Kids and Crafts

Here is a little flavor for what life is like around here with kids, crafts and projects. First, I found these printable responsibility/reward charts here.

They have been working wonders for our family! We are trying to teach our children that being part of a family requires contribution from everyone. Their tasks are small - bringing their dishes to the sink, picking up their toys, and putting their shoes in the shoe basket. The only hard one has been "stay in bed".

Jude was coming into bed with us every (middle of the) night. We were mostly ok with that. But now we have our referral. We plan to have Evangeline sleep in our room and/or bed when she comes home, so we wanted Jude to get used to sleeping without us. Jude said he was lonely at night, so we moved him into Indi's room. We were met with a lot of resistance on day 2 and wondered if we were doing too much at once with the chart. Dan had been working a lot and thought maybe Jude was acting out because he wanted attention from him. So he took a day off and spent the entire day playing with the kids. He took them to the zoo and just had a whole day of fun with them.

It really worked! [I feel so blessed to be married to a man who not only picked up on that, but also did something about it.] It seemed to be just what Jude needed and since then, everything has been working out smoothly. They are loving the chart.

Secondly, we wanted to display the kids' art around the house. We framed some

and this weekend Dan built these.

This idea came from the book The Creative Family by Amanda Soule.

While Dan and Jude worked on that project in the garage and Indi was catching bugs, I finished sewing Jude's Christmas pajamas.



Jude spotted the fabric at the fabric store and I think it's darling.



Here's my boy being silly in his new pjs.

VICTORY!

I was working on a jacket for Indigo and it is finally finished. The inspiration came from this post by Angry Chicken. The pattern? Simplicity 2534. The fabric? Red wool coating from Vogue Fabrics. The lining? Joy - Lime, Funky Christmas by Michael Miller.

It actually came together quite easily... or perhaps I should say easier than I expected. :) I worked on it for an hour or two each day for about a week. Then it came time to do the buttonholes. I thought they'd be a piece of cake, but long story short, they weren't because the fabric was too thick. I found a dear woman locally who sewed them for me. And she didn't even charge me! She said she just wanted to encourage me to keep sewing. Coincidentally, we discovered that she was born in the same town as my grandmother (Detroit Lakes, MN). It's a small world!

When I sew, I often listen to podcasts. If you are at all interested in the accuracy and/or origins of the Gospels, I highly recommend this podcast. The FAQ is incredible. The panel included two Hebrew scholars from the University of Wisconsin as well as a historian. They discredited many of the common myths out there about the Bible. It was really affirming to hear scholars from a secular,liberal university defending the Gospels. It answered some questions that I have had and that I have heard raised by others. Loved it!

The Great Pumpkin Returns

Update: Jenna asked in the comments if the Great Pumpkin shares his candy with the Easter Bunny and how the Tooth Fairy fits in. Dan had to handle that question:

This is Dan, the definitive expert on the Great Pumpkin: The Great Pumpkin shares the candy with the Easter Bunny. Their tooth loss is thereby accelerated and they get a higher than average visitation rate from from the Tooth Fairy. Clearly not fair. Last year the Union of Make Believe Characters had a Union meeting because Santa filed a complaint with the Union Steward that he was cut out of the deal.

Under the new Union Contract, 10% of the loot goes to Santa in exchange for the use of Rudolf and the gang to make his Great Pumpkin visits a bit easier. Reports indicate that Santa is now using candy instead of cash to pay the Elves. The Elves are not happy. I'll let you know what happens at this year's union meeting. If your kids get bad gifts this year, you'll know that the Elves are on strike.

Its a dog eat dog world.

Original Post:

Last year we started the yearly tradition of a visit from the Great Pumpkin. Here's how it works: the kids leave their candy at the front door and the Great Pumpkin leaves a toy for them in exchange for their candy.

This year, we were going to skip the whole Great Pumpkin thing. But then, after trick-or-treating, Jude asked, "Mommy, is the Great Pumpkin coming tonight?"

Me: No, I thought you wanted to keep your candy this year so I told him not to come.

Jude: No, I would rather have a toy. Too much candy gives me a stomachache.

Dan: How about this buddy - I will call the Great Pumpkin and tell him you want him to come and he can come tomorrow night instead.

Jude: Dad, that's not gonna work! The Great Pumpkin can't talk on the telephone! He doesn't have hands!

Ridiculous idea, I know!

So yesterday I picked up a couple of toys for them - a pretend doctor's set and a walkie-talkie set - two toys they've been asking for for awhile now.

The kids got to keep a couple pieces of candy and then left the rest for the Great Pumpkin.

Before bed, Jude started asking lots of questions.

"Mommy, how big is the Great Pumpkin?"

Me: He must be pretty big to carry all of those toys. Maybe he'll be able to see you through your [second story] bedroom window.

Jude: I don't want him to look in at me. What if he has a scary pumpkin face?

Me: No, I bet he has a happy face.

Jude: Like this? (Makes a huge grin)

Me: Probably.

Jude: I don't want him to be so big he can look into our bedroom window.

Me: Well, I really have no idea how big he is. It's just a guess. Why don't you ask your dad what he thinks?

Jude: Ok. (asks Dan) Daddy says he's as big as a van. That's still pretty big and kind of scary. (Asks Dan again) Oh, I guess Daddy thinks he is as big as a small dog. Yep. A small dog.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

Candy and Vodka

We kicked off our pre-Halloween festivities with a visit to the pumpkin patch. The kids chose their pumpkins, Indi being drawn to the "baby" ones



while Jude picked the two biggest that he could find.

Here's Jude pondering the wonders of the world... or at least the pumpkin patch.



Being the disorganized person that I can be, we made it to the pumpkin patch on October 30th and guess what? Those big pumpkins were over 50% off. I got them for only $6 each. See, it pays to be off the ball!

We swung by the Charlie Brown display, which they recognized since we netflixed "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Now Jude says things like, "Indigo, if you don't stop that I'll pound you!" in a voice that sounds exactly like Lucy's. Nice.




We went home for some pumpkin carving. Pumpkin carving with kids this age quickly turns into mom and dad carving alone while the kids run off and play. Jude wanted his to be "super spooky". I said, "I don't know Jude, it might scare Daddy." Jude replied, "Tell him I insisted." The middle one is Jude's "spooky" pumpkin.



The big day arrived and it was time to get the kids ready. The kids have been living in these costumes since I made them in August, so we had to add a little face paint to distinguish this day from the others.



You may recall that Jude is a self-proclaimed "fire-breathing dragon". Someone at Dan's work asked, "How do you do the fire-breathing part?" Dan said (with a perfectly straight face), "Oh we have him swish with a little Everclear and then give him a lighter." "Really?!" she asked. "Yeah, he doesn't like the taste of vodka." That's when she realized he was, of course, kidding.

Time for some candy!

We hope your Halloween was filled with lots of fun family time and pumpkins... oh, and of course, some candy!

Care Package

I put together this little care package for Evangeline. For some reason, all of my pictures were out of focus, but the package is on its way to Ethiopia now, so this is all I've got.

I sent these two outfits:

Several adoptive parents gave me the idea of sending a baby photo book with our photos in it, so I included that. I also sent the blanket I made, a toy and then diaper creams and wipes for the orphanage, and some lotions, lip balms, and candies for the nannies.

Meow, Meow -- Is that a cat I hear?

... because I am about to let him out of the bag.

YES, WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!! And I got permission to share the news with all of you! We cannot post any pictures or identifying info until after we pass court, but I am so happy to be able to publicly share the news of our referral!

On Monday, October 19th, Radu told us we had been matched but that he was missing some paperwork that he needed to officially give us the referral. He told us it would take 1-3 weeks to get that paperwork.

Just a few hours later, Dell called and said she was in labor. That night (well, actually, in the early morning hours of the 20th) I saw her beautiful baby girl enter this world. It meant the world to me that I was able to see her daughter being born on the day I learned of our own daughter. It was as if, on some cosmic level, it symbolized the birth of our daughter, which I was obviously unable to witness. What a blessing that was to me!!! I will always treasure it.

I emailed Radu thanking him for telling us, mentioning that Dell had her baby less than 12 hours after he gave us the news. The next day (Wednesday, the 21st) Radu called. I was outside pushing my kids on the swings. He asked, "How was your friend's labor?" Of course, me, being the talker that I am was happy to elaborate on how lovely it was. Then he said, "Well, how was your labor?" I was like, "Huh?!" He said, "Go check your email." And there she was -- so perfect and so beautiful. I just cried.

As cliche as it sounds, in that moment everything disappeared. The frustration of the paperwork, the fears about how I may feel - it all evaporated and the only thing I felt was "This is our daughter." It was like, "So this is why we had all of the various twists and turns -- to lead us to her!"

Now comes the hard part -- waiting. Waiting for our court date, waiting to travel, waiting to hold her, waiting to integrate her into our family. Please pray that we will be able to do all of this as soon as possible.

We are overjoyed. I am so happy to be able to share our joy with all of you! Thank you.

The story of a name

Neither Dan nor I have particularly enjoyed the task of coming up with names for our children. Thankfully, our taste in names is quite similar. It's finding that perfect name that proves challenging.

Jude was our easiest child to name. When I was about halfway into my pregnancy with him I was looking through the baby names posted to a local hospital website and saw "Jude". I looked up the meaning and it meant "Praise". I emailed Dan, and he loved it. Easy peasy.

Indigo was a little harder. Even during my labor with her, we were still unsure of what her name would be. We were torn between Indigo and Vera. I leaned slightly toward Vera while Dan toward Indigo. When she was born, she looked like an Indigo to me, so we went with Indigo.

When we sent our dossier to Ethiopia, we knew we had to get serious about coming up with a name for our daughter. It felt impersonal to have her remain nameless. We hoped to find a name with a great meaning - something really special.

Initially we were going to name her Zara, which we both loved, but then a chain clothing store opened in a nearby mall with that name. Zara was out. We kept coming up with names that we liked, but nothing felt just right. We loved Delilah, but didn't like the association with the Biblical "Samson and Delilah" story. My mom suggested Ruby, which I grew to love, but Dell had considered naming her baby Ruby, so I didn't want to use a friend's name. We thought about Adelaide. My mom suggested Adeline. We really liked those names, but weren't completely sold on them. I liked Clementine but Dan didn't.

I was growing frustrated and started to feel like we were never going to find the perfect name. I went to bed that night and said a prayer asking God to help us find the perfect name. I know, I know - this prayer undoubtedly fits into the "1st world problems" prayer request box.

The next day I was on Baby Name Wizard. They have this feature where you type in a name and it tells you the names of siblings of children with this name. So I typed in "Adelaide" and one of the sibling names that came up was "Evangeline". This name immediately stood out to me because the day prior I had listened to a Blackhawk church message where they talked about the Greek word "euangelion" which means "Good news". It is also where we get our word for "Angel". Evangeline is a variation of "euangelion" and thus means "Good News". I thought it was perfect and Dan agreed... and so did my mom... and his mom. Evangeline it is! I really love the nickname potential to boot!

Sweet Evangeline, we cannot wait to meet and hold you. But until that moment, we will carry you in our hearts and cover you in our prayers!