What's Three Plus One?

So for those of you who don't know we have another child in our home. A girl.

No....I'm not talking about the girl we're adopting from before; I'm talking about another girl.

Yup. Another.

This one is 11 yrs. going on 12 yrs old.

I know what you're thinking.....

CRAZY!

Believe me, I was thinking the same thing.

But when God tells you to do something, you do it.

That's pretty much how it all went down.......He talked. We listened.

Thankfully we did.

Now we're a family of six. (hold for applause)

Another Year Has Gone By

Painting, organizing, surgeries, trips, adventures, animals, farming, a wedding, visits with family, another child, parties, singing, new friends, and so much more!

I hope your year was great. Here's looking towards 2011!

Party Of Five

If you haven't read the post HOPE, read it before this one.

In case you haven't heard, here's the latest family news:



We have added another girl to our family. She's 12 years old and she's absolutely delightful! She's the perfect fit for our family and I know she feels the same. We'll be transitioning her to our home within the next month, but after she's permanently placed in our home, the road to finalizing her adoption will be anywhere from a few months to a year.



We are SUPER excited and equally freaked out! I mean Dan and I have never parented a pre-teen before, but we're ready to jump in and be the parents that this girl needs. She's so excited to be a part of our family and she adores her new sisters.



We have truly seen the hand of our loving Heavenly Father through this journey of adopting more children this past year. We know that this is all meant to be and will work out for everyone involved, simply because it is His will.



I'm sure I will post more about our adventure soon, but in the meantime that's the latest news about our family.

Hope

In September ’09 we had finalized the adoption of our two little girls, whom we’d had in our life for almost 2 years. In early January my husband and I were preparing to adopt more children through our state Foster-Adopt program. By doing the Foster-Adopt program we hoped to adopt another sibling group to add to our young family, as well as avoid the high costs we incurred when we adopted our two girls. We were ready to tackle this again and we felt it was the perfect time.

I have never experienced pregnancy, so I can’t say that I know what it feels like to expect a baby, but I can tell you that expecting children through adoption, probably feels about the same, if not more anxious. You start preparing for them; getting a room ready and buying all of the things you’ll need for them. Emotionally and physically, we were “expecting”.

Almost 5 months into our preparation we found out very suddenly that we would not be doing the Foster-Adopt program to adopt more children. Now this may sound like no big deal, (especially cause I'm being vague.....for the full version visit our private blog) but to us it was absolutely devastating. I felt my heart get swallowed up in emotion. I felt as if I had suffered a miscarriage; not physically, but emotionally. One moment I was expecting children and then next I was told this wasn’t going to happen.

For a few moments I let the natural man take over my body and my intellect. The “why”, “how” and “what’s next” came over me. But thankfully the God fearing woman in me regained my consciousness and the most overwhelming feeling of hope came over me. The cloud was instantly removed from my head and the Spirit of the Lord reminded me of who was in charge here. There was a plan for us. Even though our yellow brick road had become dark and dreary for a moment; with no end in sight, ultimately Heavenly Father had shined light on another path. We simply had to choose to take it.


With a little hope and a lot of faith we decided to take the road less travelled and look into adopting older children who were already legally free to adopt. This wasn’t something we felt we were ready to do at this time in our life, but we knew it was what Heavenly Father has planned for us. This story has no ending yet, as we are still in the process of searching for child to fit in our family, but what it does have is infinite hope that our Heavenly Father will lead and guide us to where we’re meant to go, even though the righteous path may lead us to heartache and suffering. To feel joy we must feel pain. Ultimately He’s in charge and we must have faith that He knows what He’s doing, even though it doesn’t fit in to what we had planned.

Tumultuous Tuesday

What a day!

All I can say is that it was full of emotion (both good and bad) and truly a time when Dan and I could see the Lord's hand in our lives (not that we don't all the time, but this is just one of those bittersweet moments that is evident of just who's in charge here). Even though things seemed horrible and extremely wrong and without an "out", on the other hand it's going to be necessary for us to look somewhere else; a sweet tender moment of Heavenly Father showing us that He's in control and we just needed to be pointed in another direction.


I know I'm being vague, but it's all I can say right now. Enough to get the feelings of frustration out, without saying too much and enough to feel good about the direction we're going.

If you're reading this post, please pray for our family and the changes that are happening. That's all I ask of you and I thank you greatly.

Dinner Dissasters

I'm a good cook.

No really I am.

Just ask Dan.

However sometimes I get a little creative......

Sometimes it works out.

And this time it didn't.

I needed to be creative, cause we're out of groceries and I'm in desperate need of going to Costco.

So instead of ordering Domino's,
(like I wanted to)

I made THIS:

What is "THIS"? (You may be asking yourself)

Well I'll tell you.

"THIS" was hash browns and eggs
(which was pureed with broccoli and spinach-hence the green color)

It wasn't until I was pouring the egg mixture on top of the potatoes that I realized this is one for the books.....

.....The "Dinner Disasters" book.
(*There is no actual "book". However it might be fun to write one)

Anyways after declaring the disaster to Dan,
(who very much agreed that this was a major disaster),
he decided that we would eat out.

As much as this disaster didn't physically appeal to me, the thought of eating out definitely didn't appeal to me, one bit.

So I called off the outing and decided we would eat the dinner I made!

I mean, I knew what went into this dish. I knew it wouldn't taste bad. It just looked awful. But I had to convince the kids that.

So I decided to disguise the green mess into these:

Green Goblins

A little ketchup did the trick and my youngest daughter declared (as she always does, mind you):

"Mom, can you make dis again?"

Nope. Never again Kayla. Never again!

*We did all eat it by the way, and even though it looked awful, it still taste like potatoes and eggs. Although this one's going in the Dinner Disaster Book under "Meals for the blind."

Mother's Day Weekend Getaway

Anyways we've been trying to find somewhere to "get away" as a family, before we add more children to our home through Foster Care. We've been working all year to get our license renewed and it's in the final stages. We should recieve it within the next few weeks. When we get it, it won't be long before we get matched up with the sibling group we desire, so we feel like we needed one more "Mini-Holiday" for our family. That's when we decided to go away this weekend, for Mother's Day.

Destination?













Where I'll be enjoying this:

Pirates of Port Angeles

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a real cool trip, that started from an olympic port, aboard an ol' sail ship. The mates were a mighty sailin' crew, the Skipper brave and sure. Four passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour.

Okay, I'll spare you the rest. But really, this was a three hour tour. Continuing on from the post about our semi-spontaneous trip, here's the part about the Battle Sail.

What is a Battle Sail Suze?

Here's the answer from their website:

A Battle Sail is a recreation of a typical 18th century naval action. Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain maneuver around each other for the best position to fire small, but loud cannon. Which boat will survive? Of course, both boats use blanks, and it's all in good fun!

Our family borded the Hawaiian Cheiftan and set sail with the rest of the crew and passengers. All the crew was in costume and it was fun to watch them all interact and work together to sail the ship. My favortie part was watching them climb.

Here's Dan and the girls getting ready to set sail

Desiree giving her best "Pirate Face"

(complete with missing teeth)

We were able to help a bit. Here's a short clip of me and the girls pulling the ropes.

We had true sailor's hands afterwards

The battle was kinda slow, but we did manage to get in more hits than the Lady Washington. In the end we won!

Although the 3 hour trip was too long, I'm glad we got to do this as a family. I'm sure the girls will remember this forever. I know I won't ever forget.

Olympic Game Farm

Continuing on from our spontaneous adventures, and to bring light to some of the photo clues I posted, we bring you to our stop at the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim.

I grew up going to the Vancouver Game Farm (now known as the Greater Vancouver Zoo), so I thought this "game farm" was going to be the same sorta thing.....you know......see animals....all in cages.....your typical zoo-type atmosphere.

This was not the case....

Who knew that we lived 3 hours away from our very own safari adventure!?!

This place is the coolest ever and I highly recommend you to visit if you can. You pretty much drive around the farm, as animals either walk up to your car, or are no more than a stone's throw away from you at all times. It's so neat!

At the entrance they sell you bread to feed the animals. Seriously who's stupid enough to do that? We definitely weren't. But we saw other people doing it and it was so funny to watch the animals all hoarding the cars for food.

Anyways here's a few pictures of some of the animals we saw:

Prairie Dogs

These little guys are THE cutest things ever.......and I want one!

Llamas

Yak

Kodiak Bears

Bison

And last but not least

the Ferocious.....

Atrocious.....

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious......

Common House Dog

I laughed my head off when I saw this behind one of the cages they used for the more dangerous animals, like the Wolves, Tigers & Lions. It was obviously someone that worked there's pet. But it was still funny and so I tried to take a picture of it.

We were actually surprised that the bears weren't behind a more secure fence. They had about 3 ft high of fencing surrounding another 3 ft high of electrical fence. I kept imagining the bears on a rampage and saying, "Screw the electric fence, I'm outta here!"............but they didn't.

Anyways this game farm was the highlight of my weekend and I was so glad that we got to explore part of Sequim.....even if we almost missed our ship's sailing.

Now That's What I Call Spontaneity!

Spontaeous (spon/tay/nee/uss)
adjective

1. arising from internal cause: resulting from internal or natural processes, with no apparent external influence


2. arising from impulse: arising from natural impulse or inclination, rather than from planning or in response to suggestions from others


3. unrestrained: naturally unrestrained or uninhibited

Semi-Spontaneous

That's the word that I would use to describe our weekend. Dan bought our family tickets to be a part of a Battle Sail a couple of Saturdays ago. I thought it was a fun and exciting idea, until I found out it was in Port Angeles.

*Wait a sec.....isn't that like, 3 hours away?

Dan had no idea. Poor guy.

So the night before we left, we had just finished dinner and we decided to map out our trip the next day. Not only is it a couple of hours drive by car, you also have to take a 30 min ferry ride.

It was 7pm Friday night. That's when Dan said, "Do you wanna leave tonight?"

Of course I said, "HECK YEAH!"

I love spontaneity.....especially in Dan.

I packed up bags and we got in the car to leave a half hour later. We were on a total high! It was awesome.

We arrived in a town called Sequim (pronounced S'qwim......I always thought it was Se'queem.....shows what I know!) at about 11:30pm. The kids were in and out of consciousness and thanks to Mountain Dew & Dr. Pepper, we made it in one piece.......barely. Dan and I were both so tired! It was WAY past our bedtime!



We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Sequim. The following day we slept till our hearts desired then headed down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. We then took a family swim (my first time in over a year, cause of my leg!), then packed up and left for our family adventure.

On our way to Pt Angeles, we stopped at The Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, the coolest place ever! I will post pictures and tell of our adventures in another post.

Blogger Of Mine....Tell Me Where Have You Been?

We've been busy doing SO many exciting things, that I haven't had time to blog about it. I will try and catch up soon, but until then, you can enjoy these fabulous photo clues (in no particular order):

(photos courtesy of Bing Images search)

Proud Momma

Modesty (mod/es/ty)
noun

1. humility: unwillingness to draw attention to your own achievements or abilities
2. sexual reserve: reserve in appearance, manner, and speech, especially in relation to sexual matters
3. shyness: lack of confidence or assertiveness, with a tendency to embarrass easily
4. simplicity: lack of grandeur or ostentation
5. moderation: moderation in size, scale, or extent

I had a Proud Mommy Moment the other day, that I wanted to share....

I do my best to teach my girls about being modestly dressed as far as #2 in the definition goes. I've done this since they came to us 2 years ago, when they were just 3.5 and 2 years old.

They get it.

*They probably get it too much, as we're out shopping and my 4 year old says in her "loud" voice about the lady with the mini skirt on, "Mommy, that lady is not being modest!".......talk about embarrassing!

It's not hard to teach kids about this, you just have to do it. Start when they're young too, cause when they get older they won't have to change the way they dress, especially if they choose to receive their endowment in the temple.

Anyways the other day I had the girls get dressed in their, "Going out in public with mommy, so you have to look less like a blind vagabond"-Clothes.

(Disclaimer: *I am in NO WAY making fun of the sight impaired or the homeless......I am merely stating that my kids dress themselves and most often I feel like they got dressed in the dark or they are seriously blind! Sometimes their choices even hurt their daddy's eyes!)

For example:

I rest my case.

Now where was I.....

So anyways I made them get dressed and it happened to be coordinating shirts that were new, (that I bought at Old Navy clearance rack for $2 each) that they'd never worn before.

BTW I most often dress my girls alike, or in coordinating clothes, just so I can give the lady who asks me, "Are they twins?", a strange look of, "are you kidding me? One's like a foot taller than the other!" Ahhhh, the simple pleasures I enjoy in life.

Anyways.....so......new shirt, yes. So I left them to get dressed and I jolted off to a physical therapy appointment (for my leg) and Dan took them to work with him, (so that I didn't have to bring them to my appointment). When I arrived to pick them up from Dan's work, I was horrified to see that my precious little angel, Desiree, was NOT wearing the shirt I told her to wear! In fact she was wearing the same icky stained t-shirt she'd been wearing the day before......and the day before that.

I was peeved at the fact that my husband would allow my child not only go out in public looking like that, but the fact that she'd already been SEEN in public like that. I was SO embarrassed. Until he explained......

I sure was humbled when he told me what happened. Apparently Desiree put the shirt on and came and showed him as she said, "Everybody can see me!", pointing to the front of her shirt. Well she was trying to say that her shirt came down a little too uncomfortably low, that she figured everyone could see her naked chest. It really wasn't that bad, but for her to say that about the shirt and be uncomfortable wearing it, I tell ya, it was one of those moments.....

Those moments, as a parent, where you've taught your child something important and it becomes apparent that they are listening, cause it now becomes important to them too.

*Let's take a moment and sigh a little, shall we?......

This was definitely one of those moments I pat myself on the back.

*Oh and BTW I was SO glad that I had a jacket in the car, so I could cover up her shirt. Gotta love mommy preparedness!

Oh and as far as the shirt goes, it was only $2, so no big loss there!

Breaking Tradition.....

I've never really been one to conform. In the past I tried it and didn't like it, cause I realized it wasn't the person I was at all. It was a feeling of weakness to me. I've got leadership blood in my veins and although it wasn't predominantly present for all of my childhood and teenage years, it seemed to have surfaced in my young adulthood and it's becoming more prevalent in my mid-adulthood years. (Yes, surprisingly being in my 30's qualifies me as being an adult)

Anyways I've been humming and hawing lately about certain holidays the world celebrates and whether or not I'd like to participate. I see friends and other's blogs about how they choose to celebrate the holidays; their decor, their ideas, their joy and happiness that surrounds it, but lately, as much as I would like to share the joy in their lives (for sole purpose of being part of the crowd), the mere thought of it all I just makes me cringe.

Before you read on......please note that I am, IN NO WAY, trying to criticize you readers or others and your traditions. In fact I applaud you for being creative and having fun. I've just realized that it's just NOT ME. I've decided to post this blog about how and why I feel this way. Some of you may call me a grouch, or a Grinch or a sour puss, but sticks and stones....

Anyways I think it all started with.....

Valentine's Day

I've never liked the "holiday" or the traditions that come with it. As a kid you pass out cards to friends to tell them that you care. In those transactions, someone was always missed and that person, I'm sure, felt like the loneliest person in the world. I know because I've witnessed it; first hand and from afar. As a teenager it was "feeling down", cause of everyone around me being "in love". As a young adult I had my first Valentine's date and although it was fun and sweet, it was all so forced, cause it was "that day". I think the first Valentine's Day I actually enjoyed was when my best friend Lee, brought me flowers and took me and a mutual friend of ours (a girl he liked) out for Sushi.

Feb 2002

I loved that my friend tried to make that day special, but it still didn't change the way I felt about that certain day of the year. I came to learn that, in fact, this was the so called "holiday" that could actually make you feel "unloved", if you didn't have a "Valentine"; a total opposite of what it's been made to be. I always felt like, why the heck do you need a day out of the year to tell someone that you care or that you love them? Henceforth came my grouchy attitude about "love" on Valentine's Day. Some of you may think that my attitude must've changed when I found the love of my life (my husband Dan), who happened to propose to me a week before "said holiday"....(although with NO relation whatsoever to that day!.....purely spontaneously)

2004

Sorry to burst that bubble. In fact I was so DELIGHTED to find out my husband felt the same way that I did about this dumb day. It was true love! ha ha

Okay enough about the holiday I cringe about the most. Now onto a more recent one.....

April Fool's Day

The day I like to call, the Day of Deception.

Nothing but lies and deceit. Sure I think some of them are cool or funny. Sure I've been guilty of pranks in the past, but I don't like the idea of it one bit. No more.

*Gosh Suze, you're such a prude!

Sticks and stones......

Next up is......

St. Patrick's Day

Am I Irish?
No.
So why should I care about this holiday?
Cause it's fun to wear green?
I wear green almost every day, so nothing exciting there.
In fact on this specific holiday I try to purposely NOT wear green to boycott support in any such sport. (although I forgot about it this year and because I wear green everyday......um......yeah)
Oh c'mon Suze! It's fun to eat things that have been artificially colored GREEN, cause it's that holiday of Greenness.

Um.....yeah.....no thanks!

Now on to the one that made me the most callous this year......

Easter

Dying eggs. Hiding eggs. Eating eggs. Chocolate eggs. Bunny eggs......Bunny eggs?

Easter. The holiday of chocolate. Let's just call it like it is, shall we?.....

"The Chocolate Baker's Money Makers",

or the

"Confectioner's Cash Cow"

I decided this year that we weren't having any of it.

The Easter Bunny doesn't come to our house any more. In fact I could care less if he died. (*Oh Suze, you're just sucking the fun out of everything......especially for your kids!)

Anyways, as I was saying,

Easter....

The holiday that is REALLY about the Atonement, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet how have I shown my children in the past about it's importance? By saying that the Easter Bunny comes a day early, cause he knows we go to church on Sunday? Well not anymore. In fact this year and the years past, I did a HORRIBLE job at teaching my children the most important event that EVER happened in the world. We do a great job at celebrating Christmas; the birth of Christ. But that wasn't his mission. He came here for one purpose and one purpose only. That was to Atone for us.

The only way to overcome our separation from our Father in Heaven. He did die for us and was resurrected, but his mission was the Atonement.

My husband read me an article that someone had written and it confirmed my feelings of wanting to dispose of the Easter Bunny. I wasn't alone. Other's felt this way. It also confirmed to me, that as a Latter-Day Saint woman, I wasn't making the most, of the most important holiday of all holidays. In fact most LDS (Mormon) people don't. I never realized it until now. We focus a lot on Christmas and Thanksgiving and those times of togetherness, but where's the week or month long celebration of the greatest gift given to man?

So next year I will do better.

I almost boycotted Santa. But my husband convinced me otherwise. Although I really despise deceiving my children of how things really are. But I'll get over it for his and their sake. Plus the fact that I still see Santa as a symbol of our Savior, so in that sense, I won't kill Santa.

As much as I have ranted about what I feel to be useless holiday traditions for my family, you will STILL see us celebrate these wonderful and glorious holidays (hopefully better):

Easter (as it really is)

Christmas

New Years

Thanksgiving (both Canadian & American.....oh yeah baby!)

Halloween

Independence Day

and in my heart, Canada Day

(and YES, I said Halloween.......As prudish as I may be, there will ALWAYS be enough room for Halloween......one of my most favorite times of the year.....but no, my kids don't Trick or Treat, like other kids do......cause I'm a prude!)