Maira is 5 years old!

Yep, my baby turned 5 years old on March 27! She wanted an Ariel Birthday party (Little Mermaid), so I did some idea searching on the Internet for some fun things to do. The invitations were in a plastic bag with sand and glitter and shape confetti. At the party we had sand play dough, a sandbox, bubbles, a "throw the ball through the mouth of the fish" game, and a treasure hunt. I gave the girls big pink flowers to wear in their hair and flower necklaces. The boys got pirate patches and a red sash to wear. We had 16 kids here plus some parents. We were so thankful for a nice, sunny day and Maira was thrilled with her party. I had to remind her to stop inviting people because for a week she kept inviting just about anyone who stopped in front of her long enough to start a conversation! I was getting worried about how I would feed them all! :) Now for some pixs...

The cups have jello in them with gummy fish in it and whipped cream on top

The pirate boys....so scary!

Can you see the ball going through the mouth of the fish??? Good picture taking Steve!

Growing Kids God's Way....for the fourth time!

Yep, we are going through the course again. You might think we have the course memorized by now, but we don't! We decided to try it as a home Bible study group this time and it is working out really well. We just had our 3rd meeting this week and we have a great group. It is a real mix...two moms who come by themselves because their husbands are not Christians, another couple who are grandparents raising their grandson, a couple who do not have children but are wanting to start preparing for it, and 4 more couples with children ranging from 8 years old to 1 year old. We are meeting in our home and that has been really wonderful for us since we don't have to get a babysitter! I just excuse myself to put Maira to bed and Michael can hold out until 9:30pm when the group heads for their homes. We will need to meet every Thursday evening until July to get the whole course in, but it is definately worth it. I learn so much every time....it is like a breath of fresh air comes through the house every time we go through the course. As parents, we get focused again and aware of the things that we are neglecting.

Learning about Adoption

Here is a glimpse of the class that we are attending for parents who want to adopt. We started out with 10 couples and one single lady, but by last week we were down to 5 couples and one single lady. Of the whole group, we are the only ones who have biological children. Some of these couples have been waiting for over two years for a newborn. The classes have been very good as we discuss the ins and outs of adoption with the psycologist/social worker. The course is for 5 weeks and we only have 2 more to go. Completing the course does not mean we will receive a child right away, but the judge does look "favorably" on those who have completed the course. Although we are anxious to have our 3rd child, we are not by any means disperate. We know that God's timing will be perfect!

Clube da Luluzinha

The bi-weekly meeting of the ladies of Asas is called the "Clube da Luluzinha". We had our first meeting of the year this Thursday at my house. 20 of us managed to squeeze into the dinning room and living room. In the past, Keila and I planned all of the meetings, but this year I am trying something new. I have asked that each of them take a turn to be responsible for a meeting and that they have the freedom to do whatever they want during their meeting. I still have 4 dates to fill in, but I think I just need to put a little pressure on some of them! This week we played some "get to know each other" games since we had 7 new ladies. Then we had a devotional about being purposeful in our days, making goals and planning out the steps to meeting those goals. The devotional was given by Ester, who is responsible for the department that organizes the clinics. And to finish up the afternoon, we made dish clothes. I wasn't able to finish mine, so I'll have to post a picture of it later! I had to assist some on the sewing machine and that is sorta like the blind leading the blind! Good thing we only had to sew straight lines! Here are some pictures of the group: