Happy Valentine's Day

I LOVE celebrating Valentine's with these two. I will admit I am not big on this holiday for myself (I am sure Jeremy is thankful)but I love having special things planned for Cole and Adrienne on this day. Every year it seems to be what food can I make into a heart this year!

Ice Day

We love snow days but we can settle for an ice day! Cole and Adrienne were so excited when they saw the snow start to fall. I told them no less than fifty times that we were not going to get a lot of snow but a little ice. They were thrilled when Daddy came home early from work and we spent the rest of our day playing board games.

Saturday morning we brought out the sleds to slide in the ice a few times before it melted. 

We are still waiting on a real snow!!

Adrienne's View

On Sunday afternoon we had a scavenger hunt around Charleston.  Adrienne had our camera and was taking pictures as we wandered through the city.

Here is Charleston through Adrienne's eyes!

Aquarium Day

On Saturday morning in Charleston Jeremy was working so I got together with three other moms and their kids. We spent the morning at the hotel pool which was beautiful. We decided to grab lunch out and then go to the S.C. Aquarium before meeting the rest of the group in the afternoon. I am always amazed at how quickly kids get comfortable with each other. In our group of eight kids we had three eight year old girls. I will let you think about that one for a minute and just imagine how much energy was in that little group of girls. The whole group got along great and that made for relaxing day for all of us.

While we were finishing up at the aquarium we noticed it was 3:00 and we needed to be back at the hotel before 3:30 to meet the rest of our group to go bowling. From the aquarium to the hotel was one mile which should be easy but we had eight tired kids with us. We started walking back to the hotel as quick as we could but realized before we were half way there that this was not going to work. We spotted a cab that agreed to take ALL of us back to the hotel. Four moms, eight kids, and the cab driver all crammed into a minivan cab....clown car is what I am sure we looked like when we unloaded at the hotel.

Charleston

Friday morning we left town with snow on the ground and headed south. As much as I LOVE snow I knew it would melt soon and 65 degrees in Charleston sounded much better. This was a work trip for Jeremy but we had a great time with all of the other families in the company. I had lots of crazy adventures with three other moms and our combined eight kids. We had so many laughs this weekend and I can't decide which was better - the cab that all 12 of us rode in back to the hotel or getting a text from Cole (all the kids were at the hotel with a babysitter while the adults had dinner)telling me that the floor of the hotel caught fire but it was out now!!!

I am still going through all the pictures from the trip so there will be many more to come!

Outside of our hotel that we could have stayed at for weeks.

Sponsoring Elcie

For the last week I have been sharing pictures and blog posts of our dear friend (and amazing children's choir leader) Connie's trip to Haiti with Cole and Adrienne. They have both had a million questions and they think Mrs. Connie is the coolest person ever because she went to Haiti on a mission trip.

Adrienne asked if we could just go adopt all the children in the orphanage. I LOVE her heart and I wish it was so easy. I thought a lot about this because Adrienne has been talking about the children a lot this week. I decided there is a way we can help one child in Haiti and hopefully show them love. I went to the Compassion website and searched for children in Haiti. Adrienne found a beautiful little girl for our family to sponsor.

Adrienne is so excited and will not put the picture of Elcie down! I can't wait to share God's love and the love of our family with this little girl. 

Here is the information about our new child Elcie: 

Elcie lives on the plains of Loncy, home to approximately 3,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of cement and have sheet metal roofs. The most commonly spoken language is Creole.

The regional diet consists of maize, beans, bread, beef, rice and vegetables. Common health problems in this area include coughs, fever and diarrhea. Most adults in Loncy are unemployed but some work as street vendors and earn the equivalent of $21 per month. This community needs employment opportunities, medical and educational facilities, electricity, suitable drinking water and social development.
 
Sponsorship allows the staff of Loncy Child Development Center to provide Elcie with Bible teaching, medical care, social events, recreational activities, academic support, books and uniforms. The center staff will also provide committees and educational classes for the parents or guardians of Elcie.