Cookies and Gardening

Anju and Jonah enjoy their cookies.

3 kids who apparently think gardening is done with sandbox tools.

The kids wanted a picture of themselves with their weeds with long roots.......

....so this kid did too!

School's out

Solveig the Shaggy Dog (we watched the old Disney movie last night- ha!)

Jonah takes his haircut like a man.

Thursday was the older kids' last day at school--and they got out 2 hours late at that!  So, yesterday we all ventured out to Bemidji to reward them for their good report cards they brought home Thursday (We let the O-'s and S+'s slide just this once) and to buy the food for VBS which starts next Monday.  Jonah had a $5 credit card he found in a cereal box burning a hole in his pocket, also.

The day started out well for us, but by the time we were done with the garage sale, bank (more things to be notarized for the adoption), haircuts, lunch, mall shopping (extremely pitiful mall, but they had the glow-in-the-dark fabric paint that Solveig "needed" to finish up her t-shirt project), and Target excursion, the kids were in rare form to head to pick up the groceries, which had to be purchased last because of the frozen/cold items.

We wielded two carts- one for VBS and one for us.  Anju demanded to be carried, and yelled, "Mom!  Mom!" right into my ear making my ear hurt like it had an infection.  If I set her down, she ran off.  If I put her in the cart, she screamed bloody murder and made everyone look at me like I was one of those terrible moms who takes their toddler to town to shop when they should really be napping.  And of course the other two were whining, "He touched me!" and "Make her stop following me!" and the like.  When you live 35 miles from town, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and pray that you (and I guess the kids) will recover from the post-traumatic stress of it all later.

It was fun planning the VBS menu- all with this year's fishing theme:

Day One: Starfish Soup w/ Fish Crackers, Bobber Brownies

Day Two: It Got Away PB&J, Rainbow Trout Crackers, Bait Cups (oreo crumbs, choc. pudding and gummy worms)

 Day Three: Fish Sticks, Dolphin Nuggets, Happy Fisherman potatoes, Lake Jello (blue jello w/ Swedish Fish inside)

 Day Four: Seashells & Cheese, (leftovers), Matey Mix (graham fish crackers, M&M's, Marshmallow Matey's cereal)

We serve the evening meal before VBS starts at 6pm, and on Friday we will have a potluck at the lake and actually go fishing following our closing service!

We've got an auction to go to on Sunday following church, and two more the next weekend--the summer auction season is off to a great start.  If you don't know me well, I just love to attend farm or household auctions, and it seems there have been a couple lean years lately for auctions.  Hopefully this year will be very productive for a family on a budget!

Prayer request:  You may recall my grandma having medical issues last fall/winter after falling in her home.  My grandparents just moved back home on Sunday after a long winter of recovery and therapy.  Well, on Thursday morning, I got a call that my grandpa had fallen in the night and was being taken to the hospital.  He was put in the ICU and apparently has heart problems requiring intervention/surgery of some kind.  Please keep my parents, aunt/uncle and family and grandparents in your prayers during this troubling time.  We know you are in God's hands, Grandpa Clinton!

Well, Shawn's out mowing the lawn, and the kids and I need to weed the garden so we can plant next week.  Our growing season up here is so short--and on the news they said we're about 2 weeks behind because of all the cold weather.  The joys of living in the tundra!  It's supposed to reach the mid 60's here today.  So, I might be safe putting away the snowpants now!

Memorial Day Weekend

My grandfather's brother

"Before and After"

Pictures on display at Fort Totten (Devil's Lake, ND) showing how "successful" their

assimilation process with local Sioux was.

The kids with their grandparents at Fort Totten.

Anju the student at Fort Totten.

The kids walking around the fort.

We stayed in this cabin at Red Willow Bible Camp near Binford, ND.

Thought

Watching Anju splash around in her bath this morning and had a thought---  I think I finally know more about her than anyone else. 

Part of the letting-go process involved in my other children's lives was that until they went to school, I knew everything about them.  I shared all of their experiences and I knew everyone they knew.  Once they "grew up" and left my home they had experiences without me.  They know people I don't know and have learned things from others that I am not privy to.  They are fully their own individuals, although they are still my precious children.

With Anju (and "older" adopted children) we pick them up and take them home, but we really know nothing about them.  Their birth family knows a chunk of their history, but at the point of adoption, the orphanage workers and hospital staff (in our case) know more than anyone else.  We know nothing of their likes and dislikes, what comforts them, what things they'll recognize and what things they're experiencing for the first time except for the few notations in their paperwork.  

Today, around 6 months after Anju's arrival, I finally feel like I am the Anju expert.  We have shared experiences for half a year and I know her.  She knows me too.  

Psalm 139:1-16 

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me 
You know when I sit and when I rise 
you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

You discern my going out and my lying down 
you are familiar with all my ways 

Before a word is on my tongue 
you know it completely, O LORD 

You hem me in—behind and before 
you have laid your hand upon me. 

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me 
too lofty for me to attain. 

Where can I go from your Spirit? 
Where can I flee from your presence? 

If I go up to the heavens, you are there 
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 

If I rise on the wings of the dawn 
if I settle on the far side of the sea 

even there your hand will guide me 
your right hand will hold me fast. 

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me 
and the light become night around me," 

even the darkness will not be dark to you 
the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 

For you created my inmost being 
you knit me together in my mother's womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made 
your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from you 
when I was made in the secret place. 
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth 

your eyes saw my unformed body 
All the days ordained for me 
were written in your book 
before one of them came to be. 

Off again!

The kids and I are leaving in a few minutes for another road trip!  This time we're going to meet my parents in North Dakota to visit my dad's growing-up area and honor my great-uncle Martin who gave his life in WWII at the Memorial Day service at the cemetery.  I am happy to introduce Anju to her Rasmussen roots (ha!) and to reinforce the importance and honor of sacrifice and patriotism in my older 2 kids.  

We'll be staying at Red Willow Bible Camp in rural Binford in a house-like cabin, so should be able to enjoy s'mores and grilled hamburgers and all the camping stuff without being quite so rustic this early in the season.  

Hope you all enjoy the Memorial Day weekend--not forgetting the men and women it honors.

MRI results

The pediatrician from the myelodysplasia clinic called this morning regarding Anju's MRI.  The head part was normal--no fluid/hydrocephalous--which was expected.  The spinal part showed tethering at the surgical site--which also was expected.  There were no surprises.  As far as the tethering goes, we will watch for further leg weakness or bowel/bladder control loss as signals that the tethering needs surgical intervention.  This may never happen, or may happen often.  

So for now, Anju is doing well----thanks be to God!

May pics

The kids had fun with this toad/frog, (depending on which of the kids you ask) 

who perfectly blends into our trees.

Anju enjoys a toasted marshmallow at our first official grilling out of the season.

Anju enjoys her pickle at the Festival of Nations.

The 3 kids at the Festival of Nations holding animals they

bought at the Hmong booth (cat, butterfly and turtle).