I'm SO Proud!!!

The swimming pool will be closing soon which motivated my Liberians to get into the "deep end" and jump off the diving boards. Yesterday Marie was able to swim across the deep end, dove off the side (well!) and jumped off both the low and HIGH dive! Chloe of course had to do it as well. Which led to Isaac being outdone by two GIRLS. Today he decided he too would jump off the diving board. It took some courage but he loved it! I bet he jumped off 30 or more times.
I wish I had a video tape of how the new kids "swam" at the beginning of the summer. Let's call it thrashing wildly in the water! Now they truly can swim and Isaac has the crawl stroke down like Michael Phelps.
What a beautiful day! Glad we could spend it at the pool lounging, visiting and showing off :)
Dave decided that mom needed to get wet so he pushed me into the pool (where are the life guards when you need them?!) We did end up having a fun time swimming. I have to get in at least once a year after all!
The rest of the weekend we'll be running errands and getting ready for the trip to the Ozarks. The kids are so excited! Olivia will be organizing the "snack bags" for everyone. We have Jonathan Parks cds...buying some new coloring books...hopefully this will occupy everyone for the 5 hour drive. Let's hope so!

Pictures of Liberian Picnic

Every fall all the families in the Cedar Rapids area get together for a Liberian picnic so the kids can play and families connect. This year we also had the priviledge of Don and Cheryl Williams who are missionaries in Liberia join us. The group keeps growing and growing!

I think this year there were 7 more Liberian kiddos there :)

A Way to Start the Day With Purpose....

What if I started each day with these thoughts? How would my day be different? More intentional? (fill in the blanks and try a day yourself :) The fun part is no day has to be the same! Here are a few of my thoughts...

inspire my spirit with...fresh air and sunshine

energize my body by...(haven't started this one yet...hope to start jogging again!)

challenge my mind through...books! (for me!)

feed my craving for beauty with...nature (we saw a "hummingbird moth" this weekend)

bring peace and comfort to my home by...lighting candles....fresh flowers

take simple pleasure in...feeding the chickens and eating fresh eggs

remember my cheerful heart by...taking a moment for really look at my children playing together and giving thanks for that miracle.

and at the end of the day, I'll give thanks to God and
soothe any weariness with...hot shower and pj's (with socks of course!)

FINALLY Done, Urban Chicken and Vacation...

Well, it's that time of year again and I've just ordered my home school books. Nothing new.
This is how I do it every year so I didn't expect to get anything ordered earlier even though every year I try. :) I never start before Labor Day anyway! I'm really wanting to stop stressing on how I think it "should" be done...and do things that I like and enjoy (and hopefully the kids will too) I've never really taught that way before. I'm usually frustrated a few months in because things aren't going as planned....books aren't getting done...and then we just coast the rest of the year without plans or goals. This year my goals are simple but there...and I'm going to watch God fill in my gaps...which I KNOW I'll have. He's the ultimate teacher.

This year we're trying something new....Sonlight Curriculum. I've known about it but never tried it so we'll see if it works for us. I definitely need something for multi-age teaching so I'm really hoping this is "it". The rest of our stuff is hodge podge...Abeka science, Explode the Code,we're trying Sequential Spelling this year...finishing up some left over grammar books, God's World News (current events) Really wanting to teach more geography this year with (I ordered THE best map! :) That means I'm SURE we'll use it-ha. We'll be doing Latin root words for fun (I love them personally and think they are SO helpful to learn...my only Classical Education plug)

Olivia is doing a writing class. She's actually in the middle of a story she started on her own about the underground railroad. She's been working on a few movies with friends too (for fun) That's what I call real learning!

Ellie started her first "real job" today. She's babysitting a 2 yr old boy for a lady that goes to our church. I really felt she needed something "her own" and a little time away...more responsibilty...etc...and this opportunity just came out of the blue (from God) She'll be watching him two afternoons a week (if school is getting done) She's going to start riding lessons again with a new girl we've met who also loves horses. God is in the small stuff too...I just need to look!

Here's the best chicken recipe I've ever had! I think I had it ready and in the oven in 10 min. flat (or less) That's what I call a winner :)

It's called Urban Garlic Chicken from the book Fix, Freeze, Feast.

2 whole chickens (8-10lbs each) yes....I actually THOUGHT I could get 2 meals out of this...wrong. The leftover would be fabulous I know!

1/4 c. olive oil

2 T. red wine vinegar

1 T. minced garlic (from a jar!)

1 T. dried thyme (didn't have so used sage instead)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp. pepper

2 carrots, peeled and cut in half (didn't have- so didn't use)

2 celery stalks, cut in half

1 onion peeled and cut in half

Rinse chicken under cool water (I just found out I'm suppose to do this!) Pat dry with paper towel (didn't do either....I told you this was quick! :) Just shake that bird hard over the sink-call it good.

Combine oil,vinegar, garlic, and spices in a small bowl. Place chicken breast side up in greased baking dish. Loosen skin on breast and legs and rub marinade over and under skin. Put celery, onion and carrots in the cavity. Roast at 325 for 1 1/2 hrs.

If you don't want to cook both chickens at once you can freeze EVERYTHING for later. Put the cut up onion, carrot and celery in a 1-qt freezer bag. Put the marinated rubbed chicken in a 1-gal. freezer bag...throw the veggie bag inside the chicken before freezing and it's altogether for your next meal. Completely thaw the chicken in refrig. before baking. How easy is that!

We are going on a "vacation" soon. (no...not to African like some of my blogging friends...I only wish!) but to Lake of the Ozarks. We tried this a few years ago and had a really good time. This year will be a little more interesting :) I know some of you other brave souls have gone on long vacations with your newly adopted children....so it can be done and you can come back somewhat sane, right???

My goals before we leave are to:

a) plan well for the trip (which was Dave's request of me!) Interesting if you know us, huh?

b) I really, really need to order and get printed TONS of pictures from our trip to Liberia and of the kids.

c) write and send (along with those lovely pictures that should be printed off) our adoption reports on each of the kids that are due now. I don't know why I think that is so overwhelming but I do...I just keep putting it off....and off....and off.

d) find someone to do our animal chores while we're gone

e) find a good friend to loan us their canoe, ski rope and tube....Donette? Steve? Anyone :)Kidding.

Summer is winding down as I notice the mornings and evening are getting pretty cool here in Iowa. Another season gone....reminds me how quickly the years are going by. I love what someone said about the days being sooooo long....yet the years go by so quickly!

When Adoption Was Just a Thought...

(this was e-mailed to me from Dave this morning)

I just stumbled across this email. This was almost three years ago.




From: Teresa Cechota [mailto:redbarnusa@juno.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 12:39 PMTo: Dave CechotaSubject: wondering...


I know you don't have time to e-mail me know on this. But what are your thoughts on adoption? I do not know if it's something we should do or not...it's really not anything I've considered before. And I don't want to be doing it because "everyone" is doing it. But I've been thinking alot about doing things by FAITH...stepping out of our COMFORT zones...and I'm all for wanting to provide a child with love and security and tell them about Jesus. I would love to rescue a child out of poverty, disease, despair, hopelessness and death. I can hardly think about how many of them are living lives of prostitution, abuse and starvation. It about kills me. We have some much here to offer in our country that we so take for granted. Medical care..more food than they have seen in their life time...clothes...warmth.
Just think and pray about it.
I told Jenny I would love to have her out and invite some ladies from the baby sitting group and open it up to other who have been reading her e-mails but don't know her so they can see the movie they made. I don't want to make an emotional decision but it is one.
I e-mailed Jenny that all the kids in the MOMS group are going to start asking for a brother/sister from Liberia for Christmas! Maybe we just forgo Christmas and some other things and use that $ to give life to an older (I'm thinking 4 or over child)
I don't know when/why I even starting thinking about this...I guess after hearing Jenny talk about what the kids live like in Liberia and how passionate she is about helping them because she's been there...made me think how easy we have it here and how hard it is there....and isn't saving a life worth it?
me

Guess I needed to read this today as we just hit our 6 month mark of having the kids home!