Overweis splash pad

Someone asked me today if we liked living in the country more than here in the suburbs...

It got me thinking...
The part of the property where we live with acres of soccer fields behind us... It is the best of both worlds... A piece of country right here in the big city!

And we are a 5 minute walk from the Oberweis Ice Cream shop and splash pad...

 Does it get any better??

Every day I am once again amazed by God's blessings in moving us here to Schaumburg...
We love it here:)

And clearly, so does Isaiah...

and Levi...

and the bathing beauties Anna and smiley Hope...

and our sweet Jojo...

These were taken a couple of weeks back... and goodness we have now had a cold spell!

We are hoping for some pool or splash pad days soon:)

Our plans...

Last year at this time I literally was thinking... (honestly the morning we got the amazing call about Isaiah being born)... that there was NO WAY a birth mom would choose our family... why would she when we already had a little crew...

But God's plans are so not ours... His ways so not our ways... His thoughts not our thoughts...

His ways are so much better...

Ultimately His ways are perfect for us... even when they may not seem anywhere near perfect in our eyes...

And then out of no where... the call... some precious lady was choosing us... choosing us to raise that sweet little man in the middle in the picture above...

We are forever grateful and in awe of God's plans being revealed for our family...

So not what we would have imagined 20 years ago...

Greg and I had agreed to 4 children...

Here we are with 8... one in heaven... 4 living from my womb... 2 from the wombs of some of the most unselfish women I have ever met... and one not mine biologically mine, but that I miraculously had the amazing experience of growing within me and birthing just like my oldest 5 children...

There are so many days that when we hope and dream about the future we can not help but recall the past... So many experiences I never would have dreamt up... but the one thing that has remained through it all is the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.  

So thankful that even though we don't know what the future holds for our family... We know WHO holds the future... It is so much better in our Heavenly Father's hands....

Beans and rice ...2 weeks down:)

Day 1... eating with our hands like most kids in third world countries...

 



 

The aftermath with out Hopie girl... Wow... that was a mess... only ate with our hands on Day 1:)

 

Honestly, the beans and rice challenge for the month has been going much better than I expected...

 

I don't think I have heard a single complaint... (my kids aren't big complainers... but the fact that I haven't heard one yet... kind of shocking:)

 

The few things I have heard...

 

From Hope... I want to have beans and rice for my birthday meal.

 

From JoJo... Can we do beans and rice for lunch everyday?

 

Day 1... the older boys were saying... For a real challenge we should do beans and rice for every meal for a month... (to which I replied... I think we need a little more balanced meals...)

Then they said maybe we should do eggs for every breakfast and beans and rice for every lunch for a month... (then my wheels were turning... we might need to step it up next year:)

 

We will see how they feel another 2 weeks from now...

 

 

I could not help but post a picture of sweet Isaiah... eating apples:) 

Be still my heart... those BIG brown eyes!

CAN NOT BELIEVE HE IS ALMOST ONE! 

What a sweet gift... every one of them:)

OCEAN SPRAY CRANBERRY BOGS



 I think cranberry bogs are some of the most beautiful and fascinating things I have had a chance to visit.  There is an Ocean Spray bog about 20 minutes from my parent's lake house. 

 

On our trip up north we thought we would educate the kids a bit on what it takes to get that cranberry relish on the table each Thanksgiving holiday...

 

 First they need to flood the bog and run this agitating tractor through the flooded bog to shake the berry right off of the bushes....

 The berries then float to the surface... there were a few times we thought we might lose one of the kids to the bog:)  They could reach right down and take a sample... SOUR!!!:)

 

 This huge hose gathers up the berries and brings them down to one end of the bog... it just keeps reeling them in closer and closer...

 

 These men rake them right into the machine... It sort of sprays them off and sucks them down like a vacuum, or drain in a tub and into a pipe that takes them up and out to the truck...

(We laughed... I was just waiting for these guys to start talking just like the Ocean Spray guys in the those funny commercials:)  They didn't, but they sure were nice to answer all sorts of questions for us...

 

If you look close, you can see the berries falling from the pipe into the truck...

 

 

Hopie had the best seat in the house... This new friend Seth took a liking to her and was a huge help to me... carried her almost 2 1/2 miles while we hiked:)  It was like a mini vacation... He was so good with her... and she loved all the attention:)

 

 

What the bogs look like before they are flooded... you can see the bits of red all over the bushes:)

 

 

Our Levi enjoying the great fall weather at the cranberry bogs:)

Such a fun day to take in the beauty and creativity of our God to make such neat creations for us to eat and enjoy!  

A LITTLE MORE ON THE NEW ADVENTURE...

THIS IS HOW OUR HOPIE FEELS ABOUT CANDY AND A NEW BROTHER OR SISTER:):)

PRETTY EXCITED!!!

So the big boys are away for one more day... (Get on home big boys, we miss you all!!!)  I took the littles out to our favorite Mexican restaurant in our little town... CHEAP is all I can say... The 5 of us ate for $13...

After eating really good all week, exceptionally good for me... we rewarded ourselves with a meal out... kind of sick huh?  Back at the healthy eating tomorrow though:):)  We don't eat out often so it was a big treat!

ANYWAYS... this is why I mentioned eating out... Jojo and Hope were sitting across from Anna and I... We were talking about the new little person we hope the Lord will add to our family.  We were talking about boys or girls, ages of the child... I asked Hope if she wanted it to be a big brother/sister or a little brother/sister?

She didn't really care... actually she wasn't super engaged in the conversation...

Then I said, "Hey Hope, whatever brother or sister we get... He/she will have pretty dark skin like you!"

You would have thought it was CHRISTMAS!!!

She got the BIGGEST grin on her face... She leaned over and gave Jojo the biggest hug... She jumped up out of the booth and came around to my side and gave me a HUGE hug...

I asked, "What was that  hug was for?"
She said," I am so happy that you said that mommy!"

I almost fell over... Besides the fact that we all would LOVE another child... and many other reasons... one reason to add to the family would be so that Hope can have another sibling that sort of looks a little more like her.  But I sort of thought that might come into play more for her down the road...  I would never have thought she would have that kind of reaction now.

But she seemed over the top thrilled about it now... and we are thrilled with her:)

I will share more about our decision to adopt again in the days ahead, but I wanted to share that sweet Hope story with you... We can not wait to see the little one the Lord picks out for us... He continues to do more than we can ask or imagine in our family... We are so thankful!

I love this girl!

I saw these pics that Louis had taken of sweet Baby girl a couple of weeks ago... 

and my heart swelled with joy...

and thankfulness that the Lord choose us to be her parents...

How did we get such a special gift??? 

He is so good to us...

Back from a busy 2 day conference...Lots on my mind... lots to share in the coming days...

HOPE JUBILEE IS 3...

One of the most affectionate little girls I know

One of the strongest willed girls I know

One full of sugar and a whole lot of spice (hootspa as we like to call it:)

Silly

Smart as all get out

Quite the Little Rascal

Funny!!!

More curious than any kid we've ever had before

Loves to dance, rock out in the car, and sing "Thank you Lord!"

I am so thankful that the Lord chose to unexpectedly drop this little girl in our lap the way that He did,  a little over 2 years ago... When we were waiting to adopt, we kept saying, "Lord we want the exact baby/child you have for us... not just one we want now!  But the exact one you have perfectly created for us!" 

Man, that waiting to adopt is really hard... the waiting to know if you will get to keep that child as your own is even harder... But praise God, Hope Jubilee was a part of His plan for our family!  She really is a little love... and has added so much to our lives.  The Lord has blessed us so much through the gift of adoption... we have learned so much... we have so much more to learn.  We are so glad she is ours!

AHHHHH!!! Deep breath...

 FALL FESTIVAL AT CHURCH

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind...

Honestly, I am kind of a homebody and that has not been the case lately at all.

One of my least favorite things is leaving the house in disarray, which has totally been the case lately...

Between our new home school coop this year, which I love, and the boys playing basketball for the first time we are out and about a whole lot more than normal. 

Yesterday I had my second lithotripsy done.  I feel so much better today than I did last time the day after... but man, was I nauseous yesterday all day... ugh!! 

I do not have a stent this time... praise God... that makes it a whole more comfortable also.  I did a metabolic workup last week, so hopefully we can find out why I am making the kidney stones and maybe we will be able to have it better controlled.  Glad these procedures are hopefully a thing of the past, at least for awhile.

We were blessed to get to go see Hope's birth mom today.  We haven't seen her in over a year.  It was a special visit.  She herself was adopted out of the foster care system at 17... Just having had orphan Sunday last weekend at church... fatherless children have been on the forefront of our minds lately.  Can you imagine not having parents; one of the most basic, most foundational things in our life and just not having it at all... for years upon years?  It is mind boggling to me... Makes my heart hurt for those kids...

We are so thankful that her foster family chose to adopt her as their daughter just months before she would have aged out of the foster care system... She is really sweet...  It is interesting now that Hope has more understanding.  I know she doesn't fully get it at all... but we are trying to plant seeds of how uniquely and specially God brought her to us... We are so thankful that her birth mom chose to give her life... and that we get to experience it with her:)

We will be heading to funeral of a fellow seminary students of Greg's in a couple of days... He was 41... please pray for Matt's wife Janet and their 2 young girls...  And it is this very thing that causes me to appreciate the little things about life... even though it has been so busy... we are living life, so thankful to have each other... so thankful for the Lord's faithfulness!

2 1/2 years of pure energy:)

 She can look so calm...

 and endearing... but...

 This is what she is really like...

 99% of the time...

And we love her just the way she is:) 

We have had Hope in our lives for almost 2 years... it seems crazy that she has been with us that long.

 

I still feel like we are getting to know her in many ways.

She has mastered the potty...YAY!

She has really seemed to be turning a corner in her behavior...

It seems to have clicked for her in so many ways.

Normally she is constantly getting into things... like chap stick, deodorant, nail polish, etc...

You name it... if you turned your back for literally 15 seconds she was into it...

And she is smart as a whip...

Seriously, her vocabulary is incredible...

And she knows when to say certain things that you would NEVER think she would understand...

God has grown us and challenged us in so many ways through this journey of adopting...

We are so thankful for the stretching of us that He has done...

And we are so thankful for Miss Hope Jubilee:)



Look who is growing up:)

THIS LITTLE SASSAFRASS I BELIEVE HAS GOTTEN CLOSE TO MASTERING THE USE OF THE BIG GIRL POTTY... WOOHOO GO HOPIE!:)

WE ARE SO BLESSED TO HAVE HER IN THE FAMILY...

SHE IS SO AFFECTIONATE... SHE ALWAYS HAS A HUG FOR YOU AND SO OFTEN, OUT OF THE BLUE, TELLS US THAT SHE LOVES US. 

SHE REALLY IS GROWING UP...

SHE TALKS LIKE CRAZY...BIG WORDS... BIG SENTENCES FOR A 2 YEAR OLD. 

SHE HAS GOTTEN SO MUCH TALLER.

WE LOVE YOU HOPE JUBILEE... SO PROUD TO CALL YOU OUR OWN...

OFFICIALLY 1 YEAR A HINTZ

Oh the sweet joys this little wild woman has brought into our lives... 

1 year ago today, after many many months of not knowing if she would stay with our family, she officially became our forever daughter... Little Miss Hope Jubilee...

God was so faithful to carry us through those months of unknown...

She is full of the spunk, a whole lot of fiestiness, intelligence and love...  goodness is she smart:)
She is learning to use the big girl potty...
She challenges me more than any of our kids at this age...
She is cute and knows how to turn on the drama and charm...
She is super affectionate and friendly...
She is a total dare devil...

She is God's gift to us and a clear display of His love for us... Just as we adopted sweet little Hope into our family, He adopts us into His family by the blood of His son Jesus....

We are so thankful for the the gift of HOPE!

And by the way... Happy birthday to my mama... It is so sweet that this special day for Hope and our family is shared with your birthday... Yay God for the extra sweetness:)!!

WHAT A WEEK:)

MOTHER'S DAY 2011

This is one of my favorite pictures that we took on Mother's Day... why you ask... because it is so real... There is Jojo looking like he might wet his pants and there in the middle of it is sweet wild Hpe, sticking out her tongue... she is such a rascal...

This week she discovered how to climb out of the crib. It didn't surprise me at all... but she is the type of kid that I worry will hurt herself. We had to call poison control 2 weeks ago, because somehow when I was right with her, she snuck a bite of my deoderant... and to my disbelief she did swallow it. The lady at the poison control center said it is extremely common for kids her age. Really, to actually swallow deoderant? Yuck!

We have put childproof locks on all the doors in the house, which unfortunately Jojo can't even open. She is just so curious and busy... more so than any of the other kids. She also has started to throw temper tantrums. She is the first child where they haven't come to an abrupt halt as soon as we addressed it. It sort of makes me laugh because here we are with our 6th child and she is giving us a run for our money... Challenging us to try different things than we ever have had to before. It totally humbles me and really makes me realize I will never have this parenting thing down... I know that there will be new things, especially as we enter the teenage years that will totally have me pondering... What do we do now?

But at the same time I can see a calming down in her and she is listening so much better. It was funny, the other day when Greg and I were talking, I said, "Well this must be what they talk about when they say the terrible twos!" Up and down:) I just have never really experienced it with any of the other kids. And I say that all, with a happy heart, because they aren't really terrible at all, just a bit challenging at times. When I think of the fact that God brought this sweet, just precious, extremely smart, curious, somewhat bossy, full of the hootspa girl to our family in the absolute darkest time of my life I am soooooo very thankful! I fully trust and know that He is sovereign and she was meant for us! That brings me such joy:)!!!

The boys got 2nd in their soccer tournament last weekend. It was a really fun weekend, just busy... and that led into a really busy week. It has been so great to have them on the same team (Caleb plays up a division) but next year that won't work out because he will be 2 full years younger. It will make for a busier fall that is for sure. But honestly, it is so fun to watch them both do something that they really enjoy and are good at:)

Greg finally tonight had a night at home with us. I don't think he has made it home before 9:30 yet this week and he is always up and gone before any of us wake up:) It is funny how ministry flows because even though he is covering a lot more, (especially being the end of the school year, there are preschool graduations, national honor society deals, end of the school year activities etc etc. ) because our other pastor is on sabbatical right now, it has ALWAYS seemed like there are just weeks like this anyway in ministry... but then other weeks are a lot better. It ebbs and flows.

I am not complaining at all. Earlier this week, when I was having a week moment, I was sort of feeling sorry for myself... wishing we could be camping with our Texas friends this week, like we had planned... and then I was just so thankful to have my husband at all. There are so many women whose husbands travel a ton, have passed away, or who are serving our country... I CAN NOT COMPLAIN about a really busy work week. God is good... He always allows me to get my cup full when Greg is around and then it doesn't seem bad at all:)

A friend and I co led the monthly MEND meeting this past week for my infant loss support group. I have never done that and was a bit nervous... you just never know... there are so many intense emotions involved and it can be so hard when there is someone new, fresh in their grief... your heart just wants to break for them. I am so glad that there is MEND and it really seemed to go well. I was thankful for that. It is an amazing ministry:)

Well, that is about all for now... heading to bed after a really sweet little snuggle time with the little guy just a bit ago... I was just soaking up the sweetness:) LOVE IT!!!

SOME OF THE REASONS I LOVE BEING A MOM...

THESE ARE THE TOP 7 REASONS I LOVE BEING A MOM:)!!!!


LEVI...OH...MY... PRECIOUSNESS...I COULD JUST EAT HIM UP:)

SAMUEL...OH...HOW I LONG TO BE REUNITED FOR ALL OF ETERNITY WITH THIS PRECIOUS SON OF MINE...

JOJO, ANNA, AND HOPE. THERE IS SO MUCH JOY, AND GIGGLES THAT FILL MY DAYS BECAUSE OF THESE FUN LOVING KIDDOS...

LOUIS AND CALEB...MY OH MY, HOW THESE TWO ARE GROWING INTO YOUNG MEN...

Mother's Day has been on my heart all week... Of course I look forward to it with great joy... yet there is so much more that goes into it for me....

I can't help but think of all the women who are longing to be moms to children here on earth... I know too many women whose babies or kids are already in Heaven, and even some whose ONLY kids are in Heaven. I know that not everyone will acknowledge them as Moms today and that makes my heart so sad for them. I remember the years when I wanted to be a mom SOOOOO badly, and it just wasn't happening. Those Mother's Days were hard... I wondered if it would ever happen for me.... would that be in God's plan for my life?

So this week I have been praying a lot for my friends and even people I don't know that struggle with infertility or have had repeated miscarriages, or have lost babies full term, that just long for a child to hold here on earth...

I don't think I mentioned about my ride to church Easter morning. I was so overcome with missing Samuel. Easter is one of those family holidays where you can't help but think of all of your kids. I was thinking about what he would have been like as a 2 year old hunting for his Easter basket, what he would have looked like in his Easter dress ups... Just honestly, what he would have looked like at all... would that brown hair be curly or straight. I just missed having him here with us so badly. I cried almost the whole way to church... About 5 minutes before we got there, Anna noticed and asked why I was crying... It was then that we started talking about what Easter must be like in Heaven... that did change my perspective, thinking about my son celebrating Easter with the risen King Jesus himself.... but I still missed him and thought about him so much that day....

The sweet thing was that one of our friends was greeting people that morning and since it was raining, he greeted me at my car with an umbrella in hand... I can not tell you how much it meant to have a smiling friend's face greet me and help me get the kids into church with out getting soaked. It was like the perfect touch from my Heavenly Father that morning to remind He cares about all the big things I was thinking about and the little things too...

I know that this Mother's Day Samuel will be on my mind more than normal as well... Oh how this mama just longs to have all her children with her on Mother's Day... But for Samuel's sake, I know he is so much better off where he is... safe in heaven...

I am so thankful for all my kids here on earth with me and my children in Heaven... Each one is perfectly created by our Heavenly Father. He knows the number of each of their days... And we are feeling so blessed to be able to enjoy each of them we have now... they add SO SO SO MUCH JOY to my days. I remember as a little kids dreaming of being a mom... I am so thankful that God saw fit to give me those desires of my heart.

I am so thankful today for the gift of a wonderful mother who was a great mom and still is today (I so wish I could be spending part of my day with her today)... and for a wonderful mother-in-law, who did such a great job in raising my husband to be the man and father that he is today!