Letter to Annie

Dear Annie,

This week you will turn 7 and I thought you deserved to have a blog post all to yourself. You and your twin sister are so similar that it's hard for me to describe your differences to our friends. Aside from being so identical that you have freckles in the same location, your personalities are completely intertwined. You are both sweet and loving, creative and friendly. You both love the same toys, and play super well together. I am so thrilled that you and your sister are so close. And frankly I'm a little jealous of the friendship you have, knowing that you'll always be each others best friend.

But aside from all that my dear, you are growing up quickly. This year you decided you were done with the princess-y dress up games that you loved in the past. Not that I mind. Not being such a girlie girl myself, I was a little at a loss as to what to do with all that glittler and sparkle. These days you would rather play Legos or pretend play with the others. You like to pretend you're on a desert island like the family in Swiss Family Robinson, and you've been known to pretend to be Queen Susan the Gentle from The Chronicals of Narnia (ok, so maybe the princess thing hasn't totally disappeared...)

I am also pleased to watch your faith develop. You are becoming a prayer warrior, much like your Mama. This week you came to me, very much concerned for the people of Haiti, and you shared with me how you felt led to pray for them. Not that I'm really that surprised, you have always had a heart for caring for others. I am looking forward to helping you develop compassion for the needy in our community, as well as God's children around the world.

Repurposed kids clothes - day 3

So you know what happens when you make something cute for 2 of your kids, but not the third. You'd better have a good project lined up for that 3rd kid. Or else.
With that in mind, I went back to the give away bag. I found a cute pair of jeans with embroidery around the ankles that had a hole in the knee. So I took the pant leg with the hole in it, and cut it off below the hole. Then, for kicks I found an old tee-shirt to use as the lining. I cut off the back panel of the shirt and measured it to fit the length and width of the denim piece I had. After I had the lining pinned and sewed inside the pant leg, I stitched the bag shut at what used to be the ankle, and stitched a finished edge around the top of the bag.
To make a strap I took the other pant leg, cut off a long strip, making sure to keep the embroidery where you could see it. To finish it I stitched the edges together and sewed the ends to the inside of the bag.

This one took me a little longer than the other bags, the lining part wasn't exactly necessary. But the size was just right for Louisa's favorite critter "Foxy", and I can see her stuffing a water bottle in there to take with us as we go out and about.

Repurposed kids clothes - day 2

If you thought the last repurposing project was easy, you're going to laugh when you see the one I have for today. This little bag was made from a t-shirt Miss Annabel had pulled out for the give away pile. Even though it was a little too small, I wasn't quite ready to get rid of it yet. So what's a girl to do? I danced off to my sewing machine, stitched the shirt closed at the bottom, squared off the corners and put it to good use. Not more than 10 minutes total. A sweet little bag for a sweet little girl.

Mostly just devastated

This week our neighbor suffered a devastating loss. He owns a small hobby farm with a few acres and several animals. On Tuesday evening his main storage barn burned to the ground. We were eating dinner at the kitchen table when one of the girls noticed the neighbors were having "some sort of crazy bonfire". Jory and I were devastated when we realized it was not a happy little bonfire but a massive 4 alarm barn fire with flames shooting 30 feet in the air. Needless to say, it was a terrifying ordeal, even from the safety of our kitchen.

I can't help but think of the conversation I had with some friends just 24 hours earlier about how God uses life altering events to turn us into the people He wants us to be, and how we should commit to praying for our neighbors. So is it a coincidence that a life altering event happened 24 hours after I committed to praying for this specific neighbor? Not likely.

We felt that it was best if we didn't go over to check on our neighbor right away. We didn't want to be gawkers who were attempting to hide our curiosity behind our concerns. We waited a full 24 hours before we went over. Long enough for reality to set in, and the grief that came with it. There was pain in his eyes as he talked about what he'd lost - 4 goats, 500-600 bails of hay and 3 maintenance vehicles, not to mention a barn larger than my house. We offered what we could, but he was still too devastated to take us up on any of our attempts to help. So for now we pray, and cling to the fact that God is good, even when His plan sucks.

Repurposed kids clothes - day 1

I recently cleaned out the kids dressers in an attempt to make room for the new stuff they got for Christmas. After sorting out all the stuff that was still nice enough to pass on, I had a few pieces that I wasn't quite sure what to do with. I had several pieces that were still cute but had stains or holes, and a few old favorites that my children absolutely loved that I was reluctant to get rid of. So I pulled out my sewing machine and started experimenting. I ended up with several pieces that I'll share over the next few days.
The first one is a little sack that I made for Alex. I started out with a pair of well loved brown sweat pants that had a hole in the knee. I cut the one pant leg off (the one with a hole in it) just below the hole, and set the other leg aside for another project. With the piece I'd just cut off I stitched up the side that I had just cut to be the bottom of the bag. Then the other side already had a finished seam on it which I thought would be perfect for a drawstring, so I just made a small opening and ran a piece of ribbon through it. It took me about half an hour at most.

So we ended up with a cute little bag for Alex to keep treasures in. At first he was a little miffed that I'd cut up one of his favorite pairs of sweat pants, but his initial annoyance quickly passed and he was thrilled that instead of just pitching them that I'd put them to good use. It quickly became a sleeping bag for one of his little stuffed pals that he sleeps with.

Mama's bird house

At our most recent den meeting for Alex's boy scout troop The Powers That Be decided it was time for the boys to learn how to use power tools. Or more accurately, time for their parents to teach them how to use power tools. Now if I had been running the show it would have been something fun and simple like here's some scrap wood, now go experiment with it. But no. Not long after we arrived our cruel scoutmaster handed us a pile of wood and some nails, and told us to go build a bird house. No directions, no sample bird house to copy. Guess what. Mama doesn't know how to build a bird house. Fortunately the meeting was packed with Dads that did... I tried the old "Maybe if I stand here with a drill in my hand and look helpless they'll take pity" tactic. Nope. This Mama was on her own. The good news is that I wasn't the only helpless mom in the room. I buddied up to another clueless mom and together, with a lot of spying on the dads, we built birdhouses for our sons. With the boys help of course.

So without further delay, here is the beautiful birdhouse my son and I made. Be sure to notice it's key features - the dribbles of wood glue, and corners that don't match up. Awesome, I know. I'm particularly fond of the indentations in the wood left by the hammer. But yet it stands as a well earned trophy. Mama wrestled with the power tools, and came out victorious.

My apologies to my father, the tool man, who is undoubtedly groaning over this post.

a case of the sillies

After I was up all night with a sick Louisa I could use a little chuckle. I thought you could to. These are from a few days ago.

I don't know what it is about this one of Alex, to me it just shouts CREEPY OLD MAN!

Again with the creepy shots of my children. I know. But this one of Louisa made us all laugh.

And finally Annie, my most photogenic kid - um. No comment.

100 days of school

I think it's a day every class in every grade school in America celebrates. 100 days of school. Every year we celebrate it here at home. We've done necklaces with 100 beads, artwork with 100 stickers, and so forth. This year we decided to take a different track. Instead of making another useless art project we decided to make something useful. I had the children string cereal to make these little garlands that will not only decorate our winter trees, but will also provide nourishment for our little woodland friends.

I counted out 100 pieces of cereal for each kid, and let them pick out their own thread. We used cheerios, because they were easy to string (and we had a brand new box). We also tried to use natural threads that will either decompose or become a part of a bird nest at some point, so that we won't have to go collect it after the cereal has been consumed.

recording our goals

I've been searching for a method to record the children's New Years resolutions and goals for a while. I recently realized the answer was right in front of me. I pulled out another one of those empty plastic photo books from Walmart (the same kind I used to have the kids write the stories they gave as Christmas gifts) and got to work. I made a simple template in Microsoft Word to get the kids started, it had a space for their name, a prompt about their goals for the year, and the year typed at the bottom. Then printed the templates and let the kids write and illustrate their own goals for the year. The idea is to have the kids enter new goals as the years go by, and by the time they are ready for college we'll have a little book full of sweet plans that my children have made. (Yes, Louisa's goal for this year is to eat ice cream. Awesome.)

Yes, Mom and Dad are being held accountable as well. I wrote out a goal using the same template I used for the kids, but I also thought I could add a 4 x 6 print out of the resolution graphic I shared last time.

Growth

My resolution for the coming year is the same as it has been for the last several years - to see the world as Christ sees it, and to act accordingly. This year I have learned several valuable lessons that I'd like to continue to work on next year. I made this little graphic in photoshop that contains many of the lessons learned this year. For me they are goals to strive for, tangible ways to be more like Christ that I'd like to continue working on, some are more measurable than others. Chances are good that I"ll print it out and hang it somewhere in my house where I"ll be sure to see it... We'll see.

I'm sure Jory's going to get a good laugh at some of these. He's much better about several of these things than I am...

our year in numbers

(number graphics borrowed from Flickr)

3,300 hugs and kisses
18,000 photos (only about 1,000 of those were of the Peterson clan)

1,095 messy art projects

820 childrens books read

1,100 bowls of cereal eaten

156 loads of laundry folded

2 trips to New Mexico

208 gallons of milk

How do you measure your year?

From our family to yours

Merry Christmas! We hope your day was filled with as much love and laughter as ours was...

Christmas Crafting day 5 - Furoshiki

So I had another post in mind for my last one in our series of Christmas crafting, but I was sort of side tracked by a link my friend sent me to Furoshiki, or the art of Japanese fabric folding. Basically think of gift wrapping meets origami. Oh yes. It's rather addicting. Not only does it look beautiful when it's finished. It's so darned easy. I made my cloths out of large squares of fabric, finishing the edges by pressing them and then stitching over the pressed edges. If you don't want to make your own cloths, any square fabric will work - a blanket, bandana, scarf etc. What I liked best is that folded fabric is much more forgiving than paper, so if you aren't happy with the way it turned out, you can just keep tweaking it.

My eight year old was intrigued by the concept, so I made a few extra cloths for him to practice with. So next year, you guessed it, I'll be outsourcing all the Furoshiki wrapping also.

Christmas Crafting day 4 (belated) - vintage card display

I had this post all ready to go yesterday, but time got away from me before I got around to posting it. So today you get two crafty posts...

Recently a dear friend of mine sent me a collection of vintage Christmas cards. After my happy dance was over, I systematically wrangled the cutest ones away from my children to make this temporary display over my desk. Along with the cards, I swiped some of these fun numbers from one of Jory's recent home improvement projects. To set up this arrangement, I arranged the cards on my floor until I came up with a grouping that I liked, and then I just taped them to my wall using the same arrangement. I have a whole handful of these cards, and am looking forward to using them in more art projects like mini books, wall art and so forth. If you have any ideas for displaying the beautiful cards you've received we'd love to hear about it!

It's been a joy to have these little guys right above my sewing machine keeping me company on my late night sewing marathons this last week.

Christmas crafting day 3 - gifts with style

Everyone knows that presents are more fun to receive if they look great right? So this week as I was fiddling with my sewing stuff anyway I decided to make some fun reusable gift embellishments to go on the gifts I was packaging.

First I made some fabric ties out of scraps that weren't big enough to make bags with. These ties can be pinned on, tied on, or buttoned together at the end. They can be plain or embellished with fabric paint or buttons. You can also layer them with ribbon, fiber or garland for more interest... And best of all, since they aren't sewed on they can be traded out for different gifting events. The red bags can have blue ties on them for Alex's birthday in July. Awesome, I know. They were very easy to make, I just cut long strips of fabric, folded the strip in half so the wrong side was out, stitched, flipped and pressed. Not more than 10 minutes.

As I have been crafting, my kids have been under my feet wanting to "help" every step of the way. So I had them make some button garland to add to our embellishment stash. They had a blast making these little strands, and I'm having a blast finding ways to use them. In addition to wrapping gifts with them, I have a strand on my Christmas tree, and a strand wrapped around a votive holder on my kitchen table. A word of advice - if you're going to "outsource" this craft to little hands, I recommend using a cord that won't ravel as you string the buttons.
And last but not least we have name tags. We have these great (reusable!) wrappings and embellishments, the question is how do the kids know who's gift is who's? Well short of pinning a tacky piece of paper to each gift with the kids name on it, we've come up with a few ideas on how to label the gifts, most of which were dug out of my stash of scrapbook stuff. The first is these great pieces of chipboard. After my children painted them we punched holes in them and wrote their names on them. We also found these cool acrylic monograms that are awesome until you have more than one family member with the same initials.

So now we have a rather large stash of beautiful, easy to use goodies to wrap gifts with. Which means that I can confidently outsource giftwrapping to the kids, and know that we'll still end up with a stack of lovely items to pass out.

I'd love to hear how you guys dressed up your gifts this year... if you have any great ideas to share let us know!

5 Days of Christmas part 2

One of my observant readers noticed today's craft was actually in the photos from yesterday. This year we made the switch from wrapping paper to reusable fabric gift sacks. Aside from the obvious earth friendly component of using these sacks, it makes gift wrapping so darned easy.
I am by no means an expert seamstress, but these sacks are really simple to make. I measured out my fabric (giving myself an extra 2 inches on each side, just for good measure), stitched my sides together, and added a drawstring to pull the top shut. Each bag took about 30-40 minutes to make. Then just for fun, I had the kids dig through my scrapbook embellishments and pull out some goodies to finish off the bags.

5 Days of Christmas Crafting.

This year the crafting bug has hit hard in our household. I don't know if it's because this year has been extra stressful with our added responsibilities, or if we're just a little bit more careful about what we're spending on Christmas gifts, but this year we have so many fun craft projects we couldn't keep them all to ourselves.
So I thought it would be fun to do a different craft project for the 12 days of Christmas, but then I looked at the calendar and realized we only had 5 days left. D'oh. So we're doing the 5 days of Christmas crafting instead. Which in all reality, 5 days a much more do-able commitment for this slightly frazzled Mama than 12. So we'll just go with it.

Our first project was a fun little idea I dreamed up in the middle of the night. I bought a plastic photo book for a dollar at Walmart, the kind that have a removable cardboard insert for the cover. We removed the cover and inserted our own cover with the title of our story. Then I typed while the kids dictated a story of their own creation (it was basically a synopsis of the Swiss Family Robinson with themselves as the main characters). I used Microsoft Word to format the pages to get the text to fit within the page parameters. Then I cut the pages down to fit in the book. I also added some blank pages for the kids to illustrate their text with. The result was a priceless (and durable!) keepsake that cost next to nothing.

Welcome winter

We had a rather wintery week this week. A little snow and some chilly temperatures have been enough to make us hunker down, and complain (just a little). In the past I've never been a huge fan of winter, not a winter-hater, but certainly not a lover either. This year I can't help but embrace the cold a little differently. This year we have a son who lives near the arctic circle. I can't imagine what it'd be like to get 4 hours of sunlight each day, and face week after week of temperatures below zero. When I think about what goes on outside of Max's window, I can't help but think that we're a little spoiled by our not-arctic climate. Lets be honest, the weather here in Ohio isn't that bad. Maybe this year I'll learn how to stop counting the days until spring. I thought I was so clever last week because I'd outsourced all my Christmas projects to the children. Wrong. All I can say is there was a void left by the absence of craftiness. So this week we're making a miniature Christmas tree forest out of clippings from my parents live tree. There are a few more top secret projects that I'm not at liberty to discuss. But they are really darned fun.
Last of all, we have an adoption update. We had our second interview with our social worker. She still loves us. At this point it's still way to early to predict a timeline for when we will get to make our first trip to Russia, but she was optimistic that we could be called in January or February. Unfortunately we won't be able to bring Max home with us, it's just a "visit". We have to wait until our court case comes up, which won't be until summer probably.

Christmas crafting

We've been so busy this fall fundraising and keeping up with life that we hadn't really put a whole lot of thought and effort into what we were making for Christmas this year. I won't lie, at times this fall, purchasing store bought cards and gifts sounded like a blissfully simple solution to the mayhem. But not for long. I did what any good mother would do. I outsourced. This year my children are making the cards, the scrapbook pages (a long standing tradition in the Peterson clan), and a few other top secret gifts.
Of course they were thrilled to be included in the Christmas crafting. I'm sure that letting them use the "Mommy only" craft supplies had nothing to do with their merriment.

No, we didn't really have a project in mind when we decided to dye our pumpkin seeds, it just seemed like a good idea at the time...

Finding ordinary beauty...

It's been entirely way too long since I had the opportunity to do something selfish and spontaneous. The other day Jory and the kids were gone, and instead of knocking one more thing off my to do list, I took myself on a little nature walk. As I walked I was reminded that my life is more than this international headache, it's more than fundraising, it's more than my job as a mother and all the insanity that goes with it. My life is a fantastic swirl filled with my favorite people and beautiful things that God is wishing I would notice. On this day, I noticed these beautiful weeds growing along the side of the road. It makes me wonder what else I haven't noticed. What haven't you noticed lately?

What I've learned...

This fall we've been studying the old testament heroes in our Bible study. Most of the people in my social network are familiar with Moses and Solomon and the others we learned about in Sunday School. A few people know enough about these characters to know about their flaws and personality quirks. It's not a secret that God uses complete idiots like Gideon to do impossible tasks, but what I've learned this fall is that He isn't finished yet. He's still using flawed people (like me) to do His work. Personally I think we got off easy. No giants or armies to take out, no questionable governments to overthrow. Just a little boy, and an international headache to put him where he belongs.
And guess what? God didn't need reliable technology to do His work. He didn't need it to accomplish His tasks in the Old Testament, and He doesn't need it now either. He knows we've had problems with both computers, cell phone, internet, and television. And He doesn't care, because He doesn't need them.

As far as our adoption proceedings, all is well for the most part. We recently met with our social worker for the first time, she was an absolute joy. She came to the house to have a quick look around and meet with our children. She assured us that even though people look at our financial situation and wonder what we're thinking, our family dynamics are ideal for welcoming a child who may have trouble forming emotional attachments to other people. Maybe we aren't as crazy as I thought we were.

As far as our progress goes, we have a few little tasks to finish in order to complete our home study, and then we're ready to start our dossier, which is a fancy term for more expensive paperwork.

blessed

This past week has seen its shares of ups and downs. The saga of life without reliable technology continues, but it’s nothing we haven’t learned to live with. In the midst of our technological issues, we have seen a ray of hope and blessing. That blessing comes in the form of friendship. We know that one of the many ways God chooses to bless us is through our friendships, and we’ve gotten a healthy dose this week. This week has seen several get-togethers and play dates, all of which have been a joy. Without them realizing it, our friends have stepped up in a big way. And we are so grateful.
Recently our friend Phill and his daughter Mary traveled to Russia on a mission trip. While they were there, they were able to visit with Max and a few of the other children we met last summer. They brought back pictures and stories from their visit, which they shared with us at a gathering for adopting families. We haven’t had much contact with Max or anyone from the orphanage this fall, so it was really nice to see all of him and his little friends again. It’s nice to know that Max isn’t a figment of my imagination. He really does exist. At the gathering, we were also able to spend some time with a few of the other families who are also adopting. Most of the families live here in town, so we see them pretty regularly, but we were thrilled to reconnect with a family that lives about an hour away who is adopting Igor, Max’s best friend.

Welcome November

October has come and gone. Honestly I’m not sorry to see it go. Our October was a crazy swirl of photo sessions and technology that didn’t function properly. October is a notoriously busy month among photographers, as it’s the prime month for outdoor photos and there’s plenty of time to get photos to families for their Christmas cards. So yes, its safe to say that I took a lot of photos last month, which means that we made a plenty of money towards our fundraising efforts. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that we faced so many technological crises during what has so far been one of our best months for fundraising. It’s also interesting to note that our television (that was totally dead for at least 3 weeks) is now functioning at %100. It’s working better than it has in 6 months. It’s earned a new nickname, Lazarus.
So now that we are mostly done with photography, we get to sit around and twiddle our thumbs until we get the call to go get Max right? If only. I still have $30,000 to raise. Although I’m rather sad to say “goodnight” to taking pictures for the year, I have several new and exciting fundraising ideas to get me through the winter. I’ve teamed up with some other families in our community who are also raising money to bring their kids home from Russia. Together we’re doing date nights at our church, and a gift-wrapping weekend extravaganza. We also have a youth band concert and 5k fun run on the back burner that we’re still trying to figure out logistics on. Oh, and we designed a t-shirt! It’s so cool! When we have a finished shirt, we’ll have it for sale at all our various events. It will also be available for purchase here on the blog. Proceeds will go to our fundraising efforts…
So yes, we have a lot to distract us while we wait to go get our son. And then there was Halloween. So of course I have to share a pic of my girls in their costumes. These are for you, Dad. The one where Louisa was pretending to shoot me with a toy pistol was better, but it's probably not in my best interest to publish during this phase of my life.

A new sense of normal

Another week has passed in our little corner of the world. I would like to say that this one was easier than the ones that preceeded it. It wasn't. It was full of several new and interesting crises. It seems like crisis mode is becoming my new normal. So the question becomes what happens when a family faces multiple crises several weeks in a row. From where I sit the answer is clear: you get mad, or you get over it. When this particular storm hit several weeks ago I got pretty darned mad. For days I was a seething mess of justified anger. I don't think anyone would have blamed me if I had stayed there. But I didn't. I'm now a proud member of the 'get over it' team. This particular storm has shown me just how much I rely on technology, instead of on God. At the beginning I was quick to get upset when something "critical" stopped working. A few weeks later, I have been known to do a happy dance when something does what I want it to do. Instead of whining when something else breaks, I now offer up thankful prayers when something does work. I am constantly being reminded that I need God as my center and not my own agenda.

Grace under fire

All adoption stories are different. There is one common thread that seems to unite them, struggle. Struggle with birth parents, bureaucracy, and finances or a combination of all three are all common. It seems that our struggle will be of a spiritual nature. I went on a bit of a rampage last week. I’d like to say my war cry made a difference. It didn’t. All week I continued to struggle with anger and frustration over not being able to use “critical” technology. I was at the end of my rope more times than I’d like to admit. To say that my emotions are a little raw right now would be a bit of an understatement. But you know what, God is still in this. I can still see His hand in everything. Aside from technology, every other area of my life is happy. Our fundraising is going better than expected, we are sailing past all our adoption hurdles with remarkable ease, and our friends and family have really rallied around us in support. God is so clearly in the middle of this storm, it’s impossible to miss His presence. And I want the world to know it. The question is how do I let the world know what is really happening in our lives without sounding like a crybaby. How do I handle this mess with God given grace and dignity? In short, I don’t know. I don’t know how to praise God in the storm. But I’m learning. I’m learning what is really critical in my life and what isn’t. It turns out that television and cell phones aren’t, but I’m still not convinced that I can do without reliable access to the internet. On the flip side, Christian music has become a reliable staple in our lives. It’s interesting to note that on the extensive list of things that don’t work in this house that both of our radios (which are constantly tuned to the Christian radio station) are in perfect working order. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Other items that have climbed onto our critical list are Godly friends and family, and time with God in prayer and reading the Bible. It’s funny how much more relevant God’s words are when your emotions are as raw as mine are.
So is this fun? Not really. Am I ready to pitch this mess, and go back to easy life? Sometimes. Ok, more often than not. But am I defeated? No. I am most certainly not defeated. My armor is thick, remember? And it gets thicker every day. I have my eye on the prize, and by golly I’m in it to win it.

War on warfare

So this weekend was an interesting one in our house. It was full of broken technology and communication breakdowns. Sadly these breakdowns are becoming more and more frequent. Not that I'm surprised. It comes with the turf. Any Christian who steps out in faith should expect to be hit with spiritual warfare. I won't bore you with the list of things that have broken in this house in the last six weeks. But I will say, it's not pretty.
So this last weekend, after a particularly epic breakdown in communication, I was driving around looking at all the pretty fall leaves when a thought occurred to me. I have a choice. I can get fed up and discouraged with all this warfare or I can fight back. I CAN RETALIATE. If Satan wants a war, he's got one. But he just rattled the wrong cage. My armor is thick, my sword is steady, and by golly I serve a mighty commander. So bring it on. From here on every time he hits we as a family are going to hit back by going out of our way to show God's love and kindness to our community.
This is our battle cry. Satan, you've been warned.
(ps. if anyone is interested in enlisting in my army we've got a great retirement plan)

Why

Last week was quite a week. It was full of more downs than ups. While we don't mean to bring you down with all our troubles, we also don't want to lie to those of you who may be interested in international adoption. It's not a fun game that we're playing because we have nothing better to do. You can't expect to fill out a 3 page application, fork out a few hundred bucks, then twiddle your thumbs until they call you to come get your kid. If that was all we had to do, shoot, we'd have 10 kids by now.
So why bother right? If it's that hard, why do it? We all know that there are lots of kids out there that need a good home. Our foster care system here in the States is burdened with more kids than they can handle. If we really wanted another kid, why not just get one of the easy ones that are already here in the States. Our answer is this: we don't just want another kid. We want a specific kid. If we really wanted a bigger family it be a lot easier to just get pregnant. That's not what we want. We were introduced to a sweet, intelligent little boy who was in a really bad spot. If we bring him home he'll have a good chance at being a productive member of society. If he stays where he is, chances are pretty good that he'll either commit suicide or go to jail.
So, forward we trudge. Bolstered by supportive friends and family.

Chip In

I saw this chipin widgit on a friend's blog. It's an easy way for our readers to contribute to our fundraising efforts. Without having tried it, you should be able to click on the ChipIn button, and make a contribution (through paypal or with a credit / debit card) right there. In a perfect world we'd be able to adjust the amount raised feature ourselves to show how much we've risen in our other fundraising efforts, but this is close. So who wants to try it out to see how well it works?

Derailed

It's simple to say that our lives have been slightly derailed this fall. We knew coming into the adoption process that it would be a big headache. Just when we think that we've achieved a full understanding of how hard this will be, it gets a little harder. And a little more expensive. Jory and I have both been working long hours just to keep it all together. We received the gut wrenching news this week that Max's good friend Dasha (who we all loved tremendously) is not going to be adopted by friends of ours. That was almost enough to make us call it quits. We had a family meeting to figure out whether this kid was really worth the headache and heartache. It was Alex's tearful plea that assured us that Max is certainly worth our time and energy. He needs us, and we need him. End of discussion. So we continue on, in this season where the money is going out much faster than it is coming in, and things break for no good reason.

During this season where everything is much harder than it used to be, one would think that our trials would have a negative affect on our marriage and family life. Nope. The children continue to be a bright spot in our lives, singing sweetly along to their Bible songs and bringing in fistfuls of wildflowers in from our yard (that no one has time to mow). So I might not have exciting tales to spin of far off adventures, and dramatic athletic victories, but that's ok. The five of us are clinging to each other and to the hope of what we've been promised with all we've got. And it is so good.

Something

Jory and I have been tossing around all these great ideas related to adoption for blog posts the last few weeks. Topics such as "fun with forms" and "our psych evaluation a.k.a paying someone a lot of money to tell us we're crazy" have been thrown out, followed by "what not to say to your children when talking to the adoption agency on the phone". But I just glanced at our blog and realized we haven't written anything for nearly 3 weeks. So instead of a funny clever post, you're getting this one. But it's something. So don't complain.
The seasons are changing here in our community. As the seasons change we're thinking of new things to introduce our Max to. Raking leaves will probably be a hit, as will apple crisp. Carving pumpkins? Maybe. Recently we were told to stop emailing his orphanage. Some political move to ensure the Ministry of Education is not annoyed with FORO. But we do have a snail mail address for him. We've been warned that whatever we send him in the mail will pass through many hands before it gets him. So basically we can send him notes (that he can't read because he's illiterate) and photos, but nothing useful (cothes, toys etc) because it'll never get to him. So for now we're collecting drawings from the kids and photos to mail him. Which sounds so lame to us Americans, but to a little boy who's never recieved anything in the mail before it sounds like a treasure. When we go to Russia we will be able to take him gifts. So we're collecting all sorts of things to take over. Who needs to pack a suitcase full of clothes when you can pack hundreds of crayons, markers, silly bands etc. etc.
As for the adoption process... well at least we have a sense of humor right? At this point it's a lot of silly questions, pointless classes, and things to pay for. Oh, the things to pay for. Sigh. Our fundraising is going quite well though. We've been so blessed this fall. I have a calendar full of photoshoots for the end of Sept. and all of Oct. Slowly but surely the money we need is coming.

Encouragement

Yesterday marked a month since little Max went back to Russia. We still miss him like crazy. His laughter, calling Jory "bop", and the fun little moments that he and Alex shared still weigh heavy on our minds. We try not to dwell on the ins and outs of his day over in Russia, but I can't help calculating to see what time it is in his neighborhood to figure out what he's up to.
We recently had the joy of getting together with a group of friends who are also in the adoptive process. It was good to hear the horror stories of those farther along in the process so that we know what we're up against. I'm sure that northern Russia is a lovely place, but frankly I'm not looking forward to our 2 visits. One family had already completed the process and has their son home with them. It was good to hear their stories about how their 4 biological children are adjusting to having an 8 year old brother, and how their Max is adjusting to having siblings. Wynelle, the mom, talked about how he was mourning for his friends back in Russia, and how guilty he must feel that he's here and they aren't.
We also discussed the reaction the other families got when they announced they were adopting older children from Russia. Most people were told they were crazy (an understandable reaction). Which is so funny, because we've had the opposite reaction. Everyone we've talked to has been so encouraging. Granted we do have an adoptive friendly social network, several of our friends have adopted, and several more are in the process. We expected their support, but it goes farther than that. Our friends are soliciting their friends on our behalf, and those people are sending us money. People we don't really know are coming through for us. Almost daily it seems that we're getting encouraging notes and donations. And we're only 3 weeks in.
We know that the next year is going to be one battle after another, trying to fight for what is ours. But we know we're not going it alone. We feel that the body of Christ is rising up around us on our behalf. And it's a good place to be.

Fingerprints for a Criminal Background Check

by Jory

Today we went down to the police station to get our fingerprints taken for a criminal background check, as one of the requirements for our adoption paperwork. When I told my father-in-law that they were going to take our fingerprints, he asked if they were going to give them back. I replied, "No, they're probably going to keep them to give to somebody in the witness protection program."

Anyway, it was pretty cool. It was all electronic ... they used a scanner/digital camera type thingy ... we just put our hands on the glass, and pressed real hard, and it read our fingerprints and saved them as some electronic file. It was pretty advanced too. If it got a good reading, it put a green border around the picture on the computer screen. All ten of my digits came out good the first time. But Elissa wasn't so lucky ... she had to try two or three times to get it right. I asked her if she had some dark, secret, criminal past that she forgot to mention.

But eventually she got a good reading. The prints were then sent to the FBI and the BCI, and one of the checks had been completed before we even left the building ... sometimes technology is pretty cool (when it works right!) So that was fairly painless ... the next big thing will be a Psychological Evaluation, scheduled for sometime in mid-September with some kind of certified psychotherepist / specialist ... I hope I'll be able to pass that one!

2 weeks out

It's been 2 weeks since we sent our future son back to Russia. Life is sort of back to normal around here, but this little boy has definitely made an impact on our lives. My daughters continue to yell at each other in Russian. Jory still speaks with a horrible Russian accent (sorry babe, it's bad.) Alex is teaching his little friends common Russian phrases, and me? Well I've had to stop myself from setting a sixth spot at the table more times than I'd like to count.

I wonder what life is like for little Max back in Russia. I noticed the expected high temperature for Severodvinsk today is 53 degrees. In another month they will have ice. I wonder if he has pulled out the hand-me-down Harley Davidson sweatshirt we sent back with him. The orange polar fleece hoodie that was Alex's favorite a few years back. His eyes lit up when I offered to pack it for him. I wonder if it still smells like our house. I heard this morning that his little friend Igor (who also came over last month as an exchange student) cries every night for his family to come and get him. I didn't need to know that.

When he came, they gave us a schedule of what his typical day was like back in Russia. So at any given point in the day I can figure out what he's probably doing. Right now it looks like he's probably finished with dinner - I can only guess what he might have had. Something like fish meal and watery turnip soup. What I wouldn't give to pass him some ketchup for his fish, and some goldfish crackers for his soup. Throw in some apple pie and call it a meal.

I wonder if he still sings the songs he learned at Vacation Bible School. I wonder if he and the other kids that came over use American words in conversation just to annoy the other children who don't know what they mean. I wonder what the orphanage kids think of the silly bandz we sent back. I wonder if he cries at night like Igor.

Fundraising

This whole notion of fundraising has sort of taken over my life. A few weeks ago the concept of actually raising $35,000 was flat out impossible. As a family we plotted and schemed all the ways we could make it work. I could go back to teaching, Jory could get a second job, we could put the kids on a busy intersection and make them dance... All of our ideas seemed "iffy" at best. We kept coming back to the photography fundraiser I did to raise money for the Max and the other Journeys of Joy kids to come. It worked once, it can work again, right? So although it seemed like an unlikely solution, I put all my efforts back into a photography project. This one is called "Bring Max Home" and although it started out small like the other one did, this one has sort of taken on a life of it's own. A woman here in town (a total stranger, really) heard about my story and passed it on to the local media. Our story was picked up by a local news affiliate, and will air this Friday. During our interview, the reporter mentioned that our time slot has a viewing audience of 30,000. All of a sudden that impossible goal doesn't sound that impossible anymore.
A friend of mine who lives in California was curious about my fundraising efforts and how I got to where I am... I'm a self taught photographer who likes working as low budget as possible. I shoot everything on location (not in a studio) so I never use expensive studio lights or backgrounds. I've never taken a photography class, everything I know I learned from following photographers blogs, and by reading whatever I could find at the library. I shoot with a cannon digital rebel xt. Not the highest quality camera on the market, but if you know how it works, it can be a great tool.
As far as getting myself from "a busy mom with a camera" to "a photographer who raises money for a living" I'm not sure how that happened. I can tell you that I let my faith in Jesus Christ guide my thoughts and actions, and one day I felt that God wanted me to pick up my camera and put it to use for His kingdom. So even though I thought it was a dumb idea, I did what He asked. So my biggest advice is this: Find out what God wants you to do and do it. Even if it sounds dumb. Make yourself available, and get out of the way. God works best when you don't try to interfere. I have to remind myself daily that this is not my project and as long as I "follow directions" I can't screw it up.
So this is what it's all about. A cute little boy who lives near the arctic circle...

going forward

Little Max has gone back to Russia, he left a week ago today. As I was preparing to have him here, I had two main goals: 1) Introduce him to all sorts of "new" concepts - such as bath tub toys, and watch him learn about "normal" American culture, 2) introduce him to all my wealthy American friends and find the right family to adopt him. I was not prepared for lessons on the universal concepts of love, relationships, and little boy humor. I was not prepared for how difficult it was to send him back to Russia. I honestly felt like I was condemning one of my own children to life in a dirty frozen jail cell.
So in the beginning, I was convinced that there was no way I had the time/energy/money/stamina to deal with a 4th child. I had every excuse in the book. Before he left, I was convicted about how selfish all my excuses were. Yes, my house is small, but it's way better than an orphanage 100 miles from the arctic circle. No, I don't have a lot of money but I do have a lot of love, and that's all he really wants anyway. I already have 2 six year old children, I don't really need a third - why not? he has built in playmates... The truth is this little guy is perfect for our family, he already has a lot of our interests and personality quirks built in. In the end, I realized I didn't want another family to adopt him. So crazy or not, we're going forward.
Adopting from Russia is a long, expensive, headache. We know several families who are already in the process (and a few more who are just starting the process like we are). We thought that going through the process with friends would make the ordeal slightly more enjoyable. Plus we're all adopting from the same orphanage, so our kids will all know each other. Instant community.
The down side of our decision is that we need $35,000 to complete the adoption- which we don't have. But we have several ideas about how to raise money, and we have several friends that are in the same boat, so we can collaborate on our fundraising efforts. So the next year will be full of fundraising and anticipating the return of our son, Max.

Lessons learned from a Russian orphan

I've been keeping a running list of notes on life with a Russian orphan on facebook, so for you nonfacebookers, here are some of the highlights.

* Yesterday I stopped to get gas, and of course he had to help me. Who would have thought that a task that mundane could bring so much amusement? Don't get me started on the window cleaner. One of these days we'll take a spin through the car wash...
* At the lake Alex got stung by a bee. Maxim came over to check on him twice, while the girls didn't give a hoot about their brother. Which one of these kids was abandoned and neglected again?
* I'm starting to regret showing him how the microwave works. After realizing that microwaved salad isn't that yummy, I thought he'd get the idea that it's not for everything. But this morning I intercepted him before he microwaved his dry cereal.
* this kid comes in two states: soaked or trying to figure out how to get soaked.
* I have to wonder what the orphanage directors back in Russia are going to think of us crazy Americans filling this kid's head with crazy ideas.
* who's idea was it to teach him how to use the cd player? And no, unplugging it doesn't help.
* whatever you do, don't turn your back on a curious little boy (who doesn't speak English) and a hot motorcycle that was just ridden. Ouch.
* When you take a little boy who has probably never been in water deeper than his ankles to the pool for the first time, don't throw him in 3 feet of water. Even if he has a life jacket on, and is motioning to be thrown in... don't do it.
* How do you teach a little guy who's clearly malnourished about portion control?
* Igor called me a "babushka" how do you say "faux pas" in Russian.
* Russian is a beautiful language especially when spoken by a cute 6 year old.
* Farting is funny in any language. Especially when you are 6.
* cookies are a universal motivator.
* Little boys are little boys, wether they were born in America or in Russia. Also, little boys speak a universal language. No translators necessary.
* Under his pillow he hides all his "treasures". A pretty marble, a nightlight, s few legos and a flashlight. No food yet. It breaks my heart to think about why he needs to horde things.

Maxim

Meet my newest son, Maxim. He's only temporary, as he'll be going back to Russia at the beginning of August. But I thought he was worthy of his own post. If your not already familiar with him, he's a 6 year old orphan who is as sweet as can be. He came over as a foreign exchange student through a charity our church supports. He's into machines and figuring out how they work, he's usually soaked, and besides being about 6 inches smaller than a normal kid his age, there is nothing wrong with him. He's generous, thoughtful and kind. His orphanage director told us he spent his first 4 years in a cabin out in the woods with his father, who was an alcoholic and didn't care for him. The fact that he's been out in the woods is evident as he knew how to pick and eat raspberries, and he made himself a fishing pole and was "fishing" over the side of our deck. He's one great kid, and we hope that someone we know will fall in love with him and make plans to adopt him.

8 years old

Today is a very speial day indeed. My little buddy Alex is 8 years old. On one hand I think, "has it really been 8 years already?" but on the other it's "has he only been with us for 8 years?" He's such a fabulous little guy I thought I'd take a moment to record what it's really like being his mom. He's clever, creative, thoughtful and generous. He loves to build, read and create. He's a gentle soul who is quick to put the needs of others before his own. He's more nerdy than athletic. He's good with little kids. He likes his legos, GI Joes, and vehicles. He's never met an art supply he didn't like. He makes friends quickly, and will talk your ear off if you let him. In short, he's a fabulous mixture of the best qualities of both Jory and me, and we love having him around.

So it goes without saying that we're in the middle of birthday week around here. I'm not sure when celebrating a birthday turned into a week long ordeal, but it's fabulous so we're going with it. On Tuesday we had a birthday dinner #1 at the chinese restaurant with my parents, my brother, and our dear friend Sandy. Yesterday we went to the Air Force Museum in Dayton. Our friends from Columbus, the Alexander's, met us there to celebrate the joint birthday of Alex and Hope. Even though we were just there in April, it was very very fun. (Yes, there are pictures, but they're all still on the camera). Today is the actual birthday of my boy, we're having an ice cream sandwich birthday cake, presents, probably birthday dinner # 2, and probably something fun of Alex's choice like a trip the the playground (or dare I say it...) the pool. Then tomorrow, Alex's last day of birthday is when his biggest gift arrives... he's getting a brother! A temporary brother, who doesn't speak English, but it's the closest thing he'll have to a brother for now.

So yes, all the preparations are made, as far as we know, there are no more hoops to jump through in Russia, the children are going to be on the airplane within 24 hours. There are 10 coming, ours is the youngest. We have friends from church who are in the process of adopting 2 children who are currently in Russia, they managed to get on the same flight back that our kids are coming on, so they'll be able to help chaperone them. I can't imagine traveling across the globe with 10 kids (and 2 adults) who don't speak the same language. But I made sure she had a big bag of goodies to entertain the kids with before she left.

But yes, the reality of having a homeless child who speaks no english, and comes with little to no clothing that fits, has probably never been in a car, nor been in water deeper than his ankles is setting in. As much as I want to introduce him to everything that's good about life in America I have to be realistic about the amount of stuff that I can throw at him. Yes, we can try every flavor of ice cream that Meijer's sells, think of 20 different ways to play with water, and learn how to make our own snacks. But we probably can not visit all the tourist attractions in town, or let him pick out a snack at the supermarket. We'll be sure to keep a running list of all the things that were a hit, and what totally bombed.

General stuff...

Life is getting back to normal around here. We've had a few blissfully quiet days that have allowed me to catch up on my "critical" list of to-do's. This week the kids have been out to the lake for swimming lessons with my mom at the boyscout camp. Annie of course is quite the little fish, leave the other two in her wake. Alex is learning to like the water without goggles.
I've had a quiet week on my photography project, which has allowed me to make some headway on editing past sessions. Just so you have some idea on where we stand, I've currently raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,250 for FORO, and in the month of June I've had 8 paid photoshoots, with 3 more scheduled before July 1. I chuckle when I think about my original goal which was 5 photo sessions total, $100 raised. I was so far off the mark.
Speaking of FORO, we had our final planning meeting this week. We learned a little more about Severodvinsk, where our children are from. Apparently, the region is well known for their submarine building (which Alex thinks is SO cool), and the movie "The Hunt for Red October" was filmed not far from their community. We also had a Russian language training session. Basically we learned the top 100 phrases a parent would need. Stop, not allowed, are you sick, bathroom, etc. I'm fairly confident I can get by with the Russian, I already know - yes, no, and grandma. Jory is trying to learn a little more - I think he just wants to impress his co-workers.

Update on life

Much has happened in this house during the last two weeks. Last week Jory and the kids went to New Mexico without me. While they were gone, my mom and I had extreme home makeover - Peterson family edition. We painted the master bedroom/bathroom and our hallway bathroom. Throw in some new bedding, new bathroom faucets, furniture rearranging and some other general "repairs" and you have a good idea of how we spent our week. But now the children are back home, where they belong. They're up to their regular antics, and I'm pretending they aren't making me crazy.
In addition to working on the house, my life has been overtaken with photos. I drove to Columbus last weekend for a photo extravaganza. I had 7 sessions planned, thankfully the good Lord intervened on that craziness, and 2 families had to cancel. In the future I'll know that 5 sessions in one weekend is just right. Numbers aside, I had a lovely weekend. I got to catch up with some friends that I hadn't seen in a while, catch up with a friend I hadn't seen since high school, and meet some new friends - ones that I felt I already knew, and apparently knew me just as well.
Thankfully things are starting to settle down around here. We are falling back into our regular routines. My lovely little garden is chugging right along, despite the fact that I've neglected it all week. Our peas are now ripe for the picking, and boy do we have a lot. Louisa has taken to helping me pick them in the morning, which has been a fun little bonding experience for both of us. Remember when I said no one else in the family would eat them? Well times are changing - these kids might be pea eaters afterall.

Welcome June

It's so fabulous to see how our garden changes from week to week. This week we are excited to see things that we planted from seeds starting to push through the soil. We have cosmos, and dill(new plants in addition to the volunteers we have from last year), and pumpkins - which we've never grown before. Growing things from seeds is the coolest, watching it start out tiny and then get bigger and bigger as it matures. Sure it takes forever, but that's half the fun. In addition to our new growth, we were excited to see the first tiny pea pods appear. Soon enough I'll be able to pick a snack every morning as I make my rounds. Yes, I eat peas for breakfast.
In addition to new growth in our garden, I was thrilled this morning to find my first tiny toads, by the end of the summer they'll be about an inch long, but right now they're about as big as my pinky fingernail. I found three of these little guys this morning. It's time to start watching where I'm walking again. Speaking of watching where I'm going, I found another black rat snake in my garden today. This one was smaller than the first one I saw back in April, and therefor not nearly as scary. But still. I've lived in this house for 7 years with nary a snake, then all of a sudden I have multiple snakes. Yahoo. All I can say is he better not eat all my toads.
Jory and kids are getting ready to take a trip out west for Grandaddy's birthday. Jory's grandfather will be 98 this year. Sadly I won't be able to join them. Remember that photography project I'm working on? Well I currently have 8 photo shoots scheduled that week. So I will be here pretending to be a photographer and enjoying a house that actually stays clean. And eating peas for breakfast.

happenings........

It's been a little quiet around here these last few days. We are settling into a summer routine, enjoying the fact that we don't have to sit down at the table to do school work for a while. It's still too early in the season for our summer programs to be starting up, so we're just chillin. We've been having fun with our international preschool friends, and catching up with our friend "baby Z" (aka Elizabeth) who is a little friend that we watched a lot last fall...
Our garden is bursting forth. This week it was the roses. The pink ones and yellow ones are stunning right now. Last year I found some sadly neglected roses on our "annex" and transferred them to our garden, not knowing exactly what I was putting in. Well, the first one is nearly ready to bloom, and it looks like it will be have a red blossom. Not sure if they will all be the same color or if they will be a variety. Surprises are so fun.
My photography project is picking back up. I started it last year as a way to raise money for our little Maxim to come, and have had a great response. I had a session last weekend, and am looking at at least one session per weekend for the next few weeks.
On a completely random note, a friend convinced me to make a "fan page" on facebook. Not that I think I"m cool enough to have fans, but it does make it easier for people who aren't friends with me on FB to look at my pictures. So if you'd like to see more photos of the kids, or see some of the photo shoots that I've done you can find me at Elissa Peterson Photography, or just follow the link in the sidebar. It's not that exciting yet, but there'll be more pictures up soon.

freedom........

We are officially on summer vacation in these parts. Wednesday was our last day. It's so weird to come home from our various morning activities and not have to wrestle the children into submission at the kitchen table. A very welcome break indeed.
Our big news for the week is that we recieved our placement information about our Russian orphan! His name is Maxim and he's 6 years old. He has blonde hair, blue eyes, and chubby little cheeks. He's pretty darned cute if I do say so myself. He and his friends will be here on July 16th. We're pretty excited to meet him.

Mother's Day was a lovely affair in our house. After church we headed out on a little adventure. It was a beautiful day, so we took our kites to the park, and did a little exploring. After our adventure we had a nice "dinner" of pie and ice cream at Bob Evans. Being a grown up rocks.

The weather has been a little icky this week, so we haven't been able to spend much time out in the yard. We've had a little bit of flooding in the low parts of our yard. Nothing to write home about, but enough to make some of our plants unhappy.

The Scent of Summer

We are closing in on the end of the school year. It sort of crept up on me this year. We have 3 days left - which means I only have to plan a partial week next week. Whoa. Where did the year go? The kids worked really hard this year, and all three have made great strides academically. So now it's nearly time to play, and we can't wait for our freedom. The weather is warming up, and we are antsy to get out in the garden.
Speaking of which, our garden is bursting forth. New blooms for the week include the double layer white daffodils and 3 types of irises (all purple oddly enough). This week the girls and I probably planted 150 seeds - cosmos, sunflowers and dill. We are still having trouble with the tent caterpillars. It turns out that when you destroy the nests - if any have escaped they will just build a new nest. Lovely.
In other news we have embarked on a new child care adventure. Previously we've been doing in home child care for individual families. As of right now, we're sort of between families. So when we were notified that a local center was in need of volunteers, we thought we'd try it. Our new center is called the American School for Women and Children. It is a school for women who are learning English as a second language, and provides childcare for their children. We are in the pre-k and kindergarten class, so my kids fit right in age wise. With one week under our belt we are completely thrilled with the center. I was afraid the kids would find it slightly odd that they are in the cultural minority (as in the only white children in the center) but they could care less. The other children in our class are Chinese, Arabic and Somalian. What a fantastic learning opportunity for my children.