Lego animals

One day Logan was bored, so he thought of the idea to build animals out of Legos.  He had no instructions to follow, he just imagined what it would look like in his mind and then built it to match the picture in his head.  Man, he's talented, no way I could do that!!!

He ended up making 4 animals: a lizard, a giraffe, a zebra and an elephant.  My favorite is the elephant I think.

A lesson in the Revolutionary War

Brayden has been learning about the Revolutionary War in school.  He is really into it, remembering lots of details and coming home and telling us all about the next battle he learned about that day.  When he learned about the Crossing of the Delaware River, he especially liked that one.  When I told him I really didn't remember that much about it, he took the opportunity to draw out a sketch and teach me all about it.  He even taught me like a teacher would, with questions and humor and little stories added.  It was so cool to sit and listen to him teach me.

Thus Far #3

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” 1 Samuel 7:12

It's been awhile since I've done one of these posts, but God has been doing some pretty cool stuff, so it's past time for me to share!  You can also go back and read #1 and #2 to see how God has led and provided all along our adoption journey so far.

Just last week I posted about how God has given us such a peace about staying with Ethiopia, even with the uncertainty that surrounds international adoptions out of there right now.  So, this month we started the process of updating our homestudy and all the updated documents that go along with that.  We have to do this every 18 months because our USCIS paperwork (the paperwork that allows us to enter the country with our daughter when we bring her home) expires every 18 months.  There are new expenses that go with that, but God's faithfulness to provide above what we above and beyond what we needed before (in the summer of 2012 when we were very heavily fundraising) has provided within $20 of all the fees we have due at this time!  Isn't God so perfect?  It's just amazing!!  And to top that off, the week we write all the checks and pretty much empty out our adoption checking account, we are in the midst of one fundraiser and a sweet friend from church offers to do another one!  I mean seriously, sometimes I just have to laugh at God's perfect timing, something the world would call a coincidence.  

The fundraiser we are doing right now is by a lady who makes unique jewelry for mother's and grandmothers.  Her website is A Nest by Design and there is also an event on facebook that explains all about it as well (you don't have to be invited to the facebook page to place an order).  Basically every order placed on her site during the month of January, we get 20% towards our adoption!!  I already know a couple of my friends who have ordered and their necklaces have turned out so great!  These are just an example of the pretty necklaces she can make!  I want a "pea pod" one someday when our family is complete!

And then, about a week ago, I receive an email from a friend, offering to do a Thirty-One fundraiser for us.  This is not all completely planned out, but it looks like right now it will be a combination of an in-home party on March 8th as well as catalog/online sales, all of which will be added together and she will donate 20% of sales towards our adoption as well.  I love Thirty-One products, they are high quality and so cute! So keep your eyes out for that, and leave a comment on this post with your email if you want to know more specifics as it gets closer.

Besides providing for our monetary needs through these awesome ladies, God has also led us to change our parameters a little.  With AGCI, our placing agency, we are required to maintain birth order, which means our Ethiopian daughter can be no less than 10 months younger than Ashten at the time of referral.  When we first did our homestudy, our age parameters were listed as 0-2 because Ashten was only 2 at the time.  Well, now that she is almost 4 and will be past 5 the next time we have to update our homestudy (pray with us that it doesn't come to that!), we have chosen to increase our age parameters to 0-3.  What this really means is that on the day of referral, our Ethiopian daughter could be anywhere between 1 day old to 3 years, 364 days old.  The "3" in 0-3 means all the way up to the day before to their 4th birthday.  So, we could very likely be bringing home a toddler or preschooler from Ethiopia.  This is exciting an a little scary all at the same time, but we trust that since God has led us to do this, He will provide what we need to do it, which probably includes extra patience and lowered expectations.  It might be that this mama who has said she will never homeschool might have to for awhile to catch up our daughter to grade level since she will most likely not know much, if any, English, let alone be at grade level knowledge of math, English, etc.  We are excited though, to think that our daughter is probably already born at this point though.  And we are excited to think that Ashten and K could be closer in age than we thought.  

So those are just some of the ways God has been leading and guiding and providing lately.  We don't want to forget the ways He has sustained us all along, it's so easy to forget all the good things God does for us!  Thank you, all of my readers, for your prayers and support of our adoption thus far, you are a blessing to us!

Christmas choir concert

Back in December the kids had a Christmas choir concert at church.  It actually got postponed a week due to a big snowstorm we had, so it was just the week right before Christmas.

This was the first year Ashten was in it too, which I've just gotta say, 3-year-olds singing is a.dor.a.ble!!  None of them really sing and then after about 2 songs you lose most of the boys, who are running to their parents are jumping on the steps.  But that just all adds to the cuteness.

The 1st-6th graders did a mini-musical, so all the boys were involved in that.  Logan and Brayden both had speaking parts and Brayden also had a rap solo too.  They did great!  Preston really got into the choreography, which I loved to see.  He is so much fun to watch!

At the end of the program I tried to get a nice Christmas picture of all the kids.  This is the best I got.  Oh well, these pictures are more real life anyway than a perfectly posed photo.

Sadie

We couldn't even make it 3 weeks without a dog, haha!  Pretty much right after we had to put Sequoia down, I was missing having a dog.  Especially when Chris and the boys went back to school, I got lonely not having a dog just laying there in the same room as me.  It felt weird.  But Chris had said he wasn't sure how long until he'd be ready for another dog and I was trying really hard to respect that and not put any pressure on him to get another dog before he was ready.

But then one day I looked at the animal shelter website and that was probably a big mistake.  There were some cute dogs on there that needed a home!  After Sequoia was such a great dog, we were both pretty sure we wanted to stick with german shepherds as a breed, since they are loyal and obedient and pretty easy dogs.  And we were both kind of wanting an older dog that was already trained, not a brand new puppy that we'd have to deal with house training and obedience training.

One day I was looking at the shelter's website and I saw a 3-year-old German shepherd male dog.  He was a very pretty dog, so I showed Chris.  You know, just cuz it was cute!  I think when Chris started looking at the dogs, he realized he might want another one sooner than he thought.  He agreed to go to the shelter and "just look", so we did.  The kids were SO excited that we might get another dog, even though we warned them over and over that we were just looking and we might not get one.  Well, when we got to the shelter, we walked around a couple of times and didn't see the dog we had found online so we asked.  They said he had just been adopted earlier that day.  Big bummer!  We were about to just leave, but the kids really want to pet a dog, so we just looked around for any dog we could bring into a room with us for a few minutes so the kids would be satisfied.  We honestly at that point weren't looking for a dog to adopt, just a dog to let the kids look at for a second.

And then we saw Isis, and she was the only dog behind a closed door instead of in a kennel.  It kind of worried me a little, but when they looked her up on the computer, they didn't note any behavior issues that would make her bad with kids.  So they brought her in the room with us and the trainer had the kids make noises and be wild and crazy and Isis didn't even pay them any attention.  The noises or activity didn't bother her at all.  So, the trainer left us with her and the kids petted her and loved on her.  I was still trying to be cautious and guarded because I didn't know if Chris was ready and this was not a German shepherd, so I didn't know if she'd even be a good breed.  But while we were in the room Chris looked up her breed (Belgian Malinois mix) on his phone and found that they have pretty much the same temperament as German shepherds!

We left that night to go think about it and well the rest is pretty much history.  We decided to change her name because neither of us really liked the name Isis and it just felt right to give her a new name.  I suggested the name Sadie and right away Chris liked that name and so did the kids, so that was her name!

Sadie is a 1-year-old Belgian Malinois mix.  We originally thought her her "other" mix part was a Rhodesian Ridgeback, but now we're wondering if it's maybe boxer because she has a white patch on her chest and her snout it all black with a little white under her chin.  She is fully house-trained, she has had no accidents in the house.  She knows how to sit, stay, shake and come.  We wonder sometimes why someone would put all that work into training a dog and then give them up?  We also think that she might have been abused.  There have been a few times when we have told her "no" and she immediately lowers herself to the ground and backs up a half a step like she expects us to hit her.  It's really sad.  She prefers men to women and hates strangers.  When guests come over, she gets all nervous and barks.  We have figured out some tricks that have worked, but I'm afraid this might be a long-term problem.  I don't think she was socialized properly as a puppy. 

She LOVES to play and has all the energy of a puppy.  It is quite an adjustment to go from an elderly dog that just laid around all day to a dog that needs walked and played with daily.  It's fun though, and the kids really enjoy having a dog that plays fetch and runs around as Sequoia did neither of those things.

I like having another dog and for her few problems and things we need to work on with her, she has a bunch of other things that are so great.  She is a good dog for our family and she is getting more and more comfortable with us every day!

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is stay

When we received news that Ethiopia might shut down to international adoptions, we were crushed.  It was hard news to take.  Chris and I both processed it very differently, but I think we had the same underlying feelings.  Feelings of doubt and and definitely a lot of questioning.  But then after a few weeks, I think we also both came to the same conclusion: Ethiopia is where we're meant to be right now.  We were both confident that it was from God, He can't disagree with Himself and so if we were both feeling led the same way, it was a good indication it wasn't from us.  That and I know at least I had an overwhelming peace about it.  A peace that we would still have a daughter from Ethiopia and even though there is a lot of uncertainty, God's got it!  A peace that passes all understanding!

Now, this isn't to say that it's been easy.  Even still, just this past week, we had a webinar for all families in the Ethiopia program with our agency and they were quick to say that nothing is for sure, now or ever.  Doing what God wants is often scary and hard, and we've definitely had a lot of scary and faith-testing moments in the last two years that we've been on this adoption journey.  And in this case, when we are being called to be still and wait, it's scary. It's scary to not know if one morning we will wake up to news of Ethiopia closing.  It's scary to know we could wait another 2 years and then get that news before we even get a referral.  Adoption is not for the faint of heart, I tell ya!!

I have found the only way to get through is to lay this all at Jesus' feet and put my trust in Him.  Not just with my lips, but literally place all of my heart at His feet.  He knows I long for our daughter, as in I want her home yesterday!  He knows my heart, and I have to trust that He is going to have to clean up the mess of my heart if He calls me down this road and it doesn't end in a successful adoption.  I trust Him.  I also know that He loves our daughter too and He would not call us down this road if it were not for His glory and for our good.  I trust Him!

Glow golf

We have been continuing our dates with the kids for all of 2013.  We take one kid per month with one of us, so they each get 3 dates a year.  They love this time, they look forward to it for months and then they plan for weeks what they want to do on their date.  What they do doesn't even matter so much, I think most of all they just enjoy the time one-on-one with us.

In November, Logan and I used a groupon I had bought and went to play glow golf and then out for "orange chicken" (Chinese food).  It was a really fun time.  We took these pictures while we were waiting to start playing.  Logan just wanted me to take more and more and more, he was having a blast being my little model!

Thanksgiving hike

(See I told you these catch-up posts would go way back, didn't I?)

On Thanksgiving Day, we went over to my parent's house.  Most years we spend that day with Chris' family, but this year they traveled to NV to spend Thanksgiving with Chris' brother, so we did Thanksgiving a little early with them and then did Thanksgiving on the actual day with my family.

My dad texted me that morning and suggested a hike for the boys.  It worked out good.  It kept them busy while we worked on the meal and it got a bunch of energy out!

Our boys love to hike, and they had a lot of fun.  From what I hear, Logan practically ran up and down the mountain and Preston did great till the very end when his legs hurt.

4 generations

My grandma on my mom's side was out in CO for quite a long time this year.  She came out for her yearly visit and then ended up falling and breaking her hip, so she couldn't go home until it healed and she was cleared to go back home by her doctors.  I know she was ready to go home long before she was cleared to, but I really enjoyed the extra time I got to see her!

I love pictures like these - they are so special!

Ashten, me, my grandma, my mom

Zoo

Over Thanksgiving break we took a trip to the zoo.  We chose not to renew our membership this year, so we haven't been since early summer.  Every time we renew we get 2 free guest passes, so we had 4 of those from the past 2 times we have renewed.  And we also had a groupon where we got 2 child tickets for $4 each, so our trip to the zoo cost us $8!  Not bad!

We ended up walking the whole zoo, which is one downside to not having a membership, you feel like every time you go you have to see everything.  But the kids did great walking around and we got to see the animals do some cool, active stuff.  My favorite was seeing the polar bear swim!

How do we get down from here?

This is just the story of my life when I try to take a picture of all the kids together.  I love Ashten's face in this first picture, but Brayden isn't even looking.  And then in the second picture, we get Brayden looking, but Ashten's cute face goes away.  Oy!

Preston is a superstar!

In Preston's class at school, each week a different kid gets to be the "superstar".  Basically that kid gets to lead all the lines, do all the fun classroom jobs and also gets to make a poster about themselves and share it with the class.

It was fun to see some of Preston's answers.  So often he gets lumped in with his older brothers and I really have to work to remember that he's his own unique individual who likes and does different things.  The picture he chose for his poster was one with him and our old dog, Sequoia.  It was a sweet picture and a good way for him to get to talk about how much he missed her with his class.

Adoption update and Melkam Genna

The week of Christmas we received an email from our adoption agency, with the following letter attached:

The House of Peoples' Representatives and the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth urged stakeholders and the public to undertake integrated work to totally stop adoption of Ethiopian children by foreign families. 

In a press conference, House Speaker Abadula Gemeda and the Minister Zenebu Tadesse told journalists that stakeholders should work closely to end foreign adoption. 

Abadula urged the importance to give priority to use local means to raise orphaned children rather than giving them away to foreign families. 

He suggested the importance to establish and support local NGOs which raise orphaned children with the close collaboration of the public. 

He urged stakeholders and the public to support these initiatives and protect children from any kind of abuse. 

The Minister Zenebu on her part said the government is working hard to end foreign adoption and facilitate situations to raise the children within their community.

Source

Obviously that was a huge disappointment to read.  And it is pretty scary.  God called us to adoption and specifically to Ethiopia and we've been waiting almost 18 months.  It is very confusing why He would call us to that if this was the end result?  It's been a true test of faith for me.  Trusting that we did not mis-hear God in the first place and trusting that He has a plan for our adoption and for Ethiopian adoptions in general.  If Ethiopia does in fact close, we will be starting over either with a different country or with a domestic adoption.  In the days since the email first came out, it is looking more and more like Ethiopia won't actually close, but that there will be much stricter requirements for families and agencies and orphanages.  I am all in favor of those as there is a lot of corruption in Ethiopian adoptions with some agencies (not ours) and orphanages.

To further complicate things, our homestudy needs to be updated this month, so it's a little stressful that we might spend money and time to update our homestudy for Ethiopia and then it closes and then we have to update it again, with new fees and paperwork.  In spite of all the odds stacked against us, I have been praying and praying and I really don't feel like God is telling us to leave Ethiopia yet.  It's almost a harder decision to stay with Ethiopia, knowing it could close any day.  I have causally looked into other countries and even domestic adoption and it just doesn't feel quite right, like God is giving me peace to stay where we are at for now.  My heart is definitely still with Ethiopia, I love the country and would love to have a daughter from there someday.  Maybe we should do a concurrent adoption now, still open to Ethiopia for the future, but something for in the meantime?  Obviously I am still very unsure and Chris and I have some things we need to discuss, it's so hard to know sometimes!  It seems like this whole adoption journey has been a practice in that for us.

Chris' grandma passed away in November and she passed on this clock to us along with some other African souvenirs.  Chris hung up the clock and my new calendar that my dad gave me for Christmas right next to my computer.  I flip open the calendar to January, and glance at the verse, and wow!

If you can't read the small type, it says:  The Lord your God is going ahead of you.  He will fight for you, just as you saw Him do in Egypt. And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child.  Deut. 1:30-31a

Today is Ethiopian Christmas.  We are doing a small meal as a family (Ethiopian spaghetti and Ethiopian honey bread) and praying hard for Ethiopia to stay open to international adoption.  Melkam Genna = Merry Ethiopian Christmas!

Irony

One particular day Ashten was crying and grumpy all morning and by 10 am, I was ready to just put her to bed.  Instead we went and cuddled on the couch and watched a movie, but she was still fussy.  I suggested that maybe we should go eat a snack and then she should take a nap and she just lost it.  She was very mad at just the mention of the "n" word!  She stormed off to lay behind the couch by herself and "be alone" because I was such a "meanie".  Ten minutes later and I realized I didn't hear her anymore.  She had fallen asleep!!

Ironic huh?  Throwing a fit about not being tired and not needing a nap and then falling asleep in the middle of the fit!  Silly girl.  She woke up about an hour later (which is NOT a long enough nap for a certain tired girl) and informed me that she wasn't sleeping, that she had just "put her head down and closed her eyes and laid really quiet for awhile".  Haha, ya right!  She still wouldn't admit I was right.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years

I have been aware of just how behind on my blogging I am for a few weeks now.  And every day I don't get to it, I just dread catching up even more.  There are going to be some posts coming that go back to late November/early December, but too important and/or memorable to not chronicle.  I just don't do good at keeping up with stuff when Chris and the kids are all home.  I love it when they are home over breaks or summer, but pretty much everything but the basics (cleaning, cooking, working out) goes by the wayside in exchange for family time and fun out-of-the-ordinary stuff.  I won't apologize, that's life right now.  But all good things must come to an end, and this week is that end for our Christmas break.

Growing up, Christmas was always my favorite holiday.  And why wouldn't it be?  Presents, family time, staying up late, playing with cousins, etc, it was a kids' dream!  I hate to say this, but as I get older, I just don't feel the same about it anymore.  I love celebrating Christmas with family and sure, giving and getting gifts are both very fun, and the true reason for Christmas is more meaningful to me now that I am a mother, but I still find myself almost dreading the week of Christmas knowing how much pressure we will be under to be going every minute and spending at least a part of every day with extended family.  (I know my family reads this blog and I want you to know right now that I love seeing you and spending time with you, it can just be exhausting for a homebody/introvert like me!)  

This year, Chris' sister and her family and his brother were both in town, which was a special treat since we are hardly all together anymore on that side of the family.  Chris' sister lives in NE with her husband and 3 kids and Chris' brother lives in NV, so it's rare that everyone is home in CO at the same time.  We spent Christmas Eve at Chris' parent's house opening presents, eating yummy food and playing.  The kids had fun playing together and besides my moody 3-year-old daughter, there were no fights among  the kids!  I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera and at least getting a few pictures of our kids with their cousins.

We left there and went to the Christmas Eve service at our church.  The 3 boys were all involved in the nativity, which was very cute.  Brayden was Joseph, Logan was a wise man (the red one) and Preston was a shepherd (the one with the green headband).

That night we just went home and crashed hung out as a family and the kids played with their new toys.

Our tradition as a family is to spend Christmas morning at home just us opening our presents and having a little quiet family time in the midst of a hectic week.  This year I made cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Then we opened gifts and then Chris and I worked out while the kids played.  In light of having just done the basement this past year and having some upcoming adoption costs, Chris and I decided to not do any Christmas presents between us this year.  I missed it, I like getting things for him and I enjoying opening the gifts he buys me, but I know this is just a season.  Someday our house won't need any money put into it (haha, ya right!) and our adoption will be complete and then I'm going to spoil him rotten at Christmas!

Around noon we headed over to my parents' house for the afternoon.  Two of my three sisters and my sister's fiance were there, so it was nice to see them.  We got some new pictures, but it's always sad when not everyone is there to get a whole-family one.

My parents with the granddaughters

Me and my sister, Olivia

My mom with the granddaughters

Olivia, Monica and me - it's funny that we were all wearing the same
style of shirt with the same sheer fabric and we didn't even plan it!

On my side of the family this year, we drew family names, so our family got one gift that we could all enjoy together and we also gave one.  We drew my parents' names and they drew ours, which was kind of funny.  We got my parents a gift card to Maggiano's restaurant, which they love, a calendar using mountain pictures that my dad had taken, a frame for my dad and a necklace for my mom.  My parents got us Ticket to Ride Europe and a pass to go swimming at the rec center.  We have already played the game probably 10 times since Christmas and we are looking forward to going swimming and getting the kids' energy out at the pool too!

New Year's was thankfully very quiet this year.  Both Chris and I were feeling sick, so we didn't do much at all.  Brayden and Chris were the only ones who even made it up till midnight, they watched a Star Wars movie.  Ashten went to bed at normal time because no one wants to be around her the next day if she's tired!  We told all the boys they could stay up till midnight if they wanted.  Preston fell asleep around 8:45, I made it till like 9:15 and Logan was asleep by 9:30. I woke up from the couch at 11:50 and walked upstairs to bed, but I don't even think I made it awake till midnight at that point either.  The next day we just spent laying around the house since we weren't feeling good.  The kids played so well together, it was a great start to the New Year, sickness excluded!