Books and random other thoughts

So yesterday (while feeding the baby) I read "The Connected Child". I LOVE it! I read it quickly and need to read it again slower. Of course, now I need to apply some of what I learned. :-) I am now working my way through "Boundaries with Kids", another great book!

Zach woke up slightly before 6:00 this morning; I heard him calling for Josiah. Now I can hear both Mark and him chatting. Hopefully they stay in bed until 6:30...our official "now you can get up" time. Sometimes Josiah gets up and shuts their door and they all talk/play until 6:30.

Yesterday a caseworker came out in the morning. I baked cookies. And did some laundry. We are hoping to use our camper this weekend so today I need to start packing and perhaps get some groceries. And, maybe, go to the park.

Friday is Josiah's class field trip--very exciting!

Oh yes, if you've read this blog for awhile you may remember that I gave up adding sugar to my tea and coffee for Lent. By Easter I was excited to be able to add the sugar again...but amazingly, I found I didn't really care anymore. I now usually drink my tea without sugar. I do add creamer to coffee and some of the creamers are sweetened, but otherwise I guess I've switched to sugarless tea/coffee. Speaking of creamers, I really like "Vanilla Latte" Creamer in my coffee. Yum!

Book Reviews

I was so excited to get a stack of new books to read. I need to try and NOT read them all today! I get so excited that I will pick up a book and read a chapter and then pick up another one and do the same...

The books are:

1. "The Connected Child" by Karyn B. Purvis, Ph.D., David R. Cross, Ph.D., and Wendy Lyons Sunshine. I had heard this book advertised on the Family Life Today radio program. I briefly have scanned it and am very excited to read this book!
2. "Adoption as a Ministry, Adoption as a Blessing" by Michelle Gardner. This is the story of a family with 3 biological children who adopted 3 children internationally, each with a special need. This was a short book and an easy read. I love to read adoption stories!
3. "your time-starved marriage: how to stay connected at the speed of life" by Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott. I have scanned this one quickly but plan to read it more thoroughly at some point. Seems like a good book to read.
4. "bringing up Girls" by Dr. James Dobson.
5. "Boundaries with Kids" by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend. Subtitled "How healthy choices grow healthy children". I read a chapter or so of this one and look forward to reading it in full.
6. "Parenting isn't for Cowards" by Dr. James Dobson.
7. "Love is a Verb" by Gary Chapman. Stories of What Happens When Love Comes Alive. I enjoyed reading these stories of people who chose to love in difficult circumstances and what the outcomes were.
8. "The New Strong-Willed Child" by Dr. James Dobson. After living with an exuberant, strong-willed child for nearly 3 years I thought perhaps I would benefit from reading the book that I've heard so much about.
9. "The New Dare to Discipline" by Dr. James Dobson. As popular as Dr. Dobson is in the realm of parenting books, I admit that this is the first time I will be reading many of his most popular books. I have heard a lot about them on the radio and through parenting DVDs but now I am finally reading these books.
10. "When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing what we can while we wait for God--and Joy" by John Piper. I read this very brief book this afternoon. I appreciated it.
11. "Changes that Heal" by Dr. Henry Cloud. How to Understand Your Past to Ensure a Healthier Future" I am looking forward to reading this book as I've enjoyed Dr. Cloud's books in the past.
12. "How to Win Over Depression" by Tim LaHaye.

I'm looking forward to working my way through these books!

"The Textbook--the Word of God--doesn't claim to solve all our problems. (The fact is, God isn't as interested in solving our problems as He is in changing us.) But it does claim to have all the resources we need to face those problems. And it will teach us something that is absolutely essential to dealing with the circumstances of life: the ways of God." - "A Place of Quiet Rest" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

I've been enjoying reading this book again. Choosing to take time for "time with God" (or devotions or whatever you call it) is rather difficult for me at this point in my life. This book encourages me to make that time a priority.

This weekend we enjoyed the kids' school "Spring Program". Their music teacher does a phenomenal job! Autumn had a friend for a sleepover. We babysat for our friends' date night on Saturday night. We enjoyed the worship service Sunday morning and time with family Sunday night.

This morning I have made 3 batches of playdough and that's been keeping the kids relatively occupied on this rather rainy morning. I am also doing laundry and have a dental appointment this afternoon.

Well...back to the laundry!

A few random pictures

Okay, I know I can't publish pictures of this little one...but here are his toes. No distinguishing features there. :-)

Janae with the $2 "Build-a-Bear" Poodle that she found at a yard sale.

Josiah

Today we enjoyed a lot of time outside. Zach had a major meltdown this morning but was pretty calm the rest of the day. Janae was rather upset this evening as she "forgot" to eat snack when everyone else was and then mommy said something to the effect of "sorry, but snack time is over now". I still need to eat supper...but perhaps I'll just eat breakfast! I really need to work on feeding myself when I feed everyone else. Even an apple would be more beneficial than nothing! Well, I should go eat something and head to bed. Tomorrow morning I'm going grocery shopping.

Planting the garden...several weeks ago

The other Saturday we planted the garden.

radishes, beets, lettuce, carrots, onions, peas, potatoes. It really is a bit early yet so hopefully they don't freeze. Yesterday I also planted tomatoes and peppers.

Autumn



Zach

Mark - I'm not sure what he's "investigating".

He Knows My Name by Maranatha Singers

One of my favorite songs.... I get all teary when we sing this at church and I'm holding one of my babies...

Another lovely spring day.

This morning we enjoyed spending time with our foster/adopt playgroup. We meet once a month and all of us have either adopted or foster children. Today there were 5 ladies and 14 children. This afternoon and evening we spent a lot of time outside taking advantage of the lovely weather. I also enjoyed talking to a good friend who lives far away! And later in the afternoon we did run to the local greenhouse for some flowers, potting soil, tomatoes, peppers, and tomato cages. Josiah got a free tree (stick!) and I wanted something to put around it to try and protect it. It's a white pine and if it's going to survive here it will need to be quite hardy! :-)

Now that the children are asleep I should go clean some things up.... tomorrow is another "free" day. We'll see what happens!

Weekend

As I mentioned in my Saturday post, Randy & I were going out Saturday night. We went to Red Lobster. Sadly, whenever I get out without the kids these days I seem to have a lot that I want to accomplish. I sometimes think I've forgotten how to simply sit and enjoy time and life and conversation without needing to do something else. Anyway, we checked in at Red Lobster, then went to ON. We came back and waited about 20 more minutes. I persuaded myself to actually eat fish and not chicken (broiled flounder). Then we went to Weis and Target. We finished up by going to Panera Bread for Chai Tea and Hot Chocolate. We did have a nice evening. I did not find any shorts for Autumn, but did find some other things that we needed.

Sunday after church we had company. Just as we were ready to pass the salad a spider dropped from the light or ceiling or somewhere! into the bowl. Yeah. Anyway, we all got salad and the spider was eventually found and disposed of.

Today my dental appointment was canceled. I still went to my sister-in-law's for a bit. I've been doing laundry and need to go tackle the mound of dishes that I was going to do 45 minutes ago but got sidetracked reading blogs that I had missed over the weekend. :-)

Today I ordered some more books from my favorite book website.... christianbook.com. Anyway. I will anxiously wait for them to come and then try to control myself to not read them all at once! :-)

Well...off to the dishes.

Today's Our Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my husband!

We were married 13 years ago. It was very windy! For our honeymoon we went to Maine. It was rather drab and cloudy in April...if you get married in April I recommend going south! :-) Anyway, we still talk about how we neglected to visit the Portland Lighthouse and need to go back and check it out. I told him we could go see it for our 15th anniversary...2 more years. Anyway, we wound our way up through New England and ended up in Bar Harbor. As it was rather chilly, we did a lot of driving on the trip. We went to New Brunswick (in the days before passports were required). On our way back into the states they stopped us and searched our car. I felt bad for them digging through all the dirty laundry! Anyway, we had a good trip but were glad to get back home and start our new "normal". A couple of years later we flew to Oregon and toured Washington/Oregon/California for 10 days. Another year we went to the DC area. Then we started adding kids to the family and it's been much more difficult to get away!

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift"...I didn't take time to look up the reference so I'm not sure exactly where that is located in the Bible. I'm so thankful that God has blessed my life with Randy!

Quick Note

This will be just a quick post (I think)! It's Saturday morning and I am in the midst of the normal piles of laundry...particularly since I didn't do any yesterday plus the bedding really should be washed again. Randy is at school making chicken bbq for their annual fundraiser. I'll run over later and pick some up for lunch. It is always so delicious!

Tonight Randy & I are going out to celebrate our 13th anniversary. Our anniversary is actually Monday but he'll be in the Midwest somewhere so we'll go out tonight. He doesn't know it yet so hopefully it'll be a pleasant surprise. :-) I also need some groceries so I have a feeling we will go out to dinner and stop at the grocery store. I'd also like to stop at Old Navy and look for shorts for Autumn...we'll see.

Hmm...can't remember when I last posted. Wednesday we visited Matt's mom. Thursday I had MOPS in the morning...only one more meeting this year. Friday I tackled going to Walmart and then several friends stopped by (one came bearing DD coffee) to visit for a bit and I also kept my niece for the afternoon. In the evening we went back to the shop to hang out with Daddy while he washed his truck.

Back to the laundry and drinking a cup of Suisse Mocha! Happy Weekend! I probably will not be able to post again until sometime next week.

Adoption Success Story

Okay. So the other day I posted the link that was requesting successful adoption stories today...

So, this is the story in a sentence or two because I don't have much time tonight!

We successfully adopted 2 boys via foster care last September. They came to us as infants and were 2 and 1 when we adopted them. They are 15 months apart. They are such a blessing from God and we can't imagine our family without them!

Today is Tuesday

This morning a friend and I went to the social security office to get our kids names changed on their cards. We went to the Lebanon (city, not country!) office as we had heard it was less crowded. It really was a nice experience. There was only one person ahead of us and everything went smoothly. I didn't forget anything. It did get busier by the time we left, but still not bad. Plus, as we had left the kids with sitters, my friend & I had a lovely drive and time to chat without interruptions.

Matt slept all morning for my sister-in-law, which was good. He did not sleep at all for me the rest of the day until he finally conked out around 7:15. He was rather cranky and as the day went on exhausted but he would not give in and take a nap. Now I'm not sure how the night will go.... It can get very frustrating when he is very cranky and is only calm when held and carried around and I have other people wanting my attention also.

We have started potty-training Zach. Now, in all reality, "potty-training" is used very loosely around here. It means that he knows what to do, has the option of doing it if he desires, and that there is a reward available. I have discovered that he absolutely loves "gum". So "gum" (sugar free) is the reward...or gummy worms if he is headed to bed. He is wearing pull-ups as I do not feel up to dealing with underwear until he is further down this road. I personally hate potty training although the end results are nice. He is actually doing very well! I am not doing so well. It is hard for me to sit by the pot while he does his thing when I have a myriad of other things/people calling for me....especially with the littlest one being so cranky today. But I am very pleased that he seems to be excited about this and ready for this step. After all, this is something that is rather hard to force a child to do!

My "free" day is now Friday. Matt's visit with his mom has been switched to tomorrow.

I was feeling a bit stressed today what with Matt's fussiness and Mark's new found skill of "shrieking" and Zach wanting to go potty (to get gum) so while I was feeding Matt earlier, I started reading "In the Eye of the Storm" by Max Lucado. I've read it before but now I'm reading it again. And I'm appreciating it as much as the first time I read it.

Oh yes, I got a kick out of Zach this morning. This child is a literal, learn by experience type child. Me: This morning we need to pick up "T" and... Zach: No, she's to heavy! I guess we need to work on understanding figures of speech...

Thursday - Adoption Blogger Day

From the Joint Council on International Children's Services:We Are The Truth – An Adoption Blogger Day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn’t matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!Read more about what they are calling for (especially if you have adopted from Russia) here.Please repost this on your own blog and spread the word!!!

April. Week 2.

After enjoying several weeks of relative inactivity...I am back to the normal "running around" for the next 2 weeks. On the agenda for this week is: WIC appointment (today), Social Security Office (to get the boys' names changed/new cards issued), MOPS, and a visit with Matt's birth mom. Yes, all this on different days. I think I'll be "home" one day...and I'll probably end up going to Walmart then to get more formula. Speaking of Walmart, they are remodeling the one closest to me. As the world doesn't revolve around me, they don't ask my opinions about these things. :-) I like going to a store, knowing where everything is, and being able to shop quickly...or as quickly as possible anyway. I get frustrated having to relearn everything because they moved stuff! You notice how "I" keep popping up in these sentences...."I" am sure that God is constantly working on my character...even with mundane things like the inconvenience of a remodeled store....and who knows, perhaps I'll like it better once I relearn everything?!

I do have pictures of our past weekend I wanted to post, but it's getting late so I'll save them for another post.

Thought to ponder.

Whatever is in your life that makes you desperate for God's help....is a GIFT! - Beth Moore

A friend posted this as her status on facebook and I found it quite thought-provoking....

Quick & Random

Janae's choice of clothing for today: Polka-Dot Tank Top topped by tye-dyed t-shirt topped by a plaid button-down shirt...paired with striped pants. Hmm...maybe she'll be a designer when she grows up!

I've finished reading the books I have around that I hadn't read yet so have been rereading some including:

• "90 Minutes in Heaven" by Don Piper (excellent!)
• "Adopted for Life" by Russell Moore (excellent...this is a "Christian" adoption book and would probably not be appreciated in any other context...I appreciate it immensely!)
• And now I've started "Love Worth Living" by Max Lucado.

Mark is napping and I need to go send Zach to bed too (an unpopular decision from his point of view!). Matt is sitting in his "Bumbo" looking around. Randy is unloading firewood. Autumn, Janae, and Zach are playing outside.

It is chilly today; beautiful; much more like April then earlier this week. The trees have tips of green showing on their leaves. Many of the flowering trees are already past their prime. Most of my daffodils are finished but some are still blooming as are many of the tulips.

I think I'll have a cup of "French Vanilla Cafe".

Easter Baskets & Egg Hunt

Mark

Josiah

Janae - for Easter she wore the dress that I wore as flowergirl for my Uncle's wedding.

Zach

Autumn

Today

we went to the park. I forgot to take my camera. A "facebook friend" and the mom of one of Josiah's classmates invited everyone on her "friend" list with preschoolers to come to a playdate in the park as we've been having unseasonable hot weather. As I wanted Janae to meet her daughter who will also be in kindergarten next year I decided to go. The kids, that is, Zach, did pretty well. It was nice to see some people I hadn't seen for quite a long time. I always come away though realizing I never talked much to anyone without being interrupted to make sure the boys did not wonder away. Tomorrow another group of friends are going to the park so perhaps we'll go again!

The weather here (for those who don't live locally and experience it!) is very hot for April. Normal highs are in the upper 50s, low 60s. It's been in the upper 70s and 80s all week and it feels like we've plunged into summer. I believe it will cool back off to normal temps in a day or so.

Yesterday we went to my mom's and Matt & I ran into the mall to pick up Mark's 18month pictures.

Friday is Matt's next visit with his birth mom. The visit had been rescheduled from last Friday because of the Easter weekend so it's been 3 weeks since we've seen her...probably the longest period of time since Matt came to live with us. We will do another visit next week then and get back on schedule.

This week is the last of my "very few official plans" weeks....I've had 3 in a row and they've been wonderful! The next 2 weeks go back to having an appointment or something nearly every day.

Well, I'm off to do dishes and fold laundry. The children are all snug in their bed.

Saturday Morning

Randy

Autumn

Friday evening and Saturday morning we spent back with Randy. He was polishing his truck. In the spring he always works at it real hard to get rid of all that stuff they use on the roads over winter that corrodes everything. We packed our supper Friday and lunch Saturday and spent lots of time riding bikes and running around in the sun. We should have plenty of Vitamin D for the present. And I noticed some red faces today too. It was so nice to be able to be back with Randy instead of at home. Of course, there are no pictures of Matt as I can't publish his picture but there are some very cute ones in my photo album. :-) He is growing so quickly and is already 4 months old..or will be on Wednesday.

Mark. Whenever I try to take his picture he opens his mouth and walks/runs towards me. It's really hard to get a good shot right now!





Zach - with his adorable grin. Most photos show his solemn look.

Janae decided to "pose" when she saw the camera.



Josiah

Pictures - Friday Morning

Friday Morning: Painting Easter Eggs.

The pictures of my other kids all had a cousin with them. And since I have a policy about not posting other people's kids pictures on my website (at least, not without permission), you'll only see Zach & Mark.

Mark - he thought putting the egg in his mouth was a good painting technique.

Zach was quite fascinated with the process.

We had a good time painting and dying the eggs. Of course the kids thought dipping for about 10-30 seconds was sufficient (box says - 5 minutes for vivid colors) so our eggs were more muted tones. They also liked multiple dipping. Yeah, the yellow was not yellow for long.

In other unrelated news:

• I finished reading C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. I found them quite fascinating!


• Mark & Zach both have ear infections and started antibiotics today. I should really go buy some yogurt for them to eat to keep that good bacteria in line.


• I really love Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, however they do come in second to my mom's homemade ones.
• I am now reading a book by J.R.R. Tolkien entitled "The Tolkien Reader".
• No new recipes this weekend or today. The weather is nice, and we are taking full advantage of it and doing minimal cooking.

Weekend

We had a lovely weekend! Friday morning we painted eggs (baby was fussy the whole time and fell asleep right at the end of course). In the afternoon Autumn helped me clean up and get ready so we could all go back to Daddy and be with him while he polished the truck. Josiah went with Randy on Friday. Saturday morning we spent more time working on the truck. In the afternoon Randy & Josiah mowed and I did laundry. Sunday morning we went to church and then spent the day at my parents' house with my siblings and their families.

I will post pictures...another time. I'm to tired to bother right now.