Family Photo Shoot!!!

After we rescheduled 3 times, we finally accomplished our family photo shoot!!! Thanks SOOO much to Ashley and Jake for gifting us with this great photography session!  (By the way...Jake and Ashley will be traveling in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS TO MEET THEIR SON, CARTER!!!!  SOOO excited for them! Please be praying for them too!)

I had been totally stressing thinking about this session since the middle of July when they gave us this certificate. My biggest stressor - what to WEAR! (Story about our shirts at the end as well as a plug for "Handiwork for Lilly".) The "what to wear" stress has prevented me from having photos taken of the kids since Rebekah was a baby...Ya, I know, I get the "Mother of the Year" award for that one. So, without further ado...here's most of the photos from the night. Ashley did a FANTASTIC job!  We are SOOO blessed! Thanks Ash! Enjoy!

Rebekah (almost 5)

Isaac (7)

Anna (9)

Sarah (13)

Elijah (4)
(Have I mentioned that Elijah has gained 10# since he came home in January?  :-) I think some of it went to his belly.)

Rachel (almost 2)

Jonathan (1)

Trying to distract Rachel with a feather...

She still has the feather in her hand. :-)

Sarah and her Ukrainian brothers

And last but not least...Lil' Miss Personality's "Funny Face" Photo!

Ok, the little story about our shirts. How in the world to I find something for the 5 of us girls to wear?  I finally got a divine inspiration while shopping at our favorite fabric store last month. Sarah has made lots of blouses like we are wearing, and they sew up very quick. So we got 6 yds of fabric, several different patterns and away we went.  Each shirt is a little different with either decorative stitching or the rick-rack. 

For any of you "Suzy Homemaker" types that are curious about what patterns we used, here is the list. * Rachel - Simplicity 5695, view D leaving the bottom ruffle off. 

* Rebekah and Anna -  Simplicity 4206 view A, sizes 5 & 10, but they are too short and barely cover their tummies. We should have added at least 2-4" to the bottom. 

* Sarah - McCall's M5451. This pattern is several years old and we couldn't find a new one in any stores to use for me. But as I was just looking up the link, it is listed as out of print on the McCall's website, but it can still be ordered. Also, we added about 2" on the pattern to the top of the front, back and sleeves to make the shirt more modest. 

*Finally, for me - McCall's M5050. I also added 2" to the top of each piece as well. I probably wouldn't have needed to, but the pattern drawings showed it to be much lower than it sewed up to be. This pattern must have replaced Sarah's pattern as they are very, very similar. 

Sarah wanted to me to tell you all that if you are interested in a shirt for a special girl in your life, you can custom order them through "Handiwork for Lilly". Sarah and "Big Rachel" have been working VERY hard to make items to sell to raise Lilly's ransom. I think everything on their blog is crocheted right now, but Sarah will sew for you too. :-) Just email them if you are interested. 

Finally, I got the little boys' shirts at Target.com. They don't sell the white polos in the stores, but the shipping was reasonable and they were only $7 each. 

Day on the Farm!

Sarah here... here are pictures from last Saturday at Day on the Farm and Elijah's birthday!

The look on his face says it all! He LOVED riding the horse! (Sign for horse! :))

Rebekah

Maggie, Anna's friend and next door neighbor who joined us for the day.

Isaac

Elijah was fascinated by all the animals!

He got mad when I wouldn't let him touch the pig though! :)

Rebekah the sheep!

Hand Prints
Every year, the hand prints are done on a different design. The helpers than label the hand prints with the child's name and city. Then they are displayed throughout the farm. Above, Anna and Maggie found theirs from last year. Below, Rebekah is just about ready to put hers on. It is a very fun tradition! We've gone 10 out of the last 11 years, so if we looked long enough, we'd be able to find Sarah's hand prints from when she was 2. :-)

Our Family Picture! Thankfully the ones with Ashley last night turned out much better (we hope anyway! Haven't seen them yet!)! :)

Rachel did an awesome job shaking the cream to make butter!

Elijah's birthday cake!

Jonathan didn't care for the cake!

Elijah didn't really care for it wither.. until we started filming him, then he ate it just perfect!! That's Elijah for you!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, ELIJAH!!!!

ELIJAH IS FOUR YEARS OLD TODAY!!!  WOOOHOOOO!!!!

His big party will be next weekend, but we had to celebrate a little bit today of course. We went to Day On The Farm today after Ashley's shower which was after Isaac's football game. :-) We had a blast out at the farm and have attended this fundraising event for St. Jude's in memory of little Jarid 10 out of the past 11 years. Anyway, I'll post pictures of that soon I hope. (If you are local, this awesome family event is still running through tomorrow afternoon. Check it out!)

But here is a fun video of Elijah blowing out the candle on his little Packer birthday cake. :-) Enjoy! (I'm too tired to write anything profound about his birthday tonight...maybe later in the week.)

Remembering 9-11...

10 years ago, life was very different for me. I only had ONE child. :-) We had only been in our new house a couple of months, and I was actively growing my Creative Memories business as a consultant. I was CM consultant for almost 10 years from 3/98 to 12/07 when I "retired" to spend more time with my family and simplify my life. (I only had 4 kids then. This was the start of God pruning activities out of my life in preparation for this past year.) Anyway, at my CM workshop just a few weeks after the 9-11 attacks I handed out a ruled page free to everyone in attendance, strongly encouraging them to journal their thoughts and experiences that day. I'm not sure too many people did, but today after church when we watched the above video, I came home and opened up my album to read the page I had journaled and explain the events of the day to the kids. This day is to my generation what the JFK shooting or landing on the moon was to my parents' generation. Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when it happened. If by some rare chance, there are any of my old customers reading this and you pulled out your albums to read your thoughts today, I'd love to hear from you! Please email me. If anyone else has a journal entry from that day, I'd love to hear from you too.  (And by the way, before anyone puts me on a pedestal for doing albums and a full page of journaling, please know I am fully 4 YEARS behind on my albums now...sigh....)

I've transcribed my journal page below. Don't feel obligated to read this, but am merely posting for my own benefit and that of my children. It wouldn't receive a good grade in an English class, but I was merely writing from my heart and for my kids.

September 12, 2001


It is now been about 36 hours since I first heard the news about the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. Joanne called me about some CM things and told me to turn on the news. I said it would be kind of like when JFK was shot. Everyone remembers where they were. Little did I know how true my comment would be. I came down and turned on the TV and saw the replay of the second plane crashing into the 2nd tower. It was at that time that I realized (I think) that this was on purpose --- terrorism! Shortly thereafter, I learned that a plane had also slammed into the Pentagon. As I was watching, I saw "live" both of the WTC towers collapse on themselves. They did stand for almost an hour, allowing (hopefully) 1000's of people to escape.


As I was watching the whole thing on TV, it did not seem real. It seemed like I was watching a movie with great special effects. Even as I write this, it doesn't seem like it really happened. It begins to "sink in" when they talk about all the children that don't know where their mommies and daddies are. 50,000 people worked in the WTC complex...Fatality estimates are into the 1000's...."more than we can bear" as the mayor of NYC said. The shock and disbelief have moved into a very deep sadness and grief and somewhat into anger against those who were responsible for it. I'm sure more of that will come. One thing this has definitely done is put things into perspective for me. All of my struggles and "problems" are like a speck of dust compared to this horrific tragedy. I can't even begin to imagine what the families of victims are going through right now. How terrible it must be for them. I have been praying for those families since the beginning. Also for the rescue workers and the military leaders and the President that God would give him clarity of mind and peace and strength, etc. Many, many, churches across the country were holding prayer services. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to go to one yet, but would like to.


September 11, 2001 will be a day forever remembered in America. Many have called this an "act of war" -- "the second Pearl Harbor" -- a day that will live in infamy forever. This day will change this country forever. We will never be the same as individuals and as a country. Another interesting thing is how united the country is. Almost everyone agrees that military force should be launched against the people/country responsible.  Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, are united and standing behind the President, which is unusual, but good. What "path" of war this country takes from here remains to be seen....


This is one of the many emails I received shortly afterwards. I printed this to put in my album as well.


Dear Family and Friends,


I had a very dear friend question my faith in God right after the terrorist attack on America. Her question was simply put, "Where is your God today?"


She was very hurt, as all Americans were, so I tried not to react defensively. Since that moment I have prayed and grieved over the disastrous events. However, I believe I have the answer. I know where my God was the morning of September 11, 2001! He was very busy.


First of all, he was trying to discourage anyone from taking this flight.


Those four flights together held over 1000 passengers and there were only 266 aboard.


He was on 4 commercial flights giving terrified passengers the ability to stay calm. Not one of the family members who was called by a loved one on one of the high-jacked planes said that passengers were screaming in the background. On one of the flights he was giving strength to passengers to try to overtake the high-jackers.


He was busy trying to create obstacles for employees at the World Trade Center. After all only around 20,000 were at the towers when the first jet hit. Since the buildings hold over 50,000 workers, this was a miracle in itself. How many of the people who were employed at the WTC told the media that they were late for work or they had traffic delays.


He was holding up 2-110 story buildings so that 2/3 of the workers could get out. I was so amazed that the top of the towers didn't topple when the jets impacted.


Although this is without a doubt the worst thing I have seen in my life, I can see God's miracles in every bit of it.


I can't imagine going through such a difficult time and not believing in God. Life would be hopeless.

And I say AMEN!

9-10-11

What a fun day it is! I think I need to go write some checks so I can write the date a few more times today. LOL  Warning - This post is going to be total random-ness, so bear with me.

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250

This is my 250th post on this blog!  I can't believe it. Who would have ever thought I would have had that much to say in just over a year. I guess two trips to Ukraine will help that total along. :-)  And a big thank you to my eldest daughter, Sarah. Without her taking photos and videos, and then taking time to post them, you probably wouldn't see much of the boys on here.

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Making Progress

Both of the boys are making a lot of progress developmentally.

Elijah started OT/Speech therapy again at the elementary school on Thursday. It was like he never took a 3 month break. He did great and picked up right where he left off. The therapists were impressed with his speech improvements over the summer, as I am too.  A couple weeks ago he started saying the word "no". You all know that we hear this about 300x a day now. And he means it when he says it.  Have I mentioned that the 3rd 21st chromosome is a stubbornness gene???  :-) But to be fair, he is really starting to listen and obey better. He is still testing the boundaries, but ALL of my kids do that.

Elijah continues to develop with his signing as well. He has sound approximations for most of his 30+(?) signs and will often hear a word in conversation and do the sign for it. Very smart little boy he is! We are starting on colors now. Rachel is learning the signs and colors too. Her speech is further along than Elijah's, but he is further along in his signing.

Jonathan continues to spit out all over my face dislike any baby foods with texture. We continue to work on that...

Last week, while sitting on my lap or the floor in front of me, J started turning towards me with his hands raised to be picked up. That's a big step for him! Also, I think he "attaching" as well!  Last week, he looked at one of the girl's friend and started crying b/c he didn't recognize her face. LOL And now, he won't let Pat give him a bottle or feed him. Pat doesn't think that is progress, but since Sarah or I have feed him most of the time, it does seem like normal attachment progression. I'm trying to tell Pat not to take it personally. It makes his daddy's heart sad though. :-(

Jonathan will finally start his Birth-to-3 therapy services the week of the 19th. I never dreamed it would take this long to get through the paperwork, but it is what it is. The speech therapist will be helping me expand his feeding "preferences" with a final goal of self-feeding soft table foods. That seems light years away right now, but we'll get there. He'll also be getting PT (physical therapy) to help strengthen his weak legs.

Oh, I forgot to post about J's one-month check-up. He grew about 1/4" and gained 12 ounces following right up the growth chart! Yay!

Elijah's 4 yr check-up will be the week of the 19th, so I'm excited to see how much he has grown. According to our bathroom scale, I think he's gained about 10# in the last 8 months! Amazing!!!

I'm so impressed with the progress the boys are making! GOD IS GOOD!

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Dumb comments


Today was Isaac's first flag football game. He LOVES it and Pat helps coach. He did great! :-) I was pushing our triple stroller w/ the "3 Littles" in it (still have to post photos of it) and some referee on his way to the soccer tournament in the next field over felt the need to make a comment to me. Something to the effect of, "Guess what Mom!!! Surprise, surprise!!! That's quite a load!"  He was implying that it was an "accident" we had this many little ones. In a very non-appropriate way, I muttered something under my breath, "If you only knew..." I was ticked. I saw him again and almost told him how offensive I thought his comments were, but I refrained...which leads me to my next random thought....

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Standing in Silence


After the game today, I attended the second half of a women's retreat hosted by our church. The speaker was AWESOME! I had heard speak a few times before and was not disappointed today either. "A Call to Surrender" was the topic. The Lord spoke to me in many, many ways in a few short hours, but one of the things I'll share here is about "Standing in Silence". She was talking about how Mary, the mother of Jesus, was surely ridiculed when others found out she was pregnant and not married - a sin punishable by stoning to death by Jewish law at that time. Most likely she was ridiculed her whole life. The Bible does not record one instance of her "lashing back" at her accusers. Not a one. The speaker related that to our lives in different ways by giving examples. One example that stood out to me was doing something in the Lord's will that no seems understand. Hmmm....I could relate to that one!  (We have had LOTS of support with our adoptions, esp w/ Elijah's, so people DO understand, but definitely not everyone, including some family.)  But to see me with my 7 children out and about (which frankly isn't often), people feel the need to voice their distaste "lack of understanding" about large families. What is an usually over-tired, fazzled mama to do about that?

Stand in silence like Mary did.  Ooooooo...that's a hard one! Lord, please help me to face my accusers and ridiculers by letting them see your love shine through me and extending them grace as Mary did. Amen.


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For Ashley...


Ashley foolishly graciously gave Jonathan a gift certificate for a whole family photo shoot for his birthday.  I'm SOOO excited! We haven't had the kids pictures taken together professionally since soon-to-be-5 years-old Rebekah was about 9 months old. I know...I get a Mother of the Year award for that one. It is about time!

But why do I think she is "foolish" for volunteering to try and get 9 people to look at the camera at the same time and smile?

Here was my little practice session...

"Elijah, my what stretchy ears you have!" :-)

Not too bad....

Going downhill...

"Rachel, stop grabbing Mon-nan's arms."

Yes, Rachel calls Jonthan "Mon-nan". Cute!!!

Great smile Jonathan!

Oh well, we tried...

I'll settle for all looking the same direction and not touching each other. You might want to say a prayer or two for Ashley. We're scheduled for Thursday evening!
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On that note, thank you if you made it down this far. God bless you!!!

Come WALK with us!

The 2nd Annual Down Syndrome Awareness Walk will be held in Neenah on Saturday, Oct 1st!  

We attended last year on Ruby and Lilya's team, but this year, we have our OWN team named the "Birschbach Bunch"!  (I couldn't think of anything catchy using Elijah and Jonathan's name, so if you think of anything, let me know for next year!) We would love to have you join our team and spend the day with us! 

You can register online -- registration is $5 per person and you get a t-shirt.  New this year -- you can prepay for lunch online, too ($2.00 per person). (Well worth it in my opinion!)  I hope you'll join us!!

GO HERE TO REGISTER AS PART OF OUR TEAM!!  :)

For more about the walk and the events that day, read HERE - Rachel Coleman of Signing Time will be returning, we'll have a lot of other entertainment (bouncy houses, clowns, petting zoo, craft table & more!) Last year, the kids really had no idea who Rachel Coleman was. But since we've watched the "Baby Signing Times" DVDs at least 1000x in the past 8 1/2 months, I think they'll have a pretty good idea this time. :-) Elijah and Rachel will be SOOO excited!

And for all of you "Holy Landers" reading, Tim Ditter from Jericho will be the Walk Ambassador!

If you'd like to donate to our team, you can do so here:  DONATIONS (or through the Firstgiving button in the upper left corner).  

All funds raised stay in our local community. The DSAW-Fox Cities is a very active group and does much to educate and advocate for our special kids. The group provides a new parent pack to families in the hospital who have just had a child with Ds, scholarships for kids to participate in sporting events/team, and much, much more! One fun thing they sponsored last year was a family night at Wild Air in celebration of World Down Syndrome Day.

I hope you'll join us!  We had such a wonderful (if cold) day last year, celebrating those in our community with that little something extra :)

From last year at the first annual walk...

Lilya and Ruby in their wagon during the walk. This was the first time we met Lil, so that was fun after watching her journey home from Ukraine.

Michelle Z and I at the RR table at the walk. For those of you familiar with the "T21 Traveling Afghan" project, the founder (and most awesome crocheter) of the project is in our local group! We shared a table with her. :-)

Random Hat Pictures

Because they are so cute... I just had to share!

Nope, he doesn't have a hat on, but he's to cute not to put in this post! :)

What today should have been...

Today - September 1, 2011. (Well, it's after midnight now, but I've been distracted w/ a fussy baby - Rachel - and Pat and Isaac returning from the Packer game. Fun!) Anyway, today was Noah's due date. Today should have been spent holding a brand new baby or anxiously awaiting his arrival. That just wasn't meant to be. God had other plans. BIG plans that included bringing home this beautiful baby boy.

Elijah, Jonathan, Rachel

Of course Jonathan will never replace Noah. How could he? But I will admit, the distraction that the paperwork and trip to bring him home provided was a welcome one. I know many would still say it wasn't a wise choice to jump in so soon, but I KNEW the Lord wanted us to bring him home 4 or 5 days before we found out we lost Noah. Noah opened our hearts and minds to a 7th child. How could we say "no"? How do you say "no" to God's call on your life? You can't, at least for not very long. Ask Jonah about that one...

So today was a tough day for me. It was compounded by the fact that a friend of mine was at the hospital going through delivery of 20 week baby. :-( Please pray for her, her husband, and her family and 4 children.

As I was thinking about what to post tonight, I remembered that I never posted photos from the memorial service we had for Noah, or about the blessings we received that week. First, if you are not familiar with it, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is an absolutely wonderful organization. Professional photographers volunteer their time to come and take photos of the baby that has already gone to see Jesus. Then the family receives a CD of the photos...all totally FREE of charge. I knew of this organization beforehand, and I was so thrilled when the nurse asked if we wanted someone to come in. This was an amazing blessing for us! I'm glad the hospital staff is "clued" in to this organization now.

There is no footprint too small to leave an imprint on this world.

My wedding ring on Noah's foot...

Secondly, we were also told that day in the hospital that the 2 funeral homes in the city offer their services FREE of charge for miscarried/still born babies. I had no idea that they did this!  I was so happy to hear this too. After having a couple of early miscarriages, I remember being "jealous" of a friend that got to have a funeral for her baby lost at 16 weeks. What a strange thing to be jealous of, huh? But if you've ever lost a baby early, you understand. I feel a service helps make the baby "real" and that his life mattered. Of course a baby matters at ANY age, but having others come together gives some closure too. Hard to explain unless you've been there, done that. We were also overwhelmed and humbled by friends who brought us meals during that time. It took me awhile to recover physically and it was hard to motivate myself to cook, so the meals were a true blessing. We are so grateful for the love shown us during that time.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." 

Matt. 5:4

So, we did have a memorial service or funeral if you will for Noah. It was very small. Just Pat's mom and the Gibson family - our pastor and his family at the funeral home. It was a very special time and as you'll see from the photos below, it wasn't all serious.

Pastor Dan sharing his message that really touched me. I wish now we would have recorded it. One of the things he shared was from the book "Heaven is For Real", chapter 17. The book is about the time a little boy spent in Heaven and came back to tell about it. It's a GREAT book. But what PD shared was about how he met his little sister in Heaven, his sister that his mom had miscarried. Very touching indeed!

I got 8 white roses in Noah's memory...one from each of us.

A dear friend brought us this cake a couple days before the service. How thoughtful! We served it after the service. The missing part of the heart?  On Elijah's fingers. :-)

Daddy and Elijah

Birthday buds - Ben and Isaac share a birthday in April!

Birthday buds - Jake and Anna share a birthday too! What are the odds, huh? :-) Only God.

Sarah and Ashley - No, they don't share a birthday!

Rachel is not enjoying the lovin'.

Blue frosting...we all had blue lips and tongues! Well, some of us more than others...

Our family of 8 on April 2nd...soon to add Jonathan. 

My sweet Noah...I will always love you and miss you dearly.You will always be in our hearts. I look forward to the time when I can meet you and your other siblings in Heaven someday. In the meantime, have fun playing with Jesus! We love you!

"Cradled in the arms of the Lord, wrapped in His joy & love, I wait until we meet again, together in heaven above."