Faces of Nicaragua

Hello friends! I am writing this post from Nicaragua. I have been here for 7 days now and at this point I am way too emotional and tired to type but thought you would like to see the faces of Nicaragua. What a beautiful people. I may have energy to write a few captions....we shall see.

This little girl is holding the photo I gave her of herself. She carried it around all day....


I think this lady had never seen a photo of herself. Many of them, most of them had not. We are serving in remote villages. She kept kissing me on the cheek and saying "Gracias, Gracias."

This man approached me and said "foto"..."foto" and as I said "ci, photo", he pulled out his new glasses Dr.Scott had given him. He was sooooo proud. Again, he had never seen a photo of himself.

More later. Will be home soon, emotionally exhausted. Thank you for your prayers, I need them now and during my transition back home. I have a feeling it may be hard. This is quite a different life, friends. Quite a different life....all the same God. Woosh.

Steps of Obedience....

Big day in Biggie's life....

Grandaddy got to pray for him afterwards.

Our buddies, whom we love :) So happy that came to support biggie in this step of obedience.

My sis and her hubby and baby Jackson came out for support as well.
Big happy family....
I am so excited about what the Lord is doing in biggie's life. I can see growth in his little heart. We got him a new Bible, journal, and Bible case for a gift. He wants to read it and journal all the time. I have been noticing he is really listening, taking notes, and journaling during the services. During our small group that is a family small group he has really been participating and asking great questions. It's so amazing to see God work in your kids lives. Truly amazing. What an answer to prayer!

Is he perfect? Nope. Am I? Uh...nope. Is anyone? Nope...well, there was one but his name was Jesus. I am so glad biggie has been justified. Christ died for him and he is forgiven. God is so good. I am so glad that God has called biggie unto Himself. So thankful.

Frog in my throat

Me...just waking up and feeling sick....some sort of mean cold.

Biggie: "Oh mommy, you must have a frog in your throat."

Me: "Yep, I just don't feel that great."

Ten minutes later.....I noticed Jee had been quiet.

Jee: "Mommy, you sick?"

Me: "Yea, buddy, I'm ok..I just don't feel very good."

Jee: "Oh, you big frog in you tummy?"

Me: insert laughing "Oh, buddy, not really, its just something we say when someone sounds funny."

Jee: "Oh, okay mommy. You have little frog you tummy."

:)

Look what showed up on our doorstep!

Introducing...Matilda Jane

The delivery....she showed up on our doorstep several weeks before Christmas as an early gift.

I love each of these photos , this one for Jee's face....

This one for Biggie's hugging MJ and Jee's being overwhelmed!The only reason I got this doggie......these three little sugars.

Well, okay....we got it for him too.

What Jee liked doing when we got the crate.

First walk

Okay, this post is long overdue but we've been a little busy. This is what the kids got for Christmas from us. Seriously, what were we thinking??!! Now, this dog is HUGE and CRAZY NUTSO. I like her sometimes but don't others. But, she is good for the kiddos and they love her to death. This morning Jee was saying "Me love Tilda" all the while he was loving all over me. I said "You mean you love mommy?". "No, me love Tilda". Oh, okay. Thanks buddy.

She's a lot of work but overall pretty sweet. And a lot of work. We love this breed, the weimaraner. It is the breed we have had before (Kramer). Woh boy, don't get me started on him. That's the whole reason it took us so long to get a dog again. I hate it when dogs die. It sucks bad, so I wasn't going to ever allow myself to like another dog. I'm kind of succeeding :(), kind of not.

Happy 2nd Gotcha! Forever Family Day

On our first Gotcha!Forever Family Day. I will never forget the feeling of having all of my little ones together at the airport surrounded by people who love us and who we love dearly. Priceless.

On our first Gotcha!Forever Family Day. It is a tradition that just JeeJee and I go to the Asian Supermarket.

This year he didn't want to ride in the basket and he wanted to carry his own. He also wanted to pick out a few items on his own. He picked out a new kind of seaweed and chose which rice cake he wanted. He's so big. He loved the live fish (and the dead ones).

"No those fish alive?" He asked. That's his new deal..he says "No" before he says something and that means that the statement he is about to say is false. "No me go to bed, no me sick, no me need to go potty, etc."

We go eat at a Korean Restaurant as a family. They all enjoyed the food this year...even Rooty.

One year ago...

Now
Then (2010)

Now (2011)

About to view his slideshow of his life thus far. It was 10 minutes long!!! Uhh....what's going to happen when he's 18?!?!? That's going to be one long slideshow.

JeeJee, We love you so much and are so thankful to have you. You are God's gift to us. God is so good.

Every night we say to this to our children (thus the title of the blog): Juju, if we could go all over the world...on every continent, in every country....and choose any little boy to be my little boy. I would look, look, look, look, and look. And, then, you know what?!?!? I'd choose you!!!

Juju has been the first that has said "Me tell you secret", he makes our head go all the way down to his mouth and he whispers it so quiet we can hardly hear him. He says "me look, look, look, all ober, ebrywhere, look, look, look. Me choose you."

Happy Gotcha!Forever Family Day little boy. We love you.

Merry Christmas 2010

This is about the best family photo we can get....seriously.....
Ree Ree 5 years 4 months
Biggie 8 years 4 months
Jee 2 years 8 months
All my boys




Ree making cookies for Santa...
that happen to her favorite kind :) How could she resist?
Letters to "Santa"
One of Jee's favorite surprise Christmas gifts. Our little friend and babysitter, Kristen made these for them....she rocks.
We put Jee to bed early on Christmas night and Ree had her first Lord's Supper. It was so amazing. God has really touched her heart this year. I want to share the whole story some time but she has strongly felt God speaking to her. It really is an amazing example of the verse "let the little children come", she has pure, unabashed and very innocent faith. Praise be to the Lord for calling Him unto Himself. God is good. All the time.
Two of the biggest three prayers of my life answered already. I love you, Lord.