After studying several wonderful pieces by Audubon and Monet last fall, this morning we began our second semester of “artist study” at our little homeschool with Matisse’s Icarus:
Annie (age 2 1/2) took one look at it and promptly said…
” Mommy! It’s Mr. Incredible dancing!”
Class dismissed. ;)
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17 months on the wait list today.
No word.
I know she’s over there right now, waiting…
… waiting for someone to call her “daughter”, for her new family to take her home and help her heal.
… waiting for a momma and daddy to love her with all we have, to smother her with more hugs and kisses than she could imagine.
… waiting for a big sister and two big brothers to teach her, to play with her, to adore her.
She is waiting for us. Waiting so we can become one family, to grow together in the years to come.
Waiting on Him. We all are.
Please Lord, let us see her sweet face. Please let us go get her… let 2012 be the year we become a party of SIX.
Posted in Adoption, Family | 4 Comments »
Yes, I have pics of the kiddos getting all excited about Christmas (a few of them are below). But this post is really focused on what Mommy and Daddy were most excited about under the tree this year:
Toy organization.
Also known as: taming the Lego and tool chaos.
(can I hear a “Hallelujah”?)
Legos are very popular in this house. They multiply by the thousands, it seems, every time the boys smile at their grandmas. ;) But the resulting sprawl was getting ridiculous; we had Legos stashed under beds, crammed in kitchen buffet drawers, stuffed in cabinets and nooks and crannies… well, you get the idea.
For the sake of comparison, here’s a “before” pic of the boys’ room… in other words, what we looked at, griped about, stepped over (and on), and fought with on a daily basis:
A trip to IKEA, a can of wood stain, and some creative uses for a long-ago Home-D*pot purchase later, and… wa LA:
How did we do it, you ask? We split the blue PBK bookcases we already had in the somewhat small room (former floor models, which were a great deal — 75% off — a few years back) and put in between them an Ingo desk ($70) and two wood shelves ($15 each), all from IKEA. Below the desk are four large containers on casters (also IKEA, $6 each) and a Lego stacking storage unit with pull-out scrapbook-type storage ($59 from Amazon).
The tool organizer mounted between the desk and shelves had been sitting unused in the basement for more than a year.
Total cost for the entire set-up: $174 (plus several hours of work constructing, staining, and installing). Finished projects are now kept in full view, and out of tiny little sister’s hands. A large, flat, smooth work surface makes creating easy and fun. And… every single Lego now has a place that is NOT the floor.
As part of the organizational re-do of the boys’ room, “The Tool King” Bode’s play tool bench and accessories (which he ADORES) was moved from the boys’ bedroom to a corner of the downstairs family room/playroom. We didn’t want him to feel slighted in comparison to what was mostly Jonah’s Lego extravaganza upstairs… and by the look on his face, I think we achieved our goal:
We took the second of the unused tool organizers and mounted it on the wall, filling it with the assorted plastic screws, nails, etc. that formerly were tucked in various boxes and bins throughout the house… wherever creativity had struck through the years. A pegboard Bryan had already put on the wall a few years back served as a great place to display the larger tools (the hooks were extras we had from Bryan’s basement workroom). The large bin for the “kid wood” was simply moved from the bedroom. Total cost for this little tool corner: $0.
It took some work, but the boys love their new spaces. And Mommy and Daddy love that we can look forward to walking through the house in the dark without piercing our feet on millions of sharp little plastic pieces. The cost of our reclaimed sanity? Priceless.
This year, we could honestly say “Merry Christmas to ALL”, and to all a future of more fun, more creativity, less bickering and nagging… and far less painful nights. :)
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Mommy and Daddy: “Kids, pick up your rooms so Mommy can vacuum while you’re sledding!”
(a few minutes later)
Annie (age 2): “Mommy, wook! I did it!”
Mommy walks into Annie’s room and sees THIS:
Floor. Completely. Covered.
Sigh.
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(some insight as to why the blog has been ignored of late)
Tonight at dinner:
Bode (age 4): ”Mommy, you and Annie will be sleeping by YOURSELVES this weekend because the BOYS are going camping.”
Mommy: ”I’ll be sad not to sleep with Daddy, kiddo… wouldn’t you be sad if you couldn’t sleep with Jonah?”
Bode: ”Oh YES. I LOVE sleeping with Jonah!”
Mommy: ”Do you think Annie will like sharing her room with Baby E, like you share a room with Jonah?”
Bode: ”Oh YES. Um… Mommy? (excitedly) Is Baby E finally coming home on Sunday?”
Mommy: ”(sigh) Not this Sunday, baby.”
Bode: (annoyed) “Is she EVER coming home?”
Mommy: ”(sigh) Someday… Lord willing… (sigh).” (Mommy looks at Daddy then excuses herself from the table to avoid crying in front of everyone)
* * * * *
We’re still #12 (unoffically #4).
There’s still no word. From anyone. About anything.
UNIC*F sucks. Don’t even get me started.
The end.
Posted in Adoption, Family | 5 Comments »
I am (very happily… blissfully even) overwhelmed with books. Our dear neighbors decided to move on to other pursuits after more than nine years of homeschooling, and we have with open arms received a bounty of oldie-but-goodie-type curriculum and resources. Oh happy day. :)
I am also (not happily) finding that we currently lack the space in which to properly organize said books.
Case in point: The office.
This picture makes my husband (OCD that he is, God love him) visibly shudder.
Enter the solution:
Our sweeter-than-pie two year old baby girl is modeling Vanna-White-style what is now prohibiting our SUV’s entry into the garage but WILL in relatively short order finish out an entire wall of bookshelves for my office. My heart skips a beat just imagining it done.
If only I COULD imagine it done. :)
Hubby is working on them slowly but surely… but they certainly won’t be complete before we officially begin our new school year in mid-August. Perhaps an early Christmas present, hmmm? A girl can dream.
In the meantime, I am sifting through curriculum — both old and new — with my trusty Well Trained Mind (WTM) by my side to piece together what our three littles will be tackling at the kitchen table this year.
If you’re familiar at all with WTM, you’ll know that our use of it means we employ a classical Christian methodology in our teaching around here. Being the control freak meticulous, caring teacher/mommy that I am, I tend to be slightly eclectic in my overall approach, specifically introducing bits of Charlotte Mason (CM)-inspired curriculum and resources here and there as I deem appropriate.
Here’s a rundown of what I have so far:
Everyone (aka mostly the boys):
Jonah (1st/2nd grade):
Boden (pre-K/K):
Annie (aka the wee one): continue with numbers, letters and sounds, colors, shapes, catechism memory work.. and playtime :)
Okay, yes. I know this sounds insane. But note that many of these areas of study aren’t done every day, and when done are brief (particularly composer/artist/hymn/nature studies, geography, etiquette). Jonah’s school day generally should last four hours or so, while Bode will only work for 45 minutes to one hour each day, if that.
I’d love to hear your plans for the year… please shoot me a link in the comments!
Posted in Books, Homeschooling | 4 Comments »
Absent some breaking adoption news, I’m going to try to do several photo-heavy posts to update our family and friends on some of the fun we’ve been having out here in the wild west.
So, let’s start with teeball!
Bryan coached both boys this spring in the kindergarten YMCA league (we moved Bode up so Bryan could coach both for at least this year).
Here are some of the highlights:
Coach Daddy with the boys in ready position... "hey batter batter!"
Jonah reaching for the ball at first base... great effort!
Bode mixing sports... striking the Heisman pose in his wind-up! 
When Annie isn't trying to head out onto the field to join Daddy, I can usually keep her occupied with drawing and coloring!
This was Bry’s third coaching season, and he keeps getting rave reviews from parents. I’m so proud of the way he works so hard to teach and coach all the boys!
Coach Daddy (with team mascot Annie) talking to his team about the game...
Jonah and Bode with their team, cheering on their teammates while waiting for their turn to bat
Good game!
I couldn’t be happier about Jonah and Bode working as teammates this year, and their hard work paid off! At the end of the season’s pizza party, Jonah was awarded the “slugger” award (for the biggest hits) and Bode received the “best coach’s helper” award for always being at Coach Daddy’s side, ready to assist!
My precious teeball-playing sons! Love them!!
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I know, I’m getting really terrible at this blogging thing.
To tell you the truth, we were feeling rather discouraged over here for several weeks… there was no real wait list movement, everything in our house seemed to be breaking at the same time, Bryan wasn’t getting paid (actually, STILL isn’t) for his second job that he’s practically killing himself doing, and we were turned down for an adoption grant. We were exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and we had absolutely NO idea where the money was coming from for this adoption. None whatsoever.
But… God shows Himself perhaps most visibly during these times.
A couple of weeks ago, we received two anonymous donations to support our effort to bring Baby E home, enough to completely cover our referral fees and the plane tickets to bring our daughter home after Embassy.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were floored, to put it simply… overwhelmed with gratitude toward the God who has reminded us again and again that this journey is about Him and Him alone. About our trust in His provision, about His plan to bring the fatherless into families.
(And to those families, in case you’re reading, we are thankful you followed God’s leading and gave so generously! Saying “thank you” is such a huge understatement!)
We now have only to raise additional travel expenses for the court trip and hotel/food for the Embassy trip, to the tune of $6-7,000 total (depending on air fare). We are hoping and praying that some of that comes from Bryan’s second job… but no matter what, we are confident that the God who has provided funding like manna from Heaven thus far will bring this process to 100% fruition, whether through my husband’s efforts at work or from other sources. Speaking of which, anyone out there have frequent flyer miles laying around? :)
And meanwhile… we have moved a TON on the wait list, particularly during these last few days! We now stand at #18 on the infant girl list. Taking into account the eight families currently on hold ahead of us (for reasons ranging from pregnancy to financial concerns, etc), we are “unofficially” at #10.
Yep, you heard me. :)
We are prayerfully hoping that we receive our referral within the next few months, as our anniversary on the wait list is coming up in early August.
If you think about it, please pray with us for God to bring us to our baby girl in His perfect timing, and for Him to hold our daughter and her birth family in His loving care… filling them with the comfort and peace only He can provide as they make the heart-wrenching decisions to come. It is a paradox, such joy and sadness intermingled over the life of one precious little girl. Yet God brings beauty out of ashes… and I am just thankful that He chose us to be a part of creating her beautiful story, a story we can’t yet read but is already being written by His loving Hand.
Posted in Adoption | 6 Comments »
We’re rapidly nearing the teens on the wait list, and while Hubby is busy working two jobs to help pay to bring Baby E home… we would love your help as well!
So…
Need to replenish your coffee stash?
JustLove Coffee Roasters, one of our fundraisers, is offering incentives for purchases made to support our adoption through June 5:
Anybody who buys through our store from now ’til 6/5 will be entered to win THOSE prizes… in other words, we’ll send them all to you if we make the goal! Just click on the button in the right sidebar, or the link above, to go directly to our store page.
One entry per item purchased (coffee or other item)… so buy, drink, and enjoy!
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Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and said, ”Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ”Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me…
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
-Matthew 20:1-10, 16-20
May you rejoice this day in the glorious salvation given us by our LORD Jesus Christ!
HE IS RISEN INDEED.
We trust and hope that next year’s Easter picture will be of our family of six!
Posted in Family, Holidays | 3 Comments »
