Dear Family,
We had tithing settlement and I don't think I've ever seen Jared so proud and excited. And I don't think I've ever felt so grateful for a good bishop. Jared was very excited going into tithing settlement tonight because when he turned 6 he started earning an allowance ($1 a week) and has been paying tithing regularly all year. The bishop complimented him on being a full tithe payer and told him that Heavenly Father is very pleased with him and that if he continues to pay his tithing it will help him prepare not only for baptism, but will even be a blessing to him when the time comes for him to serve a mission. Jared smiled from ear to ear. He says next year he wants to pay twice as much tithing. When we got home Jared wanted his tithing settlement put in a frame and hung on the wall in his room. So we did. : ) Ryan commented on the way home how lucky we are as parents to have a good bishop who can teach/reinforce aspects of the gospel in Jared's mind in a way we can't.
Jared is obsessed with Punch Out (on the Wii). He's worked his way to the "world circuit" and really wanted to catch up to dad. But alas, dad won the title bout in the world circuit. Jared has also been obsessed with coaching me and teaching me how to beat "King Hippo", the title bout on the minor circuit. It took me 2 weeks, several losses, but I finally beat him. Jared also came home from school one day telling me all about ballet. They'd had an assembly about it with 4 dancers: 2 boys and 2 girls. He spent the next 4 or 5 days doing pirouettes in the kitchen. Has anyone seen the movie Billy Elliot? When Jared was telling Ryan all about ballet, Ryan turned to me and quoted his favorite line from the movie (when the dad finds out his son has been taking ballet lessons and not going to boxing), (read this with an Irish accent) "boys don't do ballet! Boys do boxing or football!" Ryan was just joking with me, but Jared heard him and it hurt his feelings. "Boys do too do ballet! I saw them!!" he cried out. "There were TWO of them!! Two boys and two girls!!!!" So we took him to BYU's ballet showcase Saturday and he really liked it. He was on the edge of his seat and clapped a lot. He began to lose interest by the 2nd to last dance so Ryan was pleased we could support his interest without Jared developing any ballet ambitions. ;)
Jared has also discovered reading for pleasure. On days that we get new books from the library he reads non-stop until he's finished every book. He even tries to sneak them into bed. But he always gets caught. He loves the Junie B. books and anything nonfiction. He will also choose to read over video games and tv and brings books for long car rides. Now he understands why mom is always reading.
We told Jared that mom and dad have started doing the same things we had to do to adopt him so that we can adopt another kid. Ryan told him, "but only babies. We're only doing babies." We wanted to be sure he knew we weren't going to have another situation like we had with DCFS and the girls. Jared replied, "NOT a baby!!! All they do is suck on stuff, crawl around, and rip paper." Then he opened it up to a vote. "Everyone who wants a baby, go to that side of the room. Everyone else who doesn't want a baby, go to this side of the room." I hustled over to the baby side. Jared ran to the non-baby side. Ryan sat in the middle. "I'm torn! I want both!"
Last week we had our home study renewal and it was horrible. We passed, but the caseworker wants us to make certain changes to our profile that aren't honest in who we are. For example, we have changed our pregnancy drug use preferences to no, no, and NO! Our caseworker wants us to change all of that to yes so that our profile will come up more often. We told her we didn't feel that was honest and she said that if a case came up that an expectant mother was interested in us, but had used drugs we could always turn her down. I worry that if we do, we may not find out until a bit later into things and then when we back down this poor girl/woman will be hurt and wonder, "why did they say they were ok with drug use if they really weren't?" There were several other changes we didn't agree with (to our profile) and when we didn't budge the caseworker started to push and it didn't take long for Ryan to lose his temper and get into a long and heated argument with her. After she left Jared was shell shocked, I had been fighting tears for an hour, and Ryan cussed her out for another hour or so. It really was awful. Our caseworker is refusing to repost our profile until we make her desired changes. Ryan says she's holding our profile hostage.
Now our emotions have cooled. We remembered that our caseworker didn't like anything we did with Jared's adoption, but we didn't change anything we didn't feel good about. And that's part of why Leslie chose us. She told us early on that we were one of the few couples who didn't seem fake. I'm so very tired of being dependent on other people (specifically adoption agency people) to have children. But I also realize that we are so very lucky to have even one child. And we are especially lucky that we got the people who came with him. And there are pros and cons to being the mother of an only child. Pro: I have a lot of flexible free time. Con: I have a lot of flexible free time.
So what do I do with my free time? I watch Live with Kelly and eat chocolates all day of course! Actually, I haven't had a problem filling the time. I made a new friend at my running club who runs the same pace I do. Finally! We meet Wed. mornings and do speed work together. A sister in our ward has asked me to help her with her running. She's having some IT Band issues and hasn't been able to run without pain for a long time now. She went to a doctor and chiropractor. I start working with her this week. I just finished coaching Fleet Feet's No Boundaries beginner's 5k program. We had our target race, the Fleet Feet turkey trot. Everyone did really well and met their goals. I even met my goal which was to NOT win my age group, but to place 2nd or 3rd. The reasoning? First place got a turkey and 2nd and 3rd place got pies! I got 3rd place (turns out 2nd place was just 10 seconds ahead of me, Ryan says I should've run just a little faster). Don (owner of Fleet Feet) also has me test wearing running shoes.
I volunteer at Jared's school every chance I get, especially if it means working in his class. This Friday I'm going to help with Art Days. The kids will be making African Masks and are sure to make anything better than I can make. But I'm really looking forward to it. I still sub the occasional German class. Last week Jared and I were invited to visit a German class at Orem Jr High (right by Eric and Jill's old house). I asked Jared what he wanted to do and he wanted to play Topfschlagen. This is a really fun German bday party game. You take a cooking pot, hide a prize like a chocolate under it, and then you hide it on the ground. The seeker is blindfolded and finds the pot by crawling around on the floor while hitting the ground with a wooden spoon. The class loved the game and Jared thought the teacher was really funny. I think Jared finally realized it's cool to know 2 languages. He didn't realize he was actually our "show and tell", but he did notice the kids thought he was amazing.
And I have plenty of time to attend the temple. Technically our assigned temple is Mount Timpanogos, but I go to the new temple in Draper. It's closer and smaller. I really like that at the Draper temple there's a creation room painted like a forest/garden and that you move rooms. Tammy says the Anchorage temple does it the same way. I also found out that after doing initiatories you can go sit in the celestial room (after you change into your temple dress, but just the dress). I think I like that most of all. It makes the temple feel more intimate and like a home I'm welcome in. Another interesting thing about the Draper temple is that the doors aren't automatic. So there are 2 brethren there to open the doors for people who are entering and leaving the temple. I bet that can become a tedious job, but I really like that welcome from a living person vs an automatic door.
Every day when Jared gets home from school his buddy Josh follows him home. Most often Josh stays and the two play for awhile before we have to send Josh home so Jared can do his homework. One day I told the boys they could play, but it had to be at Josh's house. Josh had been over every day for 2 weeks and I was exhausted! They went to Josh's house and I regretted it 15 minutes later. The house felt so empty and I missed Jared. My friend Kathy (Josh's mom) offers a lot to let them play over there, but she's nice enough to let me hog them. It's so fun to watch them play.
Time to go. Jared will be home in 40 minutes and I have not put in any practice time on "Piston Hondo". I have to beat Piston Hondo. Jared says so.
Love,
Sherry, Ryan, and Jared
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