food fun

My grandmom has a magnet on her refrigerator that says, "Love people. Cook them tasty food." Which is really a great motto. It's one we try to live by in our house, and it is sometimes adapted to "Love kids. Take them to Chick-fil-A." It's basically saying the same thing...especially on days when kids eat free.

So yesterday, in honor of the circus that is coming to town, Chick-fil-A offered free kids' meals to every child who was dressed like a circus performer. Win! Not only do we have a weakness for chicken nuggets and lemonade, but we also we love to dress up.

And a special thanks to Daddy, who let them wear his boots on a rainy day...but didn't know it until we came home.

 They had so much fun dressing up that they wore their costumes to our friends' house afterward. 

In other food-related news....

My mom's friends hosted a "Granny Shower" for her just before the kids came home, and one of them made two super cute aprons for them to wear when they help in the kitchen. They got to wear them last week when we made cookies, and they have been wearing them ever since.

And finally, I'm telling you here because I don't have other coffee-addicted colleagues to commiserate with me at home - my coffee maker stopped working yesterday. As in: it doesn't get hot and it doesn't pump water. To begin a day of chasing preschoolers without a cup of good, black coffee (tea in the morning just doesn't work on so many levels)...the horror! So I improvised this morning:

And although the coffee maker threatened to release grounds into the black brew, I eventually got my coffee.

Whew. That was close.

more reasons i love summer

1) The beach!
We went to Galveston last weekend with our friends Travis & Jaime to soak up the beach and see the sand sculpture competition. Have I mentioned that I love the beach? Yes, even icky Texas beaches. I love the jillions of people, the heat of the sun, the squish of the sand, the rolling of the waves...especially the waves. As world-class surfer Clay Marzo says, "Waves are like toys from God. And when I'm out here, I'm just playing." :)

Exactly. So we suited up, donned our floaties and hit the beach:

Ready to take on the waves, floatie-style

WAIT, wait...this water is coming to GET me! No one told me about this!

Holmes was completely comfortable in the water by the time we left. Trying to get him out of the water and away from the waves was tough. Good job, buddy!

Spa time at the beach - minus the seaweed wrap

Lovin' the sun!

2) We can wear our swimsuits all day long....and when you're playing with chalk, it's that much easier to clean up.

I got the idea for the pictures online, and mine are no where near as good as the ones I saw. But we had fun drawing together, and the kids thought it was funny that it (kinda) looks like they're flying, surfing and swimming.

3) Outdoor projects!
For a long time, I've wanted some kind of bench for our backyard, but we could never find one that we liked...or that was reasonably priced. But our neighborhood hosted a yard sale weekend recently, so we went walking around the neighborhood early on Saturday morning to see what we could find.

Around our place, Saturdays are "big trash pick-up days", so while we didn't find anything exciting in the yard sales (at least, nothing that was still available), we scored a sweet pallet from the neighbor's trash pile. :)  It's been sitting on our back porch for the last few weeks as we've contemplated what, exactly, to do with it.

See? Potential. Lots of good, splintery potential.

I'd thought of making it into some sort of wall art, like this or that or even this one.... or making it into a porch swing (areyoukiddingthisissocool)! But we finally looked at it last night, put two and two together...and Andrew has been making it into a bench today.

Me: Ok, I'm going to take a "before" picture. Give me your best Ty Pennington!
Andrew: My who, what?
Me: ....nevermind. Give me rugged, give me charming, give me "I'm going to OWN this pallet!

Andrew (several hours in): Woo! My arms are starting to get tired...
Apprentice Ibra: You just have to work it up!

sometimes i forget

Sometimes, I forget.

I forget that our kids had this complete other life, just 7 months ago, with friends and church and school and matoke and posho and mangoes straight off the tree.
I forget that they have family in Uganda who took care of them, just 14 months ago, who they loved and who loved them and did the best they could for them.
I forget that they miss their home, that they miss their families and friends and homes....I forget that their little souls long to return and still don't quite understand why we're not going back today. Or tomorrow. Or even for awhile.

Until we drive down a road, and one of them joyfully announces that this! this looks like Uganda! And they both giggle and shout because they're so happy to see the resemblance.
Until one of them prays for their mama and asks Jesus to keep her safe in heaven - and then needs one of us to lay in bed with them until they fall asleep.
Until they ask to look at pictures of Uganda, of their families, of their children's homes, of their friends - which, of course, we do. For hours.

In our eyes, they have adjusted so well. They're such happy, joyful souls that - looking at them from this vantage point while we're sitting in our own home and cultural context - it's easy to forget that they are still settling in, that there is still much work and much healing to come...and that there are some wounds that will never completely go away.

So tonight, we ask for your prayers for both Ibra and Suma. We pray that the Lord will bring healing to the broken places in their hearts and that He will knit our hearts together as a family. We long to be ministers of His grace to them and to love them well, and we pray that they will know His love and peace and comfort. We pray that the Lord will write their memories of Uganda on their hearts - they are such treasures! And finally, we pray that they will continue to settle in and that they will have friends to love and be loved by.