Happy Birthday Grandpa Elmer

Gary, Garrison, Grandpa Elmer and Grandpa Larry: Four generations

Grandpa Elmer gets a kick out of Noel.

Today is Grandpa Elmer's birthday. He is celebrating with millions of others in heaven today. Though he is Gary's grandfather, I adored him.

Today I remember that he always had room for a sandwich. He would order just the salad bar and then go and get some shrimp off of the buffet. He drove the elderly to their appointments when he was 90 and just a youngin'. He would sit on his bed and read his Bible while he waited for the rest of us to be ready to go. He liked raw onions. He adored his wife, Grandma Arlene, and would get a little teary eyed when he talked about her. His voice changed when he prayed. His laugh made me laugh. He had many different jobs in his life because that is what he needed to do. He could get you anything through is novelty business. He saved everything. He went out for fish every Friday night. He was a small man, yet his hands were so strong. He was feisty.

Though I only knew him for five years, I miss him. Gary does too. Happy Birthday Grandpa! Some day we'll celebrate together.

Multi-tasking

I'm so good at starting to multi-task. There are so many things that I begin in the morning. I'm unloading the dishwasher, I'm cooking up eggs, I can even throw in a load of laundry all while getting the kids up, feeding them, packing Gary's lunch, etc. I'm very good at it.

What I'm not so good at is remembering the things that I started. My eggs this morning were a little crispy--Garrison was in the shower and needed assistance. Smokey jumped to be let out, and I was very good at letting him out. Then, I offered Noel something more to eat and began playing Candyland with Garrison. I forgot about Smokey. Suddenly I rush to the door and frantically looked for him. I keep shouting his name and after several moments, he did come running back from his little adventure. Though I try to be good about getting the laundry out of the dryer, sometimes I forget that I had a load in there and will discover it after a couple of days. I try to remind my kids that they don't need to keep asking for something (another glass of milk for instance) once I've given them an answer. Sadly, sometimes I do forget that I'm supposed to get getting Simon another glass of water because I changed Noel's diaper, laid out Garrison's clothes, and kissed Gary good-bye.

I wasn't always like this. I only seemed to forget once in awhile. It seems to have gotten worse in the past few months. Having three kids has changed me. . . my eyes are looking in other places (three cute faces!) more often. Frankly, I'm pleased with my new view.

No big issues.

Hi all!

Yup, there isn't anything big brewing here, nothing to wax upon for several paragraphs, so I'll just give you a few things that I'm thinking about.

1. Today is a boring day for my kids. Lots of fun this week-end. . . lots of sugar. . . lots of people and exciting things. Today = just mom and no sugar. This means that everything is boring (though they don't know the word yet and you had better not teach them!) today and the way to handle it is to whine and bug each other. I planned for this. I knew today would be challenging at times. I know I'm not going to get a lot done as far as housework and that is sad because I love to do housework. (The previous nine words in their current formation are a lie.)
2. Gary isn't on strike yet. Yeah! Hopefully a contract will be reached soon so that we don't live in limbo wondering if there will be a strike or not.
3. Simon and Noel like turkey salad. Go figure.
4. We celebrated all of my siblings birthdays yesterday at my parents house. They recently went through a huge remodel and we only celebrated one birthday at their house the entire year. Usually, we get together to celebrate each birthday and the birthday person gets to choose the whole menu. This is fun for the birthday sibling and also for the rest of us as we get delicious food and fun times. So. . . last week my mom asked us all what we'd like and she compiled a menu with one or more things from each of our lists. It was fun to try and guess who chose what. The food was amazing and we had four desserts. This is fun until you feel really sick and you are trying to lose weight. In this regard, I had fun for one hour, then had no fun for the rest of the day. I did manage a second dessert before I left. . . .just to add to my misery when I arrived at home. Good times.
5. I'm wearing my Friendship Club sweatshirt from Palos Heights CRC. I love all my friends from Friendship Club and miss them.
6. I received an e-mail from a friend in China. Hi Anne! She reads this blog and sent me a funny comic. It made me smile. The Reigers hosted us for a week when we went to get Simon. I miss them and think that God is just amazing that He decided to hook us up. They are doing great work for the Kingdom. Perhaps we'll get to see them again sometime if God leads us back to China. No-we are not making any announcements. No-we haven't decided if we are going to adopt again. People---we have three kids three and under. . . we know we are crazy, but even we are not that crazy. (smile face icon here.)

Love you!

Three Months

At the cival affairs office.

On the way back to our apartment.

Three months ago today, our lives changed in a very dramatic way.

We woke up in a foreign country, went to the police station to register, and then went to the Civil Affairs office where we waited for our son to walk through the door. Thank you Lord!

It is hard to believe that it has been three months already. Sometimes I feel like we have just come home, and other times it is hard to imagine life without our middle child.

He brings such a new level of joy to our house. Have you ever heard him laugh? If you haven't you are missing out on one of the sounds from heaven. He has such a distinct laugh (kinda like his mother) that makes you laugh when you hear it. I was in the nursery Sunday morning and I could heard him laughing in the hallway. That is MY son.

He is stubborn. He must get that from his father. If you ask him to do something that was not on his agenda. . . oh are you in for an adventure. He might choose to be poky. How can it take you ten minutes to take your pants off? He can also take them off in four seconds if he has the mind to do it. He might also choose to give you a dirty look. I find myself smiling in return. He is after all rather cute when he pulls this face. He might whine (his personal favorite, not mine) or he might just be there. No reaction. No movement. Yes, he definantly got that from Gary.

He loves to care for others. He'll hug Noel, give a toy to Garrison that he remembers Garrison enjoys, and get Noel's shoes for her when it is time for us to go. Hugs and kisses come our way from this darling boy every day.

Eating! Oh, the issues with eating. He loves to eat. AMEN! He'll try anything. It is very rare that he'll try something and not like it. I secretly hope he might not like something because he does this great little shake with his head that we only see at these moments. It makes us both laugh. Other issues include eating with his mouth open, smacking (grrr) and eating so very fast. He seems to feel the need to get as much in his mouth as possible. We are making much progress with this last issue. He likes to show Gary his open mouth before he puts another bite in.

Simon is a great sleeper. We were anticipating so many problems and we haven't encountered them. He has woken up maybe five times with a bad dream, but snaps out of it after a trip to the bathroom. He loves laughing at his brother in the top bunk, which can be funny and exasperating depending on how late it is getting.

He loves to jump. He jumps off the curb, he jumps over toys, he jumps on the couch downstairs (it is allowed down there), he jumps off the stool in front of the toilet, he jumps before he can run out of his bedroom in the morning. . . do you get the picture? His vascular malformation doesn't seem to be hindering him in the least.

He is such a kind little boy who filled a missing spot in our family. He bridged the gap between Garrison and Noel. . . the gap of independent play and brought in sharing, fighting, and general merriment. He shoots hoops with Garrison and reads books with Noel. He chases Noel back and forth through the house and plays in the bathtub with her for thirty minutes. He shovels the driveway. He colors an octopus. He'll say whatever Garrison said that generated a laugh. He wrestles with his daddy and laughs with his mommy. He prays to Jesus with words we understand and with those that only the Lord does. What a gift. . . Lord help us to be worthy.

Thanks for continuing to follow along, for praying for us, for especially praying for Simon. Thankfully, I didn't have to experience abandonment by my birth parents. I didn't have to experience time in a hospital without my family. I didn't have to leave all that I knew and loved at 2 1/2 for a place that sounded, looked, smelled, and just felt different. We aren't out of the woods yet. We are waiting for the honeymoon to be over. After all, Simon will be three next month. We look forward to seeing him grow and learn and mostly, loving him more.

Yeah baby!

I'm going on a date. Tonight.

Isn't that exciting? I put out the plea to my family over e-mail last week. Please, Gary and I would like to go on a date. We have three adorable yet active children. Can any of you help? My mom called this morning. I'm going on a date. Tonight!!!

I really like this guy. We met on eharmony. You know. . . those cheesy commercials. Yup. That is us. It was a bit taboo at the time. I told my mom, sister, and best friend that I was doing it. I didn't open up about it until things started to happen. It shocked some people. There were some at my church who were very concerned about the whole thing. Then, the Chicago Tribune did a story about us, and their attitudes changed. After all, if the Tribune spoke favorably about eharmony, there must be something good about it.

So now, we are married. We got married nine months after we met, got pregnant with Garrison five months later. . . and we need to go on a date. Did you know that we have three kids? We haven't been out with just the two of us for over three months. I'm excited. I have a date tonight.

I get to spend several uninterrupted hours with my man. I love him tons. I think he is sexy. I think he's intelligent. He's a good dad. He's a great husband. He drives me crazy at times, but the things that drive me crazy are also things that I love about him. For example, if some chore or task needs to be done and I mention it--he'll drop what he's doing and take care of it right away. I love it that it gets done, but I need to be careful when I mention things to him. We are cuddling. . . all right, we are collapsed on the couch and I mention that we need a photo for pre-school tomorrow. Gary is gone. . . off to print the photo at this moment. It drives me nuts that he can fall asleep before I'd be done writing this sentence. Chatting in bed? Nope. I struggle to fall asleep and I'd like him to feel my pain, to help me relax. . . he is sleeping. Yet, he'll get up with the kids at night because he knows that if I get up, I won't be able to get back to sleep. How is that for love? Boy, did I get a good one.

So tonight, I get to go out on a date. I know where he'll want to go to eat. I could pick out two things from the menu that he'd enjoy. He could do the same for me. I will be surprised by the route that he takes. I will be surprised when he says something to me at dinner that makes me laugh. I know I'll laugh, he just always finds new ways to get me to do so. I love him, I know him, and yet I continue to learn more about him. Yup, I'm excited for my date tonight.

Doing my part

"Thanks for doing your part Simon." I heard Gary say to my adorable son this morning. "You saved us almost thirty cents. Way to go! Way to be dry all night."

Ah, so that was it. I laughed out loud along with Gary and along with Simon who didn't have a clue as to why we were laughing. Gary and I are taking a Dave Ramsey class at church on Wednesday nights. Although Gary is a skeptic and thinks we don't need to class, I'd like to ask the following questions. Who worked ahead in the workbook? Who made their own budget sheets? Who shows me every night what cool new thing he did on the excel spreadsheets? Who announces that their son is doing his part to save us big bucks? Yup, you guessed it.

It has been really good for us to take this class. We are being more deliberate about our spending. We are thinking about where our money is going. With a possible strike looming in the next couple of weeks, we are planning and preparing ahead. It is good. Plus, Gary isn't spending as much on good deals anymore. For those of you who know Gary, you know that he loves and searches for and dreams about good deals. It is something that I love about him. He has saved us plenty of Benjamins over the years with his hunting. He also spends money on good deals for things that we don't really need. Alas. . . .

How am I doing my part? I always shop sales, but I'm being more picky these days. I sat down with a savvy friend and asked her what products she gets at Aldi. I now have a list of go-to items on my fridge. A friend at church is offering a "clever couponing" class next Friday night. I don't know how clever I am, but I'd like to be better. It has been kind of fun to gather our receipts each week. I even called Gary from the Meijer parking lot to tell him how much money we saved. Yup, another perk of being a stay at home mom: getting excited about savings. Either that or I'm a little nutty. Perhaps both.