Dear Family and Friends:
It is hard to believe that another year has gone by. Merry Christmas! Our family is well, and we hope the same is
true for each of you. Our kids are
busier than ever, which means we spend most of our time just trying to keep up
with them.
Austin will turn 16 in May (translation: this kid could be
driving unsupervised down your street and dating your daughter in a few short
months; don’t say I didn’t warn you!).
I’m not sure who is more excited –he to drive or me to not, as I am
definitely looking forward to being fired from my position as his personal
chauffer. He finished his Eagle in May
(Hallelujah!). We dropped off the final
paperwork and, within an hour, signed a contract on his long-awaited cell
phone. He promptly recorded the
voicemail message to sound like he was actually answering the phone. He did such a good job that I fell for his
clever trick every. single. time. I
would hear his voice say, “hello,” and start talking for several seconds before
being cut off and realizing that I was actually talking to myself. This went on for months. I never learned my lesson and every encounter
I had with his blasted voicemail left me wanting to throw his phone from the
nearest mountaintop. He finally took
mercy on me and changed the message –thank goodness. He is doing great in school and no longer
requires us to nag him to do his best.
He actually, really, truly cares about his grades! His favorite subjects are History and French,
and he is currently trying to figure out how to get himself to France. I tell him to keep dreaming because I have
lived way longer than he has, and I have yet to go myself.
Ashleigh is a “sevie” this year (this is what everyone at
her school calls the seventh graders).
Junior High has been an adjustment, but she is doing great. She has lots of cute friends and has been
able to avoid most of the drama that is normally associated with this time in
life. She is a talented girl and still
loves to stay busy. She is taking
sewing, voice and piano lessons (all half-time lest you think we are crazy),
and is still clogging every week. She
played lacrosse this fall, but whether she liked it enough to stick with it is pending. Ashleigh will be a teenager by the end of the
month and has already acquired a taste for all the things that teenagers
like: music, clothes, shoes, jewelry and
makeup. Her favorite destination is the
mall. She tells me that she even loves
the way it smells there. I tell her to
get a job ASAP, because it smells expensive to me. Ashleigh loves to make crafts and bake
goodies. I once heard a quote that said
something like, “a messy kitchen is a happy kitchen.” If that is true, then our kitchen is never
happier than when Ashleigh is trying out a new recipe. She discovered Pinterest this year and regularly
stalks my boards for fresh ideas. I
should probably be glad that someone is making use of all the time I waste on
that website. She is very creative, and
it has been fun to see her learn and try new things.
Hayden is still our avid, over-the-top BYU fan. I went to a basketball game with Cameron last
month and, a few minutes into the game, I realized that I had missed 5 phone
calls and had 3 voicemail messages from home.
Each was from Hayden. In the
first message, he wanted to know what channel the game was on because he could
not find it on TV. The second one was
the same, but he was stressed because he knew the game had started and he was
missing it. By the third message he was
in a full-blown panic. Each message was
left within one minute of the previous message, equaling a grand total of three
minutes that it took for him to arrive at a complete melt down. A true fan for sure. Hayden played flag football again this year
and loved every minute of it. He is
excited to play Jr. Jazz basketball this winter. He rarely goes to school without some kind of
a ball in his hand or backpack. His
Christmas wish-list includes a soccer goal and Under Armor (because it makes
you play better football, right?). I
think it is safe to say that he loves sports. He also loves shoes. I don’t know how it happened, but I have a
son with a shoe fetish. He is always
asking for a new pair of shoes. The
problem is, I don’t believe in buying shoes unless they are needed, and he just
doesn’t need any more. He already has
cleats, flip-flops, tennis shoes, hiking boots, winter boots and church shoes
–more than enough, if you ask me. He
doesn’t agree, and has added new shoes to his Christmas list as well. I would really like to ask Santa if any other
nine-year-old boy has requested shoes this year or if Hayden is the only one.
Ellie is in first grade and trying to like being at school
all day. Every time I drive carpool the
last thing she says to me before pushing the car door shut is, “When can I get
checked out early from school?” In the
past, she has been checked out for doctor and dental appointments. I can’t decide if she would really rather
receive immunizations or have cavities filled than go to school, or if she is
just trying to extend the goodbye process.
I say process, because with her, a proper goodbye is just that. According to her rules, we are required to
give her a hug and a kiss, tell her how long we will be gone (which she then
promptly translates into how many sessions of general conference this amount of
time is equivalent to), say the exact words “goodbye” and “I love you,” and
wave. If we miss a step…let’s just say
we never miss a step. She is headstrong (for good or for bad),
smart, and plenty sassy. We get a kick
out of her when she is in a good mood and try to stay out of her way when she
is not. One thing that sets Ellie apart
from many other six-year-olds is that she loves to eat her vegetables. She was delighted to discover that we had
green bell peppers growing in the garden this summer and would often pick and
wash and eat them like an apple. One
day, she accidentally picked and bit into a jalapeño pepper instead. She came into the house with tears streaming
down her face, holding the remaining half of the offending pepper in hand and
demanded, “What is wrong with this
pepper – it is SO hot!” Funny girl!
Hadley is our little melt-your-heart, snuggle-bunny of a
girl. She will bring her favorite
blanket, “Pinkie” (which used to actually be pink, and is now quite threadbare
and not very pink at all) and curl up in my lap for long stretches of
time. She likes to twist her blanket
between two fingers on one hand and suck her thumb on the other while we rock
or read stories together. She is a real mama’s
girl right now which is both a blessing and a curse. Most of the time I love it, but sometimes I
wish she would let her dad carry her to bed, brush her teeth, read her a story,
help her with prayers, tuck her in, bring her a drink, turn on her night-light,
adjust her door just right, and then tuck her in and adjust her door five more
times when she gets up for more drinks and trips to the bathroom (can you say
high maintenance?). She and I have an
ongoing negotiation between us. I tell
her that I want her to stay little forever and offer her all kinds of crazy
bribes if she will just stop getting bigger.
I can usually talk her into agreeing to the deal and sometimes we even
shake on it. Then, out of nowhere, and
in the most random places she will announce very loudly for all to hear,
“Mom! I’m growing up!”, as if she just
saw it happen in that very moment. And
with that, we begin a new round of negotiations. Her favorite punch line to ANY joke is
“chicken nugget!” For some reason, she
thinks this is so funny and, while I can’t explain why, somehow, the rest of us
do too. Nuts.
Last week in church, I was thumbing through my scriptures,
reading different passages that I had previously highlighted when I came across
Luke 19:10: “The Son of God is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” I was struck with the power of these words as
I realized that in this single sentence He tells us why He came. He came to seek;
He came to save…that which was lost. Whether
we realize it or not, every single one of us is lost to the Father without the
Son. He is called the Savior of the world
for a reason—because His purpose is to save us.
This scripture also speaks to me of His power to save and redeem that
which is lost to each of us in this life.
When Annie died, we lost a precious daughter, a baby sister, a piece of
ourselves, and part of our hearts. Not a
day goes by that we don’t ache for that which we have lost. We know that we are not alone, that many are
suffering, and that loss is an inevitable part of this life. However, we also know that because He came “to
save,” these things are not lost from us forever. Words cannot begin to express our gratitude
for this. And then there is the promised
seeking. From this verse of scripture, we
know that He is seeking us, and we feel to ask ourselves:
Are we seeking Him?
Merry
Christmas,
Cameron,
Amy, Austin, Ashleigh, Hayden, Ellie and Hadley Sabin
