Dear Severin,

Yesterday I watched you out my window trying to knock one of your swings out of a tree with a stick. You were all boy, with no sense of any danger when the stick didn't work, as you leapt from the ladder and tried to pull it down by the rope. Then you broke the stick into several pieces as you hit it against a pole. You remind me so much of your dad at your age, in looks and in manner. Like your dad you are also kind and gentle, and have a keen sense of right and wrong. These are wonderful traits in anyone and I feel very pleased to see these traits in you. Your mom told me that when people ask you what you want to be when you grow up, you tell them you want to be a dad. What a tribute that is to your dad. There is no more important calling you will have in life than that of a dad.

As you know, you are named after Severin Roberts, your great great great grandfather. He was the father of sixteen children! He and his family lived in a farm house in Frenchtown, Montana and since he was a carpenter, as the family grew he just kept adding on to the house. That house is still there today. Did you also know that he actually married his step sister? When he was young, his father died and his future wife's mother died, so his mother married his future wife's father. According to the 1880 census, they were living in the same house in Quebec. They were married in 1884. The last of their sixteen children died in 2006 at the age of 103!

In less than a year you will be ordained to the priesthood. What a wonderful day that will be. It is a big responsibility for a twelve-year-old boy to hold the priesthood, but Heavenly father has great faith in you and will surround you with many older boys and men (primarily your dad) who will teach and help you as you learn all you need to know to hold the Melchizedek priesthood and serve a mission. I know that many priesthood holders from past generations in your family will also be watching and cheering you on. I didn't have the priesthood in my home when I was growing up, so it was an amazing and wonderful gift to have that power in my home when I married Grampa. Do you know what your great grandfather told Grampa when he ordained Grampa to the Aaronic priesthood? He told them that he couldn't hit his sisters anymore because priesthood holders need to respect and be kind to girls and women. So there is your first challenge as a priesthood holder!

Severin, you are a great young man will a kind heart and a keen desire for knowledge. I am proud to be your grandma and I love you very much.

More than you know,

Gramma