Wednesday, September 30, 2009

She is leaving...

My sister-in-law has been staying with us for the past five weeks because she had a pharmacy rotation here. We are sad to see her leave, but I know my brother is VERY anxious to have her back home. Every night that we eat a great meal, we look over and each other and try to guess what he is eating that night...usually we say ice-cream or cereal. It has been fun have another adult female around the house, little things seem to be done all the time: dishwasher unloaded, toys picked up, kitchen swept, etc. It has been a blessing. I wish she could have been here the first month we have the boys. Another added bonus is that Carl is extremely busy with work and I have someone to talk to at night besides Adie. (I love her, but when she is still wide awake at 9:30pm, I wonder what to do with her.)

Michaela is actually reading stories with Lydia and Adie as I type this. I hope the girls remember this time with her.

Laptop crashed

I can say that this has never happened this bad until now. The laptop needed to go to the Apple Dr. ASAP. It will take at least a week to repair.

Two weeks from today is our court date in Ethiopia.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Project Finished!

Here they are, the finished project! Each girl now has her own prairie bonnet. They loved them so much that they HAD to wear them to church this morning. We are invited to a birthday party with a prairie theme, so thus the need to have three done right now.

I would have never finished this project without the help of my sweet mother-in-law. When I tell people that I sew straight lines and that is it. I am telling the truth. This weekend I learned how to gather, sew with interfacing, and a whole host of other things. I think they turned out really cute! (No, I will not be selling these in the adoptionwings. They take way too much time to sew. I knew someone would ask :)



Saturday, September 26, 2009

5 Weeks - Lord willing

My weekly count down has begun to when we can board the plane and meet the little ones who have won my heart over. We need to pass court in Ethiopia on Oct.14th. Please mark your calendars and pray for our family. I have to take captive every thought over this date - it brings such excitement and great nervousness. If we don't pass...well...this is where I have to let my mind NOT go, but channel it to the "God is sovereign, all knowing, and he is working for the best of my family," category.

I have been busy packing knowing that I am bringing too much stuff but I am the over planner - always prepared for anything and everything. With 2 two year old boys the possibility for disasters and mess are endless. (I know first hand growing up with 4 brothers and 2 cousins - that is 6 boys and myself.)

Now I am gearing up for a check it off the list type of day! I need to get a few items done around here because we have been in the kitchen the past few days. I put away 17 bags of apple sauce, made 2 batches of cookies and my mom made 8 loaves of bread with the girls. Other parts of my house need a cleaning. Oh and I almost forgot, I have been learning new things with my sewing machine. You are going to love the pictures when I finish the last one! Two done and one more to go! Maybe I will get to that today too! I promised Lydia that I would have it done by Monday morning.


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Morning adventures...

We have been having a problem in our yards with "something" digging up the sod.

Live traps were purchased.

This morning we caught a skunk out my front kitchen window. They like to dig grubs out of the sod in the middle of the night. Up to this point, all the critters (3 skunks and 2 coons) were caught next door. Did you know that 20% of skunks are rabid? Not a good combo with kids playing in our backyard ravine.


NASTY! The really bad part is that is sprayed in my whole house stinks. Hopefully the smell will go away in a day or two.


This morning before all this, I went out with my father-in-law and hubby for a quick plane ride to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful! Now we are off to bake bread and sugar cookies!


Even when I don't blog much, my life is still completely adventurous!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Missing my Mac

Carl has needed the Mac laptop all week because we hired in a friend to help with a huge project. So I have had to use the PC computer and it is not friendly. I miss my computer. I actually am sitting here on it right now while the guys are out on the zipline.

Oh they are back...this is the reason for my lack of blogging.

More later...

Monday, September 21, 2009

Long overwaited picture

Here she is...It fits her personality that she is not looking at the camera. She has a little natural curl that we didn't know about, so they bounced up pretty short. I can actually pull them down to about her eyebrows. I love that we are finding less food in her hair and I can see her eyes all day long!

At the wedding this weekend, she danced for almost 3 hours straight. Her new favorite is the chicken dance.

Friday, September 18, 2009

and I said, "I would never..."

Give my daughters bangs...well...Adie just got some.



It is sad day.



I never wanted my children to have bangs...But she won't let me do her hair!



Nothing!



No ponies, bows, clips...etc I can hardly brush it once a day.



So, after much inner turmoil. My SIL did the cutting while I cringed.



Pictures to come, but we have a wedding rehersal to go tonight and I am running late.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Frustrating

I opened my mail from yesterday and found that a check bounced that someone paid for my headscarves with. This means I am out the $15 for the check and then the bank charged me $15 because she didn't have enough funds her in her account. This is frustrating because I would have rather just given them to her than to be out the extra money. I hope this issue can be resolved and it was a simple mistake. Life lessons always cost money. Now I wonder do I still accept checks?

Monday, September 14, 2009

Weekend happenings...

This weekend I had a shower to welcome in the new Larsen boys. Even though they are not here yet, it was such a blessing to receive so much love from so many different people. I feel so blessed to have family and a church and friends who love what God is doing in our lives and want to celebrate with us. It is only by God's grace that we are able to do what He calls us to do.


My little clean lion!

Harvest from the cousins' garden.


Yesterday, the kids were priveldge to go to a bee farm and learn how they get and clean honey. They said it was awesome. Now they all want to have bees too! I love homeschooling! There is always something to learn...an adventure around every corner...I just have to be looking for it!


Friday, September 11, 2009

This week...

Here are a few pictures from Lifelight. As you can see, Lydia thought it was a little loud.

This is the whole bag of cotton candy that they were able to eat.


She really liked finding the duck throughout the day.

We had special access to the VERY front for Remedy Drive. I must admit that it was pretty cool.


We went to the zoo with Daddy after it was all over. It brought back great memories of living in SF.

Today is my last day with only 2 children at home, so I am a mission to get things done- like run errands.

This week we had the privileged of seeing video of Titus and Silas. We made them a video and sent it with a traveling parent who showed them on their computer. Titus and Silas looked a little terrified watching it, but then towards the end Silas blew us a kiss. It melted my heart. I simply want to get on a plane today and go and get them! God's timing is perfect for our family and need to be patient - easier said than done!

Last night was an ear piercing party. My SIL bought a professional gun kit because with so many girls we are WAY ahead by purchasing our own equipment. We figured if the 17 year old could do it and Claire's, so could we! Here are Grace and Lydia's new ears! Two of the cousins got theirs pierced yesterday too. I think they look bigger today! (Don't worry it was done under medical supervision - her husband is a doctor:)


Monday, September 7, 2009

LifeLight

We made it back with loads of festival funk, you know where everything is smelly, out of place and completely nasty, but we all had a great time. I actually think Grace and Lydia had their pleasure circuits overloaded. They sat still for 10 minutes today visiting Carl's Grandma and they said they were bored. (Don't worry we had a little chat about appropriate things to say when you are at someone's house...that is not it)

There favorite parts were, not in any particular order: eating as much candy as they wanted, including a whole bag of cotton candy, watching Remedy Drive from the pit (that is the very front - with their special passes), getting backstage to watch Daddy work, going to the Zoo, eating at CiCi's Pizza with old friends, going on inflatables, swimming at the hotel pool and last but not least...watching the Newsboys.

The Newsboys was the long anticipated part of the weekend. They were so tired last night that they fell asleep from 7-9pm during Lincoln Brewster and it took me 20 minutes to wake them up to watch the Newsboys. It was actually hard to keep them protected from random people wanting to step on them while they slept on the ground.

My favorite part was watching my husband work. There is such joy in watching someone doing what God created them to do. I was so very proud of him this weekend. Second favorite was watching my girls have such a great time.

Now it is time to go and switch a load of laundry:)

...For all you worry warts out there...Adie is doing very well being spoiled as the only grandchild along with having two uncles out at the ranch too! Grace and Lydia were concerned that Adie would be jealous that she wasn't able to do all that they were doing. I had to console them by saying she really didn't care at this point because she was having her own fun (like picking up dead grasshoppers and throwing them outside, riding the 4-wheeler, eating her own junk food and being chased by her uncles.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

LifeLight

I sent Carl off to LifeLight in Sioux Falls for the weekend. It is a free music festival that brings in anywhere from 60,000 - 100,ooo people per day - not too bad for South Dakota! He is the video directer for the weekend...which means that he is in charge of the video crew and his main job is to put up what you see on the big screens. He loves his job and all the variety that he gets.

Grace, Lydia and myself will be heading down tomorrow to enjoy the shows, see old friends and just hang out. Adie will be going to the ranch with her Nana...she won't be spoiled, I am quite sure of it.

So I won't be blogging until Monday or Tuesday of next week. Hopefully, I have great stories to tell - maybe the girls will be able to meet some bands. They really want to meet the Newsboys, but that is the busiest time backstage so I don't think that will happen but maybe Superchick or Remedy Drive.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Hovering near 60

Lord willing in 60 days we will be in Ethiopia picking up our boys. I am so excited and terrified all in the same breath. Once we step on that plane, our life will never be a family of 5. We will be charting new territory and stepping into waters never explored before.

I know what transition means when you add a baby to the family, but adding two two-year-olds is out of my league. Which brings me to complete dependence on God to provide for their needs and for mine.

For the next two months, I am trying to me very intentional on enjoying my life as it is right now, cherishing the time that I have with each of my girls. For example, Grace and Lydia have been my "coupon cutters" and they went to Walgreens with me to find the best deals. They even took their own money so that they could buy items for Operation Christmas Child. I was so proud of them for buying new toothbrushes and hair binders for kids less fortunate then themselves.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

30 on the 30th

This year was it.

My golden birthday.

Grace cried last year when she learned that she would have to wait until she was 29 for her golden birthday.

It was a glorious day filled with an adventure that made me feel like I was 18 again.

Carl took me canoeing down the Sauk and Mississippi rivers. (We haven't done this in over 10 years.) It was picture perfect blue puffy clouds with a slight breeze, 70 degrees...not too hot nor too cold along with the perfect company it was amazing.

Time stood still for those couple of hours.

It was a wonderful blessing that will stay etched in my mind forever.