Celebrating Citizenship!

So, what do you do to celebrate someone special becoming an American citizen? Most people would probably have a nice handwritten sentiment to give, others would give a nice gift...the real question is...What would the Beebe Boys want to do to celebrate someone obtaining citizenship?

They would wait patiently outside, and when the unsuspecting citizen approached...all four boys (and Grandmama!) would...AMBUSH HIM WITH SILLY STRING! LOTS OF IT! ALL RED-WHITE-AND-BLUE!








He knows we are crazy! If the truth be told...Mathiang loved it! We sent him home with two cans of Silly String. I told him he could run into his apartment shooting Silly String everywhere, screaming, "I'm an American Citizen! Whahoo! And Yippee!" (Yes, those are my words - not his!) Mathing will probably tell them in Dinka -his native language. Dinka sounds like "HLKDIPuyeqjtbfhlkjaysdbfl vuy4qkthiqlen als;dkj vfaniu!!" to me. Ha-ha! (Whahoo! And Yippee! are nice descriptive words!) Anyway, the Silly String was a HIT! :-)

After the Silly String War, we headed out to Chili's to celebrate! Mathiang told us all the answers to the Questions we didn't know on the citizenship test. He bragged a little and told us he got 100% correct! Smarty-pants! Ha-ha!

Seriously, we enjoyed a nice meal together and enjoyed visiting for a few hours before getting back on the road to come home. We gave Mathiang a "Certificate of Excellence" signed by all of us - he loved it! Franklin also entertained Mathiang with some magic tricks!

What a blessing to have some time together to reflect on the day! It was a joyful occasion!

Mathiang, we love you! We will see you in June! We are always praying for you! Your pictures will arrive soon!

He Finally Did It! Mathiang's An American!

Here we are. Outside of the Homeland Security Building in Charlotte, NC. This building also serves as the Immigration Services Building. We were so excited to see a dream come true for Mathiang. He would be sworn in as an American citizen. The date was March 5, 2008! Nearly seven years after he set foot on American soil in May of 2001. What an accomplishment!

Before I go on with the story - I need to show you our outfits! Reid worked so hard and made all of us matching t-shirts to wear. They said, "I'm proud of my son, Mathiang Gutnyin, America's Newest Citizen." The boy's shirts said they were proud of their brother, and Mom's said she was proud of her grandson. It was too cute! Yes, I even wore my American flag, earrings, necklace, and bracelet! (Lisa Griffin would be proud of my patriotism!)



As we walked through the doors, the security guards got a kick out of our red-white-and-blue outfits! However, they actually made me empty my purse b/c Kaitlin had sent an Easter Egg to Mathiang painted red-white-and-blue. The guard didn't know what I would be carrying in my purse that was round. Rather embarrassed, I showed him the egg, and then he let me through. Too funny! The officers were excited that we were so enthusiastic! I'm not sure anyone had come through the doors quite like we did!

After we pass through the security, we get to enter "the room." "The room" where Mathiang will be sworn in. "The room" that is very quiet and somber. "The room" that is full of people waiting silently for the ceremony to begin. "The room" where everyone is showing reverence and respect in the extremely quiet atmosphere.

Now, come on people! Let's get a little excited!! I haven't seen Mathiang - my Sudanese son - and I am VERY PROUD of what is about to happen! We enter in our matching outfits, waving our American flags, and when I see Mathiang...Well, I just scream, actually squeal might be a better word. Most of you have heard me do this, so I don't need to paint a picture of how LOUD I was. "MMMMMMMAAAAATTTTHHHIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG! OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH! I'M SOOOOOOOOOO PROUD OF YYYYYYOOOOOUUUU!!!!!" Squeal, squeal, scream, scream - perhaps even a YeeHaw and HooRay!

I might say I embarrassed myself, but, now really - does that ever happen!?! I believe I embarrassed the boys and my mother, but at least I didn't feel embarrassed!

Mathiang was thrilled to see us. He said, "To see you come into the building. Ah, Mom, it was wonderful!" Oh, the tears were brimming, but I held them back for a bit. I just squeezed Mathiang and told him how proud I was to see this dream come true for him. He showed off his official document of citizenship and grinned from ear to ear! It was precious!

At this point, I did ask him if our shirts and stuff embarrassed him. He responded, "Oh no, Mom. It is wonderful. I like it!" So sweet!

I finally calmed down and wandered over to the "friends and family" side of "the room." I sat down next to four handsome Americans. I just happened to take some pictures of them. Here they are...

Today, including Mathiang, there were 39 people from 22 different countries being sworn in as citizens of the United States. It was amazing to see people from around the world freely choose to call our country home. Additionally, many of the people choosing citizenship are already serving in our military and defending this great country.

As they raise their left hand, here is "The oath of citizenship in the United States of America: I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

After the oath, everyone said the Pledge of Allegiance, and the ceremony ended with a slide show showing the history of immigrants coming to the USA. The slide show ran to the song, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. My body was covered in chills!

Once everything was officially declared, and the ceremony ended, everyone was waiting to give hugs! The boys were anxious to congratulate Mathiang! In these pictures, Mathiang's smile is bursting off his face! It was a blessing to see him so excited and joyful over this special day!

After hugs, we all posed for pictures with "America's Newest Citizen - Mathiang Gutnyin!" (Yes, we tried to treat him as a celebrity!) We took some shot in front of the American flag. Honestly, I think as I witnessed this ceremony and felt the swelling pride for Mathiang's accomplishment, I truly was PROUD to be an American. I feel blessed by God to live in this beautiful land. I pray I will not take it for granted.

On a side note, after talking with Mathiang, I learned that he is the FOURTH Lost Boy from the High Point / Greensboro group to obtain his citizenship! WHOA! There were sixty Sudanese Lost Boys that came over in 2001. Mathiang's cousin, Zechariah, was sworn in one week before him.

This is an incredible accomplishment - we are so proud of you Mathiang!

Once again, please welcome, Mathiang Gutnyin, America's Newest Citizen!

Along with celebrating this astounding day with you, our overriding joy is the fact that we are united in the knowledge that "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ!" (Phil. 3:20)

We love you and we are so proud!

Braden's Proud To Be An American

Braden was so proud to be carrying an American flag! We were headed into the National Security / Immigration Services Building for Mathiang's American Citizenship ceremony. These pictures of Braden capture the spirit of being a true American. How precious to see this through the excitement of a child...

Click HERE see the short show! Enjoy! This is my FIRST slide show!

Happy Times with the Halls

On our way to see Mathiang sworn in as an American citizen we had a wonderful visit with Reid's sister, Margaret and her family! (Mathiang's accomplishment WILL be posted soon - sorry for the delay,but I like to stay chronological! I know, I know - loosen up, Robin!)
One of the highlights of our visit was seeing Jane Mckenzie perform her Karate routine. She is now a brown belt, and I would feel very safe if I was walking down a dark alley with her! Seriously, she can kick her foot well over her head!

I'd never seen a Karate routine set to music. Let me tell you, it was impressive! This girl, a-a-ahem - my niece, knows her stuff! Way to go Jane McKenzie!

The boys loved having time with their cousins. Jane McKenzie and Ella are both growing up so fast! All of the kids had so much fun together. They played board games, hide-n-seek, Scene It, and they enjoyed being chased by "Cuppy." Margaret and Andy's bouncy boxer. :-) Margaret showed our family wonderful hospitality and we really enjoyed being with them! YOU ROCK -HALL FAMILY! We are blessed to be related to you! Ha-ha!

One of my favorite things about being with the Hall's is that they serve INCREDIBLE COFFEE! You can only find it at a special coffee shop in Spartanburg. It's called "Bella Latte." Their coffee is supreme!! If you are ever in Spartanburg, SC - it would be worth your time to stop by and grab a cup! Your taste buds will thank you! It's delicious! (How's that for a plug, Andy?)









It was great to have some family time to be silly together! Thank you for having us! We loved being with you! Looking forward to camping with you soon!

After saying good-bye, Mom, the boys, and I loaded into the car decked-out in our Red, White, and Blue to celebrate Mathiang's citizenship! Charlotte, here we come! Check back soon to hear about our touching time with Mathiang!

Building the Digestive System - So Gross!

This year I am teaching a class in a Co-Op about the Human Body. I thought it would neat for the kids to see how the digestive system worked from beginning to end. Therefore, we built it! It was quite disgusting and I nearly "tossed my cookies" pouring the liquid out of our "stomach" but here is what we did...




1.) We started with a peanut butter sandwich. We talked about how our teeth bite it into smaller pieces. Josh tore it into bite-size pieces and placed it into our make-shift mouth - a large ziploc bag.






2.) We added our saliva (water) and then we "chewed" it up. The kids pounded the bag of sandwich with a hammer.

3.) After our sandwich turned into a thick mush, we dropped it down the esophagus (a paper towel tube) and into our stomach (our mega-power Vitamix blender.) The stomach was filled with acid to help break down the sandwich before it entered the intestines. The acid was mixed with vinegar and baking soda and was waiting in our blender before the stomach mush arrived!


4.) The stomach started churning - peanut butter, bread, saliva water, vinegar, and baking soda swirling around. If you look at the kids' faces you can tell that this part was disgusting - and it smelled horrible!

5.) We looked at the bile mixture in our stomach and prepared to feed it through the intestines. Franklin is getting his gloves on because he will be our "sphincter muscle."
6.) We started feeding the mixture from our stomach into the intestines. The intestines were made of panty-hose and the "gloved" participants squeezed out the nutrients. Yes, they had to squeeze the outside of the pantyhose while the sphincter muscle continued to hold it in until it was time to "drop it in the potty."

7.) The sphincter muscle released all of the waste that was left and "poo-pooed" in the potty! Here is a picture of me holding the remainder of the peanut butter sandwich. I guess I am holding our created "feces."

Oh my, I think I have lost my mind?!?