some favourite pressies

Last night Adrian and I decided to write a list of all the things to organize before going away.
It was a very scary, long list, that actually had lists within the list.
Besides this weekend, which is already half over, we only have two more weekends to prepare...like I said...scary.


So, what did we do today, seen as we have so little time?....we went to the public swimming pool with the kids. It was great to get out with the family and friends and just relax and enjoy. I think the children and us really needed it, so in my way of thinking, it was one of the things we needed to do on our list.


Life seems to always have something that you just have to do, so I think you need to put family time in that same category, otherwise it can tend to get overshadowed.
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Here are some of our children's favourite Christmas presents...


Kahlan loves his miniature copy of the brand name " Vans"volleys. He was very impressed that they have the same tread as the "real" ones and even the little logo on the heel and inner sole.





One of Jordan's favourite would be his Torpedo Battleship game ( I quite enjoy it too! ). It's a lot like the original but after you locate all the other person's ship, you place a big version on the grid and get to fire torpedoes at it. When you hit it, it gets blown off the grid.



Emily's is definitely her CD player. It is so cute, it's a little castle with turrets that light up and change colours as you play music. Emily spends a lot of time dancing and singing to her new worship music Cd. At night, she listens to her lullaby music to sleep.





We are trying to get Emily to close her door over when she goes to sleep, as her room is in the main noisy area, so she spends most of her time watching and listening to us instead of sleeping. She is still too scared to close it completely, but with the lights and music of her Cd player we have progressed to the door being half closed.



We sent Jeremiah a toy camera but I forgot to take a photo of it.
For too many Christmas's, we have had a ball ball on the tree that said " little one", my sister made it for us, it was a beautiful gift. Every Christmas that went by, we prayed we would not have another one without our "little one".

Well, another Christmas has gone by without our "little one", but this time we have a son, a name, a beautiful little boy that we will hold very soon. So my sister had a ball ball made up with Jeremiah on it, this was one of my favourite presents.




Unfortunately, straight after taking these photos, I went to put his ball ball in a different area and it shattered. My thumb went straight through it. We have had the other one for years, but this one was very thin. Jordan was in tears and kept telling me I could glue it. It was in too many little pieces though.
We will get another one for him, but I'm so pleased I took a photo for the blog, it probably would have shattered in storage anyway so at least I have a photo.

Merry Christmas

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, or if your like our family we are kind of still in Christmas mode. We still have a few pressies to deliver. Also apologies to all our family and friends that didn't receive cards from us. We even had labels made up with of all our faces on them but never got around to sending them (just another well meaning intention that I couldn't get my head around to organize).

Christmas day was beautiful and sad at the same time for me. It's funny how and when things decide to hit you. I never expected or wanted to feel upset on Christmas day but as I watched three of our children unwrap their presents and be full of smiles and cuddles, I felt an incredible ache that not all of my children were with us.

What was Jeremiah's Christmas like? Did he like the excitement or was it too much for him? Did he fall asleep in someones arms or was he put to bed at normal time? Did he like our present?

What comforts him? What scares him? What makes him smile?

These are a few of the never ending questions I had and have. They are simple every day things that a mother should know and it hurts that I don't, that I'm not with him to hold him when he cries, to make him laugh, to see his face when he unwraps his presents, and just to instill in him that he is so incredibly loved.

I'm so thankful that the orphanage love God and with our prayers also, I'm sure Jeremiah knows or feels Gods love around him.

We spent Christmas at my Mums with lots of extended family and it was really lovely. Mum arranged "father Christmas" to arrive for the children. They all sat on his lap to get their pressies ( I sat on his lap with Jeremiah's photo for his pressies ).

The children had a ball, stayed up very late, then crashed into bed and actually slept in!!

On Wednesday we went into the city to get those dreaded injections to travel, the kids watched in delight and wanted to see if Dad fainted, as he's a bit squeamish with needles. Unfortunately for the kids entertainment, he was a brave boy!

Before we left for the appointment a package arrived from our new found friends that have adopted from the same orphanage, they took video footage of Jeremiah when they went there earlier this month, we were already running late for our injections so we had to leave straight away. It was sooo hard to not look at it until we got home.

It was the best Christmas present we could have asked for. In one video, Jeremiah is in a high chair with everyone unsuccessfully trying to get him to smile, he looks totally bewildered and totally cute.

The next footage is of him walking, he's wearing a big bum nappy (material nappy), with girly puffy shorts and a white singlet top. He looks a bit wobbly when he walks, it's so precious.

It was so special to be able to see him in action, not just a photo. Even though he didn't smile, every little lip movement or eye expression was adorable. We constantly watch it over and over.

The other children are hanging onto anything more of their little brother, they can't get enough of the footage either.

We also received an e-mail from this same beautiful person who found an old newsletter from the orphanage with a photo of Jeremiah when he was 1 week old, he was the 700th child to enter the orphanage when he was just 6hours old. We are so blessed to have a new born photo and yes even as a new born, he was gorgeous.

Since I can't put any distinguishing photos of him on here, I've decided to put just a portion of his photo up, purely because I cannot contain myself, I want to show you my beautiful little boy.

I have studied his photos over and over, but one of the things I focus on the most are his beautiful eyes, they are so innocent, so pure. We have never seen him smile so we are looking forward to the day we can see laughter in those little eyes.

Thankyou Phoebe

My beautiful friend, Phoebe will be looking after our other children when we travel to pick up Jeremiah (I can't help smiling whenever I write or say his name).
I'm so grateful to have such an wonderful friend.
My family is so supportive and are on cloud no.9 along with us but I'm so blessed to also have a friend who can be just as emotionally attached as family.
Some friendships are started in school and grow because you see each other every day so you get to know each other, but others can form through a simple crossing of paths and feeling a mutual connection.
Either way, friendships are created over time, over shared conversations, and shared experiences, and Phoebe is someone that I'm so glad is there to share in this blessed experience.
Thankyou Phoebe!

We have a date!!

WE HAVE A TRAVEL DATE!!!!!

All things going well, we will travel out on the magical 20Th January. We spent quite a bit of time with our travel agent trying to see what flights were available. You can only fly in and out of the Philippines on a Saturday, so we were limited.
All the flights that fly direct were fully booked with many people waiting, so we checked the round the world in 80 days approach.
When she got back to us and said that she found three seats left on the 20Th, it sent tingles all through me....that date that I kept getting looks like it's the one!!Thank you God!!
Of course, all of Jeremiah's documents need to be sent to us before we travel, so we still wont have a definite yes until sometimes the day before your due to leave. But at the moment, we have been given a rough approval that date. So that's what we are believing for!

The kids are hilarious, especially Jordan. He just keeps jumping, twisting, shouting, laughing and making inaudible sounds out of the blue.....I guess you could say, he's very excited. All our children are but because Jordan is what we call our MORE child ( he can be more happy, more sad, more loving, more angry)...he has been the most outwardly passionate with the adoption from the very beginning!

Since we started the process 41/2 years ago I could count on the one hand the days that he hasn't prayed about the adoption. Just thinking about the many incidents with him makes my heart swell with love and pride. It's funny how you love your children all so much, and no matter how many you have, they are all so unique that you find new things to love about them every day.

I think my days can get so hectic sometimes that I can forget to reflect on all those little things. So part of my routine before going to sleep is recalling the day and finding those little moments, those little words that my children say during the day that encourage me that it's not all sibling quarrels, dirty clothes, and repeating the same request over and over.




Emily 5, Jordan 10, and Kahlan 14.
I would so love to show everyone our son Jeremiah, but I'm not allowed to show his photo or reveal too much detailed information about him. So you will have to take my word for it when I say he is gorgeous, just like all of our children!

Jump for joy!!

OK! You ready for some good news?
well....we received an e-mail today to say that they found Jeremiah's medical clearance form and HE PASSED!!! Yeh,yahoo...then when we rang our case worker, she said we could start to book tentative flights for the end of Jan beginning of Feb!!

It has always seemed ridiculous that since we were allocated, the 20th of Jan kept coming up in my heart to travel, which is to the day 4months since we were allocated. The earliest anyone travels is between 4 to 6months but the 4month being more like 41/2 closer to 5months. We also have Christmas break to factor in, but we are still going to make our first booking for that day, I will soon find out if God was giving me that date or I was just letting my imagination run away. I frankly prefer the first option so I've made sure I let God know that too.

I can't believe we could be traveling in 5 WEEKS!!

In the mean time, thankyou for all your prayers and please keep them coming! We still have lots to sort through, Cebu is still listed as do not travel, and I still have to remember to keep breathing!!

My little angel

My beautiful little angel, Emily was having a bit of a disagreement with her older brother Jordan. I walked into the room with the camera and called her name, she didn't have time to change her expression, so I have on record her,"what! I did not Jordan!" look.



This next shot was taken straight after the first, of course by then she had time to put back her Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth look.
Ahhh, there's my little angel.

What did you do all day?

You have probably all heard this one before, but it's so funny, I couldn't resist:

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"She again smiled and answered, "You know everyday when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?" "Yes," was his incredulous reply. She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Now I have to say that my fabulous hubby is definitely not one to complain if I don't get things done. In fact, my brain at the moment is so off duty that I find it hard to complete the simplest task. I know their is sooo much I need to do but all I can think of is getting to our little boy. So Adrian is being very patient with me.

Last week I rang Adrian up at work to thank him for taking the towels out the washing machine for me ( I had only that morning remembered they were in there). His reply was a simple, "that's Ok honey, I took them out two days ago". Could of had some pretty smelly towels if it wasn't for hubby!

Prayers please!

I wanted to put this on a separate posting and although I have only just started to Blog, I noticed that I have had a comment from someone that doesn't even know me. It amazes me who's Blogs we stumble upon. Thankyou "excelthoughts" for commenting, I tried to get to your Blog and either you can't or I just haven't worked it out. I figured though, If one person that doesn't know me can stumble across me then so might others, so I'm sending out a big Prayer request.
We are waiting to pick up our little boy from the Philippines, but the Cebu province, where we need to travel has been listed on this goverment site as a "do not travel" zone, due to terrorist attacks. This not only causes obvious safety issues with us travelling, but also with the authorities allowing us to. If they don't give us approval to travel, the whole process gets even further away from us holding our little boy.
So PLEASE anyone who reads this or wants to pass it on to others, pray that the attacks do not go ahead and we are given permission to travel soon.
THANKYOU! THANKYOU! THANKYOU!

Cup of tea anyone?

Before I started home schooling with Jordan I went to ceramic classes for a while. As usual, what I had in mind to make wasn't available. I love creating art works or craft projects but years ago I went through the whole tissue box covers, padded material photo frame thing and learnt that if I saw these same things in a store, would I want them in my house? Definitely not! So I try to stick to things that I actually want in my house. Of course I don't always get the result I want, and on those occasions I just enjoy the process and chuck it.
In the ceramic class I looked everywhere in their store room for something that was me and found a dusty piece in the back.
I have always wanted a beautiful dainty tea set and they seem to be very in at the moment. Even if they are all odd pieces, as long as they have character, I like them.
I'm really happy with how it turned out. The only disappointing thing is that I wanted more than one so when a few friends were around, we could all have our different coloured matching set. I would love to do some in that pastel green/pink/lemon thats in at the moment (very shabby chic look).So if anyone has seen them in a ceramic store anywhere, please let me know.

My handy hubby's work

Finally figured out the photo thing (with the help of my 14year old son).
You can't see all the little fairy lights in the bushes but my handy hubby has wired them all off one power point. This is either extremely clever or stupid. But it looks good!

Adoption update

Just before sitting down to write today's Blog, I decided to check the orphanage's web site and our e-mails for the umpteenth (is that even a word?)time today. I look for anything about our little boy Jeremiah and pray that an e-mail will come that brings us closer to travelling to the Philippines to bring him home. We have had quite a few setbacks which has been really hard for us even though we expected to have them. So I was surprised to see an e-mail from our lovely social worker, who has sent an e-mail to Jeremiah's orphanage to ask some questions that we raised. The orphanage Director's reply was amazing, he said that he would try to get back to us tomorrow (that quickly just doesn't usually happen), so we are ecstatic, to our further amazement, he said that he would just e-mail us direct ( legally, we are not allowed to contact anyone in the Philippines but he obviously can contact us ). This news is just sooo good. Thankyou to everyone praying for us and our family.

Lights, lights and more lights!

WOW! You should see our house! We have so many Chrissy lights up, it looks great.I will try to figure out how to put photos on my Blog soon, because a Blog without photos just isn't as good! It's a lot of work ( and cramming of double adapters ) but the kids love it. Last year was the first year we really got into it and then our neighbours caught the bug, so this year we have nightly meetings in the street with our neighbours and admire our houses. Believe me, it's very addictive once you start. It's funny, but once the lights are up, the atmosphere in our street is magical, we all help each other out and I realise how lucky we are to have such good neighbours.

A few years ago I decided that although I wanted the children to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, I wanted them to enjoy the trimmings also. So I assigned each trimming it's special reminder.

THE TREE - is a triangular shape representing the trinity ( The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost ). It also has a point at the top to keep our eyes turned to God.

THE LIGHTS - is to remind us that Jesus is the light.

THE STAR/ANGEL - represents the angel and star that guided the three wise men to Jesus.

THE PRESENTS - to remind us that God gave us the biggest gift of all - Jesus!

That same year, the kids and I decided to bring a blessing to others so we made beaded angels and place them anonymously on as many peoples door steps as possible with a little blessing attached. It was a great idea until I realised that I had to stay up till wee hours of the morning, and sneak onto peoples front yards without them waking up ( do you know how many people have sensor lights !) I was just waiting for someone to angrily open their front door thinking I was an intruder.

It was great though, we came home from church and all bar one of the 30 odd angels had been found and taken inside ( the only one left was because they were on holidays). I think it was really good for the kids, they felt so good about blessing someone even though they wouldn't get any recognition from them. I would love to do it again but have to think of something easier, cheaper so we can do more, and something that a stray cat or ants won't eat during the night.

Hello World!

WOW! I finally did it!! I've been wanting to create my own blog for ages now, and at nearly 1 o'clock in the morning I finally nutted it out. I have no idea how to put photos on, write a profile, or anything else fancy but it's a start!
I want to blog so I can share my little world with my friends, family and anyone that might feel a connection to what I write about.
I will apologise in advance for my ramblings until, as a good friend told me," I find my voice". Oh, and for any dreadful spelling errors.
I'll just keep it short and sweet to see if this actually works, but after that, watch out! I have so much going on in my head that I might not be able to stop once I start!