And here she is!

Lorelei Prentice Stumpf arrived yesterday morning at 8:13 am. The delivery was uneventful, and she's been a delight for the past 36 hours. We are so thankful to God for this beautiful blessing!

Birthday Time for Sweet Girls!

This past weekend we celebrated Meghan's 12th birthday and Brigitta's 7th. These are two of the sweetest, happiest girls any mom could wish for! We had a wonderful time going out to eat and enjoying an ice cream cake.

Meet the yard crew

Bryan took some time last week to try to tame the wilds that is our yard. He enlisted quite a bit of help, and the place really shaped up!

And some did more goofing around than actual helping, but I think we'll keep them anyway!

Update on the new & improved Stumpf Family

Here’s the long-overdue, much-asked-for update on how things are going around here.

The children arrive last Monday (April 2, 2012) at around 7pm. Tuesday morning started before 6am! Fortunately, everyone is waking at a much more acceptable (in my mind) time now!

Last week was a tough one for me, not because of anything the new children were doing, but the stress and anxiety going on in my head. I stopped sleeping and was an emotional wreck. It reminded me of bringing my first few babies home. The overwhelming “what have I done?” feeling.

Once I was able to get a few nights of quality sleep, things started looking up. Not crying over green beans was a blessing to everyone.

Bringing home a 12 and 14-year-old and integrating them into the family is not without adjustment! Bryan equated it with having foreign exchange students with the bonus that they speak English.

There is a learning curve as they try to fit into the culture of our family. We’ve been blessed with two children that are very anxious to please. They are trying very hard to learn how we do things. Emelie says that she’s noticed that they are even beginning to talk like Stumpfs!

Because of state law, the new children will need to be in public school until the adoption is finalized, about six months. Trying to enroll children this close to the end of the school year has not been a speedy process. By the time they finally get into school (looking like next Tuesday), they will have only about 28 days left until summer break.

I’ll admit that venturing into the public school system has been one of the things that was stressing me out. Things like gym clothes, proper school supplies, and lunch money are things I’ve never had to think about before. God has resolved many of these issues. I should have let Him handle things from the beginning! Shocker!

For the fall, we’re looking into an on-line public charter school to plug the gap until we can officially homeschool them.

I cannot express how much I appreciate all the prayers and support from my family, near-to-home friends and my on-line friends. Knowing that our family is being lifted up to the Father has gotten be through my days. This adventure is just beginning, and in four weeks we will get to meet the newest member of our family.

Our double blessing arrived today!

As I posted on Facebook earlier today, a change in the placement plan resulted in the our two children coming home to us this evening!

Last Friday, as Bryan and I pulled into the parking lot of a Japanese restaurant, we received a phone call telling us that the placement might need to be moved up. We were attending the state homeschool convention and suddenly we had a hard time keeping focus!

This morning we had a meeting and knew it would likely happen this week. We found out at 1 o'clock that confirmed that tonight would be the night.

So now it's 10 p.m., exactly one month after we received a phone call asking if we would be interested in these children, and 8 of our 10 children are settled in bed. Not sure that anyone is actually sleeping yet!

On tomorrow's agenda will be getting things unpacked, trying to figure out how to handle the rest of the school year, and loving on two children that have just entered their forever home. I'm thinking that making Easter clothes might have to wait for a while!

Don't I look good for carrying triplets?

Over the past couple weeks, Bryan and I have been blessed to be part of an adventure that will hopefully end in the adoption of two young people that have been "children of our hearts" since last summer. Within weeks of having our ninth little one, we will be blessed to be the parents of eleven! Sounds unreal, even to us!

Here's the timeline of how this has come about:
June 2011 - We were given information on a boy and girl that might be available for adoption. For much of last summer we pictured these children becoming part of our family.

Fall 2011 - Communication on the siblings dwindled to nothing. I assumed the plan had changed and they were no longer available. But we had a new pregnancy to focus on!

Fast forward to March 2, 2012 - I get a call from my adoption worker saying that the case worker for these children was anxious to interview us as soon as possible.  We inform her we are interested, but that we are pregnant: a scenario our home study said would impact our ability to adopt.

March 8 - During the interview, God's hand in the process and timeline becomes very apparent to all of us.  When the children were asked in what type of home would they like live, the girl answered she hoped they would have a baby.  The interview went fabulously and the review team voted unanimously to match us with the children.

March 14 - The case workers told the children about us and showed them our scrapbook. The girl said, "I would be blessed to be part of this family."

March 16 - We met them in person for the first time. I can't remember ever being so nervous. It went great!

March 18 - We introduced them to the whole family at a park. We started counting to ten when counting noses.

March 24 - The children were able to spend the day here at the farm and see our house.

Moving forward, we'll have more visits during their Spring Break and on weekends. Shortly after they wrap up their school year at the end of May, they'll be joining our family forever!

It's only been a couple weeks, but we feel these children have been in our lives forever! I guess God knew that all along!

Menu Plan Monday - March 26, 2012

We're enjoying a cozy jammie morning after a busy weekend. I love homeschooling!

We received our official delivery date this past week. Baby Stumpf will be born around 8am on May 10th. Bryan really won that round with the doctor who was looking at 1-3 weeks before that date. He has an important meeting on May 7th, so he convinced the doctor to delay it.

Would I be out of line to insist on supreme pampering at the end for having to carry this child a week or so longer? Actually, Bryan treats me like a queen much of the time, so I think I'll be fine (huge, but fine!)

This week we will be enjoying:

Monday - Apple Kielbasa Coins, Florentine Crepe Cups

Tuesday (Mock Math Tournament, Bryan night meeting, Horse Judging) - Waffles, Fruit Syrup, Sausage

Wednesday (AWANA) - Corn Dogs, Chips

Thursday (Boy Dr. Appointments, Karate) - Black Beans & Smoked Sausage over Rice

Friday (Homeschool Convention!) - Stumpf Chili, Cornbread

Saturday (Homeschool Convention!) - Hamburgers, Potato Wedges


Breakfast menu is here; lunch menu is here.

Find more menus at: