Cole and his Books

Cole has gotten more and more interested in books. One of the best ways to keep him busy and content in his car seat is to give him a book. Sometimes I'll realize he's being really quiet in his room only to peak around the corner and see him leafing through his pile of books. It seems like his favrite books these days are ones that have multiple photographs on each page, as opposed to illustrations. He has started to say his own version of some animal sounds, so it's not uncommon to hear him snorting like a pig or breathing heavy like a dog with his little mouth in an O shape as he flips through the pages. Too fun!

Here he is reading the books he brought to grandpa voth. 

This and That

From Dana:

 

Let's see if I can remember all that I've been thinking to share.

 

1. I used my mom's cool vase she gave me for a flower Cole picked for me.  I like it.

 

2.  Twice in the last few weeks Marc has rushed to the farm after hearing reports that our "ground is blowing".  It is a major emergency for a few reasons, that I can tell.  One, it isn't neighborly to let your ground blow (by that I mean the top soil dirt blowing off from the crazy wind out here) into another person's field or the ditch or across the road, making it difficult to see.  Second, the top soil is valuable and necessary and you want to keep it.  Third, plants that are growing in blowing ground can really be hurt by losing their soil - their roots can become exposed making the plant weak and possibly killing it.  So, I've learned, it is a major deal!  To stop it, Marc hooks an implement to the back of the tractor, and plows (or something similar) strips in the field to expose the wetter dirt below and to make ridges for the dirt to blow into.  Yesterday, he did this to a field that had small milo planted in it.  He managed to drive in such a way as to not hurt the milo with either the tractor tires or the plow.  Impressive!

 

3.  The Lord has blessed us with rain!  Are you kidding me?  It seems like ever since BAK we have gotten a healthy dose of rain and thunderstorms--way more than I remember having at one time.  I think we may even be up for an average June rainfall.  But, this week we had hail.  Bad hail.  Not really in town, thankfully, but it devastated tons of corn crops around us and ones Marc checks.  Ugh!  So, Marc has spent a lot of time this week talking through thoughts and plans with farmers and making tough decisions.  Will the crop recover?  Is it a total loss?  Should we kill it and plant something different?  Should we just let it continue to grow and see what happens?  Tough week.

 

4.  Cole has learned to stand up without pulling up on anything.  It's like it all just clicked all of a sudden.

 

5.  Cole and I will be coming back to KC this Thursday so I can be in Rachel's wedding on July 5th!  We are sad to miss one of Marc's favorite holidays, 4th of July.

 

6.  Adam and Owen are coming out to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa this week without their parents, so we will probably have a busy and fun week playing with cousins!

Riley

Our good friends Anne and Nathan, that we do small group with, are away for a week, so they asked us to watch their dog, Riley.  He has been an easy house guest.  They love their dog like we do ours, so Marc and I have been sending them a healthy dose of pictures and updates while they're away.

 

Two big dogs in a small house can be a bit overwhelming sometimes (and Michael brought his 2 big dogs this week while he worked, so we had 4!), but for the most part they just lay around.  We probably wouldn't want multiple dogs for always, but it's been ok for a few days.

Gotcha Day

Today was the year anniversary of Cole's adoption finalization, the day he officially became Cole Allen Voth, his "Gotcha Day"!  We celebrated by doing some of his favorite things. 

 

We had an outing with friends to an exotic animal farm this morning.

He did great all morning with just a short nap on the drive down there.  Glad to have snacks and a pacifier to keep him happy.

Most of the kids.  I think there were around 24 of us.  We knew about half of them.  The others were friends of friends.

Cole is a fun playmate for the older kids.  They love him!  Here is Tiffany's 6yo, Ashton, playing with him.

Showing off his walking skills.  He's so proud of himself.  You will often find him beaming from ear to ear as he plods around and around.

 

We have lots of helpers

We came home from the ranch and joined some friends for lunch at the school (they have a grant that makes it free for all kids, 1-18, and $3.25 for adults).

 

After a long afternoon nap, daddy came home to play!

 

Grandma and Grandpa Voth took us out for tacos.  Cole had his favorite - a cheeseburger.

Cole has brought Grandpa Voth a book to read on multiple occasions.  I think he likes being in his lap.  And he LOVES books these days.

 

 

Then they came back to our house for chocolate sheet cake.  Yum!

I think this is the first sheet cake I've made.  Or at least the first one that turned out.  I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe.  Can't go wrong with all her butter and sugar!

 

 

We ended the evening with some swinging in the backyard and playing fetch with the dogs. 

 

As we were driving home from the ranch, Cole was a little fussy in the backseat, so I turned up the music for us to sing along to. It was his Seeds of Worship CD (which I love!) and the song at that time was so fitting. It made me cry as I belted it out. Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you he is mighty to save, he will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing, the Lord your God is with you." I told Cole the truth of this verse in light of his adoption circumstances - that God is mighty and able to save, God delights in him, will quiet him with his love, and rejoices over him with singing.  Cole will have lots of questions and uncertainty and most likely feel the loss of his birth family, but he does not have to approach or go through that alone.  The truth that God delights in him will be crucial if/when he feels that sense of abandonment from his birth family.  The Lord is with him - this will be added to my prayer for him.

 

Lots of smiles from Cole today and from friends and family that love him a lot!

My Calendar proof

Here's proof that my calendar says what I said it said. 

 Also, I want to point out that I created this calendar event a few weeks ago on June 15.  I have faith that this bathroom will come to fruition.  Did I use that word correctly??

Basement Progress

Michael has been working on our basement bathroom this week in between jobs. His big task - tiling, the floor and the shower. It's going slower than he wants it to, but it looks great!

Here is the floor with the vanity set in there to see what it'll be like. 

Here is the color we chose to paint it...

...after I first chose this one (I was going for funky and unique, but this bathroom is more traditional. Paint picking fail. Luckily, the guy at sherwin Williams took pity on us and exchanged it, no questions asked)

The shower

The shower with shampoo/soap alcove

It's coming together and looking great! Maybe the next time you visit you'll have a bathroom downstairs to use!!

Fun Things

Cole is doing some really fun things these days. One thing is he smells flowers! Cute! Shirley has taken him to pick a flower or two from her yard and bring it inside to me. He'll sniff it and wrinkle his nose and give it to me to do the same. Today, he saw a flower on tv and put his little pointer finger to his wrinkled nose and sniffed. Too cute!

He's also figured out where my shoes go. He'll take them off my feet and walk them into the show pile in my room. Ha!

Here he is with shoe in hand...

Headed back to the room...

Coming back empty handed.

Mission accomplished!

I think it's so fun! We are often surprised at what he can do and what he picks up. 

Swimming!

Cole had his swimming debut yesterday, and I was so proud of him. He was so brave! 

When we first got to the Satanta pool with the mommies group, he sat on my lap and dangled his feet in the water. It wasn't long before he was ready to stand on his own and start walking around holding my hand. There was a small slide he had fun climbing up and going down. 

He enjoyed motor boating around in the blow up toy he got from Mom and Dad for his birthday but seemed to prefer being free to roam on his own. 

I let go of his hand thinking he would be buoyant enough in the water to stay upright, which was true for a while, but he fell over and gulped up a fair amount of water. He came up sputtering, but he handled it like a champ!

I was a little hesitant to get to the pool on our own with all the unknowns - what to bring, will he do well/enjoy it, etc. - but I think our first time was a success! I see lots of pool days in our future!

Cole's Dedication

From Georgann

Cole Allen Voth was dedicated on Sunday, June 15, 2014 at the First Southern Baptist Church in Liberal, Kansas. 

There were six children dedicated that day. Each family was escorted in separately. During Cole's dedication, his name and photo were displayed on the big screen. The pastor gave the meaning of his name "dark and handsome", recited a verse the church had chosen just for him and announced the title of a book given to the church library in his name. (I'll include the scripture and book title in a later update) 

Each family had a Deacon come pray with them. Richard Isaacs (in red shirt), Marc's first farmer and a very good friend of their family, was their Deacon. The murmur of the ongoing prayers was sweet and touching. 

Taken prior to church. 

The church gave them a gift bag. Among the items in the bag were a child's bible, a cross to be hung on the wall and a letter. This letter was sealed and is to be opened by Cole on his 12th birthday. It explains what happened on his dedication day and his parent's commitment to him. 

Marc and Dana also chose a verse for Cole. It was included in a dedication booklet along with their prayer for him. Also in the booklet was the aforementioned info given by the pastor. 

Dave and I were so glad to be witnesses of this special day in the life of Cole and his parents. 

Waving

Cole is awesome at waving these days. Awesome. He waves at the cars going by, the kids at the restaurant next to him, when he arrives somewhere, when he leaves, at the dog we pass on our way to grandma and grandpa's. He's just a good waver. 

Last week I caught him in action...

Wanna guess who he was waving at?

Awesome cousin Joel in the front seat! Joel was/is so good with Cole. Cole and I got to drive back with Cindy and Joel from sublette to Olathe. Joel drove the whole way and managed to keep Cole entertained in the process. I was grateful for all the help and the company on the trip back. Thanks, Joel and Cindy!

George Burrichter

Susie sent my sisters and me the following text today:

homemade ice cream

I am making ice cream right now and it makes me think of daddy.  Wish i had the blue round dish  pan that he always used to hold the freezer.  I know that I probably  used more salt with my ice than he did but I think my ice cream might  freeze a little quicker than his did.  Dad was a man in my life that always kept me guessing.  He wanted things done in a certain way and living with all of his girls his needs probably were overlooked many times.  I loved the dad and grandpa that he grew into.  He seemed to have more time and more love when we were all grown up.  I still have a very vivid picture of eric and sara snuggling on his hospital bed after he had his stroke.  All of them were so comfortable  just being together.  He ran a LOUD ship sometimes but I always knew that he loved me and wanted the best for me.....Happy Fathers Day to  our dad.

My ice cream is slowing down.  It  will be done soon and I will be tasting it just like dad used to let us do.

LOVE YOU ALL

Microwave

Even I their recovering-from-sickness state, Joel and Cindy managed to be super helpful by getting our new microwave out of the box and working. Cole had fun in the aftermath...

(Does Cindy always put kids in boxes?)

Looking up at tall cousin Joel 

Making a jungle gym out of the old microwave before it was thrown out.. 

Glad to have this task marked off the list! Thank you!

Cole's best friend

Guess who has recently become Cole's best friend at snack time and meal time?

Luckily, General is very polite and only takes what's given to him (or what falls on the floor that's fair game).

Cole Walking

Cole is walking, like full out walking. I first noticed it last Thursday or so. Up to that point, he had been taking timid steps to quickly get from one perch to the next. This walking looked like half running, half falling, but he would usually make it to his destination successfully (as long as he gauged the distance correctly). 

But, last Thursday was when I first noticed him going farther and being more confident. And then Dad, Cindy, and Joel showed up and they got to see him walk and even improve over the weekend while they were visiting. 

Since we have been at Mom's in Olathe, I continue to be in awe of his walking skills. Yesterday I noticed he just walked into the kitchen, made a big circle (without touching anything), and turned around and came back - smiling the whole way. He's pretty proud of his new found trick. 

Here are some action shots. Cindy has a good video in our backyard, if you ever think to ask her. 

And so it begins...

BAK trip

I got the honor of driving Joel & Dave to western Kansas to begin the Bike Across Kansas. We had a great start in Sublette with the Voth family.

We had a good day just hanging out & a delicious meal.

I drove them to the Colorado border. Look at the road where into Colorado it turns to dirt.

It was a slow start for Dave since he got a flat tire. I went back to get him, and I gave him a thrill stopping a Santa Fe trail marker.

This is the camp ground at Elkhart. They left the light on because they had trouble with rattlesnakes on the field.

Day 1 : they rode from Elkhart to Sublette . Joel made it quickly.

We had a great meal at Shirley & Al's, then Joel & I got sick. So we are taking it easy for the next day. Dave continues on in the wind!!!