And then he was 4!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Keenan Boy!!! Keenan's birthday started back in September when Craig's mom threw him a birthday bash before we left town so our families could be there to celebrate him. It was such a great idea and Keenan loved being celebrated by everyone :). It was all super heroes and Craig's mom and dad stayed up until the wee hours decorating awesome cookies and cakes. We had so much fun with everyone!
Running around outside.
Grandpa and Uncle Kevin manning the grill


Out of order, but all of us singing
Me, Hailee and Steph watching the kiddos run around

Keenan with Lucas. He just went over to him and sat on the floor talking with him for a while. Maybe he didn't want Lucas to feel left out since he can'r run around yet.

Some of the awesome cookies



The cakes

Happy Birthday to you!



Now fast forward to October 23rd and we get to celebrate this big guy yet again!! The day started with presents, went on to breakfast cake, church, and then we had a little celebration lunch with cake and ice cream with another couple here that we are friends with here at our house. Later that evening we got to skype with so many people and we all felt loved by the messages caring for this sweet boy!
Take that, Spiderman!
Well, I guess that's one way to open a card. Just rip the envelope to shreds!


Our gifts to him were super hero masks and he has not stopped pretending to be is Wolverine, Captain America, Spiderman, or Thor in his spare time since. He continually makes me laugh with the things he comes up with in the battles and how he loves sneaking up on people to scratch them with his giant claws or shoot his web at them when they least expect it. I sometimes get to play with him but there have been times when the answer is a clear "not for girls" After we got home from church on his birthday he wanted to play with his masks and so he put on one and I asked who I could be to play with him. He just looked at me and said, "Mom, did you know that you are a girl?" "Yes..." "Girls cant be boys, so you cant be a super hero. Sorry." At this point I pretended to cry and he said, "Are you crying or what?" So I told him I was just so sad that I couldn't play with him so he slowly got up and brought me the Spiderman mask saying "you can be this one I guess." "Hey, I could be Spiderwoman!" "Yeah, I guess.... This is just so stressful!" I had to laugh out loud and gather him up for a big squeeze. He is hilarious!!!

Elliot also is loving having things to play with and especially weapons to hit things with.
A little out of order but here he is blowing out his candles!
Craig's best friend Kevin sent Keenan an awesome remote control Lightning McQueen car with one of our new STINT guys that came a couple of weeks ago and both boys are in love with it. Il lights up, plays some tunes, has sound effects and goes!! We have already had to replace the batteries!!!


Keenan had asked for strawberry banana cake weeks ago and I was so hoping that he would forget since there are no strawberries here and no boxed cake mix for me to use either. But he got it stuck in his head and he would even tell people that his birthday was coming and that he was going to have a strawberry banana cake. I couldn't believe the kid's memory!! So we searched and finally found some strawberry jello and I added some strawberry jelly to the batter as well then filled the cupcakes with banana pudding and there you have it. He was a happy camper and I was too that he was satisfied :).
Elliot enjoyed them as well. Sugar. What's not to love?!

Happy Easter!!!

Again, I got behind on blogging and putting up pictures, so there are three separate posts here! Sorry!! But Happy Easter everyone!!! We had a great day with everyone here and a lot of fun celebrating our Lord. We went to church in the morning and after we had a huge bbq with everyone here and the rest of the day was pretty much spent outside in the sunshine! Here are some pictures of our day together. (OK, lets be honest, they are of the boys in their cute matching shirts)
What Elliot thinks of his first Easter


Hunting for eggs



Eating some eggs with the shells is apparently not so good...hmmmm
Found one!!!
We hope that you all had an amazing Easter as well!!

Spring Carnival and Training Wheels

A few weeks ago at Keenan's school he had a carnival for spring time complete with a school wide parade around the town. His whole school was dressed up as clowns and they walked around the neighborhood and ended with a party of crepes and games at school in the afternoon. It was really fun seeing Keenan with all his friends at school and see them interact with each other. He has done so well making friends, knowing everyone's name in his class, and is speaking more French all the time. He loves his teacher and picked her a bouquet of flowers the other day on the way to school as he apologized to me saying "Sorry, Mom, these are for Maitresse (the French word for preschool teacher)." He is learning a ton as well and knows what letter every person's name starts with as well and it is amazing to watch him grow. So, here is our little clown!!
With Judah
His whole class
With Nicholas and Judah being super heros
Nicholas, Judah, Keenan, Aiden and someone in another class that I dont know :)
Keenan and Tom ready for the parade
At the end of the parade the preschool and the elementary school got together and burned Mr Winter to welcome in spring. It was a little comical to watch as some of the little kids screamed a little bit as it went up in flames and at the same time the bigger kids are chanting "He is dead! He is dead!"

The theme for the elementary school was recycling (I know, a little ironic that they burned a huge man made of recyclable materials at the end!) They all had to make their costumes at home and this guy was by far my favorite. It is hard to see every detail in the picture but he had a whole space suit of plastic bottles. So cool.

Keenan's other big news is that he took off his training wheels!! He randomly decided one day at lunch time that he wanted to try so we humored him thinking that it would take a while and he practiced the whole break, Craig took him to school like that, I brought him home and from them on he was a riding machine! So crazy that he is only 3 and it took him one day! I think I was like 8 and it took me around 5 years.


And because we don't want any little guys to be left out!! Elliot is also doing great :) He has fallen in love with balls and is inseparable. He even sleeps with one at night instead of a blankie or something. Crazy loon but incredibly cute none the less!!

My Guys

I am amazingly blessed by these boys in my life. I cannot say it enough how crazy I am about each of them and how much they sustain me in this crazy life we lead. We have had a rough few weeks with a lot of sickness going around our family, some stress of what in the world we will do next, extreme sadness as we hear news of things going on in Cote d'Ivoire and hearing from friends of the devastation that they are facing day in and out, and lastly I had another miscarriage. And through everything, they are there. Craig is a constant source of encouragement and an amazing leader as he guides me gently back to the Lord when I am drowning in questions and lies that keep slapping me in the face and those two little goof balls that we have for sons always bring delight, simplicity, and joy that rains down on us. With the final hit of the miscarriage I really came to a kind of crisis of faith in a way and was having such a hard time with believing truth about the character of God. There is a song called "Blessed be the Name" and in the bridge it says, "You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will choose to say, blessed be your name" As the miscarriage started this song flashed in my mind and at the same time I mockingly laughed to myself and thought "you take and you take some more" My mind wandered to our past four years and what all we have walked through and how many dreams, hopes, plans, and possessions have been smashed, stripped, and ripped apart for our family and how many transitions on different continents we have made. It seemed to me like the Lord had taken the role of just taking away and not really the giver of life like he has always promised he is and I thought, "why would he not take this too? Isn't that so like him?" It made me feel so small even to think of Job and the answers that the Lord gave to Him saying "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?...Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?...Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?" They were answers that were cold to me, distant and in return pierced lies into my heart at the thoughts came tumbling in that He does not really care. Who am I to question Him? Who am I to think that He really cares about my hurts when He is as mighty as he is and I am so small and insignificant? And on the grander scale, there are millions suffering even harder than me in Cote d'Ivoire right now so our little bits of inconvience are probably not that much or not at all important. In my dark moments I only thought that my job is to obey. That is all. Do what Im told, follow where He leads, have some quiet time with Him at some point, tell people about eternal life, and be a good mom and wife. No questions asked, no complaining along the way. Like a puppet and nothing more. But I know that i am so much more because God created me to be so much more. The truth of the matter is He deeply, deeply cares. I am adored and free and alive! I have hope and certainty in Him because He pursued me first. He came while I was still ignoring, turning against Him, mocking, doubting, and blaitently spitting Him in the face and gave His life for me. Not because He had to, but because He longs for me to know Him intimately and have hope. When I told Craig I was pregnant I had made him a slide show with Scripture throughout talking about all that the Lord has done and faith and hope were themes throughout. The baby was such a surprise and we had no idea what it would look like for us in the future and ministry and when we could go back to Cote d'Ivoire so it was a lot more questions, but I wanted to remind him of our life verse 2 Corinthians 5:7 "We walk by faith, not by sight" and little did I know that these verses would come back as a huge encouragement as we faced more heartbreak in our lives. Romans 5:1-6 says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." He offers life. And not just a la-ti-da life but abundant life. Life with Him that is filled with unending hope, restoration, care, intimacy and love. So, we press on in hope and continue to walk forward when life does not make sense and walk by faith, not by sight. All because of love. So, in honor of these crazy boys that have been rocks for me in the midst of all my roller coster thoughts and an anchor to the truth, here are my amazing guys. Why the Lord blessed me so richly with them I will never know, but I am humbly grateful for them all.
Keenan trying to make the same face as the sandwich
They love playing and giggling together which is music to my ears :)
They have recently gotten into super heros and smash them together constantly
Hulk, Wolverine, and Spiderman were dancing one day on the table

Love them! With tears in my eyes and a thankful heart. This is also going to be in our next newsletter coming soon so Im sorry for those who follow both closely!!