Lo Mein and knee surgeries.

Ok, two things.

I'm about to share another fantastically fabulous recipe.  And you know if I'm sharing a recipe with you that it is something we will most definitely repeat again in the future!

And two...this past Thursday I had my 6th knee surgery.  Yes, sixth!  As in one, two, three, four, five, SIX!  I know, I've been keeping an eye out for my "buy 5, get the 6th free" card, but so far I haven't seen it.  This time around I tore my patellae cartilage while doing a cartwheel while we where in Lynch a couple of months ago. 

Yes, I agree.  I'm too old for cartwheels.  That was probably my last one.

All that to say, I'm still fairly doped up and I'm not always making a ton of sense.  You should see some of the text messages I've sent...like this one where I was talking to Kenny about getting ice for the fancy ice pack machine they had me hooked up to...it continued to go downhill from here...

So, don't hold me accountable for what I say in this post.  I'll proof it later to make sure it makes sense.

Ok, on to Lo Mien!

I know how to make a couple of Ethiopian dishes and in my efforts to increase my international cooking skills, I set out on a search for a good lo mien recipe.  I figured that would be a good easy first Chinese meal to try. 

I found a couple of good options and finally settled on one to try and let me just tell you...in my opinion, it was as good as PF Chang's!!  Now, I've never actually been to China, so I don't know how close this recipe is to authentic or if they even really eat lo mien in China, but it was sooo good!  And up until this experience, my Chinese had ended at stir fry veggies and soy sauce. 

But this recipe got that "Chinese take-out" taste just right!

 

Chicken Lo Mien from food.com



 

Photo credit: me
 

 Now, my changes.  Because I don't follow directions. 

I actually doubled the recipe.  Mainly because when I started cooking, I realized I had enough chicken to double it, so I did.  And I'm glad I did because Charlie had 3 helpings!  And the leftovers were just as good as the first day!

• I just used Kroger white cooking wine.  Mainly because I couldn't find dry white wine...I don't understand...does it come in powder form??  I don't usually buy cooking wine, so I was confused.
• And instead of sesame oil (which was like $9 for half an ounce), I bought already toasted sesame seeds and just added them to regular 'ol veggie oil.  I added some to the whole mixture again later because I liked how they smelled!
• I used powdered garlic...but I've been thinking lately I might give an actual garlic a chance again sometime.  Maybe.
• I omitted the water chestnuts because I figured the boys (including Kenny) might balk at those, even though I really like them.
• I also left out the frozen green peas.  I don't like green peas.  Yuck.
• I did use the spaghetti noodles and they worked fine, but I thought I might check out Trader Joe's or some place comparable to see if I could find actual Chinese lo mien noodles.

Now I'm on the look out for a good fried rice recipe per Kenny's request, so if you have a good one, send it my way.

Until then, this will be our go to Chinese receipe! 

Now to see if I can make an egg roll...I'm not holding my breath...

Merry Christmas.

It's that time of year again. 

You know, the time of year where you torture your children for hours to get just one good Christmas card picture, spend way too much time trying to find a good deal on printing said card, track down addresses from all the people you know have moved since last year, address a million envelopes and then rush them off to the post office in hopes of spreading Christmas cheer from your happy, jolly family.

No, really...I actually really do enjoy sending Christmas cards.  Promise. 

So, for those of you in blogland that didn't get a real card in the mail (no hard feelings), I will pass along our happiness and jolliness via the web.

See?  Happier and jollier already!

Lifesong for Orphans strikes again!

The masses have requested and we are happy to oblige...

I'm happy to share with you that we have finally been approved yet again by Lifesong for Orphans for an account for fundraising!  Lifesong helped us tremendously with the financial side of things with the boy's adoption and they are stepping up again and have set up an account to receive funds for Ellie Kate.

Any funds donated to Lifesong for Orphans on our behalf will be given to help cover our adoption expenses. LifeSong is a 501(c)3 organization and your gift will be tax deductible. 100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover our adoption costs--nothing will be taken out for Lifesong for Orphans administrative costs.

If you would like to contribute to our account and help us bring home Ellie Kate, you can donate several ways.

If you write a check, make it out to Lifesong for Orphans, but make certain you put "Cook Adoption, #3038" on the subject line.  You can mail checks directly to Lifesong:

Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL  61744

You can also give online via Lifesong's PayPal account HERE, but know that a 2.9% fee + $0.30 per transaction will be charged by PayPal and taken out of your donation.  If you choose this route, follow these steps...

• Select "One Time Donation"
• Select "Adoption Funding" as your Gift Preference
• Select "Family Specific" as your Adoption Gift Preference
• Family ID Number:  #3038, Family Name:  Cook

Now, I know all my independently wealthy friends are looking for the perfect place to make their 2012 end-of-the-year donations, and we are glad to provide you with an avenue to do so. 

No, no...don't thank us. 

We should thank you. 

P.S.  In all seriousness (which is actually quite difficult for me to pull off), we appreciate each cent donated on our behalf to bring home our little sister.  As most of you know, adoption requires a huge step of faith, and that step of faith is also wrapped up in your finances as well.  We had a great push in the right direction this time around and had no doubt that it was God's most perfect timing for us to begin the process again, but are still trusting Him to see to each tiny detail.

God's just cool like that.

Traditions.

Can I be a dork here and document some of traditions we've started in our silly little family?  Either way, I'm gonna do it...

Cause it's my blog.

1.  Last year we started a tradition of a Christmas countdown...but tied it into our Thanksgiving Day festivities.

Each person writes down things they are thankful for and we use those over the next month during dinner or at bedtime to talk about why we are thankful for said item (some examples include Daddy, our house, adoption, etc). 

I have to give the boys more credit for this than myself.  I make sure we do it, but then usually forget about it.  Despite the fact that it's hanging on the wall so we don't forget... one of them usually has to remind me to take off an item each night before bed. 

Last year we did a simple chain.  I tried to get fancy with a pennant this year.  Only thing fancy did was totally outlast the boy's attention spans leaving me to finish by myself and leave me with a string of thankfulness long enough to run across the front of the house.

But we made it work.


2.  We of course continued our Waffle-House-go-pick-out-a-Christmas-tree tradition on Friday morning.  It's always nice to be in a public place and have someone acknowledge how well behaved your children are...

I just didn't tell them it's because there was food in front of them and they'll do anything to make sure that food ends up in  their bellies.


3.  This year we started a new tradition.  One that I feel certain will stick since so many people in this house LOVE food.  (Anyone else noticing a food related theme with our traditions?)

We certainly did the traditional turkey and dressing, etc, etc on Thanksgiving Day.  But on Friday, we ran by our local Ethiopian restaurant and picked up an order of injera and I made a small Ethiopian feast that night as we gave thanks for the boy's Ethiopian heritage. 

Let's just say they fought more over these leftovers than the turkey.  (And I may have too...it's sooo good!)

On Saturday, we hit up the local Chinese buffet to celebrate the upcoming Chinese part of our family.  And we have at least one Ethiopian that thoroughly enjoyed Chinese food!  Charlie even mastered chopsticks within minutes.  I was impressed!  But now I need to work on my homemade Chinese food since it's been requested for dinner several times since our outing.


4.  Kentucky Horse Park's Southern Lights.  Yeah, we've done this one for several years with the Jolly Family.  Interestingly, the boys got more into the lights this year than usual.  I'll attribute that to a few new attractions, including Star Wars and Transformer figures.  Someone around there knows how to get the attention of little boys!

We let the kids choose a one thing to do and this year Grace and Sam chose to ride the camel.  And Charlie and Emma chose to ride a pony.

I'll let that sink in for a moment. 

And remind you that Charlie is nearly as tall as I am.  I'm 5'3".  Barely.  And a pony is a basically a miniature horse.  (In case you didn't know.)

You put a boy that tall on a pony that short and it was really all we could do to not laugh at his feet nearly dragging the ground!  And his reason for not choosing the camel ride...it was too high.  I told him next year he was gonna have to get over his fear of the camel if he wanted a ride because he was almost tall enough for the pony to ride him. 

He didn't think it was funny.

Nicole and I also got kicked off the train ride by our own kids.  Can you believe that??

We've always ridden in the same little car as them (see below).  But it appears that they've all gotten too big for us to smash in one car.  We warned them if they made us ride by ourselves we would probably embarrass them.  And they did.  So we did.

December 2009 @ Southern Lights

We sang Christmas carols at the top of our lungs for the duration of the ride.  Grace and Emma were absolutely horrified!  We were officially the loudest adults there.  The boys actually thought it was funny and sang along with us.  But I'm not sure how much longer that will last. 

Or the boys are just so used to my erratic and fanatical behavior that they totally expected something like that.  That was probably the case.

The daddy's just entertained themselves while all this singing and train riding was going on...

I'm not really sure what was going on here.  Grace seemed to have things under control.  But Emma didn't exactly fit in her pants.  And Charlie's foot was the wrong color.  And Sam feel asleep.



Grace (12), Charlie (9), Emma (7) and Sam (5)

And I'm totally pumped to add a stroller to this outing next year!

Where do we stand?

Who wants an update on our little Ellie Kate??  I thought so.

Monday we received our I-800A approval!!  You know, the approval we've been waiting on since October. 

Yeah.  It's kinda a big deal.  I've been stalking the mailbox waiting for it.  Of course Monday was the day I forgot to check the mail until 10pm. 

Fun fact:  they actually received our paperwork on October 16, which is our anniversary!

So what does all this mean? 

Well, that was the last piece of our dossier that we were waiting on.  The rest of it was already in Alabama at our agency just waiting on this approval.  Over the next two or three weeks our little packet of papers known as our dossier, that is basically a summary of our entire lives, will make its rounds to the county and state for seals.  Then on to the consulate in Texas.

And then...drum roll, please...on to China!!  Woohoo!

We are pretty pumped too!  It's a big step.  I'll let you know when it officially heads to China!

Thanksgiving, brotherly love and outtakes.

This Thanksgiving we have a lot to be thankful for...you know, all the typical stuff like family, friends, our church, jobs, house, cars, food on the table...

But this year as we prepare to welcome another into this dysfunctional family of four, I can't help but be thankful for the relationship the boys have as brothers.  They are fiercely protective of each other, but will turn on the other in a heart beat when one doesn't get his way.  Yes, Sam bit Charlie on Monday because he wanted to play with the car Charlie had.  (Side note:  This Mommy promises you that will be last time he ever tries that!)  They take turns and share.  But argue over the dumbest things.  They want to be together all the time.  But jump at the chance to have solo time playing video games. 

I know they love each other.  And I know that the depth of that love comes from only having each other for a season during their lives.  They depended on each other because they had no one else. 

I'm thankful their relationship has been a constant for them.  I already see a love for their little sister, even without knowing what she looks like.  I just pray that the Lord grafts her into our little family perfectly and they grow together as siblings...loving each other, hating each other, picking on each other and protecting each other.  They way sibling love should be.

Changing gears slightly...

I try to get in one good photo shoot each year with the boys.  Since they loathe having their picture taken, it's not easy.  But it's just something they're gonna have to get used to with this camera-happy Mommy. 

This year we went up to Taylorsville Lake State Park.  Nicole drug the girls along too.  I thought it might make it go easier for the boys, but all it really did was make Sam super silly.

As for the good pictures, you'll have to wait until the Christmas cards go out to see those...enjoy the outtakes for now...


Of course the monkies had to come with us.  It's the only way to get them to genuinely smile.

Goofball.
 

Notice Charlie in the bottom left...yeah, he was pinching Sam.
 

Taking pictures of girls is way different than taking pictures of boys.  But clearly in the bottom picture, they were DONE.
 

Pictures with Sam are always an adventure.  The faces this child can make are endless...

 

Who needs to smile for pictures when you can climb on picnic tables??
 

See pic on bottom left.  This is a prime example of how taking pictures with these two goes...
 

Sam COULD NOT make his hiney stay on this fence!  And he was afraid he was going to fall into the water.  Yeah, in the lake that is probably half a mile away in the background.
 

Behind the scenes.  We may not look it, but we're exhausted.  We just spent two hours trying to keep the two little ones somewhat clean, combating attitudes from the two big ones and acting like fools to get all of them to smile.

 

Yeah.  That pretty much wraps up how I feel too, Charlie. 

Hope you were able to spend the day with people you love!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Name calling.

Baby girl does have a name.

Other than baby girl.  We call her by her name around her, so I guess it’s time to share with the rest of the world.

A little background on how we come up with names around here.  Both the boys’ names are family names.  And their middle names are their given Ethiopian names, giving us Charles Nuredin and Samuel Edaso.  Merging their two heritages together.  Yes, their names are fairly traditional.  On purpose.  We are fairly traditional people.  Well, most of the time.  Their names are also shortened to what we actually call them…hence, Charlie and Sam.  Keep that in mind.

Fast forward to discussions about what to name baby girl.  We soon found ourselves agreeing on only one choice.  Really there was no actual discussion.  It was suggested and agreed upon almost in the same breath.

Most of you know that I lost my little sister in a car accident about two and half years ago.  Her name was Katie Elizabeth.  In her honor, our third born will bear Katie’s name as…

Elizabeth Kathryn

AKA Ellie Kate

See…traditional, yet easily shortened and honoring her aunt and the sweet sister that she was to me!  And yes, we will take her given Chinese name into consideration and add it to her name in some fashion.  She just may hate us come standardized testing time when she has to bubble in four names…

The only downside…the last few times someone has asked me about her name, I’ve been unable to actually answer the question because I don’t have full emotional control over myself.

But that's Katie's fault. 

Now you have a name...so join us in praying for Ellie Kate to be safe and happy and healthy and to join her family SOON!

What happens next?

Many of you have asked, so here is a breakdown of what’s going on and what steps are next… 

1.      We are still waiting on our USCIS approval.  Hopefully that will show up in the next month or so.

2.      We went last week for fingerprinting.  It was very different from last time since we had appointments this time around.  We were at the courthouse less than 20 minutes.  And other than a clerk that almost experienced the wrath of Preschool Teacher Jana because he refused to use his words and instead just jerked me around where he needed me to stand to get my fingerprints, it was an uneventful process.  Plus, I scored a lunch date with my husband in the process.  Win-win for all involved.

3.      I am getting our dossier documents together (AKA all the stuff that goes to China on our behalf).  That will all be sent immediately when our USCIS approval comes in (AKA I need to get that done soon so as to not delay that process.  Like tomorrow…).

4.      I apparently like to use AKA.  And parentheses.

5.      Next, we wait.  For a referral.  Usual timeframe is 3-6 months.  Maybe longer.  Maybe less.  Who knows?  This is the part that I have to completely trust in the Lord for.  Because I’ll get all worried and wonder when it will all happen.  It’s a lot of unknowns and I don’t do unknowns.  I do lists and calendars and planning and preparing.  Not unknowns.  Just ask my husband.  Because he will bear the brunt of my stress over this.

6.      We get a referral.  YAY!  Timeframe from there is roughly 3 months.  Again, this is international adoption.  And while China has a very stable and predictable program unlike how Ethiopia was when we were in process with the boys, you are still dealing with the government of another country.  Things could change, go faster, go slower at any time with little or no notice.  Oh, you’re stressed out by all the uncertainties??  Yeah.  Me too.

7.      Let’s go to China!  When we travel, we will spend a week in her providence and another week in Guangzhou.  If I had to guess/plan/project, I’d say we will travel sometime next summer.  Now, China did not approve this plan or ask my opinion, it’s simply my thoughts on how it should go (AKA I can’t proceed with life without some sort of plan, so I pretend I know what’s going on…).

8.      Come home.   

That’s what our next few months will look like.  Sam asks me on a regular basis if he can see a picture of his baby sister.  Like I’m holding out on him and not letting him see her.  And Charlie is just worried about where he will stay while we are gone.  Clarifying that he wants to stay here.  Not go to China.  My poor child…just like his Mommy needing to know every step of every day…

Sam, on the other hand, asks every other time we pull out of the driveway if we are on our way to China.  He doesn’t quite have that concept of distance and oceans and miles and miles away…

So we continue to gather paperwork.  And wait.  And trust that God has our precious baby sister hand picked and waiting at just the right time for her forever family.

Camping.

For the boy’s Fall Break at the beginning of October, we met my parents near Nashville to go camping.  Only Daddy didn’t get to join us because someone has to work around here to keeping things moving.  Sad.  A lot of fun and a bunch of dirt.  All without him.  

 

I took a million pictures, so instead of talking about it, just look…

Playing in dirt.  The way boys are supposed to be playing.

On our way to our first fishing experience...

Fishing.  This is serious business.
 

He's smiling now.  But that's because no one has made him touch a worm.  And he hasn't yet had any fish dangling from this fancy stick he is holding.

Look at that face.  He is scared to death.  But will bodly tell you all about the fish he caught.  Leaving out the part where he refused to touch it...

 Sam, on the other hand, was thrilled with his catch!  Although truth be told, Papa actually caught the fish and Sam just reeled him in.  Because fishing requires more patience than Sam has in his whole being.

 See?  He was done here.  And this was only 5 minutes in.

 Smiling for camera happy Mommy.

Look closely.  Tristan has Sam tied up on the dog's leash.  This soon led to barking...

Hanging with Aunt Kim.  And waiting on Papa to finish dinner...

Exploring via bicycle.

Being silly...

Everybody but Kenny...

Ninjas. Hiya.

Halloween.

Oh, the joyous time where we spend way too many hours trying to come up a costume to wear for such a short time.

No really.  Joyous.

We went from Batman & Robin, to Power Rangers, back to Batman & Robin, on to Transformers, back to Power Rangers again and finally settled on ninjas.  Believe me, it was not a fun trip to Walmart.  Especially when you factor in Charlie's indecisiveness, my lack of patience due to the indecisiveness and a Sam doped up on benedryl and in bad need of a nap.  Not to mention that we were 24 hours into a Daddy-less weekend.  (He was in Tuscaloosa at the Bama game.)

It wasn't my best mommy moment.

But my little ninjas were happy nonetheless.  Mainly because this choice meant they got new swords.  And that's all that matters.  I'm hoping that's what they remember from Halloween.  Not my exasperation at the plethora of superhero costumes at which to choose from.

It really worked out for the better.  Halloween turned out to be quite a chilly night.  And our ninja costumes allowed for lots of layering underneath.

Puffy ninjas.  That's what they called themselves.

Just for clarification, a true ninja has his face covered.  According to my ninja expert, Charlie.  Of course, this revelation wasn't made until 3:30pm on Halloween afternoon when Ninja Mommy needed to be headed to Main Street to get set up for our church's event.  So ninja eye masks prevailed. 

This was at Trick-or-Treat-on-Main-Street on the day of.  Which is what we do in Spencer County.  My kids have never actually been trick-or-treating...because the whole county is on Main Street. 

Another Halloween under our belts.  I mean, under our swords.

 

 

What-will-my-son-think mode.

Adoption is obviously a big deal around our house.

I mean, everyone who lives here has been adopted at one point or another.  Some of us by our heavenly Father.  Others by an earthly Father.

Either way.  We're all the same.  And different, too.  But mostly the same.

I'm blogging at 12:37am on a Monday night when I should be sleeping because of adoption. 

As the self-appointed adoption advocate at our new church, I was asked to look through videos to show at church on Sunday.

Sunday is Orphan Sunday.

But I've moved past the what-will-make-them-cry-and-stir-their-hearts-into-adoption mode and into what-will-my-son-think mode.

Because ultimately he's the only one that matters.

One son will be excited and talk about all those kids he saw on the video that are "brown like me".  Because he is 5.  And the world is exciting and fun and as long as he gets a doughnut, it was a good day at church.

The other one will ponder what he sees and hears.  He will watch carefully, scrunch up his face and then look for our reactions.  Then those brilliantly smart wheels in his little brown head will start to turn.  He may ask questions.  He may not. 

Most likely not.

This is the child who wanted to know where he would go when we ran out of money to take care of him.  Because that was a real fear for him.  This is the child who was terrified he would have to go back to Ethiopia.  So he refused to talk about it.  This is the child who told me he wants to be vanilla like me.  And have straight hair like daddy.  This is the child who still fights to get to the front of any line because he lived for so many years in a survival-of-the-fittest world.  If you weren't first, you didn't eat.  If you weren't first, you didn't play.

Sunday is Orphan Sunday.

We don't really use the word orphan around here.  Mainly because no orphans live here.  And my kids aren't "the least of these" because our God had big plans for Nuredin and Edaso.  Go ahead and take 2 (or 3 if you want to jump the gun) off that 147 million orphans in the world stat.

I have to look at this Sunday through his eyes.  Because he's the one that matters.

Even though I want you all to be terribly convicted, bust into tears and rush to emotionally fill out the first adoption application you can get your hands on, it would probably be easier for me if we just showed a video about fluffy puppies and butterflies and sunny skies.

Watching these videos remind me of what the boys life could have been.  And no doubt will remind Charlie as well.

But I'm prepared. 

Dear Jesus, Thank you for allowing us the blessing of adoption.  Thank you for hand-picking our family and placing us all together.  Thank you for Charlie and Sam.  Protect their little hearts.  And draw them close to you soon so they can experience Your adoption as children of their heavenly Father!

October Debriefing: Lynch

Ok.  October debrief.  I promise you'll get more updates soon.

I say that life is getting back to normal, but the holidays are fast upon us, so I'll probably eat those words soon.

I'm gonna go backwards over the last few weeks of a very busy fall.

Last week we went on our annual Lynch Family Mission Trip.  I've explained the situation in Lynch in posts from previous years, but it is still shocking every year to drive a mere 4 hours from our house and feel like you are in a third-world country.  It's hard to get over that.  It's also hard to leave when you only spend 5 days knowing how great the need is...

Nicole and I blogged about our trip over on the Redemption Hill Children's Ministry Blog.  Some silly (shocking, I know), some serious and lots of pictures.  So I'll just direct you there....to the Lynch Posts.  Of course, that will have you reading the posts backwards, so if you are anal like me and need to have the story in order, you may want to go to the bottom of the page...

After a picnic lunch at Kingdom Come State Park on the way home Sunday...

The answer to "How's the adoption going?"

I warned y'all a few weeks ago that October was going to kill me...

And although I'm not dead yet, we are not even half way through.  Girl's Trip and Fall Break Camping trip down (pictures soon)...field trips, fall gatherings, mission trips, Bama Football trip all still loom...

But since it's been on my mind (and also part of the reason my house stands under a good inch and a half of dust), I'll give you a good 'ol adoption update. 

At least the laundry is done.

Let's do this bullet point style.  Mainly so my OCD brain can make sure we get it all.

• You know that Alabama background check I told y'all we have to have?  Well, it's been completed and returned to the appropriate folks.  And free of a criminal record.
• And you know all the blood work we found out we had to have done?  The last piece of paperwork for that was picked up today.  And good news...neither of us has TB.  Or HIV or syphilis.  And our livers are functioning at top notch level.  No, I'm not kidding.  These are the things they ask when you are adopting.  I wear a size medium underpants and an 8.5 shoes, depending on the brand.  There.  Everything about me is now completely out in the open for all to know.  (That may have crossed some kind of line...)
• Our home study is officially complete and was mailed today to be given the official signatures needed.
• I did have to request an additional background check through the state of Kentucky that is required by our home study agency, but fortunately I was able to do that today online and it was completed in a matter of minutes.  And yes.  I do have a criminal record in Kentucky.  There is something quite sobering about reading how you've been charged guilty and sentenced.  The offense:  speeding 23 mph over in a school zone.  Yeah.  I'm a criminal.  In my defense, I didn't know I was in a school zone.  And the normal speed limit was 45.  Which would have made me going just 3 mph over.  But Mr. Policeman didn't care.  Let's hope China doesn't either.  I'm not really worried.
• Our I-800A is filled out and is only waiting for one small correction and our John Hancock's and off it will go with a grand amount of money, where I think we then wait to have appointments assigned to us for fingerprinting.  You know, in case we have committed a crime that the 47 background checks didn't catch.

And after that we wait.  For approval of our I-800A.  And for our dossier to go to China.

But I'll let you know when that happens.

Wow.  That was a lot. 

Okay.  It may not seem like it to you, but that was a good month worth of work...emails, phone calls, doctor visits, driving from one side of town to the other getting the right paperwork.

I'm pretty sure this child needs her own assistant and she isn't even here yet.

I have a few more adoption posts brewing.  They are just still in the 'ol brain.  But I'll go ahead and title them just to give you a little teaser...

Be on the look out for:
"What shall we call her?" and "The Hard Paperwork"

Yeah.  My interest is peaked too!

A supreme pizza of post topics. Everything but the kitchen sink.

Because I feel like lately I'm working 3 and half full time jobs and for some reason sleep has become of much more importance to me in the last few months (that means I'm tired), you must endure a blog post that functions as randomly as my brain has been lately...

• Sam is kicking kindergarten's butt and I often hear him in the backseat or downstairs in the playroom quoting scripture or singing his phonic songs.  Or any other combination of [sometimes inappropriate] songs such as "Shake your groove thang" or "Pants on the ground".  Don't worry.  It's the Alvin and the Chipmunk's version.  His mid-term report said we still need to work on identifying color words, but I have seriously been blown away by all that he is soaking up.

• Charlie is wading in the depths of 3rd grade which includes times table tests, reading maps (which oddly enough he has struggled with...surprising, with his love of maps) and the beginning of book reports, but his mid-term boasted his lowest grade at 96.  I'll take that.  He has a diorama due in about a month and he was so excited the other day as he tried to explain the concept of the project to me.  After several attempts, he told me, "Mommy, I have to put my imagination in a shoe box!!"  Well, okay.  That works.  Excitement often muddles our attempts at finding the right word.  Okay, well, all the time.

• Can I complain about our potty situation for a second?  I love our house.  It has its faults, but the pluses outweigh the minuses.  Kenny would disagree.  It is an older house and the one thing I'm having a hard time getting past here lately is the unalterable fact that we only have one bathroom.  And I'd really just like to flat iron my hair without dodging toothpaste spit and reminding a certain little boy to remember to "hit the water" all at the same time.  And short of adding a port-a-potty to the backyard, I don't see a remedy to our solution in the near future.  Bigger house hunting may be necessitated by adding a 5th person to the mix.  We shall see how that all pans out.

• Kenny and I welcomed ourselves to the world of smartphones a couple of months back (remember, I'm cheap...er, thrifty...making spending money on a phone almost painful) and on one hand, I can honestly say it has made life way easier.  On the other, I feel like I have too many distractions now, only at my very finger tips.  I've had to make a conscious effort to step away from those distractions.  But I'm loving Pandora...why am I just finding out about that??  And Instagram.  I've added "Life via Instagram" to our sidebar.  So while I may not update the blog as often as I'd like, there should always be a picture or two over there to document what's going on with the Cook family in the wild metropolis of Elk Creek.

• We are kicking off fall this weekend with a ridiculous schedule of events that seems to almost be non-stop for the next two months.  All promise to be fun and provide us with fulfilling and lasting memories (what we are all after, right?), but next time, please remind me to spread the love out over more time.  Like maybe a year.  I'm tired and we haven't even started.

• In adoption related news, we've hit a road block or two.  Well, maybe not a road block so much as a speed bump.  Turns out, we need background checks from every state we've lived in since 18 years of age, instead of just Kentucky.  And while I'm fairly certain I'm criminal-activity-free in Alabama too, they simply won't take my word for it.  So now, the timing of things lies in the hands of a government employee in Montgomery, Alabama who refused to give me a time frame on how long it may take them to process our background checks.  Only reassuring me with, "Honey, we've been awful busy since that whole Sandusky incident."  Great.  Just great.  We also need to have additional medical paperwork (read as:  bloodwork) done.  Fantastic.  I was hoping to be jabbed with numerous needles to prove that I'm relatively healthy.  Needles and paperwork....whatever it takes to get our baby girl home faster.  My sweet husband just reminded me that this is all part of God's timing.  Yeah, yeah.  I know.  (Smiles.)

• On a field trip to the zoo the other day with Sam, they had a little mini class where they learned about the different types of bears.  One of those being a panda.  I really wish you could have seen his face when they told them that pandas live in China...you could actually see the wheels in his head spinning as he made the connection, and it was all he could do to not burst out, "Hey, that's where my little sister lives!!!!"  Now I just need to make sure he knows I'm only bringing a baby back home with me.  No pandas allowed on the plane.

• I have a post brewing in my head about our church.  Until I get around to posting it, let's just say God is blessing the effort and our children and student ministry have almost doubled in the last two months (part of what is keeping me so busy).  I get so excited just thinking about it and I'm so glad that God has given us the opportunity to be a part of Redemption Hill!

• Have I mentioned this year that Fall is my favorite ever??  Cool weather, sweatshirts, open windows, soup and cornbread, fun leaf colors, hot chocolate and fabulously flavored creamer, corn mazes and pumpkin patches, football, camp fires and things that smell like apples.  I think Fall is the time of year that God likes to show off.  I mean, who else can make the whole world change colors and make me be in a perpetually good mood all at the same time??  Okay, so don't call me on the good mood thing...maybe, most of the time in a good mood. 

• Speaking of good moods, I've officially made my kids not want to believe half of what comes out of my mouth.  Apparently I am so sarcastic and joke so much of my waking hours, that something as simple as "Hey, we're gonna have spaghetti for dinner" is met with unbelieving shakes of the heads and expressions of "You are just joking us".  Ha.  I don't know whether to laugh or be concerned that my kids think I'm "joking" them all the time...Charlie thinks I laugh too much.  I don't see where that's really a problem...

• And can I get a little "Roll Tide"!!  I won't bore you with details, mainly because I am often bored with them myself, but it's exciting to see the Tide kicking butt and taking names.  Plus, good Alabama football puts Kenny in a perpetual good mood!

If you're lucky, you'll get pics soon from the Cook's Fall of Chaos.  Cross your fingers and hope I don't need a nap on Sunday afternoons and maybe you will...

Great Wolf what??

We surprised the boys on their Gotcha Day and checked them out of school and took them to Great Wolf Lodge.  We had never been, so it was a family first.

They knew we had a surprise for the weekend, but I refused to give them any hints, which meant they literally bugged the snot out of me for the whole week before we went.  I finally gave in and told them they would get their first hint at lunch time.

I drew a slide on each of their napkins that were in their lunch boxes.  And Charlie had an extra note in his to keep an eye out for the next hint...

I "appeared" in the cafeteria about halfway through lunch with a bottle of water.  And to check them out of school, which made Charlie so excited he literally forgot to finish eating his lunch!

In the car, they received the rest of the clues...But in the end, we had to tell them where we were going.

This was after the initial crazy excitement of finding out.  And there was a little confusion about where we were actually going...needless to say, they were pumped!

We enjoyed our time all weekend, even letting them pick where we ate, except for Saturday night on the way home where I vetoed McDonald's for a second time that day.  A girl has her limits, you know. 

I still can't believe they've actually been home 3 years...

Today. Three years ago.

This day three years ago I didn't have a clue what was about to hit me.  I was about to become a mommy.  Basically, the thing I had desired for so long was about to put me in my place.

I thought I was patient.  I'm not.

I thought I was compassionate.  I'm not.

I thought I was kind.  I'm not.

I thought I was a morning person.  But nope, turns out I'm not.

I thought I knew a lot about kids.  But I don't.

I thought I was funny....not sure where we stand on that...

Turns out I'm impatient, uncaring, mean, grumpy, selfish and have no idea what I'm doing.  And the older they get, the less my wit is entertaining.  (Charlie often tells me I laugh too much.  Gasp!  Is there such a thing??)

Three years ago we became a family.  And despite our differences, those seen and those unseen, we have molded into the family that God hand-picked for each us at the beginning of time.

God knew I'd one day be the impatient momma to two Ethiopian boys.  God knew when he blessed a woman in Shashemene, Ethiopia with those two boys that they would one day live in Kentucky.  And poor Kenny.  God knew that one day he'd live with a grumpy-not-so-funny-woman in a tiny house in the middle of nowhere with two brown boys.

And God knew that while those two little boys would bring out my faults in the worst way, would drive me crazy and would make me spend more time in prayer than I ever had before, He also knew those were the two that would call me "Mommy".

Three years ago I woke up in a city in Africa, having only seen pictures and heard stories about my 2 year old and 6 year old.  That night, I went to bed with them snugly tucked in beside me after the most exciting bath time I could have ever imagined.  (Maybe I'll have to share that story someday...)

Three years ago we became a perfectly imperfect family of four.

Just the way God had planned.


August 24, 2009 @ Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

HAPPY "GOTCHA" DAY, CHARLIE & SAM!

Best $20 I've spent in a long time.

I've been meaning to share this tid bit of information with you for a while, but after this weekend, I can no longer keep this secret to myself.

With school back in full swing, I threw in a load of clothes on Sunday afternoon that was mainly uniform stuff.  Khaki shorts, undershirts, light colored polos, etc.  The ones I have to special order from Land's End with the school logo and I wait all summer long to get the best deal, coupons and free shipping codes on.  You know, so I can sleep at night knowing I got the best deal possible.

Because me sleeping well really does depend on knowing I've made the best decision about how to spend our money.  No, I wish I could tell you I'm kidding.

Random tangent. 

Anyway, Kenny was downstairs at some point and threw that load in the dryer for me and a little later I went down to see if they were dry.  When I opened the dryer, the first thing I noticed, other than the clothes were still a little damp, was lovely purple and pink spots.

All.  Over.  Everything.

To make a medium length story slightly shorter, I eventually found the culprit in the shape of a monkey stamp.  Complete with purple ink.  Which apparently was obtained for good behavior from a certain little boy's kindergarten treasure box.

I'll be honest.  For a few minutes, I was livid.  As I surveyed the damage, I was mentally tallying how much it was going to cost to replace the whole load. 

Side note.  As I stood there going through the load, the Lord gently reminded me that it was just "stuff".  It really didn't matter.  We were talking about shirts and shorts.  Something that could be easily replace.  Sure, it was gonna cost a little, but in the long run, it really wasn't that big of a deal. 

Deep breath.  Chill out.

In my effort to not flip out further, I took the whole load and threw it back in the washer, just hoping to undo some of the damage, but honestly not really holding my breath.  It was more of an avoidance attack...I needed to stop looking at it and figure out what the boys were gonna wear to school on Monday.

Here's the tid bit of information I promised...

Back in May, I jumped on the "make your own laundry detergent" bandwagon.  I bought the supplies and created the concoction, all the while with my doubts about how well it would actually work.

I checked the load after that wash and was pleasantly surprised to find that all the "purple" damage was gone.  Only pink remained.  So I went for broke, started it back up again, putting a double scoop of detergent in.

Jackpot!  In the end, after 3 washes with my homemade detergent, I only have one polo that I am still doing battle with.  And I only had to pretreat a few of the items to get them back to their pre-monkey-stamped condition.

I went from a full load of ruined clothes to just regular 'ol clean clothes!!  I was so excited...and totally shocked!  My $20 investment just saved me a ton!

It would be cruel at this point not to share the wealth after I've told you that it's a miracle detergent, so here ya go...

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP

My disclaimer.  Cause you know I'm gonna have one...

I only used 2 bars of Fels-Naptha.  Mainly because for some reason I only bought 2, instead of 3.  All of this stuff can be found in the laundry detergent aisle at Wal-mart, and yes, it was about $20 and I'm about a third of the way through mine in 3 months.  So, I'm guessing it'll last somewhere between 6 and 9 months.  And I don't recommend using the food processor to grate the soap.  It just clumped up.  Hand grater took about 30 seconds and was way easier clean up. 

And bonus...this stuff smells AMAZING, even without adding anything to it!

But I'm a sucker for anything that just smells clean.

I don't know how much more evidence you need to come to the conclusion that this is good stuff! 

Sorry Tide, but we are officially broke up now.

The Something.

Around our house, the "something" is a word you'll hear way more than you would like.


Mainly because that's Sam's standard answer for almost anything.  Especially if he doesn't have a clue what you are talking about.

So, conversations go like this...

"Sam, what did you do at school today?"
"Ummm......something?"

Meaning, I know we did a certain task, but I just can't think of what they called it.

"Sam, did you finish your chores?"
"Something?"

Translation:  If I say yes, will you give me more chores to do?

"Sam, what should we pray about tonight?"
"Ummm.....something?"

I have no idea what you are talking about because I'm in Sam Land.  Which is where I am 99% of the time.

Or he can initiate the infamous "something".

"Ummm...Mommy?  Something?"
"What do you need, Sam?"
"Just something."

That particular one usually comes while I'm cooking dinner.  And translates to, "Hey, what are you making for dinner?"

My favorite scenario comes in the middle of an exchange with Sam. 

That's where you've been carrying on a fairly normal conversation that suddenly takes the "something" turn.  You can associate it to the very common "oooo, there's a squirrel!"....because you have officially demanded too much of his attention and time and he ran out of the ability to continue to focus on the words that are coming out of your mouth. 

Which usually is only about 3.

The "something" is always said in a slightly higher pitch than other words.  And as if it's a question.  Which makes complete sense, right??

Right. 

Something.

A new year.

Today was our first day of school. 

Don't be jealous, but I'm certain we couldn't get Sam's pants pulled up any higher.  Believe me, he tried.  Right after he tugged on his socks for half an hour and made sure the knots on his shoes were super tight.  And we cut off every possible string on any possible place a string could be.

And answered every possible question about what he was doing today and at what time.

And that was all before 7 AM.

I officially  have a kindergartner and a 3rd grader.

Wearing size 8 shirt, 7 shorts and 2.5 shoes--that's the shirt Charlie wore on his first day to FIRST grade.  Yes, he's only 5.

Sam's day started out a little stressful once I got him settled into his seat in his class and he took a look around and realized half the class was in hysterics.  He looked up at me with those big brown eyes, that were only getting bigger, which is a sure sign that tears are coming and I quickly kissed him on the head and high tailed it out of there before he decided to join in on the crying fest. 

Which would have only made me cry too. 

I checked in on him at lunch time when I was assigned to help with kindergarten lunch.  Which requires a shower afterwards, between opening all the Capri Suns and applesauces and the splashing that is required while eating your Go-gurt.

He seemed fine, but was a little dazed and confused.  I think it's going to take him a few days to adjust to the structure of a classroom.  And getting up 2 hours earlier than he is used to.

He told me when I picked him up that he fell asleep at rest time.  He NEVER sleeps anywhere but his bed, so that was a huge surprise, but he seemed refreshed and much more coherent than before lunch.

Sam likes his teacher, Mrs. Underwood, thought it was hilarious that his Spanish teacher spoke in Spanish (go figure!), got to have a rice krispie treat for snack and got a tow-can from his teacher.  What he meant to say was toucan...as in "YOU CAN do all things through Christ!" which is their motto for the year.  So thankful they are at a school where they can do all things through CHRIST!

But my favorite "first day of school" moment was the look on Sam's teacher's face when I explained that he still uses his Ethiopian potty words to tell you he's gotta go. Yes, shint means peepee. Despite what it may sound like he's saying.

And she looked at me like I had lost my mind.

I love throwing people off like that.

Wearing size 14-16 shirt, 12 shorts and 7.5 shoes.  Men's shoes.  Yeah.  Men's.

Charlie took off to his class, obviously needing no help from Mommy.  After all, this is the 3rd year he's done this.  Old pro.

After a ride home that consisted of extreme silliness from four kids that had been couped up in school all day, he told me as we pulled into the driveway, "Mommy, I really like Mrs. Collins."

And in Charlie speak, that's about as close as you are gonna get to a huge hug and declaration of his undying love. 

He got to move his desk to sit by Matthew, reprimanded me for forgetting his water bottle and already knows his Bible verse and spelling words for his test on Friday.  This kid ain't foolin' around.

And just a side note, not at all bragging (ok, so maybe just a little), Charlie was invited to be in his school's gifted program this year.  Let's review the facts...first 6 years of his life in Ethiopia, 3 years home, 3 different languages, skipped kindergarten and still at the top of his class.

Genius in the making.  Yet he can't remember to put on underwear unless I hand them to him at the appropriate time. 

We respectfully declined the invitation, deciding that 3rd grade was not the time to tack on extra work.  He is doing well at the pace they've set and he just needs to focus on being a kid right now. 

We'll focus on being the smart kid later. 

When scholarships need to be awarded.  Have to have our priorities straight.

I think we are on our way to a good year.  No tears were shed, everyone decided they would go back tomorrow and lunches are already packed, so we have to go somewhere...