Life so far in the frozen north

 We enjoyed Thanksgiving (Neiah's first), and she was introduced

the entire (or all that came to Thanksgiving) Hinrichsen family.

 We watched uncle Ryan coach and his team win the 

Regional Championship.

 Put up Christmas decorations inside and outside

and Papaw and Mamaws.

 Watched uncle Blake coach in a Thanksgiving tournament.

and went to see Jaxon perform at his Christmas program for school.

And of course there has been lots of playing with cousins.

We are loving getting to be a part of the normal everyday.

Kimberly

This is Kimberly.

She is the newest addition to New Hope and could really use 

your prayers. Its been about 2 weeks and she still daily cries

for her mommy. She hates going inside, and would be content

to sit outside and watch for mommy all day.

She is only 2 and came from (we assume) a loving family. Her family is

not able to financially care for her now so she is at the home.

Please be praying for Kimberly and her family.

When it rains...

the rain fills up the streets... and the streets become rivers

 I have found out that the road that leads to Neiah's 

school becomes an instant river.

The street becomes so bad that cars stall because the

water is so deep, and they have to be pushed to

higher ground.

So Thankful that so far my car hasn't stalled in the water yet!

Asking for Prayers

Last night was hard. We have waited and prayed for this moment.

And we rejoiced when we heard, but then the moment comes.

I got the call that our Ky Guy was going with his forever family.

They couldn't get there until late last night so Neiah and I jumped

in the car to go and spend a few hours with him (and hopefully 

help to keep him awake) while we waited for his new mommy and 

daddy to come. Neiah and Ky had a blast running around playing

like the best of friends that they are, and LOVING that they didn't 

have to go to bed like everyone else. Then Ky's new family arrived.

and the moment was there. We had to say goodbye. How do you 

say goodbye to a child that you feel is like your own? That you felt like

God had called you to, and yet instead of getting the call to make

it something forever and having him join our family, it was a call

it invest all the love, and support we had into him for the 2 years

we would get to run along side him. 

We know God's ways are higher then our own, and we Trust that

110%. But its still hard to let go of those we love so much.

Neiah just kept rubbing his back, touching his arms,

hugging him. Knowing something was going to change, but 

not fully understanding that she probably won't ever see

her 'first' best friend again.

Please be prayerful for Ky and his new family. Pray for this

time of transition for all of them.

To God be the Glory Great Things He Has Done!

Christmas Pictures.

This last week I took New Hope's Christmas

Pictures. Since I am taking a longer furlough 

this winter everything that I normally do in

November/December is getting moved up.

 The Beautiful Judian

 Sweet Manny

 Reality behind our 'photo shoots'

a blanket pinned to a grate, sick kiddos, and kids

constantly pushing on the backdrop to come outside,

most kids have 'dressy tops' and play bottoms:)

And what do you do after all the Christmas pictures

are taken?.......

 line up for races in your Christmas cloths!

and there off!

Love Them All!

Food Trucks

Within the last few months Mandeville has gotten

2 food trucks. They are now daily parked in the 

same locations around Mandeville. 

 They look intersting, and are now on my 'to try' list.

And in other sad news....

Our well loved play ground is slowly falling apart:(

It started last year with chunks of wood starting to fall

off one of the tower roofs. Then last week when the kids

were swinging, they broke this part of the swing set.

It wasn't their fault. The wood had gotten bad, and simply

couldn't hold up to the abuse any more.

 

Holiday Weekend

This past weekend was a holiday weekend.

All things closed down, and so we headed to 

MoBay for a few days of vacation.

It was WONDERFUL.

 3 days of  no routine, no expectations, no where to be.

 

 Morning walks collecting sea shells (yes, I know these

are not sea shells, but in Neiah's world they are:) while

we waited for the pool to open.

 She loved playing with this big tube in the pool.

 and was always trying to be one of the big kids.

 I loved walking in the ocean and having the fish 

swim all around us.

We would swim all morning and after lunch

 until the daily storms moved in and we went back to our room

for afternoon naps.

 I am so thankful for these few days away that we had.

I am so blessed by this little girl! 

This past Sunday marked my 7th year here on the

island.  There has been a lot of challenges and Joys

in this last year. It wasn't easy, but I wouldn't change 

any part of it.

I am So thankful for Jesus and this life He has designed for me.

Tent Meeting 2014

Two weeks ago all the deaf churches came

together for a 'tent meeting' at JDV.

It was a great day full of Truth being shared,

and praises signed to our Great God.

 SO thankful for this opportunity

so see and catch up with those I don't get to

see very often.

This girl was a trooper. She was incredible overwhelmed,

but overall did great during the 5+ hours we were there.

Thank You Jesus for these Great Days!

These girls

 These girls are growing up so fast.

 I am so thankful that Allesha still comes to find me

daily to sit by me and chat about her day.

and I Love that at almost 15 she will

still come and sit on my lap just because.

A 3 hour drive...

All for 5 min. of work to pick up a piece of paper,

and a 2 min. stop to pick up an iced coffee.

Old Hats

Just about daily these boys pretend to be 'worker men'

and collect their tools to go work.

They are always fighting over a deflated ball, and a torn up 

piece of fabric that they use as there 'work' hats.

A team left a bunch of hats and so I took them for the boys to play with

 and they LOVED it!

I love these boys! 

Sweet Baby Dreams

 This Boy! 

He is so incredibly small and precious and I could just watch his

facial expressions all day.

BUT...

then you have these boys who are really good at

getting into things so you have to watch them too:)

4 days new

 Yesterday Jordan joined the crew at New Hope.

We waited all morning for him to come and he never did.

(he arrived last night sometime)

When I arrived today I went looking for him and found him asleep.

He slept the entire time I was at New Hope today. I was ready 

to walk out the door and go home when I heard him calling my name.

He had finally woken up and I was able to cuddle and love on him.

God is the coolest creator EVER!

Without Fail...

Every morning I find a bug in my coffee at some point while

trying to drink it.

A few pictures from today.

 Shemario got glasses yesterday.

And it was just like all those you tube

videos you see of kids seeing or hearing

for the first time. When we put the glasses

on him the difference was immediate.

He got super excited and started yelling

and clapping and running around.

SO FUN TO SEE:)

 Kimmy and Bella

Kimmy is 9 mos old and such a peanut

Bella is 2-3 mos old and is one large lady.

 Roger is our newest addition at New Hope.

Does he look like a Roger to you?

I don't think he looks like a Roger at all...

more like a Mikey or ....any thing other then Roger.

 This girl! 

She has become such a cheese lately. 

I love it.

 Big Boys Club.

Teacher now takes the little kids in for school seperate

from the big boys so for an hour or two each day the big

boys have time to play themselves. The dynamic with 

the littles gone has made a huge difference in their play.

 Its been very cool to see.

Today was a sugar cane kinda day.

They were all given a big piece and spent hours 

chewing on it.

Praise Jesus for Good Days!