I'm making an early new years resolution - to keep up on blogging more consistently. I feel like the kids are getting so big, so fast, and there are so many things that you should all know about, that just get left to the wayside. So - in an effort to turn a new leaf, here's a quick entry.
A few nights ago I was putting Sydney to bed, and as always we sing a song together and then I pray and she prays after me. At school, I think they start most of their prayers with "Heavenly Father" so she started her prayer like that on this particular night. I had to keep from laughing, because she said "emily father" - it's what she hears and is copying it. It was so precious. She's becoming quite the little prayer warrior. We've been praying every night for an almost 2 year old named Marley Moore that has brain cancer. Last night she thanked God that Marley was learning to walk again (she had a stroke and lost a lot of abilities) and prayed that she would "rest well" during the night. Then she said "please God, PLEASE, PLEASE help the medicine to work so that Marley's cancer goes away". It's amazing the power of a 4 year old's prayers - she teaches me frequently how to pray.
Elijah is chronically outside playing soccer in the backyard. For a few months both kids have been earning allowance from us, to help them learn to manage money and to help teach them the concept of tithe. As a side note - I'm proud to say that they both always get their 100 colones out of their banks on Sunday morning to take for Sunday School offering - I don't even have to remind them anymore. Anyway - Elijah saves EVERY cent that he gets, rarely spending it on frivolous things like his sister. :) A few weeks ago, right after we moved to the new house, we were in a store that has lots of toys. We walked past a set of portable soccer goals that cost about $40. He wanted them so bad, but I told him that I didn't plan on buying that, and didn't have the money for them. I told him that he had about that much money saved in his bank (he had birthday money still, as well as his allowance) and he could spend it if he wanted to. He decided that it was a worthy investment, and bought them. He plays with them everyday and hasn't regretted his decision yet. He's also started getting into "extreme speech". For example - a couple days ago I made some hotdogs with melted cheese wrapped up in a tortilla for lunch. He really liked them and looked at me in all seriousness and said "mom, this is the best lunch I've ever had!" With easy standards like that, I'm bound for cooking hall of fame with him. :)
Candy and Tim are coming in 2 weeks and we are really looking forward to their visit. We are so excited to show them around our new house and our new country! We are going for a mini-vacation to the beach for 3 days and are REALLY looking forward to that. Their visit and vacation couldn't come as a better time - life's been crazy busy, and we are ready to slow down a little.
We'll see if my resolution sticks - hope to blog at least once a week. If you are on Facebook, look up Misión Mundial MAC and become a fan of the page. We just started it for our ministry and you can get a peek into what we are doing. It's all in spanish, so you might want to brush up. :)
