Changes

Life sure has changed in the last year.  Between closing the daycare, homeschooling again and adding another family member, life is different.  I have always been a very scheduled person.  Between having a daycare for the last 6 years and having a large family, I've had to.  Breakfast was always at 7-8, lunch at 11:30, naptime at 1, snack at 3-4 and dinner at 5:30-6.  It was always like this for years.  But I've been a work in progress of letting go of being so scheduled since I've closed the daycare and homeschooling.  We no longer have to be scheduled like this.  There's no more extra children coming to my house, no more buses to catch in the morning or early bedtimes.  It's nice making our own schedule everyday.  We were starting school about 9am before Reagan was born.  But, she has really thrown everything off.  Definitely in a good way though.  It has really relaxed me on being so particular of when we do things.  Tonight, I looked up at the clock and it was 8pm and we were just making dinner.  Last night, we didn't go to bed until 11 because we stayed up watching a movie.  That was okay though, because we can wake up whenever we want.  Although, Reagan had a different idea of when to wake up for me and her this morning.  We still get all our meals in, all our school done and have tons of fun together.  I feel like we have more time in the day somehow when not scheduling everything.  I feel like the house is a disaster most of the time, but I'm really becoming okay with this.  You wouldn't think it would be so hard to relax about things, but man it has always been for me.  But, I'm constantly trying to work on that!  Here's a few photos from the last couple of months!!

Here is Chris fired up to go to a HSE basketball game! 

Love how I find them all in Kyndal's room just playing so nicely together! 

 My little Reagan!

Mason and Kyndal having fun enjoying dipping their fries and chicken sandwiches in their fry sauce! 

Such a happy baby!  Feel so blessed with her! 

They love to play with games and puzzles while the older kids are doing school! 

Chris and Reagan enjoying a nice nap together!  So sweet! 

Ready to go play in the snow together!  Love how they wanted to hold hands for the picture! 

Can't go to the dentist without enjoying some video games! 

Jacob loves his baby sister!  He's so great with little ones! 

Chris and the boys dressed to go snowboarding!  Great father-son time for them! 

   The last picture of all the kids together before Reagan was born!

Reagan's Birth

What a busy couple of weeks its been!  I finally have time to write about Reagan's birth.  I was almost 38 weeks, when I started having contractions more often.  I woke up Friday morning, having contractions for a couple of hours, but they eventually fizzled out my mid morning.  Saturday night, I woke up with contractions around 1am and they were about 5 minutes apart but not really strong.  They eventually stopped after about 2-3 hours.  We woke up that morning and went to church, but I ended up coming home after Sunday School from being so overly exhausted.  Sunday evening, we went to the zoo for Christmas at the zoo.  I was hoping the walking was going to help me go into real labor.  Well. again at 1am I woke up again with contractions.  This time they were much stronger.  Within a half hour of waking up I knew I was in real labor.  I woke up Chris and we started getting ready to go to the hospital.  Of course we had to call our friends to come over and stay with our kids.  Great friends that are willing to come over in the middle of the night, thanks Leanne and Jeremy!  We got to the hospital about 2:30am.  I was dilated to 4cm and having contractions every 2-5 minutes.  They admitted me and gave me my epidural!!  Yay!  But that always slows down my labor, so they just let me rest til my doctor arrived about 9am.  He started Pitocin and the contractions started back up some.  Around 10:30am, he broke my water and upped my Pitocin.  Of course I couldn't sleep at all, but Chris sure did!  About 2:20pm, I knew it was about time to have our little Reagan!  They started to prepare the room for her arrival, and she was out in 3 contractions!  She was born Monday, December 22 @ 2:40pm.  She was 7lb 2.5oz and was 20 in.  

It was love at first sight!  She was beautiful.  I loved cuddling with her.  Chris and I enjoyed spending time with her the next few hours.  Then Chris had to go home to be with our other kids.  Because the flu is so bad this year, the hospital had a no visitor policy.  So, none of our kids could visit us in the hospital.  Which meant Chris couldn't come up to the hospital very often.  Luckily he did get to come up some, since 2 awesome teenage girls came to take care of our young ones so he could visit and do a little work, and finish Christmas shopping!  The Still's were amazing to our family while I was in the hospital.  Besides their daughters babysitting, their family made meals for our kids the whole time I was in the hospital!  They were such a blessing to our family.  I had some great bonding time with Reagan in the hospital since it was pretty much just me and her the whole time.  We came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve.  The kids were all very excited to meet their baby sister!

Preparing for Reagan!

It's hard to believe I'm already 31 weeks pregnant!  That has Reagan weighing a little over 3lbs.  This pregnancy has flown by so quickly.  I'm sure it's because I've been very busy with homeschooling the kids, which is going amazing by the way.  You know what they say, "time flies when you're having fun!"  I've been feeling pretty great through my whole pregnancy.  I am to the point now where I'm starting to get tired more through the day.  I'm sure it has to do with having insomnia in the middle of the night.  Some nights I'm up for more than an hour at 2am and sometimes I make it till 5am and then just lay there staring at the clock for an hour or so.  I'm sure that's only going to get worse with the more uncomfortable I become.  I finally feel like I am almost prepared for Reagan to be here.  I have her crib and bassinet put together.  All her clothes have been washed and are put away.  Just a few more things to still get and I will be ready for her.  All the kids are getting really excited for her!  She will be in our room for a few months and then transition into sharing a room with Kyndal.  Kyndal is so excited about her little sister sharing a room with her!  

As I'm planning for Reagan to be here in a few weeks, I've realized I need to get busy making some freezer meals.  I've done this for my other births too.  I've been looking through my recipes and on Pinterest for some wonderful meals to make and freeze.  Some of the meals that I've thought of so far are Chicken & Dumplings, Chili, Enchiladas, Quesadilla Casserole, Wild Rice & Chicken, Pulled Pork, Terriyaki Chicken & Rice, Penne with Chicken, and Biscuits & Gravy.  Let me know if you think of any other ideas of fabulous recipes that do well in the freezer??

I'm wondering if Reagan will follow her siblings and be early.  All of the other kids have been born 1 week to 10 days early, either from going into labor naturally or being induced.  She is due January 4, so I'm waiting to see if she will be born in 2014 or 2015!  My original due date was December 28, which I have been measuring for that date my whole pregnancy, except during the dating u/s, but they don't change it back unless there is more than a 2 week difference.  My guess is that she will be born in December, which is exciting because that is next month!!
 

Slow Life Down

Do you ever long for a more peaceful slower life?  Over the last few months I've felt like I've been at this point of wanting a simpler life.  I feel like as a family we are slowing life down some.

We are back to homeschooling all the kids and it's going really wonderful.  We have our challenging moments but I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.  Homeschooling is not the right choice for everyone, but for our family it has been great.  When the kids were in school, I felt like our days were so rushed.  Rush them out the door in the morning, only to see them for a couple of minutes when they get home and it's straight to homework, dinner, showers and bedtime.  And then do it all over again the next day.  I feel like life was just passing us by.  I love having them all home with me all day, teaching them and spending time with each of them.  It warms my heart to see one of the older boys do reading with their younger brothers.  I feel like they are going to have a closer bond with each other by spending more time with one another.  We aren't home all day, everyday, we do get out of the house too.  The younger kids are enjoying doing Awana this year and the 2 older boys are in youth group.  We are also part of a homeschool group through our church.  We just went on a field trip to Ritchey Woods last Friday with our homeschool group.  

I'm 25 weeks pregnant.  The pregnancy is going really well and has been going by really fast.  I feel like my monthly doctor appointments are just days apart instead of a month apart.  Baby Reagan is doing great!  Can't wait to meet her in a few short months!

Chris and I have been so blessed by God.  He has blessed us with six wonderful children, soon to be seven!  He promises to give us everything we need and He has.  We have a house to live in, clothes for all of us and food on the table.  We get to spend our days together as a family.  I couldn't ask for more!

        

It's A ...........

We are so excited to announce that we are having another little GIRL!!!!!!  We got the call this past Tuesday from the geneticist.  They said she is healthy.  The baby's risk of being born with anything they tested for is 1 in 10,000.  Kyndal is probably the most excited of all the kids.  She has said it was a girl from day 1.  Some of the boys were hoping for a girl, and the others are coming around to it now.  It's so cute, Kyndal keeps saying she has a baby in her tummy too.  She talks about her all the time.  She says she's going to come out when my baby comes out!!  haha!!  We have chosen the name Reagan Sarah.  Reagan was one of my top 3 girls names.  We decided on the middle name, Sarah because this is my mom's middle name.  Kyndal has my middle name and if we have another girl after this one, she will have Chris's moms middle name. (Yes, we still want more!!)

I'm so excited that Kyndal will have a sister.  Growing up, I always wanted a sister.  I had 4 brothers, but I always felt like I was missing out on this special bond I saw other girls have with their sisters.  Plus, we are running out of room in the boys rooms!  Kyndal and Reagan will share a room, once Reagan is out of our room.  Kyndal is already asking where is Reagan's crib and trying to show me where it can go in her room!

 Reagan is due 4 days before Zachary's birthday.  She is due on Jan 4.  My baby's have been born 1 week to 10 days early.  Which puts us between Christmas and New Years!  That should be an interesting time to have a baby!  Tyler keeps asking me "what are we going to do if she is born on Christmas?" "Do we have to wait to open presents?"  You see where his concerns are!!

I'm so excited to shop and buy baby stuff!!  I have already bought a few things off of facebook boards of second hand stuff.  I love when I find good deals on used things, especially baby stuff, cause it doesn't get used very much and is usually in great condition!  I am excited to go add stuff to my babiesrus registry.  They give you 10% off anything you buy on your registry.  I figured I'll register for everything I need and slowly buy off of it and get a discount doing it!  Works for me!!  Actually I'm finding a lot of places do that if you create a registry with them.

Now that I'm in my second trimester, I can feel my energy level coming back up.  I was so exhausted throughout my first trimester.  I am trying to get back into working out.  I have been going for walks and working out on my stepper.  I'm hoping to keep it up the rest of my pregnancy, only 25 more weeks to go!!

 
    

Boy or Girl

We went in yesterday for our 12 week U/S appointment.  I am 12 weeks 5 days pregnant, although I am measuring 13 weeks 5 days.  I am due January 4, but I'm pretty sure the baby will come in December!  It was amazing to see our little baby up there on the screen.  I am in awe of how God created us and how we grow.   From just a ball of cells into a little person, it's just amazing!

Here is the baby at 6 weeks 5 days!

And here is a picture of the baby from my appt yesterday!

 At my appointment yesterday, we also did blood work for a test called the Panarama.  It checks the baby's chromosomes by looking in my blood.  We should have the results back a couple of weeks and it will tell us if the baby is healthy!  Everything on the U/S showed that the baby is healthy!  This test will also tell us the gender of the baby!  What do you think the results will be???

Boy

 Girl

Adding another birthday to the calendar!!

So, it's been a really long time since I've written a post!  Our family has been busy with life!  We are happy to announce that our family is growing and we are expecting #7!  We are very excited for this new addition to our family.  We are very happy that the baby is doing great!  I had my first ultrasound on May 16!  My due date is January 4, 2015!  I've been much more tired with this pregnancy than the others.  I've had moments of nauseousness, not always in the morning, actually a lot in the evenings.  Smells are the worst for me.  Something will sound great to eat, then once I cook it, the smell gets me and I don't want it anymore.  I got sea bands for the nauseousness and they are helping alot.  The kids are very excited for the new baby!  They are very anxious to find out if it is a boy or girl!!  Mason and Kyndal have already placed their request for a baby sister!  We should know sometime in July!!!

Here is our announcement slideshow that we put together if you haven't already seen it!  

http://youtu.be/A-FQqeXCI7M

We feel very blessed!  I'm looking forward to what the rest of the year brings us!

Ways to save money!

I have been trying to find ways to save money with our large family.  The kids are getting so big and eating more and more.  So, I decided to make some food in bulk and freeze it.  I took this afternoon and made waffles, pancakes and burritos.

The kids love waffles and pancakes for breakfast, but I don't have time to make the daily especially during the week.  I can't afford to buy frozen waffles from the store.  The kids would eat a couple of boxes in one sitting.  So, I made a bunch of waffles and froze them.  Flour is pretty inexpensive.  It was so easy and cheap.  Then the kids just have to grab them out of the freezer bag and pop it in the toaster!

 They are always hungry when they get home from school, so I thought I would make some burritos up too and freeze them.  A couple of minutes in the microwave and they're defrosted.  I love to cook!  It is so much cheaper to take a little time and do this rather than buy already frozen food.  Plus it doesn't have all the preservatives.

I also bought a pork loin for about 20 bucks this past week.  I cut it up into pork chops.  One pork loin made about 35-40 boneless pork chops.  I know to buy boneless pork chops already cut up is very expensive.  Then I put it in freezer bags of about 7-8 a bag for different meals.  I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of them.

Another way I try to save money is by making my own laundry detergent.  It's so easy and it lasts me about a year.  It usually costs about $10-20 for all the ingredients and it's enough to make it again with all the stuff.

There are always ways to save money.  Having a large family is a little more expensive, but if you watch what you buy and how you buy it, you can save money.  Some people with smaller families aren't usually so careful in how they spend their money and some spend as much as we do if not more.  We usually don't go out to eat because that is so expensive for our family.  But we do try to watch for specials when some restaurants do kids eat free nights.  It's nice to eat out every once in a while.  I love having a large family and they are way more important to me than having nice things that are of earthly value.    

Update on Ethiopia

Some have asked how the adoption is going.  We submitted our application back in November 2013.  Our agency put a hold on all applications for 6 months because they were getting too many and the wait list was becoming very long.  So, our application is on hold now. 
There have also been problems arising in Ethiopia.  The Minister Zenebu said "the government is working hard to end foreign adoption and facilitate situations to raise the children within their community".  While they are working towards doing this, they are trying to change the laws and making it harder to adopt from Ethiopia.  No one knows what the laws are going to be, but there is talk on my adoption boards about maybe not allowing singles to adopt.  They may have a maximum amount of children you are allowed to have at home already.  A lot of people are scared they aren't going to get to even finish their adoptions that they are already in the process of.  We have been praying for clear direction from God on how we should handle this situation.  We don't think it's wise to put a lot of money into it and then it be shutdown and the country keep all the funds.  They don't transfer funds to adopt from a different country.  All of it would be lost.  Adoption is already an emotional roller coaster without adding all of this in.  Right now we are on at least a 6 month hold.  So, we will see what happens over the next 6 months.  Thanks for all your prayers.

Getting Back To What's Important!

Children are such a blessing!  I forget sometimes to just slow down and enjoy each of them at the age and stage they are at.  Life can get so busy to where you feel like you're running nonstop.  Either through having too many commitments to other things, or social media, & etc.  I just recently realized that our life was so full of stuff that didn't need my attention, and I didn't feel like I was spending quality time with my children.  I will have time when they are all grown to help outside the home with other things.  I decided I needed to reevaluate my priorities.  I sometimes over commit myself to things forgetting that I'm not like everyone else.  We have a large family that needs a lot of my attention.  And I am definitely okay with this! This is the stage of my life where my commitments are with my children over other things.  God blessed us with these beautiful children and he has trusted me with them!  I take that very seriously.  We only have so very few years with them to mold them for God.  I feel like Tyler is getting so old and before I know it, he will be off on his own.  I want to know that I have raised him to love the Lord and serve Him. 

I feel like social media can sometimes take over my life.  It's very easy to open facebook and get lost on what's happening in others' lives.  When this happens, I feel like I don't talk to anyone cause I already know what's happening with them from reading it.  It really takes away being personal with others.  I hardly ever call anyone anymore cause I feel like I'm communicating with them by just reading their posts.  But the truth is, I'm Not.  I tried to deactivate my account on facebook a few weeks ago, but our families want me to keep it.  For them, it's the only way they see our family and know what's going on with us.  None of our family lives near us.  They all live in Mississippi, Utah, California and areas close to that.  So, I am going to keep it for now, but just won't be reading through others posts very often. 

I'm trying to get back to what's important.  Since cutting back other stuff, I've really made it a priority to read my Bible and spend time with God everyday.  Jacob and I are reading through the Bible together.  We are doing a reading plan of reading through the Bible in a year.  I'm really enjoying it and so is he.  We are also trying to do a devotional as a family.  All of the little kids are in Awana and they love it.  Tyler is in a great youth group and loving it.  They do a junior high bible study every week and then the youth group meets every week.  They are a very active group.  While they are all doing that on Wednesday nights, I get to go to a Bible study that I am really enjoying.  We missed a few Wednesday nights from life being so busy, so I am happy to be back and so are the kids!

I just thought I would share what I was feeling in my heart.  I'm sure others feel the same way sometimes.

 

             

Busy November

November has been a busy month and I have anxiously been waiting to have our pictures done!!!  We were finally able to get them done and I love them!!  It has been so long since we have had family pictures taken.  Our family has grown and changed so much over the last few years.  We have been blessed by two different friends who are very gifted photographers to do our pictures.  It's not easy to get all these faces looking in the same direction!

Of course, we always have to get some playful ones of the kids too!

Thanksgiving was amazing.  My mom was able to come visit for a few days!  We love when family can come visit us since they all live so far away.

I can't believe my baby girl is 3 years old!!  She is the most incredible little girl.  God has truly blessed us with her!!  She keeps us ALL on our toes.  You can turn around for a second and then turn back and she's standing on the counter trying to get something out of the cabinet, she's very independent.  The boys think she is funny and does crazy things.  It's definitely a lot different than having boys.  Her favorite things to play with are her baby dolls.  I'm excited to see her grow over the next year!!

   

Thankful Hearts

As I was sitting here, I began to think about how much we have to be thankful for.  We have a God who loves us so much that He sent His son to die for us!  I am thankful for having a very loving, devoted husband.  We have 6 healthy children.  There are so many people out in the world who can't have children, and God has truly blessed us with many children.  I feel so blessed that God has laid it on our hearts to adopt a child.  It has been on our hearts for a few years, but now we are really listening to God's call and following through with it.  I know we will have to sacrifice a lot to raise the money, but the thought of providing a child in need with a family, just warms my heart! Our children are also becoming more excited about bringing a child into our home.  They just don't understand why it takes so long.  Here are some things our kids have said that they are thankful for:

Tyler:  I am thankful for food! 
Jacob:  I am thankful that Jesus died on the cross for me! 
Zachary:  I am thankful for what my parents provide me with!
Logan:  I am thankful for my parents & God!
Mason:  I love strawberry milk!
Kyndal:  I love Dana(her baby doll)!

Christopher:  I am thankful for God creating a person better than me and allowing me to have her as my wife!

The Lord has truly blessed our family!  We have a wonderful church family & friends!  My daycare is going very well and God keeps blessing us with more children.  All the extra kids that have came is helping pay the expenses for our adoption.  I feel like The Lord just continually shows us that this is what His will is for us.    

Six kids keep you busy, busy!

I love this season!!  Fall is by far my favorite.  I love when the weather starts to cool off and the way the leaves turn colors.  It's just so beautiful!  This Saturday we are going to be doing our family pictures.  I am so excited about it!!  It's been so long since we have had any taken.  We don't even have a family picture with Kyndal in it and she is almost 3 years old.  I guess having six kids keeps you really busy!  It was definitely an adventure trying to pick out clothes for eight people for pictures.  I will be sure to post pictures when we receive them back!!  I'm also hoping we can get a Christmas card out this year with our picture.  I don't think I've mailed one out since Kyndal has been born.  It's amazing how busy you get with six children.  It's hard to get stuff done like I use to when I only had a couple of kids.

Here's a little update on how the kids are doing.  The kids are really enjoying school, the only complaint I get from all 4 of them is that they don't get enough to eat at school. Tyler, Zachary and Logan all made the honor roll at school. Mason and Kyndal are doing well too.  I have been teaching Mason pre-k preparing him for Kindergarten next year.  He is doing really well with it.  Kyndal has came a long way with her shapes and colors.  Everyday we do calendar time with all the daycare kids and from doing that, Kyndal now knows all her colors and shapes much better.  She is also getting better at counting when we do our calendar.  It's hard to believe Kyndal is going to be 3 years old next month!  Where the does the time go?  All of my baby's are growing up, sniff, sniff.     

Fundraisers!!!

We have some new fundraisers for our adoption.  Everyone loves to shop through Amazon, right?!?!  Our fundraiser is with them!  If you click our link to get to Amazon, and place your order through it, they donate 4% of your order towards our adoption!!  It doesn't cost you anymore than it was originally.  I know we buy a lot through Amazon, especially for Christmas and on cyber Monday which is coming up soon!  We would appreciate it so much if you could share the link with your friends and family!  This account will remain open through our entire adoption process!  The link is below and on the left side of the screen.  You can click it and it takes you straight to Amazon!
Here is the link:
http://tinyurl.com/mvwdqhb

In November, we are doing another fundraiser at a restaurant.  The fundraiser is at Arby's in Fishers on November 10. The address is 13094 Publishers Dr.  Anyone who comes in between 5pm-9pm, Arby's will donate a percentage towards our adoption.  They don't even have to mention it, they donate a portion of everyone's meal between those hours.  I thought that was very nice of them to do!  We will be there after Church Sunday Night!!  Please let all your friends know that they can eat some yummy roast beef sandwiches and help a child at the same time!!

 
 Thank you for all your prayers and support, we love you all!

Waiting isn't Easy

I have been following this Ethiopian facebook board for our adoption agency.  It helps reading what others are going through on their journey of adoption.  Everyone is at different points.  Some are just starting and others are writing that they leave the next day to go to Ethiopia to pick up their child.  It's all so exciting and so helpful how everyone tries to help and give insight to others.  I'm sure as we are waiting over the next 2 years to bring our daughter home, all these families and us will become close and help each other through the waiting.  Waiting has never been easy for me!

We will be having more fundraisers coming soon, stay tuned for more details on them! Please continue to pray with us about our adoption!

  

Melkam Addis Amet!

Melkam Addis Amet means Happy New Year!  Today, September 11 is New Year's Day in Ethiopia.  Though the year is just now 2006 in Ethiopia.  They have a 13 month calendar that they follow.
I love learning new things about where our daughter is coming from.  I am so excited to go to Ethiopia and meet our daughter and learn even more about her birth country.

We are working hard to bring her home.  We will be submitting our formal application in October/November and starting our homestudy.  We are hoping to have our dossier finished by March/April.  It takes time to complete everything, plus we are still working on paying for it all too. 

We appreciate everyone's prayers about our adoption and ask that you continue to pray.  Please be in prayer for our daughters family in Ethiopia and everything that is going on with them now and what they are going to go through with her, everyone that we will come in contact with about our adoption, and that we will be able to get the funds needed in a timely manner(I'm not a very patient person). 

Summer's Over!!

They're all gone at school, summer is officially over at the Fresh house!  I can't believe it's the first day of school already.  It feels weird that I already have 4 kids old enough to be in school all day.  I pray they all have a good day and make friends quickly.  Zachary really struggled at the Ice Cream Social for meet the teacher night.  He doesn't adjust to change well and he was having a meltdown at the school.  He wants to go to his old school and say's he doesn't like his new school.  He was also struggling with getting up early in the morning again.  I have been waking them up early the last 2 days trying to get them adjusted to waking up at 7am.  He's not a fan and he has meltdowns at night when it's time for bed and in the morning.  This morning was no different, total meltdown over putting on his socks and brushing his teeth.  He was doing better by the time he had to get on the bus.  Hopefully he will adjust quickly and feel rested for school and have a better attitude.
Here are a few pictures of them on their first day of school.

 Tyler is all ready for 8th grade!

Jacob is looking cool for 6th grade!

Zachary is finally in a good mood for 3rd grade!

Logan is super excited for 2nd grade!

Kyndal wanted in on this action of pictures!!

 

So did Mason!

 

Zachary wanted to do a silly picture with Mason!

 

Logan loves his little brother and sister!  So sweet!

Mason and Kyndal are the only one's home with me now, plus my daycare children that I care for all day.  Soon, next year, Mason will be in Kindergarten.  Then I will only have Kyndal and soon after that, we will have our new little one too(can't wait)!