WONDER WOMAN

All of us have heros; Batman, Superman, Spiderman (Isaac's favorite), Batgirl, Wonder Woman, etc. Well, mine is Wonder Woman and believe it or not, I have met her. Not only have I met her, but I KNOW her. Not only do I know her, I lived with her! And not only did I live with her, but she raised me. I know, I know, it is amazing that I was raised by Wonder Woman! Now during my growing up years, I did not appreciate the fact that Wonder Woman was my mom, nor did I recognize her to be Wonder Woman ( Part of it was because she didn't wear the outfit while at home). But now looking back, I am amazed that her true identity slipped by unnoticed and unappreciated for so long. Here are just a FEW of her amazing feats:

1. she had six! children (all without epiderals or pain medication...CRAZY!)
2. she homeschooled all six children
3. she grew organic vegetables for us in our 5 acre garden (well, she says it was much smaller, but I had to weed that sucker and believe me it was at least 5 acres)
4. she made and baked our bread almost everyday
5. she was a single mom to 6 kids, 2 dogs and 2 cats for 3-6 months out of the year (my dad traveled to work)
6. she was (and is) constantly striving to be better
7. despite all of her frustrations, stresses, and disappointments, she loved God and remained faithful to Him
8. she loved (and still loves) my dad through thick & thin and didn't take the easy way out, but kept her vows, ensuring that her kids would grow up with a mom AND a dad
9. she didn't let me settle for being less than who I was created to be
10. she loved (and still loves) my husband as her own son (sometimes I think she even likes him better than me)

Believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg! I could write and write about all that she has done, said and taught me. She is indeed Wonder Woman.

I recently got a glimpse of her cape...she took Lukas and Isaac to her house for an overnight visit on Tuesday, Kathryn and Evalin went on Wednesday night AND then on Thursday night, she took ALL FOUR of them for an overnight trip! (this is no easy task...believe me!) I had time with just the girls, just the boys and then just my husband! WOW!

Mom, if you are reading this, THANK YOU! Thank you doesn't seem like a big enough word, but it is the only word I have, so...Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I love you and am glad that out of ALL the moms in the world, I got Wonder Woman!

A Good Man is Hard to Find

Every parent thinks that their child is wonderful, hilarious, genius, etc. and so they tell you everything that their chid does, while you smile and nod politely. I am the chief offender of this...I think my kids are soooo funny that I often drive people away with my numerous "funny" stories. However, this story has to be told:

Evalin talks incessantly about when she gets big and has her two babies "Spooney" and "Abbie" And she is always planning their lives and what I (the grandma) will do with Spooney and Abbie. The other day we had an interesting conversation that went something like this:

Evalin: "Mom, I don't think I am going to have any babies"
Mom: "Why do you think that, Evalin?"
Evalin: "Because I am sooo little"
Mom: "Well, Evalin, you have to grow up and get big (not literally big, but big=older in our house) and then find a nice, kind man and get married, THEN you can have a baby."
Evalin: "No, TWO babies, Mom, Spooney AND Abbie"
Mom: "Okay, TWO babies"

Just then, Phil comes home and walks through the door and Evalin says "Dad, where can I find a man?" Phil laughed and said "I don't know" to which Evalin hung her head in despair and said "I don't know where ANY mans are!"

















Even at age three, Evalin is one of the funniest people I know. She is so dramatic, that simple things, ( like finding a man!), become a huge drama. She is so awesome! What a gift she has been to us...children truly are a gift from God!

What Is The Next Step?

So God is always working on us and though things are just settling in around here... we still feel like we haven't done enough. While we don't know specifically what that means we do know that more adoption(s) may be in our future as well as missions work. Please pray for us. Take a look at these videos that were shared with us by some of our close friends. I am challenged by this kind of testimony and am beginning to feel that the only faith that is acceptable is "reckless faith".

Little Chefs

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I LOVE to cook. So it was only natural for my children to also inherit the love of the culinary arts! We have many budding chefs in our house (Phil's new question before he eats anything is, "Is it tainted?" which is code for "Did the kids make it?"). We have so much fun cooking and I am always entertained by the numerous "taste tests" that occur. Lukas' famous line is "I didn't quite taste it enough, Mom" which then results in yet another taste test (usually with the same dipping finger used the first time...now you know why Phil asks his question). So here are some pictures of our cooking adventures...

Posts and Pictures

So I hope everyone likes our new background and pictures. Phil says it looks "girly" and I say "mission accomplished!" Here are some pictures of our trip to the beach a few weeks ago. Kathryn was overjoyed to go to the beach and even though she didn't get to swim (a major disappointment) she had FUN! Evalin had the time of her life looking and searching for Baby Crabs. She loves them! Isaac and Lukas were crazy climbing boys and ended up at the top of the rocks. Phil took some time to show Lukas how to skip rocks and he ended up being awesome at it (more than we can say for his mom!). Enjoy the pictures...they are so awesome that I am expecting an award from the Blog website managers. Enjoy!

Picture of Dad and Mom (courtesy of Lukas)

Happy Mother's Day to me!

So I celebrated Mother's Day as a mom of four children! All four did a great job of celebrating me, each in their own way.: Lukas went shopping with Nana and bought a bath gel and lotion set for me. He also made me a card that read, "Hapee Mathers Day" and took time to color a picture of a hippo on the front of the card (not sure that is what I want as a representation of me, but moving on...). He is very much into celebrations...likes to celebrate any occasion (I wonder where he gets that from?!) He is so thoughtful...WOW! Kathryn said "Happy Mother's Day" and then we had a 15 minute discussion about her mom in Africa vs. me. That was unexpected, but GREAT! I think that we made progress in allowing her to feel safe talking about her African mom and also that I was okay with it. She seemed relieved that she could talk about her. Hooray for progress! Evalin bought flowers for me, surprisingly NOT pink! But she was very excited to give them to me. And Isaac (LOL) said "Mom you so beautiful" about 15 times along with "You a good cooker." I got breakfast in bed, complete with a Starbucks Latte! And Phil outdid himself (again) by making fish tacos for lunch (not a hit with the kids, but HUGE bonus points made in my opinion!)
As the day ended, I thought about having four children and how crazy it is that being a mom of four kids is now my life. But even though it has been a difficult adjustment (oh so difficult at times!!!) I am so thankful that God chose to use me. He could have picked any other woman on the planet to have these four children, but He allowed me to be their mom...WOW! I also realized that for every moment that I decide to have a"pity party" for how hard my life is having four little children, there is a woman somewhere spending that same moment crying tears of unimaginable grief because she has lost a child. And in that same moment, there is a woman weeping tears of bitter disappointment because she has been told she cannot have children and for her a lifelong dream has died. In that same moment, there is a mother sitting in a Children's Hospital watching her child suffer and praying fervently that God would spare her child's life. And I could go on and on... the mother of a soldier, who doesn't want the doorbell to ring, and the mother who wants the doorbell to ring, because she is frantically waiting for ANY word that her missing child has been found, the mother who spends all day looking for food, so that her children might live just one more day...
As I reflected on my Mother's Day, my children, my life, I prayed that my moments would be spent more grateful, more thankful and more wisely.
Happy Mother's Day to me...because I am a MOM of FOUR children...WooHoo!

Bun Busting Workouts and a Birthday

So here are a couple of video clips I took this week including the "Green Machine" that we got Lukas for his birthday. For those who are wondering I am no longer able to ride these things. This was a very difficult thing for me to realize today as I was very excited to relive one of my favorite childhood memories. At least I can still ride my Mark Gonzales Pro Model skateboard when I am down and feeling sad. Sorry about the lack of posts the last few weeks. We have been enjoying yet another Lohrer family move and have been quite busy in addition to being left without our Internet connection for a number of days. Enjoy the clips and we will get some pictures soon as well.