HELLO!!!!!!

The other day I heard a short little conversation between my two oldest that hit me and got my attention. It was one of those conversations that took 20 seconds to say, but taught me SO much! I was in the kitchen finishing up dinner (I was nervous about this dinner, because it was one of those, "make something out of what is in the cupboards", nights and with THIS cook that can be disastrous) The kids were getting into their high chairs and chattering away while they did. That is when I heard Hannah ask her brother "why we have a new baby?" (Hannah is in the question stage, as you can tell from this post) Ben answered her quick and with thick "HELLO!!" sarcasm..."cuz God sent her to us"!!! It sounded like there should have been a "duh" at the end of it. It was not mean, but said in a way that he was only stating the obvious and that she should know that the answer is PLAIN and SIMPLE! "God sent her to us" The end. And the best part of the conversation was Hannah's answer to Ben. "oh, otay"

Oh how I wish I could be that strong in my faith all the time. To keep it Plain and Simple. To know that God has a plan, He is in control, and it is not for me to question His actions. And if I do ever question "why" something has happened, or "why" things are the way they are, I should be as swift to accept the answer as my little girl was, "oh otay"! There is NO worry when I know that God is the one who holds my present and my future.

These lessons from my little ones, are the best! They stick with me and humble me. Oh to have the faith of a little child.

Friday's Favorite Things!

Friday's Favorite Things!

-having My husband make my birthday SO special!

-watching my son turn four and LOVE his "wocket" party

-listening to Ruth start to sing along with her brother and sister

-my mom's chicken and dumplin's!!!!! MMMMMMMMMMMM!

-my NEW HUGE COMFY CHAIR!!!!!!!!!

-the sunshine! AND the rain!

-hearing Ruth say daddy to Dan! YES!!!! (okay it was "da" but it was the best she could do!)

-hearing "mom, I wub you" from my kids!

-watching Ruth master using a fork and spoon on her own!

-God's UN-ENDING GRACE AND LOVE!

"why Dod do dat?"

Today we celebrated Ben's birthday! It was a great day and Ben was on CLOUD NINE! On our drive up to the party, we had a interesting conversation with our middle child! Our teeny tiny three year old, with a bright mind that takes us by surprise often! From her bright pink car seat behind me in the van, her little voice said "why Ben dopted when hims a yittle baby?" Yep, right then I knew that our conversations about adoption are starting to sink in with her and she is putting things together in her mind. I said "cause God knew that mama and daddy needed a special boy and He gave us Ben". She said "and Dod dave you a yittle sister and a new baby?" she was talking about herself, (we call her sissy, or little sister) and Ruth, is our "new baby". I said "yeah, God gave mama and daddy sissy and Ruthie." She paused for a couple of moments and said "why Dod do dat?" I repeated that God knew we needed the kids and that He sent them to us and that we are a family. But it did not satisfy her "but why Dod do dat?" It was clear that she is starting to understand and starting to try to figure things out. She switched to another topic, but in my mind I kept hearing her little voice ask the question "why Dod do dat?" And I do not have the answer. Why did God bless me with three wonderful, beautiful, precious souls. Not because I am worthy of it FOR SURE. I will never understand how I came to be so blessed with these little ones, but as I sat there in the van, listening to the talking and singing from my kids, all I could think was "THANK YOU DOD FOR DOING DAT!"

4!

MY BABY IS 4 Years old! I love you Ben Boy!

Adoption Books

Right from the moment we met Benjamin, it was on my mind. How will I be able to explain adoption to my child. How can I make sure he understands the concept of adoption and just how amazing he is and how much we love him. I wanted my children to understand, as much as they could, at age appropriate levels. As we went through the adoption process, with each of them I kept a journal. A journal of what happened, how court went, who testified, meeting the birth parents...etc. But those are "adult" age journals, that I will give them after they are grown when they are able to really understand. What I needed was something for NOW when they are still too young for the "hard" parts of adoption, but old enough to learn about the basics. Of course we received classes about "Life Books" and I loved the concept, but I am SOOOO not a scrap-booker! I just can't do it. Sitting there and trying to come up with the page designs and the stickers to match and all that, just not my thing. So I decided to go with the concept and make it mine! I know I love to tell kids stories, and I love to write. And that is what I did. I sat down and wrote each child's adoption story in a Children's Book form! Something we could read before bed or after nap. Something that explained the basics, made them feel special and still was age appropriate. Even with this idea I knew I would need help. Help with the illustrating. Making the story come to life! And when kids are young, it is the pictures that tell the story to them. Since this was not my talent, I enlisted a family friend, Tabitha! She was so willing and I was grateful! She did a WONDERFUL job bringing these stories to life and my children light up when they see the pictures of themselves that she made. What a wonderful friend to give my children a life long gift like this! They point to the pages and talk about the colors and the objects and LOVE "THEIR" book! This is what I wanted. For my kids to LOVE learning about how they were adopted. Tabitha was such a big part of this! My words come to life for the kids, when her illustrations are added! It was NO small favor I asked of her, but she was the perfect one for the job! She will always hold a special place in my heart, for what she has done for my children. (THANKS Tab!) I wanted to share some of the pictures with you! They turned out so great! I have covered the words of the stories, making sure that the details of their stories are kept private, but wanted to show how great they turned out. That there is another option, other than just a scrap book, for those of us not gifted in that area!

Hannah's Cover

Dedication Page. I think she will cherish this book for years!

On this page is when we all met Hannah for the first time! SHE LOVES pointing to everyone!

The day we brought our Hannah home! (she loves the "baby Hannah's blankie")

This page talks about her being sick and flying in a helicopter when she was only 6wks old. She really thinks that its "COOL" she has flown in a helicopter!

This page talks about all the traveling we did for birth visits.

This is her favorite! The one with her "petty" dress on!

The last page! MY FAV!

Ben's Cover! ( HE LOVES THE "WOCKET"!)

Dedication page.

This page explains that every baby is born, and tells him when and where he was born! He seems to really be able to grasp the concept in the story form!

This page begins to explain birth moms and birth dads.

This page explains about his name!

I LOVE THIS ONE! This page is all about Ben being Native American and all about his tribe!

Thought I would share a bit about how the story is written.

He LOVES this page. He says he is "GROWING AND GROWING UP"

And MY Fav! Adoption DAY!

Friday's Favorite Things!

I have been so incredibly busy the last couple weeks.

So busy, and when I am not busy, I am EXAUGHISTED from being busy.

I have found myself feeling a bit "low" and "lethargic", which has made it

difficult to have the motivation for things like laundry, or vacuuming or

pretty much anything. This has caused a build up of chores to do!

I have made a list of things I NEED to get done

whether I feel like it or not, and I am hoping once I do them,

I will get back on track. But just because my weak human self has been in the dumps

does NOT mean my Lord has stopped the shower of BLESSINGS! So here is today's

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE THINGS!

-my new (to me) Minivan! SOOOOO much room! LOVE it (we have named it "Lilly" because Hannah calls it the "lilly band" this is the closes she can get to saying "minivan")

-my boy, out of the blue, saying "mom I wub you too"

-My little Ruth, who has made HUGE progress this past week. It is like she FINALLY feels like she belongs! So nice to see her relax!

-My spunky Hannah, that her fall was not too serious and that only stitches were needed. Oh how I love that girl!

-that I had MY mom there with me to support me through taking Hannah to the hospital for stitches. No matter how old you get, there are some times when you just need your "mommy"

-Getting Ben's Adoption book! It looks AWESOME... (blog on this coming soon!)

-watching my husband carry our babies to bed. He means so much to me, and I am so blessed to have him!

-Most of ALL, This week, my MOST FAVORITE thing is that

HE IS RISEN!

because of that, I am able to have sweet Salvation!