Mayra Graduates and Victor turns 6!

Two big events in the Passanita household lately have been the graduation of our Mexican daughter, Mayra, from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA and Victors 6th birthday.
Mayra has worked very hard and very diligently the past 4 years to earn her bachelors degree in Government. When she came to America as a foreign exchange student 6 years ago we had no idea how much she would impact our lives. We had only made a 3 month commit to house her as Travis's Spanish teacher hadn't found anyone to house 2 of the girls. We hadn't thought about doing it because we had a teenage boy so having a teenage girl in the house hadn't crossed our mind as being feasible. Well to make a long story short our 3 month commitment has turned into 6 wonderful years of so many blessings I count count them all. Mayra is just as much one our children as the others are; we just have to share her with her other family in Mexico. It was a great blessing for her mom to be able to join us to go to her graduation. The ceremony was just like any graduation and had all the fanfare of it all. It has been amazing the spiritual journey she has made though. She was catholic when she came here but made a decision to accept Jesus into her heart and be water baptized after the first year here and learning through church and youth group. God has shown up in so many ways for her as a result of that through finances and opportunities that could have only been Him because we never thought there was a chance that she would be able to attend and pay for college after the first year. But through it all she has a very strong faith and is on fire for the Lord and has a desire to live her life in accordance with whatever plan He has for her. Amen and Hallelujah!!!! What a blessing to us and to the boys she has been and continues to be. She has a job right here in Williamsburg and so we will get to enjoy having her home and watching the next phase of her life unfold. We are truly the lucky ones to have her in our life.

Victor (Veecha) Turns 6 Years old!

He is still such a peanut but he has such a big personality. He wanted to be superman on his birthday so I thought about it for a minute and decided that would be OK. We went about making a costume out of the pajamas we got him and he marched off to school as the happiest little superhero in the world. Words could not describe the excitement he had for his birthday. He had been looking forward to it for quite sometime and particularly after he got to attend Vanyas little party at school. Soooo we did the whole cake and ice cream thing in his class and also had a game of "put the S sticker on the superman" as well as had some bubbles to blow outside and the infamous balloon pop race. He was totally exhausted by the end of recess that day and wanted to come home when I left but I made him stick it out. He got some wonderful presents from the grandparents and I think the highlight of the day was the police and superman outfits he could don.

Rob and I got to take him out by himself for his special birthday dinner. He wanted to go where he could get sushi (of all things for a kids to like) so we went to the sushi bar at the Japanese steakhouse we have here. He got to watch the sushi chefs make his sushi and we ordered what is called a "love boat" which has a combination of different types of sushi on it. I am not a fan of raw fish so my selections were limited but Victor liked EVERYTHING! He was so excited he fell off his chair and landed on the floor. He rubbed his head and got up and then laughed! Most of the people around us did as well.

Afterwards we took him for ice cream at Maggie Moo's (local fancy ice cream parlor). He is pretty simple with his tastes and wanted a 2 scoop cone with chocolate and vanilla. He enjoyed every bite all over himself and the table etc etc. You only get to turn 6 once so we let him enjoy himself and just cleaned up after. There was a water fountain outside and he asked to throw in a penny. We told him he could make a wish and then throw it in. He didn't care much about hte wish part he just wanted to chuck the coin in and see ifhe could get it into the top part. I think it acutallt went all the way over the fountain. We didn't hear anyone scream so we assume he didn't hit anyone. He always love to smile for pictures so he posed by the fountain for as many pictures as we would take. Good thing for a digital camera!

Once we got home he was so tired but when I offered to rock him in the rocking chair for a little bit he immediately took me up on that offer. He isn't usually one to cuddle for too long so I was excited he wanted to do that. We sang "Jesus loves me" and I got to add how special he was and that Jesus must have loved us too in order to give us such a wonderful son. To that he simply said," Well of course He does, He loves everyone. I'm sleepy, can you put me in bed now." And that was that. His smile really paints the whole picture and he will be a man of few words but I think he knows how much he is loved and wanted and for that I am grateful.

Mama mama mama