The Wall Bloggers

Life is made up of moments...  These ones have been so sweet.  Isn't chair-pushing just as much fun as fort-building? Being a family of four feels so right, so complete... We finally don't have to feel like part of us is missing anymore.  God is so sweet.

When Adrianna was Abel's age, we did all kinds of crafts together.  Crafts were a way I enjoyed playing with her, and she really seemed to enjoy them, too.  Now with two kids, and with a boy who would rather run his dump truck up and down the hallways than sit with a craft, it seems a little harder to get him interested in crafts.  From what I have heard from other mothers of boys, I am not alone in this! In the three months he has been home, we have tried play dough twice, with mixed success.  (There has been much eating of it!) And we're tried finger painting once, with fair success. I think next up should be finger painting with pudding.  :)  As a teacher and friend, I've always recommended that idea to parents, but have not yet jumped into that level of messy craft! If you wonder why I am even bothering with crafts with a boy who would rather be actively playing, it is because I see the inherent value in them.  Building creativity, strengthening dexterity and fine mot

As so many wise parents before us have said, the difference from parenting one child to two is not double the responsibility; it's exponential growth!  (And kudos to the wonderful parents I know with even more than two kids.)  So when my friends and acquaintances ask how our transition is going, I say, "Well, our boy is wearing me out, so I guess that's a sign that he's healthy!"   I have had some days and moments that I regret, where the laundry, cleaning, dishes, and cooking feel so never-ending that I am unkind with the ones who made them necessary.  Every morning, I've been praying for the grace to love the three blessings that are my family members as the gifts that they are. For most of my life, I have struggled to sleep well.  Now that I need energy to keep up with two precious children, sleep has become ever more necessary.  On normal nights, I am aware of tossing and turning, and being awake at least a dozen times throughout the night.  And then whe

Blogger has not been friendly to me lately.  When I try to access the blog on our laptop, the internet dies.  When I try to work with pictures on our six-year-old desktop, the computer dies.  So I have many lovely pictures that I wish to upload, but it will take some time!  :)

Several weeks ago, when we found out that our local amusement park was running an online coupon special,  Scott bought the discounted tickets.  With time just flying by for us, last week we realized that we needed to use the coupons by the end of the month.  We came up with the lovely plan that Abel and I would run big city errands while Scott and Adrianna had a fun daddy-daughter time.  I have a feeling that Adrianna had a little more fun than Abel did, but he wouldn't have been big enough to ride the rides, anyway.  :)

We have new kids around.  :)  Goat kids.  My mother-in-law's two Nigerian dwarf goats had kids.  The first mother had two goats.  The second one had a scary delivery of three goats, with contractions stopping during the second goat's birth.  Three adults literally had to help the baby goat come into the world.  And then a third bundle of goat joy followed easily behind.  A total of seven goats in one pen is a lot of goatness! Over the past couple of years, Adrianna's worked towards being a "goat-girl," feeding and brushing the goats with Grandma.  So she loves holding their babies and trying to think for names for them.  Abel's not quite sure what is so special about the goats (or their kids), but he gives a couple of pat-pats to them each time we visit.  He mostly loves picking up handfuls of dirt in their pen to hand to whoever is nearby. I am not sure that I am cut out to be a farm girl (I pet and hold the babies, and then keep my distance!), but I have

My sweet girl turned five last week.  Seems like such a milestone.  And yes, when I was giving birth to her, I did realize that she was born on the Kindergarten cut-off.  Adrianna missed going to Kindergarten this year by a matter of hours.  And that's okay with me.  Adrianna and Abel are getting great bonding time, and I get to have my girl home with me for one more year. I think it was in Adrianna's Clubhouse Jr. Magazine that I saw an article with parents giving their ideas for how to make birthdays more meaningful and less self-centered.  So before Adrianna's party this year, I asked her if she might consider telling her friends that they didn't need to bring presents for her, but could bring contributions to send a present to our sponsored child in Ethiopia.  Adrianna loved the idea.  We put that information in the invitation, and were amazed at how families responded. We celebrated Adrianna's life with a party at a local preschool that rents out its spac