MOVING!

We have packed up and moved to a new web-home.
Come join us at www.LibertyHillHouse.com

See you there!

Rhodochrosite

Our family has a special connection with a generally unknown milky pink rock called rhodochrosite.

My father tells a story of when I was a very young toddler. He took me to the grocery store and an older woman came up to me and cooed "Say Mama," to which I obediently replied, "Mama." She smiled and continued to play with me asking me to repeat Dada, and I obeyed.

My dad, a geologist who knew my great 1 year old oratory skills, turned to me and cooed, "say rhodochrosite," and I dutifully repeated, "Rhodochrosite!" to Dad's great entertainment.

And so my great attachment to Rhodochrosite was born.

The special necklaces in the photo above were a gift from my inlaws who traveled to Argentina, and, knowing my special fondness for this rock, brought them back for both my girls and me.

Apparently, the Argentineans (hmm... That spelling looks wacky, but spellchecker approves, so I'll move on) have a custom of giving rhodochrosite to girls. They believe that women who own this stone will stay married for life.

I'm happily married, so I'm assuming that the rocks have been at work.

My favorite rock. Now you know.

The Rules of Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye to Daddy every morning is one of those adorable kid-designed rituals that requires explicit care to execute just right. This is the basic plan:

1. Each child must be hugged and kissed before Daddy can leave.
2. Daddy walks out the door.

Aah, you say that sounds easy... but this is where things get complicated.

Should a delay happen between the hugs and Dad's departure (a quick conversation, or a return to the house for forgotten keys), the hugs are void for the purpose of saying goodbye, and step 1 must be repeted.

All hugs must be given out equally. If a child is still in bed and they hear the door open, they will dive down the stairs to get their hug. Should Dad not hear them running, they will stand on the porch waving their arms to get his attention until he comes back in and hugs them ... necessitting a return to step 1 because of the delay mentioned before. If a child is so deeply asleep tht they miss Dad's departure, another one will appoint themselves hug-master and will give the sleepy child "half" of their own goodbye hug from Daddy when the child wakes up and inevitably cries because Daddy is already gone.

Weather can also play a role in our goodbye routine. On rainy or cold mornings, the kids are content to kiss Dad at the front door, but if it is sunny outside, they consider it a great thrill to wave at his car from the front porch. On particularly beautiful days they will run barefoot through the yard waving and shouting "Goodbye! Goodbye!" until his car is completely out of sight. The neighbors must think tht we have royalty visiting the house on those mornings.

Oh, and just to put things in perspective, Dad only works about 4 miles down the road.

We obviously love that guy a lot.

Bathtub Tribute

Aww...  I luv uoo too little boy.

Pulling the Story Together

I promised several people that I would send them the link to my sister's adoption story, then I realized that the saga is currently scattered across the internet and getting to all of the bits involves a lot more than one link. So, for all of you who have asked, or are curious about, these three adorable boys, I tried to organize it a bit.

Click away. Everything should fall into chronological order.

If you are looking for the truly long version of the story, snuggle up with your laptop and read straight through my sister's blog starting at The Golden Ticket (click "newer post" at the end of each post and you should work your way forward in time), but be aware that it is long, there are several stories that are about other children waiting to be adopted, and you will see lots of fund raising information. To simplify I linked the most informational posts below.

Start here: Jen answers the question, "why adopt?"

Anxious about transfers - there are many posts similar to this one, but the idea conveyed is the same. These boys really didn't belong in the baby house any more, and the alternative was horrific institutionalization ... for life. From another post:

What does it mean...

Life

with only minimal amounts of food,

with very little attention,

with no thought to teaching basic hygine,

with little to no communication,

nor any form of education,

or any ability to age out of the institution.

They will never have a job,

never get married,

never feel the love of a family,

never blow out candles on their birthday,

never have a dad to take a thousand photos of them because of some minor accomplishment,

never catch rain drops.

The boys are promised to another family and the Demls must grieve and decide what to do next.

Traveling to Ukraine: Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Finding out that the boys are still available for adoption! Unbelievable!!

Day 11 - Permission to go to the boys' location

Meeting the boys!!!

First pictures

More pictures and more details

Rules, forgiveness, and hope

Groundhog day - aka. daily visitation

10 day waiting period - a deeper understanding of just how small the boys are for their age

Grandpa can't help with the flight home so Jen Miller steps up to help

Gotcha Day - The boys are now officially Demls!

Gotcha Day 2 - juggling more paperwork

Last day in Ukraine

Adventures in traveling from home from Kiev with 3 small children who neither speak your language, nor understand what is expected of them ... and the frustrating hoops that need to be jumped through.

Arriving in the US and meeting siblings for the first time

Home and thriving! Everything is new to these boys. I watched the 4 year old reach out to grab a lightbulb this evening simply because it was close and shiny. The sweet little guy had no understanding that it would be hot. As Jennifer says, they are in all in the 2 year old exploring stage. What we take for granted is fascinating to them, and it is impossible to predict what they will do next. They are all adjusting well, and play beautifully with their new siblings.

Keep checking out Jen's blog FillingTheHouseWithBlessings to see what great things happen next for my new nephews!

International Arrivals

Waiting is never easy. Waiting with children in airports can be . . . interesting. However, waiting in an airport with children who are looking forward to meeting their new siblings is a kind of excitement that is rivaled only by Christmas morning. It was fun to see all of the sleepy happy faces and to hear them chattering about their new brothers.

You would expect that with all that excitement, the kids would be bouncing off the walls and behaving poorly. Not at all. They spent a good portion of their time in an orderly line like this:

Okay, so they were flipping up, over, through and around the bars in their eagerness, but they were being good while doing it.

Our eyes were all glued on the gate. We knew that it would take a long time to clear customs, but it was simply impossible not to look. Old middle-eastern men got the same "is it them?" glance as ladies in wheelchairs and pilots. We had to check. I don't really think any of us believed that they would arrive in disguise, but not looking simply wasn't an option.

At last, we finally heard Dad's cheerful "They're Here!" ring through the terminal. (Of course, the 4 year old needed to take a trip to the potty just a moment before, so guess where Robert was when his wife and new sons walked through the gate. Grrr... we spit on you Mr. Murphy and your law!)

I loved the way that the kids greeted each other. There was no awkward phase, skirt clinging, or shyness. They were friends from the very first moment.

They locked eyes for the first time, smiled, and Elizabeth said "Hi Max, I want to show you something!" and off the two of them ran to look at the perpetual motion machine displayed nearby.

That's it. Siblings. Joined for life. Done in a moment.

It was a good thing that there weren't many arrivals at the terminal that night. We spread out, took over, and had a wonderful time getting to know one another. Gabriel showed off some yo-yo tricks, Andrew and Amy got down on the floor to play trucks and planes with their brothers, and even Lillia went around saying "Hi, Hi!"
From all of the interaction that went on, you would never guess that these kids speak different languages. It didn't seem to bother them in the least. Nothing can stop play.

Check out that look between Robert and Jen - proud parents of 9!

And just another bad word for Mr. Murphy and his awful law. I had the entire Deml family lined up for a beautiful family photo when my camera battery died. Aargh! I guess we will have to wait for another opportunity. ~ They have their entire lives together now, so I'm sure there will be time.

I am so honored to be part of such a great family.

The view from my window

8 kids in the house

1 brief moment of silence

Thank you repair man!!!

God's Practical Gifts

I have been learning a lot about God's gifts recently.

I have this weird tendency to try to put all of God's gifts in tidy categories like these that sound lofty, intimidating and unreachable, but I am learning that God is much more practical than I imagined.

Take for instance the gift of shopping. Yes it could be lumped in with one of those lofty gifts, but in my world shopping is just, shopping, something we do regularly because we need stuff. But now I am learning that shopping can be a gift. I know it sounds strange, so bear with me a second and I will try to make sense of my thoughts.

A lovely lady (who shall remain nameless so that I don't embarrass her) asked how she could help me and I answered that it would be great if she could drop off bread, milk, and fruit. WELL, I expected to receive just that, a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and a bag of apples ~ not on this dear woman's watch. We were bowled over with bags of amazing snacks to thrill children's hearts, laundry soap, baby bottles, the specific items that I requested, and much more that we needed, but I didn't even think to ask for. It felt so good, not just to receive the things we were desperate for, but to know that she cares and went to such lengths to help out, even though I'm sure it put a crimp in her own daily routine.

Personally, I am not blessed with the gift of shopping. Had a friend asked me for bread, milk, and fruit, they would have received just that. It would not have occurred to me to bless someone by shopping, but now that I have been personally touched in that way, I can see and feel God at work.

Another really practical gift I have recently become aware of is parenting. A lot of us are parents, but not everyone is gifted in the same way. God knows us, and he grants us wisdom and resources as parents to meet the needs of our children, but the ability to meet the needs of many children at once is not something all of us are able to do.

Then there are people like my sister. She has been given a very special gift. She has not only the passion for many children, but the astounding ability to keep her home running well while chasing several little ones in diapers, educating the older ones, and taking great care to meet the needs of her hearing impaired daughter. God created her this way. It truly is a special calling in her life and I am stunned when I stop and watch her.

God did not create me the same way, and I feel myself struggling to fill my sister's shoes while she is half a world away finalizing the adoption of their newest additions to the family. We currently have 6 adults scrabbling as best we can to take care of their 6 kids and fill the void left by just my sister and her husband. *Have you done the math yet? That is 1 adult to 1 child if we were able to all help out at the same time. The equation is faulty. I swear. Extra kids must be walking through my door when I'm not looking 'cuz the reality is that we are all busy every minute of every day. We are loving it, but we are tired.* Obviously, they (and their God-given abilities) are deeply missed and we anxiously await their return in a few weeks.

God is at work and we don't all serve in the same way. Isn't it interesting how the obvious can become so extraordinary when it touches you personally.

Sleep Tight

"Momma, I s'eep in you's bed? Please?"

My little girl loves to be in our bed, whether we are there or not. She doesn't mind sleeping in her room, but if she can't fall asleep for any reason I know she will be asking to sleep in my bed instead. She totters along, dragging her favorite stuffed animal into our big room and securely curls right into the big bed all by herself.

My boy, on the other hand, rarely asks for anything after bed time. Seriously, this kid hardly ever even asks for a drink of water or an extra hug, so I was inclined to indulge his wishes when he snuck to the stairs and asked for a special treat.

"Can I snuggle in your bed too?"

Aww...
I almost didn't want to carry them back to their own rooms when I found them so cutely cuddled up.

A A A A A!!!

Guess which 2 year old figured out how to write the first letter of her name? ... Unsupervised and on carpet of all things.

It was adorable to hear her yelling "Did it! Look Momma, A! Hooray... clap Momma. A. A. A!!"

So we spent the next hour writing one A on each of a thousand little slips of paper and clapping at her great achievement.

I wonder if the rest of the letters are going to be this exciting?

Psst...

We are wearing the same dress! *wild gales of 2yo giggles*

Thankful

Hmm... ditto what my sister said.

Grammar according to Elmo

Have you ever heard Elmo?

Elmo loves flowers!

Elmo is going to the shoe store.

Elmo wants a carrot.

My youngest speaks just like Elmo - including the tiny up-swing in the pitch of her voice each time she mentions her own name. She refers to herself in the third person almost exclusively and I love it. She sounds so very TWO and I know that this sweet stage won't last.

The problem is that I am now doing it.

Mommy has to go to the car.

Can Mommy take your picture?

Mommy loves you.

In context, with my little girl beside me I can almost get away with this, but I just caught myself speaking this way to a friend ... AFTER all of my kids had been sent bed.

It is kinda' like the infamous mommy-bounce. You hold baby, sway and bounce, and baby falls asleep ... Repeat endlessly for years ... Until one day you realize that you are swaying and bouncing 5 pounds of sugar in the grocery checkout line and a stranger is working very hard not to laugh at you. It only takes one glance to see either the abject confusion or the amused sympathy in their eyes. You know instantly whether they are a parent.

Living with a 2 year old offers some very amusing challenges.

Sticks and Stones

My kids come from a long line of collectors. Stamps, shells, stickers, tools, nothing is safe with us. Their daddy once even owned a stump collection (yes, STUMP, as in the bottom of a tree, and he posessed several).

Each child has found something that they love and they happily squirrel away bits and pieces. My son loves bottle-caps, and his older sister is well known for her nature discoveries that she keeps in her own museum.

My youngest, well, she is well on her way to becoming a rock collector like her grandpa.

No gravel driveway is safe with this little girl around. And my washing machine isn't safe either. The poor thing has taken some very LOUD beatings recently (Eeek! Just realized how terrible that sentence is. Edited to clarify that it is the washer, not the child, that is being beaten up.)

I think my little girl and her grandpa are going to have lots in common.

Including heavy pockets.

Family

Do you know what this family photo is missing?

These three boys.

They are our new cousins and we simply can't wait until my sister and her husband are able to bring them home from a very sad and dangerous situation in Eastern Europe. Read all about their story at FillingTheHouseWithBlessings.blogspot.com.

I Y my family, even the ones I haven't met yet, and would appreciate your prayers for them to come home soon.

Towel Fashion

Dear daughter,

When I asked you to help your little sister find something to wear, I didn't realize that you would take me seriously. I expected that you would find something in her closet to dress her in. I did not mean for you to have to create your own clothing out of dishtowels and office supplies.

I will attempt to be more precise in my requests from now on.

That being said, she seems to be comfortable in her new outfit. Nice job kid!

Your loving mom,

Scouts

Does this little guy look proud in his new uniform or what?

You should see his daddy's face.