Candy Cane Day...take 2!

This year we repeated our Candy Cane Day from last year! (Now my dad would say we could call it an "annual" event. You can't claim it's annual until it's repeated...right dad?)

We woke up early and hid all the candy canes (note to parents: count your total before you do this. We have no real idea how many are still tucked away in the creative places the "Elf" put them...we may be finding a stray candy cane in March!) and awaited the gang to stir.

They were delighted to go on a hunt and find the canes! Some seemed to be quite a bit better at it than others...

Everyone seemed to be finding them!

Well, everyone except the biggest somebody!! She had the MOST trouble! ;) Tee hee...those elves!!

Then it was time for the Legend of the Candy Cane and some fun picture books from the library about Christmas.

One page I read like this: "Early two thousand years ago..." 

I burst out laughing! "How could they know it was EARLY 2,000 years ago that the angel appeared to Mary!?!?" I asked everyone. Giggles.

This afternoon (a day later) Jensi brought the book to me. She pointed to the big fancy "N" in a box that began that page. 

{ahem.}

It actually reads, "Nearly two thousand years ago the angel appeared..."

LOL!!!

So, after book reading time we took a break for basketball games and gutter cleaning. (Oh the fun Candy Cane Day can bring!)

Then, it was time to bake some cookies!

My what a large knife you have!! (We brought it home from China!)

DQ licks a beater--a chore she's willing to do. ;)

He was so happy to get a job!

I'm having some carrots in hummus! So trying to stay OUT of the dough!

He has ALWAYS said that when cookies are in the oven they are SLEEPING!

Buttery cookie with Hershey's candy cane kisses!

A chocolate cookie with candy cane topping!

Yummy!

 Then we had a fun photo session with our Toby Tees...and with a special guest whom I'll introduce you to soon! ;) Stay tuned!!

The fun day ended with a live concert...by Shaw kids who cracked us up!!

This child is so full of personality! (I keep saying that don't i?)

Actually, this child is a funny one too! Best giggle EVER!!

The sock juggler. Doubles on drums.

A little stand up by DQ.

Did you laugh at my joke??

For some reason, the girls thought Zebby needed body guards.

My GOLLY! They were RIGHT!!! He was brutally attacked by an angry audience member who wanted HER TURN!!

 So...all in all...if you give your children an inordinate amount of sugar during the day and have lousy weather outside so they are FORCED to stay inside...YOU may go crazy...but they will feel like this:

WIN!!!

Happy Candy Cane day, everyone! We'll do it again next year!

Busy...but taking time to be still.

There is chatter and laughter and little feet pitter pattering. There is also yelling, "Mom! She's being mean to me," and water overflowing in the bathroom sink.

Life.

It's busy, it's full
                           ...and this is my season.

It is my treasure.

I've not blogged much, but I am still indeed living life and treasuring moments. I am grateful for each one, even the ones that challenge me...I am emptied out and in need of filling. And I know WHO fills me up.

And I run to Him.

I just read a blog post and was deeply moved.

This is not the season of my life (at least today) for me to write much, but let me at least point you toward something that will take your breath away. It did mine.

Go here and be amazed.

You'll be glad you did and will be all the more excited to celebrate the birth of our precious Savior.

Merry Christmas. 

Not answering the phone these days...

Brian came home today and asked me, "Is it harder than what you thought?"

(Apparently seeing a harried woman amidst dirty pots and pans, a basket of unfolded laundry, toys strewn across the yard and children screaming in the background causes one to ask such things.)

"Ah, yes. YES!"

So, adoption. Adoption.

The 2 year olds in their traditional Ugandan clothes. A moment to CHERISH!!!

It's a great thing. I would do it again. Really. 

But right now...
it's H-A-R-D.

If I could sum it up in a sentence, it would read something like,

"I am ALL of your mother!!" (and that doesn't even read right!)

or

"Just because there are 5 of you does not mean there are 5 of me."

Or something.

The biggest trial right now is trying to adjust Darrah Kate to the idea of having a brother who is just 7 months older than she.

Now, she does ask for him the second she wakes up in the morning!

And these pictures are incredibly cute...but the other 95% of the time, these two are going round and round fighting over my lap, who I will carry, who gets the cracker first, etc.

So if you are waiting on an email from me, you wonder why I haven't called you back or you just simply wonder what I might be doing...

The answer is that 100% focus is now on my two 2 year olds. The only way I am able to post this is that Brian took the two screaming children to the hardware store with him. (Saint him, please!)

My life is quite a BIT different than I expected. So if you call me and I don't answer, you can just picture me sitting on the floor with two toddlers on my lap and try to keep them from poking each other's eyes out and singing together.

That's about all I'm getting done these days!

P.S. (for those who still think it's all sunshine and puppies):

Abundantly blessed for the orphans!

Oh just LOOK at all the kids of PMC brought just this past week! We are so excited to get to share these gifts with the people of Uganda!!

My happy little helper! ;)

And I hear there's MORE to come this week! WOW!!!! Just praising God to be used of Him in this!!

Till the Cows Come Home

You might be wondering what's next...cause today

the cow came home!

Yes, literally.

And of course, left a little something behind...

ewwwww!

People often ask me when they hear we have chickens,
"I thought you lived in town?"

We do.

That makes this all the more exciting doesn't it?
;)

This little guy was born just earlier today, March 1st!

He had to be convinced to eat!

The  warmest he'd been all day!

Learning to stand!

DQ checks out the newborn....

Delight!!

Zora "welcomes" the little guy!

Happy farmer daddy!


Perhaps next week:

Pigs fly!

Love Strand 24/28

Due to the weather, the kids had a THREE hour delay today! What did they do? They made a pretend horse and had fun for hours with their make believe riding...each had their own horse and had a variety of locations for their stables--the bathtub, the closet, etc. 

So now we don't have to buy them a horse, right? They can just keep using the kitchen bench, blankets, pillows as saddles and belts for the reigns? Oh good. The bench doesn't cost a penny to board. (No pun intended!!)

How could you do that to your kids?

This is a question I've heard from people over the years. "How can you take those precious children to China for two years?" "How can you think about moving to India with those children?" "What about your REAL children...(when you adopt)? What will it do to them?" [This causes me to shudder as I realize that others place a separation between our biological children and our someday-to-be adopted children!]

These are real questions I have fielded. From people I love.

How can we do these "mean" things to our children? How can we cart them halfway around the world in the name of Christ? How can we upheave their world by adopting orphans who have an unknown past and might bring in unknown diseases? How can we return their Christmas presents and give to the poor instead?

We are called to do these things, not as individuals, but as a family. We do things together. That means serving God too.

It wasn't my idea...we tried tirelessly to go overseas before we had children. God stopped our plans each time. It wasn't until Jensi was 3 and Anneli was 1 that God opened the door and rolled out the red carpet for us to go. And we did. And it was amazing. We saw Him work miracles, both in us and around us. We went through great hardship, but He was enough for us and carried us through.

Certainly, you must know, as human beings we want to shelter our children from pain, hardship and turmoil. We want nothing to touch them that hurts. But don't we all know that our character grows best under the pain of these very things? Consider how a diamond is made--PRESSURE! Might we be praying a more effective prayer if we prayed for God to do whatever He needed to so that we might grow closer to Him rather than 'keep us safe,' or' keep us healthy' or 'bless us' with stuff?

I honestly think I thought I was saving my baby (Oskar) as I allowed Jensi, Anneli and Oliver's hands to be on my belly as they would boldly pray in their childlike faith, "Please God, let this baby live!" I couldn't fathom that God would ever allow a third child of ours to die. I truly thought that by involving my kids, God would protect their hearts from such pain and allow the baby inside me to live. (This is all months before we had any clue that he would in fact die at 39 weeks.)

But guess what? Our sweet Oskar did die. My children, the very same ones who prayed and did not receive what they asked for, walked through the grief with us as a family. They attended their baby brother's funeral, kissed his casket and squeezed my hand when the anniversaries roll around and the tears roll down my cheeks. We have experienced this as a family. And as a family, we have met God in the depths of our despair. Ask any of my children and they will tell you that GOD IS ENOUGH. No matter what they face, they know that He is real and He will help them to learn, grow and glorify Him through it.

So I don't see the fear that others do in our adoption. Questions like "how could we do this to our biological kids" doesn't even compute. How could we not? If God is asking us to take this journey, one that will cause our very family structure to change forever, how could we not include our children in such an opportunity? Even if it goes atrociously bad (which it could), would it still not be worth it? What is the value of living out our faith with our children? Teaching them what forgiveness looks like on a daily basis; learning what it means to love sacrificially; learning how to have faith in God when circumstances say that you should give up. In the end, is that not worth it? And would the fear of such pain seriously cause us to turn around and disobey God's command in our lives? I think you know the answer.

"Truly, truly, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." John 12:24.

We are in the process of dying to ourselves, that we might bear much fruit. It is our prayer that God is glorified through ALL we do.