One week...

Last weekend, DD#1 learned how to use the riding lawn mower. She moved at a snail's pace (the throttle was WAY down) but got most of the yard done. No running over any lawn furniture or kiddie pools for her!

Grandma and Grandpa got here from Wisconsin on Sunday night. It's the first time they've seen Angel Baby.


Hubby took off for Labor Day (even though we knew Hurricane Gustav was coming) and went with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie, Uncle, Cousins and all the kids to the zoo in Little Rock. I stayed home with Angel Baby because of the heat- I was nervous it would be too much for her all day outside in the sun...

Looks like he's not quite tall enough...hehe

What would zoo pictures be without the flamingos? I'll spare you the 15 monkey pictures and the 7 pictures of orange fish!


And then the effects of Hurricane Gustav made it up our way. Our power went out on the 2nd for about 8 hours, it came back on for 6 hours and then it went out again for 2 full days. These pictures are of some flooding on a road near our house.


Hubby said, "We can drive through this." I said, "You're crazy, what if the road is washed out? He said, "Oh, it's just a little water." I said, "Don't you remember seeing that woman on the news who tried to drive through the water and she was barely rescued with her little girl only after getting stuck against a bridge? " He said, "Yea, I remember. But look, those trees will catch us if we drift sideways." Nice... He started to drive through the water with a big grin on his face. I'm surprised the water didn't start coming in the doors!Just to the left of Princess is Hubby taking a bath in our pool (I'll spare you that picture!). When we had no power, we used the pool water for bucket showers, dish water, water to flush our toilets, etc. Praise the Lord Hubby bought a small generator a few weeks ago for the business. We were able to run the generator and plug in our two refrigerators and freezers. We just purchased the meat from a whole cow about 4 weeks ago. I would have been just sick if we lost all our meat! The older kids had school each day so we were doing homework by candle light and making meals on our grill (even in the rain). We also used the grill to heat water for the kids to bathe in. Our power was restored on Thursday (DS#3's 6th birthday) at about 1:30pm. I raced to Walmart and bought food for dinner (we were OUT of groceries!) and a box cake. I scrambled to get everything done in time but we pulled it off. Grandma and Grandpa came over and our birthday party went off without a hitch.


Where did 6 years go? When did my baby boy get so big? We used to call him Little Man...

Here's grandpa with the 4 little kids just after their walk in the woods. The boys love to play in the woods so grandma and grandpa made many trips out there to see all the boy's favorite places.

Friday we had some doctor appointments and Saturday grandma and grandpa were here playing games with the kids. Hubby was in on the kick ball game and tried to break his leg...he ran through a hole in the yard and just about did the splits. So now he's sick with a cold (maybe from bathing in cold pool water?) and he's limping around because his hip and leg hurt from wiping out. He said to me, "Man, I'm going to have a rough time getting old." I replied, "Yea, no kidding..."

WHEW!

Oh my goodness...we have been so busy! I don't even know where to start- the days have just been flying by. Our shipment of home school books finally came in today- we've gotten so many hand-me-down books, I just needed to place one order for both kids. I waited to officially start all the subjects until after public school was well on its way. I just couldn't muster up the energy to get in a new routine for the public school kids, take care of a newborn and start a new home school routine. So, tomorrow we will begin ALL the subjects here at home. We've been working on penmanship, reading and math all summer long so those things are going smoothly...now we just need to add in all the rest and make it go smoothly with teaching 3rd grade, kindergarten and keeping a 3 year old busy (oh yea, tending to Angel Baby too).

I finally had enough of the nasty carpet in our sunroom- Hubby and the older girls ripped it out about a week ago. Since then, we've been walking on sticky floors cause the glue is still on the cement. It looks like there used to be a vinyl floor down before the carpet. Some places have old vinyl, some places it's been scraped off and it's just glue on cement. Lovely...


My sweet, dear son is scrubbing the sticky floor for me with Pine Sol. The smell was just overwhelming after pulling that carpet up...makes me wonder why it smelled so bad...YUK!


Here's Princess doing a coloring project while brother was mopping the floor.

Finally, brother got his turn to hold Angel Baby. He usually has to fight his sisters to get a moment to hold her!

I've been working on re-flooring the sunroom and going through pictures to put in albums. I finished one album yesterday of our first 6 months together after the 4 kids came home from Liberia. A friend of mine gave us a Creative Memories album with some cute journal sheets to put along side the pictures. It took me almost a year, but I finally got pictures developed and got them in a book. Now, I just need to order a matching album and get the last few months in order. The kids will be home a year on November 10th- man, did that time go by fast!

We got those self stick vinyl tiles to put on the floor in the sunroom. I figured the room is just a big rectangle so how hard can it really be? SHEESH! I'm about half way now...I think. And why did I buy a pattern with little squares?? That need to line up??? Of course the room isn't square so my flooring project just became harder. This is one of those times in my life when I wish I wasn't so OCD! Oh well, a little at a time and I'll get done eventually. I'll post pictures when it's done. I think I have enough left over paint from other projects to paint the room and all the trim. If I don't need to buy paint, that room will have a makeover with very little money. YEA!

Since Big Brother is gone at the Military Academy, the two oldest girls got their first lesson in mowing the lawn last Saturday. DD#2 was first to run the lawn mower (DD#1 ran the weed eater). The poor girl had a rough go in the back yard...first was the slide to the swing set. The hole she made looks small but how she made it was hilarious! She drove UP THE SLIDE on the riding mower. YUP...I said up the slide.


Then came the plastic kiddie pool. She pinned it between the lawn mower and the big pool. I think the exhaust actually burned this hole in it...thus our second 'lawn mowing' casualty.

After that, Hubby finished the back yard and told her she better take a break. She felt bad but we just had to laugh it off. It isn't every day your daughter drives up a slide...

Photography skills...

Well, this is about the extent of my photography skills- frankly, I surprised myself! My dresser doubles as the changing table, and as I was changing our little angel baby I thought to take a picture in the new outfit grandma sent. As I stood there thinking about the best angle to take the picture...I noticed her looking in the mirror at me. Then I thought about taking a picture in the mirror....pure 'genius' on my part! hehe Anyway, I thought it turned out pretty cool so I wanted to share. Have a great week!

New pics

Our little angel baby has decided she doesn't like sleeping it the cradle (that fit so nicely beside our bed!). So, I got out the crib and started to assemble it- hoping she would sleep better in the 'big girl' bed. After attaching the last side, I realized I had gotten myself stuck inside the crib- not that there was any room to sit outside the crib (our bed is only about 12 inches away!). Angel baby has slept awesome the last two nights, seems the bed switch made a big difference.

Sleeping on daddy...

Our good friend, Mr. E, came to have dinner with us yesterday. He, and his two children, brought two of their horses so our kids could have a ride. Here's Princess with her turn.

Another one of Princess and Mr. E's daughter.

Here's DD#3 with her turn riding Chris, the horse.

DD#2 taking her turn, she wasn't so sure about the whole 'horse riding' experience...

You can barely see DS#2 riding behind Mr. E's son. This horse is named Skipper.


DS#3 hanging on tight!

DD#1 with her turn. She was hanging on for dear life!

The last ride of the day. Everyone was trying to squeeze in just one last turn!

DS#2 this morning on his first day back to (public) school.

DD#1 this morning, on her way back to (public) school.


DD#2 this morning, heading back to (public) school.

A little sweetness for today

10 toes...

10 perfect little fingers...

Lil' Miss Pink...


All of our boy baby stuff bagged up and ready to be taken to Little Rock. My very good friend just received her first foster child today...the 'sweet one' is a 6 week old baby boy. What a better place than for all our stuff to be given?...I was having an emotional time going through it all- but knowing it goes to her for her little guy makes me feel a lot better! Who knew giving baby stuff away would be so hard and feel so final?

Finally....a family picture!

We finally got a picture of our crew! Here we are...all 10 of us!

Here's 'princess' with our little angel!

And big brother...


And just one of the 4 big sisters!

One week & 1/2 of a pound

Here's our little Angel Baby at a week old. She had her well baby check up and gained 1/2 a pound already! She fits in well...even at a week old, she LOVES food!

8 days old, sleeping in the swing.
Hubby and the older girls started Tae-kwondo this week. The little boys had their class first and then everyone else joined in for the next class, the Family Night class. I think it's cute that the little boys are a higher rank than their daddy!

Princess was so upset that she didn't have a uniform. The instructor was so nice and said that if she stopped crying she could have a uniform. Princess immediately stopped and said, "Thank you, maam." I guess she's been listening to the classes when the students answer the instructor with "Yes Maam!" Too cute...

This-n-That

Well, I didn't get pictures yesterday like I hoped...I forgot at church, my camera never left the bag (would have been a great opportunity to get a family pic)! Because of the weather, we stayed inside yesterday. I rested mostly with baby while hubby played endless games of Monopoly with the older 6 children. I don't know that he was playing exactly by the rules- there seemed to be a lot of 'deal making' going on. They were all having fun though, and learning how to count/exchange money. The weather has been "Africa Hot" lately with yesterday being 104 in the shade. That's not the heat index or humidity added in. The Liberian kids now compare the weather and they tell us if it's "Africa Hot" outside. They have determined that, yes, it's "Africa Hot" and they love the fact that we can stay inside and it's cool.

The 3 older children were occupied today (and all were somewhere different) so I took the 5 little ones to Walmart to finish up the school shopping. Thank goodness I started over a month ago and have done a little here and there! This year we have 1 child in a private school, 3 in public school and 2 home schooled. Each one needed different things (I had school supply lists for 4 kids) and everyone got a new pair of shoes- including Princess (our 'almost' 3 year old). While shopping in LR-and in labor!-I visited Old Navy and got some great deals. I was able to get 2 outfits each for 6 kids and then Hubby and I each got two shirts.

This is what baby has been doing since 9:30am (it's now 12:30pm). I never thought she would have made it all the way through Walmart and then back home again before waking up. She's still sleeping and I'm thrilled! Thank you, God- I'm so happy to have an 'easy' baby! I'm praying she stays this way!!


She's a little jaundiced but not nearly as bad as some of the other kids have been at 5 days old. Her newborn 'puffiness' is gone and we can see her features a lot better, she looks just like her other siblings when they were born. A friend of mine commented on how she looks so much like her daddy. All the kids have looked like daddy from day 1! I just wait a few years and see if any of my features show up in any of them...they have shown up eventually!

The "middles" are all occupied at the moment working on projects and enjoying some of their new school supplies. I'm off to eat some lunch and then get Princess down for a nap. Princess picked out Dora shoes and a Dora activity set for her school stuff. She's happily playing for the moment- I have a feeling she won't be too happy when I mention the word 'nap.' That's one of my favorite times of the day! Wish I could be sleeping...

Have a great day!

It's a girl!

Just before changing into my gown and hopping into the hospital bed to get connected to all the monitors... my face is pink in this pic because it was over 100 degrees outside! I was so hot by the time I got to the hospital!

Mad baby! This was moments after delivery and we found out she was a girl!

Full tummy-happy, sleeping baby... we were waiting for daddy to come and pick us up from the hospital and bring us home.

Everything went well, I actually went into labor on my own after seeing the doctor on Wednesday morning. I stayed in Little Rock and 'walked around' (shopped!) until my contractions were consistent. I checked into the hospital around 1pm and called Hubby to come and meet me up there. My contractions stalled a little and the staff started some pitocin around 4:30pm and the doc broke my water around 5pm. Little Miss was born at 8:47pm weighing 7 lbs. 14 oz, 20 3/4" long.

We came home 24 1/2 hours after delivery (I was MORE than ready) and arrived home by 11:15pm. Today is my first day home with the baby and the kids are all so excited. I keep reminding them that she's not going anywhere and they'll all have plenty of time with her (to hold her, etc). They're all very happy to have another sister, hubby can't resist picking on the big kids for being so certain she was a boy.... hehe

She's a good baby. If her belly is full, she sleeps for a few hours (more than our other babies ever did!) and is generally quiet most of the time. Hopefully this weekend I can get pictures of all the children holding her and some more close-ups for you all to see.

Have a great weekend!

"Mom, I don't like Walmart....."

Today our 2 oldest girls said to me, "Mom, I don't like Walmart." They are forever bothering me to go shopping at Walmart and I try to go only once a month. I shop at other stores for groceries, thus saving TONS on our grocery bills. My trip to Walmart usually is for things I can get only there and not at the other stores. The kids think it's a blast to walk through there as I shop but they badger me to no end. They know I'm not buying anything but they ask anyway....they even bring their hard earned money and try to buy things for more than what they have- yea, I know, typical kid stuff.....

Anyway, the girls have saved enough that they wanted to get some posters. High School Musical and Hanna Montana are huge around here so of course, those are the posters they wanted. I told them if that's what they chose to spend their money on- that was their decision. We left earlier than normal for DD#3's dance class so we could go to Walmart before-hand.

Come to find out each poster was $4.50 and the big girls wanted 3 each. They got to the register and didn't even have enough for 2 posters. They had to learn the lesson of putting something back and then 'borrowing' from mom to pay their bill. This was also the 3rd or 4th lesson in paying tax. We got in the car and the older girls were somewhat exasperated. They looked at their two posters and then proceeded to tell me that they don't like Walmart anymore because it costs too much money to shop there. They didn't have any money left and were in the negative!

A few weeks ago the kids also each begged me for a disposable camera. I spent the money and as I gave them each one, I told them they must pay half for the developing. That took the wind out of their sails. I dropped off two of the cameras today and you could see the wheels spinning. They were thinking about the cost of their posters and now they would have to pay another few dollars to develop their pictures...

We got home and they went into their 'stash' and paid me what they each owed me for the posters. Hubby came home and they told him right away that they won't be shopping again at Walmart anytime soon. I followed those statements with this reply, "I don't like spending all our money at Walmart either- so stop asking me to go there all the time!" I laughed hysterically- they didn't. I think they're beginning to understand....

Humble vs. Pride

The Noah's Webster 1828 dictionary defines the two words as this:

PRIDE: to pride one's self; to indulge pride; to value one's self; to gratify self-esteem (prideful: full of pride; insolent; scornful).

HUMBLE: to make humble, to abase the pride of; to reduce arrogance and self-dependence; to make meek and submissive to the divine will.


Last night during a simple game of checkers, one of our children set into motion the learning of a very important life lesson- without even knowing it. What began as a fun game turned into a lesson in pride for the entire family. We've been talking a lot about the importance of 'saying what you mean and meaning what you say.'

This particular child made a statement and then later refused to follow through. The statement alone wasn't important at all, it was the refusal and sheer disobedience that was shown. Proverbs 13:10 says, "By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom."
Proverbs 29: 23 says, " A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor."

Hubby and I explained to this child, many times, that because of his/her actions the game turned from fun to not-so-fun. The child fought and fought and fought....making it obvious that pride was the issue. Even though the experience wasn't delightful to watch, the other children in the family learned something very valuable. We, as parents, were not mean but were firm in our parenting (and taught this lesson with love)- they all understood that pride is not a good trait and that it doesn't get one very far. One of the older children sat right on the couch and 'confessed' to us that sometimes he/she has pride and it's not a good thing. That was a HUGE moment because even though we all knew it, the breakthrough was that this particular child confessed it on his/her own. And this child also confessed that he/she doesn't desire to have a prideful heart like that...

After the 'event' was over and the child finally 'followed through,' everyone went on a walk together and rode bikes as Hubby pushed our smallest one in the stroller. The night ended well and we were able spend some more good family time together.... and a very important lesson was learned by all.

Too good to pass up

Have you ever seen something that you just couldn't pass up? Of course you have....this is something my dad sent me today and I just loved it- I had to share! My grandparents lived through the Great Depression and this cute, little grandma reminds me of my grandparents. There's always something we can learn from generations past. And of course, it has to do with cooking so it's right up my alley! I could actually feed our crew these meals- cheaply! I hope you get a little nugget of joy out of these videos just as I did.

End of Pregnancy

I read this article this morning:

End of Pregnancy
As my pregnancy comes to an end, I'm often feeling uncomfortable. It's easy to fall into the world's comments and think, "This is just torture. Woe is me." I get comments about how big I am, how big this little one is going to be, how "brave" I am to have 5 children (I just received such comments like that yesterday). They aren't comments to encourage or uplift but to get a little snicker out of me because I want to be a Mother.

I sit here this morning, and I begin my time of quiet with God, ACTS-Adoration, Confession, Thankfulness, and Supplication. I find that motherhood and the capacity for life within falls into every category.

As I closed my prayer this morning, my little baby moved. Not the foot in your ribs kind of move, but a gentle little wiggle of his legs and his hands. It reminds me of how precious life is. In a few days it will be one year since we lost our little one. My heart still grieves and I find myself stricken with pain and fear at times. I immediately ask God to take that away, for He is not a God of fear, but a God of compassion and loving-kindness. (Jonah 4:2 and Exodus 34:6-7)

Are you nearing the end of your pregnancy and feeling very uncomfortable? Remember that the blessing of movement in your womb is like no other blessing from God. How gracious He is to give us life within. How gracious He is to have given us Jesus so we can have life more abundantly! Don't fall into the trap of the world that wants to make us think that this is supposed to be hard on us. Be honored that life grows within you and that you will have the privilege of pushing your precious babe into the world so very soon.

ADORATION- I simply ADORE the God that created me, and created life within me!

CONFESSION- I confess at times I wonder why the end tends to be so difficult with breathing, swelling and bladder,etc.

THANKFULNESS- I'm so thankful that He has allowed life to grow in my womb once again!

SUPPLICATION- I pray for a healthy birth, a healthy baby, and that my little baby will come to know Him as well.


I couldn't have said it better myself.....

Recognized again

I mentioned in a previous post how I often thought about if people recognized our family as we moved around town doing our every day errands, etc. On Tuesday, as I brought the little boys to karate, a nurse from the clinic called my cellphone. She called to tell me that the Liberian kids need another round of meds for certain lingering bacteria they've been dealing with.... but before she told me what each child needed- we had about a 10 minute conversation. I don't know her, but she (as well as many people working in the clinic) knows our family very well. That just reaffirmed to me that as God gives us certain jobs or ministries, we should be thinking of that at all times. Yes, we are human and we often mess up but as people approach me- I be sure to tell them that we are just like everyone else and are trying our best- we are FAR from perfect people or parents!

I was left thinking about my actions, tone of voice, posture and if I leave people with a word of encouragement as I walk away from our brief encounters. That's really my number one job, right? To show Jesus' love and compassion to others and encourage them!!

Today when we were at the summer reading program at the library (I had just 6 of our children along)- we were recognized again. I had a lovely conversation with one of the women who works there and she commented on how she's kept track of our family through the newspaper articles. Just one more example of the awesome ministry God has given our family. Because of our story (and just the sheer number of children we have!), we are more likely to be recognized by people we don't know. Remember when I posted on the woman at Taco Bell?? Exactly... There was also a woman at the library who knew my Liberian girls- I don't know her but she knows about us. As the mother of these children, I have a very special responsibility not only in raising them every day but also how I teach them to respond to each other and to others. It is true that they are watching me 100% of the time...

Back to the thought (and previous post) I had about shepherding our children... what a privilege God has given me.

Thank you, Father, for seeing the potential in me and trusting me to mother these children. I promise to do my best and try every day to carry out your will and not my own. Please fix anything within me so I can be a vessel to carry out your work. In Jesus name, Amen!