HB Dianna!!

5, 6, or 7 years ago, a beautiful little girl was born somewhere in the bush in Liberia, West Africa. They named her Dianna. I try to imagine what Dianna might have looked like as a baby, what her pictures would look like if they had been taken and we had them. But in Liberia, there are no birth records, or baby pictures, or Creative Memories scrapbooks. There are only beautiful, and often hungry, children who are loved by the people caring for them.

11 months ago, we were blessed to be able to bring this beautiful girl into the United States, and into our home. She is very independent, having had to care for herself without much supervision or assistance, so we struggle with having her follow our rules. But looking back at the past 11 months, we can see progress. We have many good days, and the hard days seem gradually fewer and farther between.

We love you very much Dianna, and your first birthday with us is a very special celebration for all of us!
Humor-Blogs.com

Reproductive Wednesday

Welcome to another edition of Reproductive Wednesday! If you have no clue what I am talking about - each week I post a reproductive story or two and then ask to see your stories - and you let me know when you post them on your blog so I can read about them! Like I always say! "If I can't be productive, at least I can be reproductive!"

Soooo - today, Mike and I would like to make an announcement...we are expecting undecaplets! That's right - 11 babies. I have put a counter on my side bar so you can stay tuned to when they are due. Only the babies we are expecting don't look quite like the counter, but more like this picture:

We found mom laying eggs in our sand box last Saturday. The next day, we dug them up and put them in our aquarium:




(the kids say we look a little crazy since we have an aquarium with only sand and a thermometer)

HB Liam!

On this day 12 short years ago, Mike and I had a very tiny baby by emergency c-section. 10 weeks early, Liam weighed only 2 lbs, 3 oz, 13 inches long. Mike's wedding ring could fit over Liam's hand and all the way up to his arm pit (see pic). He was in the NICU for 9 long weeks, finally able to leave the hospital at a whopping 4.5 lbs. We feel very blessed to have Liam with us today. HB Liam!!!

263,607 miles later

On December 31, 1994, Mike and I bought our first grown-up car - a '94 Honda Civic EX with 30k miles on it. It was the BOMB - a great stereo, 5 spd, sun/moon roof, brand-new condition, and best of all, speedy. Here's the picture they took when we bought it:

Now, 263,607 miles later, it still works like a champ, getting an average of 35 miles to the gallon on the hwy. We spend hardly anything on maintenance, except for things like brakes, oil changes, tires, and hoses. We replaced the clutch once at about 100k, and haven't had to since.

I have been thinking what has happened in our lives these last 263,607 miles, and here's my short list:

• 13.5 years
• 5 kids, 7 pregnancies
• 3 home purchases, 3 rentals = 6 moves
• 7 marathons between Mike (4) and I (3)
• 20 1/2 marathons - 10 each
• 1 x-c ski 1/2 marathon (me)
• 2 trips to Europe, 1 to Africa
• 41 states/Canada/Mexico (car has been driven in 31 of those)
• 6 watercraft
• 3 mini-vans, and 1 Suburban
• 4 cats, 1 guinea pig, 1 dog, 16 poultry, and lots of critters
• 5 surgeries
• Lots of fun, tears, sweat, anxiety, euphoria, learning, and love

You can take the girl out of Africa

But you can't take Africa out of the girl.

Dianna came out of the bathroom like this the other day - she had put this heavy basket of clothes on her head all by herself! What a girl! Mike and I were amazed, and have decided we really like our laundry carried around like this - so now require it of all the kids. We are trying to see what the maximum weight is they can carry. So far, Gabe holds the record:

Grandma's Weekend

The older boys and I ran the 5k race Friday night

Mike ran Grandma's Marathon Saturday

World's best pit crew

Congratulations DAD!!! You are awesome!

I secretly think my marathon was a little harder than his - fighting traffic with 5 kids for 26.2 miles and making 6 stops along the way, walking to each stop with said kids. And no medal to show for it!

Odyssey Airlines

Good morning, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to flight 4876590 from Grand Rapids to Duluth. We are presently at a cruising altitude of 3 feet. In accordance with FAA guideline #1387309, as soon as our crusing altitude reaches 19,802 feet, I will turn off the fasten seatbelt indicator, and you may move freely around the cabin. At that time, a refreshment cart will begin beverage service. Please keep arms and legs out of the aisle. This is a no smoking flight. Our lavatories have been equipped with smoke detectors and should you choose to smoke in our lavatories, the aircraft will land, and you will be thrown off the plane.

Our plane is a pressurized aircraft. Should the oxygen level on our plane fall below FAA guidelines, an airmask will drop down. Please place your mask over your face, and tighten the elastic band behind your head. Remember to place your own mask on first before assisting someone else. In the unlikely event we make an emergency water landing, your seat cushion will serve as a flotation device. Simply pull up on the cushion, and place your arms through the straps.

You will notice we have 5 exits - front, middle, and rear. Please note that your nearest exit MAY be behind you.

We know you have other airlines you can choose from, and as always, we thank you for choosing Odyssey Airlines.

Happy B-day Gabe

Gabe,

Happy Birthday! It seems like just yesterday you were born, right on your due date. Which is the only day in your whole life that you haven't been a little bit slow getting someplace on time (kind of like mom). You work really hard to keep up with the older boys and do a bang-up job of it! You are the most laid-back out of all the kids, and you will probably be our tallest, as you have almost caught up with Jon Jon in height. We consider you to be our great creature-catcher. You love to catch anything in the lake, including, but not limited to: frogs, leeches, crawdads, madtoms, minnows, and fish. Any nice day finds you out there with your net and minnow bucket!!

My favorite Gabe moment: One day you came out of the house (you must have been 3 or 4 yrs old) headed toward the lake. Under your baseball cap, you had tucked a dryer sheet to keep the "squitos" away. You looked too cute! We love you so much sweetie.

And we're only just beginning...

I did some "elementary" math today, and here's what I came up with:

Bottom-feeders: its whats for dinner

Today, the boys caught 8 crawdads in the minnow trap, so I finally conceded to cooking them up for dinner. This little itty bitty piece of meat is all that we could eat from each one, but the kids are already saving up their crawdads for our next bottom-feeder boil.

I think I see a "Scary Strange" recipe involving crawdads in the very near future!!

Adoption Finalization - check!

May 22 - Our adoption of Dianna is finalized and official, after a 2 year process. We were expecting that the judge would change Dianna's birth certificate, which currently states her birthday as 8/3/2003, to 8/3/2002, but she "didn't have the authority to do that". Which means we have a sad girl who will be 5 years old for 2 years straight. This makes her 3 months younger than Maggie. (Now that Maggie is 5, she has been explaining to people we meet on the street that they are both 5, but not twins....)

We came out of the courtroom, down the stairs, and a man stopped us to ask if we were on a field trip. (This is the second time in less than 2 weeks someone has asked me that). I told him everyday is a freaking field trip for us.

FS, Part Deux

Mike got a bike for his b-day, so he had to try it out. All the kids got on their bikes to go with him, and I took Gabe's training wheels off so that he could go too (we live on a dirt road that is impossible to navigate with training wheels, and I knew he could do it). One thing led to another, and I got on my bike to go with. Even though I am sure we looked like a you-know-what, I was smiling so much that my teeth dried out. It was the very first time we have all gone on a bike ride together where everyone was riding their own bike!

Happy Birthday Mike

Dear Mike,

The day you were born was the day that my luck turned North. I was only 1 year and 2 months old and didn't know you were out there, but God must have been smiling knowing we were on the planet together for the first time. He must have been smiling too, the first time we met. He knew, even though we didn't have a clue. I love you sweetheart. Please know I am waiting for you with a big chocolate cake and a birthday present, so hurry home from work today! (I am not inside the cake, sorry).

Love, Stephanie

Why we live where we live

I realize how much complaining I did about the snow, I see that now. But after a beautiful day of 65 degrees, and loons outside making those noises that don't have words to describe them, I just wanted to post a picture to show why its worth living 1/2 hour away from the closest Walmart.

Virginia Beach

After D.C., we traveled south to Virginia Beach. We went to the beach, Williamsburg, and then to my brother's graduation on Saturday. Afterwards, we had a 'field trip' to P.F.Chang's. It was so much fun that we wish Thad would graduate from law school more often!