As some of you may know our sweet little niece, Mara passed away last Monday, September 22nd.  We left Tuesday to attend the funeral in Auburn, WA.  We were so grateful for the opportunity to spend time with their family during this bittersweet experience.  I cannot begin to describe the heart wrenching feelings that we felt as we had to say goodbye to beautiful little Mara.  We were so touched by the out pouring of love that Bryan, Heather and their family have received from friends, family, their ward and countless members of the community.  At the funeral we were surrounded by hundreds of people wearing pink and purple in honor of Mara.  The service was beautiful, the spirit was so strong testifying of the reality of life after death and eternal families.

There were hundreds of pink and purple ribbons tied along the route to the church and then on to the cemetery.  That night after the funeral 3 huge bunches of purple balloons dotted their lawn at the front of their house as well as many luminaries lighting up their front lawn and driveway with pictures of Mara.

Erik and Lincoln had the opportunity to be pallbearers along with Mara’s big brother, Max and her uncles. It was so touching to see those two small boys helping to lift that small pink casket and then along with many children in attendance put a rose on her casket as a final tribute to Mara.  

We will miss Mara but take great solace in the fact that families can be forever.  It has given me great motivation to follow after the examples of Bryan and Heather and try daily to love and honor the children that my Father and Heaven has entrusted Erik and I with.   

www.maraadams.com

Mara-August 2007

Erik and Lincoln serving as pallbearers

Mara’s little sister, Natalie.

Her little casket draped in roses.

Rulon at Mara’s grave site the next day.

I realize that Ellis gets largely overlooked in my posts because, well…she isn’t generally causing the noise and chaos.  So this post is an ode to Ellie.  Don’t get me wrong, Ellis causes plenty of drama but that is only when we have the nerve to tear her away from Little Einsteins, Dora or her beloved blanket.  On top of those most cherished items she loves her purses, necklaces, gloves, helping mom in the kitchen, playing with her brothers and snuggling with Daddy.  She’s got an opinion about most everything and is very independent but has certainly added some spice to our family.  

Rulon started his first day of preschool last Tuesday.  Hurrah!!  He loves his teacher, he loves being a big boy and having his own school and he loves having some little boys he knows from church in his class with him.  And I love running errands with just one child two mornings a week!

It started so nicely….and then…

We finally did make it to class in one piece!

Conversation with Lincoln after school today:

Lincoln:  ”Daniel told me that he doesn’t believe in heaven or Jesus.  He said he doesn’t even know how he was made.”

Mom:  ”What did you say?” 

Lincoln”  ”I tried to get him to believe in heaven but he didn’t listen to me.”

Talk about missionary moments in 1st grade!  I am not sure how 6 year olds happen upon these theological discussion but I am proud of Lincoln for being brave enough to express his beliefs.  I was also a grateful for the opportunity to discuss my gratitude of eternal families with him.  What a different world!  I think I was still eating glue at that age….

With much sadness, Erik and I announce the official closing of the Hotel Adams for the summer season. With the departure of Matt, Katelyn and Lisa our house has been rather quiet and a bit lonely (aside from the normal chaos we normally experience with 3 kids).  Matt and Katelyn have been living in Sacramento all summer while Matt sold pest control and Katelyn slaved away in their customer service department. We had so much fun seeing them about every other weekend for Sunday dinners or some fun long weekends.  As for my little sister, Lisa, she took up residence all summer in our spare bedroom while working at Nordstrom in downtown Walnut Creek.  We spent the summer doing a lot of eating, talking, watching lots of movies, going on adventures with the kids, etc.  I didn’t want the fun to end, but alas all good things….blah, blah, blah….

To celebrate Lisa’s birthday the day before they headed back to BYU we took them into San Francisco to hit some of our favorite sites, including the houses in the opening credits of  ”Full House.”  I believe this was Katelyn & Lisa’s favorite attraction, the only thing missing was Uncle Jesse.