Logged In!

We are pleased to announce that we were logged in last Mon....so our LID is March 22, 2010

We are also pleased to announce that our 1993 Astro Mini Van passed inspection with only a bill of $310 we are praying it lasts the summer OR someone donates ;^)   Praise the Lord...she has 208,075 miles on her

Four Years Ago!

Four years ago we met a precious little girl in a Civil Affairs office in Guan*hou. We had received her photos the end of January and then some updated photos a few weeks later. We had stared at...cried over....those pictures. We were very impatient to bring home little sister.

 

We noticed a slightly disturbing trait on all her pictures....she had her little hands in fists on-all-six-pictures.  I mentioned it to the SW and she answered "yeah I noted that too" so much for thinking it might be my imagination. We even asked the director if "Hua Mo" was developing normally....do her hands work?  The answer was not very comforting..."Oh Yes all baby's keep their hands in fists until they are about one year old, then they open their hands and start using them...."

Not really the answer I was looking for.

I remember discussing it with my husband..."I'm Ok with it ...I think...if she has a SN that we are not aware of...BUT it would be nice to be prepared....to look for a doctor awhile....
He just said..."I prayed for this little girl, it will be OK"

I mentioned something to family and one family member actually asked if we get a refund if she has a disability....WHAT!!! I almost asked her if HER parents got a refund because she turned out DUMB!!!  Thankfully God shut my mouth at the right time.

Anyway off we went with 4 children and a family friend (age 19) to meet the newest family member. Amazing trip!

Such happy children

We actually put 3 boys side-by-side in airplane seats and left them there for 16+ hours! and they didn't fight!! Definitely the hand of God.

That little girl that didn't know how to use her legs, when we stood her on our laps, she just collapsed, but when she finally
figured out how to walk at, 15 months, she decided to run!

We couldn't be happier with our Little Sister

We are so thankful that God guided the  "matcher's" hands and placed you with us.
 Edited to add:   Her hands are fine...she waved her fingers in front of her face (windshield wiper style) for about a month after she came to us, but I think that was an orphanage thing. She has no problems at all with her hands and is quite frankly a little ambassador....loving most everyone.

Crazy Love...

That is actually the title of a book that I need to read, but it is also part of a challenge on A Place Called Simplicity  Linny came up with some ideas that would put "love in action"  Go read her last two posts.

The other part of her challenge is for people to post their needs. I believe everyone thinks they have NEEDS until they read other people's stories. After clicking on a few of the Mc  Linky connections....we don't have any needs....at least not yet.

I always was taught to give...mostly of your time, because "it's not smart to just give people money". As a family my dad was a volunteer fire chief, my mom donated her skills as a quiltmaker and cooking food for fire company fundraisers or any other worthy cause that came our way.  We never really talked about tithing.

Then I met my husband and he introduced me to the idea of tithing 10%  He even put that 10% in a separate check book so he knew how much was available for donating.  Anyway...I learned if you keep the money separate to begin with...you don't count it as "yours" and we had some available when it was time to help out.

We never were on the receiving end of that charity and like it that way (pride) it is much more comfortable to be giving the help.

Now since I read all the adoption blogs and read about the fundraisers to bring home one more child, I keep an envelope with the Lord's money and try to give it to the fundraisers that I come across. (Oh I know you can't trust anyone on the internet....gotta be careful)

That all makes me very comfortable.....I like to give, BUT then we started this last adoption and we know we will be visiting the hospital more often than any time in our past experience....and now I start worrying that we will need to be on the receiving end of charity one day.

When we started this adoption a friend wondered how we were going to afford it... I quite frankly said "I don't know"  I told her that we will do whatever fund raisers we can, and this time I will not say "no" when people offer to help...She has tested me on this a few times. She gave me some good stuff for our yard sale and I almost told her I'll pay her for them....she reminded me again...."You said!"

We even started a fund with our agency for people to give tax deductible donations.

Christian World Foundation
777 South Allen Rd
Flat Rock NC  28731
 put Ray and Christine Weaver on a separate piece of paper

Life Lessons

First of all I need to announce, We are DTC! as of March 15, the good thing about finding it out a week later...we are that much closer to LID.

Anyway...on to the lessons I learned this weekend...

I am too OLD to participate in a three-legged race with a 14 y.o. My left knee hates me today.

You should not cram 15 hours of con-ed for your EMT re-certification in two weeks.

The Lord is faithful...I tried to advertise my CPR classes and for whatever reason the ad did not appear, BUT I am getting classes left and right.

That is enough...it is time for bed!

I need to write down some Faith-isms before I forget them, for

At our house guests are..."punkity"

That lady running at the side of the road is "joggling" or "jiggling"...now she says "momma, what is that word?" she got tired of us laughing so hard.  Truth is her words actually describe it much better.

Then we see "hopcopters" in the sky.

She is also my first child who insists that daddy needs to kiss mommy too, and can't sleep if she hasn't had a kiss from big brother.

When I wondered out loud why her face wasn't even wet after her bath, she answered..."well I SIT in the bath water." (well she was a bit more precise in her wording)

On Mon. nite she was sort of crying and told daddy "my nose hurts" she had been playing and daddy thought she bumped her nose, and sort of off-handedly asked "did you bite your nose?"

Then she ran to me and tried to whisper something to me, but ended up crying when I couldn't understand her. Finally she burst out "There is a sticker in my NOSE!"

Poor baby!

I calmed her enough to look in her nose...no sign of the sticker...so I held her other nostril closed and told her to blow like she's trying to get a big booger out....out it came!

She cried so hard after that....I think her little heart was so scared.

I made sure to remind her to always tell mommy anything even if she is scared, or to tell the babysitter...since grandma was due to arrive any minute to sit for the evening.

Letting Grandma babysit is risky...the things they tell each other...when we came home...we learned that "gram-mam" is "gram-pap's" girlfriend, but they are married....she also learned that mommy and daddy are married (!)   Big sister was hyper.... Gram-mam bought a new broom.....on and on

Oh and she loves her new pink fireman boots....($1 at Good*ill)

Memos

I don't have that many readers, so if you did not read A Place Called Simplicity, go read it now. I don't have a lot to add to that.

Also if you didn't read Fields of the Fatherless, go borrow or buy a copy and read it. We don't have any excuses to be sitting on our ummm...nice comfy chairs wondering what to do with our time.

 As to adoption, people say "well you just have something special, we couldn't do that" Let me tell you folks there ain't nothing special about us....in fact some days I'm shaking in my boots, 

some days I yell at my beautiful obedient children,

today I actually had sharp words with my husband. (That is unusual enough that it had everyone's attention)

 I am not always very patient or understanding, but thankfully God does not wait until people are perfect to give them a job to do. Otherwise, He would be waiting a long time. He simply is looking around for people to be willing to help out, yes, to step out of their comfort zone and He will do the rest.

Our story is by no means finished, it will be interesting how God unfolds our story. I don't plan on it being an easy journey, but it would be nice to be pleasantly surprised.

A quote from the Talmud, that I found in Fields of the Fatherless

A mother is likened unto a mountain spring that nourishes the tree

at its root, but one who mothers another's child  is likened unto a water that rises 

into a cloud and goes a long distance to nourish a lone tree in the desert.

Satisfied Saturday

I know this is not Thankful Thursday or Wordless Wednesday, but somehow
it stayed in my mind all day.
I'm satisfied, actually very happy that my replacement mixer arrived on
Thurs evening, maybe it's a refurbished one, but I love it.
I'm satisfied with the things I actually got done today, finished part
of a cat wall-hanging for an order. Photo is what it is supposed to look like
when it's finished.
I'm happy that we did not loose electric during the high winds we
experienced today.
I'm satisfied with only one tantrum/fit by daughter#1 today. Saturday is
the worst day of the week and this "smart" mother let her go to a
sleepover with the girls from 2nd grade at the teacher's house. Second
grade!...She did OK till she was disturbed and awoke from her nap before
she was ready. The screaming only lasted 1/2 hr and she did say "sorry"
later...we are working on handling Saturday emotions. We used to have
these tantrums much more frequently. They have been slowly disappearing
and we end up rocking while she works through her anger? sadness? only
2x a month rather than 2x a week.
I know some of the triggers, but sometimes I am a little slow. Today I
was sure we would see at least one, since she was low on sleep, but it
came after the nap instead of before. Another trigger is being off
schedule, but esp. the sleep.
I am encouraged when I see her make an effort to control the screaming.
Parenting is an ever-changing learning curve.
I am also satisfied that our paperwork is at least at the agency...maybe
even en-route to Ch*na.

I am satisfied that my quizzers are finished. Son#1 coached Son#2's and
they came home with a 3rd place trophy in BB division. Son#3's team
didn't get a trophy, but lots of valuable experience and also memorized
over 200 Bible verses KJV no less!...so trophy or no trophy it was good
for their mind and heart.

My Beautiful Mixer!

OK, so almost one year ago my husband bought me a nice shiny red mixer...for my 29th birthday (no really!) I loved how it mixed bread dough... could mix 3 loaves at a time. This spoiled family consumes more than 6 loaves a week and that isn't counting pizza dough or hamburger rolls.
The other night I needed rolls for the sub sandwiches we were going to have for supper and half-way through mixing, the thing stalled...sounded like stripped gears.

I was a bit perturbed after all a $280 machine should last more than a year!

Turns out the company thinks so too!  Yaay!  I found the credit card bill and he bought it April 23, but the slip from S*ms was not with the credit card bill...that's OK too...it was a gift.

A new mixer should be at my door in 7 - 10 days and I just pack the bad one into that box and send it back.

Wonder if I need to clean all the flour out of the cracks first...maybe I'd better.

testing e-mail version

see if I can finally post via e-mail

I Forgot!

Another thing about Saturday...we got our papers back from the consulate!...almost gave me a heart attack. They do the authentication page differently than in the past. They used to always add a piece of paper on the top of your pack, but now they just placed that sticker/seal thingy to the back of the state's page.

Yard Sale= busy day

Up and out of bed before 4AM with 14 y.o. in tow. Dear hubby loaded the truck while we grabbed peanut butter and molasses toast (very healthy, it was home made bread)
Set up by 6:15- forgot the plastic bags for the customers purchases.
Woke up formerly friendly husband...no really he was happy to bring them to us.
Met some friendly people, promoted adoption, answered questions, and sold some stuff...

$156 worth...

not bad for a morning of work.

A couple of older fishing type men stopped by and admired the fishing lures....one predicted that son#2 will be a millionaire by the time he is 24...and if he is wrong...son #2 shall give the man a call and he will make him a millionaire....gave son #2 his card and everything! We are still laughing about it, but it did give son #2 encouragement when people complimented his work.

People liked the bags, but everyone was looking for a bargain...the people that bought were the ones that asked about the adoption.

I was encouraged by the positive attitude from the people we talked to...we could have received eye-rolls and the like, but if they were there I didn't notice.

The other side of the day....while I was talking to customers my hubby called, "Does the washer ever just stop and not do anything when it is full of water?"  "Even after I unplug it for five minutes?"
"Uhhh, no?"  
"Guess it needs a new controller"

When we came home, hubby was busy with a washing machine sprouting wires out of the top.  He came to me with the camera..."can you print these out so I can see how it fits back together" 
"Sure honey"  but the printer is out of the one color we don't have....black will have to do.
A few minutes and a phone call later, the washing machine was together...after deciphering the blinking light error codes...the machine was ready to finish the load that soaked in there all day.

Oh and the new controller cost only $170 so we broke even today (?)

Oldest daughter...went to the garage to get a grapefruit and came back in "Mom, the washing machine is leaking water and soap all over the floor!"

We just needed to fine tune the settings, I am very thankful that the washing machine is in the garage.

We got the 4 loads finished before supper...I am so thankful for a husband that is willing to pitch in and help out....I still needed to run for groceries and of course Sat. afternoon crowds are different than 8 AM Thurs. crowds.

I was very glad to crawl in my flannel sheets

On Mon. go check out the fundraising pages and see what is left and you can look at the lures...needs more work on that page, but that's for another day.

Yard Sale

If you think about us on a busy Saturday....pray that people want to buy fishing lures and bags this morning...got a table at a community yard sale at the last minute. No time to advertise. So maybe God will send someone to the yard sale that was looking for fishing lures.

It has been sent

Now I can wonder if he will ever get his book...I mailed it yesterday and had to fill our a customs form. I forgot about that part. I filled in "book" for the description, but then wondered who would open the package to check if it is a forbidden book. Will they look at it and toss it in a corner somewhere?  One more worry to lay at Jesus' feet, I simply can do nothing about it.

And here is another backpack...check the sweater bag tab to see the details.

New Project

I'm not sure who it was that said "There is nothing like the the enthusiasm found in the first hours of a new project"
On Saturday we went to the library and I picked up some craft books, in the back of my mind I guess I was preparing for the next snow storm.
I sat down to eat lunch and looked over a book about felting wool sweaters...I was a gonner! (is too a word!) I took an hour away from my very important housework and went shopping at a thrift store and found a BUNCH of wool sweaters (won't tell you how many, let's just say they needed a garbage bag)

I had been praying that I wasn't wasting my time chasing around after sheep hair ( would that make it a hare-brained scheme) see this book had the neatest pocket books made out of felted wool sweaters, also some slippers and gloves etc.... maybe some other people would think they are sweet too!

 

 

Well till evening I had shrunk/felted a bunch of previously expensive sweaters and cut my first bag. I love working with felted wool, no edges to finish.  Too bad the next day was Sunday...


Finally today I have something to show for my labor...what do you think?  I will add them to my fundraiser page.

 

A simple bag  14"x 15" short handles, lined w/ matching cotton lining, a small inside pocket

  

SOLD!!!

A back pack style started life as a Ch*rter Cl*b sweater, the top 3 buttons open to give you more room to stash "stuff" and then close to keep said "stuff" inside, the flap fastens w/ a string.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!