In case Sam never plays BB again on a team, he scored today! From a pretty far spot, the ball swooshed perfectly into the net, and you should have heard my sister, Paige and I scream! We were all a bit disappointed that we weren't able to get it on camera...
There has been a trend all week. Even though we are in and out of the house constantly,
this week we've been close to home more often than not. Watching kids of friends, having meetings here and walking through some hard lessons with our older kids in the comfort of home. We've had to stick close to home too as we are waiting for a transport company any day now to deliver a very special present from Pa and Lola to Taryn; her first car! We just received the car keys and pink slip in the mail yesterday.
This economy has also hit close to home. Lots of job losses going on around here. I've been in prayer mode with lots of restless nights of sleep this week lifting up those that are finding themselves in this situation. Since those stories aren't mine to tell, would you just generally pray with me? God is Sovereign and will indeed make His will known but in the meantime, pray with me that His peace that surpasses all understanding may be so evident to them that find themselves in this predicament.
The weekend for our family starts Thursday night! This past Thursday, Sam and Chris packed it up to spend a night with the Fernandez family... Yes, you read it right, the boys, not Tar and Paige which is the 'norm' for them. As the Fernandez fam prepare for adopting sibling boys, Lord willing, from Peru this summer or fall, they wanted to do a trial run and catch a glimpse of what it might be like. The boys they hope to adopt will be between the ages of 8 to 11. Borrowing the boys were able to give them a small taste of what it is like to have BOYS in their home and four kids! They even got to sleep in the room made just for the soon-to-be adopted boys (and hopefully future friends). Their main goal on this overnighter was to make METAL swords with Mr. Fernandez that H and the boys found on You Tube .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-501BZeG3g
Kat and Amanda were great sports and actually really enjoy being around the boys. They will be great big sisters when the time comes! Here they are with the boys in their backyard.
Steve is working on a sword video so that you can all see their new swords in ACTION! We'll post it sometime in the next week or two when he is done.
On Friday while the boys were still away... Paige was able to spend the day with Mrs. Wilson and baby Emma and work on sewing her prairie dress, pinafore, and bonnet from scratch. They were able to finish the pinafore and get started on the collar of the dress. They are making great progress!
Howard and Steve spent the day together doing the GUYS portion of Passport to Purity from Family Life Today. They didn't get to do an overnight like us gals but he did get a surprise outing to the Charlotte art museum (Mint Museum of Charlotte) where they were able to peruse all the art at a leisurely pace.
Taryn and I along with Auntie Tami took a drive to Charlotte too to visit the Light Factory (which was FREE!), a photography museum. The current exhibit was called CHINA: INSIGHTS. It was very eye-opening. I am very thankful my parents immigrated to states 36 years ago since so many of the photos could easily parallel life in the Philippines. Life in America is definitely a blessing!
After being apart, it was sure great to get back together again for Steve's swim meet on Friday night! Steve had his best meet to date breaking all his swim times despite a gnawing charley horse in his calf all week. He even had to swim a 500 meter race for the first time and was mildly surprised that it didn't wipe him out. The Coles Sr.'s were able to come watch him too which was a pleasant surprise.
We hope this is NOT a continuing trend. We are hoping that Chris and Sam do NOT follow in their older sibling's footsteps! Here's Paige.....
She won't get to see her normal teeth until summer 2010 when she is 14.
Outside school was cancelled today due to "inclement weather!" But, after we finished our in-home school, the boys could not WAIT to have a snowball fight in the beautiful snow we got last night, more than the previous two winters since we've been in NC. H and most of the kids tried to make a snowman but found that the newly flurried snow was a bit TOO soft to make a COOL-looking one. But, they had a blast making it anyway! Right now, most of the kids are over at their cousins having one last snow play before it all melts away... UNTIL next year we hope. We enjoy this once a year snow. Just enough to have fun but not too much to have to endure.
This is the first time the boys have been on any kind of
Howard is pretty syked (yeah, I know, a very 80's term) about doing the FIVE ASPECTS of MANHOOD with 5 young men and their dads! Since this curriculum, http://www.fiveaspects.com/catalog/five-aspects-young-c-23.html highlights five characteristics of manhood, we came up with the idea of recruiting 4 other guys between the ages of 14 and 16 (to add to the Howard and Steve combo) to do the study with them for 5 months/5 meetings. Then, during their fifth meeting, celebrate by having dinner together at the FIVE GUYS burger joint (much like In N Out). They kick-off with their first meeting this month with the first aspect of manhood!
THE FIVE ASPECTS OF MANHOOD:
Lord of the Earth - from dependent to decision-maker
Husbandman - provider
Savior - protector
Sage - from a fool to a wise man
Glory of God - from follower to leader
IF all goes well this first-time around, he hopes to repeat this again in about 5 years when the time comes for Chris and Sam to be launched toward manhood!
We took care of a 6 month old baby and lived life like usual and survived. That may be more because Emma was as near perfect as an infant can be to take care of than in our abilities to manage the day with an extra little person around. She played well, slept well (2 hours at a time) and ate well. Honestly, she did not cry once. Since Sammy is OUR baby, he had a blast feeding someone smaller than himself since he has no younger siblings! Here's a conversation we had while she was here.
Sam: Mom, we need to have a baby just like this one.
Me: Why, when we can just borrow this one?
Sam: This one is so cute and chubby. She doesn't ever cry!
Me: Not ALL babies are as easy as she is. So, if we have one or get one, she might not be like her. And, most babies cry a lot so you'll have a lot of work to do to help out.
Sam: Well, I still want one anyway.
Here's Sam feeding little Emma:
20+C+M+B+09 translates into the year of our Lord 2009 and CMB means Christus mansionem benedicat, may Christ bless this house. We had a marvelous first-time celebration of EPIPHANY with our friends who are veterans in regards to celebrating this church holiday! I am not going to elaborate when my friend did such a great job of writing about it already and had much better pictures too! Here's a link to our friend's summation of the night because she wrote it so well:
http://frankfamily.vox.com/library/post/epiphany-further-revealed.html
One other thing about Epiphany that is very meaningful is that it is the revealing of the Savior to the Gentiles; those outside the nation of Israel - that means US! and the magi were kings from other nations coming to worship the King... Christ, the true light, was revealed to the NATIONS!
On the left are photos of the kids exchanging gifts with one another in the spirit of the magi giving gifts to the Christ child! Instead of doing this on Christmas day, we waited till after Christmas for the kids to shop for one another (drawing names) and then opened them on Epiphany! They actually enjoyed having another surprise 12 days later. Next year, we hope to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas between Christmas day and Epiphany.
January 6 was also the last night we had with Pa and Lola who flew back to Cali the following day. So, we had one last night with them making smores together and then we all prayed for them both; every child, in-law and grandchild. We feel so blessed to have them around and are thankful for each time they sacrifice their money and time to fly out to visit us. Lord willing, they will return in May for another graduation; Meagan and Paige's who are graduating from 8th grade to HIGHSCHOOL!
Sammy opted out of a birthday party this year and instead chose to REDO the skating rink (like last year) and just invite whatever families were able to show up! On the left are pixes of all four kids (minus Tar who had no one to race against) in their foot races where they all won their age division race!!! You'll have to click on each photo to see them in its bigger form.
And a video of Sam winning his skating race!
Then, the following evening we were able to celebrate the Christmas season in a deeper more meaningful way by watching Andrew Petersen and his crew perform BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD! What a wonderful concert. It's one of those experiences you cannot explain, you just had to be there. I didn't get any pix of the night but I did get to videotape one of our family's newest fave singer, Bebo Norman. We think he sings much better in person than on CD. His passion and love of Christ is overflowing as he uses his gift of singing. Many of you know this famous song of his:
And lastly, after Christmas, the East Coast Urbiztondo (mom's side) all got together for a Christmas Candy exchange. This is just two shoots off the tree; my mom and her daughter's families and her older sister, Helen and her two daughters and their families: Armoreda, Judge and Cheeks. Since my mom has 6 other sisters and a brother who just got married, we do have a pretty big family if we were ever able to be together all at the same time. It hasn't happened ever, I don't think, as there is always one or two sisters and their families missing. But, we think a big crowd will turn out in June for the youngest and only boy's wedding!
