Shall Run And Not Be Weary

Crossing the Rubicon

2012-02-12T11:13:00.001-08:00

If you are like me, I had no idea what that saying meant, before Friday afternoon. But Joseph was doing some history homework and mentioned it and told me that it referred to Julius Ceasar crossing a river. I asked if he knows what the saying meant.

We discussed the idea of thinking carefully before we made life changing decisions, like getting married, or having children (esp adoption). While I was saying that, he muttered "I should not have signed my name at adoption. Or maybe I should have."

I asked if "crossing the Rubicon" was a bad thing for Julius Ceasar...he admitted "no"
"Well marriage, or adoption is not a bad thing, but needs to be thought out carefully because there is no going back. Like throwing a rock, or saying words, they can't be brought back."
Then I remembered an object lesson that this mom http://minichfamilyblog.blogspot.com/ used on her blog one day. I took a piece of paper and told him to crumble it up into a little ball. After much looking back and forth between me and the paper (still does not trust me when I tell him to eat all of it or do something odd like this) he finally crumbled it up.

Then I asked if he thinks he can smooth it out like it was before...he said "sure". Well after a little bit, he asked if he can use the iron. "yes go ahead" ( In my mind I'm wondering if he knows what he is doing.- He didn't - "how do you turn this thing on?")
So I watched as he ironed..."it's not hot enough" touched it "ohh, ouch"

Then I told him that the paper is like words that you say...feelings that you hurt....promises that you make (crossing the Rubicon)...you can say "I'm sorry, or I forgot, or I changed my mind" but the wrinkles will stay...Only God can make them disappear or be forgotten.

Last night after a situation that I didn't handle correctly (forgot the gloves) and he again said he should run away. We prayed and I apologized...was allowed to give a kiss, but didn't get one in return....later DH advised me to stop by Joe's bed, he has a kiss...so I did and then he asked..."Is the paper smoothed out now?"

I was honest...."Almost, but mama still can feel some wrinkles"

Resolution

2012-02-11T19:14:00.001-08:00

It has hereby been declared that the words " I should just run away"
will be met by

"Here is some bread, be back by dark."

Feigned deafness...

How Tall IS He?

2012-02-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

Can you help me out? Joe has been changing heights rather alarmingly
over the past year...
He shrank by 5" and then grew by 7" when he got his last pair of legs.
We had measured him standing without his prosthesis, but then he had his
amputations, then that changed it again.
Now he won't stand without his prosthesis...thing is, his prosthesis
make him as tall as his 14 y.o. brother and they do appear to make him
taller than he would be naturally.
I am sure I read somewhere that your measurement from fingertip to nose
(looking straight forward) x 2 = your height. (We do it that way
because all arms in this house are not created equal)
So do me a favor....measure yourself from fingertip to nose x2 and let
me know if that equals your height. It works in our family, but I can't
find any backing when I do an online search.
I think that would be a more accurate way to measure a certain young
man...makes him 5'2"...which seems about right.

Push up Contests

2012-02-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

Look what type of activity we have started...

One young man can do 17 in a row...not perfect form, but without stopping!!

What a Weekend

2012-02-07T19:22:00.001-08:00

Don't know if the home study and resulting conversations is stirring up
memories, but that was a rollercoaster weekend

From downright rudeness on Friday morning because someone could not
find their lunch container in the fridge and a certain sister would not
allow him to search her lunchbox.
To being upset because a 6 y.o. dares to pick up his library book and
start reading it AND understanding it.

To telling the social worker in the evening that the most important
thing that mom's and dad's can do is show the new child that this is
forever "because it is hard to believe"

Saturday was pretty smooth...

Sunday at breakfast....for some reason someone thought it was a good
idea to run away and live in a cave- until they were informed that you
have to live on wild mushrooms and grubs...the grubs were OK, but "I
don't like mushrooms" Oh, and snakes like to crawl in close when you
sleep in a cave because you are a warm spot....
After this young person was finished eating- running away still seemed
like a good idea, so with much smiling they went out the door without
their coat (I told them it was my son's coat and they couldn't take
it-wrong I know now, but I was hoping the cold air brought him in sooner)
With much wailing and crying (faked) the girls of the house raced to the
window to watch the figure slowly walking out the drive...looking back
every other step. We decided to wait until he actually rounded the bend
in our drive (thus not being able to see the house) then we figured we'd
better start worrying....
Just as he started getting chilled he came back and discovered he had to
ring the doorbell because he'd forgotten to unlock the door.
We of course left him in...

In the after noon...more challenges on the required hour of silence in
our home (from 2-3) because we were going to church in the evening.
We realized that silence and quiet is troublesome...bad memories intrude
in those times...somehow God gave me the right words and I suggested
that he write his bad memories on a piece of paper...pray over it...and
then throw it in the trash.
He looked at me in amazement "Does that work?"
I told him God is much stronger than mama or daddy (he agreed) and He is
the one to take away bad memories and I left it in God's hands.
Quiet time went well...he started out by writing and throwing...we
offered to read it with him ,but gave the option of secrecy
He slept a bit
Mon AM "Guess what mom? God answers prayers" I just said "yeah, I
know." (Maybe I should have hi-fived and danced around the kitchen, but
I didn't want to seem surprised)

But today he started on the subject of running away again and was sure
he could find parents that could love him more....I assured him that was
impossible. I also told him the story of God showing us his file and how
we knew after looking at a number of other files that we had finally
found the right child for our family. Told him that I never had a say in
choosing my child before...

Then tonite he thought that it would be better to run away than take the
table cloth outside and shake it.... I gave him a dirty look and he
laughed and said "OK, mom." And he came for a goodnite kiss...

You know...you may pray for us.....

Tires

2012-02-06T18:02:00.001-08:00

Ok, I thought my daughter was interesting and today I was going to write about it, then I decided to read blogs first and found out that LORI stole my idea...not really :^)
But my daughter LOVES the smell of tires. We went to S*m's club and we got close to the tire department and she let out a cheer and went running toward them...she stops and sniffs each display if I allow her.
Then to further her delight we bought this....

Today I unrolled it and she discovered the delicious aroma...silly girls

Happy Groundhog's Day

2012-02-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

In honor of Groundhog's Day my thoughtful hubby brought me flowers.

And we now have a new driver in the house. He's been driving on a
learner's permit, but now he can drive solo. I hope we didn't forget to
tell him something very important. Now I don't have to drive the kids to
school everyday, but we also need to pay that lovely insurance for a 16
y.o. driver.

Saga of the Teeth

2012-02-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

Little Miss Faith thought that she could hang on to her rotting baby
teeth forever....or at least till they fell out into her plate!
She had knocked them on her scooter handlebars a few months ago and I
figured they would soon fall out. But if you carefully avoid touching
them, they will stay in place a very long time!
Finally on Wednesday evening the flosser that I was maneuvering around
in her mouth, accidentally got caught in her tooth and WOW!
out came the tooth. But since it bled as all teeth must...she screamed!
She admitted later that it didn't hurt
That left her with this mouth....

Yeah, I know.
I left her go to school like that- hoping this last tooth would fall
into her lap....of course not!
My pride couldn't take it anymore...last night the floss got caught in
her tooth again. This time she knew what was coming and I had to promise
3 band aids for various small scratches on her knees and hands. Whatever!
But look at the beautiful smile....

Crazy Language

2012-01-26T18:43:00.001-08:00

The English language is crazy, we all know that...we use different
pronouns - he, she, him, her...
We use all those "being verbs" have, has, had...

Then we have "figures of speech" and "puns"
Our family LOVES figures of speech and puns and the dictionary is often
at the supper table...sometimes the laptop...just so we can solve a
"discussion"

The other night oldest brother and his wife were with us for supper and
in the course of conversation we talked about my brother's computer
business.
Daddy said, "Yeah, his office is really hopping."
Joseph said, "Hopping?"
I answered, " Only the desks."
Zeke inserted gleefully, "Yeah, if the rooms would be hopping the
building would fall down."
Joseph deadpanned, "Oh."
Demetrius looked from one to the other and said "Aren't you going to
clarify that for him?"
I said, "no, he gets it." ( I really wasn't sure that he did, but I
thought he could figure it out)
Joseph just looked at Demetrius..."it means they very busy" "I'm good at
acting. I play 'I Doubt It' very well."

That you do young man!
We got another report card today...it proves we don't need to clarify
very much!

PATIENCE!!

2012-01-24T18:35:00.001-08:00

I thought I had enough of that stuff!!
I'm trying really hard to just relax and let God take care of this stuff.
But somehow I feel like I should be doing something...
We were supposed to have our first homestudy visit on Friday, but we had
to move it back to next Friday.
I know that next week looks much calmer and I don't have as many
appointments scheduled BUT!
I really wanted to have that visit behind us...to know that we have that
milestone under our belts...
I know that this is in God's hands...he showed her to DH and left him
know that even though this makes no sense...
We should send LOI for an 18 month old child....

But I am overwhelmed with the urge to hover over people and ask them to
do the job I paid them to do...
and DO IT QUICKLY!
But I will take a deep breath and let God....
He knows what He is doing and I need to remember -- He is perfectly
capable of poking people in the ribs and telling them to get a MOVE ON!

Imagination

2012-01-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

We realized something sad tonite.
Part of the reason that Joe has so little imagination and probably why
he has trouble occupying his time (outside of homework)
is that he never had a chance to develop it. (gotta tell you about the activity jar sometime)
He never had a book read to him until he met us!! Never! Not even in
school...I guess they don't read books to the kids after lunch like our
teachers do.
Tonite we had a couple of sessions of "close your eyes and picture this"
and had him describe the scene we suggested...was tough.
Then I suggested a game ( I don't know the name) each kid gets a piece
of paper and draws a shape...pass it to the next kid...they add to it
and so on.
You can make up your own rules (must be an animal, or a
vehicle)...little kids can play... use pen, so no erasing...there is no
winner (best part at our house) and there is no right answer.
Here are the results:

Flat Surfaces

2012-01-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

What is it with flat surfaces? Mine are magnetic. Today I spent most of

the morning sorting clothing

And then I tackled my computer corner. My office needs a face lift, but
until I have the $$$ to get a custom built desk I will have to make do...
So I pulled out the el-cheapo computer desk...the one with all the
shelves that don't fit the equipment you own. Chased down the
dust...raccoons ( them were no bunnies!) and re-assembled my corner.
It's OK, it'll work for now
But then I had a clean flat surface...several of them in fact.
Then I left the house to take Joe for therapy and meanwhile DH brought
the other kids home. By the time I got home this is what I saw.

Gotta get that thing out of here quickly! Hope informed me "As soon as she got home she just claimed that desk! Got everything she owned and acted like the space was hers!"

(she was just upset she didn't get there first)

Lucky Wednesdays

2012-01-15T18:58:00.001-08:00

This weekend has been interesting. I am trying not to talk too much and

rest my voice, but of course it seems that people need instructions

repeated and obscure sentences translated....like..."Please bring the

laundry up from the basement and sort it in the garage."

Anyway I realized I have an invaluable asset in my house ...normally
known as "nosy girls"....but now I can look at them and indicate that
they repeat my instructions....the same thing works if I give
instructions to a girl. Usually there is a "nosy boy" in the vicinity
that can repeat my instructions .

This evening I made the comment that I don't have to run the household

anymore... because there is one child

(here she is trying to control how fast the cookies disappear)

that can repeat each phrase I normally say.
She said "yeah, when you are old I will take over."
DH asked if that is when she puts us in the nursing home she keeps
talking about...
She replied "yeah, I'm going to work there on Wednesdays, that will be
your Lucky Wednesday."

At least I know she will come to visit me....

Inspirations

2012-01-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got this notion...I printed out the above sign and added the
reference of Philippians 4:13.
The children came home from school and immediately certain people
thought the sign was intended for them.
Another child said "I didn't know that was in the Bible. That is a short
verse."

They don't know, but the sign is actually for me...but I'll let them
think otherwise.

I finally decided to got to the Dr for my laryngitis that has been
plaguing me for the past month and the Dr recommended amonst other
things...to rest my voice as much as possible. HA! The multitudes
REALLY don't know what to do with that one! THEY were signing to me!

Feeling Better

2012-01-11T19:03:00.001-08:00

Spent half the day fasting...well a half a cup of unsweetened oatmeal
for breakfast and again for lunch (fast of sorts) Praying that I can
hold this whole process loosely.
It is God's adoption, His timing, His plans. (Easy to say those words,
gotta work at remembering)

Nevertheless, I have a job to do...get the bedroom ready to house 3
little girls. The bunk beds are coming in two weeks and today it struck
me that they will need quilts! It would not look very good if I bought
the quilts at Wally-world...
Pictures tomorrow.

Fence Rail

2012-01-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Another very simple, but stunning quilt order ( I use the word stunning
because all I did was make what the lady ordered)
Can you please pray with us? We are working on our 4th homestudy.
Agencies currently require commitments - not only from the family
wanting to adopt, but other parties as well. It is proving difficult to
wait on the Lord. We vowed to accept God's will for this adoption...if
He closes a door, we will not pry it open... He is not closing
doors....but we feel like we are running an obstacle course.

My Sunday School Notes

2012-01-07T18:48:00.001-08:00

These are my notes for the class I need to teach in the morning. I just realized I might as well let others read them as well. Very little of it is my own thoughts...We use CLP's Sunday School quarterly and I got some of my other stuff from "The Book of Luke, the Smart Guide to the Bible".

Miracles of Jesus

Chapters skipped from last Sunday’s lesson

Jesus baptized Luke 3 Jesus temptation Luke 4

Jesus rejection in Nazareth read-Luke 4:18-19 Why was he rejected? Turned the water into wine at Cana wedding? When did that happen? Healed Peter’s MIL, then one evening he healed a bunch of people, casting out demons who immediately recognized Him. He rebuked them and told them to be quiet.

Lesson Aim: To fall before Jesus, expressing our sinfulness and our need, and then arise to follow Him.

Luke has the most complete account of this event (the big catch of fish) Luke 5:1-11

Let Down Your Nets

Sea of Galilee= Gennesaret= garden of riches nice lake, good acoustics, but stormy

The account starts out with a crowd of people around Jesus, news had traveled. This man heals! For free! The book suggests that Jesus wanted a boat so he could get some distance between him and the crowd. He asked Simon for the boat…the men were cleaning and (repairing) their nets. They would have been working all night…and according to Luke they had a frustrating night and caught NO fish. Really it was a bad thing to do…he needed his sleep so he could go to work tomorrow night!

Peter sat in the boat and listened to Jesus teach…what did he teach? The kingdom of heaven? Anyway, after Jesus was finished teaching He told Peter to take the boat out further and let down the net for a draft of fish. Peter mentioned that the fishing had been horrible the night before, but “at your word, I will let down the net” The net was filled with fish.

What did Peter need to do? Jesus had promised..but what IF the fishing was still bad…they would have to clean the nets all over again. Oh and what would the other fishermen think? This was not “common sense” What other time did Peter have to make the first move? (walking on the water)

How does this translate to us?

What other promises does Jesus give? ASK, SEEK KNOCK. Come and I will give you rest..

Peter falls down and tells Jesus to go away b/c he was so sinful. James and John came to help with the fish.

Then what? Left all and followed Jesus. They could have tried to hire Jesus and make a business out of fishing and then sell the fish and use the money to support the poor. They did not just leave the boats and the fish to rot on the shore(?) There were hired servants according to John’s account.

What happens when you invest your future in God’s work? Or the stock market? Property or the bank…after all who is going to take care of us in our old age? Easy words… Words for Older Adults pg 77.

Peter James and John left their jobs to go “catch men”. Did they go out and be successful preachers right away? If I understand the chronology correctly, they were students for awhile. What do you think the people from Nazareth said when they heard that the Carpenter’s Son was luring people away from their jobs?

Vs. 12 Show Yourself for a Testimony

Man with leprosy….highly contagious…needed to live away from other people so as not to infect them. Man was playing it risky by coming up to Jesus.

Jesus did the typical (typical for Jesus that is) and touched the “untouchable” and healed him. But he did it AFTER the man had enough faith to come up close. Did he ask Jesus to heal him?

Still had the man show himself to the priest , according to Moses’ law, so that he could be cleansed and be allowed to live back in his community. Even though there was no modern communication “great multitudes came to hear and be healed”

Then Jesus took a break…and went into the wilderness to pray. If even Jesus, God’s Son, had to go “apart” to concentrate and pray…guess we need to do that too.

Nine Years Ago!

2012-01-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

In a far away place, we got our first look at each other. Well not really, I had gazed at a sober faced little girl for 6 weeks and wondered and worried....

She took to us like....well just like she knew us....didn't even cry just gazed....(she did her crying later)

She taught me about bottle feeding....

About dragging your "newborn" all over the place "touring" and having old ladies come up and tuck her little hand inside her sleeve, even when she was sweating bullets.

That trip taught me that you can miss someone dreadfully and you can focus very hard and get through each day....but we took as many kids as possible on the next 2 trips.

Now look at her!
We celebrated with everyone going out for supper and then later we sat on the sofa and looked at the scrapbook of the trip. We let whoever wants look at it.
She loves to hear her story, BUT ever since she was very little this day is hard. She has a reaction to her book (the scrapbook of our trip)...at first I didn't really understand it and thought it was just bad behavior. But I've come realize the book awakens strong feelings that she does not know how to handle and tonite it was shown in "Is Faith touching that corner...did she wipe a boogie on that page!?...I need to sit between BOTH mommy and daddy!"

Eventually Faith was in tears and I could see Joe deciding if he was going to react. So we talked, I'm not sure if it helped Hope, but Faith and Joe seemed to be feeling better. I debated if we should even look at the book this year, but I think it is necessary and she is doing better each year. In two months we will pull out Faith's book and see her reaction....

Any advice?

"You Did that for Me Too?"

2012-01-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

When we filled out the LOI forms for "little one" I pulled out Joe's
paperwork to compare some info. Joe noticed the paperwork and recognized
his name and immediately wondered what was going on.

I didn't see the first reaction, but daddy said there was definitely
worry in the voice and face.

So we started making it a point of mentioning the paperwork we are doing
and adding "yeah, like we did for Joseph and Hope and Faith"

Last night we were talking about a certain form and the fact that our SW
will need to visit again. Joseph said "oh for me" I told him "no, for
the new adoption, yours is finished"
"You mean I am your childrens now?"
I promptly informed him that he has BEEN "our childrens", but his birth
country likes to find out how things are going.
I mentioned that we had to ask Ch*na for permission to adopt again and
of course the question "did you have to ask for me too?"

I KNOW we talked about it before, but I said "Yes!, we had to say
PLEASE, may we adopt Gao Liang?"
I pulled out the letter that is included in every dossier and left him
read it. In the letter there is a sentence that says "we promise to
never physically abuse or abandon this child" He wanted to know if
"abandon" means to "hit me" I said "no, the physically abuse" is "not
hit you" the abandon is to never leave you.
He said, "but I dreamed that you did...in the restaurant."

He had told us about the dream before, wonder what else will come out in
the dreams....?

But we ended up looking through the pile of paperwork from his dossier
and I think he was impressed that we went to all that bother. No, Joey
it was not a spur of the moment notion.

I have noticed that Hope is paying close attention this time too. Her
Family Day is tomorrow and we need to do some celebrating.

Clarifications

2012-01-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

Since I don't have all the e-mail addy's to answer the questions.

Yes, I use regular all purpose flour...cornmeal = a drier tortilla....whole wheat also would come out a bit drier and you might need to tweak the recipe.

Butter vs shortening? We don't use much shortening either (it's great as a skin softener) but there are some recipes that seem to need shortening. Butter will brown much faster...maybe try oil instead?

There are all the designer wraps out there...I'm sure the basic recipe is similar and they just add the other ingredients.

If All Else Fails

2012-01-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

I really need to write my "End of the Year" post, but somehow I have too
many things going on....

so I'll talk about food. Over the holidays son#1 called and asked for
the tortilla recipe. He wanted to make some. He remembered that those
store bought things just don't taste the same after you've had home-made.

Tortillas de Harina
4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
4 TBSP shortening
1-1/2 cups warm water

Combine dry ingredients...cut in shortening ( that means mix it up with
a fork till the shortening is small little balls). Add water a little
bit at a time till you can mix the dough with your hands.
Knead the dough 15- 20 minutes.
Form into about 12 balls the size of an egg.
Heat griddle to 425 put a little shortening on griddle.
Work quickly.
Flour or cornmeal countertop and roll the dough w/ rolling pin. Make
them pretty thin.
cook about 2 min on each side. If they are getting too brown turn down
the heat

Glad We are Boring

2011-12-31T19:10:00.000-08:00

Once again I realized how glad I am that we were boring and un-adventuresome (sorta). I just filled out our child-line and criminal records forms. You need to write every address that you lived at since 1975 AND every person you lived with since 1975 AND their age today...that list is a bit lengthy.

Just glad that we each only have one other address since 1975.

It is sort of interesting to see the reaction of Joe and Hope about the paperwork. "You have to do all that?"
The other day we were talking about some of the questions that the agency brought up about us adopting again "so soon" and Joseph said "Maybe I should talk to the lady?"

Did It!

2011-12-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

Managed it!

PS: that little darling is fast asleep b/c it is 10PM. Her favorite bedtime saying "Night, night, wo ai ni, I love you, don't let the bug bites get you."

But because it is paper pieced I still needed to pick out all the little pieces of paper that were my pattern.

So we put on some music "That's What Faith Can Do" by Kutless
"Light you Candle" by Chris Rice

And "He Reigns" by Newsboys

How's that for a sedate mamma? Every now and again my then-teenage son came home with some music that I liked ...then he wasn't sure if HE liked it anymore.

A saying from Hope: "Mama, are porkchops made from llama?" !!??? whatever

I Think I can...I think I Can...

2011-12-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it looked like this....

today it looks like this....

When you have your own business and you want the bottom line to look as good as possible for the dossier....well anyway, I have a few days left of this year. I guessed at Ray's final YTD and came within $20. I didn't even try to estimate mine...I have 3 small (very small) businesses and it's always a surprise what the final number looks like.

So I'm hoping to add this $$ to my bottom line. Think I can get it done by Friday?

Christmas

2011-12-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

Somehow I didn't get too many pictures. Guess my hands were busy doing other things.

Yeah, I did....got him a set of harmonicas....

Faith did recover well enough to open gifts on Saturday evening, then emptied the house quickly when she tossed her egg roll...bummer! She was fine all night, so we chalked it up to - too much too soon.
We were thankful that my newest nephew could make an appearance on Christmas day, we all tried to stay away from him and not share any germs.

They could use your prayers. Pierre Robin "ro-bane" (type of cleft palate) looks like quite a challenge. Little one keeps getting his tongue in the wrong position and then he can't breathe well. He is their 5th child, she could definitely use an extra hand.

This is the kind of birthday cake you get when you have to share it with your cousin and your mom made you a "half birthday" cake back in August. We were clean out of "4"'s so you have to imagine the 14 and elder cousin is 18 and did not hold still long enough for a picture.

See, he did get a real cake earlier....13.5 years...not 135

This week we are going to try to do the odd jobs that should be done....just in case we ever get to the home study part of this adoption. Like re-carpet the stairs....

Hold the Bucket

2011-12-23T19:05:00.000-08:00

Hold the bucket, wipe the mouth, try to sleep...repeat every hour until
morning....go to school (leave the sick one with daddy who is off work
today) and be "classroom mom" for 5th grade....help clean the
school...come home...take a nap...hold the bucket...make potstickers for
tomorrow night's party-that-might-not-happen-because-we-are-hosting-a-bug.
(Thankfully sick person#1 is better...waiting for the next shoe to drop)

Trying to keep a smile on my face since this is about Jesus' birth and not
about parties.

Praying for my brother's family...their 2wk old baby is in the hospital so
they can evaluate his cleft palate and see how severe his breathing
difficulty is....

What did you do today?

Hard Quilt Easy Quilt

2011-12-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

I like a challenge when I am making a quilt, but sometimes enough is ENOUGH and I get a chance to make an easy quilt...but sometimes the results are almost the same! I really like the effect of the colors with the simple pattern.
Disclaimer: Neither of these quilts was my color choice...they just brought me the fabric and I made the pattern they chose.

Need a Gift?

2011-12-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

I know it is a little late to order a Christmas gift, but I just had to share this book. ( I don't get any kickbacks)
My youngest daughter posed for the pictures in the book, big sister is in one of the pictures too. The artist took photos at our house and then transformed them into oil paintings and best of all the book is an adoption story. Find it here

Not Fun

2011-12-20T19:24:00.001-08:00

Was so delighted on Mon AM when I went on line to order the carpet that
we had looked at on Saturday. Found out the color we chose WAS ON SALE!!
Saved $40.
Then minutes later I got an e-mail from our HS agency...basically saying
"Are you sure that you have approval? You know you don't meet Ch*na's
income requirements."
Yes, we DO know that. That is why we waited 2 weeks for an approval.
Somehow she does not quite trust something in the process and I'm not
sure why...this is the exact same process as we had the last
time....just some new employees.
My heart has been all over the place today....'Way down in my toes,
saying "Lord, we asked you to stop this whole adoption if it is against
your will...but NOT after we told everyone."
To "We will push through every mountain, because she needs a mommy and
a daddy and (even though she doesn't know it) a whole bunch of siblings"
Obviously went through a few tissues today....tonite the adoption agency
lady called and sounded very confident that she can work things through
with the HS agency....tomorrow. (The pleasures of working on 2 different
coasts)

I'm Focused.....

2011-12-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

I'm focusing very intently on two little letters (PA) and I see a
mountain of paperwork in our future!

Yes we are very blessed.

PT

2011-12-13T18:57:00.000-08:00

We started OT a few weeks ago and Joe has been working his wrist and
thumb quite a bit...it is discouraging because the scar tissue seems so
much stronger than we are.
Last week he had a PT eval....we received the report on Sat and while I
was reading the first part...the phrase "mom says" was repeated several
times...A little voice in my head said "the PT lady thinks you are too
picky...Joe is right."

Then I got to the part about HER observations...she had the same
concerns as I...actually noticed that he does not sit up straight.

Her goals actually exceeded mine!

So thankful for backup....I really don't care about slouching, but I
think it has its roots in- a little boy making himself as small and un-
noticed as possible....and I DO care about that.

Quite a few of the core muscles are weak -- if he wouldn't have the
added issues with his prosthesis he would have gained all that muscle on
his own...so here's a salute to the PT's and the OT's out there!

I Lied...

2011-12-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

This therapy stuff is HARD. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad for the ladies that help us figure out ways for this new wrist to stretch and learn to move. I'm so glad for the back-up...they push him and tell us that I was letting him off easy.

BUT
it's still hard.
We are driving 1 hour three times a week. He is missing school for the appointments...so there is homework to make up. When we started I said "we can stick this out for 3 months"

And we will.

Yesterday the PT evaluated his walking....the new legs were great....the first day....(we will be starting therapy for that too) Oh and the hamstrings are very tight (thus the picture) the expression is from being told he should do stretches

Then he developed a blister behind his one knee ...so to avoid pain...we developed a wonderful limp...even when it doesn't hurt. Some habits are very easy to start.

Last night I thought we had a breakthrough..we were talking about how we walk and how we swing our legs (try to explain walking to someone...his center of balance is different and now his legs are the same length..for the first time in a very long time)
Anyway, suddenly he seemed to get it...he strode confidently through the kitchen...couldn't even hear that it was Joseph walking...sounded like one of the others.
WOW! wonderful!...didn't even hurt....felt good!

This morning...got out of the car at therapy..same old story...I tried to coach and remind him what we learned last evening....I got snapped at...when I asked if his voice means that he is angry at me...he said "YES!"

I decided I need to walk the other direction before I say something I should not....
you see, yesterday when the PT asked him for his goals with therapy...he said "so mama doesn't think I walk funny."

OhKAAAY! We explained and I thought he understood that this if for HIS benefit, not MINE! Apparently I have been coming across that way...so I guess I will be backing off.
I told him later that I don't even care if he walks...it is up to him...

That is where the lie comes in...I do care...a whole lot!!

I need to talk to him ....with DH present and somehow convey how this mothering thing works...

Any advice?

More on Feeding the Multitude

2011-11-26T18:25:00.001-08:00

A while ago I did a post of feeding a sort of large family. We only have 5 children each evening, but 3 are teen aged (or almost) boys and one is a 9 y.o. girl that can put away the food.

The most expensive thing out there is meat and next to that is milk...I just saw that Swiss brand was over $4 a gallon at Wallyworld today. Maybe we need to go time share on a cow.
For meat I shop at a bulk food/almost expired food store. In this area there are many large families and we have a number of stores like this. The chicken I referred to in my other post had been frozen, probably just before its expiry date. Each bird was tied like the rotisserie chicken you buy at the "clubs" so it probably came from a place like that.
I honestly don't know how I would feed this bunch if we did not have a store like this. I do know that soups make the meat stretch further.

Last night I made a soup with some left over ham...I had bought a bone in ham a while ago and after I baked it I sliced and froze the rest. I threw the ham (almost 2 pounds) and about 12 potatoes and 7 carrots in a big kettle. Added some chicken bouillon/broth and a bit of pepper. Cooked it till the carrots were soft. Added a few slices of American cheese and served.

Now...the biggest waste at our house is the leftovers that get shoved to the back of the fridge and when I find them...well, lets just say that green ham and eggs makes a good story, but lunch?
I try to be prepared for leftovers and if I purposely make a big pot of soup, I have a couple of quart jars ready along with lids and rings. Fill the jars with boiling hot soup. Wipe the rims, pop on the lids and tighten the rings. With a pot holder, flip the jars upside down (careful!!) and let set for a few minutes. (Doing this makes the lid hot and helps seal the jar.) After supper is cleared away. Store these quart jars in the back of your fridge...if they stay there a month they will still taste good, as long as they stay sealed.

The reason I scoop out the soup before I serve the food? There are fewer contaminants in the food at that point than if you wait till the whole family has scooped around in the kettle and it has cooled.

If the left-overs are a surprise....put the kettle back on the burner and bring everything to a good boil...add liquid if needed...then place in the jars like explained above.

Now remember I am not an expert...these jars should stay in your fridge. If you ever open a jar and it smells "off" don't eat it! But this has saved me a bunch of waste and is a quick meal for one of those busy nights.

Sandwich meat is the other expensive thing. I don't pay $3 a pound for the meat I put on the supper table, why would I spend that much for a lunch box? I have not broke them of the habit of good sandwich meat (turkey and ham) so I only buy a pound and by Wednesday or Thurs. it is gone and they get peanut butter...that is a bit less expensive. ( Our schools do not have a hot lunch program..well, if you don't count the mom-run program that gives us hot lunch twice a month)

Breakfast? finally I can make oatmeal for breakfast and they all eat it...the picky eater got married :^) (see if he reads the blog)

Use milk instead of water for cooking the oatmeal and add pancake syrup for sweetening. Or if I'm on time, I flip pancakes...add an egg or two to the batter for some protein. And some vanilla and cinnamon for flavor.

Oh and spinach? Buy it in a big tub. I had this one for almost 3 weeks, bought it at Sa*'s Club and frying it and eating it with odd things like pizza, mix it raw with spaghetti. Some of the kids are trying it (Joe) and I like it...maybe it will catch on.
Actually the best way to eat this stuff is ...
Heat oil in a large frying pan...add some minced garlic...after that turns nice and brown...throw in the spinach and turn off the burner...it cooks very quickly..do this at the last minute.

You can do broccoli like this too...it takes a bit longer to cook and usually need to add water to help steam it a bit.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

Only a tad bit late on this post. I had plans to take pictures of my
guests on Thanksgiving day and have this neat post highlighting each
person. Well I was too busy enjoying the fellowship that I almost forgot
the camera. We invited Son#1 and his wife. My parents. And then some
inmates of the Ronald M*Donald House.
Really we felt very privileged to spend our Thanksgiving with such
special people. The kids had a blast. They barely pulled out any
toys...mostly played with a tablet of paper, folded into paper
airplanes. The big boys played Chi*ese chess. We got to see an amazing
bundle of pins and hardware that were part of FX's external fixator.
Made Joseph's face turn slightly pale....his fixator was nothing
compared to that thing!
As to Thankfulness!
Thankful that there was only a "little" water in the basement on Wed.
morning and most of it was dry by Thurs evening.
Thankful for a house roof that even after 25 years...does not leak !
Thankful for the one year anniversary of Joseph's adoption.
Thankful that there are NO surgeries on the schedule...just therapy.
Thankful for a new daughter-in-law....so far the MIL role is a cinch!
Thankful for Hope who is blossoming into a young woman (moods and all)
but also the positive side...willing and able to help in the kitchen.
Thankful for oldest son who is taking on his role of husband quite well...
Thankful for Faith that livewire that gives out hugs and little notes
that say "I love you, mom and dad" She knows how to read....and
read....and read!
Thankful for Ben...who can step in and help distract or encourage a
certain younger brother when he needs it. And who is just becoming a
nice young man.
Thankful for Ezekiel...Growing up way too fast, suddenly taller than I.
Oh and that quirky sense of humor. Me: "Relax Joseph, you're too
tense"...Zeke: "more like "two tents and a sleeping bag."
And of course the patriarch of this family, what would I do without the
stabilizing influence? His common sense and trust in God, keep this
family on it's course.
...then there are
flannel sheets
Kitchen Aid mixers
sewing machines
mystery novels
chocolate brownies
toast and peanut butter
clean floors
blue skies
mail in the mailbox
e-mail from friends
comments on the blog
dreams that are not true
dreams that do come true
There is more, but my brain needs a bed. Hope you had a wonderful
Thanksgiving!

Creation Museum

2011-11-20T17:17:00.001-08:00

We were privileged to visit the Creation Museum (free tickets too). Stayed at a wonderful motel nearby (continental breakfast and supper).Large suite for all of us $139 a night. Was a good opportunity to firm up our Creation story and see how science does support Creation.

A bit of church history...Hope had been studying this just a few weeks ago.

Faith was finally brave enough to stand beside one of the dinos.

Sorry for the cheesy grin...it was a long day.

We headed west a bit to visit friends in Ind. and then headed for home...boredom overtook them and suddenly it was very quiet in the back.

New Legs

2011-11-16T17:26:00.001-08:00

Today we finally got the long awaited new legs.

They fit wonderfully and there is a happy boy...he grew 5" in one day.

Please ignore the messy clothing room, there was people making a mess when I wasn't looking.

Heigh ho!

2011-11-15T19:04:00.001-08:00

It's off to the city we go! We are scheduled to get new legs tomorrow!!
Please pray for safe driving and the heart of this young man...he has
great plans for those legs and none of it involves hard work or blisters.
I hope he is not disappointed.

The Fatherless....

2011-11-13T16:28:00.001-08:00

Today I taught the adult ladies Sunday school class. Even though the lesson was on Joseph's (the one in the Bible) escape from Potiphar's wife, I decided to do a belated Orphan Sunday message. I almost backed out on Saturday, I was afraid, afterall who doesn't already know this? Then I decided, "what if, someone makes a life changing decision for one of those children, one of those 143 million?

First I did a word search on "fatherless" Oh my! God has some tough words for people that hurt the fatherless and the weak.

OK how many people are in 143 Million? You can go here to see. Or you can figure about 1/2 of the population of the US.

There are about 500,000 children in the foster system in the US. Sometimes that number goes up to 800,000. For those of you that live in PA. Lancaster county has about 502,000 people living there.

129,000 of those children are actually waiting to be adopted....that is equal to twice the number of people in Lancaster City.

While adoption is God's Plan B for children. We live in a broken world and the children are the ones who suffer first and there are plenty of children who are already on Plan B. God needs people whose Plan A is to follow God's lead in how we should be involved with the hurting children of this world.

There is plenty of work for everyone. First off we should be praying....

For the people that make the decisions at the government level...

For the people that are making the decision to move ahead and adopt or foster children

For those who already are in the day to day job of rearing children who were hurt in the past

The list goes on....Praying for the fatherless could be a full time job.

If you know God wants you to be involved a bit more...
And I really think all people who claim to be Christians should be involved more....there is sponsorship...There are many good organizations that have sponsorship programs, some for medical conditions, some to help the children go to school and some to just see that the children have a good meal once a day. There are even ways that you can donate to the adoption expenses of a certain child at Reece's Rainbow Anyone that reads this blog can come up with $25 a month....even if it means beans and rice for dinner one night a week! Just take the $25 out of the grocery money BEFORE you go to the grocery store.

Then there is Safe Families a way to help families here in the States to stay together. An ounce of prevention and all that....

Foster care...may nearly rip your heart out some days, but it is a necessary link for survival for some children.

And most involved is adoption...I was challenged by a speaker one time....we Mennonites are grateful for our Heritage...we mention it a lot...and it has stood the test of time...most of us are not afraid to roll up our sleeves and get a job done. We have a history of helping each other and the "world" when disaster strikes most of us have sent loved ones to volunteer for cleaning up and rebuilding. And "the Mennonites" for the most part are pretty successful.... "God is helping us."

BUT!!!? why is God giving success???!!!

Anyway....my whole point about the Heritage....if it is so great...why not share it??

People often say...but it costs so much! And it does. No one signs any papers for free. But my husband says it is a mindset....a lot of people would not think twice about paying $20,000 for a new car...and there is nothing "wrong" with that, but you can't take a car to Heaven...

OK this is long enough and mostly was for me spit out the rest of my "speech" I did not say all that I wanted this morning...there simply was not enough time. But maybe one lady went home and talked to her husband....maybe next time I will need to discuss the "Reluctant Husband" syndrome. No, this thing we speak of, does NOT make sense, if you look at it logically...but there is a verse in Proverbs about "simple things confounding the wise"

No, these little ones are no longer orphans, but I'm not really allowed to show pictures of those that still are.

Pardon Me...

2011-11-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

I need to brag.
This is all without ESL help and he is home a year as of Sept 24th.
Go JOE!

Five Months

2011-11-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

It has taken 5 months to get from this.....

To this.

We started therapy last week, developed a blister on the "new skin" so
we can't do scar massage on that area. Nevertheless, we have a huge area
to work on anyway. I wish I could say we are seeing fast results....I
just read that it will take as many months to "release" a scar with
massage as it took to form the scar. We will be at this a loooong time.
Some of those scars are almost 10 years old!

Plus regaining wrist movement and strength takes determination that some 11 y.o. boys don't always have....then mama has to have the determination....
You can see the "ulnar deviation" that he still has because of the tight tendons that are inside even after 4 months of stretching in the fixator.

Just Go Read This

2011-11-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

I need to get to bed and can't think of all the proper wording...so do me a favor and read this at No Greater Joy Mom

Our Beautiful Snow

2011-10-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

When the weather forecasters said 4-6" of snow....I did NOT believe it. After all the ground isn't even frozen yet! So much for my scoffing.

We even cancelled Sunday School this morning and had church services starting at 10AM!
At least we know Who was in charge of this weather and hopefully the weather forecasters don't get too proud and think they can predict anything.

What a Start!

2011-10-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Last night son#1 and his new wife came back from their honeymoon. Picked
up their car in Philly and headed home. At midnight I got a phone call -
caller ID was DIL's family number and son#1 was on the phone. "Just in
case you hear us, we are going to stop by and pick up our other car. We
hit a deer on the way home and wrecked the car"

NOT words conducive to more sleep!

I didn't even think to ask if they are OK, guess I figured that when he
wasn't calling from a hospital...
Amazingly this is what it looks like....no airbag deployment, no
windshield damage....hopefully not too many $$$$ to repair.

Part of me wanted to whine to God "why?" but then I realized how much
they were spared. So thanks are in order instead.

If you don't live in whitetailed deer country....these guys cause a lot
of damage every year an a lot of it much worse.

Guess What He Picked?

2011-10-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Shriners told us that we can pick fabric for the outside AND
the inside of his new legs....so off to the fabric store. The
basketballs will be on the inside and the "wood" will be on the outside.
His brother told him to pick something that will make him happy when he
looks in his leg -before he puts it on....
And please pray for him and this splint thing...something is not working
right. We can barely get the splint back on at the end of the day. His
muscles are just so weak that his hand starts flopping back to the old
position after being out of the splint most of the day....we just can't
loose all that hard work!!
I have an e-mail waiting for the Dr in the AM

No Cast and Leg Fittings

2011-10-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

I was almost concerned that Joseph would refuse to accompany me to his Phila visit this AM. He was so worried that it would hurt to take off the cast and that there would be blood.
Well this is what he saw when they removed the cast. Pic is a bit light...but no blood, just some dried out wrinkled skin. The Dr's were so happy with his results...he is going to need to do the work from here on out. Splint at night, and work the wrist during the day. I was a bit surprised we aren't doing PT, but we will see how "mom PT" goes. If we have too many crying evenings like tonite, I will be requesting PT by a professional.
Thumb is still not in the right position, so we have another stint with the fixator in our future, but we will see if we can arrange it after next summer so that he can go swimming.

Then on to some socket fittings for his legs. He was cast 4 weeks ago and they were ready to try on the sockets. They temporarily attached the feet to see how they feel.

I have a video of him walking but it is sideways and I don't know how to right it! He did pretty well and didn't use his favorite 4-letter word too often...(hurt)
Now we get to pick out some cool fabric to do the outside of his legs. I sort of talked him into it when I told him he can go to the fabric store and pick out whatever. (maybe I'd better clarify "whatever") Maybe he will pick "skin" after all.

The Wedding

2011-10-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

Excuse the angle of the picture, I was not the main photographer. but here are the happy couple

Our family

The GP's

After the ceremony

Oh and BTW I got a text at 4:28 the morning saying "We're through security" Now I can concentrate on something else

Rehearsal Dinner

2011-10-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

The countdown is started...mine that is....in 2 days I will officially
be a MIL
Tonite, the rehearsal dinner, will be simple....can you guess what it
is. Lots of wonderful smelling meats and cheese in my fridge and good
home made rolls - at least I hope I didn't forget the salt in any of the
batches of dough.
The dresses are finished and since I'm mother of the groom I just sit
around and worry if they are forgetting anything...am I forgetting
anything...will they get to the airport on time on Sun AM...should I
text them....nah! Time to cut the apron strings.
Maybe I will find an old apron and do exactly that! My mother
officially gave me the ties from an old apron to symbolize that I was
grown up and taking charge of my own home. Is that just an old PA Dutch
saying?

Fear

2011-10-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

With older child adoption, you just never know when a situation will
strike fear. It can look like stubbornness or manipulation. But fear can
show up so unexpectedly.
When we first started going to Shriner's he would gasp and look away
when we crossed over a certain bridge. After a few months he now looks
out over the railing at the river. He even said "I'm not scared anymore."
So that's the last of fear when we are driving?...umm no....

Tonite we decided to enjoy this beautiful day and go for a hike at a
local lake. As we drove around the lake there was one point where you
could look out over the water. The sun reflected from the water and the
boats zipping around. BEAUTIFUL! right? umm...no...

I heard a gasp from the back, I turned around to see fear behind a half
grin. "I'm scared."

I wasn't sure if it was our height or ...was he joking?

When we parked and everyone piled out, eager to hit the playground and
the hiking trail. One young man stayed sitting in the van. Tears...

Yup, it was fear.
We tried to find out, fear of the water....we're not going in....fear of
walking that far....it's a gentle slope....
What?

We persuaded him to get out and at least come to a bench beside the
small play area.

He watched the boats and the small waves from the wakes and the
little kids wading in the water....

After half an hour he walked over to me, "Mom, it's not fun, what can I do?"

I held up two fingers..."you have two choices, you can stay sitting here
or look around and focus on what you CAN do. You decide."

Well he decided to check out the play area and soon his sisters were
begging to go down to the water.
I told him it is up to him, he can stay on the bench, move to a closer
bench, or come with us....(three choices this time)
He followed at a cautious distance and soon this is what you would have
seen if you had been with us!

Now what caused that fear? I have a bit of a notion it was the video
footage he had seen of the tsunami in Indonesia, because he wondered if
the people were going to die that were out in the water. I am so glad
we took him to this lake before we made a trip to the ocean. And, Oh so
glad we did it as a family and not a field trip from school or something.

But best of all he discovered a new fun thing....wet sand and waves!

And we learned that life holds many surprises....

"Just Like Riding a Bike"

2011-10-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

Today I had a sort of depressed young man. Beautiful weather and he was
sitting in the living room, no lights, reading a book....and that not
very enthusiastically.
I sort of probed and found out he is upset that his feet aren't ready
yet and he "can't" do anything.
I suggested the bike, I figured his arm isn't actually broken so it is
actually more protected in there right now than in a few weeks when the
cast is off.
Took a few wobbly tries and "I can't's" but his brain didn't fail him!
For a few minutes I was almost thinking I will need to let him give up,
but I steeled my mommy heart and made him keep trying. (So hard to know)

Check out "Treasure In a Field"

2011-10-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hop over to Anna's blog and read about a TV show you need to find...and I don't even have a TV, so it has to be good to get me to advertise something on that box. Well go read her blog anyway.

New Footwear

2011-10-04T19:00:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, my smart hubby, decided that a pair of child's
size 10 snow boots might answer for a pair of shoes. It needed some
extra padding, so Shriner's was kind enough to give us silicone discs to
use for padding. He inserts one in each sock. We wrap shoe string around
the boot so the boots don't swivel around on his leg. (he looks very
pigeon toes sometimes). They have been a wonderful upgrade from the cut
down crocs. We are 1-1/2 weeks into the wait for his new legs.
Next topic for discussion....how do you teach a child to keep track of
his "stuff"? When I asked him who kept track of his clothes in
China...his answer "teachers". and "I didn't have any things."
Ok...guess that is reason enough, now we need to solve it.

Who Can Explain It, Who Can Tell Me Why?

2011-09-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

fools give me reasons, wisemen never try..."
Really not sure that even fits as a title, but tonite at the supper
table we somehow got on the subject of dominant and recessive genes.
I know, I know...should maybe be more sensitive to all my children...but
I forget...
no, my children don't look just like me...none of them really do...so we
usually just discuss...."look your hand is as big as mine" or "see your
leg is the same length from the hip to the knee as it is from the ankle
to the knee"
but I remember the first science classes when we discussed Gregor Mendel
and his famous pea experiment. It was fascinating and it was easy to
see...blue eyes were recessive genes, dark eyes dominant...some people
had curly hair, some had straight, some people had brown hair, others
had blonde, black or red hair.
When we started talking about recessive and dominant genes, Joseph had a
puzzled look on his face and was questioning what on earth we were
talking about.
It really seemed it was a concept that had never been discussed
before....I think we managed without it being to sticky...
yet another topic that should be in the advice books

Progress!

2011-09-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

On Friday, my parents, Joseph and I journeyed to Phila to get fitted for
the new legs!! and to get rid of that wonderful but hated fixator!
Unfortunately we will not have the new legs by big brothers wedding day,
but they will be coming!
Thankfully the removal of the fixator went as planned and we didn't need
to stay overnight or some other unwelcome surprise.
Actually I guess there was one unwelcome surprise...the cast....should
have figured that was a possibility, but I didn't and he woke with it on
his arm and was not a happy camper....when he heard that it would be 4
weeks...he really was not pleased!
One day soon we need to write a book about this summer, it has been
quite the adventure.

Tuesday

2011-09-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

If Monday was ambitious Tuesday was way more sluggish...a bit of rain and dreariness didn't help

So I worked on this some more

Talked on this a bit too much...mostly to my mom...she offered to make the trip to Philadelphia with us on Friday. Thanks mom!

Then tried to figure out what to make for supper. There was some chili left from the other night...not enough for supper and too much for me and my ulcerative colitis to eat for lunch...

so I made it into soup by adding about 6 cups of vegetable broth (used those handy cubes) and added a bunch of diced potatoes and a couple handsful of carrots, made some fresh bread and called it enough.

My chili recipe looks like this

so I'll translate.

Chili
1 pound ground beef, browned
1 tsp salt
1-2 Tablespoons chili powder
1/2 -2 tsp red pepper
1/3 cup onion, fry it with the meat
1 --8 oz can of tomato paste ( I use a quart of canned tomato juice)
2 17 oz cans of kidney beans
2 Tablespoons vinegar (apple cider if you have it)

Cook 20 minutes to an hour add more pepper if you like, eat over mashed potatoes (my parents) or over macaroni (dh's parents) or plain with biscuits (our family)

Revivals tonite--For God so loved us see John 3:16 He didn't HAVE to go to the cross, but He loved us so much that he did. A certain young man was scribbling down questions for us during the sermon. I think daddy answered all of them. He is certainly paying attention! PTL
BTW the answer to last night's question....We are all at the same level compared to God...so that would make us all a "1".

Monday

2011-09-19T18:46:00.001-07:00

Started very ambitiously...

Four neck pumpkins....

Before I freeze all that, might as well make this....Healthy Pumpkin Bread
(in the back) or Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread
we liked the Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread the best

While I am doing all that better be doing this....

Oh and that Christmas order....better be working on it....

Then first night of revivals...topic tonite "Woe is me" Isaiah 6:5 comparing our
nastiness to God's greatness. Not a pretty picture. The evangelist challenged us with this...On a scale of 1 - 100 God's greatness being 100 and the worst criminal you can think of being "1"....where would you put yourself?

God's Protecting Hand

2011-09-16T11:51:00.001-07:00

Since we have a 16 year old learning to drive I have thought that I saw
glimpses of wings beside our car....protecting angels' wings .
Actually his driving is not that bad, but in the last 4 years I think
the drivers out there have become scarier...I think a lot more people
are texting or something.

Today we were on the way home from school, Ben at the wheel. We rounded
a curve and suddenly a white car (Ben informed me later that it was a
Chevy Equinox) was coming straight at us!
Life truly does slow down....I had time to think "turn lady!" I truly
did not think we had space to get off the road, there is curbing on that
street. Ben had the presence of mind to brake and turn sharply to the
ditch and at the same time the other driver yanked her wheel and there
was NO crash! NOTHING hit!

Poor Ben turned pale and pulled off in a nearby drive and I took the
wheel...(the lady had almost stopped, but I didn't know it at the time)
It was truly a miracle, somehow our side of the road became wide enough
to hold two mini-vans.

Ben said, "I didn't feel like going to work this afternoon, now I'm
thankful I AM going to work and not to the ER."

25 Years Ago

2011-09-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

I have no idea who those very young kids are....

One Year Ago...

2011-09-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

We walked out of the hotel a family of 7 and returned a family of 8! Yes I can count...oldest brother was at home.

It was the hardest and the easiest way to add a child to the family...no
crying, no screaming (not yet) no diapers.
But half a lifetime missed...
He came with the clothes on his back and a car that he had bought with
his New Year money (quickly because you can't use it in America) even
gave the change to an ayi...no one told him we could convert the RMB
Ten years of awards, report cards and photos missing....(we gave him the backpack) and he immediately gave one of his new motorcycles to his friend...the one we call "picture friend")
Picture Friend is coming home one of these days....to CA but at least in the same country.

(the photo shop where we took our adoption photo also first time in a shopping environment)

(eating our McD's icecream)

But now there are lots of photos (mostly with funny faces) too much
clothes and too many toys
AND somedays too many siblings
But mostly I think he likes having the others around...loves school and
has amazing determination
That determination has gotten him through life to this day and has
caused us to butt heads...
Sometime this weekend we will need to celebrate family day...too bad
that adoption day will forever be on our wedding anniversary....sorry
kiddo...you can't join us for that one.

Welcome to the family, son!

Better Info on Benefit Auction

2011-09-09T07:41:00.001-07:00

Go back two posts....the date of the auction is Sept 17...NOT this
weekend as I implied

Non-Electric Sump Pump

2011-09-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up to MORE rain, and then got the dreaded phone calls... first a 2 hour delay then school closed for today.

OK...what do I do with 5 kids around when I expected to have a free day to dig into the next quilt project?

Well...let's see... the basement stayed dry all week, even though Lee was pouring rain on us all week...the carpets that we lugged out after Irene were clean and dry....I know!!

Let's put the carpets back in their places and clean up the basement....especially since my family was coming over the the abbreviated weekend campout....(we were going to camp in the house and hopefully at least cook outside)

We had just put the carpet back in place and I was talking to hubby on the phone "no, no water...well just a trickle in the one corner...we'll watch it" As I was talking I walked down into the basement to check on the trickle....

We had 1-2" of water covering most of the basement! I feel petty fussing about the small amount but we don't normally get water in our basement (we discovered the reason later this evening)

Suddenly we had lots of work for all those kids who didn't have school...

Even the one that was not allowed to get his compression socks soaked with flood water

I figured we had about an 8 gpm pump going...maybe faster when I was helping J

Yes Hope, you might need a second shower today

After Irene, I declared I need to clean out the basement...get rid of some stuff...but I needed to have the camp out first and finish a quilt first....well the camp out is cancelled...maybe a yard sale? maybe just a dumpster?

Benefit Auction-Corrected!

2011-09-08T04:36:00.000-07:00

**I neglected to give the date it is Saturday September 17, 2011**
If you are interested in experiencing the 'culture' of Lancaster County
plan to attend the benefit auction for
the Clinic for Special Children (Dr Holmes Morton started the clinic
many years ago when he started studying the genetic and inherited
diseases found amongst the Amish. The clinic treats many children and
not just Amish)
The auction is to help defray the costs of the clinic and the plain
community comes out in force, donating many items. The one big draw is
the quilts...about 100 this year (the one pictured will be
auctioned...called moonglow)
--the furniture, high quality craftsmanship--- and the food
The auction is held at Leola Produce Auction House, 135 Brethren Church
Rd, Leola PA 17540
admission is free--doors open at 7am and the quilt auction will start at
11am (cash or check only)
And then the FOOD
I like to sit and watch the people there are all types.

Proud but Irritated

2011-09-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

At lunch time today a certain 11 y.o. boy was "too tired" to carry his
plate to the dishwasher and needed to crawl.
Hours later the same child fueled by anger and frustration, kicked open
the screen door, grabbed his basketball and went out to shoot baskets.
Will see what tomorrow holds

Saturday and some improvements

2011-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

After going to S*m's Club for a number of years I finally got wise and
made a master list of all the things we usually buy there and little
bubbles to put my check marks. I even have the items in the same general
order as we normally move through that huge store. How long does it take
for some people to learn?

Also decided to make my bread into rolls this time, hopefully, we will
have fewer bread crusts left in the bag that need to be tossed. I
know...if I would be paying attention I could have all the bread crumbs
we ever need. But...

Then we made 2 apple pies

Cut up about one basket of apples and made applesauce...if you want good
applesauce - use Ginger Gold apples Yumm!!
Then we even managed to go to a wedding all in the same day!

Progress!

2011-08-30T18:58:00.001-07:00

Today we did a run to Philadelphia...to see the Doctors....not sure how
many we saw today...but anyway first the good news. The fixator will be
history in about 2-3 weeks....well as soon as the appointment can get
squeezed in there. Oh and the plastic surgeon said he does not think we
need to graft YAAY!
This-a mama is ready to get rid of that thing...there might be a
certain 11 y.o. boy that thinks the same thing.
The other half of the visit was good, but we aren't quite as far along
as I'd hoped....the incision looks great...the swelling is down...but
not quite far enough...the prothesist (the people that make the
prosthesis) was just not sure that his swelling was down as good as it
could be and rather than make legs that are too big...we are wearing
compression socks/tubes for about 2 weeks then see how he looks.
The let down came this evening...we were talking about touching his legs
and getting them ready for legs...the skin can't be too sensitive and he
was groaning and moaning...didn't want to wear the compression socks to
bed ( I can understand) He also decided that he could not walk today
because his calf muscle was "hurting" the proper adjective never did get
decided upon. Was it achey because he walked too much yesterday
(probable)...or was the muscle torn from the tendon (not
likely)....really could not get a finger on exactly what was going
on...but it was BAD!
Anyway, daddy had a little chat about trying not to let pain rule you
and helping us figure out how to help him....
along the way I asked if he ever had someone that pushed him to move
ahead to work hard at a goal...
"yes a teacher (ayi) in the orphanage"
I asked him what he thinks she would say if today she could see the
choices ahead of him....
on one side...don't try...keep crawling...stay in wheelchair...because
it hurts to work
OR
work with mom and dad and doctors...do the exercises...toughen the
skin....move the muscles so that he can play basketball with his
brother...walk and run with his classmates.
That upset him...I do it a lot these days....
but he got me back he said...
"that is why I didn't want to come to America...all the surgeries"
I bit my tongue for awhile...then asked him who the kid was that crawled
by me the other day and lifted his fixator arm and said..."even though
this was hard, I would tell other kids it was worth it."
"Not me" was his answer.

What Kind of Wood!?

2011-08-28T14:37:00.001-07:00

Last night it was Joseph's turn to pick a book for bedtime reading. He
picked Genesis 6 KJV...I decided whatever! see if he understands.
So I read it with great expression (it's the beginning of the story of
Noah) After I finished I asked Joseph what happened in the story..."I
don't know"
So I read it again....stopping every few verses to ask
questions....after one of the verses I asked Faith..."What kind of wood
did Noah use to build the ark?" (It's gopher wood in KJV, not exactly
sure what kind of tree that was)

Faith's answer...."Ummm...chipmunk?"

Very close....

Amazing Sights II

2011-08-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

The reason we took a wheel chair ride to the end of the drive....
Ezekiel came in and told us about an amazing spider web.... it was at
least 12 feet off the ground and was suspended between two trees that
are about 15 ft apart. If you zoom in on the one picture you can see
the black spider surrounded by unfortunate bugs that were snagged way up
there.

The other spider was busy making another web close to the first...I hope
we have a bit of dew tomorrow before Irene hits. I want a better picture

Amazing Sights

2011-08-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

The first one was this... It took him a few tries to get to the end of
the walk...then we took a wheelchair ride to the end of the drive. On
the way back he stopped for the walker and made it from the drive the
whole way into the house and to the sofa....something tells me that he
will be tired/ achey tomorrow.

First Day of School 2011

2011-08-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday 2 out of 5 kids were coming down with colds...this morning 3
out of 5. Mr Joseph was up at least 3 times last night and the times he
came to wake me, HE was wide awake.
Wonder how much he actually slept. He told us that when he was with his
foster family, he would wake at 4:30 AM and go over to his friends house
and wake him so they could get ready for school. He would then eat
breakfast at their house. I asked if friend's parents minded if he
showed up at that hour...."sometimes his mama didn't like it, but his
daddy was away a lot"
I left him know that 4:30 AM is not the time to wake up at this house.
They were a bunch of tired kids tonite.

The New Shoes

2011-08-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

Play Area

2011-08-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

This summer the girls played and played with the strangest assortment of
toys.
The barn...devoid of animals
The little cars
The chairs are part of a stacking game
The animals were given as part of a learning tool
The J*nga blocks are used in different variations
The dominoes...somedays they are a road, the next day risers for the
bears to stand on to rehearse the Christmas program...the next they are
desks for the bears.
The wooden blocks get arranged as a stage.
The barn is a parking garage.
The whole room is a mess, but we left it there sometimes 2 weeks in a row.
Finally today I told them the floor must be cleaned up because.........
(wait for it.....)
SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW!!!!!
I'm as excited as they are. But I better be the first one up...my alarm
is set for 5AM...there are extra steps this year
pin care...wrap the legs...cart the wheel chair....and I'm sure he will
want to take his new walker....but I think he should practice a bit more
with it...using a walker one handed takes a bit of practice. Oh and you
should see his new crocs...daddy cut an old pair down to cushion the
walking surface and since they were sisters old ones...they are sporting
a fine new coat of blue paint.
--
Chris
http://shallrunandnotbeweary.blogspot.com/

The Pictures Speak for Themselves

2011-08-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

True happiness is being able to stand up by yourself...well not
really, but you get the idea.
The casts came off on Monday...now he wants to walk
--
Chris
http://shallrunandnotbeweary.blogspot.com/

Safety or Bling?

2011-08-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

In the interest of keeping all eyes safe, we added some pieces to
Joseph's new rods on his fixator.

Casts are OFF!

2011-08-15T18:50:00.001-07:00

We made the trip to Philly today. Tomorrow marks 3 weeks from his
amputation surgery. They took off the casts with a minimum of fuss.
Thanks to Ezekiel who found a Mr P*tato head and was very entertaining.
After they removed the gauze he fearfully took a look and then "Cool!"
He was very pleased with the results as were his doctors. He was
expecting lots of blood and pain as they took off the bandages (the arm
was worse)
The doctor decided that the stitches look good enough to keep the casts
off....may start putting weight on them...and best of all
He had a shower tonite and could get all of him wet AT THE SAME TIME!
It has been awhile.
They added extensions to his fixator...now he is actually armed and
dangerous...gotta get pictures of that!
Then to top off the good feelings of tonite, he proceeded to scratch his
knee "it ITCHES!!!" and did not want me to put on lotion to soothe the
itch. Almost had a perfectly good day!
Ah well, we will try again tomorrow.

What I Learned These Last Two Weeks

2011-08-07T11:38:00.001-07:00

I've been a mom for 20 years. I thought I'd learned pretty much about
taking care of children. Then God pulled out all the stops and gave us
Joseph. (I know our situation is minor compared to some, but I'm writing
this to help me remember and just in case someone else needs this info)
When we knew that he would most probably need to have his feet
amputated, we figured we would do the "big" surgery first and then maybe
a year later we would work on the hand. It made sense...get him
properly mobile then work on the "non-essential" limb (don't take that
wrong...it's just much easier to do without an arm than to be
non-weightbearing)
But, when we had a consultation with all involved doctors they suggested
the fixator on his arm first so we could determine the skin deficit and
possibly use the 'extra' skin on his feet for grafting on his arm. At
the time of the visit, we had 'plenty' of time to get the wrist into
position and hopefully remove the fixator at the time of the leg surgery.
Unfortunately, his arm just was not ready for grafting, his wrist wasn't
quite straight and we ended up with an 11 year old 80 pound boy that
had only one usable limb! and only 2 of them could get wet.
Now how do you move this child around? baths? bathroom? moving him from
chair to chair to bed?
This is what I learned: maybe it is written somewhere, but I wish I
would have had these hints earlier
When you are moving a child from bed to chair- bring them as close to
your body as possible. At first the nurse at the hospital told hubby to
lift him from the side...arm under legs and other around back...we soon
realized that will give us both bad backs within a day. A better
way--face him, squat, have him throw his good arm around your shoulders
and hold on....you grasp either a good handful of jeans-seat or upper
leg and lift. Basically holding him the same as you would a small
child belly to belly.
How to wash him--since it is summer time...I sit him outside, have him
slouch down in the wheel chair and tip his head back to wash his hair.
Use a plastic water pitcher to pour water over his head to wash off the
shampoo.
Use a washcloth to wash shirt area....
Send him to the bathroom to wash the private areas while sitting on the
open toilet. Those pre-moistened washcloths do a decent job in a pinch.
While we are in the bathroom....there is a right and a wrong way for
guys to use those urine bottles...take a look before you end up with a mess.
Dressing in a wheel chair is a challenge...now that he can slide over to
the sofa it is better, but at first he was afraid to do it on his
own....If he can get his legs in the pants...stand behind the wheelchair
and start pulling, and have him lean from one side to the other allowing
you to pull the pants up a bit at a time...undies work ok that way too.
If you have a choice, ask the doctors to put casts on just to the knees.
Even though I read some of your responses to him about love....he still
says he does not know what love is :^) and the other day he told me he
is having the worst summer ever....while I understand....
He does appreciate the many Hess trucks (another post one day- Wendy)
He is having fun with all the gifts people are sending
And he did admit to me the other day that this isn't as bad as he feared
it would be.
I do know that we are becoming the "king of things", but as you all know
eventually your 'things' become a burden and they turn on you....

Battling Varmints

2011-08-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

After searching in vain for ripe little yellow tomatoes and only finding
green ones. Then looking to my traditional vines and only finding this

I asked hubby to set the rat traps and I bought these.

Mama, What Is Love?

2011-08-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

This picture should have been on the previous post...

This wheelchair improves communication. We have been having some
interesting conversations the last few days. Some confession time of
sins committed before we ever knew him. Nothing that shocks me, but I am
glad that the incidents bothered him enough to talk to me about it.
Then the zinger---"Mama, what is love?
"Umm, what do you mean?"
"How big is love? You love....(he lists everyone in the family
including himself)...how big is love?"
OK people how do you answer that one?
I muddled my way through without ruining the baked oatmeal and the bread
I was making. A keeping Faith from stirring my mixture to the floor.
I tried to give the ultimate example about God giving His Son when we
didn't deserve it and how God did not give us what we deserved...Hope
pointed out that, that is Mercy, not love...but
I explained that while daddy works very hard all day, he loves his
family enough to come home each night and mow the lawn, keep the
swimming pool clean, play catch. I told him that some daddy's don't
love their families enough to do that. Daddy could very well stop
somewhere with friends and drink beer and not come home to the work that
is US...That, my son, is Love...there was more...
Anyway....I did ask what he thinks love is and did he ever feel
it....his answer was "no"
Looks like we have our work cut out for us.

One week post-surgery

2011-08-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tonite he sleeps upstairs! He proved today that he can crawl up the
steps and get into his bed on his own...he has even managed to get a
leg-up over the toilet and he is sure he is able to take care of
necessities if needed.
I'm not sure how we are going to keep him non-weightbearing for 4
weeks. He did comment this evening that his feet ummm legs are
tired/hurt. So I think in true Joseph fashion we over-did it right away.

Another Driver!

2011-08-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

The long awaited 16th birthday arrived and of course the DMV is closed
on a Monday in our area.
We braved a very long line at 8:30 AM to take the permit test for our
state on Tues. He passed with 100% ....now we parents have to take him
driving Yaay! I told the girls that by the time I teach them to drive I
will have no hair left....gray or black.
Joseph thought "It's fun when Ben drives" A couple of the curves were
a bit more exciting than when I drive.
He is still working on the car. It was his great grandfather's car,
bought for $100 at a family auction...so let's not fuss about the
wheels OK?

Life in These Parts

2011-08-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

That wheelchair is getting many miles on it and not from the patient!
Thank goodness for big brothers and little sisters that play games.
Grandma sent a "flower" arrangement.
Tonite we had the first episode of phantom toe pain "felt like an ant
crawling on my toe and I tried to move it and my leg "popped "
First tears in days, gotta start somewhere, he has been so easy-going
ever since the surgery....well, except for when the nurses flushed the
IV site...that requires open mouthed wails...
anyway- the easy going-ness is a bit unusual....maybe it is relief.

HOME! Day #3

2011-07-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

We brought him home just after lunch time today. He was ready.
The first thing I noticed was not so much his casts, but his hand! The
swelling has gone down and his hand looks all together different. Not
sure why it was still swollen...I thought that was the normal size, but
after today his fingers look more pronounced.
Anyway, he slept a bit on the way home. He rested a bit on his bed. I
noticed the same phenomenon as the last time. I was trying to make
supper (not paying attention to him) and EVERYTHING needed attention. I
left him know that he needs to read a book for 20 minutes so that I can
concentrate on supper. I think I will need to assign one of the
siblings to occupy him in some way, when I need to work.
That is why there is a picture of him playing frisbee with the siblings.
No he didn't catch that one, but he did get a few.

I think he will need quite a bit of occupying in the next 4 weeks.
All in all, though I'm impressed with how well it is going so far...see
if we can sleep tonite.

Day #2

2011-07-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

I don't have pictures since dad has the camera, but no way to send them
home....but they tell me that Joe is sporting 2 blue casts that end
before the knees.
That is quite the blessing I'm thinking...less weight and he can bend
his legs.
He called me this evening from his wheelchair outside (playground area)
and was happy to tell me that one of the ministers from church stopped
in this afternoon.
His catheter removal went well and all systems are working OK.
He was only on oral pain meds so it looks like we can bring them home
tomorrow or early Saturday.

His living room bedroom awaits and we managed to install our own
removable shower head. It is time to have everyone under the same roof
again....oh wait I forgot...oldest brother is gone for the weekend...ah
well it is DH that needs to come home.

End of Day #1

2011-07-27T18:31:00.001-07:00

I came home this morning and left daddy in charge and took over caring
for 2 grouchy girls.
At least they were good for grandma and saved the grouchies for me.
They even had a slumber party with Grandma, and they all slept in the
living room last night.

They decided not to get Joe out of bed today because of the danger of
dislodging his epidural. The Dr's seemed a bit surprised at how well the
epidural is doing...so we will give the credit to God where it belongs.

Tonite he phoned home and was missing everybody, not just me. Since he
is still in ICU he really can't have other visitors.
Tomorrow around noon, they plan to put him out again and change the
dressings and take out the epidural and the urine catheter then he will
get a regular room.
He is getting an electric scooter instead of a wheelchair... Two new
drivers next week!

AND they implied that he can come home on Friday! I guess that is subjet
to what they see under the bandages tomorrow, but I remain hopeful

Tomorrow we are off to buy a single bed frame for the downstairs, so he
can sleep comfortably in the living room and a sprayer for the
shower....wonder if I will grow more gray hair in the next couple of weeks?

Day #1

2011-07-27T04:08:00.000-07:00

He slept really well,, much better than mom.
That epidural helped a LOT! I'm a little concerned that he is able to move and straighten his L leg, but cannot straighten or move his R leg on his own. I even tried to help him, but hopefully it is the epidural and PT will help us sort it out today.

So far he seems OK with the smooth blankets down there. The bed looks so flat.

Today he should get to try out the wheel chair and we get to see how that works

Five Hours and Waiting

2011-07-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

Actually I'm not at all surprised, they predicted at least an 8 hr surgery. Before he went into surgery the Dr's said they might not even be able to amputate both feet because they were not sure of the blood supply.
We called around 12 and they said they be doing both feet after all.
It remains to be seen if they can do skin grafting on the arm today.

BTW thanks for the prayers, he did so well this morning and was completely silly after the loopy juice.

Prayers Please!

2011-07-25T20:19:00.001-07:00

I CAN'T wait for tomorrow to be over! I know it is not good to wish
your life away, but it is hard to keep this positive note in my voice,
smile when I don't feel like it...

Today he said "my feet look funny, but I like them."

I know , I know....me too...but they make me hurt to look at them.
Everything in me wants to help him to walk straight, a firm confident
stride.
Today he left his prosthesis off for most of the day and insisted his
feet felt better that way....he usually prefers his 'fake' feet, so I
will assume it was the mood.
I was so worried we would have a blow up, but we made it through the
day, I didn't have it in me to insist on too much of anything, so I just
left him to do what ever he wished.
Now tonite after he is asleep, I wish I would have made him run out the
driveway, shoot a couple of baskets, kick the soccer ball...do "this
little piggie" one more time. "If wishes were horses...beggars would ride."

Intellectually, we all know this is the best solution to his feet and I
have to hold on to that.

Yesterday, I printed out Psalm 23 and Psalm 121 for him to memorize. He
would like to be on quiz team one day with his brothers. I told him
these are good verses to start with...today he managed Psalm 23:1-3 "The
Lord is my Shepard (sheffard mom? why shepherd?) I shall not want. He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for His name's sake."

Yes he can even manage KJV!

So prayer request list:
Calmness for Joseph tomorrow...surgery scheduled for 9 AM
Steady hands for the Dr's and nurses.
That I may forget all the negative possibilities from this type of
surgery..in other words
That mom doesn't worry too much...
The grandma's they are doing tag team for the next few days.
The kids at home. Hope's stomach hurt all day. (worry I think)
Calmness and little pain for the recovery period

Congratulations!

2011-07-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Just a congratulations to the two of you! Signing the papers for a
house and a bridal shower all in the same day!
Now if the rest of the summer would slip smoothly by!
I will be ready for boring again.
Joe's surgery, Ben turning 16, Faith going to first grade, and Demetrius
getting married...ALL IN the space of 4 MONTHS!

Did someone say vali*m? or do I just need to breathe in a paper bag?

Did They Always Fight?

2011-07-17T18:21:00.001-07:00

The other evening,I was teaching and missed the conversation, the girls
were having an argument and Joe asked DH, "Did the girls always fight?"
Ray said that when Faith was very young, Hope would tell her what to do
and Faith would listen.
Now since Faith is older, she has her own ideas and does not always like
what Hope is decreeing.
He said "Oh, they looked like such nice girls on the pictures."
Very funny observation, but tonight he put another twist on this.
He asked ME, almost the same question while looking over his photo album.
This time though he said, "Did they fight before I came home?"
I said "yeah, why?"
"I think maybe they just fight since I came home."
I tried to assure him that they would still probably fight, even if he
wasn't here.
Wonder what was behind that question?

Wild Week

2011-07-10T18:55:00.001-07:00

This week started off with the 4th of July, was that really only 7 days ago?

DH's family had a small bridal shower for DS and his fiance

Then Tues around 5:30 PM we finally saw Joe wheeled into the OR for a
'short procedure' I was amazed at God's grace, Joe had not been able to
eat since 10 PM the night before, they had stopped all liquid by 11 AM.
He only started complaining about being hungry at 4:30, just as they
called us up to the PACU. He played video games in the waiting room the
entire time. Something that required two hands...do daddy got the one
button piece and when Joe said 'jump' daddy pushed the button. Did I
ever mention that Joe has a very good daddy?
Well the short procedure lasted 3 hrs. I ended up heading home because
we had not prepped the girls for an overnight and I knew that would be a
problem for whomever got the job. The next AM he came home in a bit less
pain than last time and we unwrapped his hand on Fri evening to see a
hand that is taking shape!
I blocked out the 'skin deficit' as we call it.
the first is a before picture...sorry it is turned sideways

Then as we were working on cleaning up his arm we realized that the
girls were very quiet. I went into the living room to find this.

Juggling

2011-07-05T19:51:00.001-07:00

Today we went to Sh*iner's for a quick-squeeze-us-in
appointment....Joe's fixator needed a new ring and some
adjustments...well our spot finally came up at 5:30. Before he was
wheeled off the nurses came back and said that we should plan to stay
the night because of his level of pain after surgery last time and that
they will be done so late in the day....
Yes, I totally agreed especially when they told us that some pins might
need replacing.
We decided that I would go home, the girls like when I put them to bed.
Then I got home and glanced at the calendar and realized that I had
forgotten a swimming party for Zeke. I felt so bad...he does not
complain...and I FORGOT!
Hope helped heap guilt on me...she just cried and cried tonite...relief
that I came home? She did say she had a good day out with friends
(thanks Houa) The best we could come up with is that she is a bit
jealous of the attention Joe is getting and wants me to herself for at
least a day....
OK, maybe we can work on this..BUT
How do you balance the needs of the healthy kids when you have one in
the hospital??
I know there are many families with a MUCH bigger mountain...any tips?

Travel Group

2011-07-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

Travel groups - we are people who would never have met- we come from many different walks of life-the only reason we met is because of an appointment we shared in a far away country. God orchestrated our paperwork so that it left our agency at the same time and again when there were four files in the same orphanage.

You hear horror stories about travel groups...

But ours was/is wonderful. We met in each other's homes a few times before we actually had referral and when the big day came.....then we all packed our bags and made that appointment...a little over 5 years ago. There is something special about becoming parents on the same day. I am so glad our group 'clicked'.
Our families have grown since that day 5 years ago. Some of us have adopted a 2nd (or 3rd) time. Our girls were all born with in a four week time span. Then came the most recent adoptions....guess what? They were all born in February! two of them on the same day!

Most of my pictures were a blur of missed shots....

Here we caught some of the kids all in one spot

But here are the four girls that brought our group together.....Wonder if they will still be close at 16?

Sibling Rivlalry- good thing or bad thing?

2011-07-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

We hit the public library and I had to stop these two from emptying the
shelf of Arthur chapter books.
They settled on bringing home about 8 of them.
This morning Hope announced that she had finished the second book. I
said "oh OK, good job"
I did not notice the effect on 'slightly older brother' after I
finished his pin care, I gave him one of the few jobs he can do right
now...emptying the dishwasher.
"But what is Hope going to do?!" "She read!"
Suddenly it was very clear...he had only finished one book and she had
two....
They have been frantically reading the rest of the day...if only mom
wouldn't keep giving they jobs!

Contact me

2011-06-28T04:29:00.000-07:00

Laurie, Terri, Ingrid or Muriel contact me at raychris@emypeople.net I'm working off my netbook and I don't have anyone's addresses to plan for the weekend!

Prayers Please

2011-06-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Might as well get as many people on this as possible.... the praying that is....Joe's arm/wrist is starting to feel the stretch and it hurts...sometimes I'm just not sure exactly WHAT hurts...but the skin on his arm is mostly scar tissue and is not real stretchy...and it needs to stretch.
He also is digging deep into some old feelings...well not all that old...from foster family days and he is hurting.
We are trying to help him to talk through the stuff and also explain that forgiving them and letting God take care of them...will help him be free of their baggage. I know that sounds like a sort of strange idea, but if we let them control our hearts from 'way over on the other side of the ocean....they are still hurting our son and us.
Then there is the 'normal' stuff...wishing he/they were whiter and maybe "mama Chi*nese" did you think I was "ugly boy" when you first saw me? Realizing that we did know what he looked like before we met him....and still thought he was handsome...even though the haircut was awful. Wishing he was born in my belly...wondering when I'm going to get the book from the library that explains how babies are made... 'Being amazed that we will sit praying for him and the doctors during the next surgery "how many times"
FUN stuff!
The day was not all bad...but the next 3 weeks will be a stretch...pun intended!!

Many Hard Questions

2011-06-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

Tonite I was reading my blogs with one of my ~~nosy~~ curious children looking over my shoulder. I was reading this
"Why you look at this kid?"
Me: "I'm just reading about this kid from _____"
Nosy child: "You going to adopt boy from _____"
Me: " No he has a family....see it is a neat story."
Nosy child: " Does God have to tell you to adopt again?"
Me: "No, God has to tell daddy."
Daddy: " Is adoption a good thing? Would it be good for us to adopt another ...maybe girl?"
Nosy child: "Yeah it would be good, I have good family"
Me: "But that would make us busy and not as much time for each of you."
Nosy Child:" That's OK."

Daddy: "Well we at least need to wait until your surgeries are over."
Nosy child: " Oh OK"
Me: "WAIT A MINUTE WHAT DID I JUST HEAR?"

Actually that was one of the easiest questions that we had this evening...others involved first parent questions from the 9 and 11 y.o. and a total pitched fit from the 6 y.o. after I dared to hold Joe on my lap for just a minute. Her fit was allegedly about a gummy vitamin....but really now!

She did tell me that she wouldn't cry if we got a baby....Ha!

Here are the children that keep me looking so young, my 15 y.o.'s co workers asked if I was his sister!! I advised her to get her eyes checked.

Check out the fancy foot work...I wasn't fast enough to get the "leg over the ball maneuver"

Got Boys?

2011-06-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a glimpse of the pin care process that we do twice a day...he does some of it and I supervise...It's tedious but bonding work. So far it doesn't look like any of the pins are infected and his wrist is moving, so I guess we are doing something right.

Read the essay below for your enjoyment...I didn't write it and actually don't know who did. It was sent to me anonymously and I loved it.

Got Boys?
Being a mother of all boys can be challenging, to say the least, and can sometimes make the days extra exciting and mothers extra weary till the evening hours.
But take heart mothers, speak softly, think tender thoughts, and lift those weary arms and hands for we have been entrusted with one of the highest callings! We are raising the leaders of future generations.
Are there any other mothers out there that marvel at the amazing source of knowledge that is stored in the minds of these little human beings that we call boys? I have learned things from my boys that I still can’t believe I didn’t figure out on my own.
Like…if you get stuck with the chore of bringing in the laundry off the 40ft wheel line, you really don’t have to go in for another basket. Just stand in the laundry basket you have. If you stomp on every piece that goes in, you can get a whole half-week’s worth of laundry in one basket!
And, if you are clearing off the table after a meal? First, make sure you are in stocking feet, pile your arms with dishes (if you have a brother handy, get him to help with the stacking) get a running start at the table, slide across the floor (if it’s not too sticky), bump into the sink, and ka-thud! the dishes automatically slide off your arms into the sink. Two trips like this and you are done….unless Mom catches you mid-slide on the first trip…then you are done either way.
Oh, and did you know that if you bite off one end of a big marshmallow and throw it up at the ceiling, it will actually stay sticking!? The challenge in this? See whose marshmallow hangs on the longest. Poor Mom would have remained ignorant of this amazing fact, if she hadn’t questioned the round, slightly sticky marks on the ceiling.
As I look out the window, I spy the oddest contraption coming out of the garage. Are my eyes deceiving me? Or—no those tow back wheels on that thing once belonged on my garden way cart, and heaven only know what they used for the frame!
I see tools scattered all over the garage floor and the drawers of my husband’s expensive, lock-able tool chest are all hanging open. The thought “wow, he’s going to be upset,” runs through my mind, then I think ,“ nah, deep down he’s probably going to feel proud, he’ll check out the thing, might even take a ride on it. Then he will persuade them to disassemble it and put all the parts back to their originals again.”
At least it isn’t motorized; it can’t be that extremely dangerous. We’ll let them have a bit of fun.
This thought had barely left my mind, when our 4 year old comes in with his pants covered in grease, a black smudge beside his nose, with a small hammer clutched in his hand. In his sweet lisping voice he says, “Mom, Wyn wants to know if you know anyfing ‘bout mowtors?”
I very calmly reply, “No, honey, you tell Ryn that mom knows nothing about engines.” In my mind I am all but screaming “NO, NO not engines I know nothing about engines and I don’t want to learn about them either!” My mind has absorbed all the boy knowledge it can handle in one day!
Just when you think your sons think of nothing else but bugs, dirt, dogs, baseball, explosions, power equipment and eating, they take you for a loop and say something so unusual and profound, that it leaves tears in your eyes and a feeling of love in your heart, so intense that it is almost an actual pain.
Since we have sons that grew in my womb and some that grew in our hearts, adoption is a subject of great discussion in our home.
The other day our 9 year old (biological son) Lonny came to me and says, “Do you know that you’re actually not my mom?”
At a loss for words, not knowing how to respond, I just replied, “Oh…I’m not?”
“No” he says, “because you didn’t adopt me yet.”
With a smile I said, “Well Lonny, you’re right, we didn’t adopt you.” And teasingly I asked, “so whose child are you?”
Tears pushed at the back of my eyes, when he answered “God’s”
I told him “That’s right, all children are God’s boys and girls, He has a great plan and a future for each of you. God just gives children to parents as sons and daughters to raise and take care of for a short time.”
Satisfied he skipped away to play with his brothers.
“One of my greatest hopes is that someday a little child will walk up to me and say, ‘thank you grandma for raising such a good daddy for me’.”—a quote from a book by Rich Johnson.
A mother from Boyland, USA
names and some facts have been changed for the privacy of our sons

Happy Birthday Faith!

2011-06-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

She is a big- little 6 year old!

Follow-up Visit

2011-06-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we got to see what was under all the bandages....
It's not pretty...in fact I won't be posting pictures until it heals up
a bit.
There is an 1-1/2" wide strip from pinkie finger to thumb that is
covered with 'integra' (fake skin-grafting stuff) basically it is there
to keep the area from getting infected and not scarring until the
grafting happens in a few weeks.

The unveiling was a scary process...something we really could not
prepare him for....he cried...
But in a few minutes he was ready to examine it and understood the
instructions for turning the screw-type thing that will extend his hand
and wrist.
The fingers aren't visible yet, I'm wondering if that will require more
surgery...

He is helping with the pin care (all 8 of them) and he is the one that
turns the screw to move his hand 1mm twice a day.

He really is a brave boy...oh and he convinced us that swimming...even
with a bag over his hand...is a good idea.

Oh and tonite my DH took the time to explain some basics about the human
body- digestion, blood vessels, the brain.... he was clueless! Don't
they teach that in their school curriculum?

But he saw a picture of an MRI machine and suddenly had a flash back
that he was in one of them one time...for his head....but could not
remember why, thought maybe it had to do with fevers that he had...-
hmmm! Wonder what other surprises he has in store.

He's Baack!

2011-06-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

That would be Joe....the boy with the half-closed eyes that wanted to
sleep all the time....is gone. The happier child that is interested in
things, is back in our house. Even with the goofy grin...you can tell he
is happier.
We took him off the codeine and replaced it with regular Tylenol and as
of now he has not had any pain meds in 5 hrs. He gives his pain a "1".
I call that amazing progress.
On Saturday we had a boy that sank into pain with much noisy crying and
moaning and I was not sure how much was drama and how much was real. We
decided to treat it all as 'real'. We had to get him to focus and
breathe through the pain when the tylenol 3 was just not working. So to
see him feeling this good today is wonderful.

I also have the title of "A Very Good Mom" he really did award me that
prize! He told me first in the hospital and again today when Little
sister was upset about something and bad-mouthing me...He actually told
her to stop it "because she is a very good mom".

Thank you son, I have been trying....

Out of Surgery

2011-06-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd let you know...after 5 hrs of surgery and having quite a bit of pain....they put him back out for a little bit and gave him a nerve block for the arm. When he woke up this time he felt much better.

We really don't know what it looks like under there, but the outside is not ll that nice looking.
I understood the Dr to say that he got a 90 degree bend to the wrist/fingers....that is instead of the complete fist curl he did have. I hope that in 8 hrs he will be able to handle the pain with other meds.
We will be staying overnight and we hope to be home on Sat.
Pray for grandma and grandpa as they keep the other children.

Still Waiting

2011-06-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

God is working on my patience department...when they tell you it will be at least 2 hrs....we are now past hour #3. They said they are wrapping things up.
I am very anxious to see what they decided to use. They were still confering this AM as to the best way to attach the fixtor and how much release they can do today.
Exciting and scary stuff.