Arches National Park

Arches National Park was breathtaking.  Not only was I blown away by my children's fearlessness, but in awe at this simple creation of God's.  It was like a banner across the sky that says this is nothing compared to how much I love you.  Something so simple yet amazing.  Although my children whined and complained the whole way there, even Adam had to admit it was worth it.  Love my family.

Feel in the Love

This is how my day usually goes.  We love you mom! I can't believe you dragged us here, your the worst mom ever.  I love my brother, but he is the worst brother ever.  What we lack in our RV is simple, a little something called Grey Area.  We are a family of extremes.  So I felt this picture embodied that old saying "I love you to death!"  cause that is how we roll. There is no moderate warm like in my family.  It is always cold shoulder or jumping in the hot waters that is the human condition.  We are coming closer together and I am so grateful for it.  Even though most days we want to kill each other.

Finally in Texas

After a frantic drive south to try and beat mother nature we landed in Texas close to my amazing daughter.  we spent the evening in the laundry room.  How I missed this amazing girl.  She is so full of life and still believes in this great big world of ours.  I wish I could pack her up and take her with us.  Well minus the bad habits:)  I even get to see her friend Melissa again, I think if I had a Melissa in my life I would have gotten in far less trouble.  I love seeing my girl again.

Driving Games

A common problem we have in society is to point out the negative in our life.  As a way to look at the positive we play a game while driving.  Have you ever noticed the how's my driving stickers as your moving down the highway?  Well we have made a game out of it.  If you notice a polite driver or someone just happy we call the number.  Now I will warn you if you choose to participate the operator on the other end will think you are related to the driver, there will be a long pause, it makes them question reality for a moment, overall it is a way to spread a little sunshine.  Ok it may not change anything, maybe I was just desperate for adult conversation when I started it, but it is fun to share a smile a happy moment.  As a side note please dont operate the phone while you are operating a motor vehicle.  This as most games while driving is for passengers only.

REAL

So I wrote this post in 2011 and put it on my facebook, but I thought I should share it here.  It was a particularly difficult time in my parenting journey. I am very proud to say we have come a long way.  The most important being that ALL of my children know they are valuable to me:

Last week I spent three hours in therapy, four hours meeting with teachers, two hours at the doctors, I shopped for clothes and food, and I attended a choir concert. I lost sleep full of worry and concern.  This does not even begin to touch the time I spent cooking, cleaning, and listening.  All of this for one of my eight children, yet I cannot manage to grasp the ever elusive title of REAL parent.  Sometimes I sit awake at night wondering what it would take for me to become a Real Parent.  Do you know how many times I have watched Pinocchio?  I have done everything they said.  Yet I remain not real.  All the paperwork in the world can’t prove that I am real.  And unlike the Biological parents, who get to be real no matter what they have done no matter what I sacrifice I never get the honor of just being mom.  So you ask why do I do it?  Don’t worry I have asked myself the same question many times. 

            I do it for the honor of watching them overcome it all.  Of seeing them break through the chains that bind them to generations of bad behavior and watch them reach beyond what anyone thought they could.  I get to rejoice in the little things like getting them to bathe properly and I am absolutely giddy the first time they don’t crawl into the fetal position when they get in trouble, because they are afraid we will send them away. 

            I have never been one to do things the easy way.  Just sitting back and watching my biological children grow up.  With love and nurturing and protection from the world.  I took for granted all the little things they did because it was expected.  They had been taught from birth.  But changing a child’s birth pattern is challenging.  It can be very disheartening.  There are days you cry yourself to sleep because you wonder if you can’t make any real lasting difference.  And days when they call you mom, that makes it all worth it.

            Adopting a child is like ripping your heart out and putting it on display in the mall. People are constantly judging the end product.   There is absolutely no way that it can be done without an entire army of people.  Teachers, Friends, specialists, but even with all of those things, it can’t be done without love.  A greater capacity than ever known to exist.  A love that can take rejection, loneliness, and pain and still come back for more.  A love that can hold on when everyone else tells you to quit. Without that, you can’t possibly hope to succeed.  Success doesn’t mean you get a doctor or lawyer, a productive member of society.  Success is a child who knows they are worth your love. 

Dog Therapy

While on the road it's difficult to get some therapy in for the kids, but Dog therapy on the other hand.  Starts by becoming the dog.  Austin and Asher took turns putting on the dog head that had been unstuffed by some previous dog play and let Princess express her true feelings about other dogs.  We learned alot about her jealous streak and her need for someone like her.  Don't worry we have several parts of other dog stuffed animals to continue this successful therapy.

Hotel Adventure

My husband accepted a job driving truck over the road.  To get his training we had to hightail it to Salt Lake City.  And they put us up in two hotel rooms.  The top one is for my husband and I, the bottom is the kids.  They love being plugged in and having wireless internet they can stream on.  The dogs stayed in our room.  It seemed so big.  I measured things out mentally and our one room was pretty close to the size of our whole RV.  I think if it had a little fridge and microwave I could live in a hotel too, but I miss my RV.  The first night I almost went downstairs and slept in it.  Having all my things handy and in their place is so much easier in an RV than in a hotel.  My husband made at least half a dozen trips down to the RV to retrieve things we forgot and needed.  I also don't like having to worry about the neighbors below me when the dogs get in a wrestling mood ;)  It was a nice break and I enjoyed having space to leave my computer out, Room on the bed for the dog to lay, and continental breakfast.  But I am ready to move on to my next adventure.  To Texas to see my little girl!!

Halloween Preperation

While I did forget to get pictures of all of the final costumes. I had a good time taking picures of the prep that went into it.  Because it started at about 8am and lasted through lunch.  There was makeup everywhere, I am not even sure of all the transformations that took place, but they did trick or treating at Walmart, because we were parked in the parking lot.  They went to AJ's dorm and got a ton of candy, and managed to pick up a few other random treats in Butte.  What awesome kids I have.  There love just being kids and I am truly grateful for that.  

Visit with AJ

As my children grow up and move out I miss them a ton.  So when we drive past where they are it's the most exciting time for me, because there is nothing more I would rather see in this world than my children.  This was a fun lunch date with AJ.  He is having a great time at college, getting good grades, but absolutely no girls have caught his attention, which I am thankful for.  When we got in the car I asked him where he wanted to go and for the first time in 18 years he gave me an answer "can we please not go to taco bell, burger kind, Wendy's, or anything like unto it"  Of course I had to oblige him.  I miss my AJ, and I am so incredibly proud I got to be his mom.

Power of the Rainbow

A beautiful rainbow graced our presence as we were traveling through  Idaho.  That however is not the most beautiful part of my day.  The most beautiful was when my children stopped arguing to discuss rainbows.  While this may not have been the biggest, brightest, or clearest rainbow to me it was special because after six hours of driving I was able to enjoy a little peace and quiet because of this rainbow. 

The Hair

Ok secretly I will admit it.  The only reason I wanted a little girl was to do her hair.  Since my girl came after the little stage I have had to resort to male hair doing.  These wonderful yarn braids took many hours but came out very nicely.  While this seems like nothing more than a fancy style, it turned into some magically mother and son bonding time.  Parts of him loves it and parts of him loves that we got some us time.  I am just amazed I could do it.  YouTube is an amazing educational tool, not to be underestimated.