JUST A (NOT SO) NORMAL FAMILY

JUST A (NOT SO) NORMAL FAMILY

Thursday, August 5, 2010

VBS Week

Last week was VBS at our church.  They brought in a BMX/FMX team and had all kinds of stunts each night.  The kickoff was Sunday and it has so HOT outside.  But the blow-ups were fun (our church loves blow-ups) and the tricks were pretty spectacular and hopefully it brought some new faces to our church and ultimately to their Savior.
Jonathan loves the blow-ups too.  He would play in these things 24/7 - even when it's over 90 degrees outside!
Michael loves this human wrecking ball game.  He has surprisingly good balance and didn't get beat by the 3 girls that were playing against him!
Best friends and best neighbors!
I DID NOT need anyone giving Joseph any more ideas on how to inflict bodily harm on himself (but they were super cool)!
Family fun at Summer FX - did I mention it was really hot!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

"Puzzling" news...aka "Every Piece Counts"

So my darling children want to do something to help raise money to bring home their next siblings.  They have talked about a lemonade stand and an ice-cream stand.  I said no to both of those because - let's face it, I'm going to have to do most of the work and will probably watch them literally eat up all the profits.  Not too long after one of these discussions I noticed Charity and Joseph standing out by the street trying to sell their "artwork" as a fundraiser.  It simultaneously made me laugh out loud and touched/broke my heart.  They want to DO something!  That same day I was reading a new blog and saw a fundraiser that her kids were doing - I knew it was one my kids would LOVE and was something they could actually do and that hasn't been done by every adopting family we know.  So, today I ordered a 500 piece puzzle by my favorite artist.  The kids will get "sponsors" for each of the 500 pieces.  We will then write the name of the "sponsor" on the back of the puzzle piece.  The goal is for them to be able to see 500 people give a little bit (minimum of $1) to help them meet their goal.  500 people who will have a part in something bigger than themselves.  We will eventually frame the puzzle with glass on both sides so that our family - and especially the new ones will have that reminder of God's faithfulness and the kindness of our friends and family (after the adoption is over - since framing isn't cheap and one of the main goals is for them to raise some money :)!  I love this for many reasons but also because most kids can scrounge up a dollar or two and so I won't care when they hit up their friends to be a "sponsor".   This should be fun!

This will be the finished product:


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

July is gone :(

Which means school is just around the corner (7 days to be exact - booo!)  The kids got their "teacher" letters in the mail this week and we bought school supplies last Monday so I guess technically we are ready to go back - that being said, I'm never ready to go back. I'll drown my back to school blues by reliving some of the fun from this summer!
The 3 older kids spent a week at camp in the middle of July.  They were placed in "family" groups for the week.  They had a great week learning all about the Creation and having their lives touched by the missionary from Haiti.  (I don't have any pics of Charity yet but I'm sure she looked just as "campy" as the girls in this group!)

 Joseph loves mini-golf....

Especially when he sinks his putt!
I'm not sure what the deal with the bandanna's was but they wore them all week apparently, and have continued to sport them at home every now and then!

While the kids were at camp, I was here:



With them:

This isn't the most flattering picture of all of us but riding the bikes was one of our favorite parts of the trip so...it makes the blog!  It was a great week with some great friends and proof that we all married great men who allowed/urged us to go.

The day after we all got back it was time once again for the county fair.  

Tell me this isn't the quintessential 4-H kid picture!  On the way to the fair!
 Okay, this one is pretty good too!
Joseph and his bff - these two are so stinkin cute.  They passed the football ALL WEEK outside of the dairy barn.  Kind of annoying to people trying to pass through but it was nice for the moms - we knew exactly where to find them!
 Not a great picture but it's the only one I've got right now - and he did SUCH a good job showing his pig.  It sounds silly to those who haven't done it but it takes a lot of work to do it right.  He surprised us all with how well he did.  He really loved it and had a great time!


One of the best parts of the fair is hanging out with our cousins.  Charity is in the white shirt - I'm not sure what these crazies were discussing but my guess is - if we could implement it - it would CHANGE THE WORLD!
This might be my favorite picture of the week - Michael and Alida giving pep talks to their "girls" before going in the ring.
The week pretty much revolved around Michael but this proves that the others were all there supporting him and having a grand ol' time in the process.

It was a great couple of weeks.  VBS was last week - pics to come but for now I'm off to sleep - hoping for a fun day tomorrow and maybe a spare half hour to post some more.  I DO miss you lovely little blog.

Oh- quick what's cooking (I always forget):
We had baked potato bar tonight with homemade buttermilk biscuits.  Not sure why we were carbo-loading but boy was it good!!!