Haiti (Yes, again.)

I really don't even know where to start on this post. I don't feel like my writing can do my heart justice. If you know me and Ben or if you've ever read this scrawny blog of ours you know we love Haiti. We love to travel, yes. We love other cultures, yes. We love the beach, yes. But Haiti has our hearts wrapped up in a dirty, broken bow.

I think I'm ready to confess that I'm obsessed. I read blogs of people the live there, ministries that are on going there, news articles about Haiti (though, I'm afraid they've slowed a bit since January). We've known we wanted to go to Haiti for at least 2 years now, but just financially didn't know how to do it. We still want to go, but financially can't really afford to take that out of our budget even still. Nursing school (assuming I get in) will take up much too much of my time starting in June. Now is the time to go. We've saved/raised/been blessed with enough for plane tickets, ( :-))))) and we are in the process of contacting and talking to people to see when the best time to go will be.

I'm asking for your prayers. We aren't sure of a lot of things yet. A LOT of things. But we know we want to be there for about a week. We want to see a lot in that week and we want to meet a lot of people. Please let us know if you are praying for us by commenting or emailing us. For some reason we've generally kept this dream to ourselves and a very few people, but we've been really convicted about that lately. This is God's story through us. We are convinced of that, and it's selfish to not share what He's doing in our lives.

Thanks for walking this with us!
With much love,
Lindsay and Ben

Just a little overdue for an update on our little pod over here. :)

The Judester is 3 now. We still have the occasional kicking, screaming, rolling on the floor temper tantrum, but those are slowly and thankfully diminishing. The 2 of us still spend most of our days together and I'm really appreciating and cherishing this time I have with him. He's learning some letters and he's drawing pictures other than tornadoes now. I'm keeping a baby now 2 days a week and I think Jude really likes having someone younger than him around. The baby's only eight months old, but they really like each other. It's pretty sweet. I am so super proud of him.
'Self Portrait'


Isaac is growing up entirely too fast for me. (Uh-hu-huuuuuuh. Tear.) I just don't know what to do. He's 6 years old. He can read. He's the most brilliant 6 year old artist/ inventor/ super hero. Two days ago he drew, cut out, glued together and colored a 2 foot tall robot completely on his own. I don't have a picture yet, but I will. It's hanging on the wall. It's so perfect. And he loves his Mama. I am so proud of how he loves school and works so hard. We have parent-teacher conference next week and I'm actually really excited about it. This year I haven't gotten to spend much time around his classroom as I feel like I did last year for whatever reason. So far he's pretty good about telling me things they do during the day.

'Machine that turns dirt into fire'

Ben is fast on his way to becoming a real architect. We'll announce it to the world when he gets his official paper framed and our wall. :) I am, of course, incredibly proud of him. He's worked really, really hard and deserves some recognition like that in my opinion. He is trying to lend his expertise to the situation in Haiti. We'll hopefully have more information on that later. The boys anticipate Daddy coming home all day. They scream "Daaadddyyy!" when he walks in the door and a wrestling session ensues. It's pretty awesome. Lots of love happening at the Rossetti house. :)

I come close to winning the 'most new things happening in a 2 month span' award. I found Mercy Health Center a few months ago and I've been waiting on an open volunteer position ever since. It's a free clinic here in Athens. Take a look at the website and you'll see how awesome it is. Last month a position opened up and now I'm a check-out volunteer. I retrieve the patients medications from the pharmacy, check out with the patient, make sure they understand what they are getting and that they don't have any questions. I love it there! It's on Wednesday mornings so Jude goes to hang out with a friend of mine and her kids or to his MMO school (which he loves!). Also, I've turned in my application for nursing school again. This time I'm a little more hopeful of getting in. My GPA is better. I have more classes under my belt and I included a lot more of my life stories in my application package. And lastly, as I've mentioned, I'm keeping baby Clayborne 2 days a week. He's such a sweet baby and a joy for Jude and I to play with.

Whew. I'm sure there are things I've missed, but that seems like a pretty good update for now. Everyone is really excited about Halloween around here, and Jude had us listening to Christmas music yesterday for a bit. Bring on the holidays!!!!

Linds.

Little Lucy

Our sweet, sweet friends have been waiting for 8 months to receive a picture of their Ethiopian daughter. Three weeks ago they saw her photo for the first time. We could not be more excited for our friends and to meet this sweet little Lucy. They still have a road ahead of them, but it won't be long now till they see her face to face. Go HERE to read about their journey, why they're adopting from Ethiopia, and about their little girl.

Love you Polsgroves!

Cereal

We woke up later today than a usual weekday morning. Isaac's been sick all week so we've gotten out of our regular morning run around routine before school. About 8:00 I start fixing the boys' breakfast. Isaac wants the square cereal. Since that boy can eat his weight in almost ANY kind of cereal, I fix him the slightly sweetened shredded wheat.

Jude, on the other hand, RARELY eats the first thing given him, but I was fairly certain he would not eat the square cereal he requested. At all. He just wanted what his brother had. Naturally. I thought I had talked him into eating cheerios, which I thought would have a greater likelihood of being eaten the first time.

I KNOW he said yes to this suggestion, but when the bowl of the rounded cereal was placed in front of him...the world. fell. to. peices. At least in this 3 year old's mind. "Stop screaming at me!" I said to him. Not the right choice of oh-so-wise parenting words, but it's all that came to mind at the moment. Hmph.

So I ate the cheerios. I made him the bowl of square cereal he requested with the warning that if he didn't eat that, he would not have anything to eat until mid-morning snack time. I know. I'm a terrible mother.

He ate ONE bite and said, "I'm done." And pushed the bowl to the middle of the table. I said, "fine".

Fast forward 30 minutes. He decides he's hungry. He wants his cheerios. I remind him that he, in fact, did not want his cheerios and now they have been eaten. He spends the next 10 minutes on the floor SCREAMING while I start laundry, stir my first attempt at boiled peanuts, and brush my hair for the first time all day. Then I gently remove him from the living room floor and place him on his bed, close the door and leave.

He screams. He stops. He cries. He screams angry words I can't understand. He stops. Several minutes later I peek in and ask if he's ready to talk to me like a big boy. Nope. I let more time pass. Isaac and I write an email to his friend in Japan. I check on Jude again. Nope. Not ready.

The third time I peek open the door. My sweet, contrary 3 year old is sitting on his bed 'reading' his bible.

I say, "You ready to talk?"

He nods his head yes.

Black jelly beans

I learned Easter morning that Isaac doesn't like black jelly beans (licorice). Apparently I'm the only person in this region that does. So I thought it was a rhetorical gamble, if there is such a thing, to bet Isaac today that I'd give him $10 if he ate 5 jelly beans. First of all, I didn't think money even mattered that much to him, and second of all, I figured if he started on one jelly bean he wouldn't be able to make it all the way through 5 before giving up. Low and behold, the kid grabbed 5 jelly beans, shoved all of them in his mouth, and commenced to chew them all completely, smiling the whole time. He didn't even wince.

Lesson learnt: the boy is tougher and more cunning than I imagined. Place future bets with caution.

-Ben

So it's been a while...

So I thought I would check and see what our blog was looking like these days. Turns out if you don't write new posts, they don't get posted! Who would have thought?!

I find it very fitting that my last post was about Bethlehem Ministries. Since January 12 I've been so incredibly unsettled. Ben and I have a special, unexplainable love for Haiti. Since the earthquake, that love has increased substantially. We don't know any Haitians. We have NEVER been to Haiti. But for a reason only He knows, God has given us a heart for these people.

Below is a list of links to blogs or organizations that I've been following since January. The rainy season is here for Haiti. There are thousands and thousands of people sleeping under sheets. SHEETS people! Pray for them. Pray for light rain in that city. Keep praying for the hurt. Be thankful for your house, your bed, your family, your safety. Pray for the Haitians without those things. Pray for the Americans without those things.

Links:

Livesay Family

Bethlehem Ministries

Heartline

Real Hope for Haiti

Also, Bethlehem did receive the money necessary to purchase solar panels for the clinic (see last post). They were purchased and installed just in time to receive and care for refugees from Port au Prince. Praise God!

And since it has been so long since my last update on the boys, here is a photo of my little men for your viewing pleasure.Isaac is absolutely the most brilliant 5 year old known to man. :) And Jude is fabulously following in his brothers footsteps. Every. Footstep. And maybe he's adding a few to the walk. :) They are seriously so wonderful.

Have a wonderful Easter!
Lindsay

Bethlehem Ministries

Last year Ben was invited to help with the design of a clinic in Terrier Rouge, Haiti. Here is a link to the Clinique Esperance et Vie. It's amazing how God has developed in us a heart for these people we have never seen in person. Bethlehem Ministries began about 24 years ago and now they have a working school and a working clinic in a small village in Haiti. We recently received an email from Berry, the founder of Bethlehem Ministries, asking for help again. The clinic is now open and running in full swing. The problem is that they have no electricity. They are in need of solar panels to run the various components that you would expect a clinic to need: autoclave to sterilize the surgical tools, fans and air conditioning (y'all it's MS hot down there), ummm lights, you know that kind of stuff. Here is a link to a video that they have put together. $15,000 sounds like a lot to our family and to all of you probably, but to all of us together? Maybe we could make a dent in that so that Berry doesn't have to hold the flashlight anymore. And did you notice that awesome building my hubby helped design?

I'll have an update on the boys soon. They are growing so much!

Big Snow 2009

We had 6"!!! of snow last weekend! I had never seen that much snow before. We had so much fun playing in it! We actually had some family in town to play with us, which made it even better! Brittany and Elizabeth, Ben's cousins, were here. They got to miss 2 days of school because they were trapped in Georgia. (I don't think they minded!) Jennifer and Bella were here, too, and Grandmama! We had such a good time!

Isaac-isms

Ben and I have been saving up for this post, but I thought it was time to write it. My mom and dad have words or phrases that they say slightly incorrectly. They call those words or phrases "Ellaisms", "Isaacisms", "Lindsayisms", etc. according to which kid said them that way. (You can add a few other one's in the comments if you want!:)) My mom has always said that 4 years old was her favorite, probably because of this. Here are some things Isaac has said in the last few months that has had us cracking up!

Isaac: "Why you lookin' at me like that? Sup, sup!"

Isaac: "When you eat babies, you get smaller and smaller..."

Mom: "What does a duck say, Jude?"
Jude: "Duk"
Mom: "A duck says quack, quack!"
Isaac: "No. A duck says 'wak, wak.' Most of the time. How does a worm move?"

(Ben found $18 in a random place.)
Isaac: "Oh. You can get me bubble gum with those dollars!"

(Music playing.)
Isaac: "1, 2, 3, 4, I'm gon' count to 5 and you start shakin' your booty."

And last, but not least, today he said: "When is it gon' be Halloween?"
Mom: "In October."
Isaac: "In October? There's gon' be candy. And toilet paper."

I like 4 years old, too.

TAG. You're it!

Emily tagged me! And she's wonderful and brilliant! And although I feel she knows just about everything about me, I will (finally) give in a write 10 honest and random things about myself. (10 should be a lot easier than that facebook one that's going around with 25, right?)

1) I want to see a whale so badly! A really, really big one. One day I will.

2) I would rather live in an African village where they eat grasshoppers, literally, than live anywhere colder than Athens, GA! 17* is pushing it a little bit for GA.

3) I love Jesus so much, but I wish I read my Bible more.

4) My wonderful husband and I have 2 boys who are incredible! Our 3rd child (girl) will be adopted, God willing! Can't wait for that day, but right now we don't have room in our 900sf apartment!

5) I have recently discovered my love of the intricacies of the human body and the way God created us so perfectly. It truly is amazing what goes on inside of us!

6) I want to be a nurse-midwife so I can deliver Sarah Ward's second child. I missed the first one by about 3 years!

7) I despise the sound of ice. I don't like touching it or hearing it touch other ice. It gives me chill bumps just thinking about it. I really don't like to be cold.

8) I have had a 19th century deadly disease and survived!

9) I'm beginning to think that television is the devil. I watch it anyway, but it really just sucks life right out of you. We have cable for the first time since we've been married. It's free with our apartment. Otherwise I would probably cancel it.

10) If I could pick one place in the world to go right now it would be....ummm....Haiti, Columbia (as long as Witt is there),India, Savannah, Picayune, Oxford, Hawaii, Israel...

I tag: Heidi Hicks and Anna P.

It's been a while

I realize it's been quite a while since I updated. I thought I would pull a few random pictures from the last month and a half. We had a great Christmas, New Year's Day, and every day otherwise has been pretty good, too!


Painting ornaments

Grandmama's tree

Sweet, sweet Bella Grace
Iron man and his toy.


Random hill in New Orleans
Isaac, Ella, and Anna Gail on the street car in NO
City Park, New Orleans
The house that Uncle John gave

Happy Birthday Mammaw!

We all love you very much! Thanks for being born!
(Jude wouldn't cooperate with the picture, but he loves you too.)

Chef Jude

As promised, here is Chef Jude. The third picture is actually Isaac's creation, but Jude wanted to help, of course.

Superheroes

It's no secret that Isaac LOVES superheroes. His 2nd birthday party was all about Superman and we've gone through just about every one of the well know heroes since then. In fact, his very first halloween (he was a couple of weeks shy of being two months old) he was superman. We've wondered lately what Jude's theme will be. Will he like cars and trucks, dinosaurs, or sports? Or will he go the same route as his superhero, Isaac, and where a cape for the 3rd year of his life? So far he likes all of the above, just like his daddy. He really likes to cook, too, just like his Papaw. (I've got pictures I'll post next update.)

This Halloween we had Batman AND Spiderman. I must say, though there were more than one Spiderman and more than one Batman, my little Batman and Spiderman were the best superheroes I've ever seen! It was a short night trick-or-treating due to the dirty diaper on the 1st house AND Spiderman gave out and made Papa carry him after about 5 houses. But we did have a good time hanging out with our old neighbor, Olivia, and her family. We ate some candy, too, which was probably Isaac's favorite part!
So, sorry it's a little late, but Happy Halloween!

Heart

Our very wonderful and amazing friend, Emily, posted a link to THIS in her blog the other day. I know we needed to hear it, or read it as the case is. How about you?

Before Halloween

The week before Halloween we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins (that we have yet to carve). Grandmama was here and we had a really good time out at Washington Farms. It's the same place we went to pick strawberries last spring. We got a couple of good pumpkins. If we get them carved we'll take some pictures. Halloween pics. are coming soon!

Time to paint the walls....

Bump

This is why mama says "Don't jump on the bed."

Some recent pics to make you smile...