Valentines from Afar

John and Bryan left Sunday for a mission trip to Tanzania.  They are visiting the Tanzania Christian Clinic, a medical mission set up by my cousin and her husband, Nancy and Danny Smelser.  They are a nurse-doctor team.  John will be hooking up some electrical equipment for them: an x-ray machine and some other jobs that need to be done.  Bryan is helping John.

Luci found out that Valentine's Day is right in the middle of this trip for Daddy and brother.  Worry set in.

We got Valentines for John and Bryan and some Girl Scout cookies, and hid them in their backpacks.  That helped her, but she was truly concerned that she would not get a Valentine from her Daddy.

She is so afraid of being forgotten.

Makes me cry.

John hid a Valentine for her before he left, for me to put out, and this is what Luci found this morning:

Now I have a happy girl who knows she is loved, even from afar.

She had me send an email to John, thanking him for the puppy, and requesting that he "take a picture of Africa for me!"

Valentine's Day Craft

What you need: 

a shirt to paint
doily
paint
brush (a sponge brush works very well)
plate to hold the paint

How to do it:

Center doily on shirt.
Put paint on the plate.
Dab brush into the paint.
Dab paint onto the pattern on the doily, being sure to hold the doily still.

Final result:

Set paint according to instructions.

What I've learned:

 Little girls love crafts.

Doily is a really funny word.

Luci's Valentine for Her Daddy

Show and Tell

Luci and I were invited to Heritage Christian's homeschool co-op day, to share some things about China. The geography class was studying about The Great Wall of China. Amanda, the mom teaching that unit, invited Luci and me (but really LUCI) to be her show-n-tell.
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Luci prepared the night before by "doin' my skoo-work." She made a nest for herself behind the recliner and wrote songs and stories in her notebook. (Papa: I was so impressed with one of the songs she made up until JT told me tonight that she was just singing one she'd heard on TV. Major bummer! I thought she was taking after me with that darker-lighter "poem" I came up with at that age.)

Luci wore her "qipao." She loved being in front of the class! Amanda (in the background) had Luci to count to ten in Mandarin. We also posted some names and phrases on the whiteboard. Those of you who are more knowledgeable than I will notice the accent marks missing. Since I wasn't sure which words got what marks, I left them off.
We brought a Miao minority doll to show...
and I read this book, which tells the legend of the Chinese zodiac, and why the animals are in the order that we know them. We also passed out fortune cookies (which most everyone knows are American through-and-through but how can you not have them when talking about China?).
After class, Luci went to the K-4 class on art appreciation. She fit right in and tried to run part of the class (blush!!). She was not afraid to participate. I remembered how the boys were at that age, and they would have shrunk back and not said a word to the teacher. Here Luci is showing the teacher how she would look at 100 years of age (the assignment), and telling how her hair would be PINK.
We were invited on a good day--the day for the Valentine party! Luci brought her Valentine box and a bunch of Valentines and Feingold-approved lollipops to give away. She had a ball being a big girl.

Just checking, to see if anyone has left a Valentine for her yet!
Lunch. Got to carry a tray and everything! Woo-hoo!
And look! Lots of Valentines!


After co-op, we joined another homeschool group for game day. Luci had had enough of Mommy and her camera. Can you tell?

A Day in the Life...

Luci had to have her hair up like Mommy after I washed my hair. Yes, she's riding the trike inside. :) She's feeling better--so funny today. Luci took the shot of JT--poor thing has a red nose because of his cold.
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For those of you who aren't able to translate 4-year-old-ese, this says, "Happy Valentine's Day Mommy, I love you." Can you tell she wrote it inside a heart? I loved this!

Valentine's Day Love

We had a special little lunch for Valentine's. Usually we just give the kids a card and maybe a little candy. This year was different somehow--I'm sure some of it has to do with our little love-bug, Luci, who is so much into love, flowers, love, special things and love.
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The boys put their allowance together and got Luci a stuffed animal. I didn't notice the heart-shaped plate in the background until I looked at the picture. Perfect!

Luci arranging the doggy's bow for the photo. You can see her gluten-free pizza, cut into heart shapes with a cookie cutter (thanks for doing that, JT!).

The rest of the table. The presents for the boys? Each boy got his own heart-shaped Papa John's pizza. The way to a boy's heart is through his stomach!

My favorite Valentine...a few weeks ago he sent a letter to his Daddy that said, "Mom is being so mean! Don't believe what she says!" So I really liked this one! It says, "...And the best mom of the year award goes to...Susan Willingham (my mom) Love: J.T."

Here are the pictures

Flowers from John

Poor Luci. Flowers are lovely, but she really didn't feel well.

Ooh, they smell good!

She's happy now!
She ought to be--she got a better bouquet!
Luci, do you have a boyfriend?
"Yup! He's in Af ghan istan!"

I made gluten free cookies for Luci, and added
all natural sprinkles. A totally Feingold treat! They are so good!

Gluten free pizza to take tonight to a pizza party.
Luci said it was good, and she's the only one
I need to impress with gluten-free stuff.
But the rest of us liked it, too.

Valentine's Day

Don't know if this will work, since the page is messed up and I can't upload pictures (rats!), but here it goes:

John sent Luci some flowers for Valentine's Day! Poor baby has been sick since Tuesday with a respiratory virus of some sort and these flowers cheered her up. JT asked Luci if she had a boyfriend. "Yup! He's in Af ghan istan."

John sent me flowers, too, sweet, smart boy that he is.

This Weekend

I took Luci (and a nameless 12 year-old boy who doesn't want to admit he had to go with us, but his initials are J.T.) to an Imagination Movers concert in Birmingham. It was fun! The I.M.s are the United States' answer to The Wiggles. The Imagination Movers have a show on Disney Channel, and we must watch it every day. Here are some shots:

This is Rich. He came right up to Luci and waved to her with a great big smile. Luci was kind of in a daze. She wore her "ear muggs." This pair of ear muggs came from the hunting section of Walmart. Scott came up close, too.

Of course we made a stop at Cracker Barrel on the way home.

Sunday brought church, and getting Valentines ready for the party on Wednesday. Luci wrote her name on all 32 Valentines...I could not believe it! When the boys were that little, I couldn't get them to write their names on more than one or two. 32! That's my girl!