Thanksgiving Turkeys

Yeah...I titled this post "Thanksgiving Turkeys".  I know that it is Easter week and not November, but today the kids and I created what look to be Thanksgiving turkeys.  Let me explain.  Alicia went with Marcy this morning to do some grocery shopping, and right before she left, she sent me a 'pin' from Pinterest for making peacocks out of construction paper.  Yes, I have a Pinterest account, mostly because I would regularly hear the following phrase, "Daddy (or 'Hon'), I was on Pinterest and saw an idea, can you make it for me."  Usually it was a wood-working project or something like that.  So, Pinterest in many ways is really my "Honey Do List" from my wife and daughters.  Now that I am done justifying having a Pinterest account...Alicia sent me a 'pin' about making a peacock from construction paper, in case I needed something to do with the kids.  About 10am this morning, I could sense that I needed something to do with the kids, so I pulled out pack of construction paper that we bought at WalMart (the only pack that they had at WalMart).  It only had four colors (red, orange, yellow and pink).  Now, this idea would seem very easy to a preschool teacher, but it was stretching my meager artistic skills.  I began to cut some paper strips and gave some instructions to the kids and we spent a bit more than an hour on the peacocks (...I should say birds).  The paper colors already led us to more of a fall theme, and by the time our project was done, I was glad that the creations actually look like birds.  So, today the kids and I created our Easter Turkeys!

We also noticed a huge step in the relationship with the kids.  I have mentioned before that Ashton bears a huge burden for his sister and usually when she goes into meltdown, tantrum mode, he gets real upset.  This afternoon, she got into a bit of trouble and went into the tantrum mode.  Ashton was on the hammock and I was in the seat near him and he looked at me.  I explained to him what had happened, and that Mommy was in charge and taking care of Alia.  He shrugged his shoulders, smiled at me and acknowledged that what she had done was wrong and we moved on.  In that moment it was clear that he was trusting us to be the parents and he was entrusting his sister to our authority.  We know that this will not always be the case, but this was a huge step for Ashton.

Yesterday, I had posted about the fires on the mountain across the way, and asked you to pray for them to be extinguished.  Last night, the Lord made it rain...during their dry season.  It rained a lot and for a long time, and the fires that I posted pictures of yesterday were extinguished today.  Praise the Lord for His provision of rain.

On the adoption process...there is nothing to update.  No progress was made today, except we were able to follow the tracking on our paperwork and we know it was delivered to the right address, though the case worker had not received it by the end of the day.  Hopefully, he will have it on his desk tomorrow.  We'll let you know more tomorrow.