House guest

Garrett brought home Curious George from Kindergarten.  He came with a suit case FULL of stuff.  I spent this afternoon washing his clothes and gathering his things to go back to school tomorrow. (Really? I was thinking...I'm folding a monkey's clothes?)

The assignment was to scrapbook our time with George to go in the kinderbook.

Garrett is sad to return him!  He carried him around all week and even laid out his clothes every night for "school."  I gave George a little "bath" in the washing machine today because Garrett has had a yucky cough.  

Good bye George!

See you again in three years:)

Pull over

I have found that it's hard to blog from the driver's seat of my car.

It seems that is where I spend more and more of my time!

Today, I was driving Allie to cheer, and she said, "Mom pull over, Jesus is coming back...well actually we would have missed the trumpets if that were the case, but it's so pretty!"

I did pull over because it was on a country road, and Allie and I just stared for a minute.

As the kids get older, I'm realizing the need for boundaries and "margin" and the need to even pull over on the side of the road sometimes.

Our Pine Cove speaker recommend this book:

It's by Richard A. Swenson, M.D.  

He's a Christian physician who discusses our need for balance in the age of technology where everyone is in contact with each other and we have the capabilities to do more, but is more better?  Interesting read...

With four kids, this battle is not going away, but surely I can be wiser with my time so that the time I have with them is not fragmented which is often the case.

Garrett started flag football with Upward.

Oh yeah.

He was a little nervous about it, but he had a great time at his first practice.

I'm really proud of him.  He had a rough start to school, and he has worked so hard to correct it.  He had a perfect week last week!

Labor day and first day

 We had a very laid back weekend.  A dear friend turned 40, so we did a little celebrating.

All three kids finished their summer bridge books! I was so proud of them because they worked so hard.  Garrett bought this little flyer toy.  He played it all weekend.

Daddy worked and slept.

Big boy. 

He picked out his name tag..

and waved good bye!

He said, "Ms. Sheila says no fits. I happy boy."

What a difference a year makes:)

Met the teacher.....Again.

David starts "school" next week! 

Last night we went to "Meet this Teacher" for the fourth time:)

This is the only teacher we have had for all four!  She knew David WAY before David knew her.

We love her:)

Garrett earned a new green belt! He loves some TWD. 

Mary just started taking piano last week.  She's a piano teacher's dream.  She wants to practice all the time. My sweet Mary loves anything that involves solitude:)

A note to the teacher

Tonight I learned how to be a second grader again.  It was "curriculum night" at school where we learn the "what we do, when we do, and how we do it?" talk.

I guess I was distracted and may have started rummaging through Mary's desk.  I found a folded up note.

So...

I had to read it of course.

It's the quiet ones! I keep saying that!

She told her teacher of one week that her parents were trying to trap raccoons?

Really of all the things she could have written to her teacher? 

I have no idea where she got this wild notion..

Trapping raccoons?

Geesh.  We have no secrets now that we have three school aged children!

happy saturday

Someone will be happy to wake up with a full house.:)

Garrett had a few rough days, but the he ended the week really well, so we had a "coke date."  That'll be the last time we do that. School plus sugar overload equals tears apparently.

It is a hard thing to wear out Garrett White, but last night, he said, "I think I need to go to bed, mom."

Allie had to write a little autobiography at school, and she asked me to proof read it at home.  This is a very small clip of something that she wrote that brought tears to my eyes and completely FILLED my heart.

She "gets it."  

We adopted David because we really believed God put it on our hearts to do so.  He confirmed that through the process, but the confirmation continues.  As I stood and gave an oath on David's behalf this week to be a citizen of this country, it reminded me that Christ also stands before God on my behalf...a fellow inheritor of the Kingdom.

After reading what Allie wrote, as I've thought many times, we didn't adopt David for David's sake, we adopted him for our own sakes...so that we may understand a little better what God has done for us.

Just this week, I ran across an article about this very thing written by a pastor named Jason Johnson who has adopted two children.  He can express in words way better than me, so I'll use his quote:

"Orphan care doesn't begin with the orphan "out there" who needs to be adopted, it begins with the orphan in you that already has been adopted in Jesus.

The call to care for orphans begins with the Gospel, is sustained and carried by the Gospel, and in the end is one of the clearest and most tangible expressions of the Gospel."

Our "little American"

What a WEEK.  

It's our first full week of school, and getting three of them out with all their stuff by 7:30 (with an interrupting 3 year old) has hurled me into "discipline mode."  No more staying up late, we have a schedule to KEEP!

I got a call from Garrett's teacher, Monday saying "Ummm we can't find Garrett's lunch box and he may have left it somewhere."  

Yeah, or HIS MOM FORGOT ON THE THIRD DAY!

I rushed to the school to take him a burger, and Mary's teacher explained that Garrett's teacher had asked if she could share her food, to which she responded, "NO."

And as I was eating lunch with a very happy kindergartener, Allie passes through the cafeteria with  jaw dropped because I've snuck into the school with a happy meal for Garrett!

So we are working on getting it together again!

Allie got her full set of braces Tuesday!  She woke up this morning with "SIX NEW ULCERS!" (that is girl code for one ulcer that is as bad as six) She really has adjusted well considering she is pretty young to get them.

When I told her I was going to take David to get his citizenship certificate, she said, "ahh, our little American." 

After that, big D and I drove over to Mandy's to visit and to go to David's citizenship ceremony on Wednesday.  David and Hunter are 6 months apart...but the same size and all boy!  They had a great time:)

 David was officially a citizen on Dec, 7th when we finalized but we had not received the certificate yet because they have a ceremony with lots of other children who are also being naturalized the same day.  

It was a wonderful ceremony and I regret not taking our other kids.  David of course was oblivious, but there were 30 countries represented with mostly parents that had immigrated to this country and their children were being naturalized.  Each country was called out and the children from that country stood.  It was very moving because there was such excitement in the room.

The speaker explained that "many people are born into this great country and take it for granted, but you will not."  That is something all of us should be reminded!

A 5th grader from Iraq led us in the "Pledge of Allegiance" at the end.  It was awesome.