Double Fun Birthday

Gloria's birthday is on October 28th and Brianna's birthday is on November 1st, so this year we decided to have a double party when they turned 9 and 8 years old. Gloria desperately wanted a horse riding party and Brianna wanted a mall party and they both wanted to have a sleepover with their friends. So we did all three.

The horse back riding was a lot of fun. First the girls got to groom the horses, Rose and Dash, and a pony named Kallie. They even put bows in their hair! Then they got to ride each of the horses and lead Kallie on a lead rope. We only had one accident when Gloria and Danya fell off of Rose while riding her together. Gloria really got the wind knocked out her because Danya landed on top of her. But she was tough and got right back up to ride again.

Then we took the girls to eat and shop at the Flatirons mall in Broomfield. They ate chinese food and tried on sunglasses and took photos with the giant stuffed animals in the Disney store. Then they bought candy and silly bands and went home to finish out their sleepover party with cake, presents, nail painting, and giggling down in the basement. All in all I'd say it was a success!

Corny Kids

Daniel and I enjoyed taking just Kevin and Katie to a pumpkin patch while the older kids were in school. It was actually Gloria's birthday that day. We had taken Danya and Gloria to this same patch a few years ago.

They both had so much fun playing on the giant playset with a tire swing and slides. We took pictures of Kevin by the pumpkins, although we didn't get any of Katie with a pumpkin. They had the most fun playing in the box full of corn kernels. Katie wasn't sure about the idea at first, but when she saw Kevin scooping the corn over himself and Daddy pouring it through his fingers, she got excited about it. She had fun shoving her fingers in and helping to bury Kevin up to his waist. It's not often we get to do something special with just our youngest two. This was a really great day!

Martha Stewart, Eat your Heart out!

The day we moved into our new home I got a little manic about the idea that we HAD to have the kids' rooms painted before we could move their furniture into their rooms. So I had all the paint and supplies purchased before we arrived. Then I spent pretty much a day and a half painting with only short breaks to help carry boxes into the house when we started to get a log jam. Danya and Gloria's neopolitan room ended up being last on my list, so they spent several nights sleeping in the basement family room.

I think the results turned out nicely. Daniel and Grandpa Wayne hung the princess border in Brianna and Katie's room. I still haven't gotten around to taking a picture of Shane's Spider Man room, yet. We have 5 kids' rooms, with 3 beds in Brianna and Katie's room, 1 bed in Kevin's (although we could easily add another), 2 in Shane's room, 2 in Danya and Gloria's room, and 2 in a guest room. The girls' rooms are as big as the master bedroom. It's strange having so much space, but we're loving it!
Anyone who know me knows that I'm terrible at all that Martha Stewart type stuff. I'm just not creative in that area. But I'm trying my best to decorate our new home in little ways. This year we used the pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch as a display in our living room. Hopefully, over the years we'll add to our collection of decorative items. In the meantime I'll try to remember that "friends and family are the ornament of a home".

Our Birthday Pumpkin

Our former foster daughter, and daughter of our hearts, Lina, turned 10 in October. Since her bio family doesn't really do anything for birthdays, we picked her and her big sister, Molly up and had a little family party for her. It's still strange to think that when she first came to us in October of 2008 she was only 7 years old, worried about spending her 8th birthday with strangers.

We went to McDonald's for lunch and had cake and presents at the house. Then we went to the pumpkin patch where we rode the hay wagon, ran through the hay maze, and even watched a live cooking show on how to make things like smoothies from various squash. Lina, Danya and Gloria were called up to be assistants!
Then we went to a pie social at church and played at the park, followed by a Dennis Jernigan concert that was a trip down memory lane for Daniel and I. We used to go to his monthly Friday concerts in Oklahoma when we were teens. We still sing lots of his songs in the car with our kids.

I think Lina had a nice birthday. She's such a good natured kid that she does an excited happy dance over the littlest things. She'll kick her legs out to the sides singing, "I got a dollar! I got a dollar!" or do her hysterical impression of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings when he finally gets the ring back. I'm so glad that her dad allows her to continue to be a part of our lives and of our family. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINA!

Sarah's College

We met Sarah almost exactly 4 years before these photos were taken. She was our brand new next door neighbor in our apartment complex, who was nice to our kids and kept asking if she could hold our newborn, Kevin. I informed her that I didn't feel safe with her holding him since she was only 14 and our son was barely 2 months old. Much to my surprise he ended up saying, "Sar-dah" before he learned to say, "Mama". She has been like an oldest daughter to us, and almost a second mommy to my kids over the years.

Now here she is starting her Freshman year of college at Denver University. She was so proud to show us her campus and her dorm room. We are very proud of her. It's been wonderful to see her grow into a gentle spirited, super smart, tender-hearted, loving woman of God. She is so faithful and reliable both for our family and at church. She is almost always there helping out in the nursery. Katie looks forward to seeing her each week and often won't take a nap with any other nursery helper. She was our rock during Katie's birth and all the complications surrounding that and my broken leg at that time. I know she is going to have an amazing future helping others and serving the Lord.

Message from our Kids

While we were in the process of moving into our new home, with the help of Daniel's parents, the kids told us to look out the upstairs window. This is what we saw.

Even though their parents and grandparents were caught up in the frantic race to get all 5 storage units unloaded, moving the boxes from the U-haul truck to the garage and then into the house, and their mom was foolishly trying to get all the kids' rooms painted in one day, our kids took a moment to acknowledge our Creator's hand in bringing us to this wonderful new home.

We went from 8 people living in 1100 sq ft to 3200 sq ft, from 5 bedrooms to 6, from a basement with only 2 fire-safe exit windows to a walk out basement, from 2 bathrooms to 4, from a 1975 home to a 2004 home. They are absolutely right. My Jesus is All Mighty! He gives us exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever hope for.

The Waiting Game

What do you do when you've got the keys to your new home but aren't allowed to move in yet?

1. Vacuum the WHOLE carpet on all 3 floors
2. Wash all the windows
3. Scrub bathrooms
4. Measure every room for furniture placement
5. Roll on the floor and yell, "MINE, ALL MINE!"

The Suite Life

When we sold our old house we were only supposed to be spending 3 days in a hotel suite before closing on our new house. We sold the old one on Monday and were closing on the new one on Thursday. That got pushed off to Friday.

Then after we signed all the documents on Friday and even got the keys to our new house, we were told the bad news. The money to purchase our new home had been delayed due to a paperwork issue and was currently stuck in a bank in New York. It wouldn't process until the following Monday. So the former owners were afraid to let us move into our new home over the weekend, because if the money somehow did not go through, they would be stuck with a family of 8 squatting in their home.

That's why all 8 of us ended up squished in one room with two queen size beds and a fold out couch for a week. It made me feel really bad for families who have to live long term in a hotel. But it was a little like child birth; painful, uncomfortable, longer than you ever think it will be, but worth it in the end to get a beautiful blessing.

Fence Follies

Just before the sale of our home was supposed to come to completion, we hit a snag. The home inspection had gone off without a hitch. But then the person who was sent by the bank to do an appraisal noticed some flecks of white paint on one little section of our fence beside the house.

He reported it and said it could be lead based because our home was built in the 70's. So we had to replace that one section of fence and remove any and all flecks of paint on the ground among the dirt and small rocks. You know, in case the future owners plan to allow their 6 and 8 year old daughters to spend hours each day sucking on the fence or licking the dirt. I said that was silly. Just because parents decide to let their kids suck on the fence and lick the dirt, doesn't mean they'll choose that particular spot. There is plenty of yummy unpainted fence around the yard, after all.

So, in observance of the lunacy already begun, we allowed the kids to help put up the new fence boards. They thoroughly enjoyed it and we were only out approximately a hundred bucks and a day's worth of time.

Zoo-per Birthday!

For "Spaceman Spiff's" 8th birthday we took him to the Denver zoo. We surprised him by showing up in his 2nd grade classroom with all our kids and saying, "Happy Birthday!" Then we checked him out of class early and took him for a fun filled afternoon. We debated whether or not to take him out of class, but in the end we decided that the wonderful surprise and memory would be better than an extra 2 hours of class time, especially in the life of a little boy who has so rarely had good things done for him. Since he ended up having to leave our home approximately a week later, I was so glad we made his birthday extra special.

The Boss (or so she thinks)

Katie is 100% sure that she is in charge here. If anyone tells her, "no" about anything at all she will burst into tears and tell us "they said no to me!" She will demand that I sing to her, "Mommy SING!" and she will smile sweetly while doing what we've told her not to.

If we try to talk to her about what she's done wrong (because she can fully understand us), she will squeeze her eyes shut and pretend she's not there. She is the most talkative child we've ever known. We're constantly amazed at her vocabulary. Or, as she would say, it's "awesome!"

What's odd to me is her logic. She will hit someone repeatedly to get what she wants or to get their attention, but if they grab her hand to stop her she will scream bloody murder and run to tell me that, "hit baby, no no!" That's what she calls herself. If you ask her what her name is she'll tell you, "I Baby". She also likes to point to me and announce to strangers, "that my mommy."

She's a very strong willed, outspoken little 1 1/2 year old and she very much knows what she wants. I think we'll have to continue to disagree, however, on who is actually in charge here.

Popsicles, Chalk, Walk

This year it seemed like Colorado didn't know it was supposed to be Fall or winter. We just kept having beautiful "Indian Summer" days. Our family took full advantage of it. I'm sure some of the reason was the sweet sadness of knowing that we'd be selling our home very soon. We wanted to spend time walking the paths that had become so special and familiar to us over the past few years.

We let the kids take chalk with them on this walk, so we had colorful little scenes all along the way and at the playground where we spent some time. I know there will be new trails to discover next summer in our new home, but this is where we first took Kevin on long walks in his stroller and where he first learned to toddle down the sidewalk. And these are the roads that we pulled Katie along, throwing little toys and sippy cups over the sides of the wagon that we've had since the kids' godparents surprised us with it when Gloria was a baby 9 years ago.

This was our first real "home" in Colorado and the place that won our hearts over, letting us believe that maybe we were meant to live here after all.

Half Sister, Whole Hearted Love

We learned over the summer that Brianna and Shane had a new baby half sister named Nevaeh (Nuh-vay-uh) through their biological mother. The family of their other half sister, Kylie, called us up to ask if I would come to court and testify about a few things regarding their adoption. We hadn't heard from their family since December of 2009.

Through all of that we were able to schedule a visit with Kylie. They live almost 2 hours away. We were invited to have lunch in her home. She has a very loving father and extended family through him. Kylie is a sweet little thing and very smart. Brianna and Shane haven't lived with her since she was one year old. They really loved getting to spend time with her again. I hope we can continue to have visits and exchange photos and letters in the year ahead. Keeping siblings together is an issue very dear to me, so we'll do whatever it takes to maintain a relationship with any current and future siblings they may have.

Friends are the Spice of Life

My good friend, Deanna, and her family moved to a new home at around the same time that we did. So we tested it's capacity by accepting her invitation to lunch. The kids were all incredibly hyper running up and down the stairs and in and outside. They must have played with every toy in the whole house.

Katie and her best buddy, Elizabeth, were the cutest. They pushed matching strollers with doll babies in them all around the house. Meanwhile, Deanna's husband Chad worked on our car with Daniel out in the driveway. Chad diagnosed our air conditioning problem and bought and installed a new fan for us. Good friends are such a blessing! Especially ones that aren't freaked out by our horde of children. Of course, with Deanna expecting their 4th child soon, I suppose they are just practicing for having their own horde.

The House We Didn't Buy

It's funny how God works things out some times. When our old house went under contract the first week of September (or would you call it the first week of August?) we were a bit panicked. The only house we had an offer in on was a short sale, and we'd only put the offer in 4 weeks prior to that. Short sales take about 6 months to a year to complete.

So we suddenly had to find a perfect home, that we could afford, and put in an offer, be accepted and get to closing in less than 30 days. After frantically looking for a week, we found the one in this photo and put in an offer. The day after we wrote the offer, our realtor called to say our short sale house was miraculously going to be able to close no later than mid-October. Although it was a little smaller than the one shown here, it had a fully finished walk out basement. It was no contest. So we took back our offer on this one and prayed fervently that God would continue to work everything out on the short sale.

We got another call a week later saying that now the bank wanted the whole short sale deal done by September 30th. Our realtor had the impossible task of getting everything approved and filed and processed, etc in less than 15 days. They moved mountains and despite a few glitches (like the money for our loan accidentally getting delayed over the weekend) we were in our new home by the first week of October. We only had to stay in a hotel for one week. We learned that everything we owned filled 5 large storage units. We also learned that God has His hand upon everything we do, so there is no need to panic, no need to fear. He is sovereign and He knows our needs and the desires of our heart.

Westminster Splash Park

I took the kids to a new splash park that I've been meaning to check out all summer. We didn't stay long, but they got to climb on everything and wade in the water and play in the sprinklers. Katie really liked the log tunnel. We played peek-a-boo through the holes. There were so many kids there that it was a bit overwhelming. All I want to know is, where were these kind of parks when I was a kid?

He's Shaping Up Fine

Kevin is enjoying his first official year of homeschooling. He's a pre-K/Kindergartner this year, learning his ABC's, reading, handwriting, spelling color words, and doing simple math. This picture is of a shape man he drew. I try to let Kevin and Shane draw on the white boards when it seems like they're getting tired of writing with a pencil. They get more practice holding the thin markers correctly, but it seems like fun to them.

Next year I plan to let Kevin start in the Options program as a first grader along with Shane. I'm hoping they'll be able to support each other, although there is the possibility that they'll just rile each other up. We'll have to see. I've also been giving them opportunities to work separately some this year, so that Kevin doesn't become too dependent on having another kid working beside him. I have them take turns, with one playing educational computer games in the guest bedroom while the other does workbook pages in our homeschool room. It motivates them to complete their work quickly and lets them work somewhat independently as well.

Options: Year 2

This is our second year sending our four oldest kids to the Broomfield Options program for homeschooled kids. This year they attend on Thursdays. They all seemed excited to go back and see their friends, but it turns out that a lot of their friends are going on Fridays and not Thursdays. So, it's been a bit of an adjustment, trying to make new friends and get used to new teachers.

Fortunately Shane has the same Kindergarten teacher that he had last year. We decided to have him repeated Kindergarten since he has such a late birthday to begin with and because he just didn't seem ready for first grade yet. This year he is more mature and has a little more self control. He's also picking up a lot of the material better. He still struggles with letter recognition and their sounds, but he's learned his colors and can even recognize the words. He's got his basic shapes down and is doing simple math. Even his handwriting is improving.

Danya and Gloria are a little bit bored with their classes and say there aren't enough girls in them. But they like learning to play the piano and their history class is fun since it's in the form of a musical that they will perform at the end of the school year. Brianna is struggling in some of her classes, but she's trying hard. She's also taking piano. Bri and Glory are both taking P.E. and having fun keeping track of how many reps they can do lifting soup cans and of course sit ups and push ups. Danya is taking a writing class. She thinks there is too much writing required, but I think it's pushing her in a good way. She's the youngest in her class, so it's a challenge for her.

The challenge for me is allowing them time to work on their Options homework while still having enough time to complete all of the homeschool work I've scheduled. I had the girls sit down and figure out a schedule with me and that's really seemed to help. We'll see if it works out over time.

Married... with Children

When I was a kid I remember watching a t.v. show called "Married... with Children" with my mom. She loved that show, and thought it was so funny. The whole family treated each other horribly. The mom seemed to only communicate with her husband by whining and manipulation and the dad always joked about wishing he were dead instead of stuck in that family. Her other favorite family sitcom was "Roseann" which was only marginally better.

I remember wishing that my family could be more like the one on "Family Ties" where the family, although occasionally exasperated with each other, clearly loved one another. The dad was full of wisdom and the mom was self confident but loving. But then, I was looking at it all with a child's eyes and didn't catch most of the issues being discussed. Now here I am, 14 years into a marriage with Daniel, and I realize that no t.v. show character really captures how individuals truly are. They aren't static, either always wise or always foolish, always loving or always cruel.

We have days where Daniel and I feel like silly young teenagers in love, holding hands and snuggling, and other days where we have trouble speaking to each other without sarcasm or annoyance. So many of our disagreements happen because of pride, both of us thinking that our time is more valuable, our to-do list is more time sensitive, our grievances more important, our view of a situation is the only correct one. But in spite of frustrating days, underneath it all lies a bedrock of unshakable love and commitment to one another and to God that brings us back together with "I'm sorry's" and "I love you's" and openhearted discussions where we both try to see each others' viewpoint. That's my favorite thing about our marriage, the willingness to compromise and change.

This year for our 14th anniversary I surprised Daniel with a special day. He didn't find out until we were on the way that we were going hiking at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It was beautiful and awe inspiring. Daniel loves outdoorsy stuff, and this was just tame enough for me and adventurous enough for him. Afterwords we played together at Chuck E. Cheese and used the tickets we won to get prizes to bring home to the kids.

We Picked Them!

Celebrating the one year anniversary of the day we adopted Brianna and Shane was so much fun. We took the kids strawberry picking. We left Katie and "Diego" at home with our babysitter and "Spaceman Spiff" was at school because it was a Friday. It was a beautiful day in August and the kids had a great time. Each of them got to pick an entire carton of strawberries. The berries were a bit picked over, but we found plenty of good ones. At home we made strawberry shortcake and strawberry smoothies. I'd love to go again sometime.

This past year I've seen both Bri and Shane grow and change so much. They've matured in many ways and, although they still have bad days now and then like all kids, they really feel like they've always been ours. We're trying hard to strengthen the bond between us because we know we missed out on those crucial early years. Sometimes it seems like we have to treat them more like we treat Katie, then the way we'd treat kids their age normally. They need those times of snuggling and rocking, singing and tickling, all the things that we do with a baby that shows them that they are ours and we are their source of affection, protection, and love.

I also forget sometimes that they learned most of their language skills after they arrived in our home. Today I was working on reading with Brianna when I heard her say "beebee" instead of "baby". She had learned how to say the word by hearing Katie say it. We thought it was cute, so we'd call her dolls her "beebees", too. So that's how Bri thought the word was pronounced. Daily we are reminded that we need to be proud of them and encourage them for doing well at the level they are at and not where we think they should be because of their age. There's a real difference in kids who come from neglect between "chronological age" and "developmental age". I have hope, though, that they will continue to improve and grow. Most importantly, I hope they grow closer to the Lord and deeper in their knowledge and understanding of Him.

YM Party

Our Sunday school class, called the "Young Marrieds" class, had a family party where we all brought our kids and played games. There were toilet seat races using plungers and seats with wheels on them. Even some of the adults raced! It was tough when they paired up two of my kids at a time because I didn't know who to cheer for.

There was also a cake walk at the end. We brought several desserts since we had 8 kids participating. All of our kids won something and were very happy.

Public School Again

This year we enrolled two of our foster sons in a school we had first tried out a couple of years ago. The school we'd been enrolling kids in got relocated to a new building farther away from us, so we returned to this one. It's a good school with supportive office staff. We were going to have two boys in one second grade class together, but two days before class started, one of the boys "Music Man" was moved to a pre-adoptive home.

"Spaceman Spiff" liked his class and his teacher, but we had some issues with him hiding his homework and pretending he didn't have any. The teacher and I had to stay in close contact. Then there was a substitute one day who ignored "Spiff's" requests to use the bathroom and made him wait until the designated break time. Of course, due to physical issues, he was a stinky mess by then, but she failed to notice and he was too embarrassed to tell her. He ended up finishing out the day and riding the bus home like that. I admit I wasn't exactly even tempered when I called to explain the situation to the school secretary. I'd taken the time before school began to explain all his problems and how to prevent them with his teachers and school support staff, but no one had bothered to leave a note for the sub.

I've never had a kid with as severe issues as Spaceman Spiff and I hope to avoid that level of special needs in the future. However, we did miss him when he was moved to a therapeutic home. He had a good heart and a sweet nature. We've also never had 3 boys, unrelated to each other, all with special needs at the same time. It was quite a challenge.

Adams County Fair 2010

"Spaceman Spiff" arrived at the same time we planned to go to the Adams County Fair, so he got to join us. He said it was his first time going to any kind of amusement park or fair. We could see in his face that it was really a struggle for him. He was having fun, but at the same time he was still very torn up about being placed in foster care. He didn't really know us yet, but he was quickly developing a friendship with the girls.

The thing that broke my heart the most was when he was on one of the rides and started making silly faces for the camera. I laughed when I finished taking the photo and I could see that he expected a mad reaction and was excited that he'd made me laugh. He kept telling Gloria, "Look! I made her laugh!" "Spiff" wanted my approval so badly. I think he has a very complicated relationship with his mom.

One bad moment of the night was when I realized that I'd accidentally dropped all the food coupons. We'd been given $50 worth of free food coupons from the county. Someone must have found the envelope because we retraced our steps and it was gone. I felt so bad. Daniel bought everyone a snow cone and we went home shortly after that. Overall it was a good night, though.

Spaceman Spiff

We've got a 7 yr old foster son (he'll be 8 next month) currently who is generally a very easy kid to have. Most boys we've had before have been very high energy. This one seems to keep his energy tightly leashed most of the time. However, when our former foster son "Music Man" was here for a while, "Spaceman Spiff" (as I call him online), let loose for the first time.

It's so much fun to see him come out of his shell and really relax into our family's crazy life. I call him Spaceman Spiff, or Spiff for short, because he has such a great imagination and talks a mile a minute when he's excited about something. If you're familiar with my favorite comic strip than you know where the name comes from.

Star Trekkin'!

Through Netflix I've been enjoying watching all the old episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation in order from the beginning. The kids have gotten interested in the show with me, so now they know a lot of the characters names and the basic ideas of the episodes.

I also recently found a play set of the bridge of the starship Enterprise from the show at a yard sale and got it for just a few bucks. We put it together and put all the stickers on. Then last week I looked on Craigslist and found a guy who was selling 80 of the action figures for $2 a piece! We rushed over there and bought about 30 of them. Now I'm wishing I'd grabbed about 10 more that I'd considered, but didn't get. The kids LOVE them! We've been playing together and it's so funny to hear them tossing out words like "warp drive" and "holodeck" and "plasma explosion". They even knew which episodes some of the aliens came from. I like these a lot better than some of the action figures I've seen from kids' shows these days. Daniel bought us the final season and we've been watching the episodes and playing along with the toys at the same time. Talk about a blast from my past!

The Arrival of Mr. No

Our new foster son, Mr. No, arrived on Thursday night. He's 3 1/2 years old and quite a handful. We already like him quite a bit. We were told that he's delayed, but I haven't really seen it. For his age he's actually very smart. They said he's speech delayed, but if so, then it must be fairly mild. He talks up a storm and likes to sing. He's more advanced in every way compared to Shane who is two and a half years older. I think Mr. No will be just fine.

This is his second time at least in foster care and he will be leaving in about two weeks, they tell us, to be placed in a fost/adopt home with his baby sister. I'm glad they'll get to be together.

Today after church (where his Sunday school teachers say he was pretty wild) we ran into Mr. No's grandparents and his older half sister at McDonald's. I was afraid it was going to be awkward, but they were very nice and repeatedly said how glad they were that Mr. No was in our care. I think Shane and Kevin are enjoying having another boy their size to play with, but I can see that sharing is something that Mr. No has never been taught. By his name it should be obvious what his favorite word is. We're teaching him limits and he's testing them all day long, but we can tell that he's basically a good kid.

Batman Birthday

Our son, Shane, turned 6 this week. It's hard to believe he's been part of our family for almost two years now. He's grown and changed so much in that time. He came to us as a little boy that seemed to have attachment issues, no understanding of personal boundaries, and was completely unable to speak more than about 5 words "Yah,No, Boo (Blue), Bye, and Ma". Now he is capable of controlling himself better, knows who his family is, enjoys learning to be a "gentleman" from his daddy, and is slowly improving in speech and other educational goals.

There's no way to say for sure what Shane's future holds or how much more he's capable of, but we are optimistic. In the meantime we are very glad to get the opportunity and the blessing of being his mommy and daddy. One thing that is clearly limitless for Shane is his capacity for loving others.

He chose to have a Batman party this year (which is a nice change from the Spiderman obsession) at Chuck E. Cheese. Shane's grandparents, his friends Tanner and Harley, and even his former foster sisters Molly and Selina came to the party. We also got to have his best friend Samuel come to spend the whole day with us. They didn't stop grinning or bouncing the entire time!

Comedy Club

We went to a Comedy Club in Westminster with Daniel's parents on a whim while they were in town. Our church has had several events out there and we've always wanted to try it out. It's a bit expensive, but it was very funny. The two oldest actors were very good at improv while the younger two were almost funnier in their inability to think as quickly. It's something I think would be very fun to try someday.