Colorado - Kansas - New Mexico

In the middle of May, Jathan had a conference in Estes Park, Colorado. The kids and I got to tag along. It was so much fun exploring Rocky Mountain National Park and the surrounding area. After Colorado, we headed to Kansas to visit Jathan's sister and her family. Here we were able to attend our nephews graduation. On our way back to California, we stopped in New Mexico to visit our friends from our days in Indiana. I wish we could have stayed with them longer, we had a wonderful time, two nights just wasn't enough. Finally home again the first day of June. We had a great time, but there really is nothing like sleeping in your own bed!

Snow is not on the list of some of my favorite things. But it sure is beautiful up in the mountains. The picture below is in the morning after a snow fall the night before. The older three and I went on a bird walk with a local naturalist at the park. It was so interesting and beautiful.

The weather forecast said no snow, well that isn't what happened. We were not prepared and being from a place that doesn't snow we really didn't have much at home that would have prepared us anyway. So off we went to the thrift shop and for $35 we came away with 5 bib overalls, 4 coats, 4 pair of snow gloves and 3 pair of snow boots. For another $30 we got a brand new but on clearance pair of water proof hiking boots for Clay that will last him a couple of years and hopefully his younger siblings too. Everything was sized larger than needed so we will hopefully get many years out of them. (except my bibs, I am hoping not to grow too much myself!) They will come in handy as we venture up to the Sequoias to play in the snow.

In the picture of Paige, we are over 2 miles above sea level, that is the highest we were able to drive in the park.

Paige and Clay got to take an archery class where we were staying. The younger two weren't old enough. We stayed at the YMCA Conference center and it was wonderful with activities and classes for the kids. Most everything was free except the archery, but that was only $3.

While passing through Denver on our way to Kansas, we stopped at Casa Bonitas, a very unique Mexican restaurant. I can't say the food was much to write home about, but the entertainment on atmosphere was worth the trip. Cliff divers, flame juggling, skits, caves, pinata. It was a lot of fun.

While in Kansas, the kids not only saw their cousins, they also got to spend time with their grandparents who also came to watch the graduation.

In New Mexico, Jill and I took the kids up to Santa Fe for the day to do a little sight seeing. We saw the oldest church and oldest home in the US as well as some cool shops. In the picture below, bricks are being made to restore the oldest church.

Homeward bound. Crossing the Mojave as soon as we get into California. This is our view for a couple of hours.

Two Kids

We are two kids down this week as Clay and Paige are in Williamsburg, VA with their grandma and aunt. They are learning lots about Colonial history and it sounds like they are having a grand time.

So it has been just the four of us this week. And wow! what a difference it makes. The first day was a bit of a struggle, I have to admit I missed the other two, it was so weird not having them around and knowing that they wouldn't be for a week. But then getting to focus on just the younger two has been so nice. We had a bumpy morning yesterday, the younger two didn't quite know what to do with themselves without their older ringleaders. But today has been filled with laughter and chatter between the two and I think they are enjoying their time quite well.

Now that the two kids are occupied with something, I thought I would update the blog a bit. I am not sure if anyone reads it anymore, updating it less than once a month does not help encourage people to follow, but for those of you faithful readers here is a nutshell of what has been going on in our lives.

After returning from our two and a half week trip out east, we finished up with school and were excited to bring on summer break. In June we had swim lessons a couple of times. A lady from our church offers swim lessons to our family at her home. It is great, as they kids can work on what they need help with and they get lots of individual attention. Their strokes are improving very well. The beginning of July, our college friends that live in the LA area visited for the Fourth of July. It was a great time with a couple trips up to the national parks, swimming, games and fireworks. Also this summer, the kids are in a reading program at the library, earning prizes and reading lots of books. The older two, especially Paige, concentrated on reading books about colonial times and Jamestown. This was to prepare herself for their big trip.

News on "M". We still haven't finalized and we still have no idea when that will be. Her social worker told the court November, then he told me he hoped before school started, then he said that wouldn't happen but hopefully soon after it starts. So I really have no idea when it will happen. Until there is a court date set, I am not going to get too excited. I feel like we are bonding better with her, but we still have a way to go. I hate to admit it, but she can still do things that just get under my skin, and I know that if it were one of the other kids it wouldn't bother me as much. But it is getting better. She is no longer in therapy, her therapist thought that she was doing well and didn't need it anymore. We have been working on her asthma. It is all new to us. I had asthma as a child, but hers seems to be different. We haven't had much trouble with it except on our trip which landed her in the hospital for 3 nights. Last month two women from the local hospital came and evaluated our home for possible triggers. They literally did the white glove check which was a bit embarrassing and stressful. And then gave me an action plan and came back two weeks later to make sure I made the changes and cleaned the way I should. "M" came with over 40 stuffed animals, I am not exaggerating. They said she needed to be limited to two animals. The other kids also needed to get rid of all but two a piece that way I could wash in hot water, dry and then put them in the freezer every other day for 24 hours. That was hard, especially for Drew as he told me he didn't like asthma. I let them keep 5 each, I couldn't do the 2 a piece, but I will try to stay on top of cleaning them. (just don't tell the hospital ladies!)

Drew completed his school testing. All of it just in time for them to hire a new special ed teacher that won't start until the beginning of the school year. So we really didn't get anything accomplished yet. We have had less raging, which is wonderful, though when he has raged the things he yells at me breaks my heart and can be a bit frightening. After he calms down he is a different kid again and you are thinking "what on earth just happened?" One of our biggest challenges is communication. Trying to figure out what he is saying can be close to impossible and frustrating for both us and him. It isn't understanding the words, sometimes that is a struggle, but after figuring them out he just doesn't make sense or we think he does and find that the words he is saying is not matching with what he means.

So anyway, those above are ways you can pray for us.

We are back

Well maybe you didn't know we were gone. We just returned Wednesday night from a 2 1/2 week road trip. Colorado for a conference, Kansas for nephews graduation and then New Mexico to see friends on the way home.

It was an adventure. Lots of fun and a bit stress ("M" spent 3 nights in the hospital for asthma). I'll share some of our trip in the future. Right now we are adjusting to home.

Laundry has been the focus. Washing clothes, hanging them to dry, taking them off to fit the next load on. I finished the last load this afternoon, they are folded, not quite put away, the kids will do that in the morning. I believe there is suppose to be rain, so it is finished just in time. Of course, I can never really get caught up with laundry.

In addition to putting things away and washing clothes, I decided to rearrange some furniture. I realized today that the last several times I went on a trip, I came back and rearranged some furniture. I am not sure what that is about.

But anyway, we made it home after traveling over 3,000 miles. Thanking God for protection.

Egg Dyeing Gone Wrong

It is inevitable when you want something to be perfect that it turns out just exactly the opposite.

This is our first Easter with "M". And it was to be her first time ever of dyeing Easter eggs. She was supper excited about it. So the day before Easter I had everything ready. The eggs were boiled and I had the dyes out and ready to go. This year we were using this swirling sorta dye that I had in the Easter box that my mother-in-law had given us for the kids. This was probably the problem. This certain egg dyeing kit looked a bit complicated so I held off a few years to use it. You know when the kids were a bit older. The box showed perfectly dyed eggs, with beautiful pastel colors all swirled around the egg. They looked professional.

Well I read the directions, had everything set up. Put the drops of dye in the water. Now I went first to demonstrate how to do this new technique. Per directions, I put the egg in where the dye was floating and then brought it out in a spot that the water was clear.

Voila!

A perfectly white egg emerged from the water. Now my hand was a bit colored and felt gross because this is all oil based. But not a drop of dye was on the egg. OK, well the kids wanted to try anyway, so they all submerge their eggs and swirl around and dip over and over again and they came out bleach white. Oily hands and white eggs were not what I envisioned for this perfect first time egg dyeing occasion.

So out come the crayons, stickers and any other left over egg decorations from years past. I went back in the house to look over the directions again. Drew comes in asking if he can eat the egg that he accidentally cracked. I say yes. And soon they are all wanting to eat some eggs. I go back outside to see eggshells everywhere, crazy decorated eggs, and happy children.

So I guess it wasn't all a loss.

And yes we even had a guest participating.

What If I've Done it All Wrong?

I read an article today by Lisa Qualls from One Thankful Mom. The article was called What If I've Done it All Wrong? It was a very encouraging article and if you've adopted children from hard places or if you know anyone who has and would like to understand them better, I encourage you to read it.

I have recently struggled with knowing the hard place that "M" came from and wanting so badly to help her heal. I have read books, watched videos, seen countless articles and been told what to do. As I read, I can see the struggles she has and know how I should react. But I don't react that way. If I looked in the mirror I would be horrified of the face that I am making, I wouldn't speak to a friend in that tone of voice. What happened to what I learned, to my plan on how to handle the lying, the authority struggle, the fussing? Where is the compassion that I thought I had when we began our pursuit of adopting from hard places? I am not helping her heal this way.

The article came at the perfect time. There is forgiveness. But I do need to do better. I covet your prayers for our family as we seek healing for "M". It can only come from God and we need his help.

I'm Still Alive and Still Walking

We did it! We finished the race. Jathan had hoped for under 2 hours, we did 2:05 but I am happy and I know that Jathan would have finished a whole lot faster if didn't stick by me, but he did and encouraged me the whole way. Maybe next year we can beat his goal together. (I'm hoping I will speed up rather than slow down in a year)

April's Happenings

Not a very catchy title, but hey, that's what this post is about. Just so you know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I'll fill you in on what April has brought us...

We began April with my sister leaving after a several day visit. Her visit ended our 4 week guest stay. From March 4th thru April 1st we had visitors at our house every night except 2. The kids love visitors especially because the first visitors were missionaries that had 3 kids around their ages, the second visitors were their grandma and great grandma, lots of attention, and the third was their aunt. More attention. We were happy, though, to have the house back to normal and go back to our normal routines.

We celebrated Paige's 9th birthday this month, which I did post about, even though it was a bit late.

Last week was our semi-spring break. I say semi because like semi-retirement, we still did a bit of school work. We are going to take another break later before school is out, but we did need to tone down a bit and rest. Spring break was fun for the kids because they got to play more with their friends and swim a bit.

Paige loves her new wet suit. She freezes whenever she is wet, even if it is 100 degrees outside. I guess when you don't have any body fat, it is hard to stay warm. :)

We celebrated Easter. Our church had an Easter brunch, that was delicious! We had a wonderful service. And enjoyed dinner at our house with a few friends. The kids got to have a little egg hunt. Jathan and one of our guests hid the eggs. They tried making it challenging on the kids, and in the end they even had a hard time remembering where the last one was hidden.

We planted a garden. Jathan and the boys built these nifty garden boxes to put on the side yard. It is an area that isn't used much. The kids and I started seeds indoors and then were able to plant them a few days ago in the boxes. We will see how they do. I also worked on my herb garden in our back yard. I added some mint (in a pot), basil and lavender. In addition to that, I already had thyme, oregano, sage, chives, cilantro and rosemary.

The boys went to California Hot Springs with a couple other dads and their sons. Here they have pools that are fed by naturally hot springs. They have some to soak and then they cool down the water a bit for the swimming pool. The boys had a great time.

I got to go a way for a weekend to scrapbook. I feel a bit guilty about it all. I left on a Friday afternoon to go to LA and spend the night with my friend Suzanne. We had the house to ourselves because her husband took the rest of the family to visit his sister. Then we went to a hotel in Manhattan Beach to scrapbook Saturday through Sunday. It was a very nice hotel, I must say, so I felt a little out of my league there. I returned home to find a bouquet of flowers from Jathan. I thought I should bring him flowers, he was the one who had the kids by himself and still had to preach on Sunday morning. Then I found out the next day that he had scheduled a pedicure for me!

Jathan and I are going to end the month by running in a half marathon tomorrow. I will try post how it goes, but if you don't hear from me in a while, you will know what happened to me. Seriously, though, I am excited/nervous. I know we can do it, we did a trial run of the 13.1 miles a little over a month ago, but I still get nervous about these kinds of things.

I know I left a lot of details out, but I will try to fill them in later. But just because it has been so long, I thought I would get you up to speed a bit.