Then there was Clover

Who started like this:

Which led to this:

And finally this:

Because when you're 2, it's just easy like that to show exactly who you are.

****************
Headed north tomorrow for another medical appt.
Going to take the opportunity to drive on to Ft. Collins for some Jim's Wings and an overnight stay in a place with a pool.
Must teach children to swim.
As of now, Jayla is the only competent fish in the family.
Not good for the heart rate of the parents when children are near water to have 6 non swimmers.
Hopefully, everyone stays appropriately dressed.
Hampton Inn used to be our favorite hotel.
Since we can no longer legally cram into one room,
we've begun to consider less expensive options.
2 rooms at ((A Cheaper Inn)) booked.
Good news is, after experiencing a stay in Ethiopia where the bathroom/shower/sink/tub looked like this:
I'm guessing the {Less Expensive Hotel} will seem like the Taj Mahal!

They started like this

Can we put our feet in the water? Sure....

Which quickly, before I knew it, led to this.

And this.

And this. Until everyone was completely soaked. Including hair.

An anatomy lesson is clearly in order.

The New Luxury Condo

3 BR/0 BA
150 sq. feet
$110.00

Experiences camping with the family: Depends on how you define ((priceless))?
Trial run Friday night outside our house.
People that began the night in the *luxury* condo: 9
People that remained in the *luxury* condo until morning despite whipping Colorado winds threatening to blow them to directly to Oz: 9 !
Shocked parents: 2 !

So, about the bungee jumping. Sorry to be misleading.

We actually do allow our children to bungee jump at their leisure anytime they request to do so.

Remember how I said we say "yes" when some people think we should be saying "no" ?

Case in point!

Kidding. Oh, just kidding.

I repeat myself often just in case anyone who happens to be reading on any given day has not also been reading for the past 3 years or so.

Sometimes, I forget to repeat enough.

The Man is a power lineman.

His annual company picnic has bucket truck rides for the kids.

Safety harnesses required.

Cute little colorful harnesses were in fact purchased this year for the very occasion of scaring small non-lineman-people silly by taking them way up high in the sky to become intimately acquainted with the clouds since that's what their daddy does for a living.

Because everyone knows: If daddy gets to ride in a bucket truck, his beloved offspring should get to ride in a bucket truck.

************

Went to some super nice great friend's (they invited our gaggle over, didn't they? Um, yes. They did. SUPER NICE GREAT friends.) house yesterday for a bbq. (Their dad also gets to ride in bucket trucks for work!)

They have 5 kids and a huge casa. Came from NY to CO a couple of years ago.

Those 5000+ square feet of theirs nearly made me lose my blessed contentment entirely.

I've been working to regain it all morning.

The number of bunkbeds that would fit in this place!

That's all I could say to myself the whole time we were there.

I may have drooled just a tiny bit while taking the tour.

((((Embarrassing))))

Kidding. Oh, just kidding.

But seriously, I was drooling on the inside thinking about what we could do with all that space for young ones.

To me, that home was like a big heavenly shoe!

And, I had to tell myself to read what I had just written about contentment.

I've got all I need. And more. And more. And more.

Because the kids-packed-like-sardines lifestyle has its advantages too, you know?

Think of the family unity we're enjoying.

No privacy for children can be a really good thing.

I mean, good grief.

Who wants to clean 5,000 square feet!?

Probably not this old woman.

So...this is what American kids do for fun?

Restoring Resourcefulness

Do you think it's kind of a lost art? The ability to make do with what we've got and find ways to manage our homes with a mindset of abundance and contentment with less stuff?

Although we women who stay home may not personally generate income, we can play a significant role in contributing to our family's finances by being careful with what we've got to work with. Through conserving and managing our resources thoughtfully, intentionally, as a good and faithful steward, we can be life givers to our husbands - the bread winners - by expressing thankfulness for his diligent effort to provide for our family's needs, and being satisfied when those needs are met.

Our family just completed our 4th $100 week for groceries to help pay off medical bills for M & F. During the course of the month we were able to save $400-$500 by being extremely vigilant with the grocery funds, watching closely what was being purchased at the store, buying essentials only, and thinking creatively of ways to eat hearty, healthy, and frugal meals. This savings went a long way toward those Children's Hospital expenses! And all 9 of us were all well fed.

We have such enormous excess literally at our fingertips every single day. It's woven into every aspect of our current American culture. We're just so filthy rich, and quite frankly, pretty blind to it. Excessive consumerism is normal to us it can be challenging to even really see. We want what we want when we want it, fast. And it's ALWAYS available. Day or night we can buy just about anything. One click shopping! Doing without a non-essential can be seen as unnecessary and even deprivation. Not so! Doing without a non-essential can be one of the most rewarding, liberating experiences we can encounter as we realize just how much we have and how little of it we actually need.

As our family grows, I for one am learning much about this valuable tool called resourcefulness. I am beginning to recognize that I can bless my husband and help alleviate some of the pressure he feels to provide by thoughtfully utilizing what we've got to work with and not constantly yearning for more. Of anything. It's very exciting to me! That's why I've used so many (!) as I've written this! (I even had to take a few out due to excessive over-punctuating which may be perceived as shouting!)

If I allow my gratitude to grow along with our family, being truly thankful for the things we do have, my contentment is a gift to him, to myself, and to our children. Because we all know, if momma can't be grateful for what she has, aint nobody going to learn to be grateful for what they have.

Go ahead, ask this boy.

Adorable and handsome scrumptious little luv bug of a most precious manchild, Tyden, "is shoving a popcorn kernel way up your nose a really fantastic idea?"

I'm guessing he would say, "well, no. No it is not." Late night ER visits for foreign-object-from- a-rather-small-nostril-extraction-after-your-parents-try-unsuccessfully-for-hours-on-end-to-remove-that-blasted-thing-while-asking-you-repeatedly-what-on-earth-you-were-thinking-boy are not the most fun way to spend a summer evening. And dad thought he was going to go to bed early to catch up on some zzzzzzz's. Ha! That's what he gets for making plans in a house like this one.

Making up for lost slumber, I baked this to raise my mood along with my blood sugar level this morning.
Recipe: Hold onto your hats, this is a good one.
"Mom's Compilation"
Left over oatmeal: (How much? Why, the exact amount that was leftover, of course!)
whole wheat flour: some
regular flour: more than the wheat flour
eggs: 2
vanilla: a scosh
cinnamon: a few teaspoons
brown sugar: some
white sugar: some
vanilla yogurt: a bit
milk: enough to make it sort of pourable
flaxseed: a sprinkling
baking soda and powder: a shake
blueberries: enough to line the bottom of the pan
brown sugar on top
I must admit, it was just what Dr. ordered. You know, last night. I believe he specifically told Tyden while carefully pulling snotty seeds from his nose that his mother must take a risk throwing random ingredients together to mix and bake in a feeble attempt at producing a delicious treat to get through the long AM that was approaching far too quickly. This was right after he asked the (obviously, full of great big brains) child, "why did you put popcorn up your nose son?" To which the boy replied: "Uh, I dunno." Right.

Hey, you know what? This one dressed herself. Nice work babydoll.
Now keep strange stuff out of that cute little nose sweetie pie, okey dokey? Alrighty then.

Ethiopan restaurant in Colorado Springs: Uchenna

To my surprise

A new Ethiopian restaurant recently opened in town. It is the only one in Colorado Springs. Super excited for the kids to have the opportunity for some good home cooking, I asked Meadow and Flint if they would like to go eat injera? I was certain they must be missing it terribly! To my complete shock, they said no thanks. "We want to eat pizza."

I was stunned last week also when it occured to me to ask Meadow if she still remembered Amharic. Yesterday marked 4 months since we returned home, and we no longer need to use our translation book to have conversations. I had noticed although their vocabulary is certainly limited (especially for Flint), she and Flint speak to each other exclusively in English now. She said she does not recall Amharic at all.

Wow. I knew they would lose much of their Ethiopian-ness, (I'm sure there is a more technically, politically correct term to use, one that is a real word, I just don't know what it is) but to see it happen so quickly is really quite sad. We gave the appropriate line to the social workers during our homestudy about working to preserve our kids' heritage...etc. And, I truly thought we would be better at it. Life moves along at such a quick click, it is difficult to actually make the effort in addition to everything else that must be done to incorporate Ethiopian traditions into our routines. I suppose the "Americanizing" that is taking place is inevitable. Especially when the children come to the US young.

Not feeling stellar about my Intercountry Adoptive Parent status right about now.
We are going out to eat injera. Like it or not.

Then it was Father's Day

How country chicks roll

Wanted: Adoptive Parents: Must Want Children

Seems obvious, right?
Sometimes it's not so clear.

When they say it's not wise to go into adoption with a hero mentality, to "save an orphan" I must agree. It is smart to make a distinction between admirable, generous philanthropy and a true desire to parent children.

Daily. Nightly. Weekly. Monthly. Yearly. Until. Always. Forever. Parenting.

When adopted kids join a family, the noble savior mindset is not the exact right approach. It lacks the long term endurance, tenderness and kindness and benevolence, even in the face of ingratitude necessary to actually parent. Let's face it, kids are not widely known for their heartfelt appreciation of the magnitude of the enormous role parents play in their young lives. Not until they are older anyway. Parenting is an unparalleled commitment.

Children will be children. They will behave the way children behave.

They will surely be quite messy, occasionally purely thoughtless. They will undoubtedly require indefinite, sometimes mind boggling repetition and consistency. They might look you square in the eye with contempt on their face and loudly pronounce "yuck" without a hint of shame at the meal you just spent an hour laboring over. Some are able to vomit at will. They may whine. Perhaps a lot. They have bodily functions. They may not always control them well. They will ask you for a snack while you are still cleaning up the lunch they finished only 10 short minutes ago. They need Doctor visits and new shoes because they mysteriously lost their perfectly good old ones and consequences and extra-curricular activities and nurture and education and playtime and prayer and kisses and counsel and compassion and correction and they never leave you without extraordinary preparation and effort and a willing, capable fill-in replacement in your absence. They could pull out 16 new outfits to wear in a single day. They will fight with their siblings. They may "bring out the worst" in the children you already had. There is a chance they will pull down their pants and urinate in the kiddie pool while you are filling with the garden hose. (Oh yes, there is.) Without question, they will interrupt you with little or no regard for how important your task or conversation is. If they are babies they will cry and keep their moms and dads up at night. If they are big kids they may cry and keep their moms and dads up at night. They might cry a lot for no apparent reason whatsoever. Sometimes they are desperately needy. Other times they coldly rebuff you. They might make you cry. Possibly more tears than you knew you had.

They probably won't care about the time or money or tedious, tiresome work you invested in bringing them home. Even if it drained your bank account. Even if your vacation time and cash is gone for the next 2 years. Or 3. Even if you came home and lost your job and health insurance and a flood hit your city and your house is gone and you have to find somewhere else to live and you haven't even had time to properly bond.

Nor should they.

In turn, they will bring indescribable, immeasurable, countless joy as they grow and change and learn and develop right before your very eyes. You will see God's faithful, mighty hand touch their life and touch yours and you will wonder how you ever became the recipient of such uncontainable blessing.

They will teach you more than you could ever teach them. They will make your heart stretch and fill up and feel love deeper than you've experienced.

These lessons, this stretching, that love may not come easily.

If a person has a heart to care for the orphan that is really, really wonderful. As an adoptive parent my advice would be, send a check. Offer respite care for an adoptive parent. Help with a fundraiser. Take a missions trip to an orphanage. Sponsor a child. Sponsor several.

If a person wants to parent children who were biologically born to someone else, adoption is a beautiful, transforming, life altering for all involved parties, option.

I didn't realize the extent of this difference before we adopted.
Fortunately, we are a family that really wanted children.
I'm so humbly grateful for that.

Splash at the Park

Like the Fruit of the Loom under the swim shorts?

Summer hotness trend setting right there.

Just wait, you'll see. Next year, ALL the boys will be sporting this fine look.

Who said this was a fun place? It probably wasn't Flint.

I was trying to think of a caption for this because it's just humorous. I mean, look at that face on J. Seriously. But, I've been having computer problems this morning, wasting oodles of time, and subsequently all that's running through my mind is @#$%&^&!

And, well, that's not a very nice thing to say.

This series will rock any American's world.

Thinking about what each one of my children need from me and what is essential to nurture their hearts and minds, individually, I've become convinced everyone's love language is quality time. Everyone's. Especially children's. There is simply no substitute for hours invested getting to know my child thoroughly, really listening to them, reading together, looking them in the eye when they speak, playing on the floor or in the grass, entering their world, instructing them, making them feel special and important and worthy - not because they are the center of the universe or should be catered to - rather so they are able to learn to serve capably, give generously, love immeasurably, grow exponentially, forgive easily - because they are His workmanship, in my hands to steward for a short while. No material possession present, hug, pat on the back, act of service, or word of encouragement will ever replace our most precious gift of time - the fleeting, elusive concept we seem to have trouble locking hold of. We are all thirsty for it, craving it, in need of it. Sheer time is required so that we may engage them without rushing, and be free to liberally, abundantly offer presents, big hugs, pats on the back, acts of service, and kind words of encouragement.

We all spend our valuable time in one way or another. The question is how well?
It's what I've been asking myself lately. My answer is often not what it should be. I squander and waste it easily, take it for granted, let it slip through my fingers then wonder where it went....

The reality is my tomorrows with them here, under my care, are limited. They will run out.

To be apt to teach, I must be present, putting in my time, or I will miss this one opportunity. And it won't come around again.