Sushi Night and more pictures....

Too cute not to post :)
Legwarmers are back???
yummy sushi rolls
Grampa and Dave boxing
Too excited to contain himself!

Christmas Doings....

Isaac posing in Batman t-shirt
Carsen in camo chef hat
Marie and Chloe

Josie and Chloe

Christmas Day was spent leisurely opening gifts, drinking coffee and eating the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Yum!! My little brother and I laugh that first-born parents are probably the only ones that make each of their kids wait and take turns opening gifts :)

We let the kids play with small gifts all afternoon and then brought out the big gift...the Wii. Wish I could have gotten a video of Caleb....unfortunately he was jumping so high his head was cut off in each picture I took of him!!!

Other happenings were: Sushi making with Aunt Cynthia and a "late" visit from Granny and Grampa. They are super cautious drivers and reluctant to come even in good weather. So they started out in rain which turned to ice. They arrived over 3 hours late (should have taken 1.5 hrs driving their speed) We almost called the State Patrol!

Now for the tree to come down...ornaments to put away....needles to sweep up. Oh..and more groceries to be bought. Ba-hum-bug!

Yummy Sugar Cookie Recipe

These are called "To roll or not roll" sugar cookies.

1 c. sugar (if rolling out dough use 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar instead of granulated)
1 c. butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp (or tad more) almond extract (lOVE this stuff!)
1 egg
2 1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugar. Add flavors and eggs-then dry ingredients.

Preheat 375 oven. Shape dough into balls. Press with fork or bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Decorate with sprinkles if you like color! Bake 9-11 minutes. Makes about 4 doz. (3 doz. if you're eating the dough!)

If you're rolling them-cover and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hrs before rolling out. Bake 7-8 min. Remove immediately to rack to cool.

It's COLD!!!

It's a wonderful ONE degree outside right now. We have no wood in the house...and one of our furnaces has been broken for the last few weeks. Dave finally caved in and called the repairman...because it's FREEZING in here! Right now it's not bad at 60...but when it gets in the 40's-50's INSIDE...it's not fun. Evreyone is walking around with extra sweaters, coats, double socks. I'm tempted to wear mittens but then I couldn't type! Tomorrow it should be fixed.
It must be the month of broken things. We've recently had to replace a dishwasher and water softener. We have the bum furnace, the car has a flat...the tractor has a flat and the Suburban was overheating this morning on the way to an eye appointment. (tell me how something can overheat in this weather??!!) The anti-freeze was actually BOILING. Olivia and I almost baled out of the vehicle thinking it might blow. Quite a strange sound. Thankfully the thermostat must have unstuck itself and it's doing ok. (except the passenger door is broke...someone has to walk around and open for them. It's fun when I'm the passenger :)

These things are all minor though when I think of a friend's family who are at the U of I Hospitals. Her husband was just in a car/snowmobile accident (with his son on the back who is ok) He has a fractured pelvis and rib. Can't work for at least 3 months. She had a stroke this summer (and has mostly recovered) I can't imagine their medical bills!

My cousin was involved in an accident just today when a car flew over the median and landed on top of her car. She's ok. But the other car literally broke in two around her..and there was a family traveling in it.

So I am thankful for this house..that our problems are so minor. That God is in all those stories.

FINALLY-Josie's 6th birthday!

Josie has waited since last March for her birthday to come...praying almost every night for a "good birthday". Isaac and Marie came to America and had b-days right away (March and April) along with many of our other kids.

It was finally HER day! She had a special friend, Grace, come over after church to play.
For her b-day lunch she requested: yellow macaroni (that's Kraft in a box) jello and a pink Princess birthday cake---with a CROWN.

I think she had a great time...I was a little worried she'd be disappointed after looking forward to it for so long. Uncle Ron and Aunt Cynthia were able to come and help celebrate too. That always makes for more fun!

We love you Josie! You have a beautiful heart and smile :)

Gingerbread People-check!

I finally got up enough nerve to attempt decorating cookies with 8 kids. (after alot of coffee!)
I read from another mom's blog with 13 kids that she has learned to pre-cut and pre-bake...I took it she tried the other way. So learning from one's mistake...the girls and I stayed up one night and cut and baked. Although I felt a twinge of guilt thinking how much fun the kids would have had---I got over it. They each had their own styles for sure! Ellie and Olivia are very "Martha Stewarty"
with their decorating. Chloe wasn't over the top...but Marie was VERY over the top with sprinkles :)
Caleb likes loud coloring...and faces on his cookies. Isaac was painstakingly carefully. Josie and Carsen were cautiously having fun. Of course Carsen ate every single cookie he decorated...then asked his dad if he could just eat the head off of the one he saved all day for him!

Sisters....

It's been neat seeing Marie and Chloe's relationship grow. They truly act like sisters...playing together for hours and then fighting over something. It's really an answer to pray that they get along so well. They share the same room--the same full size bed--bathroom--clothes--toys. They've both grown alot (not just physically) Marie is 10 and Chloe will be 8 in Janurary.
Here's some pictures Olivia took one afternoon of them...just having fun!

New Pantry!

Hey...sorry for all the posts today but these are pictures I really wanted to get on my blog and the kids are outside sledding :)

We've been in our house for almost 8 years now and I've never had a good place to store groceries. A pantry has been my dream and it's been on the "project list" for years! I even bought a sign that says "Pantry" and hung it over the door where the pantry should be.

Well...on Thanksgiving weekend my parents came and my dad (Dave too...a little) spent hours putting barn board shelves in my new pantry! Olivia spend an afternoon organizing it like a little store. So now I'm good to go....if I could only get to the store and stock up!

Thanks dad...Dave and Olivia! I love it!

Oh and thanks to all my mom's biblestudy ladies for praying this would happen soon!

African Christmas Stockings

I was trying to find special Christmas stockings for our Liberians...and look what I found on ebay. I love them! Of course the kids would rather have Barbie or Spiderman...but I'm hoping
someday they will think these are pretty special.

Decorating and Ice-skating

Isaac with a new shave
Marie and Chloe ice-skating

Good News....and Winter Fun

I just received an e-mail this morning from my Mercy Ship contact. They are pulling out of Monrovia soon so I didn't really expect them to find out any info on the kids' birth father. BUT...below is what we just found out. I know the prison isn't safe, there's shortage of food...but I'm glad he wasn't one of the ones killed or out on the lose running for his life either. God has him in a place I'm praying he'll hear more and more of the gospel from those who minister in "prison fellowship".


Hi Teresa,

Kevin from our Prison Fellowship Team met Tokpa on Saturday. He's still in the prison, and seems to be doing OK - good health, not too skinny, and not too depressed.

Olly


The kids have been having fun ice-skating on our frozen driveway. The gravel roads are just as bad so I'm glad to stay home this week (although I am going a little stir crazy!) I'm considering taking everyone rollerskating Friday afternoon. I've had enough practicing tying all the ice-skates!

They have been spending hours outside sledding even thought it's 13 degrees out today! I guess they don't mind the cold.

We started out with 2 decent sleds. Now each is broken in half (through various sledding spills!) so there are four pieces that they take turns using. It was fun watching Olivia, Marie and Caleb yesterday. They push and push until they start sliding and tried to form a pyramid while doing it. I hope the chickens and the dogs stay out of their way!

It's the Little Things....

This morning when Dave was on his way out the door for work he found a HUGE office pack of bagels and cream cheese on our front porch. Mystery! (we found out later it was a guy from his Father's Group at church) He drove all the way out in the country--on gravel, snow and ice covered roads to deliver them fresh!

Later in the afternoon our neighbor came over carring a dozen and a half chicken eggs (in his stocking cap!) for us. We love fresh eggs since our crazy chickens aren't laying now.

It's grace when the lady Ellie babysits for says she can leave work early so Ellie can get home to grab her backpack she forgot for her sleepover tonight.

It's the little everyday things I need to keep my eyes wide open for so I can have a thankful attitude all year (or just day!) long.

Newflash from Monrovia-Dec. 1, 2008

I recently read this in a Mercy Shipper's blog. Hard to believe we were standing in that same prison almost 11 months ago....

I've been in contact with this person on the Mercy Ship trying to find out if our kids' birth father is still in prison or on the loose. What a crazy place...I can't even imagine the conditions they live in. Below is what a Mercy Ship worker wrote:

Jail-break

On Monday afternoon 202 prisoners broke out of Monrovia's Central Prison, leaving another 600 behind. A jail-break of such proportions is of no surprise to me - I only visited the prison once over a year ago, but thought that security was poor and a coordinated rush by a large number of prisoners would be successful. The guys that are left behind will be grateful for the space provided by those escaping, before it is filled up following the orgy of looting that happens every year around Christmas as desperate men steel things to buy food for their families. Currently, 32 of the 202 escapees have been re-captured. The city is in a high state of alert, with road blocks at frequent intervals and all available Police and UN personnel involved in searching for the escapees. Meanwhile, the Africa Mercy's Prison Ministry team was called upon to deliver emergency food supplies to the prison, as the escapees raided the food stores on their way to freedom, leaving the remaining 600 inmates hungry. Our Prison Ministry delivered 6 sacks of rice to the prison yesterday via the Prison Fellowship.

HOORAY!!!

Here's how the girls reacted when I told them we were all done with leftovers!

Turkey Anyone??

We just got over the holiday feast and have been having leftovers here...many, many leftovers :0

For kicks here is what we've eaten since last Thursday:

Thursday- a 30# turkey plus a 17# ham and all the trimmins'

Friday-left over turkey/ham and trimins'

Sat-turkey noodle soup

Sunday-turkey enchiladas

Monday-turkey alfredo pizza (not as bad as it sounds! Really. Trust me.)

Tuesday-split pea and ham soup (yea! the ham is all gone!!!!)
turkey and wild rice soup
left over turkey noodle soup

Wed-the rest of the left over soups for lunch

Alas...last Saturday I again baked another (yes, really) 30# turkey. See there was this "good deal" last year. A man from Kalona had all these fresh turkeys for sale cheap...and we bought 3 not realizing their extreme size. Unfortunately two froze together creating this 60# block of frozen turkey that I could not lift from our freezer. So there they sat all year. We started thawing them out about 5 days before Thanksgiving. We thought about even using a chisel!
No, they don't fit in our oven. Thankfully I had a roaster and we put a tent of foil around it to bake. It actually works quite well once the guys rinse it and lift that giant thing in there. It bakes about 14 hrs on low...or 5 hours on high. Trust me.

SO....I froze quite a bit of turkey meat. Right now I think we're all ready for a change...and I've run out of turkey recipes. There is this turkey cranberry salad that looks interesting--but I think it might be bycotted.

See Spot Run....

I was reading another mom's blog the other day and she had a picture of Dick and Jane...with her children all probably cozied around her reading it. Her quote was "I was made for this".
Frankly....when I'm reading Dick and Jane with Marie I want to tear my hair out. I don't think I was made for this. (I AM doing this because I think it's the right thing to do now...but it isn't easy!) How can the word Spot...in the very next sentence....be Fluff? or jump? I know she knows the sounds of the letters. I know it isn't on purpose---the connections just aren't all there yet. And she really, really wants to read which is why we still plug through it.
I'm sure it's as frustrating for her as for me. And I REALLY try to hide my frustration....but I think I'm more like my dad than I thought! :) Just kidding dad....I haven't thumped her on the head yet with a pencil! And you were a REAL teacher!

Anyway...just had to get that off my chest today.

Visit with Auntie Melodie....

Lovely Marie....

Auntie Melodie with Josie "Gbanko"

Marie, Isaac (Red) Auntie Melodie and Josie

We are so glad we had the chance to visit with Melodie while she's in the States. In just 2 weeks
she'll be back in Liberia working again. She has known our kids longer than we have which seems really strange. They all love her and you can tell the feeling is mutual.
We had a great dinner at Jenny's house (mother of 13) She fixed us all dinner...we counted 23 kids and 6 adults. Wow! She's amazing.
Afterwards the kids all watched Kung Foo Panda while the adults talked about...guess what! Liberia and kids :)

2 Tired....

How do you know you're too tired to go grocery shopping? When you put on your coat and shoes three times....go to the door....stop and just can't make yourself go out. Poor Caleb was going to come with me and had to walk to the door three times too. I'm sure he wonders about his strange mother who went up and took a nap instead. We're having pancakes for dinner tonight. It just wasn't worth it. Maybe tomorrow.

It's cold and windy out...
Dave's gone on a business trip...
I'm having to keep the fire going (which is like having another baby except I don't get up at night with it!)
Our week seems a little crazy-looking at the calendar anyway-I'm sure it will work out.
We didn't get much done today-just laundry-always laundry on Mondays.


Our highlight is going to dinner at Jenny's tomorrow night. Melodie Sheppard will be there visiting. She was at the kids' orphanage working while they were there. Everyone is excited to see her! She is going back to Liberia soon.

Some fun girl pictures (taken by Olivia)

I love the looks of all three girls. Marie and Josie are having a ball....Chloe can't wait until the ride is over!

Funny video.....

New Change....

I woke up to find out who our new President is. We are now part of history.
I read Lysa Terkeurst's blog this morning and really appreciated her thoughts on what we as Christians are now challenged to do....even more so than before.

Please read: www.lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com

God bless America! Guide the President in all his decisions and most importantly in how we live.

And Our Next President Is......

Yes, I voted today. I'm very thankful to have that opportunity to be a voice in our government. It's pretty sad to see which way all the media (TV..magazines...newspapers) are slanted. So very obvious.
But God is in control of this election. Who He allows to be President we will honor because that's what He tells us to do.

I'm not going to sit in front of the TV tonight getting updates on all the poles...getting nervous or even a little fearful of the outcome. I'm going to bed (early!) and in the morning I'll know who The Chief will be.

Ellie is out riding the pony cart with Lucy. I love seeing her to that. That's her little escape.

The kids had friends over today and played outside dressing up. The older girls were filming scenes for a movie. Carsen was in a (very small!) Spiderman outfit with pink winter boots. He's so funny!

Olivia is at Irish Step dance right now. The girls rode 4.5 miles on their bikes today meeting thier friends at "the bridge". Olivia's legs felt like jello!

I'm reading the book Three Cups of Tea. It's not a quick read for me. I don't know if I'm not really into it or what. Usually I can finish a book in a day or two.

I think we're having pizza tonight. And I have some really, really good icecream in the freezer I just bought from the co-op. Maybe I"ll save that for a celebration tomorrow!?

Fall Pictures

NE Iowa pictures

Indian Summer Updates

Our family did make our annual trip up to NE Iowa to look at the leaves with Uncle Ron and Aunt Cynthia. We hiked at Pikes Peak State Park (I don't think the Liberians were very impressed!) Had a picnic lunch and rode the ferry across the Mighty Mississippi. We took pictures but have the same background as the last 15 years...only more kids this year! :)
The girls had Charlie along too of course.

The kids are all growing like crazy. I've been sorting and sorting through clothes...boxing up summer clothes and hoping to find matching snow boots the right size for everyone!

Marie just got her hair done at a salon for the second time since she's been home (9 months ago) We won't do it often but it sure is cute! I'm banking that this style will last 4 months. I was going to go in and get a simple style done with cornrows and then buy a cute kinky drawstring ponytail to put in. Somehow all that changed while I was there discussing the new look. I ended up making THREE trips to Sally's Beauty Supply to buy the right "hair". We now have two kinky weaves sewn into the beehive around her head. The front is separate cornrows so they can be redone in about 20 min. to keep the style going longer. I'm sure that's more than you wanted to know about black hair! But it's a big deal here :)

Next weekend Maria (from WACSN-another orphange in Monrovia) will be here visiting and having a reunion with several WACSN families. The Liberian kids in the area have been practicing for our local Liberian Children's Choir. It is just beautiful seeing the 20 kiddos up on stage singing their hearts out.

The leaves are all falling...the fields are getting harvested. We've enjoyed some awesome warm weather lately. Hard to believe snow will be here soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!!

Today we're celebrating 12 years of Olivia's life. She has always been a sun shiny,
happy go lucky, funny kind of girl. She was born 2 1/2 wks early and was my quickest, easiest labor. She came out with a squished over nose and bruises on her face...thankfully it's all straightened out now :) She and Ellie are 18 months apart. I remember Ellie coming to the hospital to see her new sister. She stared at Olivia's feet, held her for a few seconds and then pushed her back saying "all done"!

Every year I write a little summary of that child's year in their birthday card. (since I realized early on I would never keep a journal or updated baby book for each child!)

Here's a brief description of Olivia...She loves Irish Step dancing and has been in a troupe for about 5 yrs now. She loves taking pictures as you can tell if you visit her blog (jumpinferjoy.blogpost.com) She has an eye for the unusual!
She loves reading mystery books. She's usually reading in her bed in the morning when I go wake them up. She loves taking looooong baths, drinking tea or coffee drinks from Starbuck's. She's an animal lover...especially our dog, Charlie.
She hates to see anything suffering so will let all the fish go when we were fishing on vacation :0
She's loves to bake and recently perfected her double crust apple pie (it looks like it's from a magazine!) Her mother prefers to buy Pillsbury crusts...so not sure where she got that skill.
She requested a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake for her b-day which she helped make. We also have beef stew cooking per her request.

Olivia is a joy! She's funny and almost always a happy camper. She's great at entertaining her brothers/sisters...and helps so much at home with cooking, cleaning or watching the kids. At one time she said she was going to open an orphanage in Africa. We are excited to see the plans the Lord has for her life.

We love you Olivia!!!
mom

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!

Bummer.

Living on a farm...chicken poo tracked in...a fluffy (but cute) little dog...various critters brought in....8 kids....and a broke vacuum.

Need I say more????

16 years and....memories

My "farmer" and I celebrated 16 years of marriage yesterday. He enjoyed the day off putzing and driving his tractor "working". I had some sort of strange bug....I HAD to clean. (my mom is amazed right now :0)
I think I'm nesting for my friend, Sherrie, whose husband is bringing home their son, Enoch, from Liberia tomorrow. I have been cleaning things I never think about and I only do this when we were adopting...or I'm pregnant...and neither are happening! The light fixtures got cleaned...the cupboard with my baggies, Saran Wrap and general "stuff"...ceiling fans (some) woodwork...window sills and some of the fly speck stuff that has been on our ceiling for ??? how long. There is still tons of cleaning that I could do...but that feeling has now passed!
So....after that fun day--Sherrie and her kids came over so the "farmer" and I could go out for dinner. Had a very nice dinner...black fettucine with seafood...yummy salad and bread. I think the last time we were at that restaurant was exactly one year ago on our last anniversary!
This past year was pretty consuming with 5 kids....the long wait to bring home 3 more from Liberia. Now we're still "settling" into the business. Life goes on...busier but we're growing and changing and that's a good thing.

I posted a clip to Steven Curtis Chapman singing "our song" from our wedding day. My brother, Chad, actually sang it for us. I remember a train going by during our outdoor wedding (wouldn't recommend doing that in Iowa in July!) It had rained buckets the night before...and even though we were married at 11am it was super muggy and hot. It stayed dry during our wedding and reception and almost on the dot when it was over it started pouring rain again.
I had forgotten to pick up Dave's ring from the jewelry store before the wedding so had to send my brother on that quick errand before it started. Dave isn't wearing his ring in our wedding picture :0 What a day!

A few new pictures....

Dreaming of Baseball

Tea time

Loosen up Dave!!!

Beads for the 4th

Summertime Shots

Soccer lovin' boys
I hope those weren't Sharpies!!!
Our "fire cracker!"
Playing carpet ball at camp