Updates

First off I'm trying to upload a video again of Joe running. The other night we went from this ...


(was trying to upload a 3rd,but Blogger won't cooperate)

to this....

We also got reduced to just one day of therapy a week. My gas budget will be happy.

Pro- What?

This topic has been rolling around in my mind for quite awhile.
I don't normally get too wrapped up in politics and elections....decided to let it up to God and we do the praying.
BUT, there is a topic that has pushed its way into my mind and it has to do with pro-choice and pro-life...of course we/I am pro-Life and I don't think abortions should be a one sided "choice".

BUT if abortions were stopped today....would that suddenly make those women "loving mothers" and the babies "wanted children"?

Would a change in the laws take care of the problem?

Would the social welfare system be ready to handle  1.3 million children (number of abortions per year in the US- 43 million worldwide) whose mothers say "We aren't being selfish, but":

The decision to have an abortion is rarely simple. Most women base their decision on several factors, the most common being lack of money and/or unreadiness to start or expand their families due to existing responsibilities. Many feel that the most responsible course of action is to wait until their situation is more suited to childrearing; 66% plan to have children when they are older, financially able to provide necessities for them, and/or in a supportive relationship with a partner so their children will have two parents.⁸ Others wanted to get pregnant but developed serious medical problems, learned that the fetus had severe abnormalities, or experienced some other personal crisis. About 13,000 women each year have abortions because they have become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.¹   www.prochoice.org

 Studies show that 89% of pregnancies predicted to be children with Down's syndrome  are aborted, I haven't been able to calculate how many children that is per year. If a sonogram shows a major birth defect to be present with a child...very often a physician gives the option of a abortion. If abortions are outlawed...

OK my point here---Who should be standing in the gap? 
Who should be getting their home studies ready?
Who should be ready and willing to take ANY CHILD that happens to be born to a mother that would have made the difficult decision to have an abortion?

THE CHURCH!!!!

Are you willing?  What if God would miraculously move the hearts of the lawmakers and they would ban all abortions?

Be careful how you vote....God might give you a new job!!

Who Would've Thought?

 That the metal monstrosity next to the swimming pool...formerly our wood furnace..

Along with a few odds and ends....would have been worth this much at the re-cyclers this morning.

As my hubby said..."now I can pay the new tires for the pickup"
Wonder what else we can re-cycle?

Planning Ahead

 Actually I made this carrier from a pattern I found out there in internet land and made it for my cousin's wife...she is a foster mom. I want to make one to take to Ch*na when I travel, but wanted to make sure it works well. I really thought it felt comfortable, but only had "baby" in it. Excuse the funny look on my face...Hope was snapping pictures and I obviously wasn't quite ready..

I did load Faith in it, but she is just too big...but settling her on my hip was way more comfortable than any back pack I've tried.

The neat thing is that I used a leg of a pair of jeans for the inside and another pair of jeans for the straps and a pocket for the pocket....couldn't figure out how to get a belt loop attached without breaking my machine needle.

Leprechauns?

Now I know better than to think their are wee folk around...
but who was this? We came home from a family get together to find this
big pink bag with lots of Asian fabrics inside.
At first I thought it was a quilt order, but that proved negative...
Thanks!

Good Night!

Test
Forgot to Review
Look at Test
Uh-Oh!
Try to pick little sister's brain.
Mom interferes
Mom pauses for wisdom
Pauses too long
Mom, Dad united
Fear
Panic
Worry
Panic
Fear
Accusations
Assurances
Calmness
Politeness
Test finished
100% ?(who knows)
Obedience
Good Night mom

Timber!!

 "Fishing" in the pond

Off to Be Reviewed

I called the home study agency on Monday and was super friendly and super pushy...the draft version showed up in my in-box this AM. Thankfully I had "nothing" to do and reviewed it immediately, had them correct a few little errors with numbers and double checked all the other numbers.
If you never did a home study for an international adoption, there are numbers EVERYWHERE...how much you weigh (in kg please) how tall you are (in meters please) how much $$ you have in your checking account (in dollars please) how much in your savings, how much in your piggy bank, under the mattress and behind the tree in the back yard...
How much we spend on electric, phone and food in a month
Everyone's birthdays, every date we ever met with someone from our home study agency.  Oh I had a BLAST...think of it like the monthly visits to the OB-GYN...only not as much fun.

So now the game plan is ... our adoption agency gets to review this 45,869 character- 17 page long document of our life's story...make sure the novel has all the right wording...it takes 2 weeks to do that and a check...see side bar.

A word on God's provision...I teach CPR and first aid classes...I normally have 1 or 2 a month some times 3 or 4.  I will have taught ELEVEN classes from Feb 9 to March 9 (tomorrow). I didn't call people and remind them that they needed to renew...they came after me...no I didn't quite come up with the  $1500 that we needed for the check that needs to go tomorrow...mostly because the bills for the bloodwork for our medical exams came due at the same time, but we came close. Will wait to see what He has in mind for the next month...gotta catch my breath first...

Frustration?!

OK, what do you do with this kind of conversation?
"I"m frustrated"
"Oh, why?"
long conversation getting no where....then...
"I studied 3 hours for my history test and just got a 97%, I wanted 99%"
Am I over reacting if I feel like banging my head against the wall?
Yes, I know the spelling test was a disappointment...spent a lot of time
learning the vocab words,but neglected to study the spelling
words...maybe because they were just...flowers? 81% oh that is a "C" !!
I know that in his head he is equating his value/worth with getting good
grades, even though we try not to emphasize the grades at this house.
Guess tonite he just had to check once more if he is still valuable.
I told him I will love him even if he gets straight "F's" He didn't
believe me...wonder if he will try it?

To God Be the Glory!

Today we got the Child line stuff in the mail. Both of them!
Then I realized that we don't need to have notarized state police
clearances for the teens, so I spent the extra $20 and did an online
version. I didn't realize the results are immediate if there is no
record. Always learning something new. Don't know what will happen with
the package sitting in the Harr*sburg PO. Can you get refunds on money
orders?
So now I will see if I can get some enthusiasm out of the home study
agency on Monday and get this thing on its way!
Have a blessed weekend