By accident I posted this under Larisa's name but this is from John Kennedy, the husband of Larisa and the Father of her children.
For those of you who don't know it, I am not very good at details. I often forget details or overlook them and I go by the general feeling I have or get from something. My ability to see the whole picture quickly works well for me in many ways, but sometimes detail oriented people in my life want more then the overall impression of what is going on.
In my general impression type of way, I always compliment my Beautiful, Smart, Talented, Intelligent, Motivated, Artistic, Spiritually mature partner in life, my wife Larisa. However, she sometimes wants more detail being the detail oriented person she is. So while the list is not all inclusive and I will probably miss some things, I wanted to do a top 100 reasons why I am thankful she is the mother of our four great children. These are in order I can think of them and not in the order they occurred or of importance.
1. When we were dating, Molly my half sister was a baby and one time when we were over at my Dad's house Molly was a baby and to my great dismay, Larisa was not at all interested in holding baby Molly. As a mother, Larisa loves holding her babies and is very nurturing to them.
2. She got us all into running and fitness. All the exercising I and the kids do was started by her when we lived in Kalamazoo Michigan. She signed up for Powerhouse gym and eventually signed me up, and not only did I start lifting weights there, but I started running to the gym about a mile away at that time and that got me into running.
3. She makes sure we all look nice with skin. With all the kids, they have had some if not lots of acne and guess who took them to the dermatologist and made sure they didn't have to suffer with bad acne, like I did when I was a kid. Whether it was cream for the skin or minocycline or birth control pills to control acne, Mommy was always on top of it. I have had acne for all of my life since a teen and recently Mommy got me SHAVE CLUB FOR MEN and lo and behold, my 50 year old man acne is gone because my skin is not getting cut by bad razors.
4. She makes sure the kids have nice clothes and look handsome and beautiful. Over all the years of our marriage, while I did not want to spend the money on new clothes for the kids, Larisa has always made sure the kids and I had nice clothes and looked nice. The kids were always in style and were dressed appropriately. In fact, now she has started packing my clothes for trips because I never pack the right thing and I look much better on trips.
5. She has always been there for us all. When the kids were little and had hard times, who was at home when they came home with their sad stories of woe and comforted them...Mommy. When I have a bad day and feel like a loser who is there to listen to me? Mommy
6. Mommy makes us great food! She is an excellent cook and baker. We always have nice beef stroganoff, chicken divan, lasagna, ultimate chocolate chip cookies, cake, banana bread, homemade bread and lots of other treats she makes and taste so good.
7. She takes beautiful care of our home and makes sure it always stays neat and tidy. I grew up in a terribly messy home with garbage and animal droppings and rotten food and lots and lots of coke bottles all over and it was not pleasant. Mommy is constantly cleaning and getting us to keep our living space nice and it lends a sense of peace and serenity to the home that is a blessing to us all.
8. She teaches us to keep things neat and tidy. All the times Mommy tells us to pick this up or put that away or throw that away, she has been teaching the kids and me to clean and be clean. Whether we take up the cause or not is on each of us, but it is not because Mommy has not been teaching us to clean and be clean.
9. She has always taught the kids good hygiene. Ever since the kids were babies they have been washed and had clean teeth and nice hair due to Mommy encouraging this an teaching this. When the kids were babies and were too young to brush their teeth, Mommy would assign me to brush their teeth and as a result they have rarely had any cavities.
10. She has always take good care of the medical needs of the family. When anyone was sick or not feeling well, Mommy has always gotten them the medical attention they need whether is was to call me or tell me to check something out, or whether it was to take the child to the ER in the middle of the night or to the doctor during the day.
11. Mommy is very sympathetic and kind hearted when anyone does not feel well. When I was a kid, when we would say we felt ill, my mom would put the pressure on and ask...are you too sick to function, is the pain really that bad or are you just exaggerating? No matter what is going on, Mommy is always very sympathetic to anyone who is feeling poorly. I know the kids appreciate that because the way I was trained, if you aren't bed ridden, then keep on keeping on.
12. Mommy has always brought music into our home. She has always played the piano, had us sing songs, directed lots of choirs, put on lots of musical programs, encouraged the girls to go to bells, sand songs with us proud the piano and often those times around the piano singing hymns or christmas songs or whatever have made me feel like it is heaven.
13. Mommy encouraged and developed 4 very musically inclined children - all vocalists, all musicians and 3 out of 4 who were accepted into college for their ability to play the viola, the french horn and the violin. Ethan plays the piano and played all through his mission for wards and branches across Poland.
14. All of the kids have gone to district, regional, state and all east music festivals due to their innate talent and the encouragement and the practicing they did with Mommy in music.
15. The kids were exposed to and some did dance and musical theater on stages and in venues all over State College. All the kids have done musical theater and performed in different productions and it has been very fun as a parent seeing them in The Forgotten Planet, Frog and Toad, The King and I, Anything Goes, Beauty and the Beast and Oliver to name a few. I have loved seeing the kids in these programs and it is all because of Mommy and her efforts and encouragement.
16. The kids who have gone to college have all gotten scholarships due to the efforts of Mommy and their intelligence and talent whether it be with their minds, their french horn, their viola or their language skills. Who has it been that has helped them apply, keep on the time schedule that was required and make sure they have the chance to get the scholarship, Mommy.
17. Mommy has been the director of the show when it comes to the kids and where they applied and got in for college.
18. She has helped them apply whether to one or 10 schools.
19. She has driven them to interviews and college visits whether to one or 10 schools.
20. She has helped them arrange pre audition lessons when needed and helped them meet and greet with the right people.
21. She has driven them to the actual colleges whether in Washington DC, or Ann Arbor Michigan or to Utah and back many times.
22. She found all the teachers for Ethan, Mark, Johannah and Glo in Germany, here in state college and in Philadelphia.
23. Those teachers have helped the kids find schools to go to and get scholarships to colleges all across the land.
24. Mommy has been and always will be a great scouter. She was a den leader extraordinaire and made Mrs. Joe Paterno cry here in state college with her den leader experiences.
25. She helped Ethan and Mark and many other "scout sons" get their webelos badges and their Arrow of Light.
26. In regards to the ceremony when the Arrow of Light awards were given for her webelos so long ago, she arranged for them each to get a special award, with a plaque and a arrow on the plaque that was a homemade specialty arrow. The coolest Arrow of Light award I have ever seen.
27. When Ethan and Mark were kids, she helped them make the best Cub Scout cakes - i.e. the Honey Comb from Martha Stewart, The skeleton cake with frosting she bought from a store that was pure black and made your poop a weird purple color and the igloo with the penguins we never made. In fact, her cakes were so great people fought to win them in the cake auction afterwards.
28. As a cub scout leader, she arranged for the best cub scout experience ever. She arranged for Brother Moran to meet the cubs at the Spangdahlem Air Force Base flag pole, and at the time of the national anthem being played on base for the retiring of the colors, with the cub scouts all standing at attention while the colors were being retrieved, a squadron of Air Force F-16s took off and Brother Moran said his famous words: "Boys, that is the sound of freedom".
29. She has been a great mother to the family in regards to giving us experiences that will live on in infamy. Some of my favorite experiences I have had in my life, and the lives of our children were planned by travel planner Mommy.
30. Ireland and the Skellig Islands. Mommy has planned many trips to Ireland while we were in Germany and while we have lived in America. We visited the Skellig Islands long before it was ever the last Jedi Temple and we had a National Geographic adventure that will never be forgotten, who planned that - you know it... Mommy
31. Engelberg. While living in Germany we visited Engelberg Switzerland, a beautiful ski resort town where were sledded till we broke our tailbone (mine), hiked down a mountain 7 miles when all the kids were little kids, all got skiing lessons and we skied in the Alps.
32. Spain. Mommy planned our trip in planes trains and automobiles to Spain where we saw Madrid and its Museums, Toledo and bought swords, an ancient cave with a prehistoric cave painting, La Alhambra, one of my favorite places in the world, ate tasty Paella and yucky Paella and drank a special non alcoholic distillation of Peach Schnapps. And we did it all with all the 4 kids and no car rental on busses and trains and walking. An amazing family experience.
33. England. We visited as a family the city of Bath and the roman temple there. Stonehenge. The Tower of London and saw the crown jewels. Saw Joseph in London and I think the Lion King.
34. Italy. We flew to Rome with our whole family, visited the vatican and had an audience with the Pope in St. Peter's Square, visited Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius and got the best tour of the city ever and lots of tasty Italian food and gelato.
35. Venice, Italy. Mommy planned a trip to Venice Italy and we did the Secret Itinerary tour and got lost in the dungeons of the Doge's Palace.
36. Paris, France like 10 times. One of my favorite pictures of the kids when they were little was when they are in the Palace of Versailles and they are in the Golden Hall of Mirrors. We visited the Louvre, took a boat ride down the Seine, ate crepes by the river and brought Parisian Artwork and multiple times went to Disneyland Paris and had a great time there all because of Mommy's vision of traveling and having fun.
37. Innumerable trips that I can't even enumerate but they were all amazing and fun because Mommy planned them for the family.
38. Mommy taught the kids to work.
39. When the kids were little they always had chores, specifically 5 chores before they could watch TV, videos or play computer games.
40. Mommy limited the time they got to watch these to 90 minutes which was genius.
41. They had to read their scriptures as one of their chores. By the time the kids were 14 all of them had read the Book of Mormon and other scriptures due to this requirement.
42. Practice their instruments. All of the kids can play some musical instrument due to this requirement and some can play two. We have three musicians at the college level due to Mommy emphasizing the need to practice.
43. Other sundry chores - cat box, vacuuming, cleaning rooms, etc all of which had to be done before video games
44. Mommy has been an excellent seminary teacher for Johannah and Gloria. She taught all the kids at church for a short time and was told by the Parkinson Kids and the Leavitt Kids that she was a great and "the best" seminary teacher. I have benefitted from her Seminary classes and have felt the spirit so strongly in her lessons and have used some of the things she has taught in class in stake spiritual thoughts and messages.
45. Mommy has kept a blog and a journal all of her life. She doesn't think this is well appreciated at times but she is fulfilling God's commandment to keep a family history and to keep a record on Earth of her doings and her comings and goings and her interactions with God and in the church. We all love the blog and it has meant so much to look at her blog books and remember.
46. Mommy has taught the kids the Gospel in word and deed. She loves the Lord and his Gospel and she prays sincerely to Him, serves God and her fellow man and this example has been well received by the kids and they are doing a great job of following their Savior Jesus Christ.
47. She has fulfilled all her callings to the best of her ability. She plans weeks ahead for activities, spends hours on lessons and preparation for sharing time and this example has been well received by the kids and they all do their callings as best they can.
48. She has made the most out of all the ordinances of the Gospel.
49. Every time the kids have gotten baptized, ordained or gone to the temple Mommy has made the most of it!
50. Gloria's baptism: she got special permission from the Bishop, asked the Done's to come, had her Grand dad and Vanette attend and we went to the Susquehanna River where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized by John the Baptist and Craig Done told about the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and the Baptism of Joseph and Oliver and then I baptized Gloria in the Susquehanna River in October of 2007. It was the most amazing Baptism I have ever attended.
51. Mark's Baptism: it was in Germany at our Bitburg Ward Building and Mommy invited all of Mark's German School friends and their families and they all attended the Baptism.
52. Johannah's Endowment: For one of our stake conferences last year I was assigned by the visiting general authority Elder Alaine Allard to find a name to find a name myself and take that name to the temple and get that person's ordinance work done from baptism to sealing before the stake conference. Also Johannah needed to go through for her own endowments around the same time. Larisa gave me guidance without finding the name for me and then arranged for us to go to the Washington DC temple. We arrived at 3 pm and Johannah got checked in and went to do her first endowment initiatories and other preparation and we went and did baptisms and confirmations and initiatories. We then went through with Johannah and did the endowments for the names we took while she did her own endowments. Finally we all went through and did sealing with the proxy names including the name of my family member. It was such a wonderful experience for the whole family. One only a great mother could provide.
53. Ethan's everything: Mommy has made all the arrangements for Ethan's ordinances from baptism to marriage in the temple or contributed to the plans and as his father I have always been thankful for her thoughtfulness and preparation. I know Ethan has been grateful for her input as well.
54. Larisa has always been on top of getting the kids their preparation for major spiritual milestones. She has helped all 3 of our missionaries get ready for their temple endowments but also helped them arrange to see the stake president for their mission interviews, helped them get their medical exams and dental exams and while I have wholeheartedly supported this effort, she is the one who helped them make arrangements.
55. Mommy has always helped the kids with their homework from the time they were in Smith School in Oakwood, to German school in Deutschland in German to High School in the state college school district.
56. Mommy always helps us be on time, whether to church on Sundays, to flights for trips, to musical performances, to lessons, to any other activity. I have often tried to foil these plans but she is a Time Wizard and always conquers time.
57. She has always known what is best for the kids. While I have often had to figure out what is good for the kids after she has told me, she intuitively knows and has given good guidance in many different situations in church, school and life. i.e. Chamber Singers for all but Ethan (sorry cheese).
58. She has been a great friend to our children whether talking politics and world affairs with Ethan, supporting Mark through a troubled time as a musician, giving Hanni a pep talk or encouraging Glo in her life pursuit as a violinist animator, she has always done a great job relating to the kids.
59. You know the previous one is true because the kids always call Mommy almost daily and let her know what is going on.
60. She has done a great job documenting and photographing our lives.
61. All the kids senior pictures were arranged for by Mommy and they are all great. The good looking kids we have together make the picture taking much more fruitful.
62. She has arranged many great family pictures over the years from our engagement pictures that I didn't think we needed or could afford but remind me how lucky I am that I found such a young beauty, to the train pictures we took in Bellefonte with the kids.
63. Now she takes her own great pictures on her great camera I bought her and they are as good or better than the professional ones we got taken by other people.
64. She even mother's other people by taking their family pictures to document their cute families.
65. She has sacrificed so much for our family.
66. She gave up her education to take care of the Cheese and all his siblings even though she was an excellent student.
67. While she has many times thought about a career or a job, she has never worked outside the home for a significant amount of time because she did not want to sacrifice the care she needed to give the kids.
68. When the kids were babies she did a great job of nurturing them.
69. Larisa was a great pregnant woman, she always looked so beautiful, she handled pregnancy great even running in the Air Force marathon one year while pregnant.
70. She always did whatever was best for the babies to take care of them, including nursing them, giving them lots of love as babies and staying home with them to let them know how much she cared for them.
71. She is mentally strong: while a mother she has often been under extreme stress and mental anguish at times due to being alone when I was in residence while raising 4 children; being a military wife for 10 years; dealing with serious callings while I was busy with work and now dealing with all the issues of teenagers while I was being a busy ob/gyn.
72. She has done a great job mothering even though she is the only child of an only child of an only child and did not have siblings to practice on or the opportunity to see her mother raising other children. She is a self taught excellent mother.
73. She has always worked hard in her church callings and assignments no matter what support or lack of support their was from me at home with the kids whether it be playing the organ for the Columbus temple ground breaking or dedication with Pres Hinckley, being Primary President while I was in residency or being primary music chorister for 7+ years.
74. She is willing to broach any subject with the kids to make sure they have good and appropriate information on life topics, some of which can be quite sensitive. "Do you have hair, do you have hair every where that you should...? Bum bum bum bum
75. She's come up with lots of unique ways to celebrate the holidays: Celebration of the Egg is a perfect example - cash egg hunt, egg toss, egg throw, egg protected drop and even target practice with BB guns and eggs.
76. She's planned and executed some of the best halloween parties ever, Bitburg ward halloween party, Lots of youth Halloween parties here in State College.
77. We had the best New Years Eve party in Bitburg as well and a great friend and family celebration of my promotion to Major in the Priest Grillhutte.
78. She made Ethan and Mark's Eagle Courts of Honor events to be remembered with "The Hawk and the Eagle" and slide shows and foil dinners that were awesome.
79. She has always made sure when Glo or Johannah had to go to some fancy dance, they were dressed to the nines.
80. Even though she has always had the kids as her main priority, she has always had time and attention to give to me, and I am quite needy sometimes.
81. She is emotionally strong: though I have been gone most Sundays for the past 9 years, and she has not always had the support of our ward family, she has never given up on church or her duty to god or her children.
82. She has always been a good example to the kids of being clean, taking care of oneself and the kids have gotten the message and present themselves very well.
83. She has always been very free with the musical talents of herself and our children and they as a group have entertained hundreds of people.
84. She has continued to exemplify a healthy attitude about exercise and being fit and though having to confront many obstacles to her own fitness and heath; broken ankle, ruptured disc, terrible allergies, steroids she has always tried to take care of herself.
85. She has always embraced emotionally and physically the people who are important to her children - Rebecca and Allison specifically at this time and of course Baby Annie.
86. She does the best job I know of making our house a Home.
87. She encourages us to make our Home a place of Holiness and a place where the spirit can reside.
88. She is always up for fun with me and the kids, throwing eggs, having squirt gun fights, playing games.
89. She always makes sure I am providing well for the needs of her children whether it be a new computer for college, a new phone to replace the old beat up one or a new dive mask for the Cheese.
90. She keeps us all talking with good grammar and though I don't always get the message the kids have learned.
91. She contributed a great set of genes to the make up of our children and they are physically, mentally and emotionally more beautiful because of her.
92. She always makes sure we as a family remember where we came from and that we are paying attention to our ancestors.
93. She reads the kids patriarchal blessings and knows them and encourages the kids to keep thinking about them and how they can live so as to fulfill their blessings.
94. I am very thankful that while taking care of a rambunctious family of 4 children, 5 dogs and 3 cats she has always taken care of herself and she always looks so beautiful.
95. She keeps our family from getting into a rut by having us experience new things and new places: Riga Latvia and the Hawk Walk.
96. She has great taste and has made our house look beautiful and has made sure we display lots of pictures which represent our lives.
97. She is always real with the kids, and when they need some correction or adjustment to their lives, whether they like it or not she tells them and expects them to work on correcting their issues but she does it with Love.
98. She has raised some of the most accomplished, respectful, smart, responsible, self motivated people I know.
99. She has always made animals a part of our life from Carrot the Guinea pig, to Daisy the Beagle, to Hershey the springer spaniel, to Roxy and all the other Australian shepherds to Jake and Hootie and Baby Cat.
100. She has a smart mind and is always thinking and planning and working on something to take care of her family and other people.
Thank you Mommy, Larisa, Mrs Kennedy, my Honey Bunny!
I think you are the best!
For those of you who don't know it, I am not very good at details. I often forget details or overlook them and I go by the general feeling I have or get from something. My ability to see the whole picture quickly works well for me in many ways, but sometimes detail oriented people in my life want more then the overall impression of what is going on.
In my general impression type of way, I always compliment my Beautiful, Smart, Talented, Intelligent, Motivated, Artistic, Spiritually mature partner in life, my wife Larisa. However, she sometimes wants more detail being the detail oriented person she is. So while the list is not all inclusive and I will probably miss some things, I wanted to do a top 100 reasons why I am thankful she is the mother of our four great children. These are in order I can think of them and not in the order they occurred or of importance.
1. When we were dating, Molly my half sister was a baby and one time when we were over at my Dad's house Molly was a baby and to my great dismay, Larisa was not at all interested in holding baby Molly. As a mother, Larisa loves holding her babies and is very nurturing to them.
2. She got us all into running and fitness. All the exercising I and the kids do was started by her when we lived in Kalamazoo Michigan. She signed up for Powerhouse gym and eventually signed me up, and not only did I start lifting weights there, but I started running to the gym about a mile away at that time and that got me into running.
3. She makes sure we all look nice with skin. With all the kids, they have had some if not lots of acne and guess who took them to the dermatologist and made sure they didn't have to suffer with bad acne, like I did when I was a kid. Whether it was cream for the skin or minocycline or birth control pills to control acne, Mommy was always on top of it. I have had acne for all of my life since a teen and recently Mommy got me SHAVE CLUB FOR MEN and lo and behold, my 50 year old man acne is gone because my skin is not getting cut by bad razors.
4. She makes sure the kids have nice clothes and look handsome and beautiful. Over all the years of our marriage, while I did not want to spend the money on new clothes for the kids, Larisa has always made sure the kids and I had nice clothes and looked nice. The kids were always in style and were dressed appropriately. In fact, now she has started packing my clothes for trips because I never pack the right thing and I look much better on trips.
5. She has always been there for us all. When the kids were little and had hard times, who was at home when they came home with their sad stories of woe and comforted them...Mommy. When I have a bad day and feel like a loser who is there to listen to me? Mommy
6. Mommy makes us great food! She is an excellent cook and baker. We always have nice beef stroganoff, chicken divan, lasagna, ultimate chocolate chip cookies, cake, banana bread, homemade bread and lots of other treats she makes and taste so good.
7. She takes beautiful care of our home and makes sure it always stays neat and tidy. I grew up in a terribly messy home with garbage and animal droppings and rotten food and lots and lots of coke bottles all over and it was not pleasant. Mommy is constantly cleaning and getting us to keep our living space nice and it lends a sense of peace and serenity to the home that is a blessing to us all.
8. She teaches us to keep things neat and tidy. All the times Mommy tells us to pick this up or put that away or throw that away, she has been teaching the kids and me to clean and be clean. Whether we take up the cause or not is on each of us, but it is not because Mommy has not been teaching us to clean and be clean.
9. She has always taught the kids good hygiene. Ever since the kids were babies they have been washed and had clean teeth and nice hair due to Mommy encouraging this an teaching this. When the kids were babies and were too young to brush their teeth, Mommy would assign me to brush their teeth and as a result they have rarely had any cavities.
10. She has always take good care of the medical needs of the family. When anyone was sick or not feeling well, Mommy has always gotten them the medical attention they need whether is was to call me or tell me to check something out, or whether it was to take the child to the ER in the middle of the night or to the doctor during the day.
11. Mommy is very sympathetic and kind hearted when anyone does not feel well. When I was a kid, when we would say we felt ill, my mom would put the pressure on and ask...are you too sick to function, is the pain really that bad or are you just exaggerating? No matter what is going on, Mommy is always very sympathetic to anyone who is feeling poorly. I know the kids appreciate that because the way I was trained, if you aren't bed ridden, then keep on keeping on.
12. Mommy has always brought music into our home. She has always played the piano, had us sing songs, directed lots of choirs, put on lots of musical programs, encouraged the girls to go to bells, sand songs with us proud the piano and often those times around the piano singing hymns or christmas songs or whatever have made me feel like it is heaven.
13. Mommy encouraged and developed 4 very musically inclined children - all vocalists, all musicians and 3 out of 4 who were accepted into college for their ability to play the viola, the french horn and the violin. Ethan plays the piano and played all through his mission for wards and branches across Poland.
14. All of the kids have gone to district, regional, state and all east music festivals due to their innate talent and the encouragement and the practicing they did with Mommy in music.
15. The kids were exposed to and some did dance and musical theater on stages and in venues all over State College. All the kids have done musical theater and performed in different productions and it has been very fun as a parent seeing them in The Forgotten Planet, Frog and Toad, The King and I, Anything Goes, Beauty and the Beast and Oliver to name a few. I have loved seeing the kids in these programs and it is all because of Mommy and her efforts and encouragement.
16. The kids who have gone to college have all gotten scholarships due to the efforts of Mommy and their intelligence and talent whether it be with their minds, their french horn, their viola or their language skills. Who has it been that has helped them apply, keep on the time schedule that was required and make sure they have the chance to get the scholarship, Mommy.
17. Mommy has been the director of the show when it comes to the kids and where they applied and got in for college.
18. She has helped them apply whether to one or 10 schools.
19. She has driven them to interviews and college visits whether to one or 10 schools.
20. She has helped them arrange pre audition lessons when needed and helped them meet and greet with the right people.
21. She has driven them to the actual colleges whether in Washington DC, or Ann Arbor Michigan or to Utah and back many times.
22. She found all the teachers for Ethan, Mark, Johannah and Glo in Germany, here in state college and in Philadelphia.
23. Those teachers have helped the kids find schools to go to and get scholarships to colleges all across the land.
24. Mommy has been and always will be a great scouter. She was a den leader extraordinaire and made Mrs. Joe Paterno cry here in state college with her den leader experiences.
25. She helped Ethan and Mark and many other "scout sons" get their webelos badges and their Arrow of Light.
26. In regards to the ceremony when the Arrow of Light awards were given for her webelos so long ago, she arranged for them each to get a special award, with a plaque and a arrow on the plaque that was a homemade specialty arrow. The coolest Arrow of Light award I have ever seen.
27. When Ethan and Mark were kids, she helped them make the best Cub Scout cakes - i.e. the Honey Comb from Martha Stewart, The skeleton cake with frosting she bought from a store that was pure black and made your poop a weird purple color and the igloo with the penguins we never made. In fact, her cakes were so great people fought to win them in the cake auction afterwards.
28. As a cub scout leader, she arranged for the best cub scout experience ever. She arranged for Brother Moran to meet the cubs at the Spangdahlem Air Force Base flag pole, and at the time of the national anthem being played on base for the retiring of the colors, with the cub scouts all standing at attention while the colors were being retrieved, a squadron of Air Force F-16s took off and Brother Moran said his famous words: "Boys, that is the sound of freedom".
29. She has been a great mother to the family in regards to giving us experiences that will live on in infamy. Some of my favorite experiences I have had in my life, and the lives of our children were planned by travel planner Mommy.
30. Ireland and the Skellig Islands. Mommy has planned many trips to Ireland while we were in Germany and while we have lived in America. We visited the Skellig Islands long before it was ever the last Jedi Temple and we had a National Geographic adventure that will never be forgotten, who planned that - you know it... Mommy
31. Engelberg. While living in Germany we visited Engelberg Switzerland, a beautiful ski resort town where were sledded till we broke our tailbone (mine), hiked down a mountain 7 miles when all the kids were little kids, all got skiing lessons and we skied in the Alps.
32. Spain. Mommy planned our trip in planes trains and automobiles to Spain where we saw Madrid and its Museums, Toledo and bought swords, an ancient cave with a prehistoric cave painting, La Alhambra, one of my favorite places in the world, ate tasty Paella and yucky Paella and drank a special non alcoholic distillation of Peach Schnapps. And we did it all with all the 4 kids and no car rental on busses and trains and walking. An amazing family experience.
33. England. We visited as a family the city of Bath and the roman temple there. Stonehenge. The Tower of London and saw the crown jewels. Saw Joseph in London and I think the Lion King.
34. Italy. We flew to Rome with our whole family, visited the vatican and had an audience with the Pope in St. Peter's Square, visited Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius and got the best tour of the city ever and lots of tasty Italian food and gelato.
35. Venice, Italy. Mommy planned a trip to Venice Italy and we did the Secret Itinerary tour and got lost in the dungeons of the Doge's Palace.
36. Paris, France like 10 times. One of my favorite pictures of the kids when they were little was when they are in the Palace of Versailles and they are in the Golden Hall of Mirrors. We visited the Louvre, took a boat ride down the Seine, ate crepes by the river and brought Parisian Artwork and multiple times went to Disneyland Paris and had a great time there all because of Mommy's vision of traveling and having fun.
37. Innumerable trips that I can't even enumerate but they were all amazing and fun because Mommy planned them for the family.
38. Mommy taught the kids to work.
39. When the kids were little they always had chores, specifically 5 chores before they could watch TV, videos or play computer games.
40. Mommy limited the time they got to watch these to 90 minutes which was genius.
41. They had to read their scriptures as one of their chores. By the time the kids were 14 all of them had read the Book of Mormon and other scriptures due to this requirement.
42. Practice their instruments. All of the kids can play some musical instrument due to this requirement and some can play two. We have three musicians at the college level due to Mommy emphasizing the need to practice.
43. Other sundry chores - cat box, vacuuming, cleaning rooms, etc all of which had to be done before video games
44. Mommy has been an excellent seminary teacher for Johannah and Gloria. She taught all the kids at church for a short time and was told by the Parkinson Kids and the Leavitt Kids that she was a great and "the best" seminary teacher. I have benefitted from her Seminary classes and have felt the spirit so strongly in her lessons and have used some of the things she has taught in class in stake spiritual thoughts and messages.
45. Mommy has kept a blog and a journal all of her life. She doesn't think this is well appreciated at times but she is fulfilling God's commandment to keep a family history and to keep a record on Earth of her doings and her comings and goings and her interactions with God and in the church. We all love the blog and it has meant so much to look at her blog books and remember.
46. Mommy has taught the kids the Gospel in word and deed. She loves the Lord and his Gospel and she prays sincerely to Him, serves God and her fellow man and this example has been well received by the kids and they are doing a great job of following their Savior Jesus Christ.
47. She has fulfilled all her callings to the best of her ability. She plans weeks ahead for activities, spends hours on lessons and preparation for sharing time and this example has been well received by the kids and they all do their callings as best they can.
48. She has made the most out of all the ordinances of the Gospel.
49. Every time the kids have gotten baptized, ordained or gone to the temple Mommy has made the most of it!
50. Gloria's baptism: she got special permission from the Bishop, asked the Done's to come, had her Grand dad and Vanette attend and we went to the Susquehanna River where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized by John the Baptist and Craig Done told about the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and the Baptism of Joseph and Oliver and then I baptized Gloria in the Susquehanna River in October of 2007. It was the most amazing Baptism I have ever attended.
51. Mark's Baptism: it was in Germany at our Bitburg Ward Building and Mommy invited all of Mark's German School friends and their families and they all attended the Baptism.
52. Johannah's Endowment: For one of our stake conferences last year I was assigned by the visiting general authority Elder Alaine Allard to find a name to find a name myself and take that name to the temple and get that person's ordinance work done from baptism to sealing before the stake conference. Also Johannah needed to go through for her own endowments around the same time. Larisa gave me guidance without finding the name for me and then arranged for us to go to the Washington DC temple. We arrived at 3 pm and Johannah got checked in and went to do her first endowment initiatories and other preparation and we went and did baptisms and confirmations and initiatories. We then went through with Johannah and did the endowments for the names we took while she did her own endowments. Finally we all went through and did sealing with the proxy names including the name of my family member. It was such a wonderful experience for the whole family. One only a great mother could provide.
53. Ethan's everything: Mommy has made all the arrangements for Ethan's ordinances from baptism to marriage in the temple or contributed to the plans and as his father I have always been thankful for her thoughtfulness and preparation. I know Ethan has been grateful for her input as well.
54. Larisa has always been on top of getting the kids their preparation for major spiritual milestones. She has helped all 3 of our missionaries get ready for their temple endowments but also helped them arrange to see the stake president for their mission interviews, helped them get their medical exams and dental exams and while I have wholeheartedly supported this effort, she is the one who helped them make arrangements.
55. Mommy has always helped the kids with their homework from the time they were in Smith School in Oakwood, to German school in Deutschland in German to High School in the state college school district.
56. Mommy always helps us be on time, whether to church on Sundays, to flights for trips, to musical performances, to lessons, to any other activity. I have often tried to foil these plans but she is a Time Wizard and always conquers time.
57. She has always known what is best for the kids. While I have often had to figure out what is good for the kids after she has told me, she intuitively knows and has given good guidance in many different situations in church, school and life. i.e. Chamber Singers for all but Ethan (sorry cheese).
58. She has been a great friend to our children whether talking politics and world affairs with Ethan, supporting Mark through a troubled time as a musician, giving Hanni a pep talk or encouraging Glo in her life pursuit as a violinist animator, she has always done a great job relating to the kids.
59. You know the previous one is true because the kids always call Mommy almost daily and let her know what is going on.
60. She has done a great job documenting and photographing our lives.
61. All the kids senior pictures were arranged for by Mommy and they are all great. The good looking kids we have together make the picture taking much more fruitful.
62. She has arranged many great family pictures over the years from our engagement pictures that I didn't think we needed or could afford but remind me how lucky I am that I found such a young beauty, to the train pictures we took in Bellefonte with the kids.
63. Now she takes her own great pictures on her great camera I bought her and they are as good or better than the professional ones we got taken by other people.
64. She even mother's other people by taking their family pictures to document their cute families.
65. She has sacrificed so much for our family.
66. She gave up her education to take care of the Cheese and all his siblings even though she was an excellent student.
67. While she has many times thought about a career or a job, she has never worked outside the home for a significant amount of time because she did not want to sacrifice the care she needed to give the kids.
68. When the kids were babies she did a great job of nurturing them.
69. Larisa was a great pregnant woman, she always looked so beautiful, she handled pregnancy great even running in the Air Force marathon one year while pregnant.
70. She always did whatever was best for the babies to take care of them, including nursing them, giving them lots of love as babies and staying home with them to let them know how much she cared for them.
71. She is mentally strong: while a mother she has often been under extreme stress and mental anguish at times due to being alone when I was in residence while raising 4 children; being a military wife for 10 years; dealing with serious callings while I was busy with work and now dealing with all the issues of teenagers while I was being a busy ob/gyn.
72. She has done a great job mothering even though she is the only child of an only child of an only child and did not have siblings to practice on or the opportunity to see her mother raising other children. She is a self taught excellent mother.
73. She has always worked hard in her church callings and assignments no matter what support or lack of support their was from me at home with the kids whether it be playing the organ for the Columbus temple ground breaking or dedication with Pres Hinckley, being Primary President while I was in residency or being primary music chorister for 7+ years.
74. She is willing to broach any subject with the kids to make sure they have good and appropriate information on life topics, some of which can be quite sensitive. "Do you have hair, do you have hair every where that you should...? Bum bum bum bum
75. She's come up with lots of unique ways to celebrate the holidays: Celebration of the Egg is a perfect example - cash egg hunt, egg toss, egg throw, egg protected drop and even target practice with BB guns and eggs.
76. She's planned and executed some of the best halloween parties ever, Bitburg ward halloween party, Lots of youth Halloween parties here in State College.
77. We had the best New Years Eve party in Bitburg as well and a great friend and family celebration of my promotion to Major in the Priest Grillhutte.
78. She made Ethan and Mark's Eagle Courts of Honor events to be remembered with "The Hawk and the Eagle" and slide shows and foil dinners that were awesome.
79. She has always made sure when Glo or Johannah had to go to some fancy dance, they were dressed to the nines.
80. Even though she has always had the kids as her main priority, she has always had time and attention to give to me, and I am quite needy sometimes.
81. She is emotionally strong: though I have been gone most Sundays for the past 9 years, and she has not always had the support of our ward family, she has never given up on church or her duty to god or her children.
82. She has always been a good example to the kids of being clean, taking care of oneself and the kids have gotten the message and present themselves very well.
83. She has always been very free with the musical talents of herself and our children and they as a group have entertained hundreds of people.
84. She has continued to exemplify a healthy attitude about exercise and being fit and though having to confront many obstacles to her own fitness and heath; broken ankle, ruptured disc, terrible allergies, steroids she has always tried to take care of herself.
85. She has always embraced emotionally and physically the people who are important to her children - Rebecca and Allison specifically at this time and of course Baby Annie.
86. She does the best job I know of making our house a Home.
87. She encourages us to make our Home a place of Holiness and a place where the spirit can reside.
88. She is always up for fun with me and the kids, throwing eggs, having squirt gun fights, playing games.
89. She always makes sure I am providing well for the needs of her children whether it be a new computer for college, a new phone to replace the old beat up one or a new dive mask for the Cheese.
90. She keeps us all talking with good grammar and though I don't always get the message the kids have learned.
91. She contributed a great set of genes to the make up of our children and they are physically, mentally and emotionally more beautiful because of her.
92. She always makes sure we as a family remember where we came from and that we are paying attention to our ancestors.
93. She reads the kids patriarchal blessings and knows them and encourages the kids to keep thinking about them and how they can live so as to fulfill their blessings.
94. I am very thankful that while taking care of a rambunctious family of 4 children, 5 dogs and 3 cats she has always taken care of herself and she always looks so beautiful.
95. She keeps our family from getting into a rut by having us experience new things and new places: Riga Latvia and the Hawk Walk.
96. She has great taste and has made our house look beautiful and has made sure we display lots of pictures which represent our lives.
97. She is always real with the kids, and when they need some correction or adjustment to their lives, whether they like it or not she tells them and expects them to work on correcting their issues but she does it with Love.
98. She has raised some of the most accomplished, respectful, smart, responsible, self motivated people I know.
99. She has always made animals a part of our life from Carrot the Guinea pig, to Daisy the Beagle, to Hershey the springer spaniel, to Roxy and all the other Australian shepherds to Jake and Hootie and Baby Cat.
100. She has a smart mind and is always thinking and planning and working on something to take care of her family and other people.
Thank you Mommy, Larisa, Mrs Kennedy, my Honey Bunny!
I think you are the best!
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