Awesome Freebie

Last Summer I started reading this amazing book, Adopted for Life.  It's a great read.

Great news.... You can download it for free on ChristianAudio.com this month.

If you'd rather read it here's a link to it...

Good ole' snaggle tooth finally comes out

Before

snaggle tooth

Caleb, who will be 7 in a few weeks, lost his first tooth tonight. He was beyond excited. Many of his peers have lost numerous teeth and I think he was starting to wonder if his teeth would ever come out.

I on the other hand was quite happy in my world without creepy, wiggly, jiggly teeth. The first good wiggle I felt made my stomach churn. The days of watching him mess with it threw me off too. I know, I know this should not be about me but he hasn't asked to write on our family blog so I get to tell it from my point of view.

Oh, and Michael was also kinda freaked out about it too. So after about a week of the wiggliness, it was time to make it happen tonight. I tried my sister's floss trick cause there was no way I was going to pull it out with my fingers, but the floss was a fail. Then Michael decided to call in the troops and have his mom talk him through it. She did and with a big yank the tooth came out. A little traumatizing for the parents but the kid was a trooper.

and couldn't stop grinning. Now we start the awkward picture phase of our family....

The creepiness of the jiggly teeth isn't my only aversion to the situation. It's just another sign that my baby boy is no longer a baby. He's getting old. That's the funny part about having little kids. So many days I long for the times when I don't hear "mommy" said a gazillion times a day and when I can sit and read a book quietly or have an uninterrupted conversation with an adult. But at the same time I treasure these times when they are young and we are their world. Lord, give me the grace to treat them as the treasures that they are, and as I'm giving requests make them limit the number of times they say mommy a day.

New Look Disclaimer

Today as I was posting on the blog Caleb was watching me and said "Why does it say Growing Gothros?" He wasn't too impressed by the title and honestly I've never been a big fan of the name either. So we spent some time brain storming (all potty names were quickly eliminated--pun intended) and we remembered the Bible verse about how we are supposed to shine like stars in this rough world. So we are gonna work on shining over here. Good news is that Christ can still shine through us even when we're ugly and cranky and undeserving.

My boys did get to shine some light on a few men who are without homes today. I have a feeling that seeing Caleb and Nathan with their tender hearts brought a little light into lives.

A month ago as they were leaving a hockey game, the boys met a man named Clayton who does not have a home. He left quite an impression on the boys and they have been wanting to help him. Today armed with MickyD's gift certificates they set out to find him. They did and he told them a bit about his life. He lost both of his legs due to frost bite and he spends his days bundled under numerous sleeping bags trying to get through the day.

Michael was really touched by the time he spent with this man and mentioned him numerous times today. At dinner he asked the boys what they thought God wanted us to do for this man. Their first answer - "Be his friend" followed by "bring him hot cocoa." Michael's planning on following through with those ideas and praying the next steps fall into place.

Have I mentioned how much I love all three of my tender hearted boys?

So back to the title.... We're not trying to be rock stars but just shed some light on a sad and lonely world. Stay tuned for how God works through weak and tired, sometimes really cranky vessels.

Oh and, why does blogger have to have that picture be so huge? I'm not computer techy enough to know how to fix my it. Any ideas?

A peek into our Sunday

These days our Sundays are much more relaxed than they used to be. One of the requirements of the internship we are doing is to take a break from traditional church-going and meet as a house church with the other interns. We are on week 4 and it's been really awesome. Here's a little blurb from the beautiful Elena about our time last week and here's another one from Jared.

I love our house church and I'm amazed at the grace that's poured out on our children. It's one thing for Christian's to talk about how we want to be like Christ, but then not live that out. As we spend time in a small setting together, we get to witness the living out of the Word. Our family is especially blessed because we get to watch 7 people love on our children and show what the Body of Christ is like.

So, here's a peek into our Sunday...

After sleeping in late,

Caleb styled the girls' hair.

We also did a lot of reading books and the Bible on the couch

A little dancing (cause that's how we roll)

Some eating and more with the Word

Boy Adventure time....

One of the coolest perks of house church is that we get to pray about how we want to spend the money that we usually tithe to the church.

This month we decided to go out and buy lots of gift certificates to the golden arches and Michael and the boys are off to find people to deliver them to. I'm excited to hear about the adventures the had and the people who the Lord leads them to.

In case you're interested, here a book that I've been enjoying The House Church Book

Top 10 Things Not To Ask...

It's been a long time since I've blogged. I've missed it. I felt like my first post after my long break should be a good one and I have no energy for a good post :) So, I decided to share someone else's really good post to break my no-blogging streak.

Shonda wrote this great post about questions not to ask adoptive families IN FRONT of their children. I love talking adoption. I feel so privileged when people call and ask me questions about the process or about our adoption. It's seriously one of my favorite things to talk about. I also love to talk about adoption in front of my children but there are some questions that are not appropriate to ask when children are present. I thought this post was written with a great tone, most people are asking questions with great intentions, they just don't know what lasting affects the questions can have on children.

Top 10 Things Not To Ask

In honor of November being National Adoption Month, let's talk a little adoption semantics. There are those things, sometimes completely well-meaning, that people say and do that make every adoptive mama cringe a little. Here's my top 10:

1. "Which ones are your real kids? Oh, you know what I mean." Well, in my case the difference between my biological kiddos and adopted kiddo is a little obvious, so I've never had this question. But, this isn't always the case. In general I don't believe people intend to insult or offend. But, think of it from the kids' perspectives. Imagine growing up, and constantly hearing questions as to your "realness" or the feeling of having to prove your place in your family. And, don't fool yourself ... kids are always listening. Adoptive parents already have extra battles to fight to instill a sense of confidence and security. Don't make it harder for them by asking insensitive questions. I assure you, Joseph is my real kid as much as my three other kids are, and I would not hesitate a millisecond to jump in front of a bullet for him.
2. If you meet a family with more than one adopted kid, don't ask "are they real siblings." Yes, they are real siblings! Timothy has a real brother, and his name is Joseph.
3. "What a blessing your family is to Joseph." I know this is a well meaning comment. I've heard it numerous times. But, let me tell you, I am a blessing (and a curse) to all my children equally. And, I believe wholeheartedly that I am receiving the greater blessing. So, if you are tempted to say this, just turn it around. Say: "Oh, what a blessing Joseph is to your family," because this would be more accurate.
4. "Oh, what an awesome thing you did. You are so amazing. You must be a saint." Honestly, I throw up a little in my mouth every time I hear this. Trust me folks, this isn't false modesty. I'm perfectly flawed and, just like most every other mama, I spend way too much time selfishly ignoring my kids and losing my patience. If you've said this to me, no worries. I forgive you. Just cut it out! :)
5. "Oh, I hope he knows how much you've done for him when he grows up." I hate to break it to you, but generally kids don't appreciate their parents until they have kids of their own (and sometimes not even then). Why should we expect anything different from adopted kids?
6. Please don't generalize horror stories and apply them to every adoptive family you know. Yes, some adopted kids grow up to be punks. Guess what, so do a lot of biological kids. And, yes, adoption involves money, and where money is, so is corruption. But, don't assume, because you saw a news report on CNN about a corrupt adoption in Ethiopia, that every Ethiopian adoption is corrupt. Unfortunately, the good stories don't make prime time but they are the majority.
7. If you see a multiracial family in the grocery store, maintain a little bit of self composure. I mean, if you're going to stare unceasingly, at least follow it by a smile so we don't feel the need to watch our back all the way to the car.
8. Be sensitive about asking questions (even good questions) in front of older children. While some kids soak it up, not all children like being in the spotlight their whole lives. If you have a genuine desire to know more (besides unbridled curiosity), politely tell the parent you would love to know more, and do they have an email address or could you pick their brain sometime. Most adoptive parents I know LOVE to talk about adoption (myself included), but their first priority is the protection of their children. Right now this isn't really an issue for me, because Joseph is too young to comprehend any question or conversation I might be having. But, in a few years brace yourself for mama bear should you get too inquisitive in front of him.
9. Don't leave out the bio kids. This has happened to me numerous times. I see strangers in the store, and they ooohhh and ahhhh all over the brown baby, completely ignoring the beautiful pink babies in the same shopping cart. I get it. He stands out (because he's brown, but also because he's gorgeous). But again, keep in mind the kids. You never know if that middle child isn't crying out for just a portion of baby brother's public attention.
10. Unless you have a really really good reason (like you are the child's Godparent), don't ask about the birth family or the reason for relinquishment. Some parents are very sensitive on this issue, and rightfully so. Joseph has an absolutely amazing birth father, who had a tragic story that involved nothing less than pure sacrificial love, that led him to take Joseph to the orphanage. It undoubtedly saved my son's life. I hope Joseph grows up with nothing but love and honor for him, and one day I hope we all get to go back and meet him again. Not every adopted child has such a story. But, as beautiful as his story is, it is still tragic and involves a lot of loss. As he gets older, we can't pretend that this won't affect him, and casually discuss it while picking out bananas at Wal-Mart. As he gets older, I hope Joseph is at peace enough with his story to want to talk about it, but I won't force him to.

Adoption is a beautiful, amazing thing, so let's talk about it. Never, never be afraid to talk about it. Just think a little before speaking, especially if the kids are within earshot. I've only been an adoptive mama for six months, and so I'm sure I'm missing a lot. So I would love for other adoptive parents to chime in on this, and add to my list.

Sleeping beauties

Melia has had some issues falling asleep lately. She usually falls asleep really quickly and has no problems sleeping in her crib. For about a week now she's been insane when it comes to sleep time. She screams and freaks out.

We've been doing a lot of rocking her to sleep but she knows that we're going to put her down eventually so she's been resisting falling asleep.

Last Tuesday she had (sorry this is gonna be gross) an explosive poopy when I went in to get her in the morning. This is highly unusual for her, in fact it's never happened before. Since then she has had a really hard time sleeping. So, we've been trying some unconventional things.

Addie's bed (which she doesn't sleep in because she likes to sleep in the boys room) is a day bed and I turned it so the opening is now facing the wall and it's like a really big crib. She was a little bit happier about sleeping there but it didn't quite do the trick, she still flipped out when we left the room.

Then I got really smart. I talked Addie into sleeping with Melia and bang! She now sleeps! The trick is to get Addie to fall asleep first (which isn't really a trick cause she falls asleep 2 seconds after she puts her head down).

Aren't they ridiculously cute?

Melia loves unbuttoning her shirt.....

So, who knows how long this system will last for, but I'm just so glad that Melia's screaming cycle is over. It was really sad.

While I was talking to our agency's family life education lady today. I realized that the poop in the crib was maybe a trigger to her early days as in infant. When we received her referral last September she had an enlarged spleen. All the doctors we talked to said that she could have had a case of malaria or something earlier in her life. So, I'm thinking that she maybe had a lot of messy poopy incidents as babe and last weeks incident triggered emotions in her. Of course all of that is speculation. But it helps for me to think through all of those things so that I can try to help her move past bumps in the road.

Happy Melia Day!!

I can't believe it's been a year since we finally got to hold our baby girl.

She wasn't so sure about us for the first few hours but she quickly realized we weren't giving her up and gave in. I am amazed at how much she has grown since we first met.

Here's the post we wrote a year ago about our first week with Melia Serawit.

I'm pretty amazed that all the things we learned about her in those first 7 days are still true,

well maybe not the shy part.

p.s.

sorry these pictures are so huge, i've got issues...

I am amazed at the joy (and the volume) this girl has brought into our home.

The wonder of Melia has not worn off. All of us are still pretty enamored with her. Just last week Caleb got in trouble for waking her up from her nap because he "missed her".

Anyway, she's super great.

I can't believe it's been a year since she saw us and broke out into tears.

It's amazing how love can heal and how her love has forever changed us.