Family Traditions

I am all about traditions in a family. I feel that since our family is going to be living a life of chaos most of the time, having simple traditions will be important. Noel Piper wrote a book about traditions and it got me thinking. She says the most important part of making traditions is planning. So I am already planning ahead. Here are some I am planning on doing with our family:
Daily:

• I plan on giving each child a "life verse". I will give it to them when they are born (or adopted) and speak it over them every night. Our normal routine at night is bath, bottle, bible story, two worship songs, prayer and this verse. As they get older, this will probably be the first verse they memorize.
• I sing a "good morning song" every morning when Wyatt gets ready to play....this just seems to start the day off right. I don't do it as soon as he gets up because I am not a morning person so I wait until he is fed, changed and ready to go. As he gets older, the morning song will change but I do want to make sure I always start the morning off right for him by saying the same thing over and over.
• Every week or two we will have a new bible verse that I will put up somewhere in the house and I will say it throughout the day (probably at every meal so I can stay consistent) My mom recorded me quoting Genesis 1:1 at the age of 3. She felt that memorizing scripture was very important and I am so thankful for this!
• we will have dinner together at the table. My parents did this with us and though not every dinner time was a pleasant experience, it is a great time to really talk and to teach kids manners, ect.

Holidays:

• Birthdays- every kid gets a "special plate" This plate is reserved for birthdays but can also be used for very special occasions in the kids life. My mom did this with us and we loved it! We thought that plate was so awesome because we had to save it for special days.
• Christmas- levi's mom gave the kids 3 gifts and I really like this idea. I know this is controversial (even with my siblings) but I LOVED Santa when I was a kid and some of my best memories are of Santa so we will definitely have Santa bring the 3 gifts and write letters to the kids. We will also make him cookies. I know that we will read the Christmas story and watch the Nativity Story every Christmas too...just not sure when yet.
• New Years- I plan on having a special dinner the night of New Years. We will get dressed up and either go out or dine at home but it will be really nice. Each child will get a letter telling them special moments we had with them the previous year, ways we've seen them grow, and what we look forward to the next year.

These are just a few I've been thinking about. Are there any special traditions your family has? I love hearing new ideas!

Wyatt is 3 months!

Wow! Time is flying by! Our little newborn is not so little anymore! He is grabbing his toys and my hair, he is smiling all the time, cooing and making all kinds of noises. He will play and play until he is so tired he is crying! He is a great sleeper now and sleeps most of the night! He takes only formula and he eats so well. Oh how we pray for him! We pray that the Lord will change his life early enough to protect him from the nasty world out there. We pray that when he makes mistakes, he will be humble enough to admit it. We pray that God will use him to change the world. I really feel that God is changing our world every day. Some days, some weeks are wearing and we feel like we are doing nothing, then something amazing happens and we are reminded of His power and grace....I pray that Wyatt also experiences this in His life. How I pray for his life! I pray that he will be so passionate, so humble, so loving, so tender hearted....yet so strong, so tough, so manly....I pray that if God wants him to marry, that He will provide a wife who is the perfect partner. Who is patient when Wyatt struggles, who respects Wyatt even in the hard times. I pray that God will already be preparing Wyatt to do mighty things in the Kingdom. That he will live out his name and he will be a mighty warrior for Christ.

Wyatt's Routine is set, it is time to play!

I feel that our family has been on the go since Wyatt came into our lives, but for a long time Wyatt didn't really need a schedule. He just ate when he was hungry and slept most of the time. He also cried a lot because of his gas pains. Now we are in a new phase where this little guy needs his naps and by 6:30 he is out. If I don't get him to bed by then, he is fussing until I do lay him down! All I have to do is lay him down and he will whine for a few minutes and be out! I don't have him on a strict schedule but he is on a routine. He eats, plays, and then sleeps. Normally he stays awake about an hour and a half and sleeps the same.

Anyway, last night we went to see some very close friends. They live way down the mountain so I haven't been to see them since I was big pregnant. I dreaded the visit because they wanted us to come at 6 which meant that Wyatt would soon be fussy, they would want me to feed him and I would know that he needed to sleep, it would be loud and busy, ect. Levi and I have to keep reminding ourselves that a baby would just add to what we do and I would never let Wyatt turn into a reason for me to stop doing what we do. So I changed my attitude and took him. He was great! He played and smiled at them for about 30 minutes, got fussy and they told me to feed him but I said he was just sleepy, I laid him down and he was only woken up once by a 3 year old who went in the room and shook him. I was able to spend great time catching up and encouraging these friends who are working so hard to change the darkness to light.

So now it is time. Time to get busy doing what I came here for. Time to bring Wyatt along beside us as we go out. Time to teach Wyatt how to make a difference and change the world. Everyone tells me to start as I mean to go on concerning Wyatt's routine, sleeping, ect....I feel that we should start as we mean to go on in this area as well. It will not be easy now..I will have to be very careful concerning germs, ect....but it will be worth it.

Wyatt's room

This brown piece was left by our friends Allison and Abby and the letters were from my mom. The color of the wall is a lot brighter than we wanted, but our landlords repainted it this color so we can't change it!

These curtains were made by a great friend of ours. He's the tailor for men but also does curtains, ect. He was so excited to make these for Wyatt!

We don't have anywhere for the dryer. We have enough room in our upstairs bathroom, but the electrical outlet won't work. Most Indians don't have dryers and we are so thankful for ours...so it will share the room with Wyatt for now. The little play thing belongs to a friend of mine. She is letting me borrow it for a little while. Thanks June!

We love this little canvas made by our sweet friends Joe and Amberley. Amberley and I were pregnant together. They left for the states in December and she just had baby Elsy. We sure do miss them!

Levi made the shelves. We bought the animals on the shelves in Thailand. Levi's aunt martha gave us the monogrammed burp cloths, the bag in the middle is from Mrs. Willette Stidham, the brown thing they are sitting on is actually a shoe rack but I keep Wyatt's clothes in there. I found the mats in Delhi and I'm still trying to figure out a good place to put the books. 

Levi's mom sent this sweet mat and the calender was sent by Mrs. Lou Harrington. I love that calender! It is great for people like me who like to keep up with the events in Wyatt's life but don't have enough time to write in a journal right now.

 

Well, that is Wyatt's room. Eventually we will move the pack-n-play and the rocking chair in there and he will move in as well! I'm pretty sure the rats are gone from the house and the freezing weather is gone now. He has to hurry and enjoy his room before the rainy season in July comes because it will then be covered in mold and he will move downstairs!

Lessons from Home

We are now at home and life has not slowed down. A renewed fire has been lit on our team which causes us to go strong so it is an exciting time and also an exhausting time for the family. Every time Wyatt goes down for a nap, either a monkey bangs on our tin roof, someone is pouring their pooja water on our roof, someone is honking the horn, the gas can man is banging gas cans on the pavement, or women are yelling next door and it is SO LOUD!!! I feel bad for the poor guy. Women here tell me that since I am a new mom, I don't know anything so they feel it is their responsibility to "teach" me. (which means tell me what to do all the time) I tell them that isn't how we do things in America and they quickly tell me that I am not in America...oh, this is quite a lesson on love and patience. I know they are trying to show they care, but it can be so frustrating sometimes! I have had so many more opportunities to share with others now that Wyatt has come. We are automatically respected more which means others will finally listen. That has been so exciting!

Last night was a pretty rough night and today Wyatt really struggled to nap so needless to say, it was a tough day (I had to get some tylenol by 3pm) Wyatt kept screaming, I kept feeding him and then finally gave him a bottle which he gulped down. As I was voicing my desire to quit feeding him and move to bottles only because it is so frustrating to do both, the Lord spoke to me...

"Lindsey, don't you see how strong Wyatt's hunger is? When he is so hungry, he can't do anything else but cry out for food. This is how your hunger for my word, for more of me should look like."
me- "but God, I am tired, and I don't feel like thinking about anything"
"Lindsey, if you are not desperate for Me, then you will never be filled."
Oh, how important it is to hunger for the Lord. May we all find ourselves desperate for more of Him.
"For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things." Psalm 107:9

When you pray...

Please pray this for us:

A voice cries, "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isaiah 40:3-5

We are home!

We are home and freezing to death! It is sleeting here and so cold in our house! Wyatt and I hang our bedroom upstairs because we can heat it easily. His 0-3 month winter clothes have become very useful! We are so glad to be home! Here are some highlights from our first few days:
*We were greeted by our landlords as soon as we arrived. They grabbed Wyatt and he loved them! He just grinned at them, and smiled like crazy! It made their day. I had Wyatt in a long sleeve outfit, wrapped in a thick blanket, with a hoodie on his head....the landlords told me this was not good enough and insisted I find some more clothes for him. So I was frantically searching through the 8 bags we had trying to find the one with his winter clothes and then he started moving his lips...our landlords then insisted I feed him instantly and quit wasting time with the luggage! haha! they call him their grandchild and only speak to him in Hindi. This will be an interesting relationship for sure!
*Neighbors have come and gone...they all bring their cell phones to take pictures of Wyatt and give me advice (mainly about keeping him warm). They love looking at his clothes, ect. and the pack-n-play that he sleeps in. They are blown away by all the stuff we have from America (most of it my mom brought when she came).
*I was given a picture from our journeygirls that I just loved so much. I planned out the perfect place to hang it in Wyatt's room before we left to have him. When we went to Thailand, I found a picture that would match it perfectly and couldn't wait to put it up...I was so sad to find that the picture I hung was covered in mold because the wall was once again wet...(the next door neighbors do a worship service to their Gods and dump water on our wall which makes it wet). I was so sad, but the Lord quickly reminded me that earthly things are temporary and I must not hold on to things in my heart....for there is so many more important things to care about.
*The day after we got back, our electrical outlet for the heater blew up (sparks and smoke), our microwave and dryer stopped working, and the electricity stopped working for at least 4 hours that day...welcome home!
*Wyatt did great sleeping in the pack-n-play and we finally got our bed back! He also takes naps without being held or carried around...I think he is growing up!



So, here we are and life has started once again. We are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us!