Fast Forward

What a difference five years can make!

  Ethan and Luke 2009

2014

Strawberry Madness

After school last Wednesday, we met some friends for strawberry picking. I didn't tell the kids where we were going or who we were meeting. They were so excited when we pulled up and saw our out of town friends. It was the perfect half way meeting place.

It doesn't take long for 7 kids to fill 5 boxes. 

Love this lady! What a dear, dear friend! She always encourages me.

Only 30 minutes later, I had to force them to stop picking. 

I don't want to even tell you how much our four boxes cost. ouch! 

A picnic with beautiful scenery, great conversation, buttercup crowns, tag and so much fun!

Then on to home to deal with our yummy treats. By 1:00am that evening, 

my eyes were crossing but I had made one strawberry pie, one strawberry 

rhubarb pie, strawberry muffins, and frozen lots of berries for smoothies. 

Still Plugging Along

Wow! It's been a week since I've updated.

We're still here and plugging away with school, enjoying beautiful spring weather, and preparing for some summer fun. We've officially had 170 school days and we're all so ready to be done. (especially me!!!) Our school year began in August, so this will be the longest school year since we started homeschooling in 2009. Now, there is that trip to Ukraine and that major life transition that interfered with our schedule. ;) However, we worked every snow day, every public school holiday and only took three days off for spring break. We're in the home stretch. Lord, please help this weary Momma make it to the end. Probably 2-3 more weeks before we're officially done with our curriculum and required standardized testing.  phew!

Wish I could be one of those relaxed Momma's who completely take the summer off, but we'll probably still do some school work this summer to keep our skills sharp (and help Irina catch up to her grade level.) Maybe I can make it fun?? We shall see...

Some photos of another weekend family bike ride:

 Playing on the exercise equipment while we wait for Irina and Daddy to catch up. 

The boys really enjoyed the very hilly bike trails so I'd zoom ahead with them. Irina, not so much... 

she was really scared, poor thing. Darin was very kind to help her walk her bike down every hill. 

 She finally worked up enough courage to go down and up one hill 

without walking her bike. She asked me to take her photo. 

 The park had a great nature center that was OPEN! Yeah!

 Then four monkeys on the playground. Can we all go across at the same time? 

A big milestone for Irina... she was able to go all the way across the monkey bars 

for the first time on her own. She is building her arm strength. Yeah! 

Reassurance

I'm learning that one of the results of experiencing the brokenness that comes with needing to be adopted is the constant need for reassurance from the adoptive parents.

Do YOU love me? Will YOU always love me? Will YOU keep loving me even when I make bad choices? Will YOU stay with me forever? Can I count on YOU?

I've never stopped to count, but several times a day Irina says to me, "Mommy, I love you SO much." I used to think the point of her saying that was to declare her love, but I'm beginning to suspect that the real purpose is to get me to repeat those same words to her. No matter how distracted I might be, I've learned to quickly reassure her, "Irina, I love YOU so much." And she breaths a big sigh and smiles.

Similarly, when she has made bad choices and I need to correct inappropriate behavior (which is so hard, but necessary!), her immediate reaction is to shout, "Mommy, NO love Irina." It's as if she is punishing herself and concluding that my love is conditional. I've learned the best way to diffuse a potential "storm" is to reply, "That's ridiculous! That's like saying you saw a purple cow flying in the sky. Mommy will always love you, even if I don't love your behavior." She loves to be silly so this accomplishes distracting her from swirling out of control AND reassuring her of my love.

As we walk this path of an older child adoption, I'm learning a lot about love. Love is not just warm fuzzy feelings, sweet smells and fireworks. Love is work. Love is sacrificial. Love is committing to love even when it doesn't feel easy or even when I don't want to! The result of loving sacrificially is a fragrant aroma to God. We have such a picture of that love in Jesus Christ sacrificially loving us! Oh Lord, help me to love as you have loved me. 

"Be imitator's of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:1-2 

I hope and pray that Irina will someday rest assured of our love for her, but most importantly I pray that she will know deeply the Father's love for her.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:4-19

Outdoor Adventure

This will be the LAST post about Luke's birthday. I promise! 

Luke invited 3 boys and his 3 siblings to his party. After lots of discussion we 

decided to have a scavenger hunt at a nearby park. (Literally less then a mile away.) 

Darin was eager to participate in planning the scavenger hunt, so I happily passed 

the baton of responsibility to him. Phew! He scoped out the park, mapped out where 

to hide the clues and gathered the supplies. Way to go Dad!

The morning of the party, Darin went to the park to hide all the clues. I was seriously 

nervous that I was going to get a call from the police saying that he had been 

arrested for suspicious activity. He brought along a big heavy rock to place on top of 

one of the clues, dug in the dirt, climbed up trees and hid a huge trunk behind some 

bushes. Surely if people saw him, they would wonder what he was burying in the dirt. 

"What's in your black trunk, sir?" a bomb, dead body???? oh my! 

Thankfully, he had no problems at all. 

The kids began in the parking lot with the first clue. Darin showed them that all the
clues would be in small jars and that there would be 12 clues to find the treasure.
He passed out a trowel, magnet on a long rope and a compass to aid them in finding their clues. 

After they found each clue, they would go racing off to find the next one. 

Aaron thought he was big stuff and Irina joined right along with the boys. 

They had to hold the string off the bridge and use the magnet to pick up the jar with the metal lid. 

Clue number 8: Continue down the path to the bench on the left. 

Sit on the bench and look out towards the lake at the trees. 

The location of this jar cracked me up!

Darin had hammered the lid high up on the tree trunk in front of the bench 

and then screwed on the jar. The kids had to figure out how to get it down. 

It was fun watching them problem solve. 

I felt bad for the man enjoying a peaceful Saturday fishing. He was taking a break and 

relaxing on the bench until we came on the scene. Poor guy watched our chaos for a little 

while and then scattered as I was giggling and the kids were screaming. 

(see him in the denim shorts, navy shirt and grey hair?)

At last, they had success! 

Digging in the dirt to find a clue that Darin had buried. 

The last clue had a key in it to open a large black chest. 

They were told to head west to find it. On your mark, get set, GO!

The chest was filled with gold coins and 7 drawstring camo treat bags filled with a 

flashlight, carabiner, compass, trail mix and some treats. They went crazy 

grabbing the coins, which I didn't expect. 

Since we live close by to the park, we drove home for lunch and birthday cake. 

Luke requested an ice cream cake with strawberries on top. 

Such a fun day that would not have been possible without all Darin's hard work.
Ethan and Aaron said they want Daddy to plan their birthday party.
Hot dog!!! I like that idea! ;)

Birthday Celebrating

I was very determined this year to make sure that Luke felt very celebrated on his birthday. I may have created a monster ;) and worn myself out, but I was so desperate to make sure he knew how special he is to our family. There is an awful lot of comparing to the attention that our little butterfly receives as she adjusts to being in our family.

The week before, we enjoyed an afternoon mini golf game with dear family friends. This was the first year that Luke had an all boy birthday party, which meant we made sure we had time to celebrate with his oldest friend who happens to be a girl. These two have been friends since they were babies and continue to have a sweet friendship. They are comfortable with each other and have a mutual respect.

R (10 months) & Luke (6 months)

Luke (21 months) & R (25 months)

 All the kids relaxing after the game of mini golf.

The silly pose

We celebrated with both sets of grandparents. Sorry Grandpa and Poppy. I didn't get photos of you.

We had decorations, a special breakfast, dinner out and gifts from friends and family. 

Darin helped me plan a boys outdoor adventure party which took up most of Saturday. 

(That's a post for later.) When all was said and done, Luke rated the birthday a 10! Hooray!

Mother's Day

Here is a glimpse at my favorite part of Mother's Day:

I love being with my family, but I especially enjoyed a couple hours sitting on a blanket, 

under the shade of a tree, all by myself on Sunday afternoon. Thank you, Darin!

Luke - TEN

It is so hard for me to believe that ten years ago Saturday this little bundle was born. 

Before Luke was born, I read hungrily to find the formula for raising and training up our 

coming child. I wanted to know the exact formula for getting him to sleep well and eat well. 

I had read a particular book at least three times and taken detailed notes that I typed up. 

I was prepared. Are you starting to get glimpses of my personality. Poor kid! 

It was nearly impossible for him to avoid being a perfectionist, over achiever!

Then he was born and he didn't fit any of the formulas in the books I had read. He was highly sensitive to light and sounds. He only took two 27 minute naps a day and I thought I'd never survive his first year. When was I going to get any free time?!? Ha! If I'd only known how much free time I had back then. Luke would sit for hours pushing cars and playing independently. That was only when I wasn't changing his outfit unnecessarily 5 times a day to pose him for pictures.

 Somehow he has sped up and turned double digits. He is still a shy and sensitive guy. He loves legos/building and his imagination blows me away. (If only he could put all that creativity to writing stories... for some reason when it's time to be creative on paper, he draws a blank.) He is a hard working student. Although, he rushes to be done with school each day so he can get back to his creating. When he is at home or in comfortable surroundings, he is quite the comedian.

 

Oh, he's not perfect. We're working through some rough edges, but he is a tender hearted boy who is thankfully not worried about being cool - yet! He loves music, drumming, riding his bike, digging and exploring in nature, climbing trees, collecting rocks/fossils, and being at the beach. I am so thankful for the fine young man that God is shaping him to be. 

Most importantly, I am thankful that Luke loves God and his family with his whole heart. His brothers and sister are really his best friends. I'd say he has had the hardest adjustment adding Irina to our family because it may seem that he has given up his status as the oldest child. Everywhere we go, people comment about Irina being the oldest and that is hard for him. To us though, he will always be our first born! He is the boy that made me a mother and I love him dearly.