• Jan. 14, 2007
We're Going to Build an Ark

That's right! We're going to build an ark. While it hasn't rained for forty days and forty nights, things are beginning to flood from all the precipitation. I'm thankful we haven't had the freezing variety they've had just west of us. However, if it freezes (like it's supposed to) we'll be living in the middle of an ice rink.

On a brighter note, the girls and I went over to my friend, Kim's house on Friday night for dinner. She and her husband made a turkey, rice stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, and green beans. It was WONDERFUL! The kids ran around screeching and squealing while we played Scrabble and talked about budgeting, homeschooling, recipes, and laundry soap.

Then we had to drive home....in the rain. 

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• Jan. 11, 2007
Overwhelmed

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

First, a medical update. My knee is getting better since having surgery in December. I saw the orthopaedist on Wednesday and he offered to drain it again. I said NO! He wants me to have 4-6 more weeks of physical therapy. Joy of joys... Rick is scheduled to have his spine fused at the beginning of February. The doctor spelled out the risks. It's Rick's decision and he's decided to have it done. I have a pulled muscle in my back that's mimicking a kidney stone. Now I'm on pain killers and muscle relaxers for that.

Add on top two children, three cats (one of which is seeing the vet tomorrow), one house, two cars, one mortgage, a bizillion bills, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I often wonder how my mom did it. She had four children in three years--she had a set of twins when my sister was just over nine months old and I was only three. Then I remember that she was twenty years younger than I am now. I see why God made it so that women are supposed to have babies before Mom gets old.

We're going to my friend Kim's house for dinner tomorrow evening. Our kids all play well together, plus she has a new baby we've never met! I'm really looking forward to it. They have goats and chickens--Brandie will LOVE that! It will be good to see them and let the kids play while we have as much adult conversation as you can have with five children all under the age of five!

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• Jan. 7, 2007
It Does a Mom's Heart Good, Part II

Tonight Brandie was playing with her favorite Dolly saying, "I'm the Judge, and I'm going to 'dopt Dolly." I asked her why she was going to adopt Dolly and she replied, " 'Cause she's special and so am I 'cause I was 'dopted."

Can't argue with that!

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• Jan. 7, 2007
Wedding Showers, Gas, and Socialization

My cousin is getting married! I used to babysit for him when I was a teenager and he was a newborn. (I once accidentally pinned his diaper to him! This was before disposables were the norm, of course.)

Today was the shower for Maryjane, the Bride-to-Be. Although I'd never met Maryjane, Brandie and I went to the luncheon shower. I wanted to meet Maryjane and I wanted Brandie to experience a "grown-up tea party". Brandie was so well-behaved! When introduced to the mother-of-the-bride, she replied very politely, "Very nice to meet you." I was so proud of her!

We were each given a heart cutout and asked to write marital advice for Maryjane. Most everyone said something about the importance of communication. I, on the other hand, had something like this to say...

"Men have gas. Get used to it. It doesn't go away. It doesn't get any better. Complaining about it does not help. Also, never let him start a "project" unles Lowe's is open. You'll regret it if you do!"

Everyone laughed because they know it's true!

Maryjane asked Brandie if she'd like to help with the gifts. Brandie was thrilled! She handed the packages to Maryjane, put the paper in the trashcan, made a pile of ribbons and bows, and kept us all giggling at her innocence and enthusiasm. One gift contained a live rose. Brandie took it to each guest to smell. (She was not shy at all! And "they" say that homeschooled children have issues with socialization!) Brandie also drew a picture for Maryjane and my cousin, Sarah. By the end of the shower, she was giving hugs and kisses. We had a wonderful time.

It was great to finally meet Maryjane and see some of my cousins again. I'm looking forward to attending the wedding in March. Many prayers are being sent heavenward as they prepare to start their life together.

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• Jan. 5, 2007
Physical Therapy = Torture

When I wrote my "Not List for 2007" yesterday, I should have added "I will NOT own a bicycle!"

I had knee surgery at the beginning of December, now I'm being tortured with physical therapy. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against physical therapists. For some reason, they all want me to ride a stationery bicycle--for 20 minutes! That doesn't sound like long, but it's TORTURE!

Here's why: Bicycle seats are designed by skinny people who enjoy biking. Because they enjoy biking, they have skinny behinds. I do not enjoy biking. I do not have a skinny behind. Therefore, my not-so-skinny-behind does not go well with a skinny-behind bicycle seat!

Next week I have physical therapy three times.

Please pray for me. And my behind.

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• Jan. 4, 2007
My Challenge to Me for 2007

I'm going to read through the Bible this year. I've tried it before, but never made it all the way through. I always seem to get bogged down around Leviticus. This time I'm following Back to the Bible's chronolgical plan. This way, you read the Bible in the order of events, not in the order it's in the Bible (does that make sense?). They have several other guides, depending on how you'd like to read. I'll post every month how I'm doing. Anyone care to read along with me?

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• Jan. 4, 2007
My "Not List" for 2007

I've been inspired by Honeybee to do my own "Not List for 2007" Here goes....

1.  I will NOT take my health for granted.

2.  I will NOT stop singing "Trust and Obey" to my girls at bedtime.

3.  I will NOT learn to drive a stick shift.

4.  I will NOT pretend to understand predestination.

5.  I will NOT ever watch a "Rockie" movie. Same goes for "Superman".

6.  I will NOT pay interest on a loan I don't have. In other words, I won't worry about things that have not happened, or may not ever happen.

7. I will NOT stop being amazed at my girls--how they learn, how they are alike, how they are different, how trusting they are, how much they love us...the list goes on and on....

8.  I will NOT go a day without telling Rick I love him.

9. I will NOT go a day without prayer.

10. I will NOT form an opinion of a political candidate based on one issue.

11. I will NOT ever be able to form a concrete opinion of the death penalty.

12.  I will NOT stop praying for abortion to end.

13.  I will NOT stop praying for those who have had abortions.

14.  I will NOT stop enjoying visual arts--especially photography.

15. I will NOT ever tire of the song "Sometimes by Step" by Rich Mullins.

and....

16. I will NOT wear orange. Ever.

 

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• Jan. 4, 2007
What's in a Name?

I've been giving serious thought to naming our homeschool. Does anyone else name their schools? I've read online that if you have a name, you can make stationery, business cards, IDs, etc. that help with discounts and such.

I want our name to have meaning. Preferably, a Biblical meaning. "Academy" sounds classier than "school".....and it should have "Christian" in it also. In other words, I want the name to end in "Christian Academy".

I've thought about something with Lighthouse, Beacon, Light, or maybe Eagle. DH is a BIG Ronald Reagan fan and he's in favor of "Reagan Memorial Christian Academy". A friend suggested "Bonzo School" when she heard about the Reagan thing. DH would NOT laugh!  Lighthouse Christian Academy sounds good, but there's one nearby.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? Am I trying too hard? Does it matter if we have a name? I'd like the girls to have a name to use when they are asked what school they attend.

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• Dec. 29, 2006
"Decorating the 'Kiss-a-mass' tree"

I resisted putting up the Christmas tree this year. Haleigh is so curious and energetic (a lethal combination) that I KNEW she'd have it toppled in less than 24 hours. So just before Christmas Rick brought the tree in while Haleigh was napping. I put two strands of red lights on and gave Brandie some plastic ornaments. We let her do it all herself! 95% of the ornaments ended up on the bottom third of the tree and on the right-hand side. She was so proud of it!

We were right about Haleigh though, and had to take it all down yesterday. The living room looks a little bare now, and rather sad.

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• Dec. 22, 2006
Pineapple Muffins

Brandie and I made mini muffins for dessert tonight. She was a big help! She even helped entertain Haleigh while the baking was in process. Since we are a two-parent-gastric-bypass family, the recipe has been edited (by me) to make it low sugar and low fat.

Pineapple Muffins

1/2 cup Splenda

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg substitue (like EggBeaters)

1 tsp vanilla

3 T unsweetened applesauce

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

8.5 ounce can of crushed pineapple in unsweetened juice

3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Whisk together sugars, eggs, and vanilla and applesauce. In a separate bowl, stir dry ingredients together. Blend half of the dry mixtrue into the sugar/egg mixture. Stir in pineapple with juice then remaining flour. Stir in nuts.  Optionally, you can sprinkle top with a little cinnamon and sugar mixture. Pour into greased loaf pan or muffin pan. Bake loaf for 60-70 minutes. Mini muffins took about 15 minutes and made 30.

I used a Farberware non-stick pan so I didn't grease it and they came out just fine. These are even better the next day!

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• Dec. 19, 2006
Announcing.....

We are overjoyed to announce God’s gifts to our family through the miracle of adoption.

 

Brandie Kathleen

 

and

 

Haleigh Elizabeth

 

Both Adopted with Love on

December 19, 2006

 

Proud Parents

Rick and Dana

 

“Delight yourselves also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

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• Dec. 17, 2006
And the Oscar Goes To......

Brandy made her acting debut in the church Christmas play tonight. She was a sheep. Not a lamb, but a sheep. (She'll correct you if your say she's a lamb.)

Of course, she was adorable! The costumes were white t-shirts with cotton balls glued on them. They had headbands with cotton balls and ears. By the second half of the play (about 10 minutes after it started), Brandy had sheared herself--picked off the cotton balls--and lost her ears.

The best part was that Brandy was oblivious to the audience. During the manger scene she was sitting on a bale of hay. It wasn't long before she was picking up hay and throwing it. Then she went to have a look in the manger. Back to her bale of hay...more tossing. Soon the audience was laughing! Brandy was clueless. Next she was tossing handfuls of hay towards the manger! More laughter from the audience.

She proceeds to toss hay until the song was over. Then they lined up across the front of the stage to sing the last song. Katelyn, another 3-year-old sheep, was next to her. Since Brandy didn't have any cotton balls left, she started plucking Katelyn's! Katelyn was a good sport, however, and didn't seem to mind.

Once we got home, Brandy didn't want to take her "costume" off so she's sleeping in it. She was the youngest one in the play and I think she did a great job! It's definately a memory to keep.

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• Dec. 12, 2006
Giving vs a Bad Case of the Gimmes

As any parent of a preschooler (or a preschooler used-to-be) knows, children are bombarded with advertising at this time of year.  This can bring on a bad case of the "Gimmes". While we limit Brandy's real television viewing to select PBS shows this can still give kids a case of the gimmes. Now she thinks that every time she gets in the car someone needs to "gimme" a Happy Meal--and fast! (Why is McDonald's such a big sponsor of PBS kids shows? Wait...I answered that myself: "Gimme a Happy Meal!")

But I digress....

This year Brandy has learned that she can make choices. For example, she may choose if she would rather have carrots or green beans with dinner. She may choose to wear the red shirt or the orange shirt. She may choose to do what Mom says, or pay the consequences. She may choose a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets with her happy meal....  Hey...nobody's perfect!

It's very important to us that the focus of the girls is more on giving than having a case of the gimmes. This week we're talking about giving. Choosing to give. Giving unexpectently. Giving generously.

Sometimes this is easy. Brandy loves putting money in the Salvation Army kettles. We have to keep change in the car in case we go somewhere there's a bell-ringer. Brandy also loves to color pictures for everyone she comes into contact with. Last time she was sick she colored a picture for Dr. Heath before we left. Almost no one leaves the house without something Brandy has drawn for them.

Now if you want her to share a toy with Hailey, that's a different story. She doesn't like to share Mom and Dad either. (That's a topic for another day!) But sometimes she'll really surprise me and offer something that has worth to Hailey: a favorite doll, the last cookie, a seat next to her on the rocking chair. When she does those things I have to thank God and praise Him for these glimpses of goodness.

In talking about giving, this week we are also making little gifts to give away to those with whom we cross paths: the guy at the post office, the librarian who always says the girls are growing so fast, the bank teller who always asks if the girls would like a sucker, our neighbors,  and many more. We've made hard rock cinnamon candy and put it in little decorated bags. Tomorrow we'll make peanut butter cookies for the cheer baskets at church. We've made little jars of apple jelly and strawberry jam. We'll put these together and pass them out to those whom we appreciate and are not expecting a gift. Brandy thinks that our civil servants are "bad guys" (we really have no idea how she came up with this) so I think we'll visit the police and fire station to pass out goodies. We appreciate the work they do to keep us safe and I'm sure they don't hear it enough.

My goal in doing this is threefold: I want Brandy to participate in giving and feel the joy that comes from it. I also want to give people something to say about someone that is good. I'd like for us to have the repuation for being giving people. Having this will allow us to point to Christ when people take notice. We ARE different because we have the Holy Spirit guiding us to do good deeds that point back to our Father in Heaven.

I challenge you to pray with us to be giving and then LOOK for ways to do this that God may be glorified!

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• Nov. 26, 2006
Christmas Rumblings

Let me begin by saying that I LOVE Christmas! Some of my fondest childhood memories center around this time of the year. I'm a fanatic, having planned seven (yes, SEVEN) trees for our home this year.

 

Lately I've been struggling with what to do about Christmas. Before we had children I'd always said that I would never tell them that Santa was real--brought presesnts to our house, knows if you've been good or bad, sees you when you're sleeping, etc. Those are attributes of God, not Santa. I also didn't want my children to think I'd ever lie to them about anything. Telling them these tales of Santa would certainly be a lie. Same goes for the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

 

I have to admit that I've been wishy-washy about the whole thing lately. I also have to admit that I've helped to perpetuate the problem. I let Brandy watch the Christmas videos I loved as a child: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty the Snowman, and The Little Drummer Boy. (The Little Drummer Boy doesn't deal with Santa, but there is no mention of any drummer boy in the Bible.) Those shows were a very fond memory for me. I wanted Brandy to have fond memories also.  Perhaps I'm going about it all wrong.

 

Not to be making excuses, but since Brandy and Hailey are foster children (and the only children we've had have been foster children) we've had to go along with whatever their biological units did regarding Santa. This will be the first year we can do what we want.

 

I also think there's a place in every child's life for fantasy and wonderment. Is Santa just a fantasy during childhood?

 

So, do we toss out everything and try to start over? How do we make our own new traditions? Can we instill fantasy and wonderment without having our kids develop reputations as being the kids who "gave away the secret" (and having all the other parents upset with me)? (Do I care more about what others think than what God thinks?)

 

I emailed a good friend of mine, who is also a Christian, and the mother of two girls. I asked her how they handled this when her girls were younger. Here's part of what she wrote to me:

 

 

 

 

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• Nov. 23, 2006
Rice Crispie Fiasco!

Brandy and I set out to make Rice Crispie Treats for our family's Thanksgiving Dinner. We measured out the cereal and found out that we only had four of the six cups we needed. So we measured out two cups of Cheerios and added that to the Rice Crispies. Brandy got to stir them together...and stir...and stir....and stir!

 

I melted the butter and told Brandy that she could add the marshmallows as soon as the butter was ready. It finally melted and I told her to dump them in. She dumped them into the cereal! Some went into the pan with the butter so I was stirring it so it wouldn't burn with one hand and trying to pick marshmallows out of the cereal with the other. After yelling for Rick to come and help, we finally got the marshmallows where they belonged--with a few pieces of cereal mixed in. I then gave Brandy explicit directions on where to dump the cereal! The rest of the recipe went together without any problem. How can you mess up Rice Crispie treats, really?

 

Brandy got practice in stirring, dumping, and measuring. The best part is that she'll get to tell everyone that she helped!

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• Nov. 23, 2006
The Untold Story of Thanksgiving

Regardless of what you feel about Rush Limbaugh, he has a great article about Thanksgiving on his website. It's a transcript from his radio show. Every American should read it.  This means YOU!

 

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_112206/content/eib_extra.guest.html

 

 

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• Nov. 22, 2006
It Does a Mom's Heart Good...

I walked in on Brandy last night--rocking "Dolly" singing....

 

When we walk with the Lord

In the light of His word

What a glory He sheds on our way.

While we do His good will

He abides with us still

And with all who will Trust and Obey.

 

Trust and Obey

For there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus

But to Trust and Obey.

 

Just when you think they aren't paying attention, they go and do something like this! I sing this to her and Hailey whenever I rock them. It really does my heart good to hear them sing a hymn--especially this hymn. It was the first hymn I learned all the words to. My grandpa taught it to us. When he passed away, my cousins and I sang it at his funeral.

 

 

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• Nov. 21, 2006
We're Headin' for the Border...

Brandy and Hailey's adoptions are about to be finalized! December 4th will be two days short of the 2nd anniversary of the day we got Brandy. It's been a long, dramatic, stressful, joyful, tearful, wonderful journey.

 

As soon as the adoptions are finalized we are taking them 10 miles to the state line and crossing it because we can't do that while they are foster children and wards of the state. We'll be able to openly talk about our plans to homeschool them and no one will be able to do anything about it!

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• Nov. 17, 2006
Sensory Integration and Things that are Icky

H (who is now almost 17 months old) has problems with sensory integration. Although we can't be sure of the cause, possible reasons are because she was exposed to drugs prenatally or that she wasn't held as a baby. (For those of you who don't know, we are adopting B and H. They are half maternal siblings.)

 

Children with sensory problems can have all kinds of symptoms: not liking certain textures (grass, squishy), textures of foods (cottage cheese, jello), touches (caresses, patting), and so on.

 

H has two therapists who come to our home every week. Dee is her speech therapist and Mechelle is her developmental therapist. Both are working with H's sensory problems.

 

So far, we've identified that H doesn't like squishy things like jello, textures like grass, rubbery things (a koosh ball), or most touches. We've been trying to introduce her to these things and let her get used to them in her own time.

 

                    Icky Things

 

We've introduced her to infant massage and she's beginning to like it. In fact, when I was massaging her legs after changing her diaper yesterday, she did the sign for "more". (We are also teaching the girls beginning sign language as a way to help H communicate.) So, I did more....and more....and more!

 

The signs the therapists have taught us are "more", "stop", "go", "no", "yes", "slow", "play", "please", "thank you", and "baby". B is proficient with all of them. H has "more" down really well! We'll keep working with her and add more as they're ready to learn them.

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• Nov. 13, 2006
Out of the Mouths of Babes

Overheard after watching old western re-runs with Daddy:

 

"I'm the Lone Ranger and H is Taco"!

 

What will she come up with next???

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