This evening, Josiah came down from a nap, and put his little hands on each side of my face to make sure I was giving him my full attention. He asked, in his run together, all one word style, "Howahyou?" It took me a moment to realize what he was asking because I don't think I've heard him ask that question before.
I replied, "Tired."
He nodded his head with a knowing look. "Mommy bed."
Clarifying, I asked, "Mommy should go to bed?"
"Mmm hmm," He replied. "Mommy bed, mmmhmm!"
Thankful for the sweet moments :-)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
6 months, and counting
Amazing, isn't it!? Josiah's been home 6 months. Where has the time gone? We've been so busy with moving an stuff, life has definitely been a little crazy.
Demarie and the kids even took this past week to go visit her parents. A friend even flew out to drive with them. Her parents are even graciously going to keep Jake (the beagle) for a while.
We are in the midst of moving out of company paid temporary housing to one we've found. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to look for something more permanent.
One thing we have found out here already is Christian friendship. It is a blessing to know that relatives of friends are out here and they want to get to know us and help us out how ever they can. God is definitely watching over us.
Demarie and the kids even took this past week to go visit her parents. A friend even flew out to drive with them. Her parents are even graciously going to keep Jake (the beagle) for a while.
We are in the midst of moving out of company paid temporary housing to one we've found. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to look for something more permanent.
One thing we have found out here already is Christian friendship. It is a blessing to know that relatives of friends are out here and they want to get to know us and help us out how ever they can. God is definitely watching over us.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Updates Continued
The kids are sleeping in this morning...making for a very happy mommy! So, I'm going to try and catch up on our updates.
God, through David's company, blessed us with the ability to stay in a townhouse for 30 days (now about 2 1/2 weeks left) at no cost to us! It is furnished, even down to plates, linens, and dish soap! We are feeling a big cramped, as it is only a two bedroom house, and we are taking up some of the family room with our stuff. But really, it isn't THAT much smaller than the house we just moved from. We are in a rush to find a house to rent now, though. We have to move in 2 1/2 weeks, and the moving company would really to prefer to know where/when they need to deliver our stuff in the next couple of days. SO, we're going to be making lots of phone calls, and hopefully find a house soon that will allow us to have the dogs. And unfortunately, this probably means that there will be another change in the not too distant future.
The kids, for the most part, have been doing really well. They are sharing a room here, which is mostly good, but at times difficult. Neither of them have been getting the sleep they need. They have been going to bed late and waking up early. I think we're finally settling into our more normal schedule. We're having to be a bit creative to give each one some alone time. But sharing the room is giving them both some comfort in a strange place. There is a playground right across the street, and they are loving that. We've also made trips to the mall and Chick-fil-A just to get out and let them use some energy. Unfortunately, they've been watching a lot more T.V. than they should.
We have been noticing some behaviour the past few weeks with Josiah that I'm pretty sure is attachment related. None of it is big or horrible, but it has been pretty constant. He "pouts"-- head down, no eye contact, bit of attitude--many times when he is corrected or even just given a simple instruction right now. He's refused to eat for five minutes when called to the table because I spoke to him about having to be called several times. When he actually is disciplined, he often cries loudly for a short time. It's not wailing or hurt, but making sure we know he's not happy. We know that a lot of this has to do with the uncertainty of what is going on around us. And David and I have not been giving the kids the attention they need. We're either focused on trying to get things done, or just exhausted. A lot of times this leads to annoyance on my part, and I just don't to deal with either of their behavior. We're both working on being more aware of our reactions to the kids, and making sure we spend more quality time with them. We've been getting away from some of the attachment-building behaviors as we've been busy with the move, but we definitely need to move back in that directions.
Last quick thing, as Elizabeth is now awake. The DOGS. No, we have not shipped the dogs off anywhere yet. And they have been doing pretty well the past couple days. It's been an adjustment for them, as they are used to being out in our big backyard around 12 hours a day! Here, we have no yard. We have been walking them at least 5 times a day, but they are not really used to having to "go" on a schedule. Jake has been okay with it. Diego doesn't like to do certain things in an unfamiliar place. This has let to him holding it when outside, but not able to hold it indefinitely. So there have been some BIG messes in the kitchen. (We've been gating them in there when we are not around.) We're learning how to help them with longer walks and such. We also bought crates for the dogs because there is only so much cleaning up either of us is willing to do. We haven't had any messes for the past few days. YAY!
We are glad for the snow, even though we didn't really pack the kids' snow stuff. I need to find batteries for my camera before we can post some more pics!
God, through David's company, blessed us with the ability to stay in a townhouse for 30 days (now about 2 1/2 weeks left) at no cost to us! It is furnished, even down to plates, linens, and dish soap! We are feeling a big cramped, as it is only a two bedroom house, and we are taking up some of the family room with our stuff. But really, it isn't THAT much smaller than the house we just moved from. We are in a rush to find a house to rent now, though. We have to move in 2 1/2 weeks, and the moving company would really to prefer to know where/when they need to deliver our stuff in the next couple of days. SO, we're going to be making lots of phone calls, and hopefully find a house soon that will allow us to have the dogs. And unfortunately, this probably means that there will be another change in the not too distant future.
The kids, for the most part, have been doing really well. They are sharing a room here, which is mostly good, but at times difficult. Neither of them have been getting the sleep they need. They have been going to bed late and waking up early. I think we're finally settling into our more normal schedule. We're having to be a bit creative to give each one some alone time. But sharing the room is giving them both some comfort in a strange place. There is a playground right across the street, and they are loving that. We've also made trips to the mall and Chick-fil-A just to get out and let them use some energy. Unfortunately, they've been watching a lot more T.V. than they should.
We have been noticing some behaviour the past few weeks with Josiah that I'm pretty sure is attachment related. None of it is big or horrible, but it has been pretty constant. He "pouts"-- head down, no eye contact, bit of attitude--many times when he is corrected or even just given a simple instruction right now. He's refused to eat for five minutes when called to the table because I spoke to him about having to be called several times. When he actually is disciplined, he often cries loudly for a short time. It's not wailing or hurt, but making sure we know he's not happy. We know that a lot of this has to do with the uncertainty of what is going on around us. And David and I have not been giving the kids the attention they need. We're either focused on trying to get things done, or just exhausted. A lot of times this leads to annoyance on my part, and I just don't to deal with either of their behavior. We're both working on being more aware of our reactions to the kids, and making sure we spend more quality time with them. We've been getting away from some of the attachment-building behaviors as we've been busy with the move, but we definitely need to move back in that directions.
Last quick thing, as Elizabeth is now awake. The DOGS. No, we have not shipped the dogs off anywhere yet. And they have been doing pretty well the past couple days. It's been an adjustment for them, as they are used to being out in our big backyard around 12 hours a day! Here, we have no yard. We have been walking them at least 5 times a day, but they are not really used to having to "go" on a schedule. Jake has been okay with it. Diego doesn't like to do certain things in an unfamiliar place. This has let to him holding it when outside, but not able to hold it indefinitely. So there have been some BIG messes in the kitchen. (We've been gating them in there when we are not around.) We're learning how to help them with longer walks and such. We also bought crates for the dogs because there is only so much cleaning up either of us is willing to do. We haven't had any messes for the past few days. YAY!
We are glad for the snow, even though we didn't really pack the kids' snow stuff. I need to find batteries for my camera before we can post some more pics!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Update
It's hard to believe, but we have been here over a week!!! We are really liking the area so far, and are really excited to experience more!
(The kids getting ready to leave the house for the last time!)
Moving from our house:
The movers came, packed, and loaded everything in one day! It was a bit of a long day. That was a Tuesday. We stayed in the house without furniture until Friday. We all "camped out" in one room on air mattresses. The kids thought it was great...for the most part. And yes, the kids are actually on $5 pool floats because the little air mattresses we had both had holes in them.
Friday, we woke up early and did a final scrub down of the house. We didn't get to everything we wanted. We left a few things outside, but the new owner didn't mind. We didn't touch-up paint or even remove all the nails/screws from the walls. Oh well. We were told at closing that it looked great, so...we won't worry too much. Closing went fairly well, and was pretty easy. Our Realtor even gave us yummy HUGE chocolate covered strawberries. (That's what David and I had for lunch that day ;-)) We picked up the kids and dogs and headed down for our first night in the townhouse. We did get a call Monday that we needed to re-sign the deed, as the margins were not right for our picky county. But we printed it out and sent it back the same day. We already have our check for the proceeds.
(The kids getting ready to leave the house for the last time!)I'll continue the updates later; we are getting ready to head out, hopefully for a fun evening!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
This and That
Hopefully later today, or definitely later this week, I will post an update on all that's been happening. Right now, here are a few tidbits:
~First, please say a prayer for my mom today. She is having surgery, perhaps as I type. We're praying this surgery will correct some of the problems she has had for a long time, and make her life a lot easier and more comfortable.
~Apparently, Elizabeth uses "banana" in her knock-knock jokes a little too often:
~My mom and dad have been talking about possibly fostering, or maybe even adopting...from Ethiopia!!!
~We need to find a new home, or some other solution, for our dogs...particularly the big one. (More on this later!)
~First, please say a prayer for my mom today. She is having surgery, perhaps as I type. We're praying this surgery will correct some of the problems she has had for a long time, and make her life a lot easier and more comfortable.
~Apparently, Elizabeth uses "banana" in her knock-knock jokes a little too often:
~Elizabeth has been adding, "and please be with us as we go to Ethiopia again" to the end of each of her prayers the last few days. HmmmmElizabeth--Knock-knock!
Josiah--Banana!!!
Teeheehee
~My mom and dad have been talking about possibly fostering, or maybe even adopting...from Ethiopia!!!
~We need to find a new home, or some other solution, for our dogs...particularly the big one. (More on this later!)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Skeleton of a Home
Well, it must be happening. The packers and movers got here just before 10am and they pulled out of the driveway just before 6pm. Whether or not we were ready, all of our stuff was packed and loaded into a single truck. It's amazing though that more stuff came out of the basement than the house and garage.
The past couple days we've been blessed with the help of Mom Baber and our friends (especially the Johnsons and Harlans) for "entertaining" the children while things were crazy.
It's only a couple more days, then we sign all the paperwork and turnover the keys and head for our new destination. We've still got to find a long term home, but God will take care of it ;-)
p.s. Congrats to our friends for a successful re-adoption of their two sons today.
The past couple days we've been blessed with the help of Mom Baber and our friends (especially the Johnsons and Harlans) for "entertaining" the children while things were crazy.
It's only a couple more days, then we sign all the paperwork and turnover the keys and head for our new destination. We've still got to find a long term home, but God will take care of it ;-)
p.s. Congrats to our friends for a successful re-adoption of their two sons today.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Transition
We are pretty much in complete transition mode right now. The movers are coming next Tuesday to pack, and they will load the truck Wednesday. Thursday we'll clean and get the keys for the townhouse David's company is renting for us. Friday,we'll sign our house over to its new family.
The townhouse is available to us for 30 days! Praise God for this provision, because we have not yet found a house to buy/rent. We're still working on it.
I didn't realize that the kids would be feeling so much stress already. Josiah has been deliberately disobeying and talking back for the first time. Elizabeth has been especially emotional, and was absolutely mean to Josiah this evening. (I have NEVER seen her behave the way she did tonight!) I'm not sure how much Josiah understands about us moving. He's obviously noticed changes around the house, and noticed Mommy and Daddy are more preoccupied than normal. Elizabeth absolutely knows what is happening. Leaving friends and going into the unknown are particularly upsetting for her. David's commuting has been rough on all of us, too.
We know that God will provide for all our needs. We know that He will reveal His plan in perfect time. We know He holds our dear little ones in His hands and knows their hearts better than even they do. Will you lift our family before the throne as we go into this very busy next week?
The townhouse is available to us for 30 days! Praise God for this provision, because we have not yet found a house to buy/rent. We're still working on it.
I didn't realize that the kids would be feeling so much stress already. Josiah has been deliberately disobeying and talking back for the first time. Elizabeth has been especially emotional, and was absolutely mean to Josiah this evening. (I have NEVER seen her behave the way she did tonight!) I'm not sure how much Josiah understands about us moving. He's obviously noticed changes around the house, and noticed Mommy and Daddy are more preoccupied than normal. Elizabeth absolutely knows what is happening. Leaving friends and going into the unknown are particularly upsetting for her. David's commuting has been rough on all of us, too.
We know that God will provide for all our needs. We know that He will reveal His plan in perfect time. We know He holds our dear little ones in His hands and knows their hearts better than even they do. Will you lift our family before the throne as we go into this very busy next week?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bedtime Prayer
"Dear God, thank you for this day! Please help me to have fun at my party tomorrow. Sometimes it's hard for me to hear you, God. But I know when you choose the right time to speak to me, I will (hear you). Amen"
This kid just blows me away!
This kid just blows me away!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Daddy's Boy?
Today, Josiah picked out his clothes, and he chose his University of Maryland warm-up suit...both pieces. I was impressed. However, I think he thought he was getting the one with the Cars. When he looked at it, he seemed kind of confused and asked "cars?" But I showed him the MD Terrapin on the front. He excitedly said, "DADDY!" He knows Daddy's team!
(BTW, David asked that I post this ;-))
(BTW, David asked that I post this ;-))
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Outside Fun!
Since it was 60+ degrees today, the kids went outside to have some playtime. Of course Josiah had to wear his snowboots. I mean, what else do you wear when it's 60 degrees outside? Elizabeth was gracious enough to let Josiah use her scooter while she practiced roller skating. I was surprised to see how well they both did! Josiah totally understands how to push himself along, with either foot. Elizabeth is really starting to get gliding along instead of just "stomping" in her skates. I think she's ready for some real skates now instead of the Fisher Price plastic wheels. Hopefully, Josiah won't get too mad when he's older about us putting him on a his sister's pink scooter.
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