What we're playing

I changed my banjo strings the other day when I found out they make Elixer's for the banjo. Elixer's are my very favorite guitar string because I really don't play more than 2-3 times a week and they keep their tone for such a long time. I only play the banjo about every 2-3 months, much to the frustration of my parents. You see, they paid for banjo lessons and I hardly ever play. I didn't have the average banjo teacher and she actually taught me a LOT of music theory and not so much how to play the banjo. With guitar and keyboard I just play chords, not the actual written notes so I can play just about anything with words and chords. I learned some basic chords, hammer-on, pull-off, basic picks and some tabulature for banjo and I just never really did much with it. But the theory skills, like transposing, chord structure, song structure, etc. is what I really picked up from my banjo lessons. Anyway, it got me thinking about the instruments that we have in the house at any given time. None of them are real special and they certainly aren't expensive but we do what we can with what we've got.

The banjo is an Antares that is about 27-28 years old. I sold my pony to buy it. Here it is with it's new Elixer strings. Did I mention how much I like Elixers?
Complete with the piece of McDonald's straw to raise the string a little bit. Yeah, the straw piece is about 27-28 years old too.
T has a Fender acoustic guitar that he plays about as much as I play the banjo. I have an Epiphone acoustic electric that I like to play through a chorus pedal. I'm not that fond of the acoustic sound it produces but the action and small neck width are perfect for me.
I keep it in an old beat up case that's about 25 years old. Yes, that is black duct tape but I refuse to buy a new case just to beat it up too.

This is my $25 piano that I bought when I was 12, with my own money. It had funky brown paint on it, not a single solid ivory on the whole thing, and some of the keys didn't work. We took it home in the back of my dad's old rusted 60's model pick up. My brother and cousin sat in the back of the truck to keep it from falling over, which it almost did. All the way home my brother played the only song he knew how to play, over and over and over. When we tipped it to load it, a bunch of pennies fell out of it and all the keys worked after that. I sent the keys off to be redone and painted it shiny black. It has awesome sound for an old $25 upright, but it does need tuning.
I love any kind of strange or different instrument that I come across. On top of the piano is some of my collection. There is a maraca from Mexico, a Haitian flute, a cowbell, an African board piano, two harmonicas (one which is an antique made in Germany that has two keys on it-one on each side-and awesome vibrato) a jew's harp, some kind of noise maker from Mexico, and a flutophone that is 30+ years old.

R has a yamaha E413 keyboard that she bought last spring. Our favorite thing on it is the arpeggio function.
At church I play a yamaha PSR730. We actually use the accompaniment feature on a lot of songs. My favorite part about this keyboard is that I can take out single components of the accompaniment and leave the others going. Like, I can use the drum and the bass and turn everything else off, 'cause let's face it, some of that "canned" stuff is pretty lame. Overall, we like the yamaha keyboards.

Oh, we also have a beautiful dulcimer that was bought in the Smoky Mts. R and I can each pick out a couple of simple songs on it but neither one of us has time to sit down and really learn to play.
Look at the soundhole design. Isn't it beautiful?

And that's what we're playing. Maybe next time I'll show you a picture of my canjo.

Our papers finally all got to DHS and our approval is pending review of the file. Please pray that it is 100% correct and complete and that they don't ask for anything else and we can get the approval and then a visa. Thanks.

Another Sunday

We got an email from DHS yesterday (yes, on a Sat.-how weird is that? I didn't know they were open on Sat.) saying that they are still waiting on the papers. I talked to the O director on Friday and thought that they were taking them on Friday. It was a bad connection so either I misunderstood or they didn't get a chance to take them. Please pray that they get them there on Monday so we can get the final approval and a visa appointment. Sigh...

A is standing over there playing R's keyboard. She was playing something cool and I asked her what it was and she said she just "had it on 'room kit' with the 'ar-pig-o' thing". I busted out laughing and said it's pronounced "ahr-pej-ee-oh". She cracks me up.

T had a birthday this week. Happy birthday, Babe (like you even read this blog). R was working and I was busy around the house so we asked A to wrap the presents for us. She was in one of those moods and this is what she did to his gifts; T is a "manly man" and she wrapped every one of them in girly stuff. She said we just don't have anything manly for gift wrap. I better put that on my list. Poor guy. He is a little outnumbered in this house, at least until J gets here. He didn't care though and A was quite proud of how nice they looked.

I bought a little shelf for the hall bathroom the other day from the antique mall where I work. I'm going to paint it and T is going to attach a dowel to the bottom of it so it's just sitting in the hall right now. Dexty found it and decided it looked like a good place for a nap. He's getting that "old man cat" (he'll be 12 in Oct.) skinny thing but he's still a pretty big cat.

I think I'll do a thankful list. It sure helps to have a thankful heart. I'm thankful for T and celebrating another year of life. I'm thankful for my kids and that they make me laugh. I'm thankful for pets-especially when they're sweet and cute.

It's Friday morning...

...and we don't know anything. We don't know if the papers got to the DHS office or not and if they did we haven't heard anything about approval or a request for more papers. Sigh...keep praying.

Life

I know you're wondering if Sano still likes the clean laundry so here's a pic I took yesterday to assure you, she still loves to lay on and snuggle into clean laundry.
In this pic, apparently Dexter was full of treats and sleeping them off on the steps.

They are going to try again today to get the papers to DHS. Please pray that they are 100% complete and 100% correct and we can get approval and a visa appointment.

Still not in...

We were told that our papers would be submitted to DHS this morning but they (O workers) did not have everything they needed. Please pray that they get the papers submitted and that they are complete and correct.

Sunday

I got to talk to J today but I still have no idea if our file made it to DHS. Sigh...I asked him if he knew if it made it and he said no, so I don't know if that means no-he doesn't know or no-it didn't make it. Keep praying.

We had a baptism service at my parent's pool after church today. It was a really neat service. The guy who fell off the roof a couple months ago was baptised. It took 3 guys and an old army stretcher to lower him into the water but he was determined to be baptised. He did great but the old army cot didn't make it. It ripped down the middle. Yeah, we're a pretty laid back bunch.

Not much else going on. The sun has been out today which is wonderful after so much rain lately. The last two years we had summer droughts but not this year. It's been cool too. August has just started though.

Thursday morning...

...and we're still not to DHS. Sigh...keep praying.

It's Tuesday morning...

...and we have a medical certificate. I don't know when things will go to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but will keep you posted as I hear any news. We did the birth parent interview in June of '07 and I've been in regular contact with DHS since then to ask for extensions (which they've always graciously given) and to keep them updated on our file but I don't know for sure if they will ask for any other paperwork or DNA testing. We'll see.

Nothing much

Hey, we're still here. Not much going on though. I worked today then came home, ate something, watched Funny Home Videos and fell asleep. I'm bushed for some reason. Could be that I didn't sleep well last night.

Both of the girls have been going to a theater arts day camp for the last couple weeks. R is working as an intern and A is attending. They have one more week to go. Then A has about a week and a half until school starts. Zoiks! R doesn't go back until the end of August.

T is gathering supplies and getting ready to build a carport of sorts for the camper. It's a "Sacajemama port". He also fixed someone's computer over the weekend. Busy guy.

We're praying for good adoption news for Monday and the rest of the week too.

Fibro= boo-hiss

Okay, remember that recent post where I said I hadn't had "fibro flu" in like 5 weeks. I had it last Monday but just chalked it up to working, leading music and getting ready for VBS. I had it today. Fibro kicked my butt today. I had given up the doxycycline earlier this week or maybe over last weekend, I can't remember for sure, as I had seen no further results other than the missing fibro flu and I was tired of the stomach stuff that goes along with antibiotics. I worked two days in a row (I usually only work two or three days a week) and we were really busy today besides some other stresses going on in life so maybe that's what it was. We'll see.

In other news, they did not get the medical certificate for J yet because he "has to do X-ray" and the results should be available on Monday and then on to Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS). Sigh...I'm assuming that the x-ray is a chest x-ray to check for TB as a lot of the kids are given a vaccination that makes them test positive for TB. I don't know for sure though. Keep praying.