Life as 8.

Photo Credit: Cynthia Hill Photography
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cynthia-Hill-Photography/520809371276753

 

Eight! We are finally a family of 8!!

 

I have so many things I want to share. So many little moments. A few big moments. Lots of pictures. It's a bit overwhelming! I think I'll do details for the first day and then a few things that have gone on since then.

 

Day One (Wednesday the 5th)

 

My parents, Matt's parents, the kids, our friend/photographer, and I got up at 4:30 to drive 2 hours to wait an hour to see them walk in. It was awesome! The hugs exchanged by our 6 kids was adorable. After 13 weeks of skyping, they knew one another and had played and made faces and showed them their room and did air hugs... they were brothers and sisters already. Isaac and John Terry met Gramps, Granny, PaPa, and Grandma and gave sweet hugs and quiet "hellos" all while our amazing photographer snapped precious photos (thanks for coming Cynthia!) John Terry and Titus held hands immediately as if they had been best friends for years. They kids walked in two rows of three through Dulles Airport! The girls handed the boys icicles as we walked through the parking lot with freezing rain dropping on our heads...

Welcome to America! Haha.

 

Adding two more people to the van somehow made it take twice as long to hook in and twice as long to get out, but not twice as long to get shoes off to play in to the play area!

 

Trinity, John Terry, Azriel, Titus, Isaac, and Emma

The laughter was contagious. The screams were loud. The chasing and running and piling up on the slide would make most first time moms panic! We got sausage biscuits for all the kids, but we could have had Isaac and John Terry share... one at the sausage and the other ate the biscuit. Who knew?

 

Our two hour drive home consisted of a lot of "When we get home?" from two excited boys.

Home was worth the wait. They were given a tour by the whole crew and then let loose to jump, play piano, dress up like superheroes, and fill up their cups with ice and water. They love ice!

 

We forced a quiet time for all six kids, but only the boys (plus Mom and Dad) slept. I'm sure glad we did because our welcome party was packed and full of people we love to hang out with!

Here is a video so you can feel like you were there! Mark had Emma carry a mini camera in with her so you could see what we see :) John Terry ate up the attention, but Isaac was a little more reserved. Eventually, he did start playing and running around with all the other kids. Thank you to everyone that came out and to those that couldn't make it, but that prayed for us and supported us.
 They are here! Thank you LORD!

 

 

After all that craziness and fun, we crashed for our first night sleeping under the same roof.

 

 

..........................

 

I had a friend message me this morning with...

 

"How are you? How are things? Give me the good, the bad and the ugly. :)"

 

Answer:

 

I'm doing pretty well! I finally feel like I can breathe again. All six of my kids are under one roof and I can focus on them and not the process bringing them together. I'm cooking more food and doing more dishes. I'm falling asleep and waking up earlier. It's weird. Mostly, though, I'm happy. I still get upset and frustrated and mad when things start getting out of hand, but I'm getting over it more quickly... and that is totally a God thing.

 

Things are crazy! Crazy good. Crazy emotional. Crazy busy.

 

It is good. It is bad. It is ugly. It is beautiful.

Maybe I share too much, but as Emma's McGuffey Third Reader Lesson XXXII said this week...

 

"It is the glory of man that the Creator has made him capable to endless improvement..." and one way is through reading stories of people's lives because "it furnishes lessons of wisdom and prudence" while you "mingle and associate with them in all their walks and ways."

 

I have learned much from those who detailed their lives so I could learn from their good steps and poor steps. The experiences of people in the Bible, biographies, and blogs have helped me! I pray that my honesty here may help someone not feel so alone in what they go through each day.

 

Back to the blog...

 

My kids love each other. A lot. The hugs. The tickling. The teasing. The laughter. Oh, the laughter! This house is so full of joy the majority of the time. They are starting to pick favorites though and that is annoying. Both boys are asking to sit by Emma at breakfast and lunch and school and devotional time and TV time. She's feeling pretty special and that's good because she is special!!! Emma is great at helping them while still being a kid like them. Trinity is another momma figure and is correcting and encouraging them to help while tickling them too. She is fun, but not a kid. Azriel is a blast and plays a lot, but she also won't let them get their way in a game. Titus is independent. He wrestles and jumps with them and then disappears to play Pet Shop with Azriel or play Lego's that he doesn't like anyone to take apart. So there is good and bad and ugly in this process of coming together. We are trying to get them to just sit and not single people out that they want to be with. I'm also encouraging Emma to say "maybe next time" and sit down with one of her other siblings (which she did without reminding her at lunch!) Don't get me wrong, they all do get "picked" by a sibling throughout the day. Isaac and Azriel taking the batteries out of the ride on trucks outside. John Terry and Trinity curled up on the sofa. Emma complimenting Titus and spiking his hair. All of them together "sword fighting" with pool noodles and attacking Matt. Emma teaching Isaac to make rubber band bracelets. Azriel, Titus, and John Terry getting dressed up in costumes. Trinity inviting them all to use her mic and record songs they all know. Picking of favorites isn't the really hard stuff. It's more like someone flicking you in the head multiple times a day. My hope as a mom is that the kids will all continue to enjoy each one of their siblings in their own way, learn to love on one another even if that one isn't their "favorite" right now, and do things for one another just because. 

 

A great thing that is happening over the last 4 days... Isaac and John Terry are asking for more food until they see all the food in the dishes iaregone!!! Unless, of course, it is something they don't like. Green beans. Spaghetti with marinara sauce. Smoothies. They aren't big fans. We had a shut down from Isaac last night at dinner. He didn't want to eat his green beans and turned away from the table as to not face us. He was mad. Real mad. Titus didn't want it either and got sad instead. These are problems you have with kids. All kids. Both ate it eventually because they wanted more chicken. Side note: You need two whole chickens to feed the Williams Family plus one neighbor girl.
Two. Whole. Chickens. That is a lot of meat!

Did you know we adopted a baby? You didn't? Me either! John Terry is not the baby of the family. He is the smallest by less than five pounds, but he is two months older than Titus. You would think he was 9 months old the way his older sisters take care of him. They carry him. They fill his water. They take his plate in. They ask for more food for him when he doesn't speak up. They help him get all his gear on in the morning. They put his shoes away for him. I think you get it, but I could go on. This, my friends, he loves, but his mean mom is not allowing it to continue. I'm so thankful that Trinity, Emma, and Azriel enjoy helping. I am. Really. I don't mind them being with him while they teach him to do certain task, but that boy is getting told in Luganda by his older brother to stop being a baby... and he's right! We all like to be taken care of. In the Williams' house, we take care of things together. Many hands make light work and he will grow to love the sense of accomplishment with a  big hug from momma when he does his best.
 

Now a few quick goods and bads.

 

Snow is good.

Cold wet gloves are bad.

Homeschool is good.

Not getting to do the next lesson is bad.

Lots of clothes is fun.

Putting them away is not fun.

RV shows are fun.

People recognizing you from TV is not fun.

Meal time is good.

Doing dishes and whole house clean up after is not good.
Kindles and DSs are fun.
Mom and Dad saying times up is not fun.

 

Have any questions for Matt, the children, or me?

Send them my way and I'll try to answer them in the next post!