Life With Kids

Missy

Here's Missy practicing her fiddle; she also plays the piano & guitar. Missy joined our family about 12 years ago just before her 9th birthday. She came to us with a broken heart & deep wounds because her mom died when Missy was 6, her dad abandoned the family when she was an infant, and she'd been being raised by her elderly grandmother who had numerous issues of her own. Missy was a distant cousin of mine, but in 2005 we officially adopted her and she became our daughter. In 2008 she graduated from home school and in 2009 she headed to Ukraine for a 6 month Discipleship Training School with YWAM (youth with a mission). She returned home and began working full time at Delmar Place, an assisted living facility for the elderly. Missy has quite a gift in working with elderly folks. Our years together have been filled with a lot of ups and downs mostly due to Missy's deep wounds that she struggles to deal with. I've not always handled these issues well and even lately find myself wondering why the Lord called us to adopt 4 more kids when we've not done such a hot job with the first one. One thing I do know is that God refines us through the fire, and lately I've had a lot of refining going on in me. God loves us and gives us a free will to make our own choices. Presently Missy is deciding to maybe step out on her own. We're praying for her as she makes this decision and we will support her in whatever she chooses. This is scary for us as parents because we love her and because it's a huge, life changing decision. She knows that if she chooses to go and it doesn't work out she can always come home. She will always be our daughter and this will always be her home. We just don't want to see her get hurt anymore than she already is. I believe God and so I know that He can do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or imagine (in me & in Missy). This post was approved by Missy.

One lesson the LORD has taught me this week is that He gave me 1 mouth, 2 ears, and 2 knees. I tend to over-use the one mouth and under-use the two ears and two knees. With my mouth I say too much and lecture too much while I'm not stopping to listen or taking enough time to pray. It's not that I don't pray...it's just that my mouth tends to run ahead of my prayers. Basically I react in the flesh instead of walking in the Spirit. Ouch!

Slava & Mama

Since last week we've had a house filled with sick kids. Slava started it with a fever & cough and now it has spread to Jordan, Sierra, and Anna. I think it's basically the flu because it's lasting for at least 5 days. One benefit is that Slava has learned the word "cuddle" and actually wants to be cuddled.

Sierra & Anna

The kids have been having a blast with all our winter weather. As long as it's winter in upstate NY I prefer to have snow so at least the kids can go outside and play. Here the girls were enjoying some mammoth icicles they pulled down off the house. Note Sierra's old school Arctic Cat snow mobile suit. It was mine about 18 years ago!

L to R: Andrii, Jordan, Curtis & Anna

The kids have been pulling out the board games lately. Here they managed to get Curtis to play Pay Day with them. Sierra's in the background playing the piano.

Some other things going on: Slava is really starting to settle in. He cracks us up all the time with his vocabulary. He's learned the phrase, "I don't know" which sounds like "I no no." And he says it all the time while throwing his hands up in the air. We've also been dialoging with him as we teach him, "Mama/Papa boss" "Slava obey." He understands this and is actually beginning to obey when we say "stop," "don't touch," "come," "no," etc. Last night I heard him say what sounded like "what the heck"??? I thought I must have heard wrong, but then he said it again...several times. The other kids were cracking up especially since he'd throw his hands in the air and act frustrated. Clearly he had the concept of what it meant. It was funny, but not funny because we don't want him walking around saying that. I wonder who he learned it from???

Wayne and I are beginning to reenter life again now that things are settling down. Wayne started attending men's Bible study on Monday nights and starting tomorrow night I will be back at women's Bible study. In the past I've always gone on Tuesday mornings, but with home school that just isn't going to work for us. However, I am looking forward to stepping out for an evening of fellowship and the Word with my sisters in Christ. I'm pretty excited about the study too, we're doing Beth Moore's "Believing God" study which so far lines up with the John Bevere "Extraordinary" study that Wayne and I have been doing together. I love it when God does that!