Looking back over the last two years I can see a consistent theme…faith. God keeps asking it of us and we do our best to obey, dragging our feet sometimes, but eventually getting there.

At this time two years ago Mark and I had just begun to consider the idea of adding to our family through adoption. For someone who thought she was done with two kids, it was a step of faith. The idea of it excited me but the reality of it scared me. But we knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was what we were called to do.

At the same time God began to nudge Mark regarding his job as the executive pastor of our church. Mark began to feel as if there was something else that God was calling him too. We waited, we prayed, we waited some more. Finally, hearing nothing but a gentle “it’s time to leave” Mark resigned. For what? We didn’t know. What we DO know is that God had uniquely provided for this situation. Just a few months before we had paid off our house and then a couple months later I started a full time job at the church that provided the income and insurance benefits we would need.

At the time we had no idea that it would be 9 months later before God would answer Mark’s “What now?” In the midst of all that we were completing the adoption of Wendemagegn and Beza (which we had committed to doing debt-free). Through that roller coaster time of emotions and setbacks and waiting, God faithfully provided every single thing we needed and even some of our wants (like sending the kids to Christian school).

God saw us through every part of the adoption, including letting us travel to Ethiopia with our dear friends the Slonigers (who by the way are in the process of adopting another adorable little boy “A”). He has continued to see us through the last 10 months of adjusting to our new life and what raising four kids takes of us.

Just when we thought we were getting comfortable we began to feel it again…the nudging. We prayed, we waited, we prayed some more. We dragged our feet a little While our other steps of faith were somewhat exciting, I will admit that this one held no excitement for me. In fact, it held fear more than anything else. Not fear for us, because I am completely confident in God’s provision, but fear for the hurt that our steps of faith might cause others.

For God was telling us that it was time to leave our church.  We’ve left churches before, but it was either because we were moving or because we knew, early on, that it wasn’t the church for us. But THIS church? We’ve invested 8 years of our lives with here. Mark was on staff for 6 years….and I was still on staff (and have been off and on over the last 7 years). These are our friends, our family.

Despite the fear, obedience trumps it…every time Obviously our decision also meant that I would be leaving my job. Again, I wasn’t worried about the money or the benefits but I WAS sad about leaving my friends. I LOVE the staff at our church. They are an awesome group of people who do whatever it takes to do the job. They stood besides us and prayed for us through our adoption journey and we love them.

For those who attend our church, let me say something (because I know how the rumor mill works). There is about OUR family and decisions we are making for US. There is NOT some secret going on that is causing us to leave, no scandal, not with the church and not with us.

So here we are at another crossroads. The last couple of weeks have been difficult, but we are moving forward. Friends are still friends and life goes on.

I am REALLY enjoying the time off! With Mark working from home it is nice to be together during the day (when we’re not running different directions) and it has been great to have time to run errands, go visit my mom and just BE.

There are tons of ideas bouncing around in my head. Writing a book (finally), advocating for orphans, maybe doing some public speaking – sharing our story, helping other people find financial freedom. The list goes on. In the midst of that I’ll be doing freelance design work to help pay the bills.

So we keep moving, knowing God has big plans, and waiting for his timing to reveal what he has next for us.

Can I blame my lack of blog posts on my new hobby – finding gluten-free recipes…that don’t cost an arm and a leg…and are easy to make. Not an extremely easy task.

Our second oldest, Noah, was diagnosed with ADHD at age 7. For the last 3 years he’s been on Adderall XR and it has worked well. We started at 15 mg once a day and over time as he grows it has been adjusted until he was taking 35 mg. At first the side effects weren’t too bad. It suppresses his appetite so he doesn’t usually eat much for lunch. But by dinner the meds have worn off and he can really put the food down.

Unfortunately in the last few months we’ve started to see some other side effects pop up. While I was in Pittsburgh a couple months ago Mark apparently spent lots of time on Google and realized that they may be due to the dosage Noah was taking. He came to the determination that some changes to Noah’s diet were in order.

We started with eliminating dyes and all preservatives. We also discovered that one of his “triggers” is corn. So not only does that mean no corn at dinner but it means no corn based products – no cornbread, nothing with high fructose corn syrup. Now, I cook most of our dinners from scratch except the occasional frozen pizza, Hamburger Helper or freezer pasta meal but all of those handy grab-n-go snacks were now off limits.

Coincidentally while I was in Pittsburgh I read Kristen’s copy of Jenny McCarthy’s book, Louder Than Words. One of the things she talks about is diet. I will be the first to admit that over the years I have wondered if going gluten free would be beneficial to Noah, but honestly, the thought overwhelmed me. And the medication was working. So I buried my head in the sand.

Well, consider it unburied. In the last 5 weeks of no preservatives, no corn, very little sugar and no dyes, we have been able to cut Noah’s Adderall dosage by 10 mg which is huge. So we’ve decided to take the next step and go gluten-free as well. I don’t know if we’ll be able to take him completely of the meds. That would be nice, but any decrease is great too.

So I’ve spent countless hours reading, researching recipes, price comparing and figuring out how to do gluten-free in a way that Noah will eat and that won’t break the grocery budget. As I’ve been talking about it, I’m amazed at how many people around me are on gluten-free diets. They’ve been a huge help.

So today was Day 1 of gluten free. I made bagels tonight. I’m not sure how well they turned out (haven’t tasted them). Definitely different looking. We’ll see if they pass the taste test in the morning.

My brother Phil and his wife Tricia picked up their beautiful little girl yesterday in China. She is just too cute and I can’t wait to hug on her at Christmas time.

While I think I do a pretty good job on the grocery budget, feeding a family of 6 for about $300-350 a month, I’m always looking for new recipes and ways to save even more money.

So next on my list of books to purchase is Family Feasts for $75 by Mary over at Owlhaven (she’s and adoptive mom as well). Well, it turns out that Mary is having a contest and giving away 3 SETS of 3 of this great book. You can enter here but only if you promise to give me one of your copies should you win

Remember that 2-3 year old stage where your kids asked you a million questions and would never accept “just because” as an answer and you thought you would lose your mind?

Try it with an 8 and 10 year old.

I realized the other day that Wendemagegn and Beza have got the toddler “whys” only because they’re 8 and 10 their questions are much more complex.

“What’s on top of those mountains?” (radio antenaes)

“Are motorcycles faster than cars?”

“Can our car go over 80?

“What if you go like 150?”

“Why do you have to wear a helmet if your ride a motorcycle?”

“Why do we have to get shots?” (still getting caught up on immunizations)

“Who’s the richest man in the world?”

That was just on the way home today.

That does not count the 27 football-oriented questions Wendemagegn asks each day about what the players are allowed to do, what different positions are called or what team is in what state. This morning he wanted me to list every NFL team and couldn’t understand why I didn’t know them all.

It’s exhausting…

but fun.

We continue to make progress on the food front and I consider this one monumental. Tonight we had a family party for Noah’s birthday (which is next Friday). Per his request we had hamburgers, which all the kids love. Wendemagegn was on his second one when he said “Let me try a piece of the cheese.” Dad gave him about a quarter-sized piece of cheese which he put on his burger, ate it AND liked it.

I about fell off my chair! Beza has also begun putting ketchup on her burger which has been a long time coming. I’ve put the green beans into rotation more often lately and Wendemagegn will get seconds. Beza still doesn’t really like them (or so she says) but she eats them without all the drama that used to accompany it.

Mark and I joke about keeping Beza out of the kitchen while we’re fixing dinner. She comes in, sticks her nose right up to the pot and gives it a sniff. “What’s this?” she’ll ask. I tell her what it is (usually something we eat often) and she’ll ask “It is same as before?” with this semi-accusatory tone like I’m trying to pull one over on her. “Yes, Beza, the same as always.” And then she goes on her way. Heaven forbid she actually see all the ingredients I put into some of this stuff.

Well today I got to experience the wonder of Kennywood, not to be confused with Dollywood which is a whole different place…and not in Pittsburgh. Kennywood is kind of like a mini Disneyland. Kristen had promised her girls a trip sometime this summer (they close in the off season) but it requires two adults because of the girls different taste in rides, height requirements, etc. So I got to be the extra adult. I was pretty impressed with the park actually – well at least the rides. They had some pretty good roller coasters including an old wooden one where you actually come up out of your seat slightly on at least one of the hills.

Lots of spiny rides which Kaity loves but neither Kristen and I can tolerate. Fortunately she’s tall enough to ride them on her own.

The highlight of the trip…eating deep fried Oreos I love my oreos and was intrigued. They were not what I had imagined – a crispier outside and the normal crunch inside. Instead it was a soft batter which then turned the oreo soft. So it was kind of like eating a chocolate chip cookie but Oreo flavored. And of course sprinkled with some powdered sugar. It was heavenly. Lunch was bacon and cheddar fries. (Yes, the diet pretty much went out the window yesterday.)

Then last night Kristen and I went out for dinner. It’s kind of our tradition to go out and eat a really nice meal on our visits. She’s got lots of experience working in the restaurant business and picks some great restaurants. Last night was no exception. We ate at Eleven. Warm medallion tomato appetizer (with cheese and mushrooms). I had the Elysian Fields Farm Lamb for dinner (sweet corn polenta,summer squash, tomatoes, oregano, vin cotto). It was incredible!!! Kristen had the tuna.

And of course you can’t pass up dessert. Especially when they have something called Chocolate-Pretzel Candy Bar (peanut butter-milk chocolate-pretzel ice cream, peanut brittle, chocolate-pretzel cookie). Because pretty much anytime you see the words peanut butter and chocolate in the same sentence you know it’s going to be good. And it was. The perfect combination of sweet and salty.

Also got to meet Kristen’s friend Erin and had a great time hanging out. My saving grace has been the time change. So staying up til 2 a.m. is really only like 11 p.m. AZ time. Right?

Thought I’d coin a new term there. What do you think? Momcation. I like it!

I’m off on my annual trip to see my BF Kristen in Pittsburgh. We try to see each other at least once a year, sometimes twice. Because she’s a single mom with 3 kids, she doesn’t get to come West very often but she and the kids came to Phx in March and we had a blast.

So I’ve got 5 days of girl fun in this crazy city filled with Steeler fans. I’m not sure what it is about the Steelers but their fans kind of transcend description.

I arrived last night in the middle of their first regular season game. There was a sea of black and gold at the airport. The airport restaurants were closed, gates down but TVs were on and small groups of airport employees were gathered around catching a few minutes of the game. We even got score updates on the plane from the pilot.

Today at the grocery store I got a chuckle over this:

Really?????

I cooked up an Ethiopian dinner for Kristen, her parents and the girls. It was fun to let them experience it. Tomorrow we’re off to Kennywood with the girls.

Well yippee, turns out it is NOT chicken pox but something called Pityriasis lichenoides. Antibiotics and some ointment and we are good. It’s deemed not contagious so he is back to school tomorrow which both he and dad are excited about.

Mom is excited that I’m not leaving a possibly pox infected house. I would have felt bad…for a little bit at least.

So Saturday morning we had the pleasure of going over to a friends house to swim. They were out of town and graciously gave us entry into their home for the weekend. They have an awesome backyard w/ pool, hot tub, basketball court, and in ground trampoline.

The kids LOVE being in the water and they are getting so much better at their swimming. They are really independent but still require watching in case they panic (although they are capable of swimming). They’re jumping off the diving board and everything. It is great to see them progress in their swimming.

We grilled dinner and were sitting around the table eating when I noticed a bunch of bumps on Wen’s chest. Some small, like zits, some slightly bigger and kind of scaly. Hmmm??? Mark’s first thought was chicken pox. He didn’t seem to be itchy and no fever though.

Sunday morning there was more spots. They didn’t exactly look like the chicken pox I remembered but honestly, I’ve never seen chicken pox on dark skin. We called our friend who is a ped nurse and she gave us some info re: who is contagious, etc. We kept Wen home from church and I took the other kids. Since there’s a 3 week incubation period there’s not really anyway you know whether or not they’re going to get it and I can’t very well just keep them secluded for 3 weeks.

The kids have ALL had the chicken pox vaccine. Wen & Beza had the first dose back in January. I can’t find the last immunization sheet from their appt. on August 11th to see if that’s when they got the second dose. If it is then that’s pretty much 3 weeks ago. So I’m wondering if he actually developed the case FROM the immunization.

We don’t have 100 percent confirmation that it’s chicken pox. Didn’t feel it necessary to take him to urgent care or anything. He doesn’t seem uncomfortable in the least. So we’ll take him in on Tuesday morning and see if that’s really what it is.

I’m hoping none of the other kids get it and that Wen’s done with it soon. I leave to go visit my BF on Thursday and hate to leave dad with a bunch of sick kids