Quick Stem Update

We are doing okay. There are still many really hard days. With God all things are possible. Our family is so blessed by the things we have. It's amazing how quickly one small lego can cause a huge problem/ mess for mommy to fix.
Homeschool status: Ashleigh is doing great in her 5th grade studies. She is currently reading The Island of the Blue Dolphins. She is doing something with decimals and division in math. We are on a plant unit in science (we do this with the boys).
Elijah our booming 1st grader is catching on to all the letters/ sounds. This is a huge answer to prayer. In math he can count past 100, the 1st time he did it I think he scared himself; he stopped at 106 as though that was to far.
Tewodros is in kindergarten. I went on and put him here as he was observing Elijah and seemed ready to start. He loves the letter/ sound book he does with Elijah. He can count to 11. He loves to sing our ABC song. He can tell you the days of the week. His ability to speak English is amazing, language immersion.
Daddy update: He knows when to take mommy on a date night. Thanks dear! He goes on and gets 2 babysitters (yes we now use 2, hopefully not for long). Our sitters are awesome helpful college students.
Please continue to pray for our family.

Afternoon at Briley's

Saturday October 17 while daddy was at a CCF board meeting the kids and I went to Briley's to pick out some pumpkins.

I have a few minutes to blog

Wow, I am sitting at the computer, boys are watching Veggie Tales, Ashleigh is doing her history (we use Mystery of History and I love it). I wrote in my personal journal a week or so ago and I wish to share some thoughts from that entry. I have been reading other blogs lately and reading the openness and vulnerability others are expressing, so I am going to be quite straightforward. It is not easy for me to write these things but they are weighing heavy on my heart. So here it goes.
Oct. 6, 2009
We have been home for 4 weeks (now it is 6) our family is adjusting well despite the language barrier. Elijah is having the hardest time as he is sharing everything of his with Tewodros. I write today with tears in my eyes. I have been upset/ hurting over some issues for awhile and I finally decided to write it all down.
First, is Tewodros's age. When Mary called on June 15th with our referral of a 3 year old boy. A couple days later she calls back and says a dentist had seen him and believes he is not 3 but rather 4 or 5, closer to 5. Then we start showing his picture to our family and friends and they look and think he looks older than 3. People then want to know "so how old is he" We explain they do not keep records of birth so therefore we will never know 100%. People also notice in his pictures that he is missing teeth so he must be older than 3. (We learn when we go to Ethiopia that his teeth were pulled out by his family, probably a very painful experience).
When we arrive home the first question many asked is "so how old is he". Well guess what we do not know. What do people think that when we see him he would tell us the truth. No because he has been taught as you teach your own children their age. Well legally he is 3, his green card says a 2006 birthdate, but we know 100% that he is not, therefore we say he is 4 (now I am aiming more to saying 5).
Then we go to the peds office and I am to fill out a well child survey for a 3 year old on a child who still did not understand me. This was the biggest laugh, yet it about made me cry. Okay so please do not ask me or my children "so how old is he".
Now my next probably hardest thing to handle since being home. If I had just given birth to our 3rd child, I/we would have received meals, cards, visitors, $ for our child. (He did receive $ from grandpa and grandma when he was injured and in the ED). Adopting an older child who speaks/ spoke no English and was able to move away from me it would have been a HUGE blessing to have received a gift of a meal just once. This would have helped so I would not have had to stop interacting with the kids and prepare a meal. So next time you know someone who adopts please treat them as though they just returned home from the hospital and make them dinner, or send them a card in the mail to say congrats.
I knew when God called us to adopt from Ethiopia that there would be wonder from people who live near us, that it would be a new thing, but no one told me how alone I would feel.

I love my children, I love that I can be at home with them. People are noticing how much English Tewodros is now speaking. We still try to keep Amharic. Thank you CiCi's pizza man who gave us a free child's buffet when we said legally he is 3 (children 3 and under are free).

Okay do I now press publish post, what will people think of me. I'm going to call Kellar before I do.

Orphan Sunday in 4 weeks

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

ED is no fun

Wow, what a week at the Stem house. The pictures in the previous post were taken a few hours before the following happened. Teddy fell off the bunk bed ladder Wednesday night, and when he did he busted his lip and knocked some teeth loose. I was in the room in a flash had him in my arms and the other 2 are getting a cloth, ice, and the phone to call Kellar who is at CCF. I tell Kellar to meet me at the emergency room because Teddy has cut his lip. We go to urgent care arriving around 9:15 pm. The wound is to deep for them to treat so we are driven to the ED. Kellar stays with him, I take Ashleigh and Eli home to bed; by this time it is 10:30. Teddy ended up having several stitches inside and outside his mouth. Kellar says he was a trooper. Teddy and Kellar arrived back home at 2:45am.
Thursday afternoon we go to the dentist for them to xray any damage. No visible damage. Yeah! He will Just have soreness for awhile.
Last night (Friday) Teddy wakes up diarrhea, vomiting, and a fever of 104. We tend to those needs at home during the wee hours of the morning. At 9:15 when he wakes (2 hours later than usual) he is still with fever. We call our pediatrician and they want to see him. They run a flu test (negative). They think he has developed an infection and will have to be sedated again for them to tend to his mouth. Thank you Brent and Emelie for staying with Ashleigh and Eli while I go to the ED with them. We are discharged at 3pm. Another long day at the hospital. Teddy is such a good sport to allow the doctors and nurses to poke him where he hurts.
Please continue to pray for our family as we cross the language barrier. I bet in these first 4 1/2 weeks Teddy has learned over 100 words and we have continued to learn and use his Amharic. There is a big part of me that does not what him to loose his native tongue (although in actuality he already has). You see Teddy grew up in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. He knew Tigrayan and spoke Tigrayan until February of 2009 when he entered the Gladney foster care center. Where he quickly learned Amharic.

Sept. 30th camera fun

Make a Smilebox slideshow