A-Hunting He Will Go

Much to my dismay Ethan has taken an interest in his Granddad's favorite pastime--hunting. Now don't get me wrong....I'm not philosophically opposed to hunting, and I don't worry too much about his safety. I'd just rather not think about where my hamburger or the gobs of meat on the pizza I had last night came from! It makes me sad to inflict pain on poor, innocent animals. And sitting out perfectly still for hours, usually in the freezing cold and/or the dark, probably with plenty of mosquitoes, waiting for the right animal to wander by, hoping you hit it, tracking it down and then hauling it out of the woods? No thanks! BUT, Ethan went out all day with Heath's dad last week, and he LOVED it! Not only did he shoot and kill the groundhog in the picture here with a perfect shot, he also shot a deer! A REAL DEER! I've never even hit one with my car, let alone with a bullet from 245 yards away! But he did it. Oh, in case you don't know us personally . . . Ethan is 6. Yes, 6 years old. I thought he'd start hunting when he was maybe 12 or so, but it seems I've been overruled. =)

Despite the maternal feeling that I need to hold him back from such traumatic sports, I really am happy that he enjoys it so much, and that he has a hobby to share with his Granddad and can build a close relationship with him.

Sorry, Bambi and friends.

10 Years

Yesterday Heath and I celebrated the completion of our first decade of marriage! Hard to believe we're that old already! We got to go out to dinner at a restaurant we hadn't gone to since the early days of our marriage (thanks to babysitting from Matt & Bekah!) =)

We also opened our 10-year "time capsule." Do any of you who were at our wedding remember filling out your guesses as to what our lives would be like in 10 years? Well, we really left them sealed up without sneaking a peak all this time, and yesterday we read them. Some people were pretty close, and some....not so much. In case you're interested in seeing who was right, here are the questions and the names of those who got them right.

Where will we be living? (Maryland) Suzi Creps, Stephanie Runkles, Beth Barch, Grandmom Taylor, Dan & Carolyn Sigmon, Tod & Lisa Lipman, Deb Spink, Amanda Trietley, Jessica Stuenzi, Valerie Hurley, Anonymous.

How many kids will we have? (3) Steve Napolitan, Greg Williamson, Phil Dennison, Stephen Stuenzi.

What kind of cars will we have? (F250 and MPV) The only ones who got BOTH vehicles correct (though they only said minivan and truck) were Kevin Williamson and Will Allen.

What will our favorite date activity be? (going out to dinner) Kathy Palese, Dan & Carolyn Sigmon, Anonymous. Greg Williamson had a very true answer as well--"getting away from the kids." =)

What will our favorite hobbies be? (Heath--working on his truck; Erin--reading and sleeping....do those count as hobbies?) No one got this totally right, but Valerie Hurley and Will Allen did write "sleeping", so I think that counts for mine anyway. :)

What will we look like? My favorite close answer was Will Allen's: "Heath will have a bald spot [Um, that spot takes up his entire head] and Erin will be "as beautiful as now." Aw, thanks Will. =)

Where will our favorite vacation spot be? This one doesn't have a winner because we don't know what the answer is! We've been lots of great places and hope to go to many more!

How will we be involved in our local church? (Heath plays guitar in the worship service, and he is also helping to finish some interior things on our brand new building!; I work with kids' classes and occasionally play keyboard and also work in Awana) These people got at least one of those things correct and added nothing incorrect: Dan & Carolyn Sigmon, Paul Best, Lori Wells, Stephanie Runkles, Josh Monge, Jessica Stuenzi.

There were many other answers; some were quite--shall we say--creative. I don't have time to list them all, but to all of you who filled those out....thanks! It was great to read, reminisce, and laugh at all the answers and all that's gone on in the past 10 years of our life together. Thanks for being a part of our wedding day and our lives--whether that was more than a decade ago or currently. We appreciate each one of you.

Heath, thanks for being such an awesome husband for these past 10 years. I love you. Only 14 days until our Anniversary Cruise! Yippee! =)

And Off We Go!!!

Yesterday was our first day of our second year of (official) school! Ethan began 1st grade, Jesse started his second year of preschool, and Tabitha....well, it's yet to be determined exactly what she's doing this year.

I've been so excited about what we're studying this year. I love the curricula we're using. (Tapestry of Grace, Math-U-See, Apologia's Exploring Creation are our main ones.) And I've been eager to get going! I started early because I plan to take some significant breaks during the year so we don't get burned out.

So, days one and two are completed--successfully for the most part. Ethan's not too excited about school starting; he'd rather be outside building, digging, climbing, riding, or whatever ALL day EVERY day. He does enjoy math and art, but heaven forbid I try to make him read! Keep in mind that reading is my favorite pastime, so I have great difficulty in relating to him here! BUT, he's not giving me too much grief, and I think once we settle into the routine he'll be fine.

Jesse, on the other hand, almost started crying today because I didn't have more school work for him to do! I think the boy is going to force me into doing kindergarten a year early with him because he just can't get enough!

And then there's Tabitha. My plan was, since she's 3, to start very gradually doing some little preschool-ish type work with her. Coloring, gluing, learning colors, singing, etc. Well, so far her lessons have consisted of the following: 1) We do not get to take all the pieces of our brother's educational games and run off with them preventing him from doing his work. 2) We do not take our other brother's math manipulatives and pack them in our suitcase or baby doll stroller. 3) We do not scream and throw our coloring paper on the floor just because it does not match brother's. 4) During reading time, we do not get to sit on top of our brother just because he sat next to Mommy. I could go on, but you get the point. Heath has assured me that we just need to work on speech and behavior with Tabitha for this year and not even attempt to do any "school" work with her yet. The problem is she really WANTS to do school work just like her brothers. But if she's not doing EXACTLY what they're doing she throws a fit. I'm hoping things get better as she gets used to the routine and realizes that I will spend time with her and help her with things, but it may not always be at the minute she demands it!

So, other than sibling issues, I'm enjoying school so far and am excited about all they're (I'm) going to learn. We even had our first field trip already. Last Friday we went to a dairy farm and learned about how everything works there. Did you know dairy cows spend most of their lives pregnant? In order to keep their milk supply they're bred once a year starting at age 2. Gestation is 9 months, they get a few weeks off, and then they're back to milking and breeding. What a life! At the end of the tour, we got to have some delicious ice cream made right there on the farm. And then the kids got to help feed the calves. Tabitha was terrified of course, but the boys thought it was great fun. I had the lovely experience of having a calf suck on my hand in hopes of finding milk. I never knew cows were so slobbery!

I've also got my schedule all put together for how our days are supposed to flow, theoretically. Of course, real life always steps in and messes that up. But at least there's a plan. Looking at the paper makes me wonder how on earth I'll ever have time for things like updating this blog! According to the schedule I'm supposed to be making dinner right now. But I figured keeping record of the milestones of our family's lives is much more important, right?

So, two days down, a whole lot more to go. Off to a good start and looking forward to a great year!

No Cincinnati for Now

Well, it appears that we will NOT be going to Cincinnati this month. Since our appointment is only a week from now and we don't have the insurance resolved, it'll have to wait until who knows when.

The good news is that the hospital has someone working on it for us. She's been trying to set up a phone conversation between the doctor there and the doctor with the insurance company to explain why we really need to go THERE. So far she hasn't been able to get them connected. (I guess they're busy fixing sick people or something!) Anyway, she's going to continue working on that for us. If that doesn't work out, we can appeal and keep trying to get them to approve it. If that still doesn't work, I guess we'll start looking for a doctor within our insurance network and do the best we can with that.

It's frustrating, but at least Tabitha's doing OK in most areas and it's not a life-threatening issues or anything.

Home Visit Complete

This morning our social worker came to our house for our home visit. We got to be grilled again on our parenting style, personal life, children, etc. It wasn't that bad, but it's always a little nerve wracking having your personal life evaluated. And to think she pretty much has the power of "yay" or "nay" on us getting another child! But hopefully we passed. She said she'll be in touch soon when she's finished writing up her report. Once that's done the next step is applying to USCIS for approval to adopt a foreign child. Once they approve us, everything goes to China to be approved by them, and THEN we can be matched with a child. Still many months away, but nice to have one more thing completed!

A Fun Day (except for Jesse)

Yesterday the kids and I drove to Pennsylvania to meet up with my friend Jen for a few hours. They decorated gingerbread cookies, pet farm animals, enjoyed soft pretzels and had a fun time . . . mostly . . .

Poor Jesse, it seems as if everything happens to him! He had just come down with a bad cough, so he was hacking all day long and feeling miserable. As we were sitting outside enjoying a snack, he managed to put his hand on a bee and get stung. He didn't have too bad of a reaction, but his finger did swell up and hurt for the rest of the day. Then we were at a little petting farm. Jesse climbed up on the fence to pet the miniature horse. Unfortunately, the food available for people to feed the horse looks a lot like a 4-year-old's big toe (or at least I guess that's what the horse was thinking.) The horse chomped right down on Jesse's sandaled foot and left a nice little cut on his toe. Jesse was more than ready to go home by this point.

I don't know what it is about him, but it seems that adventure follows him where ever he goes, not to mention injury and accidents. Oh well, he'll be a brave, experienced lad when he grows up. (If he makes it that far!)

But all in all we had a fun day. Jen, thanks so much for coming to see us!

Insurance Woes

Please pray with us this week! We've been planning to take Tabitha to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for tests and their bowel management program. As far as we know this is the only place of its kind in the world. Last month we found out the insurance company doesn't want to cover it because it's out of network. They claim we can get the same services here at Hopkins, but we don't believe that's true. Saturday we got the official letter saying that this would not be covered. We can appeal, but we're supposed to be going out there August 19th, so it's unlikely they would resolve it that quickly.

We do have someone at Cincinnati working on this for us. She has asked for a "peer review" and is hoping to change their minds. If it's resolved this week, we can keep our appointments. If not, we'll have to continue working on the insurance issue and reschedule if/when we get it approved.

Meanwhile, Tabitha has chronic constipation, and we have many unanswered questions about her care. Those of you who pray for us, please pray specifically for the people at the insurance company who are making the decision and the people "on our side" trying to get the approval. If they say no, pray that God shows us the reason for it and where He would have us seek help. Thanks so much.

Other than the digestive issues, Tabitha's health is great. We thank God for things not being any worse! She's continuing to adjust to us, and we to her, and we're feeling more and more like family all the time. Thanks for all the prayer and support!