Last To Ride

Sunday after church we went to Wal-Mart and all the kids got to pick out a new bike. This was pretty exciting but not as monumental as Samuel learning to ride a 2 wheeler. He mastered it in just a few hours of James running up and down the road with him.
Being the youngest of 18 makes everything he does amazing - complete with a huge cheering section.
They're all off and pedaling.

Yesterday was adoption day!
Emma, Ezra and Samuel, who came to us through foster care, became our sons and daughter forever.

A few years ago all our biological and adopted and foster kids were older teens or grown and I thought that we were done the "mommy and poppa" stage. But God used the empty bedrooms down the hall to whisper to our hearts again. He still had more blessings to send to us and we couldn't be happier. We have another sibling group of three that we will be adopting in a few months.

I was reminiscing over some old adoption pictures and noticed how much more mature James and I are now. (Nice way of saying - wow, we're really old this time around!) I have been mistaken for Samuel's grandmother but that's okay. I figure he'll be handy to have around when I'm too old to lift things and having little boys who will tell you that you're beautiful when you're 55 is pretty awesome.

So here we are again...giving baths, buying bikes, listening to kids learn to read and picking up and picking up and picking up.
Empty nests are over-rated.

Yesterday james and I celebrated our birthdays together and all the kids and grandkids came over to celebrate. There were presents and cake and kids everywhere.

And these 4 grandgirls were especially adorable-happy birthday to me!!

A Mad Dash

Our homeschool group roller skates twice a month this year and I love it. This week while public school was out due to snow I took all my boys with us. None of them had skated very much but that didn't stop them from enjoying it.

This was Jeremiah's second time on a rink and I noticed that he skated exactly like he lives life. Before he had a chance to figure out the way to best maneuver - he just took off. He skated at high speed for about 6 seconds before crashing to the floor. He repeated this over and over for 2 hours. He didn't interact with many people and he never really got any better at skating. Just a mad dash and fall and again and again. As difficult as this was on his body, living life this way is even more painful for him. He seems to have no ability to stop, take a cue, learn a lesson, and enjoy the people around him. Life is going to serve him up some bruises!

Winter in Gotham City

Today is February 16th and there has been no school since February 4th.

I don't need to count to tell you that the amount of time off is getting LONG!

This is different than summer break when everyone is outside swimming and playing and not being one inch from my face all day long.

Our only break in monotony is the occasional appearance of, not one, but four super heroes.

Snow, snow go away.

And counting.........

There's always a count down running at our house.

You can find them recorded on our classroom white erase board or chalkboard -sometimes written on scraps of paper laying around the kitchen and often announced by someone at dinner. They vary with the time of year and the longing in someone's heart.

The two main countdowns that I hear about lately are-

104 days till the beach -This countdown although exciting always makes me want to exercise and shave my hairy winter legs!

and

26 days till the adoption - Count down number 2 is for Emma (11), Ezra (7) and Samuel (5). This incredibly wonderful sibling group came to us in May of last year as a temporary foster care case. Within a few days of arriving Emma asked me to pray with her each night that Jesus would let her stay here forever and happily, next month will be their adoption day!

1 Million days till the snow melts - And this is my personal count down.

Testing..1,2,3...Testing

This school year I am homeschooling 3 of the girls but the boys are all in public school, because West Virginia has enacted a policy that does not allow foster parents to homeschool any foster kids. And that's a shame, because many of the kids would do so much better if they could have the one on one that you can give at home.

So we have nice quiet days at home as soon as the bus rolls away with the very loud, very active boys.

Because of the more than 3 feet of snow outside, there has been no public school since last Thursday. The days are no longer quiet and frankly I started to get tired of the lack of routine. All of this drove me to try something extremely frighting....homeschooling all 8 of the kids together!! Yesterday was trial day #1 and everyone loved it. Even me! Day was day #2 and it was still fun. We did everything with a Valentine's Day theme and I adjusted the work for the different ages.

Now I'm not naive enough to believe that it would always run as smoothly as it has, but it has made me consider trying it next year. Someone needs to come over here and talk some sense into me!!