Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter Weekend.  Here are few pictures:

Sponge Curlers.... Can't wait to see how it turns out! :)

 My lovely ladies. They are growing up before our eyes! WOW! (In 2 months we will have 3 teenagers and 1 12 year old)  YIKES!

 Anna's hair do. :)   Anna wanted to try curlers.  I thought her hair turned out darling!

Erika wore a new shirt.  She doesn't care for dresses....they are hard for her to feel lady like in. So we concentrate on tops instead. :)

Two peas in a pod. They love dressing alike. I'm glad I found new outfits for them ON SALE!

 I really enjoyed being a part of the Trio to sing Easter Song, on Easter Sunday!

Miss Joy helping peel eggs

Miss Joy is just so precious to us.  She is more like a gramma to the girls.  Miss Joy never had children, so she loves being around the girls.  She really liked helping peel the eggs. She doesn't get to feel very useful at the Nursing home.

Helping Mom get dinner ready

Making Deviled Eggs.  We really like deviled eggs a LOT.... So everybody helped make them.

We had a wonderful feast. :)  And a lovely celebration of the resurrection of our Lord.  And all in all, this weekend was just so relaxing and enjoyable! We didn't plan anything over the top hard. I made a bbq brisket on Saturday, so we could have it on Sunday. 
The girls were all so helpful getting things ready for our dinner. 
This year Miss Alli knew what to expect, and her memories of Easter, were from OUR HOUSE from Last year! YEA! 
The girls did have an Easter Egg Hunt.  They still like to do that, and that is OK! (except Anna. She was feeling especially grown up) :)   This year I bought a laundry basket, instead of 4 individual baskets. How is that for practical? LOL    I put all their things in it together. :)  And now, I have a laundry basket that we really needed too. :)

Happy Resurrection Day!

Up from the grave He Arose! With a mighty triumph or' His foes!
He arose TRIUMPHANT from the dark domain
And He Lives FOREVER with His Saints to reign!
HE AROSE!
HE AROSE!
Halelujah! Christ AROSE!
That was an old song from long ago....
Today..... we will be singing another NOT so old song.... :)
 

HAPPY EASTER!

Some More Pictures of Family

We took these while waiting for Olivia to be born.

 Me holding Ilse

Erika, Chris and Joseph

 Joseph showing his lack of teeth.

 Chris Modeling Erika's latest hat.

 Ilse modeling Erika's latest hat

 Brothers in waiting

A very excited Marcus taking a small break while Em's and I went to be with Ivy.... about 10 minutes after this picture.... he went back in, we headed back to the waiting area,   and Olivia
 was born.

A Happy Sarah Good Morning....

Sarah always makes the morning coffee and then comes in to wake us up. First she comes to me and we have a quiet time for a few minutes and talk about our dreams... then she goes over to daddy's side. He ALWAYS pretends to be asleep and she taps him on the shoulder. And then in "What about Bob" form, she jumps on him and says "Cocka-doodle-doo!"..... and he wakes up. :)
This a.m. daddy said, "I'll cherish these moments for the rest of my natural life!"
Sarah replied in a droll little tone, "And what do you think is so natural about it?"
LOL

She isn't quite this obnoxious..... but this is the scene from "What About Bob".....

Cauliflower Pizza Crust?? REALLY??

I am SOOO Gonna try this!!! 

After I try it and tweak it, I'll post a recipe.  There are several online.

Beauty from Ashes

Karen gave me permission to repost her post...
I am so excited about this ministry in Ukraine! This has been one of my own personal dreams for Ukraine.
Karen's blog is on my sidebar . It is called Beauty From The Ashes.
Please consider supporting her ministry.

Strength renewed!

 I'm overwhelmed with gratitude!  This past weekend our conference "Strengtheing Families" took place in Kiev at the Radisson hotel (who gave an amazing discount) and it was an unforgettable weekend for nearly 100 foster and adoptive couples from across Ukraine.  The couples that attended are parenting a total of 377 foster and adoptive children!

There is a growing movement of foster care and adoption among Christians in Ukraine, but to date, trainings and resources have been very limited.  This was our second conference we have hosted with the goal of providing resources and encouragement for these families, many of which are in the midst of very difficult circumstances.

To say that these families left feeling renewed and refreshed would be an understatement. If you can imagine, many of the couples in attendance were from  remote villages and had never been to Kiev, let alone had they eaten in a restaurant or stayed in a four star hotel! People were walking around wide-eyed and in gratitude all weekend-long and I've never heard thank you so many times! Part of the goal of the weekend was to pamper these couples, who work tirelessly day in and day out with little rest...and I think we succeeded in this goal.  The smiles on the faces throughout the weekend were simply amazing!

We were blessed to have a team of specialists and psychologists travel from the US and Canada to be a part of our event.  Seminars included, "Healing a Mother's Heart" ,"Strengthening Attachment through play", "The Biochemistry of Fear", "Strengthening Your Marriage" and "Learning the Essentials for Caring for Children with a History of Trauma" as well as others.

At one of the seminars

Team of speakers and organizers

Paul Pennington of Hope for Orphans, a ministry of Family Life, also partnered with us in the event and was the Saturday evening key-note speaker.  His ministry has a heart to see the church play the key role in solving the orphan crisis, and he brought great encouragement to our Ukrainian audience and challenged us all towards to bring the message back to our churches.

Here was some of the written feedback we got at the end of the conference.  Reading the response of the people who were there has really confirmed that we were doing just what God wanted us to do!

"We had never had time with other Christian foster parents and didn't understand the issues in our family that were happening and why. This time all together was so important. We know we are not alone.  For us being here was truly a miracle.  It was like a dream coming true. There simply are not words to describe the feelings of thankfulness that we have experienced."

"Such a conference lifted our wings and gave us the strength to go further.  We don't feel alone anymore.  Thank you for this gift, for the attention, for the smiles, for the kindness and for care that I have not seen anywhere else."

"These kind of conferences are really needed for instruction, strengthening, learning and support of our families.  We are grateful to God for the organization of this wonderful and helpful conference. God healed our hearts and gave us new strength. Thank you!"

"In going home we will forever remember and analzye everthing we learned and wrote down here. We have many people with whom we can share what we learned.  God bless you. We believe that through us God will continue to spread the revelation about adoption."

And none of this would have been possible with my AMAZING team that I get the privilege of working with everyday. Galina and Oksana are the angels in my office who are simply amazing at executing tasks and I would not be able to do what I do without them!  Both of them put in countless extra hours the week of the conference to make sure that it was an overwhelming success.

Thank you to all of you who gave towards this conference and who prayed for the families who'd be coming. God provided beyond our needs and I was amazed to see all the sources from which prayer and finances flowed. We had a moment of silence and prayer on the last morning and it was truly an indescribable moment. It was so evident that the Spirit of God was at work ministering the hearts of his children and there was hardly a dry eye in the room when I opened my eyes.  It's exciting to see God at work in the lives of these Ukrainian families and to know that hundreds of children will be reaping the benefits!

Birth, Grief and Healing

 My decision to put being a Ya-Ya first today, reminded Alli that births are special.  She was also reminded that her beginnings were very different from Olivia's.
Alli was NOT at all jealous.  She loves little Olivia... But this is what transpired.

How can the  birth of a precious, little Olivia, cause our youngest daughter to grieve? 
The day of one's Birth is a WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL thing....that is IF you are as fortunate to be a little Olivia.
She has parents that adore her, and were totally in love with her before she was born.
She is secure and peaceful and calm.

Alli, on the other hand, was reminded by the celebration of Oliva's birth,  of the fact that she is no longer with her first mom and dad, or her first adoptive parents, or her second adoptive parents.  She was reminded that we are her FOURTH family; that not only was she rejected by her first family, she was rejected and turned away by two more families,  and it made her feel sad, and it  made her feel insecure too.

Yesterday, I was gone most of the day.  I went to the hospital in the morning, returned in time to get Sarah and Alli to gymnastics,  brought them home, and then after dinner all the girls went with Daddy to a youth function so I could practice music for Easter Sunday.    It was a BUSY DAY!
In fact, it was so busy, I didn't even see Olivia yesterday.
So today, I went back to the hospital to visit with her and enjoy some Ya-Ya time. 
One of the facts of my life is that I am a Ya-Ya AND a Ma-Ma too.  And sometimes I am torn between both worlds. 

I came back home and Miss Alli was still not dressed for the day.  She went to get dressed and while she was dressing, she was overcome with grief.  She went outside crying and nobody knew why.  I had  a sneaking suspicion, so I went and snuggled her back up to the porch and we sat on the swing together. I told her I loved her, and asked her why she was crying.  She said she didn't know how to explain it.

So I asked her, "Does it hurt that Olivia is so cherished?"  There was a little nod.  "Does it hurt that you are reminded that you are not in your first family?"  "Yes."  And then the tears flowed.  "I love you mommy!" "Thank you for understanding."
We snuggled and wept together. 
She looked into my eyes, totally vulnerable and I told her how very much I love her, and that when I was holding Olivia today, that is how I feel about her... she is just a little bigger. :)

It is  sad that our girls had such tragic beginnings, and that working through those losses can be so painful.  But there is joy on the other side of grief.  As parents, we have to remember that the other side of adoption,  is loss... our children have LOST so very much.  They have lost the thing that little Olivia will always have , thank goodness... they lost their security, their peacefulness and their assumption that they were cherished and loved from the beginning. 

Miss Alli is cherished in our family, just like all of the children; she is VERY MUCH a part of the family. I reassured her that it is OK to grieve the loss of her first families, and that her feelings are very normal.   Then we all gathered around her and prayed with her.

I rejoiced over this moment together, because a year ago, she may have felt rage or anger, because she didn't know how to express her thoughts of grief, or describe how she was feeling.  A long time ago, the only thing that would come out was anger.  Today, she grieved in a very healthy way.  WOW! I am so proud of her.

After we talked, she washed up and came out with a big smile on her face; that big, famous Alli smile that only she can give. :)
So, I am writing as a mama right now.  A mama who  is proud of the hard work her little girl has done over the last year... And VERY PROUD that she was able to healthily work through some grief that had been there a long time, and try to make sense of it.

Alli knows she is cherished and loved, just like Olivia is..... and I am proud to be her MaMa, just like I am proud to be Olivia's Ya-Ya. :)

I'M A YA-YA for the 10TH TIME!

Isn't she just spectacular??? :)

The Lord knit you in your mother's womb.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made! We give HIM all praise and glory!

Welcome baby Olivia, beautiful grand daughter and daughter to Marcus and Ivy, sister to Will and Charlie, cherished and loved by a whole lot of Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents and more!

The waiting for her arrival: Aunties and Cousins

She was born today at around 12:50 and is 7 lbs. 13 oz.

In honor of all my children and grand children. :)

Funnies for April

I THOUGHT we had gotten through April Fools without a hitch....And then, I went to get in bed. I hopped right back out. Something was seriously wrong with the mattress! Couldn't see anything and got back in again. OUCH, something weird! I investigated further and to the delight of two giggling girls, I pulled a prosthetic LEG from underneath the mattress! LOL
Thanks Sarah and Alli. :)

Tonight during Family devotions, we were reading out loud the accounts of the Resurrection in each of the 4 gospels.
Somebody mispronounced a few names:
Mary Magdalene was read "Mary Magical" and Salome, was read "Salami!"  LOL

 Anna overheard Alli saying to Sarah, "Let's pretend we are sisters, not real sisters, but adopted sisters, and that we are really close and love each other and everything...."

Anna said, "what is pretend about that?" LOL

 

I thought I was so talented at the gas pump.  2 x's in a row it shut off right at the 75.00 even mark. We always strive for that .00.....  and the last two times I didn't even have to try!  I called Mike to tell him of my gas pump talent and I was informed that the pump shuts off automatically at 75.00.  I just never knew that because gas has never been so expensive! Not sure if that is funny or not! :) 

 

Sarah always makes the morning coffee and then comes in to wake us up.  First she comes to me and we have a quiet time for a few minutes and talk about our dreams... then she goes over to daddy's side. He ALWAYS pretends to be asleep and she taps him on the shoulder. And then in "What about Bob" form, she jumps on him and says "Cocka-doodle-doo!"..... and he wakes up. :) 
This a.m. daddy said, "I'll cherish these moments for the rest of my natural life!" 
Sarah replied in a droll little tone, "And what do you think is so natural about it?"
LOL

We attended a Wylie Good Friday service at the High School. Dr. Tony Evans was the keynote speaker.
He often speaks truth in the midst of humor. 
I think Sarah missed the truth.
I asked the girls,  "What did you learn tonight?"
Sarah repeated:  "If you marry the wrong person, you put your wedding ring on the wrong finger!"

YIKES! NOOOOO!


I was trying to create a form to have notarized.  Erika suggested I use "Microscopic Word". :)

Alli asked, "What does Rick Mommy look like?"
Do you mean Mitt Romney?
Yea. :)

Secret Ambition

All About Women

We watched Shanandoah last night for our Friday night movie.  The girls liked it a lot!.....

And that is the way it is, you see. :)

Charlton, Marcus and Krang

In my previous post, I wrote a little about the boys.  This post is about our youngest son Marcus, and our Oldest son Charlton.

                                                           and about THIS action figure.....

A LONG time ago.... our oldest son Charlton, saved his allowance and bought a most coveted action figure.  KRANG.... In fact, it was very VERY hard to find. I remember looking and LOOKING as my son patiently went through NEARLY  every single action figure in the store until he found him.  KRANG..... He was so excited.

In fact, all the guys were excited.  They loved playing with those things, and they were happy their brother found just the one he wanted.

Chuck was between 10 and 11 and Marcus was 6.   This is when they went to Public School, and there was ALL this TRADING that would go on.  Everybody traded things. It was fun and it was cool.

Well, one morning, Marcus was so excited about Chuck's Krang, he decided to take it to school to show his friends. He KNEW he shouldn't take his brother's things.  But, he did it.  He didn't PLAN to trade it.... but he got caught up in the moment, and by NOON, he had traded Chuck's precious toy for another action figure that was not NEARLY as cool... and by 3:00, he had traded the other action figure for a tooth brush and tooth paste!  YES! SOMEBODY ACTUALLY brought a tooth brush and tooth paste to school, and Marcus was the unfortunate and GUILTY recipient.....
I'm sure he walked home from school with much trepidation. 

I distinctly remember Charlton coming down stairs after school and saying, "Mom, I can't find Krang!" "I know I left him on my bed and he is gone!" 

I asked everybody, "Anybody seen Chuck's Krang?" 
And the guilty little Marcus with great aligator tears said, 'I know what happened."
"I took him to school to share.... and then I traded him."
Charlton said, "YOU WHAT? YOU TRADED HIM? FOR WHAT?"

And that is when pitiful little Marcus held up the tooth brush and tooth paste.....
"YOU TRADED MY KRANG FOR A TOOTH BRUSH AND TOOTH PASTE???"

Charlton was in great disbelief!  Marcus was mournful.

We had a long talk with him, and he had to pay for the Krang.  But Charlton never did get another one, because they stopped making him for awhile. 
Chuck forgave Marcus, and Marcus learned a very good lesson about peer pressure and taking things that don't belong to you!

So, FAST FORWARD..... 23 years. 
Last week we were joking about Krang on Facebook.  And Marcus, who is now a married man and a CPA was thinking about how Chuck never got his Krang back.  So he went on EBAY and FOUND one in the original package, the right year and everything, and he bought it for his brother and had it  sent  to him.  He said there was no note. He wanted to see if Chuck would know who it was from. :)
I love how the guys truly love and care for each other.

The package arrived today.  I got a call from Charlton.... "Mom, do you have ANY idea who would be sending me a KRANG?" 
"A what?"
"Remember that Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle?"  "I think I had him at one time."

Oh, that.....
"Do you remember what happened to him?"

He said, no, not really! 
That is SO FUNNY! Because both Marcus and I did. :)

So I refreshed his memory a little as he died laughing.  So he called his brother. 

I am sure they had a wonderful talk tonight over something that happened very long ago that was not so pleasant at the time, yet is humorous now.  Marcus said, "Restitution at last!" :)

Tim, Chuck, Marcus and Jodie. :)

Some final thoughts:

I think sometimes kids just do things and they don't really know why.  They just don't think that deeply.  They think like kids and do things on a whim.
Marcus remembered this event very much, and I'm glad that he felt loved and not rejected. 
How  we respond  when our children do wrong will have long lasting effects upon them.
I'm so proud of my guys. :)

The events of the past with the boys and watching them grow up, has definitely had an effect on how I view things with the girls.  I don't think I'm as uptight or fearful as I was when I was younger.
The boys experienced much trauma when they were younger too, and they were all adopted by Mike after we married.
It has been an honor to be their mother. I don't deserve them; any of them.  But GOD has blessed us tremendously with each one of our children, boys and girls. :)
The boys taught me so very much about love and life.... and the girls continue to teach me. 
Loving life today...... 

A Blast From the Past

 Yes, this is us.... but something is very different.  We are YOUNGER than 2 of our boys are right now, AND all those kids are BOYS!  Yep.... Our boys. :)  I don't write often enough about the guys....they are after all, grown and married with kids of their own.  This was JUST NOT THAT LONG AGO! But OH MY how life has changed!

 Timothy is on the left, Joseph on the right and Charlton and Marcus in the middle.

 Here are  a couple of laundry baskets full of boys.

And here they are again.  4 peas in a pod. :) Pictures were just not that easy to get with real film and moving boys. :)  There were no redos. You took a picture and it was  huge guess if it turned out or not. :)

The boys were close in age. Not quite as close as the girls as that would have been physically impossible since none of them are twins. :)  There are 4  years and 9 months between the 4 of them.
We had a wonderful time raising these guys, so much so, that we are doing it all over again except there are dresses, high heels and barbies in our house now. None of those would have been found in our home before.  At least not in a kid size :)

If you go to my side bar.... 3 of the kids wives blog.  One is our youngest son's wife Ivy.  "The life of Little Eunice".  Then there is our son Tim's wife, Emily.  "God's mercy displayed".  BTW- Ivy and Emily are sisters AND sisters in law.   Which means, Tim and Marc are brothers AND brothers in law.  I think that makes the kids double cousins or something like that. :)
Then there is Joe's wife Becca.  She has 2 blogs.  Rebecca's Art, and "It's Not Easy Being Green".
Chuck and Jodie don't blog right now....
I adore each and every one of my boys and daughters in law.  And between all of them, if OLIVIA EVER decides to make an entrance, we have 10 grand children. :)

All of this is leading up to my next post.  It is about our oldest son Charlton, and our youngest son Marcus, and something that happened a long time ago.... It was restored today. :)

Stay tuned.

Painting The Goat Barn

Anna and Alli got busy today..... :)

Erika Is Up....

She has managed to get herself up on crutches and taking a few careful steps.

Things are healing!
Ok, now that I have typed this.... I looked out the window and saw THIS! :)

 She walked out there on her crutches!

 

Mommy And Alli Sitting in a Tree

 Or.... that is BETWEEN two trees. :)

I think everybody likes the hammock.  It is a great place to talk.  Somebody took our picture from inside the house.... I was preparing Miss Alli for what was going to happen last night.
You know what happened???
MIKE AND I WENT ON A DATE! :)
 We went to see Monumental. 
The girls had a wonderful time while we were gone. They were allowed to watch a Bonanza Video.
I forgot how fun Bonanza used to be. :)
When we returned home, all was well and our sweeties managed VERY WELL! :)
Thanks girls! We had fun. :)

Guess Who's Getting New Legs Made!!!

YES SHE IS! :)  The next step to walking again. :)

Waiting to see Dr. Herring

 Camera wars!

 Down to prosthetics to be casted

 Casts done by Dwight!
The first part of having prosthetics made is casting the leg.  They do this very quickly and then cut the casts off so they can make a mold.  If I remember, we will take the camera in two weeks and take pictures what the process looks like.

 Dwight and a very happy Erika. :)