a la douche

Almost every night you will hear that phrase come out of my mouth (& I promise, I'm not insulting my kids)! It's the French way of saying, "It's bath time!" (literally: "to the showers")

I was SO blessed to have Mark's mom here who LOVED to give my kids a bath every night. As cute as my kids are in the bathtub (as you will soon see), the process of actually giving a bath is not high up there on my "favorite things to do" list. Maybe it's because it's the end of the night & I'm ready to get them in bed or maybe it's because of the awful pain in my back I get from bending over to scrub them down. Either way, I was very willing to let Gaga take over for the 3 weeks she was here!

Even though I sat out for about 75% of their baths during that time, I did manage to sneak in & snap a few pics of their cute selves in the tub! So without further adieu, the cute photos of my darling kids await you ...

Luke's classic old man face!

You have just got to love those eyes!!

He was getting a little tired of Mommy with the camera but he's still cute ... even with his whiny face!

Izzy loved having the special attention of having the bathtub all to herself & even having bubbles!

play time

As any parent of a toddler or baby knows, "play time" takes up about 75% of their awake time (the other 25% being spent eating or in time out!). In this part of the world, the bulk of our "play time" is spent in or around or house. We don't have parks or play groups or bouncy houses to add a little variety to our days. We just have our house! 

Fortunately for us, the house came with a weird, yet practical walled off hallway. It was once a long hallway that went to a back bedroom but is now like a dead end street. And we use it for our play "nook"! After the crate gets here, we'll use some of its wood to build shelves to store more of the kids' toys but, for now, it's working pretty nicely to have a one-stop spot for fun & play!

So, if you're ever in the neighborhood, stop on by! Because, more than likely, we'll be playing!

date night

Mark & I were able to enjoy a wonderful date night last week. His parents offered to stay with the kiddos while we went out ALONE to a scrumptious French restaurant in town. It is one of the nicest eating establishments in the whole country & we always feel so "fancy" whenever we have the chance to go. I actually dried my hair & used a straightener, y'all! That was a first since we've been back! Mark even fixed his hair, too!

But all kidding aside, we had a wonderful time sitting together & actually being able to talk at the dinner table. Words like, "Stay in your seat, Isabelle!" or "Luke, stop it! Don't put your hands in your hair ... no!" or "Please eat your food, Izzy. How about 2 more bites & then you can get up?" ... none of those ever came out of our mouth! It was bliss, pure bliss. 

 

We actually talked about things we wanted to talk about. We actually had time to feed ourselves & not worry about feeding someone else. Our clothes didn't have dirty hand prints on them by the time we finished eating our meal. It's the little things, people.

But we know full well that little things can become big things after awhile. And we know full well the importance of taking time to invest in our marriage ... & the fact that it's just as healthy to do that as it is to invest in our kids' lives. Both of us coming from families involved in ministry, we know firsthand how important & tough it is to keep priorities on God first, family second & ministry third. And within that family aspect, how vitally important it is to keep your marriage a priority.

We are so very thankful to 2 grandparents who came all the way here to not only love on our chittlins but to also love on us & give us this night to ourselves!

We've been together 10 1/2 years & I love him more & more everyday!

life these days

Life these days around the Phillips house is pure craziness & fun. Isabelle is in the throes of being a toddler (going on teenager) & Luke is starting to match her pace. Amidst all the craziness of toddler tantrums & baby meltdowns, we make sure to leave plenty of room for fun! I mean, how can we not?! We are not laid back people ourselves ... why should we expect our children to be? Ha!

I really wish we could upload one of the many videos we have of the kids that show a good sampling of their crazy selves & post it on here. But if it takes 2 hours to upload 6 pictures, I don't even want to know how long it would take to upload a video! So I'll just tell you about a few of them (as if you really wanted to hear about a video you would rather watch!) ...

Yesterday, I recorded a video of Izzy on the potty. She has finally (PTL!) decided that she wants to go potty by herself. Well, I was standing outside the door & I could hear her talking to herself, so I grabbed the camera to record her. When she saw me, she asked me to come sit down in front of her & she proceeded to tell the camera how stinky her business was! She then decided to sing a song for the camera with no recognizable words & I think I now know that she has inherited my singing abilities as opposed to the musically talented Phillips' side of the family! 

Luke has begun hating the "after bath" routine ... lotion, diaper, jammies. He usually pitches a FIT during the process & I usually lose about 10 years off my life. There is nothing like trying to grease up a baby that is wriggling around like a fish out of water ... all the while, on a very small space that is so conveniently raised 4 feet above ground! Anywho, a few nights ago, Luke decided to be a comedian! And by comedian, I mean the boy knew that he was being funny & kept doing it to make us laugh. And here's what he did ... he slapped himself in the face! I mean, SLAPPED! On his right cheek! He would smack himself about 5 times & then cackle & cackle! He would look at us to make sure we were laughing. If we hit our cheek to prompt him, he would do it again .... smack, smack, smack, cackle, cackle, cackle! I tell ya, he's really trying to one up his sister! (Reading that back, it really doesn't sound very funny but I promise you it was! Maybe I'll try the video someday so you can see for yourself!)

We've got so many more videos & pictures of our crazy kids but I'll stop boring you with all the stories. Here are just a few pics of our crazy kids & just a glimpse of all the joy they bring to our lives!

christmas packages

I know we never did an official Christmas post on this blog but y'all can venture over to Izzy & Luke's blog to hear all about our belated Christmas celebration complete with pictures. What I will post on this blog is our "extended" Christmas celebration thanks to a great brother & great aunt that spent way too much money to send us Christmas packages! And let me tell y'all ... they did it up right! We had NO clue what was coming in the mail but were totally ecstatic opening up both packages that came on the same day. 

Aunt Sue's package came fully equipped with gifts for the kiddos, Little Debbies, Squeezy Cheese (classic!), marshmallows & hot chocolate, more snacks for us & the kids & a crazy toy dog that laughs hysterically while rolling across the floor. Aunt Sue is the Queen of gag gifts like this & she did it again with this one! We have about scared our househelp half to death with this thing because it has a sensor on it & starts cackling anytime someone walks near it. It has definitely brought us much laughter!

Luke loving his new toy truck!

And he even had fun with the dog!

Aunt Sue was totally speaking my love language with a gift that was monogrammed for Isabelle!

Ignore the face of our child who does not pose for pictures anymore ... but check out her cute little house! She has loved playing with this & is taking great care of the little bunnies who live in the house!

And another AWESOME package from Jon & Amy (Mark's bro). DD coffee, Doritos, Oreos, Ice Pops, toys, books & DVDs ... check, check & check! They even threw in some decorating stuff & new Christmas mugs for us, too! Izzy has loved her new Elmo DVD that has celebrities singing songs on it & Luke has loved his new light up truck. Well played J&A, well played!

PS - If any of you out there are thinking, "Man, I'd really love to send Mark & Parker & their poor little kids in Africa a package but I just don't know what to send," just take a look at the above packages. They are both winner, winner chicken dinner! You shall not go wrong if you send us a package with any of the above pictured items. 

Just thought I'd throw that out there in case any one had a particular thought like that .... or maybe needed a thought like that planted in their head. Either way ...

latest news from Niger

I know that most of the major news stations in America are focusing on the Tragedy in Tucson. Our prayers are with all those involved & that situation, as well. What you may have missed is what has happened in Niger in the last 48 hours. We thought we'd make you aware of it so that you may add it to your prayer list. You can read about it here. We do not have more information than what we can find online. Please pray for our country, wisdom & our safety. Thank you!

Answered Prayer

A few weeks ago, we asked you to pray for a young Songhai man named Wyatt* who lives in Accra, Ghana. Gomer W, who has been ministering to this young man over the last year, emailed us a few days ago to report that Wyatt* accepted Jesus as his Savior!! Praise the Lord!!

Thank you SO much for your prayers for this young man's salvation. Here is an excerpt from Gomer's email asking continued prayer for Wyatt* ...

I want to thank you for your prayers, and I also want to update you on a few things. 

First, Praise the Lord, tonight Wyatt* told us that he is a Christian, that he believes Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the way to God just as the messages he has heard from the cassettes says.  Praise God for this wonderful soul!

Now, we need to pray hard for him.  He needs the support of our prayers, he is like a preemie, and still needs to be in the incubator for a few months.  He is starting to feel some stiff pressure from the folks around him.  He is a little afraid of what is coming his way for this decision, and rightly so, it is going to be rough for a while.  Pray that he will be given the strength to stand strong, the wisdom to face all challenges, and that he will feel God's Love so strong that he will truly know this is the way he wants to live his life.
     

Gomer also gave a report about Barbara*. Please continue to pray for this young woman as well ...  

Barbara* is doing well at this time.  Please continue to pray that soon she too will accept Jesus as her Savior.  She has been in very good spirits lately, and yesterday she allowed us to use a cooler that she needs for her little provisions shop to take cool water to a Christian event.  She said it was the right thing to do.

christmas 2010

I've got a few pre-Christmas posts & pictures to put up here but I feel like Christmas posts have a certain "expiration date" & I needed to get this one up here first! 

We woke up to our very first white Christmas in Niger! Just kidding. I just wanted to be like the rest of our family & friends in the States who experienced a lovely blanket of snow on Christmas morning. We actually celebrated on December 26 for our Christmas celebration. On Dec 24, Mark's dad & I both came down with a terrible stomach bug & it didn't let up until late Christmas evening. We were in NO mood to celebrate on December 25. Izzy had no clue what day it really was & we've had her presents sitting out for weeks, so it didn't bother her one bit.

On our belated Christmas morning, we began with our tradition of reading the Christmas story & followed by lighting the final Advent candle, a new tradition we started this year thanks to a great resource put out by our home church. We then sang a few Christmas songs, took a few pictures, opened presents & then had a yummy Christmas breakfast with sausage, biscuits & gravy!

Christmas this year with Isabelle was an absolute blast. From decorating the Christmas tree, to celebrating Advent with her, to singing Christmas songs all day long for 4 weeks straight to watching her open presents ... it was an absolute joy to watch our 2 1/2 year old soak it all in. We loved being able to teach her about the true meaning of Christmas & although she doesn't understand everything, she does seem to know more than the average Joe (or Abdul, if you're in Niger) ... Christmas is about Christ!

Our Christmas set up this year. All the presents you see are from Mark's parents. They love spoiling their grandchildren ... & son & daughter-in-law, too! Our gifts to the kids are hidden somewhere behind that massive pile of presents. Our "big" gift to Isabelle & Luke this year was a swing set. We had a welder make the frame & Mark's parents contributed the actual swings from America. We had also hoped to give them some gifts that are on our crate but, alas, it has yet to arrive!

Merry Christmas!! I'm normally a PJ wearing on Christmas morning kind of gal but: (1) my & Mark's PJs are looking a little rough these days, (2) Izzy & Luke did not have Christmas jammies & (3) I really wanted to get one more use of out of their fancy Christmas outfits other than posing for a Christmas card.

We loved being able to celebrate a Christmas with Mark's parents. My parents got to experience Izzy's 1st Christmas & Gaga & Papa got to be here for Luke's 1st Christmas.

You might not be able to tell from this picture but Izzy was really excited about her new Barney DVD!

Izzy checking out Luke's new Elmo book. She also got some new puzzles ... she's upgraded from peg puzzles to jigsaw puzzles. And let me tell y'all ... she's a pro. She had to be shown one, maybe 2, times where the pieces went & now she can do them by herself. I think we need to invest in something more than a 12 piece puzzle for this child.

Great educational gifts from Gaga! She is ready for preschool!

Luke's 1st Christmas! He enjoyed about the first 10 minutes & then was ready for someone to play with him! Izzy just took her sweet time opening one present at a time & wanting to play with it before she moved onto something else. We felt bad having to rush her but Luke was not appreciative of his sister's lolly-gagging (as us Southerners say)!

He did enjoy opening a few presents of his own. Isabelle took care of the rest for him!

I just adore his old man face ... Luke's that is! 

songhai christmas party

A few weeks ago, when Gomer was visiting, we had a Songhai Christmas party for our team including 3 Americans, 8 Brazilians & 2 nationals (plus 4 kids)! And we were missing 2 other Americans, 4 Brazilians & 3 nationals. We have such a great team made up of so many tribes, tongues & nations! 

Izzy took right up with Gomer on the first evening of his visit. Gomer even played along with Izzy when she asked him to read her a puppet book. You just gotta love when people love your kids enough to be silly like this!

Gomer & "R"

Some of the Brazilian team members along with 2 of our national partners

If nothing else, the Songhai team is just pure fun!

Aren't you glad that craziness crosses many cultural & language barriers?

Case in point! Sorry for the "see-food"! But do y'all see "C" back there in the background between my & "B's" head? He's just a tad on the crazy side! Remind me to tell y'all someday about what he did to Mark's parents while they were here!

This picture was taken about 5 minutes after the party began! Okay, well it was more like 30 minutes later. The food went quick though! We had tons of "finger foods" but try translating that into a few different languages. It's not as easy a concept to translate as you might think!

Cappuccino punch! Yum!!

The team! We are blessed beyond measure to partner with these amazing men & women who love the Lord & love the Songhai.

We just have too much fun!!