An extention of the Hands of God......

James 1:27 " Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

This has been a blog post a long time in the making. A very long time, in fact. It all started a few months back when my friend Stephenie asked me if The Apple Dumplin's would like to participate in a Lemonade Stand. You can read all about that delightful day HERE .
All of the money would be used to purchase toys and school supplies for orphans in Indonesia. From that day, they raised about $50. More donations came from lovely people online, and then the girls had about $80 fabulous dollars to spend at the Dollar Store for kids in Indonesia.

Here are a few pics from the shopping trip....


Hair accessories are very important.
The girls carefully laying out their hand selected items for payment!
You will see that pink kitty backpack again in another blog post at the orphanage
HUGE BAGS OF LOOT!!!
That was a very fun day. The girls had a nice time choosing things that they thought would be fun for the kids in Indonesia. And not one complaint was made that day that they weren't buying anything for themselves.

We dropped off the items with Ms. Euvah, who was headed back to Singapore. Never would we imagine that in a short while later.....Stephenie and her daughter, who had come up with the idea for the Lemonade Stand would also be joining them in Singapore for Thanksgiving.

A few days ago, Stephenie, Raelee and Euvah took the gifts to the children in Indonesia. They didn't simply drop them off to the children. They hand delivered LOVE to those children. I would love to copy and paste some of their pictures onto my blog for you to view, but as they are not my own pictures to share, I cannot. You will simply have to view them for yourselves on their blogs. Please view Stephenie's Blog post HERE, and Ms. Euvah's post HERE.

Be warned. These pictures will change your life. My heart was warmed and totally broken at the same time. What I do know is that even from many THOUSANDS of miles away, we were given the opportunity to be an extention of the Hands and Feet of God. I am very proud of the girls and what they selflessly did for other children, and very proud to call Stephenie and Euvah my friends, they have tremendous hearts. I love them.

Baby School

For the most part, we love homeschool. But educating the kids has gotten increasingly more difficult since The Little Apple has started moving around. And when I saw The Middle Apple and The Big Apple now do most of their schoolwork in the early morning while baby is still sleeping (we are blessed with a baby that likes to sleep in until around 9 AM) and while she is working on her breakfast. We usually continue with our math lessons later on during the day when The Little Apple goes down for a nap. This system is working out very well for us.

But then of course, no system is flawless. There are many days when we have to rethink the whole day and work around what we have going on.

So we now have what the older Apples call Baby School. Baby school usually means that I come up with something very cool to keep the baby occupied while the older 2 finish up with what they have for the day. The Little Apple has spent plenty of time in Baby School scribbling with markers, plinking bingo chips into a coffee can, stacking small wooden blocks, watching Baby Einstein videos, and the like. This week, the very cool project was STICKERS!
She loves them. She calls them "Tick-Cars" She surprised one of her therapists last week by working with stickers for almost 30 minutes. I had to take a picture of her doing her schoolwork, she was so sweet. We have this beautiful piece of artwork hanging on the fridge right now, where all great works of art should be hung.

I guess it's never too early to start homeschooling. I can't wait to start teaching her about The Revolutionary War with her sisters!

"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ & the American Soldier. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom." ~ Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr. USAF

Thanks to all of the Veterans for their service on this Veteran's Day. I do not take our freedom for granted, it came at a great cost.

Halloween, Cajun style!

Happy November, all of my bloggy friends!

Our Halloween weekend went by in a blur, and it was so much fun! On Friday, the girls went to the pumpkin patch with their co-op buddies and had an amazing time. They played games, ate cookies, and decorated pumpkins. On Friday night, the girls had been asked to be in a parade in Houma with their dance school...but as it rains just about all the time around here, of course....it literally rained on their parade, and it was cancelled.

But, alas...we made up for it on Saturday. We celebrated the big candy collecting day in a big way! Cajun Style. And when I say that Louisiana knows how to party, halloween is no exception.

I had the girls help make the costumes this year. They asked to buy Barbie and the Three Muskateers costumes, but I wasn't having that....I prefer homemade costumes anyday! I came across a very quick idea online to create a flock of ducks.....

Here they are working on their duck feet.

And a cute flock of ducks they were....
My sweet little duckling... learned how to say "Trick or treat!" only when she said it, it sounded more like she was saying "Chick-en treat!" Very appropriate, I thought.Then we headed over to Stephenie's for some tasty Gumbo and fun with friends. Then it was time to costume up and trick or treat!

Here is where I must explain about trick or treating around here. True to like every other holiday, Louisiana does it up right. Trick or Treating is more like a block party. This picture was taken at the very beginning when the crowds were light. Everyone sits in their driveways. Some barbeque, some drag their televisions outside to watch the game while they pass out candy. There were adult beverages in cups everywhere. Some even set up little spooky houses for the kids to go through. The police ride around on 4 wheelers and patrol the crowds. I loved it! Super fun time!
Super fun time, unless you are this little duckling that didn't mind what the mama duckling said about walking along the curb where the rain had left big puddles. So of course, she fell in one and made a big splash. (pun intended!)
Note to self: White clothing. Children. Louisiana mud. Doesn't mix.
And I absolutely had to share this picture, because it's so priceless. This is Miss Eleven from Gypsy Forest. She was dressed as Red Riding Hood's Granny....The Middle Apple decided that Miss Eleven was her special friend for the evening. When people saw the two of them together, they said, "Oh look, how cute! It's Mother Goose!" Soooooo sweet!
We had such a marvelous time. It feels so good to have such special friends, and spending this cozy time time of year with family.