Recent Pictures.....

We always enjoy a weird egg around these parts. Usually eggs that look like this are double yolks and double yolks are always exciting. This one look even more unusual because it was very oblong.

So, here it is cracked. I think it was an egg within an egg. The yolk had some sort of membrane around it (Ew, yes, I know). No, we did not eat this egg.

This is how Gee gets his pants/undies back on after he goes potty.

It's close, right?

Madeline's creation with the pattern blocks. I was pretty impressed because it was somewhat detailed for an almost 4 year old. Madeline has really been stepping her skills up lately. She is recognizing lots of letters/numbers and her coloring has vastly improved!

My mom and step dad brought my sister's kiddos to Logan's soccer game Saturday. Here is my oldest niece, Samie, with Madeline.

Here are my nephews AJ and Jackson, my niece Cassie and Anna and Gee. (It was very cold)

Yesterday, while too chilly for my taste, was a beautiful day. Ryan went to Lowes to get boards so we could finish our deck. We spent all afternoon/evening yesterday working on it (and I use the term "we" very lightly). The kids were playing and I thought it would be a good photo op. Here is Anna swinging. Both her gymnastic teachers have come up to me on separate occasions and told me how strong she is.

She is so stinking cute!

Apparently the sun was just too much for Gee because he kept covering his face at the last minute (I have 4 photos that look like this).

Ryan is working hard!

Poor Madeline, just as we were telling the kids to stop messing around on the support beams, Madeline slipped and whacked her nose. She got is pretty good and it bled quite a bit. She is looking pretty good today, but she's talking like her nose is plugged.

A battle of wills.....I feel like I am loosing.

Madeline, God love her soul, is so far my most trying child. While she is incredibly smart and she totally cracks me up, she is very high maintenance. She is that child who always needs to be tended to. If I am getting a shower, she'd the one that has to come in and ask a question, every time. If we are driving somewhere she probably asks 25 questions compared to Anna and Gideon asking like 5. Out of my 3 little ones she is the first to complain, take a toy or push. She is the one that consistently sneaks out of her bed and disobeys. She is also the first to apologize and seem genuinely sorry, but...... Over the last few months we have been dealing with lying from her, and she is good at it. She has gotten better at being truthful, which is good, but occasionally we still get situations like this morning.

The kids were eating breakfast this morning and Madeline did not want her food. In general my food policy is that if you don't want to eat, fine, but no food until the next meal. Madeline gets this rule and usually handles getting no snacks just fine. This morning though I knew she was not eating just because she was being picky and I told her I wanted her to finish (it was only 1/2 a slice of whole grain bread with apple butter and some banana slices). She refused to finish and I told her she had to sit there until she ate it or until lunch (for the record, she sat until lunch one other time about 3 weeks ago). Truly, I do usually like to avoid this eating battle if possible, but it is a struggle for me. I HATE the kids wasting food (which is why I try to go light on the portions and then they can have more if they want it), but to some extent I think kids will eat if they are hungry. I don't really like the whole "you must eat everything on your plate" mentality. Ugh, like I said, it is a struggle. Anyways, (I obviously digress) Madeline refused to eat and said she'd just sit there until lunch. Well, of course she just whines and cries, etc., etc. She heard Anna and Gee watching cartoons and I think that pushed her over the edge. I was sitting at the counter with my back to her and she came up to me and said "I ate it all" and showed me her empty plate. I was very surprised and my first response was that she was lying. It had only been like maybe a minute or two since I had last looked at her. I looked her in the eyes and asked very forcefully "Madeline, are you lying to me." 3 separate times she very convincingly said she was not lying and she ate it all. She was so convincing that even though I thought is was impossible for her to have downed her food that fast, I was going to believe her. One last time I said "Madeline, if you are lying to me you will get many spankings and spend your morning in your bed, where did you put your food?" She pointed to the bathroom and sure enough she had dumped her food in the trash can. I felt more defeated than I thought I would be. At least she ended up telling the truth, but those "where have I gone wrong" thoughts got to me more than they normally would. I know that Madeline is just EXTREMELY strong willed and EXTREMELY head strong, so I think situations like this morning are just part of dealing with a child like that, but it is still hard and frustrating for me. I grow weary sometimes of dealing with her antics........

I need to say though, that I have been blessed with 5 very different children. Yes, Madeline is certainly the most trying of the 3 little ones right now, but I honestly would not change her God given personality if I could. I love her little fire lit spirit, but trying to train that spirit sometimes completely exhausts me.

Julie

We are officially getting ready for court! (Misc. pics too)

So, I spent about 30 minutes or so on the phone with Dr. Staat. She looked over all the medical info on Asher and the bottom line is he looks good. It was a little tough because the dates were so wonky. His stats (hight/weight/etc.) mean a lot less when you don't know his exact date of birth. She pretty much gave her imput based on him being 4 months, which we both agree is probably about right. So, weight wise, he is below the charts (less than 3%), but she wasn't too concerned about that. She said his pictures look good and she had seen worse than that coming from Ethiopia. He is the 50% for height and 3-10% for head circum. His labs look good, except for being a little anemic. He didn't even test positive for any parasites (which Dr. Staat believes to be pretty accurate). So, all in all, he's pretty healthy. We officially approved his medicals and hopefully we will have a court date in a week or two (the courts open back up on Monday).

Now, to completely go off topic, here are some recent pics!

These are the cool little goodies we got from Ethiopia a couple weeks ago.

This picture still cracks me up when I see it. This is my adorable niece Ava. We went to a weeding a couple weeks back and they had cupcakes. This is how Ava "ate" hers. What was so funny was that this is how she looked for probably like 3 minutes. She didn't move it, she just held it there and ate/licked it?

When we got home from camping a couple weeks back we had 40 eggs. Our rock solid buddy, Olivia collected for us while we were gone, but we ended up staying an extra day, so the eggs went a day without being collected. 40 eggs is just a lot.... Oh my.

Here is my proud egg collector!

This is Ryan and Logan at Logie's soccer game last Saturday. Kind of far away, but I thought it was cute.

This is me finding joy in the little things in life..... When we home school, I do 99% of grading, etc. at the kitchen counter. Last year I just kept the books piled in the corner during the week and would put them back on the shelf in the computer room on the weekends. That set up was a pain, so earlier this week I decided to find a better system. Here is what I came up with. This is a flimsy little crate that our bulk green beans came in. I am happy that the books finally have a spot and I think the crate looks kind of cute!

Julie

A little snip-it of our beautiful son....

Ok, so this is the best I can do for a picture. I guess in theory these toes could belong to any old kid. But nope. They belong to our son!

Look at those beautiful little feet! And my goodness, he at least has a little bit of chunk on those thighs. I am loving it!

An apology......

Last Saturday morning at soccer I got a very sincere apology from the lady that opened her mouth a little too wide a few weeks back (you all know who I am talking about). She apologized more than once and I really appreciate her coming to me. I don't think she (or really anyone she would know) even reads my blog, so I don't believe most post would have prompted the apology. At any rate, I was impressed that she did what she did and I am happy that she recognized the need to set things right. Kudos to her!

Right now Asher's 2nd Medicals are being looked at by Dr. Staat, the International Assistance Dr. in Cincinnati. She will call tomorrow so we can talk about Asher and her opinion of things. I am looking forward to speaking with her and to ask her a few questions.

Julie

Yeah!! The second medical report is in!!

Ok, so this is pretty exciting stuff! We just got Asher's 2nd medical report in! Yippee! This is a very exciting step because once Ryan and I "approve" these medicals all our documents get submitted to court. Right now court is still closed, but it will re-open on the 12th of October. Our case manager told me today that once we are submitted to court we usually have a court date within a couple weeks and that court date is usually 4 to 6 weeks out. She also said that historically once court reopens (it closes like this every year), it tends to move faster than that because there isn't the backlog of cases. But things seem to change from minute to minute in Ethiopia and I know our agency is very hard pressed to put a standard on anything.

Looking over the medical, he looks good. Not that I can read lab results, but all the big stuff was still negative. Our caseworker said that in general his lab work looked impressive, except for a little anemia. Our caseworker/agency really recommends taking these more extensive medicals to an International Assistance (IA) doctor. We have an IA doctor in Cincy that we used for Anna and Gee, and she was great. It is a little pricey to use her for this pre-adoption stuff, but I think we might just to be safe. Our case worker did say something about the urinalysis results not looking familiar to her.

Asher is 11 lbs and his measurements are: height - 25 inches, head circum - 15.5 inches and chest - 15 inches. Age wise we still don't know exactly how old he is. I was originally told that he was about 5 months old (about 6 weeks ago), but his first set of medicals put him at just 3 months. Birthdates in Ethiopia for adopted kids are pretty arbitrary. Especially with kids that have been abandoned. So, the medicals we just got today said at the time of exam (dated Sept. 30th) Asher was 2/12 months old. Which is 2 months out of a 12 month year (the Ethiopian calander year is 13 months, so this age was "converted" for the report). However, I just got a monthly update yesterday (in addition to the medicals today) and they said he was 4 months old. Confusing enough??? Truly, it isn't that big of a deal, but I kind of like knowing he is a little younger than originally thought. It kind of makes me feel like I am not missing as much with him. From all I have read so far, it seems that 4 months seems like the most reasonable guess, so I am going to go with that. There will be a birth date placed on the court documents and I am sure we will just go with that, but we won't really know what that date is, until I guess we travel?

So, very good news and I love being just a little bit closer!!

Julie

Blue eyes........... *Sigh*

Last week we were in the car and Anna told me that she wanted blue eyes. A whole number of things went through my mind, but I simply asked her why. Her response was "because Madeline has blue eyes." I gave the poor girl like two minute speech about how her eyes were beautiful and how mommy loved her big brown eyes. I told that Jesus picked those eyes out just for her and they were perfect. She was seriously not convinced. If you know Anna at all you have seen her "moods" that she can get in to where she is just seriously irritated by something and nothing can get her out of it. After I told her that Jesus gave her brown eyes, her response back to me was "Jesus makes me sad," followed by a major pout. I did correct her and let her know that Jesus did not make her sad, but that she was making herself sad, but I pretty much just let the subject drop. Anna was not convinced her brown eyes are perfect for her and I had said as much as I could to make her "see the light."

So, the very next day, Anna and Madeline are walking into the house and Anna comes up to me again and says "I want blue eyes like Madeline." We went through the whole "your eyes are perfect speech" yet again. Anna then says "but I want to see in the dark like Madeline." Then Madeline chimes in "yeah mommy, blue eyes can see in the dark." I could not hold back my laugh, but Madeline and Anna were as serious as a heart attack. I took some time and showed them the error of their ways and I thought I got through to them.

Fast forward to this past weekend camping. We walked a trail with the kids and it started to get dark. Madeline just says (like it is a well known fact) "It's ok that it is getting dark because I have blue eyes and blue eyes can see in the dark." Of course Anna hears this a again whines that she does not like her brown eyes and she wants blue. God bless Leah, she spent the rest of the walk going over everything under the sun that was brown or had brown eyes. You know like, "Kayla has brown eyes, chocolate is brown and we love chocolate......." That kind of stuff. My hope was that Anna would finally get it (and that Madeline would shut her mouth).

So, two nights ago we were coming home late from the store and it is dark. Madeline, as if she has completely turned a deaf ear to all we have told her, says again "It's ok that it is dark because I have blue eyes." OH MY GOODNESS. I wonder how many times I am going to have to correct Madeline before she gets it?!?

Oh, and for the record, Anna seriously has some of the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Her eye lashes do not end and I have never seen another child more expressive with their eyes.

Julie

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

Tomatoes

I am drowning in tomatoes. I am not complaining, really, but oh my, it is getting crazy. I have some pics that I want to upload, but our internet is running really slow for some reason and after literally 1 hour, my 5 pics were still not uploaded. So, you get just a boring old writing post. Don't worry, you aren't missing much, just a sea of red all over my counters.

Tomatoes really have turned out beautifully this year. No real bug problems or anything. My biggest issue has been having them break as they go. I have gone out there a number of times just to re-stake them. Next year will be different, I am going to try a new system. Anyways, so I have canned lots of tomato juice, some diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and ketchup. I still want to make Ryan's grandma's tomato soup (it is delicious) and do another batch or two of spaghetti sauce. The rest of the tomatoes will go to juice and being diced.

Finally, I am done with cucumbers. Praise the Lord. Our Zucchini/Squash is about done also. I think something weird happened with our Zucchini this year. It got unusually big and not so tasty. I think it might have cross pollenated with something else out there. We also got some crazy gourd like thing that is still growing as we speak. It kind of looks like a massive acorn squash (which I did plant) that has been stretched. I cut a couple open and fed them to the chickens, they loved them.

Our green beans have surprised me a little. We had about two "full" pickings off of them and they are still giving me enough to can a quart here and there. Our peas did fine, but I didn't plant very many and they are kind of a pain in the tushy, so I am not sure we will plant them again.

My peppers are still doing beautifully. I have had prettier peppers this year than I have ever had. I only planted banana peppers and 3 different varieties of bell peppers and they are all just getting so big and plump. I really think that the pruning I have been doing on them earlier this summer is paying off.

My watermelons and cantaloupe did terrible and I am not sure I will try those again either, which is a shame because we love both of those. If I do try them again I will put them in a spot all their own instead of making them share space with all the squash and gourds. We have a bunch of orange sized watermelons and cantaloupes that are already ripe.

I am finding an unexpected joy in my gourd-ish stuff this year. I planed acorn squash, butternut squash and sweet early pumpkins. I have already harvested some pumpkins and canned them and I am hooked. I eat lots of pumpkin (I love it) so it is very cool, and extremely yummy to be eating my fresh pumpkin. I plan to can all of the pumpkin, butternut squash and acorn squash that I am able to. Some we will just eat and the rest I am going to turn in to baby food for little bean. I think I can probably can my sweet potatoes, when they are ready, the same way.

Have you have enough garden talk yet? Ok, on to something different, Little Bean.......

So we are in a whole different type of waiting now for the little guy. We are waiting on his second medicals and then our info can be submitted to court. I am anxious to decide on his name, but my lovely husband isn't quite so ready. I think it is a typical guy thing, waiting until you "have" to have a name. That is tough in this situation though because he doesn't technically "have" to have a first name until he is back to the states and gets re-adopted (which we just did this past March for Anna and Gee). I just think a name helps everyone to connect with him and it keeps the crazy names at bay. FYI, Anna calls him that "little black baby."

I am just so ready to be getting ready for this little guy because I have lots I want/need to do to prepare. I just can't do that stuff right now because other things, like the garden, getting ready for school and outside projects are consuming my time.

Well, that's all for now. We are off again on another camping trip. Yeah! We are heading to Columbus with my sister and her soon to be expanding family. :) As usual, I have lots left to do still and we are leaving tonight.

Julie

It's Official...

Well, we officially accepted little Mussie's referral today. I am just so thrilled. We all are. I can just hardly believe that this precious little baby is going to, Lord willing, be ours. I feel the need to add here that while we are thrilled to be pursuing Mussie as our son, our case worker has cautioned us that we can release Mussie's referral at any point from now until we go to court. We have no intentions of doing that, but if something very serious were to come up (ie a family member showing up or a medical issue we are unable to deal with) we could lose Mussie. Like I said, that is VERY unlikely to happen, but with our past adoption history, I am never going to say that something "won't happen" ever again. I try not to focus on losing our little guy because it is very unlikely to happen, but for everyone's sake, I think it is a good idea to mention the possibility.

I am starting to focus more now on how life will be when Mussie (that is what we will call him for now) gets home and I am getting excited to start preparing for him! I am just so very happy and feel so blessed!

Julie

IT IS A BOY!!!!!! YEEHAW!!!

I am seriously choking back the tears as I post this, but we saw our baby boy for the first time today.

The 3 little ones were eating lunch and I was getting ready to pick up Leah from a friends house when the phone rang. I have been jumping a bit when the phone rings lately wondering if this was "the call." A quick look at the caller ID usually quickly clears up my suspense. This time the call came up as "unknown." My first thought was "telemarketer." Nope, it was my case manager. We small talked for a minute and then she said "Do you want a boxer?" I said "huh?" and she said it again, "do you want a boxer?" I finally just said "what are you talking about." To which my case manager replies "well he has his hands up like a boxer in his pictures." I immediately responded "Are you serious?!?" She was serious.

I got the basic info. He is approximately 5 months old (we don't know his exact birthdate at this point) and he is in Awassa, Ethiopia (here's where that's at http://uk.geocities.com/sp228/pictures/ethiopia_map.jpg). He seems to be very healthy and has tested negative for everything according to his first medical report. His name right now is Mussie.

I can't post pictures but he really is beautiful. He has very distinct facial features and the most beautiful little mouth. He is as bald as can be and I could just eat him up!

Now we have to officially accept the referral (which as this point we plan to) and then our agency will request a second medical report to be done. After that is completed and the results are compiled (which can takes weeks) everything is sent to the courts in Ethiopia (this includes our dossier) and a court date is set. We are probably looking at a court date in October some time. Hopefully shortly after the courts re-open. If we pass court, Mussie is legally our child. If we do not pass court the first time(which is usually due to some minor paperwork issue), a new court date will be issued, usually 2 to 4 weeks later. Once we pass court we wait for our Embassy date which can take 3 to 8 weeks to get. We actually travel for our embassy date and that is when we pick up "little bean."

Well, we have a lot to process, but we are extremely excited!!!! Please keep us all in your prayers. I just pray that "little bean" stays healthy and our process is smooth and quick!

Julie

Eggs...questions and answers

Ok, now that we have eggs I'd like to take a minute to "enlighten" everyone on what I know about home grown eggs. Let me warn you, what I know is limited, but I had some concerns, so maybe you all do also. Here are some basic question and answers for anyone who cares.

1. Am I going to crack an egg for breakfast and get a half grown chicken (trust me, this concerned me)? First off, to get a half grown chicken we have to have fertilized eggs. We have 2 standard roosters for 20 standard chickens. That about maxes out the 10:1 hens to rooster ratio. The most important thing though is collecting the eggs often. We are collecting right now about 3 to 4 times a day, but I am sure that will dwindle to once in the morning and once in the evening after the newness wears off. An embryo will not have the chance to even start developing once collected and refrigerated. Just FYI, a broody hen (one that will actually sit on and incubate eggs) would have to sit on an egg for almost a week before an embryo could even be seen. We are not even sure we will ever have a broody hen.

2. Are fertilized eggs/brown eggs better for you? Brown eggs are no difference nutritionally than white eggs, it is really just a personal preference. It is debatable whether or not fertilized eggs are better nutritionally. Some say they have less cholesterol, but this is not 100% proven from what I can see/ had read. It is proven however that free range eggs are healthier and our bird are partially free range (we are hoping to move them to almost all free range except at night). Here are the benefits of free range eggs:

1. For starters they are often fresher, as with most foods the fresher the foods the healthier they will be. It is often possible to buy free range eggs directly from the farmer, from a farmers market, or in my case, I just take them from my hens every morning. Please note, my hens do not have roosters with them, so it is not like I am stealing their babies, they are of a breed that does not pay attention to their eggs after laying them.
2. Free range eggs have been found to be lower in cholesterol, by as much as 30%.
3. Free range eggs contain 2 times more Vitamin A and E.
4. Free range eggs are alkaline. Battery hen eggs are acidic. Studies have shown that diets higher in alkaline foods are likely to prevent cancer.
5. Free range eggs have twice as much Omega-3 Fatty Acid. This is very likely due to the hens having a more varied diet.
6. Free range eggs have ¼ of saturated fat than do battery hen eggs.
7. Free range eggs have 5 times more Beta Carotene.

3. Can you tell and egg is fertilized? Will it taste different? Yes, you can tell if an egg has been fertilized. Here's a pic (and tons of good info on fertilized eggs): http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008&p=1

And no, you cannot taste the difference.

3. Are our eggs organic? Nope, not really. To be considered "organic" birds have to fed organic feed, which we do not do. They do get plenty of treats, like melons and left over goodies from the house and they free range some which adds all the yummy "organic" materials from the yard.

4. What are the advantages of home grown eggs? Well, I think for us it is simply knowing where our food is coming from and knowing it is as fresh as it can be. There are certainly health benefits (as mentioned above) and having eggs on hand whenever we want them is great. It is also a great family project. We are all enjoying the chickens/eggs and the kids are really being responsible with them and having fun. I wish we could grow all our own stuff ("Little House" here I come).

5. How long will the eggs stay fresh? Let me let WikiAnswers cover this question:

Farmers have 30 days from the day an egg is laid to get it to stores. Then, the stores have another 30 days to sell the eggs. The FDA recomends a maximum of 5 weeks in your refrigerator before you discard your eggs. What does this all boil down to? On April 1st, you could be eating an egg for breakfast laid on Christmas. *Someone who talked with an egg farmer was told from the day it was laid, the egg has 30 days. I assume that means until the sale date, but that was not made clear. *Even if that is true, keep in mind that farmers generally get their eggs to stores within a week, and both the "pack date" and "sell by" date are stamped onto the carton. The numbers run from 1-365 depending on the day of the year. Lastly, there is a big difference in taste between farm fresh eggs and one week old eggs. If you want the freshest eggs, you can buy from a local farmer.

A great way to check if any egg is fresh is to stick it in bowl of water. If it floats it is bad, if it sinks, it is good.

6. Do we wash our eggs? Not until right before we eat them. We are trying our best to keep the nesting boxes clean, which will in turn keep the eggs cleaner, but washing the eggs right after collecting them strips the natural "bloom" off the egg. This "bloom" is a protective coating that every newly laid egg has. It keeps bacteria out and the egg fresher longer. The FDA requires store bought eggs to be washed, but often times they add mineral oil for a "faux" protective coating.

So, please feel free to ask if you have any more eggie questions. We will be selling our eggs once we start getting a regular amount and they are more normally sized. We have 20 standard hens right now and I would guess that only 7 or 8 are actually laying and they are still small. Once we are at full laying capacity we will get 15 to 20 eggs a day. That is 8 to 11 plus dozen a week. We will probably eat 3 plus dozen a week, we will have extra. I would be happy to set aside eggs for anyone who specifically knows if they want some (like Mindy :)), but for every one else, once the eggs are really up and going, they will be in our fridge. We are asking a $1 for a dozen. That will help with feed for them and maybe offset our costs a bit.

So, do you feel like you have been egg-lightened? I hope so. :)

Julie

Home again and we have EGGS!!!

Ok, so maybe it is a little silly to be so excited about these sweet little eggies, but I am! We came home yesterday to cute little brown eggs. Quite a few of them really. Olivia (our best buddy and home caregiver while we are gone) had collected about a dozen and a half and there were 4 or 5 more actually in the coop when we got home. They are small now, but they will get bigger/more normal sized after a while. None of the easter eggers are laying yet because their eggs would be blue and green. Anyways, here they are, our first eggs.......

Our vacation was extremely fun. The more time I spend in Gatlinburg the more I love it. I love the outdoors, especially the mountains and Gatlinburg just seems to have it all. We arrived home last night and left again almost immediately for a wedding. I have yet to unpack suitcases. Today has been spent mowing, working in our garden and picking sweet corn. Oh man, I have so much to put up. Truly I feel blessed to have so much good food to put away for the winter, but it is a lot of work!

Here are some vacation pics.

Anna, Kayla (my niece) and Madeline at the BEST pancake house ever in downtown Gatlinburg.

We celebrated Gideon and Katelyn's (my other niece) birthdays while we were in Gatlinburg. They are two days apart. Here they are with their cool backpacks mawmaw and pawpaw got them.

Gee got a horsie from Aunt Esther and Uncle Scott. Aunt Esther even demonstrated it for us!

Gee loved his Spidy man backpack from Aunt Jami and Uncle Jason.

Blowing out the candles on their brownie ice cream cakes.

Riding the pony (i.e. killing time while mommy shops) in downtown Gatlinburg.

Riding the bee ride in Dollywood.

While the big kids were riding a roller coaster at Dollywood we decided to play that claw game that "nobody ever wins." You know the one where the metal claw "almost" grabs the toy/candy/whatever. I never let the kids waste their money on that thing but we were bored and the little ones wanted to give it a try. Wouldn't you know it, on the first try we won Chloe. Go figure.

We all got soaked on the water ride.

One of the hikes we went on lead back to this great swimming hole. The water was chilly, but it was lots of fun!

This look from Anna cracks me up. She is getting ready to give me the "I am sad" Anna look, to which I almost always reply "Anna, cut it out." (Anna is a major drama queen and I am trying to reel in her "moods").

Pawpaw jumping off the big rock! All the older kids and most of the adults jumped off and had tons of fun. I was super impressed though with Madeline though. She actually jumped off that sucker with Ryan! No pic though because that was a video moment.

Obviously I have no new news on the adoption. We are still #1 and our agency is still be promised every day that the new referrals will come in. They know there's a chunk of referrals just waiting still, but they can't make the referrals get there any faster.

Julie

Gee's Birthday pics and no news....

As the title states, no referral yet. AG-A-NIZ-ING.

But, on to happier things, here's some pics we took this last weekend:

Aunt Chrissy and Gee after he got his Spidy man backpack and blanket!

Gideon playing at a really cool park in Matewan on his birthday.

Anna enjoying the bumble bee (and her ring pop).

We also celebrated this past weekend my cousin's birthday. This is her daughter (and my personal bud) showing how she felt about the cake decorating. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY again Gaynell, thanks for sharing your house and yard!)

Gee being goofy.

Gee's spidy cake.

Gee showing me how old he is!

Singing "Happy Birthday." And no, Leah did not burn the place down with that lighter.

Gee in his Diego jammies (from Aunt Chrissy) opening his cool trucks from DeeDee and PatPat(Grandma and Grandpa).

The big kids at this breath taking mountain we drove up to.

We are leaving in the morning for a week. I am still hoping for that referral and I should be able to post while on vacation. I cannot wait to chill-lax for a week. That will be so wonderful!

Julie

Still waiting for a referral and back home.

We are still waiting to see our little guy's face. I confirmed with our case manager last Friday that we are indeed next. Yeah! I thought we were, but I was starting to think that maybe I was wrong. Our agency is expecting another set of referrals early this week, so maybe our son is in that group. I hope so.

We arrived home from our long weekend about 2 hours ago. It was really a great trip. We really enjoyed being with the family and the kids had a blast and swam all day long. Our camper had some issues, we think due to a non grounded electrical outlet at my aunts house that we were staying at. If you touched our metal steps or the door handle without shoes, you got zapped. It was crazy. We all got shocked numerous times, including the little kids and the dog. The kids would not get into the camper by themselves, even if the camper was unplugged and once the dog got zapped she wouldn't come within 20 feet of the camper steps. I know it isn't really funny, but I couldn't help but laugh, ummm, numerous times.

We celebrated Gee's birthday with my family while we were there. He loved his Spidy-man cake and decorations. He also loved all the goodies he got. Everyone was really generous and it was just a nice day of celebrating and being together. I will upload some pictures soon.

Another great thing about our weekend was that we got an e-mail from Gideon's foster family. They were remembering his birthday right along with us. They even sent us some pictures. They are just incredibly sweet people and I can't wait to go back to Guatemala to see them again. I want them to see how wonderful Gee is. They will be so proud of him!

A very sad part of our weekend was that we found out that a very good friend of the family passed away. Her passing was not unexpected, but she was way too young to be leaving this earth. Praise God though that she is now with our Heavenly father in paradise. Please be praying for this sweet family. We will be attending the visitation and funeral this week.

We leave Friday for a week in Gatlinburg. It seems that our vacations come in clumps. I really love going to Gatlinburg because I love the mountains and hitting the trails. This will be another busy few days for us though. I have to unpack from camping and getting everything ready to go again. Plus I have a good deal of canning to do. Busy, busy, but I will get it all done (I hope). I feel like I just need to get organized, which I am no where close to being.

Well, hopefully my next post will be announcing our referral. Maybe??? Hopefully.......

Julie