Musicals, sledding, birthdays

We are already in the middle of December and have enjoyed a number of exciting activities. Samuel turned 6 on the 14th. We had a few friends and family over and had a great time enjoying pizza, cake, some gifts and running around the house playing hit-daddy-with-the-balloons, and other random games. A week before, we had to say goodbye to grandma Margarita who went back to Mexico. It was sad, but we also have the joy of knowing we will see her in the not-too-distant future when we go to Mexico for good. Since it had snowed a few days before, we decided that on the way back from the airport, we would go sledding. We did and the kids had great fun. After getting sprayed in the face with snow a few times, Rebeca preferred going down facing uphill with her head in daddy's chest. Meanwhile, Samuel was braving the descent solo and only fell out of the plastic blue saucer once. As far as Lina goes, it was her first time going downhill sledding and she had a few bumpy moments.

Our church put on a musical called "The Innkeeper's Tale," written by a young lady who is a member. Matthew participated in the choir and a few extra "fill-in" parts. There's a high-energy gospel-like song at the beginning called "Sing the wonders of His love" and after the first presentation on Friday night, Samuel and Rebeca requested to hear it in the van over an over the next few days. They also went to the Saturday night presentation and that was all they needed to learn the choreographed motions to the song. It's neat how something special like this really impacts them. Last year Samuel was involved as the little boy in a musical called "One Bethlehem Night." So this year, he called the musical "One Bethlehem Night 2: The Inkeeper's Tale."