Life at our House

Here are Caleb and Steven trying out their new shaving kit from Christmas
Dr. Caleb giving Steven the once-over
Steven crashed out on Daddy's lap
A very perseverant S proving that she successfully finished B's new shaped horse puzzle. What makes this especially sweet is that one of the little boys tipped the temporary table the puzzle had been on the night before and she had to start again nearly from scratch. I helped but she's the one who stuck with it until she got it done.
Do you ever just have one of those days?? We won't mention which one of our family members this reminds me of--but she and I are very close :) :) :)


B and T with the lovely gifts they received from their birth dad.
This picture of Caleb and Steven just cracks me up.
I know this is fuzzy but I was so impressed with Steven's attentiveness to his new ABC book.
This was New Year's Eve--or maybe it was actually right after midnight: J posing with his freshly baked loaf of banana bread

Stuffed-cheek B showing off the new Remote Control backhoe he purchased with his chore money and Christmas money.



T's brand-new Tomagotchi drying out on the heat vent after accidently going through a dishwasher cycle. (Note: it did work again after Kevin took it apart)
Steven and Caleb had a wonderful time playing in the box that their new shelves had come in.

B helping Daddy put the shelves together
I could not believe this: I drew the S and we were talking about the 'sss' sound and Steven said "T" and promptly drew one!!


T playing a relaxing game of Solitaire--no this photo was not staged.



J got Caleb and Steven recruited in his couch cushion-fort

Kevin proudly showing the completed (finally) copies of his annual water/waste water report. He'd started it early in January but then our computer crashed--what a mess.
Our kitty Jade selected Kevin's partially open sock drawer as the spot to get a cat-nap.





Now it's the girls' closet. What a silly, silly feline.
Steven curled up in the top of the laundry basket. He was looking up at Grandma to check out her reaction to his escapade.

Sorry for the long interval between entries here. How is it that during the Christmas holidays when I didn't have TIME to post and later when our computer basically crashed and I COULDN'T post, I could think of all sorts of enlightening, encouraging,and/or entertaining tidbits to share but now that I have a block of time available all my words of wisdom seem to have escaped from my head??

It seems with our blog title that I should include at least some entries on daily life with our children. The problem is that everyday life often seems way too boring to share or else a bit too real. How I would love for you to imagine that I go about each and every day with a smile on my face and a song in my heart and I always speak sweetly, gently, and encouragingly; that our children always conduct themselves in an orderly and respectful manner and their rooms and persons are always ship-shape . . . . I could go on an on in this daydream but that is all it is. The truth is that life is very real. It is not perfect. I am not perfect. My children are not perfect. The house is not perfect. And yet I have been incredibly blessed--I have a husband who loves me and our kids, who works hard at two jobs to support us, who is faithful and strong. And I have 6 children who can be incredibly sweet and compassionate and insightful.

So I'm just including some random shots of "life at our house"

Miss K and Miss C **PLEASE READ**

Miss K.

Miss C.

Jan 1. A couple days after Christmas, I was looking over the Reece's Rainbow site--which I haven't been allowing myself to do too much and for some reason decided to view the older girls. (I usually just look at the boys) My heart has not been the same since. The top two girls listed were "K" and "C"--I'm sure names are changed to protect their privacy--who both have Down syndrome and live in a familiar Eastern European country. The first thing that caught my eye was how beautiful they are; the second thing was a statistic I didn't want to believe--that C who is 6 (will be 7 this month) only weighs 21 pounds. Yes, you read it right: twenty-one pounds. Good grief! my adorable great-nephew is 1 year old and probably weighs more than that. Because neither of these little girls are quite walking they spend most of their lives just laying in their beds and staring at the ceiling and the walls and their hands. As you well know, long-term bedrest does not promote physical health or stimulate development. At least 5 Reece's Rainbow children have already died in this institution. My heart is truly broken.

What are we as God's hands and feet going to do about this? If we are truly disciples of the Master then we do not have the option to do nothing. We cannot pretend that we don't know. Prov 24:11,12 says "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about his," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" or like The Message puts it "Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help. If you say, "hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know--Someone not impressed with weak excuses."

So are you going to pay for food? Contact Life2Orphans. (I can email you privately the location of the orphanage) Are you going to donate to K and C's adoption funds? See http://www.reecesrainbow.org/ under Waiting Children/Older Girls. Are you going to open your heart and home to them? Contact Andrea at Reece's Rainbow. Are you going to pray earnestly and daily for a mommy and daddy to find them? Contact God; He calls himself the Father of the fatherless. But PLEASE don't just X this post out and forget these tiny, helpless girls.

Pre-Christmas Gifts from Emily

Steven and his new cars

B got a shaped construction truck puzzle and a 10-dollar bill. (One of his developmental goals deals with money--so he happily practiced spending it at Wal-Mart)

S got some beauty items

Caleb and his new cars

J enjoying his Star Wars character R2-D2

T was still sleeping when Emily came over so had to wait until later to open her present.
They each got a Christmas stocking from her as well.

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning Part 2

Family Christmas Dinner

This was a unique day for both Caleb and Steven. Christmas 2008 Caleb was home but we were not because we were in Ukraine meeting Steven (my nostalgic moment was at the elementary program when Steven was sitting on my lap and I recalled him sitting on my lap in the orphanage last year at the St. Nicholas program)--so in a way it was our first Christmas with Caleb and our 2nd with Steven even though Caleb came home first--and we did celebrate with Caleb before we went to Ukraine last year. But however you look at it, it was our 1st Christmas with all of us at home. And it was a good day. First, we took turns opening presents one at a time from youngest to oldest--Kevin missed a few turns because he was getting the turkey into the oven, but he caught up later. Then we helped the kids try to extract their stuff from the shoplift-proof packaging so they could play awhile before everything had to be picked up for the family dinner at 2:00 pm. We had 19 at the table--though of course 8 of us live here full-time. Our guests were my mom and dad, my Aunts Berta and Beverly, my cousin Dave and his wife Debbie and their daughter Jacki, my cousin Jael, her husband and two small children. Sadly Debra Joy was ill and couldn't join us. After reading the Christmas story from the Bible, we (well, some of us) ate until we could barely waddle, had a $1 gift exchange, played and sang songs (Kevin and Dave strummed their guitars; later B sang "Mary Did You Know?" so sweetly accompanied by S on her clarinet), ate some more, chatted, snacked a bit, tried a couple of these goodies and one of that kind, talked, chewed . . . Good grief!! and then those hoodlums had the nerve to leave a whole bunch of their calorie-ridden goodies with me.