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Monday, November 7, 2016

The network

Earlier this week, some kind person in Gloucester, VA sent me this:


I love whoever gave him treats and then sent me the picture.  It makes my day every time I see his face.

Saturday night we had three missionaries over for dinner.  I'm the first to sign up when we have a chance.  Mostly so I can text a picture to their mothers.



Their mothers and I texted back and forth a little.  They said thanks and I said I know, I have a missionary too.

Sunday night we went to Ogden to meet Elder Justesen who is serving there.  His mother is one of the MVPs of Braeden's mission.  She fed him often.  She cut his hair.  She texted me pictures of him.  She let him borrow some pants she was going to send to Elder Justesen when Braeden slid in the mud.  I love her.

She had posted on Facebook about a musical fireside the Ogden missionaries were presenting.  It seemed like a good chance to meet him.  I took cookies.

When we got there, I remembered that Ryan Jenkins, who was born to my friend Lisa when we lived in Connecticut, was temporarily serving in the Ogden mission too before going to the Philippines.  (This is the kind of stuff you learn from Facebook.) I told Adam, "That's Ryan!"

On one hand, I wanted to talk to him and take his picture and send it to Lisa (of course I did).  On the other hand, Ryan wouldn't remember me and would probably think I was straight up crazy.  The mom side of me won.  I got up to walk over to him and then I realized he was talking to Davis!  Davis is Ryan's older brother and he was one of Braeden's best buddies back in the Connecticut days.  Every Friday night either Lisa or Apryl or I (along with our husbands) would babysit Braeden, Davis and Thomas so the other two couples could go out on a date.

I walked up to Davis and Ryan. "Hi, I'm Thelma Davis," I told them.

"Braeden's mom!?!" Davis said.  Ryan had no idea who I was.  I chatted with them for awhile and explained why we were there.  (Davis was there because he's going to BYU.)


Lisa and I were messaging back and forth about the Jenkins boys sighting when I got a text from Rebecca.  She told me where her son was sitting in the choir.  (I already had figured it out--super recognizer.)  I asked Adam, "How did she know where he was sitting?"

Adam said that maybe there was another mother in the audience texting Rebecca with the info so she could text me.  "There's a whole underground network of mothers working together," he said.

And that is when I decided that I'm glad I was saved for these latter days so I could be part of this maternal texting network.

As sisters in Zion we all work together....

After the fireside we found Elder Justesen.  Just as expected, he was very nice and friendly and not at all alarmed by this eager family of strangers who gave him cookies and wanted to meet him.


You guessed it--I texted Rebecca this picture.  I look sort of loopy in the picture but 1) it was the end of a long day and 2) I'm not photogenic at best.

But you already knew that.

Rebecca and I texted back and forth.  She appreciated the picture and the cookies for her son and I felt like they were mere drops in the bucket to repay how generous she was to Braeden.  We decided someday our boys would be friends in real life.

I hope Rebecca and I will be too.

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