Ethiopia on the brain

Caleb is such a thinker. He's been trying to wrap his brain around this adoption stuff. We checked out books from the library about Ethiopia and he's been reading them for weeks. The other day Michael was reading one of them and somehow a conversation ensued about how some Ethiopians live in Michigan....Fastforward to days later, Caleb says to me "Mommy, guess what? We don't have to wait to get our baby, because there are Ethiopia people in Michigan." The picture he drew above says "Ethiopia is ahead of Michigan." Translation of thought--we are close enough to go to Ethiopia now.

Another funny thing... Michael has a wad of cash from his soccer kids (they owed him $ for socks). Caleb saw him pull a $20 out of the envelop and said "Daddy, you can't use that we need it for our adoption." I hope we aren't turning him into a crazy person:)

I constantly watch the wheels turning as he wrestles with understanding this process, I'm not too far ahead of him in understanding all the adoption intricacies.

Bye-Bye Surfer Dude

This summer Caleb's hair turned an awesome shade of blonde with great highlights. He wanted to grow it out so we haven't cut it in a while, it was just getting to a good length. Today while we were working on a project, he got the urge and followed through with it. He took a huge chunk out of the front of his hair.

The funny part is, I was rushing around to get everyone ready for Michael's soccer game (which they won 5-1) that I didn't even notice until we were walking out the door and it was too late to do anything about it. Since we rode bikes to the school he had his helmet on for much of the game so that was good.

It's going to look crazy for a while even with the buzz. Ah well....

Michael's Insane Schedule

So Michael is coaching both the Varsity soccer team at his school and the boys U5 team, the Thundercats. On Tuesdays he will work all day then go to soccer practice with the boys, then have about 45 minutes before he has to go to Fordson's practice. Which brings us to him arriving at home at 8ish. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he has games. On Thursday he only has 1 practice, then I have Bible Study. He only has 1 Saturday game. So we'll catch up with him then:) The boys soccer games are on Sunday. Soccer, soccer, soccer! :0

All of this on top of teaching rascally teenagers. Yikes! At least our home is super quiet and peaceful--almost!

This was our first Tuesday with this schedule. The kids and I had to drive to Lansing to pick up our van that was getting repaired and come back in time to make it to practice. This whole schedule is even more wacked out because Michael's hooptie, which was given to us and has been a real blessing, isn't working. So today we had to chauffeur him to and from practice. We're trying to decide if it's worth putting more $ into it.

We're all pretty pooped tonight, except for Caleb who's totally wired because his best friend Zoe just got home after being gone half the summer. Anyway, I'm hope Michael can keep up with this crazy schedule. I'm tired just thinking about it.

This is last season's Thundercats team. Nathan is so excited that he's 3 now and gets to be on the team too!

Fordson Soccer

(This is from Michael) Lauren asked me to put a link to the article about the soccer team that I coach. It is from the Dearborn Press and Guide. I am coaching at Fordson High School for the first time this year. It's been pretty fun so far, but a lot of work, responsibility, and sometimes heightened nerves! The article was written about our first game, which we won 8 - 0, (the article says 9 - 0). I can't take much credit for the win....I have a lot of good players, and I just watch and say, "great job! Keep it up!"

My counseling degree is coming in handy, as some of my players seem to be a little on the sensitive side. I had to stop practice last Friday to remind my players that we don't chew each other out when they make a mistake. I told them to use a kind and gentle tone when speaking to their teammates and to be encouraging. Sounds pretty sappy for a guys varsity soccer team!

So here is the article if you want to read it:

http://www.pressandguide.com/stories/082408/spo_20080824014.shtml

Spinach--Yes, Green Beans--No!

Nathan doesn't eat any green veggies, but he loves smoothies. So for months I've been putting spinach in his smoothies and he loves it. Well, last night after dinner I was making smoothies for dessert and I had green beans left over from dinner...I figured why not...and then realized why not. Nathan didn't eat it and Michael even had a hard time with it. Caleb said to Nathan, "Just keep on mixing it and it'll taste good."

I guess I stick with just spinach for now.

New friends at the Riverwalk

I wrote this post a while ago but I never finished it because I had more details to add, but my brain's fried and I still wanted to post it. I was reminded of this meeting tonight when I talked to my friend, Marie. She just finished all of her paperwork for a domestic adoption!! I'm so excited. I'm planning on hanging out with Marie and my new friend, Bev......

On Saturday we went to the Riverwalk, we met some new friends there who have adopted. I had a reallly good conversation with Beverly and Matt (they have the cutest little boy). They have a ton of wisdom about transracial adoption and they shared a little bit with me. They adopted domestically and have spoken on many adoption panels.

It was one of those cool God things that we met.

Continued Conversation in the car...

Nathan remembered our conversation from dinner and out of the blue on the way to Grammy's:

Nathan: "Mommy are you going to drop us?"

It took me a minute to make the connection.
L: "No honey, it's just a phrase people say. It means I'm going to take you to Grammy's and then leave"
C (very matter-of-fact): "Nathan, it means that Mommy is going to throw us in Grammy's house."
L (cracking up): "No, I'm not going to be dropping or throwing anyone!!!! I'm really just going to take you to Grammy's house to play, then Mommy or Daddy will pick you up later."

By the way they were talking you'd think that I spend a lot of time dropping or throwing them. I must admit I'm a little clumsy and have dropped many things. Maybe even fallen down the stairs with Nathan resulting in a spiral fracture on his little, 18 month old leg (real traumatizing for all involved). But I've never thrown anyone!

Those idioms will getcha every time.

Dinner Conversation....

L to M: "I'll drop the kids off, if you clean the kitchen."
Caleb: "Which kids and where?" with a concerned look.
---Laughing from the parents, dragging out the suspense a little.---
L to kids: "Mommy and Daddy both have meetings. Boring! So you guys are going to Grammy's"

Nathan to L: "But I wuv bowing, Mommy."

Homestudy Stuff

Just an update on the Ethiopian front....We're plugging away at our homestudy. I must say this binder is huge and a little overwhelming. Slowly but surely we're getting there. My goal is to have the bulk of it finished by the end of August before I lose my husband to soccer:)

Happy Birthday, Addie!

I can't believe Adeline Joy is 1 already. She still seems so brand new to me. She throughly enjoyed her cake at her party. I love the picture on the right, she looks so proud of herself for being covered in frosting. Caleb and Nathan decorated the house for her, she's been giggling at the wall ever since.

Happy Birthday, Addie!

Gothro Vacation

We just recently returned from our vacation with the Gothro gang in Laurel Highlands, PA. It was so much fun for the kids to play together. The kids are all so close in age and get along so well with each other.

We went to Ohiopyle State Park one day. There is a natural waterslide there and many in the fam braved it. I was not one of them, but my boys were...yikes

I really enjoyed the waterfall that we hung out at after the scary waterslide.

Addie didn't enjoy the week very much. She was recuping from being sick last week and now she's teething. So she didn't sleep well and was very cranky, which is unusual for her.

All in all, it was good times!

So, this video makes me look a bad mom for letting him do it. He really wanted to and Ethan, Caleb, and Naomi had already done it. My sound effects are crazy:)

The Chapman Family

The Chapmans were on Larry King yesterday. I cried and cried as I watched this. The Lord has given them the grace to glorify Him in their grief. One great quote came from Caleb the oldest son "We prayed for healing for Maria, but he healed her in a way that we all didn't like. But He's going to heal my brother in a way that I think we're all going to like a lot." I pray for Will that the Lord would protect him from guilt. It's amazing to watch how the family has worked together to deal with their sadness. You have to watch these clips:
http://trevinwax.com/2008/08/08/steven-curtis-chapman-on-larry-king-live/

Please Pray for Carol

My good friend Missy's mom has cancer and really needs prayer. She is currently having the last form of treatment that the doctors recommend. If this doesn't work, they won't try any other treatment after this.....Please pray for a miracle.

Pray for Missy as well. Before they found out this news, her husband accepted a job in Chicago. She is now planning on staying here for a while with her kids while Craig works in Chicago. Her whole world is upside down.

Here's a Patsy Clairmont, a Woman of Faith, video about Carol: Let There Be Light

Homestudy Packet--Yippee

The box is all mangled because the boys and I were so excited about opening it. When Caleb saw the picture on the binder he said "Is that our new baby?"

Family camping trip

We had a fun time camping. The boys did such a great job. They really enjoyed playing around our campsite, the campfires and all the swimming. Addie had gotten her immunizations the day before we left and she was and still is pretty miserable. We ended up leaving before bed on the second night because the tent was so hot and she really needed her sleep.

So, on to the skunk picture....After we put the kiddos to bed, Michael and I were hanging out by the fire, I really had to go to the bathroom, so I took Caleb's hippo flashlight and took the long road to the potty, the flashlight made these crazy noises and I'm sure the other campers were loving me. Also, I'm a bit of a scardy-cat, well a big scardy-cat, I was afraid that some creepy person was going to get me on the road or in the bathroom...I digress...I all the sudden freaked out and ran like a crazy person back to our site. I see our big lantern light on and think oh Michael's worried about me how nice, then I see him in the road...a racoon had woken him up from a little snooze and after he scared it away, he turn and saw a skunk lurking by our fire. He left the lantern and ran in the street. We both decided the best thing to do was get in the car (I know our poor kids, right? they've got wussy parents). I mean skunks really mess you up and we were only 10 feet away. While we were in the car the alarm somehow went off and that scared the skunk away....again with our fellow campers loving us.

click ont the kids pictures to hear more