A Few Matters of Business AND Some Fun

Sold Winners

Though it’s a bit early, I have the results for the Sold giveaway. My mom threw in an extra copy, so we have two names! 

Mandy R.

Emily G.

Congrats ladies, I’ll get it to you and pass it on when you are finished.

And, The people have spoken!

Thanks for your votes and the verdict is in. We are keeping our nicknames for the girls.  These two are staying…

The Littles!!!

Our Time “Watching Uncle Jeff”

Welp, our time with Uncle Jeff is almost over.  It has been a blast and The Littles can’t wait for him to get home from school. Let’s just say when he arrives they have big plans for him.

Most of the plans consist of tea parties and they have figured out that he is a softie when it comes to giving snacks.  Take for instance yesterday when I found The Littles shoving double stuff Oreos into their mouth as fast as humanly possible. 

Actually, they have big plans for most friendly adults who walk through the door. I found three uncles in the loft with the girls, all actively involved in tea parties and rounds of tiger hunting.

My dear friend, Heather, made a long trip to help me pack up and organize the house we will put on the market and The Littles took her hostage, convinced that she was visiting just for their pleasure!

After a day of work, Uncle Jeff decided they just had to go sledding!

They LOVED it.

And proceeded to come into the house and drink their weight in hot chocolate.

Yes, it’s been a party.

As of tomorrow, we are officially living at my Grandma’s home.  She joins us next Tuesday!  :)

In The World of Toddler Make Believe…

Anything goes…

Sold

Thanks to a giveaway on Sarah’s blog, I heard about the book Sold by Patricia McCormick.

I didn’t win but all of Sarah’s winners had to pass on the book.  Leah gave me her copy.

Sold is a quick read and an effective way to be exposed to the realities of human trafficking in a not too graphic way as the book is geared for teens (but riveting at any age).

I would like to pass it on to someone interested.  Leave a comment below if you would like to read it next.  I will draw a name in on Wednesday night if there is more than one person interested. ;)

An excerpt:

In the village school we were taught to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

The teacher gave us difficult problems, asking us to figure out how many baskets of rice a family would have to sell to buy a new water buffalo. Or how many lengths of fabric a mother would need to make a vest and pants for her husband and still have enough for a dress for her baby.

Here I do a different set of calculations.

If I bring a half dozen men to my room each night, and each man pays Mumtaz 30 rupees, I am 180 rupees closer each day to going back home. If I work for a hundred days more, I will surely soon have enough to pay back the 20,000 rupees I owe to Mumtaz.

Then Shahanna teaches me city subtraction.

Half of what the men pay goes to Mumtaz, she says. Then you must take away 80 rupees for what Mumtaz charges for your daily rice and dal. Another 100 a week for renting you a bed and pillow and 500 for the shot the dirty-hands doctor gives us once a month so that we won’t become pregnant.

She also warns me: Mumtaz will bury you alive if she sees your little book of figures.

I do the calculations.

And realize I am already buried alive.

Baby, Just Give Me A Smile

Yeah…so any tips on getting a real smile?

 

 

The Essentials

I recently heard a commentary about the apostle Paul, “Paul was a reed in the non-essentials but an iron pillar on the essentials”.

Hmm.  Something I am going to start praying for myself.

Out Of Breath

Don't forget to vote in the side bar!  (Read yesterday's post for details).

This picture is a few months old, but so fun I can't believe I never posted it!  

4 kids and 4 adults makes for fun hiking. :)

I am pretty sure we took this picture because I begged for a break through labored breaths. ;)

Bring On The New?

The Littles aren’t so little anymore. 

And what do we do when we have more children? Do “The Littles” become “The Bigs”?

Should we change their super-sneaky code names for the blog?

Vote in the side bar with you opinion!

Or you could leave a comment with your ideas.

The new possible replacements?

Care Bear-Little J is my tender heart. When someone is sad, she is by their side, doing whatever she can to help. She cannot handle unrest in her relationship with someone.  If she has been disobedient and receives discipline or even thinks she has done something wrong, she cries until we prompt her to say “sorry” and hug it out.  It makes her feel so much better, even if she didn’t do anything wrong.  Usually about a minute after peace is made, she comes around to the person she feels she has offended and says, “Hi!” in a cheery tone.  Little J is just checking to make sure the person answers her back in a chipper tone and then she is sure they are really at peace. Her sensitive spirit also gives some interesting parenting challenges, but that is another post!  Hence the name “Care Bear”

Bubbles-Little A is my giggling, bubbly child.  She loves a good joke and we noticed very early on that she seemed to have an exceptional sense of humor.  Little A makes us laugh with her antics and is a eager student from many antics her uncles have taught her.  She is also great at drama.  She senses when the situation would be more appropriate to deliver her news in a dramatic whisper or when she is so happy all she can do is squeal in a loud and shrill tone.   Vote on the side bar!