One year ago today

One year ago today, hubby returned from Liberia with the newest members of our family. The kids were so quiet and shy but they had big smiles when they walked off the airplane into my arms! Our 'little man' didn't know what to think- he was half asleep. The journey was just too much for him...

Here are some pics of them while still in Liberia:










This pic below was our last moment together as a family of 5. This was just before we left to take Hubby to the airport (Oct. 30, 2007).


Our first moments together as one, united family on November 10, 2007:




Here are recent pics...see how they've grown?




If I've learned one thing this past year, I've learned that this journey as a parent is truly a marathon. There have been lots of happy times and lots of trying times. We are all learning as we go and we just thank God that He gives us the grace and strength to carry on with this task given to us. He hand-picked us all to be together as one family...we really work hard every day to make Him look good! This song/video is one of my new favorites and really sums up the last year (for me!). As I watched this video, I realized that Hubby and I have been in this church. We visited there for a Sunday service before the Liberian kids came home. Enjoy!

Halloween Fun

WHEW! We have been so busy the last few weeks- October just flew by! School is in full swing and the kids are all learning a lot and staying busy with fun activities and extracurricular activities. Here's just a few pics from our Halloween Fun...

After Halloween was over (and I got a great deal on this Halloween Castle at Walmart), our 2 homeschool kiddos had their special Halloween party. Dad happened to be home that day so he helped them to build this spooky, cookie castle.


*Hubby sitting at the table 'observing.'

Angel baby is so funny! Looks like she's saying, "What?? Are you talking to me?" She's really getting a personality and she's getting SO big!

Here's our Hanna Montana girl...

And our Princess girl...


And of course Darth Vader...

*We had a Batman too but for some reason he didn't want his picture taken. He was too busy doing other things to stop for a moment and pose....oh well...

New Pics

"Maybe if I don't look at dad I can fall asleep. Sorry dad, you're just not the same as mom...."

3 of the kids fishing at the Family Fall Fun day with the families from our homeschool co-op.

"I want to stand on the other side of the lake- away from everyone else." *This was moments before he caught the first fish of the afternoon!

Dad and Princess....need I say more? How precious!


Last night was testing night for the younger boys at karate. This is DS#2 during testing.

Here's DS#3 during testing.

DD#2 tested last week with the older class (Hubby too). Here she is getting her new belt!

Here's Hubby getting his new belt....I'm so proud of everyone!

Hubby's goal is to skip the next belt all together (I don't even know if that's possible) and go straight to a camo belt. He said he wants to do this so he can spar! Yea... that's typical from him. "Let me get to a higher level so I can fight!" HA!

We were surprised because the little boys just tested last night. We weren't expecting they would get their new belts in the same night. Here's DS#3 getting his orange belt.

Can you see his excitement?

And last but not least...here's DS#2 getting his orange belt!

"Look how my belt fits..."

The 'crew' after class. Of course Princess had to get in on the picture!

Tender Tuesday

Weekend Fun

Does any of this happen around your house? I think I should start writing all these moments down and compile them into a book. Who knew having kids would be so much fun….

Friday afternoon our 16 y/o daughter got on the lawn mower to finish her ‘job’ leftover from the week before. Up until now she hasn’t been able to start it on her own…the idea of using the choke is not sinking in. But….Friday she started it on her own. The idle was REALLY low, so low that the blades would barely turn. Hubby yelled out the door, “Rev it up….Rev it up!” She was driving at a snail’s pace and just starred at him, then she must have understood what he was saying. She increased the throttle and shot off like a rocket through the yard. Hubby just smirked. Awhile later, we heard her drive from the side yard to the back yard. Hubby and I were sitting in our sunroom talking about something (I can’t even begin to remember what it was!). It was only about 2 minutes before we heard a loud noise and then the lawn mower shut down. Hubby said, "Uh oh!" and then ran out the door to see what happened. Remember my post about our other daughter and her episode where she ran up the slide with the lawnmower. Thoughts came rushing to my mind....what happened?

Hubby comes walking back in the house shaking his head and laughing hysterically. Our dear daughter had RUN OVER one of the boy's scooters! She ran over it and took chunks out of the lawn mower blade as well as taking a big chunk out of the scooter. We just looked at her and said, "Don't you realize you need to steer and move when you see things in your way?" Why they don't get that, I don't know. 'Big Brother' ran over a hose this summer and got it all tangled up in the lawn mower blade... makes no sense to me... Needless to say, the lawn isn't getting cut. It's getting more like ripped because of the shape of the blades. We're so NOT buying new blades this year. Maybe the 3 oldest can all pitch in with their chore money and buy a new set of blades before next year's mowing season. All 3 of them shared in the destruction of the old ones...

Then Sunday morning rolled around and we were all trying to get ready for church. I was coming out of the shower (after having a pants crisis with our youngest Liberian boy) and heard our 6 year old son crying (the temper tantrum kind of cry). I walked out of the bathroom and looked out into the hallway. I saw Hubby dragging our 6 year old by the arm to our bedroom/bathroom. It looked just like those pictures of cavemen dragging a woman behind them. I looked at him in a confused way and said, "What's going on? Why are you dragging him?" Hubby said, "Well, he decided his knees weren't strong enough to hold him and threw himself on the floor and started crying because he doesn't like these pants for church." Our dear son must have heard about the pants crisis going on with his brother...

I tried not to laugh out loud as I proceeded in putting him into the shower. As he was wailing, I handed him the soap and explained that all his other clothes were wet and cold outside on the clothesline. I said, "After you're done with your shower, you can go outside and pick the cold, wet pants you want to wear. Then you can decide if you want to wear the pants dad picked for you or the pants you picked." Guess who won that battle? Yup, the caveman....

Daddy's turn....

with Angel Baby!

People ask me....

People ask me how I can keep track of ALL our kids. They ask me how I can keep everything straight. They ask me how I can 'do it all' and stay so calm.

I have one of those tear off-daily devotion calendars and yesterday it said:

"If you will remind yourself at the start of every day that you are God's servant, interruptions won't frustrate you as much, because your agenda will be whatever God wants to bring into your life...The Bible says, 'If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done' (Ecclesiastes 11:4). God expects you to do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. Less-than-perfect service is always better than the best intention."

Now...if I can only remember that when the questions come my way....

Makes me wanna play the bass guitar!

I just love this song....just the other night I was in the car alone (a rare occurrence!) and I had this going full blast. I'm surprised I didn't blow a speaker in the car! :)

There's a great message here, makes me even more thankful for His mercies and His love. Click on the link and enjoy...YouTube wouldn't let me 'embed' it to blogger...

Have a blessed weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajczMxNu45M

Another sister... Martha

DD#3 said to me, "Mom, we never have any pictures of you....SMILE!"

Here's my sister, Martha, with 4 of the girls. Princess was too interested in her Dora show to notice that we were taking pictures. Hubby stayed with Martha and her family when he went to Liberia to get the children and bring them home last year.

Martha with Angel Baby (who's still trying to get that thumb!).

Happy "Day-Ba", Princess!

This is the day before Princess' birthday, I took the 4 youngest to the park to play and have lunch.
"Look mom, I'm frosting my own cake!"
"Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you!"

Yummy, ooey-gooey cake and ice cream.


Just one of her presents...a princess dress and crown!

~Happy 3rd birthday, Princess! We love you!

Random thoughts

HE SAID...SHE SAID...
He said, "Man, honey, you sure were snoring loud last night. You only do that when you're really, really tired!" She said, "Yea....I know."

~How can the laundry baskets be empty mid-day and then be overflowing before bed? I do 2-3 loads every day and there's still clothes! It's like a bottomless pit... Have you seen that commercial where the HUGE ball of clothes comes rolling at the mom when she's in her backyard? Yea, that's me...

~Thank the good Lord I was born with a personality that makes me want to be organized and to multi-task well. My days start at 6am and end around 10-11pm and I usually accomplish a few things and keep the house from looking like a tornado went through here. I'm trying to make lunch time more exciting with a wider variety of food...we usually resort to leftovers or sandwiches. I've been trying to menu plan for dinners (by the week) and write it on one of our dry erase boards so the kids can see what we're eating for the week. It's working out good, it saves me having to answer about 20 of the 1000 questions per day.

~Why is the traffic so bad going to the schools in the morning? Why doesn't the bus come to our driveway- like normal families? Why do we have to live on 'the line' of the other school district so it's close...but not close enough? How do I manage to keep up with having kids in 4 different types of schools (homeschool, private school, public school & military academy). **I can answer that...a really BIG calendar with lots of room to write things! :)

~You've seen me blog about the show Jon & Kate plus 8. I just watched a new episode the other night and realized that they've been married like 1 week longer than hubby and I!! Oh my goodness...I guess we really are in our 30's...and we really do have 8 kids...

~I was in Walmart a few days ago with just the 4 littlest ones (it was during the day when the others were in public/private school). A man stopped me and said, "I just wanted to commend you for the great job you're doing. You're handing this way better than most moms with one or two children." I thanked him for the compliment and said (just so I could see the look on his face), "And I have 4 more that aren't with me right now!" I think his jaw hit his shoes... hehe It was a really nice compliment and it made me realize I might be doing just something right...at least the kids were behaving at that moment.

~We're getting ready for a visit from a friend from Africa. It's actually my 'sister' and hubby, the kids and grandma stayed with her and her family in Africa. She's only here for 3 weeks in the States. Hopefully she'll be able to stay in AR. for a week or so before she heads back to Liberia. It's awesome how God works...she was 'adopted' by grandma when grandma lived in Africa. When hubby met her, he told her that the two of us are a lot alike-very strong and independent women. I'm very excited to meet another sister that God has given me...one who shares my passions and who is just a few years older than me. A sister who lives on the other side of the world...whom I've never met. It truly is a small world!

~My princess girl turns 3 on Friday. Man, where did that time go? She's such a joy- she keeps us laughing (or shaking our heads) all the time! She was helping me hang up clothes on the line this morning and said, "Mama, I do it." She had drug her own laundry basket outside with a few towels and wash cloths in it. I had to pick her up to reach the line and then she tried to pin it up there. I worked the clothes pin for her and then set her down. We clapped and I said, "You are so big, you did it!" She said to me, "I told you mom."

Grandma

Grandma was here yesterday for a short visit. The kids are blessed to have 4 grandmas- this one lives close so they see her the most often. We finally got a picture of her with Angel Baby...

Fall Fun

For some reason, I get a mild case of 'spring fever' each year. It hits me full force in the fall! I can't remember how it was when we lived in Wisconsin but here in Southeast Arkansas, our fall is kind of like Wisconsin's spring weather- warm in the day and cool at night. Fall lasts longer than the spring and we can keep the windows open for a longer period of time. It seems like in the spring we have nice weather for maybe a month and then it's air conditioning time. We will have windows open from now well into December (last year I got pictures of us decorating the Christmas tree and the window was open in the background!). My 'fall fever' has been kicked into overdrive...I have a huge urge to PURGE everything. I've started with cabinets and I have the attic and garages next on my list. Maybe this is because we're so many people in one space, maybe I'm still tweaking the use of each area/space, maybe my OCD is flaring up again... whatever the cause, I don't mind because every corner is getting organized and cleaned. :)

I'm kind of in awe because usually 6 weeks postpartum I'm spending a lot of time in the chair nursing and not a lot of time sleeping at night. Angel Baby has thrown me for a loop, in a good way! I'd been praying and praying for an easy baby and my prayers have been answered! For a baby who is exclusively breastfed, I'm amazed that she's sleeping 4- 6 hour stretches at night and 2-4 hour stretches during the day. This has never happened before with the other babies! She is the only one of her 'kind' because the other three nursed every 1 1/2-2 hours around the clock for MANY months (maybe until introducing solid foods at 4-6 months?)! She's filling in nicely, I wonder if she'll get as pudgy as Princess did her first year. That girl was rolls on top of rolls! Very cute though, I must say...

Anyway, along with my purging and organizing comes my over-stimulated drive to cook, bake and create things in the kitchen. I like to think I am always busy in the kitchen (I am cooking for lots of mouths every day!) and always have something 'brewing.' But once again, the fall brings something out in me...more baked goods, more pies (I love pumpkins & cranberries in the fall), more coffee and hot tea (decaf for now) and lots more variety in breads and muffins. Maybe this comes about in the fall because we eat lighter in the summer because of the heat...

I also use our dehydrator a ton more in the fall and winter. Right now I have banana chips and slices dehydrating. I need a bigger kitchen or a space where I can 'extend' my kitchen. Over a year ago I got a huge 'lunch room' table for free. I set it up in our attached garage (the one that has now been converted into our toy/activity room. On that table is our water distiller, dehydrator, two crock pots, roaster, bread machine, commercial size rice cooker, etc. I wish it was closer to the kitchen though...

Along with my cleaning and organizing, I have painting on my brain. I've re-done every surface in the house with the exception of our bedroom/bath & the half-bath. I have visions of ripping down wallpaper and going crazy...I'm holding off though because I'm still trying to finish the sunroom. The floor is just about finished (only trim work left) and then I will spend a day and paint it. I'm excited to finish that room- it will be a dramatic change from what it was. I'm just thinking about how much energy I have in not being pregnant anymore... :)

I'm also brushing up on information related to healthy eating/living. Once again, I like to think we do a pretty good job throughout the year, but I really hone in the fall and winter to try and decrease illness and increase everyone's immunity. I'm reviewing one of my all-time favorite books/cookbooks (Nourishing Traditions) and have started another fascinating book called 'The Maker's Diet.' I'm excited to try a few new things I've learned- especially for the Liberian kids who's systems are still recovering from years of neglect. During the past three weeks (since public school started), we've been slammed with illness. Just about everyone in our house has a terrible, hacking cough and/or a cold. We all smell like garlic because this is primarily what I use to get everyone well- in record time. I make a garlic 'press' for the chests of those who are coughing (I apply it 2-3 times daily) and then we all get freshly minced garlic covered with raw honey 1-3 times a day. The little kids get a teaspoon full of honey and the 'big' ones get a tablespoon (usually a full clove of garlic each time). I've also used garlic oil diluted with olive oil for ear aches/infections in the past. Thank you, garlic, we are all on the mend!

I'll end today with a new muffin recipe I used this morning. It was from the side of a Malt-O-Meal box and they are called "Magic Muffins"- I alternated and adjusted some of the ingredients so it would be healthier.

1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c. Malt-O-Meal cereal, dry
1/4 c. raw honey
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. olive oil
1 egg
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. freshly ground flax seed (flax meal)
4 bananas

Happy eating & have a great week/weekend!

Wordless Wednesday