{PHFR}

{pretty}

Lainey went to a horse camp as a birthday gift and she has a wonderful week. She was glowing at the little show they put on the last day.

{happy}

MaryClare will be 6 on Sunday and this Tuesday we celebrated a bit early because some dear friends were visiting with their new 6 year old. It was great to celebrate together, but I think MaryClare got a bit gypped on blowing out the candles. Looks like he blew out both sets!

{funny}

No explanation necessary!

{real}

This picture was a part of the group I downloaded today. Did I mention it's been awhile since I downloaded off the 'good' camera? Yes, um, this is from Christmas morning....

Faster and Faster

Isn't it funny how when you're a child Christmas takes forever to arrive and then as an adult it seems that just as you've finished putting away all the Christmas decorations it's time to haul them out again?

I just imported all of my old blog posts from my previous blog. Sifting through them I was struck yet again how fleeting time is.

I am always planning and dreaming, reading and talking about what is next. I am truly going to commit myself to being focused in the present. Of course a girl ahem, a mother of seven cannot simply stop looking ahead and become queen of spontaneity, but I will be consciously trying to soak up the joy and love that is happening all around me right now. I think a part of this new commitment also has to be a resolution not to get stuck in the dreaming and planning mode and to actually Do Stuff.

This new blog is evidence of my commitment!

To illustrate the warp speed that time is currently racing by us, I offer these photographs as evidence:

exhibit a: Nina at the beginning of June

exhibit b: Nina at the end of June

Really, the evidence speaks for itself. Now go! Be present!

Adding

We have eight children. Seven on earth and one soul in heaven, a child we never met because of a miscarriage.

Our seventh child arrived on May 2! Nina was 36 weeks gestation. She weighed in at a whopping 4'11 oz., but surprisingly to us she did not need any intervention or extra help at all. her apgar scores were 9/9. It's hard to see in this photo how truly tiny she was. Look at the shirt though, that's the regulation hospital shirt and it just swamped her.

Tomorrow she'll be 6 weeks old and at her dr's appt. on Friday she weighed in at 7'14oz. I am thrilled! She is still small, of course, but she's filling out and looking cuter every day. As Lee said it's an unspoken truth that scrawny little preemies, as precious as they may be, are just not as cute as plumped out babies.

MaryClare and Nina (almost 6 weeks)

fresh new blog!

Don't you love the new blog smell?

I began to blog in 2005 when we were anticipating the adoption of our daughter. I chronicled the adoption process and also general family stuff. I even had a separate blog I used for when we actually travelled to meet our new daughter.

I kept the original blog going after we came home. My family loved it and I began to share our new life homeschooling and I met so many wonderful writers and mothers throughout the blogging world.

Many times my writing focus blurred and my blog became not just a basic journal of our family and school life, but I felt pulled to explore more personal thoughts I had about my faith, my kids, my marriage. What had begun as a forum to share basic family news with friends and acquaintances was now much more personal and I found my internal censor was working overtime. So I stopped writing.

Now I am here cracking open a fresh new blog!

Quick thinking

"Hey mom, what are hooters?" she says.
"Whaaa?" I glance up at the giant busty lady on the billboard. "Oh yeah, they're owls, you know-cause they hoot. It's a restaurant."
Thank God there is an actual owl on the sign. He's hiding behind the lettering, his eyes standing in for the Os, but he's there.
Silence.
She snorts. "Well, that's a silly name for a restaurant."
"Yeah baby, I know."
I give myself a mental pat on the back. Thanks to my quick thinking my 7 yr. old's innocence is preserved just a bit longer.

We are plan B

I just read a wonderful article that clearly explained my often complicated feelings on adoption. (isn't it great when that happens? when you read something someone else wrote and you think, "Yes! That's exactly it!")

I don't want to repeat it all here, but I'll try to summarise the author and to add my own personal feelings.

God's plan for families is for them to stay together. Period. It disturbs me when people (well meaning) say things like, "God planned for you to be her family all along!" That is simply not the case. I've always known this, but I've had a difficult time explaining it. Yes, God is omniscient and knew we would be together, but sin is never part of His plan. When sin occurs, it occurs despite God's knowledge of it. (see: Adam and Eve...)

No, sin is never part of His plan. Free will is, however.

We are free to toss His beautiful gifts away. The Garden of Eden, our fertility, our families and yes His precious babies.

No, adoption was never part of His plan for families.

And yet, and yet ... I have this precious, beautiful daughter. A chance for a lifetime loving relationship with her and her with us.

It is our own free will that has necessitated this whole plan B (and C and D and so on) stuff. But, thank God for the plan Bs. He is glorified in the plan Bs.

After all, isn't our Saviour part of a plan B too?

Spring Fever

One thing I have been reminded of lately is the importance of a big picture goal. Recently my husband and I sat down one evening and discussed our long term goals for the family. Actually we do this pretty often, a few times a year.

We need to start writing things down though, it is not easy to remember to 'take notes' during those intimate talks though. But every time we have one of those good, sit down, long term, big picture discussions I feel soooo much better about the day to day stuff.

Our long term goals are not very complicated the biggest, most important one is 'get to Heaven bring as many people along with me as I can' Not very earth shattering. But-remembering that goal does put things into perspective for me. Then we drill down a bit and discuss how what we are doing day to day is helping us achieve that goal and the little ones in between like having a strong family sacramental life, encouraging our children to be close siblings etc. etc. Not that it is so formal when we talk, we just always seem to get around to those points.

One thing I have been missing lately, a key point I think, is the mindset for myself that if I am doing my job daily of taking care of the household, parenting and educating my children and nurturing my marriage, then all those small baby steps, as small as they may seem in the day to day grind (laundry?), are are still on the same path, the road I want to be on heading for Heaven. When I look at my life with that vision, I don't feel so overwhelmed, (or at my worst, apathetic, which is a sure burn out symptom for me)