Hopefully~~~

Hopefully by the end of this week, Gabe and I will have the details finalized for a fundraiser. (This would be fundraising to host Alina from Latvia.) It will be an awesome give away with multiple things to win and multiple ways to enter! I was SO excited about this last night, it took me forever to fall asleep.


Stay tuned for details!!!!

Summer Plans are in the Making

For the past two summers, we have hosted orphans in our home. We have prayed long and hard about a 'three-peat', and we both felt God saying to go for it. Specifically for the girl pictured above. Her name is Alina: she is from Latvia and she is 11 yrs old. We are hosting this time thru Simple Obedience Ministries, and they only work with Latvian orphans. They are hoping to bring about 25 or so kids here this summer, and 2 are being hosted by friends of ours from church (which is actually how we heard about this other hosting program.)

The kids all cheered when I told them we were hosting again, and got really excited when I showed them this picture. (I think it was a plus for them that she was holding Barbies, LOL) Jadyn even suggested we look at yardsales to try and get a couple of more Barbies to make sure there was enough for everyone to play!

I am not sure how we are going to fundraise, and at this point I am not super sure how we are going to fit her in the 'playroom', but I know this: we are excited, and we are nervous, and we are sure this is what we should do this summer.

And while I am excited for Alina, there are other kids waiting for families to host them this summer, so I am including the website so you can go look, pray, and see what you can do.

Simple Obedience- click here

5 Quick Takes

*My oldest daughter has 3 loose teeth. Two of them are the top front ones. And one of those is so loose it is dangling by a thread and is SO GROSS and she will not let us pull it, nor will she pull it out herself. A few days ago I wrestled her to the ground in a head lock to try to grab it and yank. I have claw marks on my arm, and the tooth is still staring at me every time she smiles. So I have resorted to 'accidentally' knocking her in the mouth. Not with anything that can hurt, but with pillows and a roll of paper towels. So far, nothing. Stay tuned. Also? I think she's on to that trick......

*For some reason, my middle daughter has decided to wear socks with her sandals. I guess she's channeling her inner European. And it might not be so bad if it weren't red and yellow striped monkey socks with bright pink sandals. So far I have managed to contain this fashion to the backyard. I don't think my kids have to look like total fashion models when they leave the house, but there are a few things I draw the line at. Things need to match, hair needs to be at least brushed and now I can add no socks and sandals to the list. Yay me.

*I have discovered the hilarity that is "Park and Recreation" on Netflix/NBC. Watch at least 3 to get the formula, but you may be hooked before that. Very funny!

*I sincerely wish there was a diet that involved eating peanuts/cashews and drinking coffee. Pretty sure that's a diet plan I could stick with.

*I had a slipcover on an armchair that would NOT stay put. (The slipcover, not the chair, LOL). Guess what keeps it in place now? Barbells. I wedged them behind the seat cushion at the corners. I am inventive if nothing else.....

The Bean

Today is my middle child's 5th birthday. In honor of that, here are some things to know about my gal....

*She was 9 pounds 14 ounces at birth.

*She was the only child born with enough hair to tell what color it was.

*Her middle name is Jane and she is named after Gabe's grandmother.

*Gabe came up with the name 'Ava'.

*Other names we considered: Arabella, Zelda and Megan.

*Her nicknames are "Bean", "Beanie", "Beanie-Weenie", "Janie" among others.

*As a newborn she sounded JUST like the pterodactyls from Jurassic Park when she cried.

*She took her first steps at 10 mos on Christmas Day.

*She loves to make people laugh and is hilarious! She has a very physical sense of humor.

*She is actually very introverted, and is a deep thinker.

*She has been my biggest challenge, but is a HUGE joy to me!

It Really is Like Herding Cats....

So today was not such a great day around here. Nothing really terrible happened, but there seemed to be a lot of me pushing the kids in the direction I wanted them to go. Not ACTUAL pushing....I guess like 'verbal prodding'. Nagging- OK- it was nagging. I don't know what language I was speaking today, but it wasn't the one my kids understood. I felt like the teacher in all the Charlie Brown cartoons. So between that and the fact that yesterday had been soooo good, it sadly didn't take much for me to start feeling down. And I just kept sliding down down down, til I became a sad heap.

I really should know better. I know those stupid thoughts and where they lead. But today I didn't fight them; I rode the wave of self pity like a pro. My brain was a vortex of thoughts like "No one cares that you give up so much to stay home. No one cares that you knock yourself out. Look at you- you're a stay at home mom cliche. Gross. Is that peanut butter and boogers on your jeans? I bet Gabe doesn't appreciate what you do. The kids don't. Look at the house- it's a mess. What do you do all day? Get fatter? Older? Yell at the kids? You're doing more harm to them than good."

I post those thoughts for a couple of reasons. Not so that anyone feels bad for me or tries to make me feel better....I post them because I have learned that if I am feeling a certain way, chances are I have at least one friend/aquaintance that feels the same. And by getting them out there in the open, the lies loose their power. Satan looses power.

And as I was crying and trying to make pancakes for dinner, something happened. I heard Hadley in the playroom recite a verse I taught her a couple of weeks ago. She was loud and clear and said it perfectly. My head cleared and I saw the ugly thoughts for what they were....Lies. Stupid lies I fall for almost every time.

Her sweet voice put everything into perspective. That is why I do what I do, day after day, meaningless task after meaningless task. I do (or should be doing) everything to the glory of God. (I Cor 10:31) If I am doing what God calls me to do, I cannot swim in self pity or drown in despair. He will give me grace to handle today, and tomorrow will give me the grace to handle tomorrow.

So tomorrow, I will start over. Thankfully, it's a new day with new chances.

Lamentations 3:22-23 

  Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.

So of course I forgave her

I found this note under my pillow. This is from my first grader and I am pretty sure she has never voluntarily apologized for anything. Ever.

"I Love you Mom I'm vere sary I gv you u hard time yestdrday. I Love you Love Jadyn"

Translation: I love you, Mom. I'm very sorry I gave you a hard time yesterday. I love you. Love, Jadyn.

Notes n stuff

So my oldest has had quite the funny week. Turns out she's been getting sick, so maybe that's made her more hilarious than normal. Here is a highlight reel of her week:

"Don't tell Mom, but I think I'm turning into a mermaid." [Yes. Don't tell Mom. She'll never figure that one out- not even when you grow fins or refuse to get out of the bathtub. Also? I have NO idea what she meant.]

She was playing 'orphanage' with her sisters. Which I know sounds weird, unless like us, you know a dozen or so adopting families, and then my guess is playing 'orphanage' is a way to show how you want to help. That's my theory. They also play 'Oksana', where they specifically adopt HER, but that's another story.

So, anyway, they were playing 'orphanage' and I guess my youngest daughter stopped playing along with the 'rules', and J said, "You better behave, or I'll send you back to the orphanage." Um, yeah, not how that works. And please never say that again or we'll end up on the news. Or Dr. Phil.

She has also realized this week that not only can she READ things, but she can....wait for it....WRITE. She is writing EVERYTHING. She wants to send cards to everyone she knows. She also wrote her first story called (this is her own spelling) "Helow. This is my storey." Then she wrote Gabe a silly note that said, "I think yr her loox wared." Which is of course "I think your hair looks weird."

But to top off the week, she wrote a note for Hadley and then stuck in under her pillow so that we found it at bedtime. She wrote, "From Jadyn to my chnookooms Hadley". I had to Google how to spell 'snookums', and we all say 'shnookums' anyway, so I think for a 6 year old, she did really well with that word. And her littlest sister was thrilled and it made my heart a big wad of goop to see one daughter go out of her way to show love to another.

Great ending to a mediocre week, in my opinion!