Mishell's Baptism

Mishell has been meeting with the missionaries from our church since we were in Ecuador. We have always let it be Mishell's decision if she wants to continue to learn about our church and ultimately, whether she wants to join it. We wanted her to learn about it because we attend every week and it is a large and important part of our day to day life. However, we wanted her to gain a testimony for herself if she felt the desire. She met with the missionaries the whole time we were in Ecuador and wanted to continue when we got home. We started meeting weekly with some awesome Spanish speaking elders after we got home. Elder Martinez is from California and Elder Barriga is from Ohio. The nice thing about them is that both are native Spanish speakers. They both also speak fluent English, which is a bonus! They both related extremely well to Mishell and were kind and patient with her in their teaching. I learned quickly that Mishell has a really receptive spirit. She feels the Holy Ghost and it speaks truth to her soul. She sometimes has a difficult time understanding everything that she is being taught (both secularly and religiously- more on this later), but she feels things strongly. I first noticed this in Ecuador and have had many other experiences since that have helped me realize this about Mishell. I think it's a wonderful gift that she has that she can feel and recognize the Spirit and know truth. 

Just recently, we have been dealing with a few minor issues with Mishell (nothing major- just normal adjustment stuff for her and also normal for her age), so I was having a conversation with her about what Devin and I can be doing better to help her. What does she need from us? Are her needs being met? That is not to say that we can remove the loss and sadness she may be feeling from everything being taken away from her that she knew, but we just wanted to make sure that we were doing our best for her. At the end of the conversation, Mishell told me that she needs three things from us: 

1) to spend time with Mr Tee every week (her horse at horse therapy)

2) Praise

3) to go to church every week

I was kind of shocked that she threw going to church on the list. That hadn't been part of our conversation at all. But the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. She feels the Spirit there, like I do, and it rejuvenates her in a way that nothing else can. It is truly a respite from the rest of the hard weeks that we go through and it gives us strength to keep going. It is simple to her and it makes sense why she needs- it's because she feels something there that is special and important to her now. Now, just to get that feeling in our home more often...:)

I don't know why I just added that last story on there-- I felt the urge I guess to illustrate how Mishell feels things. Anyway, after meeting with the missionaries through December, they invited her to be baptized a member of our church. She accepted the invitation and we set the date for January 16. 

Mishell's baptism day was extremely special and we are so grateful for all those who came to support her. We had a lot of help to make it a success. She asked Aunt Jen to give the talk on baptism and Uncle Michael translated that for her. Then she was baptized by her dad and Grandma Perry gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. She gave it in both Spanish and English so that Mishell could understand. Before the baptism started, Mishell told Devin and I that she wanted to bear her testimony. We were a little shocked as this was not on the program and we didn't feel that she needed to, but if she wanted to, why not? So before the bishop gave his remarks, Mishell stood and bore a simple testimony in English about feeling the Holy Ghost when she prayed and knowing that she was loved by Jesus Christ.. It was a really special experience for us to witness. 

After the baptism, we had a luncheon there at the church with all our family and friends who attended. It was wonderful to see all the support for her. We have felt so surrounded by love and care by our families and by our ward. Thank you to all who came.

Since Mishell was a convert baptism, she was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost the next day in church. The only small snag in the event was that Devin woke up Sunday feeling really sick and couldn't get out of bed. I was so worried about it. All of our family had returned home and the only ones we knew would be attending were Kirston and Travis, so I called them in a panic to see if Travis would be able to confirm Mishell if Devin couldn't make it to church. He was of course more than willing (which we are so grateful for!), but luckily Devin made it to Sacrament meeting to do the confirmation. He did not look good...but he made it! Thanks to Kirston and Travis for coming to support us and for Travis representing the family in the circle. :) Elder Martinez translated what Devin said in the blessing for Mishell. We are grateful for him and Elder Barriga and all they did to prepare Mishell for baptism. Elder Barriga has now been transferred as of last week to another area, but we continue to meet with Elder Martinez and his new companion, Elder Bustos, weekly. We will next do the discussions again in English with the English elders. It has been a wonderful experience to have the missionaries in our home each week. 

Here are a few little pre-baptism photos taken by Aunt Lara for Mishell's baptism program (THANKS LARA!!):

 Baptism Day:

Mishell and Dad

Dad, Mishell, Elder Barriga, and Elder Martinez

Perry party of 6. Love our cute family.

Happy 11th Birthday Flor!!

Flor turned 11 on January 6th! I can't believe that she is that old....because that makes me REALLY old. Remember I met her when she was turning one, so a whole ten years ago. So crazy to even think about. 

Flor's birthday is hard for a lot of reasons- 1) We just had Christmas 2) she is hard to shop for anyway, and 3) she doesn't get the joy of it the same way as the other children. She doesn't know why the day is special, but we celebrate anyway. 

This year, we asked her where she wanted to go for dinner and she shook her head no to about every option given her except Texas Roadhouse. She doesn't have any clue what that is, but since she nodded yes to the option, we took it. 

We had a great time at dinner and then we came home and had presents, cake & ice cream. It's funny that we have a cake that we pretty much stick to for every child and Flor's is strawberry shortcake. It's a nice lighter option after all the holiday baked goods :)

I accidentally put these pictures on the last post because I didn't remember that they were from Flor's birthday. But, here we are out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

From Hallie

Our pictures of her opening gifts are sorely lacking. I have zero and these last few I pulled from Devin's phone. Yikes. We promise to do better next year Flor!!

A few things about Flor at age 11:

*While she still hasn't grown much height wise, she is starting to put on the pounds! She has quite the round belly. In just a few months, she gained four pounds, which is more than she has gained in her entire four years with us. So now she weighs like 44 pounds or something. Haha. Wahoo Flor!!

*Flor is a mama's girl. She most definitely prefers me to anyone I think and goes around saying her one word all day long "mama, mama". She likes to cuddle with me (and anyone else) for short periods of time before she's up and on to the next thing.

*Flor continues to go to school in the functional skills classroom, where she works on her IEP goals. Some of her goals this year are to open and close the bathroom door for herself, take down and pull up her pants when she goes to the bathroom (she goes sometimes, but that does not mean she is potty trained!), identify emotions of characters in stories like "happy and sad", participate in adaptive PE for 15 minutes straight (by far her worst performing goal- she just knows what she likes and PE isn't it), and use appropriate touch at school (high fives instead of hugs and kisses- I think we will be working on this one forever). Her teacher is really not my favorite and frequently texts me just to tell me that Flor is naughty at school, but when I ask if she has ideas on how to work on it, she can't give me any. Flor is really not that hard to deal with and is not naughty like that at home, so I am not sure what the issue is at school. We have changed and adjusted her meds a few times at the request of the school, but we think they are working fine. Anyway...an ongoing saga there.

*Flor is generally a happy girl and likes to tease. She likes her rocking horse from Christmas, coloring, playing her ipad, listening to music (and waving her arms to the music-- music is her love language), jumping on the trampoline, eating, riding her bike (kind of- working on this), and torturing her siblings. 

*Flor will eat almost anything put in front of her- and she is a GREAT eater. The only things we have to prod her to eat are green vegetables. She has a real skill of picking out the things she likes on a plate and leaving the rest (i.e the lettuce and things like that). She does NOT like chocolate and that is about the only thing she really won't eat. 

We love our Flor! She brings such a happy and special spirit into our home. We would not trade having her and the experiences we get with her for anything. We are so grateful that Heavenly Father saw fit to send her to our family. 

December Videos

Look at me go! Apparently if I am going to update the blog, I am going to go ALL out. Videos and all. Here's a few videos of December

Flor at the ward party. This girl's language is most definitely music!

The kids singing at the ward party

Hallie's dance recital

You can hardly hear her, but Hallie and her friend saying the opening part at their 1st grade program.

Dancing with Mrs. Claus

And again

After Christmas Festivities

Most of the girl grandkids..I especially like Jace in the mirror :)

The Sunday after Christmas, we went down and spent the evening with Devin's family. Shawna and Slava were in town, which made it extra fun. Mishell has three girls close in age on that side, so we had to get a little picture of them. They are so good to her and have welcomed her so well. 

Brooklyn, Brelynn, Mishell, and Katelyn

 We spent New Year's weekend in Idaho. I failed miserably at taking pictures, but we enjoyed opening presents at both Grandma Lisa's and Grandpa Dave's, going to Grandma Donna's to scan a bunch of her pictures and have a New Year's Eve party, and going to pizza hut and bowling with the family one day. We had a great time.

We also had a little birthday party for Flor, Brooklyn, and Claire, who all have early January birthdays. DQ cake-- yum.

Oh yeah, and it was cold in Idaho!! -20!

Is that all the pictures I took? Apparently so. There you have it. That takes us to the New YEAR! Wahoo.

Merry Christmas!

So, we had Christmas! It was our first year staying home just as our little family. That was not my first preference, but it was just how things worked out. We planned to spend the day with Devin's family, but it ended up being that we were going to be the only ones going to his parent's house, so we just asked them to come to our house for dinner instead. Devin enjoys the staying home with just us Christmas a little more than I do. My idea of Christmas is going out and seeing and being with all the family we can. So, we may have some compromises coming up in the next few years regarding what we do on Christmas!

Anyway, I didn't take very many pictures, sadly. I don't think I have any of the kids opening their presents-- or maybe they are on Devin's phone?

Christmas Eve Jammies

Santa came!! 

This rocking horse may be the best gift Flor has ever gotten. She is so hard to shop for. But, she actually rides the rocking horse and likes it! YAY!

Hallie's Santa gift was a bedspread- her choice. So don't feel bad for her!

Ahh, the long lost pictures from Devin's phone! Still didn't take many (or any) of the kids opening presents. Oops.

Playing a litte Yahtzee with Grandma. Thanks Aunt Jana and Uncle Karl!

And then...Jace got sick. He slept the afternoon away and I think threw up a time or two also. Not a fun way to spend Christmas!

We expected that Mishell would be super jazzed about her first Christmas with us. But, it was a bit anticlimactic. I don't think she knew what to think and didn't want to allow herself to get excited. The first part of her video was too long to upload, but basically she just sat and stared at her bike for a long time, then got REALLY excited about the candy in her stocking. Ha. She does love her bike now, though. 

Anyway, there's a short video of each of the kids checking out their gifts from Santa. And that's that. Merry Christmas 2015!

Meeting Santa!

We had the most darling Santa and Mrs. Claus at Station Park this year. Mrs. Claus was out dancing with the kids during the fountain show while they waited in line. Santa took his time with each kid and was super happy about all the pictures. :) My favorite part of visiting was Brooklyn telling him that she wanted a "pig in the mud" for Christmas. HA HA HA. Good luck with that... I don't think she got it. 

Poor Flor got cut off...she is there behind Brookie.

Hallie's Dance Recital

 Hallie took dance again in the fall with Miss Katie's dance. She had a great time. We decided not to sign her up for winter because she wanted to take piano instead. Well, we haven't signed her up for piano yet...so oops on that. Bad parents. Anyway, her recital was in December and she did a great job as usual.

She had a little solo in there