Sol's First Pics

From Mommy: Here are some of the first pictures taken by Solomon. He had a whole lot more but they unfortunately met with an untimely end when the "Delete" button was mistaken for the "View" button. 67 pictures were erased. It was a shame, as Solly brought his new camera to Science class and got so many cute shots of his friends. Oh, well. Now he's getting the hang of centering his subject and using adequate lighting. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of his work in the days to come!

Oh, and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Uncle Denny in Washington! We love you!

Rock and Gem Show

From Solomon: Mommy and I took Kai over to the Rock and Gem Show to, well, look at various rocks and gems. Kai likes anything hoardable and shiny. This was right up his alley! There were a lot of rocks. And a lot of gems. We each got some spending money and Mommy spent the afternoon following us through the auditorium with a rapidly growing bag as we assessed and added all sorts of sparkly treasures to our stash. There were some great carnival games that offered rock/gem prizes and we won some real beauts! Mom's arms were quite tired by the time we were done. It was a really fun field trip and we all learned a lot about the beautiful earth God created for us!

And now maybe Kai will stop hoarding Mommy's shiny things under his pillow whilst she goes crazy thinking she's a victim of early-onset dementia because she keeps losing her earrings, bookmarks and necklaces.

Hmmmmm? Richard Malachi?

To My Dryer:

I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for all those times I took you for granted and I love you. This last weekend without you has taught me so very much. Not having you around is so difficult to bear. I just never realized how much better my life is for having you in it. I never want to be without you again as long as I live. I guess you never really know how much you depend upon those in your life until their wires melt together, posing a fire hazard. It's OK. Everyone needs to feel that they're being heard and sometimes resort to drastic measures when that need isn't met. I'm just so glad you're back. I really, truly missed you.

You Know You Need to Clean the Car More Frequently When:

Your 3 year old proceeds to crawl into his car seat, stops, looks around in amazement and states, "Wow. Mom, why is the car clean?".

Like he's never seen such a thing before.

Anywho, here's a couple of cute ones of the little culprit. He's just so stinkin' cute.


So. Stinkin'. Cute.

"Occupied!"

So, I go into the bathroom and find:

In case you can't tell, it's my cat. Wearing a shopping bag. Drinking from the toilet.

OoooKaaay.

The Countdown Begins...

Cell phone on "loud"?

Check.

Camera's memory card empty? Check.

Video camera charged? Check.

Good book for Mommy? Check.

Card games, puzzles, bubbles, Crayola color-wonder, cup-n-ball for boys? Check.

Snacks? Check.

Drinks? Check.

Backpack by front door? Check.

Ready for the call that my niece is on the way? You betcha!!

Solly's 1st Science Fair!

From Solly: I just competed in the Salem Area Christian Homeschool Network Science Fair! My project was "Why do my birthday party balloons quit floating?" This was the picture I used underneath my question.

I learned about the scientific method, and together Mommy and I experimented with helium balloons to answer my question. I learned what a hypothesis is and Mommy helped me make my display board. We got it all figured out and were ready for the big night!

When the judge came to ask me about my project I told her all about it and showed her all the things I learned - ALL BY MYSELF!

Later on a judge asked everyone to be quiet and said what a great job we all did and that he had some ribbons to give out. Then I heard him call, "Can we have Solomon Lewis up here?" I was surprised and went up. He handed me a ribbon that says...

"1st Place"! WOW! I was the littlest kid in the Science Fair and I got a 1st place! I guess Junior Asparagus was right, "Little guys can do big things, too!"

Better Late than Never...

From Mommy: We finally got around to coloring Easter eggs!

Also, we had our annual SHE group Easter Egg Hunt which was a lot of fun! Us frugal moms loved that the hunt was scheduled a few days after Easter as all the cute eggs and yummy treats went on clearance! We even got to see the new big brother, Benton, for a while! His Auntie and Uncle are in the Co-op and borrowed him while his Mommy and new brother rested in the hospital. We went to see wee Nathaniel this morning. Alas, I forgot my camera, but take my word for it - he elicits some major baby envy!

Here's Solomon & Cayman getting some decent lunch in their tummies before the sugar infusion begins.

"Look what I got!!"

Mmmmmmm...looooooooot.

Final side note: in case you're having trouble making this out (they're waaay out there), it's Solomon, Zion and Cayman simultaneously relieving themselves in the bushes. Apparently it was too far to walk from the festivities to the disgusting port-a-john when the need arose. And, also apparently, the "I-gotta-go-potty-jig" is contagious.

A New Lil' Lunde!

Today Nathaniel Keith Night Lunde was born to our friends Paul & Andee! The proud big brother is Benton (from The Paul and Andee Show blog). Nathaniel came into the world at 12:11, weighed 7.29 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. Everyone is doing just fine! We're praising God for a safe delivery and a healthy, handsome new son for the Lunde clan - CONGRATULATIONS, guys!

Goosed

From Mommy: The boys and I decided to head over to Cascade Gateway Park. Our bag of accumulated bread heals and stale cereal had grown to overflow level. Time to bestow our stash on the residents of the park. Now, it seems to me that I need little narration as to the happenings, so I'll use only a few words to enhance your understanding of our time there:

"Aaaaw! Such a pretty goose!"

"You like my keys? Yes you do!"

"C'meer! It's OK! Yeah! Oh, such a nice goose!"

"!%^?*&?$#!!"

"Yeah. Real funny, Sol. Just hilarious."

"Hey! Don't bite my Mama again, or I'll..."

"AH!"

But, after we left that particular goose's vicinity, we had a lovely time!

And the geese got plenty of exercise.

The Borrowers

From Mommy: We borrowed our friends' kiddos (minus their oldest) the other day. Having always craved a large family, I enjoy a mass of ankle-biters running around. Looking at them all lined up munching their Mac-N-Cheese renewed my excitement for my children to come. I also realized that I hadn't updated y'all as to the happenings of our adoption journey in a while.

To make a really long story short, we were ready to send in our paperwork for the babies when the call came. "Would you still be interested in adopting Rayna?" Of course, the unequivocal answer was, "Absolutely. Yes!"
So, it seems that late this
summer our precious girl MAY come up for adoption after all. It's a big MAY, but as long as there's an ounce of hope we're not giving up. Micah and I decided, after talking with caseworkers on both the Foster Care and the Vietnam side, that we will hold our Vietnam paperwork until Rayna's case is resolved.

Please let it be known to all that WE HAVE NOT TOLD THE BOYS. They have just recently stopped asking after Ray every single day. The tears still come, but are less frequent. Malachi especially was devastated at her loss. I don't even know if I'm strong enough to go through loosing this beautiful child again, and under no circumstances will I expect my little sons to experience that level of loss again. If I can help it. So, please, friends. Not a word of these happenings to my guys. If, by the grace of God Almighty, we get to Committee and win custody, we'll come home with a big surprise for our sons.

Please pray for the strength Micah and I need to get through this. Again.

Just Resting his Eyes...

From Mommy: Solomon is now 5 and, having reached that milestone, had officially outgrown nap time. My son was absolutely thrilled about this graduation even though it came with the stipulation of mandatory quiet time so that (a really cheesed-off) Malachi could still use nap time to sleep. Solly was so impressed with his grown-upness and all morning kept letting little remarks slip out in the presence of his brother, "Wow. I'm so happy that I'm 5 now. I've outgrown naps." and "Hmmmm, I wonder what I'll chose to do during your nap time today..." which would earn him a glare from his brother and a warning from his Mama.


So later I laid down with Kai who was wailing about the inequality of it all. We left Sol in the front room with a heap of Legos and a stern warning to keep the noise level down. Malachi eventually relaxed in my arms and we both fell asleep. I woke a bit later and was impressed with my eldest's ability to maintain the quiet time.

Malachi stumbled out of bed behind me and took stock of his brother,

a mischievous grin spreading across his face.


Solomon will never hear the end of this.