Sealing and Blessing: Sarah

Last Saturday (May 23rd) Andrew & I were finally able to have our daughter sealed to us in the Provo Temple. (For those of you that don't know what 'sealing' means. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we believe in Eternal Families-we believe that our families will be with us forever, even after we die. The sealing is an ordinance performed for families so they can become Eternal.)

The night before we went to Jolene's dress store; I pulled down every white dress in her size that I could find. We placed them all in front of her and let her pick. Her choice was the fluffiest dress of all. (I will try my best to get pictures later, we lost our camera.) She chose a dress with a lace top, three white fabric roses adorn the waist, the skirt has layers of lace as well as a netting overlay, ribbon bow for the back. When she first tried it on she twirled and said, "Oh, I pretty. I cute."

We arrived at the temple around 10:30 a.m. We have been singing "I love to see the Temple" every night for awhile and driving her past the temple and talking about it. Saturday morning we were walking up the Provo Temple sidewalk, Sarah said, "I see Temple. What's in there?" We told her that we were going inside and Grandma was going to help her and mommy and daddy were going to dress in white. We entered and Sarah went with Grandma Hardy to the youth center, where all children wait before sealed. (I already started crying.) We finished filling out the family group record sheet-putting Sarah as our daughter, providing the adoption records.

When Sarah walked into the sealing room and stared at all the family and friends in the room. It was a very sweet experience.

Afterward we had a luncheon with tacos and watermelon and other yummy treats.

Sunday family came to our ward for Sarah's baby blessing. They placed a chair at the front for Sarah to sit in, she was very quiet and was blessed by daddy. Andrew was rather nervous through the entire blessing, but did it!

(Again...our camera was missing...hopefully someone will send me the electronic copies!) :) It was wonderful to have so much family there, thank you everyone!

Science Teacher

Science Teacher

Oquirrh Hills Middle: Home of the Eagle

A week ago I was invited to interview at Oquirrh Hills Middle School. (I have interviewed so many times that I really feel like there's nothing a school can ask that I haven't heard.)

I entered Oquirrh Hills to sounds of the band practicing a classical piece. Turned the corner to the front office and saw a .25 cent candy machine filled with one of my favorites-mini jawbreakers. I introduced myself and sat down. My friends Kaitlin & Tiffany picked out black slacks, a white collared shirt, a light orange sweater vest and matching necklace for me to wear. The bell rang for students to move from class to class.

While sitting and watching the students meander the hallways a student spoke who sounded exactly like one of my favorite students from Diamond Fork Junior- Michael & David. I remembered the day after Science Olympiad when they entered my classroom singing, "Grovel, grovel, beg, kneel, sponge, crawl..." (from Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat- the current play at the school.)

"Thankyou Mrs. Rosenvall!" they then held up the medals they had been awarded from Science Olympiad!!! (Kudos go to the kids, they did the work! Amazing feat for their first year attending though!) That memory made me grin from ear-to-ear... I entered the interview still grinning, excited and calm. I had a lot of fun answering the questions. I was still surprised that they offered me the job 32 mins later! After much prayer by Andrew and I, we both felt that I should accept the position. We checked Andrew's school schedule, discovered that nearly all his classes are scheduled for night-lucky for manufacturing courses.

I called the school back and accepted the teaching position.

I am the newest Science Teacher for Oquirrh Hills Middle School! I will be teaching Earth Systems (9th) & Integrated Science (8th). Andrew rented the Praxis test guide for me to study! I'll be taking the General Science Praxis July 25th! (Kassi will know what I mean by Praxis Exam-basically a test for teachers to make certain that they qualify to teach a subject.) Thank you Kassi for writing a letter of recommendation for me!-I needed one more to accept the job.

Today I had some business to complete in SLC. In between meeting time I drove to the Jordan School District office and turned in copies of my teaching license, drivers license, SSC, application etc... Then drove over to my school to see if I could observe the students/teachers/classes. Luckily I arrived right during Ms. Byerline's prep, she gave me the grand tour! I met all the science teachers, some english, history, aides, copy center people, librarians... I had a tour of the stockroom and all the lovely chemicals I get to play with, fossils of ammonites/trilobites, beakers, microscopes, videos, textbooks, they even have a FIRE ORGAN!!! Woo HOO!

(Above: Fire Organ, basically a metal pipe with holes, two speakers are placed at both ends and music is played, you run propane through the pipe and light the holes-like you would a camping stove. The flames dance to oscillations from the music.)

Finally I was able to see my new classroom! It's in a newer section of the school but hasn't really been used for anything other than storage. My room is equipped with sinks and plugs for burners, storage cabinets line the back and side wall, large windows look east to the Mountains, technology equipped too! Yea! (You cannot tell that I'm really excited can you!)

Afterwards I had about 3 hours to kill...so I meandered back over to Jordan Commons and watched Star Trek in the IMAX Theater. It's AWESOME!!!!! :) I LOVED IT!!! (I refuse to recommend it, because I generally try not to recommend any PG-13 movies.) It was cleaner than I expected, and I probably won't own it, but overall a very good Star Trek movie!

The Days are Packed

My top 5 favorite comics:

Calvin & Hobbes

PHD: Piled Higher & Deeper

Sherman's Lagoon

Far Side

Buckles

April Showers bring May fl...uh?

For those of you that are not living in Utah, we have had an abnormally strange April. Here's pictures from just ONE of the snow storms. (Yes...just one... all the others I really didn't wish to go outside in!)

View just outside the door, by the driveway.

Our car, check out the trees in the background- tree branches all over Provo broke from the weight of the snow.

Neighbors roof.

Playground in the front yard.

Overall we received 6 inches here in Provo, my parents in Orem received 11 inches! The Utah snow pack level went from 90% of normal to 120%...and rising.

I love snow, but right now, I wish I was back in California!

In other news:

*The entire family has a nasty spring cold, me, Andrew, Sarah....

*Nebulizers are not fun for tiny.

*My sisters and friend Amy M. threw a baby shower for me! It was wonderful! They had a fountain running with balls for the kids to fish out with a net and win prizes, they had a trivia game with a bunch of questions about my daughter, yummy treats of cookies, cream puffs, veges and strawberry lemonade punch. (this was outside on probably the only nice warm evening!) Several family and friends helped out with getting us a stroller! yea! Sarah loves all the books and toys. (This shower was a bit different because Sarah is older, so she received a lot of fun toys and cute outfits.) I was going to have her open all the gifts, but she preferred to play with all the kids instead. - I forgot my camera...so I don't have any pictures...

*I was outside all day Friday weeding the flowerbeds outside my windows, trimming the bushes, pulling dandelions in the yard...until it started hailing. But the flower beds are ready for the tomato, yellow squash, peas, peppers and basil... when it stops snowing! (I did this before I came down with a fever, sore throat and runny nose.)

*The scouts will finally get to receive the Outdoorsman pin! And the boys introduced me to cheese dogs...they're pretty good.

Happy Easter

Sarah loves to draw. This morning she requested a pen and paper, then proceeded to draw. I asked her, "Tell me about your drawing, who's in the drawing?"

Sarah responded, "Jesus!" then pointing to the drawing, "Jesus eyes, Jesus nose."

Anyway... enjoy the drawing of Jesus and Happy Easter everyone!

Pictures of the Kids

We stayed with our friends Patience and Dallan in California. Patience & Dallan have twin boys, Zach and Marriner who I babysat from the time they were newborn until 19 months old whenever Patience or Dallan were attending classes at BYU. The twins are now a little over 2 1/2 years old. Sarah loved playing with them!

Sarah woke up one morning and found Marriner awake, she said, "Zach, come play!" Marriner responded "Shh! Zach asleep I Marriner." Sarah said, "Zach! UP! UP!" (above, Sarah, Zach in middle, Marriner on right.)

Zach found Andrew's shoes and walked off with the 'Steal Mommy & Daddy's Shoe Club'. I found my shoes later in the storage room.

Welcome to the Blanket Brigade!

Dallan was throwing the blankets high in the air and the kids were catching them.

Still playing Blanket Brigade.

We played outside a lot and even went to the park...but I guess I forgot my camera every time...i only have pictures from inside... oops!

Zach with his blanket.

Patience with her newest little baby boy, Brock!

Baby Brock! He's smiling already!

Marriner!

Patience and Brock.

Dallan, the music teacher!

Playing on the bouncer in the Playroom.

Bounce! Bounce!

Sarah loved playing with the boys, she kept talking about them all the way home on the flight, in the car, at home. "Zach! Marriner! Baby Brock! Patience!"

California Day 4 & 5

Peggy L. our adoption worker. This was taken after court.

When we first arrived at the court building, Sarah was very worried. The last two times she was here she was placed with a different family. She whimpered as we entered the room, but was quickly calmed when she saw the little teddy bear that the Judge had placed on the seat for her.

Being sworn into court.

Signing the final paper with the bailiff standing nearby. Sarah wanted to see it too!

Pictures with the Judge! It's official!

Sunday afternoon was my favorite conference session. I loved the powerful talks by Oaks, Uchtdorf, Bednar and Teixiera(sp?). The messages were inspiring and I loved hearing the messages particularly spoken to influence missionary work and speaking to people not within the LDS faith. Everything was spoken with kindness and love. It was wonderful and we enjoyed a wonderful sabbath. Dallan's parents made tacos for dinner and served freshly picked oranges from their fruit orchard, delcious!

Late sunday evening Andrew and I traveled to San Bernadino for our hotel reservation. Court was scheduled for 7:30 am the following morning. We arrived at the hotel and were told that there was no reservation for us! I called Patience, verified the confirmation number and we tried again. "Oh," the hotel clerk stated, "We have you scheduled for a different night, and it's under the name of Rosevall." oops! oh well! We checked into our hotel room at 10:17 pm. We got ready for bed, tucked Sarah in, turned off the lights and enjoyed two hours of a screaming child. Sarah refused to sleep. We put her on the bed, we layed her back down, we offered her a drink, she sobbed... We finally decided to move all the covers off the bed and have her sleep on top of the bed. I picked her up and placed her on the floor while we moved the covers and she prompty fell asleep on the floor (around midnight)! So...she slept on the floor. She awoke at 6:20am!

We arrived at court, awaited our time (we were first). They sat us down inside the courtroom, a teddy bear is given to all the children who are adopted, Sarah recieved her teddy bear and the judge had one last paper for us to sign. The Judge stood in front of us. We were sworn into court and she asked three questions:

"Do you recognize that with the joy of adoption will also come the responsibilities and obligation to care for this child and that the child has rights to your care and support?"

"yes"

"Do you recognize that this child will become yours fully and legally, and will be treated the same as any natural born child you have or will have?"

"yes"

"With this in mind do you wish to adopt this child?"

"yes"

"With the authority I have as a Judge under the jurisdiction of California, I announce this child to be fully and legally adopted by Amy E. and Andrew M. Rosenvall. Her name from this time forward will be Sarah Ruby Rosenvall. Congratulations!"

!!!!!HIZZAH!!!!!HOORAH!!!!!HUZZAH!!!!HOORAY!!!!!

IT'S A GIRL!

27 lbs. 32 inches tall

23 months old

and

16 months of labor! :) haha!

We took pictures with the judge and adoption worker. The adoption worker Peggy, actually took all the pictures of us being sworn in and signing the final paper.

We left San Bernadino, and found ourselves in backed up traffic from a semi that had tipped over, then got stuck in rush hour (grid locked) traffic and finally made it back to Porterville around 5:30pm.