Arturo the Photographer

Arturo is an extremely diverse & talented guy - and I think pretty hot!  Anyways, within the past year he has discovered a talent & liking to photography.  This has been a huge blessing, since I am not in the habit of taking pictures. So it is very nice to have lots of great pictures of our kids, and environment.  By environment I mean the nature out our backdoor.  Here are some of Arturo's favorite photos.  Enjoy!

Thanks honey for taking lots of good pics.

The Morning

This morning started at 3:30 am when Jillian came into our room asking if she could watch TV. I honestly think I was still partly sleeping because I told her yes, just keep the volume on low.  It was after she left that I became slightly more conscious - as much as you can be at 3:30 am - and thought why am I letting her watch TV at . . . what time is it?  Good grief, that child was WIDE awake for such a time.  So I yanked myself out of bed, went into the living room, and told her that she needed to go back to bed - now.  It was about this time that the dog got up needing to go out.  I don't normally make a habit of letting the dog out at this time, but Guira is one of those dogs that will not get up at that time unless she NEEDS to go out.  So as I let her out I realized that she needed food (don't even bother to ask why I'm feeding the dog at 3:45 AM - it's like I cannot stop looking around at what needs to be done).  So I shove my hand in the dog food container to realize seconds later that her food is infested with ants.  I was annoyed to say the least - anyone who knows me well - especially from my time in the Dominican Republic, realizes that I have little tolerance, patience, or mercy for ants (I'm clearly not vegan).  

I quickly sprayed - bathed - the ants with clorox water (which was the nearest spray bottle I had) and headed back to bed.  With Jillian.  I realized that she would NOT go back to sleep on her own.  She would end up waking up her sisters, and it was worth sleeping with extra limbs on me than dealing with Stella at 4 AM.

We finally get back to sleep, and when I wake up . . . again, I realize that it looks pretty darn bright outside.  I quickly kick Arturo and ask him what time it is.  He says 6:50.  *&^%  The bus comes at 6:55.  I quickly go into crazy mode. Rip Abi out of bed (poor thing), and get her ready for school in 2 minutes.  I barely brushed her hair, and I'm not sure she brushed her teeth.  After she ran to the bus, I wondered why I didn't just drive her to school calmly?  That may be another post.

I wish I could say that this is the last of these mornings.  But somehow I know that I will be frantically getting my kids ready for the bus, tending to late night insomniacs, and constantly looking around to see what needs to be done.

My goal is to do all of this - as if for Jesus.  Oswald Chambers talks a lot about living for Christ in the mundane of life.  I'm not sure I did that this morning, but I truly desire to model out for my girls a passion for Jesus.  So that they feel His love in all I do for them & around this house.  No small task.

On a different note, Abi & Jillian love the Funny Pets & People show, and Funniest American Home Videos show.  They ask all of the time if we can be on it.  So whenever Jillian thinks one of her sisters or Guira does something funny she asks if I want to tape it for Funny Pets.  $10,000 would be nice.

Ruthie and her cousins

We invaded my brother & sister-in-law's house this past weekend to meet Ruthie.  She is beautiful!! 

 How fun it was to see all of the kids so gentle, curious, and in love with Ruthie.  She is a very good baby who has quickly adjusted to life with 2 active brothers. 

 Ruthie was born 7lbs 11ozs, and I was expecting a bigger baby.  I guess because of Chloe & Claire I have this idea of babies being so big.  Ruthie was small & dainty.  So it is crazy to think that Chloe & Claire were half her size, and now . . .  They over 20lbs. Crazy what happens in a year and a half.  We are excited to go back for a visit with Grammy.  What a blessing from the Lord.