AMAZING

I have been blessed with a set of amazing parents. They taught me all about being selfless and charitable and how serving others truly makes you a happy person. I guess it worked because I do love to serve others however I can.

So this year for our ward Christmas party I was in charge of making a stable. I was instructed to make a stable out of cardboard big enough for 2 adults to kneel inside. I took the task and thought, sure I can do that. As time wore on though, I became really overwhelmed with the job. I had NO idea how to go about building a stable out of cardboard. And to make matters worse, I had no luck in finding cardboard big enough to use. I called my mom Tuesday night complaining about how I had no time between then and Friday to build the stable (I admit I did procrastinate) and I couldn't find cardboard anywhere. I only called to tell her how stressed out I was but she responded like she usually does with, "If you get the materials, Daddy will build the stable for you." I told her absolutely not, that they had enough to do, I wasn't calling for her to offer to do the job for me, but she insisted that he would do it so I accepted the offer because I was in trouble and I needed help! She sent me the list of supplies and I had Nathan go and pick them up for me. Thursday night my parents showed up at the church and my dad proceeded to build this 6 foot tall stable out of wooden 2x2's and sheets of masonite. He had the help of Nathan and another guy from our ward so that was nice. He had worked on the blueprint of the stable at work that day and had all his plans precise and organized. It took about 2 hours to build but when he was done we had a beautiful stable to use in the Christmas program.

I told my mom how guilty I felt for having dad work so hard for me and she told me this: "Kristi, we never mind helping you because we love you. We wish we could help you more, but time doesn't allow us to help as much as we want. When you called me I thought, 'oh wow I can save her 1 more time'!" I didn't know what she meant but she explained that now that her kids are both grown and out of the house, it is hard to live day-to-day and not be needed by anyone. So she feels happy when she can 'save' us. I said, "So having children who are self-sufficient is kind of bittersweet huh?" And she agreed that it was indeed.

Sitting in the gym at church with my mom and dad working so hard for me, I was overwhelmed with grattitude for these people. They won't be around forever but their example will live on for generations.