Girls’ Weekend

I took my girls to a mother/daughter retreat so we could have some much needed girl time.  We shared a cabin with 3 other moms and their girls, so it was like a giant slumber party for both the girls and the moms.

Four moms and 6 little girls.

I was tired when we got home.

The girls did a little canoeing.  Bear’s not a fan.  Just so you know.  She likes her feet planting firmly on solid ground.

Ellie wanted to try the zip line.  I was amazed at her complete lack of fear.  She said she was nervous, but you would have never known it.

I was nervous…and proud…and excited for her.  There was no way I was not going to let her try this.  Her heart was set on it.  As I was snapping pictures to document her accomplishment, I kept thinking I couldn’t believe I was watching my daughter jump off that platform.  I couldn’t see her from the ground very well, so I was looking through my zoom and trying to double check all of her straps.  ha!

  

But – she did it!  And, the look on her face was priceless when she ran back to me.

 

 

Another highlight was the trail ride. 

Bear was not old enough for the trail ride, but this super nice man walked her around the arena.  I’m sure he had plenty of other work to do, but he stopped everything to take her out there.  I could tell she appreciated it, too, because she talked to him the whole time they rode.  If you know Bear…you know that’s HUGE!  She doesn’t talk to strangers.  Ever.

Now, that’s a cowboy!

It wasn’t all recreational though.  Our speaker was from the Princess with a Purpose camps.  She spoke on how each of us are princesses because we are a daughter of the King, and that we are valuable because we are His.

It was a great message for the daughters and the moms.  It doesn’t matter who the world is telling us we should be.  We are exactly who God created us to be and that should be our goal.

Caught Ya

I can’t believe our little guy is 10 months old now.  I should probably list 10 things we love about him, but I don’t think I could narrow it down.

He loves to watch his brother and sister play the piano and now he’s finally big enough to just do it himself.   

Any requests?

Final Update

We finally met with the neurosurgeon this week and he was not at all concerned with the fluid in Gideon’s head.  He said no one would ever consider surgery for that small amount of fluid.

YAY!  God is good regardless of the outcome, but we are thankful Gideon is doing so great.

The doctor did go on and on about what a cute kid Gideon is.   I think that makes it official since a doctor said it.  He may have even put it in his chart somewhere.

Then as we were leaving, we got on the elevator with a young man.  He was staring at Gideon and finally asked where he was from.  I told him Ethiopia and he very excitedly told me HE was from Ethiopia.  He said he was looking at him and thinking he had “Ethiopia color”.  It’s funny how many strangers have looked at him and asked me if he’s from Ethiopia.  They just know.

We’re all very pleased with the official word from the doctor.  You can see above that Gideon is, as well.

Oh, and he’s dressed in his white Ethiopian outfit because we celebrated Christmas yesterday since Ethiopia celebrates on January 7th.  I tried my hand at some Ethiopian cooking and it turned out pretty good.  We had Doro Wat and Injera.

I love my cookbook that Tony bought me for my birthday last year.  It’s called The Soul of a New Cuisine by Marcus Samuelsson.  It has some wonderful looking recipes in it (the ones we tried last night were great), but it also has beautiful pictures and stories of his travels in Africa.  I just sit and read it.  He was born in Ethiopia and adopted and raised by a family from Sweden.  As an adult and a chef, he wanted to learn about Ethiopia’s culture.  He shares his story in the Preface of the book and it’s just beautiful.  He ends up finding out that his biological father is still alive when he was 35 years old and gets to go meet him and his 8 half brothers and sisters.  {tears}  I think I love this book so much because it’s not just a cookbook.  It’s a story of a man’s journey that touches my heart.  With every recipe I try, I will be thinking of so much more than some ingredients off the shelf at the store.  I will be thinking of the lifestyle of the people who make these recipes and use these ingredients that are so exotic to me everyday.  If you get this book, please don’t skip over the Preface.