A Gift from God

This beautiful girl had her Confirmation retreat this weekend! It was everything she could have hoped for! (This has made her mommy and daddy very happy and proud!) A Confirmation retreat is a big deal and can be life changing for some kids. They left on Friday and returned today. We met them at the church and it was WOW! Before the kids arrived they had an opportunity to write us a letter this weekend and she wrote one to me and to her daddy! I started crying before I even read it! The words she wrote I will cherish forever! My husband cried too! (Which made me cry even more!) He had no idea how intense her weekend would be. She is an awesome girl as it is. She is not only beautiful on the outside, she is beautiful on the inside too. She loves to go to church, and serves already in many ways. She can't wait to be a group leader next year and help others experience the same thing. I had to decorate a box for her and she said they went into a room to get their box and she knew it was hers before they had even told her. I filled it with lots of goodies that had meaning to her and with letters from those that love her. She said she had like the most things in her box! LOL! My cousin gave me great ideas and I just followed her footsteps. (She has had 3 kids go through the program.)

A lot of kids spoke and gave their testimonials. A lot of boys got up there and talked. There wasn't a dry eye in the house! Then we had mass. It was so great to see these kids sing and praise God! The Teen Mass rocks the House literally!! After mass they were all hugging each other and singing and dancing. Then it was so WOW because they started to do cheers for Jesus! How aswesome to have 50 teenagers cheering for Jesus and trying to see who could be louder! I love how God works in our lives and I know he will continue to Bless these young people and help them to follow the path He has laid out for them! I am so proud of my baby and I'm so glad that she got to have this amazing experience!

Mommy/Daughter Date Part 2

Yesterday was Christmas at our house again because Speedy Cheetah got her big present! We went to see Wicked!!! It was her first time see a "big" play at the Pantages theater her in LA. It was just the two of us and my first time driving to LA by myself at night! To say the least, I was nervous and did research on all the available options. We could have taken the Red Line down there since it is right across the street from the Pantages, but I didn't want to be waiting around for a subway with my beautiful 12 year old daughter.We decided to drive and I prebought our parking pass to a lot that was right across the street from the theater. This proved to be a really smart move because by buying ahead of time we got premium parking!!!! We arrived about 6:00 and went down to Hollywood and Highland to eat dinner. It was a nice walk, but a little scary. Thank goodness there was a lot of tourist around. We had a nice dinner at CPK and then were able to walk back at a nice pace to enjoy our time together.

We got back at 7:30 on the dot and decided to go in and find our seats. The Pantages is on a small incline and we were in the Orchestra Center, but towards the back on the hill. We were able to see everything very clearly! The above photo is Speedy with the actress that plays Glinda. We then went to look at souvenirs since it was part of her Christmas present. I told her she could have anything she wanted. It took her a long time to decide. My Speedy is not like most kids, she really takes her time and puts a lot of thought into what she wants. She finally decided on a flying stuffed monkey and a poster. The kind girl at the souvenir stand mentioned to us that maybe we could have it signed after the show. She told us where to go and I had no idea that in her smart little brain, my daughter had already been planning this. LOL!

The above picture is with the actress that plays NesaRose. We settled in our seats and the show began! It was absolutely amazing!! I had seen it before about 4 years ago, but it was as good if not better then I remember!! My Speedy loved it and was just captivated the whole time! She took it all in and I could see her up there someday!

At intermission she made me laugh because she darted to the ladies room and made it there before the mad rush. I stayed behind and bought a Wicked cup for soda. I didn't want to drink the soda, but I did want the cup! It's so cute!! I'm going to take it to work! We found each other again and went back to enjoy the second half. The above picture is with the actor that played Fireyo.

After the play she asked if we could find the stage door and we did. There was only a few people ahead of us. I told Speedy had I known we might come to the stage door then I would have brought a Sharpie. She said not to worry that she had one in her purse!!! I couldn't believe how smart my girl is. She told me that she had secretly hoped that we could get the cast's autographs. I think this is because her Music teacher gave her a special gift of a Playbill signed by the cast of Sister Act from New York. We were able to get all the main characters to sign her Playbill and poster. Everyone was so nice and even took pictures with her. Speedy says it was the best night of her life! I love to see my children so happy! We are already planning to try to see another play sometime this year. The above picture is with the actress that played Elphaba. When we were done we didn't have to deal with traffic and were able to get on the freeway with no traffic at midnight and we were home in less then 20 minutes!!!! I said a special prayer last night because everything turned out so wonderful and I got to share such a special moment with my baby! Thank you God!

Mommy/Daughter Date Part 1

Well first and foremost I want to say that 2012 has started off as a fantastic year!! The first day of the year we went to my aunt and uncle's for our annual little potluck. We ate so much yummy food and my honey felt well enough to go. Yay! On the 2nd it was my favorite aunt's birthday and I wanted to do some cleaning. My older girls took the Squiggler to lunch and to the park. (Love my girls!) While I was cleaning I found something I thought was lost forever!! I was so overjoyed and couldn't believe it!!! The item wasn't an expensive item, but it had sentimental value that meant so much to me! Later that day we had realized that Squiggler had lost one of her new earrings! Guess what?? We found it too! I just couldn't believe it! For both items I had prayed to St. Anthony and he never fails to help me, but I really did think there was no way for the first item. Just goes to show you to never lose Faith!!! Third, but not least I came home today and found out that my 2nd project on donorschoose had been fully funded! My students are going to be so excited! I'm thinking of putting up one more project before the funding is over through the Wasserman Foundation.

Okay now back to today's post and my mommy/daughter date with Weegie! Today we were able to go to the movies and see New Year's Eve. We loved it! It is such a cute movie and we share a love for chick flicks! We ate popcorn, diet coke and junior mints. There was a big group of kids there to see the Chipmunks and they were all in line in front of us buying popcorn and such. Well two kids didn't have any money to buy treats and the counselor was going to get them something. I know how it is to buy things for your students so they don't feel left out. I handed her some money and told her to use it on the kids. She was very appreciative and said I didn't have to. I told her I know, but I wanted to. After the movie the Weegie and I went out to lunch and then dessert. We had a great time together and I was so glad to spend the day with just her. Tomorrow is Speedy Cheetah's turn! We won't be home until late so I won't be posting tomorrow night probably.