Growing Up

There are some days when they just seem to grow up before my eyes.  And there are days when I all of a sudden notice that I've been growing, too.

Today was one of those days.  The kids all seem taller and older and more mature and smarter than they were not too long ago.  Mikaela seems more and more like a young lady every week.  Toby is getting taller and more and more like a boy instead of a little boy.  Timothy has a vocabulary that surprises people all the time.  And I'm changing, too.

This last weekend we went camping with a church from a town nearby so we could share with them around a campfire and Sunday morning "service" about what we're doing.  It sounded like a lot of fun and an amazing opportunity to really get to know some people over a weekend instead of just during an hour or two during a church visit.  (And it was!)

The weather has been pretty strange lately.  It was much cooler than normal for most of May.  And this last weekend was no exception!  Instead of just sort of chilly at night and sunny t-shirt weather in the afternoons, it was raining and snowing most of Saturday night and much of the day Saturday.  I've never gone camping in the snow before!  I've never spent so many hours straight standing around a campfire before.  And as you can see, we were sleeping in a TENT.  In the mornings there was ice outside.  CRAZY!

But what made me happy was that I didn't get frustrated or irritated when gloves got soaked or pants got muddy (except the last night when I was getting the kids in bed and in the middle of that night when Timothy was kicking me and I was cold and couldn't sleep...)  In short, I was much more patient and content than I would have been in the past in that situation.  I think I handled the stress of packing better than I used to and even came back home and got back into normal with much less disruption than in the past.  And that's even with going as the "speakers" and in the middle of a bunch of other things we are doing!

I share all of this to say PRAISE GOD for helping me to grow and for preparing me for much more stressful situations in the future.  I praise God for teaching me to be thankful when I'm tempted to feel sorry for myself.  I praise God for helping me not to panic even though we have much work yet to do to prepare for a huge fundraising event Friday night.  I praise God for helping me not to get overwhelmed when I KNOW that in the past that is what would have happened.

Growing is good.  : )  For all of us.  But it's interesting how often we want to grow up faster.  Timothy is turning 4 in just over a month (I know!  How'd that happen???) and he wants to know if when he turns 4 he's gonna be a Daddy.  (I remember having the exact same conversation with Toby when he was going to turn 4!)  He's all of a sudden ready to be a dad...  so he thinks.  : )
But I know better.  And God knows better when I think I'm ready to be all grown up...  when I want to just skip on over to having the lessons learned already instead of having to learn them.  When I want to just be wiser and stronger instead of having to do the faith exercises to get there.  When I want to reap with songs of joy without the sowing tears first.  Timothy has some more years of growing up before he gets to be a dad.  I have some more years of growing up before I get to wherever I'm going... and then more growing until I get to eternity.

So like the evergreen trees who drink in the rain and put their roots down deep and grow and grow, Lord,  keep growing me deeper in You and up in faith.

So I can keep looking back and saying PRAISE YOU LORD.  YOU ARE GOOD.

(And just for the fun of it...  Here's a video I posted on my 4th ever blog post from another trip 4 years ago to these mountains that I love so very much.  These kids really have grown up!)

LIFE Update

I just have to tell you all how fun it's been playing "LIFE" with the kids! They even played today by themselves and only needed me to sell them insurance at the beginning and count their money at the end! : ) Very nice! (Of course, Timothy had to be locked out of Mik's room while they played, but he got to watch Dinosaur Train, so he didn't mind too much!) The cutest thing though was how sad Mikaela was the couple of times we played when she didn't have any babies! She was seriously disappointed and jealous of me and Toby... but then, after all of the "baby girl" and "baby boy" and "twins" spots had passed, she landed on "adopt twins" and she literally squealed with delight! Made this mama so happy. : ) I don't know what I loved more... how even in "just a game" she so much wanted to be a mom or how even in "just a game" she was just as thrilled to adopt as she would have been to land on the other baby spots. I just know it was sweet! : ) Unfortunately, I have nothing as sweet to say about the other game they've been playing with each other where they build and then try to catch each other in a mouse trap. ; ) They're playing and having fun (as long as Timothy isn't there to help!) (don't worry... he was taking a nap this time) but it doesn't have quite the same emotional connection as the other game. I wonder why... I hope you all are enjoying whatever you and your family acquired for Christmas and that the end of 2009 is sweet for you too! I've been thinking about all I've learned this year and might make a post of it... I guess we'll all just have to wait and find out! : ) Blessings friends!

Grand Finales!

What a week this has been!!! Thursday was Mikaela's last day of school and just in time, on Tuesday she made it into the Million Word Club at her school!!! That means she read over a million words this school year! Just to give you an idea what an accomplishment that is, the goal for 2nd graders is to read 75,000 words by the end of the year and only one other 2nd grader made it into the Million Word Club this year. (Yes, I am extremely proud of my little bilingual girl!!! Sorry, I can't help it!!!) Here she is getting her MWC shirt from the principal Wed. morning in front of the whole school:

With her teacher...

The front says: READ?

The back: I DO!

THEN, yesterday we all got to go down to the Fresno County Superior Courthouse and finalize our adoption of Timothy!!! It means he is officially, forever ours and we are so happy do be done with that part of the process. (We still have a few formalities like applying for his soc. sec. card and registering at the Thai embassy sometime, but the legal stuff is done! YAY!) After the court ceremony we celebrated at Timothy's Grandad and Grandma's house with lunch and lots of fun!

Waiting outside for our turn...

The Jury... : )

We're done! Our Finally Official Family!

Awww.....

Our social worker is coming over tonight for our 2nd (out of 4) post-placement visits. He has to see how things are going and write a report that gets sent back to Thailand along with some pictures of Timothy so they can see he really is alive and well.

So this morning I was taking pictures. Because I wanted them to be really current. (right.....) Aren't these kids just too cute?????

And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to work on the questionnaire we're supposed to have filled out to submit tonight... you know... before I can be accused of procrastinating.

AT LAST!

We interrupt this blogging break to announce that after 2 months of coaching and coaxing and dirty hands and knees, O (Timothy) has started walking! He's been taking steps for a few weeks now, but strongly preferred crawling... until this weekend! Yay! (And now... back to the previously scheduled blog break... back soon!)

"We made the best jam in the world!!!"

On Friday afternoon, my mother-in-law, Mikaela, Toby and I undertook our yearly sticky, sweet tradition of making homemade jam. (My kitchen floor still hasn't quite recovered...) Toby declared that night when he tasted it smeared on some bread, "We made the best jam in the world!" (And I have my mother-in-law to thank for teaching me how to do it and for doing it with me. I never get around to doing it on my own. And it' wouldn't be nearly as much fun!)







It's still strawberry season in Fresno, and I'm sorry if you don't live here or somewhere you can get real fresh strawberries because they truly are so amazing! So, of course, after eating lots of them... we turn them into jam! (And here I am washing/de-topping them. Exciting, huh?) This last year I ran out of jam and had to (gulp!) buy some Smuckers. It couldn't be that different, right? WRONG! Now I understand why people rave about this stuff when we give it to them. It truly is so much better!

This year I decided we should try making cherry jam, too, because we had a bunch of cherries from our cherry tree, but I was sort of disappointed with how it turned out. (The Cherry-Strawberry, however, was quite yummy!) And Mikaela holding a bowl of cherries (that just begs for a pun of some sort!) was a photo-op we couldn't pass up!







Toby found these jar grabbers and had lots of fun holding jars (Agh! Over the tile!) with them.

I don't have any pictures of the cooking/boiling/"don't touch that it's hot!" part of the process because I told Lowell he really needed to NOT be in the kitchen at that moment. You'll just have to imagine what it's like to be stirring a pot of boiling, fruit lava next to another pot of boiling jars... with 2 eager children really wanting to help or at least see what's going on! It is truly an experience that stretches the best of both mothers and Buelas!

But in the end, (after pizza because we DO NOT cook dinner after making jam and thankfully our husbands don't argue with that!) we are rewarded with jam that is delicious, can be eaten or given away and memories that last longer than the jam will. It's so worth the pounds of sugar and boxes of pectin and moments of insanity and the sticky spots on the floor. And I couldn't help but imagine what it's going to be like next year with a toddler running around again! But we've done it before with little ones, so we'll just do it again. But next time, at Buela's house!!!

Sweet, Sweet Spring!

Well, I think it was almost 2 weeks ago now that I took this picture, but I had to share it with you all! Mikaela had a day off from school and the weather was BEAUTIFUL (I am SO glad I live in the middle of California... I'll take the relentlessly hot summers as long as I get mild, short winters anytime!!!) (Remind me of that in July when it's 110 degrees, please!)

Anyway, Mikaela and Toby played outside for 7 HOURS STRAIGHT that day. I don't know if they've ever done that before. I guess they had spent enough time in the house over the last few months and were making up for it. By the end of the day, they had made enough mud to cover the slide (on the left there) and they were sliding down their nice little mud-slide. So creative, I know.

(And by the way, in case you're jealous of our weather, Spring was very short and we're back to Winter & rain. I really hope we don't go straight from here to summer, regardless of what I said just a few sentences ago!)

And though I don't have much time, I also wanted to tell you about my incredibly sweet husband and Valentine's Day and the singing card he made me open in the middle of Black Angus, but unless you understand the words to "Besame Mucho" you probably won't understand. : ) But I love him so much... even if I don't blog about him all the time. I wouldn't be where or who I am without him and God knew that when he put us together.

I love my family! Can't believe next month we might get to see the face of our missing member!!!!!!!

I'm Back!

Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote...

THEY'RE ALL SMILES! Toby got his teeth cleaned for the first time (he was very excited) and after a long, suspense and stress filled time of wiggling, Mikaela's first top tooth came out! I'm serious, people, it was stressing her out! She was worried about it and it was hurting for DAYS and as soon as it was finally out, she was a different kid... a much happier, smiling, silly kid. What a relief. If I'd only known it would make such a difference in her mood, I'd have yanked it a couple days earlier. (Because she had actually asked me to and I didn't pull hard enough because I wasn't sure it was ready, not just because I'm mean and selfish!) Aren't they cute???

BUTLER CHURCH 50th ANNIVERSARY! Yesterday we got to go to our former church's 50th anniversary celebration. It was so very sweet to see so many people who we had worshipped and served with during the many years we were there. Most of the former pastors were there and we got to hear the Spanish choir and see the SE Asian dancers and hear the kids choir sing "Sing alleluia to the Lord" in 3 languages... I miss that so much! But it was also a clear reminder that we are where we are now b/c it is where God wants us to be. As much as I still love Butler, my heart is most definitely at the Grove.

CLEANING/PARTY! Well, in spite of the fact that I was (really, I'm not exagerrating here) mopping my kitchen floor 10 minutes before the first people arrived last night for our Game Night, we had a lot of fun. God brought just the right amount of people and we had a great time and the kids all had a lot of fun. Lowell isn't sure he's going to ever let me do this again (I did leave WAY too much to get done after we got home from the Butler lunch/celebration) but I'm glad we did it and now my house is cleaner than it has been since the social worker came for our home study.

BLOGGING IN MY HEAD. On Saturday I was scrubbing 40 years worth of nasty grime off my kitchen cabinets, pondering the spiritual significance of what I was doing. (Because what else do you expect me to think about when I'm scrubbing cabinets???) I started to write all of my thoughts out here, but it's going to be way too long, so I'm saving it for later. Just in case you have something else to do today. : ) And to leave you in some sort of suspense as to what great spiritual truth I learned. If you'd like to guess or tell me what scrubbing kitchen cabinets might mean to you and your spiritual journey, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!

Y, Melissa

Wow! It worked!

Below, you'll find a short video (not from a video camera, hence the not super quality) of Mikaela taken at the Fall Program last week. The boy she's with is named Kyler and after the program, Lowell informed his father that they were going to have to have a talk about his son dancing with our daughter. : ) Mikaela's class sang 2 songs. It was a fantastic, fun program and over in less than an hour! : ) It was really neat to see/hear the older kids in the Bilingual program singing/reciting poems in both languages so fluently. Fun, fun!

El Twist de Mik's Colegio

Click on the big arrow twice to play video.

To Stitch or Not To Stitch

First of all, I have to say that word ("stitch") just does not look right.  All those consonants and only one vowel???  It's almost as bad as the street I used to live on...  "Kerckhoff".  Anyway...

(Oh...  and you might not want to read this if your stomach was already turning when you read the title up there...  because this post IS NOT about quilting!)

Yesterday was one of those days mothers all around the world fear.  The kids were in the front yard playing when I heard a thud followed by a cry that got louder with each wail accompanied by a sister yelling "Mom!  Toby's really hurt!  He's REALLY HURT!"  Well, I could tell that much by the wailing.  And by the blood.  On Toby's chin, hands, shirt, legs, the sidewalk...  So of course, the first matter of business...  Where is it coming from?????  Other than a minor scrape on his knee, it was all coming from the underside of his chin.  Thankfully, no teeth were involved.  He fell and his chin landed on the scalloped brick edging between our driveway and the flowerbed.  And I was sure, at that first moment, that he was going to need stitches because it looked bad. 

You might be asking yourself a few questions right now...  "Why in the world is Melissa torturing me by writing about this?"  or perhaps, "Why in the world am I reading this???"  And to tell you the honest truth, I don't really have a good answer for you.  Sorry.  It's just the most dramatic thing that's happened around here in quite a while I guess. 

Well, after holding a washcloth on his chin for a few minutes while I called Lowell (who had no vehicle b/c he'd taken our van to get worked on) and my mom (who rescued us by coming right over from her school) Toby mostly calmed down, got cleaned up and the bleeding surprisingly stopped.  My mom and I started wondering if he really needed stitches after all.  Maybe a butterfly bandage would be enough.  And let me tell you...  I really could not stand the idea of him getting stitches if not really needed.  The idea alone just freaks me out.  But I had called the Dr's office and they thought I should bring him in so they could look at it and decide.  And I agonized over what to do.  Decision making is really not ever my strength.

Here's where I got really brave.  I decided I didn't have to do what they said!!!  It took a bit of waiting and talking to Lowell and my mom and Jesus, but I decided the bandage we'd done was probably enough and if he had a scar on the bottom of his chin, so what?  I think he'd rather have a scar than stitches.  Funny thing is I felt like I was being brave (dealing with it ourselves, rebelling against the nurse's orders) and scared (of the stitches) all at the same time.  I will be so, so glad when he's totally better and I don't have to fret about it anymore.

But in the meantime, I'm getting an idea what he might look like someday with a goatee.  Mighty handsome, I'd say.  (Assuming the scar doesn't get in the way.)  J

Season's Greetings from the Ens Family!

Since we didn't send out a Christmas letter last year, I thought today would be an appropriate day to send out a greeting.  Toby came out this morning carrying two little doggies who were both wearing Christmas hats and when I asked him about it, after a moment of thought, he said it was because today was "Dog Christmas!"  So in honor of Dog Christmas, because even dogs can celebrate Jesus being born and with the whole 7:1 year ratio thing they really should celebrate Christmas 7 times a year, we are wishing you all a very Merry Dog Christmas and a Yappy New Year. 

J ~Melissa

Things Toby and I learned while Mik was at school today

1.  (This was all very non-graphic, by the way...  purely too many Gingerbread Man stories!)  Toby asked me what I would do if a real fox ate my head.  I said I would cry.  He informed me that I couldn't because what if the fox ate my face, too? 

 

2.  "Look Mom!  They're selling rocks at Costco!"  A closer look revealed to him they were actually mushrooms, not shrink-wrapped rocks in between the carrots and broccoli.

 

3.  If Toby parks Mikaela's Dora scooter on the far side of the van and Mommy doesn't see it and tries to back over it, the scooter won't drive perfectly straight afterward--even after Daddy fixes it.  (Oops.)

 

4.  I learned that when Toby goes to the Diego Live! show next week with his grandparents there will be 190 boys there and 10 girls.  Because he saw a little bit of it on TV so he knows.

 

And finally...

5.  There are such things as Attacking Tornadoes that shoot fire and even if you erase them (they only exist on dry-erase boards, thankfully!) they can still shoot fire through the eraser.  Wow. 

 

Toby and I sure had fun today.  J

 

And in case you're wondering, Mikaela had a nice day too, even though she said the day was longer than she thought it would be.  But I think we're off to a great start.   

What's Goin' On

Well, in case anyone cares, I thought I'd give you a mini update on life these days. (The challenge here is to see how short I can make this! 1,2,3,GO!) KIDS: This last week the kids attended the Avalanche Ranch Vacation Bible Blast (much more exciting than Vacation Bible SCHOOL, you know!) at First Presbyterian Church downtown. We went b/c we knew some people that would be there and it was the absolute best $25 I've spent this summer! The kids had such a good time and the program was great. They spent 3 hours every day learning about how God is REAL, WITH US, STRONG, AWESOME & IN CHARGE! I think we could all stand to spend a week focusing on those things, don't you? And they'll be singing along the the awesome songs on the CD for months to come I'm sure. Fun, fun! ADOPTION: We got the draft of our home study yesterday from our social worker so that's about done and he has recommended us for approval to adopt! : ) Not that we expected he wouldn't but it's nice to see the whole thing written up. We are still gathering papers for our dossier and hopefully will have that together so we can ship it to the Thai consulate in LA soon. Once that's all done, we will be officially on the waiting list. It could still take a year after that before we get to bring our new child home (but it could be faster, too.) HOME: We are still trying to get our new master bedroom finished. Today Lowell installed the 2 ceiling fans and I'm working on getting window sills ready to be painted. We still have the floors and clean-up and some other random things to do. This part is always hard b/c we stop caring about the details and just want to GET IT DONE ALREADY! A NEW CHALLENGE: I am working on writing an article/essay for the Christian Leader magazine about tv, movies, books, video games, etc. and how we as Christians determine what's ok to be entertained by and what's not. WANT TO HELP??? Either comment here or email me and let me know what are your family's standards for entertainment? What lines have you drawn that help you determine what's acceptable. I have to have an outline or draft to the editor this week so the faster you respond, the better. Thanks for any input you give me. Have a great weekend/week! More profound things to come next week I'm sure...

Yikes!

Now I know where the bad dreams are coming from...

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands...

(Do you have the song stuck in your head now? Good!)

First of all, sorry for saying "come back tomorrow" to see what hilarious thing Toby said. It has been several days since I posted anything because I was trying to get my house cleaned up after last week and couldn't let myself start blogging when there were other gross things I won't disgust you with to deal with first. BUT here I am! Finally!
ANYWAY! (The story, PLEASE...)

Father's Day morning we were having breakfast (cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs, in case you're wondering) and one of the kids made the observation that daddy is the biggest of the adults (that would be between Lowell and me) and that Mikaela is the biggest of the kids. Then Toby says,

"But I'm the biggest of all. Cuz I can pick up the world!"

After marvelling at that for a moment or two, and asking how he can pick it up, etc, I asked him if he even knows what the world is. He said, "I have seen the world and it's not very big. It's maybe as big as our house. It's maybe as big as the cozy sack. And I can pick it up. Really!"

He seemed so serious and we were all cracking up. Which of course, he loved. After declaring he could even pick up God (don't worry, we cleared things up about that one) he said, "I'm just teasing about all that stuff!"

The last quote-worthy thing he said was,
"I can count up to God. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, GOD!"

I'm still trying to figure out the theological implications of that one. Any ideas??? For now I'll just leave you with this: "He's got you and me, brother, in His hands. He's got you and me, sister, in His hands. He's got the whole world in His hands." (And that would be God... not Toby.)

Pictures Finally!

I'm trying to post some pictures of Mikaela's graduation (or "promotion" as they actually called it) but I'm having trouble uploading the pictures. But I said I would add some so I'm determined to because I try to do what I say I will do no matter how much grief it causes me. (A watermelon's faithful, 100%!) And what do you know! There's a picture! (Let's see if I can add some more...) (More grief, I know.) There must be a million people on the web tonight cuz it's running really s-l-o-w-l-y. What kind of traffic jam is that? A BLOG JAM!!! (Get it? Like a LOG JAM??? Yes, I just made that up and it was bad, I know.) But hey! We have another picture! The first one is Mikaela with several of her buddies, the next one is Mik, Josie and their marvelous teacher Senora Lucero. The two pictures below are of Mikaela's class and Mikaela introducing one of the songs they sang. We were so proud of her! : )

Now I'm going to post this before I accidentally delete anything. : ) But come back soon because you just have to hear what Toby said yesterday at breakfast. It was hilarious! : ) See ya tomorrow!

So much to say...

Where do I begin? I am almost overwhelmed (as in if I think about it too much I might start crying) at how good God has been to us. Today was Mikaela's last day of kindergarten. Ever. Last year about this time I was fretting about choosing Track C afternoon with Mrs. Lucero or Track B morning with a new teacher. It felt like a complicated decision for lots of reasons. But I begged and pleaded for God to lead us and get our daughter in the right class and did He ever. Sra. Lucero is without exagerration the best Kinder teacher I have ever seen. Even Toby is sad to be leaving her. He said today, "But Mikaela's new teacher won't know my name!" (I assured him that by the end of the first day she probably would.) And he said, "But Sra. Lucero always lets me give her a big hug!" (Awww.....)

The first time I saw her class (7 years ago) I was amazed and apalled that I wasn't teaching my students nearly as much as she was. When I visited again a year ago I felt like I was home. She was who God had picked for us and I am so glad. (And the afternoon schedule ended up being PERFECT for our non-morning-people family. Thank you Lord!) (And if we'd picked track B we would NOT be on vacation until August. Thank you Lord again!!!)

As I was revelling in the joy of being on vacation this afternoon (I felt almost instantly less stressed) I found myself reminiscing about summer vacations back when I was a kid (in the old days, as Mikaela would say). Granted, we were off for about 3 months instead of 2, but they seemed to last so long. I was wishing somehow I could make this break last as long as those summers seemed to. I want to play with my kids and do projects with them and go camping and maybe to VBS somewhere and take naps and read books and go for walks (sometimes known as exercise) and go swimming (an even more enjoyable version of the same) and play in the sprinklers and make popsicles and, and... Sigh.

But rather than set myself up for disappointment by creating a long list of things to accomplish, I think my list will be short and simple:

• Teach kids about Jesus
• Play with kids
• Practice resting
• Work on adoption and file taxes (all play and no work uh..... causes problems.)
• Try to have Mikaela's friends from school over if it works, don't stress if it doesn't.
• Take things one day at a time
• ENJOY LIFE EVERYDAY. BE THANKFUL EVERYDAY. WORSHIP GOD EVERYDAY.
• (Ok... and do laundry and make dinner and stuff like that.)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Hilarious!

If you want to see a hilarious video of my shy, calm kids, wishing a happy (although belated) birthday to their cousin Connor who lives in Thailand, click here. (And no, I do not know how they ended up with such small mouths.) Have a nice day everyone!

Mud and Glasses

Mikaela got new reading glasses today. Isn't she cute? She was so excited about it. She says, "I like my reading glasses." She has learned how to read in Spanish and is figuring out how to read in English, too. I can't believe she is going to be done with Kindergarten in less than 3 weeks. Today when she went into her class with her new glasses, I tried to follow her so I could talk to her teacher about them. But she stopped me and said she could do it. So, against my motherly instincts, I let her. And she did just fine, but it was one of those moments when I could feel my heart stretching. They grow up and grow more independent everyday and most days I don't notice it, but sometimes I am so aware of it that it almost hurts. It was that way her first day of Kindergarten and I'm sure it will be that way on the last day, too, and so many days yet to come. It's good, to be sure, but I can't help but wishing at times that it wouldn't happen so fast.

And here is Toby who today, just moments before this picture was taken, brought this Cup o' Mud INTO the kitchen because he wanted to add more water to it... from the water dispenser in the door of my fridge. Thankfully I was closeby so I was able to stop him before he got the fridge all muddy. Not long ago (when he did something similarly 3 year-old-ish) I told him to tell me "Mommy, some day when I'm all grown up you'll wish I was still little." It was good to be reminded to appreciate the muddy fingerprints and other messes while they last because they won't be around forever.