Up until preparations for the girls began, this room was empty . . . just waiting to be filled with little ones one day. I used the room for ironing our clothes. I had so much fun taking this clean slate and making it a beautiful and safe place for the girls to stay.
There was not much I could do besides dream until the furniture was in place. Eric's parents were so gracious and allowed us to use some of Eric's grandma's guest bedroom furniture. White wicker just seemed like something little girls would love. We were provided with two bed frames/headboards, an end table, a desk with a chair, a dresser (we put it in the closet), a mirror, and even a matching trashcan! Thanks, Mom and Dad Miller! My brother and sister-in-law delivered the furniture to our house. While Eric helped them unload, I was able to spend time with my niece and nephew! We did not have any kid toys at the time, so we played with coasters and anything else the kids found interesting.
The next items needed were mattresses and box springs. The Lord led us to a store that gave us an incredible deal. We do not have a truck, so we were not sure how we would get them home (the place we purchased the mattresses from does not deliver). Eric made one phone call to the KFBC Sunday School Director - Carl. Carl and his wife have been a true blessing to us. Carl is Eric's right-hand man at church and is a real encouragement. Carl and his wife were on their way home when Eric called them about helping with the mattresses. They immediately made their way to the mattress store and delivered the mattresses to our house. Isn't God good?! God already had all the little details worked out. Thanks, Carl and Anne!!!
Once the furniture and mattresses were put in place and everything was washed, it was time to decorate. Eric's mom picked out the bedding. Thanks, Mom Miller! I did not have time to decorate the walls with anything other than a calendar (used to mark off the days so the girls would know when it was time to return home), but it turned out okay without the decorations. The room is just sweet and simple!
Being at home made for some of the most memorable moments! We had so much fun with the girls at home.Below are pictures of their bedroom. The girls loved it their room!
The walk-in closet was a great place for toys.
Pictured above is a computer screen and Eric looking at the computer with the girls. Sometimes we needed the online translator to help us explain important messages to the girls. The bottom left-hand picture is of a lost tooth! One night we caught the girls out of their beds and in the bathroom for a very long time. Eric and I went to check on them and discovered that the oldest girl had pulled her loose tooth. We had never experienced this before and didn't know what to do. We were so afraid that it was one of her permanent teeth, so we called the organization's doctor just to make sure. We told the oldest girl about the tooth fairy, and the next morning the tooth fairy had replaced her tooth with a one dollar bill! The door was even locked (sneaky girl . . . and sneaky Tooth Fairy)! That was a fun moment.
Another fun moment was telling the girls about the Christmas story. One of the blessings of teaching is having a Christmas break, allowing for time at home. On one of the days leading to Christmas, I had the opportunity to share the story of Jesus through the use of LifeWay's Christmas story boxes (pictured above). Then I had the girls help me set out our nativity set (actually, a church member let us borrower hers because we could not find our manger). I sat back and watched as the oldest girl explained the manger scene to her sister. I'm not sure what she said, but I did pick up on Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. What a blessing it was to watch the girls gaze upon baby Jesus in the manger!
The girls love to cook and serve others. One day the oldest girl told me not to come in the kitchen and the youngest girl made sure I stayed in the living room. After a while, the oldest girl came into the living room with a beautiful plate of fruit and lunch for them. I was so proud of her! Only a day or so before did my brother teach them how to have orange teeth, so they surprised me with their imitation. Of course I jumped in on the fun! This was one of several pajama days, too. The Christmas break was SO busy, that a day here-and-there to stay at home and do nothing in pjs was SO needed! Those days were some of my favorite days with the girls.
The oldest girls always looked forward to riding on Eric's back, and the youngest girl always had to have some music on . . . loud music! The only music we listen to at our house is music that tells about Jesus, so the girls were able to learn many new songs about Jesus.
The yougest girl painted the picture above for Eric's Christmas present.The girls really enjoyed time to play together. They especially loved our exercise ball!
Eric taught the girls how to play Wii games. Since it was so cold outside on most days, we had to play indoor games. The picture below is of the girls playing "Monkey in the Middle" with Eric.
I first discovered the girls' fascination with animals when they spotted a squirrel in the backyard. They peered out the window for at least 20 minutes at squirrels! The girls are very artistic, so they loved to color and paint.
One of the days had a tolerable temperature, so the girls played outside. They LOVE the outdoors!
We were given some inflatables, but after pumping the hippo all the way up, we discovered that holes were all over it . . . bye, bye, hippo!One of my favorite parts of any given day was watching the girls tickle Eric. The sound of their laughter was one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard in my life! The daily routine (when we could say we had one), was for Eric to come home from work, have the girls run and jump in his arms for a hug, and then immediately start running around the house and tickling Eric. The girls cherished their time with Eric and had so much fun playing with him. They also liked to end the day with tickling Eric. While I would dry one girl's hair, the other one would be tickling Eric, and then they would switch.
These girls are so creative and always surprised us! One day the girls made us shut ourselves in the guest bedroom. When they told us we could open the door, they were standing there covered in blankets acting like ghosts. Since their heads were covered, Eric and I snuck out of the room to hide - this began a fun game of hide-and-seek!Another time the girls were creative with alluminum foil. The girls came in the kitchen and showed us an alluminum foil fist! They thought is was SO funny! They laughed about it and so did we.
Pillow heads was another funny moment. The girls came downstairs and had pillows on their heads and were walking around laughing about it. Another time of laughter!
In one of the pictures above, the oldest girl is eating a taco for the first time.In some of the pictures below you will find the creative little one. She decided to get inside a very small box. She thought it was so funny. She then built a little "fort" around it.
One of our most special memories was when the oldest read God's Word to us. We discovered about the second week that she could read English. She read us an entire children's book with almost no help! One day the oldest learned a Bible verse song about Genesis 1:1. I showed her where it was in the Bible because she was singing it at home. She sat down with Eric and read him at least ten verses! She later read some of Matthew to us during our family Bible study time. We made sure she knew that "The Bible is the story of Jesus." I would point to the Bible and say "What's this?" and she would respond with "The Bible is the story of Jesus."
One night we were able to have a game night. We played "Go Fish!" and had hot chocolate. The girls were competitive, and that made it so much fun since Eric and I are also competitive with games.
The bottom three pictures in the above collage documents one of the funniest moments of the girls. One morning Eric noticed that sunlight was coming in from under the guest bedroom door, but not from the girl's room. He said, "I think they covered up the bottom of the door!" After investigation, I discovered that the girls had lined the bottom of the door with a towel. I walked in the room to discover the picture on the bottom left of the above collage. I knew then that the girls had really worked hard on that project! I also knew that when I discovered this at 10:30 AM and the girls were still out cold, that they must have stayed up late! I woke the oldest girl up and asked her about the situation. I said, "You covered the door up so Eric and I would not see the bedroom light on, didn't you." She just laughed! She knew exactly what she had done and was so proud of it. I then aksed, "What numbers were on the clock when you went to sleep?" She responded, "For [the youngest] 2 5 0. For me, 3 0 5." They stayed up and had a party and we didn't even know it!!! Eric and I just laughed. It was the long-standing funny story of their stay with us!
Bedtime was by far our favorite time with our Christmas girls. After baths, brushing teeth, and drying hair, Eric would lead us in a time with Jesus. He would read a Bible story and then we would pray together (sometimes the oldest would even volunteer to read the story). It was truly a blessing to teach the girls about prayer (we also taught them to pray before they ate - It's important to tell Jesus thank you for food). We eventually got to the point where we went around in a circle and said, "Thank You, Jesus, for . . . " The girls would say that and then finish it with the many things they were thankful for. One time the oldest girl surprised us by starting to name off our family member's names! What a gift it was to share with the girls the gift of Jesus! Hopefully one day they will receive Him!
2 comments:
you guys had such a speacial time with the girls!!!
I can see why your times at home were some of your favorites! What fun memories you created that you will always remember! Ya'll are going to be great parents one day!
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