Happy 9th Birthday Caleb!!!

Caleb is 9 years old today!!This is our referral picture of Caleb July 2005 Monrovia, Liberia

Did you ever wonder what it would feel like to travel across the world with a stranger and be placed in the hands of your new family that looked and sounded very different from yourself?

If you look at Caleb's face here you can see what it looks like!

Meeting Caleb for the first time in the Portland airport, November 2005!

Helping put Hannah's bike together. The joy of new bikes, when only the richest kids back home ever dreamed of having a bike!!!

Caleb's second Christmas, December 2006.

First time to the Pacific Ocean!

Erinn and Caleb 2007

Big brother fun!

The excitement of finding a praying mantis-2008

Big sister and little sister and Caleb!

Our new 9 year old with his very healthy breakfast!!!

Caleb, we pray that God may bless you abundantly in the next year as you seek to become more like Him in every way. We thank God for the blessing of placing you in our family forever!!

Not a Spring Chicken Anymore!

One of the first posts I did on this blog was about David running the Portland Marathon for a fund raiser for disabilities ministries. Well us girls talked about walking it this year and I guess that is a go at this point!

Two weeks ago we went on our first walk together and have been training since.

Yesterday three of us tackled a 10 miler!! We walked the first 5 miles in 1:09 and the second 5 miles in 1:11 for a total of 10 miles in 2:20!!! Pretty good for beginners. We did do a little jogging to loosen up the muscles and change up the pace.

So the reason for the title would be--I am very slow moving this morning!! Not sore muscles, but my back is out!! I felt it about 10 minutes after we stopped walking yesterday. I was prepared for sore legs, a swollen knee or even another black toenail, but not my back.

Then David asked me this morning if I was 10 years older than both the ladies I walked with yesterday? Yes!! And what is your point??

I guess a mom with daughters this age should feel their age just a little?!?

And The Not So Competitive!

With a house full of competitive kids, I guess God decided I needed a break with my youngest!!

Notice the graceful form!

OK she throws like a girl, but I have never had one the does!!

This picture is great, I snapped it right before she went running through the long jump pit!

She does not quite have the jumping thing down yet.
And these have to be the best!
Wonderful hopping up and down form!

But look at that grin with the tongue hanging out and all!

Notice there are no other kids in the picture, they were all way in front of her, but she did not care at all!

And the best part??? Your big brother waiting at the finish line with a really cute pink ribbon for you!!! Lest you think I am in anyway serious, let me put your mind at ease.

After 4 very competitive children it would be wonderfully relaxing to this mom to take life a little less seriously and stressful with this one!!

Isn't she great!
And my awesome son having a great time with the kids at the track meet.
Thanks for being such a great role model for all the kids!

The Up and Coming Track Star?!

I think David is going to have to read up on how to train a sprinter!!

Look at that face!

He passed 3 guys coming into finish of the 400M for 3rd place of all the boys 12 and under.

I think we may need to work on that form! Look at the head in the air!

He was actually leading the 50M and the boy you see to the right of the picture started on the left of Caleb and crossed over in front of him!
The next pictures are fun because the camera was on some crazy setting and took lots of pictures in a row!

He's up! He misses the other boy!

He's down!

And he is laughing!

Then a first try ever at the high jump!

Notice he is running straight into the pit. Not the best way to go!

He's up!

And he is over!

Maybe a decathlete?

Blue Clay People

Just had the opportunity to finish the book, "Blue Clay People" by William Powers

This book is not written from a Christian perspective, so be warned on some of the language and situational content.

It did show a good picture into the life of those living in Liberia during the civil war. The struggle that the people have just to survive day to day. And some of the reasoning behind the in depth corruption from the top levels all the way to the bottom.
It is hard to condemn poaching when a person is starving.
It is hard to condemn stealing when your family is starving.

It does bring to mind the passage in Romans we studied this week:
Romans 2:1-4
1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

The book was a good reminder that life is not so easy to read, that we do not all walk similar paths, and we all need the saving grace of our Saviour.

Are You Hurt??

My beautiful daughter with the fake kitty. Isn't she cute?

So how does a sweet face like this hide so much fear and pain?

On Sunday she was mopping the kitchen floor with the swifter. She decided to run while she was doing it and the inevitable happened that happens when you run on wet floors! Her feet went up and she landed flat on her tail bone! All I saw from my vantage point was feet in the air, I heard no crying. David called her over to him, there were huge crocodile tears, but no sound! He comforted her and she went back to finish the floor with no sound.

Interesting?!?

Monday morning we decided to bike to VBS. She said nothing about still hurting and got on her bike. She was having trouble getting on and off, I wrote it off as she was wearing a skort and it made maneuvering difficult. About half way there we got off to walk up the big hill and she was limping. So I ask is anything wrong? No she says. We keep walking with the limp getting more pronounced. I ask again, Hannah you are walking funny, are you sure you are OK. She says she is tired. So I know I am slow, but it then dawns on me about the fall!! So I ask Hannah does your butt hurt? The silent tears well up in her eyes and she says "yes"!

We finally got to the bottom of the funny walk, but we are in no way near the 'bottom' of the issue!

We discusses that it is OK to tell mom what hurts and what you need--again! That I will do anything that I can to make it better. No real response.

So we tried humor. Hannah, it is OK to say "My butt hurts!" I get a smile with that and hope we have reached an understanding.

Fast forward to this morning. My first question for her after she gets up.

"How is your butt?"

"OK."

"It doesn't hurt?"

"No."

So I have her sit so I can take a picture of her with her new fake kitty and she very carefully lowers herself to the ground and tenderly sits on her backside!

So I ask you, do you think it is OK? Have we gotten to the 'bottom' of the issue?

I am sure we are dealing with needs not being met in her first years. Not that her birth mother did not want to meet the needs, but most likely, she was unable to meet her needs. So we read and research ways to meet Hannah in her pain and fear and help her work through it. But mostly we lay our precious daughter before the Lord, the Great Physician and ask Him to heal her broken heart and to open her heart to His love that she may walk fully in His grace.

Psalm 103:3-5
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Life is Moving On!

This is Drew and Erinn, pre tooth extraction and finals!

Drew is still a little swollen around the lower jaw from his tooth extraction, but feeling better overall. He has been busy getting ready for a garage sale with a bunch of his team to earn money for Steens Mountain Running Camp this summer.

Erinn will have her last final tonight and officially be a college junior. I must say she is already moving on and is looking forward to a much awaited trip to Texas to see Mike! Details are in the making as I write.

Danielle is trying to keep busy and looking froward to Ryan's break coming up in a month or so. Hard time for her to be working for a non-profit group. But she is enjoying the learning experience one way or the other.

Hannah is my easy going Hannah. We all need one like her to slow us down and force us to smell the roses a little. She is presently playing in a large bucket of water out back, where she has been playing for the last hour all by herself. She is very easy to entertain. She showed me her letter E's this morning she was practicing! They had about 6 horizontal lines on them!! Some of her visual processing issues. To her they looked great!

Caleb and I had a big exchange this morning about telling time again!! He sure knows how to push my buttons! After I discussed it with him for 1/2 an hour with him not getting it at all (though we just went over it last week), he just all the sudden got them all right in a row, as though someone just turned on a light in his head (you know like the cartoons). Now all I need to figure out is how to turn the light on sooner!!! He is such a good kid that loves to please, I think most of it is fear that he will get it wrong and disappoint. He is now busily working on Knex and having a great time working with the wheels and finding all the different ways you can put them together.

I have been battling some lows this week. Get that way once in a while, usually due to too much stress I am not dealing with, which sends my already precarious hormones into a tail spin. Thankful to be leveling out again. Looking forward to seeing that sun sometime this summer. Think it is playing havoc on things too. My big blessing right now has been increasing my walking time. I have been able to listen to some great sermons by John Piper this week while I was walking. Also my bum knee has not been giving me any trouble-Praise the Lord!!

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:15

They're Out!

Drew did forbid me to place the picture of him post tooth pulling on this site. I will honor his request this time. Suffice it to say that his face somewhat resembles a chipmunk's at this point!

All that aside we are thankful that all 3 wisdom teeth came out well and he is resting and recovering.

His biggest obstacle so far was the fact that he has never had more than a cleaning done to his teeth! So he was surprised with the numbness in his lips and cheeks. With all my beautiful fillings I never thought about warning him about what that felt like, for me it was a normal part of going to the dentist!

Braids and Beads

Hannah sporting her new braids and beads! She likes the sound the beads make when they clink together, so she asked for beads this time. It is amazing how much her hair has grown.

Granite Man Triathlon

Drew and this Crew from our church ran the Granite Man Triathlon yesterday.

Nate, Andrew, Nate, Marty and Drew

Having to laugh at wearing wet suits for the 3/4 mile swim in the cold lake.

Sometimes I am amazed at how much he looks like his dad!
Serious face before the swim starts.

Can you see him? HaHa! He is actually way on the outside, probably the bare arm directly below the guy on the jet ski.

Drew finished the 3/4 mile swim in 19:53. I believe he was the 5th individual athlete out of the water. Not bad for a kid who has swam only once in the last 6 months. I think just being in good shape helps him out a lot in this part.

After some slower transition times last year, he knew it was an area he could work on for this race. The wet suit without sleeves helped a lot. He had it down to his waist by the time he reached his bike.

1:59 was his swim to bike transition. Longest part being getting his socks and shoes on, but he would not need to do this at the bike transition, as he just wore his running shoes to bike.

Off he goes in chase of the 4 guys in front of him.

Notice the smile! Not sure I would be smiling at this point!!!

Here he is coming off the end of the 13 mile bike on a single track hiking trail along the edge of the lake. If he is looking a little sore, he was nursing a shoulder injury after hitting a tree root and going head first over his handlebars!! He slid down the hill head first and was stopped when his shoulder hit a tree!!! His was worried about the 2 minutes he lost during the accident!

His biking time was 1:02:45.

Drew had the fastest transition of any one in the bike to run-only 12 seconds. He just threw off his helmet and ran with his gloves on!

And off he goes on the start of a 5 mile run to the finish along the road and trails. He was favoring his shoulder but felt good on the run. His run time was 36:29.

That gave him an overall time of 2:01:20!!!

Ending up 5th place over all and first in his age group.

His shoulder is bruised this morning, but we are thankful that is all it seems to be!

All the guys from church finished and we had a great time at the lake too.

Childhood Trauma...

Yesterday was Hannah's last day of ballet class. When we were leaving I asked her if she wanted me to sign her up for more classes? Without hesitation the answer was NO!

You see, Hannah is scared to go to ballet!! Odd thing to be scared of huh. Well, as I am learning, when you parent a child with early childhood trauma you never know where, when or what will trigger a memory of fear.

I am thankful that a friend had the opportunity to see the refugee camp that my children lived in for most of their young lives. She was able to tell me that the building which houses the ballet classes is very much like the building at the refugee center. The difference being is that the building in Liberia is full of bullet and rocket holes!!!

From what I can ascertain, Hannah lived there her whole life till she was placed in the orphanage at 2 1/2 years old.

This is the first memory that Hannah has shared with us, that was not first told by Caleb. And really I do not think she realizes yet that it is a memory, just a fear of being shot while in the building. Interestingly enough, Caleb does not show the same fear. I guess we all process our fears and needs in different ways.

Consistent reinforcement of her safety were needed till we realized what was going on in her little mind. We have talked about it since and I think she understands as well as she can at this point.

So we walk though another path with our blessings, praying for guidance to help their hearts heal.

Just to let you know we did offer ballet at another location for her. She still said no and said she wants to do basketball dance class!!! I have not heard of that class before!!! Let me know if you know where we can sign her up! LOL!

Special Treat!!

Yesterday we had the privilege of spending some time with one of Danielle's old track buddies, Lisa and her boyfriend, Aron.
In one of those God appointed moments we ran into them at a restaurant while eating with our unexpected out of town friends-Andy and Kris-if not for their unexpected visit we would not have been eating out that night! You see the whole God thing-Right!The special treat for our family was that Aron is from Kenya! Talk about connection. Hannah and Caleb immediately attached to him and the familiar African accent. Aron was such a good sport, letting Caleb and Hannah hang all over him!

The other special treat was that Aron is a college national champion in distance running. Bet you are starting to see the other connection! David and Drew had a great time talking running, racing, training and anything else having to do with distance running. Too cool!

To keep adding to the surprises of the night. Our Erinn was so excited to talk with him about his life in Kenya and how he ran to school five miles every day and then back after school. Some days just because he did not bring a lunch he would run home and back for his lunch hour!! As many of you know Erinn is studying Anthropology and she wrote a paper last term on the "magic zone" as this area of Kenya is known as, for how it produces so many world-class distance runners. Her teacher marked her down on her paper saying that this may have been true in the past, but not so much anymore. Here Erinn sat with her 'proof' that she was right!

Our final surprise of the night was Aron and Lisa making us Kenyan tea and flat bread! Caleb just glowed, and now I know he likes his tea really sweet or not at all. He said it tasted like African tea! And when Aron was mixing up the flat bread batter, Caleb wanted to know if he was making fufu? (Not sure I got that spelling right) When he first came home he kept asking for fufu and I did not know what he was saying. As I learned what it was I found that it is made from ground Cassava root, which to this time I have been unable to find anywhere locally to try to make for him. Anyways he liked the flat bread and said it tasted close to his memories of Liberia.

We thank God for this wonderful visit with these Christian young people and the way they shared of themselves with our family! Be praying for Aron as he seeks to lower his times a little more so that he may run professionally for a time. His ultimate goal is working in the UN!

The World We Live In...

Due to the fact the we are living in a politically correct society, we as Christian have to make those choices to stand up for what we believe in.

Today David will have one of those opportunities. As a member of Rotary he has chosen to be on the rotation list to give the invocation. In our politically correct society you can speak any kind of prayer or saying you would like, just if you choose to say a Christian prayer, be ready for the backlash. David will take his turn today and will say his prayer to the God of Heaven, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the Creator of the Universe. He will surely suffer some persecution for the name of his God and will do so very willingly.

Pray for him and all the many others who stand in positions of leadership across our country and face these choices day by day in the world in which we now live.

This is David's brother Stephen and his family-Ginger, Rebekah, Abigail, Luke and Jonathan. They serve with New Tribes Mission in the Philippines. There is a link to their website on the side bar.

They and their partners, the Zimmerman's, will be beginning their teaching of creation thru Christ on Monday. This will be the first time the Agutaynen people will hear the Good News!

Here is the email we just received from Stephen asking for prayer in the next weeks.

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings! We want to thank you all for your continued prayers for our team and for us personally. Teaching among the Agutaynens will begin in four days, on June 8th. We are very excited. However, I would be a liar if I said I wasn't a little scared. But this is a good thing. It shows us once again that our trust needs to be in Him alone.

We want to give you a little detail concerning what will happen Monday night so you can be praying more specifically. We are telling everyone that the meeting will begin at 6:30pm (that is Monday 6:30 am in Michigan and 3:30 am in Oregon). However, it will probably start at 7. Manfred will start by giving a very brief greeting and then he will send me into the den of lions. In other words, Manfred has asked me to do the teaching regarding the Bible. So, I will spend about 10 minutes, sharing that the Bible is God's Word and that God has revealed His beautiful plan for the Agutaynens in it. After this time, Manfred will then share concerning "Who God is?" and the "Creation Story". Manfred has also asked me to read the Bible passages whenever there is one during his time. So, I will also be reading much of Genesis 1 and 2.

We are very excited, that the Agutaynens will finally hear the truth. We are excited that we won't be just sitting on the sideline. We consider it a privilege that God will be using us for His honor and glory. As you may know, Manfred has wonderful gifts and abilities that God has given him. We feel blessed that Manfred and Nadine see us as a team and that he is giving some teaching responsibilities to me. So, once again, we ask you to be praying with us.

Thank you.

Stephen

I ask that you join us in prayer in this endeavour, knowing that our prayers will be a part of the Gospel reaching this people group!

Great Grandparents

Just got through visiting with my grandparents on their quick trip up from California. Caleb and Hannah actually remembered their great-grandparents this time and Caleb hung all over his 'new' grandpa! Hannah was still a little shy, but it is coming for her. Drew raced out to grab pizza for us all as we watched a video his his racing.

Spur of the Moment

Early yesterday David received a call from our good friends, Andy and Kris, saying they would be within an hour and 1/2 of our home for their son's baseball play-off game. So with about 2 hours notice we all packed up and headed out to surprise them at the game!!

Well the surprise was on all of us, as the amazing thunderstorms that we have been enjoying every evening for the past 5 days descended just as we were showing up to surprise them. Game cancelled!! As beautiful and awesome these thunderstorms have been, you do not want to be playing baseball in them! So Drew had a very short opportunity to visit with his childhood buddy and companion in more than a few mischievous adventures (like shooting at cows hooves with bb guns and watching them dance!).

We then were blessed to have Andy and Kris follow us home and visit for the evening. What an unexpected time of fellowship. We were able to surprise Grandma with a short visit too. We caught up on engagements, babies, missions and where the Lord has been leading our families. It is so good to have our families extended by being part of God's global family!!

Catching Up

Thought I would take a few minutes before we are off again to catch up here.

First these pictures are from last week with some good friends over for a fondue and Wii party.

Caleb is starting on his summer school work. It is mostly supposed to be easy review work and reading. Interesting how he has already forgotten how to tell time!! He will also get to do FREE reading (amazing what that word 'free' will do for a kid's mind) and for every 30 minutes he gets a space ship to place on his reading wall!!

Drew ran his post season race and won on a very hot 95 degree day. He is so ready for his 2 week break! He will be running a triathlon this weekend, mostly with no swimming or bike training. He somehow does consider this a break. As I have said before, I am not really sure how his mind works in this area!! He will then be getting his wisdom teeth out next week. What a FUN break. He will also be getting his Bible verse exam done today and will officially be done with his junior year.

Erinn is racing through dead week, with all her finals next week. She will then be half way to that college degree! She is looking forward to some good lakeside time this summer along with many hours of work. She is also contemplating moving into an apartment with a friend. She just returned from a introductory meeting about a medical missions trip to India that she may do sometime in the future. She was very excited to take a shopping trip while there with her friend and get 5 shirts, a dress and a purse for under $50. She is quite the bargain hunter.

Hannah is coughing away. Sounds like she got what I had for the last few weeks. Praying it is over soon for her. We are not doing any type of school work for her as she is so wiped out. She took two naps yesterday. We are working on social interaction in her speech class, trying to get her comfortable talking with peers instead of withdrawing from social settings.

David is still running, swimming and playing softball with his broken rib. I think it is taking it's toll on him with loosing so much sleep though. He is having trouble getting much good sleep due to the pain. We are praying for relief soon as he has been instructed to stay off his AS medicine till it is healing well. He is now a week and a half past his shot time and the AS is flaring in other areas. Needing to get him back on it to keep him pain free and mobile.

I have been blessed with some free time these last few days and am loving it. I had the opportunity to watch the second video by Dr. Purvis, you will find it here-

http://www.irvingbible.org/index.php?id=1581

And yes Marti I was ironing while I was watching it!!

I enjoyed taking notes of the very practical ideas for dealing with contrary behaviors in adopted children. I had been wanting to watch it, so was very thankful for the chance.

I was also able to read the great article by Voddie Bauchan, you will find it here-

http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2009/4/26_Adoption_Anxiety_%28Reprint%29.html

The article called Adoption Anxiety was a very good read too.

My last read has been Girl Soldier by McDonnell and Akallo

this book will make you cry, make you wonder how this can continue to happen and make you want to take action for those who have no voice.My heart and mind are full of so many things at this moment with all the wonderful reading I was able to get done. Praying the Lord will direct my heart.

So many abundant blessings in the busyness of our life!
It is crazy at times, but I love it!!