Tagged

So I was tagged by Nicole (thanks for thinking of me, Nicole!) Here's the game:

1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun!

And here is what I found:



This is Dailah about one year ago. Nothing special except that she looks so young. Can't believe what a difference a year makes. Still has those beautiful eyes and pouty lips. She's a heartbreaker that one!

Now I tag:

Rebekah
Julie/Tony
Matthew/Amanda
Cathy

Been Thinking

About pretty much everything. Lots going on in this head of mine. Enough to keep me up for brief moments throughout the night. Enough that I can't even take naps! Isn't it crazy when that kind of thing happens? When thoughts or ideas keep you up at night.

My topic of choice lately has been that of "suffering". Specifically what causes people to enter into suffering willingly? I have friends, friends like Andrea and another good friend who is dear to my heart who have done so. I've been researching HIV/AIDS a lot lately. For whatever reason God is placing it on my heart so I've been like some sort of maniac with research. But it doesn't leave me, it's like some weird skunk spray that just doesn't come off.

I'm the kind of person that spent the better part of my adoption/pregnancies praying fervently for my kids to be healthy, happy and strong. Don't let anything happen to them because I wouldn't be able to handle it! Don't we all? Something like 90% of babies who are shown to have (or likely have) Downs Syndrome are aborted. 90%. That's flippin' crazy! So those moms/dads are on one side. Then you have the other moms/dads who are asking to adopt children with Downs Syndrome on the other. Willingly entering into the suffering. What sets them apart? What is so different about them that they make such different choices?

When I seriously look in the mirror I realize I'm the person who is constantly trying to be a little more like Jesus every day. That's what I want to be, that's how I want to act; yet I spend so much of my time sidestepping suffering. And how in the world is that Jesus like at all? Jesus didn't sidestep. He died on the cross, (for us!) for goodness sakes. I think that's the exact opposite of sidestepping.

So I'm trying to figure out if I'm really the kind of person who can enter into all the suffering. We got to see a bit of it in Ethiopia. In that small part I realize love is shown in more vibrant colors and the hand of God is bigger and brighter than any other time I've claimed to have seen it. And yet, my first instinct is always to run away from it!

I'm human, I get that. But these last few weeks have shown me that "their" suffering (whoever that might be) is not "theirs" at all. It's "ours". It's not "their" problem they have no water. It's ours. It's not "their" problem that lack of life-saving AIDS medication is killing generations of people, it's "ours". This isn't semantics at all!

Until we (and by "we" I mean "I") realize that they are not the entire problem, nor are they the entire solution, there will continue to be so much suffering. When we wake up and realize our inaction is part of the problem then we'll no longer be able to be on the sidestepping part of the equation.

I'm just kind of sick of sidestepping. I want to be a diver. I want to dive into the suffering and get all warm and cozy there. I want to hold hands with my brothers and sisters around the world and SHOW them we love them.

By no other way but entering into the suffering.

You're Grounded!

Interesting couple days at the Klipschs...

So the boys are grounded. What does that mean for a 3-year-old and 5-year-old? Well it means they spent the afternoon in their rooms with no toys just books. They are struggling with the whole "listen to mom and dad and do what we say" thing at times. Particularly in the mornings. For whatever reason we've caught them a few times awake at 5:30ish just hanging out playing with each other. So until they both learn to value sleeping in until at least 6:30 they are on a strict DO NOT GO INTO EACH OTHER'S ROOM IN THE MORNING.

It worked a few days and then it didn't at all. Tariku was in Trysten's room (per Trysten's request, of course) until the minute he heard my footsteps. Boy is that kid fast! He sprinted into his room like his life depended on it (and it arguably did). So at least there's that.

Anyway, after a long talking to today where I started on some weird rampage about Adam and Eve, I think they finally understand. When we asked what should happen should they not listen again Trysten said, "Give my Leapster to someone who deserves it."

Yep, took everything in me not to cry. But at least we're fairly convinced they realize there are consequences to their actions.

But before that happened, I got really cute pictures of them so that in times when I'm really mad I can just come back to these.







Taken by Trysten...

Adoption Timeline

I'm reorganizing the blog can you tell? So I thought for scrapbooking sake I'll put this in an actual post. This was Tariku's adoption timeline. :)

Adoption Timeline

4/18/07 Online Registration
4/21/07 Received Application
5/11/07 Sent Application to CHSFS
7/19/07 Pre-Adoption Classes
8/3/07 Turned in Homework
9/11/07 First Homestudy
10/2/07 Final Homestudy
10/13/07 Received Dossier Documents
10/30/07 Sent in Dossier!
11/12/07 Referral for Tariku Asamu!!!
1/25/08 Fingerprints Done
2/7/08 Court Date!
2/8/08 Through Court
3/2/08 CIS In Ethiopian Embassy
3/17/08 Birth Certificate
4/3/08 Travel Date!!!!
4/11/08 Home Forever!

I Admit...

I only watched the Super Bowl so I could watch the episode of "The Office" afterwards. Well, that and the commercials (I'm a marketing person, sue me).

We did go to my in-laws for some good eats for the first half, which was a lot of fun. But then bedtimes entered the picture so I took one for the team and came home.

But I did document, oh yes I did!

Tariku getting in some quality snuggle time with auntie Leslie (he NEVER does this, he struggles slowing down a bit).



Sometimes it can't be helped. I just want to squeeze her all the time.



Dailah and Elihu reading next to the fire.



Jake eating the cookies that my hubby made. Hands down Zach is the best cookie maker in the world. From scratch folks. There is very little that could turn me on more, let me just tell you. I don't know what that says about me, but there you have it.



Since she doesn't look much like me at all I can't take a whole lot of credit for that but she did come out of my womb so that's gotta count for something.

Unleash

My church debuted our new vision statement recently. It is,

"We will be a thriving community of Jesus followers unleashing relentless love to our broken world!"

I like it, except for whatever reason the phrase "broken world" has always rubbed me the wrong way, if I'm being honest. But I'm all about unleashing things, especially relentless love. And I happen to love exclamation points!

Anyway, it's all very exciting and I'm thrilled our church is finally taking action. I've had about all I can take of talking, more action I say! To find out more about it, go here. The point of all of this is to say I was asked to be on the blogging team. So I thought I'd share with you, my faithful readers, the blogs I write for that website.

Here's my first one. I'm working out the kinks but hey, it's my first shot so keep that in mind. Without further ado...my thoughts on unleashing.

So when I first read the email that asked me to be part of the unleashed blogging team, I kind of giggled to myself. I thought surely they had the wrong gal. I’m still fairly new to my unleashy-ness. I’m not great at memorizing Bible verses (in fact, I’m only real confident with John 3:16, after that everything else is fuzzy). I’ve always been that person who doesn’t take myself very seriously and thinks the people who do take me seriously are somewhat delusional.

With that said, know I come into this as a kind of poser. I don’t have any different kind of handle on life than you all do. We’re all in this together and together we’ll figure out how to unleash our various talents to the unsuspecting public. We can do it, even if we only know John 3:16.

I wanted to talk to you a bit today about unleashing. One of my favorite parts of the Bible is when God asks us to be childlike in our faith. I’ve found that the times when I feel most aligned with God, the times when I feel like I feel Him the most and see His heart the most, I’ve let any preconceived notions out the window.

We adopted Tariku from Ethiopia in April 2008. There were a few people who thought we were crazy to do so for various reasons. We didn’t have a lot of money in savings accounts; we didn’t have any money in college accounts for our other children. We were only 25-years-old; we had a baby at home, etc. With those (somewhat valid) excuses I knew God was telling us that was where He wanted us; and as scared as I was of following Him, I was more scared of NOT following Him.

So my husband and I became childlike, we let go of some of our “adultness” and just followed God. In doing that, we were taken straight into the heart of God. Into Africa, amid orphans and poverty and various forms of “the least of these”. And we’ll never be the same, nor do we want to be.

Kids don’t need to see to believe. My eldest son, Trysten, wants to be a Ninja Turtle when he grows up. He’s 5 and has no doubts this will be possible if he just sets his mind to it.

I want to be like that. Instead of becoming a Ninja Turtle, I want to give the world clean water. I want to show love to the orphans and the widows. I want to be light in the darkness. I want to unleash relentless love to this world.

Some may say becoming a Ninja Turtle is more likely than any of that; but with a God like ours, I think my childlike belief that it could happen might just make it so.


Oh, and this is the picture I gave for my headshot. I think it shows my unleashy-sassy side.

Carnivores

That's just who we are.

It starts with my dogs, who don't discriminate.

They eat hooves.



And spinal columns.



They also brought home the deer hide but I thought I'd spare you a bit.

I was going to yell at them and tell them they were gross until I saw our dinner plate last night. That apple doesn't fall far from the carnivore tree.

Ode to Dogs

Cathy has been having a hard time deciding whether to break down and get her little girl a dog. I'm in no position to advise her to say no. So here is our most recent ode to our dogs. Zach keeps measuring Abe, thinking he's small for a great dane. I keep reassuring him he's quite large, but perhaps it's because he almost comes up to my belly button. That might be why. But aren't they beautiful?

Here I Am!

We're alive, on the mend. So I thought instead of talking, talking and more talking I would show you our last few days in pictorial review.

I walked into my room to find the two youngest in our dog kennel. Breastfeeding their babies. Motherhood can be so surreal sometimes.



Dailah looking at herself in the mirror after I put a smidge of make up on her.



And really, her eyelashes simply amaze me.



Unbelievably cute and PG (isn't Dailah's hair and the bubbles perfectly placed?)



Just too cute to pass up.

Strep Throat=sucky

Tariku, Dailah and I all have strep throat and it sucks. I'm totally wiped. Just wiped. So wiped, in fact, I wasn't able to teach my classes this morning which is so depressing to me.

Blah. That's it, just blah.

I wish we still got that pink medicine the kids get. Mine smells like...well, you know, whenever I open the bottle. So that's great.

Positivity....hmmm, Tariku had to get a strep culture at the doctor. He looked at me like, "How in the world could you have let them do that to me?"

I almost laughed, he was so cute. Then he told me that it was okay, he knew I had to let them do it.

Love him.

300 Strong

So while I've been away, a lot has been happening over at Jody's. Have you seen it?

You've seen me write about it hundreds of times. Well it never ended for those of us who it affected so deeply. So Jody did some math and came up with the following. I'll let her tell it but I encourage (no, demand!) you join. It doesn't just make sense, it's is impossible for me to understand why you WOULDN'T want to be a part of this!

So here is her blog (I'll copy and paste for my mom). :) And then go here to sign up. If you want me to sign up for you, leave a comment or shoot me an email.



'300 Voices'
Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world; indeed they're the only ones who ever have." (Margaret Mead)

OK, here we go.

Sometime in December, I did some rough math. I was all excited because I thought I was onto something. I wondered, "So if we raise $60,000 every year at Water For Christmas, how many years would it take us to give Liberia clean water?" I furiously typed numbers into the calculator. Hit the equal button....

300 years.

Hmmm.

That's a little discouraging.

But it haunted me. And I couldn't shake it.

We have to use this. This is too important.

I might be busy in 300 years. And more importantly, the thirsty cannot wait that long.

Wrestled with it. Heard from so many of you that said, "Now what?"

And settled that we simply will kick it up a notch...or 300.

We will expand our borders, involve more people...300 times.

And then it won't take 300 years, we can do it in one year.

So here's the plan. Stay with me.

We need 300 people.

300 people to make a committment to 300 Voices...Water for all Seasons. This will be a commitment of $20/month. (that's $5 a week, $240 for the whole year). WFC fund will stay open all year. We get 300 people to commit to $20 a month for 2009 and that's an additional $72,000.(Did you get that? For your $20 a month, combined with 299 others and their $20 a month that is $72,000 in 2009. That's 15 wells!) That's a lot of money. For little sacrifice personally. (as always, 100% of money goes to charity: water. They use 100% to drill fresh water wells and clean water solutions).

But beyond that the idea is to keep water on the hearts and minds of a 300 person team. For where our treasure is, there will our hearts be. So we give all year. We pray. We dream. We plan. And then in November 2009, we kick off Water For Christmas with a team of 300. (Now, you are not committing to anything as far as next years campaign goes...you don't have to do anything. But I think you will want to. But there will be no obligation to be involved in Water For Christmas 2009).

This is how it will work:

water4christmas.com is being developed. And will be ready for launch later in the year.

But for now, go here to sign up. Give us your name and location. We will start of list of people around the country who are committing to Water. (you can do your donations with $5 weekly, or $20 a month, or a $240 donation for the whole year--whatever is best for your budgets). We will not bombard with emails--but if you want monthly or weekly reminders to donate we will do that. If you don't do online giving, and would like to mail in checks, you can still do that by making checks payable to Charity Global with Water For Christmas in the memo line. Please mail checks to: Charity Global-150 Varick St. 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013. We will even send you a set of 12 envelopes if you would prefer to send a monthly donation by mail.

We will have a counter showing how close we are to getting 300 people.

There's a new blog badge for the 300 Voices...use it if you want.

Anyone can join us. Talk about it. Blog about it. I know many of us who participated in WFC 2008 were having a hard time shaking it. A hard time letting it go. So this is for you. But even if you were not a part of WFC at all but would like Water to be one of the things you give to in 2009, you can still join us now.

At this point, all it means is a $20/month commitment. The giving is just to force us to put action behind our causes. And provide clean water for thousands in the process. And then ideally in November 2009, we have people whose treasure has followed their heart and they are ready to go. We reach 300 times more people with awareness about clean water. The money is multiplied. And clean water will erupt from the dirt of Africa's floor.

We will be one voice. 300 strong. For clean water. For life.

By signing up you are simply saying, "Water matters." And we believe that enough to give $20 of my treasure each month. For people who live without the many comforts and necessities that are my own. It's that simple.

I want to make it clear that this is merely part of who we are. It's simply part of loving people the way Jesus taught us to. We cannot love thirsty people without giving them water to drink.

I wouldn't do this if I wasn't confident in you guys. I've talked to you on the email, on the blogs, in the churches, at the schools. I've heard the stories of others that I don't know. And I just believe there is a force here. A force we can combine and channel. And use to make big impact.

I'm so excited to partner, to team up. 300 times.

Now there will be resources available and developed throughout the year to help us all at WFC time. But right now, I want to see if we can build a team of 300. Simply 300 people willing to give to Water throughout the year. $20 a month.

So. You want in?

Go. Sign up. We'll add your name to the growing list in the sidebar (it may take up to a day for your name to appear after joining).

(There will be continued updates about all the WFC wells throughout the year. It looks like I may personally be on the ground in Liberia to report back to you about how the Water money is changing and saving lives. And clarify further why we can't stop. Why we must keep it fresh on our hearts and minds. Even if it's only $20/month. Times 300).

Well...

DId you miss me?

I was gone all weekend at a training. A really awesome, really intense training. I went to a Bodyflow training (go to www.lesmills.com and check out Bodypump, Bodystep and Bodyflow to see what I'm talking about).

You all know how much I love watching bodies in motion, bodies full of strength and passion. So my cup runneth over from this weekend, it was just awesome. Plus, I'm a freak who likes to work out for 27 hours in 3 days. That's just me.

But it was powerful, I seriously missed my family. Zach made it back okay but I was quite preoccupied with the training so tomorrow will lend itself to lots of "getting back to normal stuff."

How did the kids do without me? Well I came home and it was like a daddy bootcamp.

Dailah was wearing underwear and had no accidents all day.

Her pacifier was allowed only in her bed.

The boys had learned how to brush their teeth (instead of play for 3 minutes with a toothbrush in their mouths).

I think I need to take a few weekends off a month and maybe something will happen around here!

Hope you're feeling as calm and centered as I am!

Jigs Up

I'm not nearly as cool as I think I am.

Did you guys see that last post? Yeah so I was so pumped up last night when we stayed at my sister's house (no water out at camp) because she had high speed internet.

So I finally joined Facebook because everyone keeps telling me to.

And somehow I emailed every single person in my email list. That is so embarrasing. I have no idea how I did that.

I apologize tremendously if I emailed you. You aren't the only one, I emailed the good folks at the government (who helped with the I-600a) so I'm sure they appreciated that.

So there it is. Jigs up. I am way out of my league with Facebook.

Dogs

My dogs are amazing. When Zach is gone, they are on high alert which has meant a lot of barking the last couple days.

I love it, a chocolate lab (on the heavy side) and a great dane (on the huge side) are intimidating!

If you weren't intimidated by that, how about the fact that I found an entire deer leg outside. A leg, complete with hoof.

Unbefreakinlievable.

MMM Good

Did you hear it?

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

This was part of President Obama's Inaugural address. Arguably my most favorite part. I, along with the rest of the world, watched the events yesterday. I cried, I smiled, I kept telling Tariku to watch the TV. I did all of those things I was supposed to.

What I really hope happens is people take all the passion they're feeling and throw it at something that will stick. We cannot put all of our hopes and dreams on one man, it just doesn't work. Obama knows it, which is why he asked that we take responsibility. Can you imagine how different the world would look if those 2 million people that stood in the freezing cold took that same elation and worked for feeding the world's hungry?

What a different world.

I'm hopeful today. Hopeful that people realize Obama doesn't stand as THE person who is going to change our lives but stands for the type of person who puts it upon themselves to change lives around them. Because he's not the second coming. He's a man who took what God gave him and used it to change the world he is living in.

And that is what I hope we get most from our President. It could go without saying that he will never meet the country's expectations if we continue to live like we have (out of our means, not helping our brothers and sisters both here and abroad) because very little will change. Should the country step up to the plate and start taking responsibility, truly anything is possible.

Like clean water for everyone in the world, for example.

Let's See...

I'm single-mommin' it this week. Which is never fun. My days continue like normal but I count on Zach a lot when he gets home. So things are different. I mean who else does this with their kids?



Alas, I just take funny pictures. That's my niche as a mom. Take pictures and then post them on the world wide web. I'm sure they much prefer my version of parenting.

Of the cheese.



Of the smaller cheese.



And our little gun-toting Republican.

MLK Junior

Little known fact about hotflawedmama. In 6th grade my class put on a wax museum. I chose to be Martin Luther King, Junior. It seemed perfectly natural to me at the time. We had learned about him, he was totally inspirational to me, so I wanted to "play" him in a wax museum.

I was in a teeny, tiny, town where there was a single minority. That's it, just one (and he happened to be my boyfriend...hey Mike Breneman!). So I put on the makeup (yeah I know, seemed right at the time) and gave his speech.

I think I've been fascinated with him since. As I've grown older and been able to read his material and listen to his speeches with different eyes and different ears, it's become an even bigger deal in my life. To picture what his dream meant at the time and to picture someone on national television discussing what was thought to be impossible is amazing to me.

It's like when I wrote about wanting to get everyone in the world clean water. It's like that but bigger. And to think we waited so long for even a portion of it to come true. I know there is still quite a ways to go. Anyone who has been to the southside of Chicago (or any large city) and seen what's happening there knows Martin's whole dream has not been realized.

But I have no doubts I owe a HUGE portion of my blessed life to him. My little boy, my Tariku. I have no doubts this little boy would not be in my life if it weren't for MLK, Jr. I hope I can continue to do my small part in helping America (and the world) realize the full dream but until then, I am just so, so thankful.

Today

Today was quite the day for the kiddos (and mommy). We were able (compliments of Papa Frank) to go to Disney on Ice. It was enjoyable...people on skates putting themselves in awkward positions has always been entertaining for this gal.

After which we ate ice cream while watching the snow get dumped from the sky. All of this took so long nap times were negated. Though I feared the worst, the kids were quite good right up until (early) bedtime.

The highlight of the night came when I was cooking. Trysten (who is not feeling well again) took his shirt off because he was hot. Younger sibs followed suit. Then they proceeded to practice their best ice skating moves. Not to be outdone, I showed them how I can do a triple spin on our kitchen floor. Almost pulled a groin but their oohs and awwws were well worth it. Love these crazy kids. (And yes, Trysten eats...I have no idea where he gets the frame that could fit behind a baby tree).

Yesterday

Yesterday was our re-launch for 2 of the classes I teach. It was soo much fun. 45 people all working out and moving and loving it. It was just awesome. Seriously, seriously awesome. I love staying at home with the kids but I'm quite positive if I didn't have these classes to take up a few hours of my week I'd go stark crazy.

Plus they are the best fitness classes in the world. And getting to watch my husband lift weights front and center wasn't a bad perk either.

Emily and hotflawedmama teaching a bit of Bodystep.



The group.



The group second shot.



And the 4 of us. Katrina, myself, Jen and Emily. Thems some pretty tough gals.

Hair

Hair has been the subject of choice over here at hotflawedmama. Take for instance last night.

I was brushing my teeth, just discussing with my loving husband the few small differences I've started noticing in my face. Then I see this:



That, my friends, is my first gray hair (or, rather, gray root). I wasn't freaking out so much as I was incredulous. I'm still so young, I'm wondering why no one told my hair or my breasts that. They've forgotten that memo.

And then Tariku. His hair was getting so long. He cried pretty much every time I even reached towards a comb. At first I was going to have someone cornrow it or something...then I saw the price for that and got sticker shock. So we cut it. He looks like a little man, he really does. He also looks like the pictures we would get from Ethiopia. Brings back good memories but it just baffles me how much more I know the little boy from these pics as opposed to that earlier version.

But seriously, look at those eyes!