Much Needed Update

We enjoyed my cousin Morgan here for a week and are greatly missing having family in the house. I'm pretty sure she got a good dose of "I'm quite happy not having kids just yet" medicine ;). She's only been married 4 months. I don't have any good pictures of her visit on my camera, but here is one of her and Adeline from her wedding. Our gordito having fun in the tub. He desparately wants out of his seat and into the water!Adeline's Mother's Day celebration at her school. Not the best of pictures...and yes, they are swimming in their underware!

Circle of Blessing

Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise. That it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. Ephesians 6:1-4

I enjoy using the advice out of Tedd Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart. We recently saw a fruit of our labors when Adeline drew a self-initiated drawing of the Circle of Blessings. This is the idea:

In Ephesians 6:1-3, God has drawn a circle of great blessings. Children are to live within the circle of submission to parental authority. Submission to parents means honoring and obeying. Within that circle things will go well and they will enjoy long lives (p131).

Although Scott and I poked fun about trying to use it in our training/shepherding (i.e. "you want to be in the circle don't you"), it has proven to be a great image for the kids' minds when we are conveying why they need to obey mommy and daddy.

Local Beach

Since our friends moved up to the North Coast a year ago, we hadn't been back to a beach only 30 minutes out of the city. The North Coast beach isn't little kid friendly with the wind and waves, so although Adeline has been swimming by herself for 9 months, this was her first swim in the ocean by herself. It was also Matthias's first dip in the Caribbean.

My cousin Morgan arrives on Wednesday to bring me to relief! I now understand why it's important to live near family when you have a "quiver full of them."

Beating a Cold, Witnessing a C-Section, & Administering a Test

Scott passed a head cold onto me on Monday. I am on the up and up today after 2 1/2 days of feeling yucky and I believe that my number one ingredient in my cocktail below is the Sinusin product. I was also downing Immune Booster Tea and Yogi's Echinacea Tea since we were out of the vitamins. I believe Sinusin was key because only 12 hours after taking my first dose I was clearing up. A couple of weeks ago I transformed our living room!

BEFORE

AFTERWhat do you think?

Here's our 16 pounder! Adeline snapped this sweet moment when Darton fell asleep while I was reading The Lightlings.We celebrated Labor Day here on Monday and enjoyed a Church family day. Tuesday morning I began administering a standardized test for my son's friend which puts me out of the house for 3 hours every morning this week. It's been a nice break from my everyday routine, but it also reaffirms that I enjoy and desire to be a full-time stay at home mom. Adeline has gone to school each day, willingly, and Darton and Matthias stay at home with Ana.

Now onto the highlight of my week! My friend asked me to be a part of her labor and delivery. I nervously said "yes" and decided this was my chance to know if I really wanted to pursue being a doula. Unfortunately by the time I got to her she had decided to get an epidural at 5cm dialated, which stopped her progression, and two hours later (12 hours after her first contraction) the doctor told her it was time for a c-section. This was her second c-section and she was trying for a vaginal. I was the picture gal for the surgery and so yes, I got to see my friend's abdomen cut open and a baby being pulled-out. I "hid" behind the camera and chose not to watch with eagle eyes just in case I might lose it. No matter how Santiago entered the world, it was still a beautiful moment when he let out his first cry. I will spare all the details of opinions and whatnot, but I do want to pursue doula training. Believe it or not, the first doula training for the DR is being held in June, but it begins the day we leave for the States so this isn't God's timing for me right now. I led 2 birth art classes that Paula participated in this Spring. The first picture below was her depiction of her first delivery and the second of what she hoped her second delivery would be like. I believe she accomplished her goal. She went into this birth much more informed (Thank you Ina May) and her knowledge empowered her to experience a more controlled labor and delivery.

Bienvenidos Santiago!

Although everyone's first language in the surgery room was Spanish, they surprised me by talking in English for me. It was crazy! I don't go anywhere expecting people to speak my first language, but they did. I was very impressed and wonder why they did that??