Indonesia John

Preston had to be to church fifteen minutes early and it made me anxious. There was a visiting 70 authority there, so they wanted the boys that were passing the sacrament to be ready. I hurried Mike, Maysen and Preston out the door. I hate being late. I forgot my phone, but didn't worry about it. When I got home from church I saw there was a message from Aubrey asking about going to church with us. I felt soooooo bad! We had talked about it last week and I totally forgot. I texted her an apology and she said she was able to go with someone else. I didn't see her there though.

Stockton and Jorja went to John Lyon's mission farewell. John has become a great friend to Stockton up at Utah State. Jorja is friends with his sister. John goes into the MTC on January 2nd. He is going to Indonesia. He will still be in the MTC when Stockton gets there. Hopefully they will run into each other. It would be awesome for Stockton to find a friendly face there. They went to the Lyon's house after church. Jorja stayed for awhile before she got exhausted. She had driven her bug so she was able to leave and Matt said he would give Stockton a ride home. Matt was John's roommate at Utah State. He came down for the farewell. Stockton was friends with him too. Stockton stayed for several more hours. He came home happy. I'm glad he had a great time.

Yesterday I found out my cousin Justin is getting a divorce. Justin and Lisa were married when I was pregnant with Maysen. So, 21 years. I felt sick to my stomach. Today I contacted Justin's sister to find out if it was really true. Heather and I sent many messages back and forth. Yep, it's true. Heather got a divorce in the summer. I feel so sad for the two of them. Jorja said, "See, this is why I'm scared of marriage." Jorja has a huge fear that she will never get married and if she does her husband will leave her. I talked to Jorja for a long while. I asked her if she thought her dad and I would ever get divorced. She looked at me like I was crazy and said 'of course not,' or something like that. I told her some marriages are wonderful. Some are not. It is sooooo important not to rush into marriage. It is sooooo important to marry the right person. She told me that I sure was lucky. I agree. I don't know why I was blessed to have this perfect marriage for me. I don't know why I was blessed to have the one person I love more than anything in the world love me back. I don't know why I was blessed to have absolutely everything I have ever wanted. All I can think of is it is a tender mercy. Heavenly Father knew I would lose my mom young. I think that is why Mike and I got married so fast after he came home from his mission. My mom was able to be at my wedding. She died nine months later. That was her tender mercy, being able to see one child, her only daughter, get married. I think Heavenly Father knew I would need Mike to handle losing my mom. I am so thankful that Mike is the person I knew him to be. My greatest wish is for my children to stay close to the gospel, always trying their best to do what Heavenly Father would want them to do and to have a marriage like mine. I pray for their future spouses all the time. That they are safe. That they are loved. That they are learning about Heavenly Father and cultivating a desire to live as he would want them to. I hope they can find someone as amazing as Mike. I also hope that they get along with their in-laws. I hope my children will always be as close to each other as they are now. I love my family. I'm so lucky.

Stephanie & Mike