We celebrated Eliza’s birthday a week early because her birthday was the Saturday of Girl’s Camp. The Friday before, she took two school friends out to dinner, they hung out at the mall, and came back and watched a movie. That Sunday, we had her favorite meal (salmon, homemade mac and cheese, cooked carrots and parmesan cheese bread) and she opened her present — an iPad mini. The next day I made her second favorite meal (Cincinnati Chili).
We love Eliza and feel so blessed she is a part of our family! Here are 14 things about Eliza:
1. She was my biggest baby, 9 lbs. And my easiest baby, rarely cried.
2. She had the most adorable dark curly hair. it went straight when Tessa was born. She has beautiful dark skin. When we are together I’ve had strangers ask if her dad is black or Mexican or Asian.
3. Love her dimples.
4. She is organized and gets things done — fast.
5. She learned to swallow pills this summer. She is rarely sick, which is a good thing since she is afraid of doctors and needles.
6. She doesn’t like most fruits and veggies and could probably live on chocolate.
7. She loves gymnastics!
8. She learned to play 10 hymns in order to quit piano lessons. She likes to sing.
9. She is Mia’s soul sister and is a beautiful example of service and charity.
10. She loves photography, Pinterest and all things crafty.
11. She is a good baker. Cupcakes are her specially.
12. She is a great/conscientious student. I’ve rarely had to help her with homework or ask her if assignments and projects are done.
13. She is faithful and does what the Lord asks.
14. She is clever, always thinking deep, and aware of everything around her - even though she doesn’t always say what’s on her mind. She also has this things about memorizing random numbers. She could tell you our license plate number from a car we rented four years ago.
September 15-17th was a holiday (the Mid-Autumn Festival) and our District Girls’ Camp! Our branch YW President and 1st counselor were out of town so I got to attend camp with our girls. The theme was “Fit for the Kingdom.” Four weeks before camp the girls were asked to do the following:
Read SCRIPTURES daily
EXERCISE for 20 minutes 3 times per week
Complete a SERVICE activity once per week
Put down mobile DEVICES for an 8-hour stretch once per week
I particularly liked "putting down the mobile devices." I did this on Sundays and it was great! Hopefully I can make that a habit. The first day of camp we suffered the effects of a Typhoon that had just hit Taiwan. So much rain! So we moved camp to the District YW President’s home and used her neighborhood club house. I was relieved that I didn’t have to sleep in a tent. My main job was dinner the first night (Hawaiian Haystacks) and I led a devotional. I was grateful not to be in charge of the entire camp (like I was in prior years).
I really love the YW in our branch and I feel grateful to work with them. Above are some of the girls in our branch: Synnova Blattman (15), Maci Christensen (12), Eliza, Bailey Morris (15), Josie Coleman (15), Clemente Crosetto (14), Emma Cook (13), Anne Marie Coleman (12), Bekah Christensen (15). We had three more girls come up after a rugby game.
The girls learned to knit, made peach jam, painted mugs and learned to hem clothes and add sleeves to make clothes modest. I felt like they had a lot of “down time” but they loved getting to just hang out and be together.
The girls loved playing in the rain!
I took the picture above while the girls in our branch practiced our skit. We used the book “The King’s Highway” and costumes from our branches’ Christmas activity.
The picture below was at the end of camp after our testimony meeting. The branch presidents were invited to attend. It was great to have John come for dinner, testimony meeting and to sing Happy Birthday to Eliza!
