Sweet Life in the City

So apparently my definition of resting my arm on Monday was not entirely accurate. There were some things that did not get done around the house because I was of course resting my arm, but Jeremy reminded me that I rested my arm after I went to the grocery store, brought all the groceries inside the apartment, colored my hair, and wrote a blog post :). Oops, I guess I did not do a very good job. I am just having a hard time finding a medium between working myself to death on housework and not feeling like a lazy bum for not doing enough. I feel kind of lazy most days because I call myself a stay-at-home mom, but I guess technically I am a mom who happens to stay at home. I feel like when I take the kids to school I should be getting so much accomplished, but by the time I get home and get the house cleaned and laundry started and everything else it is already time to get the kids picked up from school. I get them home and I don't know if your kids have this super-power, but my kids...

I was not going to post today because I am actually having some pain in my elbow. I think I have tennis elbow (yes, self-diagnosis), because I have all the symptoms that point to it being tennis elbow. This is the 2nd flare up I have had in the last few months so I am trying to rest my arm and keep heat/ice on it today. I know, however, if I skip more than a few days it will only make it harder to blog again :). I wanted to say "THANKS" to those who prayed about Samuel's grades. Thursday afternoon his science teacher emailed and said that the grade actually rounded up to a "D" instead of an "F". Not that having a "D" is good, but we can recover easier with that grade. We spent Thursday night studying like crazy for the science test on Friday. He hasn't gotten his grade back, but when I picked the kids up from school Friday Samuel felt confidant that he did well. He said, "Mom, I was taking that science test and I thought, 'Wow! I...

There is some rain and cooler weather coming in today, so I am not feeling great. Headaches and blogging for me do not go together very well. I did just want to drop a note asking those who read this blog to pray about something with me. Samuel is having a hard time in taking tests for social studies and science. I think that part of it is being a 10 year boy and the fact that 5th grade and switching class is a whole new world for him. He is having a hard time remembering to bring the correct books home and just staying focused on each class. He had a social studies test on Tuesday and did not bring his book home Monday night! He brought home his class notebook, but let's be real, how well does a 10 year old boy take class notes! He bombed the test, but his grade is holding steady but he cannot afford to flunk another test. Oh, I can access all of the kids grades and what they made on each assignment through the school's website. So, as I am fussing about the social studies tes...

We had to face a great battle before Samuel came home. We had to go through the most painful times in our lives before we became parents. We went through the ups and downs of adoption and we fought through them and he came home. Emma started out easy. We were already parents so the pain of barrenness was not present when we started adopting the second time. We started the adoption process in February of 2007 and we were matched as her parents in June of 2007, four month wait for a referral was unheard of! Then Emma's adoption did not become so easy and this momma went into battle. Those of you that know her story know that we actually had to get our state Senators involved to get her home. Chloe, however, was basically handed over to us. We got the call asking if we would want to adopt her because she was the sibling of Samuel. We had a little hiccup, but at the point we really didn't know anything about her and we were in the heat of battle to get Emma home that we didn't ...

The last few times I have started to blog I would start giving an update on the kids but would always take an extended break and never get to Emma and Chloe. So, this post is about Emma :). In a little over a month my baby girl Emma will be 8 years old. Emma is one of the smartest and funniest girls I know. She is not as social as Sam and Chloe, so only those who really know her get to see how funny she can be. She loves to read and her mind is always turning. She wants to know about everything and how everything works. If you explain it to her she seems to memorize each step and can recall how to do it months and years later. Last week Jeremy needed to check the oil in the car and she wanted to go with them to see how to do it. She came back in and could explain the whole process to me using the correct terms. We do laugh sometimes because for being so smart this child sometimes lacks common sense. She will do things some times that make us shake our head because it just doesn't m...

  We have been living in Chicago for 2 years and 1 month. We have loved living in this amazing city, but it would be a lie if we pretended that it has been easy. We have moved several times in our lives to new cities, but moving to Chicago to start a church has brought about a spiritual warfare that we have never experienced in our life. It is a lot of pressure when each day you leave your house trying to meet people that you can share your faith with and invite them to said church you are planting, but you find out that getting to know people in this city is extremely hard and even if you do get to know them well enough to invite them to church it turns awkward. You encounter rude people daily and people that just annoy you so much that you have days that you truly say in your heart, "Who cares? Let them live there life the way they want to!" Okay, maybe that's a little harsh, but some days I long for that already established church with people who are already committed ...

    Samuel had a great birthday! I just want to say thanks to all of you that wished him happy birthday on FB, sent a card, or gave him a call yesterday. He loved reading each message and card. Grandma and Grandpa are going to be here tonight and he is having a birthday party on Saturday, so the celebrating will continue for a few more days :). I also want to say "thanks" for all the encouraging words I got yesterday about blogging again :). I figure that I spend so much time having inner dialogue with myself maybe if I actually write it down it won't seem like I am crazy ;).     Well, I just wanted to post a few pictures from yesterday and I also wanted to post a recipe that I am actually making for tonight. Being home this year I vowed to cook at home more this school year. I printed a bunch of new and easy recipes just to try to switch things up a little bit. Our new favorite recipe is found on French Dip sandwiches using my crock pot. Samuel got a new Lego se...