Baby blessing and a new baby!

We enjoyed some of the most wonderful blessings in life this week.  Monday night, Effie Mila Rasband was given a name and a blessing in our home with all her grandparents and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins in attendance.  She is a beautiful little girl with a very sweet disposition and we felt a wonderful spirit as her daddy blessed her.

Nick's family with friends Toby and Jenny Anderton

Christy Cunningham came over earlier that evening and took family pictures.  It's hard to get 11 children to pay attention and smile all at the same time.

Tuesday, Dan left me with his daughters when he took Jieun to the hospital.  Most of us didn't find out until the next morning that Benedict Dojin had joined our family at 11:45 pm (on the 27th).  He was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches long.  He is a really handsome little baby. We were wondering what a boy in their family would look like.

We were also able to enjoy Elise, Andy, Max and Mav for a little longer (Elise got to hold Dojin before she went home).  Tuesday morning (while I taught my water aerobics class) the Jackson's went with Roy and Gunnar and Ollie and Ruby and Crista and Matt on the front runner up to the train museum in Ogden.  Apparently they had a great time.

Roy took Elise and her family to the airport Thursday morning, and though they were delayed an hour because of the fog, it was a lot better than the delays they endured on their way here.

We had Dan's girls from Tuesday around noon to Thursday around 2.  Jennie slept with all three of them on Tuesday night, though from the picture below, you can see Yuna kind of hogs the bed.

When I tucked Hyeji and Doyeon in the extra bed upstairs on Wednesday night, they looked at me and said, "Don't we get to sleep with anyone?"  I thought they'd be a whole lot more comfortable two to a bed than four.  I told them grandma and grandpa were close by if they needed anything.

After the girls went home on Thursday afternoon, I began to try to return my home to it's pre-Christmas condition.  Between that and beginning to pack for our eventual move, I'm pretty worn out.
While packing up the theater room, I got going through scrapbooks and other memorabilia.  Roy pulled out a zippered bag that was full of cards and letters from after Thomas' death.  I wasn't able to tell him to just throw them out without going through them first.  It has been an emotional journey.  It was interesting to see who took the time to write to us at that time.  There were cards from the elementary school the kids went to, as well as Elise's teacher.  Also the elementary school they had attended before a boundary change.  Our bank and other local businesses sent cards and many of our neighbors that we didn't even know. Many of our theater associates and patrons wrote to us and we had also received letters from total strangers offering words of comfort.  Many of our relatives wrote their condolences.  Some of the letters were sad--the writers had suffered their own losses and didn't have the gospel to help them through the pain and grief.  One of these was a cousin--she had lost twins at their birth.  She told me she took comfort in taking toys to their graves.   While I am glad it brought her comfort, I didn't feel it would be the best way for me to find peace.  However, I so appreciated that she and others would take the time to write to me.  Even our pediatrician took the time to write a note telling me that I was a good mother and that we can't prevent all accidents.  Another cousin wrote and suggested I try and listen to a talk from the April 1993 Sunday morning conference (we didn't go as it was the day after the accident).  It was a talk on prayer.  Rather I read it at the time, I don't remember, but I read it today.  Rex Pinegar , Peace through prayer.
I have thrown many of these cards away--especially the ones that just signed their name, but I saved a few to add to Thomas' scrapbook so my kids can read them someday and get an idea of how many people cared about us.  It's also a reminder to me to reach out to those who are suffering.  Those of you who know me well, know that I'm not terribly emotional.  I rarely cry.  After reading these letters and cards, I watched a movie with Roy called "Miracle from Heaven," and I cried all the way through it.  It was a Christian movie based on a true story, and there were so many things that the mother in the movie experienced that reminded me of my experience.  In one of the scenes, a non-believer is talking to his child.  She is telling him that her roommate has given her comfort by telling her that Jesus is always with her.  His response, "That's all right--if it gives her comfort."  I have always just bristled when I've received a similar response, because it's so condescending.  It's also not very comforting to have someone question your heartfelt beliefs.  The man later takes the mother aside and asks her to tell her daughter (also very ill), not to share that kind of nonsense with his daughter.
The mother in the story is having a hard time keeping her faith, and the preacher tells her that he's gone through hard times--sometimes turning his heart to God, and other times turning his back to Him.  He told her that he found from his experience that it was a lot better when he turned his heart to Him.
I am so grateful that I know my Savior lives.  I can never deny it because I have felt His comfort so strongly.  This Christmas I had lots of opportunity to think of my Savior, and His birth and life.  I don't always love Christmas because of the commercialism, but I really enjoyed it and felt the spirit of it this year.
And Happy Birthday to Christine and Glenn tomorrow and Ori on Tuesday.  We have a lot of January birthdays.  I thought Dojin would be another January birthday, but he decided to be the only December birthday in our family so far.