We went to the Park

Josiah
Autumn & Janae

This evening we took our supper to the park. We played on the playground, ate our sandwiches, took a walk and played in the creek, and played some more. Then we went to "Grammy's House" and played some more. And also ate ice cream. A delicious ending to this rather hot April day.

I have fond memories of playing in the same creek as a child and going to this park. Of course, all the playground equipment has been updated and is safer.... It was rather an interesting time though as Randy is out on the truck so I didn't have the extra set of hands/eyes to keep track of the very active toddler...but we had a great time nonetheless. I am considering trying out the different parks in the area on Sunday evenings when we don't have plans. So far I've tried 2 out this spring....maybe I should make a list of my options!

new photos

Autumn, Easter Afternoon, displaying some of the eggs she found.
Randy & Janae at our gathering with Randy's family to celebrate Easter.

Starting Another Week

The weather has turned very warm and summery so we are enjoying lots of outdoor time. Right now "Chase" is screaming because it is nap time and he wants to be outside playing...but needs a nap. Friday we planted some more seeds in our garden: beets, radishes, carrots. We were very excited to see the peas and onions poking through the dirt. This is our first venture at gardening vegetables and we are all excited about the fresh, homegrown produce!

We had a lovely morning at church, a delicious "crock-pot" meal for dinner (ham, green beans & potatoes), and Randy out the door for another trip. The rest of the day is scheduled for relaxing and enjoying the lovely, warm--actually hot--weather. Perhaps we'll go to one of the local parks this evening.

This week is much more relaxed then last week. My only (current) plans are a trip to the dentist on Monday....then a blank slate to run errands, play outside when the weather is nice, and catch up on housework that needs finished.

I can't remember if I posted an update on our bathroom...some day I'll need to do before/after photos. Anyway, the new toilet, tub, and flooring are in place as is the flooring in the entryway. Randy is working on completing the drywall in the bathroom as he is able. Then we just need to finish painting and get the vanity/sink top installed.

This Week

Monday - Take Mark to the doctor for his check-up (20 lb., 10 oz., 28-1/2"l), Meet with adoption caseworker.
Tuesday - errands, take everyone outside to play.
Wednesday - Physical (required for adoption). Monthly meeting with caseworker.
Thursday - babysit in morning.
Friday - WIC appt. for boys, GMS Spring Program in evening.
Saturday - 6 hours (plus 1 hour for lunch) of training (required for adoption)

In between, we are getting some more work done on our bathroom. As of tonight, the new shower/tub is in place as is the toilet and flooring. The vent is rerouted.

Also, the plants I ordered from www.springhill.com arrived to day. I planted them and they are now being watered, courtesy of their Creator!

Book Reviews

I've been reading some books related to foster care and adoption as that is what we're doing right now:

• Returned with Love by Katheryn J. Page. The story of a young woman who gave her daughter to be adopted...and how God worked in both of their lives.
• The Intentional Family: Celebrating Adoption by Kimberley Raunikar Taylor. This book is about a couple who adopted internationally after dealing with infertility.
• So Many children... by June Pereira Ward. June fostered over 350 children in her years as a foster mom. This book is pretty much an overview of kids and foster care. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who might be interested in doing foster care.
• The Whole Life Adoption Book by Jayne E. Schooler & Thomas C. Atwood. This is the revised and updated addition. I have the original book but when I saw this one out I immediately bought it as I had found the first one very helpful. The revised edition expands on some things (such as attachment issues) that the first book simply touched on. I'd call this book a "must read" for anyone thinking about adoption. The subheading is Realistic Advice for building a healthy adoptive family.

Gotta run...much to gorgeous to be sitting here at the computer. :-)

Some Photos

Janae
Dandelions....summer's coming!
Spring's here...."Blue Bells" (or grape hyacinths as the magazine's say)

....and daffodils

The little boy had a blast in the sand!

Life

This weeks has been rather crazy. "Chase" has thrown more temper tantrums and needed more time outs in the last 3 days then the last 3 months put together. He has been terribly out of sorts. I'm not sure if he is teething or if it's his cold or what's going on. Today was definitely better...for the morning, then after his nap he was out of sorts again. Hopefully when the weather clears up and we can go outside again he will straighten out.

This morning I babysat 2 of my friend's children. This afternoon I (& kids) went out searching for a vinyl flooring remnant for the bathroom that we are redoing. I was thrilled to find one on sale for $19.50!

For supper I tried a new recipe, but it wasn't that great. Maybe it was my substituting ketchup for salsa....there was way to much tomato flavor. I also tried "no-bake peanut butter cookies". They were decent.

Also this morning I was gathering up paperwork for the adoption. We're down to needing Randy's autobiography and some medical forms/physicals. Then round 1 is complete. We are hoping to start the training next Saturday. (3) All-day trainings are required. We have another meeting with the "permancy specialist" (adoption agency caseworker) on Monday.

Oh yes, and one of these days I'll post pictures again....but there's a baby on my lap right now so I can't get up to get the camera.

Easter Day

Today we celebrated our Risen Christ! We had breakfast at church and then an Easter Program. Naturally, I spent most of the time in the nursery with the toddler who did not want to leave my lap. He seemed rather clingy and out-of-sorts today. Not sure if he's coming down with something or teething or what. Anyway, Randy did come and swap places with me then so I could go back to the service and join in singing 2 of my favorite Easter songs: "Easter Anthem" and "Hallelujah Chorus".

Following church, we spent the day with my family. We enjoyed a delicious lunch: ham, mashed potatoes, macaronis, carrots, green beans, gravy, bread, fruit, angelfood cake, pies, cookies....and of course, wonderful homemade peanut butter eggs!

In the afternoon we hid eggs (the hardboiled, painted type) for the kids and then they hid them for us. The youngest ones enjoyed the sounds the eggs make when dropped or hit together! I do have pictures somewhere....

For supper we had sandwiches, chips, fruit, dessert etc.

Now the children are all settled into bed, except the baby, and I'm hoping he goes down soon also.

Happy Easter!

Easter

I don't plan to be online tomorrow...at least not during the day, so wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone "Happy Easter".

Maundy Thursday

Tonight we had our traditional "Maundy Thursday" service at church. There is childcare for the younger children. The rest of us have a simple, quiet meal followed by a service commemorating Christ's death, communion, and footwashing. Sunday we will have our Easter Service beginning with Breakfast (8:30-9:15) and an Easter Program (9:30-10:30).

Friday (Good Friday) we plan to paint Easter Eggs (hardboiled) which we will then have fun hunting on Easter Sunday afternoon. This is a tradition that we always did in my family while I was growing up....and my mom did in her family. My sister and sister-in-law and their children will come join in the fun!

"Mark" actually went to bed at 9:00 tonight. As he normally waits until 10:00, I'm not sure if I should go ahead and go to bed, or wait for him to get back up....his 2 upper front teeth are almost through the gums and he's been having trouble falling (and staying) asleep in the evenings. Once he settles, he's usually down for the night.

Today we planted peas (Early Frosty) and onions (yellow) in our garden! This is the first year we are trying a garden so this is our "experiment year".

Today's Musings

1 bathroom - partially demolished. I'm very excited about finally redoing our main bathroom. It's particular shade was gold...gold tile, gold flecked floor tile, gold tub, gold sink, gold toilet. We are switching to white toilet & tub, cherry stained maple vanity with a swirled "fawn/white" marble sink/top. Cream walls (existing paint to use up). White trim. I'm not sure about the floor yet as we need to find a remnant somewhere. This sounds sort of blah! But I do plan to buy a bold shower curtain to warm everything up...and they are easier to replace when I'm tired of it then repainting....of course, I need to bring myself to spend money on a nice one.

When Randy went to take apart the sink the pipe broke....I believe by deciding to do this project now we averted a future disaster....which probably would've occurred when he was far from home!

1 flagstone entryway - removed. We plan to put down vinyl flooring here instead. The grout was nasty and the flagstone getting rather faded.

Of course I forgot to take before pictures....so I'll need to take "in progress" and "after" pictures.

Adoption

I realized I never posted an update about our (little) boys on the blog. I always need to be careful because of privacy issues....

Anyway, "Chase" and "Mark's" parents have signed consents (for parental termination) for the boys several weeks ago. They have 30 days to change their minds. The official termination hearing is scheduled for June 15 I think. The adoption will be whenever the adoption process/paperwork/training is complete and a court date is available. Because our foster care agency is the county, we need to work with a different agency for the adoption to avoid conflict of interest. I meet with the woman from that agency Tuesday morning to learn about the home study and process.

We appreciate prayers on behalf of all of us as we go through this next stage. We are very excited about the prospect of being the boys' "forever family", but at the same time realize that our gain comes at their loss of birth family. And we know that in the future, as they understand more, they will need to work through those issues.

Weekend

We had a lovely weekend! Saturday evening we celebrated Easter (a week early) with Randy's family...ham, cream cheese potatoes, green beans & carrots, filling, macaronis, stuffed eggs, 7-up salad, fruit, chocolate cake....YUM!

Today we appreciated going to church this morning. Josiah had a friend over for the afternoon. We went to a friend's house and saw baby animals (bunnies, goat kids, lambs). Then we picniced at the park and played there with another friend's family. Of course, I forgot my camera!

Romans 12:9-21

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary:

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning

coals on his head."

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Karen's thoughts: apply at home! I need to apply this to my life, starting at home (and branching out to family, friends, acquaintances, strangers)...and there's enough in these few verses to keep me busy applying every day! Maybe I should make "Live in Harmony with One Another" our family motto!

Long Week

Today is Friday! It is a rainy day. Yesterday, though was a lovely day on which we enjoyed playing outside! Janae is still running a low grade fever and Autumn also has a fever. Both of them feel pretty good when on Motrin. "Chase" is getting into everything these days. I believe that the only words I say to him are "No", "Mommy's", "Yuck", and "No" again! "Mark" is a wonderful contented child...for which I'm very thankful! Josiah continues with his cough.

Randy's been gone since early Tuesday morning and we look forward to seeing him again for the weekend. Well, he was home last night to sleep but the kids didn't see him.

Today I'm doing wash....

Janae - this morning.

Autumn and Josiah at supper last night eating "Jigglers".

Yesterday I tried a new recipe to go with our scrambled egg bagel sandwiches for supper. It was "Mini French Puffs". Basically, a mini muffin rolled in butter and cinnamon sugar. They were delicious! I enjoyed some leftovers this morning for breakfast (warmed in the microwave).

Wednesday

Today Autumn was home sick. Janae overdid it yesterday and was not sick, but was very tired. Josiah still has a nasty cough and is more tired then normal. The boys are doing well. "Mark" rolls everywhere he wants to go. "Chase" is very energetic...this 21 month old gets into everything!

Tonight we had pancakes for supper...daddy was out on the truck. I tried this new recipe called "Fluffy Pancakes". They were good and fluffy as to be expected. I was a bit confused as it called for melted shortening instead of oil...but that solidified as soon as I mixed it with the milk and eggs making it hard to combine. Oh well, turned out okay. The kids didn't eat much though, guess they'll make up for it when they all feel better!



This afternoon we had lots of spats so I decided to try reading to the kids this evening. We read a chapter of Josiah's Sugar Creek Kids Book, a chapter of Autumn's Boxcar Children Book #3 - Yellow House Myster, and "Franklin Rides a Bike" for Janae and "Chase". It worked for a bit but the girls were so exhausted that they still got upset easily so the children all settled in early. "Mark" also went to bed early but as it is 2 hours before his normal bedtime I expect he'll be up again before he settles for the night....but I'd love if he'd start making 8-8:30 his normal bedtime! And yes, I hear "Mark" now....