crazy faces

This will be the final post of Gaga & Papa's trip here & I may actually be caught up by mid-April to show you Luke's 1st birthday pictures! Or I may not live to see next week after I publish this post because I'm pretty sure my in-laws will be horrified that I actually posted these pictures online. But please know that I am NOT publishing them to embarrass them and definitely not because I want any kind of retaliation. I'm sure they have plenty of pictures of me to make me cringe & hide!

I am a wanna-be scrapbooker. I have all the goods but just not the discipline to actually sit down & put one together. This blog has become my virtual scrapbook of sorts for my children. One day I'll print it all out & bind it together to give to them so that they can see how much we have loved being their parents, how fun their life has been living on 2 continents & also how much their family loves them ... not only by visiting them in Africa but by doing so much fun stuff for & with them.

On a particular crazy night in January, when it was still cool & we may have had one too many plates of hummus, we all got a little crazy after the kiddos' baths & started being really goofy. By "we," I mean that I was behind the camera egging everyone on to make crazy faces. And this is the result ...

Luke's not quite got the crazy face down yet!

Not a crazy face but will you look at those eyes? Huge & gorgeous!! They can suck you right in ... like a tractor beam!

And the craziness begins ...

Whoa! Watch out there Daddy Mark!

Papa's getting a little crazy himself but the winner goes to ....

GAGA!! Well done, Madame J, well done!

I love that our parents aren't "sit in their chairs & watch their 'shows' & show up for birthdays & holidays" kinda grandparents. They love to play on the floor (or in the dirt) with our kids. They love to wrestle & let them jump on the beds. They spoil them & snuggle with them & love them & are crazy about them ... and maybe, just maybe, it's because they've got a little "crazy" in them, too! I'm so glad that my children will have pictures like this so they'll always know just how crazy their grandparents are!

princess in the making

Izzy Rue is nothing short of a princess in the making ... sweet as candy, daring to no end & 100% independent (or so she thinks!). Early this summer, Cousin JJ bought her the perfect outfit to go with our daughter's budding personality & independent streak! And let me tell y'all something ... the girl KNEW she was cute when she put this on! She couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror!

zoo

I am still playing catch up from when Mark's parents were here in January so please don't assume that any of these pictures are recent! They might actually be from 2010 but it was so long ago, I can't remember. Shoot, I can't even remember what we did yesterday.

Nonetheless, sometime when Mark's parents were here between December 20 & January 9 we went to the one & only ill-fated zoo that this country has to offer. Activities outside the home are slim pickings here. So for a fun filled day outside the house that did not involve running errands or grocery shopping or souvenir shopping, we decided to take Mark's parents to the zoo. They've been here 3 times so we thought it was about high time that they saw this fabulous tourist attraction!

It was still cool season while they were here hence the reason Luke is wearing a jacket!

Izzy & Papa checking out the lovely dwellings of the monkey house.

The poor old hippo in his huge watering hole. It just makes me so sad every time I see him!

The Belle has a huge fascination for dinosaurs right now & she loves checking out the bones of the 3 dinosaurs they have on display (outdoors, might I add) at the zoo. For the life of her, however, she cannot understand why she can't go past the fence to see the dinosaurs.

After visiting a couple of zoos this past year in the States, it makes me even more sad to visit the animals at this zoo & see their awful accommodations. Doesn't he just look so sad? : (

The zoo has a small playground & keeps the swings locked up during the weekdays. But the slide is all game for any takers. Izzy really thought she wanted to slide by herself on this particular occasion ...

... until she reached the top. Daddy to the rescue!!

out on the town

Once a week, we try to get out of the house & out on the town. As much as I love to cook & we love to eat at home, I need a little break from the kitchen & the stove! And it's always fun to venture out into the city, partake of the fine eating establishments that Niamey has to offer & put on our "fancy" clothes! 

While Mark's parents were here, they treated us to many a night out. I was kind of getting used to it & started preparing my break up speech to my pots & pans! But, alas, the real world came back & I reunited with my stove & oven & well worn pots & we're committed to another year ... at the least.

On one of our fancy nights out on the town with Gaga & Papa, we got the kids extra dressed up & we thought it'd be best to do a little photo shoot with them. I mean, why not? They are the cutest kids in the world, right? Might as well take advantage of 3 adults being able to distract them while one has her finger on the continuous shot trigger! And away we go ...

Awww.... aren't they so sweet?

Luke's face cracks me up in this picture!! Oh the joys of brotherly/sisterly love!

He just takes everything she puts him through with such ease. I have a feeling he's saving it all up & is going to return her "kindness" very soon!

As you can see, Luke does not sit still very long!

Never a serious picture with Isabelle anymore. She's such a goof!!

lukas pookus

I cannot believe that in 2 short weeks my baby boy will be a year old! Seriously!?! Where has the time gone? Some days I still cannot believe it's been over a year since we landed in the States for our 7 month stateside assignment & have already been back on the field for almost 6 months!

Luke Cleveland Phillips, or Lukas Pookus as he is affectionately called, is such a sweetheart of a baby. Other than the obvious, he has been different from his sister from the moment he kicked inside of me. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was no little girl with fluttery kicks rolling around inside of me; I knew he had to be ALL boy because he constantly took my breath away each time he jabbed at me from within!

And he has proven to still be all boy! The boy rarely snuggles because he is just SO active! He loves to be down playing on the ground or wrestling with his Daddy or hitting his sister. We can barely read him a book because he will not sit still long enough. He loves to laugh & cackle & it doesn't take much to get him excited ... especially when he sees food! 

Since he's the second child, I know full well what this next phase of his life is about to be as he will soon enter the toddler phase & begin walking & talking & becoming less of a baby. So I'm going to do my darndest to soak up every last minute of his baby-ness that I can!! And in 2 short weeks, he will blow out his first candle on his first birthday cake & my baby will say goodbye to his first year of life & we'll embark on another wonderful year with Lukas Pookus!

dad

I live in a place where father's abandon their sons for following Christ.

I have seen sons literally kicked out of their homes, been called unthinkable names, and told never to come back all because of Jesus.

Living here for the past 4 years I've seen firsthand the words of Jesus when he said fathers will hate sons.

Spending the last 3 weeks with my dad got me thinking on this topic.

My dad led me to Christ.

My dad tells me how proud he is of me every chance he gets.

My dad has come to Africa 4 times to serve alongside me and minister to the Songhai.

My dad spent countless hours on his vacation while not feeling 100% to help edit a project I'm doing. 

My dad....well...he's not like the dads here.

As a father now I understand my dad in a new way.  I realize how special he is.  I realize he's different than not only dads in Niger but a lot of dads in the States for that matter.

I have learned so much from him and hope one day to be a man, a husband, and a father like him.

Thanks dad