Sweet Baby Feet

I have so much to be thankful for everyday...and some days I feel overwhelmed when I think of how blessed I am. Today it was these sweet baby feet that got me choked up...

These sweet baby feet that are growing too fast, that can run away from me all on their own without any help. These feet that are now the tiniest ones in our house....and they're not so tiny anymore. I saw them and smiled, and thanked God for these beautiful little feet, so full of spunk and life... and for the 6 other little feet God has blessed me with that were once this cute.  :)

Compassion International

I have been so moved reading Ann Voskamp's blog about her experience with Compassion International and her trip she is currently on with with Compassion in Ecuador. There are so many children and families that need help all over the world but it's so easy to go through our comfortable days and not even think once about all the people whose lives are so desperately in need.

I encourage you to go on over to A Holy Experience and read Ann's blog about her involvement with Compassion and any of the other Compassion Bloggers over here as well. I dare you not to be moved, to not shed a tear and want to help. If nothing else, please pray for these children, that even just their basic needs will be met and that they will know how much God loves them, because He does, every single one of them.....every single one of us.

More Fun With Leaves!

After collecting all of our beautiful leaves, we had to think of something to do with them all!

My little ones are always picking up 'treasures' outside...leaves...rocks...sticks...(the occasional bug) and wanting to save them in the house. I don't care much for piles of these things all over inside the house, so my compromise is that if we bring them in, we have to create with them! So we decided to make some beautiful leaf collages and some fun leaf 'people' too!

I had to add these pictures because I find it so interesting watching my children's skills develop and Faith Elaina (3 1/2) has yet to favor one hand when she writes. I snapped a series of pictures as she was writing her name because I noticed she was switching hands between every letter...

I'm trying not to influence her one way or the other, and I think it's so amazing to watch the process as each child figures it out. It'll be interesting to see what she chooses in the end! :)

I love to ask the kids to tell me about their creations and sometimes write what they tell me on them. This one Faith told me "Three leaves are walking in the sunshine."  :)

Joshua made some cute leaf 'people' too.  :)

Leaf Hunt

Let me start by saying I MISS MY CAMERA!!!  :(  Daddy is having to use it for work for the next couple of weeks...I've been without it for a few days now and using a little point and shoot...and Oh! How I miss my other one! But I'm not going to let it keep me from blogging....  :)

So today, after spending most of the day letting a little one recover from a touch of the flu we desperately needed to get out of the house. This evening we went for a leaf hunt and enjoyed some time at the park. I made a printable that I'm sharing over at www.theprintableshare.com for a 'Leaf Hunt'. I had my preschooler in mind when I made it but all the kids enjoyed it and playing in the leaves.

On their 'Leaf Hunt' pages they had to look for 1 BIG leaf, 3 small leaves, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange and 1 brown. I was surprised that the big kids wanted to do it too, it was certainly too easy for them but they enjoyed it.  :) And thankfully, even though we are late into the Autumn season already, we still managed to find some nice colorful leaves around. 

We started by coloring the leaves on our pages and talking with Faith about what we were going to be looking for. Samuel had one too and just colored all over it...he was happy to be doing what the big kids were doing though.  :)

When it came time for 'hunting', the kids found what they needed for each block and checked it off when they had found it. For my orderly, list loving Joshua, he really enjoyed checking things off his page! :)

Faithy (feeling much better than she did at 3:00 this morning) helped me sort some of our leaves by size and she placed them into rows on the bench.

It ended up being a fun activity (that I hope some of you will enjoy also) and was a great break out of the house that my little crew...missing their Daddy...needed. And I've got no complaints about this amazing fall weather we're having, what a blessing it is to me!

Making Wishes

Beautiful weather in November, 'wishing flowers' everywhere...it was a happy day for this little girl enjoying a bit of God's creation.   :)

I'm thankful for my sweet 3 year old who can make me slow down and see wonder in the simple things, even the seemingly ugly....turns beautiful in her eyes. :)

She told me she was "wishing for a tiny unicorn..."

Area III Military Family of the Year

I think I'm finally fully back in Korea... Our trip to Seattle was wonderful, and I am beginning to feel normal after the jet lag, time difference, and cold that someone on the airplane was so kind to pass on to me. :(

While we were on our trip we found out that we were nominated for Area III Military Family of the Year! We were so honored, and humbled to have been counted among these families that are so amazing and such a blessing to our community. They held a ceremony last night to honor each of the families nominated. I had a friend snap a couple pictures for me since we were all dressed up for the occasion.

I didn't take many pictures because the lighting was so bad inside, but I took a couple...

Faithy does not enjoy getting her picture taken, so all I could get from her is this almost smile...

As for our trip pictures, instead of posting ALL of them on here, I put most of them up on Facebook. But I did have a few favorites I thought I'd share...

The kids were so patient with all the waiting we had to do while traveling. I am so thankful we made it through the flights there and back with very little complaining. :)

My beautiful Joy

My handsome Man and my Baby Boy...

My Sweet Joshua...

A small part of the Seattle cityscape...

Since we've lived in Korea most of his life, this was Samuel's first trip to a pumpkin patch!

It was wonderful to be on vacation with my family and get to see so many of our good friends and family members back in the States, but it feels good to be 'home' too. I never thought Korea would really feel like home, but somehow it does for now, and I'm glad to be back. We will work on getting back into our routine this week and hopefully I'll be posting more regularly again.  :)