It can even happen at 11 years old!

Well, It was an eventful Friday! We all have to be ready to leave the house at 7:30 in the morning. It has been going fairly smoothly, I haven't left anyone home, haven't left the house crabby too many days...yet. Today it was a little more eventful than I would like a Friday to be. I was upstairs getting ready, it was 7:20 a.m.. I heard one of the kids say, "Araya is cutting his hair and isn't listening to me." I stayed relatively calm, and for a moment I thought, "he probably just cut a little piece". Then I decided after another one of the kids said, "he won't stop." I figured it was bolt downstairs time! Well, lets just say that Araya thought his hair looked "BIG" today and decided to cut away. I watched as he took the comb, held it to his scalp and snipped away. I have cut Araya's hair once since he arrived home. It looked a little bit like I held the comb and scissors. By this time it is 7:30, upon closer inspection I realized that "tuffs" were missing all over his head and I saw his beautiful curls on the floor. I grabbed the electric clipper as I knew there was no salvaging his hair. Away I clipped to the scalp, no choice, no option. I looked at Araya in the mirror as the big tears flowed. I think he was beginning to understand what had just happened. By this time there was seven of us in our little downstairs bathroom. We all worked together, grabbed him his baseball cap, one grabbed his backpack, one grabbed his lunch, his snack and tennis shoes and we all went to the suburban. Araya was under the impression that he could wear his hat all day......I had not told him the bad news yet. His teacher had that privilege, well it didn't go so well and Araya sat in the office with our principal all morning. After Ms. Sarah said a little prayer with him and Mr. Mark talked about choices, and Mrs. A talked about how the class was going to love his hair and they missed him, he decided to join his class at lunch time....he had a great rest of the day! Thanks to all who helped Araya and I today.

On another note as I was sitting at my desk thinking about the day...I remembered the time I walked in the bedroom and found Morgan and Shelby sitting on the floor with scissors and tape in hands. They had given each other "bang trims" and decided to tape them back on. I wish I had a scanner, I would love to show you the picture. I have the professional photos that were taken at Carlson Photography about 1 week later.

I wonder if this is the last time I will deal with one of my children cutting their own hair?

Root Canal-Attempt #1

Well dentists rank right up their with flying for me. I don't like either one at all and the smell of both give me anxiety from head to toe, seriously planes smell too! I think it's that oxygen or gas or something but they both put me over the edge, I am so thankful that my friend that I flew with last November never "divulged" how I acted and what I did on the plane....anyways.

Today Araya was suppose to have a root canal, he had a consult a couple of weeks ago. After the consult we decided to do some drugs just to take the edge off....not for me, but for him..:) Anyways today Troy met me at the endontics office. I gave Araya the relaxant about 20 minutes before his appointment. When we arrived at the office I was relieved to see Troy because I was anticipating, "the event". Well Troy went back with him, and then Troy came out and said that Araya told him he could go. Troy sat with me in the lobby, about 5 minutes later I hear the awful cry...not screaming in pain, crying in fear. I heard them talking to him and doing a great job. His assistant came out and said, he was doing o.k. but as soon as he heard the drill he was petrified. They tried a few more times and the sobbing continued. The Dr. came out to get us and told us that, he just felt too bad for him and that this could really set him up for future "dental anxiety" Yeah, I can relate!! So after a little discussion, he will call another specialist tomorrow and we will most likely go to the hospital and just "put him under" for the fillings and the root canal. So we will attempt to do this another time. You know the feeling after you have anticipated something for weeks and then it's suppose to happen and it doesn't...oh man...I am tired..goodnight!!

P.S. Araya held my hand in the car the whole way home...I loved it, and I sure love my little guy who tried his best today!

What is going on?

Caution: As I read my blog after I wrote it I think I am sounding a little desperate..I am just fine!
Well, I am not sure what is going on? Do you ever feel like that? I think I might of even scared a few people that I work with this week.... Anyways, I wish it was really plain sometimes or even written down for me, maybe I would get it....probably not. I want God to speak to me..today...now...maybe even yesterday. I have to realize that even though we feel alone sometimes we are so not alone. I am trying to figure out what I should be working on or doing besides housework, work, laundry. I hate guilt, which is my enemy, but I carry around like it is a really good friend....so for now I am praying, praying, praying! The struggle I am facing is no different than anyone else's...finances, time, energy, kids, busyness (big one), messy house, what's for supper? What's not for supper and explaining why? Anyways enough. I am on a journey...a journey where I am going to give it to God..isn't that what he wants? Why don't I do it more? Why do I want it my way...my selfish side again?
I will re-cap my week...Araya had 4 more shots...we survived, dad went with and it was good! Araya had an ENT appointment this week, we liked the dr. and he said that we will do a cat scan of his ears (we did that on Friday). We will see him and the audiologist in 2 weeks and set up a surgery date for 1 ear and get a hearing aid for the other. We will then do surgery on the other ear and get a hearing aid for that ear...his hearing will get better but it sounds like we should not expect it to be normal and we could hope for close to normal..but the dr. felt that hearing aids would be optimal for him as he is learning so much, but also missing so much, because of hearing loss. Araya has been really doing well and is feeling more comfortable at school and is finding his place. The school has hired a great lady that comes in one hour a day and works with him and another girl that was adopted from Uganda this summer, that has been a huge blessing. I am so thankful for his teachers and CCS for their willingness to help him!!
As I have been thinking and pondering things this week I realized that I remember this feeling that I am having right now after we adopted Seble and Syfah. I remember the feeling of things calming down emotionally with the kids and it feels sort of like a downer...don't know if that makes sense, I think it will to those of you who are reading this and have adopted. It peaks and it's exciting new, challenging, exhausting and now we are on a little bit of leveler ground and it feels a little different. It is a good thing to be on leveler ground...is leveler a word? doubt it! I just need to get use to it before we hit another peak. I think I have this sadness of not doing more...I want all of Araya's friends that he talks about to have a family. I want all kids to have a family! O.K. I must stop. Meanwhile if you think of it..pray for "contentment" for me and also that I "surrender" to the one who knows me inside and out!
Blessings..Jody

Rainy Day.....

2nd Place Trophy...Go Warriors

Well sometimes I really enjoy this weather. It makes me feel like laying on the couch (I wish!), reading a book, drinking some hot chocolate. Actually what this weather reminds me of is soup and chili. So today, Shelby and I made Potato Cheese Soup. It is my family's favorite and I always save it for the Fall, and today felt like Fall to me!

Seble and Troy left this morning at 7:00 a.m for a Soccer Tournament with the JH Soccer team from the Christian School. Troy has really enjoyed assistant coaching again this year. Today they played awesome and took second place. I stayed home and ran the other kids around, but I got the play by play when they arrived home...that is where my soup comes in! Seble was so excited that I had made it that she said she even thought about it when she was playing! The best news was Seble scored 4 goals today....yahoo Seb! I got a great big hug for soup and cornbread! Even though it rained it sounds like they all had a great, wet time!!

I am going to share this recipe and hope that your family will enjoy it like mine!!

Potato Cheese Soup

8 C. chopped Potatoes

8 C. water

2 C. carrots cut small ( I use baby ones)

4 tsp. minced onion

8 chicken bouillon cubes

1 ham slice cubed

1/2 tsp. pepper

12 oz. Velveeta cheese ( I use a little more)

In soup kettle, cover potatoes, carrots, onion, bouillon cubes and pepper with water. Cook until vegetables are soft. Mash with potato masher-leaving as many large chunks of vegetables as you want. Stir in cheese until melted, it will thicken and is actually a little better the next day!

18 years!!

On Monday Troy and I celebrated 18 years of Marriage!

I can't say we did anything exciting, we worked, ran kids around after school, coached soccer, grocery store, picked up kids, 3 girls had a volleyball game. When I got home I made, "gourmet grilled cheese." That's a grilled cheese with not Velveeta but like Colby jack or mild cheddar..special cheese! It was a normal Monday! I will tell you that I had a hilarious card waiting next to my pillow when I woke up with my favorite Fannie May mint candybar...found only at Walgreen's, tucked inside the card! As the day went on I thought of my husband more than usual...I received a text at lunch that said..."I love you!" I was hoping it would say, "you look as good as the day I met you, you hot thing!" Just kidding. I was pleasantly surprised by his text because he is not a "texter!" I was thinking about the last 18 years and how special Troy is to me and the kids! I have been blessed by a wonderful husband who would do anything for me and our family! I have been blessed more by the fact that what you see is what you get with Troy! He loves the Lord, loves us and leads by example...what more could we ask for! I often feel as though I don't tell him how much he means to me....I know he knows, but, in our commitment to each other that is one thing that you can never say too many times...I Love ya Troy....you handsome stud!!!

Lot's of activity.....

Well it has been an eventful week! I am sure we are all feeling like we "survived" the first week of school....Araya had a rough night/morning last week. It's that "transition" word again, I feel like I am really over-using it but it is the word that is defining us lately. I know that school was great fun for him but it was another stressful change for my little guy. The episodes of anxiety, anger, rage are decreasing in proximity of each other but they are still intense and become hard for the whole family to deal with. I was encouraged by Araya's teacher this week and her words to him, I was also encouraged by my great friends at work, and I am so thankful that when the tears came to me on Wednesday, so did support...Thank you!!

I traveled to Owatonna on Friday night with the girls for a Volleyball Tournament and we had great fun! The soccer team and volleyball team had great fun and played well! I went to Cabela's for the first time in my life..it was o.k...maybe a little over rated, but I did find a pair of pink shoes!! We also visited "Russell" also known as the Russell Stover candy store. It was fun and we all enjoyed ice cream!! The bummer is I forgot my camera!!

When I returned home on Saturday evening it was good to see Troy and the boys! Araya was in the shower and when I went in the bathroom I said, " Hi Araya, It's mom did you miss me?" He said "What?" I said, " did you miss me?" He said, " What is Whiskey?" Miss me must sound like whiskey to him....he doesn't know what whiskey is either, but he just kept repeating it. I explained to him what miss me was when he got out of the shower..I am glad we are going to the ear doctor this week....he keeps saying, "what?" I am thinking it is becoming a habit!

Troy had rented two Wii games for them to play while us girls were away, they had a great time, went out for supper and just hung out!

Another update is the horse..for those of you that remember my previous posts about the horse, well "Montana" went to a new home on Friday night. It's a good thing! I will miss him, but, I will not miss that battle of who will feed and water him!

We also celebrated Araya's Birthday today. I will post a few pictures of him. He was all smiles, they don't really understand the concept of birthdays, they are not celebrated in Ethiopia. So he was able to have his 1st birthday cake and birthday gifts. His birthday is Tuesday and he will bring treats to school. It was fun for all of us to see his excitement. Morgan said, "wasn't it so fun to watch him."

Organized

Araya and Mrs. Aleckson 3/4th grade teacher

Syfah 5th grade!

Morgan 10th grade!

Corbin 6th grade!

Seble and Shelby 8th grade!

This is the year that I will get organized! We had a little family meeting last night after grilling potatoes, fresh green beans and shredded pork! It was delicious and I am so thankful that my husband enjoys helping with meals! Troy started out by talking about bed times, helping out around the house and going over each ones daily jobs. We then moved on to how many snacks each one needs in their lunch and don't forget the fruit! We are going to try to be out the door with all 7 of us in the car and ready to go at 7:30. Last night as I was making lunches and after the 6th sandwich with special instructions, I was thinking that I am glad that they pack their lunches the majority of the time. Today went remarkably well, the few times I checked on Araya he looked slightly overwhelmed but overall he seemed to enjoy the day! We are all relieved that the first day of school is over. We will see how long this organization of ours lasts....I am really hoping for at least a few more days!