September 27, 2012

And the Winner is.....

We raised a total of $560 for the Broaddus family! Thank you ALL for your support! I am really happy with these results as I am sure this money will be a helpful to them in their travels to bring little S into their family. I am so excited to watch them go on this journey again...and admittedly, I am a little bit sad and just a titch jealous as well. I am almost certain that Devin and I will not adopt internationally again, but just watching them go through this (along with the Schinnerers, who are adopting 2 more!), it brings back a sense of nostalgia- we were just going through this all together a year ago! Crazy.

Anyway, that's not what you came to read. You came to find out who won the raffle, right?

Without further ado....the winner is------Congratulations Sarah!

#114...


SARAH CHILTON!


Email me at strobelite@gmail.com to give me your address and the Kindle will be sent directly to you!

Again, thank you, thank you all for the support!

Back to regularly scheduled programming...






September 25, 2012

Last 2 days for Raffle

Just a quick reminder that our raffle ends tomorrow night (the 26th) at midnight! So get your last entries in! So far we have raised $515 for the B family and have 120 entries into the raffle. I would love to see some more entries these last few days. A BIG, HUGE THANK YOU to all who have donated so far.

Flor saying goodbye to her friend, S. Little did we know that it would be more of a "see you later!".  How wonderful it will be for these friends to re-connect here in the United States!
Here is the link to the post about the raffle: http://www.strobeliteblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/raffle-kindle-fire.html

September 23, 2012

2-7

So now I am really aging fast. Time needs to just SLOW DOWN! It feels a little odd to blog about just my birthday, but this year was an exceptionally good day, so why not?

I sort of expect that birthdays at this point are going to be just another day since who really wants to celebrate getting older? Anyway, the day was actually really great. Jace and I spent the morning together after story time at the library (Hallie went home with the neighbors and Flor was in school). We went to lunch and then did a little shopping. I love any time I have with each of my kids individually, because it just doesn't happen all that often. It was really sweet to be able to spend time with just Jacer. Gosh I love that boy, particularly in the phase he is in. He is hilarious and so much fun. So, we had a great morning/afternoon out together.

Devin got home shortly after we did and we spent the afternoon together before heading out to dinner. I had been craving Mexican, so we went to a Mexican place. It was good, but still nothing beats Puerto Vallarta in Idaho Falls (that's the name of the restaurant in case you were confused). They just have the best salsa and so far no one matches it here in our area. Oh, well. We had a good time anyway. After returning home, we had cake and ice cream (Devin made the cake himself- woo hoo!) and opened presents. I really got spoiled this year. Devin and the kids got me some things, I racked in a bunch of money, and I even had quite a few neighbors drop bread and other treats off. So sweet. I just felt very loved all day.

The BEST part of the day though? Many people responded to my request to donate money to the Broaddus family fund. I wanted to go over the $500 mark that day, and what do you know? We did. It was so awesome to just see the donations keep rolling in. It was very humbling and really what made my day. (on that note-- just a few more days before the raffle closes and I would love to raise some additional funds for the B family. If you want to enter, check out the button on the side of the blog! Kindle Fire, here you come!)

Alright, here are some pictures. I don't know why, but I felt the urge to have pictures with the kids, the husband, everyone before we left for dinner.

And this is nice because it seems like pictures of just the two of us are few and far between these days.

Maybe she'll actually smile in a picture with me someday. She was probably thinking "Let's not waste time, I thought you said food!?" 

FOOOOOOOOOOOD!


Hallie's little arm holding onto me....oh melt my heart. What a darling.

Lacking enough candles, Devin got creative and made the roman numerals for 27 instead. haha.

I was very surprised by my gift from Devin. I had no idea...He got me a new set of scriptures!  My old set say "Kim Strobel" on them if that gives you any idea how long I've had them. They're falling apart a bit, so these new ones are nice and shiny!

My sister sent me Our Best Bites' new Cookbook! YAY! I am super excited to try some of the recipes in here...

Just thought this was funny. Why is he throwing a fit about eating his cake? no idea...he just throws fits when he wants to. The next second he remembered that he likes cake and dug right in. Silly kid. 
Here's to another happy year. The slope to 30 is short now...




September 18, 2012

Birthday request

What I just posted on FB (for the two of you who may read my blog but but are not my friends on Facebook):
So I am officially old today. To help me ring it in in style, will you please consider donating $5 to the raffle we are holding for the Broaddus family? It would seriously make my birthday the BEST EVER if we could go over the $500 mark today- we need $170 to do that. So perhaps that is a lofty goal, but I don't think so. If this status is seen by just 34 people (and I think that is definitely possible) who each donate $5, then we are there. Just 17 people donating $10 and we are there. easy! And remember that you get an entry to win a Kindle Fire for every $5 you donate. Even if you don't personally want or need a kindle, how about using it as a Christmas gift?? (do you think I should start doing infomercials or something? Hopefully I am convincing!) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?!?!?! Little Sofia needs this wonderful family. Thank you all who have already donated, there are quite a few of you and I love and appreciate you.

http://www.strobeliteblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/raffle-kindle-fire.html

To be honest, sometimes I feel a little silly posting this over and over again, but then I remind myself there is nothing to be ashamed about in trying to help someone else. This is purely my goal. There is no gain for me here and I hope that I am not coming across as any other way. Also, to clarify one thing, I am purchasing the Kindle Fire out of my own funds, not from the funds donated. I have had a few people ask that. Everything donated goes directly to the Broaddus family.

September 14, 2012

Flor: the latest

Two posts in a day, lucky you guys (just kidding...)

So today Flor did something awesome and it reminded me that I have been meaning to update about her and haven't gotten around to it yet.

So the awesome thing?? I was in the kitchen making dinner and as far as I knew, Hallie and her friend were outside and Flor and Jace were downstairs playing. I soon heard the toilet lid lifting up and thought that Hallie  must be using the bathroom. However, she was outside and I didn't see her come in, so I walked to the bathroom to check on the situation, and lo and behold, it was FLOR! She had come up the stairs, walked herself to the bathroom, and went! All by herself. I was so proud! (ahhh, parenting-- you know things are bad when the most exciting part of the day is when your daughter takes herself to pee...wahoo. But yes, it was so exciting!!)



check out this cute little mug. All dressed up and ready for school one morning.


In other news, Flor is loving school (no surprise there). She gets excited every day to go and her teachers are sending back great reports every day. She is working on a lot of gross motor skills it seems like. It is interesting because I remember when I was with Flor when she had just turned one and she had no normal gross motor skills that one-year-olds have, such as sitting up, rolling over, crawling, etc. Now, her teachers are working with her on rolling over...I didn't realize that she still didn't know how do to this. She is missing some serious developmental milestones, but I guess we are going back to pick them up now!

The doctor report: Flor has now seen the long awaited geneticist! That is the biggest news. That appointment went well, despite her screaming every time he touched her. Oh, well. The doctor we saw was very thorough. He took a lot of pictures of her, reviewed her past medical reports, asked me a lot of questions...etc. While we don't have any answers yet, he is skeptical that her diagnosis of fructosemia is correct. He asked if anyone else has questioned this diagnosis and I told him that they have not. Basically, he said that it is so incredibly rare that he hasn't seen a case of it in his career (and he was an older man). He also said that only two labs in the United States have the technology and equipment necessary to diagnose it through blood tests, so it seems unusual that Ecuador has the capability. He also said that her reports didn't indicate any major symptoms before other than an odd odor, but that could mean a whole variety of things. He did say that it is possible that her ethnic group has a higher incidence of this genetic anomaly, so perhaps the diagnosis rate there is higher and the country could have the capabilities. His office is trying to get pre-authorization from our insurance to do a complete DNA sequencing to see if she has it. If they approve, she will have blood drawn and it will be sent to a lab in Boston to be analyzed. Who knows when we will hear what our insurance decides, but i hope they approve it (obviously) because it would be really nice to have answers. The doctor suggested that we keep her on the diet just in case, but can you imagine? All this time withholding sugar from her when it's no big deal? Ha. So we will wait and see.

The doctor did feel that she has something going on, even if the fructosemia is not the correct diagnosis. He did say that she has Microcephaly,  though she has never been diagnosed with that before. Basically, her head is significantly smaller than normal for her age and sex, even given that her height and weight are also smaller. It is not in proportion with the rest of her body. This can be a genetic condition as well and he thinks it could be a defect that happened in the womb.

So yes, we will see...maybe we are one step closer to answers!

We also saw a therapist recently in order to open the door for her to see a PhD psychologist. She needs to have a Psych Eval and an IQ test in order to get on the waiting list for DSPD (Division of Services for People with Disabilities). This has also been quite the process...eesh. The therapist was interesting. She just observed Flor and then asked me some questions. I imagined Flor going to therapy as a bit humorous, after all, we all know that Flor isn't going to answer questions. (side story: Flor just got a new bus driver, and after about a week of driving her to and from school, the driver asked me one day, "so, does she talk??" When I answered that she is non-verbal, she was like, 'Oh, that makes sense...that makes much more sense..." I didn't ask, but I just imagined that she must have been asking Flor questions all week and wondering why in the world she wasn't ever responding. Ha ha.)

Alright. I think that's it for an update on our little Flor! Things have been so good with her the last few months, really, so good. I still look back on our first few months home and wonder how we survived it. Adoption (this kind at least) is tough on all involved. I think we are finally out of the really rough woods and into the light. That's not to say that they are not still hard moments, but they are much fewer and far between. We understand each other now much better and I feel like I am much better at being intuitive to know Flor's needs, like I am with my babies when they are first born. I can sense her needs instead of wondering what in the world is going on in her head, which has been much nicer.

P.S. Don't forget our raffle! I know I already posted about it once today, but twice won't kill anyone, will it? :) Really, we love this family and want to do whatever we can to help them. $5 and you are entered in to win a Kindle Fire! Win, win! Go HERE for details.

Raffle update

Two days in and we have raised $200 for the Broaddus family! Thank you to all of you who have donated. I appreciate it so much. The raffle still runs for 12 more days, so please donate if you haven't and help spread the word! Today is Friday, so that means payday for some people, right? Can you spare $5 from your paycheck for this amazing family and more importantly, little S?

Alison and Flor...next time we see this family, hopefully little S will be sitting next to them!

September 12, 2012

Raffle: Kindle Fire

Psalms 82:3 Defend the poor and the fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and the needy

D&C 83:6 ...and the widows and orphans shall be provided for, as also the poor.


Stephanie, Jenna, Allie, Jamie, and Alison. Stephanie's husband, Andy, had to return home to the states to work. This was Christmas Day 2011 in Quito. 
Hi everyone, 
I know I have asked of you before, but now I am going to ask again. I know many of you have heard of our dear friends, the Broaddus Family, who we met during our adoption process for Flor. Stephanie walked through the process with me while we were anticipating the assignment of our girls at the same time and then we were able to travel and be in country together for part of the time (including our ever memorable Christmas) while we picked up our girls. She has become a great friend to me and an incredible support in a lot of different ways.

Now this amazing family has answered the call to adopt another child from Ecuador. The little girl they are adopting was one of Flor's roommates at her orphanage and is incredibly special and deserving of this family. The paperwork is processing quickly and the Broaddus family may travel in the next few months. This family has given generously to our family and now I want to show some support to them in helping fundraise for their travel costs. (Just to give you an idea, our total adoption cost for Flor was approximately $25,000. Now, think about doing that twice in a year span.)  They have received some support so far, but the need is still greater.

So, here is the deal. I am going to do a raffle to support this family. The winner of the raffle will win a brand new Kindle Fire as seen HERE

Here are the rules: 

*To enter, use the paypal link on the side of the blog to donate to this family. Every cent donated will go directly to them. For each $5 you donate, you will receive one entry into the raffle. (So, if you donate $25, you will get 5 entries) 

*You may then SHARE this post and receive one additional entry for sharing it (facebook, your blog, etc.) Even if you can't donate to the cause, I appreciate your sharing this blog. However, only those who have donated first will receive an entry for sharing the post (I think almost everyone can come up with $5, right? Otherwise we might just have a bunch of sharing and no donations.) 

*Leave a comment or email me (strobelite@gmail.com) to tell me how many entries you have. That will be easier for me to keep track of. 

*The raffle will close two weeks from today, September 26th, 2012 at midnight. (happy birthday to my sister that day:)) 

*The winner will be chosen on September 27th using random.org. Please leave your email address so that I can contact you should you win! 

Last, THANK YOU SO MUCH. We have been completely overwhelmed by the amount of support that we received and are still receiving from you. I know that you all will come through again to help this amazing family. 






 

September 7, 2012

Man V. Mud Pirates Edition

A few months ago, a really funny conversation happened while many of our family members were gathered at my cousin Che's house. I think the conversation happened because we were trying to prepare Tim, Carlie's fiancee, about what to expect as a member of the Clark family.

The gist of the conversation was this:  in order to succeed in this family, men need to know some basic family rules about family holidays ("holidays" is a very loose term, defined as any actual holidays and/or made up holidays, of which we have many: Relay for Life, Neil Diamond Concerts, Witchapalooza, etc.)

The rules are that the men must
A) Attend the "holiday"
B) Pay for the holiday
C) Babysit so that the women can attend the holiday (let's be honest- we are a very matriarchal family and much of what we do is planned by and for the women)
or D) find some other way to show that they support the holiday

While this list was actually first spoken in that conversation, I can't tell you how true it is. These have been unspoken rules for years.

So remember how last year we participated in the Man V. Mud run as a way to show support for Brad and the kids after Linda's death (the organizers of the race were donating a portion of the proceeds to Brad)? Well, this has now made the list as a Clark family "holiday".

Let me tell you how much fun this is....SO FUN. I looked forward to this all summer and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was better than last year in my opinion for two main reasons. One- we knew what to expect and two- we went all out on the costume idea and it was hilarious. We enjoyed it so much that by the end of the race we had already come up with next year's theme. They had more obstacles this year and some of the same ones were revamped to be better. Overall, it was fabulous.

And now, many a photo to follow:

Instead of hitting up the local diner, Angie's, after the race, this year we opted to do it beforehand. Check out that crew. Man I love these people. (Please also don't fail to notice the food coming out of Flor's mouth. At least she is smiling!)
Carter got to run with us this year and he was thrilled. Especially because he and I got to wear matching mustaches.

Some of us took the pirate theme more seriously than others...ahem not naming names, but um...

I had a great time finding Devin and I costumes at the D.I. That fringe vest? Best find ever!

Okay, can't not include the picture of these two cuties. Brookie and Charlie hanging out in the grass while we had a little photo shoot pre-race. Aren't they adorable?

Our whole team...looking scary.

Cort ran the whole race with that parrot attached to her shoulder. Definitely the best part of any of our costumes! 

yes, I know, I am frightening. 

I love me this pirate...
Okay, and now just imagine a picture or two here of our whole team covered in mud, right after the race ended. We had some nice gentleman take a group shot; however, in reality he took nothing. Boo. The Man V. Mud official ones haven't been posted yet, but when they are, I might just have to post it.

Welcome to the family Tim! Family holidays are great, eh?

I can't stop laughing at this picture. Be sure to note the poor dead bird hanging down her shoulder...

Looking good....(don't worry the sunglasses were not part of our original costumes, but we each secured a free pair for participation. wahoo!)




This picture didn't exactly turn out, but its still funny. Cortney showing off her dead bird- poor thing.
Until next year, Lady Lindas! (Yes, we kept the Lady Linda name from last year...probably will become a tradition, although what the race has to do with Linda anymore, I don't know, other than the fact that I know she would be making fun of us and calling us big "nerds" or "losers" for our participation.I can just see her laughing about it. I miss her so much.)

September 5, 2012

How Could I Resist?

Hallie started dance today. Can you tell she liked it? :)



September 4, 2012

Jace-18 months

Jace is officially 18 months old! This is big news because it means that he can go to nursery now! He went for the first time this past Sunday. Devin took him and said that he marched right in, never looking back. I was worried that he might have a hard time because has been particularly attached to me lately. Having Devin take him was a good idea, I think. His teachers said that he just played, had snacks, and was very good. So glad it went well! I hope it goes that well every week.

Here are Jace's stats at 18 months:
Weight: 31 lbs (off the charts)
Height: 35 inches (off the charts)

Just to compare, Hallie was 27.5 lbs at 18 months and 32 inches tall. We thought she was big, but clearly Jace has her beat. The doctor isn't concerned about him being off the charts- he declared him proportioned and just "stocky" not "overweight." Ha.

A little about Jace at 18 months:
Hmm, what's this?
 * Jace's favorite foods are: anything. Okay, Okay, he really does eat basically anything, but his favorites are bananas, oatmeal, rice, anything sugary, any kind of fruit, chicken, tortillas.

*It is pretty funny to read Hallie's 18 month post, because I could basically copy and paste some of the statements about her to apply to Jace. They really are so similar. A few things that I noticed they are similar in:
 -loving water but feeling like they don't need help while swimming. Jace is particularly bad. We went swimming last week with Aunt Alisa and Uncle Ren and their girls and Jace refused to let anyone hold on to him. We tied him into a life jacket for safety purposes and he hated that, but the alternative (drowning) was not on the table, so...life jacket it was.
 -Wanting to be the center of attention. Hallie was terrible at this, but Jace might even be worse. He likes to "chat" with everyone he sees. Last week at church, I saw a friend that I met at EFY 13 years ago, so while I was catching up with him, Jace escaped without my noticing. I found him in the hall, "chatting" with an elderly gentleman that we don't know well. The man said, "he has got to be the friendliest baby I've ever met!" Before he started nursery, he would make the rounds in sunday school and chat with everyone who would pay attention. He is really into hand gestures too, to prove his points, since his words are really just gibberish.
- Jace, like Hallie at this age, is learning to follow commands. It's great when he can go get his own diaper and wipes.
playing superman with daddy's shirt
 * Jace is still a blanket addict. He hauls his blanket everywhere. Although most blankets work just fine, he is starting to prefer one in particular. Heaven forbid we forget that blanket when we go somewhere in the car...

*Jace also loves to brush his teeth still, but HE has to be the one to do it, or oh boy... he is a screamer. He walks around with his toothbrush saying "teeth! teeth!"

A not-too- happy participant in hallie's dressing up antics
 *Jace gives the best kisses, but they have to be on his terms. He grabs your face and goes "buh"! however, if I request a kiss, it is usually a hand in the face and a loud "no!"

*Speaking of no, this is quickly becoming his favorite word. Usually it is "no...,NO" for emphasis. Yikes.

*Jace is much less verbal than Hallie was at this age-- but he is a boy, so that's to be expected. He does say no, hi, hello, hola, ball, baby, bye, uh oh, teeth, go, blankie, mom, hals....that's all I can think of for now.

 *Jace is into EVERTHING-- see below for proof of this. Yes, that is lotion in his hair. He has also been known to climb up onto the table and drain the salt and pepper shakers, break eggs all over the floor, and spread diaper ointment or toothpaste where such things should not go. I know you think I should watch my child better, but hey, he is sneaky sometimes! The other day he was being very, very quiet and well all know that is a bad thing, but I was quite frankly enjoying the quiet, so I just let him be for a while. Well, that was a bad idea because when I did go find him, he had hauled the plunger from the bathroom and was going to town playing with that thing all over the living room. GROSS.

*Jace has a bit of a demanding personality. He is not the calm nice baby I expected him to be. He whines and cries a lot when he does not get what he wants. He also has a serious case of Mama's boy-itis, and won't let me out of his sight sometimes. I think this is because of the three weeks I was away from him when we were in Ecuador. He still hasn't gotten over it, poor boy. Maybe by kindergarten.


 * Jace still loves his shoes. Oh boy, does he loves his shoes. Thanks to all who gave me the suggestions on the Stride Rites. We secured ourselves a pair of 2x wide shoes and Jace is a happy camper. We might need to invest in a second pair.

*Jace's best playmate is still his sister Flor, even though they tend to fight a bit more nowadays. They both like the same toys and things, so they play well and fight well together.
Having a fit on the kitchen floor.
When I asked Devin what I should say about Jace in this post, his addition was, "he is a good boy."  Well, sometimes. :) Just kidding. No matter how crazy he gets, we sure do LOVE this boy!