Beat the Heat

It is HOT here - there is no escaping that. Two rooms in our apartment have air conditioning units in them but we are trying not to use them too much. That means that almost anything you do can cause you to break into a sweat. Poor Josiah sweats a lot and sometimes just watching a movie cause beads of sweat to appear. Well, lately we have been finding Lucas sleeping on the floor. He does have a bed but when we go to check on him we sometimes find him on the floor. Normally Lucas gets up early (6:30) but on the morning I took this picture he didn't get up until 8:30. I guess that he has found a way to keep cool at night - sleep on the tile floor (ouch!)

Like Family

The Lord has really blessed our family with Mrs. Y. Our boys love Mrs. Y and I think that it is because she is like a grandmother to them. Yesterday she had to sneak past Lucas to leave our house (making him upset is incomprehensible to her) but Lucas went to the balcony and spotted her leaving. He lost it! He began to scream and cry "Mrs. Y, Mrs Y". Mrs. Y then ducked behind a bush hoping that he would stop crying. No go - he waited for her to reappear and then continued to cry. She tried to keep walking but turned around blew him kisses and waved - he cried all the more. I know that it took great strength for her to keep walking.
Last week Caleb was very excited to be able to have a sleep over at Mrs. Y's house. The other boys cried and cried - they wanted to go too. She couldn't bring herself to leave but she didn't want to take more than one kid on the bus with her. She finally said "Please drop us all off at my house and you can pick them up at 10pm tonight". This was after she had taken care of them most of the day. We made sure that she really wanted to do that. Needless to say all the boys went to her house. When Josiah returned that night he was in tears (and not just because Caleb got to spend the night). "I miss Mrs. Y" he repeated over and over. He was beside himself.
So what I am basically trying to say is that our boys LOVE her. Before making our trip to this side of the world I prayed that the Lord would provide foster grandparents for our boys. He has provided abundantly in Mrs. Y. I love to watch the boys relate to her (even when they are just trying to get her to keep me from disciplining them) and I love that she tries to teach Lucas her language. I love the way she laughs at them when they say and do silly things and even though it is not always helpful I love the way she defends them and thinks that they can do nothing wrong. I love that she finds it difficult to stop playing with them and talking to them the entire time that she is here. Mrs. Y speaks no English but as a mommy her love for my boys speaks volumes to me.

To the Sea

This 4th of July we took a small vacation with our teammates. We drove about an hour from our house to the sea and swam with an ancient castle as our backdrop. Not bad! Though Micah and I spent most of our time under the umbrella we were thankful to be able to make the trip. Caleb started swimming lessons last week and was excited about practicing his "dead man's float" in the hotel pool. The older boys had a great time and by the second day Lucas was content to swim in the kiddie pool but wasn't as fond of swimming in the sea.

Practice makes perfect!

He feels in control at the kiddie pool, but the sea is too much.

The boys were able to take a
paddle boat out to the castle.

Evidence that he was there.

Nice backdrop, huh?

Review in pictures

I thought that I would share a few of my favorite pictures from the last couple of months. They don't necessarily warrant their own blog posting but I want to share them anyway.


Lucas' greatest joy is to be able to go
"bye-bye down". He often sits at a window
looking at cars and kids playing.

Caleb performed a short skit (in the national
language) for his graduation program.

I just love it - no real story!

Nana's visit was a huge blessing - for me and
for the boys.

The boys loved hanging out with Grandma
Tricia and Grandpa.

Micah is finding his voice.

I brought cupcakes to school for Caleb's
birthday. Funny to have to show the kids
how to remove the paper before eating!

Caleb graduates! He (and Josiah)
have done so well learning the
language - we are so thankful.

Caleb's 7th Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Caleb's 7th birthday and this year was his first birthday "party". We invited some of Caleb's friends over (6 boys to be exact) for a cake, ice cream and fun. That brought our boy count to 10 which brought our noise level to "over the charts". This morning our neighbor commented on the noise that came from our apartment! We were also glad that Grandpa and Grandma Tricia were able to be here to help celebrate Caleb's big day. Caleb has been very excited about celebrating this birthday. Caleb woke up yesterday, threw his hands in the air and yelled "I'm seven!". Apparently Nana told him that when he turned 7 he officially moved out of being a little kid. He tried to convince me that he was old enough to walk to the store alone today - I'm not ready for that yet. I'm also not ready for him to learn to ride the skateboard that Grandma and Grandpa gave him - even though he has spent most of the day walking around the house in his protective gear. Birthdays are always bittersweet for me. I'm excited because they are excited and I have a good reason to give extra love and attention to one child (every other day we have to be "fair") but I am also a little sad because I know that they are one year closer to being all grown up. To many of you Caleb will look a lot bigger than the last time you saw him and even though I have been with him he looks a lot bigger to me too.

Mother's Day

I have a tradition with every holiday and Mother's Day means that I take a picture with the boys. Trying to get four boys to sit still, look in the same direction, and smile can be a challenge. I think we did alright this year. As far as my Mother's Day memory this year - I think that I have two. First, as I was getting ready for church Sunday morning Caleb says "you don't look like a mom today". If you're a mom with young kids I hope that you are able to guess the "why". Apparently I do not look like a mom if my hair is not in a ponytail. I am grateful for a very observant son! Later I was trying to explain to Josiah that not all grown up men are Daddy's. I told him that grown up people are called adults. Daddy is an adult and so am I. Josiah shakes his head and says "No, you're not an adult you're just a mommy." I can live with that.

The First Weeks

I will not deny it - having four small children is crazy. There is always something that needs to be done or someone that needs to be taken care of. With friends providing dinners the first week and my mother coming soon after we have entered this new stage slowly. I joke (kind of) about what my house is going to look like when I am home alone with all four. After a rough week or so Micah is nursing better and gaining weight. There are things that you take for granted when you have your fourth child. It never crossed my mind that there would be a nursing problem - I've done this three times before right? Well, that is just another reminder that every child is different. We wondered how Lucas would adjust to having a baby in the house. He has really done well and only tells me to put the baby down when he first wakes up from his nap. The problem we are finding is that Lucas is still two, which means he is getting into everything and looking for opportunities to cause trouble. Just yesterday I went to see what he was up to and found him in the bathroom with gel running down the side of his head. I cleaned him up and then two minutes later I found him standing on the toilet. He had dumped baby powder all over himself and the floor. What else could I do besides laugh and get my camera? After my mother leaves I think that I will have to lock Lucas in a room with me while I feed the baby!


Isn't he sweet?!

Trouble, trouble, trouble!!!!