11:27

Over ten years ago when I was in college at Fairmont State, I noticed that very often when I looked at the clock either in the morning or late at night, the time read 11:27.  I don't know how many times it occurred before I realized that 11:27 (November 27th) is my birthday!  Upon that realization, I thought it was pretty cool that I happened to see it so often on a clock face.  Seeing the clock say 11:27 fairly often continued on for several years.  I would comment about it to Dustin, and I'm suspecting he thought I was somewhat crazy!  I would tell him that several times a week I would look at the clock and see my birthday.  Fast forward to about five years ago.   Still seeing 11:27 with great regularity throughout a week, I questioned in my heart what it could mean.  Seriously...was it just a coincidence or was there some "force" behind me seeing this particular time so very very often??   I am not one to boast on hearing God's voice or to throw around the phrase, "God said", but at the moment of my question, I honestly felt God's spirit say to me that He wanted me to know that HE knew me and planned for me.  He knew me in my mother's womb, planned the day of my birth, and has set the course for my life. My life was not an accident.  I was in awe.  So simple.  11:27.  What a cool way for God to communicate to me.  I might have told Dustin about what I felt God say, but I have never told anyone else until very recently (within this year probably). 

THEN...last week when I was in Rockford, I found out that when my brother looks at the clock it very very often says 9:20, which was the TIME of his birth.  He said he sees it so often that he can almost predict it...like the second he asks or glances at the time, he almost KNOWS what its going to say before he sees it.  So, I told him, Rachel, and KayCee about my 11:27 phenomenon.

Last night I was in the bath and had been for quite some time.  I was just reading and relaxing.  All of a sudden I got very tired...so tired that I felt nauseous.  As much as I wanted to sit in the tub and continue my book, I got out quickly, put my PJs on, and brushed my teeth.  I had the thought, "What are the chances that I would go in my room right now and the clock say 11:27?  It would just be strange because I've been in the tub for all this time, and if I chose this exact moment to get out and look at the clock and it say that????  It would just be tooooooo weird.".   So I tiptoed in my room (Reuben was sleeping), peeked over my bed to the alarm clock, and nearly fainted.  11:27.  My toes went numb and my heart skipped a beat as I heard the spirit of God say, "How many times do I have to tell you?"

room by room

according to the description of either of my multiple personalities, i should have a "beautifully furnished and functional home" and would make "an extremely good interior decorator".  hahaha!  i think that is soooo funny.  i am NOT good at furnishing nor decorating my home!  i think the problem lies in my inability to make a decision. i see things i like, but either can't decide or will not spend the money to buy decor for my home.  i also can not visualize color in my head.  i am not creative that way.  so i have to rely on the good taste of others and pictures in books/websites to help me know what i like.    also i find that i really like green.  as much as i mentally ascend to branching out and doing something fabulous with my home decor, i always fall back on green and brown.  brown and green.  green and brown.  hmmm...

my kitchen is my favorite room because of all the color.  green tile.  orange wall.  the best trivet ever.  however, this summer i must paint, and i am paralyzed trying to decide what to do:  change the orange wall or not. 

i despise my bedroom.  for years its been my room/baby room.  reuben is quickly approaching the time where he will be moving into a room with nadia, and i am so ready to make my room MY room.  i want to get rid of all baby bedding, clothing, diapers, bottles, lotions, etc, etc.  i found bedding that i absolutely adore, but dustin says its too "girly".  he said do whatever i want, and i have liked it for a LONG time, but i suppose i'll keep looking.  its the decision thing.  even if i decide that this IS the bedding i love, i will probably decide against spending the money...especially at such an over-priced store. 

i do believe that i am making progress though.  this week i decorated a room in a way that i never have before!  i ordered a nursery bedding set!!  in six kids, i have never done such a thing.  i am not sure what came over me, but i am so thrilled with it.  it started with looking for a crib this week.  ours was broken, and reuben would need to be moving to a bed soon.  amazingly, dustin FIXED our existing crib.  but since i was already online, i ventured to the bedding section, found this set, fell in love with it, and ORDERED it without thinking twice.  its so adorable and perfect for both reuben and nadia!  no real pictures yet, as the valance is a little crooked, but here is a picture from the website from which i ordered...

one room down...the rest of the house to go.  i welcome all decorating tips/ideas!!

Visiting 2

oh no!  rachel beat me to blogging about our trip!  while i was uploading pictures of the trip to facebook, SHE was writing about it!!  oh well...i'll go ahead and post my take on things anyway, hence the title "visiting 2".  you must go and read her blog before you read mind.  (rachellukelijlydindieanawa.blogspot.com)

yes...so as you already know, kaycee and i took all the kids to illinois for a vacation to uncle luke and auntie rachel's house!  while rachel was getting questions like, "how are you going to fit ALL those people into your house?", I was being asked, "are you seriously taking ALL those kids in the van for a TEN hour drive?????"  all i figured was that if i could take four kids 16 hours to minnesota (three years ago), surely i can take six on just a ten hour trip, right??   believe it or not, it was pretty smooth sailin'.  we stopped for two hours near dayton so i could meet up with some of my imaginary internet friends (who turned out to be very real and very cool!).   then we stopped again at a park somewhere near danville, illinois.  we let the kids watch punky brewster in the van and finally made it to rockford with time to play before bedtime!  no problems whatsoever!!  i think kaycee and i are going to make a tradition out of a summer trip with van full of kids. 

i find it interesting that rachel wrote about our "schedule" because i felt so incredibly UNscheduled.  and really, i was ok with that.  it was vacation!!!  so, while i am anal about my morning routine and still woke up at 6:30 for my one egg and cup of coffee, i did not stick to any sort of schedule or routine necessarily when it came to feeding/caring for the children.  so if rachel thought she was watching my routine, what she was really seeing was me just trying to keep up with everyone.  all in all i thought our days ran incredibily smooth for having 10 kids 10 and under...with someone needing something at nearly every waking moment! 

trip highlights:
*meeting four internet friends:  jamie, helen, & briana in ohio and then amy in rockford
*tame squirrel & pizza in danville
*learning bookworm.  just what i needed--a new addiction
*spicy lasagna
*"rupert...i mean reuben"
*discovery center
*cousins of all ages
*having kaycee and rachel to talk to all day long
*hidden gem of a recreational park
*personality discussions
*once
*out to eat with everyone
*our shared life for a week
*rachel singing


trip lowlights:
*earwigs
*vomit
*earwigs
*vomit
*chicago traffic
*trains that stop traffic for an ungodly amount of time

i woke up on saturday morning feeling just a bit lonely and weepy.  why do families have to live so far apart?  sigh...

but then last night i looked  and there was an earwig crawling across my kitchen floor.  although hundreds of miles separate our families, a little piece of the illinois dillamans was right here in my own home.  i watched him for awhile, thought of heart connections, of the joy of being together, and couldn't bear to kill the wretched thing.

Tik is Two!

Nadia is celebrating her second birthday today in Rockford,Illinois!  The kids and I (and KayCee) have made the trip for our first major visit to the Dillamans since 2007.   The weather forecast predicts five absolutely gorgeous days in a row!  Perfect for playing OUTside!   We are just beginning day #3 of our trip and so far, so good.  T'he kids were champion travelers.  On the way out we stopped near Dayton for me to meet some of my "imaginary" internet friends.  Then four hours later we stopped for pizza at a park in Danville, IL.  Another four hours later we were here!  There was little sleeping in the van but not much yelling either, so I can't complain!  So far the kids have pretty much just played in the yard and in the basement.  I overheard a conversation between Judah and Elijah yesterday that went something like this:

Elijah:  Judah, aren't you glad that you are not an earwig?
Judah:  Yes, because I would go in the fire and be burned up.
Elijah:  Yes.
Judah:  (sigh)

They just get one another. Besides discussing all things related to bugs and legos, Judah taught Elijah to flip on the swingset and to jump out of trees. 

The girls kind of switch off playing partners.  Eden and Lydia will be together for awhile and then Lydia and Simone will take a turn together.  Eden did spend a considerable amount of time with Judah and Elijah outside yesterday, but that was only because she didn't know there was a Barbie movie playing in the basement!

Nadia and Indigo look at one another and cry. Indie has a cough thing going on right now where she hacks and then screams.  She does not like to slobber or cough on herself.  Well, then that scares Nadia and Nadia screams!  Its an ear-piercing chorus for sure!!

Reuben and Elowyn just hang out and look cute.  I think Elowyn did grab his head and he protested just a tad, but overall you can see that they are really intrigued with one another!

I just love morning between the hours of 6 and 8.  Its such an alive time--full of possibilities!   Oh...and there's Eden up the steps and looking for breakfast!

Happy Birthday sweet sweet Nadia Abigail!

Alive

SLOW DOWN SUMMER!  The days are just going by too quickly!  I wait and wait for warm weather, and then its here and gone before I know what hit me!  I am trying to take every opportunity to be outside to soak up the sun and fresh air.  Yesterday was what I imagine the weather in eternity to be like...an occcasional thunderstorm, some rain, and then gorgeous blue skies, enormous clouds, and crisp, clear air...all at about 75 degrees!

The kids finished their homeschool evaluations last week, and I am happy to report that they PASSED!  On to 5th, 3rd, and 2nd grade we go. 

Also, the Lindaus came to visit over the weekend.   Amanda always brings so much yummy food and cooks while she's here.  Its strange that a guest would come and do the cooking, but thats just what we do.  We had a nice relaxing weekend. Baseball games were cancelled, so our only big outing was to Lily's 1st birthday party where we had a grand plan to exhaust the kids in the swimming pool so that they'd go to bed early. 

Reuben is quickly approaching three months old and thankfully is coming out of his fussiness!  Everyone says he looks like a "Turner", although Emily is the only one that says he looks exactly like Dustin.  Most people see the brown eyes and brown hair and say he looks like me.  I think he's just a good combo.  He has a full-body smile and is starting to laugh at our faces.  I think he has my non-touchy nature.  For weeks I have tried to hold him, wrap him, carry him, swaddle him, wear him, etc., and I have recently discovered that he MUCH prefers to sit in his little seat and look around.   He will fuss and fuss while I hold him and then settle in perfectly content when I set him down in a seat or swing.  He is so interested in checking out everything that is going on around him.  Go figure.  I guess after having three very touchy feely children in a row it only makes sense that one would finally take after me and my non-touchy ways. 

In other news, we are in the middle of birthday season.  I neglected to write a birthday blog for Eden a couple weeks ago.  Whoops!  Happy Birthday Eden!!  Since then we've also celebrated with Ma Ruth, Dougie,  and Lily.  Next is Nadia and then Simone and Dustin.  Birthdays, birthdays everywhere!

Hoola's In Town

Yes, yes...I know...I am a blogging slacker.  I am so sorry Virginia. 

The days come and go, and I guess I just assume that I can not blog every stinkin' day about my adorable children, homeschooling, and pets.  But, alas, that is my life!!  We are winding down the homeschooling part for the summer.  Cana is taking Westtest at school this week, and the other kids will do their portfolio evaluations.  We will then transition to our summer routine of playing outside, going to the library, and staying up a little later at night!  Fun times ahead!

The exciting news of the week is that Laura is here to visit!!!!!  This is one of the longest periods we have gone without seeing one another.  I was in Minnesota this exact weekend LAST year, so its been a year since we were in one another's company.  We were talking last night how we will be celebrating TEN years together this summer.  Ten years ago I moved to Minnesota and was sitting in church one night when Laura caught my eye.  It was just one of those moments that I knew there was something special about her...that we were kindred spirits.  The rest is history.  We have spent so many hours together...laughing, crying, shopping, sleeping, working crosswords, taking trips, scheming and planning...   We are as opposite as opposite can be, but thats what makes a friendship interesting.   I am looking forward to our SIX days together this week!! 

Oh..and Scot...these capital letters were for you.

Sparrows Nest

Sparrows Nest is the orphanage in Latvia that has been visited by many of my friends and family.  My mom has gone several times.  Virginia and her mom went.  KayCee built a barn there.  My pastor and his family have visited many times.  My friend, Steffi, is planning to go this summer.  Cana dreams of the day she will travel to Latvia to care for the children at Sparrows Nest.  Everyone who goes comes home changed in one way or another.  Alissa, the director, has adopted two children from Latvia and has a heart like no other woman that I know.  She is compassionate and courageous.  She dreams dreams that seem impossible.  She has so many stories of God's provision and protection that it'll blow your mind.  Recently, she had the idea to start a "registry" for the orphanage.   Its like a wedding or a baby registry, except that all the items on the list are needs that Sparrows Nest has...things like cribs, sheets, strollers, pots, pans, etc.  The last time they received many of these items was over TEN years ago when the last container was shipped.  Another container is being prepared to ship out mid-June, and the items received from the registry will go on the container across the Atlantic and down the river to the children at Sparrows Nest.  I urge everyone to take a look at the registry and see what you might be able to do to help out and then pass the word on to everyone you know! 

"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles and refuse to let the world corrupt us."  James 1 verse 27