thankful for brotherly love. no matter how much siblings fight, they stick together.

These 3 can drive me nuts sometimes with the non-sense sibling rivalry. But in the same moment take my breath away at how sweet they truly are to each other. You can’t even separate them without them reacting like it’s torture to spend 5 minutes not being allowed to talk or play together.

Ethan can be so patient and is definitely so very sweet to his little siblings. He’s always so excited to teach them new things. Lizzie is content as long as her brothers are with her. Then there’s Enzo who has his sulking moments when he hears a song on his iPod that Ethan wrote for him.

Enzo: “I miss my Kuya. I just love him so so much because he writes songs for me. He wrote a song JUST FOR ME and that’s so special.” *insert sobbing and tears everywhere in there*

Oh the drama!

thankful for an eager young chef. not only is he learning to one day cook for his own family, but he’s always eager to try the yummy stuff i’m too lazy to whip up myself!

Oh Ethan has been whipping up little goodies for us every so often – more often than not. It’s nice to be pampered mid-day by my young man who wants to whip up a meal or even a scrumptious snack for his siblings and me. I’d love to say he takes after me, but umm we all know kitchen appliances aren’t safe in my hands.

Thank goodness he takes after his daddy!

thankful for speedy recoveries. kids are so resilient and bounce back without missing a beat.

Today they finally closed up her g-tube stoma. She had it taken out back in October, but it never closed up on its own like it was supposed to. So every couple of weeks her ‘extra belly button’ would leak, more like squirt, like a whale’s blow hole. She’s loaded up with pain meds for now but no complaints whatsoever, not even a peep!

She’s excited that we didn’t have to stay over night at the hospital like originally planned, but we keep reminding her that the Dr. said she can’t run around for a couple of weeks. As soon as we got home, what was she doing?? Running around!!! We had to remind her several times to take it easy…but hey at least she’s feeling great enough to be hyper!

{via kissesfromkatie}

thankful for people that inspire us. they challenge our faith and growth.

You have to check out this young lady, single mom with 14 children (yes you read that right, 14!). Wow is all I can say. What a testimony she brings and how awesome to see someone so young be so selfless and mature. I’ve been reading her blog the last few days (even her old posts) and have been so awed at God’s work in her life and the ministry she’s been entrusted with in Uganda. She’s so crazy young but has so much wisdom we can all learn from and be challenged by. Hope you get a chance to read some of her blog posts and her story.

Click here to read one of my favorite post from her blog so far.

So go, go, go and visit kissesfromkatie from Amazima Ministries International.

“My best friend is Aiden. He is nice to me. I like to play wieth him. We by toys for each othr.”
- Lizzie, 7 (Feb 2010)

thankful for best friends. they like you for you, even when no one else does.

We can learn so much from kids and how accepting they are of each other. While so many other kids shy away from Lizzie because of her trach and what her ‘voice’ sounds like, there are a few diamonds in the rough that see beyond her trach. He even sticks up for her when she needs it (but that’s another blog for another day).

Last Sunday at church, Lizzie was so lost and obviously bummed that she didn’t have her friend to sit with. So she scooted over next to a few kids who just smiled but didn’t talk to her. The look on her face was so sad that she didn’t have her buddy to dance and sit with during Rooftop. I just watched and didn’t do anything even though I felt bad for her. Sometimes I have to sit back and just let things play out for her even if it means not having someone to sit with.

Well her buddy was running a little late for church. Boy did she perk up when he came in! Her head popped up and eyes lit up. The sigh of relief on her face and body movement was an even bigger sigh of relief for me! It’s hard sometimes to sit back and not come to her rescue.

thankful for cousins. they can claim your BFF status even before you are old enough to know what it means.

One of their Language/Writing assignments this week was to pick a person (proper nouns) and write a thank you note (handwriting). Before I could even give them ideas for people to write to, they already had their mind set on Baby Gracie and Jordy Bordy.

Enzo has claimed Jordan to be his ‘bestest friend ever in the whole world.’ Lizzie can’t get enough of Baby Gracie and wants us to take her home. I think she’s still a bit confused as to why we can’t just bring Baby Gracie home and make her an ‘Ormeo forever’. After all we’ve done that twice. Try explaining that to her.

thankful for her joyful noise. what sounds like ‘quacking’ to others, is a joyful noise to her audience of One.

She loves to sing. It doesn’t matter where she’s at or what she’s doing. she especially likes to rock out to praise and worship cd’s in the car and on her iPod. When all three kids are making all kinds of ruckus, yes I admit..I get so irritated at all the noise esp while I’m driving. But once in a while when I just tune in to her noise, her ‘quacking’…she’s rockin’ out!

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD. – Psalm 100:1

thankful for cozy fires. keeps my family warm on the coldest of Florida nights, even provides a sweet indulgence!

This past week or so has been so incredibly cold! I’m afraid to see our electric bill next month, esp since we can’t keep the emergency heat from kicking in. This 20 degree weather has been keeping us indoors quite often but the kids have found  ways of entertaining each other and sneak in sweet treats!

thankful for unexpected messages. meant for someone else, yet leaves you with warm-fuzzies.

Last summer, we stumbled upon this at the beach during our Back 2 School Bash. Clearly left for someone else. Or was it?

Maybe God was just leaving us a note

[grat-i-tood]
the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful

synonyms:
thanks, thankfulness, appreciation, gratefulness

http://gratitude52.blogspot.com