Colorado or Bust!

Every other summer, our family heads out to Colorado for our summer staff conference and classes.  I am on the conference team, and Jeff takes seminary classes in the weeks leading up to the "big conference".  This summer, we made the decision to only go out for July (rather than for the normal June and July) because of just recently returning from India.  It was a good decision, as we were able to bond together as a family at our home, be involved a little bit with summer project, and have time to unpack before packing again.

Okay, that's funny.  To me, anyway.  :)

So here we are, just inside Kansas, and I once again find myself in a dark, quiet hotel room with everyone sleeping soundly behind me.  I wonder how many of these posts have been written with that exact scenario?

We started our journey on Saturday.  Rex, Beth, Tom, and I left in our Buicci to drive down to southern Illinois, where my dad was born and my aunt and uncle still live.  On Sunday, Neil and Hoffbeast joined us.  Without a doubt, I drove through the worst rainstorm I've ever driven in on Saturday...it was a torrential downpour for about 3 hours, and we stopped under overpasses around a dozen times or so.  I have rarely been so happy to be somewhere safely.

The gang (minus me) with my Aunt Gela and Uncle Jasper (my dad's twin brother)...we love visiting with them and were so glad that Mom and Dad came over, too!  Uncle Jasper said that we have to come at least once a year...sounds good to me!

The reason we drove separately is that we had decided to give the Buicci to my mom, who, along with Dad, was meeting us in Dahlgren.  Now that we bought our new-to-us van, we didn't need it anymore, so it was a blessing to be able to pass on that gift to her like it had been given to us back in December.  Once again, we have seen God meet our needs...it was the perfect interim car for the months that we needed it.  Now we find ourselves with our Escort (still going after almost 13 years!) and our new van....the Hoffvan!  Almost a year after our beloved Town & Country was stolen, we can now spread out again!  :)  We are thankful!

Yesterday we left my family and headed a couple of hours west to the home of our fabulous India travel friends.  What a great joy it was to see them again!  We are incredibly grateful that we were able to share the trip-of-a-lifetime with them, and to see our families fully-together....fantastic!

Trampoline Fun with our friends...it was so sweet to see L and Tom together again!

This morning, as usual, Neil was the first one up.  I called him over to me and whispered, "Happy birthday, Buddy!"  I can't believe--literally can hardly believe--that six years have passed since he was born.  Five months later, we would first see his picture, and life would change...forever.

Pancakes for breakfast....thank you, Mr. McF!

We love you, Neil...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Next stop:  Our home for the summer....Colorado!!!

Tom by the Numbers

Since this blog will likely serve as scrapbook and record for my kids and their childhood.....

At 26 months, Tom looked like this:

Weight:  27 pounds, 14 ounces  (50th%)
Height:  35 1/2 inches  (75th%)
Head Circumference:  49 (Is that cm?)  (90th%)

Not bad for a little guy who spent his first 2 years in an orphanage!

Keep in mind that big sister, Beth, is still not on the growth chart for weight, which goes to show why Tom is about 4 pounds heavier than she is.  How long do we think it'll be before he overtakes her in height, too?  Not long, I'll bet!

Our Cramazing May, Episode III

On Friday, May 13, we picked Neil up from school, said our goodbyes to Rex who would stay with a friend that night, and left for our friends' house, where Neil would stay for our first week+ gone.  We met John and Melanie through our first adoption process, and although we don't see them too often, we have a deep and special connection that comes from knowing that our sons spent some of their early days in the same orphanage.  We were in the same travel group in Ethiopia with Melanie, and all these years later, our boys are friends...it's wonderful.

About a year before, Melanie had told me that whenever we were able to go to India, we could feel free to leave Neil with them....so glad that we took them up on the offer, as he ended up having an amazing 9 days there.  He loved her cooking, and he loved riding "his" bike up and down their street! 

On our way, we stopped at a car dealership and looked at a 12-passenger van, which, yes, is going to be our next vehicle.  We loved it and are now kicking ourselves for not putting a down payment on it then, as it was the best deal we've found.  Oh well.  Anyway, it was fun to sit in this big van, imagining the reality that our family was growing and would soon be closer to actually filling up a van like that!  One more week, and we'd be meeting our Tom!

We got to their house, and Melanie had made (of course--she's a great cook!) a delicious dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and then had whipped up some equally delicious dessert.  She does all things kitchen so effortlessly...just one of the things I appreciate about my friend.  I want to be like her when I grow up!

Here are the boys...Mel's sons--S, D, and O--and our Neil, fitting right in! (with dads in the background)  The boys also have 2 sisters, T (pictured further down) and K.  It was a full house, and Neil loved it!

 And the silly face pose....why is it that boys always want the silly face pose?!

It was beautiful to see that God had prepared Neil for this whole thing...Mama and Daddy were leaving for over 2 weeks, and he accepted it with such grace.  He was ready--excited, even--for us to go.  He kept asking, "When is it time to go to O's house?!"  Well, finally it was time, and to see him sitting there, interacting so easily with his "brothers for a week", was a blessing to my heart, as I knew that he was going to do great while we were gone!

After dinner, the kids ran downstairs and played to their hearts' contents while the adults visited--for a little bit, but not too long...we still had lots of packing to do and needed to get home to do it!  But Neil made leaving our friends' house easy for us, as he was having such a good time with his friends!  In fact, I cried, but he didn't!  It took a whole bunch of effort on Melanie's part to even get him out to the porch to wave goodbye as we were driving away!  We knew that Neil was in wonderful hands, and we left with peace in our hearts. 

THANK YOU, John and Melanie, for letting God use you in this way.  Our son loved spending time at your house, and we are so grateful that he was safe and well-loved while we were gone!

15 Years

That's how long it's been since I graduated from college.  College.  Where I learned and grew and changed and make great friendships....and began to walk more closely with the Lord.  I loved--LOVED--my time at Miami, and it remains one of the dearest places in the world to my sentimental heart.

So you can see how excited I am that in a strange but wonderful turn of events, my new son is bonded and doing well enough in our family (amazing, actually!) that I am able to be whisked away for a day by my college friends to attend 30 hours of our 15-year college reunion.  I get 2 hours for each year I've been away.  :)

What a blessing......my friend, Melis, is making me come, and I'm so thankful that it's all working out.  Back on an airplane I go--tomorrow morning, early.  Five year ago, Melis and I met up for our 10-year reunion.  We had tried to get a group, but it ended up just us.  It was a wonderful weekend...such a special time to hang out with my old friend.  This year, it's a big group, and as someone who thought until just a couple of days ago that I wasn't going to be able to go, I can't tell you how thrilled I am that there was a ticket provided and that I can go!!!

Miami (and Jamie, Anne, Holly, Missy, Brooke, Andrea, and Melis, of course), here I come!

A conversation on the way to church today...

Rex:  When I grow up (He says this kind of thing a lot, and I always know that the creativity is brewing...), I'm going to make a Christian mini-golf course.  (At this point, I'm wondering how exactly you make a mini-golf course "Christian".)  There's going to be a waterfall that you have to walk through to get to the next hole, and in case there are any grandmas there, there will be a button that you can press that will turn the waterfall off.  (Oh, I guess that's how.  It's a mini-golf course that's nice to grandmas.)

Me:  I like that, Rex.  That's really nice.

Neil:  When I grow up, I'm going to make a Christian mini-golf course, too.  (Oh no...here we go!)  It's going to have the cross and the Garden of Gethsemene, and then it'll have the tomb, and you'll have to hit the golf ball into the tomb, and if you get it right on the first try, your ball will role down and go back to the clubhouse.  I like it when they do that.  (At this point, I'm cringing, and Rex is in the front seat with me, so he can see my face.)

Rex:  You're not so sure about the tomb, are you, Mom?

Me:  (How'd you guess?)  No, I'm not really too sure about that one...but it's very creative, Neil.  (Trying to be positive here, but, um.....no.)

One

We've been home, all of us, as a family, for one whole week.  The time in America is now approaching the same amount of time we were in India, which seems like an impossibility.

I was telling a friend today about how the 12 days there felt like at the very least, about a month.  It's just amazing to me how time seemed to stop while we were there....the other side of the world felt like...well, the other side of the world.

Now we're home, and when people ask how we're doing, I can say nothing else than "really well, overall".  It seems simple, but it's where we are.  How can we have gone from a family without Tom to a family with him--and so seamlessly?  We can only answer that it is by God's amazing grace.  We prayed for him so much...and God answered.  Even the things we didn't know how to pray, He answered.

He prepared him.  He prepared us.  He made a way.  He strengthened us on the trip, when we desperately needed it.  He turned the hearts of kings.  He provided.  He was on time.  He has bonded our family.  He has burdened our hearts.

And HE gets all the glory!

Me and The Littles