Last Day of 2007...

These are my newest creations--I got lots of new "Toys" for Xmas!!!!

We had a great holiday week--a series of visitors from Thursday before Xmas until the day after Xmas. It really spread things out and I think we all had a good time.

Our big project this year was making a gingerbread house. WOW! I must say, I am really impressed now by the really good ones, because ours was NOT really good--and it was a HECK of a lot of work. I think I learned enough from my mistakes, though, to do a much better job next year. (This is as far as we got done--we just kind of petered out and the "Dots" kept popping off and ending up in kids' mouths.) It will also help next year that Jeff will be home and he can make a gourmet creation in his sleep!

One of our little guys is at home with his dad right now--for at least these two weeks--maybe even for good.... The other one is doing well--gaining weight and eating everything in sight--and he pulled up on the dishwasher the day after Xmas. I've been sending his mom pictures--hoping she can get a visit soon....

My kids are doing well. Sascha is STILL refusing to walk--almost 16 months now and coming in third for my kids. (If she waits two more months, she'll be fourth--Taj walked at 18 months!) Za is dry all day--still wears a diaper to bed. She is talking a LOT more--and you can even usually understand her. Aria is gone 1/2 the time--and the other half she is here with one or more of her friends! Taj is GLUED to his Playstation--he got 4 new games for Xmas and is getting better every day.

I'm going to make more of an effort this year to post more often--even if it's short--and add more pics of the kids since that's how some people keep up with us....

Happy New Year, All! May 2008 bring you peace and happiness!

Feeling blessed....

Okay, maybe that's not the normal response when half of my kids are throwing up and I was up half the night cleaning up puke and doing laundry, but I'm feeling SO LUCKY that this didn't hit us when we had no power!

Sascha sure is happy after she empties her stomach, though!

Okay, back to the laundry....

Heat is WONDERFUL!

The ice storm started right on schedule Monday night. We had already gone to our WIC appointment and gotten groceries at Walmart--ran into three people I hadn't seen for ages there--a former neighbor, Tajir's boyscout leader from last year, and a friend who is almost though her foster training. We were ready to be snowed in--we weren't really prepared for the power to go out Monday night at 11:00. Tuesday morning it was about 60 degrees in here--chilly, but okay. A neighbor came over with her babies and we managed to get though lunch and dinner--by candlelight. Wednesday Jeff called to wish me a "Happy Anniversary" (our ninth!). I got up and discovered it was now down to about 50 degrees in here, but I still had hot water. So I did dishes and cleaned up a bit. My neighbor came over again and we had lunch. We kept getting phone calls saying the power would be on at noon...at two...at four...at six...by midnight. I went out to the garage and rummaged through our camping stuff. Found the camp stove AND it still had fuel. So (after calling my dad to walk me through it) we had HOT hot dogs for dinner (with pork-n-beans and clementines.) Not much of an anniversary dinner--but it was by candlelight. (grin)

My neighbor went home and we came up to the tv room and played. The power kicked on twice--for about a minute each time, and we went ahead and went to bed. I woke up a little before midnight and went around to check on the kids. It was getting pretty cold and I was just starting to get a little worried. In the middle of my rounds (during which all babies were warm and snug!), the lights kicked on. I sat up for about an hour after this, drinking a cup of hot tea and counting my blessings....

Serendipity....

We went to the KVC foster care conference this weekend. Baby J went to spend the night with his dad and I took the other 5 kids to Kansas City with me. We got to the hotel and checked in and went downstairs. I must say, I was very impressed by how organized and family friendly everything was. They had a buffet dinner set out--hamburgers, chicken fingers, mac-n-cheese, and we had a good dinner. Then we stood in line to get family pictures taken--and ran into the two teenage girls who had stayed two nights with me last month. We hugged and they introduced me to their foster mom. We did our family pictures--then got in the "Santa" picture line and I struck up a conversation with a woman who is in a (very long) process of adopting her two children. (Keep "Tiffany" in your thoughts and prayers--the next court date is the end of March and that whole family needs the closure of permanancy.)

We did Santa pictures, then met a few more people (I tried to get Zadina to sit down long enough to eat *something* as she was too busy before networking and dancing to the big band music.) I met another woman with one adopted child, one birth child, and a foster baby. Very inspirational story.

We got back to the room, did baths, watched the second half of a movie, and tried to go to sleep. Both babies decided that if I wasn't touching them, I must be leaving them, so I spent the night somehow holding *both* of them--none of us getting much sleep. Then about 5:00, Za decided to crawl into bed with me. (sigh)

We got up about 6:30 and were dressed and down for buffet breakfast by 7:00. We ate and I delivered the children to their respective sitters. (Again--very impressive--they had TONS of activities for the big kids and an AWESOME ratio for the little kids--about 2 adults to every 3 babies!) I came down and Victoria Rowell gave a great talk on fostering and promoted her book (of which we each received a complimentary copy), The Women who Raised Me. Then I picked up Sascha and nursed her and let her get a nap during the next seminar--dropped her back off and had lunch--talked to some more people.

Okay--here's the weird part: They had put all the pictures from the night before out on tables, so I went to pick up our photos. There weren't many pictures left--maybe 8 on this last table. There was a woman standing next to me and I pointed out a tiny baby in one picture--she knew the family and said that the baby had just been born by a teen mom and we talked a few minutes about that situation--then I looked up and saw a Santa picture with the three boys we had met and wanted to adopt last spring. I gasped and said, "They are here? I didn't see them!" The woman knew who they were and said they were available for adoption. I said, "I know--we met them last spring and wanted to adopt them but nothing ever happened--I just thought our family had been rejected for some reason." She said, "Let's make something happen." So she got my info and introduced me to an adoption specialist--we may end up getting the three boys we wanted last spring!!!

The rest of the convention was rather anti-climatic. Another seminar, picked up the kids, headed out and did drive-thru for dinner. Got home about 7:00 and baby J came back shortly after that. We all slept pretty well Saturday night!

Yesterday we did church and Walmart--and the babies are coming down with the creeping crud the rest of us had a few months ago--the two fosters are having trouble keeping food down. I think we'll lay low for the next few days--I have to take Za in for a blood test (for WIC) sometime this week, but other than that, we are set.

I talked to Jeff yesterday and today. He is doing well, but could really use a break. However, we are getting down to *only* about 130 days until he comes home.

Oh--Taj was talking to my mom when we were in Omaha. He read something to her and she said, "Pretty soon, you'll be able to read *everything*." He replied, "Like your mind?"

Snapshot of now:
Taj and Aria downstairs playing Cars (It's pretty involved and although it has the characters of the movie "Cars", they have a whole new storyline.)
Zadina and Sascha playing "Ho-ho" in the bouncy seat--Sascha in the back and Za driving the reindeer out front. All giggles and grins.
Sick babies sleeping in their respective beds.