Smartie (Dry) Pants

When we brought Ellie home and saw the specialist...we told him she had regressed on her potty training. He explained that the children in orphanages are not so much potty trained but rather "potty-timed." Most children will regress due to the stress, time change, change in diet etc. Since she was only just two, we decided to put her in diapers and let her be for a while...I tried about a month ago to sit her on the potty and it quickly became clear that she did not understand what was going on and that I was going to STRESS out...can I just say that on the fourth child, I still HATE potty training and I am still no better at it! I am convinced it is the only bad thing about being a mother.

Anyway, I decided this week to concentrate my efforts on the potty training...I got a little baggie and stuffed it full of "rewards." I know, I know...all the experts say your are not supposed to reward a child with food when they go in the potty...WHATEVER! It has worked for my first three and they have no weird frued-isms to speak of...yet. Well, this morning Ellie sat on the potty...for 3 hours...and finally, she produced...we had a small party, invited the neighbors (just kidding) and at long last, she got 2 little Smarties for being so smart and going poo poo in the potty...

Not what you signed on for? Well, I am happy to announce that my fourth and final child is on her way to being potty trained, and it feels pretty good!

If Wishes were Garages....

We have the stomach flu...good times...it started with Flip on Thursday...He threw up in the pool at swimming lessons...SWEET! He seemed fine all day Friday and then Saturday night...we'll just say his digestive track was completely emptied at about 10pm. Yesterday, I kept him home from church...you guys can all thank me for that later:0) This morning we woke up and today it is Ruthie's turn...I figure by the end of this week, we will all have paid homage to the privy.

It is stinkin' hot! I mean I seriously don't even want to go outside...forget about loading and unloading groceries. We have been hitting the high nineties nearly every day and with all the rain, the humidity has been unbearable. Speaking of rain...we have been having torrential down pours lately. The other day, I needed to load the kids into the car to take Ruthie to the gym and it was coming down like mad...as I ran out carrying Ellie and then positioned the car so the other three could run out and get in quickly without hopping into puddles, I thought, MAN, it would sure be nice to have a garage!

Then I came home and sitting by the front door in our formal living room is the very nice, very expensive road bike that Adam borrowed from his boss. We can't put it in the shed, it leaks. And so as I looked at it leaning against my furniture, I thought, MAN, it would sure be nice to have a garage!

Then I walked into my room where Adam has been working on base board and crown moulding and I see the huge saw that is necessary for cutting the angles...all around it is saw dust...we can't put it in the shed, it leaks...have I mentioned that? and I couldn't help it, I thought, MAN, it would sure be nice to have a garage.

I wish I had a garage!

Ps...this song goes out to my momma...because I know it always puts her in a good mood.

Prayer Request

It has come to my attention over the last week that a family in the VA area has recently lost their little boy whom they adopted from Russia about the same time we brought Ellie home. The new father was to drop him off at day care and instead drove directly to work and left the child in the car. I know we have all at one time or another driven somewhere on autopilot...not quite remembering how we got there. Someone walking past the car around 1-2 pm reported the incident to the administration in the building...the father collapsed and was admitted to the hospital suffering from shock. As a result of the little boy's death, the father will face criminal charges and three adoption agencies related to this adoption have lost accreditation. Please be in prayer for this family (the Harrison's), for the agencies involved and for families that are in the process with these agencies.

Not Too Much Happenin'

DOES ANYONE FEEL SORRY FOR THIS CHILD?


Not too much going on around here...just the usual summertime stuff...the kids are back in camp this week...it's good for them to get out of the house and have something productive to do. They go to a camp called "college for kids." Each week has a different theme and they go to to classes like they will in middle and high school...science, Lang arts, foreign Lang. etc. but they have fun,learning about the theme, playing games and doing projects. This is their third and final week for this summer. Swimming lessons are also wrapping up...just one more two week session. The boys have really learned a lot this summer as far as stroke and breathing so that has been fun...

Since Ellie's birthday party was at the beach, we decided to bring her gifts home to unwrap, which we did the next day...she didn't quite get it but it was cute none the less...they immediately got into a little dress up box that she got from her Auntie Dinah...here are few pics...

PS...just want to give a shout out to Mr. Stofer who I have discovered is a blog reader and is keeping his wife up to date when I am in a "funk." :0)

An American Child

The other day I was in Office Depot...dragging all four of my children on an errand. I got up to the register and the woman said I looked like she was going to look the following week. I said, "oh, really?" She went on to tell me that her daughter in law was having surgery and her son was on his third tour in Iraq and couldn't be there to help take care of her and the kids so she was going to go do it. I wished her good luck and we went out to the car and got in, buckled up...the first song on the radio was I'm Already Home by Tim McGraw. Well, if you haven't heard it, it is a letter written by a soldier to his wife...he has died, and this is the letter that he has written to her in the event of his death. His home is Heaven...only a one way ticket over there. I sat in the parking lot and listened to a song I have heard dozens of times. I like the song a lot and I always sing along. But in that moment I heard it a little differently...those men and women carry letters...written to their loved ones so that when they die, they can say I love you, just one more time. And I am so thankful for all of them, serving, sacrificing their lives, time with their families, seeing their children be born, being halfway around the world while their wife has surgery...with chains around their necks that will identify their bodies, with letters in their pockets that will be mailed or carried to their loved ones...

Since Ellie turned two while she was still in the orphanage, we decided to have her birthday party and welcome home party a little late...what better day to welcome her to the USA than July 4th?So, friends and family brought coolers and chairs, towels and buckets, shovels and sunscreen and we all converged on the beach on the most crowded beach day of the year! We brought out tons of chicken, chips and cake and we played and had such a good time in honor of our little girl being home. Ellie got to see her first fire works show, hold sparklers, and sport her country's colors celebrating right along with the rest of her American brothers and sisters...this year, I am a little more than proud to be an American, I am thankful I am an American child and so are my kids...Happy Independence Day.

90% Uffy

If you have been reading my blog, you know we have a great Dane named Houser. You also know that Ellie was petrified of him for the first few days...Well everyone knows that a dog says, "uff!" Right? Well, our family is now calling the poor guy Uffy about 90% of the time. This is of course due to the fact that our new little 2 year old refers to him only as "Uffy." Uffy is her new best friend. They have even taken to napping together...

Kee Kee, also known as kitty cat, AKA, Sneakers is still not having any of Ellie...stay tuned for updates as things progress...

PS...Flip loves this song!

Stand.

I haven't really felt much like blogging lately. Last week, the kids had no activities during the day and so we didn't have to be up for anything in the mornings. Our evenings were a different matter all together.The boys were swimming from 5-5:40 every afternoon and we had to get to church for VBS by 6:00...throw in dinner and 3 evenings of gymnastics and the combination makes for some very tired kiddos. Their mother...exhausted. Still it was nice not to have to rush to be somewhere every morning.

VBS was a lot of fun this year. Flip is old enough now to be "into" it and the other two love it! Ellie got to go into the nursery each night and by the 3rd night, there were no tears at drop off. Each time I returned to pick her up, she ran over yelling, "Mommy!" I think that we are in the clear as far as bonding goes...at least in a group setting. She is comfortable going in and the workers do not need to hold and comfort her. We still will not leave her in situations where she might be the center of attention...no babysitters yet. Her vocabulary is really flying along...she is speaking in 3-4 word sentences and understands nearly everything we tell her or ask her to do. I think she is actually talking better than many other two year olds.

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store to get all my stuff for this week and low and behold I forgot my bags that I was so proud of in my earlier post...bad girl. I guess that will take time to get into the habit. I got my blog book and I love it! I will say that when I order 2008, I will get the bigger book. Although the 8x11 is great, I would like the pics to be a little larger.

Ellie is doing great, the others are doing great...blah, blah, blah...the truth is, this is hard. People are constantly asking me how she is doing...she is really doing fine...me however...that's another story. It is really kind of hard to explain the wave of emotions I go through each day. Having three biological children, I guess I have taken for granted the time I had to get to know each of them. Even during my pregnancies, I got a sense for how active each child would be, I had food cravings, sleep loss. From the time they were born, they had little personalities that Adam and I helped to shape as they grew. Ellie came to us with her own, that we had nothing to do with and frankly, it isn't a little personality. She is so incredibly vibrant, so happy, so smart. It seems like everything should just be falling into place. On the outside, it is. I guess I am having trouble finding the words to explain these emotions...jealousy, that I was not part of developing her personality to this point...sadness, that she is so independent with many things due to her circumstances...outrage that her biological family had to give her away...sorrow that someday she will feel that part of her is missing and no matter how hard I try, there will always be a void in her life...elated, that I am her mother now and I get her hugs and her kisses...confused over what is going on in that little brain...thankful, that the Lord saw fit to give her to us...faithful that He continues to work on me everyday.

I will probably always worry about Ellie. It seems only natural for a mother…just a little heightened with her because of her circumstances. Adam reminds me that worry is a sin and I am sinnin’. It is time to give it up to the one who is equipped to handle all that is placed before me. I guess you could say I have been in a bit of a funk lately…but I am getting’ up, brushin’ myself off and I am ready to stand.

Daddy's Day with the Rays.

We went to the beach again on Saturday with a bunch of Friends and their children...then, we came home and vegged on the couch and watched two college world series baseball games. On Sunday, after church, we saw more baseball, only it was the TB Rays...they lost. It was a good time though...I don't usually go to the games...I really can't stand professional sports of any kind...I much prefer the college atmosphere. But, Adam loves it so I called him earlier in the week and asked him what he thought about going...hmmmm...no brainer.


Ellie slept for most of the game...Ruthie sat near the little girl of the other family that went with us and was good for the most part...Rusty was mediocre and Flip was a nightmare, earning himself 3 spankings to be delved out in the parking lot after the game...nothing like anticipation:0) All in all it was good day...Happy father's day to my Heavenly Father, my dad, my step dad and all the others out there!

Friends of a Feather...

I have been wanting to do a post of all the people we were so privileged to have met while on our Journey to Ellie...I cannot possibly put into words what the support of our chat group has been for us. I could never describe how special it is to meet the people you have been praying with for months and to do it all the way across the world...to share just this one little thing of loving a child you have never met. So, without further ado, I dedicate this post and this song to my prayer warriors and to all those families who are now home with their children...Thank you, Father.

Ms. Christi Hicks, FC and dear friend. Congrats on your recent nuptials:0)

John, Debbie and their little punkin, Noelle...thanks, Deb for traveling on trip two with me and for being a source of calm and comfort!

Tim and Deb & Eli...Thanks, Deb for being such an encouragement..it really is your spiritual gift!

Greg and Jeanette & Thomas and Andrey...Thanks Jeanette, for keeping it real!

Alex the MOE, and Marina, Our Translator for the MOE and court.

Sherri and Natalie...Thanks, Sherri for passing on all your "in region knowledge" and other various items while at the hotel but mostly for your prayer before court.

Serge and Yelena, Our Facilitators in region...they were awesome!

Galina, Orphange director: She took such wonderful care of our daughter for the first two years of her life...I will forever be grateful to her and her staff.

Dwayne and Jessica & their two little guys, Jude and Luke...thanks for hanging and sharing a meal!

Gary and Windy & Carter...thanks for sharing your movies and for always being willing to venture out!

Ben and Melissa, and Donna and John...so nice to meet you and get "medicals" together...good times!

Pat and Stacy and the ever spirited Aiden...I cannot say just thank you to the people who were with us from the time we landed, through every moment of visitation, at almost every meal for 28 days until we touched down in Atlanta with our children...You guys will always be so special...

There are so many others still in the process and some that went before us that have been part of our prayers and have prayed for us, offered comfort and valuable advice through email blogs, or on the phone...I thank you and I continue to lift you up and remember your children daily.

Good Girl.

Adam and I really try to use positive reinforcement with our kids. So, we try to praise them when they do something without being asked, tell them they had a really good day when they only fight 50 times instead of 100...you know, that kind of stuff. Well, Ellie is like a little shadow around the house...she follows anyone who will have her from room to room and tries to "help" in any way possible. Recently, she has taken to praising herself and it is really too cute. If she closes the door, she will then stand there for just an extra second and say, "Goooood Giiirrrlll." If she runs to get her shoes when I ask her to, she hands them to me and then looks at me and says, "Goooood Giiiirrrlll." You get the point...well, here is a picture of my good girl...Can you believe she actually held up her empty bowl and said, "Gooood Giiirrrlll?" She has turned into quite the eating machine. She will snack all day long if I let her and eat all of her food at every meal time...she likes to hang in the kitchen with me when I am cooking and "help." Most of the time I have to shoo her out because she can only "help" if she is standing directly under my feet.

Well, I have not forgotten about my going lean side bar...I just got started a little later than I had hoped...I have been at it about 3 weeks now for real...you know "for real," right? Anyway, I am running and am back up to 3 miles although slow ones and am eating good. I have lost 5 pounds and I have 10 to go...

In addition, I have buckled and have indeed gone green...you can say it, "goooood giiirrrlll!" I bought the grocery bags and used them for the first time...I bought 5 and they held almost all of my weeks worth of groceries. I cannot believe it has finally happened but my family is so large now that biweekly trips to the grocery will no longer suffice. Can I just say I hate (I know, such an ugly word) the grocery store! But, I am enjoying trying out new meals and maybe over time as I experiment more, I will come to love Publix as well. One can only hope.