3/26/2014

Confirmation Church


For the last 3 months, Stevie participated in Confirmation.  

Steven gave a great talk during Church on the last words of Christ, 
"Behold thy Mother, Behold thy son."









All the cousins and family came up for the special church service.  




Right before Church, Peter and Grandma had a big reunion.  


Marky and Cute Kate read the "Find It" book during church.  They are the cutest.



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3/25/2014

Confirmation Ceremony

Stevie had a great time going through confirmation with all of his 8th grade buddies



Steven's wonderful confirmation mentor, Phil Pompeii.  
The met together weekly for the last 3 months.  

We had a dinner at Church right before the big ceremony.  Cute Marky in his cub scout uniform.  Matt had to leave right after to take Marky to the Pinewood Derby.  We were so sad to not be there for him (Little Marky actually came in 3rd place in the entire Pack.  

Phil made Steven his own cross to represent their time together.  It was actually pretty cool.  He put nails in the cross to symbolize Christ's sacrifice and tied the wood together with twine.  

He also gave Steven a Bible with a special message for him.  

So grateful to Phil for all that he did for Steven.  

Steven put together a candybar story with gift cards for Phil as a thank you for all the time that Phil spent with him.  

Phil's brother, Sam, came over to enjoy the gift as Stevie read the story to them.  

Steven and his buddy Jack.  They may become brothers-in-law some day.  



We love this boys so much!   My heart swells at how lucky we are to be his parents.  

This is when we all went up as Stevie was getting confirmed.  

The last song was so awesome and upbeat.  
Everyone was on their feet, singing, dancing, and clapping their hands.  

At the end of the service, everyone in the audience drapes ribbons around the confirmands with messages of HOPE.  It was pretty amazing.  

Stevie missed a lot of lacrosse during confirmation which was hard on him.  In the end, he accomplished something great as he grew spiritually and he was still able to excel at lacrosse.  



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3/20/2014

Fiji 2014


And so our journey begins. . . 

We boarded this cool plane. . . 

and landed here during a storm.


The nicest Fijian woman rubbed my back on the descent and landing because I started to get sick from the turbulence.


After waiting 3 hours, the Port Authority deemed it was safe to sail across the ocean to get to our island during a torrential storm.  


Truly was the scariest 2 hours of my life.  Everyone on the boat were so excited about being on the boat and then about 8 minutes into the boat ride, everyone was dead silent.  Everyone but me-  I was crying and begging to get off the boat as I became violently ill.  It was as if the boat was being swallowed by the water.  

Even though we were being serenaded as we left the I boat, I had to be escorted off the boat because I could not walk.  We went straight to our room and took a nap.  We then woke up a little green but in time to enjoy the most beautiful south pacific sunset.   


Fiji consists of more than 900 islands and is considered one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  

We would have to agree.  We woke up to warm weather, calm waters and very clear skies.  We spent our days snorkeling in the clear waters.  There is an abundance of coral to explore.  

Beautiful 85 degree water just steps from our door.  

Fiji is a beautiful destination for a relaxing holiday.  


Ordered fish and I got a fish.  

Steve walking on the dock.  

This picture is for my mom as the calendar of events shows Hydroponics at 10:30.  

The Sunsets were amazing.
Steve was trying out different lights and stages of the sunsets.  





We enjoyed the simplicity of living on the island.  With no cement roads, cars,  tv, or air conditioning, it was amazing to just enjoy the beauty of the island.  


The night sky was amazing to look up and see all the stars!


This is the runway on the island. We found the Fijians to be some of the 
friendliest people of the Earth.  
Tons of Monkey Bats on the island. 

 Very interesting to watch them leave at sunset and come back to sleep in the morning in this tree.  
Our view just steps from our door.  

As the sun set, we enjoyed watching the beautiful colors being showcased across the sky.



With our last South Pacific sunset. . . We were off to New Zealand.  



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