Urcia Family

This afternoon, I met up with the Urcias for a fun family photo session since they were visiting from New Orleans. Enjoy the rest of your stay and have a safe trip back home!

Baby Shower: Deva

By April, Deva will have a set of twins warming up the Brooks Family home. Congratulations to your growing family!

The lovely speech..


Her family...


LMU blanket from the LMU ladies...




Deva's darling nephews...

If...

If you're going to be passionate about something, be passionate about learning.
If you're going to fight for something, fight for those in need.
If you're going to question something, question authority.
If you're going to lose something, lose your inhibitions.
If you're going to gain something, gain respect and confidence.
And if you're going to hate something, hate the false idea that you are not capable of your dreams.

By - Daniel Golston

The Story...

“A human life is a story told by God.”

This past weekend, Greg and I gathered amongst family and friends to celebrate Mr. Ton's long and amazingly fruitful life - a life of love extended, commitments kept and faith observed. He was a soldier in war and in the fight against cancer. He fought with strength and dignity, all for the love of his family. Now, when I pray and think of the presence of God, I will also think of his presence along with my other relatives as well knowing that they are together.

However, I must admit...it was heartbreaking to see Thitam and Thithoa reaching out to the casket in tears to give their final farewell. Moments like those, I cannot help but question why and have it be left unanswered. Through the homily on Thursday, I learned that our life is a story and although we may not agree with a specific chapter, it is okay to put it down and come back to it later to reason and understand.

My prayers and thoughts are with you Mr. Ton....may we meet each other again one day.

Prayers

Within an hour of greeting my father a wonderful birthday and how excited the family was to celebrate his life, I received a phone call from Thitam...

"Hey Thitam..how are you?"

"Hi Tammy...just wanted to let you know that my father just passed away....(silence) could you please keep our family in your prayers and let the girls know? Oh, I have someone on the other line, I'll talk to you later..."

My heart sank.

My eyes lowered as tears cast over, reflecting on the memories and the heartache of their family.

Please keep the Ton family in your prayers...

On Dating...

This morning, my students were sharing their plans for this upcoming weekend. One of my boys expressed excitedly, "Today, my parents are going to celebrate their anniversary!"

"Oh...very nice! Are they planning to go out tonight?"

"Well, they mentioned they were planning to go somewhere with a lot of cheese...so I'm imagining they serve wine and stuff there also..." he responded, "but maybe, they're going out for cheeseburgers because I could definitely eat that with chocolates too."

Funny kid...speaking of the occasion, Greg and I began going "steady" on this date five years ago.

Happy 'Dating' Anniversary Greg!



This photo was taken in Maui as we arrived to celebrate the Malonzo wedding. Just wanted to include something tropical on this rainy day :).

The -ay Family

As we were going through morning business, my students were giving words in the -ay family. One by one, they responded with words such as, "day, stay, ray, bay and Wednesday." Once I helped them spell 'Wednesday' on the whiteboard, I shared with them a story from my elementary years.

"K-1, did you guys know when I was in Level 3, I participated in a spelling bee and I lost because I could not spell 'Wednesday' correctly?" I asked.

"What happened, Mrs. Lontok?" they questioned.

"Well, it was me against another boy in the class...we were the last ones left and instead of spelling it W-E-D-N-E-S-D-A-Y...I spelled it W-E-N-D-E-S-D-A-Y because I heard 'Wendsday.' From them on, every time I had to spell the word, I pronounced it in my head as 'Wed-Nes-Day.'

"Oh, I could see how you did that...okay, 'wed-nes-day,'" said one of my boys in the class.

Don't you love how they try to empathize with me...haha...I love K-1 :)

For our Valentine Bulletin Project this month, we created bluebirds out of hearts as shown below:



On the board, the title will be: K-1 says, "Loving you is such a Tweet!"

Before dismissal, one of the girls posted her creation on the board:



Have a great WED-NES-DAY!! :)

Wedding: Claire and Peter

Her eyes beamed with adoration as she speaks of her son and daughter-in-law, "Growing up, Peter has always been charming, intelligent and absolutely adorable...I cannot be happier for the both of them because Claire is just as charming, intelligent and adorable. Welcome to our family, Claire..."

My heart smiled hearing the joy in her voice.

This past weekend, Greg and I celebrated Claire's and Peter's union in the charming city of Santa Barbara. Thank you for sharing your special day with us. May you always walk forward in one direction together...wishing you moments of peace this lifetime...







It was definitely nice running into Father Daniel again, who also celebrated Marc's & Marilyn's Wedding...


Officially, Mr. & Mrs. Fedewa!


Santa Barbara Mission


During the break in between the ceremony and reception, we decided to go wine tasting :)






Reception at the Santa Barbara Rockwood Women's Club
















They had such cute cake toppers that resembled them!


















Greg and Amy have known each other from Montessori ever since the 1st grade...






Congrats Claire and Peter!


To see the rest of the pics, please check out the slideshow:

Wedding: Claire and Peter