A funny or funnies from Jennifer!

The kids were playing outside when I hear a little frustration, apparently Jennifer is quite frustrated/irritated/angry (pick a word) with the princess. I am not sure if what follows is a poor reflection of my parenting, but it's too funny not to share. The only thing that would be better is if I had audio of it........

Jennifer "Madison An-tone-y stop that!"

Princess "That IS NOT MY NAME!"

Brother "and my name is not An-tone-y, it is Anthony and Ma's name is "K"

Jennifer "Madison Kade....stop that"

Princess thru giggles "That is not my name either! My name is MADISON KAY!"

Brother laughing hysterically "If you are going to use are whole name, you have to get it right or it just doesn't work"

Maybe that is my problem. When I use their middle name and they do not listen, I must not be saying it right :)

What a Beautiful Girl

My cousin asked me to take wedding pictures for her-thought I would share a few of my favorites for the family to see.

A few more firsts.....

This past weekend Jennifer experienced her first parade. The three big kids got to watch the little princess as she participated with her school in the parade. What great siblings-I am not sure who was the most excited-the one in the parade or the proud brother and sisters to be able to support and watch her. When we told J the plans for the day and we used the word 'parade' she said "Prayer?" After much discussion/confusion/laughs by all she started to understand. But as you can see from the picture of her waiting for the parade to start, she was still a bit unsure of what was about to happen. She enjoyed it and loved getting to collect the candy that was thrown.

Another first took place this week after school. The weather here has been beautiful and is quickly getting HOT! Not sure what happened to spring........So after school the kids wanted to go to the snocone stand now that it is finally open :)  Another new word, listening to the kids explain what a snocone was, was quite entertaining. Big Sister being all about the 'facts' and brother using his hands and noises to describe the process and the shape. We all enjoyed them and have asked several times to go back. A little lesson was learned by J too-maybe picking by flavor instead of color is a better way to go and be guaranteed to like the taste.

Church Celebration

Today at church we celebrated our 5th Anniversary. What an incredible group of people make up our church. In 5 years so many amazing ministries and missions have taken place, lives changed, friendships made.....NorthHaven is a place filled with people seeking to be the hands and feet of Christ. What a wonderful morning filled with beautiful worship. We had a few 'special' guests there, too. The president of the Ghanian Baptist Association has been in town for the week. Rev. Kojo Amo has been networking looking for places to begin Ghanian churches here in Oklahoma and also met with an adoption agency about possible future Ghanian adoptions-YEAH!!!! (God is definitely speaking to many people about this-I have been amazed once again to be a part of a plan so much bigger than I can comprehend) The other two special guests were the Governor and the First Lady of Oklahoma. Brad and Kim are two very genuine Christians, giving so much of themselves and whom share a love for Ghana and its people. They went 2 years ago to Ghana on a net distribution trip, like the one I went on with HisNets. When we were having trouble getting the I-600 paper work moving through the paper pushing process, they made requests on our behalf to help us bring Jennifer home. They have 'met' Jennifer through pictures/email but got to meet her face to face today. The love and attention they paid to all of our children was so kind. We are blessed to have spent time with these two great leaders and to know our state is under their leadership. 

Easter

He is risen, He is Risen indeed! We had a wonderful morning worshiping our Saviour, even despite the 'sunless' sunrise service. Here are a few pics of the kiddos in their cold weather Easter outfits :)

What a thought.......

Leaving our Good Friday service tonight, our 5 year-old Princess says to her Daddy, with a heavy heart and says-"If Jesus wanted to.......he could have asked for Angels to help him and God would have helped him." WOW! I think she grasps the sacrifice, the torture he endured, what he did for us. She had just heard the reading of Jesus' last hours and was sad, her little heart and mind were trying to 'figure it all out'. In awe of our Amazing God.

A Scripture to Think About This Weekend

So many years ago our Saviour suffered so much all because of his love for us.........Amazing! And many years before Isaiah wrote these words-

Isaiah 53

 ¹ Who has believed our message 
       and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 ² He grew up before him like a tender shoot, 
       and like a root out of dry ground. 
       He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, 
       nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

 ³ He was despised and rejected by men, 
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. 
       Like one from whom men hide their faces 
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities 
       and carried our sorrows, 
       yet we considered him stricken by God, 
       smitten by him, and afflicted.

 ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, 
       he was crushed for our iniquities; 
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, 
       and by his wounds we are healed.

 ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, 
       each of us has turned to his own way; 
       and the LORD has laid on him 
       the iniquity of us all.

 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, 
       yet he did not open his mouth; 
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, 
       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, 
       so he did not open his mouth.

 ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away. 
       And who can speak of his descendants? 
       For he was cut off from the land of the living; 
       for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 

 ⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked, 
       and with the rich in his death, 
       though he had done no violence, 
       nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, 
       and though the LORD makes  his life a guilt offering, 
       he will see his offspring and prolong his days, 
       and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

 ¹¹ After the suffering of his soul, 
       he will see the light of life and be satisfied; 
       by his knowledge  my righteous servant will justify many, 
       and he will bear their iniquities.

 ¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,  
       and he will divide the spoils with the strong, 
       because he poured out his life unto death, 
       and was numbered with the transgressors. 
       For he bore the sin of many, 
       and made intercession for the transgressors.

Looking forward to continuing to celebrate the last days of Jesus's life on earth, with a Good Friday service this evening and getting to experience another first with Jennifer. The whole coloring eggs and hunting is a bit confusing to her, but she is so excited about using her basket that she picked out. It is suppose to rain and be yucky here-not looking forward to that part. Hopefully we can still get a few good pictures of the kiddos in their new Easter clothes :)

Putting books away the Ghanian way

I asked the kids to help their books find the book shelf (you know that place where the books 'belong' when they are not being read). Quite a large pile had accumulated in the living room. I asked them each to grab a stack and put them back on the shelf. Well of course this turned into a little friendly competition, seeing who could carry the most books at once. Jennifer proceeded to get a large stack together and place them on her head-so the other three thought they would try this method too. Let's just say it's a good thing books aren't breakable, because I think they spent more time falling on the floor than staying on their heads. Kuddos to our children born in America  for trying this new way of carrying, but our Ghanaian Princess is by far the master at this skill. I am amazed at what the woman can carry on their heads and what they can do while a load is perched on their head!

Reading

Books have always been a big part of the daily life of the Waggoner children. They all love to read books-whether that is by themselves, to their stuffed animals, with Mom, Dad or with Big Sister and they love to be read to. I snapped this photo on a day they all chose to get their pillows and blankets and snuggle in for some quiet reading in the playroom. Loved this moment and hope to see many more as the youngest two truly learn to read. I was going to post a pic of them cleaning up their books the "Ghanian Way" but I guess I have not uploaded those pictures yet-so that will have to wait for another post.