Summer Doldrums

I'm trying, but those crafts keep getting less and less ambitious. 

Here is Shekinah's family portrait. The extra one there is Parker, don't get any ideas.

We still need to make our clocks.

We have had our  second day (two hours worth) of driver training. The first day the girls and I went shopping, somehow it didn't agree with Shekinah (surprise!) and I declared she will go to a baby sitter this week. I didn't get that arranged in time so today found us in Hershey again, this time I had a plan. We were going to the Goodwill I found on the map and then if we had time we were going to the library. Well the Goodwill was a DONATION site only, but I now know where East Grenada or Granada (different spellings on different signs) street are in Hershey.

So we investigated the library. They allowed us to check out books, all I needed was a photo ID and my hometown library card. They were even nice about it! Check out just wasn't the same though with out the beep that accompanies our librarian's scanner. So far removed from the old card stampers that they used 25+ years ago. They gave a satisfying "clunk" when they stamped a book card.

We topped off the afternoon by using free ice cream coupons from a local grocery store.

Tuesday night gave me this scene. They played "The Bean Game" for an hour. Shekinah played her own version with the left-over cards. The only city news was that Ben's house was broken in, the only thing missing was a dollar bill that was lying beside his laptop and a piece of cake from the fridge. Guess I'll send more food. I suggested he takes the offered K'nex and Hot Wheels sets, but he said, "They will probably just throw them at each other.  Playing basketball is violent enough."

So I guess my other idea of hammering nails into a board is out too?

On the positive side, the kids like his violin and he is giving "lessons". Might need to buy another $50 violin at Christmas.

QOTD #1  "Driving is stressful"

QOTD#2 "No I don't want to go for ice cream, I spent four hours in the car already, it's too far away."

QOTD#3 "Mom, did my bear come with clothes, cause I don't like him sitting in church nekid."

Ben in the City

So almost a week ago Ben moved to an inner-city apartment, across the street from a mission church and right next to a school. The school is run by the mission church. He has been going to this city for about three years helping with their Thursday night kids clubs. After he came home from Thailand he felt drawn to spending more time working with the kids that he sees on Thursday nights at Kid's Club.  The school needed a maintenance man and Ben knows something about electricity, plumbing and general hard work so he took the position. It is a one year commitment.

His boss from the plumbing/electrical place offered him a one-day-a-week job, that was perfect because it will help with his budget. Voluntary Service pay is generally enough money to buy necessities, but not niceties.

Tuesday night found him at our supper table and the first  stories were told, they need to be written down because in a few weeks more stories will drown out these first days.
The rhythm of the city is different than our home's tempo. The street stays quiet until about 11AM when the youngest kids make their appearance. The street stays lively until about midnight when the very tired children finally find their homes. The sad parts about the five-year-old that doesn't seem to have a home, but apparently does, because he has his papers filled out to come to Kid's Club. The funny parts about the houses where children seem to spill from every window and door.  Ben doesn't think they live there, but simply gather there.

Over the weekend, Ben almost thought one little guy was gonna need medical care when he launched himself over the porch railing to get away from a wasp and fell into the flower bed onto the only rose bush there. Thankfully he hit his shoulder  instead of smacking his head.

Then there was the time Ben was cleaning up his sink and heard a crash from his minuscule back yard. Knowing there wasn't much to make that sort of noise he went to investigate and saw three boys running different directions. One hid behind the truck, another went over the neighbor's fence, the third hid behind the metal shed. Knowing all their names, he called them and asked what was happening. "How could you see us?" was the question that came back.  "We were trying to put up the ladder to the school roof, but the ladder fell on the shed."
Ben was not surprised that the ladder fell, it was a sturdy 30ft extension ladder and weighs quite a bit.
"We were trying to get DiAngelo's shoes, they're on the roof."
"Why are your shoes on the school roof?"
"We were throwing them after his socks."
"Why....?" Ben quit then and put up the ladder and found the shoes. As he retrieved the shoes he saw the offending socks hanging from a neighbor's 2nd floor dormer roof and two young boys already up on the third floor house roof. Apparently they had been on that roof and were throwing socks down...not up like I was picturing (Zeke pointed out that it is very hard to throw-up socks-how would he know?) and after one got stuck on the roof, they lobbed the shoes after it.

Ben told them to please ask the next time they need the ladder.

We agreed that "Idleness is the Devil's workshop".

In an effort to give the boys something profitable to do, he had them cleaning up an old Kitchen Aid mixer that was left at the house. "You can't take your eyes off them a minute, I went in the house 30 seconds to get something, when I came out one of them had found my permanent marker in my electrical bag and had 'checked if it worked' on the top of the mixer."

Not that he was surprised, just amused.

I told him that his porch walls need scrubbing, but we are wracking our brains for something that he can give them to do that can keep 12 hands busy and isn't inside his house. Maybe cook on the front porch?

Ladder Golf, String Art, and Driver's Ed

We made our own ladder golf game last Saturday evening.

In the past week we have tried string art, it brought back memories of 6th grade. I still wonder where our teachers got the instructions for the stringing. I haven't been able to find the instructions how to make certain designs. Because of that some of my artists were not overly happy with their final product. It was a fine afternoon of hammering nails though.

One great thing about summer is that are rarely left-overs cluttering up the fridge.

Oh and driver's ed. We have twelve hours of driver's ed scheduled at a local rehab hospital.

It hasn't happened quickly and I'm surprised how well that has been handled.

So how did "Listen and Obey" and "Ask with Respect" work? Well I think the first day after I posted I met head on with one stubborn child. I had asked for a verbal response to a request. I almost thought that I was the stubborn one and maybe should lighten up.  Then I got to thinking of all the times there is confusion of whether or not a child actually heard a request. So I decided to stick at it.  It took about an 90 minutes. What was I doing during that time? I hung up laundry, helped replant sunflowers that had died, dodged some poorly aimed missiles  and basically stuck with the child until FINALLY, we were both on the same page. There were tears on both sides. Since that day that particular child has done very well. The youngest one is still work in progress.  :)

I read some advice that  I think I will probably get a chance to use one day and thought maybe someone else  might like to try it too.

When your child decides- at Wal-mart or some other public place—to suddenly NOT cooperate. You know, the sagging to the ground and screaming, won’t get into his car seat because you are asking him to leave a fun place or you didn’t buy the toy he saw in the store.

This lady said she watches for the pause in the screaming, there usually is one and you insert a comment or question that engages the frontal cortex (the thinking/reasoning part) of the brain. Say something like, “ I wonder, do you think cows can be orange?” or look at his shoes and say, “do you like wearing green shoes?” (pick a different color from what he is actually wearing). She said she has done this dozens of times with her five and eight-year-old foster sons in the nine months they have been with her and it has usually worked. She said she coached a camp counselor through the process over the phone when her son went “off-line” over something that had happened. The counselor was amazed how it worked.

You will need to choose a question that is developmentally appropriate, but give it a shot and let me know how it worked.  I used it on Shekinah yesterday when she “wasn’t tired” and was going for a nap. She was wailing beside the bunk beds, not moving. I glanced up and noticed Faith’s pink sock monkey hanging from the top bunk. I decided to try a question since we were getting nowhere fast. I asked, “where did you get that green monkey?”  She stopped crying and asked “where?” I pointed out the monkey and she declared , “That isn’t my monkey (she missed the green vs pink) that is Faith’s!”  I quickly asked if she has any friends hidden under her pillow pet and she started crawling into bed. She wanted her one animal that was downstairs. I quickly ran down, got it, and heard her start crying again. I thought maybe  this technique wasn’t working, but I hurried back up the stairs , and gave her “Waddles”. She sniffled a bit, gave me a kiss and settled for a nap!


Something I never thought I would hear said to a two-year-old!  "You gotta eat something else before you may have any more broccoli or peas."