It's Hard to be a Little Brother Sometimes

Sometimes it is hard to be a little brother. If someone isn't holding him, they are hugging him, or tickling him, or just following him around. Don't get me wrong it is (usually) a good thing. So no matter where he is someone wants to play with him.

In the car....

The ride is sometimes exhausting.....

And then there are the times when you just have to go along with what your brothers and sisters want you to do.

And that can be exhausting, too!

Precious Memories

Brandon's most precious gift - "Football clothes!"

Daddy with Molly and Brandon - I love the delight on their faces.

When Nathan laughs he uses his entire body.

Allison and Brandon have a special bond.

Nathan is goofy at times, and loves the reaction that he gets from everyone else.

We visited Grandma last weekend and Molly and Nathan took a test drive.

Ken's mom and all of our children, celebrating Christmas together.

I Had a Dream

We are studying Genesis in our Sunday School class and this Sunday we looked at Joseph, and last night I had a dream. Now I do not profess to be an interpreter of dreams but I thought I would give it a shot.

In my dream I worked at a gas station that had a diner as part of it. I was the only one working at the diner and a crowd of people came in. It was 2 am and the floor of the diner's kitchen area was covered with piles of dirty laundry that had to be stepped around. As I went to prepare the food for the crowd at the diner I realized that all the food was frozen, I didn't know what was there to prepare for them and I finally had them all served at 10 minutes until 4 in the morning. They seemed to be a pleasant crowd even after having to wait that long for their food. At this point in my dream Ken woke me up and I wondered why I felt a little rushed then I remembered the dream I was having.

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Now here is my interpretation - I need to get to bed earlier and quit worrying about all that the next day holds, and I need to not eat chocolate after 8pm.

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Either that or perhaps I need to spread out the baking and laundry and not do it all in one day, oh and I did remember to get the meat out of the freezer for dinner. Luckily my crowd is pretty easy when it comes to what time I serve dinner, though I honestly have never tried them out at 4 am.

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Enjoy your last minute holiday preparations - may your Christmas be a special time of celebrating Christ coming to earth!

In Between Post Pictures

Natalie, Molly and Brandon sang in the Children's Choir Musical.

Nathan looking for a snack?

Attempting to take a Christmas picture.

Cuddling with Brandon

We have cookie dough in the refrigerator but haven't managed to bake them up yet. School is winding down for Christmas. Allison is home for break. It is a cozy night in our warm home. The Lord has blessed us greatly this year.

Beginning to Decorate

We started decorating for Christmas this weekend. It is a little earlier than we usually do it, but Allison was home for Thanksgiving break and we wanted her to take part. Nathan got into the decorating some himself.

Our family has a tradition that has roots back to when Ken and I were engaged. The day we decorate the Christmas tree we order pizza when we are about finished and eat our pizza on the floor by the light of the Christmas tree. This is one of the traditions that our family has kept through the years. The Christmas before we were married (in February) Ken had moved into our house-to-be but we had little furniture, well actually none in the living room. So when we put up our tree for the holidays we ate our pizza by the light of the tree by necessity. The kids think this is great fun! For Ken and I it is a great reminder of how we got started over 20 years ago.

As a parent it is with humility that I consider how the Lord brought His Son to earth as a man, knowing what He would endure before He left this earth. May we ponder in our hearts this Christmas season all that transpired around that 'first Christmas' so long ago.

Happy Thanksgiving

Recently shopping in the store with one of our children we noticed how it seems like the season went from Halloween to Christmas. Now I love Christmas, celebrating Jesus' birth is a highlight in our house, but how really sad that we seem to skip over the holiday that encourages us to reflect on the many blessings we have received throughout the year. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite time of year, and it isn't because of the food. It is a great time to talk with our children about how the Lord has provided all that we need in abundance!

So here is a partial list of all that we are thankful for this year:

• The Lord is in control!

The Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5

• My wonderful husband who is so patient and loving and kind.
• Our children: Each uniquely put together to be able to accomplish all that the Lord has planned for them.
• Nathan is home with us.
• A home (complete with energy improvements)- that provides us with protection and allows us to welcome family and friends.
• Our Church - where God's Word is proclaimed without apology and we are being challenged to have a deeper relationship with God.
• Friends - too many to list. Friends that may think we are a little quirky but love us just the same.
• Extended family - that know our faults and love us anyway.
• Good health.
• Our dog Sophie - Molly said I had to put that.

It really is a partial list, because the Lord has blessed us greatly. My hope for each of you this Thanksgiving season is that you are able to spend some time reflecting on how the Lord has blessed your family this year.

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When upon life's billow you are tempest tossed, When you are
discouraged thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your
blessings, see what God has done;

Count your blessings name them one by one;
count your many blessings see what God hath done.

Cry of the Orphan

The cry of the orphan is being heard more and more these days. But how do we help 143 million orphans? My husband tells me that we can not bring them all home. But we can be a part of letting others know of the need that is there and praying for the Lord to raise up families to reach out to these children.

This past May a friend and I attended the Adoption Summit and heard of many exicting things that were being done all over, but there is still much to do.

This week Focus on the Family and Family Life have teamed up to do a week of programming (Nov. 17-21) concerning the orphan and adoption. I have posted the link to their broadcast schedule below. The Lord has spoke out clearly and many times in regards to His heart for the orphan. Perhaps there is a way you can join in caring for these precious children.

http://www.cryoftheorphan.org/radio/

Put One Foot in Front of Another

Nathan has decided that it is easiest to walk using our kitchen chairs as a "walker". I am constantly putting the chairs back at the table. Earlier in the week 6 of the 8 chairs were all over the kitchen. He was having great fun, but difficult for everyone else to navigate the area.

Nathan has been walking between two people for some time but only recently is confident enough to walk to where he wants to go without coaxing. It is still easiest to drop to his hands and knees and crawl to where he is headed. Look Mom!

Compared to our other children Nathan is late in walking but I have to remember that he was barely sitting up when we brought him home a few months ago. He also has no need to walk because there is always a brother or sister ready to carry him anywhere he wants to go. Ken and I find ourselves saying, "put him down" and "play with him, he is not the toy" often. I am so glad that they all love him so much but there are times when he needs some space. Of course, just when one of his siblings decides to let him do his own thing Nathan decides that he wants to be right where they are. :)

Health History Ponderings

On a normal day I don't walk around thinking "we have adopted children". But sometimes things come up because of a school assigment that bring it to the forefront. Yesterday Daniel brought home a Health class assignment regarding health histories. We were to fill it out to the best of our ability. Daniel said immediately we could just write a note that said he was adopted and sign it - not sure if this was his take on it or the teacher's instructions. There were a couple of things I knew for sure, but most of it was blank.

It was not a wasted assignment as it brought out some great discussion with Daniel about his past and being adopted. As a 12 year old he is able to understand more about what adoption really means. I think that he is mulling much of that over in his mind. There are some hard questions and some difficult answers in the future for Daniel so we are praying that the Lord will go before us as we see that he is ready and needing more information. The Lord is sovereign and for Daniel he is realizing that that means nothing in his life happened without being sifted through the Lord's hands.

Times like this make me so thankful that we go to a church that is an encourager of adoption. I am so thankful for how adoption is championed as an instruction from the Lord. It is my hope that as adoption is looked upon favorably by the church and our children see how the Lord desires our adoption that perhaps our children will have less struggles with the facts of their adoption.

We so dearly desire the Lord's guidance as we raise each of our children, for each of them have questions to be answered and instruction to be given.

"If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. " Psalm 37:23-24

The Gift of a Year (haha)

Today was my birthday, why am I telling you that? To show you that there is still some humor in my birthdays, though the numbers keep growing.

For most of the year I had thought that I was a certain age, let's call it "x" (because there are some things not meant to be said out loud). So all year when asked by my kids, or close personal friends, I would say that I was "x" years old. Well, about a month ago when one of our kiddoes was asking me AGAIN how old I was (they were surely in awe of how good I look for my age). I said, "I'm x years old." Someone else in the room said, "No you aren't, you are x-1. So I did a little figuring and realized that I was actually a year younger than I had been saying for many months. So .... while today was my birthday it was really no big deal because this year instead of getting another year older I actually gained a year I thought was already lost!

I'm not sure if this is a benefit of growing older and not being as sharp as I used to be, or if it is a testimony to life in the fast lane with 7 children.

All joking aside, I am so very thankful for the many blessings in this past year.

Enjoying Nathan

Investigating the contents of a school tub

Someone asked me the other day how things were going in our home. Nathan is doing great and is changing a little at a time. He will stand for a few seconds by himself then slowly sits down. We have a push type toy that he loves to walk behind until it gets stuck somewhere, he then abandons it on the spot. Yesterday Molly went in the bathroom and came out and said, "Why is Nathan's walker in the bathroom?" I noticed that the toilet paper had also been rearranged.

Yeah, I found something!

We have never been one for gates around our house so we have to watch the stairs because he thinks it is great fun to race you there. And of course the ever popular kitchen cabinets store great treasures for him. I have a hard time keeping track of my plastic lids since they are so versatile: steering wheels, plates for the play kitchen, frisbees, etc. so with Nathan's help I may know where to look for them next time. The other day there were three stacked neatly on a kitchen chair.

Nathan enjoys being read to and has now picked up the tendency to point to the pictures in the book. Sitting on the family room floor he was opening a book and pointing randomly at the pages. He watches everything we do.

Celebrating a succesful treasure hunt.

The tubs in the pictures are for our home school books. Closed they become a great climbing toy for Nathan during the day. He spent 15 minutes the other day putting his blocks on top of a closed box then climbing onto the box and one by one putting the blocks on the floor. Who needs Little Tikes when there's Rubbermaid! Though I have been a reluctant homeschooler, maybe some day I'll share about that, it is a blessing to have three of our older children home during the day and has brought about some great shared memories for our family.

Saturdays

Molly as goalie. Yikes! (10am)

Natalie (the tall one) playing defense. (12:30pm)

Brandon following his ball. (9am)

I guess I am a soccer mom, though I am not sure that I like the connotation that has come with that term. For a while in the fall our Saturdays are busy and some of our weeknights. It is a lot of fun to watch, especially the kindergardeners.

Each time one of our children plays sports I learn lessons right along with them, though not always the same lesson. I think there are some very good things that children learn from playing on a team and sometimes some difficult lessons too (though difficult isn't always a bad thing). I am thankful for opportunities to guide our children through their season and to have fun along with them.

Please Pray Today - and Update this evening

UPDATE: Susannah is out of surgery. Continue to pray for Susannah as the next day or so are very important for her precious little (but strong) heart.

Susannah is having open heart surgery today. Please pray for Susannah and her family. May the Lord guide the doctors and protect Susannah.

Read her story at : roomforatleastonemore.blogspot.com

It's Fall!

Our happy one year old, he is squeezable!
Brandon, Molly, Natalie, and Nathan enjoying a beautiful day.
Time for a ride, especially in this oversized wagon.
Picking apples in style.
Molly is always on the look out for a kitty to hold.

It is fall in the midwest and one of my favorite seasons. While the weather has been a little warmer than I would like at this time of year the weatherman says coolness is coming! Life is good when you can curl up on the couch with a good book in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt - I'll let you know when I get to do that.

Ken took a day off and those that were home went to pick some apples. My goal is to make (lots of) applesauce and some apple pie filling, if we don't eat all the apples before I get to it.

On our Knees

I have often said that going through our four adoptions has brought us to our knees in prayer many times. While those times were/are often the difficult times of waiting upon the Lord and His answers it is so sweet to be before our Heavenly Father in prayer.

With that said, there are two families that I ask you to join in prayer.

Please pray for Nathan Lee's family as they await the court's decision for their case. They do not have a time frame for this wait. While their faith is being stretched and grown it is difficult to wait. Nathan Lee is an Eagle's Nest buddy.

And secondly, please be in prayer for Susannah and her family. They are in China right now to bring her home. Susannah's health has not been good and she needs your prayers for her journey home to the U.S. (We met Susannah's family in Florida this spring at the Adoption Summit).

Thank you for lifting these families up in prayer.

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Our referral picture.

After receiving our referral last September we mailed back our Power of Attorney a year ago today to get things moving for our adoption of Nathan. Looking back now it seems like the time passed so quickly, but back then time seemed to move at a snail's pace.

What a difference a year makes!

Back then: Weight: 5# 11oz. Height: 18 inches long

Now: Weight: 19# 6.4oz. Height: 29 inches long

(This picture was added later, Natalie had my camera in Michigan visiting her cousins with her Grandma.)

He went from the 5th percentile for height and weight when he came home to now being at the 43rd percentile for height though only the 6th percentile for weight. He is growing like a weed and learning to eat "real" food. Fruits are his favorite - what a boy!


When we first received the call for our referral we had great hopes of him coming home quickly. And by Guatemala time it was relatively quick - it was almost 9 months exactly after we got our referral that he came home. We weathered the rumors of a shut down, the stall of PGN, and the uncertainty of the end of the year. We thought our file was stuck in April of 2008 when they stopped releasing files, only to find out that we were approved about a week ahead of time. Our adoption, as most are, was not for the faint of heart.

God taught us many things in that time. I am most grateful for the lessons of trust and the encouragement of prayer during our journey. How fun to celebrate with our children as we watched the Lord provide the finances, carry us through what we thought was a closed door, and ultimately bring Nathan home. We continue to praise the Lord for His provision for Nathan and for answered prayer!

Homecoming!

June 7, 2008 - we arrived in Guatemala and Nathan was brought into our arms.

June 11, 2008 - we arrived home late at night.

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the
hungry with good things."

Psalm 107:8,9

Number Six

Brandon

Here is our little boy who is growing up so fast. He brings a lot of noise and laughter to our home. Brandon has a great sense of humor - if you are using the hose outside he is the one standing on it.

He is a handsome little guy with dancing eyes when he is having fun.

Probably wishing he could play in that water.

Having fun in Chicago!
Petting a Llama! (that he did this was a small miracle)

We recently went on a field trip to this farm and Brandon was scared of the smell in the barn. We went outside and he was a different child - guess his nose is more sensitive than I thought.

Brandon misses Allison, she often was known to get him out of bed to play when she came home after work this summer. Brandon is a great snuggler.

Brandon is learning a lot about our Lord and we are working on applying that to his young life. I love to watch when the lightbulb goes on about something he has learned.

The Lord brought Brandon to our family in His special way and we are so humbled by the Lord's blessing.

Happy Birthdays! #1 and #11!

Happy Birthday Natalie and Nathan!

We love you both bunches!!!

August 28, 2007

Natalie was so excited to share her 11th birthday with her little brother!Natalie is stylin' in our family's birthday hat.
Nathan the BIG #1! Tastin' some yummy cake.
Sharin' tunes.
Opening presents with Daddy's help.

The Lord has blessed us greatly! What a joy to celebrate Nathan's first birthday with him! He is everywhere these days, pulling up and now taking away one hand when hanging on. He has some of the funniest facial expressions, and knows it!

Natalie is now 11 years old and in so many ways is really growing up. She has such a sweet and thoughtful spirit.

We are overwhelmed by the blessings the Lord has bestowed on our family.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

A Full Heart

My heart is full of emotions and my brain is a little on overload this week. The older boys are starting school tomorrow. Allison is off to college on Saturday and the Park Homeschool Academy re-opens it doors on Monday. Yikes, I better get organized!

This past Sunday we had Nathan dedicated at church. What a great reminder of the task we have ahead of us as parents and of the awesome brothers and sisters in Christ that will come alongside us to encourage and spur us on. After our usual after-church stop at McD's I had this great idea to go down the street to the Botanical Gardens and snap some pictures of the kids.


Well, as you will see Nathan slept through the entire thing. We had taken him to the nursery for the first time at church and his nap schedule was thrown off. He was like a rag doll. Oh well, we'll try again later. So, here you go, some shots of our wonderful kiddos that the Lord has blessed us with. I am in awe when I see them all together that the Lord would entrust them to us for a time.

Our Crew

Our Darling Daughters

My Wonderful Husband with our Very Tired Little Boy

Our Handsome Boys (and Nathan is still asleep).

I Want to Be Queen!

Molly, Molly, Molly.

Molly is the optimist of the family. She is a girly girl. Molly loves her older sisters and following in their footsteps. She puts us in stitches often. For some time Molly had been talking about what she wanted to be when she grew up. We would talk about it off and on but her answer was always the same. "I want to be a princess when I grew up." In Preschool they were to dress up like what they wanted to do when they grew up and continuously her answer was the same - "I want to be a princess." So I spoke with her teacher and she said that would be fine, so she was a princess.

A couple of weeks later we were again talking about what Molly could be when she grew up: teacher, doctor, mommy, etc. A little bit later she said to me, "Mom, I know what I want to be when I grow up." And I thought, finally I have gotten through to her. Molly then announced to me, "I want to be Queen!" Guess I still have some work to do.

Posing in the backyard.

Who me? I didn't use Allison's camera. (Busted!)

She never misses a picture moment.

Molly often asks us to pray for someone she has heard is sick or when we see an ambulance. She continues to pray for "the kids in China", that she heard about in Sunday School. She is precious and we look forward to how the Lord will use her life as she grows in her knowledge of Him.