Thanksgiving in Indiana

I learned a hard lesson this Thanksgiving.

Don't drive 9 hours with two kids in the backseat TWICE in less than 4 days.

We drove up to south Indiana to visit with my mom's family for Thanksgiving. Mark had to stay home because he had to work the day after Thanksgiving, so it was just me, my mom, and the girls....all packed into her tiny sedan. The ride there was golden. We literally had to ask Lucy if Annie was breathing because she was so good, she barely made a sound the entire trip. Then, while we were in Indiana, Annie got croup and started wheezing, so I made a call to work and got one of the doctors I work with to call her in some steroids and an inhaler. By the way, what in the world do people who don't work in the medical field do? I get the hook up from work ALL THE TIME. Seriously don't know what I would do without the fabulous people I work with. ANYWAYZ.....since Annie was sick, and it was the second long car ride in such a short time, the ride back was not fun. She was not happy to be in her carseat, and we weren't happy to listen to her complain the whole ride home. As soon as we walked into our house both girls were back to normal...happy and playful and smiling.

Despite the rough ride home, and the lack of sleep we all got while we were there, it really was a lot of fun and well worth the trip. I love spending time with family. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives who love us for who we are.

My aunt is fostering this little boy and Annie just fell in LOVE with him. She has never kissed anyone before....and out of nowhere she decided to start giving kisses ONLY to him.

Brittany and Lucy playing Memory. My fabulous cousins kept her entertained the whole trip.

My beautiful girls! They love each other so much :)

Our immediate family

Me and my cuz

This is the house we all stayed in. It was right on a lake and fortunately we had gorgeous weather the whole time.

Lucy checkin out the water on the dock.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! So much to be thankful for. I am feeling immensely blessed and content this year.

Thoughts

Mark and I had our training session yesterday for hosting the girls. It was exciting and heartbreaking. Hearing about all the attachment disorders these kids have, the kind of abuse they have been through, and what will most likely happen to them if they continue to live in an orphanage until they are thrown out at age 16. Prostitution, crime, and drugs....that is their future if someone doesn't intervene. Some of the children that are hosted end up doing well in life even if they don't get adopted because they have a chance to see what it's like to have a functional family, and it gives them hope.

My heart was so heavy last night as I thought of these precious children, who had no say in what kind of life they were dealt. They don't know what it means for clothes or shoes to "fit" because nothing they have ever been given has been specifically for them. They don't know what it feels like to be full after eating, and don't have the option of having seconds if they are still hungry. The younger children don't even know how to play, because no one has ever played with them. It breaks my heart, and makes me wonder why on earth I was given the life that I have. Why I grew up wealthy and spoiled while these kids are rotting in an orphanage with no one to give them a hug or tell them they are loved.

It's so hard to balance these feelings with the realities of life, because although we are called to care for the widows and orphans, that doesn't mean everyone is called to adopt, or that we are called to adopt every orphan that crosses our path. Although the mother in me, and the emotional woman in me, tells me to adopt them all! I am wrestling with these thoughts today as my own two girls, dressed in warm pjs, their bellies full from breakfast, are playing in the other room with each other, confident in the fact that they will be fed and taken care of because that is all they have ever known. I don't know what my two host girls are doing right now, but I know their bellies aren't full, I doubt they are dressed in anything warm, and I'm sure they feel abandoned and unsure of their futures.

I'm not sure what do to do with these thoughts. I'm excited that we are hosting them and get to shower them with love and affection and meet their physical needs. But it's only one month, and it doesn't feel like enough. They deserve more than that, they NEED more than that. Please cover us in prayer as we prepare for them, and prepare our hearts for not only what to do with them while they are here, but what to do with them after they have gone.

Stink Face Video

I got Annie's stink face on video....it's pretty hilarious. It's like she's trying to growl at me or something.

Update

Our computer is back!! Which means so are my fabulous, oh-so informative blog posts that I know you all have just been dying to read. The bad news is, we had to get an entirely new hard drive, and we lost everything on the old hard drive. Pictures, videos, addresses, music......Fortunately for some reason I was paranoid enough to not delete any pictures on our Nikon so I have pictures all the way back to Annie's birth on our camera. Most of our other pictures are on snapfish or shutterfly so we can purchase those again at some point. But still....I was heartbroken. Lesson learned: Back up EVERYTHING! Even if you have an iMac and you think it could never crash.

ANYWAYZ......

Our Latvian girls arrive in exactly one month!! I'm excited and terrified. Excited because I can't wait to meet them and love on them and show them how special they are. Terrified because, well, I'm going to have four girls to take care of! And what in the world do I do with a six year old all day????

I'm also worried about getting too attached to them. I mean, if we don't find anyone to adopt them, and we put them back on that plane knowing they are going back to an orphanage indefinitely....how in the world are we going to handle that? Do we pursue adopting them? Do we keep advocating for them and trying to find someone else to adopt them? So, that part is scary because who knows how we will feel about them and who knows what the Lord will call us to. We are ill-equipped and unworthy but for some reason the Lord has chosen us to be a part of these girls lives so we are excited to follow in obedience. I just hope they like us!

I've put up a few new posts. I'll try and play catch up since I slacked on the blogging for so long.

Stink Face

Homeschooling

Disney On Ice

Stink Face

Most of the time, Annie's face looks like this.....

Sweet, huggable, kissable....

But lately, she has a new face. We call it her stink face.

At first, she only did it when she was finished eating. So we called it her "done face". She wouldn't eat another bite and would make this face to push the spoon out of her mouth.

Then she started to do it when she got fussy, or frustrated. Then she started to do it when she wanted something, or when she was excited. And now she does it because she's figured out how dang cute she is, and how hilarious we think it is.

Our little stink face.

Homeschooling

So...I'm definitely not a pro at this yet. And probably never will be, but with a few months of homeschooling under my belt I have to say it's a lot less daunting and difficult than I expected. So far Lucy and I are both loving our "school time" together in the mornings while Annie naps.

I love that she learns at our kitchen table, or on the couch, or walking through the neighborhood. I love that I am her teacher, and if we want to spend a whole day learning about baking cookies we can. Or we can read 20 Bible stories in a row instead of working on letters. I don't know how long I will homeschool, but I do know that keeping Lucy home this year has opened my eyes to the idea of educating at home, whether it is just for one year or 12.

Lucy could already recognize all of the letters of the alphabet before we started doing school this year, and she also already knew the sounds they make. We are focusing on really learning the sounds, and also on writing. She can write her name by herself as of a few weeks ago! I am amazed at how quickly she has progressed.

working on letters and fine motor skills

sorting according to size

Working on patterns. She has a hard time with this but has already improved a lot.

I love seeing her learn. It has made me want to incorporate learning in everything we do....although she pretty much learns on her own anyway. I love this age, how she just soaks up every word, and remembers EVERYTHING. Can't wait to see how much more she progresses in the next few months!

7 months

Annie is 7 months old today...this is one of my favorite ages, it was with Lucy too. Not much has changed since 6 months...maybe that's why I love this age :) things are predictable and easy for the next few months.

Annie continues to grow into such a sweet little thing. She is content to sit on the ground and play with anything, and she is smiley and happy almost all the time.



She loves her big sister and smiles or laughs just at the sight of her.




She is sitting on her own, babbling, scooting and rolling all over the floor.

She is on a modified four hour schedule....I say modified because she needs 5 feedings a day instead of four. She naps twice a day and sleeps 12 hours without making a peep at night :)




The days of leaving the bear alone are over :) she grabs everything and brings it straight to her mouth.

She is still a mama's girl but is also very social. She wants to be where the action is and wants to be around people. Not much intimidates or overwhelms her.




Oh how I love this little miracle :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone