What Happened?!

This morning was off to a great start. Before the kids even left for school I had done three loads of laundry and one load of dishes. Unfortunately, that tells you what state my house was in over the weekend... I won't judge you if you don't judge me:)

Anyhow, while I ran One to school, the dang dog had a field day with the dirty pans that I had left on the counter (gasp! I know everyone else is the FLY lady and goes to bed with a sparkling sink). She broke one of my dishes that I bake with often so that was a bummer, but on the up side she licked all the other pots and pans clean. (Does that count or do I still need to wash them?)

Right now all 6 of the kids are playing Twister, every game and puzzle from the bottom three shelves of our game closet has been emptied out, along with the blocks. The upstairs is littered with the 40 million paper dolls the big girls have been making (who knew an American Girl doll magazine could provide such entertainment?! And we all thought it was the actual doll.)

It's all good, though. My house may look like it vomited toys, my kitchen like it was ransacked, but there are happy noises on the inside and that makes it all better:) Hope you all have a happy Monday too!!

p.s. I just threw a toy water pitcher up the stairs. I thought it was empty-it was not. At least I can say that I mopped today now! Maybe that will count as my shower too...

Good Effort

Great comments and suggestions from friends after my last post-thanks guys!

On Friday we decided that we would try to get as much done as we possibly could for a couple of reasons. The first being that we want to hurry through this process because the sooner we get it done, the sooner we get to Ukraine. Second, to do each of these things on individual days would be a lot of time and a lot of gas.

Because we were going to be gone all day and well into the evening, I pulled the girlies out of school at ten so that we could head down to town. I had my doctor appointment for my physical at eleven. Did I mention that I had SEVEN kids with me? Ages 10, 7, 5, 4, 3, 3, and 8 months. It was a full suburban. I was prepared to bribe, if needed, but the kids were all really well behaved. They especially liked the part where they did the blood draw. Several of the kids were worried at first about how they would get home, assuming that the nurse was taking ALL my blood out of my body. As we paraded through the halls of the medical center, I got lots of looks and even one old guy dragging an oxygen tank behind him yelled to me, "When the h... do you have any spare time?" haha. My kids don't really look alike, so the group as a whole could have passed as siblings. Or not at all related, however you want to look at it. Anyhow, they were very well behaved and that was the most important part. phew.

Next we had about an hour to kill before Huz could meet me at the credit union to have all of our documents notarized so we bought donuts, ate sandwiches and drove to the park in my old neighborhood where the kids played, stopped in at a friends house to borrow a spoon (to feed the baby her food) and a bathroom. Then we packed up the 'burb again.

I met Huz at the credit union and we had everything notarized quick as a flash. Thank you notary lady! I can't remember your name, but you were very nice and I liked your outfit! Next, we were off to be fingerprinted for our USCIS paperwork. To give a little perspective, we had already been in the car for almost two hours at this point and were headed for another 45 minutes. Then, we were going to need to at some point drive back home which would require another two hours in the car. Yuck. Somehow, I managed to forget to bring the address to the fingerprinting place, but I knew the general idea of where it would be (maybe it was because I had to home school for an hour, feed a baby, get 6 kids ready and out the door, make sure I had all the other documents we'd need, make lunch for everyone and pack baby's diaper bag and a kid diaper bag. I didn't even attempt to shower). Huz was not very excited about not knowing exactly where we were headed, but it didn't really bother me. It's all good, right? Once we got to the general area it took us about two minutes to figure out which building it was.

We decided I would go inside to see how long the wait was before we unloaded all the kids. This turned out to be the brilliant move of the day. The office was empty. Well, actually, there was me, a front desk lady and a guy in an office. After giving the lady my paperwork and explaining that I knew I didn't have an appointment but that they could use the SIM number on my receipt to pull my account and could I please be seen today if they weren't too busy? I was told that the paper I had was not an appointment. Duh. Isn't that what I just said? However, through my mind the phrase "more flies with honey, more flies with honey" was running and I explained my situation once again. The lady said she'd have to see if the guy in the office had time to check. That was fine, almost funny even as I was the ONLY other person in the office:) Anyhow, the guy comes out, says that I don't have an appointment, and so for a third time now I explain my situation and he grumpily mumbles about having to look me up in the data base and if I'm not in the data base there's nothing he can do... I call after him, "Thanks so much for trying! I really appreciate your effort." And I said it nicely, not sarcastically. The lady and I are sitting there, watching him through his office windows. Every couple minutes he calls out to us, "I can't do anything if you're not in the system." and "You only got this letter five days ago, how fast do you think they are?" yada yada yada. What I was thinking was that my friend had come in the day after receiving her receipt and was in the system, so five days should be plenty of time, right? Wrong. I wasn't in the system. I thanked the lady, thanked the guy and told them I'd be back as soon as I was in the system, thanks for trying...

So, that was a bummer. But, there was no point in being upset or even bugged about it, they did what they could and I did what I could, so what more can we ask for? I did find out this weekend that I can place a call to the USCIS to have us put into the data base. Now we just have to find another day this next week that we can jet down there.

If I let myself, sometimes I feel a little anxiety. We have friends over in Ukraine right now trying to complete an adoption with a sweet teenage girl who is having a hard time deciding for sure what she wants to do. Stay in Ukraine and be homeless in 3 years or go to America and have a home and a family. It seems like an easy decision, but would YOU be willing to give up your language, your land, your life as you know it and embrace someone you hardly know and trust them to take care of you and provide for you when your own flesh and blood didn't/couldn't? Anyhow, it stresses me out a little because I'm fairly certain that we will have a similar experience with our BoyOne when we get there. I could be totally wrong, but that rarely happens. (J/K:)) But seriously, it would be really easy for me to say no thanks on this Ukraine thing, this isn't sure enough for me. I want to know that everything is going to work out just perfect before I drop that kind of money and fly half way around the world for three weeks, come home and do it again in another week.

Then, I have to remind myself who is in charge. Just because I have plans made for the next day and likely know how the day will go, doesn't mean that it's all going to happen. I just think I know how it will go. I just think I know the sun will rise in the morning. I just think that my day will go as it is laid out on the calendar. I don't really know all of this, but I have faith that it will happen and that's what I need for Ukraine. Faith. I'd like a 100% guarantee as to what will go on, but I need to be faithful and know that I do have a 100% guarantee in Him. I know that He is the creator of all things. I know that He is the ultimate planner and preparer of all things good. I know that when something bad happens, He didn't cause it, but He will turn it into something good-if I let Him. I know that 'if He leads me to it, He'll see me through it.' I know that He is the only real guarantee that I can have of anything. If I follow the feelings and promptings I have and the inspiration I receive, where I go is where He wants me to be and He will make sure that whatever is supposed to happen does. I know that He is good and by following Him, good things will happen.

And then we drove back to Kaysville for dance and grocery shopping and dinner and then drove home just in time to put everyone's tired little bodies to bed.

Dossier

Fancy Nancy would like that word "dossier." You say it like this: doss ee ay. Ooh-la-la.

It is a big set of documents that an adoptive family must put together to be submitted to the government of the country from which they are adopting. I'd heard from a lot of people that it was a lot of work, frustrating, and time consuming. I had my expectations set really, really low. That, I've decided is always a good thing to do. Except for sometimes, you really just can't set your expectations low enough and are still unpleasantly surprised (the school). But, it's all good-right?:)

When I received the list of items required, the list all fit on one page. This, to me, was good news! In fact, there were only thirteen things listed on the page. That, I decided is totally doable!

The first thing listed was the home study, which is done. Check! The next was the USCIS paperwork that I previously blogged about. That can be the most time consuming of the bunch, so I'm not looking forward to the potential l-o-n-g time it could take, but I feel I'm prepared for that, thanks to all those who went before me and prepped me. The next three things on the list, we already have! That was a surprise and a very pleasant one! Number six is a medical statement. This is something we have to do. They want to make sure that we are healthy and aren't about to die. This makes sense, but is probably the thing that takes the next most amount of time (I don't think that sentence is grammatically correct, but oh well). Both Huz and my appointments and blood work results should be back by the end of next week at the very latest. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe because I said that I shouldn't have said that I am un-jinxing it... The next three things are forms that I print off of my computer and fill out. Easy peasy. Number 10 is a paper we have to get from the county accessor that proves we have a house and that said house exists:) Again, nothing too bad, just a trip down to town. Then we need copies of our passports, which we have, thankfully. If we had to get our passports that would hold us up a bit. The final two things are print outs from the computer as well.

Once the above items are collected, they all have to be notarized. We are doing this tomorrow. All but the medical paperwork and the assessor's paper will be notarized. Woo hoo! And, if I can pull it off, I will stop by the assessor to get that paper on the way. Cross your fingers! About half of these documents must include two or three copies that also must be notarized. Those copies have been printed and are in the pile to take to the notary. And just so those of you who have done this before don't panic, by copies, I mean ORIGINAL copies. We're covered:)

Next, we send them to our agency via fax or email and if everything looks right, we drive ourselves up to the state capital and pay an outrageous fee to have every. single. thing. apostilled. Another Fancy Nancy word. For the majority of the population who has never heard of an apostille, it is a notary that notarizes your notary. Say that five times fast. Haha:) I'm hoping to have everything to the state capital by the end of next week, with the exception of the USCIS, which I have no control over. Then I make two copies of every single piece of paper. One for me, one for the agency. The foreign government gets the real deal.

After everything is apostilled, I drive back to the capital to pick this pricey bunch of papers up and ship them off to the wonderful Ellie, our adoption agent. I feel like it is okay to put her name on her, especially if it ends up getting her some business. (hint hint to anyone who may be thinking of adopting... I'd be happy to pass along her info!) She translates all. of. it. and off it goes to Ukraine.

Good luck to me! I wish I could jet over to Ukraine right now for a quick little visit!

Brownies

Oh dear. I just went down to my food storage room to get a brownie mix and guess what. My year's supply is all gone. Every single one of them. Gone. As in I made and ate them all (with just a little help from my family). How in the world does one go through her year's supply in 5 months?!

Oh wait, now I remember. Our new school.

His bed

This is a picture of BoyOne's bed at the orphanage. Basically, most of his worldly possessions are on that bed. There may be a few other items that fit in a shoebox in the office, but other than that, this is it.

In case you can't tell what's on there, I know it's hard to see, there is a cassette tape, a letter from me, the manilla envelopes that the letters and pictures came to him in, the picture album we sent home with him from his time here, and a charger. I'm thinking that the charger may be to his phone. He is away from the orphanage at a "camp" getting "fresh air" to help him (and the other kids that were sent there) be healthy. Anyhow, we were able to talk to him a few times the first week he was gone, but now his phone is dead, so I thought that maybe the charger on his bed is for his phone. As you can see, theirs is a very nice orphanage, which makes me feel a little better about things. It still makes me feel sad that all those kids that are there have so little to call their very own. Most of them have absolutely nothing from their past that they brought with them. No baby pictures, no toys, no fuzzy blankets, not even their clothes are their own. It made my heart hurt for them. How would it be to know that you had absolutely nothing or nobody once you were out those doors. It's hard enough to imagine a life like that, let alone have that life be yours.

On a lighter note, Four says the funniest things. It really lightens things up around here. Last night she told Huz that her foot was asleep and that it was snoring (tingling, maybe?). A minute ago she asked me to take the crust (peel) off her apple. haha:)

His Impeccable Timing

Perhaps the most important thing that we can remember, when our life is not going as we had expected, when things are not happening as we had planned or even hoped, is that everything is going as He has planned.

Airport trouble

So, for whatever reason the computer won't let me center this or change the font size. Whatever...

Huz and I were able to spend a couple days in Scottsdale this week. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. I think one of my favorite things about AZ is the citrus trees. I love seeing the orange and yellow fruits hanging in the middle of the leaves. So cool!!

I think when Huz and I arrived to the airport we were both thinking how much easier it would be to get through security without the kids. We've flown a lot with the kids. And by we I mean me. It's much easier now that they are older (but sadly, I think our flying days have ended now that everyone is full price it's cheaper to drive. bummer.). There's nothing like a single lady walking onto a plane with four kids that makes the hearts of all the other passengers sink. For the most part the kids do really well. It's just that tricky security line where we have to take all the shoes off and fold up all the strollers and get the toddler to walk through the metal detector to the stranger... You know. Just a lot of work. So we thought without the kids we'd breeze right through.

Hahaha.

Our first problem was when I thought you could carry on 6 ounces of liquid instead of the 3 or 4 that it really is. I wasn't planning on checking any luggage, I just had a carry on. When I got to the scanner and saw that I had too many ounces, I took them out of the bag and handed them to the attendant and told him that they had too many ounces and that we could just throw them away (goodbye to twenty dollars worth of lotion.:( ) Instead of simply throwing them out I got a lecture on how they only allow the 3 or 4 ounces. I kept nodding my head in agreement and apologizing. Then he went on to pull more things out of my bag like my face cleaner and deodorant and tell me how they could be considered liquid but they weren't. I'm thinking, fine, I don't care, put it down, let me through. And all the people behind me were thinking "SWEAR WORD!! COME ON LADY!!" I felt like turning around and making an announcement, "I am fully cooperating with this TSA employee. In fact I offered to just throw my stuff away and he wants to have a conversation. I am being agreeable. Please, don't hate me." FINALLY he sends me to the full body scanner. I really don't care about this too much. I don't love that the employees can see everything, but hey most of them aren't rock stars or super models either. Whatever. And hey, it helps us all be safe. And I am all for getting to and from in safety. (I forgot to mention that I have anxiety when I fly without my kids. I don't like to travel with Huz because I worry about both of us dying...) So, safety is extremely important.

So I finally get promoted to the full body scanner. I walk in, assume the position, the scanner circles me, I step out where I am approached by two new airport employees. Seriously?! They tell me that I have an unidentified object in my back pants pocket and that I will need to have a pat down. I didn't know that I had anything in my back pocket so I asked if I could take said object out. They said yes. I pulled a hair elastic out. It didn't even have a metal part to it. All elastic. Harmless, I thought, but I'm sure Matt Damon could do something tricky with it in his next Bourne movie... So, now I'm pulled aside and have to assume another position while I am patted down. Again, not my favorite thing, but I don't care. At least we're going to be safe. I figure if they do this to me over a hair band then they guy carrying a bomb for sure won't get through, right? But now I'm starting to feel a little embarassed because they tell Huz he can just go around me because "this lady's going to be a while." And he goes around me and doesn't even make eye contact!! He's embarassed by me!! And then all the other people who were in line behind me when I held up the conveyor belt are now passing me giving me dirty looks of annoyance. My desire to make an announcement has only increased. I so badly want to say over a microphone, "it's a hair elastic folks. The kind without the metal. That's what this is all about. I promise I'm just a stay at home mom."

If you thought that was the end of the story, it's not. After they clear me from the pat down, I am met by yet another employee and told that I have to have my hands swabbed because there is a substance on them. What?!?! You have got to be kidding me. By now Huz has collected all his stuff and is walking away from me towards the escalator so as to ensure nobody thinks we're together. They swab my hands and while we wait for the results I tell the lady that I put lotion on about 20 minutes ago. She tells me that I shouldn't put lotion on before going through security. Really?!?! Has anyone else heard this before?! I cannot be the only woman who has put lotion on 20 minutes before going through airport security. COME. ON. Finally I am cleared. Who knew I could be such a potential threat?! I do look slightly menacing in my worn out jeans and black t-shirt.

This whole process takes so long that we are nearly the last people on our plane which for some reason annoys all the passengers. I don't really get this. The plane can't leave until a certain time anyway and it's not like they're holding the plane for us, so who cares if we are the last ones on. And we are adults. It's not like I'm the last one on with the four kids.

Anyhow, we finally made it and I'm glad to have gone through this comical series of events here and now. I'm a little nervous about the flight to Ukraine, obviously. It will be a really long flight over large bodies of water and I'll have to go through lots of security. But don't worry, I won't have any hair elastics in my back pocket and I will not try to carry on any lotions. And I certainly won't be applying any lotions before during or after the flight. Good grief.

Valentines

I love holidays, I really do. When we were first married I planned this Easter egg hunt for Huz. It had 12 clues, each hidden in a plastic egg, each plastic egg hidden somewhere in the house or yard. At each egg/clue there was a gift. I made up rhyming clues and a long rhyming poem to start the whole thing.

I WAS SOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

I could hardly stand it. I told him that I had a BIG egg hunt planned for him. He didn't act nearly as excited as I felt, so instead of being deflated, I carried the excitement for him! Don't get me wrong, he was excited, just not as excited as his lovely wif. (By the way, that's not a typo, I call him Huz, he calls me wif.) So, I continued to let the excitement build until I just. couldn't. stand. it any longer. On the night before Easter I asked him if he wanted to do his egg hunt. I waited until it was midnight so that it would technically be Easter. We obviously hadn't been married for long because he said, "no, I can wait 'til the morning."

I said, "Well I can't wait! Get your shoes on!"

And ever since then, he's learned that questions like that aren't really questions, and he's learned how to appropriately respond to those "questions."

Wow. I'm way off track. So, like I was saying, I love holidays. But each year they get pushed more and more to the sidelines. Holidays have taken on new meanings, as they tend to do with each year bringing more life experiences and new meanings to things. So, where once I was extreme, I'm probably closer to opposite that now. When Saturday rolled around and Huz wanted to take the girls to see Gnomeo and Juliet for Valentines Day, I thought "great! Done!" And I was going to leave it at that. In fact, it was more than I had even thought of doing.

Until Monday morning when all the girlies wanted to wear Valentiney shirts to school. ??!! Thankfully, with four girls in the house, there is more than enough pink around and we threw some Valentiney outfits together. Sweet, I thought. Done.

Not so. When Huz met us at gymnastics, he had bought each of the girls a donut (a favorite of theirs) and brought them a stress ball (from work). What?!?! Is this the same guy that used to say on Christmas Eve at noon that he needed to go get gas and would then be gone for four hours to Christmas shop?

To make matters worse, he had also bought a picture of Jesus for our house. (the buying of the picture of Jesus is not the worse part. It was the fact that he had done something and I hadn't) We have one that matches our piano and hangs above it, but at this house the piano is in its own room and so we don't get to look at Jesus all the time like we used to. It was a very thoughtful purchase. We hung it in what may seem like an odd spot, a little indent by our bedroom. But, it's the perfect place. We see it coming in and out of our room, the kids see it as they come down the stairs, we can see it from the loft upstairs and from the kitchen, dining and family room. So, it's in a great spot. In fact, last night as I took Two upstairs to bed, she paused at the top of the stairs and smiled and said, "I like to see Jesus." Perfect.

I came back down the stairs to find he had bought us caramel apples. And, as if that weren't enough, when I went to bed, there, sitting on my nightstand was a travel guide to Ukraine. It was so thoughtful of him, all of it. And I felt like loser of the year.

So, in an effort to redeem myself today, I have destroyed the kitchen and neglected my kids while I have attempted to create a lovely post Valentines Day meal of heart shaped meatballs, heart shaped rolls, chocolate caramel cookies, cinnamon rolls and pink and red layered jello. Now I can rest easy tonight knowing that I celebrated the day the right way!:) haha

Three

Tonight my sisters and their husbands and my little nephew came up to our house for dinner. It was great. I love to get together with my sisters. We called my parents on skype so that they could be a part of the fun. Modern technology is fabulous!!

When it was Three's turn to talk to grandma, she said, "Let me show you a picture of BoyTwo." She grabbed his picture and held it up to the camera.

"Now let me show you a picture of BoyOne," and she held his picture up to the camera.

This was funny because my parents have seen their pictures before but Three was basically introducing them.

"Who are they? Are they your friends?" my mom asked, pretending she didn't know.

"No," said Three, "they're my brothers. They're from Kranian and they speak different languages."

USCIS, part 1

So, here goes adoption information. Some people, whose blogs I have stalked, have heavily documented their adoption process which I have found extremely helpful. Thanks, all you people that I don't know and the few of you that I do:) I find that for me, personally, the more information I have, the better. Some people do better when they know less about potential happenings, but I tend to want to find out as much as I can. So, I am going to document things as we go through this paperwork chase of the adoption process. If it ends up being helpful to someone great. If anything it may prove to be educational as to the process of international adoption. Or it may just be a lot of words that people don't want to read:)

First things first. A home study needs to be done. Our agency that we are using has a social worker that is licensed through them to do international home studies. Not just any licensed social worker can do a home study if you are applying for foreign adoption, they have a special designation for international work. Their social worker has already met with us and we had already completed some of the paperwork that was needed from when we hosted the boys back in October. I have to say that this particular lady is pretty awesome. If she lived closer, I think we'd be hanging out. We're eerily similar. Our husbands share the same name, and one of our kids do too. We almost had two kids with the same name but they ended up naming their daughter after a grandmother. Our favorite colors are the same, hobbies, quirks, we even have some of the same furniture in our houses arranged in the same way in the same bedroom. Wild, I know.

So, the home study needs to be done and sent in either with or right behind a lovely form called the I-600a. It's a petition to adopt a child. Basically, if I understand this right, we are submitting an application to our government to be allowed to adopt. The have to see our birth certificates to make sure we are really alive, our marriage certificate to be sure we are really married, and our home study to be sure we have been investigated and found able/capable of adopting. The cost is almost $1000. The nice thing about this process is that while it is costly, the amounts to be paid are spread out over a few months.

This little form took all of ten minutes to fill out and sign. The forms that went with it were easy too, with the exception of the home study which was more time consuming. But, remember we had already done most of it before we hosted. Over all, this was not bad.

HOWEVER...

...there is always a catch, right? Because I am a blog stalker I have seen many many cases where this form has been a major hold up. They will send it back for really little things like leaving a line blank instead of putting "unknown" or "n/a." A few lucky people have had it back in a couple weeks time, others have waited 6 weeks. Besides being an inconvenience as far as the waiting game goes, it can cause problems when you're up against a time frame. For example, trying to complete an adoption before the Ukrainian government meets again to vote for a moratorium. We will be assigned a case worker as soon as our documents are received by the USCIS and then we just wait for that approval. There have been a few families who, because of case workers lack of empathy and emotion and incentive, missed a deadline by literally HOURS. These case workers have even been fully aware of said deadlines and showed serious lack of compassion, which is irritating. So, we are hoping to have a nice case worker, who doesn't mind doing their job. If all else fails, I've heard that placing a call to Senator Hatch can be quite effective:) We're lucky here in Utah to have elected officials that care enough to become involved in matters such as these. There are many other states where the elected officials will not do anything for anyone that does not involve them benefiting monetarily. So, I'm just planning on there being a part two to the USCIS part of the process (or even a part 2, 3, and hopefully not 4). This way, I won't be disappointed if/when it happens and then if it is smooth sailing, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

While we wait for our government approval, we will be preparing a document to be submitted to the Ukrainian government (SDA) called a dossier. It's like an international home study. All of the documents have to be apostilled which is a fancy word for paying a lot of money to have a piece of paper notarized at the state capitol. A lot of these docs have to be notarized and then apostilled. Hopefully we can get that all put together pretty quickly. We'll see.

In the meantime, life goes on and some of our friends are in Ukraine right this very second trying to adopt the kids they hosted this fall. It's exciting to read about their experiences. I think it will be great fun to go to this country. I'm trying to find out some information about it that will make it a meaningful trip. There is so much history there and so many things left over from their communist era. We will have to go for three weeks. At the end of that three weeks is a ten day waiting period. Lots of people stay during that ten day wait and hang out at the orphanage with the children. I would LOVE to do that. But, I'm just guessing that we'll end up coming home in between. It'll be hard to leave our kids for that long and hard to find someone who is able to take care of them for that long. At the end of the ten day wait, at least one parent has to travel back to Ukraine to get the kids. This trip can take anywhere from a few days to another week. That's all for now!

p.s. I bought BoyTwo some pjs the other day. Huz made fun of me when I showed him them. They were Christmas pajamas and I hadn't even noticed. Oh well:)

Reflecting

Lots of things have been making me reflect lately. In particular, I have thought a lot about how the Lord answers prayers. Prayers where we ask for direction and guidance, prayers for peace, prayers for health, all kind of prayers. It has been interesting to me to see how my life has unfolded since moving up here. It was never in my plans to home school, yet it has been a real blessing. Too funny that it was such an enormous headache to get to that point.

I have started watching a neighbor's kids for her while she is at work. One of the kids is an 8 month old baby girl. She is stinkin' cute. Really. I don't usually think that babies are cute, but let me tell you, this one is a doll. Having had my kids fairly close together, mainly the last three, I didn't realize that this meant they don't really have any memories of babies being at our house. (because they were all too young to remember) Which is quite ironic, being that it seems to be my only memory. haha. With One being at home during the mornings and finishing up school work fairly quickly, she has had time to interact with this baby and with Four. She and Four have built a sweet little relationship, one that without One being home schooled may not have happened yet. Both of them look forward to "recess" time (when school work is finished) so that they can play together.

The other day, One picked up the baby we watch, hereto known as GG, who had happened to just have a blow out diaper. I can't tell you how many of these diapers I have changed over the years. The number is endless. Somehow though, One has no recollection of such an event. It was hilarious to watch her face go from laughing at the giant toot to a creased eye brow as the smell started to increase. The creased brow quickly turned to panic as the poop began to leak all over the two of them.

"What do I do?!" she cried out to me, holding GG as far away from her as possible.

And this is only one of many experiences she is getting to have. And I am very glad. Very thankful. I'm not going to be having any more babies (WooHoo!!!) but I don't want any of my kids growing up not knowing what to do with one.

I heard something this past weekend, a reminder to have faith not only in the Lord, but also in His timing. This is something that I will probably have to remind myself of for a really long time, patience not being one of my better qualities. Another thing that I heard was that when God gives you something to do, it's not your battle, but His and He will make sure that it gets done. Sometimes we feel like we cannot do what is expected of us or what we feel we should do, but thankfully, it's not up to us to make it happen, God will provide the way-we just have to be willing. This doesn't mean that we don't have to try, or that it won't be hard, just that we don't have to figure out every little detail, that we don't have to know exactly how something is going to play out, that God will get it done.

My mom and dad live in beautiful Tennessee. Seriously, love that place!! There are churches everywhere. Everywhere!! And they all have billboards or marquis with words of inspiration on them-it's nice. Recently my mom saw one that she shared with me. I have tried to remind myself of it on days when life seemed a little too "not how I had planned." It reminds me just who is in charge and that it's all good. The sign said,

"The task ahead of you is never as great as the power behind you."

second time today

Just read a quote from Gandhi that I have a love/hate relationship with, but I wanted to share.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

Love it, because it is so true. Hate it because it is so true.

I wonder how many snow days Gandhi took and how many pans of brownies he consumed before he overcame his natural man. hmmm...

hooky

Today we're having a self-declared snow day.

Last night it snowed a whopping 1 inch and due to the fact that Three only has school 1/2 day anyway, One same thing, and Two cries every day there is school, I decided that our time would be better spent at home.

So far, the girls have all had a long bath and are currently eating brownies. What more does a girl need?!

"sigh"

Today was long. It feels like it should be midnight, but it's only 8:30 p.m.-and I'm a night person! I just pulled some ice cream out of the freezer and it's sitting on the counter, thawing just enough for me to scoop.

The house work part of having kids is driving me nuts right now. My house usually looks like a war zone, toys and kids everywhere. Today was no different. As long as everything underneath is clean, I usually don't care so much about the toys. The kids love to set up American Girl doll cities on the stairs, Polly Worlds on the pool table, frame the entry rug (carpet remnant is more appropriate a term) with jigsaw puzzles (at least they're put together).

Sometimes, okay, a lot of times, they like to leave this stuff out, which I get. I remember being a kid (vaguely) and working so hard to "build" your play stage, only to have to take it down and start all over tomorrow. So, I usually let them leave their cities and worlds out (the puzzles have to go back in the boxes each day. This way they at least have to put them together again tomorrow and it keeps them busy for 7 minutes). As long as I can pick it up and vacuum underneath, it's okay.

Except every once in awhile I wonder why I don't keep my house looking like nobody lives in it! How do people do this?! I'm sure they don't allow Pet Shop worlds all over the fire place or Noah's Ark to take place in the front room, but still. It's so discouraging. Now, before you tell me to have the kids pick up their toys and help with all of this, I do. I'm actually kind of mean in that department. My motto is if the kids are capable, then it is their job. I just get tired of supervising it and listening to the moaning and groaning. And, I have taken and thrown away the toys before, so they know that I mean business. I really am just complaining tonight. I know how to get it done, I just don't want to.

Like tonight, I had a houseful of kids all day. It was fun, really. They all played happily and messily:) and I cleaned the kitchen. Then, I made dinner, we ate dinner and now the dang kitchen needs cleaning again! And that is the straw the broke the camel's back. Or in my case, the mess that brought out the ice cream and landed me in front of the computer. By the end of the day I don't want to pick up any more or do any more dishes or laundry or clean bathrooms or any of that stuff that somehow all needs to be done again for the fifth time. Groan. I just want to sit in front of the fire place and knit with the house magically picked up while somebody spoon feeds me ice cream!!

Where is my magic wand?!

a few announcements

I am an Aunt!!

My sister had her first baby this morning-two weeks early, lucky girl!!! We can't wait to go see that sweet little baby! Especially Three. She sure does love those babies!!! For those who know my sisters, it is the sister with the silver hair. Exciting, I know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning at 8:30 when we drove the girlies to school it was a whopping -11. Brrrr. Fortunately, though, things warmed up a bit and the high today was 9. But I'm not even going to complain because up here in the good old mountain air I can see the beautiful blue sky!! And that, my friends, is my tender mercy.

I keep forgetting to report back on the "glove drive" that I did for the orphanage. The glove collecting was amazing, thank you all you awesome friends! I have the best friends and family that support all that I do! A few other people that I don't even know heard about this project and a lady in Colorado collected a bunch of stuff with her church and drove the stuff to Utah to be sent to Ukraine! Can you believe it?! People never cease to amaze me! I often feel hopeless that the number of proactive, caring people is so small that a difference cannot be made. Then, every time, I am privileged to witness an act of generosity and kindness, of true charity, which I believe is the pure love of Christ. And each time, my faith in humanity, my hope for good to prevail, is strengthened along with my desire to do better and to be better. This charity I believe in is not simply something that you do, but something that you are. Something that will guide and direct your life. I hope to be able to get some pictures of the kids who are receiving the gloves and other gifts within the month that I will post. Just so you can see their sweet faces and know that they are real.:)

...and I hesitate to mention this last thing because it seems like everything is always so up and down and back and forth that it makes me nervous to say it out loud. But I guess technically I'm typing so maybe it won't really count...

I am going to be practicing my Russian on Ukrainian soil, hopefully at the end of March, when we go to pick up BoyOne and BoyTwo and bring them back to the U.S. as Holbrook's. WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!

Prayers to those headed to Ukraine this week for their adoptions and prayers continuing for the moratorium to not pass!