Birthday...Valentine...two-fer

I am so behind in blogging. Argh.

I thought this would be a slow time of year for photography but it hasn't turned out that way thanks to some sweet babies I had the privilege of capturing on film. And because of that, I am putting totally unedited pictures up in today's post. Sorry for the lack of eye-candy.

It was my birthday last week. The kids were SO excited. It makes a mother's heart go pitter-patter when her kids remember her day.

Jeff went above and beyond with a little surprise dinner out with friends. Awww....it was so nice! He had picked up pizza for the kids and I was about to help myself to a slice when he informed me that we were going out to dinner. So fun! What a wonderful man I am married to!

He also made cherry cheese pie--which is my ultimate favorite--and its tradition to have it for my birthday instead of cake.

One of the kids decorated it. haha

Jillian wanted to make me a cake so she made it for Valentine's Day--although never got around to eating it until this morning.

Yes, you read that right.

"Dad is great! He gives us chocolate cake!"

Hopefully none of their teachers are reading this.....

{Just the big kids got cake for breakfast--not the little ones.}

On Valentine's day, we have a tradition to eat in the dining room.

There is no deviating from this no matter how hard I try.

They.Love.This.

And the treat bags afterwards don't hurt either.

SaraGrace asked if she could dress up for the big occasion. I said yes, and a bit later she came downstairs like this:

And then she danced with her daddy...

Jillian's creation...

I am one blessed woman.

2-4-6-8! Who do we ap-pre-ciate?

Our kids' school is doing a fundraiser today to help kids with cancer. If they pay $2, they can wear pajamas to school for the day.

So of course...all of our kids wanted to 'help' with this noble endeavor.

As they were putting on their coats to leave for school, Katie came up to me and said,

"Thanks for getting me these pajamas for Christmas. I really love them!"

As I was about to say, "You're welcome," she continued....

"I really appreciate dat."

Jeff and I got a big ol' warm feeling and smiled at each other...thinking we had the most amazing child on the planet.

A few seconds later she looked up at me and said,

"What does appreciate mean?"

Can Mom do Math?

If you have read this blog for long, you will know the answer to that question.

A big fat, NO.

Math is definitely not a strength that I possess.

SaraGrace apparently thinks I need some practice because she has been making me worksheets. AUUGGGHHHHH......

And to top it off, it seems to be some type of geometry.

Should I tell her that geometry was a subject that I failed in high school?

It was the teacher's fault.

He laughed at anyone who asked a question.

Needless to say, I didn't ask any and quietly dropped out of the class.

So maybe a better teacher would have been able to explain to me why two triangles plus a circle could equal a square or something. Or is that only algebra?

Whatever...

I seemed to have survived in life without knowing anything about that.

Until now.

If SaraGrace has anything to say about it, I WILL be learning something about math related shapes. She seems to make up her own version of 'math' as she goes along though.

And she happily informed me that I only got a 99% on my paper while Daddy got a 100%.

That's why he is responsible for all the math at our house.

Jake's World

Jake and Zoey are on a new kick...earning money.

I'm not sure what started it but they are willing to work for pennies.

Literally.

"Mom, can we fold clothes for a penny?"

"Um...sure! I might even give you two pennies if you do a good job."

It's probably bad of me to take advantage of their lack of knowledge regarding the actual value of coins. It's just hard not to smile and offer two pennies instead of one quarter, you know?

Trust me when I say that they just lose whatever I give them anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

The other day, Jake asked if he and Zoey could clean the bathroom for a penny. The main bathroom is dubbed, 'the kids' bathroom' because no one else wants to use it. It's gross. No matter how often it gets cleaned, it's trashed within an hour.

I do not fully understand how that is possible, but it happens. It's still a mystery how toothpaste gobs can get e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e., toilet paper on the floor, etc. GROSS.

Happily, I agreed to 'let' them clean it. I figured anything is better than nothing.

Surprisingly, they did a really nice job. They even cleaned the toothpaste gobs out of the sink. Who knew that 5 year old were capable of this?

The next morning, Jake walked into the bathroom after the teenager had used it. With a dramatic sigh, and hands outstretched, he exclaimed, "NOT AGAIN! I jus cleaned dis! Who made dis mess in here? I bet Taydor did dis!"

I totally cracked up. And I might have even muttered under my breath, "Welcome to my world, Jake, welcome to my world.

Katie-Bug has a birthday

The Bug had a birthday this week...how can she be SIX already?! Ack! She was beside herself with excitement for D.A.Y.S.

Sunday at church, every time someone said hi to her, she said, "Tomorrow is my birthday!" And look pleased as punch when they said, "Oh! Happy Birthday, Kate!"

She's subtle, that one.

This year....SCORE...her birthday landed on Martin Luther King day, so she had the day off from school. Although...when you're a kid and you don't get to take your birthday treats to school on the DAY of your actual birthday, it can be cause for consternation.

She chose Red Robin for our usual lunch-out-after-church restaurant and happily slurped and smacked her free sundae after being sung to by half the establishment.

SaraGrace was hounding me to do a photoshoot with her new headband, so Kate jumped in for a few shots. It WAS her birthday, after all.

{In case you forgot, she would remind you. Every. Hour.}

Awwww....my two heart babies, and Hope Healing Home alumni.

Let's open presents! Jake wanted a picture with the birthday girl. That's cool because it's not every day that a girl gets to pose with a bona fide super hero.

I wrapped these myself.

Be impressed.

"Yay! I'm so excited!!!!"

"Wheeee! A dollhouse!"

"Yay! Matchbox cars!"

Stop judging. She ASKED for them! :)

And you can tell that she is super excited about them, too.

Jillian made the cake and did another fabulous job.

I love that big smile on her face!

Three tries and they were out.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Jake...the Super Hero

Jake came downstairs this morning dressed like this:

"I'm da Batman tiger guy."

"Check out my sweet cape."

Side view

"Wanna see me jump so my cape flies out?"

"See my ninja flying skills!"

{And please stop noticing that I have nothing hanging on the wall behind the tv, despite the fact that we have lived here for a year and a half. It's a huge wall and I can't decide what to put up there. Argh!}

And again...

"Jake! You got like three feet of air that time!"

Jake's New Do

Me: Noticing a notch out of Jake's hair... "Did you cut your hair?"

Jake: NO!

Me: Really? Because it looks like you did.

Jake: Nooooo (insert slight whiney tone)

Other kids notice which brings a chorus of: "Jake, yes you did!"

Jake takes umbrage: "NOOOO!"

Another chorus of: "Yes, you did!"

Jake: starts crying

Me: Jake! You're not in trouble. Just tell the truth. Did you cut your hair?
Jake: (Wails) Yessssssss.

Me: (relieved to know that it wasn't from the haircut I gave him) Where were you when you cut it?
Jake: Blank stare

Me: Were you in the bathroom? The kitchen?

Jake: Noooo.

Me: Where?

Jake: (softly) At school.

Me: You cut your hair at school?!

Jake: Yeah.

Me: What? You just sat in your seat and took a hunk out of your hair?

Jake: Yeah.

And I thought they went to school to learn. ha.

Taylor took fiendish delight in telling Jake I was going to have to give him a buzz cut to fix it.

I didn't.

He's just going to have to go around with a notch out of his hair for awhile. Ryan gave himself an identical cut at about the same age.

It's a fad for 5 year olds.

Just so you know.

You're welcome. {I wouldn't want you to miss out on the cutting edge of hair fashion.}

First Trip of the Year to ER

Well, the year is new but we have made our first trip to ER.

Little Miss Katie-bug forgot my warning not to touch the stockings hung on the mantle, due to the possibility of a large, heavy holder falling on their heads.

Hehhhhhhhhhh....

I was out with the bigger girls and Taylor was babysitting when I got a call. Katie had pulled a stocking holder down on her face, near her eye and it was bleeding. He wasn't sure if she needed a stitch.

When I got home, I ascertained that she did need one because it was an impact split of her skin near her eye. It was nice and clean, but it would not stay together. I tried a steri-strip because it was a pretty small cut, but alas...it wouldn't stay closed. Taylor had done a great job of getting her wound cleaned, bandaged, and a dose of Tylen*l for the pain.

Off we went to ER because the doctor's office was closed today.

I knew we would have a long wait when I saw three ambulances outside the loading area, and the parking lot packed with cars.

Thankfully, I think kids get triaged to the front of the line. We still waited several hours, but it could have been much worse. When they took us back, there were gurney's end to end lining both sides of the hallway--all occupied with people! Apparently everyone decided to get injured or sick today since the doctor's offices were closed. It was a zoo in ER!

Kate was brave and only needed one stitch. She was happy to get a milk shake on the way home. Jeff told me that the kids were going to start getting hurt on purpose so they could score some individual Mommy time and a milk shake. ha!

Modeling the bandage that Taylor put on her cheek while she waits to be seen.

Please excuse the dreadful cellphone photos.

Christmas Wrap-up

I really need to try to get back to blogging...

We just returned from a trip to Ohio and Iowa to see both sides of the family for Christmas!

We even survived it.

We had 2 vans, 9 kids, 1 dog, good attitudes and a renegade stomach virus.

The kids were actually great in the cars and I do not have one complaint about their behavior. The weather was great--no snowy roads. There weren't even any traffic jams!

We were at my parents' for the first leg of the trip since they are on the way to Jeff's parents. We spent two days with them, including Christmas eve, and then got up on Christmas day to drive to Iowa.

Grandma passes out the presents! All of my siblings and their kids were there most of the day and then we went to Christmas eve service at my parents' church.

Skype allowed Ryan and Dani to see some of the festivities.

We can't WAIT to open our presents!!

We spent two days there and were able to see all of Jeff's siblings--some of whom I hadn't seen in several years. It was so fun to see everyone! One of my friends who has a daughter the same age as Ryan, also paid a visit which was such a treat!

Cousins are fun!

I'm pretty sure this photo doesn't need an explanation. Aren't they cute?!

Playing "Memory." You do not want to challenge Chloe to a game of this. She is amazing at it.

We did have two kids come down with the stomach flu but thankfully the rest of us did not succumb.

I had the brilliant idea to leave most of our luggage at my parents and only take a portion of our stuff to Jeff's parents. It would decrease the amount of schlepping that needed to be done.

Right?

Well....theoretically.

It did decrease the amount but it caused a great deal of confusion later on.

When we got back to my parents' we had a barfing child in the car (thankfully, into a bowl).

This caused our parental brains to misfire.

We rested there a day and then Jeff began loading up all our junk...suitcases, backpacks, presents, and all manner of paraphernalia. (Remember, some of our stuff was still packed in the car, since we didn't have to bring it in from our Iowa leg of the trip. This is important to the story because it caused us not to remember what we had started out with.) Still...the amount of stuff clogged up a large area in my parents house.

So much so that we didn't notice that something was missing.

At all.

A rather large something.

(Yes, I did do a walk-thru to check for missing items but this particular something was tucked out of sight)

We had an uneventful drive home and unpacked the cars.

Still didn't notice anything missing.

(Oh...except for my computer cord which my mom had already taken to UPS.)

Time to get ready for bed and I wanted something out of my suitcase.

Except it didn't seem to be upstairs.

Or downstairs.

Or in the car.

But it was in Ohio.

ACK!

My entire suitcase is in Ohio and I am not. Most of my winter clothes were in it so I have very little to wear until my poor mother packs it up and makes the trek back to UPS with the large box.

The good news is that we did not leave any of our children in Ohio.

Despite our latest mishap, we had a wonderful trip and loved being able to see our families. What a blessing!!

Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours!

Good News!

This is the field near Bethlehem that is believed to be the hillside where the shepherds were told that Jesus, our Savior, had been born.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Sweetness

You may remember that my Bible study group was putting together a photo shoot for families in our area who would not be able to afford one. As of my last post on the subject, we didn't know who we would be photographing.

Three days before the shoot, we found out. It had seemed like God was leading us to a women & children's shelter but all of our calls and emails went unanswered. What to do? We kept praying.

A few days before the shoot, the phone rang. It was one of our previous contacts from the local food pantry. She had several families interested.

So we were off and running. We ended up with four families, which was far fewer than we thought we could handle.

Hmmm...God knew that our first run-thru was going to be a steep learning curve and only sent us four. He's so smart that way. All of the families were single mom's and one of the mom's had nine kids!

Two days before the shoot, a friend from our church contacted me to say that she had tons of donations of toys and clothes that she could set up so that the mom's and kids could 'shop' for Christmas.

So on the big day, we had each family come, be photographed, go inside for hot chocolate and treats, and then go shopping.

Oh my goodness....it was the most touching thing to see the reactions of the mom's when we told them there was a 'shop.'

One family was particularly touching. We noticed that the mom had dressed her kids in matching white shirts. She told us that she bought them two years ago for a family photo but then she was never able to afford one. When I told her that she could go shop for her children, she started to cry and told me that her ex-husband wasn't paying his child support and because of that, she had no presents for her kids. Wah!

While she was shopping, I told her four kids that they could go and pick out a present for their mom. {There was a different room where a shop had been set up for the kids.} Her oldest son was about 12 and he softly told me that he was saving his money to buy a Christmas tree for his mom because it was all she wanted for Christmas. He said a friend was going to help him get the tree home once he saved the money. While my brain started swimming with, "How can we get them a tree?" I urged all of them to go choose something for their mama in the shop.

As they left the room, I turned to the woman behind me and she had this awestruck look on her face, as if God had just spoken to her.

He had.

She said, "My husband and I are in charge of the Boy Scout Christmas tree lot today. We can get them a tree!" She quickly got her husband on his cell phone and made arrangements to get the tree delivered. A few hours later, he set up a tree in the living room of a very excited family.

How amazing is God! He saw the desire of that little boy's heart. He even changed the original date of our shoot to the day that a woman from our Bible study was going to be in charge of the Christmas tree lot.

Coincidence? I think not.

It was an amazing privilege to be a part of spreading some Christmas love.

Nothing says Christmas like...

...a kids Christmas program.

This morning was the kids Christmas program at church. Seven of our kids were in the program. That means, in the picture below, you would have seven chances instead of one, to play, "Where's Waldo."

Molly had a small speaking part as a shepherd.

Five of our kids were angels. Even Jake. Three of them were in the front row which gave us three possibilities for public disgrace.

Here Jake can be seen adjusting his halo. Why they even let him wear one, I'll never know.

So far so good on the synchronized hand-motions.

One musical number included sunglasses as props.

Miss Chloe took her job as angel very seriously and did a wonderful job.

SaraGrace and Jordan also worked hard.

Jake...still going strong on the motions. {He was bribed.}

Notice the halo is gone.

He says it broke.

Look closely and notice where Jake put the sunglasses when not in use.

They fit snugly around his middle.

This move by Jake sent Taylor, Jeff and I into fits of laughter.

I know that we were rude.

But seriously...would you be able to keep a straight face?

The sunglasses on his stomach kinda took it over the top.

Notice all the boys on Jake's right. Especially the one with his hands in his pockets.

Could he be any less thrilled to be there?

The synchronized hand motions have run seriously amok. Notice the little boys on the right. Not one of them is doing the same thing.

When Jake had to continually adjust the sunglasses around his waist, he came up with a new plan. Glancing suavely at the little girl next to him {I kid you not} he made a big production of tucking them into his shirt the way Daddy does. When he finished, he pointed to it so the others would take note.

Kid on right still has his hands in his pockets.

But after all that, he put them back on. And hitched up his pants.

No one else was wearing their glasses except the little girl next to him who followed his lead.

Zoey, to the left, is showing some attitude at this point.

The glasses fell off, he bent down to pick them up and quickly put them back on.

Fail.

Zoey...chewing her nails (why?), Katie kicks up her heels, and Jake turns the wrong way.

They all look pretty confused in this shot.

Zoey was the only kid in the whole program who bowed.

Twice.

We did manage to finish the production without anyone picking their noses or pulling their dresses over their heads.

Yay! Success!

Who Knew Being a Christian could be so stinkin' exciting?

For any of you who have been with me on this blog through some of our adoptions, you know that our lives used to have a lot of exciting, mountain moving God stories. But the past two years or so...not so much. It wasn't that God wasn't working in our lives, it's just that He was doing quiet things in our hearts and helping us through the mundane.

Who made up the word, 'mundane?' Even the word sounds boring.

And well...mundane isn't my favorite place to live. However, sometimes God knows that we need a rest from all that adrenaline that He pumps through us when we get to see Him in action in big ways.

Lately, I started to really miss those mountain-moving days.

I might have even whined a little bit to God about that.

And I might have even asked Him for a bit of excitement to change my dishwasher emptying-laundry folding-bathroom cleaning days. Not that I don't appreciate the fact that housework in American is so much better than sweeping a mud hut. But anyway...

Well, He decided to spice my life up a bit and I'm tellin' ya....it is SO FUN to be part of some action again! :)

I have to go back a few years to put this all in context, so bear with me.

A few years ago, I entered an essay contest on a whim. The prize was a free photography workshop with a well-known photographer in another state. I entered at the last minute and then forgot about it. My essay was NOT my best work. At all. (I say this so that you can fully appreciate what God did later...)

The winner was to be announced on a certain day and I actually forgot until the email reminder came. I began to read the post and was completely shocked to find that I had won!

Seriously?!?!

No way!

After arriving at the workshop location, I had dinner with the photographer who had offered my prize. I was completely floored when she shared with me how she had chosen me as the winner. She said that God had put it on her heart to offer one free spot at the workshop because there was a person that He wanted there and that person could not be there any other way. So she made the offer and then started to get submissions. As the essays poured in, she got overwhelmed because they were all good and she had no idea how she would chose just one person. She began to pray that God would make one person's essay stand out and do a little dance in front of her so that she would know. And then she read mine...and God made it known to her that I was the one.

Well...I was completely humbled and in awe that God would go to all that trouble to put me there. WHY?

When I went, my goal was to learn to take better pictures of my kids. That's it.

I remember sitting there for those two days wondering why God had sent me. I was surrounded by professional photographers who all had their own businesses. And there was l'il ole me with my entry level camera.

By the time I left, a seed had been planted. That seed was to start a photography business. So I went home and studied.

And studied.

And practiced.

And studied some more.

And this year, I have been in business. God has sent me client after client in the most amazing ways. Not too many. Not too few. Just enough.

Even though I LOVE the job, I was still wondering...."God, why am I doing this? How is this furthering Your kingdom? Because really...life isn't about making money. I want to reach people with Your love and let them know they can be in a relationship with you that will change their lives."

And there were other things...negative thoughts like, "What do you think you're doing? You're 47 years old and you have 10 kids. Do you really think you are going to start a business?

But here is where it gets good. You've been waiting for that, right?

I'm in a Bible study group and the author of our study challenged the group to a community service project. We had to choose a group of people who is often overlooked and show them in a tangible way that God loved them.

Many ideas were discussed...all of them good. How would we choose? We didn't know.

One day I was talking to one of the mom's in my group and mentioned my dream of going to a foreign country on a mission trip, taking family photos, printing, framing them and giving them to people. She had grown up in Honduras and she told me that she would have LOVED to have been able to have a photo of herself as a child.

Hmmmm......

Then the next day, she sent me an email that basically said, 'Karin...we don't have to wait to go on a mission trip to take those pictures! We can serve the needy right here in our community. We could do it as our Bible study group project!"

I was totally excited. She shared it with the group and it was instantly decided that it was the project we were supposed to do!

We have been full steam ahead because we wanted to do it before Christmas. It hasn't been a smooth road. There have been many twists and turns--and even now, the road has forked and forked so that I'm not sure WHO is going to get photographed next week. But God knows. And I know He will show us.

But here is another very cool thing...

I 'just happened' (yeah...right) to see a post on a fellow photographer's site this week about a charity group that was doing...THE SAME THING. Only they were doing it on a much bigger scale. They are even doing their photoshoot world-wide ON THE SAME DATE as we are. And they had put together a very well done video.

It turns out that God has been stirring people up ALL OVER THE WORLD with the same mission.

1. Find someone to photograph who would normally not be able to afford it.

2. Take their picture.

3. Print and frame their picture.

4. Deliver it to them.

That is EXACTLY what we had been planning to do. And now we find out that God told another (much more famous) person to do the same thing. God was already at work...we were just supposed to hop on the train. (If you have done the "Experiencing God" Bible study by Henry Blackaby, I know you are cheering, 'Yes! See where God is already at work and then join Him!') This group even had some of the same ideas about providing snacks, delivering the gifts, etc.

And now I know why God sent me to that workshop a few years ago. He wanted to include me in something He was doing. Had I not gone, I would never have had the confidence to attempt portraits of anyone except my own children. But now, I can use my new-found abilities to help spread His love to those who might not otherwise hear the Good News.

God is just so cool.

I wanted to post this so that some of you might be able to go join an event in your community. Many of the photoshoots will be happening Dec. 10th so you still have time to volunteer. They need greeters, snack makers/servers, administrators, hair stylists, photographers, etc. The name of the group is Help-Portrait. You can go to their website HERE. At the top of their page, click on the video. You will be moved. Maybe even to tears. I am posting it below for those of you who don't get the blog via email.