Mother Lode of pictures...with a few scattered updates

Mother lode
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mother lode is a term associated with the mining of gold and silver, and refers to a principal vein or zone of veins of gold or silver ore. The term probably came from the Spanish veta madre, a term common in old Mexican mining. Veta madre, for instance, is the name given to a seven-mile long silver vein discovered in 1548 in Guanajuato, New Spain (modern-day Mexico).[1]

In the United States, Mother Lode is most famously the name given to the long alignment of hard rock gold deposits stretching northwest to southeast in the Sierra Nevada of California. The California Mother Lode is a zone from one to four miles wide and 120 miles long, which stretches from Georgetown in El Dorado County on the north, through Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties, south to Mormon Bar in Mariposa County. It was discovered in the early 1850s, during the California gold rush. The zone contains hundreds of mines and prospects, including some of the best-known historic mines of the gold-rush era. Individual gold deposits within the Mother Lode are gold-bearing quartz veins up to 50 feet thick and a few thousand feet long. The California Mother Lode was one of the most productive gold-producing districts in the United States, but is now given over to tourism.[2]

The California gold rush, as with most gold rushes, started with the discovery of placer gold in sands and gravels of streambeds, where the gold had eroded out of the hard rock vein deposits. Placer miners followed the gold-bearing sands upstream to discover the source in the bedrock. This source was the "mother" of the gold in the river and so was dubbed the "mother lode".

The term is also used metaphorically to refer to the origin of something valuable or in great abundance.

Obviously this post is about the last definition...something valuable...our children :)

Ellie thinks my blog is horribly boring! So if you see a new, refreshing design you can thank her. She's got the time and talent!

Updates:
It's been over 3 months since our new kids (vs our old kids :) have been home. I must say it's BEGINNING to feel more "normal". The fog must be lifting a little. I don't stress as much about preparing meals. God must be giving me ideas because I'm still not a good meal planner/shopper!!! Of course there is still the noise...the sibling conflicts that happen...but I can tell you things definitely feel different (in a good way) than they did even a month ago.

Two heart warming things...
On Mother's Day the kids had all gathered bouquets of flowers (from our ditch :) to give me. Marie hadn't known what was going on but on Sunday morning she realized she didn't have flowers to give me. It was a horribly windy, rainy Mother's Day in Iowa but despite that she ran outside...clear to the edge of our property to gather her bouquet to give me. She came in wet and cold but with a huge smile and handed it to me. Those were the most beautiful flowers EVER.

The other day Isaac, Caleb and I were out by our large raspberry patch weeding. When I mean weeding it's basically trying to find where the plants actually are and ripping out handfuls of grass around the poor plants! It's a pretty time consuming job...and definitly not fun when the bugs are biting. Caleb hung out helping a few minutes but Isaac stayed and helped me with the whole row. Several times I told him he could quit and go inside but he chose to stay until we were done. He was very proud of how it looked and I was very proud how he chose to stay and help his mama! :)

Other happenings:
The boys spend HOURS...and I mean hours everyday hunting for frogs. We have a little marsh area (where they all try to hide) All three boys scout out the pond for these poor creatures...even the dog helps! One day they had 11 caught. I found out the container they used was Caleb's lunch box! Ick. Now they get deposited in the baby swimming pool. (don't worry...they aren't tortured) The cat did get one though. Did you know cats will eat frogs??? Me either.

The boys have their last soccer tournament this weekend if the weather holds. I must say Caleb and Isaac are quite a team!

Olivia had her spring dance recital a few weeks ago. She's been doing Irish Step Dance for the past 4 yrs or so. I LOVE the music and seeing her enjoy dancing! Their troupe is awesome and performs for nursing homes 1-2 times a month. What a ministry they have.

Ellie is still into photography. She gets alot of great ideas from some other adoptive moms' blogs...thanks Amber and Jamie for posting such great pictures! We love them.

Chloe loves the farm kitties we have. All the girls spend hours dressing up and playing house together. It's funny to see the Liberian touches...like the fire to cook over!

Marie just got her hair in a "bee hive" yesterday at a salon. Hopefully this style will last the summer. (even swimming) Yesterday Ellie and Olivia worked together latch hooking all the extensions into her hair. I am SO thankful my girl do Marie and Josie's hair. I don't have that talent (or desire!) yet. Unfortunately we ran out of extensions. I ordered a case of 12 packages and it still wasn't enough. Hopefully they'll have some at a store in town that will work. I've had fun watching utube videos showing how to braid hair. (that's how I spend my quiet nighttime hours...when I'm not blog surfing!) It's a whole other world having African girls..the skin..the hair. I never knew that alot of AA hair...isn't (gasp!) their real hair!

List of a Few Firsts....

Marie has lost her first tooth here a few days ago (and already has been told mom is the tooth fairy!)

Isaac has played his first soccer game (he's great!)

The kids have:

had their first plane ride...first escalator ride...first night in a hotel

had their first bon fire and hotdog roast

first time riding a scooter

seen their first "I Love Lucy" show and loved it! You have to laugh when you hear Marie laugh!

had their first shots :0 and first dentist visit

had their first pony ride

held kitties for the first time

eaten many "first" foods (loved hearing them eat the Hot Wings!)

had their first trip to the basement for a tornado siren (last night!)

seen their first hot air balloon (Eeh? What? There's fire? People RIDE in a basket????)

eaten their first warm chocolate chip cookies

learned how to play the "Matching" game using the "booger" technique (Chloe's secret!)

first glimpse of a swimming pool with clean, blue water

first ride in a tractor bucket

I know I need to post more pictures soon. I still need to get TONS printed off from our trip.
I don't know where my days go! Oh yeah....laundry, cooking and picking up. When it's nice I'm outside raking and working in the yard. I realized the other day it takes about 4 days to deplete about #20-25 lbs of fruit!!!! (I even ration it ;)

Black or White???

Racial Confusion!

Our almost 4 year old (my baby) thinks he's black. He not only thinks he's black but he tells people he has a black dad in Africa....and his name is Jimmy! (what???)

He's always been my story teller. He can go on and on with the most serious face telling stories so this really shouldn't suprise me. He can tell you about hunting, shooting dangerous animals....anything his mind thinks up at the moment.

He also starts out his stories now by saying "when I was in the orphanage".....
He just cracks me up!!! I'm fairly certain he isn't really confused....just trying to fit in :0
It can be hard being the baby!

M.O.A.T.

I am now officially a "mother of a teenager!!" Yesterday I was at the hospital in Ames giving birth to my first daughter...now she's 13 and almost as tall as me!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE!

You are a beautiful young lady. You are determined. You are a planner. You are creative. You are amazing.

I know this has been a hard 2 months for you. You are the oldest now of 8. (4 sisters and 3 brothers) Life isn't easy....and it's not quiet...and it's not fair. Guess you're learning this early :0 God has a big plan for your life and I can't wait to see what it is! God will use this new experience (do you call adding 2 sisters and another brother an "experience??) to grow you in ways like never before. This is His plan. Sit back and give up the reins and let HIM work.

LOVE YOU MUCH!
mom

Thankfulness....

It's amazing how fast time flies when you are not in the "waiting" stages of adoption. The waiting for a referral...the waiting for finalization...waiting for passports...waiting for travel. Time just creeeeeps by when that's what you're focused on. We have good friends who are waiting for their son, Enoch, to come home. Please pray that they will hear the adoption is final SOON! We're so anxious to have him here. Our Liberian kids pray for him every day to come to America.

I can't believe our kids have been home over 2 months now. It's hard to believe we were ever even in Africa!
(and yes Brandi...it's been a month since my last post :)

I started to write down things I'm thankful for with all our kids...just to remind me when I'm struggling with their behavior.

Here are some things I'm thankful for about our Liberian kids:

-I love how they say "thank you" after every meal
(Josie, our 5 yr old, cracks me up with her deep voice)

-I love how they sing...all the time.

-I love how they tell stories using their hands. Marie knows so many stories and songs. I told her she has to keep telling them to Josie so she remembers too.

-I love to hear them pray...it's like a song. The nannies did a great job teaching them.

-I love Marie's laugh

-I love to see them outside riding bikes and playing soccer. I love to see them being kids.

-I think it's funny how they remember songs from movies...they will sing "You've Got a Fren' in Me" over and over!

-I love how they watch out for each other. They really have a sibling bond. I'm so thankful for that as Josie was at the little kids orphanage most of the time.

-I love Isaac's truthfulness

-I love Josie's wink

-I am so thankful they don't seem bitter or angry. They do pray for their pa every night..and ask for his forgiveness

-I am thankful for their hugs, kisses and "I love yous"

-I love to watch them put lotion on their face

-I love how they say "I eat the whole ting!" (I will eat the whole thing)

-I love to hear them sing "You Are My Sunshine"....that just cracks me up!


What we've learned in two months:

It pays to be consistent in discipline. We've seen alot of change. Our biggest struggle was with our youngest (5 yrs) who I'm sure was never told "no". We don't allow the "pout" or "wailing" or when they avoid looking in our eyes when we talk to them.

Keep asking them to eat veggies. Now they love baby carrots and when they came wouldn't try hardly any veggie. We don't complain about food...and life isn't fair.

How I struggle with loving like Jesus! This kind of shocked me. I really thought it would all come naturally. We fell in love with their pictures...and the idea of adoption...but now it's a reality and with real kids.
I have to pray for His love....and His love isn't conditional.


Yes we've had hard days but I must say none of my huge fears adopting older kids ever happened. I think what would have happened if we would have listened to the advice of others? Even Christians? How easy it would have been to say "this is just too much out of my comfort zone". Just listen to Jesus!

The kids have adjusted amazingly well for all they have been through and lost. They really are neat kids! Life is crazy and busy....but God did it all so He will help us.
This has truly given me a heart for Africa. I can't wait for the day when we go back again.

The Hair...the HAIR!!!

Hair is a big thing (so is skin!)...espcially when you're white and you adopt a black child. Whether you know it or like it, you will be judged by what your child's hair/skin looks like. If it doesn't look "right" you'll get plenty of comments and "help".

We had the "ultimate" gift yesterday! Jenny has a young lady staying with them that is very gifted in braiding...AND only charges $30....way cheap! We are so thankful for this as we're working on learning about hair.

Ellie, my 12 yr. old is our offical hair helper. She's very concerned with how it looks and has been a huge help in learning to cornrow and bead. She tried her hand at straightening Marie's hair with just our flat iron at home. You can also take them somewhere to have it professionally done. It will stay straight for about a month IF you don't get it wet. This is something you don't want to do in the summer if you go swimming!
It was fun to see all the new looks we could get.

Right now Josie's hair is pretty short and thin so we can just put it in small ponies, two strand twist and use clips.

I just ordered a couple sleep caps from Nadia (on snapaholic website) to try to keep their hair looking nice longer. Stocking hats can sure do number on their hair!