H is for Herriman, Hobbies and Happiness

The craziest thing I’ve ever done with my hair was a poor attempt at some “Vanilla Ice” lines during my freshman year of college. (If you know what Vanilla Ice lines are, I’m sorry.) That, combined with some very white-boy attempts at the running man and the Roger Rabbit (80’s dance moves), make it quite amazing that I ever got a date that year. I can proudly say that I never wore suspenders with only one strap. But I digress.

The other day someone asked me what my hobbies were. I thought about it for a minute. I like to ski, but generally do it less than once a year. I play basketball some mornings with only slightly greater success than I used to find in my attempts at the running man. I enjoy reading, but generally only read for pleasure on my once quarterly business trips. I used to golf, but I’ve played exactly one round in the last 7 years. Then it hit me. My kids are my hobby! I read to them. I camp with them. I swim with them. I love them!!! And there is one thing I do with my kids that definitely qualifies as a hobby: I coach them. ☺

I think I’ve blogged before about my passion for coaching. I’ve coached Taylor and Parker in basketball for 5 or 6 years now. I’ve been the coach for Parker’s baseball team for 3 years running. I never played much myself, but I love kids and I love the opportunity to coach them and teach them. And, if I do say so myself, I’ve been reasonably successful. Taylor’s 4th grade basketball team went 8-3 this year. In the three years I’ve coached Parker’s baseball teams, we’ve won 1st place once and 3rd place twice.

This year was very special. It was the first time in years that I was able to coach Taylor in baseball. This worked because the two boys are only 16 months apart, and were able to be on the same team. We took third place in our league, and I was able to be one of the coaches on the league all-star team. Taylor and Parker both played on the all-star team as well. Taylor plays first and center field. Parker plays third and second. It was a wonderful and blessed experience to share this with my boys this year.






I also coached Xander’s 5- and 6-year-old team this year.

Man, you forget how clueless they are at that age!!! And Xander is on a completely different level of clueless from everyone else. He did have more exuberance for the game than any of his teammates, however. Jesi even played in one game that Xander had to miss:)


I need to pause for a minute and say thanks to the rest of the family for the sacrifices they make so that I can coach the boys. Christi obviously bears the burden of being at home with the other kids while I’m at practices. Graci often babysits the younger kids when there are games. (Graci could come and watch, but she is NOT a sports fan and would much rather stay home as the babysitter than have to die of boredom at a baseball game.) Jesi and Xander like to come once the weather warms up. And they’re cute little fans. Tonight Jesi called out to me on the sideline and said: “Daddy, I’m cheering for YOUR team!” Thanks, Jess.

Anyway, our all-star team did very well this year. We went 6-4 overall. We were in three tournaments and won one of them (the district tournament), which qualified us for the state tournament. We won our first game at the state tourney, and then lost two in a row to finish our season. I’m very proud of how well the boys have taken the defeat. They were very teary-eyed at first, but have already been able to look at the bigger picture and see how much success we had this year. Sports can be tough on kids, but I believe there are some great life-lessons taught.








At the beginning of the second all-star tournament, I decided to put my support for our team on public display:



In case you can’t tell, I got a regular haircut, but had the stylist leave the H at “pre-cut” length. Then she put peroxide on it and I became a bleach-blonde for the first (but hopefully not the last!) time in my life. I had it like that for 12 days. That includes 6 work days and twice at church. I’m usually a rather clean cut guy, so I got some rather surprised reactions. Since our season is now done, I had Christi shave it off tonight. Jessica started crying when she saw it was gone. Her prayer tonight started off like this: “Dear Heavenly Father, please, please help Daddy to get a new baseball team so he can have his haircut back and be so so handsome again!” ☺

So, H stands for Herriman (as in all-stars). H stands for hobbies. But most of all, H stands for happiness. I am a happy man. I thank my Father in Heaven frequently for how blessed I am. I have a GREAT family!

Jer

Kindergarten graduation

I'm over a month late, but wanted to post pics of our sweet Jesi's graduation! She had the most wonderful year of kindergarten. Her teacher, Mrs. Proud, was a gem and Jessica adored her. She also loved her TA, Mrs. Rasmussen. They were fabulous teachers and something fun was always going on in her classroom. We feel so blessed she was in this class!

Jesi has come such a long way this year and we are so very proud of her! When Jessica was very little, it was apparent that she was delayed in many areas and had very poor muscle tone, along with other abnormalities. She started early intervention services when she was just 18 months old. At the time, she was just learning to walk and had difficulties with so many things. She has received years of speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy in our home, as well as at special preschools. She has had so many outstanding people working with her and for her and it has paid off! Now the little girl who struggled so much to produce words can carry on the most fun conversations! The girl who struggled to learn to walk and jump and climb stairs can totally keep up with her playmates. This year particularly, Jessica has exceeded our expectations. She is a hard worker, a good listener, and always tries her best. We are thrilled that she is learning how to read and that she is on par with the other kids in her class. A huge thank-you to all who have helped her get to this point-- we love you!

We are so proud of you, sweet Jesi!!! You are one very special girl! Happy Graduation!



>

My third post tonight!

Just a few of the things that have been making me smile:



Going into the girls' room to tuck them in and finding this...


Summer days that wear us out to the point of this...

Going outside and finding this...
(In case you can't tell, he's "walking on water")



Jesi thinking she has to wear her life jacket in our pool...
(By the way, Elli does own a swimsuit-- I was just being lazy)

Xander's expressions...



The position in which Elli plays with her toy...

And finally, what X-man would look like with Taylor's legs...


And with that, I'm finally going to bed! (:

Poor Papa Bear...

I have a very cute husband.

Who is a very cute daddy.

With some very cute quirks.

One of those quirks is an earnest desire to instill in our children a love cream of wheat. He has fond memories of eating it when he was young and wants our children to have the same. So about once a year, he tries to make cream of wheat.

In general, the kids don’t seem to like it.

It’s probably because Jeremy seems to have the worst luck preparing the cream of wheat. It’s either too thin or too lumpy or too burnt. Poor guy. ):

This morning he decided it was time to try again. This time, he had the very smart idea of calling the cream of wheat “porridge,” so as to disconnect this morning’s breakfast to memories of prior bouts with cream of wheat.

He called the kiddos up from their Saturday morning cartoons, and had them sit on the floor while he told them the story of the “Three Little Bears.” It was cute enough that I had to grab my camera.

While all of the kids have heard the story many times (well, maybe not Xander…) it was so cute how they all listened and how excited it made them to try the porridge Daddy was making.

The “porridge” looked perfect! It was just the right consistency, and watching him stir in the brown sugar got the kids all excited. I was even excited to try some, and I’ve never cared for cream of wheat. It looked soooooo good!!

They sat down eagerly to their bowls.

Then they politely began to eat. Elli, not understanding “manners” took one bite and pushed the bowl away. The others kept eating, but it was apparent that they weren’t enthused. Jeremy finally started eating and realized it was… scorched.

I seriously didn’t know whether to giggle or to cry for him.



It’s ok, dear. Keep trying!! There’s always next year…

Born on the fourth of July!

I have so much to catch up on, and I had better start with our sweet Taylor's birthday! It's crazy to think that we now have TWO eleven-year-olds!

(And THREE five-year-olds, counting Lexi. LOL)

Our sweet Taylor made his debut on the 4th of July, 1999. I remember it like it was yesterday! He came exactly 13 days early, and we just know it's so he could have parades and fireworks on his birthday each year! He was the tiniest, sweetest little boy I had ever laid eyes on. I was sooooo in love and thought I could never love him more, but I DO!!!



Taylor is kind, sensitive, smart as a whip, dedicated, athletic, fun, a deep thinker, musical, selfless, witty, and oh so handsome... Someday he will make one lucky girl VERY happy!



He spends his days reading, busting out cool dance moves, playing board games, watching some TV, reading, shooting hoops, playing baseball, playing with his brothers and sisters, sleeping in (our only one who will), and reading. He has the best giggle in the ENTIRE world and I will never tire of hearing it! His best friend is his brother Parker, and they get along perfectly! His other best buddies are Cohlton and Brody-- both awesome boys.



He loves Hershey bars, watching ESPN and anything sports related, having lots of brothers and sisters to play with, hiking, camping, reading (have I mentioned that yet?), playing on the computer, glazed donuts and vanilla ice-cream, BYU, alone time, hanging out with friends, nature, Tennessee, and cuddling Mom and Dad-- YAY!


We couldn't be more proud of our first-born. Taylor, we LOVE LOVE LOVE you!




Taylor's 2004 birthday party-- what a cutie! (Can you spot Parker? Hint... he's wearing a hat)


Having fun with his birthday present-- laser tag!


Breakfast in bed-- age 5


Breakfast in bed-- age 11

A not so rockin' robin...

(Ok, just from typing that title I know I'm going to have "Rockin' Robin" in my head all night long. Great...)


Do you ever have those little “tender mercies” moments? For instance, the milk jug falls out of the fridge and the lid just happens to be screwed on tightly for once and the milk doesn’t flood the floor like you thought it would? And you just look up to the heavens and whisper a very relieved “Thank-you!” And you really feel the Lord is watching out for you, even if it seems like a silly thing?

I have these moments about a million times a day.

(I also have at least a hundred when the milk does spill, but we’ll choose to ignore these for now.)

Today I was in the kitchen making banana bread when Parker came in and said, “Mom, I think I should tell you something that I promised not to tell.”

“Oh, yeah? Make sure you’re not betraying a confidence…”

“Well, would you want to know if Graci, Xander, and Jesi are keeping a sick bird in their room as a pet?”

Agggghhhhhhhhhh!

After returning the poor robin outside, scrubbing hands, teaching them about getting sick from animals, and putting them in the baths for good measure (while giving up on the banana bread) I thought I had things under control.

Then I walked by the bathroom to see Xander standing in the tub, making an up and down motion with what looked like the handle of… the toilet plunger. As in, the toilet plunger was IN the bathtub!

UGH.

I berated myself for keeping the plunger so close to the tub and was feeling a bit frustrated about my germ-filled day. (The sick bird was not my only messy encounter.)

As I got closer, I realized it was the handle of one of those long, bath scrub brushes. The toilet plunger was right where it should be-- by the side of the toilet, NOT in the tub. I giggled in relief.

A tender mercy, for sure. (:

PS. We'll keep you posted on the property!

Cross your fingers!

Thanks a million for the prayers and sweet thoughts. Something might be working out...

Feeling a little bit sick...

Need. It’s a strong word and so often confused for “want.” Sometimes the difference between the two is so slight that it takes prayerful discernment to know which is which. It is something that we wrestle with a lot—as I’m sure you all do.

So to say I feel that we need a bigger home is something that I don’t say lightly. And I know that I could be wrong (I did say feel, not know. I do know that I want!) And it’s not because I’m worldly (at least, I think I’m not) but rather because I LOVE my children so much, and really feel it is in their best interest to have a little more space!

It’s something we have talked about since we moved here just under three years ago. At the time, we had four children. Now we have six, going on seven. Or (cough cough) maybe more…

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE our home. It serves us well. I love our beautiful, fenced in back yard that the kiddos can play in. I love love love our neighbors! But having three boys share one small room is getting a little tight. And feeling like I want my kids to be out of the kitchen while I’m preparing dinner just because I’m getting claustrophobic isn’t my style. (Our kitchen is more apartment-sized.) And when you add the 5-6 neighbor children that are in and out on a daily basis, it can be a bit overwhelming.

We feel like that NOW, so how are we going to feel after we’ve added to our family AND the kiddos begin to turn into teenagers? (:

I know that most families throughout the world would give anything to have our home, so it seems selfish of me to even think about wanting anything more. And I promise you, I am so grateful for what we do have. But we do have some significant special needs. One example—two daughters who are blind and could benefit so much from a large playroom fitted to their specific abilities.

And so we have been window shopping for the last year or so! I say window shopping, because we knew we couldn’t afford to buy. But we’ve had so much fun looking around and dreaming, and hey—it’s a free date! As we’ve looked, we’ve realized what we want and what we don’t and have decided that for our particular family, building would be the best option.

Just a couple of months ago, we found IT. The PERFECT lot. We love it. A LOT. (Ha, ha). And we love it more each time we go there (which has gotten to be almost every day.) It has the most amazing view of the valley. It is on a culdesac—so wonderful when you have lots of kids and especially for those with special needs. It’s in a quiet neighborhood. The back of the lot backs up to a hill that is zoned as an area that cannot be built on, which not only provides lots of fun for the kiddos, but a gorgeous view that will never be hampered by someone building in back of us. Best of all, we feel so good about it when we pray.

I can’t tell you how much I love this place.

So much, in fact, that we decided to go out on a limb and see if we could get approved for financing. We knew it would be at least a couple of years before we could afford to build, but we just LOVE this place. (Have I mentioned that?) We have shopped around and feel like there is not a better place for our family. We were prepared to settle. We had visions of grandchildren exploring the hill. (:

So we were THRILLED to find out that we were actually approved for the loan!!

And DEVASTATED when we learned that that same day, someone else had put in an offer and it had been verbally accepted.

And THRILLED when the owners decided to put that offer on hold and give us a chance, as they loved our family and our story.

And THRILLED to find that our closing date was this coming Friday.

And THRILLED each time we drove there and realized what a blessing this lot could be for our family.

And DEVASTATED when today we received the appraisal from the bank. It has appraised for much less than the asking price. Over $100,000 less than what it appraised for last year. Gotta love this economy. It is so tough, because we do believe that their asking price is fair, considering the area, view, land in the back that cannot be built on, etc. And there are now TWO other offers from people who also think it’s fair and are willing to pay it. Even if it’s not FAIR, we like it enough that we still want it, but we cannot get financing for the full amount because the appraisal came in so low.

We’re just, oh… $40,000 short.

Leaving us feeling a little numb.

This lot that we have fallen in love with will likely not be ours.

So, if you don’t mind, say a little prayer that we will figure something out. Like, soon. As in, tonight.

Ugh.

LID!!!!!!

Today we heard the very EXCITING news that our dossier is logged in to China, with an official LID of June 11!! Happy, happy day!

It was last summer that we first saw our sweet little Lexi’s picture on the waiting child page of our agency. It was in September that I again looked at her picture and felt that “something.” If you’ve read her story, you know that after discussion with Jeremy, we decided not to proceed with her adoption. We were just way too overwhelmed having recently returned with Xander. Then on January 6, that life-changing phone call from my honey that said, “Um, sweetie... I think we’re supposed to adopt that little girl.” Less than a month after that—pre-approval from China. (:

And now, mountains of paperwork later, here we are-- finally at that wonderful stage where we have done our part and just sit back and wait! Well, I don’t know that the actual WAITING is wonderful—but it feels so good to know that we’ve done everything we can do and it’s out of our hands. Now we wait for our LOA (letter of acceptance) and, following a few additional steps, TA (travel approval)! Which means… we are still on target for a Novemberish appearance in China—YAY!

Our sweet Lexi continues to have my heart! I cannot watch her videos without getting a big silly grin on my face. Her smile captivates me. I completely and utterly adore her!

We all do!!!

“And I will bring the blind by a way they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” --Isaiah 42:16

Perplexus Review

If you haven't purchased a Perplexus yet, look at the clip below. We don't know this kid, but he's pretty cute:)

Jeremy

Why???

It's a simple rule, really. Everyone gets to have ONE pair of shoes in the basket by the front door. The remainder of their shoes should go in their bedrooms.

Apparently, this is a difficult concept to understand, as the shoe basket typically looks like this:



My cute husband is the biggest culprit of all-- not so much because he has the most shoes as because he has the most massive shoes.

And no, this picture wasn't staged. (:

Help!!

Happy Birthday, sweet Jacob!

Belle... Her name suits her well!

I cannot get over the amazing people at Make-a-Wish! Tonight we were sitting in our living room ready to start our Family Home Evening. (For those unaware, this is something we do every Monday night. We include music, prayer, a lesson, an activity, and, of course, a treat!) Just as we were beginning, there was a knock at our door. Graci had the surprise of her life to find that Belle, as in THE Belle (the princess with the poofiest dress) had come to pay her a visit! In fact, we were all surprised!! I was scrambling to find my camera and Jer was plugging in the video camera. How do they pull this stuff off? Amazing.

Belle truly was beautiful, inside and out. She came with a little bear and a handwritten card that said,

“Your wish is granted, Graci! Now may all your wishes come true!! Hug this bear to be happy! Love, Belle”

She also gave Graci a beautiful poster proclamation stating “We hereby announce that Graci Green’s wish for a Disney Cruise will be granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah.”

I wish you could have seen the look on Graci’s face. Oh wait, you can!!


Princess Belle was accompanied by Terri and Kent (Graci’s wish granters) and they were all kind enough to come and visit with us in our home for almost an hour. Graci was full of questions:

“Where is your castle?”

“What does it look like?”

“Do you talk to Cinderella a lot?”

“Are Anastasia and Drizella nice now?”

“What is Prince Charming like?”

“How did you know how to spell my name?”

"Do you go to church?"

Belle had perfect answers to all of Graci’s questions and was the most gracious princess we’ve ever met. Also, she promised Graci that she would attend Graci’s post-wish party and bring all of her princess friends—amazing!

Jessica and Xander absolutely loved Belle. They of course had to show off the entire time she was there. (:



I even got my two older boys to take a picture with her. I told them they would thank me later. Afterwards they admitted she was pretty cute! (:


Magic, magic, magic.




I’m sure we’ll be talking about this for a long time…

Thanks again, Make-A-Wish. So grateful to be the blessed by your goodness.