Memorial Camping Trip 2010

We have a tradition, with our little family of four, to camp out in my parents yard on Memorial Day weekend.  We started this tradition last year.  We put up our tents, and set up our tiki torches and camp fire and our citronella candles.  We do all kinds of activities over the three day weekend including some the following:

Riding Bikes bought at yard sales

Riding around on four-wheelers

Flying Airplanes also bought at yard sales.  This also got strapped to the front of his four-wheeler by his daddy.  I am not sure who was more proud of that, Micah or Christian.  :)

Sitting around the campfire, telling stories and having a fun time.

Hanging out and spending some family time together. 

Aunt Bleppies, Aunty One-L, Daddy, Nana, and Uncle Pap.

Sofi looking at her favorite Uncle Micah, also her only uncle. :)

Cousins cooling off in the sprinkler and having a blast on the slip-n-slide.

Making s'mores around the camp fire with Aunty One-L.

Pap and his baby girl

My hot hubby sleeping on the couch in doors during the hotter hours of the day.

Memorial day picnic with Jay, Vicki, Teasha, Shawn, Kevin, Amy, Nana, Pappy, and our family.  We had a lot of fun. The Burgers and hotdogs were great and Jay's parfait was awesome!!!

Kevin, Dad, and Amy lounging outside around the campfire.

Happy Birthday Uncle Shawn!!!  Teasha better watch out cause, I think my little Ava has a crush on her man!!!  ;)

The men hanging out. . . Christian, Jay, Micah and Shawn.  Christian was showing us how many marshmallows he can fit into his mouth.

The Happily engaged couple. . .

Ava holding Mikala

Teasha (Jesus) :)  helping the kids out with roasting marshmallows.   Christian kept calling her Jesus, and so she finally said, Well, I have Jesus in me.  Then we said maybe that is what he was seeing, Jesus.

Myself, in my glory, holding a baby girl, Little Mikala.

And, of course, we had to get a game of 4-square in there.  :)

All and all, we had a blast.  The weekend was a huge success.  We kept ourselves extremely busy and very hydrated due to the hottness outside.  Thanks to my hubby for a GREAT weekend and lots of family memories.  Now we are heading off to end the weekend with a dip in Aunt Amy and Uncle Kevins' pool.  Thank you God for your great blessings.  Thanks to mom and dad for letting us use your house and yard this weekend.  Next year, here we come.

Getting to Know Christian

Well, when the social worker and I reached the maternity floor, we were taken to a room.  They informed us that 'mom' was there and she wanted to meet Christian's potential foster mom. I was very nervous and felt bad for her since I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be looking into the eyes of the very person who was to be taking her son home instead of her.  How terrible. I remember his mom was very cordial and respectful to me.  In turn, I never asked to hold him or touch him during my first visit.  She changes his diapers and took care of him while we sort of visited and gushed over how cute and tiny he was.  I do remember his eyelashes and how they struck me with being so very long and beautiful.  Though his eyes were very big for his face, I knew that they were going to be my weak spot later on.  :)

When we had to say good bye, we left and on the way down the elevator, the social worker told me again, that if any of the six kids went home, it would most likely be him.  I knew this was part of foster care, so I tried to already prepare myself.

The next week, they asked me to go in and talk to him and visit him.  They wanted him to get used to me.  I went in around 9:00 at night and sat for a few hours each night to spend time with him.  His little cry and his little body melted my heart.  I knew he wasn't mine, so I had my distance a little, but I sang him the lullaby my mom wrote for him and I sang it many times.  Here are the special words that she felt God had given her for our little Christian, weeks before she ever met him:

Your our little precious boy
Sent from heaven above
Jesus brought you down to us
In his arms of love
Peace be to you
With a heart that's kind and true
Christian Jesus love you
And Nana does too

Jesus keep our little boy
Close to your heart
Safe and warm and healthy too
With a Godly heart
Angels from above
Watch over you with love
Christian let your light burn bright
So others see the light.

I sang this song to him over and over while I rocked him and held him, fed him, and loved him.  The funny thing was because he was on the nurses watch and they were so busy at the time, he slept a lot during the day shifts and then at night time, he would be wide awake, cause of the fluorescent lights, and that had to be when the nurses had more time with him.  His days and nights were definitely switched.  :) 

The other really great part that played in on this was that the first time I came to see him at the hospital, three of the nurses that met me all mentioned a woman named Cindy.  They all said how I would have to fight her to take him home.  The second time I went to see him, I walked around the corner to find him laying up over his Nanny's shoulder, with I.V. poll attached and in tow and she was working on her computer.  I started laughing because the lady holding him. . . his Nanny, was a lady I met while in college.  She was the one that had informed me many years before that she thought I was in love with Micah, the guy I married a year after that.  Now God had placed her in our lives again, and she was Christian's Nanny.  She jumped up and hugged me.  God really did have his hand in Christian's life the entire way. 

Finally, it was time to bring him home.  I was so very excited.  The night before we were allowed to take him home, we met his parents at the hospital and Micah and I asked if we could have prayer with them.  We prayed for God's will for this little guy and we handed the situation over to God.  We prayed for peace and wisdom for all us in the entire situation over the next however long.  Then we left, knowing we were coming back to get him the next morning, and allowing his parents one last night with him alone. 

Falling asleep that night was not easy, knowing I was bringing my baby boy home the next day.

How We were Introduced to Little Man

So, I mentioned about how Christian entered this world and how events panned out in that area, but now I am going to tell you the roll our family played in these events.  We had been praying for God to show us if we were to start foster care.  We knew we were probably going to be having another baby in the future, but we had a 13 month old daughter at the time and we were not anywhere near ready to commit to a pregnancy and all that came with that.  We felt that God had been asking us to do foster care, so we signed up and got our clearances, started our training classes.  We really had no intentions of adopting, because we had heard so much about how hard it was to adopt, so we just figured they needed families to take the kids in until they were ready to be sent home.  Thus, we went on status as foster instead of foster - adopt.  There were a lot of couples going through training with us and quite a few of them wanted babies, so we just said, toddlers or sibling groups, but it didn't have to be babies. 

About two weeks before we finished classes, we got a call from our dear social worker. "Michelle, we have a small four week old baby, weighing about 4 lbs and he is currently in the hospital.  Would you  be able to take him for us for awhile.  He has other siblings in foster care, but he may be the one they get back, so it won't be a long stay. "  Of course we said, "YES!!"  She told me that we would be getting a call in the next two days and we would be going to pick him up.  I was so excited.  She also informed us that the two things that needed to regulate before he came home was his temperature, and his breathing.  He was having a hard time holding on to body heat. 

I called my mom and we started praying for this precious little guy in the hospital all by himself.  We prayed for him and intervened for him, asking God to show that baby love and comfort and to wrap his arms around that baby the way a mommy would hold him.  Little did we know, God was using one of his own angels to do just that.

The next day, I got another call telling me that they found him to be sick with pneumonia and they were not sure if he was going to make it, so we had to just pray for him and leave it in God's hands.  We were to sit and wait and they would call us with updates.  What a long week with little progress.  Very scary and I was amazed at how attached I felt to this boy that I had never met and yet, the pull was there.  The love of a mother and son already starting.

Finally, I got the call that it was time for me to come in and see him.  He was five weeks old and they wanted me to spend some time with him so he would get used to me and I would get used to him. I remember the deep down anticipation and excitement beyond control as I anxiously rode the elevator to the maternity ward, to meet the little guy that would later steal my heart.

Christian's Story - The Beginning

We call Christian our littlest miracle, that later turned out to be the largest miracle in our lives to this day.
When our little man was born, he was six weeks early.  He was the sixth child in his family to be born and he had only a two vessel cord instead of a three vessel cord. The doctors knew he was going to be slightly malnutritioned due to this fact, but there wasn't a ton they could do.  His mom had steroid shots to help develop his lungs better, but she also smoked, so that wasn't good for his little lungs.  She was in for her 34 week appointment / checkup and everything was looking great.  The doctor was ready to turn off the monitors and then got a nudge to check it one more time, take one last look.  She did, and at that very moment little man's heart rate dropped.  They rushed his mommy for an emergent C-section, and he was there within the hour.  What they found out, the cord had wrapped around his neck and he would have been dead with in the next 45 minutes.  We view this as the first little miracle of his life. 

He was born at 2lbs and 8oz.  He was so tiny and so very weak.  He had hair all over his little body and lots of problems breathing of course.  He was born on October 26, 2006.  In our mind, the second miracle in his little life was the day he met his Nanny (our very own angel sent from heaven above, just for him.)  She was a nurse that worked in the maternity unit and in our opinions, she was his own personal angel sent down to take care of him and give him someone in his court, someone to fight for him.  She did too.  She came in on her holidays and her off days just to spend time with him and check on him.  He remained in the Chambersburg Hospital for six weeks, and each shift, a single nurse was assigned his care, and his care alone.  Nanny started to request his care when she was on duty.  She would talk to him and love him and sing to him and do all the things mommy's are supposed to do.  She was his first mommy.  His biological parents had a lot of other things going, so they couldn't be there, and yet, Nanny felt the connection and bonded with him.  She was the one that sensed something was wrong and alerted the doctors a day before they found him to have pneumonia.  She saved his life then too.  She was his advocate and he knew it.  To this day, they have an extremely special bond.  He loves his Nanny and lights up when he sees her.  She is a true angel and we will forever be indebted to that special lady working in the maternity unit that fateful day of October 26, 2006.

Christian's Own Little Language

Christian was slow to start talking.  Part of this had to do with a very talkative older sister who often spoke on his behalf.  However, in time, he came around to speaking on his own, all be it, a little different than normal English. To best describe it, we can't decide if he is Italian or a little Indian boy.  He either adds an "a" to the end of his words, or he only verbalizes two word sentences.  For example:

'Rub-a my feet' - when asking mommy to massage his feet

'Brush-a teeph' - when asked to brush his teeth

'Look-a me' - when trying to get our attention

'Push-a me' - when asking to be pushed on the swing

'Doing Daddy?'  - for what are you doing daddy?

'Funny. . . me' - when trying to say he is funny

'Watch-a Yion King' - when wanting to watch his favorite movie

'Go hunt camp' - when asking to go to the hunting camp with daddy

'Jasim pretty'- for Princess Jasmine being pretty when he saw her

'Drink-a juice' - when asking for a drink of juice

'Ride-a four weeder' - When he wants a ride on the four-wheeler

'Not working' - when he is standing at the toilet, trying to pee but can't

'Working' - when pee is coming out while standing at the toilet

'I shake it' - when done peeing :)

'So cited' - as he jumps up and down and is excited for something

'Get band-aid' - when he thinks he has a boo-boo that warrants a band-aid

'Happened Mommy?' - what  happened mommy?

These are just a few.  I love my little man and how he talks.  He is finally putting sentences together more often,with a few more words in tact, but I don't want to forget the phrases he used on a daily basis. :)

Sittercise. . . at Crumland Farms

I decided to take the kiddos to my hubby's place of work yesterday, but instead of meeting him down there, we rode along with him at 6:30 in the a.m.  :)  We def. hit the Sheetz coffee first thing.  My hubby works at the Homewood at Crumland Farms in Frederick Maryland.  http://www.homewood.com/index.aspx

When we first got there the kids had a blast learning how to use the exercise equipment in my hubby's therapy department.  To follow are a few pics of how they used this equipment.

Christian thought the pink one pound weights were great for his little muscular arms and he loved the pulleys which he continued to try and use as a swing, even after we showed them really how to use them.  :)

Ava was extremely excited about the exercise ball "like aunt Fawn's" and the 'gymatics bars' which were really the parallel bars used for gait and balance.  Christian was loving the arm bike, though he couldn't reach both petals at one time.

And this was my absolute favorite, as the kids loved taking rides on the four wheeled walker with a seat.  Hahha, they did have a blast with that one.

We then went out into a little play yard and let the kids run off some extra energy, had a picnic and chased some baby ducks while the mommy duck squawked at us in terror. Fun day.

After we played around for awhile, we were invited to come up and be "show and tell" for  the activities and exercise half hour while they did Sittercise with some residents.  The kids had a blast dancing and showing off and doing exercises with the residents.  I told Ava that maybe they would like her to sing a song or two, so she did.  Then we headed on down to the home's swimming pool to finish up our day.  It was a fun packed morning and Ava told her daddy that she wanted to come to work everyday with him.  :)  I am sure he would just LOVE that. 

Oh, P.S. The last time we were at the home, Christian pushed the emergency button while in the elevator.  This time, when we got in the elevator there was a newly added button guard over that button.  Micah said he is so proud!!! ahhaha. 

Chores for Colors

I decided to use the reward system again today, but I also decided to use activities as rewards.  Since it is raining out, I promised the kids I would sit and color with them for 15 minutes if they each vacuumed their rooms and emptied their trash cans.  Ava was complaining it was too big of a job, but I assured her she was fully capable. 

This is a picture of little man, vacuuming his room.  he was loving it, and he actually did a pretty good job.

Here Bean is emptying her trash from her room and then she changed the liner and then you will see below that their favorite part is spraying the Lysol in the empty cans before carrying them back to their rooms. 

Then while we were coloring, the kids and I decided to be crafty and peel the paper off of all or our 'broken' crayons, which we have many.  Then we sorted them by color in a mini muffin pan and placed them in the oven.  The kids did good sorting colors and then we watched as they melted.  When we pulled them out, we stirred the colors since there were many different colors of green and so on and so forth.  The crayons turned out great and the kids love coloring with them.  I enjoyed this activity too.  :) 

finished results of crayons.  Fun project and helped burn some time.  :)

Potty Training Trials

Well, I am a little sad to say, my little man is 3 and a half and still not completely potty trained.  the sad part is it is as much my issue as his, I am sure.  We have actually been pretty close a few times and then something happens and I get a bit lazy and then he starts in his diaper again. 

Our issue with the whole pooping in his diaper is due to the simple fact and issue of the months and years he has struggled with being constipated.  We sometimes wanted him to go so badly, that when he finally went in his diaper, we would all cheer, because we were so worried.  The bad part is, he thinks he still is doing a good thing when he goes in his diaper, because, he says, "yeah mommy, I pooped, It came out!!!" as he claps for himself. Hahha. I guess that is the issue there.

The other issue is he is smart enough and old enough to know to change his own pull-up, so when he goes, he changes.  This is not good, so I hid his diapers.  He was not happy with me about that.  :)

However, for about three days now I have been using his sister along with the reward system and a clock set for 30 minutes all day long.  When the beeper goes off, his sister tells him it is time to pee, so they can both get their reward.  My reward system is two Reese pieces, and they both get them when he pees in the potty.  This actually helps her to help remind him to go.  He still has had a few accidents, but he seems to be doing much better.  I don't know when it will really click, but at least we are using less pull-ups which is great. I figure he will be in boxers before Kindergarten.  :)  Let's hope. hahah.

Finger Painting with Pudding

I have a friend from my Mom2Mom group and she mentioned to me that she did finger painting with pudding with her little girl. She had banana pudding and used food coloring to make a few different colors. Then she got out a cookie sheet and let her daughter go at it. I decided to try the same thing. (thanks Angel) It was fun. I had a few banana pudding cups in the cupboard that no one was eating. The kids thought they would like it, but neither did, so there is sat. I got out a cookie sheet for each of them and made purple and blue. They had a blast painting and then eating. Warning, as you can imagine it was messy, but they had fun. Here are some pics to follow.

How do our children see us?

I got up this morning and I was thinking of all the things I had planned for the weekend. Trying to get myself excited about having a productive day (hey, I made it until 11:00 am to get on the computer and that is saying something.)  I got my daily coffee fix, called my hubby and chatted with him about a few things and I then proceeded to start my day with the kiddos. 

Most of this week has been very non-productive for me, or so it seems. I wake up, have all these ambitions and then, I wasted time doing things that are not important.  The other evening, while putting the kids to bed, I thought about how fast their lives are rushing by me and soon they would be off and in school along with other activities. I would not be able to spend time with them as I do right now.  So, all that said, today I decided would be a fun day with them.  I was determined to turn off the T.V. and do fun activities with them.  I put on some praise music, actually a CD of kids praise songs and we started singing. The one song was about when Jesus told his disciples to let the children come to him.  We were singing it and then Ava looked up at me with shining eyes and said, "mommy, how bout you be Jesus, and we will come to you."  I knelt down and hugged both of my precious children.
 The words "mommy, how bout you be Jesus!!"  kept ringing in my ears.  Isn't that what our purpose as a parent, to strive and show our children 'Jesus'?  I always knew we were supposed to show Jesus to others and we are to strive to be just like him, but how often do I try and be Jesus for my kids?? I don't mean I think I am perfect, in fact, I am so far from it.  I do however, feel that Micah and I are the individuals directly responsible for our children and their upbringing and we need to make sure we are showing them how to be LIKE JESUS!! 
After this went through my head a little longer, I asked Ava is she thought I was like Jesus?? The night before, we had discussed that Jesus was the only person on this earth that was perfect.  Then we explained that he never sinned.  So when I asked her, she smiled and said, "nope, cause  you get mad when I do bad things and Jesus doesn't do that." This was funny to me, because though she doesn't understand it all yet, I knew she understood that Jesus wouldn't Yell at her and get angry like mommy does.  It made me all the more determined to strive to be the mommy that shows Jesus to them. 

Time for 'debotions'

I remember, even as a little girl, how my grandparents always did family devotions at night time before bed.  They would never miss it and I loved spending the night at their house and knowing they were going to do devotions with us before we all turned in for the night.  It was reassuring, for some reason.

I felt that when I became a parent, I really wanted to do something like this with my family.  So recently, my husband and I have been trying to integrate this tradition into our lives with our kids.  It has taken quite nicely, and maybe they feel the way I did, but they love and look forward to our 'debotions.'  They very rarely ever let us get away with putting them to bed without devotions.  hahaha.

We found a cute little daily devotional for kids that literally has a verse to start, then followed by an easy paragraph of a story, and then a question for the kids to answer and then it ends with a two sentence prayer.  Pretty short and sweet, or so we thought, until we started reading them to Ava.  Our daughter is a 'thinker' and she shares ALL of her opinions and thoughts.  She is only four, almost five, and she is very confidant that what she has to say is ALWAYS very important.  :)

So, a short devotional, that could be done in under three minutes, usually takes us about seven minutes, cause she has so much to say.  (for those that know us, you will agree, she def. gets the incessant talking from her father)  ;)   This is actually good though, because she is retaining it and getting exactly what we wanted her to get.  It is very sweet, when we are not in a hurry, and when we are in a hurry, it is a great reminder to stop and listen to what our kids are saying.  I just hope we can keep using this time to help them to grow up to be the people God wants them to be.

Last but not least, I am so grateful for what God has done in my life and what I see him doing in my family's lives.  I can't wait to see what he has in store for us and especially for them.  I will always cherish these devotional moments as a family.

"From the mouth of babes!"

Yesterday, on Mother's Day 2010, we were at my parents house.  We all were attempting to lay down for a nap and my father offered to stay up and keep the bean busy, so we could all rest.  He had already napped. When I got up, he was laughing while he filled me in on the adventure they had had together.  At one point, he was asking her to draw pictures of people.  She drew her aunt Bleppies and her Nana.  My dad asked her who was who and she said, "see, Bleppies has long legs Pappy, and . . . . Well, Nana, has a VERY big mouth!!"  HE thought this was so funny and he admitted he didn't argue with her point.  :)  It is funny to hear how they see things.

Praying to God when we are Scared!!

I was listening to a song with my kids this morning on the radio.  It was talking about when we talk to Jesus and how we talk to him.  I asked Ava and Christian if they talk to Jesus and how they do it.  Ava smiled and said, "I talk to Jesus mommy, when I am scared in my bed!!"  I was so excited because we have been trying to get her to do ALL night in her bed for a long time, but she always comes over to our bed in the wee hours of the morning.  We always tell her to talk to God when she is scared, ask him to help her not be scared.  I was so excited, thinking, wow, she is finally getting it.  Maybe she really does talk to him when she is scared.  So, I asked her what she says to Jesus when she is scared.  She said, "I say, Jesus, please help me not to have to sleep in my room all night!!!"  Well, that sums it up, she may be in our room forever, for I believe God keeps answering her sweet prayers.  :)

Swimming Lessons 2010

Micah and I have put the kids in swimming lessons for seven weeks at the YMCA.  They go on Monday and Wednesday night and they are in separate classes.  The first night Ava cried and the second night Christian cried.  I think they have finally gotten more used to what is going on, since we are currently three weeks into our lessons, or as Micah so bleakly puts it, "we are not even half way yet!!"  Haha.  Monday night was the first night that we actually were able to sit together and watch them, instead of having to stand there and talk them each through the lesson.  Let's hope tonight goes this well.

Ava says her favorite part about swimming lessons is, "ummm, going under water."

Christian says his favorite part is, "kicking."

They both have now progressed from the four part back packs to the three part back packs and still keeping their heads above water.  Ava keeps asking me for the 'eye google things'  meaning goggles.  :) 

Tonight, something really funny happened.  I took Ava into the shower room to get her dressed after lessons.  She saw the 'community shower' and in the room were about six naked girls her age.  They were all showering and running around screaming and laughing.  Ava asked if she could shower, so I told her that was fine.  She was running up to her friend Sarah, and saying, "we are taking real showers!!!"  They were so funny and all so very proud of themselves.  The question is, at what age do children start to be concerned about how they look and embarrassed to shower in gym class??  These little girls were having a blast and never had one concern.  They were so funny.  Now, all Ava can talk about is how she can't wait to take a shower after swim lessons next time.  :)  Funny kid.

Celebrating in Style!

This weekend was so much fun.  My mom turned 50 today, Monday, May 3, 2010!! We actually celebrated on Saturday.  We did something small, but we did it in style.  My brother and his wife and My husband and i got together on Friday night and put together a hilarious video for my mom dad, totally roasting them.  It was a blast to make and we laughed so hard, we all got headaches and then my parents laughed so hard when they saw it, and my mom got a headache.  Not quite the result we were hoping for, but glad it was found as humorous. 

One of the things we did while making the video was we all took turns getting an 5 second clip of each of our family members rolling their eyes like my mom.  We took turns putting her covering on our heads and then just got head shots with each of us rolling our eyes.  We all had different impressions of rolling our eyes and after mom watched the whole video, she informed us that not one of us rolled our eyes right!! Hahhaha.  So funny.  We even had all the kids roll their eyes, which was hysterical.  Reece and Ava rolled their heads along with their eyes and then it came to Christian's turn. . . . he rolled his head to the side and closed his eyes, and smiled.  HE didn't quite get that rolling your eyes meant with your eyes open. ahahah. 

We did have so much fun and we made a song for mom too. The words are as followed:

Your turning 50
We think your feisty
But so you'll understand
We'll call it spicy

When singing Praise songs
In front of a crowd
It's easy to see
You are well endowed

You met your lover
when your brother
Wed lover's sister
from the same mother

You moved a thousand miles away, in Pennsylvania you would stay!!!! 

MO - PA

I will try and post a video with this so you can see our creativity. If that is what you can call it.