Happy B-day Douglas!!!!!!!!!

This post is a few days early, but if I don't do it now I won't get it done before we leave for Christmas. You see, this is usually what happens- Doug's B-day gets lost in the Holiday shuffle! It's not that I do not want to honor him on his big day it's just that after buying all of the Christmas gifts for EVERYONE my brain is totally BLANK of any additional ideas, and it's gotten even worse since we had our kids.
So, today Douglas I honor you for your B-day! I was thinking back today and I think this is the fourteenth year I have been privileged to celebrate with you!
Thank you for being:
1. A man of Godly character. Thank you for modeling this everyday for the kids and I.
2. A man of integrity. I am glad that our kids have an example of someone that sticks to his word no matter what.
2. A man of sacrifice and hard work for your family and those around you. Thank you for working so hard to provide for our family. Also, for using your talents to honor and glorify the Lord.
3. The most incredible Dad in the world that loves and cherishes all of us. You are truly our kiddos "Superhero." I love to watch and listen to them imitate you when you are not here.
So, have a great one Babe! I am truly privileged and honored to journey through this life by your side. Not a day goes by that I am not amazed by your love for the Lord, love for all of us, empathy, support, patience, diligence, talent, wisdom, sense of humor, and zeal for life.

Newborn

Well, I can finally say after watching my three FANTASTIC kiddos and their AWESOME Dad in their Christmas program three times I am finally in the Christmas spirit. I am truly inspired and excited to celebrate my dear Savior's birth this year. I am not sure if it was the beautiful singing, the kicking band, or the cute kiddos but God really got a hold of my heart! I have just had such a hard time getting into the spirit- I have dreaded shopping, decorating, wrapping, and attending functions up until now. I guess I have a week to really Christmas it up!
So, back to Newborn- it was great! I LOVED all of the music that Douglas selected. He always stresses so much about how everything is going to flow: music, narration, dance, lights, sound, etc. Just like every year all of his planning, hard work, stress, practice, and delegating turn out for the glory of God!
I must say that Chris and Trev knew every single word of every single song that the kids sang, and they belted the words out. Cassi, on the other hand was terrified on stage! She also participated in a little interpretive dance and actually made it through the whole song all three times. Doug and I were not sure if she would be able to do it?!
Yes, I will have pictures posted soon-but not in my children's Christmas attire! We tried their outfits on late Friday night and were not very successful. I thought I was so organized this year as I had shopped early and purchased the boys 2 outfits (neither fit), and Cassi 3 dresses (1fit). So much for planning ahead! The good part is they all looked adorable anyway!
I will end with this- BRING ON CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Thankful for a GREAT Thanksgiving

We had a great time in Baker celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. It is so nice to be with in driving distance of family so we can be together on important days such as this. Until moving to Boise I had not been home for Thanksgiving since High School. I love my family's Thanksgiving traditions. We always start out the day with a huge and delicious brunch. This is often followed by watching football, playing games, visiting, watching movies, etc. In the afternoon we break out all of our favorite appetizers (7 layer dip, Texas Caviar, brie cheese and crackers). Then it is back to more of whatever we were doing. We finally eat dinner around 7, or whenever everything is cooked to perfection. It is a little crazy getting everything done at the same time even with a double oven and a roaster. My mom makes the best homemade rolls, corn casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, brussle sprouts, stuffing, salad, and of course prime rib and turkey. Dessert doest not happen until at least 9 or so.
I have always helped my mom prepare the meal, but this year I decided I was going to learn how to do the turkey myself. My family members are not big turkey eaters as they always cook a huge prime rib and a tiny turkey. So, I decided to do an Emeril turkey, and it turned out great. I brined it all night and then totally rubbed and stuffed butter and herbs everywhere possible. I had to flip it and baste it- what fun! I think I could even cook a turkey with out my mom, now I just have to master the prime rib next year!
My kids enjoyed time with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandfather. They also LOVED going up into the mountains and 4-wheeling. We even squeezed in a couple of games of Uno Attack and baked a ton of Christmas cookies. It was so nice to have a few days off and be able to enjoy some time together before the holiday rush begins!

Grandparent's Day

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Grandparent's Day at school. My kiddos are so excited as my parents are driving over from Baker to be here for this 30 minute event. I tried to talk them out of coming, but they totally insisted on making the trip even on such a busy travel day.
So, this post is dedicated to my parents known as "Grandma Kiki" and "Papa". I am so thankful for them and all that they do for our family. The are the best grandparents to my children that I could ask for. They truly love my children unconditionally, and for that I am thankful. More than anything that I appreciate about them is the way they both love the Lord and exhibit that love to my children. It is obvious in everything that they both do that they are true servants of Christ. If ever I or someone in the family have a problem or struggle the first person I call is my mom. I know that she and my dad will be down on their knees in prayer.
I appreciate the fact that my parents have their priorities straight. They both have very full plates with a teenage son they are doing a fabulous job of raising, full time jobs, and my Grandfather to care for. Thank you for always making our family a priority! Thank you for the sacrifices that you make for us!
My kids are also very blessed to have another set of wonderful grandparents. The miles keep us apart, but I am also very thankful they care for my kids as well.

And We Became Family

About this time three years ago we became a family! It is so crazy that it has only been three years-it seems like we have been together forever! It is so awesome how God brought us together!
So here is our adoptions story:
After a long road of unsuccessful infertility Doug and I decided to go the adoption route. We were both pretty ignorant in the area of adoption so it was pretty scary at first. The only adoptions we were really familiar with were international adoptions, so of course that is what we were going for at first. So, Doug started getting info. from a million agencies online. One night we just spread them out on our living room floor and prayed that God would show us what agency to use. We chose a little agency in Akron, Ohio called A Child's Waiting, because they did all types of adoptions and we still weren't sure what we were doing.
So, a few weeks later we had to travel to Akron for two weekends for an adoption seminar. As we drove the two and a half hour drive we were still unsure if we picked the right agency, but our God is so good! Barbara Walters was there doing a special on our little agency. The training was pretty eye opening to say the least. We were now pretty sure we were going to do the type of adoption where the birth mother (usually a teenager) picks the family. On the last day of our training they showed a video of siblings and how they are often separated. Needless to say our hearts were broken. As we walked to the parking garage that afternoon we didn't say much, but we both knew exactly what kind of adoption we were going to do-SIBLING!
So, the process started a Home study-Whew that was fun! A 25 page document about Doug and I! After a couple of months all of our paper work was done and they started sending our Home study out on different sib. groups we were interested in. They would call us and say you have two hours to make a decision on this group and we wouldn't hear anything for weeks! It was really hard! We said no many times to sib. groups, and got our hearts broken a few times in the process. It was definitely an emotional roller coaster!
During one of those really down and broken hearted times I remember our agency contacting us and having us look at a picture of three little ones in Oregon. (It was so crazy that they were in OR as I was born and raised there!) They were 3 year old twin boy, girl, and their 6 year old brother. The minute I saw the picture of all three of them sitting in an old rocking chair I fell in love with them. We talked to the foster mom that they they had been with since the twins were born and she had nothing but great things to say about them. They were much older then what we were interested in, but I just couldn't get them off my mind. Doug was still very cautious, but I was totally into them! We were one of a thousand people that put our Home study in on this group. After what seemed like an eternity we were selected to be part of the final group of three families. During this whole process our agency was still sending our info. out so we had to keep deciding if we wanted to be in the process for other kids-it was crazy!
So, the big day Oct. 5th came, and of course Doug had a meeting so I sat at home waiting for the phone to ring. It finally did AND we found out we were going to be parents!!!!!! I can not tell you the excitement and thankfulness that Doug and I felt!
The next 20 days were filled with a lot of planning and shopping! Imagine going from 0 to 3! I can remember going to Target the first time and our total was over $800! That was just one of our trips! The kids received our scrapbook and video and were told we were their forever family. (Their Foster Mom told us they watched the video about 20 times a day. We also were able to talk to them on the phone everyday. We were "Mom" and "Dad" from the beginning.
On Oct. 25th we flew from our home in Ohio to Oregon to meet our babies! I can remember driving up to Sandy's house (foster mom) and seeing two little noses stuck to the window. I guess they had been standing their forever waiting for us. This may sound crazy but the minute I held them in my arms it just felt right, natural, and like we'd always been together. About an hour later Trev's bus arrived, and he jumped right off the bus into my arms yelling, "Mom!" It was amazing!
We spent the next week in Portland getting to know each other and having a BLAST! We were able to experience so many "firsts" together. We were then able to take the kids to Baker, OR where my family lives and spend 4 days with them. The kids again experienced so many firsts like 4-wheeling, horseback riding, sporting activities, etc. My whole family absolutely fell head over heals in love with them. When we left Baker my mom, "Grandma Kiki" asked Trev what was the best part of the week? He answered, "Best part of the week this is the best week of my life!"
Well, the rest is history! God truly put us together to be a Forever Family! It is so obvious everyday that we were meant to be together. I honestly feel like the most blessed woman ever to have three such amazing kids! They are truly my precious gifts from God, and I honestly thank Him everyday for allowing me to be their mother. Every painful minute of infertility and adoption was erased the minute we were together!
Oh yeah- their Dad is not too bad himself! I am not sure if we would recommend the 0 to 3 thing to anyone, but we would definitely do it all over again! Even though Doug almost died in the adjustment process. We became a family in November and in January Doug got mono REALLY bad. He was extremely ill for nearly 6 months. I guess this is when God showed me what being a single mother was all about. Parenting is much easier and enjoyable as a team!
Whew! That was a long and emotional post!!!

Fall!!!

Well a lot has happened since our last post over a month ago! We have all healed from the crypto parasite that hit our house, and now we have moved on to much more fun things like sinus and ear infections. Three of us our currently on meds and hopefully on the mend.

We are all having a great school year! The twins absolutely love Kindergarten and are doing really well. Trev is doing well in Third Grade as well!

We were able to get away to Baker the last weekend in September. We had a great time 4-wheeling at the cabin. The following weekend we were able to get away for a few days to SLC. We had a great time as our friends the Harrington's were able to go with us. We went to Park City and hit the oulets (girls) and some went to Olympic park (boys and 6 kids), a really cool restaurant called Mayan Adventure (a must w/ kiddos), IKEA 3 times, and The Children's Museum. Our kids had a great time swimming at the hotel as well. Did I mention IKEA three times? We bought everything to redecorate and furnish Christopher's room and fit it into the Harrington's vehicle and ours! It was a tight squeeze- thanks for riding home squished Harrington Kiddos! You guys are the best!

This weekend we made our way to Linder Farms in the rain. We had a great time with the staff picking out pumpkins, riding on the cow train, feasting on chili and cornbread, and painting pumpkins. Now we just have to find the time to carve the others!

Funnies Kid Quotes in the past month:

Trevar- "Why do I need to memorize math facts you don't need to know them to be a rancher?" (Just so you know Trevar is going to be a rancher in Baker City, OR when he grows up.)

Chris- "When I grow up I don't want to be a Worship Pastor like my dad, I'll let him sing and I will just dance." (I am not sure if there is room up on the platform for 2 Connelly's at once?)

Cassi- "Mom, you can't tell kids in my class what to do! (I was out on recess duty and some of the kids in the twins Kinder. class were misbehaving so I had to go break up the fight.)

Summer is Over

Summer is over, and I thought I would just add some extra pictures that we had from the summer. I hope you all have a great fall.

Changing Our Perspective

It is my turn (Doug) to write something. Since this is our family’s blog, and I don’t have my own, I am going to try and write an entry myself. This is a little scary for me, because if you have ever received an email from me, you will know that my grammar skills are not the most prolific.

I have really been trying to read more lately. There are many reasons why I am doing that, but I will have to talk about that later.

I have recently read a book by a man named Mark Batterson. He is the Pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C. The book is called “In a pit with a lion on a snowy day.” This is a book I would highly recommend. He also has a blog. Here is the link.
http://www.evotional.com/

There are so many great points in his book, but there is one that really stuck out to me.
Mark Batterson quotes C.S Lewis in his book. The quote says this. “If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where would I be now?

Mark says that we blame our circumstances when things are not going the way we want them to. We always look for something to blame. But I love this quote by Mark. (We are best buddies by the way. That is why I call him Mark.) He says, “Maybe our problem isn’t our circumstances. Maybe our problem is our perspective.”

Do you ever feel like God just thumps you on the head when he wants you to get something? I had one of those moments when I read this. So many times I pray for things in my life, and I feel like they should just happen the way I want them to happen. This probably stems from my sinful nature as a human being.

So many times I pray safe prayers. I pray for things that I know God could easily handle. I pray for things that are not really risky. I pray for things that will go exactly the way I want them to go. But I really should pray for God to change my perspective on life, His will, and my desires.

I love this quote by my friend Mark. (I'm just kidding about him being my best friend, although he seems like a really cool guy.) “If we could see what God sees, we would pray very different prayers.”

I know this is a great point, but it is very scary for me because I know that God has to break us down to build us up. Praying for His will means that in some cases we will pray for God to take us through some rough times. But as true as that may be, we can still hold on to the truth that God is always with us and will never leave us. And in the end we will be much stronger than we could have ever thought possible.

I will end with one more quote. "Maybe we should stop asking God to get us out of difficult circumstances and start asking Him what He wants us to get out of those difficult circumstances."

Is it ever going to go away????

After a week and a half of sick kiddos and a sick husband I can honestly say my greatest desire is for one vomit free day! So far, today we have made it, but the night is still young and seems to be the worst. They are all three sleeping peacefully at the moment, but that is what we have thought for several nights now!
I have taken them to their pediatrician twice, and to the E.R. once. Tomorrow I have to take stool samples to St. Lukes just to make sure it isn't something more than a stomach bug. Now that rates up there on my list of grossest tasks. I have to admit that Douglas had to help me, as I thought I was going to throw up. Oh please let this just go away! My twins have both lost about 2 pounds each, and they can't afford to lose anymore! Hopefully everyone else had a better Labor Day Weekend than us! All of our plans were cancelled!

The First Day of School

Well, we all made it through the first day of school! I can hardly believe my babies are in Kindergarten, and my Trev is a big THIRD GRADER! I had to head to school early to prepare for my 22 Kindergartners, and Doug brought the 3 kiddos. He had to sit through Kindergarten Orientation with the twins. Before leaving this morning I reminded Trev that his lunch money, and all of his signed forms were in his backpack. Needless to say everything is still in his backpack, and lunch was payed for with left over money from last year. I guess it runs in the family because I told Doug that all of Cassi and Christopher's signed forms were in there backpacks, but he forgot and filled out a whole new set for both of them. So much for listening to MOM! My fellow staff must think I am really on the ball!
WE hit the pool for the 4th day in a row! It was a great way to end the first day of school!

Romania Mission Trip

Well, we have been back from Romania for 2 weeks now, and I finally have time to write about it! It has been a little chaotic around here since our return. Doug's family left last Sunday, I have spent many hours setting up my Kindergarten classroom, and we made a trip to McCall.

Back to the trip- Doug and I had a great time in Romania. It was really neat to see and be a part of the work that is going on in there. We were able to help out with a spiritual growth camp for teenagers ages 14-20. There were over 400 campers in attendance the week that we were there. They traveled from all over the country, some even had a 24 hour train ride!

Doug was able to help out with the music, and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen helping prepare food for all of those hungry campers. I do not think American kids would of gone for the food that was served. Liver pate for breakfast anyone? Almost every meal other than breakfast was soup and bread. I don't think I want a piece of bread for a long time!

Trip Hi lights:

Most exciting moment: Seeing many teenagers make decisions for Christ

Scariest moment: riding on slick, curvey Romanian roads at high speeds (this is where a lot of prayer came in as the camp was four hours from the airport)

Most distgusting moment: The Romanian BBQ- They brought a live pig to the camp in a horse drawn cart. The pig was then stabbed to death and cut up in about 1 hour. We walked down to the kitchen during the process and there was blood and parts everywhere. The pigs head was sitting in the sink where all of the dishes were washed. About an hour later we were told that the BBQed pork was ready. After what I saw in the kitchen I had absolutely zero appetite. Even Doug with the cast iron stomach had trouble choking it down, although he did and enjoyed it.

Most relaxing moment: Taking my first hot shower in a week! On our way back we had to spend the night in Bucharest at a very nice Crowne Plaza. The first thing I did was take a steaming hot 45 minute shower!

Most eye opening moment: Traveling through the towns and villages of Romania and seeing how the people live. Most of them live in communist appartments, or very tiny rustic houses. We are so blessed to live in America!

Most tiring moment:

TRAVELING!!! Our trip itenerary- 5 hour flight, 6 hour lay over, 8 hour flight, 6 hour lay over, 5 hour flight, 4 hour lay over, 1 hour flight, and then the scariest 4 hour drive of our lives!

Thank you so much for remembering us in your prayers while we were away. We are so thankful that God allowed us to take this trip. We learned a lot and our hearts were truly burdened for missions in a new and exciting way.

River Trip # 2 and off to Romania

I am happy to report to you that our family floated the river today injury free! I have to admit that I was a little nervous after the last time when Doug and I both came home with black eyes. Trevar said this was the most fun we have had floating the river, and I would have to agree.
Doug had a BBQ for all of the people involved in his ministry, and then several of us floated together. The river was pretty crowded, but it turned out to be a great float!
Now we are off to our next adventure! We will be taking the kiddos to Baker, OR on Wednesday to my parent's home. They will be staying with them while Doug and I head to Romania on our missions trip. We are very excited, nervous, and me sad to leave my babies. We will be gone from Aug. 2-12. We are going to be helping one of our missionaries with a camp for teenagers. Doug will be speaking and leading music. Please pray that we can be a blessing to the missionaries, and also that many decisions would be made at camp.

Tag

I've been tagged by Kimberly



4 Jobs I've Had:

Family Farm Employee

Hotel Reservationist

Insurance

Teacher



4 Places I've Lived:

Baker City, OR

Springfield, MO

Houston, TX

Galion, OH



4 TV Shows I Like:

Designed to Sell

The Real Deal

30 Minute Meals

The Apprentice



4 Favorite Foods:

Watermelon

Grapes

Popcorn

Tootsie Rolls



4 Websites I Frequent:

ebay

LPM

The Learning Page

Proverbs 31



4 Places I'd rather be right now:

Hawaii

Lake Powell

Mexico

Hell's Canyon



4 Movies I Love:

Deja Vu

The Ultimate Gift

Cars (It's one of my kiddos favorites)

Surfs Up (It's the only other movie I can remember seeing recently besides Transformers-not a favorite, but okay!)

People I Tag:

Chrisanna

Stephanie Smith

Lori


Beth

Summer Fun!!!

The past two weeks have been packed full of fun! We finally had a free afternoon to float the Boise River, and had an absolute blast! I can say that now that my black eye is almost gone! The first half of the river was great, and then came the fun part! We went over one of those little dips in the river and I went flying from the front of the boat to the back and landed on Doug and the twins. Somehow our noggins collided and we both ended up with black eyes. My eye instantly turned black, blue, and swollen. Doug's was just a nice bruise. I spent the rest of the trip rowing and holding a frozen Capri Sun on my eye-Good times! Even with our injuries we had a wonderful time and are looking forward to floating again at the end of the month.





The good part about Doug and I having matching black eyes was that we were headed to Colorado to a ministry conference. I wonder why everyone thought we should go to the marriage session?! We traveled to the conference with the Harrington family in one of the church vans. The trickiest part of the trip was buckling six kids into boosters every time we reloaded. It was seriously a five to ten minute process each time! The kiddos did AWESOME on the trip, however it did help that we had two DVD players, Leapsters, coloring utensils, many snacks, and numerous other toys. We had a wonderful time seeing the sights in Colorado, hanging out with our friends, and being spiritually recharged. The not so fun part of the trip was cleaning out the van when we got back to Boise!

TWINS DITCH TRAINING WHEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am happy to report that we went on our first family bike ride with out training wheels last night! The boy twin has been riding with out them since his first attempt about two weeks ago. He is now riding like a pro. The girl twin is another story! We have been practicing sending her back and forth between Doug and I on the street in front of our house. Our neighbors must think we are absolutely crazy!
Up until yesterday she was not very determined. I wonder if that was because earlier in the day we took a ride on the Green belt (the boys rode their bikes) and Cassi rode in the "baby trailer!?" I told Doug it was more like the princess in her carriage! She was sure ready to try again when we got home, and after a few laps between Doug and I on the street she was ready for a "real bike ride." Now we just have to get the starting and stopping down as she still needs help each time!
She must have had fun because the first thing she asked to do this morning was take a bike ride! Pictures will be posted soon, or as soon as the photographer has time to post them! In the mean time, "Happy Bike Trails To You and Yours!"