9 is pretty nifty!

Our Logan is 9 today!  He is really growing up, especially this year, I have seen so much growth and change in how he acts and the ways he is displaying his personality and working towards more independence.  Logan is really funny and loves to be around people.  He is compassionate and it hurts him to see others hurt.  It can be a challenge at times because he is very strong-willed and easily gets his feelings hurt, but we are learning how to better parent him each day.

Happy 9th birthday sweet Logee (!!).  We love you so much buddy and we hope you have a great last year of single-digit-hood!

Celebrating 4 years of Ashten

We had a busy weekend of celebrating Ashten's 4 years of life, but it was fun!  Friday the 21st was her actual birthday and we started the day with a breakfast of donuts, complete with candles and a stirring, very off-key rendition of happy birthday.  We never have donuts, so this was a special treat!

I had asked her what she wanted to do while all her brothers were in school and had given her several choice.  She wanted to "meet Daddy at lunch at Subway", so that's what we did!  Chris brought her a rose when he met us and she felt so special and grown up!

After an eternity Chris and the boys were all home from school and work, Ashten finally got to open her presents.  She is really into Frozen right now, so she got the Frozen movie and some Frozen dolls and also some clothes from her aunt!

A post-present opening photo shoot with our big girl!

 

For dinner, Ashten wanted to eat pizza at home, so we ordered some Papa John's. Chris was super happy with her dinner choice, that's his favorite food too and probably his favorite place to get pizza. Ashten requested a pizza with olives on it.  For her birthday dessert, Ashten chose brownies with M&M's on them because she doesn't really like cake.  No one complained, especially mommy!  

The next day, on Saturday, we had the "grandparent party"  as the kids have started to call it.  My grandpa was even able to come, which was a real treat because we haven't seen him in a long time and he has never been to any of the kid's birthday parties before.  We took a few pictures with him too (much to the boys' dismay).

This time, Logan and Ashten chose brownies with M&M's again - fine by me! I tried to put a 4 and a 9 on the cake for Ashten and Logan, but it ended up looking kind of like 49.  Oh well.

Ashten had just had her makeup done by Aunt Monica

It was a fun few days of celebrating Ashten's 4 years of life, even though I'm still in denial that she is possibly that old already!  I loved this time to just focus on her, she is so sweet and spunky, a gift to our family!

Comical camping

This happened way before I had a blog, but it's totally worth preserving for all of cyber-time!

A little back story: I am not a very outdoorsy person. I don't really enjoy camping or hiking (although hiking may be growing on me a little), being outside when it's cold or really doing any kind of thing where I'm going to get dirty. Basically I love being outside when it's warm and where I can stay clean (i.e. my backyard or by the pool). But growing up, my parents really tried hard anyway. We went camping and hiking and mountain climbing. I really feel bad looking back because I probably made the experience miserable for everyone with all my grumbling and complaining. Chris, on the other hand, grew up camping and hiking and fishing and LOVED it. He felt bad for me that I had such a horrible time and really wanted to change that when we got married.

Fast forward to 2001. The summer after we got married and Chris wanted to take me camping to the same place his family had gone when he was growing up. It had a lake and boats you could rent and Chris was sure I would just love it when I got up there. I was cautiously optimistic, maybe camping with my husband would be better than camping with my parents as a teenager?  But things didn't really go as planned........

We got lost on the way to the campground and ended up driving around most of the day to find it. This was before the days of GPS's and smart phones, so besides stopping to ask for help (!) we were on our own.  By the time we got to the campground it was almost dark and we were feverishly trying to set up our tent before we lost all sunlight. Then we made a fire and cooked our dinner.  It actually was a nice first night except for I saw the biggest bee I've ever seen in my life and got totally freaked out! (Disclaimer: it may have been a hummingbird, but that's still debatable.)

The next morning we rented a boat and Chris took me out on the lake to fish. We got out to the middle of the lake and I realized our boat had a hole in it.  We were taking on water and I had visions of sinking and having to swim to shore in our clothes dragging our fishing gear back with us. Chris was apparently not as worried as me because he started fishing! He baited my hook (yuck!) and cast it for me and then did the same for himself. By the way, did you know fishing is boring? You have to sit there quiet for a loooong time and not talk at all, where's the fun in that? Chris finally caught a fish and reeled it in. When it got to the boat, we realized it had swallowed the hook, so Chris had to get it out and the fish was crying the whole time (did you know fish cry? it's really sad!) and I was feeling so sad for the fish and begging Chris to just throw it back in.  There was lots of blood and gross lake water and crying, it was a like a bad movie scene. He finally got the hook out and the poor fish died.  Then it started to sprinkle and we decided row the boat back in. By the time we got the boat to shore, it was raining pretty hard, so we went back to our campsite to wait out the storm. But guess what? The rain didn't stop. For 2 days.

So for 2 days we basically stayed in our tiny tent. It was a downpour. At one point Chris got so sick of sitting in the tent that he went out fishing in the rain. But he didn't catch anything and just came back soaking wet. All we had brought to eat that didn't require cooking was cheetos, so that's all we had to eat. And all we brought to do that didn't require fishing or hiking was Uno, so that's all we did. Did I mention it rained for 2 days? Yes! Two days of sitting in our little, two-man tent eating cheetos and playing Uno. (You will recall I don't really like being outside in the cold or getting dirty?) In fact it rained so much that our tent stakes were coming out of the ground because the ground was soaking wet and there was nothing for them to hold onto. Our tent was soaking wet and water was seeping in from the top and bottom and sides. We couldn't even pack up to go home because it was too muddy and wet to even clean up camp.

Finally on the 3rd day, we woke up and it wasn't raining! Hallelujah! But.....I woke up to the sound of someone (something?) walking around outside our tent. It was freaky! I imagined a serial killer coming to get us from our rain prison. Haha! I unzipped the tent a little and there was a cow outside by our picnic table! A cow! I mean seriously, can this get any more ridiculous? We waited for the mountain cow (?) to leave and then got up, admitted defeat packed up camp and left as quickly as possible.

Poor Chris, he really was just trying to get me to love camping like he does. Unfortunately I just don't think it's meant to be! All we had left to remember the trip by was the dead fish wrapped in tin foil and a baggie that sat in our freezer for the next several years! That and now this blog post!

So why Ethiopia exactly?

I am sure the question people are thinking most when we tell them we are switching but don't want to ask for fear of sounding rude is:

"Why did you feel so certain about Ethiopia two years ago when you feel so certain about China now?  Are you just hearing God wrong or putting your own desires onto God to justify your decisions?"  

And I'll admit, I think those questions are valid in a way, not everyone thinks you can actually hear from God and understand when His plan seems to change, so it might sound a bit crazy to hear people say that God told us to adopt or that God told us to switch countries. In fact, that was one of my main worries, what people would think. So many people have supported us and I would hate for them to think we are squandering their support.

Chris and I have talked a lot about this recently actually.  Some of our thoughts about feeling called to Ethiopia in the beginning are:

• We would not have met the income or net worth requirements for China two years ago.
• We were not aware of waiting children lists or special needs adoptions.  We were on board with adopting, but not on board with dealing with any health issues, we wanted a healthy infant or young toddler.
• We had incorrect information and wrong assumptions about Chinese adoptions.
• I found an incredible adoption community on Facebook through our agency's Ethiopia program. We would not have been able to be involved in this or even known about it had we started out in China. This online community is seriously wonderful. There are days I feel much more connected to these women whom I have never met than I do to my real-life friends because they just "get it".  They get adoption, they get mountains of unending paperwork, they get painfully longing for and loving a child you have never met, they get fundraising, they just get it all. (There is a group for Chinese adoptive families too, but it's not nearly as transparent or supportive as the Ethiopia group) These people will be friends for life.

And even as recently as January, when we felt very sure about staying with Ethiopia and then not even a month later we felt such a peace about switching:

• I got let go from my job in March and if we had switched countries in January, our homestudy most likely would have been completed when I lost my job and we would have had to do an update just to change my employment. Right now, we are still in the midst of converting our homestudy to China, so all we had to do was update one form to account for my not working anymore. 

We are excited and a little nervous about what lies ahead of us in China.  But honestly we really have such a peace about the whole thing, which gives us confirmation that this is exactly where God wants us right now.  We trust God to lead us to our daughter and we trust that His plan is better than ours. I'm not saying it's always easy, in fact it's hardly ever easy, but we trust God enough to follow Him even when it makes no sense and it would be easier to not obey.

Give me a "C"!

Ashten has really taken a liking to cheer-leading lately.  It started when Chris took the kids to a basketball game last month and she watched the cheerleaders and even got to go out and do a cheer with them.  Now she even makes up her own cheers, which are super cute!

The cheerleaders at Chris' school even let Ashten borrow their pom-poms for one cheer and held Ashten up high for a cheer too.  She loved that part!!

Fabulous 4!

It's that fun time of year again - Ashten's birthday!  I love that God blessed our family with Ashten, she is a bright joy every day!  She is a super extrovert, we really don't know where she got that from since Chris and I are both so introverted.  She knows no stranger and she is very friendly and talkative to everyone she meets.  I think she brightens a lot of people's days!

Ashten is really looking forward to being 4, namely so that she can now ride in a booster in the car (instead of her big car seat) and she doesn't have to take naps anymore (we will call them "quiet time" now, but it will be basically the same thing!).  Love you my sweet birthday girl!

Thus Far #4

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

This week has been incredible!  I got laid off on Monday.  Let me backtrack a little though....(because it probably isn't normal for someone who just lost their job to be happy and to exclaiming how great their week was)!

I had worked at our old church as the bookkeeper for 9 years.  I went in once a week and "did the books", which included counting the deposit and paying the bills mostly.  Usually no one else was there and I took the kids and it was perfect for me.  Being a stay-at-home-mom is my #1 job, this job was perfect because I could work around that and still make a little money on the side!  Usually I just had Ashten with me because all the boys were in school and she would just watch videos on the iPad or play games or something.  

Well on Monday two guys showed up (whom I had never really worked with/reported to) and kept asking me when I'd be done and how much I had left to do, etc.  It was weird.  Then finally they just came in and said, "we need to meet with you when you're done." I knew right then that I was getting let go.  I won't go into all the details, but lets just say it was very hurtful and dishonest, the things they said and did, and the guy who did most of the letting-go, his wife is taking over my job. Coincidence, hmmmm, I'm thinking not!

But here's the cool part, and here's why it was such an incredible week: had I not got laid off from my job, my eyes might not have been opened to just how perfectly God has provided for us.  You see, for our adoption, we have to prove a certain amount of income per family member, including our new adopted child.  Back in August, Chris started teaching an extra class, which pays extra. This is not normal, most teachers are never given this opportunity. I am so proud of Chris for being willing to take on this extra work and for being such a great teacher that the administration at his school thought of him for this job. With Chris' base salary and this extra class, we are just about at $800 over the adoption income requirement!!!!  I hadn't even noticed how perfect that is. Had God not provided that opportunity for Chris to teach the extra class and then I had gotten laid off, we would not have been able to prove enough income to proceed with our adoption!!  Can you see it, how perfectly God provided?

I remember even saying back in August, "I wonder if God is giving us this extra income now because we're going to need it in the future?"  Of course, I was thinking of something like our house needing a major repair or having to buy a new car or something, but isn't it cool to see how God knew we'd need the extra money for our adoption?  God is so committed to seeing this adoption to completion, it's just amazing.  And I told God way back from the very beginning, I would be giving Him all the glory on this journey, because if we adopt, it's all because of Him, not because we are good enough or rich enough or strong enough!  

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen  ~ Ephesians 3:20-21

I am still going to look for a new job, but I really don't feel the pressure about it I felt earlier in the week. When I was pregnant with Ashten, I got laid off from my transcription job and it ended up being a huge blessing.  There was no way I would have been able to continue working every night while also nursing and taking care of a newborn plus 3 rambunctious boys, it just wouldn't have happened, something would have had to give.  And God knew that and He provided the extra we needed to make up for me not working somehow.  So that's kind of how I feel about this: either God knows I need to focus my time and attention elsewhere and He's giving me that time back every week, or He has a better job in store for me.  I will do my part to look for jobs and see what's out there, but I'm not really too concerned either way.  It's a great place to be!

Fundraising for China

As I mentioned in my last adoption post, we are back to fundraising again. We honestly aren't that stressed about it, if the last 2 years have taught us anything, it's that God funds what He calls us to. He knows our limitations, but that doesn't negate His call, it just means He has to come through to enable us to complete His work. Its a big number that we need, almost what we needed last time we had our big fundraising push, but you know what, God knows that already!

This past weekend a sweet friend from our small group who is a Thirty-One consultant did a fundraiser for us.  Between all the orders and some additional gifts, we raised almost $300! And guess what, we owe almost that exact amount for a medical review bill we have coming up soon. See what I mean? God knows!

And now this is probably my favorite part, I'm so excited about this one!  We found out about this cool online company that lets you set up a fund, design your own shirt (or pick one of their designs) and then people can buy your shirt and you get a certain amount of the proceeds from each shirt sold.  Easy peasy!

 

This is the shirt we designed, which we did based on Isaiah 40:31.  You can go HERE to learn more about it or to place an order!  We only have 14 days to sell these shirts, so get 'em while they're hot!!!

You can also still give a tax-deductible gift through Ordinary Hero if you would like to support us, but don't really want a shirt.  Go HERE for those details.  And lastly, we are fundraising through Just Love Coffee, where a proceed of every bag of coffee (which is fair-trade by the way) sold through our page goes towards our adoption as well.

Thanks so much for your support of our adoption!

Gettin' creative with Legos

The boys love Legos right now.  I love that they love Legos, there are a lot worse things!

Logan, Preston and a friend of theirs came up with this super-creative and intricative "Rainforest Cafe" one day.  It was so good, they even added things like cups and food on the tables.

Preston is really into creating houses and ships with Legos.  He adds all kinds of details and each part has a story or reason behind it.  It's really cool to see what he comes up with.

The only downside to all this Lego building is the Lego mess that goes with it!

Having a puppy again

It has been quite an adjustment having a puppy again.  Sure, she is 1 instead of just a few months, but she still has a lot of puppy in her!  Our old dog didn't barely want to go outside, except to go to the bathroom, and all she did while inside was sleep.  She never played with toys and barely ate. Sadie is quite the opposite.  She is always chewing on her toys and she's always hungry.  She has so much energy, we have to try and do things every day to get some energy out so she isn't completely wild.

Sadie loves to be outside, she loves to go for walks, fetch the ball and go to the dog park.  The dog park is probably her favorite!!

Luckily we have lots of kids who love playing with her and helping to wear her out!

The kids love to hold on to the end of her rope and then she pulls them around the house!

  And this is always the end goal: a tired puppy!!