Blah, Blah

Every time I go away, I always forget something.

You would think that the lists and lists of lists that I make would ensure that nothing is forgotten! I always pack the things that cannot be replaced. When traveling with the kids, it is their blankets. For me, it is my contacts and glasses.

So - last time I went away, I totally forgot all bathroom essentials (ie: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razor, etc...). The problem was that I didn't notice that they were missing until I went to take a shower. Yep, had to use the ones there. You know, the ones that have barely enough shampoo/conditioner (in the same bottle, mind you) to wash a barbie doll's hair.

THIS time I remembered all that stuff, but conveniently forgot a brush. Now you'd think that I would be easy enough just to get a brush, but again, didn't notice what I forgot until it was too late. My wonderful friend, S, said that I could borrow hers - but she only ever used a comb. Hey - one of my main motto's is "Beggars can't be choosers." Unfortunately, one morning without kids and I am the one that is up before dawn! By the time I got the comb, I was able to put a few finishing touches on my hair, but for the most part I just used my fingers! Oh, well.

My night away was wonderful and absolutely refreshing. Just what I needed, when I needed it! My cheeks actually hurt from laughing so much :-)

The Fair

There is nothing more fun (or smelly) than our County Fair! My sister-in-law and I braved it and took the 8 kiddos! I think we hit our record...we were there for a little over an hour and a half. Although, she did stay just a wee bit longer than I. Here are some highlights:

It was all my children's first experience with corn dogs and funnel cakes...they just loved them!

Ever play the game as a child, "What's Grosser than Gross?" This picture is:

Kp decided that she did not like the stuff around the corn dog and pealed it all off and just at the hot dog on the stick. I don't recommend seeing what the hot dog looks like in a corn dog. Totally gross!

Morning Joy

Screaming.

Absolute screaming is what I woke up to this morning.

I vaguely remember Ky asking to go downstairs to sit with Gma. And since the sun wasn't technically up yet, I said OK. So when I heard absolute screaming of terror, I thought something happened to Gma. I sat up in bed and ready to bolt downstairs, as I did that I slowly opened my eyes...to see...Ky with the American doll body in one hand, head in the other (creepy - there is just something about unattached dolls heads that is just really creepy!).

Once I put my heart back in my chest, I had to make my fingers work at this ungodly hour of the day...I got it back together. However the screaming woke up every other child in the house. So we are all up at this beautiful hour of 7:25 AM!!! Sorry, just not a morning person. I probably will never be until my kids move out of the house and I have no reason to be up!

Since I am up, I am going to do Kp's hair. I have put it off for 2 days now and just not let her leave the house! Good luck to me making a straight line or having my fingers work! Off to start my day!

Hebrews 12

Life has been a little crazy over the last week...and haven't felt like blogging. In my free time (not that I had any), I just would choose to sit and stare...

So, I will share a verse I have been meditating on...

Hebrews 12: 1 - 2
"...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Why plan?

I plan. I love to plan. I get all the books ready, and I get mentally set up to get this year of school started. I got my routine (how else could I accomplish this task with four kids?). I picked a start date that would allow us time to get away in the fall. I have it all planned. Then God steps in and gently shows me that His plans are not always my plans, and His ways are not (ever) my ways!

I got Monday and Tuesday of school in. Everyone was fed and dressed and ready to begin by 9 (this might be one of the only times that comment is made this school year - mostly because I hate mornings and have been blessed to be in a family that loves mornings!). These are the easy days. Not a lot of new, just a lot of review.

Then my hubby surprised me with an anniversary get away.
No Wednesday class.

Then my sister fell off her horse and ended up in the hospital with a concussion, but she has no memory of what happen, so with my parents out of the country, my brother and I sat with her in the hospital today.
No Thursday class.

Tomorrow isn't looking good either.

Is it bad to take a mental health day on the 5th day of school, especially when you've only technically taught 2 of the last 4 days????

Ohhhh...this is going to be a LONG year!

Photos

Week in photo review:

Kd with the infamous, "pop gun"

Niece helping Kb with swimming lessons

Lea (swimming teacher) working with Kp

Ky and her monkey towel

All the kiddos husking corn for dinner...

Another question that makes me tired: "Mommy, are scissors short cuts?" Hummm, how do you explain short cuts to a 4 year old???

Braiding day

R - in reply to your post...2 1/2 hours...why? Why do I torture myself??? I did like your curve though...that will be my next try! Because whatever the reason, I will do her hair in 10 days...

Good article

http://www.adoption-by-grace.com/This_Month-back_issue_2008_08.html

Adoption of an older childAugust 12, 2008


Adopting an Older Child

August 2008


It's been a long time since the appearance of a new “This Month” reflection, and for that I apologize. At least half a dozen ideas have flitted through my mind like butterflies in a meadow, but not made it through my fingers and into the world. These next few months I am especially seeking faithfulness to God through reflection and writing, so hopefully posts will be more regular (and “This Month” won't turn into “This Year”).

Yesterday, I was talking on the phone to a dear friend. She told me that, rather to her surprise, she has asked for more information about a girl who needs a family.

This is the kind of adoption that could turn life upside down. The girl, Rose, is of unknown age, probably about 13. She's been severely malnourished and experienced great hardship; she doesn't read or write, and doesn't know English. My friend is trying to figure out whether it is wise and responsible to bring Rose into their family, explaining to her two children (both eager to forge ahead) the possible inconvenient and painful consequences of adopting a teenager.

This adoption could reorder the rest of the lives of every person in that family. It is impossible to predict how Rose will respond to a stable family life and what course her healing might take. She may not be well enough for a traditional education and job; my friend and her husband and children may need to take care of her intensively for the rest of their lives. It could disrupt their activities and routines, home improvements, vacations, marriages. It could toss around the different parts of their lives like clothes strewn unpredictably and recklessly out of a drawer.

After I hung up the phone, it came to me in a flash how short life is. If this family or someone else adopts Rose, there is great potential for pain and chaos. There is also great hope for the dawning of redemption and God's healing in a human life. The grace and love of the Lord could come washing through Rose, and my friend and everyone in her family would have the privilege of witnessing it, delivering it, taking a part in God turning ashes to beauty. My experience has been that there is no greater joy than that. It might be just glimmers for a while, mixed in with much suffering as they deal with the consequences of brokenness. But the suffering is temporary and the redemption is forever.


It hit me like a brick that life is short and eternity is long. If they adopt Rose, it may be really hard, maybe the hardest thing they've ever done. But it will be over so quickly. Standing before Jesus with Rose – and with the others that her life ripples out to - would be a greater joy than they can imagine. No matter how hard this part of life it, it is only a vapor.

My realization vanished as quickly as it appeared, and the pressing concerns in front of me seemed like solid reality again. We are so surrounded by the press of the temporal world that the real reality is veiled. Only in brief flashes of insight, it seems, do our eyes truly fix on the unseen, letting us understand that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)


This friend of mine has been reading Mother Teresa, who reflected that when Jesus summons us to something, we often hesitate: “Whenever He asks for something...people get extra careful about many things -- but if the world asks the things are done so quickly.” We all would agree that it is right to carefully consider the cost before leaping naively into the adoption of a teenager. This may not be the Lord's plan for their family, or for Rose. But my friend is wrestling with why we so often hang back when Jesus asks something of us. To be honest, many times it's probably because He bids us to take up a cross, lose our life and die with him. But we who belong to Jesus have already died with Him. When we grasp at comfort and security, we are forgetting that our lives are not our own but have been bought with a price.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” - Jim Elliot

Please pray for Rose.

This was the article posted on a forum that I am on and it caused me to think a lot of teenage adoptions and adoptions in general. I have even caught myself a few times "whining" about how hard things are for ME! It is a sneaky sin, that can easily be "justified." The world tells us that things should be easy for us...and the truth is that this world is not about us and what we can get out of it. Adoption not for everyone...that is something that I am learning. I know that God is preparing our hearts for something down the road...just don't quite know what.

Humility

Just God's way of keeping me humble...

Went to the mall with my sister, G-no, and we were in Old Navy. Kb was peeling the Hygiene Protection liner off the bikini bottoms and carrying them around the store. Seems like a normal thing to do, right? I took them from him and had them all sit on the step while we finished looking. Then we went to the candy store and all through K-Mart. When I got home I realized that one of the sticky things was attached to the back of my flip-flop.

Nice.

Things I wish I liked...

I totally hijacked this from a friends blog, so it is not my idea but thought it was hilarious reading hers...so here are some of mine!

• Flying

I really wish that I liked flying, as I really like to travel and see new things. I just don't like the whole flying/airplane thing. I can totally get myself psyched into loving airplanes...then the captain says something like, "we are cleared for take-off" and I want to rip off my seat belt and bolt out the nearest exit (which are all conveniently marked)!

• Exercising

In particular, I really wish that I liked to run. It seems so much cooler to say, "I went for a run today." I tried it...maybe, twice. And hated every single second of it. I hate walking on the treadmill, but if I don't walk on the treadmill and walk around town instead, my pace dwindles to a mere stroll. I make it about to minute 5 before the complaining in my head starts - then the bartering - I seriously do more self talking during the 30 minutes on the treadmill than any other time of the day!

• Theatre Productions

My mom and sister love going to plays. I wish I could say that I do as well. What I can say is that I am glad that my sister developed a love of plays so that my mom could take her instead of me. Now there are a few masterpieces that I did enjoy and would see again. But as far as trying out a new play...well, I would rather do anything other than be jammed into a small auditorium surrounded by strangers all wearing way to much cologne! I know I am becoming more like my father every day, but I like my space.

• Dieting

Everyone seems to be on a new diet these days and they all LOVE to talk about it ad nausium. I just wish that I had something to contribute to the conversation instead of being forced to be on the listening end...solo. I just simply don't have the will power. If I die tomorrow, I want my pasta, chocolate, cheesecakes, pizza and bread with butter! Just not willing to give those up for a leaner body...I think exercising would be more beneficial than any diet...which goes back to my point above...if I only liked to exercise! It seems like dieting is another word for selective anorexia. Except for when your are anorexic you're not choosy, you just don't eat anything...I don't see the big difference between the two except on is high socially acceptable and the other is highly socially unacceptable!

• the Outdoors

I always admire the "outdoors type" however, I just don't last long outside. I get bored and bit and burnt too easily to ever enjoy being outside. Which is one reason that I have the inside jobs and Hubby gets the outside ones. If it were up to me, I would let the grass go all natural. I admire other peoples landscaping, but it is just not for me. I did try a flower patch one year. Took me several days to get a 2 x 3 foot patch together. The animals ate all the flowers within the week. That was my only and final attempt! Now this one would change if we lived...say, on the beach - then I would be outside all the time...heat, sun and sand are 3 of my favorites!

• Interior Decorating

I always love going into other peoples houses that seem to have it all together. I don't know how they piece it all together. I also don't care for dusting, so the less clutter, the less I have to dust (or what I would have to dust if I actually dusted!)

• Mini Vans or (Mini Buses)

I miss my Jetta. It was hard to part with it. Don't care much for the van, as practical as it is, just don't like it a whole lot. We would probably have like 8 kids by now if I could get over my fear of driving anything bigger! Maybe it is God's "adoption control" of our family now!

That is all I have for now...I just got a new camera that I can actually take with me where ever I go, so I hope to be able to post more pics!

Also - got to put a great big THANKS out there to my sister in law who brought the boys pop guns back from the beach. We've had them about 2 hours and I am ready to...well...scream???

Still itchy...

I have been doing a whole lot of nothing since my last post. Doing anything requires movement and any movement makes me even more itchy. So I have spent the last few days trying to tie up loose ends. One of which was going through photos of others in Africa the same times as us. My friends pictures were great! The only time I truly felt uncomfortable was at the market. I didn't take any pictures, but this photo captures what I felt. Can you find me, Tracy and Rachel? Can you see how we are totally surrounded? Yep. That is the only time I felt unsafe and was wishing we took a "guide" with us!

The top photo is one that was taken a day or two before we arrived. I can't seem to find Kp, but Kb is right in the front left of the picture. It was sad to think that he had no clue in a few days he would have a new family...he just looks so...sad.

My other major feat is trying to get our kids to be citizens before the year is up. I got their adoption filed at the courthouse, although I don't know that because I received copies from our courthouse. No, I know because some lady called me from Vital Statistics with some questions about the birth mother (as if I know or was told anything). So my kids have birth certificates and I have to apply to get copies...how? Fill out more paperwork and give more money!!! These forms give me headaches and make me feel so stupid. I hate filling them out! I think I know what it is asking me, but inevitably when I reread it, I get more confused! Then I guess I have to get them naturalized or something before going to the Social Security office. However, I have no clue even where to go to get that done. I think I am going to go to the SS office and act dumb. Maybe then they'll point me to the right office! Argggg....I wish this process was all mapped out, but that would be too easy wouldn't it?

How on earth???

I must sleepwalk...what other explanation can there be?

I must have gotten up, walked out of the house, into the woods and went back to sleep in the middle of a poison ivy patch.

How else did I get poison ivy ALL over my body? I don't go into the woods, heck, I haven't even been outside the past few days! But it is everywhere - except places that show. My legs and back are covered, how?

So it goes back to my theory...I must sleepwalk.

PS: Ever try putting anti-itch cream on your back? No so easy...I've had to be creative!

Birds and Berries

The kids came in screaming, "There's a bird stuck outside."

"Don't touch it!"

"No, Mommy, come see!"

Unwillingly I go outside to see this bird's head stuck in a hockey net. My first reaction is, survival of the fittest. Apparently this bird is not so bright as to get it's head stuck in a net. However, I didn't really want a dead bird attached to the net...AND I would rather get a live bird out of the net than a dead one.

So back into the house I go to use yet another set of rubber gloves...'cause there is no way I am actually touching this bird! Armed with scissors and gloves, I go outside to free this "not so smart" bird.

I don't know how long it was there, but once freed, it just sat there. Again "not so smart." It was alive, just not moving. I decided that this was not a safe place for this little bird to be (in such close proximity to 4 curious children), so I went to pick it up to move it into the field behind our house. When I went to grab it, it fluttered away (I was greatly relieved I didn't have to touch it again).

Just when I think that my kids are gaining appreciation for wildlife and leaving it alone, three of them come back into the house saying Kd is swinging the plastic golf clubs at a nest of baby bird in the bushes. Great. Back outside I go!

Today I am going to use up some of the fresh produce people have given me. I am no "Little Suzie Homemaker" but I am going to attempt: a blueberry pie (I have only made 1 apple pie in my life), a custard rhubarb pie, and a blueberry pound cake. I was paying over $5/pt for blueberries at the store when a friend of mine said her parents had an abundance at their house if I wanted to pick them. Yesterday I took the kids (who still don't pick very long) and we ended up with buckets of berries. Most of them were eaten right out of the basket, but Kd asked for a pie and they all seemed excited about making a pie from the blueberries that actually made it into the buck.

The blueberry pie is currently in the oven...we'll see how it turns out!

A look back

Friends that we met over in Africa have raised an amazing amount of money for the organization we adopted from, and the husband has gone back. This has cause me to think a lot of the country. I am jealous that he is back there AND when I read his blog and saw this (parenthesis are my additions)...

"So many things have changed in the 5 short months since we were here. The airport was air conditioned (which means it wasn't when we were there), painted inside and out, the floors were tiled, and the customs officers were working behind glass booths(when we were there these men sat at broken down tables with all of the travelers surrounding them in a chaotic fashion). The luggage actually came out on a conveyor belt (don't know how the luggage came off the plane, but found it outside under a tent...just sitting there) and the runway has been resurfaced (did I ever mention that the wings of the plane extended far beyond the width of the runway...and I am from western PA, and am quite familiar with pot holes, but you have never experienced a true pot hole until you continuously hit them while landing in an airplane!). We had a perfectly smooth landing and comfortable, smooth trip through the airport. The road from the airport to Monrovia has been resurfaced (what??? totally unfair - where is the fun of driving in that? I assume that there are still no lines on the road though or I am sure he would've mention that too) and the countryside is filled with green grass. Our journey to the ***** compound was very smooth and even scenic. It's amazing what a difference a little green grass makes."

There are just certain images that are hard to forget...

The picture below was the "huts" that we passed on our way to and from the beach. I believe this is where Elizabeth and Ephraim, Love and the twins lived and their stories I will always carry...

To those reading who would be fearful of us returning, we might go back. It is somewhere buried in us to go back, but just not sure what God is requiring of us. The only thing that I know is that I will not tell God, "no" (I tried that, I told him I wouldn't go to Africa). I now know that it is blessings that I would've miss if I let fear rule my life.

So, my normal routine when going to the gym is get on the treadmill and then put my iPod on. Should've put the iPod in first. The only open treadmill was beside two older ladies deep in conversation. I smiled as I went past, dreading the next 30 minutes of my life (don't like exercising a whole lot). For some terrible twist of fate, my earphones were tangled beyond a quick fix. In the meantime, I began listening to the conversation the ladies beside me were having...about their recent colonoscopy. Nice. They talked all about how nice it is now because you don't to drink liquids all day, they just give you some drink a pill (whatever), but apparently you do sit on the toilet all day (at this point I was praying that the stupid earphones would magically untangle - when they finally did - in they went in my ears - quickly - and cranked up as loud as they could go). Next time I am going to go at my normal time, before Silver Sneakers lets out!

Ahhhh...

Then my mind begins to wonder (the tv's are too far away to actually read the subtitles although I pretend to look in that direction). Fred is back. The dude just will not go. Then I began to think...that is the only thing "extra" that we brought home. How lucky am I? I know I am to give thanks for all things, can't really be thankful for Fred (not yet anyway), but I can be so thankful that he is the only extra from our adventure to Africa!

And that is as far as my thoughts went...at some point the thoughts of not liking exercise settled in and consumed the rest of my count down from 30 minutes!

Picnic

We hosted our Care Group's Summer Picnic at our house...Here are some of the pictures:


Who said home schooled kids can't stand in a straight line? (Heehee!)


First we put out a water shooting hose...
Then we fixed the Slip N Slide. They only seem to last one event at our house. This time we fixed it with some good ole duck tape!

In case you're confused, the one eating popcorn is not one of mine. The picture was too cute not to post :-)

Seriously, I wish I could say that he's never seen me do this, BUT I guess he had to learn it somewhere!!!!

Hair day...

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes...I am getting faster!