Tuesday's Best: A Surprise Screen-Jack

crystal clear connection.

the best three c's ever.  

today i am thankful for: 

an incredible connection that lets me see those beautiful faces...

dr. seuss books that had all 4 of the kids quiet as we read to them. there's a first time for everything...

wonderful and loving aunties at the center to take care of our oldest and his fever today...

kiss blowing, mama calling, book loving, meant to be mine, gorgeous children.

THANKFUL.

surprise screen jack by gerald after we'd already said goodbye.

reading.  listening.  and geraldine in stripes ignoring all of it.

"where is your mouth?"

6.

happy tuesday's best!!

m

Tuesday's Best: Oh my glob we have a 7 year old.

oh my glob.

we have a 7 year old.

tomorrow is mohamed's birthday.  that means that as of tomorrow i am the proud mother of a 7 year old.  ha!  hey guys, remember how in 2012 i went from 0 to 4 kids and one of them is in 2nd grade???  holy crap.  things that make you go mmmmmm... i have kids.  big ones.

  today's tuesday's best is one of my all time favorites.  we had a little birthday celebration for mo, complete with a giant card, cupcakes (made a full batch just to have one for him to see and oops i need to eat them now), and candles.

i present to you, an international birthday party.

late night card making

the finished product

betty crocker from a box... who am i kidding?

look at mohamed's face here.  he was so proud to have his own little celebration.  makes me melt.

the covering holds quarterly birthday parties for all of the kids whose birthdays fall in that particular time frame, which is SO awesome of them, but we loved getting to have our own party!

lighting the candle

blowing it out

reading the card... which of course he couldn't because it shows up backwards.  fail.

reading to us (yeah that's right we make our kid work on his birthday. what?)

giggly mamie

deen digging for a super special present for her brother

we sang, we laughed, we cried (ok, deen is the only one who cried because she wanted a bigger space to sit than anyone else - yikes - but it's not a party until someone irrationally screams bloody murder, right?), we celebrated.  it was fantastic.  

to my handsome, smart, talented, brave, loving, faith filled son...

i am so proud of you.  i miss you.  i love you even more.

i wish i could be there tomorrow to watch you open the remote control car that you've been asking for since april.  please don't run over your sister's feet with it, ok?

love, mom

  

Temme Tanky (day two)

July 8^th, 2012

11:30pm freetown time

day two

dear america,

gerald and deen both pee'd on me in church this morning.  5 minutes before the double pee mohamed asked me for a bible and mamie, overhearing him, got up, walked across the room and ripped one out of another boy's hands.  she handed it to mohamed saying, "temme tanky" (tell me thank you).  problem solved?  eh.  we'll work on manners another day.  

my biceps are sore from holding both of the babies at all times.  if i'm holding one of them i'm holding both of them.  my hands have molded to the curves of mohamed and mamie's cheeks from constantly touching their sweet faces.  i got to speak to josh on the phone last night.  those 15 minutes will probably cost me $60.  totally worth it.

i've never been more overwhelmed.  i've never been more exhausted.  i've never smelled more like pee.

i've never been happier.

love,

me

(the stolen bible)

Tuesday's Best

we were all hugs and happy babies this morning.  i miss them already.

the babies buttered me up for this skype call with the sweetest surprises in my inbox last night...

"stay bless".

love, us

Mr. Darlin'

so i have this friend named morgane.  she is beautiful.  she sings her butt off.  she writes incredible songs. she cooks a mean 3am t-bone.  she sends the sweetest monday evening texts wishing me a happy-skyping-eve.  she also happens to be an incredible mother to two of the most beautiful and perfect children on the face of the earth.  

her son, wayland, is 3 years old and calls me 'miss darlin'.  seriously.  he came up with that on his own. wayland, we have already decided, will be gerald's best friend.  they will be in a band (duh) and it will be called panda because they are black and white (duh) and that is just plain cute i don't care who you are.  anyway, i was over at their house the other day and wayland saw a picture of gerald and geraldine on the wallpaper of my computer (duh).  i pulled him up on to my lap and, pointing at them individually, asked him to tell me their names.  here's how the conversation went:

me: "way, who is this?"

wayland: "gerald."

me: "and who is this?"

wayland: "and deen."

AND DEEN.  how stinkin' precious is that???  i looked over at morgane and told her that her son might have just named my daughter.

this, of course, brought up a big question.  how exactly does one spell 'deen'?  is it 'dine', just like the end of her name but that everyone would mispronounce as if they were about to sit down to eat for the rest of her life?  or is it 'dean' as in james?  or is it a more feminine 'deen' like wayland's aunt meesa suggested?

i decided that since wayland picked her name he should be the one to spell it.  this did not come easy for sweet mr. darlin.  turns out, there is a lot of pressure in picking the spelling of a name.

so, mr. darlin took some time... and i got the following video text from morgane this week.

'deen' it is.  gerald and deen.  forever and ever amen.