Guest Post Over At Death by Great Wall

Hello friends!

I'm guest-posting over at Death By Great Wall today.

My friend, Dana, is doing a month long series on preparing to adopt an older child.

What a privilege to add to a very important conversation by talking about how to pray during those first days and months after your new child joins the family.

In the meantime, thanks for your thoughts and prayers for our family. And a great big thank you to those who have checked in during my little blog hiatus. Bottom line, there is so much to tell, I am having a hard time trying to figure out where to start. 

Happy July! 

And stay tuned for the rest of the story.....

Today I Will Choose Joy

May has been a mammothly hard month. And it's not over yet.

We have taken a long look at the mortality of our children this past week. 

It's hard and it hurts. 

So today, I will choose J-O-Y! 

It's time for our family to return to this: 

"Live for today and hope for tomorrow."

Marines - The Change is Forever

Super proud of our son for making an excellent 

decision about the next phase of his life.

Last November, he was sworn in as a Poolee for the Marine Corp.

He ships out to boot camp on May 20, 2013. We will drop him off the day before at his recruiting office. Then on Monday, the 20th, we are hoping to go to his local MEPS (Military Entry Processing Station) and watch him be sworn in to official recruit status. He will then be put on a plane to Savannah where he will be picked up and brought to Parris Island, South Carolina. We will get a phone call that he arrived and then a letter with his mailing address a week or two later.

Everyone is on board and excited for him. It does take a bit of thought and preparation for the younger kids when faced with a leaving. Change comes hard and requires a lot of grace for this crew. When Jerrod leaves, the sadness will come out in all sorts of ways. He is doing a great job spending some extra time with them by watching Star Wars with Joshua, giving the girls rides to their activities, and he even came to T-ball to support the little boys.

The boys got their braces off just in time. Three down and who knows how many to go? I am loving those pearly whites. Jerrod had to get a letter from his orthodontist confirming that indeed he would get them off before April 1. Apparently braces are a no-no in the military. 

I don't do tattoos. Not my thing. Nor have I ever, ever, ever allowed a bumper sticker on any of our cars. Until now. Because supporting my son is way more important than being a nudge about a car tattoo. 

Twice a year, the Recruiters hold a Family Night. Last month, Bob and I, along with Erik and my brother, Marc attended the potluck with other Poolee families. It was the first time we had seen Jerrod in this environment and we were able to chat with his recruiter.

There was a keynote speaker, a retired Marine who was very inspiring about how this experience will shape their lives forever.

 

Then a drill instructor from Parris Island was introduced and she led a demonstration of her techniques in preparing recruits. She also put the Poolees through a few paces. Boy, did they run. I can honestly say, I never thought eighty 17-19 year-olds could line up that fast! 

The room was charged with nervous anticipation! The Marines were inspiring in their full dress uniforms. The young men and women were trying hard to look casual on the outside. I got emotional watching and realizing what a life-changer this will be for our son.

The last five months have had their ups and downs as our son has wrestled with his decision. He has spent time preparing physically and found a few good men who served in the Marine Corp to ask questions which has helped him feel more ready, if you can ever be ready for an experience like this.

Marines - The Change is Forever

We pray that Jerrod will embrace the opportunities 

that his service to our country will provide. 

We know that the Marine Corp will change him forever 

from a boy into a man that we will be very proud of.

Flying Solo - How A Mom of Many Gets By

Hello, May.

Hello, Blog.

You seem to be at the bottom of the list these days. 

Last week, Bob and Jerrod flew to Arizona to help my parents out as they prepare to move into their new winter home and this also gave Jerrod a chance to spend time with his grandparents before he leaves for Marine boot camp.

On the home front, we soldiered on the best we could without Daddy and big brother.

Here is a bit of how I coped, home alone with eight kids.

I didn't suffer much, a testament to my awesome kids!
 
With my extra driver gone, I got reacquainted with Big Red and was back to being taxi-driver-mom, a wake up call for how spoiled I've been this year.

I found eggs at Wally-world. Here's hoping these last a week. 

I am totally not kidding.

After the airport run, we went to a science museum to see a dinosaur exhibit. 

Joy panicked and cried real tears. We are still getting to know our girl.

 When they opened the moonwalk, we went right over.

 I am grateful that Joshua can do these kind of activities.

 Joy is not shy when it comes to keeping up with the boys!

 No surprise that Trey got the highest bounce.

 Micah is all about the fun!

 Time for an update on Joy's progress. 

It's been slow going and other than her brush with the dinosaurs, she is a happy girl.

 The boys shared the inside of a piano.

Forget retail therapy, my saving grace this week was taking the kids out to eat.

We are good at sniffing out Chinese buffets which accounts for Joshua's jello smile!

I blew our entire food budget taking my kids out to eat not once or twice but five times this week. Pure gluttony, but I didn't have to shop, cook, or clean-up which was a huge sanity-saver.

Interestingly, Joy does NOT like Chinese food buffets very much. 

About all we can get her to eat is the egg-drop soup.

On Tuesday, I had a beautiful bunch of young ladies sing Happy Birthday to me!

We made a sugar free cake and the candles were what we found in the cupboard. 

Remember those eggs? We used a dozen for the cake and frosting.

 49 and counting!

One afternoon, we stopped for some cheese pizza and had a picnic because spring is here and for a few weeks we can be outside before the black fly invasion.

 Pouring over Lego magazines.

Joy is independently mobile pushing her oxygen-baby in the stroller.

Joshua is so close to taking off on his own. 

His confidence and endurance are a little shy of success. 

I hope he can do it.... before he can't.

On Sunday, with temps in the sixties, 

we landed at the ocean after a fun stop at IHOP. 

Wide open spaces and sunshine do wonders for my mental health.

 Joy wasn't liking the bare feet business but the wagon was a hit!

We missed Dad because usually he spearheads the kite flying. We had three up at one time and let's just say there were a few near misses in the tangle department.

 You can sure tell when this boy is happy.

 There are all kinds of ways to fly a kite.

Erik was our professional wagon puller! Grateful for a big kid who is willing to cater to the littles.  

I am happy to report that Bob and Jerrod returned safely to a well-fed and relaxed family. 

I guess you could say we had our own little vacation while they were gone.

Smash Party

Overheating, blitzing lights, and finally no micro-waves performing their dirty deeds.

We had a death in the family.

I asked Erik to make preparations for its going-to-the-dump burial.

He said, "Mom, can I throw it over the side of the steps?"

I shuddered and immediately said shouted, "NO!" in a are-you-crazy-sarcastic-kind-of-way.

What kind of example would that set for the younger kids? 

Throwing stuff around disrespectfully. What else would they try?

The possibility of shattering glass, inevitably finding their way into little feet?

And then the revelation.  

WHY NOT? WHY ever-for-the-love-of-pete NOT?

Hoping to be the "cool home school mom," I planned an impromptu "Smash Party," a.k.a. the fun science experiment where learning occurs without trying.

I called a meeting in the driveway. 

Late March and we are desperate for spring.

Investigating the specimen, checking for glass parts and loose pieces.

To my astonishment only metal and plastic. Cheap old thing.

After announcing the plan/objective of the experiment, 

I sent the team scrambling for tools of torture.

The objective: Get inside the microwave to see what we could find. 

Poor thing. It is about to be totally violated.

When you are the youngest, your pick of the tools is diminished.

At some point, Micah decided he needed a life jacket in order to effectively perform his duty. Perhaps, the plastic sand shovel sparked the idea.

 No worries. He got his turn with the bat.

His determination will serve him well. 

Clamoring for a turn among seven older siblings is no small feat.

"Yes, sweet pea, this is the crazy family who chose you."

"No dear, not an average day in America."

 Then we get serious.

 And the big boy puts the hammer down.

 'Cause fifteen-year-olds just wanna have fun.

 Making some dent progress. 

Teacher then asks the class, "What else can we try?"

 Several students came up with the idea of tossing...

 ...and impact.

 Yeah, baby!

 First part off! So proud ! Now what?

 The three musketeers come up with their very own plan!

 Seems like a good one.

 Can we say Yes-For-Success? Innards exposed.

Joshua, with protective headgear. claimed the control panel. 

Note the mittened hand and winter jacket, contrasting the bare feet.

 More throwing.

 Do you see a theme here? Big boy is wanting a piece.

He got it.

I'm thinking that this blog post is getting a little boring but for pete's sake, it IS a lab report. You are supposed to write down everything you tried. Thank me later for leaving out the other 100+ pictures. 

 What else can we do? 

Working together is always good.

Let me introduce you to the team. The boys provided the lift using a lever or is this considered a pulley,  little did they know it was a simple machine...

 Meet our lovely counter balance.

 The hoist is complete.

 The suspense is real.

 

 Crash! 

Isn't science fun?

 Way too fun. This method had multiple attempts.

 Cool! Most of them had no idea what a circuit board looked like.

Objective has been met.

Microwave exposed.

 Wait a minute, the biggest boy/Marine Poolee just showed up.

 After very little sibling peer pressure, he had a go.

And got his part.

'Cause he IS the best and coolest big brother ever!

 As the longest blog post ever draws to an end, I assure you

 that when Daddy came home and asked what we learned today...

There was plenty to tell.

THE END