Meeting Robel

I haven't had the words to write an appropriate post about our Ethiopia trip.  So many emotions, not many that I can accurately express.  It is such a surreal feeling flying across the world to meet your child.  Ethiopia is such an amazing place, I cannot wait to go back.  It's overpopulated, animals walk around everywhere, it smells like burnt gasoline and it's exactly what I imagined it to be.  I had prepared myself for the culture shock and knew that I had to look past that in order to take every piece of my son's home in.  I wanted to experience everything about the culture that I could possibly cram in the short amount of time that we were there.  What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the people.  Ethiopians, and I'm assuming Africans as a whole are the most content people.  They have a sense of peace and a calmness about them that is so desirable.  Their way of life is slow and meaningful.  They value relationships and community.  They enjoy life and don't get bent out of shape over things that just don't matter.  I want that.  I want to not feel rushed everywhere I go and I want to be content with the amazing life I have.  I want to invest in meaningful relationships and enjoy this life that I have been given.  I constantly prayed that God would permanently etch in my brain the things that we experienced there, so that the next time I take anything that we have in America for granted, I will be humbled by those memories.


Meeting Silas Robel did not go exactly as I had imagined.  We walked through the door of his room and all of the kids were playing in their cribs.  He was standing in his, staring at us.  I walked over, huge smile on my face, tears in my eyes and said, "hey buddy"!  He looked at me, threw himself on the mattress and started kicking and screaming.  Kodak moment.  The orphanage director picked him up and pushed him towards me saying, "Robee!  Mommy and Daddy"!  I scooped him up and we cried together.  The director reassured me that he reacts this way to all strangers.  I'm not sure if that's really true or if she was trying to make me feel better.  He eventually warmed up and we spent a couple of hours playing with him and all of his little roommates.  I left feeling pretty good about our relationship.  The second day I walked in his room and the second he saw me, he threw himself down and started kicking and screaming.  Wow, glad to see you too!  We've got some work to do.

The Hubby asked me what I expected him to do and I said that I expected him to throw his arms up and yell Mommy and run towards me!  Totally kidding.  Wishful thinking?  After seeing how nervous he was, I knew in my gut that I had to come back on the second trip.  We had planned all along that for financial reasons, the Hubby would make the second trip by himself and hopefully my brother would be able to go and document the trip for us.  Having met him, and can only imagine how hard that week with him in Ethiopia is going to be, we both agree that he is going to need his Mommy!  I also decided that maybe I should actually read one of the many attachment books I have ordered since starting the adoption process.  Looks like it's going to be harder than I expected.  But, God's grace is always sufficient and I am on pins and needles waiting to bring our sweet Robee home.  Here's the video of the first time I got to hold my little Ethiopian...

Cousin Trouble

My sister has 3 boys under the age of 4!  Her #2 and # 3 are the exact same ages as my #3 and #4.  As of January, we now live about 20 minutes away from them which makes cousin life so much fun!  We are constantly trading kiddos and having sleepovers.  There are tons of weekday playdates and lots of action with 5 little boys being at home most of the time.  All of that being said....


                                               Meet Charlie...

                                             
                                               Meet Beckham

These two are T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

They are best friends, wholeheartedly, and they are also VERY mischievous.  They are both middle children and love attention, negative or not.  They feed off one another and cannot be left out of your sight for more than a few minutes.  Whatever one does, the other mimics, even if that means stripping down completely naked and running around my house pretending like they are going to pee on everything.  That may or may not have happened earlier this week.  They are always dirty, they never wear shoes, they have zero fear and only by the grace of God haven't had a broken bone...yet.  I can foresee these two being each others best man at their weddings, giving the most hilarious speeches of things they did growing up together.  Let's hope they don't burn one of our houses down before then!  These pictures are a great representation of these weirdo's personalities! (And yes, I am aware that Becks has a mullet in these pictures.  Don't worry, it's been taken care of since.)

What a freak show!  Any takers?

Hendrix is One

My baby turned 1!  His birthday completely snuck up on me.  I think I was in denial.  When I found out that I was pregnant with Henny, I was less than ecstatic.  Remember this post?  Weeks of uncertainty, months of nausea, pregnancy hives and a 2 week longer pregnancy than all the rest.  Shoot me.  Then he came out and screamed for 6 months.  I had decided that I was being punished for something in my past.  Fast forward to today and this baby brings so much joy to our home.  He's happy.  He's so unbelievably easy.  He's sleeping!  Praise the Lord for that one.  He is the biggest momma's boy.  He rarely cries and is completely content just playing by himself.  He is still hanging strong in the 75th percentile and we could not imagine our lives without him.  God really does know what he's doing!!

The other 3 kiddos had over the top 1st birthday parties.  This is kind of how Hendrix 1st birthday went down....  We went to church on Sunday morning and his birthday was on that Tuesday.  We left church and I decided that I should probably throw something together to celebrate.  I called family and asked them if they were available to come over for dinner that night.  They were.  I dropped the Hubby and kids off at the house and ran to Target.  I bought some plates and napkins and cupcakes.  Threw a banner up and stuck a birthday hat on him and BAM, we had a party.  Sorry Henny, that's just how we roll with the 4th kid.  Eat your hearts out....

Here are all the hooligans on their one year birthdays...

I've Seen His Face

We started the adoption process almost 2 years ago.  Of course there was that crazy 4th pregnancy, but regardless of that, we've been waiting a long time to see our little Ethiopian's face.  July 2nd we got the call.  Our case worker briefly told me a little bit about a baby that she thought we'd be interested in.  He was a lot younger than we expected, but I firmly believe that whatever child we got a call on, was our child.  It's all in God's hands anyway and we were willing to take whomever he wanted in our family.

Up until that call, I had been pretty relaxed about the whole adoption process.  Although I was ready for that call, let's face it, I'm freaking busy.  I have 4 holligans to keep me occupied and my mind on other things besides adoption 24/7.  I knew that we would get our referral at the right time and that everything would fall into place as it should.  If it took longer than we expected, that was okay, more time for me to get ready for him.  That was until I saw his face.

I opened that file and saw his sweet face.  It wasn't love at first sight, I'm not going to lie.  I was completely overwhelmed.  We had been waiting for so long and we finally had a face.  I never cried, I just immediately had the sense of urgency that I hadn't had before.  I needed to do everything I could as quickly as possible to bring my baby home.  I check my emails 100 times a day waiting for any news of a court date.  I check plane tickets daily so that I will already have the best deal ready to book as soon as we get the call.  I have a list of everything I will need to pack so that I don't forget anything in the rush.  I have childcare lined up for the other kids while we are gone, and a freezer full of breast milk for #4.  I know that he is very well taken care of where he is at this time.  He's receiving medical care and has caregivers that love on him.  But it's not me doing those things for my son and I want it to be ME.  ASAP.

Please pray that we miraculously get a court date before everything in Ethiopia closes for rainy season August 6th.  It's a very long shot at this point, but I'm still hopeful.  Also pray that our little guy continues to get healthier by the day and that God would prepare his heart for us and our hearts for him.  Here is the whole gang seeing his precious face for the first time...

10 Years

The Hubby and I recently celebrated 10 years of marriage.  Some days I feel like we've been married for 25 years and some days feel like I walked down that chapel aisle yesterday.  I remember meeting the Hubby and within a few dates not being able to imagine my life without him.  I just wanted to be married to him, to have a life with him.  He was everything and more that I had ever wanted in a husband and I could not run down that aisle fast enough to get to him and seal the deal.  There is nothing more magical than those first few dates with the person you're suppose to marry.  It's like you can't quit smiling and you have butterflys in your stomach and are just plain giddy.  You want to spend every second you can with that person, and when you're not together, you are talking on the phone for hours into the night. You are inseparable and have the world at your fingertips.

After time, that newness wears off.  You are learning to live together and make major life decisions together.  Little things that you use to think were endearing about the other person are now just irritating.  You realize that they have morning breath and that they are messy and snore.  You bicker about things that don't matter and live on hamburger helper, because that's all you can afford.  You realize that living on love isn't going to get you very far.

Fast forward a little ways and you start bringing babies into the mix.  It is then that you fall in love all over again.  You have just made a perfect human being together.  That little human takes so much work, but brings so much joy to the home.  You immediately start talking about more kids, you move to the suburbs and hang out with other people that have kids.  The days get longer and the years get shorter.  There's complete chaos.  We created that chaos.  One day you wake up with 4.5 kids and have been married 10 years.  How the hell did that just happen?

This day and age that we live in doesn't value marriage.  It doesn't value family.  I'm not surprised by divorce anymore, I'm numb to it.  I'm constantly asking people that have been married forever, what their secret is?  I get lots of different answers and that's because there isn't one secret to a lasting marriage.  I firmly believe that God has to be the center of a marriage to make it work.  I also believe that you have to spend alone time with one another, laugh together, communicate, trust, forgive and encourage one another.  There are going to be good years and there will be crappy years, but you have to move forward together.

I can honestly say that I love the Hubby 1,000 times more today than I did 10 years ago.  We have built this life together and I wouldn't want to live in it with anyone else.  Our goal in our marriage, over anything else, is to set a godly example of what marriage should look like to our kids.  I would never want our girls to settle for anyone less than what their daddy was to their mommy, and I want to be the wife and mother that my boys will look for in their wives (many, many, many) years from now.  I want our kids to see that our marriage isn't perfect, but that it's solid.  I want them to see that though we may bicker, we always make up.  I want them to see that even when times are hard, we stick together and encourage one another.  I want them to know that even though they will see broken homes all around them, that we won't be one of them. 

I cannot wait to see where God leads us over then next 10 years!

Beckham Turns 3!!

Number 3 turned 3 a few weeks ago.  Words cannot even express how obsessed I am with that little boy.  I can go from wanting to kill him to wanting to kiss his face in a matter of seconds.  When the girls turned 3, they got more mouthy.  When Becks turned 3, he got more compliant.  I don't know why, and I probably just jinxed it, but he is so much fun right now.  I remember before I had a boy and people would make jokes about their sons being "all boy".  Not gonna lie.  It ticked me off.  I was like, don't use him being a boy as an excuse for his bad behavior.  Well, now I totally get it.  Boys are just wild.  I'm convinced that testosterone is a brain defect.  Why do I have to discipline for the same things over and over and over again?  Why doesn't he get it?  Oh yeah, because boys are from Mars.  Or Pluto?  I can't remember. 

Anyway, although he has a very short term memory, he is the sweetest little cuddle bug on the planet.  He can go from throwing balls and wanting to wrestle to curling up in your lap and falling asleep on your shoulder before you can blink.  He says things like "that's ridiculous" and "don't even talk to me about it" and "that's biscusting" and "quit being rude to me" about 100 times a day.  He also says things like "you're my princess, mommy" and "I love your hair" and "you're my best buddy" about 100 times a day.  I could eat him up.

This past week he finally decided that he was ready to potty train.  Let's not get crazy, he's still crapped his underwear daily, but other than that it's been a breeze.  He still loves his paci and bunkie, but we are being a lot more firm with those only being used at bedtime...unless he's driving me crazy and then I cave.  I've said it before and I will say it again,  if he takes his bunkie/paci to kindergarten, I don't really care.  Someone will make fun of him and he will give it up.  Whatever.  I don't have time to stress about little things like his security items.  Becks still takes a long nap every afternoon and still sleeps in random places.  Sometimes he sleeps on the couch, sometimes he sleeps with us, sometimes he sleeps with one of the girls.  Wherever he sleeps, he sleeps hard and for that I am thankful. 

Here's my Prince Charming...

Sophia Turns 8!!

So I'm a little behind on posting birthday and anniversary celebrations.  Let's start with Sophia's 8th birthday.  I cannot even wrap my head around it.  Ugh...2 years from double digits.  Sophia had kind of a rough year.  She isn't real big on change.  So we had another baby, moved and she started a new school in the middle of the year.  I know.  Parents of the year right here.  We are on the lookout for therapists.  Even though we totally uprooted her and threw her to the wolves, she has really done better than expected.  Her new school is a lot of fun.  We love to walk and pick her up in the afternoons and go to one of the local parks to play after school.  She lives for drum lessons on Monday afternoons and seriously has some talent.  After trying dance and soccer and art, we finally found her niche and she is in her element.  If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she waivers between missionary in Africa and playing drums in a band!  Either way, she will do great things.

Sophia reminds me so much of myself at her age.  I can relate to being the oldest child and thinking that I always knew everything and the need to be in control of everything.  We are working constantly on putting her type A personality to good use instead of bad.  I've always said that she is our old soul.  She is so wise beyond her years, but is still 8 and immature.  She is very sensitive, but doesn't like to show it.  Sophia has lots of OCD tendencies.  She's a hoarder.  She has to take a shower if she even walks outside.  She has to brush her hair 100 times a day, but could care less about dental hygiene.  She has to hold the remote when watching TV and would NEVER wear a shirt that didn't fit perfectly.  She wears athletic shorts and vans to school everyday and just wants to be comfortable to play.  Choose your battles, right?  Thank the Lord for Zoloft because this child could easily make me snap at any moment.

All that being said, I have such a soft spot in my heart for her.  She is the daughter that I always prayed for and is going to do amazing things in life.  She loves the Lord and reads her bible daily.  She still talks to me about everything going on at school and with her friends.  She is crazy smart and thrives in school.  She is a leader and I pray daily that she always stands strong in her beliefs.  Here's our beautiful girl...