A beautiful evening

Wow, what a day! After the last few days that were VERY cold, the weather warmed up considerably. We put up Christmas lights, and while we were still outside, the moon came up and the sun went down. It was beautiful!

Musings about National Adoption day...

Wow, my house is so quiet.
Mike and the kids are gone, except for Nina, who intently watches Snowwhite.
I'm supposed to get some work done, but instead I'm in a "Mama-Coma", where I just soak in the quietness and do NOTHING.
Well, except just a tiny bit of bloggin'.
Does that count? Oh, and I have a load of laundry going. Whew, that saves me, huh?!

Today is National Adoption day.
Today, there are millions of children around the world who long for a family. Their family.
Today, God's word is living and active, and commands us to take care of the fatherless.
Today, there are obstacles in our way to follow God's heart in this: Fear, finances, closed eyes, closed hearts, and a lot of confusion about what it means to call a child truly "ours".

Today it is my hope and prayer that Nina's story has touched you in a way that will change your life. Maybe today, maybe in 10 years. Remember, the Lord started to plant this seed in my heart 20 years ago! Please open your heart to the possibility of adoption.
It's so precious to God's heart!
So near.

It's not always easy. But parenting never is. No guarantees, whatsoever. I have to trust that my life is just a tiny little speck on God's map for his creation. I don't see it all now. I probably never will. But it matters. It matters to HIM. And the orphans of this world matter more to him than I can ever comprehend. And he may just want to use YOU to be his loving arms for one of them.

Happy Adoption Day!

And then the unexpected happened...

Unexpected things have happened at our house....
They are not too pleasant.
Not for little Miss Nina

I'm sure you looked at the pictures and figured out the mistery.
It happened on Monday night. Nina and little cousin Lena were playing, chasing each other, and then Nina fell. No one witnessed it, and she could not describe what happened.
All we could tell was that she would not put any weight on her leg. None.
The following day I debated whether to take her to the doctor. I called, but they could not get her in until Wednesday.
Yesterday, I took her to the pediatrician, and they sent us to the hospital for Xrays, and sure enough..... her right shinbone is broken. It's not a bad break, but a break after all.
This afternoon we were finally able to go to the Orthopedic Clinic and Nina got a beautiful PURPLE cast. Just what she wanted!
I have to tell you, she is one tough little girl. She cried hard intitially (after the fall), but ever since then has been so incredibly brave. Even today when she got the cast on.... there was not one tear! All she did was blink her eyes really, really fast, but that was it.
What is going to happen now? The healing process will take about SIX weeks!!!! She can not walk, and the Mama Taxi will kick into high gear.
I think she kind of likes being "princessed" around, but she also get bored not being able to get around. Just a short while ago she laid on the couch, looking at a book. She then took the book, slammed it down on her new cast and muttered, very disgusted, "I can't walk"....
So, please, send your prayers our way, and I will keep you updated on our patient little patient.

Allright, Allright....

I'm NOT 24.
Good guess, Sonya :-)).
In case you are not familiar with "the rules" of China adoption - you HAVE to be at least 30 years old to be eligible to adopt a child from China.
I'm (24-10+5) x 2
Happy now??
I have gray hair. I worked hard for each one of them.
And I FINALLY don't get carded anymore. Finally got them clerks convinced that I'm older than 21! Gosh! Actually, that's not true. I think it was a couple of years ago that I bought the little popper thingies for New Years eve. And the gal at the grocery store asked me if I was old enough to buy fireworks. Well, silly me didn't even know there was an minimum age to that *LOL*. I think there was a compliment SOMEWHERE in there :-)))
Good night, my friends, and thank you for all your good wishes!

24...

Here are a few family pictures from tonight.
Yeah, yeah, it was my 24th birthday... gosh it's great to be so young! Gotta love it!
La, La, La....
Yep, totally fibbing about my age, but wanted to share the pictures anyway ;-))
I for once did not have to bake my own cake (which I don't mind doing, but it was nice not having to), since "Bigg'e Anja" (my second cousin and angel in disguise) made us this outrageously delicious raspberry-cream-yoghurt filled cake. Yummy!

"Survivor Wyoming"

I have a feeling I won't hear much complaining about school anymore.
Not after today.
We had "Survivor Wyoming" in our frontyard - and it was a blast.
This is how it came about:
Last week, the kids had just gotten off the school bus, there was a lot of complaining about school. Oh, and how much they didn't like going, and on and on...
Well, they got my little speech about how thankful they should be for the opportunities they have, and about how many kids in this world would LOVE to go to school, but will never have the chance to do so.
Then came the inspriational word from my sweet daughter: "I wish I could trade with one of those kids"
Bling, Bling, Bling....
A lightbulb went off in my head, and an idea was born.
"Well," I replied, "we could do just THAT! Let's have a third world day next week when you're out of school for conferences!"
You should have seen the fear factor look on their little faces.
Priceless.
For about a week now they have been DREADING this day, and tried their hardest to talk me out of it. They were pretty clever about it too, and argued that it was my birthday, and that would not be a good day for ME :-))
Well, no such luck for the crew.
Today, there was no TV, computers, running water (I made an exception with the bathroom), candy or any other amenity. Look for yourself....
******************

Breakfast is cooking! We had plain rice (no seasonings!) that we cooked on the camping stove outside. Elia is stirring with a wooden stick.

While the rice is simmering, Anya has to sweep.The boys, Nina and I go fetch water
Nico is filling the pots and buckets with water (we walked down the block to Grandma and Grandpa's new house)
And here we are, eating rice and apples... (Anja, Nico, Elia)
After breakfast, the girls did the dishes.
Meanwhile, the boys had to go dig a hole to dispose of the garbage from breakfast
Playtime. Sticks are the best!


Alex and Nina played with the wagon
But there was more work ahead. Time to grind flour so we could bake bread!
This was harder than we thought
But the results were pretty good!
The two bakers
After we had the bread dough ready, we rode our bikes to Grandma and Grandpa's shop. Since it is outside of the city limits, we were able to have a fire there and bake our bread for lunch.

Deosn't this look yummy?
It was very good, too! I admit, we begged Grandma for some honey to sweeten things up a bit


After an extended lunch hour, Grandpa took us rabbit hunting. Anya really wanted to learn how to gut a rabbit. We were contemplating fixing rabbit stew for dinner.
Nico with his new pellet gun (oh, how I cringe at this sight)
No rabbits in sight - yet
still nothing, but the scenery was nice...

Well, no rabbit was to be found, so we accepted the invitation for Pizza ;-))).

Needless to say, the kids had a blast. I think they realized that things can be fun even if not everything "modern" is at their fingertips.

Will they like school better now? That remains to be seen, but as far as I know this has been a very memorable birthday!

Some people are amazingly talented...

Look what I can do!

Nina has not been too interested in all the ride-on toys we have accumulated over the years.
Until yesterday.
Off she went on the trike that has seen it's share of crashes and run-overs in the 6 years we have had it.
She was sooo proud!
It's another babystep to independence.
Only another 12 years until she will want the car keys.... ;-))

Nina's first "welcome home" party

A little over a month ago, my friend Tina organized Nina's first "WELCOME HOME" party. We met at the church, had cake and snacks and punch, and I was able to share about the involvement of Love without boundaries in Nina's life. Thank you so much, Tina, for doing this for us!

Nina really likes Winnie the Pooh (one of her cute little lines: "Mama, watch-a movie Pooh!" ), so she was very excited about the pretty cake Tina made for her!

Hmm, can I eat this?
The kids had a lot of fun playing together. Nina, Laney, Rebekka and Mariah.
Rebekka (7) was adopted from China when she was just a baby. When she heard that they were invited to a shower, she wanted to go buy a present. Her Mom explained to her that they did not need a present, but that they would help support Love Without Boundaries with a d0nation. Rebekka was very excited about helping kids in China, and decided she wanted to give some money too. She went and got one dollar from her very own money and gave it to her Mom to include in her card. Now how sweet is that!
See, Nina, this is how this cake thing works...
Yep, it does taste sooo good! Anya was right!

I know that this looks like a cute and innocent picture of Jonathan and Nina. You have to watch the video though to get the full effect. Nina is actually waving at Anya to come to her rescue. It was so funny. Jonathan was very adament that he was not going to let go of this pretty girl :-))

And when it was time to open presents, Anya was right there to help Nina :-))
I think this was Nina's very favorite present! Ladybug stickers! I really never bought into that whole "adoption and ladybug" kind of stuff, but boy, does Nina love those little crawlers!

Our daughter of FOUR months...

4 months.
Can it be?
The anniversaries seem to come faster and faster.
I look at other people's blogs who are adopting from the Hunan province, and when I see that room at the Civil Affairs office, the familiar wooden benches with the narrow slats, the room off to the side with its circular table, I feel...hmmmmm..... longing and a sense of entitlement. It is MY room. Where I met MY daughter. Where MY life changed. Where our FAMILY changed. A lot. It compares to laying in that hospital bed cradling my newborn sons and daughter, and that moment is forever etched into my memory.
But life doesn't happen in a hospital room or in a Civil Affairs office.
Life with Nina happens HERE, every day.
Some days are so fun, so fulfilling, and I'm happy to have followed the Lord's leading to China.
Others are draining, I'm impatient, and I'm wondering if I'm really cut out to parent five young children.
Welcome to parenthood.
And to grace.
Adopting Nina has been a dream come true. Not in a sense of it being more valuable than having had our biological children. Far from that. But in a sense of something coming to fullfillment that the Lord planted in my heart more than 20 years ago. A sense of HIM completing his work in our family. And that gets me excited.. - most days. Thankful... - all the time.

Nina continues to do amazingly well. She has settled into our family routines very well (I love routine, and all the kids do so well with it), but remains flexible at the same time. There are certain things she HAS to have, otherwise it isn't right... like I HAVE to sing the Swiss German bedtime song I posted a few days ago (which basically says "I hear a little bell, the day has passed and it's time for bed. In bed I pray and then I go to sleep, knowing that the Lord in heaven will be with me"), or she HAS to have her favorite silverware - either the Panda one from her Swiss Grandparents, the Thomas one or the Disney princess spoon. Oh, she is particular about that! Heaven forbid they are all in the dishwasher at the same time!
She has learned to rely on us when she is hurt, and she is accepting our gentle discipline. Not with joy, by any means :-)). I started giving her time-outs (mostly for hurting her brothers.... ohh, those fingernails!), where she has to sit at one end of the couch, and I sit at the other. That seems to work well for us right now. She usually does well with her siblings, but certain behaviors are just not acceptable, not from any of them. And hurting someone would fall under that category.
She is pretty independent in a sense that she likes to stay close by, but can play independently for quite some time. This is very helpful while I do schoolwork with Nico. She enjoys playing with Legos and Playdoh, doing puzzles, coloring or stringing beads. I think she is very creative.
She continues to be very interested in numbers and letters, and she is just starting to catch on to some of the basic colors. I know she would love to go to preschool, but I don't think it's the right time just yet.
Her language is coming along nicely, too. She pretty much understands everything we say, and she is able to express herself better to us all the time. What is really cool is when she looks at the pictures she brought with her, because she starting to tell us more details about them. Can't wait to hear the whole story. Just an example: There is one picture that shows her in the kitchen. Now she looks at it and says "Jeyeh, Nona eat in here, kitchen" (this is what she calls her Foster parents). I believe that she has strong memories of them, and she often time calls them "My Yeyeh, Nona". A while ago she said she wanted to go home. We were unable to get her to tell us exactly where she wanted to go. She may not have known for sure herself...
She says some funny stuff. Her signature line is "I don't wanna wike it". She uses it when she doesn't like something, or when she doesn't want anymore, mostly when it comes to food. It's so funny, and her siblings are saying it all the time too, sometimes I can't stand hearing it anymore!!
We're struggling with some "ordinary" parenting stuff, like the above mentioned scratching and hitting incidents, the No's I wrote about earlier and so on. She is pretty stubborn, and sometimes downright defiant. Some things I believe are more adoption related issues, like her need to control and to possess. That gets exhausting some days, but I'm hopeful that it will let up as time goes by. I realized that I have been letting up a bit on the more intense nurturing like holding and cuddling and feeding her her milk, or carrying her in the sling. I'm trying to do that more often again, as I feel that it has a positive effect on her.
Her health has been good, except for her Asthma, which she is being treated for. It is very manageable at this time, and hopefully it won't limit her too much going into the future.
The sibling relationships are going well for the most part. Nico likes to tease her and roughhouse with her, Anya is affectionate and caring, Alex likes to take care of her too, boss her around, and act as her spokesman (Nina : "Mama, can I have a dwink, pweese?" Alex: "Mama, Nina needs a drink!" - you get the picture...), and to Elia she is a good, but kinda annoying playmate. He gets so frustrated when she breaks his stuff, and him and her fight a lot over my attention. If one of them sits on my lap, the other one just HAS to be there too. They are only 15 months apart, and that causes some intense sibling rivalry. Overall though, I think Elia has found his inner balance again, and the other issues are a matter of time (I hope).

Wow, this turned out to be a much longer summary than I had anticipated, but there you have it.

The pattern in our family has definitely changed, but more and more I see how Nina's threads become entwined with all of ours, and I like the vibrant colors she is adding to the fabric that is US. She is an amazingly strong, at the same time vulnerable little girl, and I'm so glad she is here.
She is home.

Deutsche Uebersetzung

Ladybug girl

Nina has always had a strong preference for ladybugs.
And she is turning out to be quite an artist.
Here is an example of her drawing a ladybug all by herself.
I'm impressed.
Next week her and Elia will start a Pre K Art class. I think they will both really like it!

Even his friends know he's ten ;-))

This past weekend, Nico finally had a chance to invite his two best friends over for a (late) birthday sleep over. He went to school with them since Kindergarten, but since he does the virtual school this year, he does not get to see them as often. They played football outside, we had one of Nico's favorite foods for dinner (canned Ravioli *LOL*) and then they watched the sequel of "Fantastic Four", much to the heartache of everybody else who had to go to bed at that time. Nico really enjoyed having them over, and the cake that "Big Anja" made (did I mention she is a baker by trade???) was YUMMMMM!
"You are going to look at that camera whether you like it or not! "
Lighting candles is a group effort too...
Ten candles look like a LOT! He is growing up so quickly!