Just a Swangin'

 I have so many pictures of Abigail swinging in our little neighborhood park in Tulsa. This afternoon as I was pushing Claire I just decided I needed a cute swangin' pic of the littlest princess. She was loving it and I was sure enjoying the joy it brought her to fly high! She kept telling me "Go faster Mommy, Go Faster." I feel like I need to tell her "Go slower, Claire, Go slower!" Time seems to be going by far too quickly!

Storytelling Festival

 On Friday we ventured out for a local festival: Storytelling Festival. They set up three large tents on the beach of Cave Run Lake and bring in nationally recognized storytellers. Our homeschool group organized a field trip so we decided to join in on the fun. The kids did enjoy it...the stories were very entertaining but after sitting all morning they were ready to go explore. A funny from Andrew: "Mom, that smell is awful. Why does it smell like fish?".....

 The afternoon we spent exploring, a nature walk, fun at the playground and throwing rocks into the lake.

Look who is officially on the October Calendar!!

 

Grandmommie, Aunt Becky, Mimi & Papa are all coming in less than 25 days! We leave for Haiti a month from today! Looking forward to fun, full days in October! 

Fall Fun

 We decided to seize the day this morning and go on a little walk to see some of the fall colors in the trees. They are starting to change around here.

 We found a park and decided to play!

"Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—  making the most of the time, because the days are evil. " Ephesians 5:15-16 This verse has been on my heart the past couple of days. My bible says "redeem the time" and I really believe that homeschooling is a gift from the Lord to my family to help us do just that. We are able to spend time together, learn together, explore together, play together and study God's word together. They are growing so fast and learning so much! It is such a short season I am learning. God is redeeming the time for us and I am so thankful!

Happy Fall! It's time to break out the boots!!

There is something extra sweet about girls in boots and tights! Love these girls!

Darbens: This guy is special.

 

This is Darbens. He is one of our little ones in Haiti that we sponsor. He just turned 3 in August and he is so special to us. We picked Darbens because he had a birthday in August. We have two August babies that we never were able to hold, see, snuggle or share life with. August is hard as we remember the loss and hold onto the hope of seeing them one day in Heaven. In choosing children to sponsor we wanted to sponsor a child born in August so that it would be a reminder of God's faithfulness and love to us as we celebrated that child's life every year. Darbens was the one the Lord led us to. We did not know that he had a medical condition. When Dustin visited the Hands and Feet Village in Haiti back in January we found out that Darbens has a mild case of Celbral Palsy. I knew the term but didn't know what it meant. Celbral Palsy refers to a group of disorders affecting a person’s ability to move. It is a permanent life-long condition, but generally does not worsen over time. It is due to damage to the developing brain either during pregnancy or shortly after birth. Cerebral palsy affects people in different ways and can affect body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. People who have cerebral palsy may also have visual, learning, hearing, speech, epilepsy and intellectual impairments. We did not know that Darbens had a medical issue. The Lord knew. What I believe is so remarkable about the Lord is that I know that many times in grieving for those children that are not with us now my heart kept thinking that something must have been wrong..... I started studying a little about miscarriage and found out that in at least 60 percent of miscarriages are thought to be caused by mismatched chromosomes. What does that mean? Chromosomes are the tiny structures in each cell that carry our genes; we each have 23 pairs of them, one set from our mother and one set from our father. Sometimes, when the egg and sperm meet, one or the other is faulty and then the chromosomes can’t line up properly. In that case, the resulting embryo has a chromosomal abnormality and the pregnancy usually results in a miscarriage. Couples who experience two or more miscarriages in a row sometimes learn, through medical testing, that they have chromosomal anomalies that don’t affect them, but do prevent a pregnancy from taking hold. All I know is this information seemed to help in some small way. I knew that God was in total control. I trusted that His plans for me were the best plans. I love the fact that He cares about every detail of our lives in that He would weave a little boy into our lives that was born in August and was born with a medical issue. He was born special. A special reminder to our family that I believe the Lord is continuing to show His love, faithfulness and goodness in. I can't wait to see this special little boy scoot all over the orphanage in his new wheels! Lord willing, only 33 days away! 

Art is AWESOME!

The boys are really enjoying the homeschool co-op art class every other Friday. We love Ms. Annette and her great inspiring ideas that challenge the boys to create!!

Just a Fun Fall Day

Meet Wadley Man

This is Wadley. He is one of the four children that we sponsor at The Hands and Feet Project. I saw this picture posted today in our family of sponsors Facebook room and my heart just leapt. In 46 days I will be with this little boy. I will know exactly where this picture was taken. I just might be able to be the person pushing this precious boy for a ride on this swing. My heart is overwhelmed at trying to grasp this honestly. We are really going. I can't wait to see this smile in person and hug him if I can catch him. I hear that he is a mischievous little one and likes to play with the pack of boys. Just a bit ago I was unloading our groceries and the song "Kings and Queens" by Audio Adrenaline came on. I found myself just loving this one lyric: "Tell me, if not us then who will love the least of these?" I am so glad we can go. I am so thankful the Lord chose us to lead this team. I am so looking forward to loving on these precious children that the world looks at as the least of these. I am so thankful our Heavenly Father simply sees them as His children and longs for them to know Him. Soon Wadley. Lord willing, we will see you soon.

Celebrating 50 days of Homeschool!

Today was our 50th day of homeschool for our year long T3 Academy. We have been having fun and learning so much! We have memorized 12 scriptures, explored 7 Chapters in the gospel of John, traveled through 700 years of American History, Read Squanto and the story of Sarah Witcher, painted and colored more pictures than I know what to do with, worked on our penmanship and the boys have almost completed a whole semester of math! Abigail is doing really well too! She has completed 246 pages in her preschool workbook and can recognize most of her letters. She loves to do worksheets. Claire is just funny. She is doing well with staying busy and she says out of the blue most everyday "Shhhh, I am working hard here." And she is. Working hard at staying busy. We started out with our school time mostly in the mornings but found out that it worked better for us to get our chores done in the mornings and school completed in the afternoons. The boys are doing really well and wanting to visit all of the historical places now: Plymouth (Pilgrims landed), Philadelphia (where the Liberty bell rang), New York City (First Capitol of America), Washington DC...and the list goes on. We are going to Louisville in November to the World Health Missions Conference and plan to visit an old plantation and a colonial home so they can understand what life was like in colonial times. This has been a fun thing about the Lord moving us to Kentucky. We are much closer to be able to visit a bunch of very historical places. We can actually take the train to many places and the stop is about an hour from our home. We have joined the Christian Homeschool group here in town that has about 40 families this year. The boys started having art class every other Friday and the first lesson was awesome!! I can't wait to get the project completed and hung on their wall! They really loved it and I am excited to have a great inspiring teacher to challenge them and guide them in creating art. They are also taking piano once a week which is going really well although they do miss their teacher in Cushing. There is no one like Ms. Holly. New adventures are fun! 50 days of learning down. Not every day has goes super smooth but I am learning to go with the flow, be flexible and seek out the moments to teach even outside of our "classroom". God continues to redeem our time if we continue to put Him first and that is a very good thing for The Cupp Crew.

It's a Wedding!

Here they are all lined up...in the balcony to watch the big day!

This is Tyler. I love this picture, he was closing his eyes to soak it all in as Brianna came down the isle.

 Bri & Tyler asked Dustin to pray over them during the wedding.

Such a precious couple that we have had the honor of getting to know the past 8 months. We went through a bible study with them this spring to help mentor them as they prepared to get married. It was such a neat time to be with them and share with them what the Lord has taught us and continues to teach us through the gift of marriage. We are so proud of them and their walk with the Lord. They both are joining us on our first trip to Haiti in October! The Lord has such great and mighty plans for them and we are so thrilled that He brought us here to Kentucky to be a part in their story. It sure is amazing how God continues to weave lives together for His glory!