Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Is This Thing On?

So, blogging.

Do I remember how?

Not really.  

And where to even begin after nearly 9 months of quiet?

A picture, maybe?

Yes, that would be good.

Our most recent family photo:



Friday, January 9, 2015

8 Things I Learned Over the Holidays

1.  A remake of the movie Annie can be a great thing.

We took the kids to see the new Annie the weekend before Christmas and I was a little worried because the original Annie was one of my favorite movies from my childhood and remakes are never as good as originals.  But, this movie was different enough, that it was lovely in it's own way.  The main actress is amazing and she really makes the movie!  For other adoptive parents, be warned, there are a few hard scenes, ones that portray some of the heartache our kids go through when they don't have families, thankfully I'd been forewarned and we had a few conversations with Little Girl before and after the movie.  I think those conversations, although never easy, bringing up that dialogue, stopping from the busyness of life to acknowledge the pain in our child's past, is ultimately a really good thing.

Now, as a bonus, my kids are singing the song "It's a Hard-Knock Life for Us" when we have family chore time!


2.  I really need to capitalize more on the before Christmas clean-out.

As it turns out, the statement, "We don't have room for anything new, so nobody is opening any gifts until we get rid of some things," is a really motivational mantra to encourage my kids to actually part with some of their things!  Unfortunately I didn't have time to figure this out until Dec. 23rd, so the cleaning out that we could do was limited, but we did fill a few bags.  I just love our playroom game shelves all organized by size of the game boxes!  Notice there is no before picture with them all just crammed wherever there was space!





3.  Taking a Christmas Eve picture of 4 kids plus 1 dog in front of the Christmas tree will not produce a picture where everybody is smiling at the same time, but oh how cuddly they all look!





4.  Christmas morning is definitely a time to just ignore the mess.

I think I already knew this, but I love our Christmas mornings at home, no stress, nowhere to be, time to reflect on the BEST gift of Jesus, seeing the delight in our kids as they open gifts from us, and enjoying time together as a family.





5.  Getting the 11 year old a camera for Christmas was a really good idea!

It's so hard to buy for kids as they get older and we are still resisting the iPhone thing for my middle school son, although he'd still really like one.  His Christmas wishlist was pretty pathetic and no help, with things like new shoelaces on it! Honestly, poor deprived child!  When I saw the list in November I was like, "If you need new shoelaces, I think we can probably get you some before Christmas!"  I was at a loss for what to get him, but then I thought of the idea of his own camera, a DSLR (which my husband and I don't even have), because he's gotten very interested in photography and he's taking a photography class at school this spring semester.  Well, he loved it, and I love that he is learning a real skill as he plays around with lighting and lenses and shutter speed.



6.  With all the racial issues going on in our country right now, this happy scene I discovered in my foyer brought me great joy.

My 6 year old daughter wanted a doll bed for Christmas and after she opened it, she promptly set it up and snuggled two of her dollies in it.  I just think this is what the world needs more of, people of dark skin and light coming together as family.










 


7.  I'm so glad we started the Christmas morning tradition of homemade doughnuts years ago!


Because, yummy!  

 
And the doughnut holes?  Even better, because you can justify eating several they're so small!






8. Hilda the Hippo, although tested on lions and bears at the zoo, is not actually an indestructible dog toy!

This year I researched to find a stuffed toy to buy Madeline, our goldendoodle, one she wouldn't be able to de-stuff in just a couple days.  I had high hopes for Hilda the Hippo after watching the view about how the toy was even tested on zoo animals and even paid more that I typically pay for a dog toy, but sadly Christmas night, Madeline was able to rip both ears off the hippo and soon got all the stuffing out of Hilda's leg! If I can ever get it uploaded, I have a funny video of Madeline wildly pulling stuffing out of the hippo.  I'm thinking I should send that video to the company that made the toy!!


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

We wish you a merry Christmas!

 
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Cutting down our Christmas tree as a family only looks idyllic in the pictures!

We embarked on our annual family exhibition to cut down a Christmas tree this past Saturday.





 Our 9 year old daughter fell in love with a certain tree we worried would be too tall for our living room ceiling.  Literally there were tears, TEARS, over not getting that tree she wanted!  Really, the ridiculousness of it is still amazing to me now 3 days later!











Lest the pictures fool you into thinking it was an idyllic day, just know that we began the outing with a 15 minute lecture right there standing in the parking lot of the Christmas tree farm, to address bad behavior from all 4 kids that had gone on that morning.  And mid-way through our quest for the perfect tree I may have said we'd never do this again -- I mean an entire farm worth of trees and we couldn't all agree on one!  

The 11 year old perfectly illustrating my feelings:

Then there was the colossal fit Little Girl threw in the play area that caused my husband to carry her out screaming to the car.  He later told me he kept waiting for the police to come question him for kidnapping.  We worried about that a lot when Little Girl first came to us and was throwing fits often and we were hyper aware of not matching like typical parents and children, since we are white and she is black.  But, praise God, the fits got better and I haven't thought much about being accused of kidnapping my own child in a long time.  Hopefully that Christmas tree farm fit was isolated and not the beginning a new pattern!

So, just keeping it real, and telling the back story behind the pictures, but at the end of the day we did go home with a tree that we cut down, the kids had some fun, hopefully lessons were learned, and we are a family.  We hang together through the messy and the beautiful!



Thursday, October 30, 2014

The Ultimate 1st World Problem -- My Dog Groomer is Booked Until January!

The week has flown by, and Saturday is November, which is all kinds of crazy!

______________________

One evening this week while working at my volunteer job as a court appointed special advocate for children in state protective custody, I sat next to a 13 year old girl on the couch in her foster home and she told me in a tone of voice I don't think I'll ever forget, "I just want to be adopted."

It broke my heart into a million pieces!  I am now working to change the situation for this sweet girl and her younger brother, to find them a home where they will be loved, treasured, a place where they can heal from the pain of their past.
______________________

I drove home sadly reflecting on how much children need a family and how the foster home where these two children are placed was meeting their basic needs, but not loving them as a family would. Then I walked into my house to the scene of my husband carving a pumpkin with our 4 pajama-clad children.



There was mess and pumpkin guts and squealing and one brother wiping pumpkin goo on a sister's arm and arguing over the name for the newly created jack-o-lantern, but it was FAMILY!  We were all known and loved and messy and loud, and that's what I want for these 2 children on my case.

______________________ 

In happier news than children without parents, Madeline the dog got a much needed grooming this week.  You can thank me for forgetting to snap a photo before she went in and thus sparing you the vision of the "before" and allowing just the "after":


Because we let the grooming wait too long this time, when I picked up the dog I took the proactive step of scheduling her next grooming appointment and was surprised to find that even on October 29th, they are booked all the way through the first of the new year!  So we have an appointment the 2nd week in January.  Here's a truth that likely reveals something rather pathetic about the state of my life: I can call my hairstylist and get an appointment within a week, yet my dog's hair stylist books up over 2 months in advance!!  

______________________ 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Just imagine all the possibilities of what you can do with that extra hour "Fall Back" provides!!  My plan for that hour is lofty, indeed -- sleep!  


Half-Past Kissin' Time

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Guess Who Turned Six!


I can't believe it, but our Little Girl turned SIX on Monday!



We've now been able to celebrate as many birthdays with her as those we missed (since she joined our family as a three year old).  This milestone feels kind of big for me as her mom, rounding the corner so that the majority of her life is no longer an unknown, but has been with us! 

Little Girl, you are known, you are loved, and so much a part of our family that we can't imagine life without you!  Happy birthday sweet six year old!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Sibling Slumber Party

My oldest son was away this past weekend at a middle school retreat with our church youth group.  My younger son, who shares a room with his big brother, didn't like the idea of sleeping alone.  Good thing his sisters were more than happy to have him sleep over in their room!


Sometimes they annoy each other, but they are truly the best of friends!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Family Adventure Day

The kids had a fall holiday from school on Friday so on Saturday we set off for "Family Adventure Day".

We loaded all 6 bikes on the SUV, packed a picnic lunch, grabbed some donuts and kloaches for breakfast and headed west a couple hours to a state park with some waterfalls that we'd never been to before.  The weather was gorgeous and we had a beautiful day exploring as a family!











Don't ask me how close Little Girl came to a collision with a patch of cacti when the trail went downhill and she took it full speed as I watched in horror from behind!  Thankfully she narrowly missed the cactus and came to a stop safely in some tall grass.  I, however, have several new gray hairs from bike riding over hills with that daredevil little girl who kept telling me as I begged her to slow down, "I'm not controlling my bike, IT is controlling ME!"  But, go figure, her only scraped knee was on the hill I deemed "too steep" and while we were walking our bikes down the hill she fell and got a little scraped up!

We drove home after dark with some very sleepy kids and fun memories of our family adventure day!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Gifts

We took a break for a little while as summer ended and the school year began, but we are back at it, listing our blessings, writing them down to help us remember to be thankful.  

Saturday brought a tremendous gift of cooler weather, a much-needed break from months of days so hot you were uncomfortable with just a few minutes outside!

We headed to the zoo, a family favorite spot, and were delighted with a grizzly bear wading in the water, some new clouded leopards to admire, and giraffe antics as three of them tried to lick out of the same hanging bucket, among other delights!


I even caught this precious view of my 7 year old and my 5 year old walking with their arms around each other inside one exhibit:



We wrapped up the day with dinner out, the gifts of no cooking or dishes!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Reading Together As A Family

For several weeks we've been reading a book together as a family.

A chapter after dinner on nights we could spare the time.

All 6 of us lingering longer around the table, one of us reading aloud, the others listening.

And then the conversations over what we had read.

It was a beautiful thing.

And something I'm now eager to do again and again.

The book we read was Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games.  It is the true story of a Sudanese child refuge and his journey to becoming an American Olympic runner.

Our family has a soft spot for Africa, so this book was especially up our alley, but I believe every family would be touched and inspired and changed by this book.  It's a true story that will leave you in awe of what God can do.

We had so many great conversations about perseverance, about our blessings, about life in America and the realities of life many other places, about success and achievement, and about God taking something terrible and turning it into something amazing.



 
I'm not sure what we'll read next, but reading together as a whole family is a habit I'd like to keep!

***I am an Amazon affiliate but I truly read this book with my family and loved it and that is the only reason I'm linking to it.***

Thursday, July 31, 2014

August 1, 2011

Three years ago today, on August 1, 2011, my husband, oldest two children and I stood outside these gates in Ethiopia:



And we walked in through these orphanage door:


And met this little girl for the very first time:


Meeting your nearly 3 year old daughter for the first time in an orphanage in Ethiopia is an experience I still cannot put adequate words to.


Oh, the fun these 2 sisters have had over the past 3 years since this first touch!

It is hard to believe it has been 3 years since we met her.  But today at lunch as we talked about the anniversary, my 11 year old said, "It's really hard to remember life before Little Girl!"

Indeed, it is!  She is so much a part of all of us.  We wouldn't want to imagine our family without her in it!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Tips For An Easier Beach Vacation With kids

We just got back from a beach vacation with our kids and I have some tips that made the travel easier.  We've done this same vacation the past 3 years in a row so we've learned some things.

I laughed when I saw this funny article about a mom on a beach vacation with her family, but it can be true if you are not careful, the "vacation" can turn out to not really be a vacation for the mom (or really both parents)!  We've certainly done trips in the past with 4 kids or even when we had 3 kids where it felt like even more work than being at home and I was exhausted at the end of the trip (yes, I'm talking about you Disney!).

So, here's a quick list of tips that help the beach vacation actually BE a vacation for the parents:

  • If you are driving and leaving early in the morning (we left at 4:30am), put the kids to bed the night before in the clothes they will wear on the trip (you'll want them wearing comfortable clothes in the car anyway).  This way you just get them out of bed, have them visit the potty, and then put them straight in the car -- so easy!
  • Leave in the wee hours of the morning and the kids will be sleepy, disoriented, and most important, quiet for the first couple hours of the trip before the sun comes up!
  •  Rent a beach house with a washer and dryer.  I know, wash equals work while on vacation, but it is tons easier than packing enough clothes for your family to survive the week without doing wash and plus it's nice to return home and not have a mountain of vacation laundry to tackle!
  • Before you leave home, write up a grocery list of things to buy once you arrive at your destination.  Plan to have easy breakfasts and lunches in the beach house to save cost and hassle of eating out every meal and then splurge on dinners out. 

  • I plan for one super easy dinner in, that way if it is raining one evening or we're all too tire or sunburned and don't feel like going out to dinner, there is a meal I can make at the house.  This year I boiled pasta added a container of store-bought pesto sauce and a package of those pre-grilled chicken strips for an easy pasta dinner.
  • Eat on paper plates.
  • Every year we turn our beach vacation week into junk food week as well.  You know the sugary cereal I say "No" to the other 51 weeks of the year, I allow during the one week at the beach.  Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms -- sure, but just for this week only and nobody let me read the list of ingredients!   Also, things like Twinkies that were staples in my childhood, but my kids have no idea about, we expose them to it during beach vacation week.
  • With big families where you don't want everyone drinking after each other (I'm a freak about containing potential cold and stomach virus germs to one member of the family as much as humanly possible; you never know when someone is about to get sick and already contagious before you even know they are sick), label water bottle lids.  My system is to label "Mom", "D" for Dad, and then numbers 1 through 4 for my kids, with 1 being the oldest, 4 the youngest, etc.

  • Pack bleach wipes and have kids quickly wipe down bathrooms and empty trash every other day, this way the messes don't pile up.
  •  To make the sunscreen application process easier (and when you have 4 kids and need to reapply every 80 minutes, you want anything to make it easier!), we used these Wet Skin Sticks for the kids' faces.  It goes on quick, they don't have to be super dry so it's great for re-applying while they are swimming, and with a stick instead of a liquid you don't have to worry about it getting in their eyes!
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  • It's a family vacation, but that doesn't mean you have to spend every single minute together!  Trade off childcare with your husband so you each can go on a bike ride or shopping alone for an hour or two.  And we had rest time nearly every day of our vacation where we came back to the beach house and everyone was expected to rest or read quietly in their bed for 45 minutes to an hour.  That time definitely helps bring some parental peace!
  • I pack each person's clothes in one of these packing cubes, that way I am not having to help each child find their clothes and pajamas.  They have their stuff separated in their own cube.


  • Really I think the number 1 thing that made the trip so easy this year and a real vacation for me the mom was that we'd done this vacation 2 times already.  I knew the layout of the house, knew the amenities, and how to get everywhere in the little beach town.  We knew how to rent bikes and have them delivered to our rental house.  We knew the restaurants that were good to eat at and even what to order!  Sure, there is something exciting about a new adventure, but with 4 kids there is nothing restful about a new adventure! 





 
**** This post contains affiliate links, but I only link to product I own myself and truly love.****

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Favorites from our Seaside Vacation

The House.  We've rented this same house for our vacations the past 3 summers.  The kids refer to it as "our beach house".  Ha!  We can dream!


 Beautiful beach with crystal clear water

 Relaxing!

Bodyboarding!  Even I figured out how to ride the waves this year.  Such fun!


We rented a kayak one day.  The boys had their turn first.  I asked my 8 year old daughter if she wanted to ride next and she said, "If nothing bad happens to them, then I'll think about it, but if something bad happens to them then I'm not riding."  Smart girl!

The boys survived so the girls and I took over the kayak.

Watching my kids bury each other in the sand is always fun!

Eating dinner at a restaurant and having this view:



Girls in white dresses:


 A pool with no rule banning inflatables like our hometown pool does:

Watching frozen in the outdoor ampitheater

 Sandcastles

Tetherball was a hit with my oldest this year


And last, but not least, walking or riding bikes everywhere for the whole week!

We drove 10 hours to get to Seaside from our home, unloaded at the beachhouse, went to the grocery store to stock up for the week, and then parked our car and did not drive again for a full week!  We were able to walk to the beach and pool and restaurants and shops.  It was such a great break from our regular lives where we are always running around in the car mulitiple times each day!