What to do on a beautiful spring day?

According to Jay, there is no better way to spend a warm, spring day ... than at the new Twins outdoor stadium, watching a great game of baseball. Go Twins!

I can't help it ... the boys have been home with us for going on 16 months now, but I still have moments when I pause and think about how different their lives are right now - in comparison to what they were a little over one year ago.

Then - fatherless, hungry, hopeless.

Today - looking forward to watching a baseball game with his daddy!

A Learning Experience ...

Wesley likes to be in the middle of the activity. When the activity is in the kitchen, he comes scurrying around the corner asking, "What you makin'?" And he grabs his little stool, the tippy one we've had for about 13 years, and he sits it down with a thunk, grabs the edge of the countertop, and hoists himself up so he can see what's going on.

I usually bend over and position his feet in the middle of the stool, explaining to him that if he stands too close to the edge, it will tip over and "you'll fall down and bump your head".

A few days ago, as I was rolling cookie dough in my hands (I always forget to push up my sleeves and after my hands are covered with food-stuff, that's usually when I realize I'm about to get my cuffs dirty and I turn and ask my "helpful" husband, "Will you push my sleeves up?" - and he happily assists by pushing them all the way to my shoulders. He's a comedian.) Wesley came skidding around the corner, grabbed his little stool and hoisted himself up so he could peer over the counter. He stepped to the edge of the stool .... and it flipped.

After righting the stool and making sure he was OK - I again explained and even demonstrated the tippiness of the stool. I showed him again how he needs to position his feet in the middle, so that he doesn't fall off and bump his head. He listened attentively and then promptly hopped onto the stool again. And I was thinking to myself that after that timely teaching moment, he will naturally keep his feet positioned in the center from this point forward.

At that moment, Jay came into the kitchen and I said "Wesley just had a learning experience! He stepped to the edge of the stool and it flipped."

Jay said, "Well .... you're half right.

It was an experience.

He fell off it 3 times yesterday."

A boy and his scooter ...

Oh the joy a little boy must feel when he gets his first set of "wheels".

For such a wee little boy, Wesley is amazingly fast and coordinated on his little "Razor" scooter. We had to lower the handle-bar so that he can comfortably navigate, and his little foot pushes and pushes and off he goes!

But here's the rest of the story .... See that scab on his nose, the one that looks like a big, brown leech wrapped around his nostril? He learned the hard way that a scooter with little wheels, can't navigate big hills with little pebbles.

Or maybe it's because he learned how to ride a scooter from his sister ... who can't seem to stay on her scooter either.

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE???

When I was in Ethiopia 3 months ago, spending time with the kids at Kind Hearts, we all noticed how weak and lethargic the kids were. The director explained that Kind Hearts only had enough funding to provide food ONE DAY EACH WEEK. He commented that when the children are hungry, and their tummies are hurting, and they are weak from lack of food - it is very difficult for them to concentrate and learn in school. Our team immediately sent a group to the market to buy nutritious food - rice, spices, onions, carrots, bananas, and oranges, and we left them with enough food to get by for a month or so - until we could develop a sponsor program for each child so that they could count on nutritious food EVERY DAY!

Within about 22 days, every child at Kind Hearts was matched with a sponsor!! What a difference it has made in the lives of these kids!!! Not only in the food and nutrition they have every day - but also in the relationships they are building with their sponsors. The children LOVE getting letters from their sponsor families - knowing that somebody loves them and cares for them - enough to send a letter just for them and to make sure they have food and clothing. That they don't wake up hungry ... and go to bed hungry every day.

A friend of mine, Joey Austin, just returned from Ethiopia last week. Her team spent a day with the kids at Kind Hearts and she emailed me hundreds of photos. Looking at the photos - I can't help but smile and my eyes fill with happy tears as I see physical proof of the difference the sponsors have made for these kids.

When I compare these most recent photos to the photos I took in December - I see children radiating joy, throwing their arms around Joey and her team without a hint of shyness. I see children that are not grabbing desperately at food - but calmly and confidently waiting in line and savoring their food, knowing that there will be more food tomorrow. I see energy and laughter now - where 3 months ago I saw children trying hard to muster a smile because their empty tummies hurt and their lonely, hopeless hearts hurt even more. They say a picture speaks a thousand words ...look at the pictures ... DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE??

There will be more chidren enrolling at Kind Hearts soon - AND we are currently developing another location with nearly 100 children that will need sponsors! If you would like to sponsor a child, please contact me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com.

I will be going back to Ethiopia in November and I would love for you to join me. Send me an email if you are interested at kjwistrom@yahoo.com


Lunch time!!



Delicious and nutritous injera and wat (injera is a pancake-like bread and wat is a stew made with vegetables, chicken or beef, and savory spices).

Signs of spring in the frozen tundra ...

Yep - it must be spring ... finally. Our little boys now come indoors with bits of grass clinging to their hair. One of my favorite signs of spring.

My other favorite sign of spring? Going to work and coming home while there is daylight!!

This will be our second spring home with our sons (adopted from Ethiopia last year) - last year at this time, they had been home with us for about 3 months and EVERYTHING was new and they could barely speak English. What a difference one year makes!

Made with love ...

The kids at Kind Hearts in Ethiopia are about to get a very special delivery - one that was made with love especially for them!

Sponsor family, Eddie and Julie Mullins, contacted me after seeing recent pictures of the kids in their noticeably tattered, torn and stained clothing. Julie explained that they are involved with a t-shirt printing company and they would like to donate special t-shirts to all of the children at Kind Hearts. The Mullins designed the logo and picked the bright colors for the logo and the shirts, and they printed them yesterday. Eddie and Julie have a beautiful adopted daughter from Ethiopia and they are sponsoring a little boy named Kidane at Kind Hearts.

Ginia, with Children's Hopechest, will be travelling to Ethiopia in April and she will personally deliver the t-shirt to the kids!! And of course she will take lots of pictures of the kids, as they get their new t-shirts with a custom designed "Kind Hearts" logo.

If you want to get involved in sponsoring a child at Kind Hearts - please email me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com - and I will contact you as soon as more children enroll. If you have any ideas for fund-raisers to help with some of the capital projects, please get in touch with me. The St. Joseph Christian School in St. Joseph, MO has raised almost $5,000 so far for the fresh-water well at Kind Hearts - and many of the sponsors are doing various fund-raisers as well. I will be returning to Ethiopia in November to work with the kids at Kind Hearts - if you are interested in joining me on that trip, please let me know and I will share details.

What are they up to now???

Have you ever had one of those moments




when your mom instincts





tell you that your kids are up to something?





When you are upstairs





or in another room





and suddenly you realize that it's awfully quiet in the house





too quiet for a house full of 4 kids ...





too quiet.





So you pause in what you are doing





cocking your head to one side





so you can hear better.





And still you hear ... nothing.





Hmmmm ...





OK.





That means trouble.





Honestly ... what could they be up to this time????





So you set aside whatever you're doing





and quietly walk down the stairs.





Pausing at the bottom, expecting to hear whispers or giggles





that would give away their location




and whatever mischief they are perpetrating.



I stand corrected.
Carry on kids ...