12 years

I think I deserve....

...a formal, written apology. Maybe it should even be notarized and framed.

"Why?" you may ask.

Well, growing up, I was not allowed to:

• Wear too much makeup

• Go to the mall if I were going to wear pants rather than a skirt

• Listen to Christian contemporary music--including Sandi Patti, who was too flashy
  

• Wear jeans to church on Sunday nights--or Wednesday nights

• Dance

• Use playing cards

• Eat my sandwiches uncut, "like a truck driver"

• Watch "The Dukes of Hazard", "The A-Team", or "M*A*S*H"
  

I'm sure there are more things, but you get the picture. So I was surprised on Sunday afternoon when my brother Evan, who still lives at home --on account of the fact that he is only15, asked me to do something I was sure my parents would never allow.

Smirking, I challenged him, "Get Dad on the phone"! (Dad was in Nashville where my baby sister lives. She's not such a baby anymore. In fact, she just had her first little baby this past week!) So, Evan whips out his cell-phone (Yeah, I don't think I would have been allowed to have one of those, either) and puts Dad on speaker-phone: sure enough; Permission granted.

So I complied.

I cut his hair.

Like this:

Like it?

I also think it is worth mentioning that he went to school like this. And you know who helped him get his hair to stay up this morning?

My Mom!

( sound of me humming Twilight Zone music)

Oh, but Mom has a twinge of guilt. She drove Evan to the bus stop and picked him up today so that the neighbors wouldn't see...

Tim Hawkins - A Homeschool Family

I found this on another blog the other day.

I thought it was funny. It got me watching this guy's other videos.

To my brother Nathan: I recommend the Prairie Home Sausage video and the Cletus take the Reel videos. Oh, and the one called Corporate Worship Songs.

For those of you that know me, you will know that I like this sort of humor that rewrites words to existing songs. Maybe I am weird but I am glad to know that there is a guy making his living with my sense of humor. I take great comfort in knowing that I am not alone in my weirdness! *grin*

Some pictures

Four smiles, a non-smile and an almost frown. Still, it was a good use of the long grass in our front yard that will hopefully be gone after our mower gets out of the shop this (fingers crossed) Friday.

Aren't they a couple of cuties?

Another good use of a non-mowed lawn. Aren't they adorable? It only took me 40 pictures to get one where everyone was looking and smiling!


This one is from a couple of weeks ago. Mom stopped by in the evening as the kids were getting to bed. she read them one of our favorite books: Ira Sleeps Over. By the way, See how Ivy sucks her finger? Now look at Vitali. He is not itching his nose, that's his little comfort thing, he sticks his finger or all his fingers against his nostril and breathes past them. weird, isn't it?

Camping in the back yard!

Look at those sweaty, happy boys! No shirts, plenty of dirt smudges and excited over their first time to sleep in a tent! Let me tell you they were so excited when I pulled this out!

Last weekend began a streak of beautiful weather here and Monday and Tuesday nights, I slept in the backyard in the big tent with the kids. Steve slept in the house since he had to work the next days. The nights were pretty chilly and the boys confessed to being cold, but eagerly declared they wanted to sleep there every night!

We found that we needed a few more sleeping bags although since we were in the backyard it didn't matter so much. But this week at church a new friend brought us some things her son had outgrown and among those things was a Thomas the Tank engine sleeping bag! Isn't God good?! You can bet that the boys were pretty thrilled about that!

This week is beginning as winter and ending as spring again. That is the nature of spring, isn't it? They say we might get snow on Monday but Friday is near eighty again! Maybe we'll get to take that sleeping bag for a spin this next weekend. And maybe this time, Mommy will sleep in the comfy bed and Dad can rough it with the kiddos!

Spring here...

Here are a couple of quick pictures of spring here today:

(Violets in my side yard.)

I love our side yard; especially the hammock. Doesn't that look inviting?
It is! I like the excuse to lie there and supervise the kids' bike riding in the dead-end of our road! It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!

I put this next picture in here to say that Misha was very afraid of the "worms"
on this, our paper tree!
You can bet the girls capitalized on that opportunity!

Hooray! Tulips are open!

...and for some pictures of the kids playing in our beautiful weather, click on over to our adoption blog to see this post!

Now...I really have to get some work done!

What's on your to-do list?
Anyone spring-cleaning?

Happy Spring!

Vitali is four, and More... (hey! that rhymes!)

Look at those cheeks! I just love kissing them! I can't believe he is already four! It seems like he's only been here for a month or two!! {Wink, Wink!}

This boy was soooo excited about his birthday; I can't possibly express it to you! He was singing and talking and springing non-stop all day long!
It took him quite a few tries to get those four fingers all standing up like that! See that smile? It was there all day! In fact, I took this picture right before I put him to bed. It only disappeared when he finally fell asleep! I have more pictures on our adoption blog.
For his birthday, Vitali got a huge Tonka dump truck from my mom and dad. I need to post a picture of him riding it down the driveway. He does it in such a funny way, sitting behind the raised bed of the truck! Anyway, today he left the driveway and tried the steeper hill beside it. This turned out to be a bad idea as this hill was bumpy and even my skinny little boy was top-heavy going down.

Here you can see what he looked like at the bottom of the hill! (Actually, here, he is back at the top again. At the bottom, he had too many tears for picture taking! Poor little guy!) I am wondering what this will look like in the morning?!
I love Ivy's long hair. At barely three years old, it was so long before I trimmed off three inches that It could easily get tucked into the waistband of her pants! It never seems to tangle much and is always so pretty and shiny. The last few days she has pretty steadily been a "bannerina" and has been asking me to put it in a "bundle" or, to us, simply a bun.

We were taking Steve to the dentist today so she had to put on "real" clothes and Vitali took his spill while I was freshening up her "bundle" so I got these pictures of her spinning and playing on this absolutely gorgeous spring day!
Can you see all the petals on the ground that have been picturesquely floating from the trees with every breeze? Mmmmm... I love spring!

And also, would you like to see what we had for dinner tonight? Mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and chicken nuggets....Look good? Keep reading!

• The mashed potatoes? Vanilla ice cream! The "gravy" is caramel sauce.
  

• Those nuggets are actually toasted coconut covered marshmallows snipped in half and pressed a bit to make them slightly less marshmallow-y

• And the green beans are not the peas and carrots candy I was hoping to find, but they are a sort of junk food since they are green bean chips. Meaning that they are crispy and salted and yet somehow still look exactly like normal green beans!
  

Hannah said she thinks that this was the least healthy dinner she had ever had!
I should hope so!

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone!

Ivy is three!

Ivy's birthday fell on Easter this year. So did cousin Simon's. (My mom tells me Easter won't fall on this date again for well over 200 years!) My littlest one is three now. I can't believe that! How does this keep happening? Birthday after birthday after birthday they all keep getting older!

Because her birthday was on Easter, my brother Warren and his family were here as well as Nathan's family. They stayed with my mom and when our family joined them, there were 10 of the 11+ grandkids together! (there are two more "in the works")Our boys had a great time with their cousins, who are all boys. Uncle Warren got them Nerf guns to join the Nerf guns his boys had brought and the boys ran around shooting everything and everyone in sight. That is, when they weren't jumping on the trampoline!

Aunt Elise found the perfect gift for Ivy: pretty, fancy dress up clothes.

Ivy put those on first thing this morning and took a while deciding whether or not it would be worth it to change her outfit to play in the surprise snow we got today! (Eventually, the snow won)

She has them back on again now, though!

Nathan, Elise and Simon are staying on a bit longer because Nathan is going to do some work in my mom and Dad's house. In fact, he should be here any time now to borrow some of the power tools he will be needing.

Warren and Lynn and the boys have already headed home. I already am missing their new baby, Lincoln. Besides being such a little doll, he is just the perfect cuddling baby! Squishy and soft and weighted just right... Hmmm..... :-) I am sure Lynn and Warren are glad to get home, though, because the normally happy Lincoln was feeling a little out of sorts while they were here. Maybe he's just a home-body.

The boys loved the baby too. Particularly Max and Vitali. ( I wish I had a picture of them with him...Lynn?) I wonder how much, if any, contact they have ever had with babies? Max would hold him so gently and sweetly and say, "Baby. Be nice." While petting Lincoln's baby soft hair. Vitali would hold him and when Lincoln started crying, I asked him if the baby liked him. He answered confidently, "Da!" I didn't ask Lincoln...

A movie review...

(Imagine a picture of hot,
buttered movie theater
popcorn here.
Mmmmm......)

Hannah and I went out for a girls' night tonight! We had a very nice time. Originally, Annette was going to join us but then was offered the chance for a sleep-over at her very best friend's house and that was an offer I knew she couldn't refuse! I was right!

The reason for the Girls' night was to go and see the movie, Enchanted, in the "dollar" theater. (The dollar theater is really $1.50 now, go figure.) My friend, Marie and her daughter, Rachel went to see it and Marie couldn't say enough nice things about it.

Hannah and I both enjoyed the movie. It is about a cartoon princess (very stereotypical) who "falls" into the real world and all the adventures that follow. Much of what I enjoyed were the subtleties like the way she pranced around everywhere and talked in a very "Fairytale Princess" kind of voice. Hannah and I laughed right out loud at some parts, although Hannah laughed louder and more often than I did. My favorite parts were the following: When she thought the dwarf who got angry with her was Grumpy, the animals all helping her clean the apartment-especially when the pigeon ate the little dancing roach, and the corny musical numbers. And I think it's worth the mention that the actress, Amy somebody, was absolutely amazing at this part. It was so fun to watch her completely pull off the fairy tale part. Even her fingertips moved in a way reminiscent of Snow White or Cinderella!

And Bethany, (my sister) I thought of you often in this one and wished you were there to watch it with us!

All in all it was a very nice movie; definitely worth the $3 plus popcorn and drink and smuggled candy! Especially since it was a nice night out with my eldest, who is getting more and more "elder" all the time. She loved the special attention and pretty much glowed all evening.

I am starting to notice that the more children you have, the more quickly time slips by; despite the fact that some days seem to drag on into eternity! I feel like they are on fast forward sometimes. I know, I know: all moms say that!

Spring again

Do I still have anyone out there? I hope so!

Here are some of my little pieces of spring to enjoy!

It was a rainy day here in our neck of the woods.
The daffodils finally ventured out just in time to feel the cold spring showers.

Someone (I am pretty sure I know who...) stepped on this, my only hyacinth, today. I guess we'll see how it fares; it still has a few buds left.

The Bradford pear tree will be stunning soon. I would guess about a week. The blossoms are kind of stinky but the beauty is striking enough to make it worth the smell. And it's nothing that bad, just e x t r e m e l y floral.

My "baby" boy,Vitali, plays with a small, fuzzy, yellow and black caterpillar.
It's the first one we've seen this spring.
He seemed to enjoy it --as long as it didn't try to make a mad dash up his sleeve.

There! It's official. I'm back! I don't know how often I'll be posting and this isn't one of my better ones but it's something! Life is slowly becoming less about adjusting to our new members (and them to us) and increasingly more about our new "normal", whatever that is.

Till later...

The birthday bash

Gone are the days of a picture where everyone is looking at the same time and in the same direction! I am just happy to find one where everyone's eyes are open!

My mom made a birthday dinner for me at her house (delicious!) and the kids enjoyed giving me their gifts. Especially Misha, Hannah and Annette who gave me, respectively: a Hairbrush, a kitchen timer, and a plaster Easter bunny figurine. :-)

And now, I am officially 33 years old!

Favorite pictures of January...

So, It's been a while, but, hey! I've been busy and I figure that most of my readers also have been reading our adoption blog, that is, If they really love me...

Fact is, that has pretty well consumed my mental sphere of late. I haven't been trying any new recipes or crafts. I haven't even made my bed most days, for goodness sakes! But, even though I like to make my bed but have been too preoccupied for that, the good news is, I have not been to preoccupied to shower or brush my teeth! So, hopefully, that puts it into perspective a bit for you.

Life is pretty good right now, considering what it could be like! We have our moments and routine is peeking its head up over the horizon in tantalizing seductiveness! I have, naturally, managed to take many pictures of the boys. The girls have suffered a bit this month from lack of photographic proof of their existence but, in the grand scheme of things, well...I think they will recover...

Anyway, I haven't posted in so long that I decided to do a "Best of" post. This one will be my favorite photos of this month. It's about the end of the month and my pictures are sorted on my computer by month so I can't be bothered to open other files tonight! Be happy to get this much!!

So, without further adieu, here are my selections in completely random order ( Just to irritate the chronologically obsessive. Sorry, Dad...)

Vitali. A lot of my favorites are of him. Hey, he's three!
And you're only three once, right?! After that, your cuteness starts going downhill!

Again: Vitali.

Yep, him again. See? I told you he's cute!

OK, now, first of all--a disclaimer:
My mom raised me better that this. So it is with a pang of guilt that I have posted this picture. Obviously, my mom actually only almost raised me better than this...but not quite. Sorry, Mom.

Isn't this a sweet picture?
It's actually a little fuzzy, but look at that charm... so... it makes my favorites list!

Doesn't he look happy?! I can't wait to be able to talk to the boys and have them talk back and have us understand each other!!! I am so interested to find out what they are thinking! I wonder what they miss, or especially enjoy, or what is amazing to them, etc...

My man. I have a hard time getting pictures of him that I think do him justice. I like this one. I am glad that men get better looking as they get older (in my opinion). Really, that works out well for us women who have to look at them all the time. I do wish it were the same for women too, though, I have to admit...

Misha.
I don't know why this one makes my favorites list.
He is always so animated for the camera. I think I like it because he's not looking
...and because that hat is too big for him!

Annette loves her daddy.
Me too, Annette.

This one is in Ukraine at a McDonald's there.
I like the colors and the randomness of the poses.
Everyone is sitting there but not everyone cares to be 'cheesing' it up.
Hey! The kids just thought it was a picture to show off their balloons!

I love this one. This was us taking Max out of his orphanage for the last time. The suitcase is stuff we took to him. He left with pretty much nothing. Only a couple of gifts from his teacher.
I had to choose between this photo and the next I had taken to post as my favorite one. The following being where Max turns around to me and says, "MAAAMA, Idee suda!" (Mama, come here!)

Max's first haircut (with us). He suddenly looks so American!
And handsome!

The Malinkees. That's what I call these two. "Malinki" is Russian for "little". Steve sometimes sings that title to the tune of "Hey, Hey We're The Monkees" These two are exactly the same size except for Vitali being so skinny. He's a year older than Ivy but is still more of a baby.

Why this one?
I don't know... I guess I just like all the visual interest that the lines in the chair and her shirt give...

Also, She's pretty cute!

So, there you have it! Hope you've enjoyed my favorite January pictures!

Oh, and tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!!

33.

Just thought I'd remind you...

Our boys...

We are home for a brief holiday and the chance to prepare the home a little more specifically for our three new sons. Sons! That's right! December 26th made us the official parents of Max, Misha and Vitali, our little Ukrainian Angels. Once they were orphans; now they have joined our family! Praise God!

If you haven't been watching our adoption site then this is your first opportunity to meet our little guys! Let me give you a proper introduction to the newest Eimers':

Max, whose full name is Maximus Stephen Eimers, is eight years old. He is only about two weeks younger than our oldest girl, Hannah. He loves to draw and paint and play cars and kick around a soccer ball. I am sure he has many more interests too; we still have much to discover!

This picture was taken the day we had court. He was freshly "ours" but we couldn't tell him! As far as he knows, he's been ours right along anyway.

Misha. His full name is Mikhail James Eimers. Misha is 6 years old and quite a little ham. He loves to have his picture taken. He is also most likely to sit on our laps and color and is always very excited to see us and disappointed when we leave! He is happy, happy, happy and my bet is that he will make friends very quickly here in America.

He loved sledding and playing outdoors. I am glad that we have a big yard for all these boys! He also likes trains and cars--especially trains.
Vitali Luke Eimers. Ahhhh...Vitali! So much personality. He is a very busy little three-year-old who is constantly on the move. Consequently, I have taken many pictures of him but most are blurry or he isn't looking at the camera! He is very possessive of new toys and especially likes to have a bag to put them in. He loves things like purses for this reason. Ha ha! I surely hope he outgrows the purse thing! I am hoping we get to hold him more as we get settled as a family. For now, we have to be content with lifting him over our heads and catching him when he jumps. I am becoming well-acquainted with the Russian for "Pick me up to the ceiling!", "I'll do it myself!" and "I want to get down!"

I can't begin to tell you all the ways this whole experience has affected us. Beginning last November when we made the decision to pursue our plans to adopt till now when we are so overjoyed to have finally met the objects of our pursuit! The work of preparation, the waiting, the anxiety of financial pressures, the stress of the final decisions and the overwhelming joy when we saw the boys that first day and knew they would be ours. All this has been a package deal. Can't have the final prize without the work to attain it. And the story isn't over!

We praise God for His mighty hand all the way so far, and we pray that He will continue to make our paths straight. He has not only answered our prayers but also the unspoken prayers (we call them 'dreams') of three little boys on the other side of the ocean. And we will get the opportunity of introducing them to the One who has made their dreams come true. A blessing and an honor.

We will be leaving again for the final leg of this journey on January 7th. When we come home, amid the craziness of adjusting to family life, you can bet I'll be posting our new family picture!
Even if we aren't all smiling! Oh, boy, this is going to be an adventure!

Americans!

Hi All! We have the wonderful privilege of spending an evening in Christian fellowship with a missionary family from Missouri all the way over here in Ukraine! English! Hooray! Thank you, Phil, for hooking us up!

We just have spent a little while sitting around thier table visiting about our adoption, their church planting efforts and general Ukrainian-specific topics. We may even be able to go to an English church service this Sunday!

How nice it is to nibble Christmas cookies with Wendy and Kieth and their children. They have a Christmas tree set up in their apartment and it is the first we've really seen except for the big ones in the squares of the cities. It is just too early for most to have trees since they don't celebrate Christmas until January here.

We spent the morning with the boys again. We had a great time taking Misha and Vitali out on the sleds. Misha especially loved this. He rode down the hill over and over again. A few times he asked Steve or me to ride with him. It has been a long time since I have done that! We got it on video, too!

We went next to see Max at his place. He is obviously proud to have the older kids "deliver" us to him. They are proud to be able to help. We played in a big room with him for quite a while and Steve asked him to show him where the bathroom was. Max jumped up and his tongue stuck out just a bit like it does when he is slyly pleased with something. He knew that to take Steve to the bathrooms would require parading him past his friends! Oh, how he must feel to have what every child in that place is dreaming of! I am so glad to be a part of his joy.

Thanks to Wendy and Keith for the loan of their high-speed internet! And thank you all for so many well-wishes and prayers! We get so excited to log on and see your messages!

Things are progressing smoothly with the adoption. All is well at this point. Tomorrow we should have more of an idea about court.

In Kiev

A little bit blurry but here we are in Kiev! Click here and read about our adventures at our other site! We are going to call home to the girls now and then probably go to bed. We are doing great so far! Our appointment is Tuesday; pray for us!
Oh, and here is an exclusive--I didn't post it on the other site: Dima, who took us around town today said that I blend in somewhat but that Steve definitely looks American. We aren't sure why. :-) I jsut thought that was funny.

Time to go...

Okay....Forget Christmas Steve...I give up! I am out of time!

We leave tomorrow morning. Steve's brother and then his friend are coming to take turns sitting for the house and Mom and Dad Falk are sitting the kiddies.

I have to put the last things into the bags and get the bags to the car. Tidy up my bedroom a bit. Mom is going to bring the girls over and do any housework I can't get to. I wanted to leave it perfect, but...well, you know. Thankfully it's Mom to the rescue!

Reminds me of the night before my wedding. I had everything planned an perfect until that last little thing. In that case, I left Steve's apartment key at the church-which was locked-and when he stopped by the house at midnight to get it, I went downstairs to my mom and started bawling. She got out of bed with my Dad's church key and found it where I had left it, on the front pew.

I was so grateful. Imagine how bad I felt, letting down my almost-husband the night before the wedding! Tonight, we were taking the girls for their dress rehearsal for their Christmas concert that I am going to be missing. And, almost there, Mom says, "Umm...where are the Angel costumes?" Yup, at home. She and my dad went back for them while the kids and I were at the church. Fortunately, They didn't need them until well after she got there. Thanks, Mom...and Dad! Oh, and I forgot to mention that she had already rescued me by hemming the darn things!

The practice went FOREVER! So we weren't home until it was after 9:30 and we had left at 5:00! The girls were so cute in there parts. I'm glad I at least got to see them do the dress rehearsal.

Tomorrow is Steve's birthday so we are having a little birthday brunch at my mom and dad's house before we leave. The girls have opted to go to the airport with us. That is going to be one hard goodbye.

Pray for us. I am sure I will be tear-streaked for my flights. Thankfully, I am not anxious about the girls' care or safety or anything...I'm just going to miss them like crazy!

Tomorrow!! Or maybe today for you since I am typing this late in the evening. I'll try and post when we get there!

My Sippy Cup Runs Over...

I promised that I would post pictures of ChristmasSteve ( our invented Holiday to have a little Christmas with the girls before we leave. Hannah came up with the name). I am several days late posting but I have a good excuse. At least, I think I do...I lost that particular list of good excuses.

Anyway, better late than never, right?!! But first, for those of you who haven't been on the other blog, I have good news!! We have, through God's blessings, more than met our goal of funds-needed for our adoption!! An not a moment too soon. We are leaving the day after tomorrow! Even that elusive kitchen table is being provided! For all the details go to our adoption website and read this post.

I have been working on teaching Ivy the 23rd Psalm. (That isn't her on the video on the link above to our adoptions site but that little girl surely is darling, isn't she?) She is getting it but still likes to "embellish" a bit. My favorite embellishment I was fortunate enough to catch on video. I want to figure out how to put video onto the computer so maybe I will get it posted here sometime. But for now, you'll have to take my word for it. There is the part that says: "..My cup runs over..." Ivy starts to say that but then stops and puts her own twist on it:

"...My cup, my sippy cup, runs over!"

Besides bragging on the cleverness of my adorable two-year-old, I mentioned that verse because that is truly so descriptive of how we have been blessed. Our cups are overflowing. God has blessed us with more than we asked. Several people who have known our budget is met, have still brought us gifts (one last night, for instance, of $500) and said we should use them for whatever we need; be it for the trip expenses, or settling the kids, or whatever might come up. We will probably use some of that for a really nice Christmas party for the kids at the orphanage. Maybe some for root canals on the kids when we get home...who knows?...Well, God does! He knew from the dawn of time what we would need and has supplied it. We are so grateful. To Him and to those who have been His hands and feet by doing whatever they could to help us. Praise be to Him!

All right, the next post will be ChristmasSteve...I need to go and get my camera.

Thanksgiving and ChristmasSteve

We went to my mom and dad's house for Thanksgiving this year. They live just down the road in a sense so, unless we travel somewhere, that is THE place to be! That's fine with us!

This year Thanksgiving was also a Family Reunion for my side of the family. There were 21 of us in all ( I think) and next year there should be at least six more! That's right! The Falk family tree has been watered with Miracle Gro or something! Three of the girls are expecting, and us--well, we're bringing along three new ones of our own!

Here are some pictures of the weekend in random order:

Lynn, the "most pregnant" (If it's possible to be more pregnant or less pregnant or sort of pregnant or half-pregnant) of the girls needed a little snack before dinner. She is eating for two!
Nobody bought my line about "eating for four".

I took some family pictures of my brother Nathan and his family. The dog was pretty tired, it would seem, and kept trying to lie down. "Sit up, Gunter!"

Ethan played this little Don't-take-my-picture game with me. I caught him from the side here, though. Gotcha, Ethan!

Simon decided to scoot down the hill during the family photo session. Isn't he a cutie?

Hannah and Ethan (back) share an enjoyment of taking pictures. Hannah liked showing off her shots to him. Ivy and Annette just had fun wherever they were.

Ivy just LOVES Uncle "Ebban". Who wouldn't enjoy an Uncle who carries you around in a cardboard box?!

For those of you who visit Kari and Dan's blog and are wondering what Owen looks like now...
Here he is listening to the Falk Grandchildren's (well, the littlest ones) favorite book, Duck is Dirty.

Where are the pictures of the Turkey? I took those on my Dad's camera! I should sneak over to one of my siblings' websites and swipe one! It was surely a beauty. Mom outdid herself!

Oh, yes, and someone left this sock and Mom sent it home with me. I like it, but it's not mine. If it's yours, please send me the other one.
Hope you had a nice holiday!

Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about "ChristmasSteve"!


But for now, Goodbye and a Merry ChristmasSteve to you all!