"So, how do you feel about fizz?"

"LOVE IT, It's like my favorite thing in the whole world!" This one-sided conversation by my middlest had to be the highlight of my weekend.  We had about 12 girls in our house for the Fashionista Birthday Party/Sleepover for Savannah and all the "little" girls were "butlers" (that's what they wanted to be called) for the "models" that came for the fashion show.  Kassi loves to be a part of everything and even though she was warned several times to leave the older girls alone...I found her countless times trying her best to join them. The part about the fizz happened to be my favorite of her attempts to be one of the big girls.  Maybe you had to be there, but she was sitting by all the drinks and one of the 12 year olds came over to get some pop...this is when Kassi decides to strike up a conversation with her....only, the 12 year old didn't have an answer to that question, so Kassi just kept going with the response.  You gotta love 7 year olds!  I don't think I will ever be able to pour a glass of pop without thinking...so, how do you feel about fizz?....LOVE IT!

Savannah had a great birthday!  I had to do the mom thing at about 2am and tell the girls they should at least try to get a little sleep...I remember those days, though...trying to see if I could stay up all night....getting tons of snacks and drinking as much pop as I could.  Now that I count my calories, the thought of what I consumed then is a bit terrifying.  It is at this point I could sing a dirge for my lost metabolism :-)  Here are a couple pics from the birthday party.

As you can see, even Kooper ended up wearing a BOA...poor Koop!

My First Rainbow

Karly interrupted our Adult Bible Study on Sunday night to inform all of us that there was a huge rainbow in the sky and that it was the first real one she had ever seen.  It was one of those awesome moments that you could never plan that perfectly and sweetly because our Bible Study was studying God's Sovereignty in our lives.  Not that I would ever encourage her to interrupt, but that was a super special moment.

We have had a fun couple of weeks...I am pretty exhausted, but I am starting to think this is the way life will be for, say, the next 14 years...ha! no big deal!  I just returned home from Walmart and it is 10:35pm...my shopping adventures usually begin after 8pm for the convenience and sanity of having no children along :-)

We celebrated Brad's 40th Birthday weekend with a family party/treasure hunt on Friday.  Savannah and McKenna had planned a timed treasure hunt with coded messaged for Brad to crack.  It was fun to watch him figuring out the messages and then running through the house to find the gifts with a trail of squealing daughters on his tail.  I think it took him about 10 minutes to find 6 gifts...I guess that is pretty fast for the old man :-)  On Saturday, we meet up with a bunch of friends for a game of Whirlyball and dinner at Mongolian BBQ...I loved the mongol/viking-esque foil hat they made for him at M BBQ and I especially enjoyed that the guys at the grill belted out "You are My Sunshine" to celebrate his Bday...so much fun!

I have been super busy at work...so much application processing that my eyes are bugging out by the end of the day and I cannot carry on an intelligible conversation...it will be amazing if this blog is understandable to anyone but myself...ha! I have also been enjoying my responsibilities leading the Cubbies for our church's AWANA program. Last week I was teaching on the topic of creation and specifically, God creating light and so I took a flashlight and let the kids take turns saying, "let there be light!" when they said it, I would shine the light on the palm of their hand and we would all act so surprised that they could do that...then I would let them "throw" the light to someone else and it would land on a friend.  I have no idea why that is so much fun, but if you are a cubbie leader or know someone who is, this is such a fun little activity for 3 and 4 years olds (and 36 year olds as well).

Savannah's birthday is this Friday...we finally settled on a Fashionista Bday party for her and, of course, it has to include duct tape...we are still very into that stuff.  SO, the girls are going to put an outfit together for the runway, but one of their accessories has to be made of duct tape....Savannah's rules :-)

I am loving this time in my life....it is definitely tough sometimes and I am learning some things about myself as our transitions stretch me and make me examine my priorities and my expectations.  I feel like I have had higher highs than ever before....but, also lower lows...especially during those moments I don't feel like I am capable of being a mom to these 5 daughters or a good wife,  or I don't feel like I am holding it all together very well, or I don't feel like I have the time to do it all as well as I want to...BUT, I am learning I don't have to be the one who holds it all together...there is no way I could possibly do that!

Danielle is a very artistic child and her drawings are terrific for her age.  One time someone told me they were concerned about Danielle because she was drawing a lot of her flower pictures with rain and sunshine...they thought the rain was an indication that she was a sad child.  BUT, one day while she was drawing the picture, she told me that she never could decide if she should draw the flower in rain or in sun because it really needed both to be happy.  See how incredible God is!  He takes something like that to reassure you that He is working and you do not have to worry....she wanted her flower in the rain because her flower was actually happy in the rain!  I am thankful that GOD makes beautiful things from sunshine and rain!

The Ducky Duct Tape Business

As I presumed, life would become pretty hectic for us as school began.  We are now starting to develop a routine with the girls and all of our busy schedules.  All the girls' transitions into new schools have gone very well and we are getting rave reports for good behavior from their teachers.

I am loving the Fall and my country drive home...the colors are absolutely fabulous!  I don't know what it is about Fall, but I always have to get those pumpkin pics!

 

                                                                     
Savannah and McKenna have started a new business...the Ducky Duct Tape Business (they even have a jingle).  They make wallets, purses, cell phone covers, flip flops,  ipad sleeves...and anything else you may need.  They would love to be given a challenge, so if you need something made of duct tape, let us know :-)  I thought this business venture would be short-lived, but the girls have been getting orders and filling them and they have even called a business meeting for our whole family to which they proposed starting to do birthday parties and wanting to talk about Christmas sales...haha!

We have two birthdays coming up in October.  Brad turns the big FOUR-O....crazy!  He sure robbed the cradle!  And, Savannah will be turning 12 two weeks after Brad's birthday, so we are excited to be planning some fun celebrations.

Work has been getting pretty busy for me...I would rather be busy than have slow days, so I don't mind it, but I always have to ask God to help me manage my time wisely and not allow me to become anxious about the amount of work I am trying to accomplish in a short amount of time.  The next three months are usually like that for me and then the workload eases.  

As always, I am thankful for your thoughts and prayers.  I may not be able to update my blog as often as I did throughout the summer months, but I wanted to let you know I did not fall off the face of the earth...I have Hello Kitty, Spiderman, and Camouflage duct tape to keep me grounded :-)  I saw this guys shirt a while back and it said, "Silence is golden...duct tape is silver."  That shirt makes me laugh....we have lots of duct tape at our house, but very little silence.

The School Daze

Karly has started school already at Jackson Christian and is enjoying pre-school...she has been waking up early to get ready, so I know she is loving it.  She was not "Hi, my name is scared" like she said she would be...she went to class great and really likes being there.  It is hard to believe my youngest is starting school.  I guess it won't hit me too hard until it is really kindergarten, but still, she is at school for a full day right now.

We are really working on this smile...for some reason Karly likes to stick her lower jaw out when she smiles :-)  

Danielle is really excited to be starting 1st grade in 5 days...she keeps checking the calendar to see how many more days.  She already has a little "boyfriend" in her class that also attends our church and she wanted to put her name tag by his on their desks.  It was pretty funny when I found out from his mom that he purposefully put his name tag at a completely empty table of desks in hopes she would put her name next to his....so I guess the feeling is mutual...yikes.  I already had to have a conversation with Danielle and Kassi about their case of the "boy crazies" and how they need to be focused on what they are learning and treating boys as brothers and friends.  Brad makes fun of me when I lecture on this subject because I was as boy crazy as they come.

McKenna is starting 4th grade and is as goofy and wonderful as ever....she told us when she turned 6 that she would be a goof from 6-9 and then she decided to extend it to 10.  She is the one that always has a silly rhyme or a pun or some kind of joke for us.  I absolutely love her funny personality...and she is the peacemaker.  The only thing that really frustrates her sometimes is when the others aren't getting along and there is nothing she can do to help them get through it.  She takes a lot on her shoulders in trying to solve their little squabbles with her humor.  There are many times I think about how thankful I am to have her in the mix of all the girls...I told Brad one night that I secretly wished McKenna was my age sometimes because I think she would make a great best friend...I love that she doesn't get hung up in trivial things and she can laugh at herself.

Savannah is going to be starting 7th grade and we just had a meeting yesterday with her school counselor to make sure her schedule is all set and tour the school so she will know exactly where she is going.  After our tour, we walked through her schedule one more time just to see if she could follow it.  One of the most exciting things for her is that she will be getting a computer to use.  I was a little surprised that all the students will be receiving a Mac to use throughout their years of middle school and high school.  She tried out for the girl's volleyball team for three days this week and just found out the results last night.  I was really hoping she would make it so she could make some quick friends from being on a team, but there were about 34 girls that tried out and only 14 made it.  She is small for her age and has never played volleyball before besides the few times Brad and I helped her practice serving over the swing set and bumping the ball to each other in a circle.  She has the ability, just not much practice (or height :-P).  Unfortunately, she was cut....but, I was impressed that she did not take it too hard...she is now on to other things...she said, "Well, I know I am good at something, I just have to find out what it is!"  I think that is a pretty good outlook!

I am still seeing God's hand at work.  When Brad and I were taking our adoption training back in February there was another couple in our class that we really admired.  They had already adopted internationally and had to go through the training again because they were trying to get their Foster Care license.  We ate up all their advice and insight.  I knew that the lady was a school counselor, but I had never asked her where she worked.  Through this process of helping Savannah get adjusted and familiar with her new school we had to contact the school counselor for a tour and a meeting for scheduling....guess who it was!  She has been such a blessing and reassurance to us.  It is awesome to know that if Savannah needs someone to talk to at school...God has gifted us with someone with such a great understanding for her!

Savannah also asked to be baptized...she said she was when she was a baby, but didn't really understand it then and she wanted to do it now that she understands.  We were excited to celebrate this time with her as well and with Grandma Phillips, who also decided to be baptized.  Both Kassi and Savannah received new Bibles and Savannah has been reading it and putting post-it notes in it when she finds something that doesn't make sense to her.  We have had some great family discussions over some of the questions she has about what she is reading.  I hope and pray her desire to learn and understand God's Word continues.

Gotta Start Somewhere

My college roommate emailed me to let me know that one of the Olympic Divers was from my hometown, Noblesville, IN.  I checked to see if I might have been in High School with him and then I realized I was probably in High School with his parents...haha!  How sad!  I always think I am the same age as athletes...why is that?  I think drinking from the Fountain of Youth at 14 messed with my mind.

I had to laugh a couple days ago when I read an article about fitness goals for women my age.  The first funny thing to me was that there were only four...however, that was really what kept me reading the article.  The first goal was to hold a plank position for 60 seconds...I love how they time it in seconds instead of minutes to make you feel like you have done more.  So, I tried it.  I started shaking after 26 seconds, but I managed to make it all the way to 60 seconds.....not pretty, but successful.  The next goal was to balance on one foot and hold the "tree" pose for 60 seconds.  Again, not pretty, but I managed to make it through this goal. How can just holding a position make one sweat?  By now I am feeling invigorated and I am on to goal three...10 push ups.  If you are like me you are thinking, girl push ups?  But, no, real push ups...I got through 7 without taking a break.  So, I didn't quite make this goal, but I was so close I could taste it and I felt like it was well within range.  OK, what's the fourth and final goal?  I was excited to scroll down to see it.  It said women my age should run a half marathon...hahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaa!  At first I thought they misspelled mile.  Shouldn't it be half mile?  How do you jump from the first three goals to go to a half marathon?  Anyway, I am still laughing periodically when I think of those goals, but I am starting to jog.  Gotta start somewhere!

Brad and I have seen and talked to so many people throughout our ministry opportunities that really have great hearts and can even verbalize a ministry they feel incredibly passionate about, but then life happens or it seems so overwhelming that they never act on it.  It is hard to take a first step when the goal is a half-marathon.  But, I am not getting any younger...are you?

Encouragement for Moms

Brad sent me this  "letter to a mom" from Focus on the Family a few weeks ago...I just re-read it and thought it would be a good encouragement to others, so I wanted to post it.  I have loved having the summer to be with the all the girls and help them through the transition, but I have to admit there have been those days that I have seriously longed to be back at work and have the girls back to school.  Before I was a mom, I really had no clue about the work it took to manage a household and raise children....let alone continue to feed an army.  So, if you are a mom and you are reading....you are wonderful and I hope you will find some encouragement in this letter.

Dear Mom,

You are a gift of God to your loved ones and your kids.

But you don’t always feel that way, do you?

There’s a low-level feeling of guilt that creeps into your heart from time to time. Sometimes it bubbles over into tears, usually on lonely, difficult days.

You scan blogs and read books about being a good mom. You find some helpful tidbits here and there, often from women who are grandmothers now. Women you can learn from but who seem to have forgotten the struggle. They seem to have it all together.

In your heart, you want to be the kind of mom who trains up kids to make a difference for the kingdom. You know it’s an honor to be entrusted with these kids. You know you’ve only got one shot. You want to be the mom who teaches them the Bible, models how to pray, and trains them up in the fear of the Lord.

But most of the time you feel like you’re barely holding it all together.

Your house cleaning can’t keep up with your kids’ mess-making.

The kids embarrass you by acting up right when your guests arrive.

Your husband doesn’t get just how worn out you are by the end of the day.

You come to the end of your patience. You lose your temper. Then you feel worse.

The last thing you consider yourself to be is a “good mom.” And you think to yourself, It’ll be a miracle if my kids turn out okay.

And – surprisingly – that’s right where God wants to meet you. The place where you admit your powerlessness and your need for Him.

It’s only by God’s grace that any kid grows up to be a force for the kingdom.

You see, there are no perfect kids and no perfect mothers. No matter what you read in blogs, see in magazines, and learn in books. There are sinful kids and sinful moms and dads.

And the only thing greater than both is the grace of God. The God who says “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The God who loves to forgive, to transform, and empower.

God loves you – not because you are a good mother but just because you are His precious child.

God loves you – not because you’ve mastered all the skills of parenting but because He has.

It’s divine grace that will transform your parenting – not guilt.

It’s grace that will keep you going and serving and scrubbing when you’re exhausted and worn out.

It’s grace that will conquer your feelings of inadequacy and remind you of God’s love for you in Christ.

It’s grace that goes for the heart of your kids, not just their behavior.

God has demonstrated the fullness of His love for you through the cross of His Son, even while you were still a sinner.

He has promised you His presence.

He has spoken His approval over you in Christ.

He is the perfect Father who delights in you as a daughter.

Find in Him your Treasure and Joy. Be to others what He is to you.

So walk in freedom. Let Him hold you together when everything seems to be falling apart.

Bask in His unfailing love for you. And rest in His promise of power.

IncrediWorld Amazement Park

Sorry so long since my last post...I have been at IncrediWorld (VBS) at Village Hope Church.  My house has been taken over with Play-Doh, coloring pages, dinosaur masks, and cotton candy :-), but I pray all the kids have hidden some more of God's Word in their hearts.  Savannah was too old for VBS this year, but she was able to be my helper...she had so much fun, sometimes it was hard to remember if she was one of the leaders or one of my Kindergarten/1st grade "park riders".  One night I was upset with her because I couldn't find her when it was time to clean up and I knew she was somewhere in the church with her friends, but another worker put things into perspective for me when he said how nice it was to see her really enjoying herself...that he wondered how many times she had really laughed like that throughout her childhood.  This is one of the hardest parts for me...managing my expectations/structure for all the girls, but seasoning it with enough flexibility for them to be kids for as long as they can be....parenting can be tremendously difficulty sometimes.  I realize I am more of a strict parent than many people, but I also believe children flourish best with consistency and structure, as well as an appropriate respect for authority and given a healthy amount of responsibilites.  These days, I am sure I would be considered "Old School".

We had a good week...a "marker" week of sorts.  Both Savannah and Danielle had their regular counseling sessions this week and both their therapists told me they are doing so well....they do not see the need for more counseling at this time.  That is a huge praise...I am so happy they are adjusting to all the changes and they are able to verbalize their feelings and process them.  It still amazes me that they are able to stay afloat through all the transitions.  Yesterday, on the way to VBS, the song, Stronger, by Mandisa came on the radio and Savannah said, "I think this is my song"..."I think everything I've been through has been to make me a stronger person"...."I can definitely testify to this." Those are the moments to cherish...the times when something makes sense to them.

Danielle, Kassi and Karly are learning to get along as a team...although we have days where their make-believe worlds collide :-)  Brad, donning a very devilish grin for a pastor, made a joke about their imaginary friends not even getting along he was leaving for work one day this past week...fun times!  Sometimes I feel like I have the triplets from the movie, Brave.  Yesterday, after I told them to clean their room I went up to find even more clothes, toys...and even the curtains pulled down because someone thought it would be funny to wrap them around her to play princess....needless to say, toys were removed from their room and now have to be earned back little by little.

I think I mentioned that Savannah may have to testify in court....this has been delayed.  Apparently, new evidence has been submitted that may change this case or the charges.  I am still hopeful that she will not have to testify, but from the appointments we have had so far to prepare her for this possibility, I have been encouraged by her boldness.  If you have been praying for her regarding this situation, thank you!  She could still use prayer, but we do not have a revised date for this to happen. 

Today, with VBS behind us and school right in front of us, we are headed out to do some "Back to School" shopping.