A Baker's Dozen: Daily Life in a Large Family

One Big Happy Family

Oh yeah. Thats us. Today has been a day of celebration. Beginning with an adoption finalization at 8:45, and continuing on to family photos, and a celebration lunch at our home.

In the courtroom after the adoption.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see us in person some day? This is what it looks like when we're just hanging out. I'm always struck by what a huge group we are when I see us in photos.

My parents bought this gorgeous drum for our family. We surprised the children with it during our celebration lunch.

All in all, a busy happy day for our family.

And because I know you'll ask. Didn't you already adopt the kids? Yes, they were adopted in Liberia. Because we did not travel to Liberia and meet the children before the adoption, they came in on a visa that required them to be re-adopted in Washington. This will give us American paperwork (instead of African) and we can now apply for their U.S. citizenship. And yes, this is the very last step. They are ours, in the eyes of the law, just the way our birth children are ours.

Four Month Anniversary

Our newest children have been home four months today. And honestly, it seems like they've been here forever.

Chuck and the four big boys (including Ezra and Boaz) spent Saturday and Sunday at the Science Center. What an experience! To see the butterflies, planetarium, real moving DINOSAURS! Wow.

Oh yes, and a differential and a something else. I don't even know what a differential is, but don't tell Chuck.

The boys are now full-fledged Cubscouts, who have earned several belt loops already.
Keziah has learned about blogs. She thinks "computers are a very good thing" now that she knows Hilton and Terry can look at pictures of us nearly every day.

Keziah has attended her first Girl Scout meeting and shared with the girls about Liberia. None of my girls are in Girl Scouts yet. They all want to join, but I am trying to decide if I am ready to take that leap or not.

I think the strangest thing about adopting older children is to suddenly be the parents of children you don't really know. I have never bathed these children, comforted their tears, or disciplined them. Strange.

In other news:

Adalia (12) has just finished reading the entire Bible. Totally on her own. We are proud of her and would love to honor her in some way, but I don't know how. If you have an idea, could you please leave a comment or email me? Thanks.

Day Two

Here we are, making applesauce this afternoon. It has been taking all of my willpower, but I am trying to respect the children's personal space and not always be in their face with my camera. That will come soon enough I'm sure.

So, today every one got up about 7:30. As soon as the boys were up they went and huddled by the fire. Breakfast was baked oatmeal and toast and oranges. It went fine. I doubt the Liberian children actually liked it, but they ate.

After breakfast we paired each new child up with an "old" child while they did their morning work. Keziah and Adalia, Ezra and Enoch, Judah and Clifford. It seemed to work really well. I showed them our job charts and told them we all did work, etc.

Keziah can't stand a mess, and cleans up anything in her path. You go girl! Today she asked if I could sometime cook beans. I showed her the beans we have in our pantry and she is going to cook some tomorrow.

Judah loves having more "big" brothers. He is just thiving with more big boys in the house. I noticed he especially loves to hang out with Clifford.

I was amazed today as I watched the children, at how much of what we consider "African American" culture obviously has its roots in Africa. Ezra was doing some dancing that I can only describe as break dancing...any of you out there grow up in the 80's? Keziah was teaching the girls different jump rope rhythms. Her favorite was "hot pepper" which is really fast. Clifford played the drum while Keziah danced and sang...then they laughed at me as I danced :)

Keziah was sad and quiet all morning. She took a nap and missed lunch. When she woke up I asked her if she would like to help with the apples, and she said yes. Her mood slowly brightened, and she was laughing and having fun all afternoon and evening.

Imagine having a crush on a movie star. You collect pictures of them. You think of them. You listen for any tidbit of information. You discuss them with your friends...then you finally get to meet them in person...that is how this seems for me. I have prayed for and loved these children for almost two years...and now that I have met them, I am falling in love again. I want so much to scoop my boys up and rock them and hold them...but believe me, they don't want that :) I hug the boys in the morning and before bed and tell them I love them. I take any oppurtunity to love on them, while still giving them space. Tonight before bed, Clifford actually hugged me back. It felt so good. When I was hugging Clifford, Ezra was watching and waiting. He just stood there stiffly and let me hug him, but he was waiting for that hug.

Tonight we were listening to music and Chuck Berry's "Memphis Tennessee" came on. Clifford had the drum and picked up the beat immediately. It is unbelievable what he can do on that thing. Here he is, listening to a song he's never heard before, and he picks up the beat within seconds.

Okay, I know this is rather disjointed, but I am just trying to get my thoughts and impressions down with they are fresh in my mind.

The First 24 Hours

Here is something I forgot to mention about the airport. When they got off the plane, Boaz had the airplane headphones on his ears. It was so cute, he was walking through the airport and it looked like he was listening to his ipod. He's been wearing them on and off all day.

Communication: so far, so good. Keziah has an accent, but I feel like I am able to understand most of what she says. So far she has asked if we have Liberian food, she's asked about her grandma numerous times, she's been asking about Hilton and Terry (her little brothers who were adopted by a family in Michigan), she has asked if "school is in session" she's asked where our church is located...She is quite talkative. This afternoon I showed her pictures Hilton and Terry's mother sent, and she became really quiet after that.

Please pray for these children as they make their adjustments and miss their home, friends and family.

As far as communicating with the boys, no problem. They don't talk :) Just kidding...I guess they do, but I have yet to hear them. So far I have heard them say "yes" and Ezra came and told me, "bath, Mom". Judah said they are talking though, and Chuck has heard them talk. They are very shy.

Food: Boaz has consistantly eaten more than Ezra. Last night he had two eggs, Ezra had one. For breakfast we served cold cereal and rice...Ezra was the only one to eat rice. Keziah and Boaz both at cold cereal. For lunch we had rice, tuna, crackers, eggs, and oranges. All three Liberians ate eggs and oranges. Keziah and Boaz both ate tuna, and I couldn't see whether or not Ezra had any (he was at the other end of the table).
For dinner we had drumsticks, rice and salad. Ezra ate two drumsticks, Boaz three, and they both at rice. Keziah laid down in her bed about six and has been sleeping every since. The children don't seem to have any type of food issues. They don't seem too hungry, too picky, too eager, too anything. So far they just go with the flow. This will change I imagine as they become more comfortable with us.

The highlights of my day (other than having my children home) is watching the children play together. This morning they were playing with toys in the playroom. This afternoon they all jumped on the trampoline, then Keziah tried to teach us to play lappa (umm, Ellen T. we need some clarification on the rules :) This morning Boaz played the drum while Keziah sang.

Ages: Keziah says she is fourteen and that seems pretty accurate. She said Boaz is ten and he certainly looks like he could be ten (although he is smaller than Judah who just turned ten) but his little brother in Michigan I believe is ten, so it gets confusing. His birth certificate says 13, but there is no way. At this point, just by looking at Ezra, I think 12 is close...it is harder with him because he is older and bigger, but he certianly doesn't look 15!

And this one's for you Hilary. Chuck spent a long time working on this with Ezra. For a boy who's never seen a lego before it was quite a challenge.

Mission Accomplished!

Ah, yes my friends, we headed the airport with ten children...

...and came home with thirteen!

So, I kept my cool until we were actually in the airport, then the nervousness hit. We had about and hour and a half to wait...not bad except when you are awaiting the arrival of your African children!

We headed to where the children would come out of the gate, and soon Chuck was approached by a Liberian man, Thomas, who was there to pick up Joseph. So we chatted. Joeseph called him on his cell phone when the plane touched down.

It took FOREVER for our children to get off the plane. It seemed like they were the last ones. Chuck actually spotted them first and said, "There they are".

Can I just say, they are the three most beautiful children to ever be born on the African continent? No kidding, they are gorgeous!

They are all much smaller than I expected. Keziah is just a few inches taller than Adalia, Ezra just a few inches taller than Judah, and Boaz just a bit taller than Enoch.

I ran and hugged Keziah right away, the boys were very quiet. The only word spoken was when Ezra said yes, once to Chuck.

They looked so good. All three were wearing brand new clothes. Seide did a great job, and you can tell she really cared about these children, by the way she had them prepared.

We were out of the airport by 8:10 and home by 10:20.

Let me sum it up by saying it has been less scary and more awkward than I anticipated. It is hard to know what they understand and what they don't. We asked them if they were cold (the poor kids arrived to a typical cold, windy, rainy NW Washington night) and they didn't understand what we meant.

We had a quick snack of hardboiled eggs, then got everyone settled in bed.

Okay, I need to be off, I'll update as soon as possible.

The Big Day

My mother in law found this beautiful material up in Canada, and bought it for Keziah. She made it into a duvet cover that his now spread out on her bed, awaiting her arrival. It is so beautiful, all the girls love it. Thanks, Mum!

Well, I suppose all of you are wondering how we are fairing over here...I am excited and full of anticipation, but calm and peaceful as well. It is strange, over the past year and a half, I have spent many a night tossing in my bed, thinking of all the terrible things that could happen...how this is going to turn our life upside down... believe me, any worry that's gone through your mind has gone through ours as well. This has been a journey of faith, stretching us at every turn...but now that they are actually coming home, I am so full of peace. Thank you for all of you who are praying for our family, we will need all the prayers we can get in the upcoming days.

So, we head out this afternoon, with the whole crew, to meet our new children at the airport. I had a call from the woman at PLAN yesterday who said Seide (the orphanage director in Liberia) had taken our children shopping and taken them to her house to spend the night. Joseph (the man who is escorting our children) said they are very excited.

As I type this, we know the children have left Brussels and are on their way to Atlanta. Then they have one more flight to Seattle, where we will meet them this evening.

They're Coming Home!

This is the first picture we had of the children...the one that started it all....the one that we were so drawn to almost two years ago. I got news yesterday afternoon that our children will be arriving in Seattle on the evening of October 18!

It seems so unreal at this point. After 20 months of waiting, we get less than a week's notice...

And what timing. Last weekend I put bought 45 pounds of meat on sale, prepared it and put it all in my freezer. Today I am batch cooking with my good friend Lindsay, to fill it even more. Monday, some more dear friends are throwing me a shower to celebrate the adoption of our Liberian children. And just in time.

I am slightly distracted at the moment, so bear with me :)

And today my Tucker turns two. Happy birthday Tucker!

New Photo

So here is out latest photo of the children. This was just taken in the last couple of weeks, by a woman who works for PLAN. She was in Liberia checking on the children and working on PLAN cases. We were told that the children now know they are coming home very soon.

We are at the point of jumping every time the phone rings. Just waiting for the call to find out when they are coming home. We still have many things to do before they actually arrive. Chuck has finished the downstairs (boys') bathroom. I'll take pictures and post later. He still needs to put a closet organizer in the second closet in the boys' room. He needs to add shelf to the closet in the girls' room. We need to rearrange the carseats in our van, since we will now be using all 15 seats! And for those of you wondering, since WA law requires a child to stay in boosterseat until age 8, we have seven children in carseats. That takes some creativity, even in a 15 passenger van :)

Who's Got the Visa?

That thumbs up can only mean one thing. Our children got their visas! That is the word I have anyway. I got a call yesterday afternoon from the woman in Liberia who handles the adoptions on that side. We have never had contact with this woman, but know of her. We got cut off twice but here is what I did understand:

All three of the children have their visas (I asked several times about Melvin's visa, making her repeat three or four times that she had all three children's and his specifically).

She said I needed to contact PLAN ( I don't know why she didn't contact them. I put a call in, our caseworker doesn't work on Tuesdays, so I let a phone message and emailed her. Waiting to hear from PLAN today).

She said something about arrangements for the children to come home. I told her PLAN told us Joesph (a man who works at ACFI) was bringing them home. She said, "Yes, that is what I reccomended to Judy".

I asked about when the children could come home and she said they were waiting for confirmation of tickets. Not sure exactly what that means.

So, there it is folks. You know as much as I do. Stay tuned for updates.

And, in regard to Pumpkin. Chuck came home yesterday, planning to put the poor thing out of its misery, but by the time he arrived, Pumpkin had disappered. Perhaps he is no longer suffering. I sure hope so. I have uttmost compassion for the poor cat. My lighthearted spin yesterday was simply a way of trying to deal with a very sad situation.

One Giant Leap

What's Tucker smiling about? It  must be the phone call I received from PLAN yesterday afternoon. All three of our children have had their medicals and their embassy interviews! ALL THREE CHILDREN. I can hardly believe it.  This such a real answer to prayer. Our children are expected to have their actual visas the end of next week.  There is a man from ACFI willing to bring them over for us, and he is looking into plane tickets. Right now.

It looks like these kids may be coming home after all.