Monday, August 30, 2010

changes at home

We are back home after ten days on the road.  And though we were greeted by highs in the 90s, fall is definitely on the way..... some of the leaves on our back hedge are starting to change color.


And in the front yard, we've got even more exciting happenings to monitor - new house construction across the street from one of "our" empty lots.  This morning they poured concrete foundation.  Pretty exciting stuff, especially for our little man, who is half-enthralled, half-terrified with all the equipment.


Yesterday afternoon when I greeted him after his nap his first words were "Mom, tractor" as he pointed out his window.  [Yes, he most often calls me Mom instead of Mommy.  It sounds a little grown up coming out of his mouth, but he's busy copying his big sisters example.  He does still call 'mommy mommy' if he is hurt though :)]

The big sisters take their jobs as "little mommies" quite seriously, and he is *sometimes* patient enough to let them mother him.


This moment lasted for about 35 seconds.  Just long enough for me to grab the camera and take a quick photo.

PS - For all the moments like the one above, we have plenty of fighting and bickering and disagreements too :)

Saturday, August 28, 2010

"this is good"



Thursday morning, riding on a pontoon boat with the entire family, Julianna looked up from her perch near the railing and pronounced "this is good".

We couldn't agree more, sweet Julianna.

How is it that the days go so quick, the week is over before we know it? 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

fishing at the lake

Our second lake vacation of the summer is officially underway!  My mom and dad and brother (Stephen) and sister in law (Jen) are all here - so it's a full house with lots of entertainment options for the kiddos :)

We've got a little role reversal going on with the fishing.... last lake trip (just a few weeks ago) Julianna would not touch a fish and Lydia put her finger right in the fishes mouth!

Not this time around.... Lydia still loves to hold the rod


but backs away from the fish as soon as it breaks the surface of the water!



In the meantime, Julianna started baiting her own hook (with leeches, nonetheless). 


Ugh.  But regardless of how you might feel about the leeches, you gotta admit they are working.  For a stretch this afternoon the average amount of time passing between bobber-in-the-water and fish-on-the-hook was about 37 seconds.  Plenty of fishing excitement for two little girls, while Granddaddy and Matt kept busy removing hooks and throwing fish right back in the lake.

Isaac and Grandmama did a little crowd watching :)


Tonight Matt and Stephen took the boat out for a little more fishing.  Matt caught a big ole large mouth bass this afternoon, and I think he's got the idea that he needs a few more!



In addition to all the fishing we've been swimming, playing games, swinging at the playground, snacking, grilling, building campfires, reading books, doing crafts and having lots of plain old fun.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Matt the triathlete

There's no hiding the truth, I'm really proud of Matt.  He placed 4th in his age group, 19th overall in the triathlon on Saturday morning!  Pretty impressive for a guy who rode a borrowed bike, trained about twenty times, and was competing in the second triathlon of his entire life!

If we ever lived in the US for a spring/summer and he could really train..... he would be seriously competitive!  

Matt and his brother Andy left early Saturday morning to drive to the event.



Andy was a great encouragement, saw Matt at every transition (triathlons = swim, bike, run) and when the kids and I showed up later he greeted us and pointed us towards Matt, who was just finishing up the run and about to cross the finish line!


Matt finished faster than he expected and he knew that the kids and I might not make it before he finished, so he was super glad to see us as he came down the final straightaway and rounded the corner towards the finish :) 

(Matt and his fan club)


Yay Matt!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

road trips, part one

We've spent the last few days on the road chasing adventures! 

Day one started with a four hour drive and a trip to Grandpa's company picnic (complete with zoo passes and amusement park tickets).  I am not sure our kids have ever packed so much fun into one afternoon!

(Isaac's favorite zoo animal?  the ducks!)


First stop at the amusement park was the big slide.  Even Isaac participated - the kids loved this!  I did too, and it wasn't easy to convince the kids to try something else, I think they would have stayed at the slide all night long. 





All the kids and their cousins rode these swings


And the ferris wheel was a blast!  I taught Julianna and Kaelynn to lift their arms in the air and scream on the way down :)  Isaac was in the seat behind me and I could hear him saying "more, more, more".  He loved all this stuff! 


A good nights sleep and we were off again.....

Friday, August 20, 2010

road trips, part two

Day two started with a two hours westward drive into the heart of ranch country.  This is probably my favorite part of the state.  It is just beautiful.

We visited Paul's family ranch - a huge chunk of land complete with every thing a child could ever want to do or play or explore.

Right after we arrived Paul and Matt and Julianna left on a four wheeler to go find and bring in the horses.  


I grew up shooting a Red Ryder BB gun and the girls got their first shots in on this trip.  Brought back tons of memories for me -



We chased ducks and chickens, found the sheep, rode tractors, and played with the farm cat. 


 Everybody got a little time on horseback....





And we ended the day with a birthday party at the (only) local restaurant, Trappers Kettle.  Check out the birthday girl in her boa, and the moose and deer and buffalo heads mounted on the wall behind


The fun doesn't stop here!  Tomorrow morning the kids and I will go watch Matt compete in a triathlon and then we head to the lake for a vacation with my family.  Whew! 

Sunday, August 15, 2010

THREE YEARS OLD


Three years ago today Lydia Christine entered the world.  What joy she brings to our family!  

We celebrated all day long ....

Special birthday pajamas (She opened them the evening before the big day and went to bed squirming with anticipation - and, in true Lydia style, has already loaned them to Julianna for tonight.  This little Lydia's generous heart never ceases to amaze.)



Presents and peach muffins for breakfast



and a picnic at the park with Grandma and Grandpa this afternoon.



Guess what she got for her birthday?



She is strong and motivated, a combination that results in a pretty good little bike rider.


Two more little celebrations planned for later this week - three parties for our three year old.  Perfect.

Friday, August 13, 2010

bad fingerprints and big rainbows

Wednesday I got a phone call .... good news and bad news.  The good news?  Matt's background check cleared.  The bad?  Mine didn't.  My FBI fingerprints were unreadable and need to be re-done.

What?  Who even knew someone's fingerprints could qualify as "bad"?  Cell phone pressed between my shoulder and ear I looked down at my fingers.  Bad?  What exactly can you do to make your fingerprints 'better'?

So I went back to the Sheriff's office (where they remembered me - gotta love small community living!) and re-did my fingerprints.  The tech tried really hard to get clear prints, but it turns out some people just don't have good fingerprint-ing fingertips.  oh well.  Left the county office building and drove straight to the post office and mailed my second attempt at clear, read-able fingerprints to the state government offices.

We cannot accept a baby until my background checks clear, so that's a little frustrating.  We can still match, but not bring a baby home :(  So we wait, again.

Later that afternoon I opened the mail only to discover that we did not get one of the grants we applied for.  I knew we wouldn't possibly get all of them, but it's still disappointing to read "we cannot help you at this time".

But then, just to prove how good and faithful and perfect His plan is, I opened one more envelope.  A note and a check from friends, encouraging us to persevere with adoption.  The friends, new adoptive parents themselves, wrote one short line on the card:  "The adoption process isn't always easy... but the end result is pure joy." 

Of all days for me to open that letter!  Wow, thank you Jesus!

And as if that wasn't enough, in one final display of His majesty, He wrapped this through the sky last night.



I took the photos standing in our driveway facing east.  It was actually a full double rainbow (look closely on the far right side of the photo and you get a hint of the double... the camera didn't really pick it up well). 

So we keep on keeping on.  Hoping that one day, soon, we will have our new baby :)

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

treasures baskets, part two

The most special spot in our kids' bedroom in Asia was definitely the treasure shelves over each girls' bed.  Julianna and Lydia really enjoyed picking and storing treasures in such a special place. 

Our final week before furlough the girls each packed up a ziploc bag of treasures from their shelf.  When we unpacked luggage here I tossed the (temporarily forgotten) bags of treasure onto the top of a bookshelf and planned to bring them out one day as a fun little treat for Julianna and Lydia.

Earlier in July we picked up two sparkly treasure baskets for four bucks (thank you thrift store!) and the girls began collecting again - but still without their packed up China treasures.   Until today.  I brought out the bags and the oohs and aahs and sorting and storing began afresh. 



At this particular moment in the day Lydia was wearing leggings, her 4th of July tutu and a princess dress-up top.  Julianna was in the leotard and ballet skirt - again!  When the girl finds an outfit she likes, well..... she likes it! 


So the treasures are back in full force.  Fun stuff.

One other totally unrelated tidbit from the day: in a (very successful) attempt to disqualify myself from the "mommy of the year" competition I ran over Lydia's elbow with the shopping cart in the parking lot of Sam's Club.  It's not nearly as tricky as it sounds. 



She recovered nicely with two band-aids and some Nilla Wafers.  But the bruises will be around for a while. She's also got a dark spot under one eye that doesn't show up so well in the picture.  It was a big fall :) 

Monday, August 9, 2010

these girls

My girls delight in their cousin Kaelynn...


They love the same snacks :) 


They think it's cool to wear matching dresses. 


And they find plenty of adventures wherever they go. 


I grew up surrounded by lots of little girl cousins, and am thrilled that my girls get the same experience.  What a sweet gift that we are together for this season!

Friday, August 6, 2010

learning to speak the language

Every place tends to have a language of its own.  Not a Big - L Language like Russian or Japanese or Spanish but a little - l language: specific words and phrases that are unique to an area, that all the locals know and use, but that might cause an 'outsider' to pause for a moment.

We are busy learning to speak the language here - and apparently succeeding, since in the past few weeks I have had several folks (not locals!) tell me "you are starting to talk like you are from there".  My father-in-law clarified that a statement like that is a compliment :) 

The kids too are learning to speak this language.  And right now a lot of it revolves around crops.  We love the big fields, and you don't have to drive too far in any direction before you are out of town and surrounded by them.  So the girls are learning to identify what they see.  Isaac mostly identifies trucks and tractors which works just fine, since there seem to be plenty of both. 

The girls each claim their side of the road (closest to their window) and pretend they are eating what they see.  (A bit of a ridiculous game, but they came up with it and enjoy it, so that's that.)

"Lydia, I'm eating wheat and you are eating soybeans."  

"mom, mom...... Mom, MOM..... MOM, can you hear me?  What am I eating now?" 

"It's sugar wheats Julianna, I am eating sugar wheats."  [No idea why she insists on calling them sugar wheats instead of sugar beets, but I have given up arguing with her on this one.  You gotta pick your battles, you know?]

Wednesday morning we went to a friend's home to gather some produce from their h-u-g-e garden since they are on a trip and can't eat it up themselves.  We loaded up on corn, onions, tomatoes, and a lifetime supply of cucumbers.  Seriously, if you are in the area and craving cucumber, let me know, cause I have bags full :) 

The girls LOVED picking and stayed engaged much longer than I anticipated.  Isaac quickly became distracted by a small tractor and spent 98% of his time pretending to drive it.  No camera so I missed some super cute photos.

We brought the goodies home and the girls helped me shuck corn. 


In a different setting at a different time, this might qualify as a chore, but for two little ladies who are learning the language here, it qualified as pure entertainment.  


[Yes, she is wearing a leotard and ballet skirt.  Just perfect for an afternoon of corn shucking.]

No shucking from Isaac but he chipped in at dinner.  8 hours after we picked it, fresh on the table (with a cucumber and onion salad on the side) - 

YUM. 


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

the north shore

Matt and I got home late last night.  On our way through town we picked up our already-sleeping children, loaded them in our road weary van and the five of us pulled into the garage here at Chestnut Street, tired but happy to be together again. 

The north shore was A - MAZ - ING!  I loved every minute.  It made me so very grateful for the national and state park system here in America.  Oh how I wish we had trails and parks and loads of purposefully undeveloped earth to enjoy in Asia.  I didn't realize how much I missed this kind of thing.  Road trips, gallon jugs of water, muddy hiking shoes, trail maps.... that stuff feeds my soul.  We often wished our children were with us to enjoy it, but also realized it was fun to cover ten times as much ground ten times as fast!  

In two and a half days of hiking we covered twenty miles (yes, my feet are a little sore today!) and saw some of the Lord's incredible creation.  

Our longest hike (a 12 mile day to Bean and Bear lakes, looping at Round Mountain and ending in the teeny town of Silver Bay).....

Do you see Matt sitting in the top corner of this photo?  These back country lakes always astonish me with the feeling of "sheer wilderness".  I mean, nobody is boating or swimming or even looking at this lake - as far as we could tell we were the only people in the entire area (we saw not one other hiker all day long, only lots of wildlife).

Lake Superior always looms large in the background- it seemed every mile or so we would round a corner to a view like this!


And the last day... less hiking (thanks to tired feet!) and we visited several state parks and the Split Rock Lighthouse.  It's impressive :)


So very grateful that we got to go!  I can't wait to go back.  This was my first time on the north shore (other than driving through Duluth) but it definitely has me hooked! 

Sunday, August 1, 2010

two harbors

Matt and I are on our way to Two Harbors, Minnesota (on the shore of Lake Superior and one of the 'gateways' to the Superior National Forest).  Julianna, Lydia and Isaac are at Grandma and Grandpa's :) 

We're pretty excited about some time just the two of us and a little hiking in the National Forest.  This is the kind of thing we used to do all the time, and children tend to put a damper on trips like this.  But a few more years and they'll (hopefully) be hiking with us.  In the meantime, it's fun to get away by ourselves. 

Matt read up a bit on some of the trails in the area, and picked out a few for us to try.  Knowing my husband, I am sure it's pretty ambitious, so I plan on having some sore leg muscles in a few days!  We decided not to backpack (too hard to round up our gear, which is in storage in at least two different states) so at least we won't be carrying a lot of weight. 

Anyways, photos and more when we get back....