zoo memories!

We got our first great view of the baby elephant this time. She was playing in the water. We saw her last time but she was far away and it was hard to see. This time was wonderfully close and cute.

zoo memories!

I love the river otters on the Oklahoma trail. I think they are probably my favorite animals to visit. They are so interactive!
Christopher loves the giraffes. But he had a lot of fun watching the river otters.
The kids got tired with all the walking this time. Liliana's feet really hurt. I know mine did too. Eventually, Christopher rode in the stroller and I wore Sarah on my in a baby carrier. My body was sore but I am still glad we went to the zoo.

Oklahoma City zoo

We took advantage of the last free Monday of February to visit the zoo. We got there in time to feed the giraffes. It was lots of fun and the weather was great!

Sarah,sweet Sarah!

chopsticks!

Kids enjoyed a supper of burritos and crackers with chopsticks....

Weather in Oklahoma!

Less than two weeks ago, it snowed while we were visiting friends in Ripley. The older kids even got to go sledding with Grandpa Wayne on the big hill by the highway. Then the weather warmed back up. We enjoyed a nice time at the park earlier this week that was too warm for jackets and then today the kids were playing outside in shorts! Yep, shorts and bare feet in February!

Qorban

Qorban is a handsome young man. He is growing up so fast. I am amazed at his ability to adjust to other people and situations. He is a sensitive guy. He loves sports: football, basketball and baseball. He is very gifted with sports. He is in the third grade, learning his multiplication tables in math. He is working on language arts using the switched on schoolhouse from Alpha Omega.

Caleb

Caleb is a delight, full of energy! I am amazed at how fast he learns. He loves to win and doesn't play if he doesn't think he will win. He is in first grade this year. He is doing well learning to read and basic math skills. In December at his Doctors appointment for an ear infection he weighed 53 lbs and was 4 ft 1 in tall. Caleb loves to eat yogurt! He loves trains and cars especially race cars.

To label or not to label...

I have a child who is more difficult than the others. It takes him longer to understand things and he forgets all the time what he is doing.It is difficult to understand his thinking. He gets focused on one thing for a long time and can not seem to process anything but what he is obsessed with. His questions and answers sound off the wall. He has a short temper and frequently erupts at others, yelling at other kids or adults with out fear of consequences. He has little patience with his younger brother. He is a sweetheart but can be so annoying to others with no regard for another's personal space. He is an extremely picky eater. Eating only a few things and frequently declaring even his most favorite food unsuitable for inpreceptable reasons.

Others outside our family are frequently offended by this child. I so do not wish to pursue a label (diagnosis) for him as I think it might make things more difficult for him later in life. I sometimes think that it might make it easier to get others to understand if I had a label to explain. I think labels are overused on our society to explain kids that are out of control. Weather than invest the hard work and patience to train this kids to be part of society, we medicate them. I do think that there are more kids than ever with behavioral problems due to our sinful world, our decaying standards and constant entertainment, poor diet and a general expectation that life should be easy.

Liliana

Liliana is in Kindergarten this year in our home school. She is really gifted at math and sees patterns in everything. She is good at card games on the computer because she can see the patterns easily. She is working on learning phonics but still does better with sight words. She loves bright colors and playing with her dolls. She has a kind and giving heart and loves to help.

Christopher 3 1/2 years

Christopher at 3 1/2 seems so much older than he really is. He talks clearly and loves to be in charge. He has discovered that we can read what things say so he is always asking what everything says. He wants to know what every sign, tag, toy and book says. He wants it all read to him. He recognizes some letters, most of the numbers from 1-10, he knows all his colors and all the basic shapes. He loves Toy Story especially Buzz Lightyear and Larry Boy from Veggie Tales. I can not wait to see what God has in store for Christopher! I know He has big plans for you baby boy!

Sweet Sarah, 2 months old

Sarah is two months old today. She weighs 11 pounds 3 ounces and 22 1/2 inches tall. She has a beautiful smile and loves to be held. She loves to look at faces and have people talk to her. She coos back so sweetly.

Seeing Friends!!!!

This past few days, we spent in Ripley with dear friends! We had so much fun playing at the Elliotts with the Haleys and with Zoey and Mika. Little Evelynn has grown so fast! Her beautiful smile truly lights up the room and her enthusiastic bouncing is so fun. Christopher followed Cantrell around like a shadow most of the time. He even came back to Cantrell at church when he broke free and was about to run around. Liliana and Hope were joined at the hip all the time they were together. It was fun to see the girls sitting playing with the dolls while the boys were up playing actively most of the time.

Super hero!

My kids love playing super heroes. Today, the older boys are dressed up in costumes and they are jumping across the obstacle coarse they made in the front yard. So fun to see them using their imaginations and playing together.

Sarah loves her swing

Sarah loves to swing and does not seem to mind if the kids are pushing her or not. She loves the attention she gets from them.
Last night, after the other kids had gone to bed, Christopher was laying next to Sarah on the floor playing with her and talking with her. She began to fuss as soon as I put Christopher to bed. She needs her siblings!
She has been smiling at us a lot but this is the first smile I caught on film.

Treasures

What am I doing to store up treasures in heaven? What am I doing that shows that my values lie in storing up treausres here on earth that will be distroyed?

small house

Our house is small only 920 square feet. There are seven of us in our family here. We have lots of stuff that we probably don't need here with us. We also home school so we have all our school books and papers and crafts and pencils here too. Eric is self employed so all his business paperwork is also inside this house. Sometimes the house feels like it might explode with stuff. We are working on it but it may never look clean like I imagine!

Tonight we see how the chore go

Tonight after chore time, we will settle accounts with kids for doing or not doing their assigned chores. This should be interesting. One child in particle had much difficultly doing his chore this week so tonight will be a tough lesson for him to learn what happens when we don't do what we are told to do!

my face is back to normal!!!

I have full function of my face back! I can apply chapstick or eat a sandwhich without biting my lip. I can smell and taste again! My right eyeis able to adjust to light and make tears to keep my eye moist again. My right ear is still some what sensitive to sounds but much better than it was.

Visits with family and friends!

After returning from Eric's continuning education, the kids and I headed up to Ripley so I could go to the doctor for my six week check up. We had a great visit with the Jessica and girls. We had dinner at Mazzios like we use to. Then we stayed at the Elliotts. It was so nice to just relax and visit. The kids love playing there. The next morning we spent with Grandma and I had my appointment. Then back to the Elliotts to collect our stuff and play a bit more. Then we headed home. On Thursday night, Grandma Darkis came to our house for a visit. Kids always love their Grandma time. She headed home this morning.

I am really looking forward to seeing more friends and having more time with my family later this month!

suprise blessings!

When I was packing for the hotel last weekend, I really wanted to get a swim float for Liliana so she could play in the pool too without me holding her. But, of course, that would be a seasonal item and this is not the season for swimming. When I went to pull out our swim suits there tucked in with them were extra float rings that I had previously purchased! So God knew what we needed and had it from way back when ready for this weekend!