Proud Mommy Moment

Today, I had to ask the Lord to show me what He's trying to teach me through little Miss HVN. She is a meek and quiet spirit, at times. I call her a Selective Introvert/Extrovert. I pray I can learn to hold my tongue as she does.
This Intro/Extrovert sure gave me a Proud Mommy Moment tonight. Read on...
She attends Cubbies every wednesday night. This year she has not said one, not one of her verses. So therefore, she has not earned a one patch or award. Every week, we read the story, practice the verse, puzzle the verse etc.
This past weekend I ask why she is having such a hard time saying her verses in Cubbies. She said, "Mommy, I go to say it and I can't talk!" So I ask her, is it because your nervous or others are talking? She answered with "both". So, what else am I to do but pray with her and ask the Lord to calm her spirit and help her to speak freely when she needs to, especially at Cubbies.
Well, tonight I went to pick her up and ask her teacher if she said her verse...John 3:16...in which we spoke about on Sunday night together. Then she went school on Tuesday and her verse of the week was John 3:16 and we opened up her Cubbies book this week and her verse is John 3:16. I got to explain to her that the Lord really wanted her to know and understand this verse. It was being studied at home, school and church. I took that as pretty important!!!
Back to my Proud Mommy Moment....
So I ask, did she say her verse tonight? Her Cubbies teacher asnswered with "Not only did she say her verse of John 3:16,  we went through the book and she said all 10 verses for this year and earned all her awards."
I can't tell you how proud I am of her, but more importantly I'm thrilled that the Lord showed her He answeres prayer when we call on Him for help. I celebrated with her and reminded her of our prayer. That's huge for a child.
The proud part of me came when I thought of it more...Im so thankful she could say all 10 now and not just the days we studied them. I know there in her heart if she said them all in one evening.
This lead us to talking about "Hiding God's Word in Our hearts so we might not sin against Him."
O, how I love being Mommy and all God has given us in these girls. How precious to experience moments like these...there are no words big enough to explain my heart right now!
Thank you Lord, May the Holy Spirit use these verses to draw her heart to Yourself!

Selective Introvert

This little sweet pea is a tender tender soul. Feeling compassion on the sick and hurting, loving to give and pray for others. She is Miss Personality in so many ways...however she saves that for home among us. Often not speaking a word to those she sees weekly, some count it as shy. She has expressed times to me when she wants to speak yet she exxplains it as "I cant talk", "I get nervous." I get that.

Well, see it here....she loves to sing and dance!



Nov. 10th

Emmi came to us last January, barely speaking a word. She's been to every Dr. and Therapist available to bring her to this point. At which many thought she would have retention issues. We carried on through prayer and working with her knowing she is sharp as a tac!

Ultimately, we give Jesus credit as we have petitioned Him for her healing and success. On Nov. 10th, coming down the mountain E burst out in song and it didn't sound like retention issues at all...ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ!!!

From The Mind of One of Our Teens

 

While on our Annual Fall Retreat with our students the girls were completely spoiled by all of their "Big Sisters!" Which is what they call our High School girls. Well, Taylor Lisco wrote this after the trip with this picture:

"These are two of the most beautiful little girls I know, at such a young age they bring such joy to people's lives and I consider myself blessed to know them. They are also two of the luckiest little girls, Rick and Michelle Nicely are some of the most wonderful parents I've ever seen. I consider them a second set of parents and their love for these little girls amazes me every day. The whole family's love for God is beautiful. Love goes beyond whether your child is biologically yours and the Nicely's prove that every single day."

 

My heart skipped a beat after reading Taylor's post, it's exactly what we hope to teach our students.

Happy 3rd Birthday Emmi

Our sweet Emmi has turned 3. It's amazing to us and her OT and Speech Therapst as to how far she has come this year. We believe its the touch of God's hand in her life causing sweet peace to come over her. She's putting sentences together, counting and understanding the basic details of life. The colors and educational things will come. Right now we are concentrating on loving her, helping her to learn obedience and social skills. When we rescued Emmi we had no idea how much she didn't know. It's truly amazing what a little TLC will do for a child.
Let alone the love a sibling that adores her. God gave HVN a heart for Emmi early last year and we never stopped praying until God gave her to us. HVN heard all those prayers and believes in her heart that Emmi is a gift and "she's special."

 

Happy Birthday Sweet Promised One!!!

 

 



 

 

 

Love These Smiles

 

 

Fall Vacation

Our Annual Fall Camping trip was so much fun. We found a new place not far from home that we fell in love with. We rested, swam, played games, rode bikes, rode horses, skipped rocks, met up with friends, did campfires and enjoyed our together time. God is sooo good to bless us more than we deserve.
HVN is doing well in school and loving it. On the way to our vacation she randomly said, "I love Ms. R, she's gonna miss me this week." True!
E is thriving in her therapy with OT and Speech. Her sentences are still cute but much more clear. HVN understands her best.
It's so sweet to watch how much they love one another...and argue that much too. Guess they are truly sisters or the both wouldn't happen.
HVN towers over the kids in her class. Her long legs are in a 5t. She is still quite shy but is warming up by this 6th week of school.
E on the other hand doesn't meet a stranger and would go home with anyone. She is good at making HVN feel comfortable wherever we go. Neat how they help one another.
This is our favorite time of the year, campfires happen as much as possible. Rick and Ibow  hunt together and the girls love the outdoors.
May we ever be thankful for this Season and the others where God is continuing molding us as families. Blessings to you!