I don’t think so

This year we had to put netting over our blueberries—the birds have been relentlessly eating my berries!  This afternoon Logan came running in the house shouting “Come, Momma!!  Come!”  So I went outside and saw a bird stuck inside the ‘cage’ we built for the berries.  Somehow the bird had figured out how to get in, but not how to get out.

Ryan watched the bird for a few minutes, then said “This bird must be on his lunch break. Mom, do birds have jobs?”

Hmmmm…guess the focus here has been on jobs and work for a while.  Amazing the things they absorb and apply!

vacation pictures

Our annual trip to Blue Lake.  This is the 17th consecutive summer we’ve been out there.  Total headcount this year:  48 (I think!).  People in our ‘family’?  11.  Yep—2 adults; 7 teens; 2 preschoolers.  That’s WITHOUT Brent and Kayla!   Tends to make things a bit cozy in the trailer.  Good thing there were tents…4 of them, to be exact.

 

Tubing with Daddy is always a highlight…

…good thing he’s there too, otherwise Logan might fall out!

Think they’re happy to be back on a jet ski this summer??

        floating with Mom’s friend Mrs. Huffman…

Hanging out with family and friends, swimming, jetskiing, tubing, and floating—it’s a tough life but they LOVE it!

 

We had a blast and can’t wait for next summer at Blue lake!

funny boy

For nearly 5 years, Ryan has had a horrible time sleeping.  Many (most) nights he cries out in the middle of the night—a plaintive wail of “Mama!  Mama!!”  More recently he’s been sleeping through the night, and at this point we’re up to 6 or 7 consecutive good nights before we have a bad one.  Then the pattern starts over.  It’s a far cry from where we’ve been, and I am very happy with our nights.

One of the things we’ve tried to teach him is that he doesn’t need to sit on his bed and cry until I come, that he can instead come into our room and wake me.  Well, he finally got the message.  Early Monday morning—like 3:25—he came to my side of the bed and said “Mama I need you.”  No tears, no frustration, just words.  Ahhhh…progress.

As I snuggled with him in his bed, I asked him how it was to come to me and wake me up rather than yelling at me until I responded.  He snuggled closer, and with a HUGE smile in his voice he said:

“It was GREAT!  Just like you said, I didn’t have to be sad and cry.  And even better?  You got here a whole lot faster!”

Goofy boy! 

we're back!

We're home...but I wish I was still on vacation. :(

I have pictures to share but am overwhelmed with things that must be done--yesterday, if possible. So, pictures will have to wait. Maybe by the time I catch my breath and get to them, I'll even be able to look back fondly at the vacation instead if desperately wishing to still be there.

a fun equation

Good friends (for sure!)
+ Good food (always!)
+ Good weather (SUNSHINE!!!)
Good times...GUARANTEED!!

Vacation--here we come!

heartbreak is…

…1,951 names on the waiting child list released Tuesday from the China Center for Adoption Affairs.  That’s 1951 children.

 1,951   Just ponder that number for a minute.

Most—but not all—have medical needs, but all share a common special need:  a family!   Some of those children have been officially waiting for families for more than 2 years.  TWO YEARS!!

I would adopt again in a heartbeat, but at our house we have two  ‘diseases’ known in adoption circles as “Reluctant Spouse Syndrome” and “Reluctant Bank Account Syndrome.”    If those could be overcome…well…

What’s holding you back?

adoption vows?

Ryan’s adoption day.  (age 9 months)

And Logan’s (in the orange).  He was 3 1/2 when we adopted him. 

I’ve often thought that adoption day should have a vow ceremony, much like a wedding ceremony.  It is, after all, a conscious choice to take another person into your life—a person with character traits that may not match your own, with hang-ups and flaws and insecurities.  Although it is ‘just’ adding a child to a family, it is VERY different than bringing home a newborn.  Newborns are on the same learning curve as their parents.  Newborns are cute and cuddly and totally dependent on you to meet their needs.  Newborns sleep lots and don’t get into things.  Newborns smell delicious.  Newborns express their dislike of things but don’t throw tantrums or toys or food…or worse.  No, adding a 9 month old or a 3 1/2 year old should come with an exchange of vows.  Ours would look something like this:

We, Mom and Dad, take you to be our child.  We promise to love you and protect you, even from yourself sometimes.  We promise to provide you with everything you need, and we promise that you will not receive everything you want.  We promise you food, shelter, clothing, and the best medical care we can afford.     We promise the same high expectations of behavior that we had of your older siblings and the same high hopes for your futures that we hold for them.  We promise that the road will not be easy and smooth but the journey will have plenty of love and laughter.  We promise to share with you the things we love—camping, reading, playing games, being together—and the things we can’t live without—one another, an extended family, a church family, and the love of Jesus Christ.   We know that there will be ups and downs in this relationship, but we want you to know that for better or for worse, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, we will be there.  We promise that we will never leave you.  We love you.

In return, their vows would go something like this:

I, Ryan, take you to be my Mom and Dad.  I promise that you will learn new things about raising children.  I promise that I will test your words about always loving me and never leaving me.  I promise that I will try to plumb the depths of your commitment to me as I struggle with daily night terrors.  I promise to raise the bar my siblings set, challenging you to help me reach my full potential.   I promise to keep you on your toes as you seek to keep me academically challenged.  I promise to work hard to be an even better, more natural athlete than any of my older siblings.  I promise to fill your world with laughter and wonder and the joy of childhood.  I promise to love you fiercely and unconditionally, and to be your baby forever.

Then there’s Logan:

I, Logan, take you to be my parents.  If I have to.  I promise to view the world differently than anyone else in the house, and to be more curious than any child who has ever lived here before.  I promise to make Google your new best friend!  I promise to expand your horizons, to challenge you to a depth of medical knowledge you never knew you wanted, and to present you a balled-up mess of medical issues so intertwined it will be hard to know how much each affects my learning, daily life, and development.  I promise to challenge every decision you make until you start second guessing yourself.  I promise to do my own thing, regardless of how many times you remind me that you are in charge.  I promise to plumb the depths of your commitment to me as I strive to make every day as difficult as possible.  You see, I want to be the alpha male here.  I promise to challenge everything you ever knew about childrearing, and every book you ever read about adopting toddlers and preschoolers.  I promise that I will test your words about always loving me and never leaving me.  Every day.  Multiple times every day.  I promise that I will make sure you truly understand the words spoken so glibly by many: "Love is a choice.”  And, I promise that if you stick by me and fulfill your end of the bargain, I will learn that you are trustworthy.  I will also learn that I am valuable and loveable.  Those are things I desperately want to believe.  The question is do you have the inner strength to get me there?  I promise to test that inner strength, and I pray that you don’t fail me.  If you don’t fail me, I promise to love you fiercely and to always remember the love and commitment you faithfully modeled, even when I was at my worst.

We’re going through a very rough patch with Logan again.  He has decided that he doesn’t like having people make decisions for him.  His impulsive behavior is worse.  His curiosity can be overwhelming at times.  He doesn’t like speech therapy and has started refusing to participate.  (We’re taking next week off to give him a short break.)  He has given new meaning to the whole ‘love is a choice’ maxim.  It’s a choice that we are making multiple times a day right now.  It’s not fun…or pretty.  But we made a commitment, so we take a deep breath and hang on.  The sign in our hallway over the stairs reads:

Penned by William Borden, these words exemplify how we want to live our lives.  They serve as a great reminder that the sacrifices and the costs are worth the prize.

The question is…do I have what it takes?  I don’t know…but I will die trying.  Giving up is not an option.  No matter how I feel.

If variety is the spice of life, then I definitely have a well-seasoned world.  Just today I got to spend time holding a newborn, playing with a friend’s toddler, working with my 5 year old at speech, watching the neighborhood kids play in the back yard, and chaperoning a teenagers movie night.  That’s pretty much the norm around here.  Sometimes the combinations don’t work well together, but most of the time the unusual mix that is thrown together melds into a very tasty dish.

Isn’t God good??  I am very blessed indeed.

how?

How do you teach a 5 year old that lying is wrong? How??? We never struggled like this with the others. When he lies to me, he knows exactly what he’s done wrong. And he can tell me it’s wrong. And yet he persists. I think tonight’s episode is probably the 6th in the last 24 hours. You’d think after losing an afternoon’s worth of privileges today for this very issue—and spending some of the afternoon in tears because of it—he would manage to remember for at least a couple of hours. After all, we are talking about the child who can remember the intimate details of the poison ivy rash the man with the yellow hat had on Curious George in an episode that aired last fall! So why can’t he remember not to lie for 3 hours???

Parenting. A character building adventure. For EVERYONE. :\

not my most brilliant morning

I rolled my ankle this morning. Apparently the pothole I didn’t see was out for revenge after I stepped on it’s edge.  True to form, it was a graceful move.  :)  After the initial jolt of pain, it really didn’t hurt much so I pretty much dismissed it.  Now, nearly 8 hours later, it hurts.  No visible swelling, so that’s good, but I am surprised at how painful some steps are. 

Maybe I should use it as an excuse to grab my new toy (a Kindle!), put my feet up, and read??  I wish…  Instead I’ll probably take some Aleve and finish tidying up the disaster of a space we call the office.