Thankful Thursday

I want to start this by asking people to say a prayer for the Steven Curtis Chapman family who lost their daughter Maria last night. If you have not heard the story, their teenage son accidentally ran over her last night. Here is a quote from the memorial website set up for people to express their condolences. It was written by SCC’s manager and I pray that they will cling to these words: “And yet we trust in a God who was not surprised by this and because of Jesus I am certain through faith in Him we will see Maria again. – Jim Houser (Manager)” The Chapman family have three daughters from China, and through their foundation have helped and encouraged many people to adopt orphans around the globe.

I have teared up about this off and on all day. My heart just breaks for the brother and how this is going to affect him for the rest of his life. I pray for his peace. God is faithful and sovereign and though we don’t see the reasons why, He will carry them through. It’s times like these when I remind myself that God gave up his son for us and can understand the heartache of this family.

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  • I am thankful for Nadia and the wonderful, sweet child that she is.
  • I am thankful that she randomly smiles at people and waves and you see them perk right up.
  • I am thankful for this second year with A’Jani as his mentor. He is a great kid and I am blessed to have him in my life.
  • I am thankful for being invited to his class trip to the park. See photos in the next post.
  • I am thankful for all the KIDS HOPE USA volunteers from my church that helped make this such an awesome year. 23 children were mentored in the program and I pray that their lives have been touched by our reaching out to help our community.
  • I am thankful for the handmade card that A’Jani gave me today that said, “Love you, Miss Louanne, Mike and Nadia. Love you guys a family.” Then he had 4 hearts on the other side with our 4 names in the hearts. Too sweet!

 

Boogie?

Let me start by saying that Nadia L-O-V-E-S classic rock. She will get in her car seat and jam the day away. Here is the conversation that entertained me yesterday. We were getting out of the car at the store and even though the music had stopped Nadia was still dancing in the back.

Mike opened the door and said, “Look at you boogie.”

Nadia – points at nose.

Mike, “Not booger, boogie.”

Nadia – points at nose.

Mike, “Boogie is like dancing. A booger is in your nose.”

Louanne – does a little boogie for Nadia. “Dancing. Boogie.”

Nadia does a little boogie in Mikes arms. THEN points at her nose.

The conversation went on from there and then Nadia got it that Boogie meant Dance. She is too funny!

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Picnic May 2008
Picnic May 2008 (click to see album)

Saturday the company Mike works for had their first annual family picnic and we had a great time. They had a ton of stuff for everyone to do. Nadia had a great time running all over the place. Randy was here from Colorado, so I got a couple shots of him with Nadia.

Randy and Nadia Randy and Nadia

Here is Nadia with one of the other kids. I thought this photo was so cute!

Hello!

Field Day Fun!

Field Day 2008
Field Day 2008 (click to see album)

Today Nadia and I went up to the school to join the little boy I mentor for Field Day. He won 3rd place in the 50 yard dash and 2nd place in the hurdles. Their class took 3rd place in the class relays. The photo above is Nadia with his whole class and they are all screaming NADIA!! During all the field day events Nadia did her usual thing which is to stare intently and try to figure out what was going on. They had music blasting for the kids and as the songs would end she would say “All done.” Then every couple of songs they would stop to make announcements and she would say, “More song” and clap her hands. Way cute!

The 3rd grade boys were just in LOVE with Nadia. The group started with 2 boys and grew to the whole crew below. They were asking Nadia all kinds of questions and asking her to say words, which she would repeat and they would laugh hysterically. One time near the beginning they got all up in her face and I could see that she was getting a little nervous said, “Hey, stay back and don’t get all in her face.” From there on out she had a ‘bodyguard’. So anytime the boys got to rambunctious he would say, “Hey. BACK UP. Don’t crowd her!” I was cracking up and had to snap a couple of photos.

Field Day 2008

During their break time their teacher read them a story in the classroom and Nadia was listening for a bit and then started pointing to things in the room and the kids were all laughing. She would say, “Wa wa. Ball. Red.” and so on. One of the children was supposed to be making a fish craft and he kept saying fish and then Nadia heard him and started going “FISH, FISH”. So the teacher paused in the story and asked if Nadia wanted a fish to color and I said no, she thinks he’s talking about goldfish. So the teacher jumped up and opened her cabinet and pulled out a snack bag of goldfish. The kids started to “ohhh and ahhh” and said that was the ‘special stash’ and you had to be good to get those. After the break Nadia and I joined the kids for lunch and then headed home for naptime.

Here she is with the little boy that I mentor.

Field Day 2008

Bubble Bash!!

Bubble Bash!
Bubble Bash! (click to see album)

Today some mom’s from my church got together for a Bubble Bash! We all brought our “bubble technology” and had a great time. Nadia was sticking close to me and now I think it’s because a new tooth was on the way out. Plus she gets pretty shy in crowds, but she usually warms up. She ‘guarded’ our bubble machine from the other kids turning it off. Hee hee. Elliott was especially curious about how it worked and knocked it over, but the photo was too fuzzy. Nadia really liked the swing in Kyla’s backyard. I think she would have stayed there all afternoon if she had a choice. I thought this was a really fun idea and I hope we do it again soon.

For 5 minutes on the way home she said, “Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble.” Then she fell asleep. And most of the evening here she has been saying, “bubble” off and on. Hee hee.

Sweet swing

Bubble Bash

Bubble Bash