Feeling a little Nostalgia for India

Bethel Children's Home in Orissa, India was our first sponsored orphanage in India. The moment I stepped foot in their facilities I could feel the love and spirit of God. I knew I was standing on ground that God had provided for these children. This orphanage had been burned and ransacked just two years prior to our being there by Christian persecutioners.  The house mother recounted how they ran for safety through the jungle with 150 children. While they tried to decide if they should continue running or stop and wait it out she fell and broke her leg. They knew they couldn't continue to run so they accepted it as a sign to wait there in the jungle until God told them to return. Within a few days they returned to their home. ...What? Return to a place that was just burned. Go back to a village that just wanted to kill you because you were a Christian? Yep. 

Since that day they have worked non-stop to rebuild and make a better stronger place for their children. Our sponsors of this home were just able buy a new roof for the boy's room. The old one had dime, nickel and quarter sized holes all throughout the tin. Because they live in the jungle with a roaring monsoon season you can imagine how well the boys were able to sleep with drips and drops falling on them each night. Thanks to their sponsors the boys will be sleeping a lot better. And thanks only to God that many of the people who came that day to destroy Bethel Children's Home are now some of the very people helping rebuild and are some of the most faithful attendees of their church. 

Yep, God is good and I can't wait to see what He has in store for India next!

Wanna help too? PS the website is in the midst of a makeover and all the India info is not up. If you want to help you can contact me and I'll hook you up! :)

Love and Care

God has been good and continues to open doors for ROOM in India. Just this past week we were able to send much needed supplies to children at Love and Care Children's Home in Andhra Pradesh, India. School supplies seem so everyday for us here in America. Right? When the house mother contacted me pleading for help to buy her children school supplies it was a different kind of desperation. Her cry wasn't "My children need school supplies to help them excel in their their school work." or "My children need school supplies so they don't get labeled as the poor children."... instead her cry was, "My children need school supplies because they are being beat at school for coming without them." Wow...

 Imagine if you will. You go to school without paper and a pencil. Your teacher calls you out in front of everyone. You receive corporal punishment for not being able to afford these things. She tells you not to come back without them. What would you do? I know what I would do. I would stay home until I got them. Wouldn't you? 

 Not these children. These children know what a privilege education is. They know without it they end up on the streets of prostitution or continue to be considered the 'nothings' of society being forced to work the fields or on roads with nothing but hand tools. They know education is the only way out. So these brave kids continue to go to school so as not to get so far behind that they can't make it up. They can't write anything down, because they have nothing to write on or with, they just have to remember as much as they can until some willing sole on the other side of the world sees to it that they get the supplies they need.  Thankfully this month I can report that these 29 kids (who live in a two room house) got school supplies. But their are so many more still waiting. 

 The awesome thing is that it didn't take a super hero to save the day. Just an ordinary citizen looking to make the world a little more just.

 Could you be another ordinary citizen looking to make a difference? 

"That Girl is AWESOME!"

Maylin was slightly impressed by the "Fab Five".

Gymnastics Camp

Me: Maylin do you want to go to gymnastics camp?

Maylin: Nope

Me: Are you sure?

Maylin: Maybe..

Several days later...

Me: Maylin do you want to go to gymnastics camp?

Maylin: Yes. I already told you that Mommy. 

Of course you did sweetie???

So off to gymnastics camp we went!

 The first morning she wasn't sure about going. She was nervous about having different people in her class than her normal Tuesday night friends. I try not to push too hard right now. Without pulling out my "behavioral health background" card I'll just say that she has some insecurities to overcome. Some times she handles situations head on and is a brave little trooper. Many times she takes a little bit of coaxing. Sometimes she becomes straight up defiant. Even so, I am very proud of her for the efforts she made during gymnastics camp.

 Each morning when she was dropped off she clung to her coach for about 15 minutes but then eventually relaxed and became comfortable with her surroundings. Each day when I came in to pick her up she was ALL smiles and doing her best!  Just look at those pointed toes! :)

 She did make friends and I really felt like she became a little more confident in her gymnastics.

 She really likes her coach who is supportive and kind yet expects the kids to work hard and follow directions. It is a perfect combination for Maylin. Maylin will work hard but typically only on her terms... Yes, I know she is 6 and she should work hard on adults terms as well, and she will, so long as that adult isn't forcing her to do so. The second she begins to feel like she is being forced into something her back stiffens up and 'Defiant Maylin' shows up. Again... you would need to understand all she has been through to tolerate this behavior. She appears to be a tough cookie, but inside she is a fragile egg shell which can be cracked so easily. Most people have no idea she is cracking on the inside because she hides it so well most of the time. There are a very short list of people who Maylin trusts and responds well too 95% of the time. There is no one, myself included, who she fully trusts 100% of the time.

 I am so glad that, at least for now, her coach seems to be one of those people she responds to. Her little body seems to be a good fit for gymnastics but even more importantly gymnastics seems to be a good sport for her soul. It is an individual sport yet at the same time it forces her to work with and around others as well.

 She was all smiles on the last day of camp!

 Getting a group photo.

She was SUPER proud of her 'achievement' ribbon! She carried it around like she just won Olympic gold!
She even carried it through the grocery store later that day and begged to buy cookies for her CELEBRATION! I for one have never been able to resist a good cookie or a reason to celebrate.
So... HAPPY RED ACHIEVEMENT RIBBON Maylin! Here's to many more!

Pierson's Soccer Camp

Pierson wanted to go to soccer camp, then he didn't, then he did, then he didn't agian, then he finally did. I signed him up before I asked him if he wanted to go. Honestly I didn't think he would bat an eye about going. Even so I typically would ask before registering either kid for something out of the ordinary. However this one was free... so I guess I figured I would have nothing to loose. The only 'cost' of camp was to bring canned food for a local food bank. Not bad huh?

 As it turned out he loved soccer camp. Apparently the reason he didn't want to go to camp was because his old cleats were too small. Don't worry he got new cleats and shin guards that don't "itch". So camp was a breeze and he had a great three days. He was a little leery to not have his "same coach" from the two previous seasons but after about 10 minutes of the first day he was doing great!

 His first ever attempt at a Rainbow. Squeeze,

 Pull it up,

 And kick it from behind! Good Job buddy! Not bad for your attempt!

 The last day the whole group gathered together for a photo opp. Pierson's head is nestled between the two kids in the very front to the right of the banner.

 To celebrate all the food collected for the food bank the kids got to kick a ball from close range at all the 'coaches' bottoms! Needless to say they all thought this was HILARIOUS!!!

And to top things off they got Icee Pops to go!
Oh yeah it was a fun week. I think now he is super glad he went!

Trip to the M6's house.

Two weeks ago we took a few days off to go visit my sister and her family... well it wasn't exactly a 'just for the heck of it' visit. Twice a year there is a huge consignment sale in Raleigh at the state fair grounds. Yeah when I said huge I was serious! There is 145,000 sq feet of building space stuffed and stacked of kids things to be sold. That is almost three football fields! In clothes alone there is at least 100 yards of EACH size crammed in as tight as you can possible imagine. Mind blowing? YEP! I volunteer to work a 5 hour shift and Kristi volunteers to do a 10 hour shift. Why? We both get to shop the day before the sale starts. She gets to start shopping at 3pm and I start at 5pm. 

Traditionally we are some of the last out the doors that night and leave around 11:00pm. Is 6 hours enough? NOPE! I am always wishing their was more time. It takes so long to dig through all those clothes. (because I have to make sure I am finding the cutest things and the best prices!) And then there are the bikes, the toys, the shoes, the books... oh my! 

So anyway.. the point of this blog was really to capture the fun we had while spending time with the M6. We

put together puzzles,

did a little home repair,

beaded a few necklaces and braclettes,

played in the play room,

made tents under beds,

built race tracks,

did a little Wii dancing

watched some "She Ra"

Made 'welcome home' posters for friends coming home from Korea with their new son.

And yep we FINALLY got Pierson a new bike at the sale. I didn't realize until later that the seat could come down a little more than it was... That has helped a lot. The first few attempts were a little rocky

but he had a line of cheerleaders cheering him on!

And a little buddy there to help him up every time.
Pierson gave a thumbs up to let me know he was ok after this tumble to the ground.

Thanks M6 family for letting us crash at your house for a few days!  We had a great time!!!

Lake Day with the Praise Team

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the lake with our Praise Team at church. It was such a fun afternoon. We are so thankful to Jay and Shannon (members of the praise team who invited all of us to their lake house) there were 26 of us there for the afternoon. What a blast we had. We jumped off boat houses, jet skied, water skied, relaxed on floats, ate... and much more. I however didn't take a single still picture but a lot of video clips. 

So without further ado here are a few clips from our day of fun. 

10 second clip of Daddy throwing Pierson off a boat house. (at Pierson's request by the way) The first time went great. The second time ended up being a belly buster... not so much fun. 

This one is Pierson learning to water ski. That may be a little bit of an overstatement but I was amazed at how well he did and the determination he had. 

Carson was so kind to Maylin. He kept jumping in with her and helped coax her off the boat house for the first time. He is such a sweet kid. This clip also shows the result of Pierson's belly buster... :o

This one is Adam's first go at water skiing. Snow skis are like second feet to him, but water skis were something he had never tried. This clip (even though he is hard to see) shows that there must be some similarities between the two because he hopped up and never looked back.

Maylin (my little dare devil) was a little timid about jumping. We were all shocked. But each time she jumped she ended up with a grin she didn't want to show off.

These video's are a little out of order. This was actually Pierson's first jump off the boat house. (Their first go round we insisted that they wear their life jackets just in case they panicked!) As you can see he was all smiles!

Teniah gave both of the kids a ride on the jet ski (along with several other adults at different times). It is safe to say that both of my kids are water bugs is a gross understatement. They both love to swim, love to go fast on water craft vehicles, and love to just be lazy bums in by the shore. My kind of kids!

Thanks Jay and Shannon for having all of us over! We had a great time!