Family photo shoot at the beach - February 2013

We went in from the pool to have our bath and get dressed for pictures.  Lola, extremely tired from a day full of swimming and playing passed out between getting dressed and me putting on a dab of make-up. That made for some serious fun.  I was sad I didn't get more photos of Lola on the beach.

Gracie is 7... the perfect #

Gracie is so precious to me.   Thinking back to when she was born is sometimes hard, but I can still remember with every bit of my being how intensely I loved this child from the moment I knew I was pregnant.  She was "the gift" that made it evident God was still handing out grace.  And so she got the name Grace.  Grace Elizabeth... and she calls herself God's Grace.  She loves that her name is in the Bible.  Should have thought of how that would fare when we named Lola Mei... but her name is also special.

Gracie has been a firecracker since she was a wee one.  Always ready to fight to get her way, she never lets us let our guard down.  She is smart too and can figure out whats what.  She has done well in school and is successful in dictating games around the house.  She is still a chick, but likes to play hen most of the time.  She is strong.  She is creative.  She is beautiful.  She is smart.  God has great things planned for this little leader of mine.  She loves the Lord too, which I am most thankful for.

We celebrated her birthday back in December with "english" friends as she likes to call anyone who is from America and/or speaks English flawlessly.  A couple of friends came to our city and we made puffle cupcakes and played pin the beak on the penguin.  We had some other games planned, but once the styling chair came out all bets were off.  Gracie and Carley headed to her bedroom to open the salon.  Everyone played hard all day.  It was one of the best, maybe the best, birthday party Gracie has ever had.  We enjoyed being surrounded by friends.

Puffle cupcakes

Getting a little brush before pics

The salon chair was a hit!  Thanks Mims!

  

playing pin the beak on the penguin

Our friends

Peter is 2!

What a great day we had celebrating Peter's second birthday.  We were conveniently at the beach so of course we had a swimming party.  Peter enjoyed his cake and ice-cream, made himself a crown and tore open his presents like a champ.

Pete had grown so much this year.  He is all boy and I love it.  Tough as nails but also as sweet as candy.  He loves his Momma and his Momma loves him back.  He still sleeps with us - that is a bit old, but he doesn't think so.  He refused to be weened up until after this party - 3rd time was a charm.

I love the way he loves on his sisters, kisses his Ayi, and plays with his cars.  iPod is one of his favorite things even though he doesn't get too many visits with it.  He likes to call Meme and Mims on Skype and will sit and look at books for long periods of time.  I cannot believe how big he has gotten.  He runs like he's in a race and I love the pitter patter of his little feet coming down the hall.  He also potty trained himself at 21 months, but that didn't last.  it got too cold for accidents, so he reverted back to the diaper.  He did well swimming with his floaties and wasn't at all intimidated with the waves in the ocean.  And at 2 years old he tells us all kinds of stories, although we can only understand a fraction of them.  I cannot wait to see what God has in store for our boy.  He is such a joy to us all.

Prince Pete turns 2!  Happy Birthday little man!

Had some cake, now onto the ice-cream.

Very excited about his new toys.

"Really not into a family picture right now guys!"  Shafer thought it would be fun to get in it though : )

"Yes!  A dinosaur!"

"Lola, look at my cool tuk tuk!"

Princess Gracie, radiant as always.

Home School Conference 2013

Gracie is 7 and is in the middle of 2nd grade... we started late this year but that's probably all well in good since she has a late birthday.  We went to a home school conference in Thailand where she tested, I got to meet with other home schooling moms and learn about all the new stuff that is out.  Gracie's favorite part was of course meeting new friends and getting to see her old ones.  Here is a collection of photos from our time at the conference.

Dorothy with Toto

Gracie and her friend Shafer, who was Fritz

Gracie and Andrew, her newest friend 

We got to eat lunch and dinner with our friends every day.  Grace and Elizabeth have been friends for a couple years but grew much closer this week.

The rest of my pictures are on my phone, so I will update this some time or another.

Lola turns 4 - 9/9

Lola Mei is so precious to our family.  She bounces around the house with her golden locks flowing behind her.  She is a gabber.  She has made it a habit to wake us every morning with a "It's morning time!"  She is our alarm clock and usually gets her Mommy and Daddy time at 6 am.  Being the middle child I guess that is fitting.  She wants to dance, but has 2 left feet.  At the same time she is so physically inclined that I have no doubt that she will be our athlete.  She's tough too.  No drama, no tears.  She gets up and dusts herself off and carries on with whatever she was doing before a fall.

As Lola's birthday neared I asked her what she wanted for her birthday.  She had only cakes on her mind.  Strawberry cupcakes and chocolate cake.  Any toys?  Not really, just cakes.  And balloons.  And so the party planning began and since we were in the States we were able to get a few things to bring back for the party.

Since her birthday fell on a Sunday, we made all the cakes Saturday evening.   Gracie and I wrapped her presents and got everything set.  Sunday we blew up the balloons and hung them with streamers. Everything was ready and after church we had a grand party.  She did indeed get a few gifts, but I think she just liked the idea of having a party and celebrating herself.

Love you Lola Mei Owens!  You are truly a gift from God!

A lesson in trusting God - Thailand February 2013

So if you have known me for long you know I used to be quite the tree hugger.  I mean I literally hugged trees - climbing them of course.  While in Thailand I enjoyed a month of very few backaches and a few great adventures.  Grace and I went to Adventure Land in Chiang Mai which is a ropes course, climbing wall, zip line and obstacle course playground.  It was fun.   Fat Mamma with her too long fingernails didn't quite make it to the top of the rock wall, but I did pretty well and at least the Thai were impressed with my "skill" - I use that term very loosely.  It was a load of fun and Gracie enjoyed herself immensely.  She even got to ride a crazy pony.

                                                        

                    

I have to admit that living in the city takes it out of me.  I really  don't like it very much and being in a place where I could climb made me feel very alive.  I don't know the last time I felt so good.

A week later at the beach Lola tempted me with her desire to kayak.  There we were on a beach with a rack of kayaks just waiting to be rented, $3 for an hour.  Across the bay there was an island.  Officially it is called monkey island because it is infested with monkeys, but we called it Daddy island because it is the shape of a man lying down.  A man with a belly : )  A friend had told us that they paddled out to monkey island the morning before so I thought it would be fun.  The problem lies in the fact that I do not know the ocean.  I can paddle pretty well, but the tide has a way of taking you where you don't want to go.  We went out easily.  That should have been my first clue.  Lola was nervous once we were  far off the beach.  She was scared we might go into the open sea.  I was able to maneuver the kayak and was heading directly toward monkey island.  We got close enough to see the monkeys then we turned around.  That is when the trouble started and I realized the tide was going out and we were trying to go in.  After repositioning for the fifth time our kayak tipped over.  It was very scary for Lola, but I showed her how to lean back on her life jacket and had her hold the paddle and I bailed and flipped the kayak back over.  I got her back on easily, but I couldn't get myself back on with out throwing her off again so I opted to swim.

Daddy Island
To get an idea of how far out it is look for the boat in the picture.

I swam and swam and swam- for about an hour total, and although I was making progress, I was a loooong way from our beach.  Lola was crying and I told her not to worry that GOd could see us.  He knew where we were and what had happened and he would take care of us.  I suggested we pray that someone would come along that could help us.   She prayed earnestly. The bay was deserted.  After 5 minutes a fishing boat trolled by about 100 feet in front of us.  We yelled and waved but they didn't see us.  THey were laying their nets.  All I could think about was sharks.  But I told myself the same thing I had already told Lola. We prayed and sang worship songs and I swam.  After about 45 minutes or so another boat came into view and we started yelling.  This time the boat turned and came to help.  A couple had rented the boat to take them to another island and they were headed back.  The Thai fishermen pulled us and our kayak up onto their deck and took us back to the beach.  It was good to be safe and out of the water.

A boat like the one that rescued us.

Once we got back to the beach we asked if they could help us return out kayak.  We were on the other end of the beach from where we had rented it.  I had to talk to the boss lady.  She knew the owner of the kayak and said she would return in for us later in her truck.  I asked her how much I owed her.  Nothing.  See, I told Lola, when God saves us it is free.

It was quite an adventure and I would say I have most certainly given my child a fear of the ocean.  She was not at all interested in getting into another boat or going too far out in the ocean for the rest of our vacation.  I am just thankful for God's faithfulness.  He was truly with us.  I could feel his Spirit giving me peace throughout the whole experience.  Lola too got a lesson in trusting God.

Easter 2013

Easter is the best holiday there is, no doubt!  This year on Easter Sunday I improvised a lesson for the girls that was simple but so life altering for sweet Lola Mei, who is 4 and a half.  As we talked about what Jesus did for us and his resurrection the light bulb came on for her.  She has asked and commented on the fact that Jesus is alive and can never die again over and over for the past 48 hours.  I love her interest in the Lord.  She was very upset not to be able to take the Lord's supper Sunday.  She asked when she could and we explained that she could once she was baptized.  She has professed her faith in Jesus for some time now, but her being so young has given us reservation in allowing her to be baptized.  We'll see that this new information does with her.  We may not be able to keep her dry for long.  She will just have Gracie baptize her in the tub if we don't do it.

Easter was full of blessings this year.  Over 300 people came to our Easter egg hunt and although it started out a little out of control it ended well.  You know the old saying " a few bad apples....".  Well a few kids really got things stirred up at our egg hunt by sneaking into the hiding area and gathering a few eggs.  Once the masses saw them others came in too thinking it was time.  After a few minutes it was impossible to keep them at bay.  They were too excited.  We were concerned mainly because none of them had heard instructions for our activities afterward, but they all stuck around to see what else was in store.  And once we finally got it going it went well.  Children and their parents gathered around to hear the greatest story ever told.  They made bracelets to remember the gift we were given and got an illustration with straws and paint to make clear the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.  49 professed faith.  40 came to our house the next day.  I love what one of our friends who was leading a group shared with us later.  She had a large group of about 20 people.  The parents were telling their kids to listen, pay attention and try to understand.  AMAZING!

We are so humbled when Dad moves in our presence.  We didn't do much more than gather the sheep and ask some fellow workers to give them some hay... and our Father changed lives.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit.  How grateful we are that the Spirit has given us new life!  Thank you Jesus for dying on  the cross.  And praise God for raising Him from the dead.

Yes, Lola, it is cool that Jesus will never die again.

He lives!