40 days

Although my church is not Catholic, it celebrates lent. The purpose of lent is to give something up for 40 days, to draw nearer to God. The past 2 years I did not feel led to participate in lent at all, so I did not.

This time, I feel led to participate in lent by giving up blogging(and its cousin facebook) for 40 days. Ordinarily, I would not go around discussing my lent decision in public, but I did not want you to worry about me or wonder why I vanished off the face of blogland. I don't even know if my church is celebrating lent this year--I am assuming it is, even though I have not heard a word about it. This does not effect my decision though.

If you send me a message via facebook, it will get sent to my email, and I am able to read it directly from my email. And I feel just fine about replying to your message by facebook.

Instead of reading blogs, I plan to read some books:

1) I recently read "Idols of the Heart:Learning to Long for God Alone" by Elyse Fitzpatrick. It's an awesome book that you will kick your tail! In a good way. Thank you for the book mom. I may read it again.

2) I am currently reading "Don't Make Me Count to Three" by Ginger Plowman. I am only in chapter 3 and already love this book! Thanks for lending it to me Angela! You should hear me lecturing my boys "You just wait till I finish this book!"

3) I hear "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan is amazing(and tough) as well. Maybe I shall read it.

4) I am sure there are many other books out there as well!

Oh, giving up blogging for 40 days will be hard for me. Because I love you all even more than broccoli.

Lent starts tomorrow(Feb 17th). I will miss you dearly! For reals!

XXOO

(comments for this post will be disabled since, you know, I can't read them!)

little husky

And at our 9 month check-up, we have the following measurements:

Height: 28.25"=50%

Weight:19.75 lbs= 25-50%

Head:44.5 cm=25-50%

50th percentile??? And 25-50th percentile???

Um, are you kidding me?

And those measurements on Twain are accurate. I even looked up other growth charts to double check his percentiles.

Our pediatrician took one look at Twain's chunky body and then back at the charts.

"He is a husky", she declared! All fluff and fur.

In Twain's defense, he is squishy and snugly as can be.

He loves to stand. He can stand by himself for a few seconds by himself.

Please have mercy on our mock cloth diaper--I used a burpee with safety pins...olden day style. Seriously I had no idea what to do when he actually wet the thing! I cannot even fathom the laundry that took place back in the day.

His feet are simultaneously amusing and befuddling. Where did those rolls around his ankles come from? I have never seen such a sight.

And all I have to do is take one look at these feet and I can't help but smile. They instantly cheer me up.

In fact, I spend ridiculous amounts of time each day staring at them.

Or staring at his shining little face with his two very proud bottom teeth.

As for me, 9 months into this crazy ball game...

Honestly, things didn't start getting hectic until cold and flu season hit full force. The last few weeks my kids have been sharing germs galore and I literally felt like I was running a local infirmary with all of their antibiotics, motrin and barf buckets. Nurse Davi even had to keep a medicine log, lest she mix up their drugs.

And once Twain became very mobile, I really started to feel the full effect of having 4 kiddos. Before, it was kind of similar to having 3 kids.

Now I spend most of Twain's waking hours chasing him around corners.

Making sure he does not fall into the toilet. No matter how many times I remind them, the boys always forget to close the lid of the toilet and the bathroom door.

And Twain is putting every little thing into his mouth. My house is full of hazards, due to food, papers and legos that 3 other little boys leave lying around.

And if he's not eating crumbs off the floor, Twain is pulling out my carpet, bit by bit, and shoving it into his mouth. I have to keep my eye on him at all times.

Most days I feel like a tightrope walker. I scarcely get anything done anymore!

All productivity has seemingly come to a screeching halt. Please forgive me in the days to come if I am not my "usual" self. I feel sort of guilty for not being able to do as many things...but I am trying very hard to just let certain things go.

Don't be fooled by this serious look.

This is one crazy, wild child who has given me a run for my money!

And as much as I would like to freeze time and stand still...

...I am fully embracing the eager, bouncy little person that Twain has become.

And fully enjoying the fact that he can interact and make us all laugh and smile.

It appears...

***update: The State Department identified the remains of David Hames this morning(Feb 9th)...

Yesterday:

It appears that they found the remains of David Hames at the Hotel Montana. The remains are in the custody of the US government, waiting for forensic examination. Nobody knows how long this will take. I am sure the entire family is grieving upon hearing this difficult news, and prayers would be appreciated. I feel so sad for them, and pray for God's peace and comfort to be on them in the days to come.

interview-of-love

A couple of people have already posted interviews with their children. In honor of upcoming Valentine's Day, here are some questions I asked Finn and Calvin on L-O-V-E.

Starting with my eldest.

Before jumping into the whole "what is love thing?", we began with some basic questions.

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up?

A. A cook in this house every day and then on saturdays I'm going to explore the world and take pictures of what I see.{Wow, and I thought my saturdays were busy!}

Q. What is a grown-up?

A. Um, it's when you are old...in your tens or twenties.

Q. Do you want to grow up?

A. Yah, because then you could be tall enough for things and could spell things right.

Q. Where are you going to live when you grow up?

A. Here? Or move into a new house?{He seemed very uncertain. Clearly he wants to live with me forever, right? Right!}

Q. Who would you live with?

A. "That's a tough question!"

Q. What does it mean to be married?

A. Only 1 person. You get to be with a girl or boy.

Q. Is it better to be single or married?

A. Married because if it's just you, you have to do everything by yourself and there is no one to help.

Q.Why do people hold hands?

A. Say there are 100 people..and then just 2 people...if you let go of their hand you'd lose them and you'd get the the wrong person if they looked alike. Hold hands to keep them.

Q. What does love look like?

A. When you give someone a hug or kiss. Do a big job for someone. Or give them a $20 bill.{Ha, he knows his mama's wishlist too well.}

Q. What is Valentine's Day for?

A. Helps people give hugs and kisses.

Q. What would you do for someone?

A. Make them a cookie.

And then, on to Calvin.

Dear sweet Calvin. Most of the questions I asked him on love and marriage were answered with silence... or "I don't know" or "I can't know, I don't have a good thinking head". Bless his heart. We are doing everything we can to encourage him to keep his head up!

So, here are some questions my 4-year-old did manage to answer.

Q: What is your favorite color?

A: Gold or golden rod.

Q.What do you want to be when you grow up?

A. Calvin looked at me nervously and he quietly muttered "race-car driver, rocket driver and a chef.

Q. What is a grown-up?

A. Someone that's old. 12.

Q. What is your favorite thing to do?

A. Legos.

Q. What is your favorite animal?

A. Jaguars and Alligators.

Q. How tall is your mom?

A. Up to the light switch.

Q. What is your mom good at?

A. Watching Ollie push Twain.{Eeks}

Q. What is your mom not good at?

A. I don't know. Nothing. Sometimes I see Ollie push Twain.{double eeks}

Q. What does your mom do for a job?

A. Uh, fold laundry.

This concludes our Q & A for today.

Thank you Finn and Calvin, for taking a break from your world travels to be with us all today!

***updated***

****Tonight we learned that the lobby of the Hotel Montana is not structurally sound enough to handle the heavy equipment to remove the rubble. Instead, workers will have to remove it all by hand, and it could take another 3 weeks to recover anyone. This is heartbreaking news for Renee, the boys and their entire family. Please keep them in your prayers.

I do not personally know Renee or David Hames, but I will never forget their story. (I learned of them through Dan's ordeal). From what I have read, David and Renee have amazing faith in God.****

Original Post

January 13, 2010. The day the big quake hit Haiti.

Tomorrow marks 3 weeks. Three weeks since anyone last saw David Hames, the fellow cameraman of Dan Woolley for Compassion International.

Dan Woolley was found in the rubble, 3 days later. And now, almost 3 weeks later, David Hames is still missing.

Dan and David were both together in the lobby when the quake hit. Dan's rescue helped give clues to the possible whereabouts of David.

And the search and rescue teams did find David's tripod, in one piece. And they do believe David was wearing a backpack carrying water and granola bars.

It is possible that David is alive in some pockets--maybe the floor fell through and he is in some sort of basement.

Every day I check his facebook page "Friends of David". I am one of 1,253 members, holding my breath and waiting, every day, praying that he is found.

Every day that goes by is extremely difficult for his wife Renee and their 2 boys. And David's mother is just heart broken.

Family spokesperson Melanie Dobson gives detailed reports every day. Today she says the teams at Hotel Montana are "very, very close" to where David was last seen.

I know it's been a while since I have talked about this...I was hoping to have some better news to share, but this is all that I know.