While the Wife is Away

A couple of years ago, long before the thought of adopting more children was on our mind, my wife went out of town for 10 days.  When we were planning the trip I asked her to take Henry, our youngest with her, mostly because I wasn't sure how I would cope without her to help me.  She kindly obliged and left me at home with the oldest two kiddos.  After a couple days of her being gone I realized that I actually had no idea how hard it was to be a homemaker.

Fathers:  take note.  This is something that you need to do at least once.  Not only does this give you and idea what it is like to be the full time homemaker, it lets your wife know that you care about her enough to let her have some time away.

Well, fast forward to these past couple weeks.  It is now the third time I have been home with the kids with no adult supervision (I'm the fourth child in our house right now), this time with all three kids.  The older two are in school most days, so a lot of my time is spent with just me and Henry.  I am learning the same old lessons over again:  parenting is hard work, and to be expected to keep up with the house work on top of that is...well, a nightmare.  By the time the kids go to bed, I just want to put my feet up and watch a movie.  The last thing I want to do is the dishes and laundry.  But, after making the wrong choice on those things once (okay, maybe a couple times), and waking up to a stinky kitchen or kids who don't have clean underwear, I've learned to think better.

Gretchen, enjoying some well deserved time away

It took me a little while to get into a routine.  Waking up early and making breakfast, then waking the kids up to have them eat while I make lunches.  Taking them to the bus and returning home to get ready for work, which also means getting Henry ready.  Going to work and trying to get stuff done while parenting.  Making sure I am at the bus in time to get the kids.  Making dinner and getting the kids ready for bed.  There is simply no room in there to fold clothes!  I am blessed with an amazingly smart wife.  She read somewhere, and decided to implement this laundry plan where all she does is sort the clothes.  The kids each are responsible for putting away their own clothes.  This has saved my life these past few weeks!

Looking back at my time with the kids, I would says it was awesome.  It was a lot of hard work, but I had so much time with our kids, time I don't normally have.  I am awesomely blessed with an amazing wife, who allows me to do things like this.  All that said...I don't know what it is going to look like when we have 7 kids.  I mean, life was great with just me and the kids, but it was also hard.  I may have to call in reinforcements...Grandma's beware!  I may also think twice about going away and leaving Gretchen and the kids at home...

Revenge of the Fifth

May 5th.  Cinco de Mayo.  Kodomo no hi.  Each of these days mean different things to our family...some more important than others.  No matter which way you look at it, May 5th is very significant to our family.

Kodomo ni hi is Children's Day in Japan.  It is part of Golden Week and it is a huge celebration.  Every year, on the fifth day of the fifth month there are huge festivities and parties to celebrate kids.  For weeks, and sometimes months leading up to this day you see these Carp flags flying around Japan.  It really is an amazing sight.

The blue ones are for the boys in your family, and the pink are for the girls.  Each family typically flies one for each child outside their house.  The older your kids get, the bigger Carp flag you fly.  Like I said, it is amazing to see.  Our family would fly two blue and a pink this year, but I cannot help but be overjoyed with the thought that next year will be significantly different.  How awesome would it be for our family to be flying seven flags outside our house next year.  How amazing would it be for our kids to come home in time to celebrate Kodomo no hi in Japan?

May 5th, 2012 marked the end of our time in the Air Force.  God called us to move on from the military and move into full time ministry.  I remember the weeks and months leading up to this date.  We were scared and excited all at the same time.  We were not sure what to expect, since the only thing we really knew as adults was the Air Force.  We were leaving the security of our base, the friends we had made, and the culture we had come to love.  We were doing this because God called us to it.  We didn't know what we were getting in to, but we knew that God was doing something.

Our friends, family, and coworkers thought we were nuts.  The economy was extremely bad and I had no transferable skills outside of the military.  I hadn't graduated with my degree yet.  But, it didn't matter.  We were going to be obedient to God's calling in our life.  He has blessed us beyond measure since that time.  We have an amazing support system here in Okinawa, where we are surrounded with people who love us and take care of us.  We now have people that we considder family all around the world.  People we know we can call when we need them, and people we know are praying for us constantly.

God has called us to adopt, and we are following through with that call.  Through this process He has blessed us every step of the way.  He has shown His grace and mercy in our lives as we work through the hardships of adopting while overseas.  Words cannot describe how amazed I am at His faithfulness.  When He call's you to do something, He blesses you for answering that call.

Cinco de Mayo...well, I'm not even sure why we (Americans) celebrate this day.  It would be like celebrating June 12 (Philippine Independence Day), which makes more sense for our family.  But, at least I get to eat some guacamole today...after I learn how to make it...

We still need people to come alongside us and help us with this adoption.  We are not done yet!  I have an update about what is going on with the process (coming soon), but in the mean time, if you would like to help us raise funds to bring our kids home, please click HERE.