Overwhelming Peace and Joy

Hello all,

I have been on a bit of a blogging hiatus lately. It has been hard to put our struggles into words as we have been grieving the loss of our beautiful butterfly. She moved to a new placement in October. We, along with several professionals, have been advocating for her return. I have been going to battle in prayer, trusting that God has a plan for our family. It has been an amazing journey seeing the many miracles He has already created in our lives. The peace that I feel when I read His word and sit in his presence has been nothing other than a blessing from God.

Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

Psalm 34:8 "The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 73:26 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Romans 8:28 "For we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Although, life has been an emotional roller coaster lately, we have much to be thankful for. The adoption process for our little man and peanut has been moving along. We are hoping that they will be adopted by the end of 2017! We have been granted visits with our butterfly and cannot wait to see her sweet face.

Our little man has been progressing in all areas. Within in the next two months, it is foreseen that he will no longer need a few of his therapies due to the fact that he is flying through his goals! We are very proud. He is beginning to trust us more and has given us the gift of comforting him in his times of grief. Nothing is better than rocking my baby boy to sleep. He is so precious.

Our peanut is progressing in several areas as well. She will also be graduating from one of her therapies this month! She, too, has been trusting us more and talks with us openly about her feelings. I love our little talks as she lays in my arms. She is the sweetest.

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with joy. I loved seeing our littles faces as they saw that Santa remembered them two years in a row! :) It has been an even greater joy to see their faith grow and their focus shift to Jesus and his sacrifices for us. I feel extremely blessed to be their momma.







 

James 1:27

This verse has been in the forefront of my mind for weeks now as we have been battling ongoing challenges with our little ones. James 1:27 states, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I never quite knew what it meant to look after an orphan in their distress until now. It is more than difficult and the feeling of powerlessness is overwhelming. Children from hard places come from a past that looks more like a nightmare than real life. To battle through the terrors of the past is an uphill battle and may demonstrate feelings of rage, anxiety, sadness, and complete disappointment.

It requires an ability to look at a child with empathetic eyes in the worst of times, giving grace countless times, and maintaining connection despite a constant sense of disconnect. I have cried buckets of tears as I have prayed for my children numerous times thanking God that with Him there is hope amongst all the terror in my children's hearts.

When I feel like I am running out of grace to give, I think of our Savior and the example He sets for us. I am immediately brought to my knees asking for forgiveness and strength to carry on. My children need grace and I am called to be that source of unconditional love for them. I have messed up numerous times throughout this journey and I am brought to tears knowing that God has given me grace through it all. I am humbled knowing that I could not go through this journey without my loving Savior. He is my strength, hope, and source of peace in the midst of the constant chaos.

What an amazing God we serve.

Please take a moment today to pray for all of the orphans and widows in distress in our world.



 

Adoption is Bittersweet

Many people see adoption posts, read adoption blogs, and watch adoption videos and only see the joy. There is an overwhelming sense of joy, but there is also an overwhelming sense of loss. Many people do not understand why we have not filed yet and looked puzzled when we explain that the kids are not ready. My kids hearts are shattered by abandonment and loss. In our children's eyes when they are adopted, they are turning their back on their birth mom and replacing her with me. The weight is so heavy it's hard to explain the impact it has on our children.


The women who rocked them to sleep (even if it was only one time), taught them their first word, sang lullabies, washed their little toes, and made them food to fill their bellies no longer has a part in their lives and likely never will in the way a mother does. My children see adoption as giving up on the chance to ever live with and be cared for by their mama again. Even though, their mother did a lot of things that we cannot wrap our heads around, she's still their mama. She created them, gave them life, and took care of them the best way she knew how. They will forever wish for her embrace and love. They will forever miss her voice, her smile, and her arms wrapped around them.


Then somewhere in this picture of loss, a new family is created, our family. There are days my children feel warmth in my embrace, melt to my lullabies, and follow me around like little ducklings. Oh, how I feel their love for me in their heart and melt into a little puddle of mush, but deep down I know I will never be their only mother or be able to completely fill the deep hole in their heart. This for me is heartbreaking. I want my children's heart to be leaping for joy in every aspect, but due to their past their is a lingering ache. An ache that cannot be filled by anyone, but their heavenly father.


I pray each day that my children will reach a place of peace that will only be explained by the power of the holy spirit within them. I am already starting to slowly see my children transition to this place and I cannot wait to see the work of God in their lives in the coming days, months, and years.

Relationship Worries

When children come from hard places, relationships are confusing and at times scary. Often times, traumatized children develop a disorganized attachment style, which means that something scary was going on in the home with a caregiver that was supposed to be the source of comfort. This causes a child to become a "push-puller" when it comes to relationships, which basically means one minute they want to be close and the next minute they will do everything possible to push away.


Parenting a child with this type of attachment style is confusing and very difficult. It is hard to know when to comfort and when to give space. Honestly, the child is even unsure of what is needed/wanted. One of our children, does the push-pull often. This child may run up stairs excited to do an activity and then start throwing a tantrum three minutes into the activity. I have found this to be frustrating to say the least, but I have found hope in knowing why this occurs.


From what I understand, anytime my child feels loved in our relationship, fear surfaces. These fears usually have something to do with me leaving forever and the happiness ending or my love running out. My child has learned that people leave, both the good people and the bad people. Therefore, when something good happens, my child is afraid to enjoy it, because it might end AT ANY SECOND. I know, scary right! I cannot blame this child for feeling this way. Every caregiver has left with no return. This means not only physical existence ends, but loves ends too. Therefore, to this child, my love is like a pie. It leaves piece by piece and one day, it will be gone. Therefore, this child feels that anytime without me is wasting my love away on something else and making the love to run out faster.


I know your probably wondering how to help a child overcome this. EMPATHY. EMPATHY. EMPATHY. Reassurance does not work. The thoughts are so big you cannot reassure them away. The best thing to do is show a child from a hard place that you do understand and you know their hurting and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY.


If you have access to one, it is also a good idea to find an attachment therapist to help you and the child cope and bond. It's a rough road, but I am confident that seeing my child overcome will be one of the most amazing sights I will ever see.

Oh Happy Day!

I have been challenged to share a day in our life with you. I chose a weekend day, because they're more exciting. I honestly forgot to take pictures throughout the day on Saturday..fail. Sunday came and I followed my little ones around the house snapping pictures all day. Yes, they were super suspicious of me and started asking questions after a while. Maybe, I should start taking "life" pictures on a more regular basis!

One of the littles woke up at the crack of dawn and crawled in bed with momma. We were able to enjoy some sweet cuddles before the other two woke up. I love those times. Once everyone woke up I started cooking and the kiddos colored some beautiful pictures.

For breakfast we had some delicious, chocolate chip pancakes! I think the kids thought mommy had gone crazy. They told many at church with their eyes open wide that mommy let them eat chocolate for breakfast. Let's just say we focus on eating lots of fruits and veggies most of the time, but I thought they deserved a little treat.

 

All three kiddos have chores after each meal. One sweeps up crumbs, one wipes down the table and counters, and one loads the dishwasher. :) Such great helpers they are!

 



 

After chores were finished, I got all three kiddos ready for church. Did I mention that Daddy was working this weekend? Getting three kiddos ready for church is work! haha. I seriously applaud all the mommies out their that get their kiddos ready solo everyday! You are superwomen. Anyway, after I got them ready, it was momma's time to get ready. When mommy gets alone time, we all get alone time! They love enjoying their toys to theirselves every once in a while! Little man always goes for the Legos!

 

 

 

 

We left for church a little early and made a surprise stop to the park. They loved it!

 

 

 

Then off to church we went! The kids' are learning about hope this month. This is a great topic for them. Oh, and yes they made a little donkey for Palm Sunday!

 

 

 

We went home and enjoyed some yummy quesadillas, apples, and carrots for lunch. It never fails that my little peanut takes an hour to eat. I try to remain patient and sit with her with a smile, because I know there was a time that she was not able to enjoy food like she does now.

 

 



After lunch, we did some chores throughout the house and finished some homework. I have learned that kiddos are never too young to help around the house!

 

 

Then we snuggled up on the couch and watched one of our favorite princesses, Tiana. In other words, momma needed a break. Please know that we are not fans of screen time, but we do let them watch a Disney movie every now and then. :)



 



After the movie, the girlies colored some pictures while little man played in his sand table. Momma made some dinner. We had one of my favorites, roasted red pepper soup with homemade tortilla strips and fresh avocado!

 

 

 

I slacked on the picture taking after dinner. The kids read some books, played with toys, and got ready for bed. Little man was having a rough night. After an hour of trying everything to calm him down, these two songs did the trick! I am thankful that praises to the Lord calm his soul.

 

                                     

from youtube.com





 

from youtube.com

 



 

I ended my night with some of God's word and then headed to bed. 

 

 

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When a Child Resists Love

I am sitting outside my child's door holding it for dear life, as my child screams, "I hate you," and I hear loud thuds as items are thrown around the room. As I am sitting there, I absorb the last few minutes as my heart races and my eyes begin to fill with tears. Carrying my child into a room, sitting them down, and running out to shut the door is one of the hardest things I do as a mom. I relive it over and over and over as I sit outside the door listening to my child's screams, wishing there was another option. Unfortunately, when a child has an attachment disorder, comfort is almost always rejected and in our case, met with physical acts of violence.

The physical violence, screaming, and destruction is hard, but the hardest part is not being able to go to the rescue. As moms, we dream of walking alongside our children and making everything feel better. Then, there comes that day that you try everything and your child continues to suffer. Those are the hard days. Living with a child with an attachment disorder means that some weeks are filled with days like this.

As I watched my child suffer through fear and rage for months, I reached the point of burn out and I did not know if I had anything else to give. I begged everyone that was involved in our child's case to help me find something to help my child and no one had a solution. That's when it became really hard.

Then, I decided to go to the only one that has the true answer for my child's life.  I prayed hard and long for hours for my little one. I cried as I realized that I failed to focus on the One with answers and instead looked everywhere else. I knew God was the answer and I knew He could do miracles in my family. However, for some reason I doubted and focused more on my fear than God's protection in our lives. I then read through verses in Matthew and was reminded that Jesus went through more rejection that I ever will and He still chose to love and forgive. He never gives up hope. He calls us to do the same. I remember thinking, attachment disorders have nothing on our God. He will help my baby overcome!  I knew for the first time in months without a shadow of a doubt that my little one would heal and our family would witness a miracle in their little life.

From that day, I have continued to pray and seek God for strength and guidance and from that day I have seen amazing strides in my little one's life. My child comes to me with hurts and cries in my arms. Oh, how I longed to be my child's source of comfort and what a blessing it is to hold them in my arms. Yes, you read that right. The child who has  an "inability to trust," cries in my arms instead of screaming, "I hate you." What an amazing act of trust out of a child that has been labeled without the ability. God's allowing my child to overcome their label and I feel blessed beyond measure to witness it before my own eyes.

Living with constant rejection is hard, but God calls us to continue to love despite rejection. Children with attachment disorders need love despite their many efforts to prove otherwise. With God, they CAN trust, they CAN make positive choices, and they CAN have empathy for others. We just have to have faith.


*Please do not ask which child's story this is. Help us maintain privacy while helping others see that kids in foster care are not without hope of healing.

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Hate

I have come across several Facebook surveys that includes lists. One of the items on the list is four things you hate. On these lists people often write things that pertain to hurt. More specifically types of people that have hurt them.

Recently, one of my children and I have been discussing this exact topic. My child has a lot of anger in their heart due to past hurts. This anger comes out in rages, argumentative behavior, tears, and inability to focus. You see, this anger is not hurting the person that it is aimed at. This anger is hurting my child.

I looked this child in the eye recently and asked, "Do you think all that anger in your heart is hurting the person you are mad at?" The child answered, "yes." I said, "You mean all the hurt you are feeling is hurting that person." The child immediately looked up and said, "I'm hurting myself." It was definitely an "aha" moment for my child.

Hate is a strong emotion that causes even more hurt in a person's life. It does not allow the person to heal, move forward, or enjoy life. Hate destroys lives. As I read through those lists on Facebook, I realized that the one thing I hate is hate itself.

What would life be like if we decided not to hate? What if we prayed instead? What if we aimed to make a difference? What if we had GRACE? What if we forgave? These are the things I have been discussing with my child.

Matthew 5:43-44
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"

Ephesians 4:32    
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

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Updates on the Littles

Little man is going to be starting baseball soon and I have to admit, I am SUPER excited. He thrives in sports and through all of the practices and games his confidence grows. He continues to improve in school. The other day he was walking through the house reading a book! You read that right, He was reading a book on his own and laughing throughout it! This is BIG you guys, BIG! Legos continue to be his escape. I should take some pictures of his creations and post them for you all. He makes things in five minutes that I would have trouble making in four hours.

Beautiful butterfly continues to travel through mountains and valleys, but she is making progress. Our poor girl has been through so much in her life and it is overwhelming for her. I pray for her all the time and work hard to make her feel loved. I thrive on those moments filled with smiles, giggles, and silliness and I pray that one day those type of moments will outweigh the hard moments. On a happier note, she loves gymnastics. I think she probably does 500 carwheels everyday, no exaggeration. Even more than gymnastics, she loves to curl up with a good book. These days, I tend to see her walking around the house with Miss Junie B. Jones in hand.

Peanut is still doing her gymnastics. She practices the splits all the time. She is determined! She is also learning to read. Her favorite books right now are Biscuit books. She even took one to school and read it for her class. She was so proud of herself. She then said, "Mommy, the teacher made me do the 'woof woofs,'" as she looked up at me with her little look. I said, "Honey, you have to read it all." She then says, "Mommy I really don't like those woof woofs." What a little personality she has. She also likes to sing songs in the shower that have words, such as, "Washing, washing, washing, washing all those stinkies off." This is all while she is shaking her hips and bobbing her head. Oh, I love how she makes me laugh.

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Our First Year

It will mark one year this week since the judge ordered placement in our home. Our year has been rough, but full of memories too! I thought I would share some of our big moments with you!

January 21st--The kids were ordered to be placed in our home.

January 25th--We met our kiddos at their church. What a beautiful day this was. We played dolls, legos, play dough, and house for hours.

January 31st---Vist #2. McDonalds and the Indy Car Museum. The kiddos loved sitting in the race cars and pretending to drive. This is the day I realized an outing with three kiddos is WORK! :)

February 7th---We brought the kiddos to our home for the first time and they saw their new rooms. Little man loved his new toys and the girlies played dress up with their new clothes for hours.

February 8th-- First visit at our church. They were SO nervous, but to our delight when we returned to children's ministry, they were begging to go back. After church, little man bought me flowers. It was the sweetest gesture.

February 15th--First night in our home. I have sweet pictures of all three in their new beds. I wish I could show you. They are too precious.

February 22nd--After a long week and some unplanned events, the kiddos were placed 9 wks early.

February 24th---First day at their new school.

March 11th--First scary moment as a mom that included a gash on peanut's head and 4 stitches.

March 14th---Hubby's 25th. First family gathering at the house since the kiddos had been placed.

March 21st--My first date with little man at chik-fil-a's Date Knight. Ever since, he has had the nickname valiant knight. Brenton also had a date with the girls. They ate ice cream cones that were basically the size of Montana. Way to make their dietitian mommy proud. ;)

March 25th--First trip to the Children's Museum. It was too much! We haven't been back since.

April 3rd--Little man got glasses. :)

April 4th--First Easter Egg Hunt!

April 5th--First Easter!

April 9th--Peanut was no longer failure to thrive according to her specialists.

May 8th--Carnival at the new private school!

May 9th-- First manicures! It was a BIG deal :)

May 10th--Mother's Day

May 15th--Girls' first hair cut! Big deal considering they came with about 1 inch of hair. :)

May 13th--Little man was bat boy for my brother's baseball game.

May 16th-- Peanut and I sold Lemonade together at her school. She was too cute with her big girl serving gloves on. :)

May 21st--Muffins with Mom at school. Best breakfast I had ever had, hands down.

June 6th--Professional women's basketball game!

June 15th--The day little man fell in love with baseball. My dad took him to a clinic and he got second place in a fielding competition. He's definately fitting in with the baseball lovers in the family now!

June 18th--1st dance class. I thought they were going to continue as statues for the entire class, but halfway through they loosened up!

July 6th--1st swimming lesson. Little man and beautiful butterfly were rock stars and quickly rose to the top class. Peanut stayed in the "cutie pie" class as my husband and I liked to call it.

July 11th--Little man's birthday party lego style at the park. This was such a fun day for everyone.

July 18th--First big out of town trip to Lego Land and American Girl. Yes, we got our first American Girl doll. BIG MOMENT for Peanut.

July 26th--Little man's first day of church camp. He still constantly talks about this. I think it is his favorite memory.

August 1st--Peanut's birthday party, fairy style at the zoo!

August 11th--First day at the new private school. Best decision we have ever made.

August 15th--Gymnastics championships with the girlies. Needless to say, we had to register for gymnastics class after this.

August 21st--Zoo trip with our beautiful butterfly. She loved this day, basically because she was able to feed a giraffe.

August 28th--New HOUSE!

September 7th--Frozen on Ice. Beautiful Butterfly's favorite memory.

September 12th--First soccer game. Little man made a goal!

October 3rd--Apple Orchard. The kids loved it! We will definitley be doing this again next year.

October 10th--I dumped soup on myself. I had to go to the ER. The kids cried for hours. It was sad...

October 31st--First Halloween with three little minions!

November 16th--Beautiful butterfly's birthday get together. Homemade pizzas, cake, and jewelry making. It was a good day.

November 26th--First Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful day filled with food and family. Little man and beautiful butterfly thought eating a turkey leg was the best moment of their lives. I personally thought it was icky.

November 27th--Christmas decorating!!

December 5th--Breakfast with Santa! This was the day the kiddos truly believed Santa was going to come to leave them presents for the first time ever.

December 6th--Christmas parade. "Watch me whip whip"

December 17th--Little man had a special part in the Christmas program and he rocked it!

December 23rd--First family christmas! May we say we have some spoiled littles? Yes!

December 24th--Christmas jammies, books, gingerbread houses, and cookies oh my!

December 25th--First Christmas. My favorite memory thus far.  I loved seeing the littles faces when they saw that Santa remembered them this year.

December 27th--Family Christmas #3. Did I mention that the littles love their cousins?

December 31st--1st New Year's Eve. Thank you Netflix for your New Year's Eve countdowns. We love you FOREVER.

January 1st--Family Christmas #4. Yes, you read four. It was filled with Bingo, bingo, bingo!

January 6th--Dia De Los Reyes (Day of the Kings)- Little man found baby Jesus in the Rosca de Reyes cake and the kings left a little gift in our little ones shoes.

And many more to come.


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Spanish Words of the Week

Here are Spanish words of the week! Enjoy!

Food: Comida (co-meed-a)
Fruit: Frutas (fru-tas)
Vegetables: Vegetales (ve-he-tal-es)
Meats: Carnes (car-nes)
Beans: Frijoles (fre-hol-es)

Carrots: Zanahorias (sana-or-ias)
Asparagus: Asparragos (as-parr-agos)
Broccoli: Brocoli (broc-o-lee)

Apples: Manzana (man-san-a)
Oranges: Naranjas (na-rawn-ha)
Grapes: Uvas (u-vas)

Fish: Pescado (pes-cad-o)
Chicken: Pollo (po-yo)
Pork: Puerco (p-wear-co)

As always, try to fit a few in if/when you talk with the kiddos!

Thanks!

Fighting the Fight

I recently watched War Room. It was extremely inspirational for me. I love how the movie highlights the fact that we cannot fight the fight alone. I am a fighter. BIG TIME. I do everything possible to ensure that my kids have what they need. I am not saying that I am going to stop working hard to get what they need, but I am definitley going to work on going to battle in prayer for my kiddos with more diligence. After all, Mommy can't fix everything. Some of the things we are going through right now seems hopeless at times. If only I would've fixed my eyes on the one who can fight for me and my family instead of looking at every therapist, behavioralist, medicine etc out there to help one of our kiddos. I know one thing for sure, things would have been much more positive for us as a family as we crawled through the muck with our little one. Instead, we hit ROCK BOTTOM. We did not have the answers and did not know what the future of our family would look like.

We were talking last night and said that we were like Peter when he walked on the water. We started out this process with our eyes fully and completely on Christ. After a while, we got busy and comfortable in our own decisions and took our eyes off Christ. We sank, but thankfully God is a God of grace and He gives second chances. We have decided as a couple that we are going to go to battle in prayer and allow God to take the lead of our family. We know that he has the power to change the effects of years and years of abuse that has affected our kiddos. He has the power to give them peace, strength, and hope. And most of all, He has the power to protect our family.

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Our Story

I wanted to take a little bit of time to look back on our journey. My husband and I met in 2006 in high school and were married in 2011. Throughout the first few years of our marriage, we served as adult leaders of our church's youth group. We saw struggles, joys, and questions cross these young lives over the years and knew we wanted to do more to help children. After I went to India in 2013 and visited orphanages, we started seriously talking about adoption. We carefully looked at every avenue, but were drawn to foster care. My husband said to me, "Parents are on waiting lists for babies and children are on waiting lists for parents." He was right. We needed to focus on the path that God laid before us and we both knew that it was foster care adoption.

In July of 2014, we started classes to become licensed foster parents and then received our license in September of 2014. We received calls about children, but nothing seemed to work out for one reason or another. We then received a call about a sibling group of three in early December. My placement specialist said, "Do you remember the group that I had mentioned a couple of months ago? The case worker is seriously looking for pre-adoptive homes. I told her you were interested." We had never heard a word about these three kids and had no idea what the specialist was talking about, but we trusted God's plan. A few weeks later, we received a call asking us to attend an interview regarding the children's placement.

We attended the interview and felt confident that God's plan was to place the children in our home. A couple of weeks later we received a call that we had been chosen as the children's preadoptive placement and that the kids would be placed in within the next two weeks.

The day for placement arrived and we made the hour drive to pick up the kiddos. When we arrived the caseworker stated that plans had been postponed and the kids future was in limbo. We were heartbroken and in shock all at the same time.

We struggled through the Christmas holiday. A couple of weeks after Christmas we received word that a placement hearing was scheduled. By this time, we had already scheduled another interview for another sibling group. We had to decide which route to take. After much discussion, we decided to attend the court hearing. One day before court we received a call for a sibling group of two. The case worker was very interested in us and wanted us to call as soon as court ended to let her know if we were still a potential placement.

We got to court and our placement worker immediately mentioned the two kids. She did not have confidence that the three kids would be placed with us due to possible kinship placement. During the court hearing everything took a turn and the judge placed the kiddos with us specifically.

We met the kids four days later and they were placed in our home within a three weeks. From that day our life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. I have cried and laughed this year more than I ever have. Through it all we know that our valiant knight, beautiful butterfly, and little peanut were placed in our home under a divine plan. It is good for me to focus on that truth through the struggles. God is in CONTROL and He has a PLAN. He put our names in a caseworker's ear that we had never heard of and then led a judge to place them in our home against all odds. Now I know exactly why. Maybe our kiddos will share the reason with you someday. The rest is their story to tell.

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Spanish Words of the Week!

We are working on speaking more Spanish in our household this year. Due to some past traumas, our kiddos are a little afraid to hear and speak Spanish. We have decided to come up with a weekly list of words to focus on each week until we become more comfortable with open conversation. The kids are participating so far!  I thought I would share our list with all of you. If you see the kiddos, they would love to hear their weekly words from their family and friends. :) Plus, it will help them become more comfortable around their native language.

WORDS:

1.) Family: Familia (fa-mil-ia)
2.) Mom: Mama (ma-ma)
3.) Dad: Papa (pa-pa)
4.) Son: Hijo (e-ho)
5.) Daughter: Hija (e-huh)
6) Brother: Hermano (er-mah-no)
7.) Sister: Hermana (er-mah-na)
8.) Aunt: Tia (tee-a)
9.) Uncle: Tio (tee-o)
10.) Grandma: Abuela (a-bue-la)
11.) Granpa: Abuelo (a-bue-lo)
12.) Grandson: Nieto (nee-a-toe)
13.) Granddaughter: Nieta (nee-a-ta)
14.) Niece: Sobrina (so-breen-a)
15.) Nephew: Sobrino (so-breen-o)
16.) Cousin: Primo/a (pree-ma)

PHRASE:

"I love you!" : Te amo (tay ah-mo)

Ok, so I am terrible at phonics (and I don't know how to make the lines on the computer), but I tried to write out the sounds for you. Let me know if you have any questions! Please try a word with the kiddos, they will love you forever!