Need I say more….???
Archive for December, 2008
It is 9:04 am and both my kids are still in bed.
Actually, Ellie was up very early with a stuffy nose and then went back to bed.
What is that I hear? It think it is that melodic pitter-patter on the the hardwood floor. Time to go.
…on the referral front.
Several Bethany families received referrals yesterday. One is an infant and there are a couple of young sibling groups who will be coming home in early 2009. Several other families will have their court date on December 24. The Bethany representative will go to court to represent the adoptive parents for this huge milestone in the adoptive process. Basically, the court approval is the green light and things will move rather quickly to that last step in traveling to Ethiopia for finalization.
We are still peacefully waiting for our next child and and praying for the situation in Ethiopia and all those very precious souls so devastatingly effected by AIDS, poverty, hunger, disease.
2 Days and Counting!
-School is done.
-Big Christmas party with our school group is done.
-Girls are packed.
-Dogs are happy “on vacation” at my parents house.
-Packages are mailed.
-Grandma and Grandpa sound like they are ready for the “invasion“.
-Tomorrow is final cleaning and packing.
Bring on the vacation!
Again, a conversation in the car…
-”Mom, when I am a teenager will you teach me how to drive?”
-”Yes, Honey.”
-”Great! Then you can show me what all the buttons on the radio do!”
We continued down the road. Gazing out the window, she continued,
-”You know, I used to drive on the rocky road with Daddy when I was 4 and 3 so I really already know how to drive.”
I guess that’s solved. I can check that off my to-do list!
I packed the girls bag today for our trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa (otherwise known as “Kam-ma” and “Kamp-pa” in 3 year-old speak). They needed to try on a couple of different of swimming suits to see which fit best.
They both paraded in their suits for awhile, but alas the December chill set in. They next thing I knew they were back in their clothes.
When they stripped down for their bath I found that they had been wearing their suits under their clothes all evening.
Let’s just say, all of us are looking forward to this next warm and sunny adventure.
Hannah is studying colonial times and the American Revolution in school right now. We are reading the American Girl books about “Felicity”, a young girl growing up in Jamestown, Virginia in the 1770′s. These are extremely well-written books about history, culture, and good character.
Felicity is attending a school were she is learning how to be a proper “gentlewoman”. One very important aspect was the ability to hostess and prepare a proper teatime.
Hannah was all over that. When we had completed the book, out came my antique tea cups. She set her table, wrote place cards, dressed herself and her sister, invited her Dad, and sat down and was definitely “the hostess with the mostest”. She even guided the conversation in the points of the unfairness of the tea tax imposed by the King of England and how we should rally around the pursuit of freedom from English rule and be patriotic.
Here are some shots:
Ellie is 30 pounds soaking wet. She is petite and all muscles. She is a healthy eater but loves to have a sweetsie.
Right now she must be on one serious growth spurt! Yesterday, she ate breakfast, a snack, a sucker and two lunches, fell asleep for an hour and a half and immediately upon waking ate a snack. Just the nap was enough to cue me in that something was up…Today it was a 3 hour nap and I had to wake her when our friends arrived for dinner.
She is raiding the pantry very often and it’s a sorry sight if she has to wait very long. I can’t blame her, she probably has nothing on reserve while that little engine is running.
As for the naps, I am going to enjoy them.
I love evenings. To me, they are the frosting on the cake. I love to sit down to dinner with my family and collectively “catch our breath” after a, hopefully, good and productive day. In warm weather we play outside, go for walks and hang out on the front porch. Winter evenings are spend with Ryan playing guitar, playing games or watching a show together. Ryan and I made a conscious decision several years ago to try to avoid too many evening obligations and rather focus on spending time together as a family.
Last night we played Trouble, which is a fun game that even Ellie can play (and practice her counting skills!). We then tuned into Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Cute show though we’ve only seen it a couple of times.
Ryan and I were amazed, though, at one of the contestants. His relativism was oozing! He was an icon of this 21st century phenomenon of “feeling truth” rather than “knowing truth”. His first question was about male turtles laying eggs – True or False. He said, “I feel it – it is true!” COME ON! We don’t feel certain truth. We know it. This first grade science question, for example. Another example is the truths that we are given in God’s Word. I don’t want to just feel them, I want to be able to stand on them and know them. That way, when I am blown around by the uncertainty of my own flesh, I at least have a marker to look to and know which way is true north.
There is a quote by Oswald Chambers that has been on my cabinet door for years: “Faith is the deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”
Sure, I know I can’t always be confident in my choices or of the world around me, but I can be sure of the promise of God’s character. Why? Because the Bible tells me so.
Hannah popped some popcorn and we all huddled together under the blankets to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on Wednesday night. About halfway through the show, Ellie started talking about Bambi walking all alone without his friends…quickly I realized she had Bambi and Rudolph mixed up…
Sort of reminds me of the time we took Hannah to see Shrek 2 when she was about the same age. She sat happily on my lap – munching popcorn – the entire movie. As soon as the movie was over, she looked up at me and said, “So, who’s Fiona?”