November 2014

Catching up with Enedina and Nolbi

Look who's 2!

Mmm, Elmo cake

First snow day, before Thanksgiving!!

All the grandkids love seeing Grandma

Thanksgiving, so thankful to have Mom at the table

Turkey legs

My boys are carnivores

Ok, so November...  November 2 was Orphan Sunday.  I was given the opportunity to lead the congregation in prayer for vulnerable children around the world and in our community.  Enedina, Nolbi and her fiance, Evelio came for supper.  It was nice to meet Evelio, he seems nice.  Nolbi is growing so fast.  We don't see or hear from Enedina as much as we would like, but we love her and pray for her.

On November 7, we woke up to find our truck was stolen overnight.  The person came into our garage (the access door may have been unlocked), walked into our house, took the keys and drove off with our truck.  We couldn't believe it.  The police asked if there was anyone we knew who could have done it.  Unfortunately, a young man who spent some time in our home the previous summer had a history of stealing.  A couple weeks later I was looking at this young man's facebook page and he posted a picture of himself in our truck.  Unbelievable.  The police upped their search and he was found about a month after he took the truck.  The brakes were the only thing we needed replaced.  And he threw out all our kid carseats, stroller and anything else we had in the truck.  This whole experience was fearful and stressful for our kids, well us too.  It was difficult for all of us to process why Isaiah stole from us.  We had all gotten along with him.  We are still in the legal process for Isaiah's crime.  The only thing we would like to see is an apology from him.  I don't know if we will ever receive one, but we do know God asks us to forgive him.

In November my Mom had pancreatic surgery at University of Chicago.  This was a huge surgery, it took 10 hours.  Steph took the month off so she could stay with Mom.  The surgery was a success!  And the road the recovery is a long one.  But, we are thankful Mom won't deal with pancreatitis anymore!  And we were super thankful that Mom was home for Thanksgiving and could celebrate with the family.

On November 19, our baby turned 2 years old!  I made the traditional 2nd birthday Elmo cake.  Stephen loved the cake, he kept saying "nelmo!"  We had supper at church so I didn't make a special birthday meal.  We did have donuts that morning.  Stephen's birthday gift was a small trampoline for the basement.  Really, it was a gift for all the kids.  Stephen is a fun 2 year old with a stubborn streak.  He enjoys playing rough with his brothers and going outside with them.  It is great having a 10 year old brother that can watch him outside.  Stephen also enjoys playing babies and cooking in the toy kitchen with Julia.  It is safe to say he has played more with Julia's babies than Julia ever has.  He carries the baby around, walks it in the stroller, gives it kisses and puts it "nigh-night."  It's adorable.  He also likes playing with trains and trucks so don't freak out.  Stephen's speech took off and he talks alot.  Not everyone can understand him, but I usually can.  He has fun with his cousin, "dalyes" (Dallas).  Stephen is a mommy's boy.  He is sad if I leave him at home alone with Dad and the rest of the kids.  I am enjoying this stage because I know it doesn't last forever.  Stephen is slowly getting better at nighttime sleeping.  He still wakes up once/night because he is cold or lost his pacifier.  If he sleeps til 6:45 am, I am happy.  He takes great naps.  I'm limiting him to 2 hour naps and putting him to bed around 7:30/7:45.  Stephen does not eat vegetables.  He used to love sweet potatoes, but won't eat those now either.  Whatever, I'm not going to stress about it.  He drinks rice milk in the morning and evening.  He eats regular cheese pizza and ice cream now.  He's still allergic to eggs.   I understand now why people say last children are "spoiled."  I am just more relaxed with him than I was with Caleb.  Let's not sweat the small stuff shall we? Stephen adds joy and fun to our family, we are blessed!

October

1st grade scarecrow day

Isaac teaching Julia addition

Our dossier on its way to China

Helping with leaves

Dallas loved the leaf piles

Apple orchard

Looks good

Isaac wanted to pick all morning

Boo at the zoo- Julia is a cheerleader

Mom and Yoda

Caleb and Jackson at soccer party

Cutest Yoda I've ever seen

1st lost tooth

Mouse in the house

Carving pumpkins

During the transformation

The finished product

Since it is February and I'm writing about October, this might be a short post.  In October we finished up soccer.  Julia didn't love soccer and we figured this was her first and last season.  At the last game she announced, "I can't wait for soccer next year!"  Really?  The kids had Grandparent's Day at school.  My Mom was a trooper and attended with an IV bag on her back.  She is one awesome Grandma!  I took an excellent parenting class for adoptive/foster parents in Sep and October.  It was called TBRI- Trust Based Relational Interventions by Dr. Karyn Purvis.  She is awesome and I came away with new techniques and understanding.  The kids had parent/teacher conferences and all of them had glowing reports.  I'm proud of my kids for working hard and loving Jesus in all they do!

Julia lost her first tooth! She did not want Nate or I to touch it, she thought we would be too rough.  So she asked the school secretary to pull it out!  I couldn't believe it.  Mrs. Meiste got a tissue and pulled the tooth without a complaint from Julia.  School secretaries are the best.  Julia was excited to get her first visit from the tooth fairy.  When her second tooth was ready to come out I told her she was not allowed to ask Mrs. Meiste to take it out.  Luckily for Julia it fell out when she was eating.

Somehow we got a mouse in our house.  It was quite the morning excitement for the kids, watching Nate corral the mouse.  He was able to open the door off our dining room so the mouse was able to live free instead of getting stepped on or something.  Gross.

About a year after we started the adoption paperwork process, we finally got our dossier mailed to China!  Such a relief and now we wait.

 I didn't get any Halloween pictures this year!  The boys wore their Star Wars costumes again.  Julia was a cheerleader.  The day before Halloween we went to trunk or treating at Ridge Point church.  I have never seen so many people for an event.  We had to wait a long time to walk thru the cars and get candy.  And it was COLD.  Thankfully, Stephen stayed home with Nate.  On Halloween we drove to Wheaton to visit my grandparents.  Nate was a little excited that we wouldn't have to hand out candy at home.

Nate did an awesome job on the brick by our fireplace.  The brick was not pretty, so our friend recommended painting it.  We are so glad we did, it looks amazing!  And I am thankful for my handy husband who did all the work.