Li'l update

We are in WI and having a pretty good time. You know how things are never quite what you imagine they'll be? Yeah, having a little of that but doing pretty well.

We got to meet up with Sarah and kids from www.5frozenchamorros.blogspot.com on Monday. So nice to meet others you've emailed and read their blogs. There is a bond between those of us who have endured Haitian adoptions and are now parenting those children. They "get it".

I haven't been taking many pix but will get some from my dad who is a picture taking fool and will post them when we get home.

We went cherry picking this morning. That was kind of cool. Now we need to make some pies and cobblers. Can you freeze cherries?

That's all for now.

Two posts in one day

I know. Two posts in one day. Nearly unheard of from me. But I just took these pix of Misty and they're too cute not to share.


What's for "deener"? (she's in J's place at the table)

"Please, may I have some more?"

I love this one.

I was at the other end of the table and I looked up and there she was. I had to take the pix and I had to share.

Quick updates

T has lost 12 pounds since giving up sugar and soft drinks (diet included) and doing an exercise program about 3 weeks ago. Woot!

J asked me to cut all his hair short 3 days after getting his mohawk. Sigh...I told him I'd clean up the mohawk and re-do his lightning bolt before we head to WI.

We had friends over for dinner (or "deener" as J says) last night and a lot of things came from the garden. How cool is that?!

Music at church was great this morning. The guest leader did a great job and J S played the electronic drum set. He was awesome on it. We're so glad to have finally used it in church.

A's friend E had a wreck yesterday. She dropped A off here and between here and home which is just a few miles, she totaled her car. Thankfully she is fine. Car versus tractor. Tractor won, even though it tipped over.

We plan to head out Wed. a.m. for IL and WI. Family, friends and other adoptive parents are on our "to see" list. Cheese, brats, and kringle are on our "to buy" list. Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

T brought home a new project Wed. evening. It's a boat with a locked up engine. It was a good deal, especially if he can get the engine unstuck. What he did was hook it to the back of Big Momma and when he got here he said, "It followed me home. Can I keep it?" No, not really. Looking forward to good times in it. And it's colors match Big Momma. So what if it doesn't run, it matches the car.

2 more firsts

Well, three actually. J got his first of two needed fillings this morning. He did really well but I'm sure he's not anxious to go back. He seems to like everyone fussing over him though. He complained more about having to wait to eat than about anything else.

He also got his first mohawk. I really like it.

And his first lightning bolt. He really likes it. She was saying she was just about done and he said no, I need a lightning bolt! She freaked a little bit but gave it a go. I think she did all right, don't you?
Misty's been laying around a lot lately, just airing out her under carriage.

Dexter is trying to figure out what's up with her.

Just chillaxin.

Monday evening

A is back to soccer practice. They had a couple weeks off and now it's back to work. Still praying that they get a coach by the time school starts. She's still working for Nanny and having a fun summer with her friends.

R and JT are okay. One of their cars is down, both of their computers are messing up and the reality of how much it costs to live has sunk in. But they are working through it. At least they have the second car and T helped R's computer at least be functional. Thankful for the little things.

T is busy at work and fixing computers. He never ceases to amaze me. He has lost 6 pounds since he started on this exercise program and cut sugar out. He's eating much healthier.

I led music Sunday and enjoyed it. The people who played and sang with me made it a lot of fun. I'm not leading this week but we are having a guest leader and he wants to work with the team. Should be fun.

I prayed last night or early this morning that J would want his hair cut before we make our trip to WI. He informed me on the way to the sitter's this morning that he wants a mohawk like the sitter's son has. Maybe I should have been more specific in my prayer. I'm fine with a mohawk though, so it's good.

J loves to watch America's Funniest Home Videos and he always says the intro for Tom Bergeron with them. Only for the last 10 months or so he's always said, "Toooooooooom Jefferson!" Then he says, "Oh man," when he gets it wrong. Then he practices Bergeron for a while. Next week, repeat. This week he was sure he had it. The intro came on and he yelled, "Toooooom Gibberish!!" And then he said, "Oh man," when he realized it was wrong. So funny!

Pix

As promised, here are some recent pix including my nephew's wedding. Back in May we had a praise night at the gazebo. It was a really nice evening of fellowship and music.

Here is J doing some "broom guitar" with a friend, B, who has an air guitar.
And on May 29th, here is my nephew waiting with the pastor for his bride to come down the aisle.

And here she is!

The whole wedding party.

Aww, makes me think of the way JT looked at R through their whole ceremony. Are these young couples in love, or what?

P, you may kiss your bride.

The happy new couple.

Groom's mom (S), A, R, T and a little bit of me (in pink) showing beside the girls.

The best man and the maid of honor each did a beautiful toast to the bride and groom. Here's to you, P and M.

Some WI cousins.

My mom's sister and her husband.

The five of us with my parents. I don't know what J was doing. He had a little attitude going that day.

Some more WI cousins.

M getting ready to throw her bouquet.

P throwing (or shooting) the garter. He did the same thing JT did, trying to shoot it like a rubber band. They both ended up falling quite short of their marks on the first try or two. Silly guys.

Ah, walking through a sea of bubbles on their way to the car.

A last minute hug from mom.

Later on at my brother's place. This is all of my mom's family who came for the wedding. J looked silly for the serious pic....

....and serious for the silly pic. Sigh...

Remember that meltdown that I figured was coming after a good day with J on Wed.? It happened this morning. He was watching a music vid about helping Haiti after the earthquake and he started bawling. He was worried about his birthmom and I assured him that she was fine. He still seemed to want to talk so we played a game and I asked him if he ever felt angry that his birthmom chose adoption for him and he nodded yes. I told him it was okay to feel angry about that and we talked about how hard life is in Haiti and I asked him if he thought she felt like she had no choice and he thought that was true. Then he moved on and has been clingy but good.

Bullet points

-Had a good day with J today. I guess that means a meltdown is about to happen. But I can enjoy today.

-Working, working, working=busy, busy, busy. Around the house, at the store, at the Board Of Ed, at Nanny's, at friend's, at church...

-T still off sugar and walking and exercising quite a bit. Will probably be good for all of us. He has lost 2 1/2 pounds. Woot!

-A got her "unrestricted" license today. TN has "graduated licensing" so for the last year she had to be home by 11, not out before 6, and only one other person in the car with her unless it was siblings. Now that she is unrestricted she already has plans to take multiple people somewhere. I don't even think they care where they are going.

-I'm leading worship at church Sunday. I've been playing and singing but it's been a while since I've led. Just a little nervous, but that's ok.

-T pulled the "Container formerly known as Sacajemama" (camper) out today. Will be cleaning it up and inspecting for winter damage from frost or critters. The smell in there is a little iffy. I'll work on that too.

-As requested I have pix from nephew's wedding in my possession. Will try to post on Friday.

-Some recent "lost in translation" moments. Sprinkles=sparklers (I want to do a "sprinkles".) Peanut=p---- (boy part-don't ask how that came up but it had something to do with bug bites). Buttons=bug bites

-Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

Happy Independence Day!

We had a nice service this morning with flags, snare drum, the national anthem and a message about our founding fathers. Good stuff.

Here is a goofy pic of the cats.


This came rolling into the office the other day. J was proud of himself that he had turned off the tv long enough to play a little.


This is me helping Misty see what's in the cabinet. Why do cats love cabinets?


And this is Misty just resting her head.


We had a very nice time with our friends and J did much better coming off that high than he did coming off the day camp high. We are thankful. So, I'll back up a bit. Monday I went to work and J went to Mrs. G's. I was heading home and met K and her kids at the corner and they followed me home. We had never met in person but we walked through the adoption process together and there was already a bond there. She has adopted three times and J and her oldest daughter (who was the last one to come home) were at the O together. Our files were two of four to be declared lost in April of '08. L came home in May of '09 and J came home in Aug. of '09.

On Tuesday we took the kids rollerskating. A and her friend E went with us. E can rollerskate but A and J spent a lot of time falling. They claim they had fun though and we hope to do it again soon. K's kids did all right. Here's a pic of J doing his thing.

Here are "the boys", J and E. The kids played pretty much non-stop the whole time they were here. J was pretty tired by Thursday evening.

Everyone got to ride the horse. This is K's oldest daughter.

Younger daughter. She handled the horse pretty well.

And son.

We all spent a lot of time in the pool.

And drinking "shake milks" as J calls them.

Here is the moms and the kids on the morning they left. I'm so glad they came. It's hard to explain the bond between adoptive parents and the kids share a bond too. I think it helps us all to know that we're not the only ones going through what we're going through. I'm thankful for our adoption support group too.

On Friday, A, J, my mom and I went shopping. J was thankfully very good. That evening we watched a fireworks show in town. It was very nice and we all enjoyed it but J said it was smoky. He's excited about doing some fireworks here at the house this evening. He wants to do some "sprinkles" which is his word for sparklers.

This afternoon, just before I started uploading pix, Dexter had crawled into this drawer and was laying like that. Yes, that's his tail. He was very still while I took a pic but when I asked him what he was doing he backed out tail first. It was quite funny.

T has cut most sugar out of his diet. He's also exercising more and making better food choices. Maybe it will rub off on the rest of us. I'll let you know if he looses any weight.

We had our first corn on the cob out of the garden last night. Mmmm good!

I guess that catches us up for now.