Friday, March 30, 2012

I had to laugh that exactly 2 minutes after I published the last post I got the long awaited call from our lawyer :)

She told me she had "wonderful news" for us!!
And did she ever!!!!

Our final (and only) courtdate is now set!!
MAY 4th!!

May 4th at 10 am our little boy will finally be OUR little boy!!!
And share our last name!!

We are really excited and relieved and amazed that it will all be finished!
Praise God!!

John 14:18
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

Psalm 68:6
"God settles the solitary in a home....."

So thankful for His promises and provision!!!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

i'm starting to wonder if we happened to pour an exceptionally hard drive way.
we are having so much fun being able to play outside here at the new house, but everyone is scraping knees, stubbing toes, skinning elbows, foreheads, noses....

and it's not only the kids......
i took a really hard fall a couple of days ago while playing football with tyden and one of the neighbor boys. i was running across the driveway to make a pass and didn't see the bike in my way......
it was cute though, the neighbor kid -zack- came running over to help me up and move the bike.
what is also cute is that every now and then he will whisper to tyden, "will you ask your mom if she wants to play football with us??"
he's a year older than tyden and the youngest of 3 boys. and his parents aren't home much so he finds his way over everyday. and we are glad to have him :)







and playing outside has gotten even more fun now that we can finally walk on the grass! it's wonderful! kind of a splurge to lay that sod, but i think it was worth it!
dave mowed it for the first time last night- it looks awesome!

and then there's our grassless backyard- which is also more fun now that i brought our trampoline over from my parent's house. it's an old trampoline that one of dave's employees gave us but is so nice to have!

i didn't intend to move it that day- i stopped by my mom's to get a pool because i was having extra kids over.
it was a gorgeous day.......
and i saw the trampoline........then looked at my van full of kids.......and thought that maybe i could take the tramp apart and squeeze it in somehow.......
and it worked!!
okay, i may not have been completely legal with all the seating arrangements after i put a trampoline in my van- but the point is that we got it in.
and brought it home.
and i singlehandedly put it back together with 5 little kids watching.
i was just glad they were the only ones watching because it took me forever. with it falling back apart over and over :)
but so worth it! especially now that i can sit on the back porch and watch them jump :)
and also now that i discovered the whole child birth and jumping curse doesn't last forever :)



had our our first day at the lake! so fun!


there's a mouse in that cup.....dave caught neiko petting it on those stairs, and then he captured it......and the kids fed it to the fish......:)


okay, now i have to see if i can get through this next part in one piece-
first of all no adoption news- haven't heard anything at all. not sure how this is all going to go down since our guardianship is still temporary and still expires on april 15th.

and then-
the last two weeks have been HARD.
staring with a parenting conference.
i am under some major conviction- not just in parenting but in every area of my life. i haven't been sleeping well and i feel the Spirit pretty intensely. calling me deeper into Him and into holiness and showing me the ugliness of my heart, my motives, my thoughts, my words, my actions.
i am NOT LOVING LIKE JESUS LOVES.
it is not enough to be a good wife if i'm not loving my husband better than i love myself.
it is not enough to be a good mom if i'm not daily mirroring the self-sacrificing love of my Savior. or if i'm not showing my children everyday how much they need Jesus.
and what am i even doing if i'm not doing these things??
Jesus help me-i need more grace!

tyden has been causing some trouble.
he's been teasing the girls, arguing with dave and i, rushing through homework and getting F's, complaining about helping out around the house, messy room......
last night i sat down on his bed and told him that being a part of this family requires more than that. i gave him a list of 5 areas that need some major improvement. then i asked him if he thought he could change in all 5 areas- if he could wake up tomorrow and do them all better.
he thought for a minute and then said, "i can try, but i don't think i can do it all exactly right."
to which i said, "well, YOU have a list of 5 things- and I have a list of about 50 things that i need to do better. and i can't do it on my own. do you know anyone who can help us?"
he said, "Jesus."
and i said, "yep. we both need Him. and we are in it together."
and he slowly pulled his fist out from under his blanket and held it up to me.
fist pump.
and my heart melted.

also churning around in my head is the news we got last week that neiko has a sibling on the way.
she is keeping it.
just weird that he will be a big brother and he won't ever know it. and i wonder if he will ever want to meet his siblings someday. hopefully with 4 adoptive siblings he will feel like he's got plenty!
once again, adoption is beautiful and heart-wrenching......



this is a picture i took on sunday morning as i was getting everyone ready for the big easter program at church. the day where you wake up really early and make sure everyone looks beautiful and has their part memorized......it's a big day.



which was going great until we had everyone ready and loaded up in the van. i dashed back inside to get wren's new sandals to replace the flip-flops she had put on- and it hit me.
i started sweating and shaking and knew i was going to throw up. and i ran to the bathroom and did.
out of no where.
so then i wasn't sure what in the world to do- i couldn't send dave to church with all the kids without me. i couldn't miss the program. so i jumped in the van and rode to church feeling worse by the minute.
once we got there i stumbled downstairs and curled up on the floor of the church bathroom.
SO AWFUL!!
well, somehow dave and i ended up back at home with neiko, and my parents kept the 4 older kids at church.
i missed it all!!
i came home and crashed for a couple of hours and thankfully started feeling better by that evening.
but i still can't believe i missed the program!!

and now, speaking of bathrooms....



today was supposed to be the very last day of working on the tile for the shower.
i had my 3 youngest kids plus lexi here all day- and 2 people in and out of my shower.
loooooooong day, but i kept telling myself it would be the last.
and then they ran out of grout.
so they will be back tomorrow.....sigh....

......and tomorrow is bike day-
the long awaited day for tekoa where she gets to take her bike and her mom to school.
and she learned to ride without training wheels just in time!

she was the easiest one to teach so far- but i did lose half a toenail to the driveway during the process :)


3 kids down and only 2 to go!!

and, okay, i know this is the world's longest post- and i'm sorry- but i have one more bit of super exciting news!!!!
i'm going to be an aunt again!!!!
grand kid #14 is on the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

we survived another birthday.



i think i tend to go all out for tekoa a little bit out of guilt.......her being the looked over middle child and all........

so we had 2 days of fun-
3 hours of chuck e cheese on her birthday- hey the kids were being really good, and the salad bar was good too :)





then dave and i took our kids plus one of tekoa's best friends to go see 'the Lorax' that night.
a gift card to rave and a babysitter for neiko made that possible :)
would've been $50 :) for matinee prices and not near enough popcorn and drinks ;)

and speaking of prices- i absolutely never thought i'd see the day that i would spend $20 on a coloring book and markers!!
but the girl LOVES to color and she spends HOURS everyday just quietly coloring.
she actually colors whole books and uses up whole sets markers. a hobby i will greatly encourage in any way i can :)





the next day was her sleepover with her friends. just 5 this time :)
so I had 9 kids for the day plus Lexi the baby I watch.



she's awfully cute, isn't she??

and we actually had a lot of fun- we played outside, baked a cake (4 out of 4 eggs were completely broken before they reached the bowl:), ate pizza, painted nails, opened presents, and watched a Barbie movie.







don't be deceived by the sitting neiko you see in the picture above.....
he absolutely does not sit still enough watch movies!!
he thought he was being cool by doing what the big kids were doing but it sure didn't last!!

and that brings me to Saturday. the day I had to run all over town visiting different business to try to get donations for the kids' school's fundraising auction.
what a perfectly awful way to spend a day. humbling and exhausting and frustrating.
most businesses don't like to give. and i don't like to ask!!

but at least i got to ride around in my van all day with only my cousin for company. and i didn't have to answer one million questions about where we were going and why- or pull over to help someone pee in the potty chair- or break up any fights- or listen to the same song on repeat all day.......

not that this isn't fun :) it totally is! you just have to take the bad with the good :)
(and don't worry, we don't actually drive like this- we just sit like this on friday mornings until its time for me to take them all into preschool)



i feel like there should be a drum roll or something for this next part-
because last night dave put the final piece of tile up in our bathroom. thank you, Jesus.
it was such a looooong process because dave hasn't really tiled before- so he was learning- and the tile guy helping him couldn't come all that often. and when he did come he liked to chat, you know?

so no more path of tile dust from the garage to the bedroom! yay!
now we just have to grout it all.....







my grandma will be so happy that i finally cut neiko's hair.
she told me once, "he would be so cute if you cut his hair" ;)
i'm a little sad, but it needed to be evened out. and he wouldn't sit still so i had to keep evening and evening......

and now you have to look at a laughable amount of pictures of him because i couldn't choose between them-















i'm sorry but i think he is the cutest kid on the planet.

so the adoption news is just a tad disappointing this time.
we finally submitted our petition of adoption (YES!!!) but i guess not in time for our april 15th one year deadline for guardianship. our lawyer just told us we have to go to court for guardianship first and then for adoption.
so just an extra court date and probably a longer wait for the final adoption court date.
but we will get there someday!!

i am LOVING summer in march!!!!





feels even more like summer since the kids had yesterday and today off school!
so fun!
the school is using their unused snow days :) so great!

i got to help my sister move yesterday. she is moving to a temporary house about a half mile from ours- and they are building a house on the same property. it's gonna be so fun. and so convenient for carpooling :)

do you remember awhile back i had a post about how scratches and dents just add character?
it was about a conversation dave and i had on the subject about 10 minutes before i backed our van into a cement post.

well, while i was helping my sister, i was trying to put a humidifier up on a tall shelf and part of it fell off and hit me on the forehead.
and now my forehead has character.
i have a pretty good knot and it split open a little.
it's really kind of embarrassing! and hard to cover up! and it hurts!
but it's also a little bit funny.......at least i'm able to laugh at myself.....wouldn't want dave to be laughing alone......:)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

i know, i know, i posted yesterday and my life is just not that interesting- not enough for posting 2 days in a row.

but i wanted to show you all how neiko gets down the stairs.
its pretty funny.




and now since i'm already blogging-
i'm sure you all want to hear about how much laundry i have today, how i need to refill and organize my two newly rehung kitchen cabinets, how i have 4 kids 4 and under with me for the day- 3 of which are 2 and under.....which makes the first two jobs next to impossible.

i'm sure you want to hear all about the big event of last week- which was the cleaning out of the basement. big stuff.
i found 33 socks. most of which did not belong to any of my children.
and how messy it already is again.....

and then there's the rip in my couch, the flood of water that pours out of my dishwasher when i run it, and the insane amount of dirt and crumbs on the floor in the kitchen and dining room- i swept them yesterday- today i could serve up a whole meal straight from the floor.

but i gotta say that NONE of those above mentioned have any effect on my joy for today.
i'm enjoying my 4 babies, i'm LOVING that my amazing husband will sweep in around 6 and love and lead us all, and i'm SO HAPPY that it will be 61 degrees today so we can get outside.

i'm so blessed by my Heavenly Father who loves me enough to give me everything i need for today. whether easy or hard. whether i deem it good or bad.
i trust Him completely.

okay- signing off now- just heard a loud crash coming from the pile of yet-to-be-hung trim......

Monday, March 5, 2012

shaeya's vaulting performance-





and if that video doesn't work you can try this link-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L40wYeFsuoU&feature=player_embedded#t=0s

she did SO GREAT!!
we were really proud of her!
it was so cute to see her try to work through her nervousness.
she asked me a couple of times, "what if i mess up, mom?"
and i said, "no problem. i make mistakes in front of people when i sing all the time! and usually no one even notices!"

and once the first performance was over, she was a lot less nervous on sunday for the second performance.

it was a really fun weekend with the kids. they had a blast seeing all the horses and swimming at the hotel.
especially little wren! :) she was LOVING every minute of all of it!
she has no fear at all of water, she totally keeps up with the big kids- jumping in and out of the pool :)
and she couldn't get enough of the horses!

and everything felt so easy with only 4 kids :)
but we missed neiko a lot!
i had a HARD time leaving him!
i was so worried he was going to have flashbacks of feelings of abandonment or something. but he was FINE.
and i'm getting LOTS of hugs and kisses from him today. such a sweet boy.

now back to the everyday routine.
minus vaulting practice til summer and minus gymnastics til next year.

i'm feeling a little freer. :)