Jason and Calista Choate

Jason and Calista Choate are one of the couples in Oklahoma that we won't forget. We love them. I'm not sure when our friendship with them started. I think it was when they moved just a few miles away from us. We used to stop at their house on our three mile walk.

We have a tradition that isn't really a tradition because we have only done it a few times but at Christmas time we like to choose a family that has shown Christ-like love and invite them to our house for dinner. We give them a gift and tell them how much we appreciate their example. The hope is that by finding people that display Christ-like qualities, our children will think more about the real purpose of Christmas. Jason and Calista were one of the families we chose.

I think we calculated that they have watched Diamond for us for about 30 days since we've had him! That is a lot of dog-watching. When we had the ice storm that knocked our power out and heat and hot water for a week, Jason and Calista were the first people to show up at our door. When I opened the door I found them with a thermos of hot water for chocolate milk and tools in hand to scrape my van. They lent us a lantern and offered to have us stay at their house even though they already had other people staying there. They fed us dinner one night and let us come take showers.

When we had our four year anniversary the Choates came to our house and watched the kids overnight while we went to a cottage. Then again, when my water broke at 2 AM, they came to our house to watch the boys even though Calista was pregnant and sick.

Jason and Calista often visit us and we have spent New Years Eve with them the last two years. They have been kicked out of our house many, many times by Mike (remember he kicks people out all the time?) and never get offended (at least pretend not to be offended). We love and appreciate them. They have been examples of service and selflessness to us since we've known them. We know if we ever needed anything we could call them at any time and I think anyone in our ward would say the same about them. They are wonderful parents and the spirit is obvious in their home. We feel very blessed to be friends with them.