Wow! I can't believe I haven’t blogged in over three months and not at all in 2010. I apologize to all you faithful readers out there. I know it’s boring to not have any new material to look at! If I was to bring you up to date on every thing that has happen, it would be to much for you and for me, so I’m going for a just a few stories of life in the last three months!
December was full of all the stuff December is full of.....we were blessed with a visit from family during the holidays, which added a bit of festivity to it all. My parents (Amanda) and a sister and her family spent just under a week with us. The best part was seeing my girls and my niece play together and really enjoy their grandparents. We did lots of fun stuff, mostly just enjoying the time together!
We rang in the New Year Stoney Style, which meant fireworks at midnight, and a feast after the fireworks....our girls enjoyed staying up so much later than normal and we were thankful for the chance to be a part of the community. We kicked off 2010 with a resolve to keep digging in. We have so much to learn and understand, at least some point almost everyday, the enormity of it can be overwhelming. In His graciousness God continues to open doors of comprehension in our minds, and bring much encouragement to our hearts. He is so good, and we long for our lives to reflect Him. We didn’t have a lot on the schedule in the last two months, which was a real blessing b/c it allowed for the focus to stay on language learning and find some continuity. I still wonder where all my time goes, but I think that is true for any mother of young children. The girls are both getting so “grown up” they fill our house with their stories and their laughter (and sometimes their arguing, lol).
We have been much better about our “school” this semester. Abigail is learning to blend letters and Ruth is mastering colors and numbers and she loves to cut and paste and color. The rest of the time they are usually playing “mommy”. Abigail currently has 11 children with one on the way. Ruth is sometimes a mom, and sometimes she turns into one of Abigail’s babies. Just yesterday I kept hearing her say “momma,” when I tried to answer she said, “no, my Abigail momma.” It is such a privilege to be their mommy...I can’t believe the Lord entrusted me (and Joel) with such precious, amazing children.
I am in the process of trying to “up” my time involved in CLA, I feel like I have been able to get some things set in place around the house, (like a menu, etc.) which is allowing me more time. I want to make the most of each minute, keeping in mind what my Creator says is really important. Joel is continuing to do an amazing job of learning language. I am in awe of what he understands and how well he speaks. He balances CLA and our family time very well, and I’m thankful to work alongside a man like Joel. So finally a few thoughts from our corner of the world. We have had a very mild winter...the strangest phenomenon has been fog. We have had a few 3-4 day stretches of dense fog in Longview, but when you drive west in would be clear and beautiful. The most redeeming thing about it would be the layer of ice/snow that would coat the outside world in beauty. I am going to do my best to stay connected to you all again. Thanks for taking time to catch up. To those who do such a great job at communicating and encouraging we can’t tell you enough how much it means! May you rejoice in God’s goodness today! Amanda
