An Opportunity

Dear Friends and Family,

My dad has offered to pay the expense of shipping a container of supplies to the Village of Hope High Risk Children’s Center in Ethiopia. It should be shipped in January. Many of you have asked me what kinds of things the children and families over there need. Usually it is hard to take very much because you just have to pack it in your luggage. With this opportunity of sending it in a shipping container we can gather and send the larger items they need. The following is a list of needed supplies that we are going to try and get in the container. This list has been compiled by Deanna Kennard who is the founder and administrator of Village of Hope. Village of Hope is trying to get permission to ship the clothes with the container. Even if they don’t get permission to send the clothes in the container we can take them in ours and their luggage whenever anyone goes over. Pertaining to the clothing DeAnna mentions “the kids there literally wear their clothes until there is nothing left of them, even if they are too little, so please give only new or like-new donations. It is really not worth it to take things that are beginning to wear.” She just mentions this because it is both expensive and taxing to get these clothes to the kids so if they are on the verge of wearing out it isn’t worth taking over.

Blankets

twin sheets

sturdy toys

a couple high chairs

playpen

Excersaucer, vibrating chair, swing etc.

We also need medicine, especially OTC types, which I will hand carry because I don't want to risk shipping it for lots of reasons, but if you know anyone who works in a hospital, most of the medical stuff we use & donate to hospitals there was rescued from the garbage here. Hospitals open many kits and only use one or two things from them, or sterility has been broken, etc.

I am collecting medical books for the nursing college there and any charts or teaching supplies.

School supplies, including whiteboards and chalkboards.

We are also gathering instruments for the youth groups.

As for clothes, I do not give clothes to adults, only children whose parents have earned them. I figure we have opened many opportunities for the adults to work. I do take practical clothes for teens (modest and washable), and shoes of all sizes. The kids clothes should meet the same criteria, jeans and tee-shirts are great. Usually, the little girls all wear dresses, ones made from tee-shirts make very practical dresses. They all need jackets and sweatshirts.

You might want to remind the women that the babies there do not wear diapers so onesies are impractical.

Thanks again for your interest and willingness to help these children and families. Any thing you gather can be brought to my house and I will get them to the container and Ethiopia. Please feel free to pass this on to any one you think could help.

Thanks,

Cherish

Any questions feel free to ask me or visit Village of Hope's website. It is listed under Humanitarian sites I love.

Updates of my African kids

Retraction Notice: I have been given conflicting advice about having my kids' (that I am trying to adopt) pictures on the web. So to protect the adoption I have removed them. But contact me if you are really interested and I will email them to you.

Here are some updated pictures of my African kids. These were taken in May 2008 when my Dad and my sister DeAnna were working in Ethiopia and Uganda.
Faith Fatiya is on the lap of Anne Derby (a world vision employee, who traveled with them). She is in the striped dress with her fingers in her mouth (that is a common trend among my girls)
Gabriel Bona is the little boy in the black and cream, and Gideon Ramadan is in the pink. (Real men wear pink right?) They are so handsome.
DiBabe is the tall girl in the center of the third picture. Isn't she beautiful?
I love these kids so much already, I feel like a mother in her last trimester of pregnancy, where it doesn't matter how much work and craziness is to come, I just want my babies in my arms.
We were able to talk to DiBabe on the phone a few weeks ago. My dad was over there having dinner with her and his girls so he called me and said there was someone who wanted to talk to me. I think heard this meek and darling voice say "Hi Mom." I was immediately bawling!
We are on round two of the paper work and still planning on Janruary to go pick them up.

90% of my life

Halloween

Halloween was loads of fun!  I can't wait until I have 8 kids to dress up :) 

Caleb was Count Dooku!   Harmony was a Cowgirl!

   

Daniel was Batman!  Eva was a cute little fat elephant!

Mom & Dad Quizzes

My sister-in-law Kristi had a really darling inter-change between her and her daughter Siera in the form of a Mom quiz. So I have spent the day today interviewing the kids about me and their Dad. I guess I was looking for some koodos and I got them along with some other funny things. Just thought I would share.

1.What is something Mom always says to you?
Caleb-Do your jobs.
Harmony-Go do your jobs.
Daniel-Go to your room.
( I am so positive)
2.What makes Mom happy?
Caleb-doing my jobs without her asking and some other stuff.
Harmony-when I write her letters.
Daniel-me loving her.
3.What makes Mom sad?
Caleb-When I drop the baby.
Harmony-when Nana died.
Daniel-me not making good choices.
4.How does Mom make you laugh?
Caleb-Taking “the Mom Quiz”
Harmony- When she dances when Macklyn is here.
Daniel-tickling me ha ha ha.
5.What was Mom like as a child?
Caleb-Unfortunate. (I asked him what he meant by that and he said “because you didn’t have the technology we have”)
Harmony-She was nice to people.
Daniel-Petting dogs a lot.
6.How old is your Mom?
Caleb-(laughing) 31 ( I asked him why he was laughing and he said “doesn’t this embarrass you?”, in truth 30 was why more embarrassing than 31.
Harmony-31
Daniel-31
7.How tall is your Mom?
Caleb-5’2” is that right? (No)
Harmony-10 feet (closer)
Daniel-Bigger than a dog. (True)
8.What is her favorite thing to do?
Caleb-Blog. (then I gave him a funny look, and he said “Spend time with her family.”) that is the right answer son.
Harmony- Spending time with me.
Daniel-watch me play video games. (hmmm)
9.What does your Mom do when you are not around?
Caleb-Play with the baby
Harmony-Do the laundry.
Daniel-I do not know. (in his mind I stop exisitng when he is not around)
10.If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Caleb- to be the prophet or the president of the United States. (so cute)
Harmony-a book writer
Daniel-A fire fighter. (hmmm)
11.What is your Mom really good at?
Caleb-Being a Mom, I guess.
Harmony-drawing ( I didn’t know that.)
Daniel-Kicking butt.(He knows this on a personal level)
12.What is your Mom not very good at?
Caleb-Remembering early out day. (true, true)
Harmony-Dancing (true, true)
Daniel-shaking her bootie. (out of the mouth of 2 witnesses)
13.What does your Mom do for her job?
Caleb-work s for Morrell Family Charities.
Harmony-Taking care of the baby.
Daniel-Go clean my room.
14.What is your Mom’s favorite food.
Caleb-Salsa (Kelly’s salsa yum)
Harmony-Guacamole
Daniel-Cheese hamburger (which is totally different than a cheese burger...I guess)
15.What makes you proud of your Mom?
Caleb-that she is the only one in our house that can cook.
Harmony-when she is proud of me I am proud of her. (very wise)
Daniel-You cleaning my room. (yeah I am not doing that anymore)
16.If your Mom were a cartoon character who would she be?
Caleb-Gabriella Montes (he won’t tell me why though.)
Harmony-Cinderella because she is always cleaning.
Daniel-Cinderella
17.What do you and your Mom do together?
Caleb-anything she wants to do….for 15 minutes.
Harmony-ride bikes.
Daniel-hug and kiss
18.How are you and your Mom the same?
Caleb-we have got the same color hair.
Harmony-because we both love cleaning. (she likes the process I like the result)
Daniel-we kiss at the same time.
19.How are you and your Mom different?
Caleb-she is a girl and I am a boy (No one else knew that!)
Harmony-We like different clothes. (this is a serious issue)
Daniel-she is big and I am small.
20. How do you know your Mom loves you?
Caleb-cause she feeds me.
Harmony-because she does lots of things for me.
Daniel-we have Mommy and Daniel time together.

Dad Quiz:

1.What is something Dad always says to you?
Caleb-How’s my big C?
Harmony- Be quiet.
Daniel-Go to your room.
2.What makes Dad happy?
Caleb-When I do something right.
Harmony-When I tease him.
Daniel-me hugging him.
3.What makes Dad sad?
Caleb-When Mom leaves.
Harmony-playing cards with him because he wants me to win.
Daniel-Eva not kissing him.
4.How does Dad make you laugh?
Caleb-When he tells his best jokes
Harmony-When we wrestle and I punch him in the face.
Daniel-When he tickles me.
5.What was Dad like as a child?
Caleb-Missing his dog
Harmony-He broke his ankle when he was riding his bike with his friends.
Daniel-wrestling with his Dad.
6.How old is your Dad?
Caleb and Harmony-32
Daniel-32
7. How tall is your Dad?
Caleb-6’
Harmony-6’2”
Daniel-bigger than a dog
8.What is his favorite thing to do?
Caleb-Make salsa
Harmony-Play soccer with the family.
Daniel-He likes to build stuff.
9.What does your Dad do when you are not around?
Caleb-Sleep
Harmony-he goes to Bishop work
Daniel-we don’t know what he is doing cause we are not there.
10.If your Dad becomes famous, what will it be for?
Caleb-What do you mean, he is famous.
Harmony-a rock star.
Daniel-a policeman
(He has quite the fan club already)
11.What is your Dad really good at?
Caleb-running around looking for the baby
Harmony-Singing
Daniel-getting the baby out of her crib.
12.What is your Dad not very good at?
Caleb-Burning garlic bread ( I guess this makes him good at garlic bread)
Harmony-the splits
Daniel-he can’t build my treasure box.
13.What does your Dad do for his job?
Caleb-Seminary
Harmony-teach lessons
Daniel-Makes stuff
14.What is your Dad’s favorite food.
Caleb-anything Mom makes
Harmony-salsa
Daniel-Pizza
15. What makes you proud of your Dad?
Caleb-His salsa-it is world famous after all.
Harmony-When he is proud of me I am proud of him.
Daniel-fixing my toys
16. If your Dad were a cartoon character who would he be?
Caleb-Indiana Jones
Harmony-Napoleon Dynamite (his 2 boys think he is a super hero and Harm thinks he is a nerd.)
Daniel- Batman
17.What do you and your Dad do together?
Caleb-kick video game butt.
Harmony-cuddle
Daniel-build stuff
18.How are you and your Dad the same?
Caleb-we both kick video game butt.
Harmony-we are both good at soccer.
Daniel-We both have big heads (ha ha)
19.How are you and your Dad different?
Caleb-I kick more video game butt than him.
Harmony-I am a girl and he is a boy.
Daniel-I am smaller and he is bigger.
20. How do you know your Dad loves you?
Caleb-He gives us allowance.
Harmony-because he kisses me.
Daniel-because he spanks me (everytime Kel spanks him he tells Daniel that this is loving him)

Breaking Newman News!

D'Babe (15) Ramadan (5) Bona (4) Fatiya (2)

The family is getting bigger! We are adopting children from Ethiopia. We are so excited! Hopeful arrival is January '09!

(The three youngest are siblings)

Retraction Notice: To protect our adoption I have removed the pictures of the kids.

Keepin it real part 2

Remember I am an amateur blogger, so please read the post below this first to understand what this one is about.

My husband. Home on labor day, and cute as ever!

My boys, home on labor day, playing video games while the sun is shining outside!

Eva napping, so cute!

Harmony is deep cleaning the kitchen....for fun. What did I do to be blessed with her? Thank you Grandma Newman for passing on the cleaning genes.

I also had a picture of my laundry room but it got lost in the shuffle. "keepin it real"! I find my self more and more like my mother everyday. The good thing is I am more ok with that than I ever was.

Keepin it real tag

So my sister-in-law Kristi tagged me weeks ago to do this Keepin it real tag. The object of the tag is to take pictures of things as they are right in the moment. (I did do that) and then.....post them to your blog. So in the spirit of the tag "keepin it real" Here I am 2 weeks after I took the pictures actually posting them. That is "real" Cherish. The other real part of it is that I missed 3 of the picture subjects; my fridge, my favorite shoes, and a pic of me. I missed them and I am not going to worry about it. Just keepin it real!

My toilet, luckily you can't see the bowl real well, but do take note of Eva's handi work on the toilet paper. That is Charmin too!

My sink honestly usually looks better than this, but it always does look like this on Monday mornings! Especially the pans, my darling husband is soo good about cleaning up after I cook, but the pans are invisible to him.

My closet. I cheated and showed the good side.

My favorite room. My bedroom, I love, love, love my bed!

Newman Funnies

Daniel woke up blind the other day! He was feeling around the walls and bumping into things. I told him I had some magic glasses in my room. So he went and put them on and it was a miracle-he could see! They were pink with rhinestones and he wore them all day, even to the Dr.'s office where he was concerned that they would think he was a girl. The glasses also seemed to give him super smell sense, as they brought in the shots for Eva he said. "Somethings up, I can smell shots!"

Eva is hilarious! She has a few addictions in her new little life. One is shoes. (She has started early) She loves to put the shoes on her hands and crawl around with them. She does this all throughout the day. Whenever she sees a pair she goes after them. When she is crying we try and distract her by putting some shoes in front of her, and it works!

Eva's other addiction is being outside. She is like a dog in that whenever anyone comes to the door she races for it and tries to get out. If the door closes and she doesn't get to go out she stands there like this and just howls and cries, like her little heart has just broke! (It is pretty funny.) We were wondering today what she is going to do when it is winter out.

Big News!

Caleb has braces! He has 4 braces across his top teeth. He is the first in his class to have braces, he feels pretty cool about that. He doesn't love the head gear he has to wear every night though.
I don't feel old enough to have a kid having braces!

First Day of School......Kind of

Ok, Ok ...It wasn't really the first day of school. It was the second. It was the second day because we were too late to take them the first day. AND we were too late the second day to take GOOD pictures. That is why the sun is killing Caleb, Harmony has a squinty face, and I have no idea why there is so much blurriness. Now by the time we got to Daniel's first day we were faster and smarter. We did them inside and he is an afternoon kindergartener so Mom is way more coherent by the time he gets ready.

Everyone is loving their new classes.

Caleb is in 4th grade and his 3rd year of Spanish Immersion. His teacher seems to expect a little more from him, which is good for his brillant mind and his tendencies for laziness. He has a new girl in his class named Elsie, that has been a big deal because his class dynamics don't change yearly because of the program.

Harmony is in first grade. It is hard for me to let her go all day, but she is helping me through it by coming home super ornery. It is not as hard the next morning to let her go. I thought she would really be a teenager on me about waking up early but she has done really well with that and sometimes been the first one awake. She rates how good her days are by how many of her friends wanted her in the middle of the hand holding line at lunch recess.

Daniel is a kindergartner! He loves it! He is so smart and more academically ready than the other two were, which is weird because he is my preschool drop-out. He has already cut the apron strings with me. On the second day of kindergarten he was begging me not to come to pick him up from school. OUCH! He just wants to be a big kid and have the older kids come get him, not his mommy.

So now it gets a little lonely with just Eva and I. I think she feels more lonely than I do as she follows me around everywhere and gets so excited when the kids get home.

Summer of "Facing our Fears"

Our summer is over! I love summer so this is a hard time for me to give them back to the School system. We have had a great summer though. One of the things I am most proud of the kids for is the skills they learned this summer as we focused on bike riding.

Caleb especially made the most progress. At the beginning of the summer he had a pretty bad attitude and was really scared of bike riding. However through bribery, threatenings, and lots of practice he became converted and he is officially a bike rider! He kept asking me why it was so important that he ride a bike. I told him it was because he was afraid of it, and the only way not to be afraid is to face our fears. (Mom needs to take this advice on some things too!)
In the end that is what he told me he feels most proud about, that he is not afraid of it any more. The funniest part is that on the day he finally "got it" he said. "I get it now Mom, it is all about my attitude!" (I hope this new found wisdom translates to homework.)

Harmony is our daredevil bike rider. She actually learned last year and has been honing her skill. She can ride Caleb's big bike (thanks G-ma Newman) even though she can't touch the ground. She flies down the hill, goes off curbs, and can ride one-handed. What a girl! Her only concern was that she didn't think we cheered for her when she learned. I told her that we for sure did and have video to back it up! (got lucky on that one!)

Daniel was a daredevil to begin with and was actually riding without help. As he was trying to learn turns and starting himself he had some pretty major crashes (one where he flew over the handle bars). His courage has diminished and now he won't let me let go. I am hoping that over the winter he will forget and we will start fresh with him next summer.

Can I just add that the little bike buddy on the back saved my back this summer!

Eva & cuz!

Eva and her new little cousin Elyn. She just loves babies (as if she isn't one anymore).

Israel and Eva

So while it was a lot of work to bring the kids, it was nice to have them there to see the reality of our beliefs. Above is Eva in a ruin of a manger trough.

After we got back to the hotel we all crashed except for Eva. She tore apart the diaper bag and then curled up on the wood floor with the curtain and fell asleep.

More Israel

This spot was my favorite of the whole trip. It is the garden tomb. Inside the door behind us are two rooms about 10x10 each. In the second room is a part in the floor that had been carved out for a body.

Our guide told us that at least two prophets have come to this tomb and confirmed that this is the tomb that Christ was buried in. (President Kimball and President Hunter).

More than that is the beautiful spirit that exists there. This spot is kind of smack in the middle of the city. But they have converted this little area into a beautiful garden. You cannot hear the city noises from inside. There is a lot of shade and places to sit and worship.

I was overwhelmed to tears of the reality of the Savior's death and more importantly His Resurrection.




It was incredible!

Isreal continued (this really is abridged)

This picture is what is left of the Western wall of the temple that was destroyed by the Romans. Jews come to this wall to offer prayers, read scriptures, even have their Bar Mitzvah's. When it is a BarMitzvah day (which was the day we went), the men and the women are separated and the men have to have their heads covered.



One of the ways the Jews pray at the wailing wall is to write their requests on a piece of paper that they roll up and stick in the wall.













Del Parson decided that he was going to roll up a prayer. "Just to cover my bases," he said jokingly.





This is the Dome of the Rock. It is the third most sacred site in Islam. There is a rock inside the Dome where the Muslims believe Muhummad was taken to Heaven from that rock.

The Dome of the Rock is built on the same land as the temple used to be built on.

Our trip to Isreal (abridged version)

This is the whole group (from L to R): Top-Casey, Del Parson, Tyler, Camilla, Paul (Dad), Janna, Travis, Amy, Stephanie, Savannah
Bottom-Daniel Rona (our guide), Lynette Parson, Destiny, Christy, Grandma, Harmony, Caleb, Cherish and Eva, Kelly, Daniel. The Dome of the Rock is behind Tyler's head. We are on the Mount of Olives where our guide believed Gethsemane could have been located.


This is the Sea of Galilee. We swam in it, found sea shells, rode a boat on it, and posed for pictures by it.

Kelly noted and I agree that one of the things we were most excited about were seeing some ruins. By the third days were astonished that there are ruins EVERYWHERE!!!