It's not uncommon for us to hear a little knock at our door during school...it's usually Lavine or Aram...sometimes I feel a little taken advantage of...but I do love these babies so much. I have my boundaries though, don't worry! The kids love having Lavine to do school with!
the boys practicing their letters together!
Don't let these long lashes fool you...she is precious and sweet...but she packs some serious attitude!
Today we studied Ethiopia! It's not just another country to us anymore! One of my dear friends, Nina is adopting twins from Ethiopia! We are so excited for her! You can read her amazing journey here. We discovered that Ethiopia is not that far from us...we'd only have to cross Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea to get there...Moses did it...we probably could too!
Iraq is the light purple near Annie's ring finger and Ethiopia is the yellow (in case you aren't geography buffs). This book that goes with our History curriculum is written with a faith based perspective and whenever Annie reads it she says she gets a funny feeling. She is not sure that she likes the feeling or not though. But it's all about ways we can pray for other countries and learning a little bit about them. I think God is probably giving her a piece of his heart and how it breaks for the nations. It's a heavy burden...
So, I've been telling Annie all about Nina's story and she was so excited to hear that they were getting babies! She ran into her room and came back with all the money she had and declared it was going to go to help bring those babies home! She is such a generous kid! She then prayed for the Ethiopians that their hearts would be lifted up (like the dunk post) and for those that have hearts that are only half way...that they would be all the way!
I also wore my shirt that you can buy from Nina to help raise money for their adoption. This shirt is so beautiful! Lavine stayed quite a while at our house, until after lunch in fact. In my house, when you are 2 or younger you MUST have a nap after lunch. This is NOT what Lavine is used to. She calls the shots at home. She sleeps when and where and how she wants. Sorry, kiddo...not at my house. Because she was just grumpy and tearin' things up at my house. So I told her it was time to have a lesson in obedience! She was NOT happy. She screamed and cried while I held her like this for 20 minutes, before she finally gave in to me! Between screams her eyes would droop and she would yawn, but she didn't want to give up! The whole time I am thinking...I guess we have kind of adopted this little girl too! We love her so much! So I just walked her up and down my hall, bouncing and rocking her, singing to her and praying over her. I told her she WAS going to be a child of the King, so she better get used to obeying! Lesson 1 was a SUCCESS...as you can see she finally passed out and slept peacefully on our bed! The shirt states it all...SIMPLY LOVE...sometimes love is a hard fight though...but it's so worth it!
Thanks for these great updates. It's always so nice to see what's going on over there, and to be encouraged by you all. We love your family and think you're incredible. What work is being done...amazing!!! That sweet Lavine. I'm going to have to get over there some day to meet all these incredible people! : )
ReplyDeleteLOVE that shirt!! and the cause behind it! AND if you make it ALL the way to Ethiopia, you better come see us, all you have to do is cross the Nile, and Moses did that too, only further north!
ReplyDeleteLOVE YOU!