in spite of circumstances

Here's another letter to a grandchild that I hope encourages someone to start writing letters to their grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or other important children in their lives. It's amazing how this little act strengthens relationships. My husband belongs to SendOutCards.com, which makes writing letters nearly as easy as sending an email. Physical letters are a tangible declaration of love, and little kids know it. As you can see, I use elements of the same letter to send to grandchildren of near the same age. However, I personalize them a bit for each child.

Hi _____!

Hope you are happy, healthy, and having fun. We wonder how kindergarten is going and if you love learning. I love learning. Right now I am studying a funny math book from Life of Fred series that also includes physics. I LOVE math but have never studied physics before. It's a challenge and quite difficult. However, I am not afraid of hard things and relish challenges. I also spend a lot of time drawing, reading, and playing my ukulele on the beach. Do you still draw a lot? Do you like math as much as me? I didn't bring my violin, because I didn't think such my old friend would be safe.

Spending so much time on the beach, I'm getting brown as a berry as Chaucer would say. I've never seen a brown berry. Have you? We see two large and one small green sea turtles here all the time. We think they live here. I think my favorite part of staying in a beach house is falling asleep to the lullaby of the waves.

I'm so grateful I can read the scriptures and go to church. These help me know the right way to act. Through the parables and stories of Jesus life, I learn how to be happy. One of the ways is realizing that Jesus did something for me that I cannot do for myself. 

Before we came to this earth, Jesus Christ offered to be our Savior. He was willing to pay for all our sins, allowing us to be forgiven. He was willing to die and be resurrected so that we could live again and return to our Father in Heaven. Jesus was the only person with the power to do this for us. We could not do it for ourselves. when we die, our spirits leave our physical bodies. After Jesus died, his spirit and his physical body came back together as a resurrected body that would live forever. Because Jesus died and was resurrected, we will be resurrected too. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior, was such an important event that we celebrate it every week during Sacrament Meeting. You can read about it in the Bible here: Matthew 27:45-66, 28:1-8.

Whenever someone does something that hurts me either on purpose or by accident, I try to forgive right away like Jesus does for us. Anytime I hold onto my hurts, I only hurt myself. Because I choose to be happy and forgiving, mean people that hurt on purpose waste their time with me. Most people aren't mean purposely, causing problems accidentally. Getting mad at them, we only make them feel badly for a careless mistake. It's silly to get mad over mistakes or even meanness. Instead, I am learned to let it go.

I want to be happy. Refusing to become offended and accepting Jesus atoning gift, I know I'm doing the right thing. These choices also make Heavenly Father and Jesus happy for me. I hope you choose to be happy, forgive others, act kindly, obey your parents, follow God's commandments, and love learning. Life is so much better, when we choose happiness in spite of circumstances. 

Love Ya Lots!