Panama Temple

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

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

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!