Levi

Levi is all of three.. but anybody who has known him knows he's somewhat of a unique child, and I don't say that because I'm his mother! He's the one who at only a few months old would cry if someone would look at him (even his Uncle Steve!) ... and heaven forbid you look at him if he was thinking of throwing his food over the edge of the high chair! He's always been a VERY serious boy... loves to watch his siblings... then when he decides he's going to do something, he just does it!
Anyway.. he's somewhat obsessive about food... LOVES his breakfast, not so much lunch or dinner, but also wants 'snack'... So to entice him to eat his 2nd and 3rd meal of the day, we took away snack the following day if he didn't eat... and the boy can remember! He'll announce just after nap time whether or not he gets snack that day! And if he lost it because he didn't eat... no tears... just quiet acceptance! Anyway... we also limited the amount of intake at breakfast as he could down twice as many pancakes as some of his siblings (sometimes 8 pancakes)....
Levi LOVES pancakes... I think he would eat that all day long if you'ld let him... but breakfast in general is just his favorite meal... He asks Joe every morning what's for breakfast and keeps on asking him to start cooking it from the time he gets up until it's done cooking! On Saturday we had a special treat of cereal... so of course Joe didn't need to get cooking right away... this bothered poor Levi to know end as he couldn't grasp why Dad wasn't cooking his breakfast! So... he'll sit at the table and just wait... and wait... until his breakfast is ready!
He also loves to just sit in the kitchen and 'help' with meal preperations... I'm thinking maybe he'll be a chef someday?

Wrestling

Wrestling in this country has a whole different meaning than wrestling with my Dad growing up! We had carpet and it sure wasn't as hot! But... boys will just be boys... and as Joe says.. they're just tougher here! So Joe usually has to take a shower after his wrestling with 5 boys.. and they sure need one as well (specially my little African boy!) But they all have fun and usually there aren't too many tears! Soon though Joe will have to watch out or those boys will get the best of him!

Photobucket slideshow

What if??

Sometimes I sit and wonder about things... about a 'perfect' world... course there is always the usual thoughts of a world without poverty, without violence, evil, etc... but then lately I have been thinking about criticism... part of my thoughts come from the fact that I strive to criticize my children less and encourage them more, simply because I see how much they blossom with positive encouragement and gentle leading rather than cutting down and criticizing. But then I have to take this beyond just putting it into practice in my household... what if I stopped criticizing my fellow missionaries, my fellow classmates, my supervisors, my friends? I would love to say that I never do these things.. but I know that I do... and most of all I criticize myself... oh yes... I am ever so judgmental of myself... Many years ago when I was in counseling in high school... my counselor told me that I had extremely high expectations of myself... and of course that led to very high expectations of those close to me.... I thought she was nuts! (Remember the first step of recovery is denial!) I have matured some over the years (really I have).. and have come to see that yes, I do pretty much demand perfection of myself... and I have to be very careful not to demand it of others... But.. this isn't about me and my shortcomings... I was just thinking of how much nicer the world would be if we encouraged rather than tore down... I mean... think of it... wouldn't you LIKE to go to work if your boss and your co workers encouraged you rather than criticized you every time you made a mistake... Wouldn't students WANT to learn if their teachers, professors, administrators showed compassion towards each other and didn't tear each other down like packs of wolves? Hmmm... it's an interesting thought! I remember a class in high school with a teacher that loved to pick on a few students... really, just a few from the whole class... and he would criticize the papers, thought process, etc... of these few students... who always happen to be Christians who would stand up for their beliefs... He would ridicule and humiliate them till sometimes they would quit the class or end up being so meek and afraid they wouldn't say anything in class... ever! Now... do you think these students learned anything valuable from this teacher? Probably not! What a waste!
Now... I know we all have our days where we are tired and irritated... trust me... I have those every so often! ;) But.. I am reminded of a speaker who spoke at a Family Life Marriage seminar once... he was talking about spouses who say things in anger, declaring that they just were so mad they didn't truly have control of themselves... he asked this question... If.. in the middle of your argument, a person rang your doorbell or your phone rang... would you be able to stop yourself and nicely say 'hello'? If so... then you have control... So... here's the question for us Christians... when we find ourselves criticizing or cutting another down... if Jesus himself walked in the room... could we stop ourselves? If the answer is yes (and I'm pretty sure that it's always yes)... then maybe we should learn to 'bite our tongues' as my mother used to say! Or maybe she used to say "If you can't say something nice... then don't say anything at all"... You know.. one of those mother sayings!
Phew... if you made it through this little trail of my self reflection... then way to go! I think I'll step off my little soapbox now before nobody wants to read my blog anymore! Really this is more just my own convictions for myself, but since it's my blog and you choose to read it.. I guess you get a front row seat to my inner convictions (or at least some of them!) LOL God Bless! (P.S. I'll put pictures on my next post... really!)

archives

For those wanting to read waaay back... like from our adoption journey to here... (has it really been 3 years?) Anyway.. the old blog is www.spaces.msn.com/9germains
Ok.. that's it!

Suzie homemaker?

Those who know me know that I am anything but a classic stay at home mom who likes to cook and clean... but... seems like lately God has been teaching me so much about frugal living... This past month I have learned how to make pasta from scratch as well as spaghetti, white sauce, laundry soap, sausage and how to make 2 chickens stretch into 4 meals for a family of our size! Not bad! ;) Our laundry soap broken down into per load costs us less than a peso a load to wash our clothes now! I'm quite impressed with the results actually! And... it was a whole lot easier than I thought! Only took me about 30 minutes to make! I'm amazed how God is teaching us so much in preparation for village life later this year.... So... what's next? I'm not sure... homemade shampoo? :)

New life for the new year...

This wasn't the first baby of the year at Mercy... but it was the second! A cute little feller that we nicknamed 'Fred' for lack of a name! I arrived at work this am around 5:45 and was told they were needing to transport a patient for shock. Since the day shift guard hadn't arrived and the night shift guard hasn't yet received his drivers license... I was the quickly enlisted to 'be the one'... so off to DMC (our local government hospital) I went... When I came back to work I was last up, so I was the one who took care of the baby until the father could return (which ended up not being until around 1)... The midwives always love babysitting duty... Play with the baby all day... return them to the parents at night... Can't get much better than that... :)