lily sue and sofie, too : life in Haiti

Lent for Little Ones

2012-02-22T18:06:00.002-08:00

When I couldn't find any daily kind of Lent program for little ones out there, I pulled forty passages of Scripture, in chronological order, out of the New Testament, detailing Jesus' final days and the Easter story. Some of the stories that are repeated throughout the New Testament are also repeated here, and if your toddler is anything like mine, repetition is a good thing :)

Each day, I am reading her the passage from my Bible, and then if her toddler picture Bible also has the story, we read it again from her Bible. Next, we are doing the activity or conversation times detailed below. My toddler loves to act out stories and movies, turn her stuffed animals into Bible characters and do crafts. Therefore, the activities and conversations are aimed toward those interests.

Be creative! If your toddler is into LEGOs, use LEGOs. If you don't have a shoebox, use a cereal box. It doesn't matter. The point is sharing these stories in a way that conveys the meaning in a way your dear one can understand and remember. Encourage your kids to share what they are learning with others or when Dad comes home.

Take Sundays off, and you'll find the first 7 days below. I'll add the next 33 days over the next week!

By the time Easter comes, you won't be popping the significance of the season on your children, trying to make it an inch wide and a mile deep. My hope is that by Easter, the meaning of the season and His gift, great love and new life will be a part of who Lily is, seeping into her thirsty mind and dripping from her daily chatter.

If we don't bind the Truth around their sweet necks

And write His words upon their moldable hearts...

who will?

Day 1 2/22 Matthew 21:1-11 Triumphal Entry

Make big palm branch from green construction paper. Talk about all of the names that the child has, and write one on each frond. This is the same with Jesus! Talk about all of the names he has, just like “King” from the story. Write a name of Jesus on each frond.

Day 2 2/23 John 12:1-11 Mary Anoints Jesus

Act out Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with water by washing child’s feet with waterand drying them with a towel. Talk about how this act showed Mary’s love forJesus. Talk about ways that the child can love others around him/her like this.

Day 3 2/24 John 12:12-19 Triumphant Entry

Act out ‘the Triumphal Entry’ with a stuffed animal “donkey”, paper palms from Day 1 and coats or blankets. Act it out several times, letting the child play each role.

Day 4 2/25 Mark 11:12-26 Driving out Money Changers

Make a piggie bank from a tissue box or oatmeal container. Talk about what the vendors were doing and why it upset Jesus, and talk about how important it is that we give of what we have to God to use. Write on the box: “Believe, Pray, Forgive” based on the Scripture. Use this bank for putting money in this Lent season, and let child give the money to God or others as he/she chooses throughout Lent, or at the end.

Day 5 2/27 Matthew 21:23-32 Authority Challenged, Parable of Two Sons

Make puppets of the two sons on popsicle sticks, act out the parable using thepuppets. Do it once for the child and then let the child do the same.

Day 6 2/28 Mark 12:1-12 Parable of the Vine-Growers

Paint many stones different colors. Use a Sharpie to write names of different things that are important in the child’s life…Mommy, Daddy, friends, foods, toys. Paint the largest stone white and write Jesus’ name on it. Built the stones together into a house or wall with “Jesus” as the foundation. Talk about the importance of Jesus being the chief cornerstone.

Day 7 2/29 Matthew 22:1-14 Parable of the Marriage Feast

Build a “kingdom” from blocks, books, boxes, whatever, and gather many figurines, Barbies, action figures. Act out the parable, and talk about what it means.

Chicos

2012-02-20T18:44:00.001-08:00

Mommy: Jesus, thank you for our friends today. Thank you for Junior and Leandre to play with. Thank you for our friends at Shayla's house today. Thank you for Dodo and...

Lily: AND thank you that Shayla gave me Chicos. (Haitian version of Cheetos chips)

Mommy: Yes, and thank you for the Chicos. And please help us be nice to...

Lily: AND Jesus? Thank you, Please bring me Chicos again tomorrow.

Mommy: Yes, and please help us be nice when...

Lily: LOTS of Chicos, so I can eat them all day. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. Thank you. AMEN.

our valentines

2012-02-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

I might kill our bandwidth, but here's a bunch of pictures of my two favorite girls...

We finally found some great kid "microphones" for Lily, and she is LOVING sitting and listening to the CDs that came with her Bible. She will listen for like 10 minutes without turning a page, and then say, "MOM! Where's Jonah?" Of course, she won't take them off so I can hear and help her follow along, because "my microphones are just for kids. It's a secret. For kids."

Both girls had a blast playing house today...they are starting to have more and more fun together.

ah, Lily looks SO OLD here!

Valentine fun and a dozen hilarious Lily faces

Sofie is standing up on everything, and now will pop up and down so you can make her laugh with "peek-a-boos."

While we were finishing dinner, Lily very sweetly shared one of her valentine stickers with Sofie, and made extra sure to rub it in really well so it wouldn't fall off.

that was fun

Are everyone's kids this fun? Are all parents so hopelessly biased about how wonderful their kids are? Does everyone think they got the best kids in the world?

Probably. We can agree to disagree :)

lapli

2012-02-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

you say "la plee".

it means "rain".

there's a lot of it.

it makes two little girls

very happy.

These are Lily's "Baby Mango Family", complete with Grandpa Mango, Mommy Mango, Aunt Lisa Mango, Uncle Casey Mango, Lily Mango and Sofie Mango (in front.)

our girl

2012-02-10T17:22:00.000-08:00

This photo is to prove that there are times when Lily is wearing an entire outfit.

She loved watching the "prince and princess" get married today!

Playing with "pink mud" (cornstarch :)

"doin' dishes", one of her very favorite things to do...drowning my kitchen.

found this picture the other day from a few months ago and just love it.

best friend's birthday

2012-02-09T18:29:00.001-08:00

getting bigger

2012-02-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

"Mom, LOOK!" Lily exuded when I came home from work today, clinging to her ear lobe. She had noticed a small freckle on her ear for the first time.

"I'm getting bigger! See? Soon I can wear earrings!"

She is totally convinced that one of the highlights of growing bigger is that your ears naturally get holes for earrings :) It was so cute!

Meanwhile, Sofie is sporting her "bel ti-chinet" (beautiful little tooth-gap) ...a cultural beauty mark, along with her now SIX teeth. We've been told that people with gaps between their front two teeth are at a high level of beauty, and that Haitians with money have even been known to have their front teeth filed away to create this gap! So, as long as Sofie has it, we'll be staying in Haiti :)

beach bums

2012-02-06T06:26:00.000-08:00

The girls continue to adore the beach!

Sofie sat in this thing forever, singing to her barbie and actually falling asleep at one point, totally content (which if you know Sofie, is a rarity)

We quickly decided that Sofie's 1 inch swim skirt was not enough coverage for these thunder thighs :)

Sofie ate lots of sand...

and Lily ate all the seafood she could :)

So thankful for my little family, for good friends, and for a few days away!

growin' girls

2012-01-31T17:58:00.000-08:00

Lily's had lots of fun friends lately, including Jake, Brianna, Alana and Kristina, and Miss Sharon. She's also starting to have a really good time with Sofie, and the two of them are finally starting to play together.

Sofie is getting more "l'espri" (spirit) each day, and works hard for her mashed avocado!

Suddenly she has five teeth, is all over the house, is trying hard to say "Dog", is pulling herself up on everything, and is eating everything she can get her sticky hands on :)

As much as Lily is loving playing with Sofie, she frequently asks: "Mommy, go put Sofie in her crib, and then we can..." Having Sharon here sure does help...to entertain baby or to play big girl games with Lily.

But it is Junior who continues to be her best friend. He is great with her, and she LOVES hanging out with him and the guys. On Saturday night, she wanted to eat with the guys SO badly, so we walked her up to the cafeteria, the guys set her up with her plate (smashed sweet Haitian potato with milk and sugar on it), and she asked us to please leave. She came home with Junior 45 minutes later just beaming, and has asked every night since to "please go eat with the guys?" Lily loves her life...:)

teefers

2012-01-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

oreo

2012-01-22T12:20:00.000-08:00

Sofie

is just not gonna be

one of those babies

who tastes sugar for the first time on their 1st birthday.

busy

2012-01-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

This girl is all over the place! Her little knees are red from the tile, just like Lily's were :)

It's a lot warmer than it was a few days ago :) Sofie LOVES bath!

She never likes the toys I give her, and is now knocking her bucket over to get what she wants!

on the move!

2012-01-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

Sofie has started crawling, clapping for herself, and calling "Ma-ma-ma-ma!" when she wants me...which is really cute, even first thing in the morning when I can hear her calling from her crib. (I am SO not a morning person!) She took two crawl "steps" yesterday (is there a word for that?) and now is going across the kitchen to get to the cat food.

She's loving watching the Baby Beethoven DVD's Aunt Patty got her...she stares like this the whole time :)

Growin' girls!

2012-01-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

Lily and Matt, off to Meijer this morning.

Lily: "Bye, Mom! I'm going with Poppy! Don't be sad!"

Stacey: "OK, babe! But I'm gonna miss you!"

Lily: "But mom, I STILL love you. OK?"

Stacey: "GOOD. I still love you, too."

Lily: "OK, I'm going. Don't cry! I still love you!"

Stacey: "OK! I won't cry! Bye!"

Lily: "I still love you inside of my heart!"

So now Mom is crying. When did she get so old!!!

Happy Birthday Lily!

2012-01-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

Sofie LOVED the giant characters, and watched the whole afternoon.

Lily's second birthday!

She looks so big!

Sofie's first experience with cotton candy...oh man! She was IN LOVE.

doggie

2011-12-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

was Lily's first word out of her extreme love for Shay.

There is a very good chance it will be Sofie's, too.

She (and only she...he just shredded the new skirt Mia & Elisa got me for my birthday) absolutely LOVES Boone.

and got her first (not that you can tell, here) tooth!

everyday

2011-12-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

I don't even know how this happened, but suddenly, Lily was in and took over bath time :)

Ah, every night when I pray over these two dreamers I'm hit with the realization that the day will come when I go to pray over them and they won't be there any more. OH man. Then I get in bed and sigh and sigh until Matt says, "Ok, do you want to talk about it?" :)

She's helping me do the dishes when she grabs this ginormous container of cereal and entertained herself for an hour. Aren't these pix hilarious??

Such a big girl...in the little bear overalls Grammy got Lily years ago, sitting in Lily's 1st Christmas present.

baby Jesus

2011-12-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

Today Lily asked for "little pigtail nubby-nubs" which ended up meaning she wanted something like this. She looked like a little bug all day :) She also officially rode her bike today for the first time ever all by herself...she's got it!

She is spending a TON of time each day, on her own, playing with her daily handmade ornaments (today we made clothespin Mary, yesterday fan-skirt Gabriel, and tomorrow, Elizabeth and Mary with big bellies) and her beloved nativity set. I'm telling you, Lily has never spent as much time with a toy as she does with this Little People nativity set.

She is telling everyone, and I mean EVERYONE about Jesus, the light of the world, Jesus, the big king of all kings, Zacharias, who didn't believe God and God closed His mouth, Gabriel and Mary.

Today, she had the wise men living in the book case, the shepherds watching over their flocks under the couch, and baby Jesus' house on the coffee table. The wise men (named Elisa, Maria and Maxi) came to visit baby Jesus and to bring Him his birthday presents.

"What are they giving Him, Lily?" I asked, curious as to what she would say about the little gold jars in their hands.

"Ummm." She said, "They're giving Him Dora shirts!"

At least she wanted baby Jesus to get the very best :)

6 months

2011-12-04T10:11:00.000-08:00

How is it even possible?

(I LOVE this picture...she loves her ball!)

How is it even possible?

to help me remember

2011-12-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

Every day, I catch myself thinking: "Don't forget that when they get older!"

The other day, I put Lily down for her nap. She was wearing underwear, shorts, and a t-shirt, and laying in the middle of the bed. I left her when she was almost asleep. I come back 20 minutes later to check on her, and she is like this:

It's starting to look a bit like Christmas around here...was down to 65 this morning, though in the 90's by noon, and our "Christmas Palm" is beautiful and festive.

Lily loves the "Christmas flowers", and I'm always amused that poinsettias grow in the tropics!

Lily and Sofie both LOVE "sittin' in the grass" looking at bugs, picking flowers, and, well, eating bugs and eating flowers.

I don't know what the deal is, but Lily is suddenly REALLY into clothes. She gets dressed and changes clothes literally DOZENS of times a day, she will accept NO help, NO guidance on outfits, and after a few minutes, wants to change again. Hence, the polka-dot-dress-plaid-jammie-pants outfit.

I wouldn't care, except that of course this means clothes are everywhere all the time.

She is also really into washing dishes. Over and over and over for as long as we will let her.

Grammy and Pop-Pop got her this cute shirt, and she looks like such a big girl in it!

Sofie is at the "everything for my mouth" stage, and spends most of the time trying to eat whatever I'm doing, including the camera.

But NOTHING thrills Sofie more than Lily. Lily can make her laugh any time, and she starts kicking the moment she sees her.

...and then sometimes, she loves Lily (and her hair) too much. And Lily can't get away :)

We've got Sofie on a new schedule which has been rough getting started but much better now. Week by week I can see her changing, and though she JUST started sitting up, she's already falling into a crawl and trying to move. Oh man.

Love These Girls.

don't ever want to forget

2011-11-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

...how excited Sofie gets when I come home from work and she buries her face in my neck.

...how excited Sofie is when I get her out of her crib in the mornings. The moment she sees me she grins SO big.

...how Lily "mommies" us. "Lily, I'm so proud of you! Thank you!" "Awwww. You're WELCOME, sweetie!" she says.

...how Sofie blows raspberries, loudly, all the time...church...dinner...bedtime.

...how Lily tells us, "Mommy, Poppy, do NOT talk loudly! Talk nicely! Jesus loves it when we talk nicely to each other" if we ever begin to get upset about anything.

...how Lily can ALWAYS make Sofie laugh and smile. I love when Lily tries to get Sofie laughing and then Sofie laughing makes Lily laugh and the two of them carry on and on (like at nap time today). Nobody can make Sofie laugh like Lily.

...how Lily HATES to share her things, but if you tell her something is yours, she says, "but I thought we were gonna share!"

...how Sofie grabs at EVERYTHING, and somehow can knock over cups of juice, grab spaghetti off your plate that is 2 feet away from her, clear countertops...she is truly at "octopus baby" stage.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

This is Lily's, "I miss you!" Thanksgiving face...

The turkey's Lily and I made for everyone...

and the turkey Lily made for herself.

our Haiti girl

2011-11-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Just moments after Jim and Sue arrive from OMS headquarters to lead our retreat:

"Lily, you want to play outside with us?"
"Yeah! Look, here's my Uncle Don house he made me!"
"Cool! Uh, what are you doing?"
"Peein' in the grass. Ok, let's play!"

Upon watching me try on a pair of jeans for our trip to the Dominican:

"No, no Mommy. Pants are for Poppies."

When Matt locks all the car windows so Lily will stop rolling her window up and down:

"Hey! Why doesn't my window work now!?"
"Ummm. I don't know, Lily. Sorry."
"Ohhhh. Is it 'cause the generator's not turned on?"

Tonight at bedtime, after some rather whiny behavior at dinner with adult guests.

Stacey: "Lily, can you listen to me for a moment?"
Lily: "Ok."
Stacey: "First, Lil, we love you very much."
Lily: "You're welcome."
Stacey: "Uh...Ok. From now on, when you talk to a big person, you need to say, Yes, Ma'm if it's a girl, or No, Ma'm...and Yes, Sir or No, Sir if it's a boy. Ok?"
Lily: "What??"
Stacey: "Like this. Poppy, will you please clean up your clothes?"
Matt: "Yes, Ma'm!"
Stacey: "Poppy, would you like to read this book?"
Matt: "No, Ma'm! See Lily? Or, Mommy, will you help me?"
Stacey: "Yes, sir! Do you understand Lily?"
Lily: "Yep."
Stacey: "Ok, let's try. Yes, Ma'm. No Ma'm. Lily, would you like some peas?"
Lily: "No, oh, YUCK. Please, NO."

...the rest of the night...

Lily: "Mommy, sir, I would like to color, sir, thank you?"

we'll keep working on it :)

the best part

2011-11-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

"Mommy? We should obey God needs to obey us."

"We need to obey God, hun?"

"YES. We need to obey God. Because....because...because of Jesus."

"Because it makes Jesus happy?"

"YES. Because it makes Jesus happy in my heart."

"Jesus is in your heart?"

"YES." (feeling her skin over her heart). "UMMM. I don't feel him!"

What a great opportunity. "Yeah, but He's there! Even when you can't feel Him or see Him or hear Him, He's there! And He can always hear and see you! Any time you talk to Him or need Him, He is there. And He loves you!"

"Like you?"

"Even MORE than Mommy. Because He MADE you!! And I asked Him for you, and He gave you to me! And every day, I say thank you!"

"He gave you me?"

"Yes!"

"And He gave me to me?"

"Uhhhhhh..."

"No, God gave you to me?"

"YESSSSS."

Looking at her heart and talking really loud: "THANK YOU JESUS."

oh man. There has been no sweeter part of motherhood so far than sharing precious conversations about the Only One who loves her more than I do...the One who takes care of Lily better than I'll ever be able to. Lily's starting to know Jesus, and it makes both she and I so happy...

a day in the life

2011-11-11T17:10:00.002-08:00

4:33 am: "Mommy? Poppy? My bed has lots of pee-pee up in it. Can I sleep with you?"
4:34 am: Sofie overhears, wants fed. For the third time since 8 pm. Matt strips Lily's bed.
4:45 am: "Mommy, I want to go play. Can we go play?"
4:47 am: "Hey, I don't have any boogies in my nose!"
4:52 am: "I'm just not sleepy, we should go play."
4:56 am: "Poppy, tell me the bad-lady story with the apple."
5:00 am: "It's time to get up now. Tickle tickle!"
5:20 am: Poppy gets up with Lily, who has now chattered non-stop for an hour.

Teaching.
Finances.
Meeting.
Airport run.
Two hours trying to get Lily to nap to no-avail, despite 4:30 wake up.
18 rolls. 1 pie. 1 salad. 1 pot of chili. 2 ice trays of baby food. (6 chopped onions, 8 cups flour, 4 chopped peppers, 10 chopped tomatoes, 4 bleached chopped lettuce, 2 shredded carrot, pie filling, pie strudel, kneading, raise, roll, raise, squashed bananas, squashed avacado)
Seven spit-ups (at least) and two really awful diapers.
Coloring, side-walk chalk, "Calico's Kittens" and "The Bear Snores On" twice, pick up toys. Pick up toys. Pick up toys.
5 great dinner guests, 2 fussy dinner girls (no nap. no surprise.)
30 minutes of the Lion King, 2 baths (one VERY tearful. again, no nap.)

8:00 pm. Asleep, asleep. Asleep, asleep!

a day in the life for Stacey and Lily

2011-11-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

fingers and toes

2011-11-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

And she's done it!

Just 9 days after she started wearing her little thumb guard (which we've been calling her princess pocket), Lily has officially been without it for 36 hours and not sucked her thumb ONCE!

No one is more proud of her than she it, but I am admittedly REALLY thrilled. Tomorrow she gets her motivation present...a princess crown! SO thankful that almost three years of thumb sucking is over, and SO grateful that breaking the habit was so not a big deal! She only cried about it once the entire time!

Yesterday I told her it was grandma's birthday, and she wanted to make grandma a card...she's getting SO good at drawing!

Micheline has been sick a lot lately, so yesterday Lily got to go to school with Mommy and Poppy...she loved it, for about 30 minutes, then wanted to go home and play :)

And just as Lily stops sucking her thumb, Sofie starts sucking her toes...oh well!

2011-11-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

"Lily, you're getting too big."

"Yeah. You sad?"

"YEAH, I'm sad! You're such a big girl?"

"You wanna cry?"

"Yes, actually, I do."

"Well. I'm gonna be three. You gonna cry?"

2011-11-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

2011-11-03T20:14:00.001-07:00

friends

2011-11-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Lily is having another heavenly week of friends in the house...

cooking

...visiting friends and Baby Thaliaya (Tal-e-ah)...

...eating an obscene amount of sugar...

...making Sofie smile like no one else can...

...lots of coloring...

...going through suitcases...

the end.

pumpkie

2011-10-31T08:19:00.003-07:00

pumpkie, pumpkie's a happy pumpkie....

2011-10-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Crazy week and catching up from being sick!!!

Our time with Aunt Lisa was so good, and Lily is still talking about her every few hours. However, convinced that Aunt Lisa needs to take care of Uncle Adam and Ellie, Lily continues to comfort herself with the thought.

Wed. night was Dodo's birthday "party"...and you know Lily and birthdays. And her Dora jammies. You might think she wears nothing else...and that would be accurate.

Then, Aunt Lori and Granny Smith sent us a great box of goodies, and Lily has been taking her painting VERY seriously. As has Sofie.

By now, this mask has been painted over 13 times.

Then, Sofie discovered this toy of Lily's today and LOVES to bang the buttons, making it light up and sing songs about the alphabet. This is the first thing we've ever found that keeps Sofie happy for more than her four-minute norm. MAN, this below picture looks like my sister when she was a baby!

Our Haitian friends and neighbors have started to say of Sofie:

li remen fache e li remen kontan!

And how true it is...she LOVES to be angry and she LOVES to be happy. And nothing in between :) Hard to believe how fast these lovelies are growing up!

big weekend

2011-10-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

We might be on our own, but that doesn't mean this weekend hasn't been busy!

Lily, singing to Boone and "putting him down for his nap."

Ready for church this morning, wearing their kind-of matching dresses from the Renners that Lily INSISTED they both wear.

There is no child so wonderful that Mom doesn't love that they're sleeping :)

Then playing outside, Sofie getting into the groove with her bouncy-chair-thing the Grissom's sent years ago for Lily!

Lily, going from her bucket...

...into her house...

...and then jumping into her "swimming pool that Boone doesn't eat"...over and over!

...then sharing with us riveting tales of the scary ducks (pictured above) and the good ducks (pictured below.)

or-ner-y!

This afternoon, surprisingly for the first time, Lily says, "Mom? Where is Shay?"

I wasn't sure what to say, so I told her that Shay was in heaven.

"Hevn?" she says. "What's that?"

"Heaven, where Jesus lives. And Grandma is with Him. And Shay."

Lil says immediately, "I want to go there! See Grandma, see Jesus."

"I want to, too, hunnie," I said, choked up by her child-like faith and matched desire. "We'll go to heaven someday when it's time and be with Jesus and Grandma and Shay. Sometimes, when someone is sick, like Shay was, then they die, and if they love Jesus they can be with Jesus in heaven."

"So when I'm sick I can go to heaven?" she asks.

Then this evening, starting around 5 pm, Lily kept begging to go to bed. Finally, around 6:15 with Dodo and Bubba and Junior over for dinner, I say, "LILY! Why do you want to go to sleep so bad? Are you tired?"

"I wanna go to bed 'cause when I wake up, Lisa is coming!"

Too cute...She's had an emotional weekend with Grandpa leaving and Daddy being gone...she doesn't understand why if everyone "wants to be with me", everyone is leaving. Having Lisa this week will be MARVELOUS..."Just us girls, no Uncle Adam, no Poppy, no Grandpa, just us girls, us four ones....and candy."

That's my girl :)

friends

2011-10-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

There's a lot to share with you, but until my sister gets here, I only have 5 minutes at a time to blog :)

Last night, Lily and I were watching "The Lion King" that Dodo and Bubba brought with them, and there was a scene where the dad and kid lion are playing together. Simba falls into Mufasa (his dad) and says, "We're buddies, aren't we Dad?" and the Dad says, "Yep, always". Lily leans over to me and says, "Look! We're friends like that, too, huh."

It was GREAT...these girlies are the best.

Lily is desperately missing her grandpa, and keeps saying, "but I didn't want him to go!" Thankfully, Aunt Lisa is on her way!

soap

2011-10-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

"MOOOOOMMM," said Lily this morning. "I need more soap to wash my hands!"

"Well, what happened to the bar of soap that was in the bathroom?" I asked her.

"Ummmmm. I think Poppy squished it up in little pieces, and then put them in the toilet, and then flushed it. I think."

"Lily, Poppy's not here. Do you mean that maybe you did that?"

"Um. Maybe."

jonah's rainbow

2011-10-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

There was the boldest, biggest rainbow I have ever seen outside yesterday, and Lily was mesmerized.

"Mommy! We have to get CLOS-er." she kept saying, and we did try!

"Lily!" I said. "Do you remember the story in our Bible about the rainbow!?"

"YES!" she exuded. "And God said, 'Spit him out!' and the big fish spit out Jonah! And the rainbow!"

So...at least I know she is listening when we read her Bible each day :)

She was very excited as we talked about Noah that the rainbow yesterday meant there would be no more storms. (she's begun to be terrified of thunder)...so I tried to explain that God didn't promise no more storms, but no more flooding the earth, which is like rain, but a LOT of rain, and she finally just shrugged her shoulders and said, "I love the rainbows!"

Then this morning she found the new wheelie-chair thing the Renners just gave us for Sofie, and insisted I put Sofie in and then proceeded to wheel her all around the house. They both loved it...the first time I've seen a glimpse of all the days ahead of the girls "playing together."

birthday prayer

2011-09-29T19:06:00.006-07:00

"Jesus love me
Jesus love me
Jesus love me. Yes.
Thank you for Poppy's birthday.
Thank you for Lisa and Uncle Adam
who are coming to Lily's house at Christmas
to bring me lots of presents.
Thank you.
And candy. Lots of candy.
Thank you for Mommy, Poppy, Sofie,
Grandpa, Grammy, Poppop,
and lots of candy.
Jesus loves me.
A-MEN!"

thanksgiving tattle

2011-09-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Lily's tear-filled bedtime prayer tonight:

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for Grammy and PopPop.
And thank you, Jesus,
because Poppy took my new Barbie computer
and I was playing with it, and
thank you Jesus, he took it, and it made me SO SAD
and I am crying. He was mean.
Thank you Jesus (BIG SNIFF)
Amen.

grandparents

2011-09-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Lily is becoming the craft QUEEN. She loves it, and does really well, actually. loves it.

Birthday's continue to be Lily's favorite, though she continues to complain that we have no b-day hats! Daddy's birthday is Thursday!

The girls are SO fantastically sleeping at the same time together each afternoon...blessed time for my devotions! My whole life, I never tried to do my devotional time in the middle of the day, but the last few months I have been while they sleep, and have found it to be the PERFECT way to re-focus and re-commit to the Lord right in the middle. I'm loving it...

Matt calls this Sofie's "worried about Ninjas" face

Don't get me wrong, Barb looks VERY young. But people keep asking if Sofie is HERS, and I just don't know what to say :)

welcome to Lily's life, being stared at ALL the time :)

job hazards

2011-09-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

Last night, Lily was decked out for the fourth time that day in full princess garb, heels, the works.

Lily: "Poppy, come princess dance with me!"

Matt, laughing: "Ok, babe. Lily, do you want to be a princess when you grow up?"

Lily: "Nope!"

Matt, surprised: "Really? I thought you loved being a princess! Why don't you want to be a princess when you get big?"

Lily: "The clothes are too itchy. Let's dance!"

lizard butts, teeth and castles

2011-09-17T19:19:00.003-07:00

Gertha's last day was Friday, and she really wanted a good photo of her with the girls.

So to make Lily smile, I sang lots of songs she knows, but replaced every fifth word with "lizard butt."

...which she thought was HILARIOUS.

Sofie's VERY favorite time of the day is bath time, but before I put her in the tub, she ADORES grinning at herself in the mirror and stomping her feet.

Meanwhile, Lily is REALLY into drawing circles right now, and is drawing them everywhere. BUT, they are NOT circles, and do not call them circles. They are all rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.

I keep telling myself that she is too young, but this girl has to be teething. She is constantly gnawing on her fist, on her dresses, and now, on a teether.

Lily loves gingersnaps. But if she's gonna eat gingersnaps, she MUST have "her coffee" and then she dips and eats until you cut her off. It's a very serious thing.

Our newest "Lily says".

Yesterday Lily and I went out to visit a few friends, and I changed into a clean shirt before we left that hasn't fit for a while :) It has a flower design on it, but the lines of the flower are all actually words. I came out of the bedroom, and said, "Lil! Ready to go?"

She stared at my shirt for a minute and then announced "Hey, your shirt is talking!"

Then this afternoon, she ran to Matt wanting to play one of her favorite games: sick.

"Poppy, Poppy, I broke my leg! Please, take me to Mommy's bed, be the doctor, and put a castle on it."

"Castle?" Matt said.

"YEAH, Poppy. Common, I broke it, I need a castle on it!"

Didn't have the heart to tell her that "cast" was what she was looking for. Too much "Tangled" :)

I LOVE THESE GIRLS!

So-So

2011-09-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

It started with Janiel's wife Peninah calling Sofie "So So". The next day, Granny called her the same thing, and suddenly, no one is calling her anything else. We now have a Li-Li (lee-lee) and a So-So.

It suits her.

So-So hates lying down. Hates it. Lay her on the couch, and she starts crying. She wants to be sitting up or standing up all the time, wants to be facing out so she can see everything, and does not want snuggled unless she is really tired. She is so upset that she can't sit up yet, and she's just now being able to sit in Lily's bumbo for a few minutes at a time before her "abs" get tired.

She will crane her neck all around the room to find her sister, who is always trying to get her to be able to do stuff...soon!

I think she's looking less like Lily at this age and more and more like Matt and Aunt Lisa.

Lily at the same age, below.

She's insanely drooly and chewing on everything, so maybe she's teething already...Anyone who makes eye contact and starts talking to her can make her break out a big smile. She's also rolling over already, which is WAY earlier than Lily was able to (but as you can also see above, Lily had a lot more chub to roll over :)

However, Lily was sleeping through the night at 2 months, and Sof is no where close to sleeping through the night yet! Oh well. As Granny keeps telling me, "Li-li was Li-li and So-so is So-so and you gave them different names for a reason!"

and there was.

2011-09-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

the ladies sent the "best parts" for Lily.

who enjoyed them thoroughly (though I did NOT let her eat the neck or hearts. I just couldn't.

chicken tomorrow!

2011-09-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today Lily reminded me that while her parents may be American, she's got a Haitian worldview.

We headed up to the office around 4:30 because she was asking for her Daddy. On our way up, Giselaine intercepted us and asked me to please come to the kitchen to see something. Lily, Sofie and I head over and walk in, and I immediately freeze upon entering because there were blood, feathers and very dead, very close-up chickens EVERYWHERE.

I was so overwhelmed by the whole thing, with a whole flock of dead chickens laying in a bucket of blood, the women mechanically chopping their heads off, and then attacking each headless body (all surrounded by hundreds of flies) and ripping all the feathers off.

Giselaine picked up a stiff plucked chicken body by it's sharp feet and shook it at me, showing me how they were too skinny.

I was not only fighting not to throw up (I've been really sick the last few days and this was REALLY overwhelming), but I was also fighting to shield Lily and fighting feeling really sad for the poor chickens. American, non-farmer Stacey was so shook up that all those poor chickens lost their lives, and they all had mothers, and their lives had ended so unexpectedly...you know.

Trying to play it all off and protect Lily, I chocked out, "Lily, hunnie, it's ok! They're just cooking chickens."

Looking down, I realized Lily, standing over this HUGE tub of blood with dead chickens laying in it, is beaming.

"Look mom! Lots of blood and those are feathers! Hah! Mona is getting the feathers out. We're going to eat chicken! I LOVE chicken! When can I eat chicken? Chicken tomorrow? Let's go tell Poppy we're gonna eat chicken!"

Animals are just animals to Lily, not pets...and everyone else in Haiti :)

ice cream

2011-09-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

...after watching a bunch of videos of Lily when she was a baby on the computer, EVERY time she now sees a picture on the computer or camera:

"MAKE IT TALK! I want it to talk."

...watching me put diaper rash cream on Sofie's butt...

"What is that?"

"It's cream."

"Oh. You puttin' ice cream on her butt?"

At Jane and Bud's 40 year wedding anniversary party tonight.

"Where are our point hats?"

2011-09-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

Lily's made it a habit once dad comes home from work to put on her "soccer shoes, soccer socks and my soccer hat" and heads out the door to "play soccer with the guys." She loves watching them and kicking a ball around with the guys on the sidelines from 5-5:30, but will NOT leave until she has on this uniform.

She had a wonderful afternoon today with "Miss Mary," and quickly climbed onto her lap and asked her to read her stories. It kind of broke my heart...I HATE that Lily doesn't have this, and just seeing her love Mary and Harold so much this afternoon (and knowing Mary and Harold are only here for 2 weeks) ...ah.

Why is Lily scrapbooking in the kitchen naked at bedtime?

yeah, I don't know.

sorry

2011-09-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

after knocking her plate and muffin on the tile floor,
sending shards of Corelle toupatou (everywhere).

"Hunnie, I know you didn't break Mommy's plate on purpose,
but what do you need to say?"

"Ummmmm. I guess I need a new plate and a new muffin. Umm. Please?"

Lily insisted in being in Micheline's family photo, and sitting next to "the kids".

maybe

2011-09-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Sofia looks

most like

Aunt Lisa

twa mwa

2011-09-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe Sofie is 3 months. Even harder to believe that Lily is going to be 3 before too long. These two couldn't be more different, but there is already a lot of love on both ends.

We love how her little ears stick out...

and how her eyes light up when she smiles.

One day, Lily will stop sucking her thumb. One day, Sofie will stop looking so worried all time :)

She's a bit bi-polar, to tell you the truth.

Bipolar and beautiful...and getting bigger every day with more personality!

It's a joy to be parents to these two!!

our homeschool has a principal.

2011-08-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Lily and I started homeschooling. Just for an hour in the afternoon, but enough to be hilarious.

Lily, oh man.

We start with a prayer and devotional, but she wants to pray, and does, for everyone we know, for the butterflies, for the "bugs I squished and they're DEAD", for "bathtime, bedtime, watch a little movie, eat popcorn", for everything.

We begin, and we begin by looking at some pictures of different kinds of animals and talking about what they are doing, what colors we see, what they are called, what their babies are called, etc.

"NO, no, Mommy," she tells me quickly. "Not like that. Here, you sit down here, and I will sit there in your chair and I will tell you."

I finally convince her that I will be teaching, and we start again, only to have interrupt again and say, "Mommy, I want to LERRRRRN. Learn. OK?"

"OK, Lily. Let's talk about our ABC's."

"No, no, Mommy. I want to LERRRRRN about Jesus, OK?"

"OK. Let's learn about Jesus AND the letter A."

"HMMM. ok. I'm going to pray again. Sit down."

I was trying so hard to both be in control and not to laugh the whole time.

I was the teacher. Lily was the principal. Poor Sofia was the only student. We'll see how today goes...

Meanwhile, Lily is LOVING praying lately. She wants to pray before all meals and bed, and kept Micheline, Gertha and I waiting over our rice for at least five different prayers this afternoon. She always prays for Mommy and Poppy and Sofia and Lucner (for whatever reason...she never sees him!), and then adds in anyone else she is thinking of at the time, then tells God about her day, about her favorite book, thanks Him for food in general, and when she is finished, adds an adamant AMEN, frequently followed a moment later by, "No wait, I'm not finished," and she'll start all over again.

I love it. I love hearing Lily talk to God almost as much as God does, I think.

2011-08-26T18:55:00.001-07:00

Quotes of the week:

during a huge thunder/lighting/rain storm...

me: "Look at all the rain! Don't be scared! Who made the rain, Lily?"

Lily: "Not Uncle Don! Uncle Don makes stuff, but God made this rain!"

after making up and telling her an elaborate story about an alligator getting his toenails cut so that she'd let me cut hers...

"Aunt Lisa is going to buy me that book and bring it to me at Christmas! I AM SO EXCITED! SOON!"

The ONLY thing Lily will call Director Bryan: Lizzie's Poppy.

After seeing me on the scale, and getting on the scale herself.

"LOOK, Mom! I am getting SO bigger. Are you sad?

lovin' her "Uncle Don House."

30 minutes prior to Lily flopping over and sending Sof into wails...

As my dad likes to say, if Sofie's not sleeping or laughing, she's screaming :)

I know she won't appreciate this later, but man alive, what is more delectable than chubby baby butt?

2011-08-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

SO happy to be eating Haitian food again...

...and Shay might always be her best bud.

I've been saving the last of three pools Sharon brought for her, and we busted it out today...she was SO happy!

2011-08-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

While folding laundry with me this afternoon...

"Whoa, mom! Look at Uncle Don's panties! They are so smaller than Poppy's panties!"

sugar

2011-08-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

After watching Mary Poppins last week, Lily is still enamored.

When I walked in the door today, she was crawling around on the floor with Micheline, singing at the top of her lungs: "A spoon! A spoon it helps the sugar go down! A spoon helps the sugar go DOWN!"

This girl doesn't need ANYTHING to help the sugar go down :) She starts asking for candy by 6 am.

Then the other day, she started giggling to me about her "piggie hairs." I could NOT figure out what she was talking about until she started playing with her hair, and I realized she meant "pig tails."

She's been having, as always, a blast with Uncle Don...tonight with big bubbles...

church and friends

2011-08-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Lily nabbed Shayla's hat yesterday, pulled it onto her head, asks me if I have any money, and then announces loudly, "I'm going to CHURCH!"...I love that she is picking up, on her own, cultural traditions, like covering your head in church.

She might be exhausted now, but Lily just had a fantastic day playing with the Vilmer four.

In an effort to help her play with kids without being at the mercy of the entire community, we've been having lots of families over that have kids.

(Last week when we were in the community, a group of kids--and adults, actually---started playing "who is brave enough to run up and touch the foreign kid and run away screaming", turns out not really a fun game for Lily. We are finding that people were a little more used to ti-blancs in Vaudreil than here in Saccanville!)

Baby Evangela, born on my birthday and such a happy little thing

SO, having Hans, Gashley, Gaurdy and Evangela to the house for the day was a BLAST for all five...bubbles, toys and a lot of squealing. She'd come to me, say, "Mom, I'm gonna go run with the kids" and then be off again. She was also thrilled to have some kids to eat at her new "kid table", purchased for homeschooling preschool that we'll start next week, Lord willing.

Also gave me some great time to visit with and pray with Vilmer's wife, Sarah, and gave our families the rare chance to eat together and talk. Very thankful for these good friends and for a very happy day for Lil!

morning coffee and uncle adam

2011-08-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

I came out from the bedroom this morning to find Lily, dressed like this, sitting on the kitchen counter, downing REALLY old ginger snaps after dipping them in "her" coffee. This girl (and her daddy) is a riot.

Later, we're playing with her magnetic dress up dolls. This is what she tells me:

"This one is Lily. I like her dress."

"This one is Aunt Lisa. See, she has brown hair."

"This one is Uncle Adam. His hairbands are matching."

wow. sorry Adam. I was dying :)

these are a few of my favorite things!

2011-08-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sofie: laying on the couch under the fan, staring at my toy and kicking like crazy

Lily: being a princess, changing into different princess dresses, and dancing all around the house dressed like a princess. "Poppy is the king. And the doctor" she told me yesterday while dancing with Daddy.

Lily: taking care (over-care) of Shay, Chako (keeps changing the poor dogs name) and the cat.

Lily: Dressing up in certain clothes, like this whale outfit, which she has dubbed her "Jonah clothes."

Sofie: Much like her sister...being naked! The second you unhook her diaper, she grins and starts kicking.

Lily: Did we mention dressing up?

Sofie: When anyone baby talks her in any way

Lily: playing with KIDS! Especially in her "house".

2 months!

2011-08-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

How can that be???

(Thank you, Chris, Aunt Lori and Granny Smith for the adorable outfits!!)

THANK YOU - part 2

2011-08-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Aunt Bex, Lily's showing you "the little mermaid", her very favorite princess (though she's never seen the movie or read the story)...THANK YOU for her favorite "princess dress", which she even wore to wash the car the other day!

Aunt Debbie, I know you can't tell, but this is Sof in that adorable little flower outfit you got her! She's getting so alert! It's the perfect warm-weather (ok, HOT-weather) romper!

Sarah and Chris, thank you for ALL of Lily's adorable little clothes...I have more pix, but today was her rainbow shirt day, which she just adores! "It's for BIG girls" she keeps saying (I don't know why, but she thinks this is a grown up shirt :)

This picture is just to show you how Lily loves holding Sofie as much as Sofie loves being held by Lily :)

Bonnie, Lily is picking out all of her own clothes now, and this was her pick Sunday! She loves it, and I can't wait until Sofie's fits her, too, and they can be matching!

Jen, Erika, Lydia and Steve, thank you so much, not just for these adorable little dresses, but for the carseat, bubble makers, books and gifts, and for your friendship, pool, prayers...etc. I hate that things got too crazy at the end there to see you guys again before we left, but we love you and are so grateful for your friendship!

THANK YOU - part 1

2011-07-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of people to thank for a lot of special things...here are your gifts in action!!!

THANK YOU Northridge family for our wonderful, wonderful fans.

They even make Sofie happy.

Thank you, Doug and Julie for "Mrs. Ladybug", who is racking up the miles.

and did bath time last night. and was slept with.

And Aunt Bex, THANK YOU for Sofie's camel, whom she took a while to get to know...

...and then loved very much...

...and then reminded Lily of HER camel...

...which led to a whole afternoon of "momma/baby" camel fun.

And Aunt Mia and Aunt Elisa, thank you for Sof's duckie wear, which had looked like it wouldn't fit for months and all of the sudden fits perfectly...so cute!!!

More "thank you's" this week (I'm maxing out the internet :)

my oprah moment

2011-07-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

We were finishing lunch today and I started to clear the dishes while Lily jumped down and headed down the hall with Poppy to read books before her nap. All of the sudden she darted back out to the porch, and said,

"Thank you for dinner, Mommy" (without Dad's knowledge) and ran back down the hall.

I chased her back down and smothered her with kisses, and then had to sit down for a few minutes. Crazy how much so little can mean!

the girls

2011-07-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

Does every mom feel mom-guilt with a second baby? I'm not spending nearly as much time or attention on Lily as I did before Sofie came because of Sofie, and I'm not spending as much time or attention on Sofie as I did when Lily was this age because of Lily, and no matter how much I try, I can't seem to double myself.

I keep trying to tell myself that all that is important is that they both feel loved and cherished and secure...hopefully :)

I know I say this all the time, but Lily is a HOOT. The other day when Matt finished replacing all the screens, Lily said, "Dad, you did a lot of work! That was really nice! Good job!"

She lectures the cat and dog and baby dolls, follows Micheline around the house, chatters constantly, names all of her doll babies "Julie" after our physical therapist friend that used to live her (calling them Happy Julie, Black Julie, Little Julie) and when someone speaks to her in Creole and she doesn't understand, she responds in her own Creole, ie: "Doggie rice not gonna rain Mommy toy little movie! OK?"

Before breakfast even begins, she is a hot, sweaty, sticky, dirty, usually half naked, happy little girl.

And Sofie...what a joy! The heat has her conked out quiet a bit, but when she wakes up she is all big eyes, furrowed forehead, and easy to get a smile out of. She loves staring at the lights and ceiling fans, and any kind of baby talk or funny sound can get a big grin. She's always kicking like crazy, loves bath time, and is the gruntiest, squeakiest baby I've ever been around.

She loves staring at her sister, who loves petting her head and squealing, "Aw! She's so cute!" She's hit 11 pounds, and everyone keeps raving about what a huge baby boy we have :) Without hair and without pierced ears, she will just have to be "a boy" for a while!

Lily's versions of exercising with Mommy :)

Lily talk

2011-07-16T02:53:00.000-07:00

When working on her colors with crayons:

“Lily, what color is this?”

“I dunno. What color is this, Mommy?” holding up a green crayon.

“That’s green, hunnie. Green.”

“That is right! Good job, Mommy!”

Today on the airplane, trying to get her back into Creole:

“Lily, buckle your seatbelt, kon-sa.” (like this).

“Mommy, why you talkin’ to me like that?”

Trying to explain where Aunt Lisa went in “baby terms”:

“She went bye-bye, hunnie.”

“No, no Mom, where did Aunt Lisa GO?”

“Well, she’s at work.”

“NOooo, Mom. Common.”

“She’s at the airport?” I finally said, not sure what she was looking for.

“NO, mom.” Big sigh. “Aunt Lisa is in DENVER, and she is sad because she misses me!”

gatlinburg girls

2011-07-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

Aunt Bex got tons of good smiles out of this one today!

Making Aunt Lisa and Uncle Adam do "Exercise with Me!"

2011-07-05T17:08:00.000-07:00

"Hey Lily! Aunt Lisa is coming!"

"Where is she?"

"She's at the airport. She's coming tonight."

"Good. Does she have her passport?"

This is a world-travelin' toddler!

2011-07-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

overheard this morning

2011-07-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

coming at Matt's head with a pair of toenail clippers...

"Come here, I'm going to cut it. I'm gonna cut your hair."

"No, no, Lily, don't do that!"

"No, no, Poppy. It's ok. It's not gonna hurt!"

"I'm not worried about it hurting, hunnie. It's going to make me ugly!"

"Ok, Poppy! Come here. I'm going to make you ugly!"

2011-06-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

While nothing has come back quite free and clear, none of the major possible issues with Sof are present, from her heart to her belly. I don't yet know what plans He has for this little one, but I can't wait to see...Once again, she has been in the face of some very grave possibilities and predictions, and once again, this time with my shaky hand upon HER belly and not my own, He has heard my voice and healed.

When Matt left me feeling very alone last night at the hospital, he set his Bible on the bedside table and said, "Don't feel alone! Read the Psalms."

With monitors beeping in the dark, cold room, that is just what I did, opening randomly into the Psalms to Psalm 30, appropriately titled Joy Comes in the Morning..

This is what got me, verse 2:
"O Lord my God,
I cried to you for help,
And You have healed me."

WHY does it say healed? It could have said "helped" or "heard" or anything else. It said HEALED for ME. I couldn't keep tears from falling again reading His perfect Words.

And He did, because we're heading home...to be discharged around 3 today.

Thank you for all your prayers! We'll keep you posted!

sofie update

2011-06-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

After a very long day, Sofie seems to be doing well. After no sleep at all last night, she's been mostly asleep all day, when not being pricked. After not eating well for about 24 hours, she's finally eating better again, and I'm hoping and praying that tonight we'll both get some sleep.

Two night ago, after several hours of inconsolable screaming, she projectile vomited what seemed like a gallon of fluids...she just couldn't stop vomiting. After losing all possible liquids, she seemed a bit better, but we talked to a pediatrician first thing in the morning (a wonderful man we met in Haiti and who has a practice in New Jersey), who gave us specific warning signs to be watching for. She did well at church on Sunday, but seemed to be uncomfortable again throughout the afternoon and by late afternoon and evening was in agony again, screaming uncontrollably and unable to be calmed. With no interest in eating, throughout the night she was writhing, gasping and choking, and nothing we tried or did seemed to help.

We called our friend again at 7 am, and he asked us to come in. We drove over an hour to his practice, he checked things out and was concerned by her symptoms and the large list of things that could possibly be wrong...sent us to the ER for some internal checks...ultrasound, xray, bloodwork.

These things took all day, and praise the Lord, while none of her tests seem to be coming back "100% clear", none of them have come back showing any major blockages, or intestinal or major bowel issues, all things they had been concerned about. As awful as she has been feeling, she still has no fever, which has been a good sign.

They are keeping her overnight to monitor her due to the fact that the past two nights have been so rough, and then in the morning, she has a few heart tests to undergo. If these look good, and if she looks good throughout the night, we should be good to go.

THANK YOU...Barb and Keith kept Lily ALL day, Pastor Doug spent most of the day with us and brought us a killer dinner, Uncle Don and Aunt Brenda brought toys and books for Lil and the encouragement of friends, and all of you for your prayers.

By today, after such busy days and such sleepless nights, I am just T-I-R-E-D. I've had lots of quiet, tired and emotional time with the Lord today waiting for this test or that result, and man, at the end of one of the scariest days of my life, I just feel so grateful. Isn't it wild, how time with Him can completely change our perspectives?

I'm so grateful He has given me these girls to love and raise and give Him to, even if JUST for today. I'm so thankful that they are HIS, and not mine, and that HE is in control, not me. Man, I'm not strong enough or good enough to be in control! I'm so grateful that He has exquisitely orchestrated so many things in our lives that this morning at 7 am, we had someone, someone wonderful and talented and loving, to call and to help us. I'm so grateful for Lily, who after a baffling day without mom or dad, came in the room, gave me a huge kiss, and randomly said, "I missed you today, little momma" and upon leaving, gave Sof a big kiss and said, "I love you, too, Sofie" as if Sofie had just told her that she loved her.

I'm so grateful that because of Him I have NOTHING to fear, that even in the panic and heartbreak of the day, that in the base stillness of my heart, I have had complete confidence that no matter WHAT happened, it would be OK, because He is Faithful. Because He's not going anywhere.

Keep on praying for us, if you will, and we'll let you know how things go tomorrow...

2011-06-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sofie is not doing as well as she has been! We are at the ER now for some bloodwork, ultra sounds and an xray. Hoping to figure out what's going on and wishing they didn't have to make infant hospital gowns. Thankful that Sof is daughter of a Good Father and the Great Physician...we'll keep you posted.

2011-06-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Miss Sofia loves the heat! The moment we take her outside, she stretches out and falls asleep...

We've been really blessed to have lots of people come meet Sof...this weekend, my grandparents (dad's side) and Aunt Debbie came from PA to love on the girls!

Lily played bumble bee, and every other game known to man, with "the people who came to see me".

Sofie's passport picture...After a long morning Friday at several different public offices, things are coming together! We have her birth certificate, will have her SS number Monday, Lord willing, and then can get on to the passport Monday afternoon!

"I'm like grandpa!" Lily kept grinning today, stealing his glasses, putting them on upsidedown and wearing them all around.

Both our girlies are just too cute...I praise the Lord for these precious gifts and moments!

baby sister

2011-06-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

It has been so fun to have a new baby through Lily's eyes.

The other morning we were all four in bed together, and for the hundredth time, she sighed, "I love my little sister!"

"I'm the big sister," she continued, "and you're the Poppy Sister, and you're the Mommy Sister, and Sofie's the little sister."

Every time Sofie cries, Lily runs over, pats her face and says, "Shhhhh, shhhhh, it's ok! It's not scary!" or "It's not going to hurt!" if we're changing her diaper.

In the car Lily will report frequently on what Sofie is doing in the backseat with her, and is always adoringly saying, "Aw, she's so cute!"

"I'm Lily and I'm 2!" she has started saying upon meeting people. "And Sofie is a baby."

Meanwhile, Sofie is changing already...gaining weight, starting to work on her little personality, waking up for more than 10 minutes at a time, and starting to be able to focus on things. Life just keeps getting harder: now with TWO little ones growing up too fast in front of my eyes!

too much!

2011-06-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Grandpa came home after a few days away this afternoon, and he and Lisa immediately prepared to go to a graduation party. Lisa was signing the card and preparing a check for our friend to congratulate her.

"How much should I write the check for?" Lisa asked Dad.

Dad immediately threw out a number that to the rest of us, all teachers or teacher missionaries, sounded like a LOT of money, but none of us said anything.

Lily was sitting with all of us, eating cereal and not paying any attention.

Lisa started to write the check, but after a moment of silence, Lily turned around and loudly said, "TOO MUCH!"

It was SO funny...this girly is so fun.

our little family!

2011-06-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

These first few days with Sofie have been a blast! She continues to be a huge sleeper, with lots of Lily love, time with Aunt Lisa and Grandpa, and is as content of a baby that I've ever seen! How do you love a sweet little thing this much!?!

Dad got this pool for Lily, which calls itself a "Family Fun Center...today at 95 degrees, everybody tried it out...I was laughing so hard!

sofia lovely ayars

2011-06-06T16:26:00.001-07:00

Just as Philosophy means "love of wisdom", Sofia means wisdom. I took Lily from the Hebrew word for Susan, after my mother, and then Matt chose Sofia from the Greek.

She must already know that this is the meaning of her name, because thus far, Sof spends the large majority of her time sleeping and pondering the complicated things in life.

We searched and searched for a good Haitian middle name for Sofie, always coming down to a word we really loved in Creole but that just didn't sound quite right in English.

However, Lovely is not only a rather common Haitian name (several little girls in Saccanville carry it), but more personally it is the name of a little girl in Port-au-Prince that really touched our hearts years ago. As we were praying about and searching for what His call was on our lives, little Lovely and bringing Jesus to her people contributed to where we are today.

Plus, you have to admit that she IS Lovely.

This also means that we have a LSA and a SLA :)

The ONLY time Sofie seems to get upset is when she is cold, and for about 10 seconds max. She will be very glad to learn that we live in a warm climate 365 days a year...What a gift!

I love how wrinkly new babies are!

Once again, it's crazy to us how much you can love someone you just met, and that all that love we have for Lily can be had AGAIN for another. Just wild.

If nothing else, we are constantly reminded what a gift these girls are! As with all of His gifts...GOOD, unmerited, undeserved, unimagined and still, thankfully, His!

and just in case you were thinking like we were that Sofie looks TOTALLY different than Lily...here was Lily at 1 week... Guess not :)

Sofie's going to join Lily's blog now!

busy Lily

2011-05-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

"Sofie's comin' soon!" Lily keeps promising everyone, though it's starting to feel doubtful...she is so excited, talking a lot now about her baby, about how she is going to help and share. A little one in church yesterday had her just mesmerized "He can't climb out! He loves me!" ...hopefully that excitement will continue after Sof comes!

Lil had a blast today golfing, feeding the goats, riding the "horses" and eating her usual favorites from the salad bar: 2 bowls full of black olives, chocolate pudding, applesauce and ribs. "I LOVE ribs!" she keeps saying. Then this evening the guys went golfing while she and Aunt Lisa played in her new huge blow up pool and ate watermelon.

My enduring cold was finally diagnosed as a sinus infection and I started on antibiotics...I'm so tired after several sleepless coughing nights and we're all hoping I'll be feeling better very quickly!

missing poppy

2011-05-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Lil has got this traveling thing down. "Poppy isn't here," she keeps saying with a sigh. "He is at the airport. But he will be back soon!"

Everyone absent is always at the airport in Lily world....we take them to the airport, they stay there for a certain amount of time, and then we go pick them up.

I caught a cold and am feeling terrible, so Miss Lily and grandpa are getting lots of good bonding time and we're all just waiting...waiting for Matt and Lisa to come home on Wednesday and waiting on Miss Sofie!

the zoo!

2011-05-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

What a blast of a day! In retrospect, going to the zoo at 39 weeks pregnant might not have been a super idea...I thought at one point, "Crud. I do NOT want to have a baby in the Orangutang Abode." That was a LOT of walking! But, we all made it, and Lily had SUCH a good time. She was on cloud 9 all day, and so were we.

It was finally a beautiful day, the monkeys and bears especially kept her glued for hours, and of course, the zoo's two huge playgrounds kept her busy the rest of the day.

Ah, she has become such a big girl! Playing with all the other bigger kids and not intimidated, breezing past mom and dad with a quick wave and orders NOT to touch or help her...standing in line, flying down slides, riding on the carousel by herself. WHEN did all this happen???

What a blessing God gave us today, just to be together as family and to do something purely fun together and a million miles from our normal reality. Matt and I couldn't help but dream together when we were standing in the middle of it all about how FUN it would be to bring the students somehow to the Columbus Zoo. Their wonderment would have matched Lily's, for sure.

mama's girl

2011-05-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

mixed with grandpa's spoiling and DQ

bugs, family and yellow Lily

2011-05-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

Lily could not possibly have had a better week with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Adam than last week. She LOVED all of the attention, loved bossing two more people, and loved getting to know them better! Lisa painted bugs and flowers in the girls room, making me finally feel like something had been done to get things ready for Sofie...it looks SO cute and Lily loves it, continually saying, "You did such a good job! It is BEAUTIFUL!"

At the pool on Sunday for Mother's Day she had us all in tears of laughter. Sitting on Uncle Adam's lap, she's looking at him and sitting there thinking to herself, and says loudly, "Huh! You're black!" We were cracking up, and she continues, looking down at herself, and then announcing, "Not me! I'm yellow!"

This was the first time Lily's ever indicated a knowledge of color, and she was quite pleased with her observation, and never said another word about it. God made so many things right in us from the start...I love that He is teaching her each day alongside of us, as we ask Him to.

Now we're back in Ohio, she is eating up the swingset grandpa built for her and talking up a storm...

"This road is so good! NO bumpies!"

"I'm at grandpa's house and grandpa loves me!"

"Let's go to the pet store!" (I don't even know how she knows what this is)

and "Look at THIS!!!"

Thursday Sofie and I are to the doctor and Miss Lily on Friday...I'm 36 weeks today! Will let you know...

2011-05-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

This has been such a fun week for Lily, and for us! I'm so thankful that Lily has had this precious time with family.

Lily has adopted Magloire's cat for the week, and both of them are quite happy to have found each other :)

Week 36 and I am feeling READY to have this baby! She is too big, it is too hot, she is too kicky and I am tired of being so tired! I must admit, it is lovely to be at 36 and know that Sofie is at a safe place in her development if she did decide to come early! Lisa went through all of Lily's old stuff this week and got us ready for Sof, sorted clothes, washed her carseat, etc.

Lily is struggling a bit with all the baby stuff/talk, and insists on playing with all her old toys, trying on all the clothes, sitting in her infant carseat, asking for a bottle, and cries when we tell her that something is for Sofie, etc. We all have a lot of adjusting ahead! We'd love your prayers, advice and counsel for this transition for Lily!

growin' up

2011-05-02T03:33:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the way, little-by-little but feels overnight, baby Lily turned into Miss Lily, and suddenly I can't find the baby in her at all any more.

As she was showing Don how to play correctly the other day, he laughed, "There are no little girls, only little women" and I thought, "MAN, is that ever true!" She then told him to 'stop being so bossy', something she hears herself a LOT and obviously now understands.

At supper last night we mentioned Chuckie Cheese's, and she immediately said, "Yeah, for my birthday!" which WAS where we took her for her 2nd birthday the first week of January. HOW does she remember that?

And she is CONFIDENT that the reddish-brown haired forest ranger chick in "Open Season" is Aunt Lisa, and talks all the time about the Aunt Lisa movie and asks us to sing her the Aunt Lisa-bear song.

And when you start praying, she will TAKE it away, and pray for all kinds of people and beautiful things, from family to friends to zebras and penguins, to "birdies in the tree-tops" to panties and Bob and Larry.

And she sat through a 3.5 hour church service this morning, only leaving for 2 minutes 2 times to go "pee-pee in the grass." HOW MANY toddlers can do that? (how many toddlers have to do that :) ?

eating sidewalk chalk

And when Gislaine, in Creole, asked Lily this evening where baby Sofie was, Lily quickly responded, "Oh, Sofie is with mom" like she was a teen-ager or something.

And she has a way of convincing you to do ANYTHING!

"Mommy, can I have some chocolate?"

"You want chocolate, hunnie?"

"OK, if it makes Mommy happy!" she says, and suddenly it is as if it was YOUR idea to give her chocolate.

showing me that both her tongue AND her eyes are blue

And not only is she completely potty trained and sleeping through the night with no diapers anymore, but she will run up to you, say very seriously, "Mommy, I have to go pee-pee." Then, she will shove a chubby hand in your face, and say gravely, "STAY HERE." She then runs determinedly down the hall (toes pointed in, JUST like her father) dances off her shorts, and somehow manages to climb on the toilet, sings songs to herself, and when she is finished, bring you back her panties and say, "I went pee-pee in the potty, made Mommy happy!"

And when I look at pictures of her like these, she looks long and independent and confident, and I don't know where my baby has gone!

hippity-hoppity

2011-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Our little Easter bunny loved it...she loved "Easter Dress", "Easter Church", "Easter Eggs", "Easter candy" "Easter Cat" and pretty soon, everything was Easter. (including "Easter Pee-Pee"...this girl is developing an obsession for all things gross and Poppy-like).

Dying eggs (and now unshelling them) was her favorite, though searching for eggs in the morning was very thrilling too :)

We made homemade peanut butter cup eggs...which she won't (ok, none of us will) stay out of...

The Sharptown team left tons of clothes and shoes to give away...turning our porch into Lily's dress-up closet...

toddler prayers and spunk

2011-04-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

This girl is just hilarious! The more she learns to say, the more fun she is :)

Last night we were praying before dinner, and frequently she jumps in with a few of her own praises. This time, she gave a few: "Mesi pou Micheline. Mesi pou Lizzie. Mesi pou Josephine", then adds, "Mesi pou princesses. And Mesi for Lizzie's panties!"

When Elizabeth Easley left a few weeks ago, she left behind a few pairs of underwear that were too small. Lily has been thrilled with the gift, but I know it was the first time I've every prayed for underwear.

She's also into this new "I don't love you" game.

"Do you love Mommy?" I'll ask her, and she'll get this mischievous look on her face, and say with a grin, "NO, don't love Mommy!" then she starts running...I chase her around the house and tickle her to death, giving her lots of chances to change her mind. But she NEVER does...she'll always catch her breath, say, "NOT!" and start running again.

So last night at bedtime, we had read books and sang our songs, and she was being super cuddly. I took advantage of the moment and said, "Lily, do you love Mommy?" Sleepily, she said, "Mmmm-hmmm." I grinned and kissed her, and got up to leave.

"Mommy?" she called me back, and as soon as I made out her little grin I knew what was coming. She pulled my ear down to her mouth, and whispered, "Not!"

Ornery, ornery, ornery. These have to be some of the sweetest days in life...precious moments with our children, just working to make sure that they know they are loved, His, unique and valued.

rain drops and books for beds

2011-04-05T17:03:00.004-07:00

Lily had us cracking up twice today...

This morning when I got home from work, she was trying with all her might to get Micheline to understand her. "RAIN DROPS!" she kept saying. "Please? PLEASE!"

"What does she want?" Micheline asked me, but I had no idea.

"MOM!" Lily said, exasperated. "Rain drops. Over there. I show you. Just one! Please!"

She leads me over to the table, where a small bag of spice gum drops was. "Rain drops!" It was so cute :)

Then this evening, she saw Matt in his chair, where he was reading "The Big Hungry Bear" out loud, waiting for her to join him. We always read this book on our bed at nap time, but somehow it found it's way out to the living room.

As soon as Lily realized what he was doing, she was mortified.

"Poppy, NO!! NO Poppy! Give it to me! That is the book for beds!" Her tone was so mortified. "THAT book is NOT for chairs!!! It is a book for beds!"

She snatched it from him and ran it back to the bedroom, still grouchy at her daddy when she came back. "NOT for chairs, Poppy!"

This little PERSON living with us is just beyond precious...and beyond bossy!

She also saw Mary Poppins for the first time on Saturday, and OH MAN...new favorite. She calls it the "ice pop" movie, I think only because she knows "ice pop" and doesn't know "Mary Poppins", and ever since then she bounces around the house singing "chim-chim-er-roo!" Way cute :)

Meanwhile, thank you Aunt Lori for the box that came today! She is LOVING the recorder (which we have quite happily found to NOT to piercingly loud :) and the little tootsie roll bank for all her "monies" and "nickles". And THANK you Grammy for her new movie and little sparkle purse, and Aunt Patty for all of our yummy kid snacks! We had a great mail day today :)

10 weeks left & 10 things I hate about being pregnant

2011-04-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have been saving this special blog to commemorate being 30 weeks pregnant. Sofie, someday when you are reading this, know that this is not personal. I LOVE having you in my life. I just don't like having you in my stomach! This is why...

1) I constantly have a food, flour, or water line on my shirt because my belly will not stay out of the dishwater, dinner plate or mixing bowl

2) Walking around with a sore back and with a waddle makes me feel OLD.

3) I am SO tired of being called "Big Person" or "Big Belly" all the time.

4) The students won't stop throwing themselves flat on the opposite wall of the hallway when I pass and laugh hysterically at the idea that I am too big to walk around.

5) When I'm in the States, I always get disapproving glares from people when they see that I am pregnant, despite the ring on my finger or the husband beside me. (at least I think I do. Matt says I'm too self-conscious)

6) I am 10 degrees hotter than everyone else all the time. Hunnie, if we lived in Russia, I would love this. But it is already 100 degrees...you're killing me.

7) Picking things, or your sister, up off the floor should NOT be this difficult, awkward or funny looking.

8) There is a reason we wear shirts over our belly buttons. It is so no one has to SEE our belly buttons. Stop pushing mine out!

9) I HATE being asked by the pastor during the introduction of visitors on Sundays to please stand up and turn around so that everyone can get a better view of "how big you are."

10) You are making traveling on these roads PAINFUL. I hurt for days after an hour in the car with you, and you probably do, too. We are both going to love your car-seat so much more than our current arrangement!

and I can't see my feet. and you kick me awake at night. and I have almost no lap left for Lily. and I have to pee all the time. Ok, so maybe I have more than 10 reasons!

Hard to believe that April is here and that life will be so drastically changing at the end of May!

2011-03-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

eating "cane" (sugar cane) like everybody else

Lily's been a bit under the weather the last few days with a fever and feeling very emotional. One of the children visiting us may have strep throat, so maybe that is it, but with no pediatrician, we are just keeping her fever in check with Tylenol and doing lots of snuggling and popsicles.

It did not keep us from joining the other families at the beach yesterday, which she still enjoyed some, or from enjoying good mom and dad time this weekend.

Hey, KIDS!

2011-03-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lily is adoring having the Easley kids here for 2 weeks. From the moment she wakes to the moment she falls asleep, she is chattering non-stop about "the kids", asking constantly to play with them. She learned "Lizzy" immediately, but Sarah, Ben and Jacob have had to bear being called "kid" so far.

"Kid, come do this!"
"Kid! Chita la!" (sit here)
"Swing me, kid!"
"Come, kid, you will do it!"

YES, we are seeing more and more of Lily bossiness in this kid-full time :) We're working on it, and now she's trying to remember to say, "Kid, you will do it! Please?"...baby steps :) She is very unaware that she is the baby of the group :)

be careful little eyes

2011-03-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

Every morning when Lily wakes up and comes down the hall, she sees the same thing...Matt sitting in his chair under his blanket, cup of coffee on the table next to him with his Bible open on his lap.

We never realized Lily even noticed this until tonight, when she was sitting in his chair, grabbed her Bible, got under the sheet and then said, "Poppy, get my coffee!"

It was too cute, and reminded us all over again how much she is growing, learning and being shaped JUST by what she sees and hears, even that which she cannot understand.

It's a little unnerving, knowing how much who we are each day, behind closed doors and in our personal "normal" life, not just in our ministry/work/public life, will shape who Lily is and who she will be! Also is making us all the more aware of how important it is that the people in her life model Christ to her!

I'm 28 weeks today, and my weekly email tells me that now it is time to start seeing the doctor every two weeks instead of monthly :) Got it! FYI on our "plan"...school ends May 7th and graduation is May 8th. I'm going to try to stick it out, and Lily and I plan to leave on May 9th, right after 36 weeks. We'll be heading for Columbus, Ohio. Matt plans to stay a few more days to close things down, then he'll be spending a bit of time speaking in Virginia and then in Texas up until the very end of May.

Hopefully, Sofie won't be early! So far, so good...I feel good, if not a bit tired and a bit more uncomfortable, and Sof is kicking so much that today I could see my stomach shifting and bumping.

Grateful for these girls that He has entrusted us with!

help!

2011-03-11T03:37:00.000-08:00

Two quick things we want some advice on...

1) Thumb sucking. Lil has been a thumb sucker since she first found her chubby finger at 5 weeks old, and while she doesn't seem to be "needing" it for security, etc. anymore, she still sucks it regularly when tired or watching a movie and while she's sleeping. What worked for you? When did you start breaking your child of this habit? What finally did the trick? Is this way too early to even be thinking about this? Any ideas???

2) Baby wraps/carriers. We had a baby carrier for Lily that was never very comfortable for us or for her, cut across her face, and was physically impossible to use without the help of three people :) With Lily still being so young, walking being such a huge part of our daily life, and Sofie on the way, I'd love to get some kind of a baby carrier or wrap that someone can tell me that they LOVED. Anyone know of a brand or type out there that you couldn't have done without, or that friends of yours loved? Something washable, easy to use, comfortable?

Comment on this blog or send us an email if you have any help with either of these things...THANK YOU!

3rd Trimester!

2011-03-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

(Yes, Lily is wearing a princess dress at 6:30 in the morning!)

This morning Lily and I were working on a new song: "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do."

The first few times through she just listened, and then her eyes flew wide open with understanding, she ripped my shirt up, patted my belly, and said, "SO BIG!"

Yep, me and God. HUGE. Good for your self esteem :)

princess Lily

In other news, Lily has officially surpassed her father in color recognition :) She loves sorting her toys into the appropriate colors, and she's finally getting them right 90% of the time, and not just "pink"!