His Name Would Have Been Isaac

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Abbie

He was due between March 27th and April 1st. But, because the early ultrasound showed the due date close to April 1st and I was likely going to be able to pick a due date since this was almost definitely going to be a repeat c-section, I told Mark we would go for April 1st. I was excited about the name Isaac. It means laughter. How appropriate to deliver a baby boy on a fun day, April Fool’s Day and to rejoice in laughter at the gift of a baby. We were ready for laughter. It has been a hard year.

Things were going good. Emmie was doing great and we were winding down and getting ready to say good-bye to Y the Brave (as much as we dreaded it). Then Emmie fell. And we were in the hospital for the most of August. I thought things were going well for Baby Isaac as morning sickness had settled in and I had, virtually, a week of bed rest while taking care of Emmie.

On the day Emmie was discharged, I had a red flag that things weren’t going as great as we thought for the baby. That was a Friday. The red flags kept coming throughout the weekend. The confirmation came on Monday at the doctor’s office. The day before Y the Brave returned to Europe. Baby Isaac was gone. His beautiful little heart that was so strong at just under six weeks had stopped beating.

The day after we said goodbye to Y the Brave, Mark and I quietly said goodbye to another baby. We had him at the same hospital I have had ten (almost eleven…the eleventh, of course born to a wonderful mama in another country) of my babies and his earthly body is resting with his brother’s in a beautiful garden that holds all the remains of precious lives that never got to walk this earth.

We didn’t tell the kids until recently. Our pastor knew and our close friends and family knew. But, we have held this secret for every one else until now. My heart has been aching to share. To let people know there was a beautiful child here and that he isn’t now. October is Miscarriage and Stillborn Awareness Month and I have seen post after post that cried out to me and let me know that I was not alone. I wanted to shout at the mamas who shared that they were not alone. That the feelings were still raw and real here too. Yet we have grieved ever so silently for this life that we feel is gone too soon.

And then come the gender reveals and announcements of pregnancies because mamas feel that the pregnancy is “out of the woods” for problems. I have rejoiced over and over with my amazing sweet friends. Especially those who have walked this all too familiar road and are now anticipating a beautiful little one. But the tears still come for our little one who we won’t meet. This first year after a loss is so hard. Please forgive me dear friends if the comments are short and quick. Please know we rejoice but know we also think about our little Isaac who is not here.

I know we have a lot to deal with with our children here on earth and our adoption and Super Ems. But our Baby Isaac, although a surprise, was very much wanted and loved.

So, we rejoice over Isaac. That we’ll see him again. And that he is in a much better place than we could ever imagine. I grieve over Isaac. Never having been able to hold his beautiful body. Kiss his sweet cheek. Watch his brothers and sisters ooh and aah over him. And we trust that God is the giver of Life and is with us through death too.

July Kid Randoms

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Abbie

Photo dump time for July!

I love having kitchen helpers. Trying okra for the first time. It got two thumbs up too!

First Krispy Kreme. Yep. Two thumbs up as well.

Double pig tails! She finally has enough hair.

Fort sticks…one of the best and most fun toys we own!

Waiting to get fingerprints with immigration. Our selfies are awesome. Rain shower in the summer means ice cream break in the garage.

My hearts. Opening a gift of a watch from a friend.

Curled up with Babbitt the Rabbit, unnamed pony and Dr. Snuggles. First milkshakes

Lego Junior building success with two funny brothers.

“Hello!” Practicing her phone skills early. Playing in the rain. Posing before bed.

Early morning snuggles.

Passport Outtakes

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Abbie

As long as everything works out, we will be taking Zoe with us on a trip. To do that special trip, she needed a passport. To get a passport, she needed a passport photo. Because we are cheapos (okay, thrifty), we did the pictures ourselves. Here’s our outtakes:

This is her teenage look.
Lovely…Then we realized the background is patterned and you aren’t supposed to show teeth. Not sure why since teeth are pretty distinctive. Solid background gone wrong.

Are you taking my picture or what?

Finally!

Happy 11th Birthday, Ace!

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Abbie

End of July brought our last two of the four birthdays that we celebrate within a month’s span. Ace’s birthday fell on a Sunday this year and he was super excited to be able to celebrate with Y the Brave here.
Ace has requested a camera for the last few years and this year, we felt he was old enough to handle one. He received an older camera that he had put up for him. But he is thrilled! We also signed him up for a photography class.
Breakfast of choice, homemade sour cream donuts. I’ve been told that these are way better than any we can buy. I may be lacking in somethings but making extremely unhealthy but yummy breakfast foods is my forte. Activity choice was laser tag and bumper boats. He wanted to do putt putt but when we reminded him the temps were pushing 100 degrees without humidity, he agreed to the other two activities.

Now to the cake:

My kids, did not go easy on me this summer. First there was Josiah’s cake. And then there was Ace’s.

“Mom, I want a minion cake.”

Um, okay. Pinterest and I became mighty good friends this year.

Getting started. Might I just say that I am in love with marshmallow fondant. It is so easy to make and work with and it keeps well even after made.

It wasn’t midnight and I was done. And still smiling.

So was this little guy. I used a buttercream icing for the main part and decorated with the marshmallow fondant. The cake was my chocolate cake recipe.

And, of course, the birthday boy approved so that, to me, is all that matters.

Happy 5th Birthday, Bryant!

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Abbie

Ack, suddenly my big baby boy is now 5. Not sure how that happened so fast.

My little man went easy on mama for his cake request:

Ice cream cake. We made plans on his date night. He knew exactly what he wanted and he was thrilled when he got it.

Over the course of birthday discussions at the beginning of the summer, we realized that Bryant had never built a bear. This, my friends, is how we create traditions. We decided that 5 years of age is a great age to build a bear and so, subsequent five year olds in our family will be able to create their own stuffed animals. This suited Bryant just fine.

He chose a Superman bear with a Superman outfit and the Star Wars theme song. Oh yes he did.

First Days of School

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Abbie

My goal for the start of school was to take pictures of the kids like this:
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Pre-k pictures (1st day of school pictures)

1st day of first grade

3rd day of third grade

With some goofiness in between.

And then Emmie fell. And then our first day pictures ended. Oh well. Maybe the second semester we can pick up where we left off.

Pool Party

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Abbie

Summertime and the pool. Ahhh, we absolutely love living in a neighborhood where we can walk less than half a mile to the pool and jump in. Yes, we have to pay for upkeep but we, personally, are not responsible for the chemicals and cleaning of the pool. I just love that.

All the kids were thrilled to have several pool days during this summer. One of those days, Mark took the camera and got some great shots.

Mid-air Be still my heart…Y the Brave knows just what to do to make mama freak out! This was a much better jump.

Summer Blast 2015

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Abbie

Last year, we had some wonderful neighbors who organized a summer blast for the whole neighborhood. Water slides, free food, and lots of fun. They worked so hard and put together a wonderful time for all our neighbors. This year, they did it again. The whole neighborhood raised money and put together a fun party that lasted from ten in the morning to late in to the evening. Waterslides and cupcakes. They made for happy kids and great memories.

Y tried to learn how to play cornhole.

Our Zoo at the Zoo

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Abbie

We took advantage of our zoo membership and took part in the Members’ Night festivities. Our local zoo plans these member nights three times a year and they are always a treat and less crowded for our crew.

We thought Y the Brave had been to a zoo before because he lives in a city where there is a zoo. But, he told us over and over that he had never been. It was so much fun watching his excitement over seeing the animals up close. Spot our bunch…I have to say tie dye shirts are my favorite family shirts so far. They were a lot of fun to make and easy to spot. New sea otters exhibit is so interesting! But, Emmie loved the bears. She “oooohed” over them the most. A volunteer singing about koalas. We can’t call them koala bears now. Feeding the Lorakeets. They were so full from the whole day of eating but we managed to get them to take a bite or two. Flamingo impersonation. Y the Brave told us that he wanted to see elephants most of all. I think he was thrilled when he got to see them. But the smell…well, it always knocks us all off our feet. A bunch of Characters in a small train car. Mostly all smiles.

Rock wall climbing. I was a bad mama and forgot to open the flash so half the pictures were unrecognizable. Zoe and Ace were proud of their checkerboard accomplishment.Here’s the traditional family portrait with the lions.

This is our family,our neighbors next door and our neighbors across the street. Right now, we have twenty kids between our three families (we have some amazing neighbors who are foster parents!). I can’t remember how many are in this picture though. Pretty close to that number, I believe.

Peace, Love, and Dye

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Abbie

If we are close to a chaperon from New Horizons for Children during hosting, the rule is to plan a time to spend with the chaperon. Well,, we were close to chaperons but they were about two to three hours away. And, then there was the minor problem of transportation since, with Y, we are at capacity in our van unless there is a super skinny person who can squeeze in the back seat.

We really wanted to meet and spend time with the chaperons but we just couldn’t figure out how to do it. Then a hosting family/friend, had the idea to bring a favorite chaperon to our area and we could split time. When I told her what we were going to do, I told her that they could join us too. So they did. And the kids opened the fun trunk to find tie dye kits.

The fun happened before all of this though. Ace woke up the day before with a rash that we thought might be poison ivy. But, when the rash started moving around and we talked to other people, we realized that it was actually probably hives. I made a call to the doctor and got an afternoon appointment thinking we would be done tie dying in plenty of time. I totally underestimated our tie dying timing or skills.

Our friends arrived and we got to work. Soon after starting the dying process, we realized we didn’t have enough dye. H, the other host mom, made a mad dash to Walmart to try and get more dye. Just so you know, when it says it will dye nine shirts on the kit, what it really means is if you put one dot of each color on nine shirts, then you’re covered. One dot is not enough for our crew. They needed full on dye. In the middle of the dye-fest, Ace’s appointment approached. I begged H to stay at the house while I took Ace to the appointment. We found out he had an allergic reaction to who knows what and needed to stay on an allergy med for awhile and then made a mad dash back to the house.

Even though it was quite chaotic, I think we all had a wonderful time. And Y got to see his favorite chaperon, M. It was a blessing for us to see her too.

Just a Bunch of Characters

Musings of everyday life in a house full of Characters.

Author Archives: Abbie