2010 Larsen Family Review

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Sam---(14) big time video gamer, went to BYU scholars camp, finishing up Scouts, looking forward to learning to drive (that is his dad's job), skier, reader, unhappy lawn mower, great student, cross-country runner, super grower--he is now 5'10" !

Tess----(13) very much a teenager, socialite, funny, loves designer clothes, trained and dedicated dancer, unhappy hiker, name memorizer--people famous and not, went to two dance camps and girls camp, ambitious, loves Young Womens at church, great debater and leader, decorator and designer, seventh grade means just more people to get to know, can't wait to drive and run her own social life in a few years---yikes.

Corinne----(10) is still the super grower--she's about 5'5" now, awesome babysitter, harp player, lead ballerina, reader, drawer,  cupcake decorator, sensitive to spiritual things, responsible student, peacemaker, also loves fashion and design, and going to the beach house but can't stomach the 10 hour drive to get there.

Kai----(7) is stretching out day by day as well, just lost his two front teeth just in time for Christmas, loves all things calm and natural like hiking, beaching, and just being, fixer and builder, great traveler despite getting the stomach flu everytime we arrive, doesn't like computer stuff or commercial hype, awesome big brother to Ian, good worker, deep thinker and becoming a great reader.

Ian---(5) the classic youngest child who is the entertainer---cute and funny all day long, learning to read, loves to ride his scooter, and is learning to be a great skier like the other men in the family, easy going, and did I say funny?

Dave--(40)! mid-life crisising, ended 10 year work era at Leucadia, trained to be a speedy runner and placed in some 10Ks and 1/2 marathons, hard worker, grows the most beautiful orchids you've ever seen in his new greenhouse, problem solver, loved teaching Gospel Doctrine, homework duty-man, patient father, trip planner and van driver, and having way too much fun looking at small companies to buy on his own or with some partners.

Michelle---(42) loved her get-aways with Dave this year, still recovering from working this summer (taught Hlth 361 at BYU), started up Grow.Learn.Give. (website coming up in 2011),  relishes swimming in the ocean, trail jogging up Little Cottonwood, and eating fantastically prepared meals that she didn't make, has no patience for technical difficulties or adolescent drama, and is looking forward to a new child (from Ethiopia) to add to our joy.

We'll keep you'all posted on the latest happenings.  It will be an exciting year for us is the understatement of the year!  We feel so blessed to have these opportunities and for our stalwart supporters who love us in spite of our chaos.

Merry Christmas!

love,   Michelle, Dave, Sam, Tess, Corinne, Kai and Ian

Reflections from 2010

Here is the short list of some things I learned this year (lest I forget and have to relearn them next year):

1. if I wake up early things go much smoother around here
2. if I take vitamins everyday and exercise regularly my body thanks me
3. running with my ipod on my "trail of tears" is my therapy
4. Heavenly Father answers my prayers--my part takes patience and really "seeing"
5. my attitude has everything to do with my childrens
6. if I really listen to others I can understand where they are coming from
7. I shouldn't  judge too quickly--every story has at least two sides
8. the media feeds on anger/fear and makes lots of $ on it
9. most people are really trying their best
10. eating less sugar is the key to losing weight
11. single parents have the hardest row to hoe (God bless them)
12. the Book of Mormon is true and God answers prayers through it
13. working hard and teaching kids to work hard--is hard work, but important
14. getting my teeth cleaned, a pedicure, and a haircut will do wonders for me
15. preparing for hours of lecture is not my style of teaching, and neither is using technology
16. when teaching I need to focus on how they learn and how to teach them to learn 
17. helping others help themselves is the best way to help out
18. who I married has everything to do with how happy I am
19. my calling in life has to do with children and teaching and health and motherhood
20. clearing away clutter and making room for people=a happy home and heart
21. cooking under pressure makes me grumpy
22. taking a deep breath and thinking before reacting really does work
23. preparation is key to my piece of mind
24. spending one-on-one time with those I love is vital
25. Dave and I need weekenders at least twice a year
26. everyday is a new day---praise be to repentance and forgiveness
27. pleasure and work need to be equally balanced
28. doing my back exercises, yoga and an occasional massage is the best prevention to a pulled back
29. people need to be paid well to do well
30. scuba diving, like life, is all about not panicking and just enjoying where I am
31. my children were given to me to teach me specific things (and I them)
32. my ancestors and future grandchildren play a role in my life today
33. I'm not good at details when I have to think (or plan) big
34. focus is the key to getting anything done and I rarely focus----gotta work on that
35. weather has a lot to do with my moods, but exercise in all weather helps the mood
36. I can hide spinach and flaxseed in smoothies
37. affection and eye contact is important for good communication
38. money is better spent on experience(s) than stuff
39. venting isn't productive and perpetuates anger
40. life is too short to feel ugly in a bad outfit or feel uncomfortable in tight jeans or squishy shoes
41. life is also too short to stress about diet and not enjoy all kinds of food
42. when I am grumpy it is because I am feeling ungrateful and unhumble

....just to name a few.

Learn To Labor and to Wait

Let us, then, be up and doing With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. -------Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The short of it: Oh, ya, we are definitely up and doing, but not sure we have a heart for any fate.  Still achieving and still pursuing, check.  We learn to labor and are learning to wait....And so goes the adoption; it is official waiting now.  As of October 1st our dossier paper work arrived in Ethiopia.  What does that mean?  It means we are "slotted in" so when a child fits our profile, they will call us and ask us if we'd like to review the file.  We then say "tell us more....or no, we'll keep waiting". This whole concept of waiting was baffling to me.  I have seen with my own eyes and held with my own arms TONS of orphaned children.  Why then is this process so dang slow?  The governments can only process so many and must make sure all is legit.  In fact, Ethiopia is leading the world right now in uncorrupting adoptions.  They have a long way to go--pray for them.  Ethiopia has 40 million people---half of which are under age 17!  And sadly, oh so sadly, 5 million of those are orphans.  Adoption cannot make even the smallest dent in 5 million.  There are much bigger bangs for the buck as far as helping orphans.  It is however, the dent the Lord has asked us, the Larsen family, to make.  Someone needs us.  She/he/they need us  to have faith enough to get "slotted in" and wait, pay the 20 grand and come and get them.  And, yes, then begins the real work. I am a bit nervous and downright scared about that work.  As you can tell from my last blog entry, my least favorite things are:  menial and icky chores of life and refereeing tiffs between siblings.  Adding to our family means one more person to do more of that for. I am learning, though, that it is all about my attitude and willingness to learn as I work....to labor and to wait.  I was cleaning the other day and the thought came to me,  "this is my life's work, and this is the easy part".  The real hard stuff is the emotional work that we all work through and grow from.  Having more children means more of that hard stuff too.  More of that lying on your child's bed at night while they cry from disappointment and self-loathing.  More of that subtle encouraging and ever-impossible "positive parenting".  We read through the adoption education stuff and and it is the emotional healing part that really makes us wonder if we can do this. But, we wait. the LONG of it: When our papers were sent the agency said, "congratulations, now your adoption begins".  NOW?   It's been a long, hard and emotional ride this past year.  Every signature and paper chase was a sheer act of faith.   This summer as I taught the stages of grief in my health class I had to think that instead of stages of grief my stages of "preparing to wait" have gone like this: Stage 1: Denial.   Surely God doesn't expect me to do this.  We live in a very homogeneous area.  We aren't sure we'll even have a job next year.  What if we have to move?  I barely take my kids to a doctor---I don't know good doctors.  I have no patience for emotional drama.  Am I too (insert any of these adjectives here: old, dejected, fat, poor, overworked, prissy, tired, cynical, impatient, selfish) to adopt? And, God, I'm not a hair person-- surely I won't be slathering goo and braiding hair every Saturday. Stage 1.1:   The win/win-naive-Melissa Fay Greene Stage. I read There Is No Me Without You. I think, not only am I helping our family, I am helping Africa. We want kids, and millions of orphans need families. Been there, seen it.  How hard is to add a few more into the mix? It is a win/win situation. Stage 1.2: Joy. There is a certain fantasy about a new child.  Every cute little dark girl and every frilly skirt--Tess, Rinn and I say  "awww, our girl will be like that and wear that".  I think this is the stage that God uses to get us to act, do something, get started.  We humans are suckers for cuteness...and there is nothing cuter than an Ethiopian baby/child. Stage 2:   Bargaining. Please, God, just let me carry on and help Africans in my own way that doesn't involve all this long term "forever family" stuff.  I can make much better use of my time than potty-training again for heavens sake.  Many Ethiopian children placed for adoption are not actually orphans. In fact, a lot of them have parents, as well as siblings. They are relinquished because their family cannot afford to feed them. This is when I start bargaining a lot: "If I really cared about Ethiopia, I would take these thousands of dollars we're paying in adoption fees and donate them to an organization (like my own!)  that would do everything it could to preserve this family." Stage 3:   Anger. Why doesn't everyone know how bad things are around the world? Why aren't people doing more? How can people speak badly of international adoption?  Why are there still 5 million orphans in Ethiopia? 5 million kids going to sleep with no kisses from their mom.  5 million kids that wake up from nightmares with no one to comfort them...and realize they are living that nightmare.  Why aren't the adults in this world caring for the children?  Why are the adults abusing, selling and beating children?  Why are people so obsessed with fancy jeans, shoes and phones? Unfortunately, this outrage turns into self-righteousness and a judgmental attitude, which send me spiraling to... Stage 4: Depression and Guilt. Are all the nay-sayers right?  Is adoption really too racked with greed, corruption, racism, and politics?  I feel guilty for judging, guilty for adopting, guilty for needing a vacation, guilty for wanting a healthy child (I mean, I already have 5), guilty for loving to sleep in, guilty for loving a quiet house, guilty for never wanting to drive a 9-passenger car, guilty for loving the thought of a small and intimate family.  You name it, I feel guilty.  Reading and doing the adoption education was the most depressing thing imaginable.  It is geared to prepare parents for all the millions of horrible possibilities that your child could bring.  It felt a bit like reading about  birth defects while pregnant.  What a downer.  All the joy and naivete is gone.  It all feels messy and full of loss. Stage 5:  Acceptance. It's OK. We will move forward.  I will try and like housework and homework.  This child might like us, and she might not be a hardened criminal and in prison when she is 14.  I am shown those who've gone before me.  Thank you, oh, thank you.  There is something special about the adoption community. It takes someone with a big heart, a bucket full of faith, and at least some sense of adventure, to adopt. I am especially blessed with a sister who is leading the way and showing me how to have courage to do what is hard, accept reality and keep going.  We accept and are full aware of why this child is being relinquished.  It is sad but we pray daily for hope.  We pray our child and the other millions are being taken care of somehow.  That somehow this will all work together for every one's benefit.  I am reminded by God to "Consider the Lillies". Trust Him.  These stages can go full circle in just one short day.  I know I am progressing when I feel like I am at acceptance for longer than a day. Really, we are hoping to be the happy ending in a tragic story, but the reality is some mother is heart-broken that she cant keep her child alive one more day. We accept and we wait knowing that there won't be a happy ending, but looking forward to a blessed beginning.

Musings of a Working Mother

"Somehow I know that women who stay home all the time have the most unpleasant homes there are. You give me a woman who thinks about something besides cook stoves and wash tubs and baby flannels, and I'll show you, nine times out of ten, a successful mother."
----Martha Hughes Cannon (the first female Utah Senator, physician and public health advocate and successful mother)


I was in the Utah State Capitol Building today finishing up an adoption document.  I had my three youngest with me so we decided to do some exploring in that awesome building.  I was so taken by this statue which now stands outside in the garden.  I think I was so inspired by her (look her up in Wikipedia--she's amazing) because I just finished up my brief stint as a working mom myself.  It is SO difficult to find the hours in day to do all that needs to be done.  No matter what the children do come first and no matter what cooking, cleaning, entertainment/education takes the majority of the hours in the day.   Is it wrong not to delight in that?  Martha says, "No".  And I concur. 


 My mind goes from one hair-brained idea to the next and how to fix some of the woes of the world.  Like Martha, pubic health, women and childrens' issues and education issues call to me... All the while, I cook, clean, drive and play with my kids.  Yes, life is good and busy and crazy and short.  But, it is comforting to know that I have kindred spirits that were born 110 years before me and paved the way for some of my hair-brained ideas to come to pass.  Thanks Martha.

the big four summer projects

the short of it:

1-  keep all five kids happy and productive and safe for 12 weeks of "free for all"
2-  teach Health 361 at BYU for summer term---(I guess they've stopped screening instructors)
3- turn in all the $#$@!! paperwork to adopt a daughter from Ethiopia
4-  keep plugging away at our non-profit project Grow.Learn.Give.

The Long of it:

I cant believe it is July already.  This summer is flying by albeit with some long days thrown in there.  I honestly cant remember ever being so busy in all my life.  I literally crash into bed most days.  In a sense, I feel like a farmer whose "harvest days" are just weeks ahead and I just run and run to keep up with the daily requirements.  The kids are busy which means I am busy taking them and cleaning up after them reading with them, watching them swim. play volleyball, packing them up for camps and asking them to turn off the TV.  Summer has all the chores of the rest of the year with a couple of extra jobs thrown on top--entertaining and yard work.  What happened to the carefree summer days of my youth?  I guess it went the way of  fun Christmases and birthdays (way before I was in charge of the whole show).

I see now the bliss and sorrow of working moms everywhere.  Yes, I am teaching again and absolutely love the creativity and joy teaching brings me.  I teach 45 Elementary Ed majors about school health:  how to be healthy themselves and promote health in their classrooms.  It is twice a week for an hour and 40 minutes.  I feel like I produce the "Oprah show" twice a week for the amount of planning and energy it sucks out of me.  I'm learning a ton and hope the students are learning as much as I am.  Admittedly, it feels wonderful to leave the house fully dressed and ready to be a professional for a few hours.  I told the dept. head when I accepted teaching the course that I will look forward to getting out of wiping the counter fewer times this summer.  I was mistaken, though,  the counter doesn't magically wipe itself when I am gone---and kids dont get fed and laundry doesn't get done.  gotta work on that.

Adoption.  A word that just six months ago didn't mean much to me.  Since then, a whole new world has opened to me.  Whoa, what an incredible journey this has been so far.  Here is a little timeline of this journey:
October-- incredible experience with the Holy Spirit telling me it is time to prepare my family for a little Ethiopian princess to join us
November--constant prayer as to how to do this?  Can't muster up the courage (or even a spare minute) to tell Dave.  Seek advice and support from my awesome sister Heather while jogging on Thanksgiving morning.
December--steal Dave away and spill out my soul at the Yogurt shop.  From the nervousness and fear in my voice he was just glad I wasnt telling him I had cancer.
January--soul searching, can we do this? Why are we doing this?  Get all the info and start the paperwork.
February--make homestudy appointment and ask kids to fast and pray about adopting a new sibling.  Each child goes through their own process of knowing for themselves.  Corinne has an amazing spiritual experience.  Tell parents. Meanwhile, the same "adoption angels" that were working on me, were working on Heather and they are adopting too!
March--Homestudy visits.  Scary reading (and media stories) about the realities of trauma, disease, malnourishment and abandonment in children.  Wonder if we have the strength and time to heal a little one.
April--incredible opposition.  lots of doubts.  still wondering if we have the strength. Lots of conversations with sister Heather about the philosophy of adoption and God's will for us. Prayers answered, strength and courage given.
May--finish up most of the paperwork.  Homestudy is done.
June--all papers in for dossier to Ethiopia, but frustrated at the slowness of processing.  Months still to go with assembling the right seals, etc.  Still praying that our daughter is being loved and cared for wherever she might be today.....can't wait to see who she is....how old she is.....and hold her for the first time letting her know it was only by pure miracle and GOD's loving direction that we found each other.


As for Grow.Learn.Give.  we are seeing incredible future growth.  We are filing for 501 (c)(3) status to be able to set up an official fund.  We are hoping to further develop the education materials and really hoping for some grant money to come through.  Just a side miracle---our adoption agency AAI, is simultaneously needing this program for their orphanages and schools in Ethiopia.  Yes, it is Divine timing.   I just marvel, and hope I am doing my small bit in the whole picture.  If there is a common theme to all this, it is this:  God loves His children and to tap into that kind of love is the best blessing out there.      

Happy Summer to all of you....

Motherhood is Beauty

happy mothers day

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

After a glamourous anniversary trip to NYC I come home to face life as it really is.  It is stickiness, cleaning, cooking, and being a mom on mother's day.  As we bike through Central Park, eat  in awesome restaurants, watch Broadway shows we know that that kind of life isn't real and in the end I would be driving up to the pearly gates in a sweet ride with perfect hair and nails.  So, that's not good?  I'll try and keep that in mind this week as I scrape the peanut butter off my shirt.

Happy Mothers Day to all those great moms out there who inspire me to be better and enjoy this sweet ride of motherhood.

a short of it Quote of the Day

"Sometime I would like to ask God why He allows so much poverty, famine, suffering and injustice in the world when He could do something about it, but I am afraid He might ask me the same question." - Anonymous

Winter 2010 recap

The Short of it:

Another winter come and gone.  Years from now I think I will characterize this season of life as this picture depicts--casual, light-filled moments of everyday joys.  This has been my last year of having both boys home in the morning.  We have loved it.  The boys are bestest buds and are so  low maintainance and happy that I consider them my greatest gifts of this season.  Utah winters are usually sunny and cold.  We love to read here on this couch here in the morning in the sunny front room.  The  dogs consider this as "their" spot in the house and let us know when we invade their space.

See if you can find the exhausted husband in this picture?  This is the way I found him one afternoon.  I think the red-eye flights, winding down a stressful business, dealing with high-strung NYC lawyers, economy losses, church and scouting responsibilites and five children and a wife craving his weekend attention---well, it's enough to do a poor husband in.



The long of it:

Winter also means just plugging along with all the lessons and homework.  Corinne plays the harp and is so beautiful playing.  The boys played indoor soccer and were a hoot to watch.  Kai loved being the bigger dude on the team and loved scoring some goals.  A great big Thanks to Aunt Melissa for coaching.  Tess is playing competition volleyball and taking intensive dance twice a week.  She is one busy and happy girl.  Sam mainly skied every chance he could.  Our biggest bummer about the ski season is that it seems as if all the windy, blizzardy days are the weekends.  I sometimes wonder if we'd get more skiing in if we lived somewhere else and came here to vacation for a whole week of skiing.  At least then there would be one good weather day and no other places to be.   Oh well.

One of best things about winter is getting out of the snow.   We went to St. George to run in the SnowCanyon 10K.  Sam and  Dave and I all trained and had a fantastic day there in the desert.  Knowing I had to run was motivation for me all winter to get on the treadmill.  The only thing that slowed me up was my February sicky month of getting the flu and strep throat back to back.  Speaking of health---I figured out a great way to lose weight without too much effort.  For me, it is watching sugar grams.  Those weeks that I kept the sugar grams to only 15 per day--I would lose 2-3 lbs. a week.  (I think the 10K training also helped.)  It is sad to say no to all those yummy treats, but I do feel so much better when I'm not craving sugar or having the rise and fall of blood sugar all the time.  So there is the health tip of the day.   Figuring out what works best for the mind and body and spirit is such a life-long journey.  For some more motivational reading on that look up "Dr. Bridell's column at Meridan magazine  it is such wise advise.

My humanitarian efforts are coming along.  We got the health ed booklets written and tested in Africa.  We have more big plans and more topics to cover, so the work is on-going and very fulfilling.  Here is the link to our blog on that:  GROW. LEARN. GIVE.

Perhaps the most memorable part of this winter has been the spiritual journey of making a huge, life and eternity altering decision.  I'm not ready to delve into that yet, but stay tuned....

To top off winter we flew to Oahu, Hawaii for Easter.  Here are some photos from our incredibly awesome week there.  Looking at these will explain the tears as we got off a red-eye flight back to SLC and saw the frozen, grey world we were coming back to.   These long wintery springs are killing us.  (and lets not talk about the snow still out in the yard on this day of May 3rd! )

Hang loose friends.....have a happy spring!

Happy 16th Anniversary Romeo!!!

Grow. Learn. Give.

Thats the name of our program that has been slowly developing and is really taking root.  We've done a couple of pilot programs in Kenya and Uganda and have shown good results.  We have some BYU interns help now and hopefully some future MPh help.   Academics and humanitarian work are a great combo and it is inspiring to see it all unfold.  Next week we will be mentioned at the UN conference and hopefully get some good partners (and money) to go forward full force.      Here's the low-down:

growlearngiveprogram.blogspot.com

An Inner-Height Love Story---the short of it anyway

“I met the greatest guy at the ward service project today….too bad he’s short”. That is how my love story began circa fall 1992. However, that was my roommate speaking who shares not only my amazon-woman stature, but also my first name. We were the “Shellies”, one with one l-y and the other with two ll-ies. We went through many a date-less weekend together while our smaller-statured, less intimidating (so they say), more dateable roommates painted the Provo-town red. Yes, we were tall, loud, opinionated, older (?), busy, and getting Masters degrees. I can see why we could scare some folks. I owe my married life to that Shellie with one l-ie. Every love story is a gift, and every love story has an angel. She is ours.

She not only befriended my future husband but introduced us and cheered us on when things got rough. How could things get rough for a couple made in heaven? Well, you see, there are four and a half inches of femur bone length that became a real stumbling block in our love story. I like to blame all precedent love stories, not to mention every romantic movie known to mankind. It is just how it is, the boy is taller than the girl. He protects her and shields her and puts his arms around her shoulders as they stand for pictures. He bends down to kiss her and leads her around the dance floor in a flowing waltz. Tall, dark and handsome seems to be the dream of most, and sadly, was mine.

The love story begins like every love story: flirting and sarcasm and dating each other’s friends. We admired each other so much that we would set each other up with best friends and even siblings. Soon I noticed that every social engagement I had, somehow involved him. The number of friends invited on our “group dates” soon dwindled down to the two of us. The two of us is where we were most comfortable. I suppose it was after I made him an Orange Julius one morning after a bike ride that we decided we could and maybe should be alone. The chemistry was unbearable and yes, we needed to maybe even date. Don’t think this “orange-julius” moment was love at first sight---this had been festering for years now.

After that fateful morning I decided that if this is what fate had to deal me then I was going to make my poor lover suffer. I became very hard-to-get, evasive, and down-right mean. Insecurities, my insecurities drove this. Can you blame me? I had waited 25 years for this guy…and he’s short?!

This is where Shelly with one l-y steps in to save the day. She is secretly having those “don’t give up on her, you are meant to be” talks in the Tanner building during their grueling number-cruncher accounting classes. She reminds him that this girl, yes, the tall one that treats him like dirt, hates numbers, sleeps too long, spends more than she makes, is uncultured, speaks ungrammatically, and is chronically late is the one for him. By some miracle, it was these talks that kept him on my leash.


All the while the she-angel is telling me how wonderful this boy is. She read my Miamaid list of “Traits of My Future Husband” and pointed out how every trait is covered except for the shallow things like: tall, broad-shouldered, basketball player, dark skinned, etc. She spends extra time on the traits like loyal, smart, funny, likes vegetables, and extra, extra time on the recent addition of the trait…..loves me. “He really loves you, Michelle, he really, really loves you.”

An inner-height love story is much the same as any love story. While dating I grew to love and respect him and yearn for his every breath. I got those same butterflies when he entered the room that all lovers get. We talked and swooned non-stop for months. We used every excuse to be with each other: cleaning, eating, studying, driving, walking, exercising. We knew we couldn’t live apart for one more month, let alone the rest of forever.

The differences in an inner-height love story are: we learned to kiss sitting down (or lying down, but don’t tell our kids that), we never danced without laughing, we could trade shoes and most articles of clothing, we took pictures sitting down or on a slope or in soft dirt/sand so I could squish down four inches. We took advantage of curbs to satisfy that need to wrap our arms around each other in the traditional romantic way. We surprised our closest friends and family with our engagement—most people thought we were just best friends. We were and still are.

Fifteen years of a loving and “easy” marriage are a testament to the fact that all good gifts are made in heaven, but sometimes the package is different. Why I came in a six foot package and my husband a 5 foot 8 inch package, I’ll never know. But, I’ll never doubt the joy the gift of marriage has brought to my life and that the angel (Shellie with one l-y) was directly sent to deliver this gift to me.

Happy 40th Birthday my dear sweet Dave---I love all 68 and 1/2 inches of you, (plus your ginormous spirit that's all crammed inside)!