Tea for 4

I kept grabbing too many dishes from the cupboard this weekend, having to put some back. Only tea for 4? There were only 4 eaters here this weekend. Our family rarely, I mean next to never do we split like this. How quiet the house was last night, I had no idea that my clock ticked. I had never heard it ticking before. At first it sounded like foot steps outside, crunching in the snow heading up to the door. I was glad that we are dog-sitting Tia, the princess dog. It was only half a minute maybe of really holding my breath, waiting for a knock or a burglar, till I figured out it was just the clock. We really tried to keep our spirits up but when it comes down to it, we are really missing our other half of family.

We saw them off at 9 o'clock after eating a hot breakfast, eggs and hot from the oven bread, together. The sun started to come out so Eve and I felt it urgent to get out side and make a snow man, a candy snow man, before the sun melted all our snow. The snow was not cooperating well at all and I had to really work with it. It really did not want to do anything so after much hand freezing we ended up with just the cutest little candy snow man, little...but cute none the less.

With the candy snow man making the front door look so inviting I put on a kettle of water and since the swim suits were all out from packing for the boys, Heaven and Eve and Simeon suited up. I filled the tub with water then added three children, then added 3 cups of hot coa coa with 2 marsh mellows a piece. In less than a minute Simeon's cup had spilled turning the bath water a very classy chocolaty color. He was able to pull the marsh mellows out of the wreckage and rebounded quite contentedly and did not shed a single tear at the tragic loss that had just occurred. Us girls giggled at his "boy-ness".

With water all over the floor they started to trickle out of the tub, and just in time too. There was knock-knock knocking at the front door and who should appear on our candy snowman front porch? Grandma and Papa for a surprise visit bearing offerings of McDonald's food too! How lovely to see there faces pressed up against the window, I wish I had my camera ready then! We come from a long line of sillies on both sides of the family. We are pure breeds.

We enjoyed fresh oranges with grandma and by the time they left it was nap time already. My how time was flying. Heaven and I enjoyed a chick flick together complete with popped corn, we giggled and made faces at each other and kept the fire crackling. Little Sim and Eve woke up rubbing their eyes and they enjoyed a surprise tea party made by yours truly. Eve speaks as if she is quoting Shakespeare these days. Indeed and lovely are the words we hear most common from her mouth. It is indeed lovely.

Now as the sun went down Job started to cry, and cry and cry. He is always such a happy pleasant boy and so easy to please. Not last night. I imagine it was a touch of the flu or teething. Regardless he had now been having big blow out diarrhea diapers since the night before. You know, the blow outs where you have to change his entire out fit and give him a bath. His poor little bum was so sore by last night I refused to diaper him any more. Yes it may be more laundry to do but a mother must make such sacrifices, and I did. Towel after towel worth of sacrifice till poor Joby could barely be made comfortable. I was beginning to get very concerned about him because although he was having these amazing diapers no urine out put was to be had for quite some time. I called on super brother/uncle and he brought us pedialite which helped a lot.

I did find myself wiping away my own tears as I was sitting in my chair trying to rock a screaming baby. It was an overwhelming moment, I get them most days to be sure but usually there is help in all forms surrounding me :) It may not have been so overwhelming this time but my girl Heaven was only able to hop on one foot, hop hop hop, and that was really slowing her down. So Eve was the big helper. Thus I found myself wiping away a few tears. My happy thought was that bed time was just around the corner and like the little engine that could, I just kept going. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

The boys should be home any minute, I have a big pot of chili, that turned out a little bit different this time, simmering on the stove for them. I accidentally grabbed the cinnamon rather than the seasoning salt-oops. I added some coa coa powder and masala so it has a really unique flavor. I'll go ahead and serve it over rice and Cristen it "Mama's East Indian Chili".

Some one asked Noah once if I was a good cook. He answered that yes sometimes I was but that because I do not follow recipes sometimes I was not. BIG SMILES

Job Isaiah in his diaper/towel

Sim and Princess Tia


The ever so lovely candy snowman


Indeed, lovely

Eve, adding one last touch. A candy on the back side to wind so the snow man could make music!

3 hot ones to go!

Moments before...

Counting his losses but thankful for what he has left, Sim Courage.

I could see painting walls this color, call it watered down hot chocolate.
A very little tea party, lemon yogurt-orange slices-pickles,meat and cheese rolled up to look pretty-cashews and Chi tea for just 4.

Chicken Coops, Skiing and Parties

Tomorrow morning Daddy and all the big boys are going skiing with grandma and papa. They get to spend the night in a hotel and go swimming and hot tubing so we were packing snow suits, gloves, hats, scarves along with pulling out the swimming gear. It was a lot of work!

I am staying behind because Heaven has a very sprained ankle. I forgot to tell her not to climb on top of the chicken coop and jump from the roof. ( I just can't believe I forgot to cover that one!) So Heaven, Eve, Sim, and Job will all be making our own party here, along with Tia the princess dog that we are watching.

Stay tuned and see how the party we are going to have at home will be the funnest one had!

Do my eyes play tricks? Am I really seeing this! They are all bathed, in their pajama's with their teeth brushed and quietly reading books with each other on the couch.

Now before you tell me I am "Superwoman" let me tell you that although I do strive for this every night it really rarely happens. Who can really keep a schedule with 9 children? OK I know some people can but we wont talk about them, let me just bask in the moment... my moment! Now off to tuck them in and read Milly Molly Mandy. Good Night

Eric Ludy - Depraved Indifference

This is really thought provoking and I wanted to share it with everyone.

What are we willing to do for these little ones?

If you are reading this you probably are like me, I can not relate. I have always had a bed, never experienced real hunger, never been abandoned.

I ask myself, what can I do?

Talking to a friend the other day who works at Eagles Nest orphanage (see side bar) in Guatemala and my heart ached as I listened to her tell about a possibly 2 month old baby girl pulled from a dumpster. She weighed only 6 pounds but she was alive and so the police had took her to their orphanage. Someone went through their pregnancy, went through labor, gave birth to a baby girl and waited a few weeks and then disposed of her into the trash.

Babies are being thrown away. How can we really, I mean really, comprehend that.

BABIES- ARE- BEING- THROWN- AWAY!!!

Where are you?

Where are you?

Pray, pray for our world.

Where is your heart?

Happy Birthday Albert Samuel

Albert and his beautiful mommy!

Albert means Noble

Samuel means God has heard

Albert,

I remember the moment I learned that your mother was pregnant. I was joyous- but only for a moment. My joy was quickly swept away in a wave of concern and a tsunami of fear for what was unknown to me. I remember phone calls, calls that only confirmed my deepest fears, that knocked me to my knees in prayer, crying out to THE LORD for you, for your mother, for me too.

How could I feel so deeply for a baby that was not mine? What was God doing in my heart, in my husbands heart who prayed beside me. Would you be ours someday?

How could I reach out to a friend that I had not spoken to in years, what bridge was there?

I remember how GOD answered these questions, how HE opened some doors and shut others and how HE built bridges, bridges that reached into hearts.

I remember seeing you for the first time, it was in black and white and the doctor said "Its a boy." I remember months of name suggestions. Gavin, Isaiah, Elijah... She said she would know your name when she saw you.

She did such a good job keeping you safe as you grew. You continued to grow and we heard your heart beat every month. She felt you move inside of her and pictured what you would look like. As you grew her sickness took over and she soon knew that she must plan something for you. We asked if we could be your new parents.

I already loved you. Would she let me? No. And I cried.

She would choose another family, another family would fall in love with you. They thought of names, they pictured you, pictured holding you, pictured who you would be and what you would look like.

Then I remember her changing her mind, it was to hard to give you up. And the family cried.

I remember your mother crying as she clutched her womb because she knew she could not keep you. She wanted to run away, to keep you. The social worker tolled her that she would not be able to keep you, the doctors knew to call when you were born.

Then you were born.

Beautiful, alert and hairy.

I remember how hard she worked in labor, how much pain she was in. How her eyes screamed with each contraction. I remember holding her and helping to usher you into this world. I remember hearing your first cries and seeing you weighed and seeing her eyes follow you , turning her head as she watched you be carried to the other side of the room. You were perfect in every way and you were loved.

She saw you and knew, you were real. She watched you. She smiled. She knew that she loved you and that she could not be the mama she wanted you to have. She knew that foster care was not the place for you. I remember feeling hope, hope that she would please choose the open adoption.

Then she changed her mind again.

There was no more time to wonder and what little hope we had soon turned to devastation as I listened to the state social workers making promises and painting pictures of sunshine and rainbows if she would let you go to foster care. They promised housing, food, medical help, day care and assured her that foster care was what was best for you and for her. She was fooled into thinking that they would give you to her, that they would fix the situation.

I remember seeing you placed into the car seat, I was frozen. I can picture you being carried out, away from your mother, away from the people that loved you and your mother. You were crying.

My heart sank. You were gone.

What now?

Certainly this could not be the end...could it?

Your mother had to go 200 miles away and all the promises were broken. Then she wanted you to stay with another family, another mama that wanted you. A mama, that loved you. She watched you be born into this world also and your mother trusted her and wanted you to be with her. I remember when this too did not come to pass and another mother's heart had to let you go. Every last hope of seeing you vanished. You were gone.

I was angry. They would not let us see you. I was angry with their lies. There was certainly no sunshine and rainbows and soon your mother knew that too.

I remember waiting. Waiting on the LORD. Waiting knowing that even though your mother was far away and you were in foster care Jesus was on His throne. It was not easy. It was hard to understand. It was hard to let you go and not see pictures or hear news of how you were doing. I wanted to see you, babies change so much and so fast too. What did you look like now I would wonder.

Then there was good news. Your mother called and she said that she wanted the family that had been ready to adopt you to come get you! I was so excited to call them and tell them the news. How happy they would be.

But God shut that door. The day I called them, they had found out that they were pregnant and they knew that God was not leading them to adopt you anymore. I was so happy for them and praised God for His clear direction.

I remember, and I smile as I write this, how certain your mother was with that sign from the Lord. She knew with certainty at that moment whose arms you belonged in and with out a doubt, it sounded so right. She wanted her step-sister to adopt you, she could watch you grow up now.

I remember reading my first email from your new mama, she introduced herself to me and wanted to be my friend.

Oh Albert, my heart swells with gratitude to our God for letting my heart be broken, for letting me be involved in your beautiful life, for letting me see His beautiful handy work in so many lives, especially in my life and in my heart.

Albert I thank God each time I see your pictures and hear cute stories about you, I thank Him because in His mercy and love I get to watch you grow up. What a pleasure it has been to go through the pregnancy, the labor and the birth and to watch now as you grow into the Noble man that God created you to be.

I am so excited to watch as God continues to use you. Bless you Albert on this special day! May you act justly, love mercy and learn to walk humbly with your God.

You are loved by so many.

Don't forget to turn down the music at the bottom of the page!

Sing your praise to the Lord
Come on everybody
Stand up and sing one more hallelujah
Give your praise to the Lord
I can never tell you. Just how
much good that it's
Gonna do you just to
Sing anew
The song your heart learned to sing
When He first gave His life to you
The life goes on and so must the song
You gotta sing again
The song born in your soul
When you first gave your heart to Him
Sing His praises once more
Repeat chorus
>From the rising of the sun
To the place where it sets
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/GWCQ ]
The name of the Lord
Is to be praised, the Lord is exalted
Over all the nations
His glory above the heavens
Who is like the Lord our God
The one who sits enthroned on high
He who stoops to look down upon
Down upon the earth and its skies
Sing aloud
The song that someone is dying to hear
Down in the madd'ning crowd
As you once were before
you heart the song
You gotta let them know
The truth is alive to shine upon the way
So maybe they can go
Sing your praises once more
Repeat chorus
Let the name of the Lord be praised
Both for now and evermore
Praise him, oh you servants
Give your
Repeat chorus
Sing, sing, sing, Com on, Sing sing sing
I can hear you now, SIng, sing, sing

Scroll down to the bottom and turn off the music and then sit back and turn this one up!

Well I was 19 you were 21 The year we got engaged Everyone said we were much to young But we did it anyway We got the rings for 40 each from a pawnshop down the road We said our vows and took the leap now 15 years ago Chorus: We went dancing in the minefields We went sailing in the storm And it was harder than we dreamed But I believe that’s what the promise is for Well ‘I do’ are the two most famous last words The beginning of the end But to lose your life for another I’ve heard is a good place to begin Cause the only way to find your life is to lay your own life down And I believe it’s an easy price for the life that we have found Chorus: And we’re dancing in the minefields We’re sailing in the storm This is harder than we dreamed But I believe that’s what the promise is for That’s what the promise is for Bridge: So when I lose my way, find me When I lose loves chains, bind me At the end of all my faith to the end of all my days when I forget my name, remind me Cause we bear the light of the son of man So there’s nothing left to fear So I’ll walk with you in the shadow lands Till the shadows disappear Cause he promised not to leave us And his promises are true So in the face of all this chaos baby I can dance with you Chorus: So lets go dancing in the minefields Lets go sailing in the storms Oh lets go dancing in the minefields And kicking down the doors Oh lets go dancing in the minefields And sailing in the storms Oh this is harder than we dreamed But I believe that’s what the promise is for That’s what the promise is for

Pictures From Utah

So here we are at the airport, my mom, me, Job and Heaven. (Note the bald head) I was really nervous, I hadn't flown for 5 years and never with an infant in arms. It was not too bad, no bombs went off or plane high jacking and only my mom was patted down. I can understand why they would chose her out of a crowd, just see how scary she looks. (Sarcasm) I hope I look that scary when I am her age:)

OK so here we are, Miss Heaven and Grandma, so excited! We sat at the very back of the plane right next to the bathroom and right next to where the flight attendant sits during landing and take off. The flight attendant was very nice and we had a fun conversation. She told me about her sister who had 2 children and told me she had two cats and then said she did not know how her sister did it with 2. She then started to wonder out loud how "those people with 6 sometimes 7 children do it..." I couldn't resist and with a big smile told her I had 9 children. "9???9 what? 9 children? You have 9 children?!" Heads started to turn and mom and I were laughing out loud as she interviewed Heaven, asking questions to see if we were serious or not. Yes, we were very serious.
Heaven wanted to keep looking out the window even though it was now dark. First plane ride and she drank in every moment.
Heaven and my nephew Evan. It was so wonderful getting to know him in his own environment where he really warmed up to us fast. Heaven loves little ones and enjoyed playing with her sweet little cousin.

Look how amazingly wonderfully handsome he is!

Mama and Heaven can get really silly!

My beautiful sister driving us to the dinosaur museum.

This is a giant sea turtle, see how big it is compared to Heaven. It is the biggest one found to date!

When I was trying to take the pictures of these dinosaur fossils I tried all different angles so that I could try to include the entire thing but it was impossible. I knew there were big dinosaurs but I had no idea they were really this big. I stood in awe, absolutely amazed. The book of Job mentions huge dinosaurs calling them "behemoth" and describes them as "the chief of the ways of God". It says in Job 40:15 that he moved his tail like a cedar tree! I never tried to imagine how big that really was until I was able to stand right next to one. It was impossible to really capture on camera the massiveness of this creature created on the 6th day of creation.

Not sure about this guy, he looks really scary.
Heaven took a close up picture of me on the plane home.
The welcoming committee had fun running up and down on the moving sidewalks in the airport. Eve and I both share a fear of escelators and so we ended up causing a little hold up, I had a friend fall down on one when she was little and her finger was torn off, thats my reason I am not sure about Eve though. Anyways we made it down with all our fingers and out to the suburban. We let the children watch a few take offs and landings, it was so wonderful to see them. I am a very blessed woman.
How does a family of 11 fit into this??? I'll have to tell you later but here are 6 Heaven, Eve, Joshua, Micah and Simeon. Job is in his car seat in the middle of Heaven and Simeon.

Valentines Day Pop Tarts

These home made pop tarts were easy to make and tasted almost like the real deal, we took pie crust rolled it thin and cut out a bunch of hearts with a giant heart shaped cookie cutter. We spread our apricot jam on one heart and then covered it up with another heart, smooshing it down with a fork around the edges and then brush with a little egg and water and sprinkle with pretties! It was easy enough for everyone to help, including 2 year old Simeon who got up on the table and rolled out the dough. Moses and Micah even marked theirs with M's and were so happy with the way theirs turned out.

31 Reasons I Love My Pig Farmer

1. I love your eyes that smile.
2. I love seeing the caller i.d. with your name on it.
3. I love it when you call just to say you love me.
4. I love waving good-bi to you from our big front window.
5. I love seeing you pull in the drive way coming home and smiling at each other through the window.
6. I love your smile and your gentle ways.
7. I love the way your eyes say more than your lips.
8. I love how you love me, protect me, comfort me, council me, share with me, and stand by me.
9. I love that you read the Bible to us twice a day and pray with us and for us.
10. I love it when you share your visions and goals with me, day dreaming with you about someday...
11. I love the way you delight in our children, the way you compete for their hearts.
12. I love that you love our babies and beg me for more.
13. I love your heart.
14. I love watching you ride on your lawn mower.
15. I smile at the thought of you on your dirt bike, knowing how much you enjoy playing.
16. I love watching you play, knowing how hard you work.
17. I love hearing you say, "Oh baby, you really love me!" when cook your favorite foods.
18. I love watching you work, seeing how smart you are.
19. I love your ambition, your crazy ideas that work.
20. I love your hunger for Heaven and winning lost souls.
21. I love your carhart pants and hoodie sweatshirts.
22. I love talking about our future and knowing we will always be together, for ever and ever.
23. I love the way you kiss my neck to say hi and bi.
24. I love that you will follow me to the gas station to pump my gas.
25. I love our few and far between dates but I love our daily life together even more.
26. I love that all our dates include Home Depot.
27. I love that you know me better than I know myself and that I can ask you how I really feel about things.
28. I love watching really low budgeted, poorly made and bad acting movies with you that do not defile our minds and have good messages in them.
29. I love watching you do flips off of the diving board.
30. I love your Krav Maga moves, the way you sneak up on your boys and put them in headlocks while they are cleaning the kitchen.
31. I love our life. Our dirty windows, our smudgy walls, our second hand furniture our plastic picnic plates, cups and bowls. I love our noise, our babies, our friendships, our goals, I love you.

Joe bought me an Apple computer, it is really great and it takes up less space and looks really fancy. It is tuff also, I accidentally dropped the whole thing onto our tile floor and it is still working just great. It was an awful incident that made me cry because I thought Joe would be so upset. Heaven was in the room when it happened and I just started to pray, out loud. I really could not imagine it still working, it was a 4 foot drop to the ground. I asked Heaven to pray with me, we prayed, I cried. I picked it back up and it was perfect. Yes, I did tell Joe although I really was not wanting to. His eyes got really big, BIG, but he was so understanding.

So now I have a new computer, and we are just getting to know each other. There are a lot of things we still have not covered like how to upload pictures from my camera. I only have x amount of time that I allow myself to blog and so it might be a while yet before I figure out how to upload pictures. I am hoping to figure that out soon, with my dear husbands help of course.

Heaven, Job and I flew to Salt Lake City, Utah this week and back. Wow, my shoulder aches from carrying Job in the front pack through the airport while carrying a backpack on my back, pulling a suitcase with one arm and carrying my purse in the other. Heaven was very helpful and I don't think it would have been possible to attempt such an adventure without her. She was so sweet and uncontrollably excited to be on her first plane ride. I have quite a few pictures of the clouds that she took, we even flew right over our town and up the gorge seeing the windmills and many familiar towns and landmarks from a birds eye view.

While in Utah we stayed with my sister in her beautiful home, it was such a wonderful thing just to finally see where she lives, how she lives and be apart of it all for a few days. She is a very fun mama to her 18 month old. She is 9 weeks pregnant so she was feeling a little nausea while we were there but I even enjoyed that because I could help her a little too. My nephew and I are best friends now and I think he is probably the smartest 18 month old I have ever been around. Perhaps it is his amazing genes, my sister is a nurse practitioner and my brother in law is a chemical engineer and Evan can talk and tell you when he needs to go potty! So Simeon Courage, your 18 month old cousin is going to be potty trained before you. I guess we should start thinking about doing something about that...perhaps next week?

While in Utah we went to a dinosaur museum and what an amazing thing that was. I really just could not believe the sizes of the fossils. It was amazing and I will be posting pictures as soon as I can. It makes me really want to visit the Creation Museum and learn about it from a biblical world view rather than the 10 million years ago junk.

While I was gone Joe held down the fort. Noah was in charge of laundry and made a great attempt. Joshua remembered to do the sprouts every day. Moses and Micah...??? (hmmm going to have to work on those two :) Simeon and Eve spent one night with Joe's parents and my wonderful mother in law brought my family warm home made bread and dinner on one of the nights. Then on another night my husband did a hot dog roasting party in the wood stove and of course smores too! What a man!!! He was really looking forward to spending that quality 1 on 6 time!

Well being that is it Valentines Day Eve tonight I must get going on my note writing. I want to tape one to Joe's tooth brush. I'll be traditional with a "Be Mine Valentine".

Alan Grayson (High Quality Version): Is Anyone Minding the Store at the ...

Has anyone seen my 2 trillion dollars? This was uploaded to youtube over a year ago, what in the world????

BRUSH YOUR TEETH

CLEAN TEETH

Nobody asked me how we brush our teeth but I am sure it was on all of your minds. In the tooth brushing department at our house we have gained a wealth of knowledge from doing a small bit of research to home remedy type tooth paste. I hope you find it somewhat interesting, I did.

My brother was adopted when he was nine years old from India. I remember him telling me that at the orphanage they made baking soda and peroxide toothpaste for the children to use, they used their fingers as toothbrushes. Although we don't use our fingers we have found that by using baking soda and peroxide we can not only save money but also reap more benefits than regular toothpaste.

For starters baking soda is mildly abrasive, meaning it will scrub your teeth with out doing any damage. It will also kill the micro-organisms that cause gum and mouth disease and lastly it can neutralize acids that cause plaque build up and damage to teeth.Then there is the peroxide which does wonderful things also, it makes you foam at the mouth for starters! The foaming occurs when the peroxide turns into oxygen and water, the foam has a great effect. It accomplishes two things. It breaks down the film on your teeth and then uncovers the hiding places for bacteria making the tooth brushing process much more effective than by just using regular toothpaste.

Now if you try this your kids won't like it just plain, my husband doesn't even like it just plain. We add mint oil and xylatol to give it a better taste. Personally I really do like it better plain though so we have two bottles of it. When I say bottles I mean we really keep our tooth paste in bottles with the screw on tops used for saving milk. It keeps it fresh. We just dip our tooth brushes in and scoop out what we need. You could use anything, we went with the plastic bottles because they won't shatter if they drop.

I mentioned xylatol above, xylatol is a sweetener that is roughly as sweet as sucrose but with two-thirds the food energy. (No sugar high.)It is a safe sweetener for people with diabetes because it does not impact blood insulin levels. Xylatol has been proven to help reduce the development of cavities. We not only add it to the tooth paste but each child gets a spoon full before bed. We have them mix it with their own saliva and coat their teeth with it. Kinda of like a spit and sugar gargle.

Another thing we have recently added is Cod Liver Oil and Clove Oil. We mix a little of the clove with the cod liver, making it not seem so fishy. If you are wondering what your breath smells like after rinsing with Cod Liver Oil don't worry, its not bad at all if you are mixing it with the clove. Clove has so many benefits and ways to use it, one of the main medicinal uses is for teeth because the clove can actually prevent tooth decay, gum disease and bad breath. The Cod Liver oil will help strengthen the enamel and help stop tooth decay.

If it sounds complex, don't worry its not. We have found that is not even as expensive as buying tooth past. ( Unless you are getting the really sugary tooth paste from the dollar store which is not really good for your teeth.) It is well worth the small effort it takes to make. Happy teeth brushing friends!