Boys play date, perfect dental check up and no rain ITS ALL GOOD!

We had a great day today, we really did! Samren has been having such fun with his new pals Josh, Winston and Uriah, that the other moms and I have worked hard to get the guys together  for BOY PLAY.  Last Monday Joshua who usually has Winston and Uriah over to his house for play on Mondays,    made a plan and they all came to our house to play with Samren. Josh met Samren in our Sunday School class, the other boys are here so often I thnk they met almost day 1 of the  G kiddos'  two week stay here. After a couple of afternoons playing here and Sunday night at Bible study at Josh's house, Samren was ready to go to a pal's house to play. Those guys had a blast from all reports I have received. When I asked Samren, he started to tell me details but sighed, gave me a huge smile and said  "We just did GUY STUFF!"  I  loved that from him!!!  He was gone from about 10:15 till 6, had dinner with his pals Winston and Uriah. Their mom brought him back home here : exhilarated an  slightly exhausted. BUT  sweet guy that he is, he had left a bit of school  work incomplete when it was time to leave for GUY  TIME...he had already eaten so when we all sat down to eat, he opened his school books and finished up the days' assignments that were not done when he left!  I love that about home schoolers!!! Our kiddos are the same way. The other day the girls wanted a short day so they stayed at their books a bit longer than normal and worked ahead. No shamming here!  Baby Charlie delights everyone with his personaliy and his dedication to walkingWAY before any of the older people in his life think he should be walking. He  and Kendi play so cute together..except for the "lap jealousy" which is pretty passionately expressed by both children.   It was not raining, the sun was shining  and all the kids took compete advantage of the nice weather today to be out as much as possible. Isaac got to try out his new tennis racket when Malachi took all the older kiddos to the tennis court,  every body else  got good exercise on the trampoline, the swings and in the pastures. Gathering eggs is definitely  a favorite activity. (Eating eggs is another) Today however, my sweet farm girls showed Taevy that farm life is not all fun. The horses got into the barn, ate up a lot of grain they were not supposed to be into, made a huge mess all over the barn and of course, did not clean up after themselves. Naomi and Rachel took Taevy with them and those three young ladies cleaned out the barn.  Jael had her 6 month  dental check up later in the afternoon and was pleased to be told that she had another perfect check up . Makes me happy because she needed braces (not wanted, needed...for a really bad cross bit and jaw malformation) so perfect check ups on those $6000 teeth make me VERY HAPPY. Kendi   was a delight at dinner as she gobbled brocolli like it was M and Ms!!! Bright did the same with his cut up slice of ham. After dinner the girls helped me clean up the kitchen and the boys did the milking and feeding. The girls had already bottled the baby goats. I love how the children all jump in to help with whatever chores need to be done. We talked about that  tonight at dinner when I reminded the whole crew  that I don't ask them to pay bills or figure out how much money we can spend on anything ,don't expect them to run the errands,  or do the shopping  and they should not expect me to do the things at home they  CAN do  while I am doing things I do not expect them to do. That line of logic set to the standard of family team work  serves us  very well. No one has room to complain about anyone else's work load. By bedtime all those busy Calico Acres Farm kiddos,   ALL OF THEM  were ready for showers and sleep!! Before  I share kiddo and kid   photos,
I have to share some photos of this "Stuff". The cedar trees grow this stringy "jello" stuff. I've seen it before but NEVER  in the quantities I am seeing this year. It   is really gooey, and just like Pom poms  made of jello.
Thought I'd let you see it.

The baby goats are growing too!! Here in the hay manger are Lilly and George, staying neatly out of the mud which is everywhere else

Zoom shot of George and Lilly

Lilly and Rose having some Mother -Daughter time a little while later

Isaac gives  Miss K  a tandem bounce as sister K takes a good jump too

Naomi joins the jumping

                                            A School  Day at Calico Acres Farm

Naomi, Rachel Taevy Samren and Kendi all hard at work

And before I forget.Jael got a  really cute scarf at Old Navy the other day. Tonight  we treid it out  as a baby carrier. Here is  Jael carrying Kendi, Ghana-mama style. Kendi LOVED it!!!

Well,  that was our day. Missing Charlie while he's away all week  again, missing DANIEL about whom we've heard nothing what so ever, grieving over what looks clearly to be Liberia closing its doors to adoptions for anyone but "maybe " some special needs children. (yes, maybe)  and praying over Mary in Ghana , or WHO IS IT  that God may have waiting  for us to find?  I am so drawn  in my spirit to a child with HIV+ status...no name, no face yet ,  I "think" its a girl but not sure...................