The DeLucca Family: 10/14/09

Our little Family...

Sam and I were high school sweethearts, we dated for 5 years and have been married for 8 years. He is the love of my life and makes me the happiest lady on earth. We were blessed beyond belief when our sweet boy was born. Sammy brings us pure joy. We also have several children who we have welcomed into our family who are not our own, yet have become a part of us.

We love our Savior and are growing in our faith as we seek His will for our family. Basically we are clinging to the promise that He's not done with us yet and that He's still working on us. Life sure isn't always easy but thankfully He is our strength and we don't have to go through it alone. Although we live in the US, our hearts are in Guatemala. We love the children and staff at Casa Para Ninos Aleluya and count down the days until we can return each year. We hope you enjoy our blog!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Goodbye BBBS party & some incriminating videos

I can't believe it but Wendy is moving.. (gasp!). Wendy is Krista's (Hannah's oldest sister) "Big" in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and she is just simply amazing. Wendy & Krista have been matched since Krista was 5 years old. Krista is now 12 so that is a loooooong time. She has helped Krista so much and is just a ginormous part of Krista's life so this will be really difficult to see Wendy go. They will obviously stay close, there are already plans in the works to fly Krista up to visit but it won't be the same as seeing each other every week. Aside from all the good Wendy has done in Krista's life she has also been a "Big Sister" in a way to me, lol! She kinda showed me the ropes when I first joined and gave me great ideas of things to do with Hannah that were free & fun. She showed me how I can easily slip in learning experiences and teach values along the way and she was such a great support and someone who understood the difficulties we face as "Bigs" in the program. She always encouraged me when times were hard or Hannah was challenging and her laid back/calm attitude when we have the entire Flores clan together was always MUCH appreciated. She hosted many a pool party for us and the Flores kids aren't the only ones who will miss her. =(

Wendy & Teresa have landed fancy new jobs up in Boston and we are sad to see them go but excited for the amazing opportunities ahead of them. Teresa has a new job with the IRB up there and Wendy was recruited to keep on saving the world. See Wendy is an all around super woman. Not only is she an amazing Big Sister, she is also a research professor of pediatric cancer and has done amazing things in making strides towards better understanding and eliminating pediatric cancer. She was the program director of the data center for the children's oncology center here at UF and was just so humble. Kim and I had known her I think for a year and half or so before we finally found out just how important of a job she had. She prob regretted us finding out b/c then instead of us going to her for advice about the Big Sister program we also asked for professional advice about our dissertations, statistics, publications, the job market, you name it.. it was open game!

Thank you for all you've done for the Flores kids, for us, and so many children and families with cancer! We love ya Wendy and wish you all the best!

Here are pics from the goodbye party we threw for Wendy & Teresa. We had games, contests, singing, and made our own pizzas and fruit salad together. So fun! The standing on one foot contest came down to Samantha & Teresa and they went on for several min before... Teresa won!!! =) Ha ha! Loved it! That is some serious competition.

The kids love to switch up Bigs so I included some video of Hannah & Kim's dance that Hannah made up (it is classic Hannah all the way), Samantha & Krista's performance, and then....... the best of all.... Wendy & Mark's debut act! Wendy please don't kill me for posting these... I just had to, they are too cute and he was soo happy and you are SOO great with the kids. This just proves my point! I mean c'mon people, she JUMPED off the seat & onto the stage to start the act, doesn't get better than that!

Isn't this picture great?? Where is Mark's head???? Seriously, he looks like a headless boy!

We tried to take Big Sister pics of each of us but my Samuelito was a tad jealous so thankfully Hannah was cool with him joining us... =(

Dance party at Kim's house!!!

Trying to cheer a sad Krista up.. she had a hard time towards the end of the party, please pray for her through this transition. She is such a great kid.