Family Pictures

You know our family doesn't seem that big except when we load and unload in our big van or when we see a picture of ourselves. Javier and I both laughed out loud, "Wow- that looks like a tribe!" We have 1 little girl that would not smile, another that had the "cheesy smile" and a little boy that cried most of the time. Maybe in 10 years from now, we can get a good picture :) until then, we will just be thankful for our little characters.

Fabulous Find Friday

I found this about a month ago. $3 - oh yeah - I couldn't believe it either! Ok it is not in perfect shape - but the kids can get some good fun out of it. PS - these are my best things in the last few months - not every garage sale find is this good :)!

Double Trouble/Pure Sweetness

PS - sorry about the blurry pictures - they look great on my computer, but when I upload them to the blog they look bad. I noticed this with the camping pictures too.

Memorial Box Monday -11 people, crawdads and a bear - oh my!

Jo Jo is on the lookout for bears with her binoculars and walkie talkie in hand.

The bear's snacks?

catching crawdads

We thought there was no way we could take a vacation now with 3 babies and 5 other kids, for 2 reasons. The 1st reason was cost and the 2nd reason was that it would just be too hard. We could afford camping , but we knew it was hard enough last year with 5 kids - the youngest being 2 1/2 . Well, our Mountain moving - always providing God gave us a camping trip. Our friend Socorro came in to town and has never been to the mountains or camping and she really wanted to go and assured us we could do it with her help. She really is equal to 3 people - she sees a need and does it and has a special way with kids that is amazing (of course spoiling them and giving them gum always helps :)). We went to the forest just about 2 hours from our house - for 2 days and 1 night.

The kids had so much fun hiking, playing games, going to the lake to fish for crawdads, roasting marshmallows, singing around the campfire and shooting the bb gun and cross bow.

The hammock was the best thing! Socorro stuck the boys in it for nap time and they swung right to sleep in the warmth of the sun.

Well, not only was it a blessing for all of us to go on a little camping trip and make memories, but the Lord also protected us. When we got to camp - the neighbor campers suggested we put our dogs in the camper or van at night because they heard a bear the night before and their trash had been ripped apart. Well we were planning to put them in anyways and we packed up all our food and put it in the van. Javi and Jordan slept in the van, while the other 9 of us slept in a 30 yr old camper that is falling apart. I heard 3 loud bangs on the window that night. When we woke up, on both sides of the campsite in between our camper and van there were a couple of places where a bear had scratched and dug with his claws. Also that old plastic window right there on that side of our camper was broken. The neighbors also said they heard the bear at their campsite again that night and they were in a tent! All we could think of was how God protected us and what we would have done. We laughed so hard thinking about Javier and his fear of wild animals. Javier said that he and Jordan would have just started the van and taken off :).

So to remember the way our God provided for us and protected us, we added a tiny toy bear to our memorial box. If you are wondering what this memorial box is all about, you should check it out here where I got the idea http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/2009/09/memorial-box-monday-check.html .

We are known by our actions

I believe every life is precious and that we are known by our actions. We can easily say we are against abortion and that children are a blessing, but what are we doing to support women who choose life or what are we doing to care for the orphans? One family is trying to raise $ for the legal fees to adopt a baby from an incarcerated woman. They were teenage parents themselves and now have a beautiful Christian family. You can donate even $5 or $10 or more on their blog and watch them bring home this baby. http://www.storinguptreasures.com/ . This family only needs to raise $3000 more out of the $7000 total needed for the legal fees. You can donate via paypal. I sold some jeans once on ebay for our adoption and never cashed it out - so it was just sitting in my paypal account - purposed for adoption - so I thought - how perfect! Do you have something similar? Or could you give up a couple of coffee drinks or runs through the drive thru to bless this precious baby's life, not to mention bless this family 10 fold? HMMMM - invest in a mocha frapuccino (gone in 5 minutes if you are me) or invest in an eternal blessing?

Fabulous Find Friday

If you only know me through the blog, you may not know that I buy EVERYTHING from garage sales. Every piece of furniture in our home was either passed down to us for free or bought at a garage sale with the exception of 1 set of couches and a huge coffee table my dad made custom for us. I think every decoration and all my curtains were also garage sale finds and most of the kids' toys and clothes are from garage sales. Well, I think I hit the jackpot the other day. I found this solid wood wardrobe thing for $20! The kids had fun pretending it was the wardrobe from Narnia, but now I put in the shelves that came with it and it holds our school stuff. I was needing more storage to organize my school stuff and I would have spent the same amount on 3 big tubs at Targ*t. This is how we save so much $, but have everything we need/want. I just might make this a regular post on Fridays :).

Mia's new friend

A month or so ago we got a new long haired chihuahua named Quico (keeko). He was really scared and snappy at first, but now he is so in love with our kids - especially Julia.

Caught Red Handed

Make a run for it

Aww - she caught me. (yes that is a bag full of brownies and one in his hand too. He scooted the chair to the counter and snatched that bag - can't blame him - they were really yummy :))

(another post below)

1st buzz

BEFORE

AFTER

My late grandmother would always ask me one thing about Jordan . . . . "Is his hair still nice and short?" That was really important to her and it is also important to Javier. Well, I couldn't take the sides flipping out any longer . . . so . . . . J J got his first buzz. Janae was so cute and ran to get a ziploc baggy and wrote the date and name on it (she is my brain since I don't have one after 8 kids :)) I know he looked better with hair, but it will grow. First haircut - 8 months

Is there anything more delicious?

Couldn't you just take a bite of this chubby little thing. He is still just the happiest little guy!

PS - he now weighs 21 lbs and is 7 months old and Jeremiah weighs 22 lbs and is 18 months old - Jameson is going to pass him up soon! - (2 more new posts below)

Psalm 67-Burundi night

Jeremiah celebrating Burundi night using the Burundian basket as a hat. Burundi is dear to our hearts because of our refugee friends. We have had a lot of great memories with them - here are a couple of my highlights over the last few years.

The Burundian wedding reception in our old backyard. Many of you helped donate and lend items and volunteer time to make this possible. Some young men played African drums and an electric guitar and everyone sang and danced. All the songs were praising the Lord and blessing this new marriage - really neat.

Jacklyn got to ride around Burundi style and loved it!

I was able to meet my Burundian friend at the hospital in the middle of the night for an emergency c-section because she couldn't get a hold of her husband at work. I was the first to see her baby - she didn't believe me that her baby came out white (she was put under for the c-section). I was pretty surprised myself.

Her baby browned up quickly and her husband was able to make it to the hospital shortly after.

This meal is not exactly authentic, but the Lima beans/spinach/tomato sauce dish on white rice is a recipe they taught me and believe it or not -all of my kids except Jordan LOVE this meal and ask for more.

The kids did a mini report on Burundi during school time to share with us at dinner. We also used this Operation World book to find out more ways to pray for the people and country of Burundi. It is a tiny country, the size of Massachusetts, located near Tanzania, Rwanda and Congo. Many have been killed or displaced because of the genocide between the Hutu and Tutsi people groups. This has also created many widows and orphans that need care and our prayers. (Notice Josiah bows his head and closes his eyes - not for long, but he is learning :))

Our traditional clothes - look at JJ going after the beans :)

The dancers were great too!

Socorro is here again!

If you need a deep cleaning and/or organization of cabinets, linen closets, garage - anything, my friend Socorro will be available this coming week. This is the easiest way to get the word out. Let me know if you want to book her. Also, if you live further, Javier can always take her and pick her up or meet you since he works near the 101 and Broadway. She works all day and most people pay her $100-120/day.

"If God answered all your prayers of the last 7 days, would anything in the WORLD change, or just your world?" MP

Tonight we started a new tradition - P67 night (Psalm 67). We want to impart God's love for the nations to our children. Tonight we ditched the table, took off our shoes, covered our heads, put on our kaft*ans and jela*bas and ate on the floor by lantern - with no plates or utensils. We prayed for the people of Mor*cco.

Unfortunately, American Christianity is largely viewed as only a personal relationship with Christ and Christians read the Bible to see "what it says to ME". Yes, that is good and true, but that view is greatly lacking. The Bible is a story of God loving, forgiving, redeeming and saving His people. People from every tongue, tribe and nation.

Think of heaven and the people worshipping him, truthfully what image do you see? People like yourself? Mostly English speaking, middle class, singing a nice tune, not too loud, clapping hands to the beat? . . . . .At one time I did - but that is not a biblical image. God is so greatly to be praised that he will have a beautiful variety of every language, every large and small tribe and ethnic group - worshiping him. Every skin color, size, tradition, dialect, dancing, chanting, singing, clapping on and off beat, stomping - not just conservative-stand in a row, clap in unison, English speaking believers :).

There are still many, many unreached people groups. People who have NEVER heard the gospel and who have none of God's word in their own language -we need to pray fervently for them. There are hurting and poor people, orphans and widows in many nations - we need to pray for them. There are Christians still being martyred in many nations - we need to pray for them.

Are you imparting a Biblical world view to your children? Are you installing a passion in your children to see ALL people groups blessed by the gospel?

*Next week - Ethiopia* - (What a great way to make social studies and worship/prayer relevant - have your kids find a few traditions and recipes about a people group and go for it) Anyone want to join us and make this a tradition in your home?

Busy August - picture update

Although we have so many great cleaners in our family . . . Sometimes we need some extra help. Thank goodness for our friend Socorro from Hermosillo!

Our refugee friends from Burundi came over this weekend. We have known them for 10 years. If you have never seen Hotel Rwanda - you should rent it. It gives you a taste of what they lived through except they hid in the "bush" (jungle) for months and in the movie the people hid in a hotel. Augustin also lost 2 children in the midst of it, yet they are so thankful to the Lord and such faithful and joyous people!

Agustin (above) and Audace, Jessica, Penina and Sarange (below). Penina and Audace had their wedding reception in the backyard of our last house - it was my favorite wedding party I have ever experienced. Now they have 3 little ones! Oh how I would love to have another wedding at our house!

Christina (below) she was just a baby when we met them, now she is a beautiful young lady. There were many more kids, but they were off playing.

Also this last weekend, Javier's 1/2 uncles came over. Javier found out about them and met them about 7-8 years ago and they now live about 2 hours from our house. Uncle Juan is actually younger than Javier. His dad is Javier's paternal grandpa. He also originally came to the states to play baseball. It's in the blood. The kids LOVE it when Uncle Juan comes to play.

Josiah was so comfortable with Uncle Juan. Uncle Freddy is below.

Like father, like son - Jeremiah is learning early.

See mom what I got?! Both of our dogs are so good with letting the kids do anything to them.

I finally got a 3rd highchair at a garage sale. Jameson just doesn't like baby food. He has gone straight from breastfeeding and formula for 6 months to table food (of course he still loves his milk too). I have never had a child do this - he doesn't throw a fit or anything, he just will not open his mouth for even applesauce. He is crawling fast and just starting to pull up on things and stand. He has fallen flat backwards a few times this week, because he has no concept of what happens when he lets go. He is almost 7 months - we call him chub-a-lub. He is still the happiest and most mellow little thing - Julia was just like him.

Need I explain this next picture - let's just say this was a great homeschool science project of identifying organs and he made a great dinner, but a little chewy :). We got 7 eggs yesterday from our wonderful hens! (all we get from the roosters is a lot of noise!) Before we have only gotten 2-3 eggs a day- so hopefully this means all 7 hens are laying now. It takes about a dozen and a half to feed us one breakfast (assuming we add toast and other food too) - so bring on the eggs!

I just love that we are starting to get back to having a real life and having people over again after 8-9 months of the boys adjusting and getting well and us figuring out how to go from 5 kids to 8 all of a sudden. Life will never be "normal" here, but it sure is fun, or more accurate - blessed!

Need a deep cleaning and live in the east valley?

This is the easiest way to get the word out (sorry this post doesn't apply to people in other states :)) I know some of you mentioned being interested in having my friend Socorro come to clean, well she is in town. She is available to work Saturday or any day next week (she might stay for 2 weeks - I'm not sure yet). She usually spends the whole day at 1 house cleaning it from top to bottom. Depending on what you want, she does blinds, plant shelves, light fixtures, insides of cabinets, cleaning out refrigerators or anything she has time for (in addition to regular cleaning) - it just depends on how big and how dirty your house is and what you want :). She even likes to refold linens and wipe out shelves etc. You can pay her what you can, but most people pay her $100 for about 7-8 hours of work. Some pay her a little more or a little less and some people use her for 2 or 3 days. We love this because we can not afford a regular house cleaner, but we can afford deep clean a couple of times a year that helps out another believer. She is honest and a fast/hard worker. I can translate everything and deliver her/pick her up most days and places in the east valley. You can email or if you have my # call me. Also, pass this on to anyone else that might be interested. There is also another lady available from our Spanish church to clean, cook, iron or babysit etc that is here for 2 months in the Queen Creek area who also has similar rates and is looking to make some extra $ while she is here. Just let me know.

1 more thing . . .

This was supposed to be in my last post - sorry. We got our first egg yesterday! I know it is tiny, but it is a start - the kids were so excited. Jordan does most of the care for the chickens - he is a hard worker around here. It turns out our dog caught one chicken and it died, then 3 died in a storm and now we are left with 7 hens and 6 roosters I think - oh well. I think we will be having some rooster soup pretty soon :). We are officially farmers!

The little things in life

This was Josiah the first day home in these 6-9 month pjs - notice they are even a little baggy on him - 8 months ago - he was 20 months old

Here is Jeremiah a few weeks later - same pjs - he could wear them for quite a while

Now here is Jameson at 6 months in the same pjs - it is crazy to think Josiah was this size when we brought him home - possibly a smidge taller, but much thinner. Now Jeremiah is a tiny bit taller than Jameson and he has a bigger head, but Jameson is chubbier.

This is where we found Jameson after the birthday cake at Jackie's party. He is no dummy! If mom won't give him cake, he will get it himself under Jeremiah's highchair. Yes- Jameson crawls and sits up now.

This is what happens when you have so many big sisters - They called him "Man Bug" instead of ladybug

And Jeremiah heard that pink is the "new blue"He loves the potty seat - just for fun

My handsome boy at Jackie's party

Jackie really wanted a brown girl baby alive for a long time - we found her on clearance for her birthday- she's perfect and she named her Janissa after Mona's baby girl that she just brought home from Ethiopia.

Memorial Box Monday - A break from the heat

What do you do the first day you fill up the pool??? You make a boat out of a baby pool and play pirates with your cousins of course.

Jeremiah loves to swim Josiah does tooOh and this is the greatest blessing of all - the kids take great naps after swimming (look at that beautiful skin and the rolls of pudge on his thighs!! He has come a long way)

We are thankful to the Lord for providing so much more than our needs. The swimming pool has been a great blessing to us and we have not only enjoyed swimming in it at least twice a day, but also having several families over to swim the last week and a half. It is a great motivation to get school work done and it is so nice in this 114 degree heat! It is virtually impossible for me to take all the kids to the public pools by myself since we have 4 non-swimmers, but this way we can swim during the boys' naps or they can play on our baja or we can all swim when Daddy gets home. We purposely built a huge baja step that is about 2 ft deep with a shooting fountain and a drink/jumping rock so it works for the whole family. So for this Memorial Box Monday we are putting in a pool tile to remind us that God blessed our socks off and provided this pool.

Memorial Box Monday

The kids gave us "spa treatments"

In May, a friend from Mexico that we met through our Spanish church, Socorro, came in to town. She comes and deep cleans homes for different families to make some extra $. We only see her once or twice a year, but we really love her and it is a great treat when we have had her clean our home. This year the Lord provided in so many ways through her.

Basically we hit the jackpot:) She stayed at our house the majority of the 2 weeks. She was such a blessing! Every evening when she got home, she would play soccer, football, baseball or jump on the trampoline outside with the kids while I prepared dinner in peace. Then after dinner every night she insisted on bathing the babies - they have never been cleaner :). She also helped make dinner a few times (authentic Mexican food). Many nights we went grocery or clothes shopping together or out for a coffee and spiritual encouragement. I rarely get much time out with other ladies, so I treasured that time. Then, she insisted on staying with the kids one night so Javier and I could go out for coffee. Also, another night, she planned a pajama party for the kids, full of games, dinner, popcorn and a movie. That allowed us to go out for a nice dinner and stay out as late as we wanted. She taught our kids a lot of Spanish and they just adore her. They now lovingly call her "Tia" (aunt). Oh yeah - and she did a wonderful job cleaning our home and the house we rent (which we needed to get ready for the new renters).

Seriously, how many people could put up with 8 kids that aren't their own for 2 weeks - the fussing, the messes, the noise, the never ending neediness - yet she did it with joy and tears in her eyes when she left. What a cheerful, energetic servant! She uses her "ordinary talents and gifts" to be used for God's glory and to serve others. So to remember this provision of our friend Socorro (Tia) that God gave us, we put a Diet Coke can in our memorial box because she loves Diet Coke.

Its been 1 year . . .

Melkamu 15 monthsAbush 4 months

It has been 1 year since July 24, 2008 when I saw their faces for the first time! I just got an email that said, "See attached" - I loved them at first sight. Our kids went crazy too. No - I didn't think they were "the cutest" by the world's standards, (referral pictures rarely show them as cute as they really are), but they were the most precious treasures to me (now I do think they are absolutely beautiful ;)). Just like when your biological babies are born, they could come out with purple poka dots and you would gush with unconditional love. I couldn't stop zooming in on their pictures and checking out every part of them and reading and rereading their reports. What pure joy - these were my boys! The little thing that I secretly hoped was that they would have the big beautiful eyes that so many Ethiopians have - and they do!

On a side note, Javier was excited to finally have the referral -but he was more level headed and said, "Yeah, they are cute." He was happy, and thankful for our answered prayer, but not crazy in love or gushing. He wanted to know about their reports etc.

For those wondering, our referral took 3 months from the time our dossier landed in Ethiopia.

Janae, Super Skinny and pool fence

Thank you to everyone who has prayed, emailed or commented. Janae's testing just showed an enlarged spleen, but it was not bleeding. Since the doctors do not have an answer for her anemia, they are hoping it goes away with the mono. She is much better over all, but she just needs to rest a lot.

*This is for Maria Saravia- Javier's adopted mom at work:) - so she can tease him* Javier did a biggest loser competition at work that ended last week. He lost about 28 lbs. I think all the work outside and buckets of sweat that he sweated last week helped. The kids and I painted a big S and a little s on his chest for "SUPER SKINNY"- we were all proud of him - he lost his belly and is hopefully much healthier. This week they should find out who won overall percentage and inches.

Believe it or not, we have a pool fence. When Javier was off last week he finally told the guy that he wanted to go see the fence in the paint shop where supposedly it had been held up for a week. The guy told him he couldn't go until the afternoon. Well, Javier asked the paint shop how long they have had the fence and how much longer it would take. They told him they just got the fence that day (like we suspected). If Javier hadn't have gone to check on it, he probably still wouldn't have it done. Some panels were short, other things were messy and then Javier had to go pay the paint shop to get the rest of the fence. When have you heard of a customer having to pick up his fence? Javier also had to ground wire it so it would pass inspection - what a mess this has been. Today it passed - thankfully. Next up is mini- pebble interior and fill it up with some H2O- woohoo!

PS - we would recommend our pool guy - he built us a fabulous pool much cheaper than any other company - the fence guy we had to contract on our own - and we made a poor choice on him - just wanted to clarify that.

sheer excitement

The rain has just begun

Running through his first few drops

What is this stuff? And that loud noise?

A rain storm, with big fat cold rain drops, after days of 112-116 degree heat, exudes sheer excitement. This was our first real rain at our house this summer and the first storm our boys have seen. It also cooled us down to 70 degrees! It started with great wind, so we all went out to collect toys and chairs and get them out of the wind. There were a few drops and lightning, but then we sent all the kids to bed. Then at about 8:10 pm it started raining, so I let them all get out of bed. Then it poured and all the kids squealed and ran around.

Jameson slept through the whole thing

You know it is hot when. . .

You completely turn off the water heater and can still take a hot shower

Its been around 112-115 degrees outside and we are stuck with no pool. We were stalled a little waiting for our tile and paver decking, but now we are stuck! We hired a fence guy (friend of a friend- a fellow Dominican) and he only put in a few posts. It has almost been 3 weeks. We have started calling him daily, but he keeps giving us excuses. I know you will ask - no - we didn't pay him everything up front -we paid him 1/2 the $ to buy the supplies and get started. Unfortunately, it was a lot of $ because we need a huge fence - otherwise we could cut our losses and move on. Jacklyn's b-day was Sunday and we had to postpone her pool party until this weekend, but now we might have to postpone it another week or 2. UGGHHH! We are soo soooo close, but without the fence we will not pass inspection and can not put the pebble interior and fill the pool. Javier took this week off to finish the landscaping around the pool (thinking it would be done and he could cool off in the pool). The poor guy has been putting in plants, a river, garden and lots of other projects in this scorching heat. You can see him in the back with a pick digging the river.

Janae - the zombie

Janae had been sick and unusually tired for a few months upon returning from Ethiopia antibiotics didn't help, but she eventually got well. Lately she has been so exhausted, walking around like a zombie, not able to stay on track and even asking to go to bed early etc. It was deceiving because she would have energy at times, like to go to vacation bible school, but then she would be zapped the rest of the day. When I asked her, she said she has never felt the same since Ethiopia. She also reads 400-500 page books in a few days and she said they used to be like action movies and now they are in slow motion - gotta love her description of how the tiredness is affecting her:).

I took her into a new doctor last Thursday who ordered all kinds of blood work and tests. She had a few abnormalities in her blood work. She has mono and anemia. They want to figure out what is causing the anemia so she is having a CT scan tomorrow morning to check her spleen and she will have more blood work done. I am so thankful that we already found some answers and I am thankful for this new doctor who is being very thorough.

Fun stuff + video

I found the boys on our coffee table watching a video. Look how Josiah has to be just like Jordan on his tummy w/ a remote. Having older siblings has been the best thing ever for Josiah's development. He mimics EVERYTHING and Jordan just loves it!

Another candid shot. I just love how my big kids love the little ones so much!

For fun one night when I had nothing defrosted for dinner, we made green eggs and ham (with tortillas) for fun. Everyone liked them Sam I am.

Here are the kids on crazy hair/hat day for Blast Xtreme - the vacation Bible school - Jordan won the crazy hair for his team. We basically gave him 3 mohawks - then I shaved it off the first thing when he came home :)

Roses from Javi on my b-day. That is sweet - but I am weird and cringe at someone spending $ on flowers for me- seriously- and he knows it:) - we aren't big on celebrating b-days. We just went to Denny's /Joe's bbq for our free b-day meals. Wow - what a difference a year makes! Last year on my b-day I was getting my first ultrasound and I was sick with morning sickness, we had Javier's 17 yr old niece living with us and I was so tired of waiting for our referral of our boys. I didn't even know their precious faces a year ago on June 25. For this, I am soooo glad to be 1 year older - for those wondering - I am 33 and Javier turned 34 2 days later. I caught Josiah lifting the rug to vacuum under it, then Jeremiah came to help. Too bad that is a play vacuum!Jeremiah is my strongest baby - he can muscle up things and climb anything mostly with his upper body - it is incredible - future gymnast maybe :) Jameson must know that he needs to be strong to defend himself from Jer Jer because he is my strongest bio baby ever! He has been getting out of his big swing, onto the floor for a month or 2 (no seat belt) - I know crazy! So we switched to putting him in the ground swing - but this is how we always find him - out or flipped over. He is now on his hands and knees constantly rocking. He will be crawling in no time - he already scooches - 5 months old -16 lbs which is 50% for weight and 80% for height - praise God. He was under 5 % at 6 weeks and I started supplementing him, but thankfully he still prefers breastfeeding!

This is just some super cute video of my boys cleaning up their dinosaurs. I had to move Jeremiah's crib away from the blinds, so now they like to play and hide back there. Jeremiah now says mama, dada, by, hi, babbles and lots of signs - Josiah says mama, hi and signs **turn up the volume** I bet you never knew cleaning up was THIS exciting!

Memorial Box Monday-vacation and friends

As a family we continue to do Memorial Box Monday and add things to our box to help us remember what the Lord has done for us. I haven't been good about blogging about it, but as I have time I will post about some of these things in our Memorial box. Today we are adding a wrist band from our little trip to the Arizona Grand Resort.


Two friends from our agency, Mona and Tania flew into Phoenix this weekend with their baby girls - Mona was coming straight from Ethiopia! We got to all meet in the airport and share in the special moment of bringing her little Janissa home to the US. Leah, another friend from our agency, planned and provided a weekend for our 2 families at this nearby resort/water park which gave us a place to meet up and hang out with the others. What a blessing! Not only was this our first "vacation" with all the our new boys, and a blast for my family, but it was also special for us ladies to have time together meeting and talking about our experiences and babies. The babies were even sweeter in person (the mommies too :)).

The moms - Mona, Tania, Me, Leah The babies (all 1 yr old) Janissa, Sabah, Jeremiah, Aslynn

The view from our rooms

Leah insisted on taking me to get a facial-you know me - Ms. cheapo struggled with that, but it was a wonderful treat. That was my first facial/real spa treatment and it was over 1 hour. The lady massaged my arms, shoulders, neck feet and calves in addition to all the face treatments! Wow- I thought a facial just meant the face! Javier thankfully took on all 8 hungry kids all morning so that I could enjoy that and some time in the steam room chatting. Here is proof that I got to sit and relax a couple of times at night.

Javier said this was the most relaxing time he has had since we brought the boys home. I have to laugh because that is pretty sad - because yes it was fun, but both of us were busy, busy with watching the kids almost every second - so if that was relaxing, that tells you how normal life is :). I think what helped make it relaxing was that he had a chance to watch some sports during nap time and at night with his beloved cup of coffee once the kids went to bed. The kids are always awesome about going to bed at night (nap times are another story) - what a blessing!

Josiah is never short of love for his baby brother

Jameson - just a gem the whole trip

A yummy buffet breakfast our last morning

Ready for breakfast - do you see Camelback mountain in the background - those not familiar with AZ you should see a camel laying down - the left hump is the head and long nose, then the hump on the back is the bigger bump (I think)

I was stressed out the first day (Friday) because the water park was so busy and it was really hard with 5-non swimmers and everyone wanting to go different directions. We tried getting on the lazy river, but it was crazy trying to get the kids in tubes with the current and some were still standing on the deck others crying in terror as they were holding on for dear life just to keep their heads out of water. So we just all got out and ended up with our friends at one of the quiet hotel pools. Each day we got better at pairing up the kids with their buddies and taking the big kids to do the slides etc when the littles were napping or contained with one of us in the kiddy pool. They have 2 - 8 story high sheer drop slides and a curly slide. I was so proud that all 3 big kids were brave enough to go on the slides with us.All ready for the water park

Jeremiah and Janae

Jameson, Daddy and Joanna Jordan and Jacklyn

Josiah Josiah (pink car), Julia, Janae, Jeremiah - waiting for the waves to turn on

The kids also enjoyed some movies, card games, chess, reading and spending time with Leah's kids and the Ethiopian beauties. Although it was a little crazy at times, it was a perfect first attempt at a vacation with all the babies - only a couple of days, not a far drive and plenty to do. Thank you Litty family for your generosity.

So once again we praise God and are in awe of how He continues to provide above and beyond the basic needs of our growing family. I am also so thankful for all the friends we have made through this adoption experience.

Feliz Cumpleanos Papi

Daddy, You love mommy all the days and Mommy likes you and Jameson. You are my favorite Daddy and I like to go on a date with you. I like to sit on your lap and read books. Love, Jo Jo


Daddy, I love the eggs that you make. I love how you act silly and I love when you play tackle time with us. I love you. - Love, Jacklyn


Dad, You make me feel special when you spend time with me, play card games, play sports outside and when you tell me I have sparkly blue eyes. I am so glad I have you for a Dad. Thank you. Love, Julia


Dear Dad, Thank you for teaching me sports and coaching my baseball team last year. I like it when you play tackle time with us and take me to your softball games. You are the greatest home run hitter. You are really funny and always make me laugh. I like our special discipleship time at night when we read together. Thank you for letting us have Checkers. You are really cool and I really look forward to going to the Dominican Republic with you. I hope to be like you when I grow up. Love, Jordan


Happy Birthday Dad! Thank you for bringing me to take your daughter to work day and on dates like Garcias and to the horse auction. You almost always have time for us and my favorite things are tackle time and playing sports outside. Love, Janae


Happy 34th B-day - you look better than ever! I am so proud that finally after 8 kids you have worked hard and lost your "baby weight" and learned to shave ;). You always make me feel beautiful no matter if I am + or - 25 lbs, pregnant and swollen or normal with a face full of pimples. I know I am blessed to have you. Te amo mucho.

20 lbs of Trouble

This is what I found upon returning from changing Jameson's diaper
So into the high chair Jeremiah goes. How many times must I tell him to sit on his bottom? Yes I know what he needs - a little training :)

HMMMM- Josiah come quick - mom is distracted feeding Jameson. Let's raid the pantry!
Let's play pick up sticks with the spaghetti - NAAA lets just dump themCome on Pudge - hurry we better sweep this into the vacuum vent before mom sees the mess!
Not working - get something bigger - quick the broom. Ok - Pudge you turn on the vent.
Shucks - mom caught me before I got a chance to "reorganize" the cups.
How about this mom - just loving on my dog -see I'm harmless - why does everyone call me "TROUBLE"?
Giddee up - HMMMM this dog just won't move. Let's try the baby.

So sweet. Mom, who are you looking at? Don't you trust me to be gentle?

Josiah, you are going to squish him. Let me check something. Yep. He has all his parts. We'll let him join our club.

If mom won't let me dump anything else in her kitchen, maybe I can find something here. . .

AHHHH - and this was just the first couple of hours of my day on Tuesday, while all of the big kids were at VBS and I had no help. I have a new appreciation for the helpfulness of my big kids!

All week my 4 big kids have been going to Blast Extreme - like vacation Bible School on steroids. They love it! Joanna and the littles have to stay behind, so my mom has been helping by taking and picking up the kids from church and we take turns splitting up the littles - only 2 days this week I have had all 3 babies by myself. Tuesday was one of those days and I thought I was going to go crazy. Bath time was good - then all of the above happened- well lets just say, I put the boys to nap at 8:45 am instead of 9:45.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is FULL

"Only one life 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last!"
Notice Jameson's shirt says "Daddy's little sidekick" - yeah - both this shirt and his Mother's Day shirt were garage sale finds - $.50 and $.25 - love garage sales! Also - notice all of my kids have clothes on - this is rare if you look at my blog much - LOL

I think of the quote above when I think of Javi. Not only does he love God and is always evangelizing, but he also serves Christ in our home - raising up His children to know and love the Lord. You can just see how much the kids adore their daddy! He is one hard working daddy. Not only does he put in plenty of hours at work, but you just can't imagine how much work he puts in at home with the kids and projects. Sitting down to watch a football or baseball game at our house is pretty much a distant memory or really just sitting at all. He is so proud of his kids and I love that. There is not a day that goes by that his daughters don't hear how beautiful he thinks they are or a day that goes by that every child is not kissed. He has really stepped up his relationship with Jordan in the last several months, encouraging him and mentoring him in all areas, including spiritual things. We love you Daddy!

PS- You can see he got a big kick out of picking up the big kids like they were babies

- they were like, "Dad!!! please!!!"

Do we really need H2O?

Looks like Jeremiah gives it a thumbs up :)

pool construction

This is mostly for my dad who likes to watch the construction process. Last week we got the plumbing, electrical and steel done. This week they got the permit, shotcrete and the bolders come tomorrow. Tomorrow will mark 2 weeks and look how much they have gotten done!

Josiah's skin

Wow - another clear provision from the Lord. I posted Josiah's problem on our AZ Ethiopian adoption yahoo group and someone recommended a dermatologist at Phx Children's Hospital who is Ethiopian/American! Oh! and do you know what?! This doctor said his family is from Gondar - the same city where Josiah was found - so neat!

He was wonderful and diagnosed him with 4 or 5 different things and sent in swabbed samples from the sores on his bottom. He prescribed me 5 ointments and 1 over the counter cream I need to buy. He has eczema, impetigo, something I can't remember on his bum and scabies or acropustulis (sp?) on his extremities oh and moloscum (they don't treat that). All of this flared up since Sunday (except for the sores on his bum have been there longer) and his hands/legs/feet looked terrible this morning, almost as bad as when we brought him home from the orphanage. I need to cover him head to toe with the different ointments. I wish I would have known about this doc when the boys came home. It makes me sick to think of all the itching and pain that especially Jeremiah went through with their skin problems and our doctor just kept saying that it should heal with good nutrition (and it did for the most part - but took months). On a side note, Josiah came home wearing 6-9 month clothes and 6 months later he now wheres 18 month - 2T clothes - so he is growing all of a sudden. Poor Jeremiah is still pretty little, but he seems to be losing his bloated belly - yay!

Next on the list - start stool samples all over again - woo hoo.

talking and splashing - 4 months

G. G. I posted these especially for you to see your newest little great grandson, Jameson.

Finally! (turn up the sound)

My Josiah (2 yrs old) has never babbled. He just grunts, signs, giggles and cries. Early on he did say something that sounded like hot (HA) when food was hot, but I don't want to count that as his first word. You see, the reason why is because a few weeks ago he finally said his first word, "Mama". I was overjoyed - not only did he finally say a word, but he is the first baby to say mama before saying dada :). The truth is I bribed him with a chocolate chip and still do, but hey it works! Here is proof. (I think he thinks that mama and chocolate are 1 in the same - but no harm in that since we basically are 1 in the same).
On a sad note, I don't think the giardia is gone on either of the boys. Josiah now has about 6 open bleeding sores on his bum and more on his private parts - he is just raw and nothing helps and he screams (even when urinating) and I literally have to hold him down to change him. He has scabies looking sores all over also - but there is a possibility that it is a skin condition that mimics scabies that just needs a steroid cream. He has a pediatric endocrinologist specialist appointment this week, a developmental/speech plan meeting and I need to get him in to a pediatric dermatologist as well as redo all of the stool samples again to see if the giardia is gone yet and then see the GI specialist again. I share this info because I know some of you will commit to praying for God to heal his little body and also because I know there are people reading this blog who are adopting and will be dealing with these same issues, so maybe you will be a little more prepared.

adoption friends, tractor & cute baby - oh my!

Leah and I both adopted Ethiopian babies through the same agency and live in the Phoenix area and met in person a few weeks ago at my house. Last night we went to her 30th b-day bash about 1 1/2 hours away. We had a fun time at her dad's house with a comedic murder mystery dinner. You can see below that there were some actors that barged through their door and started the night out. Javier was taken by surprise when the nerdy guy was at the door going crazy hugging people like he was at his class reunion- and Javier was thinking, "Who is that goof?" Then they passed out roles and hats to different people to get the guests involved in the action. We laughed a lot and the food was great too. Javier and I enjoyed dressing up and having a date night out too. Happy soon to be b-day Leah!

All of our kids together (Jeremiah was sleeping) a few weeks ago at our house.

Leah and me - I am exactly 3 years older - we share the same b-day My hunky husband has lost more than 15 pounds doing the biggest loser competition at work!The nerd that startled Javier :)This is what we woke up to this morning after a late night out. The kids ran out and sat there like statues for a couple of hours watching the action.You can see the kids - remember it was about 6:30 am and so that is why Jo Jo still has her morning afro:).We feel blessed because we got a great tax refund (thanks to all our kids/adoption), a gift from my grandmother who passed away in December and a bonus from Javi's work. We had a set budget and nothing was working out in our budget so we almost gave up. Then some friends recommended a company that actually many people from our church have used. The owner is a Christian man w/ 7 kids and homeschools, so we hit it off with a lot in common and his bid was within our budget. The pool should take about 5 weeks to build. Here is the big hole.

Here is my chub-a-bub - cute little thing. 4 months old and he is THE BEST BABY and seriously has never had a crying fit - ever. Yes he cries (rarely), but it is more like a whimper or complaint - never screaming crying. He flashed me the peace sign the other day - it was too funny. Oh and he got his 2 bottom teeth already!

health update w/pics

Both boys still had giardia (5 months now at least) so I took them to the GI specialist at PHX Children's Hospital. That doctor was great and even found some other problems that he wanted to check out. He put the boys on a 30 day treatment 3x a day. The problem is that insurance wouldn't cover the first 2 medicines the doctor wanted to give them, so we tried the 1 that they do cover. If this doesn't work, we will look into natural stuff or the other medicines.

We need to see an endocrinologist for Josiah because his thyroid is high. He is also going to receive speech and developmental services soon. The state sends people out to our home which is great. Josiah only grunts and signs, he doesn't even babble, but he understands everything. Josiah has become a BIG kisser and he is the first to run to daddy and climb up in his arms every night when he gets home.

We just love this sweet boy!

Josiah is in the blanket that my Aunt Linda made for him.

Jeremiah is finally learning "no" but he is still so darn cute and mischevious! Can you tell?

I think the picture below is funny - strike a pose

When 1 gets in, they both want to get in.