the big kids thought it was a little early in the morning for such enthusiasm.



The foam swords were a big success; amazon.com, 22 bucks for a dozen

putting together the lego stuff His Uncle David sent him a card with 10 dollars, which was burning a hole in his pocket; he really wanted to go to Target.  Jacob needed a hair cut, so the three of us went to the mall.   Is there anything more adorable than watching one quiet boy searching and searching the lego aisle for something just right?  I couldn’t stand it.  He found a lego guy for 9.99 and I threw in the extra change, for tax.  (“What’s tax?”  he asked.)  I also let him pick out a candy, which meant another long wait as he pondered all the options.  He finally came up for air with his decision, a bag of “sour patch kids”.   Caleb was the only baby out of seven that I almost lost.  I was 11 weeks along, bleeding, when the doctor told us there was a 50/50 chance that I would lose him.  I was stunned, could barely speak.  I rested and waited and to this day, I still thank God for letting Caleb grow and develop.  We went to the hospital at the full nine months, ready to meet our fifth baby, and found I was already at 7cms.  There was no time for an epidural but by the grace of God, the delivery was the best and most “comfortable” of all seven.  It was the perfect birth, and he was healthy and beautiful.  How I loved all my babies.   I taught Caleb to read.  He is the one and only child (so far) that I have had the honor to open up the world of reading for.  He just completed 2nd grade and was pronounced a “gifted reader”, so that  is our claim to fame, the two of us.  “Caleb is a gifted reader.  I taught him to read, myself.”   All in good fun, of course.     I have a “cut up cakes” book and the day or so before their birthday, the children look at each page, to chose the birthday cake that they want that year.  This year, Caleb wanted an igloo cake.  I baked it in a (fiesta!) bowl and when it cooled, I frosted it with homemade buttercream.  Caleb helped me add the marshmallows while Seth and Sarah stole them, Ethan made bacon and pancakes, and Jacob made a fruit salad (an ABSOLUTELY crazy hour of kitchen fun).     Igloo cake, on a round vintage yellow fiesta platter (from Joanna)     Rich got home from work, and after going to watch Jacob and Ethan’s baseball game (it was a very long day),  we headed home for cake and ice cream, running next door to impulsively invite the two neighbor children to join us, too.  At  8:30 last night, there were 11 of us around the kitchen island, singing and laughing and watching Caleb blow out the candles.

And now he is eight.

(As the Master of Ceremonies of this day, I have to say, I slept really good last night.)

Seth took to the ocean in his typical style; no fear and tons of energy.  They only thing he hated was the taste of the ocean.  He is used to pond water and the salt was a complete shock to him.  For this reason, he doesn’t like the beach, he says.

David also is like a fish.  He can swim very very well and never uses a life jacket anymore.  He swam and swam.  Rich and I smiled to watch him (without him knowing).  I do think one of the best parts of parenting is getting to observe the children unnoticed.   David was the only one who wanted to go back to the beach the very next day.  Even though he got up with puffy, red eyes (from the water).

I asked Rich to take some pictures with his iphone, too.  He took this one, I’m in the water with the boys and Sarah, who is very timid, stayed on shore to watch us. 

photo by Rich

photo by Rich

photo by Rich

photo by Rich

We took a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and two bags of chips.  We bought drinks at the beach.  I had a few magazines to look at and when Sarah got tired she would come lay down next to me and suck her finger…….we were at the beach for five hours!

On Sunday, Rich took this picture of me and the kids.

Sometimes I’m so happy with my family I get tears in my eyes.  David, who is 10, doesn’t understand but I think he will, someday.

How was everyone’s fourth of July?  We intended to travel back home but Grace woke up sick on the 4th and then on the 5th a fox got one of our chickens and they scattered all over the place and it’s SO very hot that we decided to just stay home and chill. 

Four of the hens are still missing.  Rich scared the fox and it dropped the hen, which survived the trauma, however, it is a mystery to us where the other hens have gone.  Caleb had just let them all out about 20 minutes before the fox appeared on the scene.  We wonder if perhaps some of the hens didn’t get shut up in the coop that night, but Dave insists that they were all there when he had the job of securing their door.  I always believe my children unless there is concrete proof to the contrary.  We have 12 hens left and I have to keep a close eye on them now that I know they are being hunted. They will have to be in their fenced in chicken yard, with no more free ranging unless it is the end of the day and I can watch them.  Rich said it was the biggest fox he has ever seen and that’s saying something with all his farming experience.

My sister called last night and said there were a few openings in their Youth Group for a Six Flags event,  including some Christian music concerts tonight.  They invited Jacob, Ethan, and Grace to go with Abbie.  We had planned to take them to the beach and Rich really believed that they would still choose The Beach Outing with Dad, over Chance of a Lifetime Six Flags experience.  Hmmmm, I knew what they would decide.  Ethan grinned ear to ear.  Rich, dazed, is currently driving them to Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jason’s house and I thought I would sit and post some more pictures from LAST WEEK (I just cannot believe it has been a week since Jo was here with the girls.)  Time flies.

We hung out on the front porch and I broke open my cherished lemon oreos.  I had to laugh when I noticed Parker persistently waiting for a chance to steal one.

I made a double batch of pancakes for breakfast on Saturday. 

We exchanged Christmas/Birthday gifts.  It was so fun to sit in my (messy) room and talk and open gifts….we browsed my bookshelves and simply enjoyed each other’s company with the kids running in and out.

Rich took the kids to Sunday School and I stayed behind with Joanna, to go to the service an hour later.  Coco and Seg looked so dear in their church dresses.

Those faces!  Trying to share the bubbles……

Dressed for church, me and my friend, I love this picture.

We went for a walk with Grace and she took this picture of us.

We had coffee and walked around downtown.  I took this picture of Chloe at the old park across the street.  I love all the stones.

Joanna with her baby girl. 

We had such a great weekend together and I’m so thankful for the time we shared.  We are going to try getting together more often now that the little ones are getting bigger and life isn’t QUITE as full. 

Okay…quick question…does anyone know how to remove warts?  My four year old just grew one on the palm of his hand and I’ve never had to deal with warts.  Any tried and true methods out there from another mom?  Thanks.

Have a great day, friends!

our journals

“Nothing’s more important than people.  In other words, friendship is the most important thing, not career or housework, or one’s fatigue–and it needs to be tended and nurtured.” ~ the ever inspiring Julia Child

Joanna and I have been friends ever since we met at college in 1994.  After graduating together from the one year Bible program, we each, within months, got married to the loves of our lives and began a pen-pal relationship with each other that included lots of letters, tons of photos, and an occasional phone call. 

Each time we have had the extra-special treat of actually visiting face to face it became an extremely exciting and noteworthy event.  After the sad goodbyes, we would race to get the photos developed so we could mail each other the doubles.  We had one such memorable visit this past weekend, and instead of racing to make copies of pictures, we are racing to blog them.  (SO fun.)

Joanna has enriched my life and shaped it so that I don’t know who I would be if she had never entered into my heart.  I LOVE her artsy soul, her passion for questions and deep conversations, and her love for God and family. 

She and her husband have four children.  Interestingly, their last daughter was adopted and is the very same age as my own Sarah Joy.  Joanna brought the girls with her this weekend and it was a thrill to see our daughters together for the very first time.  I think it was love at first sight for Gee (my Gracie) and Coco (her Chloe).  The two big girls shared a room and stayed up talking even longer than Joanna and I did. 

gee and coco

And then the little girls.  Oh!  Such sweetness it made our hearts ache.  To see before our eyes the daughters we had been longing for….with Joanna’s desire to adopt fulfilled, and my desire to have  “just one more girl, please Lord” and our prayers answered at just the same time.

sarah and tsega

bubbles

But the visit really belonged to US.  So often I felt tears behind my eyes (as I do now) with gratitude for HER and the friendship we share.  What joy to have a life-long sister friend to walk through life with.  I thank God for this special gift.

The top picture is one I took of us sitting on the couch side by side, looking through each other’s journals.   I liked her journal more than mine and she liked mine more than hers.  We both share a love for pictures, books, quotes, and inspiration….looking through each other’s collected bits and pieces within the pages of our journals was a joy. 

She only lives about 4 hours away but with the busyness of life and motherhood it’s just not that easy to get together…………

Quite honestly, I can’t even describe all the ways this visit became one of our best yet.

jo with my son seth

at the downtown coffee shop

joanna in the park

We crammed so much into our weekend that I will continue with other post soon. 

Happy fourth of July weekend to my USA friends.  xoxo

No, it is not possible to be bored when you are a mother of young ones.  Exhausted, yes, but bored?  No.  Yesterday I had one of those crazy afternoons.  It started out just fine, I was in the house with Sarah Joy and was just turning on some music when the Schwan’s lady came.  The dog went crazy because sometimes she brings dog treats for him.  I put the dog out as I greeted her and she handed me the order book.  Moments later, Seth came in the house….with the dog again….we put the dog right back out and Seth announced that “Caleb is on the roof of the chicken coop and can’t get down!!”  After talking to him, with Robin the Schwan’s lady looking on, I realized Caleb was stuck in the loft and would be okay for a few minutes.  I sent Seth back outside and the dog pushed his way back in.  Robin let him promptly out the other door.

I sat down to look through the ordering book and the house phone rang.  I excused myself but couldn’t find the phone, “Oh just forget it.”  I sat back down.  Meanwhile, Sarah was jumping on the couch and being as charming and chatty as possible for Robin. 

My cell phone rang.  It was my husband.  He was at the oral surgeon’s with Jacob and needed our insurance information.  I excused myself to go find the card and read Rich the numbers.  I hung up the phone and was finally able to put in an order.  Robin  went outside to her truck to gather my purchases.  It was now pouring rain. 

After she came in, she was worried about Caleb and said she would go get him down.  The chicken coop is beyond the garage so we went outside, *Robin promptly getting scared out of her wits over a fake snake in the grass belonging to Caleb*, just in time to see Ethan and David coming from the woods COVERED in thick black mud. 

I mean, seriously!

One thing after another after another and I just find myself laughing!

The rain had stopped.  We stared at the boys walking toward us.  Robin said, “Go get your camera you need to get a picture of that.”
We could hear Caleb in the distance, yelling for assistance, and since Ethan had arrived, Robin left us, filled, no doubt, with enough action and stories for the day.

“I was at that lady’s house, you know the one with like 10 kids, and the dog was crazy, her son was stuck in a chicken coop and she didn’t do anything about it, her kids were in the woods covered in mud and I stepped on a fake snake and almost died!!!!!!!!!!”

After a struggle getting big Caleb down from the scary heights (he was petrified), Ethan and David insisted on showing me their mud hole.  They had originally decided to “pan for gold” in our stream but the mosquitoes were so bad that they resorted to rolling around in the mud instead.  They were already ankle deep in it, anyway.

I was in wet rubber flip flops and I slipped and almost fell as I followed them, carrying Sarah Joy through the woods. 

Sighing, I persevered and laughed as I saw the boys’ gleeful adventures, in head to toe warm MUD.

I get it, I totally get it.  If I wasn’t having such a frazzled moment, I MAY HAVE EVEN JOINED THEM.

They all went swimming to clean off and dare I say, as they were safely out of sight under the dark pond waters, the boys even stripped and swam in their wild skins. *oh my*

It was about 45 minutes of solid activity before things settled down again. 

Ethan and David, besides getting muddy, made brownies yesterday.

“….the fruit<sup class="crossreference" value="(A)”> of the Spirit is love,<sup class="crossreference" value="(B)”> joy, peace,<sup class="crossreference" value="(C)”> forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  galatians 5:22

On this second day of summer vacation, we left the house at 10 a.m. to go pick strawberries.  Just in time, too, because the lady behind the counter said that tomorrow would be the last day.  With all the rain we’ve been getting, the berries are starting to spoil.   It didn’t take us long to pick as much as we wanted and this afternoon I will work on cleaning them up and packing them in the freezer.

Taking seven children out for adventures doesn’t leave much time for romantic and beauteous feelings.  As the mama I mainly feel that everything is rush-rush and problem solving.  But when I sit here and look at the pictures I distractedly took this morning I am just filled with gratefulness for these years when I can do anything and everything with my happy gang. 

Sarah, after finding a pink marker this morning::  we love pink, just not this much.

Today is the first day of summer vacation.  I took Jacob and Ethan to the orthodontist and then we went to a sports store and then Costco.  Grace stayed home to watch Sarah, who was tired out, and I took Caleb and Seth with me.

At the dentist, Caleb and Seth were playing with big lego cars that they found in the waiting room toybox.  Seth made me laugh when out of the blue he said to Caleb, “Can you fix my bottom?  It isn’t working right.”  It took me just a second to realize he meant his car was falling apart.

at the orthodontist, this morning

I laughed again while we were shopping.  Jacob poked Caleb (7 years) and Caleb said, “I hate being the third youngest!”  It made me laugh, to hear how specific he was.  Caleb has four older siblings and two younger ones. 

So now we are back home and I’m forcing the reading children to read quietly for 45 minutes.  They are rebelling.  Jacob said it’s just like being in school during SSR.  “What in the world is SSR?” I asked.  “Silent Sustained Reading”, he said. 

I chose the books from our own collection and gave Jacob a book on Abraham Lincoln, Ethan The Lamplighter, and Grace Little Town on the Prairie.   Caleb is reading An Army of Frogs.  David, our other reader, isn’t here.  He’s at Six Flags with his friend. 

Little House, with a very sleepy kitty

Seth is playing quietly and Sarah is still napping.

It’s 94 degrees and humid outside.  We will go outside to swim later on.

After church on Sunday we had one of our annual summer picnics.  There are about 3 or 4 of them, at various church members’ homes.  The one on Sunday was at an apple orchard, owned by a couple from church.  They live in an old family home, very country and lovely, the property has big beautiful trees around so the house is shaded and cool.  We have attended this church for almost 2 years and I am finally feeling comfortable, secure in the grace filled environment of a healthy church family.  It’s all so casual and sincerely nice, truly like family, as it should be.   

This is the orchard shop.  During the picnic, the food tables are set up outside and the desserts are inside.  I love the white picket fence with pink flowers planted in front of it.

Log farmhouse, I love it!  There was a fun game of Frisbee going on.

I thought it was precious when Sarah left my side to go quietly over to her big sister, and hold up her arms to be held.

A group of ladies chatting near a picnic table covered with a pretty table cloth and a potted petunia.

Gary, on the left, is our pastor.  He is also an old friend of my Dad’s.  He is an outgoing, friendly, and very smart man who simply loves to preach the gospel, anytime and any place.

There was a pond in which to do baptisms.  The music guys set up the sound system so we could sing hymns.  Here is Caleb (closest to camera, with Rich, Seth F., Ethan, and others, all singing).

This little boy had his testimony written down and folded up in his pocket, to read it to us.  SO dear.

After the first baptism, we sang a couple more hymns.  This is big Mike, with my oldest boy, Jacob.  Ethan is in the background, too.

Then, Shannon shared her testimony and was baptized.  Look at the joy in Gary’s face.

Sorry this one is blurry, I accidently focused on the flowers.  I was trying to take a picture of the praise team.  The music is always such a blessing.

The food line. It was “bring a dish to share” and I made my Aunt Carol’s three bean salad recipe.   3 Bean Salad   1 can dark red kidney beans 1 can cut wax beans 1 can cut green beans 1/4 cup diced green pepper 1/4 cup diced onion 1 pkg. Good Season’s Italian dressing (prepared per directions) 1-2 Tablespoons sugar-or to taste-   Open and drain cans of beans through a colander and place in bowl.  Do not mix any beans, etc. until the very end or they will break into mush–try to be as gentle while mixing as possible.  Add green pepper and onion to bowl.  Add sugar to Italian dressing in cruet and mix by shaking until well blended–immediately add to salad and mix gently.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours–tastes even better the next day so go ahead and make the day before.  Enjoy!   P.S.  The picture is my own salad from Sunday, made with different beans b/c I didn’t have the correct ones, still good!

Summer fun continues now that quiet reading time is over.  Our friends will be here at 3 to go swimming.  And then I’m making a big taco salad for dinner.

Have a great day!
You are loved.

My husband’s administrative assistant was married on Friday afternoon.  Rich and I were looking forward to going to the wedding, and he told me that we would have to leave at 2:45 to get to the chapel on time.  Is there a “running late” person in every couple?  That would be Rich.  I was completely ready and waiting when he came walking in the door at 2:45, in running clothes (how ironic, he loves to run, and he’s often running late).  He changed as fast as he could but we hit pretty much every red light on the way, and then couldn’t find the right place.   Even though the drive started out romantically as I was admiring the clouds, talking to my husband,  and feeling all cute in my fancy dress, I ended up clutching the door handle in silence as he drove faster and faster, and we were all stressed out by the time we got there, the wedding party lining up outside the chapel, ready to walk in.  I detest being late…..however……

*Thank you, Lord* that we were late, because I was the only photographer outside to take pictures of  the bride and her Father getting out of the limo and giving last hugs before the ceremony.  It broke my heart to see the two of them, Daddy and his little girl.

And we weren’t the only ones, late, either, about 8 other people had also had trouble finding the place.  We all waited until the bride had walked the aisle and then we were able to enter the beautiful chapel.  Rich and I sat on the left in the very last row.  I sat on the end next the aisle and was able to take pictures throughout.  We had little Sarah Joy with us and she loved seeing the pretty ladies all dressed up.  It was hot, no air conditioning, but the ceremony was lovely. 

the bride’s father adjusted her train whenever necessary, which I thought was so sweet

kneeling together

holding hands