I love Sunday

That seems so weird to actually write that statement.
I love Sunday.
There I did it again.
I remember years....and years of tolerating Sunday and just counting the minutes and hours until I could get back into my cacoon-of-a-bed and gear up for Monday. It was a struggle to feel of the spirit and to want to go to church.  I just did it because it was the right thing to do.
 It was hard when I had 4 boys under 6 years old.  It was definitely  easier having just one little baby on a Sunday.   ( Addison, Laila)  I know it helps that my kids are older now.
I said," I hate Sunday "so much when my boys were little, that I think I totally gave hem a negative mind set towards this beautiful day.
I say, " I love Sunday" so much around Laila, that she feels the same way and loves it.
I'm glad I have gone through the babies and small children stages  and have come out on the other side Loving Sunday.

Oh Sunday I love you.....How do I count the ways.?....
I love getting regenerated at church
I love hearing testimony
I love being among other like minded Saints
I love being with good people and knowing we are going through struggles and successes together
I love being with family at birthday gatherings, or Sunday circles or game night
I love to talk and catch up on everyone's week
I love to take the time to count my blessings
I love the different pace...slow or fast ...of this day
I love having everyone home
I love partaking of the sacrament...and getting a fresh start....a course correction.

I read Stephen E. Robinson's book Believing Christ, a while ago, and it really helped me think of the sacrament in a more personal way.  Essentially, as we partake of the sacrament we are going to the Lord and saying:
Heavenly Father, I wasn't perfect again this week, but I repent of my sins and reaffirm my commitment to keep all of the commandments.  I promise to go back and try again with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I still want and need the cleansing that comes through faith, repentance and baptism.  Please extend my contract, my covenant of baptism, and grant me the continued blessings of the Atonement and the companionship of the Holy Ghost.


I love Sunday!

Missionary T

We are finally on the countdown for Truman's mission.
 4 weeks from today we will be dropping him at the Provo, MTC.
Manchester, England Mission........WATCH OUT!!!

Sweethearts/Email

We held our Welch family annual Sweetheart's dinner.  It's always good to get together and celebrate Wanee's birthday with all of the siblings and spouses.

Wanee is an amazing woman.  She is an angel mother.  She loves a good story and loves to laugh. She is so full of service, compassion and unconditional love. (Believe me she has lots of "conditions" that surround her....and she loves them all, us all, anyway.)

I had this Sweetheart's dinner brainstorm years ago..... We used to all get together and could only spend $2.00 in proclaiming our love for our spouse publicly.  It was fun to see how clever everyone could be, as we went around a circle and talked about why we loved our spouse...... And... if they couldn't be clever, atleast they were  sincere and heart felt.  We would clap at the end of each presentation. The husband and wife would smooch....all very lovely.

Gifts from the past, that I recall......include:

 Top Ten Reason's Why I love Wayne,  in a David Letterman List book.

Original poetry

Batteries  to the tv remote control relinquished.

Lemon Meringue pies.

Scout memorablia organized

Mission letters organized

Videos put together

A "to do " list accomplished

Nights of "lovin" promised...

Rare things talked about....

Songs sung

It was actually really great while it lasted.  It's been years since we celebrated this way.  When  Wayne's dad, Tom, passed away we changed this to a Sweetheart Birthday celebration to honor Wanee.

_________________________

Laila got an email account this week.  It was a huge reward for reading minutes etc....  SHe has been begging for one for a long time.  I figure I'll help monitor it and we'll see.  It has actually been fun.  She checks it a lot, and is thrilled when she has mail. This has taken little-kid-notes to a higher level.

This past week I received  a ...."glad you are my mom, thanks for feeding me." And a note that said, "I like your home made hats."   

I just checked my email and she informed me of this:

------ Forwarded Message
From: Laila Welch >
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:04:28 -0800 (PST)
To: Melinda Welch >
Subject: Re: laila
glad I'm not in haiti

The Enforcer

Monson loves Basketball !!!
He only has 2 games left, then region play is over for the year.
 He plays great JV ball and a little bit of Varsity.
He was playing tough tonight  against East High.
We were up by 20 in the 4th period.   Monson and a bunch of starters went out.   New guys came in, and East went on a 16 point run.  Partly because of a kid from East who was crazy...out of control.  Our boys kept getting hurt.  Elbow in the mouth.  Thrown to the floor.  Fouls were being called on us time and again, nothing on East.  After a pretty flagrant foul, that wasn't called on East.  Our Coach called a ref over while East was shooting.  He said....so many of us could hear.......
"That kid is out of control.  He has hurt a number of our players. You get him under control.  IF one of their kids touches another one of my players  I'll send  him in ( gesturing to Monson) and he'll take all of them out.   It's your choice."
Monson's face was startled.  He got knuckles all around from his team mates.
Monson went in....
East got scared...
or the Refs did......
Monson made 4 clutch free throws.
We won by 7.

Monson as the Enforcer.....it's a good fit.

Thoughts on this Valentine's eve

The Love at Home song that Laila and I sang in church turned out lovely.
This morning was a new day...and Laila was excited to be singing.
She sang the first verse of Love at Home by her self, then I sang the second and we joined in on the third.  When she sang her last words...she was ready to dart off of the stand.  Good thing I was standing behind her, holding her shoulders, so she couldn't.  But she did roll her eyes, and  have a funny expression on her face as we waited for the music to end.   It was great.
  ____________
Addison had a wild week in St. George with his Sleepy Hollow the Musical performance.  The show went great  and was so well received.    They received many ovations...and great comments from the judges.  Addison was singled out for his performance of Ichabod Crane.  Addison got a feel of what fame is like.  He had crazed fans begging for his autograph, getting his picture taken, and even had some girl just run up and kiss him on the lips.  Wow.  He didn't know quite what to think.  Good thing his girlfriend was there to bring him back to real life.
They aren't going to the Kennedy Center to perform.  Too big of a show and with budget cuts....it can't happen.  Jim Christian and Tom Clark, the writer and composer...did get a special award and will continue to work this show in NYC.  This is an award that would have come in Washington DC, but because of arts budget cuts they received it at regionals.  So it's the end of the line for Ichabod Crane.
                        THe good news is Addison can cut his hair and shave his chops!!!

_____________
I gave Wayne a big map of the world for Valentine's...... I told him, "You rock my world!"   It's going up in the Family Room.

Wayne gave me three clocks....."Happy Valentime's"   or   "I've had the time of my life, be my valentine."  or  " I love you through time and all eternity!"   You get the cheesy idea
We love cheese at our house.
"More Cheese Please...."
I'm having the three clocks set to China time, England time, and Utah time.....

Wayne also gave Laila and me flowers.......mmmmmmm
_____________


I had a family Valentine's dinner with roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy--the works.  All of the foods the kids love.  It was fun to have them all here, and Addison's girlfriend Bre as well.

 It was great to set my table with my wedding china.   I pulled it out and have 7 plates and only 3 original pink glass goblets.  Oh well.  27 years later....it's good they are not all broken.  

We made Ginger Cream  frosted Valentine cookies after dinner.  Well, tried to make them.  I had to send a boy to Kimi's house to borrow flour, so we could finish the dough, then 20 minutes later as I started  to make the frosting....I sent another boy to Kimi's house to borrow powdered sugar, so we could frost our cookies.  Good thing for friends with deep pantries.  
Happy Valentines!!!

Love at Home?

Wouldn't it be sooooo funny, if while practicing the song, LOVE AT HOME, with your 8 year old daughter, she would have a snotty attitude, get in a "mood" and refuse to sing. Which in turn "pushes your buttons", which sends you flying off the handle-- spanking her bottom and sending her to her bed room?

Wouldn't that be so ironic?

LOVE AT HOME????

Well that's what happened while Laila and I were preparing our special musical number for church.

I was asked to sing in church a while ago.  I thought Love at Home would be great for this Love day.  While I was practicing it, Laila wanted to know why they never asked her to sing.  I said, tno problem.......she could sing with me.  I was suppposed to put something together....so this would be great.  She was excited and agreed.  She has a lovely, mostly on pitch soprano voice.

What should be a lovely mother/daughter experience, has turned into a fight.   

Why did I put her name on the program?

Why didn't I just leave mine on it, and then, if she was in the mood to sing--- announce her?

Oh....it could have turned out so differently.  Why am I such the "natural-mom"?

We have since forgiven each other.

We are smiling and breathing....and moving forward.

We have practiced a few times through.....never with accompaniment, and never the right words......

BUT......

We will sing LOVE AT HOME.....on Valentine's day.....whether we feel it or not.

"Valentimes"

We loves us a good "Valentimes" day.......that's how all of my kids used to say it.

I helped Laila put together a Valentine box for her school party.
She is making one at school, but still wants to make her own, so it's not like everyone else's.   Laila picked out Harry Potter valentine cards to give away this year.  She thinks the boys and the girls will like these cards, because EVERYONE loves Harry Potter.
 Her candy of choice is Jolly Ranchers.  "They really last-- and no stick to worry about like a sucker."
Laila is picking out just the right card and sticker for each kid in her class, (and candy flavor).

 She doesn't want to send any thing too mushy to the boy she has a crush on....and she doesn't want to send the wrong signals to the boys she doesn't like.

 It's all very complicated.

I remember these same issues when I was in Elementary school.

We had very few candy choices to include with our cards. 

  Conversation Hearts.....that was it.

I checked and rechecked the tiny pastel hearts, to make sure they said just the right thing....knowing this was a way I could get my message across without appearing too bold.

"Be Mine"

                  "#1 fan"

                                    "Hug Me"

I couldn't give the "True Love" heart,  or the "Let's Kiss"  ......only the " like " ones......but then only to girls, because if a boy got that, he might really believe it, and then where would I be?

                              I  had crushes on a lot of different little boys back then.
I remember getting a Valentine that was Humpty Dumpty falling off a wall that said...."I have fallen for you Valentine."
 I knew this was a declaration of true  elementary school love and I saved this under my pillow for weeks.  I read and re-read it.....then one day walking home from school, this crush made fun of me and my sister. He even threw snow balls at us.
We immediately tackled him and told him to "shut up"....and that was the end of that love affair.

I recall  one Valentine day getting a box of orange sticks from my 5th grade crush and hid them, embarrassed, from my little brother.  I didn't want to be teased.   I ate a few of these and threw the rest away....."how dare he give me such an outrageous declaration of love?"  Obviously he was not the boy for me.  The crush was crushed.  I  avoided eye contact for the rest of the school year.

It's a good thing I met my Wayne when I was 15-- since then, all of my Valentines  have been filled with flowers, poetry and love..................
ahhhhhhhhh.... oh,....... and chocolate!!!!