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We have a winner for our Cheap Family Fun Giveaway...
Amy Smith, You were chosen at random to receive 2 Ethiopia decals. Just email me at Jen@thegraftedtree.com with your mailing address and I'll get those out to you in a snap.
Thanks to everyone who played along. I LOVED your ideas!
In preparation for school letting out in a few months I was hoping to get some ideas from people about what their favorite summer family activities are.
There's a catch though.
These activities need to cost $20 or less. Free is even better for our budget now that we're likely going to need to travel to Addis Ababa twice before A* comes home for good. The activities can be anything from kid friendly food recipes, to a game, or a craft idea.
So, I'm having a little contest to help spur on creativity. Whoever leaves a comment with their best fun, CHEAP! activity will be entered into a drawing for my first ever bloggy giveaway. A randomly selected winner will get two free Ethiopia decals.
Entrants need to leave their comment by Sunday March 21st at 9:00 PM. I'll draw the winner Monday the 22nd at 9AM.
Hopefully we'll have a summer's worth of fun things for our families to do that won't break the bank.
I know my children thank you very much for your entries!
You know how it is when you're young. You can't imagine "old" people any other way than the way you've always known them.
Growing up I'd heard the stories about how my Grandmother lacked shoes and proper clothes. I knew she had lived in poverty as a child and that things were fairly desperate for her family.
I realize I've only recently gotten to the point where I'm able to process a bit more about what that reality was like for her and how it affected her entire life. I suppose I've finally reached a point where I've gained enough life experience to be able to imagine myself in her shoes as she carried her history forward with her into life as a young wife, then mother, then grandmother.
My mom recently told me a story about my Grams which has been on my mind constantly since my Gram's death. She shared that during one of my Gram's trips to Kenya her party had traveled across the countryside by train. Running alongside the train were children begging for food. The passengers would toss out whatever they had to the children. My Grams relayed to my mother that she couldn't keep from crying because of the experience. When asked why she was crying she responded that she had been one of those children begging. The painful experience of seeing the children in need had been too much for her.
Above is a photo of her as a child. Everyone would joke (including she herself) that she looked pathetic in this photo; that she could have been some kind of poster child, with her ragged doll and her sad expression. While everyone could find the humor in it I think its a fitting reminder of the events that shaped my grandmother, and as a result an entire family.
Today I stand in awe of God's eternal perspective and the way He moves through generations. I am amazed at how truly interconnected we are. It is unfathomable to me how God divinely molds and shapes the character of individuals, families, communities, countries and beyond.
If my grandmother hadn't suffered and learned the lessons her trials taught her, I wonder would I be the woman I am today? How many experiences of hers have trickled down through my mother to me.
I will never know just how deeply the influences of others have impacted my life, but today I can sense a few of the largest.
At her funeral many people spoke of her dedication to social issues and her love of justice. I pray that her legacy would live on. I pray that my grandchildren will be able to recognize some of her in me and that my life's work would point them back to the Divine Author of our faith. I keep on asking God to refine my worship so that it would be in spirit and truth.
Finally, when I wrote my last post about my Grams I didn't have any photos of her. I wanted to include the glamorous wedding photo I spoke of in that post. Here she is in all her bridal glory standing next to the love of her life. And, just because I love their love story, I'm including another one from later on in their lives.
I can't believe it's here already. Dustin and I celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary today. I am in total awe of the life we share together, of the life God has strengthened us to build. Proof positive that God can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine is right here in the fruit of this marriage!
We head off next week for a getaway (just the two of us) to Monterey, CA. All I can say is my dear husband is in dire need of some time off. He's had a VERY stressful summer and hasn't taken any time away from the business since we came home with Jonas in December. I can't wait to see the sights and meander around hand in hand with my love, nothing on the agenda but to spend quality time.
I'll post some photos when we return.
I wanted to hop on and update you on how we're all settling into life as a family of six.
We've been quite busy with various doctors appointments. First for Jonas and then for me. Next week we have more of the same with trips to the dentist for Rienne, the audiologist for Jonas and the following week I've got a followup with the cardiologist for some tests. That will keep our afternoons quite busy.
Jonas has been adjusting amazingly. I was concerned about his eating habits when we first arrived home. He seemed to be comfort eating often but since that time he's mellowed out. He's been eating 3 meals of solid foods daily which has helped normalize his formula intake. He was waking up every 2 1/2 - 3 hrs throughout the night (this is due to his schedule in the orphanage) to take a bottle but lately he's even been stretching out his sleep patterns to 5 hours at night and when he wakes he doesn't eat more than four ounces. Before he had been polishing off 4 ounces and crying for more. He'd eat 8 ounces and then spit much of it up proving ot us that he wasn't truly that hungry but either used to eating that much or eating until he could fall back asleep no matter how full he became. Needless to say, we are so happy that behaviour has ended!!
Dustin and I aren't as concerned about getting him transitioned off taking a bottle to fall asleep as we are getting him accustomed to our home and feeling safe and secure in it. Once we feel he's adjusted then we'll work and breaking those habits of his. We figure we gotta chose our battles wisely. At this stage it's all about attachment and bonding for us. We are working to transition him from formula to water in his naptime bottle since he relys on it solely to help him fall asleep. Hopefully after that we can just take the bottle away. For now, as soon as the bottle leaves his lips- if he's not fully asleep yet- he screams.
When we first got Jonas he wasn't able to grasp tiny foods between his pointer and thumb. Now he's doing a wonderful job of feeding himself his Yogurt Melts (his favorite snack) which he loves to mash between his two lower teeth and his recently split through top front teeth. This is generally a very drooly affair filled with proud smiles and head nods which seem to ask "are you seeing this!?"
Overall, Jonas is a giggly and happy child. His personality is such that he's always chattering or playing. One of his favorite games is to grunt and have us grunt back at him in a sort of "copy cat fashion. He really gets a kick out of it! Jonas enjoys sucking all over my face especially my chin. He particularly likes to make silly noises akin to elephant calls on my face. Apparently it's hilarious in his little baby world. He makes quite a mess but mommy obliges because well, she can't get enough of those baby kisses, and it's great for attachment. It doesn't end there, though. Jonas LOVES to BE kissed. I think he wouldn't mind at all if I just glued my face to his cheek. My boy certainly doesn't mind close contact! All of these things are such a testament to the loving care he received at the intake orphanage and the TH. It's a true answer to our prayers!!
Recently Jonas has taken to army crawling around the family room floor. If it's tummy time he's on the go. We can tell already that as soon as this kid is truly mobile he's going to keep us VERY busy.
Cons:
-Laundry
-Expensive grocery bills
-College tuition
Pros:
-Never a dull moment
-House full of love and joy
-Your own complete rock band
I was doing some reading over at the LPM blog (a favorite of mine) when low and behold Beth posted about my mom and didn't even know it. You have to go read the comments and giggle along with me and the funny malapropisms.
I may be a bit biased but I truly believe my mom could win a malapropism smack-down any day! I think she'd agree.
Here we are in great anticipation of the night's events while driving to Chase stadium (Rory took the photo of me)
In front of Chase Stadium:
The view from our seats:
We had tickets to the Diamondbacks game for the 4th of July. Never you mind that they lost to the Padres. We had a good time anyway. The kids ate more junk food tonight than you can imagine. They each had their own 24oz rootbeer to drink. GASP! I know.... that was all their dad's fault.
It was the girls' first baseball game ever. (I know we make for some pretty sad parents!) I think they really enjoyed themselves. We joined with the extended family on Dustin's side and made it a family affair. We each enjoyed a hot dog and drink included in the ticket price of $15.00. You can't beat that deal plus there was a fireworks show afterward. Does it get anymore all-American that that? I don't think so!
<>They shut off all the lights and opened the roof up for the fireworks. I am a horrible photographer so I don't have any of the fireworks to show you but I thought I would include the open roof for you to see.
Here she is all dolled up for her party. Even though it was a pool party she wanted me to curl her hair. She picked out this dress. She is probably our most girly of the girls and really enjoys frills and everything fancy hence the pink decorations. She had glittery pink EVERYTHING including balloons and streamers.
Rory lost her very first tooth today. An apple did the job for her and in the nick of time too. Now, She's gonna cash in on some of that ole' tooth fairy money too.
Tomorrow is Rienne's big tooth extraction x3 so we have some cash to dole out around here ;) I'll let you all know how that goes tomorrow.
Here she is! Our pretty girl Rory. She turns 6 years old on Friday.
I really enjoy this blog I recently found. It's great. There have been many thought provoking articles presented there lately and much interesting discussion. Go check out LargerFamilies.com and then come back and tell me what you thought of it.
Gosh I'm on a video roll here. I, again, stumbled upon this video and thought it was a hoot. Large families are treated as if they are a traveling freak show these days in society and I just had to laugh it up over this family's response to some the the nagging questions they must be bombarded with on a regular basis. Sad thing is I often hear some of these comments with just our 3 kids in tow! Just wait until we are a trans-racial family...... Oh the things we'll hear!
PS- I used to joke about having a fear that Dustin and I would someday have a family of 12 or so. These days I fear it less and have begun to wonder more if we haven't already begun our journey to buying in bulk, shopping at Goodwill and driving an Econoline Van.
In our family we have a saying. You might find it vulgar but we, being the wackos that we are, find it pretty funny. Here's why. My sister and I have MANY a childhood memory of Christmas but some of the most vivid childhood memories we share are of events that adults would porbably prefer to forget.
For instance, the best and most hilarious memory wasn't funny at all at the time. Only with our acquired adult perspective has this memory come to be, truly, the most hilarious of Christmas memories. You see one particular year Dad took me and Valerie to pick out a fresh cut Christmas tree (as was traditionally done) and Valerie spotted what was to her the most spectacular and magnificent Christmas tree EVER! Of course she had to have it. There was no arguing with her. Dad purchased the special tree.
When we got home he had to lug the tree up three flights of stairs (he lived in a condo at the time) and from the grumbling he made I'd guess it was a bit heavy for him to carry by himself.
Soon after the tree stood glowing, decorated with love and care. Valerie and I were thrilled, dad was glad to be done with it.
So, the first time the tree came crashing down it fell over the coffee table and broke a few items on the table. Most of the ornaments were spared. Dad was annoyed. We heard a few choice words from under his breath. He stood the tree back up, primped it and all was well.
The second time the tree fell it fell on me and Valerie. We were crying and upset. Dad was now visibly furious and most of the ornaments were broken. After getting out a saw and a spare stand the tree was erected once more. It was a bit less magical, yet still festive.
The third time the tree fell dad flew in to a fit of cuss words that any programmer on any TV network would have a field day bleeping! After heading out to the store to purchase a completely new stand of industrial strength the tree was finally secure. Dad was no longer in the holiday spirit of cheer. Valerie and I felt that maybe it would be a good idea for us to retreat to our bedroom and let dad have some quiet time.
Somehow, over the years we have dubbed that Christmas the Merry Bleeping Christmas. We find it funny how dad has NEVER purchased a fresh cut tree again. Since then, whenever a holiday faux pas happens we say, "well Merry bleeping Christmas." It's just a thing we do. Probably, if anyone ever heard us saying that without knowing the back story they'd think we were the most vulgar people on the planet.... but to us it's funny.
The expression took on a whole new meaning when Dustin and I had our own official "merry bleeping Christmas" a short time after we were married. When our own tree fell several times I was tempted to reenact my father's bleeps.
This leads to today's post:
This is the best of what I came up with after my sister, mom, aunt, cousins and I (plus 7 kids) had a baking day.... pretty sad.
We had a great time together, but the baking day was a bust! I had visions of bountiful baked goods in mind, each wonderfully made and delicious. Instead, everything I had planned to give to our neighbors as gifts this Christmas didn't turn out well. My sister had her own baking troubles with her desired cookies and so the only thing we made which is presentable as gifts are some chocolate covered pretzels and the few cookies you see above.
The kids really enjoyed decorating their sugar cookies with every known sprinkle and gel available to man. Those things we piled so high with frosting, etc. that they were inedible (but very pretty!) They also overdosed on sugar and so they were a blast to try to contain all day! wink, wink.
My mom and sister agreed that we felt a tiny bit discouraged to have purchased so many ingredients, and with such hopes, only to have little to show for our efforts. Mostly we HAD overly decorated, slobber contaminated, kiddie sugar cookies that no adult on this planet would touch, even with a ten foot pole (the kids, however, WERE thrilled with them) I use the past tense in reference to the sugar cookies because my dear sister called this a.m. to tell me her dog had polished off every last one of them off the counter and so now she had only the pretzels left! HOW QUAINT!!
Guess what I said to Valerie next through the phone, "Merry bleeping Christmas!"
Ah, what a tradition!
We dressed up this kids for the first time this year and went door to door for candy. We have mixed feelings about this year's experience. Usually we bake cookies as a family and pass out candy but this year our oldest two girls really, really wanted to dress up. We talked with them about how scary some people choose to dress up and how some houses think it's fun to scare kids and that we were only going to go around to a few of the neighbours on our block (ones we knew had kids and wouldn't be scary). Then my SIL invited us to her church's Trunk or Treat event. So, we decided to go there figuring that it would be a safe choice. WRONG!
WOW, were we surprised by the costume choices of the church vol's who were passing out candy. Some were Gory, others just inappropriate for a family affair (like patients with their large fake plastic butts hanging out the back of their hospital gowns) witches and other weird things. Just NOT what I expected. I am NOT talking about members of the community who arrived at the event. I am talking about church families who volunteered to park their cars and pass out candy! Now, I know I may be more sensitive than the average American when it comes to my Halloween sensibilities but really I don't think I am overly sensitive.
I hate to feel that it's is better to shun the social aspects of the day and the great opportunity to meet neighbours and develop connections within our community opening the door to share Christ in our 'hoods but I struggle with a certain discomfort. I struggle with the question of where to draw the line. Let's face it most kids have lots of fun dressing up and getting candy and our kids have no clue about the darker undercurrents of Halloween so to them it's just a fun filled night w/ a few people participating who like to dress scary. (let's not get into all the history... I know it all and am not intimidated by it) If every Christian were to abandon the day then, truly, where would the light be!?
I am all for Churches taking the day and making a mark for the better. The question is how to do it? Can we enjoy Halloween without compromising? If a church decides to get involved in the festivities does it have a responsibility to be different or is it okay to conform to the culture? How should Christians make a mark on the holiday? Or can that even be done? Should they even try? Chime in if you have any thoughts!
We left the event with a sadness best expressed by my hubby, "How in the world are non-believers served by this event? What have they gained by coming to this church on Halloween?"
Definitely something I will be chewing on.
In the meanwhile feast on the adorable cuteness of our girls enjoying, in sweet innocence, their dress up day!
