by Beth Butler

Never before has this type of journey been documented. A box filled with items for Malia and Sasha Obama makes it way from South Greenwood Avenue in Chicago, Illinois to an undisclosed holding area in Washington, D.C. This box has in it a bilingual puppet that will tell us of this once in a lifetime trek to the White House as a toy for the First Family.

Never could I have guessed when I was being made in Indonesia, a place where our new President of the United States used to live, would I one day be living in the same house as that same President, President Barack Obama. It has been really amazing! Take this historical day of the swearing in of the first African American President, combine it with a collection of dignitaries, celebrities and just millions of proud Americans, and moving day for the new First Family is upon us.

For those of you who don’t know who I am, my name is Boca the hand puppet and language amigo, friend of thousands of children across this country and many, many others. I have been known to show up on The Education Channel in the Tampa Bay Area, I have been turned into a big mascot character, and I help elicit the new language of many young children from sea to shining sea. (That seemed so appropriate in light of the events of today, Inauguration Day for our forty-fourth President of the United States of America!)

I was packed into a UPS mailer months ago and sent to an address in Chicago, Illinois that, at the time, was the home of Barack and Michelle Obama along with their daughters Malia and Sasha. Since President Obama encouraged the American public many times during his campaign to make certain their children can speak Spanish, my owner felt it a prudent move to send Malia and Sasha ‘yours truly’ along with some other language learning CDs, DVDs and fun book stuff from her company Boca Beth months ago!

It got really crazy at the house in Chicago once their Daddy won the presidential election, so busy that they never even opened up the package with me in it that the Secret Service signed for that brisk day in Fall 2008. In fact, my buddy, another Boca puppet, and I were packed into some official boxes that were shipped off to Washington, D.C and stored in a building as we awaited the arrival of the new First Family.

Malia and Sasha didn’t even notice that we were gone. In spite of my cute face and soft material, the bright colors of the backpack I was in, and the really cool Boca Beth Spanish and English music CDs and DVDs, the girls really never knew we were there or that we were gone. I am so hoping once things calm down here on Pennsylvania Avenue and life gets back to some sense of normalcy that they’ll unpack my box and show Daddy that they will learn Spanish just like he said all of the children in America should.

This morning of the Inauguration was a bit crazy for us toys in boxes. It seems just as soon as the President Elect and his wife left for the church service, the moving vans quickly set into motion and ended up at the South Wing of the White House. They were pretty nice in the way they handled our boxes, and I heard them asking each other which direction the girls’ rooms were going to be. They decided to leave my box off in the family gathering and play room.

I am so excited to have them open up my box. I am so excited for the sunlight to filter into my box and onto my puppet material back. I am so excited for all of the change that I keep hearing about from outside this box. It seems a lot of great things might be happening for the little children I keep teaching Spanish and English to. This President, whose mother sent him back to the United States from Indonesia to live with his Grandmother because she wanted him to have a good education, is really into family, education early in life and giving hope for a bright future for all who want it.

Here is to an open box, open minds and open hearts of every American as this new First Family models great values, morals and provides definite direction for a better nation.

Bilingual consultant, keynote speaker and children’s recording artist Beth Butler is enjoyed on The Education Channel. You can sample the Boca Beth bilingual music and movies for free at http://www.bocabeth.com or call today toll free 1.877.825.2622 to order your fun bilingual products.  Use your HERD discount code to get 30% off any Boca Beth CD or DVD (type in HERD in promo box).