|
Our family has stretched and changed and sometimes broken in the past few years. The Lord has brought kids into our home and for some, you wonder what the purpose was. Others have blossomed and bless us just by being themselves. We will continue in foster/adoption care until we feel called to stop. Some days I wish it was now and most of the time I can't imagine what I could do but this. To read more about our ministry, go to the link on the right for "In a Shoe". |
|
The flu has struck at our house. My husband came down with it on our trip to Florida and when I just went to wake up my son David, he too, was hot with a fever. I so really don't want to get it. I've been thinking about all the things you should do to prevent spreading germs and as always, I'm confused a little. First the whole hand washing thing is hard. If the germs are passed by the hands and you have to wash them to keep them off, how do you know when is enough washing? I washed my hands before dinner last night and then sat down at the table next to my husband. We held hands to pray and while we were praying I was thinking, "yuck, now I just touched his hand and the flu germs are on me.". I couldn't jump up and go wash again, so I tried really hard the whole meal to not get my hands near my face, which made my eyes and nose itch like I couldn't stand it. I also know you're not supposed to use the salesperson's offered pen when signing your credit card receipt because a thousand people's germs are piled all over it, so I use my own and I'm feeling like I escaped and then I realize that the salesperson had offered me the pen and then put the pen back and then she picks up my bag to hand it to me. Okay, so now she touched the infected pen and then touched my bag and is handing it to me to touch?! I stare at the bag afraid to take it. And if I go immediatly afterwards to the bathroom and wash my hands, I'm then worried about touching the door when I leave the store because the person who just left probably used the disease carrying pen. When I got up this morning I stood and stared at my toothbrush sitting jauntily next to my husbands in the little cup on the bathroom counter. Flu or bad breath? I'm not even going to talk about sneeezing into the air and why my kids leave tissues on the floor next to their bed at night or stuffed in the seat cracks in Big Red. Revealing all this might lead you to the conclusion that I'm germ-a-phobic or something, but truthfully these thoughts just flink around in my head and I rarely do much about it all. I decided when it got so hard to figure out, that the best approach for me was not to believe in germs. Ask anyone who knows me. I've shared drinks with people that backwash and I never cancel an activity because someone's kid threw up all night and I hear about how many times and where it landed and how hard it was to clean up. (Why do we share these kind of details with others?) The germs are either out there or they're not and since I can't see them, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and live like there's no tomorrow. |
|
We’re finishing up the last leg of our journey today. We arrived yesterday at the Orlando Bus Station in the early afternoon to find that our train was running 2 hours late, which is not all that unusual for train schedules. Amtrak is not, let’s just say, obsessed with customer satisfaction. We had turned in the rental cars at that point, so with 22 kids, there was not much to do about it but to be there. 
We have a 3 hour lay over in Union Station in D.C. and everyone agreed it was more pleasant to spend the extra time outside in the parking lot of a train station in the ghetto of Another fitful night on the train. It’s actually amusing to stroll through the train cars and see how everyone manages. Some people don’t look so good when they sleep. Our last train connection will be to Harper’s Ferry, West |
The weather took a sudden turn for great yesterday and the kids got to swim in the ocean. My favorite beach bum was this odd bird who spent the morning sneaking up to fishermen's bait buckets on his very long legs and snagging treats for himself. He was not well liked because of it. 
Took a tour of Cape Canaveral in the afternoon given by a gentlemen who had been with the space program since it's conception. He had rubbed elbows with Dr. Goddard and Werner Von Braun, the pioneers of rocket technology, back in the day. We stopped at the Mercury 7 Memorial and the place where Apollo 1 exploded on the pad and killed 3 astronauts. 
We realized that the kids knew very little about the space program. This generation doesn't have the excitement that we did over an orbit around the earth or a man on the moon. They weren't born when the Challenger exploded and the Shuttle program has had little attention since. The International Space Station is winding down for the U.S. as well. My husband is hoping that at least one of the kids he brings down here catches the excitement of the space program and becomes one of the next generation to be part of it.Today we get on the train and head home to the cold and snow. Maybe one last stroll on the beach. |
Waving goodbye to the train was wonderful  but here we were in Orlando and it was cold! The wind was blowing and it was spitting rain. I was thinking about the shorts, sandals and bathing suit jammed into my bags. It was depressing until we heard that it was 20 degrees and snowing back in West Virginia...somehow the misery of my friends and family back home made me feel much better. I'm so shallow.The kids in my husband's class have been great .  Today was spent at the Kennedy Space Center and we had the tickets that get you everything included except for lunch which was the usual $3.50 for a bottle of water and sure hope you aren't that hungry unless you're very rich kind of place. Seeing the earth and the heavens through the eyes of astronauts leaves very little doubt that there had to be a Creator of such immense beauty and complexity. Man works so hard and builds such elaborate machines and we hardly penetrate the smallest part of the galaxy. No pool tonight but all is right in the heavens. |
|
Yesterday began a long journey to Florida with my husband’s ROTC class. The distance from West Virginia to Florida is much greater when you take a train…our interesting choice. There are 19 kids, mostly 11th graders, and 3 adults, mostly still young enough to agree to do this. Traveling by train is quite an experience. You move quickly through the backyards of America. I’ve noticed that the land around the railroad tracks is used like some giant junk drawer…all the stuff that someone used at one time and doesn’t want to get rid of because they might need it again, except that the junk is like cars and steel and building material. The people that choose train travel are unique as well. There seems to be two groups of people. The first are fun loving adventurous people who like to take the road less traveled. I, of course, count our group in that number. The rest are, well, weird. People that fly on planes have nice coats and read books and know things. The second group of train travelers doesn’t. They have to be told to be quiet and to put their trash in the can and they have tattoos of things on exposed parts of their bodies that differentiate a PG-13 move from an R rated one. Late at night large groups of them sit in the lounge car and drink Budweiser from a can and play cards with complete strangers. Our trip took us through the night, which involves no sleep unless you spring for the $100, more per night sleeper car, which we did not. They give you a “pillow” that is stuffed with the swabs from the ends of about 6 Q-Tips. Fortunately, my daughter Kirsten left a BuckWheat Travel Pillow behind when she divested herself of all earthly goods while leaving for the mission field. I wasn’t going to bring it because it was heavy and kind of stupid but at the last minute I threw it in my carry on. Praise God for that! It gave me something substantial to drool on while I fought for sleep. Amtrak makes lots of stops along its route through out the night, picking up passengers. It allows smokers to get out and have a few puffs at each stop as well. This is probably a smart policy as smokers can get a little grumpy without their fix and some of the people are scary when they’re not grumpy…so please, go take a quick smoke break! In a few hours we will be departing the train in Cocoa Beach and this will all be behind us until Saturday when we head back home. I’ll think of you all as I lay by the pool! |
My daughter Kara came yesterday for a visit and to show off our newest grandaughter, Scarlett. Last we had seen her she was all new born and tiny.....now she has real cheeks.  And when one sister visits, everyone wants to be in on the fun, so our daughter Lane came and brought our grandaughter, Layla, who spent a long time staring at her cousin. I don't think she was too impressed.  It was one of those perfect days with nothing to do but watch the kids and wonder how we ever got so blessed. |
We have a force at our house called "the brothers".....my grandkids call them "the uncles." This happened when a bunch of the boys turned teens. The brothers are incredible! They can move, lift, fix, clean and carry things that no one else can. My husband has been able to get big jobs done in half the time with their effort. The married sisters have benefited from their help as well. They have helped put on new roofs, cleaned (read their sister's blog here) and worked on cars. Which begs the question...How many brothers does it take to change a flat? |
|
When we started doing foster care/adoption, I didn't get the whole picture. I only thought about the kids that would come to our home. All kids, surprisingly, have biological families. That fact actually escaped me. So our family is much larger then it looks in a picture. Each child is holding a life before us and it sometimes is heavy. And if you love a child you want their heart to feel right about the past. That can be an elusive gift to give them. And you love their families because they are part of someone you love. I remember watching my little five year old hop down from the car and run up the driveway to her biological mom and giving her a big hug. I cried. Did that mom understand what she had given away? That little girl could have loved her like she loved me. It's hard when you sit late at night with your teenage daughter as she mourns the mom she still misses. And boys can hold such anger....it hurts them and sometimes hurts others. It's all the one thing I can't fix for these kids. I pray for them that God will take the scars and heal them into strength that will be used for His glory one day. |
|
My daughters, Grace and Ashley were cheering at a game a few days ago. As they ran out on to the court at half time, Ashley was slightly out of position and Grace shoved her into place- in front of the whole crowd. Every mom of the cheer squad held her breath. They knew what would happen...we were all sisters.....someone would surely die for that. Sisters can be one of the scariest forces on earth. We've had many fighting sisters though the years. The kind that just pick and pick till I start crying and say things like, "If you two don't start being nice to each other your kids will never know their aunts when you grow up." We've had sisters actually on the floor punching it out. (I'm sure it wasn't your fault Lane) and sisters that got out of cars and swear they're going to walk 20 miles home rather then ride one more moment with the other. But not Grace and Ashley. They like each other. Ashley said Grace was just helping her get in the right place on the court. Grace perfers Ashley's company and the feeling is mutual. They apologize to each other and don't say it like "sorrE" . Don't know how long this sweet sister thing is going to last, but I'm enjoying it now.  |
|
Our 10 year old son goes to public school. The first day back after Christmas break he sat eating his breakfast and said, "Mom, guess who my teacher's going to be?" I gave up and he told me it would be Mrs. somebody or other. I was pretty much confused and asked why he was getting a new teacher. He said, "Because I'm in 5th grade now." What? He explained patiently, "Mom, it's the new year." After a lengthy explanation of school years versus calendar years and figurtive years I could tell he was not all that impressed with the whole concept. So it's back to 4th grade...bummer. |
|
Our pastor on Sunday talked about starting Life Journaling with the New Year. You get a cute little journal and follow a "Read Through the Bible in a Year" plan. After reading, you record what the Lord is saying to you. To read through the whole Bible in a year, you have to read about four chapters a day. James, my husband, and I decided to give it a go. The first two days were great. We slept in late and then I got up alone and took a cup of coffee out in the sunroom and leisurely read the Word and wrote and prayed. Wonderful. This morning the kids and my husband are back to school. The alarm woke me at 5:30 and I had a half hour before the kids had to get up. I could hardly read the small writing in my Bible...my eyes wouldn't adjust. I knew that after 6, there would be almost no opportunites to get on the computer. The first few minutes of reading I had to keep telling myself that God was more important then blogs. It wasn't exactly wonderful..but I did it. I know that the blessing will come... What if God had written the Bible in the year 2007? You know some of it would have come on a homeschool blog entry! |
|
Growing up, my family played tons of board games. One of my favorite teen memories is a daily game of Stretego with my Dad. My husband didn't play games growing up and dosen't really like them. This was a problem until I realized that the more kids you had, the more opponets there were. I'm not really competitive...that's a lie. The amazing thing about board games is finding that "genius" in each person. We have a son with an "educational label" who regularly beats me at chess. He's not bad at Sequence either. He's actually my favorite competitor...we played a board game every morning before school for many months. He's awesome at games....there must be an I Q category for that. My ten year old who is in all special ed classes has beat me in Connect Four more times then I'd like to admit. And Uno is everybodys game..whatever your age or ability. I have a very very hates to read son who can slam everyone in Scrabble. (except me...nobody slams me in Scrabble.) Then there's Spoons. There is one less spoon on the table then people and when someone gets 3 matching cards everyone grabs for the spoons and someone doesn't get one. I Hate that game...it makes me sweat. And my husband always wins. We found a new game, made by Uno, called Boomo that we take every week with us when we visit one of our daughters in placement. It's one of our new favorites and our daughter can enjoy a visit with the family and have a blast. We tend to play a lot of games because we don't have tv which is good because you don't have to worry about the kids hearing or seeing anything inappropriate, unless of course I don't win at Scrabble and then it might get ugly. |
 This is our Christmas eve picture, but this isn't about Christmas. I was looking at our family in the picture and realized that my Mom and Dad are pretty remarkable. They married young but didn't have me until they were in their 30s. A few years after that, they adopted two little girls. (I think my Mom was bored with just me...she has an over-abundance of energy.) My sisters each had a few kids and were normal. My husband and I had two girls of our own and then we started foster care/adoption. (Maybe a little of my mom's too much energy?) With every new child we have brought into our lives, my parents have opened their hearts wider and deeper. They become grandmom and grandpop to all. They babysit, give rides, hug and love them all. They continue to have us all over, even now when the kids are starting to multiply! Their house is never too small and my kids are never too much. Our ministry to these kids is theirs as well and their example of Christ's love is being handed down through the generations. You're awesome Mom and Dad! (Are you still bored mom?) ps My mom is sitting in the chair holding the baby in red and my dad is on the far left. My husband James is standing in the back left holding a baby in yellow and I'm on the right with the bunny ears from a "thinks he's funny" son-in-law. The rest are "the kids". |
Folding laundry is always nicer when you find a granddaughter in the basket. |
|
Today we're celebrating our daughter Kelly's 19th birthday. She's a remarkable young lady. Kelly came to our house when she was four years old. She was the tiniest little thing we had ever seen. She wore 2T clothes and her glasses were twice the size of her face. She spoke so softly you weren't sure you had heard anything at all. She actually hadn't learned many words at that point and was delayed in many areas. But you couldn't help but fall in love with her.  Kelly has had many things to overcome in her life. Not much has come easy for her but I have never met anyone with such resolve to succeed. She has worked incredibly hard in school and surpassed everyone's expectations. She still speaks very softly and in a large family you have to be quiet to hear her but she is always right behind me....helping me....helping her younger brothers and sisters. I don't know that in all these years I have ever heard her speak unkindly about anyone. She loves the Lord and it shows in her every action.We've got the glasses proportionally right, but now her heart is twice her size. We love you Kelly...Happy Birthday!  |
|
And then there’s cookie baking. When we talk homemade, we usually mean the kind that come in a tube and you slice and stick them on your cookie sheet and they conveniently come pre-decorated for whatever’s the current holiday. But not this Christmas. With all the extra time we have from not shopping for presents, we decided to bake tons of real cookies with all the kids helping. Gulp. 
It wasn’t really that bad. We had a few minor errors…someone tried to cream butter and flour instead of butter and sugar and there was the one batch of chocolate peanut butter cookies that were a tad over done or charcoal briquettes you might say. We listened to our favorite deeply spiritual Christmas music, the soundtrack from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Flour was flying and people said my name, 4,579 times. ( Yes, I did count. One time years ago I turned around to my children and said, “no one is allowed to say my name again ever, do you understand?” I did say it cheerfully and didn’t yell.) We all wore aprons which always make me feel like a real grown up and we now have tons of cookies and charcoal briquettes in the freezer ready for our night of caroling. 
It was all quite lovely and I didn’t eat a single one.  |
|
One of our favorite Christmas traditions is “the getting of the tree”. We have a local tree farm which is much more Christmassy then the parking lot of the Wal-Mart. Of course, you pay much more for the Christmassy. We ride out to the trees in a hay wagon and we sing Christmas carols. Nobody else does. You can tell they want to but they just can’t get that first, “Dashing” out of their mouth. Upon dismounting the wagon, the search begins. I’d like to tell you that we walk back and forth for hours searching out just the right tree but that would be a lie. I tell the kids I want tall and scrawny and they spot it in about 20 seconds. No one else apparently likes scrawny tress. It’s not that I care for the underdog or take the runt or any of those noble things. The corner where we stick it is just really small. 
Lastly we all go into the quaint little barn and drink “free” apple cider while James pays the “you made a Christmas memory” price for the tree. 
And we did and it was worth it! |
|
For the time being...until the bugs get worked out of homeschoolblogger (like I can't post pictures here)...I'm going to be posting in my other blog. As soon as things get fixed, I'll be back. In the meantime, come over and visit me at http://bigreddriver.blogsource.com/ |
|
I really love homeschool blogger, but it's getting annoying. Thinking of using one of my other blogs as primary. Anyone else getting frustrated? |