One Dirty Car

The boys and I were on our way home from helping daddy work cows: branding new ones, taking out old tags, tagging new ones, vitamin shots etc. Well, I had planned to go, hang out a bit and then leave, but ended up actually getting my hands dirty, which I do really enjoy most of the time. It is a bit hard with Kellen and Keagan on the loose, but they are at the age where they stay back quite a long way. Grady gets a stick and helps move them up the shoot. Connor will help most of the time, but he is our moody one, so today he was not overly helpful.

Back to my original thought. On our way home we stopped to get milkshakes as a small reward for being good and not causing trouble. Kellen was in the backseat with his, as I was walking into the restaurant to get the rest of our dinner to take home, he apparently was upset that his milkshake was stuck and wouldn't come up the straw. He shook it so hard that it "exploded" to quote Grady. When I opened the door and Grady informed me of this explosion, I was a bit confused until I saw the back window, Connor's shirt and hair, the backseat and the floor. Yes, chocolate milkshake everywhere! He shook it so vigorously that the lid came off and the tasty treat flew all over the third row of seats  in our Expedition.

Of course, this mess prompted me to clean the car out. The following is a list of what I found: unopened jar of mandarin oranges, advent calendar with chocolates inside, 2 footballs, 3 basketballs (full size), my coat cover in cow poop, 4 sweatshirts, 2 raincoats, child's pair of rubber boots, child's pair of cowboy boots, 5 hotwheel cars, plastic helicopter, pair of size 3T pants, preschool "I can cut" workbook, My brother's T-shirt, 5 socks, bag of flag football pictures that I still need to hand out to my players, 2 Bible coloring and activity books, mini "I love Jesus" beach ball, 2 backpacks, 2 stocking caps, toothbrush, football mouth piece, diaper bag, my school bag, one dirty pair of underwear, one clean pair of underwear, 3 reading books, one blanky and one suckie.

Yes, funny and shocking. I am not even mentioning the garbage items that I through away. All the above items made it into the house. I should be ashamed, but I'm not. My husband says he is embarrased for me:) I say, Oh well, that's life! It shows what is important to us, what we enjoy doing, and that we are not freaked out about cleanliness:)

School Boys

When Grady woke up this morning, he came stumbling out of his room, squinty eyed and carrying his Bible. He wanted to find the memory verse from Sunday school and read it. We found it and then proceeded to find some other things to read. My heart smiled as I watched my little boy reading his Bible. I silently prayed that God would allow those seeds to be planted deeply and firmly in his tender heart. Grady loves reading and for that I am also thankful. As a result the younger boys are catching on to the idea that reading is important and fun and you get lots of praise for being a good reader. I am quite thankful the first born is a good student. No doubt it will greatly impact the rest.

A bit later in the morning I peeked into Connor's room to see Grady and Connor reading a book together. As I looked closer, Grady (the 1st grader) was helping Connor (the kinder) learn how to read a small book. Grady was helping Connor with some of the bigger words. It was so precious, and I thanked God for my smart, healthy little boys.

Connor needed to know how to read all the words because he was determined to read a book to his class like Grady had read a book to his class. So he mastered the words, read it to Dennis and to me and he was off to school with his book. He has a wonderful teacher who delights in letting the kids "show off" their skills.

I love being home in the mornings to see my boys off to school and hang out with my other two, in the midst of laundry and other household stuff. To make things better, for work I get to go to their school and be directly involved in what is happening. At the same time teach some other children for a few hours each day. It is a win-win-win situation for me, because while I get to be a professional for a few hours each afternoon, my little guys are staying with our wonderful sitter, Christine. They love her, her house, her animals, her books, her yard....everything. I have no worries at all when I drop them off. That is a gift from God also.

So basically, all this comes from the fact that this morning I was reminded of the wonderful life I lead. I am so blessed and happy.

Recovered from the Home Study

Well it has been almost a week and many have seen the post about Jodi's (the social worker) visit on Facebook.

Jodi was very nice, but our boys were melting down. However, things are moving forward. We must have passed because she is almost done writing her 22 page report, just emailed with some questions to clarify small details. We then get to review the report to make sure there were not any names missed or dates wrong and to make sure we agree with what she said.

The next step is to go get a bunch of things notarized that we will send with this Home Study report to Ethiopia. At the same time we send the HS report to US Immigration along with an application. We need to get a letter stating that we have been approved to bring a child into the country. That will take a few weeks, but then after that we just wait. Wait for our name to get to the top of the list so we can be matched with our daughter. Who knows how long it can take?  Months? a year? Two years? Only God knows.

Home Study

We have completed the Home Study paperwork. Here is a list of the paperwork that I can think of off the top of my head: Birth certificates on all of us, marriage license, eight letters of rec, criminal checks locally, state, and FBI, doctors visits and papers done on all 6 of us, proof of employment records, financial records, 6 online classes totaling 10 hours, workbook on adoption taking 12 hours, Dennis and I each had a 51 page profile to fill out, proof of life, auto and health insurance, proof that our health insurance will include adoption, and last but not least, a letter from the vet saying our pets our healthy and nice (I am sure I forget some, but that is the quick run down).

So next step is that tomorrow a very nice lady named Jody will come hang out at our house. I am thankful the day is here. No more cleaning and fussing, just getting it done. I know that it is not a white glove test sort of interview and thankfully. Besides kids should not be raised in a house where gloves can stay white. What kind of mom would I be if I obsessed all day about dusting instead of about living. But, we do want to have a nice house for guests, so I have done my share of cleaning this weekend. One reason for the visit is to show that we have all the necessary safety precautions, smoke alarms, fire extinguisher, gun safe, and oh, yes a posted evacuation route. (Which nice Jody told me to post right before she gets there and take it down when she walks out the door). She will also interview us individually and as a couple and then "be a fly on the wall." I am sure many of you are smiling right now and would love to be the fly on the wall with her. It will be great....it's life with 6 people in the house.

It is exciting to see the process through, and it will be even more exciting when all this craziness leads to the phone call that we have been matched with the daughter that God knows about right now. The one He has chosen for our family, the one that was known before the creation of the world to be a Dunlea. We regularly pray for her, her family and her situation not knowing if she is born or in the womb or, possibly, not even conceived. We don't know, but God does and He hears our prayers.

Kellen's fball games

Kellen is our 3 year old, free spirit with a tremendous imagination. Our most willful and risk taking child, he also has an incredibly sweet and tender side which endears him to many, including me:) For quite a few months now he has been obsessed, you could say, with football jerseys, helmets, one particular football and having "his games."

He changes his clothes in his "locker room" at least 5 times a day on the days we are home. At night he lays out his team's clothes and his clothes for the next days games. Now let me tell you that Kellen is no where near A-type personality, there may not be an organizational bone in his body. However, when it comes to this one area of football gear he has things lined up and organized quite precisely. It is also amazing that he has kept this focus for months because normally, he can't keep focus for a minute. He has too much energy and too many plans to stay focused on one thing.

Recently when Grady and Connor have started their pop warner or flag football practices, Kellen brings his gear with us to the practices. Sometimes it is in a backpack and other times just carried by him. He goes to this special spot by the bathroom and changes into his gear for his game. Then later changes back into his clothes, then gear, then clothes, then gear, then clothes...you get the picture. He even does this now, at Lost River's home games. Twice he has changed into his "game pants" out in the middle of the practice field, taken off his shoes, left them there, and we can't find them because it is dark. We always find them the next day, but it gets a little annoying.

After his games are over he always tells us who wins.... and yes it is always his team. Lately the mascot has been the coyotes, but it does vary between the Tigers, "Buckin' Horn", or the Raiders. At night times prayers we have to thank God for his game. Grady and Connor just look at him like he is crazy, but we thank God for his game anyway. In my mind I am thanking God for my active, fun, creative little cotton-top boy who always keeps things interesting around here.

Lucky Social Worker

We have all of our paperwork for our adoption in. Praise the Lord! Well, except for our FBI background check, we are still waiting for that to come in. Now we get to have a social worker come spend at least 6 hours at our house. Everyone who hears this just laughs. Some offer to trade Kellen for a nice, quite little girl. Others just picture the chaos they have witnessed being here only 1 hour. Now I am making it sound like there is complete pandemonium around here. Of course, there is not. But, having 4 young boys does offer up a lot of energy, noise and activity. Which I am used to and have grown quite fond of. Let's just hope this social worker is a mom of at least 1 boy:)

The social worker will fly down from Portland, get in our Honda car that we have left for her at the airport, and come to Malin. That alone could be quite an experience for her. And because the flight schedule in and out of KFalls is not the best, she will spend some time with us in the afternoon, spend the night at a hotel, come back in the morning to finish the visit, and then fly back to Portland that afternoon. Between my 1/2 day of work, football practices for Grady and Connor, Dennis' football practices, and harvest time on the farm this could be a very memorable visit for her.

In the end, I am sure it will go just fine. She will see a crazy, but happy family that is very excited to add another child to the crew.

PS: You may notice my blog background now has Africa in the top right corner. A little dedication to our girl so far away:)

Advantages of a Small Town

A couple days ago my brother called me because he had heard (from my dad's scanner) that there was a structure fire near our house. I looked outside, in all directions, and could not see a thing. Assuming that they got the wrong address, I went about doing my stuff. About 30 minutes later Dennis noticed that there was smoke coming from the hay barn across the field from us (about 1/2 mile) and there was a squeeze taking the hay out.

For those of you unfamiliar with haying, if the hay in the barn is baled just a bit too wet (not dried enough, or too much dew) it can start to smolder. It can do that for days without anyone noticing because it is deep inside a very large hay barn. Soon there is enough of it smoldering that the hay catches on fire. I have seen a few hay barns completely engulfed in flames. They just combust from the inside. This is especially bad at night because no one is around to notice those first signs of smoke coming out of a hay stack. This is bad for many obvious reasons, but also the money that is lost when that hay is destroyed can be quite remarkable.

Well, this is what was happening in the neighbors barn. The volunteer fire department made it to the scene and so did 5 or 6 guys with their squeezes. (Large forklift-type vehicle, specifically used for loading hay on trucks, in barns or wherever you want to put it). A little dance began to take shape. The men driving the squeezes started on the outside, and were pulling cubes of hay out of the barn. If there was a hot spot the firefighters sprayed it and then the guys went back in for another cube. From a distance, it looked like a well choreographed display, but, no, just skilled neighbors helping out a fellow farmer. In the end there was very little damage to the hay, considering it was on fire and no damage to the barn or any other building.

The main point of this blog, is that it warmed my heart to see the small town spirit in action. Not one of those people helping got paid, not one of them received anything more than "thank you." But, that was enough. I thanked God for great neighbors, and I thanked Him for allowing me to live "out in the middle of nowhere." I have no doubt that if one day it were our barn, we would have plenty of people there to help. Sometimes people talk negatively about living in small towns and everybody knows your business. That does have some drawbacks at times, but in cases like this, I am sure the owner of the hay was pretty happy that everyone was involved in his business.

Football

Every year, right around this time, we embark on another Lost River football season. Two weeks of daily doubles in the midst of farming means that if we want to spend time with daddy then we had better head to the field. Most of the time that means the football field. The boys love running around the big boys at practice. Those older, tough, too cool high schoolers are so good with our boys. Our boys get to play catch with them, tackle their legs and drink their water. It has become a family time for us as crazy as that may seem.

Being a girl, I never played football, but I do have a deep love for sports and a bit of a competitive side. I think that there are life lessons learned on a sports field (or court) that cannot be taught anywhere else. I know I am a better person for having been involved with my teams, and I want that same thing for my boys. They are hearing some of these lessons already as daddy coaches, and they are only 7, 5, 3 and 1.

Football offers even more opportunity for life lessons than many sports. There is nothing like getting knocked down over and over again and having to choose to get up each time. There is nothing that shows that 2 is better than 1 and 3 is better than 2, than seeing a good line doing their job. Football has its glory boys and its boys who work in the shadows. And every good glory boy knows exactly where their bread is buttered, and they will not hesitate to give Kudos to the boys in the shadows. All of that teaches these young men how to be men. To think beyond themselves and think about the team. It will help make them better college students, better friends, better husbands and better dads. What mom doesn't want that for her boys?

Those latter goals are what makes our family so into football. Some people wonder if it gets old for me. Honestly, for the most part, it doesn't. It is not the sport itself that grabs me, but the idea of "team" and the etching away at boys to make them better men. Dennis works very hard to try to help "his boys" think about the bigger picture. So when we are hanging out at football practice it is not just about the pigskin, it is also about watching daddy teach and being a part of those young mens lives. Of course, it is also about catching, passing, running, tackling and all things that make them "boy." I am so thankful to God that we get to do these things. What a wonderfully blessed life we have. And maybe the reason he did not give us 4 girls:)

Never let them see you scared

Today there were a couple of interesting "firsts" at the Dunlea house. I know my life will be full of these with the boys.

I was in the laundry room trying to get a handle on the mountain of dirty clothes that seems to find its way there. My dirty clothes bin is a rolling contraption that has three bags hanging from the frame,a bag for towels, one for whites, and one for darks. The bags velcro to these cute little metal hangers and then hang from the frame.

I started a load of laundry and left for a second to answer the phone. When I came back one of the metal hangers was gone. I looked in the bag, under the bag, moved the entire cart, just about everywhere and could not find the hanger. I was concentrating so hard on finding that dumb thing that I didn't hear Grady walk up behind me. He said "Mom look what I found." Just hearing him made me jump a little, but then when I saw the live, wiggling snake in his hand that made me jump just a bit more. I quickly gained my composure, because there is one thing I do know, as a teacher and a mom of 4 boys, I cannot let them know that anything bothers me or grosses me out. Because that will give them ammunition I do not want them to have. I calmly said "Grady, we do not bring snakes into the house." His response, "Ok, can I go show dad before I take him out?" "Yes," I said calmly, "just don't drop it." Grady showed daddy and bragged about how he made me jump, and then took the poor snake back outside and let him go in the weeds. I am happy that Grady loves animals and wants to investigate and collect them. I do draw the line at keeping snakes for any length of time.

You wonder why I had to go into great detail about the laundry cart and hanger. Well, after the snake had left the building, I asked Kellen "Do you know where my hanger is to my laundry bag?" (Notice I went straight to him, I had a feeling he might know a thing or two about this). "Yes," he says, "buried in the dirt." Just like, duh, mom where else would it be. Well, why didn't I think to look outside in the flowerbed for a part to my laundry bag. I asked him to go get it for me and told him that if he ever took my laundry bag apart again, he was going to be in big trouble. "OK" he said, as he was running away from me. No big deal.

Just another day in the Dunlea house......what will a little girl do with us?

Rodeo Results and mounds of paperwork

Hello Sports Fans, Some of you might have tuned in earlier this week to the blog that talked about taking our dog to the vet. Well, in the end Dennis and I managed to stay on the 8 seconds and have come up with the victory: immunized pets.

In all seriousness, Rambo did quite well. Once he was in the car he was quite the gentleman. Previous attempts to put him in the car had resulted in Dennis being scratched and bitten (that is why the muzzle was great). At the vet's office, he was not totally interested in them examining him, but once a fox tail was discovered in his ear and he got some drugs, he was chill.

Poor Todd the cat watched on from the cat carrier not really sure what all the fuss was about.  Oh, what we do for our animals and for our adopted daughters.

We are just about done with the first set of paperwork that needs to be done for our adoption. We are waiting for our FBI and Oregon criminal checks to come back stating that we are not felons or criminals in hiding. It is unbelievable the amount of paperwork. Everyone thinks there would be a lot, but when I start to describe in that is involved, most are amazed. I do understand it, but wow, adopting is not for the faint of heart. I guess they make sure the process is crazy enough, that only people who really want to adopt can endure to the end.

We pray each night for our little one and ask God to protect and provide. This phase is a bit like carrying a biological child to term, although the gestation maybe a bit longer with this. It is exciting and a bit stressful, but in the end we will be united with the newest member of our family. That definitely keeps us pressing on.

The Rambo Rodeo

Today we are taking our cat and dog into the vet. This should be quite the adventure getting Rambo, the blue-healer cross, to go anywhere. We got Rambo 3 years ago when he was 2. He is a nice, fun dog and is really good with the boys. I must admit he is not the most intelligent dog God has ever put on the planet, but he is loving. Well, he hates, HATES to ride in vehicles. We think something traumatic happened to him before he came to us. He will not go with Dennis working, will not jump into the back of the pickup, will not get in my car...he is having none of it. If there were a delicious Tbone steak, he still would not get in. However, today he has to go.

He has a foot he has been hopping on a bit. I am pretty sure there is a thorn in there, but he won't sit still long enough to let me look. So that is good enough reason to take him, but we also need to update his shots. Why, you ask are we doing this now since we have put it off for years. Well, we have to have a letter from our veterinarian for our adoption, Home Study paperwork. I guess they want to make sure you can take care of a dog before they entrust you with a child:) The real reason is to check and make sure our pets are immunized and have a decent temperament.

So, in about 30 minutes we are going to do all we can to get Rambo into the vehicle. Dennis is going to be Rambo's driver, and I will escort Tod the cat. We borrowed a muzzle from a friend and think we might put it on him from the start, just to ease some of the craziness. We are hoping for the best! I will let you know how this all turns out!

Number 5

Five has become a very important number in the Dunlea house as of late. We have decided to add one to our brood. Now many of you are shocked, many not surprised at all; I fit in both categories. Dennis and I always talked about adoption as something we were interested in doing. Long before we had a house of 4 wonderfully, energetic boys, we knew international adoption was something that was on both our hearts. We have been blessed with so much (not necessarily monetarily, however compared to the world we are wealthy), with family, community, education, the list goes on and on.  To those that have much, much is expected. Besides, we just felt like our family had room to grow.

When Dennis and I started seriously talking about it, I said that I would pray about it. He, of course, was ready to adopt twins:) I think as Christians sometimes we say we are going to pray about guidance and often fail to take action that the Bible so clearly tells us to do. "Take care of widows and orphans." There is no ambiguity in that sentence. I don't need to pray to see if that is right. Is it right for us now? Do we have the capacity? What about our boys? All important questions, and things that have been the topic of many prayers to our Lord. The overwhelming peace we get is God telling us "Yes, I am in charge. Trust Me."

And so we are taking the leap. Just starting the Home Study phase, we are far from bringing our little girl home. Yes, I did say little girl (at least that is our plan). It is exciting, scary, fun, crazy, and exhilarating. We are adopting from Ethiopia. For some reason in all our reading that was were Dennis and I were both drawn. We are adopting for selfish reasons, for our family and for our enjoyment, but also maybe we can make a difference in the world in just a small way. So please pray for us as we go about this wonderful adventure. Pray for our little one who may or may not be born yet. Pray for guidance and wisdom.

As I close I leave you with these Ethiopian numbers. 
4.3 million orphans
One in six children die before they turn 5.

I have had a few people say "Wow, you will have 5 kids!" It is true and slightly crazy, but that is not the number 5 that stays in my head. 1 in 6 children die before they are 5. Now, that will stay with you!

"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes Me..." Mark 9:37

Haying, Napping and 4 boys

We (mostly Dennis) farm alfalfa hay and some grain, but hay is our main crop. We try to raise high quality alfalfa, selling it do dairy farmers. The high protein hay helps the dairy cows produce more milk, therefore they get better yields, and we get more money.

In one summer, we usually get 3 cuttings of hay (meaning we will cut each field 3 times). The process works something like this, cut the hay, few days later it is raked, and a few days after that baled. The baling part of the process is really where the point of my story comes into play. Alfalfa needs to be baled when it is not too wet, or not too dry. It must have the right amount of moisture to keep the leaves on the stems, but not so much as to produce mold or even worse burn. Burn can actually catch the hay on fire, catching your barn on fire and causing a great amount of damage and money loss. SO, most of the time the hay is baled in the middle of the night when the dew is just right.

Well, that makes for one tired farmer as 1st cutting comes to a close. Three weeks of sleeplessness is pretty tough on a guy. My poor husband tries to catch a few z's when he can. Often times, he comes home mid-afternoon, eats, and sits in the recliner for a power nap. The boys are usually playing outside or even in the toy room. However, the moment Dennis falls asleep their "bother daddy" radar is turned on and they swoop in for the kill. He could be sitting in that chair for 25 minutes and not one of the 4 will say a word to him or touch him in anyway. But, the very second he goes to sleep Connor is ready to play catch,  Grady needs help reading his book, Kellen wants to change his clothes for the 4th time in one hour, or Keagan wants to sit in his lap. Many times when they are requesting his assistance, I am no more than 15 feet away. They never ask him to help with things when I am cooking dinner and he is reading the newspaper. That is when they always come to me. If he is asleep, that is the very second they need him and only him to help.

This is not something Dennis is making up. I have seen the very phenomena in action. Unbelievable but true. Haying is tough on any guy, but when you have 4 little ones in the house it is a bit rougher than normal.

Just another night on the farm

Every now and then our dog Rambo barks at something in the middle of the night, a deer, an owl, neighbor farmer checking frost on his spuds, the list goes on. Many times we hear barking and then smell the memorable odor of a skunk and know right away what he was chasing.

Last night I heard him barking like he was just about to get ahold of whatever was in his sights. As I walked to the back door I smelled that wonderful smell and knew. The problem was he was in the garage barking like a crazy man, and when I opened the door I could hear a scuffling of some sort. Not wanting to walk around the car to come face to face with a skunk, I climbed on the hood of our Expedition to look on the other side. (Picture that, PJ shirt, glasses, crazy hair on top of the car). Sure enough there in the corner was a baby skunk. Right then Dennis got home from baling hay (it is about 3:30am) to find his wife coming to greet him with news of a skunk in the garage. We pulled out the car, rolled balls toward it (the thing is 2 feet from the large, open garage door, but won't go out) nothing was working. Not want I wanted to be doing at 4:00am, but I knew the dog would not leave it alone if we just went to bed. Finally, after much poking and prodding we realized it had no spray left, so Dennis got a broom and pulled it out of the corner and pushed it out the door. Thank God, now I gewt to go back to bed.

However, once in the house the smell seemed to stay with me. Oh, yes it was with me alright, on my shirt, in my hair, on my pillowcase. So, I hopped in the shower at 4:15am. Thankfully that seemed to work. Finally, I was going to get some sleep (if you know me well, you know that I love and need sleep). Just as I was dozing off at 5:00am, in comes Grady with a bloody nose. Poor kid and poor mama. No sleep for me.

Potty Training-UGH!!!!

Kellen was 3 in March. With work and 3 other boys it was hard for me to focus on Kellen's potty training. To start, I must confess that it one of the things I dread most about being a mom. I think we have Grady to blame for that. He was sooooooooo difficult to house break :)  Normally, a compliant, easy going, rule follower, Grady was a nightmare when it came to this one issue. Since then, I have not enjoyed the process, even though Connor was a dream. (Funny how the negative stays with us so much more than the positive).

OK, back to Kellen. Now that it is summer and I am not teaching, Kellen is in underwear and we are on the hourly walk to the bathroom where M&M's await and the pee pee dance abounds. He is doing OK. Today has been a good day. He has gone a couple times without me telling him to, so I will call it a sucess. The #2 thing is far from successful. "Mom it just won't come out if I am sitting on the toilet." Yes, it is going to be tough to conquer that hurdle. I know many of you can relate.

Since we are talking so much peepee around here lately, Kellen is talking about his penis a lot. Here are two recent stories.

#1- I was helping Kel into his PJ's, and on his peepee I see a centimeter size, arrow sticker pointing right back toward him. He says it is because he wants his penis to remember who it belongs to. :)

#2- Some cousins were visiting from Georgia, one a little girl. The kids had been playing, eating, running and having a good time. When Anna announced that she was running in to go to the bathroom Kellen said, "I bet she wishes she had one of these (pointing to his pride and joy area) then she wouldn't have to run into the house to pee." I just laughed.

So, I am thankful that potty training does bring about moments of comic relief, because if it didn't I might go crazy!

"You Should Write a Book"

I have been told numerous times by family and friends that I should write a book telling of the adventures in the Dunlea house. The 4 boys keep us more than entertained. I have started to share just a portion of those antics on Facebook. Much to my surprise many people enjoy reading about what the Dunlea boys are up to.

As a mom, I also wanted to find a way to remember some of the crazy things that happend as we go through this journey of raising 4 boys. The stories are endless. I could spend an hour each day writing about the things that are said or the things that happen. Of course, there is no time for that, but perhaps enough will get recorded that I will have ample supply to embarrass the lads when their fiance comes to visit.