Pray

So the first day of school is tomorrow.....
Pray for us! : )
MOST of my kids are actually very excited.
I am actually pretty excited.
I told you maybe I'd lost my mind!

Maybe I've Lost My Mind

Most people look at me like I've lost my mind, anyways.
They do that most of the time, like when they know I have 5 children.
And ESPECIALLY when they find out I homeschool them!
Or when they find out I ADOPTED one - when she was 9 years old, to top it all off.
But when I REALLY get that look, is when I tell them I'm actually enjoying having a teenager and a toddler at the same time.
What I don't think they get is........
what makes that particular combination so nice is that one is old enough to babysit the other one.
And that fact has changed my life in incredible ways!!!!

Now, before you get the wrong idea, I don't leave James babysitting very much at all. I only do it when I absolutely can't take Josiah with me - like this week when I had a certain yearly appt. with the GYN. I'm very sure Josiah would rather be at home for that...........

And I do admit I've been visiting the O'Club on a very regular basis with my hubby - but that's directly behind my house. Literally, if the kids shout loud enough I could hear them from there.

But on all these occassions, little man has put up quite a little show when it's time for me to leave. Sounds like an ambulance siren is going off in my living room. James says he stops immediately when I leave, and I've confirmed that by standing outside the door for a minute. He just feels he must make me feel bad about leaving, I guess. Just in case.

Tonight, however, was a bit different. I am pleased to annouce that DH and I went to a movie - yes - at the movie theater. Without kids. And quite frankly, I can NOT remember the last time we did that. Most likely over a decade.

And guess what????? When it came time to leave, Josiah happily waved good-bye from the front door. NO TEARS!!!! And only ONE request for : "One kiss, really quick, mama".

So proud of the little man. And yet sad at the same time...........

After so many years of having SOMEONE totally heartbroken everytime I left, it feels very odd to have everybody in this house be pretty comfortable that I'm not around. I'm glad he feels safe with his big brother......

But still..... I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry : )

Where Did My Day Go?

So, the first day with nothing to unpack went a little something like this:

Drop off Child A at soccer camp. Get very excited because next door neighbor is there with her daughter and we agree to carpool.

Run three errands with little man in tow.

Pick up Child A and neighbor from soccer camp. Get even more excited because neighbor mentions her older sister is doing soccer camp that afternoon - HEY, so is MY son. Arrange more carpooling as soon as we get home.

Make lunch for the masses. Also start on dinner because I won't have time to make it closer to dinner.

Celebrate that I don't have to drive back to the soccer field just yet as I send Child B out the door.

Put little man down for a nap and spend the next two hours prepping for school - which is coming oh - so - soon!!!

Drag little man UP from his nap so that we can drive Child C to cross country practice and pick up Child B and neighbor from soccer camp.

Drop those two off at home, get Child A ready for hula dancing, and book it back out the door.

Arrive at hula dancing and dig the cell phone out of the trunk where I've forgotten it all day, because Child C is about due to call me to pick him up from cross country. Realize my cell phone's battery is dead.

Leave Child A at hula dance and swing by the high school to see if Child C is done. He IS done, and has been calling me for the last 20 minutes. : ( ooops.

Drop Child C off at home drive Child B to soccer practice. No, not the same as soccer camp. This is the actual practice for his youth league soccer team.

Pick up Child A from hula and take her home.

Finally make it home, and ask hubby to pretty please pick up Child B from soccer practice.

Eat dinner, then head out to the gym.

Fall into bed exhausted, only to find I can't sleep because I worked out too stinkin' late.

So, is YOUR head spinning too???
I can't wait 'til school starts, so we can stay HOME for a change.

Changes

I love looking through our pictures of the last seven months and seeing the changes that have taken place right before our eyes. I love that Abby's frame and face have filled out some, evidence of the better nutrition and in general healthier life she has now. But most importantly, I love seeing the change in her eyes. Do you see it too?????

This is Abby on her first day home with us:

This is Abby this week:

By the way, don't you love the outfit??? I know I posted pics before of her in this Snow White outfit, but we have now added the Super-Girl cape to the get-up. She wears this around the house about 90% of the time. But what I love is the light in her eyes - evidence of LOVE.

Hanging Out

What we do while mom unpacks.

How He Works

A few weeks ago I started going to the Ladies' Bible Study at our base chapel. On our first night, as we introduced ourselves, one of the ladies mentioned that she had three boys and was in the process of adopting two girls. When my turn came around, I made sure to share that we had recently adopted Abby, and invited said lady to please ask me any questions or to just stop by and chat with me about their growing family if she felt so inclined.

Well, she did indeed take the time to stop by and chat with me after we were done that night. She mentioned that she had noticed me at the commissary parking lot recently and just felt like she recognized me from somwhere. Which, when you've been part of the military for this long, is not surprising, really.

So we started the run-down of the bases we'd each been stationed at over the years. When we hit on R*mstein - BINGO!!!! We'd overlapped there for two years. She then says "Where did you go to church there???" Again - BINGO!!! It turns out we'd been in the same Bible Study WAY BACK THEN!! We weren't in the same small group and so never developed a friendship, but she'd seen me enough to recognize me almost EIGHT years later.

So, here we are, all these years later, sitting in the same Bible study again, at yet another foreign country. AND we have just completed this amazing journey with Abby and she's in the middle of HER journey to bring her two beautiful daughters home from Kazhakstan. What a blessing to be brought together again at this time - somehow the fact that we "knew" each other before gave us common ground and help us feel very comfortable around each other from the get-go. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be an encouragement to someone else during their wait, as it seems like only yesterday I was yearning for the day I could get on that plane to China!

And as it turns out, when my new friend and I met for lunch this past week, and I was so excited to be able to be there for somebody else - God again reminds me that His plans are so much more intricate than I can imagine.

I ended up leaving that lunch feeling like I was the one totally blessed. Hearing S share about her feeling during the wait helped to refresh those feelings for me, and to remind me what a great MIRACLE adoption really is. I feel like maybe I'd started to take the whole process for granted now that Abby's been home seven months, now that we have really molded into family. I forget what it took to get here and how truly blessed we are to have her here. But all that was fresh again in my mind after my time with S. So as it happens so many times, when I thought I'd be a help to someone else, they turned out to be a great help to me!!!

It doesn't end there.....

Did I mention that S's boys are 11 (I have one of those), 13 (I have one of those too), and 16????? And her daughters are 6 and 8 (my girls are 9, so I think they'll definitely be good friends). Plus the kicker......

They homeschool too : )

Friendships are so important when you are this far from home!

And I'm just smiling at the way God works things!!!

P.S. - SORRY about the crammed look - I couldn't get blogger to space today for some reason!!

Not Quite Done

I'm totally exhausted from all this unpacking.
And I'm not quite done yet.....
Bedrooms are done - I just have to finish downstairs.
Frankly, it's mostly scrapbooking stuff and school books that are left to do, but that's also, really, the bulk of it : )
I know I never posted the promised pictures, but I have just been trying to focus SO hard on getting done, I've allowed myself very little time to play on the computer.
I'll be back soon, with a vengeance!!!!!!

Oh- and I have to add a big shout out to my big brother, who will be starting his new teaching career very soon and taking on a 2nd grade class!!!! Way to go - I'm so happy for you!

Crazy Week

It's been a BUSY week.

All our stuff is finally here.

Now I have to get it all out of the boxes and placed somewhere that makes sense.

No easy task when I still have to feed everyone three somewhat sensible meals a day and provided them with clean clothes to wear.

I just hope we can get it all done before school starts.

We did take a break today to check out a local festival.

More on that tomorrow, along with some pics.

And get ready to be grossed out by what my hubby and (some) of my kids had for lunch.

If you didn't already see it on FB.

Our neighbors went to the festival with us, and the mom asked at some point how long Abby had been with us. She was totally shocked when I said six months. She said that not only language wise, but just in the way we interact, she thought she had been with our family for years. It's great to hear that we "look" like family, even to outsiders. Because we certainly FEEL like Abby's been here forever. And it's always great to hear how impressed everyone is with her English.

The girls are very excited because our neighbors on either side have a pile of kids, and each family includes one eleven year old girl. The ones on the right also have a seven year old girl. Both families just moved in, so they should be here the entire time that WE are - so no fear of having to say goodbye to your friends a year into knowing each other. They all hit the playground together this afternoon - but Abby wound up playing more with the five year old boy than with any of the girls. She is just still really catching up in the social aspect, and really plays a lot "younger" than her age.

OK - pics tomorrow, after I get tired of unpacking : )