Twin Prank

We've always called Megan and Jeran our pseudo-twins, or like-twins.  We're even part of a like-twins email group and have participated in a study on virtual twinning.  Megan and Jeran are only 7 weeks apart in age, and in some ways it's like having twins.  In other ways it's not even close.  (For example, I didn't have to give birth to both of them!)

When they were younger I was actually asked a few times if they were twins.  Have you ever seen them side by side?  It's funny what people ask when they're trying to make sense of what they see.

Megan and Jeran continue to have a close relationship.  They bug each other, but they're friends.  As they get older, even though they have separate friends, their friends are comfortable hanging out together.  They seem to know it's just part of the package.

We've always talked about how "real twins" get to do dating pranks and pranks in school as they get older to fool people.  We didn't think that would ever apply to Megan and Jeran, but I think they may have just figured out a prank of their own.

Jeran and Megan are in a big school of about 1500 other students.  It's easy not to know everyone.  Jeran was in class a few days ago and the following conversation took place:

Friend:  Hey, what do you think about dating in 7th grade? 

Jeran:  Dude. No way! 

Friend:  What about that tall dark-ish girl you're always hugging? 

Jeran:  Dude.  That's my sister!

But of course in middle school when kids deny romance, it just fuels curiosity.  Jeran's prankster brain shifted into overdrive.

After school they were all out front waiting to be picked up.  Jeran's friend was with him so Jeran ran up to Megan and gave her a hug.  

Freaked out Friend:  See! I told you you had a girlfriend! 

Megan and Jeran were laughing hysterically, and at that point, even though they continued to claim sibling status, his friend was sure they were lying.  

About then I drove up.  As Jeran, Megan and the rest of the carpool were piling into the car (still laughing), Jeran's friend came running up to the car.

Still Freaked Out Friend Pounding on My Window:  Hey!  Are they brother and sister?  

Me:  Yes.

Slightly Confused Friend:  Oh...  Really?

Me:  Yes, really.

Too funny! 

I have sisters who are identical twins and used to switch dates, take tests for each other, and various other things to take advantage of their twin status.  I think Megan and Jeran are just beginning to figure out the possibilities of pranks involving their non-identical sibling status.

Gabby: Families Have Fun

Oh, how we love this girl! She has been such a blessing in our family. Every day she amazes me with her ability to be real and allow herself to love and be loved. She looks around and takes cues about how to do things from those around her. When it was her turn to speak on Sunday, she stood up and actually did a great job of ad-libbing some of her comments from the original text on the paper in front of her.  She says she added things that came into her heart as she listened to her new siblings. She claims she was afraid, but you couldn't tell. (Picture taken ice skating on Saturday)

I am Gabby. I am in the Jarman’s family. I’m new in this family, and I like having fun with my family.  (This was in the original talk, added because she was new and introducing herself.  When she stood up she decided she didn't want to be different so she skipped the introduction and just started with the text of the talk below.)

Families have fun by playing with each other and going out to dinner, going ice skating, fishing, going down town, sledding, building snowmen, playing with your sisters and brothers and dogs, playing games, playing with cousins, and play fighting with brothers. That’s how families have fun. You can do it by having fun with your family and being loving. Sometimes we fight and it isn’t fun. When we fight we don’t feel good about each other. Then we say sorry and ask them if they want to play and we start playing together again and we are so glad we got together.

Forever families have to know how to have fun together if they want to be happy with their parents and children forever.

She also ad-libbed and spoke from her heart about finding out that she was going to be adopted.  She said she was "glad and sad."  She said she was sad to leave behind her foster mom, school and friends, but really wanted a family.  She said she always wanted a family with a mom, dad, two brothers, two sisters, and dogs.  

It amazes me how she talks openly to us about the loss of leaving behind family and friends in Omaha, but she talks all the time about wanting to be in a big family.  At first I thought she didn't understand what she had given up there, and wondered when it would hit her, but the more she talks about it, the more I realize she did know, and she followed her heart anyway.  

Adoption is never without loss, and our love is never far from the people who have loved our children before us.  I was amazed that Gabby included this in her comments in church, and was once again impressed at the strength of her heart as she spoke about finding her family.  What a girl!

(Link to the story of our family speaking in church on Sunday)

Joie: Families Can Be Together Forever

Joie is brave. When she first came to our family I thought she was that way because she had to be, but as we've gotten to know her we can see that courage is truly a part of her personality. She goes after life with energy and excitement. She was brave to share some of her really personal feelings about the loss of her family when she spoke in church. (Picture taken ice skating Saturday. In just two weeks she's turned into quite the speed demon, and has signed up for lessons.)


The Family Proclamation says, “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.”


After my family died, one of my favorite songs was, “Families Can Be Together Forever.” The words of this song are:

"I have a family here on earth.
They are so dear to me.
I want to share my life with them through all eternity.
Families can be together forever
Through Heavenly Father's plan
I always want to be with my own family.
And the Lord has shown me how I can."

Before my family died, I loved them very much. We were happy and had a lot of good times together. I didn't want those good times to end. It was hard to lose all the people I loved, but it helped me know that I will see them again and will will share our lives again for eternity. My parents were sealed in the temple and I know that means we can be together forever one day. Now I have two families. I will be together forever with both families because my moms are sisters and their parents were also sealed in the temple for eternity. The chain of eternal families is unbroken if we all choose to keep our covenants and return to our Heavenly Father. Now we are adding one more person to our family. Sometimes it's hard to get used to a new person, but we also have a lot of fun together.

Joie added some things to her talk that made it very personal. She said in her talk that she remembered something her old bishop said at the funeral of her family. He told her how this wasn't their first good-bye. She talked about how remembering that they said good-bye before they came to earth, then were reunited on earth helps her think about being reunited again with them some day. She also described how the testimonies and faith of her parents helps her when she misses them, and how she remembers the example of their lives.

(Link to the story of our family speaking in church.)

Jeran: Forever Families

Jeran is our performer and clown. He's smart and witty and is probably the only one who isn't really afraid in front of other people. People commented afterwards that Jeran is the family comedian. He started off his comments like he was performing a huge public ceremony, then jokingly switched back to just talking in church. He also likes to puzzle things out and make sense of things, which shows in what he said on Sunday. (Picture taken ice skating on Saturday)

My talk is on the same thing I taught for the family home evening lesson last week, so I am going to go ahead and recycle a few things. My topic that I am going to talk about this afternoon is on eternal families.

When I am bored, I like to think about the big picture; why we are here, what happened before we came here, and what will happen to us after we die? We will be reunited with our families again, but when our parents are busy being reunited with their parents, we have nobody to be reunited with… I used to think that there might be a few holes in the plan of salvation.

But while I was preparing for my talk, I remembered a family chain my mom made for a family Christmas party after Joie’s family died.  The point of this was to help all of the cousins understand that we were all sealed together, and Joie was connected to all of us.  The chain my mom made was a big paper chain made of little rings, and each one had a name on it.  It started with the oldest, which was grandma and grandpa, then branched out to their twelve sons and daughters:  Chris, my mom, Sarah, Beth, Ben, Becky, Esther, Ruth, Joe, Steve, Jim, and Mike.  And connected to each of them was their spouse.  And then most of them had sons and daughters… I’m just gonna get to the point and say it was a very long chain.

But if we had wanted to, we could’ve added each of my dad’s 9 siblings to the list, and all their kids. (If we had really done this there would be no leftover paper on the planet.)  By looking at the chain, we could see that Joie was sealed to Nick and Ruth, her parents, but she was also sealed to our family. All you had to do was follow the chain from our family to her family and it was unbroken.

When we were done making the chain, we hung it on our grandparent’s Christmas tree. It reminded us that through the gift of the Savior, we will all be resurrected again; and through the power of the priesthood we will be sealed together as a GIGANTIC family forever.

The big picture of eternal families helps us all continue through trials and we’ve seen trails turn into blessings.  My grandparents are now on a mission, and their testimony of eternal families helps others who are learning about the church.  My other grandparents are about to head on a mission to Nauvoo to work in the temple.  My cousin is getting ready for a mission also, and as cousins, aunts and uncles we’re closer and have a lot of fun together.  Also, other aunts and uncles are adding to this family chain. Our family is also keeping the chain going also by adding Gabby to our family.  Having THREE sisters can sometimes be a pain…too many Barbies and no hot water in the morning…but the blessings of sharing are lives together forever are worth it (at least that’s what my parents tell me).

I know that we will all be reunited with our families in heaven, no matter how long it takes and no matter how big our family is.


(Link to the story of our family speaking in church.)

Megan: Being a Peacemaker

We call Megan "the glue" in our family. She has an amazing ability to love everyone, and among her friends and in her family, she doesn't have enemies. She has incredible love in her heart, and shares it with everyone. Her comments reflect her role in our family. (The picture was taken ice skating on Saturday.)

Today we are talking about families. About three 1/2 years ago family life was great. It was just me and my brothers and we got along and had a lot of fun together. Then one day that all changed. We were doing some back-to-school shopping when my mom got a message on her phone that made her drop all the clothes and tell us to get in the car, “Now!”

On the way to the car she told us Joie was in an accident and got hurt and we had to go to the hospital to be with her. She was trying to call my uncle to find out more. We got in the car and couldn’t hear what she was saying. Then she got in the car and said, “We have to go now.”

She started driving, then pulled into another parking spot and started to cry. She knew she had to tell us what happened. She was crying and said that Joie’s mom and dad and sister died in the car accident. I cried all the way to the hospital. In the hospital some of the nurses helped me and my brothers find something to do while my mom went to be with Joie. I kept asking my mom where Joie would go.

After a few days all of the grandparents decided that Joie could come live with us. At first I was excited. I’d have my fun cousin to be my sister! But after a few days the fun wore off. I hated sharing a room. My room was a mess. My parents were paying a lot of attention to Joie, and a lot of people came to visit Joie and brought her presents, but there were no presents for me. Then my brothers started to get mad at me because I was playing with Joie instead of them. No one was happy. Everyone was sad, and it seemed like nothing would ever be the same again. All I wanted was for things to go back to the way they used to be.

This is when I started to decide things couldn’t be this way forever. I’m not sure when things started to change, but a little at a time I figured out that if fI could be considerate and support other family members, I felt happier inside. My dad gave me a blessing and said Heavenly Father wanted me to know that my aunt and uncle and cousin who died were thankful to me for treating Joie with kindness. I felt peace, and even though it was hard, I tried to be a peacemaker. Here are some other things that have helped me:

1. Families are the most sacred unit of the church.
2. Being willing to help made me feel good and made things feel different in our home.
3. We need to go forward with faith through trials.
4. The Lord will help us through our trials. He shows us the way.
5. The Lord is the source of all wisdom and we all need His help.
6. Scriptures are a powerful source of strength and they helped strengthen our family.

This time when we’ve added someone new to our family again, the adjustments are still kind of hard, but not as much. When it feels like things aren’t fair and things will never be the same again, I try to remember the things I learned before and when I go to Heavenly Father He helps me feel peace and helps me know what to do.

I know that families are part of God’s plan for our happiness. Sometimes I still wish for no trials and no changes, but I’m thankful that I know how to get through hard things and I know I that I can be true to the Lord and to his church under all circumstances.


(Link to the story of our family speaking in church.)