Birthday Girl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE!

The day you were born, I smiled at your face;
You cried your first cry, and mommy's arms became your place.
You snuggled up tight and opened your eyes;
As your gaze met mine, it was love at first sight.
You are beautiful, and your eyes are so blue;
Smiles abound on your face, your playful spirit shines through.
You are one today, and growing on your own;
Let your heart rejoice and know that God's love will overflow.

Written by Mommy

Cute or What?

A Very Girly Day

Those of you that know me well know that I can be “girly” if need be, but it doesn’t come real natural to me.  I have gotten better over the years.  Sure….I love shopping and getting my hair done and things like that.  But when it comes to dressing my kids real girly and doing their hair I lack in that area. 

On Tuesday night the girls and I were invited to a lady’s house from church.  She has all the “bling” that my girls are really in to.  She had bracelets, rings, necklaces, and other fun play items.  The girls got to pick out whatever they wanted to keep.  Sara was hilarious because at one point she had over six bracelets on her arm and three rings on her fingers.  She went home that way.  She also managed to persuade this nice lady to give her a porcelain angel doll that she fell in love with.  We went home with our arms full.  So….when they woke up Wednesday morning they went right to their jewelry and put it all on again.  We decided to have a tea party.  I did their hair and we camped out on a princess blanket in the middle of the apartment.  They were pretty excited.  Mya told me, “Mom, this is the funnest day I ever had!” That made my day.  Chloe enjoyed the tea party too.  Every time the girls weren’t looking she took food off of their plates.  She is quite the scoundrel when it comes to food.  Below are some fun pictures from the tea party.  Of course  every tea party must end with a game of “tag” and “wrestling” right?  Apparently ours had to end that way.  It was hilarious.

Sticking with the girly theme I decided to research how to do hair dos for little girls.  Creativity is definitely not my gift. But I sure can copy things well.  I found a really neat website of a mom who writes a blog about hair dos.  She does her daughter’s hair, takes pictures, and describes how to do the hair do.  Now that is my kind of blog.  The website is www.cute2tryhairdos.blogspot.com.    Below are pictures of the girls’ hair, which I did for church that evening and braids that I did another day.

Random Skills

Chloe and I discovered that we have some new skills to share.  I can actually do a handstand!  Except I am supposed to do push ups once I am in this position.  I am working on that.  I'll let you know when I have achieved that goal.....probably not gonna happen. 

Now Chloe's new skill involves diving.  Oh yes, she can dive into water.  She was watching the girls take a bath and when I walked away I heard a big splash.  She went head first into the bathtub and came up laughing at herself.  She thought it was a great trick....but it sure scared me.  Then I relaxed when I saw her smiley face.

Date Day

Date #2 finally happened today....but during the day.  It has been a while and we were so excited to get out and spend some time together.  We took Chloe with us because we are beginning to “tomato stake” her and train for obedience.  Since we were gone for four hours I really didn’t want the babysitter to have to discipline Chloe to stay in her bed for naptime.  So….she had the honor to join us on our date day.  We also needed to take her along to get her ears pierced AGAIN!  When we pierced them the first time (when my mom came to visit) we had the unfortunate experience of losing an earring and having the holes close up.  I went to church choir one night (the week they had been pierced) for only an hour and while I was gone, Dan wiped Chloe’s face after dinner and her earring flew out of her ear.  He looked all over the apartment and couldn’t find it.  By the time I got home from choir her hole had closed up.  This time we had it done at a jewelry store and got her sparkly earrings that were smaller and fit her ears better.  We are very happy with them and have high hopes that these will stay in.  We started our date day by taking turns running in the morning….after staying up together until 1 am to watch a chick flick.  Dan has always been so good at watching those movies with me.  So we ran, showered and the babysitter arrived around 10am.  Dan, Chloe and I got in the car and headed to Visalia (about a half hour away).  We started out at the mall to shop for Mya and Chloe’s birthday.  We found all of Mya’s gifts at Claire’s.  We hit the 50% off rack and got her a purse and all the girly stuff to go inside (nail polish, lip gloss, hair stuff, etc.).  It was fun watching Dan pick things out for her.  He had so much fun.  We ended our date at Red Lobster for lunch.  I had crab legs and Dan had all you can eat shrimp.  It was a glorious day of quality time spent with my husband.  And Chloe too!

Now…on to some Donatini updates:

Many of my entries are dedicated to either talking about what I am learning spiritually or what we are learning about raising the girls.  I haven’t spoken much about how travelling has affected our marriage.  Let me preface this by saying that our marriage has grown and thrived on having just each other as companions and as a support system.  And by support system I mean a physical support (I don’t want to discredit all of our family and friends from home that have been wonderful at calling or emailing to stay in touch with us….that has been amazing and is so important to us!) We are it for each other while travelling and that has done nothing but wonderful things for us.  I highly recommend it to any marriage if even for a short period of time.  It’s too bad honeymoons are only for one week, typically.  Weren’t they like a whole year or something in bible times?  I thought I heard that somewhere.  Anyway, they should be longer because couples need time to just rely on each other.  We have had some of the most amazing conversations with each other.  I am learning how to stop worrying about things and have such a peace in my soul.  And that peace carries through to my relationship with Dan.  Our marriage is a sweet, sweet romance.  We have always loved each other very much.  But our marriage has gone to a deeper level as we have had the opportunity to be knit together even tighter.  I attribute a lot of that to our spiritual growth and the blessings that God is bestowing on us.  Both of our hearts have grown softer as we work on choosing to be selfless and put the other spouse first as often as we can.  Dan has become very attentive to my needs and to taking care of me and the girls.  As my heart grows softer I respond to him differently.  Something big has happened to me since moving and it started with learning how to respond differently to the kids.  It involved letting go of anger (by that I mean built up frustration) and irritation and ceasing the moments that I have with them.  I have changed for good and I can’t believe how awesome God’s grace is.  And I can’t believe the heart of my husband as he responds to my changes and allows God to work in his heart as well.  I believe that this experience is God ordained for many reasons and we are seeing those reasons unveil right before our very eyes.  And yes……we are going to return home…..to those of you that have doubts.  We are so excited to return home when our travels are done.  And we are excited to come home to share what we have learned.   

Next month will be a busy month.  Chloe turns 1 year old on October 6 and Mya turns 5 years old on October 22.  Of course we have the fun activities planned like birthday parties, pumpkin patch and attending a church retreat.  October is when we will also start looking at new placements for our third contract.  We will either renew again here or move on the second week of December.  Dan and I both agreed that this contract has gone very fast.  We can’t believe our first month is almost over.  Will we move on or stay??? That will be the question and it is an exciting one!  We are learning to just trust in God’s plan for our life.  After all, He lead us to pack up our car, travel across the country with the three kids (having no place to live), arriving in a new city and somehow it all worked out!  I look back at the unnecessary stress that I was consumed with before we left.  If I could give any advice it would be to really trust in the Lord Almighty.  And truly give your heart to the Lord.

Mya took this one, which is why she isn't in the picture:)

Enjoying a Plum

Fruitful Vine

I was making lunch for the girls today after our MOPS meeting. I was in a hurry to feed all of them. I was moving at a quick pace. Mya had the nerve to ask me to put raisins on her celery with peanut butter. What? You mean to tell me the peanut butter and celery wasn't enough. It took time for me to spread that peanut butter on each piece of celery. Meanwhile I was trying to feed the baby. And now my child wanted me to get the raisins out and put them on her celery. You know what I did? I stopped myself in the middle of saying the word "No" and realized that she was asking for something so small...and something that would make her lunch fun and memorable. I stopped myself, changed my thinking, and told her "Yes, you sure can." Priorities! Our challenge at MOPS today was based on Psalm 128 where God tells us that we should be fruitful vines within our houses. My priority at lunch was to get things done on my timetable, so I could checkmark those things on my list. But what should be more important is my children. I am challenged to start watching them closer, play Duck Duck Goose when I don't want to, and going that extra mile to put raisins on Mya's celery. By doing these things I can focus on teaching my children the way God has designed it to be. My family is my ministry and I can obey the Lord in that area by paying attention to the children. One of these days will be the last day that Mya asks for raisins, or that Sara asks me to read her a picture book, or that Chloe needs me to hold her hands to help her walk. These days will pass quickly and I want to do whatever I can to minister to my children and bear fruit in our home.

Last night after dinner the girls were playing with their toys and we overheard them telling their toys that they needed to listen to Proverbs to be wise. Wow! I am doing something right from spending more time with the kids. The Lord will bless that extra time and effort that we put into caring for and teaching them. Blessings will be abundant and fruits of the spirit will be seen. I always tell the girls that they are learning to obey so God can use them and do great things with them. I am excited to see God use our entire family as we continue to make positive changes in our lives.