Day 3, a dinner, a dance and movie

Night number 2 was pretty easy compared to night #1. I was up from 1:30 to 3 tending to kids, then up at 5:30 because Nesiah was awake and singing. I did not want her to wake the other kids, so she and I got up, dressed quietly before sneaking out the door. We got some coffee in the main lodge then came back to walk the circle by our older lodge. It was a refreshing morning. 

The other kids were soon up and dressed, gone are the days of even wishing to sleep in.

We headed over to the main lodge once everyone was dressed.  I had planned to sit and hang with my kids who had been running full force the day before. Instead I had a long chat with the lady who had come to do massages. She is also a single parent and a new believer. 

While she and I chatted, the kids played checkers..

Day 3 is a bit of a  blur. It was not a good day. The kids had their regular programming. I got my hair cut on The Porch. 

I had a beautiful picture of The Porch, where wonderful things like massages, manicures and facials happen.

We had an adult only dinner planned for that evening. It was a delightful evening of fellowship. We had a formal dinner and I did not get a single picture!! This was probably the first time in over a year that I had a dinner out without kids. (the kids were right next door in the main cafeteria)

The tables were set beautifully and everyone was dressed beautifully.

David had fun playing basketball with T. This kid really made David's week wonderful!

After dinner there was dancing.. oh what fun for the kids!

Pictures do not do it justice.. It was so much fun to watch.

After the dance, they had an outdoor movie, finding Nemo. This is one of the kids favorite activities. I was extremely tired, so I put the littles to bed and stayed with them until the big kids were done with the movie. I was thankful for good helpers with my kids!

Day 2

Day 2 started out at 4:30 am, with an asthmatic reaction to the new furniture, carpet and paint in the beautiful new lodge. I ended up sitting outside on the beautiful porch, chatting with C. The wonderful angel that God placed in my morning.  I chose to stay outside from 4:30 to 7:30 to keep my 2 littles breathing calmly. We chatted and had coffee. It was a beautiful morning to watch the sunrise over the mountain.


After breakfast I sat on the 4th floor balcony and had a long chat with my heavenly Father... I needed some encouragement and refreshment. 

The kids had their day camp style programing after which they met us for lunch.

Everyone was breathing much better. But I had asked that they move us to the other older building. I did not want a repeat of the night before. So we moved...

From this ^^ beautiful 2 room suite to

^^ this one room lodge bedroom.

The funny thing is, the kids did not complain. They all agreed this was "more like camp". It was def more cramped, not nearly as clean and nice as the first camp, but everyone could breath!

We had a fun afternoon swimming during family time. It was fun to see so many families hanging out. There were a lot more families of 4-5 kids then we had seen last year. The kids groups were quite large. My kids were delighted to have so many new friends!

After dinner it was power swing time! My boys had been so excited for this! They had talked for weeks about doing the swing! Sadly I was changing diapers in the bathroom when it was finally their turn to swing. I missed most of it. sigh.

Our Favorite Family Vacation day 1

`What it's all about: 

At both U.S. and International Family Retreats, special-needs families receive encouragement and care in the comfort of a safe and accessible family camp environment. They enjoy fun and fully-accessible, age-appropriate activities, along with meaningful conversations with families who understand the challenges of life with disability.


 How it works:
The retreat offers a change of pace where you can have fun together in a safe and accepting environment. You'll be able to get away and enjoy God's creation…you'll meet and fellowship with others who face similar concerns…you'll build lasting memories together as a family…as well as a renewed hope in God. While each camp or conference center has its own unique facilities, every Family Retreat is packed with exciting adventures for the whole family. Several sites have amenities such as climbing walls and ropes courses, boating, hiking trails, mud pits, and a host of other activities to energize the week.

Family Retreat STMs (short term missionaries) must be at least 17 years old. They are committed Christians with a desire to serve families affected by disability. They are flexible team players who are able to offer friendship, support, and general assistance to help families get the most out of their week. STMs must be able to serve the entire length of the retreat and attend training prior to the retreat.

Last year was our first time at this wonderful camp. We were teamed up with Mrs. S and her 4 kids. It is a good  match for our family.

Time for the kids to catch up while I was organizing the rooms. 

My kids and our STM's. 

The Tshirt of the year!  In case you couldn't tell the theme for this year is "hope overflowing".

We took a tour of the new and very beautiful building!

I am hoping to find some time to sit on this balcony with my book and a cup of coffee...

We have two adjoining rooms, a total of 3 twin and 2 queen beds.

 We also have 2 bathrooms, one fully handicapped accessible and one smaller one. So awesome with my big crew!

The non accessible bedroom...

The plaque on the wall, that I noticed after a rather traumatic evening. 

We felt so loved....

Opening ceremony.

We toured the rooms where the kids will be doing programs each day. Lee and his friend T are KAOS.

They are in a class with Mr. and Mrs. H. 

The rest of my crew is in the Captain's group.

 This should be a fun group!

Playing on the playground... the girls loved spinning on the tire swing.

Finished up the evening with a ride on Mr. H's wheelchair...

 We arrived around 3 pm. We were warmly welcomed. Reconnected with the S family... then did a quick tour of the building and the kids class areas.

The kids really wanted to play in the  yard where they had all kinds of fun sensory items set up.  So we stopped for a moment to play. I always feel extremely frazzled on the first day. Despite doing everything possible to make it calm and smooth, I was not really successful.

we regrouped as a family before dinner and I was able to do some unpacking and calming of children...

Dinner was delicious as usual. But the best part is always that fact that I didn't cook it or clean up after!

My 2 youngest get very over stimulated in the loud dining room so it is def not a relaxing experience. lol

After regrouping again,  we headed out for the opening ceremonies. Love their praise and worship music and encouragement.  Following the opening ceremony we had an ice cream social. This is always fun.

My favorite part of the day is the encouraging chats with fellow parents in the trenches.  I also love that no one stares, no one has a problem with Nesiah's noises. It makes for a very relaxing day. 

packing

So packing with the new method... I did not like the mess and time involved with packing this way. It took twice as much time and energy.  Also it made for more battles with my one child who did not like having preselected clothing and some of my other children who are very picky what is theirs and what is not, even if it is the same style color.

First I made piles on the bed for each child. Then I sorted each day's outfit and put that outfit in a pillowcase. It was def more time consuming then my normal method of having them pack their own bags. 

 

I labeled each pillowcase with the day and then packed one extra case with extra pants. 

The final bags,  2 duffels with 4 pillowcases filled with outfits, plus the green bag with my clothes and the pink bag with towels and swimsuits.

So the final opinion will come in at the end of the week! Is this better then the previous method? How do you pack? 

Unexpected Field Trips

When our trip to the chocolate factory did not go so well, we decided to explore some more! We headed to the Pretzel Factory.  We had to walk about 2 blocks to get to the pretzel factory. I was not sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. They had pretzel samples and for $14, my entire crew could do the tour and make soft pretzels!

It was rather humid in the factory, the two little ones were tired and hot.

I stood in the back with the little ones and let the older 4 participate. They made soft pretzels. The lady doing the tour was excellent. The history of the pretzel was fascinating. Did you know that pretzels were made by monks? Let's see what I rememeber..

1. The three holes represent the Holy Trinity.
2. The Twist somehow represents marriage
3. The pretzel upside down represents prayer.
There was more but I forget...

The rest of the tour was a disaster for me. The older kids did enjoy it and learned a lot! It was a neat experience.

We left the pretzel place and wandered back to the van. The kids had fun checking out the window displays. The theme was "The Wizard of OZ" and "Red, White and Blue".

Lititz really is cool. But it is also very touristy, I prefer the more "real" experiences.

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Friday Encouragement

The kids and I have decided this will be our theme song for this season of our lives.  We are in a battle at the moment. We are excited to see God work. We are working on trusting God in this journey.
Foster care is hard. It is even harder when you have 5 little people who have suffered much loss and you really just want to protect them.
But we are working on using this time as a lesson on God's faithfulness. A time in learning about God's presence in the storm.
God is faithful. He is good. No matter what.