Addison loves to blurt out, "Jesus died on the cross!" at random moments. I think it just occurs to her and so she shares it. We've been trying to help her complete the thought by always adding, "...and then He rose again!" to which she always enthusiastically yells, "Yeah!"
Today as we were reading their Storybook Bible, Addison shouted out her revelation again.I prompted her, "...then...." and this time she continued, "He roasted!!"
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Caelen: "Hey Mom! Remember when I got my first Henry and Mudge book and I couldn't read the words?"
Addison: "Were you born Caelen?"
Caelen: "No Addie, I was 5."
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Dubs asked for apple juice, she says it as clear as a bell but always with the same sing song accents on certain sylables. I was busy so I said, "It's in your room." And this little 17 month old turned around and left the kitchen, went straight to her bedroom and peeked in. I know the moment she saw her cup because she then quickly disappeared and came back out drinking her juice. I couldn't quite believe it!!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Big Steps Forward!
Tabitha's vocabulary is exploding! I don't know when it happened for my other girls, but this past week Tabitha has taken off in the communication area. Within the last week she has busted out with new phrases and words such as:
Look at me!
Woodrow
Here you go
I don't know
Theres a (_____) eg: doggy
Tonight she began my singing for me while we rocked in the rocking chair and I could vaguely make out sounds from Jesus Loves Me. When I lay her down to sleep she said, "EIEIEIEIEIE Ohhhhh. Woof!" So we had to finish with one round of Old MacDonald who, of course, had a dog.
************************************************************************************
Finally, it is finished. Caelen's tonsils are gone. The bane of her existence since our trip out to Larisa's in April of 2010 when she contracted Mononeucleosis and they swelled to the size of golfballs. And only eight months after her adnoidectomy when they gave me the option of removing her tonsils but I said No because they had never been a problem!
Poor Caelen. I think the surgery was the easiest part for her. But taking her liquid Vicodin, you think it just might be killing her. She takes a good 30 minutes to swallow about 15 mls of meds mixed with juice. This is a incredible small amount of liquid that would take me maybe one swig. But she labors over it with blood, sweat and plenty of tears every four hours. The worst is in the night when I have to wake her up, bring her to bed with me and deal with the process. She has always been this way but I pray she won't always. How rough for her!
Nevertheless, she is on her way to a tonsil free life and her voice already sounds different. She's swollen in there but I can't imagine any more swollen than having golfballs guarding the enterance to her throat. I'm happy they're gone, I just want my happy, healthy girl back now.
***********************************************************************************
We mailed out our federal fingerprinting requests for our dossier and we also mailed out ALL our homestudy paperwork back to our agency!! YAY! Medical reviews for us and the kids, financials, fingerprints, employment verifications, applications and forms, forms, forms. DONE! Now we get to meet with our social worker a few times who will write up our homestudy (oh how I look forward to THAT day!) International Adoption really is a series of milestones. There's tons of them to celebrate. Each things checked off the list is one more step towards our baby. It's like the milestones in pregnancy, just so different. We have finished 5 of our 7 online classes for adoption education and are almost 75% done with our workbook. All of that has to be finished before our homestudy is written up so we're working away at those furiously.
This really is an amazing time. I am just trying to enjoy the process. There is so much I never knew about what this all entails.
Look at me!
Woodrow
Here you go
I don't know
Theres a (_____) eg: doggy
Tonight she began my singing for me while we rocked in the rocking chair and I could vaguely make out sounds from Jesus Loves Me. When I lay her down to sleep she said, "EIEIEIEIEIE Ohhhhh. Woof!" So we had to finish with one round of Old MacDonald who, of course, had a dog.
************************************************************************************
Finally, it is finished. Caelen's tonsils are gone. The bane of her existence since our trip out to Larisa's in April of 2010 when she contracted Mononeucleosis and they swelled to the size of golfballs. And only eight months after her adnoidectomy when they gave me the option of removing her tonsils but I said No because they had never been a problem!
Poor Caelen. I think the surgery was the easiest part for her. But taking her liquid Vicodin, you think it just might be killing her. She takes a good 30 minutes to swallow about 15 mls of meds mixed with juice. This is a incredible small amount of liquid that would take me maybe one swig. But she labors over it with blood, sweat and plenty of tears every four hours. The worst is in the night when I have to wake her up, bring her to bed with me and deal with the process. She has always been this way but I pray she won't always. How rough for her!
Nevertheless, she is on her way to a tonsil free life and her voice already sounds different. She's swollen in there but I can't imagine any more swollen than having golfballs guarding the enterance to her throat. I'm happy they're gone, I just want my happy, healthy girl back now.
***********************************************************************************
We mailed out our federal fingerprinting requests for our dossier and we also mailed out ALL our homestudy paperwork back to our agency!! YAY! Medical reviews for us and the kids, financials, fingerprints, employment verifications, applications and forms, forms, forms. DONE! Now we get to meet with our social worker a few times who will write up our homestudy (oh how I look forward to THAT day!) International Adoption really is a series of milestones. There's tons of them to celebrate. Each things checked off the list is one more step towards our baby. It's like the milestones in pregnancy, just so different. We have finished 5 of our 7 online classes for adoption education and are almost 75% done with our workbook. All of that has to be finished before our homestudy is written up so we're working away at those furiously.
This really is an amazing time. I am just trying to enjoy the process. There is so much I never knew about what this all entails.
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Ode to Dubs
The girls and I have been looking back over this blog for the past half an hour and now I'm so sad that I haven't taken the time in the past couple of years to keep it updated. Poor Dubs (Tabitha) isn't going to have the record that her sisters had. I suppose I will have to re-commit myself to frequent updates. It's just so worth it to read the stories, see the pictures and even the videos!!
So to honor my negelected third born whom I love so much, a picture from every month this year!
March in the tub
I'm ONE! in April
With big sis in May
Playing in June
Fun in the laundry! July
Our Adoption Orientation Packet arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago and we had an hour long converation with our inquiry coordinator describing the entire 2-3 year process of adoption. We promptly notarized all the documents and sent them back with our first installment of seriously hefty fees to bring our baby home. Right now we get to take a breather, a breather sprinkled with online adoption classes here and there, learning Bulgarian, and a few errands such as getting passports renewed and ordering birth certificates. Once our Adoption Planner arrives in the mail, the next steps are going to be the biggest! We will spend the next few months working on a dossier and a homestudy. To us, they are two seperate things, but to Bulgaria it's one compilation of documents that says we are a good family for one of their orphans.
So to honor my negelected third born whom I love so much, a picture from every month this year!
Jan at the beach
A beautiful February Day
Playing in June
Fun in the laundry! July
First day of school for Caelen, Tabitha wanted her picture taken too! CHEESE!
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Tabitha's "Cheese!" face is hilarious and she does it all day long. I don't think she can smile without some cheese in her grin. She inevitably makes new people laugh when they see her as her little eyes squint and her nose go white from the scrunch. Tabitha is almost always happy, greeting everyone who walks by with a sweet little "Hi" and a limp-wristed wave. But when this girl is cranky, then she's like the little girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead. Yes, horrid is the only way to describe her temper tantrums which have recently begun to include high pitched screaming.
The worst time of day for her is when Caelen is doing Kindergarten and my attention is focused on her oldest sister. She spends most of the morning screaming and hit things, dumping them on the ground and throwing herself down. Today she spent most of the morning on time out in her room.
But thats not the norm for this typically very happy and self-entertained little girl. She is a real joy and a lot of fun. She reminds me of Caelen in some ways but is so very much her own little person.
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Aww come on, don't we look like a fun family? ;)
Monday, August 20, 2012
Well we have officially taken the first step! Thomas and I submitted our application with our adoption agency last week and were approved the very next day. Before we knew it, papers were in the mailbox and we were staring at documents written partially in Bulgarian. 77 pages of official adoption paperwork detailing the entire 2-3 year process is, well, incredibly overwhelming. I knew it would be. Our new motto has become "One step at a time." I think we say that at least once a day now. We have to. We only have grace for today. I don't have grace for a homestudy interview yet, or for travelling to meet my child in a Bulgarian orphanage. I most certainly don't have grace to leave them there for months while the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice finalizes all our paperwork. A process that to them means just more documents but to us means our baby isn't home yet. I don't have grace for flying home half way across the world with a child that has only spent a few days with me, but is mine. And no grace for the re-adoption, VISAs, post-adoption processes etc.
But I do have the grace to look through the papers in preparation for our orientation call on Wednesday and to do a yard sale this weekend. That I can do. One step at a time.
*******************************
Today was Caelen's first day of Kindergarten! She was so excited she was bouncing off the walls and begging me to start school before 8:00. We had so much fun reading, doing math, phonics, spelling, music and handwriting. Her sisters participated as much as they could which made it fun for everyone. Math was the most loved subject and where we spent most of our time. Addison worked on some simple mazes to increase motor skills and did really well. The linking cubes were a huge hit as well.
All in all, I can't believe that Caelen is in Kindergarten. It's going to be a fun year. The challenge will be keeping enough books around for her today read. Today, during school, she read at a 5th grade level and then bought an 87 page chapter book that she finished in one hour. I definitely don't want to let her down by not feeding her voracious appetite for books!
But I do have the grace to look through the papers in preparation for our orientation call on Wednesday and to do a yard sale this weekend. That I can do. One step at a time.
*******************************
Today was Caelen's first day of Kindergarten! She was so excited she was bouncing off the walls and begging me to start school before 8:00. We had so much fun reading, doing math, phonics, spelling, music and handwriting. Her sisters participated as much as they could which made it fun for everyone. Math was the most loved subject and where we spent most of our time. Addison worked on some simple mazes to increase motor skills and did really well. The linking cubes were a huge hit as well.
All in all, I can't believe that Caelen is in Kindergarten. It's going to be a fun year. The challenge will be keeping enough books around for her today read. Today, during school, she read at a 5th grade level and then bought an 87 page chapter book that she finished in one hour. I definitely don't want to let her down by not feeding her voracious appetite for books!
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Baby Number Four
How do you share your heart in a blog post? It's virtually impossible. Although sit down with me and in the course of a few hours together I might be able to begin to convey my heart to you, on a blog post I will just never be able to do it justice. So I feebly attempt to now:
When I was a little child I saw a commercial for child sponsership with a man (who looked much like my Grandpa Tom) squatting in the dirty next to a dirty, shy-looking child asking people to send money in support of these desperately poor. That night as I climbed into the tub to wash up I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to bring one of those children home and to clean them up and make them really good food. Tacos! (A 7 year olds idea of really good food!)
Fast forward to me at 16 with my first job and one of the first things I did was sponsor a child through World Vision. He lived in Malawi and I sponsored him until he aged-out of the program.
Then when the doctors told Thomas and I we were infertile back in 2005, the idea of adoption began brewing.
In 2010 we began supporting another child through World Vision who is the same age as my eldest, later we added another the same age as my second daughter.
About this time Lord began breaking my heart over the plight of desperatley poor children. He speaks so much of caring for orphans and the fatherless in His Word, that if those verses were removed we'd have a serious hole in the Bible, the idea behind "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns which also began to open my eyes and break my heart further. Missionary stories like those of Amy Carmicheal and Gladys Aylward with their adoptions of orphans greatly influenced me and all the while a voice was whispering "adoption" to my heart.
Though there are so many more personal details and perfect timings that I would never be able to share, this is just a glimpse into the work I believe the Lord has been doing in me since I was very young to prepare me for what we now really believe the Lord is calling us to do.
And so through prayer and counsel and navigation of some of the hoops, Thomas and I are now headed down the path of internation adoption. For us, we believe the Lord has called us to orphans, and therefore we go international. Some countries have millions of orphans waiting for a home. We have been directed to Bulgaria were there are over 7000 orphans in orphanges.
We have a placing agency and some requirements. Our adopted child must be the youngest child in our family (required by our agency) and since it is a 2-3 year process we are looking at a child 0-3 years of age. We absolutely believe that the Lord will supply all our needs for this process, and He's going to have to because international adoption is no small financial hurdle. We've been told to expect to pay about $33,000.
We need about $7000 to begin: To apply with the agency and begin our homestudy which would sent the process in motion and begin our 2-3 year wait. We have not even done that much yet. We are waiting.
We are SO thankful for the over $500 that was added to our funds in the month of July! And in the meantime we are able to pray and research and gather papers and get new passports ;)
So if you would like to stay updated on the process and how close we are to bringing our child into their "forever family" we'll be hoping to stay up to date on here.
When I was a little child I saw a commercial for child sponsership with a man (who looked much like my Grandpa Tom) squatting in the dirty next to a dirty, shy-looking child asking people to send money in support of these desperately poor. That night as I climbed into the tub to wash up I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to bring one of those children home and to clean them up and make them really good food. Tacos! (A 7 year olds idea of really good food!)
Fast forward to me at 16 with my first job and one of the first things I did was sponsor a child through World Vision. He lived in Malawi and I sponsored him until he aged-out of the program.
Then when the doctors told Thomas and I we were infertile back in 2005, the idea of adoption began brewing.
In 2010 we began supporting another child through World Vision who is the same age as my eldest, later we added another the same age as my second daughter.
About this time Lord began breaking my heart over the plight of desperatley poor children. He speaks so much of caring for orphans and the fatherless in His Word, that if those verses were removed we'd have a serious hole in the Bible, the idea behind "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns which also began to open my eyes and break my heart further. Missionary stories like those of Amy Carmicheal and Gladys Aylward with their adoptions of orphans greatly influenced me and all the while a voice was whispering "adoption" to my heart.
Though there are so many more personal details and perfect timings that I would never be able to share, this is just a glimpse into the work I believe the Lord has been doing in me since I was very young to prepare me for what we now really believe the Lord is calling us to do.
And so through prayer and counsel and navigation of some of the hoops, Thomas and I are now headed down the path of internation adoption. For us, we believe the Lord has called us to orphans, and therefore we go international. Some countries have millions of orphans waiting for a home. We have been directed to Bulgaria were there are over 7000 orphans in orphanges.
We have a placing agency and some requirements. Our adopted child must be the youngest child in our family (required by our agency) and since it is a 2-3 year process we are looking at a child 0-3 years of age. We absolutely believe that the Lord will supply all our needs for this process, and He's going to have to because international adoption is no small financial hurdle. We've been told to expect to pay about $33,000.
We need about $7000 to begin: To apply with the agency and begin our homestudy which would sent the process in motion and begin our 2-3 year wait. We have not even done that much yet. We are waiting.
We are SO thankful for the over $500 that was added to our funds in the month of July! And in the meantime we are able to pray and research and gather papers and get new passports ;)
So if you would like to stay updated on the process and how close we are to bringing our child into their "forever family" we'll be hoping to stay up to date on here.
Friday, August 19, 2011
That wasn't the point.
Today God gave me the most brilliant idea. At my wits end over these two girls of mine fighting, I was desperate for a way to get through to them that this behavior was NOT okay! All of a sudden it dawned on me, I grabbed my Bible and said, "Lord, give me a verse!" I landed right on Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called [children] of God."
Sweet! I read it to them and we discussed what that meant. What does it mean to be blessed? What's a peacemaker? Do we want to be children of God or children of Satan? The girls were super excited and getting into it. So we wrote it down and stuck it on the fridge at the level of a termite on time out. I explained that they would sit and stare at this verse each time they fought.
Right off the bat Addison whacked her sister, so I set her down and had her repeat after me. I set her timer and when it was over she apologized to her sister. Happily they went off together to play in Caelen's room. Five minutes later Caelen slowly emerges from her room, shamefully walks down the hall and says, "Mom, I guess it's my turn for time out." "Oh it is?" I replied, "What did you do?" "I kicked my sister in the head. Can you help me with the verse?"
Yesterday the girls were on their ride-on toys outside. Addie had a lion and Caelen was on the bus. Caelen, thinking her sister's ride looked pretty good, rolls up to her sis and says, "Hey Addie! Where'd you get your lion washed?" Addie replied, "I don't have a lion washed."
Sweet! I read it to them and we discussed what that meant. What does it mean to be blessed? What's a peacemaker? Do we want to be children of God or children of Satan? The girls were super excited and getting into it. So we wrote it down and stuck it on the fridge at the level of a termite on time out. I explained that they would sit and stare at this verse each time they fought.
Right off the bat Addison whacked her sister, so I set her down and had her repeat after me. I set her timer and when it was over she apologized to her sister. Happily they went off together to play in Caelen's room. Five minutes later Caelen slowly emerges from her room, shamefully walks down the hall and says, "Mom, I guess it's my turn for time out." "Oh it is?" I replied, "What did you do?" "I kicked my sister in the head. Can you help me with the verse?"
Yesterday the girls were on their ride-on toys outside. Addie had a lion and Caelen was on the bus. Caelen, thinking her sister's ride looked pretty good, rolls up to her sis and says, "Hey Addie! Where'd you get your lion washed?" Addie replied, "I don't have a lion washed."
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
My Absence Excuses
With three kids I have more updates, interesting stories and funny happenings in one day than I used to have in a month and most certainly can't keep the blog updated. As the day passes I often think to myself, "That has to go on the blog! I really need to make time to update that blog!" but then life continues on and if I have a moment free I quickly try to decide should I spend it on laundry, a shower, reading the Word, exercising or crashing on the couch? The blog soon drops down to #58 on my to-do list and I completely forget all the fun stories, important milestones and interesting updates.
The ones that are concise enough end up as Facebook status updates which I try to transfer over here over time. Pictures from my blackberry get posted with a quick caption to let the world in on our lives and then fall off my Facebook profile page in just a couple days. Life is happening fast, and it really is wonderful. I know I'll never be able to capture all the wonderful moments on my blog or in a picture. So I have been spending the past couple of months just soaking it in, enjoying our "termites" and knowing I'm blessed. I hope when I look back on this time, when Tabitha was new and all my babies were home all day, I'll remember joy. Reality is crazy and no one (especially myself) is perfect, that's not how I'll remember it. But it's really been enjoyable and at the end of the day I'm thankful and wouldn't rather be living anyone else's life.
The truth is Caelen is driving me crazy with her inability to just take things at face value. She asks me "why" to questions you can't ask why to. One question leads to another and another and another. A simple statement can lead down a road I never intended to travel down and usually can only end the insanity with an "I DON'T KNOW!" Addison's simple, "OK" in response to a statement is so refreshing I almost snuggle her to death every time she says it.
Addison on the other hand is sassy and uses her cute face to get away with murder. When I'm trying to discipline her she usually is smiling and looking dreamily at the ceiling or anywhere else but my eyes, anything to avoid taking me seriously. The girls get into fights a lot more often now that Addie can fight back both physically and verbally. Addison is usually the one who resorts to violence.
Tabitha is an angel. She cries if she's hungry or alone on her back and bored. Otherwise I have never had a more smiley, talkative and happy baby. All she wants is to look people in the face and talk with them. She sleeps from 8:30pm - 7:30am when I wake her up to feed her and begin our day. But lest anyone think she's perfect, she hates her carseat, I mean HATES, and she is a little high maintenance when she's awake but I adore her.
Tabs had her tongue tie clipped on Thursday, along with her shots, and now she takes a binkie like a pro! Things may get a lot quieter around here. She is also a big fan of her thumb though, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Addison has learned how to jump. She also knows she's funny and often is laughing at herself saying, "Funny Addie." She's precious beyond words.
Caelen is learning and soaking everything up like the biggest sponge. She's doing a first grade workbook, learning spelling and reading, and math much higher than someone her age should be able to do. She's also in swimming lessons and is really excited about anything that involves learning. She is an amazingly special girl with a precious heart for the Lord.
And in the meantime I pray constantly. Nothing takes you beyond yourself like having kids. I rely moment by moment on the Lord for strength, patience and wisdom and He's gracious to give it.
The ones that are concise enough end up as Facebook status updates which I try to transfer over here over time. Pictures from my blackberry get posted with a quick caption to let the world in on our lives and then fall off my Facebook profile page in just a couple days. Life is happening fast, and it really is wonderful. I know I'll never be able to capture all the wonderful moments on my blog or in a picture. So I have been spending the past couple of months just soaking it in, enjoying our "termites" and knowing I'm blessed. I hope when I look back on this time, when Tabitha was new and all my babies were home all day, I'll remember joy. Reality is crazy and no one (especially myself) is perfect, that's not how I'll remember it. But it's really been enjoyable and at the end of the day I'm thankful and wouldn't rather be living anyone else's life.
The truth is Caelen is driving me crazy with her inability to just take things at face value. She asks me "why" to questions you can't ask why to. One question leads to another and another and another. A simple statement can lead down a road I never intended to travel down and usually can only end the insanity with an "I DON'T KNOW!" Addison's simple, "OK" in response to a statement is so refreshing I almost snuggle her to death every time she says it.
Addison on the other hand is sassy and uses her cute face to get away with murder. When I'm trying to discipline her she usually is smiling and looking dreamily at the ceiling or anywhere else but my eyes, anything to avoid taking me seriously. The girls get into fights a lot more often now that Addie can fight back both physically and verbally. Addison is usually the one who resorts to violence.
Tabitha is an angel. She cries if she's hungry or alone on her back and bored. Otherwise I have never had a more smiley, talkative and happy baby. All she wants is to look people in the face and talk with them. She sleeps from 8:30pm - 7:30am when I wake her up to feed her and begin our day. But lest anyone think she's perfect, she hates her carseat, I mean HATES, and she is a little high maintenance when she's awake but I adore her.
Tabs had her tongue tie clipped on Thursday, along with her shots, and now she takes a binkie like a pro! Things may get a lot quieter around here. She is also a big fan of her thumb though, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Addison has learned how to jump. She also knows she's funny and often is laughing at herself saying, "Funny Addie." She's precious beyond words.
Caelen is learning and soaking everything up like the biggest sponge. She's doing a first grade workbook, learning spelling and reading, and math much higher than someone her age should be able to do. She's also in swimming lessons and is really excited about anything that involves learning. She is an amazingly special girl with a precious heart for the Lord.
And in the meantime I pray constantly. Nothing takes you beyond yourself like having kids. I rely moment by moment on the Lord for strength, patience and wisdom and He's gracious to give it.
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