Moving and a time to celebrate

Moving!

Thursday, July 12. We are moving apartments just a few buildings over in our complex.   Our lease ran out in our current one and some friends were moving out, so we got to move in.  We were expecting to move sometime mid-July, but weren't exactly sure when.  We were slowly packing up and then last week I got a terrible stomach bug, ending up in the E.R.  It was a horrible experience and I came home to severals days of the kids having sick stomach and fevers, then our apartment was ready for us to move into sooner than we thought. So, life was kind of crazy this week, but we spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday moving and we were able to sleep in the midst  of boxes Wednesday night.  It is slowly coming together and the kids have been helping and amusing William who an crawl faster that you think.  I love our new place. It is on the 7th floor, unfortunately with no elevator, but we just take it slow, very slow.  My favorite thing is that it gets lots of light....now where we live grey, smoggy, cloudy days definitely outnumber sunny days, so when we do have sun I am so thankful it can pour in.    We celebrated July 4th with some friends, without fireworks, but we had fun being together. The kids made it so fun. We called it "America's birthday" and Laura Cate kept referring to it as the "America's country birthday party!" 

Mother's Day

Where we live, as I go about my day shepherding three precious kids, people always have the same basic comments: 1) they ask if I have "help",  meaning do my parents or in- laws live with me and help us raise our kids, of course they are always surprised when I say no and they cant imagine why not...but really, I don't expect our parents to move half way around the world to come help us.  2) the other thing I hear most often is that life with more than one kid is so difficult.  They are a culture that has been brainwashed to think that children are a commodity, to raise, get to the best schools so that the can be the best jobs, go to America, and pay for their parents when they are retired.  That is basically the vicious cycle and idolization of money, materialism, Western things, and children.  I don't disagree that motherhood is difficult. It is the most demanding, non-stop job I've ever had. BUT, children are a blessing from the Lord and oh so precious.  I love my munchkins and am so thankful I get to be their mommy.  I get to teach them how great God is and how to walk in His ways, all daylong, and every day, about repentance and forgiveness (i do a lot of asking them for forgiveness), grace, love, and truth. 

A wise friend with a little bit older children once said to me about having little ones, "The days are long, but the years are short." I couldn't  agree more. I cling to the Word of the Lord and He says in Galatians 6:9, "And let us not grow weary while doing good,  for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." I know I may not see my efforts today, tomorrow, or even in a few months, but I do know God is faithful to me,and to my kids and I am so so thankful  He is with me, leading me, being my strength, my wisdom and and entrusting me with Cameron,  Laura Cate, and William. 

So whenever someone here says life is really difficult raising three kids, I smile and say "yes,  but I am blessed."

William is 10 months old

An old post that I drafted a few months ago, but is still noteworthy, I think!

It seems the first couple of months with William went by so slowly and I was so sleep deprived, but now it just goes by way too fast.  He turned 10 months old a few days ago!  He has changed so much recently. In a few weeks he went from rolling to sitting up on his own and crawling. It only took him a few days to figure out that there were places to go and things to see and explore by crawling. He is everywhere!  What a happy, easy little babe.  We all love our little Will and the fun, chaos that he brings to our lives.

Going, going, gone!

Cameron's first tooth finally fell out!  It held on for a long time and. I think I scared Cameron into not pulling it out by telling him how my two from teeth were knocked out when I fell out of my chair in kindergarten and I had two missing teeth for half a year because they weren't ready to come out.  So, I was giving my weekly piano lesson and Cameron knows not interrupt me, but when he came running in sort of yelling, but smiling, and his mouth full of blood I knew what had happened.  We were excited and my sweet student was excited for him too.  Now Cameron and William have their top teeth coming in at the same time :) Fun times.   

A Big Deal

I think all moms try to get their kids to like healthy food, or at least sneak it into their diet somehow.  The other day I was pretty clever and mixed some of William's pureed baby food with our spaghetti sauce!  Ok, my secret is out, just don't tell my kids :)  I try and try to offer Laura Cate carrots and cucumber.  Her big brother loves them...he would eat them at every meal, but she will not touch them. The other day she started to actually lick the cucumber, which I am not even sure I would want to do, but I told her she could not be excused from the table and get a brownie until she tried one bite of each.   She finally took one very, very small bite of each, and swalled it. Success!! We were so excited and applauded her for trying and then we had a very funny dialogue. Me: "Laura Cate, you did take a little bite of your food and that is a big, big deal. We are so proud of you."  Laura Cate: "I took a tiny, tiny bite, and its a big, big deal, so I get a big, big brownie!!!" Kids say the funniest things.   I don't really like to applaud efforts with sweets, but this time was worth it!

I'm back

So I have had some computer/ blogger/ user error problems for a while because I had two blogs, but was really only using one. Some things got lost, but I am determined to keep up.

Weddings

I just love weddings. Celebrating two people united in the Lord is so much fun. Yesterday we got to attend a local friend's wedding. We, the whole family, took a two hour train, which Cameron and Laura Cate loved, to our old city. It was fun being back and thinking about where the Lord has brought us since 2009 when we left. I still miss that city, but I know we are where we need to be. Cameron was the ring bearer and he did a fabulous job! He looked like a little man in his tuxedo with tails. Of course it was his third wedding he's been in and he has one more in a couple of weeks. He did ask why was he the ring bearer if he didn't have to carry a ring or the pillow...maybe because he is just too cute! By the way, he still has his loose teeth and he keeps pulling at them. I told him please don't pull it out until after the weddings :) I guess it wouldn't be the worse thing that happened at a wedding. Oh by the way, William just started crawling! Babies and kids really do grow up way too fast.