We visited my parents for Thanksgiving, and the kids ate up all the extra attention they could get. On the way home, Elizabeth kept saying "I want Grandma and Pocker (my dad, we don't know why she calls him that) to come visit us." We told her it would probably be a while before we saw them again, and we'd probably go see them.
Never underestimate the faith of a 4 year old.
My parents came down to visit this weekend. It was a last minute thing; they arrived Saturday night and had to leave Monday morning. But why the 6 hour drive? Our stake recently formed 2 new wards (a YSA ward and another Spanish ward) and had to do some shuffling to fill the gaps. They released 7 stake high councilors as part of this process, and needed to get new ones. Somewhere along the way, Elizabeth's prayers for a visit from Grandma and Pocker got in the mix, and I was called as one of the new stake high councilors (responsible for Aaronic Priesthood and Scouting). Not a high priest yet? No problem, we'll get that fixed. A late night call to my dad after that interview/calling extension last Wednesday night, some schedule shuffling on their part, and they would be on their way. We told the girls when they woke up Thursday morning, and the kids crazy with excitement all of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday while they were waiting. In between the excitement, Elizabeth had this look that she knew this would happen.
And yes, I already have a speaking assignment this Sunday.
So what does this have to do with graham cracker houses? Patience, young padawan.
My dad is known, among other nicknames, as Master Yoda. If he can't fix it, it ain't broken. My friend Matt and I once spent an entire day trying to change his brake pads. We knew what we were doing. We'd done this job before, and it shouldn't have been hard, but the danged things just weren't cooperating. We were getting sunburned pretty bad working out there, and after spending the entire day not getting anywhere, we were ready to give up.
Then my dad pulled up in the driveway.
He gets out of his truck, takes a look at what we're doing, gives it a nudge, and the durned things come right off! "I don't believe it!" "That is why you fail."
His skillz0rz aren't just limited to mechanics. He can build graham cracker houses. Sunday night, while I was dealing with grades and prepping for finals, my dad worked with each of the kids and they made their masterpieces. A total of 4 were made: one for each and an extra one to deliver to our friends the MacIntosh's (great FHE the next night).
Ok, ok, the pictures are below.
Now, these houses just aren't good looking, they're good eating too. Amelia ate most of hers last night while we watched The Santa Clause.
Jeb enjoyed his too, but mostly by smashing it before he ate it.
7 comments:
Wow James - a high priest! Congrats on the new calling. Should be fun for Christie to wrangle the kids when you are busy with speaking assignments :)
Yeah, Christie just asked to get her RS lesson schedule moved to be off of high council Sundays. Otherwise Jeb would be my speaking companion.
I also just found out I don't have to speak this Sunday afterall, so phew!
The houses aren't just great looking, they are also STRONG! Jeb picked Amelia's up off the plate, dropped it on the ground, and it survived in one piece! Of course he did manage to demolish his own, but that kept him busy for most of the movie.
It looks like the kids had fun!
I don't know how I missed this post! How is the new calling coming, James?
Love the houses.
Being on the high council is a nice job. It sounds important, but you really don't have any real authority. I enjoyed preparing a talk each month. I don't know if the congregation enjoyed it.
Your kids are cute.
Calling is coming along. There is a lot of work that needs doing. We just had training from the Area Seventy and he told us we had the authority to do whatever we needed to do... don't know how that will actually work, but we'll see. Most of the units aren't doing very much/at all with the Young Men and Scouting programs. We're also rebuilding the Scouting relationship with the local council. Seems in the past we've asked for no activities on Sundays and then we didn't show up, so there's a bit of a rift we have to fix. So far I'm only scheduled to speak 3 times this year. Jeb enjoys hanging out in High Priests group with the other little boy his age.
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