Sad and Scary, but OK

Now that I'm all mostly caught up on the "What we've been doing" part of our life, I thought I would share a few experiences that we've had lately.

I don't know if you noticed or not, but Malia hasn't attended any volleyball camps this summer, and she has decided not to. In fact, after much discussion, thought, and tears, she's not going to try out for the school team either. There were a lot of things contributing to her decision, but it came down to doing what makes her happy. There is a line from a song that my father-in-law likes that says, "When you have the chance, when you have the choice, surround yourself with JOY." And for right now, that is not volleyball. There was a change in the coaching at the high school, and for some reason the new husband and wife coaching team are not Finlayson fans. Other players and parents have noticed, and talked to us about it, and we've speculated why.... but whatever the reason, it made volleyball frustrating on a good day, and downright miserable on all the other days. Malia loves to play volleyball, and loved the girls. Now that the decision has been made though, and she is confident she has made the right decision, she is relieved and excited to see what else she can do. For now, part one of her plan is to run cross country. Right up until drivers ed messed up the schedule, Malia and Taisha had been getting up early and running 3-4 miles every morning. She's not very fast, but she's made it a personal challenge to stick to it and see how much she can improve through the season. Things have a habit of just falling into place for Malia, so I can hardly wait to see what she has waiting for her!

I mentioned in my last blog post that Malia got a job at a snow shack this summer. She was so excited to get this job, and works about 8-12 hours a week. It's a busy snow shack, so her time goes fast, and she was thrilled to learn that Taisha could come and help and hang out with her as well. The other night the girls were both there from 6-10. It had been a busy night, and they had just started closing down, when someone tried to rob them. The girls had closed the front of the snow shack, when someone (Malia said he was older than her, late teens, early 20's, and bigger than her) with a bandanna over his face, and a hoody on, came to the back door and yelled at them to give him the money. Malia told him "NO! It's not yours!" (So totally Malia...) She told me later, the thought didn't even enter her mind to give him the money. In her mind, where fairness and equality reign, he couldn't take something that wasn't his. He yelled at them again to give him the money, Malia said "NO!" again, and Taisha yelled for him to get out. Then they both pushed his arm out, they slammed the door, and wedged themselves so the door couldn't open, and said a prayer that he would go away and they would be safe. There was a van driving by that saw the kid in the bandanna, and pulled in. The kid took off running, and the man in the van, watched where the kid ran, while the wife checked on the girls, who had called the owner of the snow shack, who called the police. The owner was about to the snow shack when the girls called, the police were there minutes later, and I pulled in minutes after that. I got out of my van, and was trying to figure out what was going on, since I had just talked to them about 10 minutes earlier and everything was fine, and Taisha got into my van, locked the doors, and sobbed. Both girls were terrified. The police officer that was there kept telling my girls they did great, but that if anything like that happens again, just give them what they want. After the girls were out of ear shot he said that a gun store had been robbed a few nights before, so it's better to be safe, than sorry. He said it looked like it was someone who hoped to just scare the girls into giving him money, but probably didn't want to hurt them. I'm so grateful that they were looked after that night. I'm grateful that someone was paying attention, and noticed something wasn't right, and pulled in to make sure they were alright. I'm grateful the kid didn't have a weapon. I'm grateful for the priesthood blessings they asked for when we got home. I'm grateful they were there together, as they both said it would have been a lot scarier by themselves. And I'm grateful that they were so courageous and strong. There were a lot of tears, and they were both shaking, but they were safe. They didn't sleep well that first night, and Taisha didn't sleep well the second night either, but this morning, told me it felt more like a foggy nightmare, and that she finally had a good sleep last night. Both Taisha and Malia don't like to talk about it, and want to put the whole scary incident behind them.

Just to change the mood.... Anaya started violin lessons, and her teacher has me come and watch the lessons so that I can help Anaya while she is practicing during the week.... bahahahahaha! With McKay starting piano and Anaya starting violin, I have visions of the two of them playing violin/piano duets together in the future! McKay on the other hand, has a little different vision for the future: sky diving. We have had so many conversations about sky diving... Part of me is so excited to see how each of my kids personalities develop into adults, and part of me is just a little worried! =)