The "crew" of seven has been BUSY!!! I am choosing the word "crew" because that was the word that several several people choose to use on Tuesday when we traveled back from Arizona! Sigh, I would have to say that by the end of the day, after getting up at 4 AM I was tired and tired of hearing people make comments about the size of our family!Although I would have to say that I'm thankful for my "crew" and I'm thankful for all of the adventures the last several weeks have brought!!
I'm also a bit in shock (honestly) at how well our crew of seven flew! The kids did AMAZING!! And I used to think that I wouldn't be able to fly with more than two kids ... LOL funny now =)
We went to see Sam's sister in Arizona! We had been planning this trip for several years now! She has lived in AZ for at least 13 years and we have never been out, she has been out many times! In that we were visiting with family I was a bit unsure of how the trip would go, sleeping, scheduling, spending so much time together after so many years!! To my surprise, we had the MOST AMAZING time with his sister and her family! We really had such a great time and are already looking forward to our next trip (whenever that might be)! We had all along planned on driving because of finances but a last minute seat sale brought the opportunity to fly, it costing us just as much to fly as we didn't need to rent a car on the other side!!!! YEAH, it was a BLESSING to be able to fly!!
The last few weeks have felt like a whirlwind ... school finished which is SIGH for this mamma's heart because that means in the fall Bella will be in 3rd grade, Faith will go to school FULL TIME, and Matteus & Ella will be in kindergarten ... sigh sigh!! The weekend after school finished we went to Whistler (SO AWESOME) with some dear dear friends and had the BEST TIME! I then took a graduate level course (required for my recertification) so then things were busy busy as I had to have four assignments completed for the class ... and then OFF we went to Arizona three days after the class finished!
Highlights from our trip to Arizona definately included just BEING with Sam's sister and her sweet family; Bella becoming a literal fish, I think she spent more time under the water than anywhere else (so fun to watch), Faith and Matteus swimming without floaties so strongly, Ella overcoming her HUGE FEARS from clasping tightly on to us for dear life while in the water to jumping off the side by HERSELF and swimming by HERSELF with floaties (a HUGE FEAT), and Kody doing the same as Ella (although he has never had the fear element) so now all of the kids are comfortable in the water and so enjoy it! YEAH!!!!!!!!!
Ella is one very determined girl in that once she decides that she is NOT going to do something, it is very difficult to convince her otherwise! So once she had decided that she was afraid of the water ... she was from the day one of bringing her home ... it has taken her this long to convince her otherwise =) Really it has been being able to build her own confidence in the water, dependent on her own abilities ... not on what mommy and daddy tell her! Not sure if that makes sense!!!
Matteus literally jumped into not swimming with floaties ... I was in the water and he wanted to join me and without thinking he jumped in with no floaties and did just fine swimming to the side in the deep hand! He not only surprised me but also himself! It was one of those your heart beats faster for a few seconds or so ...
So now we are home I've got the rest of the summer ahead of me with lots of fun weekend plans ... but very little else on my plate ... hmmm aside from being mommy of five PRECIOUS JEWELS!!! It does keep me rather BUSY I would have to say =)
We are WAITING with Jase ... WAITING for a fingerprint appointment for our I-800 ... SIGH ... I can see the amount of patience and faith in the waiting that is already being required in bringing home JASE! I TRUST YOU JESUS COMPLETELY in that Jase WILL come HOME in your perfect time! With our last three adoptions we would have had our I-171 by now, never mind still waiting for our finger print APPOINTMENT ... SIGH but TRUSTING and PRAISING and ENJOYING the five jewels God has already entrusted and blessed me with!
On our last flight home an older gentleman decided to speak into our lives about the size of our crew! He was very perceptive because he read my face (I wasn't interested in hearing how he thought we had SO MANY kids) and so he proceeded in a real kind way to tell me he meant it as a sincere compliment and then proceeded to share some of his own family of five kids =) It was sweet and reminded me to keep my heart open to holy encounters that are meant as encouragement!
I LOVE taking vacations ... they don't have to be fancy ... I just LOVE time spent with Sam and the kids!! I am such a BLESSED wife and mom!! Every time though it also makes me think where is the balance of being a good steward with the financial resources God has given us!!! The less fancier vacations the more we could give away ... being the literal hands and feet of Jesus, letting Him use us to save lives through merely providing for basic needs such as clean water and one meal a day! Richard Stearn the president of World Vision and author of The Hole in the Gospel spoke the weeek before we left for Arizona which is another post all in itself ...
THANK YOU JESUS for your many gifts! Help me to not take them for granted! I stand in AWE of you!!!
(Just FYI the mountain picture was taken from the airplane on our way HOME! We live in such a BEAUTIFUL place ... I love it! And YES Sam's sister has a beautiful daughter from China along with her handsome three sons and is also in process for one more daughter from Ethiopia! I took 300+ pictures on this trip if blogger was a bit faster at uploading I would have shared more =))
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