Thanksgiving 2009 ~ Laughter & Tears

Hopefully I can get this little video of joy to upload... cross your fingers! :)



Eli's laughter and love helped us through a bit of our sorrow...
the sorrow of losing our own QUEEN of laughter!! :(

But this afternoon and evening we, together with almost the entire Juarez/Siguenza/Lopez family, had the privilege of celebrating Giny's courageous life - in the very ways she had asked us to: Graveside Service, then good Guate food, music & memory sharing, fun stories told by her big brothers - filmed for Peter, Cristina, & Andrei - who were surrounded by love, both given and received.




PS: Elise was one of the few who couldn't come - she was in the process of giving birth for the first time! And thanks to text technology, soon after we returned to Provo tonight, we saw a first photo of her healthy, beautiful boy, just moments after he was born...
So all in all, today has been a 'circle of life' kind of celebration.

I HEART MAYA

SEAN's SWEET SURPRISE!!

We walked in from Haycock's and what did we see?
...SEAN at home, unexpectedly!

We all grabbed an armful, and what a treat!
Big bear hugs and laughs so sweet!

He had a careful plan,* and so it came to be -
...Sean's home tonight unexpectedly!

Of course, the BEST part of the entire surprise was that we no longer had to wait until the next day to enjoy having him back home!

* Plan orchestrated and executed by Sean, along with Olivia's complete cooperation and participation; including, but not limited to, tampered mail, PhotoShopped Flight Plans, and a trip to SL airport.

A special thanks to Ben for filming Olivia's tricks, the airport arrival, and our shocked/delighted reactions... Priceless!

HEAR YE, HEAR YE!

just click here if you haven't already seen my Elder Sean Marco 'Juarez-Ord' is almost home post :)

oh, nein!

I really wanted to post 9 photos just as soon as we took them... A memory moment worth documenting for sure, because at precisely 9:09 pm there were 9 of us in Rm 9, - having just enjoyed 9 little activities, 9 little treats, and 9 fun facts about #9 and / or 09/09/09 day!! Then as soon as I got home I spent a bit of time with my 9 year old before he gave me 9 goodnight kisses. And by 9:59 pm I was at the Post Office mailing a few notes I'd collected from a few parents that listed "9 Things I Like About You" - (for their daughters) and I wanted to be sure they were postmarked on 09/09/09!

Sadly, once I got home and tried to pull even 9 photos from the camera, I had 9 times more technical difficulties than usual ... (newer HC SD card, etc) - But it was finally worth the effort, as was the activity.

09/09/09

I won't list all 9 activities and facts, because i couldn't even remember them by 9 am the next morning, but here are a few:

We all grabbed "For The Strength of Youth" booklets and quickly found 9 letter words - 9 of them, to be exact! We tried to remember our 9th birthdays, and we listed 9 of our favorite things as well as 9 things we want to do before we die. Of course we also sang a song on a page ending in 09 - we even stood up every 9 beats while singing, just for fun.

Good times, good times... we all got totally into it. In fact, originally there were 4 out of our 5 Beehives there, (hey 4+5=9) 2 leaders, and 1 welcomed Mia Maid. But by 9 pm many others had stopped by for a treat and a laugh as they headed home. Magically, 2 ended up staying w/ us until our 9:09 pm goal - and then one of them said, "Hey there are 9 of us still here!" -- How cool is that?

-OK, so now- does anyone have any ideas for future lower-key Wednesday night activities? Please send them my way! The girls still need to plan Nov and Dec... or in other words, the last 9 weeks of 2009!

PS: BTW, at 10:09, right after the PO, for a split second, the KoKing and I thought we'd head to WalMart to buy this on its opening day of sales, but quickly decided, nein way! That deserves a day and a post of its own, don't you think?

As promised!

-- good things come to those who wait for me to have a moment to upload and post my photos:

drumroll please...

I opened my laptop, clicked around, and i kid you not, 10 minutes later...

Thank you google's picasa - Don't you just love user friendly, reliable free software? (some year i may even be ready for the big time... you know, photoshop on one of the MAC's around here).

PS: the silly pose with the hand on the chin is mimicking a girl in line right by us at the movies a couple of weeks ago - remind me to post one of KOKI in the same pose!

monday's mandarin missionary memo

"I want to ask you to pray for me this week as I meet with the Mandarin-speaking potential investigators. Pray specifically that I'll be able to communicate clearly the doctrines, that the Spirit will testify, and that we will understand their concerns and be able to help them resolve them.

Thanks! :¬)
-ecmj"