Christmas

Since I have such a wonderful long break I am catching up on the blogging. Holidays seem to be my favorite time to blog. I used to be a daily journal writer but once I got married that kind of stopped so I figure blogging is the next best thing. The idea is to print off the blogs and put them in the journal.
Christmas was so great! All of my sisters were here in Yakima. We all haven't been together in like 3 years since my sister Ashley got married. The day after Christmas we went to the Yakima museum next to Franklin park and had our family pictures taken. Growing up we always went to Sears but now that our family has grown we wouldn't all fit and we wanted something more unique. So a local photgrapher named Kiera Baron took our photos. The museum had some awesome photo ops. I was a little skeptical when I first heard where we were having them taken but we got one of the pics back and it is super cute.
The Sunday before Christmas we celebrated with Thomas' family. He has four siblings and all but two were able to make it to his parents. We had a big dinner and then a dollar store gift exchange. One thing that I really liked that I want to start doing with my side of the family is, everyone brings old books that they have already read and then you put them all in a pile and you can choose some new books to take home. His mom put a Book of Mormon in the pile and the neighbors who came took it!
Thomas worked all day Monday the week of Christmas and only half a day on Tuesday. We went to the dentist to have our teeth cleaned that day. It was wonderful since I haven't been able to since right before the mission. The insurance we have is really great, only a $15 co-pay per visit. We spent a lot of time at my family's house playing games. Christmas eve we all went caroling to neighbors wearing santa hats.
Christmas morning Thomas and I drove over to my parents and we opened presents around nine in the morning. Thomas really spoiled me. He got me as mentioned in a previous post a GPS (he knows I always get lost), and some Ed Hardy perfume, and my first ever diamond necklace. My hunny knows what I like! He also got me one of the Biggest Loser workout DVD's and it rocks. My dad got me all of the Jillian Michael DVD's. Thomas got a new pair of basketball shoes, for church basketball which starts in January, and new church shoes (his were from his mission!), and some lacosste cologne from me. We watched a bunch of movies on Christmas and played lots of games. In my stocking Thomas put this game called Monopoly Deal. He got it cause it's something just 2 people can play together. We are basically addicted. It's a kind of like monopoly but a card version and a little more cutthroat and fast paced.
I have absolutely loved having all this time to spend with Thomas. He is someone I can be around all the time and never get tired of. In fact, the more time I spend with him, the more I crave being around him.
It's also been wonderful being around my sisters this Christmas season. The day after Christmas Thomas and I went out to eat at El Mirador with Ashley and Mike and then saw the movie Sherlock Holmes. Thomas and I were pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I would like to see it a second time when it comes out on video so I can catch some of the things I probably missed on the first viewing. A side note on the movie. It was really packed and we had to sit separate from Ashley and Mike. Well behind us are these Junior High kids just talking so loud making comments trying to be cool. And I understand they probably haven't seen their friends since before Christmas break and they want to be cool but if you want to talk, rent a movie and watch it at home. So finally about 30 minutes into the movie I turn around and in the nicest voice possible I ask "Could you please stop talking? Or just whisper?" Surprisingly the boy was very nice who I was directing my question to and just said yes and was quiet the rest of the movie. Oh, and I smiled after I said that. I didn't want to be one of those mean ladies who tells kids to be quiet but I knew I'd be ticked the whole movie if I didn't say something. I'm totally turning into my mom. lol
Anyways... Christmas was wonderful and made me love my family even more and want to be around them even more. Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Love and family, and how God showed his love to us by sending His Son and making it possible for us to be with our families forever.

Snowboarding

So I've always wanted to learn how to snowboard. This past summer I really started loving wakeboarding. We went out quite a few times with friends who had boats and with the young single adults and I was starting to improve and be able to cross the wake and stay up for a chunk of time. So now that it's winter it is time to do the other kind of boarding!

I borrowed some boots and board from a friend and Thomas had all his own gear. Luckily he had extra pants and gloves and goggles for me to wear. We drove up to White Pass (using my new GPS that he got me for Christmas) and went on the beginner hill. Thomas is such a great teacher. I know that if I were really good I would have just wanted to go to the top of the hill and said "see ya at the bottom". Plus, the snowboard I borrowed wasn't really working out for me the way the bindings were set up so Thomas let me use his board. He is such a nicey. So first he taught me how to go down on my heels and then he taught me to go down on my toes (that was a little trickier since you are going down a hill backwards). Then he taught me to turn and then how to get off the lift. I fell quite a bit and today, the day after, my butt and arms are sore. But it was so much fun!! I loved it. So we are already thinking about getting season passes for next year when we are in Idaho. We have plans to go up again this Friday while we are still on break! So much fun.

On the way home there was an elk feeding station. We stopped for a couple minutes and watched a ton of elk stand around. It was a pretty awesome sight to see like 50+ elk all in one area.

My Kiddies

So in 2005 I was a sophomore in college and not feeling so great about my life. I was tired of thinking of my own problems and worrying about my image, boys, school, work, etc. When I was about 13 years old a girl from church came and gave a little fireside talk to all the youth about her trip to Ecuador to volunteer in orphanages. I remember thinking how I would love to do something like that, I'd always loved kids. Then my freshman year I had a roommate whose sister had done the same thing through OSSO (orphanage support services organization). So after a hard first year of college I decided to get out of my element and try doing some service. During Christmas break of my sophomore year I applied for OSSO. They called me a week or so later and asked if instead of staying for just 3 months , the amount I had signed up for, if I could stay for six and a half months. They needed someone with some spanish speaking ability to be a site coordinator which would mean I would be in charge of making the volunteer schedule, translating, and communicating with the heads of the orphanages. I thought about it for like a day or so and ran it by my parents and then called them back to say I would do it.
I left in May 2006 and was in Quito, Ecuador till November 2006. This was such an amazing time in my life. I still think back on it very fondly every day. Each day I was able to go into orphanages and have little kids run up to me, like I was their favorite person in the world, with open arms. Some people ask me if it was sad being there with kids who don't have parents. Honestly, it was at that time the happiest time of my life and those kids are some of the happiest most loving kids that I know.

The main orphanage we volunteered at was a baby orphanage for newborns to two and a half year olds. Each day 5 volunteers of the 12 were assigned a morning or afternoon shift there. We bathed the kids, dressed them, changed their diapers, played with them, and fed them. Some interesting facts about the orphange: the newborns were given formula but at about 6 months they were given "sopa" everyday 3 times a day till they left the orphanage at 2 and a half years old. The sopa was made of whatever vegetables someone happened to donate to the orphanage such as potatoes, carrots, or celery. The babies all wore cloth diapers which we learned to make. They do not have wipes so we use our hand with the babies bum under running water. (Sounds gross but you'll do some crazy stuff when you love somebody a lot).

Besides the baby orphanage we also worked with special needs orphans and other orphanages with older children. We planned activites, took the kids to the park and on field trips.

Each Friday was the volunteers day off and we were able to go on our own field trip. Field trips included waterfall repelling, white water rafting, the beach, the temple, visiting downtown Quito and its' cathedrals, etc. Then at the end of my time in Quito we went on a week long trip to the Amazon. So amazing!!!

I remember seeing other gr0ups of volunteers leave to go home. Every month and a half 6 volunteers leave and 6 new ones arrive. On their last shift at the orphanage they always cried and cried. On my last shift I watched in silence as all the girls I was leaving with hugged the babies goodbye and cried as they sang them one last lullaby goodnight. No tears. I remember wandering what was wrong with me as 5 girls surrounded me in the car ride home just bawling.

It didn't hit me till I was in the United States for a couple days. And then the realization crashed down on me. I would never see these kids again. I wouldn't be there to make sure they were safe, got their hugs and tickles, and were loved unconditionally (even if they did play in the toilet and soak themselves and 5 other little friends right after I had just got them ready for bed. I sat in bed and just sobbed and sobbed. I remember praying to have the hurt taken away. I had been walking around like a zombie and couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life like that. I still don't quite understand it but after crying and crying out for some time in an instant I felt a reassurance wash over me. A reassurance that my babies would be taken care of and that it was going to be okay. It was really like a weight from my heart was lifted and the fog in my mind had been blown away. That's when it clicked. I know that Jesus Christ didn't just suffer on the cross for our sins but also for our weaknesses, our sadness, our every hurt. So when we feel so down and like nothing can help, he CAN!!! He descended below all so that he would know how it feels and how to help us. We just have to ask! That's how I learned about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it helps us in our weakness. There were other random times where the sadness would just hit me but it wasn't the incomprehensible sadness I had felt before. After a good sob, I felt relieved and I could keep on keepin on.

So the moral of this story is.... service is amazing, you think you are doing it for somebody else but you end up helping yourself. I would recommend OSSO to anyone. It really changed me, helped me love deeper and understand what real love is and helped me understand God's love for me. I realized that the love I felt for those children was too big to be coming from me, it was coming from a loving Heavenly Father who wanted to express it to his children so He used one of his other children to do so.

www.orphanagesupport.org