Odds and Ends

Wow. I have alot to update on. And, not alot of time to do it. :)

So, when that happens, you end up getting a "hodge podge" post...a little bit here and there about most of what is happening in our world.

1. I have such great news to share about our adoption, and I really want to tell the whole long story. But, it's going to have to wait for now. Let's just say that God absolutely cleared the way for us. We had to quickly finish the paperwork part of this adoption journey, and He not only allowed that to happen, but showed Himself in amazing ways in the process. He confirmed for us once again, that He is the one bringing our baby home. And, because He arranged it for us, we are now "DTR", which means our dossier is COMPLETE and IN RWANDA TODAY!!! Woo Hoo!

This is me, at about 12:30 at night, when I finished getting our dossier ready for Mark to deliver to D.C. My face says it all. TIRED and emotionally drained. But, oh so worth it!

And, to celebrate our adoption news, I'm so excited to be sharing a generous giveaway from my friends at Written On Your Heart. You can find details on my other (adoption) blog. Go check it out. I LOVE Written On Your Heart scripture canvases!!

2. We just had a FABULOUS long Labor Day weekend!! We had a fish fry with my family, where we stuffed ourselves on my dad and grandfather's fresh catch from this summer! Fried fish, blackened fish, baked fish with lemon, hushpuppies, fresh okra and blackeyed peas, homemade mac n cheese, potato salad....oh my goodness, I want to eat it all over again! And, of course, the only picture I have to show for it is this one:

I love you Cailee, but I wish I had taken more pictures too. Cortni, I'll have to borrow some of yours! I guess I was too busy eating! (Sisters, hush. I know I ate alot.)

3. After our fish feast, we spent the next two days with Mark's roommates from college and their families.

These sweet friends have been by our side for YEARS, and it is so fun to remember the "good old days", as well as celebrate the crazy lives we live now, with THIRTEEN kids among us. And, that number's still growing! (Yes, these are all ours...)

Somehow, we were able to all eat out at Babe's together on Sunday without too much disruption of the entire restaurant! The kids were all still warming up to each other, so there was a lot of this:

A little bit of hesitancy by all involved, quieter voices, short conversations, more stare-downs, and very polite "friendly" exchanges between children.

However, by Day Two, everyone was warmed up JUST fine. Let the craziness begin!!

The kids had so much fun playing in the beautiful pool at Paul and Jackie's house ALL day long. There was lots of swimming and sliding...followed by LOTS of water gun fighting and boys vs. girls competitions. I love all of these pictures of their battles.

Each team had a fort. Each team got attacked and lost their fort. This included being beat with swim noodles, being hit with boogie boards, being sprayed in the face with water guns, and being flat-out wrestled to the ground by bully girls. :)

Eventually, the battle changed to Dads vs. Kids (plus Jackie). Another hilarious set of pictures, as the dads defend themselves with pink kickboards, and Jackie and the kids make a game plan for attacking back.

Needless to say, after hours of battle, the dads were quite worn out!

Where is Paul, you say? Well, after engaging in war, he took his place as the official cook of the Sig Shack family. He came through as always with his amazing grillin' skills, and we stuffed ourselves full of GREAT labor day grub.

I sure love these people. And, I'm so glad my kids love their kids too. :)

We can't wait to do it again, Sig Shack!! Love you guys so much!

3. Well, this will NOT be summed up in a "point". But, homeschool has begun!! I am working on a post about our first two weeks, and will hopefully have that up this weekend. But, for now, I want to share our "first day of school" pictures (since I'm officially a week late on that!).

The girls picked their clothes for their school day and were giddy to be "free" from uniforms. :) Carlie was very excited to surprise me with her selection: her "Africa" shirt. Love that girl.

Kendyll had the idea of taking "teacher/student" pictures like they've done at school in years past. She's so cute. :) And, I sure love my students. (AK decided she'd rather not.)

Daddy came home from our adoption adventure in Washington D.C. that morning, so we had Chick-fil-A breakfast on our way to pick him up, with our favorite employee, Beatriz. (We eat Chick-fil-A one morning every week as our little treat, and she now knows our whole family...and our whole order.)

Here we are getting used to our desks and our routine...and doing our "First Day of School Survey". They answered questions about themselves, their goals for the school year, made a self portrait, and gave their "signature".

Doing morning circle time and calendar board...

Doing our first science experiment with salt water and eggs...and whatever else we found to throw in there.

And, of course, we fit in a whole lot of other stuff that I didn't have time to take pictures of. :) As you can tell, we had enough fun to make a BIG mess (mostly supplied by a busy three year old!)

And, it took us six hours to finish the first day. Yikes! That scared me a little bit, but we've been much more efficient since then.

We really have had such a great first few days of school. I wish I had time now to tell you all that I have already learned about myself, about my girls, and about how MUCH I know this was right for our family. Don't get me wrong. There have been some adjustments. There have been some moments of panic on this mom's part. And there are still some details to be worked out.

But, overall, I really can't describe the blessings I'm already seeing. Just being together, without the fast pace we were all used to, is just WONDERFUL. I have a feeling we're all going to like this way of life....and hopefully, we'll all learn some stuff along the way. :)

4. Abby Kate is of course a part of homeschool, but she has also officially returned to preschool as of today! She was so excited about school (due to her favorite teacher, Ms. Amy returning!)

and she felt very big today. She chose donuts for her special first day breakfast (she is such the third child...no nutrition whatsoever and definitely no mommy cooking for her big day.)

How cute is this school girl? Someone tell her to stop growing up!!