My FAVORITE STORE and a "NEW" Room

On our way home from the beach, we stopped at IKEA for the first time in Cincinnati. I LOVE THAT STORE!!!!! From the moment I saw the huge sign that says "FAMILY FRIENDLY PARKING" to the recycling trash cans, water conserving toilets, great childcare, awesome stuff at incredible prices- I knew I was hooked. We only had an hour there and I left feeling like I missed so much. Sooooo... yesterday, Jen (my neighborand friend) and I took the kids on a road trip back to Cincinnati. It was so fun. I went for only one thing and got only one thing- a mirror.
Monday, I spontaneously painted my living room with leftover paint from other rooms. I started after Kurt left to work and had it all completed, put back together and cleaned up by the time he came home. (Surprise!) I am SO happy to get rid of the blue that was in there and to have clean walls again. I needed a mirror for over my couch and got it for $20.00 at IKEA. Total room makeover - $20.00- "Happy birthday to me".

Vacation

We just returned from a great vacation in Hilton Head with Kurt's family. Addisyn and Ayden went to my parent's house in Alabama for the week so we just have 4 at home. It seems so easy with just 4 :) I spent $500 on groceries tonight, Kurt and the boys cleaned out the van and started laundry. It'll take a few days to get the house back together. Here's just a few pics to get started.

Backyard tidbits

Ok- I need some gardening help. This is my first year to do bibb lettuce and red lettuce. It has been great but it has gotten out of control lately. First of all, I don't know what I am doing.... do I pull the lettuce off the bottom first? This is what I've been doing and one looks nice and pretty and the others have turned into towers. Is this normal? Should I cut them back? When is it too late to keep eating?




Behind our house, the view has been transformed this spring. We've known for 7 years they would build behind us and after a very slow market, it's finally happened.




And then just a cute random picture.

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A "cool" bedroom

As you may recall, we had given Addisyn her own small room originally and Koryn was sharing with her other 2 sisters. Addisyn was lonely by herself and Koryn longed for her own room so after much debating, I let them switch. So, for Koryn's birthday, she wanted her bedroom personalized. Her favorite color was green and now it is purple so her room reflects that. Kurt built shelves and a small desk for all her stuff. When we were painting the green, I said "this is going to be cute" and she replied "mom, I'm 9, I don't want cute, I want cool". So here's her "cool" room. We had to make room for her "Littlest Petshop" collection, of course.

Another birthday

Actually, Koryn was 9 last Saturday but we had to wait to celebrate until last night. She had 3 friends over for a sleepover and we all went roller skating. It was most of our kids first time. We had a blast. Bryce fell ALOT but always laughed and got right back up. By the end, he was doing a great job. Brooklynn insisted on doing it "all by herself". She went very slow but hardly ever fell and was a trooper. Kaleb fell ALOT and got very tired of it. By the end, he was done. Addisyn has become a pro pn her roller blades so she had great fun. I have to admit that Kurt and I had probably more fun than the kids!

Rough Spring

I have been wanting to post this for awhile but wanted to make sure I knew what I wanted to share. This spring has been rough for me. I usually love to be outdoors and feel so refreshed in the spring. This spring, I struggled. I haven’t felt really good and wasn’t sure why. All I knew is that I was drained. I felt like I had nothing left to give. I was tired all the time, had no motivation to do anything. I had no patience with the kids and just felt annoyed all the time that they needed my attention. Then I felt guilty about feeling this way so that depressed me and made me want to just hide in my room. It was a terrible cycle and I just wanted to cry a lot. After about a week of doing nothing but lying on the couch and crying, I knew I needed to do something. I was miserable and too many people are dependent on me to let myself go down this road. I scheduled my first-ever counseling appointment. I believe God directed me to this Christian counselor. It felt so good to just sit there and vent. She was so understanding and helped me to not feel guilty about the things I had been feeling and thinking. She also reinforced what I had already been thinking that there are probably some health and hormonal issues that are playing into this and I need to get my body feeling better so I have the strength to deal with everything else. She asked if I would be interested in a holistic approach to dealing with it. I was so excited that she would even suggest this! I definitely prefer natural remedies and although I think pills are sometimes necessary, I am not interested in them right now. Just talking with her gave me the extra kick to do all the things I KNEW I needed to do to get my strength back- prioritize my devotional life, take my vitamins, get back to my exercise schedule, continue to eat better ( I had been slacking) and go on a date with my husband! That was about a month ago. I am already feeling better. I still have days I am just wiped out or discouraged for no apparent reason, but those are much fewer than before. I was anxious about the kids being with me 24/7 for the summer but so far we have had a good time. We are on a routine with chores, summer school work (which for some reason the kids LOVE), quiet time (essential!) and then the fun stuff of parks, pool and playing outside. The kids really are doing great and I am so thankful for every one of them.

Busy

I haven't been on the computer much because we have been so busy. Last weekend, we traveled to a wedding in Indiana. We traveled 4 hours there, were there for an hour and then traveled 4 hours home. It was actually a great day. The kids are great in the car, they all did alot of reading. The wedding was great and we got to see alot of family. It was also Koryn's birthday so we stopped at a restaurant on the way home and had ice cream. She is having her birthday party this Friday night. The kids are all in VBS every morning this week and then we drive Koryn 1 hour (back and forth) to a cheerleading camp. Afternoons are short with chores and school work. There are many things I would like to blog about but I will get to it later.

Fresh Garden Salad

Every year I add a new thing to my garden. I love my garden!!!! This year, we did bibb lettuce and red lettuce. I had no idea what I was doing but it has been wonderful! It is SO good and the kids love picking it and eating it. I think it is the most beautiful salad I have ever seen. :)

A great date night

Kurt and I went on our first date in many months. It was MUCH NEEDED! First, we got to go to the Memorial Tournament. We were given passes and were able to just sit at the 17th hole and watch as the players came through. It was a tough hole so most choked at it (including Tiger). It was a beautiful day and very relaxing. Then we went to eat at my favorite restaurant, NorthStar Cafe and went to the Gallery Hop in the Short North. We never actually parked and walked around but we were very entertained just driving through. Since there were so many people there, the traffic was slow so we saw as much as if we had walked but we could be lazy about it and just ride. People are very entertaining there! We continued downtown, found a park that had a play going on at the amphitheatre, sat on a park bench and people watched, then looked in all the windows of a big historic house that was for sale, got a decaf starbucks and headed home. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening with my great hubby.

Stresses of Life

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7

Sometimes this is easier than other times. Right now we need that peace. We live dependent on income outside of our regular income to live. God has provided this for the last 13 months through overtime, real estate, side jobs, friends and family. These last couple of months have been especially tough with no extra income and we are feeling the results. We KNOW God will take care of us but it's overwhelming when we are looking at unpaid bills. Please pray for provision and peace for us.

End of another school year...

Last week, Kaleb graduated from Preschool. It was especially meaningful for him to be singing the National Anthem. It's amazing to think the a little over a year ago, he lived in Africa, had no parents, spoke no English and little hope. He is an amazing little boy.



Ayden and Bryce graduated from Kindergarten today. They have done so well this year. I took pictures of them with their friends today. They are so cute!




Koryn received awards today for all A Honor Roll, ACSI Speech Club award, ACSI Art festival and ACSI Math Olympics. She did such a great job this year!

Slip and Slidin'

A few pics from slip 'n slide fun on Saturday.

HELP! I'm the mother of a teenager!!!!

Addisyn turned 13 on Sat. What does every 13 year old want? A birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese? Well- that was Addisyn's request. For a girl who never had birthday parties before, she thought that was the perfect place. She had a couple of friends from church come and then our family. She asked for rollerblades so that's what we got her. They had to pink, of course. EVERYTHING is pink.

Kris Allen

I have never faithfully watched American Idol until this season. I have loved Kris and Danny from the beginning but I honestly didn't think Kris would make it this far. I thought Adam is amazing but his style was not my personal favorite especially in the last few weeks. I knew Danny was a christian but I had no idea that Kris was until today. I actally voted for the first time because I loved his style. I was blown away when they announced he won. I was jumping up in my bed. I don't remember being that excited about something on tv before. I pray that he can be a witness to the world.
(Koryn wants me to add that she likes him too)
Here he is singing "God of this City"

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3 by 3, by 3

We have some adoptive friends out of Nashville that are getting ready to go to Ethiopia to pick up another sibling set of 3 kids. They had 3 kids (that look amazingly similar to our kids) and then they brought back 3 from ET shortly before we got our kids. Then God called them back for 3 more. Their story is currently being filmed and will follow their trip next month. Here is a quick 3 minute promo that tells a little about their story. Please watch it. Just click on the link
The Weimer Story.

What do I do?

Well, my parents made a last minute trip here for the weekend from Alabama. It was good because the kids have not seen them for awhile. We played some great Rook hands (and I won both nights:) Then they decided to take Brooklynn with them for the week so they left this morning. I really don't know what to do with myself. Kaleb is outside riding his bike up and down the block over and over again. It's been so long since I've only had 1 child at home and I don't think Kaleb has ever been alone. I'm definately feeling like something is missing.

Door Climber

Bryce has mastered door climbing and had been "teaching" the others in the house. I have to say that even I am pretty impressed.

Mother's Day photos

Ballerina and Tyler Party

Brooklynn had a few friends over for her birthday party on Saturday. They were so cute.

World AIDS Orphan Day

I took the post from another blog,Full House, Full Hands, Full Hearts, but I would really appreciate you reading it. bIt has new meaning to me since my son, was an AIDS orphan. His father died around the time her was born and his mother when he was about 2 yrs old. He has 2 older sisters who have no family. He lived as an orphan for 2 years until we adopted him. It is real.

World AIDS Orphans Day is a grassroots campaign to draw attention to and advocate on behalf of the millions of children orphaned by AIDS.

Here are some of the staggering facts. Please read them... please really stop and think a minute about these statistics.

There are over 15 million children orphaned by AIDS living around the world RIGHT NOW. 15 million is the equivalent to the number of all of the people living in New York, Paris, and Bangkok combined. That is an awful lot of children.
Well over 12 million AIDS orphans live in Sub-Saharan Africa, alone.
Experts believe that millions more orphans remain unaccounted for in India, China and Russia.
At least 10 million more children will be orphans by AIDS by 2010.
Do you know how many TOTAL global confirmed cases of the swine flu there have been? As of today (May 6), there have been 1,516 cases. Do you know how many people, world wide, have died of the swine flu as of today?? 31. And look at all the hype... all the action... all the caring.

Do you know how many people around the world DIED of HIV/AIDS in 2007? An estimated TWO MILLION people. That is over 5,400 people a day, dieing of HIV/AIDS. It has been estimated that now, in 2009, 6,500 people will die every day from AIDS, and an estimated 6,000 of those people will leave behind children when they die.

So today, another 6,000 children will be added to the already 15 million children world wide who have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Can you imagine for one minute if some terrible disease struck the United States (or whatever country you live in) and was killing thousands and orphaning thousands every day? Can you imagine if another country had treatment that could lead to good health and a long life, but it just was too expensive or too difficult or too much trouble to get that medicine to us? We wouldn't stand for it.

So why do we stand for it now?

I can't wrap my head around what 15 million orphans looks like. I can barely wrap my head around the 100 or so HIV+ orphans that I am trying to find adoptive families for. The numbers are staggering, and so is the need for action. Children are the future of our world, and I shudder to think about what this world will be like with so many millions of children growing up without the love and security of a family... and way too often growing up without adequate food, education and medical care. Where does that leave all of us?

Rich Stearns, President of World Vision, US said,

"I believe that this could very well be looked back on as the sin of our generation. I look at my parents and ask, where were they during the civil rights movement? I look at my grandparents and ask, what were they doing when the holocaust in Europe was occurring with regard to the Jews, and why didn't they speak up? And when we think of our great, great, great-grandparents, we think how could they have sat by and allowed slavery to exist? And I believe that our children and their children, 40 or 50 years from now, are going to ask me, what did you do while 40 million children became orphans in Africa?"

It's time for EVERYONE to do something about it!