a SUPER 8th birthday

Spiderman became Batman for his birthday. If he had his choice, he would have been the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four but I didn't think he'd really like it if we set him on fire. :) Anyway, we represented all superheroes at the party and he loved it! As for me, I finally learned that there are some limits in decorating birthday cakes. Scyscrapers are to be avoided in the future but I had thought that a long rectangle with "supers" scaling it would be easier than a "super" himself. Well, after decorating an 8 story/layer cake tower I learned it wasn't such a great idea. Overnight the building came tumbling down, decorating my kitchen in grey frosting. Before the birthday boy saw the demolition, I wisked it away to the freezer and salvaged it horizontally for the party that afternoon. He was happy, I was wiser. Whew!


Getting into the superhero theme, my kids all got dressed up for the party and here they are displaying their powers. Boo backed out at the last moment but had been "Ballerina Girl" before the party. Unlike last year, Spiderman seemed very at ease with all the attention and revelled in every bit of it.

The highlight of the party was our "evil villain hunt." I had explained to the kids that we needed them to patrol the grounds for evil villains and we armed them with "plasma bombs" (AKA water balloons). I told them four were hiding in the trees and one was loose in the backyard. As they pelted the bad guy faces in the trees, they moved to the backyard and all of the sudden "the Joker" appeared armed with a super soaker. The boys were in hysterics as they chased my man, I mean the Joker, around the backyard pelting him with water balloons. I only wish I had it on video! I was informed later that I had armed him with a faulty Super Soaker and the battle was truly one-sided. What a good Dad!
Can you see the grin on the birthday boys' face? The joker was definitely outnumbered.

God is so good!

This was the big week for Kinsman Redeemer. We held our first ever Community Informational Meeting on ways to be involved in orphan ministry. Though it was only weeks in the making, it felt like months! :) The day finally arrived but it was not without much warfare and trouble. The day before the event, my man erupted in a major allergic reation to a sulpha drug. It was a real doozie and resulted in a trip to the doctor. The next morning he was actually worse with fever, chills, aching and shaking violently. The head to toe rash was getting worse and we ended up back at the doctor. He wanted to admit my man into the hospital and as we got to the parking lot, the battery in our van was dead. After getting a jump start, dropping my man off at the front door of the hospital ("bye honey, you're on your own"), going to get a new battery installed, then back to the hospital, we finally saw Daddy resting comfortably in his much too short hospital bed. The kids were real troopers throughout all of this but there was some real concern on their part as to just how serious this was for Daddy. Spiderman seemed especially concerned that Daddy's life was in jeopardy, a reminder to me of just how many fears this little guy must carry with him still.

Anyway, we spent a hour or so with my man before we had to leave, grab dinner from a drive-thru, run home to change and close up the house we had abandoned earlier that day. For the first time since we had our chickens, they would NOT come back to the hen house for us and we finally had to leave them roaming so we wouldn't be too late for the Big Meeting. You might imagine by now just how stressed I was feeling from the day's events and I don't say this to complain. As we set up the tables and information while people were arriving early, I had no idea what I was going to say to the crowd now that my "behind-the-scenes" role had evaporated. (My man was supposed to MC the event and now it fell to me) I pulled my friend Lori aside for a quick prayer and told God that I was counting on His words to come out of my mouth as I had nothing prepared. I begged God that everything said would bring glory to Him. He answered mightily.


Here I am introducing the last part of the evening, our parent panel made up of foster and adoptive parents. I still look back and marvel at the evening. I don't enjoy public speaking at all and yet, once I stepped up to the podium I felt a complete sense of peace. I was able to speak from the heart, make sense (so I've been told), and connect things to scripture as I introduced speakers and fielded questions. God's Presence was so vivid for me and afterward, one man even told me that he noticed I didn't read from a script and my heart felt words had challenged him deeply. He and his wife are considering adoption. The other board members also had similar encouraging conversations and opportunities. We know of at least 5 families who communicated to us that they are looking into foster care or adoption and we are rejoicing for whatever small part we can play in that process.

Here are the kids with Daddy earlier in the afternoon. The other amazing thing that night was that these 4 children did so well being self contained and not requiring "Mommy" in the midst of the chaos for the 3 hours we were at the meeting. Afterward, we went back to the hospital to "tuck Daddy in" and then home. It was about 9:30 pm and I went to lock up the chickens when I saw that they never returned! This was the last straw for me. Since the chicks were "devoured" two weeks ago, and this had never happened before - I was at the end of my strength for the day. I know it sounds silly now but I prayed so much for those 5 silly hens that night, I begged God to protect them from whatever predators were lurking around. I just knew the kids (OK and me) couldn't handle losing all of our chickens, on this day especially. It was just too much. I cried my eyes out thanking Him for the meeting and asking for my man's healing but I knew it was life and death for the hens that night. What a huge relief to go out early and find them clucking around the coop, trying to get in for breakfast. You can call it luck but I know my God had a guardian angel on those stupid birds that night! The kids were so relieved.

Life is back to normal now. Daddy's out of the hospital and finally symptom free. Here he is "watching" football with Goose (gotta love it!) The big meeting is over (though the good feedback of God's working in hearts is still coming in) and I get to go back to regular "Mom duty" as I prepare for a birthday party this next weekend. Just had to share how God is so much bigger than circumstances and how thankful I am that I can trust him to carry me through the trying times.

She's a killer...

OK, for all of you who are anti hunting or PETA cardholders, please skip this post. Remember, we are country folks.


Can you see the pride on this little girl's face? Last weekend she chose to go squirrel hunting with Daddy and at the last minute said she wanted to try and shoot one (usually the kids choose to just go watch Dad try). As I've been told, Goose was sitting on Daddy's lap cuddling in the woods when he spotted a squirrel. She quickly took aim and shot it but her gun shifted and kicked her arm. She started to cry and my man said, "you shot it Goose!" She thrust her arms into the air in triumph and in her tears said, "it's just what I always dreamed it would be!" This was her first ever hunting kill and Daddy was beaming! (you can see he got one too) It's obvious to me who she gets this from and it is NOT me.

As is typical during hunting seasons around here, everyone lined up to get in on the achievement. Boo LOVED holding Daddy's squirrel and practically cuddled it like a babydoll (???) Spiderman shocked me by actually tasting the squirrel meat (which my man is required to cook) and asking for more! Amazing.

The ironic twist in all of this is that our beloved 4 chicks were apparently "hunted" by some sort of predator yesterday. When the kids heard that we found one of the bodies (confirming they had not just run away), the sobbing and screaming was intense in the same kids that were so excited to handle the squirrels. They obviously feel the big difference between wildlife and pets and as much as they handled these chicks,they truly were pets. The hens are still here, being much wiserbut it sure isn't the same to the kids. It's hard to see them so worked up.

On a better note, this is what the boys have spent their week doing. They saved up to buy these gliders and have put them through the ringer (and the trees) this week. Sounds like a great investment huh?

Back to School!

Here we are on our first day of the 2008 school year. Our "academy" has a pre-schooler, two 2nd Graders and a 3rd Grader. The kids were so excited to start school on Tuesday that they were READY by 7 am and congregating on my bed trying to get me in gear. :) Though it doesn't feel routine yet, it does feel good to be getting back into a scheduled day again and I'm thankful to have a weekend....TGIF!

This is Boo last night as she helped me pick grapes off their stems. With all the rain we've had this year in the mid-west, we have a ton of concord grapes from our one vine this year. We made our first ever Grape Jelly and there is some grape juice underway. Don't worry, there were no naked feet involved in the squishing of our grapes.

Today we took the afternoon (and a little buddy) to a semi-local apple orchard. I heard they had honeycrisp apples and I HAD to have a fix! Admittedly, things you love and build up in your mind don't always live up to their expectations. :) Of course we wanted to pick our own and as I helped the kids take turns with the apple pole, the others seemed to be picking apples from other trees (and even from the ground). When all was said and done, the kids had a blast and we have a half bushel of apples that are approx. 50-60% honeycrisp. :) You gotta love kids!

Catching our breath

It seems like life has been flying by this summer and we've been trying to catch our breath before we transition to school in less than 2 weeks. Here are a few shots of the gang having fun.

In honor of the olympics, we had stir fry complete with chopsticks. The kids loved playing around to master their tools and Goose actually did pretty good.

The two handed chopstick user.

OK, I opted this photo taken tonight over the chopsticks as Boo is so happy to be holding the chick, Lucky. They've grown enough they are harder to catch, harder to hold and can fly away.

As usual, Jaybird has his own ideas about chopsticks.

This is what has occupied a whole week of my time. The neighbors were out of town and we took care of their animals for 2 weeks and I was given free reign over their garden (I didn't have one this year). I just couldn't let that food go to waste so I got a crash course in canning. This is most, but not all of it (I have to hide the salsa from my man or he'll drink a quart a day!)

Yep, they're still my crazy crew.

Spiderman's First "Gotcha Day"

Above: 8/12/07 meeting in Ethiopia and Daddy teaching high fives.
Below: 8/12/08 with his "gotcha" gift we bought while in Ethiopia. (If you can't tell it's a painted drum) He picked lasagna and zucchini bread for dinner tonight and had Ethiopian food for lunch. What a fun thing to celebrate as a family.

Well, hard to believe but it's been a full year since we met Spiderman for the first time ever. I'll never forget that morning or our meeting. I had prayed countless prayers that it would go well and he would be comfortable with us (and that I wouldn't cry). I had even covered his kids and grandkids in prayer. Just recently he told me that he was scared to walk in the room to meet us and thought his heart would explode. You would have never known it. He walked right in and came up for a hug. The rest is history.

So much has happened this past year. It's been filled with many "first time" moments and memories of us becoming a family. We were just asked today what kinds of struggles and adjustments have been the hardest. My man actually said, "we were prepared for the worst but it has been shockingly smooth." We still have food issues but I'm reminded of friends with biological children who have those as well. We are so thankful that the kids all get along and are good friends. Spiderman told me just this past week that "Ethiopia was boring" and that he loves having a brother and 2 sisters because "there really wasn't anyone to play with". I know there were other kids living nearby but what I see is that he has learned to appreciate that a brother or sister is ALWAYS there for you (even if sometimes to fight with).

What amazes me is that I had prepared myself for the first year to be all about adjusting and forging the bonds of family. I anticipated this to be a difficult and taxing year. God must have laughed as he saw me preparing for disaster as He had something else in mind. Spiderman came to us ready to move ahead and with a joyful and resilient spirit. It has been a year characterized more by joy than with difficulty. Oh sure, there have been moments of frustration and irritation with this new little guy in our home but if I'm honest with myself, it almost always has to do with my own selfishness. I can see how he has missed out on 7 years of "my programming" and has had to learn what to expect from me. :) I am too often reminded that I am not a perfect mom and I am motivated by what makes things easier on me. As I relax and look at who he is (and really all my children for that matter) I can enjoy him for the sweet, imaginative, funny, confident, helpful and obedient little guy that he is. In fact today he has been inventing a submarine out of parts of old electronic toys he has "screwdrivered" into pieces, taping their little computer brains together. He's already making plans for a time machine and a jet pack. :)

Praise God for bringing Spiderman to us!

just a few more photos

Here are a couple of the girls playing a traditional Ethiopian game with pebbles. It's most closely related to Jacks I guess but they make it look more fun.

Here is Jen's son and Spiderman. Pretty much all my kids had him on a pedestal all weekend and my daughter paid TOO much attention to him!

Some of the girls catching up at the pool. That was a fun intermission to our organized times.