Friday, June 25

Fun with Friends

When we were in Lusaka to pick up Kayla, we had a great time with the Bowman Family. Josh, Amy, Caleb, Abby, Anna, and Luke. God has blessed us immensely with their friendship over the past three years. We are so thankful for the love and laughter that we have shared with one another. God has called the Bowman's to another place in the world to serve Him! We are going to miss them tremendously but SO happy that we got to visit and play one more time before they leave in July!
The kids playing Toilet Tag at the Guest House in Lusaka!
Abby, Lauren, Easton, Anna, Lily, and Caleb
Abby and Lily are sweet friends, we are going to miss the Bowman's!
Anna and Lily are so much alike and just laugh the whole time that they are together!
Look at the extremes of emotion in this picture of all of the Helgren and Bowman kiddos! Lauren is clapping and Luke is bawling! We love you, Bowman Family and will miss you in Zambia but you will always be in our prayers!

Sunday, May 30

Back at Plot 418/419 Nyimba

 What's going on at our house? Well, the usual. Having fun enjoying these nice cool days and just enjoying our family!! Here's a peek at what we have been up to since we got home from Johannesburg!
Kendall and Higgins are still playing Hide and Seek to begin their playtime!
Lauren is growing so fast and as Zeria would say, "she is speaking everything now!" After this picture, she looked at me and said, "mwa see, mwa see!" I think that is a mix of Me Want To See! Ha!
I have missed taking pictures of my kids. I love it, I really enjoy the time that I have to capture these precious moments with them. 
It is so fun to take silly pictures! Look at the kids! Crazy! Each time we took a picture they wanted to see it, then we just laughed like crazy and did it again. So, I tried to get a picture of us all laughing...priceless.
Summer was not amused at our shenanigans!

THOMAS TIME
Easton got a NEW Thomas train set from his Great Aunt Sissie! He played with it all afternoon and hasn't stopped.


LAUREN AND THE CHICKENS
Lauren still loves the chickens. She and Easton love to take them and put them on the trampoline and jump up and down with them on the trampoline. I guess they want to see if they will lay scrambled eggs. But I wish you could hear Lauren say, "chicken". It sounds more like "cheetun".
Yeah, I know, she is pouring their food on the ground, but you know that with chickens that is where it ends up anyway!
"Here you doe cheetuns!"
Big smile, full of dirt, and full of happiness!
Next project. We had so many mosquitos in our house and yard and we couldn't figure out what was going on. Kendall had been praying that the Lord would show him where the problem was so we could get rid of the mosquitos. He went to the chicken house and sprayed and about 100 mosquitos flew out and 3 huge rats were living in the roof. Needless to say, we burned the roof off. The hens were puzzled and were talking like crazy that day and the next morning. As Zeria said, "the chickens were walking around saying, 'where's our house?'" Ha! Lauren was helping Daddy figure the new arrangement out.

LILY AND THE AVOCADO TREE, HER HAPPY PLACE



OUR "FAMILYCOMING" IN JOHANNESBURG
We were all so excited to be reunited as a family in Jo'burg. It had been 17 since we had all been together. Lauren and I had fun surprises waiting for everyone, including cold weather, grass to play in, and McDonald's!

Lily and Easton missed Lauren and the feeling was mutual! There was no crying or fighting for at least 5 days!
I was a happy Mama!
Lauren and Easton laid in the grass like this talking for a while. Mostly they just laughed at each other and smiled. They are more than brother and sister, they are friends.

Sunday, April 4

A Sweet Easter

Today was my most favorite Easter's ever. I think it was so amazing because it was so chill and our kids really had a great time having an egg hunt and we had a lovely Easter dinner. The most important part of the day, we had a great time of worship with our family and our kids really began to understand the TRUE meaning of Easter!
Before the egg hunt began!
Lauren's first egg hunt was a success! This is her first bite of the candy she found! Another first come and gone.
Goody gifts from Gramsie!
Who do you think is behind this shirt?!
Pure joy and excitement...she was happy about her chocolate bunny!
In this picture, they were yelling, "HAPPY EASTER!!!"
Precious baby girl...

New Wheels

All of the kids got some new wheels when we were in Lusaka. Lily got her first bike, Easton got a "rotorcycle", and Lauren, well, she loves watching everyone and playing with the handmade John Deere tractor we got! Another first has come and gone in my kids lives, where does time go?

Easton follows right behind Lily all day long!

Thursday, April 1

Funny Sign

There are some funny signs here in Africa, but I saw this on a bulletin board at the grocery store and had to laugh. Can you see why this sign made our whole family chuckle? 
Boerboels are dogs....
But what about the parents?!