With All My Love

Dear Elder Schenewark, family and friends,

We love you! What a delight to hear your voice, see your face, and see your face move! So much better than pictures, almost as good as in person, but it will do for now.

While we were waiting for you to call, we were on line with Tanner and AnneMarie, when he told us about his first week at his new job. The boys wanted to know if he was in a cubicle. He said he had a big desk. They asked again if he was in a cubicle. He said it was a hexagonal area. Somehow we got talking about decorations he should bring in, as he has no picture of his wife. Yet. Dad suggested a Venus Flytrap plant. Then a Beta fish. Then barbed wire for the computer monitor. Good times on screen.

Mother's Day was celebrated all across the nation today, even in Brazil. My favorite ism came from Miller, answering a few questions on a Mother's Day form in his school class. My Mom looks prettiest when and he answered she spends time with her children. My other favorite question he answered was My favorite thing to do with my Mom is and he said talk in the car. He did mention that My Mom always forgets to pick me up. Not so much forget, but complications that arise in a delay.

Your father gave me a great gift bag full of chocolate and books. Perfect. And he knows me well, as I don't know many others who are really eager to read Long Mile Home: Boston Under Attack, The City's Courageous Recovery, and the Epic Hunt for Justice.

My favorite substitute job this week was second graders. They're adorable. Old enough to know the rules, but cute enough to forget them. I was covering for a teacher who was helping to administer end of the year state testing. She finished testing early one day, and because Porter is home, had no car. I know the four+ miles home were easily done in the three hours I had before I had to go back to the school for the younger two, so I headed home. On foot. In a dress. Only to discover Dad had locked the house. Your ever safety conscious father! I sat on the back porch eating lunch, dozing, and waiting. That night I found out I had also been bitten by a spider, on my back, sixteen times!

Walking made me think of the Salt Lake temple stone carver who walked 22 miles a day to fulfill his calling. My blisters in modern day sandals, after four miles, were bigger than quarters...he walked the equivalent of a marathon twice a week in shoes that were not modernly comfortable. Your aunts Becky and Jenny participate in a cancer fundraiser every year in Boston, walking a marathon, train for the walk, wear fancy socks and shoes, and still have blisters. I can't even imagine how much it hurt him in those old shoes, doing this twice a week, and even more so when he lost a leg and walked on his homemade artificial leg.

Your father gave a lovely talk today, mentioning how the men wounded and dying lying on the beaches of Normandy cried for their mothers. I'm grateful to be a mother. I'm grateful you're one of my sons. I've been so blessed, being the mother of six wonderful boys and one daughter. Can't forget the princess! You are all achieving amazing things and have yet so much potential to tap. I couldn't be prouder of you, your sacrifice, your willingness to serve, your diligence in being obedient.

Love,

Mom