Wednesday, December 30, 2009

You know you blog when...

Your kids come in and say, "Mom, this should go on your blog." (and this is before we even pull out the camera!)

So, here they are!

They thought they were so funny coming in with sunglasses on in the middle of winter.






Sunday, December 27, 2009

My new line

"Mommy cannot meet everyone's needs at the same time...YOU will just have to wait."

I must say this 20 times a day and each of my 5 small children hear it frequently. I know they will be hearing it a lot more once the baby arrives. But I keep thinking of that someday when no one will be standing hanging on my leg saying, "Mommmie!" or going "uh...uh...uh.." (You know that whine/grunt that 2 year olds use when they don't want to use their words.) I know that someday is going to come sooner than I can fathom. It makes me a little sentimental right now.

____________

We were sitting at the lunch table when Carl looks up at them and said, "I love you man."
To which Silas replies with his finger pointing, "You lay down. Be quiet. No talking."

Do you think we say that too much at bedtime?

Thursday, December 24, 2009

43 inches

Yes - that is the size of my waist. My brothers wanted to know last weekend how big I was and so they had to measure. And so you have it...I am already 2 inches bigger than I was with Adie with 2.5 weeks to go. I am feeling "great with child" right about now. He can make his grand entrance at any time and that would be fine by me!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Picture Update

Funny story from tonight.

I traded my oldest two girls for my sister-in-laws youngest two girls so that the big girls could go to their cousins piano recital. So at supper, I put a three year old and 3 two-year-olds at a separate "bunny table" in the kitchen because we also had guests for dinner. All was fine until I heard way too much laughing, I looked up and the four of them were having a food fight. Noodles, carrots, bread were flying back and forth between the boys side and the girls side.

This is the point of parenting where you have to put your mean serious face on when in all reality you just want to bust out laughing. I didn't think they would ever do such a thing...and the funny part is that no one spilled their milk. I don't know when the last time we ate and no one spilled their milk. And here I put them at a table all by themselves and they start a food fight.

____________________

I haven't been good about taking pictures lately, so here is quite an update - Christmas with my family and just hanging out at home.
















Hair


I am not a blond anymore. I am sure if my hairstylist reads my blog, she would say that I didn't do my hair right, but hey for a shower and no product I don't think it looks too bad. I sometimes still pass the mirror and catch myself off guard. Carl thinks that I look like my friend Betsy.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Family Weekend

This is my family Christmas. We are rapidly increasing in numbers.

Surprise Spa Day

My mom came to town on Friday morning to get her hair cut and then she was going to come over and hang out and we were going to drive back to her house together with the kids since Carl had to work on Sat. (We had my family Christmas on Saturday and the boys hadn't met some of my brothers yet so we wanted to get there early and hang out.)

Anyway, back to the story. She came into my house and said, "Hey, you better get going. You have an apppointment with Jody to get your hair done."

What?

"Merry Christmas!"

My mom came and watched all the kids while I left only to find out when I got there that she had arranged for me to get a massage, haircut and color. I was feeling pretty pampered when I arrived home 3 hours later. Thanks mom for a great Christmas present.

Now, I am hanging out at my parents with all the kids running around. I am glad the adult to kid ratio is still pretty darn good. Give it a few more years and life will really be crazy on my side of the family!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Prayers for me

I don't know why it is so humbling to have to ask for prayers for myself. God delights when his people pray and He desires us to pray. Then why do I struggle in wanting to write this post?

My pregnancy has really taken a toll on my body to the point where I am in constant pain. I try to hide it the best I can but yesterday I was at the point of tears and even had some during the morning. The way I am carrying this little guy has put my butt muscles into spasms all the time. If I want to move, it will send sharp shooting pains up my back and down my legs. There are also pregnancy related butt issues. Most women will understand exactly what I am saying.

So I finally said it, "Will you pray for my butt?"

I find it comical that this is my prayer request. I think it would sound so much better to say, "my arm, my head and even my big toe." But my butt is so...so...I don't even have the words to say, funny maybe?

I am going to have a good laugh once this baby decides to show up in the world and feel so much better. I technically have 3 1/2 weeks left and I am praying for less.

Want to know another humbling thing for me? It is another, "I never..." statement or thought that I had.

I waddle. Just like a duck - back and forth and back and forth.

I never wanted to waddle. I think pregnant women that waddle are so cute, but I didn't want to be that. I wanted to carry my little basketball in front of me and walk normal. I just need to ban that phrase from my head, "I never..." But the mind is so quick to think that.

I made cornbread for breakfast...I better go and check it. Thanks for praying!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

New normal

We are adjusting to our new normal around here.

CRAZY! Not that we weren't a little crazy before, but we just kicked it up a level. I spend half my day in the bathroom between myself and three two-year-olds. I think it is comical the absurd amount of time that can be spent in that one room.

My parents came last night and spent the night with us. They also babysat the kids while Carl and I went to the movie Blind Side and went to Perkins afterwords. I think the last movie I went to in the theater was Narnia. (That was a few years ago...oh I just looked it up, it was 4 years ago.) Carl loves going to the movies, but I like to watch them at home. So, I don't want to waste money on something that is not that enjoyable for me, plus you can't talk at the movies. When I go out on a date, you have to talk otherwise I think it doesn't count as a date. Side note: I did have fun last night because Blind Side is about an amazing adoption story.

The other day the triplets got into the coconut oil and lotion after they went to bed. They all got into it earlier in the day and knew that they were NOT supposed to play with them. One of them climbed the built in dresser and pulled it out from the back shelf. They put it all over the beds and comforters. They themselves looked like greased little pigs. I was not a happy camper when I found them. The hard part is that each of them takes turns being the instigator of trouble. What one doesn't think of the other two will. Most days I just stand there and shake my head thinking, "O Lord help me!"

All in all we are doing well and looking forward to celebrating Christ's birth.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Non-biological Triplets


Here they are! Adie is definetly bigger but then again, I don't think Silas and Titus's birth parents are 5'7 and 6'3 (that makes a difference!) I truly believe they are all within a couple of months of each other. Silas and Titus were given the birth date of 6/16/07.

You should see how people tilt their head to the side and their eyebrows scrunch up when I say that I have non-biological triplets. Or when they ask if the boys are twins...I just say non-biological twins. This satisfies them until they start thinking about it and then they feel silly to ask any more questions on the subject.

If you are wondering what Silas has all over him, the kids were making home-made stickers and they put them all over him. He thought he was so funny.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Teeth...

We went to the dentist today with the boys

Good News:
Their teeth are stained not rotten.

Bad News:
Since they are 2 1/2 we need to put them under general anesthesia to do the cleaning costing somewhere around $3,500 per mouth. OUCH! I am praying that our medical insurance will cover the anesthesia part. We do not have dental insurance so that part is out of pocket.

They both did pretty well there, but I knew that they were thinking that they would have to get shots and blood drawn like we did at the Dr. on Monday. That was the last time I took them somewhere and when I put them in their carseats today they began to cry.

We did go and look at Christmas lights on Tuesday night but it is not scary to go somewhere with the van full of people...with just your brother and mom is usually not the best time in the world.

The cold has set in here in the frozen north and the boys don't like it. They stand and cry when we have to go out. They don't like mittens...which after today's outing, I am guessing that they will wear them from now on. Titus just stood there looking at his hands as if to say..."what in the world is wrong with my hands?"

Well, the triplets are up...gotta run.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Playing

All my kids have been playing together for 30 minutes with out any yelling or screaming...I think we just had a first in our house. I am letting school slide for the morning since they are all playing so well together...the great thing about homeschooling!

I was thinking of making bread this afternoon with my big girls. If I write it down here, I will feel accountable to do it.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Refreshed

I came home to 2 sleeping big girls and three happy 2-year olds all snug into bed reading books.

The babysitters survived! One of them did say that she has a new appreciation for what I do because she was tired. You build up endurance...I know that I didn't have it when I was in high school.

It was so refreshing to hang out with our small group tonight. I needed it! I love my family and my home, but I am social. I like to get out of the house and these past weeks have had me feeling a little claustrophobic. I know that this season shall too pass, but I still need to keep my sanity.

Tomorrow night I have something very exciting happening. I am the college girls small group mission project for the night. A whole group of them is coming to my house to clean it. Things will get done around here that never get done like dusting the tops of my cupboards and bookshevles and well dust anything because I hardly ever dust. They are going to wipe down my cupboards...it is just not a priority at the end of my day. Oh - how about this one...go through all my drawers of colored pencils and sharpen them all and throw away dry markers. Every home school mommy has a plethora of those things sitting around.

I have also been very blessed with meals coming in on Mondays and Thursdays. This has saved me so much time and energy the past few weeks. My crazy life would not be possible if there weren't many people surrounding me and supporting me. I feel very loved. Actually I feel loved beyond all measure.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Game Plan

Tomorrow at church I will be flying solo. Carl is gone today and tomorrow with work so I came up with a plan because I just can't stay home any longer. I don't know what I would if my sister-in-law didn't live next door - we are there almost everyday playing.

I am going to take the munchkins to church and hang out in the nursery the whole time. This way Silas and Titus can get used to the surroundings and the people there. So, hopefully we will be able to drop them off in the near future. Since Silas, Titus and Adie are all the same age, they will have each other for company, plus when Della and Lars show up (cousins) then they will need an extra teacher for just us - nothing like filling up a classroom :)

We also have two babysitters coming in on Sunday night. Rowan has younger sisters who sat for us before we left for Ethiopia and my girls LOVED them. We had lunch with his family last week and the boys did great playing with them. My prayer is that this would be a positive experience for them. Carl and I need just two hours away from the house - together without children. It will be awhile before we have the opportunity to do this again, so we thought we would try it.

Adjustment has gone remarkable well. We are probably still in the "honeymoon" phase, but since they have each other I haven't seen anything that alarms me. Yes, they are two year old boys and jump off furniture, don't like green vegetables, totally pretend they don't hear me when I ask something or wait too long to go to the bathroom, but that is completely normal in my book especially since it is rare occurrences. I would like to add throw cars at the biggest window in my house...what in the world is that? Boys, boys boys!

It is interesting how my perspective has changed. When they were adopted in our family, they received everything that we have given Grace, Lydia and Adie. Just like God, we receive all of his blessings that come with adoption that someone who has been a christian for 20 years has. The same goes for my boys. I don't see them as orphans anymore. They are my kids. I love them the same as my girls...even within that love, they must follow the same rules as my girls. I thought I would give them much more leeway in behavior until I realized that they were all going to see the discrepancies in my parenting if I did that.

I can't believe in less than 5 short weeks we will changing the dynamics again. Seriously...what in the world was God thinking on this one! I used to think adding two kids at one time is a crazy concept, and now I am thinking...that's not so bad. Gosh this would be pretty darn easy if I wasn't pregnant. I am glad that I don't have to fret about it because God knew long before the dawn of time that I would be sitting here blogging about my crazy yet relatively simple life. (Simple in the fact that I have food to eat, clothing, shelter, a husband that loves me and I could go on and on.)

Friday, December 4, 2009

Living Simply

I have been reading a book with our Moms group at church about living simply. I have to be honest, I have never been more annoyed with an author before in my life. I am not saying that I haven't learned things from her, but more to the fact that she is writing a book on how to live simply with two children who are in grade school, she is a writer/stay at home mom, she goes frequently on weekends away with friends, is enrolled in ballet classes once a week etc. Her life to me, looking on the outside of course doesn't seem that difficult. (I am not saying that two kids isn't hard or anything of the sort. It is just that I can't relate to this woman and her testimony.

She doesn't have a story to make me want to believe that I can do what she does. She doesn't have many small children still at home, homeschool, have adopted, trying to juggle helping her husband with a home business, a mother of multiples and so on.

Her book needs some other testimonies of other mothers on how the rubber meets the road with life. How does a mom of 6 children get out of the house and cultivate friendships? How does a mom find time to tell stories to their children when you have 4 or 5 or more and they are all clamoring for attention.

I have taken a few nuggets from her for example, I love that they named their home - REFUGE. It has a sign out in the driveway. One of her friends named their home POPIN...just so everyone knows that you can "pop in" at anytime at their home. I want to come up with a name for our home. Haven't thought of it yet, but something will come in time.

I also want to be more intentional about telling stories of my life to my children or telling stories of their own lives. God is the best story teller there is and I just love that I have his example. That is the main reason that I blog. It is not really for you the reader, but more for my children in the future to be able to come back and read about our life raw and real at the time. My memory will fail me, but written words last forever.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

more pictures...

We stopped at a Cafe for a yummy roll and orange pop. The only think I drank all week was bottled water and 2 orange pops. I was very excited to get home to drink a cold glass of milk.The nannies really loved all the children that they took care of. Chatau came and played with the boys at the guesthouse.
This is what we walked into trying to take pictures of all the babies. Crazy is an understatement!
Coffee ceremonies are a tradition in Ethiopia. Carl and Rowan were in heaven with this coffee. They talked about the few people back home who would really appreciate this "amazing coffee."
I can't drink anything with caffeine it so not an option for me.

They also serve popcorn with the coffee. Our boys love coffee and tea...sorry, they are not getting that here. I will draw the line on that one.


Rowan showing Silas some pictures. They loved the camera all week!


What's not to love about that smile? I want to eat up those dimples!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Pictures from Ethiopia

When we picked these little guys up, we couldn't believe their soccer skills. Seriously, I think they are better than me and they are two, talk about humbling!
This is a funny picture because if Titus could speak with his eyes he would. Well, actually he does a lot around here. I get those eyes at least a couple of times per day.
This is a couple in Ethiopia. We support her to go to nursing college. He is going to seminary right now and has a passion to reach the Muslim Ethiopians
This is a funny photo because poor Rowan is so sick taking a nap and the rest of us are rummaging around the room trying to be quiet. You can see that we exploded into our room.