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| Saying goodbye to Caedmon, Madeline and Xavier |
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| Picking strawberries |
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| Camping in the backyard with Dad b/c he couldn't go backpacking this year |
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| Baptism Sunday |
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| Celebrating with family |
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| Why can't we get one nice family picture? |
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| Bike ride with the grandparents |
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| On the sand dune with Uncle Pete |
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| And Dad too |
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| Swimming in Lake WI with Grandma |
Ok, time to catch up! Last month we said goodbye to our good friends, the Gross family as they moved to Pennsylvania. Summer and I met when our kids were babies and have watched our kids grow up over the last 7 years. Caleb finished up Little League and had a great time. The kids participated in Heritage camp for a week up in Grand Rapids. Heritage Camp is a day camp for internationally adopted kids and their siblings. They split the kids up into the countries they were born in and teach them about culture, music, games, etc. The boys really enjoyed the Tae Kwon Doe class and Isaac learned how to count to 7 in Korean. It was a new experience to not be able to spot my daughter in a crowd, she blended right in with all of the other Asian girls. I hope we can continue to attend Heritage Camp over the years. Isaac has lost two teeth. The first one when he was eating strawberries. Isaac had been whining about his loose tooth so Grandpa D promised him a dollar if he pulled it out that day. Guess that little motivation helped! The boys are attending swim lessons for two weeks and Julia is doing gymnastics for the first time. Nate is teaching Caleb piano lessons! We found lesson plans on the internet and decided to try home instruction before paying a teacher. Caleb doesn't seem to mind piano lessons, yet. We have new windows being put in right now. They should look really good and save us some money on energy costs.
Last month I decided to take Isaac, Julia and Stephen strawberry picking. My thought was that Stephen would take his morning nap in the stroller. Well, that didn't work out so well. Stephen started screaming so I was walking him up and down the row while Isaac and Julia picked (ate) strawberries. Stephen finally fell asleep and I started picking. Unfortunately he woke up after 10 minutes and could not be consoled, time to head home. So Isaac is pushing the screaming baby in the stroller, I'm carrying our flat of strawberries that is basically empty and dragging Julia who was tantruming. When I was getting everyone into the van a lady came up to me and said, "you deserve a medal, you are doing a great job." That was so kind of her, I almost started crying. A little bit of understanding and encouragement make such a difference.
Nate's parents visited us for a week. Stephen was baptized during their stay. Stephen did great during the water part, but he did not like the pastor holding him while praying. Stephen was crying, loudly. The pastor passed him off to Nate and tried to finish the prayer, but Stephen was so loud he finally gave up. Memories. Nate's parents arrived right at strawberry time so they ended up helping us pick and make 6 batches of jam. Unfortunately they had to do the same thing at Reuben's and then Colleen's house before coming to our house! Pete flew out halfway thru the week. Nate, Pete and Dad got some golfing in and helped Nate with some house projects. The kids enjoyed bike rides, crafts, playing outside, and reading books with the grandparents. Pete and Nate then took the older 3 kids camping at Warren Dunes State Park. They hiked some sand dunes, played at the beach and enjoyed the nice weather. The kids thought it was cool to have a whole weekend with Uncle Pete.
We had a short term refugee foster teen, Enedina, move in with us. She is 16 and pregnant. So far it is going well, aside from the language barrier. We're trying to encourage her to not spend all her time in her bedroom. Hopefully she will be reunited with family here in America or she will end up in long term foster care.
Over the fourth of July we went to the cottage. It was unbelievable how hard it was to get on this vacation. On Wednesday I was busy cleaning, packing, etc. I got a phone call from Bethany that Enedina had lice, that stressed me out. Thankfully Bethany took her to a hair place that completely kills the lice, you don't have to comb out nits for days after and so forth. I did still have to wash all of the bedding and her clothes that day. We were supposed to leave Thursday morning, but had to take Stephen to urgent care for an ear infection. We finally arrived at the cottage Thursday evening. Friday morning I came down with a bad case of mastitis. I was laid up all day with a fever, chills and aches. Thankfully my OB in MI called in a prescription to WI for me. By Saturday morning I was feeling better. We had great weather and got to swim, tube and waterski. Our cottage vacations always end too quickly.
Stephen is 7 months old. He sits up and plays with his toys. I really don't want him to crawl anytime soon. But, he seems determined to learn as he rolls around and pulls himself up on his knees. We have not baby-proofed yet... He was sleeping 11 hours at night until he got his ear infection. He is now too big for the infant carseat. He says "ma-ma" but I don't think it is attached to me specifically. Still makes me smile though! He squeals with delight when his siblings play with him. He also loves sitting outside in his exersaucer or swinging. Everyone comments on what a happy baby he is and we agree!
