Numbering our days oh Lord...

Struggles abound for sure. Life is crazy...not at all like we planned. Frustrations creep in...fear starts to take over parts of rooms. I wonder what is coming next...for us...for all of us. I pray..."Come quickly Lord Jesus" ...part of me wants him to come right now...a small part, not so much.

I look at my husband and my beautiful girls. I am so thankful that God gave all three of them to me. I look back at where we have been and what we have come through together as a family...to BE a family. God was in it all. God was right in the middle of it all. He still is...all of it!

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom...Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." PS 90:12,14

Oh my beautiful children! I still get comments occasionally from people telling me how their lives have been blessed by our adoptions. My girls know that they were chosen...that they are special...that God did a mighty thing in their lives. They know that miracles happened for us to be together. They are as grateful as David and I are. I know that their understanding of it all will change as they grow, but my girls have an amazing ability to understand big concepts long before they understand the details of those concepts. I believe that God gave them that ability and that he has mighty things planned for both of them

Recently Lili was putting her change into their "gratitude jar" It is an old butter tub that they decorated and put any change they get into. The plan is to fill it and then send the money to Show Hope to help other families bring their children home through the miracle of adoption. The girls are very faithful in saying what they are thankful for before they drop any coin in the tub. Lili started putting money in and said her usual stuff...I'm thankful for my toys, my Mom, my Dad, my sister, etc...then she stopped and I heard her say, "Im thankful that I'm not an orphan anymore because You gave me my Mommy and a Daddy" Whoa!!! Talk about a flood of tears...and a level of understanding far beyond her 3 years!!

I pray that they both always know how amazing the miracles were that brought us together. I don't know the circumstances that caused them to be abandoned, but I know that before the foundation of the earth, these little girls were planned to be my daughters.

Abba...teach us to number our days...to make each one count ! Show us the joy in all the little miracles you work. Show us YOU in all we do. Show us YOU in all YOU do!! Give us wisdom as parents, as spouses, and as friends. And give wisdom to our children that they may highly regard and recognize your love for them each and every day that we have left on this earth!!!!

Lili came in and got up on the water bottle and said, "Ride'em waterbottle!!!" Um...okay

Then she reached down, patted the waterbottle and said, "Good water bottle...good boy!" um...okay.

Okay...if I had a Mac truck I could drive it in between those precious little toes!!! I just love her little feet...

Yep...those were Lili's toesies!!

Then we have Monkey foot...our 5 year old!! I swear she could write, and wash the dishes with those toesies if she had to!! What a crazy little monkey~

Yep...that would be the owner of Monkey feet...Miss Alyson!

Playing at the park with Daddy Man~

Geeeeeze...you would never know it was Autum around here...look at the sweat that child is pouring out. The humidity has been unbearable this year!!

Aly plotting their trip through the trails at Vaill Point Park

Come on Dad...it's this way!!!!

What is that hiding in yonder tree?

Yep...you guessed it...a CRAB??????

A lovely view of the intracoastal waterway from the dock. What an amazingly beautiful day it was!

What is that hanging over David's head in that tree? Look...

There it is again..what is it???

Yep...that would be a Banana Spider that was about 3-4 inches long !!!! AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH Okay...I never said I was a nature girl...NEVER!!

Okay...I LOVE this picture of the girls...so peaceful and serene

Chinese Moon Festival time...here we are putting the "mooncakes" into the oven. I don't have a mooncake mold, so I opted for the easier version of shortbread cookies with Strawberry jam in the middle. The girls helped me make them and they were SOOOOOO YUMMY!!!!

A beautiful Moon...what a shame it was so unbelievably hot outside and the bugs were celebrating too...I think they were celebrating the fact that WE were outside and were providing them with FRESH MEAT for their dinner!!!!

I made the girls put on leggings and long sleeved shirts to keep the bites to a minimum. They still had fun!!

What a cool picture...

Hot apple cider and moon cakes...Yum Yum!!

"Aly...I love you!"

Lili practicing her back walkovers. She would do this for hours if we let her!!

Aly was trying to figure out what to do with her toes while she was reading. A common problem I hear! She thought and thought and finally decided that they would make GREAT book holders!!

Yep...works great!!!

"...Surely the Lord is in this place..." Gen 28:16

Good night all!!!

In HIS Mighty Grip~

Fun times!!!

Sunday afternoon our friends Eileen and Joe came over with their kids to spend the afternoon swimming with us . We were having a blast when someone suggested that we should go up to Clark's Fish Camp for dinner. So......Everyone piled out of the pool, got dressed and off we went!! Boy...was that a GREAT idea!! We had so much fun!!! We had never been there before, but we WILL be going back!! Enjoy the pictures~

Sorry for the foggy pics. It was so very muggy outside and I had just stepped out of the air conditioned car. Anyway, I was trying to get a good pic of the girls in front of the place, but Lili wouldn't cooperate.

We tried again, but then she went from "non-cooperative" to "non-compliance". Rather...she started to pout!! I just LOVE it when she pouts!!! NOT

Finally Alyson decided to help by forcing her to smile!! Lili still refused to smile but everyone standing there in the parking lot was smiling and laughing from ear to ear!!! :-)

Aly, Lili, their friends Sarah and Elizabeth posing in front of one might big stuffed cat!!! The whole place is full of 'em!!! (Check out the link for some more pics )

Joe, Eileen and their beautiful daughters Sarah and Elizabeth.

The Swindler Tribe...

Lili had to check out the catfish we were bringing home to Poppi (my dad)

Lili after she got to taste the catfish we were bringing home to Poppi!!

This was the view right over our heads...I kept waiting for Tarzan to swing through!!

The camp is right on the banks of the St. Johns River and this time of year they get a good bit of flooding. This day was no exception. Only a few hours before we arrived, the majority of the place was flooded. They seem to take it all is stride as it is pretty normal for them. When you pull up to the front you literally either go straight on into the water or take a sharp left into the parking lot!

Anyway, thanks Joe and Eileen for the really really fun evening and the

reat company!! We had a ball!!

Oh...that reminds me. Quick Lili story...When we got home it was late and the sky was very clear and we stood in the driveway for a few minutes looking at the most amazing display of stars in the sky. Lots of oooohs and ahhhhhs and finally Lili said, "Mamma...it's darker than chocolate out here!!" I love that little little wombat!!!

Have a great Friday!

In HIS Mighty Grip

Ah...life

Good Morning!! Just wanted stopped by to post a video and a few pictures from this last week. We have been having such fun with school and life this past week...Enjoy!!

There is a big ole vine hanging from a big ole tree in our front yard and Aly finnaly found the courage to swing from it!! Ah...such fun!!

Does it get any better than a messy ice cream bar? I think not!!!

Now thats what I'M talkin about!!!! YUM

I have pictures of me as a child looking through this same rock in front of Marineland. If I can find it I will try to post it sometime. Anyway...I wish you could have seen the behind the scenes of these pictures...I had Lili on my shoulders and was trying like the dickens to hold Aly up basically over my head so they could look through the hold. It was quite funny when I wasn't trying keep from dropping everyone!!

Aly's new preferred place to read. I guess she thinks that more blood to the head makes her brain work better??? Whatever!! She read the whole book just like this.

My Lovely Lili...

Please stop by our Homeschool blog to see more updates from the week. The link is at the top right of this page.

From our home to yours...have a wonderful week!!!

"...and all your children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children. " Habakkuk 2:2

In HIS Mighty Grip

School Days...School Daze...

Well, school has finally come to the Swindler household!! We started on Monday and I am just to excited I can hardly stand it!!
I have already learned several very important things...Aly is going to give me a run for my money for sure!! She has NO patience and wants to learn it all right this very moment!! I try to keep the lessons short, but she doesn't quite agree. I have decided that I need to hire a full time assistant. If Aly had her way we would school 24 hours a day, so I need someone to constantly feed me lesson plans and books!!! WHEW...she is exhausting, but I am more confident than ever that homeschooling is the best option for this child. They would not be able to keep up with her in public school...no way, no how!!! I planned WAY more material than I thought I would need for the school year and now I seriously wonder if we will make it to Christmas with what I have planned!! I am learning that she loves to chase rabbits and that is a good thing because I can see what she is really interested in and try my best to incorporate it into the mix for her.
Aly LITERALLY cried when we stopped for lunch yesterday because she wanted to keep going. I finally pried her away from the table, but she was back in no time working on this magnetic board with all the little strips of words. You know....like you use on the front of the fridge? Anyway she sat at the table and wrote some crazy story until lunch was ready and then nearly had indigestion sucking her food down so she could get back to the table and start again! Oi...it is going to be a LONG year. We have had several long conversations about it and although it will take some time...I think she will get it. I am realizing that she must be hands on. (She was bored to tears with the vocabulary words, but when I pulled the Scrabble board out she grabbed the tiles and went into her own little world until she made it work and got every word in there. )

Lili, on the other hand, is very excited about doing what she wants to do. When I give her a project to do that isn't on her list she says, "I don't want to do that!" She is going to be an interesting nut to crack!!! I'm not too worried about it now as she is only in preschool, but I'm keeping my eyes open and making lots of mental notes!!!! She is love love loving learning to write her letters and doing a great job. She gets frustrated very easily, but she is as eager to learn as Aly has always been!!
I am open to any suggestions, thoughts, ideas,tricks, schemes...whatever!!! Hit me with your best shot!!!!


This is Aly getting all of her notebooks ready. She decorated the cover for each folder.


The cover of her history book shows a rainbow, a clock and the world.


Watch out for the "crazy people from all over the world" on the cover of her SS notebook.


That is a volcano on the front of her science notebook.



Here she is demonstrating the first sign she ever learned..."more"
The picture is of people making sign language signs.


A few of Lili's preschool workbooks.

Two VERY EXCITED girls having just eaten breakfast and more than ready to start school!!

She can't wait to dive in!

Okay...is that not the most beautiful smile??? Sometimes I get a glimpse of the beauty that she will be in years to come!!

Getting down to business!!

Lili's first project. We had just checked the weather and it was supposed to be sunny and cloudy later in the day. This is Lili's interpretation of that weather report. Click on the picture to see it better.

Lili sorting beads by color. She is very into it...don't you think??

This was today. Aly was practicing her vocabulary words by spelling them with the scrabble tiles. She has to have "hands on" or she goes NUTS!!!

Where is that letter?????

Hey...this is easy...I'm almost done!!!

More Scrabble...Aly style!!

Oh...she is doing a great job!!

I'm so over colored beads!!!!!

Oh God...I promise I'll never do it again if you just make these beads go away!!!!!

Thank you Father...now we get to do some REAL work!! Working on my letters. Oh, by the way, I color with my left hand and I write with my right hand. I know...I'm wierd...go put on your BIG GIRL PANTIES AND DEAL WITH IT!!!

"Please stop taking my picture!!! You're making me nervous!!"

Mom's Big Idea Box. The best thing I ever did!!! All my school notes, resources, plans, ideas, etc...all on index cards and filed by subject!!! It also has holiday/celebration plans. I LOVE THIS BOX!!!!!

Is there anything happier than a bunch of crayons ready to change the world??

Aly working on her writing. She just finished and was drawing a picture that illustrates what she wrote. It was about being kind and she is drawing her being kind to Lili. Awwwwwwww!

"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL ANYMORE...THIS IS HARD!!!!!"

Aly's picture interpretation of the "summer tilt" and the "winter tilt" at the North Pole. (Read: It is dark day and night in the winter and light day and night in the summer)

"If you take my picture one more time I am going to stick this crayon up your nose!!!!"

This is just funny!!!!

In HIS Mighty Grip