Maddie's Spider

The other photo didn't do it justice...I hope you can see it more clearly here!

Kd's Birthday

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY KD!!!!

Yesterday we had a frog/turtle birthday party for Kd...why the theme? He saw the cake/cupcakes in a book and wanted me to make them...so, that's what we did!

I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but my niece is all curled up around the tree with the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen right next to her head and hand! Ewwwwwww....



Kd loves his birthday. He begins the countdown at the end of May. All he wanted for his birthday was a light up pen (which I couldn't find), a card that made noise and Super Mario Galaxy...he actually enjoys opening up the cards the best.








Kd figured out quite quickly what to do with the Silly String!

He was making a snorting noise when we tried to get this picture...can you see his nose and face?


The marshmallow gun....

Ok - so no outside story is complete without mentioning ticks. I did the check from head to toe on the boys and found, yet another one, on Kd. The tick count for the year is:

Kd- 2 (maybe 3?)

Ky - 1

Janelle - 1

Me - 1

Oh, and where was it, you may wonder...ummmmm, some place a boy really doesn't want an insect biting????

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the lord forever.

Over the years, this chapter has held so many different meanings. At first, it was a challenge. My grandfather told us he would give us money to memorize certain sections of the Bible. My cousin and I memorized what we could for the money...she, far surpassing my little brain, had all the passages memorized, but i did manage to get a few dollars!

Fast forward many years...though I could still recite this chapter in the Psalms, it still held no more meaning to me. Through listening to his personal testimony, I learned that my husband's grandfather was saved through this passage while serving in the Maries in Iwo Jima. This was the only passage he had ever memorized as a child, and when all around him was passing away, and he was beginning to wonder why it wasn't him, why was he spared? God brought verses from this passage to his heart and he asked God to be his Shepherd.

It reminded me that it is not us that saves, it is God alone. He saves us when we are running full force away from him, he grabs us and pulls us near. My thoughts...why me, Lord? Why did you save me when thousands perish?

And then a few days ago, the words of a song that were taken from this passage have been heavy on my heart. The Lord is my shepherd; i shall not want. Talk about instant conviction...all the things I want...as if I deserve anything. AND how I have failed to return praise back to him for all the blessings he has given!!!

So as I am learning to pray scripture...this has been my prayer:

"Lord, you are my shepherd. Help me not to want."

Slowly, I am falling in love more and more with this passage. I am learning to cherish every line with every passing year of my life. I might not have "walked through the valley of the shadow of death" trying not to "fear any evil" as Grandad did, but as the years go by this passage becomes all the more sweet...and I am so thankful for my own Grandpa's encouragement to me to memorize it...

Roller Skating Parties

Most of the time...we were on the floor, but we did get a couple of upright shots!

We ran out of plates so Mr. Wilkins allowed Kd to eat right from the tray???? He was in heaven!

Yes, me, the lover of group participation, was out there doing the chicken dance!

Kb, although smiling here, didn't like the skating!

Assuming the position of the night!!!!

Gothcha Day!!!!

Eighteen months ago...

ONE year ago...

These were taken the day we got them...i seem to have forgotten the heat, but remember the awesome feeling of finally holding our children :-)

This was our first night that i felt normal...we went out to a restaurant with a missionary couple. And yes, that is the best we could look under those conditions...you're just lucky you can't smell though pictures!!!!!!

(we should've taken a picture on gotcha day, but didn't - never really good at the picture thing?)

Needless to say, trying to get 8 kiddos between the ages of 2-8 to look at me at the same time, was beyond challenging!!!

Yes, we did buy this table to fit the kids. When we look at it we see "empty seats" - we wonder if we will be called to adopt again.

My "little man"....

Kp - such a precious, sweet girl :-) -obviously we don't share the same genes...lucky for her!!!

(it was on Monday, but just now posting pics...)

Hamburgler

Here is a little story...

Yesterday, we all went to Burger King. Someone thought that our family of 6 needed 10 cheeseburgers. Another of us thought that was too many. We each had one for lunch, and one of us had two.

So if you can do math in your head, that leaves 3 uneaten cheeseburgers. Went to a roller skating party and had pizza for dinner (those pics are coming soon)...came home.

Today, went to get the kids the left over hamburgers for lunch...no hamburgers. Hmmmmmm...maybe it was the "Not Me" that lives in our house that ate them. OR maybe it is the one who has super high cholesterol and blood pressure that ate them...it better have been Not Me.

FRED dropped DEAD!!!! ...i hope...

My friend, Fred, is finally dead. I think.

I say, I think, because he has been know to come back. But this time it has been a few months since I have seen him. He wasn't the only problem, the medicine had its own set of "issues." And then there was the one time he brought a friend!!!!

Now that he's gone, I miss him a little. He was my little companion. Proof of where I'd been.

Yeah, on second though...sooooooo, glad he's gone :-)

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today...

I was sitting here thinking about what I was doing one year ago today. The vivid thought of me standing in the middle of my room at the compound pathetically weeping came to mind. I found myself there at the end of a long day...a very long, hard day.

The nights were getting longer each night. The generators were no longer working and we had no a/c at night, but had to sleep with the windows closed to keep the bugs out. Very hot, and we didn't sleep well. That morning was a blur...i know that we were waiting to see if we would get the papers from the Consular, and see if we could leave earlier than expected. We eventually got the go ahead and made the arrangements. The novelty was starting to wear off and the stress was starting to take hold of me. My "keeping it together" was starting to wear off when I thought we were going home sooner than expected.

I remember meeting with their family. It was an experience that I just can't and haven't been able to accurately describe, even to this day. Maybe I never will. You stare into the face of these children's mother and promise them a better life. You are taking their babies...and she is giving them up. They were all very unemotional, but that doesn't mean their mom especially wasn't being crushed inside. The words of Willette will forever echo in my head, "Give the lady back her child." She said this to their mom in reference to give Kb back to me after a hug. Ugh...my heartstrings were tugged.

So they sat there on the steps of the compound all day. They walked there from miles away. I just kept thinking, how are they going to walk away? How do you say goodbye? Then it turned to trying to gain as much information from them as I could, so that in years to come I could give Kp and Kb as much information about their past as I could. Just a stressful day.

Then the fevers came.

As we were sitting on the steps, Kp and Kb were acting strange. At first I thought it was because of their family being there, but when I picked Kp up, she was burning up. We had them say their goodbyes...as best as could be done, and took them to our room. Now what? We were in a foreign country with no reliable hospitals. I was not letting anyone stick anything into them. But what did they have, how do I fix it? I knew it wasn't anything like my kids would have a home: a fever cause of a cold. I wanted to be home. I wanted the comforts of home...a doctor or an ER with reliable services that didn't demand cash payments up front. I flipped out. (I will interject here that there were several "issues" with us/other families along the way, and I kept my cool. But these were MY kids and they were burning up faster than I had ever see kids get sick!)

We eventually found the lady who ran the compound. She called a pediatrician friend of hers who came TO the compound. Malaria. Which I figured at some point was what they had. She gave them each a huge shot, and gave us a slip of paper to tell us what to get from the "pharmacy" the next day. Praises sent up to God for providing a doctor!!!!

Then it turned to ... will they let us on the plane??? We have to get the kids to "act" normal. We NEED, I need to be on that plane. God has never given me more than I could handle, so I knew He would get me on that plane because I could "handle" no more...

All flights (the 3 per week!) that leave, leave at night, so we had a good 24 hours to let the kids rest and prepare to leave. Their little bodies are so resilient. They were back to "normal" by mid afternoon the next day. Unfortunately...trying to calculate 3 more shots, 24 hours apart, through several time zones, left for some interesting situations. But we were home, 2 days later - one week sooner than planned.

Bottom line? I didn't think I could handle any more that day one year ago. But GOD, had planned it all out for me, and there was no need to worry or stress...he was caring for me in my time of need!

Places Not to Go with Three in Tow

I took three of my kids with me to the Social Security Office the other day. There was a security officer there with the whole get-up (gun and all). Kp was TERRIFIED of this man and why he had a gun. Why did anyone have guns, she asked? Well, I did my very best to convince my little one that this man was actually there to protect us, not harm us. She didn't take her eyes off him the entire time we were there...my heart broke as i realized that none of my other kids even noticed him or his gun :-(



Taking the 3 to the SS Office anyway??? Well, that is one SMALL waiting room for 3 curious kids, not to mention we got there 40 minutes before closing and weren't seen until after the office closed. I was SOOOOOO ready to leave! (yeah, i know, should've got those numbers for the kids LONG ago, but.....)



Kb asked me the other day, "if i am bad, i will go back to Africa?" EVERYTHING in my world grinded to a haul. "Never, never, ever, ever, ever will you be sent back." We then went onto a lengthy conversation about how he will always live with us NO MATTER what. I think my little guy who doesn't ever seem to be paying attention, knows what happened to...well, we all know who...

We Found Him :-)

God is good. I am daily reminded that His sovereign plans for our lives are just so much greater than I can fathom.

We got a call, out of the blue, the other night from a man we traveled over to Africa with when we all were adopting. He has been back to the compound 3 times since his initial trip. This time he was calling to let us know that he just got back and while he was there, had several talks with Sa. Since Sa left, I was in faith that God is bigger than me (yes, i had to keep reminding myself of that) and that he could care for Sa far better than I could... Then to find out that the same guy who adopted children at the same time as us, who has gone over several times, and who is going back in March, has had much contact with Sa - also has a link to us!!!! God has provided an advocate for Sa! Now, because of a lot of political stuff going on in the country now, i am not going to share what is going on...but know that Sa is okay. I use it as a relative term though. He is constantly being harassed for being "rejected" from the United States...let alone the day to day harassment because of his disability. The bottom line is, he is miserable there and there is not the best place for him, but God has provided someone to watch out for him...someone who is fighting on his behalf :-)

We are going to put together a small care package for Sa, if you would like to add a letter or a note of encouragement. I know that our friend will personally get it to Sa. I am unsure of when he is going, but if you want to send something...get it to me by the first week of March!!!

PS: We did get a glimpse of why they weren't replying to our emails or requests for information about Sa, but it is better left unsaid on an open forum...although i would love to shine the light on things done in the dark...i will leave that for God to do?

Nose Picker

Ok - we have previously established that Kd is my child that is 100% boy.

Most everything that he does is gross. He is my nose picker/eater. Soooooo, terribly gross - but then I thought, it might actually be grosser (if that's possible) if he was a picker/flicker? Cause then the boogers would be flung all over the house....but that's not the point. While I was off in deep thought, I realized, we probably all were nose pickers/eaters/flickers at some point (or still are????). So I try to extend grace to the kiddos...I make them go to the bathroom to do it????

However, yesterday Kd was sitting on my lap and said his ear was itchy...while scratching it, he apparently found some ear wax and .... yep, into his mouth it went. I about threw him across the room off my lap, I was soooooooo grossed out!

More Questions...

Today's question of the day...

Kp: What is 1 and 2?

Mommy: It equals 3.

Kp: No, what does it spell?

Mommy: Ummmmmm...

Still haven't gotten any coffee. Don't have the brain power to explain numbers and letters?

Mornings are Never Good for Me!

I got up early and got the kids to where they needed to be...but had no coffee. We were out of coffee at home. So I went to Starbucks...not my number one choice, but the drive through is appealing.

I tried to order by putting my window down - foolishly expecting my window to go down like it always does. No luck. Frozen shut. So I pulled up a little further and opened my door to place my order. I finally placed my order, only to find that they don't have soy on hand until later in the day.
I just stared at the prompter thing thinking, "uh, now what?" I sat there for almost a minute thinking of what to do (why it took a minute? I had no coffee and couldn't find the two brain cells that were awake?). I had to cancel the order - which in turn confused the lady (apparently she didn't have enough coffee either)...and went to Sheetz. Again, not as good, but they are reliable?

Finally...Christmas...

Ahhhhh, the 12 days of Christmas Post:

Here is the run down -

Day 1: We had Christmas Eve at Mimi and Pa's house.

Day 2 A: We have Christmas Day at our house in the morning.

Day 2 B: We all go to my Mom's house for Christmas Brunch (Ky said this is one of her favorite memories) and do gifts

Day 2 C: We all then go to Grandma's house for Christmas Dinner and MORE gifts.

Day 3: Mimi and Pa's house because Jay and Michalle were coming home.

Day 4 A: Mimi and Pa's house for gift opening in the morning.

Day 4 B: Off to Aunt Vonnee's house for Christmas with Dad's side of the family.

Day 5: Back to Mimi and Pa's house for Farewell dinner - Jay and Michalle went home the next day.

***This is where I stopped counting because we all became exhausted. OH, and you have to throw into that equation the ever present stomach flu that goes around every holiday. Luckily we only had two "go down," but some of the cousins got it a few times?!?!

The following Christmas pictures are not in order, but I am far to tired to put them into order (AND it is almost a month after Christmas and I am just now getting them up!)....

Kd and Kb both got storm trooper dress up stuff...it lasted about an hour with Kd before he put a hole in it. BUT they did love them, AND they have since stopped dressing up in their sister's princess dresses!!!

Mass chaos erupts at Mimi and Pa's house during present time...we went from youngest to oldest...and yes, I am after Maddie (the oldest grandchild)!!!! Towards the end, we abandoned routine and let them just tear the gifts open.

All the kids eat at the table....in the other room....far away from where we can hear them when we eat...kinda nice, but we take a big risk!

Me and my siblings...I used to be the tallest...not so much anymore!

Ky got my camera and took several pictures of people...this is the furthest away any picture was, most of them were right up my nose. We'll have to work with her on making people actually look nice in the pictures????

All my girl cousins (and my girls)....

Talk about a legacy that my grandparent are leaving! All my cousins (and my kids)....

My one cousin, Keith, apparently became the fun cousin to play with....

Kp and cousin, Olivia. She always remembers Olivia - I think it's because she was the first little girl she met in America!

My cousin, Shelley, and her little guy, Billy....

Billy and big sister, Sydney....

My cousin, Erin's little girl, Addie....

My cousin blessed my little girls with iPods...they were so happy. It was one of 3 things on Ky's list...and I didn't get it for her, nor did I know she was getting it for the girls....they were so excited. Now listening to them "sing" to their iPods is a little painful, but they love it!

Landon, well...he is just too cute. He loves to sit in strollers and pretend he is in a wheelchair. A good friend of my sister in law's is in a wheelchair, and although Landon acts totally afraid of him in the wheelchair...he is amazed by it. It is amazing as well what 2 year olds pick up on???

Sarah!!!!!! We LOVE Sarah! She came home for the holidays and stopped over to see the kiddos!

Apparently we should have bought the boys pink princess stuff to play with????

Mimi ended up with two left shoes...and yet every time you buy shoes, they "appear" to be checking that????

Aunt Michalle and Uncle Jay....

I did get over my fear of getting anything said to me, and let Kp do the "fro." She really liked it cause she didn't have to sit and get her hair plaited. The payback was at the end of the week - washing and combing it all out!!!

My brother, Thane, and I....notice the nice bracelets the girls made me that I wore ALL day :-)

All the kiddos with their stockings from Gabby and Pappy...

How cute! I had to document that my kids do actually love each other!!!

Every year my mom takes the kids to the dollar store to buy gifts for everyone in the family. She gives very little advice and lets them pick whatever they want. It is beginning to be the hit of Christmas...to see what each child chooses for each family member...

The boys each got foam swords for Christmas...one broke the next day and one sliced my foot open when I stepped on the handle...so much for safe ones???

This is Grandma, that lives with us, and all her GREAT grandchildren!!!!