So How Many do You Have?

    How many of these handy-dandy buckets do you have?
    It's amazing and embarrassing  how many we accumulate during a year.
  Actually it's free Tupperware  (see how many hits my blog gets because of that phrase). These lovely buckets can be used for
cookies at Christmas,
pork bar b que for the freezer,
storing leftovers from the fellowship meal,
the granola cereal,
for the sink garbage,
perfect size for little people to take to the garden "for a few tomatoes",
in a pinch they make a sand bucket,
cookies at Christmas,(yeah I know that's the second time)
carry chicken feed,
and for my Mennonite readers, you can wash your coverings in here too...sort of a story behind this
           one time I threw away an old covering and my hubby saw it in the trash and he put a bit of laundry detergent in a bucket added the covering and some warm water, popped the lid in place and shook mightily for a few seconds....(now you need to hold the lid on firmly because it tends to pop off)  the result was a very clean covering. So ever since I've been using that method.

The great thing about these buckets is that you can toss them after they develop cracks and not be smitten with guilt for wasting money.

But the thing to remember is that you need to toss a lid at the same time, other wise...

you end up with 12 buckets and 30 lids. Don't ask me how I know.

I won't ask you how many  of these you have.

I toss them,

 but  I tend to keep these....they get filled with applesauce for the freezer


Sorry for such a "fluffy" post.

Big Helper

              Yes, she did!  Tonite while I was mixing the chili for tomorrow's fellowship meal she
              picked up the toys! She put the Duplos in one box , wooden "sticks" in the proper box, Fisher Price people in the right box...

              "I'm a big helper mom! right?"  You sure are! At least tonight you were.

After many hours and many tiny pieces--  2430 to be  we finally have a quilt!

Those little triangles make a 1" square after they are sewn into the quilt.

Searching for Joy

This fall seems very blue and I know it is because of a number of different situations in our life right now...

The young man that I mentioned in a previous blog post, has been told by his doctors that they are out of definitive treatment options. His cancer is back and now it is in his lungs. I can concentrate on the life cut short or I can rejoice that he is a Christian. I can watch him seize the moment and rejoice that he can be included in the singing events that he missed last year because of his hospital stays. We still pray for a miracle.
                                      *******************************************              

My brother and his wife are expecting their 11th child. She normally has unremarkable pregnancies and deliveries and rarely, if ever, has had an ultrasound. This time, it was God I think, she decided to get an ultrasound and there are two things that bear closer inspection. They will be going to a nearby children's hospital to get a complete round of testing to see what they may possibly be facing. I rejoice that no matter what the results, they choose life and no matter what, this child will be loved unreservedly. I rejoice that they are at least forewarned.  But if you think of them pray that the doctors could witness a miracle. Also for God's peace to be with my sister-in-law, this testing and close scrutiny is such unfamiliar territory.

                                           ******************************************

A few years ago we started going to a new church, it was smaller than our original church and though we knew about a third of the members, there were new faces to recognize and names to remember. But I was learning to pull a name out of my dusty file for most of the children as well as the adults, and if that failed I could ask Hope after church.  "Who was the lady with the beautiful peach colored dress?" and without fail, she would know. (example bears no resemblance to actual person)
As I said it is a small church-building that is- and we have outgrown the benches. There is a reluctance to build 'great houses' and so an outreach committee was started and a new location was designated. Then the families who lived in that area and were willing to leave the comforts of the known for the unknown gave their names. When all the numbers were crunched and tabulated, about half of the families were moving on to the new location. I tell my children, "It will be OK in the end." and I paste on a smile.

I didn't know it hurts so much to divide so we can multiply.

                                       ***************************************

Then there is a foster/adoptive family that will possibly loose their attempt to adopt their foster daughter  because (according to powers that be) they have sought help for their attachment challenged son. They   placed him in a therapeutic attachment home as a bid to help him heal. I worry that the county is not thinking of the damage they will do to the little girl and the children who are now her siblings if they pull her from the only home she has known for two years. The whole community is praying for the "powers that be" to regain their common sense and do what is best for the child.


There is much to be thankful for, and if pressed I can see Joy in all of these situations, but

sometimes I just need to cry.

One Year Ago

One year ago, yesterday, I met this little girl in Wuhan Civil Affairs Office

She really didn't like me or my lollipops. She might look shy and hesitant here,

but her paperwork pegged her as irascible and they were right! 

Last night she was helping dad put trim back on the newly painted barn and I caught some good pictures of her.  She is usually the center of attention in this house and lately will pull some pretty crazy behavior to get my attention when the siblings come home from school. But nothing quite compares to those little arms wrapped around your neck and " I LIKE you!"

             Why oh why! do they decide to play dentist AFTER bedtime!  "It made her happy mom!
               Yes, but tomorrow night, let's start at 7:30 PM

Some tidbits...A cohort is 600 men
     If I'm disgruntled, what does gruntled look like?   totally Zeke-ism's

Who Would Have Thought?

                   That my daughter would have  a pet?
                                      Not one, but TWO wolf spiders

              She thinks she managed to capture a male and female and she is planning the nursery!

                       She claims the science book gave her all the information she needed!

                       Gonna have to read this science book!
                       
     What's funny is that she is afraid to catch the bugs to feed her pets!
                                                She tells Faith and Joe to catch them!

                     Her parting words when we left for school this AM "mom, don't let Shekinah
                                 take off the lid!"

INCREDIBLE!

That moment your 13 year old begins to realize, no matter how old he is, what position or job he has, there will always be SOMEONE (even other than God) telling him what to do.

This journey of realization started last week one day.  I had told Faith to clean up some blocks and she put them in Shekinah's sand bucket. This started a very sleepy girl to whining "I want my bucket, I want my bucket!"  I ignored the fuss knowing that it was bedtime and what she needed was a bed and not a bucket!

Very wise teen-ager was observing, "but mom it IS her bucket."
 "Yes, I know, but it doesn't matter right now."

"but it's her bucket."

(repeat about 3 times)

Finally I told him to mind his own business, I'm the mom and she needs to go to bed and HE can put the blocks in another box so she can have her bucket. (not my finest parenting moment)

As I was getting Shekinah ready for bed, I heard "wise one" in the kitchen questioning daddy "I don't get why if it is her bucket, she can't do what she wants with it."

Do you know where the bucket is?  Just setting in her room, no one is playing with it, no one even wants it!

Last night, he came home with a question for Ben.
Side info: Matthew's dad= Ben's boss, owner of a plumbing and electrical firm.
                Riley = Class mate

"Ben is it true that Matthew's dad is going to be working for Riley's dad?"

" Yes, that is very possible."

"but isn't he the boss?"

The incredulity on "young man's" face should have been recorded on film. (I know we don't use film)

Thus began another conversation about "no matter who you are, even the President has people telling him what to do"

I'm not sure he believed us yet.

There has been some great "Quote of the Day"-s  but I can't remember them!

Confessions of a Mennonite Housewife*

I'm not sure who to blame, but somewhere along the line Mennonite women have been expected to be meticulous housewives and wonderful cooks.  Can I blame Swiss ancestry..maybe the Germans?

But somewhere I missed the important link.

My front stoop hasn't been scrubbed...well in a very long time. It did get swept on Saturday though.

I wash my kitchen floor when my shoe sticks to a sticky spot.

I wash windows when we are expecting guests, but only if they will arrive in the daylight.

I clean under to stove when some precious item rolls under there...

The fridge gets wiped when there is a clear spot because it is time to grocery shop...or if there is a spill.

My desk has a hidden magnet that attracts all sorts of paper. I have plans how to be organized, but somehow keep getting interrupted.

The bedrooms get swept more often when there is no mowing to be done outside...since somehow that  seems like a good masculine job.  Since I go to bed when it's dark and get up when it's still dark (mostly)
However, the living room carpet bothers me A LOT when it's  dirty because the carpet has a black background. DH picked it  one of those times when I told him "Just pick it, I really don't care what we put in there." (I think we were doing adoption stuff at the time) I do love the design, it just shows the threads from my sewing projects.

The kitchen floor is another spot that gets swept even if washing is infrequent, since I can't stand crumbs sticking to my bare feet.

Social workers have a way of kicking me into gear and I guess we have our one year post-placement coming up!

*May have been exaggerated to show humor.

On a serious note, you can join us in praying for Josh. He's a young man (17) from our school and church who was diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time in two years. He had just healed from his leg amputation (bone cancer) and was looking forward to learning to walk with his new prosthesis. God specializes in miracles, so we wait to see what He has planned.

Being Thankful

I dread the trips to Philadelphia...the Schuylkill Expressway is not fun, but it occurred to me that I should record the things to be thankful for...

Thank you Lord for letting the lady in the green Pathfinder notice me at the last second, thus avoiding squooshing me between the cement median and her car, but maybe remind me to blow the horn the next time, so she doesn't get quite that close.

Thank you Lord for the traffic tie-up being in the west bound lane while we were headed east.

Thank you Lord for the driver of the tractor trailer slowing to allow me to merge when the traffic was bumper-to-bumper and I HAD to merge.

Thank you Lord for the extra hour it took to do the final adjustments on Joe's legs...it was probably the time frame in which that horrible looking accident happened, the one they were cleaning up when we went past.

And thank you Lord that the hospital is only 1-1/2 hours from our house a mere 60 miles.

Life Lately

Life around here seems to go from all-out crazy to plodding...I was going to say boredom, but 

I know this household cannot be boring, at least not to me.

          Last week Shekinah was bear hunting in the garden her weapon was a bubble shooter!

                                        No "concealed carry" permit needed

        I didn't get pictures when she was using the six-shooter rubber band gun. Since we couldn't find enough rubber bands I used the bigger hair bands. It took about 30 seconds to unload and about two minutes to locate all the ammo again. I am trying to make a quilt so anything is worth a shot. (pun intended)

 Why is it that no matter how much over-time hubby manages to get, the Dis*over bill is just a bit higher than I planned?  We budget using two check books...hubby figures out how much of his paycheck is needed for electric, phones, insurance, tuition,savings and taxes and puts that in one check  book.
And certain amount gets deposited in a 2nd checkbook for gas,food, clothes and other household expenses. I try to contribute to that with my quilts and CPR classes. Well either we are eating too good or a little Miss Somebody is seeing that I don't make too many quilts.  This week I decided to see if I could make up the deficit by getting up at 4 AM and working an extra hour while people are sleeping since staying up late is not nearly as productive. I found out I'm not nearly as tough as I wish. I made it only 2 mornings, I realized that there are about 2400 little triangles to be sewn together plus the bigger pieces...I borrowed from the other fund...It will get done...but not this week!

 I mean, I needed to stay awake to run to Phila on Wed for Joe's new legs. Gotta get a picture of them too...He just kept the carbon fiber exposed this time...they look like snake skin!  He's happy with them and I think this is the first time I would say he stands more level, his toes point properly when he walks and he stands straight. He also grew a whole foot size in one day! He was not impressed today when he needed to dribble the soccer ball in a timed test.  I told him that is why I didn't push for bigger feet before this.

close-up of the pattern sheet

       The neat thing about having kids at our "advanced age" we could babysit my younger cousin's daughter because she is the same age as Faith...here they were timing how long they could be quiet.