Crush vs. mush

My goals for 2016 were totally random.  In the past, I have made goals based on 3 categories - Spiritual, Personal and Physical.  Last year we added to our family in January and I just couldn't.  The chaos around me caused me to flake out on a lot of stuff.  I knew I needed to make goals.  I didn't think I would meet any of them, but for me, if I don't have anything to shoot for, I'm lost.  One year later and I'm still in a bit of a fog.  However, when I looked back at last year's goals for myself, I felt a little lift!  I actually did meet some!  I hope to make 2017 goals soon, but for now, I'm content to review the old ones.

Goals I crushed in 2016

-Getting Bert and Ernie into counseling - BEST BEST BEST thing EVER!!!  If I failed all the other goals, this was the one to fight for tooth and nail.
-Compost pile - I have my hot hubby to thank for this!!  He was willing to use some pallets and build a 2 sided bin so I could turn it over.  It's pretty full from leaves right now but that usually drops down a lot in winter.  Our trash can thanks us - all the food waste goes out there now.  I'm guessing the creatures in the woods thank us too!
-Get rid of some baby/toddler clothes.  This might be 50/50 but I'm calling it a win b/c nothing new came in.  That counts, right?!
-Date nights - SUPER SUCCESSFUL!  We have such a nice babysitter and we have been going very regularly.  THANK YOU JESUS!  It is such a blessing to have even just 2 hours to talk to DW w/o little people or the mess of the house around us.
-Trails in the woods are not made by just me, but I helped.  We have a bridge system to the 1st ridge and now that it's winter we have been hiking a lot, all the way back, even over the frozen parts.  We have better ideas where the lot line in and there's talk of a going w/the neighbor to map out the easement.  Fun stuff - can't wait to do more!
-The house has more decoration than before, slightly random, but it's there!

Goals that went to mush in 2016

-Working out, even once a week, just didn't happen, save for maybe 2 days.  Literally.
-Go through bin of school papers.  Well, I sort of want to count this one halfway.  I kept up w/the current papers so as not to create an even bigger back log.  But the bin is still in the exact same spot.  Never opened, not once.  This goal will go back on the 2017 list b/c I MUST get that bin out of here!!
-Covered feeding station and dust bath area for chickens.  Chickens made their own dust bath area.  I'd love to shore that up or make a better one.  I also want to add to this one - a better water station.
-Hang up a Pippa the chicken picture on the coop.
-I had a garden, but it didn't do well.  We were gone (A LOT) and deer and other woodland creatures had fun in the big part.  The little part was close to the house and we ate beans, cilantro and kale from it.  In the future I would love to have a bigger area fenced in...ah, don't get me started.  I could garden dream for days!
-Camping w/family/friends.  Sad.  Didn't happen.  We did tons of camping, just not w/anyone.  Ok, I stand corrected.  Once.  And it was too short!  So much fun but way too short!
-Bible study in person - I tried.  I cannot keep a regular schedule these days!!  And you would think day time is better, but it's not.  I'll keep trying but I may go back to the online version w/strangers.  I'm not going to make new friends in town that way, but which is more important?  Bible study or friends?  Don't answer that, I think it's too messy.
-Food prep is happening little by little.  No major progress, but holding the line.
-Decent family photos did not happen.  Too much advance planning.  That and I was busy living life, photo taking was not always first on my mind unless we were on trips.

I tend to be hard on myself so this time I'm going to celebrate the little things that went well =)  I'm looking into a new short term goal system for 2017.  My next goal is to implement a new set of goals...it sounds funny, but that's how I operate!  We'll see if trying something new helps kick start this year!

Merry Christmas 2016!!

I can't believe it's been almost a whole year since we became a family of 6!  This year has had it's share of difficulties, as well as plenty of happy memories.  Some of you may already know, but for those of you that don't, when you add 2 new people to your family at the same time, life gets busier and some of the usual things you do get set aside so you can bond and keep up w/all the new responsibilities.  We didn't just add 2 new people, we added 2 people who have survived significant trauma.  Needless to say, a lot of things got set aside and we entered survival mode.  This is not a complaint or a plea for pity, it's our reality.  However, that being said, we have still been able to be 'us' - just in smaller and simpler ways.  When I write Christmas blog posts, I always like to celebrate what makes us 'us' and all the ways we did that in the past year.  This year, w/5 out of the 6 of us being in school (4 as students, 1 as a teacher), I thought a yearbook theme would be fitting!  And there is audience participation at the end, so if you make it to the end, we'd love to hear from you!

(Once again, we are not sending Christmas cards out in the traditional way - see the end of this post for more on that...We hope you enjoy this online version! If you regularly read my blog or see my Facebook posts, some of these stories will sound familiar...)

2016 Yearbook

(Yes, it's a made up name!  It's MY Christmas letter, I can do that.)

This year 2 of the kids participated in a summer strawberry shortcake eating contest!  I have some big eaters and trust me when I say, it was no surprise that the smallest member of our family won by a landslide!  I have 2 very pink Strawberry Fest T-shirts that my boys can grow into now =)  This year also marks the first year that we have purchased an all access pass to the local school sporting events.  At first I hesitated, but then I realized it would only take 3 trips to a football game for it to pay for itself!  We enjoyed a bunch of football games so far and hope to get to a basketball game soon.  We also took the opportunity to attend our college alma mater's Homecoming festivities, including the football game.  There was free food, mascots, carnival games and plenty of reminders how Momma has aged...(The campus has changed a lot/my dorm is gone, 'kids these days', head shaking and co-eds telling their friends to watch their language around the kids.)
Speaking of school spirit and being old.....This was also the year I (Mel) and Dave had a high school class reunion of a round, significant number.  While Dave did not attend his, I did attend mine.  There was a school tour (that place has also changed dramatically!), dinner and a photo booth.  It was so good to see 'old' friends and chat w/many new ones!  To me, that is one of the best parts about going to an event like this.  I can socialize w/people I never spent much time w/in HS and we have more in common now than we seemed to have back then.  New connections are made, old ones are strengthened and many hugs were given.  One thing that really struck me was the amazing example of some ladies from my class who served others in an insanely huge way.  They coordinated, planned, called, set up, served, cleaned and even found time to socialize w/us along the way!!  They probably did a bunch of other stuff we never knew about behind the scenes, too.  If you get a chance to attend a class reunion, I highly recommend it.  Thank the people who put it together for you and please know that no one cares what you look like, what your job is, or where you live.  Just go.  If you are the only one from your 'clique' in HS who is going and you think it'll be awkward, kick those thoughts to the curb.  Hold your head high and just go.  Call me if you need encouragement and then call me after to tell me how it went =)

Here at Bent Anchor we don't just watch sports, we also participate in them!  Once again Moses was a member of the boys' gymnastics team and this year he participated in a meet at a private club.  *insert low slow whistle*  That place was fancy!!  He had a lot of fun and there are 4 meets this season coming up in 2017!   There was also basketball camp for the oldest 2 boys this year and lots of sports happening in the yard!!  All the kids had gymnastics and swimming classes at the Y this past year and will continue to do so this session.

Lest you think all we do around here is sports, it should be noted that there are plenty of academic endeavors here!  This year we made it a mission to build bridges across the swampy areas of our 10 acres to make the ridges that run along the lake more accessible.  We are planning to make various trails around the property and continue to explore the woods.  Everyone loves being outside and jumping out of trees!  We've also taken the opportunity to help Dave's mom w/some trees and clearing out some of the area behind her house.  A day spent working outside is the best kind of day!  When the weather is bad, we know we can always go to the Y and use the racquetball courts.  When we go camping, you can usually find the kids swimming as soon as the pool opens!  We found some really nice campgrounds this summer.  In this collage of photos, there is a very special one on the top right hand corner.  The first week the boys came to live w/us, we made a family masterpiece.  Every one of us took a section of the paper and painted it to make a joint piece of art.  Although I was nervous (lots of little hands, paint, carpet under the table which I always hated but am living w/until we can financially replace!), it is one of the best memories I have.  Ever.  That piece of art looks messy and some people might wonder why it hangs on our wall.  It represents 6 people, only 3 of which share DNA, coming together as 1 family.  That, my friends, is worth hanging on the wall.  Every day I am reminded that God knit us together and all the legal documents in the world will only match what this painting says.  We are a family.

Oh my goodness - as I reviewed the photos from this past year, I loved seeing the projects and field trips my kids have done at their school!  Everyone is excited about learning and making great gains.  Moses has really been enjoying math and social studies, Colleen loves learning about planets, animals, robots and all things science.  Bert is reading!!  He's just in the beginning stages, so no chapter books yet, but there are lots of classics we are digging into.  He is great at money math!  Ernie is reading 'snap words' too, working on building relationships and making it through a full day of kindergarten.  All good stuff.

You know it wouldn't be a full year w/o some 'class trips'!!  We wander a lot, and this year was no exception.  As always, we try to find a good deal for spring break.  It was a little hard to wrap my brain around the thought of packing up 6 people and we wondered how the boys would do, especially since it was only 3 months since they had been w/us.  We are blessed beyond words to have family in FL and after a few quick messages and some phone calls, it was decided that we'd take the leap and try it!  Looking back, we must have been crazy...maybe we still are!!  As it turned out, the boys did GREAT on the flight, they took to my family (who doesn't?), and we ALL LOVED the warm weather!  We swam in the gulf, a hotel pool, and a community water park!  We're ready to do it again!

For us, summer means camping and there was plenty of that this year.  We started just across the border in IL.  If you like camping and exploring natural features, you should really check out Starved Rock State Park!  There were tons of water falls, lots of canyons, and hiking.  We put on our suits, our water shoes and went for it!  I have so many amazing photos, I could fill up a whole post about this place!!  Another one of our favorite spots is in TN, where some good friends live.  Nothing beats eating w/them, seeing some sweet rides at Cars and Coffee, swimming in their pool, going to their church and just BEING around them.  We did some exploring too - for all the times we have been there, we hadn't been to the Parthenon yet!  We checked it out this time - it was sort of funny though, b/c it was right when that whole Pokemon craze started.  There were all these people wandering around the park, looking down at their phone...it seemed sort of surreal, like seeing zombies or something!  We had a few good laughs, watching people walk into each other or stationary objects.  It was hard to leave our friends in TN - can't wait to go back in 2017!!  

Our 3rd big 'class trip' was out to the Black Hills, the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore!  Our family has been there a few times before, but the little boys hadn't!  It was fun climbing around w/them, hearing them shout out whenever they saw 'the presidents' and enjoying all the fun of camping!  The momma bear worried how the littles would sleep, how everyone would adjust to sharing the small space for a while, how we could fit all we were packing into the camper and such, but again - we were blessed w/no breakdowns, no illnesses or injuries and some sweet inexpensive fun!  It was hot and sweaty but we found plenty of swimming holes and rocks to climb!  Also, it was the first time we drove through the area w/a sunroof - a whole new way to look at the world!  (Yeah, it's the little things...)


We would share individual school pictures but not everyone has one!  Most of you know what we look like, anyway.  Since I can't resist another year book themed section, though, pretend this is the part where you see each one of our faces.
---Freshman class---
ERNIE - Voted most likely to become mayor, lawyer or judge.  "I meant what I said and I said what I meant." -- Dr. Seuss
BERT - Voted most likely to do back flips off of high platforms or use one of those stand up desks at work.  "Life requires movement." -- Aristotle
---Sophomore class---
COLLEEN - Voted most likely to build a robot that does her homework.  "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein
---Junior class---
MOSES - Voted most likely to do something on a stage, maybe in a band, telling jokes, dancing or just performing in some way.  "All the world's a stage..." -- Shakespeare
---Senior class---
DAVE - Voted most likely to skip work to go boating.  "You're gonna need a bigger boat." -- from the movie Jaws
MELISSA - Voted most likely to be found in the woods, or daydreaming about her big ideas.  "The woods are lovely, dark and deep.  But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." -- Robert Frost

What yearbook would be complete w/o a few blank pages in the back for your friends to sign and leave a message?  If you feel comfortable, feel free to leave us a comment =)  Sign our yearbook!  This year had it's ups and downs...through all of it, we felt the presence of the Lord in our lives.  We continue to press on, following the example He has laid out for us.  In 2017, we purpose to love our neighbors (and classmates and siblings, etc) as we've been loved, serving when and where we can, while we continue learning what it takes to make this family of 6 operate smoothly.  We pray your 2016 yearbook is filled w/many happy memories like ours!  Here's to an adventurous and healthy 2017!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

We hope you enjoyed this green version of our Christmas card! (If you still wish to receive a paper copy, leave a comment.) There are lots of reasons we decided to do things differently this year (again!)...here's a few:

1) Save postage. We love you, but we're cheap!

2) Save paper. You just recycle those cards after you read them...you do recycle them eventually, don't you??

3) Save printing costs. See reason #1!

4) Save stress. Nothing to print, sign, stuff, address...

5) Expand our options! Now you can see a practically limitless amount of photos.

6) Our greeting to you is saved in cyber-space for posterity! Yes, we can be that vain sometimes!

7) It went so well the past years...we heard a lot of positive responses, and even some people who said they'd try it themselves. Welcome to the dark (green) side! (Sorry that was a goofy Star Wars joke...)

Life is like a wild ride on Friday

I have this cat.
Her name is Peyton.
She really doesn't hang around home much.  She usually comes running from somewhere else when it's dinner time.  She does not hang around home, waiting for people to come outside or return from somewhere, waiting to greet them.  That's her sister, Homer.  Homer is a perfect name for her b/c she rarely leaves home base.  Homer follows you anywhere and everywhere, a faithful kitty to the end.  Not that Peyton isn't, it's just that she is literally going places and doesn't care if you are there or not.  She's adventurous and that's cool too.
But Peyton, oh Peyton, she got the ride of her life today.  A whole new adventure that just might make her more of a Homer.  (It would for me, but maybe not.  Maybe Peyton is just so much of a tough girl that this won't matter.)
Peyton.  This cat.  Can you tell where she is?

Oh yeah, she's on the truck.  Not that.  She sleeps on the hood of my truck a lot.  When the kitties were little they used to sit on top of the tires, in the wheel wells.  Being on top of the truck is not that big of a deal.  The better question is WHERE IS THE TRUCK?  Yes, we have a flagpole at our house, but no that is not OUR flagpole.  Think of buildings in your community that have a flagpole and think of where a stay-at-home momma and her 4 kids would go at 8 in the morning....yeah?  You got it now?


YES.  That is my crazy cat, on top of my truck, at my kids' school.  That is 2.6 miles away from my house.  To which, I drive 40-50 mph for part of the way.  This cat.  You guys, I am so not a cat person.  They are cute and funny and have killed mice and chippies and kept the woodpeckers off the house and I am so grateful for that but - THIS CAT.


So I pull into a parking spot at school and get out of my truck...and I hear this LOUD MEWING.  There is a lot of noise in the school parking lot, not to mention my 4 kids clamoring and arguing about who gets out first or who gets a quarter for candy canes or whatever.  This loud mewing rises about the rest of the stuff and I have a moment - is that a cat?  Is that a cat under/in my truck?  Oh crap - where's Peyton?!  I start to walk around, thinking I'm going to look under the truck and nope.  There she is, hunkered down under the spoiler.  Side note - is that thing there to make us feel like we are cool and we might race this big bus, or does it actually serve a purpose?  Like, will I roll my truck if I don't have one holding me down?  Don't answer that, I promise I won't remove it.  Back to the cat.  She is starting to stand up and making so much noise people are noticing.  Yep.  This is me.  This is my life.  "Is that your cat?"  My 8am snarky self wants to respond, "No, I'm Samantha Stevens, one of my kids was grumpy this morning and I just turned them into a cat.  And made them ride on the roof."  But my 'be-nice, these-people-are-normal-and-Dutch' self just smiled and nodded.  Yes.  That's my cat.


I kissed my kids and promised them to get Peyton down, told them to tell all their teachers about their crazy cat and their crazy mom.  They didn't want to leave.  I told them I'd turn them into cats.  Go to school!  We all had a good laugh.  And then I turned them into cats.  KIDDING.  It's Friday, ok, I am trying to laugh at all this!!!  I reached for Peyton, worried she would be pissed at me, but I was wearing gloves and figured I probably deserved her wrath anyway.  She didn't want to come down, but I grabbed her and tucked her under my arm.  This cat.  She just went for the ride of her life, but I wasn't going to let her repeat that.  I brought her in and set her on the passenger seat.  She wanted in my lap, but listen people, I am not going to have a cat on my lap while I drive!  I am not a crazy cat lady!  I may be crazy, I may be a cat lady, but I am not a crazy cat lady.  I moved her back and she decided to go check out the rest of the vehicle, letting me know her displeasure.  So I drove home w/a cat talking to me, praying to God that she didn't get crazy and freak out, jumping on my face or something while I drove.  I pulled over to take the next picture of her, remembering to fully document this event for her kitty baby book.  Nope.  But I did want to take a picture for me to remember.  I have a terrible memory, relying on photos to remind me of stuff all time.  I just don't do well w/details, so when the kids ask me about a vacation we took, or where did we eat that cool TX shaped waffle, I look back at the photos to remember.  Of course the waffle was in TX!!  I remembered that, it was a joke.  But seriously, photos help my memory.  Anyway - here is the queen in her carriage, headed for home.  She's probably checking on her loyal subjects.  Making sure none of them have a cat on their roof.

You know me, I'm always trying to glean some life lesson from stupid things that happen to me.  The obvious one here is to check the roof for cats before leaving.  I laugh at my life sometimes!  Never thought I'd be doing 90% of the stuff I am doing!!  But I really don't like obvious stuff.  I like the weird and quirky stuff - which is why I like my life.  I am choosing to look at this situation a little differently.  Sometimes, your life is like a wild ride on a Friday - hanging on to the roof spoiler of a big white SUV.  And gosh, it's dangerous and not recommended and you never want to do that again!  But when it's over - it's over.  You're safe.  Sometimes the adventure serves as a reminder that we do hard things.  Life can't all be sleeping, treats, playing in the long grass in the sun...it really makes no sense to worry about the possibility of hard things.  If you choose to sleep on the truck, you might find yourself at school.  But if you don't sleep on the truck, you might never feel that warm engine mixed w/the slanting morning sun.  So many times people ask why would do foster care, why we would choose to enter into a relationship that we might not be able to continue forever.  People have asked why we would subject 'our kids' to other kids' possible issues or behaviors.  They want to know why we take risks when life is good, why don't we shield and protect ourselves from hurt or loss.  Oh we do.  We just make sure to sleep on the truck every once in a while.  B/c if we don't, we miss out on things.  We miss out on the chance to love a kid, even if it's for just a little while.  If you knew a kid needed a lunch, wouldn't you share yours?  Or would you eat it, while they watched?  I bet every single one of you would share or give up your lunch.  It's like that w/love.  Once you know a kid needs it, you can't NOT give it to them.  Lately some kids in my house are going through some stuff.  I am just going to blame growing pains.  They need me.  I feel drained and like I don't have much left to give.  But get this - I am digging deep inside myself and putting 50millionthousandpercent into loving them.  I am not a stay calm person.  I have my own self and my own growing pains I'm working on.  Seriously - I drove to school w/a cat on my roof.  BUT - I love these little people so much I have been working so hard to stay calm.  They need it.  They need me.  I'm not perfect but I'm doing it.  The other day, I calmly handled a situation and a kid melted in my arms.  Sleeping on the truck/taking a risk on this little person = worth it.  It's a wild ride.  But it's Friday.  And sometimes you look back on that ride and think about how funny it was and the thrill becomes a happy memory.