Easter

This is the Saturday before Easter. Soccer game followed by the baby chicks visit at Kearney's Feed Store in Sunnyvale.

I love what baby animals do to siblings!

Then, on to the Hines 10 Acres for some good 'ol fashioned egg dying and Travis carrying the Cross....
On the porch with Travis' parents and Wendy's parents, too. Very nice!
The eggs--hard boiled and dyed.
Lucy came in late due to a nap.
A little post egg dying dance in the garden--this is why you have girls.
Easter morning--cool, giant bubble wands...
Great church service at Transformation Anglican Church in Rockwall--they ring bells and had a lovely, vibrant celebration to ring in the holiday. I feel especially grateful this year that through the death and resurrection of Jesus--while there is mystery in suffering and such--there is also Hope--of change, of healing, of purpose and meaning--whew, what a relief! Said good-bye to my parents and then back to the 10 Acres to search for the eggs.

Mallory and Georgia lean in to hear instructions from Travis.
Mallory, Lucy, Emma Shae, Georgia, Micah and Jesse ready to get those eggs!
There is nothing cuter than kids bent over getting eggs!
Micah and Jesse get serious.
Of course, the hen house....
Yes, donkey's, freshly shorn al paqua's
This is hularious--don't underestimate the number 4 Hines, Julia...
She was quickly reviewing the layout and then off to get her prize!!!
Lucy, Emma Shae and Mallory in the Wysteria.

Wendy and Leslie--oh, and Emma Shae snuck in :)

A few pictures..

Yes, Mallory caught drinking the water--nice, polluted city park water :).

The Kids

So, how are the kids doing with all of this? Seemingly well, except Mallory and Emma Shae got warnings at school today. That's really the first problem! Not bad for 4 months of transition.

Emma Shae told me going to school was much better than home schooling. Thanks.

We have been very watchful and truly amazed that they seem to be thriving. We haven't gotten as plugged in at school as we usually would, but we are putting lots of time into the relationships with the Hines kids.

Micah is really in to Legos and random projects. He made our house into a city and posted signs all over the house renaming everything--he kept laughing eerily--made me think of a world domination laugh. He also drew an elaborate security system for their room--it's to the left of the door and you have to punch a code to come in or hot lava will get you. The kids each have their own hand print that allows them access to the room (yes, they continue to share one room). This came a couple of weeks after Micah had developed a charging system to coming in their room--parent tax. I keep meaning to get a system of chores and allowance back up and running!

Emma Shae has been doing well, especially considering everything. She was having trouble getting back into school (despite what she said...), but this week and last, she is all motivated. Saw that Time magazine was talking about bribing kids in school, well the opposite is happening for Emma Shae. Her teacher has been explaining that the books she is sending home cost $5 if they loose them. So, this week and last, Emma Shae has done her homework right away, "so, she doesn't have to pay $5" and sit out at recess. Fine. You go, girl!

Mallory is always full of surprises and keeping us all laughing. She can struggle with her new routine off and on and frankly, this girl is ready to just be in school with the big kids. Recently, we went for a family hike and she was so happy and excited and Micah was explaining that we were going west (I don't know that we were, but he had his very important voice on that the woods tend to bring out and he was leading us on expedition) The next thing I know Mallory has pooped out and through clinched teeth said in a low voice, "I'm tired of going west!" I quickly scooted up to the front--yikes! This was after she had already drank from the stream that we were putting our feet in--I thought Aaron was going to pass out--too much knowledge from Tropical Medicine course :). We are in the URBAN jungle...

This week, Leslie is going to do a little hour with the kids about them being in team and what to expect. I am curious to see what they say.

A few pictures...

Micah waiting his turn at an Easter egg hunt--week before Easter at our church in Houston--Windwood Presbyterian.

Our friend John has mercy on Mallory who got shy in her hunt. I love the heart of youth workers!
Having fun at the Easter egg hunt!
Micah set up all his animals and taught them school. Mallory assisting.
A much needed Spring Break--got to go to Sea World one day. For our friends from out of the country, if I could visit one city in Texas, it would be San Antonio--what a great snap shot of Texas culture and fun -- also, Sea World is such a quality park!
Feeding the dolphins.
Great to be near two families from residency who are in the Dallas area. This is a park within walking distance from our house and in yellow is Eliana and Madeleine Graves. Not pictured due to taking a snooze is baby Judson.
Dr. Seuss' Birthday celebration. Ms. Malone's mom made these for Emma Shae's class.
Aaron gets careful direction from Emma Shae
The first few weeks we were here, our friends the Graves brought over toys for the kids and one of them was a puppet show--the kids were all over it when they got home and Micah turned out to be a witty puppeteer!

First Baptist Garland had a special princess tea for the little girls. Emma Shae asked for her picture with this friend.
Our table was so cute--they took pictures of the moms and daughters, which were available right after the tea and then as the girls came in, they made the matting that would go around the picture. It was a well organized and beautiful tea.
We were so excited to go together. It was the first time we have done something with just the two of us--usually Mallory is with us! This happened to be a day of prayer for Emma Shae and then her miraculous avoidance of a bone marrow biopsy was the very next Monday. What a special day!
Valentine's princess'--Gammy gave them money and they got these outfits!
A sweet visit from Waco friends--the Wehmeyer's. Not pictured is baby Avi and her parents, but Cade and Zane and our kids are enjoying a post snow play snack.
It snowed all day this day--amazing!

First day of the new sch0ols.

The Wildlife

I was a little nervous coming to the Dallas area b/c growing up in Houston, we have heard nothing but that Dallas is the armpit of Texas... Must be "friendly" city rivalry.

Also, one of the authors that Aaron likes is Donald Miller. That dude has a theory that if you don't live near mountains or the ocean, places breed materialism and legalism--and mentions Dallas. So, I was a bit intimidated...

We are happy to report, we have found lots of pockets of beauty and nature to keep us encouraged! And, while I am sure that Donald Miller is right-he's an author for crying out loud--there are lots of deep, simple and thoughtful people in the Dallas area!!!

First, a random tidbit. I was waiting for Aaron to get out of an appointment--we were in downtown Dallas and I heard all this racket coming from the trees--looked out and saw these cool black masked bandit birds. The same day we saw them somewhere else--so, cool! It turns out it was the Cedar Waxwing in migration--I love it!! If you click on the link, you can actually go to an online field guide and hear them singing--the same song I heard them singing :).

Tried and failed to post some pictures from other websites--I was giving credit, but too bad.

Anyway, found a great Texas blog and some other people who noticed these cute little birds coming through our state--maybe we'll become bird watchers--like officially?

We've already talked about our yard :) Well, there is a walk that I like to take around the neighborhood--we first went that way when it snowed and just became enchanted!

I have no idea what these are--pygmy big horn sheep??? I asked this kid who was walking by me and he said deeply, "I think they are called rams." Thanks. He probably thought I am an idiot.
In with the rams is a random donkey--see, right in the middle of the concrete jungle, we get this!

The House

One of the most amazing things in our time of unexpected "delay"--I say that with inadequate words to say how thankful we have been for how things have unfolded--it has been very hard at times, but just amazing things have happened, too. Anyway, one of the most amazing things has been provision of this house. All of our personal connections had fallen through, so I remembered a colleague in England--a doctor in Aaron's program--who had quit his job and was living with friends as he is exploring ideas in community health. He just emailed churches in the Liverpool area and asked if anyone would be willing to house him during his stay for the program. It was such a moving act of faith in the church and God to provide. So, we began on Friday to call churches in Sunnyvale, the town where our teammates, the Hines, live. Nothing came through with several calls. It was moving into Friday afternoon and I called another church who had an answering machine with a message saying the office was closed, but if you had an emergency, call such and such number. I thought, this is an emergency--we can't keep staying with our friends and we have no other options--although my parents graciously offered us to stay on at their house in Houston. I'm 38, with my husband, 3 kids and sleeping on the couch at my parents--sold our stuff, following a call to Africa and get deterred with no end in sight? Man, this is low!! So, I called the number and got a surprised pastor, who graciously told me 3 churches in the area who have houses. The other two did not work out--houses filled, but First Baptist Garland had a house that would be available in the time we needed!

Wow. I cannot say enough about this community and their generosity. It has been the most loving, gentle place to have a crisis. We have really recovered here and have a beautiful place to stabilize. One of the things that has surprised me about having a health crisis is how disorienting it is--no end in sight, occasional serious issues and trying to live a normal life and help kids through their lives is a little difficult. So, three cheers for FBC Garland! We are now in full spring and whoever has done this garden over the years has created a virtual symphony of bloom--everyday we wake up, there is something cool coming and going in bloom!!!! Awesome.

The front of the house.

The daffodils came up later...
Holly bushes!
The view from the porch...

Some of side yard flowers...
Early rose blooms--we have 2 bushes, the other is pink. The cool thing about this is that there is a bee hive in our garage! Maybe that's why the flowers are so cool?

A fig tree--we often have had a fig tree in our yard or neighbors, and this is no exception!
Garland is a town FULL of iris--many, many varieties. We have yellow, white and purple in several places in our yard.
A porch with rockers!!!!
This house has two yards and it is a dreamland for the kids--there are several trees to climb and lots and lots of room to do their thing. This the magnolia tree in the front yard.