crazy love

 It takes a crazy love to have kids, through birth or adoption. It takes a crazy love to carry a child for nine months in the womb, and for more months on paper. I've done it in the womb five times, and I can tell you that this time on paper, it is much harder.

It takes a crazy love to fly overseas and meet your kids for the first time...and then to have to leave them there, until you can bring them home again.

 It takes a crazy love to know that there are so many things that we don't know. To walk on water. To keep our eyes on Him, because He knows all things.

 Thanks for cheering us on from the shore...so many of you have walked on water already, and marked the trail for us...like little fishnet floats, bobbing in the ocean.

This scarf and other items are available to purchase via auction on our facebook page. All proceeds go toward bringing our kids home. Thanks! ♥

highlights from 2011

It's been a big, fun, crazy year. Care to laugh with me through memory lane? Here's a compendium of our random observations, confessions, crazy kid sayings, and other funny stuff for you to enjoy. Grab your coffee, kick back...and maybe, go to the bathroom first. Just saying.

general observations

In my newfound love for old westerns, I've recently watched movies about Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, and Billy the Kid. Seems like one of these guys should've been named Frank or something to make things less confusing.

Dos·sier. \dah-see-ay\. noun: A pile of adoption documents sent to a foreign country containing detailed records on a particular person or subject containing 23 items, all of which need to be notarized and apostilled. See also "Pain in the Rear."

Glancing at our Costco list and thought I saw "minions" on it...a closer look revealed it was actually onions - but for a second I thought, wow, you can buy minions wholesale? We must be shopping at the Costco in DC this week.

I was discussing Jesus' temptation with the twins, and got to where Jesus says "Man does not live on bread alone." Big Red, with his squinty-serious look, answers, "Yeah...'cause you also need soup."

You should always take your vitamins with food...unless you're taking probiotics. Those you should take with chocolate.

Getting easily offended about someone else's personal opinions has the same knee-jerk effect as sneezing after applying mascara.

Aside from the obvious difficulties and annoyances of the adoption process, it is also possible that you will have to deal with utterly remarkable people who will nay-say, pooh-pooh, and deprecate adoption entirely...and then expect you to be over the moon for them when they buy a puppy.

Whoever says remote controls encourage laziness have obviously never watched their husband tear the house apart looking for it.

on living in Alaska

The Professor walked up the road to the mailbox for me this afternoon and I told him to dress warm because it was only 2 degrees...he got back and walked in the house without a jacket! I asked him, "What part of 'dress warm' do you not understand?!?" and HE said, "But Mom! I wore socks!!"

 It is inevitable that a toddler who gets so excited about collecting pine cones would be equally thrilled to come upon a pile of old moose nuggets. Her chubby little fists were already full when I caught her.

The Professor, on the idea of global warming: "Well, I think we could use the sun to be burning the earth a little more. I mean, it's freezing these days and I'm shivering. So I think people should use more chemicals."

insights from children

Our dishwasher broke. Big Red's solution, looking up at me with his eyes all squinched up and thoughtful-like, sweetly whispers, "Hafta move to a new house?"

On the phone, I was telling my friend about Loving Our Kids on Purpose - it's an amazing book, bringing great peace into parenting and joy into discipline...and during my speech, one of the kids yells from the living room, "IT'S NOT WORKIIINNGG!"

Big Red, upon learning that he will lose his bike tomorrow if he doesn't finish putting away his laundry, mutters, "I'm jus' gonna pray...fer you to ferget about dat."

I charged the kids an extra chore each for being the referee in their last argument. A second ago they were at it again and as I started to correct one of them, someone-who-shall-remain-nameless yells in a panic, "NO!!! Please don't intervene!!"

I'm eating leftovers from last night's dinner, and Big Red leans over and says, "Oh, you're eating that yummy stuff!" He pauses. "Actually, I didn't think it was yummy at all, but I didn't want ta hurt yer feelings."

on living with children

Narrowly thwarted a plan that was already in progress to cover the boys' bedroom walls entirely with black duct tape. Apparently Big Red wants to redecorate with a Star Wars theme.

Blankety-blank! I cannot tell you how many times a week that I realize I am listening to VeggieTales music all by myself because the kids all ran upstairs to play. 

We've gone from having boys who enjoy being mom's hero by squishing spiders with a piece of toilet paper to boys who run to the garage, grab their crossbow, and use the spider as a target.

I regret to inform any potential suitors that our oldest daughter has already decided whom she is going to marry. The groom was notified and is apparently mulling it over.

There is nothing like that sweet moment when you are tucking the kids in after they've fallen asleep - it's dark, it's peaceful, and they're so beautiful...you smooth the hair across their forehead...and then they fart. Loudly. That's life, folks.

confessions

It may be a sign you've been watching too many westerns if you affectionately name your Suburban "Stagecoach."

Well, hello 8 am - we seem to be running into each other a lot more often lately. And no, I still don't like you.

You may have been remiss in your duties if, when you finally get around to doing laundry and all the clean clothes are piled on the couch, the kids come running over and yell, "Yeah! Underwear!!" (I know, that NEVER happens at your house!)

Confession from the Professor after the adoption home visit with the social worker: "Mom, I kept my nunchucks under the bed. I didn't want her to think we were TOO dangerous."

here we go a-caroling

Jesus the Carpenter artwork by Francis Hook

Hark! the herald angels sing

It's A Wonderful Life sign by Alaska Chicks

glory to the newborn King

peace on earth and mercy mild

 wooden ornaments by my stepmom

God and sinners reconciled 

stockings from my talented friend Margie - we will need two more next year!

  joyful all ye nations rise 

join the triumph of the skies

quilted ornament by my friend Jeanette at Wordz of Life

with angelic hosts proclaim 

 popsicle ornament by the Professor a few years ago

quirky crocheted star by Baruch's Lullaby

Christ is born in Bethlehem

hark! the herald angels sing

glory to the newborn King 

wishing you all a very merry Christmas 

and blessed New Year

with love 

from the Baruch's Lullaby family

p.s.

fa wawawa wa...wa wa, wa, wa. ♥

our winter of waiting

Four of our kids are here. They are in the fresh snow, sledding, climbing all over each other like a litter of puppies. They are putting ornaments on our tree. They are writing Christmas lists and getting tucked in and prayed with at bedtime. They are wreaking a happy havoc and making us laugh and driving us to our knees and teaching us to be better parents every day. And throughout the day, every day, I imagine two more faces joining them.

Two of our kids are very far away, and we've never met, and I still miss them. Can't wait to hold them. Hug them. Tell them they are precious and loved and cared for. Tuck them in at night. Tell them they have a purpose and that God has great plans for them.  He does. They each have an amazing story of how He led us to them. 

Here are their faces. I am so, so thrilled to finally share them with you.

 our manly, tender warrior

 our merry little girl

 We are in Alaska. You know, the farthest-west yellow part up there. They are in the middle of board, in blue, in the-country-I'm-not-supposed-to-name-anymore-now-that-we're-sharing-photos, but it starts with a B and is shaped roughly like a rectangle, just left of the Black Sea. :)

We've paid about $15,000 in adoption expenses so far. We have about $17,000 to go, about half of which is airfare. A much-simplified breakdown of most of our adoption costs are in this post. We have no worries...God has been adopting kids much longer than we have, and He's never late! But if you want to help us bring them home, we have some ideas...

You can purchase anything from Baruch's Lullaby. Duh. You knew that already. 

Do you blog or have your own website? You can put our button on your blog. Easy. Even I can do it, and I can hardly find my way around elementary HTML. It's right over there, under "want a button?" --->

You can blog about us or share this post on Facebook. Or a different post. I'm really not picky. ;)

You can "like" Baruch's Lullaby on Facebook, and suggest our page to your friends, too. We promise to make you laugh several times a week or your money back.

You can purchase this card (or several of them!)  from MYSAVIOR Photography. All proceeds minus shipping are donated to our adoption fund.

You can purchase anything from Good Neighbors Candle and put "baruchslullaby" in the message to seller, and 20% of your purchase will be donated to our adoption fund.

You can pray for us. That's the best. I'll be honest and tell you that I don't care much about "positive thoughts" and "good vibes," but prayer is what moves mountains...even in Alaska. Thanks so much, friends. ♥

the great felting post

Wool is a magical thing. It has stretchy properties like no other fiber...that is, until your husband washes your favorite sweater and it suddenly fits an American Girl doll. Surely this is how felting was discovered, yes?

Felting happens when you take wool (or any other animal-derived fiber) and agitate it in water (preferably the hot, sudsy kind). It becomes thick, practically impermeable, a little stiff, a little fuzzy, and ultra warm. The wool fibers have scales that interlock and irreversibly attach to each other. The important word here is irreversibly. Can't be undone. No amount of tears, sweat, or cussing will get it back to normal. So my motto is: Pray first. Felt second.

Before you felt, you need to know just a few things -  first, synthetics won't felt, cotton won't felt, and usually, light colors won't felt either. I do have some white felted mittens that I make (they're actually my top selling mitten color!) but they do take a little more work. 

If you're not sure if you've got wool or acrylic, here's a quick test - take a few inches of the yarn and burn it. Stop looking at me like that, I'm being serious. *smile* If it's acrylic (or some other synthetic blend) it will turn to a nasty plastic lump. If it's wool (or another natural fiber) it will turn to ash. Wool is fire-resistant, which is another thing in its favor over other fibers, and a great reason why it's a terrific fiber for children and babies.

I do our felting two different ways, by machine and by hand. Most of the time, I will knit up a big batch of mittens (and formerly, booties) until I have at least ten pairs or so, and I will set them loose in the washer on the smallest load setting. For single-item custom orders, when a customer wants something in a color I don't currently have for sale, I will knit it up and felt it by hand, which is a lot more work and takes more time, but the result is (mostly) the same. I'll show you the difference in a minute. Either way, the items are knit large and baggy, and are fairly indistinct. Lumpy, and a little goofy looking. Bear with me. They get much cuter.

Here is a mitten. With thumbs, even (if you're familiar with our shop, you'll know all of our mittens are thumbless for babies and toddlers!). This is a great example of felting, because the mitten poses an extra problem - you have to take special measures so that the thumb doesn't actually felt itself closed, and for that I cut some special filler (um, plastic from a grocery bag) and stuffed the thumbs. Not too tight though, because the stitches are baggy, remember? We don't want that plastic to work it's way out and make a permanent hole in the thumb as it felts. So, lightly stuff the thumb (or small part of whatever you're felting) and make a few stitches with some cotton thread to hold it in there. The cotton thread won't felt, so you'll be able to pull it out easily when the felting is done.

 Like so. Ta da.

I felted these guys in the washing machine - lowest setting, hot water, a little detergent, for about 6 minutes. Prayed first. Then I checked, reset it for another six minutes, and checked...and the darn things were still not done. There were only four items (a pair of booties and mittens - I was being lazy and didn't want to hand-felt them, and needed some photos for this post anyway) and there wasn't nearly enough agitation going on in there. But...

Here is another tip - do not, under any circumstances, add other laundry to your felting. Even if it is clean laundry, it may leave ugly fuzzles all over your knits that are impossible to remove. This is experience talking, and I just saved you a ton of grief. No charge, you're welcome.

So anyway, I looked around for something to throw in the washer with the knits to create more agitation, and finally decided on a bunch of sippy cups sans lids. Worked beautifully (it was a little noisy, though). You want them to be in the wash cycle until they are almost as felted as you want them to be, but not entirely - they will continue to felt a little in the rinse and spin cycle.

When wool is wet, it is very sticky. And when it's felted in the washer, it is also very, very fuzzy - depending on how many things you felted (or the size of them) there may be a lot of stray, wet wool fluff stuck to the sides of your washer and to what you felted. You will need to trim your items, but I suggest waiting until they are mostly dry or you will be covered in wool fuzz that is incredibly difficult to get off of your hands. Imagine sticky biscuit dough...it's like that.

Here they are after they're trimmed up - this is only a small pile of the fluff that I cut off of them. The rest took off flying when our forced-air heating kicked on. (wheee!)

 Find a safe place where the cat won't lay on them and let them dry for a couple days. For some reason they take days to fully dry out after the initial felting, but after that, they dry very quickly (like after playing in the snow). Score another point for wool.

Small knitting needles are great for picking locks and puncturing plastic wrap. Large knitting needles are great as drying props.

 I had another order for a single pair of mittens last week, and we hand felted those. The principle is the same - hot water, soap (I just use dishwashing soap), and lots of agitation. It helps to have rubber gloves and a few kids around who want to take turns helping.

It's fun to do it this way because you can actually see the process of the fibers coming together. It reminds me of making butter out of cream by shaking it in a jar - there's no change for a long time and you don't think you're getting anywhere, and then suddenly you see a little change in the texture, and then poof! It's done. Well, maybe not "poof" exactly - maybe more like ten or fifteen minutes later. But after an hour of shaking, who's counting?

 Here are the hand-felted mittens. They are thick (though not quite as thick) and not nearly as fuzzy - I didn't even need to trim them. And I had control over the process, so there was no fear of over felting.

So, that is how we do it here. Any more questions? Leave them in the comments and I'll be happy to help. ♥

what it used to look like

 ...before the white stuff came. Yep, it's here, about two feet so far, and yes, it's pretty, but it's just...white. It was minus fifteen last night when we went to bed, and it warmed up to four or five today. So I was craving some color and found some pictures that I should've shared with you in a more timely manner, but didn't. Sorry. :)

These are of the Butte, the second time we went up this year, in August. It was steep here, baby.

Lovely, breathtaking, amazing, my favorite time...you get to the top and if you hit it just right, the colors are phenomenal and the fireweed has all of its ethereal seed fluff everywhere, frosting the tips of the red foliage. We missed the full effect by about a week, but it was still spectacular.

                                    

That's Pioneer Peak, right. . . . . . . . . . there. ^

Happy girl, coloring on the back deck in bare feet and a sundress. It seems a long way off as I am sitting here knitting thumby mittens, with the thermometer at 3.4 degrees - except she is like this all year long, regardless of the weather (we have her wear jeans under the sundresses in the winter, sometimes).

This is our oregano. I like it because it just grows and you don't have to do anything to it except harvest it, and it comes back every year. Except for the time when - well, I won't mention any names, but it's a guy that I'm married to - someone accidentally sprayed it with weed killer. Whoops. We didn't harvest it that year. It's pretty though, hmm?

 Settlers of Catan in the backyard. This is the best. Somehow sippy cups always end up in my photos...

 *contemplating world domination*

So here I am, trying to figure out how to put thumbs on felted mittens, and we are looking at wind chills of 30 below tonight. Let's not think about that. Let's think of warm things, cocoa-y things, and blankets. Here goes.

 Wool coffee cozy by Whimsiedots

 Vintage coffee grinder by Babyshka's Attic

  Cotton spa face cloths from JeanieBeanHandknits


  Kettle corn soy candle by The Lodge Spa

 Vintage zigzag blanket by Sydney's Designs

Time to throw more wood in the stove, and I really should get that thumb added to this mitten. Hope you all have a wonderful night.  ♥