10 weeks? Really?

Well as you know time just keeps moving on and we just keep charging ahead with it.  Our weeks are falling into a pattern and that's starting to feel good.  The kids no longer seem shocked that they have to go to school "Again?"  They pretty much got the routine that we go to school 5 days in a row and then have 2 off for the "party" weekends. 

We started out this week by trying out a variety of cold cereals.  This mom is getting tired of hot breakfasts everyday.  In the Philippines they ate hot food for each meal so cold cereal was not something they were used to.  I decided we needed a smorgasboard of cold cereals and of course I picked all of our family favorites....Cinnamon Toast Crunch for Luke, Cookie Crisp for Nick, Reeses Puffs for Courtney, Lucky Charms for Mommy, and we had already tried out Daddy's favorite of Vanilla Almond Crunch Special K.  After our taste testing party Josh chose Reeses Puffs and Cate went with Lucky Charms.  I did catch Cate picking out all the marshmellows and putting them in her bowl and leaving the other brown pieces for mommy.  Now what kid hasn't tried that before? She gave me a big grin when she was caught thinking she was the first to ever do this.

The kids had a lot of fun after school playing at the neighbor's house on their swingset.  Thanks Frye family for being kind and letting Josh & Cate play at your house.

On Saturday Raytheon had their company picnic at Paiges' Crossing.  The weather didn't cooperate but we did get in a few rides.  We didn't think about the fact that these kids had never ridden any rides before.  They were petrified at first and not real thrilled about trying them.  The only way to convince them to try was if Mommy & Daddy did it too.

Sunday we spent time playing in their rooms with them.  These kiddos aren't used to playing so we decided we would show them how.  We got out the trucks and barbies from our older kids and spent several hours upstairs playing.  Later in the day we took Josh to get his first haircut in the USA.  We again didn't think about the fact that he had never had his haircut in a shop.  We later learned it was just always cut at the orphanage.  This makes sense and now explains why he looked so terrified and serious during the process.  He never moved an inch in the 30 minutes it took to cut his hair.  So many new experiences for these kids.  We love how brave and trusting they are in us and Jesus.  They truly are allowing him to guide them through their day.

 Later on we started cleaning the basement and these guys are good workers.  They pitched right in and wanted to run the sweeper and worked hard.  We also found our old Fisher Price record player and got it out.  We pulled out Jeff's old show tune albums and had a good time listening to Annie and others. We also found some Halloween lights that were perfect for hanging up in their rooms as night lights.  And it is the season you know!  The kids then wanted to help cook dinner so that was another fun experience.  Of course they needed aprons and really enjoyed themselves.  It was a fun Sunday.

And we all know how great kids are when they are all fresh & clean after a bath.  With robes and slippers we were ready to snuggle with milkshakes and watch a movie before bed.  Afterall we can't skip the important things!  God bless you for praying and following our journey.

It just gets better and better!

Well we have to start this week's recap by announcing that we have a new baby in the family. No we didn't adopt again... Our son Nick and his wife Autumn had a baby boy. Our first grandchild came into the world this past Tuesday (Sept 13th...Yay Lauren ). Nolan Denham Clark weighed in at 8lbs 12 oz and 21 1/2 in long. He is definitely precious & perfect by this Grandma's point of view.

Nolan was born on Tuesday and on Wednesday we made the trip to Indy once again.  We all went down to the Riley International Adoption Cllinic for an overall check up.  They took 11 vials of blood from these kiddos.  They were checking their titers and general overall health. 

We have discovered that Cate has a profound hearing loss in her right ear so she had a cat scan to investigate this problem further.  She seemed a little scared but layed very still for the scan.

 We finished our week out with soccer on Saturday plus a trip to the Johnny Appleseed Festival on Sunday.  It was an eventful week.

It was such a blessed week with Nolan's birth happening.  Just when you think it can't get any better, God blesses us again.   Thanks for reading our blog and praying for us. 

Another week bites the dust!

We did find the camera so it's been a good picture weekend.  We had a great weekend with the boys and their wives.  Here are some of our fun memories.  We started our weekend in Carmel with Nick & Autumn and baby boy Clark.   We attended their Northview church and saw one of our Chapel friends, KPaul.  Also as you can see Autumn and Nick are ready to meet their son.  Autumn will be birthing that child this week and we are excited to hold him in our arms.  They had a really neat park near their house that we all played at so that was great fun!

We left Nick & Autumn's and headed to Brownsburg to visit Luke & Susi.  It was fun to be in the homes of our older children as they welcomed our new ones. 

Susi had given Luke a birthday gift of a race around the track at Lucas Oil Stadium in Clermont.  So we all headed to the raceway to watch Kuya Luke race in a stock car.  It was pretty cool to see him suit up and climb into the car "dukes of hazzard style".

In case you are wondering "Luke was winner!" as Josh put it.  Josh was very impressed with the racetrack and Kuya Luke's blue cobra.  I think he already has that racing bug.

After the track we played with Luke & Susi's cool dogs and had lunch.  Susi cooked for us plus Nick and Autumn joined us too.  It was fun.  We missed Zach & Courtney and wished they could of joined us.  Today is Courtney's birthday.  Happy 24th Birthday Courtney.  We love you!

It was a fun weekend on the road and the kids did great.  It was good to get home though and we always love it when we turn into our subdivision and the kids shouts "Home! Yay!"  Thanks for reading the blog and have a great day!