Quotable

Me: if we have a boy baby what should we name him?

Noah: bygosta! (Giggles)

Me: where did you guys even get that name?? (It is also the name of one of their teddy bears)

Noah: we just thought of it!

Me: Mary what do you think?

Mary: Olaf (no giggles, dead serious)

Me: ok and what if she's a girl?

Mary: Elsa!

Noah: Olaf 

No help here

Quotable

Me: Noah you still didn't put your cup away. Please do that now.

Noah: Can you do it? I'm too busy being super baby who loves to clean! 

I'm not sure how to argue with that... He was wearing a baby bib and running around dusting things.

A collision

from French Press Mornings:)

I'm starting to understand why people who do foster care don't last long with blogging. A friend of mine recently sent me a post from another blogger about how, more than any of the common fears people express about foster care, his greatest fear would be in NOT caring for these kids. Foster care has had a huge impact on his family with young kids and he says it's been for the better. Our experience has been very similar. It has been HARD and it has changed us and is continuing to change us, but I think we are all better because of J being here. You can read his full post here.

One quote that I felt connected with most from that post was, "Foster care is nothing if it's not the collision of two worlds - one of relative ease and comfort is systematically destroyed while one of extreme brokenness and loss is beautifully restored." Yes! So true! We have seen J become a different person then who he was when he came to us. But at the same time our life of (relative) ease got hit by a mack truck the day he came. We now have less time to focus on being a cute little happy family and more time to focus on tantrums, screaming and food being thrown across the dining room. Sometimes Mary looks at me and has to remind me, "mommy, he's still learning huh?"

It's hard not to get sucked into his anger sometimes, because he can become VERY angry. We pray over him against any evil that may be influencing his life or that influenced him in the past. It can also be very hard not to get sucked into the complicated and drama filled world of foster care. This week alone we have 5 different meetings and/or appointments that involve J. That's more than normal but still...it's not that much more. And the drama that surrounds his parents is a whole other story. I just try to focus on caring for him despite the fact that I have so many questions that might never get answered.

Please continue to pray for us. I always need to remember that we are only three months in! And he has made significant strides in that time! But it takes much longer for me to bond with a child and for them to be really integrated into the family.

Niederman Farm

Need a new fall family tradition?!? You should go to Niederman Farm. It can be pricey but you would be supporting a great family farm and your family will have a BLAST!

 

This next picture was from 4 years ago!

 

So I made him stand by the sign for another pic to compare:)

Soccer

 Well I can't say that Noah loves soccer. Usually once each game he says he doesn't like soccer...BUT we told him we want him to give it a try. He never wants to do anything he doesn't think he will be good at so we wanted to challenge him to give this a try and maybe he would like it. Well I don't think he's changed his mind about it, but I do think it has helped his character. We emphasize before each game and practice that we want him to TRY. He doesn't need to be awesome, just try. And we have really seen a lot of improvement in his effort!

 Mary is her typical self: doesn't do much but pick grass, but still says she likes soccer:)

Mary's 6 year pictures!

 

Love this sweet girl! I literally thank God for her everyday because she is so thoughtful and helpful. Sometimes she'll think of things for the boys before I do and she'll take care of it. It's unbelievable.

 She loves her family, doing crafts, playing on the iPad, running and being "crazy," and reading books. She mildly likes soccer but I think her interest is getting less and less as this season goes on...

Such a blessing:)

Quotable

Noah: mommy I thought you said grandma was coming!

Me: she will be here in 14 minutes

Mary: so I need to count to a hundred and she will be here?

Me: um no (grab calculator) you need to count to 840

Mary: oh ok! 1...2...3...

She's up to 87, let's see how long she lasts