Nathanael has reached his eighteen month mark of his mission! He was transferred recently from Talca to Buin. His time in Talca was the shortest that he has been in one area on his mission. I think that he really enjoyed his time in Talca but he was looking forward to some new experiences in Buin. He has visited Buin before when he was assigned to Paine, so he is already familiar with the city. Before his mission, I suggested that he purchase something for his future wife from Chile so that there is a small connection to him from this very important part of his life. He actually remembered that advice and purchased a beautiful necklace that includes stones that are mined in that country. Because the stones are mined there, he was able to get a really good deal. Nat continues to work hard and is so very happy. He feels that the weeks are just flying by and time marches on.
Lindsay's Senior year is definitely flying by showing me that time continues to march on. Earlier in the month she attended her final Girls Preference dance. She went with a young man that she gets along with really well. She looked stunning in her dress. For the day date, they went to a place in which they jumped on trampoline's, jumped into foam pits, swung on ropes etc. They had a really great time. Then they had dinner at a friend's home, took pictures, went to the dance, and ended the night with dessert at another friend's home. She was glad that she went and is trying to enjoy the last months of high school. Lindsay also participated in the Chamber choir's Masterworks concert. All the Chamber choirs in Alpine school district learn major choral pieces and then come together to perform them in a recital. One of the works that they performed this year was Morten Lauridsen's "Requiem". Both Travis and I have sung that same piece in choirs that we have been and it is actually one of my favorite pieces of all time. I enjoyed the concert very much. I ran into someone that I graduated high school with and it really helped me to realize again that time really does march on.
Ethan celebrated his 15th birthday. I cannot believe how quickly he has grown. We celebrated his birthday by inviting his friends to play futsal, have pizza, and then soak in the hot tub. The boys seemed to have a great time. On Ethan's actual birthday, we went to a Chilean restaurant called Pantrucas for his birthday dinner and Nathanael's 18 month anniversary. The food was delicious as usual. A couple weeks earlier, Travis and Ethan and his soccer team went to Mesquite for a soccer tournament. They had a game their first night and then had a day off and played their final two games after having a day of recovery. His team is playing in a new level and although they competed well, they were only able to win one of their games. I have every confidence that they will work hard and rise to the challenge of playing at a higher level. They are almost there. However, what impressed me the most is that these young men chose to take the day in between games to drive to St. George and perform baptisms for the dead in the St. George temple. They finished the day at a fun center. I am so grateful that Ethan has such great friends. They encourage each other to live their high standards and to be the best they can be on and off the field. Ethan also participated in the Junior High Honor Choir. I spent several hours helping him learn his part and was so pleased to here them perform. The concert was well done and it brought back memories of Nathanael also singing in the Junior High Honor choir. I think Ethan was glad that he was able to participate. Watching Ethan grow physically and emotionally is a huge reminder that time marches on.
Clarissa is becoming so responsible and is growing up too fast. It was the annual science fair in January. Personally, I dread these projects and am always grateful when they are over. However, Clarissa tried to involve me as little as possible and took care of things herself. She came up with her own idea and executed the whole project when Travis and I were out of town. She had seen a website in which your personality was described by your favorite color. Her favorite color is yellow and she said that it was a fairly accurate description of her. Clarissa's science project was in psychology. She created a survey for her classmates and then guessed their favorite colors based on their answers. The students then told her whether or not she guessed correctly and she recorded the results. Her hypothesis was incorrect, she got more wrong than she got right. No matter. I was just pleased that she got it done and received a good grade. We were completely surprised by a phone call telling us to come to the school for an awards ceremony. Clarissa's project was chosen to go on to district. We were told that the judges were extremely impressed with her and could tell that she "owned" the project and the presentation. Her taking on the entire project herself in planning and executing it shows me how quickly she is growing up and that time continues to march on.
Time is indeed marching on. My baby, Zachary, turned 6 years old. He is obsessed with "Star Wars, Clone Wars". His favorite character is Captain Rex because this character does not obey order 66 and joins in fighting against the Empire. So for his birthday party with his friends, we did a "Clone Cadet training". The boys were told to report for duty in their full winter gear because it had snowed so much lately and little boys are very active and need to do physical things. Ethan was their commander and trainer. He did such a great job! The boys look up to him and he knows how to work with kids and what would be fun for them. For the first part of their training, they had to do an obstacle course. They had to swing on the swings for 30 seconds. They they had to climb up the ladder and slide down the slide. Finally, they had to run under the trampoline and then jump around the outside of it and jump off. They did this activity two times-to encourage them to see if they could do it a bit faster the second time. Next, I had bought cheap nerf-like guns for each of them and they did target practice. I had two of my nieces and a nephew staying with us at the time and the girls made an awesome target for this activity-it was much better than what I could have done. My nephew was Ethan's assistant and it worked out well. Finally, the boys used a bucket to build a small barrier in the snow and played a simple version of Capture the Flag. They boys had to work together to defeat their trainer and his assistant (Ethan and my nephew). This was really fun and the boys were so excited to beat Zachary's big brother! Ethan made it challenging but let them be victorious in the end because he is a good big brother. The boys then came in to eat lunch. They had Tie'fighter Pigs in a blanket, grape light-sabers, and blue milk. I know that the food is not from the Clone Wars but the boys ate it up. It was a successful party and I had several moms at church the next day tell me how much fun their boys had.
So my "moment of joy" ended up being a combination of two different situations within the same week. Clarissa had told me that it was a young man's birthday in her class at school. She said that he is a shy boy and doesn't have many friends. She came up with an idea and recruited her teacher and a couple of friends to help. The teacher made sure that this young man went to recess and Clarissa and her friends got the post-it notes and wrote "H-A-P-P-Y etc." on the notes and stuck it to his desk. She said that he seemed very pleased when he saw it and had no idea at all who did it. The next experience came a few days later. Ethan has a friend that has been very ill. He and other his friends thought that it would be a good idea to make her a birthday card. At his birthday late night, Ethan gathered all the supplies for a card and pens of different colors and had all the boys sign it. Wow. These two experiences caused me to reflect on how grateful I am for each of my children and how they are learning to look outside themselves and not just feel compassion for others- but to actually act on those feelings. They are growing up so quickly and time is indeed marching on.....
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