The TV aholic

I'm not sure if I should be proud of her ingenuity or embarrassed by her obsession???

Here is the sight I came downstairs to the other day-

Yup, there she is in the hall doing her "business"

I do limit the amount of TV they get to watch, so I guess she thought that TV time was too precious to spend it in the bathroom. She had even thought ahead enough to have TP in hand!

Where's Jack??

The other day Abbey was out in the yard with John. They were enjoying the nice weather and the green grass

John had to go to the storage room to put something up, when Abbey spotted this tree beside the store room:

She ran up to it and said, "Hey, look, it's a beanstalk!!

Abbey and her beanstalk

It would be kind of nice if we had a goose that laid golden eggs!!

On April 23, 1962

On April 23rd, 48 years ago, this conversation could have been heard up in heaven:

God: "Down on earth there is going to be a little boy born. I have great plans for him. He is going to serve me and make me proud. There is a little girl down there, who will need this little guy. They both are going to be Tarheel bred, and that will be the method I use to bring them together. They will spend their days growing in love with each other and with me.  The boy will grow up and become a great man of integrity. I will speak to him and he will listen and follow my lead. He will have to work very hard, because I'm giving him 6, yes six, blessings. His life will not be easy sometimes, but it will be full of  laughter! (This guy will surely love to laugh!) He will cherish these blessings, because he will recognize that they are my gifts to him. I'm giving him a lovely voice and musical talent, with which he will use to praise me. He will instill in his children a great love of music.  When things get hard, this fellow will know and call out to me, and I will hear him and answer him. I'm going to be very pleased with this boy...John!"

Yep, I know that is what God could have said about my husband, John. Last Friday we celebrated his birthday. John, Jr came home to celebrate his Dad's birthday. It meant a lot to John to have him here.

The birthday boy opening his present

getting birthday "sugar" from Abbey

getting ready for cake

blowing out the candles

Playing around after dinner. (I think John has always wanted to be a king)

John, Jr and Elijah

After dinner, we had some great family time and then watched a movie. 

Happy Birthday, John, I love you sooooo much!!

Why Suffer?

One of the questions regarding our faith that my children ask a lot is, "Why does God let godly people suffer?"  I don't have an answer for this, but it does intrigue me. So, I've done some research in the Bible and meditating for God to reveal some answers to me. I can't begin to know the mind of God, so I can't say that this is what God intends. But, I know that He has given us the Bible, so I've based what I believe on what the Bible has to say.

John and I know a family that has been through tremendous hardships with their son. He was born with a major heart defect, which required many surgeries. This past winter, he contracted the H1N1 virus. Ever since then, he has been in and out of intensive care. He has a myriad of problems. Most are life threatening. He has faced death many times and suffers greatly on a daily basis. His parents are wonderful people, devoted to the Lord. In an e mail sent by his mother the other day, she talked about the possibility of him dying. In that e mail, she expressed concern, not over her own grief, but over the fact that she didn't want it, if it happened, to tarnish her other kids' relationship to the Lord. I've watched her and her husband over the past few months stand up to what, to me, would seem to crush normal people. In this couple, I see God's strength. I think that is the only way someone can stand under such a trial. So, I think this is one reason why God allows suffering: so that we can see His strength and the power as He carries people through tough times.  In the Bible, Paul speaks of this in Phillipians 1:12-14.

Another reason, I'm ashamed to admit, is that suffering leads me to call out to my Lord. When things are going smoothly and all's hunky-dorey, I tend to not study the Bible as much, or pray as fervently. I hate to admit it, but during the hard times, I tend to drawn nearer to Him and praise him more when He delivers me. I hate that it takes that, but sometimes that is the case.

Many years ago, John lost his job. It was a difficult time, but God showed up in so many ways. We were ministered to by the body of Christ repeatedly. In the end, we learned that it was God who was our provider, not John. That lesson has stuck with us and taken us through many slow times in sales. If John hadn't lost his job, I don't know that we would have seen God as our sovereign provider. Psalm 119:71 speaks of learning more about God and His attributes through suffering. 

Suffering develops us into the people that God wants us to be. James 1:2-4 talks about suffering leading to perseverance.  I look at our adoption journeys. We, as everyone does, hit bumps and delays that sometimes made me want to pull my hair out. But, I can say that I definitely developed better patience and perseverance because of it.

Do I think that God brings suffering to us? No!! Suffering exists because we live in a world of sin. But, I do think that God takes the bad and makes it good, or uses it for good.  I've suffered very little in my life, so it may seem that it's easy for me to say these things. I've written these down, not to preach, but because  I want this blog to be a keepsake for my kids and grandkids. So, I hope that one day when they read this, it may help them know and trust the Lord more and more. That is the supreme goal of my life!

"Oh, he's so cute!"

Yes, that would be a worm she is speaking about. A slimy, squirmy, freshly dug worm, which I'm pretty sure, has never in his wormy life been described as cute!! (Unless it was by his mommy worm)

But, my girl thinks worms are cute. In fact, she runs to the flower bed to turn over the bricks and look for worms every time we go out in the front yard. 

Now, I'm not one to touch worms much less think they are cute. But, I'm trying not to tarnish Abbey's love of nature. She comes up to me and pokes this gelatinous creature in my face and says, "Don't you like worms, Mommy?"  I paste on my best smile to cover the grimace I feel, and say, "Yes, Abbey, I like worms in the ground where they belong, so they can do their job which God made them for."

I pat myself on the back, and breathe a sigh of relief that she didn't ask me to hold it,  as I watch the "cute" worm go back under the brick!

That's my baby girl...lover of worms!

Park Days

With the warm weather comes Park Days!!!

I never saw her ride; she preferred to push

A "poofy head" according the Abbey

Just hanging around

Dancing a little "I'm happy I'm at a park" jig

Trying to make the swing go by herself

Eyeing the monkey bars

This past Thurs. we joined OAKS at Ritter Park. We also went to a park on Friday. The weather was so pretty we couldn't help but take in two parks! I'm glad we did because Friday afternoon after her nap, Abbey woke up with a fever and hives all over her. She suffered with them until today. As if one child sick isn't enough... Saturday Elijah woke up with a fever, which reached 104.3 at one point. His stomach was also upset. 

Today, they both seem to be on the mend. We didn't go any where and had a good day at home!

Siblings

 It is so marvelously wonderful to see the seed of siblingship blossom between two previously unrelated children. 

 

We've had our share of unbecoming outbreaks of jealousy and petty violence against each other, and we've had times where they completely ignored each other.

But...

Lately things have changed. Now, they look for each other. The first thing in the morning, Abbey wants to go and play with Elijah. Yesterday, she actually took him out of his crib! (After I lectured her, I hope that won't happen again.) She goes up to him and affectionately calls him, "Little Buddy".  He copies everything she does. They are now content to let me hold both of them at the same time.

I know the fights will come and go, but that is also a part of being brother and sister. They have grown to love each other and that will just get stronger and stronger! I makes my mama-heart swell with joy!!!

Seven Months Today...

It's been seven months since Elijah's gotcha day. We are truly blessed. He continues to thrive and we continue to fall more and more in love with him. This past month he has made leaps and bounds in the verbal skills department. He repeats just about everything we say, most of it we can understand.  He also pretty much understands everything that we say to him. Another new love has emerged, his love of music. Whenever he hears music he starts to move and groove and bob his head, it is so darn cute!! Many times we hear him in the back seat of the car just singing along.
He's still quite a picky eater. Although not quite as slow as he used to be, he will flat out refuse to eat something new unless I can sneak it into him mouth and he discovers it is good. A few of his favorite foods are noodles, cheese, anything sweet, peanut butter, and any fruit. He feeds himself all the time now, and gets quite insulted when I try to feed him. He sleeps very well, through the night with long naps during the day. Here are the latest pictures of our darling boy, Elijah.

Concentration while painting

Being a little goofy

Working on his "Daddy skills"

Absolutely adores big brother, "Dandoll" (and the feeling is mutual)

Swinging is the best!

Elijah's First Haircut

I finally broke down and allowed Anna to give Elijah his first haircut. Well, not really his first haircut. It was buzzed when we got him in China, but this is his first haircut as our son. My older kids have been pestering me about him looking like a girl and growing a "mullet", which, according to them, is a fate worse than death. So, I gave Anna permission to get a little pre-cosmotology school experience.  I expected Elijah to not be happy about this, and he didn't disappoint me.

Even his beloved cheese couldn't make him forget that his locks were being sheared!

Daniel's friend, Caleb, was over and helped keep Elijah from grabbing the scissors

Look, no more mullet

All done, and friends again.

Springtime!!

Time to...

Pose in front of the dogwood and azalea trees

 Enjoy the pog (term coined by Daniel for pollen fog)

  We've had extraordinary amounts of yellow pollen this year. It has often looked like yellow snow coming down and coating everything.

Play with water

 notice the yellow running water (from the pog)

Of course, some water babies must submerge themselves whenever possible

Hoola Hoop

...sort of

Play in the sandbox

...until one of them pours sand on the other and looses sandbox privileges.

 "But, that's ok, Abbey, I don't mind a sand bath!"

Springtime = Funtime

Caught, not taught

I've often heard that values are "caught" by children not "taught". That can be a little intimidating, to say the least. Lots of times I'll see or hear one of my kids do or say something that isn't quite lovely, and I'll think, "Ok, where did they see or hear that?" I wish I could point the bony finger at someone else, but often it is the other three pointing back that are correct.  Then there are the good times when I see something and think, "Wow, we've done something right."  The other day at dinner time was one of those times.

When we sat down to dinner, Elijah had his hands over his eyes.

We stopped to look at him and he was mumbling away. Then he took his hands away and shouted,"Ahmun!". He was saying the blessing. Of course, we all made a big deal out of it, so Abbey had to get her attention. She began doing the same thing he had done and I had to take her picture also.

She's been saying the blessing for some time, but just needed some extra acknowledgment.

This also brings to mind another quote that I try to be mindful of,

"Don't be too concerned that your children don't do everything you say, but be very mindful that they see everything you do." 

I forgot where I heard/saw it, but it is so very true!

Speaking of dinner, look where our two dogs camp out every meal..

Can you guess why??