Another Addition to the Fam.

Before Matt and I had kids, we decided it would be a priority in our household to sponsor children in poverty-stricken countries and situations "overseas". We decided that our family would add one additional sponsored child per biological (or adopted) child in our household. We figure if we can afford to add on a child to our mix, we should make it a priority to afford a $30/month sponsorship as well. God has blessed us beyond measure and we trust He will continue to enable us to glorify Him, even if things get tight. Priorities require sacrifices, but some sacrifices are so right they feel like breathing.

With that being said, we first picked our Lidia back when Rachael was a baby. Sweet Lidia was the youngest child available that day when we walked into a local Family Christian bookstore and checked out their "World Vision" sponsorship rack. Sweet Lidia was just a petite little almost two year old (who looked more like a new one year old) when we first sponsored her and is now a thriving five year old starting school this year.

When Abi was born we discussed another sponsorship child. Our dear Tofic fell into our laps when the youth group was no longer able to provide funds to upkeep the little guy's needs. So we joyously took on our dear Tofic in Abi's honor. Tofic is currently an active seven year old (his birthday was 8 days ago) enjoying his second year of schooling. We love the hand-drawn pictures he sends us.

Lidia and Tofic are precious in our family as we learn about their loves, lives and families. We have clocks hanging on the wall to remind us of their real-life times and schedules. We pray for them at meals and talk about them during the day. They are two sweet kiddos who have just been  dealt a hard hand and we are so beyond blessed to come alongside of their families and their communities to help them "learn how to fish" in a desolate place.


So with the addition of Hannah to our family on the horizon, Matt and I took the girls back to the bookstore to the familiar World Vision rack. We studied the faces, learned new name pronunciations and worked together to pick out Hannah's sponsor child.

It was a given when we came across her. Valentina from Colombia. She's a cute little two year old with a birthday split between Rachael and Abi. The sweet thing is the only child of a single mom, for whatever reason, who is doing everything she can in upholding a daily wage earning job to try to provide for herself and her little girl. Valentina is growing up in a poor community in Colombia. World Vision just recently expanded their efforts in Colombia to come alongside struggling families after a devastating earthquake.

While we still have much to learn about Valentina and anxiously await our packet of information about her that we will be getting in the next few weeks in the mail, it was so neat to watch Rachael's excitement and curiosity about this precious life. And our dear Abi clung to Valentina's brochure with joy. We read and reread the few paragraphs we have about her before bed that night and since then.

It's such a blessing to watch our children's eyes slowly opened to the precious opportunity we have to love on children in the name of Jesus that we may never meet.

So welcome to the crew, Valentina. Rachael wants you to know that she loves you very much.



*** This post is in no way to bring glory to us, but to give it to God in thanks for the privilege of bringing Him glory in our daily lives.

Wordless Wednesday: Hot Vanilla

Not hot chocolate...

hot vanilla baby!

- Oh yes!!! -

You make one too? ;)

The Last of Us

Well, I guess it's not really the last of us, but it was the last vacation of "just the four of us."

We headed an hour away to a hotel,

[All children must ride on hotel luggage racks before they grow up.] 

enjoyed the pool,

 "We're going to the pool!!! YAY!!!"

 My skinny muscle man and lovin'-the-pool Abi.

 She would not stop laughing. =)

[I put the camera down and piggy-backed the children with Matt for a half hour of glamorously freezing swimming. But the kids loved every second of it.]

and stayed up late watching football together on the big king-sized bed while eating popcorn and special snacks the girls picked from a nearby gas station. We laughed, the girls did some bed jumping, and then they fell asleep around 9:30p on the pull-out sofa bed.

 Abi's zonked.

[P.S. Dry pool noodles make EXCELLENT temporary bed rails when placed tightly under the bottom sheet. No one had any problems falling out and my kids can be violent sleepers.]

The next morning we decided to go to COSI, an awesome children's science museum. We got in free with our local children's museum passes gifted to us this past Christmas from the grandparents.

The girls ran amuck, enjoying all they could soak in and we even enjoyed some lunch down in the cafeteria.

 Kitchen play with Daddy.

 Mmmm, serve up the plastic goodness.

 Off and on goes the X-ray viewer. =D

 Poor baby.

 Tragic. ;)

 Excellent nursing.

 1800's town.

 And now the same town in the 1960's.

 Working at the local diner. 

 Riding a rocket on the "street".

 Hula-hoops in front of the "old" post office.

We loaded up a little after 1:30p and found ourselves back at home by 3pm.

It was a wonderful last get-away of just the four of us before we all welcome Ms. Hannah Joy to the family soon.

Oh the delights of two small girls soaking in the utter excitement of what so many pass by as commonplace.

We all had a wonderful time!

Rachael's Tea Party

Don't let the silence on the blog two weeks ago fool you. It's not silent over here. ;)

While Daddy was gone on the youth mission trip two weeks ago, Rachael hosted her first Tea Party. =)

She started out writing the invitations (obviously with some help):

Then came the welcome sign for the door:

Then she made the place cards:

With the help of Aunt Jes, we made the Tea Party treats and some teacup decorations. The menu was lemonade poured from the teapot, heart-shaped PBJ or Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches, applesauce, trail mix (PB/chocolate chips, pretzels, animal crackers, and raisins), and of course cookies (meringues, homemade chocolate chip, and sugar cookies with the puffed frosting from the store - mmmmmm, yes). 

Aunt Jes also helped in setting the table, even loaning us some of her extra teacups and her tea set.

Here's Rachael's tea party:

Each place setting had a piece of jewelry that all the guests could wear and a special cup:

 Yes, that's a plastic ring for my two year old. ;)

 I didn't have a tea cup at first. 

 Rachael's Sunday School teacher who was unable to make it (hence Mommy stole her cup. hehe). 

[Actually this cup was given to my by my great grandmother.]

 Danielle's Mom (to Rachael) and a dear friend (to me).

[She likes coffee.]

 Rachael's Sunday School playmate and, for the longest, the only child in her age bracket/nursery at the church. 

 Aunt Jes brought a special teapot/spoon necklace for our little hostess.

 A new friend in Rachael's Sunday School class whom we have welcomed with open arms. 

 Ava's Mom, who's in my Sunday School class and a new wonderful friend. 

 Here Vicki pours the lemonade form the teapot as Danielle (top), Rachael (middle) and Ava (bottom) enjoy their tea party treats. All the girls wore frilly, beautiful dresses to the party (most raided from their drees-up bins at home). 

Little Abi sports the "cover all" bib since her gorgeous frilly dress was a light/stainable pink.

The little girls had a blast and so did the Moms. And each party guest got to bring home a teacup picture to color and remind them of the fun at Rachael's Tea Party. 

Rachael was quite the little hostess, tending to her guests and explaining where everyone would sit. Hehe. And Abi was thrilled to run after Rachael, Danielle, and Ava, as they squealed and played before/after our tea. It was a wonderful, frilly, girlie time indeed that ended with two little girls knocked out cold for an extended nap. 

- Successful indeed. ;)