Friend to Friend

 This Sunday the Church showed a broadcasting only for kids. I am used to participating in devotionals, general conference, fireside etc, but they had never done something just for kids. I can't describe how much I loved this event. The length was great, only 45 min. They had a variety of activities from drawing, to rock art, to general authorities sharing messsages, other kids from around the world, and songs. The event was even conducted by children. They did such a good job! 

Usually my kids are not very focused during church events, but this time it was different. This broadcast had captivated their attention and they wished it was longer. It too wish that they keep making these kind of events for kids. The whole family enjoyed watching it together. 

Our prophet, president Russell Nelson, also spoke. Perla kept notes while he talked. He invited the children to help other, be an example and plan to do acts of sevice to others. 

We will surely remember this event. That's why I decided to write about it. 😁

Warmly,

Juli

Valentine's day and surprise snow

Dear Blog, It feels so good to be back writing again. During these past years I have come back to this blog to look at old pictures and remind myself of the sweet memories. This week I don't remember the reason why I came to the blog but I felt that I needed to start writing again. So I will start by sharing a special occasion from last weekend

Valentine's day came with a surprise snow! What a special day for all of us here in Albania. The last snow we had here was in 2017 I believe and it lasted only a few hours on the ground. This time it snowed all night. Actually I was so excited I couldn't sleep at night. I woke up and checked the snow out of my window several times. I couldn't wait for morning to come and I was also afraid that it might melt before we got to go outside. 😀

We woke up and had a good breakfast (Saturday and Sunday we indulged in good food). We tried to prepare the food with lots of LOVE. The table cloth after breakfast looks like a battle field where there is blood shed. 😋 I guess it means the food was good.

After food was snow time. Since it doesn't snow almost ever here we don't actually own any snow attire. So we had to come back home change and go out again with dry clothes. The kids had tons of fun; they made an upside down snowman. I had seen these on the internet but I didn't really think I would get the opportunity to actually make one myself. It turned out so cute. Miss P loved it so much she even asked to write about it in her journal. They played snowball fight, made snow angels, jumped in snow, and even crawled in snow. 😁

During the week we made some Valentine's Day themed crafts . I am including pictures below so I remember what we have done. 

See how I haven't mentioned gifts at all? There was so much that we did together as a family, Valentine's day was truly a gift this year. (Although Miri did get all of us our favorite treat.) I feel very blessed and grateful to my Father in Heaven because He has shown so much love to us. His name is LOVE. I thank Him for the beautiful gift of creativity. Like Him we can all be creative and should spend time creating and expressing our talents. I am also very grateful to my God for the beautiful snow. Just with one ingredient, snow, the kids had  plenty of hours of pure fun. What a blessing!! I hope you all felt loved on Valentine's day this year!

Warmly,

Juliana