Week 4, Jake's 10th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Here's the musical candle from China that we didn't get quite right.  Oops!    Jake was singing to himself the birthday song, as we also sang to him.  SWEET!  Our oldest, Grace, made the cake almost as soon as she got out of bed.  We had a small family party. 

The flower candle did open up after we figured it out! 

Dad, with Jake, and Joy in the background.

This was the football being opened!

He looks like he's deep in thought about what's inside that box!  I decided to get a Lego set (3 in 1) for his age group.  We already have thousands of sets, but not this one....a house with a dude skateboarder!  It was the perfect gift. 

    

Once the party was over, Tom returned to working on the front bathroom.

So, during the 4th week home we were down to only 1 bathroom for 7 people!   It's finished and we are all much happier now!  Thank you, Honey!

This was my God moment this week...God said, "Get The Action Bible and put it with the Chinese/English Bible.  This will help them become more interested in me."

The Action Bible hasn't been in our house very long.  We decided to give it to Shane as a Christmas gift last year to help out his reading skills.  So, after God spoke, I got it immediately, and BINGO...Joy was hooked!  The Action Bible became my missing link...for this week.

And then, there was Valentine's Day!

Tom made red velvet cupcakes from scratch for us for Valentine's Day!  THANK YOU, HONEY!! 

But, what are cupcakes, Dad?

Don't you love that look?  Joy and Jake did their best to explain that they had seen these at school, but they didn't try them there.  They did try them with us, but decided cupcakes were not for them.  But they ate the birthday cake without any problems!  :)

  

President's Day was on Mon of this week, which meant a holiday from school.  The 3 day weekend was hard, but once we got school going again, things seemed to fall into place, for the most part.

The 3 younger ones all get up at the same time.  Jake and Joy have got the routine down of fixing their lunches before eating breakfast.  This has helped Marta see what she needs to be doing without me standing over her and directing every movement!!!  YEAH!  This has been a huge blessing!  THANK YOU LORD!

Tom is now back at work at MUSC.  Yesterday was his first 4 hour shift back. He was very happy to be back with his coworkers and his work life!  Work at home is harder than work at work...
sometimes.


  Thanks again to those of you who are following our blog!  And thank you for your comments!   Blessings to you all.  I look forward to the week 5 update!