Kids helping other kids

This news story is about a project my dad's sixth-grade class is doing this year. The students build websites for organizations and individuals for a donation, and all the proceeds go to the humanitarian work that Adoption Advocates International does for orphans in Ethiopia.

Ever since we began the process to adopt three years ago, my dad's class has participated in a humanitarian project in Africa--first buying bicycles for children in Kenya, then last year sponsoring a child in Ethiopia, and now doing this.

I'm just beaming with pride, of course. Go Dad!

Pretty cool that students at this little country school are learning web design while also gaining an awareness of the global orphan crisis, international adoption, and the AIDS crisis affecting much of Africa.

And if you want a website to support this awesome program, click here!

Tuesday morning

(This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I just love it, and I haven't posted pics in a long time!)

I was up late last night. Now I'm tired. :(

So many things on my to-do list too. Like going to Costco to buy some things, including soap, which we are out of. (Poor Kevin went off to work today smelling like vanilla bath gel! Ha!) My kids need baths, there is laundry to deal with, a bunch of stuff I cleaned out of the van that I need to put/throw away (nothing like a roadtrip with four kids to generate a lot of junk)...on top of, you know, feeding my kids breakfast and lunch. :)

Do I sound overwhelmed? I feel that way. I think we'll benefit SO much next year when we have a child in school and therefore more structure built into our lives. Although I have to say I've loved these quiet, lazy years of just being a mom to my kids, schedule-free. (Okay I guess I can't say they were TOTALLY lazy, I mean I do have four small kids!)

A sweet friend from church is wanting to bring us dinner tonight, what a blessing! Then later Kevin and I will watch the debate. Surely it won't be as entertaining as the last one (because Sarah Palin's not involved), but it should be amusing just the same. Mostly because Obama's such a great orator, and McCain gets so annoyed, and for some reason I find the whole thing hilarious. :)

Also hilarious is the fact that I ate a bunch of M&Ms while writing this post. At 9:30 in the morning. Wow. That is just sick. And less hilarious--the fact that Kaitlyn just got into my makeup.

Happy Tuesday!!! :)

New friends, new book

My friend Angela, who lives about 30 minutes north of me, has these magical powers of coersion. She somehow convinced me to join her homeschooling group, that's centered up north in the Broomfield/Erie area. They have occasional field trips, big group meetings about once a month, etc. (Plus I'm wanting to meet and connect with other moms, being that I just moved here. AND explore the idea of homeschooling a bit more.) Last Monday night I drove up to Erie (40 minutes away) for the first bookstudy meeting. And these women were so nice to me and just so wonderful! They have kids from all over the world too--pretty cool. Anyway, I kinda assumed I wouldn't be a regular attender of the every-other-week study group because these days 40-minutes-away feels pretty far. (We're so spoiled now, having most everything right nearby!) But then I checked out the youtube video by the author of the book today, and was mentally saying "amen!" to pretty much everything she was saying.

So I'm off to Erie again tonight. :) And Jennifer is coming with me (she also joined the homeschool group on Angela's reccomendation--I tell you, it's magic!), so the drive up will be wonderful!

Anyway, has anyone out there read any of Sally Clarkson's books? I'd never heard of her. But what I heard today really resonated with me as a mom!

Sunday church musings

So I'm going out on a limb here and saying that I think--I THINK--we are maybe starting to feel more at home in the church we've been going to since we moved here.

Finding a church is really, really hard. So many variables, no place is perfect, not to mention there are two of us needing to agree on somewhere! Plus, the city of Denver doesn't really have that many churches for how large it is. Yet we feel like if we're living in Denver, we should be attending church in Denver (ie, not driving to the suburbs for church.)

ANYway, the church we THINK we might be settling on is really great in so many ways, but a new experience for me in others. I have never attended a church that has membership or is a denomination before. (This one is RCA.) I would say it's the least conservative/Baptist-y church I've attended. Lots of other differences too. But I'm loving having the kids in with us during worship time, the fact that they get a blessing during communion, and honestly, the liturgy stuff is awesome. I LOVE having these responsive reading-type thingies, following the church calendar, singing the doxology every single week--we've even incorporated that into our dinnertime prayer and our kids love it.

We have yet to attend the membership class or anything...I feel so noncommittal about becoming a member at a church...like I'm signing my name in blood or something! But we won't go to a church for years without becoming members, that's just silly. :) The people we've met there are really nice, and I've started going to the mom's group that meets every other week. (As in, I've gone once.)

The last church I attended, I was there for 10 years. Prior to that, I'd been at my church for 18 years. Starting over is hard. BUT, God is faithful, and He is God, no matter where we are!!!

A mother's instinct

Is it wrong if, upon seeing my son drop and break the dirty dish he was carrying from the table to the sink, my only thought was, "One less dish to clean"???????????????

Great quote, great book

"The child's instincts to keep close to us can get in our way and frustrate us. We do not welcome the work of attachment when it is seperation we crave, whether for purposes of work, school, sex, sanity, or sleep. Our society is so topsy-turvy that we may actually come to value the child's willingness to seperate more than her instincts for closeness. Unfortunately, we cannot have it both ways...We should be thankful for the assistance attachment provides in holding our children close...We need to learn to parent in harmony with this design rather than fight against it."

Currently reading a wonderful book called "Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers" (thanks to Lisa for the recommendation, and to the Denver Public Library System for being so totally awesome. Oh, how I love thee and thou limitless availability of free books.) It's written by two psychiatrists and is just plain fascinating. SO insightful, and is making SO MUCH sense to me. Talks a lot about attachment too, which of course being an adoptive mom (and somewhat of an attachment-parenting subscriber) I am very interested in.

Basically the book talks about how today there are all of these "experts" who we parents turn to for advice and in the end, behavior modification. But that ultimately, it is our RELATIONSHIP with our child that will matter most in terms of discipline and our ability to parent. And to maintain a healthy relationship, we need to make sure our kids are more parent-oriented than peer-oriented.

I grant that I was a Psychology major in college who had big dreams of becoming a family therapist :), so I probably tend to love books like this anyway. But I really think this book is an EXCELLENT resource for parents and I'm even finding it helpful in explaining some of how I acted growing up. For adoptive parents who have done their fair share of reading about attachment already, it delves into another side of the whole thing.

So if you're interested, go read it! And let me know what you think.

(Oh and I find that having four children, I DO find myself filling--although also probably needing!--the role of family therapist rather often. That, and policeman...can't say I ever wanted to go into law enforcement, though!)

No, not really.

Our new stove was just delivered yesterday. Before leaving, the nice deliveryman asked Kevin, "You babysittin' these guys?"

To which Kevin proudly replied, "No, they're ours. They're our sons. From Ethiopia."

And that's when he answered...

wait for it...

"Oh, so it's a Brad and Angelina kind of thing."

Huh.

Quick-thinking man that he is, my husband came back with, "Nope, we were first. They copied us."

Times like these remind me why I can't stand celebrity gossip, nor the utter fascination/disdain that we commoners have for rich famous people. And, it's true, we began our adoption before news EVER broke about the more well-known adoption (though they received their child first, since the news didn't come out until they were about done.)

Anyway, we're probably nothing like Brangelina. And I just wanted to clear that up, in case you thought otherwise. (Quick clarification--I think it's great that she has adopted these children, and raised awareness about these countries. It's not the celebrities who annoy me, it's the obsession our society has with them, and the consequent idea that anything we do that is related to something they did, must have been inspired by them. There really are a lot of people out there who don't hang on every word of People magazine and who do things for reasons of their own, dangit! :) )

It's a small world

Sorry if the title of this post has you humming the theme song from the most random amusement park ride ever created, but...

At church on Sunday, a woman approached me and introduced herself, saying she recognized me from my blog! Okay, so I'm admittedly embarrassed to have a blog--not sure why, maybe I don't want people to know I'm a nerd (which, let's face it, I am, although it has nothing to do with the fact that I have a blog). Mostly it's because I don't want them to think that I think that what I have to say is so fascinating or important that I feel the need to broadcast it to the masses. Either way, I don't tell people that I meet or know in "real life" that I have a blog (unless it comes up), so it is funny when I meet someone who says, "I read your blog!"

Bekah is SO sweet, has an ADORABLE daughter and a PRECIOUS son (who is from Ethiopia--that's right, THREE Ethiopians were in attendance at our church on Sunday!) And now I have another great blog to read!

They were just checking out the church on Sunday so I don't know if they (or we for that matter, since we're not members and apparently remain noncommittal, plus we'd like to try out some other churches) will be going regularly, but either way I made a new friend and hopefully we can get our kids together at some point!

So go take a look at their blog and wonderful family!

My man

Okay, so I got home from taking Yosef to another evaluation this afternoon (and a trip to Wal Mart), and this is what I found:

3 napping kids
spotless dining room table
sparkling and shiny fridge and dishwasher (they'd been all icky from delivery)
computer all set up in its new spot
chili cooking in the crockpot (which I was supposed to have turned on earlier but forgot)
last night's episode of the office (that we missed) cued up on the computer

Um...I have the best husband EVER! Wow! What a blessing. Really. He works hard all day, comes home and, well, keeps working. And all this after being up late modifying and installing our beautiful new dishwasher.

Now I'm off to go spend some much-needed time with him, watching the presidential debate (we recorded it.) Can't wait!

Aren't these great?

Check out the new AHOPE bracelets for sale! For a $10 donation you can buy a stainless steel bracelet that features the AHOPE logo, the first name of a child living at AHOPE, and the Amharic word for "hope".

Each bracelet serves as a reminder of a special child at AHOPE and will surely raise awareness about HIV+ orphans around the world.

To order, email Marissa at ahopestore@gmail.com with the quantity desired and your mailing address. (She will respond with an invoice via paypal. You can also let her know if you'd prefer to pay by check.) Shipping and handling is $2.50 for up to 3 bracelets in one package. (Thank you to Lisa for posting about this originally and letting me copy her!)

I need to tell you that when I visited AHOPE back in February 2006, it was an obscure place filled with children who seemed to have little hope for a future, much less a family. Today, just two and a half years later, this place on the other side of the world is gaining exposure, dozens and dozens of children are being adopted, and the story of the orphan living with HIV is finally being told. These kids are finally seeing that they matter.

Won't you consider being a part of this story? Order a bracelet (or two!) today!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

My friends just got home from Ethiopia last night with their new daugher and son, Addie and Tony! Are they not just the cutest family?!

And I am EXTRA excited because now Angela's blog has gone public, so you can get to know them too. I have been so blessed by Angela's friendship since moving here. (Lots of playdates, some trips to McDonalds, and girls nights. Fun!) Just one of the blessings that has come from blogging! (Angela found me through my blog that someone had pointed her to before we even knew we were moving to Denver. Between Angela and Jennifer, it's been pretty amazing having friends before I even got here.)

Okay now go visit her blog!

It's 3 a.m. and I must be lonely

Remember that song? (I heart all things Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20.)

Sadly, the song is autobiographical, because that's when I got up this morning. 3 a.m.

With a sick, crying baby. That had thrown up. I cleaned her up, gave her some more tylenol and remade her bed, but she was too feverish and restless to go to sleep. I rocked her, walked her around, then she wanted down. She made a beeline to where Biniam was sleeping and stood there, lay her head down next to him, and started drifting off. Can you tell she loves her brother?

Then she proceeded to charge over to the play kitchen and start, well, playing kitchen. Hmmm. I scooped her up and took a gamble by laying down on our (white) couch with her. Where we proceeded to lay, with her drifting in and out of sleep, and me watching the news and reading, until everyone else woke up for the day. She hasn't thrown up since, thank goodness. And after our shower this morning, she was running around the house with toys, laughing, and watching cartoons. Nothing keeps this kid down!

Anyway, as I lay there in the terribly-early morning hours, holding my sleeping baby and listening to her breathe, I reflected on the fact that I'm really quite blessed to be her mom, the one God chose to hold her and rock her and care for her when she's sick. I heard something on our trip, on a Christian radio station, about womanhood and motherhood and what to do with your life once your kids move out. It was a conservative, traditional, evangelical Christian program so I was extra surprised to hear how they perceived motherhood, and the advice they gave to women to prepare for having an empty nest. Talk about missing out on the blessings God is giving you! It was horrible! If we're constantly resenting our kids and the way they've forced us to give up all of our wonderful dreams and aspirations...then maybe we're not seeing children, or ourselves and our roles, through God's perspective.

I can't say it's FUN when all you can smell is vomit, or when you've been up for 7 hours by 10 a.m. BUT, I'm realizing that God has actually used my sons' adoptions in many ways to show me that mothering is a GIFT, that these four children He's given me are GIFTS, and not something to be taken for granted--which I do, all too often.

But, by His grace, not last night.

Our Wisconsin souvenir

1 child with the stomach flu

Yes, Kaitlyn apparently has a 102.6 degree fever, and just projectile-vomited all over her booster chair and then in the sink. (The girl has skills though--not a bit got on her clothes or the floor. She didn't cry either. Tough as nails I tell you!)

Ugh. Praying none of the rest of us get it. Gave her some tylenol and put her down to sleep. I'm also praying there aren't any throw-up episodes in the middle of the night. Because that's never fun.

And thank you, by the way, to the generous Wisconsin-ite who shared this lovely parting gift with us. I thought we made it home without any souvenires, but alas, I was wrong. Next time, I'll gladly accept some cheese curds or just a tshirt with a cow on it instead.

Our visitor

The refrigerator delivery-man is here. Right when he's in earshot, Anna announces that he is beautiful. Biniam corrects her to say that he's handsome. A couple of minutes later, Anna proceeds to loudly point out that he's strong, and that he has big muscles. Just now, she said she loves him.

Ummm....yeah. I'm officially embarrassed.

Wisconsin trip in numbers

16 hours driving each way
4 kids
0 DVD players/DVDs viewed in the car
1 wedding
1 viewing
1 funeral
0 "accidents" from recently potty-trained child
5 states crossed
1 day mostly spent sick in bed
1 polka band
1 chicken dance
1 mullet
1 person who thought Anna and Kaitlyn were twins (?????)
4 happy meals for dinner last night
1 paranoid mother stressed out that her kids were not eating healthy enough on said trip
3 kids fishing for the first time
1 son playing some strange polka instrument
2 hotel employees who told us our kids weren't allowed in the spa
1 box of beef sticks for sale in the Wisconsin hotel lobby (!!!????)
4 Heldts that were greatly missed
6 very grateful people returning home last night after having driven straight through

Even though we haven't lived in Colorado terribly long yet, it's funny how being away in another place makes you feel glad to be where you are. Wisconsin was BEAUTIFUL (the foliage, that had begun to turn for fall, was just amazing), and so was much of Iowa, Minnesota and some of Nebraska, but I'm so happy to have this little corner of the world we've carved out for ourselves, in a city and closeby to stuff.

I'm also always amazed when I visit another state by how DIFFERENT people and regions are within our country...I saw so many old men in overalls on our way out there, and cowboy boots, lots of people smoking, the craziest mullet I've seen in my life while in Wisconsin (I tried discretely taking a picture of it...only to discover our camera isn't working...Kevin told me it was God punishing me. I told HIM that anyone with a mullet that wild is WANTING to be photographed.) Then there are the midwest accents, the different style of eating (BEEF STICKS for sale in the lobby! Yet another thing I wanted to photograph, but alas, the camera.)

SO glad we went. I got to meet so many Heldt relatives and see some of Kevin's family I haven't seen in years. It was the kids' first funeral and viewing, too. They did well and I think it was good for them. They weren't afraid at all--it was Anna who, after being at the funeral home for only about five minutes, declared she wanted to go "see" great-grandma-Heldt. (Which we all did, and which the kids didn't bat an eye about.) It was also Yosef, Biniam, and Kaitlyn's first wedding. My first midwest-style wedding with tons of beer, live polka music (no DJ, or "Funky Cold Medina"...these guys were hardcore) and insane polka dancing up in the Wisconsin northwoods. I've never seen anything like it! It was pretty wild. (I'll have to get ahold of the picture that proves I danced a polka with my polka-loving father-in-law. He can really cut a rug! As for me, well, I'm a California native. But it was fun! And quite the workout.)

Now we're back home, tired but glad we made the trip. Good memories were made and good times were had. Guess now it's back to trying to knock this mono, and working on the house. Our friends are getting home from Ethiopia with their two new little ones tomorrow night...I cannot WAIT to meet them!!! Our new fridge is arriving tomorrow and we should be getting our new dishwasher in the next few days. A busy week ahead for sure!