Catching up...again

It's been awhile since I've posted any happenings so I thought I would take a few minutes to catch up on the little things around here. :) Simon and Ana are happy and growing, as usual. Ana is learning to read and doing so, so, so well! I am very impressed with her teacher and how she teaches. Ana comes home with her little bag of words everyday and she is up to about 20 so far. Today she came home with a SUPER JOB certificate for reading them all correctly. We work on them nearly everyday, so we are very, very proud of her. She was happily sporting her hip new Pilgrim look (see above) after school and so of course I couldn't resist a photo. She wore it to pick Simon up from school and got some interesting looks on our walk, but they didn't phase her. :D

Simon is doing well in school and brought home all A's with his first report card at quarter. He likes his teacher a lot and is happily engaged with many friends in the neighborhood and church. It is good to be settled into life for our almost nine-year old.

Yard work! We've been busy cleaning up the yard for the winter. The kids have been a big help. :) Some day we'll get that garage painted or sided... (in the meantime, we continue to enjoy our new bathroom)

Yesterday we had our first fireplace fire of the season - I say fireplace fire because I personally did have a fire in the kitchen last week as I accidently lit Ana's Barbie lunch bag on fire. Oopsie, Mommy...

Anyway, Kurts parents were here yesterday so we enjoyed Children's Sunday at church and then an afternoon with a nice fire, etc. The boys busted out the Lincoln Logs and built the huge tower above.

That's all for now, folks! :)

The final, finished product!

Out with the old...

In with the new! Isn't it beautiful? I am so proud of Kurt! He did such a great job, and of course, by doing it himself he saved us a LOT o' money. He said he's ready now for the second bathroom...which is in Simon's room...and boy oh boy is it ever U.G.L.Y. In the meantime, enjoy this new look. :)

Almost done...

Thought I would update you with the progress in the bathroom. Kurt is beginning sink installation tonight.

Remember that we started here.

Time to cast your vote

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls: It is time once again to cast your vote for your favorite Halloween Pumpkin! Last years winner was never officially announced, though I'm SURE that I won. :D Voting is open until it closes. ;)

Got Playdoh?

These girls had a heyday making pizza together the other day. I told them they could mix the colors "a little" and well, you see what they considered a little. Ah well, it was almost time to get some new anyway. ;) Little L. is our neighbor and she and Ana are good buddies.

Home improvement...

So I can't remember if I've mentioned this before but a few weekends ago I went on a retreat...and Kurt was left home "alone" (but with the kids, of course) and as it typical for him, he took on a big project in my absence. ;) Kurt met me at the door the day I returned and he literally had sweat dripping off of his face. Thus...the beginning of the 1st floor powder bath re-do.

This is the before photo and it's pretty lousy as it was taken on our cell phone. Had I known that a large project was going to happen in my absence there would have been better documentation. HA! We're pretty sure that the tile is (was) original because of the style of it, and while we toyed with installing something to fit the era of our home (1940's), we opted out of that.

This is pretty much what was left when I got home! Everything went out to the alley trash and the sink disappeared within hours. The toilet? Not so much. ;)

This was an interesting remnant of years worth of wallpaper from behind the commode. Looks like there were some cool styles.

And that brings us to today - Kurt just finished installing the tile, with the exception of the area under the radiator to the left - not quite done yet as we ran out of tile. Oops - forgot to include that in our measuring! I really like the tile and Kurt did a great job of installing it. After all the paste stuff dries, he'll seal it, let that dry and then do the grout work. I'll keep you posted with photos.

Test Photo

Here's Ana Banana - allowing me to give the new camera a whirl. :) She slept in until 10 today while Simon went to his early soccer game. I'm pretty happy that at least one child will sleep in on the weekend!

Watch out!

I got a new camera - and I might actually post on here again very soon. :)

1st day of school

This entry should be called "we survived summer" - HA! No really, we had a beautiful summer and last night when I put Simon to bed we reviewed the many wonderful things that we all got to do and it was a pretty good way to recap the weeks that had passed. Today however was a great day to hop out of bed and go to 3rd grade and kindergarten. I cannot believe that our children are the ages that they are! Both kids loved being back, enjoyed seeing their friends and meeting/reuniting with their teacher. Simon has a new teacher and Ana has the same one she had last year, but now for Kinder.

I am pooped. I worked today and then tonight participated in a focus group downtown regarding a new talk show that is potentially being launched this fall. It was a pretty slick/fast (2 hours) $100, plus I won $50 in the "early bird" drawing for being 15 minutes early. I can't remember having ever won a drawing before so it was pretty exciting. he he he Oprah was taping on Michigan Ave. right when my focus group was beginning and Michigan was closed to traffic. It was practically on top of the location for my little job so it was fun to hear the cheers and music and see the set up. I did not see Oprah, but it was a fun site nonetheless! No camera with me though, otherwise I would have a photo or two here. ;)

Nighty night!
Lisa

Cooperation at its best!

We came up to TC for a quick little weekend before school starts. I had not yet met Betti (she's adorable! wonderful! loveable!) and the kids hadn't been together for a while so we are making the most of the holiday weekend. The kids are having a great time, as usual!

Summer smiles

Summer is almost over - kids go back to school in two weeks. Thought I'd get some last shots of the kids out here, besides just the one below of Ana. They are both growing up so much and we are so proud of the people that they are becoming. They are wonderful children with beautiful hearts. Simon lost another front tooth recently. We like the look - don't you? :)

Ready to take on the world

It struck me tonight that Ana totally looks grown up and ready for kindergarten - so of course that called for a photo. Where does the time go? Isn't she a beauty?

Ahhh, space - again with pictures this time :)

Since moving into our house nine months ago, we have become increasingly aware of the fact

that we have a LOT of STUFF. Stuff from when Simon was a baby, stuff from seminary, stuff from apartment living, stuff from having moved a zillion times over the course of the last 15 years of marriage - stuff. You get the idea. So, last weekend we began in Anas' room. We cleaned and sorted. We threw stuff out, we gave more stuff away. We organized and beautified. Why oh why I didn't take a before picture is beyond me, but trust me - it was ugly. I determined that Ana had the biggest mess in the house - not only because she takes after me in the cleaning department, but also because all of the baby stuff that we had from Simon ended up in her room. It had all been in storage while we were in Ecuador and it somehow alllllll ended up in her room. Bins and bagsful. Aren't you so sad that I don't have a photo? Sigh. I even looked back at photos from the months we have lived here and there are quite literally none of her room besides right after we painted.

Anyway, enjoy the after and know that this weekend I believe we are moving on to our room - it is the second worst. Simon however would like for his room to be done so we may be moving there next. Wish us well and good luck in our quest of paring down - again. It's nice to be doing this with the intention of staying somewhere, rather than with the intention of moving on...which is the usual pattern as you know. :) Hope you are all having a lovely summer!

As a point of interest - the Raggedy Ann dolls on the bench were both made by my mom. The red-haired one is mine from when I was a little girl and the black-haired one is Ana's. :) Incidentally, the bench they are sitting on was made by my dad.

Ana has spent a lot more time in her room since the massive cleansing. She was out of sorts the day we did it...perhaps she thought we were moving...but now she is delighted.

Ana requested that I take a photo of her Hello Kitty that hangs on her door. :) Here you go Ana Banana!

By the way, I put this on my Facebook page today, but I should mention this here as well. Yesterday Ana had another follow up appointment for her new ear and it was an incredibly encouraging time. She is now hearing at 10 decibels - which is less than a whisper. She can totally hear and understand us when she is only wearing that ear. It is a truly a miracle. She told me the other day that her "new ear isn't ouchy any more" and that was music to my ears. Truly...a miracle.

So I took this self-portrait today to remind myself down the road of the significance of this week in my life. It is a week without distraction for the most part. I am in class from morning until night, our children are under the gentle care of Grandparents in Michigan and I am breathing it all in - soaking in the silence and the words and the stories - and the beauty of excitement for my future and realizing some desires of my heart.

This week, I began my journey into a certificate in Spiritual Direction - to be a spiritual director. I am taking courses at North Park Seminary here in Chicago and this week is the first of three week-long summer intensives (which will be complimented by independent study throughout the year) – meaning that I will finish the summer of 2011. We are now at the mid-point in our first week and it has truly been a blessing so far. I am still exploring what exactly spiritual direction is and assume that not everyone “out there” (who are you all anyway??) knows what it is either so I will give a few bullets from what I have read and learned so far. I am not going to footnote anyone but know that none of the quotes below are from me – they are primarily from Holy Listening by Margaret Guenther. :)

“In some ways, the art of spiritual direction lies in our uncovering the obvious in our lives and in realizing that everyday events are the means by which God tries to reach us.”

“We assist at the birth of each other in an environment of gracious hospitality.”

“…in this covenanted relationship the director has agreed to put himself aside so that his total attention can be focused on the person sitting in the other chair.”

“I do indeed work with the dying, for we are all dying, and helping in the preparation for a good death is a priestly work.”

“The spiritual director is a host who gives to her guests, the bestower of guest-friendship. She is a host in the truest and deepest sense, reflecting the abundant hospitality shown by the host at a heavenly banquet.”

“Hospitality is an occasion for storytelling with both laughter and tears, and then the guest moves on, perhaps with some extra provisions or a road map for the next stage of the journey.”

This is simply a taste of it. At the beginning of the week I was intrigued with it. Yesterday I was excited about it. Today I find myself longing to plow through the next two years and soak it all in so that I can begin on this new direction of purpose that I truly feel is God given with regards to my gifting and interests.

So much more to say, but tomorrow will be another full “mental day” so I need to hit the sack. Please pray for me and for my 18 classmates and we learn to sit, listen and be still. Pray for us as we hear some of Gods stories in each of our lives and begin to build relationships with this new peer group. We all bring different textiles to this weaving and I do believe the end result is going to be beautiful. :)

Our last full day at the Cape the boys all went deep sea fishing. We ate their delicious catch for dinner that night and sat closely around the table even though they all still smelled like fish after showering. ;)

While they fished, the ladies went to do a little shopping and eat some donuts. :)

Ana kept busy collecting "things" in her little fishing net...

...while the boys fished. :)

Madeline and me giving kayaking a whirl. :)

NYC

This year, in second grade, Simon learned about the Statue of Liberty. He talked about it fairly frequently at the time and said it would be cool to see it. It planted a seed in Kurt and me, since we had already discussed an East Coast trip sometime and we decided that there was no time like the present to make a road trip! It was a beautiful day for site-seeing and that is exactly what we did. :)

The boat ride was great! we were hot and sweaty! But when we were finished, Simon said "Mom, this is the best vacation ever. I'm never going to forget it." How's that for priceless?

My brother, Chris, needs to photograph the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh the beauty he could capture here...

Ground Zero

Times Square and NY piiizzzzza

Kristen was a little embarrassed to be doing such a touristy thing as having her picture taken in Times Square (thanks for baring with me Kristen :)) but who could resist!?

Everywhere we went there were masses of people. Even Sponge Bob was there! (do you see him?)

We had delicious John's Pizza, which we ate when Lori and I went to NYC ten years ago. It was as tasty as I remembered. The pieces were huge and Ana ate almost as much as her daddy - 3 1/2 pieces!

Last day in NYC

Our time in NYC was all too brief, but great. Our last morning we got up and walked to Central Park so the kids could play and do a little scootering before hopping in the car for another long day of motoring. Our thanks to Kristen for being such a great hostess and for opening up her home to us.

Simon is in the blue shirt, Ana in the pink. I think I must have been pretty worn out by the time this day was upon us as most of the photos that I took were blurry. :/

Some shots of the road

Simon and Ana were huge troopers for our 2,300 mile trip. This is a glimpse of their backseat surroundings. The DVD players over each seat were absolute miracles! We had two different middle bins, plus an "electronics" bin for their games, iPod, DVDs, etc. The movies/iPod were an especially cool feature for Ana, because with her new "ear" she got some updated equipment, including an audio cord that she can plug directly from her implant to either a DVD player, an iPod, Leapster, etc. Her face absolutely lit up at home when we plugged her into the iPod for the first time so she could listen to a Wiggles song. Did I already say that on here somewhere? Sorry if it's old news - but it was really exciting - actually more fun than activating her second ear!

This is somewhere in PA and only taken because of the huge cloud mass. But the countryside was absolutely lovely. None of us had ever been in PA before and so delighted in the lush of the countryside checkered with farms.

The coolest kids in town!

We returned yesterday from a wonderful vacation, which I'll share more about this week as I have time. We had so much fun! We logged well over 2,000 miles of driving but each mile was worth it. This shot above, though only from a rest stop for a picinic lunch, is my favorite of our family. :)

Another miracle!

In this picture is Ana having impressions made for the molds that hold both processors in place.
I still can't believe she has two ears! I feel like she is finally balanced.

For those of you looking for word on activation of Ana's second ear - look no further! We have been without computer at home for more than a week and her activation happened on Monday - thus the delay. The whole family went for the big activation and while, as I said to Kurt and my parents, it was a bit anticlimatic compared to the first time around, it was nonetheless so cool to see her face light up the first time and say "I hear it!". Unfortunately I didn't catch that moment on tape as we didn't know it was coming, but I got the 2nd, 3rd and 4th times and they were all pretty much the same.

The process was similar to the first time around in that they hooked up her processor to the computer and checked to be certain that all the internal electroids (in her head/ear) were functioning properly and from there it was sort of a process of "waking" up the inner workings. During this time there was an occassional series of a few beeps that only Ana could hear. The reaction to those beeps is what you see in the below video. The first time she hears is at 1:05, then around 1:45, again at 2:50 and again around 3:50. If you want to watch the whole thing you might find the conversation between us and the audiologist to be interesting as it answers some questions we had.

As a side note, I should mention that during this time Ana didn't have on her other ear, so she couldn't hear any of our outside noise. :)

News from Ethiopia

This is supposed to be on Lori's blog but I don't have her password. We talked about getting me that information before she left but it was too crazy. Anyway, if you're reading this and you know there are people who want to be in the Lori, Howie and Betti loop, please pass along this blog entry to them!

"Hi Everyone,

Well, we finally made it to Ethiopia Monday morning at 9:00! We were immediately taken to Birtukan and Nesibu's guesthouse, where we are staying, and upon arrival we saw two VERY cute little girls, Betti and Rediet (the Fry's little girl) in traditional Ethiopian white dresses holding roses! It was a picture that I will never forget! When we got out of the van the girls ran up to us and Betti kissed us. She LOVES HER DADDY (and her mommy too a little bit I think :) )!!!! She has had no hesitation in wanting to be with us. Last night she did not want to sleep with Rediet and Birtukan's daughter in the small bedroom--she wanted to sleep smack-dab between Howie and I. Throughout the night she would reach over to us and hug and kiss us--almost as if to make sure we were still there and to thank us for FINALLY coming to get her.

Today we are visiting the Bethany office, the Gelgela orphanage (not where our girls are from), and then going to the U.S. embassy for Betti's appt. We then come back for some of Birtukan's fabulous cooking, and the rest of the Bethany families who are here adopting will be here also, so that will be fun!

Okay, I MUST go take a shower since I haven't had one since, um, Saturday morning!?! We miss you Charlie and J.J. and love you VERY VERY much! Betti can't wait to meet you!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Lori, Howie and Betti"

My parents were here for a few days this week and as usual it was wonderful to have them here. Kurt and Dad had a painting project (of course) and I will post pictures of that at a later date. Simon had a sleepover last night at a friends house so he wasn't around to bid farewell this morning and hop into this shot, but Ana was happy to have them all to herself! She is doing very well and to look at her you wouldn't know that she had surgery on Monday. She has her follow-up appointment this coming Monday and now we know that she will have her left ear activated on the 6th of July. Woo hoo!

Ta da!

Ana is officially implanted with ear number two! As I was laying in bed with her tonight the words and tune "Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below, praise him above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost" kept going through my mind. As Simon said at dinner tonight "I never thought that when Ana got her first ear she would ever get a second." And I said "me neither Bud...me neither". But as usual, God is awesome in his workings and today we beheld yet another miracle in the life of our little peanut.

She did very well despite the two-hour delay in surgery time. She was scared and tried so hard to be brave beforehand. Her little face was often wrought with anxiety and she wanted us all to just sit and be quiet. After we learned of the long wait time, Kurt read many books to her and then she was even allowed to watch a Winnie the Pooh movie. It was the magic elixir she needed to wile away the next 90-minutes before surgery. All in all she was a wonderful patient and the nurses enjoyed her occasional "thumbs-up" when they asked how she was doing. She is now sleeping peacefully (though it took awhile to get comfy with her big bandage on the left side of her head - which you can't see in the photos - she has a cone covering her ear) and we anticipate taking off the bandage tomorrow and having a fairly normal day.

Thanks so very much for all of your prayers, comments on here via Facebook or the blog. I haven't read them yet but I see them there waiting for me...and I simply can't go to bed before I read them. I will update more when there is more energy in my body but for now I'll say nighty night!

My thanks to James and Judy for blessing Simon today with their love, time and energy. :)

-Lisa

Ear number two!

Tomorrow is the big day! Ana's surgery is tomorrow morning (6/15) at 10:00 a.m.. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we take this journey once again. :)

Along with these beautiful new flowers that are bursting in our garden we have some great news! Ana has a surgery date for cochlear implant number two and it's just two weeks from today! While it's not exactly the date we would have chosen (first day of vacation Bible school for Simon and first day of summer school for Ana) there was nothing else available until well into July. We are happy that she will have the summer to adjust to ear number two and excited for her because she is sooooooo excited about this! :) She has been asking about "two ears" since our first appointment way back in January (?).

The school year is winding down, with just eight days left. Thankfulness is in my heart as I reflect on the thoughts and feelings from a year ago and leaving Quito. It is good to be settled and with roots. I share the below quote, which I posted on Facebook recently but can't remember if I put it on here last fall.

"To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul." - Simone Weil, French philosopher

Home Sweet Home

So...the party location moved (see earlier post). I found this in the hanging geranium plant today when I went to water it. I thought I had seen a bird fly out of there FAST earlier today. Now we wait. :)

Today after seven days of near constant coughing, runny nose and fevers (both scarily high and just low-grade) Ana has emerged smiling and hungry - I am SO thankful. We were pretty worried about our little Peanut for a bit there, especially with the no-eating since she has little to nothing to spare (notice her toothpick thin arms and ankles???). Anyway, today she felt like getting dressed and even threw on her princess shoes - which I definitely thought called for a picture. It is good to be well!

Soooo, things are still growing in the garden. Imagine that! Now we have Dahlia's (we bought those and they are on our porch), grape ivy, peony buds (doesn't it look like a jewel??), cherry beginnings on the cherry tree, the ornamental chives that are now in full bloom, as well as an unidentified blue flower, the garden frog and my ever growing chatter of all things garden - which brings me to the top right photo - me driving Kurt crazy. he he he :)

A certain someone is trying to plan a party on our back porch light. See the glittery blue ribbon hanging down through our screen? (top middle pane). The party planner is hiding in the tree in the bottom photo. You might have to click the photo to enlarge it and find her. :)

I came in through the back door last night and found a bunch of stuff hanging down from our light and we thought it was done on purpose by a person...though that would have been a silly little prank...so we pulled it all down and went inside - but no sooner had we done that than a robin was dive-bombing to the porch to see what had happened. We were shocked! It was a nest! But my goodness was it ever sloppy. I'm not sure how anything could have lived in there. Imagine my surprise this morning when I went to the back to check the weather and found the below items hanging from the light...again. She was back at work. Not quite sure what to do...I hate to interfere with nature but it's not exactly the best location for a territorial Mama.

Happy Mother's Day

What a beautiful day we had. Breakfast with a friend, church, lunch, flower shopping, gardening/planting and now waiting for our burgers on the grill to be finished. Mm mm. Good day to be Mommy. :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the special women in my life.

The back yard is springing to life! From the lilacs and grape hyacinth to the raspberries and lambs ear I am delighted beyond all measure. The sun and rain have brought forth much growth. :)

Soccer season!

Soccer season began four Saturdays ago, though the kids have had playing time just two of those Saturdays. Chicago has had a lot of rain and so because the parks have been muddy swamps, games and practices alike have been cancelled. However, Simon and Ana are both having a great time and it has been fun to become official soccer parents. I even bought a couple of very portable lawnchairs last week and threw them in the back of our car (we bought a car! I haven't mentioned that on here. We love it!) Anyway, soccer is good, life is good, spring is beautiful and we are all well and happy.

I forgot that I wanted some pictures of Simon during the game until he was having his rotation out of the game so someone else could play. Oops!

More rain!

The Saturday that I took these pictures was a verrrrry busy day with two soccer games, dress rehearsal for Simon's musical at church, grand opening open house for the new wing at Simon's school and game night out for Kurt and me. This photo of Simon sort of sums up how we were all feeling about half way through the day. ;) Whew!

Go Ana Banana go!

There's our number 14!

April showers bring May flowers! Think these will bloom tomorrow???

For those of you who began reading this blog because of Ana and her cochlear implant, I thought you might enjoy this little language update from this afternoon. Ana puts tons of words together these days and today was no exception. While Kurt, Ana and I were walking to the back door together from the garage, we got a kick out of this particular sentence: "excuse me, I want to be first" - and then she shoved her way in front of us and stepped up to the door. Yes - we're working on manners, but goodness, what a gift that she now has enough language to be rude! (she DID say "excuse me" though) ;)