Sano's new nickname

Sanomae has been having more tail problems. It just starts getting better when she opens it up again. It was raw that last couple of days. R took her back to the vet again today and they removed another little part of her tail so they had some skin to work with and stitched it, wrapped it, and put a cone on her head. Her new nickname is "Cone-head". Here's a pic with her new look.


She is absolutely pitiful with this contraption on her head. She walks real low to the floor but she picks her front feet way up. The cone drags and bumps along on the wood floor until she hits something with it. Then she thinks she is stuck. She has trouble when she gets to the carpet too as the cone catches on it. She has been a source of comic relief for us today. Here is Dexter trying to figure out who this strange looking cat is.

She says, "Hey, what are you looking at?"

She can still jump up on the bed though.

And get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Poor baby.

Happy anniversary to us, happy b'day to T

Today is our 21st wedding anniversary. And since our niece was born on our wedding day, happy birthday T! Her dad stood up (kind of) in our wedding with us after being up all night waiting for her arrival. He had an interesting sway going on for part of the ceremony.

I wrote a song for our 10th anniversary and sang it for T at the Bluebird. Yes, the Bluebird in Nashville. Before you get too impressed though you need to know that it was open mic night. They'll let just about anyone sing at open mic night. The problem with singing it to him was that he was in Boston on a business trip and I was at the Bluebird with his parents and my parents. Pretty romantic, huh?

It's a little rainy here today but that's okay because we need it. Dad is feeling better and his horse is still with us. She was running a fever yesterday morning but the placenta had passed. If we can keep her from foundering and keep her from infection she should be fine. R's cat has spent the last 2 nights outside which really seems to agree with her. She bug hunts and gets so busy that she forgets all about her tail. Then she's so tired that she comes in a sleeps all day.

No new adoption news. Huge sigh...

Maybe I should do a thankful list. I am thankful for my hubby of 21 years, for our kids, for the rain, and for music.

Bad news-booo, and A Lesson In Faith

I don't even know where to start. We got an email from our O saying that immigration says they never got our papers so the O has decided to replace/redo the papers. Dad's horse foaled this morning but the baby got stuck and didn't make it. She was not able to deliver all the placenta and the vet is very concerned about it. We're doing what we can. I think psycho kitty's tail is infected. We would appreciate your prayers.

I got this from a friend, who got it from a friend. It's been very helpful.
It was written by Lance & Amy Auterson. Missionaries in Paris , France

A Lesson In Faith.. When God seems silent, when you have a hard time seeing Him, hearing Him, feeling Him, this is the time for faith. When you don't understand the whys of what is happening, when you don't understand why God hasn't intervened, why He doesn't DO something, anything....this is a turning point in your walk with Him. Will you choose to believe that He is still good, that He does really care, and He does hear your prayers, even though you cannot even sense His presence? When it seems that He has stepped away, will you choose to believe that He hasn't moved? When the heavens are filled with an ominous silence, what will you do? Will you say, I believe He hears me anyway? Faith is hardest when you can't hear or sense Him, when you can't understand why things are happening. When it seems like you pray, and nothing happens, and you ask yourself, "Why bother? What good does it do to pray? Does it really matter? Does it really change anything? Are you there, God?..." Tough questions. No simple answers. Life is hard - sometimes God intervenes, sometimes He does not. When He does not, will you choose to believe in Him anyway? That is faith. It is not simply a matter of believing He will (or will not) act a certain way or do a certain thing in response to our prayers. It is a matter of believing He is still who He says He is. His character has not changed simply because bad things have happened. It is good to remind ourselves that God is not a genie in a lamp - if you rub it just right, than God has to do what you ask of Him, when you ask Him to do it. Many Christians, I fear, have this view of God. "If I do this, than God will/must do this for me.." Often even those of us in ministry have said/thought, "But God! I am doing your will! I am doing what You called me to do!! The road should be smoother because I am following Your will for my life!" Then, when things don't go the way we want them to, we pitch a fit. Like a spoiled child who doesn't get his way. "It's not fair!!" So you don't understand. That's okay. You don't have to. God hasn't changed. He still holds You in His hands, even if You can't feel them. He still listens to your prayers, even if He seems silent. He still sees you, even if you can't see Him, even if you can't see His plan. So keep believing. Keep praying. Keep the faith. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidance of things not seen." Heb. 12:1

Smarties and stuff

I said I'd let you know what we found out about the smarties taste test. We did a "blind" taste test. A still maintains that all Smarties taste the same. I could detect a difference in the orange and yellow ones. R consistently guessed correctly which color she was given. Sometimes she got it on the second guess but mostly on the first. So that's our Smarties story and we're sticking to it.

I have so much stuff in my head I don't think I can get it all out, at least not coherently. I just don't understand what is going on with the adoption process and why it all has to be so hard. I wonder what is happening with J being in an orphanage (and it's a good one) for so long, especially when he has a family waiting on him who loves him so much. He was 7, about to turn 8 when we started this process. He will be 11 in September. Can anyone tell me how that is good for him?

Why does this have to be so hard? We still don't know what our O director was saying to us on Sunday but it didn't sound like good news. It sounded something like our file was lost and having to start over. I don't know what that means for us.

I have so many questions and I'm struggling with the "D's" right now. Like disappointed, disillusion, depressed, desperate. Please, just pray for us. We're at 31 months in this adoption journey. I am weary of the ride.

Maybe I should do a "thankful list". Let's see, I'm thankful for a job. My hubby and kids. I'm thankful for words of encouragement from family and friends who mean so much to us.

Nice day, but no news

It's a beautiful day here. I started the last four Abstinence classes for this school year. They went pretty good. Otherwise things are pretty stressful. My dad is out of town and his horse is about to foal. She's huge. R is out of town (senior trip, can you say "stress") so she isn't here to help with her critters or my dad's either. Her psycho cat pulled the last stitch out of her tail this morning and proceeded to bleed all over the house. She's been given a sedative and it's scabbed over so she is outside laying in the sun. Two people are out at work this week and the owners are leaving tomorrow. That means more stress for me this week. When we were trying to talk to J on Sunday our O director was trying to tell us something about our file but we couldn't understand her. It didn't sound like good news though. We would appreciate your prayers. We truly need a miracle to get our son home.

Nothing new under the moon

It's Friday again and we still haven't heard anything new about the adoption. It's really getting to me. We're at 31 months and it's been almost 11 months since we've had any forward movement. It is beyond my ability to understand.

The cat opened up her stitches Tuesday night so I took her back again on Wed. and she had another little digit of her tail removed. By the time we got home from church that night she had taken out all but one stitch and was going nutsy and bleeding all over the house. We tried to wrap it up but she just screamed when the gauze touched her tail. The cat bleeding and crying like that with the stress of the adoption kind of threw me over the emotional edge. It was awful and that's all I've got to say about that.

We got the cat some pain relievers or sedatives on Thur and she's doing better. We are keeping her in the small bathroom when we're not home and at night. She doesn't really like it in there but is tolerating it okay.

Every time I think about J or the adoption process I have a physical pain somewhere. I think it's my chest, but it's a physical pain. When will this ever end? Where is the mercy? I just don't know how much more disappointment I can take.

Hard waiting day

It's been a really hard day of waiting on this crazy adoption process. Some days are just harder than others. Please pray for us. There is so much that I don't understand. It's so hard. I cannot fathom how it's good for J to be in an institution, regardless of how good it is, than to be with a family who loves him. I cannot understand how this endless waiting is good, or where the good will come from it. We're at 31 months and counting. It's hard, so hard. I do know that I'm to "be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let my requests be made known to God, and the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus." So, I pray. And I think of a thankful list. Let's see, I'm thankful for my hubby and kids. My parents. My brother and his family. I'm thankful for T's parents. I'm thankful for the sunshine and blue skies we had today. I'm thankful for a washer and dryer, and a dishwasher. I'm thankful for chocolate (have I mentioned that before?)

Weird cat = weird comments

Sanome is still struggling with her tail issues. We think she has taken one of the stitches out and she leaves little drops of blood here and there. Here are a few of the weird things we've said to her in the last week or so; It's your tail, Genious, it's part of you. Stop attacking your tail! It's not chasing you, it's attached to the end of your body. You can't get away from it, it will follow you everywhere. It hurts when you bite it because it's part of you. Psycho kitty. Stubby. It's not trying to get you, it's your tail. Poor baby. Dumb cat! Stumpy. Why can't you be normal?

Smart enough for Smarties?

We've had an ongoing disagreement over whether Smarties all taste the same or if the different colors taste different. We finally decided to do a taste test of sorts. One person kept their eyes shut and were given one Smartie and then had to guess which color it was. We did this multiple times. What do you think? Do they taste different or is it a "mind game"? Try the taste test and leave us a comment on what you found out. In a few days we'll tell you what we found out.

Pics of J and Sanome's terrible, horrible, no good...

...very bad day. We got these new pics of J from another couple who went to visit their son. Thanks! J is in the blue shirt.

Yeah, this is more the silly grin that we usually see. We love you son and pray that you are safe and that you are home soon.

Ok, Sanome (pronounced sanna-may, we usually call her "sanna"). For about a week or 10 days she has been twitching the skin on her back and licking and biting at her tail. It had a little scab on it that seemed to be healing. Until a couple days ago. She got quite "neurotic" with it and the tip of the tail was bleeding quite a bit. This morning we woke up to blood streaks all over one end of the house. It took about 15 minutes to mop it up and clean it off stuff. We decided it was time to take her to the vet. Sano has a new nickname now. We're calling her "Stubby". She had about an inch of the end of her tail amputated. Poor baby. Here are a couple pics of her new, shorter tail. It hasn't ruined her appetite.

She was a pretty long tailed cat so it doesn't look too bad.

She's still twitchy though and even went after what's left of her tail once. We told her no and she stopped. I think she may need a nerve pill or something. I hope the bleeding stuff stops. I've been making cloth diapers for our O and she got in the box last night. I'm going to have to wash several of the diapers. Goofy thing.

The word we hear from Haiti about the riots is that they are safe at the O and were hoping to be able to get some diesel for the generators and some bread. They assured us that there is plenty of rice and stuff on hand to last for a while. They still could see some burning tire barricades. Keep praying.

News story about the riots

There are several stories out there. Here is one;
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/04/08/haiti.food.riots.ap/index.html
We heard from the grandparents and they are fine. We also heard from the O that they are fine too. They have the gates double locked and can see a burning tire barricade from their back balcony. They have enough supplies for a week or two so they are staying put for now. Pray for these people. They are hungry and they need some relief. Check out "Haiti nurse's" blog. The link is on the right under "Blogs I read" or you can try this link;
http://www.xanga.com/haitinurse4life

Of course, nothing gets done on the adoption paperwork while the riots are going on either. Welcome to Haiti. The Haitian adoption journey is a hard row to hoe. At least our loved ones are safe for now. We are thankful for that.

Prayers for Haiti please

There are some serious riots going on in Haiti right now over lack of food and high prices. I never dreamed that it would take so long to finish this adoption and that our son would still be there some 31 months after starting the process. But he is. And there are riots going on over food. Please pray.

Got to talk to...

...J, not long after the last post. Like I said, there's a lot of dead air and me asking questions and he usually answers "yeeesss". I look forward to them so much though. He gets a big smile on his face when I sing to him and he tries to let his friends listen in on his headphones. It's precious.

Tricia is up and walking around with no vent. PTL! That is awesome news. Check it out on CFhusband's blog.

A few pics

Here's a pic of Dexter. Yes, all that black fluff in the basket is, in fact, a cat. The lighter spot towards the bottom is his ear. I love it when they do things like this.

A did R's make-up. We worked on her hair together. They're actually a really good team. A takes R's finger and has her stick out her tongue and then A uses R's moistened finger to blend the make-up. It cracked me up watching them.

Aha, finished with the make-up part. Now the hair.

Over at R's friend's house. Here are the two prom ladies.

And the happy couple. He wore pink to match her dress. They didn't have the flowers on yet but BF did a good job picking them out. They were really pretty.

And the two couples just about ready to go. R has her flower on her wrist.
They had a good time. They ate, they danced, they came back to the house and watched a movie. A went to work at my mom's Sat. morning and mom was telling her about when she went to prom. I thought that was cool that R was making memories for a lifetime. I didn't have a prom but I did go to a formal dinner. I still remember that fairly well. T was home-schooled and didn't go to a prom either so this was pretty special for us. It'll be A's turn next. Zoiks!

No adoption news. It's just one of those things that we probably won't understand here on earth. I'm waiting for J to call right now. I really look forward to those calls even though there's a lot of "dead air" and yes and no questions. Oh Lord, please bring him home.

Prom day

Today's the day. It is raining like crazy. I don't know if it will move out of here fast enough for outside pics this evening or not. We will see. R is coming home early from school so she can shower, rest and prepare for the evening. A is helping with hair and make-up once she gets home from school. One of R's friend's father is going to be chauffeuring the two couples around. We will all (R and BF, T, A, and I, mom, dad, and Mrs. H) meet at the friend's house to take pics and send them on their way. That's the change, subject to plan. Hopefully I'll have lots of pics later on.

Prayers for Tricia

On CFHusband's blog he's reporting that Tricia is in the OR and things look like a go this time. Remember to pray for them.

Nothing new under the moon here. Well, I did get the dress shortened and adjusted for R. I still have to work on one strap. Not much else going on though.

Blogger finally let me on

I've been trying to log in for over 24 hours now and blogger just now let me on. Or maybe it was my computer, I don't know. Anyway, the lungs didn't work for Tricia. I was sorry to hear that but have to believe that God has something better in store.

Speaking of stores, the girls and I are going to do some shopping after school. R is looking for shoes for the prom. She borrowed some from D in case she can't find any so she is covered either way. I like shopping with my girls so we're looking forward to it.