Friend Visits

When we went to Utah this year, we wanted to keep our visits to friends to a minimum. We really wanted this trip to be about spending time with family. If others wanted to come and visit us, we were okay with that, but we didn't want to spend the majority of our time off with others.

We did go visit Great-grandparents. My children haven't been around them, so they were weary of these "new" people... but once they brought out all their Christmas singing stuffed animals, my kids apprehensions melted right away and they warmed up to their Great-Grandparents. Marco still just wanted to play with the Melekelekemaki Dog.

I did make it a point to go and visit one of my very dearest friends, who also happens to be a mission companion: Nia (Sapoi) Sidal. I had been dying to meet their miracle baby: Lusetania. Nia has not been a stranger to trials in her life. Six months before she got married her mother passed away, and four months after that her father followed his sweetheart to the other side of the veil. With no one to sit by her as her "mother" at her wedding, Nia asked me to do to the honors. This crazy girl asked me! I was so worried when she was an hour late to her own wedding, and had never even tried on her wedding dress... but the spirit was so strong that you could tell her deceased parents were in the room with her so proud of her decision. There was such a feeling of love at her sealing.
After getting married, Nia tried to start a family and had numerous unsuccessful attempts. She miscarried twins at 18 weeks. A year following the miscarriage, she had a baby girl at 27 weeks, who lived one day and died. And exactly a year following the death of her daughter, she had another baby girl whom she carried to 28 weeks and lived only 2 short days. After that Nia went through some major surgery and was able to carry a beautiful (miracle) baby full term (40 weeks). Luse has been her pride and joy and it is so fun to see her be a Mommy. She is so tender and loving towards her little girl. And spending time with these two was absolutely precious for me! I have been able to vicariously learn and grow through watching Nia experience the trials that she has. I wouldn't wish these on anyone. I am truly grateful that she has made me such an integral part of her life and always been there for me if I needed love. Nia is the definition of Christlike charity and I hope I can emulate 10% of the love she shows towards others.

The other person I was able to see (twice) was Berklee Hammond. I've been tutoring Berklee since 2011 and for 4 of the 5 years it has been via FaceTime. She had no idea I was coming out to Utah, so when we had our "FaceTime" tutoring session set up one evening, I surprised her by showing up at her home. It was a great surprise - and one that she didn't see coming.

The only problem with this surprise is that Lily, who LOVES Berklee, didn't get to see her either. We tried to connect at Temple Square when we were seeing the lights... but it just didn't work out. I was a little sad that my little girl didn't get to see her favorite Berklee. But my prayers were answered when we ran into her and her family at the South Town Mall. Once Lily saw Berklee her eyes just LIT up and she ran toward Berklee and gave her the biggest hug and biggest kiss. It was almost as good as seeing your favorite Disney princess at DisneyWorld, but I think that this reunion was so much better!

Thanks Berklee for loving my little girl and for being such a good Math student. You never cease to amaze me at how much you are learning and how quickly you grasp everything. I wish I was as smart as you are when I was your age!

We also had the Sirrine girls stop by and play with us one evening. We put their hair in braids and Lily was so enthralled that she couldn't stop touching their hair and calling them "Elsa" and "Anna". She wanted us to braid her hair just like them. Unfortunately, she doesn't have as much hair as they do, so instead she just admired their beautiful braids. And Brittany was enamored with Marco. She loved him and wished she had visited us earlier so that she could have spent more time with this little guy. He seemed pretty taken to her too!

It was a perfect trip and we were lucky to have been able to spend some time with friends, but the majority of time with family. We will always be back in Utah, and next time plan on staying longer so we can see more people that are near and dear to our hearts.