It's Not Right

It is not right that
...146 MILLION children are orphaned
...146 MILLION children sleep at night with uncertainty about tomorrow
...In a world where medical life saving break-throughs are phenomenal, children die for the lack of basic immunizations
...In order for a waiting family to be blessed with an adoption referral, that precious child must lose all they have ever known
...The number of world wide orphans increases faster than the number of adoptive families
...Loving, wonderful, potential parents are deterred from adopting because of the initial up front legal fees
...Millions are hungry
...Millions are oppressed
...A 3 year old is labeled "hard to place" because so many parents only want babies
...Sibling groups are split up because it is "hard to place" a set of 3 or more siblings
...We bicker about politics instead of setting aside the rhetoric to feed, clothe, and place those in need

It's Just Not Right.

Long time, No Blog

Yeah, I know. But, in a little way, I guess that means that we were too busy living life to sit and write about it, so I guess that is good. Anyway, here's the summer update...

Jackson turned 12. That in and of itself makes me stop and think, "Whoa, where did time go??" He is such a wonderful young man. He went through the Safe Sitter babysitting class at the local hospital last month, and he is very proud that he can earn his own money. So far, he has only watched his siblings, and only during daylight, with a neighbor on stand-by as his "available adult" and us attached to our cell phones. Go ahead and laugh, just wait until it's your turn and you will know what I mean. He babysat for the first time for 1 hour, and the second time for 3 hours. OK, that is all this mama can handle, and yes, we checked in several times during those times.

We had our 13th anniversary yesterday. WooHoo!! We had a lovely dinner at McCormick and Schmidt's. Yummy, yummy. And of course we spent the evening laughing about the past 13 years and how much we have changed.

We got our log in date with the CCAA for July 16, 2008. Now we are waiting for the seeking confirmation letter to arrive, hopefully this week or next. As far as the tentative timeline for our travel, we are hoping for October or November to bring home our precious little girl. We were able to send her a photo album, letter, and toy when we sent in the dossier, and she should have received it by now.

The two older kids had the well child doctor visits today, and they both were due for vaccines. Needless to say, they were quite comical trying to convince the doctor that they didn't need any more shots. Jackson went so far as to pull his arms into his t-shirt and say that he left his arms at home so he couldn't get any shots. Good for us, our family doc has a good sense of humor. He played along for a bit, but they got shots anyway.

Well, I guess that is the short version of the summer. Lots of sunshine and outside playtime, and splashing in the pool. School starts next Tuesday. If you need a little giggle for the day, picture sorting out school supplies for 5 kids in the middle of the floor, trying to keep track of the various lists with one kid or another saying, "Is that mine? How many do I get? Why does she get more than me?" with every item. Hehe. Makes me laugh anyway.

Until next time...

First Day of *Summer*???

Well today is the first day the kids are not packing up to go to school. They have this one week at home and then start a 4 week summer enrichment program. Last night at dinner, Jackson said that his favorite part of the day was knowing that he gets to stay home this week.

Then came morning. Our plans to play outside and enjoy the fresh air was cut a little short. Yep. We woke up to clouds moving in. By mid morning there was lightening in the sky, and raindrops on the deck. So much for outdoor play. Oh well. I love having all the kids home. I will miss them next week, so I am just focusing on enjoying them now.

End of Another School Year

Every year I say that the previous year just flew by. This year is no different. Last week, Jenna had her very last day of pre-school, and Jackson had his 5th grade recognition ceremony on that same night. What is a mama to do?

We have had our kids through the church pre-school since Jackson was in pre-k. Jacquelynne did not attend because by the time she was old enough we were homeschooling and I sent her to the homeschool co-op instead. But then, we transitioned away from homeschooling and the 2 younger kids went to pre-school there. Jenna's pre-k graduation was the week before, and it hit me that we are really out of that stage now. Sad to see it go, and excited about what the future will bring at the same time.

The older kids have field day today, and a half day tomorrow is the last day of this school year. Jackson will be done with elementary and moving on to middle school. Oh my. It was only yesterday that we attended his pre-k graduation, wasn't it? What happened to the little boy who was fascinated by the solar system and could diagram the entire solar system in kindergarten? Now, he is heading off to middle school. He is such an amazing young man. He is still fascinated by science, and is the proud caretaker of his very own bearded dragon. He is an avid reader, and wonderfully creative. He is caring and compassionate. He is a perfectionist to the "T." If you haven't noticed, this is one very proud mama. I could not ask for a better young man.

Joseph is excited to move on to first grade. His reading and writing have come such a long way this year. We celebrated his 7th birthday yesterday. He is such a little man. He loves to dress in long sleeve button down shirts, and does his best to look "handsome." Forget the t-shirt and sweatpants, this little fellow is a snazzy dresser.

Jacquelynne will be moving on to 4th grade. She is quite the perfectionist herself. She is driven to master any mathematics challenge that comes her way. In her first two years of school, she hated math. It challenged her and was very difficult for her. Now, she thrives on achieving 100% on her timed tests and moving up to the next level. She has a passion for science that focuses on animals. She delves into studying animal habitats and relationships to each other. Her favorite TV station is animal planet and she is transfixed by the creatures highlighted by the animal experts.

And then there is my little Jenna Boo. She has been promoted to kindergarten. Isn't she the "baby"? What happened? She went from being carried on my hip at all times to running around with her best friend from next door. She cruises around the yard in the power-wheels cars. She knows her colors and shapes, and has begun to write out letters. She assures me that she is too big to take a nap anymore, but after a long hard day of playing she will still crawl into my lap and lay her head on my shoulder. She is at that age where her arms and legs have lengthened out and she lost the toddler shape a while back. She is a little girl excited to be joining the "big kids" at school, but will secretly whisper in my ear that she will miss being with me and she is afraid that I will be lonely while she is at school.

OK, so enough of the ramblings and nostalgia. We will celebrate the ending of another school year and look forward to the next one. Our school system offers a 4 week summer school enrichment program in June, and they will all be going into their new grades the first week of June. Then they will be off all of July and half of August before the fall session of school begins. There are so many changes coming, and we are all ready to jump in feet first.

Prayers

I find that I have been following international news items more lately that I used to. Of course I don't have to hunt around for the news about the earthquake that hit China on Monday. So much devastation. So many injuries. So many lives lost. And somewhere in the aftermath, we have a little girl waiting to come home with us. Sometimes I feel completely helpless to do anything. All I can do is pray. And yet we have been promised that God will hear our prayers, and answer our needs. So, if you have a moment to offer up a prayer for those hurting, He has promised to hear.

New Rose Bushes

I must admit that I have slacked off of my gardening duties since we moved into this house 2 and a half years ago. When we moved in, we installed some basic bushes and trees and I put in some tulip and daffodil bulbs that fall. I added a few little black-eyed-susan plants and a couple of hostas, but that was pretty much it. I was doing good to put down new mulch with each new spring and to be honest my poor little front flower garden has been on the pitiful side of sad for some time.

Tonight, I finally got my rear to the garden center and picked out some roses. Even with 4 kids in tow, it was glorious to browse the rows of perennials and flowering shrubs. By the time we were done, I had two kids pushing carts, and I think I have decided which fountain I'd like to get for the front flower garden. I lined one area of the front garden with yellow and coral tea roses, and picked up one red climbing rose and some red shrub roses and dwarf English boxwoods for one side of the house. I will stop by the nursery tomorrow and have mulch delivered to finish off the project.

The late snow we had last year did some serious damage to my dogwood tree last March, but I held off on trimming it until I could see how much would come back this year. I got the dead branches out of it tonight, and actually pulled out over half of the branches. Hopefully it will have a better year this year and recover. That is my favorite tree.

Here's my post from the Lots of Kids blog:

Mother's Day Roses:


In my family we give yellow roses. I am not sure how far back the tradition goes, but I know that my grandfather would give my grandmother yellow roses and my parents had yellow roses in their wedding. Whenever there was an anniversary or a birthday, there would be beautiful yellow roses. At each house my parents owned, we planted yellow rose bushes. I cannot imagine sending my mother anything but yellow roses. I love yellow roses for the family tradition, but I also love coral roses, and my husband spoils me with them occasionally.

Now spring is here, and it is time to fill the flower beds. I have been using annuals for the past few years, but it just hasn't worked out the way I'd like. So, I told my dear hubby that what I wanted for Mother's Day this year was to plant roses. Tonight dh is away so the kids and I went out and purchased 4 yellow tea rose bushes, and 3 coral colored tea rose bushes for the front flower bed, and 5 red shrub rose bushes and one climbing rose to plant along the side of the house. We also picked up several other little fill-in perennials, and when I opened the back of the truck my neighbor across the street asked if I bought out the nursery :-)

I was able to get the front bushes in the ground before dark, and the side bushes will be put in tomorrow. Then we can mulch it all and it will be fresh and finished for Mother's Day. Better still, as each Mother's Day comes, and the plants mature over the years, I can enjoy the beauty of our family tradition in my very own front yard.

Needs, Wants, and Good Old Convenience

I've been pondering the process of prioritization, and it has me examining my decision making process in the simple everyday bits and activities of life. I like things organized. I like to know that everything can fit in a neat little box that can be labeled and pulled out as needed. Well, the same goes for thought processes and priorities, in budgeting and time management. You know the old mantra, "Do I NEED it or just WANT it?" when making purchases? Well, this has led to an interesting couple of weeks around here. To us, it is no big deal, but after a conversation at work last week, I realized that maybe for some it is a big deal. Let me explain:

A few weeks ago, our dryer was giving us fits. Can you really blame it? After all, it has faithfully dried as many as 10-12 loads per week for years. Once again, Scott worked his magic on the poor old dryer, and it tumbled away, but couldn't really handle the heavier loads. So, we compromised. We washed the loads as usual, but hung up items that would air dry quickly and only loaded the dryer with about half of each load. After doing this several times, I realized that I was hanging almost the entire load of laundry to dry either on the rack in the laundry room, or on the shower rod in the bathroom across the hall. Then, the dryer gave a last tumble and went kaput. No biggie, we just kept hanging the clothes as we had been doing, and we draped the towels and sheets over the banister to dry.

We mentioned to each other that the dryer really has had it this time, and needed to be replaced. OK. We'll get to it. It is not that we can't replace it, but neither of us really wanted to go scouting the different models and compare prices to get the best deal. We'll get to it. Now, it has been a couple of weeks since the dryer went out, and it is still sitting there unplugged in the laundry room. No new machine yet. We'll get to it. We have talked about those new large capacity, stacking washers and dryers... Mmmm. Yep that is what we decided on about a year ago, and we still haven't made the leap yet, but maybe soon now that the dryer needs replacing anyway... and if we can swing it, I want to invest in 2 sets; after all, we are still doing 10-12 loads a week, and the kids are growing so as their clothes get bigger, there will be more loads.. add to that we are adding another child, and 2 sets would be very convenient.

Back to the issue at hand. What would have happened if the washer went out? That seems to be a no brainer to me, we would have piled in the car and had a new one purchased within 2-3 days (if not 2-3 hours). We just cannot go longer than 3 days without becoming buried in dirty clothes. But, is a dryer a need, a want or just a convenience? Well, we certainly need to have clothes. We need to clean those clothes, so I drop the washing machine in the need category. But we have been without a dryer now for several weeks, and we still have clean clothes. I can even see benefits of not running the dryer. For one thing, we are saving on electricity. I haven't seen the bills come through yet, but that is a pretty easy benefit to come up with. Next, we are forced to do at least 2 loads a day so that we have enough space for everything to dry. I mean, I don't want the laundry to take over the house literally, we may lose each other, and I only have so much "drying space." But, this means that we don't get bogged down and behind on the laundry either, so it is a benefit. And, finally, my house smells WONDERFUL! Let me tell you that whoever thought of combining Downy softener with Febreeze is just plain brilliant.

So, my conversation with a coworker last week was an eye opener. For us, it was maybe a little inconvenient to have to wait for the clothes to dry, but it isn't really a big deal. We deal with laundry daily anyway, so by the time I need to hang something today, the items from yesterday are ready to be put in the closet. But, when my coworker found this out, she was pretty shocked that we have waited so long, and I have still not set a date to go dryer shopping. It will get done eventually, but there are just so many better ways to spend my time right now. Air drying clothes doesn't take up any more of my time than the dryer. They just hang there and dry all by themselves. It's not like I have to stand there and watch them. I'd rather spend quality time with my hubby, or my kiddos. This is where I was pondering my process of setting priorities. A dryer is only a dryer, but having the windows thrown open and watching my children play outside on a beautiful spring day, or cuddling up with them and a book on the sofa on a rainy spring day just seems to be so much more important than carting them off with me to look at dryers. Besides that they are expensive, and I can still come up with ways to spend my money on other things, and still have the laundry done.

After all this rambling, you may just think I have finally lost my mind for good. But as silly as it may sound, being without a dryer has been a blessing in disguise. Sure we have our needs met; we have a lot of our wants met too, and, there is nothing wrong with convenience. But every so often we are allowed to see convenience for the blessing it is and be grateful for it. So I am grateful that I have the opportunity to examine what I have taken for granted (a functioning clothes dryer), and it only reminds me that God is so amazingly good to us, He will always meet our needs, and He will teach us something new everyday if we are willing to listen. He can even use an old worn out dryer as a teaching prop.

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Here's my post from the Lots of Kids blog last week:

Fresh Paint:

Oh, I love it! OK, so I don't love the clearing out the rooms, taping off the trim, etc. But, once it is done, I love the way it brightens up a room and makes it fresh and new again. We spent this weekend painting into the wee hours of the mornings, and there is still some finish details to do, but it is beautiful.

The girls' room is bright with a soft lavender on the top, a mint green stripe around the middle, and a robin's egg blue on the bottom. We rearranged the furniture, and hung white paper globe lanterns from the ceiling. It wasn't my first choice of color scheme, and is a little funky for my tastes, but I wanted them to have their say too. They said that they have gone from a little girl's room to a big girl's room. :-)

We had plenty of the green paint left to paint the girls' bathroom a solid green. We added new green and blue "frog" bath accessories to complete that one.

The boys' room is a rich red. Their bedding and decor is "Country Americana" and with a blue carpet, and white trim, the red is a perfect match for their quilts and such. We have to finish a second coat of paint down there tonight, then we can put the room back together tomorrow. The red is warm, and cozy. The boys (and Mommy) love it.

Finally, the new guest room (used to be Joesph's until he decided to move in with his brother), is a butter yellow on the top, and navy on the bottom with denim and multi colored bandanna accessories.

We will add new molding in all of the rooms to really make the colors pop and give them all a finished look, but the painting was enough for one weekend. Who knows, I just may get motivated by how good those rooms turned out to paint the whole house. :-)

Hmm. Fresh Spring breeze coming in the window and the sun is shining on fresh new paint.