Our Little Sunshine

This past year has been one of the most difficult of my life if not THE most difficult.  But as the song goes “You are my Sunshine…you make me happy when skies are gray…” This little gal truly brings a bright spot in our days.  Philana Havin Grace : Lover of all God’s Creatures, “Summer” in Kurdish ….our Summer Grace, born in the heat of the summer a year ago.   She is LOUD and oh so Funny, she loves to dance and clap to music, she is independent – insisting on feeding herself even from an itty-bitty age and she loves her momma!

 

Philana Håvin Grace
Photo complements of: Josh Beachem

I thoroughly enjoyed decorating for her party and some of the décor I made has become a permanent fixture in my living room

The table runner I painted yellow chevron on for her party and recycled in the process as the white runner had some tea stains on it and now the yellow covers it up and gives it new life. 

I also painted the inside of this jar with blue paint and made tissue paper flowers and then wrapped them around a pencil / straw with pipe cleaner.  Flowers don’t really grow in Batman because of the heat so to purchase imported ones is really expensive so I opted for making my own.

Here are some more tissue paper flowers and to fill the jar more economically I sliced lemons instead of the candied almond route.  I set an empty peanut butter jar inside filled with white beans for the flowers to stick out of then lined around the pb jar with lemons. 

The cake: my first attempt at roses

Her first bite of cake:

She liked it so much we later found her eating the crumbs off the ground :) 

Some of our party guests: 

Monster Party

Hudson Carmichael
We pray you desire to live a crucified life, doing humble things joyfully,  that hardness would draw you and not repel you, that you would love to read and learn from scriptures and giants of the faith, that you would love learning languages for the sake of reaching the lost, that you would have experiences that unite you with Christ, that the cross would always be your motivation, attraction and basis for decision making; that you would have patience that cannot be tired out, love that loves in very deed, unto death.  That you would have a willingness to deny self, personal taste and comfort so that others might receive the gospel, that you would have a heart that desires to know Jesus and make Him known among the nations, that you would have a passion for diversity and desire to go where no one else wants to go and do what no one else wants to do so that the Lost may be found and light might shine in darkness.  We pray you will be a warrior on the Lord's battlefield, a soldier that does not ask for or expect ease.  That the great need and a deep sense of responsibility would burn as a steady fire in your soul that neither poor health, lack of encouragement, nor any other difficulty could lessen your sense of call to bring Christ to the perishing millions.  That you would be the first wherever there is a sacrifice to be made, a self-denial to be practiced or an impetus to be given.  That you would serve the Lord as He deserves, give and not count the cost; fight and not heed the wounds; toil and not seek for rest; labor and not ask for any reward save that of knowing that you do the Lord's will.  We pray you would live a crucified live, to walk the road of suffering like Jesus with joy; death to self that life may abound.  May you pour your life out for others my sweet son! We can't wait to see what Jesus does with you!

"Manliness is not mere courage; it is the quality of soul which frankly accepts all conditions in human life, and makes it a point of honor not to be dismayed or wearied by them. " ~ Dean Church

Our Boy turned 4 on the eleventh.  What a crazy, joyous ride these four years have been with him! There was a cake I have been wanting to make for years so we themed his birthday around it and we had a bunch of friendly monsters join us!

Hudson loves adoption and prays everyday that God will send an orphan boy to come live in his room. So I made a bunch of monsters to go in our adopt a monster basket. Hudson prays everyday for a little boy named Milton Dennis who lives in Uganda at Okoa Refuge.  I thought it would be neat to have all the kids pick an orphan from Okoa and name their monster after them so they would remember to pray for them everyday.  We then made adoption certificates and put the picture of the orphan they are praying for on the back.

  

Named after: Derrick
Angel
Stuart

Top Right is Named after Peace

The monsters were made from scraps I had around the house, stuffed with wool and I put drops of Lavender, Eucalyptus and Mint essential oils on the wool so sleeping with their monsters will help them breath better when their noses are stuffy.  Who knew monsters could be so beneficial! :) 

I wish I would have done the cake orange like the original but oh well...it still tasted good!

When you live overseas there are improvises you have to make because of things you can't find..... like green sugar covered candies that don't cost a fortune....so we used black beans in the centerpiece instead.

Another improvise was we didn't have black paint so we used crayons and the girls colored in the chevron for our art display.  I started with black sharpie and realized that would take too long and my sharpie wouldn't last that long, plus i wouldn't trust little girls with a permanent marker.  Nevertheless we liked how it turned out and is fun that the girls got to help contribute. 

For Our menu we had:

Worms

Noses

Mouths

Eyes

Fingers/Toes

Trash 

 Some of our guests with their monsters:

Hudson and Milton

Naomi and Kizza Linda

Samara and Stella

Philana with Samara's monster; Her monster is Kawonawo Hope

If you would like to pray for current orphans or sponsor other children who are awaiting sponsorship click here to find out more.

Hudson, we pray many orphans are blessed and loved as a result of your life and your prayers on their behalf.