A Saturday am tradition is being passed on....

Paul has been the pancake maker here in our family. He makes them quite often on Saturday or if we have company. The older girls request it. The past 2 Saturdays Paul has been teaching the team who cooks breakfast how to do it...and then some of the younger ones wanted to try their hand at flipping them...So Anna was teaching Mya. Funny what the kids think is something " fun" to do. We even make 2 pots of coffee and enjoy our Saturday am together and yes Daddy puts chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in some of the pancakes....

Who says girls don't need their daddy when they get older....Or to be rocked

Leah on daddy's lap just chatting. I know of some people who would argue that the older teens or even adult age kid's of theirs don't appreciate the hugs or affection. Mine all love it and so does Momma and daddy love giving them. I have lots of rocking chairs inside and outside our home that get used and used until some have been broken- We are waiting on ball bearings to repair one that is in the big girl's room :)

I might even say ," Who says that mommies and daddies don't need those hugs and affection too ?" :)

MIA - in NC :) How the Lord Provides

It was the biannual consignment sale in NC time this week. So Mary Kate, Cate, Joseph and I traveled down to Jenn's Wed. ( after my post op - which I hope to share soon about). Since Jenn's family has had strep and she ran Ezra to the doctor and he was positive for it on Tuesday ...We decided not to stay at Jenn's house - since I "pick" it up so easily...We rented a hotel room and just went to see their new home and love on the "grand" babies for just a little bit. Actually this trip is always a fast one and the intent is not for playing with the grandkids...So hard not to do because they are so darn cute :) Especially Zoe...pictures to follow tonite. Anyway we got in early this am 1:30am - exhausted but not disappointed. I tell you if you live anywhere near the Raleigh/Durham area it is worth a visit to this sale held on the fair grounds. Today thru Sunday it is free. We got to go in yesterday because Jenn consigned . We make it a day there and I feel like a kid in a candy store....I came home with so much for so little. This time I even attempted some clothes buying. ( I get too overwhelmed with as many kids as we have now- 30) . So I narrow it down to a few things...This time it was for dresses for my little girls and some summer outfits. I also got Andrew many toys to encourage him to the next level..Things that require him to pull, push or interact to get the desired activity that he loves. Honestly who needs to purchase expensive assistive toys...Just use your head a bit you can come up with lots of ideas for way less. At least it has worked well for our family and helping our kiddos who need toys to encourage their developement.

We do this 2 times a year and each time we look forward to it. I see it as a way the Lord provides for our family. I have shared how I have no doubt of his blessings when we have stepped out in obedience to His will for us. As we stepped into yet another adoption with our 3 blessings from Ghana I have been amazed at how the Lord once again is providing for us to be able to bring home 3 sweet children...and what a special time for our daughter, Selah who will be reunited with her twin sister and twin younger brothers.

Compassion is often caught here...not just taught.

 Getting my feet rubbed when I sat down to do Bible. My littles were not even asked they just came over- first Gracie and then the others. They know I love to have my feet rubbed and they were more than happy to make me feel better. I love their hearts and ability to "read" each other including me like this.

 Mya loves to take care of Kloe...actually this tme she can help alot. She is 10 but still tiny and sometimes off balance because of her l leg...but that does not stop her from even changing diapers. She asks to do and take care of her niece all the time.

 This am Mady was fussy. She needed lots of us cuddling her and even rocking her. She did not seem sick but fussy. So Josiah was more than happy to hold his little niece and rock her...and she loved it as you can see. Perfectly happy to receive the loving embrace and shoulder of her Uncle Josiah :)

Do you know what is so neat about this picture ?

Gracie is playing in the same pretend play the rest were. She often plays by herself but we have seen her attempt and do more play with the rest of the kids. This day they were all pretending to be dogs...Here they were lying down on the pillows just like our dogs do :) She did everything like the rest of them...even making barking noises....Gracie way to go girl. When you are ready you continue to amaze us with what," You can do" and we are loving watching you discover your world.

We had an evaluation at our child psychologist last week for Gracie. There were no surprises and we all decided to try her on some ADHD medicine. She has been on it for less than a week and we see so much improvement in her ability to focus and stay on task. She does her school work so much better and she seems to be wanting to be included in what others are doing.

We usually do not try any meds for at least 2 yrs with our adopted kids when we suspect they might be helped by them even. We want to see just what healthy nutritious food, love and other behavior modications will do. We waited as long as we could before we put Andrew on some meds. to help with his behaviors and sleep and he is doing much better. Since we felt a good connection with our child psychologist ( we really do trust her and like her) we decided it was time to have Gracie evaluated. We had both Andrew and Gracie evaluated some with the school child psychologist and we also had some opinions ourselves about what was going on with them. We have had no surprises other than positive ones with them being on the medicine which has been a good thing. I am not one who likes to jump to this as the solution until we have tried lots of other methods . I always give the child more time than most with diff. ways to help control inappropriate behaviors but I knew the time was right and I am so glad we did . I also know you do have to trust and value the doctor that you choose. We have disagreed many times in the past with some child psychologist about our children and always we were correct...So I encourage parents to go with their gut about things and don't be afraid of medicine if it is needed. If the meds. help Gracie or Andrew have a more "normal" life than they are worth it- especially since we have had no side effects at all.

This guy is just so darn easy to love....I know I have said it before

 Here is Isaiah all dressed for church. What a handsome guy and his heart is matches his smile.

He loves football and fits right in with the kids here about that. His team the Ravens are playing today. We were watching when the Raven player intercepted the ball- His reaction was priceless and he knew just what that meant for his team to. I love it.

She did it....

After one week of keeping her "pampers" dry she is now totally in underwear. Yeah Lila ! We are very proud of her. When she first came home she was almost there but regressed some. She was just 2 yrs and she had lots of new things to get used to. So that was not a big deal. However, knowing we are bringing home 2 more younger ones who will be in diapers and Andrew that is a lot of extra money to our already expensive budget :) So we helped her and she did it...She now has some brand new undies and lots of positive encouragement from everyone. She would use the peeing as a control or power struggle...When she would get mad or upset for things like having to go to bed she would pee...sometimes she would pull her pampers down and pee on the bed even :( Eventually working thru the struggle and assigning Lily to be her bathroom partner ( who gave her m and m's when she successfully went to the tolite)...This partner method has worked well for many of our child training issues. Lily was super at it too and we recognized her efforts for always having a happy and willing heart to serve her little sister in such a way. Great job to Lily. We also moved rooms around to accomadate a better sense of security for Lila when she did go to bed. She moved in with Leah and Leah took charge of her at nite or getting her ready for bed and in the am...Leah also has done a great job at helping Lila be more positive about control issues and we are seeing it in how well Lila uses the bathroom now and she is very proud of her own efforts for this too. Way to go girls !