Gratitude Challenge Day 7: More Blessed to Give

In the summer of 2008, I packed up my Honda Civic and took off for northern Idaho for an internship with a software company. As I passed the border from Utah to Idaho, I remember noticing the very prominent A in the Idaho sign (it is the tallest letter) and feeling like that meant something for me. A couple weeks later when I tagged along with some new friends, I found myself in a popular young woman’s house with them. She told me her name was Angie and we immediately connected in our conversation that evening, and I was thrilled to find someone who wanted to talk about things that had real meaning. While there my thoughts went back to that A on the sign and felt that this was what it had been pointing me too. Many months later—and after chasing her when she moved back to southern Idaho—we were married and on our way back up to northern Idaho to begin our life together. Since then, the past 11½ years have been a road of adventures and challenges, struggles and joys as we have sought to bring up our children into the world and raise them in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today I express my deep gratitude and love for my beautiful wife and her devotion to our children and to me. How grateful I am that the Lord brought our paths together!

The apostle Paul gave us this magnificent statement of the Savior’s that we do not have recorded in the Gospels: “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). I am amazed at how Angie follows and lives by this injunction. I wrote earlier about my son and his gift giving project at home during the holiday season—I think he got the idea and motivation from watching his mother in project after project. We have a joke between us when one of us goes shopping about “filling the van.” The term comes from a story she recounted many years ago to me about someone apparently known for going to clothing sales and filling her van with items on sale. Angie loves to “fill the van” too but in the opposite purpose—sending our stuff to others. For example, when we lived on the east coast and Hurricane Sandy hit, she filled the back of the van with most of our food storage and other items and sent me driving for hours to deliver it. I could tell several other stories when she has labored for countless hours to similarly “fill our van” with donations and gifts for others in need in the holiday season. She indeed lives by the principle which the Savior taught that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

               Of course, Angie’s commitment to service is most evident in her complete dedication to her family. When she gives her heart she gives it completely, and she gave up so much of the personal pleasures of life as a single adult to care for and nurture our children. This was no more evident than in the home school hurricane of COVID-19 this year. She ran from child to child trying to keep them on track with their endless schoolwork while still caring for three little ones not in school who likewise needed her attention for a hundred things. I was amazed at her perseverance as she guided the kids in their Nearpods and Zoom meetings, long division worksheets and even longer load times with our snail-paced internet. After a couple of months of this she was exhausted, but even when she had the chance to send them all back to school this fall, she felt prompted to keep our daughter home to give her more one on one attention, which she did. I love her for her complete commitment to them and helping them be successful in all aspects of life. It has been no easy task, and she summed it up best when she wrote recently, “I think sometimes I love my kids so much it drives me crazy.” I thank my Heavenly Father for Angie and for her goodness and devotion to the Savior and to our family!