Life

I haven't blogged in awhile, so now I'm having a hard time deciding what to blog about. In some ways it seems like we have so much going on and in others we are so boring. Today I am delighted to be spending the day at home. It's been several weeks since I had a day with nothing planned. Today wasn't one of those days either, but fortunately both of my appointments canceled. This is something that would normally make me sad. I'm always one for community, but today I was tired and the idea of sitting in my pj's and taking the day however I wanted it was very appealing. So far I have spent 4 hours balancing our budget. We are saving for a new roof and a new car. As much as I like to see that number grow, it never grows as fast as I would like. I'm always trying to figure out what else we can cut out, and then not actually wanting to make the cut because it will eventually inconvenience me. The boys have started swim team. Dave has taken them since I have been at work. For the first time, as I watched them swim I wondered if we might contribute something to the team this year. Would be nice. We've been the hanger-on'ers for too many years. Mostly we do it so that they can get the exercise and team experience, but it isn't bad to actually help the team out. They seem to enjoy it. Bryce is always a menace. He does what he wants to do regardless what anyone tells him to do. It's so hard for me, sitting on the sidelines, not to get up and start yelling at him. I understand that the coaches can do it, but I still feel responsible as the parent. I had to settle for threatening him when he got out of the pool. I will re-threaten him before he gets back in the pool tonight. We've gone through 3 kids birthdays now. All was fun. I am enjoying them being this age. It is much easier on me. I think it's the only reason I can work full-time now. Besides the fact that my current job is far less stressful than my previous job. It's an odd thing, in that all I ever wanted to do was be a stay at home mom. I have less of that domestic time now than ever, but we seem to be getting along and I am not unhappy. Now I am off to take a long hot shower before starting some much needed laundry and baking. Enjoying the simple pleasures of life!

Musings over birthdays

11 years ago at this moment in time I was in a lot of pain. I think about that day and cringe for many a reason, but I look at the faces of my beautiful twins and every second was worth it. They are the biggest gift I have ever received. These two blonde, blue/green eyed boys who have a love for God, and people unlike any I have ever seen. They have never met a stranger and they love openly and completely regardless of social standing, color, or background. They don't even have to speak the same language. I remember seeing them interact with the children in Guatemala. It didn't matter to them that they couldn't understand each other, it was just another group of kids to play with. There were times when the twins were little, that I would lie down on the bathroom floor in utter exhaustion while trying to get them ready for bed. I wondered how I would get it all done. Now if I'm tired, they are the ones making dinner, cleaning up the kitchen, and putting the little boys to bed to help me out. I will always have images of the 2 of them holding Zane down together to change his diaper while not breathing through their noses so they wouldn't throw up. I hope to expose them to more human suffering. I hope to show them how ugly this world can be, so that they can continue to be the Light of Christ to those around them. Happy Birthday to my wonderful boys, who continue to give me limitless joy.

Ethiopain Easter

So my family is off celebrating Ethiopian Easter with an Ethiopian family from the boys' school that was kind enough to invite them. I'm slightly jealous as I am on my way to work and can't attend. I told them that they have to tell me all about it when I see them in the morning. I also got a facebook note from a young Ethiopian man who I sponsored through Compassion Int. from when he was very small. He was also wishing me a happy Ethiopian Easter. We never expected to have Ethiopian ties when we embarked on our adoption from that beautiful land, but God has provided them for us in many ways and we are soooooo grateful. Our boys are growing up around kids from their country whose parents immigrated to the US. These people have first hand knowledge of what it means to be Ethiopian and they are willing to share it with our kids. What a blessing!!!

Meanderings

I find myself being slightly jealous of the Sisterwives. They never have to look for a babysitter. The drawback is they have to share one husband, so that's the definite downer. We have had a fun couple of days, but I feel like my life is more consumed with the doldrums, than with things I like. I spend most of Thursday and Friday doing laundry. Fortunately the laundry is clean and folded if it isn't all put away. Thursday I managed to put up 4-5 breakfasts as well. I spent this morning cutting vegetables, and cooking food for lunches. I don't really mind it, but it makes me tired. This afternoon I'm yearning to do something fun, but now I'm tired and the idea of doing my hair and getting presentable makes me want to take a nap. So I would like to stay home and read a good book, but I just finished one...darn. I will probably end up doing nothing, but continuously look at the folded laundry not put away, and the dishes in the sink, and the winter clothes that need to be packed up and feel like I will never have enough energy to get it done. I think that the days off together in the past 11 years have been so sparse, that I feel like we need to use them to the max. If we miss some minutes then we have wasted them. I'm not exactly in the groove of having every weekend off yet. I need to learn that if we don't have fun, fun, fun, that there is a day coming that we will. Maybe I'm having post Universal Studios blues.

Last night Japheth, and Jonathan came over and spent the night. Dave made everyone Oreo cookie pancakes for breakfast and I made them Crabby Patties for lunch. The boys played great together, though they say they didn't get a lot of sleep. Now Dave has the twins out mowing the lawn. He has looked forward to this moment from the time he was told that the twins were boys. I don't think he relishes mowing.

Typical week

It is a typical chaotic week in the Routly household. Yesterday I was trying to catch up on bills and laundry when not 5 but 6 boys arrived home from school. I thank the Lord every day for my good friends Aileen and Julie. They truly make this crazy life we lead possible. Aileen had been caught up with something at home and didn't make it to the corner to meet the boys, so her son came home with mine. Not even a thought, he just came home to my house. I LOVE that. It's stuff out of stories from the 50's as far as I'm concerned. In my childhood we never had that sort of neighborly connection and I am so grateful for it here. After homework and snacks all the boys were delighted to have time to play with William and it allowed me to get through more laundry. It also allowed his mother to finish what she was trying to accomplish without interruption.

Today I we are having a sleep-over with our dear Ethiopian friends' kids. Should be a riot. I'm not even going to bother trying to clean up until all is said and done tomorrow. Dave is off to Ethiopian Easter at another Ethiopian fiends house on Sunday. I'm sorry I can't attend, but it will be back to work for me. Right now, I'm just basking in the joy of not having to be anywhere, drinking my coffee and reading other people's blogs. Seeing blessings all around.

Coming Home

I have this sense that I am missing out on much of my life with the boys because I'm not recording it in any way. It's been over a year that I posted to this blog. I started it to keep my family updated on our activities, then it morphed into an adoption journey. Now I want to meander with my thoughts and keep up on the boys lives so that we have something tangible to look back on and remember.

We have just come home from 6 days of spring break vacation at Universal Studios. Dave and I had been to the Universal in LA, but never Orlando. We decided to take this trip because Bren and Jace were close to finishing the Harry Potter series. We wanted to take them to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter while the story was fresh in their minds. Tonight is my first night back at work and I feel like I have been gone for ages rather than just a week. It was interesting to have a time when the most important thing to know was the length of the line at the next ride I wanted to go on. Rather than contemplating suffering, or grieving over loss, or trying to keep up with all that is demanding my attention in life, I got to stand in line, talk to my boys, and consider what was the next thrill we would pursue. There was talk about holiness, and living in a way that is holy. There was talk of social norms, ie. don't continually bump into the person in front of you. There was the moment when someone said it was "Unnatural" for us to have black children in our family. The difference between this and normal life was that nothing we were concerned about lasted more than a few minutes.

So now I have gone through the mail and made a list of all the stuff I have to catch up on and emailed Dave about all the stuff he has to catch up on. I am still holding onto vacation euphoria. Hopefully it will last as the cares and suffering of life worm their way back into my world. I had a nice afternoon though. Harry Potter robes + Harry Potter wands = an afternoon of play and no one asking about electronics. Priceless!!

Christmas card

Merry Christmas!

If you have been keeping up with the Routlys this year, you will know that it has been a wild ride over the last 12 months. We would like to thank all of our family and friends for their prayers and support over the last year. Without it, who knows what would have happened!

This was, of course, the year of the adoption. In January, we were eagerly awaiting our court date in Addis Ababa so that we would be approved to adopt our two boys. This was approved, and we spent the next few months waiting and preparing. After a very difficult delay in March, we were able to travel to Ethiopia in early April, to pick up Seth and Zane. We have spent much of the remaining year integrating them into our lives here in the States and enjoying our new, larger family. Just recently, on December 16, we went to court and completed the last step in the adoption. They are completely and officially ours, and we couldn’t be happier about it.

So some family updates: Bren and Jace are both nine now, and in third grade. They are both doing well in school, but finding the gradual increase in homework and responsibility to be a challenge. They have been a fantastic help with the new boys, especially Zane. Joel is seven, and in first grade. He is a sweet and loving boy with a great personality. His giving spirit sometimes amazes me. The three older boys had the chance to attend an overnight camp for the first time this year, which was a real highlight. They are currently taking a break from their regular karate lessons to join a wrestling team at a local high school. The coach of the team says that they are “too nice for wrestling,” but he is trying to make them a little more mean. The stated goal of the boys participation in wrestling, however, is to eventually be able to beat me in a fight.

Bryce began kindergarten this year, and appears to have taken over the school Bryce hides a very strong personality under a very sweet and cute demeanor, which proves very effective at getting what he wants. Every Friday, he leaves school with a pocket full of candy received from other kindergarten teachers that he visits on the way out of the school. He has been challenged by the fact that he is no longer the baby of the family, however he seems to have taken on his new “twin” very well. He and Seth compete on everything, but make very good companions.

Seth has been working hard to learn English and settle into our home. We have often felt like we have been cramming five years of parenting into the eight months that we have had him, but he has a great spirit that has allowed him to deal with all of the massive changes that have occurred in his life over the last several years. He is enjoying preschool currently, and is learning to read and write.

Zane is now fifteen months old. He has been able to walk for the last six months or so, and currently runs everywhere. He a healthy, happy, chubby baby with an infectious giggle. He loves his big brothers, but also seems to have a strong enough personality to deal with being the youngest of six boys. The adjustment back to the diaper phase has not been easy, but it is brief and we are enjoying it while it lasts.

Maia continues to enjoy staying home during the week and working on weekends in the Emergency Department at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She has tried to focus on developing more and better relationships with people in our community and on serving the teachers at our elementary school.

I have continued to work as a counselor with Gwinnett County Mental Health over the past year. In May, I was ordained as an elder at our church, where I have been teaching a few classes, including those for lay counselors.

Other highlights this year have included our third summer with the Thunderbolts swim team, a trip to Huntsville, AL to visit the Space and Rocket Center, and a great weekend away for Dave and Maia running through a zipline canopy tour. One of the best things that our family has done this year, though, has been to begin to have friends over every Sunday afternoon for lunch. We have started to build some really good friendships through these lunches, and look forward to continuing them in the future.