THIS GUY IS GROWING UP WAY TOO FAST

Josiah at 13 months

After being in our house a couple weeks, our guests commented that they didn't utilize their cardboard boxes near as much as they should.  Our kids LOVE boxes and create cars, houses, shelves, easels, beds...you name it...out of them.  Looks like Josiah is following suit.  He loved this box and for a couple days kept trying to crawl in.    

Josiah loves animals.

bath time.

learning to walk

helping big sister with a craft project

hanging out together

ADVENTURES...BOYS and BIKES

Every year some of our youth ministry minded team-mates take the older boys on an MK Adventure.  In the past it has included hiking, but this year they decided to do a biking trek.  They biked 14 miles from our team-mate’s house to our house.  They took a couple side roads but spent most of it on the main road…which, come to think of it, is more like an off-roading experience with dirt, craters, rocks and cows in the way.  They got to our house just before dark and with huge grins on their faces.  They immediately set up in the back room and began playing games.  These boys LOVE being together and I love watching them interact.  I seriously couldn't have hand picked a better bunch of boys for Ryan and Joshua to be best friends with. 

Jeff just got a great new grill (actually it was a gift from his SIM men team-mates….I told you we have an awesome group to serve with) and hosting hungry teen guys and dads was the perfect “excuse” for firing up his grills.  Plus, it was Mandy and Dave (our interns) last night in Jataity, so we invited their host family and made it kind of a going-away meal as well.

    And s’mores for dessert (thanks to our interns for hauling the supplies all the way from America).

And a BIG game of air-soft till 1 AM.  Man, these guys just don’t run out of energy!

They finally came in, showered, played a few more (indoor) games and spread out their mattresses and went to sleep.

The following morning the guys woke up ready to begin day #2 of the adventure.  Unfortunately in the night one of the boy’s bike was stolen right from off our porch along with another boy’s bike helmet and a third boy’s shoes!  Not too long after they left our house, one of the boys fell off his bike majorly injuring his bike and minimally bruising his body.  They were still close to our house then their destination so they turned back, ate lunch at our place, and headed IN CAR to our team mate’s house.  It's all the un-planned adventures that lead to a very memorable trip.

AND THE BEST MILESTONE OF ALL.....SLEEP

For as sweet and happy and content as Josiah is during the day, he is just as rotten at night.  In his first 12 months of life, he has slept through the night three times.  THREE.  That’s it.  Jeff and I have racked our brains for solutions.  I mean, after all, we have had 6 other children who slept through the night within the first couple months of life.  Surely we should know what we’re doing by now.

We've tried putting on his tummy, putting him to bed earlier, putting him to bed later, skipping naps, giving medicine, crying it out, patting him to sleep, giving more food, stopping nursing…and through it all he would wake multiple times.  I considered it a good night if he only woke up 3 times between 10 and 7.  I am exhausted, a bit worn down and probably a lot loopier than I realize.

This month we decided to try Josiah in a big, next to a sibling who we just assumed would be Joshua.  You see when Micah graduated from the crib, Joshua wanted Micah to sleep with him.  Then when Julia was ready, Micah moved to a twin bed and Julia took her place next to Joshua.  But Julia and Joshua have always had a special bond.  She LOVES her “Joshu-ee” and he adores her….and she doesn't want to move from his side.  For nearly a year Ginny and Julia have had a girl’s room with a queen bed that Ginny specifically requested so the two could sleep together, but Julia won’t sleep in it. 

 Here’s what I love about my kids: they love each other.  Both Micah and Tyler begged to have Josiah sleep with them, but since they are on top bunks, that wasn't an option.  Joshua desperately wanted to Josiah to join him and Julia, but there’s only so much room on a twin bed.  But Ginny, who also requested to have Josiah in her bed, was picked.

And would you believe that since Josiah has been next to Ginny, he slept through the night 7 nights in a row.

Unfortunately is was just seven nights.  With house guests and travel his new "good thing" got disturbed.  Hopefully he'll get back  on track next week at home.

EASTER TIME

Micah was so very excited to dye Easter eggs.

 Pure sugar on a stick....yum

 Easter egg hunt

APRIL INTERNS

For the full month of April Dr. David Thomas, his wife and 2 children spent time with us in Paraguay.  David is currently a second year resident at the same residency where Jeff attended, which is how he learned of the opportunity to shadow Jeff and learn about rural church planting/medical work.  

We had a wonderful month together. 

The guys saw some great clinical cases and we all had some great discussions regarding culture and mission. 

They came along on visits and Bible studies and church. 

We fun times singing together and some fierce games of chess and Settlers. 

The loved Paraguay food and threw themselves into learning Spanish.

And I don’t think they cringe anymore at the layers of dirt caked on their kids.

 Hammock hang out

We were so thankful for the rain and the break in the hot temperatures.  The kids had a blast playing in the rain in the pool.

 We found kindred gaming spirits in our interns

We found kindred gaming spirits in our interns

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEFF!

April 6, 2014

To have a big birthday party….or not to have a big birthday party….that is the question.

And just when we had decided to keep it small….well, it turned into a 5 family.

Which is great because we love hosting, love parties and love our team mates.

After church Jeff grilled a yummy lunch (which I think is funny because I always opt to not cook for my birthday and he always wants to cook for his).

He loved the gift from his family – a water balloon launcher.  A target was immediately taped onto the plastic kiddie pool and the launcher was tried out. 

 lunch preparation start pretty fresh....the doctors become the butchers...

the water balloon launcher was a hit!

JOSIAH at 12 MONTHS

1 year already?  Incredible.  Ginny said to me just last night that she can’t wait for Josiah to see what Josiah looks like walking around.  Yes, I suppose that is the next mile stone….sniff, sniff.   

With his 4 teeth…two on top and two on bottom (all of which came in all in the last month…ouch!) Josiah’s looks are changing from baby to toddler. 

He has learned to get off of beds and sofas by backing down feet first.  This skill was perfected on our recent Brazil vacation because he so desperately wanting to get into the swimming pool.

Josiah loves the water….a pool, the bath tub and especially puddles.  With a huge grin he flaps his hands across the surface sending water everywhere.   

He’s putting more and more sounds together and is coming up with quite a noise repertoire.  The kids love to interpret his noises.

He gives his right hand to greet, he gives high-fives and kisses.

Julia and Josiah are interacting more and more now that Josiah is mobile.  It is fun to see her as the big sister taking care of “her baby”.  She gets concerned when he cries and pacifies him by bringing him juice and toys.  She gets distressed and bossy when Josiah is doing something she thinks he shouldn’t – like getting into the bathroom or eating something inedible.  She loves to help feed and dress Josiah.  She makes games with Legos or stuffed animals for him and invites him to play with her.  She plays mommy with him.  She looks at me and says, “I mommy and he my baby”.  Then she’ll hold her arms out to him, he’ll go toward her and she’ll smother him with a big hug or she’ll pat him on the back and say, “shhhh, shhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh”.     

We had just a little home birthday for him (the Howell’s were also here staying the weekend).  The kids picked out his cake and Ginny and Joshua helped me put all the frosting dots on the dog.