4 Months in the USA

This week we hit our 4 month mark of having the kids home in the USA.  It's good for us to look back and see how far we've come.  Sometimes we get stuck in the "right now" that we forget how really awesome these guys are doing.  I mean just think about it.  They left everything they knew 4 months ago and went with 2 strangers.  They flew on 2 airplanes for 20 some hours and entered another country where the language, food, temperature, transportation, scenery, homes, animals, and especially the culture were all foreign to them.  Wow! That has just got to be overwhelming and exhausting all at the same time.  These kids sleep every night from 8pm to 7am and we wonder why they seem so tired sometimes.  Their brains are probably so tired of translating and they work so hard to fit in every moment of everyday.  Sometimes they seem so terrified at little things like haircuts and escalators.  Things we find so normal.  I just can't imagine how dificult life is on a daily basis for them.  They are doing great and we love their God blessed courage in trying out new things! 


To start the week off Josh had a trip to see Dr. Greg.  Josh apparently was stung by a bee at school last Friday during recess and didn't tell anyone about.  Well by Monday morning he had a super sore arm and a nasty looking bite area.  Dr. Greg put hin on antibiotics and it was a painful week with the arm.  When the basketball landed on it and the infection oozed out we saw the recovery process start to happen.  Josh had 11 vials of blood taken at Riley and never flinched or complained but this bee sting got the best of him.  I know it had to hurt because Josh Clark is one tough kid!

Monday we got a package in the mail from some of our favorite people.  The kids love getting the mail and when it is a package to them it's even better.  Jeff was working late Monday so getting the package was a huge blessing for me.  The kids were more than willing to get baths quickly and homework done in order to see what was in that package!  Thanks Mike, Erin, Jacob, and Joseph.  The games were a huge hit!

On Tuesday we went to evaluations for Upwards Basketball.  The kids loved the Upwards Soccer program so we thought we might as well try the basketball.  It is held at our church where the kids are comfortable and they really love Coach Cory and the others involved.

The highlight of this week was Daddy Jeff's birthday. They've been counting the days for awhile now. We have a calendar we look at each morning and when they see something way down in the middle of the month they can't wait to get to that point.    The kids are a big help in the kitchen. Cate was in charge of the cake baking.  She loved licking those beaters.

 They both helped frosting and sometimes you just have to try it out to be sure it taste ok! Josh loves that job!  Josh was the go-to person in charge of the french fries.  That is probably their favorite American food!  After every doctor's appointment (and you know we've had a few) they get FF from McD's as their reward.  They can go through anything to get those FFs. 

  They were so excited to give Daddy his gifts and were really thrilled to find a small gift for themselves.  Slippers are a necessity at our house and they were excited to get some.  

 The big gift of the night was a new bike for Dad.  They really could not keep the secret and kept spilling the beans on what the big gift was.  We finally got to go outside and see what Dad was getting.  I now know not to tell these guys any secrets.  They have too much excitement inside waiting to get out to be trusted with a secret. 

Daddy Jeff's birthday was fun for all of us.  We thank Mom and Bob for joining us in the joy!

Our friends, John & Kim Porter, visited on Saturday.  John's birthday is the day after Jeff's so we always try to celebrate together.  It was fun to have guests.

The last big piece of excitement for the week was we replaced our Wii.  It had quit working and we found it was cheaper to replace than to fix so Best Buy helped us out and we now have a Wii that works.  The kids are having fun figuring out Mario Bros. 

I still managed to get a trip to Carmel to hold Sweet Nolan and man is he sweet!  He gets cuter everyday but why am I telling you this?  Just check out the pictures below!

Oh life is going to be so much fun heading into the holidays.  We just can't imagine the excitement Josh & Cate are going to bring into our household as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Christ.  It's so great being able to share our love with these kids.  Watch the video below (and I hope it comes through) and you'll realize that life is all about choices and we are Choosing Joy at our house!

November rolls on.

Jeff was gone this week and I survived being a single parent so it was a good week.  We did have our first snow flurries and that was exciting for the kids.  They heard it on the news and everyone talking about the possibility of snow so they constantly kept checking out the windows to see if it had happened yet. We had a few flurries one day while they were at school.  They got to experience it at recess.  This first video is them trying to tell me about it when they got off the bus.  You can see they are very excited.  Notice there is no snow on the ground.  We just had a few flurries and they were very pumped up about it.  Imagine when it snows inches what the excitement level will be around here.  Cate was sure she needed to wear her new snowpants and boots to school that morning.  The weekend was great so we did some yard work and the kids are always excited to help with that.  You gotta love kids that want to work!

On Sunday we drove to Carmel to get some "Nolan" time.  Our grandson is now 2 months old and gets cuter everyday!  Uncle Josh & Aunt Cate always enjoy spending time with their nephew Nolan.  Grandma & Grandpa love it too!

There are always trees to climb and leaves to rake at Ate Autumn & Kuya Nick's house.  The kids love to go there and take their bikes.  Lots of outdoor fun to be had.

 Thanks for reading the blog.  See you next week! 
Choosing joy,
Chris & crew

Halloween and Bowling

The week started off with Trick or Treating on Monday.  You know this is sort of a strange tradition here in America.  It's really hard to explain why we do this to 2 kiddos from the Philippines.  They just couldn't figure out what we were talking about until we actually got out there and started going door to door.  They certainly picked up the routine quickly and joined in with the neighbor kids.  We are thrilled to have some great families here on our street that include our kids in their activities.  Josh was the Ultimate Ninja and Cate was Super Girl.  They both picked costumes that fit their personality!

We had some free time on the weekend and the kids were great at helping us reorganize the storage room in the basement so we thought we'd treat them to bowling.  They have done bowling on the Wii and they have some bowling computer math games but they've never done the real live bowling alley experience so we gave it a try.  The idea of putting on different shoes was weird to them.  They weren't buying it at first and wouldn't put on the weird shoes but finally gave in.  I guess they didn't like the style.  Who can blame them?  They thought the bowling balls were really heavy and used the bumpers alot but all in all it went great we thought. 

Of course we have our normal moments during the week where we are just getting ready for school or playing with Zoe.  Being lazy on Saturday mornings is a favorite thing to do too! 

You know I have to include some pictures of our new grandson Sweet Nolan Clark.  He is adorable I must say and makes this Grandma's heart smile!

Thanks for reading the blog.  We treasure your prayers and support.  And always remember to keep
Choosing Joy,
Chris & crew