Hope is gone.

A couple of months ago I blogged about how hopeful I was that Isaiah would be a lefty just like his momma.  My hope stemmed from the fact that he used his left hand for eating whenever given an eating utensil.  Well, that hope has been smothered.  Look at this picture.

See the crayon?  It's in his right hand.  Yes, his right hand.  Isaiah has never wavered when it has come to which hand he prefers for colouring.  I thought maybe he was just trying it out but no, he ALWAYS uses his right hand.  I've even tried to place the crayon in his left hand to see what he would do and he automatically moves it to his right hand. 


As for eating, he still eats mostly with his left hand but recently has begun using his right hand.  Oh well, I will just have to think of myself as special being that I'm the only left-hander.  


And this guy thinks he's pretty special just because.  And he's "right". 

Celebrating Seven.

 Sundays are quite busy for our family and Sofia herself had quite a day planned.  So our family birthday celebration was different than years past.  We have no picture of her cake because we took it to a church potluck Saturday night.  It was a yummy pumpkin crunch and Sofia had three helpings.  Her birthday breakfast was a croissant and hot chocolate from Starbucks on the way to church.  We did, however, manage to have her open some presents before heading to church.

Presents bring smiles!!!

Sofia was sooooo excited to receive a camera attachment for her leapfrog.  She was also happy to receive needed winter wear and accessories from friends and family.

Her birthday day, again, was quite full.  After church Sofia joined her birthday buddies Mrs. Bloom and Mrs. Hanbury for lunch at Applebees.  Sofia arrived home around 2p.m. only to get ready for a three o'clock party with her neighbour friend Sai who was also turning seven.  The girls love sharing a birthday. (Us moms figured out that even though they were both born 8:30 at night, Sai is older because she was born in India.).

Sofia got back home at 4:45 p.m. and we immediately left for AWANA.  It was a special night partnering with Operation Christmas Child.  The kids packed 60 shoe boxes for this outreach.

By the time we arrived home that evening, Sofia was spent.  There might not have been a traditional party or family gathering, but I'm pretty sure our seven year old daughter dreamed sweet dreams that night.

Birthday prayer circle for Sofia.

Tomorrow this beautiful young girl turns seven years old.  We are so thankful for our sweet pea; the little five pound baby who came into the world five weeks early.  She would be the first one to call us mommy and daddy.

Sofia Jane is a gift from God.  And the gift we treasure giving her each year is a circle of prayers from our family and friends.

Join us in celebrating Sofia’s 7th birthday through prayer.  

Pray that…

Sofia will continue in good health and grow developmentally.

Sofia’s compassionate spirit will always be a part of who she is.

Sofia's relationship with Jesus (that began 1/11/11) will deepen and strengthen. 

Sofia will know and live out the meaning of her name , “wisdom of God”.

Sofia, whom God put on this earth for His enjoyment, will bring glory to God by enjoying Him.

Another reason why I love halloween.

Halloween is one of the few times a year where I feel creative.  Over the years  I've "created" a mouse, christmas present, robot, and kitty cat. All ideas of Sofia.  This year was the first year that Selah actually had her own idea of what she wanted to be.  

The most rewarding aspect of the costume creating is the interaction I have with my girls.  Allowing them to use their imagination and together bringing it to life.  They may not win the best costume trophy but you can bet your bottom dollar their giddyness, joy and pride in their costumes is THE BEST!


Sofia:  Fancy Nancy  

Those of you not familiar with Fancy Nancy, here is a link.

Selah:  A flower.

Isaiah:  A monkey. (This outfit is courtesy of our neighbour.)

I love halloween.

Over the past couple of years I've really come to appreciate Halloween.  Unlike holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter that are spent with family, Halloween along with July Fourth are to me, celebrations spent with neighbours.

Last year for the first time our church had a Reformation Party.  Being that Halloween landed on a Sunday it seemed fitting.  However, I was really, really ill that weekend and ended up being at home with just Isaiah.  And  you know what?  I was really glad I was.  That evening I answered the door to so many of our neighbours as they brought their children around for trick or treating. And many of them I didn't see again until Spring.

That's right.  In these neck of the woods, Halloween is one of the last times you see your neighbours before the weather seems to take a dive and it is cold and snowy.  Then so many of us simply open the garage door, pull in and close it.  But back to why I love Halloween. The relationships.

I treasure opportunities for building relationships.  I treasure opportunities to be a light in this world.  I treasure opportunities to share the gospel.  It's hard to do so when you are not interacting with others.  And Halloween lends itself to being a time to hang out with others.  And that is just what we did this year.

Sofia returned home from school at 4:00 p.m.  By 4:30 p.m. we met up with Viola and her two girls to begin our trick or treating.  (The village allowed for trick or treating only between the hours of 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.)

The picture above is our five kiddos.  Within 10 minutes our group grew as we met up with Saritha and her girls.

Unfortunately I don't have any more pictures of the group but it continued to grow.  We added Bianca and her son, Alicia and her son, and Sal and her two kids.  We were having so much fun going to every home in our subdivision that had a light on.  And then there was this dad and his son whom I had never seen before that was following in our footsteps.  Turns out they moved to our neighbourhood about six months ago.  After introducing myself and asking a few questions, it turns out they are looking for a church.  Well, I just happen to know of a great one so I shared.:)

Before we knew it, it was a little after 6:00 p.m.  The sky was getting dark, our hands were cold, and the buckets of candy were getting really heavy to carry.  Time to go inside. 

I love Halloween.  But really, I love my neighbours.