Sping Break!

Spring Break has been fun! Got together with family, kids got to enjoy time with some long lost cousins! (Jordan and Rachel came down here, and more family to come Thursday) Bridget came and stayed the night with my girls, they were up late with popcorn and a movie!! Those are the days....carefree life of children!!

Not so fun for me last night, Blayd woke up 1 o'clock in the morning with a asthma attack! Thank the Lord for an Albuterol inhaler!!! Gave him a couple puffs of that and he was good....except for the fact that it makes him twitch, and talk in his sleep!!! Last time he had this it was a nightmare!! Watching my child struggle for air, is not my favorite thing to do!! Finally found out he has viral induced asthma, and was given a Albuterol inhaler, it works wonders!!! Too bad it took a $750.00 emergency room bill to get it!!! Oh well I guess, you've got to do what you got to do!!

Anyways... today is very windy, tumble weeds bounce through the brown, dust filled air in my backyard, luckily I got Eric to anchor down the swing set and trampoline, although that still didn't stop the slide from ripping off! Dogs sit chewing on footballs left outside, Samuel and Blayd, best buds now, play happily for hours with a few Lego's in the living room. Samuel giggles loudly, while Blayd is acting goofy. I sit here wanting to go clean out my car, which is a disaster, but not wanting to get blow away by the wind. (a nice excuse anyway, my car is the last thing I ever get around to cleaning!!)

The house is fairly silent today, Eric took Bryce and Alemu to work with him. YA!! Five kids seem really easy now...would actually consider going somewhere with them all :) if Annabel was feeling well! She has a slight fever and has been in bed all day, poor girl.

Got Alemu to wear something other then his crocs today.....that was a miracle! They are half eaten, from the dogs, and no matter what kind of shoe I buy him he likes those crocs the best!! I have to go get him another pair soon! I also got Bryce to finally change out of his clothes that he's worn three days in a row, even with a shower in between!! You would think after taking a shower he would not desire to put on dirty clothes, not for this child... I was not at all happy!! BOYS.....they keep life interesting! :)

Update

A lot of children from Ethiopia come home with ring worm, among other things. My boys were no exception, but the worst of it I did not deal with. Ever since they have come here we have dealt with some ring worm spots on the the youngest kids. But it has started getting worse lately, and I think Samuel has it on his scalp. The lesions have gone away really well with lotrimin, but just never really kicked it. I brought Samuel in to the Doc. and they decided to put him on oral meds for the ring worm. It can be hard on the liver, so pray no harm is done. He was on oral meds about a year ago and it did show some effects on his liver, but Doc. will be doing blood test for safety. He will be on it for 8 weeks. Alemu also had ring worm when he was with previous family, but he doesn't seem to have it any more. Hopefully this will be the end of it! It can spread really bad, as my cousin has found out, with her two girls from Ethiopia.
Samuel will also be going in on April 16th for second surgery on his left ear, please pray for him. His hearing has not yet gotten better, but it was not expected to until they go back in and rebuild his bones in the ear. The Doc. says this surgery will be easier and he should recover faster then last one. His ear drum that was replaced has healed very well, and everything looks great! After this surgery he will have to have another on his other ear, they hope to get that one done with one surgery.
The boys have been doing well, they are still testing limits, but that's to be expected! Samuel has been kind of emotional lately, but not bad! It's already been 7 months since they came, I cannot imagine our life without them, they seem like they've always been here!! I just wish I knew everything that they have been through, they don't talk about it much, maybe they will sometime. They are such good boys, with loving hearts!!

My little singer!!

I like this song! The older kids learned it in school and I had to have them sing it! They are not performing perfectly, but I guess it makes it more interesting! Bryce is lip syncing, I don't know why, he usually is very expressive and loud while sing this, but of course he couldn't do it nice for me that day! If you notice Alemu push Annabel's arm off him, it's because he still isn't sure he likes his little sister hugging on him all the time and telling him she loves him, but it doesn't stop her! But anyways....what a good song, God is still workin' on us, and thank goodness He's loving and patient!!! Though we fail often, we know that He doesn't give up on us!

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

In the wash....

Yesterday I found Eric's Flash Drive and Bryce's school DVD remote in the dryer (among other things), that had obviously went through the wash already and was hopelessly ruined! This isn't real surprising, if you know my son Bryce. On some occasions you will notice he walks a little funny. Why? because his pockets are so full of treasures (junk in my mind) that his pants can hardly stay up, and he has to walk that way to keep them up. My sister is really amused by this and loves to find out what's in his pockets. He is thrilled that she is interested and gladly takes out his treasures one by one, the amount of stuff is endless. There are small springs, chunks of plastic, large permanent markers (that he found on one of Eric's jobs), broken lighters.....which brings me to another thing....recently I have found him starting fires!!! One time in the garage, and another in his ROOM!!! When confronted about it, he calmly says, "What??? I wasn't going to start anything else on fire," thinking he has everything under control! As he's reassuring me, I look around and see ashes on the rug and on his chair!! We hope we have gotten it into his head now, that the house could be up in smoke in MINUTES!! Of course to be sure, I've hidden the lighters!!

Back to my story....when I asked why he had Eric's Flash Drive in his pocket, he said excitedly, "I found it!"(he probably FOUND it on the counter) Eric was wondering where it had gone!! Everything he FINDS, he assumes is his, and if not he'll usually ask you for it, no matter how ridiculous it may be that you give it to him!

As we drove around today we past the gym where Annabel had gone to gymnastics last year. She noticed and said"Mom when am I going to go back to gymnastics?" She had enjoyed going so much and I would love to send her again, but right know we had higher priorities, money wise. "Well, I don't know" I said. She asks if I know why she wants to go back, and I say, because you liked it soo much? She says, "well...yeah, but mostly because I want to tell all them that God loves all the children of the world!!" Then she says "I would like to sing the song to them......but I might be too scared.
How sweet that she desired to spread the good news, shouldn't we all be as little children, excited to tell other of Gods love!!!

The Love of Family!

As the kids vomited all through the night, I thought of the one who brought it here to begin with. Sunday my sister's boy didn't make it to the bathroom in time and vomited on my floor! I started to think.... maybe he is getting me back for the accident Blayd had at their house not to long ago? I thought back to the memory of that day......It happened when Jake had begin to smell something awful coming from my son, who I had bragged to JoAnne, was potty training soo well. When he moved, JoAnne noticed he was walking alittle funny. I, being a brilliant mom, new what had happened, and with a quick grab I lifted him up so he could do no more damage tracking this stuff around! But as I lifted him up something rolled out his pant leg and onto the carpet, which by the way was spotless and new up until now, and as i sat my foot down it landed, yep you guessed it, it landed into the pile of poo on the floor! JoAnne was up quick as a flash racing to find me something, anything, hurry get this off my floor she thought!! There sat Jake to her dismay, still on the couch, covering his nose and holding his breath! Panic went through the house as JoAnne raced around, with all this ruckus the other children bustled out from their play, they ran this way and that to survey the scene." Stop!!" cried JoAnne "your tracking.....," but it was to late the damage was done. The children had step in poo all around, that Blayd had spread as he had wondered around, through the kitchen, in the laundry, and the hall up and down! Yes, it is a memory we wont soon forget! Memories with family, how much better can it get!!!

Our Adoption Story

I started thinking, I suppose I should probably tell the story of our adoption. As you can tell I am a beginner at this blogging stuff. Most of you probably know it already, but for those who don't, I will tell it.

Well it was a work of God from the beginning! We decided to adopt from Ethiopia around April of 2008. Our application was accepted and got our paper work in May. We then felt we should not go further with the adoption until our house, that was still for sale after we moved, and in a very bad housing market, had sold. In August we heard about 2 boys who were adopted from Ethiopia 8 months prior, and they were the ages we were looking to adopt, they were going to be disrupted (given for adoption again). Eric and I pray, and asked God for His guidance. We knew while this seemed meant for us right away, that we wanted peace from God that this was truly His will for all involved. Once we got that PEACE things moved very quickly for us and the boys moved in with us August, 23rd. We were amazed at how God had brought them into our lives and how quickly they adjusted, they fit right into our family. Not to say we didn't have some struggles, but all in all, things went better then we could have expected. Thanks to all the prayers of family and friends, for I know with out a doubt, prayer changes things! We could not have picked better boys for our family!( well that's obvious, after all God does knows what He's doing! ) Our house did finally sell and God worked it to just in time for us to pay the adoption attorney fees.He had everything under control. They officially became our boys on Dec. 29th!!! Our cup runnith over!!

We ask for you to continue to keep us in your prayers, for without a doubt there will be struggles. We praise God for His continued guidance and presence in our lives, no good comes from us except by Him!!

It has been interesting having 4 boys in the home. They are ALWAYS full of energy!! I am having a hard time keeping hole less jeans in the house. They are growing at impressive amounts, and it's no wonder their appetites are unstoppable!! Around here there is always a lot of giggles and noise, and at times tempers out of control, and at the end of the day its a lot of kisses and a lot of hugs goodnight, and that is when I sit back and thank God, for all my girls and rambunctious boys!!

Today I decided to create a blog, I thought everyone else is doing it so why shouln't I? Well not really, but figured it would help family and friends to keep up to date with our lives! I don't know how well I will be able to keep you updated, but will try my best!