We have had kind of a crazy week here this week. The Little Fella has been feeling poorly and wants Mama to hold him all the time..which is fine by me... except that leaves other areas of life.. like ..Blogging.... lacking.



Here are some really thought provoking Blog Posts I have enjoyed reading ~

~Joy asks the question Do you WANT to have your eyes opened or do you prefer not to know?

~Sophie shares how her Mom helped her learn The Gift of Compassion

~Over at the Land of Lohrer the discussion is about Broken Cookies

And

Heather shares about Explaining Color to her African daughter

I have also been reading and enjoying Mary Ostyn's book about raising a large family. Many of you know Mary from reading her Blog Owlhaven. I hope to write a review of it next week.

Blessings!~

Six Weeks~

These are days...

These are the days you might fill...
With laughter until you break...
These days you might feel...
A shaft of light make its way across your face...
And when you do...
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be.




( From the Song "These Are the Days" )

Thank you Lord for letting me spend my days with these precious people. Thank you Lord for love, laughter, fun and memories made.

Psalm 133:1~

How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity! Pslam 133:1~

"Distance doesn't determine who is your brother and who is not."

Questions for You..

Sweet Pea was so sweet the other day lotioning her baby with pretend lotion. She has watched me lotion up our African Boys in the morning, and I thought it was too cute she was doing the same to her baby.

If you have children who are African/ African American/ Hatian, etc who need daily moisturizer for their hair and skin what products are your favorites? What is your hair care/ skin care routine like with them?

We keep coming back to Eucerin for our sons' skin and we are still looking for a favorite hair product (that is affordable for 5 heads of hair). I would love to hear what others use and do.

Thanks for sharing!

Communication~

One of the things I like about homeschooling is that we get to sit down together at our mealtimes. I feel like it gives us time to talk and really communicate with each other.

I thought I would share a snippet from today's lunch time conversation~Keep in mind they are all all conversing with each other here. It is like the telephone game gone really wrong..

6 yo ds: Is Sleeping Beauty a bad word?

8 yo ds : "Sleeping Beauty" isn't bad word. Booty is a bad word but not "Beauty" .

10 yo ds: Bed? Did you say bed? Don't tell Sweet Pea she has to go to bed or she'll cry..Shh..

10 yo dd: We have to flip cards? What?

4 yo ds : Yippee! We are watching Sleeping Beauty today?

Hmm.. I wonder if we have any Future Communication Majors here. :o) Or maybe some future politicians..( a whole lot of talking going on but not much listening)

Here's our Little Cowboy~



He loves being a cowboy.

He's a smooth talking cowboy.

He's the first to tell the ladies if he thinks they look pretty or cute.

However, he's also an extremely honest cowboy... if he doesn't think something looks good... He. Will. Let. You. Know. He told my cousin the sweater she was wearing just wasn't her "color".

He is a cowboy with strong convictions.

-He told his brother he could only marry one girl because if he married two that would be wasteful.

AND

-He is staunchly opposed to kissing girls who wear make-up. ( Here's hoping this one sticks with him through the teen years.)

A cowboy must live by his principles ;o)

We sure do love our Little Cowboy and he sure does love his boots..

He can even play a mean game of soccer in them..
But when you are headed to the "Sandy Park" flip-flops will just have to do.

Isaiah 6:8~

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Isaiah 6:8~

It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord can use people who are totally sold out to Him.

Many of you know the story of our Wee Boy. When he was brought to the orphanage in Ethiopia weighing in at a little less than 2 lbs nobody thought he would live. God had other plans and he arranged for three nurses from America to be there to care for him. They were so ingenious and resourceful in there care for him. A hoody became his incubator, the top of their sock became his hat, a ziplock bag with a warmed washcloth became his warmer. They loved him and cared for him around the clock and miraculously he lived.

One of those sweet nurses was the dear Sophie. Sophie has made 4 trips to Ethiopia to serve and minister to orphans and to care for the sick and needy in Soddo. She has personally cared for all three of our Ethiopian Sons. She has taught infection control to the nannies and hugged, loved, and brought joy to countless little ones in Ethiopia.

Next week our Wee Boy will be turning 4! Not a day goes by that I don't marvel at him and his love and strength. I am so thankful to God to be His mama and I am so thankful the Lord used Sophie in such a mighty way.

Sophie is now MOVING to Ethiopia as a missionary. I am so excited for her and for all of those whom I know she will bless. I know God is going to use her heart and her voice to tell of His matchless love and He will use her hands to bring love and healing to the sick and needy.

If you would like to take part in supporting Sophie's mission please visit Owlhaven to learn how you can help (The Baby Jon she writes about is our Wee Babe). You can visit Sophie's lovely Blog here..Most of all please pray for Sophie and all that God is going to do in Ethiopia.

Galatians 6:9~

We had a bit of excitement here on the home front the other day.

As my friend and cousin were leaving our house they nearly stepped on a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin which had crawled up onto our front porch. It struck at my friend and praise the Lord missed. It was one mean, angry, and poisonous snake.

We were in quite a quandry as to what to do. We had one deadly snake right outside our door and a houseful of little ones who Praise God were not the ones who had come across it.

I called Jim hoping he was in our area but he was across town. He calmly told me to put our eldest son on the phone. Our eldest had already been asking me to let him kill the snake but the Mama in me was not too fond of this idea. Even though our son is now bigger and taller and stronger than me.. I often have a hard time letting go of the idea that he is still my little boy.

I watched as our son calmly listened to his Dad's instructions . He then retrieved his pellet gun and proceeded to deal with the snake. I marveled at his focus and his drive to take care of the task at hand.

As I watched him I was reminded of him as a little boy. Our son was (and is) what many would label as strong willed. When he was younger he was a ball full of energy. He knew his little mind and would frequently test boundaries I had set. I can so vividly remember a trip home from the library when he was 3 years old. I had to stop the car MULTIPLE times to refasten his seat belt which he was taking great delight in unbuckling over and over again. I wondered if I would ever get him to learn to mind me.

I frequently get questions from Moms of small children on how to handle their little balls of energy who will not mind. They are all sure their little strong willed child is the only one in existence. I often tell them what a handful our eldest son was in his early years and they look at me in shock and disbelief. They can not believe that our son who is now so calm , well mannered, and helpful wasn't always so.

Somewhere over the years I learned that being strong willed wasn't really a bad thing. After all my husband Jim is incredibly strong willed. It is what allows him to be such a great employee, husband, father, preacher. He has an incredible drive. What makes his drive a blessing is that his strong will is rooted in godly desires.

As parents of strong willed children do not lose heart. God can and will use their will for His glory if they are yielded to Him. Your little one may be wearing you out. Every day teaching them right from wrong may seem fruitless as you can see little progress being made.

Do not grow weary in well-doing. You will reap a harvest! Instill God's word in their hearts and pray the Holy Spirit will apply it to their hearts. Be consistent in teaching them right from wrong. Enjoy them and play with them and let them know how much you delight in them.

The process of parenting does not always yield immediate results. It is much like the farmer waiting for a harvest. We sometimes have to wait for another season to see all that is happening underneath the soil.

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Galatians 6:9~

According to the children it's pool time again. Well, if they had their way every day would be a pool day. They believe if the sun is shining they should be swimming. I try to convince them that cold air plus cold water is not conducive to a good time. They don't believe me. So this afternoon when they begged to go for a swim I agreed, but I warned them it would be chilly. It would be cold. It would not be as fun as they thought.
Don't they look like they are having a miserable time?
Really, really miserable ;o)


Joel did confess he was cold and came to me for several warming sessions, but I have a feeling we are officially "back in the swim" of things around here.

And I am wondering why things like cold swimming pools and merry-go-rounds are fun when you are young, but not as you get older...

Wordless Wednesday~

Their Tae kwon Do Instructor told them to practice their Forms at home with their eyes closed. So, I noticed them practicing in the back yard with their eyes taped shut. Funny Boys! I just love these guys!

We hope Y'all had a blessed Easter! We had a wonderful day of worship and fellowship with friends and family!

We are so thankful for the beautiful day the Lord gave us but most of all we are thankful for Jesus giving Himself so that we may be saved.

Be Blessed!

Genesis 2:18~

Shower Weekend! No not that kind of shower..( Isn't the Wee Boy growing up?)
This weekend we are celebrating my dear cousin Noel's Wedding Shower!

The Cousins are in town and the house is rocking with joy. It's a wonderful day to celebrate the blessing of marriage and to help Noel prepare for her household.


And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18~


Have a Blessed Day!~

Growing..

Having a new little one in the house I am once again in awe of how perfectly God orchestrated children and parents attaching and bonding to one another. Everything a parent does for their new baby releases hormones which provide neuro pathways to develop in the infant's brain. These hormones cause physical, emotional and intellectual growth.

Children who live for extended periods of time in an orphanage will not grow in height at the same rate as children in a family setting.

Here is what the Bucharest Early Intervention Study found http://www.endowmentmed.org/content/view/395/35/

The study has been running for five years and records the wellbeing of children in a Romanian orphanage from an early age, and the changes they experience when transferred to foster care. The orphanage represents an extreme of social deprivation because the children are typically looked after by a rota of carers who will be responsible for 12 to 15 children at any one time.

Researchers found children living in deprived conditions suffered stunted growth, falling within the shortest 10% for their age. But on moving to a foster home, they went through astounding growth spurts.

"They can grow five times faster than normal and by the time they've been in foster care for a year and a half they will nearly have caught up," said Dana Johnson, professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, who estimates children in orphanages lose one month of growth for every three they spend there. Even though the children go through extraordinary growth spurts, they tend to go through puberty younger and faster, and so miss out on the usual long spell of growth most children experience.

The researchers say the children's recovery is unlikely to be explained by better nutrition as they had adequate meals before. Instead, they believe the effect is down to the more attentive environment.

Our son who spent the longest time living in an orphanage has experienced an incredible amount of growth since coming home.

He was 3 at homecoming and here he is with our other son (also 3)...



Here you can see he came up to about our bio son's shoulder..

Here he is today. They are almost the same exact height. Isn't God amazing? We are so blessed to witness al that the Lord has done in our sweet boy's life..AND

We are praying for all the millions of children throughout the world to find their families, so they can grow and thrive.

Happy April Fool's Day To You!~

Our boys got pedicures last night as they slept.



The Girls got boys shorts over their jammies (She is totally asleep here..breathe Baby Girl!) She thought this was so funny. She has been cracking up all day over waking up with her brother's shorts on her. The others..



are plotting revenge and discussing lizards ..eeeks help! I guess it's a fool will be repaid for his folly or something like that..Also , I want to say Happy Birthday to my little brother!! You are a great brother and a wonderful uncle (even if you won't let my babies win). I love and miss you and hope you have a wonderful day!