~ Friends FOURever

These precious little angels have been friends since the womb.

Three of them totally caught their mommies by surprise!

There must have been something in the water at church.

(Zachary's 1st Birthday: Zachary, Emmerson, Bennett & Ansleigh)

Their mommies got sick together,

had cravings together,

and got fat together.

(Bennett's 1st Birthday: Ansleigh, Zachary, Bennett & Emmerson)

Recently, these four have all had birthdays.

Now their mommies talk about potty training,

which socks don't wear out (Puma if your interested),

and how to survive the day with a three-year-old.

(Emmerson's 3rd Birthday: Emmerson with mom Jackie)

(Zachary with mom, Heidi)

(Ansleigh with dad, Greg)

(Bennett with his mommy)

My how time flies!

~ It's Not Just DNA

It's early in the day, and we are watching our smallest busy himself about the house, making his presence known wherever he goes. He loves noise. His brothers are off playing in another part of the house when I tell my husband,

"He is sooo you!!!"

I whisper it because I never want the older boys to think they are less of daddy than their brother.

And then I wink and ask my husband if he thinks the little one will be-bop when he walks as he gets older. (That's what caught my eye when I first saw his daddy - that happy bouncy way he walked around campus when we were young and carefree.)

He laughs and says he's been noticing the same crazy bounce step in our little one that I always tease him about.

It must be in the genes.

The day rolls along. We start school and tend to our subjects, and when it's time for science, I pull out the beads and the pipe cleaners, and I help my oldest make a replica of a strand of DNA.

I look down as my hands thread the beads and I remember the morning conversation and I marvel at this carrier of genetic information I am constructing.

The day is winding down when one of my middle boys comes to me out of the blue and says in his quietest, most serious voice,

"Mom, I wish I knew what my birth dad looks like."

We have never been afraid to talk with the boys about birth moms or birth dads. In our book, they are to be honored and remembered for their incredible sacrifices and gifts. However, this comment caught me a little off-guard. Wanting to be ready to tend to this need, I cleared my throat, shook away the cobwebs on my brain from a crazy day, and I uttered the most profound thing I could think of at that moment,

"Oh really, honey? Why?"

"I want to know if I reflect him."

Just as I feel the little flutter in my heart, the one that happens when I wonder if I'm going to be able to handle this the way it needs to be handled, I hear him chuckle and he says,

"I heard that on T.V."

"You heard what on T.V.?"

"That children reflect their parents."

And just like that, something caught his attention and off he went.

No time to formulate the perfect parental response.

No time to reassure him.

No time to scoop him up in my arms.

I'm left standing there with a spatula in my hands, speechless.

As usual, I think of the perfect thing to say later that evening in the quiet, and I will say it to him when I get the chance.

I will tell him that, if it's true that children reflect their parents, his birth father must have the most beautiful dimples, the greatest smile, and the kindest eyes in the world.

And then I'll tell him all the ways he reflects his forever father.

I'll tell him, "You reflect his curiosity, his love for nature, his desire to help people and his ability to make people laugh."

And then I'll tell him all the ways I see Him reflecting his heavenly Father.

I'll remind him to never stop putting other people's needs ahead of his own and to keep loving with no expectations for himself. He's got both of those things down!

I think back on the day and I marvel at the ways a day twists and turns and all comes together.

And when I crawl into bed to find rest for the night, I have this brief thought:

There are many ways to pass things on to your children - DNA is just one of them.

~ Our Favorite Classroom

"And there was evening, and there was morning —

the fifth day."

We have spent the year exploring creation with Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.

We have studied everything we could think of that God created with wings on the fifth day of creation.

We've studied bats.

We've studied flying reptiles.

We've studied every kind of insect...

bees,

flies,

grasshoppers,

dragonflies,

and the list goes on.

But we have been saving the best for last.

We have been waiting for the birds to return to our area so we can learn about feathers and flying and nests and eggs hatching.

And then when we know all there is to know about birds, we will end the year studying butterflies (my personal favorite).

It's been a great year looking at all the ways God filled the skies on that fifth day.

We've had a lot of fun.

But the most fun we have, is when we spend the day outside watching for all the ways God's creation points to Him.

It is, by far, our favorite classroom!

(And it's how the twins chose to spend their very special family day.)

The boys discovered this rock in the creek. Apparently "love" really is all around!

Of course there are always feats of strength and challenges of skill and bravery involved.

Next year, we're studying swimming creatures of the fifth day.

Can't wait to see where that takes us!

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—

the fifth day.

Genesis 1:20-23

~ When God Gives You Forever

Nine years ago today, God gave us an incredible double blessing.

Our twins were eight months old when they arrived from South Korea.

They were born eight weeks premature and weighed only 3 pounds each.

Much to our surprise, they were not tiny when they arrived.

They are identical twins.

After eight hours in a hotel that first night, we could tell their cries apart, and they would turn to our voices at breakfast the next morning.

I believe God had already begun knitting our hearts together.

We became a family that first day at the airport, but God determined it to be so before the foundation of the world.

Happy Family Day Ellis and Aidan! We love you and we love being your forever family!