Luke turned 6!

Okay, so I'm once more a little behind on my blog writing...  Luke is the first to kick off our birthday season every year on May 12th.  In some ways I can't believe that Luke is already 6, but in many ways he is maturing and becoming quite the little man.  He flew through his kindergarten year with flying colors, always eager to learn and try new things.  Luke is really sharp and seems to figure things out really quickly.  He's chomping at the bit to begin 1st grade and see what else is out there for him to learn.  As challenging as this next year will be for me in homeschooling, I'm excited to teach Luke 1st grade.  Luke is almost always up for any challenge, always ready to prove himself.  :o)  His favorite song is "Courageous" by Casting Crowns because he loves being courageous and brave.  This past year he's been involved in speech therapy with a great American therapist.  She loved her sessions with Luke because she said he was so much fun and so willing to learn.  Luke was also involved in a Tae Kwon Do class for almost 5 months.  It was not an easy thing to do in another language, but he gave it his best shot.  He's always been the most interested in watching sports (loves the Olympics!) with Daddy, so we thought he could try something out for himself.  Energetic is probably the word that most people would use to describe our Lukey as he seems to have the energy of 3 people.  Though he doesn't always know what to do with all that energy, I can tell that he is learning to control it - not an easy task for a little boy.   One thing that will almost always get Luke to (mostly) calm down is reading.  He loves to read and be read to.  He's determined to read through a whole series of his brother's 2nd grade level chapter books.   One of the greatest things about him and his brothers loving to read is that they enjoy reading to Mercy.  If Mercy happens to wake up early, Luke is the first one to be in her room to read to her and play with her until I'm prepared to get her dressed and ready for the day.  It's things like that and others that make Luke a super helpful boy. Some other things that Luke is into recently are the color orange, Iron Man (see pictures below), super heroes in general, Lego Ninjago and Hero Factory, and playing in the rain.  Luke is our affectionate boy; he loves snuggles,  hugs, and kisses.  Of course, being the most tactile of the children, he also enjoys wrestling and body slamming.  :o) 

The day before Luke's birthday we took the kids to a mall "fun place" that they really enjoy.  It had been a long time since we'd taken them and we decided it was time for Luke and Joshua to try some of the bigger boy things instead of just playing in the kiddie place (slides, balls, etc.).  So Luke got to try the bungee trampoline for the first time. 

After that he and Joshua both got to try the "ropes" course for the first time.  It was very cool, and such a great activity for them both.  They each had a guide follow them around as they climbed around and made their way through the course.  Here they are both with their straps and helmets on.  Daddy took this picture from the next floor up (see the stairs in the background?).  They were up pretty high. 

On the big day we started out with yummy donuts as per Luke's request, went out to eat pizza at a local place down the street from us, then had Luke's favorite chicken and dumplings for supper after a fun afternoon party.  Lots of friends came to play games, share our cake, and celebrate our Luke.  He had chosen a "sports" theme so the games mostly centered around balls of some sort. 

His first gift of the day was his very first "real" Bible from Grandma and Grandpa.  Since his reading has taken off over the last year he's really been wanting his own Bible to look things up in on his own. 

Another gift was this great Iron Man costume from the Morriss family.  He loved it!

Boys at the pizza restaurant for lunch

His cake was actually a group of cupcakes in the shape of a baseball glove.  It was my first time to do cupcakes in a shape like that, so I'm still learning.  :o) 

 

Can you guess who this little Iron Girl is?

Teams had to push a ping pong ball the length of the carpet... with their noses.  The boys were a little embarrassed at first, but they soon joined in the festivities.

We had ordered this US Olympic soccer jersey for his birthday, but it actually arrived the day after.  He did get a new soccer ball though (since we recently misplaced the one we had).  He was pretty proud of his new jersey.

We love you, our sweet Luke.  I'm so proud of the man you're becoming and growing into.  I'm so glad we got to celebrate the life that God gave you 6 years ago.  May He continue the work that He has begun in you.

Mercy-isms

I've been thinking for some time now that I needed to post all of Mercy's adorable sayings before she stops or before I forget them!  I'm also hoping to record (on video) some of them for posterity.  See, when your child is small and they say and do cute little things, it's so adorable that you just can't stand it.  Then all of a sudden, the child isn't doing that anymore; she's moved on.  And you think you could never forget how cute she is now, but you do.  So, here is my attempt to share some of the cute Mercy-isms with you...

The boys' names: Joshua = zhuwa zhuwa, Luke = ukee, Micah = bikah, Mercy = mermy or merny

She often leaves off the first letter of words: water = otter, light = ite, right back = ite back, rice = ice, yogurt = ogurt, wet = et

She sometimes changes the first consonant to a totally different one: Micah = bikah, marker = barker, cup = tup

And, my favorite - some words, she just totally makes up and they sound nothing like the real word.  Unfortunately I can't really give you any examples of what she says because I couldn't spell the sound she makes, but she does it for the words cucumbers and pajamas most noticeably.  It's so very cute.

When she receives something from someone she says "welcome" instead of "thank you".  I've tried to get her to say "thank you", but she just always responds with "welcome".  If she hears a song, as soon as it's over, she will almost always say, " 'gin?" because she wants to hear it "again".  She will agree to almost anything by saying "okay", though she often doesn't actually do what I've asked of her, but she just seems agreeable. She also always says, "here you go" when she's handing you something.  She will repeat almost anything, especially that her brothers say.  If someone is doing something that she doesn't like, she will say, "Hey you!".  If she can't find something, she'll say the item then ask, "...are you?" for "where are you?"  For family devotions each of us takes turns saying what we're thankful for from that day.  When it's her turn, she mumbles something that sounds like "I am thankful for..." then she'll clearly say the name of each member of our family.  So sweet!  Her latest favorite phrase is "I don't know" which comes out sounding something like "I-oh-no".  Here is a sample conversation:

Mommy: "Mercy, where is your cup?"
Mercy: "I-oh-no."
Mommy: "Can you go look for it?"
Mercy: "Okay!"

But then she, of course, just stands there looking too cute.  Eventually with a little prodding, whe will actually go look for her cup which she often knows exacatly where it is.  She's a stinker!  But she brings so much joy to each of us!!  Here are a few recent pictures of our little one...

Check out this pose!

She's beautiful even with bedhead.

Still loves her pony from Grandma.

Mercy loves going down the slide!

She really enjoyed meeting her cousins and aunts and uncles while we were in the U.S.

This was taken at Uncle Steve's wedding.  So glad we got to be there!

We worked really hard to get a good picture of her with Hannah, her only girl cousin on Daddy's side.  

Love our happy girl!

2011

I have been mulling this post around in my brain for several months now and decided today that I need to write it down before I forget!  Many of you know that 2007 was an incredibly tough year for us for many reasons, including living in 4 different countries in that year alone.  We finally ended up in one place where we stayed put for the next 2 years.  It was a good place for our family, but Daddy and I never really felt completely settled there.  We always felt like there was somewhere else we were going to go instead of not staying there long term.  We spent most of 2010 in the States for a much needed break, great visits with family and friends, and the birth of our sweet Mercy.  Then in the fall of 2010 we moved to the mega-city that we currently live in.  Honestly, we didn't know what to expect, and weren't super looking forward to being in such a big city.  We stayed here all of 2011 and are miraculously still here.  In many regards we are "not supposed to be here", but we still are.  As I look back over the year of 2011 I see the stability our family has had living in one place that we have come to LOVE, and I can't tell you how grateful I am.  To begin with, our apartment is perfect for our family, our neighborhood couldn't be better (5 minute walk from a huge park), and we've enjoyed this city so much more than we ever expected to.  The icing on the cake has been the incredible community of foreigners that we have been fellowshipping and having church with.  They have encouraged, nurtured, and loved us as well as prayed for us and held us accountable to the Lord's standards.  What an awesome gift from the Father that He has so blessed us with.  I feel like our family has thrived here in the past year.  Home school has gone so well with all 3 boys.  I survived another year of difficulties in nursing and was able to nurse Mercy just past her first birthday, which was my hope all along.  And to top it all off, we've had so many opportunities to share the greatest gift we have with many who don't know Him.  2011 was a really great year for us.  And I don't say that lightly nor do I take it for granted.  Back in December I was walking home on a crisp, blue-sky day and I was listening to Steven Curtis Chapman's newest album "Re:Creation".  The last song on the album is called "Sing Hallelujah", and I began to weep at His hand in our lives as I listed to the words:   

Sing hallelujah
The sun’s breaking through
To take back the dark sky
And make everything new

We knew joy was coming
But we just had to wait
And now we sing hallelujah
'Cause it’s a brand new day

So let’s sing hallelujah
The dark night is gone
Creation is singing
So come join in the song

The Father is calling
To come out and play
So we’ll sing hallelujah
'Cause it’s a brand new day

Sing hallelujah
It’s a brand new, beautiful day 


That may not mean much to you, but all of a sudden it struck me how much the Lord had blessed our family in 2011.  Granted, He blesses us every year in countless ways, but in that moment He gave me the grace to see His greatness poured out on us in blessings.  He has shown us His greatness and goodness through difficult years (like 2007) and He has shown us Himself through great years like 2011.  Praise be to Him for such a great gift.  And thanks be to Him for letting me see it.

Tongue?

When your five year old begins to wax eloquent, you never know what he might say...  Tonight I commented to him about how "tough" he was today (after being hurt repeatedly in various and sundry events).  He thought for a minute and then said, "It's like God is making our whole family into one big giraffe!"  I was baffled how that could happen or what in the world made him think of that, but I went with it (as only a mother of small children could).  He said, "And I'm the tongue of the giraffe because giraffe's tongues are tough because, you know, they eat thorns."  Um, okay, son.  He then proceeded to tell me which part of the giraffe each of the rest of us were.  I just agreed and told him it was time to go to sleep now.  :o)  In all truth, I was just glad he didn't say anyone was the rear end of the giraffe. 

The Palace

Earlier this month we were privileged to travel to another country (about 6 time zones and a 10 hour plane ride away from here) for a terrific week with other people like us.  The time itself was a wonderful experience, but better saved for personal conversations with us.  What I wanted to share here is about the absolutely incredible blessing we received while we were there.  It was held in this huge, very nice hotel.  When we arrived (after leaving our home at 9pm the night before and traveling all night) it was still too early to check in.  So we waited while some dear friends occupied the children's attention.  The kids did great on the 10 hour flight, by the way.  It was an amazing plane where we each had our own personal screens and tons of movies, shows, and games to choose from.  The boys were ecstatic.  Mercy pretty much slept in my arms the entire flight, so it doesn't get any better than that for an active under-the-age-of-2 year old.  Anyway, we arrive at the hotel, wait for a while, then are finally assigned to a huge suite with 2 enormous rooms.  We were like, "Wow, this is great!"  We got settled, unpacked a little bit, then headed to lunch in the hotel restaurant.  Buffet with 4 small kids is always an adventure.  While at lunch, a guy comes up to us to inform us that the hotel has discovered that the heat in our room doesn't work and that they were going to have to move us to another room.  The staff was kind of embarrassed to have to move us, so they were going to "upgrade" us for free.  We couldn't imagine how we could have a nicer room than the one they already gave us, but oh well.  A few hours later we have all our stuff packed, the bellhop comes to get us and take us to the new room.  He's totally taken with our 4 children and is even letting the 3 boys ride on top of the luggage on the luggage cart as he pushes it down the hallway.  They were hooping and hollering like they were on a ride at the fair.  Fun times.  We get to the new room, also knows as the "King's Suite", and our mouths drop open as we walk into the nicest, plushest, fanciest suite we have ever seen.  I still can't believe they put us in there with our kids, but they did!  When the bellhop guy left he said to us in broken English, "You came here with 4 children, maybe you will leave with 5!"  I turned beet red and couldn't believe he said that to us!  :o)  There was velvet everywhere - on the wall, the curtains, the bedspread, the pillows.  It was basically 2 absolutely enormous rooms again, but much, much nicer than the previous suite.  Seriously, it was almost as big as our apartment that we're currently living in.  One room was a huge living room area with a dining room table and chairs, couch set, and huge flat screen tv on the wall.  All the lights and lamps looked like chandeliers.  There were also 3 extra beds in there for each boy to sleep in.  And there was a little bar room off of that one where we put Mercy's pack-n-play for her to sleep in.  Then there was the ridiculously huge bedroom with a king sized bed, large desk, and another flat screen tv.  Off of the bedroom there was a huge balcony that looked out over the ocean.  Really beautiful view.  Okay, THEN there was the biggest hotel bathroom I've ever seen.  Complete with jacuzzi.  It was absolutely amazing, really.  The whole thing.  I just kept thinking how much we didn't deserve something that nice, but what a huge gift it was to our whole family.  We stayed there for a week and never had to pay any extra.  The boys kept referring to the room as The Palace, and indeed it did seem like one to us.  The whole week would have been fantastic without it, but it was just a sweet gift, kind of icing on the cake for us all.  Thank you, Father!  Here are some pictures so you can try to get a glimpse of what we enjoyed...

The boys were falling asleep each evening around dinner time due to jet lag.

 

Sunrise

There were mountains off to our left.

 

Sunset

Fun times at The Palace!

 

18 Months Old!

 

It's so hard to believe that she is actually 18 months old already, really.  Wasn't she just born last month?  Actually, that was July 19, 2010, which means she turned 1.5 years old yesterday.  To say that Mercy is the joy and delight of our entire family would be an understatement.  Her brothers absolutely adore her and continually shower her with hugs and kisses, sprinkled with a little "tough love", of course.  Her smile is absolutely infectious, and one can't be grumpy when around her smiles and giggles.  She is at such a super fun stage right now where she is learning to say lots of words, dancing, imitating others, and just demonstrating her own fun, sweet personality.  As soon as she wakes up, she's standing up in her bed, looking out the door to see who else will come to her room to visit her.  And often when I think the boys are just being a little too overwhelming, she's just giggling away.  Not that she doesn't express her displeasure with them (and with us) at times; she does have her grumpy moments.  She is also toying with boundaries lately to see what she can get away with, but overall she is so sweet and really hilarious.  She's still taking two good naps a day (much to Mommy's delight), and has an incredible appetite (hence the cute big belly!).  Playing with plastic spoons from the drawer (she always picks the pink one first unless it's not there, then she must choose a lesser color) and plastic bottles in our recyclable bag are favorite pastimes.  She has recently begun running into her room, closing the door (that has a huge glass frame in it which is covered by a curtain), getting behind the curtain so she can see out the door, and just standing there until someone "finds" her.  If she's there for a long time, she will eventually start banging on the glass for someone to come rescue her since she can't get the door open.  Her vocabulary is increasing daily and includes important words like "purple", "brother", "mommy", "daddy", some version of each of her brother's names (though those are still pretty indistinguishable), "here you go", "thank you", "welcome", and pretty much any repeatable word we try to get her to say these days.  She can sign about 5-7 words, which she uses all the time to communicate.  Recently she acquired a cute stuffed lamb which she calls "Ba-ba" and now sleeps with - so sweet.  I need to get a picture of her and Ba-ba together.  She still is an ambidextrous thumb-sucker, which is sometimes so cute I just can't stand it.  When she's really sleepy she will put one thumb in, then turn her head and switch to the other thumb, then turn her head and switch back.  It's really funny.  Her hair is getting longer these days, too, and is often quite unruly, particularly when she first wakes up.  We sometimes have to take a wet hair brush to it a couple of times a day.  Sometimes it curls up at the back of her neck, but sometimes it just sticks straight down.  I think if it were more humid here, her hair would be curlier, but for the most part it's probably straighter than curlier.  You'll be able to tell in the pictures how big and blue her eyes are, which the local people here absolutely love and always comment on (since they all have brown eyes).  We all just think she's so beautiful.  The boys will sometimes talk about how cute some other baby is, but they always follow it by saying, "but not as cute as Mercy".  They will always defend her, that's for sure!  One of the sweetest things she does that absolutely melts my heart every time is when she gives one of us a hug and pats us on the back or rubs our back.  She is such a sweetie, and we all love her to pieces! 

This picture was actually taken today when she woke up from her nap and her shirt was like this.  I tried to get the picture while she was still in the bed, but she didn't like waiting to be picked up, so she started crying (hence the red face). 

 

After breakfast we will each get in our special places to say the Pledge of Allegiance before we start school.  Mercy is always quick to put one (or both) of her hands up so she will be ready to do it with us. 

Mercy will often do silly things to make us all laugh.  This was her "Mary" look. 

This is a very typical "Mercy" look.

Mercy Joy, you are greatly loved and adored by your whole family and many others.  May you grow to be a beautiful, loving, godly girl who blesses everyone.  You certainly have blessed us!