Jonathan at 17 months old

I thought I'd write a little about Jonathan, who is growing and changing so quickly. It's harder for us to notice since we are with him everyday.

Jonathan is a very happy boy.

Most mornings, Jonathan gets some coffee (watered down) from Daddy. I know, horrible... but it's kind of cute how he is so proud to be drinking COFFEE with Daddy!

He HATES getting dressed, and usually screams the whole time. He also screams and fights to be put in the car seat, but once he's buckled in, he's fine. ???

He has alot of words, and picks up new words all the time. So far, he can say: Dada, Mama, Nose, Eye, No-no, Yeah (yes), bye-bye, Beep-beep, broom-broom (the noise cars make), ball, weeee!, ju (juice), ow!, out. When we pray at dinner, he "prays" along with us, making noises that sound like the prayer and puts his hands together. It's SO cute! If you ask, "Do you want to go on a walk?" He runs over and climbs into his stroller.

Jonathan loves his sisters and has very different relationships with both of them. Katrina is the more active, and he loves for her to push him around on the stroller like a race car, carry him around and swing him around, play ball with him, etc. Their special time is usually in the morning, when they cuddle together.

Heather and him have a more peaceful relationship. He is always giving Heather hugs, usually one after the other (but then he'll start hitting her right after that). They play together quietly, or they will run and chase eachother. Katrina tries to "mother" him by dressing him, feeding him, carry him, etc. Heather only plays with him.

Jonathan gives kisses if you ask for them, and hugs often.

He LOVES water and getting wet. If its quiet in the house, he's usually to be found with the hose on, or pouring a cup on water on himself, or with some faucet running! Bathtime is his favorite time of the day, needless to say. He usually cries when he has to get out.

Jonathan loves food and eating. When I ask, "Are you hungry?" He smiles and runs to his high chair and tries to climb in. We just give him whatever we happen to be eating, just cut up a little bit. He only had "baby food" for about 2 or 3 months and then starting eating table food. He's 22 lbs., which is what Heather weighed about about 3! He's just a healthy, growing boy! He usually eats as much as Heather does at each meal, sometimes more.

Well, hope you feel like you know a little more about Jonathan now!

A long walk

This afternoon I was out on a walk with the girls, pushing Jonathan in the stroller. I often take walks with the kids around the neighborhood. While out, I ran into Mama Teddy and Vincent on their way to the children's program at Moshono Christian Church. I thought, "Hey this is my chance to see how far it is to walk to Moshono Christian Church from our house!" So, we started walking together to the church.... and arrived there AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER! I had no idea how far it was! (Obviously!) The kids were tired, but enjoyed playing with the animals that live on the farm next to the church, and we stayed for most of the children's program. When it was 6pm, it was getting dark and Bill was still in town, so we had to walk back home. It was a long and tiring walk, but I'm glad to say that we have done it, at least once! When we got home, we were locked out, but Bill showed up after a few minutes to let us in. It "only" took us an hour to get home, so thankfully we made it before dark. I was so happy to be home again, to have a glass of water and some food and sit down and rest! I was a long day, but it was nice to get to see everyone at Moshono Christian Church.

Katrina and Heather walking behind Mama Teddy to the church.

'Power Cut

We lost power last night (Tues night) at 8pm, and it didn't come back until 2pm today (Wed.). 14 hours without power isn't really that bad, the worst part of it was that our water tank was empty when it happened, and we didn't have power to pump any water.
Thankfully, the kids were all asleep already. I decided to go to bed early since there was no lights and nothing to do.
When I woke up and found there was still no water or power, I had to get creative. I used some wet wipes to take a sponge bath. I used some bottled drinking water to wet wash clothes for the girls to wash their face. They had bathed before bed.

I didn't want the dishes to just sit there, so decided to use one teakettle-full of drinking water to do dishes. We had 5 L of drinking water. I boiled the water on stove. We have gas stove, so we never have to depend on power to cook.
No water means not cooking any rice or anything else you have to boil, but thankfully I had plenty of left overs to heat up for lunch.
Heather fell and straped up her knees, and I used wet wipes to clean them off.
It's amazing what you can get by with when you have to... now that power's back and I have pumped the water... I think I'll go take a real shower!

Long Time, No Blog

I haven't been blogging in almost a month. We are all setttled into our new house in Moshono, and are loving the house. Our cat, Romeo, ran off for the first week but found his way home finally. The girls were happy to see him again. School picked up again after a week's break for the move, and we are going full speed. From now until the end of Sept, we will even be having school on Saturdays to make up for lost time. We'll finish 2nd grade/ Pre-K the last week of Sept, and start with 3rd grade/Kindergarten on Oct. 4th. Our "summer vacation" was a month off while the Eastview Group was here in July.

School is going MUCH better with Katrina, for those who are wondering. She has been more cooperative and responsive in school, and has even been reading books, and writing outside of school-time, a good sign I think. We decided to take a break from Audiblox (the reversal program) until 3rd grade, because it took so much mental effort for her that she was exhausted by the time school started.

Thanks to my parents, Katrina and Heather are joining Girl Scouts this fall! I am so excited; I loved being a part of Girl Scouts. I was excited to find out that my Girl Scout Council offers Postal Express Girl Scouts or, PEGS for short, which is Girl Scouting long distance! That is the perfect solution for missionaries over seas! So, I will be their "troop leader" unoffically, holding troop meetings and helping them earn badges. I think its going to be alot of fun.

On another note, we have another team coming in Sept from Rochester Christian Church, lead by our mission director for ACM, David Upchurch. He is bringing 3 lady nurses who will do some health teaching here for a little over a week. We are excited to be having guests again!

Well, I had alot of catching up to do!!

P.S. The picture above of the kids-- they are wearing new clothes from Kevin and Carla Short... thanks guys!

We are moving again!

We are moving house again, back to Moshono. We're much closer to Moshono Christian Church. The house has 4 bedrooms, a BATHTUB (yeah!), it's own well. We'll be saving around $200 a month on this house, since it is a little bit out of town. Just call it our Pink House... the girls dream house!

Pictures of Prosper and Sophie's wedding

Prosper and Sophie got married at Moshono Christian Church last Sunday (May 30th). The wedding was beautiful, click on the link below to see some pictures of it.
Click here to view photos

Jonathan walking

I know I already uploaded a video of Jonathan walking, but this time he's taking so many steps! Jonathan is walking all over now, even all the way across the room without stopping. I am just so excited to see Jonathan walking with or without his prosthetic foot... so happy that he isn't being inhibited in his walking because of his small foot. God is good!