Summer adventure

 Once we were finally settled and unpacked at the new house the kids started begging for outings. I love that they expect adventure. Amber asked, "When are we going to start doing fun stuff again?"

So, it was off to the mountatins for an adventure. We met my brother and brought our dogs, the "fur-cousins" along. It was gorgeous.

First stop: the "warming shack" for lunch. This was the perfect set up. Even the dogs came in to get out of the sun and away from the dust while we ate.

The hike was perfect. Jacob ran the whole way. I love watching my boys scatter through the wilderness. Boys were made for dirt.

Drew and Jacob found a burnt out log and decorated themselves with "war paint." I think this was my favorite part of the whole outing. 

Drew was fierce.

Jacob couldn't help but giggle. Loved his little mask.

When all 6 of the kids sleep all the way back, you know it was a great adventure.

Especially when this one sleeps. She never sleeps in the car. 

I love summer!

Staying Cool

I am constantly looking for free or at least very inexpensive ways to entertain my kids and get them out of the house during the summer. Last week we had the chance to visit the ice rink in our old town at a highly discounted rate. And we were the only ones there. It was like having our own private party.

We brought a few friends along.

They gave our group a quick lesson.

The girls had a blast.

The littles had plenty of fun and have asked if we can go back multiple times.

And the big boys and I had fun taking on all of the little games and challenges. Ty, as usual, smoked us all. That kid has natural ability coming out of his ears.

This was a great way to stay cool on a hot day. And at the huge discounted rate I would definitely go back. Too bad it can't be that cheap all the time.

Box Cars

It never ceases to amaze me how much fun my kids can have with boxes. 

It took Drew and Ty a little longer to get into the spirit because their original designs didn't work out. But once they saw how much fun Jacob was having with his car they both got lost for an hour or two making their own.

All three of the boys "box cars" stuck around for about a week. Jacob called his "My ban" (van) and was disappointed when it was finally time to let them go.

I love little imaginations.

Pictures

It's official! We have PA (pre-approval) from China for both our boys! This means we have a maximum of 6 months to provide the necessary documents to China for our boys' adoption. This also means our boys are 'reserved' for us during that time and, as long as we provide the documents required, our process will be approved.

This also means that I can share photos! As usual, I will not be sharing identifying information such as location or their previous names. But I love me some pictures.

The "moment" they all found out.

We told the kids last Sunday. I have been asked by several friends how the kids are feeling about this idea. They all reacted exactly as we predicted. Jacob has no clue what is going on but is excited because everyone else is excited. Drew responded the same way he always does: "Can I go play with my toys now?" Amber was through the roof ecstatic and has maintained the highest enthusiasm of the group. Caity already knew and was relieved to not be carrying a secret anymore. She is second in line for enthusiasm after Amber. Justin started with insecurities and concern but swung to the opposite extreme of thorough support within about 15 minutes. He even prayed for "little brothers" that night before bed. And Ty is the one showing the lasting insecurity with this prospect. He is excited and happy to have "Chinese brothers." But this definitely brings up a lot of discussions that have been buried for a while. It is our sincere hope that this process will bring added healing for Ty and draw him closer to us. We can already see changes. God is good.

We immediately put the boys' pictures on the fridge. This little tradition always helps our kiddos start thinking and talking about their new brother(s).

The picture on the left on our refrigerator is our Aiden. 

He is 9 and fits right smack in the middle of Ty and Amber. Aiden is completely deaf and has one Cochlear Implant. Everyone asks what is on his right shoulder, it is part of his CI. He is learning spoken Mandarin and also knows Chinese Sign Language. I can understand his spoken Mandarin in videos we have. So our family will be learning to sign and working hard to get Aiden the best therapies and services to teach him spoken English as well as American Sign Language. 

Ty, Caity, and Amber learning to Cue. They didn't know at the time of this picture we were adopting, they just thought cue looked really fun. We have friends in North Carolina that we traveled to China with for Ty who adopted one of Ty's friends that are learning to Cue. The kids thought this was a great idea. Now they think it is even more exciting.

The kids have already been studying Cued speech to help Aiden learn to decipher our spoken sounds. Cued speech will also be used in our home to help Aiden with reading, rhyming and fluency. We are meeting several families online who have used Cue with their internationally adopted deaf kiddos with great success. We are also finding that Cued Speech is not super popular in many circles. And we already knew there is a fair amount of controversy regarding Cochlear Implants, American Sign Language, Deaf Culture, Education options, Conceptually Accurate Signed English, Cued Speech, Education options, and the rest of the long list of things hearing families never think about. Did I mention Education options? We are enthusiastically jumping in with both feet.

The picture on the right above is our second son, Nathan. 

Nathan just turned 13. He has perfect hearing but has taught himself Chinese Sign Language in order to communicate with one of his friends who is deaf. We have many videos of him translating for his friend. It is amazing that he has self-taught sign language with such confidence and fluency. We love the little details God always lines up for us. 

We need to travel to China before Nathan's 14th birthday next April. Chinese law prohibits children over the age of 14 from being adopted domestically or internationally. His adoption must be completed before the day of his 14th birthday. So this puts a pretty quick timeline into motion. But as long as we don't dawdle along the way, there should be plenty of time.

We are going back to China in the spring!

It was a nice break

So, the cat has escaped the bag: we are adopting again. Two more boys will be joining our family in the Spring.

Yes, again.

Yes, two.

We were on a break. Adoption was not on our minds, in our discussions, or even within the "5-year plan." Our plan was to continue to enjoy our 'perfect' 4-bedroom home in Roseville as a family of 8 until either Justin or Caitlin, or both, decided it was time to leave the nest. We both knew adoption would return to our family, we just assumed it would be later. We told each other, family, and friends, "We are still young. So in the next 5 years or so when our oldest are ready to leave we will probably adopt again."

That was our plan. But I seem to recall my plan of being "done" after two little girls. And then being "done" after two little girls and one precious little boy.

Around the time Ty came home I came to the realization that my expectation of how things were going to go was just not worth the mental and emotional effort. Things were much easier, more beautiful, and far more rewarding when I lay my own expectations down and sought the will of my Father.

So, here we are again, surrounded by miracles. I can't share pictures of our boys here just yet. But I can tell you the crazy story of how this all came to be. As usual, it is a long story. But that's partly because we are so dense. You would think it would easy for us by now to see things coming. But we were enjoying our break a little too much.

This has a lot to do with how we came to list and sell our house. And how we came to purchase the house we bought. But we didn't know it at the time.

So dense.

Remember, this was not our plan. We didn't think we needed 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. We thought we were finally going to realize our dream of owning acreage. When we decided to sell the house we were NOT thinking of our next adoption. Our search criteria was literally 2-3 bedrooms, 1-2 bathrooms, beat up, ugly, old and outdated (yes those were words we used with our realtor), and the most important part: 1-5 acres. We wanted a tiny, ugly, outdated structure we could cram our giant family into while we built the dream house.

Our plan.

In that blog post on May 24th I even stated: "we are not starting another adoption if that is what you are interpreting here."

So dense.

June 4th, the day I recorded in my journal that our offer on our current home had been accepted I mentioned a strange 'adoption itch.' It was a very clear and specific premonition that we were going to adopt not one, but two children from the China Special Needs program. I mentioned an assumption that January would make the most sense but was at least wise enough to add that my expectations never seem to line up with God's plans.

The very next day Brad and I had a random conversation about the possibility of another adoption. This was not the time to be discussing adoption. We were literally in the middle of a move. But the conversation just flowed. I even shared my feeling from the day before of adopting more than one child. Brad was not immediately on board. But the fact that he didn't freak out was downright out of character. At one point he leaned over to kiss me and say, "I love that this is where we are: we can have a discussion about adopting TWO more children and I'm not freaking out."

By June 11th, Brad's side of the conversation had reached the point of, "We should start studying Mandarin again." This 'idea' was not going away.

June 15th I had the strangest experience of having a song that I still cannot name stuck in my head the entire day. One line that I know I have heard but cannot place played again and again in my mind, "And then I saw your face." I can hear the melody, but I still cannot name the song or any of the other lyrics. I left the house for a run after the kids were in bed that night and it played in my mind again. I stopped and look upward to say through a chuckle, "Okay, I'm ready Heavenly Father. If you want to show me the face of an orphan I'm ready. Just please help Brad be ready to hear about it."

Brad was out of town. The morning of the 16th he went for a run too. During his run he could not stop crying. He felt completely overwhelmed by the Spirit and could not explain why. That same afternoon I got on Facebook during nap time and felt prompted to click on a link a friend had shared. I saw the face of a boy. My boy. Or at least a boy that I knew was calling to me. Remember, we've done this before.  I showed Brad when he got home. He had the same feeling. We knew the boy in these pictures. We recognized him. And we knew we were being urged forward. It's hard to explain, but when we see our boy's pictures, we just know. Even Xylon, who did not end up being our son, had this same effect.

We chose an agency and got started. June 28th I saw the face of a second boy in an email our agency sent out. The details are special, so I wont be sharing the whole story. But Brad had been talking about the name 'Aiden' relentlessly, and when I saw this boy's video, I knew he was meant to be our Aiden.

Brad still wasn't ready for the idea of two boys. He watched the videos and reviewed Aiden's information with me. He just wasn't ready. But I knew Aiden was our second boy. We agreed to be patient and pray.

Two days later there was a twist in the road. The day we got the keys to our new home I ran across a blog post about the first boy we had seen. The boy that Brad and I had agreed to pursue. That little blog post spurred a flurry of questions that ended two days later in our decision he was not meant for our family.

But, in searching for information online about this first boy, I ran across an advocacy Facebook page where he and other children were listed. Because I had joined the group to gain access, I continued to see other children's pictures pop up. And two days later I saw the information of another boy. I immediately requested information from the agency advocating for him. And by that afternoon I had pictures, videos, and medical info. This literally happened the day of our move. I mentioned him to Brad, but we were moving. There was no time to show him pictures or talk.

I want to pause a moment to share that all of this time I felt there were two boys. Brad wasn't ready. So I prayed. Every time I asked that Brad be given the same confirmation I had, I felt impressed with, "When he see's them, he will know."

That night, Friday July 1, after having loaded our moving truck and putting the kids to bed in our empty house on mattresses on the floor, Brad and I went to my parents to do some laundry. (Well meaning friends had put the clothes set aside for the next day into the moving truck.) As we lay on the floor, exhausted, Brad asked to see the videos I had received. It was an immediate recognition. Brad explained that watching the videos immediately opened his heart to both boys. We both knew. As we drove home Brad spoke this boy's name, "Nathan."

There have been many other little miracles in this whirlwind experience. Too many to share. But all have been generous little confirmations that a higher power is at work. Nathan, 13, and Aiden, 9, will be coming home in the spring. As soon as we have PA from China I will start sharing pictures and stories.

Driving home tonight Brad was talking about the boys and began to cry as he said, "I didn't realize I was so ready to be done with the break."

It was a nice little break.

We're busy and we like it

So much has happened since school let out!

I knew it would be busy with Drew's birthday and our move. But really, it feels like I blinked and June disappeared. I will try to abbreviate, but there is a lot to report:

It all started quite innocently with typical summer fun in the Krinke family.

picnic at Coloma

Silly nap-time crafts like balloon car races and egg shell mosaics.

Funny snack creations

bike rides and berry picking

swimming at the lake

s'mores on the BBQ

It was a great first week of vacation. The kids were having a great time and I was slowly packing one box at a time.

Drew's birthday hit and everything started to pick up speed.

It's the same party every year. We at least mixed it up a little bit with some new party guests. Finally a great turn out. Most years we have had one friend show up.

Cannon balls galore.

The actual day was the day after we got keys to the new house. So most of Drew's festivites were squeezed in around packing, appointments at the new house, and move prep. There was an abundance of sugar so he didn't mind.

A cannon ball at the new house.

Then we blinked and the move was upon us.

Drew and I sprawled out on the new family room floor before the move.

Jacob making sure to clean the floor of the moving truck with his stomach.

We had a ton of help on both ends of the move.

We sprinkled a few toys on the floor of the new toy room to try and keep the littles busy.

The first morning waking up in our new surroundings. The boys made sure to comfort and baby Miss Belle who was not thrilled with our two-story home. She refused to set foot on the second story deck and the indoor stairs are still a less than graceful experience for her. Now that we are on day 4, she is starting to like her new surroundings.

Task number one: buy some groceries! My fridge has never been so bare.

One of my favorite little details: now that Justin has his own room and no longer needs a bunk bed he chose to decorate and organize his room himself. I love the flags on his bed. Paint and decor are on their way.

The 4 kiddos we expected to struggle had their moments for sure. But overall the move was perfectly smooth and better than we could have asked for. As of tonight the inside of the house is completely unpacked. Every bathroom, closet, bedroom, kitchen, toy room and living space is set up and ready to go. Now for the garages...

More pictures of the house to come as paint and decor happen one room at a time.