Learn to be Flexible

Cousin Anna

Isn't it thrilling to look back and see how God answered a very specific prayer request?
For a couple months Dr. Daddy had been praying for some way to help me stay sane while he is away this summer for field work. There were some particulars related to Adisu's attachment that complicated the matters and made it all seem hopeless.
While on a run one Sunday shortly before Dr. Daddy left, I was praying. And an idea came to me to email my aunt and ask her to share one of her daughters with me for the summer. They prayed about it and thought about how it would all work out on short notice and emailed me back saying it was ok with them, but it might not even be feasible with plane tickets on short notice. But when I checked even plane tickets were reasonable! So I quickly bought them and the day Dr. Daddy left Cousin Anna came to stay for three weeks.
It was a little awkward at first because we didn't really know each other. But she melded in with our motley crew so well. And those particulars that I was stressed about? Cousin Anna (even though she didn't know it at the time) had the perfect response.
Our family had a lot of fun with Cousin Anna. The kids really liked having someone other than mommy to interact with every day. Having an extra set of hands and eye meant that we could get out and do more stuff. I even stayed sane!

At the Splash Park

At the LBJ family ranch

Splashing in Pedernales River

Cousin Anna even whipped up some pants for Fuzzy Bear in a day at Eirena's request (the idea of FB wearing a dress with the pants is Eirena's idea)

Eirena's message

This afternoon I called Eirena to lunch. She asked if she could finish writing her message. Curious about what she was writing I allowed her to finish. When she was done she came and showed me this:

and on the back

In true Piglet fashion she wanted to put in a bottle. She wants to send it to Granddad and Grandma to tell them to visit soon. (All words and spelling are entirely done by her, 'hlp" of course, is "help".)

Little Drummer Boy

From Under the Pile of Boxes

On Friday we moved out of our old house. On Saturday we moved the majority of boxes to our new house. On Sunday we cleaned (the worst) of the house. On Tuesday Dr. Daddy fled the country. Are you wondering why it has been quiet around here? That would be the reason. One sad thing about leaving our old house was that I actually planted a garden this spring and we were just starting to get the fruits (or vegetables to be precise) of my labor. We have been enjoying the lettuce I planted for a few weeks, but the carrots we just starting to grow. Rather than let them sit in the ground and dehydrate before someone else moved in and realized what they were, I pulled them up and much to Uncle Wiggily's delight, we had home grown carrots for lunch.


One fun thing about our new place is that you can see the trains go by from two bedroom windows. Even a few days into living at the new place there is still much excitement about watching the trains go past for the under 5 crowd.

Anatomy

Dr. Daddy has been working on anatomy with Eirena. She usually knows all the major bones of her body. last night during Bible reading Dr. Daddy was going over the catechism with her.
The question was "have you a soul as well as a body?"
The answer of course, is "yes, I have a soul that can never die".
Dr. Daddy then added, "what else do you have besides a soul?"
Eirena responded, "A shoulder blade".

Well, I'm glad we have that settled.