Development Alert!

In all the excitement of the kids going back to school... let us not leave out little Miss Mabry Ruth.

She has decided its time to walk! She's now taking 3 or 4 steps at a time! And she's REALLY proud of herself. :D

I don't have any pictures or video of it yet. So for now I'll just leave you with this cuteness:





Lookin' more like her daddy every day. Little stinker. ;)

Patrick is coming

When we left for Ukraine last summer, it was incredibly hard leaving our children behind... for THREE weeks. And then Jake made the second trip which was another couple of weeks. I always say that the travel is the final labor pain of international adoption. Its hard and it hurts. But in the end, you bring home a new little addition to your family. :)

My awesome friend Lyndi adopted her son, Patrick, from Ukraine pretty much the same time we did. For those who already know this story, you can skip to the next paragraph. :) We would sit once a week in a RR chat room and talk about all things Ukrainian special needs adoption. :) Specific, I know, but that's why we needed each other!!! (Ok, ok, sometimes we talked about completely random things that had nothing to do with adoption AT ALL. :)) But at some point I realize, one of the people in this room is from Tennessee. "Thats cool" I thought. Then I find out Murphreesboro. "Holy Moly thats right down the road!!!" Whoo hoo!!! So Lyndi and I met, and we don't see each other a TON but we get together as much as we can. We do have 11 (almost 12) kids between the two of us! But we "had" Micah and Patrick at the same time, I like to say. :)

Anyway, being the amazing mom, RR volunteer coordinator, and general adoption advocate that she is, she's going back. :) She's adopting Fedia. You can read about that -------> *HERE*. :) And Patrick is coming to stay with us while she's gone!

She's already made her first trip. And Patrick stayed with our friend Meredith the first time around, and I secretly wanted to get to watch him then but since Jake was out of the country and I had a CRAAAZY week anyway, that was for the best. But this time, I'm thrilled to be spending sometime with our little Ukrainian buddy! :) Though I might go peek back through Mer's archives to get some pointers, lol. :)

Anyway, I KNOW Micah is gonna have so much fun with his new roommate. Actually, I'm sure that all the kids will have fun with him around.

A lot of times people ask me, "What do you think it would be like if Oleg had come home?" Well, folks, I think I'm about to find out!!!

Mission Back to school Part 3

Ah the first days of school. :)

This past week was our family's first full week into our new school year schedule. From youngest to oldest...

Abby is doing great! She was a little hesitant the first few days of school. As if she were thinking "wait, I remember this place but what am I doing back here again?" She's in the same class this year (3 yr old, pre-k, special ed) with the same three teachers, each of whom I LOVE. But this year Micah has moved up to the 4/5 yr old class and is no longer with her. I think this is really a good thing. Last year she had a hard time focusing because she needed to "take care" of Micah. :) (Little mommy.) But I'm really optimistic that she will thrive this year. Believe it or not, I think her vocabulary has already increased in the last week and a half!

Not happy in a picture by herself:


So we had to throw in Micah to make her smile: :)





Micah has moved up to the 4/5 yr old, pre-k, special ed class... same room, same teachers as Abby's but on opposite days. And I'm really hoping for a great year for him as well. There is no one in the class that is signing with him, which is a bit of a frustration to me, especially as he is learning more and more at home. But on the positive side, they're really working with him on potty-training. So its GREAT to know my efforts in that area at home are not going to the wayside during the school day.





"Buh, buh, buh, BYE!!"


And Miss Em started Kindergarten this year! My peanut is in Kindergarten. :( I can't believe it. But she had a great week. We've been carpooling with her best friend, Lily. And it blesses my mothering heart to know that as I send my baby off, she's riding with her Daddy, her sister, and her best friend to school and the three of them are walking to class together. :) Thursday I went to a Kindergarten parents' breakfast and it was SO good to really connect and pray with the parents of the other kids in her class. I'm looking forward to getting to know each of these families better through the school year.







Last but not least, Ashley. Who, bless her heart, had an odd couple of weeks. Her birthday was the first day of school, so "back to school" was sandwiched with a family party, a friend party and a school "cupcake party" the very first day of school! And the first few days were great, but the last three were spent at home... with a 100.3 fever. :( Poor thing, she just can't kick this bug, whatever it is. But her teacher has been great, sending home work and stuff for her to keep up. With much prayer, I'm hoping she'll be back on Monday!













And after a long first day at school: :)

Mission Back to school Part 2

Mission School Supplies: Accomplished!!

A master supply list + over $200 + one determined mom =





The top picture is Abby's supplies. I had to buy hers before tax free weekend. Which- pretty much all of her "supplies" were cleaning products anyway, so tax free wouldn't have really applied anyway, lol! In the second picture- Micah's pile is to the right, Emily's pile is at the top and Ashley's pile at the bottom. A teacher friend of mine gave me a few things which was awesome. And I still need to buy Ashley's Adventure Bible on Amazon. Everything else was purchased in one big trip.

Note to self: Don't EVER go to Walmart for school supplies again. What a nightmare! Target was the way. to. go.

And to Wendy Harper, Heidi Weimer, and all you other moms with way more kids in school than I have- my hat is off to you!!! I can't imagine buying for more than four!!!!!

Confessions of the Chromosomally Enhanced

An After the Rainbow friend just shared this blog with the group. I viewed it. I cried. And now I'm sharing it here.

Confessions of the Chromosomally Enhanced

The more I read, the more I smile, laugh, and cry happy tears. What an incredibly beautiful family.

Oh Emily

Last night before bedtime, I sat with Emily and had a little heart to heart... or so I'd planned.

We sat crosslegged on my bed facing one another- she had this huge grin plastered across her face just excited to be having some one on one time with mommy.

I had every intention of pulling out the recesses of my childs heart... bringing to light her excitements, fears and anxieties about starting Kindergarten next week. Helping her direct her emotions instead of bottling them up. I realize this might sound a little over dramatized but I don't ever want any of my kids to feel like they are walking into something alone or worse- be hiding fear about a situation. I wanted to be an involved parent and pray with her as this exciting new chapter of her life unfolds. To give her the tools to handle whatever she's dealing with.

Me: So, Emily. School starts next week.

Emily: Mmm hmmmmmmmm. {Her tiny little fingers interlaced in her lap}

Me: Are you excited?

Emily: {A little more enthusiasticly:} Mmm HHMMMMMMMM. :)

Me: Are you scared at all?

Emily: Nope! {Still fully grinning}

Me: {Thinking this isn't quite going as deep as I had planned, so I dig a little more} So... what do you think it will BE like?

Emily: Well DEFINITELY, I'm gonna eat CANDY on the way home because thats what Ashley did!!!!!!!

I couldn't help but laugh out loud. This kid is gonna be fine. And she's a COMPLETELY different kid than Ashley was at her age. We hugged before she skipped her light hearted little self right out the door. And that was the end of that. Oh Emily. :)