Artificial Twins

When you adopt a child within 9 months of age of an existing child in your home, in the adoption world they call that artificial twinning.  It's not recommended, or allowed, by some adoption agencies.  Not understanding why, I asked Holt (our agency) why that had that unwritten rule.  The concerns are for that newly adopted child to have his own identity.  To be in his own class at school.  Like most moms, I thought I knew best.  I argued that Holt's theories while valid, weren't flawless.  After all, with Bethany and Scott having summer birthdays, they could go either way on their grade.  I argued that if we home-school some day, they won't have separate classes anyway.  In the end we have our two youngest who are seven months apart.

Identity so far hasn't been an issue for Judah.  In fact, being so close in age has really helped him.  He is bonded TIGHT with Scott.  While Scott tends to be his security blanket, Bethany is his favorite playmate. I heard the two little ones playing last night and as I walked by the stairs, I saw two little kids coming down the stairs on their bottom like a train.  It was adorable so I had to grab the camera.  Check out my two little artificial twins who, almost 2 years after bringing Judah home, seem to have no identity issues.

The only identity issues are Bethany's.  Besides clarifying that she's 4and a half, she also likes to dress herself.  Much to her momma's dismay, she doesn't always match perfectly and her style is a little eclectic.  When I saw her getting dressed yesterday morning she had a striped shirt and the striped tights.  I asked her to pick a different shirt cause stripes and stripes don't match.  This is what she came down wearing:

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Mexico City

Our church is partnering with a church in Mexico City.  This week, some of my friends are there on construction and painting trip.  I loved my first trip to Mexico City and Huixquilucan in 2008.  I look forward to being able to go back in the future.  Until then, I have a few pictures to share from their week so far:

Painting the church is a big task!

Love this!

2 walls went up and water tanks set (top right).

Doing something with wire...

DramaGirl

She may be my mini-me, but that drama must be thanks to her Auntie :) My wild little girl has had quite the week, including the song she's singing about me not knowing anything but God does and then stopped to ask me if God's disciples know anything. So, she's not just drama, but also RANDOM! And maybe trying to stay awake.

This week she had a rough week. On Monday Judah hit her in the head with a plastic bat. Ryan caught it on video and pasted it to facebook. Then last night, after getting trouble and confessing to the sitter that she couldn't sleep with the boys when she gets in trouble, she was moved to the spare bedroom. At 130am, she some how fell out of bed and was screaming like mad. I was super tired and not wanting to be awake. Snuggling her in bed didn't quiet here and in those few moments, I wished that she was still breast-fed so I could let her latch on and hush her up! Tired mom + being woke up in the midnight hours = grumpy mom. She managed to scrape her side of her foot, had a little gash in it, and complained of her fore-head hurting. Did she hit that bruised bump she got from the baseball bat?

This morning she told me her face hurt when she swallowed. I picked her up tonight and the side of her face is bruised. I guess that's where she hit when she face planted. So we get home and we have a big puddle on the concrete slab where our garage will be built. Clearly each child was told to stay out of it. As soon as I got done with a potty break, I watched all 3 of them choosing to disobey. The boys were running through the center of the 2" deep puddle, wet up to their calves, and running over to grab mud to throw into the water. Bethany was racing through the puddle on a trike. I watched them have fun for a few minutes before going out to stop them. While stripping down to their skivies on the porch, Bethany says amusingly that they probably wouldn't get to have their planned movie night. Imagine that!

Inside for supper, she thinks we should snuggle and assures me that I need someone to snuggle with until Daddy gets home. Oh Bethany, I will gladly lay alone in bed until Daddy gets home! She insists and as I type, she's curled up next to me wiggling around non-stop. I think I'm going to let her fall asleep, then sneak out of the room so that her daddy can snuggle with the wiggle worm when he gets home :)

Tea/Coffee Party

When I informed my daughter that some kids would be coming over to play, she immediately began preparing for a tea party for the girls. She was so precious and she ran around paying attention to each small detail. She had her finest mis-matched tea set on the table. Like her classy momma, she knew that the party needed a little more than tea. Not knowing exactly how many girls were coming, she grabbed a hand full of the following items for her friends: a baby doll to play with, a hat, and a bag of goodies.

Our friends arrived - 3 of them girls and 3 of them boys. You can imagine the excitement in the house between the 9 kids. Bethany took on hostess duties immediately handing out her goodie bags. And no sooner than the tea party started, the kids were all headed out to the trampoline. That's how it goes sometimes. We get all prepared for what we want to do and what we think our friends want to do but it doesn't happen that way.

A few hours later when all the friends had gone home, Bethany became one sad little girl. She was heart-broken that the girls didn't have a tea party with her. It was so sweet watching her and so sad seeing her sadness. So, the two of us had a simple little tea party while I ate my supper and I promised her a full out tea party Sunday afternoon.

This afternoon came and we both almost forgot. As supper time rolled around, I was reminded of my promise. I stopped what I was doing and began preparing for a tea party. With fancy Ethiopian coffee dishes.

She was so excited as we prepared for the party. She cleaned off her dollies and toy tea sets, we grabbed a table cloth, brewed some watered down coffee, added some milk and began enjoying our coffee/tea party with Judah along for the fun. She served like the kind-hearted little girl that she is.

Judah did better at drinking coffee than serving.

They were both careful and serious about this party. Bethany couldn't wait to have the sugar that was in the coffee (there was none).



And like the knight and shining armor that he is, when Daddy came home, he joined his precious little princess for a cup of coffee. She adores him as you can tell in this picture:

"Cheers"... do you do that with coffee the same way you would with a glass of wine???
And if you can't tell by this picture, the adoration is mutual between these two. Oh how I love them.

Easter Pics

What a day to celebrate --- the risen Lord. We were down in central Iowa for the weekend hanging out with some new friends and with family. This morning we started the day off right with St@rbux, I mean, worshiping the King who rose from the grave. After church, and a big lunch with Ryan's side of the family, we have a very simple Easter egg hunt. I'm so thankful that my kids were excited for their piddly, but cute, little baskets. Here are a few pictures:

The first is of Judah having sat on this concrete yard decoration. The turtle "bucked" him off and he winced but got right back on and I caught this look with the camera... do you think he was mad at the turtle for bucking him off?

As usual my 3 are hard to get pictures of. Someone's (if not all of them) usually not participating! So, we're thankful for any decent individual or group pictures. Here's Scott.
I looked at the camera after snapping this short and loved it. When I looked at it on the computer tonight, I loved it even more. If you fast forward 20+ years, this could be a wedding photo shot. If you would have seen the picture that's more zoomed out, you'd know her dress isn't fluffed around her at all and she's not sitting very lady-like. Oh well, she's still stunning.
And my little cheeser. Such a fake smile for him. But a handsome little boy regardless.
And one of all 3. There really wasn't a "best" one at all. But they're mine and I love them.
Happy Easter everyone. Thank you Uncle Mike and Aunt Betty for once again opening your home to all of us!

Crummy Day

Yesterday was a crummy day for me. At the end of the day, I couldn't remember all the crummy moments. Not because I was such a good mom and made a point to forgive and forget. No, I couldn't remember because the moments were so many. I thought about blogging about it and giving a few examples. And then at the end of the day, as I was getting ready to put the kids in bed, I got a phone call from a friend.

My friend told me about her crappy weekend. My heart aches for all the crap they're going through. I can't imagine having people be so hateful to me. A righteous anger fills my mind when I hear about they're hurt. And in those moments, I don't dare share about my crummy day.

As I hang up the phone, I know that my day could be worse.

Today I talked to my sister on the phone. My nephew has been in the hospital almost a week. Dealing with the emergency room docs, my nephew's GI issue, and his severe pneumonia have made for a rough week. Doing it as a solo parent doesn't make it any easier.

As I hung up the phone, I know that my day could be worse.

May these two stories help me remember how truly blessed I am.