Without Love... my reminder for the night

(For the curious... the answer to where we were is on the post below this one!)  :o)

I had just settled happily onto the couch for the evening, after a late night getting the kids tucked into bed and many trips back upstairs to tend to their various "needs".  After only a few minutes rest, Seth called out, yet again, from his upstairs bedroom.  "Mo-om, I want to tell you something.  Can you come here please?" 

I have to admit, I'm thankful he wasn't close enough to hear my pitiful sigh as I paused wearily at the bottom of the staircase before ascending to his room.  I had been really looking forward to some time to myself.  Ahh, there was that great parenting resource book I've been reading... or I was thinking about writing a family update post on our blog... and I was eager to do a little more adoption reasearch too... so many things I had my heart set on doing in my precious free time tonight.  And now my time was getting cut even shorter.

As I picked my tired feet up the flight of old stairs, I could feel a little twinge in my heart.  It wasn't too strong or too loud... it was that still, small voice I knew well.  And it was quietly calling for an attitude change. 
"Mmm hmm", I inwardly noded, understanding God's reminder to me.  It was my love for my children that drove me to invest in those other things in the first place.  ... Still, I entered Seth's room with an agenda of getting things taken care of, and then getting back downstairs as quickly as I could...

Forty-five minutes later I stood in Seth's doorway, telling him that I loved him and wishing him sweet dreams.  My expression was softer, and so was my heart.  Oh, yes, it had taken time, quite a bit of time.  And now I wouldn't be able to do all those "super important" things tonight.... But that was ok.  I had spent forty-five minutes with a little boy who just needed some reassuring.  When I entered, his sweet, tender heart was concerned about something, and he was sad to the point of tears.  He was happy now, smiling and laying peacefully close to sleep.  How thankful I was that I hadn't simply yelled up the stairs for him to quiet down and go to bed, as I had selfishly wanted to, without even checking to see if he had a legitimate issue or if he was mearly stalling for more awake time.  

After all, what good are my great parenting books, and blogging about the four of us, and the desire to expand our family through adoption if I'm reacting selfishly and without putting my love for them into action right now? 

Hmmm.  Not much good, I guess.

I'm glad for the reminder.  



"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. 
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-7

We are thankful to have been given a little vacation!  

Can you guess where we are?  :o)

Some family pics to share with you

This past fall we had fun taking some family pictures.  I had planned to share these with you way back before we started having computer problems... but here they are now!  :o) 

Steve saves the day!

After quite an absence from the blog world, I'm very happy to say we're back - and with a handful of pictures to help you catch up!  We've had problem after problem with computer issues, starting with the crash of our former pc.... but tonight, thanks to Steve's help and his work computer, I'm happy to join you again!

This first one is just for fun, taken yesterday.

This is what happens when boys play with dolls...

Cinderella borrowed Ariel's shells

"so she could have goggles and go scuba diving".  ;o)

Here's Haddie a couple months ago, celebrating the success of our high school football team.

We were delighted to have friends from our sister church in Ukrain here for a visit.

Seth and Haddie had fun learning to count to ten in Ukrainian!

My dad's side had a big gathering for Thanksgiving. 

We had much to be thankful for - especially the presence of my grandparents.

(Last spring my grandma broke her leg and my grandpa

 spent many months in hospitals and nursing homes due

to a severe rare blood disease.  Both have recovered remarkebly well!)

The cousins on Steve's side...

Antonio, Haddie, Seth and Hayden.

This is how most of the group photos turn out! ;o)

Christmas Eve at our church.

The cousins on my side...

Daniel, Caleb, Haddie and Seth

Seth and Haddie being explorers.  :o)

So, as you can see, we're still alive and things have been going well! We've been working on support raising, packing, and house projects, along with all of the usual family happening.  Thanks so much to those faithful followers who continued to regularly check in during our previous absence!  Barring another computer turning to toast, I'll be back again soon!  :o)

what do we do all day?

(First, I have to let you know that some "deeper thoughts" will be coming soon. I know the recent posts have been pretty child-focused lately!) ;o)

That said....

The other day I was thinking about how I am regularly asked what the kids and I do all day. :o)

Well, many mornings we have a loose schedule consisting of things like breakfast, clean-up, play time upstairs, a little laundry, play time outside/a play date with friends/story time at library, etc., lunch.

Then again... there are some mornings where we stay in our pajamas, make a fun, late breakfast, let the dishes remain... and we dance. ;o)

I thought I'd share a little clip with you. Here's Seth dancing to "Mighty Good Leader" by Audio Adrenaline. (Make sure your volume is turned up - hehe!)

Have a great day everyone! (The dishes can wait, right?) ;o)

a thought for the day

"If you act like you've only got fifteen minutes, it'll take all day. Act like you've got all day and it'll take fifteen minutes."


~Monty Roberts





I read this quote today and immediately thought about my typical Sunday mornings. Steve often leaves the house before the rest of us are up, in order to get to church early, set out his music, pray, get prepared for the service etc. This is all understandable and necessary. However, it leaves me to get the kids and myself prepared for church all on my own. Again, this is just the way it is, and that's ok. Many, many moms do this every day. ..... It's just that I don't always do it, um.... gracefully. ;o)




I'm getting so much better at stocking my purse, writing out the offering check, and setting out our clothes the night before. We even are getting pretty good at being home on Saturday evenings with plenty of time to bathe the kids so I don't have to do it Sunday mornings (that one took a lot of effort for us, as we so easily succumb to the "go go go" mentality, and we are often not home 'til late on the weekends!)....



Alas, when the sky is still dark and I faintly feel Steve slip out of bed on Sunday mornings, my typical response is to roll on to my stomach and flatten my face against the mattress, intent on capturing twenty more delicious minutes of sleep before I hit the day running.
(Um, yeah... I think it would serve me well to drag my sleepy body out of bed simultaneously with Steve... I'm pretty sure it would help me avoid even needing to write this post in the first place... I'll be working on that one!!)



...Anyway, now that you've got the background to my simple story, here's the point I was getting at....



...It rarely fails that I find myself sitting on the living room floor on those mornings, trying to wrangle a squirmy, sleepy kid (yes, they can be both of those things at once, can't they?!) with peanut butter on their face, wash cloth in one of my hands, toothbrush in the other. Much whining and pleading take place. And the kids do the same. Haha. ;o)


"Please hurry!" I often exclaim, "We are going to be late," as I forcibly struggle to tidy up Seth and Haddie against their wills. Maybe it's some law of physics (or at least of parenting) that the more I try to hurry us, and the more intensely I communicate how the minutes until we need to be seated in church are dwindling, the more the kids balk at getting ready....


Hmmmm... what was that one again?....



"If you act like you've only got fifteen minutes, it'll take all day. Act like you've got all day and it'll take fifteen minutes."

Yep. I see the truth in that one and I believe I'll be trying to put it into practice at our place!

(I found it a bit humorous that I found this quote in my mom's horse club newsletter! :o) I guess some truths are universal, whether they be regarding interactions between humans and horses or parents and children!!)

Living Up To Her Name

Cinderella has been living up to her name around here lately... ;o)



This little lady was playing in the "paddle boat" (a jar with a candle in the bottom of it) and got a little sooty today. (In her wedding dress - can you imagine that!?)

So she had to take a bath.

Cinderella is happy to be "all fresh and clean" again. (And another little girl in this house is happy about that too!) ;o)

Accomplishing our purpose? One year blogging...

Earlier this week I happened to be looking at our first blog post and was a bit surprised to realize that we have been part of the blog world for one year already. It has been really fun to read about the journeys of many other bloggers, as well as to share ours. Seeing that first post of ours made me pause for a few moments to ponder if I have been accomplishing the purpose I set out to achieve here. I do hope to offer a little bit for everyone who stops by... updates on our family, pictures showing what Seth and Haddie are up to, as well as an occasional recipe or little family living tip we've learned along the way...

The biggest reason I wanted to create a blog, however, was to have another way to tell the world (or whoever is interested!) a little bit about our deepest passion and the cry of our hearts. We want to share about how Jesus Christ has changed our lives and has given us a new purpose for living. We long to praise His Name... and maybe, hopefully, point others a little closer to Him as we share our journey with you.

So, in the upcoming weeks and months we hope to continue our "40 Days of Faith" (see links on the left hand side of this bog if you missed our first 13 stories). Also, be sure to check us out a week from tomorrow as we share publicly for the first time some BIG NEWS about what God is doing in our family... something that has been in the works for FIVE YEARS! Hehe - we're excited!! ;o)

I'm going to leave you with the first picture I put on our blog. It's Seth and Haddie eating freshly picked apples outside of our house a year ago. Following that is a picture I took this morning of the two of them eating apple slices in our yard. They've changed a bit! ;o)

So, thank you for stopping by. We hope you have enjoyed this past year of "Like Potter's Clay", and we hope you stay with us to see what happens in the coming year!
Blessings to you all!

Sept. '08

Sept. '09

A few little things that help keep my sanity...

Recently I enjoyed my friend Lindsey's blog post about staying organized. It reminded me that I've been gathering some pics to show you a few little changes I've done around here to help keep my sanity... ;o)


My favorite little organization tool I've implemented this year is this plastic drawer stand. It sits on a small cabinet in between our washer and dryer, and it holds everyone's socks. I LOVE not having to carry socks upstairs and put them in dresser drawers. Not that they were heavy ;o) it's just that we don't seem to come up with as many loner socks if they don't leave the laundry room until they're worn! The top two drawers also hold Seth and Haddie's underwear.

Don't worry. This spaghetti jar in particular isn't still in our fridge! I did start putting the date on opened jars in the fridge this year. It is effective especially for pickle jars, which we don't seem to use up very quickly. Now I don't find myself wondering how old the pickles are anymore! Hehe! It's easy to know if I need to throw something out!

Maybe this is something lots of people do and I just didn't find out about it until a couple years ago... I'm not sure. Anyway, I used to save my plastic grocery bags for other uses, but they were always such an eyesore... overflowing from a corner of the pantry or falling out of a cabinet. A couple years ago I noticed my friend Marcy kept her plastic bags in an ice cream pail with a slot cut in the lid. I tried it and it works great! (I just realized that you can't put the bags inside each other or they don't come out.... you have to lay them on top of each other like Kleenex in a tissue box.

When I was 7 months pregnant with Haddie we decided it was time to move Seth from his crib to a toddler bed. Considering his extremely determined personality, along with the fact that I was too exhausted by the end of the day to make a dozen trips back up the stairs to put an escapee child back in his room, this half-door was a huge blessing!! A man from church made it for us. Seth was comforted by the fact that he could see out, and we were comforted to know that he wouldn't be wondering around the house at night. If he needed us during the night, he simply called and one of us would go to him. Once we put this little door in, Seth transitioned quite quickly.

View from inside Seth's room. We always left the big door open at night and shut the little door.

My final item on this post is a table cloth I purchased at the local dollar store. When Haddie was just starting to wear underwear, I was really determined to not have any accidents on the couches, as we were fortunate to get new furniture for the first time in our married life this past winter! First I tried having her sit on a garbage bag, but that was way too slippery. Then I found this table cloth. One side is some kind of wipeable, water-proof plastic (but it's not slippery like a gabage bag), and the other side is soft, kind of like flannel, so it stays in place. Although Haddie ended up being trained really quickly and didn't need the cloth on the couch for long, I thought it was perfect and I will definitely use it again if we have any more children!

Of Lakes and Corn Bins, Weddings and Little Friends ...

Hi all! We've been away a lot lately squeezing in some special time with friends and family before summer is over. Here's a picture gallery to give you a glimpse of where we've been and who we've seen! :o)

We spent a week at a lake with Steve's parents, his sisters, and their families!

Here are the cousins on their way to go swimming! (They loved the kick boards!) Haddie and Seth are in back, but in front you can see Antonio and Hayden.

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids.

Out of many attempts to line up cousins on the couch, this is the best one I got. ;o)

Seth having fun with his new hat and fishing pole.

Haddie and Seth.

We had a fun time even though there were a lot of cool days. We were thankful to have a great cabin with a big living room. Here is Aunt Buzzy (Samantha) coloring with the kids.

Steve on the paddleboat with Haddie and Seth.

One of the highlights was feeding the ducks bread.

Dad and Haddie watching the ducks.

The previous weekend Seth and Haddie stayed at The Farm while Steve and I went to a wedding. Here they are with Grandpa Dewey, Grandma Sheila, as well as some boys who were visiting for a week to have a chance experiencing life outside of "the city".

Here I am with Anna, sister of the bride. ;o)

My friend Naomi and me the morning of her wedding. She married a great guy named Gabe. Steve and I were honored to be involved in their wedding. I did Naomi's hair, as well as her sister's, and Steve did the welcome at the beginning of the ceremony. It was so fun to see how happy they both were to get married!

Here's Haddie looking out at the horse pasture the week before we headed off on our adventures.

Seth on the tire swing. :o)

This rooster in front is fondly called "My Boy" by Seth.

Haddie enjoying one of the kittens.

These next few pics aren't in the right order. Here Seth is getting hosed of with air by my dad after he and Haddie spent time playing in a nearly empty corn bin.

Haddie peeking out of the corn bin. (My mom said, "Make sure if you put up pictures of this that everyone knows the kids were carefully supervised while they were in the bin!!" No problem mom.) :o)

Seth having a blast on a little corn mound in the bin.

Steve was an usher at the wedding of his friend, Richie, recently. Here we are at the reception. We had lots of fun seeing Rich and Rebecca get married, visiting with old friends, and making new ones.

Here's Steve with his friends. First Steve, then Erik, then the groom, Richie, and then his friend Buzz.

Lastly, here's a couple pics of my dear friend Kelly's little girl, Anika, along with Haddie.
They live a ways away, so it is always a treat when we get to spend time together.

Seth, Anika, and Haddie at Kelly's parents' house. :o)



Well, that's a wrap! Hope you are all well! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to view this post!