Our Christmas was fabulous! My parents, Brother, sister-in-law and niece came to visit for 5 days. We were all crammed in our house but it was so cozy and fun and we had a blast! We gave the kids a Wii for their present and the rest of the family gave corresponding gifts to go with it. We are thoroughly set for a while and having a lot of fun with it.
Yesterday I had a lot planned for the day but it got completely stopped due to some major freezing(and snow). I got up early, took my shower and then sent Sarah to take hers but in the middle of her shower Judah came to get me saying that the water stopped. She had her hair full of conditioner and there was NO water in the house at all, our pipes at the well had frozen. I am not even sure how in the world I was able to take a shower! I was able to pool enough water to barely wash out her hair from the kids water bottles, hahaha. I was hopeful that I was going to be able to leave and get my errands done, however, the car was frozen shut solid.
Seriously.
And, being that there was no water anywhere there was nothing we could do! How frustrating! Sheets of ice were everywhere and it was SO cold! Thankfully, we had a nice warm house(albeit, without water) to play in with our new present.
This morning is just as cold and frozen. Fun.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
A Liberian English Christmas Story
I posted this back in 2006 and thought I would repost since we are so close to Christmas. It was recieved by ELWA in 1967. This will be my last post until next week as my family is coming in to town so a very Merry Christmas to you all! Remember to cherish your family well and enjoy this beautiful season of remembering the ultimate gift of God's Son to us.
Every Man Heart Lay Down"
Long time past - before your father live - before his father live
Before his father's father live - long time past
Before them big tree live - before them big tree's father live
That time God live.
And God look on the world - that He done make
And Him heart no lay down.
And He walk about in the town to see the people.
And He sit down in the palaver house to know the people.
And He sorry too much.
And God say "The people no hear My Word.
The people no walk My way. Nev mind.
All I can do is make a new country - and make new people."
And this time God's one small boy - Him small child
Hear God's Word, And the child grieve for people and for His Pa.
So he go for God's face and make talk for His Pa.
"Pa, I come for beg you," so He say,
"I come for beg you; Don't make the new world.
Don't lose the people what you done care for. I beg you.
Make it I go, I talk to people. I walk with people. Bye-m-bye
They savvy the way."
And the child go down softly softly and hold God's foot. (i.e. begged Him)
So God look on Him small boy. And Him heart be very soft. And God say,
Left me now, but hear me good; If you go you must be born like a man
You must live like a man - and you must have hurt and have hunger.
And hear me good; men will hate you and they will flog you, and
Bye-m-bye they will kill you, and I no going put my hand there." (i.e. interfere)
And the Child say, "I agree."
And bye-m-bye God call Mary to be Ma for the child.
Now Mary be new wife for Joseph and Joseph ain't touch Mary self.
So first time Joseph vex. But God say, 'Nev min', Joseph; this be God palaver.
And Joseph heart lay down.
And God see one king who try for do good for all him people.
"Ahah, now I send my Son for be new king."
And God send star to call the king.
And in a far country, God hear a wise man call his name.
And God say to the wise man, "I send my Son to be new wise man;
Go now with the star." And the star call. And the wise men follow.
And by the waterside - men lay down to take rest.
And they hear fine music in the sky like all the stars make song,
And they fear. And all the dark make bright like day.
And the water shine like fire. And no man can savvy.
And they hearts turn over. But God's angel come,
And God's angel say, "Make glad, all people,God's child be born in Bethlehem."
And the star come low and stop. But when they go for mansion house
The star no be there. And when they go for big man's house,
The star no be there. And bye-m-bye when they go for hotel,
The star no be there gain - "Ahah, the star be by the small house
Where cattle sleep! " And it was so.
And they found Joseph and Mary and the small child fold up in country cloth.
And the king bring gold for gift
And the wise man bring fine oil
And the country people bring new rice.
And they look on the God child
And every man heart lay down.
Every Man Heart Lay Down"
Long time past - before your father live - before his father live
Before his father's father live - long time past
Before them big tree live - before them big tree's father live
That time God live.
And God look on the world - that He done make
And Him heart no lay down.
And He walk about in the town to see the people.
And He sit down in the palaver house to know the people.
And He sorry too much.
And God say "The people no hear My Word.
The people no walk My way. Nev mind.
All I can do is make a new country - and make new people."
And this time God's one small boy - Him small child
Hear God's Word, And the child grieve for people and for His Pa.
So he go for God's face and make talk for His Pa.
"Pa, I come for beg you," so He say,
"I come for beg you; Don't make the new world.
Don't lose the people what you done care for. I beg you.
Make it I go, I talk to people. I walk with people. Bye-m-bye
They savvy the way."
And the child go down softly softly and hold God's foot. (i.e. begged Him)
So God look on Him small boy. And Him heart be very soft. And God say,
Left me now, but hear me good; If you go you must be born like a man
You must live like a man - and you must have hurt and have hunger.
And hear me good; men will hate you and they will flog you, and
Bye-m-bye they will kill you, and I no going put my hand there." (i.e. interfere)
And the Child say, "I agree."
And bye-m-bye God call Mary to be Ma for the child.
Now Mary be new wife for Joseph and Joseph ain't touch Mary self.
So first time Joseph vex. But God say, 'Nev min', Joseph; this be God palaver.
And Joseph heart lay down.
And God see one king who try for do good for all him people.
"Ahah, now I send my Son for be new king."
And God send star to call the king.
And in a far country, God hear a wise man call his name.
And God say to the wise man, "I send my Son to be new wise man;
Go now with the star." And the star call. And the wise men follow.
And by the waterside - men lay down to take rest.
And they hear fine music in the sky like all the stars make song,
And they fear. And all the dark make bright like day.
And the water shine like fire. And no man can savvy.
And they hearts turn over. But God's angel come,
And God's angel say, "Make glad, all people,God's child be born in Bethlehem."
And the star come low and stop. But when they go for mansion house
The star no be there. And when they go for big man's house,
The star no be there. And bye-m-bye when they go for hotel,
The star no be there gain - "Ahah, the star be by the small house
Where cattle sleep! " And it was so.
And they found Joseph and Mary and the small child fold up in country cloth.
And the king bring gold for gift
And the wise man bring fine oil
And the country people bring new rice.
And they look on the God child
And every man heart lay down.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
These children
These children make my heart swollen with love.
These children are pieces of my heart in human form. Sigh.
These children will never understand what a gift they are to me. Ever.
These children make me smile. They make me happy. They make me laugh.
And this baby? Oh my! Look at that face! And that hair! There are no words.
Monday, December 20, 2010
All I really want for Christmas
Oh Lord, there is so much more I can do! I look forward to the time the big house is built so that the size of our home will no longer limit the amount of children we are "allowed". My heart is burdened deeply. I hope your's is too.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Big Families & How They Do: Christmas
In our house, Christmas isn't much different from other families but I'll still tell you how we do things;)
The day after Thanksgiving we trek out as a family to find our tree. We cut it down ourselves, of course. Then we spend the day decorating and watching Christmas movies. This year we were all sick and so we had to delay that day for a week or so.
The kids help put the ornaments on the tree and we all talk about each one as they are unwrapped. We have quite a few that are very sentimental to us and it's always fun remembering why and when we got them. It's funny but my kids LOVE the ornaments Jonah and I got in rememberance of our wedding. The rest of them are firemen ornaments because in our early marriage everyone thought it was a great idea to get us firemen ornaments. I guess you could call that the "theme" or our tree.
On Christmas Eve we read the story of Jesus' birth but this year the kids, Jonah and I are going to be performing it for my parents, brother's family and Jonah's parents. The kids are beyond excited and each child has a part to play. It'll be fun!
Christmas morning Jonah wakes at the crack of dawn, makes coffee, puts all the Christmas lights on and then does some crazy thing to wake the rest of us up. It usually involves lots of loud singing, some clapping and yelling. Actually, now that I think of it that doesn't happen just on Christmas. Anyways, we all roll out of bed and the kids open their stockings, which they adore! Funny how they love to get new underwear, socks, a bit of candy and an orange. I think sometimes they like opening their stocking better than their gifts!
Presents come in 3's(for the 3 gifts that were given to Christ at his birth). This year the kids are getting one BIG present together and then 2 more little one's each to open.
I love Christmas:)
Ginger over at Clark Chatter asked this question for her blog carnival on large families. Check her out!
The day after Thanksgiving we trek out as a family to find our tree. We cut it down ourselves, of course. Then we spend the day decorating and watching Christmas movies. This year we were all sick and so we had to delay that day for a week or so.
The kids help put the ornaments on the tree and we all talk about each one as they are unwrapped. We have quite a few that are very sentimental to us and it's always fun remembering why and when we got them. It's funny but my kids LOVE the ornaments Jonah and I got in rememberance of our wedding. The rest of them are firemen ornaments because in our early marriage everyone thought it was a great idea to get us firemen ornaments. I guess you could call that the "theme" or our tree.
On Christmas Eve we read the story of Jesus' birth but this year the kids, Jonah and I are going to be performing it for my parents, brother's family and Jonah's parents. The kids are beyond excited and each child has a part to play. It'll be fun!
Christmas morning Jonah wakes at the crack of dawn, makes coffee, puts all the Christmas lights on and then does some crazy thing to wake the rest of us up. It usually involves lots of loud singing, some clapping and yelling. Actually, now that I think of it that doesn't happen just on Christmas. Anyways, we all roll out of bed and the kids open their stockings, which they adore! Funny how they love to get new underwear, socks, a bit of candy and an orange. I think sometimes they like opening their stocking better than their gifts!
Presents come in 3's(for the 3 gifts that were given to Christ at his birth). This year the kids are getting one BIG present together and then 2 more little one's each to open.
I love Christmas:)
Ginger over at Clark Chatter asked this question for her blog carnival on large families. Check her out!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The new gate
The front of our property is finally closed up to keep the kids, a future dog and animals in and random neighborhood dogs out. We are so excited to get a dog in the spring when it gets warmer but still haven't made the final decision on the breed of dog or whether we should just go to the pound and choose one.
Lookin' good, isn't it? :)
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Laundry
Disclaimer: This is not my laundry pile, mine is usually much worse;)
Laundry seems to be consuming my every waking moment these days and so my blogging has been a bit sparse. I'm sorry. Between muddy play clothes, dirty towels, Jonah's work clothes and cloth diapers it is all I can do to keep up with the laundry. I do laundry almost every day and I find myself wondering how in the world the Duggar girl in charge of laundry isn't confined to the laundry room all day long.
Good thing I don't mind doing laundry and my kids put away their own stuff. Makes it much easier, don't ya think?
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Our Adoption Journey: Part 5 and a birthday
This is going to be a really long post as I copied and pasted bits and pieces of Justus' story here that I had written in the past. Today is his 3rd birthday and we could not be more blessed with this little boy! He brings many, many smiles to all of us every single day and we love him dearly. Shosho, it you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the gift of this precious child. We could never thank you enough.
In July, when we came home with Isaiah and Judah, we called the woman who runs the adoption ministry we were placed with Kai from to tell her that we didn't want our profile shown anymore as we were going to chill for a year or 2 and just enjoy our family. We were content and happy with our family of 7. Finally, I was at peace with our family size.
In early November I got a phone call from my facilitator saying "I know you didn't want to adopt again right now but I have a birthmom that wanted to place her baby with a large family and there are some concerns with the birthfather that I know you can handle. Can I show her your profile and tell her about you guys?" I talked to Jonah and then told her that it would be fine to show her our profile thinking that there was NO WAY any birthmom would choose a family with 5 kids, thinking a large family to most people is 2 or 3 kids. Well it turns out she did choose us because she has 5 kids and she thought it would be so cool that this baby would be #6 in his birthfamily and #6 in his new family! Blow me down! Another crazy thing is that when we met I didn't know if she knew about our Liberian boys because our facilitator didn't know all the details, just that we had 5 kids. I was a little worried that she would not like the idea of her child being a brother to 2 little African boys. Turns out that 4 of her children are biracial(black/white). We laughed about how perfect of a match this was.
Jonah and I weren't sure that this was something we wanted to do because of the birthfather issues(we'd been through that before) and, hey, we already had 5 kids! We prayed long and hard, met with her, talked with our lawyer about the birthfather issues and came away feeling peaceful about making this baby a part of our family. As we were driving home from our LONG weekend I remembered God's promise to me, that I would bring another baby home from the hospital. I started weeping at how good God is. Isn't He amazing? Something SO inconsequential in the whole scheme of things but still a HUGE desire of my heart and He was giving it to me! Would I have wanted it to be so close to bringing the boys home, no, but was I going to complain about it? No way! God is faithful!
Just a week old and so cute too!
On Saturday Dec. 1 we got a call at about 7 pm from Shanna that it was time and we should head up. She was having contractions and even though they were irregular she told us that they never were regular with any of her other births either. So, we load up the kids and the last minute things in the car and head to my parents house an hour away to drop the kids off. When we get to my parents house I call her to hear the latest and she tells me that the contractions stopped and it was a false alarm. Talk about frustrating and emotionally charged! So we decide to stay at my parents for the night and then again Sunday night just in case.
On Monday morning we decided to pack up the kids and head home to continue our life as normal as possible until the baby decided to show. When we were just 15 minutes from my parents house Shanna called to say that her water had just broken and she was on her way to the hospital. We turn around, head back to my parents, drop the kids off and head north. The feeling of excitement and anticipation was unreal as we drove to meet our son. Unfortunately, 3 hours into the 8 hour drive we got a phone call from Shanna's mom saying that it wasn't her water that broke but was her losing her mucus plug instead. They were sending her home. After many phone calls and much consideration we decided to continue our drive up and pray that this baby would come VERY soon. He was already 5 days overdue so it wasn't like we were being hasty :)
One year
Monday night we spent the night near Old Town Sacramento which is one of our favorite places to hang out. We began courting there 9 years ago and it is such a charming, fun place to walk around and just be. We ate a nice dinner, held hands and pretended we were on a mini vacation (probably our last) without the kids. On Tuesday we decided we would drive the hour and a half to stay and visit with Jonah's parents. We had a nice time and went to bed early just in case. By this time we weren't expecting anything anymore since we had had 2 false alarms.
That night at 2:23 am the phone rang with Shanna telling us this was it. I was very cautious and told her to call us back when she was admitted. Jonah on the other hand said, "No, way. We are outta here!" We got to the hospital at around 3:30 and Shanna was dilated to 4. With the record of how fast her previous births were we were glad we left when we did, it could be any minute. But, it wasn't. At 6 she was dilated to 6 and we sat in a freezing waiting room while she tried to sleep(those are good memories for Jonah and I). Her contractions were severely inconsistent (just like she had told us at the first false alarm) and babies heart rate was becoming a concern during contractions but things were still happening. The nurse said that if this was her first baby she would have already been having a c-section and that we had better pray that she dilate fast. At around 11:30 she was at 9 and they said it was time to start pushing the last of the cervix away. They wheeled her into the delivery room where she had the audience of Jonah and I and her parents.
Jonah wasn't sure he wanted to be there(we weren't really prepared to be in the room since we weren't supposed to make it for the birth living 8 hours away) but he really wanted to cut the cord and wouldn't be able to unless he was there. The delivery room was nice and big (unlike the labor room where barely 2 people could fit). The doctor was there along with a nurse and 2 nurses for the baby. Shanna pushed for a long time with her mom and I holding her legs. She kept apologizing saying that all her other kids practically slipped out but this one just didn't want to come. His head was a bit cockeyed and was making it harder to come down. He's just as stubborn now as he was then;)
I must butt in here and tell you about the staff at Kaiser. The whole time (minus 2 nurses that may just have been having a bad day) Jonah and I were treated like the parents (imagine that!) with dignity and respect. It was such a huge difference from our experience with UC Davis Med center when Kai was born. The nurses didn't only talk to Shanna, they talked with all of us. They didn't just ask what she wanted, they inquired about our feelings too. They gave us all the information they would have given me if I was on that labor table and most of all, they treated us like normal human beings that were there for a wonderful, beautiful celebration. I cannot tell you just what an amazing experience it was for us through the whole thing. They gave me a bed so that I could stay with Justus and Shanna the first night.
2 years old with his big bro's.
OK, back to the story. Shanna is pushing. I am holding her leg up during each contraction. J's head was coming down, but ever so slowly, all the while his heart rate is going down and staying down. Jonah, being the paramedic that he is, kept giving me these looks and I knew he was concerned. The doctor and head nurse kept saying things in quiet undertones and just when I was about to ask if things were OK she decided to use a vacuum and just get him out of there. So in one contraction she had half of his head out, took off the vacuum and let Shanna do the rest herself.
Now I must say, watching my son's head come into this world was absolutely crazy amazing. I never thought I would get to see one of my children be born, it was something I grieved a long time ago. When his little, perfect face emerged it was facing me all scrunched up and blue, but the most beautiful 3 second face I have ever seen. (alright so it was my only 3 second face but I am sure it was the best!) At first he didn't cry, the nurses in charge of the baby were yelling at the doctor to hurry but she wanted Jonah to cut the cord. Just as she is clamping he lets out this loud cry and my heart just burst with love for this little one I had just met! I cried and I cried(and I'm not a crier!). We followed him to the warmer where he got pink really fast after a little oxygen and rated an 8/9 apgar.
Just looking at my little boy laying there with his eyes wide open trying to figure out what had just happen was surreal. He was just so perfect with the cutest little nose, LONG fingers and toes and lots of black silky hair. He was just beautiful. He really was a beautiful baby and normally I think babies are pretty ugly the first few days (Kai wasn't that great looking at first so I'm not being biased).
Part of our hospital plan was that Shanna would hold the baby first and so I stuck to that even though it killed me when the nurse went to hand him to me and I had to say no and redirect her to Shanna. I really wanted this to be what Shanna wanted since this was the only time she would have with him. After I finally got to hold him, and cried some more, Shanna told me how wonderful it was to see me hold "our" son and she could tell that I loved him already. It's amazing the friendship we have formed through her trial and heartache but things have gone so well with us both.
My big 3 year old boy.
After Justus was born and the nurses were doing their thing with him we just watched in awe with Shanna looking on from her bed. We were told that there were no recovery rooms available and that we would have to wait here for 2 hours and would be moved straight to the mother/baby unit. At this time I had no clue that they were going to give me a bed too, I just thought I would stay next to Shanna and help her with the baby. The delivery room was disgusting with amniotic fluid and blood on the floor, a bloody table with the placenta sitting in a dish and another table with the umbilical cord waiting to have the blood drawn out of it. Amidst all of that it was the most wonderful time. Shanna put the baby in my arms to hold and gaze at. He just stared with his eyes wide and alert (which is something he does, he is the most alert 3 week old I've seen). Then I asked Shanna if she wanted to nurse him. We had discussed this before and both decided it was what was best for Justus. He would get the colostrum he needed and give him a head start on breastfeeding when it came time for me to take over.
It seemed that Shanna cherished this time and the following night with Justus. We had talked about her wanting to spend the day he was born with him to say goodbye, this turned into the whole night and 1/2 of the next day. Amazingly, I wasn't worried about her changing her mind. I trusted her choice and the relationship we had formed and knew that if she DID change her mind it wouldn't have been to hurt me. My basic function was to take Justus from her arms when a nurse needed to check her and to change his diaper. He was latched on to her for most of the night and the next morning.
Justus' present from Jonah's parents. His very own big boy bike!
At around 10 the day after he was born the lactation consultant came to talk to me and we decided that she would come back in 2 hours to help me get started. I talked to Shanna about this and she seemed alright with it all. When it came time for it though, she left in a hurry after handing me the baby and was gone for about an hour. It happened very fast and I think she felt that she had just given him to me for good and her time with him was over, not exactly true but it almost was. Things went well with the LC and Shanna returned to the room. A nurse came in to get discharge going for Shanna and Jonah and I left the room so that she could have some time to say goodbye to him. She cried, I cried. I cannot even imagine what she was feeling. Talk about heartache.
When we came back we learned that even though Shanna was leaving Justus was being admitted to the Neonatal Intensive care unit (NICU) for low platelet levels and high bilirubin levels. We were devastated. Our other 5 children were 500 miles away and we wanted to get home after being gone four days. To make a long story short J was in the NICU so Jonah had to fly back to get the other kids and FINALLY, when he was 5days old, I got to bring him home. It was a LONG drive by myself with a newborn.
Then we were a family of 8. Today Justus is a vivacious, stubborn, happy and loving little guy who adores his baby brother Canaan and his big sister Sarah. This past year has been Justus' best so far as we got his allergies, eczema and asthma under control and he is finally comfortable in his skin, literally. Today Justus and I spent some sweet time looking at pictures of his birthmom and birthsiblings. I'm sure he doesn't really "get" it but he does know he came from "Shanna's bewwy" and he seemed to enjoy looking at pictures. I love that he has access to seeing his birthmom, something none of my other kids have. It's a precious gift that open adoption gives. :)
Our last Adoption Journey installment will be coming up soon. Look for it! :)
In July, when we came home with Isaiah and Judah, we called the woman who runs the adoption ministry we were placed with Kai from to tell her that we didn't want our profile shown anymore as we were going to chill for a year or 2 and just enjoy our family. We were content and happy with our family of 7. Finally, I was at peace with our family size.
In early November I got a phone call from my facilitator saying "I know you didn't want to adopt again right now but I have a birthmom that wanted to place her baby with a large family and there are some concerns with the birthfather that I know you can handle. Can I show her your profile and tell her about you guys?" I talked to Jonah and then told her that it would be fine to show her our profile thinking that there was NO WAY any birthmom would choose a family with 5 kids, thinking a large family to most people is 2 or 3 kids. Well it turns out she did choose us because she has 5 kids and she thought it would be so cool that this baby would be #6 in his birthfamily and #6 in his new family! Blow me down! Another crazy thing is that when we met I didn't know if she knew about our Liberian boys because our facilitator didn't know all the details, just that we had 5 kids. I was a little worried that she would not like the idea of her child being a brother to 2 little African boys. Turns out that 4 of her children are biracial(black/white). We laughed about how perfect of a match this was.
Jonah and I weren't sure that this was something we wanted to do because of the birthfather issues(we'd been through that before) and, hey, we already had 5 kids! We prayed long and hard, met with her, talked with our lawyer about the birthfather issues and came away feeling peaceful about making this baby a part of our family. As we were driving home from our LONG weekend I remembered God's promise to me, that I would bring another baby home from the hospital. I started weeping at how good God is. Isn't He amazing? Something SO inconsequential in the whole scheme of things but still a HUGE desire of my heart and He was giving it to me! Would I have wanted it to be so close to bringing the boys home, no, but was I going to complain about it? No way! God is faithful!
Just a week old and so cute too!
On Saturday Dec. 1 we got a call at about 7 pm from Shanna that it was time and we should head up. She was having contractions and even though they were irregular she told us that they never were regular with any of her other births either. So, we load up the kids and the last minute things in the car and head to my parents house an hour away to drop the kids off. When we get to my parents house I call her to hear the latest and she tells me that the contractions stopped and it was a false alarm. Talk about frustrating and emotionally charged! So we decide to stay at my parents for the night and then again Sunday night just in case.
On Monday morning we decided to pack up the kids and head home to continue our life as normal as possible until the baby decided to show. When we were just 15 minutes from my parents house Shanna called to say that her water had just broken and she was on her way to the hospital. We turn around, head back to my parents, drop the kids off and head north. The feeling of excitement and anticipation was unreal as we drove to meet our son. Unfortunately, 3 hours into the 8 hour drive we got a phone call from Shanna's mom saying that it wasn't her water that broke but was her losing her mucus plug instead. They were sending her home. After many phone calls and much consideration we decided to continue our drive up and pray that this baby would come VERY soon. He was already 5 days overdue so it wasn't like we were being hasty :)
One year
Monday night we spent the night near Old Town Sacramento which is one of our favorite places to hang out. We began courting there 9 years ago and it is such a charming, fun place to walk around and just be. We ate a nice dinner, held hands and pretended we were on a mini vacation (probably our last) without the kids. On Tuesday we decided we would drive the hour and a half to stay and visit with Jonah's parents. We had a nice time and went to bed early just in case. By this time we weren't expecting anything anymore since we had had 2 false alarms.
That night at 2:23 am the phone rang with Shanna telling us this was it. I was very cautious and told her to call us back when she was admitted. Jonah on the other hand said, "No, way. We are outta here!" We got to the hospital at around 3:30 and Shanna was dilated to 4. With the record of how fast her previous births were we were glad we left when we did, it could be any minute. But, it wasn't. At 6 she was dilated to 6 and we sat in a freezing waiting room while she tried to sleep(those are good memories for Jonah and I). Her contractions were severely inconsistent (just like she had told us at the first false alarm) and babies heart rate was becoming a concern during contractions but things were still happening. The nurse said that if this was her first baby she would have already been having a c-section and that we had better pray that she dilate fast. At around 11:30 she was at 9 and they said it was time to start pushing the last of the cervix away. They wheeled her into the delivery room where she had the audience of Jonah and I and her parents.
Jonah wasn't sure he wanted to be there(we weren't really prepared to be in the room since we weren't supposed to make it for the birth living 8 hours away) but he really wanted to cut the cord and wouldn't be able to unless he was there. The delivery room was nice and big (unlike the labor room where barely 2 people could fit). The doctor was there along with a nurse and 2 nurses for the baby. Shanna pushed for a long time with her mom and I holding her legs. She kept apologizing saying that all her other kids practically slipped out but this one just didn't want to come. His head was a bit cockeyed and was making it harder to come down. He's just as stubborn now as he was then;)
I must butt in here and tell you about the staff at Kaiser. The whole time (minus 2 nurses that may just have been having a bad day) Jonah and I were treated like the parents (imagine that!) with dignity and respect. It was such a huge difference from our experience with UC Davis Med center when Kai was born. The nurses didn't only talk to Shanna, they talked with all of us. They didn't just ask what she wanted, they inquired about our feelings too. They gave us all the information they would have given me if I was on that labor table and most of all, they treated us like normal human beings that were there for a wonderful, beautiful celebration. I cannot tell you just what an amazing experience it was for us through the whole thing. They gave me a bed so that I could stay with Justus and Shanna the first night.
2 years old with his big bro's.
OK, back to the story. Shanna is pushing. I am holding her leg up during each contraction. J's head was coming down, but ever so slowly, all the while his heart rate is going down and staying down. Jonah, being the paramedic that he is, kept giving me these looks and I knew he was concerned. The doctor and head nurse kept saying things in quiet undertones and just when I was about to ask if things were OK she decided to use a vacuum and just get him out of there. So in one contraction she had half of his head out, took off the vacuum and let Shanna do the rest herself.
Now I must say, watching my son's head come into this world was absolutely crazy amazing. I never thought I would get to see one of my children be born, it was something I grieved a long time ago. When his little, perfect face emerged it was facing me all scrunched up and blue, but the most beautiful 3 second face I have ever seen. (alright so it was my only 3 second face but I am sure it was the best!) At first he didn't cry, the nurses in charge of the baby were yelling at the doctor to hurry but she wanted Jonah to cut the cord. Just as she is clamping he lets out this loud cry and my heart just burst with love for this little one I had just met! I cried and I cried(and I'm not a crier!). We followed him to the warmer where he got pink really fast after a little oxygen and rated an 8/9 apgar.
Just looking at my little boy laying there with his eyes wide open trying to figure out what had just happen was surreal. He was just so perfect with the cutest little nose, LONG fingers and toes and lots of black silky hair. He was just beautiful. He really was a beautiful baby and normally I think babies are pretty ugly the first few days (Kai wasn't that great looking at first so I'm not being biased).
Part of our hospital plan was that Shanna would hold the baby first and so I stuck to that even though it killed me when the nurse went to hand him to me and I had to say no and redirect her to Shanna. I really wanted this to be what Shanna wanted since this was the only time she would have with him. After I finally got to hold him, and cried some more, Shanna told me how wonderful it was to see me hold "our" son and she could tell that I loved him already. It's amazing the friendship we have formed through her trial and heartache but things have gone so well with us both.
My big 3 year old boy.
After Justus was born and the nurses were doing their thing with him we just watched in awe with Shanna looking on from her bed. We were told that there were no recovery rooms available and that we would have to wait here for 2 hours and would be moved straight to the mother/baby unit. At this time I had no clue that they were going to give me a bed too, I just thought I would stay next to Shanna and help her with the baby. The delivery room was disgusting with amniotic fluid and blood on the floor, a bloody table with the placenta sitting in a dish and another table with the umbilical cord waiting to have the blood drawn out of it. Amidst all of that it was the most wonderful time. Shanna put the baby in my arms to hold and gaze at. He just stared with his eyes wide and alert (which is something he does, he is the most alert 3 week old I've seen). Then I asked Shanna if she wanted to nurse him. We had discussed this before and both decided it was what was best for Justus. He would get the colostrum he needed and give him a head start on breastfeeding when it came time for me to take over.
It seemed that Shanna cherished this time and the following night with Justus. We had talked about her wanting to spend the day he was born with him to say goodbye, this turned into the whole night and 1/2 of the next day. Amazingly, I wasn't worried about her changing her mind. I trusted her choice and the relationship we had formed and knew that if she DID change her mind it wouldn't have been to hurt me. My basic function was to take Justus from her arms when a nurse needed to check her and to change his diaper. He was latched on to her for most of the night and the next morning.
Justus' present from Jonah's parents. His very own big boy bike!
At around 10 the day after he was born the lactation consultant came to talk to me and we decided that she would come back in 2 hours to help me get started. I talked to Shanna about this and she seemed alright with it all. When it came time for it though, she left in a hurry after handing me the baby and was gone for about an hour. It happened very fast and I think she felt that she had just given him to me for good and her time with him was over, not exactly true but it almost was. Things went well with the LC and Shanna returned to the room. A nurse came in to get discharge going for Shanna and Jonah and I left the room so that she could have some time to say goodbye to him. She cried, I cried. I cannot even imagine what she was feeling. Talk about heartache.
When we came back we learned that even though Shanna was leaving Justus was being admitted to the Neonatal Intensive care unit (NICU) for low platelet levels and high bilirubin levels. We were devastated. Our other 5 children were 500 miles away and we wanted to get home after being gone four days. To make a long story short J was in the NICU so Jonah had to fly back to get the other kids and FINALLY, when he was 5days old, I got to bring him home. It was a LONG drive by myself with a newborn.
Then we were a family of 8. Today Justus is a vivacious, stubborn, happy and loving little guy who adores his baby brother Canaan and his big sister Sarah. This past year has been Justus' best so far as we got his allergies, eczema and asthma under control and he is finally comfortable in his skin, literally. Today Justus and I spent some sweet time looking at pictures of his birthmom and birthsiblings. I'm sure he doesn't really "get" it but he does know he came from "Shanna's bewwy" and he seemed to enjoy looking at pictures. I love that he has access to seeing his birthmom, something none of my other kids have. It's a precious gift that open adoption gives. :)
Our last Adoption Journey installment will be coming up soon. Look for it! :)
Friday, December 03, 2010
Big Families &How They Do: Birthdays
My friend Ginger from Clark Chatter has started a blog carnival about large families and how we do things. Today's question is how we do birthdays. Did you know we have a birthday coming up in this house in just 2 days?
The first thing we do each birthday is wake the birthday person up singing to them as a family while I video them. They then sit on their bed and they are asked a series of questions that are the same every year such as their favorite color, food to eat, etc. It's fun to look back and see what they sounded like at a certain age and what their preferences were.
We do "big" birthdays on each child's first, fifth, tenth, thirteenth and sixteenth birthdays. This is something we came up with way before we had so many children and it seems to work well for us. By "big" I just mean a party with friends and family, not Chuck E. Cheese's or the like.
On "non-big" years we make the day a very special day for the child. They get to choose what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and choose a movie to watch that day. They also can choose what they want to do(without costing anything;)) and since most of our birthday's are during the summer, that has been including a trip to the river the last few years. The child is relieved from their normal chores and the rest of us pick up their slack. In the evening Jonah's parents(who live right down the road) will come over and we open presents, eat cake and sing to the honored member.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Our Adoption Journey: Part 4
If you have missed the numbers 1-3 installments you can go here to read them. Part One, Part Two and Part Three
So when we had just left off last time we had finalized the adoption of Sarah, Alana and Malakai. Sarah was 6, Alana 2 and Kai 1. We had been waiting patiently for another birthmom to choose us but it just wasn't happening. We met with many different women but we were never chosen. During the time right after Kai was born, and for the next year, we had the country of Liberia heavily on our hearts. I had read an article about the civil war that had wreaked havoc on the people there and my heart was broken for the country and it's children.
At the time, I was set on having 6 children. It was what I had always wanted and we were half way there. Jonah wasn't really set on only 6(he always said 11) but he wasn't pushing another adoption either. "My" plan was to adopt another child through domestic adoption so that I could experience that straight-from-the-hospital-thing once again and then go to Liberia for our 6th child. All I ever talked about was Liberia and I was SO excited to adopt from there. However, it wasn't "time" yet as we still needed to be chosen by a birthmom so that I could have things the way I had planned.
One night Jonah and I sat down to talk and he told me he felt it was time for us to go to Liberia but he was nervous about the cost. I said, no way, because no birthmom would choose a family with 4 children. That night, as I lay in my bed, I woke up and felt the need to pray. I did NOT want to adopt from Liberia at that time because I WANTED THAT BABY STRAIGHT FROM THE HOSPITAL! As I cried and prayed I heard God say gently, "If you trust Me in this, I will give you that baby straight from the hospital." And then, peace.
The next morning I was raring to go and we had our homestudy ready within a few months for one little boy. When our referral came on December 1 (yes, 4 years ago today!) it was for a 3 year old and 7 month old brothers! We weren't sure what to do because we only had the money saved for one adoption. We prayed.
The following day we got a phone call from a family member telling us that they wanted to give us a sum of money for our adoption. The amount was almost exactly what that second adoption was going to cost. We made the phone call and accepted the referral of Thomas and Cassius (pronounced Toe-mah and Cautious in Liberian English)and settled in for the long wait to bring them home.
It was agonizing. We had pictures of them up everywhere in our house and every single day we prayed for them. I longed to hold them and bring them into our family and finally get to meet them! We talked about them all the time and we began to fall in love with these boys even before we met them. Even though I have never been pregnant I liken that time to the time a pregnant mom has during her wait for her baby to be born. The only difference is that the child/ren aren't with you and you have no idea if they are scared or hurting, etc.
In February Jonah made a trip to Liberia to help out in medical clinics and to meet our boys and then on June 5, 2007 I got to meet our sons and we brought them home shortly thereafter. They became Isaiah Ryan Thomas and Judah Matthew Cassius.
The adjustment time into our home was pretty seamless. Isaiah and Malakai took to each other like they had been brother's forever and they still have a very close and special relationship. Judah took a little bit of work as he was very insecure but by wearing him on me I was able to meet his needs and he learned to trust me quickly.
We went from a family of 5 to a family of 7 overnight with 5 little kids who were 8,4,3,2 and 1 and life was full and busy and happy. We were fully content to just chill and enjoy our "large" family but God's plans were a little different than ours. It seems that promise of the baby from the hospital wasn't meant for a few years later(like I would have planned) but just a few months.
That story, next time;)
There are many other entries about our Liberian adoption for you to puruse if you'd like. Just go down to the archives and search December 2006 through June/July 2007
Here's a more recent post with some pictures of us in Liberia.
So when we had just left off last time we had finalized the adoption of Sarah, Alana and Malakai. Sarah was 6, Alana 2 and Kai 1. We had been waiting patiently for another birthmom to choose us but it just wasn't happening. We met with many different women but we were never chosen. During the time right after Kai was born, and for the next year, we had the country of Liberia heavily on our hearts. I had read an article about the civil war that had wreaked havoc on the people there and my heart was broken for the country and it's children.
At the time, I was set on having 6 children. It was what I had always wanted and we were half way there. Jonah wasn't really set on only 6(he always said 11) but he wasn't pushing another adoption either. "My" plan was to adopt another child through domestic adoption so that I could experience that straight-from-the-hospital-thing once again and then go to Liberia for our 6th child. All I ever talked about was Liberia and I was SO excited to adopt from there. However, it wasn't "time" yet as we still needed to be chosen by a birthmom so that I could have things the way I had planned.
One night Jonah and I sat down to talk and he told me he felt it was time for us to go to Liberia but he was nervous about the cost. I said, no way, because no birthmom would choose a family with 4 children. That night, as I lay in my bed, I woke up and felt the need to pray. I did NOT want to adopt from Liberia at that time because I WANTED THAT BABY STRAIGHT FROM THE HOSPITAL! As I cried and prayed I heard God say gently, "If you trust Me in this, I will give you that baby straight from the hospital." And then, peace.
The next morning I was raring to go and we had our homestudy ready within a few months for one little boy. When our referral came on December 1 (yes, 4 years ago today!) it was for a 3 year old and 7 month old brothers! We weren't sure what to do because we only had the money saved for one adoption. We prayed.
The following day we got a phone call from a family member telling us that they wanted to give us a sum of money for our adoption. The amount was almost exactly what that second adoption was going to cost. We made the phone call and accepted the referral of Thomas and Cassius (pronounced Toe-mah and Cautious in Liberian English)and settled in for the long wait to bring them home.
It was agonizing. We had pictures of them up everywhere in our house and every single day we prayed for them. I longed to hold them and bring them into our family and finally get to meet them! We talked about them all the time and we began to fall in love with these boys even before we met them. Even though I have never been pregnant I liken that time to the time a pregnant mom has during her wait for her baby to be born. The only difference is that the child/ren aren't with you and you have no idea if they are scared or hurting, etc.
In February Jonah made a trip to Liberia to help out in medical clinics and to meet our boys and then on June 5, 2007 I got to meet our sons and we brought them home shortly thereafter. They became Isaiah Ryan Thomas and Judah Matthew Cassius.
The adjustment time into our home was pretty seamless. Isaiah and Malakai took to each other like they had been brother's forever and they still have a very close and special relationship. Judah took a little bit of work as he was very insecure but by wearing him on me I was able to meet his needs and he learned to trust me quickly.
We went from a family of 5 to a family of 7 overnight with 5 little kids who were 8,4,3,2 and 1 and life was full and busy and happy. We were fully content to just chill and enjoy our "large" family but God's plans were a little different than ours. It seems that promise of the baby from the hospital wasn't meant for a few years later(like I would have planned) but just a few months.
That story, next time;)
There are many other entries about our Liberian adoption for you to puruse if you'd like. Just go down to the archives and search December 2006 through June/July 2007
Here's a more recent post with some pictures of us in Liberia.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Snow and sickies
We have had snow on the ground for over a week now and it is just gorgeous. It's not normal for the snow to stick around so long and just last night we, again, had a fresh falling of about 2 inches. I love waking up in the morning to a new batch of fresh fallen snow. It is so gorgeous. I could, however, forget about the power outages that go with the snow most of the time;)
The snow may be beautiful but my kids have not been(or my poor husband). We finally got over a 3 week long sickness only to succumb again a week later. This time though, the baby is sick and miserable with a congested nose and a little cough. The poor thing has been keeping me up nights because he's having a hard time breathing and then he is sleeping a lot during the day.
His new toy is this bouncer we had handed down to us when Justus was 8 or 9 months old and Canaan LOVES it. He sits in it and loves to move around and bounce up and down. Sometimes though a sick little boy just can't take it any more and just must succumb to sleep.
I am really praying we are all well by this coming weekend. It is Justus' birthday and I will be driving the 10 hours with the kids to go visit my parents. Sickness, go away!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
A Christmas Idea
I just ordered something from Hope of my Heart Designs and I am SO excited to get it! It is not for me but I have my eye on one of the mother's bracelets;) They are having a stellar sale until Monday so go check them out! She makes gorgeous stuff at good prices.
I really love this ring. And at 50% it's hard to beat!
I also adore the Faith necklace;)
I really love this ring. And at 50% it's hard to beat!
I also adore the Faith necklace;)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
SEVEN years!
Haha, I know this is a horrible picture but it's the only one I have that is recent.
Today, we celebrate our girls' 7 year gotcha day! It seems amazing that they have been in our home for seven years, such a long time. I am so blessed.
I can't, however, stop from thinking that today was a very traumatic day for them so long ago. Sarah doesn't remember much except for "throwing a really bad tantrum and hitting Jesse(the social worker)as hard as I could cause I didn't want to sit in the police car." I can't imagine what she was feeling, at 4 years old, and not understanding what in the world was happening.
Honestly, gotcha days are supposed to be happy days but there is no way I can remember this day without sadness in my heart. I can't forget the reasons why these girls are no longer with their birth family and the stories and documents I've read of all they endured.
If you'd like to read what I have written the past few years which tells a bit more about that night you can go to last years post, and and a post from 3 years ago.
Happy Gotcha Day to the 2 most beautiful, loving and happy little girls I know! I am beyond blessed to be called your mom.
Monday, November 22, 2010
A winner and power outages
The winner of the hand knit hat is Ashley Elizabeth! E-mail me and let me know what kind of hat you would like:)
Now, living up here in the boonies there is one thing that I just haven't gotten adjusted to. It gives me a bad attitude and makes me anxious and uneasy the whole time. That is having a power outage. It happens way more than what I'd like and, like today, it was off for 12 hours and finally came back on only to go off again 30 minutes later. That first time I thought it could be because they were just testing it and needed to fix something else before they left us up and running. However, the power continued to go on and then off again ALL. DAY. LONG. We are on an "on" time right now but I don't expect it to last. My laundry and washing machine have not finished from this morning yet!
I must tell you that now that we are in our new house it shouldn't cause me to have a panic attack like it did last year when we were out of power for 5 days without heat, with 6 small children and a husband gone half of that time. This time, I have a wood stove to keep the house warm and none of us have been cold for a single moment unless we were just coming in from outside. Also, we have an awesome generator to power our water pump and the essentials if I need it. During the day, I don't like running the generator cause it seems like such a waste and at night, ahem, I'm a little scared to walk in the dark for the 200 yards it would take to get to the well house and turn it on and then off before bed. Ya know, there are mountain lions and bears out there. That's enough for me to stay in the house when I can't use my sense of sight to see things in front of(or behind) me.
I did, however, trek through the 1 1/2 feet of snow at 6:30 this morning to turn the generator on so I could make coffee. It turned my mood around pretty quickly, I'll tell ya.
Now, tonight just as I was finishing up dinner the power went out yet again even though it hasn't snowed ALL day. So, we lit some candles and I poured myself a glass of wine and the kids and I sat down to eat. I realized, as they were making figures on the ceiling with their hands and we were all giggling, that I really should try to see all the good things during power outages. There are a lot of them!
Using the wood stove to make "toast" for breakfast, which the kids always thinks is so cool.
With all of the snow on the ground the kids can go outside and play, sled and build snow forts for hours without worrying cause it's not raining. Praise God for snowy days when kids can get some energy out!
Sitting around the table with candles lit and pretending we are eating with George Washington.
Giggling uncontrollably as each of us tells a funny, scary story (a story that you say as if it is going to be scary but really has a funny ending).
Not paying for power for at least 18 hours.
Hot cocoa sipped while sitting by the fire after a long day playing in the snow.
And, of course, all the kids loudly breaking into applause when the power comes back on and then us all wishing it would go off again for just a few more minutes so we can finish our dinner in the dark.
Now, living up here in the boonies there is one thing that I just haven't gotten adjusted to. It gives me a bad attitude and makes me anxious and uneasy the whole time. That is having a power outage. It happens way more than what I'd like and, like today, it was off for 12 hours and finally came back on only to go off again 30 minutes later. That first time I thought it could be because they were just testing it and needed to fix something else before they left us up and running. However, the power continued to go on and then off again ALL. DAY. LONG. We are on an "on" time right now but I don't expect it to last. My laundry and washing machine have not finished from this morning yet!
I must tell you that now that we are in our new house it shouldn't cause me to have a panic attack like it did last year when we were out of power for 5 days without heat, with 6 small children and a husband gone half of that time. This time, I have a wood stove to keep the house warm and none of us have been cold for a single moment unless we were just coming in from outside. Also, we have an awesome generator to power our water pump and the essentials if I need it. During the day, I don't like running the generator cause it seems like such a waste and at night, ahem, I'm a little scared to walk in the dark for the 200 yards it would take to get to the well house and turn it on and then off before bed. Ya know, there are mountain lions and bears out there. That's enough for me to stay in the house when I can't use my sense of sight to see things in front of(or behind) me.
I did, however, trek through the 1 1/2 feet of snow at 6:30 this morning to turn the generator on so I could make coffee. It turned my mood around pretty quickly, I'll tell ya.
Now, tonight just as I was finishing up dinner the power went out yet again even though it hasn't snowed ALL day. So, we lit some candles and I poured myself a glass of wine and the kids and I sat down to eat. I realized, as they were making figures on the ceiling with their hands and we were all giggling, that I really should try to see all the good things during power outages. There are a lot of them!
Using the wood stove to make "toast" for breakfast, which the kids always thinks is so cool.
With all of the snow on the ground the kids can go outside and play, sled and build snow forts for hours without worrying cause it's not raining. Praise God for snowy days when kids can get some energy out!
Sitting around the table with candles lit and pretending we are eating with George Washington.
Giggling uncontrollably as each of us tells a funny, scary story (a story that you say as if it is going to be scary but really has a funny ending).
Not paying for power for at least 18 hours.
Hot cocoa sipped while sitting by the fire after a long day playing in the snow.
And, of course, all the kids loudly breaking into applause when the power comes back on and then us all wishing it would go off again for just a few more minutes so we can finish our dinner in the dark.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
A giveaway!
If you win, you will receive a one-of-a-kind hand knit hat made by ME! You can either choose an ear flap baby hat or a ribbed knit beanie in the size of your choice. The hat pictured above is the same baby hat but will be knit in a different yarn(choice of boy or girl) and will have the option of having a pom-pom, i-cord with tassel at the end, i-cord knot or just plain.
There are 2 ways to enter and you will get one entry for each choice.
1) Become a follower of my blog and that will get you one entry. Make sure you leave a comment for me though so I know who you are!
2) Blog about this give-away on your blog with a link to mine and you'll receive another entry. Make sure you leave me a comment with a link to your post.
The contest will end Saturday November 20 at midnight PST. The winner will be announced Monday November 22.
Good Luck!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Come on back ya'll
Make sure you come back tomorrow to visit cause we're having a give-away! Details to follow...
Life in bullets
Canaan is 5 months old and just as cute as can be!
He is a chubby, smiley, happy baby and we continue to adore him.
The day he turned 5 months old I felt he needed a bit more than what I was producing and so I started giving him 2 oz. of formula in the evenings.
The day he turned 5 months old he started sleeping really well at night.
We have all been sick for the past few weeks which has kept us away from church. Of course, this happens right when the series is something we were really excited to hear.
I just turned 33.
33 is really old, according to my 6 year old who is afraid I might just die of old age sometime really soon.
My parents, brother, sister-in-love and niece are coming for Christmas.
It's my brother and his families first time seeing our land and house.
It will be our first Christmas in our new house with 14 people in our tiny 1200 sq ft. Not to mention my in-laws will be joining us the day of, so make that 16.
We are imagining a warm, crackling fire, coffee, peace and quiet in the middle of the forest.
I think we may be a bit crazy that that may happen with 8 children in the house, 7 of whom are under 7.
Did I mention my brother and parents are coming for Christmas? I'm really excited.
Did I also mention that there will be 6 adults and 8 children in a 1200 sq ft. house for 4 days?
After having serious knee problems for the past 2 years I finally decided to go get it checked out.(btw, I have had 2 knee surgeries 15 years ago)
I have a lateral meniscus tear that will probably need surgery. Fun, right?
For the first time I will be doing all of Thanksgiving by myself.
It will just be Jonah and I and the kids this year so there's not so much pressure to make everything perfect.
It is a week before Thanksgiving and I haven't even given thought to what I am making.
Maybe I'll make enchiladas.
I like to live on the edge.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Canaan's new hat
It's the first ear flap hat I've done and the first time I've used this kind of yarn.
I think it turned out pretty good and I just love how his cute little curls come out the back a bit. See how nice a warm his ears are gonna be this winter?
He seems to like his hat too.
On a side note, couldn't you just eat those cute little cheeks all up? I try every single day. Gosh, I love this little baby.
What's for dinner, Thursday?
What it is:
Cranberry Chicken
What you need:
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 bottles French dressing
2 packages onion soup mix
2 cans whole cranberries
What you do:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350.
- Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a 13x9 in. dish.
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together the dressing, soup mix and cranberries.
- Pour over the chicken.
- Wrap tightly with foil.
- Bake in the oven for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, or until chicken is done and sauce is bubbling.
- Serve over hot rice with lots of sauce!
This recipe was given to me by my friend Tracy Aung. Thanks Tracy!
Cranberry Chicken
What you need:
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 bottles French dressing
2 packages onion soup mix
2 cans whole cranberries
What you do:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350.
- Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a 13x9 in. dish.
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together the dressing, soup mix and cranberries.
- Pour over the chicken.
- Wrap tightly with foil.
- Bake in the oven for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, or until chicken is done and sauce is bubbling.
- Serve over hot rice with lots of sauce!
This recipe was given to me by my friend Tracy Aung. Thanks Tracy!
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
What's for dinner, Wednesday?
Sorry, I'm so late with this today! This is a simple, easy recipe that I just threw together one day and Jonah loved it so I added it to my menu. This is just about one of the simplest things I make.
What it is:
Beef, rice, bean and cheese burritos
What you need:
1 lb. ground beef
1 box Spanish rice, cooked
1 can refried beans(or if you're really domestic, you can make your own), heated.
Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 TBLS. chili powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 TBLS. cumin
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro
salsa
large burrito sized flour tortillas
What you do:
- cook the beef on high heat until thoroughly cooked through.
- Drain the grease.
- Add spices and stir well.
To assemble(this is real brain science, so listen up, not)
- take a tortilla and smother one side with beans.
- top with a large spoonfull of beef, rice and a generous helping of shredded cheese.
- If your into cilantro, sprinkle some on.
- top the whole thing with the salsa of your choice and roll it up, burrito style.
- I can't give you any burrito rolling tips as my kids' burritos always end up falling apart. Whether this is my lack of burrito rolling skill or just because they like to watch it fall apart, I have no idea.
This recipe was "created" by me. All of my recipe postings will be followed by credit given to the original "author" so that I am not violating any copywrite laws.
What it is:
Beef, rice, bean and cheese burritos
What you need:
1 lb. ground beef
1 box Spanish rice, cooked
1 can refried beans(or if you're really domestic, you can make your own), heated.
Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 TBLS. chili powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 TBLS. cumin
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro
salsa
large burrito sized flour tortillas
What you do:
- cook the beef on high heat until thoroughly cooked through.
- Drain the grease.
- Add spices and stir well.
To assemble(this is real brain science, so listen up, not)
- take a tortilla and smother one side with beans.
- top with a large spoonfull of beef, rice and a generous helping of shredded cheese.
- If your into cilantro, sprinkle some on.
- top the whole thing with the salsa of your choice and roll it up, burrito style.
- I can't give you any burrito rolling tips as my kids' burritos always end up falling apart. Whether this is my lack of burrito rolling skill or just because they like to watch it fall apart, I have no idea.
This recipe was "created" by me. All of my recipe postings will be followed by credit given to the original "author" so that I am not violating any copywrite laws.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Our Adoption Journey: Part 3
It's date night again and so I thought you might like the next installment of our adoption journey. :)
The month before Malakai was born the girls' birthmom had her second court date to decide whether or not the girl's would go back to her or not. We had continued to drive the two hours each week for the court mandated 2 hour visits even though their birthmom made maybe one out of every 6 visits. There was a lot of tension there between us and my idea of reaching out to her quickly went down the drain. Without giving all the details(because they are something that should be the girls' to share when and if they want to) their birthmom just wasn't doing any part of her plan and so the court decided to give it another 6 months.
By the time that 3rd court date came around the girls had been with us for over a year; Alana was 19 months old and Sarah was 5 1/2. While Sarah still called us Faith and Jonah we were the only parents Alana knew and the thought of her being taken away at that vulnerable age and put into a situation we knew was not good scared the daylights out of us. Don't get me wrong, we didn't want Sarah to go either, but she had a relationship with her birthmom and, while we were scared for her safety and future, we knew, or rather hoped, that she wouldn't feel abandoned.
I'll tell you, it is a very hard thing to love a child knowing that they may be taken away and exposed to things and dangerous situations that you only wanted to protect them from. There were times that I was SO scared I would loose these girls for good and then other times that I just wished they would take them away because I was scared of the hurt if they stayed longer. It would be so much easier emotionally. How selfish, huh? Each court date was a day of nerves and emotions and upsets when the decision was, yet again, put off for another day.
Finally, 20 months after they were placed with us, parental rights were terminated. The amazing thing about it all for me was that on that day, with Jonah and I sitting in that court room, the girls' birthmom actually told the judge that she wanted us to adopt the girls because she knew what good care we took of them and that we loved them. I cried buckets of tears because of my joy and my sorrow. This woman was losing her children for good and it broke my heart and yet I was JOYFUL that these girls would be MINE forever. It is a careful dance, adoption, to hold in tension your own joy while you ponder, appreciate and recognize someone else's sorrow and loss.
2 1/2 years after they came into our home we adopted Sarah Ellyn and Alana Faith along with finalizing Malakai's on the same day. It was a bit anticlimatic for us, honestly. We didn't need a judge to tell us what we already knew. These kids were ours. They were Winger's. Finally.
Look for the next chapter in our adoption journey in a few weeks.
The month before Malakai was born the girls' birthmom had her second court date to decide whether or not the girl's would go back to her or not. We had continued to drive the two hours each week for the court mandated 2 hour visits even though their birthmom made maybe one out of every 6 visits. There was a lot of tension there between us and my idea of reaching out to her quickly went down the drain. Without giving all the details(because they are something that should be the girls' to share when and if they want to) their birthmom just wasn't doing any part of her plan and so the court decided to give it another 6 months.
By the time that 3rd court date came around the girls had been with us for over a year; Alana was 19 months old and Sarah was 5 1/2. While Sarah still called us Faith and Jonah we were the only parents Alana knew and the thought of her being taken away at that vulnerable age and put into a situation we knew was not good scared the daylights out of us. Don't get me wrong, we didn't want Sarah to go either, but she had a relationship with her birthmom and, while we were scared for her safety and future, we knew, or rather hoped, that she wouldn't feel abandoned.
I'll tell you, it is a very hard thing to love a child knowing that they may be taken away and exposed to things and dangerous situations that you only wanted to protect them from. There were times that I was SO scared I would loose these girls for good and then other times that I just wished they would take them away because I was scared of the hurt if they stayed longer. It would be so much easier emotionally. How selfish, huh? Each court date was a day of nerves and emotions and upsets when the decision was, yet again, put off for another day.
Finally, 20 months after they were placed with us, parental rights were terminated. The amazing thing about it all for me was that on that day, with Jonah and I sitting in that court room, the girls' birthmom actually told the judge that she wanted us to adopt the girls because she knew what good care we took of them and that we loved them. I cried buckets of tears because of my joy and my sorrow. This woman was losing her children for good and it broke my heart and yet I was JOYFUL that these girls would be MINE forever. It is a careful dance, adoption, to hold in tension your own joy while you ponder, appreciate and recognize someone else's sorrow and loss.
2 1/2 years after they came into our home we adopted Sarah Ellyn and Alana Faith along with finalizing Malakai's on the same day. It was a bit anticlimatic for us, honestly. We didn't need a judge to tell us what we already knew. These kids were ours. They were Winger's. Finally.
Look for the next chapter in our adoption journey in a few weeks.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
What's for dinner, Wednesday?
What it is:
Chicken Noodle Soup
What you need:
1 whole, cooked chicken deboned and chopped.
12 C. chicken broth
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery, sliced
1 package egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
What you do:
Throw everything EXCEPT noodles into a large pot and simmer for about an hour or until the vegetables are done.
Add noodles and cook until done.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Yum! So simple and basic and perfect to nourish a really sick hubbie who is just coming home from work after 3 days. :( Poor thing.
This is my own recipe.
Chicken Noodle Soup
What you need:
1 whole, cooked chicken deboned and chopped.
12 C. chicken broth
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery, sliced
1 package egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
What you do:
Throw everything EXCEPT noodles into a large pot and simmer for about an hour or until the vegetables are done.
Add noodles and cook until done.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Yum! So simple and basic and perfect to nourish a really sick hubbie who is just coming home from work after 3 days. :( Poor thing.
This is my own recipe.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Our Journey to adoption: Part Two
I brought Sarah and Alana home on November 24, 2003, 2 days before Thanksgiving. When I look back on it now I remember how easy it was to have a 5 month old and 4 year old just fall into my world. It gave me a purpose and made me happy. Jonah and I loved those girls and cared for them, believing that they would be gone by January and we would then again wait for another placement. The problem was, we were grieving and those girls were fast becoming our rays of sunshine in a very dismal inferility nightmare. It didn't take long for us to see them as a part of our family.
When the court date came and we were told the girls would be staying another 6 months I knew it was time to start looking into adoption. All I had ever heard was that a domestic infant adoption took about 2 years and so, in February of 2004, I pushed Jonah into going to a meeting with an adoption ministry we had heard about. There was SO much new information and it was all SO overwhelming for me. As I stand here today, 7 years later, I realize how much more difficult it was for me and I wish there was someone who could have really guided me and answered my questions. I just had to kinda wing it and figure things out on my own. If you know anyone who is adopting and would like some "help" feel free to give them my information.
Surprisingly, we were matched with a birthmom who was due at the end of April. We couldn't have been happier and yet there were SO many red flags. But this was our first adoption and we knew no one else who had adopted or could give us guidance and more than anything, we wanted to be parents.
She was married. DANGEROUS when it comes to adoptions unless both parents are making the decision together. However, we were so excited and expectant that this little boy would be ours that we tried not to worry about the "what-ifs". We had his room ready to go and his closet full of clothes and then, one day, a few weeks before he was due, I picked up the phone and was told the adoption was not going to happen. Again, our world was crashing in. The baby shower was cancelled and I shut the door to his room. I honestly felt at that time, that we may never become parents at all. All the dreams I had ever had for children were standing in front of me but I had NO control over whether I could touch them or not. Everything seemed out of my control, and it was.
We moved on with our life as usual, mostly ignoring the fact that all we wanted was a baby and that we were hurting. On July 22 I went into the baby room, sat in the rocking chair and prayed while I cried. I begged God to give me a son and asked him where he was. I was pleading with Him that we had a baby boy room all ready to go with SUMMER clothes in the closet. That afternoon I got a phone call from the woman who runs the adoption ministry telling me a baby boy was born that morning(around the same time I was sitting in that room) and that the birthmom would like to meet us. The following day, we met our son, Malakai James and our lives were changed forever.
Adoption was now a part of our life and we could not have been happier. This was our journey to adoption but there is still so much more as our journey has continued. I don't know if God has finished writing our adoption story but I do know He has blessed us WAY more than we thought possible in those early days. After Malakai was born we didn't think a birthmom would ever choose us again. It seems like God enjoys challenging my perceptions of things;)
When the court date came and we were told the girls would be staying another 6 months I knew it was time to start looking into adoption. All I had ever heard was that a domestic infant adoption took about 2 years and so, in February of 2004, I pushed Jonah into going to a meeting with an adoption ministry we had heard about. There was SO much new information and it was all SO overwhelming for me. As I stand here today, 7 years later, I realize how much more difficult it was for me and I wish there was someone who could have really guided me and answered my questions. I just had to kinda wing it and figure things out on my own. If you know anyone who is adopting and would like some "help" feel free to give them my information.
Surprisingly, we were matched with a birthmom who was due at the end of April. We couldn't have been happier and yet there were SO many red flags. But this was our first adoption and we knew no one else who had adopted or could give us guidance and more than anything, we wanted to be parents.
She was married. DANGEROUS when it comes to adoptions unless both parents are making the decision together. However, we were so excited and expectant that this little boy would be ours that we tried not to worry about the "what-ifs". We had his room ready to go and his closet full of clothes and then, one day, a few weeks before he was due, I picked up the phone and was told the adoption was not going to happen. Again, our world was crashing in. The baby shower was cancelled and I shut the door to his room. I honestly felt at that time, that we may never become parents at all. All the dreams I had ever had for children were standing in front of me but I had NO control over whether I could touch them or not. Everything seemed out of my control, and it was.
We moved on with our life as usual, mostly ignoring the fact that all we wanted was a baby and that we were hurting. On July 22 I went into the baby room, sat in the rocking chair and prayed while I cried. I begged God to give me a son and asked him where he was. I was pleading with Him that we had a baby boy room all ready to go with SUMMER clothes in the closet. That afternoon I got a phone call from the woman who runs the adoption ministry telling me a baby boy was born that morning(around the same time I was sitting in that room) and that the birthmom would like to meet us. The following day, we met our son, Malakai James and our lives were changed forever.
Adoption was now a part of our life and we could not have been happier. This was our journey to adoption but there is still so much more as our journey has continued. I don't know if God has finished writing our adoption story but I do know He has blessed us WAY more than we thought possible in those early days. After Malakai was born we didn't think a birthmom would ever choose us again. It seems like God enjoys challenging my perceptions of things;)
Monday, October 25, 2010
Our journey to adoption: Part One
Most of you who know us in real life will have heard this story already. However, a few of you have asked me to share on my blog. I couldn't seem to find a post where I had already written this down already and so, here it is.
On our very first outing(I say outing because it wasn't a date at all) Jonah and I sat and talked about what we wanted for the future. We both talked about wanting some children of our "own" (and please do not use this term for biological kids. My kids are just as much my own as if they had come from my body. I didn't know then the pain those words could create in a child.) and adopting 2 or 3. I cannot honestly tell you if we would have actually adopted had God not intervened. But, isn't that what always happens? In our life, God's intervention and direction has been pretty darn clear for us with each adoption.
It was clear in the very beginning of our relationship, which at that point was absolutely nothing, that we planned to adopt when we found our spouses and got married. Once we were married, adoption was the furthest thing from our minds. After being on birth control for 6 months, Jonah finally persuaded me to stop taking them and we expected to get pregnant that first month. Of course, that did not happen but we were still newlyweds and knew that God would do what He thought best.
One hot, summer day, a year after we had married, we headed out to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant. I was extremely nervous as I had something to talk to Jonah about and I wasn't sure how he was going to take it. I knew God had put this on my heart but, for the past 2 weeks, I had not shared it with him.
When we sat down Jonah mentioned that he wanted to talk to me about something so I told him to go ahead. He said, "For the past few weeks I have felt God calling us to do foster care. I'm not sure how you feel about that..."
At this point my mouth is hanging open because this is just what God had laid on my heart as well. We had never talked about foster care before that day but we both knew at that moment that we had better get our rears in gear cause God had made Himself clear. I started researching foster care agencies that very day but it took us until October to be ready for a child to come into our home. We were told that we would have an average of 30 kids a year and we were so excited to introduce these kids to Christ and allow them to have a stable life for the time they were with us.
Just about the time we became certified we got the devastating news that we had a 0% chance of conceiving a child without a donor or doing embryo adoption. We were crushed and it was our darkest hours as a couple. Thankfully, God brought us together as we dealt with this horrifying blow and our marriage is stronger today because of it.
Just 3 weeks after hearing the bad news, we got a phone call asking if we could take 4 siblings into our home for about a month or so. At first I said I wasn't sure as we only wanted one child as our first placement to kind of get our feet wet. When I called Jonah and asked him he told me to go ahead with it since they were only supposed to stay a month. When I called the social worker back I reminded him that we only had a crib and a bed and so he made the decision to place the sisters in our home and the brother's in another. They were 5 months old and 4 years old. I was so excited I could hardly stand it and yet so sad for these precious babies who were having their lives tipped upside down. Our life, as we knew it, would change forever that day and we didn't even know it.
To be continued...
On our very first outing(I say outing because it wasn't a date at all) Jonah and I sat and talked about what we wanted for the future. We both talked about wanting some children of our "own" (and please do not use this term for biological kids. My kids are just as much my own as if they had come from my body. I didn't know then the pain those words could create in a child.) and adopting 2 or 3. I cannot honestly tell you if we would have actually adopted had God not intervened. But, isn't that what always happens? In our life, God's intervention and direction has been pretty darn clear for us with each adoption.
It was clear in the very beginning of our relationship, which at that point was absolutely nothing, that we planned to adopt when we found our spouses and got married. Once we were married, adoption was the furthest thing from our minds. After being on birth control for 6 months, Jonah finally persuaded me to stop taking them and we expected to get pregnant that first month. Of course, that did not happen but we were still newlyweds and knew that God would do what He thought best.
One hot, summer day, a year after we had married, we headed out to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant. I was extremely nervous as I had something to talk to Jonah about and I wasn't sure how he was going to take it. I knew God had put this on my heart but, for the past 2 weeks, I had not shared it with him.
When we sat down Jonah mentioned that he wanted to talk to me about something so I told him to go ahead. He said, "For the past few weeks I have felt God calling us to do foster care. I'm not sure how you feel about that..."
At this point my mouth is hanging open because this is just what God had laid on my heart as well. We had never talked about foster care before that day but we both knew at that moment that we had better get our rears in gear cause God had made Himself clear. I started researching foster care agencies that very day but it took us until October to be ready for a child to come into our home. We were told that we would have an average of 30 kids a year and we were so excited to introduce these kids to Christ and allow them to have a stable life for the time they were with us.
Just about the time we became certified we got the devastating news that we had a 0% chance of conceiving a child without a donor or doing embryo adoption. We were crushed and it was our darkest hours as a couple. Thankfully, God brought us together as we dealt with this horrifying blow and our marriage is stronger today because of it.
Just 3 weeks after hearing the bad news, we got a phone call asking if we could take 4 siblings into our home for about a month or so. At first I said I wasn't sure as we only wanted one child as our first placement to kind of get our feet wet. When I called Jonah and asked him he told me to go ahead with it since they were only supposed to stay a month. When I called the social worker back I reminded him that we only had a crib and a bed and so he made the decision to place the sisters in our home and the brother's in another. They were 5 months old and 4 years old. I was so excited I could hardly stand it and yet so sad for these precious babies who were having their lives tipped upside down. Our life, as we knew it, would change forever that day and we didn't even know it.
To be continued...
Friday, October 22, 2010
Date night
Tonight, the kids go to movie night with their Oma and Opa and Jonah and I get to go on a date. This means no cooking for me! Tomorrow night we'll be having a yummy recipe from The Pioneer Woman. If you haven't checked her out before, please do. She has some pretty yummy things on there:)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
What's for dinner, Thursday?
What it is?
Mom's Veggie Soup
This is my mom's recipe and, although it's extensive, it's really quite good. I'll be serving it with fresh, homemade bread. Please, if you've never tried making bread from scratch, do. It is such a treat and fun to make! Feel free to substitute the canned items with fresh but the canned makes it so much simpler.
What you need:
- 1/2 lb. ground beef
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 large onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 can stewed tomatoes
- 5 cans beef broth( I make my own, a recipe for another day)
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 can kidney beans, drained
- 1 can corn, drained
- 1 can green beans, drained
- 1 can lima beans(I'm leaving these out as a can was $2.49, to rich for my budget), drained
- 1 can peas(I'm using frozen petite peas as Jonah doesn't like any other), drained
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 3 zucchini, diced
- 3 red potatoes, diced
- 1 handful of fresh green beans, bite sized
- 1 large fresh brocolli cut into small florets
- 1 C. cauliflower in small florets
- 2 C. cabbage chopped
- 1 C. macaroni
- 1/2 tsp. each basil, rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper
What you do:
- In large pot, cook beef, bacon, onion and garlic.
- Add veggies, broth, beans. DO NOT ADD CABBAGE OR MACARONI NOW.
- Cook for 1 hour.
- Bring to boil and add macaroni and cabbage.
- Cook until macaroni is done.
- Serve right away, topping each serving with some parmesean cheese.
Mom's Veggie Soup
This is my mom's recipe and, although it's extensive, it's really quite good. I'll be serving it with fresh, homemade bread. Please, if you've never tried making bread from scratch, do. It is such a treat and fun to make! Feel free to substitute the canned items with fresh but the canned makes it so much simpler.
What you need:
- 1/2 lb. ground beef
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 large onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 can stewed tomatoes
- 5 cans beef broth( I make my own, a recipe for another day)
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 can kidney beans, drained
- 1 can corn, drained
- 1 can green beans, drained
- 1 can lima beans(I'm leaving these out as a can was $2.49, to rich for my budget), drained
- 1 can peas(I'm using frozen petite peas as Jonah doesn't like any other), drained
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 3 zucchini, diced
- 3 red potatoes, diced
- 1 handful of fresh green beans, bite sized
- 1 large fresh brocolli cut into small florets
- 1 C. cauliflower in small florets
- 2 C. cabbage chopped
- 1 C. macaroni
- 1/2 tsp. each basil, rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper
What you do:
- In large pot, cook beef, bacon, onion and garlic.
- Add veggies, broth, beans. DO NOT ADD CABBAGE OR MACARONI NOW.
- Cook for 1 hour.
- Bring to boil and add macaroni and cabbage.
- Cook until macaroni is done.
- Serve right away, topping each serving with some parmesean cheese.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Corn maze craziness
We went to a pumpkin patch today to spend a little family time together. One thing we realized is that it would be better to go do the "fun" stuff with little kids first, instead of waiting till the end of a day out. Justus was not in a happy mood and this is the only picture he would allow us to take. There went taking kids pictures together in front of all those pretty, orange pumpkins.
For some reason they never have enough "cut-outs" for all 7 kids. Call me crazy, they should have them, shouldn't they? ;)
At this pumpkin patch they had a corn maze that the kids were very excited to go through. I was a little excited too as it was my first corn maze in my 32 years. However, the small maze we thought it was going to be just kept going. So we walked...
and walked...
and walked.
Justus wanted to know if we were lost. I was glad to have Jonah with me as I would have been wandering around in there for hours with the kids and would not have been happy. I'm not sure if I want to do another one anytime soon.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Smiling kids
Someone asked how we got all the kids to smile at the same time. Well, we take LOTS of pictures and most of them are duds. More often than not, someone isn't smiling or isn't looking at the camera or is closing their eyes. But once in a while, the timing is just perfect and we get an OK picture.
We do have a few rules when we take pictures:
1) keep a smile on your face. Which for Alana and Isaiah looks like they are in pain most of the time.
2) keep your eyes on the camera at all times.
3) keep your hands to yourself(this is for Malakai who is always trying to bother someone)
Then whoever is taking the picture tries to say something really funny to get those pained expressions to turn into real smiles. I don't seem to be able to do this very well.
This time Jonah used a line from the kids favorite movie "Nacho Libre". "Keep that corn outtama face." Said in a Spanish accent. We all laughed. It worked.
We do have a few rules when we take pictures:
1) keep a smile on your face. Which for Alana and Isaiah looks like they are in pain most of the time.
2) keep your eyes on the camera at all times.
3) keep your hands to yourself(this is for Malakai who is always trying to bother someone)
Then whoever is taking the picture tries to say something really funny to get those pained expressions to turn into real smiles. I don't seem to be able to do this very well.
This time Jonah used a line from the kids favorite movie "Nacho Libre". "Keep that corn outtama face." Said in a Spanish accent. We all laughed. It worked.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
4 months old
Today, Canaan is 4 months old. He is the most played with "toy" around this house and is often fought over who gets to hold him. The kids favorite game is "get-Canaan-to-smile-and-laugh" and he LOVES them all. Nothing else can compare to him and his sweet smile.
As for me? I am SO in love with this baby boy. It's kind of silly but every time I know we're expecting a new little baby I always worry a little bit if I will love this one as much as my others. God definitely made love to grow and expand with each coming blessing.
This babyhood is so precious to me in ways none of my other's have been. I know that, unless God blesses us with a miracle pregnancy, this baby will be my last for many, many years because of state restrictions that we are already pushing over the limit now. We don't know when we are going to begin building the new house and, until that's done, we would not be able to get an approved homestudy. I'm actually surprised we got one this time, to be honest.
So, each day, when I wake up to see Canaan's smiling face I savor each moment I can with this little man I love so much. Yes, he's growing up SO fast but I am really enjoying it!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Fall
Fall has finally come and just as quickly has disappeared today(it was 83). But it's good. I know it will come back soon.
Jonah is on "vacation" right now and we have lots of really fun field trips planned for us as a family while he's home. Our first one took us to an apple orchard where the kids loved running through the apple trees. We took lots of pictures, had lots of yummy goodies and, of course, bought apples.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Note to self...
...and anyone else who has children and may ever go on a week long vacation.
BEFORE you leave for 8 whole days and are checking the house before you leave, make sure you flush all the toilets just in case one of your children, who most always forgets to flush the toilet, forgets again and that nastiness sits in a hot house for 8 whole days.
What a lovely thing to come home to after a 12 hour drive, hey?
Too graphic for you? Life with children is often not pretty and hardly ever smells like roses.
BEFORE you leave for 8 whole days and are checking the house before you leave, make sure you flush all the toilets just in case one of your children, who most always forgets to flush the toilet, forgets again and that nastiness sits in a hot house for 8 whole days.
What a lovely thing to come home to after a 12 hour drive, hey?
Too graphic for you? Life with children is often not pretty and hardly ever smells like roses.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Some Subtle Effects of the Birth Control Culture
Copied with permission from Making Home. This is a fantastic blog that I just found and this post pretty well sums up my thoughts on this subject. I hope you enjoy it!
Lately, I've been noticing some trends that I think are directly attributable to the rise-- indeed the expectancy-- of birth control use in our culture. I'd like to talk through them one by one so it's clear what I'm getting at. I believe that there are consequences that are a direct result of our culture's embracing of the birth control mindset as normative, and here are a few.
#1: Young couples are thought irresponsible when they get pregnant right away...
...because, the implication is, any "wise" couple would wait and follow the oft-given advice (even by pastors) that you should "take a few years to get to know each other" first. This basic assumption overlooks the fact that even with birth control usage, regular intercourse often leads to a pregnancy. Indeed, that is the general plan of God's design for marital intimacy.
It also overlooks the fact that children are a part of God's design for sanctification of parents, and that the continuation of a self-focused lifestyle has not served America's "Christian" marriages well.
#2- "Was it planned?" is no longer deemed a rude and quite personal question, but in fact, is seen as a natural question...
...because, the way our culture sees it, it is up to us to "plan" when life will begin according to our own time tables and goals. The abortion-on-demand mindset tells us that we can control when life ends, so why not believe that we have full control of when it begins as well?
#3- Children are often seen, and even referred to, as an "accident".
Perhaps you've been fortunate enough to not ever have actually heard someone call their child by such an insulting description (an "oops baby", or "our little accident")... but it's all too common. Linked to the idea above, this whole notion is a natural attitude when we believe that we are the ones in control of life.
#4- Large families are often seen as incredible (and thus, put on an undeserved pedestal) or insane (and thus, sneered at behind their backs)...
...because once you can control how many "little buggars" you get, someone who has more than the two (or maybe three, if your first two are of the same gender) MUST be either Mother Teresa, or one step away from the loony bin.
#5- Anyone who has clearly NOT bought into the birth control culture at any point is seen as fair game for jokes, criticism, or invasive questions, because (it is assumed) they "chose" something different...
...because now, the "norm" is obvious: it is assumed that you WILL limit your own family size, shape, and timing according to your own will. The family that has two children 14 months apart gets jokes ("Haven't you figured out how that happens?" hardee-har-har) and eyerolls at their (implied) stupidity. The couple that has struggled with infertility now feels obligated to share that very personal information, because others imply or outright state that they are intentionally avoiding children, calling them selfish or scared. (Talk about adding insult to injury!) And of course, there's the classic large family comments.
#6- By extension, because they "chose" their family size, the larger-than-average family is often expected to never lack, to never struggle with discipline, to never be tired, etc.... even by Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
Don't believe me? Think again.
If a two-year-old in a family of seven children has tantrums or is wearing mismatched clothes, it's because "the mom is spread too thin". But if that same child is the only child of two doting parents, it's because "bless his heart; he's a normal two-year-old" and because independent little two-year-olds love to pick out their own clothes.
If a mother of three children is exhausted as she's pregnant with her fourth, it's likely to be met with an "I told you so" attitude from those who have already inappropriately shared their thoughts about family size. And she rarely gets sympathy. More likely, she'll get a "you made your bed, now lie in it" perspective from most of the people around her. But a first time mother struggling with morning sickness gets sympathetic comments and offers for how others can help.
And lest you think I'm just whining as a mom of four, I'm really not... I'm just stating things the way I've plainly seen them. And these are things I hear from many of you, my friends and readers.
#7- A young professional women is "throwing her career away" if she opts to stay home with her new baby....
...because she could have controlled that for another 10 years, and really DONE something with her life, don't ya know?
#8- Couples are often shocked and dismayed when they struggle with infertility...
...because the whole issue is so framed by an "in control" attitude. It seems so easy to NOT have children, and thus, it should be easy TO have them, right? Sadly, many modern couples either aren't even marrying until less fertile ages, and then may find themselves desperate to have children... or they have followed the common advice to take some time for themselves, only to find that once they finally get off the pill, they struggle to get pregnant at all.
Even the couple who would love to have children and hasn't put it off or waited gets rude comments from family and friends because our culture has such an "if you want it, you can get it" attitude about everything, including children. And underlying all of it is the cultural idea of "rights"... that we have the right to have children or not have them, whenever we so desire.
#9- OTHER EFFECTS
I won't even go into the rise in casual sex (a.k.a. fornication), affairs (a.k.a. adultery), and abortion (a.k.a. murder) due to the ease of birth control procurement and use.
SO WHAT'S THE SOLUTION???
The answer isn't that we bang down the doors of the courts and seek to legislate birth control usage. That ship has sailed.
In my view, the answer IS that Christian couples should seek God's face and become that peculiar people-- a people that stands out as set apart and different from the world around us-- in this area of how we view children. A people who see children as blessings. A people who discipline our children in the Lord, so that we aren't so bowled over by our disobedient, bratty children that we can't STAND the thought of more. A people who aren't afraid to live as strangers in this world that kills and throws away imperfect children, medicates children instead of offering loving discipline, and that acts and thinks as though we are the ones in control of life. Heaven help us!
Lately, I've been noticing some trends that I think are directly attributable to the rise-- indeed the expectancy-- of birth control use in our culture. I'd like to talk through them one by one so it's clear what I'm getting at. I believe that there are consequences that are a direct result of our culture's embracing of the birth control mindset as normative, and here are a few.
#1: Young couples are thought irresponsible when they get pregnant right away...
...because, the implication is, any "wise" couple would wait and follow the oft-given advice (even by pastors) that you should "take a few years to get to know each other" first. This basic assumption overlooks the fact that even with birth control usage, regular intercourse often leads to a pregnancy. Indeed, that is the general plan of God's design for marital intimacy.
It also overlooks the fact that children are a part of God's design for sanctification of parents, and that the continuation of a self-focused lifestyle has not served America's "Christian" marriages well.
#2- "Was it planned?" is no longer deemed a rude and quite personal question, but in fact, is seen as a natural question...
...because, the way our culture sees it, it is up to us to "plan" when life will begin according to our own time tables and goals. The abortion-on-demand mindset tells us that we can control when life ends, so why not believe that we have full control of when it begins as well?
#3- Children are often seen, and even referred to, as an "accident".
Perhaps you've been fortunate enough to not ever have actually heard someone call their child by such an insulting description (an "oops baby", or "our little accident")... but it's all too common. Linked to the idea above, this whole notion is a natural attitude when we believe that we are the ones in control of life.
#4- Large families are often seen as incredible (and thus, put on an undeserved pedestal) or insane (and thus, sneered at behind their backs)...
...because once you can control how many "little buggars" you get, someone who has more than the two (or maybe three, if your first two are of the same gender) MUST be either Mother Teresa, or one step away from the loony bin.
#5- Anyone who has clearly NOT bought into the birth control culture at any point is seen as fair game for jokes, criticism, or invasive questions, because (it is assumed) they "chose" something different...
...because now, the "norm" is obvious: it is assumed that you WILL limit your own family size, shape, and timing according to your own will. The family that has two children 14 months apart gets jokes ("Haven't you figured out how that happens?" hardee-har-har) and eyerolls at their (implied) stupidity. The couple that has struggled with infertility now feels obligated to share that very personal information, because others imply or outright state that they are intentionally avoiding children, calling them selfish or scared. (Talk about adding insult to injury!) And of course, there's the classic large family comments.
#6- By extension, because they "chose" their family size, the larger-than-average family is often expected to never lack, to never struggle with discipline, to never be tired, etc.... even by Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
Don't believe me? Think again.
If a two-year-old in a family of seven children has tantrums or is wearing mismatched clothes, it's because "the mom is spread too thin". But if that same child is the only child of two doting parents, it's because "bless his heart; he's a normal two-year-old" and because independent little two-year-olds love to pick out their own clothes.
If a mother of three children is exhausted as she's pregnant with her fourth, it's likely to be met with an "I told you so" attitude from those who have already inappropriately shared their thoughts about family size. And she rarely gets sympathy. More likely, she'll get a "you made your bed, now lie in it" perspective from most of the people around her. But a first time mother struggling with morning sickness gets sympathetic comments and offers for how others can help.
And lest you think I'm just whining as a mom of four, I'm really not... I'm just stating things the way I've plainly seen them. And these are things I hear from many of you, my friends and readers.
#7- A young professional women is "throwing her career away" if she opts to stay home with her new baby....
...because she could have controlled that for another 10 years, and really DONE something with her life, don't ya know?
#8- Couples are often shocked and dismayed when they struggle with infertility...
...because the whole issue is so framed by an "in control" attitude. It seems so easy to NOT have children, and thus, it should be easy TO have them, right? Sadly, many modern couples either aren't even marrying until less fertile ages, and then may find themselves desperate to have children... or they have followed the common advice to take some time for themselves, only to find that once they finally get off the pill, they struggle to get pregnant at all.
Even the couple who would love to have children and hasn't put it off or waited gets rude comments from family and friends because our culture has such an "if you want it, you can get it" attitude about everything, including children. And underlying all of it is the cultural idea of "rights"... that we have the right to have children or not have them, whenever we so desire.
#9- OTHER EFFECTS
I won't even go into the rise in casual sex (a.k.a. fornication), affairs (a.k.a. adultery), and abortion (a.k.a. murder) due to the ease of birth control procurement and use.
SO WHAT'S THE SOLUTION???
The answer isn't that we bang down the doors of the courts and seek to legislate birth control usage. That ship has sailed.
In my view, the answer IS that Christian couples should seek God's face and become that peculiar people-- a people that stands out as set apart and different from the world around us-- in this area of how we view children. A people who see children as blessings. A people who discipline our children in the Lord, so that we aren't so bowled over by our disobedient, bratty children that we can't STAND the thought of more. A people who aren't afraid to live as strangers in this world that kills and throws away imperfect children, medicates children instead of offering loving discipline, and that acts and thinks as though we are the ones in control of life. Heaven help us!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
By popular demand
Easy peasy crock pot pintos
First start out by sorting and washing a pound of dry pinto beans (or about 2 1/4 C.)
You will also need:
- 2 qts. water
- 3 TBS butter
- 1 TBS. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more or less depending on the heat you want)
- 2 tsp. salt
Combine the ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for at least 7 hours or until beans are tender.
Like I said in my previous post, I serve these over rice with butter, 1 Tbs. white vinegar and some Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. So simple and so good!
First start out by sorting and washing a pound of dry pinto beans (or about 2 1/4 C.)
You will also need:
- 2 qts. water
- 3 TBS butter
- 1 TBS. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more or less depending on the heat you want)
- 2 tsp. salt
Combine the ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for at least 7 hours or until beans are tender.
Like I said in my previous post, I serve these over rice with butter, 1 Tbs. white vinegar and some Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. So simple and so good!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Menu Planning
When I was growing up I remember clearly that my mom often drove us home from school asking herself, "What am I going to make for dinner?" If you know my mom, you will know she is ultra organized and a clean freak but she never had much of a plan for dinners most of the time.
I love you mom, but that's what I remember. BBQ chicken anyone?
ETA: I must say that my mom always made homemade meals every night. We very rarely went out to dinner and her meals were always delicious!
There were plenty of times when she did but not most of the time. This is something that I just cannot do, it seems, with 7 kids and a very big, burly, hungry husband.
I am going to tell you how I organize my dinners and, be prepared, this is going to be so easy, you won't know why you didn't do it earlier. Yes, it does take quite a bit of set-up before hand to actually get your menu settled and chosen but once that is done all that needs to be done is some typing or copying and pasting from the net.
Most of you, I am sure, have a recipe box where you keep your recipes, right? Get that out and go through it and sort. Pull out ALL the things you have tried already that your family has really liked. What is the point of choosing things that your husband doesn't particularly like? There are plenty of recipes that are in my box that didn't make it to the list. That's OK. Don't feel like you need to include everything.
For me, I have 35 different recipes. You may have only 15 or less. If this is the case you may want to spend a few weeks doing some cooking experiments with dinners while keeping a tally of the things you really like to include in your list. If you don't say, "Wow, that's yummy!" then don't put it on your list. Check out some really yummy food blogs. My favorite is The Pioneer Woman and you must, must, must make her Sesame Noodles. I'll talk about those a bit later.
Once you have pulled, or found online, your recipes you're going to write all the names down on a sheet of paper. It doesn't matter what kind of paper it is, just a piece that will fit all the names of the recipes you have chosen. Make sure you make a note of where the recipe was found cause you will need to find it in the final step.
Once they are written down, get another sheet of paper(again, it doesn't matter what kind or whether it has 2 year old hand prints all over it) and make a list alternating recipes while checking off the recipes from the original sheet. Clear as mud? I usually try to choose a soup, a beef dish, a chicken dish and a Mexican or Italian dish. I only have to make dinners 4 nights a week because of Jonah's schedule. Don't hate me because I get to stay home with 7 kids for 72 hours alone every week. Really, don't.
Once you have your final list in the order you want them hop on your computer for some typing time. All you are going to do is start a Word document and type all your recipes in the order you want them(which you should have already done on that 2-year-old-hand-print-sheet-of-paper). You are going to include the name of the dish, followed by ALL the ingredients you need to make it and then the recipe itself. This way, when grocery day is coming around you can hop on the computer and see what the next 4 recipes are and write down the ingredients needed. No thinking needed!
Then on cooking day you hop back on the computer and follow the recipe(if you have a laptop). For a long time I only had a big behemoth computer and so I printed out the recipe list and kept it in a folder. I am happy with only using the computer now as I never could seem to keep track of the folder or the pages ended up with sticky sauce all over.
This is what a recipe might look like:
Cranberry Chicken
- 6 Chicken Breasts - 2 bottles french dressing - 2 packets onion soup mix
- 2 cans whole cranberry sauce - 4 cups dry rice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite size chunks and put into a large Pyrex dish. In a medium sized bowl mix the rest of the ingredients and then pour over chicken. Cover with foil tightly! Bake for an hour and 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve over rice.
There, I've gone and given you my kids very favorite dinner. The most simple one I have and one I wish I could make every week just because it is SO easy. Please don't make 4 cups of rice if you are a normal size family cause you'll be eating the leftovers for weeks. We almost finish it all and because of Justus' allergy issues he eats rice every day with lunch or dinner. We always make a full pot when we make rice.
Then you would follow this recipe by the next in the list and so on.
Now, you may ask, what do we do for the 3 days that Jonah is gone at work? Well, I make things very simple and very cheap. I figure the kids aren't picky and it's a way I can save funds to make better dinners when Jonah is home. We have the same 3 recipes every week and the kids absolutely love them.
1) Quesadillas with sour cream and salsa
2) Sesame Noodles (check the website I linked above)
3) Pinto beans and rice. This is a crock pot recipe that is SO good and so simple. We serve it with butter, white vinegar and Sriracha to give it some spice. My kids like spicy things.
OK, one last thing for you. Once you learn your menu well you will know the main ingredients that are needed and be able to buy them ONLY when they are on sale. We use a lot of diced green chiles in many of our dishes. ANY TIME I see them on sale, I buy a bunch, that way I will never need to buy it at full price. Each time I go to the store I puruse the aisles to see if there is anything I know I use that is on sale. If it is, I snatch it up and put it in my pantry for when it's needed.
Easy enough? I hope this helps someone with menu planning!
And I hope you think it's as easy as I do.
I love you mom, but that's what I remember. BBQ chicken anyone?
ETA: I must say that my mom always made homemade meals every night. We very rarely went out to dinner and her meals were always delicious!
There were plenty of times when she did but not most of the time. This is something that I just cannot do, it seems, with 7 kids and a very big, burly, hungry husband.
I am going to tell you how I organize my dinners and, be prepared, this is going to be so easy, you won't know why you didn't do it earlier. Yes, it does take quite a bit of set-up before hand to actually get your menu settled and chosen but once that is done all that needs to be done is some typing or copying and pasting from the net.
Most of you, I am sure, have a recipe box where you keep your recipes, right? Get that out and go through it and sort. Pull out ALL the things you have tried already that your family has really liked. What is the point of choosing things that your husband doesn't particularly like? There are plenty of recipes that are in my box that didn't make it to the list. That's OK. Don't feel like you need to include everything.
For me, I have 35 different recipes. You may have only 15 or less. If this is the case you may want to spend a few weeks doing some cooking experiments with dinners while keeping a tally of the things you really like to include in your list. If you don't say, "Wow, that's yummy!" then don't put it on your list. Check out some really yummy food blogs. My favorite is The Pioneer Woman and you must, must, must make her Sesame Noodles. I'll talk about those a bit later.
Once you have pulled, or found online, your recipes you're going to write all the names down on a sheet of paper. It doesn't matter what kind of paper it is, just a piece that will fit all the names of the recipes you have chosen. Make sure you make a note of where the recipe was found cause you will need to find it in the final step.
Once they are written down, get another sheet of paper(again, it doesn't matter what kind or whether it has 2 year old hand prints all over it) and make a list alternating recipes while checking off the recipes from the original sheet. Clear as mud? I usually try to choose a soup, a beef dish, a chicken dish and a Mexican or Italian dish. I only have to make dinners 4 nights a week because of Jonah's schedule. Don't hate me because I get to stay home with 7 kids for 72 hours alone every week. Really, don't.
Once you have your final list in the order you want them hop on your computer for some typing time. All you are going to do is start a Word document and type all your recipes in the order you want them(which you should have already done on that 2-year-old-hand-print-sheet-of-paper). You are going to include the name of the dish, followed by ALL the ingredients you need to make it and then the recipe itself. This way, when grocery day is coming around you can hop on the computer and see what the next 4 recipes are and write down the ingredients needed. No thinking needed!
Then on cooking day you hop back on the computer and follow the recipe(if you have a laptop). For a long time I only had a big behemoth computer and so I printed out the recipe list and kept it in a folder. I am happy with only using the computer now as I never could seem to keep track of the folder or the pages ended up with sticky sauce all over.
This is what a recipe might look like:
Cranberry Chicken
- 6 Chicken Breasts - 2 bottles french dressing - 2 packets onion soup mix
- 2 cans whole cranberry sauce - 4 cups dry rice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite size chunks and put into a large Pyrex dish. In a medium sized bowl mix the rest of the ingredients and then pour over chicken. Cover with foil tightly! Bake for an hour and 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve over rice.
There, I've gone and given you my kids very favorite dinner. The most simple one I have and one I wish I could make every week just because it is SO easy. Please don't make 4 cups of rice if you are a normal size family cause you'll be eating the leftovers for weeks. We almost finish it all and because of Justus' allergy issues he eats rice every day with lunch or dinner. We always make a full pot when we make rice.
Then you would follow this recipe by the next in the list and so on.
Now, you may ask, what do we do for the 3 days that Jonah is gone at work? Well, I make things very simple and very cheap. I figure the kids aren't picky and it's a way I can save funds to make better dinners when Jonah is home. We have the same 3 recipes every week and the kids absolutely love them.
1) Quesadillas with sour cream and salsa
2) Sesame Noodles (check the website I linked above)
3) Pinto beans and rice. This is a crock pot recipe that is SO good and so simple. We serve it with butter, white vinegar and Sriracha to give it some spice. My kids like spicy things.
OK, one last thing for you. Once you learn your menu well you will know the main ingredients that are needed and be able to buy them ONLY when they are on sale. We use a lot of diced green chiles in many of our dishes. ANY TIME I see them on sale, I buy a bunch, that way I will never need to buy it at full price. Each time I go to the store I puruse the aisles to see if there is anything I know I use that is on sale. If it is, I snatch it up and put it in my pantry for when it's needed.
Easy enough? I hope this helps someone with menu planning!
And I hope you think it's as easy as I do.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Happy days!
This picture was taken just about the time Justus was the same age as Canaan is now and was taken right in front of where our house now stands. Look at those cute cheeks!
Anyways, I am proud to say that Justus is finally potty trained! After wondering if he would ever sit on the toilet without screaming bloody murder he has taken to sitting himself on the toilet whenever he needs to "go" or tells me if he needs help. Yippeee! I only have to wash one set of diapers now and that feels good. And lest you think it's weird that I am blogging about potty issues, this is my life and, right now, potty issues are what's on my mind ;)
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Country living
How many of you knew that I was a city girl? Born and raised and never, ever dreaming of living out in the boonies with all those crazy sorts of people who burn wood in a wood stove, tend a garden, cut down trees and bake their own bread. Never thought it would happen. Then my sweet, amazing husband came on the scene, we married and he moved me to the middle of nowhere. That first winter, since he was gone 3 days out of the week at work, he had to teach me how to actually start a fire. Not as easy as you would think, did you know that? Then there's the fact that you have to be able to tell the different types of wood apart. That took me, uhm, 3 years?
Fast forward 8 years and here I am, all countried out. I love living in the boonies, can't wait to start my garden and bake almost all our own bread. I'm living the dream I never had;) And, now that we have 7 kids, cutting our fire wood for the winter is a family affair and something I will look forward to every year (let's just forget the fact that I just stand around wearing the baby and taking pictures)
It was a lot of hard work(ahem, for everyone but me) but "we" got it done! Here's what it looked like.
Jonah splits the wood with the splitter(which we were very lucky to have borrowed this year) and the boys pick up the wood and throw it in the back of the tractor.
Look at how strong he is! He and Isaiah are sporting some serious muscles lately at only 6 and 7 years old.
Judah is such a great helper too and NEVER complains about it.
(Never mind Alana's ragamuffin look please). Alana and Sarah pick up all the bark laying around the splitter and load up the wagon to take to the burn pile.
After they trek out to the burn pile and dump in the bark they take turns giving each other rides back.
Sarah's rider is much lighter than Alana's.
Once the tractor is full Jonah rides it to the back of the house and unloads it all nicely on the wood pile. Then, the kids hop in the trailer for a ride back.
We are all done with wood cutting for the year and just last night enjoyed our first fire of the season!
Fast forward 8 years and here I am, all countried out. I love living in the boonies, can't wait to start my garden and bake almost all our own bread. I'm living the dream I never had;) And, now that we have 7 kids, cutting our fire wood for the winter is a family affair and something I will look forward to every year (let's just forget the fact that I just stand around wearing the baby and taking pictures)
It was a lot of hard work(ahem, for everyone but me) but "we" got it done! Here's what it looked like.
Jonah splits the wood with the splitter(which we were very lucky to have borrowed this year) and the boys pick up the wood and throw it in the back of the tractor.
Look at how strong he is! He and Isaiah are sporting some serious muscles lately at only 6 and 7 years old.
Judah is such a great helper too and NEVER complains about it.
(Never mind Alana's ragamuffin look please). Alana and Sarah pick up all the bark laying around the splitter and load up the wagon to take to the burn pile.
After they trek out to the burn pile and dump in the bark they take turns giving each other rides back.
Sarah's rider is much lighter than Alana's.
Once the tractor is full Jonah rides it to the back of the house and unloads it all nicely on the wood pile. Then, the kids hop in the trailer for a ride back.
We are all done with wood cutting for the year and just last night enjoyed our first fire of the season!
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