Adoption Day

This is a picture that was included in the adoption invitation via email.

(It reads: Sierra, Andrew and Hannah are excited to announce the upcoming adoption of their new four siblings.)

On August 10th, 2009, we finalized the adoption of our last 4 children. We all had to get up at 5:30 am to be at the courthouse by 8:00. Once we arrived, we met our adoption worker, attorney, and case worker. Jeff and I signed 4 sets of paper work and then the judge was ready for us. Our attorney asked Jeff and I some questions, asked the adoptions worker if DCS felt like our family was suitable for the children and then the judge signed the order. It was quick and painless.

All of the children waiting for the adoption hearing.

Photo with judge after he granted the adoption.

After the hearing, we had a adoption celebration at our house where several friends joined us to celebrate the occasion. I will never forget Jacob running around and around the yard exclaiming, "I am adopted!!" and Melissa giving me a hug and saying, "Thanks, I am now yours forever."
Our first family photo after the adoption. The Miller's - Family of Nine!
It was a special day and one we will treasure for always.

First Trip In Bus

This past weekend, we took our first trip in our bus. We went to SC to visit our parents and for the new 4 children to meet their new grandparents. Even though, our bus does not have AC the ride to South Carolina was pleasant. When you have 22 windows to let down, the breeze feels good!! However, Jeff and the boys did decide that it was too hot to sleep on the bus. Therefore, they had a camp-out inside on Grandma Skelton's floor.

We arrived back home on Monday and Jeff is already working on getting all the beds in the bus. He would like to have it finished by August. We will see how God provides.

This is Austin on one of the beds. He and Steven came home with us and are spending 2 weeks with our family.

Some pictures of our weekend.

This is my Daddy with Hannah. We met my sister and her family at my parents house for lunch and playing in the river. We all had a great time.

Sierra Kayaking down the river.

This was Katie's first time in the river. She loved the water.

Pleasing My Man

Jeff and I were having a conversation last night. We were talking about things we have experienced, how the Lord has changed us, and how we have grown during our last 19 years of marriage.

I made the statement, "I have learned how to make my life easier with you honey." Of course, he wanted to know what I have learned. I replied, "I have learned that if I give you good food and take care of your NEEDS (ladies you know what I mean) then my days go well. Jeff just laughed and said, "Yea, it goes back to that APPLE. Eve looked nice when she offered the forbidden apple."

To this I had to add that men and women should practice SELF CONTROL. Adam should not have given into his desire but should have chosen to OBEY GOD!!

Jeff said, "It goes back to what you just said "good food and NEEDS being met". It started at the beginning of time. Maybe lots of marriages today would last if women would learn what you have learned."

I just shook my head and gave my MAN a big hug. We both know the reason that we have been married 19 years this August is because we do practice self control, die to our self, and love God.

WE ARE BLEST! I am looking forward to the next 19 years.

Who gets the Mumps these days?

ANDREW!!!!!!!

(The right side of Andrew's face is swollen more than the left. The knot(mumps) is right near his temple on each side of his face.)

On June 10th, he woke up with swollen knots on both sides of his face. Within a few hours, his forehead had a knot on it and the back of his head had two knots and was swollen. I took him and Hannah ( I will get to her in a minute.) to the doctor. The doctor looked at him quite puzzled. She said that she had never seen a case of the Mumps but thought(???) that this is what he had. She had the nurse swab the inside of his mouth and then draw some blood. She said that the Mumps is virus. If the blood work comes back and it is NOT bacterial then she is 95% sure it is the Mumps. However, the Mumps test will not be back until Friday. Andrew's blood work came back positive for a virus. Now we are waiting to see if it is truly the MUMPS.

Hannah had a temperature of 101 to 104.2 late on Tuesday(6/9/09) and during the night. I would not have taken her to the doctor because she was showing no other signs of illness. She was only complaining of a tummy ache. I felt the tummy ache was because of the medicine I was giving her for the fever and the fact that she was not eating. I usually let at least 3 days go by before going to the doctor in case it is something viral. However, since I was taking Andrew I decided to go ahead and take Hannah. At least the doctor could look in her ears and throat and tell me if anything was going on.

When she looked at Hannah she said that she saw NO signs of a cold. She said that most likely Hannah had the Mumps virus but not "full blown Mumps" because she had been vaccinated. Since we don't have Andrew's medical records from birth to age 5, the doctor felt like he didn't get vaccinated or at least didn't get the complete series.

She said that the Mumps are hardly ever seen anymore and encouraged me to look up the virus on the Internet. She went onto say that children who have been vaccinated (like Hannah) can still get the virus and have some of the symptoms or just be a carrier. She said that Andrew would have been contagious 6 days prior to the breakout until 9 days after the swelling goes away. She said that the virus can last up to 20 days from the time the mumps appear.

She said that most of the time the swelling is painful and the patient doesn't feel well. Thankfully, Andrew is not feeling bad. He does say that his head hurts a little but he is running, eating, and playing like normal. Hannah is a little grumpy and when her temperature goes up she doesn't feel well. But once the fever goes down with medicine, she is playing fine.

Here is what Andrew looked like today. DAY 2 (6/11/09)

This morning the right side of his face was swollen. His right eye is swollen more than his left and the knots seem to have gone down some. He still feels fine. Hannah's temperature is still 101-102 without medicine.

Hair Cutting Day

This past Sunday, Jeff decided to give all the boys a haircut.

Here are the boys before Daddy got the razor.

Hannah thinks that she will be a barber for the day!!

Jacob was the first one in the "chair".

Then it was Andrew's turn. He had the MOST hair to loose.Then came Joshua's turn. It really was not as painful as it looks. All the boys say that their new hair cuts are a lot cooler.
Here are some close up.

Andrew's Summer Hair Cut

Jacob still wants a hair cut like Dad.

Joshua can't keep his hands off his hair. I had to make him put them by his side for this picture.

Hannah is Potty Trained!!

About a month ago, Hannah said, "Me pee in the potty." She had a week where she would go in her diaper and in the toilet. Then, the next week she used the potty all week. I will have to say that not one time did I have to remind her or ask her if she wanted to "go potty". She decided on her own and she trained herself. I have never seen a child do this before.

After she was going to pee-pee in the potty during the day, we put on her big girl panties. She had one poop accident in them that week then started asking for a diaper when she needed to poop. She would put on her diaper, poop and then say that she needed to be changed. At this point, I would tell her, "Big girls go poop in the potty." She would say that she was a big girl. I would tell her, "No, big girls don't poop in diapers. You will be a big girl one day." Then last week, she had another accident in her panties. This time I took her to the bathroom with me and showed her how to clean her panties in the toilet. I told her that next time she pooped in her panties that she was going to stick her hand in the toilet and clean them. The next day, she pooped in the potty. She got lots and lots of Big Girl complements. Then, she had another day of asking for the diaper. The following day, she pooped in the potty and she has done this all week with NO accidents.



She is still wearing pull-ups at night but I have to say that she wakes up around 11:00 and tells me that she has to potty and then gets back in her bed. She wakes up dry most mornings.



Way to go Hannah!!! You Are A Big Girl NOW!!!

Now, if she could just learn how to apply makeup!! (Hannah and her friend, Abby, decided to play makeup.)

Home Educating All 7

Last week, Andrew finished his 2008/2009 school year. Sierra will finish this week. However, yesterday I started our 2009/2010 homeschooling year with ALL 7 of the children. We have decided to do a preschool program with Hannah-Faith and Joshua, a special needs program for Katie (she will also participate with the preschool program.), and the other children will be in grades 1st, 3rd, and 8th. Because of Andrew's learning difficulties, he will be in different grade levels according to subject.

I realize that home educating 7 is going to be a challenge but with God's Grace I am sure we will make it through.

Jacob, on the other hand, was not as positive. He didn't want to be home schooled. He said that he would be getting on the bus and going to school. You see, Jacob has several issues on why he will not like school at home. The first is that "I can not do what I want at home." The second is that Jacob has a gift of talking children into bringing him "delicious" snacks. (We don't allow a lot of junk food in our house. Jacob is having withdrawals since school has been out.) He misses his partner in crime - Kenny.

Well after we did our lessons today, the children were allowed to get in our swimming pool. I made the comment to Jacob. "Jacob, how was school today? I don't think at your old school that you got to do your lesson and then go swim. Homeschooling is pretty cool -- don't you think." Jacob didn't miss a second with his reply. "Yea, if I had only thought to bring home that big box of chocolate balls it would be cool." I just had to laugh.

Maybe tomorrow, I should give him a piece of chocolate when he finishes his lessons!!!

This is the look Jacob gives when he doesn't want to do something that you ask him to do. On this day, he was playing in the creek and he didn't want his picture taken. I am looking forward to teaching Jacob more than anyone else. I just know within a few weeks, he is going to loving learning!!

Our Bus Has Arrived!!

Somewhere around the first of May, Jeff said that he thought it would be neat if we owned a RV where we could "camp" once the new four children were adopted.

Backing up for a moment.... When Andrew was adopted we took a week long trip to the beach with some friends. We thought that we would do this again but then we priced the hotesl, condominiums, and houses to rent for a week. For a family our size to stay at the beach for a week it was going to cost over $1500.00 JUST FOR A PLACE TO STAY. Of course, this was NOT an option. I just began praying that God would show us what to do as an adoption celebration event. Now... Back to Jeff and his thoughts.

We priced renting RVs and the going rate was $800.00 for the week plus 20 cents a mile. We looked a the prices of RVs just to see what they cost. Well, we were back at the praying stage.

Then about 3 days before Mother's Day, Jeff said, "why don't we get a school bus and turn it into an RV. I have seen people do this when I go to the race." Honestly, I just said that was fine because I didn't know what to say.

Well 3 days later, our friend that lives next door said, "our church/school had an auction yesterday and tried to auction off their bus." I was shocked. I asked her if someone bought it and she replied,"NO." I called Jeff over to where we were talking and we told her about our prayer. We all stood amazed at how God was working.

Jeff got a contact number for the man who was in charge of the bus. After looking at it, making sure that we could park it in our yard, checking with the city on regulations, and moving our fence for the 4th time this year, he brought the bus home.



All of us watch excitedly as Daddy maneuvered the bus down the drive.


There were moments that I didn't think Jeff was going to get this 35 foot bus down our driveway without taking out the mailbox or telephone pole!!

However within a few minutes, the bus was sitting right where God had planned for it to be.

Now, we have a new family project. Turning the bus into an RV.

CHECK BACK FOR DETAILS ON THE PROGRESS