Jun. 14, 2007 - Kenya...finally...
After 4 plane changes, hours of flight delays and a couple of long layovers, we are finally in Mombasa, Kenya and in the hotel. What a long 2 days. Total travel time was about 48 hours. We are exhausted to say the least. After checking into the hotel, we went to eat at one of our favorite local places, Mama Rahama's. It has become tradition here when we arrive to have some nice, fresh home-made samosas as soon as we get settled. Samosas, ugali, sukuma wiki and chicken curry...what a lunch.
After lunch, we set out to find Jackson's grandmother. To find someone here can be tough. We know where she lives and where she used to work. We tried both of those places...each one leading to another place to look.... No luck. After exhausting our options, we went by the store for some groceries and then back to the hotel to nap. Shannon and I went out to the pool that overlooks the Mombasa Harbor and Nyali Bridge. It's beautiful...too bad we didn't really see it...we were both asleep in a couple of minutes. Guy came and woke us up to come in, only to sit down and go to sleep again. At this point, it's about 9:30pm here (8 hours ahead of Texas) and we are trying to stay awake long enough to sleep through the night. Guy and Jackson are out once again trying to find Jackson's grandmother. They have been gone a while, so I assume they found her.
I can't wait to wake up in the morning, sit out on the patio that over looks the harbor, read my bible, drink tea and eat some fresh tropical fruit salad. It's really amazing to be back here and we can't wait to see friends that we left 2 years ago.
Our hotel has wireless internet service...can you believe that? I am so excited that I can update my blog from my room. I will update again tomorrow...for now...off to bed...again.
Praise the Lord for our safe arrival. Blessings,
• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Jun. 4, 2007 - What I love about Summer
Here are my top ten things I love about Summer...
1. A sunkissed glow on my face.
2. 20 minutes of Vitamin D from the sun everyday
3. Going to the beach
4. It doesn't get dark here until about 9:30
5. The kids playing outside with the neighborhood kids and the parents sitting around talking
6. Smoothies are snack in the afternoon
7. Relaxed schedules
8. Nothing good on tv so we don't watch it as much
9. Grilling dinner
10. Afternoon thunderstorms
What are your favorite things about summer?
Praise the Lord for seasons.
• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
May. 22, 2007 - Even birds Praise Him...
I love birds. I love the sound of birds chirping. I mentioned in my last post that we put out bird feeders. We have had so many birds come to eat. My favorite are the male Bluebirds....why are the male birds always so beautiful? God is funny that way.
Well last week after all of our spring findings, we were outside one day playing. On the windshield wiper of my car was a cute little blue parakeet. It was such an unusual find...I mean, how often to you see a parakeet outside sitting on your car? He would let me get close to him, but not touch him. I offered my finger several times, but he did not want any part of me. We could tell he has been hand raised because of the little ankle bracelet he was wearing. I think he must have been fed up with us trying to pick him up because he kept trying to fly away. His wings had been clipped once upon a time, but had grown back enough to give him some lift when he flapped hard enough. We finally got the butterfly net and caught him. Now what were we going to do?
Obviously someone lost their little parakeet...but who? There is no way to find out really. We put little birdie in a snake cage (because we didn't have a bird cage) and feed it some wild bird food. The next day, we took him to a couple of vets in the area. No one would take in this sweet little fella and told us to just keep him. So...
We now have a beautiful blue parakeet to add to our list of Spring finds...his name is...Sky. He sits in a little cage in our living room. For the first couple of days, he did not even chirp...I think he was scared. He slowly began to chirp a little bit here and there. Sunday night, we were getting the house cleaned for our church home group. I had a Christian worship cd playing a bit loud and Sky started to squalk....loudly. apparently the music must have been too loud. I turned it down to a comfortable level and he began to sing. When I turned off the music, he started squalking again. Later, when our group arrived, we sang a couple of praise songs. Guess what? The bird sang right along with us. He just chirped and chirped. It was so cute...even the bird was praising the Lord.
Now Sky lets us know when the tv, music or us are too loud and he also reminds us to Praise!
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
May. 13, 2007 - I love Spring...
Don't you just love the Spring? The weather is warming up, the Spring rains and thunderstorms are a nice afternoon surprise and everything is new again. What a great week we just had ushering in Spring. Between storms and tornado warnings, we managed to enjoy God's outdoor creation in many ways.
We began the week by going to the local farmers market to buy flowers. We planted herbs in a big herb pot, a container of tomatoes and some pretty blooming flowers. We also put out a new hummingbird feeder and a seed bird feeder. The yard looks great...it's been mowed, weeded and we put some stepping stones out to the hamock.
Just when we thought we had already been enjoying our days, we found a box turtle in the street in front of our house. The children had a great time setting up a habitat for the turtle and researching how to take care of "her". We also found our butterfly net and butterfly habitat and began to catch butterflies. We found 4 different ones and then researched how to take care of them. Tiana had loved the butterflies. She carries around the little butterfly house wherever she goes...she even took them to Grandma's house the other day. We had just bought a Beta fish and set him up in a nice vase with bamboo and stones...His name is "Blu".
To top off our week, the children were jogging and found an abandoned bird nest with a broken egg. We will spend this coming week journaling in our nature journals about all of our findings, flowers and the Spring.
And to top it all off with Mother's Day lunch at PF Changs and a nap...Praise the Lord for Spring.
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Apr. 23, 2007 - Victory is Mine...
I have been sitting here for a week recovering from elbow surgery. Not the worst surgery in the world, but no surgery is really easy. Well the surgery itself was not bad, but the recovery is not fun. At this point, I do everything with my left hand (I'm right handed) and I have very little range of motion without pain in my right arm. Right now, with my right arm, I can't reach my mouth, put on a shirt by myself, take a bath by myself, brush, much less wash my hair or put on make-up, do laundry, dishes or cook. I feel like a terrible mom and totally useless person.
I know it will get better. I have been struggling with this pain for almost 2 years. The last month I have been on prescription pain medication that has made my kidneys toxic and made me almost non-functioning as a wife and mother. It's been miserable. Yesterday, I tried to quit taking my pain meds because I felt like I had just too much in my system. I took one dose in the morning then started feeling like a junkie going through withdrawals. I didn't take any more the rest of the day. I started having headaches, and when I woke up this morning, I realized I was going to have to slowly withdraw from the med. I took a dose this morning and again tonight. That's a definately improvement from 2 pills every 4 hours for a week.
I have spent most of the days in bed for the last week. Just that is enough to make someone depressed. That combined with the pain, not being able to use my arm and all the medication just put me into a little bit of a funk and depression...that's not where I like to be.
I realized today that I was letting Satan kick me while I'm down. I had to kick him out. I had to get up and get out. I could not stay in bed another day. There are so many people who have it so much worse than I do. I see the stories on the news about the soldiers in Iraq and all the other tragidies going on in the world. I am in no place to complain or be depressed. Jesus did not die so that I can complain, wally in my pity and be depressed. Jesus came and died so we can live in victory. He came and died so we can be conquerors...more than conquerors according to Romans 8:37. Did you see that? Not just someone that wins the battle, but so much more...more than conquerors. I can't even wrap my mind around exactly what that means. I just know that I want to live in victory...not in defeat. I refuse to give my life over to the one who comes only to steal, kill and destroy me...he will not destroy me. I claim that I am more than a conqueror because Christ loves me. And I pray you will claim that for yourself as well. In Jesus Name.
Praise the Lord for Victory.
• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Apr. 21, 2007 - Recovering...
Wednesday I had surgery on my right elbow. I have been struggling with pain in that elbow for about a year and a half....3 cortisone injections, 2 rounds of oral steriods, multiple treatments with the chiropracto and physical therapy...to no avail. Surgery was the only option left. The surgery was fine, nw I am just home on pain meds recovering. My elbow is very stiff and soar, but with a little work everyday, my range of motion gets a little wee bit better each day. I can almost get my hand up to my mouth to eat. Eating and doing with my left hand has been challanging to say the least, but maybe I'll come out a litle smarter for working the other side of my brain.
The children have been great with helping out. Shelby makes my smoothies and refills my ice pack, as well as help with the baby, dishes and laundry. Logan is also being a real tropper. It's been a great time for them to learn how to do laundry, cook, clean, etc. Amazing how much can get done when they all work together.
Anyway...please pray for a speedy and whole recovery...this is not fun, but Praise the Lord, He is my healer and my strength during this time.
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Apr. 12, 2007 - Beautiful Quote...
The children and I are studying American History this year. My mother-in-law is doing most of the teaching once a week, but I do suppliment with things at home as well...you can never learn too much, right? Anyway, mostly at home we read aloud passages and books relating to what they are studying with Grandma. I thought I would share with you what we did yesterday because we really enjoyed it.
We are learning about Native American Indians right now. We were reading out of The Complete Book of United States History about the Hohokam (means "Vanished Ones") tribe and the Anasazi (means "Ancient Ones") tribe. In our lesson we learned that most of what we know about the Anasazi's comes from the thousands of petroglyphs the left on the stone walls and cliffs in the Southwest. We then each drew our own petroglyphs about things in our lives and tried to interpret each other's drawings.
I drew a house with people inside and a cross on the roof and the state of Texas...representing that we are a Christian family living in Texas. Shelby drew ice skates and outlines of each of the states she has lived in. Logan drew books to represent her love of writing and a microphone for singing. Jackson drew an outline of Kenya representing where he was born. It was a lot of fun to see how you can show your life in simple drawings.
Next we read from the book Let Freedom Ring. It's a book of letters, speeches, songs, recipes, essays and historical documents about America...great book! What we read was a letter written by the Chieft of the Powhatan Confederacy who is the father of Pocahontas to Captain John Smith in Jamestown, VA in 1906. Quote: "Why should you take by force that from us which you can have by love?"
I thought that was a beautiful quote and wanted to remember it. I think it's something that we should keep in mind even in our world today.
Praise Him for our rich American history.
• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Mar. 25, 2007 - Waiting on the Lord...
Our journey with the Lord these last few years has been exciting. Adopting 2 children, homeschooling and moving multiple times...yes exciting because we know the Lord is working on our behalf. Exciting because we know the Lord has something special planned for our family and it's exciting to be in His will.
This particular journey began about 3 years ago when God told us to sell our fabulous house on the beach in Florida. We did just that. Within 24 hours of selling the house, He told us we would be moving to Fort Worth, Texas. We felt like Abraham in Genesis 12. So we made plans to move...via Kenya for an adoption...also totally of he Lord.
So here we sit (for the last 18 months) in Fort Worth, Texas. The business venture my husband felt called to be involved with has not worked out. We really feel like we are supposed to be here, we are just not sure what we are supposed to be doing. We really need to sell our other property in FL and have some income.
At this point we feel like we are at a crossroads...Jeremiah 6:16... "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."
So we continue to wait...standing at the crossroads of life and asking for the good way. We want nothing more than to be walking on the good paths of the Lord.
Praise God that He knows which path is ours and praise God that we can rest in Him.
• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Mar. 9, 2007 - Vacation is over...
Wow...what a great time we had in Orlando. We took our children and grandma along with Guy's sister's family...with 3 boys. We had a blast. Of course we did all the Disney stuff...Magic Kingdom and MGM. We also went to Universal Island of Adventure.
Our oldest dd lives in Orlando and works selling radio ads for the local classic rock station. She spent a couple of days with us and we had a great time with her. The kids love being with her and of course they had a blast riding in her new hot little car.
We also have some friends that live in Orlando. They used to pastor a church we went to in the panhandle of Florida. They moved to Orlando about the same time we went to Kenya and then moved to TX...about 2 years ago. We haven't seen them in almost 2 years. What a great time we had catching up and spending time together. We visited their new church and went to lunch afterwards...just like old times. They also homeschool their 4 boys and Ellen (the mom) is always such an encouragement to me. She is one of those people that is encouraging without even knowing it.
So now after a great week and fun in the sun, we are back home to our own bed...the best part of coming home, and back to a normal routine again.
Praising God for time with family and friends and a refreshed body and spirit. "...ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Feb. 27, 2007 - Birth Verse...
Did you know there is a Bible verse for each birth day? This site is great...
My verse:
2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
This is very intersting to me because I have actually written about this verse and spoken on it several times. Love it! Look your verse up and share it with me.
Be filled with praise today...praise for God's love for you.
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Feb. 22, 2007 - My New Blog...
Welcome to my new blog...
If you care to look at my old blog... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/my6davidsons/
I wanted to update my blog, but couldn't change the template on the old one. So I decided to just start a new blog. When trying to creatively come up with a new name, I searched high and low and finally looked in my book of names. I always knew that my maiden name "DeLamar" was French and meant "of the sea". But I didn't not know the spiritual connotation was "filled with praise". I love that. That is what I want to be...Filled with Praise. God has been so good to me and He is certainly always worthy of my praise. As I share my praises with you, I hope you will be blessed and share your praises with me. I'm looking forward to the journey filled with praise.
Praise Him,
• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
<- Last Page • Next Page ->
