Christmas Letter

Dearest Family and Friends,

Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas! We are so grateful for the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ, his everlasting atonement and the fruits of his resurrection. We know that he lives! We know that he overcame sin and death and paved the way for us to return to our Heavenly Father. We are so grateful to know that we can repent of our sins and shortcomings and turn our hearts to Christ that we might become perfected in him. We are so grateful for our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Happiness and that we have been blessed with the opportunity to come to Earth and learn and progress from our own experiences and trials. We are grateful to know that families can be together forever- even after this life- because of the sacrifice our Savior made.

We hope you are doing well! We are enjoying our time in Manhattan, Kansas and can’t believe we have less than a year and a half left here. Richard is very busy with vet school (at Kansas State University). He’s been doing more hands-on application this semester; it’s interesting to hear about the surgeries he performs. The final year starts at the beginning of the summer. He’s also busy with family, work and church. At church he works with the Young Men.

As Isabelle and Wendell grow up, they also grow closer; it is such a joy to see them personally develop in every aspect- including in their friendship. Isabelle still loves to sing-- (it seems like half of everything she verbalizes is a song.) She plays pretend a lot too: she talks on her “phone” or to a “friend” or has her lambs following her around the house. Two of her favorite activities seem to be Family Home Evening and interviews with Dad. She’s proud of her toddler bed and her potty. We can’t believe she’ll turn 3 in January.

Wendell Mac’s first birthday is coming up on Dec. 20th. He recently started walking. One of his favorite activities is to climb up to the back of the couch and stand on the window sill. He loves pens and pencils—he likes to draw with them or practice removing/replacing the caps. He is constantly on the go which makes diapering and changing clothes an… opportunity to burn calories.

Amy feels so blessed because her love and life is family and church. Wife, mother, homemaker, Relief Society worker, friend, missionary, are her priorities and she loves it. Right now she’s studying Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage and enjoying it thoroughly.

We love you! Merry Christmas!
–Richard, Amy, Isabelle, and Wendell

Amy's Birthday and Halloween

We had to get a new modem and have been without internet for a couple weeks. It actually was a wonderful blessing and I invite you to try it! Seriously, go without the internet for a couple weeks-- it's eye-opening. It also forced me to do more delegating as far as my calling goes, so that was a blessing too.

Here's a few pictures I hope you enjoy. (Reverse chronological order.) I hope you're doing well and had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying the Christmas season thus far. It started snowing today and is SO cold. TOO COLD!

Wendell is walking now and his record is at least 9 steps. It's so fun! Isabelle sleeps in her toddler bed and I could go on, but Richard just told me it seems like I'm falling asleep , so I guess I'll end and go to bed now. Yikes, always more to do than time to do it in. Wanna come do my dishes?

I'll post videos as soon as I can. (Which could possibly mean in a month. Ha ha.)
Love, Amy


One of their favorite places to hang out is behind the couch on the window sill ever since Wen learned to crawl up the couch.

Ham, anyone?

A Hike with Daddy

Winter Quarters Temple (Omaha) on Halloween Day

Ward "Fall Festival" Party

Richard dressed up with is vet school possee. As you can see, they were characters from Toy Story and Richard was a little green army man toy.

Britt's Pumpkin Patch (Oct. 24- Amy's birthday)

Hayride out to the corn maze to get to the pumpkin patch.

Just some additional cute-uns of Wendell.

He sticks out his tongue a lot and it's just way too cute.

The Great Pumpkin

Another post??

The Prophet Speaks

King Benjamin is a prophet in the Book of Mormon. His people gathered together and the families sat in tents to listen to him speak about the gospel of Jesus Christ. After teaching our children about this event, we excitedly prepared to hear the prophet in our day, President Monson. We mirrored King Benjamin's people and set up our tent in our living room to hear our prophet and other leaders of the church. It was great fun. It seemed to make General Conference extra special for Isabelle. I'm so grateful to have a living prophet in these latter days. I know that President Monson is called of God and is the mouthpiece of the Lord. He is wonderful man and I know he is truly led by the Lord.

Happy Halloween Month

I dressed the kids up in back and orangelike the first or second day of the month and we decorated for Halloween. I have to get the most out of those cute clothes before its not the season any more and before they grow out of them. It's so great when kids get old enough to have slowed down their growth and can still wear the season's clothes from the previous year. Speaking of sizes, Wendell is in 18 month clothes now. He'll be 10 months old this week. (Many 18 month pants are too long still though.)

My Little Model

Grandma Brooksby made this fleece outfit when Belle was a baby. So that's one benefit that it got freezing cold here abruptly and early, Isabelle has been able to wear this outfit before she finished outgrowing it.

Thanks for the box and bunny, Grandpa! The white bear you put in the box Isabelle has -entirely of her own accord- named "Snow Baby" and apparently it's Wendell's Snow Baby.

The Thornes can't move!

We had the privilege of babysitting Fri. night for the Thorne family. Why we didn't have them over more I don't know, but today was their last Sunday with us and that's just not right. :(

Isabelle and Lily were so cute with doll care. They really took this job seriously.

Sarah and Wendell were two peas in a pod. I can't believe how close to her size he's gotten.

Thomas playing in Isabelle's kitchen.

A few final pictures...

Isabelle is reading the Church magazines. She really gets into her books and magazines. She looks like such a grown-up when she does it.

Wendell's two new teeth!

BTW, we failed to follow up with most people about his operation and how he's doing. (Because he had been getting numerous ear infections and had some residual fluid, about a month ago we had tubes put in his ears.) Anyway, a couple weeks after the procedure, he started to act noticeably happier and less fussy. I honestly don't know what percentage of the change is due to the tubes, but I'm glad we did it.

He's been sick once since they were put in; it was amazing to take him in to the doctor just to double check that he didn't have an ear infection and have her say he didn't! That was a first! If for no other reason than to not have to shove antibiotics down his throat anymore, it was definitely worth it to have them put tubes in. I think all those antibiotics we had to give him might be part of the reason he's been so resistant to letting us feed him. (But also I think that resistance has a lot to do with his independent personality- wanting to self-feed.)

I have the best job in the universe!

The other day as I was buying groceries, the cashier asked me if I was ready for the weekend (which was kind of funny in itself because it was merely Tuesday- so the weekend was far from my mind.) I chuckled and said something like, "Well, my weekends are just as busy as my weekdays so..." He expressed condolences. I smiled and said that it's good stuff though, I'm busy with good stuff so it's okay.

I've really thought about it since then. It is good stuff! My life is my family and my God-- Home and Church. I really can't think of better set up. How sweet it is.

Then I gave that cashier a pass along card and left.

This one's for YOU

This is Amy. (The last post was from Richard.)

Boy, it's been a l o n g time!

I uploaded the following pictures over a month ago I think. (My life gets progressively busier! Maybe I just become progressively more disorganized. Mutually inclusive, no doubt.) I'm glad Richard finally posted some recent pictures for you last week. I'm going to hurry and captionize (nice word!) these pics and get them posted.

At the end of the post there's some fun news about one of our kids.


July 28th: This is when Richard got back from 6 week army training in Texas. It was a really spiritual experience being reunited with my eternal companion. Words can't express how much I missed him nor can they express the overwhelming joy to again be together. The Spirit whispered again and again, "Heaven. This is what Heaven is." Family truly is Heaven. The more I grow in this life, the more I see that Family truly is the center of our Father's Great Plan of Happiness.

It was also very touching the respect and appreciation shown by complete strangers for his short service in the millitary. A car drove by and thanked him when we were there picking him up from the Manhattan Airport; the stranger who took our family picture for us knowingly smiled so big and in his thick accent told us to have a wonderful evening.

I am so grateful for the families who sacrifice so much for our country. I used to say that, but now, after living in a town where I actually know countless families who live day after day, month after month with a parent missing from home because they are serving, (or even indefinitely when their family member is killed in action), now I say it with a new depth of gratitude. Do you realize what people sacrifice? I didn't and I still don't. But after living only 6 weeks without my beloved spouse, I've gained just a glimpse of the huge sacrifice others so willingly offer. Thinking of other families who chose the millitary for a carreer, I'm learning that just because they've chosen that path doesn't mean it's easy for them or that they would choose to be apart from their loved-ones. It's still hard. But someone has to do it. I'm grateful for the members of the Church, and other Christians, who follow Captain Moroni to serve their God by serving their country.

If you are reading this and are one of those wives with a husband who has been gone or is presently gone or are another family member involved, please accept my deepest gratitude for your example of faith, longsuffering and sacrifice. We love you. We pray for you. We appreciate you. Thank you. I don't know how you do it. May our Father in Heaven sustain you and bless you. Thank you so much.




Father and son together again. They barely recognized each other.
"Everyone's so big!" exclaimed Richard.
"Thanks a lot!" retorted Amy.
"Noo, the kids!" he amended with a laugh.




Isabelle likes Daddy's cool army boots.




One of our first family outings upon his return: The Zoo! here in Manhattan.




Wendell's first time pulling the TP down to play with it. Needless to say, he also likes flushing the toilet.




Isabelle and her (then) new potty. She's way too cute.




Richard took the kids out and I got to organize Isabelle's closet! Yay!!! I wish I would have taken a "before" picture. It was a disaster. Now all the boxes are labeled and organized. Phew.




At Potawatome County Lake II on Labor Day, Sept. 7

Dad is so cool, wading with the kids. We hadn't planned on getting in though and had of course failed to bring changes of clothes! Haha. (Proof illustrated in latter pictures.)



Isabelle loved getting wet... and dirty.




No, he wasn't posing.







Oh, whoa, look at my hands, look at my hands, they're dirty. (Signing Time song.)




I don't know from where Isabelle gets her goofiness...




I am so grateful for these kids!
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Well, perfect timing because Wen just woke up. I'll post this now and hopefully will post again sooner than later.
Love, Amy
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Oh, I almost forgot! Last Wed, Oct 7, Wendell got his first two teeth! Yes, a little later than average. He'll turn 10 months on the 20th. And then the next day, the 8th, he took his first steps! So fun!