Family

Family comes in so many different shapes, colors and sizes these days. It is sometimes hard for me to know that we are "doing it right." I want my kids to have respect for their elders, appreciate and care for each other and the environment, have fun, and know how to love authentically. Most of all, I truly want each of my children to know and love the Lord and be willing to submit to His will in their lives.

I know this will be a long journey. I believe we are giving our children a firm foundation for these tasks. However, I have days where I am just tired. I don't find that my children bring me joy. I have recently learned to accept this as normal and have chosen not to wallow in the guilt that is so easily assumed when this happens.

I see that the Lord delivers exactly what I need on these days. He might deliver a special friend to visit, or even several. He might prepare my husband's heart to be even more compassionate than normal on that particular day. He might choose to bless me with a particular moment or lesson.

Tonight my lesson was "hair pretties." You might wonder what that means. Well, Geslande and Joravena need a lot of "hair pretties" as a part of their hair grooming. We have many of these "pretties" and some are designated for the baby dolls and we practice putting them in their hair. In the last couple of days Josiah has been a willing participant in the practice of "doing hair pretties." Geslande has been grooming Josiah's hair. It is pretty rediculous looking and Josiah knows this, but he allows it anyway and laughs and giggles with his sister.

Tonight, Josiah, Geslande and Elijah were playing "family." Geslande was placing several of these "hair pretties" in Josiah's hair. "Family" has become a pretty common game in our house and I've never really thought much about it. However, the Lord placed on my heart a moment of notice during their playing this evening. My children were modeling a Mommy, Daddy, and baby. Their interacton was playful and tender. I realized during my moment of observation that they would not be able to model this behavior if they hadn't experienced it themselves.

Despite the days when I don't feel joy in parenting, the days when I yell more than I should, or maybe even get frustrated with the little buggers...despite this, they believe family is about mutual respect, tenderness, love, cooperation and fun. In this moment I was able to accept the grace that is offered to me from the Lord, grace that covers every bit of what I percieve as error in my parenting. The Lord has blessed me today and every day with four amazing children. They are on the right path. My prayer is that they would continue to choose this path as they grow.

Proverbs 3:9-11 "Then you will understand what is right and just and fair- every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to our soul. Discretion will protect you, and understnding will guard you.

>div>

Another home run for the kingdom!

Elijah asked me today, during a time-out, "Does God die?" This sparked a great conversation about God and Jesus and how God doesn't die, but he sent his son Jesus to die for us and then He rose again on the third day and is alive and with God in heaven. I explained about how this forgives all of the bad things we do called sin. I also explained that when we believe this and ask Jesus into our hearts to live with us now and forever, we get to be with Jesus in heaven. He got a particular smile on his face at this point. I asked him if he would like to ask Jesus into his heart to live there forever. He said, with much enthusiasm, "Yes!" So, we prayed the prayer together and then he had a smile on his face that he just couldn't wipe away. I have had the blessed honor of praying this prayer with two of my children and it humbles me and makes me cry. Thank you Lord for loving us!

20 Things I Have Learned on This Maternity Leave.

* Blowing kisses transcends language.

* It is impossible to grow impervious to the shrieking screams of a two year old girl.

* Toddlers thing toothpaste makes good fingerpaint.

* Bathroom mirrors are a magnet for fingerpainting.

* It is possible to get two four year olds and one two year old to play peacefully together. I      know,    I've done it once!

* Cream cheese frosting on brownies is a must.

* Poverty sucks. I mean, REALLY sucks.

* I've got a whole lot of love to give.

* Friends are the mortar that mends the crumbling wall.

* Brown skin and black hair are labor intensive, but OH SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

* Never underestimate the amount of food that can be consumed by a twenty pound human.

* Mount Laundrymore can actually be therapeutic.

* Carseats are wide and cars are narrow. There must be a conspiracy.

* Haiti gets under your skin and in your heart.

* Sixteen cheeks are better than eight.

* When life gets rough taking a bubble bath is a great choice, but it will only get you so far.

* If you wait long enough and pray hard enough someone will hand you ACTUAL people to take care of.

* Creole to Cre-lish to English is a long journey.

* People can completely love their children and give them away. These people are brave and deserve to be honored.

* Pretty much anything can be funny if you've had enough wine.

Snapshots of our family.

Josiah is conspicuously absent from most of these photos because he will not get off his bike! The kid is a two-wheeled bike riding machine! Otherwise, he is eating, sleeping or going to school. Elijah is learning to love and share with his sisters. His excitement for being their big brother can be overwhelming to them at times. He has so much love to give. As for the girls, they are adjusting so well. We could not have predicted that things would begin so well. They are showing great signs of comfort and attachment with us. Yes, overall, four kids is a tremendously difficult challenge, but also a tremendous reward. We are blessed beyond measure. We thank each one of you out there that helped to make this possible. Also, for those that continue to support us, we thank you, thank you, thank you. We could not do it without all of you! For your viewing pleasure...the Sanne children!

Family photo.

A family finally united. What a joyous and special occasion. It was our first family photo.

Our girls in our hands, at last!

These are our girls' birth- parents and baby brother. We had the most wonderful meeting with them. They are beautiful people beyond description. They truly love their children and pray God's best for them. 

Tired baby. She fell asleep on me in the car on the way up the mountain the first night. We were tired and hot, but it was absolutely wonderful.

Geslande quickly chose Papa as her parent of choice. They were bonding over Coca Cola within a few minutes. 

I entered the agency and Geslande climbed right into my lap. Joravena took a little coaxing, but she came around. This was moments after I saw my girls for the first time. Could Geslande's smile get much bigger?

Views from Haiti

Spectacular sunset from our balcony at the guest house. We saw this view each night. How amazing and beautiful!

 We loved Haiti very much and are struggling with capturing words that do such a magnificent trip justice. In the mean time, here are some photos of the country.

I don't recommend starting off your day by hitting a squirrel.

Josiah and I were having a perfectly honest conversation about the brutality of war on the way to school. He takes this kind of conversation like a trooper, not like a 6 year old.  I noticed a squirrel frantically racing across the street. I slowed down like any good humanitarian would. It appeared as though he would have plenty of time to cross the street in front of me, except that he must have dropped a nut or become demon possessed or suicidal. He switched directions and then switched directions again just in time to meet the rubber end of my back tire. He didn't feel like much, but he certainly wasn't pretty in the rearview mirror. I was thankful that Josiah missed this whole interaction with nature and prayed to the Lord, "Please let my day get better than this." 

My entire day wasn't terrible. I had a delicious coca-cola on the way to work after dropping Josiah off  at school. This is one of my great pleasures in life. In fact, the Chinese name for coca-cola is "Delicious Happiness." Can I just say that those people know how to name a drink? So, anyway, I was fairly productive at work and things seemed to be going fairly well. Then, I heard someone mid-day mention that I-5 was closed going North to Seattle. It just so happens that I just solidified plans this week to travel to Seattle to visit some people I really care about and attend a breast cancer conference. It worked out that my work needed to have someone take Friday so I volunteered to make traveling a bit easier for everybody. I was reminded that I was going to be paid for Saturday when I attended the conference and for just a bit I got to think about what it was going to be like to be a giddy bachelorette for one weekend. No kids, off to the big city all by myself. It all came crashing down with one photo of I-5 submerged beneath something like 10 feet underwater. That put the grand kabosh on that. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I can take a while to commit to an obligation away from my house. When I do commit, however, I'm in 110%.  It took me a while to commit to the idea of heading toward Seattle.  It took me a while to get to the place where I was excited to sit in a conference all day. However, I got there. I was excited. I was so excited I had trouble getting to sleep last night. 

I have lived that kind of excitement over and over about the idea of our girls coming home from Haiti. At the end of each step with the promise of the next step I have let myself get excited. (sometimes even when I say I won't I do...I just can't help it.) With each step has come more waiting and disappointment. It is for this reason that I can barely stand the disappointment today. My heart is full of all the disappointment it can take. I wonder Lord, how much I can take. I would prefer it if we not continue to test this area. 

On a tender note, my heart was filled with joy when I walked through the door and my little people grabbed my legs and loved on me. Elijah and I practiced kissing. He would kiss my ear and I would kiss his trigus. He would kiss my cheek and I would kiss his clavical. He would kiss my forehead and I would kiss his xyphoid process. As I kissed each of those places I would name them and for some reason these silly names made the boys giggle into hysterics. It is for this reason that I am not completely broken. I look for the joy even through my veil of sorrow. Here is to my friend the squirrel. May he rest in peace. 

Winter Wonderland

As most all of you know by now we have had the largest December snow storm in 40 years this week. It has slowed things down. Josiah got a whole week added on to his winter break. Vanessa has had fewer hours in the clinic, but thankfully, Jamie's clients are die-hard and his business has been all but unaffected. Thank goodness our old jalopy of a 4x4 gets around great in the snow! The Lord had his plan for not allowing us to sell this vehicle during the summer. So, here are a few photos of the boys enjoying the winter weather.

Christmas season is upon us

Getting in the Christmas spirit has been a bit tough this year. We had anticipated celebrating our first Christmas with Geslande and Joravena. Due to long delays in the handling of our paperwork we are frustrated and saddened they will not be here with us. We are attempting to find joy in the wonderful blessings we have. Our boys and their sweet smiles bring joy that help fill the void.





Elijah was a bit wet from helping choose our tree. We all decided it was worth it in the end.



This is my fabulous husband cutting down our little tree in the pouring rain. Way to take one for the team honey!!




Elijah being goofy at the tree farm.


On our way to find our triee this is Josiah hearing "All I want for Christmas is my two fron teeth" for the first time. He wouldn't let me take a picture of his awesome toothless grin. Maybe he's the grinch.

Elijah turns four!

What is a birthday party without a pinyata (or peeanta as Eli calls it)?



Eli and Miana and their birthday crowns!

Nana generously provided a copy of Peter Pan for Eli's birthday, feeding his new obsession!! At least he wants to be Peter Pan and not tinker bell...

Elijah got a whole bunch of new Rescue Heros for his birthday. He was so excited about the police car, little did he know at that time that the huge box beside him had many, many more! Thanks Denise. You saved the birthday!!

Happy Birthday Elijah. We love you!

Meet Brad

Some of you have met Brad, some of you have merely heard of our new addition. We have aquired a new roommate whome we have termed "The Brad." He is quite amazing and has quickly become a comfortable extension to our family. He helps with the kids and he even cleans bathrooms...but don't tell his mom! We are thankful the Lord has delivered a caregiver that gets along with the boys so well. He has a nice balance of authority and fun with them. Best of all, he plays Legos!!

Some Fall Photos Too!!

Halloween was a little crazy this year. Jamie and two other guys went as the blue man group. I'll try to get the pictures of all three of them up soon. I went as Rocker Chick complete with goth makeup and piercings! (Fishnets omitted from this page!)





Just a few pictures of the boys out in the cold fall air.




I can't get over how handsome my boys are!




This was our 10th anniversary. I think we look better now than we did then, right? We had a great weekend together. Jamie surprised me with a corvette ride into town and a posh hotel. We had dinner and a movie and a really fun time bumming around town together. We should have a 10th anniversary more often!





Overall, soccer season was fairly disappointing for everyone involved, however, we did have some fun.


He's got his foot near the ball!!!