In light of this month being Jared and Caleb's "Happy Gotcha!" month and next month being National Adoption Celebration I thought I would ask for help on my adoption journaling. What I want to know is what do YOU want to know about adoption and specifically about our adoption experiences? I hope to journal my answers to your questions here on Xanga through out the month of November. (maybe earlier if I'm too impatient
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Some background...in case you haven't caught on...all my kiddos were adopted from Ukraine.
OK, comment and ask away! Give me tons to write about!
While driving through Missouri we saw one area where one of the several tornadoes had touched down the night before. It really did a lot of destruction to an entire community. Amazingly it missed the beautiful grape vineyards which was in the fields all around the community. However, the houses, trees etc were pretty damaged. Roofs were ripped right off! My prayers are for that little community in St. James! We heard on the news a middle school lost it's roof while the children were inside but thank the Lord no one was injured. Makes me grateful for home for sure. I'll take a blizzard or ice storm any day!!!
We took a driving break on the first day back home to visit a MO cave. We couldn't do the entire hour and half walk through as the girls would have never made it through that much at their age mainly due to the element of being in a dark, creepy bat infested cave! We were told no potty breaks along the way of course. Hopefully, next trip we'll be able to do the whole thing. It actually was really impressive for the little we did see. The boys climbed in all the crevices of cave walls and had a blast! BTW, this cave was the hide out of outlaw Jesse James.
They did allow us to crawl around all inside the large opening of the cave. Chloe is tolerating a picture here but she really didn't want to leave my side. I think it was a good thing we didn't take her through the entire thing!
The boys of course had a blast climbing in all the holes.
Papa finally saying alright we have to hit the road again! It sure did get some energy out of the kids!
Whew! We sure did gain a lot of weight on the trip.
We stopped at this Mom and Pop zoo for Caleb to see real live Alligators. This was obviously a highlight for Caleb!!! They wanted to let Caleb hold a baby one but seriously you couldn't get any more redneck MO than the people running this thing. Eric wasn't convinced they knew what they were doing so we opted out of actually holding one. The cultural experience was quite humorous though!
Look Caleb found a Dino at a gas station!
Phoebe takes one last look at the arch in St. Louis and says goodbye to MO.
This huge, beautiful, lit up cross was on the highway. A nice reminder of the Lord answering our prayers for a safe and great journey!
We still have "official" pics coming but here is the account from our camera's point of view.
(Remember to click on the pics if you don't want to see them fuzzy.)
The night of our Commissioning began with Firetrucks and lots of Firemen!!! Jared was in heaven to say the least!!! Papa's Banquet was at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and the building ended up having some sort of electrical fire. We all had to go outside and the boys had a great time watching the show. Jared especially loved seeing his buddy Chaplain Robby in action! I think our Commissioning class will be remembered forever. We sure do know how to light a fire and get some excitement going!!
The Family at Central Bible College were the actual commissioning service was held.
Our prayer partner, Greg, prayed specifically over the children after he prayed over us. As you can see the girls were not quite sure about this big guy by the looks on their faces! That and the fact that I had to wake them up after Bro. Trask finished speaking to go up front.
Here's the family opening up the present from National US Missions. To our surprise they gave us a small replica of the statue in the AGTS building that I posted a pic of the kids at in a previous post. If you remember it was of Jesus washing Peter's feet. The kids were soooo excited to see that they got to take home a small memento of one of their favorite things!
Mama & Papa get their pic taken with the big US Missions poster.
Jared wanted his picture taken with the Chaplaincy poster.
Jared says one last goodbye to Chaplain Robby. He actually walked us out to our car. Jared and Robby really connected in a special way. Life couldn't get any better now that he knows he can be both his passions of a fireman and a missionary chaplain!
Then Caleb wanted his turn too!
Time to bring Papa to celebrate with Frozen Custard!!! Phoebe immediately sees that there is a turtle ice cream! Phoebe LOVES Turtles!
Chloe is showing Papa which one she wants!
Caleb and his big blue eyes after taking his first bite.
Jared chose cookie dough!
Phoebe approves of her Turtle Sundae!
Chloe finishes showing signs of full satisfaction with hers! (Yes I was having a heart attack seeing her dress drenched in gooey chocolate!
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You saw our swimming pool pics earlier so here are just some misc. pics.
Why are the kids so interested in what's outside our hotel window? Literally they started screaming as I was in the shower over what they were seeing!
Santa was spotted in the driveway in SEPTEMBER! He realized the kids were watching from our fifth floor and waved and blew kisses back at the. I'm assuming he was there for the apple cider festival they were having just down the street. Not sure why Santa would be here during Apple time?! Bad enough they were celebrating an Autumn festival in 85 degree weather!!!
Well, now you all can see what he drives when he isn't flying in his sleigh. *lol* (For the record my kids know Santa isn't real but they had fun with the moment anyways.)
Breakfast in our hotel. The plug in cooler made a great refrig. and table!
During one of Papa's breaks Chloe is a big helper to carry around his bag.
The kids got a lot of extra lovin's from Mrs. Garrison! She was soooo incredibly sweet!!!
Twins during dinner prayer time in our room. We made chili with turkey dogs on our little hotplate and served with blue corn chips. YUM! I can't think of anything else more precious than capturing children praying!
What do you do in a hotel room while Papa is away. You play Dino Dress Up with Tissue Paper of course! This was incredibly funny and just precious of how children can make a toy out of anything. US Missions gave each couple a basket with some snacks, bake goods and spring water for their room. Well, when we empty the basket the girls asked to play with it. This is what they did with the tissue paper. They tore it up and made clothes for the dinosaurs!! *lol* Mini do you recognize these dinos?! They made it all the way to MO.
Chi Alpha treated us to a meal at the National US Missions Office. For some crazy reason when I asked my fam to pose for a pic with the sign of the new Chi Alpha office they decided they were going to be like Sampson and see if they could knock the pillars down. *lol* I don't think Chi Alpha would have appreciated that. Well, no worries, the pillars stood to test!
Here is the new US Missions building!!! They just moved in before we got there. It looks great!
The wall of University mugs from all over the world! (Reminder to thyself...we still need to send ours in!)
Bob Marks show us around the building and here we are in his office. He showed the kids his horse on the computer.
Special Friends! A team of the future... we can hardly wait!!!
The fam at Lamberts -Home of the thrown rolls! Check out the HUMONGOUS mugs of milk the kids got. If anyone had any concerns on calcium consumption of my kids they got their entire years worth that night. I cringed the entire time watching them drink THAT much milk.
Some of them pay for it later on the dairy products.
To say the least, I did a lot of praying for protection over their health while away eating differently!
Chloe liked the menu with the donkey on it catching a roll.
Phoebe likes FRIED OKRA!
Caleb happy as a clam after catching his roll and eating it.
Jared wanted a pic of his red eye. It doesn't show up well here in the pic but, when the waiter threw the steamy, hot roll, Jared missed and got socked right in the left eye. He was stunned at first but then thought it was hilarious the rest of the night. From that point on the waiter made sure we, the parents, were ready to help catch the rolls rather than just spontaneously throwing them for the kids. It was quite the experience for sure! Something the kids will never forget.
Check out Papa's dinner! (Btw, that is not cottage cheese. It was some sort of pineapple, walnut salad that tasted like marshmallow) Papa got a steak while Mama got chicken livers. The only thing I didn't like was that the liver was even fried!! They say everything is fried in the South not the Mid-West. I beg to differ
New Friends!
Even more friends...
Mr.and Mrs. Chi Alpha Just by their joyous faces you can see why our missions organization has so much fun. Dennis and his wife Barbara are great and love to have fun! I dare to say Dennis probably caught and ate the most rolls that night!
I have mixed feelings about this day of the week. Every Friday I am always in a frenzy to get the last on my to do list done since it's the last day before the weekend while everything is open. I'm talking about business phone calls, doc appts. and ministry stuff. Fridays just always feel like such a rush and before I know it the day is gone and there is always something left on my to do list that didn't get done. I hate loose ends! However, by 5pm I begin to relax because it's FRIDAY and there is there NOTHING I can do about the rest of my to do list so I might as well relax and enjoy the weekend right? So, in an hour I will be putting my to do list aside and unwinding with a nice hot cup of tea and maybe I might even splurge on a good movie. Meanwhile the kiddos need to rest up from their colds. As Phoebe explains it, "Mama I have too much water in my nose." A Mother's work is never finished...
Happy Friday everyone!
Remember I just shared that Caleb actually likes wearing his glasses now? Well, today Caleb and Jared were both on the large climbing block outside when Jared decides to catapult himself onto a large branch above and then suddenly lets go when his feet hit the ground. Sounds fun right? Well not to the other kid, that being Caleb, who got smacked right in the face when the enormous branch bounced back into place. Thank the Lord he had his glasses on for protection of his seeing eye!!!! However, the glasses got slightly damaged. So, we took him into Eric's and my eye doc who is local, rather than driving an hour away to his pediatric doc, and they fixed the glasses up perfect.
Get this....CALEB wanted his glasses fixed right away! In his words this afternoon, "I can draw better with my glasses and read books better Mama." We certainly have finally come over the hump of the wearing the glasses fight. Ya, I know some of you parents out there are probably thinking I should have put my foot down and made the kid wear them whether he liked them or not. However, until you have had a child who has gone through major sensory integration issues like Caleb you cannot even possibly understand what those glasses felt like on his face! But, that's all history now! Today is a day to rejoice as he sees the light!! (OK, pun intended)
Oh! May I mention also that the Public school was very verbally hesitant that we, his parents, could possibly teach him to learn but especially read and write with his vision impairment. They felt he would be best in the public school where he would receive a half an hour session once a week with a vision therapist.
Well guess what? Caleb decided to just pull off the shelf two "I Can Read It Books" on his own accord yesterday and read both books all by himself to me. LOL!!! Sorry but when people put you through the stress of judgement and not trusting your judgement as a parent I have to say it feels good to be standing here today knowing that I TAUGHT MY CHILD TO READ even with special needs!!!!! Have I mentioned he is also my artist in the family?! Obviously, learning to write was an obstacle that we have also over come together.
Of course, I give all the credit to God for helping both Eric and I to have the understanding and patience to work with Caleb's vision as well as the Lord providing Caleb with his amazing motivation to do anything he desires to accomplish. He took off reading just like when he was a baby when he went from milk to granola bars. Same thing when he went from not understanding potty training to one day walking in the house from playing outside, took his own diaper off and decided that was the day he was done with them. Even with learning how to talk he was silent for a long time only making coo-ing noises, in which the docs all thought he might be deaf, and then all of a sudden one day you couldn't get him to stop talking! He has always kept us on our toes with the in between stuff. To say the least, Caleb doesn't need to be labeled with an IEP and in public school to succeed. God has given him all he needs right here at home and within his own robust personality!
So, if you have a child with special needs be encouraged! God didn't give your specific children to you without giving you the resources and wisdom for you to teach them according to His will. Persevere with what the Lord has shown you and your dh about your child's specific needs! Take what you can from outside resources, including unsolicited advice, and throw the rest out. Be confident that your child too can succeed to his/her fullest potential that God has designed him or her to do so under your love and guidance!!! If it means anything to you...you have this Mom cheering you on!
For home schooling Moms, especially those who have a visually impaired child that doesn't need braille, I started out with Bob Books with Caleb because the pictures are not distracting and he could feel fulfilled to finish his reading assignment every time by reading an entire "book." Now I am moving into using our Sonlight Language Arts to see how he can do with those stories. Again, no distracting pictures to confuse his eye sight while reading the words on the page. It is also my understanding that Sonlight now has a version like the Bob Books in their pre-k or K core. (NOTE: I just went to the Bob Book site and see that they added color to their books. Bummer! If you still want these for a visually impaired child I would recommend getting the older versions off of ebay or a homeschool for sale board. For Caleb the black and white were better. Another option is to check out the Sonlight one's to see if they have color or not.)
[disclaimer] I want to make it clear that the Public School Special ED program in our town was great when Caleb was preschool age. I am grateful for their resources and all they taught me!! The therapists all know our family loved them coming to our home and working with our son! It was when Caleb's IEP changed over to the elementary Special ED program that they were not approving of our decision.*shrug* Their loss...I know they too would have loved to have worked with our son if they had only shown some support in our authority as his parents. No matter...God has provided.[/disclaimer]
Well, let's see...Jared started piano classes again today. He has officially graduated from an entire set of books and is very excited about that! Especially since he got a whole load of more books from his piano teacher and a certificate for finishing up all his other lessons. I forgot the camera to get his pic on his first day back again. Oh well...
Jared is just amazing with his music! You would think that after not having his lessons for a whole summer that he would need to take time to refresh his memory some. NOPE! You put that kid in front of a piano and he just takes off. Right now he's down in the basement playing guitar with Papa. Guitar is Jared's true love but we told him we wanted him to have a foundation in piano before he moves to another instrument or before we add another one. However, occassionally Papa pulls out the guitar for him to play with and sometimes even the trombone. He is the only kid I know that at 3 yrs old could get out a perfect note out of a trombone! (I have a pic of him doing this that I'll have to post later...remind me. I also have a pic of him playing guitar when he was still wearing diapers.)
***slight interuption*** Eric has been needing the computer a LOT for work now. I started this update before dinner so no Jared is not playing guitar with Eric down in the basement close to 2am. So, this was actually written on Wed. but never got posted.
Anyway, we are trying to get back to normal life. Our sleep schedule, as you can see, is still waaay off. Maybe it will get back on target when we turn the clocks back which will essentially put us back onto Central Time. *lol*
Phoebe has got a bit of a head cold and wants to blow her stuffy nose all the time. Jared has a growth on his face that needs to be taken off by some pediatric specialist we found out today. Something to do with when he got duck/swimmer's itch and then it healed wrong in that place. Caleb wants new glasses. Did you hear me?! CALEB wants to go to the eye doctor and actually is admitting now that he likes what he sees out of his glasses! The doc said as he grows he would finally come to that conclusion! YIPPEE!!! Chloe well she is just the light hearted one of the whole family who continues to crack us up everyday with her out of the blue comments. Can't think of one right now as I'm too brain dead. The girl is obsessed with playing, "Doggy." Yes, she crawls around the house pretending to be a dog all day long. Silly girl! Speaking of silly comments... Jared did crack us up today with an outburst of, "WHAT A BEAUTY!" (said in an Australian accent) OK, so now my kid is talking like the Crocodile hunter.
The laundry pile is getting smaller but I still wish that maid would come and clean my bathroom and make my bed every morning like in the hotel. Geez...after spending a week in a $249 a night hotel, my cousin actually wants me to go camping in the middle of Autumn in the freezing cold. I think she's nuts...no wait...I'm nuts because I went along with it!!! No, No...now that I think about it some more...It's my Dad's fault!!! You see HE used to take me camping in the freezing cold and actually allow me to go swimming in a pool when it was like 30 something degrees out. The good ole days! At least now I'm not crazy enough to go camping in a tent as we are taking Myrtle who has a nice warm furnace. If that doesn't work I am sure we can rig up an electric blanket. Ah, the pleasures of modern life
OK, I gotta go to bed because I'm feeling way too punchy. Love ya Kimmy and Dad!
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