Seven is Enough!!

This weekend we have had the pleasure of adding three children to our family. What a blessing to enjoy some extended time with our friend's kids who also happen to be our kid's friends. The kids have been a joy to have around and have fit in very nicely to our family. We have made some great memories this weekend.

One thing that Chad and I have learned this weekend, though, is that seven kids are a lot of kids. That translates into a lot of dishes to wash, a lot of voices to quiet, and a lot of shoes to keep track of. Of course, it also means a lot of giggles, a lot of interesting conversations, and a lot of fun!

We will cherish these memories for years to come!

Thanks, Troy and Lisa for sharing your kids with us.

This was what happened at bedtime the first night.....oh my, it may be a long night!!!

On Saturday, we decided that some good physical activity would be fun for everyone, and just might wear everyone out a bit, so we spent the day at the gym for some rock climbing and swimming. That is one full hot tub!

Sophie shows off her underwater tricks!!

Josh and Will enjoy the ride down from their difficult climb!

A big smile from Sophie after she made it to the top of the rock wall!

ALL THE MAVERICKS IN THE HOUSE, PUT YOUR HANDS UP!!! The kids had a great time watching some polital reruns of SNL online today and enjoyed rapping and dancing to them. I just had to snap a pic of this...they were having such a great time. With that being said.....if I hear this line one more time this weekend....I may just loose it. (I cannot believe what my two year old has to put up with.....shouldn't she be watching Barney or something?)

I'm not trying to make a political statment here, just having a little fun after this election week. I'm so glad the election is over...really, SNL was fun, but all of the ads, I could do without!!

Last Days of Summer

I cannot believe how quickly summer went by. It is so hard to say good-bye to the carefree days of summer. We had such a great summer! Our best memories are of the surf and sand at Lake Michigan. We are so blessed to live so close to the beautiful sandy shore. It is amazing how sand and water can provide hours of entertainment for all ages.

Here we are with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law and my niece and nephew. We just finished a great hike through the woods to the Lake.

What a great picture of my parents. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary this month!!

Lily enjoys our "backyard carnival". We have a small collection of large inflatables that the kids enjoy all summer long. Thanks largely to Chad who so graciously drains them, fills them, and moves them around the yard so the grass doesn't die underneath!!

Gabbie and Tessa show off their cakes after our first cake decorating class! Great work, girls!

Summer wouldn't be complete without a Trolley ride in Grand Haven. Will is enjoying the view from the back of the Trolley.

Gabbie hangs out at the back of the Trolley to take in the summer sites in Grand Haven.

Blueberry picking, yum!!!

There is a great story that goes along with this family photo. Our adoption agency asked us for a family photo for the magazine that they publish. We thought this would be an easy thing to do, and it may be fun to see if we end up in the magazine. So, we tried to clean everyone up a bit (that's not all too common in the summer), and put on some clothes that may look okay together. Chad set up the tri-pod, we gathered the kids on the front porch and told everyone to smile. It was all down hill from there!! Let's just say that getting a 5 year old to look at the camera, a 2 year old to smile, and two older kids to keep "decent looks on their faces", is so much easier said than done. So, about 45 minutes and a whole bunch of tears later, here is the result. Is it a good picture? Yeah, I think so. Was it worth it? It depends on how many years our kids will spend in counseling dealing with the scars!!

Here, Max and I wait it out while Chad heads inside to try to convince Will to come back out and give it another try.

Lily helped to wash (and eat) all of the blueberries.

Gabbie and Will head up front with Josh and Sara at Unity (Christian music concert) to hear Third day. I must be getting old, because it sure was LOUD!!!

Gabbie and Erin take time from enjoying the music to smile for a picture.

Gabbie and Lily dance the night away at the concert.

I included this picture not only because it is a great shot of me with my two darling girls, but because I think it is such a beautiful picture of the water, sand, and dunes. If you are friends that don't live in Michigan, you should come and see us in the summer and enjoy the beach with it. It just doesn't get any better than this!

Beach Bums!!!

Our kids and some friends are getting ready to tube down a little stream that leads into Lake Michigan. What a perfect lazy summer day!!

I know the marshmellow is toasted to perfection, but more importantly, look at that sky and waves. It is so hard to say good-bye to summer.

It was also hard to say good-bye to this wonderful vacation. We stayed at a cottage on Lake Michigan two other families. It was an amazing week of water, waves, sand, and great memories! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Will and I enjoyed this great sunset after we all took a late night dip in the water.

Oh Yeah! My boy can ride a Bike!!!

Max did it!! He is officially able to ride his bike without training wheels.

Check out these videos of his Mad Skills.

You will have to click on the links to play the videos. But I will try to figure out how to embed a video right here.

Max Riding a Bike

Summer up to now

Wow! It is amazing how quickly summer seems to be going by. It seems as though we just returned from Guatemala, and then finished up our school year. Now, it is the end of the fourth of July weekend. I wish I could slow everything down so we can soak up every bit of summer.

As I watched the slide show that Chad put together for our blog, I could not help but to think about how quickly my kids are growing up. I honestly could not believe that Max mastered jumping off the diving board at Grandma and Grandpa's pool this weekend. Wasn't it just yesterday that we wrapped him up in a blanket and brought him home from the hospital? How does time go by so quickly once you become a parent?
I feel so blessed to be able to be home with our kids. I am so thankful that I am here to cheer them on when they learn something new. I'm thankful that I'm here to kiss a boo-boo, wipe away tears, witness a two year old learning to talk and entertain her siblings, shop with a pre-teen, find missing lego pieces (okay, that is not always my favorite thing), and to hear an eight year old dream of great inventions and cool cars. What an amazing gift it is to be a mom. I am reminded of the wise words of a very wise mom and good friend that told me recently after her oldest son graduated from high school "the joy is the journey". It is so easy to think that we are just working toward some goal (graduating a child, potty training, sleeping through the night, or mastering printing). But the joy is in the everyday moments that God gives us with our children. What a gift to be able to teach them and train them and experience all of God's blessings with our family, right now!

Here is a slide show and a link to the same slides to let you see what has been going on here.

Thanks for checking in.

Early Summer 2008

Happy Birthday to Lily!!!

Yesterday our little girl turned 2 years old. And we had a fantastic celebration. We could only wish that our family and friends back in Michigan could have enjoyed the day with us. We invited Dora and Ruben (and their family) to our ¨home¨ in Antigua and we had a beautiful day together. Some other friends came to the party too, as you can see in the pictures.

Here is a link to another large album of pictures. I am sorry there are so many pictures, but I don´t have time to edit it now and our internet access is not completely dependable. Enjoy the pictures.

And Yes that is HOT lava only a few feet away from Gabbie, Will and me on Volcan Pacaya.



http://picasaweb.google.com/ctiesma/Guatemala20083

Tuk Tuks and the Hill of the Cross

Here is a link to another photo album. We walked up about 500 steps to the hill of the cross for a great view of Antigua. There are some pictures of Lily with a very special pink Butterfly. And some pictures of us all stuffed into a Tuk Tuk for a ride around town. We will post more details later.

Thanks for your prayers and for checking up on us.

Chad

http://picasaweb.google.com/ctiesma/Guatemala20082

Lunch at the Castillo´s

What an amazing day!!! As I sit here to type this, I am still trying to wrap my mind around it all. Lily´s foster parents invited us to have lunch with them at their house. From beginning to end, it was wonderful. They were so warm and welcoming to us. It was wonderful to see Mamma Dora and Papa Ruben again. Their entire family came to visit with us. Dora served us a wonderful meal and treated us like we were kings and queens. She made some authentic Guatemalan dishes that were so yummy! She also made baked three different desserts, each was so good and so unlike anything that we have in the states. The third dessert was cheesecake and she put two candles in and everyone sang happy birthday to Lily!
We were so blessed by this day and we are so thankful that their family has so much love for Lily! As a mom, I have wondered what their home was like...where did my daugher spend the first 8 months of her life? It was just so great to be there. Our kids played all afternoon with their grandkids.....funny how the language barrier doesn´t seem to bother the kids! Jumping rope and sword fighting is the same no matter what language you speak! By the way, for those of you wondering, we did use an interpreter who did an awesome job helping us for the afternoon. Dora was able to share with me some details about Lily coming to her and about Lily´s birthmother...some things that I hadn´t known. These stories are priceless!
There were many tears...at one point our interpreter (neither family even knew her before today) was crying and struggling to make it through the intrepretations......it was just one of those days that I know I will never forget.
We will try to continue to update our blog while we are here. I will just add that this entire trip so far has been wonderful. We are so thankful to God for the opportunity to be here during this time. Our little casita in Antigua is muy bueno!! The weather is fantastico!!! The kids are having a blast!!! We continue to seek the Lord as we are finding reasons that HE laid it on our hearts to be here. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for us during our time here in Guatemala. Please continue to lift us up to HIM during our time here...it means more to us than you could possibly know!
Carrie


Here is a link to most of the pictures from our trip so far.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ctiesma/Guatemala2008

Subscribe to our Blog

If you look closely way down at the bottom of our blog page you will see a small link to Atom. This is a free service that will email you each time we update our blog so you will know when there is something new to see or read. I have done this with a few blogs that I frequest and it works quite nicely. Just FYI.

Chad

Our Adventure begins!

We arrived safely in Guatemala on Wednesday morning and we have enjoyed fine weather and beautiful sights since then. We enjoyed our time at the Marriott and we each have some degree of sunburn to show for it. We really shouldn´t have trusted a sunscreen that we have never used before.

We are preparing to leave for lunch at Dora and Ruben´s house now so I well have to go.

I will post some pictures later tonight.

Thanks for checking in.

Chad and Carrie

Easter 2008 - Signs of Spring???

Well, it has been quite a while since this blog has been updated but I make no apologies. Sometimes I am just not that creative and I have no ideas about what to write or show you all on this blog. So I trust that these few photos will satisfy all of our blog readers.


All dressed up for Easter Brunch







I took the kids on a little field trip to Hoffmaster State Park last Friday.



Soaking it up at the beach.

Gotcha Day, 2008

On January 15 we celebrated Lily's Gotcha Day. Although Chad is usually the "blogger" in the family, I feel like I should share a bit about this day. I cannot believe that we have had Lily home with us for a year now. Part of me feels like she has always been in our family. On the other hand, the pain of waiting for her is still very fresh in my mind and the frusterations of all that was involved in the process still tear me apart.

I spent the day thinking back to those amazing moments one year ago. I remember so clearly seeing her in her foster mother's arms from way across the hotel lobby. I did everything I could to keep from sprinting toward them. Although I wanted to grab her out of Dora's arms, I waited an eternity for her to hand her over to me (it must have been about 10-15 seconds!) I remember thinking I can't believe that I never have to give her back. I remember the tearful goodbye's to Dora and Ruben. I could go on and on with the memories of that wonderful day and that first special week bonding with her while we were in Guatemala. I spent the day reflecting back, much like I do on the birthdays of my other children. It was such a great day!

As I look back over the past year that Lily has been home, I have spent a great deal of time wrestling with issues such as why do I deserve this beautiful little girl? Why are we so blessed to live such a great life? How much pain is her birthmother feeling? Will her pain ever fade? Is removing these beautiful children from their beautiful country helping to solve the problems in Guatemala? Adopting our daughter has become so much bigger than just adding another child to our family. (If you know me well, you have heard me say this so many times and I'm not sure how else to say this). We have fallen in love with her country. We have a new awareness of poverty (unlike any sort of poverty we had seen in the U.S.). We have a sense of urgency to try to give back to Guatemala because of what we were able to take away from there. We want our daughter to know and love her birth country. We are asking the Lord what all of this means and what His plans are for our family. So, our celebration of Lily's Gotcha Day was a time to look back, and a time to look forward. God has been so amazing to us!
Carrie made this shadow box to show off some of our great memories from our trips to Guatemala.

We had a great meal at San Chez to celebrate the occasion.

Extra! Extra!

Look who made the news. Sure, it is hidden in a yahoo news slideshow and our names are not mentioned. But we feel like celebrities anyway.
As long as I am doing some "blogging", Chad asked me to tell this story. I like to think of it as Homeschooling at its finest! I decided to take the kids to see John McCain this week. Not because we are great fans of his, but because there was a rally that was less than two miles from our house. I love election years for many reasons, one of them is that it is a really fun time to teach the kids about politics, elections, our freedom, and why America is so great! Chad didn't have to work on Monday afternoon, so we invited him to come along on our little fieldtrip.
We got to the rally about an hour early and when we went into the warehouse, there were already about 350 people there. It started filling up quickly. We stood and "people watched" for awhile. Pretty soon, a lady appeared on stage and she started hand picking people out of the crowd and asking them if they would like to come on stage. I suggested to Chad that he hold Will up just a bit because he has a great face! Who wouldn't want a cute kid up on stage??? So, about 10 seconds later, the lady was pointing to us, and asked us to come up. To make a long story short, we had a lot of fun cheering at the rally from the best seats in the house. My kids thought this was so great. But, here is my favorite part of the story. As soon as the rally was over, a man that was in charge of running this event (I'm sure he has a more official title, but I'm not sure what it was) said to me "hey, you and your family should jump off of this side of the stage quick, head through that curtain and go and meet McCain. I quickly jumped off, the rest of my family followed, and you can see what happened in the picture. What a great day!! Will and Chad both got to shake his hand as I tried to snap some pics. (My pics were not nearly as good as what the big time news guys got). So, if McCain does become president, this will be an even better story someday. But, as we told our kids, John McCain is already a hero because of how he has served our country. Anyway, like I said, this is what I call homeschooling at its finest.

Time to catch up

Here is a slide show to let you in on some of the great times we had this Christmas holiday. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. ( and by "all" I mean the two of you who check this blog from time to time)