When I was riding in the back of the SUV toward SD, I had no idea what to expect. The last time I had been in the Black Hills I was 13, give or take a year. Anyway, I had forgotten how barren and ugly Nebraska is. As a child growing up in Missouri and close to the Kansas border, we would make fun of flat, boring Kansas. Well, Kansas is a Six Flags compared to Nebraska- with the exception of Carhenge. Who knows why someone built it, but there it was erected out of foreign and domestic cars and in Nebraska.
This vacation wasn't the restful slow crawl of our beach vacations. Each day this past week we were up and out of my Aunt and Uncle's home by 8:30 and on our way touring beautiful mountains known as the Black Hills. Pine trees stood straight and tall up the sides of hills. They stood in stark contrast to the walls of gray rock that towered above our heads. During our stay we marveled at the beauty and the cool weather around us. We played tourist to Mount Rushmore, Rapid City and Custer State Park.
The boys petted buffalo and wild donkeys. They raced up the sides of mountains and stood looking out over a cliff to a pristine lake below. We took in a dinner show and paddleboated. In all, we had great fun. We had a grand time,but wished that Nathan could be with us. He would have loved to climb a mountain with the boys, delighting in their shouts of "Hey mom, I am taking the dangerous way!" Their first time in a mountain environment.
I will soon post pics and video of all the granduer we saw in the Black Hills. Aaron got over his illness by the third day, and it was all up hill from there! Except, Nebraska - I can really do without Nebraska, maybe it was the miles and miles of ....corn.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
A Tornado, A Rainbow and Bloody Noses - SD trip Part 1
Road trips are an adventure that as a child I did not necessarily enjoy, however now I feel the need to impart this joy to my children. With that in mind, I set off with my parents to South Dakota to see our Northern family.
Two days into the trip we have had two bloody noses, one fever, tornado sirens went off during dinner, we were caught in a hail storm and then God produced a beautiful double rainbow.
Aaron and Isaac have enjoyed the frequent stops at places like Carhenge, a SandHills area Museum and the Swedish heritage town, Lindsborg, Kansas where we saw beautiful Dala horses.
We have made it to South Dakota and everyone is no worse for the ware!
Two days into the trip we have had two bloody noses, one fever, tornado sirens went off during dinner, we were caught in a hail storm and then God produced a beautiful double rainbow.
Aaron and Isaac have enjoyed the frequent stops at places like Carhenge, a SandHills area Museum and the Swedish heritage town, Lindsborg, Kansas where we saw beautiful Dala horses.
We have made it to South Dakota and everyone is no worse for the ware!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Journey Begins - Again
I have mentioned adoption in my posts before and some might remember us working concession stands a couple years ago to help fund our adoption of a little girl. In fact, in April of 2007 we sent our dossier to China and have been waiting ever since for something to happen.
This year it looked like our adoption dream was floating away from our grasp, but then suddenly the winds changed direction.
We have now accepted a referral for a child who is very similar to Aaron in need and is the most precious little three and 1/2 year old girl-ever. She has a big smile with a dimple in her cheek, loves the outdoors, loves music, hates vegetables and can be (according to her caregivers) obstinate at times.
Reading her bio was like reading about us.
We prayed vigorously for this child before the referral and I must admit, that I prayed vigorously for the doors to be closed if this wasn't the child for us. Over the last three weeks I have been astonished to see a door begin to close and then find it shoved open again - even wider than before. This is not to say I am not full of a heightened level of anxiousness. After all, we just found out that we are more than likely adding to our family in a record time of 4 months. Eek!
This whole process is very new to us and we are feeling it out as we go. But for everyone's info... In about 1-2 months we should recieve a preapproval that will state China feels we can proceed to the next level. Then we will receive referral agreement which is the official "Yes" and finally we will get travel plans. It is very possible we won't know til the month we travel when we go. The only real answers we have is that is usually takes 3-4 months.
In this time, please join us in prayer for our Sarah and her kidneys. Pray for us to have all three children stay healthy and pray that we will be wise in our decisions.
As news from China comes, I will post. As my emotions rise and fall and I struggle with all the things that I always struggle with, I will post. And as weird, unusual and amazing things happen to the Stevens clan, I will post.
I do have a total of 13 pictures of little Sarah, but they should not be posted until we have the referral. So until then....words will have to do.
This year it looked like our adoption dream was floating away from our grasp, but then suddenly the winds changed direction.
We have now accepted a referral for a child who is very similar to Aaron in need and is the most precious little three and 1/2 year old girl-ever. She has a big smile with a dimple in her cheek, loves the outdoors, loves music, hates vegetables and can be (according to her caregivers) obstinate at times.
Reading her bio was like reading about us.
We prayed vigorously for this child before the referral and I must admit, that I prayed vigorously for the doors to be closed if this wasn't the child for us. Over the last three weeks I have been astonished to see a door begin to close and then find it shoved open again - even wider than before. This is not to say I am not full of a heightened level of anxiousness. After all, we just found out that we are more than likely adding to our family in a record time of 4 months. Eek!
This whole process is very new to us and we are feeling it out as we go. But for everyone's info... In about 1-2 months we should recieve a preapproval that will state China feels we can proceed to the next level. Then we will receive referral agreement which is the official "Yes" and finally we will get travel plans. It is very possible we won't know til the month we travel when we go. The only real answers we have is that is usually takes 3-4 months.
In this time, please join us in prayer for our Sarah and her kidneys. Pray for us to have all three children stay healthy and pray that we will be wise in our decisions.
As news from China comes, I will post. As my emotions rise and fall and I struggle with all the things that I always struggle with, I will post. And as weird, unusual and amazing things happen to the Stevens clan, I will post.
I do have a total of 13 pictures of little Sarah, but they should not be posted until we have the referral. So until then....words will have to do.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
If you Flush a Fish Down the Toilet
If a 4 year old fish dies in your house and you flush the fish down the toilet, then the toilet might get clogged and make a glug glug sound.
If your wife hears the sound and tells you in the car, then you might not remember later on to take care of the problem before the night time routine begins.
Then if you wait too late at night to make dinner when your wife is out, then you might have to deal with bathroom time and cook at the same time.
If you sit your littlest on the potty to go and then leave to grill some chicken then your littlest son might sit for a long time and decide to flush before he is finished.
If he flushes before he is finished then the toilet might overflow and you will hear screaming while you are trying to finish grilling the chicken.
If you hear screaming you might run to the bathroom to see your child standing in very unmentionable stuff, and you might tell him to get into the bathtub and wait until you clean up the mess. While you are working on cleaning up the mess, you might smell burning and realize that there is chicken on your grill.
When you realize your dinner is being burned beyond recognition, you might run to the grill and discover that one set of grilled chicken is now being chewed on by the dogs in the yard and that the breasts grilling are charred.
While you get the chicken off the grill to prevent a fire, you might hear something smash and break in the bathroom. You will hear your child say- Uh Oh. I'm sorry. It was an accident.
You will run into the bathroom to find that your youngest child has gotten thirsty and asked his older brother for orange juice.
The older brother will get o.j. for his sibling in a fragile glass and somehow bypass the remaining yuck on the floor and hand it to him while still in the tub.
Being in the tub and slippery, the glass will fall and break in the tub where your child is standing barefoot.
So now in a matter of a few short minutes, you have to clean yuckiness off a floor, glass out of a bathtub, safely transport your child to the other bathroom for a bath and you have lost your dinner.
When all this is done you will call your wife when she is on her way home and ask for Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper and twinkies.
If your wife hears the sound and tells you in the car, then you might not remember later on to take care of the problem before the night time routine begins.
Then if you wait too late at night to make dinner when your wife is out, then you might have to deal with bathroom time and cook at the same time.
If you sit your littlest on the potty to go and then leave to grill some chicken then your littlest son might sit for a long time and decide to flush before he is finished.
If he flushes before he is finished then the toilet might overflow and you will hear screaming while you are trying to finish grilling the chicken.
If you hear screaming you might run to the bathroom to see your child standing in very unmentionable stuff, and you might tell him to get into the bathtub and wait until you clean up the mess. While you are working on cleaning up the mess, you might smell burning and realize that there is chicken on your grill.
When you realize your dinner is being burned beyond recognition, you might run to the grill and discover that one set of grilled chicken is now being chewed on by the dogs in the yard and that the breasts grilling are charred.
While you get the chicken off the grill to prevent a fire, you might hear something smash and break in the bathroom. You will hear your child say- Uh Oh. I'm sorry. It was an accident.
You will run into the bathroom to find that your youngest child has gotten thirsty and asked his older brother for orange juice.
The older brother will get o.j. for his sibling in a fragile glass and somehow bypass the remaining yuck on the floor and hand it to him while still in the tub.
Being in the tub and slippery, the glass will fall and break in the tub where your child is standing barefoot.
So now in a matter of a few short minutes, you have to clean yuckiness off a floor, glass out of a bathtub, safely transport your child to the other bathroom for a bath and you have lost your dinner.
When all this is done you will call your wife when she is on her way home and ask for Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper and twinkies.
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