African food and arm art

A couple of weeks ago I got to spend a night away with some other moms from church where my friend, Rose, our resident African cooking expert (she's from Uganda) taught us all kinds of  African dishes.

 

She seriously went all out!  I think she prepared over 11 different dishes.  I'm so excited to have some kind of African food repertoire to introduce to my family and also to have in our regular meal rotation for when our daughter comes home.

 

 

It was all so yummy.  I mean really, really yummy!!  I ate way too much and totally blew off my calorie limits for the night, but it was so delicious.  I couldn't even tell you what my favorite dish was, probably either the eggplant thing, the couscous/chicken/bacon dish or the simosas! 

 

While I was off filling my belly and have a fun "night off" with some other mommies, Chris was so awesome to doing some fun stuff with the kids.  He took them to Cici's Pizza for dinner and while they were there, a lady was walking around offering face painting.  All the kids ended up getting them on their arms instead, but they were all so upset when they got home and Chris told them it was time for showers/baths and that their pictures would wash off.  They made him take pictures with the camera so that when I got home that night I could see their cool arm drawings!

 

Brayden got a dragon

Logan got a dog

Preston got a giraffe

Ashten got a butterfly

 

Down the drain

When we bought our house, we knew that the sewer occasionally backed up because of roots.  No biggie really.   We were always home when it happened, which was only a handful of times in 9 years (thankfully!) and it was as "easy" as getting out the shop-vac and sucking up the extra water and calling a plumber and waiting till all hours of the night for them to get there and clear the line out. 

This past February our sewer backed up the night before Valentine's Day.  We were actually doing our Valentine's scavenger hunt with the kids when I opened up the utility room and stepped in water.  Happy Valentine's Day to us, huh?  So we cleaned it up, waited for the plumber and then figured we'd be good for another 18-24 months like we had in the past.

Well, on September 23rd, it happened again.  :(  It had only been 7 months, so we knew the roots were getting pretty bad.  The company we went with this time for the sewer clean-out also offered a free video inspection, so we took full advantage of that.  This is when we found out that our sewer line is abnormal in that it 1) goes out through our backyard instead of our front yard, 2) is 175 feet long and 3) has a 2" pipe inside the house connecting to a 4" pipe once it gets outside.  We also found out that at one point in our sewer line, there was about 75% root blockage and because of the 2"/4" thing, they couldn't get a big enough tool in there to clean out the whole pipe.  Plus, the roots were really big and aggressive, so they weren't going away anytime soon.

The company recommended a sewer line replacement from our house to the fence (since doing the whole 175' would have been super pricey and the big root was inside our fence anyway!) as well as adding a couple of clean-outs toward the back of our property so that the 2" pipe problem would not be an issue anymore.  Basically now if our pipe ever backs up again, they can go out to the cleanouts and have better access. 

Because of the cost and the fact that our first clean-out on September 23rd came with a year warranty, we decided to not do the total sewer line repair, figuring we could just wait a year, with maybe just one or two more sewer backups and then make a decision.  Well, 2 weeks later our sewer backed up again.  Big bummer!  We had actually bought a water alarm that you put on the floor right by your sewer drain so that if water is coming up you know right away and not when you go down there who knows how much later.  So I knew right away and it was just shower water, so that was nice.  But at that point, we realized that there was no way we could go a year before having our sewer line replaced.

The next day our yard was full of dirt and diggers and while the kids had a fun time watching all the action, all I could think about was how sad I was that our poor grass, that Chris has worked so hard to maintain and keep looking nice, was all torn up.  So sad!

Unlike most expensive home repairs/remodels, we have nothing obvious to show for the cost.  We are literally flushing money down the drain.  A very clean and rootless drain, but a drain nonetheless.  In fact, if anything, the things you can see (the grass) look worse now than before the repair.  However, God is so faithful to our family and He has provided over half of what is costs to help us out.  I love to see how God provides even when things seem kind of impossible.

Taking pictures that involve kids

A few weeks ago, we were all at my parents house, so my dad wanted to get a picture with all his grandkids in it. The last one was over a year ago, so we were due! Look how young they all look! 

 



  

Admittely, all of the rest of the adults were inside helping get ready for dinner and watching football, so my dad was severely outnumbered, but I'm not sure that having more adults would have made things better. It's so funny to watch the photos progress. I'm not saying the pictures are bad at all, I think they are actually pretty cute, but it just goes to show you never know how a picture is going to turn out when kids are involved!

 

All 6 kids, sitting on the bench, 2/3 looking at the camera

Oops - lost one sitting, only 3 looking at the camera

Silly faces all around!

Now the kids are just bored, we got two good smiles (note: not from any of my kids!)

Sometimes I think the kids just purposely do that, it's not like looking at the camera is THAT hard, right?  Haha, either way, I suppose we'll have years of everyone looking at the camera and smiling, so these candid posed photos are great for now! 

My sisters

I love the times when all my sisters and I get together.   With 4 of us and each of our separate families and busy schedules, it doesn't happen very often though.  I guess it just makes the times that we do have together that much more special!

 

Clara, Olivia, Monica, me

I love this picture, it makes me laugh!

Ashten's first haircut

Ashten got her first haircut on September 28, 2012.  She was almost exactly 2 1/2 years old!

My sister, Olivia, who used to have a license and cut hair for a living, did it.  She did all the boy's first haircuts too, so I'm glad she could do Ashten's!  We mostly just evened up the back since it was getting way longer than the sides.  There's not really an amazing after photo to show you, but I've got some pretty cute during ones......

Preston's start of school

Preston was supposed to do half-day kindergarten this year because that's all the district had funding for and we weren't about to pay for full-day.  Can you believe they charge $300 for that?  CA-RAZY!  But then in May, we got a call from the school that they were going to offer free full-day kindergarten again this year.  Brayden did half-day kindergarten and Logan did full-day and I really think the benefits of full-day are worth it.

Preston was super excited for school to start.  For two years now, he has watched as both his brothers went to school all day and learned fun things and had fun with their friends.  He was excited that this year it was finally his turn.  He had fun picking out his backpack and dreaming of what it would be like to play on the playground every day and make new friends.

The first couple weeks went well and then all of the sudden he didn't want to go to school anymore. He cried when I dropped him off and hung on to me crying for me to take him back home.  It was very hard for me, I mean I'm not trying to be mean to him and I definitely love him and miss him too when he's gone, but school is important and I had to convey that him.

The first time it happened I thought it was just a fluke, he was having a bad day or something, but then it continued for a few weeks after that.  Not every day, but at least twice a week, I would practically have to drag him into school and his teacher would practically have to hold him in his classroom while I walked away.  Heart-wrenching!    Chris and I tried talking to him in the evenings about what was going on and how things should change the next day.  But we never really got a clear answer out of him, and I'm not sure he even really knew exactly all of what he was feeling. 

As best as I understand it, Preston is pretty shy and he was just not making as many friends as he thought he would right away.  One thing about Preston: in new situations he tends to be very reserved and quiet.  He was feeling lonely and a little bored.  Also, there was all this learning getting in the way of the "fun stuff" (i.e. recess and centers).  For some reason, it was a bigger adjustment for Preston to go from being at home with me full-time to going to school.  Brayden only had to adjust to half-days at first and Logan is pretty independent, so being gone for a full day of school never really bothered him. 

The thing that finally has worked now is every morning when I drop him off at school, I give him a big kiss in his hand and he then balls up that hand in a fist and holds onto my kiss tight (we got this from The Kissing Hand book).  Also, Brayden and Logan take turns walking him into his classroom each morning which has helped a lot, they are such sweet brothers!

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I guess some might have sugggested that we pull him out of school and homeschool him this year, but that was definitely not an option for us.  Most importantly, we don't feel like God is calling us to homeschool.  Secondly though, we believe that the merits of going to public school definitely outweigh the negatives.  What a cool mission field for a little kid, right?  That's where God has placed them and they get to be Jesus to their teachers and their peers.  Our job is not over though, because as Christian parents, we have to be very diligent to know what they are learning and help them reason through some of the things they might learn that aren't true.  (But honestly, that hasn't even really come up yet).  We also have to be more intentional about being involved in their social and academic lives as we are not around for much of that.  We love the fact that our kids are around other kids who don't believe the same and whose parents don't have the same rules and morals.  They get to see that the world is not like it is at church and there are mean and rude people, or people who are nice but have no knowledge of Christ.

I'm not saying this to knock homeschooling, I actually have a lot of homeschooling friends and was homeschooled myself for a few years.  We are not lazy, we are not apathetic, we are not unloving.  But there are lessons you can only learn when you are away from home and away from your parents and put in a situation where you must know what you believe and know what is the right way to act and react.  We want them to learn those lessons now as opposed to later, when we have the chance to guide them and redirect, if necessary.  Do our kids always get it right?  No!  But we are right here beside them, not protecting them from the world, but guiding them as they learn to live in it as a Christian.

Is it really this easy?

We have been told that the adoption journey is full of mountaintop and valley experiences.  Days where everything is going well, moving along as you would expect and feeling pretty in control.  Days where things are moving slower than a snail, feelings of being totally out of control and mountains of paperwork to complete.  We've experienced both already in the 8 short months we've been on this journey.

But, when I look back over the last 8 months and I've seen God's hand so obviously at work, I think to myself, "is it really supposed to be this easy?"  Just trust God, take the steps of obedience and watch Him work it out in His time?  No, I don't always feel like that in the moment, but definitely feel like that in hindsight.  I'm not saying that trusting and obeying God are easy things to do, but it just seems like when I do, things just seem to go a little better and I don't have to worry about as much.

I belong to this FB group for people adopting from Ethiopia through the same agency.  It has been so cool to rejoice with those who are getting referrals, those who have their travel dates and those who are coming home and posting pictures of their beautiful children.  It's also been really encouraging to see the posts from people whose adoption journies aren't going as planned, the ones that are taking longer than expected, the ones whose travel dates keep getting put off, and praying alongside them.

One thing is for sure: adoption is God's idea and He definitely does things in a way so that only He gets the glory.  I pray all the time that He will get the glory through our adoption as well, this is not about us, it's all about Him.

Ashten's loves

I'm sure Ashten was in heaven right here: playing the piano WITH daddy - two of her favorite things!

 

Stayin' up late

About two or three weeks into school, the boys were getting a little sick of us being so strict about bedtime.  But our kids are all pretty early risers and it doesn't matter when they go to bed, they will be up around 6 am (Brayden and Preston) and definitely by 7 (Logan). 

So one night we were kind of kidding around with them and said "you can stay up as late as you want on Friday night, but tonight you have to go to bed now", thinking they would either forget or be so tired after a full week of school they wouldn't want to stay up late.  But we were wrong.....they remembered and wanted to do it.  So Chris took them to a volleyball game that went a little later and then when they came home, while Chris and I worked out they laid down (in our bed, lights off) to watch a movie.  (Maybe we were setting them up for failure? haha)

30 minutes later......

 

Oh the joys

Things we would love to do to our house:

• update/remodel the basement
• add an extra bedroom downstairs
• finish laundry room (it's a concrete floor and studs right now)

Things we have to do to our house instead:

• replace our driveway because of all the moving and cracking going on
• possibly replace our sewer line

Any time we save up enough money to even start talking about our basement remodel, something else more urgent and pressing, however no less expensive, comes up instead.  This is the exasperating fun part of owning a home, right?