our dozen beautiful feet

Luke got a set of Lego's for Christmas.  Well, they're Indian made, so not technically Legos.  They don't quite stick together as well as Legos do.  But, he's really enjoying them all the same.  We bought him a small house construction set to see if he'd play with them or not.  Goodness, he spends hours re-creating the designs in the manual it came with.  He can re-create anything in there in just a few minutes now.  He's built them all dozens of times.  He loves doing it over and over. But if you ask him to build something NOT in the manual... well, let's just say he takes after his mom.  He can reproduce anything.  But to think of something new, that's really tough. : ) But he is precise!  Right down to the angle of the front door, and the man bending at the waist in the front yard, it's all spot on!

I took these pictures with the intention of sending them to someone to take to Addis and hang over Meryn's bed.  I never got that done, but thought they were too cute not to share! These days, we're all thinking of Meryn a lot and looking at her pictures every day.  Levi especially wants to see her all the time! : )

This was a really fun week learning about Alexander the Great.  We learned that he was born in Macedonia and became king of Greece when he was in his early 20's.  He conquered almost all of the known world by the time he was 32, in only about 10 years.  He explored all the way into Punjab, India, before his army refused to go any further with him.  We learned all kinds of details about his journey, like that he had arranged for ships to meet his army along the Arabian Sea on the way home, to bring food and supplies. The ships were supposed to come from India.  But they never showed up.  So over 60,000 troops died on the way back through the desert across Iran and Saudia Arabia!  More than he had lost in all the fighting.  One cool thing we learned is that we can see how God used Alexander the Great to begin to unite the world, spread one language across the world, and this was paving the way, making preparations for Jesus' arrival and for his mes...

This week, we took a look at Greek achievements!  We studied Plato, Hippocrates, and some of the other key thinkers in classical Greece.  We learned about the Greek alphabet, and how many of our English words have origins in Greek.  It was a really interesting week! Also, we were so blessed this week to have Hannah join us for three months!  She has volunteered to come and help us with kids and school during this critical time in our family's life.  It is such a testimony to how loving and wonderful our God is. I never would have asked for help in this time.  But when it was offered, I knew I needed it.  Homeschooling is a lot, but doable.  Adopting a child is a lot, but doable.  Living in a third world country, is a lot, but doable.  But doing all three at once?  Might just put me over the edge.  Hannah arrived and is figuring out routine and is doing great!  As the oldest of 8 home schooled children, she is certainly ...

Today, Baby Yusuf was discharged from the hospital. We were able to visit him and his parents for the first time since his liver transplant almost one month ago.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves (mostly)! I just have to say... Oh.My.Word.  Look at all that hair! This kid had no hair. His body is finally working and giving him the nourishment he needs! And he's BROWN!!! Not YELLOW!!! Praise God, Praise God.... Yusuf's father in the background, so happy! How precious is he!!?? Yusuf with his beautiful mother..., and the first time I've ever seen him smile! LOVE! She kept telling him, "Yusuf, you need to get well fast! Meryn is coming to play with you!" Melt my heart... They're just about three months apart... Just LOOk at those eyelashes! All the medicines for Yusuf.  His parents are troopers to be keeping track of all this! The happy family (minus the four proud sisters... a new family ...

I'm an IKEA-a-holic.  Which is not a good thing, because we live no where near one.  There's not one for several countries around. But, I have a running wish list of items from IKEA that I WILL get, somehow, someway. : ) I'm not ashamed to beg people I know who are traveling to Thailand or Dubai to bring me even just one thing back to mark off my list. This week, a friend's parents were coming to visit Jaipur.  They live in Atlanta, where there is an IKEA.  I asked her if I could pay for an extra bag if she'd go shopping at IKEA for me.  She agreed, wonderful woman that she is!  So I sent her my whole wish list (all four pictorial pages, ha!), and sent her shopping for me. When they arrived and brought the suitcase, she told me it was a gift from some friends of hers!  They had asked her what she had to do before going to India, and she told them about my ridiculous request!  They decided they wanted to bless our family by paying for it and t...

This second week in our 3-week mini-unit on Greece, we focused mainly on daily life, foods, homes, roles of men, women, and children, and the different classes of people in classical Greece.  It was pretty interesting for me, because as I was reading the descriptions, it could have easily been written about India in the present day in a lot of ways! We also read about the beginning of the Olympic games, how they were run, and what types of games they actually played back then.  The kids enjoyed beginning to read "The Hour of the Olympics," a Magic Tree House book that really brings to life a lot of what we've been learning! Sorry, no pictures this week!  We did school on the road!  We came on a short holiday to Ahmedabad and were able to visit our sweet friends Himadri and Mishu.  I DID get some great pictures of a wonderful place they took us called Kid City. Wow, we had a great time there!  Enjoy!  Please disregard how shaggy Luke's hair is...