July 4th

From us to you--"Happy Independence Day!" Pretend Everett is screaming that--it's much easier than opening photoshop and switching his face.

Last Month by the Numbers

4—Months that Seth has been living two hours away during the workweek.

80—Days I was alone with five children. Trying to sell the house. You are welcome to re-read previous posts and see them in a new light realizing that I was alone with the chaos. My loving hubby forbade me from publicly announcing our living situation.

$75—The whopping earnings we made when we sold our home.

22—Number of days that our family has been homeless—in the loosest sense of the word.

2—Hours it takes to travel from my parent's house to our city for doctor's appointments.

5—Times I drove back in the first 10 days after moving out.

16—Houses we have been shown (after ruling out hundreds).

2—Offers we have made. Still without a home.

7—Times the girls have watched Free Willy since we moved in with my parents.

4—Viewings it took for them to finally stop calling Willy a dolphin.

10.5—Hours a trip to Connecticut should have taken from my sister's house.

14.5—Actual trip time. Did I mention that I was travelling alone with five children?

30—Minutes for an average 'pit stop' on the trip.

5—Times my mom told me I was crazy for taking the trip.

At least 50—Times I told my mom she was right once I was in the van. Alone. With five kids. For 14 hours.

It's Finally Over

The medicinal saga has come to an end. Rounds of applause and cheering are in order. It's been a long year of daily dosing. Finally. She. Is. Done.

Sally is TB free! She still bears the scars. She'll wear the brace until the anniversary of her surgery, but her back is strong and getting stronger every day.

Cloth Diapers

If I were normal I would write an informative post about cloth diapers. Topics would include: cost effectiveness, type of diapers, stuffing for the diapers, detergents, the cool hose thingy that you can attach to your toilet for those nasty changes...It's been done though, and done very well. Google cloth diapers and you can read to your heart's content. I didn't use them until we got Josiah. Even then, I didn't decide to sink a bunch of money into diapers that I would only use with one child. A six month old, at that. My industrious sister was expecting her first and she decided to buy one diaper, dissect it, and recreate it herself 30 more times. She's nuts, absolutely nuts. She and my mom made some for Josiah. They were so kind, but I personally think they wanted to try them out on a live baby before finishing the big batch. These diapers are so cute. Sickeningly cute on an adorable, chubby baby that's cuddling with a puppy. A word of caution. These diapers can be extremely tempting to puppies. It could be disastrous if cloth diaper wearing child is not closely monitored around excitable puppy. Messes and injuries could result.

I'm So Clever

Without a doubt, the comment I get the most is, "You sure have your hands full!"

After hearing this for the fifteen millionth time, I got tired of answering with a lame, "Yes. I do."

Like, what else can I possibly say to that?
"Ya think?"
"Huh? I've only got five, you should see my sister she has 11."
"You talkin' to me? "
"Wha...don't tell me those stinkin' kids are following me again."
"Oh, no, they are all little blessings sent straight from heaven." That said while gritting my teeth and wrangling a screaming toddler from the overloaded cart at the grocery store. Honestly.

One day it just popped out. I must have had just enough sleep to be thinking coherently.

"Yes. I have exactly one handful."

Hardy, har, har. I explained it to the kids later and we all had a good chuckle. That has become my stock answer. My 'handful' and I are always eager to see the reaction I get with that response. We giggle about the quizzical looks that I get and it's turned an annoyance into a game. Instead of them being a 'hand full' and nuisance, we walk away from the exchange with smiles.

Dinner

One at a time they trickle into the kitchen. It's the smell that draws them. They start to crowd in on me, getting underfoot. Soon, they are pestering and pulling on me. They all want the same thing.

"Up!"

"How do you do it?"

Coffee and prayer, my friend. Lots of coffee and even more prayer.

The Move

Early Saturday morning Seth and I pulled away from our house. He was in a 26 foot truck and I was in The Van. Moby had been transformed--instead of transporting children it held my wrought iron patio furniture and a TV. I was kind of excited about the prospect of spending a few quiet hours driving to the storage unit. We got onto the highway and I started seeping from my eyes. I'm a brickhouse, honestly, I don't sob often. I guess I finally sat still enough to realize that we are really moving.

So, doomsday closing is next week. That means the kiddos and I have been living in an empty house since Saturday. It rained Monday and Tuesday. Today, Eli said, "All I can think about is the xbox. Please can we play video games?"

Um, no. I can't bear the thought of little minds melting while the sun is shining outside. The babe is asleep and it's the perfect time for me to scurry around getting the last bits into boxes. I shuttled everyone outside and found a forgotten bag of play sand in the shed. Beautiful! I raced inside and started on another box. Until everyone started complaining about needing some "guys" to play with in the sand.

Everything in the house is gone except the bare necessities. So, I grabbed four plastic spoons and drew faces on them with my black sharpie. Viola! Guys! That should have bought me at least 30 minutes, but the guys needed helmets and the guys that are girls needed curly princess hair. I added helmets and hair with my box-labeling sharpie and pressed on. As I walked through the house collecting odds and ends I noticed that my feet were getting very sandy. Upon inspection, there was sand EVERYWHERE. These little people were actually coming into the house to use the bathroom and tracking wet sand all over the place. I grabbed the broom and took to sweeping up the mess. Then, I heard Josiah yelling from upstairs and my 'getting stuff done' time had passed. I had packed three-fourths of a box. I had sand all over the floors. I was down four plastic spoons and saw the dog shredding the now empty play sand bag.

It would seem that I take half a step forward and five steps back.

Ella and I just spent a harried four days with my dearest friends shuttling between Yale Medical School and my friend's house. I arranged the trip without realizing that Connecticut is indeed larger than my backyard and driving from one corner to another may require a few hours each way.

We were flown to Connecticut so that my little girl might take part in a study of children with absence epilepsy. The title is something like, "Are children with absence epilepsy really absent?" If I had to make an under-educated guess I would say that my child is absent pretty often. Especially if she isn't taking her drugs, getting at least 20 hours of sleep, and doing something engaging that she enjoys. All three of those planets are aligned once a year. Yeah, around here we deal with absent minded behavior on a regular basis. Going to Yale--on their dollar, visiting friends, and getting pictures of my daughter's brain WHILE she's having a seizure? Count me in.

Sadly, most of our visiting had to happen in the confines of my tiny rental car and the waiting area outside of the research MRI unit. For this, I apologize once again, girls. So, so sorry! We made the best of it and chatted up a storm. Most of the chatting probably one sided so that I could stay awake as I drove back and forth. I honestly thought that Ella would refuse to have the tests done. Previously we've had to completely knock her out for an MRI. That was a year and a half ago. She's older, wiser, and more easily bribed these days. They had to put an EEG cap on her to monitor her seizure activity, then put her into the MRI machine to 'photograph' her brain, and gave her a 'video game' to play during the whole thing. The idea is to get a picture of what is going on while she's seizing and trying to think at the same time. I thought she'd balk the first day, but she was a trooper and had two scans done.

It was a thrilling trip for her. She 'met' old friends and got to fly on a plane alone with Mommy. I'm such a fun travel buddy that I made her take a math test and do phonics work on our layovers. On the way home we realized that we didn't have gifts for the children who couldn't come. Traditionally, around here, if you make a trip--you return with gifts. I think that's taught by the three wise men. I should have just picked up a postcard at the grocery store, but I wasn't savvy enough. I was stuck buying Webkinz at the CNBC stand at the airport. Never has such an extravagant purchase been made on a trip. The usual fare is a book or some sort of crayola art product. Seth once forgot gifts and shelled out a dollar to each child with some quip about thinking they would enjoy buying their own souvenir at the Dollar Store. That worked. The webkinz ruled though, by far the best gift ever given and I imagine that the children will welcome my departure more often. Josiah stole the car Ella chose from the treasure chest at Yale, so he was placated also.

So, the peeling back of Ella's layers continues. It will be months before we get her results and possibly years before this study is complete. I'm pleased with every little tidbit that we can scrounge up that helps us to understand her.

Our House Selling Vacation

Every single vacation earns itself a title of infamy to us. There was the "Poopy Trip Home" vacation, the "Bought Moby" beach trip, and the "Freezing at the Beach then Jamestown trip". This last trip could be known as the trip that took forever to get home (but that would make it hard to distinguish from other trips). Or that vacation that Eli got bit by a swan, or better yet the trip on which we SOLD our house!

Well, sort of sold our house. We have moved from the house selling world into the waiting for closing world. It can't come too soon because I'm fearful that something may keep it from coming at all. With selling the house comes packing the house and of course, buying another house. We won't even start to think about that. The day we hand the keys over will be an answer to many prayers. We knew when we put our house on the market that we could sit here for a year. Or two years. If our house sells after being on the market just a few short months, it is truly due only to God's mercy on our family. I'll chase that with the statement that I'm willing to stay here for as long as the Lord desires, but life would be grand if my hubby lived and worked in the same city.

All of the excitement from an offer dulled as we were driving home and the 12 hour drive stretched into 18 hours. As we meandered through Tennessee the sinking realization hit--the GPS is not wrong. We have added an additional six hours to the drive. It's really an amazing feat. Not too many people could spend six hours in a gas station restroom. We did. We slogged through a Kentucky monsoon at a blazing 40 mph for days. Finally, we reached my parents house and collapsed. When we finally got home (an additional two hours on the road the next day--that would make total drive time 20 hours) I had spent enough time thinking about moving that it finally settled in. During our week away spring had arrived and our trees bloomed. That made the arrival home even more bittersweet. I'm praying we can leave by the end of the month, but we will miss this house, our friends, and our church.

Happy Mother's Day!

I often wonder if I'll ever be that wise, calm, mom who knows all of the answers and has the most well-behaved children. Maybe I'll settle for being the crazy mom with five beautiful, albeit obnoxious, children.

I feel like a dud quite a few times throughout the day. Sometimes I would just love, and I truly mean L-O-V-E, a minute alone. I lose my temper and get frustrated. I don't know what I'm doing with these five little people! I wish that God would give me a teeny, tiny glimpse at His plans for them so I could better equip them for their futures. I really thought that after five kids I would know how to handle all the situations that they could throw at me. They are so ornery creative they keep me on my toes.

My ruminations on Mother's Day fall short of what I'm feeling. They also fall short of the wonderful things you've heard (or said) today. So I won't try to be eloquent, from our wild family to yours--we hope you have a relaxing, wonderful Mother's Day!

One Quirky Language

Listening to Sally talk is confusing and hilarious at the same time. She talks incessantly, asking me questions, tattling on her brothers, and generally just running her mouth. I should have enjoyed the (few) days last year when she didn't speak English. If only I would have known what a jabber box she would become! One afternoon Seth asked her to just please be quiet for a second so he could think. She shut her mouth for exactly one second and then took off again. Incessant. Chatter.

Last week she said, "Mommy, does the noise have a pool?" I was completely clueless about where she was going with this. So I gave her my befuddled, "Huh?" She calmly repeated her earnest question. Then she went on, "You know, the noise. You say we are going to the noise. Does it have a pool?"

It took me a minute to realize that she was talking about our afternoon trip to 'the sound'. She's so desperate to talk that she makes her way around our confusing language.

Along those same lines: Josiah's language has been explosive. It seems like everyday he surprises us with a new word. Yesterday, he broke into the chocolate cake from Seth's birthday. It was breakfast time and evidently, I wasn't working fast enough. I turned around and was greeted by a chocolate covered baby. I squealed, four more kids came running, and Josiah said, "Awanna chokat, Mommy!" It's hard not to laugh and just let him have it. Oddly enough, he repeats most anything we say, but REFUSES to say please. He's a stubborn, spoiled little guy (who charms me in the morning by singing the 'Bob the Builder' theme song).

All in just one year, I never would have expected it.

postscript 5/10--Tonight, Sally told me she had a booboo on her two-head. Then pointed to her forehead. Seth and I burst out laughing, poor kiddo!

A Week Away

This week, we are having fun,

relaxing,

and spending time with family and friends AT THE BEACH.

One Year Ago

One year ago today we met our children.

We didn't know if it was "gonna be alright." We prayed. We hoped. All we knew was that God had given us these children and we had to trust Him. The last year has had it's moments, but it's been so much better than 'alright'.

Sending Shoes to Ethiopia

After our day without shoes we had a chat after dinner. I had been thinking about whether being shoeless for the day actually made any difference in any one's lives. Curious about what the kids were thinking, I started a conversation--a day without shoes debriefing... "So, we went without shoes for the day, but what came from it?"

Some blank stares, some thoughtful looks--then this reply from Elijah. "Welllll, we all got really dirty feet and Jojo got a splinter."

Yeah, I guess that sums it up pretty well. Kids are so literal. So I pressed a little more, wondering if they would come to the same conclusion that I had. "Right. Do more people in Ethiopia have shoes because we went without shoes for a day?"

All heads are shaking. Elijah, again, is ever so helpful, "Why don't we buy some TOMS shoes so that they can send one pair to Ethiopia?"

"Great idea, except I counted my shoes and I'm ashamed to admit that I have 44 pairs. So I don't really need another pair. And I'm pretty sure we could buy lots of shoes for the price of two pairs from TOMS. What else could we do?" I'm totally leading them, but want them to see where I'm coming from.

Lots of ideas including sending our extra shoes to Ethiopia and (from Eli again) eating only baked beans to save money. I latched onto the latter idea. Sort of. I've told the kids that if we ate less expensive food, we'd have more money to give away. Joking I once told them that if we ate rice and beans everyday we would save tons. Which is true. Eli loves baked beans so he put his spin on the money saving bean eating idea.

After further discussion we all agreed that we would start saving money by making better choices and doing extra chores. I will put the saved money into an envelope for shoes. I'm going to send the money to Jill's sister, Katy, who will buy shoes during her month in Ethiopia this summer. It seems, to me, to be the most efficient way to bless shoeless people in Ethiopia.

Drawn From Water

My view of the world changed the moment a hurting orphan became our hurting child. Sometimes, it's a comment by a stranger that sets me off thinking. In this case, it's a hard-to-watch video. It's hard to watch because the images from Ethiopia are still so raw. I'm living comfortably with my healthy (somewhat), happy (most of the time) children. Why can't I let it go? Haven't we done enough? It would seem that upon returning home, supplying children with love and care, providing medical attention, and a generally easy going middle class cushy American lifestyle that we could just let it go. We did our part. But it doesn't go away. I have vivid images of the children we met at Kids Care. A year later, some of them are probably still. there. waiting. They are older children and have little hope for being adopted.

So, watching a video of children who have literally been rescued from death can be pretty hard. I see the faces of children I've actually met. I see the faces my children. Then I take a deep breath and turn the video off. To all the world we've done 'our part'. Secretly, I know that we haven't. If pressed, I would admit that I feel a terrible burden for orphans all over the world. I would also admit that I use my children as a great excuse for being complacent and disconnected. Will they grow up with a burden for others or be controlled by their desire for success? How do you teach compassion? Only by living it and I fear that we are falling short.

I admire the family who goes to Ethiopia, sees the children, and decides to do something. Please watch this short clip that explains their story. If you skip all other video suggestions, do me a favor and watch this one.




Drawn from water is the blog for the organization.

Kramer No More

That massive pile on the left would be "The Kramer" that I removed from Josiah's head. I picked his hair and couldn't believe I had let it grow so long. Six inches high seems a smidge out of control. I grabbed the scissors and went to work. Oddly, his head seems to have grown bigger. Maybe it's always been this big, but just looked small in comparison to the woolly animal residing on his noggin.

Our baby has officially left babyhood behind!

One Day Without Shoes

We are doing it. Will you join us and leave your shoes at home today?

Watch this video. Or this video. Then rethink your answer.

I talked to my kids. We decided that we could go without shoes for one day. I'm always looking for lessons to teach my children that require some action on our part. Before you scoff and remind me that I homeschool--we will leave the house. We will be in public. We will be cold because it's 40 degrees outside right now. No matter, we don't have to walk to get food, to go to school, or to get medical attention. We drive EVERYWHERE. So take off your shoes, tell people why you are walking around barefoot, and, if they strike your fancy, buy a pair of Tom's shoes so that a child in Ethiopia won't have to go shoeless.

Post Placement Visit

We just had our 12 month post placement visit from our social worker. I'm assuming all is going well since she left the kids in our care. It may have been the wildest visit she's ever had. I can't pinpoint what may have made it seem crazy. Maybe it was the baby climbing on her as she took notes. Could have been the puppy careening through numerous times. The bigger kids were only in and out 32 times during the hour she was visiting. I vaguely remember the phone ringing. Then it was all over. She's such a nice woman to put up with us and our chaos. That was our last visit with her. Sniff.

Until we adopt again.

Only kidding, folks! Here are some pictures for our post placement report.

I confess that both pictures of me in every post placement report have been staged. As in, "Quick, grab the camera and take my picture we have our visit this week!" The above photo was taken by Eli the day before our visit. I was directing him on how to take a picture and glanced over to see what the puppy was into when he snapped it. Seth wasn't involved in the photo choosing and was a *tad* upset upon viewing the pictures. Something like, "Yeah, look at what you got vs. me and Sally." I thought it was a great shot of goofball Sal entertaining her daddy.

I needed that

Josiah pulled back the shower curtain today. Then he pointed at me and said, "Bahnmrh bhayy mmmmphhh!" and laughed. Two things came to my mind immediately:


What in the world does that little butterball think is funny?


Perhaps it's time that he doesn't come into the bathroom with me while I'm showering. He can run around unsupervised downstairs if it will save me some embarrassment.


Later, Sally asked me why I have such big bunions. 'Bunions' is the term Eli coined for our hindquarters. Not having a very good reply for this I muttered something about being a mom and getting old. Probably should have muttered something about chocolate and poor exercise regime instead.


Sigh.

Blogging Funk

There is a stain on the carpet in the boy's bedroom. It's urging me to blog.

Reminds me of the time Sally puked on my legs just as we were going to the Creation Museum with the Dragovich family. That was pleasant. Well over an hour from home, no change of clothes, and I'm covered in vomit. What's a gal to do? Pull out the wipes, the antibaterial goo, and head to the women's restroom upon arrival at the museum so that you can half-heartedly rinse the vomit out of your shoe laces while no one is looking. We lost Ella and Sam for a while that day. Good thing it was just us and a busload of Mennonites. I even made all of my kids wear red shirts so they would be highly visible. I don't know how those two slipped away.

Shari is soon to be adding two more to her clan. After hanging out with me for a few days I honestly thought she would have called the agency and told them to just forget about it--no referral call needed. She's a brave lady.

Though I haven't posted in a while, life is still screaming along. My mind can't seem to be still enough to generate a single interesting thought. I guess the highlights of our past week would go something like this:

Seth was gone for five days. I can't imagine being alone all of the time. That is all.

For the first two weeks on the market we had five showings. They managed to time themselves just about every other day. It was unpleasant. We haven't had a call since. Life is more pleasant, ie. less mad dashing about to clean and bake goodies that mask the smell of five children, puppy, and a guinea pig that refuses to kick the bucket. Have I ever mentioned that none of the kids EVER flush the toilet? Chocolate chip cookies are good comfort food after learning that the house is still ours--but they aren't the wonder house staging item that you would expect. The hope of being united with Seth in our new and exotic destination is dying quickly.

Three of the five children have been sick. Everett has an overactive gag reflex (read: he pukes easily). Combine that with a weak stomach...remember that scene from Stand By Me? His worst nightmare. He'd probably throw up just watching the movie. Not that I would ever think of letting him watch it. While I'm on the topic, why do kids always wait to get sick until the middle of the night? I can't think of a time that any of my children just up and vomited in the middle of the day. Always at night. Without warning--they always eat a nice big dinner and then wake up and retch. They must have been feeling a little 'off', but never mention it until AFTER the nastiness.

Everett started coughing and expelled a chocolate milkshake on his bed and the creamy speckled carpet in the bedroom. When he saw the mess on his hand and then stepped into it...again, remember that scene from Stand By Me? Seth was the first to the bedroom, and immediately deemed himself unable to manage anything. I think he's missed most of the puking that has happened over the past year. Just by chance. He's out of practice and it's made him WEAK. (Stuck that in for you, dearie). He did get me the cleaning supplies and garbage bags. And he started the dirty stuff in the washing machine. As I was finishing the scouring of the vomit stained carpet, he returned from the laundry room and said, "No offense but I can still see an awful stain on the carpet. And it smells pretty bad up here." Thanks so much, my dear. Did you happen to notice on your way up here that IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT and there are two other boys asleep in this room? I'm not breaking out the steam cleaner. The stain is still there, by the way.

So I don't blog for three weeks and this is what I come up with. I'm so sorry. I've been living in a homeschooling, feverish, children and animals everywhere bubble. I have serious topics gurgling around, but I. Cannot. Go. There.

Selling the house

Seth accepted a new job. Two hours away. We must sell the house. We have five kids. And a puppy. And we home school. That means that we are at home all of the time. Except when someone wants to look at the house. The sheer volume of work required to keep our house immaculate is keeping me from blogging. Or emailing. Or reading. Or doing anything that would normally be relaxing.

So, I haven't left the bloggy world, I've just joined the house selling world. I would really love to leave the house selling world. It's an unpleasant place to visit. I hope our visit isn't too long, it's been three weeks and I'm about to pull my hair out. On Sunday afternoon we had another showing. Seth was suffering for the government in Florida, so I alone, ran like crazy for two hours. I loaded everyone (including puppy) into the van and ran back into the house to do my last check. I spotted my coffee sitting on the counter (a treat for the road) and the two cats sitting next to a pile of cat vomit. They were staring at each other as if accusing one another of violating my newly scrubbed floors. I cleaned that up and grabbed a loose dog toy that had escaped my grasp earlier. As I threw open the front door, huge dog crate in one hand, coffee precariously balanced on top of the crate and keys in the other hand. There were three strangers standing on my porch examining my front door--the stinking realtor was 15 minutes early. Here I am, Ms Frizzle meets Amelia Bedelia nearly bowling them over with a dog crate.

So we didn't hear back from that realtor. Sigh. We could live in this horrid house selling world for a long, long time. Which means I won't be blogging very often.

Ella's 7!

It seems impossible to believe, but Ella has turned seven!

The decision on a party theme went something like this:
"Ella, What do you want to do for your birthday? Do you want to have a party at home or somewhere else?" (Fully expecting her to say Chuck E Cheese, I laughed when I heard her reply).

"Well, I guess we could have it at Maggie's house." She innocently said this like she was helping me by allowing Maggie's mom to throw the party. As if we could rent their house for the birthday. Not a bad money making scheme if you are willing to drive yourself to insanity.

"Okay, well, we can just have it at home. What kind of party do you want?"

"Ummm, how about princesses?"

Groan. Four years of princesses means I'm out of creative princessy ideas. "How about something else this year?"

"Okay, how about a movie party and we just watch movies the whole time?" Ella has a little bit of a TV obsession. Just a *little* one.

"How about you just show up and I'll plan the party?"

"Okay. Make sure I have a cake and pinata."

So we did a tea party and had all the girls bring their favorite dolls. Then read "The Best Loved Doll" since I was the planner and I have a *little* book obsession. It's an oldie but a goodie and if you have a little girl who hasn't heard the story you should just be ashamed of yourself.


Ella suddenly looks the part of a seven year old. Her adult teeth have grown in and she had her ears pierced as a birthday present. This was a huge step for her as she has vowed never to pierce her ears because "that hurts". Her little sister goaded her so much that she relented and is quite happy with the result. Happy Birthday, big girl!

A few weeks before Sally's surgery, we got a phone call from America World regarding a video they wanted to make to encourage families to adopt. We were more than willing to participate, but wondered if seeing a little girl in a body cast would actually encourage anyone to embark on this crazy journey. I talked to Mike at America World and explained the situation, but they still wanted us to come. Out of desperation, perhaps, but we are always looking for an opportunity to be in the limelight.

We should never be in front of an audience because I hear ridiculous things trickling out of my mouth. Usually I can't stop myself and then feel like an idiot because I just said that out loud, didn't I? With great satisfaction I can say that I tried desperately to limit my speaking while we were being taped. That's really hard for a big mouth like me. It worked though, because Seth spoke more and in the end, he was the one who actually said, "Adoption. It's an amazing adventure." That didn't make the cut, but it will be a long time before he lives that cheese down. He can thank me for that.

It seems tremendous to do a 2 minute short trying to explain why people decide to adopt and how it really isn't impossible and that indeed 'those kids' really will be 'your kids' one day. But, hey, adoption is an amazing adventure, isn't it?

Batah?

Josiah is trying so hard to talk. We all try to understand him, but at times it's impossible. For over a week he's been pulling me into the kitchen and pointing to the cupboard then yelling pleading with me for "Batah". I open the cupboard and give him one of his snacks. He's usually disgruntled and feeds it to the dog. I have no clue what he's wanted until yesterday.

I was making baked ziti for dinner. Sally and Ella were lurking in the kitchen, as usual. Manny was on the rug at my feet, as usual. Josiah was yelling, "Batah!" and I was getting flustered. Not without reason, I think.

Both of the girls were asking me questions about dinner and I finally said, "It's pasta just look in the oven." Then I clicked the oven light on. Josiah ran over to the door and screamed, "Batah!!"

Duh. "PASTA!"

Photo Shoot

It's been nine months since we became a family of seven. In my mind, we are way overdue for a family portrait. I'm the only one out of seven who feels that way. Sad, but true.

I convinced Seth to relent on his 'no formal portrait' policy. That seemed like the biggest hurdle. I began dreaming about the amazing family photos we would have. The more I thought about it, the bigger and better it became. Pictures of Sally and Josiah in their traditional Ethiopian outfits, pictures of just the boys, just the girls, changes of clothes, outside, inside...on and on it goes. Then I realized that to have the beautiful portraits means taking the family into a studio. Taking five children into a portrait studio and asking them to sit still, smile, change your clothes, don't touch anything, and please stop making that ridiculous face.

My dreams dissolved. Sort of.

I decided that I may not be capable of braving the studio, but I am courageous enough to yell at correct my children in the privacy of my own home. So I offered them a deal: do what I want, when I ask and then you dress up in whatever you want and I'll take those pictures too. Oddly enough, it worked.

I can't say that we got a lot of gems. I can't say that the entire time was full of laughter and giggles. But, I do feel better about getting a few cute pictures of my children.



Those are the cute ones. Letting you believe that all the photos turned out cute would be a fib. These next few are the reality of what was happening off to the side.

This photo best represents my children. Everett wanted me to be sure to mention that he is, "Christian from Pilgrim's Progress before he gets his armor." Just to clarify for those of you who were wondering. I think everyone else is self-explanatory. We still don't have a true family portrait, unless I get some talent and paste Seth and I into the picture below. Maybe we can dress up like a lion tamer and a ringmaster.

One Year Ago...

It's strange to think that just one year ago we didn't know our youngest children. We waited (for what seemed like forever) until we got the calls from the agency. So much was unknown, but we were immediately enamored with our newest family members. Nervous, but in love. This is the story of our first referral call. This is the official referral call. It's amazing to go back and read what we were feeling and thinking. All we had were a few dates, limited information, and some pictures. These faces are so familiar to me now.

A year isn't very long, but so much has changed.

Talking Tomatoes

I am sitting here to write a wonderful, beautiful, engaging post about the anniversary of our referrals. I'm a week late at it, but sure it will be worth waiting for...except all I can hear is Ella.

She's trying to finish her phonics. It's been hours. She's hung up on the word "crack" and continues to write "grack" though I erase and correct it over and over. Since her mind is melted, she is singing. It's a familiar tune with the words just so Ellaesque.

"I need to talk to tomatoes...I need to talk to tomatoes..."

I can't type. I can't think. The post will have to wait. I'm about to join her singing, because maybe tomatoes have the phonics help she needs. I'm spent.

Ouch!

The gravitational pull in the basement was extraordinarily strong yesterday.

We also had two inmates escape for an incredibly short period of time. I think the bonk to his head shook something loose...

Almanzo

Our new puppy is here. He's literally right here, sleeping on my feet as I type. I've enjoyed him most when he's keeping my toes warm. If he's not accounted for he's probably off peeing or chewing on a chair leg. Warming my feet is very nice.

All five of the kids have loved this puppy to exhaustion every day. I keep wondering how adults manage puppies. I would be so busy playing with the puppy that I wouldn't be able to get anything done. If he's tired then he's being good. Even when he's being bad, he's so cute it's hard to be too mad at him. Kind of like Josiah.

Josiah was wearing his bathrobe around today and it was all I could do to muster a weak "no" when he clobbered the dog with a car. Then he found the water bowl. He dumped it out and looked at me saying, "Wawa." Too cute to be trouble.

The Puppy isn't his name. We had much deliberation over the name of this guy. It went down one night after dinner a few weeks ago. I told everyone to give me their top two names and we would make a list. It looked like this:
Aslan (Everett just read all of the Narnia books that week)
Caspian
Doodah (that was Sally voting for what Josiah was yelling at the time)
Anakin (also Sally, I don't think she know's who Anakin is, but hears her brothers talk about him)
Toenus (Everett said Mr. Tumnus but changed his mind. Ella repeated what she thought he said as her choice. I had to make up the spelling on that one)
Wolfie (from Eli)
Sludge (also from Eli, we've been reading Nate the Great)
Jim and Spock (from Seth, who said that if we didn't choose his names we wouldn't be getting a puppy anyway so why bother with the whole voting thing?)

Then we had to take a break and watch a video on youtube of Star Trek so our kids knew that they didn't want a dog named Spock who Spock was.

After that charade was over, I called out a name and we all just raised our hands if we liked it okay. Oddly enough, when I said Toenus, no one raised their hands. All eyes turned to Ella and Seth said, "Uh, Ella, that was your pick. You should at least vote for it." Then she half-heartedly put her hand up and said, "I didn't pick that name." Huh?

I picked the top three from that vote and told everyone that they could only vote once this go around. Then tears and sobbing began from Sally because Anakin didn't make the cut. Both of Everett's names did and that caused some contention. Neither Jim nor Spock were on the list...it got ugly.

The next day, we were reading Farmer Boy. I mentioned that Almanzo would be a funny dog name because we could call him Manny. All four voices chirped out, "Yeah, Manny!" So...here's the newest member of the clan..."Almanzo 'Manny' Puppy Stop Chasing Her Drop It NO!"

I think it's a delightful name. He looks more like an Aslan to me, but don't tell my kids I said that.

Tada!

I've been sitting here for at least 10 minutes trying to figure out what I want to write. My week has been hectic, to say the least, and I think my brain just gave up. Monday, Seth left for the week. My basement began flooding before he left, but we both thought it was all the snow melting. That blasted snow, feet of it, heaped all over the place, melting and coming into my basement. Though, the hubby left, the snow left, and the water was still there. Being sucked up with a wet vac and dumped by yours truly every few hours. That sentence doesn't even do it justice. Six gallon vacuum times three trips up the stairs equals eighteen gallons emptied every couple hours. Exhaustion. By the way, water doesn't know when you need sleep. But that isn't what I'm supposed to be writing about.

I can't end there. Honestly, it gets better. I finally threw a hissy fit and called Seth during his conference to leave a hissy message about me being alone with water, puppy, and five children. He called me back and told me to call a plumber since obviously something else was going on with the basement. It was a huge detergent cap stuck in the pipe leaving the house. Added to it were a few socks, a ball, a Lightening McQueen car, and (get this) on the very top was a keycard to the Addis Ababa Hilton. We were there in MAY! So that drain has been clogged since before May. My washing machine has been draining into the nether-regions under my house since May. I'd be hard pressed to think of a more ridiculous situation...if I hadn't already experienced the shut-off-valve-shooting-off-causing-dining-room-ceiling-to-collapse scenario. That (hopefully) will top all other 'stupid house stories' for the rest of my life.

With all of that said, today was the highlight of the week. I woke up with a fear that we would get to the doctor's office and they would tell Sally that she couldn't take the cast off. That didn't happen though! I'm pretty fried, but managed to throw my camera into the diaper bag this morning. It was still there when we got to our appointment after lunch so I documented our visit.

Sally's terrified of The Saw. She only started to ask about it a few days ago, but knew that was the only way out of the cast. A few tears escaped before The Saw Man arrived, then she let loose with a complete meltdown. As I held her down I heard myself saying, "Well, do you wanna just live the rest of your life in this thing?" I'm so compassionate. Meanwhile, Josiah's screaming bloody murder from the stroller because he, also, is so compassionate. Who wants to cry alone?

She's mustering a smile for me, but still pretty nervous. This time around there wasn't an odd collection tucked into her cast. No rotting dimes, no barrettes, just lots and lots of glitter (due to her glitter and gloss make-up kit).

Sally strutted her stuff right out of that office. To my (and everyone else's) amazement, she refused to put the cast back on and wanted just her old brace. She's got a 'little' belly and we had to squeeze her into that thing. I think, if given the option, she'd rather stop breathing and fit into the brace than wear the cast. At home, the Bigs were so thrilled. Everett looked at Sally and said, "You just look SO cute!" Eli told her that when she gets to church she'll walk into her class and they will say, "Hi, who are you? You don't look like the Sally that we know."

It's been four months since she's soaked in the tub. I had to drain the bathwater once just so she wasn't sitting in filth. Even after that, the water was brown the second time and had (skip this if you have a weak stomach) bits of flesh floating around in it. You may opt to skip the last picture if that made you cringe.


Though her back is healed and strong, it doesn't look like a completely healthy back. She'll probably never look like you or I, but as time passes and she gets older, it will change. We are hopeful that she will gain some weight once she isn't taking so many medications. Then hardware along her spine won't be so evident. She's standing up straight without assistance, to me, that's a beautiful sight.

7 Days

Next week is highly anticipated around our house. On Tuesday our furry new family member will actually come home with us. He's adorable. He's very adorable because I'm not responsible for his messes right now. As exciting as that may be we are all eagerly awaiting next Thursday.

The cast is coming off. Are you jumping out of your skin with excitiment?! I am. I'm sick of the cast on so many levels. Sally has a hard time: bathing, sleeping, using the toilet, dressing, buckling into the carseat, putting on socks, picking anything up, eating, reading, and, last but definitely not least, keeping her pants up. The pants up thing is the irritation of my days. Five minutes won't pass before someone mentions Sally's 'buns are showing'. She's destined to be a plumber. I get the delightful job of yanking her clothes back up to the proper position and scraping my knuckles on her cast. Every. Single. Time. My hands are already raw, but the cast really does me in. Small price to pay for a nice strong back, though.

A few weeks ago I went back and re-read posts from this summer. Just reading about everything stirred up those emotions again and I found myself crying. I'm still in disbelief that we are on the other side of this mountain. I can't praise God enough for his care and for answering prayers on Sally's behalf. I still can't understand the entire situation. Why did she contract TB...why did she live while others died? I do know that she's a special girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family. I should be satisfied with that, and thankful that we are almost done with medication (6 more months) and orthopaedic doctors (3-6 months in a brace)!

Dinner Time

It's basically organized chaos around our house. Except for a few hours in the afternoon while everyone naps or has quiet time. Then the noise descends, the pleading ensues and I start making dinner. Josiah is the worst during dinner preparations. He's hungry 24/7. If I'm busy in the kitchen he's hounding me. I'll do anything to keep my sanity during this part of the day. I let him empty tupperware, pots, lids, anything. Yesterday he was exceptionally cute. He pulled out bowls and then a big pot (that I never use). Then he promptly sat in it.

Tonight, I gave him my old cell phone. I thought it was dead. He turned it on. I thought it wouldn't make calls. He called 911. I couldn't believe it. It's almost cheesy. But I freaked out hearing "911 operator..." coming from my cell phone. She kindly told me that even phones that aren't active can call 911. Good to know...

The big kids are busy with my latest hated activity. Webkinz. Hate it. Eli 'needed' one for his birthday. It's quickly turned into an obsession. I allow webkinz while I'm making dinner on M, W, F for about 30 minutes. Seth thinks I'm crazy (being so stingy with their time), but I don't care. While I'm on the topic, if you have webkinz tips, leave me a comment. Eli really wants to make a friend but doesn't know how.

Makeovers by Toys-R-Us

I got suckered into buying my girls a make-up set for Christmas. My friend was with me. She has three boys (with a fourth on the way). She was so excited by the set (trimmed in a pink boa) that I forgot I would be the one living with the makeup. So I bought it. It was on sale and I'm a sucker for a good price. Deep down I know I'm raising at least one prissy, girlie girl. Shall I fight it or just let her wear nail polish and sticker earrings?

The girls were (of course) thrilled with the present. It's gaudy, complete with purple lipstick and matching nail polish. Big. Sigh. I was actually pretty pleased once I opened the package because all of the glossy things are...get this...clear. Whoopee for the gal who thought that up!

The big rule is that I have to be the makeup artist. These two can do some damage with a single tube of chap stick. We don't even need to think about what they could do with a case of lip glosses. From the look of it I should probably exercise more caution and care while applying makeup to the small children. I don't think it's supposed to hurt.

The pain was well worth it, "You look fabulous, dharling! That clear gloss was a great choice. It really complements your headband. I love that headband by the way, looks just like mine..."

Hair

I've started a post like this about 3 times over the past 6 months. Finally, I decided that if you don't know what to do with your child's hair; there are better people out there to give you a hand. I can tell you this, doing Sally's hair has humbled me. I read the books, watched youtube videos late into the night, and asked loads of questions. All of that for the day that my little girl actually grew some hair that would need to be tamed. The day came and went and we are still bumbling around. My latest idea was to spend an arm and a leg on hair products from Carol's Daughter hoping for a miracle. The much anticipated package arrived and we used everything with excitement hoping for something wonderful. She smells good, her hair is pretty cute (not too different than before), but I still have to 'do' it.

She isn't the big issue around here lately. It's this little guy. He woke up one day and was a cross between Kramer and Don King. It should be easy to see why.

Yes, he is indeed licking a screwdriver with a flowered handle. It's his favorite thing in the world (I've removed the pokey screwdriver end). He's cute but his hair is OOC. Even after meticulous application of aforementioned expensive hair products, he's still Don Kramer. Does this mean (cue foreboding music) we need to give him his first haircut?

Another Addition to Our Family

Does this give our announcement away? This photo wasn't posed, she actually grabbed that book and sat down with it. Only because the other two were hogging this one...

This addition to our family will be a furry, four legged variety. Don't ask me why, because I have no logical explanation. We are crazy. If you've been here before that shouldn't be news to you.

My girls are pretty cute together. After years of harassment from two brothers, Ella finally has someone on her side. Unless she and Sally aren't getting along then the sisterhood is ditched.

Today was a good day for the two sisters. They were busy making a huge mess in their room with fake food and baby clothes. I was nearby in the kitchen cleaning up lunch, but could hear their chattering. I smiled to myself after hearing Sally say, "I'm Mommy. Ella you be my dog."

Of course, Ella is perfectly happy with that arrangement. She's always the dog. Doesn't matter what else is being played, she'll be the dog. Her doggie career has included "Princess Dog", "Jungle Dog" and even once "Dinosaur-eating Dog".

It dawned on me that Sally just gave me the biggest compliment she could. She wasn't 'a mommy' or 'the mommy' she was "Mommy." I feel a little middle school saying this, but adopting an older child makes you feel a insecure. When we first came home I wondered if Sally wished she was back at the transitional home. She could run around and do what she pleased. I tried to ease her into the routine of our family. I still couldn't help but wonder if the first time she emptied the trashcan she wasn't thinking, "Back in Ethiopia they didn't make me take out the garbage."

It's been eight months since we came home. It seems like we've always been a family of seven. I get all the hugs and kisses, but it's nice to hear a completely innocent exchange that lets me know Salomae is pleased that I'm her mommy.