First Week of Vrtic

It has been a very exciting week! Elijah started vrtic again, but without Israel. He has seemed a bit sad this week going into vrtic, but today I see him brightening up a little. His teacher says it's normal as Israel doesn't go to school with him anymore. Its the first time they have been apart since Israel was 3 and Elijah was 2! I'm proud of my big boy.

He was also asked tonight to join Israel in Mirela's wedding later this month. Israel will be the flower girl and Elijah will carry the back of Mirela's dress down the aisle. Boy did it make his day! My two little cuties were bouncing up and down tonight after they got the news. I'm one proud mama! Israel will meet her teacher for school on Saturday and will start first grade on Monday. We are excited for this transition but I would be lying if I said I'm not a little sentimental too! Israel and I spent the day together carrying on the tradition of shopping for a new outfit for school, lunch and a special dessert. She is growing up and becoming quite the lady! Thanks for reading what's going on on Irby Road. Hoping to be more frequent posting on here!

Israel's Christmas Song

Tonight Israel and Josh (and Elijah too) were jammin' after our family devotion time on Advent. This girl is ROCKIN'! Check out her video of FREE-STYLE (yes , she is making this all up as she goes).

God uses Little One, pt. 1

Last night Israel, Elijah and Josh went to a birthday party. On the way Israel began talking about Little One. They had a conversation about Heaven and about how everyone who trusts in God gets to be with Him forever. Josh asked Israel if she knew how to trust in God.

"We go to church, so we trust in God."

"Not everyone who goes to church trusts in God."

"We read the Bible, so we trust in God."

"Reading the Bible does not mean we trust in God."

The conversation shifted quickly to the brightly dancing lights on the mosque outside the car window as Yesterday was Bajram, a Muslim holiday here.

"But what are the beautiful lights for, Daddy?"

"Bajram"

"What is Bajram?"

"Bajram is where they sacrifice a lamb to remember that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, but God gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. But we don't sacrifice a lambs anymore because Jesus said He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

Then they talked about the holidays we celebrate to honor Christ: Christmas for His birth, Easter for His resurrection and one day we will celebrate Him coming back...and everyone who trusts in Him will be with Him forever.

That brought the conversation back to trusting God.

"First it's about recognizing that we do bad things. Remember when you were mean to Mommy today?"

"Yes, Satan whispers to us and says 'Yeah, be mean to Mommy!'"

"Yeah and too many times we listen and do what he says. But that's why Jesus died on the cross so He could forgive us for all the wrong things we do. Trusting in God is saying 'I'm tired of being the boss of my life. God, will You be the boss of my life?'"

(Insert confused question) "Tired of being the boss of my life?" (Israel enjoys her role as first born girl and being bossy)

"Yeah, when we're the boss we always mess things up, but God never messes things up when He's the boss. And that's what is really means to trust in God."

"So does Jesus whisper in our ears (insert whisper voice) 'Trust in Me. Trust in Me.'"

"Yes, He does. And what He wants us to do is to pray to Him and ask Him to forgive us and be the boss of our life."

"Can we pray that right now?"

Josh wanted to stall so that we could all be together when she prayed. He also wanted to make sure she understood everything so he asked her to say everything back to him again. She did.

When they got home it had been over 2 hours later. Josh had Israel explain it all to me. She got it. She understood the Gospel. Then she asked if she could pray that right then. Never did Josh ask if she wanted to pray. It was her initiative. And it was the most precious prayer.

Today Israel was a different child. When she was frustrated and disobeying, it was obvious she was working things out with the Lord. During her disobedience I asked her, "Israel, who is the boss of your life?" She replied, "I want God to be the boss of my life, Mommy. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." It's the transformation God offers us through the cross. And He is changing our four and a half year old girl. And He is changing us. We are grateful.

And Little One rejoices too. Yes, sweetheart. Your life has dignity. Your life has purpose. And your big sister will join you in Heaven because God used you. We love you.

We are thankful and rejoicing that God would bring this about during such a difficult part of our journey; that God would use our Little One to help our Big One give her life to Jesus.

Getting Izzy into Preschool

So we are trying to get Israel into preschool here, but it's so complicated! So today, we tried to get some things done. We went to the medical offices (30 minute walk away) with Merima (our God-send!) and tried to get all the medical stuff taken care of. I found out then that I have to take her to ANOTHER doctor on the OTHER side of town, get her breathing test, get a stool sample (and carry it back to the medical office!), then RETURN to the office (with the stool sample) as well as her birth certificate, passport, and some more paperwork we have to fill out. Oh yeah, and her immunization records. Which of course I didn't have. So I had to call her doctor and get her to scan it and email it to me. UUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH.

Tomorrow we are going to the doctor to get Israel's breathing test. Then back to medical office.

We checked out a couple of preschools. I'll keep you updated. They were all different from one another. Please pray for us to find the right one for us.

Also, Israel started ballet tonight. She goes 2 times a week. The studio is right around the corner from our house, which is cool. She did well...the first part she started crying and said she didn't want to take ballet. But by the end, she was participating and was so proud of herself.

Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!