"It's Morning Time, Mommy."

Harrison is growing so fast.  He is my last baby and I wish so much that I could wrap his brown as an Indian, cute-as-a-bug self up in my arms and make time stand still.  I know these moments are fleeting and that the next time I turn around, he will be not so easy to pick up and squeeze like I do now.

He's a very independent li'l guy and wants nothing more than to be just like the big brothers he idolizes.  Unlike the big brothers, though, he usually cries for his daddy at night time.  Doug faithfully goes into their bedroom at bedtime and lays down with him until he falls asleep.

Still, very few nights pass that he doesn't stir in his sleep, wake up, and stumble through the darkness across the hall into our room.  Even then, he is his daddy's boy.  Doug probably has a permanent indention in his arm, where Harrison sleeps night after night for the past four years.

In the early morning as the sun and his daddy rise, he crawls across rumpled sheets to snuggle up tight with his momma.  And it makes my heart smile.  His soft, chubby arms wrap themselves around my neck and he scoots as close as he can get.  He usually puts his little nose right up to mine and sometimes even shares his kisses with me before he rolls over the other direction and wraps my arm around his tummy and holds my hand just where he wants it.

He drifts back to sleep and typically enjoys another hour or so of snoozing soundly before he turns my direction again, flutters his eyes open as he grins and says, "It's morning time, Mommy".  I need to record that voice.  I wish I could record it in that very moment.  It's soft and sweet and just precious.

The next fifteen minutes or so pass with lots of hugs and kissess, "I love you's", and giggles.  We talk about what we'll eat for breakfast, all the fun things we will do today, what daddy might be doing at the office...or anything other little thing that comes to his mind.  These moments, these gifts with him are so special.  I'm not sure when he'll decide that he can sleep all night in his own bed.  And I don't care.  I love these moments...and I don't want them to end.  

Prayers of Blessings

We've realized lately that we are battling powers and principalities in a very real way and I've been feeling like we should be more diligent about praying God's blessings from scripture over the boys daily.   These are two that I love.

Psalm 20
The blessing of the Lord be upon you, ____.
We bless you in the name of the Lord!
May the Lord answer you when you are in trouble.
May the name of our God protect you (v.1).
May the Lord Himself send you help from His people, and His angels;
May He rescue you by His limitless power (v. 2).
May He remember the prayer you've said and the promises you've made.
May He accept your love and your sacrifices (v. 3).
______, may the Lord give you the desires of your heart, and make all your plans succeed (v.4). 
We will shout for joy when you are victorious!
We lift up our banner in the name of our God (vs. 5)!
Because it is in Jesus' name that we bless you.
Amen.


Numbers 6:24-26
The Lord bless you, and keep you; 
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you, 
And give you peace.

Happy Birthday, Harrison!!!

My baby turned 3 today.  He had a great day, complete with Nana and the Papas, a few good friends, lots of Thomas the Tank Engine gifts and even a swim.   He was just thrilled.  For more than a week now, he's been blurting out, "My durday comin' up!"  or he's ask, "My durday comin' up?" and when you would say, "Yes!" he lit up like a Christmas tree and would dance around singing, "Oh ye-ah...Oh ye-ah!"

He really is a big boy now, and has changed so much even in the last few months.  From potty training to sleeping in his own bed (with his brothers, of course) to DIVING into the pool just like the big boys....he is one step behind them but follows their every move.  He absolutely adores Jackson and Carter, and let me warn you that you should not even think about getting rough with them.  Harrison has their back already!

I just love this age SO very much, and I have to admit that I'm a little sad that it is slipping by so quickly.  I know all to well that before I know it, he will be riding a big boy bike and going to sleepovers.  Tonight, I just want to make time stop for a while so I can hold all three of them just a little longer.  I can't, though, so instead I am going to try to purpose every day to treasure every moment - even the hard ones.  They are all three the greatest joys of my life...incredible blessings that I can't imagine being without.

Sometimes this homeschooling lifestyle seems overwhelming and I think that maybe it's time for them to go to school now...mostly for my own benefit.  In many ways, it would be easier for me to send them.  Days like today make me remember that I don't want to miss anything - and I certainly don't want to hand them over to a stranger for 8 hours everyday.  These are MY blessings....and I want to be the one with the memories of "the lightbulb going off" when they realize they can read or multiply.  I went to college, spent lots of time and money to be able to have that experience with kids....I sure don't want to miss it with my own.

Harrison is already counting and identifying some letters.  It's amazing to see him soak everything up as he sits at the table with us while I'm teaching the big boys.  I'm anxious to watch him learn and grow and see all that God has in store for him.

Here are a few (several, actually) of my favorite pictures of my littlest man....

The last picture of me pre-Harrison.  L&D couldn't have been easier.  If you have

horror stories about child birth - you probably don't want to hear mine.  

Jackson (5) and Carter (2 1/2) getting their first glimpse of baby brother.

And here he is....Harrison Lynn Widhalm

Loved by all, but especially Nana.

6 weeks, taken by Brandi Trosclair, of Lifes Portraits 

Tribute to the binky!

Big brothers are special!

"Did I tell you that I LOVE my big brother?"

"Cheese!"

Love that face!

Silver Dollar City

"I'm 2 now!"

Such a big helper!

"I just LOVE these guys!"

The cutest karate kid ever!

"I HATE my new sweater and I DON'T want to be here!

My mom made me do this....DON'T mess with me!"

"What!?  It's Carter's birthday and I don't get to blow out the candles??"

Three-wheelin' in the snow!

Waiting patiently to color Easter eggs.

My budding scientist

The ornery eyes...

"If Jackson's on the team, you get me, too."

It must be cool if Carter's doin' it!

"I love me some dirt!"

"It's so hard to be a fan of all these ball players.

At least the fans get to share the snacks after the game!"

It's been a while since I've posted, not because there's nothing going on.  Ha!  I can't imagine that every being the case in this household!  In fact, there has been a lot going on both here with our family, with our friends, and in Sierra Leone, too!

Here are a few updates....

The Widhalms
We are doing well.  The biggest news in our house today is that Harrison has started pee peeing in the potty!  We (mostly I) am SO excited!!  He is such a big boy and he LOVES doing things that his big brothers do, but I was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to realize that his big brothers don't wear diapers!

As of today, the puppies have all found wonderful homes.  We did have one placement that didn't work out, but I'm so happy that she is going to live with my BFF in West Plains!   I couldn't be happier.  Buster is staying here with us and the boys are loving it.  It was a little hard for them to see all the others go, but they did a great job.

Our house is on the market.  We are hoping to sell the house and possibly find something a little further out of town with a few acres for the boys to run around on.  We'll see, though, what God has in store.

I'm heading to my first appointment today with a holistic nutritionist.  I'm really excited to see what he has to say and I'll tell you all about it.   A few of my friends have been seeing him and have had great results and learned a lot about how to manage their bodies holistically.  We've been so busy, that we've been eating out WAY more than we should, which has put our traditional eating habits to the wayside.  I think today's appointment will help get us back on track.

Doug and I have decided to make a trip back to Sierra Leone in February.   By then, the kids at The Covering will be in a new building and we'll be helping to make improvements to that facility as well as helping with the construction of a new soccer field.  I will be announcing our next project soon related to the trip.....so stay tuned!  I'm really excited about it and I think you will be, too!  You won't want to miss it!


Friends
My best friend, Tracy's, son got married a couple weeks ago.  I just can't believe it!!  How did this happen?  He's not my son, but Tracy and I are like sisters.  We've been best friends since kindergarten and her family is like my own.  Seeing Brett get married was just CRAZY!  I had the strangest mix of emotions....I feel like it was a milestone in my life even though he's not mine.  I am very happy for Brett and Katie, though.  They are sweet "kids" and excited about their new life together.

Another friend of mine and her husband got back from a trip to Zambia last week.  We went to West Plains last Sunday to hear all about it.  God is SO awesome!  They had an amazing journey and were able to make a lot of progress in the acquisition of a piece of land and finding a building to be used for a Christian school and feeding program there.   They were even able to share the gospel in a village that had NEVER heard about Jesus before!  Their hearts and lives are changed forever......and that's a good thing!  It will be exciting to see how God works through them in Zambia!


Sierra Leone
A lot has happened in SL and with "our" kids at The Covering in the last few days.

A lease has been signed for a new building for the kids to move into, which is desperately needed.  Funds are being raised now to take care of the year-long commitment.  They now have about 85 kiddos there, which is a handful more than when we were there in May.  All those kids living on 2 floors with 2 bathrooms and 2 schoolrooms.  You can imagine how crowded and hard that would be!  They really NEED that new building!  If you'd like to partner with The Raining Season in being able to help, let me know or visit their website.

Gerald and Geraldine, the twins, have both been moved from the hospital back to The Covering.  They have gained weight and are doing much better.  Please continue to pray with me that their recovery continues!

Like I said above, Doug & I will be returning to SL in February to help with projects around the center and to love on some sweet kiddos!  I'm excited to them all again!   Please pray that we are able to secure babysitters, funds and supplies to take with us!

A Few Pictures

Since Harrison threw my memory card reader in the toilet a few weeks ago, I hadn't downloaded any of my photos in a while.  I finally went downstairs to search for the USB cord to connect directly to my camera Sunday morning and was surprised how many shots there were that I had actually forgotten about.

Here are a few of them.

A HASMAT clean-up guy in my basement after it flooded with sewage.  

Homemade sourdough bread starter.

Harrison painting an Easter egg.

The boys and their eggs.

The proud painter.

Jackson at an Upward Basketball game

Score!  Go Jackson!

My budding scientists....at The Discovery Center

After his games, Jackson met with his team.  Harrison always

joined him on his lap.  Jacks is a GREAT big bro!

The littlest professor

It's Alive!

Just this evening, after being set beside my crockpot which is boiling chicken broth, it has come alive and seriously looks like a bowl of boiling oatmeal (or something?) on the counter.  It's homemade sourdough bread starter.  I started last Friday with 1 cup of rye flour and 1 cup of water.  I put it in a sterilized bowl the next day and added those same ingredients again.  Every day after that, the same.

I left the house about 8:00 pm this evening to go to a friend's house.  When I returned at 10:00, it had bubbled over the side of the bowl.  I put it in a bigger bowl and have been blogging and surfing for a couple of hours watching it rise to the top.  I'm going to have to get an even bigger bowl before I go to sleep.  I've never seen anything like it.

I've got two more days to go, per the instructions, before I stop feeding it and use it to bake sourdough bread.  I can't imagine what it will look like by then.  I hope this works.  I love homemade bread!

I took pictures, but Harrison put my memory card reader in the toilet the other day, so the pics will have to wait for a day or so.   I assume it was an action in protest to the effort I was making at potty training.   I'm not for sure, but he is definately on track for covert operations job in the military....don't let the 2-year old jibber jabber fool ya!

Potty Training Round 1: Harrison Wins

I gathered all the supplies I could think of.  Things that would surely be an incentive for a bright, 2-yr old boy to learn to use the potty.  New Thomas scivies for my train lover,  Fruit Loops to use for target practice, M&Ms for rewards, red Gatorade for good hydration so we have lots of opportunities to practice.
I even counselled the big brothers on giving him lessons and told them THEY could play target practice and have M&Ms, too!

It was all for naught.

He definately loved the new train scivies, until I tried to put them on him.  Then, he cried.  WHAT?!!  "You don't want to wear the big boy train undies like Jackson?", I asked.  He stood up, crossed his arms firmly, put his chin down and gave me a stearn look and adimantly said, "NO!"  Hmm....I can do this.  He's only two years old and I am the mom here.  He finally agreed and put them on.

Next, I brought in what I was sure would be the best part of all.  Fruit Loops!  What little boy doesn't want to put colorful rings in the potty to try to pee on?  I'll tell you - his name is Harrison.  I put a handful of cereal in the toilet, and again he cried.  WHAT?!!  "This is fun!  It's a game!  You can pee pee on the cereal!"   Again, arms folded, chin down with glaring eyes, "No!  No weweal!".   He grabs the box, heads for the kitchen and tells me he wants a bowl and milk.  He's upset because he doesn't want to pee on it, he wants to eat it!  To the kitchen table we go, for an inpromptu bowl of Fruit Loops!

I have to say, however, that the Fruit Loops were a big hit with the big brothers.  They were thrilled to have a game of target practice and were even drinking a extra water in hopes of being able to hit as many as possible in one round.  Harrison, however, didn't even want to watch the brothers play the game!  I think he was mad that we were wasting his cereal.

The M&Ms didn't work, either.  He couldn't care less.

I gave up.  Round 1 is over and Harrison wins.  

He was so cute in those little undies, too.

Vote For Harrison!!

I just entered Harrison in a contest at Gap!  Log on towww.gap.com/castingcall and enter jodiandsons to vote for Harrison!  He could be the next baby boy Gap model and win a huge shopping spree!  Of course, I think he's the cutest kid in the contest already!

You can vote DAILY and the poor little boys aren't getting voted on like the girls are, of course.  So, from now until the end of October, put that site on your bookmarks and vote, vote, vote!!  Who couldn't love this face?!