Tara, Ashley and Toni Are Aging Out!

UPDATE: There is a family who has met Ashley. Ashley WANTS to be adopted! Please share to help Ashley find a family of her own! The person who met Ashley will talk with anyone who is interested! 

Today we are talking about Tara, Ashley and Toni who are aging out soon! Last time I posted Marshall, Leonard and Flynn. They still need families ASAP who can complete their adoptions before each boy turns 14. If you know someone who is in process for this country and may be able to add one of them onto a current adoption, please share these children with them! The three girls I am posting today are from the same country with the same aging out cut-off of 14. And again, unlike other countries where immigration paperwork only needs to be submitted in time, these children need their adoptions finalized before their aging out date!

These girls have birthdays in a few months. Their best chance for families are still families already in process for their country, but there might be a chance for a family to reuse a dossier or start from scratch and move very, very quickly. I have heard of aging out adoptions being completed in 4 months start to finish, but it requires everything to work out perfectly. The family can't have delays, the agency must expedite, and immigration needs to as well. A family willing to try might get there in time though!  Send an email to childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information about international adoption of these and other children with special needs.

Please consider joining in and helping advocate for these kids who are about to age out. It is challenging, but it is worthwhile. Learning about these children and their need to be adopted in this short amount of time truly changes you. Every child is different, but they all need the same thing. And who knows, you might find the child you advocate for is one who is supposed to be in your own home.

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Tara http://reecesrainbow.org/4186/tara September

Tara will turn 14 in September. It is very sad to look at her profile and realize she has been listed for almost six years. She is on the verge of aging out and still waiting for a family. She has a very large grant of $15,743 to assist a family with adoption expenses. Single parents can adopt from her country! Tara has Down Syndrome. Her profile says she can take care of her daily needs and communicate with sign language. She can jump and climb and enjoys bike riding! She is described as outgoing. Her profile says she is very good at communicating her emotions. She sounds like a girl who would thrive in an active household. She needs a family. Please go HERE to see the rest of her profile, and email childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information about adopting her!

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Ashley http://reecesrainbow.org/107316/ashley-2 October

UPDATE: There is a family who has met Ashley. Ashley WANTS to be adopted! Please share to help Ashley find a family of her own! The person who met Ashley will talk with anyone who is interested! 

Ashley will be turning 14 in October. Ashley has Down Syndrome. She has really great self-care and communication skills! She can speak in sentences and follow directions. She can take of her own needs and assist in the foster home where she is currently living. Foster homes and the way they are run vary in different countries. In her country, they often provide good care for the children, but the children are not able to stay there as adults. Children in foster homes can still be adopted in her country. (This is unlike the foster home change I have posted about in Eastern Europe.) Foster homes can provide a great foundation for children to build attachment skills that will help them transition into a new family. Ashley's profile says she is affectionate and shows affection toward her foster mother. That is a great sign! Ashley sounds like a very loveable girl who would do really well in a family. She loves to dress in pretty clothes and have her hair in pigtails. I would be so happy to see her adopted before she ages out! She is eligible for a $10,000 older child grant to assist with adoption expenses! Single parents can adopt from this country. Where is her family?? Please go HERE to see the rest of her profile, and email childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information about adopting her!

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Toni http://reecesrainbow.org/100331/Toni October

Toni will also be turning 14 in October. Her profile says that she is very serious and concerned about aging out without a family. I can't even begin to imagine how scary it must be to realize that your next birthday signifies the loss of your chance to be adopted. Toni has vision loss in one eye and some hearing loss. She now wears hearing aides and is learning to speak. She needs a family to help her continue the progress she has been making. She can follow spoken directions, write her name, do addition, perform daily self-care and assist in her foster home. She even helps care for the younger children in the foster home. She enjoys playing outdoors and doing crafts. She sounds like an absolutely amazing girl who would really benefit from a family. She is eligible for a $10,000 older child grant to assist with her adoption expenses. Single parents can adopt from this country. Please go HERE to see the rest of her profile, and email childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information about adopting her!

Marshall, Leonard And Flynn Are Aging Out!

I posted recently about increasing the exposure of kids who are about to age out, in the hopes that more children will find families in time. Here are a few children who are in immediate danger of aging out.

These three boys are all in the same country. Each boy will forever lose his chance for a family on his 14th birthday. In this country the adoption must be finalized before that date. A family in process would be their best chance to be adopted in time. Most agencies are willing to move quickly for aging out children. Some also allow waivers for requirements based on the needs of the child. The two requirements that can't be waived are the minimum age of 30 and the need for the adoption to be completed by the child's 14th birthday. Single parents can adopt from this country! You can email childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information on these and other children with special needs available for international adoption!

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Marshall http://reecesrainbow.org/69772/marshall-2 July

Marshall has hydrocephalus that has been treated. In 2006 he received a shunt to drain fluid from his brain. It was revised in 2009. He sounds like a very capable boy who takes care of his own daily needs. He is eligible for a $10,000 older child grant! His exact birthday is not listed, but he will age out in July. A family currently in process for his country may be able to race and add him onto their adoption. That is really his only chance so close to his birthday. I'm hoping his birthday is toward the end of the month and he has time for a miracle! 

Go to his profile HERE to read more about him. You can email childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information. 

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Leonard http://reecesrainbow.org/50142/leonard-2 July 26

We know the date of Leonard's birthday! He has until July 26th to be adopted. A family currently in process may be able to add him on and expedite his adoption in the next 6 weeks. They would have to move very, very fast. Leonard has cerebral palsy. I would describe it as mild from his profile. He is able to take care of his needs, walk and run, use stairs, and communicate well. 

His profile describes him as a child who enjoys the company of others. He is also eligible for a $10,000 older child grant for his adoption expenses! Go to his profile HERE to read more about him. You can email childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information. 

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Flynn http://reecesrainbow.org/75965/flynn-2 August

Flynn will turn 14 in August. Again, a family already in process is his best chance for being adopted in time. Flynn also has cerebral palsy. His needs also sound relatively mild, and his profile says he is able to do his own self-care, walk and run, and climb stairs. He is described as very intelligent. He even knows some English! His profile also lists hepatitis B. I have a few friends who have adopted children with hepatitis B. They have all described it as very manageable within their families. Flynn sounds like a really great kid! He is eligible for a $10,000 older child grant, and he also has a $3,500 agency grant to assist with his adoption expenses. $13,500 is a huge amount and would be very helpful to an adopting family! Go to his profile HERE to read more about him. You can email childinquiry@reecesrainbow.org for more information. 

Evan, Two Years Later. Plus the Beginning of the Bedridden Project!

I've been working on a bit of a project for the bedridden kids recently. It has grown much bigger than I expected. It isn't finished yet, but I'm going to start sharing it in pieces now. There is more coming, but this is the start!

Today is two years that Theo, Orion and Evan have been home. It is also Evan's 13th birthday. He has changed so much in the last two years. More than anything, I want people to see how much Evan has grown and changed. I want people to see how different his life is and how much better he has made our lives.

The birthday boy is very happy with all of the attention being on him for his special day.

He has grown and changed so much over the last two years. He has made our lives so much better.

This was Evan's referral photo. This was the photo in his file to identify him and for possible parents to see. It is, frankly, very intimidating compared to the child in front of us today.

Two years ago, Evan was scared. Everything was new to him. Even being lifted from his crib was terrifying. He was so rarely taken out, and if he was it was for something most likely painful or uncomfortable. Being upright was a sudden and startling change from constantly laying horizontal in a crib.

Evan stayed in his crib during many of our visits because taking him out was so scary and painful for him.

He was so thin, starving. He would barely eat for the nannies. With so many children to feed, if a kid fussed and refused to eat the nannies moved on to the next crib. Sometimes they came back around and tried again. Sometimes a more eager eater was given their bottle instead. When he turned 11 he wore the same size diaper as my 1 year old.

Even eating was exhausting because he was so small. He fell asleep as soon as he finished eating in our apartment waiting for passports.

This photo is from his birthday exactly 2 years ago. We were traveling home. Do you see how that shirt hangs off of him?

Here is a photo from the following year. Do you see his younger brother filling out the same shirt as a 2 year old? 

He was also in pain very often. Without the regular stretching necessary for kids with cerebral palsy, his muscles would get very tight. He had extreme stomach discomfort from the techniques used to manage bowel movements within the orphanage. He had bone degeneration from constantly laying down. You need to bear weight and receive proper nutrition for bone growth, especially if you have spasticity from cerebral palsy. His hips suffered greatly without those things.

But we brought him home. And he grew. He grew in so many ways. He put on weight. We spent a year and a half slowly learning to eat. He had laid flat on his back drinking thin liquids from a cut open nipple in the orphanage. That's a huge risk for aspiration. We started moving him more and more inclined during feedings. We moved onto slightly thickening his liquids, but he would still only drink juice or vanilla flavored formula. We were able to gradually add more flavors and textures from a bottle, until Evan started eating from a spoon practically overnight. Now he can eat all all sorts of foods from a spoon. Chewier things still get puréed, but he can eat all sorts of foods right off the table with our family now!

Evan was just starting to fill in here.

Growing more! Look at that tummy and those legs!

He learned what it was like to have the freedom to roll all the way over instead of from side to side. He seemed completely baffled in the beginning to find he could keep rolling and not hit the side of a crib. He is not only used to being upright, he can now sit independently for short periods of time!

This crib was Evan's entire world. 

Evan can now sit all by himself!

Most importantly, he is happy and loved. He loves to snuggle on the couch. He loves to play with his favorite toys. He has a mama and papa, plus lots of brothers and sisters, who dote on him. He laughs and smiles when he is picked up these days, because he knows something great is always about to happen. He has grown from the scared and confused child we met into a son who knows he is loved.

His first day out of the crib at the orphanage.

One of his early medical appointments.

Home a few months.

Here is Evan playing with one of his favorite toys a few weeks ago.

Evan is very, very special. But he isn't unusual or unique. There are many other kids out there, just waiting for their own family to bring them home. Some of them still have their smile and sparkle in their crib. Some of them need help to feel safe in the world, like Evan did. They all need families. That is why we are going back again. Daisy and Lee were next to Evan in the bedridden ward. I'm going to start introducing some of the other bedridden children who also need families. All of these children are worthy of families and love. They just need someone to come forward. 

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Leilani's need is urgent. She was recently transferred from the baby house to the same bedridden ward as Denzel, Phoenix and others. She will die very quickly there. These photos show her getting older before she was transferred. The cold truth is that she was wasting away in the better equipped baby house. The baby house has more medical staff and equipment. Her needs are too great for the lesser care in the facility for older children. She needs a family who can act immediately. She has a grant of over $10,000 toward her adoption.

http://reecesrainbow.org/53187/leilani

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There is very little information available for Stanley.  It is clear his life would be much better in a family. He looks very thin in his photo, but he also looks alert and aware. He was born in 2009. Someone needs to bring him home!

http://reecesrainbow.org/100317/stanley-2

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Lydia has the best smile! Look at how happy she is! She would be such a blessing to a family. I would guess she has been transferred since her last update 3 years ago. She needs a family. She has an adoption grant of nearly $1500.

http://reecesrainbow.org/56784/lydia-2

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I have spoken about Denzel many times. He was in Evan's room. We spent a lot of time with him! He will turn 16 and age out in 6 months. He will die in a crib unless he is adopted. He would thrive in a family. His life could be amazing. But it won't happen unless some steps forward and brings him home. He is now eligible for a $10,000 grant from the older child grant pool.

http://reecesrainbow.org/65205/denzel

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You can do this. We didn't do anything earth shattering with Evan. We brought him home and took care of him. That's it. Any family could have done that. These kids need families to make that leap too. It can seem scary, but they are just kids who need families. Adoption changes lives.

What Can We Do Better?

Does anyone remember two years ago when almost every aging out child ended up with a committed family? Casey and Iggy were saved, we adopted Barton, Sophie (listed as Salome) was adopted, Gene was adopted, I know there were a few others too. Last year Svetlana and Ruby were adopted after they aged out. This last fall and winter, a ton of kids were lost. We planned to adopt Amos and sent in our paperwork to immigration, but we couldn't commit until we moved and started our homestudy. 

I counted at least 9 other kids who aged out around that time without families. 9 kids. Other kids who need families urgently are being left behind as well. The kids moving to foster homes at orphanage 50 are SO loved by SO many people. But where are the families? Frail bedridden kids are being transferred to die. I want ALL the kids to have families. I cheer for every single kid who makes it home. Go adopt the sweet squishy babies too. But where is the rallying?

What has changed within the community? I know *I* feel a personal failing in this regard. I don't have as much time to blog and post because I am busier here at home with the kids we have already brought home. There are still awesome families stepping up for kids who are about to age out. Ricky and Elizabeth's family! Look at that awesomeness! How do we find more families? How do we better support the families who do come forward? How do we save more kids? There are so many kids on the verge of aging out right now. 

2 More!

If you've seen our fundraising page lately, you might have noticed something new. We wanted to wait until we had our homestudy draft to be sure we had four approvals. Now that we have that, we have some very exciting news. We are adding both Lee and Violet to our adoption! They each get their own post! Go check them out! Here is Lee's, and here is Violet's. We are so happy to add them to our adoption plans!

Lee

Now that we know how many kids we are planning to adopt and we can guess where we will be heading, we can make some cost estimates. Lee and Violet are both over 10 and eligible for the new $10,000 grants. That is hugely helpful and was a very unexpected surprise! These numbers are all estimates, but they give us a much better ballpark to shoot for.

Violet

Costs for Amos $20,000
Costs for Daisy in another region $15,000
Costs for Lee at the same orphanage $5000
Costs for Violet at the same orphanage $5000
Extra flights between trips $2500

Amos

That would bring our total to approximately $47,500. The two grants take off $20,000. That means our FSP needs to read $27,500. Right now we are at about $1500, but our account will soon read $3000, thanks to our amazing matching grant and everyone's support. We have quite a ways to go. We still have a few shirts for sale, and I can run another printing if we have enough interest. We are doing some local fundraisers in the meantime. As we post new fundraisers, feel free to share them far and wide!

Daisy

Violet

There is a fourth child we are hoping to adopt. She is brilliant and beautiful. I have no idea how she has been waiting so long. She has only been listed as Violet for the last three and a half years, but she is almost 13 years old.

Her listing photo doesn't do her justice. That's so often the case, but especially for girls who have had their hair shaved off. Compare the photo she was listed with to this recent photo of her. If you didn't know it, you might not realize both of those photos are of the same beautiful child!

Violet used to live with some of our boys. They were excited to see her picture again! I first remember seeing her in a video of Theo, where she was taken on a walk with him and some visitors. She is very clever. She doesn't talk much, but she has really good receptive communication. And she is unbelievably gentle and sweet. She has even learned to walk since her profile was last updated! How has she waited so long?

The last time we adopted, we only adopted older boys. Those older boys have my heart! So many of them have waited for so long, and they are some of the last to be chosen. This time around, our daughters pointed out that they were already quite outnumbered. "Maybe a couple girls this time?" they suggested. They did have a point! And my husband and I had already talked about Daisy and Violet as girls we were thinking about adopting. The truth is, they have both waited just as long as the older boys. I keep saying I don't know how, because I don't. But I don't want any of our kids to wait any longer!

Violet's situation is a bit different than the other kids we are adopting. We don't think she is in the same immediate danger that Lee will be without medical care. She is not about to be transferred to foster care with no hope of a family like Daisy. She hasn't aged out like Amos. But she is still waiting, as she has been for a very long time. Our family is ready to welcome her with open arms. She doesn't know it yet, but she has sisters waiting for her. Brothers too! We are so glad and so thankful that she was laid on our hearts.

If you'd like to make a tax-deductible donation, you can go HERE.

Being Brave

Sometimes there are hard choices to make in adoption. There are no guarantees. Until you have your child home, you will have no idea if their condition is much better or much worse than their file states. That's the reality of adoption, particularly adoption in Eastern Europe.

If you've been following our story, you have probably noticed how fond I am of the child I have called V, now listed as Lee. He was next to Evan and we spent a lot of time with him. He has been transferred with other bedridden kids and I'm quite worried about him. You may or may not have guessed that we were hoping to add him to our adoption as well.

We received information about Lee's medical diagnoses recently. Among things we expected, his file also includes a very scary, fatal, degenerative brain condition. Wow. From seeing him during our last adoption, we had assumed he had cerebral palsy like our other boys. He very well might. But his file states that he is bedridden due to this other condition, a condition that almost no one survives more than 10 years past diagnosis. That's 10 years with good medical care, a luxury rarely afforded to orphans in Eastern Europe.

I am so thankful for my husband and that we are in agreement on so much. We sat down and talked about Lee. We don't think the listed diagnosis is correct. But we need to be prepared for the possibility that it is correct or at least close to the truth. So where does that leave us? If he did have a diagnosis that would only give him a few years left to live, what would we do?

I knew where I stood. The idea that his condition could be degenerative and fatal is a shocking contrast to the hope I had of him improving greatly with food and love and therapy. It is scary, but HE is not scary. We know him and we love him. I certainly couldn't imagine letting him die alone, possibly even sooner due to neglect. I knew my own heart and mind, but this is not the kind of decision I could make on my own.

My husband, my amazing and incredible husband, the most loving husband and father I could envision, he was right there with me. He said that it would break his own heart, but it would be worth it for Lee to have a family instead of spending his remaining time trapped in that bed and that room.

That is what we decided. We researched what Lee will need if that diagnosis is correct and then added that diagnosis to our home study. I am praying with all of my heart that it is a mistake. The odds are good that a doctor who barely examined him jotted down an inaccurate term, or used the wrong code, or didn't even care. We will do our best and we will do the most that we can for him. Regardless of medical condition, no child should live or die in one of those terrible rooms, least of all a child we want to call our son.

Now that our homestudy is just about finished and we know how many children we are approved for, we are ready and eager to add Lee to our adoption. He will be a much-loved son, whatever his fate may be.

If you'd like to make a tax-deductible donation, you can go HERE.

A Special Thank You

Adoption is amazing. It brings families together. It brings people together. It is very hard work, but it shows you all the good that is out there in the world.

I recently received a very special card from someone who has followed our story. It was such an encouragement, and our boys appreciated it too. This adoption process has had some bumps and delays. The reminder that there are people out there praying for our kids and our adoptions was such an amazing gift. Thank you.

There were three names of older boys that this person mentioned. I'd love it if everyone who reads this could go look at these kids and pray for them, donate to the older child grant, and share their profiles. There are a few kids listed with the same name, and I don't know for sure which child with that name, but if we share, and pray, and donate for all of them I think that will cover it!

Go check out Leonard, Tanner and Jordan!

$250 today?

UPDATE: We did it! We met our $1500 matching grant! You are all amazing! Thank you so much!

Guys, can we knock out our matching grant today? About $250 to go! Our FSP needs to read $1500.  Shirts are $20! We still have Superman Was Adopted and Ukraine Heart shirts! Email me at kayleighbloom@gmail.com to buy a shirt!

Sizes:

Superman Youth:
Small 2 blue, 2 red, 1 sapphire
Medium 1 sapphire, 1 blue
XL 1 red, 1 sapphire

Superman Adult:
Large 1 red

Ukraine Heart Youth:
Small 5
XL 1

Ukraine Heart Adult:
Small 2
Medium 2
Large 3
XL 1

How Do You Feed Them All?

"How do you feed them all? It must cost a fortune!"

Wow, we hear this a lot! We hear it from strangers when we are all out together. We hear it when we are checking out at our weekly shopping trip. We hear it from our own families too!

We have a few things in our favor. We have the benefit of an economy of scale. I can cook in big batches. We never need to worry if we will finish a larger size before it spoils. In fact, because my husband works in the restaurant industry, we have access to restaurant supply stores where we can purchase items at close to cost. Some of these are open to the general public also! It is great to be able to buy food by the case at wholesale prices. There is a lower cost of living here also, although we have been lucky enough to find good shopping options everywhere we have lived. My kids are generally not picky. Certainly nothing I did to cause that, but it helps that they are adventurous eaters who don't have sensory issues limiting their diet. We do have a few intolerances, but I am accustomed to working around them. I also try hard to make sure our diet is pretty healthy, but it's not perfect. We eat tons of fruits and vegetables, good proteins and fats, and a variety of healthy grains and carbs. We eat occasional convenience food too.

Green beans? My favorite!

We aim to spend about $50-75 a week on fruits and vegetables, $50 a week on meat, and $100 on everything else. Sometimes it comes in higher, sometimes lower. We spend probably $150 a month on toilet paper and diapers and wipes and bed mats.

Avocados and melons by the case, plus sour cream and cottage cheese, instant breakfast mix, and dishwasher detergent. We were without a dishwasher when ours broke after we moved in. I am very, very thankful to have one again!

We get a few things at Sams. Pancake mix for my husband's world famous pancake breakfasts, popcorn for movie nights, cans of pork and beans to go with hot dogs or hamburgers, nacho cheese to make up for our otherwise healthy diet, sour cream, instant breakfast mix (Our doctor recommended we mix this with milk or add it to meals to increase calories for Evan when he first came home, and we still use it occasionally.), Miralax, diapers (in practically every size), toilet paper and dishwasher detergent.

Case of sweet potatoes, case of chicken breasts, ground turkey in those tubes, diapers, toilet paper in the back, and a case of chef boyardee raviolis for emergencies. (Emergencies like I really don't want to cook tonight. Ahem.)

Aldi has good prices on produce, canned goods, and our occasional chips and snack foods. I like their chex mix, but you can guess how often I can finish a bag without sharing! Sometimes I call that "the large family diet." All those keen little ears hear the rustle of chip bags, so I end up eating a reasonable portion instead of the whole bag! We buy some canned vegetables by the flat, like creamed corn, frenched beans and spinach. We buy instant potatoes and applesauce to mix in foods for Evan, to thicken them or thin them depending on what he needs. We buy cheese, yogurt, milk, lactose free milk, and almond milk.

This whole shopping trip was $150! There are nearly 200 pounds of fresh and frozen vegetables, 50 pounds of rice, tons more stuff. And too funny, sometimes we call Barton "the silent assassin." He moves SO quietly. He snuck into the back of this photo and I didn't even notice it until later! 

We use a bakery outlet for bread and rolls. Their prices are great, the quality is good, and they always remember us when we stop by. I used to bake my own bread. Sometimes we still do for fun, but we just aren't in that season of life right now. So the bread store it is!

We shop at the restaurant store. What do we buy? Pasta and sauce are great here. We can buy a 20 lb box of high quality pasta for $13. We buy marinara sauce in cases of 6 #10 cans. Same for diced tomatoes, tomato purée, and so on. We buy tuna in cases of 5 lb cans. When we say we only use half a can for a meal, this is the can we mean! We buy sugar, flour, cornmeal, oatmeal, pinto beans and rice in 25-50 lb bags. $2 a pound is my cutoff for meat prices, but it gives us a lot of options. We can buy a few kinds of fish, ham and pork, smoked sausage, ground or whole turkey, and all kinds of chicken. Chicken quarters go as low as 30 cents a pound. We can buy 15 dozen eggs for $12. We buy fresh and frozen produce by the case. We have a huge chest freezer where we store everything. We also have a second fridge for fresh produce. Things like apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions sit on a rack in our kitchen. We go through food pretty quickly, so we don't have too much spoilage.

50 pounds of carrots, 50 pounds of cabbage, 50 pounds of steel cut oats, and my ever present photography assistant!

We look at whatever is on sale that month. In March there was a sale on cabbage because restaurants were cooking St Patricks Day meals. Our kids ate 100 pounds of cabbage without batting an eye. Cabbage salad (like cole slaw), borscht, cabbage roll soup, a Thai recipe the kids like that is served with cabbage quarters, and on and on. We only made Irish cabbage and potatoes one time, come to think of it! To give an idea of the variety those sales give us, in the last couple weeks we have bought cases of avocados, green beans, snow peas, kale, leeks, okra, canteloupe, and more as special sale items.

Snow peas on sale = stir fries! Half of them disappeared out of the box before I could cook them though. I wonder where they went...

To make things easy, we have a few typical breakfasts and lunches that we cycle through. I make some amazing granola from rolled oats, quick oats with milk or maple syrup are fast to make for everyone, eggs and toast on the griddle are easy, and my husband makes stacks of pancakes on mornings he is home. Since we are usually homeschooling during the afternoon, lunches are mostly light and quick. We often do sandwiches with fruit and cheese for everyone, with a batch of sweet potatoes or pasta or other carbs to fill up the bottomless pit teenagers. Dinner could be anything, but there is always plenty of it! 

I use some less than gourmet shortcuts. I make our "tuna noodle casserole" in a pot on the stove with regular pasta, adding tuna, frozen peas and cream of mushroom soup when the pasta is done. Shhhh...don't tell my kids how it is usually cooked! I do a few crockpot recipes in a pot on the stove too. I mix frozen corn, black beans, rotel and cilantro to make huge batches of "salsa" for everyone to share. I've moved to mixing up and baking my granola in a turkey roasting pan instead of on flat cookie sheets. Most of the time cooking for our crew doesn't take too much longer than if we were cooking for fewer people. An oven full of chicken only takes a few more minutes to cook than a single pan. Cleaning everything up does take longer though! Once again, so glad to have that dishwasher!

Granola! That pan is HUGE. If I'm very lucky, there will be a little left! 

Right now Evan eats regular food with the rest of the family. He can eat things like rice in gravy just the way it is, but other foods need to be pureed. We bought a mini bullet blender when he first came home and it has served us well, but it is on its last legs. Daisy eats the same kind of food right now, and another child we are hoping to add to our adoption drinks from a bottle like Evan used to. I think we are planning to replace the mini bullet but also buy a large bar quality blender to be able to make bigger batches at a time. I thought that Evan's different meal needs would be a big issue when we adopted him. It took a long time to help him learn to eat new foods, but preparing his food and feeding him wasn't hard at all once we fell into a routine.

Our kids have some every day chores and some that rotate. It is important to me that our kids don't feel like they have to do the extra work resulting from the decisions my husband and I have made to have a large family. Our family dynamic is that everyone pitches in and helps. With so many hands to help, everyone does their own small job and it is done quickly. One of the rotating jobs is "kitchen helper." You might be able to guess that sometimes my helpers create more work for me! It is still fun for everyone to have their own turn to plan a few meals and help in the kitchen.

Theo was my assistant last time we made borscht! He was very excited. He loves helping!

I hope this gives an idea of how things work for us now! We can't wait to fit a few more plates at the table! And speaking of tables, we are also working on a new custom designed table that will be easier for the wheelchairs! So cool! I can't wait to share that with you guys too!