Nathanael was transferred from Rancagua, Chile to Paine, Chile. Apparently, Paine is known for their watermelon. It is summer there right now and he mentions how hot is is right now. However, he seems to be really happy in this new area. One recent baptism is a man who lived in Naples, Italy for 15 years and then returned back to his home in Chile. It was kind of a neat connection because Travis served in Naples on his mission. On January 30th, Nat hit his "bump" day. He has been serving for six months. I am so grateful for his willingness to serve his Heavenly Father. Every picture he sends, he seems so happy- which is what happens when you are serving the Lord.
Lindsay Kaye started the new year finishing her second quarter well and beginning a new semester. She is really enjoying her foods class and we both cannot believe that she is half-way through her Junior year in high school. Lindsay asked a friend to Girls' Preference. She was thrilled to be able to go with a really good group of kids. For their day date, they did a "murder mystery" where each person was assigned a character from history. Lindsay was assigned to be Marie Antoinette. We only had a few days to come up with a costume and everything was too expensive or would not make it in time. We decided that my wedding dress is close to that style. Also, I was not able to find a wig and so I went on line and watched several tutorials on how to do a Marie Antoinette hairstyle. I thought that she looked pretty good considering the amount of time we had to come up with a costume. She seemed to have a good time. Later, the group had a "Cafe Rio" type dinner at a dear friend's Grandmother's house. Lindsay told me that the dinner was really good. The group then went to the dance and back to her friend's Grandmother's home for games and dessert. Lindsay had a really good time and just felt very grateful to be part of the group that she was in.
Ethan also has new classes this semester. Like Lindsay, he is taking a foods class. He really wants to go into something food-related and so we have encouraged him to take foods classes as well as business classes. He is also taking musical theater this semester and they are doing the musical, "Shrek". At the end of the month, Ethan turned 14 years old!!! He had his friends come over for a late night. They had pizza, played board games, and then watched a movie. They seemed to have a lot of fun playing the games. We heard them laughing and talking and just enjoying themselves. We then went the next day as a family to Pantrucas for lunch. Pantrucas is an authentic Chilean restaurant. The food was delicious and we had a wonderful time as a family.
Clarissa started play rehearsal for the school play. She is excited about being Cousin Mary and loves the rehearsals. She also has been practicing and getting ready for the next feis. At the beginning of January, the children meet with Travis and I and come up with new goals for the year. Everyone tries to come up with a couple of goals in different areas such as learning and education, hobbies, physical, spiritual, social etc. I have noticed that Clarissa has really taken her goals to heart this year and has been such a good example of following through.
Zachary turned 5 years old!!! I can't believe that my baby is 5 and will be going to kindergarten in the fall. We celebrated by having a dinosaur party with his friends and then a dinosaur cake with our extended families. I guess after having done parties for several years now, you really become experienced and Zac's party seemed to go really well and the boys seemed to have a lot of fun. When they arrived, they got to "dig" in some kinetic sand for little dinosaurs. We then went downstairs and played "Don't Eat Rex!" which I had made with dinosaur stickers. Then the boys played "Hot Dino Egg" and then we tied balloons to their ankles and they had to "stomp" and try to pop the others' balloons. The last one with a balloon on his ankle won. However, Ethan ended up "stomping" on the boys' balloons because the boys were having a hard time popping the balloons. Of course, the boys LOVED running from Ethan. The last activity was a dinosaur pinata (the only thing that Zachary requested). Finally, they gave Zac his gifts and then had dinosaur cookies for the treat. Zac is already talking about what he wants to do for his birthday next year-oh Zac!!!!
One of our traditions that we like to do is go sledding on the first day of the new year- providing there is snow. We did have some snow this year and were able to go sledding. Zachary was even brave enough to go down a few times. Afterward, we came home and had hot chocolate. It was a great start to the new year.
My "moment of joy" was when we were driving home from eating at Pantrucas for Ethan's birthday. I was thinking about Nathanael having been serving for six months and how grateful I am for his decision to serve a mission and the growth that I have seen in him so far. I then started thinking about Ethan turning 14 and how grateful I am that he is turning into such a great young man. This thought led me to think about Lindsay, Clarissa, and Zachary and how grateful I am for who they are and the choices that they are making and the people that they are turning into. I then thought about how grateful I am for Travis. I could not have asked for a better father for my children. He is truly a wonderful husband and father and we are so lucky to have him leading our family. We were listening to some uplifting music and a feeling of gratitude and joy just washed over me.
Happy New Year!
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