Cherish This

The New Family Business!

2010-05-13T19:48:00.001-06:00

And I thought Blogging was the answer!

2010-03-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

I am not a scrapbooker. I am pretty vocal about it too, not because I don't think it is a great thing but because I can't cut a straight line to save my life (even with a cutter) and I have a hard time being patient enough to make it look good. So I thought blogging was the answer to my "will my children have any history of their childhood if I don't scrapbook" paranoia. Now my scrapbooking guilt has turned into blogging guilt! My number one reason for blogging is so that my kids have some recorded history of their childhood with little comments from me and a picture to go along with it. In fact Kelly has said that for their wedding presents we are just going to hand them a hard drive of their life. (I think he is a genius!) But now I have 11 kids and a new computer (a Mac) which according to Kelly is awesome but i am still creeping up the learning curve of it. A funny side note to that is that I am helping my teenage girls do an online computer technology class. let's just say I am learning some basic computer skills finally. I don't think I am ready for facebook games or changing my blog background yet but I just might do a different font on this post!

Ok now that all of that nonsense is out of the way. I am going to try and do a quick catch up blog.

Christmas!

Our first Christmas with our new kids, was SO fun and So expensive and everything is now broken and I have nerf bullets in places in my house that it will not be possible to be retrieved.
My favorite thing was we did the nativity as a family and got it on video. It was pretty intense while it was happening (we had at least 3 kids crying the whole time) and a few who wanted to be every character and a few who did not want to participate but overall the video turned out great and we have the memory to laugh over. That was one of the things I was trying to post on here, but even Kelly wouldn't attempt that. So you will just have to come over and see it. Here is a run down of the characters. Daniel was Joseph, but only if Dibabe was Mary, Dibabe was a reluctant but sweet Mary and the 2 foot height difference between the two is one of the highlights of the video. Caleb was the innkeeper/comedian/shepherd. Sultan, Ramadan, and Bona were shepherds and wise men and to my surprise were way more into it than I anticipated. Chaltu, Tayiba, Harmony, Fitya, and Mom were angels, and that was so cute! Eva was the sheep in a dog costume and she really gets the academy award for best actress.
The second best thing was Christmas Eve and morning. The excitement level from the little boys was so contagious. They could have gotten one present each and been ecstatic, but by the time they got stuff from grandparents and us and Santa I think Bona was on the verge of passing out!

Overall a success and I guess we will do it again next year.

Christmas

2010-03-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Christmas was fun!!

New Family Picture!

2010-01-17T17:15:00.003-07:00

Halloween

2009-11-08T13:20:00.006-07:00

So of all the Holidays that my kids have never experienced. It is crazy that Halloween was their first. Ethiopia is a pretty religious country. All the music they listen to is about God, everyone has a religious affiliation. So to come to America and see witches on our doors, skeletons decorating our porches, and mini graveyards for our yard decor. My worst fear is that they think we are Satanic (we have had lots of family prayer to try and prove other wise :), and at best I know they think we are strange and they can't figure out what we are celebrating. Hopefully we can make up for it at Christmas.
So we finally talked everyone into costumes and told them they couldn't ride their bike trick or treating (the boys were not happy!). After about 3 doors they got it, and they took off, just like all good american kids living the American dream of how much candy can I get before we have to go home. They did well, and just like every year, the candy is all gone now, one week later.
And if you think that their stressed out mom who find comfort in chocolate helped......you are right!

We had a fun house full. My sister Deanna brought down my littlest sister Christy and my Ethiopian sisters. We also had the Coopers over who were in Ethiopia with us bringing home our kids and theirs.
From Left to Right: Caleb as Micheal Jackson, Tyler Cooper as a hippie Harry Potter, Daniel as a vampire, Christy as an Indian princess, Mom holding Eva the elephant, Harmony as a soccer player, Iftu as a princess, Fitya as a fairy, Ramadan as spider man, Chaltu as a cowgirl princess, Bona as Spiderman, Dibabe with a beautiful Headdress, Bessa hiding behind Sultan being a super football player, Talilea as her beautiful self with her arm around Yubo Cooper as Belle, Ricky Cooper with a great wig, and Tayiba in a concoction costume of her own creation.
FUN!!!

After all the trick or treating I set a horrible precendent for myself and we played a couple of games. One was finding gummy bears in whipcream..with your mouth and the other that I don't have pictures of was unwrapping a halloween gift with gloves on. We had a great and LOUD time. I was so ready for bed!

If you think this post is long, imagine my day!

Firsts!!!

2009-11-05T13:21:00.003-07:00

First snow:

The first snow was a huge hit! They thought it would be soft so they were bellyflopping into it and then laughing when it was hard ground they hit. Their eyes about popped out of their heads when I ate some. Then they tried it and were amazed that it tasted just like water..(and dirt). It was also another $150 trip to Walmart for boots and gloves.

We are united and home

2009-10-25T14:25:00.006-06:00

Beautiful Dibabe
Beautiful Chaltu

The picture below is all the kids that were being adopted and the woman that was watching them before we came.

We love all our kids they are wonderful!

From Left to right top:
Ramadan Newman, Ramato Cooper, Bona Newman, Sultan Newman, Besa Morrell, Yubo Cooper, Iftu Morrell, Rose (tscarida) the helper.
Bottom: Chaltu Newman, Talilea Morrell, Dibabe Newman, Fitya Newman, Tayiba Newman.

It was a long week as we had to just stay in the house with the kids because of some political issues. But it was fun to play with them and get to know them.

They were excellent on the flights home, but I don't think they want to go on an airplane again anytime soon.
Kelly and the girls, he love being the father to girls!....and boys but the girls hug him more.

We are home now and it is as crazy and as wonderful as we expected!

A big thank you to our ward, friends, and families for all their help and support.

Stay tuned for some great Halloween pictures!

We leave this Friday Oct. 2

2009-09-28T09:51:00.001-06:00

Here is more evidence that what we are doing is real. This is the ginormous new van. It is a 15 passenger van with 2 DVD players and a back up camera. I am telling ya I need all that technology just to survive the 2 hour trip to Logan!

We are leaving this Friday Oct. 2 and bringing the kids home on Sat. Oct. 10.
Yahooo! it is really here

It is Official!

2009-08-18T08:50:00.000-06:00

As of 2:24 am (here in the US) we are now "officially" the proud parents of 7 new children! We passed in the Ethiopian court! We now have to have the papers processed and sent to the US embassy for processing. (this could take up to a month, but hopefully faster!) Then Kelly and I will travel to Ethiopia to bring them home!

I just got home from spending about 10 days with them and I am so in love! They are beautiful and good! My heart is stretched across the world and I can't wait to unite my family!

From Left to Right (Top) Faith Fatiya (3), Sultan Isaiah (10), Tayiba Joy (11), 2nd row Chaltu Charity (14), Gabriel Bona (5), Gideon Ramadan (6), Dibabe Hope (16)

We are so excited and racing to get ready!

Caleb is 10-I have been a mother for a decade!

2009-07-26T21:42:00.008-06:00

How did this happen! It has gone so quickly. I distinctly remember that yesterday Caleb was this tiny baby that would grab a piece of my hair to rub on his face to sleep. And today this is what he looked like!
He is a handsome and smart kid!

He had a great party for his birthday. He created this invitation:He had about 12 boys and 2 girls (one being Harmony) come to save the Pokemon. The practiced light saber skills on the wii, then the empire and the rebellion got into a sticker war and the empire cheated and won. So after that the jedi council had a jedi training course, and a treasure hunt to save the Pokemon and find Caleb's presents. Kelly and I were som busy managing all this that all we got was a few group pictures. Here is one:

A great lady in our ward named Sara Grant created this masterpeice of a birthday cake.

Caleb was so amazed. He said " Wow, My first professional birthday cake!" and I said "Your only professional birthday cake." he replied, "At least, until I get married." I guess one of the qualifications of his future wife is professional cake making. Get going girls!

One of the highlights of the summer for Caleb has been tubing behind the boat. He could live there, he even likes getting dumped off!

We also went on a fun hike up battle creek canyon.

The boys in the family are confirmed fishermen! After many attempts this summer they finally had success up at mirror lake at the father and son's camp out, where between them they caught 6 fish!

Back in May at school, Caleb's Spanish program put on a dance festival. It was fantastic! Caleb's class sang two songs and danced a partner dance.

Caleb is such a joy in our family. He is the peacemaker and the commandment keeper. He is a powerful Son of God and we feel privileged to be a part of his life. We love you Caleb!

Dan My Man

2009-06-28T14:03:00.011-06:00

Daniel also had a Birthday in April. It is a big month for us, and as you can see I am still trying to catch up. But I have a deadline now as Caleb's birthday is in 2 weeks so I must get Daniel's done today!

Happy 6th Birthday Daniel!
Daniel had his first birthday party without combining with Harmony. Thus the theme was Superheros!
We played Superheros Says, we had a Superhero Training Course, We broke a Spiderman Pinata, and had a Superhero Supper ( hotdogs) and a Superhero Cake.

It was a fun time for all!

Daniel's newest passion is Karate! He is in a summer program and right now he eats, drinks, and loves Karate (at least on Mondays and Wednesdays!) He's got some moves!

This is Daniel's buzz cut for the summer. When he got this he was still in kindergarten. He felt like a new man. He said "Mom, this haircut is going to change my life in 3 ways! 1. I will be able to run faster. 2. I will be cooler for summer and 3. Sara in school probably won't love me anymore because she will think I am going bald! (That was apparently a good thing.) He is so funny!

Daniel and his buddies are good at meditation. Everyday on their way to Kindergarten they would stop and get into positions and say "Ommmm, Ommmm." What great skills they are learning!

It was also pajama day at school that day. He did wear school clothes everyday, although I am not sure I fed him everyday.

We went to Lake Powell this June with my family. It was so fun. Dad bought this great 3 seater tube. It was so much fun. I think Caleb would have been happy to do nothing but ride that tube the entire time, he even had fun getting dumped off of it.

As you can tell, Daniel didn't love it as much. In fact on one ride he was with my sister Katie and her 3 year old daughter named Roccio "Chio". Midway through the ride he was motioning the boat by pointing at Chio and telling us to stop. Katie said the whole ride he was saying. "We better go slower...for Chio, this is too fast for Chio, I think Chio wants to stop." Way to protect Chio, Daniel!

All the kids to our amazement tried the knee board. Harmony screamed the minute she wasn't touching the boat. Caleb stayed on for a while and almost got to step two, where you hold the rope and not just the knee board. Daniel got dragged for 20 feet(by Mom) without letting go and in the end was more scared about fish nibbling his toes than almost being drowned.
It was a great time!

Daniel we love you and you are a very special member of our family!

Harmony is 7!!!!!!

2009-05-24T12:56:00.008-06:00

How did this happen? I swear just yesterday this was Harmony.

Today I looked at her and she has grown up!

She had her first birthday party this year that she didn't have to share with Daniel. (He wasn't thrilled about a High School Musical party, although he was a very willing participant when it came down to it.)

Harmony is such a joy and a help in my life! Eva really does think that Harmony is her second mother!

Harmony loves sports, especially soccer, basketball and tumbling. (Especially from the deck to the trampoline!)

She just made a competitive soccer team where most of the girls are 9 and 10. (I know-total bragging!)

She does a front flip in between these two shots, I just wasn't fast enough to get it all on camera!

She loves school and can't wait to be a second grader (except her best friend and twin Macklyn is moving and she is not sure how she will survive!).

She is great note maker she writes notes to everyone in the family and leaves them on our pillows. She even wrote a note to herself and left it on her own pillow with a treat. Then she walked out of the room and walked back in and said "Oh look I got a note!"
(I do write her love notes, but I guess not as frequently as she needs.)

She is also a great example of selflessness and kindness. She always shares her treats and she usually spends her allowance on her brothers or friends. This is the sign she made for her bedroom door.

We love you Harmony, you are our precious princess forever!

The kids are famous even before they get here

2009-05-07T13:20:00.002-06:00

Here is a video for an article by the Salt Lake Tribune about the Kennards who are the people running the orphanage where my (potential) kids are. I can't point out who they are in this blog to protect my pending adoptions. But they are all there and beautiful! It is great article and these are great people!

This next video is a mini preview of the work my Dad and associates are doing in Ethiopia. It is so exciting!

Eva Unleashed

2009-04-12T13:47:00.006-06:00

Happy Birthday Eva! Eva's 2nd birthday was on April 6th. For her birthday she got a new truck! Daddy is her chauffeur.

Eva has had a jump start on the terrific twos, she is a very busy body!

She helpfully throws everything out of my drawers so that I can have clean and empty spaces!

Eva already has a sense of style. She loves shoes, no matter the color, style or size!

Eva is very grateful for onesies! They provide a ready made compartment for anything you might need to carry around. In this case she was carrying around puzzle pieces.

She loves her baby cousin Elyn who has been staying with us, and she loves to take a rest in his car seat.

She is an amazing artist and the world is her canvas! Here is beautiful artwork on my walls. She will also draw on herself and then come show me by pointing to it and saying "No, No."

Eva loves bathtime, especially when there is a party in the bathtub. She invited her two new cousins Maria and Roccio and then pulled in her sister, Harmony clothes and all!

She loves to accessorize during her "nap" she pulled out all her baby headbands and bows. She had 15 of them around her neck and chest.

She is trying to reinvent playing in the excersaucer.

And at the end of the day when there is nothing left to destroy or take off, she finally crashes.

We love you Eva you are so much fun!

Caleb's got the Hops!

2009-04-09T14:51:00.000-06:00

Caleb just finished his basketball season this year. His team was awesome and only lost one game the whole season!
Caleb really gave 100% and was a great team player. His defense skills were exceptionally good and he has a good jump like his Dad!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

2009-03-15T14:58:00.006-06:00

I just watched a profound movie called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It is based on a book of the same name by John Boyne. ( I know middle of the day on a Thursday, I had so much to do, but it was worth it.)

It is about a friendship that is formed between two 8 year old boys. One boy is the son of a German Commander of the concentration camp where the other little boy is a prisoner. Both boys are as naïve and they should be and the movie is seen from their perspective and understanding. While I watched from my perspective as an adult and a mother. It was beautiful and painful. Painful in the way that gets me all charged up. Thus here I am still with my long list of tasks to accomplish but I am filled with emotion and drive that I need to get out so I don’t forget.

Many of us in America have been raised on and taught a lot about World War II and the Holocaust. I know many of my peers like me felt driven beyond our high school English and history classes to find out more. Thanks to Anne Frank, Eli Wiesel, Corrie ten Boom and many, many others we have had a myriad of sources to turn to for more education about this dark period in Europe. A common question that I often ask and that I know many others do too is “How could so many Germans sit by and allow this to happen?” Also “Why did we as Americans not get involved sooner?”I don’t think I am alone in feeling some disappointment in my grandparents generation for these things. As an adult now I do realizes that in trying to answer these questions there are as many “Becauses” as there are “Whys”. I am grateful that we have been taught the truth and that there continues to be awareness of this atrocity, in effort to prevent another.

But the fact of the matter is that atrocities like the Holocaust are happening all over our world this very minute. Unlike our grandparents we really can’t claim that we “just don’t know about it.” If we don’t know about it is because we choose not to know about it. Information doesn’t come to us weeks old off the radio waves. We have news and information at the tips of our fingers 24 hours a day.

You wouldn’t have to google very far to learn about the exterminations in Darfour, the human rights atrocities in Asia, the child soldiers in Uganda and human trafficking and starvation the world over.

The Lord has told us “If thou lovest me thou…wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support” (Doctrine and Covenants 42:30)

I just counted in my personal scriptures from the topical guide that there are 107 references to taking care of the poor and the needy of our world. It is in every book of scripture that we (LDS) have from the Old Testament through the Pearl of Great Price.

I think the scriptures make it pretty clear that helping our brothers and sisters all over the world is not an institutional responsibility but an individual one.

I don’t want my granddaughter asking me why I sat in my abundance and did not sacrifice to help those around me.

More than that. I do not want to stand before my Savior, who has blessed me with a privileged lifestyle, AND gave ALL that he had temporally, spiritually, and physically and tell him I didn’t have enough to share, or I didn’t take the time or risk to help.

Random things

2009-03-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Kelly got a pull up bar for Christmas and Eva thinks it is her personal jungle gym. She just giggles and giggles the whole time she is hangin'.

Eva is in love with her brothers! She gets a little extra time with Daniel because he is in kindergarten. She takes advantage of that! Also I think this is the first picture of Eva with a smile. She always looks mad and yet she is a very spunky and happy kid.

Grandma Morrell gave the kids a sugar cookie mix and kit for Valentine's Day. The process was fun-the clean up was not!!

Newman News:

Many of you ask about our adoption. We are still in the process and feel like we are closer than ever. Although we still don't know when we will travel. For any of you who don't know we are priveledge to add 3 other kids to our earlier plans. We are now in the process of adoption 7 kids. The three we added are older siblings to the 3 little ones. We had been praying about taking them the whole time but it didn't feel right until recently, (maybe the Lord was just waiting for me to wrap my head around the concept of 11 kids!)
My first feeling is excitement and my second is panic! But I feel like these kids are my kids and I can't wait to have them in my home and arms.
As soon as we are approved I will start posting pictures and update all on our adventure.

Bonilla Post (my first article for Women to Watch)

2009-02-01T13:30:00.001-07:00

(I have been asked to write regular posts about my humanitarian experiences, this is the first one. Check out this address to see the actual post-a a fun website)

http://www.crazibeautiful.com/GirlfriendToGirlfriend/ExpertHome.aspx?id=1

The Starfish StoryOriginal Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”I made a difference for that one.”

That story so effectively illustrates the humanitarian world as I have come to know it.
In this section of Girlfriend to Girlfriend I would like to spotlight the individual “starfish” and the “throwers” that I have personally come to know. Just like you and me they are just a few among the teeming billions on the earth but they are living and doing good things and living good lives in the midst of the seeming futility.
This first spotlight is a starfish and a thrower, and she has made a profound impression on me.
I have been abundantly blessed in that we have had the opportunity to take our children on a few of our humanitarian trips, this one was part service and mostly fun to beautiful Panama.
It was just after Christmas, this past season(2008) and I wanted my little family to have a “Christmas Giving Experience” a little bigger than they had in the past. We asked our kids if they would give up a part of their Christmas for a family in need in Panama. My sister who lives in Panama knew just the family to help. They are the Bonilla family, Mother and Father and 7 children, they are members of my sister’s LDS ward in Panama. Their home is located up in the mountains, 20 minutes from a bus stop, up a steep and rough dirt road. The family must make the hike for work, school, and church. Their home is neat and orderly but is just multiple pieces of sheet metal screwed together to make one room 10’X15’, that serves as bedroom, living room, kitchen, but no bathroom. Brother Bonilla works hard at a very low paying job, picking up garbage from the side of the road.

As a combined effort of my sister’s family, mine, donations from neighbors, and some help from our charity, we made the trek to their house with a van full of toys, clothes, and items for the house.

After the initial shock of seeing their living conditions, I noticed something beautiful. Sister Bonilla is this very small, graceful, smiling woman. That was one of the things my sister mentioned about her before we even met, that while her circumstances are dire she is always smiling, positive and soft. My sister mentioned that in the year that she has lived there only twice has Sister Bonilla approached her and humbly asked for food as they had absolutely no food at the house, and yet even as she is asking you can see the faith in her eyes that she knows the Lord will provide. As we meet her children they are clean and look healthy and help us unload the van of presents we have brought. They are painfully shy but they don’t stop smiling the entire time we are with them. The family opens the presents, embarrassed and grateful (we didn’t realize until the middle of the present opening that it is not the custom in Panama to open presents in front of the giver.). As you look around the yard you can see the creativity and ingenuity of the children, out of scraps and garbage they have made a bridge and roadway, a wrestling ring, and a dollhouse for their few toys.
We spent the whole afternoon with them, after the presents we took them in to get some dinner and to buy some shoes. Sister Bonilla was smiling and so affectionate with the children, and the older children helped the younger ones stay together. You can tell that they are well loved.

This was an amazing experience for me personally. I went with the expectation that the presents and material things would provide the excitement of the day, when in reality they were the most ordinary part. The excitement was seeing my little girl and hers starting a relationship despite language, economic, and cultural barriers. My daughter would hold up something and say its name in English like “battery” and Lorenza would say the word in Spanish “batteria” and then they would giggle.
As I watched Sister Bonilla smile and interact with her children I learned a priceless lesson, that you can be happy without indoor plumbing, that you can be an exceptional mother with nothing but yourself to give, that you can show faith and perseverance when you don’t even know if you will have food to feed your children the next day, that in all truth and honesty, happiness can be found in the love of family and faith in God alone.
Most of all I learned that she is truly my sister and that our Father used a little bit of me for her and a little bit of her for me, to remind us both that he is aware of and loves us.

Great New Website

2009-01-11T14:12:00.003-07:00

I would like to invite you all to this great, new website that has just been created by a friend of mine. My friend is a stay at home mom of 4 boys, who has taught herself how to web design. The website is beautiful and fun and features a variety of subjects that appeal to women. The best part about her website is the purpose behind it, she produced this website in major part to create some revenue to help struggling women in Utah. Whether the women are single mom's needing help with income or training or married women with health, family or financial issues. I applaud her ingenuity, talent and pro-action. I hope you will take a look at the website and spread the word.

P.S. As a little side note she is honoring me in the Honoring Womanhood section in the next week or so and she has asked me to be a regular contributor in the girlfriend to girlfriend section. Although because of my limited computer skills and flakiness she may choose to rescind later.
Check it out and let me know what you think!

Just in case the link didn't work the website is http://www.crazibeautiful.com

Panama Temple

2009-01-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

The biggest and best reason that we travelled to Panama was for my little sister Heidi, her husband Mark, and their baby Elyn to be sealed in the temple.
It is a beautiful country and a glorious temple. The spirit was so strong and it felt so right to be there with them. Mark and Heidi have worked really hard to get to this point in their lives and the Lord has blessed them and us so much. We are all so happy and uplifted to be there!
Little Elyn was so cute and good for the sealing he even made a cute cooing sound when the sealer told them he was sealed for eternity, he is the happiest baby I have ever met.

Also a big shout out to my sisters DeAnna, Stephanie and Savannah for handling all the kids and babies for the whole day while we went to the temple!

Christmas Break in Panama

2009-01-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

For Christmas break our family travelled with our Morrell family to beautiful, warm, tropical Panama! We had a blast! Alternating between swimming in the pool and the ocean about 10 hours everyday. As you can see in the first picture Heidi's husband Mark with throw Daniel up in the air and let him splash in the pool. Daniel makes some pretty good air!

In the next picture Eva is hitching a ride on Grandpa's shoulders through a beautiful botanical garden and zoo. There were lots of gorgeous flowers, trees, and ponds. We also saw tons of beautiful birds, monkeys, guinea pigs, alligators, and some other anteater pig like animals.

We rested as Harmony shows in the next picture. We needed it though from all the playing and the late nights of fun!

Aunt Katie provided a Santa Claus pinata for the kids. It felt a little weird beating up the guy that had just brought us presents, but again he delivered, as he broke up there were candy and water toys for all.

There is more to come on Panama..........

An Opportunity

2008-12-03T15:34:00.002-07:00

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

2008-11-04T08:29:00.003-07:00

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

2008-11-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Halloween

2008-11-03T17:24:00.008-07:00

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

2008-10-26T17:10:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-09-15T00:04:00.002-06:00

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

2008-09-14T15:26:00.000-06:00

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

2008-09-14T15:19:00.000-06:00

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

2008-08-31T19:10:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-08-31T18:56:00.000-06:00

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

2008-08-31T18:50:00.000-06:00

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"

2008-08-17T16:42:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-08-17T16:23:00.000-06:00

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

Israel and Eva

2008-08-10T17:34:00.000-06:00

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

2008-08-10T17:30:00.000-06:00

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)

2008-08-10T17:00:00.000-06:00

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)

2008-08-10T16:31:00.000-06:00

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!!!

Summer fun!

2008-06-29T15:27:00.000-06:00

I love Summer! I love having the kids home.
I love that Kelly's schedule is more flexible.
I love boating, and family reunions, fun and friends!

Newman Funnies

2008-05-25T20:07:00.000-06:00

Harmony and Daniel were quoting the Princess Bride the other day.
The kept saying "Anybody want a Peanut?" Then Harmony got a weird look on her face and when Daniel said it again she started giggling like he said something bad like "Poo" or "fart." I asked her why she was giggling like that and she acted all shy for a few minutes until I pried it out of her! She whispered "Peanut-you know like a boy's pee-pee" Oh boy! I pulled out the Peanut Butter and said "No like Peanut in Peanut butter!"
They just aren't as innocent as they look! :)

Tagged (by Tara and LaNae, I feel so special)

2008-05-25T19:39:00.000-06:00

This is an "All About Me" tag:

Four places I go to over and over.

1. The kids' school (to get Harmony from kindergarten, to take Caleb his lunch he left, and his homework he left, and his show and tell he left...love that kid)
2. The bathroom (to try and get one more page of my book in.)
3. The kitchen (do I ever really leave there?)
4. The orthodontist (Caleb's new second home)

Four people who e-mail me the most.
1. Ilene Stone (she sends me lots of forwards)
2. Kelly (he sends me things to remind him to do)
3. Herroom (I bought one bra from them and now they stalk me!)
4. Dad (that is not really true but I am hoping if I visulize it happening it will :))
(I am the parathensee (sp?) queen)

Four of my favorite foods.
1. Guacamole
2. Chili's baby back ribs
3. Chocolate
4. Oatmeal (Ok totally not true, but I am trying psych myself into it)

Four places I'd rather be right now.
1. In bed
2. On a cruise
3. Getting a massage or a tan
4. I am happy to be home-I just wish Kelly were here. (it is 8 pm on a Sunday and he is still at meetings)

Four movies I'd watch over and over.
1. Princess Bride
2. Dan in Real Life
3. Return to me
4. Les Miserables

Five people I'm tagging.
1. Katie
2. DeAnna
3. Destiny
4. Heidi
5. Grandpa Gibson (You can do it!)

SOCCER CHAMPS

2008-05-25T19:20:00.000-06:00

Saturday May 17th was a big soccer day for the Newmans.
Daniel made his first goal of the season, he was so awesome.
Harmony made 4 goals in her game and was named MVP of the game.
She also got a nickname of Hatrick Harmony.
Making 3 goals in a game is called a Hatrick (for those like me that didn't know that before).
She is so fun to watch, she really loves the game.

Eva really enjoyed sucking on her grassy apple for most of the game.

Caleb and cub scouts

2008-05-25T19:08:00.000-06:00

Caleb recieved his Wolf badge, Leave No Trace Badge, Golden Arrow, Progress Beads, and a communication belt loop. It was a big night for him. Mom pretended like Caleb poked her with the pin and screamed "Ouch!" but then she said "Just Kidding."

Caleb's den did the skit about an invisible bench and that is why they are all in different costimes. Caleb was Inigo Montoya.

Even though Caleb and Dad did all the work, Mom got all the glory.

This was the box that Caleb and Dad made together for one of his achievents. They were finishing it right before scouts. It is really cool and heavy.

Night at the Theater

2008-05-25T18:59:00.000-06:00

Caleb's Play was on May 15th, it was "Little Mermaid's Adventures with the Pirate's of the Carribean." Caleb was a shark named Seacrest and he announced the opening of "Under the Sea Idol" he is a pro. It was a fun and good play and he got an "Academy Award" trophy, he loved that part.

Eva is not quite ready for the cultural arts. Luckily it wasn't a packed house so Mom, Dad, Harmony and Daniel took turns following her up and down the aisle and in between the chairs. She even tried to eat a chewed up peice of gum she found on the floor! AHHHH!

New Do

2008-05-25T18:48:00.000-06:00

I chopped my hair! I love it! It cool, easy, and kinda sassy! When Harmony saw it she said, "Mom you look like the girl on hairspray, just your hair though, not your body!" Daniel said, "Your hair got fat, Mom." Kids are so good for egos.

California Adventure

2008-05-14T14:43:00.000-06:00

Highlights at California Adventure:

Harmony: She had wanted her face painted at Disneyland the day before, but it was $17 ! I told her I had some make up back at the condo and would paint her face for CA. Luckily she is young enough not to realize the artistic difference between a $17 and a free Mom job, she was happy just to be painted. Her favorite ride was "Soarin over California"

Daniel: Daniel's favorite ride was "Tower of Terror" (yeah, he barely made the height requirement.) However we didn't realize just how excited he was. Just as we got in the inside part of the ride he started wiggling and saying he had to go potty. We told him it was too late and that he just had to wait and hold it. Yeah like he has any control by that time! So yes, he peed right there on the floor just as we were about to get on the ride. When we got out I went to the ride operators and asked if we could get a front of the line pass for after we changed him. They went above and beyond-not only did they give us a pass, he also gave us a certificate for a free pair of pants for Daniel! We thought that gesture definitely outweighed the $8 pizza slice we got for lunch.

Caleb: Caleb loved, loved the "Screamin' Roller Coaster" (which so did I, so I was happy to go on it over and over again with him). It is the fastest, funnest roller coaster we have ever been on. I am so proud of my brave amusement park kids, especially because I love amusement parks so much.

Kelly: The motion sickness patch was his highlight, so that his stomach could keep up with our adventure. However he didn't dare tempt fate by riding the whirly, twirly kids rides, that falls into mine and Grandma's duties, we have the stomaches of steel.

Eva: She was just happy whenever someone was kind enough to rescue her from the stroller. She was able to ride lots of the kiddie rides and she seemed to like that. However she did not like the 3-D rides that all randomly squirt cold water in her face.

Cherish: One of my favorite rides is the "Bug's Life 3-D" ride. At one point it feels like little bugs are crawling under your feet and bum. I don't know why that cracks me up so much, especially because I hate crawling things, but it does. I feel like a bad mom though as it is happening and I am laughing my head off while half the kids are crying their eyes out!

Disneyland

2008-05-14T14:13:00.000-06:00

Our first day at Disneyland was full of adventures. Just getting there was the scariest ride of the day for me. We had a pretty tight arrival schedule so that we didn't mess up our Ridemax itinerary (Ridemax was a program Kelly found that formed an itinerary for us for Disneyland and California adventure that minimized wait times in line, it really worked!). What Ridemax didn't account for was LA traffic. So Kelly has one had and one eye on the steering wheel, the other hand and eye are on the GPS on his phone, at the same time he is weaving in and out of traffic and exits, with Dad Newman trying to keep up behind us. We finally get to the entrance with less time than we had hoped so Kelly and Dad dropped of all the women and kids while they figured out the parking maze. In the end, we made it on time and kept our precious itinerary.
The next big event was right after the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience Ride" our big group of 10 headed over to "Peter Pan" about halfway there Mom Newman yells "Do you have Caleb up there?" We didn't, and Caleb was lost. I had Eva asleep in my arms, so Cindy and I stayed with the kids and Mom, Dad, and Kelly set off in different directions. After about 15 mins. of not hearing anything I called Kelly on his cell phone to hear if there was any word. Kelly said there was no sign of Caleb but that he had just contacted a sercurity agent and he was going to help us. I decided to go post guard by the ride we had just gotten off of to see if he would think to come back to where he had last seen us. Dad was on his way back from Peter Pan saying he hadn't seen him. I was stressed and worried, but as I kept repeating the prayer in my head and heart, "Please let him be ok, please let him be ok." I felt peaceful, that it was going to be ok. After a half an hour of frantic searching we got a call from the security people that they had him at the "Peter Pan" ride and that he was ok. We raced over there and that is when my tears fells as I hurried over, wiping them as I ran. Caleb had heard us say that we were going to the "Peter Pan" ride and when he got behind and lost us he figured that is where we would be. He didn't know where it was so he asked strangers on his way over where the "Peter Pan" ride was, they directed him to the right place. When he got there and didn't see us out side of the ride, he "excuse me" his way to the front of the line looking for us. When he got to the front and we were still not there he decided to wait until we showed up. Finally a worker noticed him and asked where his family was he said "I don't know, they should be here!" that is when they called the security and we got the word. I think Caleb got hugged and squeezed more that day than he has in a while. What a releif and the day wasn't even half over yet! The security worker suggested that we write down Kelly's cell number and put it in the kids' pockets in case we lost anyone else, Daniel decided to wear it on his tongue just to make sure he was safe.
All in all we had a great day that was lots of fun!

The Beach

2008-04-27T16:44:00.000-06:00

The first full Day in California we went to the beach. Along with all the other people in the state! There are a lot of people...everywhere you look, drive, are. That is always hard for this country girl to get used to.
We went to Huntington Beach. The sand and water were beautiful. The water was cold but that did not stop the kids. They invented a game where they would stand at the water's edge and as the wave came in they would run from it. Pretty original.....at least they thought so.
Dad and Daniel buried Harmony and then Daniel got buried "first, after Harmony." Caleb liked playing baseball with Dad and Mom. Kelly got hit in the head with a plastic shovel by a little3 year old, german girl (who thought she was hilarious, so did me and the little girl's mom.)
Eva would crawl a few feet and lick the sand, crawl a few more feet and lick the sand. We let her crawl to the waters edge as a wave came in and then she screamed from the cold. I was comforting and holding her and looked up to see a life guard running into the water to rescue someone. He got out about waist deep look around and came back in. I think he was responding to Eva's blood curdling scream but didn't know where it came from. I didn't have the guts to tell him it was my sadistic game of "watch the baby react to the freezing cold water."

2008-04-27T16:23:00.000-06:00

The Newman Family went to California for Spring Break. We had a great time! It was warm and wonderful! This first collage is the stops we made on the way down. We stopped at the St. George Temple visitor's center, where we had heard (from LaNae Call's blog) that there was a great scultpure exhibit at the visitor's center. We got there 5 mins. before closing and begged them to let us see the sculptures. They were very incredible. The sculpture is Angela Johnson (I think) she used to be an opera singer and then one day took up sculpting for the heck of it, and found that she had a talent for it. (Where was I that talent day in Pre-mortality?).
We also stopped in the ghost town of Calico. Not as impressive. But it was fun to get out of the car and play around.

April is Birthday Month

2008-04-06T10:39:00.000-06:00

Eva's birthday is today! April 6th, 1 year old today!

Daniel's birthday is Aril 21st, he will be 5.

Harmony's birthday is April 17th, she will be 6.

2008-04-06T10:21:00.000-06:00

Soccer Season is starting!
Daniel and Harmony are playing this spring season. Caleb said he wanted to but only for the treats. We told him we would bring him treats to all the games if he would practice with the family at home.

We have been practicing on the few days that it has been warm enough to. We play boys against girls. So far it is 1 to 1. (Good thing the girls have Harmony or we wouldn't stand a chance!). Daniel waffles between teams, although that has less to do with gender confusion than who will let him have the ball more.

Harmony was actually recruited for her soccer team this season by one of the other dads. That was pretty cool.

Kelly will be Daniel's coach.

Fun times!

Eva is growing up

2008-04-06T09:33:00.000-06:00

Eva is learning to pull herself up to everything. She thinks she is pretty cool when she does this, she has a big smiles, and laughs and bounces. The problem is she doesn't quite know how to get down, once she is up.

When I put her down for a nap, she immedialtley pops back up, getting herself stuck, until I come in to cuddle her and then lay her back down. The first day we did this routine, I had to lay her down 5 times! (Who is really in charge there?)

The kids have been helping to teach her to get down. They will pry her hands off of whatever she holding onto and then let her fall to her bum. Luckily she laughs her head off when they do it (the diapers are great padding). She is getting to the point now where she has tried this for herself, she doesn't laugh when she does it her self, but she does get this look of amazement that she did it.

Daniel's Eggy

2008-03-27T20:02:00.000-06:00

Daniel has adopted a hard boiled egg as his son. His name is Eggy. Daniel gave him a bath, dried him off and put him to bed. By morning however, Eggy had cracked, after that Daniel told me he didn't want a cracked son and that I could eat him!

Easter toys and clothes

2008-03-27T19:58:00.000-06:00

The kids in their Easter clothes given to them by Grandma Newman in their Easter basket. The also got some toys from her.

Caleb the Composer

2008-03-27T19:56:00.000-06:00

Caleb is writing music lately. Here is a song about going into the army. You can't see by the picture very well but he has written out a music staff with labeled notes and words. My little Beethoven!

Latest Family Photo

2008-03-27T19:55:00.000-06:00

Kelly got a new camera so we tried out some family photos on Easter. We couldn't quite get what we wanted, but this is the best.

Orphanage Painting

2008-03-17T21:34:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of Del and Lynette Parson after the painting was finished for our orphanage in Ecuador.

test test test

I am a total follower!

2008-01-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

All my life I have thought myself a true, unique individual. For example my parents have given me a unique name-Cherish. I haven't ran into any other Cherish's in my life (30 whole years!). However a lot of people that I meet say "I know a Cherish, or I went to high school with a Cherish" Where are all these Cherishs? There is even one in my stake (supposedly) I haven't met her yet. Intresting. I also made it a point in high school to "be weird" I wore the retro clothes before they were cool and felt it my personal mission to include all misfits. However I have come to the conclusion that I am not so unique I am actually a big follower!
For example although I claim not to have enough time to watch T.V. I am a major Lost, 24, Prison Break and Office fan! (Thank Heavens for DVR!) I used to be a big American Idol fan, but who can I fit it in any more? I see you all nodding with me. (That was a funny moment actually imagining that anyone will read this :))
Here is my latest followerness. I made a mental note not to make any weightloss resolutions. Yet I went the Weight Watchers website and checked out their meeting schedules. In all my other years of making resolutions for weight loss I haven't done much, but when I actually decide not to make goals for it, I actually take action. Am I my own devil's advocate? But here is the kicker. There is no registration fee in January for all of us non-weight loss resolutioners! I am followng the weight loss crowd right into the meetings, and paying someone to tell me to eat less and excercise more! It will work this time, I know it!
I am not sure why I need them, I already have my own weight-loss solution. I get on the scale and if the weight is too much, I get off and turn the little knob a few pounds below the zero, then get back on and feel so much better! (Another thing we all do!)
So here I am following all of you, following all of them doing the blog craze!
It is nice to fit in.

Welcome

2007-10-31T19:28:00.001-06:00

More coming soon!

Check back later . . .