New Month Brings New Life

First, I have to admit that I am just not an animal person. Yes, I grew up on a farm. I had dogs, cats, chickens, cows, and sheep. But, now that I am a city-dwelling adult, I don't really like animals, and I really do not want any.

On the other hand, our kids really do like animals--like most kids I know. Raegan is the biggest animal-lover, so you can imagine her excitement when she discovered this in our playhouse:She diligently checked on them daily for a week or two. (I lost count.) She just had to make sure not to bother mama bird too much. Then, last week, she came screeching inside to tell us that the egg was hatching! She spent the rest of the afternoon checking. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. :)You can see the second egg starting to hatch.

So, I have to admit that the joy in this one's face has made me get over my animal thing just a bit. :)

June Activities

We have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY with summertime activities. Here are a few! Well, o.k., here are a lot! While Chris has been busy teaching Driver's Ed, we have been experiencing the following:

Isaiah continues to improve his vocabulary. Here is a little taste:

Matching hair-dos!

Painting with water!
Basketball camp.
Hail Storms. (Actually, I think this was just a pretty cloud, but we did have one major storm with baseball-sized hail.)
Celebrated Grandma LeFevre's birthday.Celebrated Father's Day with a "Man's Feast"! I know, this deserves its own post. Maybe next year! Here are the cards the kids made for Chris. They love their Daddy VERY MUCH! (So do I!)Isaiah's first baseball game. He was happier than this shows, especially when we left to go to the playground!
We got to go with Grandpa Dave.Bubble Bath Mohawk!Sending Sydney to Camp! She met 5 of her friends there. Fountain Park Fun!
That just about sums up June!

Trying to Keep Up!

Well, summer is in full swing. With four kids home full-time, I am finding it tough to get the "regular" missions accomplished. But, we are getting into a good routine. I have to admit that the first couple of weeks were tough. Everyone seemed to be at each other's throats; I think that everyone was trying to find their places again. For example, Raegan was used to being top dog, but she found herself shoved to #3 all of a sudden, and I'm pretty sure she didn't like the fact that she wasn't in charge anymore. :)

One day, it all came to a head with the three older kids threatening to do things to each other that are definitely not o.k. I was so thankful that God came to the rescue. After some cool-down time, He gave me these verses as a renewed vision for the kids. (I do have to quickly admit that these verses challenged me just the same. You'll see what I mean!)

I grew up with this one: Ephesians 4:32. "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Here was a new one: Philippians 2:3-4. "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." It seemed like there had been countless fights over who got the front seat in the van, who got the best piece of pizza, who got the best _______________. This verse challenged all of us to "Put Others First"! This is our new motto, and it has been transformational!

And finally: Philippians 2:14-15. "Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. . ." We want to be lights, look different than the messed up world, because we ARE different with Jesus in our lives. Too often, we just get in the way of His work in our hearts.

I really wanted to record these so that we don't forget this lesson. Really, any success of the summer is because of God's transforming work in our lives. I love that and am so thankful for it.

Here are a couple of fun scenes from the past couple of weeks. Our sweet friend, Elias, had his first birthday!

Can you tell that Isaiah LOVES Elias?

On May 31, we got to help welcome Duncan home from Uganda!
We are so excited for the Neill family!!!

First summer picnic! (You can see our smashed bushes in the back. We had baseball-sized hail the night before, and it stripped most of our plants/trees!)

Busy May Continues!

During one of the last weeks of school, Jackson invited us to a Reader's Restaurant in his classroom. He was dressed as a waiter, and we ordered several selections of literary "dishes" for him to read. It was so cute! We even got real mints at the end. Here, he's reading a few jokes as our "appetizer". :)The last day of school quickly approached. It is always hard to imagine that yet another year has passed. This has been an exceptional year, and we are thankful for the many blessings God gave us in good teachers and schools.
We celebrated the end of school with Gram who took us to a fun frozen yogurt shop. The kids LOVED it! :)
Here is a sweet brother moment: Today, I "caught" Isaiah and Chris "napping".
Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

May Keeps Getting Busier!

Boy, May is just a month full of activities! This week is no exception. Here is what we have done in the past week!

First, Isaiah got to open his gift from Uncle Pat and Aunt Melli--this beautiful metal sketch of a lion. He loved it! (We did, too!)See here if you want one!
Then, it was field day for Sydney. . .
. . . and Jackson!
Last night, we had our first baseball game of the summer. As you can tell, it was a bit chilly!
Jackson hit on his first at-bat. Fun!
This morning, Isaiah got his second hair cut! He wasn't thrilled at first, but he liked the fact that we didn't have to comb his hair this morning!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Isaiah!

Today is Isaiah's 2nd birthday! I am in awe when I think that he was born in a grass-roof hut and that God ensured all went well. We are so blessed to be able to celebrate this day with him. I'm excited to share a video that summarizes our journey to Isaiah. Enjoy!
And, Happy Birthday, Son!

Happy Birthday Party

When we first found out that Isaiah's birthday was May 16, Jackson was so excited. You see, both of our girls' birthdays are in July, so we often celebrate them together. Jackson has always wished he could share his birthday with someone. Last night, this came true as we celebrated both Jackson's and Isaiah's birthdays with a gigantic party! I wish I had more pictures, but the truth is that we just enjoyed the 50 people who were here to help us celebrate!

Here's what we have:Isaiah's car cake--he LOVES cars!

Blowing out candles. (Jackson's basketball cake)

Eating the cake!

Opening gifts.

Playing outside with friend, Tyler Jae.

This has been such a fun time to celebrate. I love that Jackson was so excited to share his birthday, and I loved celebrating both of my boys!