Our Big Kindergartener and PreKindergartener at Trinity Christian School

Well, it's November and I am just now getting to write about Ford and Milly's "first day of school" at their incredible school that God sooo amazingly led us to - Trinity Christian School - trinitycs.org. We could not be happier with their school and teachers. (Stephen went to Trinity in Montgomery. Ford loves that he and Daddy both are Trinity boys:) ) God has provided above and beyond what we could have asked or imagined in this school. It's incredible, an "Ebenezer" for sure. (The internet defines an Ebenezer as a "stone of help," or a reminder of God’s Real, Holy Presence and Divine aid." Love that.) We have definitely felt his divine aid and presence in this whole process. I want to document this huge milestone on our blog since this is like a family journal/scrapbook in a way. We had settled on going to a public school, when we realized how expensive the private schools are out here. We turned in our 5 "choices" for the lottery system, since our neighborhood school is so underperforming. A few weeks after we turned in our choices and released the decision to God's Sovereignty, trusting that Ford's name would be drawn for the public school best for him and our family, I "randomly" ran into the mom of one of Ford's old preschool buddies and she told me about Trinity Christian School. The next day, I found information sheets about Trinity in Ford's preschool cubby from this mom. To my surprise, under "Tuition", I read "50% Tuition Discount for full-time ordained pastors". I was stunned. God provides abundantly. This was not something we ever knew to pray for:) After touring, we knew this school was where God was leading our family. We are so thankful.
On the first day of Kindergarten, Ford woke up ready to go. Our sweet boy came out of his room all dressed and ready for school - his uniform shirt inside out and major bedhead, but we were so proud of his "big boy efforts." I wrote down some of the sweet things Ford said in the car on our drive to his first day of Kindergarten. We were all 5 packed in the car for this once-in-a-lifetime day. Ford: "Daddy, you can't stay in Kindergarten with me. It's not for big people." As Dad then pretends to weep, Ford begins to feel sorry for Daddy and pipes in, "Well, I'll ask my teachers if you can stay." He is so soft-hearted. Then Ford proceeds to say, "Dad, you might cry when you leave me. But, it's okay if you leave me Dad. I'm not scared." How great to be comforted by your own child heading into to such a big new stage. It was also precious to our ears to hear Ford and Milly talking sweetly to each other -"Let's play together on the playground at recess today." Virginia Grace was their shadow at "Meet the Teacher Day", even putting her own little purse in Ford's cubby. I love the way the school starts each day outside the classrooms saying the pledges - to the American flag, the Christian flag, and to the Bible. Ford was proudly first in his class's line for the pledges on the 1st day:) He is quite the leader and confident little guy. We just had his first Teacher-Parent conference, and his teachers - Mrs. Axe (who dresses up as the "Mad Scientist" to teach science) and Mrs. Drummond who has her masters in reading, said he is thriving. His area needing improvement was his "chattiness." They say he is just a social, active 5-year-old boy with a loud voice that he uses when he is passionate about his answer in circle time. The teachers find it actually endearing, and they said, "Maybe he will be called to be a pastor like Daddy or a missionary one day." It is precious to see Ford yelling "Hello" to almost everyone in the school, calling each student, teacher, and even other parents by name. Our dear family friend, Mamie, said recently about our "People-Loving Ford", "That is so like God - calling each person by name." His teachers said that he is loved by all of his peers, a real leader. I have spotted him many times chasing and being chased by the 1st grade girls especially - Yikes. One of my favorite school moments this fall was when Ford came home from school eager to tell me what he had learned in his science lesson about the Body. He excitedly tells me, "When you eat, your food goes down your throat, into your tummy, and then into your LARGE AND SMALL TESTAMENTS." Hysterical to us - pastor's boy mixes up the Bible and science words. Another highlight of his fall was writing his "autobiography" to share with his class. He dictated what he wanted me to write for him. He began with, "Mom and dad were so excited when they picked me up from the hospital and adopted me." We are so happy that he is confident in his adoption and that he wanted to share that with his class. We pray he will always see his adoption as such a SPECIAL, unique, beautiful part of his story. Ford LOVES learning, loves his teachers, and loves his new school friends.
Our wonderful Milly Moo is as happy and confident as I have ever seen her. Thank you God! She is one of the older ones on her Pre-Kindergarten class, and the younger girls really like to play with her. She is our introvert, quietly and intensely enjoying every school activity given to her. She tries to do precisely what her teacher says when it comes to her class work. She is focused. One day her teacher, Mrs. Murphy, told the class that they would have to write their name 4 times since they had 4 worksheets, none of which were front and back sheets (they only have to write their name once on front and back worksheets). So, Mrs. Murphy peered at Milly's sheet to find "Milly, Milly, Milly, Milly" written, as she had said, 4 times at the top of each page:) Mill Mill recently had a teachable moment when she was caught lying - her teacher found her grilled fish that I had packed in her lunchbox in the trashcan, and Milly had just told her that she had eaten it all. Lots of good character building going on in these precious early years. We have gotten off to a super blessed start at "Big School." I am going to include some pictures from our fall at Trinity. Hope you smile as you see Ford and Milly's confident, growing souls at this most precious life-giving school.

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Our Phabulous Phelan Trio

This our our most recent phamily pic at the mall, thanks to Mamie giving us her portrait package. I love how each one of our little buddies looks just like his/her personality in this picture - Ford, proud and protective big brother; Milly, shy and content; Jo Jo, HAPPY:) It's so much fun to see all of them together lately, now that Virginia Grace can pretty much do what Sissy and "Bubby" do (at least she tries). We call her "Tweedle" because she is always a step behind Ford and Mill, mimicking every move they make:) It's a fun season in our household. I'm thankful.

Our Magical Disneyland Trip This Summer

We had the most amazing week at Disney with Cici and Doc, Aunt Criss, Uncle E, and James Hunter. It was truly magical. We are so grateful to Cici and Doc for this trip of a lifetime. Our kiddos were at such a fun age to go to Disneyland because they still LOVED seeing all of the characters (and getting their signatures at Goofy's Kitchen), and at the same time, they really liked Space Mountain and the "big kid" rides (like their "big kid" Mama and Daddy). Ford's favorite character was Dale, Milly's was Chip, and Virginia Grace's was "Puto." We stayed at the most wonderful home right by Disney. The pool, hot tub, and all of the fun toys at the rental home were at the top of the list of favorites. Milly and Ford each picked out a "severe", as they called souvenirs. Ford chose a Cars Lego set and Milly chose to make a stuffed Hello Kitty at Build-A-Bear, which she named Bella. We made such amazing memories. When can we go back?! :)

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Jo Jo's 1st day of school - 2011 *Make sure you pause music at bottom of blog page so you can hear videos:)

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Virginia Grace's 1st Day of School

Virginia Grace had her first day of "school" yesterday. It's just a mothers'-morning-out at a local methodist church. She is excited, though. We ask her if she wants to go to school, and she nods her head over and over. So cute. Every day that she and I dropped ford and milly off at their preschool last year, she'd cry wanting to stay. She's goin on Thursdays from 9:30-12:30 (for $10/day - great deal:) ) Thought I'd share a Phelan milestone:) Ford starts Kindergarten (Mill, Pre-K) at Trinity Christian School on Wed:) Pray for them on Wed at 8:30 our time, and for me. I am sure I'll shed some tears when I drop my baby off at "big school". God so faithfully led us to Trinity. We are in awe of the school and the godly teachers that God has given us! We went to an outdoor movie ("Soul Catchers" - GREAT movie!) tonight at their school. Ford got to talk to both of his teachers at the movie tonight, and he met a little girl who is going to be in his class. We are all excited (and a little nervous, both Ford and Mill say) to start a new phase of our phamily life with the real school routine. Thought I'd share a few pics of Jo Jo's 1st day of school, and more will follow of Ford and Milly's 1st day at Trinity.

Here's a copy of an email from our dear friend, Mary (from Huntsville, AL but lives out here now. "Mamie" is a part of our family and a special influence in Jo Jo's life:)). She so eloquently wrote out what we'd love to pray for Virginia Grace and her time in school, beginning now and for years to come:

Praying for her first day of school to be the start of a lifelong journey of the love of learning, growing, being invested in by others/teachers/leaders, and a thirst for knowledge (including a knowledge of Truth and Wisdom). Praying that she would quickly pick up on social cues and appropriateness with other kids, as well as how to respond to leadership and guidance. That the Lord would give her a vulnerable and humble mind, open to all things new, yet to have wisdom to discern which things are sacred to carry with her, and which things are not of the Father. Praying that the Lord would begin to develop in her a sensitive heart and eyes to see those students on the fringes of her class that may not be as loveable/likeable by others, and that she would have the courage and security to love those "less popular". Praying that she would begin, even at such an early age, to have a burden to carry the Gospel into her classroom. Not sure if that makes sense. Just praying for the Lord to keep developing in her the compassionate heart that we've all seen since day 1.

Oh this is such a big day! As you can see, I"m praying HUGE things for tomorrow! :) (I know it's just mother's morning out....but it's a milestone for her life ahead of learning corporately and in community).

Mallie "Luv Luv" Phelan

Well, of course I would much rather be writing a post with good news than bad, but I do want to share the latest Phelan Pham news which brings grief and sorrow to our souls. We found out we were pregnant a week and a half ago. We were QUITE surprised as we were trying to not get pregnant. But, we of course welcomed with great joy the unexpected miracle bestowed upon us by the Lord. We had just talked over our 12th anniversary dinner about the possibility of a 4th Phelan, and we both felt like God has a 4th child in our phamily at some point, just not yet. We also felt like we needed to keep praying about whether God would lead us to adopt again (we LOVE adoption, of course:) ) or if we would go for pregnancy again. Well, we were pregnant at that anniversary dinner and God already knew He had given us an 8th Phelan little one (one precious son out of womb, 2 healthy little girls in womb, and 5 little ones taken to heaven before we could hold them). We have been so excited for the short week and a half that we have known, and Ford and Milly have been, too. Before we told Milly and Ford, Milly asked, "Mom, when are you going to be pregnant?" (She's been telling me that "Jo Jo (as Ford and Mill call her) is too big for her now and she wants another baby in the family.") We took her question as the cue for when we should tell them. Ford did a fist pump in excitement and Milly, our questioner, asked, "Really? There's a REAL baby in your tummy? YEAH!! How is the baby going to get out?" (She has asked that question several times and I have just told her, "Why don't you ask Daddy about that?" Milly then decided we should call the baby "Luv Luv", so that instantly became the baby's womb name. We made a shirt for Virginia Grace to wear around the house out of one of Ford's old white undershirts that said, "I'm a BIG sister!" It was so cute to see her running around the house in the shirt, clueless about what the shirt declared:) Mallie Drew, a fellow Mountain Brook High School grad, was an intern with our church for the past month, and she was the HUGEST blessing to all 6 of our phamily. Ford, Milly, and VG LOVED "Mae Mae". They preferred her over Mama many times :) She spoiled 'em good. Milly is still talking about how "Miss Mallie" gave her chocolate chip pound cake for breakfast. Luv Luv loved Mallie as well because Mallie was the first person we told about his/her life. Mallie was staying in our office for the month, so we instantly wanted to tell our wonderful Mallie our great, surprising news. Tears of joy filled Mallie's eyes when we told her and she immediately began praising God and praying for Luv Luv. Stephen and I also LOVED the gift of Mallie for her many gifts she bestowed upon our family, upon our marriage (she kept the kids after we found out about the pregnancy so that we could have a celebration date. She had a box of Ghiradelli chocolate squares on my pillow when I got home to satisfy my pregnancy cravings.), and upon our disorganized home. As Stephen told her, "Our home has never had this much Shalom due to the order and organization." Several friends said that they never had seen the top of my desk until Mallie helped me clean it off and organize the clutter:) THANK YOU, Mallie, for your amazing faithfulness, for the way you served and loved and prayed and spurred me on to abide more and more in Jesus! Mallie recommended two books, "Come Away My Beloved" and "Hinds Feet On High Places", that have helped me through the grief of this miscarriage. As you can tell, Mallie has blessed us and our pregnancy greatly. So, we wanted to name our 8th Phelan "Mallie Luv Luv Phelan" after precious Mallie Drew.

We are so grateful that Luv Luv is in heaven with Jesus, yet we ache deeply, wishing we could've held our little one. (Milly and I thought it was a girl, Ford thought it was "both" - YIKES! Twins- and Virginia Grace replied, "Boy" when we asked her. Stephen just hoped for a healthy boy or girl.) God was so sweet to me last night as I lay sadly in bed, longing for Luv Luv. I felt him impress on my heart that He wanted me to feast on something in His Word before I ate my leftover pizza. So, He led me to 2 Samuel: 12:15-23, subtitled "David's Child Dies." As I read along, my heart smiled and became more and more encouraged as I digested the words of David, a fellow brother and parent who had gone before me. "David's servants said to Him, 'What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child dies, you arose and ate food.' David said, 'While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.' " Wow. That was so intimate and personal of God to speak to me through the Scripture like that. And God added comfort on comfort through sweet Ford this morning when Ford said, "Mom, we will see Luv Luv in heaven one day." The beautiful, simple faith of a child. Milly's still asking questions, wondering why Luv Luv wasn't healthy and if Luv Luv is still in my tummy. And Virginia Grace, our bundle of JOY (We prayed for her while she was still in womb that she'd be full of joy, and her Creator surely answered that prayer) is still just full speed ahead, bringing us smiles and laughter. This morning Stephen read Isaiah 14:27 out loud to me, and once again, His Word drenched me with peace. "For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out and who can turn it back?" He also used a framed verse in la casa de mi amiga latino, Lilia. (We were at her nephew's 6th bday party today. The doctor told me to go about normal life, so I did.) Psalm 135:6 shone out of the frame into my heart. "The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all their depths." Obviously God has carried us tenderly and intimately through this miscarriage. He is faithful. Su fidelidad es grande! Stephen and I truly believe this. It might sound trite, but it is the deep belief of our hearts! He has proven Himself faithful and good, time and time again. As we look back on our journey of having children, how can we doubt that God is GOOD and that His Providence prevails, as my wonderful brother reminded me last night. The Phelan Pham would not have Ford, Milly, or Virginia Grace if our pregnancy road had been smooth. Our timing would have been different than His, but now we wouldn't trade His path for anything. "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11 Thank you for your prayers as we continue to grieve and hope in Jesus.

May these excerpts from the Preface to "Hinds' Feet on High Places" encourage you as they have me:

• "'The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills'" (Song of Solomon 2:8). When asked what the verse meant, she [the Arab nurse of this book's author, a missionary in Palestine] looked up with a very happy smile of understanding and said, 'It means there are no obstacles which our Savior's Love cannot overcome, and that to Him, mountains of difficulty are as easy as an asphalt road!' "
• "The gazelles bounding up the mountainside, leaping from rock to rock with extraordinary grace and agility, was one of the most beautiful examples of exultant and apparently effortless ease in surmounting obstacles as I have ever seen. How deeply we who love the Lord of Love and desire to follow Him long for the power to surmount all difficulties and tests and conflicts in life in the same exultant and triumphant way. To learn the secret of victorious living has been the heart's desire of those who love the Lord, in every generation."
• "We feel we would give anything if only we could, in actual experience, live on High Places of love and victory here on this earth and during this life - able to always react to evil, tribulation, sorrow, pain, and every wrong thing in such a way that they would be overcome and transformed into something to the praise and glory of God forever. As Christians we know, in theory at least, that in the life of a child of God there are no second causes, that even the most unjust and cruel things, as well as all seemingly pointless and underserved sufferings, have been permitted by God as opportunities for us to react to them in such a way that our Lord and Savior is able to produce in us, little by little, His own lovely character."
• "The Song of Songs expresses the desire implanted in every human heart to be reunited with God Himself, and to know perfect and unbroken union with Him. He has made us for Himself, and our hearts can never know rest and perfect satisfaction until they find it in Him."
• "The High Places of victory and union with Christ cannot be reached by any mental reckoning of self to be dead to sin, or by seeking to devise some way or discipline by which the will can be crucified. The only way is by learning to accept, day by day, the actual conditions and tests permitted by God, by a continually repeated laying down of our will and acceptance of His as it is presented to us in the form of the people with whom we have to live and work, and in the things which happen to us. Every acceptance of His will becomes an altar of sacrifice, and every such surrender and abandonment of ourselves to His will is a means of furthering us on the way to the High Places to which He desires to bring every child of His while they are still living on earth."
• "The lessons of accepting and triumphing over evil, of becoming acquainted with grief, and pain, and, ultimately, of finding them transformed into something incomparably precious; of learning through constant glad surrender to know the Lord of Love Himself in a new way and to experience unbroken union with Him - these are the lessons of the allegory in this book The High Places and the hinds' feet do not refer to heavenly places after death, but are meant to be the glorious experience of God's children here and now - if they will follow the path He chooses for them. 'The Lord God maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon mine High Places' " (Ps. 18:33 and Hab. 3:19)

Watermelon in the summer:)

America's Funniest Home Video Winner?

Well, my baby is officially a Preschool Graduate. Mama has been emotional. Seems like yesterday that we held him for the first time. So, amidst my tears at the graduation ceremony, a lot of laughter emerged as Ford did the potty dance in front of the whole sanctuary as he waited for his name to be called. It's hilarious. He was pretty cool, calm, and collected about his problem. YOu gotta watch this:) If you have a Mac, it should pull up easily. IF you have a PC, you need to download Quicktime if you don't already have it. My parents downloaded it and got it to work. (It's free.) It takes a long time to pull up, but hopefully it'll work for you. (Mute the music down at the bottom of my blog page so you can hear Stephen's great commentary. We think we might enter it in America's Funniest HOme Videos:) What do you think? Ford is such a huge blessing to us all:)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25337224/FordPhelan_Graduation_Clip1.mov

Phelan Winter Phun

OOPS! The size of the video I just sent was not correct so some of the pictures got chopped off. So, here's the right one. And you actually just "Pause" the music at the bottom of my blog, not "Mute" it. Can you believe we had this much snow less than an hour from San Diego? Spring has sprung here now, though.

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Our AMAZING Three!

Vivacious Gentle 1-Year-Old Virginia Grace ("Gingy", "JoJo")

Merry Artistic 4-Year-Old Milly

Fabulous Fiesty Five-Year-Old Ford

Our Phelan version of Christmas Vacation

I love my sweet "Clark Griswold," who had no problem waking up the neighbors at 9:00 pm. I had to put this pic in the blog archives so we'll never forget that fun night when my hubby became determined to have a healthy Christmas tree. The lights were already strung and the tree was securely in the stand, but that didn't hold him back from reversing his course, tediously taking the lights off, and grabbing the chain saw late at night so as to make sure the trunk was freshly cut for best saturation. (When we bought our tree, they did cut the bottom of the tree off at the lot, but "Clark" felt like it needed one more slicing.) Hilarious family night. And, the good news... it paid off and our tree was healthy and proudly green and upright until January 16th. That is called "keeping Christmas going and going and going" (we were in AL until Jan 12th:) ). We had a super 2010 Christmas. Jesus blessed our family of 5 greatly with His peace and love, and gave us such sweet time with our two amazing families in AL. The big "toy" this year for Ford was the Zhu Zhu pet he kept asking for. Milly got her Barbie and Barbie's battery-run walking horse. V G had a special 1st Christmas, and was definitely the highlight of the Phelan Pham's 2010. Our Christmas card pic above was taken spontaneously at a beach day at Coronado Beach in November. San Diego weather really is incredible. We thank Jesus for "coming" to us this Christmas in a powerful way, and we pray He will come daily to each one of us in personal, intimate ways in 2011. Our family's 2011 verse is Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1: "My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn (strength) is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in Your deliverance." Amen. So be it!

Auburn National Champions 2010- Toomer's Corner

War Eagle!!!! Mom, Dad, John, Ford (at age 4 1/2:) ) and I were in this Toomer's Corner craziness until 1 am. What a fun, once-in-a-lifetime memory! I am sooo thankful that God ordained it for me to be in Auburn for the National Championship Game! It was so amazing to watch the final winning field goal fly through the posts, and then instantly break out into jumping and shouting, and hugging my Dad, my brother (both alum as well), my Mom, my sweet good-sport hubby...it was emotional, incredible! Amazing night I will always remember. "I believe in Auburn and LOVE it!"