May. 12, 2008 - Please keep the Chinese homeschoolers in your prayers....

my heart is heavy right now.............I am just crying............ we are thankful the earthquake in China did not affect us..........my husband has students from underground churches he teaches at though that he is concerned about, especially university students. He is due to be in China end of May, I don't know if this will affect anything with his trip.

we survived an earthquake 8 years ago, 6.9 on the scale and almost 1minute long...........this is just bringing back hard memories for me right........unless you have ever been through a STRONG earthquake, seen family members building all but laying in the street or sitting in a van when a strong aftershock hits, you will not understand...............the ground literally MOVES!!!! something you take for granted...........

the first thing foreigners here today did was say "any tsunami warnings?" no there weren't..............i have been thinking........that could've been us!!! we were having lots of small earthquakes a few weeks ago......................

Please right now pray for the foreigners especially in China, it will be hard for them if they don't speak the language and the low quality medical care will be evident quite soon.

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May. 7, 2008 - hump day.....

well, today was not a good day................I don't know, maybe it's the still gettin' over the "bug" that hit our oldest on Sunday, maybe it's the durn weather that goes back and forth back and forth, maybe it's the age difference? my youngest two can play for hours without hardly an incident...........but add the oldest into the mix and well...............there is incident after incident.............it is exhausting. AND maybe it is just everyone getting anxious for Ms. Anna Joy to get here................who knows!!!!!

Speaking of Ms. Anna Joy.......I am not sure what position she is in, she feels like she did some more moves and changed again!!! we'll find out next week.......Anna's Chinese name is "Jyie Shin" which means "pure heart" AND I am pulling for her tribal name of "Hana" which is the Japanese word for "flower". Luke's uncle, the official "head of the family" suggested "Dabus".....which I don't know what that means, but I have a neice here who has that name. My tribal name is Hana, but would like my daughter to have it................so have I just confused you all? Tribal names.....yes, all our boys have tribal names. Luke is from the Atayal Tribe here in Taiwan. Ds1 is Hagow (great grandpa's name), ds2 is Nohli (Luke's uncle's name since they also have the same birthday), and ds3 is Suyaan.........I think it was Luke's dad's name.......Luke's name is Bisow (actually sounds like pizza but with a "b"sound!!LOL!!!).....I call him "O ji Saan" which is basically "grandpa" in Japanese....LOL!!!!! he thinks he is getting old..........all 43 years of him. He was trying to tell me I was 35yr and I just told him NO I AM NOT!!! Then he was adding it up with the "you know I am right" tude (men!!).........then he realized he was wrong.........even ds1 about fell out of his chair laughing at daddy's expression!!!LOL!!!

Today we were blessed with a package!! Of course, as soon as my boys see a box from the PO, they say "Pop-pop?".....I didn't know we were getting a package. A wonderful young couple we know sent us coffee for Luke, wonderful smelling hand soap for me, a cute little dress for Anna and a HUGE  bag of Lincoln Logs!!!! they have been playing all afternoon............only a few um....situations.....mostly all ok. It is like Lincoln Log city or something!! i mean ALOT!!!

We only did a like 2 subjects today for school, the mood of the day was a bad one and quite honestly, I am not up for any issues...........

On a ministry note: I learned today that our county, Taitung, has the highest rate of unwed mothers...........but not a single unwed mother home or much of an unwed mother ministry (God is working in our hearts though!!). BUT a young couple from center of the island has been contacting me. They are due with a baby girl beginning of June and due to poverty  can't take care of her. Because the couple is married, the USA won't allow the child to be adopted to the USA. BUT we may have found a family. So please, do pray for that. They have been looking for a family (via the internet) but no one has responded to them. The news has mentioned that the number of abandoned or not wanted children/infants is higher and higher, but the number of those adopting is lower and lower. Please do pray for guidance in this ministry that God is leading and burdening us for. We have 3 cases going on right now and kinda translating only for a 4th one...................wisdom, endurance and persaverance.................that's what we need............as well a resources:-)..........but God will bring that along as we go!!!

ok, off to do somethings

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May. 6, 2008 - we got mail today.....

my son is growing up!!!!!!!!!!

we got the "letter"  of notification for ds2's school.................for first grade.........wow!! where has the time gone.

now we gotta get a letter from the church school in the USA saying he is registered there and has been for the past year.

the taiwan school is  a different school than ds1, so this should be quite interesting..............that school is considered "high class"---LOL!!! basically cause it has a new building and they only have like 3 or 4 classes per grade unlike other schools that may have alot more per grade.

so, once again, it begins.......................

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May. 6, 2008 - Tuesday....

well, ds1 was sick Sunday and recuperating Monday. So it was a sick day. He rarely has one of those, so we all just chilled. I did work some on my master's degree stuff. I have to take the final of one course and type up a few more reports for the next one to send it off. It was a nice relaxing day.

Tody we'll do work though. Usually we have a foreign ladies Bible study, but one lady is in the USA and the rest are getting busy with some end of the year things for their kids. So, we aren't having it today. I will use tha time to get sorta caught up on things here.

We were supposed to start having storms last night. Someone from the west side of the island called and said it rained all day at their place, but here, it rained a little bit in the evening. It is plum rain season, so rain is expected. We are supposed to have storms all week long!!EW!!

Ok, I think Miss Anna Joy has flipped............at least I don't feel like I have a softball in my ribs--LOL!!!makes using the bathroom alot easier too (too much information there!!)......................Let's see.............I don't know what else to write. I had something, but can't remember..........Oh, there were MANGOES at the fruit stand...............MY. FAVORITE!!!!! Dh knows when he buys them, either he buys alot for everyone, or only Mommy:-) DS3 hasn't gotten the hand of "this is mommy's so hands off buckoo"........but the other boys know better-LOL!!! DH got watermelon too. I love the fruit here, it is so abundant and delicious. Sorry, but the fruit in the USA, is well, pathetic...........at least the places we saw, was pathetic looking, and so expensive too!! Oh, one last thing.............this rice hoarding............it is not happening all over Asia!! we have lots of rice, as a matter of fact, our county is known for it's rice and we export some as well. So, my family is doing fine. there are only a few places that are like that, not all of Asia. Careful what you hear on the news.

ok, breakfast is calling me!!

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May. 2, 2008 - end of the week.....

well, we only did a few things today. I puked my breakfast up yesterday and have been feeling sick and tired all day today. I stayed in bed til 3pm. We did school in bed today:-)

Oh, have a funny question from my  3yr old.......the other day he was coloring a Bible story picture. Withe the most serious look on his face he turns to me and asks "Mommy, did Jesus have armpits?"................ LOL!!! 3 yr olds...............gotta love 'em!

I have discovered my ds2 is really moving along in things. He decided he wanted to read Dr. Seuss "Go Dogs Go" book. And you know what? he can!! Not bad for a soon to be 6yr old. We started off slower with him than we did with ds1 but he is pretty much on target. Not that we are comparing or anything. It was cute to see ds2 reading out loud while ds3 was intently listening and looking at the pictures. Ds3 is now in the "I want school too" mode. I did order RS preschool books for him, so we will go through that slowly. BUT he is proving himself to be smart as his brothers. We bought ds3 a maze book and he finished it all, BY HIMSELF with no mistakes by evening. DH let him do that! He is trying to write his name, which is kinda cute.....he can get the first 3 letters ok.....not too good at the "H", but I haven't really done ANYTHING with him.

We are really needing to crack down on stuff with ds1. I have just been too tired and out of it to really get him doing his best. If we finish up the books before we should (English we are just about done, Chinese we have about 10 weeks left as we are behind on that), I am going to work on writing. He really needs to do better on writing paragraphs and such. I don't know if this is a difficulty more so for bilinguals or not, or just for 9yr old boys in general. We'll see. We'll probalby start with Chinese narrations or journals as it is his strongest language. We'll see. THough I am sure 4th grade English will expect more from him.

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Apr. 30, 2008 - with 4males in the house......

I think I need this:

How to Keep Men from Missing the Toilet

In the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the men’s urinals have a unique feature … one that could easily be used in your own bathroom, if necessary! If that doesn’t work, you could at least keep an eye out for one of these self-cleaning bathrooms!

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Apr. 28, 2008 - Well...I realized something interesting....

Last night we went to the night market. Something we have rarely done since getting back to Taiwan a few months ago. It is only on Sunday nights here in our town. Before, I noticed looks and comments on the "cute mixed kids".....yeah, my kids are considered "mixed." The technical Chinese translation would be "mixed blood child", though I really don't like translating it like that, but that's about how it is literally translated. Anyway, most don't think I know Chinese, so I just ignore comments and go on. Well, last night, I noticed that not only were we getting the "cute"kid stare and comments, but that we had 3 kids AND pregnant.

This came after Friday English class. One of my colleagues asked me if my kids were going to an American college (hellooooooo...my oldest is only 4th grade??!!!). When I said I hope so, he said "that's better, they wouldn't fit in here in Taiwan college because of homeschooling." LOL!! he got the "talkin' to!!"........then as I was leaving, he says "don't you think 4 is too much?"......took me a minute to figure what he was saying...when I asked if he was referrring to 4 kids, he said "of course, that's alot!". I simply said "as Christians, we feel that kids are a gift and a blessing, not just a money eating responsiblity." He agreed that that was probably it. Most Chinese families see our family size (which I don't consider big mind you!) and think "wow...you must spend a fortune on education and cram schools" (the latter is basically an after school tutorial to keep kids on track or ahead......for good test scores!). When we mention we homeschool, after we pick them off the floor, they say "no wonder....you save alot of money!".........................

Well, it has really occurred to me that in the USA and even here in Taiwan (which is now trying to give out money for people to have children!) really have a thing against large families (aka.....2 child family). It's sad really. Even my ob/gyn said "the governor needs to give you an award for having another child."....................I think we are allowed though for one more in most people's eyes since our first 3 are boys. It is like "well since you have 3 boys, you can stop now after you have your girl." 

I just pray that we can raise our children to not be sensitive to these remarks, even from Christian circles, and let them know they are a blessing!!

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Apr. 25, 2008 - end of the week.....

well, it's Friday. As I write this, we have Chinese lesson and history or science to do. I really am lazy on those subjects. We are doing fine in English, though I admit, we skipped the telephone introductions and other introductions and we breezed over writing letters. I think we work on those as we do them. We are on poetry. We are almost finished our English book. I will then work on writing after we are done.

The other day, a family from the USA was here in Taiwan visiting family (the husband is half Taiwanese). They are adopting two boys ages 3 and 2. We were the ones who introduced/referred them to the boys. The boys are in foster care. It was such a great time to see the boys and their two children playing and all. The boys warmed up after a little bit and let them hold them and kiss on them. It was hard to leave. Before we left, Luke said a prayer of blessing on all the families and children. The foster moms were there, and it was hard for them too. Pray the case goes quickly!!

We are also preparing another family for a baby boy! Baby isn't due til June, but there unfortunately is a long story behind it. God really has been protecting this baby. If mom wasn't in jail for all her pregnancy, she would be smoking, drinking and doing drugs.........God is working. Please pray for us as we are working on 3 cases for children to get to wonderful Christian families.

Well, if you see our ticker to the side.............Anna Joy is to make her appearance in just 2 months. Good!! sleeping is getting hard to do:-) please pray she changes positions, she is breech right now and honestly, those "put your tushy in the air" exercises give me a headache!!!LOL!! so ..........we'll see as i go back to dr on Tuesday.

have a great one!

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Apr. 21, 2008 - well, not much for a monday.....

I did get some housework done today, but am I the only one who feels that if housework gets done, then school work doesn't get done....or vice versa..............I don't know what to do really.

I did some catching up on house work (maybe nesting syndrome setting in!!!LOL!!) and took our "daughter" (first foster daughter now grown) for her prenatal check up. She is one week ahead of me for her due date and her dh is out of town for most of this week. We are at the every 2 week visit now. So, I put on my mommy hat with her and took her:-).......the dr thought it was kinda amusing.

Anyway, ds1 only got math, english and basically, that is it..............tomorrow he can do more independent work though as I have ladies Bible study to attend. I am afraid of letting him slow down before the IOWA tests. I know, I know, I shouldn't do that, tests aren't THAT important, but still...............there is that pressure there.

I am thinking though, that this summer he needs to work on writing. So I will probably have him do reading and essays this summer. English is not his strong language, Chinese is. So for him to write and remember the rules for English grammar is difficult. Rod and Staff, he likes, but I am wondering what else I should do to get him up to par. He is going into 4th grade and I just feel he should be able to do some more writing. Any suggestions?

Our "daughter" has said that she wants to homeschool her children.  Her oldest will be 2yr old in October and her other one is due in June. So, she is kinda watching us and what we do.............a little bit a pressure.

Well, it is 10pm here and I am tired.................I hope I can get up on time tomorrow, for some reason I have been getting up really late in the AM though not sleeping late at night............who knows what it is (well, besides trying to get comfortable 100times a night!!LOL!!)

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Apr. 18, 2008 - TOTAL BRAG ALERT!!

Early this AM, dh and ds1 got on a train to the capital, it's a 6hour ride (give or take). Ds1 had to go to an award ceremony for his art project. I don't know if I can get a picture of it....I'll see.....

anyway, dh just called me to tell me the ins and outs...........totally bragging here:-)

out of 7,000kids whose pictures were entered, then 2000were chosen, THEN out of that 200 were chosen THEN after that 80 of those were sent to Japan for another competition. Well, our 9yr old got a special award (they didn't do first second third, but the name was better than honorable mention.......does that make sense?) in the Taiwan competition...........THEN out of the 80 sent to Japan, 75 received awards..............ds1 got honorable mention at that competition too!!!!!

I am so excited!! God has given him a great talent and we pray ds1 uses it greatly for the Lord. I can't wait til they get back and tell me more. DH didn't take pictures though.......bummer!!! But he said it was a long great award ceremony. What an experience for our 9yr old too!!

This week for schooling was slow, but that's ok. We are doing fine, not worried..........well not right now:-)...........our IOWA tests are on the way to my parents house, hopefully we can get those done before too long.

It's raining today, not fun with a 5yr old and 3yr old in the house! But we needed the rain. I've been looking at recipes for homemade yogurt.........anyone make it?

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Apr. 15, 2008 - had a dr appoint today

just got back from my check up....30 weeks and counting!!! i am ready for this to be over and hold my baby girl in my arms.......though that still seems weird to say since i have 3boys!!
bp was good, getting back down for me, though before it wasn't high for normal people, mine though is usualy low.
baby is breech but dr isn't worried as this is my 4th, she'll turn i am sure.

dr was happy as my weight was the same as last month (when I got a talking a too.....dr has a thing with weight).....and baby gained, so she is now approx. 3lbs
wish I could get the ultrasound scanned.....it is the best picture of her face, not a fancy dancy ultrasound or anything, but came out really well....

we had our 3 boys with us at the clinic today and my oldest, who is 9.5yr old says" looks like an alien to me" ...boys...gotta love them.......

get to go back every 2 weeks now...............developing quite the relationship with this clinic.....this is my 3rd at this place, he is the only dr and he has an apartment at the top of his clinic..............remember, I am in Taiwan, so that's how they do things...................

we have gotten math and English done today......English is becoming a task as their is more written work now involved and well, 9yr old boys don't like that!! still have a few things to do. we only have 4 days this week as ds1 and dh are going up to the capital via train to attend an awards ceremony. Ds1 won an award early in the "First Annual Aborigine Children's Art Competition"............I was told his award was better than Honorable Mention...............so, they have their way paid up there for the ceremony. It might be televised too!!!WOOHOO!!!!!

it's started raining thanks to a storm in the Philippines......the season is upon us I guess..........oh, we had a 5.8 earthquake last night around 11:40pm.......i was watching tv and BOOM!! it was short and no damage, but man........freaks you out!!!

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Apr. 10, 2008 - here we are....

well, it's almost 10am and the boys are getting out of bed.......we keep Chinese hours I guess.

alot has been going on, though it doesn't seem like it. we had off a week for spring break last week as i went to my first ladies retreat. it was nice as it was at a spa (Sandy, sorry I missed you......we'll meet someday!!!). coming back i had to really decided on how to get things going, organized that is. seems like God has been doing so much in our lives recently that we aren't sure how to handle it. i'd love to have an assistant or a helper of somesort, but alas, that isn't happening.

i am not sure what to do with school work, honestly, it will cost $400US for our next years books and we just don't have that type of money anywhere. i really don't want to use credit cards either...........there seems to have been a mix up and lack of informing clearly about funds that came in from our mission board and what we thought WAS there really wasn't, causing issues really. anyway, my boys are very textbooky boys it seems, but i don't think we can afford it right now. they aren't the sit down and listen to a story type either...........so that would take out Ambleside.................any other ideas? math? ideas? anything good on the internet? ds1 is going into 4th grade and ds2 into 1st grade. ds2, i think we can handle some easier, but ds1........... i don't know what to do for a cheap to free curriculum.

someone had asked about our ministry.........you can go to www.mlchome.org and check out all about us.............God is doing somethings, not sure what, but HE is. And Satan ain't too happy about it all and up to his normal tricks.

well, the boys are up and fussin'.............why can't they get up happily............i am really considering splitting them up.........all three are in one room but we might need to readjust something.

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Mar. 22, 2008 - A new era in Taiwan

Today was election day in Taiwan. It  is 6pm and the winner is very clear.We are happy with the results. Well, I can't vote cause I am foreigner, but I totally agree with dh's choice. Taiwan needs new leadership and now that's what they are getting. It was a dirty election unfortunately, but hey, aren't all president elections like that?

It was recently brought to the public eye about the US Navy ships sent from Japan to the Taiwan Straits, the body of water between Taiwan and China. That happens often, but China was/is happier with the newly elected president. Though for independence, he is for talking peacefully, unlike the loud mouths previously who would change their story and start yelling.....the previous gov't was known for fighting...ALOT!!

Anyway, we shall see what the future holds.

In our house not a whole lot has been going on. We are looking at a "spring break" the first week in April. I am going on a ladies retreat that happens to be outside of town. I am excited to go. It will cost about $100US, but that's ok. Joshua has been doing well with independent work, math has come back to his brain, and over all, it is working out well. Of course I probably just jinxed myself!!! Josiah hasn't had much, but we aren't pushing too much yet.

Our home ministry, well, recently God has really given me a burden for the unwed mothers here. THERE IS NOT ONE UNWED MOTHER'S HOME IN OUR COUNTY and our county has a high rate!!! sad...........so, we may be planning a walk for life to raise money. We are hoping to get sponsors in the USA as well as here in Taiwan. Hopefully we can get the stuff made up and printed out. Anyone want to sponsor me or one of my kids for a 5K walk/run/bike ride?!!! email me if you do..........I will get you more details...

HEY...I AM IN THE DOUBLE DIGITS NOW!!!! less than 100 days to go....woohooo!!!

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Mar. 15, 2008 - a moment......

an NO, not a homeschooling moment!!

ok, you know, one time some one wrote me and said "your life sounds so exciting.......cooking with no oven......having a baby.....heating up water to wash dishes with......WOW!!"

ok, well, I have a new one...............this JUST happened to me! at dinner we heard the glass bottles fall in the trash area out back. Figured it one of those useless cats that get in our back area. So, after dinner, I go to through the trash away, see the bag has sorta fallen on the floor......it was open....our 15 yr old seems to think it's EASIER to throw the bags at the trash truck without tying them shut first......anyway, I go ahead and through the little bag of trash in the big bag of trash..........a rustle........and A MOUSE (ok, a shrew, but it was a rodent!) COMES RUNNING OUT !!!oh, I was sure the whole block heard my scream. I run upstairs (while my boys were laughing in the living room.....I thought they would pee their pants!) and my dh is resting comfortably in the bed watching a sports channel!! HE DIDN'T HEAR ME SCREAM!!! I told him that lucky for him it wasn't an emergency.............man, just what a 6.5months preggo woman needs to see a mouse less than 2 feet away from her......................ok................my breathing has calmed down and my heartbeat is finally back to normal..............back to your regularly scheduled blog reading...................and stop laughing!!

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Mar. 11, 2008 - Tuesday....

Monday was a bad day. Ds was just attitudish about math, our first subject of all things, and well, I was a hormonal mess!!! we somehow got through the day though!!

Tuesday, I go to Bible study for foreign women in the AM, and ds rarely does anything while I am gone. Today was the same......."dear did you do your reading comprehension or writing?"....um.....no?!......ok, now we have MORE to do. So, I don't know if I just need to readjust our goals or kinda get fierce with him.

I haven't been feeling too well lately. Normally, my blood pressure is low, and even when preggo with ds#3, my blood pressure was low, rarely 100/70....normally around 90us/65ish.........well, the past two day I have been feeling headache and tired and woozy I guess you could say. Last night at about 1am I finally got some tylenol and it helped. Today was ok. THough this am, I had my pharmacist friend take my blood pressure........116/64............even he said that was high for me (he had problems even getting my BP to register once!!!) but normal for the rest of the human race--LOL!!! so, should I be concerned? I will mention it to my dr next week though. Man, this pregnancy is really throwing me for a loop.............God definetly knew what HE was doing putting this little lady last..........cause I would have to seriously consider other children if this one was like 2nd or so.

Well, not much else going on. I have started my master's degree work and love it. THOUGH the thesis thing............that kinda scares me..............I really love the books so far. I am only doing one subject at a time, not all at once:-) .........

well, better go............

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Mar. 7, 2008 - an article I am submitting to our local Christian newspaper.....

i am not a writer by anymeans, but this really hit home the day it happened. Our work is not of our own, but of God's. HE has laid this home ministry on our hearts, and the "payments" like these are really undescribable!!!

My article:

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Mar. 5, 2008 - Wednesday....

After a few days of redajusting things, we are back on a schedule of sorts. Granted as I type this, ds1 is to be taking his Chinese quiz, but seeing how much noise he can make with his desk is much more fun.

I have a lesson plan made up by Friday for the next week. He has now discovered that I don't really need everything done on a daily basis, but the work needs to be done by the set time on Friday. So, if he does alot of stuff ahead of time, then he can relax more the other days. He seems to have caught on to that. Tuesday, while it is my busy day, he did alot of his reading comprehension in English and Chinese, so he only has one lesson left for that. He likes it this way.

As for the others, daddy decided to be helpful and watch them while I was teaching adjectives and diagramming......they have been playing computer games for quite a while now!!

In other news, my meetings last week went well (did I already mention that?). Also, after searching, I haven't seen any type of Christian persuasive prolife videos. As I understand the schools here, high schools, show very graphic abortion videos to the kids. You all know how teens are......with those kind of overboard videos, it is easy for them to say "whatever, you are just trying to scare me"........well, I have been in contact with a Christian musician and he gave me permission to use one of his songs for a pro life persuasive video......I have 37 seconds done so far.......I will probably have to work on it after the boys go to bed. I am excited, my major in college was cinema and video, so maybe this is the beginning of God using my training (my parents will be happy that I finally use my training they paid for-LOL!!). We'll see.

Oh, my books for my master's program came in yesterday. I love reading it......I am weird what can I say. One of the books is Crisis and Trauma Counseling. I really enjoy it.

Well, ds1 has a few more things to do today. We are hopefully going out to the park. DH teaches guitar to two American boys and the mom and I take the rest of the kids out to the park on Wed. So, they are looking forward to it.

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Mar. 4, 2008 - my boys and their piano...

ok, I took these videos today....first one is of my ds2 (will be 6yr old in June) and ds1 (9.5yr)....they play together nicely don't they?  ds2 has a gift I feel (and so does his teacher) for piano.....he kinda soaks it all in..............he had his 3rd piano lesson today by the way......he is quite a challenge for the teacher as he learns quickly.....he is reading notes on a C Major scale!!!

 This is my ds1 playing a song out of a Christian chorus book....I guess it's a chorus book,oh, I don't know the English name:-p

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Mar. 2, 2008 - Am I missing something?

I got this on a yahoo group today.................um, CA is kinda scary???!!! California is trying to set up some sneaky stuff I feel.....read this article about a homeschool family being forced to send their kids to school.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57679

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Feb. 29, 2008 - foster parenting stress...

I know that some foster families read my blog.....at least someone does:-) I had considered starting a blog for our foster parenting times, but now due to a stupid rule, after we have our Anna Joy, we can't be foster parents. Oh well, their loss, not mine (and I told them:p)

Anyway, I wanted to share a few things cause, I don't know where else to share them..........one of our girls was abused in a manner she shouldn't have been, by her uncle. She was placed in a half way house in 5th grade and placed in our home at 7th grade. Her uncle was sentenced sometime in her 11th grade year, and he appealed it all 3 times he can. The highest time you can get for the crime he committed was 10 years,he got 7 years.

This winter/Chinese New Year break, he showed up at her dad's house out in the country (they do have neighbors, it's a little village like thing), drunk and with a knife. Our 19yr old had to be in hiding from 3am til 7amish........I get told this after she gets back.

Her social worker told me that he has yet to do jail time. I don't know if they are waiting for an opening at jail or what. It might be a year later or more..........give me a break!! this all happened when she was in 4-5th grade, he was sentenced almost 2 years ago and no one knows when he will do his time!!! You know, and it's not the social workers that have to deal with all this stress........it is us, they just seem to ignore it or "whatever will be will be" attitude. The social worker did say that there are many cases like this out there in our county......ok, so that makes it better or something?

Oh, parents don't HAVE to attend any classes on stress/anger management and don't have to show any improvement really in their lifestyle in order to get children back..... but why in heaven's name do we have to have so many classes a year as foster parents? make sense?

All but 3 of our children were abused in someway or another, went to court to testify. NOT ONE OF THE ACCUSED HAS DONE JAIL TIME yet!!!  no wonder they can't tell family where we live.....as most are drunks, they'd probably spill the beans where we live and we'd be in big trouble. I am seriously considering asking our legislature about this, this is just crazy..................

that's part of what we deal with here, the mentality. We don't have the restrictions and such that foster parents in the USA have. I am more vocal about things than the average Chinese person (who would believe right?!!) and have told them more than once, you can find someone else to take care of the kid then.

Funny though, our kids never want to leave, even when time is up. Our kids never give us the problems that other families have had and when they do leave, they eventually come back. Hence me being 34yr old and being called Grandma!!:P....but we are thankful that God has placed us in this ministry, which is only just beginning we feel, and have kids come to us for counsel and to share their tears and their joys. They sure don't go looking for their social worker!!

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