Christmas Day

Thanks to my big sister, we always open new PJ's on Christmas Eve every year.   The kids were excited to show them off, knowing that the rest of the stash wasn't far away.  After last year's lesson on wake up times (someone got up at 3:00 am), we told the kids they couldn't come down and make noise until 7:00 am.  This made for much happier parents. 

Also, before opening our presents we talked about the people around the world having a very different Christmas.  The kids had raised money among themselves to buy some chickens, honeybees and milk for the needy through "Samaritan's Purse".   They prayed for those people to have a good Christmas and to learn about Jesus love.  It was a nice way to start off our morning as we opened more gifts than we need, like most Americans.

In short, we are filled to the brim with fun new things and giddy kids.  I'm giddy that I have a week off of school and that we're mostly healthy (though I did wake up Christmas Eve with some sort of pink eye).  To top it off, my sweetie is taking me out on an anniversary date on the 30th to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.  It's amazing how time flies but I wouldn't want it any other way.  Life has been so good to us praise God.  I don't know what the future holds but I'm ready to face a new year and see what God has in store for us. 

Grandma made some matching PJ's for Boo and her doll, Cara.

Even more Legos to add to the collection (among others).

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!

Christmas Eve Fun

Just in time, we got our white Christmas as the snow poured down on Christmas Eve.   This has been our first "good" snow this year so the kids were anxious to get out and play hard.  The younger Eastin and Schneider kids all came over for some serious sledding fun and it was great. 

That evening, our three families got together for a big meal, baby Jesus birthday cake (traditions) and lots of laughing.  It was a wonderful way to kick off the Christmas weekend.

Where have I been?

 Well the questions have come - "Why haven't you been posting on your blog?  What's going on in your life?"  I can't even begin to detail the past two months but I will say that God is good, all the time.  Even when life is difficult.  In honor of the Christmas season, I thought I'd write a little song to bring you up to speed.  You'll have to put it to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas.....

In the two months before Christmas my family gave to me

12 hens in the hen house -needing attention

11 pounds of mud and snow tracked in the house

10 over-the-counter medications

9 loads of laundry – each week

8 wet mittens on the floor

7 weeks of home schooling

6 trips to see the Doctor

5 vomit stains on the carpet

4 kids in a Christmas Pageant

3 sets of visiting company

2 major holidays to prepare for

And 1 child sick with pneumonia

(I'll try to do better after Christmas :)

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.