School just started this week in Croatia. My two older girls are in a Croatian school and they amaze me at how well they blend in there. They are the only non-Croat, non-Catholic, non-white (well, they're half :-)) non-native speaker in the whole school, yet they do so well. They can converse with the perfect accent with both English and Croatian. My oldest one is now studying German in 4th grade and in a few years, she can be fluent in that, too. They can do math, grammar in both languages. They are both excellent students. My youngest one still stays home with me and it will be a sad day when I send her off to kindergarten in a few years.
The
Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge this week is to make a card that will encourage your children. It was a good reminder not to take my babies for granted. As missionary kids, they face more challenges than kids their age in America or Croatia. My husband and I voluntarily signed up to be missionaries. They just happened to be born in a family of one. Another term others use to refer to them is "third culture kids." They are neither fully American, nor are they fully Croatian, but they seem to embrace both very well. And for that I am thankful. God has truly blessed me with great kids and I pray that my DH and I will raise them in the ways of the Lord. Nothing will give me more joy than raising godly, kind, compassionate kids.
Here are my girls:
For my cards, I used the free images that
Mo's Digital Pencil is offering at her
PaperCraft Planet Group. I had so much fun coloring these with Copics. Mo is one talented artist. I also used my current favorite embellishment on these, which are buttons (for the
Stamp Something challenge).
Here are the cards I made for them. This one is for Katy, my youngest, and it follows
Sketch #3 of the Caardvarks challenge). She kinda looks like this cute Japanese girl and she loves kittens. She is very sweet and will tell me she loves me just because. The other day, she ran into my arms and said, "I can stay here forever." Awww, isn't that sweet?
This one, which follows the
Crazy 4 challenges sketch, is for Gaby, my 2nd child. This happy image reminds me of her. She loves to laugh and people are naturally drawn to her. She's very cuddly and compassionate and will be the first one to offer to help me at home. She is also my most crafty. She loves making cards with me.
This one is for Gracie, my oldest and it follows
Sketch #2 of the Caardvarks challenge and the
ABC Challenge to use die cuts (I used the Spellbinders tags). She loves to read. I colored the image to match her favorite pants and shirt. Gracie is a thinker, very smart and mature for her age. She just absorbs everything like a sponge. And I've been able to count on her for many things around the house.
Thank you for letting me share about my girls. I am a truly blessed MOM. God is good!
