Braggin' on my kids.

Recently, I have had the privilege of attending a poetry reading for Rusty's class. Rusty read a poem that he wrote about me:

My Mommy

By: Rusty Jerger

My

Mommy

is

My

Best

Friend

I

Love

My

Mommy

So Much!

Now, I'm not sure what kind of poem this is but it pretty much says it all...and to top it off, about 3 or 4 of his classmates wrote poems about him. It was completely adorable!

Also of late...a few field trips: One to Lowery Park Zoo with Rusty and the other to Heritage Village with Ruthie. The highs of these two trips were feeding the giraffe, petting the sting rays, putting out a fire the old fashion way and sitting in a one room school house.

The school year is wrapping up and we have had an awesome year. Ruthie stayed on the Principle's list all year and won a lot of academic awards. Her reading and writing has continued to be a passion for her and her teacher has really encouraged her along this path. It was perfect fit and we are so blessed that Mrs. Rasmussen will be looping and Ruthie will have her again next year. She competed in the 3rd grade spelling bee and Addition speed race and got second overall in both. Also, I am told by her very impressed teacher that she got a perfect score on the reading portion of her FCAT. Ok, I'll stop bragging.

Not really...Rusty has been a total surprise to me this year. Of course he had an awesome kindergarten teacher and we went into Mrs. G's class completely blind as the teacher we hoped to have for 1st grade had decided to teach second. Turns out that the relationship that developed between Rusty and his teacher was perfect for him as well. His reading took off and he was reading well above grade level within weeks of starting the school year. He was asked to join super-star math and is testing really high on all of his cycle/state tests! This from a kid who hates to read! I found that he does however take his school work seriously. He comes right in from school and begins his homework without being asked and he panics if he needs to complete something and feels like it won't get done...what a conscientious little student...

Rusty has begun his orthodontic trials and has joined Ruthie in the ritual of turning the torture rack. So I now find myself sitting int he waiting room while they both go back and get refitted and readjusted to their hard ware...oh well, we knew that having both worn braces, our kids didn't stand a chance.

Summer is here.

One Year.

Time goes by. So fast. I am finding it harder to update my blog as the busy-ness of life with four children and their schedules consumes most of my time. When I do have a moment to sit down, I usually don't want to spend it rehashing the day. However, a year has gone by. As I read over the blogs of many we met through out our adoption process, all of them focused on their gotcha day. For us, that day was important...but not as important as the day we landed in Tampa and walked off the plane to the faces of our family and friends there to meet our little girl for the first time. April 13th.

Ellie's birthday is March 31st and her gotcha day is April 4 but this year we celebrated on April 13th. Nothing big, just everyone from the airport, all together again, one year later. We went to The Olive Garden and the kids all sat at one end of the table, talking, yelling, fighting and as I sat there and I watched Ellie interact with what amounts to her siblings and cousins (because she has none, none of my kids do) I was amazed yet again at the changes this year has brought.

I find that God has worked in my life in little ways...just filling in the holes left by the loss of my brother. He has given me and more so, my mom little gifts along the way to make the days that should be painful more bearable...First He gave us my Rusty...on my mom's birthday. Not amazing in it's self but something special to look forward to rather than just another birthday without her son...and then on my brother's birthday, He gave us Ellie...home forever...what an amazing blessing and again something to celebrate on a day that otherwise would bring only pain. And so, I find it difficult to sit here and think over the last year without thanking God for all the blessings in my life that sit side by side in myheart with the pain of losing my brother

I wanted to sit and reflect over this time but they say a picture is worth a thousand words...

November 2007: Our first meeting. Ellie is skeptical and afraid but allows me to hold her. We coax a few smiles from her and discover that the way to her heart is through her feet. (smile)

February 2008: I fly over to visit because I simply cannot stand being so far from her. I am allowed to see her on two days for two hours each day. Ellie is a bit older and understands the ramifications of my visits...she's not pleased.

April 13, 2008 Atlanta Airport Waiting for our connection to Tampa...we have made a tentative bond but there is still much work to be done...

April 12,2009 Mommy's little girl.

March 31, 2008 Celebrating Ellie's 2nd birthday in the orphanage...just a few days before we carried her out of there forever. She was frightened and confused.

April 13, 2009 Celebrating Ellie's 3rd birthday and the anniversary of our Forever Family.

Ellie has made some really good friend's in just one little year...what a wonderful little year...

More on Easter.

There was a lot more to Easter than Ruthie's Baptism. After the beach, we went home so She and Adam could shower and we all put our Easter clothes on. This was Ellie's first Easter so I was excited for her to see her basket but we held to our usual Easter and Christmas morning rules in which we focus on Christ first. So, when everyone was ready, I took them all out front and posed them in their Easter clothes in front of the usual Gardenia bush which is blooming right now.


Getting my pictures of the kids is always such a chore. Rusty can't look into the sun and Flip is a total pain with it...I usually have to threaten him into submission and this morning was no different. I think he is finally realizing that if he just gives me what I want and I get one or two good shots he can get it over with and retreat back into whatever world he lives in when he is not actively engaged with the rest of us homo-sapiens. Ellie and Ruthie are as usual perfect for the camera.

So, we head to church where we were joined by my parents. Adam's mom & grandpa and my grandmother. After we went to lunch with everyone and then headed home to get into our Easter baskets! And then...the egg hunt! Ellie got into this like you would not believe! I did it a little different this year...each kid had to find their own eggs and if they came across someone else's, they had to leave it and couldn't say anything...of course, there was some cheating. Their father was probably the worst offender of the rule...perhaps I should have hidden some eggs for him as well...all in all it was one of my top 6 days right up there with the day I got married, the 3 days I birthed my children and the day we brought our daughter across an ocean to her home with her family. He IS risen...and all for ME!

Baptism

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4

We had a wonderful Easter. We started the morning at 5:30 by waking all the kids and throwing them into shorts and flip flops to head out to the beach for the Sunrise baptism. This year it was really very special to us as our own little girl was being baptized. Ruthie accepted Christ about 2 years ago but was really unsure about being baptized. So, we waited. We wanted her to have the time to question it, to understand it and to WANT it. She has over the last 6 months or so been asking a lot about baptism; the symbolism, the importance, and the obedience of the action. And finally, she told us she wanted to be baptized.

Our Pastor believes that the person who is most involved in the process of bringing someone to Christ should baptize that person if they are willing and able. So, on Easter, at sunrise, surrounded by family, friends and other new believers, my husband baptized my daughter in the Gulf of Mexico. And now, her journey begins anew as a disciple of Christ as she has taken the first step in obedience and now will walk with Him in truth. Praise God!

Basketball, anyone?

Dinah had it in her head to get tickets from a coworker and take ME to the SEC basketball tourney for my birthday (as a surprise). It didn't work out for her and she couldn't go but she got the tickets for me anyway (for my birthday). Good for her, because I think Adam would have killed her if I took off to watch AU basketball while he sat home with the kiddos. I decided to surprise Adam and take him. I asked him the day before if he wanted to have lunch with me and I called his boss to let her know he would not be coming back. We drove to the restaurant and just as he was about to open the door, I pulled out the tickets and asked him if would rather go there. Duh! He had been hinting about getting tickets but to be honest, basketball is about the last sport I would willingly submit to watching, next to golf. So, I brought a book with me:0)

He spent the drive over filling me in on all the senarios...yada, yada, yada. He was excited!

We sat through the first session which was two games. Surprisingly, I got into it a little bit and didn't read at all. I took pics of all the mascots and watched the coaches and cheerleaders. There is just something about being in the college sport environment. After the first session, we had a break so we walked down to some restaurants and got some dinner and then headed back to the arena for two more games. Ours was the 9:45 PM game against Florida and we were sitting in the Gator section. It was an awesome game and we won it close. So, even though we didn't make the tournament, we beat the Gators and that, my friends, is worth it!

Run Like a Girl.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

13.1 Miles? Yep.

Looking back, four months is really not sufficient for taking on a run like this. I guess it might be if you plan to walk part of it or if you have a significant base built. I don't fall into either of those categories. I have never been a runner or any other kind of serious athlete. I would call myself athletic. I enjoy sports and can perform moderately well at most of them. I can hit a ball, catch and throw. I can play volleyball to an extent, and I enjoy playing kickball, flag football or whatever when we get together with a group of friends. In high school, I was a cheerleader. We competed so we had to have enough of a cardio base to get through about a 5 minute routine with dancing and in my case, lifting. We had to weight train and run about 2 miles a few times/week. So, It's safe to say that although I may have looked fit, I have never been what I would now define as "in shape."

All that being said, I set out on this mission with one goal...to run the whole thing. Aside from about a 20 second stop to stretch my knee, yes, my knee, I ran the whole thing. There were moments when my speed may not have been classified as running but I kept to the course laid before me. I ran with another girl, Jen. She is a teacher at our kid's school. She went out pretty fast. To be honest I thought I was going to have to let her leave me if I was going to finish the run. I never would have paced myself that fast if I were running on my own. Into the 10th mile, I was glad we had gone out so fast because my speed was steadily declining and my knees were more than feeling the pain of all the hills I had not trained for.

There were 4 long, winding over passes in addition to two pretty steep hills we had to conquer. They were spread throughout the course and there was one in the last 3/4 mile. We started outside of EPCOT and ran about 3 miles to Magic Kingdom, down Main Street, through Tomorrow and Fantasy Lands , around the castle, and through Frontier Land out the back past all the floats (not so magical in the daytime) and just kept running until we were back over by Epcot where we ran around Spaceship Earth. At this point, my watch was telling me I had just 1/2 mile left so I started running hard. I got to 13.1 miles according to Garmin and there was no finish line in sight! I yelled to one of the workers on the side line, "WHERE is the FINISH LINE?" I still had 2/10 of a mile...quite deflating. Never the less, I made it. I ran across the finish to the sight of my husband, all of my children and my mom and Joe, who all surprised me by buying their way into the finish line stands...all wearing "cheer squad" t-shirts and yelling encouragement to me! Andy was also there in the crowd. My official chip time was 2:28:38. BUT, I ran an extra 2/10mi. So, I actually paced 11:09/mile...only 9 seconds off what I wanted to pace in my "for real goal" which I kept to myself until now. My *NEW* goal is to do this race each year and, by the time I am 35 be able to run it pacing 9:30/mile.

I have to give props to Lisa who also ran but left us in the dust! And, I leave you with this:

"Toenails are indeed for sissies!"

(Tick)led.

We went camping...to central Florida...there were ticks...lots of them. We picked about 6-8 off each of the boys. Ellie and I both had one in our hair. Adam had two and Ruthie escaped without any. This was the first time we were able to go with a group of families from our church that go several times a year. In the past it just never fit into our schedule. This time was really no different. It didn't fit but we made it happen for one night and we had a nice time.

I insisted I take Gracious with me as a reward for her good behavior at school and she was so good! The kids all had fun playing with their friends that they only get to see at church. I use the word only loosely since we are there twice a week and sometimes more:0) For some reason, sleeping in a tent is the ultimate adventure for children and so nothing can dampen the fun, not even ticks!

We camped out, cooked out, played football and swam illegally in the springs. Of course at the time, although we knew we were not supposed to swim there, we did not know it was illegal! We packed our crew up after dinner on Saturday and headed back to civilization in time to kick off Global Focus week at church. We meaning: Adam, me, Ruthie, Rusty, Flip, Ellie, Grace, and all the ticks, of course.

Magical

We did Disney, again. It was different this time. I was much more low key, Adam and I were both training for different events and trying to get workouts in. We had various illnesses. We lost a child at one point. We had different ages, heights, and interests. But, we had a blast!

Just before we left, Ruthie came down with a pretty bad virus and she had a very high fever for about 2 days followed by congestion and a cough. I took her to the doc thinking that if we are all going to get this then I wanted to have whatever antibiotics I needed BEFORE we left. The doctor said, nothing would make it go away, just let it run it's course and treat the symptoms...great. So, wee took off for 8 days in the Orlando area but what we experienced was a lot different than the Disney boot camp my family is used to.

We started out at the Hoop Dee Doo musical revue at Ft. Wilderness. It was something we had never done and it was a lot of fun! The next day we hit one of the Disney water parks. Although the high got into the 80's it was a little chilly but we had a lot of fun! We ended the day with what they call a garbage pail...it's a small bucket filled with soft serve, fudge caramel, cookies, waffles, etc. We all shared it and it was awesome!

We ventured into the parks most of the other days but we did try Disney Quest this time and it was fun but by this point, both Rusty and myself were sick. I was popping Dayquil and Rusty was alternating Motrin and Tylenol. Ruthie and I created our virtual roller coater and then rode it in a simulator. We also conquered pirates on the open sea as a family and Adam and I found that we are compatible as a couple by killing spiders and other creatures in some weird video game! It was good reassurance after 10 years of marriage.

Ellie absolutely loved all of the characters. She ran right up to them and kissed and hugged them and even cried when we had to walk away from Stitch. I'm not sure why she chose him to like best over all the others but he was the most special of the trip! So, I would have to say that the characters were her favorite part. For the others, Ruthie really loves roller coasters and if she had to pick probably the Rockin' Roller coaster at Hollywood Studios. Rusty probably enjoyed Fast Track at Epcot the most while Flip loved the new Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios. Adam loves all the fast paced rides but he really like Toy Story as well and I think he liked the new American Idol experience at the same park. For myself. I love all of the shows...especially the closing shows...

So, we finished off the week with a movie and souvenir shopping at Downtown Disney and then, HOME!

Hoop Dee Doo Hoe Down!

Blizzard Beach...Brrrr.

My First time..."Mommy, Mickey!"

I really Love Stitch.

But, I love you more.

Power Up!

Kiss and Hug.

All smiles.

Faster...

See you real soon!

AWANA win!

I just wanted to touch on our AWANA games. Each year kids from AWANA programs at various churches get together to compete in a sort of Olympics. The games are silly for the most part...bean bag on the head, crab walking, volleying a balloon...you get the point. Although the games are silly, some of us take them very seriously! Adam has been coaching the Truth IN Training boys (3rd-6th Grade) for several years and has yet to win the title. It should have happened this year but of course, the refs cheated!!! I'm not sure if this is all the reason, but if you ask the coaches, or any of the team, it is the ONLY reason:0)

Ruthie competed in the T IN T girls group for the first time and she did well in her events placing second in a 3 lap individual race. She, however, has her father's competitive spirit and in the end, there were tears of frustration that victory eluded her team. Rusty also competed but in the Sparks level and he also had moments of frustration but it was all made better when his Daddy's team needed an extra body and he was "called up" to play in the big leagues upon the completion of his games!

Me? Well, I get excited to go and sit in the stands and scream my head off! Yes, I am one of those moms! I was a little horse afterward and wasn't sure if it was from all the yelling or if I was getting sick...turns out, it was both!

So, we look forward to this each year...the kids train for the games from the beginning of school until about this time and they look forward to going and WINNING...but, not this time...maybe next year!

A Reprieve.

Ellie went to the doctor yesterday...we got to see the head honcho and my favorite doc. I told her what the other doc said about possibly sending Ellie to an endocrinologist because she is not growing at a steady pace. She managed to pack on an astounding half pound but she grew a whole inch! So, she now weighs a whopping 24 lbs. (or lubs as some might say;) and is a staggering 33 inches tall. Our pediatrician is not really in a big hurry to send her to the specialist. She (as well as Adam and myself) is against giving children growth hormones UNLESS they have a deficiency. Most endo docs will recommend the hormones to ANY child who falls below the growth curve regardless of a deficiency. So, she is giving us a three month reprieve. I will take her back for measurements at that time and we will reassess the situation then. In the mean time, we will continue to push Pediasure instead of milk and make the most of all of her calories.

On a related note, when we got to the doctor Ellie looked at me and asked, "Mommy, I get owie today?" Hmmmm...I told her yes, she did have to get some shots...the child is like an elephant...she has never forgotten that first trip or any of the vaccinations since. I asked her if she was going to cry and she shook her head no. I said, "oh, you're going to be brave?" She told me yes. Well, the tech came in the room and before he could even set the tray on the table, her face cracked. Poor thing...bless her little heart. I scooped her up as soon as it was over and she looked at me and said, "I call daddy now." This is what we did after the last set of shots and just telling him all about the pain somehow makes it all better.