Spinal Tap

Arianne called late yesterday afternoon to tell us that Jake was undergoing a spinal tap. He started feeling numbness in his hands this week and mentioned it to the neurologist at his visit. He called him in yesterday to undergo a spinal tap to look for cloudy fluid. I'm not sure what that means, but I guess it will help tell them if he has multiple sclerosis or not. He is out of the hospital now, but has to lie on his back for twenty-fours hours. Pray for him please!

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland Monday and came home last night. We took our toy hauler and parked it at a local campground for both nights. It was a tight squeeze with eleven people one night and ten the next, but it served its purpose.

We started out Monday night by going to Knott's Berry Farm for dinner at Mrs. Knott's Restaurant. Pretty yummy! Of course we couldn't just stand in line and go unnoticed. Adah dropped her bottle and when it hit the tile the lid came off, causing formula to go all over the floor and onto the men's shirts in front of us. I apologized profusely and they were very kind about it.

We went to Disneyland and it was an instant madhouse. We walked in right when the parade was starting and we got caught in the whole cattle shuffle with a double stroller and eleven of us to manuever through the hoards of people. We did it though! Steve didn't kill anyone; he clipped a few heels when people insisted on jumping in front of him and then stopping, but he came out of it with his patience in tact. He and I ended up walking back to the campground with the girls since Jared was there with everyone else. He drove the van back to the campground about midnight.

Tuesday and Wednesday were fun, glorious, exhilirating, exasperating, patience-wearing days. There were so many people there it wasn't even fun at some points. Anna loved Dumbo, but cried on the carousel. Adah just took it all in; as long as she was close to mommy or daddy she was fine. Joel had a perfect birthday complete with a birthday pin. A nice employee gave the girls First Time Visitor pins to make their trip special. Joel was able to visit with Santa and have his picture taken. We didn't even go there with the girls since we didn't want a screamfest to take place. Steve just strolled them around outside.

We decided to head home last night instead of today. We were all pretty beat and tired of looking at other people. Nothing like your own bed at the end of a long day.

Adopting Again!

We are happy to announce that our family is pursuing adoption again! We were approved by our social worker at our first post-placement report for Anna and Adah and then this week we passed the Review Committee at Christian World Adoption. We're hoping to add two more daughters between the ages of two-five. We just need to update our homestudy by the end of the year and a lot of paperwork will be avoided. We've just about finished up what we need to do on our end for that so then we'll work on the CWA part of it.

Two more daughters will bring us to twelve children total; seven boys and five girls. We'll have ten children in the home, five boys and five girls. Sounds like a great balance to me!

Another great thyroid appt!

I had my annual appointment with the endocrinologist Tuesday to check on my thyroid. My levels sustained by my medicine are good. My dr. did an ultrasound and there wasn't any evidence of cancer cells. So I'm free and clear until next year!

Fire!

Monday night we went to bed as usual. About 10:30pm we were awakened by Sarah. There was a man at our door telling us there was a fire outside. He thought it was a barn, but it was a house. He was driving home with his girlfriend and she saw the flames from the road. The girlfriend thought it was a bonfire, but he knew that it wasn't a bonfire especially that late at night with the flames as high as they were. He tried calling 911, but his cell phone didn't work so they drove down our dirt road to find a land line telephone to use. Our house had lights on and the gate was opened so they drove up to our house to use the phone.

Steve drives off with the man and the gf to see what they can do. I call 911. After sending Jesse down to make sure we didn't need to evacuate I headed over there. Steve had left with no shirt or shoes on, but hopped the barbed wire fence so they could pound on the windows of the house in case anyone was still inside. The house was creaking and knowing that unsavory characters have lived there in the past; they decide to back up. They go wake up the neighbor whose house is right next door and let him know.

The fire truck arrived and Jesse showed him the way in with a flashlight. They were able to knock it down fairly quickly. I had someone go get the camera and took these although it was dark and they're hard to see.





Our neighbor told us the occupants had been evicted a week ago, but he saw someone there that afternoon on a quad. So now it looks like it's a crime scene because of the suspicious activity and the probablity it was arson. The sheriff's dept. was there yesterday. How ironic that just weeks ago we evacuated for several days and this time the fire is just down the driveway and we didn't have to go anywhere. Life is never dull on our little dirt road.

Jesse's soccer game

After church on Sunday Jesse and Sarah both had soccer games. Of course, I didn't remember that we had the camera until AFTER Sarah's game. We were able to get a few of Jesse and the girls at his game.

Jesse
Adah
Anna

Awana Clubbers of the Month

Last week Joel and James made Clubber of the Month for their Awana groups. Joel is in Sparks and James is in T&T. Joel takes the whole thing very seriously and has already finished the first year book and was ready to review the whole thing in one night, but there wasn't enough time for him to say his verses. James doesn't take it nearly as seriously as Joel does, but he does do his best. When they received the award on Sunday during the worship service they both had "stone" faces, because they're not used to getting up in front of the congregation.

Jake proposed!

Jake proposed to Arianne last night! She said YES!!! They're not setting a date until he knows what's wrong with him though. The doctors are thinking he has multiple sclerosis instead of Chronic Fatigue. He has more symptons than Chronic Fatigue and I guess they fit the MS. He goes back in January for another MRI where they can see if there are any changes from his last one.

Jesse's Pics

Jesse-Class of 2008

Reading, Reading, Reading

I started The Color of Water by James McBride last week. I love this book! Jesse gave it to Sarah to read and I stole it from her. :-) I mentioned I was reading it to Adah's physical therapy teacher and she asked if I had read The Freedom Writer's Diary. No, I had never heard of it. So yesterday when Steve and I went to an early dinner like we usually do on Friday afternoon we went to Barnes & Nobles afterwards. I asked the guy where the "Interracial" department was. He gave me a blank stare. Okay, I tried again....where is the "Transracial" department? Another blank stare. Now I'm thinking I've grown a third head by the look he was giving me. He mutters that he'll help me in a minute, and it just so happens he was helping my daughter-in-law who I ran into in there. I meander around trying to find what I'm looking for, but no luck, so I head back to the info. booth. A lady is now behind the counter and I ask her if they have the book, "Black crib, White Hands," she looks it up and that isn't the title, but they do have Black Baby, White Hands: A View From the Crib." She tells me they don't have it, but can order it so I had her order it. I then ask her if you had it where would I find it. She politely explained that it would be in the African-American department. Aaahhh!!!.................I explain to her that I've just adopted two black babies from Ethiopia and I'm still learning about all of this. I make her laugh which I tend to do with people and she walks me over and shows me where it is. It was right next to the Cultural Studies and I found the original book I went in for: The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell. I also found Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and Don't Make A Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings by Tyler Perry. (The book by Tyler Perry has offensive language so be warned!)

It's always good to widen our horizons by reading a good book. Now I just need to find the time to curl up with my new quilt and a hot cup of tea to do so!

Jesse's Senior Pics

Jesse had his senior pictures done. He took his Bible and his soccer ball. His graduation announcement will be with him on his knees reading his Bible. Too cute. He takes great pictures and I can't wait to get them.

If you want to see them let me know. I can't give my email addy on line due to my last name being in it and my son being a law enforcement officer does not want our last name known to those who don't know us "in real life."

Pictures

Yesterday we went to Penney's to take pictures of the girls. They, of course, looked absolutely adorable. In the first photos I had their Ethiopian dresses on. I thought we would have a problem with Adah, but it was Anna. She would NOT stay still to save her life. She was so overstimulated she was literally bouncing around the backdrop and falling on the floor. Adah did wonderfully and posed like a little beauty queen. I wasn't able to get any good pics of them together so after changing into their beautiful red and red/black Christmas dresses (I'm dressing them like girlie girls as much as I can, it's taken sixteen years and four boys to have more girls!) I climbed in with them so Anna would stay in one spot. I ended up kissing each of them in their individual pictures and they couldn't be more precious. I have one of all three of us, I'm kissing Anna and Adah is doing what she should be, looking at the camera. That Anna. Sometimes she's so naughty. Wait! That's most of the time!!!! (As a side note, when I went to the pharmacy an older lady waiting in line looked at Anna and said, "She's got mischief in her eyes or is she tired?" I answered her, "Oh, that's mischief all right!" That lady got the biggest laugh from watching her and all she was doing was sitting in her stroller. Just think if she had been loose! She's a character.)

Giardia

I have it. I've had intestinal problems the last month. I've lost ten pounds. Hey, I've been able to eat whatever I want and still lose weight. I somehow got it from my travels to Ethiopia. It could have been the time I forgot and accidentally rinsed my toothbrush in the tap water, it could have been the ice I had in my drink on the way home, it could be from changing my daughter's diaper in less than ideal circumstances while traveling and not being able to wash my hands quick enough. However I got it I guess doesn't matter. I need to get rid of it! The dr. prescribed me an antibiotic and my tummy has already settled down. I was constantly hungry even though I had just eaten. My stomach was bloated and for those of you who know me in real life know that my stomach is the biggest part of me. (besides my thick head-quiet, Steve)

Now I'm on the road to recovery and will miss my "skinny" feeling. I've already made pumpkin spice muffins and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies just to even things up. I'm thinking of having the girls retested to see if they have it. Anna had it originally, but Adah did not. I wouldn't be surprised if Adah has it. I really don't want to know because knowing would involve giving her nasty tasting meds for ten days. But hey, that's what moms are for.

It Started So Innocently

Thursday night Steve and I were watching television. Huell Howser was on PBS and for you non-Californians, Huell Howser tours the state and visits differerent sites and cities throughout the state. Thursday night just happened to be on Julian which is about forty-five minutes from us. Julian is famous for their apple pies, gold mining and quaint little town.

So on Friday Steve thought it sounded like a good idea to take a drive to get some pies and drive through the fire that just went through our area. We did find out the fire was about two miles from us on our road.

We loaded the girls and Joel into the "big" van. (That's what we call the BMW.) (The BMW is the Big Mama Wagon.) :-) Two of the boys were at Jake's and the other kids didn't want to go. Joel didn't want to go either, but I was mean mommy and I made him. He was miserable and sobbing hysterically because he didn't get to go to Jake's. I thought a drive might distract him. Oh no.....that boy cried the whole forty-five or so minutes it took to get there.

We arrived at the pie shop, but we actually didn't go all the way into Julian, we stopped at the Julian Pie Co. in Santa Ysabel next to Dudley's Bakery. We bought two pies and other goodies. Our yummy pies were Apple Mountain Berry and Berry Apple or something like that. I have no idea what the difference is, but apparently there is one. They both have crumb topping, but one was frozen so we can enjoy it later this week.

We headed over to the bakery with just minutes to spare and Joel finally found treats worthy of his palate. He found a nice big cinnamon roll that he wanted to do battle with. Now Joel was completely happy on our way home and even burst out in loud six year old singing along the way.

Adah on the other hand was tired of sitting in her car seat and bucked the system. She had to protest and cry the whole way home, but we didn't go straight home. Oh no.....we had to go pick up the boys that were at Jake's. The crying persisted and we knew she was not happy with us in any way, shape or form, but what are ya' gonna do. A girl has to stay in her car seat. (Mom's received a ticket for that before, like, um......twenty-two years or so ago.) We drive through Del Taco and I thought maybe the quesadilla would appease her. Nope! Didn't want it. Fry? Maybe.....not too many though. Oh! John's Dr. Pepper, that will do the trick. I feed her soda through the straw knowing that at least she is not screaming anymore. We drive along with a happiness not known for the last two hours..........then it hits. She vomits, not once! but twice!

Great.......now her car seat needs to be washed and we have an 8:00am soccer game. Steve takes care of the laundry part and dissambling the car seat while I bathe the little monster. Yes, she is a monster at this point. A cute one though!

All is well, the pad is in the wash, Adah is bathed and happy. We are blissfull. I tell someone to bring me Anna's TB meds. I have to force feed her this and she has never thrown up on me..........until last night. All down the back of me, on the love seat in my room and all over her. I start barking orders, yes, my head was probably spinning around too.....Sarah changed Anna, Steve took care of the couch and I took care of me. The meds went into her bottle and that is how she will get it from now on. We just have to be very diligent and make sure she takes all of it.

Finally we're all cleaned up and they go down for bed. Until.................Adah starts screaming at the top of her lungs. The scream that says, "You can leave me in here as long as you want, but I'm still going to scream and you won't be able to rest until you come in here and see what I want." So Steve does. He brings her in......."She pooped" he tells me. Now I have to change a poopy diaper. (Yes, we signed up for this voluntarily.) :-) I get her all changed and then .....................she spits up on me AGAIN! This is not as much as the earlier vomit, but I still have to change my clothing. :-( I settle her down and I send her downstairs to rock with Sarah so her tummy can settle instead of sending her back to bed.

Finally all the little ones were in bed and all was well until 11:30pm when Joel decided for whatever reason he was climbing into my bed, on my side, with me. I had the privilege of snuggling up with my little boy who in not too many years away wouldn't think of climbing into bed with his mommy.

So for now I cherish all of this, the vomiting, the snuggling, the poopy diapers, the crying; knowing that this too shall pass and I'll wish that I had this busy, crazy life all over again.

Dressing Up for Halloween/Fall Festival

Last night we went to our church's Fall Festival. The older kids helped set-up while I kept Anna and Adah out of their hair. Steve and I took some cute pictures. I have no idea why we don't have one of Sarah. I'll have to get one from a friend. I ran the fishing game while Steve walked around with the babies. There was a costume parade where Adah waved at everyone as she went by and then Trunk or Treat. Our church family is so wonderful. I wish everyone were as blessed as we are.


Adah the ladybug: Cute as a bug in a rug!
Anna the busy bee
Adah, james, John, Anna and Joel
Michael and Joe. (Joe's friend dressed as a girl and he was the date.) (This boy is really in ninth grade and on the football team. Who would have thought he could be so cute?) Joe had a fohawk, but you can't see it because it's so dark.
Jesse and Taylor as 80's tennis players

My Rag Quilt is done!!!

Front:
Back:
Way too time consuming to do another one. I had grandiose ideas of making them for friends and family, but reality is I can't take that time away from my family to make another one. It's beautiful though, don't you think?

Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to buy costumes and to the pumpkin patch. Joel is a police officer, John will be a storm trooper, James-some kind of ninja, Joe will use our homemade Care Bear outfit, Sarah will be a Grease cheerleader, and the girls will be a ladybug and a bee. :)


Here are some pics for you to enjoy of our day at the patch.

Joel in uniform.

Adah not sure what to think about this llama and Joel wants it to lick his hand.

Joel, Anna, Mommy, Anna, and John

James in the cornstalk maze. John trying to persuade this pony that it is hungry.
Anna puckering up for a smoochie.

Adah in the pumpkin cart.
Oh to be six again.

Joe and Anna entering the cornstalk maze.


The cashier gave us six free pumpkins for the kids. They were smaller, but free is free! I told John he could get a pumpkin as big as he could carry to the car. No cheating with a wagon. I should have known that boy would have picked a $14 whopper. After he lugged it ALL the WAY from the patch I couldn't take my offer away. A deal is a deal. I forget he's so strong and will prove that he can do anything even if it kills him. He's ALOT like his mother.

Pictures

Yesterday I got home from Costco and the sky looked like this from my driveway. All of a sudden it started getting really, really smokey gray. Not knowing where it was coming from I came inside to check the news. We were good. I think it was coming from our local mountains. I live on a winding one way in, one way out road so if there was a fire coming I needed to know.

This is a pretty flower growing on our fence. Such a contrast to how ugly the sky was.

Lazy day at home

All of our soccer games were canceled this weekend so we actually have a free Saturday. We had scrambled eggs, waffles with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast. The younger three boys spent the night at Jacob's for a special treat. They watched the Robinson movie and made Gak. Jesse picked them up mid-morning.

Steve has been putzing around fixing this and that. I finished writing thank-you notes. I've been working on them for the past month or so and I think I'm actually caught up! Sarah, Joe and I watched "What Not To Wear." Joel and I played Monopoly Jr. with him whipping me because he owned both spots near the Go square.

We had a late lunch/early dinner with bbq ribs, parmesan fingerling potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, Hawaiian rolls, and buttery grilled mushrooms. I have pumpkin cobbler (boxed mix from Costco) baking in the oven for a yummy dessert.

Now that my thank-you notes are done I can work on my quilt. I'm sewing the rows together. I have nine rows and have finished three of them.

Adah is down for her second nap and Anna is happily chewing on a rib. Of course, she's making a complete mess, but hey, she's washable.

Hope you're having a non-eventful lazy day as well!

Pictures of our unexpected vacation

Boys skateboarding early, early in the morning. There's three of them on that thing.

Our retreat center-Mapleview Inn Parking Lot
Daddy and the girls after an early morning cereal bar feeding.
Mommy and the boys.
That bed slept four boys ages 6 1/2-12. The girls slept underneath it in their playpens.


Pray for Jared if you think of him. He's been working between twelve and fifteen hours a day since Sunday night. It's twelve hours on and twelve off, but he's putting in overtime and still has to report to work at the same time. Frustrations are mounting as people want to get back home and can't. He fortunately isn't making the decisions, he just has to make sure they're followed. Misinformation is abounding on the television too. We've had several calls today wondering if we evacuated again as the tv posted that we were supposed to. We didn't and all looks good on the western front. Everything is put away and the kids are at church painting "sifters" to help fire victims sift through their ashes to find any valuables they might be able to retrieve. Our youth pastor took screen to make screen doors and 2x4's for the frames and made sifters. The kids are painting the wood of the frame to include them and make them feel productive.

We're back!

We had to evacuate Sunday night about 10pm due to the wildfires here in our area. We hooked up our camper and all three vehicles and headed down to our church parking lot. We set-up camp for what we thought might be overnight, but it turned into a four night ordeal.

We had friends coming over to check on us Monday morning. Went to the Willis' for lunch and television viewing. We were only getting radio updates and not able to "see" what was going on. Barbara kept Sarah busy by having her cut-up apples for apple pie. John even brought a pie by the next day for us!

We had dinner at our friend's house the next three nights. The Butcher's took care of us by providing showers for the kids, making us meals, giving us the Wii fitness challenge test. I by the way, was 67 Wii years old and Steve was 49, I think.

We came home again on Monday night about 10pm, but had to evacuate again about 3am Tuesday morning and today, Thursday we were able to come home again. All is well and no damage to our property.

I was dreading camping with our new babies, but it really wasn't so bad. Their playpens fit perfectly in the back of our camper and we were able to sleep ten people. We used the church nursery for early morning playtime, morning and afternoon naps and a place to check the radio. There were bathrooms so we didn't have to use ours since we didn't have any sewer hook-up. We were able to use the power and water from the church so we really had quite the set-up. I just hate leaving home like that. Two times in the past four years is enough, don't you think?

Loading up the van

Wildfire season. It's here. Today is a red flag day as well as the next few days. We've heard reports through the day about the fire and its proximity to us. This time we have a warning so we did pack up some pictures, personal items, adoption papers, and legal papers/documents and loaded them all into the van.

Jared just called and said its an hour away from Ramona which is about a half-hour or so away from us. In the Cedar Fire of 2003 it started in Ramona area and raged through our property hours later. We evacuated about 3am with nothing, but a load of laundry for the boys.

We were gone for days. Stayed at someone's house who graciously opened their homes to fire victims.We had been told that our house burned back then. We were thankful we were able to have gotten all the children out and that we were together-alive. Some weren't so lucky. Some died escaping the flames in their cars. Some lost houses, animals, cars, everything.

It burned through our property, leaving its wake of destruction. Our barn, outside bathroom, toys, trailer, trees, power lines, etc. burned. Our house was standing, but our yard was devasted. We live on four acres and were very blessed that our home was still here.

I remember thinking what I should take with me. All I could think of was what I needed to wear. Did I have shoes, socks, underwear? For some reason I had Sarah run back into the house to grab our toothbrushes. Now my motto is, "Take what you can't buy." If you can buy clothes, leave 'em. If you can buy books, leave 'em. This time we're taking pictures, albums and negatives.

Hopefully we won't need to use them.

How can a girl make such a mess?

I was sucking on a See's sucker a while ago. Both of the girls ended up in my lap and I lost my sucker. Decided to put them in their high chairs and let them each have one.

Adah is just about as clean as someone can get eating a sucker. She's so sweet she doesn't even like to get dirty!

Do you see the difference between Anna and Adah? Steve noticed it. The mess.
Anna is messy as all get out. That is how she attacks life. She goes full throttle. Nothing stops her except her bottle and her crib. That's why we call her Hurricane Anna.

Two different personalities. Two very different girls. Both of them ours. We love it!

New outfits and Adah's exersaucer

Adah in her new church outfit.
Anna in one of her new church dresses.
Anna in her new Gymboree dress and Mommy. (Thanks John Oakes family!)Adah in her new exersaucer. Thanks Aunt Joni! (Love that serious look?)

What is going on?

Sarah found this bottle between her bed and the wall the other day. That is the nipple totally expanded. Steve put it in the trash compactor and even after getting crushed it didn't pop.

By the way, I HATE the whole bottle thing. I have no idea why people would choose to bottle feed instead of nursing. Bottles are total pain-in-the-neck. Having done both, I can say that. :)