Silver Belle and Red Baron

What do these two things have in common?  Nothing really, except they may be the new names of our not one, but two, mini-vans....bring it on...I know you want to make fun of us.  Yes, we gave in to the convenience and affordability of hauling a family of 7 and a family of 7's stuff without having to wonder how we were going to switch vehicles in some parking lot somewhere in order to do life :-)  One is red and one is silver, so the girls are trying to decide between Silver Belle, Hi-Ho Silver, Red Baron, and Red Riding Hood....Brad is voting for Red Baron since he will be driving the red mini-van.

Anyone interested in a 1999 Chrysler 300M?

So I told a friend at work that we don't have a "hot date" car anymore...that is what we tell the girls we are doing when Brad and I go out and leave them with a sitter.  She said we will have to hire a babysitter with a great car and then ask to borrow it for the night out...I like her thinking!  HOWEVER, one of our college student workers was walking by at the time and he said if a babysitter had a "hot date" car we were probably paying her (or, I will add him just to be politically correct) too much...so back to reality with me...I now have two mini-vans!  and no hope for a "hot date" car.  Life is FULL!

We have been working hard to help all the girls understand and work on being a team.  We realized a few weeks back that we were probably at the end of the "honeymoon" stage of the adoption when everyone is pretty happy and getting along relatively well.  Now the work begins to cultivate a cohesion...and work to be incredibly intentional to give each girl their own one on one time as well.  HAHA...I just misspelled intentional as intensional and had to laugh at that irony.  Kudos to everyone who has adopted!  I had no idea how hard this could be...I am so thankful that God has given us so many assurances along the way to help me right now when this is pretty tough.

Thanksgiving time has been great this year...the biggest thing hit me the other day when I got a little email that JCS will be doing free vision screenings soon.  I flashed back to the Christmas season we got a letter saying Kassi had failed that free screening which led us to all the eye patching and appointments in Grand Rapids to see a specialist and then, eventually, her eye surgery to correct the problems with the muscles in her eyes.  I haven't thought about that much lately because everything has been great with her eyes, but that little email set off a huge wave of thankfulness in me... and now I have been counting more blessings ever since.  A new house this year, a need for different vehicles because our family has grown with the pending adoption and, even though there are a lot of growing pains and hard things....we are so blessed!

I have an hour alone with Karly now and she wants me to help her do some Christmas decorating, so I gotta go.  Blessings!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It was ONE OF THOSE DAYS!  Isn't it funny when people say that and we can totally identify!? Yesterday started off with Vannah and Kenna's room flooded because their humidifier (a large one) had leaked all through the night....then, Kenna was dancing to some music in her room while getting ready for school and threw something out in her neck with all those crazy dance moves.  I was checking my gym bag to make sure it was packed so I could work out at lunch and I realized a tupperware with blueberries in it had leaked and stained one of my favorite sweatshirts (which I often borrow from Brad...yikes, I'm in trouble).  Brad had to stay home with Kenna who was having trouble moving her arm and her neck, so I had to take Karly to school and I was late for work.  At work we are trying to learn a whole new CRM system, so that has been ooodles of fun...it is definitely hard to teach an OLD DOG (me) new tricks. BUT, I have gone from completely frustrated with it to being able to laugh about it, so that is much better.  I can't say it is better for my co-workers because I am laughing about everything by 3pm and many think I have completely lost it!   Later in the day, Grandma was to pick up Vannah at our house and the other girls at school to take them to dance lessons.  She picked up Vannah and they packed the dance bags...got to the interstate and realized the dance bags were still at our house, so had to turn back to pick them up.  Then, they went to the school to pick up the other girls...they found Danielle, but  Kassi had forgotten it was dance day and jumped on the bus.  Grandma tried to call Brad, but he was in the dentist's chair...haha!  Grandma and Vannah thought to check at the office and they called the bus driver to say they will pick Kassi up at the HS where the bus stops to transfer students. Meanwhile, Kassi realizes she is on the bus and she shouldn't be there and has a good cry.  Danielle tells me she lost her gloves somewhere...(that was not surprising) that is about the fifth pair she has been through since the weather has been turning colder.  A DAY IN THE LIFE, RIGHT?! CRAZY! These types of days can drive the control freak in me completely bonkers!  Finally, we all made it safely home and were dying laughing about it over pizza.

"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?