Hoop Dreams

 Tonight was one for the memory books for Miss Maggie Lu. She had the great honor of sitting on the bench during the girls highschool basketball game with two of her very best friends in the world. The head coach invited the girls to be an honorary part of the team. They got to be there for warm up, the pre-game speech, prayer, time-outs, high-fives, half-time in the locker room and celebration of the great victory. She had been counting the days until this night and it.did.not.disappoint!! She declared it the "best night of her life!!"

The girls pre-game  

 Praying with the team

                                                         Getting the scoop during a  time-out

 Things got a little intense toward the end of the game

But the girls held on and pulled out a victory to clench a spot in the playoffs!

Tonight I am reminded of the many blessings that come with living in a small town.

community.support.investment.encouragement.involvement.love

I am so grateful for those that come alongside us and inspire our children.

Thank you Coach Madill...you made dreams come true for three little girls tonight!!

Sick Day

We've been battling the coughs and colds at our house the past few weeks. It just seems to move from one to another and back. I love how nicely our kiddos share. Yesterday Maggie stayed home from school and today it was Sam's turn for a sick day. We decided to take advantage of a day at home and work on his school animal project. His report is on meerkats and part of the final project is making a display of their chosen animal. Sam really had his heart set on making his meerkat out of paper mache. Pretty sure the last time I made paper mache I was in the 5th grade. So after a little googling and a couple tutorials on you tube we were set.  Amelia is my little craft buddy so she was more than ready to jump in and help her brother.

It was really a lot of fun for both of them and Millie has convinced me that our next craft project is more paper mache.

One layer down....3 to go! Do you see any resemblance to a meerkat?

It was such a beautiful warm day and the kiddos were itching to get outside. I was hoping a little fresh air would do more good than harm for their colds.

Josie Kate .....still feeling under the weather. She wanted to be outside so bad but didn't crack a smile the whole time we were out. Hmmmmm....she didn't seem too thrilled about having her picture taken either.

Millie was loving every minute of it...swinging so hard she lost a boot!

 Poor chickens...I think they see her coming and immediately run the other way.

Nope, still no smile.

Hopeful tomorrow brings more sunshine, more smiles and fewer runny noses!



Last Call

We are going to do one last call for pre-orders on the baseball tees. These are for women only and run about one size smaller than normal. If you'd like to place an order you can scroll to the bottom of the page and use the paypal button. My apologies to those of you who have already ordered and are wating....we will get these ordered and printed as soon as possible! Thanks so much for you support!!

Wipe-Out

The littlest monkey is sportin' a shiner today. She was in the middle of one of her bedtime antics last night when she heard Rocky's footsteps coming up the stairs. She made a mad dash for her bed and cracked her eye on the wood slats that are meant to protect her from falling out of bed...go figure! She recovered nicely with some snuggles from mama and chocolate milk....I think she may be on to us softies!



Sparkly

Maggie almost 4 years old

Maggie before the big game {last night} almost 10 years old

It's hard to believe it's the same girl. She traded in the pink for black {yes, she requested black for their team color}, ditched the tiara for a messy bun and lost the purse for a basketball. I would have never dreamed that sassy 3 year old princess would become the tomboy that she is today. I never imagined that I would have to encourage her to wear something other than basketball shorts and sweats or that a perfect afternoon for her is watching football with her dad.  She is becoming her person. Growing into the young lady that God designed her to be. And oh is she fun and loud and full of spunk. I don't think anything comes more natural to her than teaching. She is a born teacher. Number one item on her Christmas list this year was a music stand. She doesn't play an instrument. No this music stand wasn't for music. It was to stand behind while she teaches and preaches to her students. Second on her list...a microphone because that voice of hers just isn't quite loud enough....excuse the sarcasm.

I've said it so many times before but she is truly the best big sister. Ever! Of course she has her moments but she adores her little sisters and loves on them, cares for them and teaches them. And needless to say she does this for all little ones. Always looking for an opportunity to spend time with her cousins or friends from church or any other little people she can find. And while Sam may disagree, she is a pretty darn great little sister too. She just has a tendency to mother him too....not so cool for the big brother.

She is a reader. This hasn't always been the case but fourth grade has been a new year and I love how she gets lost in her books. Many an afternoon I look out the window to see her walking home from the bus with her nose in the latest literary adventure she can't put down.

She has so many beautiful gifts and interests and it is so fun watching God mold and form her heart. She has blessed our lives so richly and we are honored to be her parents.  No, no more tiaras or fancy play jewelry but this girl will never be lacking in sparkle. Praying your light will always shine bright Miss Maggie Lu!

Today

Our day consisted of a lot of the above. Lots of paint. Lots of projects. Even more coffee. It was a wonderful, lazy day. Millie stayed in her pj's well after the lunch hour. I went to the barn to let the chickens out (hysterical sight...I'm still frightened of them in enclosed spaces) and realized even with the wind it was really warm. "Girls...we're heading outside for some fresh air!" They were so happy to put on their boots and do some puddle jumping and worm finding. We went on a search for heart shaped rocks...it is time to start thinking about Valentines, right?

We have PLENTY to choose from.

"how 'bout this one mom?"

so rare that she'll hold my hand these days. Miss Independent.

We headed to the bus stop to meet the kiddos. This was the greeting the girls gave each other. Millie had the same greeting for Sam but I respected his dignity and restrained myself from snapping pictures. After all, it's embarrassing enough that I show up at the bus stop, how dare I take pictures?  Tweens.

She soooooo makes me laugh!

We only found one rock (the worms were much more interesting). I'd say it's pretty "heart" like.

However, if you turn it around.....

Looks a lot like a place my heart is longing for. Thank you...I needed this today~



Moving on Up!

After a short 17 days on the wait list we've moved up three spots! We really weren't expecting much movement(if any at all) with this month's call so we were pleasantly surprised to be three spots closer to our babe!

I also wanted to wish you Melkin Yelidet Beaal! Today is Christmas in Ethiopia. How fun it will be to celebrate Christmas twice with our family!

Give the Girl a Star

Bedtime is never really easy around here. Our three girls share a room and there is usually lots of giggling and games before they finally hit the hay. But throw in a couple weeks of total unstructured vacation style bedtime and it's really tough to get them to sleep....especially this one.

She gives us quite the run for our money in the evenings. It's almost like a switch gets turned on to full throttle and she's ready for take off. So after all the warnings I could muster last night I finally from the mommy tool kit pulled out...."well if you don't go to bed tonight you can't get a star in the morning!" Ummmm....we aren't currently using any type of chart system so she was completely stunned and intrigued by this "star" she could earn in the morning. She promptly went to sleep and the first words she uttered this morning..."can I have my star now?" Thankfully I had taken the time to google some free printables and found a darling little chart perfect for her and Josie. There's just some space for stars without the pressure of having to list the chores and behaviors but rather leaving it open for reward when we see fit. As you can see she earned quite a few "stars" already.

I think she must have asked me 26 times today if I had any chores for her to do. She folded laundry with me, changed sheets, put toys away, helped me clean the kitchen, got the mail and jumped at any chance to help. It was really sweet and guess what? She's already earned her first star for tomorrow...it was another smooth bedtime. And I almost forgot the best part...for now she is thrilled with just earning stars. She hasn't asked what she gets for them. Of course we will find some type of fun activity to reward her with but I love that the star is enough right now! Chart can be found here (there's one for boys too).

Happy New Year!!

I attempted to put together a collage with all my favorites from the past year but it just wasn't working out. So here's the Christmas card picture. Tonight our family squeaked in one more new tradition before the last of the Christmas decorations were sent out to the barn. We each wrote out our hopes, dreams and prayers for the coming year and then placed them in our stockings not to be peeked at until next year when the boxes are pulled out again. It was a good time of reflection. It was fun to see what Sam and Maggie wrote and I helped Millie brainstorm a few things to go along with the beautiful picture she drew. Josie Kate's was all about drawing circles but I added a couple to her list also. At the top of all our lists is the prayer that next year when we sit down for our Christmas card picture there will be one more little person snuggling up with us. I am beyond excited to see what God has in store for our family in 2011. I pray He continues to press on our hearts and grow us, to help us see beyond our safe little bubble and reach out to those in need. To be courageous and look different. To follow Him...no.matter.what. And I pray for peace in this time of waiting for our family and for all of those in pursuit of the children that God has chosen for them. Those going out right now to bring their babies home, those beginning the journey and those that are just feeling the tug on their hearts. It feels like we were just there...the tugging and praying and now it's a year later and we can't wait for our 5th little monkey to come home! Happy New Year!!

P.S. The stocking idea came from this amazing blog!!