Today....

I choose love. Because love is a choice. And to truly love is to expect nothing back in return. And when someone does not have the ability to love you back... they are in need of it most.

Hard Work Pays Off

The backyard is coming along great. The rock river is complete, 70% of the weeds have been pulled, the little boys have a sandbox to play in, and bark has been laid. All this cost only $130 because we did it all ourselves. We have blisters, and our feet are killing us, but we can finally rest awhile-- just in time since the weather is getting hot. Alex and Dennis spent hours in the sandbox today which made all the hard work worthwhile.

Dennis, Jonny, and Alex play together so well.

Anastasia's smile is so contagious. Her love for animals shines through!

Grandma and Grandpa are down visiting. It has been nice. Finally they got to see one of the boys' baseball games. I am taking advantage of his pick-up. He hauled all the sand and bark today. Tomorrow we are going to rest and take the kids swimming. Crazy I know!

Ugh-- Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them

Can I scream?
I think Charissa says it best, "Dealing with insurance companies gives me an almost-uncontrollable urge to swear!"

For the last week I have been on the phone for huge chunks at a time trying to get Dennis approved for his specialist appointments. Funny how no one else seems to be as concerned as me--yet they have so much to say without even knowing why I am calling them. Who should have known that Dennis needed a recent hearing test before he could be seen by the ENT? Am I overreacting to think that I wasted the last 20 minutes of my life on hold only to be told that he can't get an appointment until he has a new hearing test? How many months out sounds reasonable to you before I can get an appointment for my son? Three? What kind of plastic surgeon should Dennis see? Who knew there was more than one kind? Whose responsibility should it be to figure it out?

Yes, I have tried to get help from various state ran agencies, and no they won't help us because we have private insurance. No Dennis medical condition has not changed-- he still needs to wear a prosthetic. Medical care and insurance companies have gone a little crazy in the last five years if you ask me. Forget abot the mountains of paperwork they make you out and sign, they make it nearly impossible to maneuver through their automated service and when you do, if you are lucky they will put you on hold until you give up and hang up. I'm nearly convinced that is part of their plan. You almost need a degree to maneuver through the steps of being referred to a specialist-- no joke. And more often than not, I am left hanging, things unresolved only to be forgotten by every medical professional until I call to begin the process all over again the next day.

And this is not only the case for Dennis. Take my routine mammogram. I was referred to the hospital and yet I was the one who needed to make the call to initiate an appointment. I was a little miffed to find out that the soonest appointment was over a month away. "Oh you haven't been seen here before? Well I can get you in next week." I am still scratching my head with that one.

And don't get me started with prescription refills and recurring medical supplies. Getting Alex a new supply of catheters involved changing primary care physicians, and crying to the tech. What an ordeal that was.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox. Sorry. Sometimes I just have to vent.

In The Desert

John reminded me that we live in the desert. Appropriately so since I feel like I have been wandering in one for the last few months. Funny how I had never made the connection literally until John pointed it out. Thankfully John also pointed out that we are in the desert together.

Since we have moved here, I have yearned for Him more than ever before. Oddly enough, it is in the desert where you are most thirsty. Maybe just maybe we came here for reasons above and beyond John's job.

I said I'd never homeschool, and now I am homeschooling.
I took our doctors and dentists for granted only to realize that God is the One true great Physician.
I always thought there would always be next time to get together with friends and family and now I miss all of them more than words can say.

It has not been easy, even after five months here and it is humbling to still feel overwhelmed by it all. I am normally a very strong woman. But I guess that is prideful, and God knows I need pruning in this area of my life. As I draw closer to Him, I am finding my true purpose in life and that is to love God and allow Him to work in me to further His kingdom. For now, my husband and my children are where He wants me to be, and it took moving to the desert to realize this.

If I am honest with myself I will say that even though I realize this, I still struggle with where He has put me. Like a child who really wants another piece of candy, I want more too. I want to feed the poor, move to Ukraine, open a ranch for troubled teens, fight the injustice, care for orphans, become a missionary-- which is all good, but for now God is telling me to just sit at his feet. Enjoy His presence. Be more like Mary and less like Martha. For now this is where He wants me, so this is where I will be.

A Good Weekend

The weekend was pretty low key. Perfect. On Friday night, I went out for coffee with a long time friend. It was so nice to catch up. When I got home, John left to head up north... het took six of the kids. On Saturday morning we had corn flakes and milk with thick berry compote poured over it-- it was so delightfully yummy.

Andrew and Paul had a baseball game, and it was freezing cold. Half way through I took all the kids home and came back with a hot chocolate to watch the rest of the game. It is so awesome to see how the boys are becoming more confident with each game. They are getting better too. Finally hitting a few balls here and there-- too bad Paul doesn't really know the game yet. He just sort of stands there-- whether he is supposed to run or after his three strikes. The coach has to tell him when to sit down. Thankfully all the parents there are really supportive and seem to be there for the fun of it-- not like some competitive parents can be.

Last night we watched The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. There was nothing pish-posh about it! John and the kids came home late so that Adam could play guitar in church. A few of the other kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa who are coming down in a few days. They'll ride back together. Galina's adoption is coming along nicely. Each of the kids are making their rounds to the dentist, and Dennis has an appointment coming up with a new occularist.

This week the kids have off for Spring Break. That means we get to sleep in. Woo-hoo! And finish up our rock river-- double woo-hoo! In just two short weeks, I am getting away for the weekend with some very awesome women. We will be right on the beach! I can't wait to see these women, I miss them so much. There is a few that didn't go last time, and I look forward to getting to know them better. If anyone wants to join us, there is one spot left.

A Little Girl

Isn't she adorable? This is precious, little Karina. She is available for adoption. She has been waiting so long for a family. She needs medical attention to treat her hydrocephaly-- fast.

This is an updated picture of Karina. My heart goes out to her... it aches. Her condition is growing worse everyday and needs a family desperately. You can read more about Karina here. You can also make a tax deductible donation to her grant fund that will help offset her adoption costs.

Please consider making her your daughter. No child should have to go through this.... alone.

P.S. Between you and I, Karina's medical needs seem overwhelming, I'm sure. Very much like Dennis' medical needs seemed at first. And yet, with God all things are possible. That I believe with all my heart. It is a verse to cling to in this world, day to day, moment to moment. As I envisioned what a beautiful moment it would be for her family to meet her for the first time, I was taken back to the time when we first met Dennis. At that moment, I remember feeling so very close to Jesus... a moment I will never forget. Fast forward a couple of years and look at Dennis now! He is thriving and so can Karina with the love of a family!

Adoption

It's Friday

When it came time for the kids to paint their pinch pots, they were nervous to get started. They wanted perfection.... the perfect color, the coolest design.... something they could be proud of.
Frid
Once they chose their first paint color, they quickly chose another, and then another. Once they began painting, they had so much fun. They left that evening with much anticipation.

Yesterday we got to see our finished pieces. Each child was so excited, and yet they kept saying how "professional" my piece looked. For me, it was the other way around. I loved how whimsical, and colorful, and full of life each of their pieces seemed to scream and wished that I would have been more bold when painting mine. My hope is that their lives will be just as bold for Christ!

In art class they learned about vanishing points and had fun designing their own room.

Tonight Caleb and John attended a basketball banquet. They had to bring a main dish so I made Cotlyeti and rice pilaf.

The kids liked the smaller patties that they could pick up and dip like chicken nuggets. I liked them because they cooked quicker.

Learning and Growing So Much

I enjoy candles now and then. I like the light, I like the smell... they provide a tranquil ambiance for me... I light them a few times a month so one will last for months. Do you have a special, little frill that you do for yourself?

We touched on the solar system a few weeks back and I decided to reinforce what they learned by revisiting the topic with a wonderful planet display that Anna found at the resource center. The names of the planets were very familiar to them as was their relation to the sun.

On my hunt for age appropriate worksheets, I came across this website where I found these great print outs.

I was amazed how far Sveta got on the crossword puzzle before she came to me for help. Good job Sveta!

Never in a million years did I think one of my hobbies would include researching curriculum. Actually I just love it and have pretty much figured out which publishers I really like. Surprisingly, very few of them are Christian based which suits me just fine. I prefer to share the gospel with my kids depending on what is on my heart for the day anyway.

This workbook is awesome! Nevermind the grade level-- for an English Language Learner adopted passed the age of 10-- I recommend it!

Explode the Code remains a favorite amongst the kids. My only complaint with it is that it stops at level 8. If you can get the 1/2's, they are a bit more challenging.

Right now, my girls are reading A Day No Pigs Would Die. In addition to them answering questions about the book, and learning new vocabulary words, they are learning different figures of speech such as similes, hyperboles, irony, metaphor, and onomatopoeia.

Andrew drew this for John to hang up in his office. I think Andrew is pretty awesome too!

Dennis woke up tired. He was up twice in the middle of the night crying which he often does as he is beginning to recognize that he has to go potty instead of just wetting his pull-up so I took him to go pee and thought nothing of it. When he laid his head down at breakfast, I knew something was wrong. He was running a fever.

Poor little guy-- but he will be alright with everyone loving on him. On one hand I wanted to try and keep everyone away from him as to not pass the germs, but on the other hand, I knew it was a battle I would not win. Thank goodness the kids have next week off-- just in case.

Books and Pizza

Remember those colored rocks we panned for a few weeks ago? Well, Julia thought it would be a nice touch to sprinkle them along our rock river. Not only did she have a blast doing this-- insert sarcasm-- but we are both sure that doing this will bring hours of delight to those who are interested in finding themselves a special, magical, gem in the Reed Rock River. Pretty corny, huh?

Adam took pictures of Dennis our little ham hock.

Can you get any cuter?

Last night it rained.... and snowed. When I drove Adam and Caleb to school this morning I actually found slush on my windshield.

This is the view from our backyard. Isn't God's creation breathtakingly beautiful?

Tonight was our night out with our six oldest boys. They chose pizza and the restaurant we found turned out to make a pretty darn good pizza!

Minus Andrew annoying Caleb too much, the night was lots of fun!

Each boy got half of a large pizza and the highlight of their evening was being able to take a carryout box containing the leftover slices they anticipated eating tomorrow for lunch. It just warms my heart knowing that we made our sons' day with leftover pizza.

I finally finished the stack of books that were on my dresser so I ordered a few new ones. I am reading Redeeming Love with the girls which just so happens to be the best fiction book I have ever read in my life-- so if you haven't read it, I encourage you do so because it. is. that. good. I am so excited at the thought of it being made into a movie-- I am already planning a date night with hubby! I had such a hard time choosing which of the other books to read first so I had Rachel number them without my knowing and hand me which ever book was numbered 1. Right now I am reading The Hole In Our Gospel. I just love when a book cites a verse and in the process makes you yearn to pick up the bible and read more-- this book does just that.

After coming back from pizza, Paul and Andrew finished packing their lunch.

Good night-- I am off to read!

Another Wonderful Night Out

Tonight we went out for Chinese with Sveta, Rachel, and Annalyn our three oldest daughters. It was wonderful-- not only the company but the food too.

We polished off all the food--- all of it!

Sveta, hands down, ate the most because Chinese is her absolute favorite. While we were eating she asked out of the blue, in all seriousness, "Do you think the workers are Mexican?"

We all couldn't help but tease her for asking such a silly question.

After dinner, we went to RiteAid for ice-cream.

What beautiful young women our girls are growing up into.

More Than the Landscape is Changing

This past Friday Alex stayed home from school. His class was going on a 5 1/2 hour field trip that I declined to send Alex on because of his cathing and medication schedule and no one was there to watch him. So I kept him home and he and Dennis had a play day.

Dennis scraped his chin so we put a pickle band aid on it-- because we all know how pickle band aids make owies feel way better than plain ol' band aids, just ask Dennis.

Anastasia and Sveta have most of the same curriculum, and this is where they do their work.

Here is there most recent work in Wordly Wise.

It was fun teaching Jonny, Sveta, and Anastasia how to use a calculator. Afterwards, we set up a store and played with real money. I made grocery lists which would have a non-specific item like snack or drink on it and they would have to choose Pop tarts, or peanuts, or crackers depending on how much money they had. They each rotated being the shopper, clerk, and bagger.

I love how we have the freedom to do things like this with home school. The kids love it too!

Julia was working on an Algebra puzzle book I chose for her with her educational units and she found some mistakes. I encouraged her to write her first official business letter to let the publisher know. They were pleased that she would take that initiative so they let her choose something from their website for $15.00. How cool is that?

Here is our rock river that we are laying. The water from the yard naturally drains through this area, and we have so much rock in our yard that I thought it would be a neat thing to add to the landscape.

Today I went with a few kids to the local nursery with a 20% off coupon in hand. We got seven new trees, some free flowers, and a couple of shrubs. The guys who work at the nursery took pity on me when they saw how I planned to transport all of our trees home so they offered to deliver them for free. What a totally unexpected blessing!

We spent the late afternoon planting them as John reminded me to think of this time as bonding with our new home since he knows that I still miss our old one. What a sweet husband I have.

As a way to spend quality time with just a few kids at a time, I had the kids vote on which type of restaurant they liked best-- Chinese, Mexican, or pizza. Then I had one of the kids draw a restaurant. Mexican won and so all of those who chose Mexican food as their favorite went on a date with John and I out to dinner. The other kids will go on a different night. They dressed up and had fun picking out John and my clothes too!

We shared each other's food, giggled constantly, and enjoyed our special date night through and through!

Anna got the Shrimp Marisco.

Julia got the Super Nachos minus the sour-cream, onions, cilantro, avocado, tomatoes, and salsa. In other words, Julia had the Un-Super Nachos! And of course, I didn't want all of that yummy stuff to go to waste so I topped my rice and beans with them.

Anastasia couldn't believe the size of her giant chicken burrito and neither could we. Too bad she preferred my fish tacos, so of course I shared with her and she with me.

Galina was in the mood for something spicy so she ordered the Shrimp Diablo.

After dinner, we went for ice-cream. We were so excited with all the new flavors. Galina had carmel apple, and I had Lemon Head, and I sampled Red Hot ice-cream too! As we drove home eating ice-cream, I commented if turning on the heater was a good thing. Yes, it would keep us warm while eating cold ice-cream, but would the heater make it melt faster? Dilemmas, dilemmas.

I just love our family.

P.S. Three years ago, I would never ever in a million years have allowed eating in the car let alone sticky, icky ice-cream. I don't know what has gotten into me, but whatever it is, I think my kids like it.