Jorja came home from EFY today. I ran out to meet her. Ebony's parents brought them home. Both Jorja and Ebony looked exhausted. I guess they only got one hour of sleep last night. Jorja stayed up making friendship bracelets.
Jorja
Maggie, Brooklyn, Jorja, Nate, Luke, Hunter
Jorja, Maggie, Brooklyn
Isaiah, Jayden, Cameron, Hunter, Luke, Shawn, Zach, Seth, Ben, Jake, Bryce, Ethan, JJ
Ari, Kelly, Jorja, Brooklyn, Maggie, Lauren, Ariel, Gracie, Maybre, Hannah, Sophia, Kestlie, Ebony
Ari, Hannah, Kestlie, Maybre, Kelly, Sophia, Gracie
Lauren, Maggie, Brooklyn, Ariel, Jorja, Ebony
Once Jorja got in the front door I looked at her and she burst into tears. She said she was sad because she probably wouldn't be able to see people from her group ever again. Most of the boys were from California. She was also upset because this boy texted her all week. We will call him Mr. X. I guess they kind of liked each other. (Whatever-everyone in our family has told her NOT to like this kid. He has not been the nicest to her in the past.) Mr. X texted her at the beginning of the week to tell her he liked another girl. Then he got mad at her because he said Jorja and Isaac made out and there are pictures to prove it. Jorja asked to see the pictures and he said Isaac deleted them so his mom wouldn't see. He then started calling Jorja a liar. He actually called her up and told her she was a liar. Jorja said she snapped at him and in kind of a mean voice said, "You have no right to call me a liar!" Jorja said she could hear Evan (she thinks it was Evan) saying, "Mr. X, stop!" in the background. Jorja was really upset and called Isaac later that night to find out if he had told Mr. X anything, like if he was trying to tease him or something, because that was the only thing that made sense to Jorja. Isaac was shocked. I asked Jorja how they would even get a picture. She laughed and said, "I guess we would take a picture while we were kissing with my mom staring at us through the window." Just in case there is any confusion, this never happened.
Well, the next day Mr. X kept texting and calling Jorja asking her to take him back. All day long, every day. I'm frustrated because this dominated her EFY experience. Jorja said she was kind of glad she was at EFY because her new friends helped her through it instead of this happening while she was alone in her room. That made me sad. I wish if something like this was happening she would let me know instead of shut me out. Teenagers.
Good things did happen at EFY too. Jorja loved a lot of the classes. Especially the ones taught by Brother Kirkman. She had great fun at the dances. She met this kid Hunter that she became good friends with and came home with a little crush on this kid named Luke. Is this why Jorja never tells me anything? Anyways, they were so nice to her. It was quite a contrast to Mr. X and showed Jorja how she should expect to be treated.
After talking with Jorja about this and having her get in her softball clothes, I hurried her out the door. I dropped her off at softball practice then grabbed a cake from 'Nothing Bundt Cakes'. I dropped the cake off at the church and hurried home to get in church clothes. Maysen and I walked to church because I wanted to leave the non-airconditioned car in the garage so it wouldn't be super hot later. Maysen and I sat on the stand and sang in the choir for Roger Christensen's funeral. All four of his kids spoke. I remember Mark Christensen from school. He was a grade ahead of us and was an SBO. He told a funny story. "My dad and I didn't always see eye-to-eye my senior year of high school. Not about big stuff, curfew mostly. When I would come home I was supposed to stop by my parents room and check-in. One night I was late. I was really late. When I went up the stairs instead of turning right I made a hard left and got into my own bed. It wasn't very long until I heard my dad's footsteps coming down the hall. I jumped up so fast and hit my knees. I was in praying position when he walked into the room. He waited and waited. There was no way I was going to say 'Amen'. After awhile he left. That's when I started praying. 'Thank you for sparing my life.' The next day my dad spoke in a ward conference that my friend was in attendance. He told everyone how humbling it was to see his child in prayer. Then he quoted this scripture, (can't remember the scripture right now). It was this experience that made me realize I never wanted to disappoint my dad." It was a really good funeral. I'm so sad that President Christensen is gone. He was so loved. The choir sang Believe in Christ for the closing song. It sounded really pretty.
Maysen and I sat on the stand for the entire funeral. The entire chapel was packed. On the stand was also our bishop, one of his counselors, our stake president and one of his counselors. One of these people happens to be Mr. X's dad. I said a little prayer, "I'm not going to seek out Mr. X's dad, but if it would be good for me to talk to him please let the opportunity arise." Well, as Maysen and I were walking off the stand he came up to me to thank me for singing in the choir. I said thank you and then asked if I could ambush him. I told him that my daughter was friends with his son, that she was at EFY this week but came home really upset because she was bombarded all week with texts from his son. It got to the point where she gave her phone to someone else. Mr. X also got other people to text Jorja asking her to reply to Mr. X's texts. I told him I didn't want to get Mr. X in trouble, I just wanted to give him a heads up and maybe look at Mr. X's phone and see if the messages were still there. Mr. X's dad was so nice and said things like, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."
Jorja still wasn't home from softball practice when we got home. I also realized I forgot to move the laundry over, which frustrated me because that just put us behind an hour. Anyways, once Jorja came home I said, "Hey, talked to Mr. X's dad today." Jorja's eyes about bulged out of her face. I told her I wasn't mean, but his dad needed to know what was going on. I would want to know if one of my kids was doing this. Then I would know I needed to monitor their phones more closely. Maysen also convinced her this was the right thing to do and that he would do this to other girls if he wasn't taught that this was wrong. Jorja had only gotten one text from him this morning. It said, "Well i didnt think you would break up with me" Jorja didn't reply. A couple of hours after the funeral she got another text that said, "Im really sorry" That made me smile. I looked at Jorja and said, "His parents have talked to him." About half an hour later she got another text that said, "Sorry if i was being really mean i won't do it again. hope we can stay friends." Then Jorja and Mr. X were actually to have a normal conversation. Jorja might not have been happy with my meddling, but so far she likes the result.
Okay, now to the rest of our day. When we were finally packed and out the door we stopped at my dad's house to pick up a few things for Sam, then got some food at Zupas. It was a hot drive, but not so bad when we got into the shade of the mountains. I got a text from Mike that said, "We changed the tracks for wheels. I fixed the leaky gas tube on the mower but now mower died and I am miserably allergic so I am going to lay down after a shower." A few hours later, "My eyes are almost swollen shut." I stopped at the store and picked up some Benadryl. Mike could see when I got to the cabin, but his eyes were super swollen and puffy. I wish I had taken a picture.
We are finally here! I just talked to people and played Wits and Wagers before bed. Brett and Matt risked everything (they had a lot) on the weirdest question. How tall is Tom Cruise? Brett risked it all on 5'8". Matt risked it all on 5'7". Matt was right and ended up winning the entire game.
Amelia & Anne
