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Well I finally found some time to do a blog entry! It has been a very busy, crazy and emotional summer! Let's see, I blogged about going to Idaho, so we won't cover that...
We did a bit of school here and there, and mostly the boys played in the neighboorhood with their friends. We went camping a couple of times, Eric took the boys backpacking with his sister and her family, then he went by himself a couple weekends ago. Luke had a really busy summer with his new youth group-about every other weekend he was gone.
On Saturday we made a very last minute trip to Baker City Oregon to take Carmilita to live with her forever family. We left late afternoon and deposited her with Rebecca around 6:30. She was very happy to be there. Mommy and Daddy were pretty sad to see her go, but we figure God must have something really cool planned for us!! Eric's parents came and stayed with the rest of the kids so we actually had some time alone! We had a nice dinner and watched a movie in the room. We experienced one of those crazy thunder and lightening storms they get over there and a huge rain storm came with it! But it was pretty cool watching the lightening bolts! We came home the next day in a hurry so Eric could do his fantasy football draft LOL then there was a glitch in the system and they had to postpone it!
but we had a nice quiet drive home with just the two of us.
I have retired my paper scrap booking supplies and am delving into the world of digital scrap booking. I think I like it. I might upgrade the program I have so I can do some other cool things with it-we will see! so once I did that, we decided to put Levi in a room by himself. He was pretty excited and enjoyed his first night alone-he slept with the light on :)
Nick did too! LOL I think they will actually miss each other!
Let's see, all three boys are playing flag football and Levi and Nick love it! Luke is okay with it, but he is learning along with the other kids his age. I think by the end of the season he will like it better because he will understand what is going on. Luke is also playing Ultimate Frisbee on Monday nights and does like that. he really likes the kids he is playing with.
Luke is about an inch taller than me now! His feet are huge, and he cut his hair! Once he decided to cut it, he went all out to a clipper cut #1! he looks very handsome. He is going to be taking guitar lessons, piano lessons, going to two youth groups one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. He is an 8th grader now so his school work has increased and gotten a quite a bit harder :) He is also doing Bible Quiz with a church out here in Woodland. It's awesome! they are basically memorizing 1 and 2nd Corinthians and then go to a monthly meet where they win prizes and could end up going to a national tournament eventually-not his year since he is a "novice" first year player. I will keep you posted on his progress.
Levi is a big 5th grader this year. His work has ramped way up and he is learning a lot of new stuff. he still prefers history to anything else, but he's fine with science LOL! he just grew another two inches and a whole pants size! He is playing flag football, doing Jr. Bible Quiz and learning Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. His format is a bit different, but there is still bible memory and study-I love it, and he is doing VERY well with it. He has become a lover of reading and is working through the Magic Tree house series. he can't wait until 6th grade because he will get to go to the Jr. High Youth Groups and camps. And he can't wait for basketball season! LOL he says we are making him do piano-why can't he do guitar because that's what he really wants to do!
Nicky no longer wants to be called Nicky in front of his friends :( but we can call him Nicky at home! LOL he is adorable, growing like a weed too. He loves being homeschooled and never ever, wants to go to a "real" school! YAY He hasn't grown as much as the older boys-thank goodness! LOL He will always be my baby!
He is doing Jr. Bible Quiz too, flag football, piano lessons, which he can't wait for! and in general running around being an 8 year old. Though he says he likes school-he's being difficult right now! :) He hates reading, he hates, math, loves science, and art-all the fun stuff!
Karlee is still with us, cute as can be. Her mom seems to be doing well, so she will probably go home to her in a few more months. We aren't sure if we will continue to foster, or just go onto the adoption waiting list. We get pretty tired of getting attached to these girls and then sending them away. Like I said, God must have something pretty special planned for us, because we have really enjoyed Karlee and Carmiltia!
I can't think of anything else to ramble on about, so I guess that's it for now! I will try to upload some pics for you all!
TTFN~
Natalie and co.
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1. I really miss my family that lives back there!
2. I LOVE Idaho! I don't know if I would like the heat-but I love the wide open!
3. Washington really is dark and dreary! The trees make me feel closed in and closterphobic!
4. The boys love it in Idaho and want to live there
5. Luke got excited about going to college and we looked around Boise State
6. I love it in Idaho and would move there in a heart beat!
7. Chickens are adorable and I want some!
8. did I mention that I really miss my family that lives back there?!
9. It wasn't as far away as I thought
10.Audio books are a wonderful gift from God! LOL
I added new pics from the trip!
TTFN-
Natalie and co. |
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It's been a long couple of months. Grandpa Goody dying was much more difficult than I expected. Since he was terminal I thought that I had grieved and was sad, but once the day really came I found I had much more sadness to go through. It was like the end of an era-what brought me here was now gone, grandma and grandpa. I am feeling a lot better now. I am happy for the reconciliation that came out of it. Continue to pray for God's good work to go forth in our family. Perhaps someday Natasha will come to know the Lord and be able to find her own healing.
Our Pastor's last day is June 28th. We are so sad to him and his family go. It's a huge adjustment and one we are not really looking forward to! I am sure God has something great planned for our church family.
We were in charge of the egg portion of the Easter Egg hunt's this year. We had fun doing it. We roped off 4 different areas, and despite some miscommunication during the morning hunt, they both were a huge success.
We have been house hunting, but every time we log in to look at things, the prices have dropped!! So we are trying to be patient and let things level out somewhat. The biggest dilemma is whether or not to move back to Vancouver or stay in Woodland. We just don't know yet. At the moment, it feels like God is leading us to stay here in our little town. That could change next week!
Today's visit with Carmi's mom was a tough one! She ended the visit early, cancelled all future visits and wants to relinquish. I cannot in my mother's heart understand. I ache for Carmi's mom, and despite knowing this is probably the best for Carmi, I still feel for her. She has a sibling in Idaho who was already adopted and the family is interested in taking Carmi. We are pretty sad, figured it would be this way, but hoped it wouldn't be. We truly want what's best for her, but letting go to complete stranger's in another state is a little hard! I am reminded of the song that starts "I am not skilled to understand, what God has willed, what God has planned" and I know that is the absolute truth. If she does go, I know that it is beyond my ability to understand, and I do find great comfort in that :)
On that sad note, we do have a happy one coming on Friday. She is 3, very articulate, and in very much the same situation. She has 3 other siblings who have already been adopted. I have no idea where this will all go. Maybe we are just meant to be foster parents, maybe the right child hasn't been relinquished yet. I find all of this much more emotional and hard than I ever thought it would be. I am thankful that these girls have had a safe, loving place to go while waiting.
Did I mention a very nice bonus that she's potty trained! YAY for me! LOL her name is Karlee, that should be trying since we call Carmilita Carmi a lot! LOL
Well, signing off to run Nick to baseball practice! Then back home to have a birthday party for Carmilita!
TTFN-
Natalie and co. |
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Everyone has been sick. Fevers, cold, sore throat and ear infections-YUCK mom is tired! My clothes are starting to get too big! YEAH go Weight Watchers! Maybe I will go to my class reunion! I have been excercising and walking about 3 miles. I have been pretty sore, but it's paying off! I went swimming with the boys on Tuesday and that was exhausting! It's really fun, but since you don't feel the pain during the time you are in the pool, you really feel it later that night!! LOL Let's see... I haven't decided if this is good or bad news, but Carmi's mom is doing really, really well! I really am happy for her, and I do want her to do well. It's going to be really hard to let go of Carm. We love her! We will be getting ready to register her for Kindergarten. She's going to do really well. She is starting to read BOB books and until she got sick was zipping right along. She learns sight words really fast! Hopefully the time we have her will make a significant impact on her life. I at least know that educationally she's getting every advantage. Hopefully she will place into a higher math and reading group that will follow her through her school career. YEP, we love her! Luke is a total computer geek. Now he not only can program a computer-he just rebuilt one some friends blessed us with-he is checking books out of the library to teach himself coding and C++! He's doing really really well right now. he's going to Winter Camp and is actually excited and says he wants to go even if his friend doesn't! BIG change! We are very happy with it though! He weighs 135 and is 5'3" tall. In just two months I will have my first teenager. Though he's already challenging, there are aspects that are fun. It takes a lot of prayer to parent a teen, and I find myself there constantly! One minute I am "mommy" and the next he wants to know when he can start learning to drive the car!?! And I hear the confusion only gets worse! Feel free to pray for me anytime! Levi is on a shark kick. He has about 20 books checked out and is reading each one! As long as he is reading! LOL He said he will get back to horses when he is done with his shark lap book. He's quite the little artist! he's got an eye for it and can look at a picture and free hand anything. He pays much attention to details, like the color of the inside of an animals ear, what color their eyes and fur are "in real life" etc. Nick's my little love bug! He loves being 8! I don't know why, but he does. He is feeling the change at church. He about broke my heart yesterday when we were talking about Sunday School and AWANA's. He asked if the pastor's son Geoffry was going to move back to Texas, I said yes, and he looked at me with the SADDEST face I have ever seen a little guy make, and asked "but who's going to teach my classes?" UGH my heart shattered! I said "I don't know". Whoever said change was good didn't go through it! LOL Nicks new academic adventure is Octopuses! Go figure! I need to hunt down his lapbook tonight. Hopefully www.homeschoolshare.com has one and that will make life easy-I love those guys! I can't think of any other updates at the moment! I posted a couple of new pictures in the Shutterfly files! TTFN- Love, Natalie and co. |
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Everyone has been sick. Fevers, cold, sore throat and ear infections-YUCK mom is tired! My clothes are starting to get too big! YEAH go Weight Watchers! Maybe I will go to my class reunion! I have been excercising and walking about 3 miles. I have been pretty sore, but it's paying off! I went swimming with the boys on Tuesday and that was exhausting! It's really fun, but since you don't feel the pain during the time you are in the pool, you really feel it later that night!! LOL Let's see... I haven't decided if this is good or bad news, but Carmi's mom is doing really, really well! I really am happy for her, and I do want her to do well. It's going to be really hard to let go of Carm. We love her! We will be getting ready to register her for Kindergarten. She's going to do really well. She is starting to read BOB books and until she got sick was zipping right along. She learns sight words really fast! Hopefully the time we have her will make a significant impact on her life. I at least know that educationally she's getting every advantage. Hopefully she will place into a higher math and reading group that will follow her through her school career. YEP, we love her! Luke is a total computer geek. Now he not only can program a computer-he just rebuilt one some friends blessed us with-he is checking books out of the library to teach himself coding and C++! He's doing really really well right now. he's going to Winter Camp and is actually excited and says he wants to go even if his friend doesn't! BIG change! We are very happy with it though! He weighs 135 and is 5'3" tall. In just two months I will have my first teenager. Though he's already challenging, there are aspects that are fun. It takes a lot of prayer to parent a teen, and I find myself there constantly! One minute I am "mommy" and the next he wants to know when he can start learning to drive the car!?! And I hear the confusion only gets worse! Feel free to pray for me anytime! Levi is on a shark kick. He has about 20 books checked out and is reading each one! As long as he is reading! LOL He said he will get back to horses when he is done with his shark lap book. He's quite the little artist! he's got an eye for it and can look at a picture and free hand anything. He pays much attention to details, like the color of the inside of an animals ear, what color their eyes and fur are "in real life" etc. Nick's my little love bug! He loves being 8! I don't know why, but he does. He is feeling the change at church. He about broke my heart yesterday when we were talking about Sunday School and AWANA's. He asked if the pastor's son Geoffry was going to move back to Texas, I said yes, and he looked at me with the SADDEST face I have ever seen a little guy make, and asked "but who's going to teach my classes?" UGH my heart shattered! I said "I don't know". Whoever said change was good didn't go through it! LOL Nicks new academic adventure is Octopuses! Go figure! I need to hunt down his lapbook tonight. Hopefully www.homeschoolshare.com has one and that will make life easy-I love those guys! I can't think of any other updates at the moment! I posted a couple of new pictures in the Shutterfly files! TTFN- Love, Natalie and co. |
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Well, I had finally come to the conclusion that life just sucks!! LOL And that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade-but I am getting sick of lemonade! Although I am continually greatful that my husband is still employed and pray for those who are without a job. This has been a tough week for WA companies. On Sunday night our Pastor resigned! We were in complete shock. I honestly now know what it is to be speechless! And as most of you know, that is a lot coming from me! They have been here for 12 years-our roughest years personally. They have changed our lives and continually draw us back to Christ and remembering who and what is important in life. God first, our marriage second "we started this thing and we plan to finish it!" and of course, our family. There have been many times it was like God used them to slap us around a bit, and many times Linda has made me cry because she was never afraid to tell me the truth, and was always there to hold my hand as I cried. Our marriage is solid, our family is solid, and we are forever greatful for the impact these two people have had in our lives. I thought I was done crying, but here I sit, crying again. We dont' know what the future holds for our church. there will be changes, good and bad, but as long as God is the center and focus, it's all going to be okay. The new pastor is going to have some really big shoes to fill! I just pray that he will come with a contrite heart, and if he has half as much love for this congregation as Pastor Rob does, then we should fair well! If you think of us, pray for our leadership to hear clearly from God, for our congregation to be drawn together in unity and peace. I'm sure God will call some away, and others will just go-we've been through this a few times! It's never fun and we always grow as individual's. School Rocks! We are definately having a good time! All of the kiddos are having what I call "learning explosions" where it's all clicking and they are hard for me to keep up with. We have not done a lot this week. We talked a lot about how church is going to change, and that is a life skill. These kids will be watching this transition and it's important they learn how to handle church life and adversity just like home life. Luke seems to really be drawing close to God. Not that he's any easier, but it's nice to know he's relying on Christ and developing his own walk with Christ. Levi is studying sharks, we are studying about knights and middle ages, and we are trying to study astronomy, but it's slow going. We aren't enjoying it as much as we thought! Nicky Boy turned 8 on January 22! We didn't do a big party with kids, but had some special events instead. I surprised him by taking him to Build A Bear and he had a blast! He used money from Grandma and Grandpa Sundby to buy the Seahawks uniform form Commander (tha's his bears name) He was so precious watching him! Then my parents were in town, and we had a pizza bar! We bought pizza crust, rolled it out, each person built their own toppings and then we baked them! Oh they were scrumpdiliumptious! he got a ton of toys since Kay B Toys was going out of business! I spent a whole $22 on about 8 gifts! It was awesome! He said it was the best birthday ever! I am off to my nephew's 9th bday! Time sure does fly! TTFN- Natalie and co. |
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Well, It has been forever since I blogged! We've been so busy with school that I haven't had much down time. I'm not doing Christmas cards this year, so this is one big card to everyone! Merry Christmas! May you all find the gift of Christ this year and have a wonderfully blessed New Year!!! From the Sundby's Update #1 We still have Carmilita. She has totally stolen our hearts and is definately a daddy's girl. Spoiled, full of giggles, kisses and hugs, and leaving a huge imprint on our lives! She's never had a christmas tree, we had to explain what a stocking was for, and last year she got one present! OH MY! Talk about having your heart melt and shatter into peices! She is thriving, doing awesome, and is definately bossy and keeps her "brodders" in line! LOL They don't much like being bossed around by her. She has even stolen Luke's heart. Yes, she gets on his nerves, but he is so good with her and plays with her and it blesses me to watch them together. She gives him big hugs and wants to give him kisses, but that isn't cool and ain't happening! LOL Her mom is doing services, but still living in shelters. The state has filed for and recieved custody of Carmi. Unfortunately no one has anything nice to say about her, not even the attorney. I gues he is the attorney that none of the social workers like and is in most cases dreaded and difficult to deal with. In this case, he's been a breeze! The clock is now ticking on the Federal level. From here mom will have one year to clean it up and get together. No one is expecting that, but we all have to be positive and give her every opportunity to get Carm back. this is a very condensed version of what has been going on! Our biggest prayer is that they don't give any custody to the just turned 18 yo aunt-can we say night mare! Even the attorney is holding off as long as possible to do the investigation for custody-remember he's usually hard to deal with :) We will fight hard against this one, and pray even harder for the Lord's intervention. The other HUGE prayer is that the adoptive families of the older kids won't want to adopt her. By law they have to be given the opportunity to do so :( At this point that is really the biggest area of conern. Maybe they are wonderful people, but we love her! and by the time any of this happens she will be here for close to two years! Update #2 The economy pretty much is in the toilet. Eric laid off his staff and is job sharing two guys with another branch. It's not easy, but things are falling into place. We had a Christmas party and got to know them on a more personal level and that was nice. We are so thankful to be employed at this point. Update #3 I took Luke out of the online school. It was a pain, rushed, and he wasn't retaining anything. I was stressed out, he was stressed out and free wasn't worth it! LOL We went back to the old curriculum called Ambleside Online that utilizes free books. We study in the manner that our founding father's did and it's heavy on the liberal arts. We study Plutarch, Shakespeare, Composers, Artists, and spend much time in the out of doors and taking nature walks and learning about the world around us. We spend a lot of time on the bible and developing character that will carry them throughout life. Instead of memorizing dates and names we study the people cultures, and learn about the world. The US is such a young country compared to what came before this great country! We are a small peice of the puzzle. Nick and Levi are doing fabulous! Smart as all get out and love being homeschooled! Levi told me the other day he never wants to go to a "real" school! LOL Now that does a mom's heart good! They are growing way too much! Levi is about to start learning multiplication and is reading so well! They all love swimming lessons and mom and Carmi get in the pool too! Well, I nearly burnt my pizza that I am eating for breakfast :) LOL the kids had corn dogs-now you know why we have to stay on a schedule! We really go off the deep end if we don't! We have over a foot of snow with 1-3 more inches expected this morning. Which it has just now started snowing again. The kids were loving it, but are kind of ready for it to melt. Nick says he hates the snow, Luke likes looking at it, and Levi of course doesn't care what it's doing outside as long as he can be outside! We chained up last night and went to town to finish up our shopping. It was a bit of a nail biter! But we made it there and back safely. Now let the wrapping begin! I don't like that part much all that work for the kids to shred the paper?! LOL Oh well! TTFN- Natalie and co. p.s. I will put up some new pics! |
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This has been an incredibly long two weeks! I had to take Carmilita to many doctors apts. All but one ended with a follow up the next week making it a two week tour of duty Her mom's not doing well. She's taken a turn for the worse. Tuesday she only stayed at the visit for 20 minutes, and she called and said she wasn't going to make it for Thursday's visit at all. I'm so torn between having compassion for this poor woman and so glad that Carmi's not with her. I don't know where this will all go, we are hoping for adoption, but that could be a very long road. In the process I am praying that this be the fastest adoption on record and we finalize before 3 years is up! You can pray that the Lord will open the right doors, we do feel like she is a part of our family, and we have bonded with her from the very first day. Luke is a busy boy! He's full swing into his new virtual school. At first I was thinking I had made a huge mistake, but now that I have it all figured out and under control, I love it. It's a public school that uses the K12 curriculum. I like it so much I ended up adding in science, world history which focuses on world religions, and art that follows the history cycle he is in. We decided that it would be better for him to be learning about world religions at home with us from a christian perspective than getting hit with it in college from a liberal point of view-depending on his college choice. Nick was feeling a little bored with his math, and just finished up his book, so I enrolled him part time in the virtual school for math, art and language arts. I think I am going to drop the language arts peice. The K12 people told me he could start where ever he tests at, and the teacher said he has to take the tests so they have documentation that he knows the stuff. Well, that would be about 120 tests!! I don't think so!! Eric and I aren't seeing eye to eye, but I am the one who has to teach the material and go through the hassle of printing 120 tests! YUCK!! I'm pretty sure I know who will win this one! LOL I will put a picture of the boys Viking Longships they made this week in my pics. They turned out really good. For art we sketched landscapes and today we did watercolors. I will put those in too so you can see them. My chaotic week ended on a good note, even though I am really tired. TTFN natalie and co. |
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This weeks assignment was a bit thought provoking! When you leave home, what don't you leave without? HMMMMM... I would say this has changed a lot over the years. It used to be never leave home without a diaper, I think we even used to keep one in the glove box just in case Now, it's my cell phone! I am forver thankful that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us, and that we don't need a cell phone to contact Him-you won't ever get a busy signal when you send up a prayer! Life doesn't stop even when it may feel like it, and we are commanded to pray without ceasing-and with all these kids and probably adding more, and an unstable housing industry-I seem to pray a lot more lately! LOL TTFN Natalie and co. |
and we did leave home without the entire diaper bag one time, and there were several occasions when we didn't restoke the bag and were completely out of diapers! UGH! 
I feel naked without it, like life has stopped or something! Confession-there are times when I lock my purse in the car and bring my cell phone with me in my pocket LOL.
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I thought this would be a fun way to add some variety to my blog. This will give you a better glimpse into our daily schedule and what we are up to with "school". Eric has been gone for three days and I am sooooooo ready for him to be home! I have to admit, he does more around here than he gets credit for. Even if it is just entertaining the kids and giving me some space, or taming a brewing argument between the kids! Assignment: How do you keep energized so you can get it all done? bouncy music? treat it like a workout? I dont' get it all done! I hate cleaning house, and I especially hate laundry and cooking-but I do it. It's far from perfect and there are some things I have decided not to worry about. I do have a menu laid out, but I don't follow it. I use it more as a guide for what is in the pantry and freezer. So I might have a roast on Saturday instead of Monday, and Lasagne on Tuesday instead of Thursday. You get the picture. I have every meal planned like this right down to snacks. It works really well for us. Do you use a schedule?, a housekeeping binder system? luck of the draw system?. I do have a schedule that I rarely keep. Pretty much if we are out of socks and unders, they get priority and washed first. If it's jeans and sweatshirts they get washed. I was keeping up really well, but since we got back from vacation, everything has quickly gone under! I need a vacation from my vacation! LOL I use a chore chart for the boys, but I haven't been using it lately either. Well, as you can see, I am feeling overwhelmed with schedule, school and home. Our schedule is new and I am not good at changing things. School has been a struggle, but is getting better-at least with the littles-Luke is making me nuts! Oh nothing new there LOL |
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I added some pictures of our trips to the beach when we went to Forks. Love natalie |
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It's been awhile since I posted since there hasn't been too much excitement. We went on vacation to the folks house and that was busy-we needed a vacation from our vacation! LOL Carmilita's doing very well. This is a much different situation from our last placement. She very rarely talks about her mom and dad, but does seem to enjoy her visits and is always thrilled to see her mom. this morning she was testing us, but even then, it wasn't that big of a deal. She respond's very well to time outs and really seems to recieve what we are talking to her about. She's a very happy, beautiful little girl. If she goes home, we will definately feel a loss, even though it will be best for the family to be reunited. I'm having fun teaching preschool again! But I have lost my groove LOL! I dug the big box of preschool activities out of the garage, and printed and purchased a few things at a garage sale. Carmi's so bright I think we will breeze right through the 3/4 and be moving into phonics and reading really soon. She can already count to 20 and knows the alphabet and all the sounds. Since it's only been about 2 weeks we are going to keep working on the preschool stuff until I am positive she has it all down. Her fine motor skills are a bit behind, but just in 2 weeks I already see a major improvement. All in all, she's a blessing to have in our home, and she's really integrating in. She has little tifts with her "brovers" and wants to do school with us. Mostly she just listens and colors in her Scooby coloring book. She wants us to get her a sister now to sleep on the bottom bunk!!!!!!! Apparently Eric told her that there was a possiblity that this would happen and she is ready LOL We took our adoption class, filled out the paper work, and it will go out in the mail tomorrow. From here we go to the doctor, get interviewed, and after that I am not sure what we are supposed to do! or what the dept. will ask us to do! I still want to adopt 2, Eric is kind of coming around. We talked about it today and I told him it would be good to have two little girls so they can play girl things together and they will be closer in age and entertain each other. We will see what kind of doors the Lord opens and shuts. Luke is in full swing with his virtual academy. I love the curriculum, but hate being on someone elses schedule-he's not too crazy about that either. his math is challenging and it's hard to learn a new program, but we are. The language arts is intense, but utilizes classics like we were before so he is used to that. There is a lot more book work and writing-which Luke needs. So my first week of using the program has been overwhelming, but once we get used to it, I think it will be a blessing for us. Levi and Nick are doing better now. I was using more of a workbook approach again and that fell apart in a hurry! I get so frustrated with myself for not trusting the process with a Charlotte Mason approach. Levi was having a blast with this workbook I bought him for fun, so I decided he must want to do all of his learning like that-wrong! It was taking him all day to get his work finished. He would beg me to do science or history! I would say "not until you pages are done". Finally, after two weeks of that, I gave in and realized that Levi and Nick learn better with literature and lapbooks, with a little bit of notebooking thrown in. So I researched Five in a Row, and I found a really cool website called www.homeschoolshare.com that is right up our alley. I don't know, they might not be well rounded since we skipped the Roman's and went straight into Vikings and their culture and history-I'm the only one who seems to feel this way, the boys love it. Eric being norweign, the boys think this is great fun-and low and behold, the first famous viking we encountered was Erik the Red! LOL Did they ever have a blast with that one! While being immersed in Vikings we are learning all of our language arts, social studies, history, applied mathematics, art and just about anything else you can think of. The only thing we are doing in a separate unit are math (math u see is great fun for the boys) and spelling rules. the spelling rules are also being done in a lapbook form with memorization pockets. We sing songs to learn the parts of speech, and put hand motions to our bible verses so they can memorize them quicker. Levi picked this up from the parts of speech songs! My days are honestly way more relaxed, we get way more done in a shorter amount of time, and no one is crying-not even mom :) I'm trying to wrap my mind around teaching in the evening, on a Saturday or Sunday and create more of a relaxed environment instead of trying to get everything done during a block of time I have decided I need to be teaching in. So far-so good! HMMMMM...this turned very long for a family who isn't doing anything! LOL TTFN- Natalie and co. |
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On Sunday afternoon our boys got baptized!! In our church we have them dedicated to the Lord as babies, and when they are older and can understand what salvation and having a relationship with Christ is about, they are baptized. Nick and Levi both accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior this last year. Levi stayed in adult worship with us one Sunday and during that time he was singing and all cuddled up next to me (so we stayed sitting while we worshipped). Levi doesn't usually sing, but that day he was. I felt an urgent need to pray for him and sat worshipping and praying while we just sat together. When we got home he told me that he felt Jesus come in his heart that day. It was really cool! Nick's story wasn't as exciting LOL he was in kid's church with Pastor Cody and decided that it was time for him to ask Jesus in his heart, so he did. The story wasn't so exciting, but having my son make that descion on his own, was VERY exciting. Luke is very much the introvert-very much his father's son! LOL The boys were supposed to be baptized in June. We still had the girls with us and one of them ended up with the flu so we had to go home and not stay for the picnic. Luke was basically refusing to be baptized anyway, so it was a very frustrating afternoon. A couple of weeks later he went away to Jr. High Camp and had a marvelous time in the Lord. His walk with Him was strengthened and he felt like he was changed and that the Lord really touched him. He was so excited when he came home. He said that the Lord had called him into the mission field to help poor people who had lost their faith in God! That was really cool-and upon telling us that, he announced that he was now ready to be baptized! Okay hind sight being 20/20 and can see a God moment here-maybe it just wasn't time in June for the boys to be baptized! We are still believing that the Lord is at work in Luke's life. We don't know exactly what his call into the ministry entails. he's only 12 so his calling could expand-really the skies the limit. After he got baptized they came on shore and the elders were there to pray for them. Luke asked specifically that they would pray for the Lord to heal his ear! It was really neat to see my son reach out and ask the elders to pray for him-mom and dad didn't ask-Luke did. He is getting the feeling back in the side of his face! He has gotten back half of the missing taste buds and today his smile is a little higher on the right side! Praise the Lord! I think this has been a faith builder for my son-and okay, me too! LOL I have added pictures of the baptism and one of Carmela. I tell you what-that little girl has stolen my heart! If she leaves tomorrow, I will definately feel sad. The email address is sundby5@hughes.net and the password is sundby89 for the shutterfly pictures. Take Care all! TTFN- natalie and co. |
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Hi Everyone! Some of you know we accepted a new placement last night! It was definately a God thing. The placement coordinator called an asked me to take a sibling group of 3-which contained boys. I was out shopping for Nick (he's grown 2 sizes and his feet have grown 3!) when she called. I was so annoyed that she asked me to take three and that there were boys! I have turned down every call she's made to me like this!! So I wasn't going to call her back-yes, I know rude of me but I was truly annoyed She is soooooo cute!!!!!!! Eric called to find out more about her and I said "you better guard your heart" Uh OH was all he said! LOL She is 4yo teeny tiny-she's only in a 3T, hispanic descent with the biggest brown eyes ever! We went and bought her a few articles of clothing since we are going to a wedding today and she didn't have anything appropriate to wear-BUMMER!! Now if I can just figure out how to do her hair... Nick was with me when I picked her up so he seems to have a bond with her. Levi still doesn't want a little sister, and Luke thinks she's adorable! It broke my heart that she didn't shed a tear when we left-just normal to her! I was also sad for the mom, and proud of her that she knew she couldn't handle it anymore-she walked in to the office to see the worker Luke Update-there isn't one! no change in his facial weakness School is in full swing! And we are loving it! Well, I am still waiting for Luke's materials to come from the virtual school. He's doing math and language arts through them. I don't think I am going to like being on someone else's schedule, but I have to give it a try until the first of the year, and then re-evaluate that just like with the other stuff we use. I guess part of my hesitant feelings are because all of the sudden everything is clicking for Luke We have had a very boring summer with all the moving and medical/dental issues going on! So I don't have any new pictures to post Be Blessed! Have a great day! Natalie and co. |
Mom wanted to meet me, and gave me some of Lita's clothes. The workers made it all happen really quick-mom has a history of mental issues and can be unstable at times-but it all went really well and I am glad I got to meet her. It helps me pray for her when I have a picture in my mind. There is a relative who might be willing to take lita, but they can't right now-I don't know why. Let's see... I guess that is all for now!
and things in math he was struggling with he's getting now, and same with language arts and writing. I am not sure switching the curriculum is the best idea! I found these hillarious math books called Life Of Fred! he loves it. He actually got up and was reading it and working on the problems while he was eating breakfast! (singing my opera song here! if you don't know what I am talking about-be THANKFUL-very thankful) LOL |
Well, we are officially all moved and ready to begin the new school year on Monday! I am excited, I don't think the boys are, but we need structure! LOL The new neighborhood is very nice, and everyone is friendly. The only mean kid I have had trouble with is my own!! Levi is having a very hard time right now! After much prayer trying to figure out what was wrong, we were discussing adopting and it all came out-whew! Levi said he doesn't want to adopt, he wants just his family like it is right now (all 5 of us were in the master bedroom). So we were able to discuss that whether we adopt or mommy has a new baby that she gives birth to, we were going to add a child to our family. It doesn't matter how he "feels" about it, God has given mommy and daddy a burden in our hearts and we feel that this is what we are to do. Then we proceeded with the "there's lots of love in our hearts" talk LOL-we really sounded like parents at that point!! So I am going to find some books from the library about adoption, that would be from the boys point of view, maybe even some about when mom has a new baby and see if that covers some of the fears and issues that are arising. I wasn't really expecting them since the boys are older and can understand what's going on. At least we can talk about it and figure it all out! God is a good, good, God!! When the licensing inspector came out to the house today I let him know that we are ready to proceed with the adoption only process. (long story short, they are licensing our house not us so they had to re-do some of the paperwork) So from here, we will take a 3 hour adoption class, a bit more paperwork on our finances, and some interviews with different workers-the adoption unit-as he called them. After we have been matched and settled with a little girl, we will consider taking a placement as a foster only basis. One thing I am intrigued by is becoming an intake home. We would have the kids for 30 days and do all the initial evaluations, doctors appointments, and a lot of journaling anything and everything they open up and tell us about their parent(s) that will either help them go home, or build a case against the parent who might be abusing them. while we are doing all of this, the state would be looking for either a long term home, or we would consider keeping them on a 90 day basis because they will be returning home in that time period. I would honestly like to adopt two little girls, but Eric is very adement(ok so I can't spell that word!) that won't be happening!  But I can see us taking in a child, he will fall in love with her, and we adopt a second time-that will definately be it for me! 5's the max, we learned that one the hard way! And that's all our van will hold.Luke is having surgery on his ear on Wednesday. I thought it was a simple procedure, but it's a little more complex than I realized. I figured they would go in and stitch up the hole in his ear and out he would come. However, they are going to do a skin graft from behind his ear, put it in side on the ear drum, pack it with gel so it will adhere better, and he will have stitches inside and out of his ear. We had a camping trip planned, but I don't think we are going to make it! We have to give him pain meds every 4 hours and antibiotic ear drops 4 times a day. They said the main reason this surgery fails is from an ear infection. So we are a little nervous about camping in the dirt with no hot water!! Who knows, it could still be simple and he feels great, I have doubts! I suppose I should sign off! Even though most of the house is put together I still have a few piles in the garage that need organized. A lot of it is office type and scrapbooking stuff. I am very excited about having a scrapbooking room that is just for that! TTFN- Natalie and Co. |
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and lovin' it!! 2700 square feet is big! We have a ton of room and I am really enjoying it! white walls and all-I would prefer some color, but the white does make it feel very spacious. We just got done doing respite care for two little ones. They were cute as cute can be! The little ones definately are heartbreakers. It's also a much different feel. it made me sad because I realized how bad of shape the girls are really in! The girls are adjusting to the new home, They have opened up even more with the new family and it's heartbreaking what they have been through. We plan to take them to lunch some time next week and touch base with them. We are still on the waiting list for our next full time placement. It feels like forever, but the break has been nice. I know the Lord's timing is perfect so I am totally at peace! I hope to get back on track with school next week. I probably won't though! I need to whip up some lesson plans and get the rest of the school room set up. I found a table at a garage sale for $40! It's heavy duty and has 2 leafs if I wanted to make it bigger. Solid wood and it's about 2 inches thick. We'll have to paint and stuff in the dining room since it has vinyl on the floor, but it's only about 3 feet away LOL so it won't be that big of a deal. I have decided against putting Luke in the virtual academy. After reviewing the curriculum and talking it over with my friend who is a vetren homeshcooler I decided that it wasn't as good as what we are using. She showed me another math program, and I realized that Luke needed a whole nother year before he starts pre-algebra. Whew! I still might put him into some online classes for computer and spanish through a different program, but the Lord seems to be closing those doors at the moment. Let's see- Levi's being a butt, Nicky is making me crazy, and Luke's voice is starting to change, he's gone girl crazy, and he's acting like a pre-teen boy! And I want another because?! Oh yah-hmmm still thinking on that one LOL TTFN natalie and co. |
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Well, we finally got the notice to vacate our property. Some of you may know that we have been renting from a family member, who with the major housing market melt down, ended up letting the house go back. It's been such a blessing to be able to live here for as long as we have and we can see the hand of God in all of it. I couldn't say that everyday, but looking back, I should have been able to! On Monday we got the letter in the mail and yet another huge blessing came along with it! If we will move out immediately they will pay for our moving expenses. We figured it would be a couple hundred, maybe (and that was a big maybe) a thousand dollars. When Eric talked to them they asked us how soon we could be out. He told them he wasn't sure maybe 3 weeks, and she said, well I can offer you $1500. Eric says, what if I can get out in 2 weeks? She says I can offer you $2000! AAAHHHHHH!!!!!! Okay, we can do that! The scramble is on-but so worth it! LOL We had no idea! Here is the link if you want to look at the outside: http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/apa/756948960.html The house we found is still in Woodland. It's in a nice neighboorhood, yet a little intimidating. It's been a while since we had anyone living so close to us. There are other kids right across the street-we think they have FIVE boys! Yikes, that makes me nervous! The house is 5 bedrooms with a living, dining, family room and a cool nook upstairs for a total of 2709 sq ft! The bad news is that there is no bathtub in the master bathroom, but I will survive-I've made it this long without one and I'm still kickin'. The laundry is also downstairs, but it is an actual laundry room instead of a nook off the kitchen, so that will make a difference. The family room will be the school room and the formal living room will be just a regular living room for us-there's nothing formal about this family! LOL Our plan is to continue fostering while proceeding with the adoption process. I still haven't gotten a "permanent" placement, but we are doing respite for 2 weeks for another foster family. Cute little boy and girl who get to go home. They visit their parents on the weekends and for a full day twice a week. It's nice to see a success story! With the extra bedroom we are contemplating becoming an emergency home. I have my reservations. This means we would get kids strait from a drug bust or wherever the police get them from, and it could be any time of the day or night. Most of them will probably need cleaned up and de-liced! Then they will only be with us for 24-72 hours. Sometimes they will go home after the parents get out of jail, or they will go to a long term foster home. I keep teasing Eric that he will have to buy me a 15 passenger van if he wants me to say yes! The state will pay us a stipend for any beds we keep open for the ER care, so that's a nice bonus- but not the purpose of doing it. Even though we get paid for providing that service, we still see it as a ministry-kids are protected, prayed over, cleaned up and hopefully they will see the short time with us as a positive one even though it was scary. There are many ministry positions that are paid positions-that doesn't make it ministry. It's really annoying when people ask us if we need the money and that's why we do it!! And YES, people do ask that question! Stepping off my soap box now LOL! We will also continue to do respite for other foster families. We have been told since we are in Woodland we can do it for both counties. Woodland is split down the middle by a river and that is the county line. Half of Woodland is Clark County and the other half is Cowlitz County. I still need to call and verify that with the people who are in the know! And for all of you out-of-towners-Luke's room will be turned back into a guest room when you all come through! he's looking forward to having his own room again. Well, as usual this turned really long! I am off to get boxes, a check for the deposits and start moving! Pray for us! We will probably be tired and grouchy LOL! Love Always, Natalie and co. |
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I just want to let everyone know that my ankle is much better! If I step wrong it is still a bit sore and the bruise is still there. I'm very glad I waited to see if it got better before I went to the doctor. We just finished a weekend of respite for the girls-I remember why it wasn't a good fit for them to remain here long term I am waiting on a final approval for Luke's virtual school for the upcoming year. We have reached the point in our journey, that yes, dare I say it, he is smarter than me! LOL No one had better breath a word of this posting to that kid or I will never live it down! He is about 6 months from being able to start a pre-algebra class, and I am clueless. I have found some fabulous programs, but they would still require me to help him. I wish it wasn't a public school program, but it is free, and Eric and I both think it was a God thing. I have been researching online academy's and they are all at least $700 and up. He's still home with me, I am still the primary person he will turn to for help and we have a tutor at our disposal when it comes to the math program. I was hoping to get him into the Insight School, which was started by my old high school, but they don't have a middle school program. Eric was reading the paper during lunch and saw an ad for Kaplan Academy through the Stevenson/Carson school district, which is only a little over an hour and a half from here, and they had a Middle School program. I called them up, got the info and registered! My plan is for him to take math, science, grammar and composition and computer fundamentals. With me he will be doing world history, logic, and he is choosing to continue doing astronomy with his brothers since we are enjoying it so much. Here's the run down on what the little boys are doing this year: It is mostly based on a book called The Well Trained Mind by Susan and Jessie Wise Bauer. A lot of it is very similar to what we have been doing-the Charlotte Mason philosophy-but it's a bit more intense and drill based. But the boys really enjoy doing flash cards so we are going to give it a whirl. Math: Math U See- Alpha and Beta Language Arts: Shurley English book 1 Science: Apologia Astronomy History: we are still finishing up Volume 1 of Story of the World The Ancient World, and we are parked in the Greeks right now Geography: Holling C. Holling's Paddle to the Sea which is the Great Lakes region with various games about the US thrown in- Nick will continue in Reading Reflex for phonics Logic: Mindbenders beginners book 1 and 2 and Luke will be doing Think A Grams and a lot of period based historical fiction. Eric is still reading through the Little House series and alternating that with some cool books his sister gave us called The River Boat Adventures. This helps the boys get a good "history" overview for when we dig in deep the year after next and some geography since we will be in the "Mississippi River" Region with our next Holling Book. This became a VERY long update! And please keep praying for us to find the perfect house. We are down to crunch time with know final move out date. I think the Lord has something exciting in store for us! Be Blessed natalie and co. |
It was hard! We were going to have a baby for respite next week but her grandma was able to work out some time off and is going to come and care for her-total bummer we were looking forward to having her. There are two other little ones that need 2 weeks of respite that we are considering. And we are still praying for the right fit to come along for our adoption journey. We are at such peace-I finally understand what "a peace that surpasses all understanding" means! YAY! Even though we are anxious to get moving, we know God is at work and we are fine with waiting. |
Hello All! Where to begin?! Well, for starters we are being very aggressive with paying off our bills! I started clipping coupons and joined a website called www.thegrocerygame.com I don't know if I will continue with it since my first week didn't go so well! I missed all of the sales! LOL But I did learn something so this week I will try again! Coupons and sales flyers in hand! I honestly HATE being on a budget! But our church has been in a season of simplicity for about 2 or 3 months and no end in sight LOL! It has been so good for me. I have cleaned out closets, dressers, my school stuff and decided what I really do need, and what is just fluff. I have a lot of fluff-this will also be a bonus when we go to move and I don't have to take it all with me! So in the spirit of trying to save money on groceries and gas I decided to be adventerous: in comes the nature study turned disaster! I took the boys down to the creek behind our house-it was a bit of a hike and some pretty steep areas to scale. Once we got down there we were not dissappointed! It was beautiful! And it is where the creek dumps into the river making it even more fun. I must say, it's way too far for the boys to be going it alone. Eric insisted they weren't going near the river, but according to the boys, they ARE! So I banned them and told them they can only go with an adult. Much dissappointment availed! So we started hiking up stream to see what treasures were waiting and were thrilled with what we found. A little lagoon, bull heads under the roots, tons of baby fish, crawed adds, and millions of periwinkles! And to top it all off, a rock shaped in a perfect L. As we ventured up stream further walking in the creek since it was hot, I stepped onto a rock that slipped out from under my foot! Then it proceeded to land on my foot and I fell into the creek, catching myself before I was sitting in water-thank goodness! Unfortunately my ankle immediately began to swell, was black and blue and has some tiny cuts on it! I'm thinking to myself, I am never going to get back up that trail we came down on-so I hobbled back downstream and sat on the shore while the boys played for awhile. Then on the way back Luke took a nasty spill right on his ribs and hip-he's fine! Oh to be young again! There I sat soaking my ankle in the creek knowing that if I took my sandles off I wasn't getting them back on-it was already swelling that much. We ended up going out the trail on the other side of the creek that came out near the highway. I decided that it would be easier to get out on the trail that was made by the fisheries dept, which was more like a small road, than to try and scale bushes and mini cliffs with a sprained ankle. It didn't hurt that bad. By the time we got back to the house it was time to start dinner and it was sore and swollen but not too terribly bad. Then I made the mistake of sitting down to check my email. It swelled even more and then the pain set in! UGH! I made it through dinner and as we sat and watched a movie it got worse and worse-not an ace bandage in site and the ice packs melted. I took some Tylenol to help with the pain, it seemed like an eternity for it to work, and filled up a big pan with ice water and stuck my foot in it. Relief at last!! By the time I went to bed with a headache and a very cold foot it was feeling better. I slept okay, but everytime I would roll over I would feel the pain and wake up-I'm apparently very active in my sleep! When I got up this morning the pain was manageable and I hope to be on the mend soon. I am still hobbling around and I don't know how I am going to navigate my sister in laws outside wedding today, but I will manage! Now that I am up and moving more it is a little more painful, so I took some more Tylenol and stuck my foot back into the ice water-not much pain at the moment-but I think it's numb from the coldness! LOL All this comes the day before we are doing respite care for the couple who took the girls. They have a big soccer tournament this weekend so the girls are staying tonight (Saturday) and will go home on Sunday night. I admit I wasn't too thrilled about it, but it seems the Lord always provides for us in ways we least expect. We do get paid for doing respite and it is a nice way to supplement our income! Well, everyone just got here so I need to go and say hello! Love Natalie and co. |
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Well, this morning we sent the girls to their new foster home. It was very sad and way harder than I had expected! I was teary eyed and made the girl at the day care cry too! It was hard taking them to the day care instead of to the people's house, but that is just the way it worked out. It's very bittersweet. I know that this was more than what I could do for a long period of time and I was totally overwhelmed, but at the same time, very sad that I am not superwoman and able to take this on forever. It is also hard knowing that even if they do go home, their life will still be chaotic and they will still live a sad life of poverty. I hope that they will look back and remember how life was here and want to change their's when they are adults. I hope they saw how a man and woman who are in love treat each other-with respect. I'll never forget the day Abby looked at me in bewilderment and said "you mean you and Eric are already married?" That was a foreign concept to her! We had another conversation a few days ago about me having the boys after I was married and that I had Nicky when I was 30 years old-she was amazed! I guess she didn't realize that not all people had 3 kids before the age of 20 and that they get married first! Hopefully, that will stick with her, and somdeday she will remember and have hope to rise above her early years and make something of herself! Last night Madi sat in the bath tub and sobbed! Oh it was just so heart wrenching! Nick came down and told us that she was in the tub and crying. I figured she needed a good cry, but Nick was bothered so Eric went up to see what was going on. There he stood with his ear to the door with the saddest look on his face. The big lug is such a softy inside!! As I stood there listening, crying and hoping that we were doing the right thing, I was miserable! I finally knocked on the door to see if she was okay, and she said her blister hurt! Poor babe-at 7 she has already learned to mask what she is feeling since she was left for so long alone to take care of herself. Even when she was hurting, no one stopped to care or hold her. As I drove away from the day care this morning it was so confusing. I was feeling relived to have my life back, and so sad for these precious little girls. I don't know why God put them in our life, or us in their's, or why He didn't make me superwoman to take care of them-but I know I am walking away a changed person! I have much more compassion for those stuck in poverty, and have re-evaluated my own life and I know some areas I really need to change! If anything, I appreciate what God has blessed me with way more than I ever have, and on my hardest day-it's nothing like what many endure everyday. We are on our way out the door for a 5 day vacation to my parents house! We are celebrating the 4th of July in my old home town! It should be fun-the boys love the demolition derby and now after watching Ax Men-will have a new appreciation for the logging show! Take Care! natalie and co. |