Plenty of room to GROW!!

My view from the front of our new ride. We do have an extra cousin with us, but still have 6 open seats! I love it!

Spotlight Sunday-Ms Mavery

Someone so kindly reminded me that I needed to start back in on my spotlight Sundays, so here we go! ;-)



It has been awhile since I have said much about Mavery, thought I would share about her. She has now been home over 18 months, hard to believe we are closing in on 2 years. Some days I think we have come so far, I KNOW we have come far. Yet other days, I have think we will never reach normal. Then I must remind myself that maybe this IS normal, and I need to learn to accept a new kind of normal.


You may remember that we took Mavery in to see our international doctor after being home about 6 months. It was suggested that she could possibly have ADHD, or sensory processing disorder. We started her in therapy for sensory, but we did not see any improvement at all. We started seeing a family therapist who specialized in adoption and who diagnosed her with attachment disorder. And from that things did MUCH improve. Many of the issues we were dealing with, such as the screaming in the car every.single.time. we got in, lessened, to the point where we did not dread going for just a short drive. Many things have improved, we can look back to even just 6 months ago, and we KNOW things are better.




Yet we still struggle. We have found that routine works miracles for Mavery. She has gone to school this past year, and that has been a blessing. She loves, LOVES school. As we neared the start of summer vacation I wondered how it would go for her. And after 3 days home I knew. I quickly called and enrolled her in part time. We are able to just have her there when other kids are out on vacation. So not all the time, but at least a few weeks of the summer. I worried how she and Sage would do, because they were not both going, but I think it was good for them. The school agreed it was very good for Mavery to have that time with out Sage.





When not in school though, days can be challenging. Even if we try to keep a routine for her. We are thinking we need to re explore the sensory stuff. Look for another place to try out and see if it helps her, and us. You know, it is nothing major, as I read about some children. It is just little things. For example, if she wants a drink, she does not ask, she just suddenly will throw herself on the ground screaming that she is thirsty. Still can't sit still, and is kind of like a bull in a china shop! But a REALLY cute bull I should add!! ;-) She is GREAT if you can keep her busy EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of EVERY SINGLE DAY. Honestly. But I am talking if she is bored with an activity you have planned after 29 seconds, you better be prepared for another project. Lots of people have lots of advice, but one thing I have learned, no one REALLY gets it. No one lives here in our house with us. And while the ideas are all great, until you are living it, you can't even understand it.





However, I do want to say that Mavery REALLY is the sweetest little girl! She has a VERY caring heart. If she has something, she always wants to share with everyone. She is very concerned about those around her. More than any of my other children. She LOVES to color, and that is the one thing that we do MUCH of the day. I keep colors and books on every surface so we can grab one anytime we want. She is very friendly. She has yet to meet a stranger. Which can be a bit scary at times as many times we are out and I look over she is on a strange mans lap!




She is also very huggy. Loves to give hugs and kisses. She LOVES to play with hair, and her teacher is certain she is going to grow up and be a beautician! She has a few of those barbie heads I pull out often and her barbies get regular brushings and braids! She has amazing hair herself, it is SO thick and she is very proud of how long it is FINALLY getting! Her very favorite activity and MINE too for her is that she loves water. If we are having a rough day, I run a bath for her! I wish we could afford a pool as I know that would be great therapy for ALL of us!! ;-)

I have heard before that sometimes it takes as long as they lived in an institution for them to settle in out of it. And maybe that is the case. She was almost in China for 3 years, and has just been home 1 1/2 years. We remind ourselves daily, there has been improvement! We also remind ourselves of those days we waited and wondered, as we pored over her picture and we prayed on our faces before God, is THIS our daughter? And He said yes. She is to be yours and YOU were made to be her mommy. So on the days (or hours) when I think I am NOT equipped for this job, I just think back on that time. Out of ALL the mommies in the world, He chose ME! So while I might doubt MY abilities and feel like a failure most days, I try to remember He is a bit smarter than I am!! He knew the road we would travel when He pointed her picture out to me. He knew she needed us, and that I needed her. And so even if things NEVER change from how they are right now, I know that He will change ME and that we will all be ok.

Malaine loses another tooth!

Our toothless girl just keeps getting MORE toothless! We were at the lake over the weekend and her bottom tooth was hanging on by a thread. She refused to let me pull it though. As if I would have pulled it but there were many with us that were willing! So instead I had a tap on my shoulder at 5 AM, while we were sleeping in a bedroom with 8 of us might I add. "Mom, I lost my tooth!" So I did what any good parent would do and told her to lay it on the dresser and please go back to sleep. ;-) I love the first picture, she sure enjoyed her brownie!

Backwards to the Beach!

Back in March Mark and I were able to get away to the beach for a week! We stayed on Ft Walton, which is where we had went with the kids back in October. The weather was not so great overall. Rain, COLD. But we still enjoyed sleeping late, eating, movies, shopping, reading and relaxing, just the 2 of us! We are so blessed with a wonderful babysitter who is great with our kids, thanks Megan! Along with grandparents who are very helpful and live close by!
Pictures are not in order, but the food is at The Melting Pot, YUM! We did get a few days on the beach. Cool, but still got burned. On our way home we stopped in New Orleans. We had never been and figured we were so close. It was an ok time. Not a place I would probably choose to go again, or am sure I feel I SHOULD go again. We did see some neat things, but also saw so much sin it was kind of depressing and dark. We did enjoy some new foods though and the architecture really is beautiful. Overall a wonderful trip. Wish we could do that every year!! ;-)

It has come down to this

This my friends is what happens when you drive a whole lot of kids around. The vehicles just get bigger and bigger!

We began our marriage with a cute little car such as the picture above. We thought we were so cool. Red little sports car, very fun!

Was not to long and we moved to one of these. Cool right? Till you add kids and travel alot and need to climb around inside the car and perform gymnastic feats to get from the front to the back.

So then we purchased one of these. Which for the record is what I still drive because I am a big baby when it gets bigger than this! But when you add in 5 children, you realize you are going to have to upgrade. Especially when 5th child has sensory issues, and so does momma so the screaming from the back seat are just not a good combo.
So in came this bad boy. And we have loved it. Leather cushy seats, Big TV with wireless headphones, spread out, NICE! Till you run out of seats that is. It only fits 7. We now have EIGHT!


Welcome to the world of BIG ugly vans. FIFTEEN passenger big vans. We searched high and low to find one that fit us, meaning our budget! It is HUGE and we have plenty of room to grow. ;-) Mark will be flying out of town next week to drive it home. We are debating, should we add a daycare logo on the side just to make people think?? hehe!

Someday I have promised Mark we will stop having children and he will get to drive one of these! Ha!!

Till then we are thankful that we will get to fill up these seats, or most of them anyways!

Password to New Blog

I have added a 2nd blog for just some of my posts. If you want a password, please email me. ;-) Laxton@htc.net I hope to keep up better on this blog. I will add a note when I update that blog. No worries, nothing crazy going on, just need to keep some things more private. Not to mention my kids are old enough to read my blog now so maybe I might just write about them on their too and NOT give them a PW. ;-)

Possibly adding Password

Just a heads up... I have removed a few posts (for now)and I am trying to figure out a way to add a password just in case. If you know how I can do that besides going to wordpress, please let me know. I do not want the entire blog password protected, just certain times with a certain someone. ;-) If I need to do the whole thing, I will give a shout out before I pull it. Might just start a 2nd blog for those posts. Things are fine, no worries.

Crazy Hair Night at Awana

Makenna is missing because on Wednesdays she goes home w/ my cousin Amy for piano lessons and I take her daughter Jaylyn. Mavery had worn curlers in her hair the night before so refused to let us do more w/ hers! Crazy hair night is the kids favorite at Awana!

Going Backwards, Valentines Day!

I never posted these, I don't think, but think they are so cute!

Church Easter Picture 2010

Every year as we go into church for Easter they snap a family picture. Was pretty happy to get everyone looking and smiling!

Baby Chicks!

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On Fridays we attend a home school co-op and are able to take some fun classes. Not in place of what I teach, just as extra fun. The kids take things such as art where Makenna has been able to really do well at her sketching. Sawyer's favorite this year is Robotics where they use computers and lego's together, what could be better! Malaine enjoys anything that her cousin Jaylyn is in, I think her favorite is The Magic School bus. Even Sage & Mavery get to take a few things. This year for the first time I decided I would teach a class. You can basically choose anything you want to teach on, so I thought it would be fun to do a class based on the American Girl dolls. We have had so much fun! Sometime I will share all the excitement we have had in there, but I came across these pictures today and wanted to share. Each week we cover a different girl, and on the week we learned about Kirsten, my co-teacher and dear friend thought it would be great fun to bring in baby chicks! So off to Rural King we went (local farm store) and purchased our minimum of 25 baby chicks. I took just a handful home for the night, and my kids sure enjoyed them! They are pretty cute I must admit, though I am in no hurry to raise chickens for sure!

Easter 2010

I know, I hear ya, I am a blogging loser. I have a whole list of excuses, but they are lame even to me. I really do want to catch up, hopefully I will very soon. But I wanted to at least share my Easter cuties from today along with some quotes from the kids.
On Saturday night before bed we did the resurrection eggs as a family. As Mark was asking what came out of Jesus when they pierced his side Malaine says " I think his appendix came out!"
When asked where Jesus prayed, Malaine said " OH wasn't it in the forest?!"
Sage, is able to tell the entire story in her Sagey way. "And then they nailed Jesus on the cross, and they stuck him in a cave and put a HUGE stone in front of it but after 3 days he rose again and rolled that stone away and now we get to go to heaven! " (all said in one breath) Last was so sweet from Mavery. When we opened the nails, in the shape of a cross, she grabbed it and jumped up and said, "Jesus died for ALL OF US on the cross, so we can go to heaven!" If you know Mavery, you know she is very animated and watching her tell this was so precious. To think of this child just coming home a year ago, and already getting that Jesus died for us, it melts my heart. Well that is till today Mavery asks my dad "Where is your daddy?" My dad replied that his dad died. Mavery: Oh, did he die on the cross too?! ;-)