My Valentine Girl

"Little girls are the nicest things that happen to people. They are born with a little bit of angelshine about them, and though it wears thin sometimes there is always enough left to lasso your heart." - Alan Beck

Yesterday was cold and rainy. Abby and I had been cooped up in the house for several days with sick kiddos, so we decided to go on a Valentine date! We were on a mission to purchase new coloring supplies as well, which turned out to be successful. It was so much fun we'll have to do it again very soon. :)

"Her smile beams like sunshine, which fills our hearts with love." - Unknown

Sugar and spice.... 

...and everything nice!

A little frizzy and rumpled, but having fun!

Growing Girls

After a loooong silence on the blog, here are a few photos of the girls!

First day of school!

Rebekah has really enjoyed learning to read.

Abby loves to read too! She had to try it upside down, like a character in one of her books.

First time to have her face painted.

Hanging out at the circus.

All ready for the show.

Hosanna loves the camera. Modeling her new outfit for Grandma.

Happy birthday, Abby!

8 years old!

All grown up while Mamma wasn't looking.

Josh and I on our 9th anniversary!

Before and After!

Before...

After...

Winter Days

Hosanna's 2nd Birthday. Where does the time go?

We enjoy having these swings right in our courtyard.

With our newest little friend, Lydia Day.

She is quite a hit!

We've made new Ukrainian friends too: Hosanna with Oleg and his daughter, Dasha.

On a winter walk: Abby, Rebekah, and Melissa Day. But what is the attraction?

This! Struedel-making is fascinating.

Hammin' it up.

Sunshine

An indoor play area is great for bad-weather days.

Abby is our budding artist, and spends many hours drawing and writing stories.

Snow! I don't think we're in Texas anymore. ;)

Silly girl

Happy 2013 to you!

Homeward Bound

The packing has begun in earnest for our trip back to Ukraine. We are sad to be leaving our family, but happy to return to our home, our place of work, and our Ukrainian friends!

This Sunday, the 4th, is when we fly. We would appreciate your prayers for safe travel and for us and our children as we adapt again to the culture and language. I think my kids aren't really quite sure where our home is these days, and this will be yet another change for them.

Some of our stuff waiting to be packed or shipped.

We are going back to a land where a spirit of fear reigns. We meet people who are afraid of new things, afraid of innovation, afraid to think for themselves, afraid of each other, afraid of financial collapse, afraid of the government, afraid of cult groups, and so on. It is no coincidence that this spirit of fear can be felt. When I am in the States, I notice the absence of it. We need prayers and the grace of God to daily battle against this spiritual enemy. The people of Ukraine need to see saints unhindered by fear, free to exercise righteousness, peace and joy. We know we have a Spirit living in us who is Greater than that of the world, but we also need your prayers for strength, wisdom and courage.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 

2 Timothy 1:7

Moving Week!

This week we are packing up and getting ready to move to Ft. Worth for the next 2 months.

The Essentials

We came here a few months ago with only 3 or 4 suitcases, but we will be filling those plus several more boxes and parcels for this trip. It is amazing to me how much stuff we can accumulate in such a short time!

More essentials

My little packing buddy

Our family is especially excited to have Daddy back this coming Monday! Whoohoo!

The paper chain represents the number of days until we see Daddy.
We remove a link each morning until he's home!

"Be strong and of a good courage...for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

It's About Time!

It's about time that I updated my blog again!

I am sorry for the long silence. I have been busy spending time with precious people for the past couple of months. We have enjoyed being with my parents, taking day trips to downtown Houston or to Galveston, and traveling to San Antonio and Ft. Worth to visit grandparents and cousins. We even got in a trip to Sea World with my brother and his family, which was a big hit!

Abby and I started first grade at the beginning of August, which so far has been a lot of fun. She is reading pretty well now and really loves math. (Pretty sure she got that from her daddy!)

We enrolled Abby and Rebekah in swim lessons this summer and they loved it!

We have also been busy missing Joshua. :( He is finishing up a rigorous and fruitful summer ministry in Ukraine and will be coming back here September 3rd. All of us girls are so ready to have Daddy back! This is the longest we have ever been apart and my hope is that we will never do this again! Ever.

I have all kinds of ideas for posts which I hope will be forthcoming. I'm grateful to each of you who stop by to read here, and that you keep coming back. Thank you for being a part of our lives!

The Ocean!!

These pictures are from a few weeks ago but I'm just now getting around to posting them. We wore the kids completely out with a trip to Galveston Island to play at the beach. It was a total blast!!

Both Abby and Rebekah have been talking for ages about going to the beach and getting to see the ocean, so this was like a dream come true for them. They played for hours!

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A Little Piece of Quiet

With my Mamma at the park

This week has been a time of rest and quiet with my family. Joshua took the 2 older girls to Ft. Worth for 5 days for a doctor appointment and some visiting time with his family. This significantly reduced my responsibility level and allowed me to rest and recover after the birth. I think maybe God planned the timing on that. ;) (But I did miss them a lot, and even all the noise too!)

I spent a lot of time reading, journaling, processing, visiting with my parents, and enjoying Hosanna. God is good.

 

 

Physically, I am feeling great. I bounced back almost immediately after the birth with growing energy. Thank you for continuing to pray for our family!

 

 

"Jesus I am resting, resting, in the joy of what thou art; I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart!"

~ Hymn by Jean S. Pigott

 

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