HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER !!!!!!!!!

Since there is no way to call you right now...I am sending my birthday wishes this way this year.
Let me introduce you all to my sister Sue. She has been my best friend for years and I can say what a blessing it can be to have a sister. We have always had a close relationship and when we were in college, we were roommates for a year. We got married 10 weeks apart (I know...I know...my poor mother) and were each others' brides maids. We only get to see each other every few years as she and her husband and boys are missionaries overseas. When we came home with our boys, she flew here to welcome us home at the airport to show her support for our adoption (just one of the ways she supported us).

She loves her family, serves with her husband and loves the Word of God. Please pray for my sister and her family as they adjust back to a new ministry in full time missions work. I have been praying that God would prepare the hearts of the people as they arrive and settle in to a new town. Pray for their boys as they start a new school. Pray for strength and energy and health.

Happy Birthday Susan !!!!!!!

Wish I could be there with you to enjoy the day together.

a pic from our Thanksgiving visit together

Took all 4 kids on a field trip to the Parthenon...all by myself

I just love when we actually get out and enjoy a field trip. We should do more of these. The kids have a great time, hopefully they learn something, and they get to spend time with their school friends.

This was the first time I took all the kids by myself. And we did pretty well. We have been cocooning and working so hard at the bonding with family, but I couldn't pass this trip up. We have been studying Story of the World (book 1) and we have studied ancient times. Hope the girls could remember some of what we had studied.

Athena inside the Parthenon.

We wear our matching t-shirts when we are out and about. The kids love it.

This was a beautiful day. Wish we didn't have other errands to run on our way home. I bet there is a letterbox at this park, we just didn't have the time to look. We had to head to the children's hospital to pick up some medicine that had to be special ordered. Then it was off to pick up some tables and chairs for the school room. Now that we have 4 kiddos, we need more room to work. It was a busy day, but we still made it home in time for naps.

OK, seriously, even I am bored with my own blog !!

I am extending a blogging apology to all of you out there who have faithfully followed our blog and prayed for our family and have taken an genuine interest in our lives. I have dropped the blogging ball. My world has gotten a little bit more busy around here and this is something that has taken a back seat.

I blog, like many of you, for different reasons. Not only to I love the connection and bonding that I have found here in Blogville (even my girls have gotten a great pen pal out of it), it is my new way to record our family history. I have printed our first 2 years of the peapod blog into a few books and it has been so neat to read. I just do NOT have the time anymore for scrapbooking, nor any other hobby. But I want our family history to be recorded in some hard bound format. Blog2print was the easiest way to do that. Check it out if you haven't printed out your blog.

I have also had some picture/camera issues. Not that I am offering up excuses, but I love posts with pics. My cell phone has come in handy to send some pics to facebook for keeping the in-laws updates on our world here. But I am disappointed in my camera (looking for a new one). I have taken the time to put a water mark on my pics that include my children (trying to keep the blog stalkers and stealers at bay - yes, a friend of mine has had a bizzar encounter with that kind of thing and freaked us all out). And that takes more time to load and alter those pictures.
Not to mention I have pictures in several computers (none of which are working great) in a few folders. It takes some time to hunt those pictures down.

And, not sure if you noticed, I haven't been commenting on blogs lately either. Yep...so sorry to leave you all stranded from the lack of comments. I always love comments and try to do the kind gesture of blessing you with my stamp of visiting with a little comment, but...haven't been able to find the time to do such a thing lately. I am often checking blogs on my phone (seriously...I have become that person who uses her phone for EVERYTHING) and it isn't always possible to leave comments. So...I have tried to check in on you all, but I am like the phantom friend.

I have been working hard at fostering connection with our 2 newest blessings. And just so you know, it is going VERY well with our new boys. I love them to pieces, and the are a blessing to boot, all be it, they keep me busy. From sun up to sun down, my kiddos have my full attention. They bring such a beautiful joy into our family and we are sooooooooooooooo happy to have them in our family. We have been very intentional in our bonding and attaching time. We have almost had them with us for 2 months. WOW...time flies.

So, for this season...my house is messy...my meals are simple...my clothes are basic...my hair up in a pony tail...my homeschooling (well...I couldn't be doing it with out help from Grammy)...and my blog...not a huge priority.

But, oh how I love having little ones again. I love being a mommy to all of our children. Thank you God for allowing me to be so blessed.

a blessing

May the good LORD

choose you like Abraham

remember you like Sarah

bless you like Isaac

multiply you like Jacob

elevate you like Joseph

expand your territory like Jabez

answer you like Elijah

prosper you like Solomon

and love you like David.

Easter 2010 - a whole bunch of pictures

Trying to get a few pictures for our first post placement report. We have our social worker coming out this week to check in on us. Glad to report that all is going well.


All dressed up for church. Our first time all going together. We took a break from our cocooning to celebrate our risen Saviour.

Such beautiful children. It is hard to catch them all looking at the camera and smiling. I just love how this catches the glimmer of happiness in their eyes.


Little man Tate had more fun dumping out his eggs instead of collecting them.


Once Tyce understood what was going on, he was pretty fast to fill up his basket. I wonder what he thinks of living in America ???
The big kids running to find the last few eggs. They did such a good job of sharing with the little ones.

Checking out all the loot in the eggs. Don't worry - it isn't all candy. Nuts, dry cereal, money, crackers...and some candy.

Tate is warming up to Grammy. He still stays pretty close to mama just to make sure (a good sign of bonding).



My girls are getting so big and growing up so fast. Still just as precious as can be.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. I was overcome with emotions this weekend as I prepared my heart for worship. God is so good and I am so unworthy of His grace.

Good Friday and the Resurrection Trail

We decided to venture out of the house (AKA our cocoon) and go visit a kid's hands on activity to celebrate Good Friday. A local church has a resurrection trail that allows kids to understand a little more about the events that were part of Christ's death, burrial and resurrection. I'm all about purposeful activities and learning experiences.

We ended up running into another homeschooling adoptive family that recently brought home a boy who was at HH (the orphanage) in Ethiopia. It was interesting to watch the boys greet and say hi and then just look at each other in slight confusion. Oh I wish I could read their thoughts. It must be odd to see someone from your "former world" here in your current life. Lots for these little minds to process.
The Resurrection Trail had stations where you would walk to and hear someone share a bit about the different events that were part of the Easter story. I loved how the used hands on activities to teach.

Petting the donkey.

Washing their feet.

Listening to the disciples share.

Sorry to say, I bet most of this goes over the kid's heads, but hopefully they catch some of it. I so deeply desire them to understand what our Lord went through for us. For His love for each of them.

Nailing the nails on the cross.

We visited an "empty tomb" and rejoiced in the truth that He is not here, He has risen.

A good time out as a family. But it did reinforce the importance of cocooning during these first few months. Our world is VERY simple right now and that is what works for us.
Hope you all have a great Easter weekend. Focusing on God's LOVE and sacrifice for us.

homemade play dough...and a good way to entertain all the kiddos

One of the challenges for me has been to carve out time with just the big girls. My time and energy is monopolized most of the day by 2 little guys (well - honestly the littlest one in our bunch). I have been trying to skip the nap for mommy when I put the boys down for rest and do something with the girls.

One afternoon, we decided to make some play dough. I have had this recipe for years and have never done it. Not sure why...just too busy, I guess. But when you are cocooning at home and looking for something to do...you bring out all your ideas and try to keep the little ones entertained. This is a fun book with cool recipes for all your homemade goodies. Our next project will be homemade bubbles. I'll let you know how it turns out.
The girls often enjoy working in the kitchen with me and although this was fun, it wasn't quite as fun as making brownies or cupcakes and getting to lick the bowl clean.


I made a REALLY big batch and here is the recipe I used to make enough dough for all the kids to share.

4 cups boiling water
2 cups salt
4 cups all purpose flour
4 tablespoons alum
4 tablespoons veggie oil

Remove the boiling water from the stove and add the salt. In medium bowl mix the rest if the ingredients. Add the salted water and mix the dough. Add food coloring if desired. Kneed it by hand when it has cooled a bit.

Once the boys got up from their rest time, they got to play with it too. I just had to let them know we don't eat it. And as you can imagine around here, I act all of those concepts out to communicate to them what I need to get across.


I love how these kinds of activities bring all the kids together and allows them to bond and connect as siblings.
If you look closely, you will see little man Tate smiling (well, kind of a smile that says "watch out, I am a handful"). He is so fast it is hard to catch him smiling. Well, that and I am using my phone as a camera. I still haven't gotten back to taking the time to uploading real pictures. Good thing I can snap a shot and email it to myself. At least I am documenting our life here at home.