Our life lately in jumbled pictures.......

This past weekend we went to Cincinnati for Grandpa Cole's 80th birthday.  It was a really nice time and it was great to be there to celebrate with Grandpa!  There's a picture in here somewhere of Grandpa and his yummy cake!

On the way home from Cincy I experienced IKEA for the first time.  I was VERY impressed.  I am all about a good bargain and the store was full of them.  The store is HUGE.  Almost confusingly so.  I could have spent hours in there, but alas, Ryan was in the car with our movie plastered kids, so I was in and out in less than an hour.  For those of you who have been there before, you know that was pretty good.  I got a few different things but my favorite was the "spice racks" I bought.  A couple months ago I decided to organize my spices.  I get a lot of spices bulk and they come in those crunchy little plastic bags that do not reseal. They make a mess.  My sister bought me these great glass spice jars for my birthday last month and as soon as I got them I filled them up.  I have been very intensely looking for a "rack" for them since I filled them.  I knew these racks were perfect!  I totally love how they fit into our kitchen and they are very accessible.  Cute eh? 

Of course I have to give a chicken update.  Our meat birds will meet their fate in 2 weeks.  Good riddens!  They are getting very large and they smell horrible.  I just cleaned all the boxes on Sunday evening and those meaties have already stunk the garage up again.  They need to be out of the garage, they are big enough, but we have no place to put them yet.  We are working every spare minute on the coop and it is getting close to being done (I included a dusty pic of the inside of the coop).  The hens are doing well.  One flew out of the box Sunday and Flirty found her.  Not good.  Flirt is very nice to the chicks, but I really think she would love them to death.  I think Flirt thinks the chicks are her puppies.  Yes, I know that sounds a little silly, but she kind of tries to mother them.  It is sweet in a freaky animal sort of way.  With the chick the flew out, it appeared that Flirt was trying to grab her by the neck and put her back in the box.  Um....... yeah, good in theory, but obviously not so good in practicality.  

Oh, I had to include a picture of a gorgeous rainbow we were blessed with last week.  This crazy spring weather has brought us freezing cold rain, beautiful sunny days, lots of wind and this amazing rainbow!  It was a complete rainbow, although I obviously couldn't get it all in the picture.   

Ok, so if anyone knows how to fix my picture issues, please do tell.  I am just assuming it is a silly issue with my Apple laptop not recognizing some program Blogspot uses.  But I am tired of this.....  I am now will to put a little more effort into fixing it.  Anyone know how?

Starting to get a little excited/anxious!

So, there's a web board that I frequent that is only for family involved in Ethiopian adoptions. Many of the families on that board use our same agency, CWA.  Well, a gal on there just got a referral for a little 7 month old boy on April 22nd.  She is using CWA also.  I talked to my case worker on April 20th and she said we were 7th (do remember, these are just estimates).  The lady with the new referral said she was #3 on the 21st and she got her referral on the 22nd.  So, if she bumped 2 spaces, theoretically, so should we!  This Gal got put on the waiting list March 3rd and got her referral April 22nd.  That is just a little over 7 weeks folks.  Tomorrow will mark 5 weeks that we have been waiting!  Would it be possible to get a referral in the next two weeks?  I keep trying to remind myself that right before we got on the waiting list there hadn't been a boy referral for 1 month.....  That could happen again.  

Man, I really almost wish I hadn't read all that.  Now I am getting pumped up and anxious.  And, even after we get a referral, we still have a long time before he will be home.  So far the 5 week wait hasn't been too bad.  I mean, I think about "him" all the time.  When we go to church, I imagine snuggling with him on my lap, when we visit with family I think about how different things will be when little bean is here.  He seems to always be in my thoughts, but, I have been so busy lately, I guess I haven't had the time to let my thoughts be overly consumed with all this.  For some reason, now I feel like I have that time.  NUTS.  The wait will get much harder now.

The wait will certainly feel different though once we have a referral.  Yes, I will be more desperate to get him home, but once we know who little bean is we can start to really prepare for him!  That will be fun.

We are already debating names, but we have nothing picked out yet.  I am a little stumped on this one.  We have 3 names were are throwing around, and I like all three, but I am not sure any of the names will be the right name for him.  I think seeing his face will help us decide.  I would like to get him named pretty quickly because I think it will give the kids a way to start connecting with him.  Oh, something I should add here.......  Once we get a referral, we cannot legally post his picture on the internet until he is officially ours (which isn't until we pass court).  So don't expect a "here he is" picture right away.

Well I guess that is it.  Do you mind if I ask you all to pray for us and for little bean?  Especially pray that he is healthy/doing well.  Also, even though I know things will happen in God's timing, would you pray we'd get a referral soon and get us a court date before the courts close?

Thanks so much!

Julie 

Ok, so I made a mistake.....

The kids and I ran to a few garage sales today.  They were the first sales this year I had been to.  I love to garage sale, even though today was kind of a bust.  Anyways, at one of the sales they had this "Spooky Tales" book about scary stories that are suppose to have taken place in Ohio.  Leah asked for it, claiming it would be fun to take camping, and I told her "no."  But then for some strange reason (satan?) I let her add it to the book I was already buying.  It was a short book and Leah pretty much had it read in about 1/2 an hour.  I asked her if the stories were too bad and she said that they weren't bad at all.  So then Logan wanted to read it and I warned him that they were scary, but he wanted to read it anyways.  Well, guess who is sleeping on our floor right now?  Yep, Logan.  It doesn't help that Leah has been taunting him all day with the stories also.

I really do not know what I was thinking.  I am very sensitive to scary stuff.  I frighten pretty easily and it has just been in the last few years that I can go to the bathroom without having to check behind the shower curtain first.  I do think this stems back to my childhood where if I wanted to hang with my two older sisters, I watched what they watched.  Can anybody say "Freddy Kruger?"  All kidding aside, because I struggle with fear so much I have really tried to spare my kids from that.  To some extent the whole "junk in, junk out" philosophy.  Now poor Logan (and even Leah to some extent) will have those ridiculous stories in their brain for a very long time.  I know this isn't the end of the world and over time the stories will fade, but gesh, sometimes I get so irritated with myself.

Julie

Maybe Sunday I can have an apple.....

One of our house rules is that if you do not eat all your lunch or dinner, you do not get a snack or anything until the next meal.  Well, lately Madeline has been very picky with her eating habits and she has experienced many snack-less days.  Her big phrase now is "maybe Sunday I can have XXXX."  Usually she asks for an apple, I say no and tell her why and then she whines and complains a bit, I stand firm, and I think her way of dealing with the crushing disappointment is to find a light at the end of the tunnel.  She will use this phrase when she wants her best friend (ie our babysitter) Eva to come over.  "Maybe Sunday Eva will come over........"  I just don't usually argue with her anymore and I say "maybe."  Well, now Madeline has caught on a bit that "maybe" rarely happens.  Now when I tell her "maybe Sunday" she comes back with "but every day is Sunday!"  Oiy.  I will never win this one (but she is still not getting an apple).

There have been many times with all 5 of the kids, where I wonder "where do they learn that?" Lately Anna and Madeline have been using the phrase "your not my friend any more!"  Where did that come from?  Aren't they a little young for that?  I know that Madeline is really in to "best friends" right now.  For example, Madeline will ask for her little cousin to come over quite a bit.  I will tell her "maybe some other time" and every time Madeline says, "but Kayla's my best friend."  You know, like that gives Madeline a free pass to see Kayla any time she wants.  It is actually kind of cute.  So maybe all this friend talk just naturally progresses to "not having friends" talk.  Nuts.  Why does that sinful nature have to keep rearing it's ugly head?  

We are 7th -ish

I talked to our case worker at CWA and we are 7th  in line for the placement of  a baby boy!! Today marks 4 weeks and we have moved 6 to 7 spots in that amount of time.  I am pretty happy with that.  Now there's no way to determine if things will keep moving at that pace.  I know they were a little short on boy referrals right before we got on the list, so maybe this is catch up and things will start moving a little slower, who knows.  Court in Ethiopia is closed for the rainy season which is most of August and September.  People are still getting referrals and cases are still presented to court, but no cases are heard until they re-open.  Our case worker pretty much said that the end of May is the approximate cut off for cases to get heard in court before they close.  So pretty much, if we don't have a referral before the end of May, we probably won't be able to get our first (and hopefully our only) court date before court shuts down.  I am really praying that God makes our son available before the end of May.

Julie

Swiper NO Swiping!

Madeline has really been struggling lately with the Easter candy.  I put it out in these decorative flower pot thingies I have. Madeline has been sneaking it for days now and then she usually lies to me as to why her breath smells like chocolate or gum.  I am seriously finding little wrappers in all these nooks and crannies in the house.  So stealing is a pretty serious offense in this house, but lying is even worse.  Madeline gets a spanking for lying, she knows this, but yet her little 3 year old mind keeps doing it.  Our spanking routine involves asking her if she knows what she did wrong (she always knows), then she has to match her hands on to the paper handprints on the side of our bar in the kitchen.  Then she gets a spanking and I talk to her about what she did and why she isn't allowed to do it. Madeline is a squirmer though.  She has a very hard time matching her hands to the handprints because she doesn't want to stop guarding her hiney.  Well, her newest thing is that she will stop right in the middle of all the squirming and put her hand in the stop position (like to my face) and very seriously say "Swiper, no swiping, swiper noooooo swiping!"  How can I not laugh when she does that?  It is so funny.  Ryan had to give her a spanking last night (yes, the poor girl has really been testing her boundaries lately) and after he was done he came in to me and said "why does she think that telling me Swiper, no Swiping is going to help?"

Julie 

Can "No Problemo" be a life motto?

I just love my sweet little Anna.  She was taking some clothes to the laundry and I said "thank you Anna," her response was "no problemo."  I love that.  I swear, we hit the jackpot with that girl. Sure, Anna can get a 'tude that no one can break, but in general, Anna has the sweetest nature ever.  She love her family and tells us all the time "I love you so berry much" and "I miss you so berry much."  She even shakes her head back and forth like you would if you were telling someone something with very deep meaning.  She really is just a smart and beautifully wonderful kid.  Our family is so very blessed to have her be 1/7 of us!

Julie

Easter Pics

Here are some pictures of the kids from the last couple days.  We did 2 different egg hunts, two different meals and Easter baskets at home.  I didn't get any pictures of them from church Sat. night because we were rushed and they changed in the car on the way.  Speaking of which, there's a funny picture of Gee in all these of him with an apple slice in his mouth.  He fell asleep that way on the way to church.  lol.

Julie 

Happy Belated Easter!

I pray that each of you had a wonderful Easter!  Saturday and Sunday ended up being rather busy for me.  Much busier than I was expecting.  To be honest, I found myself a little stressed more than once.  There were chicken issues, kid issues, husband issues, all that stuff.  But you know, as I laid in bed last night, thinking about all these "issues" I felt extremely blessed.  Not just for the typical things I feel blessed about, but I felt extremely blessed that God sent his Son to us and that son died for me.  Not only did he die, but now He lives.  It makes me feel extremely loved and special to know that my Heavenly Father would go to such lengths for me.  You what else I love?  Everyone can get in on this.  He didn't just do all this for me, he did it for you too.  How cool is that?

Julie

Just a Little Updating......

Here's an updated picture of our chickies.  I threw one of our layers into the broiler box so you can see the size difference.  Let's just say, she was NOT happy with me.....  Anyways, just look at the difference.  They are the exact same age.  The picture of the broiler laying on it's side cracked me up.  It looks like one of those rubber chickens.  The broilers lay in the most awkward positions.  I think they just can't get comfortable because they are so round.

                                                                                      

I included a before picture of our chicken coop for you all to see (notice the broken tree in the back-thanks to the unusually windy winter).  In front are the hens nesting boxes and a mesh chicken run that we pulled out last night.  Apparently raccoons infested the rafters at some point so we are pulling out all the old boards out and burning them.  We want to completely strip the coop and sanitize it before we put chickens back in it.  I plan to paint the outside as soon as we start getting some predictable warm weather.  I excited to get it ready and looking nice.

Here's a little Gideon funny from this week.....  Gideon is a pretty sensitive guy.  He has a hard time dealing with criticism or a scolding.  I try to take this in to consideration when he needs reprimanded, but regardless of how "sad" getting in trouble makes him, he is obviously still going to get punished.  One thing I make Gee do is stand in the corner if he over-reacts to a scolding.  If he cries and carries on simply because he has been scolded he has to stand in the corner until he has finished crying.  So yesterday he got in trouble for something or other and he started bawling.  The second he started crying he walked himself over to the corner and stuck his nose in there.  I didn't even say a word.  It was very funny!

Anna is still getting up at night crying.  I have talked to our family physician about it and it pretty normal for kids to do this.  Even ones that haven't been adopted.  I don't know what else to do about it.  When we hear her we go upstairs and comfort her and she goes right back to sleep.  I guess we will just hope she grows out of it.

Well, that's all for now~

Julie  

2 Weeks!

Well, we've been on the waiting list for 2 weeks today.  Only 6 to 16 weeks left to go!  

Also, our chicks are two weeks old today.  I have decided that the broiler chicks are just icky. They are growing so fast that their fuzz/feathers can't keep up.  All they do it eat, drink and poop. Repeat.  They are not too bright either.  I think my annoyance with them is God's way of making it very easy to imagine eating them dinner.  Actually, even though they are still little, when they are just laying around looking fat, I have visualized them on the grill with a little BBQ sauce. Yummy!  Now our laying hens are sweet (or at least they are suppose to be all hens).  They are getting their feathers in and right now they kind of look like a wild bird, maybe a little bigger. Their colors are starting to really show in their feathers.  They eat and drink half as much as their fat cousins next door.  They also poop way less.

We are still working on getting the coop ready.  I think though that we are going to build a chicken tractor for our broilers.  They will only be in 3 or 4 weeks before they are butchered, but they are inexpensive to build and we could use it next year.  A chicken tractor allows the birds to be completely free range.  You just move the "tractor" around your yard to keep them from destroying the ground in any one place.  Their poo serves as a great fertilizer, they eat up your bugs and the chickens tend to be healthier.  Our hens will go straight to the coop.

Oh and something exciting happened today!  I have 2 seed sprouts!!!  I was so excited!  I think they are my snap peas.  You don't know how good it is to see a couple sprouts of green across the vast pots of dirt.  I just hope the rest start showing up soon!

Julie

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!

You guys are never going to believe this........  We are Pregnant!!!  Can you all believe that?  We are in shock, but very excited!!

HA HA HA HA HA!       APRIL FOOLS!!!!!

I am so very funny!  Just to clarify, we are NOT pregnant.  Our baby is in Ethiopia right now!  

I am not sure what to do....

So, Ryan and I need to decide what age range we are open to.  I really want as young as possible, especially considering it will  take 4 to 7 months to even get him home.  Younger is better for attachment, although to be honest, that is not my primary reason.  This will be our last child (unless God intervenes on like Biblical levels) and I kind of like the thought of doing the baby thing again, to some degree.  I feel pretty strongly about this.  At the same time, I want to be open to what God has for us.

Our wait whether we say 0 to 6 months or 0 to 12 months will still essentially be 2 to 3 months.  So, part of mean just says "request the younger age and wait a bit more."  The only problem with that is that court in Ethiopia closes for 6 to 8 week in August/September.  Our agency still makes referrals, but no court hearings are done.  So, if I request a broader range there's a chance I will get a referral quicker.  Right now we are at exactly 1 week of waiting.  If we wait for 3 months to get a referral, that will come mid to late June.  Court hearings are running 6 to 8 weeks right now, which puts us right there at court closure and it puts us with our beautiful referral waiting an additional 2 months!  Really, a referral 2 to 3 weeks earlier could get us in to court before it closes.

I am just not sure what to do.  I am going to pray about it some more though because we don't have to make a decision on this until we get a little closer to a referral.  Hmmmm.......

Julie   

Here Chickie, Chickie.......

Our baby chicks arrived early (like a call from the post office at 7:15) Wednesday morning.  We ordered 45 chicks and I think we actually got about 50.  I was shocked that they all made the trip.  They all seem to be doing well.  I will say that they are quite cute.  I especially like the little striped one in the first picture.  The chicks we will have butchered are already like twice the size of some of the other chicks.  All the chicks are pigs!  All they do is eat, drink and poop.  We are still having fun with them though.  They are just fun to watch.  The three little ones call them their "chicken nuggets."  Ummmmm, close.

We've been working on getting our chicken coop up to par.  We still have a ways to go, but it is coming along.  I am sure it will be ready when the chicks are.  We were out cleaning it Friday night and we found some old "US Poultry Association" certificates posted on the inside wall.  They were from 1947!  Pretty cool.

I also started our vegetable seedlings today.  I am a little late getting started and I am not convinced they are even going to work, but I am certainly giving it the best try I can!

Julie 

Why Ethiopia?

I came across this article on another blog I have just recently found.  It is a blog for a Christian agency working with orphans in Ethiopia.  I really think everyone one should read this.  For us, it is another solid reason for "why Ethiopia."

http://thatwemightbeadopted.blogspot.com/2009/03/where-have-all-babies-gone.html

This really just breaks my heart.  I really don't know what else to say......

Julie

PS  You will have to cut and paste the link, go to the effort.

Officially waiting for little bean!

Yes, we are officially waiting for little bean.  We pretty much have been since Monday, but I didn't want to overshadow our re-adoption/Logie's birthday post, plus I just talked to my new case manager today.

So, we are looking at 2 to 3 months still.  I guess they've had a lot of girl referrals lately so the wait time for girls had decreased to like 4 months (from 6 to 9 months).  Of course this is all subject to change as there's no way to know what is coming in.  I guess we are like 13th or 14th on the list for a boy, so if lots came in, well, we'd obviously be on the short end of the wait (here's to hoping).  As of 4 or 5 months ago our agency had essentially no wait time for boys......

I guess court dates are coming quicker, which is really nice.  Court dates use to run 4 to 6 weeks out, but in the last few months that has jumped to 10 to 12 weeks.   I guess now the courts have a judge doing just adoptions and that has really helped and court dates are running 6 to 7 weeks.  Another thing I talked to our case manager about the fact that 5o % of cases do not pass court the first time.  She actually brought it up to me because she said this week in court has been really promising, implying that more cases are passing the first time.  This all has a lot to do with how overworked the courts are and how prepared the documents are to be there.  If we don't pass court the first time we have to go back 4 to 6 weeks later to try again.  Pretty much all the cases get out, it just adds a lot of time to the waiting.  This is especially agonizing when you hold your little picture of your baby and documents are standing in your way.

Another new thing is that the US Embassy in Ethiopia is overworked and are only doing adoptions 2 times a month.  They use to do them 4 times a months.  So that might add a little time after we pass court.  Also, some new TB testing thingy is being required and it is unclear as to all the ramifications of this.  This could possibly add significant time if a chest x-ray verified TB in our child (which fortunately doesn't happen too often).

So, those are the facts......  A little boring I am sure for most, but necessary information in my opinion.

Julie

Re-Adoption!!

Yeah!  Yesterday we had a re-adoption hearing for Anna and Gideon.  This hearing is a step in the process to getting Anna and Gee US Passports and birth certificates.  In my book though, it is more significant than that.  It was a very special time of officially recognizing Anna and Gideon as our legal children, although they were legally ours the minute their feet hit US soil.

Anyways, the hearing was very quick and our judge was a sweetheart! 

Yesterday was also Logan's 9th birthday.  Ryan took off work early and we went to Dave and Busters to celebrate.  It really was a nice time and I think everyone had fun!  Oh, and my baby being NINE!  Well, it makes me want to cry.  I love my sweet Logie and I can't believe how old and mature he is getting.

The picture are from yesterday.  Some are of the kids waiting to go in to court (hey they got to entertain themselves somehow), some are of dinner and my favorite is of all of us with the judge.

I love my Grandma!

My grandma is the greatest. She has been by my side since birth and I have always been close to her. She is strong and encouraging and she loves me unconditionally. She has had some pretty serious health concerns and in general she is not as healthy as I wish she were. With that being said, she has certainly been enjoying some more stable conditions lately (thank goodness). Grandma lives a nursing home and everyone there loves her. We try to go and see her every other week, plus we get to see her at most family gatherings. The kids love to visit her. It isn't always easy to keep the kids in check while visiting, but the nursing home has some nice open spaces, including a wonderful courtyard when the weather is nice. Last week when I visited I decided to take some pictures. I am glad I did, they turned out so nice! The last (ish) on is my favorite. It is just grandma and the beautiful smile that I know and love!

Finally some pictures......

Well, if you followed my old blog you will know that I cannot figure out how to get my pictures to not be all wonky, Yes, I am VERY computer illiterate. So, here are some recent pics, you just have to play a little "match the picture to the title." That sounds fun eh?

So, the one of Gee in the swing/hammock shows what a little ingenuity can do! I tied my baby wrap (for carry little ones) to our dining room table for a swing for the kids. It has been great for them. They have spent countless hours on it, especially in days it is too cold to go outside.


Of course we have a "Gee on the potty" picture.

The one of just Anna is funny because she dressed herself and came downstairs and told me she was ready to go. Notice her vest is on backwards (not to metion she is not wearing a shirt underneath) and her boots are on the wrong feet. Shouldn't there be like a 50/50 chance that Anna would put her shoes on the right feet? No way, she probably puts them on the wrong way atr least 75% of the time. It is crazy!

Let's see, we have Anna and Madeline making playdough. Gee made it also, but didn't make this picture. I'd never made playdough with the kids before. It was super easy and we still use it occasionally.

We've got a cute picture of Leah and Logan and my niece and nephew (Ethan and Sophie) at the Casting Crowns concert last Friday.

A good picture of Ryan and Gee.

Oh, and the last (ish) picture is of the kids yesterday at Lehmans Hardware in Amish Country. That store is so much fun, but we had to get creative with the carts!

Branching out this year.....

So, I am so ready for spring.  I love my seasons, but I am so done with this cold weather.  Plus, I have a million projects that I want to get started outside.  It helps that today was around 70 degrees and beautiful.

This year we are "doing" chickens.  This is definitely a step outside my comfort zone.  I have been known to say that "I would never keep chickens, they are so dirty."  But, you know I am really excited about it and now I have made a complete 180 and think it is silly we've not had them before (maybe I'll feel differently once we actually have them).  There are numerous reasons we want them, but they all pretty much circle around the desire to be a little more self sufficient and to teach our children a little more than "eggs come from the store."  Getting hormone free meat and eggs is just an extra bonus.  Actually, the hormone thing is more than just a bonus.  Ryan and I have been moving more and more toward eating more healthy and really watching what we feed the kids.  At home we are pretty strict with what the kids eat. Getting chickens just really allows us to control a pretty big protein aspect of the kids' diet and I love that.  I also love that we are teaching the kids a skill (I guess we are teaching ourselves a skill also, especially me) that they can carry with them. 

So the chicks are getting delivered early next week.  We got 20 hens for eggs and 20 chickens for meat.  Right now we are pulling together all the stuff we need, like feed, a brooder box, etc. We will keep them in the garage until it warms up and they get bigger.  Then they will go our to our chicken coop.  Our chicken coop is totally not ready for chicks yet.  It is a great coop, nice and big, but it is in SERIOUS need of repair, which we are working on.  It should be ready when the chicks are.  We are also going to fence in an area off the back for them.  We would like for them to be able to be "free range" during the day some, but we will see how that goes.

In addition to doing the chicks we are thinking we are going to grow our own seeds this year for our garden.  I have been looking on line for some good prices on some heirloom quality seeds, but I haven't found what I want yet.  I think we are going to check out a couple nurseries this weekend to see what they have also!

Julie