Our Christmas tree sparkles, the music plays, and outside the sun shines on a lovely 80 degree day. Wesley says he hasn’t stopped sweating since we got to Texas; he means for the last two and a half years. But, here we are with “Christmas in Austin, with all of our friends!” or as George Straight says, “They may not have snow in San Antonio—but it’s a Texas Christmas to me!” How many other states and cities do you know with their own set of Christmas songs, eh?

 

A catch up from last week: primarily, Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is becoming one of my favorite holidays—perhaps because I like inviting people to my turf where I can still wash the dishes and my usual means of celebration includes food. This year Talha, Shu, and the Freeman family joined us. Talha came our first year. He’s from Pakistan and a devoted Muslim. I love talking to him because our brief conversations strengthen my faith. He’s a very good man. Shu is from China. This was his first American culture experience outside of UT. He’d never been in an American home or eaten American food. Somehow we allowed him to eat pecan pie. What were we thinking? His digestive system is probably still recovering from all the unfamiliar food. And we were ecstatic to have the Freemans from the ward and get to know them better. We found out later that they wouldn’t have had a celebration otherwise. Well, come over! The food turned out reasonably, the pecans from our tree did create a nice pie, everything was warm at the same time, and our traditional Pictionary game entertained us (as usual). The boys welcomed everyone into our home with a mixture of enthusiastic and shy kindness. Such sweet boys.

The next day I asked Lincoln what he wanted to do: “Go HEB” (the grocery store). What should we get there? “BUDDY BUCKS!” So we did. Who shops for groceries the day after Thanksgiving? Not many people! It might be a new tradition. We also went on a little “hike” and saw a few leaves changing to brilliant red and orange. We found a stretch of white rocks which Levi and Lincoln promptly built into “snowmen.” Saturday we completed our party by going to the temple. What better way to give thanks? This is the first time Keller and I have gone since his birth. We both loved being there. Levi gleefully shouted, “KELLER MORONI COLE! Moroni’s on the temple! KELLER MORONI COLE!” Lincoln has been singing “I Love to See the Temple” all week. If these kids don’t learn anything else, I hope they know their parents love the Lord and His house.

Have we mentioned that Wes is on the ChE graduate student council? He is the “enrichment chair” which means he organizes events (one or two a semester) to further educate and prepare them for life beyond graduation. The first event was held Tuesday: a panel discussion for the ChE grad students with Elaine (from NREL), a professor, and a person who works in a chemical engineering start-up company. The students asked questions about working in their various places and how to prepare, etc. Turned out well. Hurrah! He has also been finalizing a paper for publication, figuring out another model to turn into a paper hopefully before Christmas, writing the final exam with Dr. Edgar for the class he TAs, helping students, collaborating on other research projects, and slowly regaining his health. Having a productive week may have boosted him as much as any medication. Now—we need to get him some consistent sleep! According to the baby books, I should just put him in his crib and let him put himself to sleep. I struggle leaving him alone, shutting my trap, and letting him rest. Alas. Someday he’ll sleep through the night. Ha!

The Monday before Thanksgiving, we took Keller into the doctor for reflux stuff. We’re wet most of the time from how much he spits up. Poor guy. Yet—he’s still gaining weight! The main issue is helping him sleep and establish a routine through the discomfort. We’ve been trying some medication, but it doesn’t seem to be working and I just feel funny about it. So, this week we’re trying something new that Hollie Rae connected me with, hoping it will help. Even with the barf, he’s darling. He coos and watches his brothers. He loves bath time, has a low tolerance for even wet diapers, and snuggles snuggles snuggles. I love that he snuggles. When we put him down for tummy time he tries his best to crawl and roll. I’m not even thinking about what he’ll climb and throw and discover—I don’t have to think about it because I chase it with Levi and Lincoln. They’re really awesome teachers.

Lincoln has a whisper voice. He uses it when he learns a new word or when something is special. He often whispers, “Baby Keller!” and “pecan!” My friend Amy came over last week with loads of pomegranates and Lincoln Logs. She’s a native Texan and the boys adore her. She taught them carefully to say: pa-khan, not “Pee-can. That’s a port-a-potty.” So Lincoln walks around whispering “pecan” and screaming high pitched wordless things between yelling “RUNRUNRUN!” He locks and unlocks doors. He can’t reach the lock on the front door, but if we miss it I’m the one runrunrunning. I put Keller down for a nap and heard the door open. I caught Lincoln almost to the stop sign (about four houses down) narrating how he was picking up kids from the bus! Ugh! He pretends to be nervous in new situations, but as soon as he scopes out the situation, he’s ready to take over. I think I’ll have to retire Christmas ornaments for a while. I keep waiting for him to scale the tree. Thankfully, he has yoga to calm him. Goofball.

Levi wants to be exactly like Daddy, but his daddy keeps laughing because the kid obviously lives with his obsessive mother. We finished a box of crackers during snack time. He needed to wash his hands, then he read the box, folded it up (“just like Daddy!”) and recycled it. Since Dad home teaches and visits people, Levi gathers his church pictures in a bag so he can take them to nursery, share them, and “teach the people about Jesus.” He’s very concerned for their foundation of knowledge. This week he told us, “We need to talk about…” fill in the blank with pointing down in the potty, putting away toys, not shouting in Keller’s face…Yes, we do need to talk about things, but then we have to change, too! Ha! I ventured to a store with the boys to look at Christmas stuff. Levi found a garish, glittered, enormous ornament that he carried all over saying, “I just need to think about this one…”

We didn’t come home with the ornament, but we did score the perfect little tree for Wesley’s office. So, for the first time in five years I’ve given him a gift he’s excited about. Finally!  

Elder Ballard promised that if we pray each morning for guidance to serve others, seeking with our “heart full of faith and love,” that we “will discover opportunities to serve that [we] never before realized were possible.” So we’ve been trying to focus more. We’ve had some tender, beautiful little experiences as we’ve prayed and acted. People show up at the park seemingly randomly when we didn’t mean to go there anyway. We share a conversation with our neighbor. We’ve been prompted to call, to ask, to reach out in ways that are natural and yet a new natural for us. It’s been a blessing. We’re over-blessed. We recognize this and have concluded that we need to stop asking why? and simply ask, “How can we build the kingdom and serve the Lord more as a result?” So we try. We improve. We’re grateful.