Orphan Week Continued

...and we have our sacrifice to the Vacuum god... We were explaining to the kids of the idols in India that people there worship. The children thought this looked like an idol worshipper! lol

Poor little orphans still have to vacuum the house:

The pollywog collection was in need of relocation. So, it went from the bowl in the house to the wheel borrow and now they are in the creek:

A snapshot of the Orphans in this house:
"Mom, do orphans in India have shoes?" "Nope, not the ones your age." "Then how are we going to get to the creek to let the pollywogs go?"

They made it down the road and down the hill to the creek just fine, actually surprised themselves that it was possible to do it without shoes!

WASH DAY:

"Mom, I need new pants, these are gross."

"Well, you can wear the pants you wore yesterday."

"But, those are gross too."

"Then you will have to wash them."

"But how..."

Since Orphans don't have trampolines we can't let them go to waste. They serve us well as a clothes dryer.

Sleeping accommodations:

Orphans in India get concrete, a grass mat, and a small little something to cover themselves up.

The little orphans in this house get the board of their bed, a fleece blanket, and a little something so they don't get slivers (they won't get slivers but...), and NO PILLOW!!
We stacked their mattresses up for the end of the week.
I guess they have a few coloring books in India so we had a couple and used the colored pages for making paper airplanes.
And again, we use our hands to eat our RICE and this afternoon we got a sprig or two of broccoli!

Orphan Week

After many years of telling the children, "be grateful that you even have food to eat." "Don't complain that you are too hot, at least you have a bed to sleep in." "Would you rather be an orphan and live on the street where you have no one, no brothers or sisters..." I decided to give the kids a practical example/personal lesson on gratefulness and what it's like (somewhat) to be an orphan!

This week we are on orphan rations, sleep like orphans, wear orphan clothes and wash them by hand. We do orphan jobs and play with orphan toys!

This cute little orphan doesn't seem to care about much as long as he gets something in his mouth every once in a while~

I gave the kids ONE bike and a scooter to share. One of the orphan masters is seen here helping get the bike up and running once again! A bike goes through a LOT when you have several children fighting, I mean playing over it!
After walking around all day with "Nothing-to-do" the kids asked Dad to play sharks and minnows with them. They really had a good time and 'enjoyed' each other!
Orphans don't use utensils (at least not at the orphanage that our relatives visited and we got our information from)... and they eat outside on the concrete or dirt. They typically don't have such a nice camping chair to sit in but we made a little exception for this cute little Orphan!
Orphans play with plastic bags and tie rocks to them. We threw them up in the air and had them land like a parachute... This parachute got stuck in a gutter on the way down!


Each 'orphan' is required to wash his/her own dish for three reasons:

1. So the 'orphan master' (me) doesn't have to do it.

2. So that you have something to drink out of when you are done eating!!! YEP, you heard me, Orphans don't use cups, they drink out of their special dish!

3. So they aren't eating off of dried old food for their next meal!
At the end of their first day of eating rice THREE times a day with a little sauce on it they got a treat of a little chicken with dinner!!!! Yep, several bites of chicken was a TREAT.
More later as we show you how orphans sleep and how they wash their clothes and a few more creative games they play..................

Independence!!!!

July 4th came with much MUCH excitement around here. Last year we did not get to do any fireworks or real celebration of any kind, so we were planning and scheming all year!

Trae spent most of the night behind the glass doors, peeking out, not wanting to get 'hit' by the fireworks. The last half hour or so, he finally came out from hiding and tried a sparkler and enjoyed a few last loud ones!

Our neighbors invited us all over for a bar-b-que and play time... we had such a relaxing time, no pressure, good conversation, the kids had kids their own ages... We'd like it to become a tradition I think.
She made home made strawberry shortcake, it was delicious, I was impressed:

Sidnie and her little Prince!

The lighting was perfect on Friday evening for making great portraits! It was a beautiful drive to their place and they had a wonderfully landscaped yard... was just perfect!

This nine year old girl LOVES her baby brother and cares for him...
She's outgoing, willing to try things. And gracious...

Sick!

We've had a little bit of a bug that has gone through the family this past week and a half. Poor little guys have been on the couch ALL day, every day!

This little guy made a great attempt to go somewhere different in the house and this is where he landed for over 2 hours one day. Was happy just to sit and not be throwing up!

Water, bugs, and Jesus

We tend to have most of our conversations at meal times. We'll read our history, talk about God and what He would like from us that day, and often times make a plan for the day (because I usually shoot from the hip).

This morning was on what things were made of.

Man: was made of dirt

Woman: was made of ribs

Etc...

Nate was telling the kids all of these things and then add at the end...

And AIR is something that we breath to stay alive, it has WATER, BUGS, and JESUS!!!

The boyZ:

Us girlZ:
Our little Vance who is one year old now!
Every time we would ask him to open his eyes his mouth seemed to be connected and we couldn't get the two separated?
The Art of Window Shopping:
I'd like one of these bikes for my house. It's stuck to the ground yet keeps the kids occupied:
They all much prefer to wear their hats backwards:
We are more in love today than we were yesterday and can say that we feel like newly weds (with experience;). It's super fun to live every day with your best friend and have it mutual!
~A special thanks to Aunt Kaytra for most of these photos~