French toast anyone?!?!

I was just taking a moment to read a blog of a family who adopted two little boys from Ukraine this past December. After reading up on all of their family adventures ... I realized what a great job she does keeping hers updated (thanks Courtney!) so here goes ... I'm breaking all my rules and writing a little something this morning.



This morning it dawned on me that I don't usually update the blog until ... the kitchen is clean, the laundry is folded, the girls are sleeping, I've answered my e-mails, spent time with Chris (when he is in town) and on and on and on the list goes.



So ... I'm breaking all the rules this morning. The kitchen is a disaster ... but here's why:



This morning the girls helped me make french toast ... their "help" in the kitchen always makes a bigger mess ... but it's also fun (when I have the time to do it). They each get their own bowl ... to which I add 2 eggs, a splash of milk, some sugar, cinnamon and vanilla ... they stir and stir and stir. While they're stirring I warm up the griddle and get the bread ready. This morning I also cut up some fresh strawberries ... which were quite yummy!!



After it was all mixed up ... we put them together in mommy's shallow bowl and I did the dipping and putting on the griddle. Juliya was sure the bread was crying "no griddle ... too hot!!" she said the strawberries were crying when I cut them up too. :o)



The girls helped whip up some butter and sprinkled powdered sugar on their french toast. Then we sat down at the table and enjoyed a yummy breakfast. Oh, I almost forgot the not so cute part of Nataliya "losing it" b/c Juliya set the table and chose the wrong fork for her. She gave her a blue one ... she apparently wanted the purple one ... so she threw herself on the floor, burst into tears ... kicking, screaming ... such tragedy. I sent her to the couch for a time out ... when she was done she came back to the table. Then we enjoyed a yummy breakfast!!



After breakfast the girls played with their BIG puppies ... these are huge puppies their Poppie and Grammie gave them. The dogs are much bigger than the girls ... but they have lots of fun with them. Poppie and Grammie are my second parents ... they live near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina now ... but I met them in the early 90's when Chris and I lived in South Dakota. They are precious and love the girls so very much!!



When I sat down to write this ... the girls were in their play room teaching motions to their kid's church class. :o) Not a song I know ... but something about Jesus - Power - Jesus loves you ... that's a good start! Now they have moved over to the piano room ... someone is "playing" and they are both singing ... "Hallelujah ... amazing ... mountain ... ever ... amazing ... changing ... mountain ... love you ... mountain ... sing ... ever ... love you ... love you ever ... Hallelujah!" On and on it goes ... now Nataliya is going to get a microphone!!! :o) (not that she needs one, since they are singing at the top of their lungs!!) I'm pretty sure they are singing the song "Hallelujah, Your Love Is Amazing" ... I would LOVE for them to grow up and become worship leaders!!!!



Oh and the laundry is not even started ... although I have many nice piles adding to the landscape around here! We all had clean underwear this morning ... so what's the rush!?!?!



Well the little ladies need some attention. They just helped me clean the kitchen (they dry the dishes ... well you know, about 1/4 of each dish!!). Time to go have some more fun or prevent meltdowns ... probably some of both!!

Still No Pictures

Well ... we still don't have any pictures to post ... they are all stuck on the camera at this point. But I thought I'd at least share a cute moment with Nataliya tonight.

During "talk time" (when she's in bed and has a few minutes to "talk" to Mommy before we pray and go to sleep) ... I asked her if there was anyone special she would like to pray for.

So she starts strumming her fingers on her cheek and says "Taliya thinking ...." Then she responds "Minnie!" So I asked her "you'd like to pray for Minnie?" "yep ... Minnie and Mickey too. Mickey no say "gosh" no more on movie." Interpretation: she wants to pray for Mickey and Minnie b/c they apparently say "gosh" on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I've tried telling them I actually think Mickey is saying "garsh" ... but they still don't think he should say that either ... and he needs prayer!!!

So she prayed first and prayed for the whole cast ... Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck (which is what she was calling my brother Don last weekend when we saw him ... too funny!), and she prayed for Donna Duck! I guess she doesn't know Daisy's name ... so she calls her Donna Duck. I was laughing while she was praying ... but it was dark and I was quiet ... so she didn't know!

Those little darlings are sleeping now ... and Mommy needs to do the same ...

Blessings on you and yours!

Sweet Sleepy Thoughts

Yesterday we had a fun filled, long day.

After the girls had their jammies on ... we were having story time. At bedtime we read one Bible story and one other book.

Last night our Bible story was about Andrew following Jesus and asking if he could see where Jesus lived. So, Jesus said ... come on over to my house!!

After telling the girls the story I asked them each: "what would you want to talk to Jesus about if you were invited to His house for the afternoon?"

Juliya's answer: "Juliya tell Jesus 'wuv ooh Jesus' (translation: love you Jesus!!)

Nataliya's answer: "ask Jesus why Ganpa heaven ..."

Needless to say ... both of their answers deeply touched Mommy's heart. (Nataliya is talking about her Grandpa ... my Daddy ... who passed away just weeks after we adopted the girls ... but they've heard lots about how much Grandpa loved them and how much fun they would have had with him teasing and tickling them!)

I told Juliya ... "you know what Jesus would tell you? Jesus loves Juliya!!!!!" (He loves you too precious friends!!)

So ... those are some sweet moments from yesterday ...

I'm going to try blogging more short and sweet entries. Sorry no pictures ... computer is still broken ... bummer!

Hi Marty!

Hello friends out there. (I wrote this last week ... very late in the evening and apparently didn't post it ... UGH!) Here goes ...

You may wonder ... why "Hi Marty!" ... well, we were recently in South Dakota for a family vacation (and a few meetings for Chris) ... and while there we saw soooooooooooooo many of our precious friends from the 10 years we lived out there.

While there I was visiting with a gal at church who told me checks the blog almost daily to see if I've added anything ... wow, she's faithful. Well, her name is Marty ... so I told her I would think of her and do a much better job of posting stuff.

So ... since I can't post any pictures (my computer crashed and has been sent in to be fixed ... so I can't upload any new pictures) ... I'll give you link to check out.

While in Spearfish, South Dakota ... Chris and I had the awesome privilege of being part of the service at Countryside Community Church ... a church we will always love deeply ... as we had the really awesome opportunity to lead a hand full of people to "plant" that church back in 1993.

Here is a link to Countryside's website http://www.teamcountryside.com/

If you would like to see video of the week we were there ... here's what you do:

click on: Live Video

click on: On Demand (bottom center)

click on: Sunday, June 29, 2008

You can choose either the first or second service ... at the bottom of the video screen you can "drag" it to fast forward. I think Chris' message is great and about 2/3 way through his message he introduces the girls ... which is very sweet.

So ... enjoy that if you'd like to.