The March Gang » Kids

Spring time in Ireland

Riley — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:17:27 +0000

It has been way to long since our last post and for that we are sorry. It has started to warm up a little and we have had some really nice days. However winter still seems to want to hang around and so the good weather is still sporadic. Tara and the girls have started walking every day for exercise. Well, Tara walks and the girls ride their bikes. They walk about a mile a day and have been very faithful in doing it. It has warmed up, but of course it still rains so they just put jackets on and hit the road. Simeon and me hold the fort down while they are out losing weight and getting in shape. Tuesday me and him did go out with them, and the little guy rode his bike the entire mile. I was very impressed and he said he could already tell he was getting stronger in his legs just after one trip.

Tuesday we had a package arrive from America, and as always we were glad to see it. We want to thank our Uncle Lynn and Aunt Becky for it. I finished off our last box of Lucky Charms that morning and what do you know two more boxes come in the mail. I am pretty sure it was a God thing. I like my Lucky Charms! The kids also got some more ramen noodles. They do have ramen over here, but not the same flavours and trust me they are not the same.

The McFarland’s are heading back to the states for a family vacation next week. During that time they are going to be moving Shawna, their oldest daughter, to Alexandria LA. She has taken a job working in Bro. Mangun’s church. So while they are gone we will be holding down the fort for them. Then after they get back we will be heading state side a few weeks later.

We will be heading home May 19th and everyone is very excited about that. Tara and the kids have been marking off the calendar. We have a huge list of places we have to go once we touch down. I know it may seem silly to some, but it is funny what you miss when you don’t have it. I am pretty sure that Tara is going to just camp out in Walmart for a few days. As far as restaurants go Mi Casa in Doniphan is at the top of the list. On a side note according to Roland Baker Mi Casa, in little ole Doniphan Missouri, is the best Mexican restaurant he has ever been to. Of course the top of our list is getting to West Point to see family and friends and just enjoy a church service at home.

Just to give you an update of what all has been going on here in Ireland. Both churches are doing good. Dublin has been doing very well. We have had a student from Brazil attend service the past few weeks and he loves it. I just ask when you are praying for us and Ireland to remember Matthew. God is getting ready to blow the doors off of Dublin not only can we just feel it, but we have had many confirmations to the fact. It is exciting times in Ireland right now.

We are going to leave you with a few pictures from a trip to the park we took a few weeks ago. It was a pretty sunny day, but still a little cold. I also want to point out to my sister to take special notice to the swans in the pictures and let her know that “Yes swans do have legs”. (If you know Eleisha you really have got to ask her to explain this one) Love ya Sis!

Happy Birthday Simeon!!!!

Tara — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:07:29 +0000

Today is a special day for our baby boy. He is 5 years old today. Simeon is a great little boy. He is so full of energy and life. He runs full speed from the moment he gets up until he crashes into bed at night. He is our little clown and is very quick witted. He makes us laugh so much and is a great joy. He believes in prayer and loves Jesus. He wants to be a drummer when he grows up. We gave him a set of toy drums for his birthday and he loves them. He puts on the music and starts playing along with it. He loves transformers and all the super heroes. He has been a true blessing in our lives. Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!! Daddy and Mommy love you very much.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEYTON!!!!!

Tara — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:31:05 +0000

I would like to wish our first born daughter a very Happy Birthday today. Peyton is 12 years old today. She is very excited about this birthday, because she is now in the youth group age. Although, we don’t have a youth here she is still excited. I want to take this time to thank you Peyton, for being a great young lady. I know God is going to use you mightily. Sometimes, you would rather be back home in Doniphan, but God sees your sacrifice and will honor and bless you for it. You have been great through all this. Thank you baby, and Happy Birthday. Daddy and I love you very much!!!

Happy 12th Birthday!!!

I will post another blog tomorrow, but I wanted to dedicate this one to Peyton.

Wee bit of snow!!

Tara — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:33:26 +0000

Like everything else in Ireland, we only got a “wee” bit of snow. It started last night and we thought we were going to get a big snow. When we woke up this morning, it was barley covering the ground. We did get enough for the kids to build a snowman, or more like a snow woman. They were so excited this morning to get to play in it. Simeon was so excited that he dressed himself, which included his pajamas and a coat, and then went out to make a snow angel. I had to make him come back in and get properly dressed, so he could help make the snowman. Peyton and Kirsten worked really hard to get it finished to surprise me. Simeon, however, lost interest and came back in to warm up. He then went out to take his picture with it. It was a very wet snow, and is almost gone already. It did provide a couple of hours of fun. Peyton and Kirsten were upset that they could not have a snow day and take off from school. We told them it would have to be pretty bad for them not to make it to school, since they are home-schooled. It was a good effort, though.

Kirsten looking adorable.

Tara — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:46:40 +0000

Kirsten lost her first tooth around a year ago. Then in a week she lost three, two of them in one day. Her two front teeth are now missing. I wanted to show you how adorable she looks. We love to hear her talk.

To the Eye Doctor we go… again…

Tara — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:59:32 +0000

Last Friday Kirsten and Connor(her best friend) were playing outside. When suddenly Connor came running in the house and said “come fast, Kirsten got hurt”. Well, when you hear these things you never know if you should run as fast as you can or just get there eventually. Riley & I went ahead and went outside. Kirsten is walking towards us without her glasses and is holding her finger. After we finally got the story. Kirsten was standing to close to Connor while he was golfing. He swung back while she was scratching her temple and smacked her so hard that her glasses went flying off. The ear piece was sticking straight out. She couldn’t move her finger and her eyebrow had a big knot. I decided to take her to the E.R., becasue she has such a high tolerance to pain, I thought her finger might be broken. Thank God that it was just bruised. The Docotr did say it was a good thing her finger was at her temple or she probably would have split her head open. She however, was not to upset about her glasses because she had been wanting new ones. So here we go again to spend more money. All five of us wear glasses and I wear contacts. We have all had to get new glasses this year, so you can imgaine the cost of that. Here is some pictures of Kirsten’s new look.

Old glasses:

New glasses:

Simeon’s new look

Tara — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:33:24 +0000

Lately Simeon has been acting like he couldn’t see very well. It has been a year since his last check-up so we decided that we would go ahead and take him back to the Dr. My baby’s poor eyes have gotten worse once again. For those of you who are not familiar with us I will give a little background. Simeon was a child who was behind on everything compared to kids his age. I know that you are not suppose to measure your children to others, but lets face it we all do. I thought maybe it was because the other children his age were girls and they say boys are slower. He didn’t walk until after his 1st birthday. At 18 months old I noticed that he had to hold a book up to his nose, and he would stand right by the video to watch it. We took him to the eye Dr. not really believing that it could be his eyes. The Dr. was amazed, he had never had a child as young as Simeon with eyes as bad as him. If you are familiar with near sightedness Simeon was an -10. The Dr. was going to take him to a -8 at first, he said if he took him to 100% it could make him sick. I got him home that night and we decided to try my glasses on him which are -7. I put them on him and he reached out for me and said “Mommy?”. I about lost it at that. The Dr. said that given his eyesight he was surprised that Simeon was even walking and getting around. He said that if a child’s eyesight is that poor that they tend to stay in just one area. I felt very thankful that Simeon was not developmentally delayed, he just couldn’t see. We have his eyes checked every year and they keep getting worse. Now at 4 he is at an -14. They still don’t want to bring him up to 100%, so he glasses are -12.

Simeon decided this time he wanted a different style of glasses . Peyton has chunky glasses and so do I, so he wanted glasses like us. He picked these out with a little help from me. This was his choice though. I personally think he looks adorable.

Simeon’s old look.

Simeon’s new look!!!!

Dog days of summer.

Tara — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:07:08 +0000

Trying to beat the heat, the young marrieds group decided to go to a “hillbilly” water slide in Piedmont. We pulled up to this country water slide and didn’t know what we got ourselves into, but hey for $5.00 what can you complain about. After our first ride down, we decided it was well worth the money. The owner let us have it for 2 hours. The last time down I decided to make Simeon go by himself(he is not the bravest little boy), I put him on his own pad and sent him off. He was screaming the whole way. When we got to the end I grab him so he wouldn’t go under. He turned around to me and said “don’t ever do that again”. Since then he has said that he wants to go back, and he will go down the little one by himself. I was so sore the next day that I decided I’m not as young as I used to be. The kids loved it, and are begging to go back.

Halle-luau

Tara — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:42:47 +0000

The last Sunday of every month our S.M.A.K. church has a special theme for the kids. This month was a Halle-luau. The kids were asked to wear tropical colors and flip flops. Peyton and Kirsten asked maw-maw March to make them grass skirts. Simeon wore his hawaiianshirt and insisted that his monkey backpack had to go to church(we never know what goes through the mind of this child). The kids all received leis and had a great time playing games and eating fruit. We have an awesome children’s minister Bro. Ethen & Sis. Lori McGonigal, they are always coming up with amazing ideas. The kids love them, and are always looking forward to seeing what the special theme will be next.

Kirsten’s B-Day!!

Riley — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:45:25 +0000

I forgot to mention on my Wednesday post that it was Kirsten’s birthday. We actually had a party for her at the same time she graduated Kindergarten in May thinking we were going to be gone already. The little peanut is 7yrs and two days old today. Her MeMe Slusher, Tara’s Mom, brought her a “birthday cake” before church Wednesday night. It was exactly what Kirsten wanted, a big watermelon. Simeon thought we all were losing it when we called it her cake. He was very adamant that we realized it was in fact a “WATERMELON”.