Ladan is our resident literalist. Here are a couple of conversations we had with him today....
[On the way home from Kids' Night at the Smiths']
Ladan: Mom, I'm kind of hungry. I think I need a snack before I go to bed.
Me: Okay. Maybe we can get you some cereal when we get home.
Ladan: No. I was thinking about eating one of those twisty fruit snacks. [Referring to Clif Twisted Fruit--VERY yummy]
Me: Well, I don't think we're going to have any of those tonight. I told you when we got them that we weren't going to eat one every day. You've had one every day since we got them, so we're not going to have any tonight.
Ladan: Well, Mom, we didn't have one every day.
Me: We had one yesterday and one the day before, which is every day since we got them.
Ladan: Mom. [Read that with an "I need you to pay attention" tone] This is not a day. This is the middle of the night. We did not have one in the day, so we did not have one every day since we got them.
Me: [Laughing pretty hard but trying to keep it quiet]
Ladan: Mom, you should not be laughing at me. That makes me nervoused [yes, with an "ed" at the end]. You should stop laughing because I don't like that very much.
Me: Ladan, I like that you're five. This is fun!
-----------------------------------------
[As Chet was leaving the room when the boys were going to bed]
Chet: Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite. I love you. See you in the morning.
Ladan: But, Dad. There are no bugs in my bed.
Chet: Oh, that's right, Buddy. There are no bed bugs in your bed. That's just a saying. It means sleep good.
Ladan: But, Dad. There are no bed bugs.... Right?
Chet: No, there are no bed bugs. Sleep good.
-------------------------------------------------
A couple days ago I was talking to Chet as Ladan was quietly playing with cars on the floor. Here's how that went down...
Chet: I'm so tired today. I can't seem to wake up.
Me: I hear that. As soon as I hit the pillow last night, Claire woke up and needed something... twice.
Ladan: Why did you hit your pillow, Mom?
I love my kids! They're awesome!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Orphan Sunday--November 8
Well, I haven't written in a LONG TIME, but this is just the reason to get back to it!
Did you know that this Sunday, November 8, is Orphan Sunday?
Did you know that it is Orphan Sunday ALL OVER THE WORLD... not just in our little American corner?
Did you know that my brother and sister-in-law started an amazing ministry called His Voice for Sudan several years ago to do what they can to help care for orphans in Southern Sudan? Since they started their ministry there, they have partnered with the Sudanese people to open two orphanages housing over 190 kids, employing 84 local workers, and providing education for 220 other community children. The Lord has been so faithful to raise up godly men and women among the Sudanese to help care for and teach the children. But they need help.
Did you know that you can participate in the ministry to the people of Southern Sudan? You can pray for the leadership of His Voice for Sudan. You can pray for the children and leaders of Sudan. You can receive e-mail updates and you can follow the His Voice blog. You can financially support their ministry. You can spread the word by telling others or by having my brother come and speak at your church or other organization.
Here is a short video showing some of the beautiful faces of the kids in Sudan....
Please take a minute to think about all that we have been given and determine if there is anything you can share. Maybe it's giving your time to pray. Maybe it's giving of your financial resources. Maybe it's giving your life to welcome an orphan into your family. I can pretty much guarantee that the blessings will far outweigh the costs.
Did you know that this Sunday, November 8, is Orphan Sunday?
Did you know that it is Orphan Sunday ALL OVER THE WORLD... not just in our little American corner?
Did you know that my brother and sister-in-law started an amazing ministry called His Voice for Sudan several years ago to do what they can to help care for orphans in Southern Sudan? Since they started their ministry there, they have partnered with the Sudanese people to open two orphanages housing over 190 kids, employing 84 local workers, and providing education for 220 other community children. The Lord has been so faithful to raise up godly men and women among the Sudanese to help care for and teach the children. But they need help.
Did you know that you can participate in the ministry to the people of Southern Sudan? You can pray for the leadership of His Voice for Sudan. You can pray for the children and leaders of Sudan. You can receive e-mail updates and you can follow the His Voice blog. You can financially support their ministry. You can spread the word by telling others or by having my brother come and speak at your church or other organization.
Here is a short video showing some of the beautiful faces of the kids in Sudan....
His Voice for Sudan from Amber Burger on Vimeo.
And here's another really great Orphan Sunday video...Please take a minute to think about all that we have been given and determine if there is anything you can share. Maybe it's giving your time to pray. Maybe it's giving of your financial resources. Maybe it's giving your life to welcome an orphan into your family. I can pretty much guarantee that the blessings will far outweigh the costs.
Friday, September 25, 2009
What Do I Know?
Things have been a bit busy around here. I'm still trying to figure out how to get into any sort of routine with a newborn again and with the addition of homeschooling. I'm exhausted most of the time. I'm struggling to get into a groove of spending regular, meaningful time with the Lord in His Word. Before Claire and homeschooling, I did this in the afternoon when Gabe was napping and Ladan was resting. That time is no longer free. I know that the best thing I can do for myself and my family is to take this time no matter what, but as soon as I think that's going to happen, one of said family members needs my immediate attention to clean up some bodily fluid, make them food, teach them, discipline them, proofread something, pay bills before they're late, etc., etc. So, rather than getting lengthy periods of time in the Word, I have to settle for shorter bits. And I have to realize that while they might not seem as meaningful as what I was getting, it keeps me going. I may only have a little bit of time to sit with the Bible open on my lap, but I can meditate all day long.
So, what have I been meditating on? In our community groups here at Redeemer, we're working through 1 John. What do we see in 1 John? The gospel. God's holiness. A reminder that our joy and our eternity rest on whether or not we believe the gospel and are being transformed to be more like Christ every day. Assurance that if we do know God and believe the gospel, we will be changed, we will have joy, and we will have eternal life. I'm writing it here like it's just that simple, and it is. At the same time, I'm sitting here looking at the words in 1 John with tears in my eyes because it's HUGE! Seriously, do you understand the weight of this? There is JOY and ETERNAL LIFE that comes with knowing God and growing in holiness! There is hell and destruction if we don't know God and grow in holiness. I want to KNOW God. I want to grow in holiness. I need to know what holy looks like.
I keep hearing the song "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road on the radio, and it stirs my heart every single time. Just when I think I know who He is, I get a greater glimpse of who He is, and it brings me down to my knees. Really, what do I know of holy? More than I used to, but in reality, I know nothing. How's that for motivation to stay in the Word no matter what? Even if it's just little bits at a time that I can think about all day. In the event that someone else might be spurred on by this song, I'm posting it here. And if it's been a while since you read the book of 1 John, I'd encourage you to read it again very soon while this is fresh in your mind.
So, what have I been meditating on? In our community groups here at Redeemer, we're working through 1 John. What do we see in 1 John? The gospel. God's holiness. A reminder that our joy and our eternity rest on whether or not we believe the gospel and are being transformed to be more like Christ every day. Assurance that if we do know God and believe the gospel, we will be changed, we will have joy, and we will have eternal life. I'm writing it here like it's just that simple, and it is. At the same time, I'm sitting here looking at the words in 1 John with tears in my eyes because it's HUGE! Seriously, do you understand the weight of this? There is JOY and ETERNAL LIFE that comes with knowing God and growing in holiness! There is hell and destruction if we don't know God and grow in holiness. I want to KNOW God. I want to grow in holiness. I need to know what holy looks like.
I keep hearing the song "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road on the radio, and it stirs my heart every single time. Just when I think I know who He is, I get a greater glimpse of who He is, and it brings me down to my knees. Really, what do I know of holy? More than I used to, but in reality, I know nothing. How's that for motivation to stay in the Word no matter what? Even if it's just little bits at a time that I can think about all day. In the event that someone else might be spurred on by this song, I'm posting it here. And if it's been a while since you read the book of 1 John, I'd encourage you to read it again very soon while this is fresh in your mind.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
She's SMILING... and Ladan's First Painting
Here are some photos of Claire in her little church dress. Actually, it's a dress that I wore when I was a baby. She's 6 weeks old, and she's SMILING!!!! All these girly things are so much fun!
Ladan Painting a Purple Pansy using Pointellism!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Well, Look at You!
Gabe has been hilarious lately! This morning I had on an old t-shirt that my dad got me YEARS ago to wear as pajamas. It's basically an extra-large t-shirt with dolphins on it. When I got up from feeding Claire, I helped Gabe go to the bathroom. He was standing on the toilet while I washed my hands. He suddenly looked over at me and said in his very expressive voice, "Well, look at you! You got whales all over your shirt!" If you know Gabe's voice, you'll know how funny this was... and if you don't know his voice, I wish I had a recording for you.
When he doesn't like something that someone else says--like when you tell him to eat the chip in his mouth before he gets another one--he puts on his best stern face, points quickly to the stairs, and says in his best stern voice, "Go to yo' bed!" Today I told him that he wasn't going to be able to watch Tom and Jerry, and he promptly told me to go to my bed. If only I could have obeyed him! I needed a nap!
Other updates....
I took Claire to her one-month appointment last Friday, and she weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 21.5 inches long. Still lighter than both the boys at birth with an extra half inch compared to their birth measurements. She's a skinny little peanut. She's growing just fine though, and the doctor didn't even mention her size as an issue at all. She had a lot of catching up to do after she lost nearly a pound in the hospital.
She's starting to lose the hair on the top of her head. We'll see if she loses the rest. She's gripping things pretty well and held her first toy today and waved it around all by herself for quite a few minutes. I can tell she's about ready to start smiling here in the next week or two. She's got these huge bright eyes when she gets excited, and today she was starting to move her mouth in the direction of a big fat grin... but it's not there quite yet.
Ladan is doing really well with school. Handwriting is not his favorite or best thing at all, but many of his lessons require quite a bit of writing practice. He's getting loads better, but we were both tired of spending so much time on this every day. So he does all the writing associated with his math every day. However, I decided to only do parts of the assignments in his phonics curriculum so that we could skip ahead to the parts where he's reading. Since he's already a reader, I felt like he wasn't being challenged in this way, was getting bored, and was getting a bit discouraged as well. According to my projections, it was going to take us through the end of October to get to read a book that he's already read on his own, which seemed crazy to me. So I'm going to rearrange the order of quite a few assignments in order to spread out the handwriting stuff and pull the reading stuff forward. It's working MUCH BETTER so far. I guess that's the cool thing about homeschooling... I can totally rearrange things to keep pressing ahead in areas where he's very strong and give him more time to work on the things where he needs more work.
I'd say that homeschooling is going very well so far. But there is not yet a pattern to our days. I'm so thankful that I didn't expect any kind of routine at this stage of Claire's life. I look forward to the day when things are just a little bit more predictable... and for now, I'm just fine with the fact that I may not get a whole lot done other than school, feeding my infant, playing with the kids, communicating with my husband, keeping the clothes and cloth diapers clean, washing dishes, buying groceries, preparing meals, paying bills, spending time with Redeemer folks, and reading the Word... oh, and sleeping occasionally.
Chet's been working like a mad man getting all manner of things prepared for when Redeemer starts having services every Sunday. We will finish up core team development by the end of October and begin weekly services on November 1. There is much to be done between now and then, but we have an excellent team, and things seem to be trucking along. While there's some work left to be done on our website, it is live now. Check it out at http://www.redeemerchurchcu.com when you get a second.
Exciting things are also happening with His Voice for Sudan, the ministry that my brother and Amber started several years ago!!!! Their blog is in transition, so they have two right now: http://www.sudanskids.blogspot.com and http://www.hisvoiceforsudan.blogspot.com.
Well, my bed is screaming my name, so I'm going to try to get there before my infant is screaming my name again.
When he doesn't like something that someone else says--like when you tell him to eat the chip in his mouth before he gets another one--he puts on his best stern face, points quickly to the stairs, and says in his best stern voice, "Go to yo' bed!" Today I told him that he wasn't going to be able to watch Tom and Jerry, and he promptly told me to go to my bed. If only I could have obeyed him! I needed a nap!
Other updates....
I took Claire to her one-month appointment last Friday, and she weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 21.5 inches long. Still lighter than both the boys at birth with an extra half inch compared to their birth measurements. She's a skinny little peanut. She's growing just fine though, and the doctor didn't even mention her size as an issue at all. She had a lot of catching up to do after she lost nearly a pound in the hospital.
She's starting to lose the hair on the top of her head. We'll see if she loses the rest. She's gripping things pretty well and held her first toy today and waved it around all by herself for quite a few minutes. I can tell she's about ready to start smiling here in the next week or two. She's got these huge bright eyes when she gets excited, and today she was starting to move her mouth in the direction of a big fat grin... but it's not there quite yet.
Ladan is doing really well with school. Handwriting is not his favorite or best thing at all, but many of his lessons require quite a bit of writing practice. He's getting loads better, but we were both tired of spending so much time on this every day. So he does all the writing associated with his math every day. However, I decided to only do parts of the assignments in his phonics curriculum so that we could skip ahead to the parts where he's reading. Since he's already a reader, I felt like he wasn't being challenged in this way, was getting bored, and was getting a bit discouraged as well. According to my projections, it was going to take us through the end of October to get to read a book that he's already read on his own, which seemed crazy to me. So I'm going to rearrange the order of quite a few assignments in order to spread out the handwriting stuff and pull the reading stuff forward. It's working MUCH BETTER so far. I guess that's the cool thing about homeschooling... I can totally rearrange things to keep pressing ahead in areas where he's very strong and give him more time to work on the things where he needs more work.
I'd say that homeschooling is going very well so far. But there is not yet a pattern to our days. I'm so thankful that I didn't expect any kind of routine at this stage of Claire's life. I look forward to the day when things are just a little bit more predictable... and for now, I'm just fine with the fact that I may not get a whole lot done other than school, feeding my infant, playing with the kids, communicating with my husband, keeping the clothes and cloth diapers clean, washing dishes, buying groceries, preparing meals, paying bills, spending time with Redeemer folks, and reading the Word... oh, and sleeping occasionally.
Chet's been working like a mad man getting all manner of things prepared for when Redeemer starts having services every Sunday. We will finish up core team development by the end of October and begin weekly services on November 1. There is much to be done between now and then, but we have an excellent team, and things seem to be trucking along. While there's some work left to be done on our website, it is live now. Check it out at http://www.redeemerchurchcu.com when you get a second.
Exciting things are also happening with His Voice for Sudan, the ministry that my brother and Amber started several years ago!!!! Their blog is in transition, so they have two right now: http://www.sudanskids.blogspot.com and http://www.hisvoiceforsudan.blogspot.com.
Well, my bed is screaming my name, so I'm going to try to get there before my infant is screaming my name again.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
First Days of School
Ladan on the first day of kindergarten. We are homeschooling this year, and it's all an adventure. Ladan absolutely loves school! I'm so thankful!
Here are some photos of the boys on the first day of homeschool co-op, Sept. 3. They each have a class, and they both had a blast the first day! Ladan helped Gabe get his backpack on, which was super-cute. And I had the hardest time getting Gabe to stand away from Ladan to get individual photos. He just wanted to be next to his big brother!
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