Thursday, November 12, 2009

Smiles and Sunshine


You know I am fast becoming attached to the beautiful sweet boys. I kept them again today.





#1 I want to thank everyone for the advise they gave. Elinor, I was thinking that maye that is my puropose, to show them the Love of God they wouldn't have gotten elsewhere..



...We're still getting used to the flash..



But anyways, Things were a whoooole lot better today. It was nice and sunny, so we stayed outside most of the day. We walked and we played with the dog, and we played Ring around the Rosie in the tall grass of the fields.





Towards one or two o'clock Little Cody was starting to get cranky, and we were all tired. So we came back to the house, and Cody went to sleep a lot easier than the other day.











It was so sweet he snuggled up to me as he woke up!

After they went home the family and I went to a Thanksgiving/ Christmas party at a friend/ neighbors house Her son joined the Army so they were giving him basically a whole smagagee party.But anyways, I just wanted to give an update, Keep praying and I'll keep on as I have been!
Much Love!!

4 comments:

Gaby said...

I'm glad things are going better! Those boys are too cute! ;)

~Gabrielle (AnneGirl)

Avonlea_dreamer said...

Thank you so much! They are adorable aren't they?

Sarah said...

I read your post at S&S and I must say, you are doing a great job with these little ones. They are adorable!

My heart went out to the father of these boys when you told of his situation. I cannot imagine being in so difficult a bind, praise God that He is using you to help and bless this poor man and his three precious little boys. Praise God that you are willing to be used of Him in this way.

I have three boys, although I think they are probably younger than "yours" :) Mine are 3, 2 and 10 months. I also had two brothers younger than me while growing up.

If these boys come from a background of being unchecked and let to run loose, it might be difficult at first to seem to connect with them and guide them. But I have read and I believe it is true, just in my own experience, that children NEED guidelines, they NEED discipline, they NEED boundaries. My husband did not really have these as a child and grew up angry and confused because of it. With our own sons we have a few (just a very few) guidelines/rules. Too many rules overwhelms little boys and makes them resentful, I've found. But a few easy to remember rules, consistently enforced, makes my little guys pretty well happy all the time, cheerful, obedient and any bad attitude or disobedience is immediately dealt with using an appropriate, pre-decided upon consequence. (for our boys usually spankings, but since these aren't your personal children, another form of discipline might be more appropriate).

My boys love to play but also find great pride and satisfaction in doing chores and helping me. Even if they go more slowly than I would go and don't do as good a job as I would have done if I had done it on my own, they get such satisfaction and feelings of worth from completing a task and getting told they did a good job and encouraged in that. If these boys have not "worked" at all, I would so encourage you to give them small, easy to complete tasks and as they complete those, encourage and praise them and give them something else to do, gradually, a bit harder. They will appreciate this so much and find joy in a job well done.

Some examples. . .let them help you make a batch of muffins or such, or cookies, or a box mix cake. . .teach them to crack eggs in a bowl and how to use a measuring cup. (my boys are very small but love this!) then once it is baked and cooled have a tea party with them. . .you don't have to have tea, even juice or milk or punch of some sort would be fine. Serve it in "fancy" dishes and in a blanket tent. . .boys love this. A useful lesson and work together, and fun, all at once!

If you like to sew, well, let them learn as well! My boys don't use the machine but hand me things as I need them. My little 2 year old handed me embroidery flosses last night as I made a felt ornament for Christmas from two cut out shapes, blanket stitched together around the edges. He liked playing and sorting the shapes as I made the ornament. It was a very quick job and when it was done, I gave it to him and he went to sleep with it last night and has been carrying it around all morning! He loves to watch things come together as I make them and he loves to help in that process.

I'll be praying for you. Boys are absolutely fun, and you sure have some cuties there! May God give you the wisdom you need to deal with them. Who knows what kind of background they have had with their mother. Maybe they just need a lot of love and some firm and loving guidelines and discipline. They look like they are very sweet, already.

Avonlea_dreamer said...

Sarah,
Thank you so much for your advise!! I'll be sure to use it. I love the Idea of making Christmas ornaments!

I'll let you know how it goes!