Merry Christmas in Heaven Dave! From Your Wife.

I got really excited when I was told that Dave was my secret service person. 2015 has been another hard year. Losing my mom has made me think of Dave even more and more every day. In march when my mom died I had to go to Mexico and I decided to stay and spend more time with my family. I knew that my dad was going to need me. I was so grateful and sad at the same time that I was able to provide some comfort to my dad. I had the right words and I totally knew his pain. I was able to tell him that with time his pain will get easier and easier. During my time in Mexico I thought about Dave so many times, specially when he was a missionary. I always admired his will of sharing the gospel with anybody, he was fearless in opening his mouth and tell the truth about the plan of salvation, something I was always afraid to do. Dave has change my life for better. Every single day I try to help with whatever I need to. This year my family and I planted a tree next to my mom grave. My family and I went to the cemetery and cleaned other graves and put fresh flowers. We did this thinking about Dave because he was always willing to help. Dave was also so patient with people. I am trying my best to follow his example by first starting with my kids :). This year when it marked the 4 year anniversary my kids, mom and I went to do some service. We took donuts and flowers to the fire department, went to my gym to take some flowers to people I know and also took some flowers to the ICU unit where Dave was. This time after 4 years the memories of going back there were less painful but still very fresh in my memory. It was nice to do this for them. My kids like to do that every year and it is teaching them to always serve. I took some pictures but for some reason is not letting me post them. To all of you, Dave's family, I want all of you to know how much I still love Dave, there is not a day that I don't think of him. I fell in love with him since the first time he tried to hug me and it does hurt a lot not having him with me. As he has told us and told me before, we do not get to chose when to go. This is something that was very hard for me to understand but I am now to the point where I knew it was his time. I want you to all know that when I feel scare I close my eyes and remember the days I dated him, I remember his hugs and how much comfort they used to bring. I miss him so very much. My kids miss him. I adore that man with all my heart. I am so grateful for the dreams I get to have and the view of me reunite with my eternal companion, if my happiness is as much as it is in my dreams then I can't wait for the day I get to be in his arms again. He is still big part of my life and now I know him and Heavenly Father also sent Wes in my life. He is another amazing guy who I have learn to love and adore too. What a wonderful husband I have now that loves to read when I am writing about  how much I still love my Dave. I have been blessed big for sure!
This year and every year since Dave left us, I do service for people and a volunteer in any ways I can.  He was and is the greatest!
Dave I love you to the moon and back sweet heart! Merry Christmas in heaven baby. 

To Lauren From Wes

Lauren, I'm sorry that this post is late, but I think that the spirit of this tradition of providing service rather than giving presents of monetary value has served its purpose well. By that, I mean that I have become more service oriented and thoughtful of others throughout the whole year. Before I drew your name in May, I already knew that I would need to start thinking of ways to provide a service. It didn't take long to correct my thinking. I knew that I wanted to provide a service and how grateful I was that this great family chose to do this every year. I can narrow down my service to a single act of kindness, but I hope you can understand and feel what I mean when I say that my service was a spirit of kindness and service to others throughout the whole year. In the summer after Cristina's mom died, she went to Mexico to spend more time with her family. She took Josh, Jasmine and Dana with her. I came to visit a couple of times while she was there, and during her stay we found a friend who's baby boy was born pre-mature. On one of my trips to Mexico, I brought with me a care package for their baby boy, knowing how delicate life is in the first few months, and especially when resources are scarce and hospitals are just not as affordable to us in the US.

He is healthy and strong now, thanks to his loving parents and the care they give him. I'm grateful to have contributed at least a little bit to helping him along.

Merry Christmas Lauren, and we all can't wait to meet your little ginger. Wes

To Hannah from Spencer

Over the past few years Hannah has had a few interests that are easily noticeable.  Two that stand out are her amazing talent in music, and her love for elephants.  When I got Hannah's name I had to brainstorm what I could do for her in serving others.  Anyone that knows me knows I don't have a shred of musical talent in my body, so the obvious choice was the latter.  I didn't exactly know what to do though... go free elephants from the zoo? Show Dumbo to little children?  My mom gave me the idea of looking up foundations that support elephants or some sort of wild life preserves.  When googling said topic the first link was a big wild life preservation charity called World Wildlife and one of the options was African Elephant Adoption.  No I do not now own a baby African Elephant tied to a leash in my back yard but I did donate to the cause and got an official adoption certificate written out to Hannah Nicole Kirkby.  The next time I see you I will give you the certificate of Adoption.

http://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts/Species-Adoptions/African-Elephant.aspx?sc=AWY1300WCGPE&gclid=CjwKEAiAtf6zBRDS0oCLrL37gFUSJACr2JYblkMEuPA30Tn6aTlTTNs3S1syw29JQplPwBqaeaas9xoClZnw_wcB

Adopting an elephant

To Alyssa, Love Libby

This year, I had Alyssa. She is such an amazing example of so many things to me. But one attribute is that she often helps her mom babysit her younger siblings for free. My mom was excited to be able to help my Aunt Linda go to the temple. The only issue was that it was hard to find a babysitter for her two ADHD kids. I immediately saw the perfect opportunity. At first I was worried because I knew, they always had to be doing something and they got bored of things fast. I offered to babysit them while the adults went to the temple. The first few times I was still getting used to things. But as  I quickly learned what activities they liked, and what ones they didn't, things ran more smoothly. I was able to quickly strengthen my relationship with both of my cute little cousins.

 I love you so much Alyssa! Thank you so much for being a fabulous example to me!

For Cindy, Love Lexi

I was so excited to be given Cindy's name this year for my service gift. Cindy is one of my favorite people and I have thought on multiple occasions how we lucky we are that she married into our family.  I have always been so close to her husband Alex, but I am so lucky that he choose such an amazing woman to be his eternal companion. Cindy is one of the sweetest, most loving and genuine people I know.

One of my favorite things about Cindy is how good she is to her nieces and nephews. Alex and Cindy started dating around the time that I was an awkward, self conscious freshman in high school (I can't be exact on the year, but you know.... the dark ages).  Cindy was this beautiful, nice, older girl who was dating my Uncle Alex. Being the oldest, I don't have any older sisters or cousins, and I SO appreciated the extra attention that Cindy paid me. She asked about school, about boys, and would frequently give me advice about things going on in my life. I felt close to Cindy from the start.

When I got Cindy's name, I was reminded via the "timehop" app how sweet Cindy was with me. It seemed like every day for weeks at a time I would read a one sided conversation (I could only read/see what Cindy would write on MY wall, and never knew what my responses were) between young Cindy and young Lexi. I was reminded again how sweet my Aunt Cindy always has been with me.

Around the same time these conversations were showing up on my timehop, I also started dating a boy who shall remain nameless. This boy would frequently invite me to his home, and I soon became close with his family. Being the oldest in his family, he had younger siblings, and get this- a sister who was in the midst of her very own "freshman/dark ages" time of her life. I decided that the best way I could serve someone else was to try to be the same kind of example/ role model that Cindy was for me.

From that moment on, I made a special effort with this sister. I would ask her about school, and make a special interest in the events that I knew were coming up in her life. I would try to make an extra effort to make sure that she had fun plans, and we would often invite her to tag along with us. I grew to love her so much, and I loved the friendship that we had.

I am no longer dating said boy. I have to admit that his family was a hard one to let go of. Especially this sister. I still think of her often and wish that I could continue our close friendship without things getting awkward. I decided that the "cherry on top" of this year's service would to be write her a anonymous note, letting her know how great I think she is, and what potential she has. I poured out my heart to her, sharing with her how great I think she is and I hope she can feel how genuine I wanted it to be. I hope that even though she won't know who this letter is from, that she will know that someone out there thinks she is awesome, and that this confidence will be a blessing in her life, the way my Aunt Cindy's confidence in me was a blessing in mine.

Merry Christmas Ben, Love Nicki

Merry Christmas Ben!  It was a pleasure to serve in your name this year!  After I found out who I had, I took some time to think about how I could serve Ben.  One thing that I've thought a lot about is Ben's special experience in the temple that changed the course of his family's future and moved them back to the mainland. I try to attend the temple on Friday nights and I decided that I should try to follow Ben's example and go to the Temple with a purpose.  The next week I had few experiences in the week that made me think a lot about my two sisters in law and how I could help them.  In the temple I prayed about that.  I felt they needed me to be a better friend to them, but I feel so overwhelmed by everything I have to do in life as it is, I didn't think I could squeeze more in.  Instantly I had the thought, "you make time every week to go to the temple..."  In an instant I knew that I should be inviting them to go to the temple with me.  I wasn't sure how they'd react, but they were both very enthusiastic about it.  Every Thursday I'd send a text to them asking if either of them could make it.  Sometimes just one would come, sometimes both.   Eventually, I ended up inviting the lady who lives in my basement to attend with us.  Although I thought I was serving them, in the end it also served me.  Many times this year Erik would travel on a Friday, and in the past I wouldn't have gone to the temple.  Because others were counting on me to go, I ended up going more often!  I love the spirit in the temple and thank Ben for helping me to learn to go to the temple with a purpose in mind.  I love you Ben!

To Uncle Alex, Merry Christmas! from Lauren

This year I had the opportunity to serve and think about my Uncle Alex.  I decided to focus on two traits of Alex's that I really admire and want to emulate.

The first trait is that Alex is a great inlaw to Cindy's family.  I've noticed that he really connects with and cares about the Olsens and treats them the same as his own family.  Even though I've always loved my inlaws, I decided that I wanted to become closer to them and really consider them the same family as the family I grew up in.  I focused on going to more of that side's family functions, making an effort to visit them and I even went on vacation with them (without Casey!).  It's been so fun to get to know my inlaws better and become more involved with that side of my family. I know that this doesn't seem like a real service, but it's something that I wanted to follow Alex's example in, so I wanted to include it here.
  This is the Schow girls getaway weekend that I went to without Casey
Time with Grandpa Schow

The main thing that I wanted to focus on for Alex is what an amazing uncle he is.  He sets time aside to spend with his nieces and nephews and makes an effort to be involved in and aware of what is going on in our lives.  I  know that it has made a really big difference in my life as well as my cousins and siblings, and it's something that I can now do for my nieces and nephews in my Schow family.  This year I've made a special effort to pay attention to their lives, follow up on how they're doing, spending special time with them, and having fun with them.  This has blessed my life in building and strengthening those relationships, but I like to think that it has also been a good thing in my nieces and nephews' lives.  I love you, Alex! Thank you for your wonderful example and thoughtfulness.

Pics with my nieces and nephews: