Sisters

When Brent and I first started thinking about having children I dreamed of having four boys. I felt pretty confident that is what God would give us so when Aaron was born and the doctor said "IT'S A BOY!" I said "Of course it is."

A year and a half later, when the doctor said "IT"S A GIRL!" I was in shock. What would I do? What would her name be? I don't like pink! Oh, it was an interesting time.

The only thing I knew at that moment was that this baby girl would need a sister.

Sisters are one of God's greatest gifts to me. I have two of them and my relationship with my sisters cannot be explained - it can only be experienced. We can have intimate conversations without having to explain details of our lives. We understand each other unlike any other relationship on earth. My daughter would need this.

"IT'S A GIRL!" said the doctor three years later. "Of course it is" I responded.

One of my greatest pleasures is to watch my girls (4 of them now!) together. They really enjoy each other and it is exciting to watch them grow in their relationships. One of my famous lines when I see them off giggling together is..."I love sisters."

In honor of sisters.........

3 sisters holding 3 sisters
(pre-adoption photo)



My pioneer girls

The Truth About Birthdays

Max just had his first American birthday. He thinks it was also his last. It is so interesting to me when I discover things we assume the kids understand. Who would have thought I would need to explain that a person has LOTS of birthdays - one every year, in fact.

Max didn't know that. He was so very excited about his special day - but before the day was even half over he got real sad. I asked him what was wrong and he said "Tomorrow is not my birthday." I said "No sweetheart, but TODAY is your birthday and we still have your party tonight!" Max sadly retorted, "But then no more birthdays."

I explained the way birthdays work. He was quite relieved to know the truth. It also cleared up for him how everyone else got to be so old. We had noticed that he was very confused about that. He would ask different siblings throughout the week..."Jenna, how do you get to be 12?" He is so happy to know that he will get to be 12 one day, too.

We are blessed to be able to make such a fuss on birthdays. In so many other parts of the world they have much bigger things to worry about than remembering the day a child was born.

In honor of our five year old I will attempt to limit myself to five things I love about Max:

1. Max is hilarious. I have no idea how he comes up with his stuff but he keeps us in stitches

here.

2. Max is teachable. He wants to obey and please us - when he needs corrected he gets

quiet, drops his head, sheds a tear or two, nods his head, and obeys.

3. Max has a smile that lights up the room.

4. Max loves books. He memorizes his favorites and recites parts of them throughout the

day.

5. Max is thriving in a family. It is plain to see that he enjoys the benefits of being the

youngest, but he still wants us to "get a baby" from Ethiopia.

Some fun photos of our yummy 5 year old...

Love Hurts

Many of you know that it is our Brooke who has struggled the most with losing her birth home, parents and previous life. She has grieved and we have greived for her. The other night when I was kissing her goodnight we had a very sweet conversation.

Brooke: "Mom, I wish I was in your tummy when I was a baby."

Mom: "You do? Why Honey?"

Brooke: "Because then I wouldn't miss my Ethiopia mom."


How does her six year old brain think of such things? It makes me love her more which I did not think possible. She is learning, at too young of an age, that love can be very painful.

Expectations

This is how we envisioned school at our house when we set the room up last August.

In reality this is how school looks most days.



Expections are so often not met. It was not realistic for me to think I was ever going to be able to have 7 kids work quietly at a single table doing school all morning.

The greatest thing is that although expectations are often not fullfilled, they are often exceeded. When I get my perspective right (this often needs to be self-corrected) and look around, I am tickled by what I see. Two kids doing school work under the table. (who said the "on" was better than "under"?) Two kids cuddled together reading. One man-boy happily improving his typing skills. Yet two others finding a quiet spot in their bedroom. (no pictures because I actually didn't know where they were until too late.)

Then there are the times when I feel like nothing is getting done. This happens more often than I care to admit. Again, when I take a step back and evaluate what is going on - even then I am often not dissapointed.

Here are some "out takes" from our home school days gone by....

This is what happens when you let two ornry boys go off alone for "Buddy Time." (Those are Aaron's pants that Max is "wearing".)



These beautiful ladies were having some quiet reading time and instead got a complete make over.





Joseph has had a rude awakening about family dynamics when he became a younger brother. As Aaron puts it..."I have waited 13 years to do this!" Unfortunately, I have to break them up to get back to business at least once a day.

While expectations are good - flexibility is better...especially when you are a homeschooling family of nine.

Christmas Time!

Wow - What happened? Was that Christmas? Oh, yes the paper fog has lifted and I can nearly see through the piles of new treasures that have found their way into our home. To think if we didn't limit ourselves to three gifts per child....

Christmas was wonderful - as was expected. I love Christmas at our house. It has always been a great low-key day considering it is - well...Christmas. This year we even added three children, three stockings, and nine more gifts under the tree but managed to keep the energy level satisfactory.

Brent's family is out of town and we get to celebrate with them at a later date. My family is quite small - only two sisters, one of whom lives too far away and the other who gets to bring her husband over for the morning fun. My mom is a welcomed staple at family gatherings and I am the luckiest girl I know in that she is a wonderful guest. She has never said anything but supportive and uplifting things about the condition of my home, my children, or my food. Thanks so much for that, mom.

Hope your Christmas was wonderful, too.

Zeros

I have been having some fun with Ellie's math lately.

Math is an area that I lack not only interest but also experience. We use what I think to be the greatest math curriculum of all time, Math-U-See and I am really understanding math concepts for the first time! (A+ for Kris!)

Last week Ellie was learning how to write enormous numbers in place value notation. I "learned" at an early age to be very intimidated by lots of zeros - and I saw Ellie beginning to feel the same way. I don't want my daughters growing up thinking math is for boys - or that is it is something to fear, so I pretended to be excited about it. Getting excited about it meant that I needed to be darn sure that I understood how to do it, too.

And so my story begins.................... After a week of practicing this concept I found myself "thinking" in terms of place value notation.


For instance:
*There are 10+2 months in the year.
*I spent 100+40+7 dollars at the toy store last week.
*There are 100,000+80,000+6,000+300+50+2 miles on our van.


And here is the kicker:
* There are 4,000,000 +600,000 orphans in Ethiopia.

That is a lot of zeros. I was sitting at the eye doctor the other day waiting for my daughter's appointment to be over and my mind was thinking of the 4,000,000 + 600,000 orphans in Ethiopia. I wondered if other people get intimidated by lots of zeros like I used to. Do people really understand HOW MANY children that is - living without families? No mom or dad? No home or bike or dog? I started to break the number down into more palatable increments.


I thought to myself...suppose there were only 9 orphans? Or maybe 60+2 orphans? What if in my neighborhood, or city, state, there were 800+30+7 orphans? That is a ton of children growing up with out the love of a family. But in Ethiopia there are so many orphans that the reality gets lost in all of the zeros. I wondered if people would help more if there were actually fewer. Maybe if people could wrap their brain around a number it would be more real? I don't have the answer - I was just wondering.

My fun with 3rd grade math concepts has made me even more grateful for the three beautiful, smart, funny, happy children that have joined our family this year. I thank our God of miracles that they are no longer one of the zeros.


This photo was taken the day our children learned they had a family waiting for them in America.

Pass Through

We had just loaded bags of clothes into our van. They were on there way to the Salvation Army drop box. This was the 3rd or 4th or 5th time we had done this this year. It got me to thinking... "how much we have been able to give away this year for others in need when it is really our family being blessed by others giving us stuff."

Since we have had children, it has been our practice to take in and pass out clothes that our kids needed and then didn't need. Your family may experience the same thing. Each year, we have been able to set aside certain items and contribute a few bags to those less fortunate. But this year, it has been overwhelming! Since our adoption in April, it seems we have been blessed on every side in an overflowing, abundant manner. We have been overwhelmed with canned goods and dry goods that exceeded our storage ability, so we passed some through to others (10-15 bags full) that could use them and might even need them more than us. It hasn't stopped! We have been overwhelmed with gifts of clothing, hand-me-downs, in wonderful condition at such a level that not only do our 7 children all have boots and coats for the winter, and clothes for the next 2-3 stages of growth... we also were able to pass 15-20 bags (conservative estimate; hefty size) through our hands into the hands of others who had need. Isn't God amazing?

Only He could figure out how to overflow our cup while we were opening our house up to total strangers. Only He could use us to provide for others while we were needing provision. Only He owns a cattle on a thousand hills, and allows some of that provision to pass through our hands into the lives of those around us. As a man, and the leader of my house, and the provider for my wife and children... I am learning to trust Him. His provision far exceeds my ability. I'm excited about letting more pass through!

Seasons

Winter has arrived.

Whoever said our Ethiopian children will not like cold weather has never met my kids. I am constantly saying "Sweetheart, aren't you cold? Why don't you go put on more clothes?" I look at my kids running around the house in bare feet and I shiver. This must be another unfortunate sign that I am aging. As if I needed another reminder.

At precisely 7:10am on Wednesday I heard the pitter patter of little feet turn into a herd of the masses running down the stairs to announce "SNOW!" Then right outside they went, pajamas and all. Evidence as shown.

They didn't make it long out there in their pj's. But Joseph and Ellie came in, got decked out in their winter gear, and played for three hours. Great example of the fun homeschooling can be. I decided to just go with it - and we actually got school done in a "cut in paste" format which was a fun little shake-up.

By evening I lost count of how many hours the kids had all been outside. It was a great first snow fall. Seasons are so refreshing!

Men I Love

Thanksgiving this year was amazing. We had some priceless family time with both of my sisters and their families. We have NEVER been all together before. Never. We have been together, in smaller groups - but never all at the SAME time. It was so wonderful.

What I realized was this....There are a lot of very handsome men in my life. That may sound shallow of me - which I tend to be from time to time, but just look and see for yourself.

Look at this guy - I get to be married to him! He is one of the good ones.

My oldest is turning into a gorgeous young man. He is so much fun to be with. I love, love, love, hanging out with him. (Oh, and my dog, Quincy - if you know me at all, you know what I think of this guy. Woman's best friend.)

Quite handsome for a boy of 10. For more good stuff on this guy, visit my last post.
Because I share not a single genetic chromosome with this little character, I can say without conceit that he is one of the most gorgeous creations God has made.

This is my nephew. God has marked this guy for something amazing- you watch. His gorgeous face is the least of his attributes - so you can only imagine what's on the inside.

I love all these Men. There are actually two missing from my list here but out of all due respect for their humble personalities I have not plastered their pictures on this blog. I will try to add them in a group shot sometime just so you can see that I have two very handsome brothers in law as well!

Ten Again

I love that our Ethiopian kids have been with us seven months now. I love it for many reasons.

First of all, the transition is hard - and we have transitioned.
Secondly, half a year has passed and that means half of a years events have been successfully processed.
And third, the kids have begun to share more with us about their past. This is a great sign of attaching and bonding that we adoptive parents wait for.

Joseph had a birthday this month. He was ecstatic about his special day as he has been in our family long enough to see four siblings celebrate birthdays. This event prompted a conversation about age that we have waited a long time to have.

It appears our suspicions were accurate. It was clear to us in Ethiopia that Joseph was not eight. We actually aged him a full year at our readoption. That put him at nine. He has just shared with us that he was ten when he entered the orphanage. That was a year ago. Well, he just had his first American birthday and he is now ten - again.

We love our son - no matter his age. We are just happy to see that he is trusting us as his parents. It is good.

In honor of our Ten-Again son, here are 10 things I love about Joseph...

1. Joseph is an excellent eater.
2. And he freely shows his gratitude for good cooking!
3. He is a very hard worker around the house. His specialties are cleaning the garage and van.
4. He adores his Uncle Charlie and wants to be with him a l l t h e t i m e !
5. Joseph is a great soccer player.
6. He is very diligent with his school work.
7. He loves babies and really wants one around here!
8. He loves church and memorizing verses for AWANA.
9. Joseph has a beautiful singing voice.
10. Joseph is a happy, happy boy!