Zion Hope's special friend

I have talked a few times about Zion, Fritzlin, and Loudena and how much they play together.  They are learning and growing and interact much like any three 2 year olds would.  They play together, steal toys from one another, laugh together, cry together, and entertain us together. 
 I don't know if I have mentioned before how much Zion Hope LOVES Paco.  Paco is who she goes to first thing in the morning.  He is usually in his bouncy seat and she plops down beside him and gets right in his face.  "Paco, Paco, Paco!"  She kisses on him and squeezes a little too tight, and throughout the day she can be found doing this periodically.  She has also been known to sneak into his room when he is supposed to be going to sleep to talk to him and pat his back.  She loves him.  It is so sweet to see how our life here impacts even our two year old.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes we see how she struggles because of having to share us, but then we catch the glimpses of pure joy on her face as she talks to him and sings to him.  Paco will not crawl or walk or feed himself while in our care.  Someday he will have surgery and we don't know all of the implications of that, but we do know that he will have a special friend watching out for him even when he can't do things for himself.
We rarely let Zion hold Paco because she wants to do it all by herself and I am not comfortable with that yet.  Yesterday she was spending some time with him and he was really loving it, so I let her hold him for a bit.  They both enjoyed it!  Hope you like the few shots I was able to get while keeping one arm available to rescue him if she got carried away with her snuggles!   They were taken with my ipod, so aren't the best quality, but I think you can still appreciate the love!

Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

 
Happy Birthday, Jacob!  This is our first picture of just us and the children.  I know they aren't smiling....but they really do seem to like it here!  They were all just waking up from their naps when we started the birthday party.  Everyone enjoyed the cake and I am sure Jacob was thrilled with the toy parrot Isaiah is sharing with him for his birthday!  Fritzlin and Loudena decided Jacob was leaving too many crumbs on his tray so they helped him eat the rest.  We encourage helping any way we can around here!!  The bottom picture is of Fritzlin in a Twins bib.  I am sure it will make him a Twins fan when he grows up!

 

A Day in Pictures

 Last Sunday Jadyn and Malachi and I decided to go for a bike ride.  I thought it would be fun to take a few pictures to show people what we see as we ride.  I didn't take as many as I thought I would as there were many people on the road and I try to be respectful and not take pictures of them.  I also didn't want to keep stopping because we were enjoying the ride!  After we returned, I thought I could just share photos of the rest of the day.  Hope you enjoy!

 Jade and Malachi riding ahead.  Malachi always chooses the puddles!

 He lost his flip flop in this one....you can see it floating if you look closely. 

 We see many animals along the way.  This sight is fairly typical.

 I had never seen these sheep before, but we went a bit farther than we normally go.  They looked like they were pretty miserable....even though their fleece was far from full.  If you can't sleep, try counting mangy sheep.

 Fritzlin likes to make us laugh.  We use these puddle boots ALL the time right now.  Thanks, Grandma!

 Paco is always ready with a smile when someone stops to talk to him.

 Loudena and Zion Hope, buddies until one of them steals the other ones baby!

 Jacob and Fritzlin, ready for Family Worship.

 Jadyn is deeply loved!

 We end the night with our friend, Toto, helping us put up our mosquito nets. 

Everyone loves Toto!

Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of photos on this site.  Photos taken of children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.