Needed

I find it amazing that during General Conference there are messages that you sit back and think well that was for me.  Perhaps there was a story or instruction given that was exactly what you needed to hear at the time.  I am grateful for conference time.  I am grateful to sit at the feet of Prophets and Apostles and hear the words of God.  I am grateful for the Lords Prophet on the earth today, President Thomas S. Monson. 
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the foundation of my life.  I was thinking about some of this earlier today.  There are things that I just do because I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and because of that knowledge I find strength needed to press forward through the trials and challenges of life. 

Good Morning

I sat down to write the blog a while ago.  I was going to put on a movie to keep me busy while I write in an effort to keep myself awake.  I started to browse the options and... then I woke up.  It's now 3 in the morning and I'm up and awake once again.  This reminds me of when I first started keeping a regular journal on my mission.  There were entries that didn't turn out so hot when all of a sudden my handwriting went from bad to just a blurry line as I fell asleep in the middle of it.  Then there were plenty of times when I got back home and would wake up kneeling at the side of my bed (that is how I used to write in my journal) with my pen in my hand and my head in my journal.  There were plenty of times when that was in the early morning hours.  I do recall that my knees were quite sore on those nights.  Perhaps I can blame my illegible journaling over however many years on the fact that I was usually half asleep when I wrote.  Probably not something that will matter a lot anyway.  I will be able to decipher most of it when others can not.  Perhaps when I am older and in need of a nap I can sit down with these journals of mine and transcribe them.

If I am always falling asleep or struggling to stay awake just to write this stuff why even bother?  Why torture myself on a nightly basis?  I do this because I was told to keep a journal of my life.  It is really just that simple.  I struggle with it and there are nights when it is really hard because I am exhausted but I made a commitment to do this.  There have been plenty of times when that commitment lead to several entries that were just about identical to the those written previously.   There were those times when I decided I was going to try and improve my penmanship by writing in cursive - that didn't turn out so well.  Writing left handed didn't turn out so well either.  Who knew there would be adventures in journaling? 

Well anyway, let me note that the kids and I played a game in the back yard after dark.  It is called Ghost in the Graveyard.  They were playing it over at the Jensen's before I went and rounded them up and they really wanted to play a little longer.  We did and they had a good time.  I enjoyed watching them do their thing.  Andy had a great little hiding place for one round.  I knew where he was but let him ride it out until Natty finally found him.  On the last round Jack was up and we were counting when he decided to sneak into the garage.  Let's just say he wasn't exactly sneaky.  When you get to the end of counting your suppose to say something like 'I hope there are no ghosts in the graveyard tonight'.  I changed it to 'I hope there are no ghosts in the garage tonight' and then Jack started laughing.  It was a fun way to end the game. 

So anyway, long night and now a good morning and time for me to go to bed - for real this time.      

Out the Door

We had a first today at The Little Brick House.  Our lunch hour was big, that isn't the first time, it's the norm.  In our lunch hours however we have never had a line that went out the doors.  Today that all changed.  I looked up and all of the sudden the door was just open and the line was the biggest I had ever seen.  It was pretty exciting stuff.  We were moving for sure.  It was a great hour, not our single biggest but it was one of them. 

We have a lot of work to do over the next little while.  We are anticipating continued growth and then the addition of a lot more business with the upcoming festival season and summer games.  A line out the door isn't going to cut it in the middle of summer.  People won't want to stand out in the heat just to have our food... well, maybe they will.  It is good food.  We are in the process of making those changes and it will resolve that challenge.  If after we redesign there is a line out the door, well, I think then we won't have to worry much about people waiting in the heat because at that point they are totally dedicated. 

Speaking of good food and out the door I have been watching this season of Survivor because one of my friends, Jonas Otsuji from Hawaii Kai, has been on.  I remember when I first met Jonas in the Deacons Quorum of the Hawaii Kai 2nd Ward.  He was one cool kid, easy going, very like-able.  Today he is a very accomplished Sushi Chef and somehow ended up on Survivor.  I don't pretend to have a relationship with him today outside of Facebook but it has been fun to watch him on Survivor and think about a lot of the good times we had back in the day.  I saw a post from another friend on Facebook that indicated he had been eliminated so I pulled it up tonight and have been watching it.  He in fact was eliminated tonight and it was sad to see him go.  I don't know that I will follow the show any longer, I haven't watched it in years and was only interested in seeing how he did.  It was a good run.  Sad to see him go but happy he had the opportunity. 

In other fun and exciting happenings of the day the kids walked to the LBH after school today and it was fun to have them come in.  I made them dinner there and that was much easier then coming home and putting together something here.  I did have a moment of pause and a prompting from the Spirit that I acted on and am grateful for.  Andy wanted 2 hot dogs and so I made them and asked Natty to take them to him.  She did and dropped them on the ground.  Well, had to make two new hot dogs.  I don't like wasting much and was a little irritated.  Andy was a little upset and did not want Natty taking out his new hot dogs.  I told him not to worry that she wouldn't and then it occurred to me, when someone falls of a horse they need to get right back on.  I stopped and said, no she will take it out to you.  She needed to have that opportunity to try again and to know that I trusted her to do it.  It was a couple of hot dogs that were lost and that was all that needed to be lost today.  So she took out the new hot dogs and was just fine.  I don't know if it even made a difference to her but I hope it did.  Jack, well, he wasn't ready to let her attempt to take out his sandwich and made it clear he would be taking out his own food.  Such a character. 


 

My Friend Guy

I have a friend named Guy.  A few months ago it was his birthday and he had a friend that took him out for lunch.  He chose to come to The Little Brick House.  Well, we made his day.  He ordered a Ruby, one of the first.  He gave me a hard time about our Marble Rye bread and said we really needed a Russian Rye.  I went to check on him after he had some of that sandwich and he was no longer worried about Russian Rye.  He loved it.  Well, it was his birthday and we try to deliver something amazing so when we showed up with a Hot Cookie Sundae and sang Happy Birthday it made his day.  We have been friends ever since. 

When Guy comes in we shake hands and before he leaves we have a hug.  I guess I should mention that Guy is in his 70's.  He and his wife come in pretty regularly.  I found out we are in the same stake when I looked down from the stand and saw him there smiling at me.  He told me today that President Sorenson was talking to him and said something about not knowing if he should call him Brother Gillespie or by a sandwich name.  We laughed.  If you have no idea what I am talking about go to Stake Conference Talk in the archives of this month. 

Guy got me choked up a couple of times today.  He tells me that he loves me and encourages me to keep on going.  I appreciate that very much.  I appreciate people who care and that aren't afraid to just give you a hug and tell you that they love you and that your doing a good job.  Sometimes a struggling single dad just needs that reassurance.  I'll tell you this, I don't feel like it most of the time.   Most of the time I don't see myself measuring up.  Funny enough I know that I am not alone in this.  I think most of us don't see ourselves measuring up or doing as good of a job as so and so.  We're all pretty tough on ourselves.   That seems an easy thing to do. 

I need to be a little more like Guy Gillespie. 

Falling Down Stairs

I believe I found a cure for coffee drinkers or any who are hooked on caffeinated beverages.  I don't think there is anything that will get your blood pumping quite as fast as falling down the stairs.  Sure there are risks involved in this activity and proper precautions are highly recommended but wow, I can tell you from first hand experience that taking a spill on the stairs wakes you up. 

I was going to get Natty up for school this morning, lights were off, thought I was doing great but then the left foot slipped and I went down.  It was a good fall and I came out unharmed.  It does get the vitals going and you tend to be awake. 

Daily Walk

I was on my way home this morning after dropping Andy off at school and I was thinking about that part of our day a bit.  He is capable of going on his own and has a few times.  The norm however is that I walk him to school and help him get situated in class.  We don't see a ton of other parents bringing their kids to class, there is one other lady that I see regularly but other then her it is usually just the kids. 

Anyhow I was walking home and thinking about that time and wondered if Andy would ever grow out of it or if we would be doing the same thing in first grade.  Sure it would be nice not to have to make that trip every morning and I don't want to hurt his development and growth by being there with him everyday.  At the same time however, does it really matter?  I really don't mind the walk.  We get to have a little one on one time and talk about, well, stuff.  With the Andyman it is usually pretty random and that is okay.  I think it is something he enjoys and a chance for us to hang out - I don't consider him sneaking into my be every night hanging out. 

As I walked home I came to the conclusion that I will happily walk Andy to school for as long as he needs me to.  This is a special time for him and I get to be a part of it. Our daily walk is a wonderful little thing. 

Lead with the Left, it's better

The Stake Presidency requested that the wards hold Fast and Testimony meeting today because next week is conference and the following week is Easter Sunday.  Natty, Jack and Andy each got up and shared their testimonies today.  When I saw Jack stand up and begin to move towards the stand I called him back and told him no hot wheels and no trains.  Is that wrong of me?  I don't know.  I don't want to break his spirit and his love of sharing his feelings.  I really don't think that happened.

Jack was the first of the three to share his testimony and he was very obedient.  There was no mention of trains and no mention of hot wheels.  He did do something that was pretty cool.  He said he had a testimony of faith.  That was pretty fantastic.  After that he went on to talk about how he has started walking better.  "When I was 6 years old I used to walk with my right foot first followed by me left foot.  But do you know what?  I started to walk with my left foot first and then my right foot...".  I of course was nervous not really knowing where he was going or for how long. Well somehow it lead him to his bike.  He began talking about how he leads off with the left and it is easier and then went into how he learned how to ride his big bike when he was 7 years old.  He mentioned crashing on the bike and showed some injuries he had on his left hand.  He went on to talk about wearing a helmet and then signing his name on a paper at school last week that was all about being safe.  He mentioned in all of this that riding his big bike took faith.  Ahhh, there it was.  Faith had come full circle. 

He went on for awhile about other stuff.  Natty was up on the stand waiting her turn and I got her attention and told her to go and let Jack know it was time to finish.  She tried but Jack was not happy to have her interrupt him.  My mistake.  I should have gotten up instead.  Right when I was about to go up he closed and came and sat down.   I gave him some positive reinforcement.  I let him know he did a great job sharing his testimony of Faith.  We need to work on not taking 10 minutes but he did good.

Natalie helped Andy share his testimony.  He hasn't grown a lot since last month and it was still a challenge just to see the top of his head.  He also did a good job.  When he came down he was complaining about something and I quickly realized what was on his mind.  He had said amen but the congregation didn't.  I guess he was looking for a loud one.  Funny boy.  Following Andy it was Natty's turn and she gave a sweet and simple testimony about obedience. 

I am grateful for the kids sharing their testimonies.  I am grateful for their strength and their faith.  They are wonderful children who have been through a lot.  I cannot pretend that they haven't and that they do not hurt because of it.  I know that they do.  I know that they miss their mom.  I also know that the Lord does not leave us comfortless and that he is aware of each of them.  I am grateful for the Savior who can fill the voids in our lives, for the Holy Ghost who comforts us in times that we stand in need of comfort.  I am grateful for those who act and help us.  Much of that help comes from the fam and I am in their debt as I cannot do this alone.  Thank you all for your strength, for your support and for your love.