Life around here

As winter continues to make itself known in full force here, we are staying busy with something for everyone! I am beyond excited to be leaving this Friday for the Adopting for Life conference in Kentucky. After a successful launch of our new orphan ministry to our church a few weeks ago, I am eager to learn more about increasing the awareness of adoption as evangelism and encouraging people to get involved, even if they aren't going to adopt themselves.

We have had such positive feedback regarding Sparrow Ministries . (Click on the link to see our video!) One family felt led to do something and after realizing adopting themselves was probably not realistic, they then chose to give a nice amount of money to help another family with their adoption. (And wouldn't you know it was the exact amount needed in order to be able to accept a referral?) We have had so many people want to help and you can see thoughts stirring in hearts and minds. Praise God! Of course, our immediate goal is to build a fund and we are doing that through our handmade goods sold here. We've added so many items and priced them low and are just having a blast!

Mark is still working hard and faithfully getting home at night in time to tuck the kids into bed (which the kids love). He is loving LOST and eagerly anticipating the arrival of baseball season. He and some friends are even going to be meeting in Arizona for spring training in March!

Lucy is really advancing in her reading ability and is also looking forward to being in a play at school about the three pigs. She is cast as a peddlar (aka crowd) and couldn't be more pleased. She is anxious to lose her first tooth although we haven't seen any signs of that happening soon. I am soaking up her half days at kindergarten, fearful that all day 1st grade will be here before we know it!

Nate is 100% potty trained - even at night. It feels like we have been given a raise, not having to buy diapers for him anymore. He is so proud of himself and absolutely adorable. He doesn't even tell me when he has to go now - just runs into the bathroom all by himself. We are still working on "It's not necessary to lock the door" though.

And Cole. Dear, sweet Cole who likes to keep things interesting. :) We have a program here in MO called Parents as Teachers. It's totally free and an early childhood expert comes to your home a few times during the school year to assess your preschoolers and help, etc. We love Miss Ann and she has been such a trooper since Cole arrived with a big bag of issues! In fact, it was her recent persistance that led us to get a second opinion on his eyes. She had brought along an OT and we were able to see how delayed developmentally he is in certain areas. (Around 6-12 months of age in fine motor skills). She felt like his eyesight may be a factor in the fact that he couldn't put a round disc through the opening or bang a specific block with a hammer, or even stack two blocks together.

So we went to another pediatric opthamologist this week and his assessment was so far from the first visit back in the fall. But we have checked his opinion with others and now feel confident in his decision. Cole will have strabismus eye surgery on April 2nd. He will also be treated with eye drops twice a week to strengthen his weak, or lazy, eye. (This produces the same results as using a patch.)

All in all, things are great and as I sit and write the ins and outs of my family, I can't help but realize how extremely blessed I am. Unbelievably, undeservedly blessed.