Favorite Things

I saw a post like this one time and was 'counting my blessings' the other day.

Now I realize these pictures do not include any people...they would be in a post entitled 

"My Favorite-est Things". So here goes....

A BIG mug of tea...it takes 2 tea bags to make it strong enough...iced in the summer and hot in the winter...with a bit of sugar (I'm not a saint)

What kind of tea?  The classic Red Rose is usually in my house...I probably have about 50 of those little glass figurines...wonder if I could auction them off? And then any other flavor that is not too expensive at the bulk food stores.

Another favorite thing....I don't like to wash floors....so fill the spray bottle with vinegar water or some kind on non-rinsing cleaner ....spray the floor and wipe with the microfiber swiffer-type thingy...  Now I will probably have to go into a witness protection program because I don't get down on my hands and knees and scrub my floor. I was taught better.

My not-so trusty mixer...it is the 4th one in as many years....it keeps giving out within a year and they keep replacing it. We are almost at a year again I hope this one either gives out soon, or gives me a few years....I really do like it.

Flip-flops that I can wear! I normally have very sore feet from wearing anything but shoes w/ good inserts....maybe it's the brand name...I don't own any other item with that brand on it...

And last but not least...my 24 year old sewing machine! I have had it to be repaired only once...and that was because one of my boys...Ben I think, decided to use the various slots as 

repositories for buttons and pins.

Wordless Wednesday

The Things They Say!

Today we had our 5th to last therapy appt. The girls had to go along and Joe was acting silly. He was being a bit sloppy with his exercises and of course Hope had to show him up.
She stood on one of the balance balls (bosu-type) and the therapist complimented her.

Joe said "of course she has good balance, she was born in this family."

??????

We all split out laughing...he took a second and said "oh duh."

Summer Vacation

This year summer vacation is looking a bit foreboding. There are some
children/child in my house that need constant direction.

I am working on a schedule to keep us on track, but ....I do not do well
with schedules....especially not ones posted on my fridge-certain people
make an effort to tell me when I'm not on schedule!

This morning my precious gem took a look at the list of jobs slated for
today and set to work to do ALL of them himself!
That led to consternation when he cleaned up the girls elaborate
"people" set-up.... (was going to be the girls' job)
Thankfully I had the laundry sorted before he started another load.
Wonder how long this is going to keep up?
And what on earth am I complaining about?
I'm not sure, but Hope is feeling pressure SHE strives to be my right
hand helper and someone is trying to take her place...( I think)

The one bright spot was the papers I printed off from an on-line
education site....That they knew how to handle.

The summer looks very long....I'm praying for inspiration.

Good News and Other "good" News

We will be DTC tomorrow! My dream I had last night was not correct. I dreamed that our coordinator called and said the she can send our dossier as soon as .....something..... was sent to her. For the life of me I could NOT hear what she said. This morning I woke up with a nagging worry. So I e-mailed her to double check that our dossier was complete. She set my fears to rest.
Next dream will be the one where I forget my baby in the shopping cart....


The other "good" news....my 89 year old grandfather is singing with the angels and is back together with his wife of 60+ years!  When she passed away, his will to live just went out of him, but he lived another 5-1/2 years...but last Saturday he went HOME!

Eighth Grade Graduates

 One more son has made the step from 'grade school' to high school. I don't know if other schools celebrate 8th grade graduation, but our small private schools always have. In our circles not everyone finishes high school...or some do a home school course to graduate- so we make more of a celebration about finishing 8th grade.

They released balloons afterward and I even managed to catch a picture.

The girls ordered the boys to wear black shirts and black pants...but of course there were some moms who did not go shopping at the last minute....so we wore what we had! and found out some other moms think the same way I do.  Actually in a class of 13 boys and 3 girls...it was impressive the boys even heard what they were told!

Saturday Again

Ok, then...I'll leave the videos at the top.
Early this morning I packed Ezekiel and Joseph in the van and we buzzed off to Philly to the Challenged Athletes Running Clinic. Those of us with 2 legs containing no metal were a minority on that field of fake grass. We saw all manner of technology on display...some with a good dose of humor.
One man had a tattoo on his 'good' leg   It was a dotted line the circled his leg and said "cut here".
Another had  "Warning May do stupid things at any given times."
There were a lot of other kids....a good thing for Joe...
He could run as fast or faster than most of them...another confidence builder....something he needs some days.
Other days the boy simply DRIPS with self-confidence...but that is another post!

There were dedicated volunteers that were on hand to help everyone along,
also a young girl from Liberia learning to use two new limbs
 A family who flew the whole way from London for this clinic.
All in all it was a beautiful day.
We returned home in time to make 8 loaves of bread and clean up the laundry.
Ben had cracked the whip and the kitchen floor was shoeless and paperless and mostly dirtless when we walked in the door.
Hope thought that next Saturday should be mama and girls day and the boys need to do most of the cleaning.

Ascension Day

Yesterday was the 40th day after Easter. The day that Jesus departed
this earth and gave his last words to us...
The rest of the world goes about their business on this day, but somehow
the 'plain people' have grasped at this one more opportunity for a
holiday. Maybe it gives the busy farmers a chance to take a day off in
the midst of the busy planting season...since they probably won't get a
day off for Memorial Day...Whatever the reason- our Mennonite schools
were closed and most of the Mennonite business in this area were closed
as well. This gives us the chance to have a family vacation quickly
before the crowds descend on Lancaster county for the summer.

We chose to make a quick run to the beach. Two of our children have
never seen the waves of the Atlantic and after our experience at Blue
Marsh last summer, I was not sure what would happen.

It was a glorious day! It was worth the aggravation of sand in
EVERYTHING (including the insides of prosthetic feet) to simply watch
Faith dart around on the sand like a sandpiper. She would stand ready on
the sand, daring the waves to get her toes and then run just fast enough
to only get the foam on her toes.

The water was cold and the shells

almost non-existent (actually that is a sand flea-a source of much amusement)
but there were still some very wet pant legs and bags of broken shell treasures to bring home.

I truly hope that none of the more widely traveled class mates won't
roll on the floor laughing over the treasures that went to school this
morning. I didn't have the heart to tell them that people who go to
Florida every year have probably left similar shells on the beach as
'trash' while searching for the perfect pink shell with no missing corners.

The bigger boys even enjoyed the break...Ezekiel dug a hole to sit in

and Ben wrote his research paper on the lap top during the drive.

We saw a group (pod?) of dolphins which of course led to concerned
questions about killer whales. (if you squint you can see the fin)

We ended with supper at the 'best restaurant' in town...the one with a big M in the name...ah well this too shall pass.

Good News!

We are doing the Snoopy Dance

 And the Calvin and Hobbes Dance


 We got our I-800A approval!!!
 For those of us not familiar with all this paperwork jargon.

Basically you need to get approval from a LOT of people. One being the government who is responsible for our child...the other being the government who is in charge of our country...then there are various and sundry other people looking over our shoulders too....but today we got approval from OUR government saying  "We looked over their home study and their fingerprints...cashed their check, their numbers all look good....sooo...OK"

We aren't finished yet...not by a long shot....but as Faith prayed tonite. "Thank you that we are one step closer"

Have a good Mother's Day...Gotta think of an appropriate post to commemorate all the mothers responsible for our small tribe.

PATIENCE!

I am working on that one! We walked in for our fingerprints last Wednesday. I was so hoping that by this week we would be driving that approval to the state capitol and then expediting it through the Chinese Consulate.
But we are still waiting to hear if our approval has gone through...they needed to look over our home study as well...so every night there are 2 little girls praying for "officer John"  to be able to have time to process our approval...and a mama that is praying for patience to wait till "officer John" sends our approval.

Meanwhile I am keeping my fingers busy-almost finished

 And Faith was playing church with her people under the quilt - at least I think it was church...
see all the empty benches in the front?

Wordless Wednesday

How Was Your Saturday?

I feel like a neglectful mother...sort of....
I drove off by my lonesome this morning to attend a Sparrow Fund seminar
A room full of like-minded people absorbing info about our heart's concerns/interests.
Making contacts with new people...Meeting other people who-were only going to have 3 children and ended up with 7....where have I heard that one before?

I made it home by 4:30 and the house was almost cleaned and the laundry was almost finished...but I think they get an "A" for effort...

The wash might dry overnight -out on the wash line. We thankfully don't have a road by our house or all the church-going people would think that this lady did her washing on a Sunday morning!
There are advantages to living behind a screening of trees.

To be fair, I left a list of chores and hubby had his list that he wanted to accomplish, so they did not have that encouragement to keep working....

So what did you do on this day at the end of the week?

Tired Feet

Today I went along on my 8th grader's field trip (totally different kind of tripping)

We went 'green' and caught the train. I really don't know if driving a half an hour to catch a train for a trip that normally takes 45 minutes by car....counts as green

BUT it was fun!

We stopped at the Whitaker center

The PA state capitol

The PA State Museum (sort of boring-don't tell anyone)


While in the state museum I received a phone call from my courier telling me that all is well (even if I didn't fill out the new G-1 form) and my documents will be dropped in the Fed Ex box to overnight them back to me.  To make this week very wonderful...I would need an e-mail from an Officer in Lee's Summit tomorrow...but I'll stick with wonderful...Today was national day of prayer....yesterday was my fasting....think there's a connection?  Oh Yeah!

Walked- In, Printed ...

Ahhh! that is done! They didn't even mention that our appointment is the
15th ( I didn't either)
We waited a bit, because it was lunch time...but in and out.

Called the Hague center and we even have an officer already...

Now all I gotta do is get our courier to call me back...I'm a little
worried about their lack of communication....

Fingerprinting Prayer Request

We got our fingerprinting appt. and it is for the 15th of May.
We decided to try a walk-in tomorrow and see if they will smile kindly
on us.
It is 'only' a one hour drive-each way...I guess worst case scenario we
will just have a 'date' tomorrow

So if you get a chance pray that the right people are in our path
tomorrow, so we can keep this show on the road.