A First Camping Trip

Jonah and Rees went on their first camping trip!!! 

 They were SO EXCITED as we made all the preparations to go away for the weekend!!

Our favorite place to go camping is in Green County, Wisconsin ... land of rolling hills, amish farms and everything GREEN  ... oh, and CHEESE galore!

We ALWAYS stop at our favorite cheese factory in Monroe, ... the Alp and Dell.  They have a wonderful selection of cheese and tasting samples of many of the various cheeses.  Our kids L-O-V-E cheese tasting!  ...  well, except for Jonah.  

At this point, he does NOT like cheese but we are confident that he will eventually love cheese as much as the rest of us.

CHEESE IS LIFE!!!

Our camping destination is Yellowstone Lake State Park just outside of Argyle, Wisconsin.

We started going to Yellowstone Lake about eight years ago.  Molly and Brynn's faces seemed to be mosquito magnets and their bites would be so bad that their eyes would often swell shut.  We heard about the Park because of their reputation for being home to thousands of bats.  The bats help to keep down the insect population.  Well, we decided to give the park a try and amazingly their was virtually NO MOSQUITOS!!  The beauty of the area was an added bonus!!

As dusk is approaching, we stand outside the houses and listen carefully.  When we could actually hear the bats inside ... Rees said, "they waking up and get a dressed."  Oh my, I love that boy!  

As it gets even darker, we witnessed the bats coming out of the houses.  It's pretty amazing to watch as they fly out and swoop through the air and into the woods to find their feasts.

My Chinese Dumplings ...

Take a look at this happy little guy!  

How do you think he looks?  Can you see the amazing change that is taking place in his face?

We continue to turn Jonah's palate expander each day and the bands that he is wearing with his appliances are helping to relocate his teeth into their appropriate spaces.

It has become quite difficult to understand when Jonah speaks, which is due to the fact that everything inside his mouth is in a different place.  He will begin speech therapy next week and he will hopefully be on his way to improved speech. 

Our fishing adventures for the weekend were mostly uneventful ... BUT ... the kids had a good time trying to catch a fish!

Molly was our only fish-catcher for the weekend.  She caught one fish, we think it was a crappie ... it was a good one ... but we still threw it back.

Brynn was a little bummed that she did not catch any fish. 

She did get the opportunity to touch a fish, though ... from someone else's catch.

Jonah was brave enough to touch the fish too ... but Rees decided to look only with his eyes.

The first camping trip with our newest boys was a bit bumpy in spots but there were some very special moments ... this was one of them ...

Ahhh ... and so was this ... 

We took our traditional drive over to New Glarus, a delightful town founded by early Swiss settlers, now an obvious attraction to tourists.  We usually stroll over to the Maple Leaf for an ice cream cone ... 

... however, we'd also like to point out (if you happen to go to New Glarus) that we regretfully forgot about this newer establishment ... Kennedy's Ice Cream and Grill.  

It's just a block away from the New Glarus Tourism Center and it has the same ice cream at a lower price, from what we can remember.  We realized our forgetfulness when we walked over to the Tourism Center (to use the public restrooms located just outside the building).

Rees and Baba took it upon themselves to play a little "scare-you-around-the-corner" game while we waited.

It was a nice weekend all in all.  Jonah and Rees had a fantastic time and would have been happy to stay there living in our camper forever, I think.  They did not understand why we had to go back home ... but they reluctantly went along with it. They are very much looking forward to our next camping trip! 

First of all, isn't that a cool photo??  It's pretty rare that I have all my dumplings in the same spot at the same time so I QUICK took the opportunity to snap a photo and I used a photo editing app to make it look like that.  All new to me ... so thought it was pretty cool!

So, I realize that it has been a while since I updated.  Truly sorry about that ... while things have settled down a bit on the medical front for Jonah and Rees, we remain exceedingly busy.  

Both boys are scheduled for their next surgeries.  Jonah will have surgery on June 23 to remove his jaw distractors and also to lengthen his palate, which should help him to improve his speech.  We continue to see the surgeon bi-weekly, the Orthdontist weekly and now we will add Speech Therapy to our schedule beginning in a couple weeks.   We have quite the routine with cleaning his appliances (distractors and orthodonic), turning his expander, and changing his bands (we're up to four now) twice a day.  We're really supposed to do it three times a day, but that is just not possible. Jonah continues to have night terrors, however, they are A LOT milder now and don't seem to last as long.  This mama has had improved sleep ... thank-you, Jesus!

Our little man, Rees, is scheduled for surgery on July 7.  This makes us slightly nervous, simply because of everything we've gone through with him.  The plan, as we know it right now, is to reposition the nasal bone, the one that's been hanging out on the side of his skull.  They also plan to remove what's left of the hamatoma and evaluate if it's continuing to grow.  In that process, the surgeon will revise the appearance of Rees' nose and remove the scar tissue from that nasty-self-evolving-long-enduring-pit of a wound he had.  

They are two excellent helpers!!!

In the meantime, we have been super busy but have tried to have a moment for refreshing here and there ... we were in Janesville and enjoyed a meal at the very tasty Hacienda Real.    

I just love this photo ... Brynn and Rees were a bit puzzled by Molly's menu-reading technique.

It was a nice break and the food was delicious!

Earlier this week we got to see Molly inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.  

It was pretty exciting for her that her two best friends were inducted as well ... 

And lastly, over the last month, my mother's health has declined and I share this because I know that so many of you have prayed for us ... during the adoption process for Jonah and Rees ... for both of them during their surgeries and healing process ... for our family to endure ...

... and I know that many of you continue to pray for us and will pray for this situation as well.

It has been very difficult on many levels ... 

... but we've had a little more family time.  Here's Jonah and Rees with Grandpa.

Even though I feel like there have been SO MANY hard things in my life lately, I CAN feel His presence.  It may not be overwhelmingly strong at every moment and I do continually seek and ask for a Mighty Revealing of the LORD's Power ...

... but I know He's there

... and I've had the strength that I have prayed for (again, not overwhelmingly, but enough)

... and I have a peace in knowing that things may not go the way I want them to but I will still be held in the loving arms of my Creator.

I heard something on the radio last week ... during one of those 'minute blurbs' by a K-Love pastor.  He was talking about the injustice that was done to Joseph, son of Jacob, and the unfolding of events that transpired afterwards ... and the ‘gist’ of it was that our ‘famine’s might very well be part of God’s plan’.  There's no way I can repeat it verbatim but it struck me as significant at the time.  I tried to find more online and had to eventually give up on finding this pastor's version and, perhaps, discover my own.

So, I've been reading the Bible ... (though I already do know the story) ... about Joseph ... in the book of Genesis.  Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob.  The 10 older half-brothers were jealous of Joseph and they despised him, even though Joseph did them no wrong.  They plotted to harm him and ended up selling him into slavery.  He became the slave of Potiphar, the Captain of the Guard and officer to the Pharaoh of Egypt.  But Potiphar could see that there was something special about Joseph so he put him in charge of his entire household.  He was just 17 years old.

After an unfortunate situation, Joseph was wrongly accused and thrown into prison as punishment for something he did not do.  Yet, even in prison, Joseph was looked upon favorably and was put in charge of all the other prisoners ...

God had given Joseph the ability to interpret dreams and it was this gift that finally got Joseph out of prison and resulted in him becoming second in command over all of Egypt.  The Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of his entire palace and that anyone in his presence should treat him as if he was the Pharaoh himself.  Joseph's wisdom from God about the Pharaoh’s dreams led him to prepare the Egyptians for a great and terrible famine that would affect the lands; ultimately the preparations saved the lives of a multitude of people.  Because the famine was so great, Joseph’s brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food from the Pharaoh.  Little did they know that Joseph, who they assumed dead by now, was the overseer of all sales.  Joseph recognized his brothers and through a series of events, Joseph revealed himself and forgave his brothers and provided for all of them as well as their families.  He was 39 years old when he was reunited with his family.

Some may think, how could Joseph forgive them after what they had done?  If they had not been so cruel to him, he would never have had to be someone’s slave … he would never have been wrongly accused … he would never have been imprisoned for so long.  Some may even say he lost 22 years of his life!

But Joseph knew … he knew that God had ordained the whole thing.  That’s right!  Every injustice that was done, every unfair incident, every wrongful intention was a necessary part of a greater plan that was working its way to fulfillment.  There’s a verse in the Bible that I’ll not soon forget; it never meant much to me until I felt the loss of someone very dear to me who in his final days had been reading the book of Habakkuk.  At some point (either before or after his passing, I do not remember which) the pastor at the church I attend gave a sermon (also of which I do not remember) but referenced Habakkuk 1:5 which says: “Look at the nations and watch—  and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”  Now right off, this verse does not immediately move me or stop me but given in context, it means more and this is the part that has stuck with me … in reference to the verse, the pastor said this: 

“God’s plan is greater than man’s suffering!”

Now, that statement does not necessarily make me want to shout out a celebratory AMEN but it does give me reason to pause and to acknowledge the Truth of it.  I feel like I have been in a ‘famine’ … I have spiritual, emotional, and physical deficiencies that I carry around with me every day, which is probably why the radio one-minute blurb caught my attention.  Maybe you’re in a ‘famine’ too.   Sometimes, we have to go through things that seem unfair, endure circumstances that are painful, and witness events that are heartbreaking.  It’s in those moments that it is so necessary to seek out the purpose of God, to believe that He uses all things for His Glory, and to trust that HE DOES HAVE A PLAN … even if it might take 22 years to come to fruition.

And when it’s really hard to believe that anything positive could arise out of the ‘pits’ of life … I remind myself that nothing that I go through, no matter how difficult it seems at the time, can compare to the suffering and painful death that Jesus experienced on my behalf.  Jesus was God’s Own Son … and He allowed … EVEN ORDAINED … Him to suffer and die horribly … because of His Plan for the Redemption of mankind.

“God’s plan is greater than man’s suffering!”

God is at work even when we are in the midst of a famine.  For some, a season of famine may be the only way to realize our need for a living God who has a plan for each and every one of us.  He did not abandon Joseph … and He won’t abandon us either.      

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

 “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

“When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. Jeremiah 29:11-13 (MSG)

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
    but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 (MSG)

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him.^[a] They are the people he called, because that was his plan. Romans 8:28 (NCV)