A Gray Area...

Until Esias gets here and I forget all about the bad stuff and find myself in the all the glorious sleeplessness and madness that is life with three children, the only physical, tangible things I have received from this adoption process are two things:

1. Debt. Boo.

and

2. GRAY HAIRS!!! dude. Lots of them. Here they are, with their apparent cause named. I have never thought I'd be the hair-dyeing type, but with these big, shimmery-boingy fatties going wild in my part, what choice do I have?

Elly and I were making a PB&J sandwich together. As I spread the peanut butter on, she got up from the table and I said, "Elly, do you want to get a spoon for the jelly?" and she answered, "I'm getting it, Goofball."

Not completely bad news...

We did not get finalized today (pass court) but they left the case open. There are a couple of things that need corrected and then they will hear our case as soon as those things are fixed. That is better news than a "no."

Thanks for your prayers. We continue to covet them. Pray for His will to be done, and that we can let go of this and hold it with an open hand.

Our psalm to the Lord this morning...

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

6 years ago...you were 6 months old :)

happy half birthday Eden Lily Pants! Love you!!!

New Work for the SHOW!

New work is up over at shadleygrimes.com! Check it out!

Then head over to Laura's tonight for our show- 4-9pm at 2702 Irving Ave, Iowa City.

TMI? (not for you, Kelly)

The following post contains bathroom topics :) Reader beware.

Today Elly had a little, er, looseness I'll say, in the bathroom. I was at first concerned about an illness, but it didn't last. I thought about it a while and realized that she had eaten a Fiber One granola bar yesterday...which doesn't bother me, but she is significantly smaller than me! So I guess it got things moving! Then Eden was in the bathroom and yelled, "Mom! I need some more toilet paper! I just had diarrhea!" So I got her some and asked her, "Did you have a Fiber One bar yesterday, because that might be causing it." She repiled, "No, but I did have popcorn! And last time I ate popcorn, I had diarrhea GALORE!"

(Gross, sorry! But funny!)

The Sittig Kids and Some Adoption Ramblings...

I was lucky to get to watch Max and Addy (my neighbor's darlings) today. Max is I think almost 4 months old, and Addy is almost four years old. Needless to say, Elly loved it (it was just like old times) and I was getting a much-needed baby fix. Mmmmm...breathe in that sweet smelling little bald head! We all managed quite well together and I am looking forward to having them again tomorrow while their Grandma is away!


The girls were big helpers!

He had a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights sort of face for most of the pics!

Cutesy pie

Elly took this pic.

Doesn't he look just like a certain red-head you've seen here before?

In other news, we got a video of Esias today. It was footage from December (boo!) but video nonetheless. It was good to see him moving, or at least being held. He was less than six months old at the time. So obviously he's changed a lot. But the best part was that a man in the video talked about Esias' history. He called him an "interesting child" with a "rich history" which I thought was quite awesome. I want Esias to think of himself that way when he is older and trying to process everything. I hope we get that chance to be with him as he does. We also heard a native speaker pronounce his name...Yabetse is his given name, and we've been pronouncing it very American as "Ya-BET-say" when in actuality it is pronounced "YAH-bes" with just a tiny bit of "t" or even "ts" at the end. If that makes any sense!

I am still waiting on some updated pics from two families who just came back this weekend, and three more families leave this week, so we might get more pics next week too. Woot woot! Monday is the court date...oh Lord, please make this the last one! My heart can't take it anymore!

A Waiting Momma's Prayer

Father, you created the Heavens and the earth, you filled the oceans with water and the sky with stars...nothing is outside of your abilities. You know exactly why Esias is in the orphanage and why our hearts long for him so much. We love him so much! Your plan is perfect and good and exactly what we need to bring you glory. Help us to be patient and content with that plan. Father, teach me to yearn for you as I yearn for my son. Teach me to be content in all circumstances. Teach me to rejoice in suffering. Speak truth to me and forgive me when I don't want to hear it. We desire for this to be about YOU. You are worthy of all honor and glory and praise. Amen.

I know I've been posting lots of lyrics lately but this really is what ministers to my heart. This song has been on my mind and heart lately, and Dan and I have been singing it as a psalm to the Lord:

Artist: Tenth Avenue North
Song: Hold My Heart

How long must I pray
Must I pray to You
How long must I wait
Must I wait for You
How long 'till I see Your face
See You shining through

I'm on my knees
Begging You to notice me
I'm on my knees
Father, will You turn to me

One tear in the driving rain
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the Maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breaking heart
One life is all I am
Right now, I can barely stand
If You're everything You say You are
Would You come close and hold my heart

I've been so afraid
Afraid to close my eyes
So much can slip away
Before I say goodbye
But if there's no other way
I'm done asking why

Cause I'm on my knees
Begging You to turn to me
I'm on my knees
Father, will You run to me


So many questions without answers
Your promises remain
I can't see but I'll take my chances
To hear You call my name
To hear You call my name

At Least My Family is Funny...

4/18/09
Yesterday I needed to take a quick shower so instead of going downstairs to the "grown up" shower, I just went into the kids' bathroom to shower. When I got into the bathroom, both the girls were in the bathroom brushing their teeth. I knew me taking a shower in their bathroom would be a cause for questions, so I started, "Ok, girls, since I want to shower really quickly I am just going to jump in your shower today. Now no one laugh at me." I turned on the water and got undressed. Eden was quiet for a minute and then said, "I just can't help it, I HAVE TO LAUGH!"


And from my dear husband...

As many of you know, I have been literally "working my tail off" and losing weight. The other day, this is what my wonderful husband had to say, "You are going to be so excited when we pull out that tote of your skinny clothes and you realize that they are all...out of style."

I don't get it, but I'm not suppose to.

Isaiah 55:8

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

Well this is getting old.

Court needs more information.

Court Date #5 is April 27th.

Spring Art Open House!

Friday Night, April 24th
4pm-9pm
2702 Irving Ave Iowa City

Creative Works by Connie Berends
Paper Prayers by Jill Brown
Girls' Intuition by Diana & Marissa Frisbie
The Art of Shadley Grimes (that's me)
Green Girl Designs by Laura McCarragher

JOIN US for
Art for Sale (you know you want some!)
Food
Drawings & Prizes!

Visit thingswithwingsartjournal.blogspot.com for more information!

I will be posting my newest work on shadleygrimes.com as well.

Pronunciation Help

I have noticed many people having trouble pronouncing our new son's name, so here is a reminder:

Esias - eh-ZIE-us it rhymes with Elias or fleh-flyess. :)

From Thinkbabynames.com:

"The boy's name Esias \e-sias\ is of Greek and Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "God is salvation". Variant of Isaiah.

Esias has 3 variant forms: Esaias, Esiason and Esiasson.

Baby names that sound like Esias are Josias and Isais.

Esias is a very rare male first name and a very rare surname (source: 1990 U.S. Census)."

Easter at Our House

This post is mostly for Angie since their family was not able to join the festivities this year! Enjoy!

We had a fun Easter. We Eastern Iowa Grimeses hosted the Southwest Iowa Grimes-Hughes side. Friday night we had a BBQ at Darin and Katy's...Saturday morning we swam at the hotel with the littler kids then celebrated our niece Chloe's 7th b'day at Par-tee Zone in Iowa City. Then Saturday night we had a pizza and poker party at our house. Sunday morning we went to the Easter breakfast at Parkview Church and stayed for the early service...then I came back and baked two spiral hams, lots of roasted potatoes, asparagus and other goodies. My sisters and sis-in-laws supplied the sides and desserts. Then we celebrated Dan's oldest brother Doug's 37th b'day! We had TONS of food and it was so good. Trish and Chris with Hannah (3) and Alivia (11 months) stayed at our house with us. It was great fun to see everyone and we are all pooped! Good, good times with family! We hosted 24 people in all, not including ourselves. Not bad for this little house!

Saturday A.M.

All the little ones swimming at the hotel.

Elly loves swimming!

I think this is Chloe, Bethany, Eden, Hannah and Elly.

Bethany carrying Eden.

Sweet Livy!

Dan being attacked by some children.

Hannah Banana.

Doug, a.k.a. Big Daddy

Chloe's Birthday party


How many girls can you fit on the "love couch"?


Doug and Katy took advantage of their WWF moves.

Livy playing at the Par-Tee Zone.

Elly kept falling down...once she said she was pushed by this "squishy faced boy."

Dan, Sammie, and Doug playing cards.

Keely (one of Doug & Heidi's older twins), Dan, and Kelsey (the other twin).

Filling the Easter eggs while the little kids watched Kung Fu Panda...

Sunday

The Three Musketeers...Sammie (13), Kelsey (16) and Keely (16). Eleazar's head is also peaking up there.

Eden (6), Chloe (7), Bethany and Eleazar (8, the other set of twins) finding Easter eggs while Grandpa Lee and Doug watch.

Ethan (17) playing the bunny. Sorry, that's Lee's bum.

Doug opening his gifts...Heidi is in the purple with the blonde hair.

Eden finding eggs.

Tiel, Nia and Claude joined us for lunch and the egg hunt...

So did Marcus, Brynn and Will.

Elly found one!

Grandpa helped Hannah find some eggs.

Cute Activity for Kids

My friend Jill King emailed this to me today:

Resurrection Rolls

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:
Crescent rolls
Melted butter
Large marshmallows
Cinnamon
Sugar

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Read Matthew 27:57-61

1. Give each child a marshmallow. This represents Jesus.
2. Have him/her dip the marshmallow in melted butter. This represents the oils of embalming.
3. Now dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represents the spices used to anoint the body.
4. Then wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.
5. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. (The oven represents the tomb - pretend like it was three days!)
6. Let the rolls cool slightly. The children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN!!!! (The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

Now read Matthew 28:5-8

A Day in the Life of the GrimesFam

Loved Elly''s outfit today...it was quite a feat to keep it stain-free. This girl has never understood that her shirt is neither a Kleenex or a napkin.







She's not punching you, she was reenacting something from Disney's Cinderella.


I thought it might be fun to run down a typical day for anyone who cares. If that's not you, no offense taken :)

April 9, 2009...a typical day at our house.

7:00am Dan and I realize that the alarm is going off and we should be waking up. We had a late Wednesday night...
7:20am I go try to rouse the girls, with Eden this is impossible. Dan breaks the news that our beloved hamster of three months has gone from his earthly home to a heavenly one. Eden takes it well and says, "Well at least now we don't have to clean the cage." She'll make a good vet.
7:40am We are all stuck in the tiniest room in our house--the bathroom. Brushing teeth, going potty, Dan trying to shave or style his perfectly sculpted hair...
7:55am- Dan heads out the door amidst pleas for "one more hug and kiss!"
8:00am The girls and I are eating breakfast and Elly gets down from the table about 20 times in process.
8:10am I am yelling at people to get their shoes on for pete's sake...we do this every day, why is this step so difficult??? Coats, bag, keys, FOUND!
8:15am We're lucky school is close or we would not make it! Drop Eden off at school and cruise away. We head to Wal-Mart for two ginormo hams for Easter. While I'm there I pick up some cute flannel to make a blankie for Esias. I'm going to wash it in our detergent and sleep with it so it smells like us and then send it over for him. I also find a onesie that in my opinion will be very appropriate...eventually.

and here's the fabric...




9:30am- Mision Complida. Head home, refrigerate hams and head back out for more errands.
10am- Elly stands on her head in the waiting room at my appointment and rearranges all the office decor.
10:45am- Drive home with a three year old crying that we're going home instead of Tawget.
11am- Mommy's on Facebook but gets drawn away by a little brown-eyed girl asking to be read to. That is something I made a committment to my kids- if they wanted me to read a book to them, I would say yes!
Noonish- Daddy's home! Spaghettio's and other frozen entrees are consumed since there are no leftovers. Daddy gets in on the daily wiping--yes!
1:20 Play at Eden's school while we wait to pick her up- Elly makes a friend and chases spiders on the rocks at Van Allen.
1:50 Pick up Eden and drive to church for another errand. Chit chat with former coworkers, the kids entertain all, Pastor Jeff comforts Eden over the loss of her hamster with a folksy tale about his own-- lovingly named Ezra Tubbs. We play for a while on the church's play equipment and Eden reminisces her preschool days.
3pm- Home again, home again. Eden goes straight to climb the tree with her bag full of goodies and Elly hurts herself outside while trying to get her bike out of the shed. Comfort the crying kid and tell her she can watch some cartoons.
Check my email, check on Eden, Eden comes in and wants to watch TV too...we go in and discover Elly is asleep everso preciously watching Martha Speaks. Too cute. Too bad she'll be up til eleven.
4pm- Mommy's tired and ready for daddy to be home!! Blogreading. Load some pics on the computer. Bug my mom over IM.
4:20pm Decide to blog this. Wow, my life is exciting!!! If I hadn't gone to the church today I would not have spoken to anyone outside my family all day!

I think it was Jill that posted something along these lines- Normal day, let me be aware of what a precious gift you are. Or something like that! But I get it. My heart still skips a beat when the phone rings during the day, as if I am going to get another one of those calls telling me the child whose features we have memorized, whose room is decorated and waiting, whose sisters pray for him nightly is will not be coming home to be with us. Each day that goes by without that call is a good day!

Sidewalk Chalkin'

Just a Smallish Request

Um...can I have my baby now?

Elly the Grammatical Wizard

Elly has her own special language. She has made up many words that she uses to communicate...such as:

"Marcus is a little bit stealish."

"My tummy is hurtish."

"Grammy is very sharish."

Noticing a pattern here?

Adventures in Injera-Making

We were so blessed by our friends Brhana, her daughters Bethel and Tio, and Tio's son Zach. They came over after church and Brhana carried in TONS of home-cooked Ethiopian food! She made fresh injera right before our eyes and also had made two beef dishes to eat with it. It was delicious! The kids had so much fun together and we were excited to have our first taste of Ethiopian cuisine.

Brhana mixing the teff with self-rising flour (she does this method only because she's in the US and doesn't have access to lots of teff, typically she told me they would only use the teff flour)


Pouring the batter onto the injera cooker.





It looks like a giant spongey pancake.

Almost done...

Brhana used a straw mat to cool the injera.



The three musketeers...Zach (8), Eden (6), and Bethel (7).

To the left this is (I think) siga wot (beef stew) and to the right is rolled pieces of injera (flatbread).

I am not sure what this dish to the left is...maybe tibs? It is sauteed cabbage, onion, and garlic with beef (siga). We all sat down to eat without any utensils--traditionally, you eat the stew by scooping it up in a small piece of injera. Brhana was quick to correct her daughter and grandson when they ate with the wrong hand (note to self: eat only with the right hand!). Dan LOVED it, I thought it was pretty good until the injera got mushy, and Eden ate a little bit and said she liked it. Elly ate soup instead. Zach and Bethel thought it was astonishing that we had never eaten injera before!

Here we all are...we had so much fun!!!