Where has all the time gone?!

It's been nearly a month since I posted last! Oops, I had no idea until I checked the date on the last post. Oh my goodness, what a roller coaster we've been on!

R has been in the hospital for over a week now, with Thing 1 and Thing 2 trying to come out much too early. They stopped her labor 3 times and she has had contractions off and on the whole time since then. They monitor her and the babies multiple times a day. If she can make it to 32 weeks they might let her go home.

Her friends had a baby shower for her today. She wheeled down to a special occasion room where her friends had decorated. It wore her out but she had a great time wearing real clothes and just doing something "normal". She also got to go to a chat session on Tues with the other "ladies in waiting" who are at the hospital trying not to have their babies too. R was one of two having twins and one of three military wives and one of three in the same week of gestation. It's always nice to know you're not alone in a situation and can help each other cope. She is at 30 weeks and 2 days. Prayers are appreciated.

JT has been able to spend a lot of time with R and for that we are grateful. He's done a great job taking care of his wife and babies. He even brushed and braided R's hair one day. How sweet is that?

J is brushing my hair as I type this. He's still loving high school and especially basketball. They are having homecoming week this week and he's thrilled. I remember R's first homecoming week and how  excited she was about it. J told me everything they were going to do and how short his classes were going to be and I just smiled and said, "You're my third child to have homecoming week. I know how it goes. But I'm glad you're so excited about it." J had a birthday since I posted last. He's 16! He continues to do well in school and at home. He's a bottomless pit and will eat just about anything. He's a bit lazy and has an attitude prob now and then, but he's a 16yo boy! We love him dearly.

We (the 4 of us) sat around last night and played games and sang Veggie Tales songs. What  a hoot! We are all looking forward to fall break and the beach. Bring it on!

A got an 85 on her stats test the other day and was thrilled with it. Woot! She likes her classes this semester for the most part. She also likes her job and continues to do well there. A and P are going to join us for part of our time at the beach, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. We are all looking forward to it. I hope it works out and doesn't disappoint.

My dad got approved by the doctors for the cochlear implant. Now he just has to get approved by the ins. We are hopeful that this would open up his world again.

I'm officially a junior in college now. I'm only 2 months behind where I wanted to be. I've done well after surgery and am pleased with it all so far. I was even going to play keys and lead music in church tomorrow but a major water leak at the church this evening has cancelled services. I did play the ukulele a bit this morning so that's good. I'm doing therapy twice a week for my wrist and it's going well. Fibro is ok too but I've had sleep issues and hip pain a lot the last couple months.

I'm trying to go through things and get ready for a yard sale. I cleaned out the game cabinet today. Well, I got all the games out. Trying to decide what to keep is hard. I came across my 20 Questions thingy. Have you ever played with one? It's creepy good at guessing what you're thinking of.

The "Ladies in Wheeling" episode of 4x4 Nation is coming out this week. Check it out if you can at www.4x4nation.com .

So, I think I will end this with a thankful list. I'm thankful that Thing 1 and 2 are still tucked safely inside their mommy. I'm thankful for medical care. I'm thankful for God, family and friends. I'm thankful for a chance to take a vacation. I'm thankful for the chance to "go to college" online.

A few pics

Well, I was going to post a bunch of pics from our Duck Dynasty party and some other stuff but blogger wouldn't let me. Whatever. Sometimes I have a love/hate relationship with blogger. I only managed to get a few pics on here before it wouldn't load any more.

 

J had his "gotcha day" last week. 4 years home! He's doing pretty well. He's loving high school, loving basketball and loving his social life. He's making decent grades but we're only a few weeks into school. He still says funny things in his attempts at mastering the English language. He's also trying to get an afterschool job. Maybe after his 16th b'day at the end of the month. I'm also working with him on trying to get his learner's permit. Ahhhh!!!!

 

R and the babies are doing well. Baby A kicks her in the ribs a lot and she's hungry all the time. Otherwise things are going well.

 

T's biopsies came back and all is well.

 

A is back to school and likes her classes for this semester.

 

I have surgery scheduled for Thur. I have mixed emotions. I want relief but I just went through this 2 years ago and I know what's coming. Not fun. And I don't want to have another problem right away either. I guess I'm a little gun shy.

 

And now the few pics that blogger let me load. I found these super cute converse booties for the grandbabies.

This is my brother with his grandson when he was just a few days old. Too sweet.

R's horse Dante getting used to having to forage for his own food. He's doing better.

Diesel sleeping with his tongue sticking out.

The ugly boat looking better and better.

The front yard.

Prototype of a super cool rubber band rifle that T made out of wood. It has a working trigger mechanism. 'Cause he's cool like that.

I will put some more pics up whenever blogger feels like I deserve to.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hmm. I have a lot of thoughts chasing each other around in my head. I don't really know how to get them all down on this blog. I think the best thing is to try and take it one thought at a time but I know I will loose track of some of the thoughts. Oh well. Welcome to life with fibromyalgia.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom. More than giving me birth, she gave me life. She taught me how to live. I love you, Mom, more than words can say. And to my mother-in-law who helped make my husband the man he is today. And to Mrs. H, my mother-figure/mentor/friend. Love you lots!

And I'm thinking of four people in this world who made me a mom. R, my first born. There is a special bond between moms and their first borns. You were always independent but our brains seem to be wired in a very similar way. We have an understanding of each other even when we don't understand each other. And now you are making me a Mimi! To twins! Oh bebe, the roller coaster has just begun for you (and us!).

A, my exciting second born. You make life incredibly interesting, my dear. You love deeply and fiercely and I love the person you are becoming. You amaze me with your zest for life and the way you keep our world vibrantly colored. I struggled to get you into the world but you are so worth it. Love you so much!

J! My youngest! Four years of waiting to bring you home. You told me once that you cried every day in Haiti waiting to come home. Break my heart! But you finally made it and we are so glad. I honor your first mother today too. She chose life for you and gave you birth. She broke her heart and turned you over to people she didn't know for the hope of a better life. Her attachment to you made you able to attach to us and we are thankful. We are so glad that God chose you to be our son.

JT, my son-in-law. You love our daughter fiercely and are the father to our grandbabies. We are proud of your accomplishments in your work and life.

To all my kids, walk after God. Seek Him in everything you do. Live well, love deeply.

A couple of thoughts about adoption

J is what would be considered a "poverty orphan", in other words he has a birth mother who loves him but was unable to provide for him and chose adoption. We suspect a couple other contributing factors but it boils down to, she didn't have resources to care for him.

Does living in a more affluent country make us better parents? Does his birthmom love him any less because she couldn't provide for him? These are difficult questions that we think about.

I recently read this post by Tara Livesay; http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/2013/04/primum-non-nocere-first-do-no-harm.html  It brought those questions and feelings up again. I don't have any good answers but would encourage anyone considering adoption to take a look at these things before they adopt.

For us, I just have to believe that we were doing what God led us to do and that He has a purpose in having J in our family. We love him so much and are glad that he's doing so well.

Wow, mid-February already?!

I was talking to our pastor's twin sons, who just turned 12 in December I think, and they were telling me that they were going to be 13 on their next birthday. And that they wouldn't be "kids anymore-we're going to be teenagers!" I was exclaiming with them about where has the time gone and one of them said, "I know, don't you just want to slap yourself? It's crazy how time is going so fast." Ha! Cracked me up! I was thinking, honey if you think it 's going fast now just wait 'til you're my age!

I remember as each of our kids went from the time of their lives where time just dragged by to where it started picking up and they noticed it to where it's just flying by. I noticed it the most in J as he went from waiting for 4 years to have a family, in a country that moves painfully slow, right into the rush that is the US way of life. He used to marvel at how fast time goes by in America.

It's funny, he was a "slave to the clock" when he first got here. He had to know ahead of time, what time any event in his life was going to take place. If it varied by even a few minutes he had a tendency to come unglued. Once we figured out that it was a sense of security for him we tried harder to make things happen on the clock and to prepare him better for any variance. He's a lot more easy going now but still does better when things happen on time.

All that to say, holy crap it's the middle of February already?!? And I have one less teenager this week than I did last week. Happy birthday A! You are 20! How in the world did that happen? Doesn't it make you want to slap yourself? It's just crazy. (Ha!) You are a beautiful young woman. An ambitious person. You are setting your sights and going after it. We love you dearly.

Stuff

This has been a weird week. Different work schedule and getting used to those changes. Sadness over the shootings in Connecticut. Such a tragedy. So busy. Parties. Play practices. Work. School.

A is done with this semester. We think she passed math. She probably didn't get a good grade but if she passed it, she will move on.

P graduated from auto/diesel college and starts a new job on Tuesday. We're proud of him.

J's opening night is tonight. He missed a couple lines in the dress rehearsal last night but otherwise did really well. Y'all, this is a kid who didn't really speak the language 3 1/2 years ago. He's doing well!

R and JT are getting used to life together again. They are well.

I finally finished the theology class. Woot! I'm working on my next class already and when I get a chance to work on it, I'm flying through it. I'm just about finished with Christmas shopping. It's always nice to get that done.

I took Oreo to the vet this week and found out she has a mass in her neck. It's probably cancer, probably what caused her drooping eye and drooping ear, and what's been causing her to gag occasionally like she needs to clear her throat. We are not doing anything invasive, just trying a round of antibiotics to determine if it's an abcess. Otherwise, we will keep her happy until she has difficulty breathing or stops eating/drinking. She's 11.

T is working on the scout again today. Tonight is play number one for J and tomorrow morning is number 2. Then we go out to eat to celebrate P's graduation/birthday/J's play, have "the reveal" for dad's scout in the afternoon and celebrate dad's birthday in the evening. See? Busy!

I'm still deciding about the pic thing. There will be a huge post of pics if I ever decide what to do!

November, adoption awareness month

November is adoption awareness month and adoption is something that we care deeply about. A couple months ago I wrote an email to the family who is adopting J's bio cousin along with 2 other older boys. Pray for them! What an undertaking. We spent 4 years "in process" with J and he's only been home for 3 years. It grieves my heart when I think about that and how different things might have been if he'd gotten home sooner but I have to choose not to dwell on that. For whatever reason(s), it took four years and he came home when he did. And if we choose to let Him, God will work it for good. I really believe that.

Anyway, I was thinking about all the things I wrote in this email and how much J has changed and how much all of our family has changed since J came home. There is still this undercurrent of sibling rivalry for lack of a better term between J and A. I have some theories about that but am choosing not to share publicly at this point. R got married about 4 months after J came home so they never spent much time together, although R was with me in Haiti the first time we met J. They may share a bond from that. I don't know. T and I have struggled at times in our relationship and in agreeing on how to parent this child, who is absolutely nothing like parenting bio daughters. Hey, I'm just keeping it honest and T and I are in a pretty good place right now. It can really pull at a marriage though.

The one who has changed the most is J. I was telling this mom who is in the process for 3 older boys (I think 2 are teens and one is pre-teen) all the things to be aware of and it made me see how much J has changed. I shared the funny stuff like automatic doors, flushing toilets, faucets, lost in translation, escalators and elevators, to the mundane like having to tell him ahead of time not to push any buttons, switch and switches or turn anything on or off before we walked into a room. If we had a penny for each time we told him to chew with his mouth shut we'd be rich!

And I shared how J would rage and cry and tantrum and you just knew that it was so much deeper than anything that was going on in the here and now. How I would hold him, pray over him, speak scripture over him while he raged. How I would dread getting calls from school (who have done a phenomenal job with him!) to find out what he'd done this time. And how J would trust us on a new level after one of those episodes and shed a little light on something from his past.

I shared with her how their maturity level is so far below their chronological age and how they have no concept of personal space and how J had a strong entitlement issue. He seemed to think, here I am, you waited four years for me, now I'm in America where everything is free so give me what I want while I kick back and watch tv. It still seems like ownership is way more important to J than doing something with what he owns. In other words, he likes owning toys, electronics, clothes, etc. but the owning of those things is more important to him than playing with the toys or wearing all the clothes. He never learned to play as a young child and though he occasionally played with toys it grieves me that he doesn't know how to truly play. Not at all the way our girls did. They played imaginatively over and over with their toys. They had favs that they carried with them. The same toys could be a totally new scenario the next day. Not so with J. Once in a while he would play with a toy and then never touch it again. I asked him about that a time or two and he would say, "I already played with that." So sad.

I talked to her about intense fears and how a lot of the negative behavior stems from irrational fear. I told her about his lying and what we did to get past it.

And now J is 15, doing ok in 8th grade with some ESL modifications, is a nice guy and pretty well-liked by everyone who meets him. He's going to be in a Christmas play at church. It's about a 30-40 minute play and it's just him and 3 others so he has a pretty big part. He is getting tired of the practices but doing really well with his part. I can't wait to see it.

I think adoption has a lot of hurts, lost expectations, and strain but it is also very rewarding. It's been so much fun to see the world through J's eyes these last three years. Everything is new and fresh. He's blossoming and doing well. I have no idea what the future will hold for him but for right now it's wide open. And after all, we are all adopted into God's family when we make a decision to follow Him.

And now, a thankful list. I'm thankful for God, family and friends. I'm thankful for generally good health, as my mom likes to say, we're in pretty good shape for the shape we're in. I'm thankful for modern conveniences and the multitude of ways to stay in touch with those you love. And chocolate. And the seat warmers in my van!

Life

We are all busy around here. That's our normal it seems. It's probably most people's normal. Anyway...just a little update. No big news.

A has her car titled and now it won't run or she can't make it run. I will try to drive it later and see if it's her or the car. Why did she buy a standard transmission when she can't drive one? I don't know.

R is still not driving her car with a standard transmission either. We failed our girls. Ha! But at least we made "trekkies" out of our youngest two kids. Priorities you know. R's play opens Friday. I wish we could be there but we're excited for her here.

The dishwasher part hasn't come yet. No surprise. I hope it's here tomorrow or Friday. Misty keeps staring under the dishwasher for reasons that we can't figure out. It's just a little bit creepy that she keeps doing that.

Diesel is still dealing with nasty allergies. The bottom half of his body is covered in bumps. Poor little guy. I get tired of giving him allergy pills and he's tired of taking them but jeepers, the poor guy needs some relief. He sat on my keyboard the other day and turned it on. Then he moved a little and turned it off. If only I could get the kids to turn off the things they turn on.

It's been cloudy and rainy here the last several days. There have been little glimpses of sun now and then but mostly clouds. Despite the clouds we got my nephew and niece-in-law moved into their new house. Congrats P and M! You have a very nice house.

T has been busy working on cars, working, and helping dad with his boat. I've been trying to keep up with laundry, housework, work and schoolwork. Wow. All that work. We need to relax a little. Maybe the lake Sunday? We shall see.

I've been in touch with the people who are adopting a cousin of J's. We hope their boys (they are adopting 3 teenage boys-zoiks!! pray for them!) are home soon and J can be in touch with his bio cousin. We'd like the boys to be able to get together sometime too.

J is still loving his ipod. So far, every new thing he's gotten after he's wanted it so bad for so long he has quickly lost interest in. Except for the ipod. He uses it for everything including school work. Good for him. He seems to be over his "I don't want to weed-eat funk" but he hasn't had to weed-eat again yet since he got over it. And he's still growing like crazy and eats all. the. time.

We thought Oreo was just getting old or that she was having problems with her hip and/or knee joints but I'm beginning to think she had a doggy stroke or something. She's ok, but not at all "normal". She's 11 so it's quite possible.

Bridget is doing ok with settling in to her new normal as a CO horse. She's had a few issues but R says every one who meets Bridget loves her. She is a funny horse.

JT continues to do ok on his deployment. We don't know when he will come home yet. Please keep praying for him, for safety and physical and emotional well-being.

Well, I think I've managed to cover just about everyone. I can't think of anything more to update right now and laundry, bills and school work are calling. Until next time....

Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

Last weekend my mom, a friend and her mom took a trip to MO to see an elderly family friend of theirs and to do some sightseeing. We stayed in a quaint little town and travelled around to different areas each day. We had a great time.

This is a little crooked house at a "heritage seed" place. It cracked me up and I get the "Little Crooked Man" song stuck in my head each time I look at the pic.

They have a little pioneer village where there is a "pioneer day" festival the first weekend of each month.

They had beautiful gardens...

...with beautiful flowers...

...and very unique flowers.

They have a miniature donkey who cracked us up and reminded us of "Donkey" on Shrek. So stinkin' cute and absolutely full of himself.

And little mini horses too. I love minis.

We stopped at several antique stores and I got this pic for A.

This is D, hanging with her homies, sportin' her bonnet.

There were gorgeous sunsets.

You know how I love a sunset.

 We went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder home place and museum. This is where all of the "Little House" series of books was written. Rose Wilder Lane wrote several books here too.

Mom and I.

We saw the little rock house....

the setting....

and the gorgeous front door of the house that Rose had made for her parents.

We visited Amish country...

scooped the Amish Loop....

saw farms, bought tomatoes and baked goods and had fun with/watching the Amish. It amazes me that their lifestyle is still so well preserved in this world.

And to top it all off there was a rainbow when we were just about home.

Three years ago yesterday we brought J home after a 4-year wait. He continues to do very well, thank God. He has some attitude issues but he is a 14yo boy. So far this school year he is doing his own homework with just a little help now and then. He is earning gum by doing it himself. He has a part in a play at church for Christmas and I hope he can pull it off. I asked him if he was going to remember all those lines and he said, "If dey turn de projector around and I can see de words I will remember dem!" Smart boy. Turn the projector around and shine the words on the back wall. He's always thinking.

A started her sophomore year at college on Monday. So far, so good. She isn't driving her car with the standard transmission yet but there were title issues.

Remember our refrigerator saga from 2 Christmases ago? We are having a dishwasher saga now. We bought a new one and it was leaking. It was determined that there was a crack in the tub. A new tub was ordered and a service call set up. They didn't come to the service call. It was rescheduled and they came today but when they opened the box the new tub had been bent and possibly cracked! So, a new, new tub has been ordered and another service call has been scheduled. Sears in case you are wondering. It's really laughable if you think about it. What are the chances? Apparently high at this house. Too funny!

Some random sentences

JT has been going on a lot of missions. Please pray for him.

R is safe even though she is painfully close to the fires in CO. She has remained ready to evacuate but was always just outside the evac areas. The bears are bothersome as they have been evacuated from their homes too and are looking for something to eat. R and Skylar would resemble an appetizer and main course to a bear. Please pray for her too.

It hasn't rained much if any in a month now. Everything is dried up and the grass is brown and crunchy. Add the heat to that and it's been miserable. We had a week of temps over 100.

J is changing his room around and singing "Feliz Navidad". He's so silly. Now he's on to a made up song about baseball. Must've come across his baseball stuff.

I've applied to school and I've been accepted. I can't tell what the next step is for sure but will work on it again today.

I'm wearing the wrist brace again in an effort to figure out if it's the varicose veins or the tendonitis that's bothering me the most. I'm thinking it's the tendonitis. Wearing the brace feels really good for my wrist.

We've been watching "Deep Space Nine" on netflix. J is really into it right now. He was telling us he wanted to watch "dat franky show". When we questioned further because we didn't know what he meant he said, "You know. Dat show wif de guys wif de big ears." T and I looked at each other. Ferengi's! Of course!

We went to a Haitian Adoption get-together in a nearby town. Loved it! There is such a bond with others who have walked the same path.

Fireworks have been banned in our town. The city is still putting on a show but personal fireworks are not allowed. I wish they would ban them in the county too. It's just too dry to be safe.

J's hair needs to be twisted. Again.

We have had multitudes of daddy long-legs spiders, or grand-daddy long-legs, depending on where you're from. They are a nuisance. Gobs of them. 30-50 of them in a huge, hairy-looking, ugly ball. They hang around the door and fall on you when you walk out. Gives us the heeby-jeeby's.

I'm thankful for a pool in the front/side yard. And I'm thankful for AC and that God created whoever came up with AC.

My sunburn from our weekend at the lake peeled. I am no longer snake-like and still have a little color to show for it. I'm so buying a long-sleeved swim shirt to wear at the lake though.

I put flea treatment on the dogs this morning. They can barely walk for stopping to scratch. Poor things.

Diesel is still dealing with allergies and now it's the congested kind. He's "rattly" and snotty. For a cat. He's on allergy meds and antibiotics. Again.

Well, I must get back to the laundry. It just won't wash and dry itself. Sigh...

Birth mom gift

A friend of mine made this necklace for J's birthmom, or Haiti mom as he calls her. I gave her the pic and she attached it to a glass tile and attached the necklace part. I think it turned out awesome and can't wait to get it to her. Thanks K!

Life!

Ah. A moment to sit down and post a quick update. I've been working a lot this week. Will surely appreciate it on the check and fibro has sort of been not bothered by it. In other words, I'm not experiencing fibro flu. After a few weeks of some relief the hip pain is back. I've not slept well the last couple of nights. I guess the steroid shot has worn off. Sigh... but  I haven't had fibro flu this week.

We had a bump in the road with J at school this week. He just doesn't want to do the work. Who does? But a lesson we all have to learn is, we have to do the lessons. That's a tough one sometimes. He's so smart and so not motivated.

We haven't seen much of A this week as she's been at work, school or P's. P is having spring break this week so they are spending every eve together.

T got some trees that had fallen or were taken down on the side of the house cut up last night. We have had some cooler but gorgeous days.

So many thoughts in my head about future, adoption, school, income. I can't sort them all out.

We are considering locking J's hair. He says he's ready. I will give it an honest try.

Look at this guy! I haven't posted any new pics of him in a while. Love my Diesel cat!! He looks like he's saying, "Can I help you?"

And I will leave you with a little snippet of words to live by. Just because it enters your head does not mean it should come out your mouth.

Storm pics, Camelot, fibro

We had some bad storms come through here last week. Thankfully the really bad stuff went around us as it often does. It was unusually warm and the jet stream was dipping low and it set us up for some bad weather. Here are some pics that I think I took last Wed. Wed and Fri were the worse days for the storms. This is looking west and you can tell the storms were to the north.

This is looking north.

Northwest.

Here is a not very great pic of one of the banners that A made for Camelot. That bottom crown really is straight it's just that the material of the banner is folded a little.

And here is J helping out on the scaffolding at the Arts Center. He has worked so hard and done so much and he's been very good with watching the younger children.

I have a dr appointment today to hopefully get a steroid injection in my SI joint. I'm hoping that it will improve my hip pain, which will improve my sleep, which will improve my life.

"Camelot" opens in a couple of days. T knows his lines pretty well and we both have our songs memorized to the best of our ability. This has been a rough week but for the most part it's still fun. We had a rough evening with parenting last night too but seem to be working it out. That didn't help the play stuff much but we are pressing through.

R hears from JT some and so far he is safe and they are settling in to the routine of deployment. Please keep us all in your prayers.

More November stuff

Busy, busy, busy. That's been our lives lately. I've come down with something, I'm not sure what but it's forcing me to slow down for a day or two. I hate feeling wimpy. Fibromyalgia has been whooping me lately too. Sigh...

We had a bad day with J yesterday. Interesting that it happened as we are finishing up Adoption Awareness Month. We are thankful that J hasn't dealt with attachment issues like Reactive Attachment Disorder. He does deal with abandonment issues. He's kind of in a "perfect storm" situation right now. He's 14 and in 7th grade, he's an older adopted child who spent 5 years in an orphanage, and he is in puberty. Zoiks! He had a meltdown at school and several more at home which all came to a head as a big fit. But after he calmed down from that he was able to engage, think, talk and smile. It was like a big zit that popped all over everything and then he was ok. Weird. Anyway, my adoption links for today are http://www.welcometomybrain.net/ . They are parenting two bio kids and 3 adopted. They have two with RAD. And another adoption blog I have enjoyed reading is  http://johnson-mccormick.com/ Their recent post on "Family Tree" Projects was awesome! They have twin boys adopted from Haiti and one bio daughter.

A told someone she works with that she was going to have her tonsils out and they asked if this was the first time. She said, "They can grow back?!" and he said yes. She believed him and came home and asked me about it. Goofy girl! She may have dyed her hair darker but she has blond roots.

Here is a cute pic of the cute kitty who lives where I work. This is Peaches peeking out over the counter. Too cute.

And I'm loving this pic right now. This is R's horse, Bridget, who is full of herself. She's so funny and has a great personality. I took this pic on my cheap phone and texted it to a bunch of people to see if they knew what it was. A few did. I knew R would know.

And now, a thankful list. I'm thankful for a great support group for J at school. There are a bunch of people who care about him and they help us out everyday with J. I'm thankful for animals. Cats and horses are two of my favs. And today I'm thankful for tylenol and advil.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Empty Arms Hotel, how can I help you!

This is actually a pic of a friend's dog at the counter where I spend most of my working hours. He belongs to the store owners, who are also our friends, and we were having a meeting and he kept popping up now and then and was just too cute! Sometimes just his paws and the tips of his ears and nose were showing. Precious!

A made cheesecake last night. I have sourdough bread rising and will bake it right before we leave so it's still warm when we eat. I'm also making broccoli casserole and sweet potato casserole. A wanted sweet potatoes with crunchy topping and since she won't be able to eat much at Christmas (tonsilectomy) I'm happily complying.

A is working this morning and then we are all heading over to my brother's house.

My adoption awareness blog for today is the Livesays. http://www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/ I "met" Tara via email and stayed with them one night on my way back home after spending a month in Haiti with J back in Jan of 09. They are all awesome people and I'm so glad I met them.

Thankful list for today. Let's see, have I mentioned that I'm thankful for dark chocolate? I am. And though I'm thankful every day (or should be) I'm thankful that we live in a country that sets aside a day of the year to think about and be thankful to God for our blessings. We are blessed. Happy Thanksgiving!!

More of the same (without pics)

I'm sorry it's been a whole week since I posted and that I have no pics to post. We promised not to show the people sticking their tongues out (from the last post) and that's about the only interesting pics in a while.

A had her appointment today and is scheduled to have her tonsils out on Dec. 22nd. Why then? Because her last finals are on the 15th and the doc does surgery on Mondays and Thursdays and the 19th was booked up. She might be groggy for Christmas but she will be ready for school in Jan. And like I told someone, she will get gifts for Christmas but she actually has to "earn" the scholarships and one of the requirements is attendance. He's using a procedure that she won't have stitches. I remember coughing up stitches for a while after having mine out back in the day.

J has been doing pretty well in school lately. I even got a call one day and answered with, "Uh-oh. What'd he do?" and she was calling to say how well he was doing. Woot! We have been letting him earn gum by having 5 days of good attitude at school. There's actually been a bit of emotional growth lately too. And by saying that stuff we are probably setting up for an epic blow up.

He continues to crack us up and do sweet things for people too. He prayed aloud the sweetest prayer for a friend the other day and ended with, "...and help her have a ever happy after." Too cute! Yesterday morning it was raining really heavy and we were amazed at the water on the driveway and in the pasture on the way to school. J said, "It's a good ting we have dat hole!" He was referring to the sink hole on our property where all the rain water runs down but it sure sounded funny.

My adoption awareness link today is http://www.debraparker.blogspot.com/ Debra is an adoptive parent who was also adopted herself. They brought their son home from Haiti after the earthquake. I remember seeing Ronel on Lori and Licia's blog and praying for parents for him. I've never met Debra but there is that bond of surviving Haitian adoption. And I love that she recently had her kids learn to serve each other by making each other's beds and making breakfast for each other. Brilliant idea.

My thankful list for today is, I'm thankful for access to good medical care. I'm thankful for a dry house, good food to eat, vehicles that run and money for gas. I'm thankful for my church family.

November thankfulness and awareness, cont.

When we started the adoption process we had no idea how we were going to pay for it but we weren't the least bit worried about it either. We applied for adoption grants, did fundraisers and I baked and sold a lot of cookies. I'd like to highlight a couple organizations who are helping families raise the money needed for adoption expenses. One is http://www.olivetreepromise.com/ It was started by some more adoption group friends who have a son from Ethiopia and are waiting on a daughter. And also http://www.showhope.org/ founded by the Chapmans. These are two great resources if you're considering adoption or would like to help those who are.

J informed us the other day that we kiss weird because he can't see the spark when we kiss. Too much tv?

A discussion last night during a game of phase 10 about the benefits of drinking baking soda water if your stomach is upset vs. the horrid taste turned into a discussion of what would happen if you swallowed peroxide. That discussion turned into comparing tongue sizes (don't ask-we don't know why). And some of the people in the discussion weren't even there with us. It was by text, which required pics of people sticking their tongues out. It was decided that A's tongue is the most versatile as she can touch her nose with it, curl and uncurl it and turn it over both ways without pulling it in. It was also decided that R, A and I have small/skinny tongues, J's is on the smaller side, and friend K, T and A's bf, P, have big/fat tongues. And we have no idea what JT's tongue is like. Got that all? And why is that important? We have no idea why. And A was questioning whether or not we are normal. Normal is just a setting on the dryer. And one of the people with a big tongue said they are better for tasting food. Whatever. There was a short discussion of dominant characteristics too, which stemmed from being able to curl your tongue or not. I know you just stuck your tongue out to see if you could curl it.

And now a thankful list. Let's see. I'm thankful again for family and friends and time spent together. It's a gift. I'm thankful for our jobs. I'm thankful for our home. I'm thankful for the little things in life that mean so much.

And, some random pics. K sent a pic to me of her holding this huge cat. It looks like she can barely hang on to him and snap the pic. The cat reminds me of Misty, only bigger. So I took one of Misty and I together and sent it to her. This is Misty and I. Misty is thinking, why are you doing this to me? and I'm thinking, look at us Misty, we are so cute (and snap the pic already you stupid phone). Or something like that.

And this is K and Hillis. Look at his face! Look at her face! Hillis is thinking, why are you doing this to me? and K is thinking, omg, I'm going to drop your furry lead butt (and snap the pic already you stupid phone). Or something like that.

More November thanksgiving, awareness and reminiscing

Ok, today I'm going to start with a thankful list. I'm thankful for the bright sun that's out today. I'm thankful for memories, family and friends. I'm thankful for the colors of fall. I'm thankful for music and the way it moves my heart and soul.

My adoption awareness link for today is some friends that we met at an adoption support group. They have two precious "special needs" (which didn't turn out to be anything at all) boys from South Korea. They blog at http://www.someshadesofbrown.blogspot.com/ .

And now, the reminiscing. My parents have been in the process of changing all their old slides into CDs. My dad emailed this pic the other day with no explanation. When I opened it I thought it was A. But the bib wasn't right, the high chair wasn't right and the background wasn't right either. Turns out it was me with Lord knows what all over my face.

And it so reminded me of pics of A when she was that age. Sorry for the blurriness of these pics. Most of them are pics of pics.

We could have been twins.

I started going through old pics yesterday. I have them in an old washtub by the base of the steps and I was going to move them upstairs. I had such a great time going through them that I might just clean them up and leave them downstairs. I haven't decided yet.

I found T's baby book and a bunch of old pics of him. Love this one. He still has the same grin.

When I found this one I said, omg! What a couple of dweebs!!

This is from one of those photo booths. Same time frame as the above pic.

One of my fav baby pics of R. The cat's tail is over her head and it looks like an orange mohawk.

The girls when they were about 5 and 2.

 I have no idea why this is in here sideways (thank you, blogger) but this was Christmas of 96. T's parents with all the grandkids except J.

R jumping into T's hands at some kind of ball pit place. I love her complete trust that he's going to catch her. That's A down in the balls.

Our biggest snowmen ever in TN. T could barely reach the top.

About that same time the girls were an elf and an orc in "The Hobbit".

We've been having "theme parties" for several years now and this was the year of the luau. I had a "coconut top" on over my swimsuit but under that shirt and I would "flash" people right when my dad took a pic. There were lots of smiles in those pics!

T's was one of the biggest smiles.

This is JT on the day he was sworn into the army.

I came across this wonderful pic of Haitian ingenuity. Notice the cement wall broken down for easier access to the balcony from the spiral stairs.

I compared it to our spiral staircase and shuddered at the thought of climbing the Haitian one.

Where Diesel loves to play.

This is Bridget when she was a baby. I like the way this pic looks like a painting. It was foggy.

Omg! This is T and his twin when they took the furnace and water heater apart when they were 2. One of the things the repairman couldn't even put back together and they had to get a new one, but I don't know which one it was. T is on the left in the white Jetsons shirt. Look at their feet. They were barefoot. It was a coal furnace so they were black. Their hands, their faces, their clothes! Love this pic.

And this is T and his older brother acting like they are racing golf carts. T is on the left.

Oh, I found these pretty pics of R. She was 17 and this was one of her senior pics.

 These pics were on my phone. Diesel is still trying to catch the water that falls from the faucet. He doesn't seem to tire of this game.

And he often gets a drink too.

Our house with it's fall colors all around us.

J got into A's theatrical make-up (with permission) and painted himself up. A's making a funny face behind him.

Speaking of funny faces, this is J blowing on a harmonica.

And this is one of my fav pics ever. A fell asleep leaned against the couch. Her knees buckled but she didn't fall because the couch was in her way. She was 2-3 at the time. Too cute!!

And that's all the reminiscing for now because I have to go decide what to do with all these old pics.