Thanksgiving

Sometimes in the midst of life I forget. I forget things like why I opened the refrigerator and what I was going to do after I finished making coffee. Sometimes I forget to enjoy the moments and laugh at the insanity. Mostly I forget to be thankful. 

And I have SO much to be thankful for. So many blessings that I can't even begin to number them. My God has supplied all my needs according to his riches in heaven and he has done more than I could ever ask or imagine. 

I find myself rejoicing that we have such a day here in America. A day to remember what we've been given, what we've been spared and how we've been cared for. 

So this Thanksgiving, I will not forget. I will remember and be Thankful.

 

I am especially thankful for these 4 bundles and all the joy they bring my way. Thankful that we get to add one more blessing to our family in January. Seriously, how could I forget to be thankful with little reminders such as these?! Aren't they cute?!

Isabelle Turns One!

 

Its hard to believe that at this time a year ago I was already out of surgery and holding my new baby girl. I'll never forget the excitement of the Dr. and nurses when they told me we'd had a girl. They all knew about our three wonderful boys and they were so excited for us to be able to add a little girl. Since she was born in Spain they spoke Spanish when telling me about her. It took a few minutes for me to process what they had said. Not only because my Spanish is horrid, but also because I was so surprised. 

Isabelle has been such a fun addition to the family. I love her laugh and smile and especially the way she is head over heels about her brothers. Her personality is starting to show up and we are having a blast watching her grow and learn. I can't wait for the coming years!

We celebrated her birthday a few days early because Joey's parents are headed to Morocco today. We combined first birthday and going away. It made the going easier, and the party bigger! Nothing like Mexican lazagna and cheesecake to bolster the party spirit. In my family we have a tradition (like every other family in America) of giving the birthday kid, on their 1st birthday, their very own cake. Then you stand back and wait for them to dig in. Usually its a lot of fun. Not so much this time. Isabelle was not interested in eating this cake.

We even got a cheering squad to encourage a little digging in. They were all ready to step in an help eat if need be. 

Nope, not interested. So last night we decided we'll try again. There was a whole pink carrot cake that needed eating. So we set her up in the highchair and went for a second round. At first things seemed a bit more promising. She started eating the frosting and trying to suck every last drop off her hands.

But it wasn't until I dug in with a fork for a few bites that she really got into it. Our pretty little princess didn't want to be too messy. 

Well, not at first anyway. She ended up finishing off a third of the cake and only stopped because it was time for dinner and she was more interested in meat and potatoes.

I think that means she's going to be ok. 

Happy Birthday Isabelle. 

We love you!

They Say The Darndest Things!

**While discussing going to heaven and leaving our present body behind.**

Josiah: "But what are we going to do [in heaven] if we don't have a bottom?!"

Me: "Uh?..."

Josiah: (Very concerned expression on his face) "Are we going to get to sit down?"

**While talking about how its a brothers job to protect his sister and ok any future husbands.**

Josiah: "but we don't want her [Isabelle] to get married"

Joey: "We don't?"

Josiah: "No, she's sooo nice and cute. We want her to stay with us."

**While talking about riding bikes with friends Elias & TT (a girl).**

 Benson: "Lets go ride bikes with Elias and TT. Well, not TT she doesn't have a bike. She'll have to just stand there and yell 'GO  BENSON!!!'"

**Anytime after racing or playing a game.**

 Josiah or Benson: "I'm the winner"

William: (With arms raised and smiling.) "Yeah! Mine Did It! I Loser!!!"

I sure do love my kiddos and the crazy things they say!

Happy Birthday!

Today I am celebrating the birth of my wonderful husband. There is a lot I could say about this amazing man that God has given me. Probably more that I couldn't even begin to express. He is my very most favorite person ever. He makes me laugh and comforts me when I'm crying. He has been an instrument of change in my life. I could not imagine life without him, I don't want to. When I say he's my best friend, its not because I'm being cheesy (which I am prone to) its because its true. There is no one else I'd rather hang out with. Needless to say I am blessed to know him and have him in my life. 

I'm praying that this year He is blessed 100 times for all the blessings he gives. I am praying he is filled with joy and peace and that whatever this year brings us we'll be able to stand together with the Lord.

Happy Birthday Youssef. I Love You!

Motherhood

For Mothers Day we had just arrived in Southern Spain for a week long get away with my parents. Joey however was faithful to slip away and get some beautiful daisy's and we went out to a wonderful dinner that evening. I was blessed and appreciated. It was nice. 

Now three days after the special day I find myself reflecting on motherhood. Sometimes in the midst of the chaos that comes with four kids 5 and under I forget about the joy and see only the trial. Sometimes I find myself reacting only to the negatives and never the positives. And sometimes I am overwhelmed and tired. But on vacation I can remember that motherhood isn't only about the hard times. My life as a Mom is FULL of victories and joy. FULL of laughter and growth. FULL of blessing and gifts. 

These four precious people that God has graciously entrusted to my care are one of the most incredible and wonderful gifts I have ever known. God has used them to shape me and mold me to be a better person and to walk away from sin. He has reminded me what it means to have a child like faith and a trusting spirit. Through them He has taught me to laugh at the chaos and let Him have control. Because only He can truly have control in their lives and mine.

I love them. These four. They are something special. There is a lot I could do better as I mother them. A lot of areas I still need to surrender unto God. They are helping me though and I know that in the years to come as I again have opportunity to reflect I will see the hand of God using them to shape and mold my life. Lord willing I will be a better reflection of Him and Lord willing they will see more of Christ in me. 

Thank you Lord for the gift of motherhood. Thank you for helping me to be a better mom and for letting me be a mom to these four balls of chaos and joy. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Grab A Spoon.

I've mentioned before about a new store in town called Marjane. Well, one of the best things we've gotten from there is ice cream. Good ice cream. See ice cream in Morocco is typically, well, flat. No creamy goodness to speak of, just ice and flavor. This stuff though, mmmm. SO good. We like to put the carton down on the table and grab a spoon. The boys LOVE that we are doing something "naughty" and eating out of the container and I love that there are only 5 spoons to clean up. 

We were given a turtle the other day that likes to roam around our yard looking for food and avoiding the dog. He's pretty good sized and can move quickly. Josiah and Benson spent the morning building him a house out of old floor tiles using mud as mortar and a garden shovel as a trowel. It was a great looking house until the turtle decided to have a dance party and the walls came tumbling down. Much like Jericho, without the trumpets, or the Israelites for that matter. Needless to say the mud as mortar created quite the mess on the front porch. But the turtle was happy and the boys excited to try again tomorrow maybe with real cement and Daddy to help.

I've been thinking off and on about doing fun things with the kids. Things that when they're older they can sit around and tell stories about or remember and laugh. Sometimes I feel like I spend so much time just saying "Stop" or "Don't" and we never get to just be crazy together. So who cares if there is a mess on the table or a disaster on the front porch, these are the times for memories and I want to be a part of that.

Long Time No Talk

April 18th. Can you believe it? Time quickly goes slipping past when there are 4 little people running around, houses being moved and volunteer teams needing attention. We are finally moved into our new house and in the process of getting settled. To say I love the new place would be an understatement. It is really perfect. As I type all three boys are outside playing in the sandbox, Isabelle is scooting around on the floor and Joey is drilling into the kitchen walls hanging something or other. Did you catch that, the boys are outside! Honestly my favorite part about this new place is the fully enclosed yard. It has been a life changer. 

Hopefully I'll be back on board talking to you all more often. Sorry for those few who actually check this from time to time. The adventures are back on.

Leap Day and some Random Thoughts

Since this only comes around every 4 years I feel like I should post something. You know, celebrate, because its a special day. Ok, honestly its just like any other Wednesday, but you make the most of whatever you've been given, right?!

**As I type this the boys are looking out our second story window watching the garbage truck picking up the garbage. They are telling each other which way it turned, whose house its next to, etc. Garbage trucks are exciting. (Almost as exciting as Leap Day.) I love that they are fascinated by the simple things in life.

**We had Monkey Bread for breakfast. It turned out pretty good. The boys took the leftovers as snack for school this morning. I guess it was a hit. They didn't bring any home with them...Monkey Bread always makes me think of my Great Grandma Beach. I don't know why exactly. I think she use to make it? Maybe its because her name is on my Mom's recipe card for monkey bread? Isn't it funny the things that float around in our memories.

**Isabelle has started laughing like crazy and guess what?! She has my laugh. I love it. Especially because its a laugh that I've kinda hidden away for really funny stuff, but its her everyday always laugh at this point and oh my goodness its great! Shaking her rattle at her will really get her going and the boys seem to trigger her giggle whenever they run around like crazy people. Which is often, so there is lots of laughter happening. And a home filled with laughter is filled with love. At least, that makes sense in my mind.

**I made Peanut Butter and Jelly Pie Bars the other day. They turned out pretty good. I actually liked them best just out of the oven. Super gooey and sticky. It would have been heavenly over ice cream. Joey likes them alot cold or hot. Since I was making them for him, that means success!

**I found the PB&J bars on Pintrest. Seriously I love that place. I could get sucked in and never come out. Its like a break for my brain. I sometimes wonder how mom's survived before the internet. Really, how did you do it?! Sometimes I find myself about to die from lack of adult contact and then I sit down for five minutes and check facebook or look at nice pictures on pintrest and its like a defibrillator for my brain.

**I wonder what sort of things the next generation of Mom's will cling to in order to maintain their sanity. Or the illusion of sanity. At least its an illusion in my case. I don't mind though. Sanity is overrated, and kids are underrated so it all works together in the end. right?! I couldn't imagine life without my four bundles of joy. They are one of the greatest blessings in my life. Not only because they make me happy, but because through them God has reminded me of whats important, what is true and shown me how I can change to be a better example of him and his love. So, who really needs sanity anyways?!

**Time to wrap up these random thoughts. If I sit here long enough things will get REALLY crazy. Hope your Leap Day was hopin' (heeheehee).

6 Months Old

Our little princess is 6 months old today. I can't even believe that much time has gone by. Sometimes I find myself looking at her sweet face and wonder how in the world did I get such a cute and wonderful little thing? And a girl no less?! We truly are blessed. Happy 6 months Isabelle!

Wasn't our little photo shoot fun?! I seriously could just eat those cheeks she is SO cute!

Almost March

 I feel like I always jump on here to blog and simply give you a picture update. Maybe that is all you want? Life just seems to be flying by with no end in sight. So many fun and exciting things are coming our way. The weather is beautiful and although it is still really cold I love it. The afternoon sun comes into my living room window and warms my heart, not to mention my feet! Its hard to believe that its already well past the middle of February and almost March. Ah March, my favorite month in Morocco. The weather warms up, the wild flowers start popping out, the peas are ready and the countryside full of the most wonderful smells. I can hardly wait for March.

Lots of new things have been happening around here. Isabelle started solids. (Yip-pee!) She loves eating and seems to be a pro, just like her mom :-) My friend Wassema calls her "Co-ba" which means little bird and that is just what she looks like every time she sees the bowl with food coming. 

Our little bird.

There is now officially garbage service in our town! We've lived the past 7 years without so the novelty of it is still pretty exciting. Who knew getting to take out the garbage could be SO exciting?!

 

 On February 3rd Joey's parents made an attempt to get back into the country. You may not remember that they were asked (ok, told) to leave back in June of 2010. This was their first time back and let me tell you everyone was ecstatic to see them again. Especially the kids.

It was so much fun to surprise all of their friends and just show up from at their front doors ready for tea. One friend lives out across a river and we had to hike up to see them. It was a beautiful day for a walk even wearing my traditional visiting clothes.

So life goes on for us. We are getting ready for volunteer team season with our first team arriving April 2nd. Hopefully we'll be finished with the Community Center and all moved in before they arrive. It is so much fun to watch that all come together. 

Hopefully you're all enjoying your February. I'm guessing the sun isn't shinning too much where you are... well you're always welcome here, anytime you like. It is almost March, the most beautiful month ever, you know just sayin'

Life

So much is happening around here its hard to believe. Nothing quite like being busy to make time fly by. Here are a few photos of life.

 

Check out that hair. Seriously awesome. I love that she is showing her inner rock star. 

Makes my heart glad.

 We went to Melilla a few weeks ago to see a friend off. Stayed the night in our new favorite hostel. At least our favorite hostel in Melilla. They don't have bathrooms in the room, but they have REALLY fast internet. Its the little things. The boys loved getting to snuggle together and watch a movie. Joey especially loved getting to stay up late and watch the Denver game live. 

January first a new super market opened in town. Up till now we've only had open air markets and small shops with random items. Now we have Marjane.
Ya, its awesome. 

 They have real pineapple at Marjane.

 They will shred your cheese for you. For free. Talk about life change! The fact that they even have cheese is exciting!

Last but not least our little girly is 5 months old now and ready to sport some pretty awesome Moroccan hand-me-downs. My favorite part is the REALLY bad English all over it, and also that in this picture she's showing you how its a jacket and overalls. Can you say model?!

12 for 2012

Over last summer break a friend of mine gave her boys things to do each day to help them accomplish tasks and be disciplined, she gave them 11 because it was 2011. Some of the things were things they'd do anyway - brush their teeth, etc. Other things were things they needed to do, but didn't necessarily want to - read 3 chapters in their school books, etc. If they had two perfect days they got a reward. A week of perfect days got them a bigger reward. I loved the idea, but actually thought it might be something to help motivate myself to be more disciplined. Many of you know I am not the most focused or disciplined person. So for 2012 I've made up a list of things to do each day, following the example of my friend, except with 12 things, you know cuz its 2012. 

Here they are in no particular order:

1. Time in the Word: 5 minutes or an hour. I want to make sure I get some time with my creator. Reading the word, praying and resting in Him.

2. Workout: At least 20 minutes of some sort of athletic activity. A walk, a run, a workout video. Right now my workout of choice is Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I am loving it.

3. Drink 100oz of Water: Especially when I drink 2 cups of coffee I need to be re-hydrating myself. Not to mention it will help me on my goal of loosing weight and being healthy.

4. Laundry: Laundry here is a 5 part process. In the machine, hang on the line, take down from the line, fold, and put away. This time of year the time between hanging on the line and taking down from the line can take a couple days. either way I want to be doing at least one step in the process each day. Nothing worse than running out of clothes when you've got no dryer and a washing machine that takes an hour per cycle.

5. Sweep the House: Our apartment isn't very big, so giving the whole place a sweep is an easy and necessary thing I can do each day to keep the place looking nice.

6. Up before 7am: The rule with the kids is they can't get up before 7, so even if I only get 5 minutes to myself before they arrive on the scene I know I'll be a better mom and have a better day.

7. Be prepared for School for the Next Day: I am often find myself scrambling before school each morning. Grabbing and printing papers. Screaming like a crazy woman at the kids. Ya, not pretty. So it makes sense that I get ready for school beforehand. Great idea. Not sure why I didn't think of that before.

8. Write an Email: Communication and me are one sided friends. I like to recieve emails, letters, texts, fb notes, etc. But I really, I mean really, stink at actually doing any of those things in return. So my goal for 2012 is to work on that, resulting in an email a day. I figure if I email, or blog I suppose, once a day I'm upping my communication like 100 times. Wanna jump on the email list? Just let me know :-)

9. Breakfast Dishes: In my family the dishes always were done in the afternoon. I don't really remember doing them as we finished eating except for at night. Set the plate on the counter come back for it later. It kinda fits in with our usual "why do today what you could do tomorrow?" attitude. Here in my kitchen, if I don't clean up the dishes immediately we've got a major traffic jam that is quickly spilling into the hallway and out into the living room. Its bad. So I've had to adopt a "why put off till tomorrow what you could do right now?" attitude. Ok, lets be honest, I'm trying to adopt that attitude. Breakfast dishes are the place to start.

10. Time with Kiddos: I am always running from one task to another. My kids suffer. A lot. So, I hope to spend 20 minutes (or more) reading, playing, talking, whatever with them. They just got a bunch of new legos for Christmas, so I'm thinking this "task" is going to be a blast!

11. Practice Language: My Arabic is ok. Not bad, not great. I can usually get by, but now its time to start expanding my vocab and getting my pronunciation down. So want to spend an hour practicing Arabic each day. Whether visiting with friends, watching a Moroccan soap opera or actually hitting the books. Each day I need to get on it. 

Last, but not least...

12. Make My Bed: best way to start out your day, make your bed. Your whole life feels more organized and less chotic. Well, at least mine does.

I'm not sure what kind of reward I'll give myself for doing these things everyday. Maybe each day I get it all done I earn an hour of sewing/crafting time on Saturday?! Oh, that sounds heavenly! So far I'm doing ok, probably 70%, now that I'm posting this though I'll have to really get on the ball :-)

Christmas Photos

A few of my favorites...

I posted more on Facebook if you want to see them there. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150451627861836.362823.721656835&type=1&l=02eaa6d20

Christmas

Well, I've been wanting to post pictures of Christmas, but they're on Joey's camera and I keep forgetting to get them off. Until I do, here is a classic video of Benson dancing to the music coming from the semi truck that they got Christmas morning.

Thankfully the batteries are already dead on that thing. Oh buddy. It was a great Christmas, full of our usual "play it by ear" adventures. There were quite a few special moments with the kids and with friends that made it extra wonderful. I'm looking forward to showing you all the cuteness that is my kiddos. Hope it doesn't kill you to wait for the pictures :-)