Somewhere amidst teaching preschool twice in December, watching my nephew Gabriel for a weekend, making 25+ snowman centerpieces for the ward Christmas breakfast, going to the mountain lodge in Breckenridge for a few days, and Christmas shopping, Ezra, Maren, and Dallin all got stomach flu.
Maren got it first. She threw up three different times, soiled three different sets of sheets and pajamas, and needed three baths, all between the hours of two and four in the morning. The next morning she threw up again, and then spent the rest of the day wanting to be held. Ezra was a perfect big brother. He gave her loves every half hour for most of the day, rubbed her back, brought her some of his favorite cuddly things (including Bear), and said many times, "Big brother is here. I can comfort you." It was a sweet thing to witness.
Two nights later, the scenario was repeated; Ezra threw up all night long. He is old enough to recognize the urge to throw up, but also old enough to try and fight the urge. Every time his body tried to get the junk out, he tried to swallow it back. So, what could have been over and done in an hour or two was instead prolonged through the entire night. But, the next morning, Maren extended to Ezra the same kindnesses that she had received. She was the ever attentive, compassionate, concerned little sister to her queasy brother. She is a great hugger, and if Ezra ever offered up even a small whimper, she was at his side to give him a hug.
Just prior to the entire family getting sick, I had been praying for more service opportunities. Christmas wasn't feeling quite like Christmas yet, and I was looking for inspiration to that end. In the midst of Maren's second throw-up session, I got the message. "Ahh, right, I get it," I thought to myself, "service opportunity." And, although cleaning up throw-up is one of the last things I would ever sign up to do, with the service bit in mind, it felt different. I recognized my opportunity to fulfill a need, and offer help. I was thinking of service to strangers, or service to friends, and Heavenly Father had other ideas. Home feels so much more like a holy place when service is involved
One of the best gifts I received this Christmas was seeing my children emulate the love of Jesus Christ, without any external motivation. "Teach them to love one another, and to serve one another" (Mosiah 4:15) has been, and continues to be our family focus. The kindness and comfort that they both offered to one another is evidence that our efforts are starting to sink in. Nothing could be more precious or important to me as a parent.
