I Sewed the girls matching skirts, so I HAD to get a picture of them!

Its been awhile since I’ve written on how the family is doing. So I will catch you all up. We have been SO busy!! Five kids will keep you on your toes all day, and passed out cold at night! Each evening is filled with school work, chores, and showers, then its bed time. School is still going pretty well. We asked to move Meya to the third grade, but the principal wants to keep her where she is. Journee is doing well in fourth grade, she isn’t socially ready to move up yet. I’m sure there is some home schooling in our future. Maree is doing well and speaking in full sentences when she chooses to, other wise she pretends she is muteJ She has been grieving for a few weeks, her teacher even said she has been a little different at school. We are trying to make a little more time for her. It is easy for her to get lost in the mix of things.

Since the girls got home, they have seen Halloween stuff at Wal-Mart, and it has been talked about at school. So, I decided to dress them up in their choir robes and take them to a business sponsored trick-or-treating. It wasn’t what I expected. It was more like a haunted house. I thought about us just leaving once we got inside, but the kids wanted the candy. I’m sure they were pretty freaked out at first and I kept telling them it wasn’t real. I wouldn’t do that again. I didn’t expect it to be like that. Our church is having something Tuesday night, where no scary costumes are allowed. This will be better, and we will only do that next year. By the time we got through the whole thing and each child had a good two pounds of candy, they seemed to have warmed up to it.

I’m sure they are very confused. They were raised in a great Christian home, where their father ran two Bible studies a week that the kids attended. Journee has proven she knows a lot about the Bible. Calvin asked them what color Jesus was, and Journee said like Hannah’s color, but not black. (Jesus is believed to have been middle eastern). Also, Calvin asked if they thought he was going to Heaven, and Journee said only God knows, she can not say.

The one time Calvin scared them to be silly they were up praying for two hours. I can only imagine what they are thinking now. I really hope they don’t have bad dreams. I will pray over them and not take them to another place like that again. That is all I can do. I think seeing their friends from school there helped them to realize it is just for fun.

That’s about all on the Bradshaw front.

Here are 5 of our 7 member choir. Our church has a costume contest on Tuesday, so we are a church choir!

Yeah, that's a lot of candles! Calvin turned 30 today! We found something new that all three girls like, Chocolate Cake!!
Calvin also got to go to the girls school today for "Take your Father to Lunch" day. The girls all enjoyed having him there, and he enjoyed going.

Luke has carried my tripod around the house the last few days saying "mile, pitcher!"
This makes Mommy smile:)

Last night........
I have to share what happened last night with you all. It was 7:30, which is bed time in our house. Journee and Meya said they wanted to show us something. We all gathered in the room where the four younger kids sleep, and Meya stepped forward to go first. She had a piece of paper in her hands and she read:

Name, Meya Bradshaw October 16, 2006

I like Journee. I love you.

I like Maree. I love you.

I like Hannah. I love you.

I like Luke. I love you.

I like daddy. I love you.

I like mommy. I love you.

I like my family. I love you.

Then Journee took the stage and read:

Name, Journee October 16, 2006

Family

My family are nice and good.

My dad are nice and good.

My mom are good and nice.

My brother are good and nice.

My sisters are good and nice.

I like my daddy. I love you.

I like my mommy. I love you.

I like my brother. I love you.

I like my sisters. I love you.

Luke

Hannah

Journee

Maree

Meya

Daddy

Mommy

This is my family.

I love my family.

Yeah, so I almost cried, I think the only thing that stopped me was that I was tired. We hugged them and told them we love them too. And the hugs since last night, have been deeper stronger hugs.

God is doing a great thing in their hearts, because they have sure had a lot to process!

I got home from running some errands and had a strong urge to do some photos. So I made everyone throw on a white shirt, before we lost all sun light and ran outside. Below you will see a few different versions of the same pic. Now that I got that out of my system, I will move onto the next idea on my list:)

I love photoshop!

Another version....

New family pic.

2006 Balloon Fiesta, balloon glow.

This morning was unusually hectic, because our neighbor came to help Calvin move our camper to storage. This meant all the kids ate at a snails pace and watched in awe saying "No, he's my daddy". By the time I hustled the kids out the door, Hannah and Luke were still in pj’s with bed head. But all were bundled in winter gear, teeth were brush, and no one was fighting. As I watched them trail out the door, one by one, plump as marshmallows, I couldn’t stop smiling. We are blessed, God has given us five healthy beautiful children.

I am blessed to get to experience the biological bond I have with Hannah and Luke, they are my heart! The more time that passes, the more I feel these girls belong in our family. I feel so torn right now, because there were times early on where we felt they should go home to be with their family, as there is no logical reason they are here. But now, as we draw closer and closer to these girls, I can’t imagine them going back. To even think of it, breaks my heart, it really brings tears to my eyes. Even with the many challenges Journee brings to our family, I want her here. (This emotion is subject to change when the pouting beginsJ)

I enjoy packing everyone up in the morning, and hauling them off to school (where everyone needs to hug and kiss three times, then blow 5 kisses back and forth before getting in the school). I enjoy picking them up, with shouts of excitement back and forth as the kids come into each others view. One special days they have a variety of goodies they collected through out the day (like half a piece of gum, or a jolly rancher, or 10 goldfish crackers), which they divide up with the other kids. It is a sight to see.

Last night I took Meya and Journee to the balloon glow at the Balloon Fiesta with the kids babysitter and her mom, it was a hoot! They enjoyed the balloons, and wanted to take a picture of each one 40 times. We all tried some mini cinnamon rolls and cotton candy, the cotton candy was odd to them, and a little bit was enough. But then……….the fireworks started. They went crazy!! Meya screamed through the whole thing! Journee went nuts every time we tried to talk, for fear that someone would miss something! They said 20 times, “not in Ethiopia”. This means we have finally found something they haven’t seen before.

There was music, and the girls danced, ran acted silly and had a blast! We will go back on Saturday morning with Hannah and Maree also, so they can see the balloons actually take off.

The "after" pic of the pumpkins. This whole pumpkin thing must be confusing to the girls. I can imagine them thinking "why are we coloring on gords?" And yes, Maree IS also holding a doll head........

Yesterday Calvin took off work and we put the little ones in daycare, so we could have a day together. I have been frustrated and over stressed for several days, and I blew up at him. I feel the girls have pulled away from me, and I feel like it is partly because Calvin is the fun parent. All I do is cook and yell. Even though I didnt need to take my frustrations out on him, I think I needed to get them out. I dont want to be bad cop, it isnt fun. So we will both work on letting each other be good cop.
Also, Journee is keeping Meya so far from us, I feel I have no relationship with her. Journee creates this wall between Meya and anyone else. They cant breath without each other. We will continue to work at keeping them apart as much as possible. We are planning to get Journee into an after school program.
So about yesterday...... I took Meya with me to pick up Hannah and Luke from daycare. Then we ate at McDonalds and the kids played for an hour. We ran a few more errands and went home. Calvin was then on his way out the door with Journee to go to a football game. I spent the whole evening feeling sorry, that she is proubably bored and cold. They got home, and she LOVED it! Ok, how did I end up with a daughter that loves football????
While they were gone, the four younger ones and I decorted little pumpkins and ate popcorn. I tucked the three youngest into bed at 7:30, and Meya had her first photo shoot. It was lots of fun, but I wasnt feeling real inspired. I think we will do more outside, maybe that will go better. Meya is so girly and cute, we had a great time.
When we were done, I pulled up photoshop and was showing her some different things we can do, then I let her do some things. She put stars all over her face in one. She thought it was pretty fun, but I think she would have rather been at a football game:(

Here is a pic of Meya from our first photo op. My studio is pretty ghetto, but it works. I thought she would be a little concerned when we went in the room, but it seems the girls have already been waiting for their turn! She was ready to pose and was going through the props.
This will be great to have three new kiddos to practice my photography on:)

Hannah's first real hair cut! I cut off about 8 inches. It looks pretty cute now. I got sick of fighting her for 45 minutes trying to comb and braid her hair. Little girls with sensitive heads should have short hair! Plus, now that her hair isnt braided, she says she is a barbie.

Hannah's first deep conditioner! She left the cap on her head for 30 minutes to earn her promised sucker when it was all over:)

Meya & Maree:)

Our little cubs in their PJ's! Footy pajamas are the best!

We had two good weeks. But now we have had a few tough days. The pouting gets SO annoying! I get SO frustrated, and think I may be withdrawing from the girls a little. I am going to make a concious effort not to. Please pray for us in this area. We are also trying to decide if we should seperate the two oldest girls. We know the middle girl feels torn, and get reminded all night long about how horrible we are. But at the same time, they have never even slept in different beds. Journee had another melt down today. Crying, wailing, and throwing herself against her door. She calmed down a little and told me that she didnt understand why she had to write "Pouting is not accepted" 100 times. I told her that Mom and Dad dont spank her, this is here discipline. She then told me in Ethiopia, there is no discipline. Im quite sure this is NOT true. I think there are a lot of abused kids there actually.
Saturday I had the girls help me put together stockings for Metro Ministries and shoe boxes for Samaritans Purse. They pouted because they couldnt figure out why I was sending all this stuff to other people. I explained the people were poor, but they still asked for each thing I put in a box or stocking. Then Journee broke the stapler, two days before she broke the shower. I wonder when they will ever stop breaking stuff. I will include the links to the above organizations, incase you are looking for something charitable to do.
The man who runs Metro Ministries is AMAZING!! His name is Bill Wilson, and he has the heart of a true Christian. In fact, I wrote him a letter when we were going through some crap prior to our adoption, and he acutally called me! Like he doesnt have a million other things going on! His books and videos will be worth every penny. If you can ever see him speak, go and take kleenex!
Please keep us in your prayers.
www.metroministries.com
www.samaritanspurse.com

I think I will use this for Maree's school picture, I just can't pay for those odd pose school pic's. Plus, they cost more then if I do them myself, and you all know how cheap I am:)

Hannah and her baby gave it a try too!!!

This is how the women in Ethiopia carry their children around. It looked odd at first, then I asked if it was comfortable, and was told YES!
Luke is very attached lately, so I gave it a try, it is SO comfortable! He asks for mama's back now.
This is much more comfortable then the odd strappy things we sell here in the US. Luke is over two and this was still comfy! All you need is a bed sheet:)

I wanted a nice picture of me and all my kiddos. The picture turned out nice, but you will notice one is missing. She is on the other couch pouting, again!

I got my beading stuff out and the girls made braclets for their friends at school. These are the moments I dreamed of.
Of couse this was followed by pouting.......