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July 23rd was a WONDERFUL day! It was so great because we finally got a hold of Anteneh's biological mother in Ethiopia! A new Ethiopian friend of ours, Tigist, came over and called for us. It was wonderful to have her translate. Aberash has been longing to hear Anteneh's voice ever since the last time she heard it in February 2007. It has been a long road to talking to her on the phone. At first we had the wrong phone number. Then we had nobody to translate. Finally we found an Ethiopian friend and the correct phone number and got through but she was out of the city of Harar. So, we had to wait but then our Ethiopian friend moved away. But finally on July 23rd we connected...Praise the Lord. It was a special day. Anteneh told her that he was coloring and playing with his brother...and that he loved her. She said she was 'overjoyed'!!!! We were so happy...

On a happier note....

Somewhere on a blog one time I saw a contest to write a sort of essay about your childhood that was in the form of, well, I'll just have to show you...I thought it was the coolest thing...and it makes me get so excited to wonder what my kids' stories would be like...here is mine:

My childhood was....
gingerbread cookies on rainy days
having the neighborhood pool where everyone would gather
popcicles from the garage freezer
tents in the basement
recording myself singing
the goonies
sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags
the little wooden chair my dad made
laying upside down in the backseat with my best friend on the way to Purdue
my dog's stinky doghouse in the garage
skinny dipping at night in our pool
bleaching my jeans in the washing machine-on purpose cause it looked cool
layering my socks-hot pink and lime green
the smell of my dad's workbench-wood shavings, oil cans, used paintbrushes
sitting in the garage and watching the rain, talking about grandma in heaven bowling
throwing up in my dad's car and him trying to catch it
using the wrong dishsoap in the dishwasher and watching it foam with bubbles on the kitchen floor
hooking up the laundry baskets with belts and pulling my stuffed animals in the train
pound puppies dancing to jon bon jovi
the shed that smelled like the lawn mower
making make believe salads with the berries from the bushes around the house
the cute boy across the street that rode a motorcycle
gathering with the neighbors to watch the neighbor boy do breakdancing
swimming in the hotel pool with Julia
dinner at the westport inn
breakfast with dad when my sister would eat apple butter straight
wondering if the smurfs might someday walk into my house
taking a picture of my mom with my first camera when she stepped out of the shower and getting in lots of trouble for it
crosswords with my stepmom on the pullout couch
pretending to workout on the soloflex
walk like an egyptian
a crush on the boy from the wonderyears
fireflies
the cricket box my dad made me...we always fed them Doritos's and a little sponge w/ water in it
my new bedroom in the basement
coca cola classics from dad's frig-in a purdue koozie
buttons all over my jean jacket
creek fried potatoes at 'the rendezvous'
laying in the tanning bed with my mom and thinking it was normal
watching 'cheers' with my dad laying on the floor because I couldn't sleep
grandpa opening the trunk so we could each pick out a can of pringles and a gatorade for the purdue football game...
my first kiss-a boy with oreos in the corner of his mouth
my best friend bringing my training bra to the playground and showing it...chasing her and never catching her-no wonder-she is now a marathon runner
walking through the KFC drive through with her
my 4th grade teacher's bad breath
being made to wear the same outfit two days in a row-hating it
crossing the invisible line down the bed I shared with my sister-and loving how mad she got
the treehouse dad built-it was solid
flying down the hill on a piece of wood with four little wheels
dad stringing christmas lights on the big fir tree by the driveway
my friends fighting over who got to play with me each day
thinking the big house in the neighborhood was a mansion
dad trying to teach me to know the names of the different kinds of trees
sleeping in sponge curlers
cabbage patch dolls
digging the christmas decorations out-they seemed new every year but never were



I could go on and on...

Pet Peeves

Am I a grouchy person that I have many pet peeves? I don't think it could be a good quality. Here's one of them: when my kitchen floor is needing to be swept to the point where if I walk barefoot on it I get junk stuck to the bottom of my feet. Hate that. Another one is people who think they are entitled to something that isn't theirs. Example: Kids who grab a toy from someone and selfishly say, "You HAVE to share with me"...grrr...that's why in our house, we don't force the kids to share. People reading this may have a lot to say about how this is dumb of us (please don't leave me any neg comments-thank you) but let me explain: I think it teaches our kids something great to encourage them to share yet not force them to. Because that's not how the world works. (well, in the case of income redistribution it does but that's irritating and I don't like it) ANYWAY...do we just walk into our neighbor's yard and take their lawn mower and say, "haha-you HAVE to share with me" and start mowing our own yards with it!? NO! So, we encourage our kids to share but don't take things from them and hand them to other kids. It blesses them 10 times more to let them make that decision themselves-and 99% of the time they share whatever it is. This works so well in our house to teach our kids to have a giving heart rather than causing them to resent being forced to give their stuff away. And I know our method is very effective with our kids b/c they are very generous...(just to brag a little, sorry)

Done with my soapbox now....here is my point. Flies. I hate how they land on your food and act like they have a right to be there! Like your food just has to be shared with them. Do I sound like a nutjob!? Haha-I mean, really-who likes flies? I'm thankful that God knows what he's doing and I'm sure flies exist for a special reason-probably having to do with the food chain...but I don't like them.

Let me tell you about my kids' hearts...a few days ago they were all VERY upset that a fly was drowning in the water of the flowers Daryn got me for my birthday...they were all 3 very upset and made Daryn get all the flowers out to save it, do mouth to mouth, and built him a little shoebox home. OK, I'm kidding-but they did make him save it. They have huge hearts...

Yesterday we were eating dinner and there was a fly buzzing around. So, Daryn got the fly swatter...the kids were all very upset when Daryn swatted it and threw it away. They demanded to know why he didn't let it free outside...oh, the innocent little minds and hearts of young children...

I guess I should pray that they keep this loving attitude toward all of God's creation....it would be better than ending up being so irritated by things that they write blogs about their pet peeves as an adult:) haha.

One more annoyance: when my dog eats the baby bird I so carefully saved. The kids don't know. I found the little bones and feathers in the backyard a few days ago. (sigh)

Ironically, I'm in a great mood as I write about my annoyances:) Despite the fact that I've got really bad poison ivy all over my arms and back AND I had an allergic reaction to biting into a peppercorn today and my face swelled up and I had to run to the drugstore to dope myself up on benedryl....and I almost gave myself a black eye when I dropped the Hershey's cocoa from the top shelf of the pantry...and I over roasted my poblano peppers this afternoon until they literally disappeared and I had to retake my defensive driving test 5 times before passing this afternoon (it was my first ticket and really dumb)...haha...it's all pretty funny and meaningless, really:) I'm glad at the end of the day I can laugh about it all

It's Summertime!

I just love this picture of the boys...Anteneh is flying through the air on the rope swing out at my Uncle Fred's river camp today...and my brother in law has Luke in the air like he's going to throw Luke on the rope, too...isn't this a great picture of summer?!

Animal Sanctuary

I don't know what it is about our house lately but we seem to be a bit of an animal sancuary. A week and a half ago, a poor starving dog walked into our yard. She was a yellow lab and was obviously near death. She walked right up to our house and Anteneh guided her into the kennel area that has some chain link. She laid down so we locked her in there so she wouldn't wander off and gave her food and water. She was so hungry and ate it quickly. Well, I didn't know what to do. No animal rescue places wanted her so my mom and I decided we'd take her to the vet the next day and try to find her a home.

Later that evening she escaped...I was so upset-I know she is going to die. She was so skinny. I wish she would have known we were trying to help her. Ugh...I just hope someone else took her in...poor thing...it is so sad

Yesterday we cut down a few big tall bushes in our front yard and as the men were hauling it to the side of the house, a baby bird fell out. It was sprawled out in the yard and obviously had been in a nest in the bush. We couldn't find the nest and the bush was now gone so I got a shoebox and we bought some baby bird formula. OK, birds are gross...especially little baby ones with almost no feathers that deficate multiple times then step in it when you are feeding them. And all day yesterday I had to set my alarm and feed it every HOUR...so, all day I spent 15 minutes out of every hour of my day feeding this little bird with a medicine dropper and cleaning up it's fresh piles. haha...luckily they don't eat at night so I got to sleep for 6 hours straight! Notice it has little bits of dried food on it-it kept moving around and one time I accidentally squirted the stuff in its eye-I felt like I was torturing it! Haha

Well, today we put his little box outside where the bush used to be. He seemed perkier today and was able to actually stand on his legs and bounce around a little. He kept calling for his mother and she came back! Score! She would fly around watching us (oh-and the lady at the pet food center said that bluebirds(or bluejays, whatever) like this are agressive mothers and will fly at your face-oh, great). she would look for bugs then come back and feed him! He managed to get out of his box and is right now jumping around our yard and his mom keeps coming back and feeding him! So, we saved him...or I wasted 24 hours feeding him around the clock-maybe she would have done that yesterday when we cut down her tree? Here is a picture of them...my question now is: will he survive w/ out a nest!? He's not old enough to fly

We do have a life apart from camping...

OK, so it may seem like all we do is go camping-well, I think we are finally all camped out-pardon the pun!
My husband really does think I'm psychotic with the camera-but fellow moms out there-please tell me you do the same...maybe it's that I think my kids are so photogenic-maybe it's because I want to remember everything...or maybe it's because I think I take good pictures...anyway...here is a sampling of my 50 shots I took in the last 24 hours...we went camping at Scales Lake with my sister, her husband, and their baby, Jocelyn. It was really fun. We did a little of everything! Even made friends with a rat named Templeton.(read on)...we even decided to go to the water slide on the other side of the lake in our clothes (since we didn't bring swim suits)... Grace reading...she has a book EVERYWHERE she goes!
The boys helping Uncle Levon with the firewood
Luke riding horses with Grandma Connie. In the past only Grace and Anteneh would ride because Luke was scared...but he says "I 4 now, so I not scared"
I just love this shot as they ride off...while Grace is old enough to ride on her own horse now, the boys sit in this little seat attached to the saddle and have a handle to hold on to...nevertheless, as they ride away, I have to sit and ask Jesus to help me not have an anxiety attack! That is a 16.2 hand horse and it's a long way down for a little 30 pound kid! I love this picture of Luke, the cherry Kool-Aid mustache, the fishing in his jammies...

Anteneh holding a bluegill (yes, we released the four fish we caught)
Grace being checked out by the baby goat at the petting zoo (this was an awesome petting zoo b/c it was a really clean (as far as barns go), nice place-it's only open on the weekends so that they animals can roam the park all week! I thought it was cool that they don't just keep them in little pens to be bothered their whole lives!
"You and me going fishing in the dark-standing around in our jammies, counting the stars, where the cool grass grows"

The menfolk fishing (while the women folk sat around bored, getting eaten alive by gnats and mosquitoes)...and here is Templeton the rat, who came to visit our campsite Saturday afternoon. He'd run in, grab a cheese cube or some other food we dropped, run away, then run back in a minute later. Uncle Levon tried to feed him, Aunt Megan screamed, the kids loved it, I named him, and Daddy stood there shaking his head, wondering how he married into a family of animals lovers...who even welcome huge rats into their campsite:)

This last video is just a slice of life from our trip...I love it...Grace entertaining Jocelyn in the tent...the boys playing with the sleeping bag pads like they are a maze...so fun....that's why camping is so great-no tv, no computer-just a tent, a fishing boat, a table cloth with snacks, and a campfire with smores...here is a video I took of our last camping trip to Marengo Cave... in it the kids are putting on their Keens and rolling up their pant legs so we can wade in the creek. I love how Anteneh is just LOVING LIFE...then runs to check out the creek with his dad...

Anteneh's Love of Books

When Anteneh first came home in Feb 2007, he had trouble sitting through a book...partially because he didn't understand English, partially because he was young...and I really think it must have been something very new to him, altogether. How many children's books had he been exposed to? Possibly none. I am proud to say that at 4 years old, Anteneh loves to read-ok, he can't really read yet, but he can now sit through having a book read to him and he loves it! We read every night before bed. And I have to give Grace some credit for that. At 6 years old, she is an amazing reader-she walks around the house with a book in her hands constantly. She even reads in the bathroom when she is suppossed to be on the toilet or in the shower-haha...she reads to the boys all the time. And she readss them chapter books with few, if any, pictures. She is teaching Luke and Anteneh that reading is COOL... Here is a sweet video of Anteneh reading his favorite book. It's a 'little critter' book where he loses his baseball mitt...notice how he's got the book practically memorized...and listen for the way he messes up some of his words...so cute!