Today my oldest child turned eight.
Eight!
I can just hardly believe it.
And, I have to admit that at one time I had no idea how it would be having an 8 year old boy.
I kind of feared these mid-elementary boy ages.
Worried they be all potty humor, arm farts, and enjoyment of games and activities I could not relate to.
But, boy was I wrong!
Sure we have our periods of difficult, he is still our most stong-willed child.
But, oh the joy and fun!
He's interested in so many subjects from the Bible to weather to chemistry to history to art and music. It is really entertaining to discover alongside him, taking in the periodic table with fresh, eager-to-learn eyes rather than the drudgery of my high school and college days! It is so cool to watch him see prints of the Mona Lisa, listen to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" (and perfect his own "robot" dance), to study American Presidents, try new foods, and read great books. We recently read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Essential Modern Classics)
and then watched the Narnia movie together and it was a delightful experience -- opened up so many great discussions!
I had no idea how much I'd enjoy legos, 'course it helps that those mini-figures are so cute! Just something about a 1 inch tall person that is so fun (and dollhouse-like, but shhh, don't tell my boys that)!
One of my biggest praises about my oldest son is his attitude. I've been around other boys his age and know what it could be like with the bad attitudes. And I'm so grateful his attitude is mostly sweet, I pray God continues to guard his heart!
Here's the new 8 year old studying one of his presents -- his biggest lego set so far!
While I do miss the days when I used to carry him on my hip, these big boy days are pretty great, too!
Thank you, sweet firstborn son, for the joy, the wonder, the new you bring to my every day! We are so proud of you and very certain God has great things planned for your life!Find more
Gratituesday here.
My 5 year old daughter recently had the writing prompt at school: "If I were president, I would . . ."
She wrote:
"I wlod tell the peple to not juje peple just by ther skin colr."
Translation from kindergarten phonetic language to standard English:
"I would tell the people to not judge people just by their skin color."
And she drew a little sad-looking (perhaps unfairly judged) blue person on the back.
She's got my vote! Anyone on board? Election year 2040?
Happy President's Day!
Today was hard, as I expected, and long. I've been doing this volunteer work for 9 years now and I've never before had it end like this, the kids have always gone home to reformed parents or to relatives who would still maintain contact with the parents. But, now, the children on my case have no legal parents other than the state.
However, the case worker and I did discuss the search for adoptive parents and there is great hope for many candidates. Her last sibling group to come available was a bit older than the two on my case and with greater special needs and CPS had many, many people interested in adopting them!
I have no doubt God will use this experience to give me more empathy for the daughter I will adopt, more understanding of the great loss she will carry as she grows up separated from her biological parents.
On to lighter subjects because I'm too tired for any more heavy. . .
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Monday we had a Valentine's dinner at home with our 3 children. Because that's how we roll and because we had a babysitter last year on Valentine's and I think that will happen about once a decade. My husband picked up take-out from an Italian restaurant and I set the table nicely, complete with wine glasses of Sprite for the kids and candlelight. My 5 year old asked why I was doing it and I told her, "Because we are having a nice dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day."
She immediately asked, "Are we having hot dogs?" Because apparently although she gets home-cooked meals complete with made from scratch items most nights, hot dogs are her idea of a "nice meal"!
And as if that wasn't bad enough, when I answered, "No, we are not having hot dogs." She asked, "McDonalds?" No! Good grief, my kids get McDonalds like 3 times a year when we are on a road trip. But wait, that's probably exactly why she considers it a special meal!
All I have to say is she will make some boy an incredibly inexpensive date, you know when she's 24 and we finally allow her to date!
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I made red velvet cake balls as a Valentine dessert and also gave them as gifts to my kids' teachers, wrapped up in little boxes with a red bow. Have you heard of the cake ball? It seems they've been quite the internet sensation for the past year or more. You make a regular box cake, let it cool, mix it with a can of store-bought icing, roll many little balls, chill them, and then dip the balls in melted chocolate. I did red velvet cake mix, cream cheese icing, and white chocolate for the coating. They were super yummy, but I couldn't get them to look as pretty as the pictures I'd seen everyone post. Even though I put them in the freezer for part of the hardening phase, when I rolled them in the melted chocolate, little crumbs of cake still came off and mixed in to make the coating not very smooth. Oh well, taste trumps presentation any day! But, I would like to make them again so if anyone has cake ball tips, lay them on me!
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The week has been so busy, I'm behind on the wash, so much so that my 3 year old went to bed in athletic shorts and a t-shirt instead of jammies and my 5 year old daughter suggested I do the wash when she dug through her drawer and couldn't find any of the panties she likes. Basically, she's had to resort to the B team panties. And we all know how undesirable that can be!
And my in-box? Looks like this:
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Okay, back to the heavy, go and read this post of Katie Davis, you will see Jesus in her.
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I'm off to rest. The wash and the inbox? Can wait until tomorrow! Really hoping there are not any bills buried in that stack!
Tomorrow I will put on a suit and stand in a courtroom as a court appointed special advocate (CASA) for two very young children and recommend to a judge that the parental rights be terminated.
It's eating me up.
Two more orphans to add to the sea of 147 million.
I hate it.
I held the children in my arms at their foster home yesterday.
They smiled, played adorably and wanted to be held over and over.
I'm thankful that for now they have no idea what is about to happen.
But, the loss of their mother will be something they carry with them the rest of their lives.
I grieve for them.
I wanted so much for their mom to make different choices.
But she didn't.
And they deserve better.
If all goes as expected tomorrow, I'll begin the search for their new mother.
So thankful that there are good, loving people willing to adopt children.
Praying for families for these precious two I've grown to love over the past year and the 147 million others.
"...orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes." Radical, by David Platt
Find more
Thankful Thursday here.
I have started doing something that I think of as "idiot-proofing" my life, meaning I anticipate my idiot moments in advance and prepare accordingly.
For example, this year at the preschool there is a new policy where each child brings their own snack each class day instead of it being provided by the school because there were too many allergy issues.
My 3 year old goes to school 2 mornings per week to the same class my other 2 kids went to as 3 year olds, only I didn't have to pack a snack and make sure it got into school with them. I knew as soon as I heard about the change that there would be a day I'd forget the snack. I'd be faced with the unhappy consequences of my preschooler freaking out that he didn't have a snack, and then have to either go back home and make him very late or confess to the teacher my forgetfulness.
So, as a preemptive strike, I bagged up some pretzels and stuck them in a bag in the way back of my vehicle (not in the armrest because then they'd be discovered and eaten by someone eventually). It took no time at all.
But, one day a few weeks ago, it totally saved me!
We got nearly to his classroom door when I realized we didn't have a snack, but no worries, we just calmly walked back to the car, retrieved the little baggie of pretzels and everyone went on to have a great drama-free morning!
I have to say, I'm really surprised and patting myself on the back that we made it until January before needing the pretzels and that the same day I used the secret snack stash, I replenished it so it would be there to bless me another day!
That is key, if you use your emergency supply, you must then replace it as soon as possible because you know you'll need it again!!
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Works for Me Wednesday here.
Anyone else ever had their house wrapped by their puppy?
Multiple times a day?
The bathroom doors are closed at all times now.
I'm just grateful toilet paper is um, disposable, unlike my husband's iPad cord!
And she does wash and dishes, so at least she's pulling her weight around the house!
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Gratituesday hereFind more
Wordful Wednesday,
Wordless Wednesday, &
Not So Wordless Wednesday.
I rallied with the Valentine's Day preparations late Friday afternoon and headed to Target with all 3 of my kids so they could pick out Valentines for their classmates.
Imagine my delight to discover brand new carts at the Target! Oh, they were amazing in all their pristine plasticness, a new design without any metal at all!
My older 2 kids were grubby from all day at school plus an hour of playing in the backyard, the youngest still with the chlorine in his hair from swim lessons and the snotty nose he's been sporting every day for what feels like eternity but in reality is about 5 days! My 5 year old daughter is sitting in the baby seat of the cart. She's too big, but somehow fits her long legs in there. And me? I don't argue because the days of pushing my baby girl around in the cart really are numbered (assuming she won't squeeze her 13 year old self in there someday!)!
To add to the spectacleness of the kindergartner in the baby seat of the cart, she insists on taking off her slip-on shoes, so her bare feet are there dangling nearly to the ground, her 3 year old brother (the one who just wiped his nose on his shirt) is sitting behind her in the back part of the cart.
The 7 year old is looking at cards with me, grabbing them off the shelf faster than I can. "Here, this says 'For my husband,' on it; how about this one for Daddy?"
There are several other shoppers at the Valentine card display along with us, only they are more serious in their card selecting. They are determined to find the perfect card for their special someone and seemingly frustrated as each card fails to adequately capture how they feel.
I stoop down to peruse some cards at the bottom of the display
The 7 year old opens one and the song "Wild Thing" starts playing.
I cannot squelch my laughter.
And, there, crouching on the floor in the Target, I glance up at my motley crew of kids and think, "This is it. The life I never would have guessed I'd love! And it really doesn't matter which card I choose for my husband, because our love that has been through some real, messy, joyful, chaotic, blessed life and still says, 'I'm not going anywhere; we're in this together' is better than anything a card could say!"
