Exciting day in the Houseworth household!

Good evening everyone!!!! We have great news to share. Our official referral came through today, and we are the proud parents of two little ones (whew! the easiest labor yet!! :) ). Our Haiti babies have names and faces now, and we are so thankful that we can see them in our minds as we pray for them. Our new daughter is named Adah Catherine, and she was born November 13, 2003. She's actually bigger than Abigail at 33 pounds. Our new son, Nathaniel Ericson, was born February 26, 2006 and he's a strapping 10 pounds and 20 1/2 inches. We pray that they will be joining our family by Adah's third birthday. Things are moving so slowly in Haiti right now with the processing of paperwork, but we are hopeful that when the new government takes control in April, the paperwork will speed up. It's hard to wait after seeing their faces, but we'll depend on the Lord to keep us patient. We're just rejoicing that we know who they are, and that they seem to be very healthy. Everyone is excited here, and Abigail is looking forward to sharing her very own bunkbed with Adah. She's insisting that she get the top bunk, though. :)


Here's a funny story about putting our house on the market, which also happened today (it was a big day, to put it mildly). We were driving along in the van discussing how we're going to sell the house and move to North Carolina. I said, "As soon as the new owners are ready, they'll move into our house." Abigail said, "Won't it be crowded, Mommy?" :) So we started over with the explanation. I then explained how we were trying to be reasonable about our asking price so that the house would sell quickly, before Daddy comes home. Cora said, "Why don't we make the price less, like $3.00?" I said, "No, sweetie, $3.00 is a little low." Shiloh said helpfully, "Maybe $3.59?" :) I'm not sure she'll pass the "comprehension of monetary value" portion of her portfolio evaluation. When I told her the real price we were asking, her eyes bugged out. "I don't think anyone's going to buy it if you ask that much!" Thanks for the encouragement, Shiloh.

Happy Tuesday

Well, I know I haven't been here in a while, and that's because I've been contemplating shutting down the blog. My mom called to tell me something scary...in the child porn ring that authorities broke up about two weeks ago, an investigator was asked where these evil, disgusting people get their photos of children, and the investigator said from browsing family websites. Well, that just turned my stomach. So I'll just be posting musings about life in general from now on, with no pictures. And how fun is that?? I wanted to be able to share with you how fast the kids are growing. What I'm going to try to do is find a network that provides password protection for blogs so that only those I want viewing the blog can have access. Blogspot used to provide something like this, but they don't anymore (to my knowledge). Meanwhile, here's a picture of our couch potato Roscoe P. Coltrane, not that he's a replacement for pictures of the kids. :) I don't understand why we allow our dog to get up on the couch (we never intended to!) but I think it has something to do with his big, brown, pleading eyes. He usually lies on his blanket so he doesn't get the couch all hairy, but his blanket was in the wash, so he made do with the pillow. :)

Here's a funny Shiloh story, though: We're doing a unit study on the human body, and I was reviewing the body parts we've gone over to test for comprehension. I said, "Shiloh, what does the brain do?" She said, "It's sorta like a Mommy." I said, "What? How is it like a mommy?" She said, "Because it tells the body parts what to do." :)

My friend Jeanne said she thought the mommy was the heart of the home, but apparently the mommy is the brain, too.

Have a good day!

p.s. I'll be removing all the pictures from the blog in the next day or so. I'll send out an email when I find a network where I can host another blog for free.

Update on stomach flu

Now Abigail has it. She started throwing up last night. She handles it pretty well except that she starts yelling in the middle of throwing up, "I wanna brush my teeth! I wanna brush my teeth!" I don't blame her. I want to brush my teeth too and I'm not even the one who's throwing up. Good thing I'm not a sympathetic vomiter. She doesn't have a fever, which is a relief after Jackson. She's resting in my bed right now in between spells. She's asking for some of "Jackson's juice" - pedialyte - so we'll have to go out and get some. Oh, I really hope the other two don't get this. :)

The Pitiful One

Jackson just had the stomach flu and he's slowly recovering. He had just decided to venture off my lap and do a little bit of exploring when he hit the lip of the door out to the lanai with the walker he was pushing, flipped the walker, and landed on his face. Well, it was back to my lap for the rest of the day, although he tried to remain cheerful. You can see his "cheesy smile" in the picture along with his fat lip. Poor baby.

Right before Jackson got the flu, I received a forwarded email from my homeschooling group, and as Jackson went through the flu, I worried more than usual and thought about this family quite a bit. All of you prayer warriors out there, please take a look: www.candacejoy.org This family amazes me with their strength in the Lord in the midst of what must be a terrifying ordeal. Their experience humbles me and makes me more willing to stop the household for a few days just to snuggle with Jackson and tell him I love him. I didn't sleep on the floor in his room like some better moms I know :), but I think I cleaned up the messes with a more cheerful heart than I would have otherwise.

Enjoy your kiddos, everyone...they're precious, aren't they?

GREEN LETTER DAY

I was going to say red letter day, but apparently I already used that title. How unoriginal of me.

Well, our dossier is on its way THIS VERY MINUTE by FedEx to Haiti. Okay, it won't leave until tomorrow morning because I missed the cut-off by about ten minutes, but it is STILL ON ITS WAY and should arrive in Haiti by the 14th. We are very excited!!

Molecules

We read about molecules this morning in Shiloh's reading lesson. We learned that the faster the molecules in something move, the hotter it is. The slower the molecules move, the colder it is. Then we did an experiment to test this, and Shiloh enjoyed it. So this evening at Steak and Shake as she's drinking her chocolate shake and shivering, she says, "Mommy, the molecules in my shake are moving veeeerrrryy slowly." Science in real life. And what better way to experience it than with a chocolate shake from Steak and Shake?

Abigail the Fearless

We went to our homeschool co-op today, where the lesson was about animal food chains. I got out of teaching the lesson because I still don't have a voice, and one of the other moms graciously filled in for me. That's inconsequential, so of course I thought I should share it.

Anyhoo, one of the moms in our church, who also homeschools but does not belong to our co-op, offered to bring her snakes and give a little presentation to the kids. Yes, snakeS, as in five of them. I don't even remember the different types she showed us, except the Burmese python. Here's what I learned about the Burmese python: it's BIG. I mean, it's REALLY BIG. Theirs isn't full grown yet, and they're stunting her growth so she doesn't get too big too fast. (She knows all about snakes, so I don't think this is animal cruelty.) They feed her only once a month, and she's about 13 feet already. She could grow to be about 23 feet. They don't feed a big snake like that little old rats. Oh, no. Don't read on if you're squeamish...they feed her bunny rabbits! Ugh. At this information, poor Shiloh turned around with a look on her face that said, "Please tell me that is NOT true, Mommy!" Burmese pythons are the third largest snake in the world after the anaconda and the reticulated (sp?) python. Why you would want to have the third largest snake in the world for a pet is beyond me. Apparently a lot of other folks in Florida who thought having a Burmese python would be a good idea thought better of it, released them into the wild, and this is happening: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html

Okay, enough with the grossing you out. Sorry about that. The POINT of the whole blog is to tell you that Abigail did not hestitate to walk up to that Burmese python, who could crush her and eat her, and hug it. Yep, she hugged it. She also pet all the other snakes and decided she liked the rough one, whichever one that was (it likes to fake out its predators by pretending it's a rattlesnake - does that help?).

I was so proud in a weird, repelled-at-the-same-time kind of way. My little girl is practicing dominion over the animals at a young age. Good for her.

p.s. If you want to know about how snakes shed their skin and what can happen if they have a "difficult shed," I'm the gal to talk to. It's amazing what you can learn at homeschool co-op.

A heartfelt prayer

I have my semiannual cold which makes me lose my voice. My mom thinks it might be an allergy reaction. I have no idea what it is, but it's annoying. I try to see the positive side: it makes the kids talk softer because they have to hear what I'm whispering to them. It's still annoying, though.

Here was Abigail's prayer at worship tonight:
"Dear God, please please help Mommy to not talk at all so her broken voice can be fixed. Thank you."

I liked the "please help Mommy to not talk at all" part. I think that was the most heartfelt part.

Hmmm

Okay, so here's a funny thing. Jackson does not like to have his shoes off. The first thing he babbles in the morning is "ssshhzzz, sshhhzzz" and points to them. He smiles and laughs when I put them on, and he's a happy boy. He doesn't like taking them off for naptime, and he's thrilled when I put them back on after naptime. What does this mean? Should I be worried that he has obsessive compulsive disorder? :) Perhaps it means freedom to him, because he's not allowed to go out on the lanai without shoes, and he likes to go out there. It's just something to wonder about.

Strawberry Festival Parade

Hello everyone!
This is my second attempt at posting about our day. My first attempt was wiped out when I tried to preview it. Note to self: always save the draft!!! ARRGHHH!! Well, I only have three loads of laundry to fold tonight, so I guess I'll still get to bed on time. :)

ANYWAY, my friend Mary invited us to attend the Plant City Strawberry Festival Parade with her today, and I decided to go with much reluctance. I don't like crowds, and I don't like to try to find parking. However, Mary's wonderful husband went this morning to mark our spot by putting down lawn chairs. It was nice to see that no one tried to claim them or move them. I followed Mary to a parking area, thus eliminating my nervousness at finding parking. So I relaxed and found that I really enjoyed myself - thanks, Mary! The girls weren't too sure what to expect with a parade, even after I explained everything, but once they discovered that people were throwing beads and CANDY at them from the floats, they were on board for this whole parade thing. I don't even know how many beads they ended up taking home, and I don't even WANT to know how much candy they consumed in the hour we were there. Yuck. I made a nuisance of myself by yelling "Go Army!" at the Air Force JROTC and recruiters. I was going to make fun of their pitiful marching, but I thought that might be taking it a bit too far. There were no Navy guys to make fun of, and I think Mary and her lovely daughter were a little relieved. We saw lots of bands, lots of tractors, and LOTS of beauty queens. And I do mean LOTS of beauty queens. Even the four year olds were doing their "queen wave." Yikes. It turned out to be a gorgeous day after a slightly overcast morning, so we took Mary up on her offer when she invited us back to their place afterward. The girls played so hard in their treehouse - oops, FORT! (I forget these differences when dealing with boys versus girls) - that the washcloths they used when we got home were nearly black. I had a nice, almost uninterrupted chat with Mary inside while the kids played. It was so nice not to worry about how loud they were...with the houses in our neighborhood only ten feet apart, I'm constantly worried that we're bothering the neighbors on both sides who don't have kids. I'm looking forward to a slightly bigger yard in North Carolina. The last four pictures were taken at Mary's house. Her daughter and son are budding photographers, and I was able to take a shot when her daughter was setting up a shot of the girls next to the azaleas. She probably got much better shots than I did, but I liked the sweet expressions on their faces.

Hope ya'll enjoy the pictures from the parade. Daniel, the pictures of the confederate reenactors, the Dixie float, and the Bonnie blue flag car are for you. :)
Love to all!

My Birthday, etc.

First of all, I had no idea you all would identify so well with Abigail's concern over the purple bears. Thank you for your support and helpful comments. I will let her know that she doesn't have to live in this paranoia alone.

Secondly, today is my 32nd birthday. I know it's hard to believe that I'm not the 24 year old you thought I was (ha!) but it's true. With Daniel gone, the girls thought they ought to be the ones to help me celebrate, so they all got up early. Shiloh made cinnamon rolls all by herself. I knew she was going to do this, so I showed her on Sunday how to do it - and don't worry - those oven mitts come all the way up to her elbows! Cora decorated the table, the older girls hung streamers, and Abigail cooperated by letting them get her dressed. They all dressed up in party dresses, and then they led me out to the table with my eyes closed. How cute. This is the first year that they've been able to do something like this, and I know that it just tickled them to feel so grown-up. After breakfast, they presented me with their presents. As any parent knows, when children do not have money to purchase something, they give away their own cherished possessions, which is what I got today. I also got some homemade things, which are going right into my "save" drawer. I felt pretty spoiled and loved, which is exactly how you want to feel on your birthday. :) Daniel owes me a dinner at Bonefish Grill, but he'll make good on that.

Hope ya'll enjoy my birthday!