Family pics

Easter Sunday Hintz family pictures out behind the old historic school:)

I can not believe I get to be the mom of this crew!  Truthfully they can be a challenge, but even more so they are a HUGE blessing

to my heart!

And leave it to precious Isaiah to make a good family picture even better with the finger up the nose... He is too much! :) 

Brother Louis and Anna!  Louis started his mobile pack job last weekend.  So he is traveling the states with Feed My Starving Children to their mobile pack events.  

He is off to New Jersey in a few hours... and even has an event in May where they will pack 5.5 million meals for hungry kids around the world.  We are really proud of him and thankful that he loves his job so much! It is a perfect fit for him!

We are blessed by his heart to serve!

Busy days...

The days are flying by and there is much going on and many changes in our home...
March 2016 literally blew by us and here we are almost a week into April...
This past Saturday Greg had 2 weddings, plus preaching the regular 4 church services this weekend...
We hosted a couple that is being called to our new church in the evening...
I had a homeschool informational meeting...
I went out in the craziest weather I have seen in a long time... blizzard like conditions one minute, and sunshine in the next... no lie...
Came out of the grocery store to a dented car door from the car next to me... His door blew open the wind was blowing so hard... It was just a crazy day... Louis and I both started new jobs and feel so blessed to have them!

All in all we are loving life and enjoying the busy days... knowing that soon summer will be here and things will slow down a lot for the littles and I in the house:) 

This is how the jobs get done around here... everyone pitches in... hauling groceries for mom!  I couldn't do it with out all of their help!  Even though they make 95% of the mess... I cherish it... I know it won't be long and I will wish for the messes under foot...  They are getting big too fast!

Hopie and Zay Saturday morning staring out the window watching the fresh snow fall...

Rascals in the living room... jojo and Levi, wrestling one minute... hugging the next!

Ann and her sweet friend Ava loving on Kaliyah!  

HOpe to post more soon about the new jobs and life in general... So thankful for God's faithfulness in all of life... the slower moments of calmness and the busy full days... He walks with us through it all!

Morning company:)

The other morning I awoke to this smiling face next to me:)

 I rolled over and said, "I love you buddy!"

And His response... "And I am a MIRACLE!!!"  

Yes you are my sweet Levi, yes you are!  He is an amazing miracle from God that was allowed to join our family through embryo adoption... He and I were talking about it today in the car and I can't wait till he can really understand his own amazing miraculous story! 

And then this little rascal came to join us in bed... and that was the end of the peaceful resting!  He is all boy and never sits still... But he makes for many laughs!  I love love love every moment with both of them!  I am so thankful that we get to do preschool together this year... What a treat for this mama! Hopefully they would say the same thing:)

Have a blessed Monday friends... from Zay and Levi!!:)

Day by day...

UPDATE as of 1:30 mountain time today...

I am on my way to the medical records office in Phoenix for full medicals requested by Alabama... The Adoption agency director is REALLY going to bat for us to get Alabama to push it through today and then AZ to push it through possibly today... With the upcoming holiday this would be a HUGE  BLESSING... We are so grateful to her!   This is going to take a miracle since it has taken us this long to not even get through the first state yet... But God's knows and He is in control... :)

Original post:

As the days tick by... Some of us here in AZ awaiting the clearance of our interstate adoption paperwork to clear and some of us waiting 1800 miles away in IL., there are  lots of things happening for the 7 of the Hintzes back at home in Chilly Illinois...

Dad Getting little guys and hopie ready for school each day... 

High school boys taking care of preschool boys after school (They are such great brothers!)...

Snowy walks to church... 

Facetiming with mom, Anna, Jojo, and Kaliyah...

And on our end in sunny Arizona there is a lot happening for the 4 of us:)

Day trips to Sedona to catch a glimpse of God's beautiful creation... (The friends we are staying with had a job 20 minutes from Sedona, so we tagged along)
Long walks with toddlers...
School work with Anna and Jojo (YAY... Science is mostly completed for the year... all of our book science is done... now just observations and projects!!!)

Lots of snuggle time with precious baby Kaliyah:)

Sweet get together with precious friends...

We are so thankful that even though we left our house 3 1/2 weeks ago and have been separated for a lot of that time... God is blessing us all with sweet times and lots of memories being made!  

So here is the ICPC status... 

Basically tomorrow starts day 1... Yep, you read that right DAY 1!!! Even though we are post relinquishment by 17 days, it is still day 1... 

 God willing our packet will be sitting on the ICPC Alabama desk tomorrow sometime.  God willing she will pass it through maybe tomorrow or shortly there after...  We have found Alabama to be not so easy to get through... We had new affidavits that needed to be written up, signed and notarized, that will go from the Alabama lawyer (who knew we would need an Alabama lawyer????) and be in ICPC  possession tomorrow morning! 

With the ways things have gone there are any number of things that could happen.  There was even one mention of a family that had to take the baby back to the state of the birth mother before they could clear that state.  OH GOODNESS, Please pray she is gracious, (that she won't make us do that and) that she will find all the paperwork needed right in front of her, and that she will pass us through that state asap.  

Then we need to clear Arizona... We are HOPING  by Friday... 

Then we need to clear Illinois...  God willing that happens by next Wednesday... This is all BEST case scenario... :)

As always we know that it could happen that we are cleared mid next week... 

AND then again, it very well might not happen...

 Please continue to pray that God moves any mountains in the way... Pray for safety and protection of Greg and the kids back home and then for us here...  And pray for patience that we all can just take it all in stride...

WE KNOW THAT NONE OF THIS TAKES  THE LORD BY SURPRISE... He knows the exact time that we will get clearance.   It will all be in HIS perfect timing:) 

Fall fest...

We are so blessed to live right on campus where the church is at...

Never thought I would really like living right where Greg works or so close to where all the action happens...

But we love it!  We have a country like setting for the back yard, but yet are 5 minutes from pretty much anything we could need... that is a gift and something I don't take for granted... 

One of the HUGE blessings for us has been for our kids to be involved at the church school.  Hope attends first grade full time...

But Jojo and Anna can just pop over for a class here and there...

They are both doing PE this year and Anna is doing art... They also get to participate in extracurricular activities, like choir or cross country:) It is such a HUGE blessing!

This past week was our annual Fall Fest... 

It was a really fun day... We had lots of mom help in preschool and the older kids loved it too:)  

Jojo with his hot chocolate!

With my 2 favorite tigers!  

This llama was hilarious... And Isaiah was TOTALLY enamored with it!

They had pumpkin decorating, a bouncy house, hay ride, relay races, bowling with pumpkins, a petting zoo, and more...

 It was so much fun!  It was a beautiful day! 

God has given us such an incredible fall... It has been super warm... like beyond nice... 

As much as I love winter and the snow... This gorgeous weather has got me wondering if we are going to get hammered by the cold and snow this year... We will see:)

We are taking one day at a time and cherishing all the blessings God has for us each day!

They melt me...

While Greg was gone a couple of weeks ago... One of these lil' punkins joined me for the nights...  It didn't talk long till the other munchkin joined Levi and me:):)  

Can you stand the love?

They are the best little buddies and I am so blessed by them... 

How did we get the priveledge of being their parents:)??  So thankful!

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:)

This is what is keeping us busy...

The weather has been perfect this week for some great pool time... We have been so blessed to be able to purchase a family pool pass for the last few summers... I think if we go three times we have it paid for... We have already been twice this week... 

And seriously, the place is great for kids of all ages... splash pad and kiddie pool for the littles, a pool,  and a couple of slides for the bigs:)  Grateful mama here:)

Anna finishes off the soccer season with a tournament this weekend... I think she has found her niche... She is leading the team in scoring:)  She is fast and furious... but slightly out of control... Totally just like I was when I played soccer... 

 These two are pretty much in separable... Church buddies, soccer buddies and pretty much down right silly buddies:)

And this little character is pretty much hands down the reason I struggle to get anything accomplished during the day... 

He thought it was a great idea to mix the already cooked pancakes with a drumstick... 

BUSY, CURIOUS... NON STOP is this little guy!  But I wouldn't trade it for the world... 

So while the big guys are away in Haiti, our days have pretty much been filled with...

Pool time... Cleaning up after the littles... some house organizing... soccer... More cleaning up after the littles... ordering school books for fall... late night movies with Anna and Jo...  A few moments of me time when I get out for a run... Some more cleaning up after the littles...

But like I said, I wouldn't trade it for the world... 

These kids are my greatest joy!

Mother's Day 2015

This year my heart was torn in two on mothers Day...

I have girls from my MEND group that were experiencing their very first Mother's Day without their baby here with them... Oh the hurt and sorrow...

I watched kids at church whose mother passed away years ago...

I looked into the eyes of my adopted kids and couldn't help but think of their very first mommies that gave them life... And then made probably the hardest decision of their lives to hand those precious babies over to someone else to raise...

There are moms who are close to their children and moms who are estranged from their kids...

I remembered the mothers days I really wanted so desperately to be a mom, but wasn't sure if it would ever come to be... Oh the longing and hurt of women struggling with infertility...

There are so many who hurt on Mother's Day, yet so many reasons to rejoice... 

I would not trade my job as a mom for anything in the world... NOTHING!  It is my greatest JOY in life!!!

I awoke to the kids bringing me breakfast In bed... It was Super yummy and super sweet of them...

Oh the sacrifice our sweet birth moms and donor mom (for Levi), made to bless us with the amazing priviledge of raising their sweet amazing babies... 

I am overcome with gratefulness!!!

My heart bursts with love for these seven amazing gifts from God...

And my heart rejoices that one day when ALL THINGS ARE MADE RIGHT... I will have eternity with all of my kids...

God was so good to make my dream of being a mommy a reality... My heart OVERFLOWS!!

That's my zay!!!

The house has been full...

overflowing with extra teenagers all of this past week... The big boys Arizona friends are in town as well as two of my nieces... and other friends... you know they all had to meet the Arizona friends!  

And tonight we traded one teenage niece for the tween niece:)

And all amidst the added noise and fun this little man is learning how to continue to navigate the terrible twos...

Although I have NEVER called it the terrible twos...I actually LOVE this age and stage...

He is curious, funny as all get out, so affectionate, full of the hootspa, quite the bull dozer, learning to talk so well, so kind to Levi,  full of the best deep belly laughs, and a real JOY giver!!! 

All of this while learning...

You can't just whine for Anna because she is your favorite...

You can't climb into the cabinets and sneak candy...

You can't cry on and on and on and on... (you get the picture)

You can't throw tantrums...

You can't eat ALL day long...

You can't throw toys EVERYWHERE...

You can't just eat the frosting off a dunkin donut...

You can't stall bedtime by getting out of bed, time and time again...

Being two is hard work for both this little guy and his parents...  But so worth it!  :)

Everyday as I put Isaiah down for bed or nap I pray over him from head to toe....

I consider it a total joy and priviledge to be his mom... 

What a precious gift his birth mama gave us in choosing us to raise, love and get to experience life every day with him... I am forever grateful!

This is what happens when you are a 7th kid and your girl cousins get a hold of you and a flat iron:):)  He didn't seem to mind one bit:)

Best buddies...built in buddies

With these two little buddies in the house... there is ALWAYS lots of laughter...

Lots of hugs and smiles...

Lots of pillow fights, chasing, wrestling, and rowdy times...

And eventually lots of times to chill out, read books, and become each others best little buddy...

Seriously, they love each other so much and it warms my heart... 

What a gift and blessing these two are to the family and what a blessing they are to each other... 

Let the snow play begin....

We have been waiting for a dumping of snow like this all winter... The  Chicago Super Bowl blizzard delivered it BIG Time!!!

We bundled up and explored the church property... Who knew playgrounds in the deep snow is so much fun???

Being launched off the slide into the powder was so great!

Caleb finally had a break to play in it versus just shovel it... Over 18 inches of snow fell from Saturday evening to Monday morning...

He and louis are so blessed to work on campus... But when the snow falls... Especially for 30+hours that means you are blessed with an able body to shovel it and get it cleared:)

And when it keeps falling and falling and falling some more and the church has 3 services plus other groups that use the campus... 

You keep shoveling... Go back out a few hours later and keep shoveling again...

It was like a winter wonderland on campus with tons of great hills for playing king of the mountain.
There was also loads of snow ice cream to be eaten by all:)

I am so very thankful for the gentle reminder that just like this lily white snowfall blankets the park earth...  Jesus' grace and forgiveness covers all of our sin... making us freely forgiven,.. again and again