The Reason I Smile...

... has a lot to do with the same reason I get beautiful table decorations like this weed from Jenean's garden... ;)
This magnificent arrangement was Diego's contribution to the "beautify-ing" of our living room, and I was in full support. We also daily have dead insects, "sparkly" rocks, broken toys, and flowers of all sizes, shapes, colors, and - of course - dismemberment, added to our collection. I wouldn't trade it at all... :)

A while back (before I left to go home), the kids and I were walking up to the house from the dining hall, and there were a bunch of papers scattered all over the ground. Aaron gave a huge gasp, ran over to pick up a piece of paper, and - wearing a huge frown - marched over to me and told me that someone wasn't caring for our world... lol. I was... very, very happy! So we picked up the papers, threw them in the trash and had a piece of candy to celebrate taking care of our world... ;)

Candi was playing in my room the other morning as I finished up an e-mail, and I looked over toward my bed (when I suddenly realized that all was eerily quiet... usually a sign of some sort of trouble... lol) to see her propped up on the pillows, leg crossed, intently studying my copy of Emerson's writings... :)

And... though there were no pictures... she kept looking at it for quite some time! It's amazing how kids pick up on and emulate the things adults do... we aren't allowed to leave the house without Candi or I having a book in our hand... lol.

Chelsie, the kids are absolutely enfatuated with their frogs...! Everyone that came in or near the house this week had to get a demonstration of the froggy abilities... of course... ;)

Poncho had an assignment to make a television for school the other day... this was his creation, and he was so super-excited about it, that he convinced Candi and Diego that they all needed to sit on the floor in the living room and "watch" the program about flying, while he narrated...

... and they did! I came out of my bedroom and saw the three of them sitting like this... it made me smile, and to think of Dad saying, "Intelligent people don't get bored." Neither do people who are easily amused... ;)

Jenean invited the kids and I over for supper on Tuesday night - which was amazing, by the way - and afterwards we went to the plaza in town for ice cream. Now... the last time I went with these kidlets (and Jenna's kids, too), Katie, Jenean, and I ended up having to haul them to the bathroom every five minutes... literally. Poncho used the restroom four times in the space of fifteen minutes that night... and Julissa and Aaron weren't much better. This time, Poncho, Aaron, and Diego all had to go again (after they had used the restroom at least three times at Jenean's house) within five minutes of reaching the plaza and getting their ice cream... absolutely ridiculous. Next time, I'm putting diapers on all of them...

And speaking of using the restroom... Aaron was in "time out" the other afternoon, and I came in the room to find him face down, hind-end propped up so that he could dry out his pants with the overhead fan... fast asleep. Really rather ingenious, if you ask me... ;)

And another reason to praise...

Two days ago marked six months since Pollito returned to his mom... six months that have wrought many changes here at CVE, as well as within each and every one of us. We are not the same people we were, nor do we wish to go back... even though those who have moved elsewhere are still in our thoughts, our prayers... constantly in our hearts. I didn't think it was possible for six days, let alone six months, to come and ago without my breath catching and my eyes filling. Even as I write this, tears are falling, and the ache in my heart is the same today as it was six months ago. It's not an ache I think will ever go away... but it's an area where I have learned to trust even more in the plan of our Lord, and to realize - yet again - that He doesn't promise us the brilliant sunshine of eternity with Him without the rainclouds of pain that experience and life will inevitably bring. I pray that I am learning to serve Him more and more each day, and to put Him first in my life... above all else.

But thank you to each of you who have continued in prayer, and I ask that you would continue to pray that Pollito and his family will one day come to know the Lord and to serve Him... all in His timing.

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31