Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Not At All Scary Wes

My husband's birthday is in a few weeks. It is also our stake conference on the same day. And he is one of the speakers.

He is just lucky like that. :-)

Personally, I think Wes is an amazing speaker. He never has a single note. And most of the time he doesn't even know what he will be speaking on until he stands up to the pulpit. He just prepares by reading the scriptures and conference talks and praying--a lot. And then he gets up and gives the most wonderful sermons.

At least that is my opinion.

I have heard from a few sources that there are some people in the stake who think he can be pretty scary. I admit he can be forceful, but that people find him scary is a bit humorous to me.

Seriously, this is not a scary man. And here are two stories about Wes that illustrate what I mean.

First Story
There is a woman in our stake who is a good friend and a great bread maker. On occasion when she would bake bread, she would share her delicious talent with us. One Friday night she told me that she had made bread but it had not turned out (a very unusual occurrence) and so she could not bring us the loaf she had intended.

I shared with Wes our friend's sad story before heading off Saturday morning to all day meetings. When I returned, I found four loaves of bread sitting on the kitchen counter. They weren't the prettiest things, but they tasted great. When I asked where they had come from, Wes told me he had made them.

Now, Wes had never made bread before. But when he heard our friend's plight he decided to make bread for her family. So he got out the wheat grinder and went to work. He told me he knew his bread wasn't pretty, but he was sure our friend wouldn't mind. And of course, she didn't.

I thought that was the sweetest thing! And since that day he has been making bread every few weeks so we continue to enjoy the blessings of his service.

Second Story
A few years ago a family of birds built a nest on a pillar on our front porch. After the eggs hatched, however, one of the babies died and the birds knocked the nest to the ground. We assumed all the remaining babies were killed by the fall.

However, I was outside the following morning and noticed the mother bird was very distressed and kept flying around a bush. As I listened closely, I could hear the faint chirping of a baby bird and realized one had survived. The mother was trying to rescue the surviving baby but had no way of doing so.

My son and I were able to get the baby out of the bush and place it in a shoe box. Then my husband got a ladder and climbed up to the top of the pillar, where the nest had been, and taped the shoe box to the pillar.

If I had not been in love with Wes before that moment, I would have fallen head over heels in love with him right then. It totally melted my heart to see him doing that, but what even touched me more was hearing him talk to the baby bird. It was obvious the baby was scared, and so Wes attempted to calm it by talking to it in a soft, sweet voice. And after he taped the box to the pillar, he asked the bird, "Now is that better little kiddo?"

Now does that sound like a scary man? :-)

By the way, the story has a happy ending. The mother resumed care of the bird and about a week later it flew away.

So there you have two not at all scary stories of my "scary" husband. Two stories that have brought . . . joy to my journey!

12 comments:

*K said...

Those are the cutest little stories. I loved it. :)

Handsfullmom said...

Thanks for the smile!

MissKris said...

so cute! dad's the best :)

Shannon said...

Great stories! THanks for sharing. Happy Birthday to Wes. I've never heard him speak, but I'm sure he'll do great.

Corine Moore said...

Hi. :) I just stumbled upon your blog and just wanted to say I enjoyed reading it. Great stories... isn't it funny how people can come to the strangest conclusions about people? It's nice when you can see the good and reallly enjoy it! :D

Momza said...

I thought your husband was normal...lol...until I learned that he's the S.P., then I was pretty sure he wasn't. LOL.
What a sweetheart!

Neil and Meredith Larson said...

people always think my dad is scary too. I think it is because they get that no nonsense Wagner look on their faces. my kids both make that face and the first time I saw John making it, it gave me the hibby jibbies

Susan Anderson said...

I love that bird story. And I love that the mother bird actually resumed caring for her baby. I'd heard that they often don't, after humans have intervened.

He definitely does not sound scary.

=)

Dave and Camille said...

I love Dad! :)

Rebecca Irvine said...

Will he be speaking at the regional conference broadcasted on the 14th? I would love to hear him--he sounds like a great man.

Sonia Holmes said...

Hey, that bread story is about me!!!!!! Wes is such a sweet man and the bread was oh so delicious! I too wish more people knew how kind and tender hearted he really is and who knew he had such talents in the kitchen? Lori you are one lucky woman:-).

alpinekleins said...

Ahhhh! Here I am at work in the middle of the night and I happen to feel sick as a dog right now, but I love your precious stories. Thanks for making me feel better! I'll miss you until January! Can't wait!

Kristin