Sweet Baby S!

The boys have a new cousin! This sweet baby girl was born on 4/6. We got a chance to visit her in the hospital, and the boys had such a great time. C was enamored with her. He would stare at her and get so excited about every single thing she did: "Mommy... she yawned really big!" "Mommy, she moved her finger." He just couldn't get enough of her. Now several times a day he has told me, "I want to see my cousin again."

Random Picture Update

The perfect solution to entertaining kids on a rainy day: GAK. This mixture of cornstarch and water is both solid and liquid and super fun to play with. 

We met Aunt M, Uncle M and our cousins at a MadCap Puppet show today. It was a very interactive, very kid-friendly show... perfect for a rainy day. There was a clarinet, violin and piano playing classical music and puppeteers putting on Little Red Riding hood at the same time. A was scared at first and spent most of the time with his eyes and/or ears covered in fear. But by the end he decided he loved it. He even declared that the life-sized wolf puppet that sent him crying to the back of the room was indeed his favorite part!

For A's 4th birthday, his super special present was a chance to go golfing with daddy. We pass by a golf course on the way to his school, and he had been begging to go for months every time we passed. Even though the weather was a little cold, he had a blast. Now C is already asking to go golfing for HIS 4th birthday!

The boys love to jam. That guitar was the best $0.25 investment ever made. It is one of the most often used toys in our house!

For A's bday, his cousins got him a birdfeeder that he could decorate and hang outside. He was sweet enough to let C help out. We have not seen any birds eating yet. I'm not sure if they just haven't found it or if the vibrant, colorful paint job was a little scary for them. Thanks Cousins for a fun gift!

One more step to growing up: C now sleeps in a big boy bed. 

We have been blessed with such sweet neighbors. The boys are surrounded by sweet friends. It is so fun to see their faces light up when we get to see our friends. After a rough beginning at our new house with literally NO kids around to play with, we have been blessed with some great friends.

Reds Game

Aunt K called us up this past weekend to invite us to a Red's game. I think it was the highlight of our boys' short lives. It was such an enjoyable game: the boys were great, the game was exciting, we were in the shade pretty quickly and the weather was relatively cool. We have spent many hours since that day playing baseball. The boys are often pretending to be Joey Votto or Brandon Phillips. Even C knows that if he's pretending to pitch, he should be Bronson Arroyo. And A will randomly throughout the day shout in his best announcer voice, "Left fielder Jonny Gomes" or "The catcher Ryan Hannigan." To say that we had fun at is an understatement! Thanks Aunt K for inviting us!

Garage Sale

On May 15th, we are having a yard sale to help us raise money to adopt two children. This was a huge success last year, so we are going to try it again this year.

I know this is the time when people begin spring cleaning and purging items that are no longer needed. Instead of dropping stuff off to Goodwill, if anyone in the Cincy area has any items you would like to donate to us to include in our yard sale, we would really appreciate it. Adoption is an expensive process, but we can't wait to bring these two kiddos home to our family.

Let me know if you have any questions!

The Rapids

Sometimes life is slow like a gently flowing stream. Then out of nowhere, the stream turns into a mighty river with class five rapids. I've been white-water rafting, and OH MY is it fun. But scary. But fun. And exhausting. The hardest parts as the nonprofessional is not knowing when the rapids are going to give you a break and trusting that your guide knows what he's doing. So you sit back, row when he says row, stop when he says stop and just enjoy each crazy moment. And sometimes you scream at the top of your lungs out of equal parts fear and excitement.

That's where we are. In the middle of the rapids. We've spent two and half years in the gently flowing river as we have waited for God's direction with P's job. Then all of a sudden, there was an interview and an offer. The rafting ride started getting a little more exciting.

He starts on Tuesday. And if all goes well the first month or two, he's willing to commit to being there for a few years. Then the next change... new car. He'll be in sales and out on his route all day, so sharing a car is no longer feasible. Then the next change... a new house. One with three bedrooms because we can't fit more kids in a two bedroom. Which brings us to the next change... the adoption process starts again. This time, we'll jump in full-force. I've been patiently looking forward to this process for the past year, and I am so excited for it to start. But whoa is it an overwhelming process. Hours of paperwork, agencies to select, countries to narrow down, more paperwork, classes, books, waiting and more waiting. That's just the beginning. Then we dive into life as the parents of four kids.

Looking at all of these changes is...well...overwhelming. Super exciting but amazingly overwhelming. Luckily, even though I can't see the next rapid, I trust that our Guide knows what's coming. And He's capable of leading us through the rapids. So, we go when He says go. We stop when He says stop. And we try our best to enjoy every crazy moment. And sometimes we'll scream out of equal parts fear and excitement.

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. I have to admit I am in survival mode right now. The boys aren't sleeping, and the time change sure didn't help. C and I have been up since 5 am... which feels like 4 am our body time. Ugh! It's hard to function with so little sleep, so just the basics are getting done... and those are barely getting done.

On top of that, I have committed to too many things. Not bad things, and not huge things, but each small commitment takes an hour or so a week. Those hours add up when I only have one quiet hour during the day. Plus the lack of sleep is causing A to be extremely needy. He's pretty needy anyway, but this is just kicking his neediness up to a whole new level. I can't be out of the room for 30 seconds before I'm being paged. He's a little shadow following me around and asking questions that he knows the answer to just to hear his own voice. So draining.

In the midst of all of this, I'm praying for the right perspective. I know that the day will come not too long from now that A will choose his friends over me and my opinion won't be on his priority list. So I'm trying to cherish these days. Trying.

A sweet friend reminded me the other day that everyone has bad weeks at work. It's the same for stay-at-home moms. Some weeks are just harder than others. But this too shall pass.

So there you have it... a quick post while the boys finish up their pbj's. I have so much more to blog about, but that's it for now. And I fully intend to nap this afternoon so the blog will have to wait for another day.

A Joyful Noise

I love my kids. I know... I'm a mom. That's my job. But, it's true.

We were in the car yesterday and I turned the radio on. C immediately told me to turn it off because he didn't like "the people singing at him." So, we decided to sing instead. I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I envisioned the scene in heaven as all three of us belted out "Our God is Greater" by Chris Tomlin. The sweet little 2-year-old and 4-year-old voices in the back were LOUD and not exactly hitting the right notes, but I know that God was smiling down on them like a proud Papa. They were praising Him with every ounce of their beings, and it was precious to witness. In Psalm 100, God calls us to "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord." That was definitely what was going on in the car. Pure, unadulterated, no-holds-barred praise.