Category Archives: family

the week from hell

Posted on by
Reply

And this week has been no exception. But I had an interesting conversation Monday evening that got me thinking…and the thinking has continued. This week has been quite the roller coaster, from really bad to really good and back again.

So, the conversation had to do with grass being greener (you know what I’m saying). I didn’t really want to have it because the example being given was totally ridiculous and didn’t apply to my life at all, but…it did make me think. Yes, it’s easy to look at others’ lives and think, “Oh, if only I could be her.” But I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone else’s.

At any given moment this week, in the depths of my personal (and generally hormonal) despair, I was able to call up one of my siblings and get love, support, advice, encouragement, or just an ear to listen. Yes, it sucks to not have a mom sometimes, but I sure did get blessed in the sibling department. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without them.

I know it’s not gratitude month anymore, but I just wanted to get this one down for posterity!

And I’m pretty sure that one of the things I asked for before coming to this earth was my family. I knew how great my siblings would be and I made sure they would be with me.

a rare posting…christmas cards

Posted on by
1

My amazingly talented sister-in-law, Cherity, is offering her services this year designing Christmas/Holiday cards…kind of like the kind you could order at Wal-Mart (that everyone else will be ordering from Wal-Mart) only way cuter. She charges $10 for the designs and will send you the finished product as a JPEG…which means you can order them for something like $.09 per print! Incredible! (Or she will print them and send them to you…it just costs a bit more)

Here are a few examples:



If you are interested, you can email me at chloe.elizabeth@yahoo.com and I can forward your info to her. (She also does darling baby announcements!)

letter to Drew – 9.6.08

Posted on by
Reply

So, Drew, I know better than to only write once every six months, but whatever. It is what it is. I hope you know that we all love you and think about you and pray for you often!

I don’t want to bore you with boring details of my life that won’t help you a lot as you are out in the mission field, except to say that I have started graduate school at BYU and it is kicking my trash.

Anyway, it’s actually been a really great experience so far and I want to share a few little spiritual tidbits that I’ve gotten from going to school at BYU (and being open-minded and not hating all of the BYU zoobies).

First, Sheri Dew came and spoke to us and it was amazing. There were a couple great quotes that I loved from her talk.
“Everything doesn’t deserve your best effort; some things just need to get done. Some things demand your best effort.” I love this quote. I often get caught up (and I’m guessing you’ve experienced the same thing in the mission field) in wanting to do everything perfectly. But that’s not what the Lord asks of us. And in fact, He doesn’t even require that we do our best in everything. We just need to do our best in the things that matter most.

“A leader enables the greatest number of people to help the greatest number of people.” This is what you are as a missionary. You are a leader, and your job right now is to enable people to help themselves, members, investigators, and companions. You can’t do the work for them, but you can create the best environment for them and give them the tools that they need. This is something that I am trying to focus on with my classmates. Creating an environment and a relationship with each of them (or as many as possible) in order to help them “be all that they can be.” Ha ha ha.

And finally, and probably my favorite, “It is easier to motivate someone to do something hard than something easy.” That may seem strange, but it’s true. I have found it in my own life when I’m dealing with myself. My decision to run a marathon last year was a classic example. Running three miles would have been easy, but the motivation just wasn’t there all the time, but knowing that I was going to run a marathon, suddenly I could do three miles, and then six miles, and then 10, etc. This is just something to think about with your members and investigators. Trust them to step up. Ask them to do hard things. They can do them.

Okay, is that enough preaching from me? Seriously, I think about you all the time and hope that you are doing well. And just remember, we all have bad days, when we aren’t motivated and we just don’t care. Don’t get caught up in the guilt of not being the best possible missionary you can be for an hour, or a day, or a week even. Just commit to do better when you need to and move forward. I know that you probably know just how useless guilt is…in fact, how detrimental it is…but it always helped me when Alicia would write to me and remind me that it was okay to have bad days.

All right. Drew, I love you! I hope you are doing so well. Remember more than anything that Heavenly Father loves you and He and your dad are both there with you, cheering you on. We are all so proud of you!

Love,

Chloe

my second mom

Posted on by
4

Yesterday, I got to spend the day in my hometown and I got to spend a good chunk of time with Sydne, (my mom’s bff), Hillary, and Ashley (my partner in crime throught my childhood) and a few of their kids (which was super fun as I had never met some of them).

Speaking of low maintenance friends, these women are the best. I love them all dearly, I enjoy keeping up on their lives through their blogs, and I would do anything for them…and yet, we probably talk once or twice a year, and only see each other when I manage to make it back here and all of our schedules workout.

Anyway, when I got to Sweet Affair yesterday (this fabulous bakery with the most amazing sandwiches) and saw Sydne, I ran over to her (literally) and got a big hug and just started to cry. I kind of forget sometimes how much it sucks to not have a mom, but one visit with the Sydsters (as I like to call her) is enough to get me through an entire year. Seriously. Next to my own mother (yes, I actually wouldn’t have traded my mom, even with all of her quirks and crazyness), if I could hand-pick a mom, Sydne would be it.

She is hands down the best listener I know. Maybe it’s because she loves us, maybe it’s who she is, maybe it’s a little of both, but seriously, I feel like a new person. My favorite thing about how she listens is that she just listens. As I think back on the conversation yesterday, not once did she give me advice. She didn’t judge. She just listened and loved. And when she does have something to say, it is always the perfect thing…just exactly what I need. I think of all of the years of wisdom she has and yet it’s never about her and her being able to get her two cents in. Sydne is probably the most selfless person I have ever met.

Okay, I’m sure she has her flaws. We all do. But I’d be hardpressed to come up with any…maybe she’s a little too forgiving, but is that really possible?

Getting to have a relationship with Sydne as an adult is probably the closest thing I will have to knowing what it would have been like with my own mom, so I am especially grateful that she is still a part of my life. And I hope that I can be just like her (and my mom) someday. I hope that I am that person that people can turn to with their problems because I don’t judge, I don’t have my own agenda, I truly just want to help.

Yeah, I know. I’m not that person today. Don’t worry. No dillusions of grandeur here. I’ve got a long way to go, but it was nice to be reminded what my goal is.

Thanks for a fabulous day, ladies!

new friends

Posted on by
2

This post is more of a journal entry than anything, but since this is my journal…well, you understand.

So, thanks to Danielle, I had the opportunity during my time here in NorCal to reconnect with a distant cousin (distant in relation…we grew up in the same town and our moms were great friends).

I actually ran into Jake about a year and a half ago on campus, and he was very nice and polite and told me to let him know if I wanted him to write me a recommendation when I applied the school in P-town. And that was the end of it. I knew that he was married, but I hadn’t met his wife. I knew that he had kids, but nothing more.

Well, when Danielle was in the area for work last week, we headed to Jake’s house for dinner. I had no idea what I was in for as Jake and I weren’t really friends (he’s my younger brother’s age…and that matters in high school, apparently), but I assure you that, whatever my expectations, my experience exceeded them.

Jake and Lora are absolutely fabulous and their children are darling. I managed to make it over there two more times in the last week and a half and enjoyed every minute. They fed me fabulous food (Jake’s a great cook) and great conversation.

It was one of those instant-click situations with Lora. I knew I’d like her because Danielle had great things to say, but you know when you just feel like someone is going to be a big part of your life (even if you only see them once a year). That’s how I feel about these two. Maybe it’s that we are related, but I think it’s more about finding those kindred spirits with whom I can just be myself. I love how people come into our lives at just the right time. It kind of makes it hard to not believe in God.