Letters from Ethiopia

Earlier this week, I received an envelope in the mail - a little overstuffed - from Children's Hope Chest.  This is the organization that I sponsor my two kids in Ethiopia through, so I was excited to see what was inside.  Even their marketing material and newsletters are very interesting and convicting.  Little did I know - it was NOT any regular piece of mail...  THIS envelope contained two hand written letters from my kids at Trees of Glory - one from Mita (who is 5) and one from her brother Derebe (7)!!  I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the letters!  I mean I don't have any doubt that my money is specifically going to help these children (see my earlier post about the packages I sent them) - but to actually receive a LETTER from MY KIDS!?  SO EXCITING!!

Here is the letter from sweet little Mita:

I wish my scanner showed the quality better -- and was in color!  The picture she drew looks like trees or flowers maybe??   I just LOVE it - definitely going on the fridge!! :)

And here is the letter from Derebe:

I'm not sure what Derebe drew.  It looks like maybe the Ethiopia flag, some sort of animal, and some buildings - a church maybe?? :)

I don't know if you can read the letters or not...  Basically they each wrote a sentence or two and then wrote a prayer request.  A teacher wrote below and translated everything: 

Mita said, "How are you doing?  Happy New Year!  I am only a little child, thus I couldn't write much. I wish you success."  How cute is that!? :)  Then she said, "I need your encouragement" and her prayer request was, "Pray for me to be a good child and to fear God."

Derebe's letter said, "How are you doing whom I love?  I wish you a Happy New Year and Merry Christmas.  I wish to live with my mom but I couldn't.  I live in others house with problems.  Nothing is impossible to God."    (Poor little guy - I can't help but wonder what type of living situation he would be in if he was in deed living with his mother.)   I had written him a letter earlier last year and told him to work hard in school because an education was very important.  In this letter he said, "I need your advice to be a smart student" and his prayer request was, "Pray for my school and for me to be a good child."

It just warms my heart to know that I am a part of these two beautiful children - half a world away - getting the opportunity to go to school and learn with a full belly of food.  Maybe they even colored these pictures with the crayons I sent them!? :)  The Good Lord has definitely poured out his blessings and love on me, and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to share that with these kids.

My plan is to (hopefully) actually GO to Ethiopia with Karen Wistrom and the Hope Chest team she leads this November...to actually MEET my kids!!  To say I am excited for this possibility is just a slight understatement!! :)

Languages of Love

A few months ago, a friend recommended a book called The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  It really is a GREAT book (and I have since read 4 other books by him)!

 Anyways, the basic premise is that everyone gives and receives love in one of five ways:  Words of Affirmation, Gift Giving, Quality Time, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.  It teaches you how to express your love to others in THEIR love language, and makes you aware of how you receive or feel loved.

I had a pretty good idea what my primary "love language" was after reading the book, but just to be sure, I took the little quiz at the end.  And sure enough, I was pretty much as high as you can get for "Quality Time" and ridiculously low on "Gift Giving!"  What that means is I feel loved when someone spends TIME with me over receiving a gift from them.  And in turn, that is generally how I SHOW love to others.

I didn't even really realize it until just last week, but for my (soon to be official) niece and nephew, I almost always DO something with them for birthday and Christmas presents instead of buying things for them.  (Birthdays are usually movies and slumber parties!)  I mean these kids have all the toys they need anyways, but it all just makes sense now - I am showing them I LOVE them by spending TIME with them!  (Too bad they're a little too young to appreciate it and would probably rather just have a wrapped present, haha!)

So - for Allie's Christmas present, I took her out to lunch and ice skating!   We went to Town Center the day after Christmas and had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  We hadn't ever been there before and the food was really good!

Then we went ICE SKATING!  I took her once last year and we had a great time.  To say she was excited to go again is an understatement!

Here is the link for a short YouTube video of her skating around:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtNhZUdFZF0

It took her a little bit to get the hang of it again, but by the end (a couple of HOURS later!) she was skating great and didn't want to leave!  I had to bribe her with ice cream to get her off the ice! ;)

I'd like to think she loved her gift of "time" just as much as a wrapped present under the tree.  Who knows.  She DID, however, have a GREAT time.  She assured me of that!! :)

The next day was BRODY'S turn for his Christmas present!  The plan was to take him to the "Dinosaur's Unearthed" exhibit at Union Station, but I found out on Monday - after I already had him - that it is closed on Mondays!  We opted for a visit to T-Rex out at The Legends instead.

(It is entirely not fair that a 4 year old little boy has eyelashes like this!)

Brody had been there before, but he said he wanted to go again. I'm pretty sure he was a little scared when we walked in and the dinosaurs were roaring and moving around!  He definitely kept a pretty tight grip on my hand, haha! ;)  Thankfully they had a little "play area" where you could dig and uncover fossils in the sand.  We literally did this FOR.EVER.  I didn't think he was EVER going to quit brushing the sand away and then smiling and saying "Ta Daaa!" ;)

I finally convinced him to come look at the games on the other side, but it didn't last long.  He went right back to digging in the sand! ;)

There were other cool things to do and look at, I promise, he just really liked the SAND! ;)

After walking around and looking at all the fish and animals and dinosaurs, we found one of those machines that smashes a penny.  Of course we HAD to do that! ;)

From there we got some Cold Stone ice cream.  Brody picked cotton candy ice cream with rainbow sprinkles - MY FAVORITE!  I knew I loved that kid! ;)  He actually just picked the ice cream because it was blue and stood out from the rest, and I may have prompted him with the rainbow sprinkles, but whatever, it was amazing! ;)

After ice cream, we threw pennies in to the fountain and pretended to ride a horse before heading home.

All in all, I thought it was a GREAT Christmas for Allie and Brody - they got plenty of gifts from both sides of their family, and I know they both had a blast spending an afternoon with their cool "Aunt Terri!"  I hope those two beautiful kids know I love them to pieces, even if there wasn't a big wrapped present under the Christmas tree for them from me! What can I say ... my love language is QUALITY TIME! :)

It's OFFICIAL

My brother (Tony) and his girlfriend (Christa) are GETTING MARRIED!!

Tony finally proposed to her on Christmas Eve - after 3.5 years together! :)

We were ALL shocked - including Christa - that he finally did it!  And we were ESPECIALLY shocked when we saw the amazing RING he picked out!!  Pictures do NOT do it justice -- you should see it from the SIDE -- there are like 97 diamonds on it, seriously!  He did good! :)

The occasion was celebrated with dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse in Leawood.  It was some of the best food I've had in awhile!  The martinis and dessert really made the night!

And of course we had to take some pictues outside after dinner!!

Christa has become one of my best friends over the past couple of years, and I couldn't be happier to have such a fun, kind-hearted, loving, creative, beautiful SISTER in my life!

(PS - This girl is ON IT with the wedding planning!  I helped her with the guest list over the weekend AND she already bought her DRESS!! It's looking like a SPRING wedding! :)