Photo Album: Fall is Better with Friends

A few snapshots from our visit to Gull Meadow Farms with the Kalamazoo Korea Families crew.  Good times!

Our first order of business: 

getting sugared up on fresh donuts and apple cider

Funny kids: Eli, Blake, Grace, Noah, and Evan

Happy hayride!!!

Father & Son

(I love this one!)

Nice pumpkin, Grace!

Mom & Dad help Blake grab a good one

 

Apples fresh from the tree are best - YUM!

A fun day full of beautiful (hot!) sunny weather and great friends!

Being Punished is Hard Work

A couple weeks ago, Noah had a difficult day.  He was crabby, grouchy, stubborn, short-tempered, and just a handful.  About noon (before his regularly scheduled naptime) he earned himself a little timeout on the couch.  I sat him down and went in to the kitchen while he "served his sentence."  I started to empty the dishwasher, and about two minutes later I looked over at the couch and saw this:

Sometimes punishment is just exhausting!  It reminds me that even on bad days, there are precious moments to cherish.

A Great Saturday

Hi again!

My my- we've been busy.  We have lots to catch up on, so I'm trying to do that tonight.  We are loving the fall - it's always been my favorite season, but it's even better when I get to share it with my boys!  We took a spontaneous trip to the Kalamazoo Nature Center a couple weekends ago - it was great!  The weather was cool and crisp and we had a great time.  There's lots to do there, but I think Noah was most excited to just get outside and run . . . .and run . . . . and run!

Eli + Grandma's houseplant =

Dirt for Breakfast!

Noah's Bad Hair Day

Have you ever just woken up 

to one of THOSE days???

Where does the time go????

Wow.  Time flies . . . . . . I took a month off from blogging without really meaning to!  It wasn't that I didn't want to blog, I just either never took the time or couldn't find the words to say what I was thinking.  Let's see if I can hit a few of the highlights from the last month.

The boys are great.  Noah is talking so much!  He's adding new words to his vocab every day.  He's become much more courageous in trying to say new things.  If he hears it, he tries to say it!  (I have to watch what I say more now than ever!)  Not everything comes out exactly right, but his pronunciation is getting better all the time.  My favorite thing he says right now is his name, Noah Withers.  It comes out as "NaNa Wivvfer."  It's so adorable!  Eli is keeping us on our toes.  He crawls lightening-fast and is starting to "cruise" by holding onto furniture.  I think he will be walking well before his first birthday.  We're still waiting for him to break his first tooth, though.  He's also starting to babble more and loves to "talk."

We've gotten several health updates about Baby Ben.  He's doing well.  We're still hopeful that we will welcome him home before the end of the year,  maybe as early as November.  I watch Eli grow and I can't help but think that Ben is going through the same changes.  I know he is being well cared for by a wonderful foster family in South Korea, but he needs to come home.  He's growing and learning and becoming his own little person and we're missing it.  He needs to come home to us and to his brothers.

It's no secret that our biggest obstacle in Ben's adoption was the cost.  When we found out about his birth, we knew we wanted to add him to our family, but we had no idea how to make that happen financially.  I am so happy and relieved to say that with the incredibly generous help of family and friends, Ben's adoption expenses have been PAID!  We are so humbled and so grateful to everyone who has supported us.  There are no words to express our thanks.  God has brought many amazing people into our lives.  We are so blessed!

I do of course need to update the blog with some pictures.  We had a great visit with Nate's family over Labor Day weekend.  Mamaw, Papaw, Uncle Andy, Aunt Amanda, and little baby Grayson all came to visit.  It was our first chance to meet Grayson - what a sweetheart.  It was great to see all three of those little boys together for the first time.  We spent a day playing tourists at Silver Beach in St. Joseph.  Can't wait to see them again!

Mamaw Donna, Grayson, Eli, Papaw Tom, and Noah

More to come SOON - I promise!!!

Buh-bye, Emmy!

We said goodbye to our favorite roommate this week.  That's right; Aunt Emily moved out.  She didn't move far - she's got her own apartment shared with three other friends close to campus, which is great.  She'll certainly still be around a lot, but I can tell that Noah knows what's going on and that he already misses her.  We've been talking about his "Emmy" moving in to her own house and we took both the boys to see her place when she moved, but every once in a while Noah will stop whatever he's doing, look around, and say, "Emmy, buh-bye.  Buh-bye, Emmy!"  Awwww . . . . I wonder who will miss who more?  Emily or the boys???

I've noticed a change, too.  Even though Em's been gone working as a camp counselor all summer, the house feels a little bit emptier now.  She lived with us for over 2 and a half years - that's a long time!  She was here when we brought both boys home and is a big part of our family.  I will admit it's not ALL bad . . . . . I'm loving the extra space in the bathroom cabinets!  Still, we miss her.  Thankfully she's just a phone call and a 10-minute drive away.

I thought I'd dig out a couple pics of our favorite roomie, Aunt Emmy. 

Buh-bye, Emmy - We Love You!

There's a two-year-old living in my house . . .

. . . and to be honest, it's freaking me out a little!

We celebrated Noah's second birthday last week.  We had a great "All-Star" themed party that was SO MUCH FUN.  All Noah's friends and grandparents were here to help us celebrate.  We had fantastic, not-too-hot weather so everyone got to play outside in the newly improved backyard playground.  I can't tell you how much joy it gave me to see all the little ones play together in our backyard - it was great!  I concocted a crazy-but-cute giant cupcake birthday cake, and of course there was ice cream, so I think it was a hit!

But now, I have this two year old "Big Boy."  Nothing baby-ish about him at all any more.  It seems that Noah has grown so much in just the last two weeks.  His vocab is exploding and he's linking words together into 3- and 4- word sentences.  We moved him to his toddler bed, so now he comes downstairs on his own in the morning.  He transitioned great into the big boy bed - I was really nervous about it, but Noah did great, as always.  He's learning his colors - purple is his favorite!  He's having a serious love affair with Elmo.  He's also a big fan of bubbles right now.  I do see a little bit of jealousy with Eli, but I'm sure that's normal.  Sometimes it seems his favorite phrase is, "Eli!  No!!!"  I'm anxious to go in for his check-up in a few weeks to see how he's developing physically, too.

I love seeing him grow and learn things so fast, but it makes me a little bit sad.

It's just going too fast!

Wordless Wednesday {A Big Boy in His Big Boy Bed}

Wordless Wednesday {At the Pool: with Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy}

When you visit our house . . .

When you visit our house, you may find dirty dishes in the sink

When you visit our house, you may find laundry piled on the floor.

When you visit our house, you may notice the trim that still hasn't been painted, or the paint that needs touching up.

When you visit our house, you may find that dinner is being served from a can, or a box, or a bag.

When you visit our house, you might see a dead shrub in the yard where we can't get anything to grow, or a flower bed overrun with weeds.

When you visit our house, you might notice the couch with cat claw marks, or the stained carpet.

It seems there's never enough time, money, or energy to do all that we want to do, or all that we should do.  There is always a project to finish, or another to start.  And, Lord knows I am not the world's greatest housekeeper.  There's never enough space to put things away.  Sometimes it feels like we're living on top of each other in our little house, which some days feels like it's falling apart.


BUT,


When you visit our house, you may find two brothers jumping up and down just to make each other laugh.

When you visit our house, you may find Mama reading the boys a story, or Daddy playing with them in the backyard.

When you visit our house, you'll find pictures of our family and friends on the fridge, including another little boy we can't wait to bring home.

When you visit our house, you'll find a Mama and Daddy who love each other and are best friends (and are probably sitting on the couch together watching "Wipeout" on TV.)

When you visit our house, there's a good chance you'll find something sweet, homemade, and fresh-baked in the kitchen.

When you visit our house, you're welcome to share anything we have.

When you visit our house, we're glad you're here.

Almost . . Wordless Wednesday {That's How I Roll . . . }

"Shhhhh . . . . don't tell Papaw Tom I'm riding a GREEN tractor!"

:-)

Sick day

I woke up this morning feeling like poo.  I've got an allergy/sinus/summer cold combo going on and it just stinks.  I feel like my head is the size of a hot air balloon and weighs about 3 tons with lots and lots of sinus pressure.  Blah!

Thank goodness it's the weekend so Nathan was home to take care of the boys.  I'd have been truly miserable if I were home alone taking care of the boys while feeling like this.  Daddy hung out with the boys all day; fed them and kept them entertained while I rested.  That was so great - I needed the sleep!  When I did come out to spend some time on the couch, I got lots and lots of hugs, kisses, and cuddles from Noah so being sick isn't all that bad!  Daddy also taught Noah a new phrase.  All day he walked around saying, "Ma, sick."  "Ma, sick."  Gotta love that kid!

Wordless Wednesday {Life's a Beach, with Our Friend Sylas}

Family Reunion / A Grandma's Legacy

This weekend we traveled to Ohio to attend and celebrate a reunion of my mom's family.  Most of my mother's family stayed settled in Ohio near where she grew up, but there are pieces of the family scattered across the country - in Florida, Michigan, California, and Arizona.  We seldom all manage to get together at one time, but this weekend we got pretty close.  There were a precious few missing, but overall it was an amazing turnout and we so enjoyed getting to see everyone.  We're very lucky to be able to share our lives with each other and see our family continue to grow and grow and grow.  We are linked by one very special lady, my grandmother Elvera.

This is Elvera.

She has SIX daughters

FIVE sons-in-law

SIXTEEN grandchildren (11 pictured here)

THIRTY great-grandchildren (25 pictured here)

. . . and still counting!

(Our newest addition Benjamin will be #31!)

What an amazing legacy for one woman to have.  She is the 

heart of our family, 

the matriarch, 

the common sense, 

the faith, 

and the card shark, 

with zero-tolerance for bullshit.  

She makes the best pies (coconut creme is my favorite,) her door is always open, and when you come to visit she always has a hug, an "I love you," and she's genuinely happy to see you.  She considers herself very blessed.

And so do we, 

for having her in our lives.

Drumroll please . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . his name is

Benjamin Jacob Withers!!!

And baby makes FIVE!?!?!?!?!

Yep, we're doing it again.  The Withers are bringing home another baby.  I know some of our family and friends know about this, but others don't, so let me get you caught up!

Back in January, just a few days after we brought Eli home from the hospital after his birth, our adoption social worker came to visit us.  She brought with her some crazy and shocking news.  Noah's birthmother in South Korea gave birth to another baby boy on December 27, 2009. (That's 3 days before I had Eli, if you're keeping score!)  Their birthmother asked if the boys could be raised together, so the adoption agency came to us and asked if we would like to adopt again.  I won't repeat the expletives that first came out of our mouths, but needless to say we were so surprised at this news!  We took some time, talked it over, said more than a few prayers, punched some numbers on the calculator, cried, laughed, and then finally decided.  This baby simply had to come home.  We can't imagine letting Noah grow up without his family, whether it's biological or adoptive.  We feel so strongly that this little boy is meant to come home to us and complete our family.  He is the missing link.  He will share his biology and heritage with Noah, and he will be a virtual twin to Eli.  (Can you imagine the pranks they will play on their teachers and friends when they get older????)  Nathan and I love the Disney movie "Lilo and Stitch" and one of it's themes says, "Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."  That pretty much sums it up!

This wasn't an easy decision to make, but we know it's the right one.  We know there will be sacrifices and things we will have to do without and LOTS and LOTS of diapers to change.  But in the end the money doesn't really matter.  What matters is what is best for our family.

So, fast forward to TODAY.  After waiting weeks and weeks and weeks for more news to come about Baby #3, we finally got The Call today.  The paperwork is here, and most important - the pictures.  Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce you to Withers Boy #3 (name to be determined in the next few days as soon as Mom and Dad can agree!)

Newborn pics

These are more recent, but we're not certain when they were taken.

Isn't he adorable????

Are we crazy?  Perhaps . . . . but we are crazy happy.