Gym rats.

We were so thankful to receive a cash gift that allowed for us to put the girls into a gymnastics class this Winter.  Both girls took a class when they were 3 1/2 years old and just loved it.  Obviously, Selah's first class was just 6 months ago but for Sofia it had been four years.

The classes began at the end of January and concluded this past week. Sofia attended a class on Thursdays for 6-8 yr. olds and Selah took a class on Fridays for 3-4 yr. olds.  Coach Rick taught both classes.

Selah really impressed us with her skills balancing on the high beam, cartwheels and almost handstands.  She also has this fearlessness to try anything.  She was so cute to watch.

As for Sofia, a couple of weeks ago Kevin and I were presented with a big decision.  Coach Rick said that Sofia was doing well, is quite strong and has the "right" body type, so he encouraged us to put her in Junior Trainers.  Thankfully the gym owner allowed for us to do a trial run last week without pay.  Kevin took her to one class and I took her to another.  We were both amazed at her no fear, desire, and more importantly enjoyment of learning more difficult skills.  

So as of next week, Sofia will be going to gymnastics two times a week in a class that is purposely training her to eventually compete.  Her teacher will be Coach Jeanne.  Coach Jeanne said it is a commitment and in about a year they take the young ones to a meet where basically everyone wins.:)


The best thing about this gym, the owners are strong believers and so are many of the coaches.  We are so thankful for The Gymnastics Factory and will see how the Lord uses our time spent there.

#1 reason for owning a mini-van.

Room to take neighbourhood friends to church.

St. Patrick's Day in the city.

One word.  CRAZY!!!!!

A front page article in this morning's paper was titled "Perfect Storm" in regards to what our public servants might have to face tonight.   And if today was any indication, then they are definitely facing a storm tonight.

What are the elements?  First of all, it's St. Patrick's Day in Chicago.  Chicago has a rich Irish heritage and today the city was once again hosting a parade down Michigan Ave.  This parade had been nixed in past years because of excessive public drunkenness.  Added elements:  it's a Saturday, many college students on Spring Break, and the topper, GORGEOUS Summer-like weather.  Today's high was 85 (we broke a record today).

So, of course, this year of all year's is when we decided it would be fun to go downtown and see the infamous colouring of the river green (didn't get a pic).

We arrived in the city just as the parade was ending.  My goodness.  It was a sea of green.

We dove in and with Isaiah in a stroller and the girls holding daddy's hands, we swam with and against the stream hoping to capture a family picture at The Bean.

Well, that wasn't going to work.  Just a few too many people milling around and many of them quite intoxicated.  Real family friendly you know.  We even witnessed an ambulance arriving with a stretcher to take away a young lady who had passed out on the lawn.  Now mind you this was about 1 in the afternoon.  When the girls asked what happened we explained that she hadn't drank enough water.

From The Bean we headed to Daley Plaza.  The kids loved sliding down the Picasso sculpture and looking at the fountain of green water.

So while we didn't eat cornbeef and cabbage or have a leprechaun visit us, we sure had a fabulous time hanging out with our family.

Crackin' up.

Show your crack and you get a couple girls to crack up. 

Isaiah is quickly learning how to entertain his sisters with "boy humour".  Not only does he pull his pants down, he pretend burps, and makes everyone aware when he toots.  


He does crack us up with some "clean humour" like when he says, "Knock, knock" and that is it.  He's also a very entertaining dancer.

He's a bruiser.

He's a bruiser that boy.  Our son, Isaiah. 


About a week ago, Isaiah was playing with his fire truck, somehow fell, rolled onto the truck and immediately acquired a bruise under his right eye.  A couple of nights later, he and Selah were playing tag and bam! Isaiah tripped over his own feet and landed on the corner of the end table.  I am so thankful there was no blood.  But man o man, a bruise immediately formed on the eyelid of his left eye.  Over the week it has gone from blue to purple to yellow/green.  The girls think it looks like he is wearing eyeshadow.


These pictures aren't the best but I still wanted to share.  You see, God is good.  We all get a bruisin' but God heals!!!

Still stacking.

Five months later and he is still stacking cans.   The stacks are getting taller as so is Isaiah and another difference is that he has now taken to counting the cans.  It's so cute to hear him count "...one, two, three, five, six, eight, nine, ten!"

P.S.  Another difference from five months ago is his hair.  See how bald he was in the last post regarding stacking?

Sorry Sofia

Before Sofia left for school this morning she asked that no one go out in the backyard and play.  It was just too pretty and she didn't want it messed up.  (see below post for pictures)  

Well, Sofia,  I'm sorry but your sister, brother and I went out this morning and had so much fun playing in the snow and messing up the "blanket".  No doubt you are at school having your own fun during recess so you will understand.  Here are some pictures.

Isaiah was all smiles.  

Selah and Isaiah worked hard and well together as they set out to build a snowman.

Ahhhh....the finished product man.  Selah wanted to give "him" a kiss.

Mommy and Isaiah enjoying the fruit of fun.

Winter Wonderland

This morning we awoke to a most beautiful winter wonderland.  Here are some pictures of the trees in the backyard.

 And here you can make out the lake.

Just gorgeous!!!

Valentine's in the classroom.

At the beginning of the year I asked Sofia which class party she would like for me to help.  Without any hesitation she said the Valentine's party.   So ever since Christmas she has been on count down for this event.

Yesterday, was the day.

Valentine's Day in a 1st grade classroom is just so cute and fun.  There were four of us moms who helped coordinate the party.  Two moms were in charge of the games, one implemented the craft, and me, well, they had me provide the goodies.

Here are some pictures.

I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Thankfully the kids loved them.  Of course we balanced it with "healthy" strawberry fruit snacks and juice.

 Sofia was lining up with her friends to play "Pick up candy hearts with chopsticks".

 Another fun game they played was to travel across the room using only the hearts.

 Then the exciting game of "Eat the twizzler without your hands".  This was a real hit.

 Here is Sofia at her desk working on her craft.

This picture is simply to show the activity of the class.  I love the diversity of the children.   Her class represents parents from India, Pakistan, France, Poland, Mexico, and Japan to name a few.

Being in Sofia's classroom just deepens my prayer that her classmates would one day know the Greatest Love of all....Jesus Christ.

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Hair is not something usually taken for granted.  For many women it defines who they are.  Whether long and luscious or short and sassy, your hair is often an expression of who you are.

Personally I have some pretty strong feelings to my girls having long hair.  Some of this stems from my own hairstyle as a young girl.  My hair was always really, really short (think 70s pixie styles) until I was in high school and had "control" over the length of my hair.  I realize my hair was fine and curly and we lived in a hot, tropical place, but I really disliked being mistaken for a boy at times.  Good or bad, long hair usually means girl, short hair means boy.
 
All this to say, when Sofia told me she wanted to cut her hair short, I about had a heart attack.  What was she thinking?  I mean she didn't even begin to grow hair until she was almost three years old.  Now, her hair did need a trim but to cut above her shoulders.....No!!!

I realized that I enjoy accessorizing my girls with their hair.  Think party, curls; apple picking, braids; outdoor fun, ponytails.

So it was time to get Sofia's haircut.  We talked about it, and I gotta be honest with you, I just couldn't let her cut her hair as short as she wanted.  Thankfully she was very happy with the compromise of being able to cut off SIX inches.

Here is her hair right before it got cut.  She had had it in a braid all day.

And the after picture.

Maybe I should go to therapy before she gets it cut again.

Learning to cook.

Age is an important factor in when to have your kids start learning to cook.  But height also matters.  Especially when it comes to the stove.  So, now that Sofia is tall enough, she has begun learning to cook scrambled eggs.  She loves it.

A sweet first sentence.

The sound of the garage door opening means that daddy has come home from work and will be walking into the kitchen any moment.


And whenever the garage door sound goes off, the kids go racing into the kitchen to meet him, hug him and basically jump on him.


Today Isaiah was sitting at the kitchen table when the garage door sound began.  And out of his mouth he yelled, "DADDY'S HOME!"


I couldn't believe it.  This son of ours, whose main mode of communication is with pointing, grunts, nods and every so often throwing out words that we didn't know he knew, said his first sentence.  It was clear as a bell.  "Daddy's home."

Helping the orphans.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."  James 1:27

In my sinfulness I have proudly stated that because God hadn't guided us to adopting, I'll take care of the widows while others focus on taking care of the orphans.  And to be honest with you, it wasn't me who went seeking after widows it was God bringing them into our lives.  Now I am very thankful for the opportunity to serve in this way.  You'd be surprised what a 30 minute phone conversation about how to clip your cats claws or taking them grocery shopping can do for a person.  A lonely person.  A widow.

But two weeks ago, the Lord showed me how I can help the orphans even though at this time He hasn't asked of us to adopt.

Children at the orphanage Foyer d'Orelph

Pastor Valiere "Bobby" Delice, was a dear friend of my brother, Kirk Overstreet, and lived in Haiti. Following the earthquake of 2010 he purposefully began taking care of the many children left parentless.  It wasn't always easy.  Funding was tied up in government tape, cholora became rampant and many of the children were sick.  Buildings were unsafe and clean water was hard to come by.  Bobby relied on his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and worked tirelessly to provide for the needs of the orphans as well as his own family, a wife and three kids.  

Sadly, two weeks ago, Pastor Bobby was tragically killed in an auto accident.  Kirk was able to fly down to Haiti this past weekend and oversee the service celebrating the life of Pastor Bobby.  One thing Kirk let me know is that while there has been much improvement over the past two years, one of the main needs is food.  Government aid has become more available to help with the schooling.  Churches have sent teams to help build and dig a well.  Medical teams continue to come and help with health issues.  But it is daily bread that is of need.

And that need can be met with a $5 donation from me and from you.  Will you join me in taking care of these orphans?  Here is how you can do so through Set Free Ministries.

Go to www.setfreerocks.com
Click on the donate button on the bottom right hand side.
When on the donations page, click on the notes to donor, and comment that your donation is for the Haiti Orphans.  100% of the donations are going to the orphans.

"...'Truly, I say to you, as you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."  Matthew 25:40

Sometimes staring is okay.

I don't know about your kids but my kids love to stare, or should we say, observe others.  Whether it be in the line at the grocery store, on public transportation, or at a restaurant, they love to stare at people.

Now mind you, I do try to teach my kids that staring can be rude but often times their staring has led to some great teaching moments.  Questions like, "Why does that person look like that?" or "Why is that person acting that way?" have been spring boards for discussing God's creation or how our actions (good and bad) testify to others.

One such staring episode turned into an AMAZING opportunity.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I took the girls ice skating.  At the end of our time we were sitting in the stands preparing to leave when Selah walks up to me and says, "Momma, why is that lady crying?"

I looked around and sure enough, the lady sitting right next to me was just sitting there with tears coming down her face.  Selah has a very sensitive soul and in this moment I could tell that her staring was being done with more concern than curiosity.  Her concern encouraged my soul.  I leaned over to the lady and asked if she was going to be okay and if there was anything I could do.  She looked at me, smiled, and said, "You just did.  Sometimes life is just hard."  She also looked at Selah and said, "She's a good girl."

The Lord prompted me to pray with Pam and He provided me with words when I didn't necessarily know what to bring before Him.  After praying in Jesus's name, Pam simply went back to texting and the girls and I picked up our belongings and headed home.

We are still praying for Pam.  And before you tell your kids to stop staring because it's rude, look and see what they are observing.  :)

Ice skating = patience and fun

The girls terribly wanted to play outside in the snow on Saturday.  I didn't think it was a very good idea being that the temp was in the teens with the windchill factor dropping it down to single digits.  The kids might have had fun but me the momma would have been FREEZING!!

Next best idea:  ice skating.

Kevin gladly volunteered to stay home with Isaiah (being that it was his naptime) while the girls and I headed to the local ice rink.  Now mind you, I personally haven't been on ice skates since my freshman year of college.  So what was that?  Almost 25 years ago.  Yikes!!!  Anywhoo, the things you do for your kids.

On the way over, I told the girls there were two words we were going to keep in my mind.  Patience and fun. I don't know if this was for their sake or mine but needless to say these were words that kept us going.

Patience was needed right off the bat as we took our time taking off shoes, getting our skates on, then putting away our belongings.  It must have took a good 20 minutes to do all of that.  Then onto the ice.  Oh boy!  I don't know who was more nervous, me or the girls.

Thankfully it was a special promotions day at the local rink and they were offering free lessons.  YEAH!!!!!  A most wonderful, patient coach, Miss Katie, instructed us on how to move our feet and how to use our arms and knees for balance.  She was also kind enough to accompany us around the ice our first time out and she was so proud of the girls that she game them a "trophy".

After a couple times around the ice, Sofia was confident enough to venture out on her own.  Selah did quite well herself but preferred that mommy be right by her side.  No worries.  Going slow was just fine by me.  And every time one of the girls fell, we just said to ourselves, "It's okay, we are still having FUN!"

The snow finally came.

For many locals they have been quite fine with the fact that we've had a mild winter.  By mild, I mean, temps (for the most part) have been in the high 30s, low 40s and no snow.  For those of us from CA with young kids, we would rather have snow.  You see, 30 degrees is cold but nothing to do outside and nothing pretty to look at.  Cold with snow means fun and beauty!!!


So on January 12th there was much rejoicing in this home when the first real snow of the season finally came.

Snow began falling around 11 a.m.  

Selah spent quite a bit of time playing outside that afternoon.

Pretty nice snowangel she made.

The bus stop.

Lots of play took place after school.

Girls to the city.

I wanted to do something fun as a family on Sofia's first day of Christmas vacation.  Unfortunately Isaiah was battling a cold and was pretty grumpy.  But I was determined to do something fun.  So, while Kevin stayed home with Isaiah, the girls and I headed into the city.


We took the 2 p.m. train and the girls enjoyed people watching, sitting backwards, and enjoying the scenery during the one hour and 15 minute ride.  

From Union Station we caught a taxi and asked our driver to take us to Macy's on State St.  Being this was the girls first ride in a taxi they were pretty giddy.  A few minutes after being in the taxi, Sofia leans over to me and says, "This is like the 'Amazing Race'".  That gave me a good laugh.


Macy's was quite the festive and crowded place.  The girls enjoyed observing all the decorations and especially loved the trees in the Walnut Room.  After walking around for a bit we went to the Food Court and shared some onion straws and a vanilla milkshake.

We then headed over to ABC's news studio which is caddy-corner to Macy's.  They have a glass wall that allows you to observe the news live.  Sofia is currently really intrigued by weather forecasters and likes to pretend she is one so I thought this would be fun.  Of course, both girls loved it.  We wanted to wait it out until the end of the news when the camera pans the outside viewers but being that it was raining and cold, I thought it best not to do so. 


So around 4:45 p.m. we caught another taxi back to Union Station.  Because of traffic our ride back took longer.  No worries for the girls.  They simply engaged in conversation with our driver.  He was from Ethiopia and the girls asked him many questions.  


We made it time to catch the 5:12 train and at 6:30 p.m. we were back home.


I'm so glad we did it and can't wait to take the girls into the city again.

Graduation Pics

A most significant accomplishment for us a family in 2011 would be Kevin graduating from seminary.  If you scroll down a few posts, you can read his thoughts regarding graduation.  We are so thankful that this season has come to an end simply because it means more family time.  However, we are not remiss of how this season taught us, challenged us, and encouraged us spiritually.  And yes, we.


Here are some pics from Kevin's graduation from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.


Kevin at the beginning of the commencement ceremony.

Kevin receiving his Master's of Divinity with honors.

Dr. Pleudemann (one of Kev's favourite profs) praying over the graduates while the other faculty surrounded them.

Kevin's dad and twin sister, Kerri, joined us for the graduation.

Proud mommy and kids with daddy.