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...

I'm tired.

We are still here.

For all three and half avid blog readers, my sincerest apologies.  Life has been nothing short of...well, life.  Just more chaotic than normal.

Sam had strep throat.  Yuck.  And in almost 3 years, this it the first time that either of them have really been sick.  Other than just allergy stuff.  Oh, you don't feel bad for me?  Well, I wouldn't either, except I was puked on multiple times and had to share a bed with a little boy who turns into a samurai ninja in his sleep.  It's ok.  Even though I don't wish feeling like that on anyone, I cherished the time that my always-in-motion little guy wanted to only sit in Mommy's lap.  Even though I knew he was likely to yak on both of us.

Kid's Camp.  Who doesn't want to spend 3 days with 110 kids?  (Well, 46 hours if you really get technical...which somewhere around the 24 hour mark, you start counting the hours...) Bazooka ball, bloody noses, the blob, corn dogs, ziplining, smores, bee stings, worship, Organized Mass Chaos, worship and sweaty, stinky, loud kids.  Nope, I have no idea why anyone wouldn't rush off to join that train.  And this was Charlie's first year to go, so I had to try to refrain from being too much the Mommy and asking him if he had brushed his teeth and had underwear on.  Usually I got at least one "Ummm, no..." from that line of questioning.  Gross.

Adoption stuff.  We have had one of our homestudy appointments, but we still have to have one more.  And it had to be rescheduled due to strep throat.  So that's next week.  And training and paperwork and training and paperwork and spreadsheets making sure I'm keeping up with all the paperwork...you get the point. 

Church planting.  We had our launch Sunday last week at Redemption Hill and it went great, but the details still loom.  Baby wipes, curriculum, sippy cups, goldfish, closets to organize, doors to paint, loving on my preschoolers that are still getting used to a new environment.  I'm beginning to think having a building is more work than having a trailer...but if it will allow us to better serve and reach our community, I just need to suck it up, right??

Fun things.  In the super business of this summer, I've still tried to throw a few half-way entertaining things in there for my boys.  Saturday nights have become homemade pizza and movie night.  We have been to Alabama and the lake.  We've gone to the Newport Aquarium and ridden the train at the Kentucky Railway Museum.  We've perused Walmart's toy aisles (which for some reason tops on their fun things to do lists) and gone swimming.  And spent a ton of time perfecting our Lego creations and playing Phase Ten.

Working on a top secret project.  I was going to tell you about it, but if I do, you have no reason to keep coming back!  Just take my word for it when I say the research is being done, phone calls are being made and a plan is in the works....

Getting ready for school.  School supply shopping, uniform shopping, meeting teachers, etc.  I'm about to have a kindergartner and a 3rd grader.  And the other night during Parent Preview Night at the school, I was totally caught off guard and realized that I might cry when I drop Sam off for his first day of school.  I wasn't planning on that, hadn't really even thought about it, but the reality is, I just haven't had him long enough for him to have a "first day of school".  Let's just hope we can hold it all together.  Well, me.  I'm not worried about him.

Watching the Olympics.  Who hasn't been doing that?  Whether you're a sports fan or not, it's pretty much the consuming news topic these days.  And when you have 3 countries to cheer for, it makes it all the more fun!

Keeping all those student ministers in line.  I'm still doing my part-time job at Highview, which means gearing up for all those student events that happen in the fall.

I've got about 14 half-written blog posts that I have good intentions of finishing. 

Someday.

This will have to do for now.

More later.