Bye,Bye, Braces...

Another major event in the family was P's "De-banding Day" to remove his braces. I can't believe how grown up he looks with no metal in his mouth!! Enjoy the pictures of our 'little boy' who is looking more and more like a man every day....

I couldn't stand the suspense waiting in the other room. I just had to come back to snap a picture of my first glimpse of his beautifully straight teeth!

This picture cracks me up...looks like P isn't quite sure how to smile now that his teeth are unveiled! The orthodontist we go to makes de-banding day quite a celebration...P was given a gift certificate for a free portrait at JC Penney and even the 'Sundae' that he is holding...it is filled with an assortment of candy he has been banned from for the past 2+ years!! I know, sort of ironic for an orthodontist to give, but P sure appreciated it!

P with Dr.K...just look at those pearly whites!!

Thanks for stopping by....

Another Reason To Celebrate....

Well, it is official...we are finally 100% finished with all adoption related legal paperwork(except for yearly post placement reports which continue until they are 18)!!! This week, my hubby reported to the official State building, signed some papers, handed over Mercy and Odesco's permanent resident cards, and walked out with official certificates of citizenship. He called me mid day and suggested we celebrate. I am always up for a party and a reason NOT to cook :) We surprised the kids and took them to CiCis for dinner...we thought it was very appropriate to take our food-loving Liberians to an all you can eat buffet! They were thrilled!

Checking out the certificates...

It's official...they are now eligible to vote( in 10+ years!!!) ...but Mercy is bummed that she can never run for President. She is consoled to know she CAN be the First Lady. I could just imagine her in the White House...she'd certainly spice things up a bit :)!

Daddy and his youngest boy~

Just before taking this picture when I looked at her full plate, Mercy boldly declared," Mom, I'm cutting back"...

We definitely gets our money's worth here :)

Grateful for yet another opportunity to celebrate God's goodness in making Mercy and Odesco a part of our family.

Lessons in the storm...

The other morning during the first storm (last Saturday), Mercy climbed into bed with me and was gazing out the window in wonder as the snow fell. She remarked about the fact she had learned that every snowflake is unique and then asked,"Mommy, what if God runs out of ideas?" What a great question ... I was able to remind her of the truths we have been memorizing from the Gospel Primer:

"My God is immense beyond imagination, He measured the entire universe with merely the span of His hand... He is unimaginably awesome in all His perfections...."

We talked about how it is impossible to wrap our finite brains around these truths. While He is sustaining the universe, keeping the planets spinning in their orbits, He is also fashioning a bazillion unique snowflakes during this storm. And even more amazingly, He is intimately involved in the details of our lives simultaneously...even knowing when a single hair falls from our heads. Truly amazing!!

The kiddos during the first big storm over the weekend~

Yes, this is our firstborn, skiing in the backyard the night of the first storm...and yes, he is NOT wearing a coat...where is his mother??

This was the view from our back window today during a lull in the "Blizzard of 2010"!

A glimpse out our front door... that's a ton of snowflakes...each uniquely fashioned by our amazing God!!!

Tomorrow it's time for the big "Dig Out"!!

Unit Celebration

Last Friday we had our Tapestry of Grace unit Celebration. We are studying the 20th Century and have learned so much over these past 3+ months. We decided it would be fun to have a "SoupKitchen" theme for lunch since we ended the Unit studying the Great Depression. The older kids were not thrilled with the idea of dressing up but the younger crew had a blast perusing our many resources, choosing a person to dress up as, and raiding their closets and dress up bins for costumes. I barely helped them at all...they also copied the signs from pictures they had seen in the books we studied. Of course we had to remind the kids that our 'soup kitchen' was MUCH more lavish than the ones during the Depression. Somehow I don't think brownies, Panera leftovers, and yummy Banana pudding were a part of the typical soup kitchen menu!!

Guess who?! Here's a clue: she was otherwise known as "Curly Top" and "Dimples"

Hmmm... I wonder who Odesco is supposed to be???

This is the picture he found of the "King of Jazz", Louis Armstrong...he even posed like him without prompting...too funny!

Isn't his trumpet 'ingenious'?? Odesco and G resourcefully used a paper towel roll, kitchen funnel, and paper to make the keys...

Mercy chose to represent Marian Anderson, an African-American, who became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid twentieth century.I'll be honest, until Mercy took a special interest in her, I'd never heard of Marian Anderson...I still have much to learn...now if my braincells can retain the new information, that would be great!!


Who is this scary gangster? L really would have looked like Al Capone if he had a more serious expression...don't you think?!

Jenkins LOVES baseball, so none of us were surprised when he showed up like this :)

"Flapper Felicia"...could she be any cuter???

Some of the gang enjoying their soup :)

An 'authentic' sign of the times...

I'm so grateful I have the privilege of teaching our kiddos and learning so much alongside of such special friends!

Summation 2010

Once again, the highlight of our Parent-Youth year was Summation... an evening set aside to recount the many evidences of grace upon our childrens' lives in the past 12 months. I always walk away from these events so grateful for the approach our church takes to youth ministry. The kids have a blast at every meeting throughout the year, but the parents are there experiencing it with them. There's just the right balance of fun and purpose...truth is not watered down and every meeting ends with questions for the parents to address with their children which ultimately point them to their need for a Savior and His amazing grace. In the process, parents and their kids are talking and engaging about significant heart and life issues. Summation this year was amazing... the attention to detail was incredible and everything was done with such excellence...the games, decorations, food, printed program (which featured a paragraph from each youth outlining the spiritual highlight of the year) were all so well thought out. The evening's highlight was when parents presented their children with letters expressing what they believe to be the Lord's gifting/strengths in their lives and encouraging them to continue pressing in to their relationship with God. It was a rich, sweet time for us as a family. There was also a special time honoring a male and female high school Jr/Sr for their godly character with videos of their friends and family commending them. What great role models our kids have to emulate!
Enjoy the bazillion pictures!!

This was the doorway we entered the room through...P and several other youth worked on this set for many hours in the weeks leading up to the event. College age leaders directed the construction.... It was a great experience for him to be apart of that!

"The Banquet Hall"

Can you guess this year's theme?! Mimi made both C and P's costume...mine was borrowed and my hubby's was put together from a few dress up bins!

Robin Hood and friends....Miss Britt was lady Marian, P was Little John, J was Robin Hood and C was Friar Tuck

Yep, great minds think alike...Here's C with Mr. Kach-neither one of them knew that the other was coming as a monk...they both shaved their heads to really play the part of the monks...C grew his hair out for 2 months! Crazy, I know :) The set behind them was a drawbridge that actually opened up when they introduced our youth pastor who was announced as King- complete with a trumpeting fanfare...

C won a prize for the best youth boy costume...the shaved head definitely won over the crowd!!

A closeup...scary huh? M shaved him totally late that night so now C is quite chilly without any hair to block out this cold Arctic air!

I am always stunned by the creativity of our friends!!

Check out these costumes!!

Mrs. V did an outstanding job decorating on a tight budget with such attention to detail~ The food was amazing too... one of the ladies from our church catered it all herself...roasted veggies, salad, bread,turkey drumsticks, chicken drumsticks...all served on overflowing platters. We were encouraged to dine Medieval Style with hands only but some of us less adventuresome folks opted for plastic forks!!

More of the decorations...each shield represents one of the "Color War" teams (see below for explanation)

The games were so creative in keeping with the theme of the evening. Each attendee was given a bag of fake coins to play the games with...each youth is a member of a color team and they were able to win points for their team. This "Color War" contest continues all year.

There was some leftover food and we were able to bring home turkey 'on the bone' for Mercy and Odesco... aren't these things huge?!

The amazing thing was both Mercy and Odesco were too stuffed to eat it all in one sitting...yes, good to the last morsel of meat...she takes this seriously!!

Take a good look...Going, going...

GONE!!!

It's outta' here...Silly boy!

I've said it a million times, but once again I am so aware of God's goodness in planting us in such fertile, well watered soil!! With a grateful heart,