Friday, February 18, 2011

MONDAY my prince will come :)

Yep, the induction is set for Monday, Feb 21, unless he decides to come before then.
YIPPEEEEE!

Today is my Grandpa Ellis' birthday and I thought how neat that would have been for Darren to share that with such a great man. Stephen Briggs Ellis. The only boy in a family of 10 children. His father died when he was nine, leaving his mother alone to raise their family. They moved from a farm in Idaho down to Logan where she could take in college students as boarders. To make more room for extra income, Grandpa slept in the tiny "attic" above their detached garage. No insulation made for many extremely cold winter nights. He said he would pile on so many blankets that he literally could not even turn over. His mother was amazing. She did raise all of those children, stayed faithful, and served in the Logan temple for 40 years.

Grandpa went to college, met my grandmother while working for the border patrol in Texas, joined the Army Air Corps as a fighter pilot in the Pacific during WWII, was shot down once, came home after the war and started ranching in Idaho with his brother-in-law, raised 6 sons and a daughter on a strict diet of hard work and home cooking, loved his wife so completely that it made me cry, served and lifted all who knew him, never took himself too seriously, showed his love through his actions, lived the gospel in such a practical way that missionary work was second nature to him, silently and consistently gave generously to those in need, and inspired me to try and be better in every way. How I love that man. I'm so thankful for the time I had to spend with him and Grandma while I was at BYU. I'm thankful for the great heritage of faith, humility, love, obedience and hard work that they have left me.

1 comment:

Hill said...

Good luck, can't wait to see pictures of him. I think you guys are amazing parents.