Hopefully this is not offensive to anyone…

I am not really one to get on the “adoption soapbox” very often. However, I am going to climb on up for a few minutes and give it a whirl. I want to preface my statements with this: I know that the people who have made these comments to me are great people, and I still admire them greatly and do not wish to make anyone feel guilty or upset. I am only writing this because I hope to educate a few people out there who may in turn educate others. And perhaps give you a unique perspective into the “adoptive parent” mind. Honestly, we don’t talk or think about adoption a ton in our house, mostly because we think of our kids as, ummm, our kids. However, this is something I really felt should be addressed:

Several people, when congratulating me on our pregnancy, have made the comment, “It must be so nice to finally have one of your own!” When they say this to me I actually sort of cringe inside and thank my lucky stars that none of my kids were there to hear the comment. I mean, how would that make you feel if you heard someone say that to your mom or dad? Yes, our children came to us in a different way, but they are completely our OWN children—in fact, each one of our children has been sealed to Jack and myself in the Holy Temple and they are now “born in the covenant” because of that. I have had SO many spiritual experiences and also have even had some times when others have testified to me that that has proven to me that these children were MEANT to be “our own.” Does this mean that our home is perfect bliss all the time? Heavens no! But it does mean that we are an eternal family and we all belong to one another.

Am I excited for this pregnancy experience? Of course! I often pinch myself because I can’t believe it is true—Jack and I feel so blessed to be able to have a little body and spirit growing inside of me who will in a few short months enter into our home and world as the newest member of our family. I love that I am in the “pregnancy club” and can relate to other women about being pregnant and soon about labor and birth and all that stuff. It is awesome! And we are very excited to have another child in our family because we really enjoy having all these kids—and we love to think that our family can grow. But this child is not loved more or less because she is coming to us in a different way. The very fact that Heavenly Father waited nine years to let us get pregnant makes us realize how important it was for our other children to be ours as well!

In short (or actually long I guess) I am pretty sure that when most people make those well intentioned comments to me they understand all of this. But, I just wanted to spell out why I hope that people might change the way they word things—if not for me then for someone else in a similar situation. Perhaps start with saying, “How wonderful to have another child join your family” and then say, “You must really be excited to have this new experience with this baby!” That way if one of my kids is there they don’t feel second rate in any way—because they aren’t!

Okay, I think that is enough. Hope this makes sense—I just had to get it off my chest I guess. Now I really bet get going and get everyone ready for church—Ijust had to do this now while the thoughts were alive and well.  Have a great day!

We Have Arrived.

Well, I think I can officially say now that Jack and I are old….because we now have a teenager….and I also have to hide gray hair with highlights and Jack is definitely thinning on top….but, the teenager thing is the real kicker.

 

(This is Angie kissing a frog down by our local church building—Jack had taken her there for a little Daddy daughter time.  As far as I know, nothing yet has happened with the frog.)

Angie turned thirteen on the 24th of January—and she was pretty excited about it!  

We had a little shindig for her with some of her cute little girlfriends—one thing I learned during this party gave me a huge sigh of relief—out daughter is COMPLETELY NORMAL—all the other girls are just as giggly and boy crazy as she is—if not more so! 

Seriously, they were a cute group of girls and they seemed to get a long well and have a great time.  I think Angie has a talent for picking good friends, and I also think that is because she IS a good friend.

Here’s a few pics to capture the night—We had a lip singing contest and played some games.

Of course Kari made the amazing cake.  And I really don’t know what Sunny was doing back there, but I’m sure glad I got a picture of it.:)

After the cake and present wrap up the parents were scheduled to come pretty soon.  So the girls all just wanted to go out back and play on the tramp.  Well, after a few minutes they all rapidly ran through the house and to the front room.  Unbeknownst to me they went next door to our neighbor’s house (who happen to have an extremely shy 8th grade son) and rang his doorbell.  I think he knew about this plan because he was standing there with a nerf gun ready to fire.  Or maybe it was their not so subtle giggling and whispering that was the tip off.  It all happened so fast it was quite a blur to me!

Then I finally got all those crazy girls rounded up back in the house to play some games until parents came—man sakes alive, they are a crazy bunch!  But, I have heard they slightly mellow out after 14 or so—let’s hope! 

Overall I was glad that they all seemed to have a good time and get along, and Angie was in heaven—it is fun to glimpse more closely into your children’s life after they start to venture out into the world more.  I hope that we can continue to have Angie make memories with her friends right here in our home.

She continues to grow up as a giving and kind person who wants to have fun and do her best—and she is a great babysitter!  woohoo! 

We love you teenager!

Remember—you have plenty of time to find your prince…

In the mean time…just have fun!

Enjoying the Weather

We’ve been out to a few places these last few weeks feeling the nice sun and getting active.  On Martin Luther King Day we went on a hike out at San Tan Regional Park.  Honestly, this place has rather boring hikes, but it’s close to my mom and stepdad’s house where we were going for dinner.  And this was a great hike for Ella’s first hike out of the carrier because it’s very simple.  

 

Here’s our little trooper walking along.  Thanks to a nice little nap in the car she was a great mood and didn’t even ask to be carried until the very end.  She kept saying, “I’m a hiker!” and “Woah, this hill is sure slowing me down!” when we’d go up a little steep spot.

Angie tried carrying Conner on the pack herself at first, but as Jack and I noticed her leaning over farther and farther we decided that maybe she’s not quite ready for it yet—but it gave Jack a nice little break while it lasted! 

 

Here’s Jack and the kids close to the top—we’ve never actually made this whole hike—the bigger kids got a lot farther than Ella and I did though.  She was so funny—she would stop to get some rocks so she could put them in their “nest.”  She told me the nest was, “way at the top” and we would carry them up there.  Then after carrying this handful of rocks in her shirt for about two minutes she would say, “Oh Mom!  Look!  Here’s the nest right here!” 

 

Jack’s attempt to try and get Angie, Sunny, and Logan to pose lovingly with one another….

 

 

Then today we (okay, Jack really) packed up all the bikes and bike trailers on the back of the van and we did a ride over at the Riparian Preserve on Gilbert and Guadalupe. 

I was a little worried this might not go too well because the kids have had a hard time with other trail biking experiences—and it has sometimes seemed like a lot work for a very short ride--but this was a great spot for them—and me too!  It was beautiful with trails and lakes and birds, and it was pretty smooth and had just a few fun hills here and there. 

That’s me keeping up the rear with my cute daughter in the front—I figure it’s okay to still bike as long as I am slow and careful and can still keep my balance. 

Ella got a great nap the whole time while Conner loved it—he LOVES the bike trailer. He just says, “Oh!” a lot and giggles when Jack goes over a bump. After we got done Ella woke up.  I said, “Ella, you slept the whole time we were biking,” and she said, “No I didn’t.  I was just closing my eyes because the sun was so bright.”  We all thought that was pretty funny!

This is such a nice spot to take your kids—everyone should go here!

Jack and the little ones

I love my family…we have our ups and downs at home, but it always feels so good to get out and do something together.  And it tires out the kids somewhat as well…hee hee. 

See here?

Here’s a picture to prove that I am really pregnant, since several people keep telling me, “You aren’t even showing!”  I don’t know what it was about this dress, but I actually looked pretty big in it, so we had to take another picture together.  Mel is 32 weeks and I am 23:

It sure feels real when this belly starts to grow and when this little girl keeps letting me know that she is alive and well with her wiggles and kicks.  I’m so excited for my sister to have her little girl in a few months or maybe less!  And then it’s our turn…

Three Year Olds

Specifically, this THREE year old.  We sure love her, and I think so far that this is my favorite age—like, overall with kids in general.  I mean, they are cute as little one year olds, two year olds they are coming into talking and stuff, but by three it is so cool to see this little person emerge.  And Ella has emerged—in a big way.  She talks ALL DAY LONG.  And she says the funniest stuff!  Sure, she throws her fits and makes her messes and probably gets her way too much, but in general she really is a joy and pleasure to be around, and I love her company.  And whether we like it or not, she’s growing up up up!

Ella and her royal cousins at her royal party—she loves these little guys and I love when Kari and the boys just stop by to play—it makes her day!

  Aunt Kari made this beautiful cake for Ella—all she said she wanted was a “pink cake” and “pink party.” 

This is one of Ella’s little guests and good friend Sedona—she is the sweetest little girl and so good natured!

Here Ella is loving her cake and her aunt!

I was surprised when Ella actually decided to blow out her candles—she had been telling me for weeks that she would not blow them out.  She would say, “Mom, you will blow out my candles, and I will eat the cake.  Because if I blow them out I will get fire in my EYE!”  Cracks me up—but she was brave after all!

Look at this tutu Kari made—she is so spoiled by so many great relatives!  She loves this tutu and wears it A LOT. 

Some Ella updates and info.:

Ella changes her outfits at least 5 times a day—dress up or dresses are essential if music comes on so she can dance properly.

Ella’ new favorite thing is to take Barbies or stuffed animals and give them a bath—not exactly MY favorite thing for her to do, but I catch her doing it all the time.

Ella cut her own hair!  Hence the adorable new due courtesy of my talented sister—I love the new cut, but miss her old locks.  Now Ella will be somewhere with me and out of no where she will say, “Mom, I’m so sorry I cut my hair.  I won’t EVER do it again..” really sadly.  It’s so cute! (Hopefully she is telling the truth!)

Ella loves reading, coloring, writing, “doing letters,” PBS kids, making up songs, friends coming over, bath time, singing, dancing, trampoline jumping, and any other fun activity you can think of.

Happy birthday baby girl—we love you!

Cats

Sunny is somewhat obsessed with cats--all cats are of great interest to her, but especially our cat Hermione. She and Hermione have a special relationship--they talk all the time. I mean, like, they meow to each other. And Sunny is very thoughtful--she always translates the conversation for us--like, whether we want to hear about it or not. She also talks to other neighborhood cats. When asked at school to write an essay on her hero, she wrote it about Hermione. When we spent a few days during the Christmas season recording some of our "tender mercies" from Heavenly Father in a family journal, Sunny wrote 3 out of 4 times about Hermione.

Yep, I'd say she's a little obsessed.
And tonight was the topper.

She was having a hard time going to sleep so she stayed up with me for a little while talking, but she seemed much more interested in "talking" to our cat outside and translating for me. Well, when she finally went to bed she was walking into her room and she started to randomly meow at me. I was pretty taken aback and asked, "Sunny, what are you doing? Hermione is outside and can't even hear you."
"Oh, sorry Mom, " she responded, "it's just an instinct."
Should I be worried?

Christmas Goodies

This year we enjoyed lots of goody making before Christmas.  First we went to a gingerbread house party at Jack’s uncle’s house the Thurbers.  Lots of fun, games, food, kids, and family!

  

Then we made some of our own goodies for our neighbors.  Jennie, I tried some of your recipes from your cookie party and sooooooo many people have asked for the recipe for the caramel puff corn.  Our next door neighbors gave us an entire plate of homemade tamales in exchange for another bag of it!

Then we went to my cousin Tami’s house for her sugar cookie making party—way fun!  She uses her great grandmother’s recipe for the cookies and the frosting, she has aprons, special knives, cute bowls, hot cocoa, apple cider, lots of cookies and TONS of different sprinkles and toppings.  We had so many cookies we had to give more away, and people must have been very impressed because they were just beautiful!

My sister Melanie and I are both pregnant together—she is due in March though.

Yep, we’ve had our fill of the sweets over here—and some great memories too.  I’ll post more of Christmas Eve and Day later—hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!