My diverse kindergartener

Adon, Angel, Reggie, Xavier . . .

these are the names Ethan comes home talking about. These are some of his friends at school. And when we ate lunch with him on Friday, we got to meet them. The unifying factor . . . none of them are Caucasian. Infact, most of them resemble little boys from our Central Asian home.

I love it that Ethan is drawn to people that are different from him and sees no reason while they shouldn't be buddies. He's working on learning break dance moves that Reggie can do; spinning on the floor on his back! Love it!

August and up-to-date!

August began with a 3 day get-away to Kansas City. Our kiddos stayed with my folks, while we enjoyed the opportunity for leisurely connect time. With the amount of energy our kiddos pack in, it doesn't feel like much of life is at a leisurely pace. It was a great time of connecting before we add another to the mix!

And there's our 3rd . . . growing day by day. Elli's demonstrating her "rock-star" pose!

My 2 little helpers, helping me scrub down the bassinet for baby brother!

The recovered and finished project. I plan to do a whole crib set, like I have for the other 2, once we get back home. So in the meantime, I've satisfied my nesting energies with re-vamping the bassinet that all Amershek babies, except Elli, have slept in. To me that's fun! What I've previously agonized over with the other 2, we quickly decided on in a matter of a 30 minute trip to Hancock Fabrics. A remnant with just the right amount of fabric . . . jungle theme with greens and blues it is!

The first Friday of school, Ethan brought home a Twinkie school bus, complete with wheels (not pictured) and the red tail light. Not the fan of chocolate, he opted to save it to bring home to his sister. Who, as you can see, was THRILLED. They sure do miss each other.

The cousins at the bridal brunch, my mom and I hosted for Lynelle. Erika and I joked that putting us on the end only benefited the Penner sisters! A fun wedding weekend. The first time I've gotten to sing with my brother and sister-in-law since . . . I can't remember when.

Pregnant together with our 2nd born girls. I was around 33 weeks and Eeka would have been about 3 1/2 months out. (I think)

Pregnant together again. This time we're having a boy and they're having a girl. Eeka's 19 weeks and I'm . . . about ready to pop!

"Ill-laid plans" isn't that the saying. Why is it that I get these super cute ideas and dreams in my brain and fail to factor in reality; the reality of tired kids in high-stress, high expectation situations. My sister-in-law and I thought it would be so cute to make matching dresses for our girls to wear to my cousins wedding. This shot only captures one of the many melt-downs. Bless Malia's heart, Aunt Jenni tried to take her cup away for the picture and the tears ensued. Elli begged to take her dress off for much of the evening and the matching hair bow miraculously made it in this photo, since she admittedly refused to wear it the rest of the time. Maybe we'll try again in say 5 years!

Ethan's Five and other July Happenings

It is so hard to believe, but my little man turned 5 this summer. This was a birthday party he has been dreaming about since Christmas, at least. He wanted all of his cousins there (and would have had more, had our house been able to hold them all), wanted kebob on the menu, and talked often of wanting his friends from our team to be able to come too. So we experimented with kebob and they turned out pretty close and had our house full of family.

I was so excited for a year off of the pressured birthday cake. I had in my mind to order an ice cream cake while we had air conditioning to keep it from melting. Unfortunately every purchasable ice cream cake starts with a chocolate cake or cookie crumb base. For a boy that doesn't like chocolate that wasn't an option. So this year too I researched and made the cake. It was really yummy, but I have a long ways to go on decorating with cool whip frosting. So we opted for a "Lego Space Cake" topper! He was thrilled.

Ethan got a bike for his birthday and it seems to be so much sturdier than his bike from Christmas.

We used some of Elli's accumulated Christmas money for a trike from Aldi's.

The first attempt without training wheels. We're not quite ready for that yet, but like everything in our family . . . it's always a whole family affair! I captured the "release." Love Ethan's focused face and Elli's proud and camera aware scamper!

I found a box of random Legos at a garage sale and Ethan keeps building. I had to show off his continually growing/changing creativity. He made this spaceship all with his own imagination!

This year my birthday was full of surprises! Laurie and Jess came into town to kidnap me for the afternoon. 3 moms with no kids yielded a precious afternoon full of lots of laughing, heart sharing, and reminiscing. My folks surprised me by coming into town to take our family out for breakfast together. Falling on the 4th of July weekend, the birthday celebrations ended with a MASSIVE fireworks display on the lawn of a church in Arkansas. Ethan loved it, Elli covered her ears the whole time pleading for it to stop!

In July we also traveled to 2 different conference. Both provided great times for reflection and remembering all we've seen and experienced the last 3+ years. We had great times reconnecting with dear friends at both retreats!

For those that love the excessive photo's . . . Here's all the pictures from Ethan's birthday!

Ethan's 5th Birthday

Our June Going-on's

June 5th we moved to our new place in Wichita. We attended our first ever "Homeschool Convention" and suffered a fair share of culture shock on that one! Didn't realize that the majority of the homeschoolers that I am surrounded by homeschool their children out of necessity. With diligence and a good attitude, but often because their is not another option. I didn't realize that there is a "Homeschool Movement." I guess that's what happens when you are gone for 3 plus years.

We were on the Kid's "Summer Camp" circuit, speaking at several different ones! Our kids enjoyed being able to attend and we had fun sharing stories and pictures of our world with the children.

Good times with Dave, Laurie and their girls. Ethan busted his chin on "water slide" in our backyard and Austin got a first hand lesson on super gluing wounds. I'm sure that will be helpful for future accidents.

All in all, a good month of settling into our new and temporary normal.

Family Time in May

This May we spent lots of time with our families. We were able to join in celebrating Lauren's 10 year old birthday, celebrated Austin's birthday with both families and were a part of my cousin's wedding. We lived out in the country with Austin's mom and did our best to be helpful around the house and farm/land.

We also enjoyed some of the American cuisine that we had been missing. Elli worked on developing a taste for American loaf bread and deli meat; both very foreign tastes for her little pallet.

What we came home to

I know that there is no way I can go back and blog about all that has been/happened since I last blogged. Yet there is so much I wish I would have blogged about; wish I would have captured. So I'm going to try and capture the highlights, knowing that I'll still miss things. By this point in time, we've seen many of the people that even read this blog, so you know much of what will be posted. I guess it's more for me than anything else.

Thursday, April 22nd mid-afternoon we got a phone call that we honestly never had anticipated. Papa Frank, Austin's dad, passed away. The shock, the sadness, the weight of how far away we were is more than I can describe, but yet I can re-live it all instantly as though it were just yesterday.

Thursday night we had dinner and prayed together with our dear friends, who are really so much like our family. They all pitched in from finding us tickets, transporting us over the mountains to the capitol, to packing up our house after we left.

By Friday noon, less than 24 hours after receiving word, we were leaving our valley. We had just traveled this same road 3 days earlier when we returned from sending my parents back to the States. We arrived in Wichita, Kansas Sunday evening, after 10 p.m. Sweet faces of dear family and friends met us at the airport. And then we traveled on to Southeast Kansas. The relief was real to finally get there and be with family, to grieve together.

Monday night, on ultimate jet lag, we stood with Vickie and greeted all who came to the family night at United Chapel Church. It was so right to be able to stand with family. The memorial service was Tuesday morning and the funeral home was full to overflowing. It was a powerful testimony of a faithful man who loved God and loved people!
We came home to lots of time together with family; to lots of reliving memories and creating new ones; to support, love and prayers; to more opportunities for trust.

First Day of School

It's been far too long since I've blogged. I've had every intention to, but just haven't done it for one reason or another (hundred reasons). But I thought Ethan's first day in Kindergarten was a noteworthy occasion to get some pictures up! My big 5 year old boy has been in school for 2 days; 9 a.m.-4:10 p.m.

Of course Mommy had to get some pictures before I would let him out the door.

Ethan wanted to wear the shirt that Aunt Jenni had bought him for school. Despite it being hot, this is what he wore!

Elli wanted to be a part of the photo shoot.
With her toy cell phone, she clicked countless pictures of big brother
. . . all the way to school!

This was Ethan's pose idea
"Look Mom, I'm going to school!"


We didn't even make it out of the school building and Elli was asking "Where's my Ethan? I want my Ethan." They are really great buddies and she (and Mom) are really going to miss him!

Here's Ethan's desk, laden with a bag full of new school supplies.

And this is his teacher. In my opinion, she's one lucky teacher!