Apple Picking with Oma and Opa (and Alex too! )

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Butterfly Atrium

The world's largest moth - an Atlas Moth.
This one had at least an 8 inch wing span.

Indian Rain Dance

My wacky kid.  They were supposed to be hopping.  But as another mother consoled me, "She's alive!"  Very much alive.

Hadassah's Grade 8 Graduation

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Mish Mash Catch Up

O wow.  I just plum forgot to blog for over a month.  It was certainly not for lack of things going on.  Lots of weekend visitors, class trips, Hurricane Sandy, new cousins for my kiddos, a nor'easter blowing through with snow and a host of other exciting happenings in the regular chaos of life.

Hurricane Sandy knocked down our big Oak tree.

Below is Izzy with her inspiration, Chloe. Chloe is my brother's dog, a full Bichon Frise and when I first met her in 2010, I said, "If this is a dog, I'll take one!"  (Izzy is half Bichon Frise and half Yorkshire Terrier.  We had to get some beige in there.  I knew that if Chloe were my dog, she'd never be this white!)

Our Driveway Has The Perfect Slant

Office chair racing anyone?

 

More of Elim Lodge

If you haven't already noticed, we spent this past week with all my siblings, their families and my parents again on Pigeon Lake in the north country of Ontario.  I have too many pictures to share so I'll just show you a few of my favorites:

A very mis-leading picture since he was in this
hammock for a total of 45 seconds or so.

The view just outside our door.  Our "cottage" was about 15 feet from the water.
Shifrah loved to splash and play in there.

Sam and Shifrah kayaking

Fishing off the dock

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Wanna ride a hotdog?

Hadassah and Josiah weren't to be seen too much this week.  They disappeared with their cousins sometime each morning and though I saw them now and again around the grounds, they generally came back for dinner or bed.

Having Fun At Elim Lodge

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Snorkeling In The Molokini Crater

Didn't take this photo.  I just want to show you
where we snorkeled.  Pretty cool.

This is Paul - since you might not recognize him...

Shifrah was "gung ho" to go but didn't actually last that
long in the water.  Then, she fell asleep on the boat.

Turns out that it's quite difficult to hold a camera still while snorkeling.  :)

Kaua'i By Air

We were told parts of Jurassic Park were filmed here.



Waimea Canyon

My Adventure Boy

Squirrels

This bold squirrel was rapping on my patio door
looking for more bird seed!



Happy Birthday, Little One!

Five years ago, we went to sleep in a Rochester hotel and were awakened by the news that our baby girl had been born. Life has never been the same since.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet, affectionate, spunky, active, always exploring, crazy-curled, God-loving, ever curious, always smiling girl. Shifrah, you make my world go 'round. And 'round. And 'round. So glad God put you in our life!


Shifrah shares her birthday with this little robin born just today!  We looked at the eggs last night and one was cracking.  I had forgotten this morning but Shifrah had not.  She came running into the house to declare his birth with much excitement!

Last night, we noticed the one egg starting to crack.

Make-A-Wish

If you could ask for anything this world has to offer, what would it be?  Where would you go?  Who would you meet?  This was the happy position that Hadassah found herself in this past year as the Make-A-Wish Foundation agreed to grant her request.
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Hadassah's choice is to meet Bethany Hamilton.  You may know that Bethany Hamilton is a Christian home-schooled young lady who at the age of 13 had her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing.  Less than one month after the incident, with confidence and faith in God, she returned to her board and went surfing again.  She eventually became a professional surfer with one arm.

Hadassah has been inspired by Bethany's story and admires her courage, her surfing skill, her love for God, and her care for others. We are all looking forward to meeting her this summer as the trip has now been booked.  Plus, we get a little added bonus in that Bethany lives in Hawaii - so, off we go!  If the Lord wills it.

Bethany has good advice for all of us, "Love God, love others and worry about yourself last."

The Chicks

The fun has begun with seven little chicks about our house and today, we hatched our fourth duck.  Our hamster is getting a break from Shifrah's friendship as she has directed most of her attention to the chicks.  (Though I did have to explain to her that NO, Gunther does NOT want to go in the chick pen.  She did take Gunther out of his own cage once and put in a chick.  The chick peeped LOUD!)  She also went outside and dug up worms to give to them.  We had a blast watching the one chick with the worm scrambling to find a place to eat it all by himself!  I'm glad we have seven chicks because Shifrah pretty much plays with them all day and squeals with delight as she does so.  I make her rotate.

Three Plus Two is Five

By now you may have heard that last Friday evening, my little brood of three suddenly became a brood of five on the arrival of two foster kids - a 10-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy.  So, we are having some chaotic fun here.

They seem to be handling the sudden transition quite well and are playing and talking easily among us.  They are eager to obey and want to do well in school.  The girl asked to go on the computer so I told her that was fine except that I needed to see what she was doing.  She called me over to show me a website on which she wanted to practice her math!  Maybe this will rub off on my own kids?  :)

 

The boy likes to analyze people, I notice.  He told me that I looked like the evil lady from a movie he saw and though I don't know the movie nor the person, I was glad when he added, "except you're nice."  Whew!

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And he said that Shifrah was a cross between Darla (from The Little Rascals) and Shirley Temple.

We don't know how long these children will be with us. A search is being made for relatives who could care for them and if they find someone, these children may leave us as quickly as they came. If none are found, they could be with us indefinitely. They are well-behaved children that appear to have a family support system so if I had to guess, I'd say they'll be gone by next weekend.  We shall see.

"Faith in Christ will keep us steady in the stormy sea of change."

Twilight Basketball Tonight

No age restrictions. Young or old.

I Love My Grandpa!

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Praise Him, You Great Sea Creatures!

This week, the kids and I tagged along on Paul's business trip.  He worked.  We played.  Our first stop was the Mystic Aquarium where we saw so many amazing sea creatures that would otherwise be unknown to us.

Sun Sea Star

"Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps. . ."
Psalm 148:7

Josiah petting a shark.  Unfortunately, they were just too far
into the touch pool for Shifrah to reach them!

This is a Sea Lion.  We know it is not a seal because
a seal's flippers would be much shorter.

Shifrah Shows Her Dance Moves

At the Crayola Factory.  They had one of those screens that recorded your movements in different colors.  No surprise that Shifrah didn't want to stop once she realized the co-relation.
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This is a kid who wakes up every morning just tickled pink to be alive.

NYC With Ed & Cyndi's Gang

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