She Wants What?

Oh, yes...a quilt with 50! different patches...one for every state in the union. Well this should be a good one for a person with my attention span.
Oh and I do believe there are about 50 different fabrics as well.

Sure thing...I'm on it....as soon as I get this done

one of the quilts for the new bunk bed for the girls.

Happy Birthday

Well, if we were in Ch*na it would be his birthday. We decided to celebrate a day early because tomorrow evening I have a teaching job and well...he was OK with an early celebration.
We started with a class birthday party at school.Another mom and I made lots of General Tsao's chicken, potstickers, stir fried veggies, and of course rice....cupcakes WITH icing (story behind that) and gummy penguins on top.
So first off the party...yeah, we did challenge them to eat with chopsticks and they were troopers for the most part

then the excitement continued to big brother and SIL home for supper and more food (I had saved some)...he finished eating early and was bored so he started clearing the table

Excuse the messy window....



First gift....some "wait" for the boy who couldn't wait for his gifts

                                          note the giver's face, she did make him a book mark.



then the prized helicopter he'd been coveting

and the life book I'd worked over in secret...we managed to find pictures of foster brother if not the actual brother.

For those of you concerned about his 'running away'. We have gone for more than 2 weeks and not a mention. I got the neatest "paint program" picture celebrating mom and dad, brothers and sisters and a Christian family.
So, hang on for the ride!

Short Orders

I like to do small jobs too sometimes.

 The boots were fun, the pattern was complete and all the fabric was selected and designated (these pieces for the boots, these for the stars) I listened to a book on tape and made that sewing machine whir! 

 The red and white "Spools" is not my normal quality. Someone bought some patches at a sale along with some scraps...someone's UFO. I'm always intrigued by packets like that...what did the original seamstress have in mind...did she lose interest?...run out of time?

 And why did she cut the triangles like that (extra bias edges)? The seams were not consistent, but I wasn't getting paid to re-sew each one...so I did what I could- Actually turned out quite nice. 

No mom, the seams don't all meet and I cut off some corners.

Questions People Ask...

Or questions people don't have the nerve to ask...
Or questions I don't want to answer when my children are standing close
by (that is a post in itself)
Today DH and I were members of a panel at an adoption seminar. The
people attending the seminar were "thinking about" adoption and they had
questions. Most of the questions were ones we had heard before. There
were no surprises.
They included:
How do you pick an agency?
How did your children already in the home deal with new siblings and
adoption?
How do you deal with the wait?
How do you finance it?
How do you know it is right for your family?
One man gave this answer on the financing...."we chose to go somewhere
between George Mueller (he never asked for help, but prayed to God and
waited. God ALWAYS answered and right on time.) and Larry Bur*ett (he
says "If you don't tell people your needs, how will they know?")
That- Is- Difficult! It is hard on our "take care of yourself"
attitude. It is hard on my pride (after all, these other people didn't
tell us to adopt...so...deal with it!)
But there are people who truly want to know "Really how much does it
cost and WHY?" ( I hope it is because they are considering adoption and
not just morbid curiosity)
So tonite I answered one of the questions..."How much and WHERE?" ( I
don't know "why" except that not many people work pro-bono these days)
Check out the side bar whip out the calculator and add it up....(I'm
afraid to)
Travel is about $150 a day for 14 days plus airfare.

Just Another Quilt

It's called "Mixed Up, but Not Crazy" so of course Ezekiel wanted to
know if it is senile

It's an order and I don't think the lady would be terribly impressed if
we labeled her quilt "senile". Either way, thanks to her, there are
more coins in the coffers of the adoption fund.

Crossing the Rubicon

If you are like me, I had no idea what that saying meant, before Friday afternoon. But Joseph was doing some history homework and mentioned it and told me that it referred to Julius Ceasar crossing a river. I asked if he knows what the saying meant.

We discussed the idea of thinking carefully before we made life changing decisions, like getting married, or having children (esp adoption). While I was saying that, he muttered "I should not have signed my name at adoption. Or maybe I should have."

I asked if "crossing the Rubicon" was a bad thing for Julius Ceasar...he admitted "no"
"Well marriage, or adoption is not a bad thing, but needs to be thought out carefully because there is no going back. Like throwing a rock, or saying words, they can't be brought back."
Then I remembered an object lesson that this mom http://minichfamilyblog.blogspot.com/ used on her blog one day. I took a piece of paper and told him to crumble it up into a little ball. After much looking back and forth between me and the paper (still does not trust me when I tell him to eat all of it or do something odd like this) he finally crumbled it up.

Then I asked if he thinks he can smooth it out like it was before...he said "sure". Well after a little bit, he asked if he can use the iron. "yes go ahead" ( In my mind I'm wondering if he knows what he is doing.- He didn't - "how do you turn this thing on?")
So I watched as he ironed..."it's not hot enough" touched it "ohh, ouch"

Then I told him that the paper is like words that you say...feelings that you hurt....promises that you make (crossing the Rubicon)...you can say "I'm sorry, or I forgot, or I changed my mind" but the wrinkles will stay...Only God can make them disappear or be forgotten.

Last night after a situation that I didn't handle correctly (forgot the gloves) and he again said he should run away. We prayed and I apologized...was allowed to give a kiss, but didn't get one in return....later DH advised me to stop by Joe's bed, he has a kiss...so I did and then he asked..."Is the paper smoothed out now?"

I was honest...."Almost, but mama still can feel some wrinkles"

Resolution

It has hereby been declared that the words " I should just run away"
will be met by
"Here is some bread, be back by dark."
or
Feigned deafness...

Push up Contests

Look what type of activity we have started...

One young man can do 17 in a row...not perfect form, but without stopping!!

  

What a Weekend

Don't know if the home study and resulting conversations is stirring up
memories, but that was a rollercoaster weekend
From downright rudeness on Friday morning because someone could not
find their lunch container in the fridge and a certain sister would not
allow him to search her lunchbox.
To being upset because a 6 y.o. dares to pick up his library book and
start reading it AND understanding it.
To telling the social worker in the evening that the most important
thing that mom's and dad's can do is show the new child that this is
forever "because it is hard to believe"
Saturday was pretty smooth...
Sunday at breakfast....for some reason someone thought it was a good
idea to run away and live in a cave- until they were informed that you
have to live on wild mushrooms and grubs...the grubs were OK, but "I
don't like mushrooms" Oh, and snakes like to crawl in close when you
sleep in a cave because you are a warm spot....
After this young person was finished eating- running away still seemed
like a good idea, so with much smiling they went out the door without
their coat (I told them it was my son's coat and they couldn't take
it-wrong I know now, but I was hoping the cold air brought him in sooner)
With much wailing and crying (faked) the girls of the house raced to the
window to watch the figure slowly walking out the drive...looking back
every other step. We decided to wait until he actually rounded the bend
in our drive (thus not being able to see the house) then we figured we'd
better start worrying....
Just as he started getting chilled he came back and discovered he had to
ring the doorbell because he'd forgotten to unlock the door.
We of course left him in...
In the after noon...more challenges on the required hour of silence in
our home (from 2-3) because we were going to church in the evening.
We realized that silence and quiet is troublesome...bad memories intrude
in those times...somehow God gave me the right words and I suggested
that he write his bad memories on a piece of paper...pray over it...and
then throw it in the trash.
He looked at me in amazement "Does that work?"
I told him God is much stronger than mama or daddy (he agreed) and He is
the one to take away bad memories and I left it in God's hands.
Quiet time went well...he started out by writing and throwing...we
offered to read it with him ,but gave the option of secrecy
He slept a bit
Mon AM "Guess what mom? God answers prayers" I just said "yeah, I
know." (Maybe I should have hi-fived and danced around the kitchen, but
I didn't want to seem surprised)
But today he started on the subject of running away again and was sure
he could find parents that could love him more....I assured him that was
impossible. I also told him the story of God showing us his file and how
we knew after looking at a number of other files that we had finally
found the right child for our family. Told him that I never had a say in
choosing my child before...
Then tonite he thought that it would be better to run away than take the
table cloth outside and shake it.... I gave him a dirty look and he
laughed and said "OK, mom." And he came for a goodnite kiss...
You know...you may pray for us.....

Tires

Ok, I thought my daughter was interesting and today I was going to write about it, then I decided to read blogs first and found out that  LORI stole my idea...not really :^)
But my daughter LOVES the smell of tires. We went to  S*m's club and we got close to the tire department and she let out a cheer and went running toward them...she stops and sniffs each display if I allow her.
Then to further her delight we bought this....

Today I unrolled it and she discovered the delicious aroma...silly girls

Happy Groundhog's Day

In honor of Groundhog's Day my thoughtful hubby brought me flowers.
And we now have a new driver in the house. He's been driving on a
learner's permit, but now he can drive solo. I hope we didn't forget to
tell him something very important. Now I don't have to drive the kids to
school everyday, but we also need to pay that lovely insurance for a 16
y.o. driver.

Saga of the Teeth

Little Miss Faith thought that she could hang on to her rotting baby
teeth forever....or at least till they fell out into her plate!
She had knocked them on her scooter handlebars a few months ago and I
figured they would soon fall out. But if you carefully avoid touching
them, they will stay in place a very long time!
Finally on Wednesday evening the flosser that I was maneuvering around
in her mouth, accidentally got caught in her tooth and WOW!
out came the tooth. But since it bled as all teeth must...she screamed!
She admitted later that it didn't hurt
That left her with this mouth....
















Yeah, I know....
I left her go to school like that- hoping this last tooth would fall
into her lap....of course not!
My pride couldn't take it anymore...last night the floss got caught in
her tooth again. This time she knew what was coming and I had to promise
3 band aids for various small scratches on her knees and hands. Whatever!
But look at the beautiful smile....