The book is titled "Les Go," which comes from their personalized license plate that has come to represent them. The phrase so beautifully describes how they live their lives. In her dedication about the book, she described it this way, "From my earliest days, I have always loved to go. My mother would say, “If the car is going somewhere, Ann will be in it, even if it is only going to the barn!” This book is the compilation of my experiences through the journey of life. My thanks to my daughter, Judy Garner, for encouraging me to write my life history and to Sarah Christensen Hill for helping me organize my thoughts."
I knew this book would be a lot of work, but I didn't realize how much I would gain from the journey. I compiled the memories she had already written, and to fill in gaps, I also had her record answers to questions that I asked her. As I spent many hours writing, transcribing, compiling, editing, proofreading, and adding pictures, I was blessed in many ways. First, I came to have such a great love for my great-grandparents that I never met. Aunt Ann is the oldest of my dad's siblings, so she grew up with them and had many memories of them. It was a treasure to be able to feel close to those amazing people who did so much to keep our family on the gospel path. I also gained a whole new love for Aunt Ann and the amazing woman she is. Her words and testimony strengthened mine. She has read the Book of Mormon every day for the last 28 years! That is truly an inspiration. She is also a friend to the friendless and an example of pure love.
As October approached, I was done with all the major work that I needed to do. Formatting the book for print took longer than I thought, but I felt good about our progress. Aunt Ann and Judy really wanted to get the books out in time for Christmas, so I knew we had a deadline to shoot for.
We went through Lulu.com publishing like I had done with my previous book because I knew the system and because I was pleased with the final results. This time, however, it seemed like we ran up against problem after problem. The first proof copy was delayed 10 days longer than expected because of problems at the printing facility. Then Aunt Ann found some mistakes and wanted some changes, so we had to print a new proof copy. By this time, we were starting to run into the holiday season, so things were taking three times longer to print than normal. What should have taken 3-5 business days to print was now taking 15+ business days.
At the end of November, I knew we had a big problem. I called the company multiple times asking about the progress of our order, but every time I was told that they were experiencing major delays because of high holiday volume. I was feeling so guilty that I had not gotten the project done sooner and now Aunt Ann wouldn't get the book in time to give it for Christmas presents. Judy kept telling me that it was okay, but I knew we were all sorely disappointed. I prayed every night that somehow this book would make it in time.
In order to guarantee that the order would come before Christmas, Lulu said that we had to order by December 8th. December 8th came and went. The pit in my stomach grew bigger and bigger. After almost a month in production, the proof copy finally came! It looked great, but it was just too late. We resigned ourselves to getting it after Christmas, but we still quickly went ahead with the big order (60 books and $1600). That was on December 12th. I found a special code that got us 20% off and another one that got us 1 day shipping for cheaper than regular shipping, so at least that was nice.
Knowing how long books were taking to print, I was pretty sure that they wouldn't make it in time, but I continued to check my email daily, hoping to get a notification that the order had somehow shipped. On the morning of December 21st, the Friday before Christmas, Judy called and asked if I had heard anything. I checked again, and let her know that nothing had changed. She decided that they were just going to print off a picture of the cover of the book to give to everyone for Christmas, with the promise that it would be there shortly. It would be fine, but not the magical Christmas that I knew they were hoping for.
After our conversation, I said one last prayer, this time asking for a miracle. We had put so much time and energy into this project, and I knew how important it was for their family. Maybe I didn't deserve a miracle, but I knew that Aunt Ann did! That afternoon, I received a notification that the order had shipped! When I read it, I immediately dropped to my knees and said a prayer of thanks and cried my eyes out because of the joy and relief.
I then took a picture of the notification saying that the books would arrive on December 24th and sent it to Judy. Her response was "Glory, Hallelujah." My heart was overcome with gratitude to Heavenly Father, and I received yet another confirmation that the hand of the Lord was present in my life.
The next day as we were driving to Idaho for Christmas, I got another notification saying that the package had already been delivered. Not only had it surprisingly shipped at the last possible moment, but it arrived earlier than expected so that Aunt Ann had 2 days to write in each of the books and wrap them in time for Christmas. It was another beautiful, tender mercy.
Even though the last few months ended up being stressful, I felt enriched and blessed to be able to do this project. I am so proud of what we did and thrilled that everything turned out so great. Judy and Aunt Ann were so grateful and happy with the end result. During the holiday party at my parent's home, they brought copies of the book and gave them to everyone. My heart swelled with joy. It was a very merry Christmas, indeed.
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