Sunday, July 26, 2015

Catching up for July

It's been a while since I posted, and I keep hoping that I will have the time to sit down and think up something profound to say about parenting, my kiddos, adoption, etc.  In fact, I have several topic ideas ruminating in my brain, but as of yet, that's as far as it's gotten.

That being said, my kiddos are growing like weeds, and I am loving seeing the developments they are making every day.  Jayce can wash his hands by himself, which is great.  Anya is beginning to pronounce "banana" and "grandma" correctly, which is very disappointing.  I love their little toddler pronunciations and cringe that Anya is beginning to grow out of them.  Ha ha.

We are working on independent play.  It's hard to encourage independent play since they are together 98% of the time.

This last week, Philip has been growing out his goatee again.  The other night, Jayce finally noticed.  "Daddy!  What's that??!?!  You have WIKKERS!" It was adorable, and whiskers shall forever be known as "wikkers".

Little Man has a toothpick
just like Daddy
Anya has been melting my heart recently.  She randomly talks about Jesus.  "Mama, Jesus died on the cross.  He took our spankings so we could be friends with God.  Jesus loves you."  It doesn't matter if we are in the middle of the store, in the car, or playing with puzzles, the Gospel message (translated into Toddler) is being proclaimed.  Granted, I don't know how much we actually understand about that, but we are putting the pieces together as well as our two-year-old mind can.  I am comforted and encouraged (and often challenged) by what Jesus said in Matthew 18:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

I love how Jesus values little kiddos and encourages us to have the faith if a child.  I think my adult-ish mind gets tied up with complicated thoughts, where I need to take a step back and reevaluate how God sees faith and what He desires in me.

My cousin, Anastasia, has spent the summer with us between college semesters.  She spends weekend with us during the school year, but decided to stay over the summer, work for our business, and bless us with her involvement with the kiddos.  She's been amazing, and so encouraging.  The kiddos have loved having her around more.  She's the perfect aunt: all fun and games, firm and kind, and full of tickles and stories.  We will the taking a family vacation in the next few weeks to Yellowstone National Park, before Anastasia goes back to school.  I'm not quite sure how I will survive without her.  

Before I forget, I am pleased to report that Jayce is potty trained!!!!!!!!   Our martial art instructor said that Jayce could start Tae Kwon Do as soon as he was potty trained, which was a great incentive.  So, we will be starting Tae Kwon Do in September when the craziness dies down, and I have about half the amount of messy diapers, which is wonderful!  Jayce is pretty proud of his underwear, and if you visit, you might just get it shown to you.  We are also working on modesty issues.  Sorta.  

We went to the beach with Grand Mom
and Da-Dat, and enjoyed our day playing
in the sand and climbing dunes!
One "extra" thing that has captured some of my time is "painting people" as my kiddos would say.  There are literally no doll families available that include varied skin tones.  They just do not exist.  So, realizing this, I began painting some peg dolls to reflect adoptive and foster families.  At first I did not realize the need for these, but as I have been consistently painting since April, I am beginning to realize that I am not the only mama that wants these for her small folk!  

Here is my Etsy store, A Mamas Art
Here are some pre-made families,
Here is the link to have a custom family,
And here is my multi-racial Nativity scene.

It's been fun to be a small part of these other awesome families, get to know them a little, and bless them with something their kiddos can really enjoy for years to come.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks.


Jayce and "his" Anastasia

Baby Girl likes middle eastern food!

Precious moments snuggling with my Baby Girl