A Life of Capability Celebrated and Remembered

Last fall, a friend stopped by and brought me a fridge magnet that she said caught her attention and made her think of me. In bold white letters on a black background is the quote:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, steer a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new project, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly." -- Robert Heinlein.

The friend who gave me this great fridge magnet was complimenting my capability. I was humbled and honored, and I immediately thought of a role model who exhibited capabilities and capacities far beyond my own, in whom I look to as a mentor and guide.

My maternal grandmother, Karen Louise Rasmussen Lundell Steele was the epitome of capability. She was 5 ft. 1 inches of pure power. Though in the physical sense, most every family member over the age of ten towered over her, in the spiritual sense, she was boundless. Day in and day out, she rose at 4:00 AM to greet the morning with a five mile power walk. Walking her pace made the blood pool in my fingers, as I had to swing my arms too hard to keep the pace. I went with her a few times and practically jogged to keep up.

Her day flowed from one activity to the next. She accomplished more by 9:00 AM than most people achieve in a 24 hour period. I watched in awe as she scrubbed dishes, walls and baseboards, vacuumed, made telephone calls, fixed meals to take to sick friends and neighbors, weeded her yard, planned a primary lesson, organized a closet, finished a quilt, and prepared to leave to run errands. Did I mention she could do all that by 9:00 AM?! She could never sit still. Even in her down time, which consisted of watching the 10:00 PM news while brushing her teeth and writing in her journal, she was exquisitely productive. She hit her pillow each night exhausted from the thrill of hard work and real living and rose again with the same renewed and tireless vigor she carried throughout her life.

An afternoon in her presence was inspiring. She filled volumes and volumes of journals, left a legacy of six children, twenty seven grandchildren, and who knows how many great grandchildren. Well, she did. She had every one of them scheduled into her calendar and each received a birthday card, religiously. Each grandchild received a handmade quilt upon their high school graduation. Each new grandbaby and great grandbaby received a handmade quilt. Every Christmas and Easter she put on the biggest parties imaginable in her small and welcoming house. These events could be counted on as surely as the sun rising each day. She was faithful and consistent in every aspect of her life. Nothing got in her way, nothing held her back, not even cancer, and only death itself could stop her.

She was all a grandma should be, fun loving, creative, family focused, full of faith and love. She loved the Lord and used her considerable and varied talents, skills, gifts and abilities to serve others. The capability at which she could perform these skills was superhuman in life, and perfect in death. I feel her presence often and know that she is assisting and intervening in my behalf and especially in important family matters. Her influence is now completely unstoppable and eternal and the impact she has is just as broad.

Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you and miss you and look forward to seeing you again!

Kenney Family News

Kenney Family News

2010 was a pretty exciting year for the Kenney Family. January started off with the birth of our ninth child, Matthew, who is better known as “Mamu.” He was nicknamed by Jada who was just over a year old at the time of his birth and who couldn’t say “Matthew.” The name just stuck. In May, Amy was hit by a car while cycling and lived. :) Thank goodness for helmets and angels! We had a crazy fun summer in July and August seeing nearly every local attraction from Snowbird to Burston Ponds rope swings with a family friend that was visiting. In September, the family, minus Aura and Christian, who had school, spent a week in Kauai. It was beautiful! Jada falls asleep many nights looking at a photo book of our trip. Shawn especially longs to return. By inspiration, we moved out of our house in October of 2009 and rented another home nearby. After remodeling our vacant house and preparing it for sale, we were inspired to move back into it in October of 2010. It seems we are still getting settled. We had a great holiday season as we were able to carry out a long planned and big surprise for Aura’s 18th birthday this year. Her best friend came for a visit and we again had a great local vacation sledding, skiing, snowmobiling and relaxing at Crystal Hot Springs.

Current News:

“Stand Strong,” the movie we made in 2009 was just picked up for distribution and will be released in Septemer 2011! We are preparing to film another movie in May. We are also working diligently to pay off our house in preparation to serve a mission as a family in three years.


Shawn is still working hard as the broker/owner of North Star Realty and is working on launching several other new businesses. He has been enjoying outdoor winter activities with the family and enjoys taking us on all the outdoor adventures he loves. He and Christian are currently working on mastering kite boarding. Up until Amy’s surgery, he was winter cycling outside with her. He loves setting goals and working toward achieving them. He was also just asked to be the presenting speaker at a Blue and Gold Banquet for scouting on an outdoor adventure and goal setting topic.

Amy just had a shoulder surgery to correct ligament and bone damage caused in the bike/car accident and will be wearing a sling through the end of April. All her cycling is now indoors on a winter trainer. Perhaps Shawn will set up the trainer on the deck a few times for some outdoor rides. :) She is working on the writing and details of the next movie during early morning and late night hours and is busy with the kids and their activities and schooling the rest of the time. Well, she does sleep too. She enjoys preparing and teaching the New Testament Sunday School lessons for the 15 yr.old class along with Shawn. She also loves studying the Book of Mormon, temple trips, and date night with Shawn.



Kenney Kids

Aura (18) is a full time student at Salt Lake Community College working on her general studies. She is taking 17 credit hours this semester. She just applied to transfer to BYU. We are waiting to hear if she was accepted. Please keep her in your prayers! She is in the second year of a business she started, teaching ballet and jazz dance to girls age 4-10. She is still dancing, singing, and enjoying all sorts of outdoor sports. She is a huge help with her younger siblings and a great example to them. She is very wise, loving and compassionate and consequently has many friends of all ages. She loves the gospel and sharing her testimony. She plans to serve a mission as soon as she is old enough. She has grown into a beautiful lady inside and out. She will be sorely missed when she goes away for school! We hope she gets into BYU Provo so she can come home lots!

Christian (16) is attending Juan Diego Catholic High School this year. He particularly loves his TV Production, Website Design, and Weight Lifting classes. He hates American Civilizations and Math! He also recently bought a 9.5 meter kite for kite boarding. He has a season pass at Brighton and snowboards every chance he gets. He just got his driver’s license and will be helping with lots of errands and some work through our real estate brokerage. He’s also interviewing along with some friends for a job at a local grocery store. He seemed to have grown about a foot in the past year and is quite a handsome young man. He is very fun, witty, and has many brilliant and inventive ideas for businesses and inventions. He is skilled at cinematography, everything outdoors, and working with his hands (definitely got this from his dad, and not from his mother.) One fun past time he enjoys is providing funny and witty responses to “yahoo questions” which is a public forum where people pose questions of all sorts and choose the best answer for their topic. He uses an alias and loves responding. His responses are often voted “best.” He is hilarious!


Sierra (14) is an amazing artist with a flair for interior design. She painted three of her bedroom walls different solid colors, and the fourth wall a tedious and complicated horizontal stripe pattern. She even had to “fix” the pattern when Noah took to the wall with a paintbrush. It looks great and fun with the clear beads she has hanging from the ceiling too! She loves to draw, sing, ride her dirt bike, play with her brothers and sisters, listen to music, do word puzzles, make things, and stay up all night. She is sensitive, funny, happy, smart, and very beautiful. She loves animals and has been begging for a dog or a horse. Aura is allergic to both, so the answer has always been “no.” She was very glad to move back to our house and be close to her best friend, Ashley again. She is looking forward to attending girls’ camp, Trek, which is a pioneer simulation, and EFY, which is a weeklong church youth activity, this summer.


Ethan (12) is a hard worker and is helpful from everything from babysitting to house and yard work. He enjoys Knights of Freedom which is a boys’ book club, scouting, playing with his brothers and sisters and friends, and going to work with Shawn. He is very wise and likes thinking and talking about gospel subjects. He has a quirky sense of humor and is constantly entertaining us with his impressions and zany dance moves. He was just ordained a Deacon and will begin passing the Sacrament this Sunday! He is very excited about that and to finally be old enough to attend the temple with his elder siblings.

Elijah (8) was so excited to be baptized in June. He attends Knights of Freedom with Ethan and also enjoys scouting, dirt biking, swimming, hiking, nature, outdoor adventures, playgrounds and waterslides. He is a nature lover with a very gentle heart. He loves having fun and will suffer through chores and school quickly to get to play. He has a fun and easygoing personality that is very enjoyable to be around. The little kids love him! He has a ton of energy and loves running, jumping and chasing. He is looking forward to starting soccer in March.

Dara (7) loves to draw, read, write, attend church, and do math. She loves learning and is an eager student. She attends a girls’ book and activity club called Liberty Girls where she learns many handicraft skills. She loves playing with her brothers and sisters. She takes good care of Noah, Jada and Matthew and is a great helper from babysitting to doing chores in the home and yard. She, like Sierra, Aura, Jada, and her mother is a late nighter who just thinks and works better after 9 PM!

Noah (4) loves coloring, playing with legos, drawing, listening to stories, playing in the sink with Jada, destroying things to see how they work, teaching Matthew, playing in his sisters’ makeup and nail polish, and asking questions all day long. He is definitely inquisitive and is always asking “why” and “what about…” He is fun and friendly, but also has a very serious and brooding side. He thinks a lot and makes some really interesting and wise observations. He has asked to learn to play the piano. We only have keyboards, so it looks like we are getting a piano soon. It can’t be emphasized enough how much he enjoys playing in nail polish and has a knack for finding it wherever it is hidden!

Jada (2) is the spitting image resemblance of Amy as a toddler. Her big blonde curls are the same “fraz-ma-taz” mop Amy’s were at that age. She is very independent and smart. She, Noah and Matthew spend their days exploring and playing together. She is very expressive and makes the best faces when explaining things, or just to get a laugh. She is essentially Noah’s conscience. We often hear her saying “No Noah!” throughout the day. Too bad her warnings are often too late. There is currently a nail polish mess on Noah’s hands and in the master bedroom closet that will take a miracle to get off.

Matthew (1) Mamu is the happiest baby ever. Not only does he follow all the kids around laughing at their antics, he belly laughs in his sleep. He is very sweet and cute and adored by everyone. He loves mashed potatoes and gravy, yogurt and oatmeal. He went through an applesauce stage where that was nearly all he would eat. He must have overdosed on it because now he won’t have anything to do with it. He is very small, wiry and agile and capable overall. He climbs shelves and chairs and it is common to find him up on the table. He loves dancing to music and has great rhythm. He follows Noah and Jada wherever they go. He can't walk yet, but he's got great climbing and jumping skills!

We’d love to hear what you are doing! Call, write, or stop by anytime!

We love you!

Love,
Shawn
Amy
Aura
Christian
Sierra
Ethan
Elijah
Noah
Jada
Matthew