Happy Day

We had a fun and happy day with friends at the Children's Museum and then a visit to our Karen friends from Thailand.
(sorry about the semi-fuzzy phone pictures~ didn't bring my camera today.)

Sofia loved the art area again.
They made all kinds of interesting creations.

Charlotte really liked going up on this pully chair. Made Mommy a little nervous though cuz there were no seatbelts and Charlotte is such a dare-devil, I was worried she would decide to jump off at some point. Crazy baby.

Bazzy driving the Tractor.

Charlotte went down this slide over and over and over and over (you get the idea) and went SO fast without even batting an eye. Again, crazy baby.

Then we headed over to visit our Karen friends.
Mia sang them songs....

....the kids played games together...

....Mia sang more songs (only because they kept asking)...

...and we spent a lot of time talking and catching up. I really missed seeing them lately and it was great to see each other again.



The most exciting thing I learned today from them is they were approved for a Habitat House. I was SO excited. Like I think I kinda freaked them out I was so excited. They are going to have their OWN house! I remember how excited I was when we bought our first house. I can only imagine how much this will mean for them. To go from a Refugee Camp in Thailand for 10 years to now owning a home in America. SO exciting! We're hoping to take some part in helping them build it. They start next month helping to build another family's home as part of their "work" towards their Habitat Home. I'm so happy for them and so proud to see them blossoming in their new country. Happy Day.

Christmas-y Happenings

Our Christmas was filled with...

weiner dogs sleeping in front of the fire

yummy treats

crazy fun stocking stuffers

... and five cute kids.

Charlotte LOVED opening presents.
The wrapping paper was definitely the best part.

Mia is still the best present-opener ever, cuz she gets SOOOOOOO excited over every present she gets. Her big present this year was a box of Disney Princesses. She was shaking she was so excited. Made Grandma and Grandpa feel really good! :)

Bazzy has not given up his love/obsession with Cars~ but he has added a new one. Mario Cart on Wii. We have to limit his Wii time or he would literally play the game all day. He's been "cut off" most days cuz we don't need an adorable 4 year old Wii addict in our home.

The girls got little Paleontology kits in their stockings. They got to find a baby dinosaur after lots of work removing him from his egg.

This was Charlotte's reaction whenever she wasn't included in opening a gift. She only wanted to help.
But not everyone wanted her assistance. ;)

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas!!!

No Year End Letter

We still haven't managed to do a Christmas Card. We still have hopes of a New Years Card....but time is ticking. I love doing cards, but just haven't had the moment to put it together when it wouldn't be filled with stress, and I'm trying to avoid stress all together right now.
Not worth it.
My cousin-in-law (is that a word?) posted this video on her Facebook page. It cracked me up and I LOVE the girl on the left cuz she's on Scrubs and her character is great. I do chuckle at some people's Christmas Letters~but surely no one who is reading this. ;) Hope it makes you laugh too and HOPEFULLY you will be getting a card from us sometime in 2010. Maybe for Groundhog's Day.

Charlotte Wishes YOU a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Charly-Beans and all of us at the VZ household. I hope you are warm and enjoying lots of family time this Holiday Season. We are hoping to make it to church tonight, but the weather may have us thinking other-wise (we're thinking it might be canceled since the snow seems to be getting worse. bummer.) Tomorrow we will be opening presents in the morning and having Christmas dinner with family and friends. Doesn't get much better than that!
Merry Christmas and Blessings to you all from all of us.
~Kris, Roberta, Katryna, Sofia, Mia, Sebastian, and Charlotte

One Program Down...

...two more to go. Yep, 3 seperate programs. They divided the kids
into two grades per program and it happened that we have one in each
group. It might be a long day for Charlotte and sebastian. ;)

My Girls

My girls....all squirrel-ly with excitement because we were about to open presents for an early Christmas celebration with the OC side of the family. The middle two were tickling Katryna and Charlotte was teething and has a cold, so that's why they both look a little goofy. Charlotte would NOT take her hand out of her mouth. Must have had something to do with the teething. By the second picture posted she had had it with me and the picture taking and moved on to better things. They are all looking so grown up and I wonder where the time has gone? Seriously. Where has it gone?

One of My Favorites

NOT coming to a Christmas Card Near You....

I'm behind. Way behind. Well, with Christmas pictures anyways. Usually I have them done with cards ready to send out by now...but not this year. I know. I know. I was in Haiti. Things were busy. I LOVE Christmas cards though and it's bothering me to not have any ready to send yet. Yikes.

We attempted a few on Sunday. Besides the smallest VZ who just wasn't in the mood to be outside freezing while being photographed, I got some great shots. THESE are not those. ;)

Katryna- not wanting to strike a pose

"Seriously, it's cold. How can we NOT be done yet?"

Sofia- attempting to look serious.

No, this stretchy neck picture did not make the Christmas card.
Shocking- I know....but I just didn't think it worked.

Mia- CONSTANTLY striking a pose

Remember that painting The Scream???

Bazzy- looking at Mommy like she has LOST her mind dragging the children outside on a day like this to take pictures

"No really...I am smiling. My face is just frozen like this."

Charlotte- not wanting anything to do with this madness

"Maybe if I don't look at her she'll give up and take me inside..."

Hopefully attempt #2 will go better with Charly-beans and all of you lovely people will be getting a Christmas Card in the mail not TOO long from now. Here's to Hoping. :)

Visiting Compassion

Our final day in Haiti we visited one of the Compassion International Projects in Port Au Prince. It was amazing to visit after having sponsored Compassion Children for almost 8 years. It was a place of joy, laughter, and hope. The kids had just finished their school day and were very interested to see the Blan (white people) that showed up. My favorite thing to learn was that they have extra-curricular activities on Saturdays, including guitar and art classes. We were able to purchase some paintings that the students had done and the money from the painting went back to the student who created it so they can purchase more art supplies. The kids were beautiful and I'm so happy we were able to experience Compassion.

Christmas Programs

The kids Christmas Programs were last night
(for the older girls) and last Sunday (for Bazzy)

Mia sang very passionately, as only Mia can do.
She truly pours her entire soul into her singing.
Sofia new every song and every action.
She also gets into it...but with less drama.

These pictures are terrible. The lighting was awful, but here is Katryna singing her solo. She always surprises us with how beautiful her voice is. She doesn't sing a ton around the house (probably cuz Mia is already singing), but she has a great voice!

Trini also had a character role this year and she ended up taking over another girls part because she had the flu. She stepped up and took on the other character without even thinking about it. We were very proud. :) I think she's gotten the acting "bug" and I couldn't be happier.

We only got this one picture of Sebastian last week before the camera battery died. I had gotten back from Haiti late the night before. I had to scrounge to find an outfit for him to wear and then I forgot to check the battery before we left. We did get it on video at least, which I'm happy about cuz I know I definitely wasn't winning the Mommy of the Year award after the outfit and battery stuff. Either way, he looked absolutely adorable in his little reindeer ears and he even sang this year which was wonderful. :)

Real Life

Our last night at the Rescue Center we met this family. It was a strange moment because I've read stories about families that are struggling just to put food in their bellies. I've read blogs about them. I've tried to imagine what it would be like to be in their situation.

I just haven't ever seen it in real life.

These cuties are Ronel (7 years old weighs 28.5 pounds), Marie-Lange (2.5 years old weighs 13.4 pounds) and Wideline (6 years old and wieghs 26 1/4 pound). Wideline was at the Rescue Center when we arrived and had been there about 2 weeks.

Mom and Dad look so solemn in this picture (still not sure why Haitians don't smile for pictures ;) ), but they were so smiley and friendly in real life. When we met the oldest child, we thought that she was a HE, only because of how she was dressed, but realized the next morning that we were wrong. That was a bit of a surprise. When Mom came up to talk to me I was able to communicate that I have 5 kids and that I thought her baby was so cute. Then I realized that she was visably pregnant. WOW- was all I could think. I can't even imagine how overwhelmed they must feel.
I've had 2 "unexpected" children and it totally threw us for a loop. I can't imagine struggling to find food and then knowing you will soon have another mouth to feed. Plus it's dangerous for the baby that is still nursing and still needs breast milk so badly. So many things to overcome.

Lori took Marie-Lange upstairs when they first arrived. It was so hard to see her frail little body standing there. Her older sister told Licia they hadn't eaten anything all day. This was about 8pm. Can you imagine?

Her legs are swollen from lack of protein. Her bones are showing from lack of food. Hard to imagine that this is real life for them. My heart hurt for her and for her family and for every other family that is struggling just to eat.

This is how Ronel looked when she arrived.
It was tough to tell she was a girl. ;)
She was happy to have some cookies from Licia and she was quietly talking to their homeschool teacher, Anna.

This is Ronel the next morning. I hate seeing the hopelessness in her eyes. BUT it was amazing to see the after effect of all the kids that came into the center with the same look on their face and now they are smiling and gaining weight. I can't wait to see pictures of her and her family as they grow and find hope again.

Wideline's legs are still recovering from the kwashiorkor.

You can see every little bone. :(

Marie-Lange, the morning we left the RC.

After 2 weeks, Wideline still had moments when you could see she didn't feel well...

...and she was still so tiny and weak.
(at this point she lost a lot of her water weight and everything about her was tiny.)

But we started to see glimmers of happy.

Glimmers of hope.

And WE have hope that her sisters will be smiling soon too and that Real Life for them won't be such a struggle.