Una Noche en Jerusalen

Tonight our Primary had our Christmas activity. Instead of having the traditional Christmas party with Santa, we decided to celebrate with "Una Noche en Jerusalen", or A Night in Jerusalem. I have nothing against Santa of course (he's all over this house along with snowmen, reindeer & gingerbread men)but this year we wanted the kids to really remember the reason for the season: Christ the Savior's birth.

We had authentic food, learned a celebration dance, wrote our names in Hebrew (couldn't find one in Aramic) and finished off the night with the Nativity film. It was beautiful! We had a great time learning about the culture that surrounded the time of Christ's birth. We asked that everyone come dressed in clothing that reflected our activity and to make it easier for our families, we provided all the material and invited people to come and make their clothes this past Wednesday. I am no seamstress but I loved making the boys their clothes. As you can see, Dan opted not to dress up. He never does! Oh well, he's always there helping and participating. Anyhow, it was a great night! Roman Palacios painted our beautiful background. So many people contributed to making it a very special night. It was a nice way to keep our focus on Christ and get the kids excited about relating to it.

Soy Adriana y soy una hija de Dios

I have been terrible not to post anything lately but it has been insane around here again. We've had tons going on and deadlines every week so it's just been difficult to find time for blogging.

Anyhow, the big news from this Primary Pres is that our ward just had our Primary Sacrament Presentation this past Sunday. It went sooooooooooooo wonderfully! That Sunday is always my favorite of the year; the kids are so sweet and I love our sunbeams who either barely whisper or scream into the mic with spit flying everywhere. It was a great presentation and confirmation of how important it is to raise our little children up in righteousness and God's love. This year the Primary theme was "I am a Child of God." What an amazing truth to grow up with! During this season of thanksgiving I am so thankful to have that sentence be a testimony and light I can always count on.

All the kids did a great job but now I'll brag about my boys. Eric did a great job. Every year he has his assigned part memorized right after receiving it. This year his part was very long and included reciting the 4th Article of Faith. He had it written out just in case he forgot it. He didn't need it but I have to say that I am so pleased with how well he reads in Spanish! He is so natural and reads just as well in Spanish as he does in English. For an 8 year old kid I think it's brilliant. Peter did a great job too. He is always super eager as he bounds up towards the microphone and then pauses to make sure all eyes are on him and then in his booming (for a 6 year old) voice delivers his lines with such dramatic conviction. He always gets a couple of chuckles because he always has a "moment". And then there is my precious Ben, who loves to wear Mr.Roger-style cardigan sweaters and perfectly parts his hair to look like he says a "mush-a-na-wee" or missionary. This little boy invited his entire kindergarten class to come and watch the Primary Program and had practiced his lines over and over in front of the mirror. Of course he did a great job. I am always humbled by his sweet spirit and I know that our Heavenly Father appreciates his diligence and obedience. I feel so thankful to have such good examples to follow.

En español

Bueno ya son muchas personas que me dicen que ya no van a leer el blog porque nunca escribo en español. La verdad es muy sencilla: como apenas puedo bloguear de vez un cuando en ingles, ya imagínate en español- cuando tengo que pensar. ; )

Pero bueno tienen razón, debería de, entonces aquí esta.

Como mas que nada son hermanas del Barrio les quiero dar las gracias por apoyar la actividad del viernes. Creo que fue todo un éxito!

Yo estaba tan ocupada con el juego que no pude sacar fotos esa noche pero si alguien me las quiere pasar los puedo poner aquí. Por cierto estamos pensando hacer un blog para el Barrio Delta- Stockton, ya que muchos barrios lo hacen y es una forma de mantener todos en contacto durante la semana. Ya veremos si hay mas interés porque con una o dos personas no seria tan fácil pero con mas si se va poder hacer.

Baptism

It's been a little crazy around here this week. Ben is doing great. He is such a champion that the difficult thing these days is keeping this guy relaxed and in bed. He wants to do everything; ride his bike, swim and play sports. He can't yet but will be able to soon enough. June 20th we go back to remove the catheter he has in place and check the stoma. The other boys are all fine as well. Eric Daniel is doing well. He had his last baseball game last Saturday and today started piano lessons back up. He enjoys piano and voice but nothing like baseball, I on the other hand, enjoy the 45 minute lessons compared to the 2 1/2 hour ball games.

Anyhow, since my last blog was dedicated to Ben I realized that I skipped over Eric's birthday/baptism. Here he is with Dan in the morning. Life is so crazy with these 4 guys. We have suits hanging in their closet but since I usually buy 4 of exactly the same thing it's sometimes hard to figure out whose is who's. Well that happened that day when I look over at Eric and notice that he did not gel his hair and then notice that he is wearing Peter's suit! I of course reminded myself to stay calm- I had some mousse in the van and maybe no one would notice his short sleeves and the slight floods. The important thing was to stay focused and remember the reason for the celebration. Well, it ended up being a very beautiful and spirit filled day and I even forgot about his hair. The party half of the day went well, despite the fact that the day was balmy and gray at 56 degrees. I had reserved the pavilion outside and had lots of water games planned since it had been about 85 most of the week. Oh well, everyone who came came with a great attitude so we had a fun time despite the weather.




Daniel , Eric and Obispo Emmet. These guys changed so quickly that I didn't even get a picture of them in their baptismal clothes!

A very nice unexpected surprise was that my cousin Rosaura was baptized the same day as Eric! That definitely added to our happiness!