Best. Post. Ever.

If this isn't the best post ever, I don't know what is. Remember my last post? Feeling sad...blah, blah, blah. (Thanks for the kind words, btw.) Well. Anywho. I think this post is a record of one of those days you put on the "Hey, it's really cool living where we do. Where else can we..."

That's right. Simon took his eight year old swim right here in the middle east. (I'll refer to it as this instead of a B., for censorship reasons) Isn't he cute? I just love this guy.

It all happened on February 14th. Because who loves you more than Jesus? AND, it is the day of love, right? (Simon explained this to me) So a wonderful Valentine's Day gift, and a date he won't forget.

You'll laugh, but February around here got pretty darn cold. We could see our breath on this chilly morning. The temp was in the 40's, then add the ocean air and the wind and it was down right freezing!

Into the water at just about 6 a.m.

Out by 6:02 a.m. Our Branch Pres. and our good friend were the witnesses. But the tide was out so far that the B.P. went out with them so he could actually see the event up close and personal. In his nice slacks and all. What a good guy. Brrrrrr.

No words for this. The cleanest moment of his life. What a wonderful gift.

He couldn't stop shivering. He get's cold easily, as you can see Si is skin and bones. We wrapped and wrapped him in towels and hurried back to the car after a couple of pictures.

A big thank you to the wonderful men in our Branch that helped. We weren't allowed to invite more than we had to, so as not to draw any attention. Hence the early morning. His friends and other members couldn't be here, but it was sweet and simple, just as it should be.

Water shoes. All dressed in white, but colored shoes for the feet. It's rocky out there.

Look at Pres. C's pants, nice. :) Here we are getting ready to go home. 6:15 a.am.

Here's Simon all done and happy as can be. Strange that he had to get home, shower and leave for school. Things here are different, but the simplicity of this event was so nice.

Pres. C. and Chach.

Ironically, Valentine's Day is HUGE at our school here on camp. But you CANNOT buy Valentine's in this country. The holiday is forbidden. They even check luggage at the airport for red items on this day. And they rarely even sell red things around this day as well. With no other options, I made cookies and simple cards for the kids. But making them for three classes was a lot of work. Next year; Note to self: Bring Valentine's from home.

The kids all were asked to wear red and pink. Roo wore her giant under scarf/head shaping/pink fluffy thing as well. Looked cute, although a little big.

The evening of the Eight Year Old Swim we invited the branch over for a small program, dinner and dessert. Simon wanted breakfast for dinner though, so people took cake to go. I'll admit that dear friends donated a couple of his favorite foods for the breakfast, this may include forbidden items. (that may or may not be a HUGE plate of bee-ackin) It was heavenly, although I felt a little confused serving it here, especially after he was just so clean. Oh well. We had a wonderful time.

We sang some songs and Peter, Simon and I bore our testimonies. Samuel did also, giving much advise and love to his little brother. It was really nice and I think neither of them will forget the love they both felt this night. His confirmation was lovely as well. A great ending to a wonderful day.