sick Sunday

Abe and I both woke up sick again. Boooo. But even though Abe was up all night coughing, he somehow still had energy to take both girls to church. For my part, I was feeling queasy and exhausted, so I stayed home. Apparently, at the end of church Lydia called her cat on the phone and continued to chat with him for the next twenty minutes:

“Hi cat! Oh, yeah? Uh-huh. Okaaay, because we’re cwossing the street now. Oh-oh-oh-oh!! Yep! Talk to you later!” (etc.)

Abe then went back to church to get trained on the new teaching style the church is promoting. He came home sooooo excited. Teachers are now only supposed to talk eight minutes or less, so the classes will be driven by questions and discussion. Our only regret is that we love listening to our Sunday School teacher, Larry Perkins. He asks a lot of questions, but he also tells wonderful stories that illustrate doctrine so beautifully. We could listen to well more than eight minutes of him. In almost every other case, though, we’re excited for the change.

I stayed home and read some commentary on the New Testament and then switched over to watching a ton of interviews surrounding Elizabeth Smart. I checked out her memoir yesterday and could not put it down–I finished it at 11pm last night, and all morning I could not get her story out of my head. She is such a beautiful, resilient person, and I admire her strength, courage, and example in making a difference for others. I would now count her among my top heroes, and I could not tear myself away from all of the interviews on Youtube.

The vindictive part of me also enjoyed watching Brian David Mitchell get interrogated by a Salt Lake City Police Detective and an FBI officer. I didn’t watch the whole thing, but the Salt Lake detective was obviously LDS and knew his scriptures; when Mitchell tried to pull his pseudo-religious crap out, the detective called him on it in a way that made me want to stand up and applaud. I’ve always had trouble with the idea that some people are evil through and through, but after reading about Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee (who fed her children their pet rabbit for dinner and smiled while they ate it), I have finally decided that there are people who are completely shut off to anything good.

Back to the events of today. Abe played with the girls all day. He crafted with them, took them to the park, fed them, and played chase-and-throw-the-babies. He told me that today he felt like a kid again, and that he never anticipated how fun being a parent would be. I think it’s fun because he makes it so fun. He’s such a terrific dad. And husband. And person. I’m a fan.

Even though I basically lay in bed all day, I still feel sick and tired, so I will wrap up. I didn’t take any pictures today, and I don’t think Abe did either. I also can’t remember the last time I showered, so I’m going to go take care of that now…