Senior Excitement

Basically this blog post will be pictures of all the Senior Excitement we've had in the past month. Jordan graduated from North Muskegon High School on Friday, May 28, 2010. These pictures are from his Baccalaureate, graduation, and the open house we had for him on June 5th.

Baccalaureate
Jordan and Betsy

Senior band members

Graduation
Jordan and Betsy

Last performance

Jordan Thomas Viraldo!

North Muskegon Graduates

Open house displays
by Jordan

Some of our guests

Jordan and Jen

The Three Big Sisters

We had some fun with the three big sisters before and after the new babies came. They're going to be three big helpers for Mommy, that's for sure!

We made funny faces...

and played pig pile on Aunt Jessie...

and took some silly pictures.

Nicolette with a tortilla hat!

Isabelle and Aunt Jessie

And little Emmeline "sharing" Aunt Jessica's Sonic slush!

And later on, we went swimming at Grandpa and Uncle Jordan's hotel!

Our New Twins

I guess it's time to play proud grandma and blog about my brand new twin granddaughters!

We found out at Thanksgiving that Jake and Marie were expecting again and would be due in April. I remember thinking at the time that boy, she sure was popping out quickly this time. I believe it was January when we found out it was twins. Girl twins!

Alixandra Rose and Genevieve Marie were born on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

Alixandra was 6lb 10oz and 18.5 inches...


and Genevieve was 7lb even and 18.75 inches.

So tiny, yet hard to believe
they both occupied the same tiny space inside poor Mommy Marie!

Genevieve and Alixandra

Jessica's Turn

I've noticed that Jordan has been the subject of my last few posts. And with his high school graduation coming up soon he'll be in the headlines again! But I've had some fun today looking at a few pictures of my beautiful daughter from the past couple of years, and look how much she has grown up!

She wouldn't be very happy to see these pictures published on my blog, I'm sure. "My hair looks horrible!" is her usual reasoning. Well, I think she's a beautiful young woman and I'm so very proud of her. I hope that some day soon she will see herself that way and be happy with who she is...





A beautiful daughter of God.

A New Eagle

So here is Jordan, our newest Eagle Scout. After years of work and many hours of service, he finally made it to his goal. There was a time when even he didn't think he would finish. But as he said later, he felt that if he didn't reach his goal of obtaining Eagle, all those years of work and all of those service hours would be to no avail--almost a waste.

And here are my three Eagle Scouts!

So this is the end of the line for our Boy Scouts, our fifth and last son. They may choose to continue in the program as adults, but as Boy Scout parents, this is it for us.
We're proud of you, boys.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Check this out

from my Valentine of
31 years!
Maybe it's because I just recently found
last year's Valentine's Day card
that had never even been signed?
Or was it because
he "forgot" Valentine's Day completely
the year before that?

I had to take a couple pictures of it
just to show how big it was,
and Jasper was the perfect
yardstick!

Just Chatter

So for some reason I really like to go blog surfing. I don't know why, because it usually ends up depressing me, all the cute little blogs by the cute little moms full of pictures of their cute little husbands and kids and all the cute little crafts they can do. I've mentioned this before, but I miss my little ones! My kids are all getting so OLD and not so much fun in lots of ways...but awesome in other ways, I'll admit.

I just spent 4 days down in Lafayette with Jake and Marie and the 3 girls, trying to be of some help to Marie in her last few weeks of being pregnant with the twins. Getting the girls fed and dressed in the mornings, driving Isabelle to school, putting Nikki and Emmy down for naps, up and down the stairs, changing diapers, getting Isabelle off the bus, dinner time. And then bed time--that's another story! Add to that trying to keep up a house, doing laundry, and doing activities with the kids and no wonder she needs some help.

The babies are due some time towards the end of April and the doctor says she sees no reason why Marie shouldn't be able to go at least 38 or 39 weeks. No good reason? How about she just needs them out! I'll be "on call" for whenever they need me. The real trial will come in a couple of months when Jake has to go back to San Diego for the summer to work. What will Marie do at home with a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old, and newborn twins???

Mitt and the Eagles

Last week I had dinner with former Governor of Massachusetts and Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Well, I had dinner in the same room. Waaaaay at the back of the same room.

Our Boy Scout Council held their annual recognition dinner for the Eagle Scout Class of 2009, and Jordan was among those honored. Mitt Romney was the keynote speaker.

Dinner was yummy, although the Eagle Scouts barely had time to finish. Jordan never even got to eat his delish dessert. I carried it around with me at the end of the ceremony while they were getting pictures, but the staff was clearing the tables away so quickly that I had to put it down. I wish I had been smarter and eaten it first!

The Eagle Scout Class of 2009 was a record-breaking 204 new Eagle Scouts for the Gerald R. Ford Council. A few Silver Award recipients were also included, but the majority were Eagles.

Jordan sat almost directly behind the podium, so I was able to catch him in a few shots I took of the speakers (Mitt Romney and Dick DeVos) off one of the large screens they set up so we in the back of the room could see. After the dinner and program were over, I was able to get closer to the stage to get some better ones. And, of course, the highlight of the night--each boy got a picture with Mitt and a handshake.

Haiti

So I think that I have some kind of obsession with Haiti. It's been a month now since the country suffered a horrific magnitude 7.0 earthquake that leveled most of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. I wonder how I would feel about it all if it weren't for the fact that I spent a week there a few years ago myself and that my much-loved son, who lived there for two years, is heartbroken over it.

Jake has always said that everyone should visit Haiti at one time in his life. I agree. It was a life-changing trip, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go. The sites, the smells, the people we met--all left a lifelong impression on me, carving out a place in my heart and my soul like no other.

I can't say it's just pity, because it's not. Part of it yes, but not all. Strangely, the average Haitian people seem to be some of the happiest people you can find. And I think it's because they don't know--therefore they don't expect--anything different from life. Being poor and destitute is all they've ever known, all they may ever know, and so they make the best of it. The people we met were clean, they were well dressed, they were cheerful and so giving. They took us into their humble homes. Some of them fed us meals. All of them insisted on sending someone out to buy something special to serve us to drink.

The country is beautiful, if you can look past the piles of garbage in and along the streets, the rivers of bad-smelling "whatever" that seem to always fill the gutters or pool in the roads. Along the coast, people build their huts on beautiful scenic beaches that would cost a small fortune to live on anywhere else. And then they throw their garbage out behind their houses for their litters of pigs to feed on. They really don't know what they have. They don't know anything else.

So with the tremendous damage and loss of life in Haiti a month ago, I tried to follow the newscasts as closely as I could. And since the news has faded off the front pages, I have found a few blogs to follow. Like I said, I think I'm obsessed. Here are a few blogs that I have found:

portmargot.blogspot.com

cultureandsensitivity.blogspot.com

chiefhhh.blogspot.com

The first two blogs I found accidentally while blog surfing. I had found the first one months ago, long before the earthquake. Then a funny thing happened. A couple weeks after I found the second blog, they actually tied in together! The doctor who writes the "Culture and Sensitivity" blog (who is actually from the Grand Rapids area) ironically met up with the missionary doctor who writes the other blog. She and her family have been living in Haiti now for, I think, nine years. So that was cool.

And, of course, the third blog is written by the founder of Healing Hands for Haiti, which is an LDS group that has been around for quite a long time. The founder was an LDS missionary in Haiti, just like my oldest son. So I feel some kind of strange connection there, too.

Please join me in praying for the people of Haiti. My son says that the Church is the only thing that will save Haiti. When you think about it, I think he is probably right.

A Blessing Recognized

I was laying in bed at about 4 a.m. this morning listening to the howling wind when it hit me. Another one of those tender mercies that my Heavenly Father has bestowed on me and my family.

I apologize to anyone who has been disappointed in the prolonged January thaw we've experienced this year, closing down the Winter Sports Complex here in town, etc. But I see now that it was a personal blessing for us! How many other Januarys have we had three weeks of moderate, above normal temperatures with little to no precipitation? No heavy winds to contend with? No one ventures out much in January in Michigan--certainly not to move nearly 20 years' worth of belongings, not to mention the excess "stuff" we had in storage because of John's line of work.

My heart was filled with gratitude as I realized--once again--that my Heavenly Father knows us personally, he knows our wants and our needs, and he wants to bless us. Some day maybe I will write about the series of small miracles that all in one day led us to the beautiful place we now call home. It is all still such a tender spot in my heart.

"I know my Father lives
And loves me, too.
The Spirit whispers this to me
And tells me it is true.
And tells me it is true.

He sent me here to earth
By faith to live His plan.
The Spirit whispers this to me
And tells me that I can.
And tells me that I can."