A sneek peek into our week.

The Littles have been angels. The girls are more of the type of angels that hit each other occasionally and sometimes bite and sometimes take off their diapers at nap and have an obsession with flushing the toilets and washing their hands every five minutes... but overall, angels would be a good word. :) If you've ever the met the girls, you know they are 100% full of energy and too smart for their own good. The only thing is they are so fast and so busy and they move in the opposite direction. They are incredible and I love them with all of my heart but they can be difficult at times.

It's almost like God has given them a heavenly dose of benadryl this week, not even kidding. They have been so much fun and so well behaved. Thank you Jesus. :)

God has been so good. Everything has gone so smoothly and everyone has had wonderful attitudes and loving hearts. I so appreciate everyone's offers to help but we have been surviving quite comfortably!! More than surviving, we've been living quite comfortably. Elsa is a Godsend. I love her.

Today we had a case of a popcorn kernel up a nostril. We almost had an experiment on whether corn stalks could grow in sinuses but luckily we handled it before the situation was too far gone. or up. or...yea.

I have pulled three loose teeth in the past two days leaving two little boys with no front teeth. It's precious. Two years of speech therapy has gone out the window, lisps are inevitable. Ever wonder if the whole "tie a piece of string around your tooth and then tie the other end to a door knob and shut the door" method works? It does.

We really are documenting everything I just haven't had any time at all to compile our videos together yet! They are coming soon I promise. :) Pictures from Marbles Kids museum (my fave place in NC pretty much), the park, frog catching etc.

She painted her own face at Marbles. :) Swingin at the park with our poodle the way cool people do. Frog hunting. "I CAUGHT A BIG FAT PAPA FROG!!! I "FOT" IT WAS A ROCK AND DEN IT JUMPED!!!" Rennie's masterpiece involving lots of glue and feathers. :)

Kezzie looking more than slightly suspicious on the far left and the other little girl on the far right looking shocked.

We took the littles to drive their truck around at Joyner's Park. They had a blast.

This was fun until the bees came. :) First soccer practice this week!! Fun at Marbles.

Videos coming soon. :)>

To Him who does immeasurably more than we could ask or even imagine.

Immeasurably. im·measur·a·bly : to an immeasurable degree; beyond measurement; without bounds.

To Him who does Immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to ALL generations forever and ever and ever and ever...and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:20-21)

www.jobsdaughters.blogspot.com

God is working immeasurably in multiple mighty ways. Not even kidding. When I say multiple, I mean multiple.

P.S. We are surviving unbelievably well. Elsa is here with me, I love her to death already. More to come on us later along with words from the Littles. :)

And She's Off!!

Mom just called from D.C.! Her plane is boarding and she is officially on her way back to Ethiopia!!! AHHHHH!! :)

Today our neighbor came over to play for a while and Jeremiah sees him at the door, rushes to open it and quickly told him that Mom had just left on an airplane to go to Ethiopia to see Solomon and he was beyond excited to tell him. Next he told him all about Malaria and the need for mosquito nets in Africa. (We talked about Malaria recently and our sweet boys excitedly volunteered to give their tooth fairy money to buy mosquito nets and they bought about 25 nets!!) Well, our sweet little neighbor child had no clue what Jer was saying and had a look on his face that said "I just asked if you could come outside..."

After playing outside for a while, (we shall call him "Bob") "Bob" breaks out his gameboy and is sitting by himself for a while just playing away. James then walks over and says "Do you know video games make you lazy and turn your brain to mush?" Blunt much, James? :) We love our neighbor, he mostly seems like he loves us too. Most of the time.

My boys bring joy to my soul.

Sweet 16!!!

Yes, yes it's true. I'm now 16.

I gave 3 of my very good friends (and their moms, who happen to be my mom's very good friends which worked out nicely.:) a packing list and a time frame of when I was going to kidnap them. I banged on their back doors dressed like a disturbed madwoman who had a secret desire to be a ninja, and then we drove for four hours up to the Asheville, NC to spend the weekend at the Biltmore Estate! We had soo much fun and I don't think we ever stopped laughing.

(P.S. The Biltmore is an incredible place to visit, we have season passes and LOVE it there. and also...there is this incredible Thai restaurant in Asheville that our long time friends own that is insanely delicious. They put on the Ritz for us and were so sweet. Gahh. Just typing this made me hungry for their deliciousness. )

My sweet birthday letter from Solomon...:) "Hello Ellie Happy birthday. How are you? I am so sorry because I didn’t write for you sooner. The reason for this is I think that you are going to other place for work. My graduation day is September 1. I hope that mom will be with me in that day. I am so happy very much. I love you my dear sister Ellie. Happy Birthday!!!"

Mom leaves for Ethiopia TOMORROW!!! Please keep her in your prayers! I'm so excited for her!

If you like it then you better put a ring on it... or a comment.

Ok, so we are contemplating video journaling every waking moment (or just a few waking moments) of our time without mom as she is leaving for Africa next Saturday!!! I am forcing her to video EVER-EE-THANG because I especially wish I could see Solomon's face when he sees her but I also want to see my favorite place in the world which I miss dearly. And I'm also insanely excited about a lot of things she will be doing.

So I am thinking maybe, maybe... we should do the same. It might not be pretty. Most likely there will be a lot of hilariousness with a hint of crazy and insanity on the side. Maybe too much for you to handle. But if you want to see the madness that will go on, then you better comment. I need at least 5 comments, maybe 12. I don't care if you don't know me. Comment. You can even comment more than once. I don't care. We will be interviewing The Littles (who are quite hilarious as it is) and also letting you glimpse a week of life in a rather child-infested home without mom here. AND we will give updates on Mom as we hear from her. Don't hold back, don't be nervous. Comment.

Sometimes we're crazy.

*Correction*... We're always crazy. (and yes, those would be underwear ^.)

Pondering My Wanderings. Part Uno.

Once upon a time I was flying home from Nashville last summer (2008) from visiting my China girls. I was seated in the exit seat. row. thing. This kid comes a long and sits down. The steward comes, moves him and tells him he's too young to sit there. He was 15. I say, "Excuse me kind sir, I'm not even 15." He doesn't believe me. Finally he moves me next to an elderly Chinese man who's name was Jelly. Or that's what he said. Turns out it wasn't Jelly. It was Jerry. Anyway.

He was an extremely darling little old man and I decided to practice my 12 things I know how to say in Mandarin on him. I started out with a friendly "Ni Hao!" and asked him what his name was...he was super excited. He said.."OHH!! You speak vellllllly good chai-neeee!!!" We carried on a little conversation until I came down to my last three phrases which were.."Can I have a kiss?", "Merry Christmas!" and "Can I hold the baby?"

So. Needless to say. Our conversation ended.

Meanwhile, there was a friendly man behind us who was apparently listening and he says to me..."WOW! ARE YOU IN THE OLYMPICS?!"

Yes sir, I'm so good at saying hello in Chinese they sent me to the Olympics for it. it was that or tell him I'm a gymnast... I'm tiny, it could work.... till he asks me to do a handspring. not gonna happen. ;) He was extremely nice though and it turns out his son was on the Olympic committee and was living in China. The guy ended up being a Christian and our conversation was worth the crick i got in my neck from turning around for an hour and a half.

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So, I was thinking the other day about the fact that I have fallen in a bush in three countries and I think its becoming apparent that I no longer need prayer for "A hedge of protection" More like "Protection from hedges" please. Thanks so much. ................................

Once in Africa, I got asked why I wasn't married. I tried to explain that I was really not old enough to be married in America and the baby I was holding wasn't mine. Sadly, charades wasn't taking the conversation anywhere. (You try explaining that in charades.)

I ran away before he could propose.

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This one time, in China, I was on an overnight train and there was a bug in my bed. I was on the top bunk of a three bed, bunk bed. I almost dove off to my death. It was dark. People heard me shriek from terror and then pant from fear of falling. They laughed at me.

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I was eating pistachios in the back of our bus in China when i found a rotten one. I did the sensible thing and chucked it out the window. Our driver was a very fast walker. He wasn't there and then he was. It hit him on accident and he jumped 5 feet in the air. He then drove like a maniac...

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In Guatemala...I fell out of a tree while getting down. Why were we in a tree? Who knows. It seemed like a good idea.

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Also in Guatemala, I was wearing shoes. and then i wasn't. I still don't know what happened to them. hopefully someone is using them. Shoes. I almost left for the Great Wall of China without shoes on. I was in the bus and we were about to pull out when someone realized they forgot something. I offered to run into the orphanage and get it. I ran through the lobby, out to our yurt and ran back to see three pairs of my shoes in the lobby. "Thats strange" i thought. "I only brought three pairs with me." I keep walking like a doofus and then look down at my feet. Oh thank you sweet Jesus. I wish I could say I have learned my lesson on remembering to wear shoes. But that would be a lie. I left my house without shoes again somewhat recently and it was 45 minutes before i realized i didn't have any on. It was kind of...really, recently actually.

kind of like....today.

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I got stung by a bee on that Oh So Very Great, Wall of the China Place. A freaky bee.

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More to come.

P.S. Click here. My mom is going back to Ethiopia to visit Solomon in TWO WEEKS!!! I'm sooo excited.

Guatemala 2009

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