Saturday is for holding a teething 3 month old who refuses to sleep anywhere else besides my arms. All my babies teeth early and get their little chompers by 5 months. But this poor guy looks like they will pop out any day—swollen, purple and blue gums, non stop drooling, chewing on fingers, painful cries, biting during nursing 😵. Dang, it’s hard to be a baby! But these cuddles are so, so welcomed and I cherish these moments to serve this little guy in the ways that I can. Very thankful for our Mountain Man. He is the sweetest gift! #3months
Early mornings with this guy are so sweet. ☀️ He does half-day TK in the afternoons which means I’ve got just Shepherd and Bishop for the first part of the day. This season of motherhood is so sweet; maybe even my favorite thus far. I love having 4 kids!! They are such a joy! And I’m not joking when I say that having 4 kiddos, I feel the most relaxed and settled as a mom.... believe me, it’s not because my days are always so chill. My calendar app runs my life as I’m almost always doing something. But some days my ‘something’ looks like staying in jammies for as long as possible and hanging out with my boys before school—doing chores, reading books, playing on the floor, changing diapers, breast feeding, cleaning up spit up. What a gift! So thankful.
My boyfriend turned 3 months old this week. 💙 He brings so much JOY to our family. Honestly, having baby #4,
I’ve never been so busy as a mom, but I also feel the most relaxed. It’s true! Going from 1 to 2 kids was so much harder than going from 3 to 4. Here are some of the highlights from this last month: school is back in session for the 3 older kids so Bishop is my little sidekick all throughout the day as we do our multiple drop offs and pickups, he’s sleeping so well and only gets up 1-2 times a night to nurse and cuddle with mama + falls asleep on his own too 🙌🏻, he might be 3 months but he doesn’t fit into 3m clothing (onto the 6month stuff 💪🏻), wearing his first pair of overalls, going to his first women’s bible study with me, being adored by all the little girls at Promise’s school 💋, experiencing his first cold, starting to turn onto his sides and wiggle around on his blanket while laying on the floor, enjoying being held in the baby sling while mama does all the things, making new sounds and giving big smiles (he’s got the best dimples you guys) 😍. We love you Bishop Kilima! What a gift you are to our whole family. 💙
My morning crew. 🧒🏼👶🏼 While Moses and Promise head to school early in the morning with Brandon, I’m at home with these cuties till I take Shep to school for his afternoon TK class. My life right now feels like I’m an Uber driver, just not getting paid. 🤪 Between school drop offs/pick ups in different towns and at different times, after school classes at the Arts Foundation (in another town as well), appointments, assessments, Back to School night’s, nursing, diaper changes, and homework....oh yeah, and trying to keep our house in some type of order (A for effort?? 😩) + grocery shopping, I’m just always on the go. It’s crazy town most days. But my word for 2019 is Capable and you know what??? I AM CAPABLE! I still freak out sometimes or get stressed, but dang’it, my prayers of having a big family have been answered and this is the stuff I was made to do! Bishop is 11 weeks old and life is going by too quick, so I’m trying to soak up every chance I’ve got with these little ones.... speaking life into them while we drive somewhere in the car, taking the 5 extra minutes at night to write notes to each of them and slipping them in their lunch boxes to read the next day, enjoying my time in the middle of the night to cuddle and nurse Bishop.... We only get one life here on Earth, I want to squeeze every bit of it out each and every day with these kiddos. #capable #motherhood
4 years today. 👦🏾 Happy Adoption Day! If I’m honest, I remember wondering at the beginning if we would ever survive. Days felt long as we journeyed and learned first hand about the affects that institutionalization and extreme trauma does to a developing child. Nothing has stretched or grown or made us fall to our knees like adoption. And yet, here we are, 4 years later, challenges still there (hormones, puberty, moving, transition, a new sibling, 2 new schools, girls, racial tensions...), but a clearer sense of being settled as well. Moses is 12 now; not that scrawny, adorable 8 year old pictured here. I would not be surprised if he passes me up in height by his 8th grade year. He’s tender and sassy, athletic and goofy, a deep thinker and constant talker, lover of food, crazy accessories, and convinced he knows how to drive a car. 😳 Moses is an overcomer. He’s well liked and makes friends instantly. He’s coming into his own (well, as much as middle schooler can be). He’s not the same kid we brought home 4 years ago. He’s changed and changed all of us in the process too. Happy Adoption Day to the 6 of us. Our 3 younger ones don’t know life without Moses in it. So glad we said yes! #adoptionrocks #childrenbelonginfamilies #gotchaday
Tomorrow, this little angel and I will be the only ones in the house who are not in school as Brandon starts his last term of grad school tomorrow. 📚✏️🍎 I know he’ll hate that I’m sharing this (oh well 😆), but even through closing our program Kingdom Families, selling/packing up our entire home in Tanzania, leaving the missions field and moving back to America, then moving into our current home, attending a new church, starting a new job, having a baby, parenting 4 kids, and continuing to feel all the feels of transitioning back to America, Brandon has maintained a 4.0 and is on the Deans List. And not just that, but doing so in a Masters Degree that dives into some incredibly heavy topics (his degree is Global Development and Justice) that could easily cause a state of depression if ones not careful (no joke). To say that I am proud of Bran would be a complete understatement. He’s so intelligent, so committed, so faithful, so consistent, and such a huge support to our family. Would you pray for us as we dive into the next 16 weeks while he still continues to work full time and I hold down the fort at home while kids are back in school and Bishop is completely dependent on me? We can see the light at the end of this journey and can’t wait for December to arrive! What a sweet Christmas it will be. 🎄🎅🏼✨
