Vacation and Happy Adoption Day

Hope the Dolphin

Zach showing off his moves

Heather, Logan, and Zach on the Dolphin tour

A picture of just mommy and daddy (yes it's rare since I always take the pictures)

Grandma showing off her talents

Last week we packed up the troops and headed to the beach. We had been planning on heading down to the Clearwater, FL area for a while to go and visit Keith's grandmother and dad. We decided to stay a little further south in a condo on Indian Shores beach and absolutely loved it. This was our first vacation as a family of 7 and it went way better than someone would have expected. When we first got to the beach and unpacked a bit the kids wanted to hit the beach. It was Heather, Zach, and Logan's first trip to the ocean so they had to check it out right away. Well as soon as they hit the water they did not want to leave. We had to practically drag them out of the water in order to get everyone ready for dinner.

On day 2 we went to visit Keith's dad and grandmother so they could meet Heather, Logan and Zach for the first time. Grandma and dad did great meeting the kids and getting to know them. I was amazed because all the kids were well behaved and took the time to spend with grandma watching her play the piano and organ (she has a talent of playing both at the same time).

On day 3 we took the kids to try out another first. The kids had never been on a boat before so we took them on a dolphin tour boat. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. After that we headed over to Pier 60in clearwater. At night they have a bunch of vendors and just local music and stuff for the kids. Delylah got picked to do a little dance contest. She looked so cute waiting to get up there and do her little dance and then the last minute she got scared and they picked Zach to step in. He went up there and did an awesome job dancing his little tail off.

On day 4 we headed over to clearwater aquarium which is actually a marine rescue. It is an awesome place to visit so I definitely highly recommend it to anyone visiting that area. Anyway while we were there the kids got the opportunity to feed stingrays; another first.

Day 5 was a pretty low key day since we just decided to stay at the condo and lounge at the pool and beach all day. I think by this day the kids were over sand and just wanted to spend more time by the pool diving in.

Day 6 we decided to take the kids on another adventure and took a pirate cruise. They had some fun water games, face painting and all sorts of activities for the kids.

By the last day we were all ready to unwind and pack up and head home that we just stayed by the condo to have fun. The kids would have been more than happy to stay in Florida if we would have let them but unfortunately we had to go back home.

The trip home fell on Lennah and Delylah's adoption day. It is so hard to believe that only 4 years ago we were in Vietnam and became parents for the first time. So much has changed in that time since they placed a beautiful little girl in our arms who would forever be ours. She changed our lives in so many ways for the better. Then to be blessed again exactly one year later with another beautiful little girl whom we never met is also such an incredible thing. Delylah has grown into such a such an awesome little girl whom I could never imagine being without. She has been such a blessing to us. Now we are hear only a few short years later and we are now a family with 5 blessings. Yes in this time it has been hard adjusting to having such a large family but it has been an amazing journey 4 years in the making.

Busy Busy

Last Night of the Boys Surge Camp

Welcome Party

Gavin and Zach making friends

Heather at gymnastics

It has been a busy past few weeks getting the kids settled in. You always figure that balancing 5 kids is going to be work but I have to say I have become a taxi driver in addition to the role of mom. The boys had camp for a week at church, Heather decided she wanted to do gymnastics, Lennah is in gymnastics, and Delylah has ballet and all of that = one tired chauffeur.It has all been worth it though. I have to say for the most part things have gone extremely well adjustment wise and we are so thankful for that. We really expected that the kids would have a lot of behavior issues when they moved here being that they are older. We thought there would be a lot of acting out it has been minimal and mostly pre-teen normal kid stuff.

Heather has really gotten into gymnastics which I think is great for her. It is giving her an opportunity to hang out with kids her age while school is out and it has been a great resource to just get some energy out since she is a high energy kid. And of course Lennah and Delylah couldn't been doing any better in ballet and gymnastics so we are so pleased that all of the girls have found something to do that they love.

This weekend we also finally had a small celebration to welcome the kids and give our friends a chance to meet them. We are so thankful for all our friends and family that came. It was a wonderful celebration.

A little more than a week

Lennah at gymnastics

The kids with mom on Father's day

Happy Father's Day Daddy of 5

Delylah at ballet

Nanny and her 5 grandkids

The kids at Michaels making key chains

So it has been over a week and overall things have gone exceptionally well. I think when you adopt older kids you expect the worst but hope for the best when it comes to adjusting. The kids have done so well. The kids have just fit right in and they are great siblings to Lennah and Delylah and Delylah and Lennah have become great siblings to them. They play together, laugh together, and have the typical sibling squabbles together already (althought those haven't been bad at all).

The past week here has been totally busy. The day before Father's day I took the kids to Michael's to make key chains for Keith. They totally got into it and were all excited to give Keith their gifts. It was great to see them so excited after only a short time here. For Father's day we also took the kids to church for the first time with us. Zach went to the kids classes and loved it. Lennah has been working on her gymnastics classes and luckily she found an activity that she wants to stick with. Heather came with me to Lennah's gymnastics class this past week and now she too wants to give the it a try so tomorrow night she gets her trial class. Delylah also started her first attempt at the county dance class and she also is in love with dance now. To keep the boys busy and to give them an opportunity to meet other kids we put the boys in surge camp through our church. As you can tell this week mom has played taxi driver to our family. seems like everyday there is something different to do and the days are flying by.

Home and Settling In

Unity candle ceremony bringing our family together

The cermony at the Giving Tree

The kids with their workers Kalee and Lindsey

Well it has been an eventful few days. Keith and I went solo to bring the kids back from Ohio. We got in early Sunday night and then Monday morning took care of all the paperwork and then headed to load up the car with the kids. Overall everything went really smooth and the kids were all ready to go and check out their new house. Well as we were getting close to home a warning light went on and now the van is in the shop. Obviously this is not good when you have a family of 7 and that is the only vehicle that fits the whole family. Thank goodness my parents have let me borrow their truck that at least fits all the kids and myself while the van gets fixed. Anyway, Monday night we got home around 915 pm and the little ones were up waiting for us to arrive. It became chaos at our house. The little ones thought it was play time and I had a real hard time convincing them that they could play with their brothers and sister tomorrow.

The second day was really just getting settled in and into some sort of normal daily life. Keith took Logan, Zach, and Delylah to the movies and I took Lennah and Heather with me to run errands and to take Lennah to gymnastics. Heather watched Lennah and now she wants to try it out. I also decided to be brazen and take all the kids to publix. I was actually amazed at how well behaved everyone was. Honestly it is almost easier with a large family because the babies are so preoccupied with playing with the older kids they aren't fighting with each other and doing any of the usual crazy stuff like chasing each other around the house (I am sure that sooner or later this novelty will wear off and the little ones will be back to their usual selves).

Today we also had a busy day since they had a cermony down at the giving tree, our adoption agency, for the kids. It was very nice and unexpected. They had a cake and read a great poem about the bonds of family and had a wonderful prayer for us. It was a great celebration of bringing us all together. Tonight the kids all said different prayers at dinner and Zach really said a wonderful prayer thanking God for giving him a forever family. I just hope and pray that we can always be those patient, loving, and caring parents that these children need. I am sure at times we are going to have challenges but we are definitely in this for the long haul to give these kids everything they need.

Almost here

Heather's room

Zach and Logan's room

Lennah and Delylah's room

Well we are going to head up and get the kids this weekend. We have been working so hard at getting the house ready, the girls prepared, and just ourselves prepared. It is crazy that we will be a family of 7 in just a few days.

I have finally gotten all the rooms ready. It was a lot of work to consolidate, get rid of stuff, and just about reorganize most of the house but I am very proud of how it came out.

Lennah and Delylah now share a room and I am so happy with the finished product. We used Delylah's dressers which were French white and we had gotten really lucky and found bunk beds that matched that color wonderfully. I also did the room up really girly and went with pink and blue. I repainted the letters on their walls from when they were babies and just picked up some really cute girly decor. They are loving there new room.

Heather has a very girly tween room. I had Lennah's black furniture and I had this vision of hot pink, black, and white so I just went with it. I found some great bedding and thank goodness for hobby lobby because they had the cutest accents that just went so well with everything.

The boys have a superhero lovers dream room. Keith collected comic books when he was younger so I had found some marvel comic bedding and had an idea. I found some comic book photo frames and wound up using what we had as wall art. I also decided I wanted the boys to have book shelves since I am an avid reader and their furniture didn't have any shelving. I decided to paint some wood to match the bunk beds and what do you know it came out great. We were also lucky because we didn't have to buy dressers since we had re-furnished some old furnture years ago and it just goes with the room.

Overall Keith and I have worked really hard making a home for the kids; we just hope they love it when they get here. Now for the drive on Sunday and then packing the kids up in the car on Monday. The babies are staying home with my parents. Hopefully my mom won't pull her hair out of her head too bad while we are gone.

I am sure next week I will have lots to post.