BYU-I

It’s hard to find words that describe the past 5 days. My heart feels so heavy as our country’s true colors are revealed, a terrible polarizing event has divided our country. Charlie Kirk was assassinated at UVU by an angry young man during one of his open mic events. On one side many people celebrated his death with open joy and celebration. Students and professors rejoiced, leftists relieved, and even reporters openly divulging vulgar opinions. On the other side is mourning and shock over the audacity of the lengths the leftists went to silence a man of God who welcomed debate and conversation over issues that most shove under the proverbial carpet. Jana posted about the terrible news while I was finishing up my duties at school. My stomach fell, the world stopped for a moment. His 5 year old daughter was at the rally, witnessed her father’s neck exploding from the bullet destroying his neck. I’ve followed Charlie’s movement for about 6 years, I quite enjoyed the debates from his college campus tours because he very respectfully presented fact and stood for God. I didn’t always agree with his demeanor or presentation, at times he was harsh (but fair). His sound bites were often isolated and presented out of context making him seem combative. He did not support gay marriage, gay ideology, transgender care should be illegal, women should be mothers, fathers should be the head of their homes, and christians should take a stand. He stood for the constitution and was a patriot rivaling the first fathers. Over the next couple of days I watched screen shots of leftists rejoicing then losing their jobs, suddenly crying because their actions merited termination. Something has changed, openly changed. My thoughts keep returning to the events in the Book of Mormon before Christ came. How evil was called good and good called evil, how the Gaddianton Robbers openly worked in the daylight. How Satan worked openly instead of in the shadows. This event has shrunk the “middle ground,” we can no longer be blasé. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve! I thought how Charlie’s assassination is a shadow of the deaths of the two prophets in Jerusalem John the Revelator spoke about. The revelry that will take place at the dreadful (future) event.  

Melissa went berserk because I posted a news link of the assassination and wrote, “What a tragedy. Charlie was a true American patriot.” She eventually texted me after sent a rant of a text to Justin where she accused me of being racist, homophobic, and misogenistic. She quoted Charlie calling that all gay people should be stoned (which was a biblical reference he used in a debate and the sound bite isolated). Then accused me of believing in a Jesus that is a false god and would never perpetuate hate or violence. Never mind my previous message telling her I loved her, her family, and would openly discuss once she was willing to respect my stance. I would listen to her! Gracious. Things are very decisive right now. 

Tyler Robinson was arrested Friday for the murder of Charlie. His rifle was found, bullets engraved with fascist ideation (Hey racist, Catch). He was turned in by his own father who recognized Tyler from released security footage. Tyler’s own partner (trans man) is cooperating with investigators. It appears to be a one man show but some items are not matching up. Video shows him hobbling along with the rifle stuffed down his pants leg. Later video shows him dropping off the roof with no rifle, it was later found fully assembled in a box. Speculation that will never get answers! Seems like he volunteered to be the face of some very powerful people who made this happen. Indoctrination at universities is rife in our current society. I feel deeply for his family. I cannot imagine being that parent realizing the assassin was your own child. Bless them. If the leftist hoped for the Turning Point movement to die, they greatly underestimated the middle Americans. I think the leftist message was very clear: you talk truth, we will kill you. Throat shot. Midday. In PROVO. I hope the pivot is opposite: turn to God, that thread holding up the constitution is still hanging on. How much more can we take as a country? A cheer coach in Meridian was fired after posting her jubilant reaction. In fact, educators all over the country lost their jobs over the weekend. How many more are out there with their mouths shut in public but “educating” our youth behind closed doors? Too many to count. 

In the midst of all this chaos we moved Amelia to Rexburg. I was more torn up about Charlie’s death than moving my child to college! That sounds bad but it is not. I am excited, really excited for her to experience college at BYU-I. I cannot wait for her energy to grow, to watch her develop into the amazing adult I know she is. Justin and Amelia worked hard to get all her stuff packed into swagger Thursday while I was at work. We took all the kids with us to help out and experience sending off their older sister. We left Nampa shortly after 5 pm, making the 4.5 hour drive to Idaho Falls where Justin found an Airbnb. All the local hotels in Rexburg were booked out as other families were doing the same thing we were! Friday morning we left for Rexburg at 7 am to grab breakfast before arriving at Brooklyn Apartments by 8 am. Amelia checked in and got her apartment and room number. We quickly brought in all her belongings and helped unpack it all. 

Justin gave Amelia a very sweet Father’s blessing. My favorite part was when he said that guardian angels are surrounding her and excited for her. Amelia had orientation at 10 am with a music department professor. Amelia went over her schedule and walked the routes with her advisor. I unpacked all her room stuff and helped organize it. The girls helped decorate her shelves. Josie even made a squishmallow den underneath Amelia’s bed! She left a letter in Mimi the monkey’s hands for Amelia to read after we left. The boys worked on unpacking her food and kitchen supplies. We met her up on campus around noon to check out the bookstore and eat lunch. Bookstores are another nemesis of mine along with craft stores. Geeze, so many cute things. We had lunch at the campus food court. It was cold and meh, but better than searching off campus. Evelyn was having some digestion issues so was not feeling the best. Amelia had an audition for a university choir. She was put on a wait list for the university choir instead of the more elite choirs. One of the sopranos (in the elite choir) was a bit cheeky with Amelia, put on “airs” you could say. I was thrilled that Esther, Clare, and Fallon arrived shortly after Amelia left for her audition. We helped them unpack and get Clare settled. Clare loves Pioneer Woman stuff just as much as I do. All her stuff was adorable, just like she is. Hooray for cousins! We grabbed dinner then went to Robbie and Sarah Wood’s home for a couple hours! They are friends from Sidney, NE. They have 5 sons, the oldest three similar ages with our youngest 3. Evelyn thought Michael was pretty cute. I loved how our kids talked with the Woods like we were old friends, no embarrassment. 

Amelia and I made a very late night run to Walmart in Idaho Falls after we dropped off the family at the Airbnb. The stores in Rexburg were depleted. We got fresh food and other items she needed that did not make the list until she moved in, like curtains and push pins. I dropped her off at 11:30 pm. College students were roaming the outskirts of campus like it was an early evening stroll. Memories rushed back of all my late nights with Miekka, Marsha, Ariel, and Marie. Gosh we worked hard and played hard.  

Next morning Evelyn woke up with a swollen eyelid, not sure where that came from. We enjoyed the Airbnb until the kids got so hungry they almost expired. Only then did we venture off to find sustenance at a breakfast place called Abracadabra. Our waitress was exceptional! She was just one of those golden people who can make anyone and everyone feel welcome. It was very difficult to choose which item out of all the delicious descriptions. I broke Amelia’s cute stool she wanted to use to launch herself into bed, I was on a mission to find a replacement. We stopped at Kid to Kid, found lots of cute winter stuff for the girls, no stool. Second stop was Hobby Lobby, found a metal thing she could use…plus lots of cute fall stuff and other things as usual. I decided against the metal thing because it warned the weight limit was 25 pounds, darn it. I found a green rug at Hobby Lobby which was an item Amelia wanted to order from Amazon. She will get the stool instead. We met up after Amelia finished her day of orientation at her apartment. I helped her finish unpacking and hanging curtains. Clare joined us for a walk through the campus gardens. The gardens were so lovely! We especially enjoyed the apple orchard where over 100 different types of apples are grown! We sampled quite a few apples! The favorite was a tangy and sweet apple with a honey aftertaste. Justin paid for our sampled walk through the grove at a self-pay kiosk. The kids are terrible whiners, everyone’s feet or legs hurt. Sissies! Man up and enjoy the pain. Ha ha. Finding a dinner spot was hard with 9 different opinions. Justin settled the matter by choosing a Mexican place. There were no natives in sight, the food tasted like healthy American food: no salt, a smatter of flavor, with chips sprinkled on top. Amelia and Clare were exhausted, decided to not attend the campus party. This was the moment. We drove away and left our bubbly, sweet, smart, and capable child to become an adult at college. Our little girl is now our financial burden. People keep asking me how my mommy heart is doing…I feel bad that I don’t feel sad. I miss Amelia but I know she is at the right place doing hard things which excites this mommy heart. 

We attended a random ward near Idaho Falls before heading home. Evelyn found a purple llama hand puppet, she smacked that down on a stuffed llama. Bam! Demon Llama (the 12th) has a halloween costume. Josie chose to ride home with Justin in swagger because she had the movie player all to herself! I was asked to teach Gospel Doctrine this week because Amanda could not be at church. Seems like a lot of the lessons taught are very pertinent to our current political and religious fervor post Charlie Kirk. We made it home by 5 pm, enough time to unwind before facing another busy week.