Tried and True! Our Homeschooling and Life's Journey
Jun. 9, 2008
Long Overdue Update

Where to begin? It's truly been a really long road! I have cried, yelled, cried, pulled my hair out, laughed and cried a lot more! I knew this was going to be hard, but I wasn't prepared for the effects it has had on us as a whole family. Tonight we are chewing on a lot! I had a long conversation with our social worker today. We have decided that the time has come for the twins to transition into a new foster home. Madi will remain with us. She is really changing, growing (in the literal sense too) and beginning to heal inside. She's learning to be a little girl instead of her mom's mom, and her sister's mom. She's had so much of her inosense stolen from her. It hurts my heart that she hurts inside. We have a very long road ahead of us. I beleive it will be one full of God's glory!

When we started this journey we really were open to the idea of having a large family. We realized that 6 kids is just too many for us! We want to do what we are doing well, and with so many kids, it's hard to be on the A Game. Dealing with one emotionally traumatized child is a lot of work-add two more who have never had any rules until they came to live with us-and you have utter chaos. The twins have grown and improved and we know that the time we have had them has been a very positive experience. I had to hide my face today when Abby came home from school. Eric had taken the day off and she brought home the Father's Day present she made at school. She was just giddy that she had someone to give it to! She said "this is for you Eric, since I don't have a dad!" OH UGH! (I'm crying again) Eric gave her a big hug and said "well, you do have a foster dad". She was happy with that and had a big smile. Moments like that make it hard to send them on. We will be doing respite care for whoever takes them so that they can see Madi on a regular basis and I will probably be taking them to visits with mom if they stay in a Woodland home.

So that's our dilema for right now! Hope everyone is doing well!

Love Always

natalie and co.


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Apr. 25, 2008
Switching Blogs

Hi All!

I have decided to switch blog sites. I have had nothing but trouble with this one. I can't post pictures to my site etc.

So here is my new blog:

http://thesundbybunch.blogspot.com

I can only put 10 people in my address book at the new site so if I missed you please subscribe to the RSS feed. You will get the updates when they are posted.

I look forward to seeing everyone over there!

Natalie and Co.


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Apr. 12, 2008
Jamboree 4/12/08

Today was opening day of baseball season. The boys have been practicing for about a month-when it wasn't snowing! We have gone from snow to 55 degrees and everyone in shorts and having a water fight in the back yard-crazy! We can't help it-it's Washington!

Nick and Levi are on the same baseball team this year. It's so nice to sit and just watch a game. In year's past we had to run back and forth between fields and watch two-and when Luke was playing three-games at the same time. It was crazy! I think I was even a little bored sitting in one spot for so long! LOL I am burnt from the sun on my face and arms, a little on my legs since I was wearing shorts.

Levi hit a homerun! It was fun to see the huge smile on his face as he ran around. Nicky did pretty good too. He got a hit and made it home. He looked so tiny up at bat! When our boys were done playing we went over to the TBall field and watched our nephew play for awhile. It was a good day!

There are new pictures posted on Shutterfly! make sure you have your Kleenex because Luke is all of the sudden looking like a teenager! A mighty handsome one at that!

As for the girls-I have decided that I need to make it through each day. There are good ones and bad ones-and the bad ones are pretty rough. I feel so confused between frustration because this is a HARD job and compassion and sadness for these precious little girls that someone has caused lifelong damage to. I am finally done with all of the initial appointments that have to be done at intake. That's been exhausting! We haven't had a good solid week of school in a month-I'm still hung up on that one LOL! Next week should be a good one school wise-crossing my fingers!

TTFN

natalie and co.


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Apr. 6, 2008
Golden Skate and Corner turning!

Hi All!

Saturday we had a blast! We took the kids-yes all 6-to Golden Skate in Vancouver. It was so much fun! I was pretty wobbly at first but I was soon zipping along. The kids-except for Luke-all had to hang onto the wall. They did that for about the first 45 minutes. As they gained confidence they all started going faster and faster while hanging on. By the end they were all off the wall and trying to skate in the general population. Being such a mother hen, that made me quite nervous! Beth's first time off the wall she fell down, but one of the ref's was right there to help her up and off she went, refusing to get back on the wall! It was so good for Madi. She got to be a kid. She is definately the most cautious of the three girls. never having the opportunity to try new things, she was very apprehensive. She loved the music they were playing and sang to it as she held on for dear life and skated around and around. It was nice to see her trying.

I admittedly had several flashbacks LOL! Those Michael Jackson songs really took me back-WAY back! to 4th through 6th grade when we would have the skate parties in the "gym" at the intermediate school in Forks. Those were always so much fun. The kids got to run them and choose the music and decide which direction everyone was going to skate. Do you remember what your skates looked like? I can even remember when I got my first pair of rubber wheels and how much faster I could go! There was this huge hill that went down to an apartment complex by the house I grew up-and one day I decided to rollerskate all the way down! LOL I was successful, but I can remember getting pretty scared because I was going so fast and having to head off to the side of the road and regain my courage. AHHH those were the days!

On a very happy note: Madi is doing very well. She seems to have turned a corner and is coming out of her anger.The social worker and mom had a "team" meeting and let her know that being mean and angry wasn't going to get her sent home. She would be staying with us until her mom gets everything on her very long list accomplished.  Madi also started her cousneling on Thursday. After that appointment, she seemed like a whole new kid. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. She has a safe place to go and talk about being sad and angry. I assured her that nothing she tells the counselor will even be told to mom. She seemed genuinely relieved. Since that day, there hasn't been a single skirmish between her and Nick and they now seem to be good buddies. Tonight they were writing songs together. It was sooooo cute! She was writing at a feverish rate, and Nicky was playing his guitar so she could sing the songs! They are convinced they will get a record deal-in the same breath she says "whats a record?"! LOL

Prayer Works! We serve a big God and as wonderful as the counseling etc. is, I have to give all the credit to Him. He hears us when we call and cry out to Him. Not only does He hear, but He answers us. We sometimes get so caught up in what we want that we forget that sometimes His answer can be a NO! Oh don't we hate that? Just like the kids we are-we pitch a fit and insist that God doesn't hear me! So in the next few weeks and months as we undergo some major life changes, someone please remind to come and read this post about when God sometimes says NO! LOL

Be blessed and have a wonderful week!

TTFN-

Natalie and co.


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Apr. 2, 2008
Update 4/2/08

Hello friends and family!

It's been awhile because it's been rough lately! I wouldn't even know where to begin in all honesty. The twins are doing fabulous! Beth wants to know if she can call me mom-as much as I would like that it is a no-no. Abby "isn't sad, isn't mad, isn't angry, and doesn't miss her mom". They are intergrating into the family very well. They will let Eric pray for them eveynight now and are coming right along with listening to the bedtime stories, and obeying.  It's not perfect, but it could be so much worse. Unfortunately, things aren't going too well with Madi. She is very angry and for some reason has targeted Nicky to take all of her frustrations out on. That in turn is making him very, very sad, withdrawn, and grouchy. I can deal with temper tantrums, cussing me out, and all the other "fun" stuff, but when it is taking a toll on my son, it's a whole new ball game. I talked with the worker this morning and it went very well. On the positive note, none of these behaviours were expected or known to them, so removing them from home is helping the workers see the big picture. I just don't think I have it in me to weather the storm and especially put my son through the storm. I wish I was supermom and I could snap my fingers and everything would work but I don't see that happening any time soon. Madi is going to start counseling and I want to say that will help, but she warned me that sometimes things get better, but most of the time it's gets a lot worse. So be praying protection for Nicky and for me to remain calm in all situations.

I switched all the girls to the local school district. The bus stops right in front of the driveway! That was a blessing we weren't expecting. So on day one-I was down the road waiting for the bus and she had already let them off at the house. It was nice outside so the walk was an added bonus! LOL It is spring break and we are even taking one this year! Getting started with the girls and all the doctors appts etc has taken it's toll. But I guess it's okay, we'll survive. We are  behind and will have to work through the summer. Last year we took July off and it was fun-this year we will likely only school four days and take Friday's off so we can go camping and hang out in the sunshine-If we get any! Snow in April? Come on! This is weird!  I don't need 100 degree days, just in the 80's at least!

After next week the doctor's appointments will be done and we will be onto regular visits and counseling. The girls are all going to the eye doctor next week and more than likely will be wearing glasses. madi sits right in front of the TV and says she still can't really see their noses and the twins hold the book next to their faces so the can see the letters and pictures! They actually seem excited to be getting the glasses. They say they will be glad when they can see the letters! That's telling LOL!

Well, I am off to get Levi's birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Mc. I can't beleive he's going to be NINE! Then Luke will be TWELVE 3 weeks later! If only I would have listened when "they" told me that in the blink of an eye they grow up! So very true! Take Care everyone!

TTFN

natalie and co.


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Mar. 24, 2008
Easter Weekend

Good Evening!

It was a long, wild Easter weekend! It was sunny for the egg hunt on Saturday so that was a real blessing. However, there were a lot of people there since it was so nice. Eric and I ended up helping with crowd control and keeping everyone out of their egg hunting area until the eggs were all out and ready. This is an awesome outreach in a rough neighboorhood, if you catch my drift LOL! Nicky ended up missing the egg hunt and was just in total tears-so was I! He had been waiting all week for the egg hunt! It ripped my heart out! An adorable little boy felt so bad that he missed it he gave him half of his eggs-not a parent in sight so we were so blessed! A couple of people from our church pitched in a few too. Then Madi came up crying, she only got one egg because the other kids kept pushing her out of the way! It was so sad! Lots of people shared with her too so all in all, it was a good day.

After the egg hunt we went to Winco-with all 6 kids in tow-rushed home, made lunch, and dashed off to baseball practice. Levi and Nick love it. It's definately Nicky's favorite sport. While the boys were at practice I ran around and got all the boys Easter outfits collected and ironed. At this point it was time to do some dinner again! Thank goodness for ham and cheese sandwhiches! With the kids fed and finally in bed, I put their Easter baskets together, and fell into my bed exhausted and went right to sleep.

Sunday morning came miserably early! But went very smooth. Having a lot of kids requires a lot of planning and organization. This has been very good for us. Eric has been doing a lot more dishes and laundry lately so that has really been a HUGE blessing for me. After breakfast Eric and I got ourselves ready and then began getting each child ready one by one. Luke can dress himself and stay clean, despite his very strong desire to wear his heely's (tennis shoes with wheels in the heels) with his shirt and tie! LOL The girls were adorable. I got to do little pony tails, fluffy pink dresses, hats, tights-the whole nine yards! We all looked quite dapper when all was said and done. Nick went running through the house saying "I look like an idiot!!" Apparently he's not used to dressing so nice! LOL

Off to chuch we went! We had an amazing service. Pastor Deborah sang a solo with the choir that was so beautiful. It really touched my heart! The girls really love praise and worship. They try to sing along and clap and raise their little hands. It's precious. I hope that this time with us has some kind of an impact on their lives. Even on the days when it's almost unbearable, I remember why we are doing this-to impact the lives of some children while we wait for our forever daughter to come along.

Tomorrow the girls start school here in town. That will really lighten my load. They catch the bus in front of the neighboors driveway-about 30 yards instead of 30 miles one way! I am praying that Madi gets a fresh start. She was having some  troubles at her old school. she only had two friends and then something happend and she was down to one. They will also start counseling here real soon. I got a real earful from Madi today! Holy Cow-I had no idea! Well, I am going to put it all into my log and then hit the hay!

TTFN!

natalie and co.


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Mar. 15, 2008
3-15-08 update

Everything is so surreal right now! If you were to meet these girls you would really wonder why they have been removed from their family. They are so polite, and well behaved. madi told me she taught herself to say thankyou-and that was out of the blue! But it's more than self-taught. madison was picked to be the student of the week next week. She's very, very excited. The school counselor called the social worker and let her know that Madison is a totally different child. Madi told her she likes being with us because her foster mom acts like a real mom. Breaks my heart! She's been pretty sad today though. I think the reality is setting in.

They aren't the least bit shy and will talk to complete strangers in the stores! and tell them that they are living in a foster home! LOL I am so not used to that! My kids run and hide behind me-still! They have also been a wealth of information. I have been documenting everything and called the social worker to make sure she is getting counseling lined up. The twins aren't very twiny, but I'm sure that's related to their upbringing. They are close, but they don't seem to have that secret twin code, or closeness. They are also as different as night and day. One is very chatty, and one is a little more cautious and withdrawn. None of the girls has shed a single tear, and barely mention their mom. They do miss Grandma and eventually they will get to have visits with her. Actually, they did cry last night when they had to go to bed instead of hearing the story. One of them absolutely refused to do what I asked her and sissy decided to jump on the bandwagon. We talked about consequenses for not obeying. It must have left an impression because they were pretty compliant today. Madi was a bit more difficult today.

How has my life changed, Let me count thy ways:

1. I do at least 5 loads of laundry every single day!  2. I now have to do 3-4 dishwasher loads a day instead of 1 or 2 3. We run out of hot water 4. There are people in every inch of our house 5. My legs hurt because I never have time to sit down! 6. I rely on God minute by minute instead of daily 7. I never had any left overs before, now I am lucky if they don't eat the plates and glasses too! 8. I can go through 2 gallons of milk instead of 1. 9. Eric has finally seen the value in the large bags of off brand cereal instead of name brand boxes! LOL this is a huge one in this house! 10. and last but not least, I am back to going to the bathroom with at least one kid sitting outside the door talking to me!

I am going to take some pictures, but I am a bit hesitant to post them on  here. Mom's pretty hostile towards us so I don't want her to have any way of finding us. I know it's a stretch, but stranger things have happend. She told the girls that they "don't gotta listen to nuthin you tell us to do"-Yay! and beleive me-they tried that one on!

keep praying for us! We are busy, but really feel like we are right where God wants us. Unless there is some really big major blow up on the horizon, we would definately be willing to adopt these little girls. The social worker said the goal is to reunite them with mom, but she said that mom is in denial that there is any kind of a problem (she is a druggy) and is playing the victim's role to the hilt. Time will tell. If anything, I am so glad that we can "correct" some of the skewed ideas the girls have about God. My prayer is that it is a life changing time for them and will stay in their hearts forever. They came to us with 4 bibles, and were excited that we are christians. Like I said-from the outside looking in, you wouldn't have a clue.

Okay! Signing off for now and crashing into bed! One last thing-I got to shop for fluffy pink Easter dresses and little white shoes! Oh it was sooooooo much fun!

In Him,

Natalie and co.


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Mar. 11, 2008
March 11, 2008

Today we recieved our first foster girls. They are adorable! Their names are Abby, Beth and Madi. The first hour has gone fine! Stay tuned for more info! natalie and co.


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Mar. 8, 2008
The Call Finally Came!

Our exciting phone call finally came! Our placement worker called Eric at work because I was at Friday School. She has 6 yo twins with a 7yo sister she needs to placed by Tuesday-judges orders! YIKES! That does leave me wondering what I have gotten myself into! LOL So since I have a 7yo boy, I will in essence have TWO sets of twins! Two 6 year olds and two 7 year olds! An 8 year old and 11 year old! YIKES  What am getting myself into! Nothing is set in stone, but we have pretty much agreed to take them. We are trying to find the bench seat that will turn our mini van into an 8 passenger. We found one that they want $850 for in a junk yard! He was willing to come down to $725 since he's had it for so long.  Thanks, but no thanks! We told him we were looking for something in the $300 range. Maybe he will have a change of heart.  I also have a wanted ad on Craig's list to see if someone wants to trade or sell us the one out of their van-you have because you ask not.

The next order of business is to find a set of bunk beds. Out of the blue Eric's sister called us and wanted to know if we needed a set! I was so taken aback! I said "have you talked to Karla today?" and she HADN'T! She didn't even know we were in need of them. God's pretty awesome-now we just have to figure out how to get them. It may not be economical since they live five hours away, but a visit would be nice too!  

I best get back upstairs and put things back together. We moved Luke in with his brothers today so that should make an interesting adjustment! LOL I am being so polite, it's gonna be a long night tonight!  Then the girls will all share a room. Our rooms are HUGE, which is nice, but I would rather have the 3 small rooms right now. To give you an idea: We have a queen bed, two dressers and a set of bunkbeds in the boys room and there is still elbow room. It's about 14x20 and the girls room will have a similar set up. Their room is about 13x18 it's "smaller" but still large compared to most rooms.

It's so quiet. Eric took all 3 boys to baseball practice so I could have some down time. Admittedly, it feels a little strange!

TTFN! I'll keep you posted on the upcoming developments!

natalie and co.


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Mar. 6, 2008
School ramblings

We had a good week this week! I finally feel comfortable with where all the boys are! Levi is taking off with his reading! Praise the Lord! Even though I know that it's better to read late than early, I was starting to worry a bit! Today we started Hooked on Phonics SRA reading program. It's very good. I used it with Luke and he reads high school and adult level books. Levi also had an ah-ha moment in math with subtraction! YIPEE! I added a supplemental math program called Math Mammoth. It uses pictures to explain the concepts and that is apparently what he needed. It's a very nice supplement to Math U See, our main program.

Luke had a cold/flu bug at the beginning of the week. His ears are still bugging him a lot so we went to the doctor. He put him on a new allergy spray to see if he can get the swelling in his eustacian tubes to go down. he's been doing it for 3 days and says he can tell a difference.

Baseball season starts tonight! Nick and Levi are on the same team this year! hallelujah! It will still be busy, but not like when I am trying to keep track of two practices and two sets of games!

Basketball ends next week. Levi really enjoyed it! Nick wants to play next year. Once we are done with baseball we are going to look into CCYF football for Levi. he really wants to play. And being football fans, we're pretty happy about that! LOL he wants to be "like, a mini Seahawk".

I am trying to put a picture in here and it's not working! So you will have to go see them at Shutterfly! One of these days I will figure it out!

TTFN!

Natalie and co.


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Mar. 6, 2008
Hurry up and wait already!

Hello! As of last week we are officially licensed foster parents! We had one call for a little girl that I turned down! Oh it was so terribly hard! If I am not careful we could end up with 10 kids! LOL My heart just aches for these poor little ones-yet I do know my limits, and there are just some issues that we aren't going to deal with. We have to keep the safety of our own kids in mind, first and foremost. The little girl that I turned down was older and it just wasn't a good fit for us. Looking back, I think it would have been fine, but I don't want to be set up for failure with our first placement! So I said no. Levi was very dissappointed that he wasn't going to be a twin-he's so cute.

Every day the boys are asking me "When will we get the call? When is our sister coming?" I think it's cute. We'll see how excited they stay when they are up in the middle of the night with crying sisters! or the first time she takes a toy or pushes them around! LOL I'm glad they have open hearts and are excited.

My next call will be to the placement coordinator to let her know that we would like to do respite care. That is when you take foster kids for the day or weekend and they pay you like a daycare. I think that will be a nice start for us until we get our first placement. I had a dream last night that I caved and took in a boy! I obviously was just dreaming! I won't cave! I won't! LOL That might be hard to do if they need a temporary place for a baby boy. You can't beat the snuggles of a baby-boy or girl!

Much Love!

natalie and co.


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Feb. 27, 2008
We're Official!

We are official foster parents! I thought we would be about 2 weeks out, but we got our packet yesterday. We are looking forward to receiving the new little blessings! I know this will be a difficult long journey, but worth it in the end! Stay tuned for more updates!

Love,

Natalie and Co.


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Feb. 21, 2008
They're Baaaaaaaacccckkkkk!!!

My fingerprints that is! YAY! Finally! I was starting to think this was never going to end. I tell you what! this has given me a glimpse of what people who adopt from China go through. Everyday, check the mail box, nothing! But People adopting from China go through this for almost TWO YEARS!!! I only had to suffer through for 3 short weeks.

Our licensor will be submitting our finalized homestudy to his supervisor for review by Monday. He said that takes her about a week. Once that is done, he will notify the adoption and placement coordinators that we are ready to recieve kids. WOW! my head is spinning! This is all so exciting and scarry at the same time.

Did anyone else get to witness the lunar eclipse last night? It was so beautiful! I am not sure who thought it was cooler, me or the kids! LOL We kept an eye on it from about 6:15 until it was totally covered up, and it started to uncover. Yet another reminder of God's majesty and who really holds the earth, and stars in the sky.

TTFN! I will keep you all updated as to when we recieve our placements!

Love Always,

Natalie and Co.


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Feb. 6, 2008
To Mama Navy Brat

I'm still new to this, but we are in Washington State-southwest near Portland, Oregon. Natalie

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Feb. 6, 2008
The Wait

Funny how closely the process of "waiting" for the birth of your baby, and waiting on the paperwork to be complete for an adoption/fostering is! You wake up every morning and wonder if this is going to be the day I get the email saying my fingerprints are cleared? Will this be the day I get "the call" from the placement coordinator? I remember waking up every morning at the end of every pregnancy in tears because I had slept all night and not gone into labor! I can understand now why they call the adoption process a paper pregnancy! Praise God with the paper pregnancy I am not nauseated 24/7! There was no such thing as morning sickness around here!

Admittedly, I was having a lot of regrets over the permanency of our decision to be done having babies. I was in la-la land thinking that it would be much easier to just be pregnant and just have our own. -can we say pity party?That was until last week!

I have been doing a cleanse of my entire innards for almost 30 days. It has been going very well despite a bit of pain here and there while my organs were getting the yuck out. I must've gotten to a new place and woke up so terribly nauseated! it was miserable! But God in His grace used that moment to remind me that our permanency decision was for a reason-pregnancy and Nat do NOT get along! And the most important-we have the opportunity to change the lives of children who will desperately need loved even if it's only for a short season. Our prayer is that we can shine a light on "normal" and that we can influence them for Christ. Those seeds go deep and hopefully will follow them around forever.

 Psalm 146:9 He relieves the fatherless and the widow

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, DEFEND THE FATHERLESS, plead for the widow

Reading these scriptures reminds me that it's not just a child who will need help. Many of these kids will come from mom's who are pretty messed up. I pray that I will find myself praying for them, just as much as for the kids. We definately are in this to adopt, but to think we have the chance to help an entire family, and for those parent/s to know that their child/ren are somewhere they are truly loved. If we can give even just one parent a chance to turn their life around then we have done our job in Christ's kingdom. I've always said I am not called to the foreign mission field-there is plenty to do right here in America!

Be blessed!

natalie and co.


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Jan. 30, 2008
Heredity?

Okay is there a cheating gene that runs in families? One that causes older siblings or lets say-uncles to cheat while playing the game Monopoly? Or any other game for that matter? HMMMMMM yes, I belive so!! As we were playing that wonderfuly educational game of Monopoly last weekend, I on a constant basis, had to remind my eldest son Luke, not to take advantage of the weak younger siblings who were playing! Since we just got this game for Christmas and I haven't had the chance to teach him the ropes, I decided that it has to be genes!! Luke ended up loosing because he kept making trades and silly things and the baby of the family ended up winning=probably because I had to keep my eye on things or he would have been broke the first time around the board!! It was unbelievable! I also had to keep the instructions near by to prove that what Luke was proposing was absolutely AGAINST the rules!  During this same very fun and educational time we were having, I realized how demented and twisted I had become! I refused to let my kids beat me! I simply could not just be a nice little mommy and let them have my Boardwalk for the same price or cheaper than I had purchased it for! I do not think this was the gene pool. It was only caused by the gene pool of very competitive uncles who cheated to win- OOPS! I mean played to win! Well, hey! At least I can say I learned from the very best! LOL Just remember kids-Don't ever let anyone in this family play monopoly in bare feet! it is very convenient to pass large bills directly from the bank to your brothers!

Hope this finds everyone well! We are waiting for my now updated background check to come back and we will officially be foster parents. We anticipate we will have our first placement in about a month! I am feeling a bit anxious, but that would be normal even if I was going to give Birth in a month. All those same questions arise making you wonder if this is all really going to happen, can I really do this, and have enough love for all these kids? And then they come and you fall in love and somehow, yep-you have so much love sometimes it hurts!

I've added a couple of pictures to the album. Just in case the email to put in is

sundby5@hughes.net

and the password is sundby89

Take care everyone!

Love,

 Natalie and co.


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Jan. 23, 2008
Happy Birthday Nicky Boy!

Hello Everyone!

We have reached that milestone-the one where your baby doesn't feel like much of a baby anymore! Nicky turned 7 yesterday. I don't know if it was harder on me or Eric. I am definately ready to get that snuggly little toddler in our home! LOL Who knows how snuggly she will turn out to be so I am trying not to have unrealistic expectations. We will have everything turned in by the end of the week for the foster care license! I am not sure how soon after that we will start receiving kids. I know there is a huge need so I can't imagine it taking too long.

Nick is having a blast with all his presents! He loves his Darth Vader laptop he got from Grandma and Grandpa Mc! Every break he gets he turns it on. It's a great learning tool! It's got math, spelling, and some other great stuff. We ended up having a huge party for him. Christa and her kids were down so we had everyone over. It was wild and crazy! But it was such a blessing from the Lord! We were planning his party and realized that all of his friends had moved away! So we didn't have anyone to invite-then Christa came down and we went from 0-20 in no time flat! God is so good! It was fun for Christa's kids to be a part of a birthday party with their cousins too!

I've put some new photos in the photo album for you to see. Enjoy and have a blessed day!


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Jan. 15, 2008
Rose Garden Arena Field Trip

What a blast we had today! We got to take a field trip of the Rose Garden Arena! Seeing how everything works behind the scenes is such and incredible opportunity for the kids. They learn so much about how life and the world works. Okay so all the educational stuff out of the way...

Luke got to sit in Greg Oden's chair!!!!!!!!!!! We got to take a tour of the Portland Trailblazer's locker room!! It was so cool!!!! They are on a road trip currently so we were lucky. There were shoes in the locker's and shirts, everyone's name on the locker so we knew who it belonged to. I have never seen such huge shoes in my life! Levi took one look at Greg Oden's sandles that were in his locker and said "those are some big sandles mom!" I was like-oh my gosh! it's Greg Oden's locker! And for those of you who don't know who or why Greg Oden is so special...He was the #1 draft pick in the NBA this year. Seattle got the #2 pick. Brandon Roy is also a great kid who is playing for the Blazers (I think he might have been rookie of the year last year?) and Levi got to sit in his chair-his feet were not as big as Greg's though. Did I mention that the doors were about 15ft high? No ducking for the players! I am not really a basketball fan, but this was one cool field trip! Click on my photo album to see the pictures! Oh and just in case you are wondering-the box seats in the Rose Garden are only $250K a year. I think we will be investing in one next year-NOT! But they were nice-there was even a TV in the bathroom so you don't miss a thing. Cheese tray for $61 !

Natalie

 


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Jan. 13, 2008
Shutterfly password

Sorry about that! here are the passwords for the photo album

sundby5@hughes.net

sundby89

Natalie


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Jan. 12, 2008
Off to a great start!

So what on earth happend to our beloved Seahawks! Sigh, the old Matt showed up! That's what!  I even had my outfit all planned for the big superbowl party! I was considering going with blue and green streaks in my hair! LOL Oh Well! Anyone else think Holmgren will be "retiring" now?

Well, enough of the sob story-the plight of a Seahawks fan's life! I was able to upload some pictures onto an online album for you to look at. On the right side of my blog is a link and it says-Photo Album. Click on it and it will take you there. Then click on view my albums.

Natalie


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