Who We Are....

A large part of who we (The Arnolds) are depends on the needs of others. Boo meets with budding men to help encourage and direct. I try to encourage and love on anyone I can find (mainly in my mom surroundings). Mattie Sue's heart of gold has made selfless friendships and often passes off the best to others. Malyn's enthusiasm and personality brighten and encourage us to love and enjoy life. Wee man Eli just snuggles us. We have thorns and pain just like the next guy but what we do with it is what makes us or breaks us. One of our attempts to love, encourage, give, and serve others is through Solace for the Children. We get to bring over a girl from Afghanisatn who needs medical attention, who needs reprieve from her war torn country, and who gets to enjoy a sun soaked summer with our family. Miss Nida from Kabul is coming this summer. She will bunk with Sue and Malyn, those two we have found will come to love and adore her the most. It's the most selfless of summers for us. I get to watch my daughters move through it....and they love every bit of it!

One of my favorite things about Solace is that kids come over from warring tribes throughout AFG. These kids are bread to hate people from other tribes and especially Americans. After a 24 hour flight to America, these children who are taught to hate each other, will be found playing soccer together, learning to sail in the Pacific together, and learning to swim and enjoy the life of a normal kid, together! All this happens while each child is being treated by doctors who just so happen to fall in love with them too. 

A few people have mentioned that they don't feel its right to bring them here in this sensory overloaded world just to send them back to be reminded what they don't have. That is just how this worlds thinks. Its actually the opposite for them.  While they do enjoy a trip to Disneyland, the kids want nothing more than to go home at the end of their summer. Mainly because they place family as their number one value. Last year we hosted the interpreter and she mentioned (a few times) that she thought we should all be sitting and enjoying each other around the table together more. I agreed. But that's not really how we work here. Which is sad because that is where life is. Sitting around the table talking about loose teeth and the silly joke someone told at school. Not rushing meals due to activities and for hurrying to get here or there. Just being together with family. That is what they value. And that is what they want to go home to. So to their parents they are here getting medical help. For the kids, they are having a great summer with other Afghan and American kids, seeing a new country, learning to swim and live carefree for a while. And us, the kids are teaching us how to embrace life and not wish or hurry it away.

Our family is bringing Nida over to live with us for the summer! We could not be more excited to share our life with her.  If you would like to partner with us in getting her here.... see below. If you want to stay updated on our time this summer 'like' our Solace for the Children FB page. We have a link for our newsletter that is sent out once a week while they are there. The same newsletter that goes back to AFG to the families. I love Solace; I wish I could tell the world how amazing it is. Building peace on a foundation of health, one Afghan kiddo at a time.  Please come out and join us for some activities this summer!! They will capture your hearts like they have captured ours!!


You can donate in one of two ways:

1. By sending a check to:
Solace for the Children
208 E. Franklin Ave.
El Segundo, CA 90245
~or~
2. Pay via PayPal*:
http://bit.ly/solace-donate
*Please just include in the notes section, that your payment is for the The Arnold family.

 Thank you from the Arnolds and Nida!!!

10 on Tuesday!!

Happy Birthday Boo!!!

Boo and I have been making a point to enjoy each other and some of the good food LA has to offer! The girls are in school so babysitting is taken care of!! We have had so much fun picking little places to eat and sending fun little last minute 'Let's do lunch!' texts. Pictured is Tito's Tacos. LOVE Tito whoever he is. I used to stop by on my way home from teaching (while pregnant) and get 3 taco to go.....and no one ever knew. YUM TITO'S!!!!!

Eli is often found like this. Watching Praise Baby.

And crawling in nooks.

I found these envelope Valentine holders to hang on the back of the girls chairs on Pinterest! I saw that Pottery Barn makes them but with 3 kids at 20 bucks a pop I decided to make them! My mother in law gave me old feed sack material from her grandmother which I made the lining with. I loved making these. It's equally as fun to fill them with love letters!

Each morning they find little love notes like this.....

 

This weekend we made Valentines for the girls classes. 'Have a BALL this Valentines Day!' Love, Mattie Sue. And 'You're a DINOmite friend!' Love, Malyn. Both were found on Pinterest and both were sent from Nama! While we were making them Malyn said, 'This is the best craft and best day ever!' She had so much fun making them for her friends! Thanks Nama! Thanks Pinterest! Happy Valentines Day y'all!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

heartache

I have been noticing that Mattie Sue will only wear long sleeve shirts, jeans, or leggings to school lately. When I asked her about it she said that a boy at school said she needed to shave her arms and legs because they were so hairy. My heart fell to the floor as I was helping her get dressed that morning. Hiding my tears behind my strong yet concerned mom face I told her that people told me the same thing growing up and that those arm hairs were passed down from her aunties too (be proud and wear them well, we have a legacy to uphold). I tried to validate her feelings and explain that if it wasn't that comment it would be others that would make her feel badly about herself and in many different ways. We went on for a bit and she smiled acting like it wouldn't bother her to hear about it and she would be fine saying a funny, 'Yep, this hair keeps me warm in the winter!'

What I really wanted to do was just place inside her a gene that says, I'm not going to let you get me down! I'm trying to instill the truth... You are Beautifully Perfectly Made in His eyes (and mine but that doesn't count as much).  God wanted her hairy arms, freckles that her mama loves, skinny little legs and a smile that lights up her face for her, just for her. All designed perfectly for Miss Mattie Sue, no one else.   A flood of memories has since come back to me growing up thinking the exact same thing....I've got more arm hair than all my friends. It took me 34 years and plenty of tears to fight off the negative body image the world puts on you, boys measuring my tiny boobs against my friends in sixth grade, pimples, chunky belly and so on and so on.  'This is me people, deal with it!'

If I could just take this battle from her it would save her so much heartache and innocence about this crazy world at such a young age. In the same breath I know that each time someone hurts her those are the comments and tears that will shape her soul that I beg Jesus to grab hold of each night.

I'm going to have to trust the Lord on this one..... You know what you're doing Lord....right? Cause ouch....

10 on Tuesday!!

1. I've been gone too long from the blog world. Sorry mom.

2. We loved being in Texas for 2 weeks. Loved all the quality family time and the food!!

My sistas!!

3.

Hot tubbin' in Temple!!

4.

Kiddie Parkin' with Nama!!

5.

Jess, Eli and I shopped around in Bourne with my high school friends. Nothing like high school friends:) They know you so well....when you had bushy eyebrows and pimples. They still love me and I still love them:)

6.

Crazy Cousins!!

7.

Temple cousins! We have the best cousins ever!! When we walk in the house the kids all take off and go play. Aunt Jenny and I chat and cook and shop all while the cousins babysit play!!!

8. We also explored at Nama and Poppy's house and Memaw and Pepaw's houses (big acres of land = hours of fun). Nama .T's house too!!

9. How precious are these boots from Grandma Sharon? Can't stand it can you? Me either. And my sister started making these scripture frames. This one for Eli is a page from my mom's childhood bible. The girls and I have one as well and they really are so special to us:)

 10. My new favorite app is one from Sue's school list of educational apps. I downloaded the free version and played it once to understand it to explain it to the girls, then I got sucked....right...in. See if you can beat 93 words on PopWords!!! Love it!!!

Christmas photos

Our friend took some fun photos of our family of 5! It was interesting to see what came of the photos, getting 5 people to look like they were having the time of their lives while staring into a huge black camera was a bit tricky. Malyn is our ham when she wants to be, so if she is not being a ham she has a half smile lean back that she does. Sue is always trying to keep up her smile and fake laugh when necessary. I (mom) had internal conversations going the whole time, 'what's my hair doing?', 'how am I supposed to stand,'  'shoot I should have applied another layer of gloss,' and so on. Boo has a smile that he uses for every family photo and in every shoot he does (so he's easy and always looks spot on). And Eli is our biggest wild card right now. You never know when one 14 month old will do his famous furrowed brow, classic still face, or break out in a happy smile.

Here are some of the photos (credits Jamie Sterba and Erik Svendsen) taken in Palos Verdes, CA

Merry Christmas!! I'm busy having sew much fun with gift making:)))

Thumbs Up Thursday!

Thumbs up for the Tooth necklaces I made the girls last week. Mattie Sue has yet to loose her first tooth and told me she wants to be prepared at school when one finally comes loose. So the tooth pouch necklace was born! Malyn wanted one with the bird wing as the tooth pocket and Sue just wanted an M and a tooth on it. Turned out cute huh? I love handmade.

Thumbs Up for the Singer Brilliance! The new obsession love in my life! Next up....comfy Christmas pants! Thank you pop for the early birthday gift! I am loving this!

Happy Thursday!

5 Years Old!!

Happy 5th Birthday Malyn Grace!! We are so blessed with your joy filled spirit!! Stacy- 'Malyn, do you feel older?' Malyn- 'Yep, I woke up taller!!!'