A Case of Mistaken Identity

So, the girls spent all day yesterday with their buddies Abbie and Hopie. Hannah and Abbie went to Fresno with Rob for a visit with Hannah's great grandma and Hopie and the little girls stayed home and played with me. At the end of a long fun day, everyone was bathed, in their Pjs and waiting for Abbie and Hopie's Mama and Papa to get home. As it turned out, Abbie needed to borrow a pair of Hannah's pajamas. This is never a problem as all of the older girls are about the same size and clothes go back and forth between our two houses regularly. As we were sitting in the living room watching a movie, I had to remind Hannah more than once not to sit on, stand on, lay on, slide on or otherwise flop all over the coffee table (I don't know why this is such a temptation). Anyway, my last warning came with the threat of discipline. Next thing I knew Rob had the infamous blue spoon in hand and had disciplined the poor unsuspecting child laying all over the coffee table. All he saw were the pjs and he went for it. Needless to say Abbie has sworn off of borrowing Hannah's clothes.

Sorry Abbie! Thanks for taking one for the team. We love you!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Because the girls made too many sudden moves. About a year or so ago, we discovered a chicken roaming about our neighborhood. No one in the neighborhood claims it and it sort of comes and goes as it pleases. Apparently it eats the neighbor's cat food in spite of the cat's attempts to run it off. Anyway, it is big excitement around here when the Rosewood chicken makes an appearance in our yard.

Who Are You Going to Marry?

Recently the subject of who the girls were going to marry when they grow up came up around the lunch table. I don't recall how it came up, but each girl decided with some conviction who they wanted to marry. Hannah would marry Daddy (she has her mother's taste in men), Grace wanted to marry Jesus (so far so good!), and Sarah wants to marry the "black soldier at Disneyland" (Darth Vader). Great! I guess there's one in every family. Needless to say, we will continue to pray for each of their future husbands.

Sleep Peacefully Sweet Girl

Last night as Rob and I were getting ready to head for bed, he peaked in on Hannah. When he came out of her room, he told me, "The last few nights I have been looking in on Hannah before I go to bed. I think I'm addicted. Come look". My heart melted at how tender my husband could be. Sure enough the sight of our growing daughter sleeping peacefully like she did as an infant is addicting. Here is a picture I snapped of her taking a nap in my nightgown a few months ago.

Vamos a Mexico

We just returned from a fabulous Easter Break trip to Mexico. We spent three full days with 3 other families from our church just outside of Tijuana at the Grace Children's Home. GCH is home to thirty great kids ranging in age from 3 to 13. The folks at GCH were gracious enough to let us add our collective 12 kids to the mix for a few days, bringing the total to 40+ kiddos.

The men in our group helped hang drywall in GCH's new 3 story education center and worked on repairing several of the home's vehicles. The ladies helped with small cleaning, organizing and painting projects as well as helping the kids with crafts and homework. What a blessing it was for our family. One of the GCH staff members commented that our time with them seemed so peaceful. When I stopped to think about, it, I realized that peacful wasn't the first word that came to mind when I thought about a place with 40 plus kids and a full-time construction site, but we did in fact have a peaceful time together...truly from the Lord.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" Phil. 1:2

If you are interested in knowing more about the ministry of GCH, check out their blog at http://www.gspalaublog.blogspot.com

Easter Blessings

In Memory of Nawana, Rainey and Aliesafris

Nawana, Rainey and Aliesafris were Hannah's imaginary friends for quite some time. Nawana came in to our lives first. She went everywhere with us and I would often find Hannah having full conversations with her. A little while later, Nawana turned up with a friend named Rainey and sometime after that, we had a friendly snake on our ceiling named Aliesafris. After several months of hearing nothing about these special friends, I asked Hannah where they were and what they were up to. Sadly, yesterday she informed me that Nawana was run over by a truck. Today it seems only Aliesafris was run over and Nawana and Rainey are at school. All I know is that they are no longer a part of our daily lives and I seem to miss them more than anyone. I asked Hannah if she could draw a picture of them for me so I would have something to remember them by and she told me, "Mom, they're not real". Why does she have to grow up? I convinced her that she could use her imagination and she decided to humor me with a drawing. Here it is for those of you interested in what they looked like. I think it's interesting that Nawana looks suspiciously like her buddy Abbie and Rainey looks suspiciously like her. They are both lucky enough to have their ears pierced though. They must have a much nicer mom than me!