Peace of Mind

Thank you for your sweet words yesterday. I read through your comments yesterday afternoon and cried. And then I looked at some pictures of Krissy and watched some DVDs and sobbed. Spenser thought my sobs were laughs and she laughed "along" with me. Then I sobbed louder and she laughed louder. And then she saw my tears. She was so very sweet. She wiped my tears and put her arm around my neck and her face next to mine. I needed to have a "cry-fest," as Joe calls them. After a little while, my tears dried and I was left with very crunchy and clumped eyelashes and a headache and nausea (from stress).

I spent a good portion of my day with my family. I had breakfast with my mother, three sisters, one brother, three nephews, one niece, and Sawyer (while Spenser was in preschool). Later in the day my entire family got together for pizza, including two more brothers, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, etc. We ended the evening at the cemetery. The cemetery has been cleaned up and there are little traces of the recent vandalism. My brother and sisters did a great job of cleaning Kristen's headstone.

Thank you, dear friends, for your kind words. They mean the world to me and brought much peace and comfort.

Over the years I have grown increasingly paranoid of something happening to my children. Abductions, kidnappings, getting lost, etc. Our local sheriff's office has distributed Child Identification Kits throughout the community, including the boys' school and I've always wanted to do them.

On Monday night for Family Home Evening (a once-a-week family night suggested by our church) we finally put them together. It was simple with two adults. We weighed and measured each child. Took hair samples (with roots intact) and fingerprints.

We filled out the forms with identifying marks (scars, birthmarks, distinguishable moles, etc.) and attached current photos from vacation/the first day of school. We still need to have our dentist fill out a section for each one.

And because Joe's stuff is already on file because of being in the Army, we did mine, too. I'm still waiting to find a nice picture of myself. I always tell Joe and Taylor that if anything ever happens to me, they better use a nice, in-focus, complimentary picture of me for TV, etc., or I will come back to haunt them.

It's such a good feeling to have these on hand. I can't believe we waited so long to do it.