The Most Expensive Lemonade in Town

As most of you already know, Ellie had a lemonade stand yesterday.

She raised a little over $1100.00 in one afternoon, and some money is still trickling in.

My heart is still pounding in amazement, so I thought I'd write the story of how this all came to be.

I'd been asking the Lord recently to break my heart for the things that are important to Him. If one reads the Bible one quickly realizes that His heart is completely for the broken, the hungry, the poor, the orphans, the widows...and more. Within a couple days of praying for this, the drought in Somalia was declared an all-out famine, and I could not get it off my heart. Looking at photos online would always bring me to tears as I felt some of the calluses from living in a wealthy country fall off my heart.

One night before bed I asked Ellie what she wanted to pray about. She gave me her usual answer, "I dunno."

So I decided to tell her a story instead. I told her -  at her level - about the famine, and all the kids that were quickly becoming sick, and even dying. I told her about the crop failure and the death of animals and how without a miracle, this was not going to be a happy ending.

Ellie SHOT straight up in bed and said, "I know. I got it!" And with arms flailing in exclamation she told me of her plan. "Let's cook up all our food and send it to the kids so they won't be hungry anymore. Then let's gather all the toys that we don't use -but still like - and then they'll have things to play with again." Secretly amazed at how this sparked something inside of her, I hugged her and explained why that was a great idea but wouldn't work. And then I remembered Ellie's desire to have a lemonade stand one day. When I suggested we have one and give all the money to Somalia, she was ON BOARD.

The day of the lemonade stand could not come soon enough!

In the meantime, Ellie knew what to pray about. She prayed for manna to fall from heaven (like in the Bible) and for rain on their crops. She prayed for every miracle she could think of. And Josh prayed for 'chocolate milk, apple juice, orange juice and regular milk' for the kids. One day at breakfast he prayed, "I pray for Somalia that they wouldn't have fat tummies anymore (from malnutrition) and that they would have breakfast, dinner and lunch. Amen."

I was stunned and excited as I realized that telling my kids about some of the hard things in the world around them automatically caused SOMETHING to come to life inside of them because

I was telling them about the things that are

actually important to God.

(I wish I were a faster learner.)

So yesterday was the lemonade stand. I sent out a Facebook invitation to all the friends I had on my list that lived in or close to our town. Rob prayed with Ellie that Jesus would accomplish everything He wanted to and that we would end up making a SURPRISING amount of money to give to Somalia.

We were so blown away. Our first customer, a five year old boy from church, brought his entire piggy bank. He'd been asking God if he could help the poor and who should he give to? Then he heard about the lemonade stand and had his answer.

His dad sent $300 along with the family. He didn't even get a cup of lemonade.

Some brought 25 cents, some brought a loonie...most brought $5, $10, or $20 for one cup of lemonade. 

One person quietly snuck in a $100 bill.

"The best lemonade in town", they called it.

Giving tastes so good. :)

Rob and I couldn't believe it when the margerine container was so full people were having trouble squishing their dollar bills in. Ellie kept telling me, "Somalia is going to be RICH, Mom!" And I thought, "I feel like the richest lady in town right now."

By the end of the day we were all suffering from lemonade comas and borderline heat stroke and were supremely thankful for God's faithfulness. 

So last week Ellie woke up from a nightmare that "Indians" (whom she had seen on an old Mickey Mouse cartoon) had been attacking Rob. I told her that "Indians" were not called "Indians" anymore, but "Aboriginal people" or "First Nations people" and explained to her some of the oppression that many of them are still living under. 

She SAT up in my lap and said, "I'm going to draw them some pictures. Can we go see them?"

We just might, Ellie! We just might!

In the meantime, we've got something worth praying about.

p.s. Please consider giving to a charity that is supporting the famine in Somalia if you haven't already. If in doubt, GOOGLE 'East Africa Crisis' and look at some of the pictures. :)

The Lighter Side of Things

 I have an overwhelming amount of 'summer fun' type photos that I'd like to post for my in-laws' sakes :) but the key word there is OVERWHELMING. So while I work up the courage to jump into that project, let me divert your attention to...

the Lighter Side of Things.

We were driving to Superstore one day when Rob asked me a question about the pharmacy drive-through. No clue what it was, but my answer to him was, "I don't have a hot clue."

Rob, "Do you have a cold clue?"

Josh, "I had a cold flu!"

Ellie, "No you DIDN'T! You never threw up!"

Josh, "YES I did! When I was cleaning up the elf!" (Josh smashed a $1 garden gnome to bits and pieces when we weren't looking, and had to clean up all the pieces after, crying the whole time. No puke though.)

Me, "What did you throw up?"

Ellie, "I think he means he had a tenter tamptrun. Tenter tamptrun... tenter..." (looks confused as she tries to explain he threw (up) a temper tantrum).

Josh, "Yeah, because I was upset."

Puking a tantrum in the middle of a cold flu. GOT IT. :)

Even though Micah has already uttered his first words, Ellie and Josh continue to be enthusiastic about all his 'other' first words. For instance,

Micah, in his carseat, "A da da da da da."

Joshy, from the back seat, "MOMMY!!! Mommy! Micah's first words are 'GOD IS FAITHFULNESS!'"

Wow. Smart baby.

What happens when Micah gets left alone in a room with his sister.

 I threw together a casserole one evening that ended up having pasta, chicken, broccoli and oregano (among other things). While we were eating Ellie said, "We should name this casserole."

Rob, "How about broc-egano casserole?"

Josh: "How about EYEBALL SPLASH!"

And the winning name is...(drum roll please)...EYEBALL SPLASH! 

 Josh has appointed himself Ellie's hero lately. She likes to pretend she's falling off one of our swings (with great gusto and drama) and Josh puffs out his chest (seriously) and sprints to stop the swing for her. It makes me giggle every time. (If you compliment him on a job well done he waves his hand and says, "It was noffing, really."

Well, one day Ellie comes down the stairs from her room and again, with eyes wide and voice full of expression she declares, "Mommy. JOSHY is SO BRAVE. He just killed a spider on my wall." Josh comes running in behind her, and in his lowest voice and a forced scowl on his face he gravely agrees, "YEAH. I SAVED her LIFE. I'm a  HERO."

You go, Joshy!

 Josh started panicking the other day when trying to catch up with Ellie, who had already run into the backyard to play. Looking for his sandals he huffed, "Mommy, I can't find my other flip."

Me: "You've got your flop, then?"

Josh: "No, I've actually got my FLIP but I can't find my FLOP anywhere!"

And lastly, I'll leave you with a good 'ol leg-slapping joke, written by Josh himself:

Q: "Why did the lip jump over the eyelash?

A: "To JOIN THE BAND!"

(Bet ya didn't see that one coming!)

Hope you're all enjoying your summer!!

Our First 2-Day Beach Adventure!

This week my parents rented a cabin at a lake that is 1.25 hours away from here. They invited me to join them for a night while Rob was away at a conference.
1.25 hours only* seems like a long time:
1. when you're a kid and
2. when you're an adult with 2 teasing children and a fussing baby crammed into the backseat of a car and no other adult along for backup. I just kept throwing things into the back seat that would distract everyone for 10 minutes or so. By the time we got there, the car looked like it's own natural disaster!

We had a blast. It was super hot and muggy, but also cloudy and windy, so it was survivable. Micah thought the sand was awesome, as did the kids....and myself...and my dad. I love things that bring out the kid in everyone! (Check out Micah's latest face wound. The wall vent was the winner.)

Ellie was the official sand castle 'decorator', adding that feminine touch with pretty stones and shells:

And then suddenly, even though the water was frigid, our two budding fish were in the water, having a blast!

Micah preferred a much smaller body of water:

We somehow managed to sleep in our own sweat and woke up early the next morning (6:10, to be exact :) and had a good long snuggle with Bapa while watching cartoons. The only form of 'roughing it' in this kind of camping was the lack of air conditioning. :)

Cousins Regan and Drew joined us in the afternoon and we celebrated with ice cream!!

Micah's response to his first cone:

Highlight of our two-day trip? The kids first ever boat ride, thanks to my uncle Kurt! They were so pumped.

Later in the day we celebrated my mom's birthday and then I packed up and came home to find that my playpen was broken and had nowhere to put Micah for the night! Great neighbours helped to solve that problem. All in all I'd say our first 2-day beach adventure was a smashing success!!

*Okay. There are actually quite a few other things that make 1.25 hours seem long. Waiting in the walk-in clinic, waiting for someone to come home when they are 1.25 hours later than they said they'd be, waiting for your food at a restaurant when you can smell everyone else's...

What's one thing that makes 1.25 hours seem long to you??

Summer in the City

Okay, looks like I can manage to find time to blog after all! Last weekend our city had its annual summer kick-off event called 'Summer in the City'. Although we were planning on going Saturday, we took a sneak peak on Friday and couldn't resist getting Ellie and Josh each a pony ride. Ellie and I have been reading a chapter book series together called, "Pony Crazed Princess" which has ignited a passion in Ellie for all things pony, as you can tell by her face here:

So the next day we went back without Micah (who had tried to jump out of the tractor train ride the day before). We had an agreement with the kids that we weren't going to go on any rides that cost money, because they wanted to save up for Tinker Town, an amusement park not far from here. There was still PLENTY to do.

Here's Josh in the shades Ellie made him wear, enamoured with a street hockey game:

We obviously couldn't pass by the ponies without another smiley riding moment!

Josh thought it was just as cool, just in a more cowboyish way:

We spent quite a while at what was probably the best petting zoo I've ever been to.
All the animals were super tame and easy to interact with:

Our friends TJ and Amanda from Penner Pumpkins provided everyone with rubber duck water races:

Ellie won! (Rob and I raced, too. I lost and got a weird burning sensation in my chest. Perhaps I should exercise one day.)

Amanda is a seriously talented face painter!

While waiting for Josh to get his face painted, this guy came and gave Ellie a handshake. I thought for a moment she would either bawl or bolt, but she managed to stand her ground and give him a shaky smile...kinda scary, if you ask me!

Josh's turn!

Much to Ellie's delight, there was a huge board with buckets of paint for the kids to have free reign with:

Rob made friends with the Funny Loud Knife-Throwing Guy and got some juggling tips:

Ellie and Josh leaning on one another for moral support during the Knife-Throwing Guy's act:

Josh's version of looking at the camera and smiling:

Can't forget the good times to be had on the bouncy castle!

And Josh's highlight of the day - the bouncy slide. I totally thought he'd be timid. NOT a chance...the higher he bounced and flipped down that slide, the better! Look at the wild euphoria in those eyes:

Stay tuned for more summer hoopla!

(Next up - a visit to the cabin that my mom and dad are renting.

I'm going alone with the kids. It should be...interesting. Prayer always welcome. :)