Vacation Day #1 and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Well, we made it!! I wasn't sure for a while, but we did! It turns out Garmin does know directions, we just didn't listen! We made a wrong turn, that took us a different way than we are used to, but it still got us here! We pulled in to our trailer at around 2AM, and the kids were wound up after being in the vehicle for 10 hours! They did a wonderful job on the trip! Very well behaved and very little fighting! When we pulled in, they were wired!! It took another hour to get them to settle down enough to fall asleep. Then Toby was a little "scared" but he did well once he was asleep.

Remember, they fell asleep at 3AM and guess what!!! Still up at 8AM!! Ready to go swimming. Mom and I had to run to town (30 minutes away) and get groceries, so we took off and did that, then it was too hot after lunch, so we promised them we would go about 4:00! Of course they were watching the clock, and we headed out promptly at 4! Here the kids are hiking down to the beach area and dad is riding his new bike along side them!

Toby was very excited about the sand, but as soon as he would get dirty, he was ready to jump in the water and clean off!

I don't think Drew left the water at all! Dad and Nate wanted to take Drew fishing today, but Drew wanted to swim first. So he spent a good 2 hours or so in the water and then announced... "I'm ready to go fishing"!

Who could pass up a photo op of dad and his kids on Father's Day? It took some coaxing to get Toby in front of the camera and out of the sand for a minute, but we did, and this was the best I could do!

Taylor practiced the art of skipping rocks, though the practice session didn't last long! She realized "it is hard" and gave up pretty quickly!

Dad was hanging with us on the beach for a while, then he started to get the itch to "get the right side of the boat wet" as he puts it. So he took off and just fished around the docks near the swimming hole, waiting for Drew to declare he was ready. So I snapped a few photos and just happened to get this photo of him releasing his catch. It "wasn't much" he said, but hey, the first catch of the trip!

So once Drew declared he was ready, the guys headed out for an evening on the water to celebrate Father's Day. They are gone as I type! Not sure how long Drew will last, but I think they will all have a great time no matter!

The temps were in the mid-90's today, but beautiful blue skies! Dad said the water temp was in the 80's so it was more like a hot tub than a refreshing swim, but it was fun and refreshing anyway!


Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there, and especially:
My Dad - Ron
Nate's Dad - Carson
Nate's Stepdad - Rudy
Grandpa Vince
Grandpa Richard
Grandpa Ermon
Michael, Tom, Jer, Jason and Mike (all the great dads of our 12 neices and nephews!)

God is Good!

Life with an 11 year old

So, this is just a funny I had to share...

We had a Garage Sale this weekend. Of course we were getting rid of a lot of the kids clothes that were outgrown. Taylor and Drew were also making vacation money from selling some of their things. Well, as some of Taylor's clothes were being carted away, she asked if I gave her credit for the sale. I told her "I'm the one that paid for the clothes." Her quick response, the response of a pre-teen, blew me away! She said to me "Yeah, but I'm the one that made them look good!"

That little stinker! She had me laughing, that's for sure! And I'd have to agree!! :)

God is Good!

Columbus Crew!!!!

Taylor got a package in the mail today! She had no idea what it was. Nate and I were expecting it, so we were prepared with the cameras as she opened it! Here is what she found!

An autographed Columbus Crew jersey and a photo. It's sweet to have an uncle that has connections, and loves his nieces and nephews so much! It was supposed to be a birthday gift, it just took a while to pull it together!

God is Good!

Last Days of School

Well, it's official! We have a 6th grader and a 2nd grader!! Another wonderful year for the Mills' kids! Yesterday, the elementary awards program was held. I was able to attend, and Taylor racked up several awards!! She got an award for being part of the Fine Arts Festival, volunteering in the cafeteria, participating in the Strings Orchestra, and for being on the Honor Roll all year! Here she is after receiving one of her awards!

And I also got to stick around for some of Drew's class party. I was at Taylor's Christmas party, so I spent the afternoon at Drew's End of Year party! The room mothers did a wonderful job! I snapped this picture of Drew before he knew I as there. He was working on his journal!


And today, even though Field Day got rained out, the kids finished their last day of school! I got home just in time to snap a few photos of them getting off the bus for the last time...

as a 5th Grader

And a 1st Grader!

Here is one final photo of the kids together on the last day of school...
And to be nostalgic, here is the photo from the first day of school!

They just keep getting BIGGER AND BIGGER!!

God is Good!

Baseball Season!!

Well, Drew is a few weeks into his first Coaches Pitch Season! He is playing for Weaver Construction, which is funny, because many moons ago, Mommy played on a Weaver Softball team! He is doing great! And the coaches have said they wish they had a whole team of Drew's! Of course, I can't blame them! He continues to make me proud in all he does! He had his first game a few weeks ago, which is what these photos are from. His game last night was under the lights! What fun that was... even if the rain came in and got us all soaked in under 5 minutes! Got to love Ohio!! Enjoy!




And what would a brothers ball game be without dirt for the younger brother? Toby had a lot of fun playing in the dirt/rocks... Here are a few photos. Not sure if you can really see his shirt, but Nate got it for him at the Rock Hall a few weeks ago. It is a picture of a little Asian boy playing Drums and it says "To the beat of my own drum". It is currently his FAVORITE shirt!



God is Good!

Happy Memorial Day

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all who have served so selflessly for our Freedom!



God is Good!

Kelsey's growing up

Well, my oldest niece Kelsey, is graduating from high school. I have NO IDEA where the time has gone, and I am just in complete shock. Just yesterday, she was in love with Nate... that's right, she had a crush on her uncle (well he wasn't at the time) Nate when she was little! Who could blame her :) And it was not but yesterday that she was the flower girl in my wedding.

Now, she's all ready to face the world! Head off to college, and fulfill her dreams! I pray for her often, but especially now, during this time of transition in her life. That she will realize the decisions she makes now will effect the rest of her life. It's not as easy as "which cereal do I eat" or "which socks do I wear?". It's now "how will this decision change the rest of my life." It's a fun time, but also a very challenging time, and I pray she will stay strong in who she knows she can be and will continue to grow into the beautiful woman she has become!

Here she is with her certificate!

And here, getting ready to sing the National Anthem at the program.

I missed the beginning, UGH, but I got most of it. They did a BEAUTIFUL job!



Love you Kelsey, and God Bless You at Johnson and Wales University!!!!

God is Good!

Our Busy Taylor

Well, as usual, Taylor has kept us hopping!

She had a double header soccer game last Saturday. They tied the first game, and the second game was very close, but they lost. Here are a few shots of Tay in action.



And Taylor also had her first Orchestra recital. She did very well and we were very proud!


If you can stand it, here is a video clip of one of the songs!

It was very strange for me, sitting and watching her perform in orchestra. I am a proud band geek alum, and to sit and watch my daughter out there, just brought back so many memories. As I watched her director step up and raise her arms, I could just picture and hear Mr. Moss doing the same thing so many years ago. I could picture the silly faces he would make, to help us all relax. I could remember that feeling, as I raised my flute, full of anticipation and excitement. It just made me hope and pray that her experience in Orchestra will be as wonderful as mine was in band. I have so many wonderful memories of that time, and I hope she can say the same in a few years! Almost makes me want to dust off my flute and my music (don't think the neighbors would like us to add to our band of instruments that they already get to hear now that the windows are thrown up!)

God is Good!

Happy 5th Birthday Kaleb

Well, Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mom's out there. While I am so blessed to have three beautiful children that I love dearly celebrate with me on Mother's Day, it will never be a joyous Holiday. It was five years ago that I was carrying my precious Kaleb in my womb, knowing that any day, he would be born, and would be the worst day of my life. Yes, I prayed that the doctors were wrong, I wished that he would be born, and have a fighting chance. Babies survive at 24 weeks all the time, right? Well, that wasn't the case for my Kaleb.

So while I celebrate my mom on Mother's Day, and I celebrate my Mother-In-Law on Mother's Day, and I celebrate all my Grandmothers on Mother's Day, I also suffer through this day. Remembering the last moments I had with my baby here on earth. Tomorrow will be 5 years since the day that Kaleb was in my arms. I think that being the milestone birthday that it is is making it much harder this year.

So I will get through the day tomorrow. We will go to the cemetery and release balloons into the sky. Balloons that I know you will see as you celebrate your birthday with Jesus beside you. What more could a mother ask for? To have Jesus at your son's every birthday celebration. I know we all think of eternity, but having lost a child (or four) you tend to look at eternity in a whole new light. Not with fear, but with hope and excitement beyond that of meeting your creator. One of feeling whole again, after years of having part of your heart missing.

Until then, I think of you every day Kaleb. I wonder often "what if" and "what now". But I know one day you will be in my arms again, and my heart will be whole.



God IS Good!

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer. Here are a few things I am praying for...

- Our Country
- Our Economy
- Our President

(would you pray with me for the following children/families?)
- Baby Sayla Geiser
- Kaylie Hostetler
- Brian Ricer
- The Miyashita Family

Coworkers
- Lola who is recovering from surgery
- Regina recovering from a broken leg

- My Sr High Small Group - Caitlin, Jenea, Naomi, Hope, Micaela, Erika and Jenessa
- My Adult Small Group - Carters, Artrips, Clevelands

My Family
- Salvation for many, and boldness on my part to share the gospel with them
- Nate's cousin Sara and her mom and dad, making a long trip today to see her boyfriend graduate from boot camp (you two mean so much to us!)

My Children
- Taylor - that you would continue to become a woman of God, as you grow and mature. That you would be strong in your faith as the temptations around you increase. That God would carry you when you need Him and that I would know how to be a Godly example to you!
- Drew - That your loving heart would continue to grow! That God will use you and challenge you in life and that you will grow to serve God.
- Toby - That as you grow, you will grow closer to God and have a desire to serve him and have Him as your Savior! I pray for continued health and healing for your Kidneys and physical growth as well.

My Husband
- As you seek to follow God's Will, I pray for clarity and peace. I pray for schooling to continue to go well, and for your desire to finish strong will not diminish but only intensify as you take a break this summer. I look forward to the wonderful summer God has planned for our family!

What are you praying for?

God is Good

Very Hungry Caterpillar

On Thursday, we attended Toby's first preschool program. How exciting. The week before, I had been to his IEP meeting, and the teachers explained to me that he is still about a year behind in speech and communication. While we are aware of his situation, and have seen great progress, seeing him in his classroom with his peers does make it more obvious. It just means I have more work to do! He is very smart, and I know he will do well in life, but the idea of Kindergarten now only a year away, we need to do all that we can to help him be ready!

So, he was the one that didn't sing a single note to the songs, but he was still a very handsome caterpillar! He did march right in and preceeded to "eat" all the food as the story went. One of his teachers commented on how he was the best at eating the food. He was very clearly munching on everything and even had sound effects. So A+ for that big guy!

Here he is dressed as a caterpillar. You can't see the big green circles that they had on their bellies! Theyre were adorable!

And here he is showing off is butterfly. He did a wonderful job on all the craft projects they had hanging around the room!

And a photo by one of his "favorite" foods in the story, Pie!

So as Nate and I were watching, it became clear rather quickly what Toby's nervous habit is... finger in the nose! Luckily he was on the end, so I don't think many people noticed. Once they were done, his finger didn't return to his nose the rest of the time. We'll have to work on that!

God is Good!

Blogging

So, I'm guessing if you are reading this, you are a blogger. I don't think many people "stumble" upon a blog. I have no idea who my readers are. I know I have friends that occasionally pop in, other adoptive families that pop in, etc. Who is reading isn't really all that important. I'm not sure if I care if anyone is reading (though it is fun to see the counter going up). I have no time in my life for scrapbooking right now... I JUST DON'T!! Blogging takes me about 10 minutes, and I can do it quickly after the kids are in bed, without any stickers, scissors, glue, paper and mess!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Scrapbooking, I just can't do it right now. So Blogging gives me a chance to talk about the things I love (adoption and my family) and in a sense, Pre-Scrapbook! When the day comes that I have free time (I know it will happen), I can simply sit down to millsfamily5 and go back and recall all that was going on, all the wonderful outings and excursions we go on, and scrapbook them for the children much easier.

Why am I babbling about this you may ask? Well, I was away this past weekend at Women of Faith. Yes, that is a women's Christian conference. I was in a room after the conference with one of my girlfriends and she had several family/friends with her that I had not met before. They did not know much about me. I think they knew I had an adopted son, but that was about it. So we are eating and chatting about all sorts of things... life, travel, kids, (husbands leaving their wives behind when she steps off the motorcycle and they dont' realize and go racing away!)... when the subject of Blogging and Facebook came up. It became pretty clear that they were not fans of either. I sat quietly, observing these ladies reactions and comments. I was not hurt by what they were saying, but I was shocked that women of faith would be so harsh and judgemental. Their opinion was that people that blog and are on facebook are only on there trying to create an image of their perfect family, in other words FAKE. And if they were being honest about their lives (some people blog about EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING) that it was just inappropriate. "Who cares about them doing laundry" they said. So there's a double standard :) Don't be fake, but don't be honest.

I am not sure what the real issue was with these ladies. Why they felt it their place to "call out" people who blog as not being worthy. Why they felt that it was really a problem. I don't think anyone forces them to go out and read them? It just amazes me that people see it necessary to put down others at all.

I did not say anything while I was there. However, at one point my girlfriend mentioned something about my blog, and the look on some of the girls faces was priceless. The one girl ran out of the room laughing (I'm not positive that is why, but I think she had some egg on her face). I am just hoping that they got a glimpse of the judgement and immaturity they were showing.

So if you think blogging is stupid, why have you read this far?

God is Good

First Grade Field Trip

Today I got to go to Rolling Ridge Ranch with Drew and his first grade class. We had to drive ourselves, so I took Toby with us as well! It was a beautiful day here in Ohio. I think Spring has Finally Sprung!! Here are some photos of our day!

We had 3 wagons full of first graders and their parents. This was the wagon in front of us. We were some of the first people there, and the animals were HUNGRY!!

A close up of one of the Osterich, or was it an Emu? Those things are CRAZY!

Here we are inside the gate, and the animals charged us for food!

YIKES!

Drew was having a lot of fun!

Another shot of the wagon in front of us further down the trail!

Toby having fun with the billy goats. They had lots of babies, and he wanted to hold them all! He is so sweet!

Drew holding the baby duck.

Toby holding (read Squeezing) the baby duck!

We had to get photos of the monkeys for Toby! He LOVES his monkeys!

After we left, we stopped off at Heini's Cheese for a few treats! YUM! Toby was good for a while but then he began to get tired! So we took off for home, and naps... both He and I!!

It was a lovely day, I got to spend some amazing time with my boys!

I'm off to Women of Faith tomorrow night in Columbus. It will be a wonderful refreshing weekend, but I will miss my gang!!

God is Good

Easter Fun!

A week ago, we took the kids down to the Easter Egg hunt at the local park. Taylor was "too big" this year to partake, so she helped out by taking Drew to his area while I stayed with Toby. She got her egg hunting cut short by a year. Last year, she was only 9 at the egg hunt, since it was in March. This year, she was 11 for the egg hunt because Easter was in April. She never got to be a 10 year old at the Easter Egg Hunt! I think she'll survive!

Here are the kids with the big bunny! Toby wasn't freaked out this year! He was actually very excited, and ended up blowing a kiss to the Bunny as we left! It was so cute!

After church, I forced the family to get a photo together! You would have thought I was killing the kids, but they all survived, and this, sadly, was the only decent one. Poor Toby! But everyone else looks great!

After we changed, we stopped at my parents house to visit quickly before heading out to Nate's mom's house! Here are Toby and Daw-Daw at Grandma Debbie's house. We kept finding Dawson sitting next to "Willie" (as in Hillbilly Willie!), carrying on a conversation, so we decided to snap a few photos!

The adults hid the Easter eggs, and here is what happened when we let the wild animals loose!

Drew was pretty successful in finding the eggs!

Here is Derek counting his loot!

Daddy was helping Toby find his eggs!

I think Lincoln had the advantage with this egg! Hope there was something good in it :)

Back inside, Drew is checking out all his goodies!

And here is Grandma Debbie and Graham reading the Easter Story, along with the Resurrection Eggs, to the kids! This has become a family tradition!

Hope you all enjoyed your Blessed Easter Day!

God is Good!

Toby's Four!

Well, his actual birthday isn't until Tuesday, but we had Toby's birthday party today. No matter how many people show up, it is a special day! I can't believe Toby is actually four already!! It seems like just yesterday, we were celebrating his 2nd birthday with him half way around the world, and us only wondering what his birthday party was like! Today, we celebrated with a few family members, and we made the most of his special, Curious, Day!!







We love you Toby!!!

God is Good!

Happy Easter

Remembering what my Saviour had to go through... unimaginable! And all he asks of me is to follow Him!

I love this song. We used it on one of Toby's Videos! And I love how this video is clearly showing Mary's struggles from The Passion of the Christ! As a mom, I get that in a small way! Enjoy!



God is Good!