Brett Pritchard Family Blog

Lazaro Cabellero is a cute little hispanic man I met one day down in Belton on main street during a child abuse awareness function Brett and I had been invited to attend.  He saw Brett's  sign and said, "I owe my life to this man.  He won custody for me for my two daughters."  He started to cry big crocodile tears.  He told me he wanted to help us make sure he won judge.  I put him at one of my polls during early voting.  He held a sign and waved at voters for 2 weeks.  This man has left quite an impression on my life.  He is disabled and is unable to work still,  he is the happiest, up beat person I have ever know.  Every day when he'd call me during early voting I'd say, "How are you Larry?  (everyone calls him Larry)" And he'd say,  "great!"  One day after getting that same response day after day, after he'd been in the hot sun for hours on end campaigning for me, I said, "Larry, how is it that you are always doing great?!?"

HUMMM.... What an interesting experience these last couple months have been.  Just to give a snap shot of what our life is like right now.  Brett and I were so tired emotionally and physically last night.  There wasn't an ounce of anything else to give inside of either of us.  We have been campaigning around the clock for a very long time, which is a full time job all by it's self.  When you have 17,000 people to contact and convince to vote for you-you have to work every waking moment or we'd have regrets.  Then on top of that we have Brett's full time job and being a mother of  6 and mournig the loss of one is more than a full time job.  We were three days away last night and Marilyn my sweet friend said, "You and Brett need to take the week end off or you're going to go into election day so exhausted.  If you loose it could spur a mental Break down for one of you.  You're both way too tired!! I thought that was cute of her because she normally doesn'

At 9:45pm on the 24th of May I got this great idea for Rachel's birthday the next day.  I was soooo relieved I'd finally gotten out of campaign mode enough to plan something special for her birthday.  Election day was just 7 days away.  I was stressed to the max and completely and utterly exhausted from the whole experience of losing Mariela and trying to win this election all at the same time.  Her birthday was just hours away and I'd still not figured out how to make her feel special and loved for her 11th birthday.  When this idea popped in my mind I got busy and called all the people that she loves that live near us.  Of course Marilyn lives clear acrossed town but she's convinced us all that she'd walk a million miles for us so I knew she'd love to show up for Rachel at 6am to celebrate her special day.  Marilyn is one of Rachel's favorite people.  And Mare loves her equally as much.  I planned a surprise party for Rachel. I pulled Rachel out of be

First it's Mariela's death, then, separation from my nurse and best friend, enduring to the end of a 6 month long campaign which we are now 9 days away from the election, and then just today Austin gets suspended from school for 3 days for bullying a child at school just after getting him through the sexting he'd been doing the last three months with a couple different girls and now Brandon just today as well is having another one of his major melt downs.  He just took off with the car with out asking and it's 1am. on Sunday morning.  It's come to giving him a ultimatum.  He's respectful or he moves out! Tomorrow will be a good day around here.  He either agrees to some extensive counseling to get to the root of his emotions or he moves out.  He is no longer managing his choices well.  Wow! What a very difficult couple months it's been.

Dear Mom, Most recently I have thought a lot about your role in my life as my mother.  Shortly after Mariela died I realized one of the best ways to ease my grief was to find something that would taste good, feel good and something that would bring me happiness.  Being in the middle of Brett's campaign did not bring much of a chance to experience anything that was positive.  I felt trapped in a world I didn't know how to get out of.  The grief was all consuming.  I realized all I wanted to do was escape this whole situation.  There was not  a part of me that wanted to be a mother or wife any longer.  I wanted to get relief from the grief but the only way to do that was to pray or do something that brought a positive feeling with no heavy responsibility.  Praying was difficult because I felt so far away from the Holy Ghost due to the grief that blanketed my heart and there wasn't even a moment of time to do something that was enjoyable due to the time c

 I witnessed a miracle while I was visiting teaching this week .  I was at the woodlands and I was feeling particularly bitter in side. The bitterness seeped into our conversation and brother Woodland  got  wind of my  bad attitude from the  other  room.  He came into the room and started to chastise me.  At  first I was  so  angry  with  him  for putting his  nose  into my  business.  But  finally  the spirit  pricked my  heart, because  I couldn 't  deny the truth of  what he  was saying to me.   I took the rest  of   my beating with humility.  I know  that man loves me and  was only trying  to help.  The spirit ended up  being so strong during that  conversation.  I  knew  there was no coincidence  in  him being home at the very same time  I was there to visit  teach  his  wife.    By the end of our conversation   I knew once again  that  the Lord loved  me despite the heart ache he's allowing me to experience.  I just didn't know how to let it  penetrate my grieving hea

How do I describe how I felt the last two nights while I watched Rebekah play "send in the clowns and sing along to the piano like a little song bird?"  I was nearly in tears both times.  She actually has a cold and she sang better than any of the other girls.  I was so proud of her.  I felt like I was watching her step into the light for the first time.  She seemed so comfortable and at piece with the whole experience.   It reminded me of how she looks when she's in her room laying on her bed listening to music.  She looked so relaxed and so comfortable.  I was so happy to see her doing something that comes from deep inside her.  Something she was clearly blessed by our Father in Heaven to do.  What a sweet experience it was for me to watch my daughter do something that her spirit has loved for a much longer time than the days she's been on this earth.  She did a beautiful job!!! I could sit and listen to her play the piano and sing along to it, all day long.  What a

Letter from a Mother to a Daughter: "My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”... Just listen, please try to remember the times when you were young and I would remind you to refill meds, not once or twice but often many times. I could have said something to make you feel inadequate or unfit for the task of taking care of your sweet little angel, but I never did because I loved you unconditionally from the very beginning.  Also, try to remember the many times I would sit for hours and listen to you talk and we'd laugh or we'd cry while you were growing into the person your Father in Heaven knew you could become. When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me.  Just remember, the many times I gave your daughter a bath  whether she n