Family Gathering

We got together with our family from Steve's side at his dad's house. His dad's cousin is here from Kentucky.



Anna and the best cake in the world.
Anna puckers up.
Most of our family
Steve's older brother's family
Our family minus Jared
Steve's younger brother's familyOne of Steve's older sister's family (he has two sisters)
Jake and Floppsy

Family Breakfast

We had my uncle, aunt and my cousin, Uncle Scott, over for breakfast yesterday.

Uncle Scott and Anna
Aunts and Adah

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You Know You're An Adoptive Parent If....

This was sent to me by another mom:

YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN ADOPTIVE PARENT IF...

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.

2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love & family.

3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.

4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you. (This statistic was checked out by another mom and found to be true)

5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who've experienced the blessing of adoption.

6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's "real" parents.

7. You've been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)

8. You'd no idea how you'd afford to adopt, but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing He'd provide. (& He does!)

9. You've taken an airplane half-way around the world with a child you just met.

10. You believe God's heart's for adoption.

11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart & family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.

12. You know what the word "Dossier" means & you can actually pronounce it correctly!

13. You've welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.

14. You shudder when people say your child's so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you're the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

Lots of news!

First: My brother is flying in today for a visit! I haven't seen him in over seven years! He's been serving in the military all over the world in the last few months. He's shipping out again to the Middle East soon so he thought he would come see us before he does.

Second: We have a court date of March 18 for our two new girls! Once court is successful we can post pictures of the beauties. And most importantly we would travel three-six weeks after court to pick them up.

Third: I've been working on college paperwork for Jesse. We found out about a scholarship opportunity at the college that he'll attend, but the paperwork is due tomorrow. I just found out about the scholarship yesterday. Talk about hitting the panic button! It's possible to have anywhere from $1000 taken off to having a full scholarship. So I at least want to try and get it in.

Losing a first tooth

Joel lost his first tooth the other day. I like to get a picture before it actually falls out. His other tooth had already grown in behind it making for two extra teeth in his mouth. (he has an extra incisor that has always been there as long as he has had teeth)

Meeting Grandpa & Grandma

Saturday Anna & Adah met their Kentucky grandpa & grandma. For some reason we didn't get pictures of Anna meeting them on our camera so I'll have to see if they took some on theirs

Grandpa talking to Adah. She just woke up and he didn't want to scare her.

Disneyland Again!

There aren't many week days when nothing is scheduled. Yesterday happened to be one of those days so the four boys (Joe-Joel) and I headed to Disneyland for fun in the sun! Sarah offered to watch the little girls for me since she just went to Disneyland on Valentine's Day. We started at California Adventure on the Tower of Terror and California Screamin'. I absolutely LOVE rollercoasters! After a few more rides and eating lunch we left the park and went over to Disneyland. Of course there were too many people and found we needed to go to areas that weren't so congested. We HATE waiting more than thirty minutes for a ride so we usually walk around until we find a ride worth waiting for.

The park closed at 8pm and we finished our last ride on Splash Mountain exactly at 8. We had a full day of fun, hugs, bonding, and my boys realizing what a nut I am, especially when I scream on the rides, just for them. :0)

Chalupa Grande

1 pound dry pinto beans
1 pork roast (3 pounds), fat trimmed
7 cups water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
Fritos
Shredded cheddar cheese
Diced avocado
Diced tomatoes
Chopped green onions
Salsa

Place first 10 ingredients in a large kettle. (Beans do not need to be soaked, but you should rinse them and make sure there aren't any rocks/dirt.) Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 3 hours or until beans and roast are tender. Remove roast; cool slightly. Remove meat from bones; shred with fork. Return meat to kettle. Cook, uncovered, until thick, about 30 minutes. Serve over corn chips. Pass remaining ingredients as toppings. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Marcia noted that she uses beef instead of pork. That would probably be just as yummy! Also as we were eating today we thought that we could use the meat/bean mixture over rice or even lettuce.

Recipe found in The Best of Country Cooking, Second Edition by Taste of Home Books.

Spaghetti Sauce

I make my spaghetti sauce from scratch. It's very easy and is much yummier than canned. Canned is good for quick lunches, but letting it simmer all day is just a feast waiting to happen and your mouth will love you! I make a double or triple batch of the recipe below. This recipie is from Betty Crocker's Cookbook.
I served it today and it was a hit-again!

Italian Spaghetti

1 pound hamburger (Costco sells organic hamburger!)
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 clove garlic, crushed (I use the garlic chopped in a jar)
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon oregano
3/4 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1 bay leaf
1-8 oz can tomato sauce
1-6 oz can tomato paste

Another ingredient I'll add like I did today is Italian sausage. I take the links and cut each into four pieces or so and fry them up in olive oil. When they're done I place them on paper towels to soak up the fat and then add them to the sauce.

Also, use good spaghetti. Don't use store brand. I use the kind from Costco and it's from Italy.

Top it off with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Menu Plans

Sat down with some cookbooks yesterday and came up with:

Spaghetti
Buttermilk Baked Chicken
Pot Roast
Chalupa Grande (Mexican type pork roast/pinto beans/fritos/avocados)
Hungarian Chicken
Red Beans & Rice
Potato Soup

Yesterday we had Chili.
Two days ago we had Chicken Noodle Soup. (I used my Turkey Noodle Soup recipe and used two chicken carcasses for the broth instead of one turkey carcass.)

My most used cookbook is Betty Crocker's orange cover from way back when. I used my first one up and had to buy another on Ebay. I bought one for Jacob when he moved out. It has basic but tasty recipes. It has never let me down. :)

Girls Night Out!

Last night we had a girls night out. Sarah and I, her friend Hanna and her mom, her friend Taylor and her mom. :) We went to Black Angus and ate our little hearts out. We didn't have as much time as we would have liked due to school schedules and we had to go to a play. Their friend was in Annie and played Grace, Daddy Warbuck's secretary. It was put on by Christian Youth Theater and was very well done. We had a great time and I look forward to going out more with my daughter on a Girls Night Out!

Schooling

I've been catching up on grades and lesson planning. I have found that I wasn't at all diligent in keeping up with what was expected of the children and whether they did it or not. Now I am getting on top of the game and some of my kids are doing multiple lessons a day in certain subjects.

I have felt overwhelmed lately with the amount of work needing to be done by me; one person. Even though my family helps tremendously there are still things that only mom can do or decisions that mom can make. Did you know in Ethiopia the lady of the house had a maid for the cleaning and a cook? I think I need a cook, laundress, housecleaner, teacher, nanny, chauffer.......................As long as we stay home and don't waste our time we can get usually get everything done.

How does one go from answering Algebra questions to phonics to changing diapers all in the span of fifteen minutes? By being flexible, with God's help, and a little insanity helps.

Our second medical evaluations are in!

We received our new medical exam information on our new girls yesterday. I had fun picking up some clothes for them. Our older girl is about the same size as Joel and our younger girl is about a size 6. They're both healthy and ready for their court date to get scheduled.

Fun Birthday!

I took James for a little one-on-one shopping time today. We hit Target and Tilly's. Then we met dad for lunch for some chicken alfredo. Yum!! Steve and James then went off by themselves for shoes and an airsoft gun. After cake & ice cream they went out to the yard and tried out his new gun.


He's such a great boy. He was a lot of hard work when he was young, but well worth it! He's the one who makes my hot tea almost daily. He watches out for his mom. I think I'm going to make him live with me forever. :0)

I bought the girls these $1 hats from Target. They love hats and when I saw them I knew they would LOVE them. They remind me of church ladies.

Sunday Church & Celebrating James

Today I worked in the nursery during Sunday School and then in the early childhood dept with Steve during the church hour. We had Anna & Adah with us so they colored, play-doh'ed, played outside, and had muffins and oranges with the rest of us. :0)

We took James to In & Out for his 11th birthday. Then we went to see National Treasure and Cold Stone. Tomorrow he has a special day with mom & dad at Olive Garden and shopping. Gotta love that boy. He's my lovie.

Met some other adoptive families yesterday.

We had the greatest time! There were four-five families represented and all had little ones and one family had a girl the same age as our oldest one that we're adopting. It was so encouraging to be able to visualize her in this girl. I asked for advice and received it, picking their brains on little things. I came away very encouraged and a little bit more knowledgeble.

It's a Wonderful Life!

Things are going splendidly around here recently. I got a full night's sleep last night. My husband took me out for dinner two days in a row. I've been working on lesson plans and grades. I feel as though I've been drowning lately in the schooling department. I bought more yarn to finish my lapis blue scarf. It snowed yesterday at my house!!! Yes, here in San Diego County!!! Of course, it melted as soon as it hit the ground, but who cares?!!! It was beautiful. I don't know how all you people who live in cold weather do it. Our weather was in the low forty's and I thought I was dying of hypothermia.

I signed us up for Ethiopian Heritage Camp. We'll go this summer for a few days. :) Tomorrow we're going to another adoptive family's house for a get together with other families with Ethiopian children. Can't wait!!!!

Thinking about using Bob Jones University books exclusively next year for school; maybe using their satellite system. It's been a long time since I've used BJU and I like what I see this time around. It seemed they used to be so dry and uninviting.

Well gotta go..........Have a great night!

Family Accused of Having Too Many Kids-Give Me A BREAK!!!

http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/tx/200802120.asp

No Sacrifice

I've been planning Joe's history lessons for the rest of the year and came across this quote in my BJU's World History teacher's book.

David Livingstone said of his service for the Lord. "I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us."

Received new pictures of our girls in Ethiopia

Our agency sent us updated pictures today of our two new girls. They're both beautiful! Older sister looks a little apprehensive, but I know they're not used to cameras flashing in their faces and it was the first or second day at their place so it should only be expected. Younger sister has a radiant smile! We're now waiting for a court date! One of the boys showed Anna & Adah the pictures and they kissed them. Aaahhhh!!!

Our girls were moved to the care center!

Our girls were moved from the orphanage to our agency's care center today! They'll receive their second medical evaluations and testing and then a court date will be set. I predict that our embassy date is two months from now.

Went to the dr. Got a novacaine/cotosone shot (I don't know how to spell either of those), pain meds, and an x-ray. We'll see what we come up with.

The weaning is going FANTABULOUS by the way!

Bursitis/Rotater Cuff Tendinitis

I can hardly lift my left arm. I went to Kaiser yesterday and came away with anti-inflammatory pills, two exercises to do, and a physical therapy referral. The pills aren't working, I can't get my arm away from my body to do the exercises, and the physical therapy is weeks away.

My arm has bothered me for years, but not to this extent. It hurts so bad. Poor Steve doesn't know what to do with me because the pain brings me to tears and he can't do anything. I slept sitting up last night as my arm hurts too much when I'm lying down.

I'm not used to being incapacitated. I feel like I have a claw for an arm since I can use my arm from my elbow to my fingers as long as my upper arm is right next to my body. Lifting is out of the question. Pray for healing please!

Weaning from the bottle!

Yesterday I was dog tired. I've been dog-tired quite a bit lately. Part of it comes with my age, I'm forty-seven and I believe in pre-menopause (I think I had my first hot flash last night-Sigh). I often have insomnia once I'm awakened. Steve has been very gracious in getting up with the girls at night to give them their bottles. Even when he is getting up out of bed, I'm still waking up. I decided yesterday that I've had enough!

The bottles are OUT for nighttime sleeping. I know they should never have had them in the first place, but for them it was a comforting thing in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar time for them. They've been home for five months now and their teeth are popping in like crazy. Adah has six going at one time. I cannot face the dentist and tell him that they have major cavities because we let them have their bottles at bed, and I need my sleep. So the bottles are out.

Our first try was naptime yesterday. Anna had just about stripped herself, she has discovered she can take her own clothes off) and was yelling because she was stuck. I went in and took her outfit off, laid her down, gave her a babydoll and placed her blankets over her. "Go to sleep!" I think I went in twice to quiet the girls down, but they finally caught on that mama wasn't budging!

Naptime didn't last long. Our second nap went better. Before bed last night we sat down with them and gave them their bottles and put them to bed. They protested and I think it took two times on my part and once on Steve's, but they finally relented and fell asleep.

I heard them about 1am and got up with them. I figured since they were in bed at 7pm they were probably hungry so I filled bottles, changed diapers, sat down and rocked, and watched tv. When I found they were losing interest in their bottles I took them back up to bed and put them down. We walked to the fridge before we went to their room so they could see their bottles were staying in the refrigerator.

I put their babydolls snuggled in with each of them, their blankies on top, and they didn't (GASP) wake up until 7am!!! I was estatic!!!!

Their nap today was pleasant and uneventful! I had watched Toddler Trouble! and read a little of Jo Frost's Supernanny book to come up with ideas. The babydoll idea is the top tip I came away with.

I nursed my other eight children so bottles have never really been an issue except for one of them. Jake did take one because he weaned at ten months. He ended up having problems with his front teeth though.

So I think we're on to something! Next step is to get rid of the bottle all together.........then potty training this year! WooHoo! Let the fun begin!

Fundamentalist

I found this survey on The Family's blog. I do consider myself a Fundamentalist. So there you go!

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Fundamentalist You are a fundamentalist. You take the Bible as the foundation of your faith and read it very literally, and it shapes your worldview. Non-fundamentalist Christians have watered-down the Gospel in your view, and academic study of the Bible stops us from 'taking God at his word.' Science is opposed to faith, as it contradicts basic biblical truths. Fundamentalist 93% Reformed Evangelical 89% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 50% Emergent/Postmodern 50% Classical Liberal 36% Roman Catholic 29% Charismatic/Pentecostal 18% Modern Liberal 0%

Panic Button

Our oldest son is a Highway Patrol Officer for CA. He was on duty, took a break, and watched part of the Super Bowl at our friend's house. I guess Anna & Adah pushed one of the button's on his walkie-talkie. It was the Panic Button!!!! Fire Trucks and officers showed up at our friends with sirens blaring. No one in the house knew what was going on, they heard the sirens, but didn't know all the commotion was in their front yard! Jared had to explain to his buddies that he didn't know how to turn the button off so they walked him through it. What a riot!!!

Getaway!

Steve & I were able to get away for a few days to the Palm Springs area. We had a wonderful time! We ate, went to a movie, shopped at the bookstore, and enjoyed each other's company. This was our time away before our new daughters come home, and also an early Valentine's. He's so sweet he bought me a portable DVD player, a pound of Butterscotch Squares from See's (Dawn I'll think of you when I'm enjoying them), and Angel perfume. He also sent me a dozen roses when I was at the conference Friday night. What a guy!

Sally Clarkson, Food and Fellowship!

I left Friday for a WholeHearted Mother's Conference. What a treat! We (Sharon & I) stayed at a nice hotel with clean sheets and a clean room. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for a late lunch/early dinner and then went back again for dessert! We both had Bananas Foster and agreed that if it would have been socially acceptable we would have licked our plates clean. :0)

Sally was wonderful as always. She is an encourager. I saw ladies that I sat with last year and we got updates on each other. God sat me next to another adoptive mom who brought her baby boy home in August from Kryzaghstan (I know that isn't spelled correctly!)

Our I-171 H arrived while I was gone. That is great news! We need that document so they can move our girls out of the orphanage and into the care center/foster home.

Two Right Feet, Two Left Feet

So the other day I mentioned how I could only find the left shoes for two pair of shoes. I have two pairs of the same shoe and theoretically I was keeping one in the car and one in the house. I kept one in the car incase I needed a pair of walking shoes, but I guess my theory didn't work.

Last night at Awana Sarah tells me how when she got up to the snow she had two right shoes. Now I understand where my right shoes were! Sarah went into my closet, took out two shoes thinking they were a matching pair, I mean who has two pairs of the same shoes?

She thinks maybe she should try them on and decides not to because she knows that we wear the same size. She gets up to the snow and figures out she has two right shoes. She is thinking, "Why does my mom have two right shoes?" Now these shoes are not new nor do they look new. She thought that I had been wearing two right shoes around, I guess.

She ended up wearing both right feet so she could play in the snow. Steve goes into a hysterical laugh just thinking about how dorky the women in his family are.

Girls First Hair Treatment

I used Some of Marguerite's Magic on the girls today. They were so funny. They loved their little shower caps. They looked at each other and laughed.

My Shopping Day!

Today Sarah received part of her Penney's order. We bought her some new skirts, dresses and tops. When the UPS man delivered her box Anna & Adah's box from Carol's Daughter arrived too! The Carol's Daughter products are free of parabens and all natural. Our goodies contained: Hair Milk, Rosemary Mint Herbal Shampoo with Sea Moss, Baby Wash, Black Vanilla Leave-In Conditioner, Loc Butter, and Some of Margeurite's Magic. To find out about Carol's Daughters porducts yourself go to http://www.carolsdaughter.com/ Can't wait to try it!

We dropped off our piano players for their weekly lesson and headed over to Michael's craft store where I headed to the yarn section. I bought the white to make a scarf for Anna & Adah. The pink is for Sarah to make a scarf for Lilly. The darker blue is for me to make myself a scarf, as well as the black. The light blue? I just loved the color so much I bought it! I'm halfway finished with a fun-fur white scarf for me! I'll post a picture when I finish it.



Then we hit Ross to see if we could find some church shirts for Joe who has been looking quite skraggly at church lately. I found some African art that I just fell in love with and had to have. There was a whole end cap of African characters, but I picked three wishing I could of bought ALL of them. I'm going to put them in the girls bedroom when we get the rooms all switched around.




I also resigned as the California blogger for the Old Schoolhouse Magazine today. I had been thinking about sending in my resignation when the head coordinator emailed me and said someone was asking if I needed help. I took the opportunity to turn the blog over and now have someone who will take the baton and go the next step with it. To check out that blog go to: www.homeschoolblogger.com/california I took down my picture and any info about me today. Ahhh........one less thing!

By the way..........my ebay auctions have brought in over $450 so far! Too bad I can spend it way faster than I can make it!

California History Walk-Through

Today our ISP held a walk-through California for the California history students which range from grades fourth-to-sixth. Each of the children had a term that they were to define and a question that they needed to find the answer to and answer in a complete question. James' term was "erosion." Erosion- Erosion is the wearing away and changing of land by the movement of water and wind. His question was: What is the name of a canyon in California that was created by erosion? His answer: Yosemite Valley is a canyon in California that was created by erosion. Then each of the students took a piece of California and made it into a map of California. Good job, James!!!

Black Barbie Dolls

Yesterday I typed in Black Barbie Dolls in the ebay search engine. I came up with some gems! I found a Kenya Barbie doll and a Jamaican Barbie doll! Then to dress them modestly I've found some handmade Barbie doll clothes that are just exquisite!

We Have a Lakeside U12 All-Star Champ In The House!

Joe's team won the Area V Boys U12 All-Star Tournament yesterday!! They played La Mesa whose team has been the only team to score on us throughout the tourney. It was a tight game and very exciting, but we won in overtime. Whew! Of course being the bad mom that I am I did not have my camera with me. Oh well......

Before the game we dropped Joel off at Awana Games practice and we went walking around the high school track for a half-hour. I was able to get in six laps which is a mile and a half. Give me Ipod: will walk! Steve had a good laugh at my expense. At one time I bought two pair of the same walking shoes. Well yesterday....(eyes rolling) I could only find the left shoes to each pair!! Do you think I could find a whole pair. Oh no! That would have been too easy! So I put on my old not walking shoes instead and listened to my husband's chuckle. :0)

We celebrated Joe's win by going to eat Italian. I think I found the perfect dish for the girls there. Meat ravioli with sauce on the side. They loved it and had the rest for lunch today. :-)

Tomorrow James and I go to our Home school's California History Walk-Through. Should be fun.

Sarah returns today from Jr. High Winter Camp. She was a counselor for the one girl that went. It was snowing up there so she got to play in the snow! Hopefully she'll arrive home in one piece this afternoon.

That's about it here. Chili's on the stove, James is making chocolate chip cookies, girls are sleeping, Jesse's working, boys are watching cartoons, corn bread to be made later.

Ciao~

Ebay selling

I have been busy this week selling stuff on ebay. We need to switch bedrooms around and need to take two bookshelves out of a bedroom so we can bring two beds into it. This means I need to get rid of lots and lots of books and magazines. Unfortunately I have dial-up internet service so it takes me a l-o-n-g time to work on my computer.

I think we're on the mend as far as sickness. No one has complained of any new ailments.

Our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia!!!! WooHoo!!!! It's possible our girlies will be here within a few months!!!!

Steve has been calling the Ethiopian churches to find out info. Not getting call backs though. I know the one church starts at 7am on Sundays. Yes, 7am. You read that right. That means we would need to leave here about 6:15, which means we would have to get up about 5:15. Yikes.............

I finished my scarf!

I felt like paparazzi and kept snapping.
Like Sarah's Ashley Simpson haircut? It's cute!

I finished the pink scarf I was knitting for Sarah. It's cotton candy in color. It was just a knit stitch because I can do that at the drs., watching tv, listening to the boys read, etc.... I had nineteen stitches across with a size 11 needle using one skein of yarn.

Dinner is almost done. Roast beef, mashed potatoes and canned veggies. I have found if you rub chopped garlic, salt and pepper all over the roast then put six pieces of bacon on top and roast for about two hours on 350*, it makes quite a tasty roast. I made it last week and everyone raved about it. They raved about the Mexican Lasagna too! I like it when I cook and they like it. :0)

Took James to the dr. this morning. He has a rash on his hands. The dr. thinks it's from his mono. It's only on his palms and it's itchy. I think I might as well just keep a pillow and a sleeping bag at the drs.

Talked to my case worker through email today. It's possible our new girls could get their second medicals before they're moved from the orphanage to the foster home. Meaning this would speed up the process considerably. I told our case worker that we should have our I-171H in two weeks. This means that they can schedule a court date for us! We might have these girls sooner than later!!!

Mexican Lasagna

I haven't made this in a long while, but we had ground beef and it just sounded better than soup. This is from The Best of Country Cooking by Reiman Publications-1993.

I double this!

1-1/2 lbs. ground beef
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper (cayenne)
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 16 oz. can chopped tomatoes
10-12 corn tortillas
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (with peppers-optional)
1 egg
2 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
3 green onions
1/4 cup sliced black olives

Brown ground beef; drain thoroughly. Add cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper/cayenne, salt, black pepper and tomatoes; heat through. Cover bottom and sides of a 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish with tortillas. Pour beef mixture over tortillas; place a layer of tortillas over meat mixture and set aside. Combine cottage cheese, Monterey Jack cheese and egg; pour over tortillas. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, green onions and olives over casserole. Yield 6-8 servings.

Now the way they have it photographed in the cookbook there is a diagonal row of green onions, olives, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese in the middle, lettuce, tomatoes, olives and onions. The onions are in opposite corners and each row gets longer until the single cheese row in the middle. Of course, you can just sprinkle all of it all over the top and then everyone would get some of every topping.

Monday Morning

Today is a school day. Yes, it's a holiday, but with our sicknesses lately we are doing schoolwork to catch up.

Monday's are kind of a slow day for my kids because they seem to recuperate from the weekend. Joel is totally out of the academics to the point it's not even worth hitting the books because of the frustration it causes us. On those days we do minimum work and put it away. He'll do better tomorrow and probably complete twice as much.

I'm knitting Sarah's pink scarf so I can finish it. I bought yarn to start the knitted nativity set that Mama Bear posted about on her knitting blog. Reading and knitting, this my friends is the life.

Sick kids & more fun stuff

I've been busy this week with sick kids. Actually I've been busy for the last month with sick kids. I took Anna & Adah in to the dr. on Wednesday because they both had green runny noses and I thought they might have ear infections. Anna had a double ear infection, and Adah was grunting when she was breathing. Both girls were screaming & crying LOUDLY when the dr. came near them. What fun! Adah had her oxygen saturation level tested and got down to 86 so she got a breathing treatment right there in the office! We came home with antibiotics for Anna, Prednisone and an inhaler/nebulizer for Adah.

Joel has been sick off and on. Friday he was on with a fever. Today he was better. John is now sick with a fever, this of course came on while we had a living room full of people for the Charger/New England game.

Anna now loves to say, "Mom!" "Mom!" "Mom!" I say "What!?" and she smiles. Then she does it again. I think she is just pleased as punch with herself that she can say a word in English and I understand her.

Last night both girls slept all night. We haven't had a night like that in months! I half-thought something was seriously wrong, but didn't want to check incase they were really okay, and didn't want to wake them. You know what I'm talking about if you've ever had kids or watched kids and you've savored your quiet time.

Joe's All-Star U12 team won today. That makes them the East County Champs! Joe had an 8am game today and got a hat trick. That's three goals in one game for you non-soccer people. Joe's team is undefeated and no goals scored against them. We now go on to another tournament in a different part of the area. Go Lakeside!!!

Fruitful Day

Today we were able to get more immigration/Homeland Security paperwork done. I went to the USCIS office in downtown San Diego and handed in our notarized homestudy and other paperwork needed for our I-171H and our fingerprinting appointment. While I was sitting there the worker asked me if I could go today. I looked at her with a blank stare. I totally thought she was asking if I wanted to go to Ethiopia today. When I came to my senses I realized she was asking if I wanted to get my fingerprints done today. I did!

I went out to my van which was parked a few blocks away and called Steve. He reminded me that we need Jesse to have his fingerprints done also. I head back to the building and talk to the worker again and she gave me a different paper that had all three of our names on it.

Since the girls were sleeping and Sarah was okay with me going I headed to Chula Vista to another USCIS office. The wait wasn't too bad. Last time we went it took hours. It was only about fifteen minutes this time. Steve met me there and then we ate lunch together at Weinerschnitzel.

Now we just have need Jesse to have his prints taken and we can get our needed document two weeks later. That will be the last thing we need to do paper wise.

I went home and picked the kids up for their piano lessons. After dropping off the piano kids; five of us headed back to look for Ethiopian churches. I found two of them. One meets in another church and one has its own building. One is evangelical and one is orthodox. I'm not sure how we should dress when we go so I need to email or call and ask. I think in the orthodox church I would have to wear a head scarf like they do in Ethiopia. At least I have not one! but two! Our adoption agency set me one and I received one when I went to adoption training last April. www.kingdomkidsadoption.org

Tonight we had chicken stir-fry. I cut up six pounds of chicken breasts and stir-fried it in some olive oil. It's so easy to cut when it's a little frozen. Made twelve cups of rice and fried up some frozen stir-fry veggies. Added Yoshida sauce to the chicken and it was so yummy!!!!

Tomorrow Joel has a tooth pulled. The girls are going to the doctor. Steve is taking them for me since their appt. is at the same time as Joel's. I'm not sure they don't have ear infections, and Adah is coughing so bad she is throwing up at times, so I want them to get checked. Leaving the window open helped with the croup, but the cold air made their colds a little nastier, I'm afraid.
I also get my hair done and we have Awana. Busy day!

Looking for the Ethiopian Church

I was hunting this morning. I drove around with Joe and the girls looking for an Ethiopian church. I didn't get a chance to grab the address so I was driving around "hoping" to find it. I didn't. I did find the Red Sea Ethiopian restaurant. I did find a Somalian and African restaurant, but not the church.

After we got home today I grabbed the white pages and looked up the address. I was so close. I was on the same street, but close doesn't cut it. Now I need to go back with the addresses (there are two different churches) so I can find out when their services are.

I want to connect the girls with other Ethiopians, and figured this is about the only way I know how at this point. We live in a "white" area and the girls need people that look like them, and not just look like them, but are from the same culture.

Guacamole

2 avocados (smashed with a fork)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
few dashes of hot sauce

Combine all the ingredients and serve with tortilla chips or put on your tacos. Enjoy!

Just so you know I used twelve avocados for about ten people and it went VERY fast.

Jesse's 18th birthday

Today is Jesse's 18th birthday! He invited lots of friends to Pat & Oscar's for lunch, and then some of them came home with us to watch the taped Charger game.

He shopped for his own party, Sarah bought the cake, and I only had to make guacamole. Not too shabby!

Do you know that after our first two boys we weren't going to have any more children? Can you imagine Jesse not being here? He was my first VBAC and a lot of hard work, but he was worth it. He's my brainiac. He's so smart, we don't know where he got his genes from. :0)

Onion Swiss Steak

2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 pound beef boneless bottom or top round, tip or chuck steak 1/2" thick
1 tablespoon shortening
1-10 3/4 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
envelope of onion soup mix or 1/4 cup minced onion, 2 tablespoons instand beef bouillon & 1/2 teaspoon onion

Mix flour and pepper. Sprinkle one side of beef steak with half of the flour mixture; pound in. Turn beef and pound in remaining four mixture. Cut beef into four or five serving pieces.

Heat shortening in ten inch skillet until melted. Cook beef over medium heat until brown, about fifteen minutes.

Mix the soup, water and bouillon/onion mix together and pour on beef. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until beef is tender, about forty-five minutes.

Makes 4-5 servings.

I always double/triple this recipe, and I quadruple the amount of soup mix so that I can have extra gravy for my mashed potatoes.

All-Star Tournament

Today Joe & John had the first leg of their All-Star tournament. We started bright & early at 9am. Steve took John because John had to be there an hour early and I was to join him later. Steve drops off John, left to get a newspaper, and John's team mom calls and wants to know if I'm coming soon because John apparently grabbed soccer shorts, but not "the" soccer shorts. So I quickly get the girls dressed, rushed out the door, and didn't get done most of what I needed to before I left for the whole day. Now I'm too tired to do anything.

Joe's game ended up starting almost an hour later than it was supposed to due to referee game conficts which put our day ending an hour later. Making me a tired mommy because sitting on the sidelines with two little girls under two who think they should be out of their stroller and exploring the world were with me. They don't sleep well unless they're at home in their cribs. Anna will sleep better than Adah, but orphange life has definitely taken its toll on them. Finally Steve has to take over and force them to rest.

We went to lunch at a local Italian restaurant since there really wasn't enough time to go home between games. It was a wonderful way to recoup and go back to watch the next game. Joe's team is so talented that they just smear the other teams. He even sat out for a while (he's the biggest & fastest boy on his team) and they still won like 6-0.

Adah had one of the dad's in stitches. Steve's phone rang and he answered it. When he did, Adah took her hand and held it to her ear and babbled like she was saying "hello." He was having such a good time with her. She is quite animated and so adorable that everyone thinks she's an absolute doll baby. (If you doubt what I say just look at the pictures below in her red dress and I think you'll agree. :0) )

Now I'm home and have devoured See's candies and hot tea. I'm going to bed soon while Steve watches football. I was up late last night with Adah. For some weird reason she started crouping, just out of the blue. I have learned that when children croup, you turn off the heat and open the windows and doors to get the cold air in. For me that has always worked and it worked last night. I finally put her to bed about midnight. I was willing to sleep on the couch with her, but she needs her crib and was way over stimulated with me. So off she went and off I went into dreamland.

Breakfast in Bed!

This morning I was awakened by two precious boys bringing me breakfast in bed. They made salty scrambled eggs, buttered toast, and hot tea. Both boys thought if they buttered me up they wouldn't have to do school today. Good try boys! :0) By the way, these boys are seven and eight. My men know their way around the kitchen. :0)

Jake's 23rd birthday

Yesterday we met Jake at Mimi's to celebrate his 23rd birthday. We had a great breakfast with a great guy! It's hard to believe I'm so old that my second son is twenty-three. Boy has the time flown by!

Readoption Day

Yesterday was our Readoption Day here in the USA. We didn't see them before their court date in Ethiopia so we had to readopt them so they could become U.S. citizens. The whole process was about five minutes, pretty painless! The younger boys were secretly hoping Judge Judy was behind the bench. We had a very nice judge, a really pleasant guy. We then went to P.F. Chang's to celebrate!

In the waiting area-Adah, Steve & John James
Joel, Sarah & Joe
Our family without our two oldest boys
Blessed Family
Anna & her "look"
Sweet Adah (she finally has enough hair to put in a little ponytail)
Peek-a-boo!
Tuckered out!

In & Out 10 x 10

A favorite lunch of the teens at church seems to be In & Out. Another favorite among the boys are food-eating contests. If they're in Mexico they compete to see who can eat the most street tacos. One Sunday a few weeks all the teens headed to In & Out. Jesse wanted to eat a 10 x 10. He had to order five double doubles and put them together or something like that.

Carne Asada Tacos

Skirt steak or Flank steak
Corn tortillas (the smaller the better, Street tacos in Tijuana are very small.)
cilantro
tomato
avocado
onion
sour cream
cheese
hot sauce

BBQ the steak and cut into small pieces. I don't season mine or do anything to it other than take it out of the package and cook it.

While the meat is cooking cut up your onion, cilantro, tomato, avocado and set out your other condiments in bowls.

Heat up your corn tortillas. Don't fry them, just heat them up. I heat mine in my cast iron skillet.

Set everything out on the counter and you're ready to go!

Meltdown

Last night I had a meltdown. Every now & then I feel so overwhelmed with schooling that I can't take it anymore, it seems to happen when I have babies in the house. I tell Steve I'm sending the kids to school, blah, blah, blah. He listens patiently. This time I broke down into tears. He tried to comfort me; it worked.

I believe Satan was telling me, "Who says YOU have to be responsible for their schooling? Don't you do everything else? Do you REALLY have to teach them too? You've done this for nineteen years, isn't that long enough?"

I realized where this was coming from and calmed down. My husband as well as I want the children educated at home. I am his help meet and as such need to follow through on what he desires. I may not be the best teacher. I may not teach everything. I certainly don't know everything. In fact, my older kids know more than I do.

I do know that God has equipped me to do what is necessary for the moment. I know that He wants me to rely on Him and not on myself. Only in realizing I can't do this can I allow Him to do it for me.

Power Outage

We woke up in the wee hours of the morning to find that our power was out. We didn't find out until much later that our neighbor's tree had fallen onto the power line that connects our homes and both of our homes were without electricity.

Steve stayed home from work for me because I don't deal well with no power. We are on a well and the well is run by electricity. We can't pump water to the house, so we can't flush toilets or take showers. The only water accessible to the house is what was already "in the system."

The power co. didn't know our power was out until the neighbor called and they came out right away. We went ahead with our plan to go to the movies. We used a Christmas gift card given to us by Uncle Scott and saw Alvin & the Chipmunks. Cute movie! It was Anna & Adah's first trip to see a show and they did very well for being under two. Steve finally had to take each of them and put them to sleep. They don't seem to sleep for me, but he has the touch.

We then went to Bollweevil for lunch where I had a fantastic Steerburger. I love those things. Now we're just takin' it easy and veggin' out, except for Joe; he has a two hour soccer practice.

Sunday

I stayed home from church today with Joel & the girls because Joel has a cold. He stayed in his room and played video games since he doesn't usually have the player to himself. While the girls napped I watched a taped Kids By the Dozen on the Sentmann Family. (seventeen children-oldest is 30) and opened the new box of See's candies. :0)

We had 10 Bean Soup for lunch. My friend Debbie had given me two bags of beans with an attached recipe. I used the second of our Christmas ham bones and had quite the tasty lunch. Jesse, Sarah & Aaron reluctantly gave up going to In & Out to come home and eat bean soup. Aaron not a fan of bean soup thought it was pretty tasty as far as bean soup goes. I added some dashes of hot sauce to mine to make it yummier.

I need to go over our schoolwork since we've been off for three weeks. We'll start cracking the books tomorrow. Oh joy.................I've been home schooling since 1988, let's see that's nineteen years, will be twenty in June. I kind of like just being 'mom' and not schoolteacher, but we'll readjust tomorrow and make do.

Yesterday I put the girls' Lifebooks in order. It was quite the process. I've been accumulating paper, paper, and more paper. Hopefully this has tamed some of that.

Pictures of Joe on Air Soft Night

In full gear Wounded-the visor to his mask broke off

They've decided to play once a month. I'm stayin' inside!

Visiting with Family!

Yesterday my sister-in-law, two nieces, three great-nieces and my new great-nephew came over to visit! It was the first time I met Dylan. He's a little cutie-pie, three months old and only three pounds lighter than Adah.

Vikki & Dylan
Dylan & Adah. Finally someone smaller than her!
Brooke, Kailey, Joni, Dylan & Lexi

Beautiful Knit Nativity Set

Check out this beautiful knitted nativity set by an online acquaintance. http://www.beartoes.com/


I ordered both Christmas knitting books by the author. Since the girls have been home I have kept my knitting to one stitch which is a knit stitch because it's easy & I tend to forget where I'm at since I constantly have to put my projects down. I made one scarf for my sister-in-law for her birthday and now I'm working on a cotton candy pink scarf for Sarah.

I would love to be able to make heirloom Christmas items. Steve's grandmother made us a snow couple a long, long time ago and I treasure those each year when they come out of the box.

Red Beans & Rice

2 lbs dried red beans, rinsed and sorted over

Place the beans in a large pot, and cover with water by 2 inches or 12-16 cups of water. Boil 3 minutes, cover and soak 1-4 hours, adding water as needed to keep beans covered.

Drain off soak water and rinse and set aside.

Heat 6 Tablespoons of bacon grease, oil, or shortening over medium-high heat in frying pan.

To hot grease add:

3 cups chopped yellow onions
1-1/2 cups chopped celery

Saute a bit

To onions & celery add:

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 sprinkles of cayenne pepper
6 bay leaves
4 tablespoons parsley
4 teaspoons thyme
6 tablespoons chopped garlic

After a few minutes of sauteeing the seasonings & onion/celery mixture put the beans back into a big, big pot and all of the above ingredients. To this you will add 20 cups of chicken stock or water (for quick chicken stock, just add 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon for each cup of water)

Add a nice big ham bone or several ham hocks to the beans, seasonings, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about two hours. If the beans become thick and dry, add more water, about 1/4 cup at a time.

When the beans are tender and the ham is falling off the bone, take the bone out and go through your beans (I use a strainer with a pot underneath to make sure to catch my liquid) to make sure there aren't any small bones are pieces of fat in your meal. When you're satisfied you can add everything back into the pot and continue heating.

Serve with white rice. I made 12 cups of rice and have used it all even making rice as needed. This lasted us for dinner and several lunches. All my children enjoy it!

Busy Times

Life has been going by at a furious pace. I can hardly hold on sometimes!

This past weekend John & Joe had a soccer tournament. Each game was about twenty minutes in length, but we had four-to-five games each day. Joe's team ended up winning the tournament for their division. This next weekend we have the start of the All-Star games. I know if it rains I will stay home!

Joel is sick and hopefully doesn't turn into the mono that James has. He snuggled into bed with us last night, but I ended up sleeping on the couch because I can't stand to be in the middle; it makes me claustrophobic.

I've started making lifebooks for the girls. I'm using pretty binders with report covers. A place for them to have all their paperwork together. It will actually help me in the long run. You can imagine all the paper I deal with for four adoptions. I'll work on the pretty & decorative aspects of them later. Right now it's all about getting the paperwork in its proper place.

Adah is now walking along the furniture and behind something she can push. She started standing by herself for about fifteen seconds yesterday! Hard to believe her legs have come such a long way in just four months!

I have two New Year Resolutions. One is to cook dinner at least five nights a week if not six. Steve and I usually go out at least one night a week. I've done good so far! Red Beans & Rice with cast-iron skillet cornbread on New Years and Potato Soup with homemade yeast rolls yesterday. Today we'll have Carne Asada Tacos. Yum! The other is to read my Bible every day. Good intentions don't always bring forth fruit so now I have to tell myself that I need to read my Bible each day, every day.

I have been taping Adoption Stories, Multiple Birth Stories, Quints, John & Kate Plus 8, etc... There was a couple from Australia on the Multiple Birth Story show that I watched. You think you're busy? They have eight children 3 1/2 and younger! Their oldest is 3 1/2, the quads are thirteen months, then they had quads again, but one was still born, so she had three babies from that pregnancy. They want more children as soon as they can get them! Wow! They even hang their laundry each day. I think of them and have little reason to be tired! :0)

Charles Spurgeon quote

"God save us all from wives who are angels in the streets, saints in the church, and devils at home."