Where do babies come from?

My kids were watching, Saddle Club, the other day and saw a horse having a baby. I was in the other room, but could tell from their comments, that they were thoroughly grossed out. Later I hear this conversation. Micah says, with disgust, "That horse just like pooped out a baby". Isaiah answers, matter-of-factly, "That's how mammals have babies". Olivia asks, kind of nervous, "Are we mammals"? Isaiah, "Yes". Micah exclaims, in disbelief, "You mean mom pooped me out"!

Waiting

Wait v.i. 1. To stay in expectation, as of an anticipated action or event 2. To be or remain in readiness

Waiting. This is what I have been doing for the last 11 months. I have never considered myself to be a very patient person, perhaps that is a trait I'm supposed to learn during this waiting period. I find this definition, of wait, to fit the last 11 months of my life. Right about 11 months ago, we signed a contract with Life Time Adoption. And every day since then, I've thought, I wonder if we'll get a call today. I'll admit there have been a couple of days when I thought, We'll probably get the call today, since I'm sick and can't get out of bed, or since all our childcare options are out of town. But mostly, I've just been anticipating an event that I don't know the date of and trying to remain ready for that event. This anticipating and trying to remain ready can make a person crazy! I am thankful that I have 3 children who help distract me somewhat. I admire people who adopt more than once. I've found myself saying in the last week or so, I don't EVER want to do this again. Then again, I never would have thought I would do it once.

Some of you know, that last weekend a last minute possible adoption situation came our way. It all seemed like God's timing. We found out about this birth mother on Thursday and on Friday morning she went into labor. She was from the area, so it was convenient, in that Randy and I would not have to be out of state for a couple of weeks. My parents were in town visiting and we were able to take off right away to the hospital without having to arrange childcare. It just seemed like God had orchestrated it all. But, after waiting at the hospital for 6 hours, the birth parents changed their minds and decided to keep their baby. Was it disappointing? Very. Was it emotionally stressful? Yes. Were we angry? No. The birth mother wanted to keep the baby all along, but the father had said, me or the baby. It was kind of a messy and confusing relationship. I'm glad the mother decided to keep her baby. Who knows how long the father will be around and if she gave the baby up, then she wouldn't have either of them. So, what was the point of it all? I have no idea. Maybe there wasn't one. It was an emotional, confusing and depressing weekend. Not necessarily because we didn't get that baby, but because we were back to.....waiting.

I Can't Believe It's Butter!

I just made butter! I'm quite thrilled that it actually turned out.



Micah approved of the taste.

Ignorance Was Bliss

Okay. So, I have to admit that the whole healthy foods lifestyle overwhelms me. I'm not talking about eating your fruits and veggies and whole wheat bread. I mean the idea of knowing what's in and not in the foods I eat. This just wasn't an area I wanted to get into. Why? Because ignorance is bliss. Or least it was. For some reason, about a week and a half ago, I decided the time had come to look into the "whole foods" diet. It still overwhelms me, but now I'm not totally ignorant. So, if I don't change my eating, eating won't be blissful any more. I'm not sure eating will be blissful the whole foods way either, since it requires a little more work in the kitchen. I don't really enjoy cooking and usually pick a recipe based on how easy it looks. We're making some changes as a family. Some will be easier than others I'm sure. This past week we made homemade yogurt from raw milk. It was super runny, but the kids loved it. We made about 8 quarts more and I tried some today with some granola I made and it was delicious. I also tried an apple bran shake today for breakfast. It was definitely different than anything I've tried before, but I liked it and it was filling. The boys had some also and Isaiah said he wanted it again tomorrow. Randy and I just made some spelt(kind of flour) bread and I'm looking forward to trying it when it cools off. As it is often our tendency to share new things that we like with others, I'm sure I'll mention from time to time some new recipe we enjoy, but I will do my best not to "whole food" talk you to death.


When Randy brought home these farm fresh eggs, Olivia and I weren't so sure about the green eggs. Olivia jokingly said, "I don't like green eggs and ham!"

Time For New Glasses - Cast Your Vote

After 12 years, I decided that it's finally time to get a new pair of glasses. Now I need help deciding which pair to get. Please help me!


#1



#2


#3


#4


#5

New Fad For Sheep

After Sunday School today, Micah says to me, "Mom, look. I gave my sheep a mohawk."

TA-DA

We have the nursery pretty much done. We still need a crib mattress and a baby. I've decided I don't like waiting, especially when you have no idea when the event you are waiting for is going to happen.

We're Adopting!

Yes, you read that right. We are adopting. Randy and I decided to adopt at the end of February. We are currently working on paper work for our home study. For those of you who don't know what that is...A home study involves tons of paper work, background checks, finger prints, birth certificates, medical exams and 2 meetings in the office and one in our home. You must have a home study done in order to adopt.

We are also working with an adoption facilitator, Life Time Adoption, out of California. We will probably be sending in our contract this week or the beginning of next week. The next step will be to make a profile for birth mothers to look at. And then, we wait for a birth mother to pick us.

We are also trying to come up with some fundraising ideas. So far we are selling Papa Murphy's peel-a-deal cards($35 value) for $5. We are also considering a garage/bake/lunch sale during the Pequot City Wide Garage Sale weekend. If anyone has any other ideas, we'd love to hear them!

If anyone is interested in giving a tax deductible donation to help birth mothers with immediate, short-term, emergency support, housing, maternity clothes, food and other necessities, let us know. If we send in these donations with our contract, Life Time matches the donations by reducing our fee.

We are excited, nervous, impatient and wondering sometimes if we might be slightly crazy.

First Day of School September 9th, 2010

Olivia is starting kindergarten!




Isaiah is going into 2nd grade.










Micah wanted to pose with his backpack too.


Micah wrote his name for the first time and did a great job!

Micah's 4th Birthday

Micah picked out this cake from the Family Fun website and Randy made it.






I love how pleased he looks.

Camping in Duluth

Micah, You Make Me Laugh

Yesterday, Micah had on his coat and a baseball hat and he says to me, "You can tell my shirt is going to be cool, because my hat is AWESOME!"

Last week there was a pirate themed carnival at school. Isaiah dressed up like a pirate on Friday, so Micah wanted to too. Micah was wearing a costume for awhile and then says to me, "Oh, Mom, can I borrow some of your earrings, because pirates have ugly earrings."

At lunch, one day last week, Micah started talking about whale teeth for some reason. He was telling Olivia and I that, "A whale's tooth is probably the size of our house." Olivia of course was arguing with him. She finally asked, "Who told you that?" "Isaiah. He's way smarter than an ant!"

School Happenings

In the spring, Isaiah's class put on four short plays. Isaiah was the Old Man in the Tale of the Turnip.














Olivia was in a School Readiness class on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. These are some pictues from her graduation.

Bonfire Rescue

My friend had a garage sale and had this shelf sitting out with a free sign on it. No takers. I thought it could be cute, but just couldn't think of a place to use it in my house. I don't know, maybe a week or so later, my sister blogs about some of her shelf makeover(You can check them out here and here).
So I start thinking about the ugly shelf from the garage sale that nobody wanted. I've seen it in my friend's burn pile outback. I come up with a place for it late one night and have to wait until morning to call and see if it's used for a bonfire. Luckily it hadn't, so I went and picked it up and give it a makeover. It now sits on a dresser in my bedroom.

Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Bush's

Time For Some Updates

It's been nearly 9 months since my last post. Where to begin? How about where I left off...February 2010. Here are some pictures from when we stayed at Breezy Point Resort with our friends the Normans.