How to beat the winter duldrums

The winter cabin fever has set in over the past month or so with all of the cold weather. We have been de-void of some much needed fresh air and muscle movement. So we had a teletubby work out session with Cade and Kota (cousins) on Saturday. Yes teletubbies are a little young for my kids but when they saw it they couldn't stop laughing at how silly they looked. So I figured we'll do the teletubby work out and get some extra ab exercise in while they were laughing so hard.



Then we got all the build a bears out that Grandma and Grandpa provided, by way of Gift Certificates, for Christmas.


Followed by some brain marshmellow time on the DS, that Elijah gets so excited when Kota brings it over.


The 15th was Isaiah's Birthday and the "House Mom" who has blessed us and him so much, took him out for his birthday and here is a clip she e-mailed me after they got back.

"I just wanted to let you know that Isaiah had a wonderful birthday yesterday. He and Johnkeng ( whose birthday it is today) each selected one friend and I took the four boys to EpiDor ( our version of McDonalds) and they ate cheeseburgers, fries, and cokes and then got a cake with their NAME written on it. It was fun to see the satisfaction of having their names written down. None of the boys had been out to this particular restaurant ( which has air conditioning) and they were all freezing and wanting to go outside in the warmth after 45 minutes!! Made me laugh! Isaiah got car sick on the way home from eating too much :)
I just had a boy throw up all over my car last week ( as many of them get carsick because they rarely, if ever ride in cars) and I told Isaiah playfully that if they keep throwing up in my car, I'm going to stop taking them places... at that point Isaiah quickly put away the barf bag and insisted he was just fine!! "

We are so blessed to have Shelley and Clay taking care of Isaiah in the Boys home. I think this is the first birthday Isaiah has actually celebrated on his actual birthday, with items specifically for him. Because of the large size of the 2 houses (girls and baby house and then the boys home) it is not possible to celebrate each childs birthday on the day it accures. So if they have time and means they have 1 birthday celebration a month for all the kids who celebrated birthdays in that month. And it is pretty low key because of limited funds and availability of special items to celebrate with. Since Shelley and Clay moved into the boys home in July they have treated each boy special and as one of their own. They take the time to special order and gain support to get the extra items that aren't necessities, but that really make the boys feel special. God is so good and is so faithful to bless us with more than we could ever imagine.

We are getting very excited, we are so blessed by the support that people have so generously blessed us with. It looks like we will be able to go to Haiti for 2-3 months, instead of the originally planned 4-6 months. We really feel more at ease with the shorter stay, as we are told if all starts moving more steadily in the adoption offices, it is possible we could bring the kids home by late April or there abouts. We also would not have as much to take over and would not have to worry about renting our house, just getting more of a house sitter. Which the Lord has already provided. Now that we have the amount needed to live and minister in Haiti, we need to purchase plane tickets for 4 of us to fly to Haiti and (hopefully 6) to fly back. We have had some money put away for tickets, but not the full amount needed. We know that the Lord can provide this, as he has already been so faithful to provide the support for us to minister in Haiti as a family. If you would join us in praying for the Lord to add to his provision and provide tickets for us to get to Haiti, we would be very blessed.

Thank you agian to all of you who have continually supported us in prayer and monitary needs. We are always in awe of what the Lord does. He has been showing us over and over agian in the last couple of months, how he has kept us and blessed us in ways we never even knew, as we have gone through this adoption process. He truly is Our: Strong Tower , Provider, Comforter, Protector, Advocate, Keeper, Peacemaker, Foundation, Teacher, Deliverer, Hope, Healer, Abba Father, Best Friend, Our All in All, Our Everything! We pray that all of you, along with us, could remember that, every minute of everyday, it would save me so much worry and frustration, sadness and sorrow. God Bless you all and may you be blessed by what He does in your life today and every day there after.