Dawson's first day of kindergarten

Yesterday was Dawson's first day of kindergarten. It amazes me that he is already starting "real" school, not just preschool and that this year he will learn to read and do various other things.

He was cute the night prior because I told him he would be going to school the next day. He was excited and said, "I'll get to drink the juicy juices!" I told him that was the different school. At the french school he drinks "da" juice everyday. He gets to take his money and buy it. It's a leaf, actually, that they cook and get the liquid out of or whatever and make a juice. He loves it. I was glad he was excited about going to that school. But yesterday was the mission school with the American teachers. He will do two mornings at the mission, three mornings at the french school and three afternoons at the mission as well. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully it won't be too much for him. We want him to continue at the french school just so he can pick up more language.

So here he is cheesing with his brother before school. Silas lost it- I mean LOST it- when we left with Dawson. (not looking forward to when both D and K leave in the mornings and he is left behind.) I will have to get video of Silas one day. It's actually funny. He was so excited all morning because we were getting dressed (yes, that's rare for my boys). He was sure he was going too. He doesn't care when we leave in the mornings for work, he just didn't want D in the car as well.

The big boy.

Another one, just because I think he's cute. :)

In the kindergarten corner that they set up for him.

With us both.

I think he is going to have a great time. His teacher, Mrs. Julie, is great. She and her husband are here for a year filling in for the regular teacher who is in the States for the year. Julie is so good with him and I think it will be a great start to school.

Here is the whole school:

Back: Mr. Brian, Daniel, Ellie, Lily, Maggie, Mrs. Julie

Front: Jeffrey, Dawson, Chloe

This is what I do

Just thought I'd show a picture of some of the babies I've been following the last month or so.

The two in the middle are twin girls. The one of the left is a little girl as well. The one on the right is a little boy.

They were all born all around the same time and weighed from 1000 grams to about 1500 grams (2-3 lbs). They are all growing well now and will soon go home. I wanted to take a picture of them before they all left. They get to go home at 2 kilos (4.4 lbs). It's amazing how they can survive here with just gavage feeding (through a nasal tube), an IV, heat from a incubator and maybe some oxygen. We have become known as the preemie hospital since we have oxygen so there are always a ton of preemies here. We currently have two babies that came in at 900 grams (less than 2 lbs). They seem to be doing well. Hopefully they will make it. Only time will tell.

My baby Silas is now two years old! I cannot believe it. The time has flown by.

We had his party the other night so friends (as in Aunt Jess, Uncle Jake, and Aunt Kristen) could come.

I love this age when all the kids help and the birthday boy doesn't care. Sweet times.

D and K working on getting the ties off of Silas' toy. (really, why does something have to have that many ties?)

Silas showing Jess the birthday present Brett got for him- a baby bird (who has since died, probably because we forgot to feed him, but anyway...)

Blowing out his two candles with help from his brothers.

This is one of the only bites he took of his cake.

But D enjoyed it. As he said, "I love when my brothers' have birthdays...because we get to eat cake and ice cream."

So here is the birthday boy, this morning, on his real birthday. I asked him to smile.

Talking to his "wowo" this morning. Notice the tired eyes. Mine were the same since it was about 5:45!

Another of him being silly. He still only has 12 teeth. Hope they come in soon. We've been thinking he was teething for the last 4 months. :)

Getting love from his brothers this morning.

The three amigos.

He got candles in his cookies today.

Kenan helped with the candles this time.

He was so happy.

We love you, Silas! Your smile is captivating. I love to hear your laugh. I love seeing you play with your big brothers and trying new things. I'm so thankful to be your mommy!

Lighthouse

It's been raining a lot lately. More than it normally does at this time of year. We are thankful for it but it also means we are in the house more. That calls for us to be creative, which you all know is hard for me. Dawson finished a pringles can one day and told me to save it so that we could make a lighthouse. He had seen it on Mister Maker, which is a show on a British channel. (We got satellite TV last year but it is out of South Africa so it is a lot of British shows). Anyway, so he wanted to make a lighthouse. We decided to do it one afternoon. It went well because this is how "we" did it....Brett read the directions. I made it. The boys watched. :) But hey, it was done quickly without a lot of screaming by me... I mean the boys. :)

You put a flash light inside the can.

Up close look.

And this is what it looked like a few minutes later when the boys started destroying/decorating it.

Don't mean to be posting all the time about crafts we do as to make it seem like this is what I do all the time. I don't. It's just so rare when it happens, I feel I must document it. :)

Our weekends

It has rained a ton the last two Saturday mornings. A ton. This is a bridge that normally has no water under it.

Brett had to go pick up his nurses so that they could get to the hospital because the bridge was impassable by motorcycles.

The cool rainy Saturdays makes the special weekend treat of a mocha extra special. Got this mug this summer. It just makes me smile.

Especially the blue inside. It makes me giddy just looking at it. I love it.

I told Brett that Saturday rains are awesome. They are kind of like snow days because everything shuts down. But they will be even cooler when the boys get older and want to sleep in. Instead, they still get up at their 6 am wake time ready to conquer the world. And at this age, rain just makes them hyper.

Kenan requested that I take pictures of him being silly.

and the grande finale.

Rainy Saturdays are also good for watching movies.

They are watching Star Wars. It took two weekends and they still didn't make it through the whole thing.

We play games, like Memory, until Silas and Kenan come and take all the pieces. We try red light green light and listen to Kenan say things like, "red light....what does brown light mean?" It means nothing. "black light??" nothing, Kenan, just red, green or yellow. "what about blue light?"

Then I try to be creative. I always get these waves of feeling like a bad mom who doesn't do things with her kids. I laugh afterwards because it always go down the same way...

I make a fort. They weren't impressed. Maybe they were in it a few minutes. Nevermind it took me thirty to make. Why did I always think it was cool when my parents made forts in the living room? Maybe when they are older...

And then we saw on this show about making boogy eyes. We decide to make them.

You may notice that the pictures are all Silas. That's because by the time the glasses were done, he was the only one happy. The other two were upset about various things and didn't want to wear their glasses.

And this is what my house ends up looking like. Yes, Kenan is putting glue on the floor.

yeah, we got another one wearing glasses!

Now the guy on the show who made the glasses said they would be loads of fun. Nope. Not for my boys. I just have to laugh (since screaming in another room isn't the godly thing to do, though I may have done that too). I try to be creative and do activities but they just aren't into it. Then I just get frustrated. I guess I should just go back to letting them watch tv. Then we are all happy. :) I know they are boys, that's the issue. And they are young. can't expect them to sit for long periods and create. I just wish I'd remember this lesson BEFORE I make a mess everywhere. :) But then where would the memories be? :)

Off to the pool for our Sunday swim!

Hello!

I've been thinking of making my blog private for awhile. In researching it, I realized that even if I made my old blog private, one could still find it through google from old posts that weren't marked as private. So I was kind of in a holding pattern until recently there have been some threats towards Westerners. We are not concerned at this moment, but I thought that now would be a good time to change my blog. So now it's private. Now it no longer has our name in the title.

All who read my blog regularly know that fear is something I constantly struggle with. Receiving emails about threats to Westerners close to where you live can cause fear to arise. And it did. It was a terrible day or so where I was just fearful. The adrenaline, on edge kind of fear. I decided that I couldn't live like that. I had a long tearful, prayerful talk with my dear Father and He gave me great peace. As I was looking up verses on fear, I was struck on how many talk about fearing the Lord. That's who I need to fear, not threats of things. Matthew 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." He also impressed on me Psalm 91. The need to rest in the Shadow of the Almighty, to take refuge under His wings. Since "Shadow of the Almighty" and "Under His wings" were already taken, I chose Refuge Under His Wings for the blog title. I am changing my blog, sure. But I'm not doing it out of fear. Just trying to be responsible with what has been told to us. Anyway, I'll leave you with more of Psalm 91. And just a clarification, it talks about no harm coming near you and being kept safe. I am fully aware that this means that when I am in His hands, nothing can touch my relationship with Him. Despite what happens to my physical body, I am safe in His arms. So no I don't think this means I will always be safe. I just think I must seek to find my rest, my refuge, my security in His hands, not my own and what I may think is best.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."

Going Private

I've decided for several reasons to go private. If you read this blog, leave a message or send me an email so I can add you to the list. Thanks.