Easter Sunday

 

I persuaded the kids to let me take a photo of them...it kind of worked.  :-)

 

We went to church.  Our church always has an Easter program and I enjoy singing lots of music associated with the Resurrection.

 

Afterwards we went to my parents for the rest of the day.  It was great to see my siblings and their families again!

Our weekend...and other random thoughts...

Looking out my windows, I think it should be sunny and warm.  Then I walk outside and come back for my coat.  Our yard is covered with yellow dandelions, chickweed w/blue flowers, and some other weed with white flowers.  The Bradford Pear Trees are covered in beautiful white blossoms; the Weeping Cherry Trees in lovely pink.  There are pink hyacinths, red tulips, and blue bells (or grape hyacinths if you prefer) around various trees.  The Dogwood tree is budding and I'm waiting impatiently to see what color the flowers are.

This past weekend Randy & I went to the Northeast Adoption Summit sponsored by Bethany Christian Services.  Our friends kept out kids.  Friday night we registered as soon as it opened and then went out to Outback Steakhouse for supper.  Delicious!  Then we returned for the evening of Worship and Testimony--great music (although a bit loud for this person), video adoption stories, interviews with various adoptive parents and a message by Johnny Carr, author of one of my favorite books, "Orphan Justice".

Saturday there were 3 main sessions and 2 break-out sessions.  Dr. Karyn Purvis (author of "The Connected Child" was the speaker for the first and last session.  She spoke on how children's brains are affected by adoption/foster care/neglect/abuse/trauma in the first session and about behavioral issues in the final session.  Dr. David and Jayne Schooler (author of "Wounded Children, Healing Homes" and other books) spoke at the 2nd session on Telling the Truth to Adoptees.  Our first break-out session focused on handling life for the siblings when one of your children is in crisis.  Our second break-out (and probably my favorite session of the day) was by Dr. Susan Hillis (I think) called "Changing to Love, Not Loving to Change".  So encouraging!

A lot of local organizations had stands there to promote their ministries.  We bought some delicious coffee from "The Good Java Company".

I finished the summit feeling encouraged...but also feeling like my brain had so much information!  So after we picked up the kids and got them to bed, we watched the NASCAR race...fun way to unwind.  :-)

Sunday we went to church in the morning (sermon on Peter).  After lunch, the kids watched the Flyers vs. Rangers play off game.  Josiah went fishing with a friend.  Randy went on a long bike ride.  Then I started a fire in the fire pit and we hung out around there for awhile.  It was rather windy and chilly.  After awhile we came in.  The kids spent some time looking at old scrapbooks (or memory books if you prefer).  Then it was bedtime and Randy off on the truck time and the end of the long-awaited weekend.  I ended up staying up late reading the book "Christy" which I had read a very long time ago.  It's on the suggested reading list of the history/English curriculum that I bought for Josiah and I was thrilled to find it on a table at church where someone was passing along books they no longer wanted.

Well, this is long enough...Have a wonderful week!

Various....

Mark & Micah with their "guns"...we haven't bought toy guns for the boys...so they made some for themselves out of Fisher Price GeoTrax...

 

 

Our boys.  The younger 3 like stair steps.  I do have a photo of all the kids which fills in the gap...but it's not on my computer yet.

 

Other random notes:

• I just read "Boundaries" by Cloud & Townsend again.  Still love that book...and so now I'm going to read "Changes that Heal" again.
• This year I feel like I'm finally getting my old self back...that person who would get up early because the morning goes smoother if this mom is up and dressed and has some quiet time before the household erupts.  Receiving 3 babies in 2-1/2 years and dealing with an angry child which is emotionally exhausting set me back for a number of years.  The angry child is slowly healing/maturing which helps immensely.  And the difficult-staying-in-bed child issues are mostly resolved which helps as well although he has become a less intense version of the angry child which can complicate bedtime.  I'm studying the New Testament with some friends which has helped me stay on track with studying scripture.
• I'm enjoying having my wash lines right outside the laundry door (no steps) making it more conducive to hanging out the laundry.  The children are also older so they can come out with me if they want to.
• Our children have a mere 4 weeks of school left (3 for Zach)...so planning our summer routine/schedule needs to move higher on my priority list.
• It's been cold/cool for so long that it's hard to imagine the pools opening in a month.
• Josiah has asked to be homeschooled next year for 9th grade so I've been working on getting my ducks in a row to do that.  He's always been pretty much self-motivated so I think it will go okay...
• Still working on potty-training the 5-year-old...one of these days it will all click in his mind, just like it did with the other 5.  I think.  I hope!  He seems to have some gastrointestinal issues...we were referred to a specialist who can see us in July.
• I finally got around to putting up curtains in our kitchen/dining/living areas.  Randy hung the rods for me Saturday.  I'm pleased with the results!
• We planted some pansies in pots and the flowerbed.
• And now that I'm just rambling on about nothing I will say "Good Night".... 

 

 

New additions

janae brought 4 chicks home from school.  3 are still alive.

 

Our future meat...

P-Nut

Chase

Spring is coming

Yesterday, between heavy rain showers and before the temperatures plummeted again, I took a few pictures of the green that is appearing around here.  We will probably need to mow this weekend!

Painting

The other week I popped into Staples to grab something and found a lovely selection of Crayola products on clearance.  I bought paint.  I have enough messes around here to clean up so I tend to resist the creative side of things because creativity and mess go hand-in-hand.  Anyway...I bought some poster paints.  When the kids decided to paint, we discovered that we no longer have paint brushes (for whatever reason!).  So we improvised with q-tips.  Another time we improvised with pieces of carrots, peppers, and cucumbers.

Trying something new

The other day was a lovely day.  And I thought I should clean.  And I did...a little.  I also spent a short bit of time trying something new!  It's been awhile since I baked anything just for fun and it really is so enjoyable.  :-) 

Homemade Bagels.  For some reason the bottoms got to dark...but they were still delicious!  The also got more like mounds...but then I realized I forgot the step that said "flatten"...

They have a bit different flavor than store-bought bagels but I will definitely try them again and see if I can improve!

 

I believe this is the recipe I used...although I believe they may have tweaked it a bit when they put it online.

The new addition

Randy's new truck came in last week.

2015 Freightliner Cascadia

 

 

 

It's supposed to get even better fuel mileage and he's excited to see what it can do.  Fuel is probably our biggest expense so we love when we can get better fuel mileage out of a truck!

April Showers...

Today was another rainy day...but I guess I'm glad that it's rain instead of snow...spring is coming.  Sunday was lovely enough that we started a fire in our fire pit for the first time this year.  I walked around the house to look for signs of spring.  The trees are budding.  The tulips are slowly growing.  I found a couple of daffodils pushing up...definitely need to get more of these planted in the fall.  Some hyacinths are growing.  I'm anxious to see what color the flowering trees will be (did I mention how ecstatic I am that I now have flowering trees?!) and if I have any perennials.  I love perennials so I will plant some if we don't have any.

Randy "planted" wash line poles for me over the weekend.  We want to plant a garden but first we need to make one since there isn't one here.  On the farm next to us there are large areas covered with black plastic.  My children play with their children and tell me that these will be mums.  That should be nice in the fall!

One of our broiler chickens died.

Since I haven't blogged in awhile, last week was slightly less busy...1 orthodontist appointment to extract 2 teeth and have a phrenectomy, physical therapy (at the house), speech therapy, and a kindergarten physical.  Randy's new truck came in and he spent a lot of time getting that ready to go.  I was thrilled to have a couple of my friends and their families over for dinner one evening.

This week I had breakfast with those 2 friends this morning (out of the area...so we're capitalizing on our time together).  We also have Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapy appointments for Mark, an Orthodontist appointment for Josiah, a visit with biological siblings, and our regular play group.

Today I also purchased a couple of (rather cheap) bookcases, assembled them, and put books on them.  Very, very exciting to this book lover!

Our "Read through the New Testament in 2014" group is focusing on the Gospel of John for the month of April.

I read a book called "We Met God", edited by J.C. Wenger that fascinated and challenged me.  I'm reading through "Boundaries" by Cloud & Townsend (again).

I need to do some freezer meals again.  It really helps things run smoother around here and gives us more variety.  I have one child in particular who is going through a phase of melting down around supper time many nights, particularly (but not limited too) when Randy is out.  So it's nice not to have to deal with tantrums and try to prepare supper...nice if it's already in the crock pot or on the stove!

The kids have a little over 6 more weeks of school.  MUST figure out a summer routine/schedule before then!

Okay...gotta get to bed...

Have a lovely day!