We're Off to See the Wizard

Halloween

We've always been a little leery of Halloween with it's pagan "festival of the dead" origins, costumes originally meant to scare away demons, and traditions that typically glorify the dark things.

We have tried to avoid the scary side of Halloween the best we can. I still remember when 2-year-old Hendrick noticed "ghosts" hanging from the trees in a neighbors yard...how do you explain "ghosts" to a young child? I was so relieved when our precious boy immediately decided they were angels - how beautiful!

We love the candy, costumes, and pumpkin carving...but we don't want to confuse our children and we don't want to "celebrate" Halloween. How can we enjoy only parts of the October traditions and use Halloween to glorify God?

Our solution: host a party around Halloween so we have an excuse to dress up our kids and fellowship with good friends. We carve our pumpkin after reading the Pumpkin Patch Parable, enjoy candy corn and pass out candy to our neighbors on Halloween night. Our kids don't go trick-or-treating, but we do love on our neighbors with sweets.

Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Romans 12:9

Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

Comic Books

Hendrick's art class project today (of his choosing) was creating a comic book. Let's see how he did...

Cover page: Spiderman vs. Scorpion


Spiderman sees Scorpion preparing to accost a law-abiding citizen. He snares Scorpion with his web.


Scorpion frees himself from the web, but unbeknownst to him, Spiderman prepares another web.


Scorpion is trapped and becomes upset.


The police escort Scorpion away and he moves into his cell in the Big House.


Self explanatory.


Back cover and UPC code.

We are so proud of our creative boy!

2 Months!

How can this baby boy be 2-months-old? The time has absolutely flown by...I know all parents say that, but I'm serious, I feel as though two months passed in a blink of an eye - Wow!

At two months, our Kolpin is a wonderfully snuggly bundle! Our boy is still on a great eating-every-3-hours-during-the-day schedule...and has thankfully begun to stretch to 4 or 5 hours at night (so we only wake for one feeding). Kolpin is lifting up his head, sleeps on his tummy, is a spitter, loves his pouch sling and rides in it everywhere, has a loud cry (thankfully he will not be forgotten), wears a very serious expression most of the time but is starting to show a few smiles, enjoys the bouncy seat, and continues to receive lots of love and affection from his 4 siblings.

We sure to love this little one and are so blessed by his being a part of our family.
God knew what He was doing!
"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him." Psalm 127:3

We are excited to see his "official" height and weight at the pediatrician this week...I think he's grown a lot - he is definitely starting to fill out his clothes!
*UPDATE: Kolpin weighed-in at a whopping 11-1/2 pounds!!!!

This Kitten Needs a Home

As much as we have enjoyed this sweet kitten...WE NEED TO FIND IT A HOME!!!
Please let us know if you are interested.

Orphan

Our excitement over observing a litter of 5 kittens in our backyard quickly turned to us temporarily adopting one kitten...
We had been checking the backyard brood daily, but Tuesday afternoon, we discovered one lone kitty under the wood pile. After waiting 8 hours, we concluded that this little one had been abandoned. Of course, we (Amy) couldn't leave a helpless kitten alone in the backyard, so we (Amy) brought the orphan in for the night.
Now we are caring for a super cute orphaned kitten. We suspect the kitty is about 3-weeks-old. The poor dear is too young to be separated from mama and needs to be fed around the clock with a medicine dropper. The kitten's eyes are open, but it's ears haven't unfolded yet; she is starting to walk, can't yet eat independently, and actually needs help eliminating. The kids are all enamored and Hendrick has enjoyed learning how to be a substitute cat mama - he has always loved cats and sees this as a gift from God!
We are trying our best to not become too attached! With severe cat allergies in the family we cannot keep this little one. We are looking for a home for this sweet kitten. Unfortunately, the local animal shelters are all full and are not accepting kittens...we'll make some more calls tomorrow, but until then, it looks like we've temporarily adopted a kitten.

Rugged Men

Hendrick and Mike braved the frigid weather for some special guy time with a weekend camping/hiking trip to Land Between the Lakes. The "big boys" roughed-it: they shared a small backpacking tent on a campsite overlooking Kentucky Lake, cooked scrambled eggs on the fire for breakfast, searched for and collected shells along the lake shore, chewed wild Sassafras roots (tastes like root beer), visited the nature center (where Hendrick entered the coyote howling contest), and hiked and explored around Hematite Lake. Hendrick arrived home Sunday afternoon absolutely giddy with excitement after his special weekend with Daddy.

We love our whole family camping trips, but it is equally important for the boys to experience special time with Daddy (and for Daddy to have special time with his boys!). We are firm believers that quality time = quantity time with children, and hence will continue to have these special getaways one kid at a time.

Softer Side

Our backyard does have a softer side...
Just a few days after our snake skin find, we made another fun discovery in our backyard: a litter of kittens! A mama cat and her 5 brand new kittens have made a home in our log pile. We are excited to watch our "yard cats" grow!

Eeeek!

"Eeek!" Mommy was the only one in our house full of boys who reacted this way when Hendrick entered the kitchen sporting a huge smile and a HUGE Snake Skin. He was super proud of his discovery of a 60-inch snake skin in our backyard...in our backyard! So cool, but Eeeeeek!!!

Love and Marriage - Part 2

Sarah and Gene's wedding took place at the 20th Century Theater in Cincinnati. The 1940s theater was a perfect location! Their wedding was announced on the marque outside as we arrived on the red carpet with valet parking treatment. They were married on stage in the beautiful art modern theater and the reception took place under twinkle lights and lit globes in the multilevel main floor. Sarah and Gene added so many special touches to their "old Hollywood" themed wedding - the atmosphere was magical. We loved the glamorous table decorations at our "Humphrey Bogart" table, and the kids had so much fun dancing on stage with cousins and taking pictures in the photo booth - they had a real photo booth! The pictures were our favors and used to create a unique guest book. We actually fit all seven of us in the booth...barely!

Sarah and Gene, Congratulations!!!! We had so much fun celebrating with you and were thrilled to be part of this special wedding!
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Love and Marriage

This weekend, we traveled to Cincinnati to celebrate the wedding of Mike's sister, Sarah.
We are thrilled for Sarah and Gene - Congratulations, we Love you!!!!
(We loved this picture of the happy bride and groom...we can't wait to post more!)

I.O.I.

We were blessed to spend a recent evening at a banquet for Indigenous Outreach International (IOI). This amazing group based in Jackson supports local missionaries in Ethiopia, Brazil, Germany, and Northern Ireland. Their main focus is support of native ministers and churches, child sponsorships, community development, and Bible distribution to poor missionaries. God has placed Ethiopia on our hearts again, and this banquet was a timely call to action for our family.

IOI are truly acting as God's hands and feet in the poorest areas of our world - please check out their website and prayerfully consider how you can help.

Rich

Our baby is 6-weeks-old - praise the Lord for the richness in our lives and for the reminder of just how rich we truly are...Thank God for the pure and untainted thinking of a child. Their sparkling minds can find easy solutions to problems we often make overly complicated and can see the truth with clarity. I pray we can adopt the mentality of a child and simply be grateful. I am so thankful for the blessing of children and how they have enriched my life.

My "wise" 5-year-old gave me a good lesson the other day...
We were reading a book together which led to a discussion about being poor. Hendrick concluded: "so, if you don't have a house, and your don't have money, and you don't have food - you're poor...but, we have a house, we have money, we have food - we're rich, Mama!"

We are rich. We may not be rich by the world's standards: we don't have the biggest house, the most money, or the fanciest clothes and toys; but our lives are blessed beyond measure. God has given us more than we need and more than we deserve. We are rich - thank you Lord!

The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich. Proverbs 10:22

Into the Woods

Our family's favorite retreat is a camping trip. We love to escape from everyday business and enjoy a simple weekend together out in God's marvelous creation.
Today we got back from three days at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area - we rented a rustic cabin at Piney campground. Kolpin was a trooper for his first of many trips and the other 4 loved all the activities....campfires, nature hikes, the LBL Nature Center, and playing trucks around the campsite.

Dance Dance Dance

Movie Buff

Not surprisingly, our naturally gifted drama boy is also our movie buff. From the moment he wakes to right before bed, he is constantly talking about movies. He talks about what movie he wants to watch and he talks about which movies he likes.
As his parent, I feel guilty...movies seem to be so important to him right now - they really shouldn't be - am I letting him watch too many movies? The kids do not watch TV shows...but we do watch the occasional DVD. We have been watching more these days as we are settling into our new normal and Mommy is spending a significant time on the couch nursing Kolpin (Sometimes we just need something to keep our focus for 20 minutes while Mommy is occupied).

Burke's current favorite is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
"Can we watch Winnie the Pooh?...Oh, we can watch it later?...I like Winnie the Pooh, he's funny..."
It's very cute, but I hope we all outgrow this phase!

I realize I must give myself grace at this time...we will get back to the planned activities, spontaneous play, educational experiences, and creative crafts...but in this brief season of adjustment, we just may need an occasional DVD.

Daddy

Hendrick is quite the artist...these days he is filling up notebooks, our walls and our fridge with his art work (he's making "museums"). His latest portrait creation: "Daddy" - complete with "shaves" (whiskers), and "fancy shirt" (button-up).
On a side note, the other day, Mike was wearing a button-up shirt. Hendrick asked him if we were going to the symphony since he was wearing such a "fancy shirt". Hmmm, what does that say about our casual household!?