Because the tide was out in the afternoons, we decided one day to take a walk to the little fishing village nearby and see where the river meets the sea. As it turned out, the sea was far out as well, but we did get to see a lot of boats in for repairs (they can’t fish for these 4 months) and beautiful forests and plains. CC took some great pix (the 2 boat ones below are hers) which I’ll post on her blog too.

Ok, so it seems to be letting me do this right now, so here are the pix from Cherise’s birthday parties. Cherise got the dress as a gift and they enjoyed dressing traditional as much as they could.

 There was a campfire planned for the night before, but it had rained, so it coincided with the evening we had planned for Cherise’s celebration.

Back home, the kids made a surprise for her by decorating the room and making her a ‘princess chair’. She loved all the attention and was so eager to give the gifts to the other kids as well. Here you can see her toothless grin; she lost 2 teeth the week before her birthday!

Happy Birthday, my little Princess

So the little lady is 7. We were able to celebrate once at the beach where we had a few days off at a resort and then again on her actual birthday here at home. She was so excited about all of it and enjoyed it very much. She’s become such a little mother to the younger kids and really has a heart for anyone who needs help. Her reading just gets better and better and she’s already a favorite for the two youngest boys here for morning readings as they wake up earlier than the other kids. She has just started second grade and is challenged and excited about it as am I! For some reason I’m not able to upload pix right now…sniff! I’ll try again another day, as I also have some good, fun ones from our time away.

 

A miracle

So often in my busy ‘adult’ life, I get wrapped up in the things that need to get done, the things I worry about or that trouble me. In times like that, I’m amazed and thankful when my kids teach me lesson or two based solely on their full and unassuming faith.

 

I had been spending the last few days, and, even worse, nights worrying and doing the math for upcoming things I needed to save for. My visa trip is due in a few months, and I figured it wouldn’t exactly be cheap. Also, my school fees and book order need to be done around the same time meaning I have a hefty sum to get together in the coming months. I was at a bit of wits end as I didn’t see any way I could physically come by the money simply by ‘working’ for it. I had recently taken a step of faith and the Lord supplied every step of the way, but now that I’m here, I was back to my old way of thinking and trying to ‘pray down the faith’ needed for these upcoming expenses.

 

With all these thoughts going through my mind, I went on a walk with Cherise. It’ll be her birthday next week and since it’s a family tradition for the birthday child to get small gifts for all the kids coming to the party, she and I were discussing what she wanted to get. She had it well thought out and even wanted to get the adults something as well. I thought it was a pretty good list but realized that her allowance wasn’t going to be enough for what she had planned. As a six year old, she’s still getting used to the concept of money, and being new here she hasn’t really understood how much things cost and how much her allowance is in comparison. I told her I thought she was being very thoughtful and it sounded like a good list, but then gingerly asked her where she thought she was going to get enough money for all the things she wanted to get. Her reply was instant and clear, “It’s going to be a miracle Mommy, and YOU’RE going to help me!”

 

I stifled my laughter as good as I could and after I had thought it over later and had my laugh, I realized how I had been like a small child, making my ‘list’ of things I needed. But instead of going to my Heavenly Father and telling Him that I needed Him to do a miracle for me, I was praying but not really believing that He could take care of it all for me. Because I spend my life working for Him, He has promised to take care of me and as such, my prayers have changed their tone. After all, He did say “command thou me” (Isa.45:11b) and that if we obey Him and do as He asks, we can be confident of His answers to our prayers.

 

So now, when I pray I say “Lord, it’s going to take a miracle, and YOU’RE going to help me”