Including Benedict and JJ

A few weeks ago, I posted the prayer list I've been using to pray for my kids. Every day I use the list to pray for their spiritual growth and Biblical character development. I've enjoyed including our boys in those prayers, Benjamin, who will be born next month, as well as Whombie, our unknown son in Africa that we hope to adopt within the next year. But recently I've felt God asking me to also pray for Benedict and JJ as if they were my own children. (Shiloh if you are reading this, it was your comment about your prayers for little Flora that God used to inspire me to do this)

For those unaware of our adoption history, Benedict and JJ are the boys we tried to adopt from Liberia. Both of those cases fell through, and I've often wondered why God allowed us to believe they would be joining our family. I don't know all of the reasons, but I do believe that one of those reasons was to introduce me to them so I could faithfully pray for them throughout their lives.

It is exciting to be praying over these now two and three year old little boys half way across the world that I will never meet in this lifetime. I won't know the outcome of the prayers I've invested in them, but I like to imagine seeing them in Heaven someday and hearing how God moved in their lives and blessed them. They'll never know that they have a spiritual mama in America praying over them, and I'll never know what happens in their lives. It's fun to be the anonymous praying person that they won't even know about. I like to imagine the men they will become and how God will use them in Liberia and how He will develop their unique talents and gifts.

In the Bible Study that I lead on Monday mornings, we've been talking about prayer a lot lately and how you can participate in people's ministries and positively impact their lives just by praying for them. Prayer is an amazing thing, isn't it?

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Too Many

Wow! I knew the number, but it was just a number before I found this video at Beyond Decalf.

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Making It Up to Ben

As I was writing the Little Brother Chronicles, I know it appeared I was picking on Ben. : )

(In case you missed it, the Saga of the Moon Boot was the overwhelming favorite.)

After sharing all of those embarrassing moments with you all, I promised I would make it up to him. I promised I had a purpose for it all. : )

So in this last installment of the Little Brother Chronicles, I hope it will be abundantly clear how much I love you, Ben, and how proud I am to be your big sister. : )

There are more funny stories to tell, like the time my mom got a phone call from the local grocery store:

"Sally, this is Carol down at Evans Foods. I was just wondering if you were aware that Ben was down here trying to buy a can of spinach?"

(Mom thought he was playing at his friend, Adam's, house so this was news to her)

"Well, he doesn't have any money on him, but we can credit it to you if you really need the spinach." (Aren't small towns great?)

We later learned he needed spinach to be strong "like Popeye" so going to the grocery store to get it made sense to him. : )


Then there is the disaster he made of my Barbie's wedding! For months I planned Barbie's wedding, saving my allowance to buy the wedding dress and the furniture I needed to set the scene. All I asked Ben to do was walk Ken down the aisle and hold him up during the ceremony. Easy right? But no, Ben made peeing noises and made sure Ken urinated on all of the guests as he walked up the aisle! The ceremony was all down hill after that entrance!


Or, I could tell of the one and only time he tried to beat me up after watching Disney's Last Electric Knight.

But instead of more silly stories, I want to focus on the man he has become.

As we were growing up, Ben was my best buddy. We actually liked each other and had so much fun together. We moved a lot during some critical stages of growing up, and we leaned on each other throughout those times of adjustment.

Having different talents and interests, I'm thankful we were supportive of each other instead of competitive. I loved watching him excel at sports. I never missed a game! When he was pitching, I thought I'd have a heart attack from the stress of it all, but he was really good and it was fun to cheer him on. He was a football star, too. I can still see the game he had five different opponents hanging on him, trying to pull him down, but he wouldn't give up and drug all five in to the end zone with him for a touchdown.

When I was a Senior and Ben was a Freshmen, we were in high school together. Whenever I stopped by my locker, I had to keep an eye out for Ben because he liked to sneak up on me and carry me down the hallway like a sack of potatoes. He was still my younger brother, but he had ceased to be my "little" brother. : )

I'll never forget the day in high school when we sat in a Dairy Queen booth drinking milkshakes and asking each other how we got so lucky to have such a great family life. We've always known we were blessed.

Today, my little brother is a husband, a father, and a successful computer programmer. He married a great girl who became a great mother and wife. I'm just so proud of him and so in love with his kids and his wife, Angie.

He loves Jesus and is raising his kids to love Him, too. He is a man of God. The same kind of man I want my son to be someday.

When I think about a little brother, there is one image that comes to my mind.

I'm such a sentimental sap, I have tears running down my face as I type the end of this post.

I wanted you all to "know" my brother Ben so you would understand when I make this next announcement.

So now the moment you've all been waiting for....(At least Mia has been waiting) : )

Our little Monster Truck has a real name.

From now on, he is Benjamin, in honor of the best brother in the whole universe!

I love you, Ben!

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Organizing Earrings

Recently, my daughters had their ears pierced. We decided it was time to try taking out the original studs and putting in a new pair, but before we did, I knew we needed a system for organizing their new earrings.

I remembered this system my mom and I used when I was a teenager.

I think my mom is still using hers, but somehow over the years mine got lost. I have been meaning to make a new one, so yesterday the girls and I stopped by the craft store and picked up the supplies to make one for each of us.

Here's how to make your own:

Supplies:

I'm sorry I don't know the official name for these. I guess I'll refer to it as the plastic thingy. : ) They are used for latch hook rugs and remind me of a plastic version of cross stich fabric. We found it in the yarn section of the Michael's Craft store near the cross stich materials.

A child size pants/skirt hanger:

That's all you need! : )

I let the girls pick out their own colors (purple and pink of course) and we already had the hangers at home.

Total cost of project: .39 cents each

Steps:

1. Attach the hanger to the top of your plastic thingy. : )
2. Hang earrings through front and attach earring backs on the back side of plastic thingy. Some earrings are all one piece and can be attached to the side.
3. Hang in your closet.
4. Voila! Organized. : )



Works for me....


You can read my past WFMW posts here.

You can find all of the other WFMW tips at Rock's In My Dryer. Enjoy!

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King Charming is a Bad Influence : )

Last night at dinner, the girls started playing, "Ha, Ha! Made you look!" with each other. Remember that old game?

The girls aren't very good at it yet, but I said, "That's not very nice. Where did you learn that from?"

King Charming gave me a sheepish look across the dinner table as both girls said in unison, "Daddy!"

It reminded me of a few weeks ago when we were all in the car driving around town. Being the ever patient people we are, the girls have started asking the red lights to turn green so we don't have to sit long.

Sometimes it is sweet with flattery like, "Would you please turn green for us, pretty please? You are such a handsome light and we really would like to keep going."

Sometimes it is demanding with threats, "If you don't turn green I'm going to smash you with a hammer!"
Except Amy says "hammuh" : )

(Guess who they learned this one from! King Charming!)

During this particular family outing, my innocent little Amy looks up at the light and says, "Please turn green. I think you're HOT!"

I couldn't believe my sweet little girl just used the expression HOT! I spent the next few minutes explaining how "hot" is not a very ladylike thing to call someone, and I'd rather they said pretty or handsome. Then I looked at King Charming and said, "Look what they learn from you!"

"They didn't learn that from me!" He insisted, "You"ll have to blame TV for that one!"

Always the one to come to Mommy's rescue, Amy's little voice piped up from the backseat. "Nuh uh Daddy. I learned it from you. I was sitting on your lap looking at my stickers and you said Minnie Mouse was HOT! You said that means pretty!"

HA! I knew they learned it from him!

I love it when I'm right! : )

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I'm Home! : )

I'm sorry my blog has been the same since Tuesday of last week. I was playing too much to find blogging time. We had a great vacation!

After the week of visiting my mom and dad, we drove to my cousin's house for a 4th of July party. We had so much fun with family (and her backyard swimming pool) : ) I thought I was getting great pictures of our celebration, but they didn't turn out. My cousin did a blog post of the day on her blog if you'd like to see where we were.

It really was a blessed trip. I enjoyed it so much, even the car ride. I loved the quality time with my husband and my girls.

Now the hard part.....adjusting back to real life.

I need another week!

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Vacation Continues.....

My Mom : )

True Fishermen:

Our men know the secret to catching fish-

Barbie and Disney Princess Poles! : )

I'm glad they are so secure in their manhood. : )

We spent the day yesterday fishing and swimming. The princesses were ready to catch fish with their new fishing poles and matching life vests.

Princess Amy catches her first fish:

Amy got the prize for the first fish and Karissa got the prize for the biggest fish. They had so much fun!

Whenever we got too hot, we jumped in! My dad rolled his eyes and said, "True fishermen would never jump in to a hot fishing spot and scare all the fish away!" But we were persuasive and eventually got him to jump in with us.

It felt so good to float in the water. I haven't been able to lay on my back in a long time. My belly makes a great flotation device. : )

RockWall Cellars All To Ourselves

After our day at the lake, we were treated to an amazing dinner! My sister-in-law's family own a beautiful winery. Doug and Sandy, Angie's mom and dad, invited us over last night to enjoy it. We had dinner in the reception area. Everyone (excluding me and the girls) sampled their wines and we all enjoyed Sandy's master cooking.

King Charming kept the jukebox running and taught the girls how to two-step. I wish I had brought my camera, but you can visit their website here to see where we were at. It was such a fun evening. Thank you Doug and Sandy!

For a last minute decision vacation, we sure are having a magical week!

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