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Taking a Breath

By OneThankfulMom Thursday September 2, 2010

A big thank you to everyone who has stopped by my blog in the last few days.  Your encouragement and comments mean so much to me.  If you are new to A Bushel and A Peck, and found me through Empowered to Connect or We Are Grafted In, thank you for taking the time to click over to my blog.  I hope you’ll get to know me and that I can be of some help and encouragement to you.  If you would like to get to know me and my blog a little bit more, you can check out my About Me page, and my FAQ’s — or not, either way, I’m glad you are here.

I’ve spent the morning packing for REACH Camp which is a very special event for our family.  REACH is a camp for families that are impacted by HIV/AIDS and our kids look forward to it every Labor Day weekend.

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Seattle, Therapy, and Friends

By OneThankfulMom Thursday August 19, 2010

We have been in Seattle for two days of therapy appointments.  We haven’t tried back-to-back appointments before, but when I thought about traveling over and back two weeks in a row, it was more than I could handle.  I suggested we try two appointments in one week.

I don’t know yet if we’ll see more benefit from doing five hours of therapy in one week, but I felt that it was productive.  We worked on issues one day and then followed up the next on the same topics.  We talked a lot about the school year, which begins on Monday.   Most importantly, we made a food plan with Dimples that she is going to follow for the first month of school.  I’ll share some details later.

We are staying at my friend Kathleen’s house and tonight two other families joined us for dinner.  Between us we had lots of kids including my two Ethiopian daughters, Kathleen’s two Kenyan sons and one friend from India, Neely’s Ethiopian daughter, and Jodie’s South African son.  There was also a nice mix of my friends’ kids by birth, so we were a colorful and dynamic group.  I loved it…although the noise level was unbelievable with so many boys in one room playing Wii!

I’ll be home late Thursday and look forward to posting the answers to this week’s Tuesday Topic on Friday; the comments are rolling in.  Please be sure to add your thoughts — we want to hear from you on the topic of Working Parents and Adoption.

See you all soon!

~Lisa

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The Bluest Skies You’ve Ever Seen…

By OneThankfulMom Friday April 16, 2010

It was a whirlwind trip to Seattle  and we are now safely home.  With the other four youngest kids already buckled in their seats, we picked Dimples up from school on Wednesday and headed out.  They were very calm on the trip and we made it quickly to Ellensburg where we stopped for dinner at Wendy’s.  With all of the traveling to and from Seattle that we have done this year, I’ve become an expert at navigating Super Value Menus and finding decent choices.

As we loaded up to continue our trip, I texted my friend, Neely, to tell her where we were.  Her reply was a bit disconcerting, “Oh…I thought you were coming tomorrow…” 

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Easter Weekend

By OneThankfulMom Friday April 2, 2010

Honeybee with her friend Jubilee

Our science class field trip to Seattle was great. We got home late Wednesday night after three full days of educational fun. On Monday we drove to Seattle and went directly to the Seattle Aquarium where we got a behind the scenes tour and enjoyed the exhibits. Tuesday was spent at the Woodland Park Zoo, which was probably my favorite, although it was very cold, so it was a little bit harder to enjoy than usual. Wednesday we hit the Seattle Science Center; which was Ladybug’s favorite.

The kids were all happy, well-behaved, and fun to be with. I grew up near Seattle, so I was able to experience these places as a child, but many of the girls were seeing it all for the first time. They took it all in and enjoyed every minute of it…except perhaps the long drive to Seattle and back.

Thursday our future son-in-law’s family arrived from Texas for a visit. We had spoken on the phone but not met in person. They are just as wonderful as we hoped and we look forward to many years of sweet friendship with them. I was struck by the knowledge that we will share grandchildren with them and it will be wonderful for our children and grandchildren to have us be a happy extended family.

Now I am catching my breath and making a big list of all that needs to be accomplished for this special Easter weekend. We have a Good Friday service at 6:00 followed by dinner that I need to have cooking before we leave. Saturday we are celebrating Andrew and Mimi’s 21st birthdays – Andrew’s is the 8th. Sunday we are hosting a potluck after our Easter service.

I’m feeling behind and not quite organized. Remember those special Easter dresses…definitely not happening. My goals are small:  color Easter eggs with the kids, put together baskets, plan a simple birthday for Andrew and Mimi, get lots of groceries, and cook lots of good meals.  I’m praying for health in the midst of it all.

I hope you have a wonderful, glorious Easter and I’ll see you next week!

Ladybug

~Lisa

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Happy Birthday to Our Sweet Pea

By OneThankfulMom Sunday March 7, 2010

Sweet Pea and Mimi

Today is Sweet Pea’s birthday!  Sweet Pea lives in Seattle where she is a second year medical student at the University of Washington.  She loves  Jesus, her family (that’s us!), medicine, ministering to the sick, P.G. Wodehouse, literature of all kinds, cooking, baking pies, singing, playing the piano, gardening, arranging flowers, knitting, and so many other things.

We are excited that she will spend her third year of medical school in Spokane, which is much closer to home.  Fortunately, with all of the trips we make to Seattle for therapy, we get to see her quite regularly.

Sweet Pea is spending her birthday with my Mom and her childhood best friend – the friend who opened all of Sweet Pea’s presents on her first birthday.  They are going to the opera and out for a special dinner.  It sounds lovely!

Interestingly, after living in New York, Colorado, and Idaho, she will also spend her birthday only blocks away from where she was born.  When Russ was an undergraduate at the University of Washington, we managed an apartment building on 4th and Virginia.  Hannah was born at home in our sixth floor apartment, with the help of a wonderful midwife.  She was my urban baby.

We’ll celebrate her 23rd birthday when she is home over Spring Break.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

~Lisa

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Tuesday’s Answers: How Old is Too Old?

By OneThankfulMom Tuesday February 23, 2010

Departing Addis with our little boys - at the age of 43

Last week’s Tuesday Topic struck a cord with many of you.  The question followed our discussion of how do we know when it is time to adopt again.  Nineteen of you took the time to answer the question,

My only hesitation on waiting to adopt again is that I’m getting old! I’ll be 42 soon, and although that’s not ancient, I realize that the day will come when it just isn’t fair to a child to be adopted by senior parents. I’d love to have a discussion (from both those who have adopted and those who haven’t) about when is too old to adopt/what age child! I wrestle with this everyday and hope this factor doesn’t make me jump into adoption prematurely.

With so many great answers, I decided not to copy them here, but leave them as comments to the original post.  Click HERE and the link will take you to it.  Be sure to read the comments – they are fantastic.

Thank you for your great input and on a personal note, I appreciate this post being written for me.  We got back from Seattle at 12:30 last night after a full day of appointments and a special meal with Russ’ aunt and uncle.  It was a very good trip, but this morning we had eleven dental appointments beginning at 8:00 AM (scheduled six months ago), so I’m still trying to catch my breath.

In other news, my friend, Neely is doing a fun raffle for some friends who are adopting a little boy from South Africa.  It is an amazing story of God working in the lives of His people, in governments, and adoption agencies making it possible for this child to have a family.  It is beautiful. Be sure to hop over to Neely’s blog and see the fantastic prize she is offering…the raffle ends Thursday night at 11:00 pm (PST), so don’t delay!  I am going to buy my tickets just as soon as I finish this post.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a new Tuesday Topic and hopefully something more to share.  In the meantime, I need to keep my laundry moving along, get dinner started, and read over 100 new emails.

Thank you for stopping by.

~Lisa

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Home Again

By OneThankfulMom Sunday February 10, 2008

Russ, me, Sweet Pea, MB, and M leaving for a fabulous dinner at The Herbfarm .

We are home from a road trip to Seattle and it was full of adventures such as mountain passes being closed requiring us to spend the night at a truck stop motel, Sweet Pea’s medical school interview, a very special dinner with dear friends at The Herbfarm, collecting stool samples from our four youngest (will we ever conquer giardia?), and a nice time with my family. We left one day early in an attempt to beat an incoming storm and then had to delay our return by one day due to even more snow and avalanche danger requiring Snoqualmie Pass to remain closed all day.

I’ll write more soon, but here are a few photos:

Boo and Dimples with their cousin

Eby helped Drew grill burgers for dinner.

Miss M. and Little Man

Little Man with his Aunt Laura

Driving home with only five of our children, the others stayed home. Sweet Pea flew to an interview in CA and then to Seattle. We met up with her after her interview at the University of Washington.

Tomorrow will be spent pulling the house and family back together after being apart since last Wednesday. I think I have my work cut out for me.

~Lisa

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