our dozen beautiful feet

A little over a year ago, a girl named Hannah was helping us out with homeschooling and just generally doing life with us here in India.  (Has it really been a year?? We miss you, Hannah!) I was going through a very difficult season in my life with our adoption process, and it was taking a stressful toll on me.  Hannah could see this.  She very kindly offered to teach me to crochet, saying that it might help me take my mind off things. I'd always wanted to learn to make some of the cute things I'd seen on pinterest, but had never had the time, or a hook.  Hannah gave me a few quick lessons, and a hook, and I was off.  We even managed to explore and find a yarn store here in India, that had crochet hooks too! I started pinning patterns like crazy of things I wanted to become skilled enough to make. I thought I was dreaming, especially when my first "blanket" to make came out horribly misshapen. : )  But, I persevered, and it has turned into a g...

I don't even know where to start.  My attempts at blogging our whole school year have gone astray.  I always imagined that homeschooling in America would be so much easier, so much better.  The libraries!  The co-ops! Hobby Lobby! Okay, so Hobby Lobby was pretty great.  But for Tapestry, I got way off track while in the US.  We were moving all over the place, and it was all I could do to keep up with math and grammar, let along projects, buying supplies... I did register at a library in a couple of different cities, but in order to get the books I needed for Tapestry, it was 10-14 day wait for inter-library loan.  So I ended up just buying it all, and then we got behind.... yada yada yada.... So it was not any easier, nor was it more fun or better in the states.  Now that we are back in India, we are back on track.  So I will not even attempt to blog about Unit 2 of this year, except to say, we did it. (barely) We started back to schoo...

 It still takes my breath away when I hear her say it.  Most of the time, I completely forget that she didn't come from my body like the other children in my house, it just seems so natural.  She is our daughter... but sometimes my heart is just wrenched for her first mother, the woman who gave her life, and I wonder about her first father too.  Sometimes, I wonder where she got a certain feature, like her beautiful eyes, or her incredible strong will.  She is incredibly sweet when she wants to be, and totally bull headed when she wants to be.  She loves to be played with and held.  She instantly wants to make up when she's been corrected.  She has to know that our relationship is still okay.  Even sometimes if I just simply tell her, "no", she runs to me and lays her head on my leg like, but you still love me, right?  Of course, sweet girl!  She's growing so fast, and it's been way too long since I posted any pictures of her! ...

It's insane.  It's chaotic.  It's fun.  It's messy.  It's boring.  It can feel out of control at times.  But I wouldn't trade it for anything! Love these kids, each of them are so different and unique, and it's a blessing to know them and spend my days with them... Meryn's only got a diaper on... Levi thinks he's the black ninja from Ninjago.... Mom's needing to say no to something... Kiryn is pestering Meryn.... Luke's having a bad attitude... Bimla is helping... always helping me. I couldn't survive without her.  Kiryn thinks she's a rock star... Mom is trying to be funny... and failing almost always... Levi is playing... Meryn is screaming... almost always... Kiryn is crocheting... The room is clean... The room is messy... Friends are over... Another rock star at school... Levi is wet and cold... But we're all together.  And we made it throug...

When we returned to our home abroad after five months in the states, we came back thinking we were ready to look for a new rental property.  When we walked into our little apartment, it was confirmed!  We both felt like we were living in a little miniature world, after having been in the land of super-sized everything!  But in all seriousness, we had really outgrown out apartment in the Iris society. It was a wonderful place to live, just too cramped for a family with four children who are homeschooling and working from home!  We could have made do if we had to, but we didn't have to.  So... Since none of our luggage arrived on our flight (thanks to missing ever.single.connection), we got back on Friday night with nothing to do but wait.  No bags to unpack.  Nothing to play with or wash except the old stuff that was left behind.  So the next day, I figured, I don't have anything else to do, I'll call the property dealer.  I set up to meet ...