Happy Belated Birthday, Odesco!

Yes, I am officially 6 weeks behind on posting...now that Mercy's birthday is just days away, I am a bit compelled to get Odesco's birthday post on here...as you can tell, life has been full in the B household. We had our family vacation in September this year and Odesco actually celebrated his birthday in Florida! Pictures forthcoming on another post. Homeschooling is in full swing and we have been busy preparing for our outside coop classes. It's all good and a blessing though...now that some of my outside teaching responsibilities are behind me, I hope to keep up with our family archive here.
It is hard to believe that our youngest son is now 7 years old and a 2nd grader~ We are so grateful to the Lord for adding this little guy to our family almost 4 years ago! Some things I love about our boy:

*He has a very unique sense of humor and keeps us laughing~ He also is quite the dancer...showing his moves when he thinks no one is watching!
*His hidden talent:he can wipe his mouth without a napkin...he has the longest, most agile tongue I have ever seen. Now, this is a 'skill' I try to discourage with the use of a napkin but being practical he wonders,"Why waste a napkin, when I can just lick it off!?"

*He is a deep thinker: One evening he was pondering the workings of heaven and trying to wrap his brain around the details we had read in the book Heaven for Kids. He was worried and concerned and I was so grateful he allowed his Daddy and me into his world to talk about eternity.
* He loves to invent things and is often the culprit behind my empty scotch tape dispenser :) With paper and gobs of tape, this little guy can come up with some pretty ingenious inventions!
I'm so grateful this little man is a part of our family!!

P bought Odesco all these balls...he loves balls and has been known to actually name them...Sadly, he lost 'Jimmy' on the roof at church...you would have thought this was a family member the way his siblings ran to tell me "Jimmy is up on the roof".... my mind raced as I tried to figure out who Jimmy's mom was so we could rescue the little guy...phew, was I relieved when the kids reminded me it was Odesco's favorite ball!!

I try to take out one of the kiddos each week for 1:1 time...thankfully we have lots of coupons from birthday clubs and other venues so we can keep it cost effective. Odesco's turn just happened to be right in time to use his Bob Evans Birthday club coupon...he enjoyed this meal to the last crumb...but he did share his french fries with me because he wanted me to have more than just a cup of coffee :)!!

Odesco really wanted a 'ripstick' for his birthday. It is a fancy skateboard and quite pricey. I looked on Craigs list and found one for $20 but the lady never contacted me. While we were in Florida she finally returned my email and the day we returned home I went and picked it up as a gift from Mimi and Pop-Pop. It is in like new condition and even came with a dvd and a new set of wheels...he has spent many hours in our cul-de- sac perfecting his skills:) How kind of the Lord to provide in this way~

Odesco was very patient in waiting for his birthday dinner since we were in Florida on his special day. He requested meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and potato green soup...he and Mercy were the only ones who ate that up. I love his 'potato green soup' smile~ in many of the pictures we received while the kids were still in Liberia, they would have shiny mouths... after they came home,I finally realized it was the red palm oil from this dish~

Thanks for still checking in in spite of my delinquent posts!