OUR PLANS MULTIPLIED

It's A Girl!

2012-02-14T21:41:00.000-05:00

Our referral is here - our new child - #10 - she is a precious little girl! I am not allowed to show her picture until we pass court, but oh, how I wish I could! Her little smile is enough to melt the hardest of hearts. She just turned two a few days after Tori's birthday in January and her Ethiopian name is Addiselam. We will probably continue our adopting trend of giving her a first name and using her current name as her middle name. She is 18 months younger than Elijah. When I showed him her picture today, he said, "oh, I just wish she could come home right now." So do I baby boy; I could be on a plane in a matter of days if it were that easy! Alei cracked me up by saying, "I'm so glad she's cute; the rest of us are decent looking so it's nice to keep that trend." I have to say that I don't believe I have ever seen an Ethiopian that I didn't think was darling, but she really takes the cake.

We are so excited. I am amazed at the goodness of God and the road he has taken us on. The realization that he led us to know that we had a child in Ethiopia three years ago, but didn't give the green light until this November, shows how much he loves the orphan and the extent he will go to place them in a family. The orphan statistic is a huge number, but it's made up of sweet little faces like my new daughter, faces that deserve the love of a family! Our plan now if just to pray our paperwork through. We need to start with immigration; we need a fingerprint date and to get our homeland security paper out of the country.

God is good and we are among the most blessed! (If you live local, I have a picture in my purse!)

Look Who We Found

2012-02-13T11:17:00.000-05:00

The good news is that Alyssa found Chip Chip before the cats; she was just taking a leisurely stroll down the hall last night after being missing for over 24 hours.

She was noticeably hungry and thirsty and crammed almost the whole food bowl into her cheeks. Later she ran on the wheel and it all came flying out of her cheeks; it made enough noise flipping around on the wheel that it woke up the boys.

In case you are wondering if I'm sticking to my threat to James that the hamster would no longer belong to him, yes I am. It is now Tori's hamster, but she is being kind enough to keep the name James chose. James was warned on four different occasions in less than 24 hours to watch the ball and decided to not head the wisdom. I'm quite confident that we would have a repeat scenario in less than a week if it remained his pet. He is allowed to hold Tori's new hamster with permission. Ben will help Tori supervise hers when she gets it out also; Tori is pretty responsible but is just seven.

Furniture, Camper and HAMSTERS

2012-02-12T22:12:00.000-05:00

Although my adoption paperwork has gotten far more coverage, I have been plugging along in my effort to clean out, get rid of and make the house more organized. I have been selling lots of stuff on Craigslist, and buying a few pieces as well. Today I moved in the "new" dresser that I bought Julia. I paid a whopping $25 for the dresser and a matching night-stand. I took Julia's chest of drawers for the new child who is going to share a room with Elijah whether he or she is a boy or girl.

Tori and Julia now have two beds and two dressers that were bought at four different times and none of them truly match. They are all generally the same color, other than Tori's green dresser and I think it all works fine.

I put a camper on Craigslist that has been a thorn in my side for quite some time. A few years back, when we had to evict our night-mare renter from our home, he left behind a "fixer-upper" (piece of junk) pop-up camper. Once we took a look at it, I did not want JD to even bring it home. He had grand plans of removing the camper portion and turning it into a trailer to haul our ATV (that now doesn't even run, but that doesn't apply to the story.) I agreed on the condition that he park it behind the barn where I or anyone I know doesn't have to look at it, ~~because I knew it would take him 10 years to ever actually do anything with it.~~ Anyway, he parked it behind the barn and it was all fine until we had a friend who wanted to borrow our other junky trailer that lived behind the barn. The camper was in the way, so he pulled it out front and center and parked it right where it's the first thing you see when you come down the drive-way. To make matters worse, we had several trees fall behind the barn so JD could not put the dump camper back until he takes down all the trees. So, this camper has been right there in front of everything where I growl at it each and every time I come up and down the drive way. I finally decided to put it on Craigslist as a "fixer-upper" and I've had interest. We had a man come today that claims he is coming back for it. It'll be my favorite $300 I've ever made when it sells!

I mentioned in my last blog that I got James and Ben hamsters from Wendy's neighbor. I also mentioned that the boys should thank me because JD is never the parent who thinks these ideas are a good idea! My theory was that the four oldest all had a turn having a hamster and it obviously helped shape them into the caring and compassionate people that they are today, so we better let James and Ben have a turn. (It also helped that they and the cage were free!) JD reluctantly agreed to let them have them. I lectured the boys on hamster care, primarily WATCHING them if they are out of the cage in any capacity. I also thoroughly went into the fact that the plastic balls they came with can come open and you have to watch them in that as well!

Well, James, dear James, put his hamster in the ball, forgot about him and played a game boy. Low and behold, when he came up for air, the ball had cracked open and the hamster is no where to be found. What really gets me is the turn in the story that he looked for him a while, came and ate dinner when called, said NOTHING and then went back downstairs to continue playing the game. Finally, Ben came and alerted us to the situation. At this point, the hamster is still missing; neither people nor cat have found him. We tried setting lettuce baits around the basement last night, but Alei's dog, Toby, kept eating it. Tomorrow, JD is going to try and buy a few super-size live mouse traps. It isn't looking good, but I have already told Tori that if we find him, she has a pet hamster. James will have to grow up and move out before he owns another rodent.

I'll keep you posted on "Chip Chip" the hamster...and thankfully, JD has been kind enough to not give me a huge "I told you so."

Driving for Fun

2012-02-11T18:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I hit the road again, but this trip was all about fun. After Baltimore and D.C. for medical appointments within one week, we hit Richmond to hang out with my friend, Wendy, and her crew of kids. We ate, and played, at Chick Fil A for a few hours and then drug all the kids through Lowe's so we could check out some painting ideas together. We always swap stuff in the parking lot and this trip was no exception. The highlight was Wendys neighbor's hand-me-down hamsters for James and Ben. (Happy early birthday boys, it's not always easy to convince your father to let us have pet rodents!)

(Julia and Esther)

When we were packing up from our four tables at Chick Fil A to leave, I took a quick glance around. There were about six senior citizen couples that were eating and just staring at us like we were the dinner show. It doesn't bother either of us and we just laughed when Ben got a refill and came back to announce that the worker wanted to know if we were a day care. Just when you think big families are becoming more common, I have an experience that shows me people really are baffled.

(Alyssa and Elizabeth)

(Levi and James)

After a few weeks of paperwork and notarizing, it was fun to have a fun day. As far as adoption news, the agency told me that they would have the information I've been waiting for on Sunday. I hope...

Schooling at the Dentist

2012-02-08T12:08:00.000-05:00

I buzzed through you youngest five children's teeth cleanings this morning. Julia and Elijah both did great, although I had to hold Elijah again for the cleaning. They also played well in the waiting room during their siblings appointments. I really like our dentist; he is an unmarried Chinese man who is very good with kids and interested in our large family. He commented about Elijah being the baby; I told him that position was soon going to be filled by a new child. He then asked if we were closet millionaires. Man, I wish that were true - it would make this adoption so much easier!

Tori was the only one with a cavity. Guess who just got demoted from the "I'm big enough to brush my own teeth" back into the "Mommy brushes your teeth at night" category?

I made the boys cram in as much school in the waiting room as we could, because Alyssa and I get to head back this afternoon for our cleaning. Then I get a whole month break before filling and sealant appointments!

JD paid big bucks to have the dossier arrive this morning and they just informed me that it isn't there yet; I sure hope it gets there this afternoon or Fed Ex and I are going to be negotiating a partial refund.

Big Day - Bigger Day Coming Soon

2012-02-07T18:12:00.000-05:00

Today is a BIG, BIG day at our house and I don't even have a picture to prove it. JD and Moriah are at Fed Ex. this moment shipping our dossier overnight to the adoption agency. It is the end of my paperwork trail until time to travel - the end of ongoing medicals, background checks, endless training and notarizing until the cows come home. My last trip to the notary today to "tie" up the last few details was at least 10 more documents. The notary has pages and pages with our last name. Normally, the dossier makes six stops in America before it goes to Ethiopia, then hits the waiting pile to be matched with a child. In our case, we may already have a "soft" referral; hopefully, we will have an update on that Friday.

Because I didn't get a picture of the packet heading out the door, here's my dossier file. I know this paper work frontward and backwards now; only a few months ago I read through the original 82 pages and felt like crying. By the grace of God, it's on my "big accomplishment of the last few months" list.

Here's my rarely seen oldest son writing a paper (and eating the little guys gold-fish.) He never looked up and noticed that I started taking pictures of him. We'll see if he reads this post.

We are the first generations of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth, and our search for it has caused such unhappiness. Peggy Noonan

Travel Clinic

2012-02-06T20:09:00.000-05:00

We put in a long day at Bethesda Hospital today with the travel clinic. It's really a nice service to have such one-stop shopping for all our international travel needs. They look up the country you are traveling to and update immunizations and give you any needed medications. JD and I left with three new shots while poor Alyssa got four. We also were blessed with malaria meds and some other emergency medications.

I am really ready for a break from all things medical, but it is not to be. We have a doctor appointment tomorrow, another Thursday and seven dentist appointments on Wednesday in between!

On the Road

2012-02-03T20:39:00.000-05:00

Tori and I made our semi-annual pilgrimage to John's Hopkins hospital today so that they could tell us that she and her liver are still doing great. Today the Doctor said that her results are in the best 1% that she has ever seen. It is actually always a pleasure to catch up with the doctor and nurses that cared for us four years ago when we did the treatment for Tori's liver damage; it's just a long day because of the drive.

On Monday, a group of us are hitting the road for Bethesda's travel clinic. We have to get Alyssa started with any shot series that she needs to travel to Ethiopia, as well as the horrible Yellow Fever shot. Poor girl, that is one shot that you don't forget that you got for at least a week! Bethesda is really good about giving us antibiotics and any other emergency medicines that we could possible need while we are traveling.

In the between time that I'm actually not traveling from hospital to hospital, we have really been enjoying the crazy February weather. It isn't every Feb. that the kids can eat on the deck with bare feet.

Julia has blossomed into a great Kylie babysitter since Kylie has to be monitored all the time. Kylie really loves Julia, but on occasion seems to give me a look that silently looks like "rescue me."

Elijah loves the song "Days of Elijah" that plays on my play list. He often sits near the computer and wants to listen to it. Yesterday he got his guitar to play along.

My favorite is at the end when the song says, "there's no God like Jehovah." Elijah sings "there's no God like a Joba" over and over. We desperately need to capture it on video before he learns to pronounce it!

It's so often the little things in life that bring the most pleasure.

Waiting and Working

2012-02-01T10:46:00.001-05:00

I got word from the adoption agency yesterday that we are going to be waiting until next week (at best) to find out the information we are so anxious to hear. It is concerning a referral, so we are obviously excited beyond words. If you know anything about Ethiopian adoption, it is very early in the process for us to even have any hope of a referral, but that it due to the special need that we are willing to take. Hopefully, we'll know some details that we can share next week. (The bad news about Ethiopia is that I'm not allowed to put any pictures of our future child online until we have been to Ethiopia for court and the child is legally ours.)

While we wait for information, I am trying to play catch up around the house and cram in as much learning as possible.

Another thing that is requiring some time and energy is our new pup, Kylie. She is as sweet as can be and great with the kids, but she has never quit running away the second the opportunity presents itself. JD and I spent several hours Saturday trying to install an invisible fence for her, but there are too many dead spots in our yard due to the cement basement walls and the huge mounds of dirt that are in the side yard. We finally gave up and are going to have to put in an underground wire version this spring. One more thing on the spring to-do list!

The second issue with her is that she decided after being spayed that she isn't house broken anymore. We have ruled out an infection issue and the vet says it's just behavioral. She will not go in Alyssa's room but feels free to use the rest of the house. This means she is either directly being held or is in her puppy play-pen in the kitchen. It's been really frustrating and I'm not sure what else to try to break her.

Have a blessed Wednesday.

Short Documentary

2012-01-31T13:58:00.000-05:00

If you have about 13 minutes, watch this short documentary about children living with HIV. We met the little cutie at the beginning of the video at the Orphan Summit last November.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jYpgKM__yg

Weekend

2012-01-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged all weekend, but neither have I done any laundry, any cleaning or any shopping. Other than throwing some spinach in the juicer, I have done mounds of adoption paper work! I am serious - mounds and mounds! Last Thursday, I had not started our dossier (the huge pile of paperwork for Ethiopia) and was preparing to get the I600 (Homeland security paperwork) in the mail, when I made a quick call to the adoption agency with a question. What the lady told me on the phone put us in to SUPER rush mode! I hope to be able to share more details this week!! In a little over 72 hours, we have Fed Ex'ed our I600 and scanned and emailed the great majority of the dossier to the adoption agency. We have one more training session online that wouldn't allow me to register over the weekend and one more book to finish. We are also waiting for several notarized letters from things like life insurance policies and original birth and marriage certificates to come in the mail. Other than that, we have pumped out the paperwork.

In between the paperwork, we've discussed names - that's always fun even though I don't think I'm going to get to use the girl name I really want. I'm just too outnumbered (even Elijah has sided with everyone else.) It's OK, I always keep a few names in reserve.

Guess Who's Going To Africa

2012-01-27T14:46:00.000-05:00

Gabriel and Alei each got a turn traveling to Liberia when we adopted in 2006 and 2007; this year is Alyssa's turn! Although Moriah is older, she has no interest in making the trip, so Alyssa has the awesome opportunity to accompany us on one of the trips this year. JD and I both have to make the first trip for court; we are not both required to go on the second trip. We may both go or may not, based on child care arrangements at home and finances. We have decided that Alyssa will be going on whatever trip provides the most travel and experience opportunities; this means JD may make the second trip alone. (Hope not, I want to go both!) Alyssa has asked to go to Africa since she was a little girl, so we are very excited to take her!

(I can't say much yet, but we are possibly on the brink of exciting news on the adoption front....stay tuned.)

Long Term Change

2012-01-26T08:30:00.001-05:00

This is day six of our 15 day juice program; today we are adding back in nuts and beans. It hasn't been too tough since we have eaten all the fruits and vegetables that we have wanted. I can't even begin to guess how many servings I've eaten a day. While we were intending to continue juicing all three meals, we are cutting back to once a day and just eating the other two meals of fruit and vegetables due to the cost and waste. (I wish Vitamix shipped their products faster, but they told me it wouldn't be here for several more days.)

I made a soup last night with the tomato base I canned back in the summer - we added onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, broccoli and red pepper. It was delicious and we all agreed that we would have enjoyed it even before juicing.

I broke down and made the kids bread yesterday; the smell of it cooking is a bit tempting. I also made Moriah a gluten-free flat bread that she actually liked. We haven't found many gluten free bread products that actually taste good.

My kids eat too much junk food, as evidenced by Tori's do-nut and hot chocolate. They are going to be blessed with a green (veggie) smoothie a day in the very near future. As others know, it's very expensive to feed a large family healthy.

This past week has really made us reflect on what changes we need to make for our family long term; we are going to push to try and make the majority of our diet plant based, rather than animal based.

Juicing

2012-01-23T16:31:00.001-05:00

JD, Alei and I are on day three of six eating only fruits and vegetables. We are juicing fruit at breakfast, juicing vegetables (and apples) at lunch and dinner and are eating tons of fruits and vegetables in between. Day seven through 15 we are going to add in nuts and beans - we are pretty excited about that! (Day 16, JD is eating steak on the grill and I am eating chicken on the grill....and chocolate chip cookies for dessert, but we won't focus on that!)

It's going well overall. The first negative is that I still have to cook and feed the kids real food; the second negative is how expensive good fruit and vegetables cost. I bought a juicer, but am totally unhappy with how much it wastes. We are upgrading to a Vitamix that will grind the whole fruit with no waste.

A perk of all these fruits and veggies is that Julia and Elijah are able to ~~play~~ help wash them. They tend to wash themselves and the floor also but they enjoy it.

I'm doing this because my chiropractor convinced me that it would help with inflammation in my neck, but I'm sure hoping for some lost pounds as well.

Birthday Bowl

2012-01-22T17:45:00.001-05:00

To celebrate Tori's 7th birthday, we took the crew birthday bowling.

It is relatively affordable on the Navy base and the kids have been wanting to go for at least a year. It was way easier than I anticipated; everyone got the game and took their turn (even Elijah). It was really fun for everyone.

Once we came home, Aunt Deb joined us for pizza and birthday dirt cake.

Happy Birthday Tori; it's hard to believe you are seven already!

Basement Progress

2012-01-20T09:58:00.000-05:00

JD and I spent an afternoon and evening cleaning and organizing the basement open areas. This is the back room "future game room" that is still the construction zone of the house, but at least it's more organized and the air hockey table is available again.

This is the big closet that is in the back of the room. It was full, but now I have an empty shelf.

Of course, organizing usually makes a bigger mess to start with. Here was the pool table area while we were working.

Thankfully, here it is now - Eventually, the pool table will move to the game room and this will be a seating area around the wood burning stove.

Here's the Lazy Boy sectional we bought on Craigslist; we are really thrilled with it.

My plan to keep one of the couches in the room isn't going to work because it's blocking the future door. Eventually I will trade it for a love seat or chair so we can maximize seating. Hard to believe, but we really don't all fit on the sectional!

Moving On

2012-01-17T17:59:00.002-05:00

Since JD was out of town, I spent last night thoroughly cleaning out the kitchen cabinets. I also got rid of the items I don't really use to make room for the new items that were sitting on the counter homeless. While there are other areas of the house that were in worse shape, the kitchen is our center gathering place and it's so nice to open tidy cabinets instead of things falling out when you open them.

(half eaten apple courtesy of Elijah - he put it there to "save" it.)

I am amazed by those people that have completely clear kitchen counters; I think that would be so nice since I wipe them down at least three times a day. I really tried to not keep anything out that wasn't used several times a day and there is still plenty sitting out. I need to embrace the "lived in" look that describes our home so well.

Stuff and Things

2012-01-16T15:02:00.000-05:00

The kids in our area are off school today for Martin Luther King Day, but I decided we needed to work to make up for the unplanned days I was away from home last week. I have felt fine since my ER trip, but I have a dozy of a bruise on my arm from the nurse attempting to put an IV in. It's rather shocking that she graduated from nursing school with her technique that resulted in no IV, a huge bruise and blood all over the floor. She told me that occasionally her rooms look like an ax murder scene! I didn't complain though, because she brought me a sandwich in the afternoon after I hadn't eaten all day.

JD and I attended his work Holiday party this last weekend; it's really nice that they always do it after the Christmas party rush. We stopped for a quick photo and Elijah ran in to show off his tie.

We also had a family over last night that wanted to discuss adoption options. That is literally one of our favorite things to do and the kids had a great time playing.

So, I'm planning a nice boring (not that I'm sure that word ever accurately describes our life) week that is caring for the kids, doing Julia's hair -

Schooling -

And playing -

I'm also anxious to start my de-cluttering and organizing effort. I am going start working in the kitchen tonight but am really anxious to get downstairs in the unfinished family room. We bought a big leather sectional on Craiglslist yesterday so it'll be fun to make some progress in that room.

Twists and Turns

2012-01-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

After spending last week dealing with a virus that swept through the house, this week was supposed to be "heavy school." Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at the college with Gabriel dropping and adding a class due to a mistake I made. We then had to make a trip out to a college bookstore (ours is closed due to earthquake damage) an hour away to swap books.

Today I got up early and went to a weight lifting class. I came home, ate my Greek yogurt and took my vitamins. I was heading for the shower when Gabriel asked if I would make him some eggs. I started cooking eggs and had a sudden and excruciating pain in my chest. I laid on the couch for about 10 minutes before having Moriah call JD at work. I then lasted about another 10 minutes before I asked Gabriel to start driving me to the hospital. The pain so was so bad that I couldn't breathe. After a day at the hospital, they have ruled out a heart attack (I'm way too young for that in my opinion) and I have to do some other testing. I think it has something to do with an infection and the cough that I have had for about a month, but I am going to have to humor the doctors and my husband and do the heart stress workups. (Just what I was hoping for right after finishing the 11 physicals that just went out in this morning's mail!)

Anyway, the moral of the story is to watch out for juicing and weight lifting. Ok, just kidding, the real lesson for me is to be flexible and not get frustrated when things don't go as planned.

I'm still hoping for a good school day tomorrow.

Juice Experiment

2012-01-11T19:06:00.001-05:00

So, I bought a juicer. My chiropractor has convinced me that it would decrease the inflammation in my back if I did even a six day juice fast. Secondly, we watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" on Netflix (I'd highly recommend it) and wanted to try juicing on a lesser level than the guy in the documentary.

I went for really healthy; I think we eat enough fruits that I wanted to focus on getting some really good green vegetables down everyone. I chose kale, spinach, carrots and apples; according to my chiropractor "if you throw an apple in any veggie mixture, it'll be good." That may be the case for a man who eats no chicken nuggets and cheesecake, but I wasn't thrilled with the taste. My children all dutifully tried a drink and said the same thing that I was thinking, "it isn't too bad." I can guarantee if I try to serve them a glass in the morning, they will politely decline (and I can't blame them.)

I'm going to have to go online and find some recipes that are perhaps a little less green. I may decide that it's an acquired taste and try a glass a day, but I'm not jumping on the idea of nothing but this for six days yet! (Our chicken is in the oven!)

Any juicers out there have any advice? I'd also like to know what to do with the pulp; it seems way too wasteful to not use it in some soup or something.

Real Women Take Their Daughters to the Dump

2012-01-08T15:57:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take advantage of the pretty weather today so I headed out to clean out the barn with a few helpers. I did everything but JD's shop, since I'm unable to identify most of the stuff in there. By the time I was finished, I had a very full load for the dump. I decided it made the most sense to just go ahead and take it. Since the boys were helping JD with the deck, I told Moriah and Alyssa that it was their lucky day and we loaded up.

The three little guys never miss a dump run; I'm sure it has something to do with the sodas JD usually stops for.

At one point, Moriah, Alyssa and I just started laughing. For starters, I just look ridiculous driving the "truck with six wheels." I also have a terrible time backing up to the dump loading dock and had to have Moriah stand back there yelling directions. I had a horrible time removing the straps that JD had secured on; four trucks came and went next to us before we could unload. The dump guy made me unload the metal in a separate location, then I had recyclables (since I'm a good citizen) that had to be carted to recycling. Once we could start unloading the main load, Moriah threw something that flung a bunch of dirt in Alyssa's face and she was sputtering. Alyssa announced that she really wasn't cut out for this job; Moriah agreed that she wasn't either.

Finally, we got it unloaded, stopped for sodas and headed home.

The girls and I had fun but we aren't going to permanently take the weekly run from the boys!

January

2012-01-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

January hasn't been the best yet; just when I thought we were in the clear with the virus, Alei woke up sick this morning. I'm really praying Gabriel, who has a two day college class this weekend and starts his semester this week, doesn't get it (or the string of Gabriel and Alei's friends that have been here)! At this point, we are down to only a few kids who haven't been sick and Elijah has already suffered a second round.

(Elijah is asleep in this picture, and not sick, just the end of the day.)

I am having a little attitude about my animals at the moment. I am just a bit overwhelmed at all the two legged and four legged things that I live with that are refusing to comply with the rules. So, for now, Hunter is the only cat that I like. He's still a pain and gets on the table, but he's a really cool cat.

Today is gorgeous - upper 60s, so I'm blessed that the little guys have been able to play outside most of the day. I decided to pick the carrots that I planted at the end of the summer. They are really tiny - I don't know if they were supposed to be or not.

I was really surprised to find that the broccoli had grown again. I really thought my one big pick was all that I would get. It's amazing that it just grows and doesn't freeze, it's been below freezing many times. (I'm new at this gardening thing, remember?)

I love my little gardening helpers, although I really need to buy more shovels; two shovels are just not enough for one momma and five helpers!

I could make due with this weather all month!

All Before 10 a.m.

2012-01-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

I could title this post "The Glamorous Life" or even "Raining Poop" but I decided to tell the story of the entire morning and not just the bathroom crisis. My morning started very early since my friend convinced me to try the water fitness class that starts at 5:30. Despite Gabriel's warning, the instructor assured us that it wasn't the senior citizen class, it was serious cardio. It was pretty evident upon arrival that we were the only two members under the age of 60. Tomorrow, I'm heading back to my favorite tread-mill! I got home promptly at 7:00 and started moving the kids to appropriate directions. JD had to go into work late, just so he and the boys could have their PPD tests read at the clinic. We decided to cram in him going to the Post Office for passports as well. Our plan was he could take Alyssa to the P.O. and then I would meet him at the clinic with the boys and pick up Alyssa to get her to school.

When I headed down-stairs to wake up Gabriel, I heard dripping water; I simultaneously heard Julia screaming, but that isn't out of the ordinary enough to arouse alarm. I switched on the unfinished bathroom light down-stairs to see water lightly running from the ceiling. Of course, the bathroom is conveniently a place to stash stuff, so it was raining down unto a mattress and countless other items that Gabriel decided to store in there. Not knowing what the issue was, I ran upstairs to Julia's screams from the upstairs bathroom. I suddenly knew where the downstairs water was coming, as the upstairs was flooding to the point that it was about to come out into the hall. Julia was on the toilet crying that she flooded it and couldn't escape the flood. There was nothing to do at that point but throw down a dozen towels to stage a rescue. I did what any respectable wife would do after rescuing their child from the toilet flood - I called my husband.

We quickly rearranged plans and he came home to deal with the flood. I then loaded Alyssa and took her to school. I came back up the driveway with about 10 minutes to spare to get the three boys to the clinic. I didn't even have time to check on JD's unclogging efforts (in his work attire) before I got Alei (who had to now make the boy's trip since I didn't want to go twice) and the boys out the door. Of course, I couldn't find Alei's lab order, but at least we could do the first PPD visit with her. We had some delay and billing issues, but I was able to arrive home before 10:00 so that Gabriel and I could thoroughly clean out the downstairs bathroom. I had him back the truck up and load most of it for the dump. I sent him on the dump run while I continued to clean. About the time of mopping, he called me frantically to tell me that the truck ran out of gas (the gauge doesn't work) and he was sitting in the middle of the road. (What he didn't elaborate on at that point was the fact that he had also lost a mattress over the side and was going back for it when he had the gas issue.)

After another frantic call to JD, and switching to the 2nd tank of gas, Gabriel completed his 2nd trip to the dump and I finished by mopping both bathrooms. I would like to say that the day slowed down considerably, but I'm not sure that is the case.

Aren't you glad this is one of my few picture less posts? Unfortunately, there are more of us plagued with the virus that Elijah had. Hopefully we are getting all the sickness (and the floods) for the year wrapped up at the very beginning.

Christmas Break Coming to the End

2012-01-02T21:13:00.000-05:00

Today was supposed to be the last day of Christmas break, but I think we are going to have a one day extension due to illness. Poor Elijah spent the entire day throwing up. It's the first time he has ever thrown up, so he was a bit scared in the beginning. By the 10th round, he was a pro and waited over his throw-up bowl. He has told me several times today how much he hates throw up; I so agree! Now my big hope and prayer is that no one else gets it! I generally don't come out of these situations very well after I've cleaned it all day.

JD and I took turns sitting with Elijah, so on JD's turn, the girls and I took down the Christmas decorations. Julia did all the glass balls herself while Tori matched two whole Rubbermaid's of Hallmark ornaments to the correct boxes!

Not that I want them to grow up, but it's rather nice to have another set of girls to be my helpers. The cool thing is that Tori and Julia still think it's fun.

New Years Eve

2011-12-31T17:54:00.000-05:00

We are taking everyone to a friend's house for a New Years Eve party this evening, but my plan entails getting home and putting the kids in bed by 10:00 p.m. We've crammed in all kinds of things today though before the fun. JD started his day by taking himself and three children to Urgent Care for adoption labs. We were unable to get every one's PPD tests done yesterday because they would have needed to be read on Monday, and Monday is a holiday, so we had to drag everyone in for those this morning. After that, JD ripped out the carpet in our retreat area where we had mold growing. We thought it was because the door wasn't sealed properly, but it was actually due to the deck outside being so well built that it didn't drain water. So, after the carpet came out -

JD got to rip up all the boards to re-lay them with spaces between them.

I spent all afternoon yesterday cleaning out the fridges, making a shopping list, cutting coupons, dragging three little people through the Commissary, carrying in all the groceries, cleaning out the pantry and putting them all away.

Today, while Gabriel made chicken "wings,"

I made bread and fudge for the Sunday School teachers for tomorrow -

And caramel pop-corn and a veggie tray for the New Year party tonight -

Lastly, I am filling two crock-pots with Pizza-in-a-Pot for a lunch tomorrow for us and Luke's family.

The little guys were entertained by Gabriel's friend, Alayna, who built Lego's with them.

Luke

2011-12-31T08:16:00.000-05:00

It was with great sadness we heard about the loss of our friend's son in China. Luke was only a couple of months away from joining his family and our church here in America. We have been running a snack bar after church for several months to help raise the funds for Luke to join us and while we rejoice that he is in the presence of his maker, it is a loss for all of us. Please pray for his family here and his foster family in China.

http://adoptedandappointed.blogspot.com/2011/12/prayer-request.html

Post Christmas and 21 Years

2011-12-29T14:05:00.000-05:00

We had our third and final home study meeting yesterday up in D.C. On the way home, we stopped for an anniversary dinner one day early. Today we have been married 21 years! It was a quick reminder where we've come in the last 21 years since we had to interrupt dinner for the kids to be gathered around the phone on speaker for a stern reminder of how they are supposed to behave when their big sister, Alei, is left in charge.

At this point, we still have a few people that are scheduled for physicals tomorrow and a 10 hour Hague training to complete online. As soon as those are submitted, we will wait for our rough draft to be sent to us and the adoption agency, fine-tuned by the adoption agency and our home study can be notarized as official. JD's fingerprints were also returned for one being smudgy, but I wrote a note with the new set in hopes that the second try will not hold up the entire home study.

This is what I came home to yesterday - Elijah running around (and into things since he can't really see) and telling everyone that he is Obama. Never mind it's a mask of John McCain - close enough for a three year old!

Elijah hid behind the couch and jumped out to scare Gabriel's friend when she arrived; it was pretty entertaining. Elijah used to be terrified of these masks, Gabriel has several, and we had to reassure Elijah that Gabriel wasn't bringing them home on the plane at Christmas time last year. A year changes a lot when you are small!

I'm ready to start my home organizational project; I am starting with the office that is driving me crazy. This is supposedly JD's desk, but he never uses it and I constantly use it, so I'm going to make it more Momma friendly. JD always works from a lap-top on the couch or table; I appreciate the office door when I'm trying to hear the person on the other end of the phone line.

This is "my" desk. It is never more than a surface that junk gets piled on. I'm not sure what to do with it. I have a really cool cabinet down-stairs that I thought I might swap it with, but it doesn't clear the shadow box that I don't want to move.

What's nuts is this is the room that I always close the door when people come over, but now I'm throwing it out there for everyone to see. It's ok as long as there's improvement soon, right?

Christmas Deliveries

2011-12-26T19:16:00.000-05:00

JD received a call on the 23rd about several toys that were dropped off too late for the Toys For Tot pickup that occurred at his work. They wanted to know if we knew any families in need that we could bless with the extra toys. We instantly knew one, but was sure that we could find more by asking around. We brought the toys home and began making calls and dividing what would work for different families that we found out about.

We began with a family whose father had been laid off and they are struggling to not lose their home. We decided to provide two gifts per child. We then covered a family with two children whose father is in serious condition in the hospital. Then we divided toys for a Mexican family that Debra knows and an immigrant family from Afghanistan.

At that point, we still had more younger children gifts, so I contacted a few families that actually posted that they needed help on Craigslist. We were able to correspond and help a mom that has six children. It was a lot of fun and a good reminder, again, to my children that the world is filled with people that don't have the blessings that we so often take for granted.

Due to my present deliveries, I was pretty behind where I would normally be by Christmas Eve. I was also getting sicker by the moment, so I ended up taking myself to the Urgent Care on Christmas Eve. I did do my pre-Christmas baking, but a lot of cleaning and other organizing went by the way-side. Of course, the kids did not care and it was a wonderful Christmas anyway.

The fun of the day, for me, was smiling children -

And my three year old playing songs for the family.

I hope your day was filled with friends and family as well.

Things to Come

2011-12-23T07:59:00.000-05:00

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have,

but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

Fredrick Keoniq

I am planning a "more people, less stuff" campaign for next year. I am frustrated at the volume of stuff we own ( I normally go through this about twice a year,it's just hitting earlier than usual.) In 2012, we are really going to decrease our junk to make room for the new little person (or people) and the benefit is the stuff we can sell on Craigslist can be added to our adoption fund. Stay tuned.

Every Year

2011-12-22T19:22:00.001-05:00

I was really trying to cram in a lot of family Christmas fun this December, but still have a lot on the "not done" list. Since we are hoping and praying that we are in Ethiopia next December, (best case scenario,) I wanted to make sure we did all the extras this year.

It's really hard to believe that this is the 6th Christmas that Tori has been home, and the 5th for Julia and Ben. Somedays it just seems that I was working through their paperwork.

Today was the kids' Christmas party at JD's work, which is always exciting since it's the Santa viewing of the year. Elijah ran right up there and climbed on his lap. Although we don't "do" Santa, Elijah somehow heard that Santa comes down chimneys and wanted the details of how he pulls that off. He then told us that he really wants to try coming down a chimney also.

The 12 and under crowd all get a present from Santa. Elijah got a package of little tractors - talk about sealing the deal on him liking the guy in the red suit.

(I would have asked Santa for magic cough syrup - I have been coughing for a week straight and nothing works.)

Hair Priorities

2011-12-20T19:45:00.000-05:00

It's a few days before Christmas - my house needs a good cleaning, my laundry needs attention, I have shopping to do as well as baking, I have gifts to wrap, but...I did hair all afternoon. As my fellow adoptive Moms know, sometimes hair takes all priority. I'm hoping that at some point tomorrow, all nine of my kids will be home to re-take a Christmas picture, so I had to finish Christmas hair. I did Tori a few days ago and Julia was my today ~~victim~~ project.

Ignore the white - she isn't going grey, it's just the coconut oil that is soaking it.

All this hair bored Elijah to sleep and I'm off to try to accomplish more.

No More Room

2011-12-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

Take a moment to read this post from the missionaries that we support in Guatemala. They are a family with nine children who moved to work full time in the orphanage that two of their daughters were adopted from. It's so horrible that Guatemala shut down adoptions - I wish I could take this sibling group. I have far more room than the orphanage.

http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2011/12/room.html

My LEAST Favorite

2011-12-16T11:09:00.000-05:00

My very least favorite part of an adoption is all the medical requirements. I'm sure it wouldn't be that big of a deal if we weren't talking 11 people. Just for the home-study, we each get a physical that includes blood work, urinalysis, vision and hearing. They also evaluate immunization records, which is a bit of an issue for me since I decided that I'm picking and choosing what shots I consider worth compromising my children's immune system for. Then JD and I require several additional medical paperwork piles to be filled out by a doctor for the adoption agency. After reading them over, I'm thinking no doctor is going to want to fill them out and quite frankly, they don't see us often enough to actually know the answers to the questions. Yesterday, I called and scheduled 14 doctor appointments between now and the end of January. While I was at it, I called the dentist and booked 11 appointments there as well. I was thrilled because they are allowing me to bring my five youngest all in one morning in spite of their "three family members a day" normal rule. On a humorous note, I told the receptionist at the dentist that we've known for years about our current adoption. She asked, "how many are you bringing home this time?" I said, "it will probably be just one." She answered, "well, you are really cutting back this time!"

Since I still have my normal on-going doctor appointments, I should see at least 30 doctor or dentist bills in the next six weeks - something to look forward to (to be read with sarcasm.)

Today is the Tori and Julia appointments - they are looking forward to it just because I take them for Slurpees afterward. Elijah is very, very excited because Alei is taking him to the new Chipmunk movie - he has been waiting for a few months. I wish I was there to see his excitement at the whole experience.

Since it's almost Christmas and picture less posts are boring, here's a shot of the kids decorating gingerbread cookies. I am trying to still maintain the Christmas traditions while I work on my paperwork!

Picture Attempt

2011-12-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

I attempted a simple Christmas picture Sunday on the deck. The kids were all cooperative - it could have worked out well, but it didn't - JD is totally blurry and I'm half blurry. So, we are going to have to try that one more time. I may drag everyone into "town" for "real" pictures, but it sure sounds like a lot of work!

Here's Kylie and Toby in their festive Christmas wear with their owners.

I feel like I'm buried in piles of paperwork. I have barely started the new pile of adoption paperwork, which needs my attention. I also am juggling my two college students at two different schools paperwork and my other children at two different co-ops paperwork on top of my normal financial paperwork. We are only doing minimal school from now until January so I'm hoping to catch up on the paper piles between now and then.

Bad Guys Update

2011-12-10T08:59:00.000-05:00

Elijah is pretty impressed with police officers; he never calls them police men - they are always officers. Last night he tucked his police truck into my bed and lovingly covered it up at bed time. Several times a day, we hear, "put your hands up." Generally, once you put your hands up, he shoots you anyway. JD explained to him that the police don't shoot if the bad guy puts his hands up. This morning we were discussing it and I told him that the police hand-cuff them and take them to jail. Elijah confidently told me that the police take them to jail and them shoot them at the jail. Julia kicked in with five year old wisdom to say, "Elijah, they don't shoot them at the jail; they just make them pick up garbage along the roads."

One Bite at a Time

2011-12-09T21:06:00.000-05:00

If I had an assistant, she would also require an assistant to get done all the things that I need to do! I am not sure why we keep beginning adoptions right before Christmas, but it definitely makes December even more challenging. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment today after we were fingerprinted, notarized a stack of paperwork, bought money orders and put it all together to send out for the criminal back-ground checks for my home-study. Once I walked in the door, my bubble was popped when the adoption agency called to let me know that I needed to review the 108 pages they just sent me and initial them. I was flabbergasted once I looked through the adoption agency requirements - I had no idea that the Hague could even come up with that many qualifications. One that jumped out at me is producing rabies certificates for all my pets; do cats that move into the barn without my permission and we can't touch get exemptions? I thought it was going to be tough to take the 11 of us for physicals and eye exams!

Here's our first round of papers leaving the local post office -

How do you eat an elephant - one bite at a time.

Birthday In Pictures

2011-12-07T09:38:00.002-05:00

Sign and Today

2011-12-06T22:25:00.000-05:00

I read a sign today that said something like... "God put me on this earth to accomplish several things. I'm so far behind that I'm never going to die." It struck me funny, (or maybe it was the silly little cartoon guy in the picture.) Anyway, today we headed up to D.C. for our 2nd home study meeting, then we headed the opposite direction to buy Alei's new (only to us) car. After we got home, we had a small birthday celebration for Gabriel.

The funny moment of the day was when the social worker was trying to get all the current children straight. She was having an even tougher time since the three Liberian children have different names on their birth certificates than what we call them. During that confusion, she asked what perimeters we wanted for our Ethiopian home study. Since this is our 3rd home study, we've learned a few things and the first is to not to limit yourself by too restrictive numbers or ages as there is no way around it. So, JD told her that three children six or under ought to be fine. She literally laid her head on the table and laughed for a few seconds, then came back up and said that would be fine. Just to make her feel better, I told her that the only way I was coming home with three was if they offered us triplets - that would just be too hard to turn down!

Tomorrow I have to get busy on the police clearances and criminal background checks. Later there is also a federal one. Gabriel and Alei both have to be done on all of them as well and Moriah gets to join for the third. It wouldn't be so bad other than we get to pay for four to five people on each instead of two!

As usual, I'm going to bed too late considering that I get up before the sun these days, so I'll be back tomorrow with some Gabriel birthday shots.

Big News Announced

2011-12-03T21:35:00.000-05:00

If you are a friend or family or have read my blog over time, you already know that we have felt a clear call to adopt from Ethiopia since June 2009. We feel that we have been given clear confirmation of it on a few occasions and I wrote about one such occasion HERE if you'd like to read it. After we attended the Orphan Summit last November, we came home enthused and ready to begin an adoption but had a serious hurdle of closing on the house we built and were already living it. Once we accomplished that in the spring, we prayed specifically for 30 days to know that it was the time we were supposed to proceed with Ethiopia. Not only did we not have any peace during that time, it was the same time frame that there were significant slow downs in Ethiopian adoptions and fear that the country might close entirely. Although we were disappointed, we knew that we were supposed to wait.

About two weeks ago, a blog reader that is getting ready to travel to China for her two new children, sent me a link about a special little girl that is waiting for a family in China. This little girl is in desperate need of good medical care that she will not receive as an orphan in China. I sent the link to JD (who has remained stable the last few years waiting for the go ahead with Ethiopia while I've bounced all over the map and tried to convince him that we could go to Uganda or China while we waited for the clear sign to go to Ethiopia.) Anyway, I called the agency that this little girl is listed with, which also happens to be one of the agencies I talked to about Ethiopia before. I'm not sure why, but the China representative mentioned to me how stable and efficient their Ethiopia adoptions were running. She transferred me to the Ethiopia "department" and I then found out that Ethiopia recently lowered their age requirement to "no more than 40 years older than the child you are adopting." Well, that was concerning because I'm turning 42 in April and we definitely want to adopt younger than Elijah.

It's funny looking back, but we both just knew that the time is now. We aren't looking at the scary statistics or the financial concerns, we are just stepping out in faith knowing that our sweet little #10 is very likely already sitting in a Northern Ethiopian orphanage waiting for us to find him or her. We are not requesting a boy or girl, only that he/she or they be younger than Elijah. We have been told that the time span is 13-15 months. We immediately hired our home study agency for a new home study and submitted the 18 page application to the adoption agency. Amazingly, the director herself called me Thursday and worked in our first home study meeting Friday. We will have our second this week on Gabriel's 20th birthday and will be scrambling to complete all the forms, fingerprinting, background checks and physicals as quickly as we can.

So, if you think it's all harp playing around here, we have had some real struggles this week as well. The biggest being that the Toyota broke down again. It did about two weeks ago, we had it towed to the shop and they couldn't find the problem; this timing is quite a bit worse because we had TWO cars wrecked and totalled in the course of five days. The first accident is the fault of the driver so I'm allowing HIM to remain anonymous; the second was a deer accident that happened to my big kids as they were heading home from church last Sunday. So, we have three cars totalled or in the shop, one running van and a truck with farm plates to transport three people to work and all the other commitments we have. Friday, Gabriel had to get up early on his only day off to run the van transport service. He was kind enough to pick me up at the Y in his pajamas after taking Alei to work.

I say all this to say that life around here rarely runs smoothly and we know that this is going to be a challenge, but it is what really matters. We know specifically what special need we are going to adopt (that's another post for another day down the road.) We know that it isn't going to be easy, but saving a child is worth overcoming difficulties. If you have never seen the following video, I urge you to take the couple of minutes to watch it; it says what we are feeling better than any words I can muster!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWHJ6-YhSYQ

Big News on the Way

2011-12-02T11:00:00.000-05:00

This has been a big week, well, maybe it's been the last two weeks. It has been filled with challenges as well, but the excitement is drowning out the frustration. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to post the BIG NEWS.

Until then, have a blessed Friday.

World Aids Day - The Truth

2011-12-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

Take a few minutes to educate yourself about HIV and Aids - it will only take a few minutes and you'll learn more about the truth of HIV than almost anyone else you know, (plus the kids are cute!)

Food Issues

2011-11-29T21:08:00.003-05:00

The last several months we have gone through some pretty extensive food allergy testing for Moriah. The verdict is that she is very allergic to eggs, gluten intolerant, casein intolerant and allergic to soy. (Gluten is all wheat products and casein is all dairy.) Since she is already a self appointed vegetarian, it is not leaving a ton of options. We have ordered several gluten-free, vegan cookbooks and I am exploring the world of gluten-free foods on Amazon and at the grocery store Wegmans. After spending some major time (and major money) in Wegmans the other day, I am so thankful that they opened in our area. We don't have a Whole Foods or anything else, so I would have been driving a few hours away to find the selection that Wegmans offers; there were two complete aisles of gluten-free options. While it seems that it may be simpler to just cook the same for everyone, the gluten free items were two to five times higher than the regular items I buy, so it really isn't a reasonable option for our size family.

I have read several other blogs that mention that they have children that require gluten-free. I am really wondering if they went through the testing (insurance wouldn't pay for it since it isn't a proven test) or they just discovered that their children improved when they did a trial try?

Moriah made her first gluten free pizza today that also had cheese-free cheese (go figure!) and I made regular pizza. I also whipped up cinnamon rolls, bread and cookies which are all items Moriah didn't eat even before the new food plan.

If anyone has any gluten-free wisdom for me, I would love to hear it! This is just one more thing to add to my already full plate.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T19:29:00.003-05:00

I am so thankful for friends that are like family, especially since we have spent the majority of our marriage not living near either of our families.

We are exceedingly blessed and feel it most when our home is full of talking and laughter.

Black Friday is an event at our house and this year was more strenuous than ever since many stores opened at midnight. JD and the four older kids headed out last night about 9:30 and got home at 3:00. The three girls and I headed back out at 4 a.m. for the early morning shift. We don't just do Christmas shopping - we usually wait for house hold items that we need every year also. Black Friday is the best time to buy everything from kitchen items to socks and underwear! It was really nice this year since it was exceptionally warm, however now that it is afternoon, JD and I are starting to feel the 2.5 and 3.5 hours of sleep we got.

Now I need to do a make up session at the Y tomorrow morning to make a dent in the good food I ate.

Thankfulness

2011-11-24T22:46:00.001-05:00

We tend to forget that
HAPPINESS doesn't come
as a result of getting something
we don't have, but rather of
recognizing and appreciating
what we DO HAVE.

Lots of Stuff

2011-11-23T20:39:00.000-05:00

There's actually a lot going on - some exciting and some frustrating, but I don't feel like I can launch into any of those stories yet; so I'm just here to say Happy Thanksgiving. We are going to have about 25 at dinner tomorrow and are pretty excited about our friends coming. JD loves any occasion to put in as many leaves in the table as he can; he left only a narrow walkway between the table and the living room furniture. If you are wondering, we can seat 20 at the table at this length, so there will still be kids at the kitchen table.

We found out what our sweet Kylie's big fault is - she took off when given the opportunity. Alyssa and I deliberately took her out without a leash and she ran into the woods. I ended up finding her half way down the driveway and she wasn't interested in being caught for a while. I was chasing her up and down the road with no phone to call back-up. She may find herself sporting one of those fashionable collars that shock her when she crosses the line rather than her new tu-tu.

Alyssa was afraid that Toby was jealous about Kylie's girly things, so Alyssa let him wear a bow for a while. He isn't the most secure animal on the planet, so I'm not sure our laughing was good for his self esteem.

Kylie Fox

2011-11-20T08:07:00.001-05:00

Alyssa and I hit the road yesterday to pick up her new dog, Kylie. The road trip took even longer than anticipated because our faithful Prius, Blue, broke down the last 30 minutes of the trip. I am still so thankful that it didn't happen two hours away from home. My cell phone was also dying the last hour of the trip and I'm very thankful that it didn't die before I was able to call for help sitting on the side of the road in the cold dark! All in all, it was a great day and Kylie was well worth the trip! She has been in three homes in two years and we feel blessed to have found such a sweet and out-going dog that needed an owner as much as the 12 year old owner needed her.

When Elijah saw the first picture of her on Craigslist, he said, "that's not a dog - it's a big daddy fox," so her name is now Kylie Fox. She is a pure bred Pomeranian, but does look just like a fox.

She has a great personality and pranced in the house, licked up the kid's faces, wagged her tail at the other dogs and seemed pleased to meet the cats. That is exactly what we needed!

This has all given Julia and Elijah a fun new game. They have played Alyssa and Kylie all morning. (I promise Elijah is in there on his own free will!)

Have a blessed Sunday.

Conversation With Elijah

2011-11-18T07:57:00.000-05:00

I licked my finger and wiped the remnants of chocolate off Elijah's mouth as we were heading out the door. He scrunched his face and said, "What was that?"
Me: It's my special cleaning agent.
Elijah: Was it from your lips?
Me: Yes.
Elijah: Oooohhh, I'm not doing that! You wear makeup!

Me: I'll make a note of that. (I guess my special cleaning agent is only for messy little girl faces!)

Simple

2011-11-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

I'm so thankful when God allows things to be simple in life; it seems so often that things can be so complicated. Since Alyssa lost Charlie, her beloved little dog, we have told her that we would get her another dog when she was ready. Alyssa and I decided to wait for my friend's little Yorkie to have puppies, but it just started weighing on me that she shouldn't wait that long. I told her that we could look, which isn't always easy when you want a small dog that is child friendly, likes other dogs, gets along with cats, doesn't kill chickens AND preferably already house broken. I was remaining flexible on the house breaking thing and the price, but was hoping for neither to be too stressful. We contacted several dog rescues and the reality is that most will not adopt to families that have young children, a few that do still require a lot of paperwork, vet records for all other animals and a few home visits. While I could do all that, it sounded like a major head-ache. We emailed about many, many dogs on Craigslist and scanning back, we found one that had been listed a few weeks ago. I told Alyssa that I'm sure it would be taken, but email anyway. The lady called and told us that she still had the FREE, HOUSEBROKEN Pomeranian and although she had a lot of people inquire, none sat right with her and she just feels that Alyssa was the right one! So, as long as nothing happens, we will be making the trip on Saturday to pick up Alyssa's new little buddy. She's a Pomeranian and already named Kylie, which is a name we all love.

I'm really excited for Alyssa and anxious to meet Kylie.

College

2011-11-14T21:16:00.003-05:00

Gabriel signed up for classes at the local community college today; he brings the grand total to three people in our house currently enrolled in college classes.

It's been really great having him home (and I'm not just saying that because he does children drop-off and pick-ups for me.) It's really nice that the little people get this extra time to get to know their big brother after he spent all last year in Colorado.

These are the times I really feel the age span of my children - I did Hooked on Phonics today and then ran out the door to sign papers at the college.

Still Doing Soccer

2011-11-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

I thought yesterday was the final two soccer games of the season, but no, James and Ben had a make-up game this afternoon and have one more next Saturday. We generally do not participate in any Sunday sports, but this game was on our way home from church at just the right time, so we stopped for pizza, ate at the park and then attended their game.

Elijah loves the playgrounds; he is really devastated when it's time to leave each and every time.

It was pretty chilly outside, but Julia kicked off her church flats to run wild in the mulch.

Today's game wasn't as impressive as yesterday's when Ben scored nine goals, but we still enjoyed it.

Shots of Today

2011-11-09T15:05:00.002-05:00

We are really enjoying the nice fall weather, so today I got my camera out to document it. First, however, I need to show one picture of Julia and Elijah with their severely over-due birthday cake. We lit five candles on one side and three on the other and they were quite happy.

Our table area has a transformation - the Amish benches that we ordered a few months ago came in. We have been through so many cheap chairs over the years that we thought these would last the years better. I already realize how much easier it will be to vacuum under the table because the vacuum fits under them. Moving 12 chairs out and back was always the worst part of vacuuming.

These cheap NY mugs ($2.50 each) were the only souvenirs I bought my children when we went to NY city. I think it should be enough to take your children on a trip without having to buy them something from there; anyway, when I saw these, I knew it would help the winter go more smoothly. I was tired of making children hot chocolate and they would argue over which mug was theirs and that someone took a drink of theirs, (problems adults just don't seem to have.) So, everyone now has their own color mug and it's already decreased the hot chocolate confusion.

Now out to the nice weather - we got this sturdy trike at the thrift store for $5; it is exactly like the ones that Elijah loved so much at the pumpkin farm. Two of the tires are not staying inflated, so I'm going to have to hunt them down, but I think he'll be able to ride it through the grass once he can reach the pedals well.

The frost killed off my pumpkin plants, but my broccoli is still growing nicely. See those little heads starting to grow? I'm definitely planting a lot more of it next fall because it's been so easy to grow and it's so easy to freeze.

Elijah and I followed the guineas around for a while and tried to get a picture of the two babies that the momma guinea hatched herself. They are so cute running behind here everywhere, but they bolt when I try to get close enough for a picture.

Here's a picture of Lincoln dog. He is posing in front of an eye-sore in the side yard that I think needs to come down. It was a "house" that Moriah and Alyssa built years ago, complete with plastic kitchen, but has been abandoned for the last few years.

I'm including this picture to demonstrate how Elijah climbs everything - and I mean everything! We did an ER run about a week ago to x-ray his foot to make sure it wasn't broken after he fell off the front flower bed, but it really hasn't slowed him down much.

The kids have been playing soccer everyday. I think two goals would be a great group Christmas present.

I hope that you are enjoying the fall as much as we are; soccer ends this weekend and I'm hoping it stays nice enough for a while to do some outside activities.

Craziness and My Pet Peeve of 2011

2011-11-06T10:56:00.001-05:00

This weekend has to be the busiest of the year. We had our entire Bible study group and their families here on Friday night for a pot-luck and bon-fire. Today we are having a very, (very) late Julia and Elijah birthday party. In between those two events, my children had about six other events which kept me running like a crazy woman all day yesterday. By evening I was stressed and exhausted and announced that no one was adding anything to next weekend's schedule, which is currently just the last two soccer games of the year.

Speaking of soccer, I don't know why this season has seemed so long and miserable, especially since Gabriel did all of the boy's practice runs for me and a few of the games, but it has. I did not sign anyone up for indoor winter soccer but am thinking that next year we may skip fall soccer altogether and just let everyone play indoor soccer since it's not interfering with our fall outside projects and it's played much closer to our house. Poor Tori wants to play so badly but I couldn't stand to even try to add it to our schedule this fall.

So, here's my pet peeve of the year...and I think it's more than legitimate. In fact, it made me so annoyed that I am labeling it "this is what is wrong with Americans." Moriah played on a different league this fall that is an all girls league instead of our normal county league. So, I payed more to sign her up and drove farther to the games; it was worth it since we know and trust the coach and the practices were actually closer to our house. So, one of the moms on the team (don't know her) sent out an email that said that she was working on what gift we could all order to reward the girls for playing. What? Seriously? I pay, drive and provide snacks and now I'm supposed to buy my daughter a $37 monogrammed bag to reward her for playing soccer! (To make matters worse, I believe the mother sells for the company that she choose to have us all order our $37 EACH bag from so that she gets a % of it.) Well, guess what? I'm not doing it. I think Christmas is approaching and if Moriah is really dying for a $37 monogrammed bag, she'll have to put it on her list. Quite frankly, I think her father and I deserve the gift since we were the ones who sacrificed to allow her to play soccer like she desired. No wonder people think they can only afford two children; it's true with this mindset! I'm scheduling my talk with Moriah about why she may be the only one who isn't presented a bag at the party (because we also have to throw them a party to thank them for playing soccer!) Get a grip people!

I'll end with a positive; the deck now has rails and no one fell off of it the few months it didn't. The wood needs to cure a few months before painting and putting on the screen, so it may be early spring when JD and I do that.

There's one white rail up also - a few more days and it'll be child safe other than the small stair section.

I guess my next post will be party pictures!

Dear Orphan

2011-11-03T19:04:00.002-04:00

I read the following on two different blogs today and loved it, so I clicked over to read the
author's blog and was thrilled to find that it was a lady that I took pictures for in Liberia.
She was in process of adopting a 10 year old girl when we traveled so we took pictures
and took measurements for her. She is a remarkable lady who has adopted several
Down children from around the world. This sure makes me think!

Dear Orphan,

I saw your picture today and heard about your plight. Your face is so beautiful and sad,
and it tugs at my heart.

I hear you don't get enough to eat, and that there isn't always medicine if you get sick.
You sleep in a room with many children, but you still feel alone.

You have never had anyone wish you a "Happy Birthday", give you a gift, or even sing
you a lullaby goodnight. No one has ever told you about Jesus or that He loves you.

I wish we could adopt you, but....

It is such a long way to travel, it would cost so much money, and it involves so much
paperwork.
Our home isn't very big, and we already have children. Adding another child to our
family would mean they would have to share a bedroom as well as our love and
attention.
What if you have health issues or special needs that are not yet diagnosed?
You might have a hard time adjusting to a family after never knowing one, or have
"issues" from years of neglect, malnutrition, mistreatment, or abuse.

I'm sorry, it just feels like too much of a risk and sacrifice. Adoption doesn't really
feel like our "calling". Maybe there is another family....

Written by Amy B.
http://justamomofseven.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-wish-i-could.html

Eggies and Such

2011-11-02T16:11:00.001-04:00

I have been meeting a friend at the Y most weekday mornings at 6:00 a.m.; since I'm more of a night owl, I thought it would be rather painful, but it has been great overall. The frustrating thing is that Elijah has woken up at 7:15 like clockwork most of the summer, which is why my plan was to be home by 7:00, but now he has started getting up earlier before I get home and making the rounds to get his sisters up. I have really prayed that he would just sleep until 7:00 and this morning I came flying back into the house at 7:03 and he got up at 7:08! I then let Moriah and Alyssa sleep until 9:00 to make up for their earlier in the week 6:30 wake up calls.

Today was so beautiful that I let the kids play outside this morning while I baked. I finally bought the ingredients for Ezekiel bread at a Mennonite grocery store on the way to the mountains and made it this morning. (I made it in a cake shape to try and fool the kids that it was a treat instead of bread.)

I also had several rotten bananas waiting in the fridge that got turned into banana bread.

My kids love boiled eggs and I continually get frustrated that the shells often sticks to them when I boil them. While I've tried all sort of suggestions to prevent it, I read that it really comes down to how old the cheap eggs are before they hit the store. Anyway, I bought these "eggies" that you crack the eggs into and boil them. Lets just say, they don't get a great review from me. First of all, they have four parts each that you have to assemble and oil, then a few broke open in the boiling water.

Lastly, the eggs come out kind of half egg shaped. I only bought one set of six to try them out and I'm glad I didn't buy another few sets like I really would have needed to use this method. After two batches of eggies, I tried heavily salting the water with straight eggs.

My baking break was fun, - too bad we didn't end up with any dinners from my time, so now I have to make dinner.

Weekend

2011-11-01T14:07:00.000-04:00

My blog is slightly neglected, as is my checkbook, laundry and cleaning. I have spent the majority of the last two days matching and submitting an enormous pile of medical bills and their statements. We have a supplemental insurance that often requires us to pay and then submit it to be reimbursed and we are severely behind on submitting them. After this round, I'm vowing to keep up with it better!

JD and I did go away for the weekend; I considered not going because I didn't want to leave Alyssa so shortly after losing Charlie, but she was fine with my sister. The kids all did well at home with Deb and JD and I really enjoyed the peaceful quiet.

It started snowing right after we arrived at the cabin and by morning there was five to six inches on the ground. It was enough to keep us from hiking up the mountain, so we spent one afternoon in the historic part of Staunton, VA, which was full of history and very enjoyable.

I am going to get back to work, but will leave you with a picture of my crew dressed for the harvest party we went to. Tori was supposed to be a cute clown, but the wig kind of made her a frightening clown. I think we'll purchase a new wig before anyone else plans on being a clown. I generally don't spend money on costumes, so it forces the kids to get creative. Tori's clown costume was made by my sister when she was six for a clown parade at her school and the Indian costume Moriah wore I made over 20 years ago for spirit week my freshman year of college!

Charlie

2011-10-27T16:05:00.000-04:00

We lost our dear dog, Charlie, two days ago in a tragic accident. He was actually Alyssa's dog, but we all dearly loved him. Aside from a few bad habits, he was the perfect family dog! I'm really having a hard enough time dealing with the reality that he's gone and I know Alyssa feels the same. It has been a long, long time since I've cried that long and that hard!

Here's the sweet stone that Alyssa painted for him.

We also planted flowers and a Hosta at his grave site.

Alyssa and I made a trip to Michael's craft store and bought this shadow box to display the paw print and hair tuft that the vet gave to Alyssa. I think she did such a beautiful job making it; it's now hanging in her room.

He was one loved dog.

Oh Happy Day

2011-10-25T12:29:00.001-04:00

Oh happy day, it's noon and the little guys and I are DONE with school and Julia's hair! Her hair was a simple re-do using the same parts, but sometimes even that can take hours. You can see the fresh coconut oil glistening in the sun in this picture.

Elijah spent his school time playing with trucks, standing on the dining room table pretending it was a deck and finding this cool mustache in Moriah's room.

Speaking of deck, JD and "the builder guy" finished framing the screened in porch over the weekend and roofers actually roofed it yesterday.

Here's the view up now.

JD only has a few more decking boards that need to go down as well; then I think he will move on to railings, which means I'll be a lot less nervous having the little people out there!

I have missed a few blog-worthy occasions this last week. One was a fun trip to a farm and the other was Moriah's 14th birthday. Happy birthday Moriah - (and now will you update the ages on the pictures on the side of the blog?)

Friday on the Deck

2011-10-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

Today was the day that the "building guy" came to help JD build and tie in the screened in porch walls and roof into the house roof-line. They made an amazing amount of progress for one day.

Here's our back yard; good thing we have a front yard for the kids to play in .

Our new view up -

JD gets to continue the work tomorrow with the five youngest while I take Moriah, her sisters and a few friends out to lunch and shopping for her 14th birthday.

A Bonus of the Deck

2011-10-20T16:47:00.002-04:00

A bonus of JD building the deck is that he goes to work super early and comes home super early to work on it. First of all, it really helps with my homeschooling efforts because he can hear when the kids argue with me through the window. I just snicker when the door opens and he steps in to say, "what did you just say to your mother?" and you can read the face of the little offender thinking, "man, I forgot he was out there!"

Also, the kids and I just get to see him more of the day; it's going to be a tough adjustment when he stays at work again all afternoon. We often sit out there and talk to him as he is laboring. The boys have also all helped at different points. James was happy to help hold the boards while they were nailed in place a few days ago.

Since they all share a scared-of-heights mom, they think they are privileged if Dad needs them and they can walk out on the not-yet-done deck part. Otherwise, they hear, "move back" from me pretty frequently.

Here's Tori and Elijah with a front row seat for sawing. JD is very good about explaining things to them when they ask. In fact, Elijah just talks and talks for hours out there to JD and I just smile when I hear him through the windows because it's a break after answering his questions all morning!

The deck boards are getting a break while JD takes off the siding that is in the way of building the screened in porch walls and roof - which starts tomorrow!

Here's our last night supply run sitting in the front of the house. My idea of a great shopping trip is when you get to spend quality time at 84 Lumber AND Lowe's!

Rain, Rain

2011-10-19T13:05:00.001-04:00

It's raining again, so we are heading to town to purchase the shingles for the screened in porch roof. JD has a "builder" guy coming Friday to begin building and roofing the screened in porch side of the deck.

We have to have set some record for rainfall this fall, but it hasn't slowed JD (or Elijah) down too much. Thankfully, Elijah's rain boots appear to be very water-proof.

Friday (on Monday)

2011-10-17T15:22:00.001-04:00

This was me last Friday after we finished school; of course, when I first made my way out to the "deck," I was alone. Shortly after, Elijah joined me. Shortly after that, Julia came to be in the picture while Moriah took the picture. It shows how generally energetic I feel by the close of a week of school.

I have to put a plug in the for the movie, Courageous, that is by the same church as Fireproof. We went and saw it on Friday night after I peeled myself up from the "deck." It is an awesome movie that every dad in America needs to see. We had a gift card for the theater that JD received at the work Christmas 2009 gift exchange, if that indicates how often we go to the movies, but it is was really worth it even if you have to pay "real" money!

Balance Continued

2011-10-14T09:03:00.002-04:00

Continuing with my balance post, I thought I'd share some of the practical day to day balances that I've had to strike to run a large family. When it comes to cleaning, we generally do everything only once a week. That means while I wipe down the kitchen multiple times a day and sweep the floor almost every day, we clean the appliances (stainless steel shows horrible finger prints,) clean behind all the counter clutter and mop the floor once a week. Does it really need it more? Yes, but that is adequate to keep it at a "stand able level" for me.

We also clean each bathroom once a week; I only clean the master bath and the children are designated the other bathrooms. Generally they don't do as good as a job as I do, but I don't have time to clean four bathrooms - so again, it's the balance that we've struck.

I only dust and vacuum once a week as well. Thankfully, our Berber carpet really doesn't show dirt because I was forced to do it more frequently in other homes. I definitely know that since the vacuum canister goes from empty to full in one vacuum, I could stand to do it more; however, it takes a long time to declutter the floors for vacuuming, so it's also landed in the once a week list.

I also make sure the kid's rooms, playroom and family room down-stairs are cleaned, swept or vacuumed once a week. Since these are all designated kid jobs, I have the found the saying, "kids do what you inspect NOT expect" to be very true. I normally check the job a few times before they are satisfactory but they do get it to that point.

I do have to do laundry every day! My oldest four completely do their own. When I do the younger kid's laundry, I put it in their designated basket and James, Ben and Tori fold and put away their own. (Tori just took over her clothes this fall.) This just leaves me four people that I have to fold and put away. Until recently, Alei did that folding for me, but I'm finding it piles up too high since she is going to school and working, so I've currently re assumed that job. Moriah is responsible for all the towels, so they go in a separate basket for her to put away.

I also push the girl's hair to about three weeks when it really needs to be redone at two! That leaves me the rotation of Tori's one week, Julia's the next and then one week off. I usually pay Ben to take out Tori's but have to do both jobs of Julia's (she yells too loud for the kids.) Sometimes I do them the same day or split the take out and put back in over two days.

I'm trying to focus on twice a week cooking and plan and prepare three to four days of food then. I'd love to do once a week on the weekends, but there are too many soccer games at this point. Maybe I can try that plan this winter.

I am consciously making time for the Y right now. The kids love the twice a week homeschool PE classes, so a friend and I are working out during those two hours. My only challenge is Elijah right now because he hasn't been real excited about the playroom. I really hate to mess up our school day to leave the house, but my stress level needs the exercise even more than the kids.

My biggest challenge is all my "town" runs that are unavoidable. At this point, there are still many doctor and therapy runs that throw off days that would otherwise be very productive. I push hard those mornings to get school done and dinner started just so I can head out in the afternoon. My favorite days are the days I don't have to leave the house but they are often few and far between.

I feel like I've rambled on for way too long, but I hope this may be of help to someone who is struggling with feeling like that can't do everything that needs to be done as well as they'd like. I don't either, but I think it's done enough that the kids don't live in a health hazard or will they remember their mother as a cleaning crazy woman (hopefully.)

Why play in the playroom or bed room when you can drag it all into the living room? I'll miss the sweet little girl toys one day, so I just let them - but I do make them pick them up when they are done!

Deliberate Balance

2011-10-11T22:53:00.000-04:00

I'm sure finding balance in life is a challenge for many people, but I think it has to be an even larger challenge for big families. Like all large families, I have many children that have individual needs and there's seldom enough time for JD and I to meet all of their needs and interests. Since that challenge is obviously going to be an issue for me for many more years, I'm deciding that I need to focus less on pushing myself to meet all the needs and more on my attitude while I'm meeting the ones that I feel take priority.

I tend to pick the strengths in others and try to rise to that level. When I see how magnificently some homeschool their children with fabulous projects and lap-books, I feel like I'm really failing plugging through our workbooks.

When I see the amazing crafts, quilts, etc that some make and feature on their blogs, I can become slightly resentful that I never get to do anything fun for myself that I was accustomed to many children ago.

When I read the cooking articles in magazines (only sitting in Dr. offices,) I dream of creating exciting new dinners. When I come home at 6:00 and there's nothing even in the plans for dinner, it causes me to just sigh.

When I'm at the soccer games, I'm so thrilled with the progress I see in whatever child is playing, but the rest of the week soccer is an incredible inconvenience that hits right at dinner time.

I am dealing with the reality that I have nine children that would get a lot more catering to if they lived in a family with only two or three children. They would, however, also miss out on the natural benefits that large families are blessed with. It is also a given that I am unable to homeschool, cook, craft, garden and clean like they are each the most important focus in my life. While I want to do all of the above decently, I have to find the balance that each deserve in my schedule and not allow guilt to enter into the equation when all of them are done less than I wish.

I am working to grasp the "let all you do, be done to the glory of God." I'm thinking that means less about the quality of the meatloaf than it does about the presentation of the meatloaf.

What I really want to focus on is not allowing the demands and schedules to become stressers that zap the joy out of mine and my children's day to day life. That is going to mean putting the attitude and joy above the task itself. In reality, wouldn't most kids rather have PB and J with a cheerful, joyous mom than stuffed turkey with a mom that is barking orders at them and complaining?

I have to say, we do stop and laugh many times a day at the antics of Elijah; it's a welcome break when we are concentrating. Here's what he was doing today while I was desperately trying to explain infinitives to James and Ben. He was showing his muscles (and balance.)

Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman. Prov. 21:9

While I Was Away

2011-10-10T21:16:00.000-04:00

I had a wonderful weekend away with my sister and my "sisters" from church on a retreat in the mountains. I did not even take my camera, but would have loved to take a picture from the top of the mountain that I climbed. Since JD and I are heading back to the mountains at the end of the month, I'll get one then. I'm thinking my sore legs will recover by then!

While I was away, everyone did well. JD took them to the annual fall festival. The parade has become one of our annual fall traditions. Unfortunately, I had to miss the police gorilla - we do live in a rural community so he's about as fancy as we get!

JD also managed to accomplish more on the deck. All the support boards are in and the posts are now going up. After we had to cancel on the Amish the last two weeks due to supplies not being in, they cancelled on us this week. So JD is just plugging along.

Sometimes coming home is really hard because the kids all seem to be extra needy, but this time was thankfully smooth. I'm back to bagels I cook myself with child conversation instead of being served breakfast and adult conversation.

I'm also back to teaching instead of learning, but it's all good.

Now that I think about it, my kids are blessed every day with what I went away for - quality teaching and meals made for me! Too bad they don't appreciate as much as I did, but that's just part of the circle of life I guess.

Day in the Kitchen

2011-10-07T08:19:00.000-04:00

I am leaving for a woman's retreat this weekend, so wanted to make a few items for my family while I am away. It turned into most of the day in the food realm. I started out by cleaning out both fridges, making a grocery list and clipping coupons. I then baked bread and cookies before I headed out for two grocery stores.

Thankfully, even if everyone else has higher interests, Julia always helps in the kitchen. She is actually quite good help for a five year old.

Once I put the groceries away, I made three dinners for Thursday through Saturday.

I've always been interested in the once a month cooking that people do, but I think I'll start by cooking twice a week and making three to four meals at a time. It really didn't take much longer than the usual one and I could try for one round on the weekend and only one cooking round during the school week.

Deck Continued

2011-10-05T23:15:00.000-04:00

Julia and Elijah are only allowed out on the new "deck" that doesn't have railings if they are with me and they sit here. It's funny, but they still find it an exciting activity. Today was really thrilling for Elijah because we got out his fall clothes and this Bob the Builder shirt and work boots were in the bin. He even made a trip to Lowe's with Daddy in them. Fortunately, he didn't add the Spiderman mask to the outfit until he came home.

Here's the drop off to the left.

The deck will be off to the right of the screened in porch; JD is working on it now.

Here's the view from the backyard. The higher part will be the screened in porch off the kitchen and the lower level will be the deck off of the dining room.

We are once again planning for the Amish to come Monday to build, tie in and roof the screened in porch side. We were held up again because 84 Lumber didn't have some engineered support beam built. JD will continue working on the deck and chimney that has to be built while the Amish are here.

The project has seemed to move quite quickly I think, but next week should be radical progress.

Just a Picture...and a few words

2011-10-02T22:53:00.001-04:00

I should be in bed, but I just realized that I forgot to take a picture of the kids with their Grandma this morning before church as I planned. I'm amazed with how many pictures I take that I often miss the important family pictures that really matter. JD and Alyssa are leaving early in the morning to make the trip to take Grandma back to her house. We had a wonderful week with her here. It was filled with school, girl's hair and applesauce, but very enjoyable.

Here's a picture of Julia checking out how clean the baby guineas feet were before she carried him up to the house to show Grandma. You can see the corn-rows that I put in her hair. I just wish it was faster to do their hair; the time is hard on them and me!

Aunt Deb is coming to spend the day with us tomorrow. Since the hair is done, it's looking like school, applesauce and laundry! Nothing like breaking up the monotony!

Chicken Trouble

2011-10-01T23:28:00.000-04:00

Here's the math for my chickens - I have about 10 full-size egg-laying chickens; they have eaten a few hundred dollars of food this summer and laid about 10 eggs. When they do bother to lay an egg, they go ahead and crack it open and eat it themselves! On the other hand, my guineas that roam free have laid hundreds of eggs this summer; too bad we don't just eat them, but we do put them in the incubator or sell them. As a last chance, I re-arranged the chickens today; the big layers moved to the smaller size of the coop (still way more room than they need,) but it has more laying boxes. We moved the smaller, yet to lay, chickens in the bigger side. My motivation in not mixing them is to hope that the large batch of younger chickens won't learn the older one's bad behavior. We also placed a few Easter eggs in the boxes, which is supposed to discourage them from cracking the eggs. If this doesn't work, they are leaving in one large group to whoever wants them from Craigslist! I get why the Amish replace their layers every year; my three year old chickens aren't doing much.

While the boys and I were trimming wings and re-arranging chickens, I asked Julia to feed them. She decided to give them each a catered lunch.

We'll see if they appreciate it enough to lay an egg or two.

Apples

2011-09-29T21:08:00.000-04:00

We were able to get almost a hundred pounds of apples from the Amish about a week ago; they are the best apples I've ever eaten and an awesome buy at less than 50 cents a pound. See those 50 pound bags behind Spiderman that have been hogging my island?

Thankfully, JD's mom is here for the week and has helped peel lots of apples! We've canned nine quart jars of applesauce, frozen six pre-mixed pies and made a big tray of apple crisp.

JD is going to stop on Monday and see if he can get one more bag. The smell of cooking apples can't be beat.

Decks - Big and Small

2011-09-28T12:40:00.000-04:00

We had to delay the Amish that are coming to build the screened in porch a week because the engineered main beam wasn't ready in time; if the weather holds out, they will be here on Monday. In the meantime, JD has been able to get more of the work done, (thus lowering our cost.)

The back yard looks like a complete construction zone; the basement looks about the same - lots of saw dust and dirt.

This side is the screened in porch; the one yet started will be a deck.

Eventually we will patio the entire area under the porch to turn into a covered patio that will be off the family room in the basement.

Here's our first trip out from the door in the kitchen; it made me rather nervous to have everyone standing out there. The bolt is back in place now.

Elijah has been building some decks of his own. This one is out of Math-U-See blocks.

And Tori helped him create this one out of duplos.

After three days straight of wearing the Spiderman "helmet," he hasn't asked for it yet this morning. We may be able to put it up for a while.

Five Darling Faces!

2011-09-27T13:01:00.001-04:00

If you don't sponsor an orphan (or enough orphans,) consider these sweet little faces in Guatemala that are waiting for a sponsor through the Block family. The Block family moved their large family to Guatemala to help the least of these and they need our help.

http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-of-our-jobs-here-at-eagles-nest-is.html

Spiderman

2011-09-26T17:41:00.000-04:00

Elijah was invited to a super-hero party yesterday; he went as Spider Man thanks to my friend Wendy who loaned us the fabulous costume complete with fake muscles. Elijah wore the mask on top of his head and called it a Spiderman helmet. (He has worn the helmet all day today also and is currently napping in it.) He was pretty impressed with his outfit and the toys and friends to play with at the party.

This isn't the best quality picture since it was taken with Alei's phone on a potty break; Elijah looked in the mirror and yelled, "I am Spiderman" nice and loud.

Of course, I don't think Elijah has a clue who Spiderman actually is, but that hasn't swayed his enthusiasm.

Birthday Boy

2011-09-25T20:59:00.002-04:00

Today is James' 11th birthday.

James is a loving and caring brother who gladly will break from what he is doing to help a younger sibling.

James still gets excited over the simple pleasures of life, like lighting his own candles.

We are blessed to have you as our son, James. May you continue to grow and become all God has planned for you to be.

( I am known for my ugly cakes and this was no exception. It was a home-made ice-cream cake with a layer of chocolate and ice-cream between cake layers, so the taste made up for it's appearance.)

Deals

2011-09-23T09:55:00.001-04:00

I have to say, I love getting a bargain. In fact, as my children have learned, I rarely buy clothes or bedding until it hits the 75% off mark. Here's the girl's bedding we scored for 75% off at Target the other day. The quilts were $16, down from $64 and the coordinating striped sheets underneath were $4.50 down from $18. The big boys (James and Ben) got comforter sets that included sheets for only $15.

While we are on bargains, Tori's bottom bed is "new" from our renter that moved out. She sold me the bed with a new mattress for $20.

We very, very rarely buy new furniture; the only new things I can remember buying for children are Gabriel and James new dressers at an unfinished furniture store about eight years ago and Alei a new dresser at Ikea's scratch and dent section. Craigslist is an awesome furniture resource!

On one last bargain.....We got Buzz Lightyear, Superman, Batman, truck and dinosaur like-new pajamas at the base thrift store for a dollar a pair. That makes for a happy mom and boy.

They aren't going to look almost new when he's done with them because they double as a costume in Elijah's mind.

Perhaps the Strangest Yet

2011-09-21T22:56:00.000-04:00

As some people may remember, my oldest (not in age, just in friendship years) friend, Wendy, lives about three hours away, so we routinely meet in the middle. We used to meet at the Pizza Hut way back when we only had about six - eight kids between us, but have moved to Chick Fil A since we now have a grand total of 14 children and the playground helps us not to make quite as big of scene.

Today's meeting agenda entailed transferring this cute doggie, Pickles, from his current home near me to his new home near Wendy. I picked Pickles up on the way so that my children wouldn't get too attached. She is delivering Pickles to his new home in the morning.

I also found this canning shelf for Wendy where I lived and had to transport it. It's just too bad that I don't have a video of the two of us in the parking lot moving that from my van to her van - we had a lot of car-seats to work around! We did stop to take this one quick picture right before the nice Chick Fil A guy came out to tell us that it was so nice of us to come and comment on all the activity in the parking lot.

Moriah did tell me that we were rather embarrassing and that she wasn't going to swap stuff like we do when she is older, but she didn't mind breaking for a picture with her little buddy, Asher.

Although the camera went away, our little party carried over to the Target store when we discovered that the bedding that I had just bought for Elijah was lowered from 50% off to 75% off. We had to return and re buy (and buy some more and some more,) but we got some really awesome deals for some kid beds.

Backyard Progress

2011-09-20T09:18:00.000-04:00

While I've been running to and fro, JD has been focused in the backyard preparing footers for the deck. The Amish are coming next Monday to frame it (if JD hasn't beaten them to the task,) roof the screened-in porch and tie it into the house. After that JD will screen it.

This cement mixer really helped make the job easier; it's also going to be great when we fence the pasture.

Hopefully the Amish won't mind me taking pictures; the ones that built our barn let us as long as it wasn't a close up of them.

Family Day

2011-09-18T18:47:00.000-04:00

The older my "big kids" get, the less occasions there are that are actually all of us. Our trip to King's Dominion yesterday was the whole family, including Aunt Deb, so it was really a special day. This is my favorite picture of the day - all four of my boys on the log ride. I was pretty nervous about Elijah going with Gabriel because the last drop is a big one, but he did fine. His only complaint was that the "ride made his eyes wet." Gabriel zipped his jacket over him, so the rest of him stayed dry.

I still find it hard to believe that I ended up with four sons after Gabriel being the only boy for years. I'd really like one more boy! Elijah routinely tells me that he wants a brown and white baby and they both can sleep in his toddler bed with him.

Here's Alei and Alyssa on the swings; they both wore flip-flops in spite of our recent chilly weather and appear bare feet in many pictures since they make you sit on your shoes if they fall off.

Tori, Julia and Elijah had a blast in kiddie land, although they also rode anything that the park would let them on of the bigger rides. Julia laughed a hysterical giggle on the little roller coasters and Tori cried on a few big coasters but then would ride another one immediately following.

I think I have an abnormal percentage of dare-devils compared to families that we've been to amusement parks with. Personally, I only rode one roller coaster and I was regretting it most of the night when my neck kept me awake. I really don't think the ride hurt it because I purposefully chose a smooth one, but I think I stressed it trying to not jerk it at all. I probably won't be doing that again until someone declares my neck less risk for injury!

I Need the Brakes

2011-09-16T22:51:00.000-04:00

This was an entire week of days on the run. I went to "town" ( we live about 30 miles out) every day other than Thursday, so did my CVS shopping, Commissary shopping and took the kids to swimming at the Y that day. I am desperately behind on things like laundry, but we have a pre-planned fun day tomorrow, so it will have to wait one more day. I'd like to say that next week will be better, but I already have one Richmond, one Baltimore and one "town" day on the agenda; at least they are spaced a bit. I'm looking forward to Richmond since it's my Chick Fil A meet Wendy event; it's always a really fun day and I'm taking her an early birthday present and a dog. Yes, a dog; for some crazy reason, Wendy and I swap animals in Chick Fil A parking lots on a pretty regular basis. This dog is a friend's dog here that is relocating to a friend of Wendy's down south. So, Wendy and I are really just the drivers this time, we are usually the bestower and receiver.

It's getting late, the words are blurry and I really don't have much to say other than I'll be back on Sunday with pictures of our crazy tribe tromping through Kings Dominion tomorrow; Aunt Deb is coming too so that makes it even more exciting for the kids.

So you won't have a picture less post, here's Elijah enjoying the company of his red vehicles. I suggested that we give a couple of the toddler ones to Wendy's baby, Levi, but that just made Elijah not take them for granted. He spend the next several hours playing with them.

What We're Using This Year

2011-09-13T22:19:00.002-04:00

I realize any readers that don't homeschool will have about zero interest in what curriculum we are using to homeschool this year, but for those that are interested (and because this is about the only place I record anything,) I present a brief list.

Gabriel and Alei have moved to the college age realm and Elijah is only three, so that leaves me with six "homeschoolers" this year. Moriah is using Switched on Schoolhouse, except for Teaching Textbooks math. This is the first time we have tried this program and I'm pretty happy with it after the first week. I'm very happy with their customer support, as well, both times I've had to call because the program is obviously smarter than I am.

Alyssa is attending a homeschool co-op program called Classical Conversations. It's rather expensive, academically challenging and only meets once a week, but I couldn't be more impressed with what she has learned the last four weeks. They just started a program with Bryan College to allow them college credit if they use the program through high school.

James and Ben have moved on to 4th grade. They are just beginning the 4th grade Math U See after completing three Math U Sees in the last two years. They are still completing the final few Explode the Code books while beginning Easy Grammar and cursive writing with Handwriting Without Tears. We are going back to finish the geography program of My Father's World, although realistically we will be picking and choosing projects because there isn't time for all of them! I am also planning on incorporating some of the map drawing that Alyssa uses at Classical Conversations.

Tori and Julia are tagging along with My Father's World with the boys while they are doing their own grade of Math U See, Handwriting Without Tears and Explode the Code. Our new big excitement is that Hooked on Phonics just arrived Saturday; so we will be beginning that as well as soon as I have a second to remove the shrink wrap and read the teacher book. I switched to Hooked on Phonics after a few recommendations from friends; I used Phonics Pathways last year and it bored Tori to tears. I'm hoping this approach will motivate her a bit more.

That's it in a nut-shell; too bad I can't teach it as fast as I typed this!

Book Shelves Clean Out

2011-09-11T22:44:00.000-04:00

I have spent the entire weekend buried in books; not the fun kind of buried like reading, but the work kind of sorting, organizing, moving and selling. The number of books we own is crazy, but 14 years of homeschooling and numerous children can do that. For example, my oldest four children just used Saxon math every year until we hit Algebra II, then their mother was really unable to be of much help so we switched to Teaching Textbooks. Then due to some learning struggles, I've also had to buy Teaching Textbooks for one child for the last several grades before Algebra II. Last year, Ben was struggling so badly with Saxon that I took him back two grades and we re-worked using Math U See first grade. So, now I own three math curriculums for many grades. The end result is a huge homeschooling bill most years and lots of books; this year has exceeded huge, so I have pulled tons of books off the last few days that I don't foresee using with my current little guys and I'm trying to re-coop some of my expense by selling them.

I started by cleaning out the big cube. There were about four or five cubes there were overflowing reading books that I didn't have room for on my regular book cases. Removing them allowed me to have cubes designated to children. The up highs are my curriculum for them and lower is their corresponding books. The baskets are for math manipulatives, puzzles, etc; we even have a cube for Elijah's police Playmobiles that are "special school-time only toys." That cube may be the best $200 I've ever spent in the organizational realm.

All those removed reading books then had to be accommodated on my already full shelves. My solution to that was to re-locate all the fiction down-stairs on the three bookcases that we bought from Border's. So my shelves went from this -

to this -

I've gone through tons of piles that look like this, but most of them are now safely tucked onto the shelf they belong. There are only a few areas in life that I really like perfection and my book organization is one of them.

As for the new bookcases, they are downstairs lining the playroom wall. My original plan was to put them there for the time being and then move them to the family room when it becomes a family room instead of a construction zone. However, I found out that JD majorly bolted them into the top, bottom and side walls to ensure they wouldn't flip on any disobedient monkeys, so they probably are now there to stay. It's ok, because the playroom has plenty of space.

So, my plan down here is the first shelf is hardback picture books, the second one is children's chapter fiction in alphabetical order by author's name, (should I admit that?) and the last is adult fiction. As you can see, I haven't really moved the adult books down yet, my overflowing bookcase in my bedroom is yet to be cleaned out. I still think I'll have plenty of empty shelves, but I'm really happy to dust empty shelves; It is the first time in 20 years that I've had empty bookcases!

For those dying to know, the book shelves from Borders were all three for $100. Can't beat that!

My Favorite

2011-09-09T10:16:00.000-04:00

Yesterday flew by in a blur. My least favorite part of the day? Well, that is when moments after I told Moriah that I needed to take a school break and take a shower (something like a shameful 11:00,) I saw the huge Lowe's truck come rolling down the drive-way. JD obviously forgot to tell me something (although he thought they were coming in the afternoon and he'd be home for it.) I proceeded to head out in my "pajamas" which are actually very unattractive shorts and an old t-shirt. The man asked where the deck was going to be built, obviously in the backyard. He then tested the ground, after our week straight of rain (over 10" one day alone,) and told me he could get it there if I could move the new vacation trailer and truck out of the way. Granted, hooking up the vacation trailer on the hitch and hauling it is something I've never even attempted, but I didn't have a large range of options. I did come yelling in for Gabriel's help, but he was late for work and ran right past me. With the Lowes man's help, I hitched and hauled the trailer to the other side of the driveway. I also moved the truck. I then had to move the elaborate garden hose system which is hooked up on the story high faucet in the backyard by moving and climbing a ladder. Need I mention that I'm scared of heights (and still wearing my fresh out of bed look now covered in sweat?) To make a long story short, by the end of the hour and half, Elijah was out in the mud with no shirt and his wedding shoes, asking the man if he was going to "crush" various items around the yard with his rolling fork lift; the girls were out with their wild undone hair and pajamas and I felt like the man was going to be telling stories out our crazy house for months to come!

My favorite part of the day? Writing my friend's daughter a check once she finished both my girl's hair while I actually finished school and made dinner!

My humorous part of the day was when I was letting Julia and Elijah watch the gummy bear song on YouTube and it showed a picture of the Statue of Liberty. Julia got all excited and said, "look, Lijah, look, it's that lady that we know!"

I've made it to the end of my first week of school; James, Ben, Tori and Julia have done really well! I am going to work on some schedule adjustments, however, along with my clean out and organize project.

Plenty of Work To Go Around

2011-09-08T07:49:00.000-04:00

Elijah packed up his entire workbench and headed down to help JD in the basement. The basement has once again turned into a building center. Once Elijah found out that is little orange drill wouldn't actually go through real wood, he got two turns with the real drill.

Note Elijah's building attire - a "super-hero" cape and his wedding shoes. He wore them both all day.

I have once again resorted to hiring my friend's daughter to come help with the girl's hair. This time it is because I slept on my neck badly enough that moving it is quite painful at the moment. It has been enough strain to get out their current style. While I got the picture of Alyssa helping, in reality I am so much faster at it, and bedtime was quickly approaching, that I got the majority of hair duty. It's a blessing that I'm able to call her in for back-up!

We lost power lost night (and water) and got to hang out in the basement since there were tornado warnings. We had a nice time as I started reading the kids The Best School Year Ever, a sequel to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. They are both quite entertaining!

First Day of School

2011-09-06T18:42:00.000-04:00

We had a pretty good first day of school. I think we only did a bit over half of our normal work-load and it took most of the day, but that's a continual problem I have. I really need another me, (but maybe one that has more patience and enjoys mindless drills more.) It was also a really cool, rainy day which was perfect for sitting by the open windows hitting the books.

Tori and Julia did really well, only once did Julia sigh and comment how tough Kindergarten is. Tori was quick to sympathize because she is a seasoned first grader this year.

I purchased three new bookcases from Border's bookstore that is going out of business. They are going to relieve some congestion in my current bookshelves and allow me to reorganize. I guess that will have to be my weekend project.

Laboring on Labor Day

2011-09-05T17:35:00.002-04:00

Since we spent Saturday in Amish country and yesterday at a church picnic, we decided to make this a working Labor Day. JD is the heavy laborer of the day, since he started putting ledger boards up for our future screened in porch and deck. The plan is that he and Gabriel are going to do the prep work and the finish work, but the Amish are going to come frame it in the middle. We loved our screened in porch we left six or seven years ago and have been excited to get to the point that we can build another.

My entire plan for all last week was to be ready to start school tomorrow and I'm only partially ready at best. I'm planning a "What We Are Doing This Year" post in the next few days, but I will say that I'm pretty thrilled with the free down-loaded school planning pages that I found at www.timberdoodle.com/schedule. I am hoping that it will help my little students be more responsible for their work-load as they check off their daily requirements.

Gabriel and I went and picked up these cool old school desks today. They are affectionately being labeled the ADD desks; one is going in the sun-room and one down-stairs, so if someone (like a 10 year old boy) is having a hard time focusing, he can retire to somewhere quieter to finish his assigned task. We have been practicing this the last few years, but now they will have a desk instead of a book on their lap! Of course the desks are quite exciting today since they are new, but all that will change in a week or so.

Aside from school planning, I did plant broccoli, carrots and pumpkins this morning. I'm estimating that my pumpkins won't be pick able until mid-November, but I can still can them.

When the Amish are finished with our deck, we are going to have them price fencing our pasture. I think the grass is finally at a decent enough place that we can consider a cow and we've had the fencing stacked for at least two years. We have been planning on a dairy cow for several years since raw milk is so, so much better for you and very expensive to buy. While I'm excited about the idea, I'm also pretty nervous at the idea of adding two milkings a day to our current list of demands.

Call me weird, but I love days that we all stay home and work; a few of my shopping-prone daughters don't agree, but farm work definitely builds more character than the mall!

Outside

2011-09-02T09:50:00.001-04:00

Yesterday morning the kids and I spent some time cleaning up in the garden. I cleaned out the tomato plants and other dead vines and either fed them to the chickens or threw them in the compost tumbler. I really hope to plant a few fall items in the next few days, but I fear I may running too late. We eat a ton of broccoli, it's a fall crop and easy to freeze but I'm yet to locate broccoli plants or seeds. I guess I need to look online.

My watermelons had made a pretty nice comeback and I had four baby melons growing, but the guineas have eaten everything that even resembles a melon for the last month. I'm hoping the garden fence will deter them next year, but I'm concerned it won't.

My corn grew nice and tall, but never developed mature ears. I think we are going to need to work on the soil and try again next year.

We had about 8-10 trees fall during the hurricane. Two were nice big oaks that are now going to turn into the last batch of fence posts that we need. We constantly have pines fall behind the barn; they really need to just all be taken out. This is the scene between the barn and chicken shed.

There are two on the barn, one on the chicken shed and one on the lumber storage container. JD took all three of our chain saws to the shop the morning after the storm; we will be prepared for the next time!

Thankfully, there is very little real damage.

Home Depot Stop

2011-08-30T22:46:00.000-04:00

I mentioned that it took us 12 hours to make our seven hour trip home; much of that time was spent at Wal-Mart and Home Depot purchasing hurricane supplies. I'm convinced that there wasn't a D battery to purchase on the entire east coast; we tried three Wal-Marts in three states. The good news is that I now have what I need to make it through any additional 2011 hurricanes, (other than a working generator and D batteries.)

Here's Gabriel and Elijah at our extended pack-the-trailer stop at Home Depot. We stumbled across a patio table at almost 75% off and a few chairs at 50% off that we bought for our future deck and had to re-arrange the entire contents to cram in. At first Elijah wasn't impressed that his scooter was making an escape.

Then Gabriel took him cruising on the smooth pavement; something we have zero of at our house.

Making the most of every part of the vacation.

Hurricane

2011-08-29T12:12:00.000-04:00

We are one of the fortunate few that actually has power after the hurricane. In fact, all three of our rental properties are out, but we only lost it for a few hours in the night. JD won't be going to work all week either; there is a major line that came down into the water and the power company has already announced that it won't be up all week since it's a special order item.

I feel very fortunate in light of the fact that we entered the storm without a generator to run our well, so, no power also means no water for us. When we got home from our vacation, our generator wouldn't start. While JD worked on it, he broke a part that has to be ordered. He actually went out and bought another generator that was supposed to come in the day the storm hit and it still isn't here. So, I'm very thankful.

I'm still on the go, yesterday we were gone all day for Deb's birthday party and today I'm heading to Richmond to pick Moriah up from a friend. Then I'm planning on staying home; I have school planning to do!

Before We Lose Power

2011-08-27T12:43:00.004-04:00

While our area of the country is still recovering from the earthquake, Hurricane Irene is heading towards us. Our planned 6-7 hour trip home yesterday took 12 hours since we had to stop for hurricane supplies on top of our planned stop at Hershey's Chocolate World. This morning has been a bit stressful getting ready, but I'm taking this moment to focus on the lake. The house we rented in NJ was straight across from a lake that we spent a few days swimming and boating at.

My five youngest in their "lake shoes." They have worn them all summer, in and out of the water.

We had the use of two canoes and a kayak. I think it's the first time my little guys had been out in a boat.

The swimming area had a diving board -

A couple of platforms that you had to swim to -

And most importantly sand, which the kids played in for hours.

And as a bonus, they had a small playground -

My kids decided that they liked the lake even more than the beach. A good time was had by all.

Now I'm returning to hurricane preparations. I'll be back when we have power.

NYC - Round Two

2011-08-25T11:19:00.000-04:00

We put in a very long second day in NY, with even more walking than the first. The kids did great; I really wish I knew how many miles we walked. We started by getting off the train at 9th street and walking to and around Times Square, which is something like 50th street. After most of the day in that area, we walked a further 20 or so blocks to Central Park.

The kids enjoyed meeting the police on horse-back.

We were also able to meet a few celebrities -

The kids got a free water bottle by being videoed for a kid's water campaign.

We visited several kid friendly locations. We spent way too long in Toys R Us, but they had such a great time. Elijah even got to meet Spiderman, which is something he actually requested on the drive up, (but I opted to not pay $20 for the picture that they take.) They also rode the ferris wheel and visited with the huge robotic dinosaur.

We took a stroll through Central Park at the end of the day. The tough part of the trip was our walk back, our "cheap, quick" dinner at McDonalds and our difficulty in finding the correct train (it was the New Jersey Path, not the regular Subway.) Both Elijah and Julia were asleep in the strollers much of the trip back, but we had to carry them, the strollers and all the bags on and off the trains. One of the trains was so packed that I couldn't even reach a pole to hold on, we were just holding on the kids and trying to not fall over. We left McDonalds at 9:00 p.m. and reached our van at almost mid-night; quite the adventure!

Today is supposed to be our last day at the lake, but it is really storming, so it may end up being an indoor day. We do have to clean the house and pack up for our journey home tomorrow.

Our biggest blessing is that we seem to not have suffered too much in the earthquake that hit very near our home (and Alei) while we are away. Alei was at work during the quake and it took several hours before we were able to reach her. Our home seems to not have any damage. We are due for a hurricane to hit this weekend also, so we are going to buying some supplies on our way home.

Guess Where We Are?

2011-08-23T16:17:00.002-04:00

We were so blessed yesterday that the wait for Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island was only about 20 minutes. A few years ago, when JD and I went, it was over four hours!

On the ferry -

On the island -

Ellis Island -

After the two island tour, we were all hungry and tired! I brought tons of snacks on the trip, but packed ZERO for our day in NYC, (I just can't remember everything.)

We decided to walk to the closest NY pizza. We stopped very briefly for a street gymnastic show and they grabbed Ben as one of the "volunteers." My only complaint was their occasional crude humor between the cool gymnastic stunts.

Day two of NYC is tomorrow, we are planning on mainly hitting the Times Square area.

Wedding Day

2011-08-21T20:44:00.005-04:00

Getting our little ring bear dressed -

Ready to roll -

After the wedding, we all enjoyed the beautiful gardens -

Elijah with Emily, the flower girl, after they ran around the gardens and were all sweaty -

Here's the video Gabriel took; Gabriel didn't have the best angle from his seat. I don't think Jason and Vickie were wanting two ring bearers (one in his mid-40s), but that is what they got. And they are so sweet, that they just smiled! (I also look like a goof-ball, but that's what happens when you are the mother of a some-times uncooperative three year old!) After previewing the video, Elijah is quite pleased with his performance, however.

If you want to hear the video remember to pause the music at the bottom of the page.

Day One High-light - Jelly Fish

2011-08-21T16:20:00.000-04:00

Day one of our trip went very smoothly. We hit the road only slightly late, stopped at Target for three boy dinner outfits, had no significant traffic all the way through NJ, checked into our house, ironed clothes and made it to the rehearsal dinner by 5:00.

The dinner was a 10 course sea-food event at the brides family's restaurant, Noodle Chu. It was a dream come true for the sea lovers of the family and a eye-opening experience for some of us that haven't experienced a wide variety of sea food. In fact, I assumed the first course was noodles. I ate one bite and it was tasty, then I heard JD saying, "don't tell them, don't tell them." Upon further inquiry, I found out that the noodles were actually jelly fish. At that point, psychologically, I could not continue.

I didn't think to whip our my camera until course six or seven when this fish (on the right) came out. Elijah was pretty excited to eat fish, which is funny because he isn't normally the adventurous type; he ate several bites before he announced that he doesn't really like fish.

Another adventure was that several of the children mastered chop-sticks; not Elijah, but a few of the older ones.

I'm quite sure Ben ate his weight in seafood. He ate several servings of several of the courses. There were times it wasn't even enjoyable to watch, like when he dug the meat of the lobster out from around the brain. I don't think there was anything he didn't love until raw oysters at the wedding reception. He tried one and gave the other two to Grandma!

I'm going to work on wedding pictures and download a picture of Elijah being the "ring bear." To give you a hint, our joke is, "would the real ring bear please walk forward."