Friday night was opening night for Fiddler on the Roof and I got to go be an usher. I already wrote about how great the show is, so I’ll skip that this time, but ushering is a fun gig, cause you get to see the show and I got to scan tickets which I enjoyed. I don’t know why, but I really love really basic, simple tasks like that. I guess that says a lot about me, basic and simple. Anyway, I got to see the show Thursday night and Friday night. Friday night was also a huge Stake Mini Mission activity for our youth. All the kids who attended got a mission call a few nights before the activity. Abby was called to Milan, Italy and Anna was called to Lisbon, Portugal mission.
All the kids met at the Stake Center that evening for a fireside by a former mission president and his wife. Then they had some activities to learn about the cultures of their mission as well as a few others. Then the beehives and deacons (Abby) had to go home because they’re not old enough to participate in overnighters. Anna couldn’t go either because of the play. The kids were divided up into small groups and sent to host families where I think they discussed the Preach My Gospel program. They slept at the host homes and then reconvened in the morning at the Stake Center. Anna was able to join in Saturday morning. They had breakfast and then got to go knock on doors (in the church buildings) and share the Gospel with people asked to participate and pretend to be hearing it for the first time. I helped shuttle some young men and they were so enthusiastic about it, I was so impressed. I believe after that they met again and had a testimony meeting. What a gigantic undertaking, but such a neat experience for these kids.
Saturday night, we took the kids to Fiddler. We drove two cars knowing it might be too much for Josh, which it quickly was. He doesn’t do quiet very well 
We had learned about John’s fall earlier that day and then that he was most likely not going to survive the night right before leaving for the play. We had prepped the older kids that things didn’t look good. When Anna got in the car after the show, she asked Brennan if Grandpa had died. He had just gotten word during the show that he had. He nodded to confirm it discreetly so the other kids didn’t hear until we could sit them down at home and tell them. I guess Abby saw the exchange and by the time they got home Anna and Abby were both in tears and Nate walked right in to me asking if Grandpa John had died. Poor Ben was totally unprepared and oblivious to what was happening. I had Nate sit by me and waited for them all to gather in the family room. Brennan told them what had happened and poor Ben just crumbled. They were all so sad, we tried to comfort them with assurances that he is at peace and with Heavenly Father. Anna composed herself and quietly offered comfort to Ben and Nate. I went to lay with Ben in his bed since he was so upset. He calmed down and I thought was finally asleep when he surprised me by whispering, “Mom, is Grandpa ok?” I assured him that he is, that he is at peace and no pain. He was quiet for another few minutes and then asked, “Mom, what is Grandma going to do?” I was so touched that my little 7 year old boy was so concerned with his grandparents, not just with his loss, but he genuinely needed to know that they were ok.
Sunday morning Brennan left to go be with his Mom. We were sad to see him leave, but so glad he could go help her. We went to church and Anna bore such a sweet testimony about her experience with the Priesthood. About a week before the show opened, (on a Thursday) she woke up with tons of red bumps all over her face. I didn’t even see her, she left for school and I finally saw her later that night. We were slow to realize that I had just bought her a new face wash, toner and moisturizer with Benzoyl Peroxide in it which didn’t seem to bother her for a few days, but a few days later it caught up to her with a vengeance. She stopped using the stuff and we were giving her Zyrtec in the day and Benadryl at night plus rubbing hydrocortisone cream on it twice a day, but by Sunday her face was still so swollen and red and bumpy, we weren’t seeing any real improvement. She was so brave, chose to go to church in spite of her drastically altered appearance. Our friend took a look at her and kind of panicked. She wanted us to take her to the ER, but we settled on bugging her neighbor, a doctor. He and his wife were so kind, and reassured us we were doing the right things, but had us add Pepcid, which is evidently a histamine blocker. He told us if we didn’t see improvement in 24 hours to take her in for a steroid treatment.
That night my parents had us over for dinner and we took that opportunity to have my Dad and Brennan give Anna a blessing. In just a few days she would have to have full stage makeup on which we were instructed not to do until her face had gotten back to normal. Brennan asked my Dad to bless her. He first asked her if she had the faith to be healed. She did. He blessed her that she would be healed according to her faith and her willingness to pray and really ask. She came home from school on Wednesday looking completely like herself! I thought for sure it would have to peel and be kind of a mess before it got better, but it just completely faded, all the bumps and redness and swelling just went away. Her own miracle. What a blessing!
Needless to say, it was quite a weekend, exciting, sad, and exhausting! We are so blessed, even in death we have comfort and peace.
