Comments of the Week

Gotta write this stuff down...

Driving home last night...Joe: Today at school I pitied Jaiman because just before we took pictures he got stung by the ear.

The rest of us: Hmmm
 Me: What kind of ear was that Joseph?



Ezekiel thinking this over:  "Hmmm must be a very slow moving animal to be considered a landmark"

WE Got TA!

In a day or two we will have our US Consulate appointment and then we can buy tickets!

Countdown

We are on a countdown.
I don't actually know how MANY days  I am counting, but I know that today it is one day less.

Sometime this week (please Lord) we will get a phone call or an e-mail saying

"we have your TA (travel approval)"

I am busy trying to organize my thoughts, and my life for a two week absense

I have a list, but it keeps getting lost. I saw someone was practicing their cursive handwriting on it tonight.

The list says:

School hot lunch for 105 people (most of them teens)
    35# of chicken cooked
    200 egg rolls, rolled
    25# bag of rice waiting
    for Friday

Buy web cam
   (bought and actually installed and it works!)

Make dresses
     (made 3)

Meals for freezer
   (about 4 finished)

Figure out gifts for officials

Finish Adoption News (my newsletter for Mennonites and Amish families)

can/freeze pumpkin

dentist
Doctor (for what my mom calls a 'well-baby' visit)
Mammo (won't tell you what my mom calls that)

Teach 2 or 3 CPR/ First Aid classes
Take girls to dentist
Teach Faith to pack her own lunch (I know...)
Teach Faith to allow Hope to comb her hair

Make a blanket for Shekinah's bed (guess she can use one of the many that we have, but it won't match)
Make/find some hair pretties for my newest little girl! (hopefully they didn't give her a haircut)

Ok I'm tired now, I'm going to bed.

Summer Reading Program Perks

 

Yes, they give each kid who finishes the program a free ticket to this place.  It is great for kids up to about 12. After that they think it is a bit boring. One of our children (he shall be nameless) was in such a hurry to be finished and did not want any direction or help from mom....and since sister WAS completely finished....anyway one of 12 and under crowd did not get a free ticket and did not accompany us.

The weather was beautiful

Hope got to drive a car   all-by-herself!

 We spent more than 5 hours there...we didn't go on anything too "scary" Faith's description of anything that ruffled your hair.   Hope was very good about it (maybe relieved)...we enjoyed our day!

Osteochondroma vs Osteosarcoma

What's the difference?  Thankfully the words benign and malignant.

For those of you who don't go to the same church...we have a young boy in our church who was recently diagnosed with bone cancer...

in his leg

close to his knee

he also goes to the same school

we pray for him often

So we have been learning a little about bone cancer

The fact that there is higher incidence in males than females

The fact that it often surfaces in the mid- teen years

The fact that it often occurs close to growth plates.


Anyhow...when Ezekiel complained of knee pain the other week without having injured it...

at least not that he remembered.

We put it down to having worn the wrong orthotic inserts in his shoes when we were at the cabin for a long weekend....it also had something to do with a limb stretching contest that he might have been involved in.

Mystery solved...mother-worry diminished

But....

When he came to us on Saturday with a LUMP above the same knee.
I tried to blame it on the bike ride that he had taken with his dad.

Tues night dad came to me and said "you know he still has that lump and I don't think it is the muscle"
He was right. It was definitely on the femur.

The internet is awful.....it is wonderful

I found the two terms....the two osteo's  one painless and the other painful

Ezekiel's was painless

And to day the doctor also confirmed that it is benign.

He wants to see him in three months and again in six, just to be sure.

Praise the Lord we are not walking that path...my relief feels guilty though....I don't know if I will even have the nerve to mention my "praise" in women's Sunday school...I feel so selfish

And so relieved.

Those Ties...

   were made into a memory pillow for a friend. The border is from her father's flannel shirts, his ties make up the Dresden Plate design in the middle.

And since my mother taught me well. I made the rest of the flannel shirts into a lightweight throw.

Two Years Ago

This is the first video that we had of Joseph...it was the video that gave us the courage to adopt a 10 y.o. boy. His photos were not as friendly looking.

 He said that he knew he had a family about 3 months before we came, but had given up hope that we would show up.

         One morning we boarded a jet plane (well first it was a little one) then a big plane and many long  hours later.....

        We felt like the doorman in the background. We had one night's sleep and needed to meet the guide at 7AM to be off to meet Joseph.

                                           We were early so we had to sit outside the gate for awhile.   

            We were finishing up paperwork and suddenly he was in the same room!

Wonder what was going through his head?

            Not the clearest pictures, but he does not do well with posing.

Saturday's are for Cooking?

 Today it was time to make Sweet Chili sauce. Got the recipe from one of my Chinese cook books and the flavor matches the bought stuff. I canned some of it since we have an abundance of peppers.

 Then on to the bread oh and a quadruple batch of baked oatmeal since I forgot to buy cereal yesterday. Actually that recipe has a bit more sugar than the way I make it,but you get the idea.

 Then on to the $92 worth of meat. Our supermarket had sale on pork and BIG pieces of sirloin so I'm trying the "cook for a day- eat for ....awhile?"  Actually I'd like some of this stuff to stay in the freezer until I'm in China so the troops can eat without too much work on their part.

Trying to decide what treatment to give this hunk of meat...any ideas?

BTW two years ago we were enroute/arriving in China to meet Joseph.

My Week Thus Far

Something I never thought I would see. She ran screaming about bugs at the beginning of summer. This weekend she brought in a SNAKESKIN!And took it to school to show her teacher who supposedly does not like snakes...forgot to ask her how it went. ( I didn't know of the teacher's antipathy until this evening when big sister informed me)

 I seriously thought about putting a prayer request on FB this AM. My washer would not pump out the water in my first load. I'm sorry, but a family of 7 NEEDS a washer. We had just replaced the pump so I sincerely hoped that we did not have to go washer shopping. Thankfully hubby came home and discovered that there was a bunch of sand clogging the pump. It may have been connected to the towels he used to wipe out the swimming pool he was putting away on Monday...maybe....

 Somehow this week is shaping up similarly to the weeks before we traveled for Joseph.  Go here to look at the appliance breakdowns and rashes we dealt with then.

I made a visit to the Dr to see what she thinks of this rash that has gotten out of hand. Psoriasis? We shall see if she is right.

We are just missing the skunk episode...We don't have a dog to get sprayed so I'd better warn everyone that black and white striped kitties are not to be played with.

Homemade Tortillas and Sweet Waffles

White Flour Tortillas (from Favorite Recipes from Quilters)

makes 8-12 tortillas
4 cups flour (use some whole wheat)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp shortening
1-1/2 cups warm water
1. combine dry ingredients, then cut in shortening. Add water, and work dough with hands until manageable.
2. Knead dough 15- 20 times. Let rest for 10 min (optional- I never have the extra time) Form dough into balls the size of an egg. Roll each piece out into a 6-8 " circle.
3. Fry in electric skillet or frying pan, cook 2 min. on each side until done. I use a bit of shortening to fry these.


I like the flavor , but they do not stay flexible if you save the left overs for the next day. I guess I should try heating them between wet paper towel in the microwave?

Joseph swooned the first time I made these. Apparently his foster mom had made these and they filled them with vegetables.

Sweet Waffles
(created one long ago weekend when we had time to be creative)
It is actually half a cake recipe and half a waffle recipe

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup softened butter, shortening or oil
1-1/4 cup milk
2-1/2 cups flour
2 large eggs
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Mix sugar and butter together, add dry ingredients, then add the milk and eggs

or if you cook like I do, mix the sugar and butter, then add the rest....it will mix.
cook in the waffle iron just like regular waffles.

I put mine in the oven in a single layer for cooling so they don't get soggy.
Use the waffles to make ice cream sandwiches. Yum!