2011 Thomas Family Christmas Poem

The Thomas Family November 2011

Merry Christmas! To friends and family we send our cheer,

As we tell you what our family has been up to this year.

Kelly is still busy at the school every day,

Teaching and leading and helping kids on their way.

Records from the past he’s been indexing in his free time, 

And as long as he does more than his mother he’s just fine.

 Kathy has had a crisis mid-life,

For all she’s even been is a mother and wife.

So she’s taken the plunge into childhood again,

And is taking piano lessons which she quit way back when.

Matt, Sharelyn, Cassell, Paige and Macy

Matt and Share moved into a beautiful new home,

Now they’ve got lots of room for more kids to roam.

Matt works helping people that are put on probation,

While Share has made being a wife and mother her vocation.

 Cassell is in grade one and is beautiful, bright and sweet,

Watch out Dad because she is going to knock the boys off their feet.

Paige gives the best hugs and loves and she has just turned three,

In Grandma’s treat cupboard is the place she likes to be.

Share got a special Birthday present but she came one day late,

But having Macy Lynne Thomas join our family is just great.

Joe works in Lethbridge as an engineering tech,

Joe, Krystle and Chuck

And it’s water pipelines he draws supervises and inspects.

He tried something new that kept him busy this fall,

He was the head coach of the Magrath High School JV volleyball.

Krystle has her hands full keeping Joe and Chuck in line,

And she has made their home in Magrath beautiful and fine.

A new addition to their home will bring her lots of fun,

For now she can play her new piano when all her work is done.

 Chuck is very busy and at two is into everything is seems,

We should nickname him after his hero Lightening McQueen.

He doesn’t like Grandma or Grandpa but at their house he has fun,

Because he likes to do turkeys and loves his Uncle Tyson.

Matt, Sadie and Kaia

Matt and Sadie are the traveling kind,

Matt graduated from university and a job in Red Deer he did find.

Matt and Sadie were not happy and didn’t want to stay,

Then they found out that a baby was on the way.

So they came back to Southern Alberta where their hearts will always be,

Close to all their friends and especially their family.

 Kaia is sweet and beautiful as well,

She’s going to be another heart breaker I can tell.

Of course her parents can’t wait for the day,

When she gets a basketball in her hands and starts to play.

Elder Casey Thomas

Sister Emily and Elder Casey are our missionaries we have out.

And that we look forward to their letters there is no doubt.

Elder Thomas has been out for 19 months in the sun,

Serving the Lord in Las Vegas and having way too much fun.

He loves the gospel and is actually maturing,

Which for his parents is very reassuring.

 Irma Thomas went to the Missionary Training Center in November,

Irma Emily Thomas

And all those new Portuguese words she is trying to remember.

On January 3rd^h, to Portugal she will go,

Far away from Canada’s winter ice and snow.

She is learning a lot but is a little homesick,

Hopefully lots of letters and parcels will do the trick.

Tyson, Heidi and Julie are our children that keep us young,

Because from our home they have not sprung.

Emily, Heidi, Julie and Tyson

Tyson is sixteen and now can drive and go on dates,

Being kind, caring and responsible are his traits.

He’s started to notice that girls are pretty neat,

And one may have actually swept him off his feet.

He would rather play basketball than eat lunch,

But everyone sure loves him a whole bunch.

 Now Heidi has hit the great age of fourteen,

And is one that likes to be noticed and be seen.

Whither it’s in the latest fashion or driving the car.

Her hair and makeup is done perfectly for she is the star.

She does really well in piano and school and loves to create,

But it’s the sports she plays that she thinks are great.

 Julie is our author and she loves to write,

In fact writing her stories keeps her up late at night.

She is growing up fast and is ten years old,

And she loves to be creative if the truth were to be told.

She plays the piano and loves arts and crafts,

But she is a big tease and always makes us laugh.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

May your lives be filled with comfort and cheer.

Our Missionaries

After two months in the MTC Sister Emily Thomas will be leaving for Portugal on Tuesday. Here is what she wrote, "Jan 3, 2012 - We leave Salt Lake at 8:35 am. Then at 2:20 pm we arrive in Atlanta. In Atlanta we have a 4 hour lay-over so that is where we will hopefully be calling! Our plane leaves at 6:05pm from Atlanta to Paris. SO be expecting a call hopefully between 12-4 your time on Jan.3. We then have an overnight flight and will get into Paris at around 8:35 in the morning on the 4th. Well we have a 5 hour layover in Paris and then leave at 1:25pm and are supposed to get to Lisboa at 2:55pm their time. So I will then be about 7-8 hours ahead of you! That's crazy to think about. We have 15 missionaries in our traveling group. Our district and then another district who came same day." 
We are going to stay close to the phone on January 3rd! The address of the mission home in Portugal is: 

Portugal Lisbon Mission
Apartado 40054
1500 Lisbon Portugal
351-217-620-832
When she finds out where she is going to be she will let us know her new address.

On Christmas Day Elder Bednar and his wife came to speak to the missionaries in the MTC. I wish I could of been there: "One really neat thing that happened yesterday was during Elder Bednar's talk. He talked a lot of characteristics of Christ and how He would always turn outward when the rest of us would turn inward. He likened the "natural man" to the cookie monster... and even did impersonations of the "missionary cookie monster" saying, "I want baptisms now! I want investigators now!" It was really funny and interesting to see an apostle doing cookie monster impersonations... he was really good!


Then she had a great experience of cleaning the Provo Temple on Boxing Day.
"Today, of course, is p-day and we got to go clean the temple. I didn't know this but I guess once a year they renovate some part of this temple because it is the busiest so they are repainting and doing different things in it but since it's Boxing Day (did you know America doesn't call it Boxing Day!? Sometimes I don't get this country) all the people weren't working and so they had the Elders scrub the grout with toothbrushes to make it all nice and white and us 3 sisters got to help this lady named Sharon clean the temple presidency offices. Talk about intimidating! Apparently, if even the slightest thing is moved the Temple President will notice and then Sharon will get reassigned to a different area of the temple. So we were scared about touching anything but she does this every single night and has been doing it for 2 years! She was a great lady. Not only is she on the custodial staff for the temple, she is also a cook here at the MTC. She told us some really great stories about her conversion and what would happen when she didn't listen to the counsel of the Lord. What else was really interesting was that she knows, it seems, almost everything about the paintings in that area. So she had us stand in front of them and asked us different questions about what we noticed or what the faces looked like. There is this one where Jesus is confirming one of His disciples and the guy is kneeling. She had us look at all the faces of this painting until we realized that if you take off all the facial hair of every person. They all look the exact same. She said she thought that this was the way that the artist intended it to be. To be all in God's image. It was really neat."


It is exciting to see her learning and growing. I know that she will be a great missionary in Portugal.

We also got to talk with Elder Casey Thomas on Christmas Day as he is serving in Las Vegas. The fun thing was that we got to talk through Skype. It took me awhile to figure how to run Skype but wow is it worth it. We could see and talk to him and he could see us. He looks good and he is doing well. I can't believe that he has only five months left on his mission. He doesn't write the great letters that Sister Thomas does but then he's a boy. What a great blessing it is to have two missionaries serving the Lord.

When we took her to the MTC I didn't start to cry until we were leaving Provo. That's very brave for a Mom. We were met at the sidewalk by a bunch of Elders. I don't think Emily has been greeted by so many young men at one time. Two Elders took her and her luggage to the building where she would be spending the next two months. We watched her walk away and part of me walked away too. I know that this is the best thing for Emily and that she and our family will be so blessed by her and Elder Casey serving a mission. Two missionaries out at once WOW!!

Here she is Sister Emily Thomas. It is so different sending a daughter out on a mission. With your sons you are so glad that they are going. When it is your daughter it is liking she is taking a piece of your heart with you. She will be in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah until January and then will head to Lisbon, Portugal

Lethbridge Fires

Well I'm back. Fires have been raging around Lethbridge tonight and my first concern was the safety of my children. We could actually see the glow of the fires from our house. It is a little scary to look out your window and see the ridge glowing with fire. Julie was frightened, but as we knelt in prayer as a family and asked the Lord to bless Share and the girls in Lethbridge and to bless those who were fighting the fires, a peace came into our home. Our children were safe and I hope that not many homes were lost. I am so grateful for those men and women who work in emergency services that keep us safe. I was actually listening to an emergency radio on the Internet (and enjoying it) and heard the conversation between the police and fire departments. (Kelly says that is the first sign of becoming a red neck :-). These people put their lives on the line to fight fires and keep people and property safe. I don't think that they get many thanks. When was the last time you thanked a police officer for giving you a ticket? I think that they need our thanks more often.

The fires also made me wonder just how prepared my family is. Would we be able to evacuate within minutes in the case of a wild fire? I think that will be a good topic for a family home evening lesson.

New Windows

We are getting our 30-year-old windows changed. The seal on the old windows was broken and so when you looked through them your vision would be cloudy. This morning when I looked through the new windows I couldn’t believe how clear my site was. It got me thinking on how I need to have a new vision to start a new year. Sometimes we are stuck in a rut and our vision of the future is clouded. That’s how I think that I am, I am stuck in a rut and I need to have a new vision. So today is the day to reorganize and start something new and exciting.