KING THINGS

Fun night in downtown Bryan

2011-10-09T00:27:00.000-05:00

We went to the Texas Reds Festival last night in downtown Bryan. It was such a great time, a fun mixture of a big festival combined with First Friday. Face (and arm) painting was the first huge hit, followed by balloon animals, paint-your-own-pumpkin, and a King family favorite, turkey legs. We spent a little time watching an outdoor movie which was quickly spoiled by 2 trains coming by about 100 yards away. Then I felt as if the night wasn't complete unless I sent my kids into a sugar-coma by feeding them sno-cones and cotton candy at 8:30.

the newly restored Queen in downtown

Some recommendations

2011-10-06T16:31:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of things I've been wanting to post about.

First, my talented husband has a new CD out. It's an EP of 5 worship songs. It's really good and only $5. The kids and I had a really great worship time this morning, singing and dancing around the room. It was so good to hear my kids singing out that God is Undefeatable and Our God is Victorious, He always wins...He always wins. Go here to buy yourself (and maybe a few friends) a copy or here to download.

Also, Ross wrote and recorded a song of John 1:1-7 so that the kids could memorize it easily. It's in English and he also recorded a Latin version. For any of you in Classical Conversations, this is exactly what our kids are learning this year! And its so easy to memorize to the music. Yay! Go here to get it.

Lastly, my sister-in-law, Christie just opened up an Etsy store of her cute creations. She is very talented. If you've been to my house, you've seen the adorable yarn wreath she made me for the spring. I had her make me one for the fall and it's on its way. I can't wait to get it. If you're the kind of person who spends money on your house in the fall, direct a little money her way and get yourself a cute wreath. It will last for many years, unlike the pumpkins. :-)
Storehouse Crafts blog
Storehouse Crafts etsy store

That's it. Have a great day!

Drawing from the well

2011-09-22T23:05:00.001-05:00

I homeschool our kids. It's something that fits our family and we feel called to do at this stage of our life. It's fun and hard and rewarding and challenging and lots of other descriptive words on any given day. Each year I feel a little more prepared and organized and a little more overwhelmed at the same time.

Lately, I've wanted to come up with a name for our "school." But being clever is not my strongest gift so I've drawn a blank on good names. It's really unneccesary to name it, but I thought it might help the kids take more ownership in what we're doing and maybe we could make a cute sign for our school room. At first Sam said we should call it King Kids Academy. Not bad. Pretty simple. But when I thought about what the word academy meant, I realized that we are not an academy. An acadmey is defined as an institution for higher learning. We are not an institution, but a home. I think that a more fitting word would be a haven or base or even a nest. I know I may be being too literal here, but it bothered me to call it an academy.

Then somehow in thinking about those words, I stumbled upon the definition of the term "bring up" in relation to raising and teaching our kids, and it completely defines what we are doing. It means to cultivate, develop, feed, nourish, discipline, form, foster, educate, support, teach, train, provide for, and nurture. That is what we are doing here at home. Such a simple term with such a rich definition. As I thought on that definition and the term bring up, I began to compare it to drawing water from a well. Bringing up the water. I realized that as I teach and train our children, I am essentially drawing things from them. God has placed all kinds of treasures and gifts and talents inside these children. They are His creation. I have been given the job of drawing those things out. It's not an easy job. It's hard and tedious and messy, but also refreshing, rewarding, and life giving. All parents have this job regardless of whether their kids learn at home or away. I am thankful for this job to be a mom, and in our case to also be their primary educator.

I love what Proverbs 20:5 says: Knowing what is right is like deep water in the heart; a wise person draws from the well within.

I pray that I will have the wisdom to draw from my children what is right and good and glorifying to God and to show them those things hidden inside of them. We learn and "do school" to know God and make Him known. That is the purpose of learning, for God created all things and no matter what we are studying, we are able to point back to Him and his creativity and goodness.

Here are some photos from our first weeks of this semester. I am blessed, in this season of life, to have a multi-purpose room in our house. It serves as a school room, TV room, my work space, and game room. I love it.

Working so hard...this happens some of the time.

But this happens more often...

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-03T23:44:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been home for about 3 weeks now. I am happy to be home and I'm not. Since transitions always leaving me feeling a bit blue, these 3 weeks have been strange. I've really enjoyed seeing our friends, Ross' parents, and being back at church. I've somewhat enjoyed being back in my house. And I'm not enjoying unpacking and all the piles of stuff I must deal with.
Mostly, I've been instrospective. I've been processing all that this summer was to us. Although you might not know it from reading this blog, a lot more took place in me and in our family than just cool sight-seeing and outings. So much changed in us this summer, in who we are, in what God did in us, and in how we want to be and look at life differently. I posted mostly about the outings, the fun stuff, the vacation-y parts of our life because it's easier to post about that stuff. At least it is for me. It's not as easy to post about the growing and stretching that's slowly occurring in me. It's not as easy to talk about the serious stuff, the changes that have occurred in me and the deeper things I am growing through.
I’ve always loved school supplies. As a kid, I loved buying new school supplies every year. I am sure I didn’t really need new stuff every single year, but it was still so much fun to get the new folders, a cute, new trapper-keeper, and the big box of 64 crayons. I loved that box with the sharpener on the back. There were so many great colors in that box with such awesome names. I always thought about whose job it was to make up those crayon names and what a cool job that must be. I loved organizing the crayons by color watching them fade from one side of the box to the other, trying to figure out where to put the black and brown ones.
In my house now I have a plastic shoe box full of crayons. But most of them are not the sharp, well-cared-for crayons of my childhood. They are little nubs of color, with peeling paper and no visible names. There are lots of colors in there and I pull them out for the kids weekly. They like the big box of crayons. As I processed this summer, I realized that I feel like if my life were a coloring book, this summer I used the big box of sharp crayons to color. It’s like the colors are brighter, the lines are more precise, and we used all the really cool, unique colors.

Here are some of the things that I’ve learned from this summer (in list form because I think in lists.)
1. I love how our little unit grew so close to each other. The absence of our community and family really gave us the chance to dig into each other more, to spend every waking minute together, and in the process become even better for each other. Sam and Jude were best friends all summer, playing so well, and glowing in each other's company. Naomi came into her own with the boys and me. She and I smoothed over some of our rough edges (as we can sometimes get cross-ways with each other) and the boys brought her into play time much better than ever before. Being in a house full of girl-toys helped that too. The boys may have dressed up in princess dresses a couple of times, but you didn't hear it from me. Ross was around us about the same amount as he usually is (since he works from home), but he was with us more than he usually it. When not writing, he took off from the work that is normally pulling at him, freeing him up to focus on us. And he was so full of joy to be writing that it spilled over to us.
2. I loved the slowed-down pace our life took on this summer. It was inevitable and purposed to be that way. That's what a sabbatical is. And even with Ross songwriting, our life was much slower. I am still trying to figure out how to bring some of that back into our life here, trying to figure out if that's even possible. I attribute it to the absence of a few, albeit big things: our house, our church, and CC (classical conversations). I love all those things. Very much. Very, very much. But it was nice to have a break. Let me elaborate:
*Our house, a century-old rambler, is full of charm and headaches. Things are always breaking and it's a bit of a beast to keep clean, organized, and maintained. It was nice to be in someone else's house where all I had to do was clean every couple of weeks. No organizing, fixing, painting, decorating, etc. I realized how much of my mental energy normally gets swallowed up by my house and it was a nice break for my brain and time.
*Our church...we love. But with Ross as an elder, things can get a little overwhelming sometimes. People are messy and broken and have all kinds of problems. It's our calling and life's work to walk with people through all that. But thankfully our church also recognizes that the leaders need rest and give accordingly. So many pastors burn out and even walk away from the Lord because it can just get to be too much. Praise the Lord that our church protects and cares for the leaders enough to give them a paid sabbatical!
*Classical Conversations....love it too. It's our road map for walking through educating our children in the home. I plan to write about it at some point because it's been such a blessing to us. But it's also time consuming being a tutor and keeping up with all of it. Hurray for summer break. We truly needed it.
3. I once skimmed a book on the different ways people relate to or feel close to God, things like music, reading or theology study, being with people who love God, being in nature. I instantly knew that I was in what they called the naturalist category. I most definitely feel closer to the Lord through nature and creation. I have always loved being outside and even as a child preferred playing in the woods over playing with toys any day. I am still that way. I feel like God is with me, really with me, speaking to my soul when I am outside, particularly when I am outside where it's pretty. It’s so important to me that I feel like I could be prone to have that seasonal affective disorder a little bit if the weather was such that staying indoors was necessary for too long. I could not do really, long cold winters. I can hardly do long, scorching summers, but prefer them to cold because I can swim. Anyway, this summer I was surrounded by beauty so much. In Nashville, there are lots of hills and lakes and woods. We had a really great lake near our house where I loved to hike and run. We were blessed with unusually cool weather most of our time there and had fewer than 10 really hot days the whole time.
We also got to spend a weekend in the mountains of West Virginia, drive through the Smoky Mountains twice, spend a week on the Atlantic coast, and finish our summer in my favorite place, Colorado. I felt like I was drinking in the beauty being constantly amazed at God’s workmanship in all the details.
I like Texas, and I'm not here to dog on my home, but it's not that pretty here. It's flat and I love hills and mountains. It's dry and I love rivers and oceans. It's nice in an average sort of way. I want to live here. I love people more than I love pretty places and the people I love are here. But sometimes I need to see beautiful places in the world, to be reminded of God in the way that is most satisfying to me. I miss that now that I’m home. It might be what I miss most.
4. Personally, I grew in some really wonderful ways. Although the summer was fun and exciting, it wasn’t always comfortable. Being someone who takes change a little hard, I was stretched and challenged to depend more on God because we were constantly in transition. I could hardly settle in before we went somewhere else. And yet that desire to settle in continues to be a powerful one for me. I long to feel settled while at the same time yearning for adventure. I think that’s eternity inside me, His Kingdom come, where I will forever be on an adventure with the Lord, fulfilling His plan and being settled in my soul, not to a place but into Him. It’s part of his pruning of me, to put me into a life where I can’t “settle in” once and for all. A life where I am dependent on Him and needy for His closeness so that whether I am home or not, He is my home.
I have more to process from this summer, more to come.

Let the back-posting begin

2011-08-08T23:46:00.000-05:00

Our time in Breckenridge is over and we are now back in the oven of Texas. Leaving 60 degree weather was a little sad. While in Colorado, we did so many great things and I wrote posts about almost all of them. But our internet got progressively slower as we stayed there, culminating in my computer's refusal to find a network, much less upload a post.

And, as I've mentioned before, this blog serves a journal/scrapbook of our summer so I will be back-posting all the stuff I wrote (because it has to be in proper order) now that I can upload photos at a speed that doesn't make me feel like I am on anxiety-inducing dial-up.

Time to play ball!

2011-07-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

Today we had a family baseball game. Mainly, we just let the kids learn to hit the ball, run the bases, catch the ball, and daydream in the outfield. Then the older "kids" had a little home run derby.

What a beautiful place to have an impromptu game.

Brad, the pitcher

Gavin

Safe!

Running the bases

Micah

Our outfielders

Our infielders playing in the dirt

Ross, swingin' for the fence

breckenridge

2011-07-22T17:15:00.001-05:00

This summer we have been blessed to see so many beautiful places. In Nashville, there were hills, trees, and nice weather. We saw the mountains and waterfalls of West Virginia then we drove through the Smoky Mountains on the way to Myrtle Beach. Of course, the beach was beautiful and restful in that way that beaches are. Then we drove back through the Smoky Mountains on our way back to Nashville. Now we are spending the rest of our sabattical in Breckenridge, CO,

We will be here a total of 3 weeks. We are here with my family: my mom and Dad (Gee and Poppa), Brooke (my sister), Brad and Noelle (my brother and his wife), and their kids, Cash and Maddie-Rose, Chris and Christie (my youngest brother and wife) and their kids, Micah, Gavin, and Sawyer, and 2 dogs, Shelby and Charlie. 17 people and 2 dogs in the house has been crazy and fun.

This is our 5th time to come to Breckenridge in the past 5 years so it has a "feels like home" quality to it that I love. We ride our bikes into town, take long walks, sit outside all hours of the day, hike, and generally try to soak in the fact that we are living in a postcard.

This week we have a few less people as Chris and Christie had to leave Saturday night and not everything's perfect as Jude had a 2-day stomach bug consisting of some pretty nasty stuff that he's now passed to Maddie-Rose. I am praying that it will end with her as we really, really don't want to spend the rest of our vacation here in Colorado over or on the toilet so to speak.

After a whole summer of pretty much keeping to ourselves, the kids have been relishing the time with their cousins, playing all hours of the day. Naomi and Maddie-Rose are two peas in a pod as they walk around carrying their purses and playing with their baby dolls. The 5 older boys ride bikes, play basketball and baseball, swim in the hot tub, take some "hikes", and spent lots of time playing Legos. There's also a huge theater room downstairs for the occasional movie. I've already read 2 books since being here and am starting my 3rd. As I write, I am sitting in my favorite room. It's a small study in the front of the house. It has huge windows that open onto a porch area. There is a small waterfall in the front yard and I love the sound of it. I really feel refreshed being here and want the time to crawl by.

camp

2011-07-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

So far I've only mentioned the beach since it's well, so freakin' great. But the actual reason we are here, youth camp, has been pretty great too. Aside from the (ahem) mildly gross camp lodging, we are really enjoying this camp. It's very small and the youth minister is an old friend of Ross'. The kids are so sweet and a couple of girls have taken a particular liking to Naomi. She sits on their laps, trying on their sunglasses, and "talking" on their cell phones. They are really sweet girls and if I could take them home to be my new babysitters, I would. (Why, oh why do all my babysitters have to grow up, graduate, and get married? Can't you see I need you to stay 19 forever?)

I have really enjoyed getting to worship twice a day, and the Lord has done some refining in me this week. After last week and my somewhat apathetic attitude coupled with self-indulgance, I needed to be refreshed. Being here has been just what I needed. There is something nice about a camp schedule. Maybe it's that, for once, someone is telling me where to be rather than me having to decide every little thing. Meals are prepared for us 3 times at day at 8, 12, and 6 and although camp food is nothing special, I've come to appreciate the fact that for 5 straight days I don't have to cook a single thing. It's also helpful in terms of self-indulgance as I'm rarely tempted to overeat on camp food. Then I just look at the little camp schedule and follow it. Very few decisions have to be made.

Tonight the whole camp took the night off to go a place called Broadway at the Beach. It's one of those really fun, touristy places with restaurants like Joe's Crabshack, lots of ice cream parlors, stores full of expensive, shiny trinkets, and fun to be had like mini golf, IMAX, and carnival rides. I was looking forward to geting off campus for the night and eating out. But when we first got there, things weren't looking so great. First off, it was so unbelievably hot today. I am truly not complaining, because we've only experienced a few days over 90 this whole summer. I know, go ahead, hate me. But this was one of those days. Plus there were about 1000 people over what I think this place is supposed to hold. People were parking on the grassy medians and it was so crowded as you walked that you could only move a few steps at at a time. We went to 3 restaurants and finally found one that could seat our party of 11 people (our family, Michael, the camp speaker and his family, and the youth minister). Thankfully, that restaurant was Landry's and it was goooood. New England clam chowder and the catch of the day for me and Ross. Fried shrimp for the kids. Yummy. The company was great and the kids did amazingly well at such a nice restaurant with a slow wait.

We walked around after and the weather had cooled considerably as a huge storm was rolling in. But after a quick ice cream cone and a $5 purchase at the store full of crap that will break within 24 hours, we had to go. We decided that Broadway at the Beach would have been alot more fun if the weather was 75 degress, there were about 1000 less people there, and I had a pocket full of cash. Oh well. The beach is free and we will be there again tomorrow for our last day. Tonight it is raining hard and it is washing all the heat away.

we just can't get enough

2011-07-12T23:37:00.000-05:00

More fun on day 3 as we splash, dig, run, and sun. Isn't being at the beach the best?

so good

2011-07-11T21:40:00.000-05:00

Our first day at the beach was beautiful.
Cool water, endless sand for digging, warm sun. Very happy children.

the beach!!!!

2011-07-10T22:04:00.022-05:00

12 hours in the car

4 stops

3 movies

1 very long day

and finally....

clothes and all!

Transitions

2011-07-09T22:55:00.000-05:00

Last week was officially our last week in Nashville. We drove all day Sunday to Myrtle Beach and we will spend the week here leading worship for a youth camp. We will drive back to Nashville on Friday, un-pack, re-pack, clean, and head out Sunday for the last part of our summer sabattical to Breckenridge, CO.

After 7-8 weeks, I felt settled in Nashville. We had a nice routine, an easy pace, and I was dreading the transition a little bit. Not that I was dreading Myrtle Beach or Breckenridge at all, but transitions are harder for me. I didn't want to think about packing and driving and all the stuff that is ten times harder to do with 3 kids.

So last week I went into a kind of denial/apathy and didn't do much of anything. I kind of felt tempted to try squeeze a bunch of last-minute sight seeing stuff in, but I decided I just wanted to rest, hang out with the kids, read, and watch movies at night. I also knew I had to do normal stuff like run errands and get ready to move again. So, that left no time for blogging.

I have a good bit of stuff I'd still like to post about our time in Nashville so I'll be posting that stuff in the coming weeks as well as the stuff we're doing now.

Our 4th of July

2011-07-05T12:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we headed down to our favorite little town, Franklin, for their 4th of July festival.

We entered the kids in their Main Street walking parade. We only found out about it this morning so I had limited resources with which to dress up the kids and decorate their bikes. I scrounged around Alison’s house for some streamers, balloons and, ribbon and managed to make our kids some homemade (and not the good kind) decorations.

We found their most red, white, and blue clothing and put them in the parade. We were running a little late so I was still trying to tape on an American flag picture to the fronts of their bikes when almost everyone else there was lined up with the most elaborate and beautifully decorated wagons, tricycles, and bikes. the other kids had on perfect little patriotic outfits. I just kept laughing at how sad our little motley crew looked next to them. It was really funny.

The kids didn’t care (nor did we) so we proudly walked down Main Street. There wasn’t much smiling or waving though. Naomi, who was born to be in a parade, was ironically in a bad mood. So she sulked in the wagon the whole time in a red, sequined dress I found in the Osenga’s dress up box. Jude, who has only been riding a bike without training wheels for a week had a bit of a hard time driving slowly and keeping his balance. Sam was very, very concerned with picking up every single jolly rancher thrown from the wagon near us. The parade was interesting to say the least.

We spent the rest of the day downtown, eating street vendor food, our favorite being the giant turkey legs and sno-cones. We heard some really great bands and the kids danced on the lawn.

turkey leg/barbaric weapon

"mommy made us share the ice cream"

"pink" sno-cone

ben & jerry's vanilla bean

no inhibitions whatsoever (i love jude's robot arms)

We had promised the kids that we would watch fireworks. But Ross and I are a bit crowd-aphobic so we never want to go to the place where the fireworks are actually at. We much prefer to find an out of the way spot where it’s not too loud and not too crowded and from which we can make a quick get-away. Since, here in Nashville, we don’t have the home court advantage of knowing where those places might be, we asked a local at the festival and were so pleased to learn that the very parking garage we parked was the best kept secret in town. Ross drove up and got us a perfect spot on the roof and we sat on the roof of the suburban and could see everything.

the boys love to sit on the roof of the suburban

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Summer bummer

2011-07-03T23:31:00.001-05:00

We tried to cross #10 off our list:

Don a bathing suit and run through the fountains at Bicentennial Mall.

Bathing suits on, goggles ready, sunscreen applied, but our plans were sadly foiled.

We get there and there's no water anywhere. I'm driving around looking and looking for water. Where is the fountain? I'm thinking that I must have gone to the wrong place because maybe it doesn't actually look like a fountain. I think water just shoots up out of the ground so I ask a security guy...where's the fountains?
He says that we're in the right place, but there's no water. Not this year.
The fountains are still damaged from last year's flood.
So sad.

What do I do with these children? It's really, really hot.

They expected water. They wanted to get wet.
They are all decked out in "get wet" gear.

There are no pools, no spraygrounds, no fountains around.

I'm realzing my kids don't know how to stay cool without a pool.

I decided it was time for them to learn.

Next stop: Target.

Purchased: a $10 slip-n-slide and a package of water balloons

Voila: Old fashioned summer fun.

Water balloon bowling

My sis

2011-06-28T22:42:00.003-05:00

My sister, Brooke, came to visit the first week we were here in Nashville. We had such a great time together and she was my biggest helper. You see, the kids and I flew in on a Monday and that Thursday Ross had to leave for a songwriter's retreat. Thursday was also the day we moved into the Osenga's house. Since Ross was gone, having Brooke here to help me get settled in was a wonderful blessing. She is an organizing, cleaning machine so she had my suitcases unpacked and my stuff put away in a jiffy.

She is also the beloved Aunt Brookee and was never without a child hanging on her every word. She is truly that fun aunt that you see in movies. The one who loves to have exciting pretend adventures, who loves to tickle and be tickled, who loves to talk, laugh, listen, and be silly.
She is also my comrade in movie watching. Back when she was in school at A&M, we would go see every halfway decent chick-flick that came to the theater. (I miss her dearly in that regard.) So after the kids were tucked in each night, we watched movies...some good, some not so good and spent lots of time talking and sharing our hearts. She is sweet, fun, funny, full of life, honest, adventurous, and someone I can be myself around. I love my sis.

Weekend in West Virginia

2011-06-27T21:02:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we took a trip to West Virginia. It’s kind of funny to take a trip somewhere from a place that’s not my home in the first place, but Ross had the opportunity to do a concert for a friend in Nitro, WV, so we went. It was good timing. This family, Rob and Jennifer Jarvis, are people we met through my parents. Rob has been working for my dad’s company for about 4 years, and over that time, they have grown to like Ross’ music. They’ve been asking us to come to WV for a few years now, but the timing was never right. Living in Nashville made it easier since it’s technically only about a 6-7 hour drive (took us 8-9 hours with stops) from here. My parents wanted to go too so they flew into Nashville and we drove up there together. It was a really fun and fruitful weekend. It was also very exhausting as we did a lot in a very short amount of time.

First, I mentioned that it took us 8-9 hours to get there. It seems like we were always having to stop for someone to go to the bathroom (Jude) and our meal stops took a really long time. But the kids did pretty well in the car (watching lots of movies helps). They put us in a nice Wingate hotel and had a huge gift basket waiting for us with lots of goodies and toys for the kids.

On Friday we wanted to see some of West Virginia, whose motto is “Wild and Wonderful.” I had hoped we could experience some Civil War history and maybe even see a live re-enactment of a battle, but there was nothing like that near Charleston. Our wonderful hosts, Rob, Jennifer and their son, Matt, drove us up into the mountains. We stopped along the way to look at some waterfalls. At a state park, we rode a gondola down to the bottom of the mountain and hiked for a bit. It was a pretty short hike b/c kids can’t make it very far, but Jude found a bright orange lizard and Sam found some boulders to jump off of. After the state park, we drove to the New River Gorge Bridge. It is an incredible feat of engineering. It is the third largest arch bridge in the world and 5th highest. Every October they have Bridge Day where people parachute off of the bridge. It was amazing.

Rob, Jennifer, and Matt

That night we attended a party of some of the people in their church and Ross did a few songs, and later that night, Michael flew in. We spent Saturday in downtown Charleston which is an incredibly cute town and went to The Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences. It has lots to offer, but we primarily spent time in the interactive children’s museum which was one of the most unique and beautiful museums I have been to. I think I loved it as much as the kids.

The concert was Saturday night and had a great turnout. We had lots of fun and I got to sing since my parents were there to sit with the kids. The stage was decorated for their VBS which started Monday so it looked like Ross and Michael were playing in the middle of a forest. After the concert, we went back to Rob and Jennifer’s for snacks and homemade ice cream pie, compliments of Jennifer’s generosity.

Naomi found a friend, Taylor, Rob and Jennifer’s 12 year old niece. They were inseperable that night and the next day. Jennifer still had lots of her kids’ toys from when they were little so Sam and Jude felt like they hit the jackpot. And they have lots of pets so my kids got their fix.

Sunday morning we went to church and did a few songs then back to their house for lunch with their whole family. The kids got to hike up the hills in their backyard and play with the toys and animals again.

Ross and Michael had a house concert in Parkersburg Sunday night and it was great. We headed out Monday morning and made it back to Nashville that night.

It's like riding a bike...

2011-06-26T23:05:00.001-05:00

I am one proud mommy tonight. Jude rode a bike without training wheels for the first time ever!

I know that people say that once you ride a bike, you never forget. But the part they don't mention is how hard it is to get to the point of being able to ride a bike.

Jude started riding a regular sized bike (with training wheels) pretty young at 2 years old. Becuase he is so big, he was able to reach the pedals. He did so well that I thought he would be riding without the training wheels by 3. But then one of his training wheels got smashed and he quit riding the bike for a long time. He then got addicted to his Razor Scooter and had no interest in bikes at all for almost 2 years. I brought his old bike along this summer hoping to reignite his interest. It worked except that his old bike is kind of a piece of junk. So he started riding Sadie's princess bike with training wheels and got pretty good.

Tonight he decided to give Ella's bike a try. I wasn't even there for it, but Ross and Sam ran in yelling excitedly that Jude was riding the bike. I ran outside and there he was flying down the road, shirtless and shoeless on a pink and purple bike. That is so classic. I am so proud of my sweet, brave boy.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...

2011-06-25T15:14:00.000-05:00

We’ve been to the Adventure Science Center a few times this summer. It is a wonderful interactive science museum. In their planetarium, they are currently showing a film called The Dawn of the Space Age. We’ve seen it twice. It is a great documentary of the space exploration that has occurred over the past 50 plus years, both in the US and the Soviet Union.

In this movie, we learned of a space mission that I had never heard about before. It was the mission of Apollo 8 which occurred the week before Christmas, culminating on Christmas Eve, 1968. The crew consisted of 3 men, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, who for the first time in history, orbited completely around the moon. This mission (which was really 10 orbits in a span of 20 hours) was broadcast live on TV. In this broadcast, for the first time in history, they showed footage of the moon and video of what earth looks like from the moon, locating specific geographic features and even commenting that California looked overcast. They described the surface of the moon as looking like grayish-white sand, and at one point they lost contact for 45 minutes as they crossed around the back side of the moon. A photo they took, a color photo of the Earth rising over the moon, became famous.

One moment on the mission, however, stood out above all the rest. And this was when, while in the ninth orbit around the moon, the crew began to read from the book of Genesis to all those listening and watching the broadcast. How marvelous and surprising it must have been to hear these words of God spoken while seeing this footage of the moon and Earth. It was a view that no man has seen before, the closest anyone had ever come to seeing Earth and space from the perspective of God... how incredibly moving to witness.

I can’t believe I had never heard of this famous mission, and I am so glad that I now know about these 3 amazing heroes. When I was watching, I was surprised and overjoyed at the wonder of God, His creativity, His limitless power so clearly seen when contemplating the vastness of space. I can’t do it justice, so you will just have to watch this video of the live footage from 1968. Remember, this was before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. This was before you could enter in your location on Google and have a satellite locate you within seconds. This was before Photo Shop. This was a first. Then to hear over that picture, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth…”

PS...There are lots of videos on You Tube of this footage. Many of them are set to music with more modern images of space than the original footage. I put the one that was the original. Although it is not nearly as impressive as our photos and videos of the moon and earth today, it was what they saw and heard in 1968.
Here is a story done by Fox News on the 40th anniversary of the mission.

Great post to read

2011-06-23T23:48:00.000-05:00

This is a great, thought-provoking post that I wanted to share about the orphan crisis in our world and particularly, Haiti. Anyone who knows me knows that I am pro-adoption all the way, but this post asks some really good, hard questions about how we deal with the bigger issue. I appreciate people who can be open minded and visionary in their thinking about how to fulfill the call of God to love orphans. It's a very complicated issue and one that I think about often. So, just wanted to pass it along.

More updates on our time here coming. I'm a little behind.

Radnor Lake (#48 on our list)

2011-06-19T22:39:00.001-05:00

About a week ago, I told Ross that one of the things missing from out time in Nashville was some kind of beautiful outdoor adventure. We've been riding our bikes and running around the neighborhood, and we've been to a few parks, but Tennessee is a beautiful place and I really hadn't seen much of it. There are lakes and state parks really close to us so I want to start enjoying those before our time here is done.

There is a small lake near our house with some hiking trails up the mountain and some paved areas for running and bike riding. We went last Sunday for a long bike ride. As soon as we got there, we realized Jude's tire was flat on his bike, so both he and Naomi had to ride in the bike trailer. That was not an easy trailer to pull so Ross and I took turns. I went back Tuesday morning for a long run by myself. Running alongside the lake was one of the most refreshing times I've had since being gone. As I was finishing up my run, I came across a deer standing in the middle of the road, in no hurry to move. I stopped and we both looked at each other for a while before it slowly moved on. I think Radnor Lake will become a regular place for us now, and next time I plan to hike up to the top of the hill overlooking the lake.

2nd trip to the library & a crazy storm today

2011-06-15T23:47:00.000-05:00

We went back to the library today, hoping Story Time would have the puppets today. They did! It was a great show. There are so many talented people in this town,and the people who put on Story Time are really funny and great at what they do. Sam, Jude, and Naomi loved it. The craft was boomerangs. Really cool. I remembered snacks this week and the weather was so cool as we sat in the courtyard.

We met a friend there, a girl I grew up with, who works here in Nashville as a nanny. It was really good to see Erika and meet Ella and Fletcher.

As we were driving home, I had to stop by the bike shop to get a tire fixed. As I am standing in the shop, the rain starts coming down. It was one of those rainstorms where you can hardly see 2 feet in front of you. I had to stand out in the rain trying to get the bike back on the bike trailer for about 5 minutes. I was as wet as if I'd taken a shower. We had to drive about 30 miles an hour the whole way home. I saw lightning strike really close to us and all the stop lights went out.

Later, after we were settled in and dry, the storm got worse. Ross was headed home and it started hailing. At one point, the hail was about golf ball sized. The kids were pretty excited by the hail, and later after things calmed down, we were able to go out and play in the puddles.

The Zoo (#7 on our list)

2011-06-13T17:11:00.006-05:00

photo from paulabecker.com

The lovely Osenga family left us some passes to the zoo, so on Friday morning, we got there bright and early right as it opened. We were hoping to beat the heat, but since the sun rises here at like 5:30 am (no kidding at all), it felt like noon already. Steamy. Very steamy.

But, of course, since we were in a new place, we were able to overlook the discomfort of sweat running down our backs to see a few monkeys and zebras. That’s exactly what we did. We saw a really great meerkat exhibit, a few zebras, and some other grassy-plains animals that are similar to antelopes but I don’t remember their names. We watched some monkeys hanging in trees. I’m sure they have a more formal name than monkey, but all primates are monkeys to me.

We saw a sleeping tiger and some really beautiful, blue, Brazilian birds biding on a branch (really they were just sitting, but I needed to use another B word.) The birds looked like the birds in the movie Rio that we recently saw, so Sam began to jump around squawking and hopping in a way he was sure was the way to communicate with them. It didn’t seem to work.

Just when we thought we couldn’t make it much further in the heat, we were rescued by the cool darkness of the amphibian/reptile/all-the-creepiest-animals-created-by-God exhibit. This was the kids’ favorite part because of all the cool spiny and slimy creatures contained by the thankfully very thick glass. It was my favorite part because I got to watch them ooh and ahh over so many unique animals while enjoying the 70 degree temps. I also enjoyed it because when I see the intricate designs and patterns on the snakes and frogs and lizards, I truly marvel at God’s limitless creativity. Down the littlest detail, his inspired designs were filling that building. We saw these teeny tiny frogs, no bigger than an almond that were metallic blue and filled with poison. Their predators know not to mess with the blue frogs. We saw polka-dotted turtles and a 15 foot python. We saw a very scary 2-inch arachnid that was called the Trinidad Chevron Spider “considered to be very aggressive.” Hmm. Disturbing? And next to the Black Widow/Brown Recluse display there was a warning that read, “Be very careful when reaching into dark, damp places.” Really? Is that a necessary warning? Doesn’t that go without saying?

After being in there for a while, I started to get all skittish and jumpy. I knew the animals were contained, but at one point, my camelback valve brushed against my arm and I practically jumped 2 feet. There was also a section for Tropical River Animals. Needless to say, I won’t be swimming in any El Salvadorian or Honduran rivers anytime ever.

One of the funniest parts of that experience was watching Naomi. She has grown into such a loud little person. She talks non-stop, yes. That is a given. But she also talks so loudly. When she is even moderately excited, she does not have an inside voice. And at every single window, she would loudly yell, “Oh! Ooh! Look at this!” and “Oh! Ooh! C ‘mere guys!” at a very, very high decibel. Even when I was across the room, I could hear her yelling. I must have told her 25 times to talk quietly and use her inside voice. Oh wait, that was her inside voice. Must be the product of having to be heard over 2 older brothers.

After we were done there, we went to the Petting Zoo. It really should have been called the Petting Goat Yard because those were the only animals available for petting. Every other animal was behind a fence. But the goats were really cute and docile. There were kids all over the place man-handling these goats and they seemed to be fine with it. They also had these brushes lying on the ground for the kids to use to brush the goats’ coats. There were your other typical petting zoo animals: donkeys, llamas, wallaby’s, baby jaguars. Wait, no. Why were those in there? I don’t know. They weren’t available for petting, but they were in this farmyard-type exhibit. It was actually the baby jaguars first day to be on display. They were 3 months old and so cute as the wrestled each other and tried to claw the trees.

After the “petting zoo”, I bought the kids some cotton candy (pink not blue because Jude was outvoted) and made the kids share one bag. Jude got to hold the bag and distribute it to his brother and sister because he acquiesced to getting pink. We sat in the shade on an amphitheater and watched a show about native Tennessean animals. It included a skunk, possum, snake, hawk, and turtle, and the kids got to sit real close.

After the show, we had a quick lunch and decided to head home, even though we only seen about 1/3 of the zoo. It was just too hot and the kids were worn out. On our way out, we saw a flyer about a special event the next night, in which they keep the zoo open 2 extra hours. Perfect. So, we headed back on Saturday around 5 and by 6, it was starting to cool down. I really wish the zoo were open late more often because it was so much more pleasant at that time of day. We played on the playground for an hour. This playground is truly amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Then we headed to see more animals and ride the carousel and train. The train line ended up being an hour long so we got to ride the carousel and the kids jumped in the bounce houses. Hot dogs for dinner and another round through the reptile house made for a very fun evening.

My budding photographer with his own camera.

Naomi yelling in excitement about one of the snakes.

Watching the alligators

Jude's little pet he found.

Enjoying the show

cotton candy

Sam's "Rio" birds

Peeking into a hippo mouth on the playground

It had been a long day...

Library (#2 on our list)

2011-06-11T23:54:00.001-05:00

We went to the Nashville Downtown Library on Wednesday. We actually have a branch library close to the house we're living in that we've already checked out books from. But I had heard that the main library was really cool so we went for one of their famous puppet shows.

We met a new friend, Danielle Peters, and her kids there while Ross and Eric Peters met that morning to write. We ran into them at church last week and re-connected. Eric and Ross go way back to the days when Ross was just starting out in music and Eric was in one of my all-time favorite groups, Ridgely, with Kevin Smith.

The library did not disappoint, even when we got there and realized that the puppet show had been replaced by Story Time. It is a beautiful building. Truly beautiful. I have never been in a library as beautiful as this one, except maybe in Washington D.C. When we walked in, the boys thought we were in a huge hotel. They kept saying, "This is the library?" The children's wing was a big as the entire library at home. They have a children's theater with a stage, a huge open space for sitting on the floor, and alcove seating all along the walls.

There is a big courtyard in the middle of the library next to the kids' wing with a fountain and lots of plants and tables wtih umbrellas for shade. Next time, I will bring snacks or a picnic with us.

Story Time was about gardens and was very fun with lots of singing, hand motions, and a great book. Afterwards we moved to the craft room that overlooked the courtyard to make lizards. The kids really loved the lizard craft especially since it involved glitter glue.

Big win for the library, even with the crazy downtown parking garage (and not realizing I could get my parking ticket validated until I'd already paid full price), it was worth it and we'll be back this week to see the puppet show.

The kids got flower seeds at Story Time

Craft Time

Jude's Blue 3-Eyed Lizard

Sam's scary lizards

Playing at the fountain the the courtyard

Naomi trying to figure out how she can get in the water

Relaxing after crafts

Look at this girl's hair

Beautiful building

Pizza and Popsicles

2011-06-07T14:07:00.001-05:00

We decided to try out a pizza place last night. Pizza Perfect in Hillsboro Village on 21st. Very good.

It was in a cool part of town with lots of shops to look at. Earlier, before we decided to go get pizza, Ross had told me about these homemade popsicles in Nashville called Las Paletas. We were planning to go get one after dinner at a stand by our house, but realized that they were closed on Monday. That's when we decided to forego making our own dinner and get out for some pizza. Then as we're walking and window shopping after dinner, we walked by a cute little shop called Hot and Cold. It's a coffee shop and an ice cream shop. So clever of them. They had the popsicles. Yay! We all partook and loved them.

They are billed as Mexican-style-ice-pops. They have fruit pops and creamy pops.

Here are the flavors we tried:

Naomi got Berry Cream which was fresh blueberries and strawberries mixed with a hint of vanilla.

I got Mint Chocolate Chip which was smooth chocolate with chunks of dark chocolate and mint pieces.

Jude got Pineapple which was really icy and cold with chunks of fresh pineapple throughout.

Ross had Butter Pecan with big pieces of pecans.

Sam had Strawberry and you could see little seeds and pieces of strawberries in it.

Some of the other flavors were Spicy Chocolate, Avacado, and Watermelon. They all looked so delicious, that I wanted a sample of all of them. Maybe I can add "Try every flavor of Las Paletas" to my summer list?

I didn't have my camera with me. What was I thinking? I had to take some crummy photos with my phone to document these delicious treats. I am pretty sure we'll be back to 21st St. and then I can take some

proper pictures.

Berry Creamy-licious.

Pineapple face.

Jude double-dipping with his pineapple and my mint chocolate chip.

Franklin Fun

2011-06-06T15:21:00.002-05:00

I've mentioned here that the town of Franklin is so cute. A picturesque main street lined with shops and cafes. Friday night we stumbled upon a main street festival that I know will end up being one of my favorite things from the whole summer. It was the grand opening of the Franklin Theater, and it was a Big Band/Swing Dance festival. There was a big stage with swing bands playing all night. In 3 different sections of the town, they were showing old black and white movies on huge screens with people sitting on blankets, eating hot dogs and frozen lemonades. Locals were dressed up in costumes from the 20's and I felt like I'd just stepped onto a movie set.

After walking up and down the street for a while, eating great food, and people-watching, we settled down in one of the side streets and started watching The Wizard of Oz about halfway through. I honestly think the kids are too young for the movie, but being outside held lots of distractions that made The Wicked Witch of the West a little less frightening. At least that's what I am hoping. And speaking of scary, Ross and I had forgotten how absolutely disturbing those swarms of monkey-birds are. Oh my gosh, those things are downright creepy. I made the boys cover their eyes for that part and for the part where the witch is going crazy trying to lock them up in the castle, but otherwise, the bright colors and over-the-top acting was so good.

I have always romanticized the early-to-mid 20th century. The clothes, the art-deco architecture, the patriotism and work ethic, the simplicity without all the technology taking over. I was actually thinking earlier this week how funny it is that I can feel so nostagic about a time period I've never even experienced. I know it's romanticized out of proportion in my mind. But I just seem to love everything about that time period from the 20's to the 50's. And it's so hard to imagine anyone ever feeling that way about right now. How could our hoodies and skinny jeans feel to someone in 80 years the way pencil dresses and cap sleeves feel to me? How could our brick builder homes with the tiny concrete stoop feel like old craftsman or victorian houses with wrap around porches, stained glass windows, wooden shutters, and scallopped shingles? It doesn't seem plausible. But I suppose that in 80 years all of our styles will be cool to someone. It all goes around in a circle anyway, cycles repeating themselves. But I'm getting off track.

At the end, as we were getting ready to leave, we came upon a stage with a fantastic band belting out swing music complete with a jazz trumpet and people dancing in front of the stage. I stopped and felt myself wanting to get swept up in it, wanting to be 20 again, on a date with Ross, dancing all evening. But then I look over and I've got 3 tired kids, sitting on the stroller, whining about wanting another sno-cone. I wanted the director to walk in a say, "Cut. Cut. What are your kids doing here? Get them to the trailer and let's do that scene again without the whining. You two go out there and dance."

But, of course, that didn't happen so I took one last wistful look at the cute people dancing in their cute costumes and walked to the car. A quick trip at Sonic (because we somehow missed the sno-cone stand) and we were on our way. I love Franklin. I've heard they have a Dicken's festival at Christmas complete with a Scrooge. A Scrooge.

Cicada Invasion

2011-06-05T20:35:00.001-05:00

Nashville has these bugs called cicadas (pronounced si-cay-duh). They are a locust-like creature. They are everywhere, flying all over the city, mainly around the tops of trees. They make a very loud buzzing noise which is their mating call. As it turns out, they only appear every 13 years for the summer months and then disappear again. They come up out of the ground by the millions. This years’ cicadas are called Brood XIX and the last time they were here was in 1998, the year Ross and I were married. Sounds a bit like a plague, doesn’t it? And, lucky us, we just happen to be here the summer they made their big showing.

I actually like the noise they make as a collective group. It’s a sort of backdrop of white noise against everything else, a chorus of buzzing that makes the air feel alive.

I do not like, however, some of their other qualities. For instance, when one breaks loose from the pack, it buzzes around aimlessly for a while, looking like a drunk guy stumbling his way down the street. In this state, it will often nose-dive right into your face, hair, or in my case, neck. About twice a day, one of these lovely bugs will crash into my neck or forehead at which point I will jump around flapping my hands all over my head and face, trying to free myself of the bug. It’s such a pretty sight. Especially when standing in line at the movie theater surrounded lots of other movie-goers. Embarrassing, yes, but as silly as I know I looked, I didn’t receive laughter or snickers, only sympathetic glances and nods from everyone else who has also had a cicada crash into their face.

The cicada has a short life span, so around the base of trees, you will find hundreds of dead ones. I’ve heard from dog owners that their dogs get so full eating cicadas, they don’t even eat their dog food for the summer months.

Gross.

I’ve also heard some people say that they’ve eaten them, but since I’m not Bear Grylls or stranded in the middle of a forest, I’ll pass. Although they’re said to have about as much protein per pound as red meat, the thought of grilling one up on a shish kabob makes me want to dry-heave.

Take this quote for instance from an article featuring the best way to cook cicadas…

"The best time to eat cicadas is just after the nymphs break open their skin and before the exoskeleton turns hard. They are best harvested in the cool of the morning when the insects are more sluggish."

Yummy.

The kids have a love-hate relationship with the cicadas. They are fascinated by them, but also think they're gross. When we first got here, they called them all kinds of versions of the word cicada. Naomi, especially, dislikes them. She is always screaming out, "ooh. I hate those those yucky potatoes" or "ooh, I don't like those picadoes."

Who knew I could add “Surviving the cicada invasion” to our list of summer goals? But after dealing with them all summer, you can bet I will proudly wear that t-shirt (if there were such a shirt and it was cute).

funny stuff

2011-06-03T22:41:00.000-05:00

In the car on the way to and from Franklin tonight, the conversation was so amusing. On the way there, the boys were playing rock, paper, scissors for a while. At some point, Ross told them that we were going to meet some song-writing friends of his so we wanted them to be polite, say hi, spoke when spoken to, and so on. The main point was, "please no potty talk."

This has to be said becase lately, the only way our boys know how to be humorous is with tee-tee and poo-poo jokes, which to be fair, are often pretty funny, but we're trying to get them to branch out a little. They agreed to this rule, but after a few minutes, Sam asked if they could make potty jokes in the car before we got there, I guess as some sort last ditch effort to get it out of their systems. Ross, being the compromising father that he is, said "yes, I guess."

So, Rock/Paper/Scissors turned into Toilet/Poo-Poo/Wipes. And logic would have it that in this version of the game, poo-poo beats toilet, toilet beats wipes, and wipes beat poo-poo. I will spare you the hand motions.

The boys did very well all evening and did abide by the rule. So after an amazing night in Franklin which deserves its own blog post, this is a snippet of the conversation on the way home.

It started with Sam asking us who would win in a contest between water and fire. Very philisophical question for a 7 year old. I told him so then said, "it's hard to say."
Ross chimed in that water would win and that firefighters bet their lives on that everyday. But then I said, "yes, but the heat from the fire overcome the water and boil it."
And then Sam chimes in with, "or the heat from the fire could evaporate the water, making it so fire wins."
There you go.

Then not 2 seconds later, Sam says in all seriousness, "Do you know the muffin man?" I answered, "no, but I've heard he lives in Drury Lane." Then the kids sang out 15 different reditions of this song ranging from, "Do you know the pancake man, the dum-dum man, the Jude-Jude man, and, of course, the poo-poo man."

Our Summer in Nashville List of Things We'd Like to See and Do

2011-06-02T23:40:00.002-05:00

I am a very visual person so I can’t stop myself from visualizing things that Ross and I talk and dream about. So when Ross brought up the idea for us to come here this summer, the intial thought was that we might be living out in the country (on a friend's land) with lots of outdoorsy, country-livin' things to do. Upon visualizing that scenario, I felt myself get so excited and prematurely began to look forward to a quiet summer in the country. And with the way my mind works, by the time I was done, I had practically envisioned a Blue Bell Ice Cream commercial...kids running around barefoot throught the fields, laughing and eating popsicles, catching frogs, fishing, swimming, and riding 4-wheelers. I didn't even know if there was a pool or 4-wheelers, but you get the idea.

But really soon after that (like maybe a week) we learned that the house in the country wasn’t available. There was no guest house available on land this summer. So we began to re-think what living here might look like. Pretty soon after that (and as a huge answer to prayer) this house we are staying in came available. Problem was, it didn’t matter that my mind had only been picturing the leisurely country scene for less than a week. It was firmly planted and did not want to get uprooted. Like an annoying stubborn weed, the carefree-in-the-country picture wanted to stay.

Result: once we made the final decision to live in the Osenga’s house, I had a hard time adjusting the image in my head. And it's not like this situation isn't great. It toally is. This house is perfect for us this summer, and we are so thankful. It's a great size, is very cute, is in a convenient and pretty neighborhood, and has lots of great little girl toys for my busy bee, Naomi.

I think that I could picture how my life might look each day in that first scenario probably because it was so different from my every day regular life at home. In other words, living in the country on top of moving to another city was enough change to seem really momentous and open-ended in it's purpose for me and the kids. It didn't feel quite the same way to be living in a very similar situation to my regular life at home, only not my own home, neighborhood, and friends. Add to that, at that time, I thought Ross and I would have 1 car and my thoughts went to “what I am going to do with these kids all summer while Ross is song-writing?"

Then one day I stumbled upon this blog post and it re-inspired me. There is so much to see and do here with kids. I was amazed at all the beautiful places to explore, fun outings to be had, and learning opportunities for us. And I also began to come up with a deeper sense of purpose on how to learn and teach my children contentment and rest and how to learn to observe life around us, all while having these great experiences. So here (and in the post below) is Our Summer in Nashville List of Things We'd Like to See and Do, hereafter referred to as our Sponge List (because we want to learn to soak it all in).

This has been adapted (by me) from 50 Things to Do with Kids in Nashville Before they Grow Up by Lindsay Ferrier of Suburban Turmoil based on our budget, time frame here, and my kids’ ages. I know that we will not even get close to doing all of these things, but I am keeping them on the list, nonetheless, because the list is so good and because who knows when we will be back to do more of them. They are in the order she listed them in and I only took out a few that were for teenagers and added a few of my own. I’ll be updating it when we cross one off the list and writing about our experiences. The kids are going to document their experiences this summer too and I will occasionally post their versions of what happened. I've also highlighed the ones I have already planned to do or really, really want to do.

Our Summer Sponge List

2011-06-02T23:15:00.007-05:00

1. Get up close and personal with the stars on a Kids Exploration Night at Vanderbilt’s Dyer Observatory.

2. ~~Sing along with The Professor, Mary Mary, and a peanut gallery of puppets during the~~ ~~Nashville Main Library’s weekly Story Time.~~
Checked off on June 9. Go here for details of the fun.

3. Make your own pancakes at the Pfunky Griddle in Berry Hill.

4. Enjoy a famous Puckett’s Burger and bluegrass at Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant in historic Leipers Fork.

5. ~~Prove to your children that science can be fun at~~ ~~Adventure Science Center~~.
Checked off on May 26. But I don't have any pictures. We'll be back a few more times this summer.

6. Relive the good old days of country music at the Grand Ole Opry.

7. ~~Watch Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet, then visit the furry friends in person at the~~ ~~Nashville Zoo~~.
Checked off on June 11-12. Go here for the details.

8. Chow down on artisan ice cream and pick up funky clothes for the kids at Pied Piper Creamery.

9. Spend a night in Rugby’s haunted Newbury House and read about others’ ghostly experiences in the inn’s guest books.

10. ~~Don a bathing suit and run through the fountains at~~ ~~Bicentennial Mall. Afterward, play geography tag on an enormous map of the United States carvedinto the concrete.~~
Major disappointment here. The fountains were damaged in the 2010 flood which we didn't realize untill we were standing there with kids fully decked out in swimwear. So sad.

11. Feel the rhythm with West African Dance or Djembe Drum classes at the Global Education Center.

12. ~~Walk through the~~ ~~Nashville Farmer’s Market~~ ~~and try all the flavors of Moose Head Kettle Corn.~~
Checked off on May 28. We went with my sister and got some yummy treats. It is a great market. We went back with Ross to get veggies and meat last week.

13. Ensure a nice, long afternoon nap with a morning Pop In Playtime visit to Pump It Up.

14. Jump in play in the dark at the Cool Springs Glow Galaxy.

16. Count deer and make plenty of picture-taking pit stops on a leisurely and beautiful drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway.

17. Let your children wear their most whimsical costumes and run down the flower-filled paths of Cheekwood Botanical Gardens.

18. Take the plunge with your bravest little thrill seeker on the Big Scream ride at Nashville Shores.

19. Travel back in time for a mouthwatering meal at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House in historic Lynchburg.
Update on June 6: Have read that it's impossible to get a reservation here, like must get months in advance so we won't be experiencing this.

20. Feed the ducks at Centennial Park.

21. Spend a rainy day at the The Monkey’s Treehouse indoor playground.

~~22. See an IMAX film and dine at~~ ~~Aquarium~~ or ~~Rainforest Café~~ ~~at Opry Mills.~~
Update: Don't make the mistake we did and drive all the way to this mall to eat at one of the restaurants without realizing that it's closed because of the 2010 flood. Oops.

23. Engage your children in a hands-on history of country music at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

24. Make sure no child feels left out at Lily’s Garden, a wheelchair-accessible playground.

25. Treat the kids to lunch and a musical at Chaffin’s Barn Dinner Theatre.
Update on June 6: We won't be able to do this as there are not children's plays this summer.

26. Let your child watch talented musicians at work by purchasing orchestra view seats at the Nashville Symphony.

27. Go on a Kids Adventure Cruise down the Harpeth River with Blue Heron Nature Cruises.

28. ~~Take a picnic supper to Centennial Park and watch an~~ ~~outdoor family movie~~.
Update on June 26. We wanted to go to this last week to see Despicable Me, but Naomi was sick. So sad.
29. Let your children create their own works of art in 30 hands-on stations at the Frist Center’s ArtQuest Gallery.

30. ~~Spend a cold, rainy day wandering through the lush indoor gardens of~~ ~~Opryland Hotel’s vast conservatories~~.
Checked off on May 25. This is such a beautiful hotel. Check out our evening there.

31. Chow down on the best biscuits and fried chicken in the world at the Loveless Café.

32. ~~Take a kid-friendly walking tour of~~ ~~historic downtown Franklin~~.
Checked off on May 25. I love this little town. Check out our morning in Franklin here.

33. Re-live the life of President Andrew Jackson at his meticulously-preserved estate, The Hermitage.

34. Buy your favorite hard-to-find dolls, toys and games at Phillips Toy Mart.

35. Rent a canoe at Tip-a-Canoe just outside Nashville and spend an afternoon floating down the lazy Harpeth River.

36. Pick your own strawberries at Portland’s Bottom View Farm.

37. Introduce your child to the glories of the stage with a show at the Nashville Children’s Theater.

38. ~~Watch your child zip down the super deluxe water slides at the fabulous Bellevue or Maryland Farms~~ ~~YMCA swimming pools~~.
Update: We have so sign up to be members of the Y to enjoy their pools so this one won't get checked off for us.

39. Visit the children’s museum and outdoor wetlands at The Discovery Center at Murfree Spring.

40. Learn how milk gets from cow to container on a tour of the Purity Dairies Plant.

41. Experience the excitement of a staged train robbery on a historic rail ride to Watertown and back.

42. Let nature guides show you how to catch crawdads, make mud pies, and survive in the woods at Warner Park.

43. Tour the Belle Meade Plantation and learn about life in the mid 1800s. Have lunch afterward at Martha’s, a restaurant routinely featured in Southern Living magazine.

44. Go for a swim and some digging in the sand at Percy Priest Lake/Anderson Road Recreation Area.

45. Learn how the pioneers lived at Manskers Station, where costumed interpreters bring the 1700s to life.

46. Bring a blanket and chairs and catch a kitschy old movie at sundown in funky Hillboro Village’s Belcourt Theater parking lot.

47. Strap on some wheels at Brentwood Skate Center.

48. ~~Take a long walk or bike ride around Radnor Lake.~~
Update: Had a fun time riding bikes around the lake on June 13. Check it out here.

49. Eat as many flavors of Las Paletas as possible this summer!
Update: We're on our way to making this goal...check out our first time to taste these treats here.

Being a tourist, day 1, evening

2011-05-31T10:11:00.001-05:00

After some much needed naps from our morning in Franklin (see post below), we ventured out to take the kids to play at one of the parks and then eat at the Rainforest Café. We drove 45 minutes to north Nashville and when we arrived, we realized that the Rainforest Café was closed due to the floods in 2010. Major fumble. The entire Opry Mills mall was closed down. No cars in the parking lot, just all these ugly construction fences everywhere. The kids were like, "Where are we?" We just sat there trying to figure out what to do, acting like everything was totally fine. After telling your kids they get to eat at the Rainforest Café, it’s kind of a let down to go eat at Chick-fil-A. We tried to make Cracker Barrel sound really awesome since there was one of those about 100 yards away, but no one was buying it. Not when Rainforest Cafe was supposed to be the destination. Who can beat animatronic gorillas, fake plants, and rainstorms behind your table every 20 minutes?

We realized we were right next to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, which I had read was a touristy kind of place so I ran in to see if they had restaurants inside. They did and it was beautiful and very touristy complete with $18 parking. What? That's to self-park. In a parking lot with about 500 empty spots. What in the world? Is this Disney World? We sat there trying to figure out if it was worth $18 just to walk around some hotel and eat (what I was sure was going to be a very expensive fast food dinner). But looking at the kids’ disappointed faces convinced us to go for it. And it was one of those times when it was definitely worth it. That hotel is beautiful. There are acres of indoor gardens and atriums with waterfalls and fountains and rivers. You feel like you are outside the whole time with perfect weather and no bugs. It was great. We ate Mexican food at a restaurant that was a little too fancy for our taste (they don’t even give you free chips and salsa), but good. Then we walked and walked exploring the gardens. It was such a fun evening and afterwards all of us agreed that we were glad that the Rainforest Café was closed as it allowed us to discover this beautiful place.

And the restaurant validated our parking. Oh yeah.

The park near our hotel.

Waterfalls and gardens at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

Being a tourist, day 1, morning

2011-05-30T23:30:00.002-05:00

We spent our first 2 days in Nashville basically being tourists. The house we're staying in (Alison and Andrew Osenga) wasn’t available until Thursday, the 27th so we stayed at the Homewood Suites in Brentwood. The first morning we drove to historic downtown Franklin and walked around enjoying the shops, food, and history.

First things first: a little treat for me and Ross.

Then a little history.

then, being the good parents that we are, we let our kids eat ice cream and candy for brunch

And then, what morning could be complete without a stop at the local toy store?

More walking and then some real lunch...

Isn't this town cute?

Week 1

2011-05-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

So, here's a bit on what things have looked like since we headed out a couple of weeks ago. First, packing for this summer was challenging. Prior to this, I have never left town for the whole summer with the exception of working at Camp Ozark the summer between my junior and senior year of college. But I was single then, so packing for that summer was incredibly simple compared to packing for 5 people.

This time around, I had to keep a master list that I constantly tweaked and added to during the months leading up to leaving. But even with the list, when it finally came down to actually doing it, the week before we left was stressful anyway. So, I was practically exhilarated that Monday as we pulled out of town mainly due to the fact that I was done with all the packing. Our car was ridiculously full. So full that I could hardly see the kids behind me, let alone reach them. Thankfully though, that overly full car ride only lasted 3 hours until we pulled into my parents' house. Ross took off the next morning with all our stuff and drove to Nashville by himself while we stayed in Arlington to relax.

We swam a lot, walked to the library, and drove to Austin for my nephew Cash's 5th birthday. I caught up on some much needed rest since the week prior I slept very little. My mom treated me to a massage and a pedicure. So loved and pampered.

Then, last Monday, the 24th, we got up and drove to the airport. We got there on time and things were going very smoothly. They even gave my mom a temporary pass to go through the security gate so that she could help me and stay until our flight took off. We had one of those airport play areas right by our gate and things seemed like they were going to be fairly simple which was good since me flying to Nashville by myself with all three kids could possibly be anything but simple.

Then as we're sitting in the airport waiting, the sky starts to turn black and I get a text on my phone telling me our flight was delayed. Ok, no big deal. We can wait, we have the play area. But 5 minutes later I got another text telling me my flight was cancelled. Cancelled. Not delayed, cancelled. The next thing I know I am standing in a line with 50 other people trying to get booked on another flight. I get put on the 9:25 PM flight. It's 11:00AM. And then I get told to wait around until the 2:30 flight because we're on the standby list. Standby with 3 children. Yikes. I was not too thrilled with this development, but my mom was awesome. She was positive, helpful, and stayed with us all day at the airport. We went and had lunch at the airport Chili's and waited around until the 2:30 flight which then became delayed to the 3:30 flight.

I have only flown standby a few times, but I know lots of people do it all the time. I couldn't do it. It practically gave me an ulcer. Standing there, hoping they call your name down to the very last minute. Just waiting and hoping. For some reason, I felt so anxious. And competitive. Like every person around me was a threat. You could tell everyone felt that way. They would call a name and that person would practically jump up and down with joy while everyone else stood there loathing that person for possibly taking the very last seat. It was awful. And for me, it wasn't just one seat, it was 4. It's not like I could separate our party. We just stood there and stood there as they called name after name and I was sure we were not going to get on. Then suddenly she called my name, handed me new tickets and we were off, kissing my mom good-bye and practically running down the jet way since the plane was already delayed. Now everyone else was loathing my party of 4 while I jump up and down with joy.

Then as I got on the plane, I realized our seats weren't together. It's me and the kids. It's not like they can sit alone. So I asked the flight attendant to help me ask people to trade seats. I've flown enough to know that people love them some aisle seat, hate the middle seat, hate the window seat a little bit less, and hate people with kids the absolute most. So, here I am, a mom with 3 kids, on stand-by (we're the ones who are making this flight take off an hour late), and I need at least 2 people to switch seats with me. The flight attendant wouldn't help me. She just told me to ask people to trade. Sure. Right. So simple. By this time, the kids are exhausted. The plane is practically full so everyone is watching us bump our way down the insanely narrow aisle. Naomi won't walk so I am holding her, and hitting every single person I pass with my computer bag, saying “sorry, sorry, sorry.” The boys are walking in front of me and don’t know where to go. I finally get to our first row of seats and it looks like there are 2 together on that row and 2 together on another row. That might work if Jude wasn't 4 years old and well, Jude. So I ask the man in a jokingly-passive way, "how much do you like your aisle seat?" thinking he'd say, "Oh, I can see you have 3 kids with you, so you can have it." Instead he says, "Well I kind of like it" and then looks away. I am very taken aback so I tell the boys that they will have to sit behind me by themselves, knowing they are not going to feel comfortable with this, nor are they really old enough to handle that. Then after hearing me say that, he gets up and says, "Ok, I'll move. I wouldn't want them to have to sit all by themselves” very sarcastically. I am so flustered and pissed at this point, especially because everyone around me is watching this take place and no one, I repeat NO ONE has offered to switch seats with me so that I can sit with my 2, 4, and 7 year old children. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? Are you kidding me? Is your seat really that important?

But by now he is grumpily moving to the window seat behind me so I just take his stupid seat and move Jude up next to me. I know that Sam won't be too happy to sit between 2 men that are strangers to him, but that he can probably handle it. Then a minute later, he leans forward and tells me that he really wants to sit by me. Even though there is not a seat next to me available, I tell him to get up and sit in our row on my lap until someone else will offer their seat to us. I figure at the very least, the flight attendant will have to do something when the plane is about to take off. There is an aisle seat available one row up, so he sits there while I ask the woman in the aisle seat next to me if she will switch with him. She says, “Well, I would but I don’t know whose seat that is so I can’t.” I just tell her that I will deal with whose seat it is if and when they show up on this plane. That person who shows up is just going to be happy to be on the plane at all since they were probably number 50 on the stand-by list. Then a guy does show up and Sam is in his seat. I am about to tell him that I gave his seat to my son so that we could sit together and that he can have the middle (oh no, not the middle) seat behind me when the woman next to me gets all flustered and grumpily gets up and says, “I’ll sit there” and moves to that middle seat. It was a nice thing to do, but she didn’t do it happily and she kind of made me feel like crap. But finally we were all 4 sitting together so I turned around and thanked them/apologized about 5 times. I just still can’t get over how weird people are. How is it that we live in a time when about 8 grown men and women will just stare at a woman and three kids who clearly need a little bit of help and do NOTHING. I am not kidding. No one word. Not one offer to help. Not one offer of a way to change up the seats. I had to practically beg. Do these people really want to sit with my children on the plane for 3 hours with me on the next row? And furthermore, I was pretty put off by the fact that the flight attendant wouldn’t help me with it either. But that’s enough of that rant.

Thankfully, the rest of the flight was fairly uneventful and there were no major meltdowns. But by the time I got to Nashville, I was so tense and exhausted. Ross picked us up and we were so happy to see him. We went straight to meet the Osenga’s whose house we are living in this summer. We had dinner at Baja Burrito (very yummy) and then went to the house to check things out. After that exhausting day getting to Nashville and then getting the full run down on the house we’re staying in for summer, I could hardly think. We made it to our hotel at 9:30 and I practically fell into bed.

That night, after all that, I honestly felt down and weird and really unsure of what we are doing. It’s like all the anticipation and excitement of the unknown finally wore off, leaving behind a little bit of disillusionment and uncertainty. I know that I am an idealist in so many ways, particularly when it comes to adventure and change. I don’t ever want to get to a place where I allow myself to be controlled by my fleshly desire to avoid change and so I cling to my ideals. I cling to the fact that experience tells me that I always end up feeling OK. At least I have so much experience on my side because it’s not like my life is ever mundane or the same. Regardless, I always feel uncomfortable with new things, even in the times (like in a nice hotel in Nashville) when I know that logically, nothing around me is empirically uncomfortable.

I am actually writing this one week after all that took place (with lots more to fill you in on later) and the discomfort has only worn off a little bit. I still feel strange. Like I am not sure what my purpose is right now. Being in someone else’s house and driving around a new city all the time is weird. It’s not a vacation, but it’s not my regular life either. It’s some in-between thing that I can’t draw on experience to deal with. But I know we’ll figure it out and by the time it’s over, I probably won’t be ready to leave.

Summer 2011

2011-05-20T01:04:00.000-05:00

As I sit here much later at night than I should, I find that I am annoyed at myself for not being a more prolific and frequent poster. I have too much in my head now and too much to say for one night. I know that it’s one of the consequences of being an internal processor. Most of the time it requires too much energy for me to process things out loud or written down. But then after a few months of the silent, internal brooding, voila…it all comes out. And sometimes it all comes out on this lovely little blog. I can see where it takes either extreme discipline or a need to process things via journaling to write daily. I don’t have either, I suppose. At least not in regard to this. However, I do like the chronicling of our lives in some way, albeit infrequent as it is. And I suppose in a lot of ways, that’s what this little place in cyberspace has become for me: A place to get all the stuff in my head out and to record some of the big things that happen in our life. That’s why I will occasionally defy the commonsense of proper blog posting by back-dating my posts. I am anal enough to want them in their proper order even if I don’t get around to writing about something until months after it happened. I don’t even care if that post doesn’t take top billing as long as it’s in its proper chronological place. Weird, I know.

Tonight I am in Arlington at my parents and as I said earlier, up much later than I should be due to the fact that I went to a late movie with my mom and drank a large diet Dr. Pepper. I don’t regret it (it was really good and I had to have it with the popcorn), but now I’m all jittery and hyper-vigilant. This week is actually the beginning of our big summer adventure. We just spent the last month preparing to move away for the whole summer and it’s finally here. And since I haven’t posted in such a long time, I haven’t even made mention here of what that summer adventure is.

We are spending a large portion of the summer in Nashville. And now here's the brief back story of how this came about. Over the past few years, Ross has been traveling to Nashville to song-write and meet other people in the song-writing/publishing industry. He has received lots of favor through his time there and continues to hope that song-writing will keep growing until it takes up a larger piece of the income-pie than it does now. I fully support and hope for that too and it turns out our church does too. It so happens that is the year for Ross’ sabbatical from our church. Every seventh year, our elders take a 3 month paid sabbatical from ministry at the church. We believe it’s a way to love our leaders and help them love leading us. And since we started the church in 1998, it’s time for his second sabattical. Back in December, the other elders (who are also our very good friends) suggested that Ross take this summer and move to Nashville to have more concentrated time song-writing. At first it seemed impossible, but as we began to mull it over and talk about it, we thought, “why not?” I was up for an adventure and since I married a very high-change, visionary man, that’s a good thing. Fairly soon after we decided to go for it, the pieces fell into place for us to rent from/house-sit for another singer songwriter, Andrew Osenga. We didn’t know him at the time, but were introduced by our friend, Britt. It happened early on in our decision making process and confirmed to us that we could do this. And, since Com Church is not Ross’ full time job, we knew we’d need to raise the money to live there all summer and take care of our bills back home. God has provided for us in so many ways, and so here we are, at the beginning of what the kids keep calling our big summer adventure. If officially started Monday, May 16 and will probably end around August 12. In that time we will be in Arlington (1 ½ weeks) , Austin (3 days), Nashville (8 weeks), West Virginia (5 days), Myrtle Beach (6 days), and Breckenridge, CO (3 weeks.) That’s quite the itinerary.

The past month has been a whirlwind as I prepared our house for the sweet people who are taking care of it and tried to figure out how to pack for this kind of thing. I am used to packing. It’s as natural to my life as anything else, but I’ve never packed for something like this. I’ve packed for 3 week trips, overseas trips, camps, cold weather trips, beach trips, trips to be with family, trips with Ross for gigs, but this has been a very challenging one for me. What you need for a whole summer is different than what you need for a couple of weeks, yet it’s not like we’re permanently moving there. And we’ll be in so many different climates and locations. I made a packing list over the course of a few months and every time I would think of something, I’d run and add it to the list. Last week was very hectic as I packed and packed, but on Monday as we loaded, I felt exhilarated that all the packing was over and we were on our way. We drove to Arlington and then Ross drove by himself (with all our stuff) to Nashville on Tuesday. After staying here with my parents for a week (and going to Austin), me and the kids fly to meet him on Monday.

I feel excited and hopeful in so many ways. I really think that this summer will be a summer that grows and changes all of us. I feel hopeful for Ross’ career as a song-writer. I feel hopeful for the things God wants to do in me as a result of being away from my own house and all my stuff. I feel hopeful for what he wants to do in the kids as they get more concentrated time with each other and with us. I just feel really, really hopeful which is such a great feeling.

The other night at com group, Jen Kilzer had a really great blessing she spoke over us. Ross had told our group that he wanted God to give him a word that would describe and somewhat “rest over” our summer. She said that the word “refresh” kept coming to her mind for us. Both in terms of feeling refreshed by being away, but in the computer use of the word, like when you hit the refresh button on your screen. Things look the same and yet they don’t. She said it’s like we are going to come back and won’t do things the way we’ve done them before. God will do a new thing in us. I feel the same way. Refresh means to revive, to fill up again or replenish, to renew by stimulation, to give new freshness or brightness to, and to restore. I receive all those things for our family.

Furthermore, as part of this summer, I want to chronicle our adventures, our day to day, and Ross’ engagements in a more consistent manner than I usually do. It’s one of my top priorities. And along with that, I plan to have the kids chronicle their versions of this summer too. So, this blog will probably get a lot more attention from me than it usually does.

So, there it is in a rather large nutshell. And now I'm worn out.

Courage, Fear, and Adoption

2011-03-20T22:01:00.002-06:00

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.”

Mark Twain

I like this quote. I know it's true. Yet, I spend so much of my life trying to keep fear away from me. I know fear is not from the Lord, yet I also know that it cannot be "mastered" if I avoid it either. The only way fear can become courage is to release it to the Lord. And sometimes releasing it to the Lord looks like walking right into the thing I fear most.

Ross and I have a passion and calling to adopt children. I feel so sure of this, yet sometimes fear holds me back. Yes, we already have 3 adopted kids, and if I felt like God was calling us to adopt another child in the exact same way we adopted Sam, Jude, and Naomi, then things would be peachy keen. Alas, it seems as if He is not, therefore, the fear. Also with the fear is uncertainty and confusion.

The world of adoption is overwhelming...there are so many options and choices and needs. Oh, the overwhelming sea of need. I could drown in that sea. All those sweet little faces of every color all over the world. All those little bodies needing a hug. All those little minds wanting to learn and grow and do kid things rather than survival things. Yes, that sea is vast and deep.

Then there are all the slightly older kids repeating the patterns of their parents. Getting pregnant outside of marriage, having abortions, etc, etc. That is a vast sea as well. Then there is this new sea of need...the frozen embryos. These lives just freshly knit together sitting somewhere waiting for a stomach to grow it. Sitting there because so many couples who could have adopted, couples who wanted a little baby to love and hold; wanted a baby to love and hold that looked just like them. They didn't want to go get one of these millions of other little ones who needed to be held and rocked. So they turned to science and medicine. And now there are too many of them. Science couldn't do it just right so now there are too many embryos for that couple. They just want one or two. Oh, how sad it is.

I’m not here to judge people who have done IVF. I’m really not. But I am trying to show another perspective, one that is often overlooked. I know infertility is a touchy, difficult subject. Yet, I feel qualified to speak on it since we (Ross and I together, not me alone) are, according to the doc, infertile. But what does that even mean? It's such a yucky science-y word. I think it means that the Lord saw fit to close my womb. The Bible is clear that the Lord is in charge of the womb and yet I also know that infertility is a result of the fall. So why? Why would he do that? Or why would He allow it? He allowed it in our family so we could be freed up to go on a holy mission from God to adopt just one or two or three or six little lives out of that vast, vast sea of need.

Why are there so many orphans?

Why are there so many adoptable children?

Why are there so many abortions?

Why are there so many frozen embryos?

Why are there so many foster children?

Why are there so many infertile couples all over the place?

I think that one of those questions is actually an answer to the rest of those questions. There are so many infertile couples, yes. Well, those couples who desire children could make a pretty sizeable dent in the never ending sea of need.

I don't think infertile couples are the only way to meet that need. I think every Christian is called to consider adoption. The call and command to orphan care, is after all, throughout the Bible, and it is rarely if ever connected in scripture to infertility. But, particularly with couples going through infertility…it seems so obvious to me. But I don't say that with coldness or judgment. I have sat on the other side. The side of wanting children and wondering whether I will love that child that didn't come from my body as much as I would love a child that did. I get it. But, now that I am on this side, I know that you do. You will. God does it.

Having a baby come from your own body is called “natural” or “biological.” I want adoption to become the new natural. At least for Christians, it should be more natural to us. Unless you are a Jewish Christian, then you are adopted. You are adopted. You have been adopted. Before you were adopted, you were sitting alone somewhere, hurting, needy, dirty, and full of problems. But God came in and said, "I want her. She looks perfect.” “I want him. He looks like my son.” “ Oh, and here is your brother. He is the Savior of the world.” How can we not, as Christians, be moved by that? It is not a metaphor. It's not a cute word picture. It's actual. It happened. Jesus' scars are the adoption certificate.

So, knowing that, how can I avoid adoption? I can't. But it doesn't change the fear that crops up when I think of all the unknowns. Whoever you are, whatever you are considering, the fear will look different. I don't fear adopting a little brown newborn baby from Texas. I can do that. But it’s looking like God wants Ross and I to adopt differently this time. We are considering Ethiopia. We are considering adopting an older child. We are considering adopting a sibling group. We are considering adopting a child with special needs. We are considering all of these unknowns. So if you are reading this and you've never adopted, and adopting a little brown newborn baby from the US scares you, I understand. It's your unknown. It's my known so I have, in a sense, "mastered" the fear. I have courage in this one area of adoption. But I am desperately trying to have courage in the other areas. God knows that He will probably have to walk me right into the middle of it all before I overcome the fear. I can resist it only for so long. But I trust Him. I have to. He has given me living proof of his abundant blessings in the form of three little people in my home. People I love so much, I would die for them. People who grew in other women's bodies, who wouldn't have been mine if I hadn't resisted the fear just long enough to go and get them. People who wouldn’t have been mine if Ross and I had been able to conceive “naturally.”

He can do the same for you.

He will do it again for us.

He will do it for all those who will step out in faith and say yes to adoption.

1st Haircut

2011-03-17T22:08:00.001-06:00

I finally decided to trim Naomi's wonderful curls. It was her very first haircut and we only had about 1/2 inch cut off. Becca came and did it on our front porch. It was a windy day, but Naomi did pretty well. She didn't much like sitting still for that long and really wanted to "help", but Becca managed to get it done. With her long hair, it was pretty anti-climatic as her hair looked no different afterwards than it did before. But I know it's healthier so that was the point anyway. Regardless, it seemed like a pretty important thing to document. So, here it is...Naomi's first haircut.

A little bumblebee

2011-03-08T15:03:00.001-06:00

I love when Naomi wants to dress herself.

Here she is being a puppy dog bumble-bee.

Potty Partners

2011-02-28T22:20:00.001-06:00

I am desperately trying to potty train Naomi. It is proving to be the most challenging of all three kids so far, probably because I have less time to focus on it. In so many ways, Naomi acts older than her 2 1/2 years, but in this way, she is determined to stay a "baby." She has only gone in the potty one time and it was (not joking here) after I had just implored God to help her do it. Since then, she has decided she does not want to do it and no amount of prizes or encouragment from me or the boys of the house will help.

I had to capture this moment when she and Jude decided to be potty partners one day. Jude was helping me in trying to get Naomi to use her potty chair and he did it all on his own. I walked in to them facing each other in the bathroom and it was too cute to pass up.

Our Wintry Trip

2011-02-25T22:12:00.000-06:00

We just returned from an amazing trip to Colorado. I love observing how different Colorado looks from season to season. We were there last summer and it was so strange to see the exact same trails that we hiked covered in snow or the park the kids played at completely covered by 6 foot snow drifts. The river that the boys practically lived in last summer, building dams and getting soaked from head to toe, was frozen solid and covered in snow. It didn’t even look like a river. I would stand there just staring and trying to picture in my mind’s eye what it looked like just months ago.

The first day we were there, we all took a private snow-boarding lesson. My mom and dad, Ross, Sam, Jude, and I were all first-timers. I was pretty sure I would have a hard time, especially since I’ve been skiing since I was 4 years old. I was mostly concerned about my feet being strapped down on the board. And at first, it was weird. The funniest part was that our instructor gave us about a 10 minute lesson on how to strap one foot down to the board and drag it along while walking on the other foot. He made sure we could do that and then we headed straight to the Super Chair lift. All of a sudden I found myself nervous about getting off this thing when I’ve been getting on and off chairlifts my whole life. But I’d never gotten off one with a snowboard strapped to my feet, or rather my foot. My mom, dad, and Sam went in one chair. And me, Ross, Jude, and our instructor, Brian went on the other. We managed to disembark without too much of an ordeal. He then took us their private slope and we were taught how to get up, stop, and eventually how to get down the mountain. It was so much fun. It didn’t hurt that the weather was fantastic: 45 degrees with the sun shining. It was one of those days on the mountain when you are glad for wearing layers. The experience was one I’ll never forget. We managed to learn how to get down the mountain without falling too much. We learned some half turns and how to stop. We fell a lot and were very sore. It was great.

That's me making my way down the hill.

And my very cool dad.

Gee and Sam

Rock star hubby.

Some cute little snowboarders, indeed.

I didn’t get a chance to snowboard again on the trip. I ended up skiing the rest of the time. One day, I skied with Sam between my legs while holding his backpack which is not an easy thing to do. My mom and Brooke skied with us that day too.

We went ice skating one night and spent all of one morning sledding down a huge hill. It was quite a trek up to the top but completely worth it.

I was so glad to spend time with my sister who flew in from LA. We loved being together for an extended amount of time.

I read and became completely engrossed in the Hunger Games series.
Read it. It's good.

One of the boys' favorite pasttimes was to sit in the hot tub outside whilst eating snow. They are practically little junior members of the Polar Bear Club as they would repeatedly get out, grab a handful of snow to eat, then jump back in.

I must say the weather was just amazing for February. We were so thankful that we picked the week we did to be there. We only had one really cold snowy day, and it was nice. We stayed in most of that day reading and sleeping. Ross let me sleep really late. Then we ventured out to eat lunch at a great pizza place, Eric’s, and then off to the Breckenridge Children’s Museum.

But other than that, most of the time it was really great cold weather, sunny and beautiful. We heard that the week after we left, they had huge snowstorm come through. Glad we missed that.

Finally, there was this one wonderful moment I had one night. We all walked to the skating rink and then realized that Sam had left his socks at home. I walked back alone to get them. It was a crispy, cold night. The moon was almost full and the sky was full of stars. It was so empty on the streets and the only sound was my boots crunching the snow below my feet. I was overcome by the quiet beauty of that night. How everything around me was white and gently reflecting the moonlight. How every tree was outlined against the sky, every star seeming to shine and twinkle just the right amount. How my breath looked in the cold air, and how the mountains were dark and looming against the midnight blue sky. I stood there simply being in the moment, wishing it didn’t have to end, but knowing in the back of my mind that it would at some point. That a car would drive by or a cloud would cover the moon or, as it happened, I would eventually remember I had children waiting for their socks at the ice skating rink. So I eventually moved on, but not before trying to memorize every little piece of my moment of beauty.

The trip was very life-giving and even the car ride wasn’t too awful although we did have a flat tire on the way there and Jude threw up on the way back. Got to have some of that stuff thrown in there I guess.

Post Colorado Ski trip photos

2011-02-21T14:42:00.002-06:00

Unpacking is such a bummer.

Slightly more fun photos of our ski trip to Colorado coming. (As soon as I get them from my mom's camera.)

Idealism

2011-02-10T14:40:00.001-06:00

I feel melancholy sometimes when I look back on how much I used to write about and photograph Sam when he was our only child. Is it weird to feel a sort of pang of longing for those more peaceful, simpler times? I can’t imagine our family without Jude and Naomi, and it’s not really even about the kids because they are all my favorite people. It’s related to a way of living that was easier, slower, and more “take it all in” than I feel now. Often, I want that back, but only if I can have it back with all the kids there too. It seems inevitable that as we grow our family, I have less time to do those reflective exercises.

But being the idealist that I am, I thought I was going to do it differently. I was going to make the time to write about the kids and to take lots of pictures and to reflect as often as I did when we only had one child. Am I wrong, or is that just not possible? Sometimes being an idealist is a pain in the neck. I have discovered this more and more the past few years. And in my hardest moments, I’ve resented being an idealist at all. There have been many moments where I’ve thought to myself, “this situation would not be such a big disappointment to me if I hadn’t imagined it to be so different.” And if I’m honest, the challenges of raising 3 kids and the junk that I’ve discovered in myself through these years has been overwhelming at times, largely because of how ideally I imagined it all would be. It’s really hard. Full of joy? Yes. Would I trade it? Most of the time, no. But it is really hard to disciple and parent both the individuals and the whole.

I’ve also realized in these past couple of years, I have not consistently looked at life in the same ways I used to. When Sam and Jude were little, I think that I spent more time being present in the moment than in more recent times. I was looking at the small things to capture about our life, not just the big, important events and milestones. Those big things always get all the attention. What’s missing lately is remembering the little things. I haven’t captured those little things, the things that really make up our everyday life. The stuff you can’t get back.

I’ve also realized I approach life more laid-back when I am looking for the humor of a situation or when I stop to realize that I won’t ever get this time back as opposed to feeling frustrated or inconvenienced if the kids do, well, kid things. Like when my son tears a huge block of Styrofoam into thousands of tiny weightless balls that float all over my house, and somehow multiply when a broom appears. And when my 2 year old daughter plants herself in the corner, arms folded over her chest, and says, “I’m not talking to you.” And when the shoes are lost right as we’re walking out the door or the boys just have to have the same Lego guy at the exact same time even though there are 50 others in the box. And when the markers find a newly painted wall to decorate instead a piece of paper. And when my son who finally likes broccoli and zuchini suddenly decides he really doesn’t like broccoli and zuchinni.

I wish I could say I handle all these frustrations with laughter and patience, but I would be lying. But if I could just shift my perspective a little bit, I would be able to laugh (or at least smile) at these things, to remember they aren’t such a big deal, and really live in the moment with my family. Because the moment is as it is and I have a choice to be there or somewhere else. Not physically somewhere else, but mentally and emotionally…in the past wishing I’d done something differently or in the future thinking of all the things I have to do. But then if I’m not really there, when these moments present themselves, I will miss them.

So here’s to remembering some of the little things…like when my boys wrestle on the floor and jump on the furniture, when Jude takes a piece of chalk and rubs it back and forth on the chalkboard until all that’s left is a pile of chalkdust all over the floor. When Naomi walks around with a phone on her ear, baby in her arms, purse on her shoulder, pushing a shopping cart. And at bedtime, when I’m really tired and Sam begs me to tell him “just one more story, please mommy, I don’t care how long it is, please, please, please.” When Jude throws up in the car on the trip home from Colorado and when we seem to always be losing something from my sunglasses, our IPOD, Jude’s Tevas, my keys, Ross’ gloves, Sam’s camelback, and so on. When Jude gets into Naomi’s crib after her nap and I watch them through the monitor as they sing sweet little songs together. When Sam impresses everyone with how limber he is by putting both his feet behind his head. When Naomi sits at a table full of grown-ups every Wednesday night at our house and socializes like an adult.

I may not have the pictures to go with these, but I have the pictures in my head and I hopefully won’t forget.

Our Texas Snow Day

2011-02-04T15:06:00.003-06:00

We always have at least one, and usually only one, snow day here in BCS. I love seeing our home and yard and kids covered in snow. On this particular day Sam woke up very early before any of us, unpacked the suitcases that I had already packed for our Colorado ski trip, got dressed, and went out to play by himself. As luck would have it, by the time the rest of us could get up and around and covered from head to toe in clothing, he was freezing and ready to come in. I did manage to find a small window later that morning when all three kids wanted to be outside at the same time, but these Texas kids can only handle the cold in small doses. They would play for about 15-20 minutes and then come to the door, take off all the clothes in about 15 seconds (the clothes that took me 15 minutes to get on them), and ask for hot chocolate. I, like the kids, only like the cold in small doses, primarily because of the ordeal of getting all them dressed. Sheesh. It takes forever. All those little fingers trying to fit into those tiny little gloves, the socks, the boots, the hats and scarves and various zippers. Give me a bathing suit and flip-flops. That only takes about 10 seconds per kid. Spray on some sunscreen and you're done in less than a minute. The snow does make for some pretty cute pictures though.

Naomi did not like the snow at all. She was very upset by it.

I love this picture of Jude launching a snowball at Sam.

summer camp! in november??

2010-11-05T14:14:00.001-06:00

Well, not exactly. But I found this old post that I never published and decided that even though it is November and the weather has grown delightfully chilly, it is completely fine to have one last taste of summer here. So, here's some warm, suncreen-wearing, popsicle-eating fun...

We were blessed to go to camp with Ross in June. My childhood friend, Summer (Peterson) McAuley is the interim children's minister for Northeast Bible Church. She invited Ross to lead the worship for their children's camp in Buda, TX. We had the best week. I was prepared for a nice week at camp with Ross. It turned out to be a refreshing, delightful week, and exceeded my expectations . It followed some of the busiest few weeks I'd had in a long time so it was such a nice, relaxing break. We got to know so many of the sweet kids and played alot with all the fun camp-y activities. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time re-connecting with Summer and her husband, Zach.

Sam was the same age as the jr. campers. By the end of the week, he, Jude, and Naomi, had made friends with all of them. He was also excited to try all kinds of new things and was very brave, accessing his outdoorsy, boy, self. The camp was on a river and in the afternnoons, he and Jude would swim in the river with the other kids. He was brave enough to go on the rope swing off the very high platform and climb the face of one of the cliffs during rock-climbing. All 5 of us canoed on the river, although the kids fought over who got to paddle where. They also had a huge pool with a diving board and slide.

And while I'm at it, why not add a little more summer fun?

Later in June, we had fun filled weekend with the King family at a big family reunion at the lake. Ken, Michelle, and their boys were here for the weekend and the cousins a wonderful reunion. We all got to ride on the speed boats and the Mamba which was a big tube pulled behind the boat. The boys completely loved it.

A Beautiful Day

2010-07-03T16:39:00.009-05:00

We were so honored to have Sam, Jude, and Ross participate in Becca and Otha's wedding a few weeks ago. Becca has been a very important part of our life the past 3 years. She came into our life as a babysitter, but she was so much more than that to us, although as a babysitter, I can't say one negatiive thing about her. The Lord just knit her heart into our family and she is now such a dear, dear friend. I feel so good and peaceful when she is with my kids. I know that they love her so much and she loves them in return. As a babysitter, she is the best combination of fun and capable. She made herself right at home with us and her presence in our home was always a blessing. God brought Otha into her life and they are such a great fit. He is strong, loving, Godly, and passionate....all things Becca always told me she wanted in a husband. We had the priviledge of walking through their entire dating and engagement and then giving them pre-marital counseling.

This beautiful day in June was the culmination of so much hope, prayer, and waiting. It was a beautiful wedding, and I was most moved when Otha knelt down in front of his bride and washed her feet. It was a reflection of Christ and the Church that is burned into my brain. Sam and Jude were the ring-bearers and they did great. It's always a gamble when kids are in a wedding, but they did so well. I still don't think Jude knows why he was in the wedding or even what his job was, but he did it nonetheless and was rewarded at his seat after walkig down the very long aisle with 2 lollipops that kept him busy during the ceremony. Sam was in Michael and Terri's wedding as the ring bearer a few years ago, so when I told him that he did a good job, he said "it's no problem, I've done this before." Naomi was not in the wedding, but I just couldn't resist this sweet little dress when I saw it. I had to get it for her to match the boys. She did have lots of fun running around and getting lots of attention from Becca and the bridesmaids. Ross did the music during the ceremony, and despite getting a sick a few hours before the wedding, did a fabulous job. I survived the weekend as the coordinator of all this involvement and danced off my stress with many friends and Sam at the reception (as Ross, much to our great disappointment, missed the very fun dance).

Here are some amazing photos by Ryan Price from Otha & Becca's wedding and the fabulous dance party reception. They are incredible. And by the way, isn't Becca the most gorgeous bride you have ever seen? I can't get over her.

I love Jude's face in this picture. He was so annoyed with the photos after the wedding and had already rolled around the grass and untucked his shirt.

Ross, looking like a rock star. And Jude, again, looking so irritated at the photo taking (and this was before the wedding.)

A New Look

2010-06-21T00:24:00.004-05:00

I decided to give my blog a summery look. maybe it will inspire me to write on it, now that it's so pretty. we'll see!

Melancholy Musings

2010-02-28T22:55:00.005-06:00

The journey we’re on: from a comfortable, predictable life to a life where my only certainty is the unchanging nature of God.

This has been an unusual few weeks for me. As I’ve said before, I wish life would slow down sometimes. I get melancholy when I realize that the days fly by faster and faster and that my babies are growing up. I get melancholy when I realize that I don’t burn the images of them into my brain like I want to and like I used to. That someday I’ll forget what Naomi’s voice sounds like when she says “bye-bye” or “hey baby”. That I’ll forget, as I already have, all the words that Jude messes up. Words like balloon (badabadoon) or elevator (alligator). As smart as he is, there aren’t that many left and I don’t correct him because I love it. I know that someday I’ll wish I’d watched Sam play drums more and told him all the stories he wanted instead of cleaning and checking my email.

I know that time has to pass and that’s just how life is, but I’m in, and have been, in a weird season. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I just don’t feel like life has as manageable a pace as it used to. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. Maybe it’s just my perspective that’s wrong. Maybe I’ve just had to shelve all the memory making for a while in order to survive. That’s very possible given all the changes we’ve been through in such a short time. But I don’t want to forget all the little things. At the very least, I want to know I fully lived into every day, including the hard ones. Because I will forget, I know that’s a fact. No matter how many photos I take and how many cute things I write down, I will forget. I can’t remember it all.

But I guess as I write this, I am realizing I don’t fear the forgetting as much as I fear regretting. That’s what it is I fear. Regret over how I spent my time. Or even more so, did I really invest in each day? How “in” was I each day? Was I just there in body, but not really there? Was my mind always somewhere else, wishing the day away? Did I, do I live into every moment I’m given with Ross, with my kids, with the people I love?

I am a striver. Always always striving. A ceaseless striver toward the next goal, the next accomplishment, the next task. And yet I know that deep down in my core, I was not made to strive. I was made to be, to rest and sit in the shadow of God’s wing. To rest in Him, and find my joy and energy and purpose and calling and hope and contentment in Him. To know that when I really truly rest in Him, I am more alive than I could ever be.

We are thinking a lot about our future and about taking greater steps of faith. We are re-learning the true cost of discipleship and walking through some of the hard teachings of Christ with our community. We are asking God to shake us up and give us His heart for the poor and needy and to give us grace to live that out. I’ll hopefully share more in the days to come. I am unsure of what God will call us to do or what His plans are. He is unpredictable. But I am hopefully being awakened from a fog that I’ve been in. A fog of keeping my eyes too close to the ground and not up at the sky. It’s a sad thing to always be looking down, searching for the next step. I’d rather look up and see the light, see the beautiful sky and trust God’s hand to lead me down the path. I want to see the world and eternity as He sees it.

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”
C.S. Lewis

One Giant Re-cap

2010-02-14T21:46:00.002-06:00

As I think back over the past year, it feels like my life was on fast-forward. And when life moves at that pace (thankfully not all the time), how does one who is an internal processer take time to blog? It just doesn't happen which I think is pretty obvious by the infrequency with which I've posted over the past year. It's not because there has been a lack of things to share. So, here is my giant re-wind, specifically July through December which had quite a bit crammed into them.

In early July, Ross went to Haiti with some people from our church. He fell in love with the people and ministry going on there. In light of the recent earthquake, it has been so good to have a pre-existing relationship with people who are among the Haitians doing the hard relief work. (http://www.heartlineminstries.org/)

That next week we put an offer on a new/old house.

In early August, we went to Colorado with my family for 3 weeks and enjoyed playing in the river, hiking, doing a 33 (mostly downhill) bike ride, and enjoying the escape from the relentless Texas heat.

A week after we got home, we closed on our new/old house. This is a long story, which I will save for another time but it was a whirlwind. 3 days later, we went to Com Church camp.
The 1st week of September, we went to Tyler to finalize Naomi's adoption!!
A few weeks later, we told her story and had her dedication at church

Started homeschooling. (no pictures, seriously)

Continued with much work on new house.

Sam turned 6 on September 25. Naomi turned 1 on October 14.

Kids sing and talk on Ross' new CD.

Went to
Disney World with my family. 9 adults and 7 kids. Crazy.

Ross and I celebrated 11 years of marriage while there. We had a very fun date. Aerosmith Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios and dinner at the House of Blues.

Jude turns 3 on October 25.

Moving Day: November 14. A happy and sad day for me.Thanksgiving with the King family.Got sick for a whole month after all this. (I'll spare you the photo.)

Sam had a speaking part and played the drum in our church play.

Released Words that Rhyme with Orange.

Had our first Christmas in our new house and a White Christmas with my family in Arlington.

Done.

Some Recent Pictures

2010-02-01T00:19:00.005-06:00

Jude got into a fight with some concrete. This is actually 3 days later since I forgot to take one the day of. As usual, he was very tough.

Sam as Wolverine for Hayden's birthday party

Naomi getting feisty in the bathtub.

Caution: A Tale of Vomiting

2010-01-29T00:20:00.004-06:00

First, a Short Preface--I had hoped to post a re-cap of my past 5-6 months, and I am currently working on it. It is a review of sorts because those months had so much crammed into them, that at times it felt impossible for me to catch my breath, let alone write about it. So my long post w/photos is coming, if for no one but myself. The review post has to come because I have this really weird obsession with making sure I write about and post things chronologically. I can’t just skip 6 months of important things. It’s kind of a problem because when I skip writing about an event or something important, I can’t move on. It just hangs there waiting for me to write about it. Then more time passes and another thing happens, but since I haven’t written about the first one, I definitely can’t write about that one because then they would be chronologically out of order. My problem grows and grows until here I am 6 months later wanting to tell you about a very ordinary, albeit gross evening of my kids getting a stomach bug (yes throw-up) and I can’t because I still haven’t written about our vacation to Colorado (August) or Naomi’s adoption finalization (September) or moving into our new house (November). Mucho more important things. But as important as those things are, the “review” isn’t ready (posting pics takes a long time), and I have to get back on the posting wagon sooooo I’m going to do it by telling about my kids puking.

Now the story...I had grand plans to go to IKEA this week. I need a bunch of things for our new house and IKEA is very budget-friendly. I wish wish wish we had one here, but who am I kidding. So, I was planning to go today, but Naomi woke up from her nap on Tuesday throwing up. This is after she had diarrhea for 4 days, one time in which it got all over her bed, bumper pad, everything. Due to that I moved the IKEA day to Friday thinking she would be better by then. The kids were at Ross’ parents for a few hours this afternoon and they called to tell me Jude was asking for me. This was a bit unusual, but since he didn’t have a nap I figured he just felt whiny and was tired. It didn’t occur to me that he might be sick although Ross woke up with the stuff today. So on the way home, in the car, Jude says “uh-oh…” and then vomits all over the back seat, himself, and his car seat. Ugh. I pull over and try to clean him?? /comfort him??...I mean what can I do? I just try to make sure he’s done (he wasn’t) and then speed all the way home texting Ross that my car smells like throw-up. We put Jude in the bathtub and I begin the lovely job of cleaning up the car. (I will spare you the details.)

After cleaning up everything, kids tucked nicely in bed, Ross tells me to go ahead and go to IKEA tomorrow. I can take Sam, he can stay with Jude, and Naomi can go to his parents’. So it’s back on, until about 10 when I hear Sam crying and wailing. Now he is throwing up all over his bed. Round 2. So, I’ve spent the last hour cleaning up his throw-up, bathing him, and praying to God and willing myself to not get this.

So, as I’m standing at the sink for what seems like hours rinsing off sheets and pillow cases, shirts and towels, I had time to think. One of the things I thought of was how thankful I am for indoor plumbing. How in the world could I do this without running hot water? I have washed poop and puke out of about 40 items in the last 48 hours. I am so glad I have a big sink with hot water and a washing machine 6 feet from it. I’m not kidding. I was really actually able to praise God in this trial because of how immensely grateful I am for running water. (This trial, on the scale of trials, is not that big. But when you’re cleaning up your 15^th puke-covered item, it’s hard to be joyful.)

Another thing I thought of while cleaning up is the different between Sam and Jude in the area of toughness. Jude is very, very tough. Today, he cried for a few seconds after he threw up in the car and then waited patiently until we got home. While Jude was in the bathtub, Ross was laughing at how tough Jude is. He calmly said, “daddy, I’m going to throw-up again.” He said it so normal that Ross thought he was kidding. But then he just stood up, leaned over the tub and puked into a bucket. Then he just sat back down and started playing in the tub. No big deal.

Sam, on the other hand, is more normal. When he throws up, he cries and cries. That’s how I am. Crying like a baby. It’s like everything on my face has fluid coming out…throw-up, snot, tears. So poor Sam, tonight he was up there crying so hard and was so grossed out. Not quite as tough as Jude, but definitely more normal.

I am truly trying to will myself against getting this bug which reminds me of the last thing I was thinking about tonight: my mom. When we were growing up, anytime we got sick, the whole family would get it except for her. One time, we had to drive home from Colorado with all 4 kids and my dad sick in the back of the suburban. My mom drove the whole way and we each had our own throw-up bowl. We’d pull over constantly to empty them. She took care of us the whole way home and never got sick. It’s like a special mom power born out of necessity. I can’t get sick. I just can’t. If I do, then who’s gonna take care of all these other sick people? So, that’s how I see it. I just can’t get sick so I won’t.

It’s late and now all my sick people are tucked into bed with sheets and towels covering every surface and buckets and bowls nearby. I hope to get some sleep tonight so I can be super-mom tomorrow, although I will miss IKEA.

our long-awaited kids cd

2009-11-24T23:34:00.005-06:00

This picture of Ross is actually very symbolic of his life. He juggles a lot of things and has a lot of jobs. I like that about him. He is a dreamer, a visionary, and a he likes to do many different things. For the past year, he has been dreaming about and steadily working on a new CD. It's an entirely new thing for him, a complete deviation from his norm, but in spite of that, it could not fit him more perfectly. He has found a niche and I am exicted about the new CD, Words that Rhyme With Orange. I am here on this little neglected blog tonight (even though we just moved a week ago and I can hardly walk through the staggering mess of clutter in our new house) because I love this CD and I want everyone who has a kid, is a kid, or even just knows a kid to buy it and listen to it. I promise you will be entertained and filled with joy over the pure fun of this CD. The songs are creative and and funny. It is singable, but not cheesy. The kids and parents will simultaneously like it which is a rare and incredibly hard to find commodity in the world of children's music. You will be amazed at how he can write a song about nothing and still say something meaningful. And if you wonder if I am shamelessly pushing this too hard, I am definitely doing that. Just consider the source. Would you expect anything less? Pre-order here right now and get a discount.

We're Moving.

2009-07-09T22:38:00.007-05:00

Somehow tucked into the seemingly warp speed pace our life seems to take, we have embarked upon another major life change. After 9 years in our lovely, old home, we are moving. It snuck up on me, which, I suppose is for the best. I can be incredibly, annoyingly deliberate when making decisions. My family and close friends know this about me. Thankfully as I get older I get better at doing it, but for the most part, when big or important or largely consequential decisions come our way I still fall somewhere on the scale between complete paralysis to "hesitant yet resigned immediately followed by second guessing and/or buyer's remorse." Add to the fact that I am fairly sentimental and prone to dislike change, and this could be a recipe for some tears and stress. I cannot deny, however, that God has led us through the past couple of months very carefully and gently.

When we bought our current house, it just fell into our lap. We weren't house shopping or looking. Ross' parents called us becuase they knew it was going to be on the market soon. We saw it and were able to buy it before it ever officially went up for sale. That was in 2000. 9 years, 2 remodels, and 3 kids later, we are moving out. I am very sad. I know this is exciting, but right now I am sad. I know that our real home and citizenship is with Jesus, but on this earth, right now, Meadow Lane feels like home. These old walls and creaky wooden floors hold alot of memories and sweat and TLC. I have painted and re-painted these walls many times. I have watched my kids learn to crawl on these hard, wooden floors and later listened as their footsteps echoed up and down the hallway. I have spent countless hours sitting on our porch in the swing enjoying our beautiful yard and I am sad that this chapter is closing. I know we are outgrowing this house. It is perfect for a younger family just starting out. I know that if we feel called to have more children (which we do), then we need a little more house. All of that is true. But it will be hard to move on.

I like my neighborhood. It's close to everything and to lots of friends. I love my huge yard. We have woods. In town. And I am officially leaving it. Every day is different in how I feel. One day I am so excited and can't stop thinking about the thousand ways I am going to make the new house look cute. But the next day I can't stop crying about how it doesn't feel like home or that I don't want to live in a new neighborhood. I feel a little bit crazy.

Our new house is huge. It is definitely a God-given miracle to us. For whatever reason, this really old, really big house was in our price range and we bought it. It's done. We closed on the new house last week. The house is in an older neighborhood in North Bryan. It's a really cool house with lots of character--the kind of house I like. It needs a lot of work. I need a lot of faith. I don't know how to do this at this stage of life. How does one fix up a house and move with 3 little kids? It seems impossible most days. I don't know how much time to spend thinking about the house and working on it and how to balance that with being present and "with" my kids. I also don't know how to deal with the unknown and things that I am not excited about. Some days I am even upset about all of it. Does that make me not thankful? I think I am thankful, but I don't know why it's so hard for me to let go.

I also don't know how to deal with the issue of permanence and time. I can't help but think about/wonder how long we will live in this new house. Is this it? Will we live here til our kids are grown? Until we're 70 years old? Or is this another transition? A 3 to 5 year house? Why am I even thinking these things? We haven't even moved in yet and some days I'm already on to the next home. And I don't even like change. I think this way and don't know why. Why do I need to know right now if we will live here in 3 years or 20? I don't think I should wonder about that, but I can't help it. I think about it all the time. It seems to affect how much I want to do to the house. How much money to invest into it. Should we save up and remodel the kitchen? If we're living here for 20 years, then yes. For 3 years, then no. I can't figure out how to see this house and how to invest accordingly. I don't even live there yet, but can't figure it all out.

So, that's where we're at. It's been a long time since I wrote anything on here, but lots and lots of things have been going on and are coming up. I want to catch up on writing about ...our trip to Colorado in August, Naomi's upcoming court date, more about the move, my kids birthdays coming up. Com church camp. All of that is in my head...not sure how much will make it onto the blog!

Candy-bops and Monkey-boys

2009-07-04T22:46:00.006-05:00

Lately I have been especially amused at the words and phrases Sam and Jude say incorrectly. I think it's something all parents feel. I want to teach my children to speak correctly, using correct grammar and tense and pluralization, etc. But it's kind of sad when they actually stop saying words or phrases incorrectly. Sam, for the most part, has stopped although he has a few things he says wrong. Mainly, he cannot seem to figure out when to use "her" and "she". We know he is old enough to use those words correctly and that it would only take a few days of intense reminders, yet we aren't ready so we continue to let him say "her" when it should be "she". It just sounds cute.

Jude, who is 2, has more things he says wrong. But what's funny about Jude is that he actually talks very well for a 2 year old and he really wants to say words exactly right. So, if I correct him, he will study my mouth and my words and will usually repeat it exactly right.

Sometimes after I teach him the correct way to say a word, I will later "confuse" him (not on purpose) by saying the word back to him incorrectly. For instance, he was saying "pi-ree" instead of "pirate." So a few times I told him "it's pirate". Now he will usually repeat it back to me correctly. But the other day I said "hey, I'm a pi-ree" while we were playing and he says, "No mommy, it's pi-rate." O well excuse me.

Which brings me back to the point of this post: Candy-bops and Monkey-boys. These are two phrases that the boys say that I don't correct because, for the time being, I love the wrong way. I know that if I correct them, then it will be over and I'm not ready for it to be over.

Most nights after baths, the boys get this second wind and start acting crazy. I am not sure if it has something to do with being naked (because they do love naked-time) or if it's the realization that bedtime is approaching and they must do all they can to postpone the dreaded inevitable. But whatever the reason, they run to the bedroom at full speed and start doing "candy-bops" and "monkey boys".

Candy-bops are actually cannon-ball jumps off the bottom bunk onto the floor. They jump as hard as they can off the bed holding their legs like they are jumping into a pool and yell "candy-bop!" Then Jude's favorite is to grab the bars on the bottom bunk (the ones holding the top bunk mattress) where he holds on and swings his legs through. He is "playing on the monkey bars", but thinks this trick is called "monkey-boys." I feel like the name is completely appropriate for these 2 so I refuse to correct it. They are my monkey boys.

Our busy days...

2009-05-14T22:55:00.017-05:00

Blogging for me has fallen by the wayside these days. At first, I felt some frustration/guilt/obligation to it. But now I realize that there is a season for everything and this season for me is filled up with an infant daughter I am still getting to know, an almost kindergartner, and a very strong-willed 2 year old with more energy than a rocket ship. Soooooo, I am giving myself a break. I do however want to list some of the highlights from the past month.

Sam learned to ride his bike without training wheels back in February:

Jude learned to ride a "big-kid" bike with training wheels in May. He watches everything Sam does and decided that the tricycle wasn't fast enough. So we let him try the big boy bike at my parents. He loved it after he got the hang of it. Now he is all over the place, racing Sam up and down the driveway.

Naomi started rolling over in February, sitting up in April, crawling in May, and now she is standing up in her bed and along the furniture. Slow down little girl. Be my baby for a little while longer.

Sam lost his first tooth. Thank goodness Ross doesn't mind pulling teeth because I can't stand it. It gives me the heeby-jeebies.

Jude got his first skateboard (which he's been asking about for months.) He won't ever wear shoes so his little feet look like they've been through a battle. I can only imagine what he will be doing in 12 years if he's trying to skateboard at 2. X-games anyone?

Naomi is eating all kinds of new foods and liking most of them except for peas.

Sam lost his second tooth. It hurt worse than the 1st one.
Naomi went swimming for the first time in Arlington.
Jude tried his hand at fingerpainting and took it pretty seriously. The End.

Some great photos...

2009-04-09T15:26:00.009-05:00

We had some really fun photos of our family taken in January. True to form these days, I am just now posting them. Here are some of my favorites:

Milk mustache

2009-02-26T22:48:00.009-06:00

Every once in a while I look at the kids and see glimpses of what they might be like as teenagers.

The other night I didn't have to look far to see it in Jude.

Jude at 2 years old, went to the fridge, took out a carton of milk and drank from it. He looks so proud of himself. I was so surprised that I just stood there and laughed. Of course, he now thinks this is a perfectly acceptable way to get himself a drink whenver he's thirsty.

A Wrinkle in Time

2009-02-26T21:58:00.010-06:00

Well, chalk it up to having a new baby in the house, but I noticed tonight as I perused my blog that I was able to sit down and put my thoughts on “paper” 2 times in November, once in December, and once in January. Since it is almost the last day of February, I am pretty sure that I will also have one post for this month. It’s not that I haven’t had a lot to say. I have had plenty of things running through my mind these days, but time seems to be in short supply and there are so many competing priorities in my very full days.

I feel, to some degree, that our life is leveling out a bit, but at this point, I am guessing it’s all relative. I do feel that compared to 2 months ago, I am getting the hang of having 3 children and truly getting to know Naomi and the precious joy that she is to us.

One of my all time favorite books is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle. She is one of my favorite authors, an author who can cross generational boundaries and appeal to every age in some way. A Wrinkle in Tine is one of her more famous books and I love the idea of time having a wrinkle. I picture time as a large sheet with a piece of it folded back. When I jump from one side of the fold or wrinkle to the other I am skipping over a large amount of space. I kind of wish that I could do that right now. Fold up time and jump to the places where I have unfinished business or the places where I might want to just sit and reflect.

As this is our 3rd adoption, I’ve learned a lot about the adjustments that are made along the way, adjustments that are inevitable when you get a child with so little notice.

One of the things that is always so challenging for me is how I feel so unprepared for our new little one. We have many friends right now who are pregnant or who have just had new babies. I have watched them prepare for their new little one…nearly nine months of preparations. Emotionally, physically, and house-holdedly, they are as prepared as they can be.

That couldn’t be more different from how I feel and felt 4 months ago. It’s just one of those inevitable differences that happen in adoption. Even when you are waiting and waiting and waiting for a match or placement, it’s not the same as preparing. Preparing is best done when you know you will most certainly have a baby in your home on a certain date. Those certainties are absent in adoption and therefore I was “unprepared.”

I have spent the last 4 months playing tug of war with my competing priorities and desires. On one side of the rope, I just want to completely relax and rest and enjoy my new baby. I want to allow myself the space to bond and assist my family through this life change. I want to stay home more and not worry about the usual chores and responsibilities. A sort of maternity leave. I also, however, want to “nest.” I desperately want everything in its place. I want Naomi to have a nursery with all her things and clothes that have been washed and organized and ready for her. I want to have cute bedding and feminine things in her room. I want to get the boys into a room together and make their room fun with bunk beds and all their toys. I want to change our office, our living room, our dining room, our hallway, etc. I am bursting with ideas and ways to make our house more comfortable and special and unique. But it’s not ideal timing to completely rearrange your house with a newborn.

So my compromise is to do these projects at a snail’s pace. I do a tiny little bit every day, so little in fact, that some days I wonder if I will ever be done. But I am making a bit of progress on our home and I am enjoying our kids and making time for them. Especially with Naomi, I know that her first year will fly by and I don’t want to look back and realize that I missed it. I know that even as I feel impatient with my progress, I care more about cherishing these days with the kids. Before I know it Sam will be 6, Jude will be 3, and Naomi will be 1. I don’t want to have any regrets about how I spent my time.

One of the big changes that has taken place is that Sam and Jude are now sharing a room. This has been a huge, ongoing adjustment for me. Jude, as a baby in his own room, was an amazing sleeper. He would go to bed with no problem whatsoever. He started sleeping through the night very early. He needed little to no assistance or help and would sleep on average 12-14 hours a night. He rarely cried out or woke up in the middle of the night.

O how my life has changed. He started climbing out of the crib a while ago, but we were able to keep control of it since he was in his own room. A few weeks ago, we moved his crib into Sam’s room and that is when the circus began. He gets in and out of the bed multiple times a night. He receives many spankings and has been falling asleep at least an hour later than usual and waking up at least 1-2 hours earlier than usual.

Naps are the same way. This went on for a few weeks and then this past Monday, we put new bunk beds in their room. He was moved from the crib to the big, queen sized bed on the bottom bunk. We figured that there was no point in keeping him the crib since he wouldn’t stay in it anyway. All sleep struggles aside, they love sharing a room and having bunk beds. I can see that they are already getting closer and becoming better friends just from sharing a room. And they are eagerly anticipating Star Wars sheets for their new bunk beds.

Sharing a room for the first time.

I love that smile.

Sam helping me paint the new bunk beds.They love the new bunk beds!

My little boy's growing up...

2009-01-29T23:03:00.006-06:00

The other afternoon we had some friends over to play with Sam and Jude. They were all in the driveway riding our various toys. I look over and see Sam messing with his bike. He has a wrench and it attempting to take the training wheels off his Spiderman bike. I said, “Sam, what are you doing?” He said he wanted to ride without the training wheels. I tried to talk him out of it because I was home alone with 6 kids and didn’t think it was the best time to be trying something like that. But he was so excited and sure of himself and so I let him take one of the wheels off. I was thinking he would need a lot of help, get tired of it, and wait for a better time when Ross and I both could be there to help. But he did great. So I come back a while later and he is taking off the second wheel. At this point, I am really conflicted. The sentimental part of me is frustrated that he wants to do this right now. Naomi is crying, Jude is playing in the driveway, and I have 3 extra kids at my house. I am thinking “I can’t help you or take pictures or video this and Ross isn’t here.” But, again, he was very confident and ready so I decided to let him try. He did it perfectly. He rode all around our driveway without falling off. I was amazed and did manage to get a small piece on video. He was so proud and excited and happy that I couldn’t help but feel a surge of happiness and love for him. It wasn’t the best timing but I am so proud of him.

boys

2009-01-14T22:32:00.001-06:00

Lately I have been very intrigued by how 2 year old Jude is very different from the way 2 year old Sam was. Of course, most of this has to do with the vast differences in their personalities, but I am learning that some it has to with the fact that Jude has an older brother to watch and learn from. First of all, Jude talks non stop. His vocabulary amazes me daily, and I can’t believe how many words he knows. He usually speaks in complete sentences and more importantly knows how and when to be funny with his words. I’ve noticed he often observes the world around him as his audience, and I can see his brain thinking of what he can do in that moment to please the audience. He is the entertainer and we, of course, laugh.

Lately one of the things that I am pretty sure comes from having an older brother is Jude’s obsession with “bad guys”, guns, light sabers, and swords. Just as when Sam was 2, almost any object could be turned into a drum or drumstick, Jude can turn just about any object into a light saber. These are just a few of the things he has used to make a light saber depending on his mood:

Actual light saber
Sword
Stick
Broom handle
Pencil
Pen
Straw (one of his favorites)
Toothpick
Hairpin
Tiny piece of rubber (from a toy and is abut 3 cm long)
Paperclip
Penny

I laugh at him all the time at how his imagination is definitely not limited by his surroundings. He also does this little stance that I love. He gets his sword or gun or light saber and comes up to me and says, “bad guy” and then makes shooting, fighting noises. He wants anyone and everyone to engage him in battle and he doesn’t even mind if the battle is not fairly matched. Just this morning, he handed me a toy sword and got himself a straw and asked me to fight him. He was so serious and obviously confident in his abilities. And I think he won.

Midnight Musings

2008-12-11T22:50:00.009-06:00

Well, these days my brain feels like mush most of the time. I rarely even remember I even have a blog, and when I do remember I can't imagine when I'll ever have time to/feel inspired to write on it. But here I am at 10:50 waiting for Naomi to wake up for a feeding. I could go to bed, but then I'd have to be awakened more than 2 times in one night which I don't think I can handle tonight. I'd rather just stay up until she wakes up, feed her, then go to bed.

I am so thankful for our precious kids. I know that when Naomi is a little older and I can get more sleep, I will be able to process even further what a miracle she is. Everything has just happened so fast that I think I am still in shock and survival mode a little bit. I find it strange to think that 4 months ago I was just going about our life with 2 boys and didn't even know about Naomi, and now I have a 2 month old daughter. That is some fast change. It has been a difficult transition for me, learning how to love and pour into 3 kids all day (and night) long. I really need to die to many more things, but my flesh is hard to train. I know that these trials are temporary and pretty soon I'll have the hang of things. The problem is that I know God wants me to die to my self-reliance. Yet, most days all I can think of is how I long to feel in control of my life again. I can't seem to make the leap into relying on Him. I do it occasionally, but also spend a large amount of time frustrated, impatient, and unsurrendered to these tests that come my way. I just need to lean all the way into Him. Lord help me do that.

Ok, so there's my late-night confession. I also wanted to put up some pictures of the kids. Since we got a rare few inches of snow on Wednesday, I took some pictures of the boys in it. Sam was ecstatic the morning it snowed. He immeditely put on boots, hat, and coat over the p.j.'s to run outside and scoop it up. He desperately wanted to make an apple juice "snow" cone out of real snow, but it wasn't deep enough. I told him to scrape some off our mostly clean railing and we'd try to make one. But by the time he filled up his cup, it was just an icy, slushy, and somewhat dirty mess. He couldn't understand why it didn't work. I told him that it wasn't real snow, but more like ice-snow (sleet) because we live in Texas. So later in the day when it began to snow, he was once again very excited. But then as we're driving home and snow is falling fast, he says to me, "so is this real snow or pretend snow?" I said, "what do you mean?" He says, "you know like the TX pretend snow?" I said, "actually this is real snow, even in Texas." When we got home he played in it til got dark and he was shaking from the cold. Jude, my usually fearless little boy didn't like the cold at all and wanted nothing to do with the snow..."is too code mommy" is what he kept saying.

Lastly, here is a picture of my little wide-eyed, wild hair girl!

Our little Naomi

2008-11-21T13:02:00.003-06:00

As is to be expected, we are pretty sleep deprived around here, thus the lack of posts this past month. Naomi is doing well and we are slowly adjusting to a family of 5 and remembering the silly exhaustion that accompanies a newborn baby. But despite the crying and lack of sleep, we love her very much and are so thankful for her.

Halloween

2008-11-02T22:28:00.007-06:00

We went to FBC, Bryan for their Halloween "Fall Festival" on Friday night. Art and Lylabeth showed us around and our friends, the Douglass' joined us. The kids were so excited about their costumes and seemed to walk a little taller and a little prouder that night. I mean who wouldn't when you're dressed like a Jedi, Spiderman, Mr. Incredible, Superman, and a sweet little ballerina. Dressing up is great!

Naomi also made an appearance (from the covered car seat) to all of Art and LB's friends at their church. She did very well. No costume though. She didn't need one...she just looked like a sweet little angel.

Look at my giant muscles.

Don't mess with us.Even our ballerina's tough.

"Mom, this mask feels a little funny..."

Hanging out with Nana and PawPaw

Happy Birthday Jude!

2008-10-29T22:08:00.008-06:00

This weekend was Jude’s birthday. He is 2 years old. On his wall hangs a sign that says, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine”. He loves for me to sing that little song to him. Since we just adopted Naomi, I have been thinking about how thankful I am to our children’s birthmothers for choosing life. I have also been thinking about the past two years with Jude and how full he has made our lives after waiting for what seemed like so long for him. I believe that the whole time Jude was growing inside his birthmother, God was covering him and filling him with light and life and joy. He is just so full of those things, even now, that it’s as if he’s going to burst. He came into our lives, our family’s own little personal “sunshine” and lit up all the places we didn’t even know were clothed in shadow.

Jude has seemed like he’s 2 for a while now. Maybe it’s because he’s so big or maybe it’s because he can talk so much. People always talk about the “terrible two’s.” I’ve always disliked that. To me, words are important, and I don’t want to speak that over my kids, even jokingly. Yes, 2 year olds can be challenging. It’s a time of huge transitions, and 2-year-olds are definitely prone to testing all the boundaries. But they’re also so much fun. I think Jude is “becoming” many of the wonderful things that God made him to be, and I declare that this year will be the “triumphant two’s” for our family! He is learning so much and all the training and discipline is starting to show. He still tests the boundaries at an almost hourly pace, but I am seeing more self-control and understanding develop in him. He is already walking in victory in so many ways and I am so proud of him.

On this 2nd birthday, here’s what I love about my little sunshine, Jude:

He really knows how to feel things and how to get the most out of life. He teaches me a lot about enjoying life and being happy just for the sake of being happy.

I love his independent streak (sometimes), but also that he needs to regroup periodically by getting a hug or sitting in my lap. I would like it if he would cuddle just a little more, but I’ll take what I can get from the little busy-body.

I love that he is so funny, already has good comedic timing, and that he makes us laugh all the time.

I love that he is so uninhibited especially in his singing and dancing. He really feels the music and enjoys it with his whole body and it doesn’t matter to him if people are watching. I hope he’s always that way.

I love that he’s so masculine and that he gives new meaning to the word “all-boy.”

I love that he loves people so much and that he enjoys his brother, friends, and family so much.

Happy Birthday Sunshine. We love you!

Baby Girl King...

2008-10-26T22:51:00.004-06:00

now has a name. Her name is Naomi Joy Christine King. Naomi means delightful. She is a delightful joy that has been added to our family, and we are so excited to have her. We also want to honor her birthmother, C by keeping the name she gave her, Christine. She is a very special and blessed little girl.

It's a Girl!

2008-10-21T20:54:00.007-05:00

Carol from our agency called Tuesday and said that Christi felt sure that God wanted her to place her baby into our family through adoption. We went to Tyler yesterday for the placement. It was a very sweet, emotional, and difficult time. We were so happy to meet our sweet little girl, but hurting for the grief Christi was going through. God got us through it and we made it home at about 1 am.

Baby girl King has not been named yet. We are still praying and trying to decide. She is a very good baby, very sweet and dainty and pretty. Sam and Jude love her and have been trying to hold her all day long. She will be very loved and protected, if not a little tough too.

We are so thankful for our new little girl. More pictures and her name to come.

Thanks for all the support and prayers.

Meeska-Mooska...Mickey Mouse

2008-10-20T22:24:00.020-05:00

In the midst of our adoption updates, I have yet to post on somthing very significant that happened recently in our lives...we went to Disney World! Yes, I know it's not the 1st time (nor the last, I can assure you), but it was so much fun.

We went with my parents and Brad, Noelle, and Cash. Brooke also got to come for a couple of days. Sam was at a perfect age, and Jude, although not at the perfect age for the Disney experience did very well and had a lot of fun.

Their favorite experience was Magic Kingdom, where we rode ourselves silly on things like Dumbo, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, and the Buzz Lightyear Space Adventure. I think the highlight for Sam was at Hollywood Studios when he got to be in the "Jedi Training School" and actually fight "Dark Vador." (Video of that coming soon.)

Here are some photos, although I must say, I have found Disney World to be the most difficult place to capture lovely, no, any photos at all. Everyone is so excited and over-stimulated and ready to see it all, that stopping for a photo is very low on the priority list, even for me. So, these photos aren't all that great, but I did my best.

Waiting

2008-10-19T22:03:00.003-05:00

As it stands right now, we are just waiting. C had the baby on Tuesday and, after 2 days in the hospital, felt that she needed more time to process and pray through the adoption. She and the baby went "home" which is the Fatherheart Maternity Home in Van, TX. She has spent the last 4 days praying and struggling with the decision of whether she should place her baby girl into our family through adoption or parent her as a single mom.

Although we can't relate, we can only imagine how difficult this decision is for her. We are so thankful to have 2 precious boys in our family and know how selfless and hard it was for their birth-mothers to choose adoption. We have said before that every woman who chooses adoption must decide twice, once before the birth, but then again after the baby is born. It is, of course, so much harder to make that choice for the second time after going through labor and delivery and holding a new, precious life. Emotions are high and the decision that seemed hard before now seems monumental. That is what C is dealing with right now.

We had hoped that we would be bringing a new little baby girl home today. Our hopes for that were and still are high. But even more so, our hearts are for C. We love her and want God's best for her life. We want her to obey God, whatever that means for her and us and this child. We want that because we know that obedience is the best way, the way that will lead to true joy and peace in her life. We also want obedience because God knows where this baby girl is supposed to be. He alone knows who her family will be. We truly believe that God has good things for our family and He knows who our future children will be. We don't doubt his love or his goodness or his faithfulness in our lives. We trust Him to speak truth into C's heart and remind her of His love and His plan for her life. We are praying right now for truth and obedience and patience as we wait on the Lord.

Adoption Update

2008-10-15T23:25:00.003-05:00

We are still excitedly anticipating our coming adoption of a baby girl!. C, the birthmother, had a baby girl Tuesday, October 14 at 11:03. The baby is healthy and 6 pounds, 15 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long. Both C and baby girl are doing very well.

We are very hopeful that the placement will take place sometime this weekend, and are praying for God to give C, us, and the baby peace.

Thanks for your prayers.

Happy Birthday Sam!

2008-09-26T22:19:00.008-05:00

My little boy turned 5 years old yesterday. Five is an age I couldn't imagine when Sam was just a little bundle of a baby, yet here we are. How does it feel like it was only a year ago that I looked at him for the very first time laying on a little blanket waiting for me to come pick him up, and yet sometimes it feels like I can’t remember my life before he came into it.

I could never have imagined that I would love him so much and with so much vulnerability. My friend, Jen said this about her daughter, and I can't figure out a way to say it better, but "there’s just something about your first. It’s not that I love him more, it’s just that I learned how to love with him." I remember bringing him home from the adoption agency. He was so little and sweet and so upset. I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know if I could be a good mommy to him or if I would be enough. He cried a lot so I just cried along with him. I wanted him to trust me and let me love him and bond with him. I would rock him and cry with him singing, “Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus” and I would pray for peace. He learned very quickly that I loved him and he began to trust and bond so fast. As he learned, I learned. It was as if my struggles mirrored his. I wanted him to trust me, but I needed to trust God. I wanted him to feel secure in my love, yet I didn’t feel secure in God’s love. Every time I would release something to God, a little bit more of me healed and a little bit more of Sam healed. It was an emotional time, but so rich and sweet.

There are so many special things about Sam that it would take pages and pages to write them all down. But since he's five today, I'll share five of the things I love about him.

1. He's so talented and creative with music. He loves to sing and play the drums. He is not self conscious about expressing himself and can sit down at the drums or piano and write the sweetest songs.

2. He loves to be with other people so much. He genuinely enjoys all kinds of people, all ages, all personality types. He has a way of getting along with anyone and bringing people together.

3. He has a very sensitive heart...to us, to the Lord, to the world around him.

4. He loves stories of all kinds and seems to absorb the world around him as one big story.

5. He loves to be adventurous outside, playing mud-fun, exploring our "jungle", and catching bugs.

I could list so much more, but I'll say this. "Sam, we love you so much and are so proud of who you are. You are dear to us and dear to God and we thank God for the blessing you are to our family. These past 5 years seem to have flown by so I hope the rest don't fly by quite as fast!"

For Sam's birthday, we had a party with buddies, Aiden and Liam, who also have September birthdays. We had a fun time at the Children's Museum.

The birthday boys

Rice Krispie castle that my mom and I made!

4 + Baby = 5

2008-09-23T22:46:00.004-05:00

A lot has happened for us in the last 4 weeks. Our agency that facilitated our adoptions of Sam and Jude called us in late August and asked if we could send a book to them ASAP. Doris had been meeting with and counseling a birthmother at the Fatherheart Maternity Home for 4 months. Doris said they had begun the process of moving toward an adoption plan and she was preparing to gather some books for the birthmother to view. As clear as day, God put our name upon her heart and said, “You need to show her the King’s book.”

Funny thing is, we didn’t have a book turned in or even made at that point. She did know we were preparing to submit a book so she called me and asked if I could send it to her 4 days later. I said yes. I quickly, and might I say miraculously, put together a book (24 page photo album & 15 page biography) and sent it to her 5 days after she called. We then waited to see what God would do. During that time, I began to pray for and love the birthmother that I knew was looking at our book. Her name is C and she is precious. Her story is difficult, but God has been at work redeeming her and He made a special place in our hearts for her.

About 10 days after I mailed the book, Doris called again and said that C, after viewing 7 books, had chosen us! She just “knew” and fell in love with our family. We were so excited, and we too just “knew” that this was right and completely from the Lord.

We went and met her last Wednesday. The meeting was so good and God allowed us to really connect with her and be honest about so many things. She shared about her life and the things she has been through. She shared about the journey she has been on to grow closer to the Lord and is just one of the most humble, teachable, and beautiful women I have ever been around. She is so selfless and truly wants the very best for her baby at the expense of her own feelings. She knows that placing her baby for adoption will be difficult and painful for her because she loves this baby. But she affirmed over and over that her baby deserves a whole family that can provide a Christ-centered home.

We feel very humbled to be a part of another miraculous adoption and ecstatic that God is bringing us a baby girl!! It’s so new for us, and we can’t wait for the way a little girl will shake up our home. C is due October 21. We don’t have much time, but can’t wait to meet her and bring her home.

I should put my kids in a Gap ad

2008-09-09T13:42:00.007-05:00

This is the babygap ad that was in my inbox this morning. Isn't that just weird. That kid looks just like Jude. He's got the forehead, big lips, dimple, crazy hair. It's just strange. Maybe we should be trying to make some money off our kids' cuteness??

A long absence

2008-09-08T22:25:00.003-05:00

I have this problem where once I don't write on here for a while, I forget that I even have a blog and more importantly, I can't think of anything whatsoever to write about. For me, writing begets writing. So when I have an absence due to an unusually busy past month, once that busyness is over, I can't start up again. I can't think of anything to say or write. I am totally blank.

But I am making myself write in hopes that something interesting will come out. For starters...Jude has been crazy this week. He just keeps getting funnier each day. Today was a banner day for Jude. He had 4 baths and a couple of "incidents."

We went to the park this morning and Jude (as he loves to do) rolled around from head to toe in the gravel under the playground. Bath #1. He also threw my phone on the ground and broke the flip-up part of my phone off.

After his nap, he went outside to play in the blow-up pool and stomped around in the mud. Bath #2.

So after that quick bath, I decide, "no diaper, no clothes." That's easier for me. We're outside, it's less laundry for me. So at one point, I let him play in the driveway for a minute while I ran in the house to use the bathroom. A second later, Sam runs in the house yelling. Turns out, Jude peed in the driveway and then got down on the ground and slurped/licked it. Yuck. He does this sometimes with popsicles, ice, drinks that spill. But getting on the ground and licking fresh urine is a first for this family.

I put a diaper on him and we were incident free for a few hours. For dinner, we had fajitas. He rubbed queso all over his face and in his hair so we go for what I think is our last bath of the day...bath #3.

I was wrong. I left the room for a minute (do you see I can never leave this child) and I hear him get out of the tub and run down the hall. That's a no-no. I go in the bathroom and there is poop floating in the tub. Yuck again.

So we move to the other bathroom for our final bath of the day. I was exhausted by the time this day was over.

One thing I can say about Jude. He’s not boring.

some random thoughts

2008-08-12T09:20:00.002-05:00

I am driving to Waco today to pick up Sam and Jude from my mom. We went on a retreat this past weekend with the Norvell and Stolz families. It was at my parent's house and was a great time of connecting and enjoying each other away from the stress of our busy lives and church. More on that to come including some good pictures. Sam and Jude stayed there with my parents until today. Today I will spend the day with my mom, Christie, and Noelle and all the kids. I really consider myself blessed to have the family I do. I am so thankful that we can drive 1 1/2 hours and be together in some form and allow the boys to know each other. I like that.

Second, I love Starbucks Venti Black Iced Tea w/3 splendas and a slice of banana nut loaf. I am hungry right now and keep thinking of that. But it's too expensive to be an everyday kind of thing. It should be a treat, an exception. For me, I get it too often. I have to figure out how to make the tea as good as they do. I've been trying. We have a Tassimo and there are these little cartridges for black iced tea. I make the tea but at first it's really concentrated and hot. So I have to let it cool for a while. Then I try to get the mixture just right the way they do at Starbucks with mixing the tea, water, and ice. I've gotten pretty close and my sis-in-law, Michelle, got really close, but it's still not as good. Maybe it's all in my head and I just like the experience of going to Starbucks which somehow makes the tea taste better. I don't know.

Third, I have been working on writing a post about adoption and the next step for us. We are (and have been) trying to make some decisions about our next adoption. We're still a little undecisive about how that needs to go, and I am getting impatient (with myself, with the Lord?) about it. I don't function well when a big decision is hanging over my head. I have a hard time not thinking about and analyzing it constantly which takes me away from living in the present and enjoying today. So I am ready to make a decesion and move forward. If you would pray for our decision, I thank you.

Fourth, if you are looking for a good show to watch right now, we love the show Psych. It's on USA and it's really funny. It's a 1-hour "Monk" type show that has a mystery to be solved, a lot of comedy, and a little drama, but not so much drama that it ruins your life until the next episode. It's also in Santa Barbara, which is beautiful.

And last, we saw Mamma Mia last night and I loved it. I am going to buy some Abba songs tonight. I love musicals and wanted to get up and dance and sing really loud in the theater. I will probably have to buy the the movie on DVD so that I can do that at home. Also, the movie was set in Greece and it was so beautiful. The costumes were incredible and basically the whole movie was like eye and ear candy. A little silly of course, but really fun and entertaining.

OK...that's it. I told you this post was random.

florida

2008-07-27T23:21:00.030-05:00

We had the opportunity to go to Panama City Beach last week. Ross led worship for a youth camp there and they invited me and the kids to come along. It was the easiest "work" we've done in a long time. The churches who invited us were wonderful and the family time at the beach was so good. We definitely feel blessed to have these kind of opportunities. Here are some of the pictures I took while we were there. I have really nice camera and decided to spend the week experimenting with different kinds of shots and a zoom lens that I rarely use.

piles and piles and piles and piles

2008-07-13T11:10:00.006-05:00

....of CD’s. Right now in our house, we are surrounded by piles of CD's. They are everywhere. This is not exactly unusual for us. Ross does record CD's for a living so we are quite accustomed to having boxes and shelves and piles of CD's in our home. They are in the storage shed, the garage, Ross' office, my office. Everywhere. But Ross' CD's are not the variety I am talking about. I am talking about the obscene amount of CD's Ross and I have collectively collected over the course of our 30-something years. (well, actually in the last 15 years). There are just too many. I am sick of it. I don't know where to put them, how to store them, and generally what to do with them. Do I want them in the car, in the living room, the office? I don't know. I have tried every method of storage...drawers, shelves, fancy CD holders, those big binders with sleeves. Nothing ever really works or satisfies me for long. So, I have gathered up every CD I can find in this house (minus Ross' great works of music) and we are basically cleaning house.

I have come up with a system for this (is anyone surprised?). The first box is for all the CD's we have to sort through. We look at each one and decide if we like it or don't like it. If we like it, then we both download the CD into our ITunes. Then the CD goes into one of two boxes. A "sell" box or a "keep" box. My goal is to have the "sell" box be much larger than the "keep" box.

What I am wondering is this... what do other people do with all their CD's? I have to admit I am a little behind on the IPod/MP3 Player thing. I just got my 1st one this past Christmas. Ross has had his for like 5 years or something. I am getting the hang of downloading all my CD's and buying them online instead of at Best Buy. I like the clutter-less way of storing music. It's so neat and organized and alphabetized. But once they're in the computer (and backed up) what do you do with the actual CD? Do other people keep them? Sell them to Hastings? Sell them in a garage sale? Use them only in the car? Or the kids' rooms? I don't know. Part of me thinks I should keep them in case we lose all our files. But is that really likely when they're backed up on 3 different hard drives? So then I think I want to keep them for sentimental reasons... because part of me still thinks it's weird that so much of our life is virtual and not tangible. I want something I can actually touch. And then part of me wants to keep them so I can show them to my kids someday, the way I get all excited when my parents pull out their old vinyl records. I mean, we never listen to those records because they don't have a player anymore, but it's still cool that they have all that vinyl.

So, here's where I've arrived, at least for now, on the CD issue. I think we will download everything, then only keep the CD's that we really, really love. Otherwise, they're getting sold. Then hopefully I'll only have 1 drawer or 1 shelf or 1 fancy holder's worth and not 20! The only problem is that all that downloading takes a really long time. It seems like that's all I do lately. I walk by my computer, stick in a CD, import it, take it out, stick in the next one, etc. And I’m making Ross do it and we've been at it for over a week now. But, that’s the only solution I can come up with for now. If you have a better idea, will you tell me? I would love to hear from other people about what you do with all your CD’s. Please, help me simplify!

Beautiful Tahoe

2008-06-16T20:50:00.006-05:00

Ross and I spent last week at Lake Tahoe to celebrate our 10-year anniversary (which is actually in October.) We had such a great time. My parents kept Sam and Jude and we were able to spend 5 days with just the two of us. We slept, read a lot of books, ate good food, and relaxed by the pool. Some of the other highlights were kayaking in Lake Tahoe...the water is so blue, you can see straight to the bottom. It is also very, very cold in June. We rented bikes and rode a 5 mile bike trail along the river. We hiked in Bliss State Park and sat on rock in Emerald Bay reading and relaxing. We also went to the very fancy spa and both had a hot-stone massage...amazing. The week felt restful, luxurious, and adventurous, and we are so thankful that we could be in such a beautiful place together.

Listen to this...

2008-06-05T10:56:00.006-05:00

My friend, Jennifer, has 4 beautiful kids. Two of them were adopted and are cute little brown boys, like Sam & Jude. She commented on the post below, and her commment was so sweet, I just had to quote her here.

(About her boys and mine...)
"Don't you love how in the summer their skin goes from creamy brown, to like 2-3 shades darker?
My brown boys are already way darker.
Sunscreen bounces off of them and laughs at me.
We can all look the color of tomatoes, and they just look like chocolate!"

I love it.

Seriously

2008-05-29T22:50:00.016-05:00

Today after Jude’s nap, I decided to take the boys swimming. It’s hot outside. They’re restless. Summer is here. It seemed like the smart thing to do.

So the first thing I did was to tell them we were going swimming, you know…get them excited. Then I began the painful process of changing them into bathing suits, applying sunscreen, and trying to get them and all the swim stuff into the car. It is not my favorite thing to do, as anyone with small children will understand, but the payoff is so worth it.

So then we drive through McDonald’s to get happy meals because there’s nothing worse than getting all the way to the pool, getting in the water, and then realizing your kids are hungry and you have no food for them.

We finally arrive at Bryan Aquatic Center and see that the pool is full of happy swimmers. At this point I am hoping that they don’t close at 6 because it’s already 5 and I know we will want to stay for a while. I get up front to pay and that’s when they break the terrible news. The pool is not open. All those happy swimmers…a private party. They open tomorrow for the public.
Oh. No.

I’m pretty upset, but with some quick thinking I figure that’s OK…I’ll just go to one of the other pools. No…all the B/CS pools open tomorrow. Now I know this is going to be bad. So we start the long, painful journey back to the car and both boys start crying. By the time I get them into their seats, they are both crying hard. They are not even consoled by the happy meals. I offer to go to the Splash Pad. Sam says no. So, finally after much consoling, we arrive at home. As a very sad consolation, I turn on the sprinker and let them eat their happy meals in the driveway. Not exactly what I had in mind, but we work with what we’ve got. Thankfully my boys are joyful little guys and they don’t take long to bounce back.

These photos are my consolation! I mean, like I said, seriously...

Visit to B-ham

2008-05-26T21:14:00.013-05:00

We spent last weekend in Birmingham visiting Ross' brother and his family. In case you don't know, Ken is in beginning stages of some highly aggressive cancer treatment and his wife Michelle had to have surgery on her foot this week for severe plantar facitis. We went there to spend time with them and help. We had a good time. They have 3 boys and all the boys had fun playing together, mostly outside riding all the motorized riding toys and playing in the water. We had water balloon fights, water gun fights, jumped in a moon bounce, and played on a giant slip-n-slide (brought over by some sweet friends of Michelle's). There were also a lot of popsicles, watermelon, rice krispie treats, & cream soda consumed by all the kids. They were on a permanent sugar high. Thankfully, they played so hard each day that they slept really good each night.

Even with a hurt foot, Michelle worked so hard trying to finish projects, laundry, etc. before her surgery (which was this morning and went very well.) I tried to help as much as possible which usually meant playing with/watching the kids, but I also tried to do as much as possible around the house too. I think she felt happy going into the surgery with so many projects behind her.

Ken was up and down. One of the side effects of the treament is that his entire upper body is covered in a severe acne rash. It is so painful and irritating. He and Ross did get out to go see Ironman, and everyday that we were there, he seemed to feel a little better. It's just so hard to see him already suffering so much from the rash and exhaustion and nausea and dry mouth. His taste buds are also messed up so he hardly ate while we were there. I just continue to pray for God to relive him from the pain of these side effects as he also heals him of the cancer.

Ross wrote some stuff on his blog about our visit here, and Ken & Michelle update their website everyday. Please pray for our family during this time.

Thursday thoughts

2008-05-22T15:55:00.003-05:00

I miss my kids. I haven't seen them in 4 days. They are due to arrive home in about 15 minutes with my mom, who is amazing. She and my dad kept them all week so I could work on our taxes, do my yearly catch-up of all things mind intensive, and do it in some peace and quiet. It has been a great week, full of productivity (something I admittedly love too much), sleeping in, and fun dates with Ross. But I miss them and it's time for them to come home and get squeezed and kissed. We leave tomorow to go to Birmingham to see Ken and Michelle and the boys. I am looking forward to being with them and serving them.

Another thought that has stayed lodged in the back of my sub-conscious since last night is how much I hurt for the Chapman family right now. They are dealing with a tragedy that I cannot begin to imagine dealing with. Please let your heart break a little for them so that hopefully some of the hurt can be spread out amongst the Body of Christ, and of course please pray for them. Whether you listen to his music or not, these people are great. We love their heart for adoption and how God has used them to open the eyes of many Christians to the wonderful blessing of adoption. Not only that, but they have a grant foundation and gave us $2000 so that we could afford to adopt Jude. We have been blessed by this family and so now we hurt with them. Here is the story if you don't know what I am talking about.