The Front Door

Right now our front door is blah white. We had it painted when we moved in a few years ago and it's really starting to look bad. The previous owners had a mail slot cut out of the door and that was one of the first things I wanted changed. Excuse me if I don't want random people to be able open a little slot and peek right into my house! I never quite understood that. Anyway, it's totally cracking around that seam where it was filled and it's just all-around dingy.

I found this street view picture of the house on google maps (the weather has been pretty stormy here so I haven't been able to go out and get a recent shot) - you can definitely see it's dated since it was taken before the big tree and bush massacre, new roof and storm door replacement. I guess it's gotta be at least a year old.



I was thinking of painting the door black since we have a lot of black/ORB "trimmings" in the front - light fixture, mail box, iron work around the porch, light post, railing, etc. I've seen so many gorgeous black doors floating around the web, but after doing a little photoshopping, I realized that was not the way to go. I need to go much bolder to make it stand out.



I tried a few other colors. This is Behr's Windjammer:



Behr's Bright Star:



And then I got to thinking of the classic red front door. Two amazing bloggers (Sherry and Katie) had success with that so I figured I'd give it a photoshop try.

This is Valspar's Fabulous Red that Sherry used:



And Valspar's Front Door Red that Katie used:



It's funny that these two colors are right next to each other on Valspar's palette (great bloggers think alike!). Although the color of my bricks is definitely closer to Sherry's, I'm thinking of going with Front Door Red.  Here's an enhanced picture with the new roof color, new storm door "installed," and pretty window boxes. I'm also kinda liking the shutters. One day... What do you think?



Of course I'm going to get swatches so I can compare them in person (rather than the computer screen) and may just get some others while I'm at it.

Please let me know what color you like best and if you have any different color suggestions, do share!!  What color is your front door?

Update on Mia!

BUT, not really...

 because her measurements show she has shrunk 6cm...

and the pictures are from 2010.

To be honest we are thrilled to have these pictures of her from a couple years ago.

All of our children treasure pictures of themselves when they were younger.

She was 8-9 yrs old in these pics.

I hope we are able to get even younger ones than this... 

and recent ones!

I guess while in the adoption process you don't get to pick and choose- you just take what you get!

Once she's home we will be taking plenty of pictures!

We also sent some question!

Mia is smaller than most of the children her age. She is under the 3% in height and weight. We think she is maybe a little bigger than Ava... Ava is 6 yr old, she will be 7 in June. Mia is 10.5... 11 in mid October.

We will be scheduling a visit to the endocrinologist once we are home! It is probably too late to be able to do much for her now but we will give it a try!

She speaks clearly (yay, no speech for this one, hopefully!)

Her Chinese is very good and she knows a few English words!

She is an average student but she learns very fast.

She likes to study Chinese and her favorite activity is dance.

She loves to play with other children. 

That is a good thing, considering the family she is coming home to!

In the pictures it looks like she is sporting some new front teeth!

They said she still had 13 baby teeth-

Hello, unreliable and forgetful tooth fairy!

(that would be me!)

They gave us the name of her best friend!

We look forward to learning more about our new daughter!

Conquering the Beast!

The beast, my friends are the seasonal clothes...

This is a mere fraction of the clothes we have to go through...

Hubby walked upstairs,

He took one look at all the piles,

and said...

"now this is the dark side of adoption..."

"God Bless you honey!"

He asked if there was anything he could do to help?

"Just make a walkway dear!"

With 6 girls and 2 boys there are so many clothes to go through...

four seasons

8 growing children

OH MY!!

There is not enough room in the closets to keep all the clothes in there.

So I have to put the off season clothes in boxes under the beds or down in the storage room.

I need to do this twice a year...

UGH

Does anyone have any better ideas on how to handle this?

We did find 3 boxes of clothes downstairs for Ava!

She was thrilled and the others were a bit jealous.

She got 5 semi new jammies, endless skirts and tops and enough shorts to last her through the summer!

In fact now she has more summer clothes than there are summer days in MN!

Next year Anna and Abby will have plenty to wear!

And so will...

Oh, I think I will stop there!

;-)

WOW - THANK YOU!

Wow! 
50 Birthday wishes! 
Gals, you out did yourself- THANK YOU!!

You definitely made my day!

Along with this crew!

The weather held out and we were able to go boating!

All of the  children we so excited!!

Especially Abby and Luke- it was their first time on a boat!

Emma volunteered to wear the not as pretty life vest- thank you Emma!

We will get another pretty one soon!

Daddy went fast and all the children giggled and held on tight!

There was a lot of seat switching going on!

We had snacks on the boat!

It was such a delightful outing with the children!

These two newbies are doing so well! I am amazed!

We serve an incredible God!

Abby is beginning to learn her colors and numbers 1-5.  Her fine motor skills are greatly improving!

Luke is running around, climbing and jumping on the tramp now!

He is as smart as can be and he has a great sense of humor.

They are both adorable!

Our blessings are abundant as you can see!

They are both so cute and have found their place in the family!

We went boated to the Fletchers for lunch!

It is a fun restaurant on the lake!

It was the first time the children have been there!

I was a little nervous as the children walked along the dock to the boat.

The other people eating lunch were watching them for entertainment.

I know they expected at least one of them if not more... to fall in the water!

We are always getting questions like-

 What is a dock?

What is a...

They often ask the simplest question, that we take for granted.

I had a very happy birthday!

And a delightful day!

All the big kids that couldn't join us called with birthday wishes!

I miss them and it was so good to hear from them!

Thank you Jesus for a great day and so many blessings!

AND 

thank you for your birthday wishes!!

It's My Birthday!

I know it's completely shameless.

It's like I'm asking for birthday wishes- how embarrassing

BUT

I am!

Embarrassing and asking!

  Waking up tomorrow morning to birthday wishes could really make my day!

Good weather so we could do something fun would really be nice too!

I wish we could have birthdays without turning a year older

NOW THAT WOULD BE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Oreo Balls

The Jewish holiday of Shavuot is coming up and it is traditional to eat dairy foods over the festival. My sister found this great recipe and asked me to make it when she hosts the family for one of the meals.  I modified it a little, based on the reviews, and it was SO easy and came out great (shhh, don't tell her I tasted some one)! With only three ingredients, you can't go wrong.

Ingredients:
1 package Oreo cookies
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Instructions:
1. Put cookies in a bag and crush them into crumbs. It doesn't need to be as fine as flour, but there shouldn't be any big chunks.

2. Empty contents into a medium size bowl and add cream cheese.

3. Use an electric mixer to combine the cookie crumbs and cream cheese until it is evenly mixed.

4. Put the mixture in the fridge for an hour or so. (The original recipe said to put it in the freezer, but I found that it got too hard and I had to wait a while for it to soften up enough for me to work with.)

5. Put confectioner's sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll cookie mixture into one inch balls and roll it in the sugar. Place on a piece of parchment paper to harden.

6. Keep refrigerated. (Can be prepared in advance and then frozen.)

7. Try not to eat too many at once! If you make them, let me know how they come out.

Linking up here:
DIY by Design | At the Picket Fence | Serenity Now | Home Stories A2Z | House of Hepworths |

An Unexpected Journey

When God blessed us with Emma he took us on a journey we never expected to be on.

It is a journey that we do not fully understand and probably will not fully understand...

until HE allows us to understand.

So many parenting decisions that we make for the other children do not apply or are not the correct ones in regards to Emma.

At times I have felt lost in this journey.

Going from Dr to Dr...

each one sends us on our merry way-

without any answers or any direction.

Today we were at the allergist.

Emma often scratches herself until she bleeds.

Her torso is badly scared and when the Dr saw her back he gasped.


He then chose to do the allergy testing on her arms. It only showed a minor allergy to dust. Since Emma mainly scratches at night we will cover her mattress and pillow with special covers.


It still does not explain the severity of her itching...


I had thought that we were going to get concrete answers at the allergist and we would then have a plan to help Emma stop scratching and hopefully allow her body to heal.


My heart sinks when I bathe her and see all the damage done to her beautiful body.


Next is the dermatologist...


I am not feeling hopeful.
I no longer think that a Dr will have a light bulb moment and give me insight into Emma's situation. Or that Emma will be healed, or even helped.


I think that this is not a medical journey.


I think that it is a God journey. God has made us Emma's parents for a reason. I think it is a journey he wants to take us on.


Sometime I fight the "journey"- it requires so much patience, so little progress and so many unanswered questions.
Even when I try to "fix" the situation or think I have found the answer.
It doesn't end up that way.


I believe that Emma is the ultimate "hurt child" and then toss in a very low IQ and it becomes a journey no Dr has ever been on.


BUT


There is ONE that can help.


It's God...


He can give me the patience that I need, the answered prayers, the deep love that I need to be on this journey.
Don't misunderstand me- I do love Emma. BUT this journey takes more than my love... it takes love so deep that is beyond me.


I need to rest in HIS peace.

One of the miracles of adoption has been the progress the children have made once they are home.
Progress for Emma has been slow...very, very slow but it also tells me I need to use a different scale for Emma and celebrate the little things.


When Emma stopped doing Karate- some commented on how sad they were for her.


Do not be sad for Emma because Karate means nothing to her, no activity means that much to her.


BUT what really means a lot to her is


LOVE
A SMILING MOMMY
A HUG
KIND WORDS
ENCOURAGEMENT
BEING HELPFUL
BEING VALUED
PRAYER
running errands with her DADDY
SUCCESS at her level
AND MORE LOVE


Do you see how happy she is in the pictures I post. That is where she is happiest and most comfortable- at home with her family!  I am thankful that she has found this within our ever growing family. I bet Emma has never been loved by so many people in her whole life.
The circle is growing sweet girl! And although it is hard for her at first when a new member joins our family, she adjusts quickly.


God is causing me to be even more dependent on HIM.


I'm thinking that's the way HE wants it!


And it is challenging for this "let me take things into my own hands" kinds girl!

I Love How They Play!

The children have so much fun together!

As the Momma, it is such a joy to see!

 They are all smiles and giggles!

Yes, we have plenty of tattling and some tears but most of the time they play so well together!

Sometimes one will play alone or two will go off together and play. 

Their is always a friend... a sibling to hang out with!

It brings us so much joy to see how well they are doing!

 One child is not left out because they have a cleft lip, or learning is hard for them or they still wear pull ups or their diagnosis is scary - they are all equal on the playing field!

Praise God for such blessings!

We are excited for Mia to join this crew and praying to God for direction regarding a possible second child!?

I feel like Mia, who will come home at 11 yrs old will have a chance to regain part of her childhood once she is home.

We did get an update and will post about it soon!

The Garden is Growing!

I know I've been talking a lot about the landscaping and outside of our house (getting our trees cut down, landscaping touch ups, garden planting, etc.), but I guess it's just that time of year that all this type of work gets done! Things are slowly starting to look up around here.

The grass is finally starting to grow in where we formerly had tree stumps.

Before:

Now: (not sure why that big patch is a totally different color than the rest of the grass...)

I've been doing TONS of weeding. And finally got some more mulch to pretty up the front flower bed.

Before:

Now:

OK, so the azaleas are no longer blooming, but that mulch definitely improved the look of it. I also took some spare bricks we had lying around to edge the right side of the bed, giving it more of a finishing touch.


And look at how nicely the garden is growing.

Before:

Now:


You can see real plants and not just tiny little sprouts! I don't know what went wrong with our cucumber seeds, but only a few actually sprouted. The snap peas and carrots look great, and we've got about three zucchini plants that took. To be honest, since this is our first year, I wasn't sure if anything was going to grow so just seeing what we've got is so exciting. I must say that if you have young children, growing a vegetable garden is such an amazing project to create with them. There are so many benefits, not to mention the exercise and healthy foods they'll be eating from it, but the joy of seeing the fruits of their labor (pun intended!) is priceless.

Since I dragged my daughter to Home Depot with me to get the mulch, I told her she could pick out a flower for us to plant and this is what she wanted:

(It had just rained when I took these pictures so that's why everything looks wet.) After laying all the mulch, my back was quite sore and I didn't feel like digging around, so we just put the whole planter in the little indentation in the ground where the random daffodils used to live. She's happy so I'm happy!

What did you work on over the weekend?

Linking up here:
It All Started with Paint |