The P family

The day I met them Lucy was sick with the stomach flu and we had extra kids from the neighborhood running around. The P's were on their way over so I was desperately trying to clean up.  Haley called me to the garage to show me that two of our chickens had gotten their heads stuck and broken their necks. I was trying not to cry when through the garage windows I saw Joe and Kelly P pull in our driveway. They had already signed a contract to rent our house (sight unseen) and were in town so they wanted to see it.  Joe had also signed a contract with Eric's group so they would be working together. I was stressed out and emotional but answered the front door with the best fake smile possible and gave them a grand tour of our chaotic house between phone calls and Lucy calling me to the bathroom.  They seemed like a really nice family and I was sure that they walked out of our house saying "That was a zoo and that woman is crazy" and they would have been right. I was having one of the worst days ever!

Jump ahead several moths. They had moved into our old house. Ruby had become best friends with their daughter Sophia, Eric really liked working with Joe, and Kelly and I got along great.  We quickly became really good friends. They told me they were non denominational Christians and I told them we were Christian too and attended the Mormon church. It was all good. They were kind of surrounded by mormons here. Several of their neighbors and all the moms they carpooled with were LDS. As a result they were always invited to activities and they would come often. One week they were invited to church and they came. There was never any pressure on them to take lessons from the missionaries or get baptized, we were all just friends.

Then one day on the phone Kelly said "Jo and I want to talk to you and Eric. Can you come over Easter morning for breakfast then we can talk?" I knew something was up but was not sure what. We had a great breakfast then they sent the kids upstairs and went outside to talk. Joe started the conversation by saying "We really like you guys... you have been such great friends... we feel like we have been dishonest with you and need to come clean about something... " Then Joe and Kelly proceeded to tell us how they had been baptized into the mormon church several years ago. Joe had stopped attending shortly after but Kelly went for a few years by herself. They eventually decided that it was not for them and had spent the last 8 years trying to get as far away from the mormon church as possible. They had attended several non denominational churches but when they attended the LDS church they felt the spirit so strong and knew that was exactly what they were looking for.  They had a strong testimony of the Bible. They read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it. They took the lessons from the missionaries. Their daughters were baptized and today Eric and I were able to be in the temple as their family was sealed together for time and all eternity. It was the best day ever!