want the answers to the big questions:  WHEN? and  HOW?  The "when" is always interesting to think about.  I do know it's closer than it used to be because that's just turning-of-the-calendar obvious. But who will be on the earth?  Who will see it?  Who will come again with Him and be a part of it?  I'm also interested in the "how".  How is he going to appear to the whole world at once?  Will it be in the news?  Facebook?  A really loud noise?  Announced at General Conference?  And where will I be?  And who will I be with?  I'd like to be at home, church, or in the temple, and I'd like to be with my family.  That feels best.  But who knows?  And isn't somebody going to "miss" it?  What if they're distracted/sleeping/blind & deaf/or just really into the video game they're playing?  Will someone be the last to know?

Although I don't know all the answers, there are some questions I can answer!  Here's just a few:

Q:  Is it possible for a person to sit down with the scriptures and the writings of latter-day prophets and chart out an accurate sequence of events?

A:  Bruce R McConkie says, "It is not possible in our present state of spiritual enlightenment to put every event into an exact time frame.  We are meant to ponder about many things to keep us alert and attentive."

Q:  Are we living in the Millennium now?  (I have been asked this numerous times.)

A:  The scriptures and Latter-Day Prophets are clear that the Millennium is a thousand-year period of peace and righteousness that begins with the coming of Jesus Christ to the whole world, in great power and glory.  All of God's children will know when it happens.  

Q:  Who will be on the Earth during the Millennium?

A:  Brigham Young said, "There will be as many sects and parties then as now.  In the millennium men will be Presbyterians, Methodists, or Infidels, but they will not have the privilege of treating the name and character of Deity as they have done heretofore.  Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ."

Q:  How should we be preparing for the Millennium?

A:  President Spencer W. Kimball said it best.  "When Satan is bound in a single home or in a single individual's heart, we are preparing ourselves in a significant way for the Millennium."

Q:  Will every mortal be resurrected?

A:  Yes.  Think about that.  Every mortal who has ever lived will be resurrected. 

Q:   Was anyone resurrected before Jesus Christ?

A:  No.  Joseph Fielding Smith said, "On the third day after the crucifixion Jesus Christ took up his body and gained the keys of the resurrection, and thus the power to open the graves for all men.  But this he could not do until he had first passed through death himself and conquered it."

Q:  Is the resurrection going on now?

A:  Joseph Fielding Smith said, "That is pure speculation without warrant in the scriptures.  It is true that the Lord has power to call forth any person from the dead, as he may desire, if they have a mission to perform which would require their resurrection.  For example, we have the cases of Peter, James, and Moroni."  

Q:  Will all appear before Jesus Christ to be judged?

A:  Every single person who has lived on the earth will stand to be judged.  Bruce R. McConkie says, "The Son, not the Father, is the Judge of the whole earth.  His judgment will be made in accordance with the will of he Father and will be just."  

Q:  What will we be judged on?

A:  D&C 137:9 "For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts."  John Taylor said, "We may deceive one another as a counterfeit coin is considered true and valuable among men.  But He knows our thoughts, our desires, our motives, our feelings; he knows our acts and what prompted us to perform them."  And from Joseph F. Smith, "He does not judge men as we do, nor look upon them as we do.  He knows our imperfections - all the causes, and the why's are known by Him.  His judgments will be true, just and righteous."

I go back and forth between "Bring it on! Let's get on with that 1,000 years of peace!" and "Oh dear, I have so much to improve on first! It better be a long way off!"

But I do feel great excitement knowing that the Savior will defeat Satan in that final battle, and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  That sounds SO GOOD!  This will happen.  It's not just something we talk about.  This is truth!  Our Savior truly will reign on this Earth and Satan really will be defeated!  It may not be until man is flying around on the Millennium Falcon, but the Millennium is a true event that will be wonderful!

A dream since 2001 comes true

When Laura graduated in 2001, Claire was only 22 months old.  We were out to dinner as a family, with Claire sitting in a high chair.  We started talking about what life would be like when Claire graduated from High School.  We figured out it would be in 2017!  That sounded SO FAR away!  The kids started thinking, "Where will I be?  Will I be married?  Will I have KIDS?"  So we all put our hands in the center of the table and made a vow that no matter what was going on, we would all gather when Claire graduated from High School.  The kids probably forgot, but I kept that tucked in my head.

As Claire's graduation creeped closer, I mentioned it to the kids.  But life is complicated and we had such a variety of obstacles.  The timing was awful with different family members trying to move, experiencing morning sickness, colds and sickness, working with no time off, and in the middle of job interviewing.  It seemed like it couldn't possibly happen.  Could it?

Through some great sacrifice, everyone miraculously made it work!   And it was a dream come true!

We gathered under one roof for a few days of fun, lots of laughs, and occasional chaos!  (That roof we gathered under felt pretty tight at moments!)  Lots of baby-passing, teasing of little girls, not enough eating (I under planned), and some fun in the sun.  Grandpa Ricks joined us and he was the star of our Kick-ball game when he caught a high fly ball!  We had a swingin' good time as you will see below!

The only time it rained was when we gathered for a family picture.  It was kind of ironic!  So we took one inside then braved the front porch for picture #2.  They came out really well!  Thank you to Laura for setting us up then running in for the shot, and  Jeff C. for some minor photo shopping, or should I say, "photo swapping" as he combined some pictures to get the kids all looking at the camera.

Sunday we were joined by Becky and Mike. More laughing.  Then the good bye's had to start.  First Mike, then Grandpa and the Wismer's,  The next day it was Jeff, Kate, and Blakely.  Tuesday was good bye to the Chapman's followed by the Tolsma's.

It's quiet again.  It's calm.  Things are back in their usual places.  And I'm missing everyone.  I love that we can get together and everyone gets along.  Everyone helps.  I already said to Reid this morning, "When should we do it again?  I have some ideas on what we could do.....and won't it be fun when the grandkids are older,......... and Mike and Claire are married, and.....and.......and."

I think I'd really like to be with these guys forever.  Ultimate family reunion.  Maybe we put our hands together and all agreed, in spite of life's obstacles, to sacrifice and all be together in the next life.....sort of a Graduation from Earth.  I hope we did that.  I hope we do it.

Claire was chosen as one of two Graduation Speakers and she did so amazing!  She even got a standing ovation!  She was eloquent, funny, poised, and passed along some great wisdom.

Plus she sang "The Star Spangled Banner" with a small group.  

Ok, done letting my pride fall out all over the place.

But she was AMAZING!!!

Now I'm done.  For now.

The Graduation Attendees

Siblings Reunited

Group Hug

Our last high school graduate!

Back Row:  Laura + Adeline, Jeff T., Claire, Kate + Blakely, Jeff, Mike, Jeff C. + Luke, Marie

Front Row:  Grandma + Rosalyn, Grandpa + Brielle

The inside shot.
A special thank you to supportive in-laws who sacrificed to make this reunion happen!  We love you!

The swingers

 Rosalyn, Jeff C + Luke, Marie, Brielle, Claire, Jeff, Kate + Blakely, 

Mike, Grandpa, Laura + Adeline, Jeff T, and me.

Look at that sky!

Sisters!
The True Swingers!
We know how to live it up at Shari's!

The World is Missing out on 90% of some very special people

I was driving to Claire's Theater Honor Graduation Ceremony last night.  I knew she would be performing numerous numbers including a solo and it would be alot of fun for her to do, and alot of fun for me to watch.  I was feeling light and happy!  All these fun graduation things honoring your child just make you burst with joy!

I casually turned on the radio where they were discussing Down Syndrome.  A new report has come out saying that since testing has been developed, 90% of all babies with Down Syndrome are aborted.  That's why you don't see many children with Down Syndrome any more.  In many countries, the statistic is 100% (even though there is a +/- 2.5 %  chance of error in testing).

Then it came painfully shooting back into my memory.  It was February 1, 1999.  I remember that exact date, even the exact moment.  I was due in July.  Tests had been done at my last OB/GYN appointment.  I was rushing out the door when the phone rang.  "I don't have time to stop and answer." I thought, "I'll let it go to the machine."  I was standing, keys in hand, one step out the door, when I heard a man's voice talking on my answering machine.  It was my Doctor asking me to call him to go over test results.  When do Doctor's actually call you with test results?  That's never good, is it?   I ran back in and called the office back and then sat down while he told me the news.  It looked like my baby might be Down Syndrome.

This was just news about our baby, not a decision to be made. This baby belonged to us.  This was just something about our baby we hadn't known yet.  When I shared the news with Reid he had the same instant reaction.  There is no decision.  This is our child.  And we already love her!

But here was the radio news telling me that most parents who get the same news, do face a decision.  And 90% of them make the decision to abort.  I just couldn't believe it.  I came home and googled a little about this.  Lots of varying points of view:  Some people think  it is such a shame that there are not more loving, kind, happy Down Syndrome children because they enrich our lives so much!  Others were writing that they aborted a Down Syndrome child and they are grateful they did and have gone on to have other healthy children.  Still others who have Down Syndrome children wrote about the ups and downs of it all.  It was alot to take in.

Am I grateful Claire was not born with Down Syndrome?  No.  Grateful is not what I am.  I would have been grateful either way that a beautiful child had joined our eternal family.  Has it been easier that she is healthy?  Probably.  But having a Down Syndrome child was something we had to face reality about.  And it confirmed in us that we actually did respond the way we had previously only hoped we would respond.  

She's graduating soon.    Perfectly beautiful, perfectly healthy.  A cheerful, loving, kind person who has her Chromosome 21 in tact.

They talk about life decisions that shape us.  This is one time when having no decision to make shaped us.  Because we felt and acted just like we had previously only hoped we would.  We don't get those opportunities to prove ourselves to ourselves very often!  Would you go into a burning building to save someone?  Would you risk your life to rescue someone dangling from a cliff?  I think you would.  It would be a "no decision" time.  You would react just the way you hope you would.  Maybe it's not life decisions that show who we are.  Maybe it's reactions that show our true character.

A Thought on Mother's

A few years ago, Marie gave me this poem on Mother's Day. I have always loved it and it makes me think of my Mother.



THE WATCHER, by Margaret Widdemer


She always leaned to watch for us,
       Anxious if we were late,
       In winter by the window,
       In summer by the gate.

 And though we mocked her tenderly,
       Who had such foolish care,

The long way home would seem more safe
       Because she waited there.
       Her thoughts were all so full of us,
       She never could forget!

And so I think that where she is
       She must be watching yet.

Waiting till we come home to her,
        Anxious if we are late,
        Watching from Heaven’s window,
         Leaning on Heaven’s gate.

A mother's love is an example through the ages!

Break a Leg, or "Many Broken Bates Legs!"

I don't like to keep saying it out loud. But I do keep thinking it nonetheless:   "This is the last time........"(fill in the blank.)

With Claire graduating in June, I'm having lots of "lasts". I'm surprisingly sad about it. When I was going through school with my kids, I couldn't wait until I could say, "this is the last time......" but now that it's here, it doesn't feel as good as I thought it might.

The hardest so far has been the end of the Era of Bates kids singing and dancing on stage in their High School Musicals! Each year this has been a huge deal in our life.......

Announcing what the musical will be!
Preparing for auditions!
The auditions!
The day the parts are posted!
First rehearsals!
So many rehearsals!
Set Construction!
Getting the costumes!
Tech Week!
Opening night!
The run!
Cast parties!
Closing night and Strike!
Exhaustion!
Sadness that it's over!

I went through all of the ups and downs of this with them. Waiting, waiting, to hear if they were cast! What part did they get? Will they be bold enough to stand up for a modest costume? (Yes, every time!) Will they be able to learn all those lines? (Yes, every time!) Will their voice be loud enough/high enough/low enough/clear enough? (Yes, every time!) I was the driver for many of these rehearsals and shows, sometimes waking up a baby to get them there on time. I was also a ticket seller, usher, prop provider, early dinner provider, cast party host, Green room chaperone, treats provider, secret buddy gift buyer, costume repairs, wait-er upper until they finally came home, but mostly, I was the most enthusiastic and loudest cheering audience member!

Our 5 kids in High School did a total of 17 shows!

 Here is the list:
1. My Fair Lady (Laura) 1999
2. Oklahoma (Laura and Jeff) 2000
3. Guys and Dolls (Laura and Jeff) 2001
4. Music Man (Jeff) 2002
5. Into the Woods (Jeff and Marie) 2003
6. Darn Yankees (Marie) 2004
7. Fiddler on the Roof (Marie) 2005
8. Les Miserables (Marie) 2006
9. Foot Loose (Marie) 2006 (They did 2 musicals that year)
10. Once on This Island (Mike) 2010
11. Music Man (Mike.....and Claire as a child) 2011
12. Pirates of Penzance (Mike) 2012
13. Aida (Mike) 2013
14. How to Succeed in Business without really Trying (Claire) 2014
15. Putnam County Spelling Bee (Claire) 2015
16. Oliver (Claire) 2016
17. Little Shop of Horrors (Claire) 2017


I have proudly enjoyed each of them singing many songs, including some amazing solos on stage. My favorites were:

Laura: Guys and Dolls playing Adelaide and singing Adelaide's Lament
Jeff: Music Man playing Marcellus and singing Shipoopi
Marie: Les Miserables playing Cosette and singing In My Life
Mike: Pirates of Penzance playing the Modern Major General and singing I am the very Model of a Modern Major General
Claire: Little Shop of Horrors playing Mrs. Luce singing The Meek Shall Inherit


Side Notes:
1.  Our kids have married spouses who also love the stage.  Jeff T has toured all over the world singing and performing!  Kate has choreographed many musicals including the Music Man at our High School!  And Jeff C played Tevye in his high school musical of Fiddler on the Roof.  Marie played the Matchmaker in the same musical, of course they hadn't met yet.  But Marie's Matchmaker skills paid off later!
2.  I won't list the other musicals they have been in, in community theater.  They would have been in more, but we tried to stick to a "no rehearsals or performances on Sunday's" rule.   That limits your opportunities.  But Reid and I (along with Laura, Jeff, and Marie) were in a Stake Musical once. Reid and I even sang solos. Reid's was great.  Mine was, well, lackluster at best.  You can definitely put to rest any idea that our kids got their musical/stage talent from me!
3.  The day Oklahoma opened, back in 1999 was the day I found out I was expecting Claire! I remember sitting there wondering if some day I'd be watching this baby in his or her High School Musical! And I did!

Thank you to each of my kids for being brave enough to put yourself out there and up there! Trying out is not easy. Singing in front of your peers is not easy. Making your Mom proud of you is always easy!

So, as this era comes to an end, I'm sad but oh the memories!

As they say in show biz, It's a wrap!