Baptisms

The past few weeks have been exciting ones for us, but today was probably one of the more exciting days.  We had two baptisms today and one was Anna's!  She could not contain her excitement and was bouncing around all day.  She was up and dressed before I got out of bed this morning and said, "Do you know why I got up so early this morning?  Because I'm excited to get baptized!"

Olea also made the decision to get baptized.  It was such a blessing to be able to attend her baptism!  I almost missed taking pictures of her because I was on the wrong side and had to scramble over to get a clear view.  I did get a few pictures of her going into the water and you can tell by her face that it was COLD, but I'll refrain from posting those ones since she may not appreciate everyone seeing her make faces.

 

 Anna this morning told Lydia and Sammy that when she was baptized she would have to close her eyes, nose and mouth.  Well, she kept her nose "closed" the entire time and closed her eyes, but I think she had a hard time closing her mouth - she was smiling so big!

Anna wanted to make sure that Grampy and Grammy saw her pictures so thought I'd better post them right away...in case she asks me in the morning. ;)

Flutter Brain of an Inactive Missionary

 AHH!  Where to begin?  I have so many things I want to write about and share with you but my mind draws a complete blank as soon as I actually have time to sit down and write!  We have been riding in the car SO much that it might be nice to not have a vehicle when we get back to Ukraine.....I take that back.  We will be returning right when it's starting to get cold.  I do still miss my more active lifestyle in Ukraine.  It seems like all I do is sit now.
 

Only 1 1/2 months until we get to see my parents!  We are all getting excited.  For some (Sammy and Daniel) it will be the first time meeting their grandparents...though the girls were still quite small last time we saw them (Lydia was about 9 months and Anna was 2).  We enjoyed watching videos that Grampy made over the years, so I'm sure it won't take them long to warm up and start having fun.  After that, we will head up to Maryland for a month, visit with some old friends (looking forward to seeing you, Tiffany!); then it's back up to Maine.  The kids all said it's been too long since we've been to Grampy and Grammy Curtis' house and I know they are looking forward to destroying  .. helping in the garden.  I'm just going to be the bunny who sneaks in and nibbles off of everything.  One of the things I miss from Ukraine are the fresh herbs - ESPECIALLY the fresh dill.  The kids and I could eat a ton of that.  When I first arrived in Ukraine, I greatly missed all of the American salad dressings (ranch, blue cheese..).  But as long as you have dill, you don't need any of those.  In fact, it is better with the dill and a little apple cider vinegar or oil.  Mmmm.  I can smell and taste that fresh dill now.  Looking forward to a BIG bowl of borsch with freshly chopped dill sprinkled on top and a piece, no a LOAF, of black bread. :)

Even with nothing to say, I have managed to ramble my time away.  The kids are just starting to wake up and we are going to head outside.  They need to run as much as they can whenever they get an opportunity.  Because I've been having quite a few breathing/coughing problems, Eric left us here at our home church while he went to the meeting tonight.  I am enjoying a little break, um...with 4 kids.   I would appreciate your prayers concerning my health.  Not sure exactly what it is, but I am back on steroids for a short period of time.  It has also been recommended that I see a lung specialist.  I am hating that because they will probably just tell me it is nothing and to stay on steroids or something.  If so, I can probably just control it by monitoring what I eat - which I haven't been doing to well lately.  Too much good American junk. :)

Guess I need to get going.  The kids are all antsy to get outside...and so am I. 

(The pictures were taken when we went to the Richmond park with our Pastor on just a fun outing.)

Butterfly Wings

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

How I desire for my children to give to God first!  Their life, time and money is not theirs.  God has the right to all of it, but many times He just asks that we give it first to Him.  Recently we have started giving them a small allowance so that we can teach them to give of their money first to God, then they can spend some.  When they finally earned $1.25, they tithed first ($ .25), then they went to the dollar store.  This was the first time that they have had money to spend and they had a hard time deciding.  Anna chose the butterfly wings.  That day, a man came up to them and gave each of the kids $1.  Anna immediately started talking about how she was going to give to God first.  Then on Wednesday, a Pastor gave her another $1!  In just one week, God had tripled their money!  They tithed off of that, then because Anna is so excited about giving to God, that Sunday night she gave one of her dollars!  As I leaned down to kiss her head she whispered "I gave one of my dollars to Jesus, mommy.  But I still have one left to spend."  Would I be willing to give 50% of a gift to God?  Isn't it funny how God uses child training and children to "train" and convict us?  

Cake Pop Fun

Hmmmm....I take that back.  More like "Cake Pop Mess".  hehe   The kids and I stuck our hands in and made cake pops about 4 weeks ago when we were visiting my grandmother and aunt.  The kids absolutely loved them!  They could have eaten them all in one sitting.

We tried letting the kids help,

 

but it wasn't long before Sammy decided it was better to take out huge chunks and eat it instead of crumble it. :)

 
After a few times of my balls falling into the chocolate when I went to dip them, I decided to dip the sticks in the chocolate, into my cake balls then let them sit in the fridge for a little while until the chocolate hardened in the cake pop.

 

 Makes me want to do some more!

While Lydia was gone with daddy one morning {she called it a date ;)}, Anna blew bubbles with my grandmother.

Since we were there for a conference {everyone was SO sweet!} and we were all sick, we didn't get to spend a lot of time with them, but we will be back!

 WE MISS YOU MAMA!  SEE YOU IN JUNE!!!

Cake Again!

Anna really was spoiled this year.  After going to the play place at the mall, we went to McDonalds (by request) then we went bowling.  This was Anna's first time bowling and she had a blast!  Unfortunately, my camera batteries died so the only pictures I have are on Eric's phone.  Lydia got a little bored while waiting for her turn, but I think we will be doing it again.  Other than the car breaking down, we had a very fun day and enjoyed our melted cake.  Eric said we should have taken pictures of us waiting, but with water dripping off of our heads and fly away hairs, I wasn't so up for a picture.

Saturday morning we still continued the birthday celebration because it was her actual birthday.  She woke up to the normal balloons and pancakes...which they have come to expect.  (Anna had informed me the day before that it wasn't her birthday because I didn't put up balloons, make pancakes or MAKE a cake.  No fooling her!)  As you can see, she was quite tickled with the pancakes...

We also finished off the cake we had bought the day before {It was DELICIOUS} and she "opened" her birthday gift...a scooter!  She picked it out one day when her and Eric went to the store so she was pretty excited...she also picked out the ugliest stuffed cat.  I still can't believe that she picked that out AND that he actually bought it. haha

Later that day I made a cake for her to celebrate with everyone at church.  This is sort of a cultural thing {at least in our area}.  It's expected for you to bring a cake when you have a birthday plus/or the food.  I usually make the cake for all the church birthdays and get a break cooking when it's their birthday.  Because we walked and it was pretty warm it had melted and slid all over the place before we reached church, but it was still tasty.

Anna wasn't disappointed with so many birthday cakes.  Our celebration didn't end there, though.  I have been wanting to have the neighbor over for tea for a while, so I invited them over on Monday for a birthday tea party for Anna.  I made cupcakes and apple muffins.  I wanted to make pizza pockets, but forgot to buy cheese.

 

About 30 minutes into our little tea party, the rain that had been threatening all day finally came...and it wasn't just a sprinkle.  Which was okay, since they were starting to get a little bored...Mama forgot to plan games.  I'm not so great at this entertaining thing.  Sometimes I wish God had blessed me with this gift of hospitality as I feel like I am so awkward sometimes.  Times like these help me appreciate those moments when God opens up the doors of communication for me, giving me words to speak and with ease.  Anything good that comes from me definitely is of Him as on my own I am so unable.  Eric always says if God calls you to do something, He will give you the ability to do it.  But then maybe my problem is not with the abilities He has already given me/or that I am lacking, but rather with my picture of the ideal missionary. 

Well, I got a little sidetracked...overall we had a very good birthday weekend and I praise the Lord that He has given me 4 sweet years with our little Anna.

Anna's Birthday - First Stop

One week ago today, my little Annabell turned 4 years old!  We are normally just quiet, stay-at-home birthday celebrators, but this year we decided we would go out to celebrate the day before.  So, Friday morning we all quickly got ready but before we left we found out that...

 

Finally, we were 

but

 Our first stop was at the new mall play place.  It was the first time we had seen it.

 

and had everything.

 

(They won't forget us there.  Lydia ended up making it a water slide.)

Sammy's favorite part was...

 

The kids weren't the only ones having fun...

One of my favorites...just wish it wasn't so blurry.

 

Her birthday wasn't over by far, but I'll save the rest for another post. :)