Reading!!

Translation: Earnie tak(es care) of pig.
DS2 wrote this on the refrigerator while Daddy was making dinner! At 4, I am SO PROUD of how well he's doing with his reading! Keep up the good work, Baby!

Thinking Cap

Just got this layout done this evening while the kids were at Awanas. I took this picture of DS1 while we were in Haiti. Though it's a tad out of focus, I thought it turned out pretty cool. Looking at the picture now, it really got me thinking about how tough it must have been for the boys to go through so many drastic changes in their young lives. And hoping that God will give them the strength to trust and love despite the upheavals.

I used a layout by Lisa Dorsey in Memory Makers (Mar/Apr 09) as a template for this layout.

Homeschool Beginnings

I created this layout about two weeks ago, but then I caught a cold and was stuck in bed for several days and didn't get it uploaded. This is a picture of DS1 while we were in Haiti. Because he was 6 already and had received only minimal schooling (about an hour/week) - in Creole - I decided to make the best of our time and started doing homeschool kindergarten. Little did I know I would end up homeschooling all five of our kids! Within 9 weeks, he learned his colors, shapes, counting to 100, ABC's and their sounds, starting to write letters and numbers, and beginning to read single vowel words!! While a good part of it was due to him being a smart little boy, it also gave me some confidence that I could, just maybe, be my children's teacher!

Milot, Haiti Layout

While I was staying with the boys at COTP, I had the opportunity to accompany one of the long-term volunteers on a trip to the Milot hospital to pick-up two little sick babies that were being released. I was so blessed by the opportunity to see what health care looks like in another country.

2 More Layouts - Haiti Summer

Here are two more pages I completed this weekend for the boys' book covering the time we spent together at their orphanage. Anyone know the song "Mr. Cab Driver"? Looks like I captured some road rage in my little cabbie's face!

New Layout - Daddy Visit

Still have a long ways to go in completing my boys' album about the time we spent together at their orphanage in Haiti. Here is one of my newest layouts. These pictures were taken while DH came down to visit. I was so relieved to have him there with us - and so devastated when he had to go home without us!
With all that is going on in Haiti right now, I am so distracted by the news and watching Facebook updates about the various orphanages we follow I am not finding much time to scrap. I just wish I could find a productive way to help the Haitians...

Aftershocks

I was raised to think that by hard work, perseverance, and frugal use of your money anyone could "succeed". I still believe that is true - for those of us fortunate enough to be born in America.
I remember being much younger, watching TV commercials about the starving children in Ethiopia. Skinny little arms & legs, bulging tummies, seemingly oblivious to the flies perched on their lips and noses. It seemed so far away. It was as real to me as a fictional movie. So sad, but it was so far away it couldn't really penetrate my narrow reality.
I have been so fortunate in my adulthood. I have traveled a little internationally, and seen how challenging day-to-day life can be for other very hard working, persevering, frugal individuals. God is teaching me how small this world is. Teaching me that the privileges we take for granted here in America are pipe dreams for many, if not most, of the world's population.
So, I spent last evening and today glued to the news. Devastated by the destruction in Haiti. My boys' birth country. A place where I had the privilege of spending 9 weeks. And my heart aches for them. I feel guilt that I have so much, and they have so little - and that little has just been crushed. Wishing I knew how to help, not just today, but everyday. Please Lord, show me my place. Why am I blessed with such creature comforts, cupboards full of food, electricity, clean indoor plumbing. And how can I best show your love to others who were not born with such opportunities.