"Oh, That's the Add on, right?".... Yes, he said that too!

Walking out of Sam's club last night, I saw a King Size Bed being loaded into someone's pickup. I said, "We should get one of those." (We finally have a bedroom large enough to house one.)

John said, "What?"
I said, "A king size bed."
He said, "Is that a king size bed?"
I said, "Yes."
He scoped out the scene in front of us and said, looking at the twin size box springs that accompanied it, "Oh are those the add ons?"

I promptly told him those were the box springs that would sit UNDER the beast of a mattress they were loading onto the truck, and he said, "Oh, I thought those attached on to make it bigger."

I laughed.... a lot. I'm glad I get to hang out with this man.
I'm pretty sure he was serious, but somedays I'm not sure. Maybe all this while he's been uttering similarly brilliant statements just to keep me happy and laughing. I don't care either way. Just being with him makes my heart glad.

Did He Really Say That?

I need to carry around a little notebook in my hip pocket. My husband says some of the darndest things. Those of you that have had the privilege of hanging with him will attest.

Today was full of one liners, a few that just made me tilt my head an think, "Huh?" Sadly, at this hour I can only remember one of them.

John handed Nick a slushy drink that I had made for him early this evening. He didn't want the rest and Nick had just asked me if there was more. John gave him his. Nick made a face and commented that it was watery. John's response was this, "You could make it again. Put it back in the blender and add more ice." We just all stared at him.

(I'll do my best to whip out a notebook and post more regularly on this matter.)

Congratulations Amy and Malcolm

Amy and Malcolm are the founders of Christian Adoption Consultants. They just celebrated the arrival of their son, Max. They have helped hundreds of couples in their adoption journey and are now adopting their second child!
Congratulations guys! I love you and I'm so excited for you!
McKenna, you're such a beautiful big sister!
To read their full adoption story visit their blog!

One MORE Down

Our visit went well this morning. Our social worker is great, so it's kind of like a friend coming by just to see how we're doing. Well, except she takes notes.

The Lord provided for 100% of the cost of our home visit yesterday through the giving hearts of a really great couple! Thanks again!

In addition, I got to learn some other valuable adoption stuff from our case worker today. She knows that I'm working as a consultant and is always willing to answer my questions! I had some pretty crazy questions today regarding a situation I'm working on with one of my couples, and she was really able to help me direct them.

I cannot believe how much I've learned about adoption in the past year! It's amazing what God is doing, and I'm so grateful to be doing what I do.

Yet One More Post Placement Visit

For those of you in the adoption world you'll know what this means. We have STILL not finalized our adoption of Elia. For those of you not familiar with the term Finalization- this does not mean that there is any need to worry that we will loose her. Typically about 6 months after placement, an adoptive family goes to court and gets permanent custody of the child, including getting a new birth certificate with an official name change and so forth.

Our finalization was set for December, and if you recall the judge refused to hear our case because he wanted an additional piece of paperwork from Elia's birth state. We've been waiting since then to get the signature from a judge out of state. In March we found out that judge had been indicted so they were attempting to get the needed signature from a federal appointed judge.

I think we're getting closer, but in the mean time we've had to continue having post-placement visits every two months (at the tune of $250 each it's getting a bit old!).

So tomorrow our social worker comes to our house to do an update. She's really sweet and we love her, but we'd really love for this to be finished.

Would you please pray for a quick release of the paperwork needed to finalize!

Toddler in the House

Elia is changing so much, she's quite the little lady and is fully mobile. Up and running from morning til night with a couple short naps in there to keep her moving. You've seen her banana bread thieving and her personal art project, here are a few more of her daily activities:

1. Climbing- up and down stairs, onto chairs, onto guitar cases, into boxes, and pretty much on top of anything that she can get a foot up on.

2. Emptying the pantry: favorite items to lug around are boxes of cereal, crackers, syrup, and Lipton ice tea mix.

3. Sneaking off with my cell phone (if you're in my contacts list, don't be surprised if you get a call some day).

4. Playing drums- that's especially fun to do when Isabelle is singing and playing keyboard.

5. Trying on shoes.

6. Dragging my purse around.

7. Wearing clean laundry around her neck.

8. Getting into my jewelry box.

Notice you see nothing there about actually playing with toys! Though she is found of books and loves to push around her grocery cart, most of her favorite things to do don't involve typical toddler toys.

I love this stage, but it sure keeps a momma busy! Fortunately there are usually at least 3 or 4 of us around to keep after her!

Happy Father's Day FROM JOHN

Go ahead and check out John's blog!
And for a commentary on his post, Check out THIS BLOG!

Us

It's so nice having a photographer handy these days! Thanks Nick for taking us out. It was so much fun. I think it's been over a year (right Shelley?) since John and I have been photographed together.

Happy Father's Day John!

I really really like this guy! He's my best friend and the greatest Father that any four kids could have. I'm so glad I've been blessed with him.

Elia is SO CREATIVE!

Elia disappeared the other day. She does that to me. It takes about 2.4 secs for her to disappear these days. The older kids and I split up the territory and we found her. This is what she looked like after a few minutes of free reign of the house.

I immediately went to check near the art supplies to see if she had managed to reach some paint or markers. Nope. We checked all the bedrooms to look for stray, uncapped markers. Nope to that as well. Finally Isabelle found a fun ink pad for stamping that little miss had found and done a little finger painting with. Happily they were washable, non-toxic inks and she washed up quite nicely.

I'm not sure if the blog quality of the photo will do it justice, but she picked a lovely shade of blue that totally matches her eyes, especially in the second picture!

The Daniel Academy

Our children attend The Daniel Academy.
Check out their newly updated website.
There is also a great video clip on the TDA Blog featuring an interview with one of the founding families Bob and Lauren Fraser.

Sweetness

photos by Nicholas Dean Loux

Signs and Wonders Camp

We're gearing up for Signs and Wonders Camp this week here in Kansas City. I think there are about 250 kids expected for camp this week. If you're not in our area to attend one of our two summer camps, check out our camps coming to Colorado, Mississippi, Florida and California!

In case you wondered, we did not end up going to DC as planned this month. The Lord held us here for a reason, and we trust His leadership.

Satisfy Me

I have been reading "The Shack" out loud to John, and last night the issue of identity was brought up. I've been jolted into realizing that though I know I was created to find my fulfillment in Christ, I have sought to find my identity in many other area.

Here's a quote that shook me up. (This is Jesus talking in the book about how in the Garden before the fall, we were created to be completely fulfilled in relationship with God.)

"Women, in general, will find it difficult to turn from a man and stop demanding that he meets their needs, provides security, and protects their identity, and return to Me. Men, in general, find it very hard to turn from the works of their hands, their own quests for power and security and significance, and turn to Me." (The Shack, William P. Young, pg 147)

I know that far too often I look to my husband to provide what the Lord longs to fill in me. Though I believe that the Lord gives us marriage as a reflection of His Love, it cannot be the fulfillment of His Love.

Lord, today I ask that You would show yourself to me at the Satisfaction of my heart!

"You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made. The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them."
Psalm 145:16-19

Great Site for Art Lesson Plans

If some of you weren't aware, I taught art in public schools for over 10 years before we moved here to IHOP- KC.
I wrote many of my own lesson plans, but when I needed a brain boost or just needed some new ideas, this was one of my favorite websites.

Thought I'd share it with all my home schooling mom friends out there! That way friends like Kari, don't have to hear about what "a great art teacher" I am when they try stuff at home!

Princeton Online Incredible Art Department

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

Here's a sneak peak at some photos from the most recent video shoot!
Stay Tuned!

Action!


Take Two...


CUT!


Posing with the Director.


Run away actress CAUGHT by the stage manager.

Summer Fun

In watching my own kids maneuver their way from the schedule of the school year into SUMMER VACATION, I'm reminded of my own summers.
I remember things like directing plays and dress up adventures in the back yard, building forts, picnics in the woods, playing in the stream near our house, reading books, trips to the library, family vacations, kids camps, and so on.

Not much has changed... though sadly we don't have a cool stream in our back yard. I'm now watching my kids do some of the very same things. One big difference.... the oldest has a video camera constantly in hand. What used to be dress up and play has now turned into film making. I'll be sure to post some of their short films as soon as they have been edited and made ready!

Dreams and Visions

My daughter Isabelle is a dreamer. Her dreams have had an incredible impact on my life personally. I felt a few months ago that I wanted to make her a Dream Journal for her birthday. I bought all the supplies and time got away from me and I didn't get it done. I'm now grateful for that.

The other day I got all of the materials out and sat down with Isabelle to help her design her own Dream Journal. We had a great time together and I think the colors, words, and images she chose are profound.


Here we are ready to go!


The finished product!



In case you can't tell the words are sleep, remember, growing, satisfied, passion. Above the word DREAMS is the word door and under the word DREAM is a picture of an open door way in the middle of the forest.

So, my little dreamer, dream the dreams of heaven.

More on Summer Reading

I have one child that will read a book happily for large chunks of time- he's cruising through Narnia this summer. I have two that would rather have me read to them. Isabelle is bugged that Taylor has gotten so far in the Narnia series, but she won't sit still long enough to read more than a couple of pages at a time. Nick has a great book that he really is trying to read. He declared today that he can visualize better when I read to him. I think that was a hint.

Read aloud time has always been a huge part of our family time. We have survived many road trips with me reading aloud or by listening to books on CD.
When I home schooled we started every morning out with read-a-loud time.

Now that it's summer and we have more time for read-a-loud time, I would love to hear some of your favorites. Keep in mind, they must appeal to all three of my older children ages 15, 12, and 10. And bottom line, I have to like it!

Here are some of our all time favorites:

Poppy by Avi (and other books in that series)



Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham



Red, Black, and White by Tedd Dekker