“Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” Yes. Without a doubt. God lives. He loves us and He hears our prayers, however small and insignificant our desires and needs may seem. Yesterday morning I prayed for a miracle so that my husband would be able to purchase BYU tickets for our family. I knew it was a long shot to come up with $732 but I walk by faith and I truly believed that Heavenly Father would help me find a way to get the tickets. Sacrificing our BYU love sac by posting it for sale on Cougarboard was difficult for me. But I quickly learned that sacrifices bring blessings. I witnessed the windows of Heaven being opened as your generous donations came in one after another. Now we don’t even have to sell the love sac! Last night I saw immense joy and hope in my husband for the first time in many months. You would have thought he was watching an intense BYU game because he could hardly sit still as he continually updated the family on how much money Cougarboarders had donated for our BYU tickets. When we reached our goal, I sat in bed crying. My heart was full and I was reminded once again that God does answer our prayers. I knelt in gratitude as I expressed my thanks before drifting off to sleep.

This morning as I was getting the kids ready for school, my husband showed me the updated gofundme amount. Throughout the night, it had grown even more! I was blown away to see such generosity. I’m still in shock. How can we possibly pay you all back? The only thing I can think of is paying it forward (Alma 41:15). Though things are tight right now, I have faith that we will get back on our feet. In fact, I am hereby committing to provide a “Provogirl Football Tickets Award” each year (beginning in 2016) for a fellow Cougarboarder who has experienced an extreme hardship and will otherwise not be able to obtain football tickets. I’m totally serious! When my kids grow up, they won’t have memories of hanging out at a family cabin or going on lavish vacations but they will have memories of attending BYU football games as a family. And those are priceless memories. Thank you for keeping that family tradition alive this year through your generous donations!

I know this is long but I just want to share some thoughts about Cougarboard. My husband has been a member of CB since its infancy. I will be the first to admit that at times I have felt like CB was “The other woman”. Sometimes I resented the time he spent on CB. Then my friend’s husband cheated on her and left her and her two kids. It turns out he was addicted to pornography. His horrible addiction devastated his beautiful family. Suddenly my perspective on CB completely changed. My husband works hard everyday and he is entitled to some downtime in the evenings. Now if I see he’s on CB (and I can always see what he’s doing on his computer or phone because we have no secrets to hide), I feel relief because I would much rather have my husband spending time on CB than looking at pornography. I hope your wife can also have this perspective (and I also hope you aren’t addicted to CB because some guys probably are). Fortunately my husband makes sure the kids and I get his undivided attention each day. I hope you also take time to truly spend quality time with your wife and kids.

I will admit that over the years I wondered how Cougarboard could hold so much interest for my husband. True, he is a die-hard BYU fan with every BYU sport, every season, year round – even during the rough years he stays true blue. He’s no fair-weathered fan. But over the years he has helped me realize that CB is much more than a place for people to discuss BYU sports. CB is a great source for news and world events (It was through CB that we first learned of the safe return of Elizabeth Smart). Cougarboarders have provided countless wonderful suggestions for great TV shows and movies on Netflix (our primary source of entertainment). Through CB we’ve found great places to eat, amazing pizza deals, and we have saved a lot of money since my husband cut the cord on satellite and purchased an HD antenna (fortunately we can airplay many BYU games). My husband frequently shares posts with me. What a great source of wholesome entertainment CB is! When we have questions about the quality of a product or the integrity of a company or business, I remind him to go ask on CB. You influence our lives and the choices we make. We appreciate your opinions and suggestions.

Last night my appreciation for CB grew even more. Incredibly generous members contacted me about sharing their football tickets with us; inspired members suggested a gofundme account and we’ve been blown away with the extraordinary amount of money that has been donated to our family. I’ve always thought of CB as a group of mostly anonymous BYU fans whose associations were great on the surface but not very deep. Then when I read Buzzard’s last post, my heart almost broke. I’m willing to bet that many of you will be attending Buzzard’s funeral. He is your friend and your brother. I realize now that CB is made up of an amazing “Band of Brothers” (as well as a some awesome sisters). You really do know each other and care about each other. Last night as my husband told me about the legendary TNT, the inside jokes with Bill at Kubla Khan, etc. I was finally introduced to my husband’s CB friends. Though you don’t hang out with my husband, you do come into our home each day. You entertain my husband with your great sense of humor, your uplifting posts, and your spiritual insights. I have really struggled this past year with the many trials that have come our way. I even fell into a deep depression which thankfully I’m finally coming out of. I’ve been concerned that my husband might completely lose it and punch a hole in the wall or have a midlife crisis in having to deal with some of the awful things that our children have faced. Yet he has remained strong through it all. I realize now that you are a big part of the reason he’s endured so well through these storms. Thank you for being there for my husband and each other. I will never forget everything you’ve done for my family!

El Jefe, you were truly inspired in creating Cougarboard! Thank you!


P.S. MulletYno, I am not “the” Provo Girl - lol