Farming

We are a few weeks into school.  The five "big" kids (I'm sure my 17 year old loves to be called a "big kid") are all into the swing of things.  We are at three different schools this year, which makes life interesting.  It's all going very well.

The little boys are a bit confused where their brothers and sisters wandered off to.  They are usually not awake when the kids leave, so when they get up ... it's just me and them.  We go through the list ...  "Daddy? ... Zachary? ... Amanda? ... Hannah? ... Grace?  ... Greta?"  They repeat the names over and over ... then they add "at school" at the end of each name ... Let me know that daddy is at work and we move on to breakfast.  I didn't realize how much those "big kids" helped me out during the day.  Besides an hour for nap time my little guys are running full speed and need to have mommy around.  I'm thankful for that, but it is exhausting.  A diet coke with a lime sure does call my name at nap time.

I'm sad to say that we are hearing less and less Amharic and Sidama language from the little boys.  We are hanging on to those words we know, but since we are not fluent in either language we can not teach the boys any more than they already knew.  And, actually ... we've made our own language around here.  Buche and Burka are starting to mix words together.  For example; a car in Amharic is a "mekina".  They now say mommy's "mecar".  We live on a lake.  The word for water in Amharic is "wuha".  They look our our window and say "wuha-ater"  I love it.  And, we read our cute little English-Amharic book that our sweet driver took us to get from Book World in Ethiopia.  Who knows if I'm pronouncing any of the Amharic words correctly, but it's a fun thing to do with the boys each day.  They boys are understanding more and more English.  When they come to me whining for a drink... to be picked up ... to eat or whatever it is they need at the moment I say "What do you say?" trying to get them to say "please" rather than whine.  They used to always say back to me "What do you say?".  They repeat everything.  Although that does still happen sometimes their response is "please" these days instead of "what do you say?".  And, even better yet ... sometimes they come to me and say "please wuha-ater" instead of whine.  So sweet.

We've added a few pets to our family.  Two fish have been adorning the island in our kitchen.  Grace has a science project going on.  And, a sweet family wanted to get rid of their horse.  Yes, we now have a horse.  Grace has been praying for a horse for over a year.  We thought it would be impossible.  Well, we were given a 18 year old mare named Montana.  I've never seen miss Grace smile for so long.  Better yet, Ryan's sister and brother-in-law have horses, so Montana has joined their herd.  And, Grandpa is also close by and keeps an eye on Montana for Grace.  Thanks Shannon and family for blessing our Grace with Montana and thanks to the grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins for taking such good care of Montana when Grace is not there.  I think you will be seeing a little cowgirl around quite a bit. It really is amazing how God works things out and answers prayers and It has been neat to watch our little girl see God in the story of waiting for a horse and now having Montana.

Buche and Burka went to the dentist last week.  They sat so good and actually had a great time.  They didn't learn that from me.  Although I love our dentist, having my teeth worked on is not at the top of my "fun things to do" list.  Not only did the boys like the dentist, their teeth look great, so that makes for a happy day.  Actually, I went to the dentist a few weeks ago.  I had to have a filling taken out and a new one put in.  When my dentist got the old filling out he realized the decay went deeper than he thought and had to grind deep down in my tooth.  He said that the chances of him hitting a nerve in my tooth, or even the decay that was there damaging my nerve was quite good.  If that happened it meant a root canal for me.  I would know if the nerves were damaged until my tooth hurt - and that could happen in a day or week or 10 years from now.  There was no way to tell but to let time pass and see if I developed a tooth ache or not.  My thoughts about a root canal scream "Nooooooo - please Noooooo". Not only does it sound very painful, (isn't there a saying "that was about as full as a root canal"?) it is not a fun way to spend money in my book. Well, the when the Novocaine wore off my tooth hurt terribly. I spent about a week pretending it didn't hurt.  Then Ryan one night prayed for me.  He prayed that my tooth would stop hurting.  Maybe I was a bit crabby.  I think he needed my tooth to feel better so he didn't have to listen to me complain.  Guess what.  My tooth has not hurt since he prayed about it.  How's that for answered prayer.

Hannah had an art project.  She needed models, so since the twins are adored by all their siblings, they usually get to do the jobs like that.  But, it didn't go so good.  It is very hard to get two little boys posed and smiling for a photo.  Here's what she managed to get.

Not sure what her art teacher will think of her project, but I think she had the cutest models ever... not that I'm biased or anything.

This is quite a "random" blog today.  Is this the type of post that is made for "Misc Monday" like I see some bloggers do?  It's Tuesday today, but honestly every day of my life just feels "Misc" and "Random". Just when I think I'm going to fold the laundry I end up running a little boy to the bathroom to go "kah kah".  Just when I think I'm going to make dinner, I end up putting a puzzle together.  Just when I think I am going to sleep I end up rocking a sweet babe that needs me.  I play with two sweet toddlers much of my day... eating fake food in the play kitchen, farm in the living room and build towers out of Legos in the family room.  Other than that I try to make a tennis match, soccer game or volleyball game fit in.  There have been some days that I think I should be doing more.  By more I mean ... working for a cause - a cause like starting a non profit to help raise funds for orphans and widows... raise money to help those starving in the horn of Africa.  Do more for the people that lay heavy on my heart.  Be at the kids' school volunteering time. Do more like teaching Sunday School or helping with youth group ... reach out more to friends with encouragement.  I do have lots of time to "think" about things because "farming" my living room carpet doesn't take much brain work.  I also have time to pray for friends and situations.  So, that's what I do today and see what happens next.   I love this season of "farming" in the living room and trust that God will reveal if I am to be doing more now, or if it is a season of waiting and the season to harvest some of those things that I'm thinking about will come later. I saw a rainbow in the sky this morning.  I do love the way my God makes promises.  I'm thankful today for his promise to never leave me.  I've learned that praying is where is needs to start.  I prayed for our little boys for many, many years.... they are now home.  Grace prayed for a horse (and I really thought it was impossible) for a more than a year which to her seemed like eternity and she now has a horse. Ryan prayed for my tooth and it has not hurt all week.  I know He'll show me what he wants me to do each day.  I'm learning to be content in this farming that I've been doing.  It's time to play.  It's time to pray.  Time to think ... time to think about how I spend my time.  And a verse in Hebrews reminds me that I need to be content.

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."  Hebrews 13:5

Okay ... I'm off to go cultivate the carpet dirt.