A December to Remember

DECEMBER 2022 will be an unforgettable month for our family. 

RAQUEL'S WEDDING

Raquel and Lucas finally tied the knot in Reno on December 17th and it was a wonderful weekend full of family and happy chaos.  She requested that all her nieces and nephews sing "The Miracle", so we had a primary program practice at the church! It was crazy fun. 

                                   

We had a Bachelor/Bachelorette/Family dinner at the Lemon Valley Chapel, all the boys talked about Raquel and Lucas' brother also spoke. It was very special and emotional. 

       

Tia Marita feeling  proud of her tall niece and nephew

They were married civilly at the Kings Row chapel by Lucas' dad on Saturday morning. A couple hrs later, we went to the temple for the sealing 

 

The happy couple!

Our Entire family. Missing our sister Rebeca. 

RUTH JOINS THE CNLV CITY COUNCIL

 On this month, I was also appointed to the City Council in the city of North Las Vegas. Our new Mayor left a vacancy on the council when she ran for Mayor as she was previously councilwoman. I applied for the vacancy as well as many other community members. 

All applicants who interviewed were asked to speak in a special council meeting on Dec 14th. I invited friends and family because I thought it would be a great experience to watch. Jordan, all our kids, Janna Anderson, Jodie Johnson, Jenn Kennedy, Clint,  Esther and Jacob (who in town for one day) all came to watch. The first nominee did not receive enough votes, and the 2nd nominee was me, and I received 3 votes from the 4 member council and I was appointed to represent Ward 2.

At the lobby at City Hall. Esther was so proud of me and she excited to take picture of us before I even got appointed. 

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmay Day in 2022 fell on a Sunday and it was so special, since we went to church at 9am and opened presents after church. Sister Higham performed a labor of love for our choir and made many corsages for our members to wear. We practiced for weeks at my house with sis. Iverson at the reins as our chorister and it was absolutely wonderful. 

Tia Marita comes to Vegas

Tia Marita and Uncle David come to visit us again but this time they bring Isaac and Felix. Ezra and Jacob loved having cousins their age to play all day.  Tia Marita is really good at playing dress-up and the kids loved it so much. 

                        

                                            We visited Valley of Fire and uncle David was so happy to have a chance to see it in person. The kids had so much fun running around and finding caves. Casaan also came with us and he was so happy being free. 

Massey kept looking for opportunities to scare us. 

We had a bomb dinner on Saturday and it was AMAZING!

Tia Marita helped me by being one of the presenters for the Emotional Resilience Night we had for a RS activity. We were so relieved to be done on Tuesday that we celebrated the rest of the week with fun stuff. 

 

We have a teenager!

Well, Massey is officially 13. Tita and Tito stayed a few days longer to celebrate massey's birthday. He got money and lots of love from both grandmas. 

                                                        

    He decided he wanted to invite all the deacons from his quorum and make burgers from scratch, play games and watch a movie.  He did it all and it was super super fun. 

                            

                They played "kids against maturity" and they laughed and laughed. 

                                        

                                                I had so much fun seeing him laugh and be 13. 

Massey is so special. He taught himself how to play the guitar and saved his own money to buy his first electric guitar from Br. Levanger who now is his guitar teacher. He is an amazing student and an incredible fast learner. Massey is currently the president in his quorum and his best friend is Kade Booker. We love this kid so much.

 

Jacob's baptism

 

Jacob was baptized this year and it was so so special. Tita, Tito, Grandma and grandpa came. Uncle David and Grandpa spoke , Massey played the guitar and Rebequita was one of the witnesses. 

As well as a David and Talia's family, and Mara and Isaac, Laurel and Maisy. 

We had a beautiful service in our church building. Many of Jacob's friends came to support him. Kevin, Dawson, and McKay.

We had a bbq at our house and we had lots of family come and celebrate. We broke a pinata and had tons of fun. Also the elders gave a discussion in our bedroom to a young man who was our neighbor, his name is Luis. We laughed, opened presents, and the kids just played outside. 

David and Talia's family, and Mara and Isaac, Laurel and Maisy also came. On Sunday he was welcomed into the ward and Rebequita and Jacob sang a beautiful musical number of "I'm trying to be like Jesus". 

Jacob is such a special 8 year old. He is full of life and love for everyone. He is kind and confident. He loves to try everything and laughs at everyone's jokes. We love him so much.

Massey finished the Book of Mormon

Massey finished the Book of Mormon tonight.  Our Bishop challenged our ward in January to read the Book of Mormon by the end of June, and celebrate as a ward by attending the Book of Mormon pageant in Manti, Utah. When I heard this, I was kind of saddened because I knew we would be getting ready to travel to Sweden and we would miss it. We still took the challenge, but modified it a bit. Instead we tried to read the Book of Mormon as a family daily, and within a few weeks we started noticing a change in the atmosphere of our home during the day. On March 22nd, after having read the scriptures with the kids, Jordan and I came up with the idea to challenge Massey and Rebeca to read the Book of Mormon and to finish it by the time we went to Sweden in exactly 3 months, to see their grandparents. I told myself that if we bribe the children all the time to do things we consider worthy of a reward, why not bribe them to read the book of Mormon. Both of them took the challenge. 

Rebeca has read it almost every night but goes back when she gets confused or forgets what she read the previous night. One evening I came in my bedroom and found Massey, and Jordan, reading with Rebeca. On several nights, I had to go into Massey's room and turn off his miniature flashlight because he had fallen asleep while reading the book of Mormon. 

On another occasion, I found Massey and Rebeca in my walk-in closet reading the scriptures. Rebeca told me that Massey was explaining the things she was reading. When I told her that when she starts High School she will have the opportunity to spend a whole year studying the book of Mormon with other youth in Seminary, she was excited. Then she said, that Massey was her seminary teacher.

Massey finished reading the miniature Book of Mormon, his grandma Olivia gave him. It took him exactly 10 weeks and 2 days. 

I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for the guidance of the Holy Ghost in my life. For the inspiration and support of my Husband to care for these children in the way God wants me to. The Book of Mormon has blessed our family in ways I had never imagined. It has calmed my mind many times and provided clarity when faced with challenges. My understanding of my purpose during this sacred time of my life has increased and my ability to take care of such spirits, run a home, be a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and an active member of my ward has become enlarged. I feel my understanding of God's love for me has become clearer and truer because of the Book of Mormon. I hope one day, my children can come to know God and have their own testimonies of the truthfulness of this gospel and enjoy the blessings I now enjoy.

Discovering more Book of Mormon blessings

Last week I challenged Massey and Rebeca to read one pg of the Book of Mormon every night individually. We read it as a family in Spanish but with our two youngest children running around, we do it quickly and our discussions aren't as spiritual. I didn't think they'd actually do it on their own but after a couple reminders they've both been doing it for over a week now. Tonight Massey came up to me and told me he was excited to read about Lehi's dream tonight. I walked into his room and found him reading the BoM in the dark with a flashlight. My heart is so full at the moment and having a messy kitchen, feeling extra tired from being sick yesterday and all the other 100 things I can complain at the moment, no longer matter. This is what truly matters. Reading the scriptures as a family is not easy. But God blessed us in ways just for being obedient. I am so grateful for my kids, they're all so special.

Light the word 2017

                                                         
This year we've joined the church's Light the World campaign to make Christmas more special and memorable. We've had some wonderful experiences that I wanted to write down before I forgot them.  A young woman that spoke in our ward gave a quote that one of her YW leaders told her. "Inspiration received but not written down is inspiration lost" something along those lines.

Mi tia Dalmira came to visit, she came on wednesday the 29th and left on Friday the 1st. It was so wonderful having her here. She was like my 2nd mom growing up, I'd sleep with her when I would spend the night at my grandma's house and go places with her all the time. Last time I saw her was at Rudy's wedding about 6 yrs ago. 
While she was here I gave her a sweater she liked that I had just bought for myself for my birthday. She needed a cardigan since all she had brought was a big coat. I felt so good giving it to her. The day I dropped her off at the airport I realized I had forgotten to pay her $5 she had lent me. I got home and realized that it was Dec 1st and the light the word challenge for that day was "Freely ye have received, freely give".  So I decided  to do a little more for her. I transferred some money to my dad so he could give it to her when she got there. She called me a few days later to thank me for the gift and told me she was very grateful.

                                      
At another day where the challenge was “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” I had a wonderful experience. After Jordan took the kids to school I looked for my phone to charge it since I had forgotten the previous night but I couldn't find it. After looking in various places, Jacob asked me what I was doing and after I told him I was looking for my phone, which was probably completely dead he said "mami, you should pray to Heavenly Father", I told him it was a great idea. So we did. I then walked toward Rebeca's room to look for it there when Jacob said "mami, SHHHH! you need to listen for the Holy Ghost so he can tell you where it is!" It was a great reminder from my almost 5 yr old.  I tried staying still for a few minutes but nothing came to mind except for a feeling that I shouldn't worry even though that was the only way anybody could get a hold of me. Ezra, Jacob and I played for some time at home. About 11:30 the door bell rang, and it was my friend Jennifer Booker and Massey. She had picked him up from school a few hrs before because he wasn't feeling well, and since Jordan was at work and noone could get a hold of me. The school called her for being my emergency contact. I felt so grateful to her. She told me that she was glad she could help and told me that it was perfect that Massey could stay at her house that morning because he kept her son Kade company. Kade is Massey's best friend and apparently he had sprained his ankle and had stayed home that day. She told me she wasn't sure if he had fractured his ankle and she wasn't sure how to help him.  After having thanked a million times for her help I thought about ways to help her and decided to look for my phone again. I went upstairs to the bathroom and it was right there! next to the sink, inside my make up bag. So I called Jordan and he called her right away to ask about Kade's condition. He got permission from his boss to have them come to the office at lunchtime and do x-rays at no cost. She was so grateful because it turned out that he did have an avulsion fracture. This experience helped me see the hand of God in different way and taught me that Heavenly Father did answer my prayer at the proper time. I was supposed to see Jennifer so we could help her son.

The last experience I had this last week involves Rebeca. She had activity days on wednesday, they went to deliver crocheted hat to newborn babies at the hospital. She had been looking forward to going, but when I picked her up and asked her how it was, she started crying. She said the girls didn't talk to her and that she didn't have friends. We're still pretty new in the ward and most of the girls are a yr older than her. She was pretty hurt and I told her that the girls just simply didn't know how cool Rebeca was and that perhaps they also needed to learn to be friendlier and kinder. I prayed to find a way to help her feel better and the following morning I received my answer in the light the world challenge. “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” That day, after Rebeca came from school I had all the stuff necessary to decorate cookies and bake them. I told her she would make treats to all those girls that she felt had offended her, so she would no longer feel hurt and be a good example to them. She was excited a little nervous. That evening we drove to 3 of the girl's homes. She felt very happy and realized that sometimes we need to teach others to be kind and do everything in our power to not feel offended. At our ward party days later, Rebeca told me she went up to one of the girls and asked her if had liked the cookies she had given her and the girls said "YES!" and told her thank you again.