Activity # 23 - Shabbat Shalom

On Saturday, 31 July 2010, Kari, myself and Curious George worshiped at Temple Israel - a Jewish synagogue in the Longwood Medical Area. We wanted to find somewhere we could worship that was close to where we were staying and found the temple less than 5 minutes walk away. We are Seventh-day Adventists and have our group fellowship on Saturdays and so do Jews so it was only fitting that we joined them for Shabbat.

When we arrived at the temple, a small group was having Torah Study. The rabbi who led out in the study focused on the history of Judaism. It was very informative. After the study, we assembled in a sort of fellowship hall and had Challah or Hallah which is a traditional Jewish bread eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Kari thoroughly enjoyed it (and so did I). He kept asking for more and I obliged him without any embarrassment. We even took some home for Princess.

This experience was the perfect opportunity to learn about other religions in an intentional way. For me, it's not so much about religion as it is about establishing a relationship with God. I will do my best to encourage Kari to do the same. My goal is to do enough now so that there will always be a generation of Saunders that seek, love and respect God daily.

Activity #22 - Not the Messiah Performance

For our family night last week, we rented and watched Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy inspired by Monty Python's Life of Brian. Kari loves music so we thought he would have enjoyed this film. We were spot on. The film captured his attention right from the beginning. There were times when he actually sung along with songs we were all hearing for the first time; he danced; and he conducted the orchestra. Princess and I really admire his appreciation for music. He is enrolled in a music class at his school and the teacher tells us Kari is very involved. Once, I made the mistake of picking him up early from school and he cried the entire afternoon. Later I found out that I deprived him of his music class. I never did it again. If I get there early, I simply wait until he is through.

We have no great expectation or desire for Kari to be a musician. However, right now he loves music and we will continue to expose him to most genres (despite my biases).

Activity #21 - Church Greeters

I serve as a deacon at my church and at times Kari wants to do what I do. For example, I help with the collection of offering and setting up of chairs, tables, etc and he gets excited whenever he's involved. I have not been daring enough to actually allow him to help me with the money collection.

Most recently, I was on deacon duty and I decided that we will dress alike. A deacons attire at my church is black and white with black or red tie. Most of Kari's clothes are colored so it was challenging to find him a black and white outfit that he could fit into but we eventually did. You realize your little superstar is growing when all his pants are now shorts and his shirts makes him look like a kiddie body builder.

One of my deacon responsibilities for that day was to greet church members and guests as they arrive. Kari was excited and decided to help. The experience proved how contagious happiness really is and how kids actually help us to identify and appreciate what really matters. They can help us to temporarily forget the demands of the world and once again focus on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Activity # 20 - Found and Practiced Our Family Song

Princess and I have been talking about finding a family song to call our own. We were not actively searching but thought about it every once in awhile. About two Sabbaths ago, I went on Youtube to play some Praise and Worship songs while we were getting ready for church. Without even considering it, I simply played the top result. I kid you not, Princess and I watched Kari walked right up to speakers and started singing. The amazing thing about this was that we have never played this song to him before and we are not aware of him learning it at school or church.

We did come to the conclusion that we finally found (actually, Kari found) our family song which we all enjoy.

See Kari's rendition of the song below.

Activity #19 - Watch the Sunrise

Recently, Annesa and I had an amazing experience with Kari. We woke up Kari-early (let clarify that for Annesa 8 a.m. is early and for Dakari and I, 5 a.m. is early). We left the house around 6:30 a.m. and went to the beach/park (John's Smith Bay in Bermuda) to watch the sunrise. For all you fathers and husbands out there, try it! It was an intimate experience. Kari is only 3 and even he enjoyed it. Initially we were a good distance from the shore and Kari asked us to go closer which we did. We spread our towel and he immediately went to work on the sand (building). I'm a very lucky guy and it's a privilege to be fathering Happiness. I love you Princess (sexy mommy) and Kari.


Kari and Mommy watching the sunrise




Daddy's contribution to Kari and Mommy's sand work.