Ethiopian Food and No one ever told us......

Cooper and I headed to Memphis today to meet up with my brother Craig, his son Eli and our new little guys Ross and Winter.. They had gone to Memphis to do some fun "touristy" things, while Coop and I got some serious homeschooling done. We went to the Children's Museum-it sure has changed since I was there like 10 yrs. ago. And the highlight for our little guys was going to eat some Ethiopian food at The Abyssinian in Memphis-some of the best ET food west of Africa!! We ate all the typical ET foods and Ross and Winter loved hugging the "auntie" that owns the restaurant and loved speaking Amharic with them. What a ton of fun.
Now, we've gone down this adoption road a time or two....okay, say six times. And, we always felt well prepared, by our social worker, for what to expect with each adoption......however, she never told us that a 2 y/o that had never been outside of her orphanage would find such incredible joy in feeling the wind in her hair and the rain on her face. We laughed so loud that people heard us across the parking lot. Nobody ever told us, that we would be so excited and grateful, to a hear, a previously, non-communicative autism affected 5 y/o girl speak in 3-4 word sentences, and respond to conversation with appropriate replies. Now, we can't get her to quit talking! And who knew that her secret language, we call it "Leahnese", (that only she seems to understand) could still make us laugh? Nobody told us that a 6 y/o boy from China would be so proud to have a forever family, that when we left the adoption office, he would "RADIATE" with the excitement that he felt-and not let go of our hands or quit looking at us. No one told us that 2 little boys that spent their first 3-6 yrs. in a remote village in Ethiopia and knew the love of a birth family, only to lose that same family at such tender ages, could desperately desire the love of a family on the other side of the world. Who knew that 6 y/o who had previously been the caretaker for the 3 y/o could so easily relinquish that job of caretaker and become the "little boy" that he should be-and give over the responsibility of the 3 y/o to his new mommy and daddy. No one ever told us that our older children could become so compassionate for others simply by being loved and adored by their new siblings. No one ever told us, that in such a short amount of time of knowing these children that we would learn more about love from them than we had in a whole lifetime. No one ever told us that our "special needs" kids were really just ordinary children disguised as special needs due to their age or a few minor scars. But, most of all, no one ever told us, that we were really the ones with the "special needs". You see, we NEEDED them to make our family complete! These kiddos have blessed our lives beyond measure! If you will consider the possibility of adoption, no one may ever prepare you enough.....there will be all sorts of unexpected pleasure and blessings! And to our social worker, Debby, we forgive you for NOT preparing us for all these hidden blessings and surprises! God, we give you the glory!

Dangerous Fads, "To Kill a Mockingbird", and Bare Feet

So, Mom and Uncle Craig are downstairs watching Dr. Phil (I don't really know why...) and the topic is about "Dangerous Fads" or something like that. Anyway, this woman came on and her dangerous fad was tanning. She starts talking about this spot on her face where she thinks she has skin cancer, but how she just covers it with makeup and forgets about it. Then, as if that's not bad enough, Dr. Phil asks her if she knows that it's dangerous, and she replies with a yes, but that she doesn't care, because when she dies of skin cancer, at least she'll be looking good. ....... *cricket cricket* ..... What's up with the world? Now I know that not all people are this extreme, but still, doesn't it seem like everything has become about appearance and reputation? I mean, give me some athletic shorts, a v-neck t shirt, and some TOMS and I'm good to go (seriously, this is the outfit that I wear all the time).

Well that was my rant about the world today. Sorry. haha

Anyway, today I was lazy. I started feeling like jello yesterday afternoon, so I didn't go to school today. I didn't sleep all day though, I took advantage of the free time and finished "To Kill a Mockingbird," which is what my class is reading in English right now. Surprisingly, I liked it. It's a pretty good book. Since it was gorgeous outside today, I even sat on the porch and read some of it. Beautiful day not completely wasted. Oh, something exciting (to me at least)! Mom and some of my friends and I talked to my principal today after school about having the TOMS "Day Without Shoes" at school on April 8th, and I think he might let us have it at least for part of the day! I feel sort of important. Not really. I was just planning on coming to school barefoot anyway because it doesn't say anything in the handbook about having to wear shoes, just about what shoes you can't wear. What can they do to me when I point that out to them? But Mom decided it would be a good idea to run it by the administration first, which was good because i think we are going to raise money or collect shoes or something instead of just raising awareness. So that's my exciting moment of the day.

My turn...and Never Say Never

I guess this means it is my turn to post to this bloggy thingy....How this got started?....my precious 15 y/o daughter, yes, Kara asked me to do a blog with her. How could I refuse that request? and besides, I had been thinking that it would be fun to start a blog, even if my dear husband is the only one that ever reads it! That way, he might not miss some of the antics of the day, while he is away at work. You see, with nine kids-okay, only 8 of them are at home....there is never a dull moment. I say NEVER! and really I have tried to learn to NEVER SAY NEVER! However, I can say that there is NEVER a dull moment-because I am now homeschooling 3 of our boys and will be homeschooling 4 of them in the fall! And, yes, I have said, in the past, that I would NEVER homeschool any of our kids. So, I can say, now, that there is NEVER a dull moment in our house, because even when all should be quiet during the school day hours...well, you got it, there is NEVER a dull moment. God's plans are always bigger and better than our plans. You see, HE provided me with the ideal curriculum-Sonlight-at the ideal moment, that Jim and I were trying to figure out some options for school for Cooper. I can say that I am loving schooling here at home. And guess what? Our class size tripled in a matter of 1 month! Ross and Winter joined us in this homeschool adventure when we brought them home from Ethiopia in December. How many schools can say their enrollment tripled in a matter of a month? Must be the teacher, huh? ;-) I hope Kara will figure out how to post some pics of all our kiddos! They are all the cutest-even if I do say so myself! Enough for now-I have to go put on my teacher hat now! Come back and we'll share some of our passions with you....Jesus, orphans, the homeless, Ethiopia, China, and more of our family chaos! And, thank you, sweet Kara, for asking me to join you on this blog journey.

Here goes nothing...

Wow, our first blog. Can you believe it? It took us long enough to figure out how to make everything look right, huh, Mom?

As you can tell, this is Kara. I don't really know how I should start this off. I feel like the first post should be kind of epic, you know? No pressure.

Anyway, the title of this blog has a funny story to it. I guess I'll tell you. So one day, Mom and I are driving to the grocery (one of Mom's multiple weekly trips) and listening to the radio. A radio announcer-person begins talking and then says what song is about to play. She says, "Healing Rain" by Michael W. Smith, but apparently Mom can't hear well so she looks at the radio confused and says, "Did she just say 'HeaRing Rain?'" I laugh and say no, but soon, we are singing at the top of our lungs to our new favorite song "Hearing Rain." And of course, that led us into a laughing fit that lasted for about a week. That happens often, it seems.

Well, I guess that's the beginning. I feel accomplished. Alright, good night.

-Kara