rain walking

Tonight there was a tremendous thunderstorm right as we sat down to dinner.  So as soon as it was over (and we finished lighting, then snuffing out our Easter candles) we headed out for a little walk to buy some popsicles for dessert.  It was still raining pretty steady and much-o fun was had by all. 

We brought the popsicles back home to eat at the table, since the rain + umbrella + popsicle combo was sure to end in at least one tricky moment and possible loss of either popsicle or umbrella :) 

Fun little way to end the day, and now all four are snoozing, and I'm headed that direction too.  As Matt would say "I'm getting more sleep than I deserve with a 12 day old".  And he's right.  So am I.  But an early bedtime sure helps out too! 

trial runs

Well I've now had a few solid trial runs as solo mom of four.  We've had some smooth moments.  And some not so smooth moments. 

This afternoon was mostly smooth.  Julianna was working on a project (always!)

 

 

Lydia playing with the doll house

And Isaac busy at the sink

All was calm as I sat down to feed Luke for the 98th time today.  Or maybe the sixth.  Hard to say :)

Our newest little guy is mostly content, but I am re-remembering just how many hours a day it takes to feed a newborn.  And how tricky one-handed living really is.  And how patient my big three kiddos can be (and how impatient they can be too!) 

And I am super super grateful for Matt, who is currently carrying Luke while playing hide-and-go-seek with the other three.  [Luke just got an exemption from the 'must close his eyes' while counting rule.]  If it weren't for him, I'd be drowning in a mix of sleepless exhaustion and pure overwhelmed-ness.  

But there are definitely moments, even when Matt is home, that are just plain tough.  But so much joy and delight in our little Luke, he is just such a sweet little addition to our family.  More to come.... off to feed a fussy tired baby boy!

the big brother

3 years 2 days and 3 hours older than his brand new little brother. 

And proud of it too.  He actually asked "on my birthday I want to go to the hospital and have the doctor get the baby out"...... and two days later his brother arrived :)

He asks to wear this shirt more often than not.  He loves to talk about all the boys in our family (Daddy, Isaac, John Paul, Luke).  He's figured out who will sleep in which bunk.  When he says Luke it sounds a bit like 'Wuke' and I love it. 

The photo below is also pretty classic big brother.... look closely.  One shoe on, one shoe off.  Ketchup stains on cheek.  Scars from two different head injuries at hairline.  And precious little brother: sweet feet way too soft for shoes, no food stains, no scars.  Oh how I can't wait to watch these two grow up together. 

And this photo too - loves to hold Luke, eager to share his tiger (temporary share, that is .... also eager for Mom and Dad to get an animal for Luke so Bei Bei's place in Isaac's arms is not threatened).   He worries when Luke cries, loves to check on sleeping Luke, and is ready for the day Luke can hold his own toys. 

Isaac little buddy, you are going to be one FANTASTIC big brother. 

my view

The days are already flying by.... part of me wants him to stay this little forever. 

Tomorrow morning he'll be one week old. 

Luke photos and stories

First up, check out Luke's sweet fan club (hospital visit #2)......

I realize it's terribly early to draw many conclusions but so far transition for the big sibs has been super smooth.  We did talk at dinner about "the good things" ("I love to watch him take a bath") and "the hard things" ("Mommy can't help me very much").  But mostly just enjoying the good!!

They are loving all the extra Daddy time - outside now for a post dinner baseball game while I feed Luke and type with my left hand :)

Luke loves all the time with Matt too!  Our first nights have been a mix of tough patches with just enough good stretches to get us through.  And I am trying for a nap each day too.

His delivery was smooth and perfectly timed.  Contractions started at 3ish and I was convinced I was in labor by 4 am, friends came to stay with sleeping kids and we were at the hospital a bit after 6.  Luke is a big boy (!!!) so pushing was a lot more work than I was prepared for, but I made it with a ton of encouragement from Matt and Lisa (our doula, an American nurse). 

Now we are home and settling in to our new routine, Lots of sleeping and eating for the new little guy, with bouts of fussiness to keep us on our toes :)  Tomorrow we are headed back to the hospital to check his weight.  9 - 14 at birth...... as well as he is eating I bet he is back to that weight already.  And then a stop by the U.S. consulate to apply for his certificate of birth abroad and a passport :) 

It's a BOY!!

Luke Joseph

Sunday, March 18th

8:13am

4500 grams (9 pounds 14 ounces)

45 cm (21.3 in)

Isaac = three

Celebrating this little guy is easy :) 

We started with gifts from the girls and a special birthday breakfast. 

Then it was on to phone calls and a few gift openings ... the original idea was to hold off and open most of them later as a family but Isaac kept saying "but Mom, I can't wait".... so we opened a few throughout the day :) 

In between phone calls and gift openings Isaac and I collaborated on a blue cake with blue icing. 

 

 After Matt got home we opened more gifts.... this car transporter was a HUGE hit :)

 and this hat (John Deere logo on back) is even more amazing in person!

And finally it was time to eat the cake :)

Happy Birthday to my most favorite brand-new THREE YEAR OLD!  We love you Isaac :)

two more weeks :)

Two weeks from my due date :)  oh wow are we eager to meet this little one!  With no history of early arrivals (Isaac at 5 days pre-due date was my earliest, both girls were late - 2 days and 5 days) I'm  anxious for baby to arrive but also aware that we're probably a good ten days out.   Of course, if this little one decides to show up early that would be just fine in my book... have you ever met a pregnant lady in the last weeks who wasn't dreaming of 'any day now.....'??!!??

For the most part we're still doing good - baby seems happy and content, Momma is mostly happy and mostly content :)  The other kids are READY!! I think they feel like they've been waiting forever :) 

I am definitely not my normal high-capacity self 24/7 though.  Last night Matt walked in at 5:30 and I was sitting on the floor playing with the kids. 

I looked up and said "ummm, there's a small problem with dinner."
"What?" asked Matt.
"I didn't make it" responded round-pregnant-belly-toting me :) 

The problem was not that I didn't plan it (nope, it was right there on the weekly planner sheet on my fridge - spicy chicken chili and dinner rolls), problem was that I just didn't make it!  I had napped while the kids rested, skyped away a chunk of the afternoon, got outside to enjoy the slowly warming temps and at 5:30 dinner was MIA.  (Matt usually walks in about that time, and I am usually already in the kitchen working towards a 6pm meal.) 

We went out to eat.  On the way home Matt said "We should do this lots - you don't need to be cooking every night" (Luckily eating out here is cheap and cheaper as long as you stick to local cuisine, which is not difficult since we don't live close to any western restaurants.)

And thanks to a WONDERFUL "fill the pantry/freezer" shower some dear friends hosted for me on Monday night we are well-stocked for food post-baby-arrival!  My deep freezer can hardly squeeze shut!  [More on the shower later when I get pics.... such a fun fun night for me!]

Double bonus is that Jan and Luther (my mother and father-in-law) arrive on April 12th and I know the extra hands and love and attention and cuddles will smooth our transition and make home-cooked meals a reality again! 

In the waiting we've got one REALLY BIG DAY coming up tomorrow - Isaac's 3rd birthday :)  Such a delight to celebrate him - for him and with him! 

love these people (and this video)

I think I've mentioned this (maybe about six thousand times before!!), but I married into one really great family.  Really.  Great.  Family.

Watch this music video, seriously.  Watch it.

Lead Me on Vimeo (Bethel Church)

Now you know one quick little snip of why I love this family (and the rest of the extended family) so very much.

Andy (Matt's brother) is Worship Director at Bethel - he and Kristi can SING (!!) and that's him singing in the video.  My kids love to play "praise and worship band" .... we blast some of their recorded music and the kids set up a stage, gather their instruments and have a blast.  I usually sit back and watch.... missing Andy Kristi & family, praying hard that one day our kids will worship in their hearts with the same enthusiasm they have as they shake their tambourines and sing along with their aunt and uncle.

gardening, year two

Matt led the charge yesterday and we were all back out in the garden again - after a long winter and lots of begging from the kids to "plant some more seeds".  The weather is warming up.... slowly, surely, the average high temp is definitely warmer than it was two weeks ago.  So we decided it was time to get the soil ready and toss out some seeds.

Sunday after church we stopped by the plant market for seed packets.  Started with 'little cabbage' which we know from experience (last year) is a sure-fire winner.  We also picked up some cilantro and green onion cause we've heard they also qualify as "hard to mess up". 

The seed packets are less than 50 cents each, so we each kiddo choose one thing they wanted to plant.  The girls were less motivated by what might actually grow and more motivated by the photos on the seed packets.  Each ended up with a beautiful variety of flower - we'll see what happens :)  And Matt steered Isaac towards a packet of cherry tomato seeds.... our tomatoes last year did really well, but we thought we'd try something a little different.  If nothing green shows within a few weeks we'll replant that cherry tomato spot with some tomato seedlings. 

First order of the day was to clear out the weeds and get the soil ready.

We handed Isaac the hoe and asked him to get to work breaking up the hard clots of soil :)

Isaac's attention waned once he realized he could hardly lift the hoe more than a foot off the ground... luckily, he loves to play in the dirt so his attention was quickly captured by other things - now the trick is going to be keeping him and his shovels OUT of the dirt long enough for something to sprout! 

And while little bro played the girls worked and worked.  Julianna is especially motivated this year and has spent little snippets of time over the past weeks "working in the garden" so she was excited to be out there with Matt and doing some serious gardening!

We put both varieties of the girls' flowers in this empty pot.... Matt thinks we probably over-planted it, but I'm hopeful that at least one variety will grow and both girls will declare SUCCESS!

Then we sectioned off the rest of the dirt-patch-garden and tossed out our seeds, sprinkled a little fertilizer and added heavy doses of water :)

The end result looks like this: 

Now the waiting begins.... waiting to see something, anything green start to pop up in our soil.  We'll keep you posted! 

baby shower

(posted late...after Luke's birth actually!)

Lori and Sonya were so sweet to host a baby shower for me and the new little one on March 12th at an Italian restaurant in town. 

 
The gifts were exactly what I needed.... not clothes (we have gobs) or baby supplies (we're stocked) or diapers (I use cloth) but FOOD!! 

Take a look at this big stash of freezer meals :)  My deep freezer was stuffed to the gills, I could barely squeeze it shut!

We played a "guess the gender of the baby" game based on old wives' tales.... results were unclear.  And then did this "spit on a penny and stick it to the wall" test.  According to some, if the penny sticks to the wall, baby is a boy.  Well, my penny stuck, and baby was a boy :)  There was another pregnant girl at the shower - her penny did not stick and ultrasound later said her baby was a boy.  Oh well, I guess it works at least half the time! 

I'm not sure if you've ever spit on a penny in front of a group, but it was a bit awkward :)  The photo does show how huge the belly (I mean, baby) is though!

Six weeks after Luke's birth and we still have a few freezer meals left (of course, I've been cooking some, and we did take out some and we ate a good bit of quickie type food too).  This freezer meal shower was a HUGE blessing!! 

pics from previous Easters.... just fun :)

Thinking about our Easter celebrating got me looking through old pictures (the kids could spend hours looking at old photos on my computer so this is a fun treat for them too!)

Here's Julianna, Easter 2007, with the Resurrection Eggs. 

And Easter 2008 with the deck of Easter Egg playing cards - making a poster.....

... and also a necklace!

[Not sure about the look on her face, she must have been pretty serious about that necklace making, huh?]

Easter 2009 with our freshly dyed eggs - I remember this day well.  Grandma was in town, Isaac must have been about three weeks old (?) and our neighbor buddy Emma Grace was part of the celebrating.  Another neighbor and her grandson joined the party too. We had an even ratio of adults to kids, but with 3 almost-two year olds and a three year old and a newborn it was pretty hilarious :) 

Easter 2010 hunting eggs with my newly walking little man and his big sis in the background. 

And Easter 2011.... my egg dye-ers (our green-only eggs.... read here for the story) and some hand print lilies on the table.  Maybe we'll do those again too?!?! 

Oh, the memories.  And we'll add more this year!

Easter preparations!

Our family, we really like celebrating.  We do it small.  We keep it simple.  But at the same time we somehow manage to make it a really big shindig :)  Thankfully our kids are still very impressed with small-time gigs.  It doesn't take much more than a whole lot of built-up anticipation and a few "special" things to convince them that whatever the celebration .... it's a big deal! 

So I've been spinning some Easter ideas around in my head - and figured many of you were doing the same.  Let's consider this a little idea swap :) 

Last year the without-a-doubt-biggest-hit was our Easter Garden (click to follow link).  It's an Easter week thing and the basics can be pulled together in about five minutes with a baking dish, raw potato, two pieces of pipe cleaner and a few things from your yard.  (You can definitely get more snazzy with this one but I'm a 'keep it simple' kind of Momma!)

We always enjoy our Resurrection Eggs - and the kids are already begging to get out the Easter baskets and play Easter Egg Hunt (one child hides eggs all over house while the others wait - then "go!" and enjoy the hunt together).  Years ago I both loved and dreaded this simple game.  That was back when I was the only egg hider and my egg seeker (or maybe two) was very limited in search capacity.  Now I have three very competent hiders and three competent seekers, so it's a win-win for me :)   Especially if I just accept that I'll be scouring the house in mid-June and stumble across one final well-hidden egg! 

This year we're going to try a few new things too.  I found this resource (again, click to follow) on the Desiring God website - essentially, start the Saturday before Palm Sunday with seven lit candles.  Each day has a Bible reading (already prepped for you!) and then you snuff out one candle each day til Good Friday when only one candle is lit for the reading and snuffed out for a completely 'dark' Saturday before Easter morning when all are lit again.  Candles are a big attention-getter around here.  I think we'll try to do this at dinner during Easter week.  Prep would be to print the readings and get out seven candles - matching would be nice but in a pinch I'm sure any seven will work :)  

Years ago a family moving back to the U.S. gave us a deck of Easter egg shaped playing cards.  We were way too young at the time to do any card playing, so I turned them into craft supplies instead.  This year we finished off our card stash with a "JESUS IS ALIVE" Easter banner for our porch door.  

We're already several weeks into reading our Easter books and coloring Easter cards and ogling our egg dye kit and all that jazz.  With a baby set to make his/her appearance sometime between now and Easter Sunday I figured an earlier start couldn't hurt! 

What are some of your ideas?  I know lots of our friends do the "tomb cookies" thing.  Any other big hits from your families? 

Isaac and school, day 7

Today is the seventh day of school for our little man.  He is doing fabulously.  I should/could have guessed that his transition would be the smoothest of our little bunch - he's very social, loves to be part of group activities, has two big sisters right upstairs from his classroom, and has been watching the school routine play out for a few years now (unfair disadvantage to the third child, huh?)

And my mornings?  Well, they go by quick!  I am thankful for these seven I have had so far - definitely gives me a chance to get some serious to-dos taken care of and I've had a few work-related things to help out with, so I'm grateful for the extra hours. 

And I LOVE LOVE going to pick them up.  Three big smiles, three kiddos running to meet me, three chattering voices all going at hyper-speed as they catch me up on all that I've missed over the past three hours of their lives :) 

Off to tackle more laundry and then run to town for a quick hair cut before getting them in two hours!  Today I'll take the camera and maybe get a few pictures of the pick up scene (if it will stop drizzling!!! ah! the constant cold and dripping sky is about to drive me batty.... summer is coming, summer is coming, summer is coming!)

the lego sheet

Since we entered Lego-world I've been wondering exactly how/when/what it looks like when we get out 4zillion little plastic pieces :) As it turns out, I love watching my kids create with Legos.  Impaling my foot on a Lego?  Little less love.  Finding Legos in the dustpan, under the bathroom sink, in my sock drawer?  Not so much love. 

So I've felt the need to restrict our Lego play, which is no fun.  But our house is just (ahem) not that big.  No way do we have the space to dedicate to a Lego zone.  One day, maybe, but not in this particular space.  It must be that the Legos come out, get enjoyed, get put away. 

And our visiting friends shared one of their tips - and it is working so fabulously.  Take one flat sheet, spread it on the carpet (this almost covers our entire living room floor with coffee table pushed aside - wouldn't work so well in the bedrooms which are much smaller).  Dump your Legos and go to town!

All of us can settle ourselves and our creations on the sheet, and the clean up is a TOTAL breeze.

Bonus: it keeps all the nasty hairy dust balls that tend to collect on the carpet out of the Lego box. 

Not that your carpet has any of those little hair balls.  Nor does ours of course :)  After all, we vacuum every ..... well, enough about that!

It totally works for us.  For now.

I am not much of a Lego builder (Matt can do some really cool stuff!) but I am really good at finding "just the right piece" so I let that be my contribution :)

Sunday noon Matt and I leave for a one night get-away in a nearby town.  The kids will be with two different sets of caregivers and are pretty pumped about the set-up.  We get home Monday evening - woo hoo!

needs and labels and John Paul

I think most all of you know that we are adopting John Paul through the China Special Needs program.  And what that means is..... he is considered "special needs".

Raise your hand if you want your child to grow up with the label "special needs".


Exactly.


What about the label "special needs adoption"?


Thought so.


We feel the same way.

There are many thoughts spinning through my head as I think about these words, these labels.

First, all orphans, every single one, share a primary "special need" that surpasses all others - the need for a family.

Second, all of us, each human being walking the face of the earth right now, has a severe "special need" - a need for a Savior who can pay the penalty of our sin and restore us to right relationship with our Creator.

So me, Matt, our other children, John Paul, you.... we're all "special needs".  And those of us who are, through faith in Jesus, restored to relationship with God our Heavenly Father... well, we're "special needs adoption".

That's part of what I think when I hear "special needs adoption".  There's another big part too.  John Paul does have a medical special need identified by China and qualifying him as a special needs adoption..... cleft lip and palate. 

His cleft lip and palate is congenital (present at birth) and was most likely caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.  His lip repair was done when he was 10 months old.  We hope that his palate will be repaired as soon as possible (maybe even before we bring him home).

There are a lot of unknowns and we'll need to have him seen by well-trained physicians to fully understand what lies ahead for him.  Most likely at least one subsequent surgery as he gets older, speech therapy, dental work, ......

Interestingly, his cleft lip and palate probably played a big role in securing him a spot in a foster home.  Cleft lip and palate babies have a hard time eating.  Cleft lip and palate orphans typically gain weight slowly and fail to thrive in an orphanage setting.  John Paul is just about the healthiest looking 14 month old you've ever seen a photo of - his height and weight are above the 50% mark on child growth charts.  Clearly, his foster momma spends a lot of time making sure he gets the nourishment and nutrition that he needs.  Thank You Jesus!

If you're interested in understanding more about cleft lip and palate there is an brief, easy to understand write-up on the Mayo Clinic website.  Click here if you want to take a look.

That's our John Paul.  Most likely he was abandoned because of his cleft lip and palate.  One day he will understand that.  Maybe his momma knew via ultrasound that she was carrying a cleft baby and chose to carry him to term, deliver, and then abandon him.  If so, we are ever-grateful that she gave him the gift of life.  Maybe she didn't know and found out at delivery.  Maybe she wanted to keep him and was pressured by others to give him up?  Maybe she didn't and her decision was totally her own.  So many questions we will never know the answer to. 

But one thing we do know: John Paul was perfectly created by a perfect God who numbered each of his days before even one of them came to be.  The pain in this truth (that some of those perfectly numbered days carry intense pain) does not make the truth any less real.  God is just as much in control of John Paul's life as He is in control of mine.  And yours.  I'm not particularly fond of many parts of my story.  But I am not the author.

So me and John Paul, we're going to walk this road together, of trusting a perfectly good, perfectly wise, perfectly sovereign God to write our stories just the way He pleases, and pray that He will use us to show the whole world that He is worthy of our trust.