US Space and Rocket Center

As part of our Spring Break Stay-cation we went to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Logan absolutely loves going there and this time it was even more special since he just spent the past several weeks doing a Space Unit at School. Russ was able to go with us too!!!
A new addition, at least for us, is a big rock climbing wall. Logan has never climbed a rock wall before but to no surprise he was very interested. (Logan is always climbing any tree he can.) He was really good at climbing and absolutely loved it. He climbed until they told him he had to stop because his hands would be sore. Preston and I have talked about taking him to First Avenue Rocks and I think this is just confirmation that we need to do it.
After going through most of the museum we headed outside for both Logan and Russ to do the Space Shot (Logan of course did the kids version). This is his favorite ride there and he probably road it for about 30 minutes. There were just enough kids that everyone could stay on as much as they wanted.I brought along some bubbles and we did some speech therapy while Logan rode his ride. We all got a little thirsty and Nathan enjoyed drinking out of the big water bottle.

Finally we made it into the big Saturn 5 building. I took the boys out of their stroller and they both enjoyed a lot of time walking around (with my assistance). Owen got into one of the astronaut flight stations with Russ and Logan. He really enjoyed it.
Everyone had the best time. Nathan and Owen were pretty warn out and enjoyed a nap on the ride home.

Spring Break fun!

This week is Logan's spring break. Each day we have plans to do something extra fun. Today we went to Aldridge Garden's and went fishing. Logan had a great time casting his lure. When he was done fishing we took a nice walk around the lake. It was a great way to spend the morning. My brother, Russ, also joined us for the fun.



Nathan and Owen enjoyed being outside this morning.
Tomorrow we are off to Huntsville for the Space and Rocket Center.

What's New with the Hite Family

Preston and Janelle...
Last weekend our parents kept our kids and we headed off to Rome, Georgia. In Rome is a wonderful retreat, Winshape, owned and operated by Truet Cathy (the Owner of Chick-Fil-A). Preston gave me this weekend as a Christmas gift. The amenities were incredible, the food delicious, and the scenery gorgeous. We also were privileged to hear Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn who wrote "For Women Only" and "For Men Only". We had lots of free time to explore the 26,000 acres and 40 miles of hiking trials. We had an incredible time and hope we can get away to Winshape once a year.


Nathan:
As always, Nathan is loving life.
In order to help his legs become straighter he is now sleeping in casts. He does not seem to mind them. He does have one for each leg, though this picture only shows the left.Nathan is working really hard on prop sitting. He is doing really well.Nathan spends some time in his stander a few times a week. This helps him strengthen to be able to stand. He does not mind it at all, especially when he can play with his favorite toy.
Owen:
Owen is as happy as can be and doing well too. He is really developing in the speech area. He really seems to understand a lot too! It is so nice to see his communication developing so much. Owen is also doing well in his gait trainer now. Owen loves to sit and play his piano. He was sitting nicely until he saw me start taking pictures, then he just wanted to turn into a ham.

Logan:
Logan is doing very well. He loves school and has particularly enjoyed the unit on Space (see the museum below). He has picked his piece for his piano recital (April 21 at Dawson) and can't wait until next Thursday when he can go to Ms Amy's art class. This week is spring break for him. We are looking forward to some relaxing time at home (and still some therapy for Nathan and Owen). We are also planning on taking a trip to Huntsville to the Space and Rocket Center, a small spring break party for those friends who are in Birmingham next week, and a trip or two to the zoo.

RDS Space Museum

The kindergarten classes at Logan's school held a Space Museum for parents last night. The teachers took the first part of March to teach the kids all about space...and boy do they know a lot. Logan has really enjoyed learning about space and drawing pictures of it. Right now we even have all the planets hanging from the bottom of his top bunk bed.The kids performed two space songs. I was so proud of Logan for singing so well and knowing all the motions to the songs."Mars is close to Earth". Mars is Logan's favorite planet. He plans to go there some day. He also has decided to be an astronaut so he can take the first garage door in to space.

The rocket ship the kids made.
Logan's earth
Using a balloon as the rocket booster to make it fly up the string.
Astronaut Logan

Logan playing in the Sea of Tranquility.
Some more of Logan's space work.
Logan enjoyed showing us a funny moon video.


Logan made space food for us to eat out of playdough.

Our Treasures

We feel God is asking us where does our treasure lie. Is our treasure in the STUFF we have here or is it in what He treasures. We are currently renting our house in Vestavia. We knew our Homewood house was just too small, but we weren't sure how much longer we would be living in Birmingham. So, a little over one year ago we decided to rent and see where the Lord led us. Now that our lease will be coming to an end it is time for us to make some decisions. As for now, we are still in Birmingham.....

This is a picture of a home we could very realistically afford. It is by Logan's (hopeful new school...Westminster...can't say new yet because he has not gone through testing, etc.). It provides plenty of room for our family. Has two great garage doors that Logan would LOVE!!
By every account of the world we hear, "go for it", "you deserve it", "your family needs that room because your kids have special needs". We decided to listen to what God had to say about our stuff/treasures.... In Matthew 6:19-20 we read, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." So, even though that house looks so beautiful we have never even set foot on the inside because we know that is not where God is leading our family.

So, where is God leading our family right now. Yep, back to our old house in Homewood. The one that was way too small for us before. This time we are strategizing everything that will go back in there. If we don't need it, it won't return with us. (Yes, there will be a huge garage sale soon). We are also buying some new furniture that will fit the space better. I am personally so excited to be living with less. Now, I will say we are planning to list the house and when it sells we plan to buy another small house in Homewood, Chicago, California, China...where ever God leads us in his timing.

So, how does living in a much smaller house allow us to focus on God's treasures. We will now free up a lot of income to be able to give more. We can focus on giving more to our friends in Cambodia who are working every day to free children from the sex slave industry, we can give to our friends who are planning to go on mission trips all over the world, we can give some to friends who are working on adoptions, we can just give to everything that God lays on our heart.

We also feel lead to be more selective on our purchases. We want to focus on buying only fair trade coffee and chocolate. As we begin to learn more and more about fair trade, we will continue to add more fair trade only items to our list. Why fair trade? We want to honor those in the industry that are working hard to provide humane conditions to their workers.

Just a little fun

Here are a few cute pictures from the last few weeks.

This is one of Logan and Preston at the airport when we picked him up after his trip to Liberia. Logan was very excited to see his Daddy!!
There is a new park in West Homewood. The other day we decided to go over there to play. Nathan and Owen loved taking turns on the swings while Logan loved climbing on all the equipment.




On Friday night, before all the storms hit, we had a family dinner outing to Village Tavern. We all had a great time together.

Celebrating Nathan and Owen's 2 yr corrected birthday

Just for something fun to do we celebrated Nathan and Owen's Corrected Birthday. For those of us in the world of micro-preemies corrected birthdays mean a lot. These corrected birthdays often come into consideration for developmental testing. Nathan, Owen and Mia were due March 2, 2010 but decided to make their appearance on November 14, 2009...quite a big difference.

We had a great family party. My Grandma and her friend George were down from Michigan and Ranae and Cooper were up from Enterprise. My parents and brother were also there. My Grandma took us all out to dinner at O'Charley's and we had a Mickey Mouse cake (Nathan and Owen have become quite fond of Mickey Mouse).