Lemonade Stand for Orphans

We are part of the Orphan Care Ministry team at our church. This May, we launched our first annual Lemonade Stand campaign. We asked families and individuals in our church to host a lemonade stand  or change drive some time in the month of May. Half of the proceeds will be used to start an adoption fund at our church and help church members with the cost of adoption. The other half will be donated to other organizations the promote adoption and orphan care. This year it is Reece's Rainbow, which helps with the adoptions of special needs orphans. Check them out at www.reecesrainbow.org  

Our kids have been asking to host a lemonade stand since last summer, so they were very very excited to finally do this one for Orphan Care. We had ours a few weeks back, on one of the rare Saturdays in May when it didn't rain. Actually, the day we did it called for 60% chance of rain. We prayed about it not raining until after we were done, and God definitely answered our prayers. As we were putting our things away, two minutes after we were finished with our stand, it started raining. I love God's timing!

We had our stand at Mimi and PopPop's house because they live closer to a main road. We took turns standing out on the busy street and yelling "Lemonade!!!" Jay and I required small children to be with us for this or else we felt a bit ridiculous doing it on our own. I was pleasantly surprised at how many random people stopped by. It gave us a great chance to explain to them about our Orphan Care ministry and how they could help.

The day before, we put fliers in the mailboxes in our neighborhood and Mimi and PopPop's neighborhood explaining when and why we were hosting a lemonade stand. We had quite a few neighbors stop by and give generous donations. We also texted and facebook messaged a few people who live close by and asked them to come.

Mimi made some delicious lemonade and brownies to sell for 50 cents each. I think of all the people who came, only one gave us only 50 cents. Everyone was so generous! We even had one or two people who couldn't come but still made donations the next day. The kids were very excited to go home and count how much money they raised for orphan care. I was then very proud of them for getting some of their own money from their piggy banks to add to it. They are so excited to know that all of that money will directly help someone be adopted into a family.

I would definitely say our first lemonade stand was a success! And we love seeing and hearing about so many families from our church hosting their own. I think this will be a great annual tradition, and it's a wonderful way to do orphan care ministry in a way that involves the whole family and teaches children from a young age about this important biblical call and responsibility.

Want to help? It's not too late to host a lemonade stand of your own or make a financial donation. Just let me know if you're interested.

The start to summer

We just returned from spending a few days at the beach. What a great way to start the summer!   

We had wonderful beach weather-- 75 to 80 degrees and sunshine.  After our beach trip last August (quick recap: two five-week old babies, broken air conditioner, washing machine that caught on fire, stomach virus, and rain), we were hoping for a much better vacation this time. 

The water was still pretty cool (way too cold for me, and chilly for the brave children, daddy and PopPop. But they loved swimming and jumping in the pool.   And when they got too cold, they would sit out on the chairs and read or rest to warm up.                                                                

 They always have a hard time deciding whether to go to the pool or the beach. They like swimming in the pool better but playing in the sand at the beach. We often went to the pool while babies were napping and to the beach when babies were up. The babies could crawl around much easier there than at the pool. They loved eating and digging in the sand! And what's the best way to contain two crawling babies on the beach? Dig a big hole and stick them in there!! It took them a little while to figure out how to get out :)

The beach was definitely James's happy place. He was so content the entire week. The only time he fussed was when we took him off the beach. I wasn't sure how Elizabeth would like the sand. She doesn't like to get dirty and she was very curious about sand on her hands, but then she had a lot of fun with it.

We also went on lots of walks and to the plaground that was nearby. The kids loved climbing and sitting on the beautiful tree branches.

Jay also took the big kids to ride bikes one morning. Jay, PopPop, and Will played golf one evening--this was one of Will's favorite events! I got to sit outside on the beach and read a book while kids napped one afternoon. Jay and I got to go on a date one night. We all had a really great time!

We were so thankful to have a few days away to enjoy time together and take a break from the daily routine. It is still a lot of work to take five little ones to the beach (it takes a while to get everyone's sunscreen on for sure!). We really couldn't do it without going with Mimi and PopPop.

We can't wait to go back at the end of the summer!!

"official" 10 months

Alright, so my computer/blogger finally decided to recognize my last import of pics and I can add their official 10 month pics. Don't you love these cute outfits my mom made for them? She's so crafty and has made lots of cute things for all the kids lately. But I especially like this little tie and dress combo.

So at 10 months, the babies are getting into all kinds of things! Both are crawling all over. James is still faster and we have to watch him very closely; he is quite adventurous. Elizabeth usually crawls to try and stay with us. She is a people person and does not like to be by herself. 

They have started interacting and playing with each other more and more the past few weeks. They'll babble back and forth and keep a constant watch for where the other one is. If one of them cries, the other immediately checks out what's going on. They snatch toys, food, and sometimes bottles from each other. James tries to play and love on Elizabeth by smacking her in the head with his toys. She tries to poke him in the eye. So loving!! The other day they gave each other a high five.

Elizabeth definitely weighs more. I'm not sure exactly how much but I'm guessing she's around 19-20 lbs. I think James is probably 18-19lbs. She has 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom) and he has 8 teeth (4 top, 4 bottom). Both are eating real food. I decided at 10 months to stop buying baby food. They eat lots of fruit (bananas, strawberries, applesauce, pears, cucumbers, etc), vegetables (carrots, zucchini, corn, etc), beans, yogurt, cheese, turkey, crackers, and breads. The one thing I can't get them to do is drink from a sippy cup. I'm trying to work on that so that we can transition from bottles. They currently still drink four 6-8oz bottles a day.

They sleep from around 7:30pm to 7:30am, nap for about an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Well, that's what Elizabeth does and that's when James is in his crib. Sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he doesn't :) She sucks her two fingers and he is a thumb sucker. She also has become attached to a little pink lovey and snuggles it close while she sleeps. Very sweet.

Happy 10 months, sweet babies! We love you so much!! I can't believe they're so close to a year old!!

10 months

The babies are 10 months old. For some reason, the pics I took of them with their very official 10 month sign aren't showing up on Blogger, but here are a few cute pics of them from the past few weeks. They're super sweet and fun!!

Wet Weekend plan B

The past few weekends have been busy with extra commitments and activities, so jay and I decided that we needed to take advantage of a free Saturday this weekend. We told the kids that we would go somewhere special for a fun activity. We planned to go to furman to ride bikes and have a picnic in the beautiful May sunshine.

Instead, we ended up with Plan B. We were an hour later leaving the house than planned. It was 52 degrees and windy and wet and drizzling rain. We still got all the kids and the double stroller and three bikes and helmets and the soccer ball and a picnic in the car to go anyway. We drove all the way to furman ( which was a looooong 20 min drive with children arguing over who could see which baby and make faces at them in the car). We pulled up to the front gate at furman to discover that it's graduation day and the campus is not open to the public that day. Just the thought of graduating from furman again literally made me start to tear up. Man I loved that place.

So on to plan B. We went to a little park at the base of Paris mountain, where of course someone had rented out the picnic shelter to host a baby shower. We told the kids to behave and make the people who are expecting a baby excited about how well five kids can behave. We rode bikes, played on the playground, played soccer, ate lunch, and froze! It was very chilly but we had a good day.

We managed to get all the kids and bikes back into the mini and drove up the steep road on Paris mountain so that they would be impressed that we used to run up it when we were at furman. They weren't impressed and all fell asleep in the car, after a few more arguments about who could look at the babies.

But we were all together and had fun and made some memories, so that counts as a good day. But seriously , where is the warm spring weather???

Brotherly love

There's not much in the world that melts a mama's heart like a five year old boy who loves his two babies. Will adores them. One of my favorite aspects of having lots of children is watching their interactions and relationships. James and Elizabeth are very blessed to have a big brother who loves and protects and plays and laughs and comforts them. Sweetness indeed!

Make a Joyful Noise

Catherine and Will's choir had their spring concert this past Sunday. It is always so much fun to watch this group sing their hearts out. Their choir director is a jewel, who teaches them the songs so patiently and also includes hand motions to keep those wiggly boys engaged as well.  We love that they are learning how to worship and praise through music!