2014 Highlights

Christmas 2014

We have just celebrated our smallest Christmas since 1999. Last year we had a glorious houseful for Christmas, with nine of us laughing through a flurry of wrapping paper around the tree. This year, Jared and Kristina jumped into our room at precisely 5:00 a.m. (the earliest possible moment, according to parental decree) to deliver hugs and demand our presence by the stockings. The four of us still managed to make plenty of noise, aided by Jared's new harmonica and the mini bike that Santa somehow shoved down our nonexistent chimney. We ate ourselves silly, played new games, napped with reckless abandonment, motored around (and around and around) the house, and chatted with both Devin & Mattea (in Utah) and Alec (in far off Lorient, France). All in all, it was a splendid day.

Elder Wallace in Paris

Shortly after Christmas last year, we got up early one January morning to send Alec off on his two-
year mission to France and Belgium. So far, he has served in Cergy, France (just outside of Paris), in Nivelles, Belgium (not far from Brussels) and now in Lorient, France (in Brittany, on the Atlantic Coast). He loves his mission and has grown immensely already.

Over the next few months, Jared finished up eighth grade and grew an inch or two. He's now officially the tallest member of the family and is working hard to rival his brothers in the gym. He had another great football season, and now piano and trumpet keep him busy when he's not studying or working out.

Devin and Mattea's Wedding

Kristina turned eight in January, and Brad was able to baptize his last child. She has started tumbling, stopped and re-started piano and held her singing debut in the ward talent show. Both children are brilliant, of course, and ready to take over the world at a moment's notice.

A high point of Kristina's year (and all of ours!) was to add another girl to the family. In June, Devin married Mattea Andersen. We thoroughly enjoyed their beautiful wedding in Brigham City, Utah, and Jared loved hiking in real mountains during our stay. Devin and Mattea are living in Logan this year while Devin finishes his degree at USU, after which they will leave for the mystical world of graduate school. (Stay tuned for location!) We love Mattea and are thrilled to have her in the family.

Wales with the Norm & Kris and Sylvia & Gary

Brad and Juliana ended the summer in Wales, compliments of Juliana's parents. We boated down the River Thames, attended evensong at St. David's Cathedral, walked in the footsteps of my ancestors, and watched a magical sunset on the Irish
Sea.

With the start of school, life ramped up to lightning speed, it seems. Football for Jared gave way to basketball for Kristina and Coach Brad. Brad and Juliana plug away at their jobs and unwind with piano (Brad) and exercise, books and the occasional house project. Life is good!

Advice to Myself

For the past few months, I have served as the president of the women's organization in our congregation. I watch over roughly 200 women. Many of these women remain a mystery to me, names on the rolls but unresponsive to our efforts to reach out to them. Others are women I love, women I have counted as close friends for years and with whom I have served and laughed, worshipped and wept.

Somewhat of a recluse by nature, I appreciate that this calling forces me to seek out other women, moving beyond the comfortable routine of my life and away from my favorite spot on the back row. Often, I am privy to both the minutiae and the momentous in the lives of my sisters, feebly offering counsel when they request it, as if by virtue of my office I have somehow stumbled upon a store of wisdom previously beyond my reach. I observe as they offer service to one another and as they discover their own talents and power in that service. Those moments inspire me.

There are other moments, too, when I walk into the darker valleys with these women. Because I work with the bishop of our congregation in order to lift the families and the women we serve, I learn much about their struggles. And herein lies today's dilemma. Perhaps the grey clouds this week have filtered my vision, but I begin to see primarily pain and illness, disappointment and sadness in the world around me. Jobs refuse to materialize, bank accounts fail to balance, illness stubbornly clings to those who are weary of its presence, children flail against the enormity of all that life expects of them, parents and friends stand by helpless. And I, it seems, have nothing to give them. I offer an ear or a prayer but little of any tangible value.

At the same time, my perspective shifts, and I have yet to determine if the shift is a positive one. Like those I serve, I chafe at a reality that often fails to match up to my expectations. I want to live within my means. I want to eat more responsibly. I want to reach toward my potential and achieve something wonderful, instead of slogging through each day just to accomplish a couple of the "must dos" on my checklist. But as I look around me, I begin to tell myself that to dream about that potential is foolhardy. I have a good life, a wonderful family, so many blessings that others will never have. To want more, to expect more, out of life would be ungrateful, perhaps even unkind, and certainly selfish.

At times like these grey days, I find I have to give myself the same advice I would give anyone else:

1. Keep dreaming. Dream big and don't apologize for it. Be willing to sacrifice lesser things for your dreams. Family and faith are not lesser things.
2. If something about your body bothers you, you probably already know what you need to do about it. Stop making excuses and do it! If there is something beyond your ability to fix, learn to love it.
3. Illness happens. Depression happens. To everyone. Remember that God gets it, that He knows exactly how you feel and that He cares. He may not take the burden away, but He can make you strong enough to bear it, and He will truly help you to shoulder the load. Remember that others also struggle under burdens of physical and emotional illness. Reach out to them with the empathy your struggles have given you. That empathy is a gift to be used.
4. Love those around you. Truly love them. Remember that God loves them way more than you do, and that He will watch over them just as He watches over you. You do not have the responsibility or usually the capability to solve their problems. That's OK. Just be there for them when you can and pray for them when you cannot.
5. Ask for miracles. Expect them. Understand that they may not appear exactly according to your design or in your timetable, but know that the miracles will come and in a way and a time that are best suited for you. Look for them and express gratitude for each and every miracle you see.
6. If you are trying your best to do the right thing, to be in tune with the Spirit, to find the path God wants you to be on, then keep moving forward. It will all work out, even though right now you walk through a fog.