The Lover, The Dreamers.....

So, every once in a while you catch someone in a random act of squishy goodness, and you can't help but take a picture. I have a husband who is the envy of all my friends when it comes to his "Daddy Skillz". He comes home and plays with the kids, even when he's beat after a long shift at the hospital. He watches them and any spare kid who may come over anytime I have church or other functions to attend, and he does what they love to do. Wrestle, jump, shoot their swings to the moon, fingerpaint (this was a new one this week that he's not likely to repeat), scrapbook cards for mom, anything. I am so grateful for his love for our kids.

The other day I was doing the dishes and peaked out the window and saw him, Samara, Kiah and Elijah laying on the tramp with blankets, looking at the sky, picking out different cloud shapes. Now, he's in the middle of residency, with a to-do list longer than the Great Wall of China, and he was out there finding hippos on motorcycles in the sky. That is why I love him.

Grandma Whitear's Halloween Fun

Grandma Whitear (grandma by proxy) has always done AMAZING Halloween parties, ever since I was a kid. She goes all out, dresses in character, makes up things to do in her cooky lab, does a cake walk with scary cakes, etc. It's one of the highlights of the year. Since we've moved to Indiana, she has continued to bless our family with her fun Halloween cheer. She sends a package every year full of fun stuff. This year the kids got T-shirts, Funky glasses, playdough, lipgloss, and plenty of candy. She also sends packages at Easter. I don't know how she does it, but she's incredible. Thank you, Betty!!!! Here are some pics of the kids with their packaged goodies.

Elijah, Kiah, Samara, Abraham

Christmas in Alabama Part 2

So, I talked to Grandma Looney today!!! (see previous post) I have to share what she said. She wasn't home when I called to talk to her about us coming, and I didn't say anything on the message I left about bringing some "extra $$$ Cheer" with us. Well, I called her today, and she told me that things had been going very rough for their family, and they have a court date coming up that will hopefully give them full custody so that the Mother of the children cannot keep coming and going and messing with and lying to the children. Anyway, she was feeling down, but she woke up yesterday with a distinct happy feeling, specifically about Christmas. She couldn't imagine why this would be a good Christmas, but she felt something very strong. So much so that when she got to work, she shared that impression with her boss. Well, it was about a half-hour later that she listened to my message that we wanted to come there for Christmas. She said she ran to her boss's office to tell her about it and they were both in tears that we would come and let them meet Samara. She really felt like it was inspiration. She still doesn't even know that we will be bringing her donations. She said that after she found out we were coming, she was going to keep it a secret from the kids, and use it as a pick-me-up, after the court date. She knows how much they all want to meet Samara, and our whole family.

It's so fun to hear this! Because we have been feeling the same way. We were supposed to go to Pennsylvania, but once we got this idea in our head, there was such an exciting feeling associated with the journey. I really believe that this is God's plan for our family and for theirs this Christmas.

Anywhooo, thanks for your support. This will be the best surprise ever!

Christmas in Alabama

Below is a letter we sent out to friends and family hoping to get others to join in our Christmas fun. We are so full of gratitude at the response that we have gotten. Read below to see what us Hoffman's are doing for Christmas. I figured I'd better put this in here, so when I give updates, people will know what I'm talking about.

Dear Friends and Family-

Christmas will soon be upon us, and as every year, the Spirit of Christ’s love and light touches our hearts even deeper to help those in need. Our family has felt impressed to take on a fun project, and James and I would like to ask that as you are considering what charities, or families, etc. to choose as your family project, that you might consider helping the Killings Family.

This is the birth family of Samara (our 2nd daughter). There are 8 children, and they have all been placed with their single grandmother. Their mother has been responsible for neglect, abuse, drug use, abandonment, and many other saddening things in these children’s lives. The kids have been placed with their father’s mother. They have really been struggling, as has the grandmother, Delores Looney. This woman has such a strong sense of family and has never even questioned taking all of the children, because it would be unthinkable to her to split them up. She is in her 60’s and she works very long hours to try to make ends meet for these kids, and she does it all on her own, and in her small home. She is single, and could really use a morale boost. She is a proud, amazing woman that we have had the privilege to come to know by phone and letters, and she has even reached out to Samara and sent her little packages and cards to make sure that Sammi knows that she cares for her. All of my kids call her Grandma Looney, and she is fantastic.

This is our last Christmas here in the Midwest, and as of yet, we have not had the opportunity to meet Samara’s birth siblings and family. We are hoping to gather some donations for the family and drive to see them over James Christmas vacation time. Grandma Looney has expressed many times her desire to see Samara, and we think this is our chance to make that happen.

If you would like to be involved in this project, just send me an email. We will keep in touch as the time gets closer, and give a full report of our Christmas trip after. The kids range from 17 down to 7 ½. There is also a new baby, from the birthfather that comes to stay with them occasionally. I think realistically, money donations would be ideal, as the grandmother would know their needs much better than we would. We would get to Alabama a few days before Christmas, and that would give us time to shop with Delores.

Don’t feel guilty if you have other projects this year, it’s just an idea we had that we got excited about, but knew that 8 kids was out of our league financially. Thanks, and Merry Christmas.

Love,

The Hoffman Family

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

It was the night before Halloween and James had been out of town and on call for a week. My kids hadn't seen him for 7 days. So, after the Trunk-or-treat, we headed over to the hospital to visit dad (and elicit some giggles from the many hospitals workers and patrons there). It is so good to have him home again. Yes, that is my old wolf cosutme, still in working order. In fact, I've been to all 3 of their school classes in said get up to read and act our wolf stories. (eye roll) The things we do for our kids!

(L-R Abe as Hook, Kiah as James, Eli as a scurvy matey, and Sam as Belle)

Aarggg! As Abey likes to say, over and over again.... The kids were cute as ever as the week of Halloween (I swear it really lasts that long) came to a close last night. We had a Halloween party on Monday, a Trunk-or-Treat on Tuesday, and the actual event last night. You know it's bad when even mommy doesn't want any more chocolate! :)

OK, we all know that Kiah idolizes her dad (obvs). Apparently she's got her sights set high for her future, as well. There was no question that she would be a doctor this year, and yesterday at the breakfast table she asked if they make really small business suits. I asked her why and she replied, "Because next year I want to be a high-class business woman". Alrighty, then!

The Moons Have Landed!

(Little Dinos in a nest)

The Moons have landed! Our good friends that we met while experiencing luxurious living at the University Student Apartments during medical school came to Indy from Chicago. It was so much fun to have Kelly and her kids Elijah, Ali and new baby Isaac, stay at our house. They were here for 2 days and 2 nights. We had a great time. The kids played fantastically, and so did Kelly and I! J James was on-call all Saturday and Sunday, so Kelly and I had the kids on our own. Her husband had to stay and do a scout camp thing. So, once the kids were in bed we had grown-up sleepovers, i.e. staying up way too late talking and laughing. During the day, we went to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, the biggest Children’s museum in the nation. We had a great time. I’ll attach some pics of the adventure. As an added bonus, my friend Heather, and another friend Nicole, both from the fore-mentioned apartments, were going to be at the museum that day and invited me, so all 4 of us were there in Indiana at the same time. So random, since we all met in SLC, and although Nicole and I live in Indianapolis, Heather lives in Cincinnati and Kelly lives in Chicago. Isn’t life funny? I love it.

You know you have a true friend when you can not see someone for 3 years, and then pick up right where you left off, like no time has passed. I miss my friend. It was a wonderful visit, and I hope we get to do it again before we move back to SLC for Cardiology Fellowship.

(we're using a remote controlled robot)

(cute little Isaac)

(The kids in the undersea exhibit)

(Little heads over a big railing)

Temple Blessing

We had a wonderful trip to the Louisville Kentucky temple on Saturday. Twice a year, our church makes the exodus to Kentucky and we take all of the kids. Then we take turns watching kids in the church and going over to serve in the temple. (None of us can afford to leave the kids home with babysitters all day long, so this is a priceless opportunity to attend the temple). This year our incredible temple committee did it a little different, and all the wonderful couples in our ward without children came early and watched the children while the parents attended the temple, and then they went while we ate lunch and cleaned up the church. We were there and gone by 1pm. That is a record. What a service they provided!!!! It was wonderful. And the highlight of the trip, for me was before we even left.

It was about 6:45am, and pitch black outside. All my kids were bleary eyed, and I was trying to shove them all in their respective car seats, when Kiah had to use the restroom. So, I went back in and was getting a few more things for the car (you can never have enough driving treats for a 2 ½ hour trip), when I hear her say, from the bathroom, “Mom, you are a good mom. Most mom’s wouldn’t go that far to the temple without their husbands. You are being a good example to us kids about going to the temple.” Now, if you know Kiah, sincere compliments to me are not in her normal repertoire of things to say. As I sat there aghast and mildly struck dumb, I hear her getting into the car, telling the other kids, “Guys, mom is a good example about going to the temple to us. You need to tell her thanks.” Emotional overload! Especially since I spend most of my time wondering if it’s my example that has caused some of the yelling problems that she has. It was a good mom moment that I cherish. But, if I think long and hard, I’ll realize that if she’s paying that much attention to the positive example I set, I’m pretty sure she’s paying attention to the negative example I set, as well. I definitely have a new resolve to be a better person and make better choices, now that I have proof that someone’s watching!

We've been robbed!

Boy, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged! A lot can happen in life. This morning I went outside to take the kids to school and found all of our church junk (you all know “the church bag” full of paper, crayons, toys, snacks, etc.) strewn all over the frost-bitten lawn. Of course, Samara is the first one that gets the wrath of mommy, until I start realizing that everything in the car is torn apart, as well. Then I notice that the DVD player is missing! Ugh! We’ve been robbed! Yeah, I know, it could have been much worse, and the silly thing is that they left the GPS system and our camcorder that was in there from our temple trip on Saturday. So, ha ha on them because both of those things are worth more than our $100 DVD player. But we’re still a little bummed, since we just bought that on Friday night. So we officially only watched one movie on it. Farewell, new friend…

Went ridin'on the E-Train!!

Yeah!!! James and I went with a couple from our neighborhood to see Elliott Yamin. If any of you know me well, you know I'm a complete American Idol dork. Yes, I can admit to that. Anyway, I loved Elliott's voice from the very beginning. What is even cooler is that he is 90% deaf in his right ear, and still has perfect pitch. He also got Type I diabetes at 16, and is a major advocate for diabetes research and providing the needy with insulin. He sells T-shirts at his concert that go 100% to his charity/organization. I have been a true follower, going to the AI concert with my friend Heather the last few years, and before that, with my momma. I waited so very patiently for his first CD, and my family is subjected to it almost daily. So when we saw that he was coming here, to an awesome small venue, and for only $22, there was much joy and merriment on my part!!!

This concert was wonderful, and he was even better in person. I've always been envious of those with such fun, visible talents that can so easily be shared and uplift others. Music makes me happy, and Elliott's voice makes me VERY happy. Major brownie points to my honey for taking me. It was a fun date with a lot of snuggling and swaying to the music. It couldn't have been more fun (well, if I was even closer to the front, it probably could have been a teensy bit cooler), and there's no one else in the world I'd rather date and do fun things with than James. He rocks my world!!! Go, honey, it's your birthday....

Yippeee! Abey is Three!

You like my rhyme, Dana? Ha Ha.

So my baby is 3! I'm so happy for him, and so sad for me. I already miss him. It's like once they're 3 you can't call them the baby anymore. He's talking and certainly knows what he wants, and I have to deal with the fact he is a big boy now. But, what a fun boy he is! There was a time when I could have strung him out by his ears, but he's flown through that and is now such a little joy. I sometimes feel guilty that he's so much fun. Motherhood has always been rewarding, but hard. Now, when it's just him and I during the day, it's a party. We have a blast together.

Abraham is a comic. He loves to laugh and make people laugh. He also loves to tease. He has a big heart and will still snuggle occasionally (which I love!). He is great at saying he's sorry. He's mastered the skill, since his inquisitve mind keeps him in trouble a lot. But he loves being a brother and being part of the group. He has a great laugh, and gives some interesting prayers. Lately he starts his prayer by saying, "Dear Henly Mommy", and I have to correct him to say Father. It's a crack up.

He still loves to climb, and has become known for his "spider-man" abilities, but he is able to reason and understand more what's appropriate and what's not. That's not to say he always chooses the appropriate choice, but the first step is understanding it, right?? Anywhoooo...he's a wonderful, silly, adventurous, incredibly handsome little man who is a joy to be around. He loves cars and trains and dinosaurs and airplanes. He is one-fifth of my heart. We all love him so much and are happy he's our "baby".

Here is the cake! It's a tradition in our family that the kids make and decorate all the birthday cakes. Abe LOVES Cars, so they used his toys as decorations. Notice the spelling! Happ Brathday :)

Here they are after finishing honing their baker skillz.

Abe loved his birthday cards the kids made for him. He is great at showing gratitude.

The other birthday tradition we have in our family is you get the breakfast of your choice in your bed. Usually bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc. are the most popular choice. Abe opted for oatmeal with colored marshmallows in it and hot chocolate. Hey, to each his own, huh? He wouldn't wait in his bed, so we let him eat on the bed tray on the floor in the living room. Whoo Hoo!

Here are the kids at the party! Our closest friends, Sydney and Donovan Heyborne, and our great neighbor, David Zaha. Abe had so much fun with his friends and brother and sisters.

Kiah's Baptism

Yes, it's taken me 2 months to get my act together. I am mailing this thank you letter out personally, but wanted to post this thank you letter, as well, since most of you who read this also were a part of Kiah's baptism in some way. We love you all so much.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

I am so sorry that it’s taken this long to get a thank you letter to you. I kept waiting for Kiah to be able to finish them all herself (with my help), but her schedule has been so crazy because of tutoring and testing at school, and we have put it off for so long that now is the time to repent. I am writing a letter to all of you wonderful people who supported Kiah in her baptism.

The day was a very special day for her. She wore an incredible dress made with such care and love by her aunt Jeanie. She also wore white pearly earrings, necklace and bracelet from her Mike Hoffman cousins, and a gorgeous silver heart bracelet from the Lyle Hoffman cousins. Her grandma and grandpa were able to come and be a part of the day. Kiah was so lucky to have her grandmother talk to her about the Holy Ghost, and then give Kiah a literal comforter that is beautiful (and silky and sassy with Tinkerbelle on it!!) made with love. Grandpa performed the ordination of administering the gift of the Holy Ghost, and gave her a beautiful blessing. We had a good number of friends who attended to show their support for our little girl and we couldn’t have been more pleased. The Spirit was very strong there, and one of the highlights of the program was when Kiah and Samara sang the Baptism song together, both doing solos in front of everyone. They are so brave and have such beautiful voices.

We had a get together afterwards, and experienced even more kindness. The Harper family, and our favorite babysitters and dear family friends, the Creal/Madison family, made cookies and brownies and gave up some pretty important plans just to make sure they could be there for Kiah, and help us out with the treats. That meant so much to us. We also had most of our wonderful neighbors attend either the baptism, or the barbeque after, and their support for Kiah is priceless. Some of our neighbors don’t know much about our religion, but showed such support for Kiah, sending her cards and money, and love. That is incredible to me. We got a package from the Gordons, and we also got a package from the Bradley’s with a very special reminder of their love and support for Kiah…..her favorite cowboy boots she wore at their ranch while riding their horses! She was so excited about that. And Amity and her endless support of our family was right there, helping me every step of the way, cooking things, helping set up, bringing the Spirit to the baptism by offering a beautiful prayer, I can’t count the many ways that she serves me. The cards and well wishes from our friends from the ward meant so much to Kiah and really did help her feel special.

One of the most precious things that I wanted to share was how her baptism has affected her since that special day. She was struggling with some behavior issues, and was working hard to control them before her baptism. These feelings led her to wonder if she should get baptized, or if she should wait until she was able to act better. We encouraged her to pray about it and find out what Heavenly Father wanted. She did pray, very hard, to know what would be best for her. The next day she told us that she felt like God wanted her to go ahead with getting baptized and that He would help her keep her commitments after baptism. So, she did and how she has been blessed!!! She has since made so much progress in her personal growth, and is very humble and more willing to apologize, and has made some phenomenal choices, regarding school and friends, and her siblings. We can see, and more importantly, she can see the difference having the gift of the Holy Ghost with her has made. She has taken her commitments very seriously. We have all been blessed with a lot of peace. The Grace of God has been seen and felt in such a real way in our home, and we are so grateful for the promises and blessings that come from obedience to our Heavenly Father.

Thank you, again, for your unending support of our family. We benefit and learn so much from all of you.

With Love,

The Hoffman Family

More Pics of Turkey Run

My Cup Overfloweth

What an incredible day!!! There are days that stick out in your mind as special and rare, and today is one of those days. We celebrated Abraham and James birthday this morning with an all-you-can-eat breakfast at Golden Corral, and there wasn't one fit or spilled food item! Great start!!!! Then we drove to Turkey Run, a State Park in Indiana that is full of deep ravines carved out by a river. It is so green and so spectacular that it's hard to put in words. So, I won't try too hard, instead I'll put up a lot of pics! Lazy me. :)

We went on trail #3, on the map described as "difficult, very-rugged". Our little troop headed up there like old pros. We didn't have one emotional or physical breakdown, which is a feat unto itself. Instead we had smiles and giggles, and a lot of sweat. We revived with ice water and graham crackers. This place goes straight through these ravines, up a small waterfall, until you reach some stairs. There are hundreds of stairs, up and down all over the place, and then you reach ladders that go back into the ravine. So fun and a bit dangerous, yippeee!!! Then we gathered rocks to throw in the river and enjoy the scenery.

I felt so much gratitude today, for my family and for nature and for my life. It was so nice I didn't even dwell on the poopy smeared mess that Abe made while I was getting ready to leave the house. :) Then I topped off my wonderful day with women's conference, which I attended with my dearest friend Amity. We had a "date" to the stake center, where the men served us dinner and there was a great, comical skit put on by the stake presidency that was well worth the 1/2 hour drive!!! And then to be able to listen to the inspired Relief Society Presidency and President Monson, and feel my heart touched and to feel humbled and find a new resolve to be a better person was just icing on the cake.

I can almost guarantee that tomorrow will be a horrible day, as you other moms know, so I will bask in this happiness as long as I can.

Air Show

I thought I'd include a few photos of our fun family outing with our friends, the Pitchers, to the Indianapolis Air Show. It was really cool! I got just as excited as the kids. Who knew airplanes were so cool! It was scheduled to rain, so I packed ponchos, tarps, etc. preparing for a wet afternoon, and it rained a total of 7 drops (just enough for the kids to get a chance to don the rain ponchos), and then it was hot and sunny the rest of the day. Wouldn't you know I forgot sunscreen. Luckily, I seem to be the only one who was really affected by it, and boy, was I! A walking tomato, who later got blisters on my lips that turned into cold sores. What fun! Enjoy the pics. We wore the babies completely out. The american flag is draped from a skydiver. It was really cool in person. The best part of the airshow were the blue angels. They were so fast we couldn't get any good shots, but we got a good one of the Osprey.

Free Bird

Elijah has learned the new found freedom of riding his bicycle without training wheels. Yeah! He is so very excited about it. I can't believe my baby boy is now a 2-wheeling 4 year old. He's practically grown and married. :) And the pink princess bike is not slowing him or his ego down one bit!
I volunteered in Samara's class today, and have such a respect for these teachers. There is so much to teach, and the kids are all on different levels. Samara gets bored and draws pictures on everything. She's such a great little artist. She makes the pictures really colorful and bubbly and whimsical. First grade is not challenging enough for her, and I'm worried that she'll start having problems. Any mom suggestions out there, let me know!

Overall, I'm very pleased with all of my children's teachers, and the kids have made a great effort to do their personal best in school. It feels good to be enjoying them and participating in their classes this year. Last year I didn't get to do much volunteering. And both teachers have told me that they haven't had one parent volunteer in the 6 years they've been at that school. Does that just blow your mind?? I applaud those that take huge pay cuts and long hours to teach our children.

Reflecting

So, as I was reading this morning, I came across a talk by Kathleen Hughes called Remembering The Lord's Love. It is a really good one. Two lines really hit me, as a mother. She was speaking directly to the mother of the home when she said, "Our families need the peace of God in their lives, and if we can't or won't invite the Lord into our lives, then our families become a reflection of our own turmoil." That is a lot of pressure, but reality is, the mood and spirit in our homes depends directly on what we do. Then at the end of the article, she finished up with something that gave me much comfort. She said, "Peace. Strength. It is what we long for and it is posssible. We only need to turn toward His reaching arms." I love it!



Anywhooo...enough pondering and reflecting. I thought that I'd post a few pics of our private trip with the girls to Disneyworld. I had to use a disposable camera, so we just barely got the photos back. It was a really fun trip with those two munchkins. Thanks to Amity and Jennifer for watching and loving our little boys while we were gone!

Here is one of the girls in a rare hug moment w/colored tongues from slushies. This day was 96 degrees with 90% humidity. It was miserably hot!

Here we are after an hour or so wait in line for Space mountain. The beauty of it is, with no babies, we could wait an hour w/no problems. Go big kids!! :)

We had 3 Character Dining meals. This was breakfast the Yacht Club (or something like that??). We saw Chip, Dale, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto. And an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet for dad. Couldn't get better, eh?!

And of course the princess meal, with the whole Cinderella crew, mice and fairy Godmother included. I'm not biased or anything, but my girls are even more beautiful than Cinderella!

And the crappy picture of all of us. The disposable failed to get the beautifully lit castle in the background, but at least you can see us. We have some wonderful memories.