Posts and Pictures

So I hope everyone likes our new background and pictures. Phil says it looks "girly" and I say "mission accomplished!" Here are some pictures of our trip to the beach a few weeks ago. Kathryn was overjoyed to go to the beach and even though she didn't get to swim (a major disappointment) she had FUN! Evalin had the time of her life looking and searching for Baby Crabs. She loves them! Isaac and Lukas were crazy climbing boys and ended up at the top of the rocks. Phil took some time to show Lukas how to skip rocks and he ended up being awesome at it (more than we can say for his mom!). Enjoy the pictures...they are so awesome that I am expecting an award from the Blog website managers. Enjoy!

Picture of Dad and Mom (courtesy of Lukas)

Happy Mother's Day to me!

So I celebrated Mother's Day as a mom of four children! All four did a great job of celebrating me, each in their own way.: Lukas went shopping with Nana and bought a bath gel and lotion set for me. He also made me a card that read, "Hapee Mathers Day" and took time to color a picture of a hippo on the front of the card (not sure that is what I want as a representation of me, but moving on...). He is very much into celebrations...likes to celebrate any occasion (I wonder where he gets that from?!) He is so thoughtful...WOW! Kathryn said "Happy Mother's Day" and then we had a 15 minute discussion about her mom in Africa vs. me. That was unexpected, but GREAT! I think that we made progress in allowing her to feel safe talking about her African mom and also that I was okay with it. She seemed relieved that she could talk about her. Hooray for progress! Evalin bought flowers for me, surprisingly NOT pink! But she was very excited to give them to me. And Isaac (LOL) said "Mom you so beautiful" about 15 times along with "You a good cooker." I got breakfast in bed, complete with a Starbucks Latte! And Phil outdid himself (again) by making fish tacos for lunch (not a hit with the kids, but HUGE bonus points made in my opinion!)
As the day ended, I thought about having four children and how crazy it is that being a mom of four kids is now my life. But even though it has been a difficult adjustment (oh so difficult at times!!!) I am so thankful that God chose to use me. He could have picked any other woman on the planet to have these four children, but He allowed me to be their mom...WOW! I also realized that for every moment that I decide to have a"pity party" for how hard my life is having four little children, there is a woman somewhere spending that same moment crying tears of unimaginable grief because she has lost a child. And in that same moment, there is a woman weeping tears of bitter disappointment because she has been told she cannot have children and for her a lifelong dream has died. In that same moment, there is a mother sitting in a Children's Hospital watching her child suffer and praying fervently that God would spare her child's life. And I could go on and on... the mother of a soldier, who doesn't want the doorbell to ring, and the mother who wants the doorbell to ring, because she is frantically waiting for ANY word that her missing child has been found, the mother who spends all day looking for food, so that her children might live just one more day...
As I reflected on my Mother's Day, my children, my life, I prayed that my moments would be spent more grateful, more thankful and more wisely.
Happy Mother's Day to me...because I am a MOM of FOUR children...WooHoo!