Nine months of Ruthie

Nine months! I can’t say enough how much we love Ruth, how much she has changed our lives, and how we wish every home could have a Ruthie V. 

Ruth and Caroline continue to be BFFs. Trent and I often look at each other and ask, “What did Caroline do before Ruth came home?” The answer is probably “puzzles” which she has scarcely touched in nine months. They are always together, playing, running, chasing, bathing. 

Ruth loves doing whatever the big girls are doing! Look at those amazing fine motor skills she is learning by stringing fruit loops!

She watched history happen when the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl. This is how she felt the next day when she was still tired. She had asked to get down from lunch and I told her to wait. She completely lost her mind, pulled her ponytails out, and sobbed. Needless to say, she had a great nap that day. 

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with lots of snuggles and kisses. 

She ate and highly enjoyed spaghetti at the Youth Group’s spaghetti dinner. 

Took her bike for a walk. She’s not quite tall enough to sit on the seat-hopefully by summer she’ll get it!

Played in a box. 

Celebrated Chinese New Year! 

Told her daddy how to open the butter properly. 

Played “dead” in her glow-in-the-dark skeleton pajamas. 

Played memory with daddy. She is starting to learn the rules to some games and seems to enjoy them!

Wore the most adorable panda shirt that was gifted to her from another little girl, Finlay, who was also a Peace House / foster baby at the same time as Ruthie. I’m blessed to be in contact with two families with girls from similar situations as Ruth. 

We ate the first ice cream cone of the season which ended poorly for this girl. 

Ruth looks angry here, but I promise she was having fun! They were playing school. Maggie and Abbey were the teachers and Ruth and Caroline the students.  It cracks me up when they play school in the evenings since they’re in school all day. 

Ruthie chilling at Aunt Audrey’s house while the big cousins played pool. She was literally the only smal kid left in the basement. I went to check on her and found her like this; totally absorbed in her play phone. 

These two love playing “mommy”. This day I was grandma and was babysitting all their dollies. The doll babies wouldn’t stop crying because they only wanted grandpa. When I asked if he was at work Carrie said, “No. He’s at the hos-ba-ble because somebody shooted his hand.” Never a dull moment!

This was their shadow monster. 

Ruthie loves books! Isn’t she so sweet reading to herself at the library?

I wanted a 9 months home picture of Ruth but she was more interested in having pictures with her sisters. 

In fact, she turned her chair around until I agreed to do a sisters picture. 

She is full of sass and big personality. Her speech is slowly but surely improving. She still has limited sounds that she is capable of saying but she makes up for it in volume. We’re still working on getting her to understand that just because she says it louder doesn’t mean it’s more intelligible. 

This is her “not impressed” face. 

And her “cheese” face. 

Happy nine months home, little deer! 

We love you, so much!

And, she’s off! We’re so excited to see what joys the next month brings. 

Special thanks to my mother-in-law who has helped out multiple times this month when we’ve had so many appointments for speech transition and when Ruth was sick. I know sometimes people think I am a super-mom but I’m really not. I have a very supportive family who are truly amazing! I wouldn’t be who I am without them. 

When Dreams Become Idols

I have this insane, creative mind which allows me to have lots of really great (in my humble opinion) ideas. I'm always coming up with more things I want to do with my time or who I'd like to become: be an artist, a writer, an interior decorator (that one didn't last long), a nurse, a teacher, and a farmer, just to name a few. Within each idea there are heaps of sub-categories of specifics: watercolor or acrylic artist (florals? words?), children's literature, parenting, or a yummy novel?, NICU nurse?, and on and on.

As Americans, we live in this weird Disney culture of following your dreams. While it's all well and good to have ideas and to enjoy life, as Christians, I believe we need to be careful not to get caught up in this "follow your arrow" movement. Because sometimes our dreams are desires of the flesh, things that go against what God would have for us. And not because God hates us. No, my friends, it's because he loves us so much that he wants only what is the best for us. Just like we give rules to our children. It's not because we hate them, it's that we love them so much!


What if your dream is not "of the flesh"? There doesn't appear to be anything sinful about it, so how can we know if it is what we should do or not? I'm not an expert on, well, anything really. But I know that when I get completely wrapped up in a new idea, that the dream can rapidly explode into an idol. Most recently I've wanted to become a farmer. I know. Weird. Anyway, I've spent hours and hours researching, planning, thinking, taking notes, and pondering out how on earth you can make a living being a farmer. The reality is, I'm not going to be a farmer anytime soon. Or ever. And it struck me the other day that I've wasted so much energy on something that is not going to happen. Is it a terrible dream? Probably not. Is it going to happen for me in the next couple of years or ever? No, not likely. So why am I focusing all this energy on it?

I have made the dream of becoming a farmer an idol. The idea of a lifestyle that looks attractive to me quickly took over the reality that I should be following God unswervingly in the real life I have before me. And when I focus on what is before me, I can see how much I already have. I can see the blessings in living my best life with my amazing husband who gave me deep roots into Lancaster county, and preserves me from flying off on my thousands of ideas; the gift of my five little Hesses. When I pay close attention to home, I realize I don't need a farm or anything else to fulfill me. With the grace of God, I am learning I can be content.

Image from: http://www.sunnydaysnice.com/full-day-trips/verdon-gorge-and-lavender-fields/

In the midst of learning to be content I'll continue to be an ardent admirer of farms, especially lavender farms. After all, God is the original artist, and I intend to enjoy his creation.

February: The Armpit Month

Nature has made me an optimistic, think with my heart kind of gal. Throughout the year you can generally find me smiling and appreciating life. 

And then February comes. I’ve taken to calling it the armpit month because that’s what it reminds me of. The weather stinks, I’m tired of being inside, things start to get a little hairy as patience wears thin. 

I find I have to make concerted efforts to draw myself out of the depression that sneaks up on me. If I’m not careful I can take a 3 hour nap on a Saturday, go to bed early, and still be grumpy, listless and despondent the next day. 

To pull through the month I try to make an effort to step outside everyday. This may seem crazy to some of you, but I can easily go 3 days without going outside since I homeschool. Even if it’s just to walk to the mailbox and back, I am trying to get out. I may lock myself in the bathroom for 30 minutes to try a new hairstyle. If we get a warm day, school gets put on the back burner so we can energize our bodies with the sunshine. 

I try to plan something fun. We had an indoor picnic that I tried my best to enjoy. While I was cringing inwardly at the spilled popcorn I was outwardly laughing at the failed attempts to toss and catch it in our mouths. 

We shook the blanket off outside and ran the vacuum. Who knows what memories my girls will hold on to from their childhood? I hope when they look back on how their mom did with this whole parenting gig, they will recall my perseverance through the armpit of winter. 

January Generosity

January has already wrapped up but I wanted to quick mention what the girls did this month to work on our word of the year: generosity.

At a friend’s suggestion (thanks, Paul) we donated food to our local food bank. Solanco Neighborhood Ministries is very near our home so we loved starting the year off with something that will very directly impact our small town. 

Since the girls take turns going with Trent every Monday to the grocery store this was a simple one to work on for the month. I assigned each girl a meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) and they got to pick things that they love to eat to donate. I didn’t add up the dollars spent or even the number of food items purchased because that wasn’t the point. 

The point is that each child got to physically pick up something that will be given to another family in our community who is going through a difficult time. 

They were proud of the nice box of food we delivered to the food bank and are looking forward to February’s non-profit. 

Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who had been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” 

Happy 100 Days of School

Sometimes I feel bad about homeschooling my girls because they miss out on some of the things that were my favorite parts of going to a “brick & mortar” school. One of those things is friends outside our family, and the second is all the fun days that happen at school. 

It has become tradition to do a big celebration on our 100th day of school. I stay up late the night before preparing all sorts of crafts, games, and often a big sign. It also happens to be Groundhog Day which is a more random “holiday” but one that I remember always enjoying as a kid. 

Last night I prepped a special crown for each girl in their favorite color with “Anne (insert child’s name)  is 100 Days smarter”. One craft that we have done every year is stringing 100 fruit loops onto a necklace that they can wear all morning and nibble from. It cracks me up that even Anne, at 10, still finds joy in the fruit loop necklace. 

Under their crown was a beautiful big packet of activities, coloring pages, all related to either 100 days of school  or Groundhog Day. 

This year’s sign included the Groundhog, a red door with Ni Hao (hello in Mandarin), and wishes of warmer days with the apple trees and a happy sun. Also, I did draw this but I was looking at a picture. My girls felt like that was cheating. 

Stringing Tootie Fruities (which we bought at BBs for 50 cents). The cereal was literally the only thing I purchased for this celebration. We had all the other materials on hand already; your celebration doesn’t have to cost a lot to be fun!

We did an interactive game that I really loved. I found a lot of material on the website TeachersPayTeachers.com :: but the ones I used were actually free downloads. The activity the girls are doing in the picture is “Hold a silly face for 100 seconds”. There were tons of very similar ideas that their partner would initial beside once they completed it: such as 100 jumping jacks, stand on one foot for 100 seconds, see how far you get in 100 steps, hold completely still for 100 seconds, etc. 

After being wild they settled down to a writing activity. They had to draw a picture of themselves at 100 years old and fill in the blanks about their 100th birthday party celebration. The girls definitely went the silly route and treated it like a mad lib, but they had a great time. Words are fun! 

They really didn’t want to take a picture in front of the sign but I asked them to. When they were not eager to smile I was literally acting like Stuart (from Mad TV like 100 years ago) saying, “look what I can do! I’m a gazelle, leaping through fields! I just want you to love me and smile!!” Sometimes when I’m weird the girls just roll their eyes, but thankfully they thought it was funny today. But Ruthie was most interested in her cereal necklace. Haha!

It was a really, really great morning. The girls had finished their tiny bit of Friday homework by 10:00 so we spent the rest of the morning and after lunch on the fun stuff. To top off the day, I gave them a break from studying World War 2 and told them to snuggle up and watch a movie together after I put Ruthie down for her nap. 

If you want to find activities for your 100th day of school I would recommend the previously mentioned site: TeachersPayTeachers as well as simply typing into Google, 100 Days of school. No need to reinvent the wheel, the ideas are out there waiting for you. It’s totally up to you how simple or elaborate you want to make the day! Have fun and give yourself a pat on the back! Just 80 more days to go until summer vacation! 

Our Right Now

This morning as I was standing over the step stool in my bathroom I had a sudden thought. 

Often it is irritating that our master bathroom has been taken over by the two smallest people in our home. They leave stuff out, drop things, and make messes wherever they go. And while I don’t really think I will miss moving this stool around what feels like 1,000 times a day, I do hope to look back with fondness at these moments. 

In order to more accurately look back, I want to jot down a few moments from a very typical day. This morning is Bible Study morning but the littles are sick with a cough, sneeze, and runny noses so we stayed home. 

I came downstairs to find these three snuggled together in front of the fire place with library books. 

I ran upstairs to give the littles a warm bath. 

I tiredly washed the dishes with Loretta Lynn pandora playing quietly in my earbuds. Quiet enough that I could answer math and science questions. 

I enjoyed this wintery view from my kitchen sink. 

All of this stuff was collected on the kitchen counter. Pretty sure this is one of those things I won’t miss too terribly. 

I don’t have any picture from today but I had to run out to get a CBC test done for Ruth to check her Hemoglobin. Yesterday she was extremely lethargic to the point that I was very worried that the minor cold she has would drop her Hemoglobin so low that she would need a blood transfusion. Thankfully after a very long nap and lots of prayers she perked back up but we still wanted to check her numbers to keep on her record. My mother-in-law dropped in to watch the big girls while I took Ruthie to get the blood drawn. 

The girls eat a lot of yogurt with lunch and as a treat I sometimes add sprinkles. 

Also pretty sure I won’t miss this constant mess of snow clothes, blankets, balloons and books. But it’s my regular, real life, right now. 

My lunch crew. 

This is only the first half of this day. In the midst of the mess there is so much beauty. We are given just one life and none of us know how long it will be. And so we take the joy from each day, we press closer to the Lord and closer to each other. While some days I think it may be easier to send my girls to school, I remind myself that they are mine for only a short time. One day they will fly the nest and I will look back at these simple, everyday moments and I will smile with fondness and encourage my girls as they start families of their own. 

Eight Months Home with Ruthie V.

Another month home with Miss Ruth. She continues to be a source of joy in our home. Now, more than ever, she is vocalizing her opinions on everything. While we can usually grasp what she is telling us if we know the context, it can still be a struggle to know what she is saying to Trent at the end of the day as each girl tells him what they did that day. 

 I had been away for the weekend alone (what? Amazing, right?) and I got her up from her nap when I got back. She was so happy to see me and saying, “Mama, mama!” Then, she said “eee-eee, ih (and stuck out her tongue) mah annn (and pointed to her hand). 

And I questioned, “Petey licked your hand?” And she said, “yeah!” And laughed. Obviously this would have been really hard for anyone who doesn’t know her well to understand, but we are really thrilled with her communication between words, signs, and gestures. If you’ve met her you know she has a lot to say to the world. We have had a few speech therapy sessions and I believe they are already starting to help. I have to remind myself that speech is a marathon, not a sprint. And slow and steady progress will lead us to great places. 

So what did Ruthie do this month?

She enjoyed a New Year’s trip down to Virginia to stay with our best friends!

Jack met us at the door wearing his Chinese outfit we got him and welcoming us with, “Ni Hao!” It was the cutest. 

Roo and Care continue to be BFFs. Here they’re enjoying a hot cocoa after playing in the snow. 

Ruthie is giving Caroline a piggy back ride up the stairs to get dressed. Hah!

It has been really sweet to watch Ruth’s interest in babies grow this past month. She has been creatively playing quite a bit these days. 

She likes to pretend to drive this sleigh outside grandpa and grandma Hess’s house. 

And obviously, baby needs a forkful of sour cream. Guys. We have a major sour cream addiction in our house. I’m not even sorry about it. 

The hardest thing she did this month was separate from each other for 2.5 hours during Bible Study. While I have left her other times it was always with a family member. This was different because it was a class of 3-year-olds with teachers she didn’t know. It was helpful to leave Caroline in the same class and I’m thankful the teachers made an exception to allow them to be together. The next time I left her she still cried when I dropped her off but did even better in the class and seemed her normal self when I picked her up. The first time it seemed to take her a couple days to get back to normal. 

And reading books together can’t be beat. 

I loved this so much! We sat and watched a Torch Lighters (highly recommend!) about Gladys Alyward, the British missionary who went to China and did many, many amazing things for teaching the gospel. 

Checking out the seed catalog and dreaming of spring (already). 

Ruthie has wanted her big sisters to put her down for her naps this month. Abbey has been the sister of choice most days. It is really precious to watch Abbey read, sing, and mother Ruthie. These are some of my favorite parts of having a big family and raising future homemakers. 

She is very independent! She will do it herself over accepting help 99% of the time. 

Snow shoveling is a spectator sport in our house. Hah! Actually, it was very windy otherwise she likes to be out with me. 

Caroline had to get in a chair as well. 

The next week we had a beautiful, sunny day and I couldn’t even get them to wear coats. Oh, and Care is crying because Roo has the big stroller, which she only has because Carrie had the small stroller first and Ruth also wanted a stroller to push her baby but we have only one small stroller. And obviously, Carrie wanted the big stroller after Ruth had it. Various scenarios like this happen to us on a regular basis. I just laugh and call it “life with girls”. 

Rocking chairs, rocking babies. It’s the best life. 

The face they make when I switch the camera to “selfie”. Haha! I love these girls!

She was so happy that she moved into 12-18 month shirts (she will turn 3 years old in 3 months). Girlfriend LOVES new clothes, and I love that I had 4 girls before her so she has lots of options of “new” clothes. She is still stuck in 12 month pants but she’ll grow more eventually. 

We continue to be grateful for our sweet, energetic, hilarious, tiny but mighty girl. 

And just for fun, scroll through the below images to see how hard it was to get a cute picture without a fake smile of our busy Ruthie V. 

Happy 8 months home, little love.