Happy 10 years to us!

This is us 10 years ago today a week ago at our wedding in Hawaii:

(couldn't post this last week due to technical difficulties :)

We look EXACTLY the same, no? Here's us up close 10 years ago:

Ya I think we look older now too :)

We found the place we were married ~ the Kukui Heiau
We visited it on our anniversary :)

Looking through these pictures from when we were married in Hawaii 10 years ago, and thinking of the road God has lead us on over the past 10 years I am blown away in awe of Him. It has been tough (at times, really tough) but it has been a beautiful life that Jason and I have had. We are so grateful, so very thankful, and we give God all the credit.

Here we are today:

sunset dinner on our anniversary
yes I am wearing my wedding dress :)

Here's to a beautiful next 10 years with the love of my lifetime!!!

(((hugs))),
chris

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We have a 4 year old in the house!

We had a BIRTHDAY in our house this week!

Sammy turned 4!

Here he is in all his fabulousness!

King Rock Star SpiderMan the birthday boy

We had a birthday party for Sammy at Chuck E Cheese...
Here comes Chuck E...

Sammy had no part of Chuck E... he scootched over into David's lap

Then he clung to Mama until Chuck E was long gone
Some friends helped blow out the candles on his cake :)

King Sam enjoying his cake

Happy 4th Birthday, you sweet boy!
We love you!!!

(((hugs))),
chris

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

      His faithful love endures forever.

                               ~Psalm 107:1

The 500-year Flood

So it has been raining here in Colorado.
Raining
     and raining
          and raining
               and raining.
Since Monday.

Actually that's not true because it stopped yesterday and we actually saw the sun for a while, and then the clouds moved back in. But no rain overnight. And not this morning.
Praising God!
Because the flood waters were able to recede a bit.
And that is good.
Especially when you have this going on all around you.

And this:

neighborhood on the south end of our town
Water you see in these pictures is all moving water

fields closer to D&S's school

farmer cleaning up random debris that washed down onto his property
Debris is EVERYWHERE ~ huge trees and branches, roads, gravel, pieces of buildings...

road near D&S's school

this huge dumpster was floating down the "river"
that was now in the middle of this neighborhood

National Guard did air evacs all day yesterday for the people
isolated & stranded in various mountain towns.
We heard them fly over our house all day.

National Guard brought in many huge high-clearance type vehicles to evacuate people
from the town of Lyons 5 miles west of us ~ they had no power, gas, or water for two days and still don't.
More people from that town will be evacuated today.

bus convoy taking people from the Nat'l Guard vehicles east to our church
which is being used as an evacuation center

roads all over the place are washed away
Jason had a better pic of a washed away road but I can't access his phone pics now

I stole borrowed these pics from all over the internet. So if one of these is your picture, thank you :)

Our house is fine. We don't even have water in the window wells. We are blessed. Thanks God :) So if we stay at home we should be just fine.

Jason and all the other emergency personnel have been working around the clock. Jas didn't make it home on Thursday night, but did come home last night (because those waters receded quite a bit and he has the cool flashy lights on his car that helped him drive north to get home :). So our family (and all those other families with loved ones who are first responders) can count on long hours and days for a while.

Weather people are predicting more rain in our forecast. Starting maybe later today, and the latest information is that it will peak tomorrow morning and could be quite a deluge.

We took a trip to Walmart today. Yep, to stock up on a couple things just in case we are stuck in the house for days. The streets were freakishly empty, and the store was barely staffed but was open. And if the weather forecast is wrong, and we are not housebound for days, we will still use all the groceries. So I figure it's ok. We drove by our church on the way and saw the school bus convoy lined up and ready to go for more evacuations today.

Praising God for His provision, for his community of believers who are stepping out and assisting wherever needed, and asking His blessing and protection for all our first responders including the National Guard, the swift-water-rescue people (who are in from all over the state), the police officers, the firefighters, the utility workers keeping our power, gas, and water on, FEMA workers and other command-post people, and for all the other people working in the middle of our situation, including the retail workers, school bus drivers transporting the evacuated people, postal service who has been delivering our mail every day, and all the volunteers working to keep things in order and to keep us safe.

(((hugs))),
chris

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. Psalm 46:1

The 2013 Garden

I love gardening ~ if I had my choice, I would be out in the garden every day. This year, that did not happen :) but the garden still grew well in spite of my inattention.

Outside our front door we have herbs:

Move your foot, Jason!

Out of the way, Jason!!!

That's better :)

The veggie garden... aaaahhhhh

The gate to Mama's therapy room paradise...

I look up on my way in and see our pears.

We will have a bumper crop of pears this year (no apples though).

Lots of falling over plants this year ~

(mental note, next year don't use pansy-ish thin string to tie up the plants)

See Sammy in his pj's grazing on the raspberries?

And ~ oops this isn't our garden.

Random picture of SWAT-police-officer-catching-a-bad-guy.

Pretend you didn't see that, OK?

Jason's grapes (planted this year) are growing well :)

Aaaah my little bit o' paradise

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

(((hugs))),

chris

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. Psalm 18:30

Homeschooling

We are in our fifth week of homeschooling now...

and I have already learned a few things.

Number 1
Josh loves homeschool.

He does not love every minute of every day especially those moments with his head on the table crying, but overall he is having fun. He refers to topics we are learning at other times of the day, and in other places. I love love LOVE that. He has had fun with the "enrichment activities" that I found (i.e. crafts, websites, movies, etc.). I love that too. He loves having school in his pajamas...maybe a little too much :)

Number 2
I am learning where Josh is academically.

I had to tweak math and language arts after the first week.
Even though I purchased an appropriate level math curriculum that I liked, it isn't working for him. We still need to change something to make it more fun. I'm working on it. He likes math and I don't want to snuff out that light! I also got a very funny math supplement that is story-based and shows how math has real-life applications. He thinks it is funny, and loves doing his Life of Fred math book. He brings it to me and shows me the pictures and laughs telling me about Fred's story.

I exchanged the language arts after a week and a half for a more appropriate level for his reading and writing. More challenging = better :) and so far so good!

Number 3
I love homeschool.

I love that we can adjust what Josh is learning right away to best suit his learning level and style. Homeschool is flexible like that.
I love that I am there to know everything he is learning so that I can "get" his references and jokes, and I can reinforce what he is learning when we are not doing school.
I love doing school activities with David and Sammy too. They participated in and had fun with our nutrition study. They are both doing reading lessons with me (using "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"). I am especially working with David on doing independent work after he is given instructions. And there is always speech homework in our world :).
I love looking for supplemental activities that I am willing to attempt are fun and appropriate.
I love that we have so much time together. We are getting closer in our relationship. Josh is more relaxed and is enjoying himself and his family. He is nicer to his brothers (at least most of the time lol).
I love that this homeschool lifestyle is growing me as a person, a wife, and a mother.

Number 4
I love having God at school with us.

OK that should be number 1. We read the bible at breakfast. We talk about God throughout the day. It is awesome.


A wise experienced-in-the-ways-of-homeschooling friend told me that homeschooling is more relaxed and less stressful than sending your kid off to public school. So far, and I was surprised, this is true.

God bless the experienced homeschooling friends with whom I spoke about this lifestyle change. Your advice and tips and encouragement helped me ease into my new role. And I do love my new "job".

(((hugs))),
chris

Teach us to make the most of our time,

so that we may grow in wisdom.

      ~Psalm 90:12

First Days of School

Josh started on July 22
He is embracing the whole pajama-wearing homeschool thing
He even came to school the other day in his underwear... um... not ok dude

David started KINDERGARTEN last Thursday
I can't believe he is so big!

Sammy started preschool this past Monday
with the same most amazing teachers that D and S had for the past two years

All three of our boys took a few days to adjust, and are now happy to be where they are.

I would rather not be doing the school drop-off and pickup thing anymore, but at least this year I am only dropping off at one school and picking up at one school! Last year sucked ~ two hours a day in the car just driving children to and from school. This year = much better :)

Praise God for his direction ~ things work so well in our lives when we just shut up, step out of the way, and listen :)

(((hugs))),
chris

Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
              ~ Psalm 103:2-3

Happy 2 Year Homecoming Day!!!

Here we are two years later:

Two years ago on August 11, 2011, we arrived home with our two munchkins.

It has been a wonderful,

              crazy,

                     roller-coaster ride...

and God has had his fingerprint on every single stinkin' detail of our lives

   in our hearts,

       in our children,

and in the people around us

for the last two years.

We are so very very blessed, and we always feel loved.

That big hug, unconditional, unending kind of love.

Life is still hard some days

(really, really hard some days)

but we feel like we came through the tunnel

where the darkness was all around and the walls were closing in

and are back out in the light.

And you know the light, His light, takes away the darkness.

So we praise and thank God for using our broken family.
Lord, please continue to use us ~ to you be the glory!

(((hugs))),
chris

See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.
                      Isaiah 43:19

You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
    my God turns my darkness into light.
                      Psalm 18:28

Food Issues

For children who live in institutional settings, their reality is that there are very few adults and many children. (Picture 30-40 toddlers and two adults.) These institutionalized children do not receive the attention they NEED to develop into physically, socially and emotionally healthy children. These institutions also have limited financial resources, and so often ~ and it is so hard to imagine ~ these children are not fed an adequate amount. Day after day. Like for years. Babies might receive two or three bottles a day, propped on a pillow, for example. This is not uncommon. It is heartbreaking.

common orphanage sleeping room

And even though our kid was in a really "good" orphanage as far as those things go, we have a child with food issues. We believe he knew hunger.

Not our fatty-McFatfat American wah-wah-wah-I'm-HUNGRY-Ineedanotherfastfoodhamburger hungry.

36 chairs to feed these 2 year old children in one little room and one nanny to supervise

More like a painful am-I-ever-going-to-see-food-again desperation hungry. Day in and day out. Maybe other children fought him and took his food away. I suspect that sometimes. He eats really slooooooowly and he can be kind of passive so the other kids would have had the opportunity. I know him now, and I know what his eyes look like when he is hungry. And I think back to the pictures we have of him when he lived at the orphanage and I see those hungry eyes.

All the unknowns. Trying to figure out the puzzle pieces to heal our kids.

Perhaps his food issues are all a need for control in his little world. Because he had absolutely positively zero control (and zero value for that matter) before we met him.

I am sad because I have not been helping our son with his food issues very well. I have my own food issues, and this is a tough one for me. Me, the Mama, I have not been doing a good job with our son in this area. Would our bonding have gone much better had I been a good Mama around the food issues? Probably. So I feel pretty crummy about this.

But I can't go back...

So we go forward and are going to make some changes around our house, and we are praying that it creates a better healing home for our munchkins.

Healthy food will be available. All the time. This is what you read and hear about in Attachment 101, and we haven't done a great job of it. We have tried and WE the adults have gotten discouraged when meals are not eaten because they have snacked too much. The always-available-food may not be the most desirable, but it will be something they like. For example, if we always have yogurt available (definitely a most desirable food in our house - in fact we have to limit the number of yogurts each of them eats a day), our munchkins would choose yogurt all day long and never eat anything else :)

So we choose Cheerios. In a little baggie if anyone needs a snack between snack & mealtime, and with milk if someone doesn't like the meal. A friend used to let her kids make their own peanut butter & jelly sandwiches if they didn't like a meal which is a totally awesome idea, but our kids don't like PB&Js. Cheerios with milk = carbs+protein+fiber+low sugar. And not something they will prefer before anything else. I think it might work. Jas and I feel hopeful that this may decrease the stress issues that center around food in our house.

And create a more loving, healing home for all of us.

the boys with Baba after his half-marathon

(((hugs))),
chris

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
                         Matthew 25:40