Why Liberia???

Loving children need loving homes.

Mmmmm - yum!

We love kefir smoothies! Kefir is full of probiotics, vitamins and minerals and is so yummy! I got some live kefir grains from someone locally after doing an online search, so now I make my own. Kefir is so easy to make and since it's saving me money over store-bought, you know I'm all over that!

Here's our favorite smoothie recipe:

1 generous handful of berries, any (fresh or frozen)
1-2 bananas, we prefer frozen
3 cups kefir
2 Tbs. raw honey (I don't actually measure it)
2 Tbs. coconut oil, if we have it

Blend and serve. This makes enough for all the kids to have cupful.

Isaac is such a ham, but we love him!

We've adopted another son!

Just kidding. Actually, we're keeping our friends' son, Jacob, for the weekend while they attend a homeopathy seminar. Jacob is the boy I (not so) secretly want to grow up and marry my Elena. He's such a great kid - smart, loves the Lord, and has a great sense of humor. He's also the son of one of my best friends, so I know him very well! Jacob and Elena are great friends and have been since they were babies.

In the van, Elena quietly asked me if she could marry Jake. I said, "Not now, but maybe when you're older." Jake overheard and asked, "What'd Elena say?" The girls all replied, "Nothing!" repeatedly as he kept asking. (I'm pretty sure he heard what she said the first time.) Finally I told him and he smiled and gave an embarrassed laugh.

I wish I had video of these two interacting together. Jake is such a gentleman with Elena. He holds doors open for her and is always watching out for her.

We're all having a lot of fun with Jacob this weekend:

School Report

We've just begun a new school year and I'm so excited! (We school year-round and tend to begin our year sometime in July.) I love change, but I also love starting new books, so I love the beginning of a school year.

This year, Elena and Maya are in 2nd grade and Isaac and Chloe are in 1st grade. This is our third year using Ambleside Online curriculum and we are all thoroughly enjoying this literature-based education, especially me. I was reading an article recently about homeschool drop-outs, meaning families who quit homeschooling. Parents tend to pull their kids out of public school because the kids are unhappy, but families generally quit homeschooling because the parents (read: mom) is unhappy. I was questioning myself the other day, wondering if I'd made the right decision by choosing curriculum that I love. But the truth is, if I'm not enjoying it, that attitude will cross over to my kids. Thus the reason families stop homeschooling. "When mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." (Of course it helps that I haven't heard any complaining or grumbling over the way we're learning.)

For our first term, we're reading The Litte Duke, A Child's History of the World, Leif the Lucky, Heidi and the poetry of Walter de la Mare. We're studying Van Gogh, Renoir, and Frans Lanting. We're also learning about composers: Beethoven, and Rossini. We're finishing up Big Truths for Little Kids as our Bible study and Kyle is still doing Math U See with the kids in the evenings.

Now that VBS is over, we'll be working hard for the next 6 weeks of summer. We're all looking forward to an early fall break in September, when we'll be taking a trip to Colorado.

Birthday Boy

Last week was Kyle's birthday and the kids really wanted to make it something special for him. Pedro took Kyle out to his favorite restaurant for lunch and then hung out with him for awhile at work. (Pedro LOVES being at work with Kyle.) The littles handmade a "Happy Birthday" banner, one letter at a time, we all went to Starbucks to get him his favorite - lemon cake, and they helped me pick out balloons for him. When he came home from work we were all hiding. We all jumped out and yelled, "Happy Birthday!" It was so fun for the kids, and Kyle really enjoyed it.

Politically Incorrect

Elena managed to get the whole family laughing tonight. To explain, allow me to recap:
Today at lunch, we had baked potatoes. I was putting the butter and cheese on them, then Pedro salted and peppered them. Right after he started peppering the last one, Elena came in saying, "I don't want pepper." She looked at the potato, then up at Pedro with a mad look on her face. He said, "That's not pepper. It's black salt." (confused look) "You've never had black salt?? It's from Indonesia."
Elena was retelling this story to Kyle at dinner. She was laughing as she told him about the black salt. Then, suddenly she started laughing really hard as she said, "You told a black joke! Get it??? A black joke!" Everyone at the table started laughing.
The funny thing, of course, is that none of the kids actually "got it".

Court Trip

Kyle took off work on Friday so we could go to court and finalize the adoption stateside. (This will make their new names legal and allow us to get new SS cards for them.) We woke up at 5:30 am and woke all the kids up at 6:00 am so that we could beat traffic and arrive downtown by 8:00. The courthouse only does adoptions on Friday mornings at 9:00, but you must obtain your file and be in the courtroom by 8:30. We had 6 sleepy, bored kids on our hands for over an hour, since we arrived early.

Luckily, we were called on first. After a short greeting from the judge, we found out that we didn't have the necessary form. We were quickly sent on our way, empty-handed. Although we made multiple calls to ensure that we had everything we needed to get the adoption completed, every single one of them failed to mention that we needed two adoption petitions: one sent to the judge (which she had in hand) and a duplicate for her to sign.

Kyle was thoroughly ticked off; I just wanted to cry my eyes out. I didn't though. If my kids are going to see me cry, I want it to be because I'm either happy or sad, not horribly angry and frustrated.

However, holding in that much emotion resulted in my head turning purple and exploding upon arriving home.

In reality, I went upstairs and had a good long cry. I am thankful that we at least got a good picture out of it. (The photo was taken before we entered the courtroom.)