Weekend Getaway

Wish I hadn't forgotten my camera or I would post some pictures of beautiful Lake Wenatchee. We stayed in a lake house there for 3 nights and just got back. My mom planned the trip and we stayed there with my parents. sister and her boyfriend. Jeremiah wasn't able to go, he had to work. The weather was windy so we didn't do much swimming but all in all we had a great time. We also showed our faces to the annual family reunion on Saturday.

While I was gone I found out that Ella had to go to Children's for a shunt surgery. What are the odds? She is already home and I stopped by to say hi. She looks good. Helande is here with us for the night. They are both sooo sweet!

I am off to go unpack and play with the kids.

Thank You

We just got a nice gift in the mail today. Jeremiah's brother and his wife felt led to donate some money toward our adoption! Isn't that so nice of them? I have been amazed with how supportive our friends and family have been with the whole adoption process. Before we made the decision I did some reading and research and was expecting a lot of negative opinions and comments but so far we have only had a few of those type, the rest so encouraging!

We are babysitting Helande tonight. She is doing terrific after surgery and is getting so cute! She is laughing and talking and super sweet.

Kylie's nose is healing and is really bruised but I don't think it broke.

Got my passport!

I got my passport in the mail yesterday! I am so glad it finally arrived and soon I can plan my trip to Haiti. There is a chance that Sarah may not be able to go with me now. The doctors in Seattle want Helande to come in 3 months for an MRI. If she can't come to Haiti, then I will be looking for a travel buddy. There is a young lady at our church who is very interested in coming and that would be great. I don't want to go alone! It would be so fun to go with Sarah too, we always have a fun time together!

I dropped off Sophie and Ella at Sarah's last night. Helande is home and is looking pretty good. She was kinda fussy and was screaming during her bath. I hope she is all better and there are no more problems with her shunt.

Today we are doing a deep deep deep clean in the house (after I get off the internet)! I recruited the kids, but we will see how helpful they are. I also developed a chore chart for them beginning on Sunday. I got the idea from Sarah (mom of 13)- each kid gets a section of the house for a week, then it rotates. I did discover that I don't have enough kids to cover all the sections of the house though! Each kid has to care for his/her own rooms, then they get two sections for the week to keep up. I will off course have to be supervising and on top of them, or it won't happen, which is sometimes more work for me then just doing the job myself.

It has been raining almost all week here, a nice break from the heat, but can't there be a middle ground God?

Wednesday, rainy blah day

I was able to take Christella and 3 of Sarah's kids down to Seattle to visit yesterday. It was a good visit, and I was able to hold little Helande for 15 minutes. She was so sad just laying there and as soon as she was in my arms she was so content. She has been a good baby considering her circumstances. I left 2 kids with Sarah to help entertain her youngest, and brought Ella and Sophie home with me again.

Ella is getting to be a big girl, she can hold her own bottle and is able to feed herself. She had some cut up banana this morning and a baby biscuit. She did great.

At the baby shower Ella did so well, and she was the star of the show! I felt bad taking the attention off of the mom to be! While I was there Jeremiah took the kids to the ballfield so he could play softball with the church team. Kylie got smacked in the face with a ball! She has quite a bruise on her nose and eye and I am praying she didn't break it! Does anyone know how to tell if her nose is broken? There was a trace amount of bleeding and it doesn't make a sound when I wiggle it. It does hurt her though and it was swollen until this morning. It is not so swollen now.

Monday update

We are having a quiet morning with 2 kids at VBS beginning today. I'm hanging out with Ella and Kylie and will be leaving in an hour to pick up the kids at the church. My middle child is at grandmas until tonight. I'm dreading her return, not because I don't miss her, but there is always conflicts between her and her siblings. It has been such a quiet weekend with her away. Do I sound like a bad mother? I do love her, just wish there could be peace in the home! I want to iron out all the problems now before Elijah comes home!

I am going to a baby shower tonight for a good friend I grew up with. She is having a girl and it should be fun. I am bringing Ella with me and leaving the rest of the kids with Jeremiah.

Helande Update

We have been blessed with the presence of two more sweet girls in our house, Ella and Sophie. I went to Sarah's to pick them up this morning and they will be staying with us while Sarah is in Seattle with Helande. She told me that Helande is doing well and they will just have to wait a few days to see if there is an infection. They are able to stay at the Ronald McDonald house. Keep them in your prayers.

Today after we picked up the girls we went to Lynden for the Raspberry Festival they have downtown. We ran into many people we know and the weather was great! Then we went to the grocery store and home. For dinner we went to a friend's house for a bbq and swimming. The kids had fun and we were able to leave one behind for a sleep-over! Tomorrow we are going to church and have no other plans for the rest of the weekend.

Pray for Helande

Please pray for Helande. Sarah called me today and told me the her scab over her shunt incision came off this morning and she could see her shunt because the skin opened up. She emailed the doc. in Texas and was told to take her to a hospital immediately. So Sarah met her husband down south and he is taking her to Children's in Seattle right now. They may have to pull out the shunt and replace it. Pray that there are other alteratives so she won't have to go through another surgery, and that the hospital will cover all expenses so Sarah and her hubby don't have to cover any. I may be having some of her kids and Christella at our house for a while, depending on how long Helande will be there and what happens.

Post Garage Sale Blues

I don't like garage sales. It's something about seeing all the things I have wasted money on over the years being sold to complete strangers for a buck. We did ok, made about $300, but if it weren't for "Crazy Jeremiah, everything must GO!" we may have made a bit more. I didn't want to give things away like he did, but he did get rid of a lot of clutter around the place. We brought the leftovers to my friend's house and we will have another garage sale at the end of summer.

Today I got my travel shots for Haiti. My arms are a bit sore but it's not too bad. The rest of the day was spent cleaning and I just got finished ordering the rest of the kids' homeschool curriculum for this fall. Tomorrow we are babysitting for a friend, and having a quiet day after that.

No passport yet.

God bless

Adoption News

We went to get fingerprinted this morning in Seattle. We left the kids with Sarah (thanks Sarah!) and got up at 5am to drive there for our 8am appointment. The CIS office was a lot like the DMV. Wow, lots of people to watch and interesting things happening there. We are done with that step now.

Jeremiah got his passport and I haven't yet. Hopefully mine will be here soon, I will need it sooner than he will.

Our garage sale/fundraiser is tomorrow! Pray that it will go well and we can raise a lot of money for the adoption/my trip to Haiti. The kids are ready to help!

So we just have to wait for the I600 approval and my passport and we will be set, then wait even longer for Elijah to come home. It is weird, I am trying to not get my hopes up in having him be mine, so in case something happens I won't get my heart broken. I want to get so excited, (I am, but guarded) and I can't wait to meet him, but I want everything to be final and guaranteed. I know there are no guarantees in life, but I am such a worrier anyway. Please pray for us, Elijah and the adoption. Pray that all involved will be blessed.

Also, a little girl from Haiti named Ana needs a medical visa for heart surgery. Sarah and I are trying to call Drs to get them care. Please pray that we can find her care here. She will be living with us if it works out.

Please feel free to post comments on the blog! I would love to know who is reading my exciting posts! Just click on the comment link and you can leave a little bit about you. (Sorry Ericka, I didn't quite have the hang of the mediator thing and I missed your comment, thanks for thinking of me and leaving a comment!)

God Bless