something good to watch

Like most of you, watching General Conference from my couch is basically my weekend agenda.  But once conference is over, there's something else I think you all should watch.  Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC (Sunday 8/7c).

Seriously.

Because I know for a fact that it's a good one.  I know this because we got special permission to watch the show before it airs on Sunday.  (I'm feeling really special and important about it, actually.  "Watching special episodes of tv before the general public see it" is first on my list to world domination.)

Sunday's episode of EM:HE is about a 7 year old boy named Jonah Gomez and his family.

Jonah has two unique blood disorders - the only known child in the world with this condition.  He has to have frequent blood transfusions and daily oxygen just to survive until they can find a bone marrow donor that is a match.  And did you know that it's extremely difficult to find bone marrow matches?   (I didn't realize that before watching the show.)

I don't want to give the whole show away, so here's just some of my favorite parts:

• Jonah loves soccer and waterfalls and gets both in his new house.

• They live in Utah (kind of, sort of, not that far away from me, actually...not that we shop at the same grocery store or anything, but we briefly considered moving to the neighborhood where their new house was built, so basically you could almost say we're best friends with the Gomez family).

• Everyone on EM:HE team up with A Better Community and Real Salt Lake (and a bunch of other soccer teams) to convince TONS and TONS and TONS of people to test for bone marrow matches.  And it was so amazing that I almost cried, even though I have a heart of ice (this is a big deal, I assure you).

• There is a slide strategically placed in the house they build, and I'm not going to tell you where, or how, or anything other than I'm supremely excessively jealous of said slide.

• Jonah and his mom and sister are really happy upbeat people.  Even before the new house.  Which amazes me, because at our house, someone gets a hangnail and world almost ends, so I can't even imagine my 7 year old having 65 blood transfusions and being hospitalized over 20 times and still being happy people.  (Possibly that's something we should work on?  First step- taking lessons from the Gomez family.)


• Ty Pennington promised to come and build me a house if you all watch the show.  Really.  Ok, FINE, not really.  I don't think we'll ever be on that show, mostly because of that hangnail-world-ending attitude I mentioned, and also because all we have are hangnails and not horrible disorders that could kill us (THANKFULLY), but mostly because I don't do that screaming/jumping thing when I get excited.  And my monotone exclamations of "whooo, yay, this is great," don't make for good tv, no matter how heartfelt my "whooo's" are.  (It's ok, Ty, you can just come over and bring me popcorn or brownies or something instead.)

So anyways, you really should watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Sunday evening (8/7c).  Or tivo it.  Or even record it on your VCR if that's what you like to do.  Because it really really REALLY is a good one, I promise.  Except make sure you have tissues handy for that amazingly touching part I told you about.  And also, you're going to want the web address for A Better Community after it's over so that you can find out how to become a bone marrow donor too.

P.S. We did not get paid to write this post, just so you know.  But we were asked to watch the show early and write a review.  So, someday, when I've finally achieved world domination I will owe EM:HE a thankyou card for helping me successfully accomplish step one on my list.