Majestic Mondays

On Monday of this week, I was driving K-bird home from the chiropractor. It was a beautiful fall evening, and we decided to take a more scenic route home. We were on the west side of town, where the houses are in a more wooded surrounding and deer are easily spotted. I was hopeful we would come across a deer or two to brighten our day. Sure enough, K-bird spotted three deer as we took our detour. As we sat and watched them eat berries in front of a home, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if we found as many deer as we've had cubs in our care?"

As we started up the road, we found six more. We came to the top of the hill where we saw the Waldo Canyon burn scar. We got out of the car to reflect on the impact that fire had on our community. Coincidentally, we just started temporary care on Mondays for a little girl whose family lost their home on Majestic Drive.

As we got in the car to head back down the hill, we spotted a herd of six more deer. This time, several bucks with huge antlers were sitting and standing on someone's lawn. We commented on how majestic they appeared. I then realized our count of deer had reached eighteen, which was the exact number that we had calculated a month ago as the total number of cubs we had cared for to date. It was very symbolic to me that God knows our numbers, and each one has been significant in our eyes. They each have their own majestic beauty.

Kitten, Karebear, and Meerkat on a majestic Monday

We've added a few more cubs since then, and our legacy is growing. I think the name Kitten fits our Monday addition well with her fluffy, wild hair, the way she is amazingly content at playing on the floor, and her friendly interaction with others. However, someday down the road we'll definitely need to consider having a cub named Deer.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Kare-Bear giving hugs to me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see KBird smiling down on me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Kangaroo giving high-fives to me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Rabbit playing peek-a-boo with me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Otter blowing lots of kisses to me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Canary skyping online with me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Lion singing over me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Meerkat asking where I could be.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see all the cubs saying goodbye to me.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you finally see?

I see Mommy taking care of me.

We'll miss seeing you, Brown Bear!

(Adapted from the book by Bill Martin, Jr./Eric Carle)

Introducing Otter

On August 21st we had the privilege of welcoming Otter into our home. He is our newest toddler, and fits right in with Brown Bear and Meerkat. He tends to go with the flow of things around here. When we first met him, we hit it off really well, and he especially grew attached to Rabbit. He likes to get lots of cuddles from her and will often cry if she sets him down.

One of things that charmed us about him is the way he sticks two fingers in his mouth, and holds them in place with his other arm. This lets us know that he's getting tired and needs a good cuddle. He also loves to wrap his arms around Rabbit's neck for long hugs and gives adorable, slobbery kisses.

Most of all, we have learned that he loves snacks and makes cute little approving humming sounds when he eats his lunch.

Simply put... he's a keeper.

Brown Bear’s First Steps

Canary’s Last Song

In June, Canary and her mom moved out-of-state to their new home and new adventures. We had the privilege of spending extra time with her on her final day, through the evening hours, while her mom spent time packing. It was so great to have some quality time with her and she knew she was the center of attention. We giggled, danced to music, and gave lots of hugs. We will miss her so much – thank God for Skype.

Below are a few snapshots of our beautiful day.

Music to Their Ears

One of our favorite things to do around the Den is play songs for the kids. YouTube is a veritable treasure box of educational and fun songs that bring smiles to the kids' faces. Over the past couple of years we've found some specific favorites, and so we thought we'd compile together a list and share it with you.

A YouTube channel that contains a lot of songs that we love is called Super Simple Songs. You can view a playlist of our favorites by clicking here. (Please note that we avoid the Santa song and "Go Away, Big Green Monster" because they're our least favorite.)

We also like to play Sesame Street videos. Some of our favorites include: Outdoors, the Alphabet with Elmo, Elmo's Ducks, and 1, 2, 3, 4.

Another favorite is King of the Jungle. Dolphin especially liked that one and we can't hear it without thinking of her.

On the more educational side of things, we sometimes like to play songs from a YouTube channel called KidsTV123. One we play a lot is The Animal Sounds song, as well as Phonics song 2.

We also like to play a lot of kids' worship songs, and this one is the current favorite. Brown Bear likes to point his fingers in the air in a repeated fashion while we're playing it.

We've found a band called Go Fish that sings fun worship songs for younger kids. One song that has been a major favorite for many of our children is this one--I'm A Soldier In the Army of the Lord. Lately Meerkat has been walking around saying, "Yes, sir!" Go Fish also put out our favorite version of Jesus Loves Me. It's very calming and well done.

And last but certainly not least is In the Jungle, a song that Canary absolutely loved during her time here. We still enjoy the song and look forward to playing it for the kids to come.

These are the songs we play most often, but in addition to all of this, we put Praise Baby on during the morning for the babies. The other morning, Miss Karen couldn't get the DVD player to work and they were miserable. Fortunately, she was able to wake up Lion and he got it back in working order. Crisis averted!

Music is something we love at Lion's Pride. It's one of the things that has helped the kids learn and interact and have fun. We've been amazed at how quickly they pick up on words through music, and interact with facial expressions and hand motions to the songs.

For those of you who have said goodbye to us, this list is especially for you so that you can continue to play these songs for your little ones.