They were out by 9:00 pm MI time last night
And up by 8 am in plenty of time to get ready to go to church with my parents.
It was great seeing all the dear ones from the church of my youth
Many whom are dear prayer warriors in my foster walk.
The girls talked a bit tonight about how different our church and their church was
But, they recognized the common theme of Jesus.
Yes! That's the point!!!
Then we brought all the girls home from church
And within 30 minutes the
Three Musketeers were outside
In the backyard
On the swings
Down the slide
Under the clubhouse awning.
For the most part
They played like champs.
I seriously don't know 3 other girls
Who could be outside of almost 4 hours
And not argue, fight, or whine.
Granted, Miss M didn't always get her way
And Ms. O and my niece were hard put to figure out what to do
But there was only one case of tears and it was diffused quickly.
Imaginative play was the key of the play time.
At one point we looked outside trying to find the dog out back
Only to find out the two 8 year olds were having a barking contest
While playing "doggies."
There is a large dirt patch in the backyard
That is left over from the summer pool that my dad puts up each year
And at one point it was a doggie pool
An adventure map
And for the longest time today, it was their farm.
Yes.
They were playing farmers.
When my dad got home from church,
The girls talked him into giving them rakes
And a large trash can
And soon the farmers were
Planting
Growing
Harvesting.
And soon the bucket was filled.
It was pretty impressive.
I guess that was imaginative play with real-life props.
Score one for my dad and not having to rake the fenced in area next week.
My cousin from Indiana came in for the weekend
And was waiting in the house with the rest of us girls
But finally she realized that the Three Musketeers weren't coming in
Any time soon
And soon she joined them out there for a bit.
I took the opportunity to grab some pictures as well.
Excuse the privacy markers over the faces.
Just want to protect my lovely foster kids
And then it seemed weird with some faces blotted out and not others.
Therefore - all were covered! :-)
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| Snack time for the hungry farmers! |
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| I wish, wish, wish you could see the HUGE smiles of content on all these faces. Thanks for coming up to see us, Maria. We LOVE YOU!!!! |
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| The farmers preparing their fields for planting. You would have loved the plow lines and drawn plants in the dirt. So cute. So imaginative. |
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| Swinging = Happiness = Carefree |
My niece has school....
And it is Michigan's state testing this week as well.
Bad timing.
But when she goes to bed,
The girls and I head downstairs to chill
And give my parents some space.
(We are a little overwhelming a times, I will admit.)
The good news is that the "forced" retirement they pushed on my mom last year
Means she's ALL ours ALL week!
Can't wait!
Praise Report:
A dear woman, prayer champion, warrior for Christ, at church today slipped me an envelope with a "gift" in it. She said the Lord told her to share it with us for us to use on our trip here. Words can't express. Really. Today my dad preached from Nehemiah chapter 2 and I loved the 1st person account of Nehemiah sharing how the Lord laid it on his heart to go back home and fix the Jewish homeland and how even though he met obstacles along the way, the Lord gave him peace and provision at every turn showing him His will. Oh, how I can relate. Thank you, God. Thank you, Abba.
Prayer Request:
Please be praying for Miss M and that I have wisdom with her. I'm not sure what to do with her overbearing personality when it comes to be in new situations and with new people. She's been having a blast and she and my niece are getting along famously, but at the same time I am unsure how to balance letting her be herself, yet also putting healthy boundaries on her level of talking (amount and volume - my whole family had mentioned both), giving guidance on attention-seeking conversations and play choices, and how to give loving correction when necessary, but not to go overboard. It's new, uncharted territory. However, in my hearts of hearts, I know it's needed lessons, and is lessons that will benefit her, Ms. O (whom she tends to manipulate to get what she wants), and eventually her own mother and brother when the family is united.
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