Bunk Bed

After a few months of shopping around, we found the perfect bunk bed at the perfect price.  It allows room for a crib (anyone have one they want to get rid of?) and the 3 kids will be nice and cozy in their little room.



Not only is it great to sleep on, but it serves many other purposes. It is perfect for climbing.







Doing yoga



Playing hide & seek



Staring out the window



Posing





Wrestling





Praying



Resting





Screaming



Funny-facing



Contemplating



Enjoying

Date Night With Our Daughter

All last Friday, Audrey thought Mike and I were going on a date and that she would be babysat by Auntie Miriam.  But at the last minute, we surprised her and took her along with us.  She was pretty stoked.



Of course, we had her favorite meal for dinner.  Here she is, getting her "condiments" ready.



It is an unspoken rule that we don't talk while we eat our pho.  We just devour.



Here's my bowl before:



And then 15 minutes later:



After dinner, we headed off to the Spectrum.  I love how my husband and daughter share the same anatomy.  I never knew that soccer legs were hereditary before Audrey came along.



As we approached the movie theater, she had a feeling that some good news was coming her way.



Here's her reaction to "Yes, we are watching Toy Story 3 tonight!"



More pictures of elation





This is her current favorite shirt.  She could wear it everyday.



We treated ourselves to some hot beverages before the show.





I caught a very interesting face as we were waiting for the movie to start.  It doesn't look like it, but she was very excited here.  But maybe she had a feeling that the fire alarm would sound right after the previews and that we would have to evacuate the theater and drive like mad to nearest theater in the next city to catch another showing.  Maybe she had a feeling that we wouldn't get home until midnight that night.  But it was all worth it because she had a BLAST and so did we.  :-)

Thankful Friday

1. I'm thankful for summer vacation.  The kids and I got to hang out at the park and have a swim date with some friends this week.  So fun!

2. I'm thankful that peaches are in season.

3. Marcus' new school approved OT & PT to continue throughout the summer break.  I'm thankful for this provision and that he got to have his first 2 sessions with his new therapists this week.  He was cooperative and they said he worked hard, which I'm thankful for.

4. I'm thankful that Marcus' speech has been exploding as of late.  He's got a lot more consonants under his belt than he had even last week.  And who knew that learning to say "uh-oh" and "help" would curb so much of his frustration?!  Praying for continued improvements and that as he learns to say more, his anger and frustration will dissipate more.  Praying also that more speech would allow him to interact more with his peers.

5. The kids have been playing together so well lately.  Daily, I hear them giggling by themselves most likely due to some weird humor that they share together.  (You end any sentence with "underwear" and they both crack up.)  I love that they wrestle together and that Marcus bugs Audrey like any little brother would.  He'll purposely crash the creations she makes out of blocks with the most rascally grin on his face.  And even though it annoys her, I secretly love it because it's such a typical younger brother thing to do.  Despite the occasional bickering (which I get a kick out of), they're best buds and I'm so thankful for that.

6. I'm thankful that Mike shared with me the "warm fuzzy" excitement he has about this baby.  We could so easily be swallowed up by anxiety of all the unknowns, but the Lord has graciously allowed us to have hope and to eagerly await this little guy to join the family.  The worries are still there, but thankfully they are undergirded by the promises God gives us to love us through everything.

7. I got to hang out with my gals, Jenny, Jeanne, & Joan yesterday.  We got together with our  7 kids and 2 more on the way, and I really enjoyed our special day together.  We don't get to do this too often, so it was a treat.  So thankful how God is taking care of each of them, though their trials are each so different.

8. I also had the chance to grab some coffee and dessert at night with my friend Jane, whose friendship I really treasure as well.

9. Tonight, Mike and I get to take Audrey on a surprise date to have dinner and watch Toy Story 3.  She's gonna go wild!  Thanks to Auntie Miriam for babysitting Marcus tonight!

Peek-a-boo Auj

One day, at the playground of BCLC, Audrey and I thought it would be fun to take pictures of her face through different holes.  Here's what we came up with:

The Fathers I Know

The special needs community is mostly represented by women and moms, especially in the blogosphere.  And although I am the primary author to this blog, I hope that all my readers know that my husband and my kids' dad shares a voice in everything I write.  We parent through our failures (just ask our kids...they'll keep it real with you), and we make more mistakes than anything right we do (we have to ask our kids for forgiveness more than asking them to follow our example).  But on this Father's Day, I'm glad I get to thank God for the grace I see in my husband that enables him to care for our kids in such a special, special way.  My kids are so blessed to have him as their dad.  I could go on and on about all the tender moments between them that only I get to witness.  But maybe my kids can hijack my blog years later and let them tell you for themselves.



I've been thinking about my dad and Mike's dad this week and was overwhelmed with thanks.  Fathering in our generation is tough.  But they had to parent and provide and lead as immigrants in a whole new land, starting their lives over from scratch.  I marvel at that.  Today, Mike and I get to reap the blessings of all the suffering and toil we'll never know for ourselves.  And more than anything, we get to live out the answers to all the years of prayer that they poured over us and continue to pour over us to this day.





All this thinking about Mike, my dad, and my father-in-law has led me to SO appreciate that God allows us to call Him our Father.  God didn't have to do that.  In relation to us, He could have rightly called himself CEO, King, Ruler.  But no, He presents Himself to us as a tender, loving, protecting, providing, and yet majestic, sovereign, powerful father to those who are found in His Son.

I'm thankful for the fathers I know here, who show me such beautiful little glimpses of who my Heavenly Father really is.