Winter Getaway & Meeting Up After 1 & 1/2 Years ~ March 2014

Giving God Glory

God is all-powerful! ~ Then Job answered the LORD and said, "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted."  Job 42:1-2  Wes' cousin, Amber, experienced the power of our mighty God recently when she encountered a brain bleed.  Doctors thought Amber was going to need to have brain surgery to stop the bleeding, which brain surgery can lead to a lot of scary complications or results.  Many loved ones were praying for Amber, and the Lord answered our prayers in a very kind and gracious way that showed His power...  After lots of scans and tests, the doctors reported to Amber that the brain bleeding had stopped!  Thank You, Lord!  In Amber's words ~ "I know that it was Him alone that stopped that bleed and got me through with no harmful effects!  I felt the Lord's presence with me the whole time.  I was at peace knowing the amount of people I had praying for me!"

What's on the Harrisons' Hearts

Meeting up after 1 & 1/2 Years - Over the past 18 months, we have enjoyed keeping in touch with someone very dear to us ~ Josiah's birthmother, Jeana.  I Facebook message Jeana photos weekly, and we talk on the phone and text at times too.  It is such a gift to continue our relationship with her!  We love Jeana greatly, and her love for our family is precious to us!  There have been many attempts at getting together that didn't work out for various reasons, but we were able to meet up this past month when the boys and I took a quick morning trip to see Jeana and her boy-friend, Brad.  We had a great time together and made some wonderful memories!

September 2012 * March 2014

Jeana & Brad

We enjoyed getting to meet & spend time with Jeana's boy-friend, Brad!

Playing at a nearby park

Swinging 

Jeana & Noah * Josiah & me

Hanging out at Jeana's Apartment

Jeana had special gifts for Noah & Josiah

Sharing a snack & some sweet moments

Fun expressions

Enjoying brunch/lunch at Chic-Fil-A * Showing some silliness ;)

"Chatting" ;) * Tender, precious, & emotionally-packed moment

Playing together * Tickle time

Bros sliding together * Having fun * All smiles :)

Sweet boys sound asleep on the way home :)

Praises & Prayers

Amber - Praise for the Lord healing her brain bleed.

Kyle & Kristen - Praise for the arrival of their healthy baby boy, Kolter.

Adam & Wendy - Praise that they received their LOA, which means they will be able to travel to China and bring Nathaniel home in 10-14 weeks.

Kale & Sharin - Praise for the Lord blessing them with a baby due in November.

Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done.  Prayer of Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of the Spirit would abound in Dad's & Tami's lives during this trial.  Also, prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom with this trial.

Wes - Continued praise for the Lord blessing Wes with opportunities to encourage believers and discuss spiritual things with unbelievers at work.  Continued prayer for Wes to continue to be a strong light and witness for Christ at work in the midst of a very spiritually dark environment and also for spiritual protection (Ephesians 6:10-20). 

Christina - Praise for the Lord giving me creative ideas in meeting up with Jeana.  Continued prayer of Deuteronomy 6:5 that I would be faithful to disciple Noah, Josiah, and all those the Lord wants me to and also continued prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom and discernment in living by the Spirit rather than my flesh each day. 

Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will.  I asked Noah what he would like loved ones to pray for him ~ "That my cough would go away." (Context = Noah had a nagging cough the past couple days when I asked him.)
Josiah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will.  Praise for the Lord easing Josiah's teething pain.  Please pray Psalm 19:14 for the Lord to grow Josiah in communicating in ways that honor Him.

Marriage Memories

Enjoying some ice skating together * Wes' first time, but who could tell?! ;)  He did great!

Family Fun 

Having fun on a little winter getaway to Breckenridge, CO

We enjoyed some eating out :)

Sledding!!!

Daddy & sons * Wes & Noah - Wes tried to give Josiah a "high 5" as they sledded by him ;)

Sledding hill & beautiful view

The boys almost had more fun eating snow than sledding! ;)

Playing at an "open gym" time at a nearby recreation center

Noah rock climbing * Josiah playing with balls * Noah doing gymnastic "stunts"

We enjoyed exploring ice castles one night

Fun colors

Noah fearlessly went down a tunnel slide multiple times in pitch black (the flash throws how dark it was) * Josiah crawling through a tunnel out of a cave

Josiah & me

March Madness Brackets ~ a little friendly family competition :) ~ Wes, Me, Noah, & Josiah

Wes won again...  one of us needs to break his winning streak next year ;)

Noah News

Age - 5

Cute Communication - 

     *Noah has been noticing (& maybe getting slightly concerned) that Josiah has been growing a lot lately... ~ One day while we were buckling the boys in their car seats Noah asked, "Why is Josiah getting so big?"  Then another day he said, "Isn't that my shirt that Josiah is wearing?"  Practically all the shirts that Josiah wears were Noah's previously, but this (3T) shirt stood out because Noah just outgrew it a few months ago. ;)  Little brother may surpass big brother in size in the not-so-far-off future...

     *"I want 2 sisters and 2 brothers...if that is part of God's plan."  ~ Noah has been telling us a lot lately about his desire for more siblings.  Recently, he added how he is trusting God's plan, which is precious to us since we have had a lot of conversations with him about how Wes and I would be thrilled to have more children but are trusting the Lord's plan for our family.  We encourage Noah to pray and tell God his desires for more sisters and brothers but to trust the Lord with whatever He decides is best.

     *Noah has a friend, Liam, who is 6, and last month Noah turned 5.  ~  One afternoon while Liam and Noah were playing, Noah proudly informs me, "Mommy, I am only 1 year littler than Liam now!"

Latest Likes

Drawing designs

Coloring

Hot Wheels

Legos

Playing outside

Noah tried a soccer clinic at they YMCA and had fun, but he told us that he liked "just playing soccer and getting snacks after games a lot better" since he remembers playing team soccer last year.

Getting ready to dribble * Great Papa, Great Tache, Nana, & Josiah watching Noah's soccer clinic

Sweet smile :)

*Video - Noah having fun during a soccer clinic activity

He stopped his coach from scoring a goal & then Noah "almost" scored a goal on his coach.

Josiah Joys

Age - 21 months

1sts - sitting at our big table to eat rather than in his booster seat, climbing up on a step-stool & on the couch by himself

Teeth - 16

New words - Naniee (Auntie Wendy), nunee (honey), manee (candy)

Latest Likes

Balloons & balls

Playing in the sandbox

Peekaboo

Climbing

Playing outside

Playing peek-a-boo

Lookin' extra cute bundled up & putting his hat over his eyes * Playing with a balloon

1st time climbing onto a step-stool by himself ~ smile of success ;)

*Video - Josiah chasing & playing with Dozer 

Bro Bonding

Checking out the frosted over winter wonderland in our backyard

Big boy Josiah eating at our table with his big bro * Playing together in our sandbox

*Video - Josiah cute giggling at Noah's stunt moves

Homeschool ~ & Preschool ~ Highlights

This month we did a History unit study on Presidents (focusing on a few key ones)

Click on this link if interested in the FREE preschool skills/benchmarks that I use - Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence of Skills

Click on this link for a corresponding preschool book that I use - Core Knowledge: What Your Preschooler Needs to Know

History Unit Study: Presidents 

History & Art: George Washington Masks * Abraham Lincoln hats & beards

Schooling out in the Sun

We had a day of beautiful weather, so we did most of our schooling outside with chalk :)

Writing - Each one wrote their name & our letter of the week

Noah * Colton * Taryn

Writing & Math - Writing our number of the week "16" & counting to 16

Art - Various drawings & designs + they had a competition for who could draw the longest airplane ;)

Extra P.E. / Recess :)

Scooter cruising - Noah & Colton * Taryn * Saylor * Josiah * Abel

Batter up! - Colton * Noah * Taryn * Josiah

Life Skill - Learning about carpet cleaning 

See below in the section "Memorable Moment of the Month" for the reason we needed it

Writing & Art - Noah enjoys integrating writing & art. ;)

Art - Noah's designs * Turtle art imitation * The inspiration

Memorable Moment of the Month

Need I say more?!?

Ok, just a little bit more -  Dozer... eats his poop... then throws it up... 

Guess who was at work... which means that you-know-who got to clean it up... not cool! :(

More Memories

Noah & Sam on the "job site" doing some hard work of constructing buildings

Celebrating the arrival of Kolter Howard Schenk ~ 6 lbs. 8 oz.  18 in.  March 27th

Kolter * Schenk family ~ Kyle, Kristen, Sawyer, Nora, & Kolter

Rejoicing that another Shank niece or nephew will be joining our family this year!