The Wall Bloggers

479. Adrianna and Abel eating injera for breakfast 480. Bathing my kids at my in-laws' house 481. Abel enjoying Papa's bratwursts  482. Connecting a hose from our neighbor's faucet (with permission) to ours, thus allowing us some water in sinks, toilets, showers!   483. Adrianna's crazy Jeep driving 484. Adrianna doing "knitting" all by herself during rest time 485. Celebrating a building campaign kick-off dinner with our church body and getting excited to see God work through it 486. Adrianna asking, "Why did Jesus need to die on the cross?" during our Bible time 487. Abel talking and singing more each day

As another day drags on without permanent running water in our house -- and facing uncertainty about how to repair the problem, how much it will cost, and when it will happen -- I'm afraid to say I'm feeling a little sorry for myself.  I am grateful to be reminded of the beauty of consistent, clean, available water.  What a beautiful gift to live in a place where it is the norm and not the exception. Dwelling on the problem without any quick solutions has brought tension to our household, which then leaves us all with hurt feelings and frustration.  And so today, on a day I considered skipping writing my thankful list, I believe it is even more necessary than usual. 467. Living in a country with clean, drinkable water available to each house 468. Knowing that God is in control, working for our good, with His perfect solution for our (in the scheme of things, relatively minor) problem 469. Having a friend who is a contractor, and is willing to give us his time and advice

456. Running water 457. Getting to play like we're Laura Ingalls with Adrianna because we need to use water from pitchers 458. Sitting down on Adrianna's floor to do "knitting" with her while Abel slept 459. Adrianna working in her "Doodle" drawing book 460. Our ten-year-old neighbor taking the time to push Abel around on his scooter 461. Banana teff pancakes for dinner... Mmm. 462. My father-in-law helping us turn our water on and off at the street and lending us the tools to do so ourselves 463. Admiring a bird in flight 464. Glimpsing purple mountains majesty as the sun set 465. Watching the sky clouds turn white, then yellow, then pink as the sun faded from view and the dogs walked me 466. Holding thankful thoughts in my head during the day, so that I can remember them when I write them down at night

445. Seeing the shadow of a mom holding her two kids' hands while walking to preschool and contemplating just how grateful I am for these moments 446. Abel cuddling with me in front of the fridge, playing with his Leap Frog ABC magnets, singing the songs with me 447. Finding delicious teff recipes that Adrianna can have 448. Abel helping me make chocolate chip banana teff bread 449. Adrianna's response to the banana bread: "It's more delicious than you even think something could be." 450. Abel pushing the song buttons on "Artie" repeatedly for over half an hour 451. Adrianna painting a food bowl for Ruthie 452. Abel climbing on the swing set by himself for the first time 453. Teff flatbread 454. The delight of melding flavors like cilantro and garlic 455. A water leak hiding somewhere on our property (hard thanks)

431. Glimpsing a red-breasted bird dance through our backyard 432. Abel pushing Adrianna in his dump truck to brush her teeth  433. Abel pretending to give a drink of water to Adrianna's baby doll 434. Abel jumping to help me pick up pistachios I dropped on the floor 435. Adrianna spreading jelly all by herself on her cracker and Abel intently watching 436. Making teff flour peanut butter cookies with Adrianna 437. Swedish meatballs for dinner... my favorite! 438. Having a laughing competition at dinner, and Abel winning because he genuinely laughed at Scott's fake laugh 439. Scott squishing Abel into a U, and Abel wanting to do it again 440. Abel curling up next to Adrianna to watch her play on her camera 441. Abel trying a piece of lettuce 442. Adrianna remembering the words to a song from a long-ago Sunday School class: "I have a friend who really loves me, who loves me..." 443. Hand-me-down clothes 444. Being in awe of the sweet understanding bet

From yesterday... 412. Thanking God for safe travels and a fun time away 413. Abel balancing on Scott's foot 414. Celebrating Easter - Resurrection - New Life in Christ with our church body 415. My in-laws making a delicious lunch for us - with Steve making chicken just for me 416. Abel pedaling a tricycle at my in-laws' house for the first time 417. Adriana really milking her grandma's goats 418. Wireless internet 419. Adrianna helping me unpack her suitcase and offering to help me unpack Abel's 420. Sharing a daily Easter devotional with Adrianna and her sharing her insight on it 421. Adrianna explaining that when Jesus resisted temptation by using God's Word, it reminded her of the Steve Green song: "I have hidden Your Word in my heart" 422. Adrianna offering to buy Abel a Pillow Pet for Abel if he wants one when he gets older 423. A cherry blossom peeking out of the cherry trunk And from today... 424. Abel singing, "Ah, Papa

From yesterday... 393. Adrianna's joy at participating in a pioneer life at the museum of the west.  She felt that she was living Laura Ingalls' story 394. Abel enjoying his "modern" pioneer ride 395. Eating at a delicious local bakery, where they give the kids bread dough to play with while they wait 396. ...And rice crispy treats to decorate 397. Going shopping with Scott while my dad and Debbie stayed with the kids 398. Taking a nature hike, where the kids participated in the "fitness" stops 399. Holding hands with Adrianna, while convincing her she could walk the entire 1.3 miles of the hike 400. Adrianna and Abel playing doctor 401. Grandma Debbie and Adrianna making Easter crafts  And from today... 402. Finishing a week-long trip away with a family picture  403. Abel "reading" in the car  404. Adrianna's happy playing on the drive home  405. Scott making a bouquet from our yard 406. Reuniting with our dogs after being away

376. Abel sitting on a bench with Grandma while the rest of us went into a store -- just to watch a parked semi-truck 377. Adrianna and Abel playing trains in a toy store 378. Adrianna taking her trains to the train wash 379. Admiring a beautiful view from a resort 380. Adrianna saying that she wanted to come to the ER with Abel to keep him company and cheer him up 381. Toys in the ER waiting room  382. Abel holding his John Deere toy tractor in his hand while getting the other one x-rayed  383. A simple solution for Abel's arm that was injured when my dad and I were swinging him by the arms...  "Nursemaid's elbow" that the doctor just popped back into place 384. Abel placing his tractor back into his newly-repaired hand and realizing that it didn't hurt anymore 385. Finding 60 deer in one place 386. Abel's first Easter egg hunt 387. Taco dinner night  388. Adrianna and Abel sharing understandings over dinner 389. Abel coming in from the hot tub to