New family dynamics

(I needed a break - so the kids watched "Signing Time" after dinner when Josh had to be out for a meeting. It was really neat to see them all interested in the same thing. AND it's great for Moses' English language development. If anyone ever sees these DVDs at a yard sale or other, we love the DVDs and would love to share them with the school and our future ministry to children with disabilities and their families!)

It's amazing how one child can change family dynamics so much! Moses is an easy-going happy guy. He's not an emotional roller coaster ride like Ana. He's not a high-energy independent like Noah. He's not a high-needs entertain-me like Gracie. So he adds one more dynamic to the family and balances out some of the dramatic personalities that we have. He and Gracie haven't spent much time together, so I was quick to allow him to take Gracie on a trip around the house (his backpack loaded with treasures). I only had to rescue Gracie once from the front step (she wouldn't have tipped, but still made me nervous!) and he's old enough that he learned from that and didn't try any more steps with her. Gracie loved the attention and movement. She thinks he's hilarious when he sneezes, so that's really been their only bonding point so far!

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Uganda unit study - foods

Every tribe in Uganda has different food preferences, but they tend to revolve around these basics. Boarding school students (i.e. the vast majority of secondary school students) generally eat posho and beans daily except for a Sunday portion of meat. Imagine eating the same food for every meal! "Food" is the starch while everything else is the "soup" that goes with the food. Generally a large quantity of the starch is portioned out with a smaller quantity of the soup. "Foods" include: White sweet potato (peeled and boiled) Cassava/manioc (as chips) Irish potatoes (peeled and boiled) White maize ( posho - as a loaf of sticky "bread") Millet ( atapa or kalo - as a loaf of sticky "bread") Matoke /green plantain (best when steamed in banana leaves) Rice The "soup" includes a wide variety of ingredients in these categories: Greens Beans Cabbage Peanuts - ground into flour or paste depending on the tribe M...

Family of Three!

We are in Liberia - the electricity goes in and out because the generator is having trouble keeping up these days! So hopefully it will stay on long enough to post and the internet connection will allow me this luxury! We were united with precious Gracie on Thanksgiving day - I will write more about this later. But, oh! is Gracie a joy! She is so beautiful, so joyfilled, and a bit mischievious. Her physical limitations do not permit her to accomplish much mischief, but we can tell that she is trying to push some limits already. If we were not in love with her already, she is irresitable and such a treasure and blessing from God. In our two days together, she has not cried once. She spends most of her days smiling, she loves to snuggle (good match for us!), and has the most contagious laugh! Life takes more effort for her - her cerebral palsy is moderate and every activity is a challenge and is clearly tiring for her. Meal times (which she loves) take a long time and much patience and d...

New Stage of Life

Gracie has entered a new developmental stage. She now is active and has been rolling all over the floor. We cleared out a little living room so that she would have room to roll around - she's rolling front to back, both directions. She also has been much easier to get up on all fours - it used to take 3-4 adults to cram her into the crawling position due to her resistance. She now even spontaneously gets into a semi-crawling position on her own. In the crawling position she's been weight bearing even on her right arm (but always in combination with her left arm). She also has been rocking a little in the crawling position as if she gets it that this is a way that you can move! It's been so exciting. But it also makes her much more eager to be down with other kids and moving around. She's in a very active active stage, always moving, and wanting to move. She's also taken, not just a huge interest in other kids, but also interest in toys a bit more. She's so fun!

Rattins living Coram Deo

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