Urgent Need

I found this on a friend's blog and wanted to post as well. Scott and I just made a donation to this cause - please consider doing the same. The situation is Haiti is very desperate because of the recent hurricanes!

Northern and Central Haiti have been the hardest hit. The area around Noah's former orphanage has been damaged quite badly. Even in good weather, the road from Cap Haitien to the orphanage was very bad. Now it is under water. There is no way for things to get in or out of the orphanage right now. They are well supplied, but the surrounding area has seen a lot of devastation.

But there IS something that you all can do. In Cazale, Haiti is a wonderful center run by Lori Moise and Licia Bector. Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center takes in and brings back to health many, many little ones as well as adults. Lori and Licia are amazing people, doing exactly what God called them to do. (The friend who originally posted about this knows them personally).

Cazale was hit very, very hard by both Gustav and Hanna. Cazale was destroyed. Many, many people are dead. The situation right now in Cazale is dire. The drinking water lines were unearthed and ripped apart by the raging mudslides and torrential rains. The only bridge in and out is not passable by vehicles. Food is scarce. Real Hope for Haiti is paying people to haul water from the river. They are then filtering it the best they can to make it drinkable.

On Lori's blog, about a third of the way down on the left, is a PayPal button. If you are able to give at all, earmark the funds to be dispersed to Licia to pay the people hauling water. They will also need money to start rebuilding. Most of the families around them have also lost everything. Gas is expected to rise for Haitians in the wake of the storms, so that will be another thing they will need money for.

Please click on the links below to see the devastation...
After Hurricane Hanna and before Hurricane Ike
John and Beth McHoul's Blog-Heartline Ministries Chris and Leslie Rolling, working with Clean Water for Haiti, also in an area that was heavily impacted by the hurricanes
Licia's blog-Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center
Lori's blog-She's a nurse in Haiti working at the Rescue Center

Those Last Days of Summer

Well, today is Jaden's first full day of school. It's hard to believe that he'll be gone the whole day!! I'm going to miss him! We've been packing a lot of things into the end of summer. First of all, we went to a COTP reunion in Minnesota. We had a really great time and were able to meet lots of other COTP families!! After the reunion, we stayed in Minnesota for a few days and went to the Mall of America (the picture is from the Lego store in the mall), went camping (in a cabin) and went to the Cave of Mysteries. It was a great break from "regular" life.

When we got back from camping, we had most of the interior of the house painted, which was long overdue. (We had done the powder room and the bedrooms ourselves, but we hadn't gotten to the rest of the house - and who knows when we ever would). It was a bit of a pain since the painters were here for two weeks (we had lots of wallpaper that had to be removed), but, wow, what a difference!! I'm so glad that I don't have to be embarrassed about our house anymore. It was getting pretty ridiculous - peeling wallpaper, marks on the walls from the previous owners' pictures, patches from repairs that had been repaired, and even holes in the walls in some places. Now it looks just beautiful - I'm so happy with the finished product! Now if we can just manage to keep things organized, it will be perfect (I'm not counting on it though). :-)

Finally, this past Friday, we got to spend the day downtown. One of Scott's vendors (at work) offered to pay for a family day for us, since Scott had been spending so much time away from the family, working on problems caused by one of their products. They gave us tickets for the circus, the ferris wheel and a boat tour. Plus, they gave us tons of spending money! It's amazing how much fun you can have when you don't have to worry at all about how much it's all costing. "You want a program for the circus? Why not? You want to drive the motorized boats? Sure thing. You want to go to the funhouse? Love to." We could pretty much do anything we wanted and didn't have to worry about the cost. How often can we do that? (Um, never). So, we've officially decided that we're going to seek corporate sponsorship for all of our family events. Hey, we'll wear logo T-shirts and hats and stuff - do a little advertising along the way. Think we'll get any takers? Okay, not gonna happen, but we can dream, right? :-)

Pool Days

We have been having a very fun summer! Just as I suspected, Noah absolutely loves the pool. He is completely fearless - we have some awesome video of him jumping into the pool, flipping a raft (and himself) over, somehow sticking his feet up into the air while on his back and just generally swimming around crazily (in water wings, of course). It is so funny to watch him play! He and Jaden love to jump in at the same time and see who can be craziest, but Danielle is still her usual timid self - her version of jumping into the pool is standing on the ladder up to her shoulders and gently pushing off into the water (after which, she'll exclaim, "Mommy, I jumped!)

We've also just gotten past three birthday celebrations for Jaden. On his actual birthday, we went to Great America for the day. Then, on the 4th of July, we had a family party for him and for his twin cousins Krista & Molly (who are 10 hours younger than Jaden) and also for his other cousin Spencer (who was just about to turn 3). That was a fun and eventful celebration! But, Jaden was probably most excited about his first ever "friend" birthday party. He invited a few friends from school and our family friends (who Jaden has known since he was in Mommy's tummy). The kids all made Noah's Ark animals and got to dress them up in fun outfits. It was so cute and lots of fun!!

At the end of this week, we're heading to Minnesota to attend a Children of the Promise reunion. We're really looking forward to seeing Noah's friends and other COTP families and we're also going to be heading to the Mall of America and the Cave of Mysteries. Yay!! This will be our first family vacation with the whole family and we're really excited!

It's been a long time

So, it's been a very long time since I've posted. Probably because I'm not sure how to sum life up lately. It seems like there's so much to say and I have no idea where to start. Life since Noah came home has been full of amazing moments and, at times, frustration. I've really had to get used to the fact that Noah is developmentally and socially more of a two-year-old than an almost-four-year-old. Now, I've got to say that I struggled when Jaden and Danielle were two. It's a hard age. There are so many things to get into and Noah, of course, wants to get into them all. He's constantly touching things, pulling things off of tables or counters, breaking things. He often yells randomly, just to hear himself make noise (this is especially frustrating in the car). He likes to test the boundaries - see what he can get away with. On my good days, I handle this all very well. On my bad days, I get incredibly frustrated and don't deal with it well at all.

On the flip side of things, I have seen so many changes in Noah and in myself (the way I deal with him) since he came home. He's starting to respond to discipline (and not always by laughing at his bad behavior, which he used to do). His speech is still limited - we can't have a true "conversation" - but, he's really talking so much more than when he first came home. He's able to express his needs and desires, which has helped a lot. He's also improved in other developmental skills - working on puzzles, listening to full stories, playing with toys - things like that. And, he is still a super-sweet, loving boy. He's always the first to offer up a kiss or an "I bove you!" (nope - that's not a typo - that's the way he says it). He loves to run and play and always wants to help. And he has so much fun with everything - I love to watch him giggle at just about everything!

It's already hard to remember life without him. I honestly can't believe it's only been 3 months since he's been home. Even when things are crazy, I know this is the way it's supposed to be. This is our crazy life - I wouldn't have it any other way!

Great American Fun

We had a fun trip to Great America yesterday!! Noah got to ride on his first rides - we even took him on the Whizzer! I think he really liked it, but he definitely got a worried look on his face sometimes. :-)

A Day in the Life

Things have been going really well around here. Yesterday was a really fun day. Jaden, Noah, Danielle and I played with the kitchen in Jaden's room. Noah doesn't know how to play with many toys, but he knows how to eat! And, he thought pretend eating was just tons of fun! So, Jaden and Danielle would make up special recipes and serve them up to me and Noah. I think it's the longest that we've all ever spent together playing with toys.

Then, in the evening, we had a rousing game of hide and seek. Noah couldn't really figure out the hiding part (even with Mommy or Daddy helping him), but he sure had fun with the counting and the seeking! It was so cute because he'd always first go look wherever the last person was hiding.

It's amazing to me how well all three kids have been getting along. I really expected more shaky adjustments on everyone's part. Noah is a part of the family - just like that. Is he sometimes a pesky little brother? Sure. Does he sometimes try my patience? Yep. But, man, do we love him!!

More Cuteness

As you can see from the first picture, Noah is no longer afraid of Sota. This is him trying to get a free ride. We really have an awesome dog - he just sat there calmly while Noah climbed onto his back. Noah's now also happy to feed Sota and has even been spotted giving him kisses. We've come a long way! (And yes, I realize that my family room is in a sad, sad state - I thought it was messy before, but Noah has shown me a new level of disaster - he is an expert at spreading toys, ripping papers, scattering DVD's and tossing crayons about the room. Quite a talent.)

The second picture is of Noah when we were having fun putting stickers on each other. He just thought this was hysterical!

Today, Noah, Danielle and I went to the grocery store. Noah is so cute because he really wants to help with things. He insisted on helping bring the groceries in. Even when we were down to just the things that were really too heavy for him - you should have seen how cute he looked carrying a big old jug of apple juice. :-)

Another funny story about helping - Whenever Noah is finished with his food, he will immediately hold up his plate for me to take it and say, "Fini. All done." Sometimes, he won't even wait until he's actually finished with his food - as soon as he's picked up the last piece, he'll hold the plate up with the other hand. "Fini. All done." We're now to the point where I can convince him to put the plate back on the table until everyone else is done with their food, but he still always at least tries to give it to me.

That's it for tonight. Thanks for tuning in. :-)