Really Exciting News + Birthdays!

Esther's New Jessie Doll - she loved her old one
to death, literally!  She LOVE her new Jessie!

Can you tell that Esther
Loved her New Ball! 

Our Dossier has been accepted in Priscilla's Country, and we should get "the signature"s in 1 - 2 weeks and then they'll tell us our travel dates soon after that...to know more, check out my blog post about that.  PLUS we will be changing her name when she becomes officially ours, and I announced what her new name will be too! I actually wrote that post last Thursday and it already has more page views than any other post on my adoption blog, so you really should check it out!  Right now we are thinking we'll be traveling to meet her either the last week of October or sometime early in November!

We are busy preparing for Jeremy's wedding - I finally got my new blouse to wear with my dressy black skirt just yesterday.  I have a few details to square away, but  I'm getting there!

Rachel got a couple of lovely books
from her friends!

Just this week we had the opportunity to get a lot of mushy pears and peaches and I immediately thought "baby food" and then "I won't need that this year" but then I thought of Christy (Priscilla's new name, but you really need to read my post about what her full name is and what it means!).  She is likely to have eating issues as the orphanages tend to bottle feed the children until they are much older, and then they are given baby food for a long time.  So having baby food, home preserved, would be great.  If we don't use it for her, then we can make fruit leather later!

Sam and her sister/Maid of Honor, Emily!

We've had a few birthday's this month!  Daniel turned 12 (sorry no photos, we had his birthday at Jeremy's house after church and we did not take a camera with us!), Rachel turned sweet 16 and Esther turned 5 just last week!

Sam plus her grandmother, mother, sister and friends!

We've gone to two showers for Sam so far.  I took a few photos at our church's shower.  It was a beautiful time celebrating their love story.  I was so amazed at how amazing Jeremy sounded from her sharing of their story.  He also impressed everyone by dropping by the church before the shower and leaving her a beautiful bouquet with a really cool chocolate duckie!  He has turned out to be one amazing young man, romantic to the bone - not sure where he got that from!

My hair styled with a small
Lilla Rose Flexi Clip

I'm continuing to lose inches doing T-Tapp and following the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating.  I still have a long way to go but I'm loving how I feel.  I feel a lot slimmer than I look, but I'm hoping that I will look as slim as I feel before long!

To prepare for Jeremy's wedding, I layered my hair and added some more to my bangs.  I starting to experiment with ways to style my hair.  Today I tried curling the ends.  I'm planning on an "up do" but it's fun to find out what else works, as there's still one more shower and the rehearsal night too!

And I just signed up to be a Lilla Rose Consultant!  We love our Flexi-Clips so much we want to get more without paying full retail, plus sharing them with others!  I'll share more on that later, but for now you can use the link in my side bar or Click HERE to check out all the wonderful hair style helpers they carry!

The Last of Summer and Some Exciting News!

First the exciting news - our dossier has been submitted! If you want to know more about what that means, read My Blog Post about that!Our summer officially ended over 2 weeks ago.  We began homeschooling early this year since we know that we will be taking extra time off for our two trips to meet and bring Priscilla home, plus I will need to take a week off to prepare for Jeremy's wedding - just a little over 5 weeks away now!

Speaking of the wedding, I have a lot to do and I need to get going on it - color coordinating clothes for Daryl, myself and all the children Rebekah on down.  That is a lot of shopping.  I also need to get shower and wedding gifts and workout the last details of catering the rehearsal dinner.  On top of all that I need to begin to think about our trip to meet Priscilla, which could happen in very close proximity to the wedding!  I just keep reminding myself when I begin to get flustered that everything is still under the control of God's sovereign hand, and that if I look to Him for wisdom and strength I will have all I need to accomplish His will for me each and every day!

We ended our first week of school by spending the afternoon at the beach.   We had a great time, especially Esther who just can't get enough water time!  Carese has not quite developed a love of the water, but she loves playing in the sand and getting a little wet!

The Shirt Says it All!

Carese has found that she love fruit.  Even if her little teeth aren't quite up the challenge of eating an apple quite yet, she does try for all she's worth!  She's also a great subject for Rachel's photography!

In other news, Daniel turned 12 years old this past week, and Rachel will be turning 16 this weekend!  How time flies!  Esther will also have a birthday this month - she will be turning 5 years old!  She is suddenly growing like crazy!  She getting bigger and she's learning news words and new things to do!  Read my Blog Post about her recent advancements for more on that!

Carese is growing and learning too.  She is saying new words, and she is learning sign language very quickly.  So far she has signed without prompting "more", "please", "milk", "cookie", "all done" and others.  If she's all fussy about something, and you suggest the thing that she needs, like a bottle, she'll stop crying and sign!  It's amazing!  She loves pointing at things too.

Esther and Carese are quickly becoming buddies.  They love to play together and in general, Esther is really good with Carese.  We do have to keep an eye on them though, as Carese is a little dare devil and has no fear, and Esther can get a little pushy at times.  Esther is about twice the size of Carese, and she knows it.  But she loves Carese and the two of them often have little hugging and kissing parties.  Sometimes these parties even take place on my lap as they vie for my attention - too much fun!

This week another big event is happening - Jonathan is moving out.  Since Jeremy is getting married, Jason is moving out of Jeremy's house.  Jonathan is going to share an apartment with Jason and another friend.  Jonathan is still driving truck and loving it.  We will miss having him at home, but I think this will be good for him.  The three younger boys will have such a spacious bedroom!  I'll get a photo of that once Jonathan is moved out and we've re-arranged. 

Speaking of re-arranging bedrooms, I did that this week for the little girls and I really like the new arrangement.  We removed all toys from the bedroom in order to simplify things both in general as well as to prepare for Priscilla's coming home as she might be overwhelmed if the bedroom is too exciting.  I was just realizing this week that we will be in the market for another crib in the next few months as Carese will be outgrowing her little crib - I think it' a one year crib, but I really have no idea.  She has learned that she can climb out if anything it near the crib, so I had to change that right away!

Looking over this post I realize that I have too many photos of Carese, sorry about that.  I will work harder to get photos of all the children and be more fair about that! She's just so stinking cute!

Fir

I am (Almost) a Trim Healthy Mama!

I say "almost" because I am not a Trim Healthy Mama "yet".  I am trimmer, but not yet trim.  But, I AM healthy!  And I am most certainly a Mama - in fact, I think it would be said that I am a Mega Mom! I think having 12 children would qualify me for "Mega Mom" status, wouldn't you?  But, I do not want to ever be a "Mega Sized Mama" ever again!

As you read in my last post, I started a journey to regain my health over a year ago, beginning with T-Tapp.  That was an awesome basis for my return to health.  When I started T-Tapp, I had just began to be able to go around without crutches for the first time in over 4 months.  I was out of shape and over weight.  I did some experimenting with my diet through last fall.  I went sugar free for a few weeks.  I tried a little of this and a little of that to just be eating healthier overall.  I switched over to only using good fats - olive oil, coconut oil (instead of shortening) and butter.

We had the opportunity to watch a couple of inspiring DVDs - Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, and Food Inc.  I found that something that I had begun to suffer from over the summer was, in fact, "Urticaria".  Joe, of the Fat Sick and Nearly Dead DVD had suffered from this.  My doctor had told me that my immune system was out of whack and was thinking that any irritation to my skin was a cause for an all out battle, so even something as minor as a mosquito bite because eczema very quickly - painful and itchy and would not go away.  I began to be serious about trying to eat right and get healthier.  I did some juicing - that DVD was so inspiring I just had to try it.  I couldn't do a full on juice fast since I was still nursing Carese, but I did have a fresh veggie/fruit juice for breakfast everyday for about a month. Within a few weeks of eating right, cutting our sugar and refined flour, and doing some juicing, my urticaria began to heal and disappear!

So, fast forward to this past spring.  I was so excited that I had consistently lose inches from T-Tapp and I felt overall healthy, and I had so many projects around our home that needed attention. So I made this huge summer "To Do" list and dug in with a vengeance.  The only problem was, that after just a few days of painting and cleaning projects I bottomed out.  I just couldn't do it.  I was tired, yet I wasn't sleeping well at night.  My left eye was constantly twitching.  I had mood swings and was definitely dealing with some hormonal issues.  I did some research, as well as began to feel that many of the things I was dealing with were similar to what I dealt with over 10 years ago when I experience adrenal fatigue.  I decided that what I needed was a real juice fast.  I started a 15 day boot camp which was 5 days of eating all fruits and veggies, cooked, raw, juiced and blended, followed by 5 days of just juicing.  I actually did 8 days of juicing and then I hit the wall.  I just couldn't go on.  I told Daryl that I HAD to quit - it was doing great things for my health (my eye had stopped twitching and my energy had returned), but I could tell my metabolism was shutting down - I was cold all the time and super cranky!  Juice fasting and motherhood just are not great companions, and that is a fact.

That very day, I got an email showing a blog post about a book about eating healthy that was written by two "mothers of many,"  Trim Healthy Mama.  It was perfect timing.  Everything that this blog post said about this book made sense and I knew that this would be the next step in my journey to health.  I did some research into the book and the program and found the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook page for women using the program (over 8,000 members at the time) and talked it over with Daryl.  I ordered the book (there was a wait time) and adjusted my diet according to the basic principles of the book (yeah, I'll get to that in a minute).  I also borrowed the book from a friend and began reading like there was no tomorrow!  I finished the first 10 chapters or so in just a couple of days, and then researched what supplies I needed to have on hand for most of the recipes that I thought I would like.  I talked about the eating plan with my husband and older girls, and was able to get them to agree to try this with me for the 4 weeks left until our church camp out.

Fast forward a few weeks.  we were challenged at first to work out what recipes we liked, as well as how to tweak recipes that we already have, and find something easy and enjoyable for us.  Some of us were more challenged as they were dealing with sugar withdrawals (I was just coming off a juice fast and had been sugar free for a while), so that made it hard the first week.  But we all stuck with it and worked to find what would work for us.  Here are some of the benefits we discovered in that first 4 weeks:

No intestinal distress - no gas, no indigestion, no burping!
Acne/pimples were nearly gone - great reduction in blemishes for all of us
Noticeable inch loss, and for those of us who were weighing, there was significant pounds lost too!
Cravings greatly reduced - sugar was not our only addiction we quickly found out, but after a couple of weeks, all cravings were basically gone (well, if someone ate something in front of us, it might be a difficult temptation, but we were no longer craving foods/snacks.treats out of the blue)
Better Sleep!  At least for Daryl and I
Dessert every night - this made everything worth it!

So, as we approached the camp out, I asked if they were going to return to the plan after camp.  Daryl was so enthusiastic about this way of eating that he didn't even want to eat our old way even at camp - we both ended up caving here and there, but mostly stuck to plan at camp!  The older girls were mixed on going back on plan, but Jessica decided to go back on plan in order to be as healthy as possible in preparing to be standing up in Jeremy's wedding (she really enjoyed/is enjoying the lack of blemishes when she is "on plan").

So, here we are, 2 months since we started the "Trim Healthy Mama" way of life.  Unlike any other diet I have ever been on (and there have been many), this is becoming our new "normal."  We are loving how we feel, and loving the lost inches.  Daryl has very little left to loose and is now experimenting with meals that are meant for weight maintenance.  I had a very busy two weeks in August, and although I had not cheated during those two weeks, I felt that I probably had not lost much, as I was just eating what was our new normal, and no longer having to focus on what I was eating.  To my surprise, I had a record inch loss - over 8 inches lost in 2 weeks!  I was doing T-Tapp regularly, but I was still having THM desserts every night!  I believe I can safely say that this is now a way of eating that I will be sticking to for the rest of my life.  I never want to go back to eating foods that may taste good at the time that they enter my mouth, but leave a legacy of indigestion, gas, lethargy, acne and weight gain.  We are eating tasty meals, delicious snacks and desserts.  For many of our meals, you'd be hard pressed to even tell what we did differently - it looks the same, just made differently.  We have homemade pizza every week, lasagna monthly, spaghetti and burgers every week.  We have scrambled eggs and bacon or muffins for breakfast every day.  I have delicious protein smoothies every afternoon.  I do "cheat" once in a while, but it's usually things like popcorn, or thin whole wheat burger buns - still healthy foods, just a little too heavy in the carbs - but it's working - I'm still losing inches and feeling wonderful!  A few things I've cheated on and regretted though - Little Caesar's Pizza or a Dairy Queen Blizzard for example, were very hard on my system - indigestion, gas, pain were my punishments.

So what is the basics of this way of eating?  In a nutshell, you will learn when reading Trim Healthy Mama, that eating two sources of fuel in a meal will cause you to burn one and store the other.  Fuel sources for our bodies are fats and carbohydrates.  So a doughnut is the ultimate evil in this plan.  So it having a burger on a big old bun, and adding some french fries or potato chips.  So we choose to have our hamburger on a low carb bun or tortilla shell, and then have a salad or veggies with dip on the side.  By limiting your fuel source to one fuel, your body will easily burn that fuel source and will not pack anything into fat on your body.  So there is two types of meals in this plan - the "fat" based meal that is rich in good fats and low in carbs, and the "carb" based meals that are higher in carbs and low in fats. Instead of sugar, you used forms of stevia, and instead of wheat flours in most recipes you use things like almond meal and flax meal.

It is so good for you, and after you get adjusted to this way of eating (probably at least 2 weeks for most people to get the hang of it), it is quite easy.  It does require purchasing ingredients that most people do not regularly purchase, and some of these things can be a little pricey.  But once we were on the plan for a little while, the extra costs have lessened (we had to purchase a lot of new things all at once to start off, but now we just replace them as we use them up, so it's not all at once).  

I highly recommend getting this book for another reason besides learning to be healthy - the first 12 chapters are chocked full of great information about how our bodies process foods, and what nutrition is and all sorts of great information about health.  I'm going to be requiring my children to read these chapters this year as part of their science curriculum!

As a side note, it's a fun book to read.  It's written by two very different sisters, and they can be so funny as they banter back and forth in the book and even in the recipes!  One sister has 9 children and the other has 6 children.  The mamas were both home-schooled growing up and home-school their children.  One is a super healthy purist (i.e. no microwaves) and the other is on the more practical side (i.e. if it takes too much time, it's not going to work for me).  It's a great balance that ensures that most moms will be able to relate to one or the other!  They even have easy vs purist version of many of the recipes!

I think one of the best things about this way of eating is that both of these mamas got to the point of no longer needing to lose weight.  They found that they had to make adjustments to the plan in order to maintain a healthy weight!  They created meals that will tweak the weight lost meals so that they are maintenance meals.  So you don't end up at your goal weight and then left all alone, trying to figure out how to keep what you've worked to hard to achieve!  Also, this way of eating can also be used when pregnant or nursing, you just need to have more of the meals that are weight maintaining in order to support the extra demand on your body!  I sure wish I had known about this years ago, but it wasn't known then so I'm just thankful that I have found it now!  And these are proof that is works - they've both been following this way of eating for years and years and they both look so healthy and trim!

A little warning to those interested in trying out this way of eating.  The book seems pricey, but there are hundreds of easy to follow recipes - it's almost more of a recipe book than anything else!  But it's so important to read the actual book and understand the how and why of this way of eating and why it works so well.

And a little tip - there are tons of recipes to be found on blogs, Pinterest, the Facebook Page, and the Trim Healthy Mama forums.  And there's lots of help to be found too - can't figure something out?  Go to the Facebook Page of the Forums and ask and you'll get lots of help!

And lastly - I know you're thinking "I just can't live without chocolate" - well, let me tell you, these ladies LOVE chocolate and so do lots of other mamas on this plan, so there's tons and tons or great chocolate recipes!

So what are you waiting for?  Go buy Trim Healthy Mama and start your journey to good health and a trim figure today!

I'm A T-Tapp Success!

No, I am not at my goal weight.  No I am not "done."  Yes, I have made amazing progress.  Yes, I still have a long way to go.

Over a month ago I was contacted by the staff at T-Tapp.com and was asked to write a T-Tapp Success Story!  They had noticed that my posting about the success I have experienced doing T-Tapp  was very encouraging to other women on the T-Tapp Forums!

After getting encouragement from several friends and online friends I decided to take them up on their offer and I wrote the following as my T-Tapp testimony.  It will be live on their site, I am told, on Tuesday, August 12!

Here's what I wrote for that story:

My T-Tapp Success Story

Before I began T-tapp in June 2012, then 11 months of doing T-Tapp!

First I need to give you some background for you to see how significant this “Success Story” is in my life. As a child and teenager I was very aware that I was not skinny like all the models and popular kids in school. I started my first diet in junior high. Through high school I tried every fad diet that came along (that I could afford), and even tried diet pills and ended up anorexic during my senior year, getting to my lowest adult weight of 135 (I am 5 ft 10 in and have a large bone structure). After recovering from that I swore off dieting. I went to college the next fall and during my freshman year I gained weight like never before. I ended up weighing 185 when I went home for summer break. That summer I succumbed to my anorexia again, but this time I was an exercising maniac. I did alternated aerobics and weight lifting while eating next to nothing. By the end of the summer I was down to 150. I kept on my regime, eating one small meal a day (if at all), living on diet pills and diet pop. I even became an aerobics instructor that year. This continue until the next fall. Then I became engaged to my best friend, swore off dieting, and promptly put on 20 pounds when I went on birth control pills to prepare for being married.

Fast forward 15 years. I had not dieted in the least, and had gone through 8 pregnancies. I had lost the baby weight after my first baby, but never again. I was usually around 220 - 240 between pregnancies. Then I found the Atkins Diet. Long story short, but I lost weight and got down to 190, but it wreaked havoc on my health. After another pregnancy, the loss of a dearly beloved niece, and a miscarriage I suffered from severe adrenal fatigue (diagnosed by a naturopathic doctor). I began to take my health seriously. I ate right and took supplements and was able to recover and went on to have more babies. I then seemed to be around 240 – 250 between pregnancies. After my 10^th baby I even did Curves for over a year and got fit and lost a few pounds, but had to step down after I got pregnant with my 10^th baby.

Fast forward again. I didn't diet again until I found myself pushing 280 pounds after spending months in the hospital with our 11^th child, Esther, who has Down Syndrome and was born with a heart defect, which required open heart surgery when she was just 3 months old. All the hospital food and sitting around really did a number on my weight, and being 45 didn't help either. I also, for the first time, hod my blood pressure elevated high enough to require that I go on high blood pressure medication. So when Esther was 1 ½ years old we were introduced to the Body For Life regime and both my husband and I tried that. I was able to regain my health and strength over a period of 3 months and drop about 30 pounds, but then it stalled. The program was just not doable in the long run when I had a large family to care for. 30 – 45 minutes every day and eating separate meals just didn't work. I was able to maintain the weight loss, but even thought I tried several times, I just could not stay with the regimen. One benefit from losing the extra pounds was I was able to go off of high blood pressure med, but my BP was still hovering in the upper ranges of normal. Good but not great.

Two years after starting BFL I was still at 250 and I got pregnant at 47 years of age. We were surprised to say the least. Due to some pregnancy complications (mostly due to my age) I was on bed rest starting at 30 weeks, put on high blood pressure medication again, and ended up having Carese 3 weeks early via emergency C-Section due to cord compression. She was so tiny but so healthy. I was thrilled to be able to go home with my baby so quickly. I was looking forward to gaining the strength that I had lost during all the bed rest! Only problem was, I injured my knee when she was 6 weeks old, and it turned out to be a major knee injury requiring me to be on crutches off and on for the next 4 months. Needless to say I got weaker and gained more weight, topping out at an all time high non-pregnancy weight of 285. My blood pressure also remained high, requiring me to stay on medication.

Just after I was off crutches I heard about T-Tapp! I was sent a link to Charlotte Siems website (http://charlottesiems.com/ ). I was amazed that a fellow mom of 12 could lose all the weight and keep it off for years. I knew that if she could do it, so could I! I ordered the MORE 2 and did my measuring and started my 14 day boot-camp the middle of August 2012. I still had pain in my knee quit often and iced it every night. I also got involved in the T-Tapp Forums and found a great resource for encouragement and advice! After just a few weeks of T-Tapp I was pain free and going quickly up and down the stairs and I was able to discontinue using blood pressure medication with the approval of my doctor. It was amazing! I was losing about 4 inches per week for the first month or so. I was consistently doing my workouts three times a week. By the beginning of December I had moved on to MORE 2 and I had lost over 40 inches! I was struggling with some shoulder and back issues by then (due to nursing my baby in bed at “my old age”, so as I turned 49 I found my self very limited in what I could do in my workouts. I continued to do what I could and turned to the T-Tapp forums for help too. I learned about Magnesium and finally gave it a try. After over a month of back spasms, they went away the first time I sprayed Magnesium oil on my lower back! They did come back, but each time I used the MO and used ice and they went away again. I started a nightly routine of spraying MO and after a few weeks they were gone. My shoulder continued to give me trouble, but that was easier to work around than back spasms!

Through the rest of that winter and spring I sporadically did MORE 2 and tried to eat relatively healthy foods and even did a few bouts of being sugar/white flour free. My inch loss slowed to about 4 inches a month. I was very busy processing our newest journey, that of international adoption. After a wild month of fund raising in April I decided to take May off – no workouts, eating whatever. That was the first month since starting T-Tapp that I actually gained inches – a whopping 16 inches in just 4 weeks! Not good!

Once our paperwork was submitted for our adoption and we began the wait, I realized that I really needed to get ready for two trips abroad! But I had pushed myself too hard for too long. I was still nursing a toddler “at my age” and not getting enough sleep most nights. I just couldn't get myself moving, yet I pushed myself to get some projects done anyway. Very quickly I found my self showing signs of adrenal fatigue again. So I did a short round of juicing, resting and taking supplements recommended for adrenal fatigue. When I hit day 8 of the juice fast I simultaneously “hit the wall” and could not go on and heard about an awesome new book about eating healthy for moms! I worked my way off of the juice fast and started doing my MORE 2 workouts while I waited for the book. I started the “Trim Healthy Mama” way of eating three weeks ago and it's amazing – even makes use of some of the amazing things that I learned about from the T-Tapp Forums!). It's healthy and balanced, and I'm eating a wide variety of foods and does not seem like a diet at all. This is very doable for the long run as I'm eating nearly all the foods that I like to eat, with just a few tweaks and being careful about which foods I eat together! I was sure I would gain back inches eating this way, but I didn't, I continued to lose inches! I also started a 28 day T-Tapp challenge so I was doing my T-Tapp faithfully again for the first time in months (I still have a little shoulder pain, but I am finally able to do all the movements again!). From the beginning of June until now I have lost 31 inches (including re-losing those 16 inches that I gained in May), for a total overall inch loss of over 70 inches in 11 months. I was finally able to use a friend's scale and found that I have lost about 30 pounds since I began this T-Tapp journey.

Best of all I'm starting to have some energy again. Also my blood pressure is now averaging the BP of a teenager! It's the lowest it's been in over 10 years! I still have days where I struggle, but I've had some wonderful days of tackling long ignored projects too! I know I have not even made it close to my “goal weight” but I really have no idea what that weight will be. I have about 70 pounds to lose to get to the weight I was when I got married, but with my T-Tapp “long, lean muscle fibers” I might still fit into my wedding dress but weigh more and be in better shape! My daughter is very similar to my build at her age, so if I go by her measurements I have about 45 inches to lose – now that sounds very encouraging and do-able to me!

So, you may ask, “What is so successful about your story?” No, I'm not at my goal “measurements” and no where near my old idea of “ideal weight”, but I have made great strides in the past 11 months. With the exception of one month, I have consistently lost inches, even when I was rarely doing my T-Tapp. I'd go for weeks without doing a workout and yet find I had lost little if any strength or endurance! But when I am consistent with my workouts, I do lose the inches faster. I have succeeded at losing 2/3s of my extra inches in less than a year. That is success. That is inspiring. I'm inspired to keep on keeping on – for the rest of my life. My goal is to be able to do the 15 minute workout someday. 15 minutes, three times a week for life sounds wonderful. So does finding a new “goal measurement”. So if you take anything away from my story, remember to “do what you can,” take your measurements, and throw out that scale!

That's it, that's my story up to last month.  As of this week I've been doing T-Tapp for an entire year.  I've never done any exercise program for that long!  And I'm back at it even after our family vacation!  In fact, I'm going to try doing the Basic Workout every day and see how that goes!  Also, I am now doing the BWO+ that I had mentioned in my testimonial as something I hoped to do someday!  I've been doing that workout for almost a month now!  Hurray!  I'm due to measure, as I try to measure 1 - 2 times a month, but my measuring tape is missing!

Happy Birthday to Priscilla!

The girls had fun at our yearly family reunion!  We all did actually!

Today is Priscilla's 3rd birthday!  We had really hoped to have been to visit her by now, but that was not in God's plan.

Esther wanted me to smell the flowers!

 However, we did get our I800a approval letter in the mail today and we have already gotten it notarized!  This is the last document that we have to send in so that our dossier can be submitted.  I do still have to get it apostilled, and sent in, so it looks like we will be getting submitted around the end of August or beginning of September.  That means we'll probably be travelling to meet her late in September or sometime in October.  Yes, that is right around the time that Jeremy and Samantha are getting married - but God knows that and has all this in His hand!

Esther flouting all the rules - eating in Daddy's chair!

We have had a very busy summer, but I'm not exactly sure what we have been doing that has made it so busy!  Ha!  We did just get back from a week long camp-out and boy am I tired!  Here are some highlights of our summer so far (our camera was missing for nearly a month, so there aren't very many photos, sorry about that!).  I'll post photos of our camp out next time around - too tired to find the camera tonight!

Jeremy  on his birthday really digging into his gift...
Sam's not so sure about his love of gummy bears!
Jeremy is still working away at the bear, but he's down to the feet now!

Right now my near future is full of thoughts of starting our school year early, but also the need to do a school room purge to prepare as well.  To prepare for our camping trip, we gutted half our trailer and rebuilt it to work for our family and it was a great improvement.  But right now, our front porch and yard are in need of serious tidying due to the destruction phase of the remodeling.

Our goats are doing well.  We were able to sell the two wethers so we are now down to three goats, and only one of them really giving milk.  We will probably be getting one more goat in September and depending on how that works out, we might sell one of the ones we have now.  The little girls are doing so well on the goats milk.  It's really helped them with their gut issues!  At least up until we went camping, but I'm sure they'll get all healthy again soon!

Esther all ready for church too!

I got the book Trim Healthy Mama just over a month ago and we've been eating so healthy (at least the three oldest girls, Daryl and I have been).  I'll post an entire blog post about that one soon!

I was so excited to get my copies of Three Decades of Fertility!  I gave one to my mother, sold one to my friend, and have given a couple of others away too.  I did find out that I only get commissions from PDFs sold through my link, so I'm working on placing an order of the paperbacks to resell locally and to give as gifts too.  I'm reading through the book and it has amazing stories and great wisdom to glean from these women!

Car seats donated to our family in honor of our adoption,
from Evenflo directly - amazing providence!

Overall this summer I've been just staying home.  I love to be home most of the time.  I just feel like I do everything better if I'm not running around doing things away from home.  Maybe it's because I'm getting older, maybe it's because it takes a lot of time to keep a busy, large family running...dare I say "smoothly"?

My boys and their toys!

Or maybe it's because I'm 49 years old and still nursing a toddler?  I've tried to wean her, but she wants nothing to do with that operation!  She'll take a bottle on her terms, and she's one strong willed little girl!  I've got my hands full with her already!  We are working to get her to understand that the world does not revolve around here.

Princess Carese all ready for church!

 Each one of our children has had to be "de-throned" as I call it.  Sometime between 2 and 4 it becomes obvious that the child thinks that they are royalty and that our family was created to serve their needs...but they soon find out that they are wrong.  But it takes a concerted effort on my part to de-throne them as it's not easy and they do not like the process at all!  Princess Carese is hanging on just fine still, but her time is coming and she's had hints of it already!

She's a beautiful princess though, and her antics keep us appreciative of the gift that she is.  Instead of an empty nest, ours is bursting with little and big people and every size in between.  Each child is such a gift to our family, with their unique talents and personalities.  With so many living together we also have ample opportunity to see our sinful natures and know where we need work.

Growing up with most of my older siblings having moved on, I rarely had to deal with irritations and frustrations in the daily scheme of things and I was able to come to a pretty high view of myself.  But God wasn't willing to let me live with that thinking and has been pushing me to my limits most of my life...constantly causing me to realize my need for Him and His grace in order to overcome my sinful tendencies.

Time to close my rambling thoughts for now...once I find the camera (somewhere in the trailer I'm sure), I'll post a camp out blog post!  Until then, enjoy these last few weeks of summer!  I know I will!

Three Decade of Fertility is now Available for Ordering!

You can order it in PDF ($6.99), or kindle/Nook ($8.99) or in Paperback (my favorite - $14.99!

Please use the link at the top of the left hand column, or click on this banner:




I got my own copy in paperback ( and a few to give as gifts) and I have been reading it.  This book is amazing.  It'a like sitting down in a living room with 10 women who have "been there, done that" more than most women in the world.

They share their struggles, their triumphs, their losses and their blessings.  And then you even get their answers to some tough questions, like how do you deal with repeated miscarriages and pregnancy loss?

What can you expect if you are to carry a baby to term in your 40s?  How can you deal with the wear and tear on your body after so many pregnancies?  How do you manage a family with babies and teens and 20 somethings all at the same time?

This book does not preach anyone way to look at fertility as each woman has followed God's leading as He has taken each one through their unique journey of faith.  I'm sure you will enjoy this book, and I  know I can't wait to read more chapters...but I'll be fighting for reading rights along with my daughters and they are anxious to read it too!

Please comment if you have read the book and tell me what you think!

More Quotes from Three Decades of Fertility

No, no new letter yet.  But I have something just as good!  Last fall I was asked to contribute to a book about childbearing years.  The authors all have two things in common.  They have all given birth throughout their childbearing years.  Some had many children (like me) and some had only a few, with long time spans between having babies.  The second thing they all have in common is that they are women of faith.  Faith in the God of the Bible, and they each recognize that He is the author and creator of life, and that God uses our childbearing years to create us to be Christlike.

Relinquishing control (or perceived control) of our bodies to the creative work of pregnancy and childbirth has many correlations to the walk of a believer.  We have to take a back seat in order to really see the glory of what Christ is doing in us.  If we fight against God and choose to give in to our natural desire to control our lives in any way, then we are not allowing God to be Lord of our lives, and we will suffer for it.  If in no other way, we suffer from stress.  Because we are not God, we are not created with the ability to control most things, so when we try, we are putting stress into our lives.

Anyway, all that to say that this book is a great collection of stories.  Stories of faith and trust.  Stories of learning to recognize God's hand even in times of difficulty.  Stories of triumph and stories of intense heartache.  I wish all women of faith could read this book and learn of these women who have, in so many ways, "Been There, Done That."

Three Decades of Fertility will be released in paperback and E-book on July 29, Lord Willing!  You can use the banner at the top of this or the link near the top of the right side bar for ordering (I will get a commission on your order so thanks in advance for ordering using my link!  With two trips to an Eastern European to rescue Priscilla, I'm sure any extra income will come in handy!).

But without further ado, please watch the trailer below, and click on the image in my side bar to read more about this book, and get a sneak peak at some of the stories, as well as other parts, of the book!