A family that I love made a trip to Michigan recently. They came back to raise support; they have decided to become missionaries, in Kenya. They will be living in one orphanage parenting the children there and over seeing five orphanages. Part of their responsibilities will be feeding 800 children a day, utilizing two one-burner charcoal grills. There are 150,000 orphans, under the age of five, caring for themselves and younger siblings in Kenya. They didn’t go looking for this adventure, but it found them. Seeing them brought back old memories and emotions.

The... more

This morning I was helping Ty, our eight-year-old son, do his third grade schoolwork. I broke a cake donut in half and dipped the end of it into my coffee. Ty asked me what I was doing and I told him. He looked at me as if I was nuts and responded, “Are you some sort of cop or something?” I laughed really hard. I’m not sure where he picked up on that stereotypical idea of a police officer. Perhaps it was from watching television.

Amigrace our 15-month-old daughter has discovered her bellybutton. During bath time or diaper changes, she repeatedly puts her finger in her... more

Three of the girls and I sat in the stands tonight cheering for brother Ty during his floor hockey game. Unfortunately, our cheering him on wasn’t enough, his team was only able to score one time. The opposing team couldn’t seem to miss a shot. Ty’s team should have had an advantage. The opposing team twice had members in the penalty box for high sticking, which made them short a player for several minutes of the game. Big brother Ty seemed to be everywhere blocking shots and sending the puck across the floor back to the forwards.

Ty is one of little sister Ami’s... more

Just in case you have been wondering, there are still nice people out there in the world. Tonight, I left the stove and my computer turned on because I was only going to be gone for about 20 minutes. Lyn takes her piano lessons on Wednesday night. Five of the children and I were running to pick her up. I popped through the Walgreens drive thru afterwards to pick up a couple of prescriptions and that is when I made the fatal mistake. I turned off the van. It wouldn’t start back up, it wouldn’t even turn over, it just clicked. The baby started crying; the two other youngest... more

Tonight we took seven of our children out to dinner, we also invited our 18-year-old son who still lives at home, but he had his own plans of course. It is certainly important to teach your adopted children how to eat in a public place. However, the first several training opportunities can be a little embarrassing for adoptive parents of older children who are not yet familiar with dining out. Those little social subtleties that children we raised from infancy just seem to know without actually being taught are completely missing in the older adopted children.

Therefore... more

I went horseback riding today, something I haven’t had time to do in several weeks. As I gazed at the beautiful fall colors and felt the cool breeze on my face it occurred to me that I hadn’t felt much joy lately. I have been guilty of focusing on the negatives for quite a while instead of the positives. The main reason I’ve obsessed on the negatives is probably because I haven’t made any time for me and what I enjoy doing. Instead, I have been worrying about an adoption, homeschooling five children, and working.

I’ve been really good about telling others,... more

Perhaps the hunting has caused an increase in the testosterone levels of the brothers bringing out their primal aggressive tendencies. Traipsing through the woods lugging a tree stand and bow or a gun while dressed in camouflage just might have that affect. Maybe carrying cases of cereal to the basement from the back of Super Dad’s truck caused one of the brothers to snap. I guess we may never know for sure what caused this crazy and bazaar behavior. All I know is that Buck called me to the kitchen in a panic yelling that his brother had turned into a cereal killer.

I... more

What binds the brothers together with their dad at this time of year? The love of hunting that they share, of course. The brothers can be seen with their dad practicing with their bows and shotguns for weeks before the opening day of bow season. If I look out the back picture window, I can see them sticking arrows into life-size realistic deer targets with precise bowshots. They sight in their shotguns by shooting at paper targets affixed to five-foot round bales of first cutting timothy hay.

The boys return to the house with their dad and with smiles on their faces. If they were shooting guns then they all sit in the living room to clean and polish their weapons together. They discuss... more

On Sunday afternoon, we attended the annual church harvest party. It was another one of those great bonding opportunities where adopted siblings could make memories with their new family. Sometimes children who are newly adopted to your family feel left out when a sibling is reminiscing with “remember when,” phrases. That is one of the reasons I love these fun outings with our church family. It creates some “remember when” scenarios for all of the children.

When we arrived, some children were already going on hayrides. They were sitting on stacks of straw, loaded on a wagon,... more

Little sister turned 15 months old this week and she has a lot to say. She has been watching and listening to her older siblings and her mom for over a year now. Sometimes you can tell whom she is copying by her tone or the way she says a word or phrase. Previously, I remember my toddlers always wanting to talk on the phone because I did that a lot. Little sister always wants to type on my computer. I wonder why…

I couldn’t help but laugh the other day when our four year old was throwing one of her screaming, kicking, snot blowing episodes. Little sister... more