Family Picture

Family Picture

Thursday, March 20, 2014

March

Blogging has become second to baking these days.  We have been milling fresh grains and baking all sorts of yummy things to eat.  Different kinds of breads, apple, banana nut, and blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls, and whole grain cookies, pancakes and multigrain waffles.  I smell the lingering  aroma of fresh bread baked this evening as I type this post. Anna is a healthy eater so she loves all this fresh baking. But even Amy, who is as picky as a child can be, is happily eating all of these. I am sometimes using the Ezekial flour (has beans and lentils, plus other grains)  with the hard red wheat to add extra protein, then sometimes adding whey protein, and trying different blends of other grains as well.  Amy is not much of a meat eater so this is easing my momma worries of the gaps in her diet.  She is a Northern China bread girl after all.  Not to mention she and Anna like to help in the kitchen.  We have a flashlight  and a step stool near the bread machine so they keep an eye on the progress.  Amy likes to drop the cupfuls of grain in the mill but she hates the loud noise of the grinding. She covers her ears or runs out of  the room. Doesn't take long to mill so she comes right back.  Sort of a game we play.  Our afternoons are also filled with outdoor play when the weather is nice.  Indoor trampoline jumping and kids exercise video when too cold or rainy.  We  have school work, sometimes do crafts,  and we are reading lots of books.  We go to the library every single Monday....rain or shine!  Amy is taking after big sister in her love of good books.
Here are some pics from our month of March.
Baking Soda and colored vinegar water.  Amy loved the fizz.

Anna too! Being creative at the same time.

Trojan horses built at Home Depot. Amy says she likes the stickers better than painting because it is less messy!
 I am rubbing off on her! 

Our crafts in the theme of making music....or a joyful noise unto the Lord.  Big brother Will said our noise was "not THAT joyful"!  We had fun making "instruments"  and playing them along with our  Big Band CDs.

Our stuffed toy hospital opened up to make some sewing repairs on these friends.  Anna and Amy helped.  Amy--in her first attempts at sewing-- accidently poked me two good times with the needle, but all ended well!

Sisters making purple pansy hairstyles

Blowing me a goodbye kiss during morning carpool 

Birdhouses at Lowes

 Oh happy day, she gets to hammer! Love the blur her hammer makes in all the pics I try to take!
She got so excited over these safety goggles!

So much so, she wore them much of the day..... not even kidding!
She took a shower in them so she could "watch the water"! Yes she did!

Amy can see this blowing from our breakfast room table....she gives us wind reports. She wanted to stop the spinning for the photo.  

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Horse Crazy

Amy is following Anna's lead as far as loving horses.  They pretend they are horses.  Anna is horsey momma and Amy is horsey baby.  They play with horse figurines and horse stuffed animals. They gallop around on stick horses. They love books about horses and Anna has read every horse book available from the libraries in our area. They build stables out of all sorts of things, and make reigns out of rubber bands and ribbons.  We went shopping recently and they wanted horse shirts to match.  So thankful
they have this common ground as they have opposite personalities!

Bright multi colored horsey shirts and their favorite ride along pals

They pretend this tree is a horse, note the saddle and Anna's whip.  Hang on Amy....going fast!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Conversations with Amy

 After the Christmas holiday the subject of Amy missing her Chinese foster family came up over lunch one day.There was something about Amy's happiness that seemed to cause her to think more of her foster family. It almost seemed that Amy felt a little guilty for all the good things in her life, while remembering how little her foster family had.

Conversation:
Amy:  I am just a little bit worried that BinBin  ( little boy), NaiNai (foster grandmother)  and YeYe(foster grandfather) might be missing me just a little bit.  BinBin has no one to play with now that I am gone.
Me:  Do you miss them?
Amy:  Amy not go back to China! I want to stay here.
Me: We are your family forever Amy.  It is O.K. to miss them.  You do not have to go back to China.
Amy:  I miss them. They do not have good food.  It is cold in China. Their house is not good like this house.
Me:  We will pray for them to be happy and safe, and to have food, and stay warm.

Conversation recently (about a month after the previous conversation) between Anna and Amy:
Anna:  Do you miss your NaiNai?
Amy:  Yes, but Anna, Momma says it is ok for me to miss her and that I will not have to go back to China. I want to stay here.
Anna:  Do you miss BinBin?
Amy:  Yes. He doesn't have me to play with anymore.
Anna: Do you miss YeYe?
Amy:  Just a little bit
Me:  Amy we will pray for your NaiNai, YeYe and BinBin to stay safe, warm, and well fed.
Amy:  Will you pray for them to have a little bit bigger house?  Their house is very small, it is not very good.

Conversation Yesterday:
Amy was chattering at me while I was cooking dinner.  She had been talking nonstop for a very long time so I decided to pretend that her pretend phone was ringing so could she go talk to her pretend friend on the phone while I finished my kitchen work.  (This is a game Amy loves to play as she loves to talk to real people and pretend people just so long as she gets to talk!)  Well she chattered away for a bit, talking small talk with her pretend friend Rachel.
Then I was struck by what Amy said:
 "  Oh,  I am so sorry you do not have a Momma or Daddy, Rachel.  You can come live at my house.  I have a good momma and daddy.  My momma is really nice.  She will take care of you. "

I stopped in my busy tracks and said a prayer of Thanksgiving for the blessing of being a mom. Appreciating the significance of caring for the needs of special children, and of planting seeds of  kindness and trust in hearts that have known suffering and loss.

As for man, his days are like grass;  as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.  
Psalm 103.15



Amy and her dolly intensely watching something on TV.  Amy tells me she would like to get inside the TV to whatever she is watching.  

The girls having a bedtime snack of pink milk and grahm cracker goldfish.  We also read stories.  I love to hear some of their conversations as they have "sister" talk. It helps Amy so much that Anna is from China also.

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