Great teacher conference

K. has been here 8 months and is in afternoon Kindergarten.  I met with her teacher last Monday and was so proud of the report.  K. knows all her letter sounds and is starting to blend sounds and read.  She is right where she should be academically. She gets along with all the children and is well liked.  The teachers love her.

In March when she came home I started working with her to prepare her for Kindergarten.  I read her lots of books and we talk about them.  She did Kumon workbooks to learn cutting (scissor use), mazes, and numbers. She worked through the get Ready for the Code books to learn letter sounds. Her rate of learning is amazing! In March is didn't know English and had never been to school - now she is up to speed with her classmates in an excellent school.

The clowns in the minivan

Having a lot of kids is often chaotic and amusing. Brad is out-of-town this week instead of working from home in the mornings. So I have to take the four youngest with me when I drive the oldest two to the Christian High School.  L. and M. have to be ready for 2nd grade and their drop off early instead of gettting ready while I am driving back and forth to high school.
So at 7:40 this morning there was a mad dash to the car. I was carrying the 4 year old and a big blanket to keep her warm.  My fourteen year old carried his backpack, soccer stuff and K. with her blanket.  My 17 year old carried his backpack, soccer stuff and a huge bowl of cereal. L. brought her school stuff, detangler and a brush and M. has her school stuff and shoes to put on in the car. It was the reverse of all the clowns getting out of the VW bug.
Fortunately, all the clowns made it to school on time:)

A Couple of Good Books

I am just about finished with Tom Davis's Fields of the Fatherless.  In it the author says, "I believe when you strip Christianity down to its basics, this is what it means: to feed, clothe, and treat the fatherless as members of one's own family." Tom Davis explores God heart for the poor, widows and the fatherless and what we each can do. The book is very motivational and convicting.

Another book I love is Mary Ostyn's A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family.  Mary and her husband have ten children, six through adoption. The book is down-to-earth with practical tips.  In the first chapter she says, "I know I'm not solely responsible for the world's children. Each time we have adopted, we have not done it out of some misguided savior complex but because we wanted another person to hug night, another face at our table, another little one to teach to talk and walk and ride a bike, another person to rejoice over as he or she grows and learns.

Any yet, when and if my husband declare that finally we're done with diapers, night waking, tantrums from two-year olds and potty puddles found when we are in our sock feet, whether we care to face it or not, we are also closing a door in the face of a real living child waiting somewhere in the world who could be ours."
Her book has been a great encouragement to me.  Having a large family is unusual in the Bay Area, but raising lots of children is truly a blessing.

Mary's blog is here http://www.owlhaven.net/

Indians and Penguins

K. has been in our family for 8 months and her English is amazing. There is still occassional cute mix-ups.

Her Kindergarten class is doing a Thanksgiving play and she is very excited. She was telling her sister about the costumes - the Indian hats and the penguin hats. L. very nicely said, "I think they are pilgrim hats." Or there were some very lost penguins.

The other day I said I was going to run some errands. That sounded fun and K. wanted to go. Why are we getting in the car if we are running? And who is Aaron? Going to the store and dropping off something at Dad's work wasn't as exciting as it sounded.

First Major Milestone

Our home study has been approved - first milestone completed! This is our fifth home study so we are very familiar with the process, but we still had to do things like each have physicals - Brad and I plus all seven children. That alone was time consuming. Now we have to receive our notarized copy and send it to US Immigration.

But the good thing is we know just how worth it, it all is!

Orphan Sunday

Adopting Again

I am so excited to be adopting again from Ethiopia!  K. has been here since March and has fit in so well.  She is bright and funny and so cute.  I was concerned she would have a hard transition since she is 6 years old, but it has been a relatively easy transition.

We are planning on adopting a child from one of YWAM Ethiopia's orphanages again.  I have been so impressed with the work they are doing in Ethiopia. We are thinking about a little boy 2-3 years old this time.

We are working with Cara Helberg (Angel's Haven) for our home study.  I just love Cara!  She has helped us with all five adoptions.  She is positive and realistic simultaneously and is always quick to respond to emails.  She loves kids and is focusing her agency on  hosting programs and working with children with HIV in various countries.

Introduction

Here is an abbreviated version of a popular bedtime story at our house:

Mommy and daddy had three boys and no little girls. So we prayed and God said there was a one year-old little girl in Russia named L.  who needed a mom and dad. So we flew to Russia and brought her home to be our daughter forever.
Then we prayed again and God said there was almost three year-old little girl in Russia named M. who needed a mom and dad.  So we flew to Russia and brought her home to be our daughter forever.

Then we prayed again and God said there was baby named A. in Guatemala who needed a mom and dad.  So we went to Guatemala and brought her home to be our daughter forever.

Then we prayed again and God said there was a 6 year-old ittle girl in Ethiopia named K. who needed a mom and dad. So we flew to Ethiopia in March and brought her home to be our daughter forever.