Every three months I get to go to a citizenship ceremony at our federal courthouse. I love this amazing opportunity because there is a special spirit there, watching people who recognize that America is a blessed land and want to be a part of it enough to go through the legal process and work hard. I love to hear the judges talk about citizenship and patriotism.
Recently, my friend and co-worker, Farhana Hibbert, was asked to speak at the ceremony and share her own citizenship experience. She's originally from Pakistan and emigrated with her family to Puerto Rico during the Indo-Pakistan conflict in 1971. They came to the United States when she was 12, and in 1989 she met her husband and joined the LDS church. She was a perfect speaker for the citizenship ceremony.
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| Maren, Sarah Hibbert, Emma, and Priscilla Hibbert sitting in the jury box. Renee Richardson from Senator Risch's office in back. |
Since she was speaking, we decided to volunteer our daughters for a medley of patriotic songs, and they did a great job! I've sat through many musical numbers at these events, but I've never heard one as beautiful! Judge Randy Smith was very impressed and took a picture with them.
After the ceremony we took them outside to ring the Liberty Bell. Each state received two of these bells in 1976, cast from the original mold, and our federal courthouse has one out front (the other is in Boise at the Capitol). The judge always encourages the new citizens to ring the bell loudly for freedom on their way out, and we thought our girls should too.
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