The Wedding

 The long anticipated wedding finally arrived this weekend.  Mark's sister Hannah got married on Sunday and Eden was going to be the flower girl.  She was so excited!  I was a little nervous since it was only the second week of school and she also was very sick last week.  We thought she had strep but when her strep screen came back negative the doctor was pretty sure we had a nasty case of hand, foot and mouth.  Poor girl was miserable!  She came home from school Friday,went to bed at 5:30 and slept until Saturday morning!  Saturday afternoon found us at the beauty salon getting her hair done for the wedding.  It was so fun watching her.  There were 3 other African American girls getting their hair done at the same time she was and she was watching wide eyed.  Her favorite part was when they straightened part of her hair!  She desperately wants straight hair and her eyes just sparkled.

 My sweet kids minus the baby.  How I love them!

 Mark's sisters are simply beautiful!  Every.single.one!  Beautiful inside and out!  Hannah, Joyce and Grace - the younger three.

 Christine and Suzanne are the older two sisters.  Both married and both have 2 sweet children.  I feel very blessed to have married into a family where I gained a bunch of sisters. 

 Hannah with my sweet Eden.

 Eden's cousin Jacqueline was the other flower girl.  Aren't they so cute?!

 Hannah was such a beautiful bride! 

 Classic beauty!

 We tried our best to get a family shot and this is about as good as it got.  I love this crew!

 Proof that Naomi was at the wedding.  She was loving her daddy and leaning in for kisses.

 Mark's siblings, parents and the new brother-in-law who is also named Mark.  Beautiful family!!

The happy couple with the littles in the wedding party.  Eden told Mark that her favorite part of the wedding was holding "that boys" hand.  Oh good grief!

We survived the weekend, all the kids woke up bright and early Monday morning even though I told them they could sleep in and off they went to school. 

We are so happy for Mark and Hannah!  People will often somewhat flippantly say people are good for each other but these two really are good for each other!! 

And once I recover completely and get caught up on life maybe I will find a way to make this blog a priority again.  Just maybe. 

First Day of School

 We woke up early to a bunch of nervous energy!  Breakfast was hardly able to be choked down past the lump in the throats and food felt funny on the jittery stomachs.  Half-eaten bowls of cereal were deserted and shoes were put on.  Backpacks were worn proudly and children declared they were ready to go.  Twenty minutes before we needed to walk out to meet the bus.  So the waiting began.  And last minute bathroom visits.  Judah left first since he is now in middle-school.  Where has the time gone?  His bus cruised on past our driveway but the driver noticed a waiting young man so hit the brakes!!  One on his merry way!

 Is it possible that he is in 4th grade already? 

 Tristan proudly saying he is in first grade.  He was the only one that about made me come unglued.  During good-bye hugs his chin started quivering and the tears started welling up in his eyes!  I pulled him as close as possible and whispered how proud I was of his bravery!  He nodded his head and turned to walk with Shane, Eden and his dad to meet the bus.  I know I would be a blubbering mess if I was the one putting them on the bus which would only make things worse. 

 And Miss E!  She could hardly wait!  She bounded out of bed, got dressed and was ready to go.  She was so ready to finally get to ride the bus.  I find it so hard to believe that in the four years she has been home she has grown from Naomi's size to a young girl ready to venture off on her own. 

This is where I found Heidi after the photo shoot with her siblings!  Little turkey!!  She loves climbing in the crib to snuggle.  And as you can tell Naomi doesn't mind.

The final verdict as everyone piled out of the bus this afternoon:  awesome!!  Everyone had a great first day despite the nerves.  Judah survived figuring out his locker combination, changing classes.....and everyone else came home full of stories! 

Did We Get A Puppy??

This looks very much like the work of a very playful puppy but we don't have one.  Who needs a puppy to tear books and magazines apart when you  have a little Naomi scooting around the floor?  We have learned the hard way to keep books and magazines off the floor and out of her sight or she will figure out how to get to them and start the shredding, mangling process.  Oh the joys of a partally mobile baby!!!

Get Away To Our Favorite Place

The story goes that when my grandfather was a young chap he and some friends bought a little plot of land along Pine Creek.  This is where we camp every summer with the big extended family.  It quickly has become the highlight of the summer for my kids much like it was the highlight of my summer when I was little.  There is something so wonderful and familiar about returning to the same place every year.  Nestled in between huge mountains and along a creek all seems right with the world upon arrival.  When it came time to try and do some sort of vacation with our kids they wanted to head to the mountains.  While there are plenty of beautiful mountains we have an affinity to the ones found beside Pine Creek.  Fortunately for us we know some kind hearted folks who have a cottage a few miles south of the cabin we go to every year and they said we could take our brood and hunker down for a few days!  Oh the excitement when we told our kids!  It was wonderful!

 Last week we spent the better part of 4 days along the creek with the kids and wrestled with the possibility of staying an extra night but knew we would be pushing the limits with the younger ones.  To say it was wonderful would be an understatement!! 

 Yahtzee was played in the early mornings until it was "warm" enough to venture into the creek.  They usually thought 68 degrees was plenty warm.

 Heidi liked to sit on the stool and look out the window as the creek passed us by.

 She spent most of her time on the shore watching everyone kayak and swim.

 My little loungers!

 I sat myself down numerous times a day to just watch the action from the shore.  Not a bad view, huh?

 Kayaking was the preferred activity.

 Awesome climbing tree!

 Lots of time on the swing!

 Serious snuggling happening while they slept.

 And to be honest, we hardly saw Judah the whole time we were there.  He was out on the water before I crawled out of bed and spent the entire day fishing.  He would come in to eat and that was about it.

 Night fishing with his dad!

 See Shane's rod in the kayak?  Up and down the creek they paddled, would pull up onto some rocks and fish.

 Checking out the action from a distance.

Look at this place!!!  Would you want to leave?  Everyone agreed that we should sell our place, ask if we could buy the cottage and move! 

Thank you Craig and Kate from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness in letting us use your cottage!  So many memories made and hearts filled!!

6 Months Ago Today......

....the world was given the most extraordinary gift!  And we were given the amazing gift of spending our days with her!  Naomi Elise, you are the most unexpected package to ever arrive on our doorstep.  And we will be eternally grateful God chose us to be your family!!

Now that we have reached the 6 month milestone things will begin to start moving in her adoption process.  We are really hoping to have a termination hearing sometime in October and her finalization hearing by Christmas!  What a gift it would be to have things finalized and have her name finally match the rest of her families.  I may do some shameless fundraising in the next few months so when the finalization hearing rolls around we are fully funded.  I am thinking a coffee fundraiser (gifts for Christmas anyone), possibly a t-shirt fundraiser and we will see what else.  I am absolutely not worried. at. all.  The One who brought her to us knows all the details and so I will rest in Him.

Happy 6 months to the sweetest, happiest and most beautiful little girl!

And  a big thank you to Corie from My Blue Sky Photography!!  You captured Naomi perfectly!

In My Dreams.....

There is something about growing and nurturing plants, especially plants that bear food, that I fine suprisingly satisfying.  I have fond memories of working beside my mother as a child as she labored in our huge garden.  I would sit barefoot, in my little dress, hair braided and eat lima beans and string beans almost as fast as I could pick them.  I thought I was pretty special when I was old enough to use the rototiller in our garden.  Again with barefeet but my toes are all intact.  People sometimes wonder why I don't make my children wear shoes and I wonder why I should make them wear shoes.  There is something freeing about running out the door, through the grass onto your next adventure all the while feeling the grass and mud on your feet.  It engages the senses.  That's what I will say next time.  That we are all about sensory integration at this house. 

 I am sure I romanticize things in my mind a lot but I dream of becoming more self-sustaining.  We have expanded our garden this year and I am loving every minute of my daily walk through it as I encourage my vegetables to grow.  I am keeping a garden journal so I know what things to increase next year.  I already know I will be planting more kidney and black beans.  We are planting more blueberry bushes and working on making an area for a small orchard.  Just a few trees.

 My kids go out to count the watermelon nearly everyday and monitor how they are growing.  Heidi had my camera in the garden and took all the pictures of the plants.  She is my side kick  everywhere I go! 

 Waiting patiently for me to catch up so we can start filling the bowl with the days surprises.  I have been researching and reading more about self-sustainability.  Something that a couple of generations ago was a way of life and now we give it a romanticized name.  Homesteading or being self-sustaining.  But there is great satisfaction in growing, freezing, canning and putting things away for your family as you head into winter.  I find inspiration from people like Amanda Soule from soulemama.com and have gleaned a lot of useful information from her gardening.  Something about the simpler way of life resonates deep within me and so we continue moving in that direction. 

 Not simpler from a work standpoint.  It is a lot of work but it is rewarding.  I always feel like I am doing what I am made to do when I am working in my garden with the kids playing (or yelling) around me. 

 This weekend found Mark cutting down some trees that were either dead or unhealthy.  Which meant my kids had a new thing to climb and play on for hours!

Almost every day I hope we don't have to make a run to the ER since my kids are dirty from head to toe!  I am trying desperately to throw myself into life with as much abandon as they. 

Do you have a garden?  What are your favorite things to eat from your garden?  Right now mine are my orange cherry tomatoes.  They get popped into my mouth immediately! 

Birthday Time Again.....

 My little man turned 6 towards the end of July.  Can. not. believe. it!!  He is so happy to finally be six!  He has become one of the boys more and more this summer.  He is no longer little and wants to make sure everyone knows this.

 I so vividly remember his rapid entry into this world and the sleepless years that followed!  He is a treasure in every way.  He is our time keeper, our radar reader, our resident weatherman and all around brilliant boy!  He spend some time this morning checking out his desk and classroom at school.  Yes, he and Eden will be going to school this year.  We were so confident they were supposed to go to school this year but as the time approaches I find myself getting a bit worried.  I know they will be in fantastic hands and both will be in small classes which helps ease my fears.

 Friday night found Mark, Tristan and I on the much anticipated birthday date.  We hit the mini-golf course and followed up with ice cream.  Tristan was so excited to "golf".  He informed us it was so easy!  Could be because his version of golf looked more like field hockey. 

 I think I look forward to their birthday dates as much as they do.  I love spending time with each child individually.  I find myself more relaxed, not feeling pressed for time and able to completely engage with them.

 I was trying to get a picture of Tristan and he happened to see the next hole had a tunnel/cave to go through.  So cute!

 My dates for the night!

What a sweet boy!  He has made huge strides in the past year and we couldn't be prouder!