The Weekend Before Travel including the Last Minute Chicken Shuffle

 I have not done a good job blogging about everything going on; I leave for Ethiopia tomorrow. Saturday, JD was gone with the boys all day to a hunting event (this is their first year hunting for all), my big girls were all off on social events, and the little crowd and I were left to accomplish many tasks. I felt pretty good about the packing I had done during the week -

Tori and I made a huge batch of zucchini muffins and a batch of bread.

The little guys played and I did Selah and Bella's hair.

Sunday brought many more things on the to-do list; I also woke up with my neck so inflamed that it hurt to move. We spoke at church for a few minutes to introduce Brooke. JD then kept all the children after church with him for a meeting, so I could do my last minute running. I flew around town and packed the front with my final trip to Costco.

The back was packed with more last minute donations for my trip.

And last, but never least, I picked up a new batch of chickens. JD thought maybe I should not try to mix the work of new chickens into my final weekend in America, but I could not pass up on a friend's free organic laying chickens! I picked them up on my way home. (It may be slightly country to load up chickens on your way home from church, that idea hasn't escaped me!)

The challenge was that our 28 baby guineas needed to be moved to allow the chickens to have their own side of the coop and fence. In all fairness, this job was on the radar about two months ago, but we generally don't get things done until the need is pressing. So now pressing, JD and the boys got to rush home and build before I made it home.

The guineas really didn't need to live by the chickens to start with because they become dependent on the chicken food and don't roam for ticks like they are supposed to.

We clipped the new guy's wings and let them in the chicken yard.

Elijah, Selah and Bella spent a good hour trying to fly with the trimmed feathers.

We then had to capture the guineas. They can fly well now (see them on the roof?) so catching them wasn't the simplest process.

 We then relocated them to their new coop in the back, wagon load by wagon load. Julia took the job of wagon transport very seriously.

I plan on the guineas staying locked in for two weeks, then we will release them but leave the door open with food inside. Hopefully, they will rely less on the food and roam more. We also hope they don't remember there are chickens up front with continuous food. (Their brains are tiny!)

 I think we have a good number of layers - I haven't had to supplement buying any eggs since spring. We eat a lot of eggs!

So, now I'm back to packing. I have several unpacked piles like this -

And here's my current suitcase pile, which does not include anything personal, just donations. Thank you everyone!! Oh, and I still haven't got to any cleaning. I think I'm going to recruit some children that want to make some extra money (because I can still barely move my neck.)

I'm going to try and blog in Ethiopia when I can connect. I'm hoping that my daughters at home will get on and edit if pictures are up-side-down or anything crazy.

After Finding My Camera Cord I Can Post Pictures

 We took our annual pilgrimage to Kings Dominion. While we have fun, once a year is honestly enough for me. This year we smartened up to not make Moriah go, because she honestly doesn't enjoy anything that is walking in the heat and waiting in lines. Here's JD and our crowd of eight kids inhaling our donuts before we headed in.

 We stopped for the official 2013 picture right inside the gate. What is amazing (in a not so good way) is that we didn't have one wedding picture where all the kids look as pleasant as this one. For the wedding, I had to settle with the best picture with three kids looking miserable, but the one we snap at the amusement park is all smiles!

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 This picture cracks me up because Bella is keeping an eye on the Charlie Brown and what's-her-name while Selah is all smiles. Elijah wouldn't even get as close as Bella did!
 

 Selah and Bella rode everything the park let them on. There were several rides that Elijah and Selah could ride that Bella didn't make the cut for, and she cried each and every time.

 This one the guy kindly suggested I step in as well. Note, no Bella or Elijah.

 Elijah as "Buzz Lightyear"; have I ever mentioned that Elijah talks ALL the time. He even talked to me through the fence as he was preparing for take off.

 The log ride is my favorite - JD watches the camera while all the kids and I ride.   

 This was Julia's first year riding the Drop Zone - that is the ride that I totally volunteer to remain with the younger crowd! Julia had a last minute panic attack, but still decided to go.  JD encourages each child to keep their arms up, their legs out, and when it drops do not make a peep all the way down. There are two new children initiated into the Order of the Silent Drop Zone. Congratulations Tori and Julia! We don't have any wimpy riders in our family; Ben doesn't like the Drop Zone but rides all the roller coasters.  

We took the three youngest through Dino Land again this year while the older crowd rode a few other roller coasters. Check out all the smiles again. I guess when my next child gets married, I'll ask the younger crowd to imagine they are at King's Dominion!
 

Look Who Came to Visit!

 Look who we got to spend a few, short hours with! Alayna was back in town just a few days for her friend's wedding and was able to come over today. The kids were so thrilled to see her, especially Elijah who "would marry her if she hadn't married Gabriel".

Gabriel is actually underway for his first ten days at sea. Thankfully, he has a friend from Colorado, that now lives 10 minutes from Gabriel and Alayna, that is willing to doggie-sit for Harley and take Alayna to and from the airport.

They are enjoying San Diego but I still wish they were on the East coast! We miss them so much!

Oh My Word!

If I had any clue how the last month had played out in Brooke's adoption, I would have traveled to Ethiopia right after Gabriel and Alayna's wedding back in July, to know if there is a legitimate hope of bringing her home before my adoption expires completely.  We have spent the last year with only occasional updates from the adoption agency that they are still trying to clear Brooke, but there are difficulties. Only after I told them that I needed a clear indication of what the hold up was, was I transferred to someone who actually went and got the whole story. The whole story, in short, is that Brooke needs a family member, any family member, to sign off on her adoption. It is not that anyone thinks that she isn't an orphan or shouldn't be adopted, it's only that UNICEF and it's anti-adoption agenda can shut down agencies and countries if every I isn't dotted exactly the correct way. Once I got the complete story, we devised the plan that I would travel and petition the court to pass her in court, based on the fact that her only living relative is Bella, already in our care. Once we had that plan in motion, I started re-evaluating my adoption documents for her. I was met with the horrible realization that my I600 was going to expire next week. While I initially thought we only had to re-pay (not to make light of that since immigration charges $760 to give us one piece of paper that allows our children in the country), in reality is was much more complicated. The I600 required a thorough home study update, which is much more involved in Virginia than even last year. Mine was also complicated by the reality that Gabriel no longer lives at home, yet is on our previous home study, which means he needs to be finger-printed, etc, in VA is spite of the fact he now lives in San Diego. So, at this point, I'm drowning in paperwork for an adoption that is, in reality, a long shot. 

I drove my sister to the airport today and arrived home to my notarized home study update. Upon further investigation, I realized that it had to be in the office in MO on Monday! Further analysis made me realize that I had 1.5 hours to compile the pile of paperwork. JD came home and copied for me and then dashed out the door to arrive at the Post Office at only a few minutes before 5:00! Nothing like the last minute! I pray that it will all make a difference in her case! 

I leave in less than two weeks for Ethiopia and will be writing a trip information update in the next few days- and asking for your prayers while I'm there!

  

(Stole this from another blog - summarizes my life pretty well most days! I should have majored in "dossier completion"!)

Final First and Lots of Mold

 My public school crowd headed off on Tuesday for their first day of school. Moriah is a sophomore this year - 

Tori, Julia and Selah all got the teachers that I requested. Tori's teacher lived most of her childhood in Liberia as a daughter of a marine stationed at the embassy. She is also the mother of our swim team coach. Julia has the teacher that Tori thrived under last year and Selah has the K teacher that Julia loved so much in K. They were all excited about their first day. 
 

Check out those smiles

 Selah is quite the kid! She was super excited and didn't even hesitate to head up the bus steps. The second day of school I had to pick Tori and Julia up early for the dentist; I picked Selah up also because I didn't want her to be nervous about riding the bus alone. She told me a few times last night that she didn't want me to come get her - that she wants to always ride the bus.

 I have spent the last few days getting James and Ben started on A Beka online academy and planning out Elijah's K year. Between that, I am trying to help my sister with all her moving and organizing.

Deb's birthday night after she  had moved  all day.

Moving is enough work, but her move was much more complicated in how much has to be divided for where it is going the next few years. Beyond that, things took a huge turn when we found out that the house she moved out of had quite a mold problem. After seeing and smelling the evidence, she decided that everything had to be treated before being used or stored; I'm talking everything - furniture and clothes. She started by treating mounds of things with vinegar outside the back door. 

Someday this will be concreted for a patio which would have been nice before all this!

 The biggest issue was clothes. She washed everything in a vinegar load and then another baking soda load. I can not even begin to guess how many loads we have washed; both washers have been running for days. 

The final piles

 Then we lay item after item in the sun where ever we can; I really wonder what the timber men working around the woods think is going on.

This was my favorite today as I came in from the garden - 

 We always have so much craziness going on that I'm so thankful that we don't live in a neighborhood; HOAs probably wouldn't be too thrilled with us right now!

Labor Day Weekend

 We labored especially hard this weekend. It was the last weekend that my sister and her room-mate were in their house. JD and the boys went and helped her load up furniture on Saturday. While she is not moving in with us full-time, the stuff that she is keeping is. She sold or gave away most of her items, but still had to divide into things to stay with her now, items to store at our house, things that will ship overseas initially and things that will ship on a second round. We spent this morning moving her furniture and rubbermaids out of the "vacation" trailer and into the barn. While she still has piles and piles in the house to sort, I took advantage of the situation and had JD move extra furniture, that we plan to use when the children shuffle bed-rooms again, up to the barn as well. As soon as Deb is done packing her corner, we will cover it with tarps to prevent a layer of dirt over the next few years.

The barn loft

There are several items we are storing in the house that would risk being damaged in the loft. Her books seem to fit on my empty bookshelf down-stairs and we are incorporating several household items and dishes into ours. The house she was renting seemed to develop a mold issue lately, so she is scrubbing and washing everything before it is used or stored, which is a lot of work!

JD and I attempted to sneak down into the woods to see how the clearing is going; they worked all day today in spite of it being Labor Day. Within minutes, we had five little people on our trail.

I had to do all four girl's hair this weekend, which is a record for me (and not a fun one!) It took about 3-4 hours each to take out Tori and Julia's and another 3-4 to put it back in. Thankfully, I can have the older kids take it out and I only have to do the long session to put back in. They have new back to school braids that will stay until I return from Ethiopia in four weeks. Selah and Bella's hair is much faster to do, but will only make it a week.

This is taken on our walk back - see the back of the house up the hill? JD has a lot of cleaning up to do before we can fence or plant grass.

After moving furniture all morning, JD spent most of the rest of the day cutting grass. Alyssa and James resumed fence painting, that she didn't finish before her mission trip this summer, and Ben and I clipped chicken wings and re-arranged teen-aged guinea hens. 

While those little people running across the field are cute, I really took this to show how well the grass ended up growing this summer, thanks to the rainiest summer I ever remember in Virginia. After 7-8 years of laying grass seed, I'm just so thankful to finally have real grass!

I can't even remember the last time Elijah wore a shirt at home - he is doing his part to minimize my laundry!

Clearing Clearing

 The "tree" people are finishing up their first week. It's really hard to show the progress in pictures since the underbrush is still in the foreground of any area they have cleared. They have completed along the one side of us and are now in the back. They enter and exit from only one path so they successfully are not making a mess in other areas.

 Although I didn't doubt it was true, I really had not seen that our house is on the top of a hill that slopes down on both sides. It is going to be a pretty view and good sledding!

Watching them has kept us all entertained; big trees falling is interesting at any age.

Here's my backyard before shot; I'll show the same area next week after they've cleared out.

Second First Day

I have enjoyed seeing other people's first day of school pictures. We are going to have three rounds of first days this year. Alyssa started Challenge 1 (9th grade) at Classical Conversations last week; Elijah started K there today. Elijah, who is often rather shy in new situations, really enjoyed himself. He was very excited to see Alyssa at lunch time. He chose to eat with her and her big friends over the little people in his class; I'm sure that will change over time. Bella is an observer this year; she is staying with me in Elijah's class. I'm excited to see how much she picks up just being there. 

The public school crowd starts next week; Selah is so excited she can barely stand it. We go for her meet the teacher day tomorrow and Tori and Julia on Thursday. I will take plenty of pictures next Tuesday, our third first day!

                                                  Jenny

 

"Manly" Post

I'm disappointed that I didn't take one picture, but my sister and I hosted a large "raise some money to go to Ethiopia" yard sale last weekend. We did it with Alei, Alyssa and all the little people's help since JD and the boys were attending Hunter Safety class.

Here is the bigger success of the day - the boys holding their graduation certificates. In just a few weeks, they will be going on their first ever deer hunt. (I am working hard to get past my personal anti-hunting feelings...) They are going to hunt on other land and I'm not going to see the deer until it's wrapped in white paper.

While we were busy this weekend, the lumber guys started clearing our land. We are clearing about 20 acres. While I know the terrain is going to be a bit ugly for a while; when it makes it to rolling pasture with animals, I will love it. 
The equipment they have it phenomenal - they cleared about two tractor trailer trucks today. The pine and oak tops are going to pulp while the big trunks are being turned into boards. 

The first clearing is about half way down our drive-way; we are leaving a pretty good buffer between the first clearing and the road.  We like our privacy so we can do our morning animal chores in our pajamas!