For me Bobby losing his first tooth is almost as big as Kindergarten because then their little faces change from being tiny to big... thankfully it takes a really long time for them to fall out so I survived just fine. Here is a clip of it falling out... watch part II and III for the aftermath!
And finally, Mommy disassembled the sink and found it!!! whohoo! I was so proud of myself. Plumbing isn't so hard with google.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Oh, and we complain about anything...
I saw this on a friend Shelly's blog who also has adopted three children from Ethiopia and had to post it. It shows the desperate need for people like us to get involved both financially and with our hands.
Nana's birthday card
Andy's grandmother turns 90 this week and the boys were making her a card... I told them to draw anything they wanted and write what they wanted. Bobby is learning to spell and write so he loves to write adorable little sentences. He finished and said, "Listen to my card." It said, "I am so so so sad that you are going to die soon."
How do you not burst out laughing. I read it to Andy very seriously and both of us could not contain oursleves. The simple sayings of the way they perceive life. He then wrote a new one after a conversation about it. He did not understand how it could be offensive since it said he was so so so sad...
He then wrote, " I am so glad you have lived a long life."
How do you not burst out laughing. I read it to Andy very seriously and both of us could not contain oursleves. The simple sayings of the way they perceive life. He then wrote a new one after a conversation about it. He did not understand how it could be offensive since it said he was so so so sad...
He then wrote, " I am so glad you have lived a long life."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sydney and her hilarious laugh
Don't ask me how we got on to saying, "Do you want a baby sister named Shakira?" one morning, but we did. I think we were joking and because Sydney laughed the way she did, we just kept saying it, and she just kept laughing. Enjoy!
Sister named shakira from Martha Cook on Vimeo.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Consequences are effective
Any parent knows that as you train your children in life, you go up and down. Sometimes you are on and others you are just off; you get lazy, you start believing "oh well, no one else cares" or "no one else is this ridiculous about this issue", etc... this list goes on about all the lies we start believing and then get way off track. I usually have this realization about every two months; I start off strong and then after awhile, I just weaken. I think that is just life; I think that is the sin in us and that we aren't perfect; therefore, we begin to see our patterns where our ideals don't match what we are doing.
The past few days we have been having "boot camp" at the Cooks (again). The Lord has been showing me for weeks now, how my to do list gets the priority and I forget my main job of training these little hearts for the Lord. Frankly it is easier to sweep or to do laundry. Sometimes I just feel so ill equipped. When I actually slow down and spend time with God, it is like magic. Somehow I will get some piece of wisdom to do my job. It is the slowing down that I don't like to do ( I am sure we can all relate). It is easier to just be busy because I think we all like to avoid doing the hard stuff. So, the past few days, my oldest has had some yells. Consequences are a beautiful thing. Sometimes I get so into the argument, I argue with words that is completely ineffective with a 6 year old. Yesterday, I went with all actions, whew... was he mad. Today, all actions again. Tonight, all actions tonight from Dad. I think by the end, his heart may have broken and become repentant. That to me is hard because you hate to see your child break... YET it is the most glorious moment because they are right where God wants them to be. I always think of the way God describes David and how he was a man with a repentant heart; he wanted to change from his ways.
Let's just hope tomorrow we will be back on the train of listening and obeying... I think that goes for me as well.
The past few days we have been having "boot camp" at the Cooks (again). The Lord has been showing me for weeks now, how my to do list gets the priority and I forget my main job of training these little hearts for the Lord. Frankly it is easier to sweep or to do laundry. Sometimes I just feel so ill equipped. When I actually slow down and spend time with God, it is like magic. Somehow I will get some piece of wisdom to do my job. It is the slowing down that I don't like to do ( I am sure we can all relate). It is easier to just be busy because I think we all like to avoid doing the hard stuff. So, the past few days, my oldest has had some yells. Consequences are a beautiful thing. Sometimes I get so into the argument, I argue with words that is completely ineffective with a 6 year old. Yesterday, I went with all actions, whew... was he mad. Today, all actions again. Tonight, all actions tonight from Dad. I think by the end, his heart may have broken and become repentant. That to me is hard because you hate to see your child break... YET it is the most glorious moment because they are right where God wants them to be. I always think of the way God describes David and how he was a man with a repentant heart; he wanted to change from his ways.
Let's just hope tomorrow we will be back on the train of listening and obeying... I think that goes for me as well.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A week that defines you
It is difficult to know what to write at times when you just want to sit and dump out the millions of thoughts you have had and pick a few to share with friends. I think of the verse in Hebrews I think where it talks about how we must "spur one another along in love and good deeds" (or something like that), and I am seeing ths blog world so similarly to Paul's letters to the different churches. Given there are millions of these letters in the blog world, but when you pick a hand full you get a glimpse of the Lord's hand in other's lives.
Last week, a man drove up to our driveway and asked my oldest two, "Is your Mommy home?" Bobby said "yes"... He then said, "Come here. Come open my car door." Well if anyone knows my child, the radar went off and he yelled for Thomas to get inside. They came inside yelling and screaming, and Thomas was so mad at Bobby for making him come inside. I won't go into all the details here on the blog, but those are the facts. Bobby is a rule follower, by the book, intuitive, and was made for this moment. There are times in my life I pray "Lord, help me with this amazing child because he asks 1000 questions!" But here, I heard it loud and clear, this personality was made by ME (God) for a reason. I am so thankful at this moment, he knew to run. For a week now, I am just different. I see it all so differently. I don't know exactly how different, but it was right in front of my eyes where everything about my life could have changed and somehow I was spared? There are people in the world that are not spared of this kind of pain. What a question to wrestle with. I keep crying out to God and I keep getting the same answer, "trust me... you will never get answers to all this."
For now, this has kept me. I have had to pray the verse of "taking every thought captive to Christ" this week so that I don't allow my mind to go to the dark places of the would ifs.
Sweet Thomas has learned many lessons and I am just so proud of him for listening to his big brother even when he really didn't want to. He then got pneumonia and we have all been home watching a lot of tv! I am so thankful he is now better...
Last week, a man drove up to our driveway and asked my oldest two, "Is your Mommy home?" Bobby said "yes"... He then said, "Come here. Come open my car door." Well if anyone knows my child, the radar went off and he yelled for Thomas to get inside. They came inside yelling and screaming, and Thomas was so mad at Bobby for making him come inside. I won't go into all the details here on the blog, but those are the facts. Bobby is a rule follower, by the book, intuitive, and was made for this moment. There are times in my life I pray "Lord, help me with this amazing child because he asks 1000 questions!" But here, I heard it loud and clear, this personality was made by ME (God) for a reason. I am so thankful at this moment, he knew to run. For a week now, I am just different. I see it all so differently. I don't know exactly how different, but it was right in front of my eyes where everything about my life could have changed and somehow I was spared? There are people in the world that are not spared of this kind of pain. What a question to wrestle with. I keep crying out to God and I keep getting the same answer, "trust me... you will never get answers to all this."
For now, this has kept me. I have had to pray the verse of "taking every thought captive to Christ" this week so that I don't allow my mind to go to the dark places of the would ifs.
Sweet Thomas has learned many lessons and I am just so proud of him for listening to his big brother even when he really didn't want to. He then got pneumonia and we have all been home watching a lot of tv! I am so thankful he is now better...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Kindergarten
I would love to say I will blog more because I love to be able to write and slow down, but whew without camps, babysitters, and school, it is only me with a husband back in the school year. There isn't one second for a brief update... only in the shower when I think oh that would be a great little story to share...
On to Kindergarten... Bobby started almost two weeks ago and is still getting up early asking, when can we leave? It is a true understatement to say he LOVES it. I think it has to do with him being 6 and Daddy being with him... he is just ready. He comes home and shares so many stories and each one comes with great enthusiasm. He told me tonight he wanted to have a friend over who was a boy who was "so cute"... how funny is that ( I find out later he is really tiny so maybe cute was appropriate).
The first day was pretty emotional. I get so teary when I watch anyone, doesn't matter if it is my own child do something like leave the nest for the first time, get on a school bus, play in a football game, etc.... all the hype just gets me right in the game. After watching 20 cars drop off their little one the first day, I fell a part in the car and it felt so good. I have spent so many days this year wishing he was already in school and so many loving having him one more year that this mix of emotion all came to a climax in a wonderful 10 minute cry before showing up at "Coffee and Kleenex" at the school. Once in public, I pulled it all together and had 2 moments where I thought I may lose it again, but once home felt an incredible peace. By noon, I hate to write this, but I was rejoicing with thinking, "I have made it to this day with my first one in school."
The best thing about school is having a teacher that is on your team. I feel like I have back up now; I feel like all the things I have tried to teach are now validated and that when I explain to him what talking back is... he gets it in an entirely new dimension when he gets penalized at school (like today :)). I praised God today that He knew to give me a teacher that could major on the same things I major in and that she could reinforce what I have attempted. Sweet Bobby was at the end of the day repentant after talking it all through, crying 3 times and finally owning his part of what he did wrong. He told me in the car today, " my heart is in the wrong place"...at first I thought literally and got worried, then I realized all those times I have told him about how our hearts can be in the wrong place, it clicked! We talked about how Jesus can put your heart in the right place and he agreed and then said, "but it is still in the wrong place because I have to have a consequence".
It must feel similar to God when he has to discipline us; he must hate it because He loves us so much. I feel that pain every time I know I am to cause pain for the good of my children so they will learn to obey God. It reminds me every time how much He loves us and must hurt for us. As I watched Andy, it just broke me knowing that the harsh consequences in our lives are what lead us to repentance and what in turn lead us to the cross.
On to Kindergarten... Bobby started almost two weeks ago and is still getting up early asking, when can we leave? It is a true understatement to say he LOVES it. I think it has to do with him being 6 and Daddy being with him... he is just ready. He comes home and shares so many stories and each one comes with great enthusiasm. He told me tonight he wanted to have a friend over who was a boy who was "so cute"... how funny is that ( I find out later he is really tiny so maybe cute was appropriate).
The first day was pretty emotional. I get so teary when I watch anyone, doesn't matter if it is my own child do something like leave the nest for the first time, get on a school bus, play in a football game, etc.... all the hype just gets me right in the game. After watching 20 cars drop off their little one the first day, I fell a part in the car and it felt so good. I have spent so many days this year wishing he was already in school and so many loving having him one more year that this mix of emotion all came to a climax in a wonderful 10 minute cry before showing up at "Coffee and Kleenex" at the school. Once in public, I pulled it all together and had 2 moments where I thought I may lose it again, but once home felt an incredible peace. By noon, I hate to write this, but I was rejoicing with thinking, "I have made it to this day with my first one in school."
The best thing about school is having a teacher that is on your team. I feel like I have back up now; I feel like all the things I have tried to teach are now validated and that when I explain to him what talking back is... he gets it in an entirely new dimension when he gets penalized at school (like today :)). I praised God today that He knew to give me a teacher that could major on the same things I major in and that she could reinforce what I have attempted. Sweet Bobby was at the end of the day repentant after talking it all through, crying 3 times and finally owning his part of what he did wrong. He told me in the car today, " my heart is in the wrong place"...at first I thought literally and got worried, then I realized all those times I have told him about how our hearts can be in the wrong place, it clicked! We talked about how Jesus can put your heart in the right place and he agreed and then said, "but it is still in the wrong place because I have to have a consequence".
It must feel similar to God when he has to discipline us; he must hate it because He loves us so much. I feel that pain every time I know I am to cause pain for the good of my children so they will learn to obey God. It reminds me every time how much He loves us and must hurt for us. As I watched Andy, it just broke me knowing that the harsh consequences in our lives are what lead us to repentance and what in turn lead us to the cross.
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