Happy Birthday Papaw!

Papaw turned 80 this year and the family went all out to help him celebrate. My Uncle Gary surprised him by flying in from Ohio. When Papaw saw him, he cried; that was just the beginning of the tears. Almost every picture I have Papaw is tearing up. He was so humble at all the attention shown to him. One thing Papaw is known for is fishing, so we tried to have a few decorations that depicted his favorite past time.


This is how Papaw spent his time getting ready for the party. He has swung each grandchild and even great grandchildren out on his porch. It comes with the bonus of a Papaw tale- boy he has quite the imagination!

Papaw with his children,his sister Doris,and many, many other family members.

Here are some of his classmates that he went to school with. They were so cute telling stories about the years they spent together. Surprisingly, Papaw was quite the trouble maker!

We were so thankful for the beautiful weather because we had special entertainment provided by Troy LaRue and the Yes Men.

My brothers are so talented. . .

. . .maybe Preston will have the gift of playing guitar, too.The cake was delicious!

It was really like a mini family reunion. Lots of memories were revisited and we were so grateful to honor Papaw. He is a wonderful father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle- pretty much any role he is given he perfects. We love you, Papaw! Hope you had a very happy birthday!

I'm THAT far behind!

I feel like I'm so far behind in blogging that quitting seems like the best option- but I'd really like to have these memories documented and maybe, one day, made into a book so I'll press on. This is what I woke up to on Valentine's Day:
Brothers are so funny! If only I could keep them all in a crib, then I'd get so much more sleep at night! We decided to borrow the idea of having a pink and red dinner for Valentine's day. I even bribed the boys into wearing their pink shirts (only if they could play a video game after school). Elic's Sunshine School teacher told me that at their party a little girl in his class told him "pink is for girls" and he replied, very matter of factly, "my mommy made me"- priceless!
Valentine's Day is also special because it's Nana's birthday. We invited her over for our fun dinner night, too.
We had pink and red decorations, complete with candle light.
Our menu consisted of:

heart shaped calzones,

red velvet heart cake balls, strawberries and red Kool-aid- YUMMY!Darren and I wrote each boy a letter with the top 5 things we love about them. I loved seeing them get so embarrassed at all the positive things we had to say about their sweet character.
Next, they got to open a little Valentine gift from us.
Preston couldn't wait to turn his build a bear into a storm trooper.
And Elic's bunny became a Jedi warrior.
Sweet Holden wasn't left out. He finally got his very own thermos. His is the Lightning McQueen cup and he loves it! He thinks he's as big as his brothers using it.
We had a great night and have already talked about what red and pink foods we could add to next year's dinner. Next up- Papaw turns 80!

Yes, it's true

Darren and I are so excited to announce that . . . we're going to Rwanda! At least we better be after all the shots I endured last Friday. No, that is really a very insignificant price to pay to go visit these sweet children:


Some of you may have seen the button I placed on my blog and wondered what that was about. We are traveling with the His Chase foundation and if you aren't familiar with their story you should watch the video "Letter to Chase" on their website www.hischase.org. Mark and Chelsea are one of those rare couples that just radiate with God's love and wisdom and we are so privileged to travel with them. To say that they are inspiring is an understatement.

Here is a little background about the orphanage:

The Orphanage Noël was founded in 1955 by Mgr. Bigirumwami, bishop of Nyundo from 1952 until 1973. It got the name ‘Noël’ because it received the first children on Christmas day. It was meant to take care of sick children, who didn’t have a mother anymore.

During the war in Rwanda from April 1994 until September 1994 the children and the headmistress Athanasie remained in the refugee camp of Goma (Congo). Thanks to the dedication of Athanasie and the help of friends, the children of the Orphanage Noël escaped the genocide. Athanasie had fled with 59 children and when she returned to Nyundo in September 1994 there were 230 orphans. In November 1995 there were 550 orphans. In 2010, there are nearly 700 orphans being cared for by the orphanage, as well as a number of physically and mentally disabled.

We are a part of the medical team going down July 20-28. There will be a second team coming the week after us to put together a sport court where the children will be able to play soccer, do gymnastics and run track. We hope to get assessments on all 700 children living there and help organize their medical records so that hopefully, in the future, this orphanage will gain certification and be allowed to have children adopted in various forms.

We will be selling some handmade materials including paper bead necklaces and bags that were made a group of Rwandan widows hoping to supplement their income. I'll keep you posted when we receive those. Also, as we become aware of donations that our group needs, I'll post a list so you can get involved, too, if you like. Please pray for us, our team, and especially for the children there that they see God's love in us reaching to them. We can't wait to see what mighty works the Lord performs through us during that week!

James 1:27- "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress"

Holden at 18 months

I can not believe Holden will be 18 months this weekend! He's growing up way to fast!
I do think he looks more like me than either of his brothers.






Here are some things I want to remember about Holden at 18 months:

-he loves straw cups. The only thing he likes more than a straw cup is any cup his brothers might be drinking out of.

-he's a hitter and a thrower when he gets mad. He'll look right at you and throw whatever is in his hand and then give you a glare that says "Whatcha gonna do about that?!" Sometimes it's so hard to discipline the behavior and not just laugh.

-he's my cuddler. He loves long hugs and to be held when he first wakes up from sleeping.

- he can follow directions like "get a book from your room" and runs to the bathroom when he hears "let's brush your teeth".

-he would love to sit in a real chair at the kitchen table like his brothers but I'm not giving in to that too early. I do let him have snacks there and he thinks he's in heaven!

-he eats most everything. Some favorites are: scrambled eggs, bacon, green beans, any fruit especially grapes and cantaloupe, loves yogurt especially the drinkable kind, fruit snacks and mac-n-cheese

- he's obsessed with balls. He walks around the house with one in hand. He doesn't care if it's a football, basketball, or soccer ball as long as it rolls when he throws it. He has quite the arm on him, too! Maybe someday we'll get a scholarship out of that.

-If he's not in sight and he's quiet he can often be found sitting on the floor in his room "reading" books. Makes this teacher's heart so proud! He will sit in your lap and have you read stories over and over to him. Some favorites include That's not My Tractor and All Aboard along with any lift-the-flap and touch-and-feel books.

-he's just started to try and sing the ABCs and Jesus Loves Me. He can say mama, dada, bubba, shoosh (juice), plee plee (please), up, my (mine) and can put two words together like "hi dada" and "up plee plee"

- he's a climber! We often find him on top of Preston's bunk bed (YIKES!), on top of the kitchen table and on the top of the play fort in the backyard.

- he wants to do anything his big brother's do. He tries to play super heroes with them, complete with noises that are suppose to be the figures fighting and loves to "color" on paper.

- he is very friendly and says hi to strangers all the time when we're out and about.

We are so blessed to have Holden Levi as part of our family. Even though he's a 3rd child, he sure is making his little personality known! We love you Little Bit!

Christmas Count Down

We have officially started the count down to Christmas. Last Saturday we attended Prestoncrest's "Ho Ho Ho Breakfast". This is one of my favorite events that they put on. The theme was "Jingle Bell Rock" and it was so much fun.
Autumn and Aaron joined us for the morning of merriment.
We started with a breakfast full of yummy treats. Holden especially liked the powdered sugar donuts!
Here are the guests of honor, Mr. and Mrs. Clause.
Look how sweet these friends are all dressed up in their pajamas!
I love crying baby Santa pictures- that might seem mean, but I just think it's so funny. Poor Holden did not like the man in red.

After breakfast and pictures with Santa, we started the craft rotation. First, we made our sacks to carry all the goodies.
Holden and Aaron rocked out with the bells while the bigger kids made the crafts. They loved having this area of the room to play all sorts of instruments.
We made reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn for those hungry reindeer that will visit us Christmas Eve.
Holden loved Mrs. Claus's house. He couldn't wait for her to read him a story.

We ended the morning with the Hughes' family gift exchange at Aunt Kim's house. I kinda like spreading out all the gift giving so all the presents can be appreciated instead of overlooked. The boys have loved playing with their new puzzles and coloring books. And there is the bonus that since they are busy, I have a chance to get some cleaning done- what a perk!

Today we ventured over to Aunt Kim's house for a morning of cookie making craziness!
Holden decided he'd much rather just eat the dough than roll it out and make shapes with it (he's a lot like his mother).
The big kids worked so hard to make all the fun Christmas shapes- reindeer, bells, stockings, gingerbread men, Christmas trees- it's hard to tell what the favorite was.

Isn't he a cute little baker?

Can you see what I see? I see a mouthful of cookie dough!
We decided to stick with "painting" the icing on just to keep things simple.


But, everyone mostly just started eating the cookies, or even just licking all the icing instead of decorating and waiting 'til later to have them as a treat.

We now have a plate full of cookies to munch on the rest of the week. I wonder if Santa would like one of our creations? Can't believe we only have four more days to pack in the rest of our fun!