Happy Birthday, Sally!

Sally turns five today! She has been looking forward to her birthday for months. Last year, she was confused by most of the celebration. It only took a few parties for her to realize what this wonderful called a birthday is all about. Especially when it's your birthday. She's been planning where (the venue has changed so many times I finally stopped listening to her), what kind of cake (again, fickle, fickle, fickle--she ended up with a bicycle cake), and presents. Specifically, she wanted clothes, an ice cream playset, and her ears pierced. We threw in a new bike for good measure. She's been riding a boy's toddler bike for a year. It's great for learning, but a few months ago she realized that she was indeed riding a bike waaaay smaller than Ella's and...whoa...it's blue. No! How in the world did I end up on a blue bike?! Hello Kitty is much more suitable. Sally's a girlie girl if I ever saw one.

Birthday celebrations began early with an invitation only VHS showing of Free Willy (the phenomenon continues). The princess gets a trip to the mall for earrings and a pretzel. Five seems a little young for earrings, but Sally's loophole is her questionable age. She's turning five today according to paperwork, but really...she got her six year old molars when she was 'four and a half". When I asked the dentist about her age he laughed and said, "It's not like she's 12, but she's probably not four." I'm more than happy to let her get her ears pierced now instead of making her wait a long two years. She's had a hard year. When she's fourteen and wants to start driving I'll be singing a different song!

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Our Day in Court

It only took us 14 months to get this done. I didn't have the same sense of urgency regarding paperwork AFTER the children were already ours. I finally felt so guilty about putting it off for eight months that I contacted the lawyer. It was a remarkably cold, blustery day back in February. I ran outside to get the van warmed up before loading everyone up. A few minutes later we trickled out to the van to find the doors locked. The keys in the ignition, the van running, and the second set of keys an hour away in Seth's pocket--no way I could make it to my appointment on time. I called for roadside assistance and waited. Then waited. Then started math with the bigs. Then called roadside assistance again. Then waited. Then ate lunch. Did reading, geography, and science. Then called roadside assistance again. Told them to stop lying to me about "being there in 20 minutes" because it had been four hours. Told them to just cancel the truck that was "just around the corner" because I if this was really an emergency we would have died by now. Thankyouverymuch. I called someone else and he was in my driveway within five minutes.

I finally made it to the office that day. Eight months and five hours late. I didn't feel too guilty after that, because I had taken the step by dropping off paperwork and signing a (rather hefty, in my opinion) check. I didn't hear from the lawyer again until a few weeks ago. (I have to admit that I had my reservations about the personable lawyer I had hired. Sure that she was running off with our wimpy payment.) We finally got a notice about appearing in court. I've only been in a courtroom once before. It was in Ukraine and the judge was scary--yelling at me, peppering us with questions about getting paid to adopt our daughter. This was a completely different experience. The judge was jolly and passed out gifts (gavels) to our children afterwards. I have to admit that I felt a little nostalgic about the morning. It was the last little piece that had to be done to make our children "ours".

July 4th

From us to you--"Happy Independence Day!" Pretend Everett is screaming that--it's much easier than opening photoshop and switching his face.

Last Month by the Numbers

4—Months that Seth has been living two hours away during the workweek.

80—Days I was alone with five children. Trying to sell the house. You are welcome to re-read previous posts and see them in a new light realizing that I was alone with the chaos. My loving hubby forbade me from publicly announcing our living situation.

$75—The whopping earnings we made when we sold our home.

22—Number of days that our family has been homeless—in the loosest sense of the word.

2—Hours it takes to travel from my parent's house to our city for doctor's appointments.

5—Times I drove back in the first 10 days after moving out.

16—Houses we have been shown (after ruling out hundreds).

2—Offers we have made. Still without a home.

7—Times the girls have watched Free Willy since we moved in with my parents.

4—Viewings it took for them to finally stop calling Willy a dolphin.

10.5—Hours a trip to Connecticut should have taken from my sister's house.

14.5—Actual trip time. Did I mention that I was travelling alone with five children?

30—Minutes for an average 'pit stop' on the trip.

5—Times my mom told me I was crazy for taking the trip.

At least 50—Times I told my mom she was right once I was in the van. Alone. With five kids. For 14 hours.

It's Finally Over

The medicinal saga has come to an end. Rounds of applause and cheering are in order. It's been a long year of daily dosing. Finally. She. Is. Done.

Sally is TB free! She still bears the scars. She'll wear the brace until the anniversary of her surgery, but her back is strong and getting stronger every day.

Cloth Diapers

If I were normal I would write an informative post about cloth diapers. Topics would include: cost effectiveness, type of diapers, stuffing for the diapers, detergents, the cool hose thingy that you can attach to your toilet for those nasty changes...It's been done though, and done very well. Google cloth diapers and you can read to your heart's content. I didn't use them until we got Josiah. Even then, I didn't decide to sink a bunch of money into diapers that I would only use with one child. A six month old, at that. My industrious sister was expecting her first and she decided to buy one diaper, dissect it, and recreate it herself 30 more times. She's nuts, absolutely nuts. She and my mom made some for Josiah. They were so kind, but I personally think they wanted to try them out on a live baby before finishing the big batch. These diapers are so cute. Sickeningly cute on an adorable, chubby baby that's cuddling with a puppy. A word of caution. These diapers can be extremely tempting to puppies. It could be disastrous if cloth diaper wearing child is not closely monitored around excitable puppy. Messes and injuries could result.

I'm So Clever

Without a doubt, the comment I get the most is, "You sure have your hands full!"

After hearing this for the fifteen millionth time, I got tired of answering with a lame, "Yes. I do."

Like, what else can I possibly say to that?
"Ya think?"
"Huh? I've only got five, you should see my sister she has 11."
"You talkin' to me? "
"Wha...don't tell me those stinkin' kids are following me again."
"Oh, no, they are all little blessings sent straight from heaven." That said while gritting my teeth and wrangling a screaming toddler from the overloaded cart at the grocery store. Honestly.

One day it just popped out. I must have had just enough sleep to be thinking coherently.

"Yes. I have exactly one handful."

Hardy, har, har. I explained it to the kids later and we all had a good chuckle. That has become my stock answer. My 'handful' and I are always eager to see the reaction I get with that response. We giggle about the quizzical looks that I get and it's turned an annoyance into a game. Instead of them being a 'hand full' and nuisance, we walk away from the exchange with smiles.

Dinner

One at a time they trickle into the kitchen. It's the smell that draws them. They start to crowd in on me, getting underfoot. Soon, they are pestering and pulling on me. They all want the same thing.

"Up!"

"How do you do it?"

Coffee and prayer, my friend. Lots of coffee and even more prayer.

The Move

Early Saturday morning Seth and I pulled away from our house. He was in a 26 foot truck and I was in The Van. Moby had been transformed--instead of transporting children it held my wrought iron patio furniture and a TV. I was kind of excited about the prospect of spending a few quiet hours driving to the storage unit. We got onto the highway and I started seeping from my eyes. I'm a brickhouse, honestly, I don't sob often. I guess I finally sat still enough to realize that we are really moving.

So, doomsday closing is next week. That means the kiddos and I have been living in an empty house since Saturday. It rained Monday and Tuesday. Today, Eli said, "All I can think about is the xbox. Please can we play video games?"

Um, no. I can't bear the thought of little minds melting while the sun is shining outside. The babe is asleep and it's the perfect time for me to scurry around getting the last bits into boxes. I shuttled everyone outside and found a forgotten bag of play sand in the shed. Beautiful! I raced inside and started on another box. Until everyone started complaining about needing some "guys" to play with in the sand.

Everything in the house is gone except the bare necessities. So, I grabbed four plastic spoons and drew faces on them with my black sharpie. Viola! Guys! That should have bought me at least 30 minutes, but the guys needed helmets and the guys that are girls needed curly princess hair. I added helmets and hair with my box-labeling sharpie and pressed on. As I walked through the house collecting odds and ends I noticed that my feet were getting very sandy. Upon inspection, there was sand EVERYWHERE. These little people were actually coming into the house to use the bathroom and tracking wet sand all over the place. I grabbed the broom and took to sweeping up the mess. Then, I heard Josiah yelling from upstairs and my 'getting stuff done' time had passed. I had packed three-fourths of a box. I had sand all over the floors. I was down four plastic spoons and saw the dog shredding the now empty play sand bag.

It would seem that I take half a step forward and five steps back.

Ella and I just spent a harried four days with my dearest friends shuttling between Yale Medical School and my friend's house. I arranged the trip without realizing that Connecticut is indeed larger than my backyard and driving from one corner to another may require a few hours each way.

We were flown to Connecticut so that my little girl might take part in a study of children with absence epilepsy. The title is something like, "Are children with absence epilepsy really absent?" If I had to make an under-educated guess I would say that my child is absent pretty often. Especially if she isn't taking her drugs, getting at least 20 hours of sleep, and doing something engaging that she enjoys. All three of those planets are aligned once a year. Yeah, around here we deal with absent minded behavior on a regular basis. Going to Yale--on their dollar, visiting friends, and getting pictures of my daughter's brain WHILE she's having a seizure? Count me in.

Sadly, most of our visiting had to happen in the confines of my tiny rental car and the waiting area outside of the research MRI unit. For this, I apologize once again, girls. So, so sorry! We made the best of it and chatted up a storm. Most of the chatting probably one sided so that I could stay awake as I drove back and forth. I honestly thought that Ella would refuse to have the tests done. Previously we've had to completely knock her out for an MRI. That was a year and a half ago. She's older, wiser, and more easily bribed these days. They had to put an EEG cap on her to monitor her seizure activity, then put her into the MRI machine to 'photograph' her brain, and gave her a 'video game' to play during the whole thing. The idea is to get a picture of what is going on while she's seizing and trying to think at the same time. I thought she'd balk the first day, but she was a trooper and had two scans done.

It was a thrilling trip for her. She 'met' old friends and got to fly on a plane alone with Mommy. I'm such a fun travel buddy that I made her take a math test and do phonics work on our layovers. On the way home we realized that we didn't have gifts for the children who couldn't come. Traditionally, around here, if you make a trip--you return with gifts. I think that's taught by the three wise men. I should have just picked up a postcard at the grocery store, but I wasn't savvy enough. I was stuck buying Webkinz at the CNBC stand at the airport. Never has such an extravagant purchase been made on a trip. The usual fare is a book or some sort of crayola art product. Seth once forgot gifts and shelled out a dollar to each child with some quip about thinking they would enjoy buying their own souvenir at the Dollar Store. That worked. The webkinz ruled though, by far the best gift ever given and I imagine that the children will welcome my departure more often. Josiah stole the car Ella chose from the treasure chest at Yale, so he was placated also.

So, the peeling back of Ella's layers continues. It will be months before we get her results and possibly years before this study is complete. I'm pleased with every little tidbit that we can scrounge up that helps us to understand her.

Our House Selling Vacation

Every single vacation earns itself a title of infamy to us. There was the "Poopy Trip Home" vacation, the "Bought Moby" beach trip, and the "Freezing at the Beach then Jamestown trip". This last trip could be known as the trip that took forever to get home (but that would make it hard to distinguish from other trips). Or that vacation that Eli got bit by a swan, or better yet the trip on which we SOLD our house!

Well, sort of sold our house. We have moved from the house selling world into the waiting for closing world. It can't come too soon because I'm fearful that something may keep it from coming at all. With selling the house comes packing the house and of course, buying another house. We won't even start to think about that. The day we hand the keys over will be an answer to many prayers. We knew when we put our house on the market that we could sit here for a year. Or two years. If our house sells after being on the market just a few short months, it is truly due only to God's mercy on our family. I'll chase that with the statement that I'm willing to stay here for as long as the Lord desires, but life would be grand if my hubby lived and worked in the same city.

All of the excitement from an offer dulled as we were driving home and the 12 hour drive stretched into 18 hours. As we meandered through Tennessee the sinking realization hit--the GPS is not wrong. We have added an additional six hours to the drive. It's really an amazing feat. Not too many people could spend six hours in a gas station restroom. We did. We slogged through a Kentucky monsoon at a blazing 40 mph for days. Finally, we reached my parents house and collapsed. When we finally got home (an additional two hours on the road the next day--that would make total drive time 20 hours) I had spent enough time thinking about moving that it finally settled in. During our week away spring had arrived and our trees bloomed. That made the arrival home even more bittersweet. I'm praying we can leave by the end of the month, but we will miss this house, our friends, and our church.

Happy Mother's Day!

I often wonder if I'll ever be that wise, calm, mom who knows all of the answers and has the most well-behaved children. Maybe I'll settle for being the crazy mom with five beautiful, albeit obnoxious, children.

I feel like a dud quite a few times throughout the day. Sometimes I would just love, and I truly mean L-O-V-E, a minute alone. I lose my temper and get frustrated. I don't know what I'm doing with these five little people! I wish that God would give me a teeny, tiny glimpse at His plans for them so I could better equip them for their futures. I really thought that after five kids I would know how to handle all the situations that they could throw at me. They are so ornery creative they keep me on my toes.

My ruminations on Mother's Day fall short of what I'm feeling. They also fall short of the wonderful things you've heard (or said) today. So I won't try to be eloquent, from our wild family to yours--we hope you have a relaxing, wonderful Mother's Day!

One Quirky Language

Listening to Sally talk is confusing and hilarious at the same time. She talks incessantly, asking me questions, tattling on her brothers, and generally just running her mouth. I should have enjoyed the (few) days last year when she didn't speak English. If only I would have known what a jabber box she would become! One afternoon Seth asked her to just please be quiet for a second so he could think. She shut her mouth for exactly one second and then took off again. Incessant. Chatter.

Last week she said, "Mommy, does the noise have a pool?" I was completely clueless about where she was going with this. So I gave her my befuddled, "Huh?" She calmly repeated her earnest question. Then she went on, "You know, the noise. You say we are going to the noise. Does it have a pool?"

It took me a minute to realize that she was talking about our afternoon trip to 'the sound'. She's so desperate to talk that she makes her way around our confusing language.

Along those same lines: Josiah's language has been explosive. It seems like everyday he surprises us with a new word. Yesterday, he broke into the chocolate cake from Seth's birthday. It was breakfast time and evidently, I wasn't working fast enough. I turned around and was greeted by a chocolate covered baby. I squealed, four more kids came running, and Josiah said, "Awanna chokat, Mommy!" It's hard not to laugh and just let him have it. Oddly enough, he repeats most anything we say, but REFUSES to say please. He's a stubborn, spoiled little guy (who charms me in the morning by singing the 'Bob the Builder' theme song).

All in just one year, I never would have expected it.

postscript 5/10--Tonight, Sally told me she had a booboo on her two-head. Then pointed to her forehead. Seth and I burst out laughing, poor kiddo!

A Week Away

This week, we are having fun,

relaxing,

and spending time with family and friends AT THE BEACH.

One Year Ago

One year ago today we met our children.

We didn't know if it was "gonna be alright." We prayed. We hoped. All we knew was that God had given us these children and we had to trust Him. The last year has had it's moments, but it's been so much better than 'alright'.

Sending Shoes to Ethiopia

After our day without shoes we had a chat after dinner. I had been thinking about whether being shoeless for the day actually made any difference in any one's lives. Curious about what the kids were thinking, I started a conversation--a day without shoes debriefing... "So, we went without shoes for the day, but what came from it?"

Some blank stares, some thoughtful looks--then this reply from Elijah. "Welllll, we all got really dirty feet and Jojo got a splinter."

Yeah, I guess that sums it up pretty well. Kids are so literal. So I pressed a little more, wondering if they would come to the same conclusion that I had. "Right. Do more people in Ethiopia have shoes because we went without shoes for a day?"

All heads are shaking. Elijah, again, is ever so helpful, "Why don't we buy some TOMS shoes so that they can send one pair to Ethiopia?"

"Great idea, except I counted my shoes and I'm ashamed to admit that I have 44 pairs. So I don't really need another pair. And I'm pretty sure we could buy lots of shoes for the price of two pairs from TOMS. What else could we do?" I'm totally leading them, but want them to see where I'm coming from.

Lots of ideas including sending our extra shoes to Ethiopia and (from Eli again) eating only baked beans to save money. I latched onto the latter idea. Sort of. I've told the kids that if we ate less expensive food, we'd have more money to give away. Joking I once told them that if we ate rice and beans everyday we would save tons. Which is true. Eli loves baked beans so he put his spin on the money saving bean eating idea.

After further discussion we all agreed that we would start saving money by making better choices and doing extra chores. I will put the saved money into an envelope for shoes. I'm going to send the money to Jill's sister, Katy, who will buy shoes during her month in Ethiopia this summer. It seems, to me, to be the most efficient way to bless shoeless people in Ethiopia.

Drawn From Water

My view of the world changed the moment a hurting orphan became our hurting child. Sometimes, it's a comment by a stranger that sets me off thinking. In this case, it's a hard-to-watch video. It's hard to watch because the images from Ethiopia are still so raw. I'm living comfortably with my healthy (somewhat), happy (most of the time) children. Why can't I let it go? Haven't we done enough? It would seem that upon returning home, supplying children with love and care, providing medical attention, and a generally easy going middle class cushy American lifestyle that we could just let it go. We did our part. But it doesn't go away. I have vivid images of the children we met at Kids Care. A year later, some of them are probably still. there. waiting. They are older children and have little hope for being adopted.

So, watching a video of children who have literally been rescued from death can be pretty hard. I see the faces of children I've actually met. I see the faces my children. Then I take a deep breath and turn the video off. To all the world we've done 'our part'. Secretly, I know that we haven't. If pressed, I would admit that I feel a terrible burden for orphans all over the world. I would also admit that I use my children as a great excuse for being complacent and disconnected. Will they grow up with a burden for others or be controlled by their desire for success? How do you teach compassion? Only by living it and I fear that we are falling short.

I admire the family who goes to Ethiopia, sees the children, and decides to do something. Please watch this short clip that explains their story. If you skip all other video suggestions, do me a favor and watch this one.




Drawn from water is the blog for the organization.

Kramer No More

That massive pile on the left would be "The Kramer" that I removed from Josiah's head. I picked his hair and couldn't believe I had let it grow so long. Six inches high seems a smidge out of control. I grabbed the scissors and went to work. Oddly, his head seems to have grown bigger. Maybe it's always been this big, but just looked small in comparison to the woolly animal residing on his noggin.

Our baby has officially left babyhood behind!

One Day Without Shoes

We are doing it. Will you join us and leave your shoes at home today?

Watch this video. Or this video. Then rethink your answer.

I talked to my kids. We decided that we could go without shoes for one day. I'm always looking for lessons to teach my children that require some action on our part. Before you scoff and remind me that I homeschool--we will leave the house. We will be in public. We will be cold because it's 40 degrees outside right now. No matter, we don't have to walk to get food, to go to school, or to get medical attention. We drive EVERYWHERE. So take off your shoes, tell people why you are walking around barefoot, and, if they strike your fancy, buy a pair of Tom's shoes so that a child in Ethiopia won't have to go shoeless.