DAY OFF FOR NATE
Out of nowhere Nate had the day off this Sunday. This happens every once in a while because he tried to get the Sundays for the Family Meeting off. Surprisingly, they've cancelled all the ones he would have been able to go to so far. Kind of strange, but anyway. This worked out to the Elder's Quorum Presidency's advantage since Nate was able to fast and go to the special Ward Council meeting in place of the President. Then it was even more to my advantage that he was able to be here for the rest of the evening as well. He made dinner while I sat on the couch... ahhhhh. Then we all went to the Walkabout (still haven't decided how to spell that word :) ) together. And last but not least, he was able to watch the kids while Charity, Kelly and I went to the Adult/Youth Fireside. It was a very nice break for me. Came home to all the kids in bed and snuggling with my honey on the couch. Now that's what I call a day of rest. 6-14-15
KITTY DE RUYTER BONS
We had the most incredible Stake fireside!!! This woman had been in a Prison Camp in WWII. She read her story, which at first was hard to listen to, I wanted it to be slightly more entertaining, but after a few minutes I realized just how incredible her story was and entertainment was no longer the goal. I SO wish I could do her story justice in a blog post. I am set on buying her book with the hopes that it will have the whole story in it. But for now, I will settle with just sharing some of the details. Her family was fairly wealthy, her Mom was a Pharmacist. She had a nanny who practically raised her and gave her a cute little nickname (??). Her mom had felt prompted (and they were not LDS at the time- I believe they were Catholic) to build a bomb shelter, but not away from the house like normal, she wanted it next to the house and even connecting in the cellar. It was a very well stocked bomb shelter with all the food they would need for a long time. Food storage :). Which all of this ended up being really good during the first part of the war they were able to use the food they'd stored without the guards knowing while they were on house arrest. Pretty cool. They helped a lot of other people as well. Kitty's Dad was taken to a Prison Camp and they did not hear about him again until after the war once they were taken to a different Prison Camp as well. This is when the craziness started. The sad thing was in her haste to grab her mom's black medical bag, she had forgotten her rag doll. They were only fed twice a day in the camp. Drinks were seldom. They were in a tropical climate so the heat and humidity were unbearable. She told a story of when her mom had been commanded to choose a bunch of young women to serve as prostitutes for the guards for their celebration. She fasted and prayed about this and how to make this decision, but the answer she came to was that she needed to make these girls undesirable to the guards. She needed volunteers, but only 6 adults did. 3 of them were nuns I believe. She and these six others shaved all the girls' heads with her haircutters. Then she knew of a plant that when broken produced the most awful smelling odor. She had them rub that all over themselves and then to cover themselves with dirt as well. She went to great lengths. It was pretty cool because it worked! The guards were repulsed. They did not use the young women. But they were angry with Kitty's mom, and the six others. They tortured them in front of everyone, stripping them down to nothing. Then tied Kitty's mom to a flag pole, arms up so she could not defend herself. Then proceeded to slice a cross in her back (knowing she believed in Christ and was risking her life to save the virtue of these young girls). Then when they whipped her with the belt, large chunks from the cross on her back, tore off. They did all of this in front of her children. When they finally let her down she was able to tell her kids to pray for her and that they needed to remain strong in the faith and positive so that she could make it through this ordeal. She was then placed in "the hole" for two weeks. The hole was a six or seven foot deep hole in the ground only big enough to stand, not lay down or sit. She was stuck in this hole with all the feces and urine from herself and others. They would drop food down through the chicken wire on top of the hole, but it was easy to lose it in the mess at the bottom. Kitty said that most people died in the hole. Her mom survived. Her legs were three times their normal size, her face was swollen, she had horrible pains in her back, not to mention the maggots covering her open wounds. She came out speaking of all the miracles that had occurred while she was in there. The extra rain at such a dry time of the year, so that she was able to catch the rain in a cup that she propped up on the wall of the hole. She had miraculously caught a lot of the food they dropped down, in her mouth! It's just incredible! Then later, Kitty's mom jumped out in front of a samarai sword when the guard almost used it on Kitty for throwing her cup of water at him. Earning the respect of this man and helping him to see what he had become and what the war had done to him. This mom was INCREDIBLE!!! She turned every moment into a teaching one. She taught her children about everything. The clouds, oxygen, medicine that she had color coded, vitamins and minerals... morals and values! Once when her kids were telling her about some of the parents stealing their kids' food, she reprimanded them for judging, telling them that only God can judge and they should NEVER judge again. Pretty cool. So on Kitty's 10th birthday, her mother apologized for not being able to give her lemonade and lemon cookies, but that if they were out in a year, then she would for sure have that on her birthday. This made Kitty freak out a little, to think that her mom didn't know when they were going to be out of there and that they didn't know if they'd be out in a year or not. She decided she wanted to run away. When she got to the fence, she heard a familiar voice- it was her nanny!! Her nanny had been waiting for days, knowing it was her birthday, wanting to give her her rag doll. She begged her nanny to take her with her, but she insisted that Kitty stay. She told her to take good care of the doll. She gave her a lot of words of encouragement (isn't that just how the Lord works- just when we think we can't go any further- he gives us a little encouragement or a little hope to carry on the rest of the way). Then as her nanny whom she loved so much was leaving, the guards saw her and shot her several times in the back. Kitty had to watch her beloved Nanny die. She said that her mother convinced her not to feel like it was her fault and that her nanny knew what she was risking. She compared her to the Savior when she said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." Pretty amazing. She talked very fondly of American soldiers and the joy that overcame her seeing them coming out of the sky after the Japanese had surrendered. She said no matter what they look like they were all handsome. Her husband used to tease her saying, "Does that man in uniform make your heart go click click?" and she would say, "No, he makes my heart go BOOM BOOM!" So adorable. Another story she told was of one of the soldiers who had been caught in a tree, wounded. Her mother insisted that they go help him, even though they had seen others lose their lives for going in the area the soldier was in- mutilated body parts as well. But they went and her mom threatened the guards with a 7 generation curse on them and their families if they did not let her help the wounded soldier. They were very superstitious (which she knew- she knew everything!!), so they gave in. She was able to go help this American soldier. Turns out the soldier was a member of the church. He told them of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and other things about the church and as a dying wish insisted that when they get out of the camp- they look up the missionaries. He had wanted nothing more than to serve a mission and was worried that he would disappoint his mother because he was going to die. Kitty's mom held him close to her, to keep him from going into shock and to calm him, and reassured him that his mother would be very proud of him serving the mission that he had. This is the reason they found the church!! Pretty cool!!! So last story- after they got out, they were in a country where Kitty's mom's pharmaceutical license was worthless. They were dirt poor, had almost nothing. Kitty said that the ONLY time she saw her mom cry (including all the times she'd seen her being tortured, and when her mom heard that her son had been killed, not by captors, but by prison cell mates) was when she asked Kitty to stay home from school to help her figure out how they were going to get the money to pay the rent. Her landlord had raised the rent and given them 45 days to pay it. It was the 43rd day and she still didn't have the money. She was starting to get frustrated with the Heavenly Father. Kitty wasn't sure what to do, but she saw her old rag doll sitting there and realized it was pretty dirty, so she decided to scrub it with a wire brush (kind of random) and as she scrubbed it disintigrated in her hands only to reveal diamonds and rubys and beautiful jewelry that they had left for her nanny to bargain with. The Nanny had sewed them into the doll!!! It was worth so much they were able to pay the rent and also buy beds, curtains, furniture for their home. They'd only had orange crates up until that point. Pretty miraculous!!! I wish I cold share all the stories. Like I said, I know this doesn't do it justice, but I'd love to remember the feelings I had there. I want to be a better teaching mom. I want to take more oppotunities to teach my kids these same kinds of values. I need to better at them myself. I want to remember how blessed and how lucky I am to live right now. That I have never had to go through anything even remotely as difficult as this family did. What an incredible example. 6-14-15
INSOMNIA
So, I'm not sure what happened last night, but the insomnia reached a new level. I was up until about 3:00 am, just laying in bed. I guess I did get up a few times to do things and I was trying to read myself to sleep part of the time, but nothing was working! I think I went to the bathroom 15 times. Not looking good for the mile away bathroom at Girls Camp next week. That was seriously all I could think about every time I had to go. I am not loving the lack of sleep thing! When I did finally get to sleep, about an hour later, Jack came up to my bed and requested a spot in it. I tossed him in the middle, hoping it wouldn't be hard to get back to sleep, but there was no use. I was stuck awake and now I was crowded out by Jack. I decided to go down to the Living room couch. So 3 hours of sleep (ish) only one was comfortable in my bed. This is not looking good for today. Hopefully we all survive. 6-15-15
EXHAUSTED
I had produce today. I was totally on top of everything, going above and beyond, trying to make sure that it wasn't a mistake to have extra orders and such, and I was SO proud of myself!! Well, of course, something had to go haywire, there were two people that Lisa hadn't put on the list who were expecting to get produce. So irritating. It took some finagling and it ended up being a good thing that one of our people cancelled AFTER I had ordered which was really frustrating, but anyway. I was done sorting around 9:30 but I was completely exhausted!! And I still had a whole day of cleaning and packing for camping to do!! Not good. I survived the day though and even managed to clean my bathroom. It's been way too long, but it feels so good now. I wish I had accomplished more in the cleaning and packing area, but we were able to get down to Heidi's to get the battery powered cars for the kids along with a bunch of other free crap ;). Nate and I are so okay with everyone else's junk :). You should have seen/heard Jack's reaction when he saw the Cozy Coupe they let us have :). So excited :). "Thank you, Heidi and John!" I also got Girls Camp forms signed and shirts delivered. Making progress in that area. I just hope I can survive this camping trip and then next week's too.... I'm so much more tired than I've been at this point in past pregnancies. Kinda frustrating. So anyway. Here's to the 7 hours I will hopefully have to clean and pack tomorrow! 6-16-15
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