Feb 14, 2006:
Two days ago it flurried on and off all day long but nothing really stuck to the ground. Sidney & Trevor decided to go in the backyard to catch snowflakes in their mouths – the big huge ones that are fun to catch on your tongue. Anyway, I was making dinner and looked outside and there was Trevor standing in the sand wearing his sister’s purple snow boots, holding a can of olives and eating them while it’s snowing. Then there was Sidney right next to him playing in the sand wearing her girly winter coat and her brother’s spiderman hat and his boyish winter boots. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while and made me laugh. I didn’t get the camera out fast enough. Thank God Trevor is only 4 yrs old and too young to care what others think of him in purple boots. He loves to eat olives & mushrooms out of the can. Better than candy and cookies I guess!

February 27, 2008:
Today was a pull-my-hair-out day. The oldest doesn’t seem capable of listening the first time since “huh? I didn’t hear you”, as he is staring me in the eyes, has been the most used sentence I’ve been hearing. The second is in a lying phase which is driving me completely crazy and I’m sick of punishing but this has to be nipped in the rear quickly. The third one is pretty easy to get along with these days and is just a cute tooth-missing first grader. I know they are all phases but some days are just so much worse than others. I think back to all the grief I know I caused my parents over the years and then realize they are all just normal kids.

Dec 28, 2005:
Tomorrow is Travis’ birthday and believe it or not, he wants to take the kids to Chucky Cheese! I laughed but he likes to play all the games with the kids and since they are all kids – Travis included – I’m sure it will be fun! 🙂 I don’t think my husband will ever grow up and that’s just fine by me!

October 22, 2010:
Last night I was in the kitchen talking to Brad and all of the sudden I had one of those “whoa!” moments. I was looking at him at eye level. Sure enough, he has outgrown his momma. Travis measured us back to back and he has a good half inch over me. Of course Brad thinks that’s great news. Me on the other hand…I’m having a hard time believing my 12 yr old baby is now bigger than me!

May 13, 2005:
We all want our kids to be “perfect” and when your world falls around you when you hear that your child is mentally handicapped, you realize there is no such thing as “perfect”.

February 8, 2011:
Stuff in the fridge is not intended to become wall decorations. Case in point….the other day I walked past the staircase to find a nearly full carton of sour cream all over the walls and splattered on nearly every step. You guessed it. Ryan carried the carton and threw it down the steps. I’m sure he enjoyed watching to explode everywhere although I can’t say I had the same level of enjoyment cleaning all that stuff up. Good thing the dog likes sour cream.

August 14, 2006:
Right now the oldest three are in the boy’s room downstairs playing “storm”. That means they have the noise maker set on “thunderstorm” really loud and they are hiding in the closet under the stairs – their closet is huge. I guess they are using their imaginations!

December 2, 2010:
This evening the kids drew names for their sibling Christmas gift exchange. I love how excited they get to see who they get to buy for. Ryan even picked his own paper out of the jar which the kids loved. We also decorated our candy house which they look forward to. We all had fun and even Ryan helped – sort of. Actually he had a blast throwing candy across the kitchen then laughing hysterically. And we let him do it which he thought was great fun; Travis’s rule was “don’t let him throw the M&M’s!” So he got to throw all the candy no one wants to eat.

November 4, 2010:
Deuteronomy 33:27 says “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” That’s exactly where I picture Ryan in the days and weeks to come – in the arms of our everlasting Father who loves Ryan with a fierceness and passion I can not even fathom. I know how strong my love for him is and know it is nothing compared to the love our Heavenly Father has for Ryan.

May 3, 2006:
Ryan had his first trip to the dentist yesterday. Needless to say, he screamed and threw a massive fit the whole time we were there which I expected; it was just too hard for him and having two women in his face didn’t help in a new environment. The dentist said to bring him in just to “look around and get him familiar with our office” a few times before November when we are in the area. Yeah, because I have the time to drive 20 minutes across town to stop in the dentist’s office with a boy who is autistic and is only 10-12 months old developmentally. Like he’s going to get it when I say, “now this is your dentist’s office so get familiar with it so when we come back in a few months you won’t have a difficult time.” Don’t they get it? It doesn’t work that way when you are only in the office twice a year! She’s supposed to specialize in disabled children so we’ll see.

May 1, 2009:
Ryan ate a strawberry last night. It took him a good five minutes of picking it up, smelling it repeatedly, putting it back on the table, looking at it, picking it up again to smell. Finally he tried it! He ate about five or six pieces. Now for some of you, you probably think “so what” but if you know Ryan and his major food issues, you understand that’s a big deal! For one, he only eats brown foods (meat, crackers, cereal) so to eat something red is huge. And two, he never, ever eats fruits because of the texture. I don’t know that he’ll ever do it again but at least he tried. He had a big cheering section at dinner last night while he was doing this. Then later in the evening, Sidney screamed upstairs for Travis and me to hurry up because Ryan needed help. The little stinker crawled under the boys’ bunk beds and got stuck. Why he decided to do that is beyond me but he’s just like a little toddler and does things that make no sense – plus he is into everything. Between him and the puppy, we are constantly on guard waiting for one of them to get into something.

July 21, 2010:
The following letter was in our mail when we returned home from Idaho.

Kim,
“Be still, and know that I am God”
You are in our prayers. Take care during this time, and always place all of your hope in the one above!
God bless,
Your Friend

With it was a cashiers check. We have no idea who the sender of this was and honestly, I don’t want to know. It was a blessing from God and an answer to the prayers Travis, the kids and I had been praying for. With tears in our eyes, sitting around the kitchen table Monday afternoon, the kids, Travis and I gave thanks because He showed up. Remember this blog from Wednesday, June 9th?

We have started praying individually and together as a family for God to show up and provide something we need. We’ve talked a lot about wants and needs with the kids and they understand the difference between asking God for a trampoline compared to asking God to provide a need. I can’t wait to see how He does it because we can’t do this on our own. What an amazing faith story it will be for our kids to see first hand how God provides. We are praying Matthew 21:22 together: “You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” And Matthew 18:19-20: “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.” So please pray with us because He is a gracious and loving God and we can not wait to walk by faith over the next few weeks and see how He works this one out. The kids are excited to see how He shows up and answers their prayers too. And when He does provide, you will hear what it is as we share the story of God’s provision with you.

Well we have a story of God’s provision! He answered our prayers…he answered the kids prayers! He is an amazing provider. We were praying for finances to go on our ten day trip to Sturgis for Whitney’s wedding and on to Idaho. I’ve not kept it a secret that our financial situation has been tough. I’m not so full of pride that I can’t admit we have struggled in this area for a while now.

August 12, 2006:
I went in the front and Brad, Trevor and a neighbor kid all had plastic grocery sacks they were using to catch bees (doesn’t that sound like a smart idea?).