Kites, Work, & the Domincan Republic

What have we been up to lately?

Well for starters, my mom is here visiting, for a while.  She is here for 2 reasons (besides that she just loves to be with us) one, I started working again just 1 day a week (on Thursdays) and two, Brett and I are going on a trip to the Dominican Republic with Compassion for a week at the end of April.  So my mom will have all 3 girls by herself, yikes! 

I have complete mixed emotions about the trip.  I feel totally blessed that we get to go on this trip and meet the little girl we sponsor.  Brett and I will also be without our kids, which is good and bad.   I have never been away from my girls for this long and I have never been away from Sarah.....sigh

   I am still nursing her, which makes things  a bit complicated.  I have prepared though, when I first had Sarah I had enough milk to feed 6 starving children, so I pumped a lot and froze it (we already new about the trip).  Now I have about 330 ounces of frozen milk (sorry if this is totally weird for some of you).  Anyway, I want to keep my milk supply up during the trip in hopes that when I return Sarah will still want to nurse, so that means I will have to pump the ENTIRE trip.  Not just pump, but pump and dump.......which is D.E.V.A.S.T.A.T.I.N.G!   If you are a mom who has ever nursed your children you know your milk is like liquid gold, and I am going to have to throw it away !  There is no way for me to store it or donate it. 

 So here is about 2/3rds of the milk I have frozen

We have also been preparing to meet the little girl we sponsor, Nara.  Nara is 12 years old and I have been sponsoring her for over 8 years!  No credit to me though, it is all my husband, he thought she was too cute to pass up when he saw her picture as a 4 year old and decided that I needed to sponsor her.  Brett mostly writes to her and keeps he updated, the girls and I have written just a few times.  I still can't wait to meet her!  The girls made her a teddy bear at build-a-bear

We have a backpack full of gifts and supplies

and we also made her a photo book of our family in Spanish, this is one of the photos we added

It is been the most beautiful spring ever, so we are outside ALL of the time!

Norah looks a bit like a homeless person with her cart full of clothes

 Maya prefers people in her cart

 We spent an afternoon flying kites, I think Brett and I had more fun than the girls, it was a blast!

 

taken from and i-phone

 

Of course we celebrated Easter, He is Risen!

 

The girls have done some cooking

and Sarah has done some eating

she loves EVERYTHING

 

Sarah is always tilting her head to the side

 

and cuddling with Dadda

and somewhere in the mix I have a 4 year old now

 

and then there are just some random moments

Playing road trip with Grammy

Listening very intently to Grammy's story

Sisters and best friends

 First pigtails

taken from an i-phone

 Sarah can sit up by herself now!  (I still give her a little protection)

 We hope you are doing well, see you soon!