Family

I have been wanting to write about family for a long time. For those who do not know both of our parents live overseas. I go through times when I really miss them a lot usually around my birthday which is in September. For some reason this year it came earlier. I am fine the rest of the year but for some reason I will go through about a week when I am so sad everybody is so far.

I do not have a grandma to call to come watch the kids so I can run some errands real quick. Or I don't have a place where I can drop them off so me and Fil can enjoy a quiet evening. My kids don't have cousins since Fil's brother is still single and lives in CO and my brother is too young and still in school. They have been asking what cousins are and I felt sad for them. I wish somebody from our immediate family would live close. I am sure that some of you who have family too close wish they would live further so you have some peace. But for some reason now I wish our families were closer. I feel like my kids are missing their grandparents in their lives even though they do get to see Fil's parents at least 2 times a year.

Then I miss my family when I am running out of time. Like when laundry or ironing needs to get done, I am tripping over toys everywhere I go, the garden outside and see that itneeds some work really bad etc.

I will be fine in a few days but I wanted to share my feelings with you. I guess that is mainly why I am exited about our growing family. I never thought we would have four kids (the thought still scares me some times). I believed we would maybe have two at the most. Fil always talked about 3 at least and maybe four. However, when we all sit down at the dinner table and there is always something to say I am so happy. I love to watch the kids play together they never get bored. Even though sometimes I loose it and question my sanity especially when there are toys laying around every where and I am having a hard time finding a little space to cook dinner in my big kitchen. But then I have to count my blessings. I have been so blessed in my live, I never in my wildest dreams dreamt about all this. I have the best loving husband and three healthy beautiful and full of live children. We have place to sleep and plenty of food to eat. I think about that a lot especially since we started our adoption process.

It is not a long time ago when the boys watched Spider Man for the first time (so did I). The scene when Peter Parker is talking to his uncle right before he heads out to his first fight it struck me. His uncle was telling him that

with a great power comes a big responsibility.

I know that it doesn't feel like we have any power at all but when I look around with what God blessed me with and that one day He will ask what I did with what he gave me, am I going to be able to answer that question? This is one of the things when we have to look beyond our backyard. Since I grew up in Europe that never has been the problem but I really want my kids to look around and see. I hope that one day we will all be able to go to Ethiopia or another place to see that not all places are like here in America (and I think about that when I am tripping over my kids toys and sometimes I believe they have too much stuff and so do we). How much power do I have to make a difference in someone Else's life?

A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength;

Proverbs 34:5

Beach Boys (and a Girl) on Wednesday

We made it to the beach today. Hurray! The weather here has been cloudy but warm and sticky. Got to love the humidity. As I am writing this blog it is showing more than 65% humidity outside. Anyway it was a nice day to spend at the water. The boys enjoyed themselves very much and I believe they were in the water for more than 3 hours with a few trips to the bathroom. We got invited to ours friend's sister in-law summer lake house with other mom's and kids. The poor sister in-law (well I actually know her personally I am sure she did not mind it at all) it was 6 mom's with 11 kids total. Not bad. I almost forgot plus one dog and one cousin from Scotland. Emma did not care for the water at all. Maybe too many kids for her taste. They all got to enjoy canoe rides plenty of water floats and even a jet ski ride (By the way a single woman lives her in this house). There was enough toys to go around.

Emma watching all the action around her. Out of all the kids there were only 3 girls. We ended the day almost with a trip to ER. Emma felt of a chair (again) and cut her ear pretty good. We decided not to go since we dont think she needed stitches. I tried to put a something on it to keep it together and I hope it works. We shall see tomorrow. I believe we will make it to the ER with Emma again by the end of the summer. She is so busy and she can not sit still.

Bikers on Tuesday

Today was another day we spent around the house. However, the boys have been asking about the beach again so I guess we will have to make a trip soon. Anyway today they were busy playing outside. They pulled every single thing out of garage all over the yard but managed to clean it up before Fil made it home from work so he did not have to park in the drive way. They had a race going on around the house. Two bikers and one trike. Seeing the pictures I realize how much the boys need a bigger bikes. Hopefully soon.


Emma's the biggest biker of them all. Yes she has a big kids helmet on but all of the kids have. Their heads are too big for little kids bike helmets so they all have been wearing bigger sizes since the beginning.

Artists on Monday

We did not make it to the beach today. That was the original plan but we got rained out. Actually we didn't even make it to the beach. I knew the rain was coming from my personal weather station (my husband). So we stayed home and tried to do some stuff around the house. I worked on many pictures that needed to be edited back from the spring. Fil's parents and his brother spent some time in Costa Rica and I got all the pictures to play with. They got some really nice ones and I will post some of them eventually.

Since it was raining we dug into my basket to find projects we could do on a rainy days. The boys picked painting and you can see the results. I did help Nate a little (Let's just say I was trying to save his picture). These are the times when the artistic side of me comes out and wants to do it for the kids. But I was good and let them do it their own way and I picked up the pieces at the end. This one is Nate's and my picture of the day.

And here is Sam's. He did his on his own all the way.

Well and here is the greatest artist of them all. Actually she was very good the whole time. She just watched the boys and me to see what we were up to.

Also I have been checking the Waal's blog a few times a day. They are in Ethiopia right now and they are posting numerous posts every day, including pictures and short video clips from their trip. I am very impressed and a little bit scared since they raised the blogging bar so high for us.

Hello

I wanted to officially say hello to my new cyber-friends. It is exciting to have the privilege to meet new friends through unconventional channels on the Internet. Thanks to our adoption agency we have access to a yahoo group online where many of the families who are adopting are in regular contact. This has been most encouraging and helpful. We have been able discuss adoption issues with families which are going through the same issues we are, being encouraged, and seeing adoptions finalized. We get to see pictures of families meeting their children and also give advice to new families just starting the process. We are able to read others families blogs daily (sometimes few times a day). It is great to see all of you moving forward with the paperwork and bringing home your little ones. I am so grateful to God for sending all these people our way and I am hoping that someday we will get to meet some of you. Hello to all of you out there may God be with you and bless you !!!

Happy 4th of July

Happy Independence Day everyone! What a privilege we have to live in a free country. We are all so very blessed with everything. As I was watching the fireworks last night I couldn't help but be thankful for my wonderful family which God has blessed me with. A loving husband and three beautiful (and busy) children soon to be four.

Yes we got to see the fireworks day early. We headed out yesterday and spent the day in Kittery ME and Portsmouth NH area. We saw a beautiful fireworks display and I believe we found a new family tradition. We will spend some time this afternoon with some of our friends from church. I am sure we will head home early to catch up on sleep.

The kids were waiting for some boom booms and busy running around with glow sticks. For those who do not know earlier in the year, after the boys playing with glow sticks in their room, one of them broke and leaked. It spilled around Nate's eye and he ended up walking around with a chemical burn around his eye. Even though it looked bad the skin healed without any problems. Anyway since then I am not a big fan of glow sticks and I am kind of paranoid when the kids play with them (but I have to say that it is cool to play with it in the dark).
Our Little Miss Fire Cracker

(She will pose every time I take picture.)

Fishing

Well we are in the month of July and the Steiger Clan has not slowed down yet. Yesterday the boys went fishing. Only the boys, me and Emma stayed home and did some work around the house (Emma played outside and I was trying to do some pruning on our cherry tree. I will have to get some books on that the tree looks bad). Anyway the boys headed out to a state park to go get some fish for dinner. They were all exited and from their stories I could tell they had a great time. The boys ready for some fishing.
Nothing yet.
Nate in action.
Sam learned a lot and did not want to leave (they were gone for more than 4 hours).
By the way we had steak tips for dinner. Maybe next time we will have some fish.