My little chickadees

I kinda have a thing about all my little chicks being close by and "under my wing".  When I had my kids in schools in 2 different counties, it about sent me over the edge when foul weather was setting in and we were all spread apart.  I think that is one of the biggest things about my (hybrid) home school that I love.  We are usually in one group or at least the bigs are together in one place that I can get to in one trip.  

This past weekend I got to see my sister who is living stateside for the next 6 months on break from their residency in The Netherlands.  It was wonderful getting to see her whole family that I haven't hugged in too long.  The best part is that her furlough coincides with the future arrival of our newest addition.  In honor of our adoption, my very best sister in the world made this for us.  

LOVE!!

My four little chicks

It is her first attempt at a tile mosaic and I think it is a beautiful one.  It symbolizes the dawn of a new day in our family as we welcome in our fourth child.  

As I look closely at the little birds, I notice the smallest on the end looking towards the others, maybe not quite sure of itself.  I pray my older children will guide our new one as they learn to live in a family and literally "come out of their shell" that they have lived as an orphan.   

Thanks dear Katy, this is a treasure.

I know everybody has their funny Wii videos. Our kids are deprived, we have not given in to the trend (yet). However, they do get a little combat time in when we go to my brothers place. I do mean combat. It is all about the active sports-defeat-thy-sibling games. Yesterday, in an unusual turn of events, Caleb was annihilating his sister (4 years older) in the game of fencing. We then all had to take turns with him and this is him even putting smack down on his daddy. Uncle Andy is the only one that ended up being able to defeat the mighty Caleb.