My baby turned 7!

It's hard to believe that this little one is already 7 - there must be some mistake!  Of course she insists the math is right on target.  In some ways she acts older than her age, no doubt to having older siblings to tag along with.  She really wanted a sleepover party but I held firm to the "not before your 9th birthday" rule.  Instead, she chose to have a Guatemala themed party, complete with a sombrero for herself, Guatemalan worry dolls for her guests and the flag themed cake you see above.  Ironically, after all these years - she no longer wanted a pinata (which is the main birthday tradition I know of in Guatemala).  Instead she chose a scavenger hunt for the group to find their party favors.  This girl knows what she likes.  In fact I really have witnessed her transforming before my eyes into a person more sure of herself, who is willing to risk in her relationships with friends.  She is just adorable, huh?

The morning of her birthday, Daddy took her out for a special breakfast at Pancake City.  She also received the doll she had been wishing for, which she promptly named Cara.  Of course, she's now extra careful not to leave out her special teddy bears in favor of Cara.  They are getting more playtime than ever before.  I don't know about other kids who've seen the Toy Story movies but they seem to make my girls feel guilty if they haven't played with their special toys lately.

Anyhow, this was a special birthday and while it concentrated on her birth country, we were surprisingly unrattled by issues that have plagued her in the past.  Praising God for what seems to be a breakthrough.  I'm also saddened to think of another parallel.  Boo is now at about the same age as Spiderman was when he joined our family.  All the ups and downs and special memories I share with Boo during these first 7 years are a big question mark for my son & I.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't pine away for those years.  I know God used them to prepare my son for whatever the future may hold in his life.  I guess it's just a reminder of exactly how much of his history I don't share with him.  As I look back on Boo's first 7 years, I realize just how much has happened in that time to make her grounded in her family identity.  It truly is amazing at how grounded Spiderman already is in his 3 short years here. Just more of God's miracles.

What happened to October????

I know life is busy for everyone so I won't make excuses for not blogging in about 6 weeks. :)   I'll just try to sum it up.  We celebrated fall in many fun ways that included hay rides, pumpkins, cider and as you can see - building our own scarecrow.  The kids loved it all and our new friends is still sitting on the porch as I type, despite being beheaded on more than a few occassions.

Isn't this beautiful?  Our dear friends travelled to Ethiopia last month to meet their 2 new daughters.  They brought back some fun new Ethiopian clothes for the kids here and all but one were able to pose for this photo at church for me.  Those same friends are back right now to bring the girls home.  I can't wait to post a complete photo with the missing 3 faces...

Of course we ended the month with some fun costume moments.  We were glad to have our friends, the Jeffries, come for a week's visit.  The kids loved having a couple extra "siblings" for the week and us Mommas had fun scrapbooking while the menfolk were away hunting deer.  Good times.

Now on to November....

Spiderman's 10th Birthday!

My how time flies!  My momma's heart wants to know how this big guy can be 10 when he's only been home 3 years?  Tonight we watched some old home movies and saw him while still in Ethiopia.  He doesn't even look like the same person.  The common theme though is he's still as sweet as ever.  Here he is above with the Lego set he's been wishing for (and talking about incessantly) for the past couple of months.  To top off that dream come true, he had 4 boys spend the night last night to help celebrate and he loved every minute of it.  Below they are modeling all the Lego creations they made to stage their imaginary Star Wars battles.  He really is blessed with a great set of buddies here. 

His best buddy, Jacob, even came with his own Bobba Fett costume.  That added quite the drama when it came to the Nerf gun, sword and light saber battle they had outdoors.  Spiderman had such a wonderful time and he came down pretty hard when it was all over and the friends had gone home. 

In fact, I was painfully reminded again today that the flip side to the beauty of adoption is deep loss.  While the details are private, there has been no denying that for two of my children - birthdays (and gotcha days)can be difficult.  They are something to celebrate for sure but you can't celebrate a birth and remove it from the fact that it happened in another place with other people present who are no longer in the picture.  The loss of those happy and sad memories, the "knowns" and the "unknowns",  is enough to grieve over again and again. 

Just as my children have long noticed that there is always something "bad" that happens in a story before it can have a happy ending, we are all still working our way through the story and trusting that God's perfect plan will bring us to the ending beyond what we've hoped for.

Boo's Makover

Boo has been thinking about a haircut for awhile now and it finally all came together.  Of course she would only let Katie Ball cut it (not some stranger) and she wanted to wait until fall (I think it's here) so she took the plunge.  This is all a pretty big step for this girl who asked for a haircut this summer and when I took off a couple of inches, she sobbed the rest of the day because Goose's hair was no longer than hers. :)

So this was actually taken well into the haircut, it was even longer to begin with.  I was scooping up piles of hair so she wouldn't see them and freak out how much hair was coming off.  She said she wanted it short, well above her shoulders and when it was done (we went with a slightly longer version) she was THRILLED!  In fact, she couldn't stop giggling and we could hear her from the other room as she was looking in the mirror.  I don't know if I've ever seen her so completely unable to stop smiling.  She posed for quite a photo shoot after that.  Isn't she adorable?

She spent the afternoon trying out all different ways to wear her hair and BOUNCING around the house since, "It feels so bouncy".  Boo tends to be a fun loving kid but she avoids anything that draws attention to herself.  She'd rather not have all eyes on her and even positive attention can make things difficult around here.  My favorite statement from her today was, "I feel like a whole new person".   In many ways this year, I see her becoming more sure of herself and growing into a whole new Boo. 

Mother-Son Stampede

We finally had our turn (according to my boys).  After watching the girls head to dances with their Daddy in the past, there was an event just for the boys and I this week.  The Stampede was put on by various organizations in town and the boys were thrilled to hit the town with Mom.  Of course, the silly thing is that once we arrived and took the hayride to the party, they were runnin' with the boys more than hangin' with their mom.  Imagine hundreds of boys, eating, shooting guns & bows, running obstacle courses - all while their moms are trying to keep up with them or just keep track.  Just when I'd coral Jaybird to say that Spiderman & I were going to get some food, he'd inform us that he already had.  Well, technicalities aside, the boys had a blast and definitely want to go again so in their mind, Mom dates are pretty fun. :)

A Glorious Day

Spiderman is an amazing boy.  We often marvel at what all he has been through in his short, little life and yet he has such a positive attitude (most of the time).  How beautiful to watch today as his earthly Daddy helped him publicly identify with his Heavenly Daddy through believer's baptism.  Precious!

It was over 2 years ago that he gave his heart to Jesus and we've watched him grow in his faith ever since.  He's been "contemplating" baptism for the past year but had been too scared to get up in front of everyone to do it.  All this week he has been praying that God would help him to be brave so he could be baptized.  Well God did help him and he even told me afterward that  it really wasn't that scary after all.  That's the peace that comes from knowing you've obeyed what your Father has asked you to do.  Thank you Jesus!

In God's timing, All God's Children International chose this week to share the miracle story (check it out) of what God has done here in our little family and our little church.  Today was a neat reminder about the bigger picture of why God brought this child to our family - to help bring him to his eternal family. 

 "Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man's behalf!" Psalm 66:5 NIV

Parting shots of August

This month we celebrated Spiderman's 3rd Gotcha Day.  Yep, we've been blessed to be his parents for 3 years now and time has just flown.  We've watched him grow physically (5 clothing sizes, 26 lbs and 7 inches since coming home), mentally (he has progressed in school - not easily but with much hard work), culturally (now loves pizza, Bill Cosby and often says "Dude"), socially (while still quiet, he's gone from painfully shy to everybody's best friend), and spiritually (he's come to faith in Jesus Christ and prays for everyone he can think of to do the same ).  He seemed to accept us as his family from the get go but has definitely grown very comfortable in his place here with us.   God has exceeded our expectations!

In honor of the celebration, Grandma and Great Aunt Liz made a trip out to visit for the week.  We had a great time and played a LOT of games.  We're thankful they took the time to travel so far out to see us.

August was also a time to get some summer projects done that we've been putting off due to the crazy heat.  My man and I worked on powerwashing the house and decks, water sealing them both and scraping, sanding and painting the trim on the front of the house.  Nothing too enjoyable though it all looks pretty nice.  The kids got in on the action by painting our shed (now lovingly called the barn) a more festive color.

It's very cheery now and it complements the nice new roof my man gave it earlier this summer.  The kids were proud to put their own elbow grease into the project, though they were surprised to see that painting was as much "work" as it was.  Looks great guys!  Now we're ready for fall and school!