{Concert, Snow & Joy}

December was a crazy, fun month for Lauren at school.  Two major events included Snow Day and her Christmas Concert!  The Christmas Concert was your typical school music concert, but the kids have fun performing.  It was fun to see them sing the songs Lauren has been singing at home ALL semester! She looked cute all dressed up with her friends {She was more than willing to pose in front of the tree!}

 Then there was Snow Day....oh Snow Day.  It is quite a production and let's just say I was MORE than happy {Read: joyful, elated, ecstatic} to have the stress over! As PTO board member, I was roped into being co-chair of the whole event. Luckily my partner in crime was AMAZING and kept the whole event going.

The major part of the event is the tons of snow that gets made into a sledding hill on the playground! A company from California brings in an ice shaver and creates a snow hill right there in the middle of our 80 degree Arizona playground!  There was a lot of planning and stress involved in the whole event, but I have to say, I am pretty sure we had a lot of help from Heavenly Father that day.  He wanted those kids to have fun, to experience joy!

Every kink that came up was fixed almost instantaneously!  Thanks to a hay shortage, we couldn't find hay for the snow hill--a friend said he had some we could have because it had been in the one field that had been rained on after a freak rain storm and he now had no use for it.  Our Santa cancelled last minute-- the next day, a man who works as a professional Santa walked in the office and willingly volunteered to be our Santa.  The stickers we needed for a fundraiser went missing--after several prayers, they were found in the most obscure location, that no one remembered putting there.  Based on past experiences, we feared we would not have enough parent volunteers--we had more parents than places to put them!  It started raining the night before our event {rain=melted snow}-- Snow Day was clear skies and beautiful weather.  The principal promised to dress up like Frosty if the kids raised all the money to pay for the snow.  After ordering the costume, he got a back-order response the week of, when we thought it had already shipped--he called the local party store and sure enough they had an even better Frosty costume!

That whole day, I felt an overwhelming confirmation of how much our Heavenly Father loves those kids.  The kids LOVE snow day!  Some of them have never seen snow and may never see it again.  Nothing beats seeing the smiles and complete JOY on their faces as they go flying down the hill or see Santa Claus or do science experiments with snow or play elf games! I literally cried on several occasions. Maybe it was pure exhaustion, but most likely it was the Spirit confirming to me that Heavenly Father loves ALL of His children.  He loves them so much that He wanted these kids to have one absolutely fabulous snow day.  And for us adults, He loves us enough to answer all our prayers and pleas for help, regardless of what they are for {finding stickers, hay or a Santa Claus}.  It wasn't about us or whether or not the details were perfect.  It was about the kids. Our lives and experiences are important to Him.  He loves us and He wants us to be happy and seek joy! {I never thought I would get all that from a lot of stress and a pile of snow!}

 

{Lauren taking her turn down the slopes!}