Land of Lohrer

Broken Cookies...

2009-04-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Tarrah laughs at me because I tell her to frequently ask me; "Are you following the broken cookie principle?" This principle has become my new standard of operating.
My top gifts that God has given me are giving and serving. And I feel filled up and joyFULL when I use my gifts. However, awhile back I had a shocking realization - which led to the "broken cookie principle."
I had finished baking cookies and Phil came in the kitchen. He started looking around on the counters and finally after a few minutes, asked:

"Where are the broken cookies?"
"There aren't any this time...I actually made a perfect batch!"
"Oh...that's too bad"
"You can have one from the cooling rack"
"Really?"

Now that may seem like an innocent conversation, however, it hit me soooo hard and made my heart HURT! I realized that I was giving my family the leftovers. In all my baking, cooking, serving OTHERS, I had made my family feel second best, second place. AND sure enough, Lukas came into the kitchen a few minutes later and we had the SAME conversation. "OKAY GOD....I GET IT!" Then Evalin, in her sweet voice "I get a BEAUTIFUL one today!" OH MY HEART! (Kathryn and Isaac haven't observed the pattern so they were as equally happy to get a perfect one as a broken one because....SUGAR!!!!!!!!! HA!)
Needless to say, lesson learned! This is also why my blogging has hugely tapered off....I can't sit and blog all while saying: "No, honey, I can't read you a story, because I am writing our family's story for the world!" I exaggerate, but truly, they can't have my leftovers...including time. So when I have extra time (LOL) then I will blog:)
So if you see me walking around.... you have my permission to ask...."Have you served any broken cookies lately, Amanda?"

Back on the air again...

2009-03-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

So I did temporarily have this blog go private because I freaked out about privacy issues. However, I have heard from soooooo many people that they so enjoy our blog and stories that I decided to go "public" again.
My freak out started with a Starbucks barista who I didn't know (and who is probably reading this right now...nothing personal, okay?) saying "Oh I recognize you and your kids from your blog" which made me think..."How many people notice us and know us from our blog?" So I am still deciding what to do and have not decided yet. I am not finding a lot of time to blog anyway, so in the meantime, enjoy the blog....

End of the Year ponderings

2008-12-31T07:38:00.000-08:00

Okay so today is the last day of 2008 and so of course I am reflecting on all that has happened to us and all that I have learned, so you lucky readers get blesssed (aka: stuck) reading my reflections and ponderings.
2008 was the HARDEST year I have lived. There were days that I strongly disliked my life and there were days when I questioned everything that I originally believed in (mainly the wisdom of international adoption). However, 2008 is the year I grew the most in my faith...isn't that loving of our Father? Through our hardest most painful experiences, MUCH good comes of it, usually more good than our easy times.
Anyway, one thing that I have learned this year,(which is VERY helpful in this economy that we are stuck in) is to look for blessings in other ways than money. I have often equated blessings with money, but this year expanded my thinking. We make half (yikes) of what we made 2 years ago, but we are MORE blessed than before.
First of all, I have four HEALTHY kids (and a healthy husband) and as I observe friends in our lives who are sick with cancer, chronic pain, and HURT, I realize that God has given us an enormous blessing in the way of giving good health to us. I think if you were to ask ANY parent of a child who has cancer or a spouse of someone with a life-threatening disease, they would without a moment of hesitation, give all the money they had and more to see their child or spouse healed. Sometimes money doesn't matter that much and money isn't always the best blessing we have.
And secondly, we have salvation. I know it sounds cliche, but truly, who cares if we have NO money at all! This life is sooooo short and eternity is soooooooo long (in fact I heard it is FOREVER!;-) so truly, who cares if we live a few short years without some things. We still have more than 80% of the world!!! We have been saved from hell. Ponder that for a moment...our pastor said "Imagine if your child was about to be hit by a semi-truck and someone raced out and snatched them from death, is there ANYTHING that you would not give them, your house, your car, ANYTHING?" God rescued us from eternal death! I need to ponder that more, because when I do, I realize how MUCH I have been given.
Thirdly, my eyes were opened this year to the world around me. There is real, visible, touchable suffering that is happening in my lifetime. I do not have real, visible, touchable suffering, but others do. Because God has lavished blessings on me and taken care of me, I believe He expects me to do something with those blessings. If I have been given much (and I have) in ways that I have mentioned: health, salvation, happiness, etc. and then I hoard what I have been given, why would God want to give me anymore. I do live better than 80% of the world. I do have health and energy. I do have restoration and a relationship with GOD! so I better get moving and share what I have been given.
In conclusions to my ramblings, learnings, and ponderings (if you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there):
In 2009, if you see a blur, followed by 5 little blurs (LOL!) don't be alarmed...it is just me, rapidly doing my Dad's work!
The time IS short. My days are FEW. My blessings are MANY!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

This last week has been fun, fun, fun! For the first time since I can remember, we had a WHITE Christmas! Kathryn and Isaac both kept telling me that it would snow then we would have Christmas; and seeing that we usually get snow in January, I told them it probably wouldn't snow before Christmas. But they kept saying "Mom, it will snow THEN Christmas" So of course as soon as it started snowing (December 17th) they said, "See, Mom, NOW we can have Christmas" (Reminds me of a conversation I had with Kathryn last April where she kept praying for snow and I told her we didn't get snow in April...)
Anyway, here are some pictures from our fantastic Christmas!

View from our back porch
Over the river and through the woods...

Delivering presents.

My snow baby (ONLY snow baby)

Phil + Snow = TROUBLE

New Pajamas!

"Just what I wanted!"

Wow! Socks!

New Barbie Scooter

Oh no! another Darin (saving the paper!!!)

We need another word...

2008-12-11T14:23:00.001-08:00

Sometimes "thank you" isn't a big enough word.

Our friends just gave us $500 (yes, you read that right: FIVE hundred dollars!!!) to help us with our adoption of baby Gwendolyn. And last week, someone (anonymously) paid for our car bill which was $533 (yes, again, you read that right: Five hundred, thirty, three dollars!!!) and another dear friend gave us $300 dollars for our adoption. These are all people who have so touched us with their sacrificial giving. And we have many more people who have given us their HARD earned money to help bring baby Gwendolyn home. To all of you, THANK YOU! It seems like thank you is not a big enough word to express our gratitude. We know that adopting 3 kids in one year is CRAZY and doesn't make sense and we honestly didn't know how we would pay for this 3rd adoption, but the people of God chose to let God work through them and give to us...it truly is a BEAUTIFUL picture of the body of Christ at work. Phil and I don't feel like we "deserve" to have people give sacrificially to us, in fact, we feel very undeserving because there are sooooo many who have less than we do. Our first adoption we learned so much about ourselves and God; and so far, this adoption process has been no different. This time we are learning and trying, very hard, to be humble and let the people of God help us. This is a lesson that is actually harder than some of the other lessons we have been taught. So it is with DEEPEST gratitude that we say "THANK YOU" to all of you! (you know who you are;)
(And please don't critique my writing ability based on this post, because I just proof-read it and realized that I jumped all over the place and didn't tie my thoughts together very well. The message is still from my heart though;)

Lohrer Update

2008-12-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

WOW! It has been awhile since I updated our blog! We have been VERY busy. I officially started working at our church in the children's ministry department and I must say that it took me a full 2 weeks to figure out the whole working mom bit (even though I am just part time). So here are the updates:

I (amanda) started working
Lukas ran his marathon
Lukas lost his first tooth (thank you Lord!!!)
Phil came back from Ghana (again, thank you Lord!)
Kathryn and Isaac celebrated their VERY first thanksgiving!
Evalin asked Jesus to be her Savior!

So as you can read, we are busy, but soooooo happy and BLESSED! God continues to SHOWER us with undeserved blessings....We are truly thankful!

Me and my super hot date!

Silly girls drinking hot chocolate outside in the freezing cold!

Gingerbread artists!

How that roof stays on, I will never know! (it must weigh about 3 lbs!)

My marathon runner!

First missing tooth

(I only have to pull 99 more teeth over the next few years!)

This is why boys NEED a father's influence

(this picture taken while Phil was in Ghana:)

Just Say "NO"

2008-11-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

Lukas was brushing his teeth last night and from the bathroom I heard a "Oh NO!" Then he came out to me and said,
"Mom, you said never to try drugs, right?"
"That's right Lukas, they are soooo bad for you"
"MOM, THERE ARE DRUGS IN MY TOOTHPASTE!!!"
"No Lukas, there aren't drugs in your toothpaste"
"YES MOM...LOOK!" and turning the toothpaste bottle over and shoving it toward me, he said,
"see...DRUG FACTS"
After, I finished laughing hysterically, I hugged him and reassured him that they were not "bad" drugs, but that medicine is sometimes referred to as "drugs"
I am so glad my "just say no" message has been so effective!

My deep thinker...pondering life

Phil is WHERE?

2008-11-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

It was completely unlike Phil. If I hadn't been standing in right in front of him, looking into his face, convinced that the Twilight Zone doesn't exist, except for on TV, then I would not have believed you if you said that this was Phil's idea.

"I think I should go to Ghana"

"Okaaaaay, why?"

That was how our conversation started out and after I recovered from my disbelief, we had a long conversation about his recent loss of sanity.

So yes, Phil is in Ghana and he went to help Romana (the saint who rescues children and gives them LIFE!) and to see if we could possibly get some things done to bring our baby home sooner. (Is sooner a word? I mean if you are not from Oklahoma, Dana!) So sure enough, Phil has done both! I believe God has a GREAT sense of humor because even though Phil loves his own babies, babies in general are not so much his "thing" But since arriving, he has held MANY, MANY babies. (I plan on calling him "the baby whisperer" from now on:)

Phil's YUMMY dinner:)

All joking aside, Phil is doing what God told all of us to do: "Care for orphans in their distress..." That is PURE religion. He took a huge leap of faith on November 10th, doing something waaaaaay out of his comfort zone (more like the Twilight Zone...OH, I said all joking aside!) and he INSPIRES me. If you had told me 2 years ago that Phil would be in Africa for the second time in 1 year, adopting a 3rd child, and eating unknown foods, I probably would have laughed, seriously, I would have, but that was before God became more than just an idea and Christianity became more than just going to church...hold on...who knows what we'll be saying in two more years!

Superheroes spotted in Lynden

2008-11-03T21:29:00.001-08:00

Our Halloween was VERY fun! We went trick or treating in our old neighborhood, down our favorite candy-loaded street in Lynden, and at church. We came home with over 25 pounds of candy (so gross!!!) We ended up donating MUCH of it to our church kid's program (they can use it as prizes all year long...there is that much candy). Kathryn loved trick or treating and almost gave the home owners massive heart attacks by SCREAMING "Trick or Treat" at the top of her lungs each time someone answered the door. She had practiced all week, but I forgot to remind her not to scream. So we had to have a family info meeting mid trick or treating to inform everybody (Kathryn) that we can't yell or we will scare the person answering the door. FUN, FUN, FUN.

Look at ALL that candy!!!
Superheroes...Mr. Incredible, WonderWoman, Batgirl, Spiderman, and the Incredible Hulk

There's Mr. Incredible!

Family of Superheroes.

ALRIGHT, ALREADY!

2008-10-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

I am back to blogging after our having MANY people complain about my lack of recent posts. One word for all "you people"...MOVING!!!
So in case you were wondering, we have moved into our new house! Phil totally outdid himself on this awesome, energy and space efficient, cost effective, beautiful house. I will post pictures soon. We are so happy to have a little more space than we did in our rental, and equally happy to have LESS space than we did in our previous house. Phil and his dad worked sooooo hard the last month, so that we could get in faster...WOW what a team. And Phil's mom came and helped every Saturday doing the jobs that no one else wanted to do (servant's heart) and my mom came and measured and drilled every single one of my cabinet doors so that I could put my cabinet handles in precisely the correct spot (as most who know me, that is impossible for me to accomplish:) So that is the moving update.
Here are some totally unrelated pictures, but so sweet from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend (yes, we actually can do something on the weekends now besides work on the house and go to Lowes!)

The kids saying "pumpkin patch" Evalin obviously is still stuck on "paaaaatch"

Sigh, my heart...

Is is just me or is he about the cutest thing ever?

Almost as heavy as her own body!!! HA!

Say "cheesy"
Am I really that white or do I just appear so compared to my daughter?
My very cool 1st grader (notice his hands...HA!)

Five More Days

2008-09-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

(Due to the overwhelming response I received from my last post, I will no longer be posting political views...HA! FYI: If I don't know you, I won't post your comments; nothing personal, just my policy.)

Because my husband is so incredibly AWESOME (not to mention my father-in-law, who has made the completion of our house his full time job!) we will be moving this weekend! HOORAY!!! I am sooooo happy to be moving into our house. Not that this rental hasn't been great because it has, but I can say with certainty that everyone is ready for more SPACE. Especially Lukas who has shared a room with the three little kids and has just about had a nervous breakdown over it! (Poor little stressed out kid:)
I am taking pictures today of our house and will post them for all of you who live far, far away and can't come visit us:-(

I have had ENOUGH!!!

2008-09-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

I have NEVER posted a political blog in my life, but this made me FURIOUS!

After years of listening to our media tell us that the Democrats were on the side of the downtrodden and poor and the Republicans were greedy and selfish Americans...I have had enough.

In 2007, Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $319,853 in adjusted gross income. How much of that did they give to charity? LESS than 1% of their income. Over the past decade they reported giving an average of $369 a year to charity!
Obama and his wife made $1.2 million dollars between 2000 - 2004. There "generous" gifts to charity...less than 1%

In 2006 AND 2007 John McCain gave more than $202,000...26% of his income.
Of George W. Bush's taxable income, he gave 11.5% in 2004 12.2% in 2005 and 12.1% in 2006

Need I say more?

First Day of School

2008-08-27T14:20:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures of Lukas on his first day of first grade. (no further comment from his mom at this time)

Day of Dread

2008-08-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

The day that I have dreaded for six and a half years is only 4 days away...the first day of school. It hasn't snuck up on me because I have known it was coming; and I haven't just known it was coming, I've dreaded it's coming. I am not shocked that it is here, but I wish it was still six and half years away. Now when I ask "Where did that little, bow-legged chubby faced baby go?" I can answer, "He grew up and went to school" Oh my heart...

More Summer Fun!

2008-08-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of what we have been up to this Summer (busy, but FUN!) Lukas and Kathryn took swimming lessons (according to Lukas, he is going to the Olympics in 2020 so we will be spending even more time at the pool! ;)

Spiderman Sighted in Lynden!

2008-08-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

And I thought Spiderman was just pretend...

Summer Fun

2008-08-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

I realize that it has been awhile since I last updated our blog. We have been busy having an AWESOME summer. After believing that summer would NEVER come (still 45 degrees in June!!!) we have had awesome weather and LOTS of fun. This has been one of the best summers we have had as a family - even with Phil working soooo hard on the house in addition to his regular job (what a man!). Anyway, I love summer, so we usually have lots of fun, but with 4 kids, I get to enjoy summer through their eyes...yet one more reason I love being a mom! Here are some pictures of what we have been up to:

Happy Birthday Kathryn!

2008-07-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we celebrated Kathryn's 5th birthday with a Princess Party. All of our friends were soooooo supportive and dressed up like royalty to make her day extra special. We had such a FUN time and Kathryn was so gracious and royal! We are so incredibly blessed to be parents to this beautiful Ghanaian Princess!

Marching to the Beat of Their Own Drum!

2008-07-18T19:50:00.001-07:00

Tonight as I was baking Kathryn's birthday cakes (all we have heard about for over a week!!!) I glanced up and looked out the window. Here is what I saw parading around in my backyard, marching (literally) to the beat of their own drum:

I am soooo glad I had my camera nearby because it is not everyday that you get to see Minnie Mouse, Snow White and a Tutu-Wearin', Pink Hatted, Sword-Wielding Cowboy!

Camping on Wednesday?

2008-07-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

We went camping this week on Wednesday. Some of you might think that Wednesday is a strange day to go, but I think it is the perfect day to go. I like to go camping on Wednesday for a few reasons:

We can actually get a good campsite
We only go for 1 night which makes packing and unpacking waaaay easier
The week goes quick because we have sooo much fun right in the middle of the work week
Phil only has two days left to work when he gets back from camping
We stay close to home and save money on gasoline

I took 72 pictures in just 16 hours, so I am picking the best ones to share:

Picture Update

2008-07-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the 4th of July. This year we went to the Bellingham Firework Show. The kids were in their pajamas so that when we got home, they could be put right to bed (they all fell asleep in the car on the way home, so it was a good thing they were already jammied up) The Lohrer kids were definitely the pre-show entertainment for all the people around us! They found a patch of grass that looked like a giant nest so they decided to pretend that they were chickens and roosters...very entertaining!

WONDER WOMAN

2008-06-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

All of us have heros; Batman, Superman, Spiderman (Isaac's favorite), Batgirl, Wonder Woman, etc. Well, mine is Wonder Woman and believe it or not, I have met her. Not only have I met her, but I KNOW her. Not only do I know her, I lived with her! And not only did I live with her, but she raised me. I know, I know, it is amazing that I was raised by Wonder Woman! Now during my growing up years, I did not appreciate the fact that Wonder Woman was my mom, nor did I recognize her to be Wonder Woman ( Part of it was because she didn't wear the outfit while at home). But now looking back, I am amazed that her true identity slipped by unnoticed and unappreciated for so long. Here are just a FEW of her amazing feats:

she had six! children (all without epiderals or pain medication...CRAZY!)
she homeschooled all six children
she grew organic vegetables for us in our 5 acre garden (well, she says it was much smaller, but I had to weed that sucker and believe me it was at least 5 acres)
she made and baked our bread almost everyday
she was a single mom to 6 kids, 2 dogs and 2 cats for 3-6 months out of the year (my dad traveled to work)
she was (and is) constantly striving to be better
despite all of her frustrations, stresses, and disappointments, she loved God and remained faithful to Him
she loved (and still loves) my dad through thick & thin and didn't take the easy way out, but kept her vows, ensuring that her kids would grow up with a mom AND a dad
she didn't let me settle for being less than who I was created to be
she loved (and still loves) my husband as her own son (sometimes I think she even likes him better than me)

Believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg! I could write and write about all that she has done, said and taught me. She is indeed Wonder Woman.

I recently got a glimpse of her cape...she took Lukas and Isaac to her house for an overnight visit on Tuesday, Kathryn and Evalin went on Wednesday night AND then on Thursday night, she took ALL FOUR of them for an overnight trip! (this is no easy task...believe me!) I had time with just the girls, just the boys and then just my husband! WOW!

Mom, if you are reading this, THANK YOU! Thank you doesn't seem like a big enough word, but it is the only word I have, so...Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I love you and am glad that out of ALL the moms in the world, I got Wonder Woman!

A Good Man is Hard to Find

2008-06-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Every parent thinks that their child is wonderful, hilarious, genius, etc. and so they tell you everything that their chid does, while you smile and nod politely. I am the chief offender of this...I think my kids are soooo funny that I often drive people away with my numerous "funny" stories. However, this story has to be told:

Evalin talks incessantly about when she gets big and has her two babies "Spooney" and "Abbie" And she is always planning their lives and what I (the grandma) will do with Spooney and Abbie. The other day we had an interesting conversation that went something like this:

Evalin: "Mom, I don't think I am going to have any babies"
Mom: "Why do you think that, Evalin?"
Evalin: "Because I am sooo little"
Mom: "Well, Evalin, you have to grow up and get big (not literally big, but big=older in our house) and then find a nice, kind man and get married, THEN you can have a baby."
Evalin: "No, TWO babies, Mom, Spooney AND Abbie"
Mom: "Okay, TWO babies"

Just then, Phil comes home and walks through the door and Evalin says "Dad, where can I find a man?" Phil laughed and said "I don't know" to which Evalin hung her head in despair and said "I don't know where ANY mans are!"

Even at age three, Evalin is one of the funniest people I know. She is so dramatic, that simple things, ( like finding a man!), become a huge drama. She is so awesome! What a gift she has been to us...children truly are a gift from God!

What Is The Next Step?

2008-06-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

So God is always working on us and though things are just settling in around here... we still feel like we haven't done enough. While we don't know specifically what that means we do know that more adoption(s) may be in our future as well as missions work. Please pray for us. Take a look at these videos that were shared with us by some of our close friends. I am challenged by this kind of testimony and am beginning to feel that the only faith that is acceptable is "reckless faith".

Little Chefs

2008-06-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I LOVE to cook. So it was only natural for my children to also inherit the love of the culinary arts! We have many budding chefs in our house (Phil's new question before he eats anything is, "Is it tainted?" which is code for "Did the kids make it?"). We have so much fun cooking and I am always entertained by the numerous "taste tests" that occur. Lukas' famous line is "I didn't quite taste it enough, Mom" which then results in yet another taste test (usually with the same dipping finger used the first time...now you know why Phil asks his question). So here are some pictures of our cooking adventures...

Posts and Pictures

2008-05-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

So I hope everyone likes our new background and pictures. Phil says it looks "girly" and I say "mission accomplished!" Here are some pictures of our trip to the beach a few weeks ago. Kathryn was overjoyed to go to the beach and even though she didn't get to swim (a major disappointment) she had FUN! Evalin had the time of her life looking and searching for Baby Crabs. She loves them! Isaac and Lukas were crazy climbing boys and ended up at the top of the rocks. Phil took some time to show Lukas how to skip rocks and he ended up being awesome at it (more than we can say for his mom!). Enjoy the pictures...they are so awesome that I am expecting an award from the Blog website managers. Enjoy!

Picture of Dad and Mom (courtesy of Lukas)

Happy Mother's Day to me!

2008-05-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

So I celebrated Mother's Day as a mom of four children! All four did a great job of celebrating me, each in their own way.: Lukas went shopping with Nana and bought a bath gel and lotion set for me. He also made me a card that read, "Hapee Mathers Day" and took time to color a picture of a hippo on the front of the card (not sure that is what I want as a representation of me, but moving on...). He is very much into celebrations...likes to celebrate any occasion (I wonder where he gets that from?!) He is so thoughtful...WOW! Kathryn said "Happy Mother's Day" and then we had a 15 minute discussion about her mom in Africa vs. me. That was unexpected, but GREAT! I think that we made progress in allowing her to feel safe talking about her African mom and also that I was okay with it. She seemed relieved that she could talk about her. Hooray for progress! Evalin bought flowers for me, surprisingly NOT pink! But she was very excited to give them to me. And Isaac (LOL) said "Mom you so beautiful" about 15 times along with "You a good cooker." I got breakfast in bed, complete with a Starbucks Latte! And Phil outdid himself (again) by making fish tacos for lunch (not a hit with the kids, but HUGE bonus points made in my opinion!)
As the day ended, I thought about having four children and how crazy it is that being a mom of four kids is now my life. But even though it has been a difficult adjustment (oh so difficult at times!!!) I am so thankful that God chose to use me. He could have picked any other woman on the planet to have these four children, but He allowed me to be their mom...WOW! I also realized that for every moment that I decide to have a"pity party" for how hard my life is having four little children, there is a woman somewhere spending that same moment crying tears of unimaginable grief because she has lost a child. And in that same moment, there is a woman weeping tears of bitter disappointment because she has been told she cannot have children and for her a lifelong dream has died. In that same moment, there is a mother sitting in a Children's Hospital watching her child suffer and praying fervently that God would spare her child's life. And I could go on and on... the mother of a soldier, who doesn't want the doorbell to ring, and the mother who wants the doorbell to ring, because she is frantically waiting for ANY word that her missing child has been found, the mother who spends all day looking for food, so that her children might live just one more day...
As I reflected on my Mother's Day, my children, my life, I prayed that my moments would be spent more grateful, more thankful and more wisely.
Happy Mother's Day to me...because I am a MOM of FOUR children...WooHoo!

Bun Busting Workouts and a Birthday

2008-04-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

So here are a couple of video clips I took this week including the "Green Machine" that we got Lukas for his birthday. For those who are wondering I am no longer able to ride these things. This was a very difficult thing for me to realize today as I was very excited to relive one of my favorite childhood memories. At least I can still ride my Mark Gonzales Pro Model skateboard when I am down and feeling sad. Sorry about the lack of posts the last few weeks. We have been enjoying yet another Lohrer family move and have been quite busy in addition to being left without our Internet connection for a number of days. Enjoy the clips and we will get some pictures soon as well.

The Sweetest Sound

2008-02-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

For those of you who do not believe that there is a God, here is proof...He takes a little boy and a little girl who have no one to call their own. He (God) finds them a mom and a dad (and another brother and sister) on the other side of the world. He orchestrates people, time, places, and finances and brings them together and a new family is born. But wait, it doesn't stop there. The real proof is still to come...God takes two broken, hurt children and unites them with two parents, prone to sin and selfishness; how can that possibly work? This is where I know there is a God and He does exist...He gives so much grace to this family that it literally takes one's breath away. He forgives the mistakes, heals the hurts and grows LOVE.
Three weeks ago, I had my "meltdown." I started to think we had made a mistake. The kids were NOT getting along, I didn't feel love towards everyone in my family, Phil and I were tired, Kathryn and Isaac were naughty. I wanted to turn back the hands of time and make a different decision. I was sad, felt like a failure, was guilt-ridden, and truthfully, was not very nice to live with.
And then, God.
He heard my cries, my hurt, and my despair. He looked down with love, not condemnation for the mess I had made and He forgave me and began a work that can ONLY be accredited to Him. As I look back on the last two weeks, I stand in utter amazement. God worked a real-life miracle...and I not only got to see it, I got to live it! Kathryn and Evalin are learning to love each other. They play together, they giggle like sisters do, and they hug and kiss each other because, in their words "they are best sisters." Lukas has relaxed and can deal with the chaos and change in his house. He told Kathryn she was "beautiful" the other day because she was feeling sad about her short hair. Isaac is, well... still Isaac (Ha). And what God has done in my heart is the real miracle. I love ALL my children. I can give hugs and kisses, not out of obligation, but because I WANT to give them. Two days ago, as I was leaving the house, Kathryn yelled "Goodbye mom...I love you" That was the FIRST time I had heard those words from her. After a moment the thought occured to me, "that may be the first time she has ever said those words to anyone" ...and I, because God exists, got to hear it.

Get ready...Jesus is coming!

2008-02-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Evalin and I were painting our nails together and discussing heaven. We talked about the sparkly city, the shiny streets, the big pearl gate, the mansions Jesus was building, the delicious fruit on the trees, the nice lions that won't bite, the yummy dinner that Jesus is making for us, etc. We talked how Evalin would hug Jesus when she saw him and maybe even kiss him (and I could hug him too if I wanted too.) So we were talking and talking and talking! Then all of the sudden, Evalin jumped up and ran out of the room. I thought this was very strange (especially seeing that our nail polish wasn't even dry yet!) She came back to the living room with her pink, sparkly cowboy boots and socks in her hand, and set them by the front door. Then she came and sat down as if nothing unusual had happened! So I asked her why she got her boots and socks and put them by the door. She replied, very matter of factly, "Oh, I just want to be ready to go when Jesus comes to get me."
THIS is why Jesus said to have childlike faith and why He loves little children!

You People

2008-02-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Wow...it has been a while since I updated this blog! So much has happened in the time since I last wrote. Kathryn has been opening up and talking about her past and her feelings, which is tremendous progress. I have realized that she needed to be taught how to properly express herself and feelings so I have been helping her identify her feelings. Her new favorite phrase is now "I am so very sad because..." It is usually something like, "Mom, I am so very sad because I don't have pink crocs like Evalin." (I would be so very sad too, because pink crocs are cute!) or "Mom, I am so very sad because Lukas won't let me watch Cinderella (again for the 100th time) and says we have to watch 'Cars' " You know, heartbreaking stuff like that! Her other new phrase is "You people" For example: "I want to go to church with you people" or "I am going to have dinner with you people." I truly can't imagine a worse pharse to describe us, but have tried to let it run it's course UNTIL the day we were in Target last week. Phil and I took the girls to Target (to help them bond without the boys around) and we shopped together. As we were finishing, Evalin hurt herself on the cart and so Phil picked her up and snuggled her. Kathryn INSISTED on carrying all the bags (5 of them) and so that left me with nothing to carry. So picture this in your mind: white dad carrying/snuggling his white daughter, white mom carrying absolutely nothing and black daughter dragging 5 bags out the door. We are almost to the door when she says at the top of her lungs "WHY MUST I CARRY ALL THESE HEAVY BAGS FOR YOU PEOPLE?!" I wanted to shrink, disappear, vanish, you name it...I was so embarrassed. Needless to say, we are working on a different phrase, such as "My wonderful family" or "My loving parents" Any of those will work!
Isaac . There is so much to say that I have a hard time narrowing it down to just one update. He loves light switches and is now banned from turning them off and on, off and on, off and on. He also copies absolutely EVERYTHING that any one of the kids says. It is driving everyone in the house crazy. I am letting him just punish himself on that issue, which he does regularly. For example; Lukas was not feeling well and said he didn't want ice cream and wanted to go to bed (7:00 pm) and guess what Isaac said without thinking?! And another time, Evalin said she wanted some celery for a snack and guess what Isaac said, again without thinking?! So he punishes himself and makes my life easy in that area! It is really ridiculous though at times because he has no clue! If anyone in the house has to use the bathroom, so does Isaac, at that EXACT moment! (Yes, he goes a lot because with 6 people in the house, that is a LOT of trips to the bathroom!)
Evalin and Lukas are doing better. The adjustment for them has been harder than I thought it would be, but we have changed a lot of rules, parenting styles, etc. And they have been given some extra privileges to help ease the transition.
Lukas learned about presidents in school and was a bit confused by the end of the day. I know this because I asked him what he learned about (knowing that he learned about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and George W. Bush) So he told me, " I learned about George Lincoln who lived in Texas and raised Longhorn cattle" Oh Boy! Other than that, Lukas is doing so awesome in school. he finished all his reading curriculum already and so I am trying to keep him busy with other books and materials. He writes me messages all day long which has taught me to read using lots of clues. For example, "Mom, win is dinr going to be reedi?" So my thinking skills are being sharpened as I read mysterious notes all day long! He wrote a book for me too, called. "Isaac's Happe Day" it is wonderful. He not only wrote it, but illustrated it as well.
And Evalin. She is just Evalin. Loves her horses and chocolate. Of course there is so much more to her than that, but I don't want to share on this blog because Evalin needs to be protected (as do all my kids, but more so for her). So that is all you get!
Hopefully I will be more faithful about blogging so that it isn't soooo long next time.

Daily Life...HOORAY!

2008-02-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

Horse racing at the Lohrers!

New Snow Gear...Bring On the Snow!

Lots of snow !

So nothing too interesting has happened in Lohrer family in the last week, which is GOOD. We are content to just have "normal" daily life without the sickness, drama and controversies that have accompanied us since returning from Ghana. We have had LOTS of snow days. It snowed almost everyday for a week, which was super fun for the kids. Thank you to our friend at LLL who gave us a bag of snow clothes. Would you believe that Isaac was the only one who had snow pants, out of our whole family?! Not anymore. Everyone now has snow pants and boots...thank you friend (you know who you are:) One thing that has amazed me in the last 2 1/2 months is the amazing way that the body of Christ has responded to us. We have received emails of encouragement from people we have never met (and probably never will)from all over the world, bags of clothes from people at church who barely know us, dinners -the first week we were back, candy and brownies from our neighbors, the list goes on and on. We have seen the body of Christ operate as I am sure Christ envisioned...it is a beautiful thing when we truly love one another. People WILL know we are Christians by our love.

Do Moms Get A Sick Day?

2008-01-25T19:39:00.000-08:00

NEW HAIR STYLE
NEW HAIR STYLE
STORYTIME
ICE CREAM BEFORE BED

So this week has been a not so good week for Amanda, Lukas and Evalin as we have all had the flu. So far, Phil, Kathryn and Isaac have escaped. I was going to go into detail as to ALL the things that Phil had to do on Wednesday, while I was completely bed-ridden, but so many of the things are gross and not topics you want to read about, so we will just leave it at: Phil is amazing! He did so much laundry Wednesday - Thursday (mostly sheets and kids clothes) that he is now on strike for awhile. The answer to my title is "Yes, I did get a sick day." Phil stayed home and gave me the day off, which was great because if he hadn't the kids would have had to fend for themselves which we all know would involve eating ice cream and popcorn and watching 12 continous hours of movies all day long.
I posted a picture of Kathryn's new hair style which she was very pleased about! She has wanted her hair to grow for so long and now that it is juuuuust long enough, she wants me to do it daily! It is a great way for us to bond though, so I gladly sit and do her hair for her. Evalin decide to hold Isaac and read him a story the other day and I thought that their contrasting skin color was soooo beautiful that I had to take a picture and then of course share it with the world. Enjoy!

Princesses and Tiggers and Cowboys...Oh My!

2008-01-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

Family Picture

2008-01-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

So I am very excited to be able to post a picture of our family! This is our first new family picture - Hooray! (thanks to Phil's mom, who got everyone to look at the camera and smile at the same time!!!) I was able to go shopping by MYSELF yesterday, which was so exciting and wonderful. Phil (aka: superdad/superhusband) stayed home with the kids AND managed to do 3 loads of laundry, clean the house, feed the kids, bathe the kids and get them in their pajamas all before I returned! I told Phil that now I feel really lame for not getting more done everyday while he is away! Everyone needs their own Phil:)

Weekly Update...

2008-01-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

So another week has gone by and our lives are returning to "normal" which I have come to realize that "normal" will never be the same again! Lukas went back to school and my mom made it through the day watching 3 kids instead of just 1 (hooray, mom!) Phil and I tried to go on our first date since adding two children to the chaos. (aka: the Lohrer family) and it went okay. Just okay because Kathryn cried for 15 minutes after we left, threw a doll at Evalin and had some other inappropriate behaviors, which I will not write about.
Overall, the adjustment of going from 2 to 4 kids has been easier and so much better than I ever dreamed. And for the most part, the adjustment of all the kids has been way better than I would have imagined. Evalin and Kathryn don't feel a lot of love for each other yet. I say "yet" because I KNOW that they are going to be very close some day. I just hope for the sake of Phil and my sanity, that day is sooner rather than later! Lukas has been an amazing big brother. I learn how to be like Jesus by watching him! And Evalin has had a hard time with the adjustment, but really considering that her whole world changed, she is doing remarkably well. Isaac was a handful in Africa and we thought we were in for a wild ride with him, but he has been amazingly good since coming home and for the most part, he is obedient and really fun to be with. Kathryn loves Lukas, loves to go anywhere in the car and loves clothes!!! Getting to know someone who has 4 1/2 years of memories, pre-conceived ideas and habits has been a little challenging, but we are making HUGE strides very quickly (thanks be to God and His ability to make ALL things good).
The hardest part of this whole experience has been dealing with myself. I will be painfully honest and I am not going to sugar-coat or make things sound better than they are: I thought that I would love all 4 kids the same amount, pretty much right away and I don't. I feel guilty about that. I wish that I was not so human. But, feeling guilty has really only made me a worse mom, so after talking it through with my amazing and supportive guy, I realized that I needed to give myself some time. Time to adjust, time to get to know my 2 new ones, time to take in and process all that has happened, and time to fall in love with them, which, again, I KNOW will happen. Again, I just hope that it will be sooner than later.
I am still trying to figure out our "high tech" digital video camera and as soon I can, I will post some videos. (how a radio works still baffles me, so you can imagine how stressed I am about the digital video recorder!)

Whirlwind Adventures!

2007-12-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

First Snow
Merry Christmas!
New Scooter :)
Welcome to Washington Weather!

So I realize that we have not updated our blog for over 8 days! Quite a long stretch after updating daily for 2 weeks! We came home at 3:30 am on Thursday, December 20th and tried to rest (HA) before everyone "started" the day. We were not successful! Thursday we had so many friends and family stop by and greet us... so wonderful! Then Thursday, everyone was in bed at 7:30 pm. By this time, Phil and I had been up for 47 hours!!! Friday we had Christmas at my parents's, Saturday we had more Christmas at my parents's and we went to church, Sunday we had church and Christmas at my grandma's, Monday we had church and Christmas Eve dinner at our house (hooray...home) and Christmas morning we were at home then we were off to Phil's parent's for Christmas afternoon/evening! WHEW! By Wednesday, we were ready to stay home and try out our new scooters :)
The last few days have been WONDERFUL as we are all settling in and getting to know one another. We have had some great times(snow:)and also some not so great times (bedtime), but overall, we are starting to feel like a family and not like "we have guests over" (Lukas' words).

Home sweet home

2007-12-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

We are back. The flights went well though JFK in New York was crazy. We barely made it to our connecting gate before the scheduled departure time only to find out that it was delayed for about 30 min. Customs went smooth and could have been worse had a nice lady not pulled us out of a line that we were standing in and moved us to the front. When we entered the room we were told we had to go through the non US citizen line which was probably 2 hours long. Fortunately we stood out as not belonging there and a nice lady saw that and moved us to the front. The kids did well on the planes. The first flight was around 10 hours and the kids were great until we had to sit for 30-40 minuts at JFK waiting for a place for the plane to park. Isaac did not approve of that so he made sure everyone on the plane could hear his opinion. Both he and Kathryn slept the whole 6 hour flight from NY to Seattle. Amanda and I did not sleep at all from when we got up at 5 in the morning in Ghana until we reached our home at 3 am in Lynden. Overall we were going for about 33 hours. We all slept for a few hours and Kathryn and Isaac got up around 7. Lukas and Evalin woke up around 8:30 and they have all been playing vigoroulsly ever since. They are all getting along well. Amanda and I have been eating many good things. We stopped at Burger King on the way home and when we got home we Orianne (Amanda's sister) had stocked us up with many of our favorite things including a chocolate cake that she baked. We had great pot of coffee this morning and are washing laundry. Kathryn is trying on all of her clothes and Isaac has decided to get make it his goal to play with every toy in the house by lunch time. Kathry looked out the back door this morning and saw the playground at the school and wanted to go. So we opened the door and just as fast as she ran out she ran back in saying how cold it was. We told her that as soon as it was sunny (later today) we would bundle up and go the park. We plan to stay home today and will most likely be home. People are welcome to stop by and say hello if you are in the neighborhood. We are planning to go get a Christams tree tomorrow and then settle in for a great long Christmas weekend. We hope to see everyone soon. We can't wait to go to church on Sunday. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and praise be to our great God for what he has and is doing. We could not have made this journey without the strength that he provided and we give him all of the glory. It is our prayer that more and more families will be lead to taking care of the children in this world who have no one to care for them. Check back soon for pictures and goodies.

Homeward Bound

2007-12-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

We went to our visa appointment today and received our visas for Kathryn and Isaac...Hooray! Our flight leaves at 10:30 am, but we have to be there at 6:00 am (Delta suggested 4:00 am, but then after my laughter subsided, they said 6:00am would be acceptable). We have a 2 1/2 hour layover in JFK where we will have to go through customs, meet with an immigration officer and do some paperwork declaring Kathryn and Isaac as immigrants! Should be interesting:)
On a seperate note: Phil and I are much lighter coming home than we were coming. The girls at the orphanage were laughing at us because they said we were "shrinking" HA! Phil lost more weight than me (not fair) even though I was sick longer(and more violently). We are soooo glad to be coming home. I am planning on eating a big salad with safely washed lettuce and fresh vegetables on it! Phil is planning on, well, there are just too many foods to list! Hopefully the next time you hear from us we will either be face to face with you at at your doorstep (if you live in Whatcom County) or you can read about our journey as we type from our home! (Lukas and Evalin...I cannot wait to see you!!!)

Lesson learned!

2007-12-17T02:45:00.000-08:00

"The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people..." A.W. Tozer

We have learned so much this last week. One thing that I learned (Amanda) is that God is not required to do what I want just because I want it. It is not His job to make me happy, it is His job to make me holy. I finally got it! Total surrender. If God wants me to stay in Africa so that my character is developed, then that is the best. Since God is 100% good, He can only give good to us. He cannot give us bad or evil things. So even if something seems bad to me, I have to have faith that it is actually for my good.

Okay, now what you really want to know...(I had to take the opportunity to "preach" because I knew I had a captive audience) we went to the embassy this morning and almost all of the regular consulars were gone (because it is Christmastime) so they had many, many "temps" who are notorious for going "by the book" We had a darling girl help us and she was so wonderful!!! I explained our situation and she said "Well, normally you would come back Friday, but let me see what I can do" I don't know who she talked to or what she did, but she came back in five minutes with a 4 pm appointment for Tuesday afternoon...yes that is correct! We get our visas on Tuesday and can come home on Wednesday! Enough said!

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y HEY!

2007-12-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

So it is now Sunday and we are getting ready to go to church. Yesterday was a little rough. We went to a market in the afternoon to purchase some souveniers and wares. I got a lovely Ghana soccer jersey and Amanda picked up a nicely hand carved nativity set. From there it went down hill. Amanda proceeded to get sick for the rest of the evening. I/We were worried that it might be another kidney infection, but at this point we are thinking it is just some bad food, bad water, heat or a combination of it all. She had some bad cramping and pains. Needless to say we will be eating only 100% guaranteed safe products from here on out. That means a very limited diet of bananas, bread, and bananas. As far as the schedule goes it all depends on Monday. We will se the American Consular office and see if they will issue us a visa by Tuesday. If that happens we are booked on a flight for Wednesday. If this does not happen it will be difficult to get home before Christmas. The flights closer to and on the weekend are quite full. The consular office "normally" issues visas on Fridays. We are going to beg, plead, and ask for an exception which have been made before so it is not impossible. Please pray that they will at least hear our request. We have all of the papers and things that they need so it should be possible. It is once again hot today. We have been bitten by mosquitoes this week and are trusting that God is using the malaria pills that we are taking to keep us safe from that. The kids are doing quite well and are anxious to go home. The only thing we are concerned about is that neither of them like to sit in the car and both of them had a fit when we put the seatbelts on them. Of course they must wear the belts in the plane and stay seated. Another prayer request for the painfully long flight(s). All in all we are in fairly good spirits (I might not have said so last night). We are trusting in God's timing but asking him to make Wednesday his timing. Thanks for reading. We hope to have some news on Monday.

Two down...one to go!

2007-12-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

This morning we set out to get the children's medical exam and lab tests. This normally takes 2-3 days so we were prepared for more delays. We got up very early and were at the office at 7:15, (even though it doesn't open until 8:00) because the lines for the medical exams are crazy long. We were the first ones there:) We explained our situation to the receptionist (who I think is an angel) and then saw the doctor right away! He sent us across town to the lab building so that we could get a stool sample from the kids. (I fed them prunes the whole way there!) We again, went right in and saw the nurse. She said she would send the results back as soon as she received them. We asked her when she thought that would be and she said that they should be back later that afternoon. She showed us the heading on the lab paper, which the receptionist had sent with us, and it said "URGENT" (I told you he was an angel) Long story short, we got the medical exam, lab test, lab results, and "official" medical report all by 3:00 pm!!! Praise God. We went to the Embassy, but they said we had to come back on Monday. We still won't be coming home on Monday as planned, but we are praying and hoping that the Embassy officer will have compassion on us and issue the children's visas before Friday (their normal visa day). If not, we will be here through Christmas. So this is our prayer request: that we will align ourselves to God's will and if He has us stay in Africa through Christmas, we will be mature enough to handle it. Also, the desire of our hearts is, of course, to come home for Christmas, so we are also asking for that. Thank you for your prayers today and throughout our time here. We have felt the presence of the Lord yesterday and today. Both Phil and I struggled earlier this week with the feeling that heaven was silent, so we were very grateful for His calming presence and of course, answered (the answer of "yes")prayers.

Oh Happy Day!

2007-12-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

We got the passport today! We went in at 2 pm (that is when they told us to come) and we brought with us a Ghanaian missionary who is staying in the same complex as we are. He offered to help us and truly without his help today, we would have left without it again. The kids and I waited in the car while Phil and Dan went to the passport office. 2 1/2 hours, 5 temper tantrums, and 3 people in the car crying later, we had the passport! Tomorrow we are off to get the children's medical exam. It is not humanly possible (notice I say "humanly") to accomplish the medical exam, get the results back and apply for our visa all in one day. However, we are going to do our very best to get as much possible as we can. We are sooooo relieved to have the passport!!! God and I had quite the discussion today in the car...well maybe not discussion, I ranted, He listened! Maybe I should change my account in the car to 6 temper tantrums. God is so good. And He would have been just as good if we hadn't got the passport! We are rejoicing in Africa!

The Results Are In...

2007-12-12T23:12:00.001-08:00

Okay, now I know that Phil is everybody's favorite! Something that I had long time suspected, was confirmed. Everyone except Sarah, my friend since Kindergarten, voted against me!!! Even my own mother, sided with Phil! So Phil will be staying in Africa with me and the kids until we leave. (A special thanks to Sarah for sticking with me!:)
We have new accommadations (thank you Lord) with 4 twin beds instead of two. So for the first time in 10 nights, I didn't have to share a bed with anyone! (I had been "sleeping" with Kathryn). Not wanting to take any chances, I took a sleeping pill so that I would enjoy my sleep, in my very OWN bed. Imagine my disappointment when it didn't knock me out! What?! I was imagining "Bye, Bye, George, see you next Thursday" (Father of the Bride) type of sleeping pill, but Phil told me it was just a sleeping aid! What a rip off!!! Anyway, it did help me go to sleep, which has been a problem for me (could be due to the feet in my face, no space in the bed, sleeping with a thrashing 4 year old, etc.). One funny thing, (not funny last night, but really funny this morning) my new bed is so squeaky that even if just move my arm or my head ever so slightly, by bed squeaks...very loudly! I really cannot describe it in a way that does it justice! So after about 2 hours, I got up and put the mattress on the floor (despite my fear that a lizard would come sleep with me or even just come and stare at me during the night). So, all that said, I got a great night sleep! It is much like the first night your baby sleeps through the night after months of waking up in the middle of the night for feedings...it is that great! Paperwork, delays, traffic...bring it on!

Oh Canada...

2007-12-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hello. It is Wednesday evening. No passport yet and it is still up in the air on how confident we are in getting it by the end of tomorrow as promissed. We were very disappointed yesterday and this morning was no better. We went to the American Embassy and the guards who escorted us to the waiting area took our appointment letter and asked us to have a seat. After a while Amanda and I started thinking... how would they even know we were here? The letter that they took did not have our name on it and we did not give them any name or identification. So Amanda insisted that they need to take our name. They said that our name would be called and we again attempted to explain that there was no name given to call. Finally, Amanda just went up to one of the windows and asked one of the Americans on the ther side of the glass and they told us what to do. Once we were able to speak with a person they said we must come back with the passport in order to continue the process. Essentially we are no further than we were before though we did get to sit in a well air conditioned waiting room for a few hours. So the rest of the day was much better. We had a Christmas party at the orphanage and it was great. I got to stand in front of the bar-b-que for an hour and play games with the kids. It was good to have some slightly normal food and to just play with kids as well as mingle with the staff. We ave noticed though that Kathryn and Isaac are adjusting well to us and thus adjusting out of the orphanage in a way. They don't want to go there as much and when we get in the taxi to go Kathryn always asks if we are going away now (meaning to see Lukas and Evalin). They want to put on their winter clothes so bad that we had to put them away out of sight. Anyhow, after the party we went back to the GILBT (Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation) Guest house where the sweet little Canadian lady running it had arranged for us to move into a bigger place. We now have two bedrooms, 4 single beds, and our own kitchen, dining and living area. We are still not overly comfortable but it is a step up. In addition the same ladies husband, who is Ghanaian, went down to the Ghana passport office and is trying to get someone to move on it. He knows people and got an appointment with the director of the office tomorrow morning at 9am (please pray for that). This couple has made our day and we are very greatful for them even if he is not able to make things move any faster. It is amazing that in a place where not many seem willing to help there are a few who go way beyond what we would ever ask for. At this point the kids are asleep, I smell like flamed sausages and chicken, and yes I have not broken my continuous sweating streak. That is unless you count showers where I am still wet and thus feel that counts as well since there is not the scientific aparatuses in Ghana to tell whether I am sweating in the shower or not. We are chosing to trust God a this point because we really can't see where we are going and we don't even know what we are to do some times. Atleast for now we feel we have a place to wait things out. Thank you for your prayers.

Pictures while I can

2007-12-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

We are at the orphanage today and will be having a party this afternoon. The internet was working well so I decided to upload some pictures. I will try to get some of the party pictures on this evening before we go back to the guest house. Enjoy

Kids in the school room

Kathryn and Isaac watching a DVD in our guesthouse room.

Playing some ball with the boys.

Jacob took this one of the kids at dinner time.

Cast your votes now.

2007-12-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

The passport was not issued today and they didn't even tell us come back tomorrow this time. They said, "come back Thursday." So now the reality has set in that we will not be leaving to come home on Monday as planned. It is hard not to be upset because the only thing holding us here is the passport (or lack of). The Ghanaian passport office knows this, but they don't care. (harshly stated, I know, but true). It was their mistake! And they have had over a month to fix it! Anyway, we will meet with the Embassy tomorrow to see if we can at least submit what we have to get a head start on filing for the visa. We will be asking them some more questions, which I won't post here for the world to see on this blog. You can pray for our sad hearts. My chest actually hurts...so very disappointed. We also need prayer for wisdom, because I think Phil should return to be with our children at home(for Christmas) and yet Phil doesn't want to leave me here. I can't leave Phil here, because Kathyrn is not ready for that big of a step. We were so hoping not to be in this situation. So Phil has said the decision is now open for votes. So cast your vote now (in the comments). We will tally the results and post our decision:)

Monday, Monday...

2007-12-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

It is Monday evening and… no passport. We are not despairing or depressed, because we have faith! Even if we don’t leave “on time” it is okay, because there is a reason. We may never know it, but there is one, none the less.
We found a FABULOUS air-conditioned store/mall today and we had sandwiches and COLD coca cola…so delicious! I am so happy! I have been hungry (just a little bit) almost everyday because we either can’t find something to eat or are scared to eat it! So today was good! My skin is so beautiful and cleansed from the humidity and I have lost quite a bit of weight too (down a whole pant size!) So forget the expensive spas, just come here instead.
Another wonderful thing about Accra is the evidence of God all around us. For example, “My Redeemer Lives Muffler Shop” or “God Never Sleeps Bakery” or my personal favorite, “God Has a Plan for Your Life Beauty Shop” I am trying to convince Phil to rename his business to “God is Our Redeemer, Has a Plan for You and Never Sleeps Plan Design and Consulting” but he thinks it won’t fit on the business card. It is great…I love it!
We continue to get to know our children, and find out just how wonderful they are. Kathryn has come out of her shell and is a talkative, giggly, little jokester who likes to play tricks on us! Isaac just goes 1000 miles an hour all day long, WOW! We are having a great time with them both. We will keep you posted. And please pray that the passport is finished tomorrow.

Pictures & Appreciation

2007-12-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

We wanted to let everyone know that we appreciate your comments. They are a refreshing time where we feel closer to home.

I am attaching pictures but they are downloading at a rate of 20-30 min per picture, that is if the page doesn't time out, so I am giving up for a while.

Escaping the waves at the beach.

Goofing around at the hotel room.

Fun at the Cape Coast Beach

Thanksgiving in December

2007-12-09T05:19:00.000-08:00

So we are back from our "holiday" and we feel sane and in control of ourselves...finally! This weekend we had a great time with our kids and got to know them even better. They both thought they could swim, and jumped right into the pool and promptly sank like rocks, so we quickly realized that they thought they could swim, but actually had never been in a pool before, so, WOW! God taught us a lot this weekend about thankfulness and being grateful even when it is hard. It is EASY to be grateful in the US - we have everything, but when you don't have everything accessible to you, that is when you see if you really can "be content in all circumstances, whether in plenty or in want." The same goes for faith. It is easy to have faith when we are in control, but when things don't go our way or are out of our control, that is when we see if we really have faith. I realized this week, that my faith is not as strong as I thought (yet ANOTHER pride issue I have to work on!!!), but God also let me know that He knows I am just not there yet and that He still loves me and is actually, not even suprised by my immaturity. Even though I am:) One of lessons of gratitude came from this weekend when we met a man from Canada who is adopting two darling girls. When we asked him how long he was staying, he said he didn't know. As our conversation continued, we found out that he has been in Ghana for 7 months (SEVEN!!!) and has no idea when their adoption will go through. And here I have been crying and whining about 2 weeks! His wife had to return to Canada to work and manage things at home and he stayed with the girls. The girls got malaria and typhoid fever at the same time and one almost died, but here is what he said (talk about gratitude!) "I am so glad we had that time in the hospital, because now my girls know that I am not going anywhere and I am in it for the long-haul" Amazing. So we are ready to face this week, and perhaps another week, because we will choose to be grateful and to exercise our faith. This weekend, I learned that it is a choice and so Phil and I have determined to be not only content, but grateful for all we have, which is so much.

Taking a "Holiday"

2007-12-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

So we are closing in on one week of living in Ghana and we are still alive. We are also well other than lack of sleep and a small bout with The Diarrheas (Lukas termed the phrase “I hate the diarrheas”) today. Romana convinced us that we needed a “vacation” so we are spending the weekend in Cape Coast. We got an early start on Friday because all the government offices were closed and we could do nothing regarding the adoption. We got up on Friday and left our place at around 8 and took a taxi to a place where there was supposed to be an air conditioned Ford Bus (van) that would take us to cape coast for a very reasonable rate. On the way there we drove down a 3 or 4 block long market where they sold everything from used mufflers to food. It was not the cleanest space and most of the “buildings” were make shift lean-tos made of whatever they could find. Have we mentioned that the driving here is amazing. Imagine one of those games where you had to get the little red car though traffic where all of the other cars are touching with the exception of one car that can move one space in one direction freeing another car to move one space in one direction and so on except in real life. They do have similar traffic lines to us but they are more of a guide line for keeping the vehicle straight and have no real meaning for lanes. The difference between a dotted center line and a solid one is that you must pass extremely fast on the latter one so as to avoid the semi truck coming around the corner and over the hill. Fortunately all of the cars are equipped with seat belts that no body but us wear. Any how, we missed the bus the first time, because even though we were in line, as soon as the bus pulled up, everyone rushed to the bus, pushing and shoving each other, one man almost fell onto the street. And we stood there in complete shock and missed the bus. Two hours later of standing in the sun and having wares peddled to us we were on the bus. While the rate was reasonable at $14 for the 2 hour ride we actually got on the wrong bus due to the language barrier. For the first 15 minutes of the ride we were blessed by a Ghanian pastor who gave the entire gospel to everyone on the bus. It was one of the most amazing examples of a modern day apostle that I have seen. I was inspired. I wish I had it on tape. He was “on fire”. We encouraged him and gave him some $. He gave as personal blessing and prayer. As for the rest of the ride, we ended up driving past a few signs that said Cape Coast turn here and about 10 minutes after that we asked the driver where we were going. He said some place about 60km past where we were already. He dropped us off at a taxi and we took a 15 minute drive back to our resort. It all worked out though it could have been bad had we not asked the question. The resort is relatively nice and the scenery is beautiful. We have air-conditioning which allowed us to get the best night sleep we’ve had which has helped us regain some strength and composure. The food is ok and we have found a few things that the kids won’t eat. They don’t like raisins, Kathryn does not like green beans or cabbage, and Isaac does not like carrots. Other than that they will eat everything on their plate including Isaac scooping up the french fry ketchup with his hands. We spent most of Saturday hanging out at the pool and beach. The ocean looks so big here. We saw fisher men pulling in nets, Gardeners shimmying up palm trees to harvest coconuts and many fast little lizards that Isaac likes to chase. We bought a bunch of stuff from one of the traveling peddlers who said his name was Philip though Amanda thinks he was just saying that to make us feel more comfortable with him. He liked my “I like Ike” T-shirt and wanted to use it for bartering. The TV is sketchy and gets about 10 chanels of which 5 are fuzzy, two have no sound, and only one has anything that interests any of us. Tomorrow we will try to catch the correct bus and do the whole thing in reverse. Hopefully we will make it back with less misfortune. Monday, we hope to have Kathryn’s passport so that we can continue the process. Without it we can’t do much more. We will be having the kids poop into bags and check for little poop bugs or something. Why this matters I don’t know. If there are bugs we will have the US doctors take care of it. If there are no bugs then who cares. Anyhow, we will post again when we get back tomorrow. Please continue to pray specifically that Kathryn’s passport will be ready early Monday and that the rest of the process will be completed by Friday so that we can come home on the following Monday.

P.S. It may look like marinara or meat sauce but it is really spicy.

The Graciousness of God

2007-12-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

God is so gracious to us that sometimes I am overwhelmed. If you have read my post from yesterday, you would have seen that Phil and I were very discouraged. But God in His great mercy, assured us that He is in control, He hears us, He loves us and He is concerned for us. He did this through an email. Romana had emailed the embassy to see what progress our I600 had made in the approval process. She forwarded us the response she received, which was an automated response saying that the officer handling our paperwork was on vacation until the 17th (crushing!) BUT followed by an email from the officer saying that he had approved our I600 before leaving for vacation and that it was at the appropriate office waiting for us. God is truly with us wherever we go...even to Africa. The harshest realization and the sadess one to us is that, even though we think we are completely sold out to God and not sucked up into this world, this trip has shown us that we are indeed spoiled Americans. I hate the thought of that, but it has broken down our pride and our thinking that we were somehow above all that...we obviously are not. So even though it IS painful, I am grateful that God loves me enough to show me just how much more I need to change to become who I was created to be. God is so full of mercy and kindness that even when I am crying and feeling sorry for myself, He gently disciplines me. He is so good.

Survival Guide 101

2007-12-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

It is 4:30 am and I can't sleep so I thought I would write a survival guide for anyone who has decided to visit Ghana after our glowing reports:)

1. When two adult travelers must share a twin bed (not double, twin) it is of utmost importance to decide on one sleeping position and then remain in that position the entire night. This eliminates needless, accidental touching of one another (which results in grouchy responses, instant heat transfer, and more sweat on the sheets and body)
2. Check the bed boards to make sure they are properly in place before going to bed. This will ensure that no bed boards fall out in the middle of the night causing much terror and confusion.
3. Before taking a shower, imagine the waters of the Acrtic, imagine the icy waters, etc. this will cause the water to actually feel warm when you do take the shower (note to readers: this has not worked yet, but the theory is sound).
4. Do not take a shower on an empty stomach. The shock of the cold water on your extremely warm body will result in dry heaves (note to readers: this could also be caused by eating raw plantains, see previous post).
5. When typing at 4:30 am, do not scream at the sight of lizards running by your feet or accross the wall. This results in people awakening before they really should.
6. When buying fruit or any local items, make sure you clarify what it is you are buying and how it should be prepared. This eliminates the possibility of feeding your family raw plantains, for example, which results in stomach aches and possible sadness.
7. When cooking in the kitchen, be kind to the lizards as they, like you, are just trying to survive. (and try not to scream at the sight of them, this causes them to be very scared, which is not very considerate seeing that they were here first).
8. When riding in a taxi in rush hour, make sure you have made peace with God.
9. Leave the make-up at home and instead bring extra deodorant.
10. Kiss and hug your children many more times before you leave, as you will miss their soft skin, smell of their hair, and their little faces.

I hope this helps you. I will write Survival Guide 102 next so that you will have a good grasp on surviving and thriving in Ghana!

Setbacks and Disappointments

2007-12-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

The last 24 hours has been very hard to say the least. It started with Romana dropping us off at the side of the road (she was going the other way so it was understandable), getting a taxi, the cab driver assuring us he knew where we were going, but then didn't! A 10 minute ride turned into a 1 hour long ride. In traffic. In the heat. Then after we got back I tried to make dinner with a bag of rice full of bugs and what I thought were black over-ripe bananas, but turned out to be plantains (which apparently you have to cook, but not knowing this or that they were even plantains, fed them to everyone raw resulting in stomach aches for everyone). Then this morning, we went to Beacon House where Emmanuel was supposed to give us Kathryn's passport so we could file the last remaining papers and take her to get ther medical exam. (She and Isaac received their passports weeks ago, but they misspelled her name so we had to get another one). Nothing from this point on can be done without it. We waited all day and were assured by the passport office that they would have it today, because tomorrow is a holiday here and everything is closed. But by 6 pm it was apparent that we did not have it, so we did not file our visa application and did not get the medical appointment (which takes days). So we were dissappointed. I was sick all day (probably from the raw plantains!!!) and Isaac didn't get a nap resulting in a not fun bedtime. The ride back, which usually takes about 15 minutes took 1 1/2 hours. The traffic was horrible and the way they drive here is everyone turns at the same time regardless if there is room or not. (2 lane road has 5 lanes of traffic...seriously!) So cars were scraping one another and bumping into one another, very unsettling. Also, there is no emission control (shocking, I know) and so the entire time, we are literally gagging and choking on fumes. It is very much like putting your face next to a tailpipe for 1 1/2 hours. The drivers actually carry a rag to breathe through and to wipe the sweat, which runs profusely from sitting in a non air-conditioned car for 1 1/2 hours. Anyway, long story short, we cried when we got home. No make that sobbed. I want to go home. I feel guilty for wanting to go home because people here live with this every day of their lives and I can't even handle 3 days. So there you have it, the not so wonderful side of our story. Please pray that Kathryn's passport is done on Monday morning. If it is not, it is unlikely that we can get everything done in time for us to come home on the 17th. That really makes me sad, because I REALLY miss my kids. Okay, now I can't see what I am typing and must go blow my nose.

Kathryn and Isaac

2007-12-06T05:07:00.001-08:00

Here is an introduction to our two new children:

Kathryn is very quiet. She is deep in thought quite often (I am sure just processing everything). She loves her new baby doll, named "mom" and wants to take her everywhere we go. She is sad in the morning when she wakes up, but smiles when I tell her she can pick out a dress to wear for the day. She is unsure of Phil and won't really interact with him yet. Her favorite phrase is, "I can do it myself" (she and Evalin should get along great!). She can count to thirty! She has the cutest laugh I have ever heard. She is very polite and always says thank you. She insists on wearing her hair bow that I gave her even though her hair is too short. She tells me, "Madame, my hair is growing" I must put her hair clip in, Phil cannot do it. I put her hair bow in 19 times yesterday. She is very sweet. She likes to tell Isaac what to do and is a very good big sister. That is just a little bit about my little girl.
Isaac loves to be held. He is extremely ticklish! He has a very fat belly, which I kiss and he laughs. He is still learning to talk. He loves Phil and does everything that he does. (He had to put on lotion and deodorant because Phil did). He is fearless...he told Phil to finish his food because Phil didn't eat everything! He is very dark. The pictures I received don't even show how dark he is. He loves his toothbrush that we got for him and carries it around and sleeps with it (I know, it is gross!) He talks to himself in a high pitched voice when no one is looking and then covers his eyes and laughs if he catches you looking at him:) He is very fun. He gets mad and pouts when he doesn't get his way. And he does not like to go to bed.

Both kids are total chow hounds! They can out eat Phil and I. They finish EVERYTHING on their plate and then hold it up and say "I am finished" They don't ever say they are full. (we will have to teach them when to stop eating:) They love their blankets that Grandma Lohrer made them and insist on sleeping with them even though it is soooo hot and humid. They love the headphones for the dvd player; and put them on and dance and sing even though they are not listening to anything! They talk about the plane ride and want to "go now and see Evalin and Luka" We too can't wait for that day!

Love At First Sight

2007-12-05T12:10:00.000-08:00

So it is my turn to post now (Amanda) and I get to write the best one so far! We arrived late in Ghana because of airline delays, so we were not able to meet our children until after we had checked into our place, eaten lunch, gone to the Embassy and filed our I600. We arrived at the orphanage at around 3:30 pm and met many children right away. They were all so excited to meet us, but no Kathryn or Isaac. More children came and met us, but still no Kathryn and Isaac. Then finally, I heard the house mother coming down the stairs saying, "Come now, your mom and dad are here" My heart almost stopped (really) as I saw her come down the stairs. I quickly wiped away the tears that came instantly into my eyes. Forever etched in my memory: blue dress, bare feet, hands covering her face. She came down, did not look at us and said "Hello" Phil and I kneeled down at her level and said hello without touching her at all. Then Isaac came into the room. So little, and so black! He said hello while looking us right in the eye! I gave Kathryn her doll and she took it and smiled! Then I gave Isaac his truck and he started racing it around the room. We went outside onto the porch to play with Isaac, but Kathryn stayed inside. Then after we played with the truck (rolling it back and forth to each other) for about 10 minutes, Kathryn came outside. She went to the other side of the porch and gave her baby a bottle. My heart was so sad because she was ignoring us, but I told myself to BE PATIENT. I looked back to play with Isaac, but he was gone. On Phil's lap, smiling up at him (more supressed tears). Isaac came back over and continued our very long game of truck rolling, when Phil said "Look behind you". There was Kathryn, leaning up against me. I told her how pretty her brown eyes were and how the baby had brown eyes just like her. She smiled at me (sigh) and then I asked her what her baby's name was. She said "Mom." Apparently this was very funny because she threw her head back and laughed. And of course, so did I. After that magical moment, she has been all mine! She calls me "Madame" and so does Isaac, but other than that, we get along like we were meant to be together. Because we were.

Is it sinful to shower more than 3 times a day?

2007-12-05T11:45:00.001-08:00

So we have finally been blessed with a decent internet connection this evening (8pm local time, 12 noon pst). It isn't that we have not had a connection it has just been a really sucky on and it wasn't even able to download email. We are in Accra right now with Kathryn and Isaac staying in a mission guest house. We have been spending our days at the orphanage when we aren't hounding officials to process paperwork. The flight was ok though after having the first day cancelled we were concerned about the windy weather that came next. We did have a slight delay in NY. And by slight I mean we "taxied" for two hours. The good part was that it was only a 9 hour flight and not 10 as we had thought originally. When we got of the plane the weather was sweaty. It was not just hot or humid it was sweaty and I will continue that sweat until the plane ride home I think. Not much except the American embassy has air conditioning. Most places have ceiling fans that serve as a convection oven that trys to dry the sweat but only actually makes me thirsty. Driving is crazy. People are poor. There are soo many sad stories, beggers, and run down people. We were quite overwhelmed and unprepared for all of it and I really don't think you can prepare. If you come with the heart of Jesus you will be broken. We have cried a lot and have not slept a lot. I must say that Romana has been great. She is busy but has made the time to help us figure every little thing out. All packages arrived safely. The custom officer didn't even open a single bag. That was partly due to the fact that the airport did not have power and the baggage carousel was not working so they handed the bags out one by one. With a completely full 767 that takes a really long time so they were getting us out as fast as possible. I was really impressed though when the airport bus picked us up from the plane to take us to the terminal door which was about 100 feet from where we got on the bus. We have many stories and will try to keep sharing them as we have time and a connection. Amand is going to post a blog about the kids and then I will try to add some pics and video. To all "expectant" parents... Your kids are fabulous. I love everyone of them and they will sit for hours and talk about you and the states. I was talking with Jacob today about the airplane and he had a number of great questions about where the urine and poop go when you use the bathroom on board the plane. He assumed that it was just dumped on people. In Ghana it is quite common to go wherever and whenever so that is understandable. He also asked how extremely large people get on a plane. I tried to avoid the subject but he would not settle for my spined answeres so I told him that sometimes you get two seats. The light bulb went off and he said "so you take one side and place it here and the other side and place it here" all while doing the motions. He is quite a character. Victoria is beutiful and wants to read to me and show me her drawings. They are all excited about meeting us and living together in Lynden. I have quite a few notes and stuff to bring back. Ok so Amanda wants a turn to tell stories. Look back for pics if I can get them downloaded.

2007-12-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

So.....It is now Sunday evening and we are not on an airplane. We are also not at an airport. We are also not on our way to the airport. We are also not miraculously at our destination yet. We are going to sleep approximately 3 or 4 comfortable hours at my parents house in Bellingham before trying again in the early morning. Yes, our flight was cancelled. Though we have been having our own weather event here in Whatcom County this weekend it is the fault of the East Coast that our flight was cancelled today. The good news so far is that we won't miss any of our scheduled appointments in Ghana if our current itenerary holds. The bad news is that we are going from windy, snowy, sleety, 28 degrees to Hot (90+), humid, buggy. I want to wear Ghana appropriate gear for when we get there, but would look like a fool and possibly not warm up until we were in Ghana. Well, hopefully the next post will be from Accra. Pray for us and we will keep posting as we are able. Sorry about the lack of pictures, the cammera was packed and I spent a few hours trying to get our maximum of 4 checked bags and two carry-ons to be a couple of pounds below the limit. SO BACK OFF!!! sorry about that.

Post number the one

2007-11-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

This is the first post. I feel like I'm getting into a very cold swimming pool and since I am not a "diver-inner" this first post has no meaning other than getting my blogging toes in the water.