Tuesday, September 1, 2009

"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

1 comment:

Psalms 10:14, 17-18

"You are the helper of the fatherless.  LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more."