Thursday, November 4, 2010

Here I Blog Again...

After a couple of months filled with just living life with Anderson now home, adjusting to a great deal of change in our lives, and enjoying the opportunity to be home with my three kiddos, I am hoping that this post is the new beginning of regular entries in the blogosphere! I really enjoy writing, and blogging is the only writing I have done in recent years. So, even though I have not had time to blog very much, I have missed it over the past couple of months.

Here are some family updates in bullet points:
  • Anderson is doing really well and learning so much English. He is my little echo and loves to repeat what I say. His newest favorite words are "window" and "noodles." He loves to eat and popcorn is his new found favorite snack.
  • Alex is growing tall. He is excelling in reading this year in homeschool, and has independently read 9 chapter books since we began school. He and his Dad are getting ready for baseball in the spring--it will be his first time to play since he played tee-ball when he was 4!
  • Aerin is my helper in so many ways and loves to take care of Anderson. She enjoys Math the most of all her school subjects, and has come far with her reading. She gave her life to Jesus several weeks ago, and we praise God for her decision!!! She plans to begin gymnastics in the spring and keeps asking when she can have her first "spend the night" party at our house.
Home school updates:
  • In September, we enjoyed a great trip to Huntsville with our SCCS friends to see full-size, historically accurate replicas of the Nina and Pinta ships that were part of Columbus' first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It was quite a long drive, but well worth it. I didn't get any pictures, though, because I forgot Anderson's carrier and didn't have a hand free to take any!
  • In early October, the kids and I had a great time at The Old Baker Farm in Harpersville (also with our SCCS buddies). We all went on a hayride, picked out small pumpkins, picked cotton, saw the farm animals, and went through the corn maze. All three of the kids really enjoyed their time at the farm.
  • We are reading some great books, our favorite being the weekly reading of a true story about a missionaries past and present who served in different countries all around the world. The book is part of our Sonlight curriculum, and is called Missionary Stories With the Millers
  • We are studying the body and its systems in Science right now, and today we got to make a "blood model" as part of our learning about the Circulatory System.  Who knew that Karo syrup, red candy, purple nerds, and water chestnuts could represent all the parts of blood? The kids loved mixing up the "blood" and filling out their lab sheets.
  • Some days of school are amazing, and some days are very difficult. Every day is worth it, and I am so grateful to have this time of teaching and learning with my children.
  • Anderson even gets to do his "homework" from the OT! While the big kids are working independently, he and I work on his fine motor skills as he practices pointing and naming objects in a book, using a block shape sorter and putting the blocks in the correct shapes, and putting puzzle shapes into the correct slots.   
Other news and pics:
My sweet friend Julie did an outdoor photo shoot with the kids earlier this month, and I am thrilled to have so many great pictures of all three of them, individually and together. Here are some of my favorites.
    This has been a long post, but I wanted it to be my "catch up" post for the past couple of months. November is National Adoption Awareness Month,and this Sunday is Orphan Sunday, so there will be a post coming soon to talk more about adoption and orphans. Pray for all of the adoptive families who are waiting for their children to come home, and for all of the orphans who wait even now for their forever families.
Happy fall to you all! As the weather changes, we celebrate God's small gifts in our lives-spending time outside, watching the leaves fall and picking up pecans, drinking hot chocolate and coffee, eating soup and chili, and just being together as a family. And we celebrate His provision and love for our family. We pray that this change of season reminds you of God's great love for you!
loving and learning,




About Me

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I love Jesus Christ, am a seeker of beauty, and am a grateful child of God who would be lost and hopeless were it not for His grace. I am learning to walk in love, see interruptions as divine appointments, and value people and relationships above agendas and results. I pray my life is grace-filled, and brings joy and encouragement to everyone I know and meet. We are a family of 6, built by God through love, birth, and adoption, living in the beauty and the struggle that accompanies parenting kids from hard places. Got questions? Email me at loveandtots3@gmail.com.

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