On Sunday I felt Jay was with us when Sacrament Meeting started and I wondered why. Then the bishop had Jeremy stand for us to sustain him as a Teacher and I knew why Jay was there. Jeremy asked Donny to ordain him, so it was nice to have Donny, Don and Diane come to our church. Donny said after that he would have liked Jay to do it, but since that wasn’t possible he was honored to do it. The truth hurts.
Monday I had to take Natalies car to the shop to get it fixed so I could sell it and the battery was dead so I jump-started it with my car. I was so happy I could do it on my own! I am glad that I watched Jay do so many things so now I can do them. I thought following him around while he fixed everything was just fun to watch and that I would never have to do it myself. I sure am changing a lot of light bulbs! Jay was always changing light bulbs and told us how often they went out and now I believe it!! (But they aren’t changed near as quickly as when he was here!)
Monday night we went to FHE at Donny and Summers. They took pictures of our family for our Christmas card and helped us order them. I told them this will be that last day of their lives this way and life will never be the same again because tomorrow they are having baby #3. Donny told me on Thursday that I didn’t know how right that statement was!
Baby Jayne was born on Wednesday afternoon and will most likely be diagnosed with Down Syndrome. I cried when I heard the news and fell down on my knees. I said, “Jay, I need you! I’m worried!” I felt him say, “It’s ok, Marc, I’m watching over her.” Our family is really excited to have Jayne be in our family. Our ward has many Down Syndrome people and we adore them. Rachelle thought they were called “Dancing Drum”, so she and Melissa have said for about a year that they want to have a dancing drum kid. Well, Summer says now they have one in their family! What sweet spirits to have in our lives. I felt sad but really happy for Donny and Summer. There couldn’t be better parents out there to raise this sweet girl. One of Amy’s best friends in our ward is Erica Bytendorp who has Downs Syndrome, so when I told her Jayne was, too, Amy said, “I am SOO happy!!”
Wednesday morning another sweet baby was born to the other side of our family. My brother Jeff and his wife Karol had a baby girl. She is adorable! This is Jeff’s first baby and it is so fun to see him with her- I love it!! Jeff is probably my life-long best friend and it is great to see him so happy! He calls me and asks me questions and it is so cute! He says he can stare at her for hours!! I remember that feeling 🙂
ALLISON JADE
I thought it was so fun to visit the same hospital and see both nieces! I called my Mom one morning to see what time she was going to the hospital to see Jeff. She was already there and was in Donny and Summers room- that was funny because Donny is Jay’s brother. Jay’s extended family and mine are all close.
Riley is doing so well on his mission and is really excited to spend Christmas in Sweden. He said Christmas is HUGE there and loves being in this country so rich in traditions. He said, “We went to the Santa Lucia thing. It was really really cool. We had to go to Helsingborg to watch it because Kristiandstad didn’t have it. I attached a picture of it. Sorry, the ‘baptismal font’ is in the way. But yeah they all dress up in white and have candles. It was really cool. “
We are really excited to talk to Riley on Christmas!!