Schaetzle Shenanigans

Winter Fun

2012-01-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

These pictures are a blend of the last two snows. The first one wasn't very much...just enough for the kids to get out, eat a little snow, and get cold. Last night, though, we got a good 5-6 inches of super fine powdery snow. Poor Shelby can hardly walk in it considering it is up to her knees. Scott packed her a snowball which she carried around licking while Scott and I shoveled out (and shoveled and shoveled since the snowblower has a major flat tire!). Since this snow wasn't really sticking together for snowman building, Scott hooked up the sled behind the lawn tractor and pulled the kids around.

Shelby's first snow; looks like she is a fan.

Making a snow angel

The nicest finished angel

Hangin' on but havin' fun

Don't Forget the Lyrics

2012-01-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

I don't journal or anything like that. I know that's pretty obvious since I can't even blog weekly. However something funny happened with Hunter that I didn't want to forget, so I'm putting it here. He is a pretty verbal child and rarely makes mistakes anymore with words. There is no more baby "dutchiness" as my family as called it, and I miss those cute endearing mix-ups with language. Two nights ago, I was finishing up supper preparations and setting the table. Hunter was sitting at the table already in anticipation, I guess, and he was keeping a running conversation going with (and kind of without) me. At one point though, I realized he was asking me a question. He said something to the effect of "That is wierd, huh Mom, that that guy would worship a flower with all of his golden might?!" Yes, you can bet, I was confused. I said, "What do you mean?" He replied (with a little 5 year old exasperation), "You know, that song where he says poor flower; how come he says that anyway?" This really cleared things up for me! I answered, "Was this in Sunday school or on a video?" He said, "No, on a cd; I will worship you with all of my golden might - poor flower!" By this time, my brain was churning, and the oven timer was going off. I ran for the oven as an excuse to by me time, and as I did something subconscious took over, I guess, because even though I still didn't know exactly what he was referring too, I started humming a worship chorus by Michael W. Smith. I was humming that part that goes more love, more power, more of you in my life...I will worship you with all of my heart.... Hunter, still sitting at the table, says, "See you do know it!" and that is when it all clicked. I just started laughing!!!! This response was apparently not what he had been looking for by the frown that was growing on his face. I quickly got myself under control, set the hot dish on the table and told him the words. He said with all the expertise he could muster (remember he is 5), "Nuh-uh, the words are I will worship you with all of my golden might, poor flower." With a straight face, I told him the real words to the song again and told him we could listen to it on a cd. I said it is hard to understand when people don't speak clearly, and when we sing, especially to God, we often use a lot of feeling in our voice, and since we are trying to fit the words to the music, our ears sometimes don't understand them correctly. I assured him this has happened to Mommy many times, and I have had to look up the written words so I knew exactly what the person was singing.

To my amazement, he started laughing at how funny it was that he thought the guy was worshiping a poor flower. We both laughed about it off and on all during supper. I was thrilled by his ability to laugh at himself and have others laugh with him too. For those of you who know him, he is very competitive and almost always thinks he is right. This is the first time, he has been able to laugh at himself and have mom and dad laugh with him over his own silly mistake. It was a big step, and if you are wondering, I made sure to tell him after supper how proud I was of him that he could laugh off his mistake and let others laugh with him instead of getting embarassed and mad at getting "made fun of."

6 Month Anniversary

2011-12-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

Today is the Six month anniversary of our "Gotcha Day". We met Shelby on May 30 - Memorial Day and what a memorable day it was, frankly alot of that day was scary for us (and for my Mom, whom I called in tears from Manila). We thought we had dealt with our own expectations and were ready for a special needs child, but God still had some growing work to do on us (which, of course, is not nearly finished). Then we actually got to take her with us on June 1st, so that is the day we really celebrate as our "Gotcha Day". The home where she lived tries to have most families do that with their new child. We spent a day or two as her guests, just interacting with her and taking her out on little adventures to help her feel more comfortable with us (and us with her for that matter). We went to the International Adoption Board with her on June 1st, and she officially was signed over to us. It was happy and scary all at the same time.

It's hard to believe now. What an adventure! Our little girl is so much different today than she was just six short months ago. I am so much different today from having her in my life. This child that was not born of my body is growing to be such a part of my heart. The process has been slow and sometimes seemed agonizing for both her parents and for her, yet we are finding love blossoming and joy in the little victories we walk through together. Every so often when I see Hunter and her playing or giggling together or see her in Scott's lap, I sit amazed that God brought this pint-sized bundle of energy from half-way around the world into our family.

The first picture we ever saw of Shelby (She was about 9 months old).

At ICAB, I guess this is our first "official" family picture.

Outside at their nice sign, she was sooo done with pictures!

This pic is already a couple of months old but I haven't shared it yet.

Potty Training and Catch-Up

2011-11-29T05:51:00.000-08:00

All right, life has just gotten too busy and blogging keeps slipping further and further down my list of priorities. Then I read my sister's blog (see post), and she had more pictures of my daughter in one post than I have put on here in the last month. So, yes, unbelievably, we have started potty training. It just really happened last week. I've been periodically putting Shelby on the potty and showing her the potty signal. Not to get to graphic....I've also been emptying her diapers into the potty and saying, "This is where we do that." (again with the potty sign). However she really wasn't seeming to connect at all with it, so I figured I was pushing things. It really is much harder to work on potty training with a child that doesn't speak yet. Then last week, she started coming to me and doing the sign for potty. I thought, Ok, if she is initiating this, I might as well work with her. Well, I soon found out that she is signing to me as she is going in her diaper, at least #1. A huge breakthrough came Saturday night, though, when we were at Scott's family Thanksgiving. She came out to the kitchen signing potty to me, so I took her right in. She went #2. YAY!!! So this week, I will be buying pull-ups and starting this whole process for real. I am just tickled pink, and I'm not being sarcastic because the fact that she can understand what her body is doing and communicate it to us is huge to me. With being so far behind developmentally, I didn't think we'd be getting to this point yet.

We've also got the upstairs finished in our new addition. The carpet was laid last Wednesday, and the kids are (semi) moved into their new rooms. That meant putting Shelby in a toddler bed. I thought that would be another huge adjustment, but thanks to the weighted blanket our OT has let us borrow, it has gone really smoothly. I am SSOOO happy to have this poor girl out of the pack-and-play, and into her own "big girl" space (and it only took us almost 6 months, yikes!).

So here are a few pics from the last few weeks:

Ready for trick-or-treating, Tigger and a frog

Learning that she loves the results of trick-or-treating. Fun size candy bars make more than a fun size mess, but she is so stinkin' cute doing it!

Playing "Bad Guys" together which she gladly did with Hunter until he tried to switch masks.

Fall Party

2011-10-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Friday I got to go into Hunter's class to help with the fall party. Both he and I had a fun afternoon. The kids got to rotate through stations of fun and educational activities.

Hunter's teacher, Ms. Finley, making "spooky hands" at one station

Mrs. Shearer, classroom aide, at the pumpkin carving station. Hunter's best buddy Lucas is the one with his hands full of goop.

Hunter's turn, and he is loving it.

Hunter at the pumpkin bowling station. He totally missed on his first turn but got a strike on his next time up.

It was also the end of red ribbon week, so the school had an assembly with a special speaker, Eric Stults. Eric was the pitcher for the LA Dodgers for a number of years and played for the Colorado Rockies last year. He grew up near here and became good friends with the principal of Hunter's school when they both attended Bethel College. I was pretty impressed, and I'm not even really a baseball fan. Too bad the principal didn't know anyone from college that got drafted to the NFL and played for a certain team from NY. Just saying......

The Frog Prince

2011-10-28T05:28:00.000-07:00

Hunter has been insistent that he wants to be a frog this year for Halloween, and of course, with all of the dress-up clothes we have, we don't have any kind of frog costume. Then a note came home from school a week or so ago stating that today is the Kindergarten fall party, and all the kids can dress up as long as it is as a fairytale or folktale character. They could not wear any masks and must be able to go about the day independently to recesses, bathrooms, etc. with whatever costume they wore. This makes it a bit harder. However I thought I ought to be able to figure out something. Since Hunter still wanted to be a frog, I googled the story of the frog prince and read it to him. I actually liked this original version better (and so did he) because the frog gets the princess' ball out of the deep pond, so she lets him sleep on her pillow for 3 nights. This breaks the spell and turns him back into a prince. No kissing involved which made the 5 year old boy quite happy.

So I just searched through his everyday clothes to see what we could find. With some styrofoam balls, felt, craft foam and lots of pins (so we didn't have to sew and ruin the shirt or hat), he and I put together this outfit for the day. I must say I thought it to be quite cute!

The pink pipe cleaner is his tongue with a fly on the end.

Every frog needs a good pair of feet for hopping.

He really loved the whole outfit. Just hope the kids on the bus don't tease his enjoyment away!

Time flies...

2011-10-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, where the time has gone I just don't know. I'm getting worse and worse at this blogging thing. Our family is just busy with family stuff, school stuff, church stuff, etc., and I spend less and less time on the computer. So here are a few highlights of what's been going on:

*Scott has almost gotten the upstairs part of our new addition ready for carpet. The big push has been on since hunting season is coming quickly (and we need some meat for the freezer). All of the trim and baseboard is up. We are washing walls and doing all the little but time consuming touch-ups. Hopefully we will have carpet installed and kids moved into their "new" rooms in just a few weeks. Of course, many of the other 'getting ready for winter' things have needed his attention too.

*Shelby is initiating more signing - Yay!! Even at places other than home, she will tell me she is hungry which is a big step in my eyes. Her favorite sign is cookie which she tries to tell me she needs all the time. She also has clearly (to me anyway) said "Hunter" 3 times in the last week. All of this is very encouraging to a momma who is getting very tired of whining, tantrums, and meltdowns. Hopefully she is starting to realize that she can communicate in ways other than those 3 things.

*Hunter is loving school and completed his first nine weeks last Friday. Last night he read me a book (mostly) that he had checked out from the library last week. I was thrilled with all the sight words he could get and all the words he could sound out or get from context clues and pictures. He is growing more independent and sure of himself (and Mom is STILL missing him every day!).

*I have been busy canning, getting some sweet potatoes and late tomatoes put up. I still need to tackle applesauce but my enthusiasm in that area is quickly depleting. Pray for one last burst for me to get applesauce put up because Shelby loves it and will eat about anything that is mixed with it. I am also coleading a small group at our ladies bible study and really enjoying it. They put up with my emotional blubbering well, and I get to pray for them. I was really nervous about it because, frankly, I'm one of the younger ladies in our small group, but the Lord has helped us find some common bonds and share openly with each other pretty quickly. I'm also enjoying learning the leadership side of a group of women that have really blessed me in the past few years.

*God has blessed us with two wonderful therapists for Shelby. They come twice a week. They are willing to work on everything from eating to health issues with her in addition to the speech and developmental things. They are both sooooo knowledgeable and easy to work with.

We had a nice time at a Schaetzle extended family gathering on Saturday. I didn't take enough pictures of the kids decorating pumpkins, but I got a few. I'll try to post about that soon. Right now housework is calling, and I've procrastinated long enough.

The Smell

2011-09-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

This morning as I got Shelby out of her bed, it dawned on me. She smells like my child!!! To most of you, that is probably the wierdest statement you have heard in quite awhile, but I was so excited. Let me explain because if you have not adopted you may have never thought about this.

When we brought Shelby home and for many weeks afterward, she smelled strange to me, often in a bad way. No, it wasn't messy diapers all the time, although, believe me, they ARE BAD!! It was just a smell her body had, and it didn't smell like us, our bodies, our home, etc. Like, you know when you stick your nose in the back of your child's neck as you are hugging them and your mind says, yep, that's my kiddo (even if it is a stinky boy who has been playing, ie sweating, outside). Well that was not my reaction when I picked her up, trust me. Until this morning, when I realized that she doesn't smell strange to me anymore. She smells like my little girl.

I'm probably explaining this badly, but it was a nice little "Thank you, God." moment. I know that most of you adoptive moms that check in are sitting there, grinning, totally "getting" what I am talking about while the rest of you are just grinning because I'm making such a big deal out of a little smell like I'm going crazy or something. So glad I could give you all a smile.

On to pictures, which I put last today so you would at least skim my thoughts. These are a few weeks old on the last couple of hot days of summer. I realized I had not taken any swimming pics all season, so I got a few. Both kids love the water.

Goofing around on the ladder

Mr. Tough Guy getting ready to jump in.

a crazy jump

Mom and Shelby (photo taken by Hunter)

We are still here.

2011-09-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

Life here has just been soooo busy the last few weeks. Honestly, I haven't even checked email daily, maybe only every third day or so. I know some of you have just given up on me every posting again, and to tell you the truth, this one will probably be kind of random. I threw the pics on first, so if that is what you are really interested in, you can just look at them again and quit reading right here.

For the rest of you, I just need to get some things off my mind, and since my husband is watching the Cowboys right now, you all get to be the recipients. (Honestly, he's heard a lot of it already anyway.)

First I want to start with the good: God is faithful. We are seeing some good improvements with Shelby. Is it all we want to see by now? No, but life is hard, and God has never been inclined to follow my timeline. She has started understanding so much more of what we are saying to her, which is actually wonderful to see her be able to follow small requests or commands. We are using more and more signing with her and insisting that she sign to us more now instead of whining/crying. On Labor day, I was doing laundry, and she actually came to me and signed "More" which I could tell was her way of asking for food. So I signed and said back, "Hungry? Want to eat?" to which she squealed and ran right to the kitchen. I was way beyond thrilled, to say the least. That she could come to me at 11:45 when I was doing a different activity and communicate to me her need is just soooooooooooooo far beyond where she was when we brought her home 3 months ago! Another "accomplishment": at church this morning, she walked by herself into her class with no tears, whining, or fear. Really not even much of a look back at Mom. When we came in to pick her up, she smiled real big at us and did her "happy" wiggle with clapping and then just kept on playing with what she was playing with, in no apparent hurry to leave. Her security is really improving especially with things that have become a familiar part of her life, church, grandparents' homes, etc.

So good things but small steps that are so hard to explain to people. Why is it so easy to gloss things over and not be real with people? Is it because I feel like I'm the only wierdo with problems and mixed up feelings about my life? Am I afraid they are judging me, and for Pete's sake, why do I even care if they are?

Many people with good intentions ask how we are adjusting, how things are going? Sometimes it's hard to know exactly what they want to hear. I think they want a shined-up, condensed version like we brought home this little cutie who we "saved" from abandonment and she is so thankful that everything is just peachy. Sometimes the truth is, she stiffens when I try to hug her. When we are up in the night, I really lose it after two or three hours of trying to soothe her with every idea that I know to do, so I've learned to shut off the monitors, close her door, and go back to bed so I don't do something I regret later (yes, sleep is my issue). My house has not been clean all summer, and frankly, it's even gotten so bad some weeks that it smells bad. Even worse, half the time, I just don't care. I hate it that I really don't think she associates me with her "mamamama" chanting. And many days it's really really hard not to compare her to other kids her age and focus on all the things she is not able to do. Often I wonder if I was the right choice to be her mother because the bonding process has been slow, and I still don't have all the lovey-dovey feelings and usually don't know what to do or what she wants.

Adoption. Parenting. I longed for it. Was I prepared? I thought so. Is it easy? Good grief, NO, especially when one comes with a rough beginning that traumatizes her and leaves her with special needs. Do I feel like I can say this to very many people? NO WAY! But it comes as such a relief to just have people that I can be real with. I am so thankful for friends who just accept her and support us as we all are, right where we all are. Even if it means washing all the mud off her, asking first if you can hold her, not looking at us like wierdos when we are signing to her as we are talking to her, and laughing at my parenting faux pas like accidentally letting her fall in the toilet while giving a potty training lesson. Thank you to the ones who said to not feel guilty about turning the baby monitor off sometimes and didn't judge me for saying that many days I felt like I was babysitting for a child I didn't know, especially in the first month. And you don't even know how thrilled I am when you notice her little belly or thicker thighs or how much she is making eye contact with people now or walking steadier with her hands down to her sides or holding toys. You patiently listen to my venting and my insecurities, even if I call you when you are "indisposed" or trying to get somewhere.

I remember telling our social worker that we had a good family and friends support network for this journey, but it has been nice to see how true that has become for us this summer. I hope you see yourself somewhere in the above ranting and can feel my appreciation for you. Thanks for coaching me through it or reminding me that your biological child did that too. Thanks for giving us time to adjust, bringing us meals, asking us over, letting us be ourselves, quirks and all. Thanks for patiently waiting for blog posts which I am not great at getting done for weeks (ok, months) at a time. Thanks for not getting scared off or turned off by our adoption journey. It's teaching me so much about God's love for us. It humbles me to think about how much trauma and baggage I bring into God's family. It's teaching me how we should love others. Not 2 faced; not judgementally; not putting on facades or sticking to a surface level friendship; just accepting them where they are and trying to care about what is really going on with them. It's teaching me I have a loooong way to go in these areas, especially in developing deep honesty and accountability in my friendships.

I don't really know where I'm going with all this, but I hope it speaks to you somehow. Keep praying and know that we are still here pushing forward in our journey.

First Day of School

2011-08-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been forever since I posted!! Family came to visit and garden and fruit needed harvesting. I do have to mark this momentous day in history though. It was Hunter's first day of Kindergarten. Last night we went to the open house. We got to take his supplies in and find his cubby and his desk. One of his best buddies from church is in his class, and while we were there L walked in and said, "Hi, Hunter!". From that point on, there was nothing but excitement. I got a little teary-eyed as that big yellow bus pulled away with my little guy waving out the window to me. I'm so excited for him, but, man, I will miss him a lot, at least for awhile until Shelby is able to carry on a conversation.

Going to Open House

Yes, this was the best shot - crazy kid!

Waiting for the bus

Great News!

2011-07-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

Playing trains, which really involves a lot of trying to get Shelby to drive them on the track instead of throwing them around.

Becoming Buddies!

I threw the pictures on first since I know that's what you all really want to see. We had our first post placement visit this week (yes, it's been six weeks already), and these are the two pictures I turned in to be sent to the Philippines. Hunter and Shelby's relationship has seen some big improvements over the last two weeks. He still tries to parent her too much (yes, Amy, I hear you chuckling and thinking "Just like his mother did"), but they have started to play and laugh like siblings quite a bit more. As a matter of fact, when our social worker asked him how being a big brother was, he quickly spouted his typical "Bad" but then he quickly added "actually sometimes good now too". That pleased his mother's heart because I knew it had been a rough transition for him.

The really great news comes from another set of meetings we've had this week. Shelby had her First Steps evaluation this week. First Steps is a state program to help children who are developmentally behind. They come to your house, do a free evaluation and interview, and based on the childs needs and your family income, therapists come to your home weekly and you pay on a sliding scale. We knew before we even brought her home that we would be contacting them and that she should qualify for at least occupational therapy, maybe even more. Yesterday, we had our follow-up meeting. We found out that Shelby is behind in most areas (which did not surprise us) which means she qualifies for a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, and developmental therapist to each come for an hour every week. Besides overwhelming my weekly schedule, I was already seeing big dollar signs in my head as she told us this. Then she went on to say, our income qualified us to have these services provided at no charge! Oh yay, to be living on one not-so-large income!! I really questioned her though only to find out that they have to go by my husband's base pay because production bonuses are economy driven and could be a nice amount or could be nothing. So his last four paystubs put us in the paying $0 category. So starting as soon as our doctor signs all the paperwork, we will be having a speech therapist and occupational therapist come weekly. We are having the developmental therapist come 1-2 times a month. I figured this was enough to start. Actually this much may overwhelm her a little but since she was getting therapy 1-2 times a week already in the Phillippines, I think it will be alright. I'm excited to see what kinds of things they do with her and ways we can be working with her too. The evaluators even told us a couple of things that we are now beginning to try with her. I just feel like the more help we can get her early on, the more she can blossom and develop into the person God wants her to be.

Tractor Pull Surprise

2011-07-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we went to a tractor show about an hour away from our house. Since Hunter is such a tractor NUT, it is one of the things we have started doing occasionally as a family. We like to look at all the old tractors and vehicles and see if we can find any bargains at the flea markets. This show even had a really old two seater Harley Davidson and an old fire engine. During the afternoon, many of these events have some games for the kids and a pedal tractor pull. Hunter really enjoyed the games, winning a prize in the water balloon toss and finding lots of coins in the straw during the treasure hunt. He also competed in the pedal tractor pull. He did much better this time than when he tried it for the first time at a show last summer because he was not first and could sit and watch some of the other kids. Although he didn't say anything, I could tell he was disappointed after his pull because he had seen two other kids before him go farther. I just told him good job doing his best and having fun doing it. At the end of his "class", the announcer said that they were handing out trophies and third place went to Hunter Schaetzle. Boy was he surprised. I wish I had known that was coming and snapped a close-up of his face. I don't think he knew they even awarded trophies, and I know he didn't think he placed. It was a fun surprise for him. Of course he acted all cool and macho and wouldn't smile for the camera when we were taking the pictures, the turkey! He is kind of in a "I don't want you taking pictures of me" phase right now, but he really was excited. The trophy is made out of a cedar board that they cut with the old steam engines there at the show, and Hunter keeps talking about how nice his trophy smells. He even keeps trying to get Shelby to sniff it.

The top 3 pullers with the tractor and weight sled behind them.

Birthday party for Shelby (and America)

2011-07-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is so late in coming. I uploaded all the pics to our laptop, and then we started having laptop problems again. Scott's been working at it, and he thinks we may need a new harddrive - yeah! Anyway, I'm finally getting pics and videos posted from Shelby's birthday party. We had it on July 4th with the Schaetzle side of the family since my parents were in NY.

Hunter was only too willing to help her open presents ;)

She liked the pink ball from Uncle Chad

Yay shoes!!!!!!

There was quite a bit of humor about her getting shoes for her birthday. When asked what we needed for her I said shoes because her feet were bigger than I had planned for when we brought her home. So she got three pairs for her birthday. The funny part is that she LOVES shoes, and every time she got a new pair, she would squeal/whine to have them put on, even if we had just finished putting on the last new pair she opened. In the above picture, she got a nice pair of white sandals. Then the very next present that she opened was a pair of crocs. I have a cute video of that. I tried to upload it to the blogsite a number of times (which is partially why this post is sooo delayed), and it won't complete the upload. It's not a very long video so I don't know what the deal is. You'll have to take my word that is was funny to watch her response every time she opened up another pair of shoes.

After we finished birthday celebration, we enjoyed time with family playing yard games and waiting for it to get dark enough for fireworks. While we were waiting, I had Grandma snap a family photo. I wish I had thought of it early as the dusk light didn't make for a high quality result.

Family Day At the Zoo

2011-07-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

Mom wanted to get out of the house and spend some fun time together as a family. So for that reason and partly to celebrate Shelby's birthday, we took a trip to the zoo today. The day was beautiful, even if it was just a tad bit hot. The zoo had misters going all over the place, and both Hunter and Shelby enjoyed walking s-l-o-w-l-y through them to keep cool. As you will notice from the pictures, I didn't take very many of the zoo animals, just pretty much my own two. Most of them were lazing in the shade anyway. Some of the more interactive and favorite exhibits included the river otters, the Great Barrier Reef (Sharks, Mom!), the giraffes, and the train, log/river, and carousel rides. Hunter was also pretty fascinated by the Komodo dragon, an elephant skeleton, and a tank of moon jellyfish which made him a little nervous at first. Probably just too much Finding Nemo recently, but he made Mom touch the glass first to make sure she wouldn't get stung through it. After that he was ok and really intrigued by how they moved through the water. Shelby was pretty much just along for the ride. Her favorite part was probably the carousel ride which produce lots of laughter, bouncing, and squeals. Dad can't wait to get both her and Hunter to Cedar Point, although that may take awhile for her since she's such a little squirt.

Walking from Franke Park where we had a picnic to the zoo entrance

Riding the tortoise - not very quickly of course

Feeding the geese, ducks and catfish; Shelby is wondering why Dad turned her around so she can't see.

Betcha didn't know that I hatched my kids from an egg!

Riding the endangered species carousel; both kids loved it; Hunter was sure his black panther was the fastest, and Shelby just kept squealing and grinning the biggest grin.

Hunter got to feed the 18 ft. male giraffe some lettuce. The giraffe is on the ground and we are standing on an elevated platform. As you can see the giraffe could easily reach over the railing.

Happy Birthday, Shelby (July 2)

2011-07-03T04:57:00.000-07:00

Shelby turned 2 yesterday (the day which I meant to blog this). Happy Birthday, little girl!!! We know that God has placed you in our family, and we pray for Him to work His perfect plan in your life. We are still really just getting to your know your happy squeals, mischievous grins, and even your frustrated whines, but you have already stretched our horizons and brought us much joy. Thank you to the grandparents and aunts/uncles that called with good wishes and songs.

Riding her favorite toy - we call it the "Muffin Man" car because it plays that song when she pushes the button (which she does about 50 times a day)

Frustrated with Mom for snapping a picture instead of helping her get her tractor to go

Life Gets in the Way

2011-06-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since I posted anything. Thank you for your patience. Last week I had to be in class each day from 8-5 to earn the final credits I need to renew my teaching license. It was poor timing, but we made it through due, in no small part, to my mother who moved right in with us for the week since Dad was gone on a missions trip. This week has been busy, and we have been having problems with the laptop again which is where I upload my pics and do my posting. So that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Life over the past few weeks has had its ups and downs. I know we expected that, but sometimes when you are in the middle of a down and everybody is tired and crying (especially me), it's hard to keep a positive outlook. Thankfully God brings a little up, like my son helping me clean and vaccuum the living room today or pushing Shelby around in the little tikes shopping cart so I can post this, to help put things back in perspective.

So I won't take time to go on and on today. I just show a few pics which is really what you want anyway :)

Why is he hugging me? Getting Shelby to look at the camera is usually a lost cause.

Finally, the one smilling, looking at the camera shot. Thank heavens for digital because I think I delete about 5 bad for every 1 good one I keep.

The shopping cart keeps them both occupied for a while especially with cheez-its thrown in.

Birthday Party (x2)

2011-06-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Last night we had Hunter's birthday party, as well as mine. It was a John Deere party (which I've always wanted). When Hunter was born the day before my birthday, I knew that never again would I have a party for my birthday. The funny thing is, this really seems to run in the Schaetzle family. My brother-in-law's birthday is the day after his daughter's, my sister-in-law and her husband have the same birthday, my niece's birthday is just a couple of days before my other sister-in-law's birthday. Hence, alot of our birthday parties are combinations, and truthfully, I don't mind sharing with my awesome boy. Usually after we have his cake, ice cream, and presents and he has run off to play with cousins and new toys, then I open my gifts with the adults sitting around visiting. That is how last night went, and it was a good time with family (although I missed my dad who is on a missions trip in South America). I made Hunter a John Deere cake and for my sister's benefit included all the views.

I know it's a little crooked; apparently my cake carving skills need some work.

Now we can bowl at home

His own fishing pole and bobbers; no more using Dad's old ones.

Shelby just liked the wrapping paper; that's all we are going to get her for her birthday!

Scott got me a kindle, yay!

My mom and mother-in-law got me the same deviled egg dish. Can you tell I like to make deviled eggs for family functions? I assured them they both have great taste.

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

2011-06-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

Chillin' with his kitty

Five years ago today, I was doing a lot of walking the halls and rocking in a rocking chair in the maternity wing waiting for a little guy to make his big appearance. He kept me waiting most of the day but made his entrance into this world finally a few minutes before 5pm. Since then he has been a ball of energy, growing and learning every day. The time has gone so fast. It seems just a blink since we buckled him into his carseat for his homecoming. Now he is riding a bike and swinging across monkey bars all by himself. We love him so much and are so thankful for the gift God has given us in parenting him. Happy Birthday, Hunter!

Silly face cuz Mom is snapping herself in the pic and not watching what H is doing

Day Two or Three Home (I Can't Keep Track)

2011-06-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

It's good to be home, even though we are still adjusting. My email inbox is so full, I can't even keep up with all the responding, so please forgive me if you don't get a response for a few days. Thanks for all the support, emails, cards, texts, and phone calls. It helps keep me keep going despite the grogginess and mountains of laundry and dishes.

Sleep is a precious thing right now. Last night was much better, only up once for an hour or so. However the night before she woke up before I went to sleep, around 10:00, I think, and was just awake until 5:00am. Then we both slept from 5:00 until 7:30am when Hunter woke us up. His schedule is still just fine ;). Everything is so new to her, which I realized it would be, but just not how much until you watch her. She likes the carpet, the grass, the swing, and especially the mirrors. She is not really liking all the new foods, yet. Last night I "hid" everything in applesauce to get her to eat. At this point, it's whatever works!

Hunter pretty much just hovers. He is still trying to figure out how to interact with her. He wants to play with her so much, but she often just doesn't understand. We keep telling him to give it time. Any time he is not hovering near her which is only usually during her nap time, he is shadowing Scott and I needing a little extra attention. He has been such a good helper though, and so quick to please. Last night we tried a bath together. It was Shelby's first bath ever, and they both had a great time.

2011-06-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

This is Kel, blogging for Jen...she's a little preoccupied right now.

Here's most of the fam waiting at the gate:

Hunter made this sign for Shelby-

getting off the plane...

meeting new family members,

She didn't want to let go of her daddy!

But she clung to mom too:

sorry about the random guy's behind, but she had a cute smile...I couldn't resist posting this one!

Then we all went back to their house to have dinner and relax...well, most of us were relaxing, Hunter was a little wound up...

Shelby finally got to have a little time to get to know her big brother...

Now presenting the new and improved Schaetzle family:

ok, 1 last video of the new cutie:

Gotcha Day!

2011-06-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

We have been without internet access for the last two days, so I apologize for the lack of news coming from us. It has been a very full few days since meeting Shelby. Honestly, Scott and I were a little overwhelmed, especially Monday, by a number of things - the main three being lack of sleep, heat (oh SO hot), and Shelby herself. Tuesday went much better, and we moved back to our apartment that evening. We got our first full nights sleep since being here. Shelby continued to stay at the home that day, but we took her for outings, fed her, bathed her, and played with her. The missionaries took us to see the area where Shelby was from. We drove up and down "her" streets and even explored a market in her town. It was a very cultural experience that we will share more about when we get home.

Wednesday was the BIG day for us. We took Shelby in to her doctor's appointment. This is the doctor that is in charge of all her physical and occupational therapy. The therapists and doctor here have seen Shelby every week over the past year. It was good to hear of her progress and the hope the doctor has for her. Then we took her out to McDonalds for the first time. She really liked the french fries! After that it was on to ICAB (adoption board) for the official entrusting of her to us. We were given her visa, passport, and other official papers as well as some gifts for her. After some pictures we brought her home with us, and all conked out for a nap. Now it is 7:00am Thursday morning, and she is still asleep which totally surprises us because she has been getting up between 4:30 and 5am at the home.

She has totally taken to Scott. She literally follows him from room to room and constantly wants to be held by him. He thinks it very humorous that one of my big prayers and worries was that she might be afraid of him for awhile. Even when she stirred during the night, she would settle pretty quickly when she reached out and felt his face close by. We are thrilled with how she is starting to respond and interact with us, and realizing that some of the behaviors and mannerisms that really startled us at first are more "institutional" behaviors, we think. In other words they are ways and habits that she has developed to soothe herself since there is often not enough loving grown up hands to do that for every child. It's a wonderful children's home, please don't misunderstand. The staff is wonderfully committed and loving. However even they will tell you that each and everyone of those children needs his/her own loving family.

I'm going to post this quickly and hope that we will have some internet access tonight or tomorrow to post some more. If not, we love you all and will see many of you Saturday. I will try to respond to emails as I can, but this was the fastest way to reassure everyone that your prayers are working.

We made it.

2011-05-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it. Let me tell you, that is one lllllooooonnnnggggg trip! We had to really move to make our connection in Detroit. They were doing their final boarding call as we huffed up to the gate, but we made it. That flight was almost 13 hours long, and it was light the whole way. Eventually, the flight attendants ask everyone to shut the windows shades and turn down the lights, so people can rest. Ha,ha, that was not happening very well for me. I only slept from about 12:30 until 2:30 when they woke everyone up to serve us breakfast. Then we get off the plane an hour later, and it's 4:30 in the afternoon in Tokyo. We got on our flight to Manila an hour later, and they immediately serve us supper. It was wierd!!! The flight to Manila was better because I managed another hour and a half of sleep.

We met Darren, the missionary from the home, with no problem. Traffic was really crazy for midnight, but he got us to our accomodations safely. By the time we got to sleep it was about 2:00am, and the neighborhood rooster woke us up about 6:30.

This morning was a rough start with no phone, no internet, not tv. Oh, how spoiled we have become!!!! At least we had a hot shower. Our manager has helped us with the internet, but it still seems a little sketchy to me. At least I can post and contact our driver who is supposed to pick us up in the morning.

At lunch time we took a taxi to the closest mall, Santa Lucia. It's a VERY westernized mall, not really where we wanted to shop. However we were able to pick up a few things. It was packed, and let me tell you, we stuck out like crazy! At least we could have some McDonalds. I've never thought of McDonalds as comfort food, but oh how good that tasted. We spent most of the afternoon there and took another taxi back.

Now we are crashing again. We have to be up early in the morning, so we are planning to hit the sack soon. As a matter of fact, it's not quite 6pm, and Scott is snoozing on the couch while I type. Tomorrow is the big day. We get to meet our daughter. Darren has already warned us to not have high expectations for a couple of reasons. First, he said she is really shy, around everyone but especially around strangers and men. He said she doesn't even warm up to him very quickly, and he is there all the time. Second, the social worker is insisting on bringing us out right before morning nap time. Meaning, she has been up and busy already for 3 hours or so and will really be starting to wear down, needing her nap. Not the most opportune time to have new people thrown at her.

So keep praying for us. Tomorrow will really be our introduction day only. Hopefully as the day goes on, we can get her to warm up to us a little. Then Tuesday we will again spend a day with her. Will that be our "gotcha day" when we get to take her. We will just have to wait and see because, starting tomorrow, our world will once again be ruled by an almost 2 year old. ;)

We're Off!

2011-05-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the suitcases are packed; hopefully we remembered everything. Our flight leaves at 1:30pm today, and we will arrive in Manila tomorrow night. The details seem to have come together although we were sweatin' a few of them even until yesterday morning. Praise the Lord that He knows the big picture and all the small details! There is so much wondering and so much unknown in this whole process that I don't think I could have gotten through this without relying on His bigger wisdom and peace.

Now we've come to the beginning. Of raising a daughter. Of having a little sister. Of being a transracial family of 4. Stay tuned to see how this season unfolds. I'm sure there will be highs and lows, but through it all, God is faithful to see us through to the finale and beyond to eternity. Shelby, here we come!!

...When a plan comes together!

2011-05-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's almost together anyway. We are leaving on Friday. This week. JUST A FEW MORE DAYS! The flights are booked, and the accomodations are reserved. I have one big suitcase on my bed right now working on filling it with my things, one duffel bag in the middle of the dining room floor with about two-thirds of the things Hunter will need, and another suitcase on the bedroom floor with way too much stuff for Shelby (which I will be sorting and repacking over the next 48 hours). I also have a banana box full of gifts and supplies to go to the home, haven't figured out where those will fit yet. I'm filling out medical consent forms on the dining room table for the grandparents should they need them for Hunter. He is not going with us, and will be staying with both sets of grandparents. I did not want to subject him to a 19 hour plane ride with various layovers in between (nor did I want to subject myself to that with him along ;)).

I will try to squeak in a few short blogs, well at least a picture or two while we are there. They are supposed to have good internet service where we are staying, although there is no guarantee. For a couple nights, we will stay with a missionary teacher out by the children's home. She has good internet, so hopefully I'll get one good post out.

Please keep the prayers going strong. I feel sure that this is God's will for our family, but that doesn't mean that I won't be one big bundle of emotions. Pray for Shelby to feel comfortable with us very quickly and that we will be polite, respectful travellers while in our daughter's birth country. Pray for our health and safety as well as for Hunter's as he stays here with the grandparents. And don't forget to leave a comment or send and email to let us know your praying, even half a world away!

Birthday Boy!

2011-05-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

Today is my husband's birthday. I love that he is tall and handsome. I love that he works so hard, very faithfully so I can stay home and raise our children. I love (most of the time) that he is a saver and handles money so well. I love that He loves God and tries to follow His will. I love to see him play and do things with our son. I love that he kisses me goodbye every morning and tells me he loves me, even though I'm barely awake and have morning breath. I love when I'm working in the kitchen, and he walks by and slaps my backside. (I know...too much information!) I love that he checks my tires, oil, brakes, and keeps my car running well. I love, love, love that he is very handy around the house and knows how to fix/do so many things. (I totally would have to hire someone if he wasn't here!) I love that he doesn't mind leftovers. I could go on but I guess you get the picture.

Happy Birthday, Honey. I Love You!

We got the Call!!!!

2011-05-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Ok well actually the email. This morning our agency forwarded us an email from ICAB telling us everything is ready, and we can make our travel plans. Yippeeeeeeee!!!!!!! I've been on the phone and email for the last two hours trying to figure out flights, accomodations, etc. The hard part is it is 2am in the Philippines, so we won't hear back on some things until late tonight or early tomorrow morning. We are hoping to be able to get Shelby even before the end of May. OH... MY... WORD!!! My heart is racing, and I'm just about in a panic because there are so many things to do in such a little time. We'll keep you posted as we get the details ironed out in the next few days. Pray even harder now because I'm really gonna need it over the next few weeks. Woohoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Kindergarten Prep

2011-05-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have tried to be a little more focused in the last month on preping Hunter for Kindergarten in the fall. So we have started working on some word families and also sightword flashcards. Hunter wanted to play with squirtguns outside Saturday and I remembered that my friend C had just passed on a great idea for practicing sightwords outside. I wrote 8 sightwords on the driveway. Then when I called one out, Hunter had to find it and say it and spell it as he squirted the letters off the driveway with his squirtgun. I wish I had had this idea when I was teaching because my students would have loved practicing sightwords by using squirtguns to get them off the chalkboard.

a few of the sight words (the, is, a, me)

We also dug out some of Aunt Sherri's kindergarten readers that were still in Grandma's basement. Hunter is thrilled that he can read some books now! This video shows him reading the first one on Easter Sunday, and he has since been able to read the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th books in the series as well. There are about 50 little readers in the series. Hopefully he will be able to read them all by Kindergarten. Of course my husband commented that if he does that then what will he have to learn at school?! Little does he realize how much it has changed in the last 35 years and how much I am praying for a really good Kindergarten teacher for Hunter.

Ok...tried twice to upload the video, and each time it won't upload. I'm guessing it is too big. I'll have to make a smaller one and post it soon!

Nesting

2011-05-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, I think I have started nesting this week, or at least as close as I'm going to get to it. I decided to clean the ceiling fan in the dining room the other day. It was really gross and needed it (our woodstove tends to produce a lot of dust during the winter). Then the next day I was dusting and for some odd reason started dusting off all the door and window trim and wiping down walls. I thought, "What is wrong with me?" cuz if you know me, you know that I am not one of those gals that thoroughly scours the house weekly or even monthly for that matter. I decide it just must be my homage to spring cleaning, but then the next day, I became obsessed with reorganizing Hunter's bedroom and putting the crib together. Since we probably won't have Shelby and Hunter's new bedrooms quite finished by the time she comes home, we've decided to have them share Hunter's old room for the first month or so, at least until we can get the baseboard finished and the carpet installed in the new rooms. She is probably used to having other kids sleeping with her in the same room, and hopefully it will also help them bond as siblings, although Hunter is worried about her crying a lot during the night.

Anyway, Hunter got excited to help me, so we hauled all the crib pieces upstairs in "a teamwork" as he calls it. Then we layed out all the bolts and screws and tried to figure out what went where. We've borrowed the crib from friends, and they forgot to bring the instructions when they brought the crib a week and a half ago. Of course, I told them we wouldn't be setting it up for awhile. But I just kept thinking that if we got the call to travel, the poor girl doesn't even have a place to sleep. So Hunter and I put the whole thing together by ourselves. (Scott was elbow-deep in an electrical box that was not wired correctly for the type of chandelier we bought and he was trying to hang. Frustrating work!) Hunter really loved the allen wrench, and it only took us a couple of hours. An added bonus was that I had a wonderful place for a little guy to take his nap when I babysat for a friend on Friday!

"Shrooms"

2011-05-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, honestly, I've been avoiding blogging because we have heard nothing, NOTHING, about when we can travel. It's been a frustrating couple of weeks!

However, Sunday afternoon was very nice here, and we had a family "outing" to the woods behind our house to go mushroom hunting. This is something I never did until I married into this family. They love it, and I find the thrill of the hunt fun too. Usually I'm really bad about finding them in the woods, but this year I've found 4 or 5 really nice ones in our yard. Does that tell you how wet it has been?

The boys heading to the woods, eyes to the ground already

Aha, found one (it's really there just in front of his hand)

Thought it was cute that Hunter brought two buckets - optimism/faith of a child!

Not a very good haul, but a fun time tromping through the woods

Here I consoled myself with the thought that it was early, wet, and cool so that is why we only found a few. Scott's brother went out the next evening and found 27. Go Figure!!!! He said he has the advantage of knowing where to look based on where he has found them in past years. Let's hope we find a few more because I don't think we even have enough to make the cooking process worth it yet.

Easter Traditions

2011-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

This year was great to continue some meaningful activities during Holy Week that we started last year. The first couple things really help teach Jesus' last week and the story of the cross and resurrection in fun ways. So tradition #1 was Resurrection Rolls. We took a marshmallow signifying Christ and his purity, talk about him dying on the cross for our sins, and then how the women used oils (butter) and spices (cinnamon and sugar) to prepare his body. Then Jesus was sealed in the tomb (a crescent roll) for 3 days (actually 12-13 minutes in the oven). Finally, we opened the tomb (roll) to find that Jesus (marshmallow) was no longer there. He is risen, and we have a yummy breakfast to enjoy as well.

adding the spices

The tomb is empty; Jesus is Alive!!!

Tradition #2 is Resurrection Eggs: I made these in a MOPS group the year after Hunter was born, and we have used them ever since. Egg #1 starts with a palm branch and tells the story of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Each egg has something different inside telling of Judas' betrayal, the last supper, being nailed to the cross, and the final one is emptying signifying the empty tomb. This year Hunter couldn't wait to open the eggs each day and we would daily add more details to the Easter story. It was great for both of us

Tradition #3 the brand new shirt and tie for Sunday morning - Spiffy!

Tradition#4 Hunting Easter eggs at the Schaetzles: This year it was nice enough to hunt the eggs out in the backyard area - Yay!!! Grandma and Grandpa hide coins and little candies inside, so that makes it extra fun!

Cousins relax together

Egg Coloring

2011-04-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday, we got together with Scott's side of the family to color Easter eggs and just hang out. As you can see the girls and Hunter colored eggs, and the boys watched baseball on tv. We each brought a dozen + eggs to color, so it was really quite a big job. Hunter was a trooper though. He sat there and colored eggs for over an hour and a half. (When he is interested, his attention span surprises me!)

Hannah really just wanted to throw or eat the eggs.

The final eggs are always reserved for the boys to make their "special" eggs, meaning they just keep dipping from color to color and see who can make theirs the ugliest brown/gray/green/black-ish color.

Proud of the finished product.

New Accomplishments

2011-04-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

With the nicer weather in the early part of last week, our family gravitated outside. Hunter pulled out his bike, and Dad suggested they take the training wheels off. Hunter was nervous and wobbly, but with both Dad and Mom's help over the next two days, he really is getting the hang of it. It was a good lesson on having to practice new, more difficult activities when you don't succeed right at first. He is pretty proud of how much better he is getting at it though. Getting started is the worst part, so Scott set up cinder blocks in a couple of areas so Hunter can stand on those to be a little taller and give himself a good boost to get going.

Hunter also showed me this week that he can now get himself up on the "big" swing and pump to swing himself. Suddenly my little boy is growing up.

April Adoption Update

2011-04-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

It's April, and I'm getting questions almost every day. The silence has been deafening especially since I had really hoped to travel this month. Yesterday we finally got an email from ICAB (the adoption board) in the Philippines but it was not the email we wanted. It told us that Shelby did have her medical appointment at the clinice for her visa. We knew she would need this and thought it would be her last step in getting her visa approved to come home with us to the U.S. However that doctor wanted her to have another developmental assessment which was scheduled and did take place on April 1st. I don't know why I didn't expect this; I really should have.  We have known from the beginning that she was diagnosed with global development delay. In every day language, she was behind in sitting up, crawling, walking, speech, etc. We've known this, and we've also gotten positive reports of the progress she has been making with therapy. So now, in my mind, it only makes sense that this doctor would want her reassessed to show where she has progressed and where she is still behind. By the way, we will probably do the same thing with an organization called First Steps as soon as we get her home.

The hold-up now is that the paperwork takes one to two weeks to be made into a report which will then be sent back to the first doctor at the clinic. That doctor will see her again and (hopefully) sign the papers for her visa. Then it could take another week or so for her visa to be issued. Therefore we were informed kindly to not make travel plans yet (ha,ha).   All that being said, I hope that report and second doctor's appointment is being done later this week or early next week. It's still my prayer. I am still hoping to get our travel approval by the end of April. We will definitely not be flying until May, and realistically it may not be until the second or third week.

There is a silver lining in this delay. You know me: the glass is usually half full. It gives us a few more weeks to get things settled at Scott's job, where there has been quite a bit of job-shifting and contract negotiations going on. Hopefully that will resolve within the next week or so. It will make my husband less stressed and more able to focus on our family.   It also gives us a couple more weeks to work on our house. We've been pushing hard and a couple more weeks may let us be almost ready to have Shelby in her own room instead of cramming a crib in Hunter's room, although which situation works better for her will end up being the deciding factor, I'm sure. Also it gives our daughter one more special holiday time with the family that has sponsored her for the past 18 months. She will hopefully get to spend time with them at Easter like she has every Christmas and Easter of her life. They are a neat family that is stationed there with the US Army and have really invested in her little life. It puts my mind at ease to know that she will enjoy family time with them and blossom under their care while she is waiting another few weeks for us. By the way, they have five children to get her used to the loudness and high activity level of our son. (Oh, did I say that out loud? Shame on me!)

So that is where things stand. I'm still busy with preparations. I've contacted a couple of different places to stay in Manila that both look promising.   I've started packing a suitcase full of little clothes, toys, diapers, and meds to take with us. I even found an Asian dolly at a resale recently. It is sooooo cute and it's small. So I can take it with us. Most importantly, I still have the most incredible sense of peace that God is in control of this whole crazy wonderful thing, and His timing will be and is perfect.

Spring break with Cousins

2011-04-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

This week, being spring break for children in school, brought Amy and her clan up from KY for a visit. We have had a great time hanging out, and for something different to do today, we took the kids to swim at the local college rec center. We had a really great time with all of our little fish. They were all even brave enough to jump off the diving board, although Hunter did tell me that he had to talk tough to himself and say "You can do it, Hunter." because it looked pretty scary from up there. (I thought this was way too cute!) I think the grown-ups favorite thing was the hot tub.

Ready for some heavy duty swimming

Hanging on in the deep end

Amy and her clan

Enjoying the "hot pool" (as Hunter kept calling it)

Diagrams and Development

2011-03-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Ready to "fly" his rocket

A day when Mom was proven wrong has to be recorded (although I'm sure it won't be the last time!) Sunday, Hunter pulled out a set of K'nex that his cousin T had given us ages ago. They were something T had outgrown, but Hunter was not ready for yet. At least that is what I thought and kept telling him. They are kind of a cross between tinkertoys and legos with a lot of small pieces and a couple of books of diagrams of things that you can build with them. To me, they looked like a big mess all over the floor or something where Mom or Dad would actually have to sit and do the building for Hunter. Well, on Sunday Hunter dragged them out to the living room floor while I was in the middle of doing something else. I told him that I didn't care if he tried them, but I was busy AND he would have to clean up every last little piece himself. He flipped through one of the books and found a rocket ship that he wanted to build. I told him that he had to try to make it just like the picture by matching the pieces in color and size that the diagram showed. The whole time I was thinking, "Yah, right, a four year old is not going to be able to follow a diagram and have the attention span and perserverance to build that! (thought in a very sarcastic voice)"

Well, by golly, that kid did it! I started making supper, and he kept yelling from the living room, "Come see the progress I'm making on this, Mom." Each time I checked I was amazed more and more. Then he finished it and "flew" it out to the kitchen. Well, I just had to take some pictures. He said, "See, Mom, you were wrong. I could do it." I told him I was soooo glad that he had stuck with it to prove Mom wrong in this case. He was so excited that he went back to the book and found a diagram of a ship to build. That one was a little harder. He worked on these for about two hours. At one point I even heard him talking to himself, "I have 3 yellow pieces, so I need two more because the picture has 5 yellow sections." Yes, my mouth dropped open while the teacher in me was whooping and dancing. Colors, diagrams, comparing sizes, addition/subtraction -- I love these things! Why didn't I let him get them out sooner?!

Pretty thrilled that his rocket ship turned out just like the diagram in the book.

The ship (you can tell that he's pretty tickled with himself over proving Mom wrong)

Ag Days

2011-03-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, my friend and I took our boys to the "Ag Days" in the next county north of us. It was very nicely set up, quite educational, and best of all, free. Our boys really loved it. Even though they are both country boys who have been around farms and gardens their whole lives, they still learned some things. They really liked watching a sheep being sheared and milking a cow, which were both new experiences for them. Hunter said his favorite thing of all was the baby pigs. They were very little, soft and cute!

Saying hello to a pony

Petting the two baby pigs - a favorite that was easy to keep coming back to since they were in a big wooden box in the middle of the barn.

Two buddies - a cow and a very silly scarecrow

At the end you could turn in your basket of crops that you collected at each farm and "buy" a milk and cookie at the market. We enjoyed the fruits of our labors (ha,ha).

Hunter was trying so hard to milk the cow, but just couldn't get it. Once I shut the camera off, I showed him how to pull down as he squeezed. Then he got the hang of it, but I didn't have the camera on to catch it.

Hunter-isms

2011-03-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures with this; I just wanted to remember a couple of cute conversations with my four year old.

This morning at breakfast Hunter prayed for us. The background knowledge you need to know is that I was watching my friend's two sons this morning. They were coming over right after breakfast. Here is the last part of his prayer: "Help Mark and Chad and me to have a Great time playing and catching bad guys. Help me and Mark to get all those bad guys locked up in handcuffs! Amen."

After supper, I was clearing off the table. Hunter came over with a pan and spatula (which he had "borrowed" out of my kitchen cupboard) stirring some of his play food. He was loudly proclaiming, "Lasagna, who wants some hot lasagna? It's got a special ingredient." I said, "Oh it does? What is your special ingredient?" "Jellybeans, try it; it's delicious" he replied. So, of course, I had to try some, and sure enough, it had a slightly fruity after-taste. When I said that to him, he promptly replied, "Well, that's because of the apples. They make it kind of touchy!" I just had to turn away so he wouldn't see me chuckling. What an imagination that kid has!

Our travel meeting with our adoption agency went well. I'm still reading and processing the numerous packets of information. I'm sure I will comment on some things soon.

Time Passing...slowly

2011-03-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Well, time is passing in some respects not quickly enough, at least when it comes to not yet having my daughter in my arms. We (mostly Scott, really) are working nightly to get the upstairs part of the addition done. Our goal is to try to have everything done by the time we fly to the Philippines, but realistically we probably will have to wait to have the carpet installed until after we get home. It really just depends on how quickly we get our travel approval. We thought that might come in the beginning of April, but then our agency told us that the embassy in Manila closed for the last week of February and the first week of March to move their offices. We are not sure how this affected our timeline, but in all reality, it probably slowed it down. Plus Holy week is really big in Manila. From what we've heard just about everything shuts down that week. So even if we get our travel approval the first week or two of April, we probably won't travel until after Easter. That being said, I'm still praying that we can have Shelby home by Easter. Pray for God's timing for us (and my patience) won't you?

We have heard some updates from various sources. We got a few more recent pictures. They are darling, but you'll have to take my word on it for now. Until it is official and we have her in our arms, I can't and won't be posting any online. I've also just heard that she has recently started walking by herself and clapping when she does because she's so happy with herself. How cute is that?! And how jealous and sad am I that I am missing out on that! This too I must drop in my heavenly Father's lap and trust that He will redeem the losses with greater good. It's a hard life lesson and one, I fear, that I am still learning.

We have our final meeting with our agency before travelling this coming Friday. I asked for it to be scheduled a little early. I want to get going on lists. For those of you who are list people you will understand how important that is to my mental well-being. Plus, I think we have to take some little gifts for social workers, nannies, etc. I want to get all that information and have time to find stuff. We also want some time to price flights, hotels, guesthouses, drivers, etc. All those details that take time for planners like my husband and myself. It will make the time go faster and help us feel more prepared to be working on those kinds of things.

On a sidenote, I just found out this morning that our church directory will be redone this May and June. I was so happy to think that our new addition will be included in our next family picture. Yay...it's the little things in life that keep me smiling. Also smiled today while doing laundry because on Saturday, I went to a children's resale and came home with 8 or 10 adorable outfits. Also picked up some formula and our first pack of diapers. I told Scott that just those simple things makes me feel so much more ready to go.

Florida cont.

2011-03-10T11:29:00.000-08:00

The second day in Florida, we drove down the east coast a ways and spent the afternoon at the beach. It was a beautiful day, and after quite a few wrong turns and the frustration of trying to find a parking space amidst all the other people wanting to enjoy a Sunday afternoon like us, we finally made it out onto the sand. We splashed in the waves, built sand castles, and just soaked up the sun.

Dad and Hunter building a sandcastle.

Hunter digging a pond.

playing in the waves

Buried in sand

Then we cleaned up and drove on to Scott's aunt and uncle's house in Lake Placid. We spent the rest of the week fishing, biking, playing cards and uno for Hunter and relaxing. We also spent one day at a Pioneer Days which was neat. It had a pioneer section, antique tractor section, and big flea market section. I didn't take a lot of pictures during these days because we were just hanging out and I didn't think about it. Hunter played with quite a few turtles, 3 of which were caught during fishing. We also had fun chasing lizards and disturbing a tortoise who was eating some lunch. One day on our bike ride we even found a big dung beetle pushing his find down the middle of the street. Yes, you got it, it was a big ol' dog terd. Of course, Hunter thought it was the funniest thing. I kind of wish I had had my camera that day because only Grandma and I were with him. It made a great story for him to tell everyone else though.

Hunter investigating a turtle that Grandpa caught while fishing.

An afternoon bike ride: as you can see we took Hunter's bike but not mine. So I got the privelege of riding Aunt Ruth's yellow 3-wheeler. We got lots of smiles and waves. I keep telling my ego that they were because of Hunter.

We had a really nice time and are so thankful to Scott's Aunt and Uncle for opening their home to us for the week. It was a time of relaxation and great memories!

Pirates in Florida

2011-03-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

Last week, we went to Florida mostly to visit Scott's aunt and uncle in Lake Placid. However on the way down, we decided to do some family time since our family will soon be changing. Hunter wanted to see pirates and go to the beach. So we chose St. Augustine. The history part is still over his head but they had a couple of pirate things that we did. In the morning we went to the Pirate & Treasure Museum, which is one man's 30+ year collection of actual pirate things. It was set up really well for kids and grown-ups alike, but since all the artifacts are so old, no photography is allowed inside. Then we walked across the street to the Spanish fort which was built really because of the problem of pirates raiding ships getting ready to carry gold, jewels, and goods from the "new world" back to Spain. Then in the afternoon, we went for a cruise on the Black Raven Pirate Ship. It was an hour and a half sailing around the bay being entertained by a couple of pirates. Hunter thought it was great. Then these hungry pirates stopped for ice cream and pizza on the way back to the hotel and called it a day. Well, almost... Hunter swam in the pool but Mom dipped her foot in and decided it was still to cool out to go swimming.
My next post will cover the beach and our time at Scott's aunt and uncle's house. We didn't have internet access while there so you will have to bear with me over the next week as I drag more Florida things out. O

Posing by the "treasure map" of the Pirate & Treasure Museum in St. Augustine Florida. We were not allowed any photography inside the museum because the artifacts are so old.

Hunter and the pirate he met in the museum. He did a magic trick with Hunter and a big blue jewel ended up in Hunter's pirate hat. He made such a good impression and was kind enough to step outside and take a picture with our little pirate.

Then he posed with Scott in the stocks where he usually pulls up the prisoner's hair for the picture but...

Then we walked around and looked at the Spanish fort built to defend St. Augustine against the numerous pirate attacks and raids.

In the afternoon, we went for a cruise on the Mantanzas Bay on The Black Raven Pirate Ship.

As we sailed by the fort, they shot the cannon at us.

On board, one pirate painted the kids faces. Hunter wanted a mustache and beard like a real pirate.

The completed tough pirate face

Dad and the pirate pose for a picture.

The pirates opened the treasure chest and allowed us to choose a necklace. They told stories and sang songs to entertain and educate us on a pirate's life.

To Manila, With Love

2011-02-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry to get your hopes up from the title, we are not off to Manila yet. However good news came in the mail today. The National Visa Center informed us that as of February 10th, they have sent our visa approval on to the US Embassy in Manila. From what I understand, the US Embassy will log this approval in to their database and schedule a medical appointment and interview for Shelby. This takes about six to eight weeks. The visa is issued about 10 days following those appointments. Then we will given our invitation to travel. So the good news is that we could travel in as little as two months. That being said, I looked at the calendar to find that falls very close to Easter. I've been doing some reading on the Philippines and have found that being a predominantly Catholic country, the celebration of Holy Week is huge. I mean REALLY BIG! Everything shuts down and there are festivals, parades, and goings on every day. Therefore realistically, our travel will probably be pushed off until May.

In some ways we are so ready, and in others we are not nearly ready. We have a lot physically to get done to the house in that amount of time. I know my husband is already feeling that pressure. I also know that my life, schedule, and independence will drastically change as well. You easily forget how demanding little ones can be once they are big enough to be on the go with you. And honestly, we don't know how drastically her needs may change our lives. We are still excited but just coveting your prayers... for God's timing, for physical and emotional strength, and for a good transition for our little girl and our whole family. Thank you for all the praying you have already been doing; we've seen God move clearly in this whole process. We can't wait to see what He will continue to do.

Ugly Pie

2011-02-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

Hunter and I found a new book at the library that we just loved. It's called:

It's about Ol' Bear who is just itchin' -truly itchin'- for some ugly pie. He goes around visiting all his other bear friends who each give him something "ugly" from their kitchens which he ends up making into an ugly pie which he shares with them all. The book is definitely folk-tale-ish with good rhyming verse and repetition that had Hunter chiming in. It needs to be read aloud with different voices for each of the bears, a southern accent, and Ol' Bear's singing done in a gravelly blues rendition. Very fun. Needless to say we've renewed it twice already. At the back of the book, the recipe for ugly pie is included, so this week I gathered all the ingredients, called Hunter into the kitchen, and set to work.

He had to flute the edges of the crust in the pie dish (above), and then mix in all the ingredients (below). It definitely looked ugly to us, but as it baked, it smelled quite good.

The finished product

We took the finished pie up to Grandma and Grandpa S.'s for their anniversary. I have to say I didn't really care for the taste too much and probably won't make it again. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't like the molasses in it. I'm not a huge molasses fan anyway. If that was left out, it really would be an apple pie with raisins and nuts in it which would probably be better, in my opinion. Oh well, it was a fun way to take our reading into the kitchen and even mix in a little math with measurements. It also made for a fun way to spend yet another cold, snowy day indoors.
If the snow and cold are getting to ya, check out what's new at your local library. We've been quite pleased with ours, even though it is very small. Over the past month or so, Hunter and I have been in there at least once a week (yes, they greet us by name now) and have read or listened to over 100 books. We've even started listening to some chapter books on cd as we eat lunch together and discussing them. It's been a good way to perk up the winter doldrums. Thanks for the idea, C.

Just An Update

2011-02-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

We finally heard from the Department of Homeland Security this week. We are approved for a visa to bring a dependent into the country. Yeah! One more step completed. We are waiting for an important document from the National Visa Center which should be here this week.

Our house has been consumed in sickness this week. Scott has gotten a whopping case of bronchitis, and Hunter has been up and down first with a head cold and now just running a low-grade fever and not eating well. Strange. I've had a few days of not feeling myself but not totally down sick either. It just makes me want to throw open the windows, lysol everything, and head to someplace tropical.

My high point of this week was yesterday when I got out of the house for a couple of hours to go to the first meeting of an adoptive moms group that is trying to get started in our area. I met some neat ladies who all want to learn to support each other through the journey of mothering the children that God has placed in our lives. When that happens through adoption, it brings some different kinds of challenges mostly due to the fact that our children have not been with us their whole lives. I think it's going to be really nice to be able to share ideas, learn from and with, and pray for these women. We're hoping to get together monthly and eventually maybe even pull our families into activities together.

Other than that, I am just ready for winter to be over, frankly. It doesn't look like it is going to happen though, since they are forecasting frigid temperatures and more snow for this week. Ugh!! I think I'm finally hitting the winter blues. I'm jealous of my little girl right now who is enjoying her "winter" of 70 degree temps. For her sake, I hope we don't get the call to go get her until things get very spring-like and warm around here. She's sure to have climate shock. Just another major change we'll be thrusting upon our little darling.

A Night With The Niece

2011-01-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

Friday night, Scott went ice fishing right after work, so Hunter and I headed up to Grandma S.'s house to visit with cousin Hannah. We had a really good time. It is so fun to see the little girl's personality emerging. She is at the very beginning stages of walking - up for two or three steps then down -plop! She is learning to play peek-a-boo and give "squeezes" (hugs). She LOVES cameras and throws her head back in the biggest, cheesy grin when she sees one pointed in her direction. I am just amazed at how she is blossoming from being in a family for 3 months.

"Cheesin'" for the camera

Playing with goggles

A couple of cute videos for your enjoyment:

My darling niece gives me hope that our own precious girl will also blossom within the love of our family. May that day come quickly.

Snow Fun And Updates

2011-01-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

Went outside the other day to shovel off sidewalks, really a waste of time since we get another inch of snow every other day. However, Hunter really wanted to go out to play, and I needed to fill bird feeders. While out, Hunter asked if I would help him build a snowman. For the life of me, I could not get the snow to pack into a good ball and get the ball to grow bigger and bigger. I don't know if it is our snow consistency, or if I have just lost the knack since I haven't built snowmen frequently in ~~a few~~ ok many years. Well, I had to think quickly or face the disappointment a my four year old, so instead we made Gus the snow seal (with the help of some mulch and leftover stalks from my flowerbed).

Hunter likes him and checks on him out the window every day. Whew! I'm glad we could save the day. This creation probably is a little more like a walrus with his buck teeth, but I'm not about to argue that point since the boy is happy.

Adoption update:

We have heard from our agency that Shelby is still progressing with physical and occupational therapy. The home where she is at is getting a second opinion. Apparently they didn't really agree with the latest diagnosis either. We have requested a video. However our agency was not very encouraging on really getting one. It doesn't really matter if we do, although we would LOVE to have one. Kids come with uncertainties, and no two are alike. She is ours, and with God's strength, we'll deal with her needs as best as we can. We feel the love, support, and interaction of a family will go a long way to improving whatever conditions she comes to us with!

Care Package and clothes

2011-01-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend didn't go as planned, so I don't have pictures of a painted bedroom to share yet. Also I'm not sure I like the two colors together so I really don't know if I'll be posting anything on that front yet.
However, we did have quite a week of ups and downs. First we got to send a care package to our little girl. We met a couple in our adoption classes who left on Friday to go pick up their son. We are excited for them and were also happy to be able to send a few things for Shelby. As you can see, we sent an outfit, a camera, a photo album, and a little lovey which I actually slept with for over a month so it smells like us. We've read and heard from other sources that this can help with her transition to us because little children, especially, will recognize smell and find it comforting.

We let Hunter pick out some of the pictures we sent, the lovey, and hair bows that we also included. He was excited to send her some things so she could get to know our family.

Then on Thursday, I stopped at a children's resale store to check out what was on clearance. I figured maybe they would have some inexpensive spring and summer things since it is the wrong season here now. I'm suddenly realizing that we really have NOTHING for a little girl who we could be getting in a few months. We got spoiled with Hunter because of all the baby showers you have for a first child. So I found a couple of pairs of jeans, shorts, and dressier outfits, and some shoes. Ok, I'm really guessing on shoe size because the size they told us we think was a Euro size. I bought a size 2 and a size 3. Don't think Hunter ever wore shoes that small! She is such a tiny thing!

Size 3 but still think they may be too big.

We also got another medical report from the Philippines on Friday with yet another new diagnosis. However there were no reasons, symptoms, or tests listed to tell us what this really meant. Also we are pretty sure it is a different doctor than she has seen before. So we are trusting God that she is still where we thought she is developmentally and are hoping to receive some further clarifications in the next week or two, like maybe a video or a second opinion. This journey is certainly stretching us and growing our faith and trust in God.

Language Development

2011-01-16T10:20:00.000-08:00

Still working on the house...got a lot done Saturday and found out Scott has Monday off. ~~Ugh~~ Yeah... more time to work. I'm thankful for the time but already getting a little tired of our "project". The push is on to get the upstairs done and carpeted. Once that is done, we can take a little breather before buckling down again on the downstairs. Our goal is to have the upstairs done by the end of March. That way, if by any slim chance we get our invitation to travel to the Philippines in April, we'll be ready.

I do have to share a couple of quick stories about Hunter-isms. One day this week, I told him I would carry a couple of his toys upstairs for him. In all seriousness, he looked over his shoulder and said, "I really appreciate you doing that for me, Mom." My mouth dropped for a second, although I quickly recovered with a "You're welcome." Let's hope he remembers to say that when he is 13!

Another day, he was calling for help in the restroom. I answered that I was on my way to which he yelled back, "But compare to plug your nose." I laughingly tried to explain the difference between compare and prepare but am not so sure he really got it. Oh well, all too soon he will get it and those cute little mess-ups that come from learning words and how to use them will be sorely missed.

Below are a couple of pics on how Hunter has been occupying himself while Mom and Dad are painting and staining.

New dress-up outfit - the king

We have so much more snow now...this was one of the early snowfalls a few weeks ago.

Of Remodeling and New Recipes

2011-01-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought things would slow down once the new year came in. Ha, ha, I should have known better. New Year's eve on through Monday, Scott and I worked almost constantly on Hunter's new bedroom in the addition we put on this summer. I know borders aren't really "in" right now, but I found this border at a resale and it is just so Hunter that I had to use it. This was kind of a good thing because, Mom could use the excuse of matching the border to tone down the John Deere green and yellow colors that Dad and Hunter wanted to paint. As you can see, it is still green and yellow but hopefully a little more muted and tasteful. Hunter absolutely loves it. He kept running in as I got each section of border done to look at it and even touch it. I do really like how it turned out and most of all I like that the room is done except for trim molding and carpet (both of which are not my job, yeah!). Since Scott went back to work this week, I have started tackling closets, cleaning the drywall, priming, and painting. It keeps us moving ahead, and I figure I can't mess those up to badly despite frequent interruptions from a little person.

Looking in from the doorway

I also decided to use one of my Christmas gifts this week. Scott got me two books that I wanted as shown below.

I figured that there was no time like the present to try preparing a Filipino meal. I saw with my own eyes how much it meant to my nephews, especially at the beginning, when my sister would cook them an Ethiopian meal. Familiar food can be so comforting. So this children's book is about a little girl who helps her mom cook pancit and the recipe is at the back of the book. I also picked a recipe for chicken lumpia from my new recipe book. Pancit is a rice stick noodle dish with vegetables and either chicken or pork, and lumpia is chopped chicken and vegetable eggrolls. I forgot to take a picture when I dished it up, but I did remember just as I was putting the leftovers away. This is how it looked:

Hunter really liked the lumpia (eggroll), but he kept calling the pancit snake noodles. He did eat one whole lumpia and about half of the pancit on his plate, so I felt that was pretty good for a new experience. Not sure if it was at all authentic, but at least it was a start.

I've also been spending hours this week filling out paperwork. We had three forms to fill out for Immigration Services, one of which was 12 pages long. We also had a couple of forms to fill out for the US Embassy in Manila and had to send copies of the last 3 years taxes. It was a crazy big bundle. Last night, I just kept shoving pages in front of Scott saying, "Sign here and here; now sign again here." I went over them all one more time today; found a BIG envelope and took it to the Post Office. It gave me a good sense of accomplishment, and it takes us one step closer to bringing our girl home.

Christmas Day

2010-12-31T07:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day was again a time of family, fun, and food. Hunter woke up at 5:30, but we convinced him it was still the middle of the night. He crawled back in bed with us for another two hours. Thank goodness that boy can't tell time yet. Then he woke up so anxious to open presents, he was into his stocking even before mom and dad were ready with the cameras.

No Christmas would be complete without a tractor.

Scott opening his present - a gun cabinet.

Then we headed over to the Neilds to spend the day with that side of the family. Everyone was there except my brother and his wife who had to work. They did get to come on Monday though, and we opened presents again. The kids really made out well with opening presents this year. They thought it was pretty cool.

The boys have been home less than 6 months but they have this present thing down pat. It didn't take them long to tear into theirs.

Chloe, all smiles, with her princess umbrella

Hunter got Toy Story 3

Amy reading a book she got.

Jeremy and Kelly either opening a present or texting, not sure which.

Had to also share this video of Hunter. He is biking using the Wii. He is so hot, he had to take his shirt off. I just love how he really gets into it. It will be a miracle if he doesn't break something in our living room while he is learning to use this game system.

Christmas Eve at the Schaetzles

2010-12-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

We had our big Schaetzle gathering on Christmas eve. It was a joy to have everyone together. It began with the Christmas story from Luke 2 and progressed to presents, lots of good food, and fun times playing with new toys including marshmallow guns and a wii. We are so blessed to have such a close family that enjoys spending time together.

Hunter's "I'm so excited cuz it's time to open presents" face

We got a nice picture of all the grandkids for Grandma and Grandpa S.

Cousin Hannah trying out a new toy

The excitement and food proved to be to much for some

Aunt Holly got all the kids marshmallow guns - what fun!

It's A Girl!!!!!

2010-12-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

We are sooooo excited to announce that we have been approved to adopt a little girl, Finally! We found her on a list of waiting children on Labor Day and requested more information on her. It took two weeks to get information on her but only about two days for us to decide we wanted to adopt her. We waited two months for the ICAB in the Philippines to approve us. It took so long I was beginning to question if this is what God really wanted for us, fearing that I had once again pushed ahead of His timing. I prayed and prayed that we would be approved by Thanksgiving if this little girl was really supposed to be a part of our family. When Thanksgiving came and went, I thought "Well, that's my answer." Then we got the call the Monday after Thanksgiving that we had been approved. When I got the paperwork, it was dated November 25, 2010. Do you know what day that was? You guessed it....Thanksgiving Day! Do we serve an awesome God or what?!!!! Now you are asking why has it taken me so long to post since we've been approved for two weeks. Well, Satan's last scare tactic for us was to throw some new things on her medical updates that were not diagnosed before. It took us a couple of days of praying, crying, and seeking advice from medical professionals to be sure that we had peace and were understanding the needs of this little girl. It's quite a different process than just waiting and being matched with a "healthy" child. (I put healthy in quotes because you never really know for sure with adoption anyway.) I want to give a big thank you to my sister, Amy, for letting me cry and ask questions and cry some more =)

So here is the scoop: She is 17 months old (which is at least a year younger than we thought we would be getting). We are naming her Shelby Rebecca. I won't posted pictures until she is ours after we go get her. Sorry but some countries get a little funny about blogs and posting pics before things are official. She is developmentally behind due to chronic malnutrition. She also has a lazy eye so will probably need glasses when she comes home, at least for awhile. She has a heart shaped face, light skin, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is cute and oh so TINY. She only weighs 17.6 lbs and is about 28 inches tall. That will be quite different for us since Hunter was really only small the first six weeks of his life. Right now we think she is about at the 10-12 month mark in meeting her developmental milestones. She is sitting up, crawling, and standing with assistance. She also can walk sidesteps holding onto things. As far as we know she is not saying any recognizable words yet but is babbling quite a bit like "ba,ba,ba". Language is probably the area that is furthest behind for her (also quite different for us since Hunter is and always has been very verbal). She is getting physical therapy now and will also start occupational therapy after the first of the year while waiting for us to come get her. We are really hopeful that with a loving family, good nutrition, and early intervention programs like First Steps once she's here, she will "catch up" quickly, but we know that that too is in God's hands.

As far as time frame goes, we have been told by our agency that it will take 4 to 6 months until we can go get her. Some of that depends on how quickly we can get paperwork completed for immigration visas. We are hoping that we can go as early as late April but understand that it will probably be more like May. Actually that is not a bad thing because it may take us until then to get Hunter's and her bedrooms finished in our new addition =).

We really feel grateful that God has moved so quickly in bringing us a daughter. Wait times for adopting children from the Philippines just seem to get longer and longer. The Philippine adoption yahoo group I am part of has families that have been waiting since fall of 2008. Our agency has told us that the time from when you are approved until you are matched is now 18-24 months, but realistically families are waiting more like 30-36 months to get matched with a child and then another six months to travel. I know mentally it is always worth the wait, but emotionally I just don't know if I could have done it. I didn't think it would happen this fast for us, but I am very thankful just the same.

Cherub Choir

2010-12-08T05:29:00.000-08:00

Sunday evening was our church children's Christmas program. The Christmas musical is for school-age kids, but for the younger ones, they have what they call the "Cherub Choir" first. This is the 3,4, and 5 year olds singing a couple of cute Christmas songs. Hunter did really well this year. He really liked the songs, and we got there really early so he knew right where we were sitting. Plus knowing what it would be like since he did it last year, I coached him through things ahead of time like there being lots and lots of parents and grandparents; don't get nervous, just watch your normal music leaders, etc. So this year, instead of standing there like a petrified stick, he actually did the motions and really sang. All the kids did a great job. It's always so cute at this age. Plus I know so many of the kids because I teach the Bible story each Wednesday night in his class that it was really fun to watch them all.

Middle row, just behind and to the left of the lady kneeling in the front.

Baby Shower Saturday

2010-12-06T05:29:00.000-08:00

Saturday, I helped host a baby shower that has been many years coming. It was for Scott's sister who brought home her daughter from China a month ago. I made the cake and planned the games, which included one in which participants had to get little items like safety pins, quetips, and pacifier candies out of a bowl of rice using only chopsticks. It was fun. Of course, I was so busy leading games and serving cake that I didn't get any pics. Then my sister-in-law asked me to man her camera while she opened gifts. Therefore my camera was still abandoned, so I'll share what I took prior to the shower.

My niece, at least as close as I could capture her in cake form.

My niece in real life; of course she had just been awakened from a nap.

My sister-in-law mentioned that my niece was having a hard time attaching to any blanky or lovey, so I made this little one. The front side is a Chinese flag and the back is all yellow. It's only 12x15" and super soft, so maybe this one will appeal to her. My sister gave me this idea, and next I am trying to make her some Ethiopian flag loveys for a friend of hers. I'll post those when I get them done. After that I'll have to try doing a Filipino flag for us.

Thanksgiving (very late)

2010-12-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know I'm super late posting Thanksgiving activities. It has been a crazy week in which I have been out on the road just about every day and getting things ready for a baby shower for my sister-in-law during the times at home. Anyway, for thanksgiving I thought of a couple of activities/crafts that Hunter and I could do that would help work on tracing, cutting, and writing skills. So for the Neild side's Thanksgiving feast we made a little turkey which we filled with nuts and candy corn to set at each person's place at the table. For the Schaetzle table, we made little Mayflowers with each person's name. We also read a few books about the first Thanksgiving to help Hunter understand why we celebrate this holiday. It was a fun few days.

Putting faces on the turkey heads

The body was a pudding cup and the feathers were Hunters hands which he traced.

Mayflowers ready to go

Mayflower made from half of a walnut shell, toothpick, modeling clay, and paper sail.

How Do You Find Joy?

2010-11-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

Not sure why, but today started out to be one of those days where I felt frustrated and discouraged. I don't know if it's because my schedule is out of whack with Scott home this week or if it is just the fact that fall is quickly folding into winter. However I feel the need to share some simple joys that really hit me this evening. They weren't big things, but my life is pretty simple:

Going for an oil change and getting right in without a wait (almost never happens so I was very pleasantly surprised)
Finding a channel that plays Christmas carols by Christian artists on my tv dish. I've had it playing for the last couple of hours and really like it.
Listening to Christmas carols for the first time in this new season. I know for some of you, I may be rushing it, but next week is Thanksgiving, after all.
Talking to my sister on the phone about everything and really nothing at all.
A four year old boy hardly able to get out the words that Dad just asked him to help with something in the new addition so he gets to give Dad a hand. (Way to go Dad, too)
Making a homemade soup on a cold, windy day. Today was a new recipe: ham and sweet potato. I've included a picture. I'm really on a soup kick right now. I made taco soup two weeks ago, homemade chicken noodle soup last Sunday, this one tonight, and am planning chili for this weekend. I've even found a beef and barley one and a minestrone that I want to try. I warned Scott tonight that he better just get used to it cuz I seem to go through phases in cooking and this is my new one. If you have any good recipes, email them to me!

Antique Toy Museum

2010-11-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know this is already a week old, but I wanted to post some pics and tell a little about the museum we went to when we went to Indy to welcome Hunter's new cousin home. It is called Carter's Antique Toy Museum, and it is Zionsville. Because we went during the day on Friday, we had the whole place to ourselves. It is a museum of toys that Mr. Carter has collected over the last 40+ years. Then two years ago he built this building and arranged the toys in displays and Voila!...museum. It was neat for the grown-ups to see toys that they played with as kids and there was a lot of, "Oh Hunter, Mommy's first lunchbox was just like this Mickey Mouse one." or "Dad had a truck just like that when he was growing up, but I sold it to Uncle Floyd when I was a teenager." Plus this place had a carousel and two real bumper cars. Hunter had never ridden bumper cars before but absolutely loved it. I have video, but I wasn't clear that I just wanted a minute or two of us doing the bumper cars so our recorder has over seven minutes of us on the bumper cars. Therefore I'm not putting it on the blog to bore you all.

The whole basement was full of coin-operated rides (like you find in malls). Hunter had no problem going through a few bucks worth of quarters, and he didn't even come close to riding them all. Actually, I don't think he even rode half of them. I told him just to pick his favorites.

They had a rodeo shooting game that Scott really liked, and because it didn't require quarters, he played it 3 or 4 times.

To finish our time at the museum, we went into the old-fashioned soda shop and had an ice cream cone. They had a juke box with a lot of good oldies on it. Hunter picked out 3 songs, and we danced around to "Lollipop, lollipop" and "Rockin' Robin". It really helped break up our trip and gave us some good family memories.

Family Growth

2010-11-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an exciting day for the whole Schaetzle family...one that we have waited over 4 years for. Scott's sister and brother-in-law brought home their daughter from China. In the process, Hunter gets a new cousin and we get a new niece. Yeah!! The whole family made it down to the airport in Indy along with my brother-in-law's family and some of their close friends from church. It was quite a homecoming.

Family and friends waiting for the plane to land

Hunter and I made a sign

Hunter holding his sign to the window out which we could see their plane

They finally made it and of course she is asleep.

"Mean" mommy woke her up to meet everyone.

I got my hands on her for a few minutes. She didn't seem to mind.

The Schaetzle grandkids (with the boys goofing around, of course)

It was a really nice day. Our family went down early and went to a neat little toy museum which I will post about later. Grandma and Grandpa S. went with us. Then we went over to the airport and hung out with more family. Finally we all went out to eat before heading home. I praise God for our family (quirks and all) and really enjoyed the whole day. Can't wait until it's our turn!

Leaves - Piles of Fun

2010-10-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

One day recently, Hunter was begging me to go rake leaves. I couldn't understand the big push to give ourselves more work. If you know anything about our house, it has open fields on either side which the wind tends to whip through. So we almost never rake leaves; they just all blow across the field and out to the woods. Of course I soon realized the motivation. How could I forget what pure, uncomplicated fun it is as a kid to rake up a big pile of leaves and jump into it, over and over again. It's definitely one of the perks of the season and a childhood joy. I'm not sure why he needed the fireman raincoat and hat on, but it definitely adds something to the pictures. Enjoy!

Raking up the pile

Oh the joy of jumping into a big leaf pile

Tough guy pose for mom

Almost buried by leaves

What a handsome dude!

Jack O'Lantern Fun

2010-10-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Scooping out the insides.

Dad carving eyebrows on Hunter's pumpkin

Hunter took this picture of Dad's great carving job.

Hunter also took this picture of Mom carving her pumpkin.

Finished and adorning the deck

All lit up for fun. You can tell that Dad put a little extra carving into the cheeks of Hunter's jack o'lantern which thrilled Hunter of course. I was told by Uncle Chad that I should carve an IH on mine, but my pumpkin was thicker and harder to carve. Therefore I declined. We asked Hunter why he put such a frowny face on his. He told us that any strangers coming up our driveway would see that mean face and get scared away, so it would protect our house. Maybe we have talked a little too much about stranger-danger lately!

Harvesting Helpers

2010-10-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, Hunter again got the opportunity to ride the combine harvester with our farmer friend up to road. On the day that worked, Hunter had a friend over, who had never been in a combine before. They just loved it. Thankfully they got to go once down and back the really long field and get a full load before the air filter needed changing in the combine. It was about a 15-20 minute ride and provided a good stopping point (or I'm sure we would have been there all afternoon).

Climbing aboard

Ready to go

Harvesting action - finishing a row

Final close-up before leaving.

It was a big hit and a good memory made with a friend.

Firefighters visit the Library

2010-10-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

Storytime at the library was exciting last week. The local firefighters came to talk to the kids about fire safety. Hunter was a great listener. Afterwards he kept telling me to get low to the good air and go. He also made me push the battery testers on our smoke alarms when we got home. It also started us working on things you don't often think about like how to call 911 and where to meet in case of a fire. It is a good educational opportunity provided by the firefighters and our library.

Listening intently

Finding out what all the buttons and levers do

In the front of the firetruck

In the back of the firetruck checking out all the nozzles and pump controls

Hunter was fascinated with all of the "earmuffs" (headphones) in the front of the firetruck. Even though I didn't get a great pic, one of our local firefighters is quite the ringer for Russell Crowe. Yep, Amy, scroll back up and try to see. He's the one in the turn-out gear. Made me think of Beautiful Mind. Note to self: may want to make sure I'm nicely dressed if our house is on fire. Ha,ha, ha.

Cousins and Pumpkins

2010-10-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

This post is a long time coming, and I have even more to "make up". A week and a half ago, my sister brought her kids up to visit since they had a whole week off from school for fall break. The kids had a great time together. The last afternoon they were here, everybody loaded into one of Grandpa and Grandma's big vans and went to a pumpkin farm in another little town nearby. We had a fun time going through the "fantasy land" where the theme was Memories in Song. It had so many good displays that the kids knew centered around songs.

All 5 cousins "cheesin'" for the camera

The 3 amigos admiring Princess Tiana

Hunter's favorite - a little boy driving a pedal John Deere pulling little sister in a wagon

Snow White - the kids loved this one

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Loving this BIG pumpkin

All the kids picked out a little pumpkin to take home.

There was even a little corn maze that the kids could run through.

Afterwards, we found a little diner that Amy had heard about that is owned and operated by an Ethiopian man. He was pleased to meet the kids, and Mickey was happy to speak some Ahmeric (sorry if I misspelled that). He said to let him know when they would be back in town, and he would cook an Ethiopian meal for us.

Cruise - In

2010-10-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

Thursday evening, we had a family fun night, and it was FREE, well, except for the gas that we used. We started the evening with a early supper at a Chinese restaurant we had never been to before. I won a gift certificate there from the library's adult summer reading program. I knew having my nose stuck in a book would pay off for me one of these days! Scott and I each ordered different entrees and split them with Hunter (and with each other too, of course). We were so stuffed; we should have gotten half orders, and we could have used the rest of the gift certificate another time. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. Hunter really enjoyed the long noodles of the chicken lo mein.

Then we headed over to another little town for a classic car cruise-in. According to my sister, this restaurant has been having them weekly during the summer, and this was the last one for this season. Therefore, it was probably also the biggest. There were hundreds of cars! It was fun walking around, listening to the oldies music from the sound system, and looking at some really nice (and some not so nice) cars. It was also funny hearing my Mom say things like, "Oh a _____ (insert name of car). I dated a _________." or "A ________, the Breen family always drove a ________."

Hunter (and Dad) liked this shiny, red camaro. Actually I kept noticing Scott checking out each camaro all evening. I finally told him we could get one when we retire and drive it to all the cruise-ins together.

Hunter asked me to take a picture of this blue one because it had "General Lee engine". I'm not sure if that meant the orange or it had the numbers 01 on it somewhere, but I obliged.

Dad and Hunter pose in front of an old Ford while we wait for Grandma, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jeremy to catch up to us.

I asked Hunter to pose in front of this old truck because Aunt Amy has always loved them. This one is for you, Amy.

Uncle Jeremy pointing out something underneath this big red truck. Hunter was sticking close to his side which may also have had something to do with the fact that Uncle Jeremy had a bag of popcorn.

Last, but certainly the best, my favorite - a '68 Mustang. It had a beautiful blue paint job with a white leather top, and the license plate on the back said "Whoa Horsy!" I told Scott he needed to buy me one, but he didn't seem to agree. So I had my picture taken next to it, probably the closest I'll ever get. I don't know what Hunter's crazy pose was all about. Just being 4, I guess.

Fernwood

2010-09-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, my friend Carissa, her two sons, Hunter and I spent a wonderful day enjoying nature at a place called Fernwood. It is a botanical garden just over the Michigan border. The reason we both thought our sons would love it is that Fernwood has built a special garden that showcases trains. It has 3 different tracks that run G-scale (I think) trains amidst beautiful plants and buildings made to look like landmarks from the surrounding area. There are lighthouses from Lake Michigan, the golden dome of Notre Dame, and the old Niles train depot. Plus there are plenty of bridges, tunnels, and even a waterfall. It was not as big as we originally thought, but the boys didn't care. They still went nuts! They would just run around and through it watching the trains. The volunteer would stop one train each time around and add a new car. The boys would watch him run the controls in his little shed. He showed them where all the cars and engines "sleep"; then they would run out to see how the train had changed and ask us what the new car was carrying. A classic sign that Hunter was too excited for words is that in several pictures he is clenching his fists. For those of you who have spent any time around him, you know that when his excitement is producing so much energy that he just doesn't know what to do with himself, he rotates his wrists and wiggles his fingers, clenching and unclenching his fists.

'Baby Chad' (although not a baby anymore at almost 18 months) found the mulch exciting too.

I loved this butterfly bush, and so did the frogs we later found out. We actually saw one jump up and gulp down a little butterfly.

The whole gang watching a train go by.

Pointing out the frog sitting on the covered bridge next to the butterfly bush, a very advantageous spot for some lunch.

Then we went hiking through the woods' trails that lead out to the St. Joe River and back. It was fun watching the little one trying to do just what the big boys did. I didn't take any pictures while hiking because frankly it was all the moms could do to keep up.

I couldn't even get them to really smile because they had found another trail and were so anxious to get going. At least they looked at me for two seconds!

We ate a picnic lunch. Of course, the boys hardly ate, so while the moms finished their lunch, the boys plotted out where we should go next using the map that was given to us. They really had fun in the nature center too. It was one of our last stops, and by then I was forgetting to take pictures. They got to see the animals that live at Fernwood (stuffed versions, of course, which was really interesting trying to explain since they kept asking if they were real or alive.) They got to touch fox, coyote, muskrat, and beaver furs, and use binoculars to watch birds and squirrels at feeders just outside observation windows. They also saw bees inside a hive and a monarch butterfly chrysalis that was ready to hatch in the next hours or day (You could see the wings all formed and the casing was very thin.). Overall it was a very fun day of memories with good friends.

Painting with Grandpa

2010-09-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Grandpa had a great job for Hunter and him to work on when we visited yesterday. He was painting a feeder wagon for his cows. This is how Hunter looked when he came in for supper.

After supper he took me out to show off his and Grandpa's handiwork. Grandpa did the outside red, and Hunter painted the inside blue. He really liked the fact that Grandpa let him use a roller which Mom and Dad have not let him do on painting jobs at home.

The view of the inside of the wagon.

Secret Haircut

2010-09-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the pictures really say it all. I was working on sorting and tagging clothes for a sale, and Scott was installing lighting in the addition. Hunter was occupying himself. About an hour later, when I was helping him clean up toys in the yard, I realized that the back of his head had rectangular bald spots on the right side. He is left-handed so I knew immediately what happened. When I asked what happened to his hair, he said nothing, at first. When I said I knew he cut it with scissors, he replied, "Well I had a long spot that was bugging me but it's ok now." Because he couldn't see where he had cut he honestly didn't realize what he had done until I took a picture of it with the digital camera and showed him. Then he was completely embarrassed. It didn't really help that Scott and I could not stop laughing about it.

So I called the barber, Grandpa S., who was home thankfully. We went up to see what he could do. Of course then Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Chad were laughing which only made Hunter's attitude all the worse because of embarrassment. I think he was told no less than 3 times by 3 different grown-ups that scissors were not for hair and ask Mom and Dad first before cutting ANYTHING!

So he got buzzed down as short as we dared go. Unfortunately, the cuts are still visible but not quite as bad as they were before. I told Grandpa we'd be back in two weeks for another trim to try to even it out some more. Honestly, I wasn't even upset; I just thought the whole thing quite funny. His future wife will love seeing pics of this someday!

And, no matter what, he is still my handsome guy!

Weekend in KY

2010-09-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Hunter and I went with Grandpa and Grandma Neild down to KY to visit my sister and her kids. Saturday was the twins fifth birthday. Of course, it was all about the princesses, especially Princess Tiana. Hunter doesn't seem to mind. In fact he usually plays princesses with the best of them, even often donning a princess dress and shoes from the dress-up box when he is there playing with his cousins.

Essie and Chloe pose with their princess castle cake at their 5th birthday party.

This time we took Hunter's bike, thank goodness, because with the wonderful temperatures the bikes were the big hit activity all weekend long. Most days they were out riding by 8:30am, and the bikes did not get put back into the shed until evening clean-up around 7:30pm.

Amsalu even learned to ride without training wheels this weekend. He just told Mickey on Monday morning to take them off. Mickey couldn't get them off but he did twist them up. Amsalu took off riding and did great. We're very proud of him. It only took him about three weeks to master this totally new skill.

Hunter and I made a pinata for the girls party. We did that Saturday afternoon. The kids all got a turn swinging and each ended up with a baggie of candy for the weekend. It was fun for the kids and fun for the grown-ups to watch. I videoed each kid's turn but they all take to long to upload so just a couple are below.

Showing off the final reward--fists full of candy.

Needless to say, it was a fun-filled weekend. I tried to post things that are different from Amy's blog, so check out hers too. Stay tuned to the next post for the rest of our activities.

Major Progress with Numbers

2010-08-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hunter has been very disappointed in the last two weeks that he cannot go to school this year, especially since two good friends and two very loved cousins have all just started kindergarten. I have explained that he has one more year home with mommy to learn some very important things, visually recognizing numbers being at the top of the list. He is great at counting objects and can even orally recite numbers even beyond 20, but just does not visually recognize them. I would point to any given number and rarely could he name it correctly without any hints or something to count. No big deal; we'll just work on numbers more. With this goal in mind we have spent the last two weeks pointing out numbers, tracing and writing numbers, running the microwave by pushing numbers, using an old clock to count and name numbers, watching Math Circus, and any other thing I could think of to focus on number recognition. However I just didn't feel we were making any progress until today....

We were in the car driving down a country road, and from the backseat I hear, "Mom are you speeding?"
To which I reply, "No, why?" The angelic but insistent voice in the back states, "Well, I just saw that sign. It said '4, 5' so that is how fast you should be going because it is a speed limit sign." My mouth drops open for a couple of seconds. Then I literally shout "You are RIGHT! Give me a Hi-five for knowing those numbers." Which he does as he calmly states, "Now that I know my numbers, it's my job to watch for those signs to see how fast you should be going."

I inwardly cringe thinking maybe we've chosen a career as well as learned to recognize a few numbers. Now I have my very own police officer clocking me everywhere I go. It's soooo true: A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing!!!!!

Odds and Ends

2010-08-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Well, where have the last ten days gone? Some were devoted to a sick boy (now making a sick Momma); some devoted to summer gardening and canning; some to various other things that keep my days busy. A few highlights and stories from our family from the last week or two:

Hunter received his first major scratch from the kitty. As I was cleaning his hand and applying bandaids he said, "Why did he do this? Oh, I'm just so hopeless!" Mom turned to the medicine cabinet real fast to hide a laugh. Not sure exactly what he was meaning.
My sister brought home two sons from Ethiopia two weekends ago. Hunter was checking out some video of them on their blog. He told me, " Yep, me and those boy cousins are just really gonna get good together." Let's hope that's true, right, Amy?
My sister-in-law finally got their referral for a beautiful 8-month-old girl from China last week. We are all soooooo excited. Hunter took her a balloon and said, "This is for baby H when she comes. I am so happy." I don't think he understands that mylar balloons won't last for another 6 to 8 weeks.

Hunter and cousin T playing pirate when they visited one night. Hunter has his fierce face on.

Most precious of all, Hunter to friend K in the back seat of the car, "That's a picture of Heaven. You know how you get to Heaven? By asking Jesus to come into your heart. When are you gonna ask Jesus to live in your heart, K____?" K replied, "I already did that, Hunter." Hunter, "Me, too. Good now we can go there together." The gospel according to 4 year olds...Mom had to blink pretty hard in the front seat.

A New Member of the Family

2010-08-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

We decided to add a new member to the family, this one being feline. Our outside mouser has been gone for almost a year, and Scott said that when our vacations were over and things settled down, we could get a kitten from his uncle up the road. H-man picked the gray one out of the three, and we actually managed to catch it, amazing considering these 3 kittens have been running all over his greenhouse with not much human interaction. I came home with a few scratches and a small bite mark from one of the other two (so glad he didn't want that one). The little thing was loaded with fleas and other unseen things I'm sure and would crouch, hide and hiss any time one of us reached for it. However, a few days of persistent interactions and good flea and worm treatment later has given us a kitten with a brand new personality and name, "Bullseye". He is quite fun although somehow he is not being left outdoors to learn to hunt. Funny how I find him in the house for many, many hours each day.

Hunter was argueing with me over the fact that this kitty is a girl even though Mommy is quite sure it's a boy. I finally asked how he could tell. He replied, "Because of all the strings hanging out." While he said this, he was pointing to it's face. I said, "You mean these special hairs; they are called whiskers." He said, "Yes, it has so many whiskers, and girl kittens have more whiskers than boy kittens." So that settles it!

A Fun-Filled Weekend

2010-08-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a fun and crazy. Grandpa Neild celebrated a big birthday, so everybody came home for a party. My sister and her girls came up early so the kids had 3 solid days together playing. Grandma even let Hunter stay over so he could have more time with them. He had a great time even though he was a bit of a Dennis the Menace while he was there. We took the kids to a splash pad; they played dress-up, climbed trees, and collected eggs. They stayed so busy that it took all the adults to keep up with them, I think. Hunter is already asking when we can go visit them again. I am so glad God saw fit to make them family and that they love each other so dearly!

A couple of fierce pirates and one tough fireman!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Grandpa

I was a bad picture taker over the weekend, I'll admit. Hopefully my sister will email me some pics to add later on. Between canning beans, baking pies, and cooking meals for the crew, I just kept forgetting to pick up my camera. One of these days, I might get better at this bloggy thing.

Good News!

2010-08-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

Finally received an email tha we have been awaiting for a few months. We have received our ICAB approval. That means that the adoption board in the Philippines has approved us to adopt and added us to the file of prospective families that the social workers use to match children to. Yeah! Yippee! Wahoo!!!

I know the logical next question you all have is how long will it take to be matched to a child. The best answer I can give you is only God knows so pray, pray, PRAY! I am finding I have an impatient streak in me, can you tell? All joking aside, we have been told to expect a year, but one thing I'm learning about developing countries is that their timeline never matches what we are told. A couple of things give me hope for our journey. We are open to a sibling group, some special needs, and children up to four years old. That said, I am also trying to learn to depend on God's timing and claim his promises for the children we so desire. As a matter of fact, I'm claiming a new verse this morning. I saw a segment of it in Mary Beth Chapman's new book Choosing To See and had to find it for myself.

It's Isaiah 43:5, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west."

Now I know that you theologians are going to tell me that this verse is all about Israel being brought back from bondage, and I won't argue with you. However, although, I may be using it a bit out of context, it fits our journey PERFECTLY considering that Americans are considered westerners and the Philippines is part of Asia considered to be the east. So, even though I am not joining some name it and claim it form of religion, I firmly believe that God is letting me use this piece of His spoken Word for my family as we try to follow His Will for our lives.

How about you? What verse is God giving you for this time of your life? Dig in and find one and then share it with me by leaving a comment.

Fishing in Wisconsin

2010-07-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

Last week, we traveled with Scott's whole family up to Big Mackenzie Lake in Wisconsin. We had rented two cabins at Tall Timbers Resort for a week of fishing and fun. Now don't be fooled by the word resort. I think anyplace with 2 0r 3 cabins and a dock is called a resort in northern Wisconsin. It was definitely a little rustic, but clean and nice. However we had no a/c, tv, telephone, or internet. We had our cell phones, but usually only Scott and I got great reception. You'll have to email me if you want to know which company cuz I'm not giving any free advertisement. We all caught lots of fish. Hunter learned to tell big fish stories. We saw a deer and a black bear up close (but not together, ha, ha) as well as loons and bald eagles. Hunter learned what a leech was when one attached to his foot and we ate s'mores made with townhouse because we forgot the graham crackers but remembered the marshmallows and chocolate. It was a memory-making trip all around and here are some pics in no specific order:

Hunter really loved being out in the boat.

He also loved the little park area they had for kids which included a little slide, swings, a sandbox, and a campfire pit. If he wasn't in the boat, this is where he wanted to be.

The stairs from our cabin down to the lake; approximately 60 (ugh)

Our cabin which we shared with Scott's parents and brother; we also did the majority of the cooking and eating here for all twelve of us. It was quite snug!

Grandpa's big bass, caught on the last time out fishing.

Trying to feed 'Sweet Pea' the deer; the manager can get her to eat out of his hand but he probably can keep from wiggling just a little bit longer than this guy. The corn on the ground is also what the bear came out to eat the evening we saw it (along with select trash cans apparently).

Mommy pulled in the big Pike on the left with a worm and a bobber just a few minutes after Grandpa caught the one on the right with a big fancy Pike lure. I actually thought I had snagged the anchor until my line suddenly moved and the fish jumped out of the water. It gave Grandpa and I a funny fish story to bond over; plus, I helped him fillet our catch that afternoon too.

One of Hunter's big bluegills that he pulled in. One day he literally had a fish on as soon as we got it in the water every time. He thought that day was the best cuz most of them were "keepers and not little dinkers". His favorite question, "Why do the dinkers want to bite my worm every time?" This was asked every time he pulled in any small fish which was very often.

S'mores and Sparklers

2010-07-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Also part of our fun weekend in NY were nightly campfires. There is just something relaxing about sitting around a crackling fire in the evenings. Hunter and I also loved making s'mores - yummy!

Uncle Andy and Grandpa introduced Hunter to sparklers. He liked them but would only hold them straight out in front of him and watch them burn down. His cousins were much bolder at waving them in designs through the air. I have a hunch he even though he really liked them, he was also a bit afraid of them too.

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

For our July 4th celebration, we went to NY. My cousin graduated from high school the weekend before, and we had a big graduation party (and family reunion) on Saturday, July 3rd. I totally spaced and didn't take any pics that day. These pics are from Monday the 5th. We went to Candor (where my dad grew up) to watch the parade. Then we cooked out at my Grandma Neild's old property where my Uncle Garth and Aunt JoAnn had their camper set up. It was crazy hot so by mid-afternoon we headed back to my Uncle Kris and Aunt Laurie's house to relax in the pool.

Some strange parade watchers :)

Hunter saw this band coming and said, "Look, Mom, pirates!" He was excited. I tried to explain that they were old-fashioned soldiers but the tricorn hats really convinced him they were pirates instead. I tried to get video, but of course, they stopped playing just as they came by us.

Hunter and I watching a John Deere A pull a float.

Hunter and Dad checking out some candy that they have collected.

Hanging out at Uncle Garth's camper.

Getting cool in the pool. Which person has been in the sun the most this summer? It's crazy how brown that kid gets, even though I sunscreen faithfully. Here Grandpa is "Yee-hawing" him over Aunt Kelly. Yee-hawing is what Hunter called being thrown over something. He got braver and braver every day in the pool. He was jumping in by himself, swimming underwater on Grandpa's back, and letting Dad throw him over things.

He is a regular fish and loves swimming despite having to wear ear plugs and a headband because of the tubes in his ears.

Uncle Jeremy was also a favorite play buddy in the pool.

It was a fun, family time. Happy Birthday, America. May you always be a land of freedom, opportunity, and blessing.

Adoption prayer request

2010-07-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

I just received an email from our agency giving me another two questions to give more information about to the Intercountry Adoption Board in the Philippines. This is very frustrating because one of the questions again asks for more clarification on my abnormal PAI-1 levels which is why I have repeatedly miscarried and really why we decided to try to adopt. We have already sent a letter from my doctor yet they keep questioning.

This also means that we have not even been approved yet to adopt by the Philippines board. Honestly this had me in tears because I was expecting to hear that we had been approved a couple of months ago and just not informed in a timely manner. They have had our dossier since March, and we figured that no news was good news.

Please pray that my answers will reassure them and that we will be approved to adopt quickly. We were told that once we were approved, we would probably have a year to wait until we are matched with a child. These delays in our application approval are only adding more time on to that year. We are trying to wait patiently on God's timing, so please pray that delays like this don't bog us down emotionally and spiritually.

Thanks, everybody!

Red Power

2010-07-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

While I know I am overdue to put pics on from our July 4th trip to NY, my dad has been begging for pics from the Red Power show that we went to a couple of weeks ago. We had a really good time but have been quite busy since then. Therefore blogging has not been my first priority. Here you are Dad; now you can show all your buddies at work :)

The picture below was actually taken for Uncle Chad cuz he is a red man too, and Hunter thought he would like these undies. Of course, Mom was not about to buy him a pair, so Hunter did a "Vanna White" picture showcasing them.

This was probably my favorite part of the day. This is Bill Steers and Tractor Mac. He is the author and illustrator of a series of books about Tractor Mac, a Farmall tractor. Hunter loves these books which we discovered at the library. Grandma N. also found him one for Christmas last year. We got a new book at the show, and Mr. Steers autographed it for Hunter and posed for this picture with us in front of Tractor Mac. The school teacher in me loves children's books and thinks it is so cool to meet the authors, probably because I've always secretly wished I could write a children's book. Hunter was anxious to get to the tractors is why he doesn't look to thrilled.

He thought it was cool that he could jump up and down under this old tractor.

The video below is Hunter's first pedal tractor pull. Even though he didn't win, he had a great time. Sorry it is sideways. Once again I forgot that you can't turn the camera sideways for videos.