Aunt Lollie and baby Jake

Aunt Lollie and baby Jake
I can't wait to be a Grandma!!!

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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Too Young to Marry

My baby girl is thinking of getting married. Married. to a boy...well, she thinks he's a man. She is delusional. I'm coming to terms with it. She brought him home last weekend. He asked Doug for his permission to marry his daughter. He asked in a very Rocky kind of way. He stuck his head in the bedroom door and said, "Hey, you got a cute daughter, mind if I marry her?"

Doug actually said, "Okay".

I'm the one who put him through the ringer. I'm also the one who had an overwhelming feeling of love for the kid equivalent to the emotion that welled up in me each time I found out I was going to have a baby.

He is really a sweet kid. Come September, I'm going to be the official mother of eight. Count 'em, eight.

He offered eight cows for Sierra. I settled for him taking care of her for eternity. That is a more expensive option on his part. He is simplly adorable. My grandchildren will be adorable.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Thoughts on Mother's Day

Sometimes it feels like mothering is about doing chores. Since Dougie Junior calls me "Mom the bom", I've come up with some terms that help me understand my role better. Being "The BOM" means 3 things:

1. The B.O.M. (not bureau of land management), stands for Breathless Of Women. She is the mom who runs around like a chicken wither her head cut off because she spreads herself too thin and focuses more on getting things done than on being in the moment. The B.O.M. thinks of herself as a human-doing rather than a human being.

2. The bomb is closely related to the B.O.M. and she is constantly ticking. She may explode at any time. She identifies herself as a victim of her circumstances and becomes a perpetrator by exploding. She explodes as a result of forgetting her role as a nurturer including the importance of nurturing herself.

3. The balm is a calming, nurturing influencein her home. She has lots of control because she is a comforter first and a corrector second. She has a full bucket and she is able to share freely!!!

Letter to Delta Air Lines

Dear Delta,
On Saturday, May 8th, my daughter arrived home. Her arrival at the Billings Airport was almost miraculous. I want to thank you for helping that miracle happen.
Rachael was stranded in Paris and was scheduled to fly into SLC on friday, she missed her ride home with her siblings from Salt Lake to Billings. When she flew into Salt Lake on Saturday afternoon, she immediately spoke to a woman wearing a red jacket who helped her get to Billings. Poor Rachael was simply exhausted. She had flown from Scotland to Paris to Minneapolis to Salt Lake. One flight had been cancelled and she had waited in airports or been on planes for over 48 hours. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for re-enlisting your fabulous red coats!!! When Rachael finally arrived in Billings we all were so thrilled. We joked about the army of red coats who battle for us at Delta Air Lines!!!

Laura Debenham
lolliejoy@yahoo.com

Rachael Debenham's Mission

We finally know where Rach is going on her mission!

I'm so sorry to keep you all in suspence. She wanted to be the one to tell but she gave me permission to tell the fam on the web site:

Don't laugh too hard:

Rach has been called to serve in CLEVELAND, OHIO!!!

Specifically in the Kirtland Visitor's Center!!!

Through a series of miraculously events Rachael was able to fly home on Saturday. We hiked to our rock above the Billings temple and said a prayer and watched Rachael open the envelope which had sat idle while she toured scotland. Initially, Rach was very dissappointed. She had her heart set on going somewhere exotic, specifically, Asia.
Her dissappointment did not last. She recieved a father's blessing and is comforted knowing she is needed where she is sent.

Her parents are relieved she isn't going to a third world country. The fact that we already know the area well is such a comfort. After all the moving around we have done it is a relief that she is going somewhere where we know many of the people she will be working with.

Rachael has a foot-in-the-door already with many of the people she will teach. She was a child there and picked strawberries on the John Johnson farm, picked apples there too, starred in the Footsteps of Faith play in 1997 and charmed all the African American children in her class with her memorization of the Gettysburg Address.

Brother Carl Anderson was the director of the Institute that I taght at in East Cleveland and he is the brother who showed Liz and I where Edward Partridge's home was in Painsville. He also is who the brethren turned to when it was decided to build a visitor's center in Kirtland. His daughter Emily was our babysitter there and she guessed Rachael would serve in Cleveland!

Rachael's Grandma Lilamae says there is someone in Cleveland who needs her. Rachael's Aunt Liz says that missionary work can be done everywhere on the planet, including Delta, Utah. Our Bishop's son asked Rachael what she did wrong to be sent to Cleveland. Rachael's mom says the souls in Cleveland have worth equal to those anywhere else on the planet that may seem more exotic...and quite honestly, Cleveland was another planet to me because of the difference in culture there!

Rachael already knows the dialect. She speaks Jive fluently and learned from the strong matriarchal culture there that women deserve to be strong and have a right to stand up for themselves and others when needed.

She wants to go to law school in the east and is hoping to be able to do research on her p-days.

We are all thrilled. Especially me. I will be able to picture my baby girl working in Kirtland, teaching people who may be related to her or she knew as a child.

Wahoo!

Oh. She leaves on June 23rd. Her farewell will likelly be in her ward in Provo at 8:30 A.M. on June 20th. Hope you can all come!