Some Very Cute Pictures

 

AAww Mom, do I have to share my chicken with you?

Helping myself to gingerbread boys when mom wasn’t looking!

Look at my braids!!

And my teeth!! I like chewing on mommy’s dress just like a little puppy!

silly faces

Bread And Coffee

Time for a smakeral of something, said Pooh reaching for his honey pot…

This is how Veronika does it…

Dip it!!!!  

 

Bite it!!!  

 

Drink it!!!  

 

Try it. It makes tummies and hearts happy!!

A Year Ago Today…

• Veronika weighed 11lbs and 4 oz.
• She rolled from her stomach to her back for the first time!!
• She was a week away from her 6 month mark!
• And ready to celebrate her first Christmas!
• It was 5 days since her birthparents had signed papers to make me her legal guardian.
• And both of us were still recovering from the trauma we went through when her birthmother tried to take her back.

Today…

• Veronika weighs 23 lbs and 12 oz.
• She is a week away from her 18 month mark!
• And she is ready to celebrate her second Christmas!!
• I am delighted to be Mama to my bright, active, toddler!

How well I remember that cool, cloudy day which seemed to drag on endlessly while I waited to hear the footsteps of Veronika’s Birth mom. Finally at 4:00 in the afternoon I heard the shuffle of her feet on the porch and saw her face peering in the screened window. Trembling, I opened the door and let her in, trembling, I explained how to give Veronika’s medicine and how to mix the milk and then trembling, I laid my dear unsuspecting baby into her arms. I was actually in such pain and distress and disbelief the tears could not even come. I knew that when the tears started they would never stop…

I was in my dark room laying on the cold concrete floor, crying and crying.

And then how my heart jumped when I heard the shuffling footsteps again and heard the familiar voice of my baby’s mom asking for me!!!

The one mile ride through the dark, over roads riddled with potholes took much too long as we made our way to pick up my dear baby again. I remember peering out the front windshield and seeing rats peeking out of the long grasses by the side of the muddy road. I rung my empty hands and willed the truck to go faster…

I remember stepping out of the truck following Mom through the darkness; it was strangely silent, only the shuffling sound of people moving and the sound of a baby’s cry. I followed into a tiny house crammed with ladies and children who parted to make way for me as I entered…

There was my baby, Oh blessed sight!!! They pushed me into an empty chair and laid my baby girl into my arms! And the world became right! I held Veronika’s trembling little body close to my heart and all the ladies clucked and said, “ Look, she just wanted her Mama.” 

And truly that was what she wanted- her Mama!! A year later that’s still what she wants!!

You’ve Got To Try This!!

When I was on furlough my sister Rachel gave me the recipe for a coconut curry along with all the spices to make it. I don’t know why I didn’t try it right away… Last night I decided to try it and Wow, that was one delicious curry!! It was so incredibly good that Matt actually said it was Heaven food!

It was easy to make too. The most time consuming part is chopping the veggies. You just throw everything in the pot and let it simmer and smell up the house!!  I’ve eaten lots of curries but this one is probably my favorite! The coconut combined with the pungent taste of curry and spices gives it a rich, rounded out taste. And then the sugar combined with the cayenne pepper gives it an interesting twist.

I served it with chapatis which is like a flat bread or tortilla but it would also be great with rice.

We all loved it so much we were sitting around the table sighing and crying. Even the babies just dug in and ate fists full of it because they couldn’t get it in fast enough with the spoon.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures of it- I was much too emotional to think about something trivial like taking pictures. But here is the recipe and you’ve got to try it; that should be a law!! I used sesame oil instead of the two oils it calls for, curry powder instead of paste and coconut milk instead of shredded coconut and I didn’t have yogurt to add in the end but it was basically the same as the recipe and like I said before: FEIRCE GOOD!!!

Just reading over this makes me want to jump up right now and go cook up a batch!!

A Happy Birthday!

Remember being this psyched about birthdays?!!

 

Came Suze is proud to be ten years old!!

Its so fun to show my little girl her world. Things that have always been a part of my life I get to introduce to her for the first time!! Today I gave her a piece of broccoli for the first time. She thought I was handing her a flower so she took it carefully in her fingers and said, “ Wow!”

A couple days ago for an after supper treat we built a fire outside and toasted some marshmallows that our friend Hannah brought for us. It was the first time Veronika ever had a marshmallow. She thought it was great until she got tired of being covered with sticky goo!!

Here we are sitting around the fire trying not to suffocate!

And here is Came Suze showing how much she loves the marshmallows! And Moses eating popcorn!

Veronika and marshmallows! Not too impressed at this point!

Some Thoughts on Children

The way we relate to our children shapes the way they will view and relate to God. We affect their eternal destiny by the things we do and say every day. That’s why I believe the most important thing for us parents is to have a strong relationship with God; not so that our children will be trained just right but so they can see Jesus in our everyday lives. If they don’t see it in our lives they won’t believe it in our words.

Children and babies aren’t only cuddly, adorable, fun little playthings, they are eternal souls. And they grow up so fast. It is sobering to think how much responsibility hangs not only on parents but on every person who ever comes in contact with a child.

Jesus loves children. He sticks up and fights for children. He can’t stand it when we treat them unkindly or rudely. He said: It would be better to have a millstone hung about our necks and to be cast into the sea, than to offend one of these little ones.

Wow, that makes me pay attention to how I treat little ones. If we are to be like Jesus then we obviously are supposed to love children, and to stick up and fight for them. 

Children are not a bother. They are very important!!

Thanksgiving Day

We’ve never taken the children on an outing specifically for them so on Thanksgiving day that’s what we did. Our choices are of course very limited but Matt knew of a little amusement park with some rides but when we checked it out it wasn’t open anymore. So we ended up driving up to the beautiful mountains of Petion-ville to a mission where they have a little petting zoo and restaurant where you can buy banana splits larger than your stomach!!

Us girls don’t get out much at all so it was a real treat for all of us. It was so relaxing and refreshing to get some fresh air outside of our little compound. The mountains were just gorgeous!! And at the mission there were beautiful flowers and brilliant green plants. The air was cool- such a nice change from the stuffy town air we always breathe here at home.

Julien obviously isn’t used to riding in vehicles and gets carsick!! We had just gotten a good start down the road when suddenly without warning he emptied the contents of his stomach, and his stomach isn’t that small, all over the car and all over me. A whole bunch soaked into my skirt and ran down over my foot and in between my toes, gross!! Thankfully it didn’t smell; probably because he had just finished drinking a bunch of water.

The vomit should have been a forewarning to me about my day!! Soon after the vomit incident: Veronika was sitting on my lap and suddenly I felt something warm and wet soaking through my skirt onto my legs!! That was gross too!! Then when we got there I wanted to get out of the car and somehow I tripped and came crashing out headfirst onto the pavement! What an entrance!! I skinned my foot up a bit but nothing too bad. And the whole day I was having bad stomach pains and diarrhea; swallowing charcoal pills and praying fervently.

But in spite of those little incidents which all had to happen to one person. It was a very happy and fun day!

Here are some eager little boys nestled into the back, yes, I know they should be in car seats but that is not how we do here.

 

Here are some pictures we took at the zoo:

And here we are with our kids, all except Came Suze:

Veronika loves pretty flowers:

She really dug into the food too! I gave her chicken nuggets, fries and a small container of ketchup and she thought it was the best thing she’s ever had in her life. She would take a fry or piece of chicken and just plunge it deep down into the ketchup before putting it in her mouth!

And then came those amazing banana splits!! Veronika doesn’t usually get to eat sweet like that but I decided I would let her for a special treat. She dug into that ice cream and with every bite she would say,” Mmmmm, mmmm,” and take deep breaths like she was trying to squeeze all the pleasure out of it!

On the way home Sulley made Julien wear his plastic bib with a  big pocket in case of vomit!

And not  a sound did we hear from the back!