Miss Becky's Blog

My FATHER's BIRTHDAY --

My Father, S. Glenn Smith and my husband, Ken (Smiley) Mitchell share the same Birthday -- October 26th!

My Mother passed away last March and my Father's health has not been good. So all my brothers and sisters decided to come to Utah to celebrate his 86th birthday. (Two of us live in Utah, two in Colorado, one in California and one in Alaska.) Dad's celebration was scheduled the same day as SMILEY's FUN RUN in the afternoon and evening. That's why my sisters were both here in Utah to participate in the FUN RUN. They had come to Celebrate my Dad's birthday as well. Dad knew we were all coming and I had told Ken about it and we were planning to come to Provo that afternoon for Dad's Celebration. That week at my Dad's home -- I stay there 3 - 4 days of the week to cook and care for him -- I had been busy baking and cleaning for the Celebration which was at his home.

My three brothers took Dad to the BYU Football game that afternoon. My Father LOVES sports and especially likes to go to the games with his sons. He will even record the games from the TV and send them to my brother in Alaska to see.

After the football game we all met at his home for eating, visiting and celebrating!!! Here's a picture taken that evening with Dad and his six children ... I'm still wearing my "Smiley" shirt!!!

From left to right, Front row: Dianne, Dad, Susan. Back row: Brad, Derrell, Craig and Me -- I'm the oldest of the six children and we were all born within seven years. Dianne and Derrell are twins and I'm only 16 months older than the twins. Being close in age we grew up being the best of friends -- and we still get along well and enjoy each other. We all have children about the same ages -- that night about 21 grandchildren attended the Celebration and there were 14 great-grandchildren, along with my brothers and sisters and our husbands and wives.

My sisters and I along with our brother from Alaska stayed the night in Provo and attended Church with our Father the next day. His belief in God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been the major influence in his life and it was wonderful to be with him on Sunday and worship with him.

We did SURPRISE Dad with a unique gift -- a special book that my sisters and I developed with stories from most of our family members telling about "Prayers Answered" in our lives. It's very inspiring to read and Dad has read it more than once.

It was AWESOME for me to be able to CELEBRATE the Birthday of my Dad and Ken in the same day!!! In fact, my Father was very supportive of our Top Secret Adventure and gave me the first donation of seven dollars and then he did seven miles on his treadmill, 10 minutes at a time, because he has lost so much of his physical strength.

The celebration for my Dad also added to Ken's celebration, as he drove to Provo to Dad's Celebration with our daughters, Kara and Amy, and had a wonderful time talking to them -- it's a two hour drive. Amy was leaving early the next morning and Kara left early on Monday morning, so he enjoyed visiting more with them.

On Sunday afternoon as Ken and I drove home, we had lots of time for me to share more with him about the Top Secret Adventure, telling him all about the people in China and America who had participated. He was so pleased to raise so much money for the SUNSHINE Project. On his Birthday (October 26th) we were flying to Las Vegas to attend a memorial service for one of his special friends who died two days before the FUN RUN. On the plane I gave him the special notebook that I had compiled all the letters, birthday wishes and pictures from the participants ... he spent the whole flight reading the material and said ... "What a great event!!!"

We both hope that it does not end here --- let's all continue to walk-jog-run to maintain good physical fitness!!!

KEEP SMILING and MOVE IT!!!