My Cup Runneth Over

The Cost of Adoption

I do intend to do some catching up on the blog here in the coming weeks...really! But, in the meantime thought I'd share a GREAT blog post about the cost of adoption. For those that are curious and I know we were when we first began to move past the praying-about-it stage into the serious-research stage - seven years ago this month! WOW! Can't believe it's been seven years already.

And as a side note - we also firmly believe that doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. So if you feel a tugging at your heart in the area of adoption - pray, pray and pray some more. Ask your spouse to pray with you until God gives you both the same answer. With our first, we thought about it and decided if we and others felt alright about taking out a loan for a house, a car or some home improvements...why not an adoption trip?! So, we did and were able to take our 2 boys with us to China the first time. Yeah...we paid on that for a long while and yeah...I wish we would have figured out (or perhaps waited on the Lord!) for another way. But, I am so very glad they went along and gladly make those payments. :)

For Ren's adoption God gave us gifts - large gifts anonymously in the mail. We also received gifts from family and friends and we applied for and received a LARGE grant for our adoption. Sometimes God calls us to adopt and other times He calls us to help others through the process. God provided every penny of the fees and travel for her adoption. Talk about a faith builder! With this adoption God has used our dependency upon Him to confirm His plans to grow our family in this way and remind us that not only will He supply all of our needs financially - but in regards to energy, patience, wisdom and sanity! (Phil 4:19)

We have noticed that each step we take...He provides. We have prayed and prayed and prayed about this and are thrilled to be on a new and exciting adoption journey! We have worked hard at having a huge yard sale which was a kick-off for fundraising. We've sold necklaces and continued to sell items around our house and those that others have donated. We've sold lots of curriculum - and all has gone into our adoption fund. We are working on our budget and saving where we can. And, once again, God has used friends and family to bless us with financial donations. And here we are...home study is almost complete (and paid for!) and we are about to send in our application to our placing agency. One of the HUGE benefits we have going for us (and anyone who is interested in adoption right now) is a $13,000 adoption tax refund. Used to be that we could collect - over a period of 5 years the amount of adoption fees that we had paid...all according to how much we had paid in-for taxes. But, at least for this year and next year - it isn't about how much we pay in - it is a tax refund of just over $13,000 to pay back adoption fees regardless of how much we've paid into taxes. That is HUGE! It's the one and only thing we feel that Obama has done to actually help us out!

So...don't let the cost of adoption discourage you...pray about it - research grants and adoption loans. And see what God will do! He designed adoption! (Eph 1:5) He values life. (Ps. 139:13) He longs to set the lonely in families. (Ps. 68:6)

Home School

This is my favorite part of homeschooling...snuggling on the couch reading a great Sonlight book to the kid (or kids!) This right here makes the hard times worth it and the memories we build and the stories the kids hear...priceless.

Now...some in the family would say one of the advantages to homeschooling is the free time it gives them to read their own books and play video games. :) This is what recess looks like at our house!

 

Impromptu field trip to our neighbor's house when the fire truck came through! SO cool!

Government...Teenpact (it's educational and FUN)

P.E. and bible in the same classes.

Literature

Mid-morning snack (lots more fun in a tea cup!)

 

Ready for CHESS (optional enrichment academy classes that meet one day a week)

More field trips...science!

    

Centers :)

Not only art, but life and relational skills...

...lots of opportunity for those skills to be built!

  

Spelling, vocabulary and PE (if we count all the laughter!)

 

More PE and health (big doses of Vitamin D!)

 

 Nature journaling the nasty spider out front = science
 
 

Considering I didn't do a lot of Loe's science book work...we managed to work plenty of science in = field trip to local dairy and farm

Let's see...PE, history and socialization!

 

Outreach and cultural awareness

Definitely PE and bible (gotta memorize those verses!)

And even more science at the aquarium. And one of my favorites..Loe conquering the shoe-tying challenge!

We all have learned much this year, so much that we didn't get pictures of...regular book work, family devotions, driver's ed, jobs, church, volunteer work, frisbee, Disney, family, friends, and the list goes on and on. We LOVE homeschooling and I can NOT believe Chase will graduate in a couple of months!! 

Tae Kwon Do

Trevor, Hunter and Eloise have all been taking Tae Kwon Do at a local Christian school here in town - Miller's Academy. The instructor is fabulous with the kids! Recently Trevor re-injured his knee and Hunter decided to stop when Trevor did. For him it was more of a partial PE credit, but he had some fun beating up his dad in class. :) It was fun to watch Hunter do some martial arts again, still has those amazing and incredible HIGH kicks!

Loe is still going weekly and absolutely loving it. Her class is very small and so she gets a ton of attention. She just continues to amaze me at how eager she is to learn and how her confidence has grown. She is so outgoing now, it's almost hard to remember her when she was shy and scared of everything. She hates missing even a week of class. She quickly learns all the moves each cycle. She yells "yes sir" when it's appropriate and boldly recites her bible verses.  I can tell a difference in her balance, coordination, and hopefully she is gaining some self-defense techniques. She works hard at punching and kicking through boards. And her instructor points out in almost every class that she smiles non-stop the whole 30 minutes! Here are a few pics from a test a few months back.  

   
 
 

  
 
 

 
 
  
 

 

 

 

 

  

Greeley Family Christmas

 

Our annual Greeley Christmas festivities include gifts (each couple draws the names of 2-3 kids) and Grandpa and Grandpa spoil the kids with some stuff. We eat (really what event doesn't include food?!). And Kristen has helped the kids do a short Christmas performance every year for the past 5 years - sometimes a play, sometimes a song with actions, this year it was a puppet show. They all created their puppets and the big kids helped the younger ones with the show. It was super cute, as always! I love the whole day, but the relaxing after gifts and watching the kids play is such fun. What a blessing for all of them to grow up together.

 

  

Reasons we homeschool

I read a blog post this morning here, that made me smile and nod in agreement all the way through as she talked about how precious it is to see our kids spend time together. We saw the light of friendship between our boys start to fade and almost burn out when they were in school. When we brought them home it quickly fanned back to life and is still burning strong today! I'd could add many other reasons to why we homeschool:

• Being able to pray anytime through out the day (in quiet or aloud!)
• Reading the scripture and having devotions together (or alone)
• The kids get to see us work through all areas of life - marriage, adoptions, finances, family relationships - everything. Hopefully they continue to learn despite us!
• Getting to choose what they learn, how they learn it and when - setting our own schedule is a huge bonus.
• Choosing curriculum that fits us and them and switching if we need to.
• Staying up late on occasion (OK this happens often!) and sleeping in if we need to (though there are mornings this doesn't work - and we do try to maintain a schedule as much as possible).
• Watching them grasp a new concept dig deeper into a subject of interest.
• Doing school in our pjs while sipping creamy, hot drinks.
• Or doing school outside (we do get dressed for that!) under a tree or in the Colorado sunshine.

I could go on and on and on. And I could list a few of the hard parts of homeschooling. Like any form of education there are pros and cons. The pros just FAR outweigh the cons in our family. (and some of the cons are actually a way God gets to work on our character flaws...like lack of discipline to work on records instead of blogging!)

While I type Loe is coloring, Ren is playing with the colored pencils, Hunter is studying downstairs, it's Chase's one morning a week to work with his Dad and Grandpa. Later today I'll do a bit of school with Loe - though she doesn't even realize it's "school". She'll read to me and if she doesn't have a dozen cards she's working on that she asks us how to spell about 800 words and names - then I may have her do a page of her handwriting book. We might work a math sheet in. The boys will spend some time on the last few subjects they have left and Trevor will probably go over a bit of math or history with them. (If we can pull o)urselves away from the marathon of 24 we've been doing as we catch up on teh seasons we missed before we started watching! They are motivated to finish school this month so they can take July off. Tonight after Tae Kwon Do (aka - PE) we'll enjoy the delicious dinner Trevor is making and then settle down to watch a movie together. I think 'Faith Like Potatoes', which we've heard from a few people is very good. 

Yep - some days are crazy, some days we're grouchy, some days (and even weeks or months!) we don't get everything done and some days I pray that Ren will take a longer nap so I can escape to the bathtub for a loooong while! But, mostly we enjoy being together and praise God for this opportunity. (Sure doesn't seem like being together learning and growing with our kids should be viewed as an 'opportunity', but in this day and age (and political climate) it is!  

Another worship dance class!

                       

Eloise had a chance to participate in another worship dance class through our homeschool group. Each spring a few of the energetic and amazing moms organize a bunch of classes.They offer several choices of classes over a 3 hour period - once a week for 4 weeks. The boys took a few - an investment class, and ballroom dancing. Seriously! Chase went to two of these dances last fall and Hunter went to one. They had a great time! There are always more girls then boys who sign up, both for the dances and the classes - so they BEG for boys to join them. Chase was willing, but I had to talk Hunter into going. Chase also took a videography class. Hunter helped with preschool PE and both helped set up and clean up. Loe got to take Messy Art (which she loved!), science and this worship dance class. She enjoyed them all. The dance class did their song at the homeschool talent show a few weeks later. They were super cute and I get goose bumps and teary eyes when I think of how much this pleases Jesus. Loe did so great remembering all of the sign language and dance moves. They got to make their flags or bracelets during the classes. And now Ren grabs them upon any opportunity and drags them around the house.

                         

Speaking of Ren - before the show started - she decided she would put on a show of her own and crawled around on the stage - flashing everyone many grins and displaying a great amount of silly antics. She is such a goof ball - but oh so cute!

                        

                         

                          

   

Tae Kwon Do

                        

Eloise, Hunter and Trevor are all taking Tae Kwon Do together at a small, Christian school here in town. The boys both achieved the rank of Junior Black Belt when they went through the Kenpo Karate program a few years ago. Chase was in for over 4 years and Hunter for over 6. It was so good for them - to work towards the goal they set for themselves. They both liked having a few years off. The school they were in was pretty intense with 2-3 classes per week. Chase is hoping to find an affordable Jujitsu program - as that was his favorite part of their last karate school. Hunter still has those amazingly high kicks and because of his years spent at another school - the instructor is allowing him to test for a few belts at a time. So, he is already a green belt! Way to go Hunter!! Trevor is enjoying the exercise and fellowship with the others in his class as well as the time with Hunter. (I have pics of all three at their test, but I was only able to go to Loe's belt award ceremony. Chase took pics at Trevor and Hunter's class - but they aren't on my computer yet.) Loe, continues to amaze us all with her enthusiasm for new adventures like this. She loves Tae Kwon Do! They have to memorize scripture and she is enjoying that. She knows her moves and has quite the loud shout to go with each punch and kick! The teacher and several parents have commented on the way her smile lights up the room and how it rarely leaves her face!

Loe is one of two girls in the 'Tiny Tigers' class. They have quickly become good friends. It's so cute watching them together when they aren't in class - giggling and brushing each other's hair. Ren enjoys watching the classes and really had fun during the test - playing with all of the boards they each broke. Everybody got to punch through and kick through a board. Because Hunter was testing for 3 belts - he had to break 6 boards! And you also get a glimpse of Trevor's lovely black eye! No...I didn't do it! It wasn't Ren kicking him in bed (which she does do to us on a regular basis!) and it wasn't a karate incident - it happened at his softball game! He's such a hunk - black eye or not! I love that smile! :) 

                      

                        

                         

                        

                        

                      

It's all about Him

                               

  

Organized church in America seems to have strayed a LOT from what Jesus instructed us to do and from the example we have in the new testament. We haven't given up on it just yet, but we do sometimes find ourselves cherishing more our times that we gather together with those in the body of Christ - in book study groups, homeschool clubs, bible study and family time. However, as I see our freedoms slipping away - I pray that we can continue to worship any way we want (and educate our kids and decide what is best for our family) for a long while. This church is down the street from my folks' place. Such a pretty steeple against God's amazing blue sky. It really is all about Him - isn't it?

Do Hard Things

                   

The boys have attended the Rebelution Conference twice and have both been challenged and enjoyed it each time. Alex and Brett Harris started their blog a few years ago and it grew quickly. Their big theme is to challenge teens to rebel against society's low expectations. It is impressive to hear these two speak and their book is excellent. Chase bought it and discovered there is a study guide to download. So, he instigated a bible study with some friends. We meet twice a month with 5 other kids along with various parents and younger siblings (who go play with Loe). Chase leads the discussion, which is so great because it stretches him out of his comfort zone a LOT! The parents try to let the kids do the talking. But, do jump in now and then with (hopefully!) bits of wisdom for these kids.

It can be easy at times to be so negative and critical of my kids. I slip into times of wishing they were more like this or less like that, focusing on their weaknesses instead of their strengths. But, watching them all share and become more open with their group; challenging each other to " do hard things" reminds me that God is doing a work in their lives. They really are good kids! I am blessed!

                      

Patience

                       

Linus is 8 and for a Great Dane - he's getting up there. He's still pretty healthy. And thought Danes are known for being 'gentle giants' these girls do try his patience. He's never once snapped or hurt either of them intentionally. (He has knocked them down several times when he didn't see them or chose not to notice them!) I trust him completely. But, I don't let them climb around him if one of us isn't watching - because I know they might unintentionaly step on him or trip and poke him in the eye or something like that and he might react differently. (More then likely he would just try to get away from them!) He really is such a good dog. We love him!

                        

Parenting can try our patience. I have found myself praying for more patience over the years. Then at times thinking that in order to become a more patient person I needed more practice - well that wasn't something I wanted to pray for...situations in which I struggle to exercise patience! Then recently while reading scripture I was reminded that patience is a fruit of the spirit and it's the Holy Spirit who fills us up - so I need to be mindful of if I'm allowing the Spirit to flow through me or not. So many things in my life can block that from happening. But, God has given me many wonderful opportunities to test whether or not the Spirit is filling me up or not. Here is one of the biggest ones right now! I know - hard to imagine - isn't it?