Home again....

We just got back from another camping trip. It was very wet, but very fun. We were suppose to come home yesterday, but luckily we were able to stay an extra night. We were barely there on Saturday due to coming home for Logan's soccer game and going to church Saturday night, so the extra was a welcome change. The kids had fun riding their bikes through all the puddles. Oh man, they got messy!

We are finally starting our home schooling tomorrow. Yes, a little late, but we should still be done by the end of April. So, I am not too stressed. Leah is going to have her hands full with Jr. High co-op and her regular school work, but I think she will do well. She is already working hard to get things organized and she has already done well on the couple co-op tests she has taken. In general, I am looking forward to getting school going. There's a routine associated with our school time schedule that is comforting. We just got Leah and Logan's achievement tests back last week and I was pleased to see they did really well. To be honest, I don't so much "get in to" achievement test. I think people can make way too big of a deal out of them. Then, the kids find out their grades/their peers grades and mentally place themselves on some silly scale of intelligence. But, Leah and Logan are required to take them and since it is the only test they take outside of their regular home schooling, well, I like to see them do well.

So, fall is officially here and that makes me happy. Today is even a little bit nippy outside. Very nice. My garden is dying down, the grass needs mowed less, the bugs are started to die (we just need a couple good frosts) and my life is getting a little easier. I guess that is a good things considering home schooling pretty much consumes my whole morning on any given day.

Well, I am obviously starting to ramble, so time to go. Nothing exciting on the adoption front. I e-mailed my case worker last Friday to see if we can expect our 2nd medicals any time soon and our while our agency did get some 2nd medicals last week, Asher's was not one of them. Bummer. Come on already!

Julie

New Pics....

We received some updated pictures of Asher this week. He actually had clothes on and he just looked so sweet. I wish I could show them to you.... You can already tell he is getting bigger. He face is less round in his new pics.

Right now our agency is experiencing computer issues (it seems like there is always something going wrong in Ethiopia). Apparently they are dealing with some sort of virus. So, information is not getting through, like our 2nd medicals we are waiting for. I just pray they get things fixed ASAP. Our little man is waiting!

Julie

Recent Pictures

Apparently our nephews (Bryce and Tyler) think our kitchen aprons are a little too girly for Gee. They brought him a manly Home Depot apron last week and he loves it!

This would be our little drummer girl. She bangs pots and stuff for about as long as I will let her. It is funny. She set this little set up a couple days ago and I had to snap a pic.

Probably one of the most exciting things around these parts is my new niece Lucy!!! She was born on September 4th and we think she is pretty great! Here are Leah, Logan and big sister Katelyn at the hospital.

Look at this gorgeous baby!

So a couple Saturdays ago Ryan was heading out with Leah and Logan and a hot air balloon was flying over and asked if they could land in our field. Of course he said yes and the kids got a bog thrill out of it. The balloon is sponsored by our local Ohio Caverns (a few miles down the road). We just got two free tickets to the caverns last week in the mail as a thank you for letting them land in our yard. How nice is that? The thrill of getting to see them was enough for us.

I had to get a shot of my beloved grinder. Right now all that I have used it for it to grind up my wheat for bread, but I really do enjoy this "gadget." I want to try and make peanut butter with it. It can be used for a whole heap of stuff!

My cool canning shelves that Ryan made are filling up. They are actually much fuller now. Picture a couple more rows of green beans (I have be so pleasantly surprised with ever producing beans) and tons more tomatoes (that third row down is full of tomatoes and I am starting to fill the bottom row).

A monster tomato. Check out the size compared to my hand! I just pulled another yesterday about that size. Crazy stuff.

This is what happens when you can too many tomatoes. They start to become your friends. Appear almost human like. Hmmmm.....these two look a little like a couple I know.

And his name shall be..........

ASHER HOUSTON COLE

Little bean has officially (at least "officially" in the Cole household) been re-named. "Asher" is straight from the Old Testament and it means "happy/blessed." I love that meaning! the name is great, but the meaning just seals the deal for me. "Houston" comes from our dear Grandpa Cole. Grandpa Cole is an amazing man of God. His devotion to all things important is beyond striking. It is an honor to Ryan and I to be able to use "Houston" as Asher's middle name.

Ok, now that we got that fun stuff out there, I really feel like I need to vent. I really try not to be the verbage police when it come to adoption related terminology. If some one asks me if Anna and Gideon are my "real kids" I will politely reply "yes" or "yes, we adopted them." Sometimes I get a little irked when I am asked if I am their "real" mom, but not everyone has been in the adoption world for years like I have. Most people don't know the "proper" way to say things. For whatever reason, I have not ever got on my soapbox about the way people phrase things. For the most part, the people I know are good, loving people, and would be sad if they knew they said something offensive (even if it were just slight). I just be sure that I use the proper terms (like birthmom instead of "real" mom) and I think most people, in a non offensive way, get the picture. Also, to be truthful, I haven't had any really idiotic things said, until this morning.......

So, we were at Logan's soccer game this morning (tie 3-3) and my mom was talking to a lady that I will not name. They were counting and comparing grandchildren and all I heard from this lady (who happens to have been a personal friend for years) "well, they don't count, she bought those kids." I only half heard it because I was watching the game. When, then as clear as day, she says it again, "well, those two don't count because she bought them." I could tell my mom was uncomfortable and she chimed back "well I love those two just as much as the rest, they are really no different." The woman then was like, "well, sure, yeah, I know....." I guess maybe backtracking a bit?? My mom kind of yelled up to me (a couple seats up), "are you hearing this?" I just said "I am trying to ignore it."

So, first off this lady is just ignorant. Secondly, I am mad at myself. As I sit here after I have been removed from the situation, I am completely upset with myself that I didn't say more to her. To me, she carried her comments beyond being just uneducated, she was rude. For goodness sakes, Anna and Gideon were sitting right beside me. I know they had no clue the woman was even talking, let alone understanding the content of what she was saying, but still, they are getting close. I will never be able to shelter my kids from every ill thing that is said about them. I wouldn't want to. I just hope that the next time someone decides demean one of my kids that I can find a way to lovingly educate them and let them know that it is unacceptable.

Julie

Fed Ex delivers babies???

Ok, so this is just a little Madeline funny, but it kind of cracked me up......

I was holding Madeline for a minute in the kitchen and we were looking at little bean's picture on the fridge. I said "who is that?" Madeline replied "our baby." I was impressed with her answer because I wasn't sure she realized that. (For now we will ignore the fact that all three of the little kids think we are getting 3 babies because that is how many little bean pics there are on our fridge). So we talked about little bean for a couple seconds and as we did, the Fed Ex man came to the door with a box. I grabbed it and without missing a beat, Madeline says "mommy, is that our baby in there?" Ohhh, don't I wish. :)

Julie

P.S. For all you very nosey people out there, the box contents were 2 pairs of crocs that I bought for dirt cheap.

"We are family"

All five kids seem to really enjoy keeping up with the garden and the chickens. Every time I go to the garden, the 3 little ones always come with me (plus Flirt). They either pick cherry tomatoes (and eat them of course) or they pick flowers in the field. They also love the chickens. I think I mentioned before that Annie is our little chicken wrestler.

So anyways, we were walking back from the coop and Anna is holding my hand and says "we are family, mama." Talk about melting. Anna is the queen of sweet nothings. She says "I love you" and "you my best friend" all the time. This family comment was new. What a beautiful thing this life is. What a beautiful family I have. I am still amazed that God blessed me with my 5 kids. And you know, I think maybe I feel super blessed because adoption has been a part of this experience. I can still feel the pain of not being able to add to our family like we wanted to. It is very real to me even today. I am sure that experiencing that pain makes our current blessings even more sweet. God has formed and is forming a family that Ryan and I never could have formed ourselves. It really is something beautiful.

On the right hand side of this blog I have some blogs that I follow. One of them is called "Blessed." I would encourage you to read her most recent post. It pretty much sums up how we feel about our kids, but it also parallels a personal adoption of a child to our adoption in to the family of Christ. It is well said, so, go.....read it.

Besides feeling blessed (:)), we are chugging away at life. Logan has started soccer and Ryan (and Jason) coach. The other 4 kids started gymnastics this week. Leah loved it. She has told me that about 3 or 4 times now. I was a little concerned she'd feel a bit out of place because many of the kids in her class are a little younger than she is, but that didn't even phase her. It really is great exercise for her! The 3 little ones are all in a class together (along with my their cousin Katelyn) and they were just so excited! It was fun to watch them and hear them carry on all day about it.

We are going to start school in a couple weeks. I am ready, but so not ready. We did not take our achievement tests at the end of the school year last year like we were suppose to. So, here I am struggling to get them done asap so I can get the results back to our school district. I hate being so ill prepared. Leah is taking Jr. High co-op with a couple Senior high classes. This should be interesting. I think she will do fine, but I don't know that she is ready for all the work she is going to have this year. It will be a lot for her and I have tried to prepare her for it. She isn't going to just be done with school at 3:00-ish every day. She is going to have homework and she is going to have to change her lifestyle a bit. Leah and change.....not a good combo. No really, she will do great! I think I am going to add some pre-school curriculum for the 3 littles. I think they will love keeping busy like that. I am not sure though if it will help keep them out of my hair or make it harder.

No new news on Mussie. Our caseworker is hoping to hear some news "from the south" by the end of the week. It would be good to get some sort of update.

Julie