Kindergarten

This year has once again been different when it has come to schooling with Austin. We have continued with the homeschooling, though sometimes he tells us he wishes he were in school with his friends from church. Ultimately though, I think he would be bored in regular school at this point; he is pretty far ahead of where most Kindergartners are.

We did join a homeschool co-op group that meets once a week. This has been good for Austin and he has made some friends there. He has enjoyed a lot of the group activities that they do there as well as various art projects. For example, one week the kids learned some about Chinese porcelain, and then they designed their own vases by creating a scratch board of sorts with oil pastels and white acrylic paint on top. Then they scratched the paint away to make their designs.

Unfortunately, I haven't remembered to bring my camera to the co-op group until this last week. The combined junior and youth groups went on a field trip together to the Ogden Nature Center where they learned about how animals survive through winter and how to identify signs of different animals outside.

The kids broke up into small groups to place a small container of "sludge" outside. They were told to use the methods discussed that animals use to survive the cold to keep their "sludge" from freezing. Austin and his partner wrapped theirs in a scarf or something and buried it in the snow. Unfortunately, they did such a good job hiding it that they couldn't find it again...so we never found out if their "sludge" froze or not.

Then the younger kids stamped animal tracks on papers they could use as guides as we went outside.

After that, everyone put snowshoes on and headed out to find signs of animal activity.

Here the guide is trying to help identify some animal scat

Here the group is studying a log that was chewed on
by a beaver and has scratches on it from
other animals as well.

It was a fun field trip. We even had some doughnuts and hot chocolate afterward.

We have also tried to do a lot of fun experiments and activities at home as part of our lessons. During one lesson we learned about illuminated manuscripts, which was perfect since Austin had been watching me work on a calligraphy project for my family. Austin was pretty excited to decorate his own illuminated letter.

Austin's illuminated letter

We also have been learning about space. Austin has really enjoyed the activities we have done for those lessons. He really got a kick out of watching astronauts at the international space station do various everyday activities in space on YouTube. A couple weeks ago to end our space unit, we went on a field trip as a family to the Clark Planetarium.

A Failed Adoption

As most reading this blog probably already know, our adoption has failed. We know the birth mother did have her baby last Wednesday, but that is all we know. She apparently decided not to involve us in anything and failed to even let us know what happened, what she decided, or who will parent her child. Last week was particularly intense for us with the build up of anticipation and hope, and then the waiting and following silence. We have been feeling pretty heartbroken.

We found out right before Christmas that the birth mother's mom had become involved even though everyone had thought she was out of the picture. The grandma made the birth mother feel guilty for wanting to place her baby with us and wanted to be able to adopt the baby herself. Whether or not that would be possible was also very unclear, but what had been a very sure situation previously was thrown into a toss up.

While I had been trying to prepare myself for this situation to go either way, the outcome still felt devastating. Although it has been a week now, I am still feeling terribly disappointed and sad. We all are. Austin told me that he went to his room and cried after we told him the adoption wasn't going to happen, and he has persistently told us that he is the "most sad" about it all...even more sad than Mom or Dad.

After having so much anticipation and excitement, it is so difficult to go back to square one and wait to be matched with someone else. It is hard to know that we have lost thousands of dollars without gaining anything. It is such a challenging loss for something we never actually fully had. I am finding myself in what seems to me a strange position of grieving for the loss of a child who was never really mine or part of our family to start with, but who I have been loving all the same without ever seeing or knowing. We have been thinking and praying about him and his mother so fervently...and now he will never be a part of our lives or our family. Based on what I know of his mother and her family's situation, I am thinking his life will most likely be a challenging one.

Still, I know God is still watching out for us. He always does. I know that he loves this baby too and will make things work out the best for him as well as for us. I don't know what the Lord has in store, but we are trying to trust whatever that is. We are trying to stay positive and hopeful that another situation will come our way that will be better for everyone involved. Hopefully soon.

And we have so much else to be grateful for in our lives too, so I am trying to focus on that.
 

One of those things I have been particularly grateful for is supportive friends and family. In fact, I am in the middle of reading the book of Job right now, and it has struck me how terrible Job's friends were to him. Obviously he was facing much worse problems than we are. Yet in the middle of it all, instead of coming to strengthen, help, and comfort him, his friends come lecture him on how he must have done wrong and is in need of repentance. How terrible and lonely that must have been and felt...I am so glad that our own friends and family have been much better to us! I have felt so comforted by the vast amounts of love and support that has come from nearly everyone we know. Thank you so much for all your prayers, kind thoughts and wishes, donations, offers to help, and other such things. They mean so very much!

As we try to go forward, we continue to appreciate all your prayers and other support on our behalf too.

New Years and Additional Christmas Celebrations

We spent a day at home after our California trip, giving us just enough time to do some clean up and laundry around our house. Then we were off again Friday morning to see more family. We met up with some of Nate's brothers to play racquetball at a rec center. Then we headed to my parents place to eat lunch and clean up.

We celebrated New Years that evening, since we almost all had 9:00 church Sunday and didn't want to have to get up to be driving off at 7:00 a.m to make it there in time. So, we  went bowling with my family and then had a nice family dinner with them. After that we had another round of presents since we hadn't been around on Christmas to give/receive each others' gifts.

Austin was in a funny mood that evening. He was exuberant about everything, including the new clothes he got. (That was in stark contrast from how he reacted to getting a coat from us on Christmas day. As he grabbed and opened the gift containing the coat, he said, "I really hope it isn't clothes!" Then as he opened the box and saw the coat he loudly exclaimed, "Dang it!")

Austin was excited to get one of his favorite movies!

It was particularly fun to watch his enthusiasm as he opened some new Duplo blocks and a new Magna Doodle.

Abbie with the headband/ear warmer I made her

After we finally finished gifts, we played a game of Pictionary before heading to bed. After a pancake breakfast the next morning, Nate and I visited his aunt and uncle in the area and then went snowshoeing with Allan, Katie, and Ben to the first waterfall along the Aspen Grove Trail leading to Mt. Timpanogos. It was a pretty chilly day, and most of the trail was in shadow, so Nate and I were a bit cold. It was beautiful though.

As we neared the waterfall, the trail disappeared. We walked down to the unseen river and continued up alongside it. The area appeared to be buried pretty deep in snow and ice chunks from a small avalanche.

We soon came to an interesting curved wall of ice and found another group sledding on their backsides down the steep slope by the waterfall.

The waterfall itself though was not that impressive. It was too buried in the aftermath of the avalanche for much of it to even be visible. All we could see were a couple small trickles of water that fell into a very icy deep puddle

 However, the view from the waterfall was pretty amazing and made the trip well worth it.

After snowshoeing, with visited Nate's sister-in-law before returning to my parent's house for dinner. After dinner we played another family game before heading back home.

Nate and I spent the rest of New Years Eve quietly together at home, and celebrated with a bottle of Martinelle that had appeared in my Christmas stocking a week earlier.

A California Christmas

With a sudden pending adoption, our Christmas season felt a lot more stressful than usual this year. It was also exciting as we all had so many happy anticipations.

We still did a lot of our favorite activities though, such as baking Christmas cookies, making pumpkin bread, and caroling. Austin learned "Picture a Christmas" in Primary this year, and he loved to sing it. So, that is what we sang while caroling.

 
Austin also got to visit Mr. and Mrs. Claus who dropped by our neighborhood dentist's place.

This year we drove out to see Nate's parents and other siblings that live in California for Christmas itself. Luckily, the weather stayed clear during our planned travel days. We enjoyed our stay with Nate's parents and had fun going to Christmas parties with them, caroling, and playing games. On Christmas Eve we set out to view Christmas lights. We visited one particularly decked out cud-de-sac that is apparently well known for its extravagant light displays. Agreement to participating in this Christmastime fanfare seems to be a prerequisite for joining this little neighborhood. We did have fun walking down this street enjoying the vast array of lights and other decorations.

Unfortunately though, Austin was in a bit of an obstinate mood and worked hard to frown for all our pictures. I must say though, he can give out a very good frown...

We also visited a home with a nice light display synchronized to music, and we drove through a large neighborhood that all put out paper bag luminaries for Christmas Eve. After returning from our outing, we read the Christmas story from the Bible again before going to bed.

Christmas morning we got up and looked at our stockings before heading to church. We all found some coal in our stockings this year...edible coal made from Rice Krispy treats that is...

Along with other treats and fruit, Austin was also delighted to find some crayons and washable markers with his stocking.

After church, some of Nate's other siblings came over, and we all opened gifts. We all received some very nice and generous gifts.

Austin was delighted with his glow-in-the-dark tracks from
Grandma and Grandpa Scott.

Austin got the blanket he had been asking for. Sometime early this last summer, Austin saw the blanket yarn at a craft store and was very interested in it. I explained briefly what it was, and he decided that he wanted a blanket made from this type of yarn. I didn't think much of this at the time, but then he kept asking for such a blanket over and over. So, I decided to make him one that would fit on his bed for Christmas.

Austin with his new blanket

Nate with his new socks from Austin

Very nice drill bit set Nate gave me

I took this picture of Nate with his new ferro fluid. He was (logically) confused
by this since it was in bubble wrap and thus couldn't even really be seen.

Austin with his new front-end loader I made for him.

We quickly realized that it was good for Austin to actually be with his cousins this year while opening gifts so he could learn how to share new toys and how to respect other kid's with their new toys. As a current only child who hasn't even had any other cousins on my side of the family until this year, these ideas were new to him. He has been accustom to all the toys at Christmas being for him - at least since he can remember...

The kids also had some fun with all the extra bubble wrap left over after opening gifts. Austin and his cousin Wilcken stuffed their shirts with the stuff to look bulky and strong.

Unfortunately, the traditional lack of balanced meals on Christmas day in Nate's family and the abundance of sweets lead to Austin becoming sick that evening. Luckily though, he was fine by the next day. We all went to the park that afternoon. We spun helicopter toys into the air and played a family game of tag.

Nate's dad was feeling particularly adventurous, so he asked the couple that was slack-lining nearby if he could try.

That evening Nate's parents held a large family home evening with a traditional special dinner for their family: dessert waffles. This was a bit much for me, especially following the junk food extravaganza of the preceding couple days, but almost everyone else seemed to love it.

Tuesday evening was our last night in California. We went to a birthday party for one of Austin's cousins and took a picture of all of Nate's family who was there.