• Jul. 28, 2009
Yellow Belt!

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• Jul. 2, 2009
Wall Art

We still haven't gotten our new painting.  (It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow.)  In the meantime, I wanted something new on the walls.  I started by taking down what was already up.  It had been up for 5 years or more and I was tired of looking at it.  We lived with completely blank walls for a couple of weeks while I decided what I wanted to do.

Since we bought the painting, I decided to take some colors from that.  It has a turqoise color, brown, and white.  My walls are cabbage green.  :-)  We were at Wal-Mart one night and a shower curtain caught my eye.  I stared at ir for a few minutes while John went on ahead and then decided to buy it.  So yes, I have a shower curtain hanging on my wall.   I have actually been reading a lot about fabric walls and I thought they were very cool.

You know what?  I really like it.  I tacked it up there with thumb tacks for a few days just to make sure.  John is not as crazy about it.  He thinks it will look better if we do the whole wall.  I don't know.  That seems like a lot more work....

On a different wall, I bought a canvas at the art store and made 'art' with scrapbooking papers and Mod Podge.  I also bought some little flower decorations in glass bottles that were on clearance.  Michael's had glass rock type things on sale also, so I bought a few.  Itook the flowers and put them in plastic bags for later use, then used the glass bottles for my rocks.  Here's what I ended up with.

Both walls together cost less than $30, which is quite a bit less than what I spent on our "Tropical Night" painting that still has not met my wall.  And I still have leftovers that I can use for something else!

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• Jul. 2, 2009
Mother's Day Ottoman

I absolutely love our new furniture, but there is one thing about our old set that I really missed- the ottoman.  At the end of almost every day, I would sit in the chair and think about how much I missed being able to put my feet up.  I may have mentioned it aloud a few times as well. 

So, for Mother's Day, John made me this great ottoman that doubles as storage.  I'm using it to hold school stuff.  Imagine that.  And yes, I'm aware that I am painfully behind in my blog updating.  Sorry about that.

Anyway, here is a pic of my gorgeous new ottoman.

Lovely, isn't it?  The fabric matches the chair and couch very well.  Here it is opened up.

Yup, that should hold a LOT of goodies!

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• Jun. 12, 2009
Bible Memory

In 2 weeks time, Taylor will be trying for her yellow belt.  Hoorah!  Before then she has to finish 3 Bible studies and work on her 5 verses to memorize.  She had actually memorized 2 already, but they are both about love and she needs to memorize a verse for each move.  Well, 5 moves anyway.  After she turns 12 or 13, she's expected to memorize a LOT more verses before she can advance.

Here are her verses she's working on. (NIV)

Love (This is the Fruit for the white belt.  In normal karate it's called Kata.)- 1 Corinthians 13:4    Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

Don't Set Foot (This is a jump to avoid a low hit or kick.)- Proverbs 4:14   Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men.

Enter the Ark (This is a forward roll to put distance between you and the opponent.)- Genesis 7:7    And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

Freedom (This is a foundation.) 2 Corintians 3:17    Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Belt of Truth and Shields of Faith (Two kinds of blocks)  Ephesians 6:14    Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place

I made index cards (color) with the verses typed out on them.  They are placed at stategic locations (bathroom, Taylor's room, front door, and hall).  Before she can go through any of these rooms, she has to recite the verse and reference.  In a couple of days I'll just have the reference and she'll have to remember the verse.  Then I'll just have the move, and she'll need to know the verse and reference.

I also made little puzzles with the verses for her to practice putting in order.  Hopefully she'll remember them easily!

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• Jun. 12, 2009
An Art Update

Last night, John called the people who painted the artwork. They were very accomadating.  I was worried that she would say that our painting WAS the one on the website when it clearly was not, but she didn't.  She said that when she paints something that she feels sure that people will like, that she goes ahead and paints a few of them.  So obviously they are not all alike.  What they are going to do is pay for this painting to be shipped back to them and then she will paint us one that is exactly like the one online.  So the only thing we are really out is more time to wait for this next painting.  I can live with that.

Now I DO think that this should be specified on the website.  We were not buying a recreation, but the exact painting in the picture.  It would save a lot of headache I'm sure.  But at least it's taken care of now and as an added bonus, she will be painting on canvas that is even larger than the current one.  That will be nice.

All's well that ends well!

I'll post a picture when we get it on the wall.

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• Jun. 11, 2009
An Artwork Quandary

Before the van broke down, I had spent about a week looking for some really nice original art for the big wall in our living room.  John and I found one that we both liked, so we bought it.  On the website, it said that the painting was available immediately and would ship within 24 hours.  They also had paintings for sale that were labeled as 'Similar painting to be recreated'.  These would ship in 3 days.  Well, we bought one of the available immediately paintings (for a good chunk of change I might add).  They emailed us that night, but the painting didn't ship for more than 5 days.  When I emailed about it, they said they were out of the boxes used for shipping and that it would leave on Monday.  It didn't go out until Wednesday.  We just got it today. 

The painting is very similar to the one we bought, but it is not the painting we bought.  We don't like it as well because of the shape of the tree and such. Are we within our rights to ask for our money back?  I hate to be a prude, but we bought the painting on the screen, not a recreation.  There were several other of their paintings that we may have bought eventually as well, but probably will not now. 

What would you do??

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• May. 22, 2009
Update

I thought I'd write a quick update on why I haven't posted in so long.  I hope you haven't missed me too terribly.  :-) 

First of all, we have a new foster son!  He is 18 months old and a sweetie pie.  Sorry, I'm not allowed to post any pictures of him, but he is adorable.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  He's been keeping me on my toes.  It's amazing what a difference a couple of years makes.  I had gotten used to Isaac getting bigger and now we had to baby proof again.  Little guy was scared to death of the drill when we installed cabinet locks.  He plays with a toy drill that he just loves, but runs in fear of the big drill even when it's not being used.  Go figure.  We were going to put the magnetic cabinet locks on, but they were CRAZY expensive.  $20 for 4 locks. 

Aside from little guy here, we have also been busy finishing up school.  Taylor took her yearly test yesterday, so now we are officially on summer break.  Hurray!!  I'm surprised you couldn't hear her shouting across the country, she was so glad to be done.

Well, that's all the update I have time for now!

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• May. 1, 2009
My day

Lots to do today...Our 3 kids we do respite for once a month are coming today.   My kitchen is a mess, my room is even messier, but hey, at least I got all the laundry finished.  I washed all the bedding that we own yesterday; which is quite a bit for 5 beds, plus extras. :-)  I've got to go to the grocery store- which means I need to look at the sales papers and make a list.  I've got 23 books due at the library and 2 that are overdue, so I need to round them all up and take them in.  AND, the big used book sale is Monday, so I need to finish going through my books and put prices on all of them.

Sometimes, I have to remind myself to just do the next thing.  When I think of everything all at once I get very overwhelmed.  I am so grateful that I have a beautiful family that I can do things for and take care of.  Today is a day I need to run through my many blessings instead of my to do list.

I sure hope this rain stops (al least until bedtime).  5 kids plus two adults in our less than 1000 sq ft home is likely to cause some tension.  The kids need to be able to run around.  Outside preferably.  I've got 3 skirts that someone gave Taylor that are WAY too short for her to wear, so the girls and I are going to turn them into pocketbooks while John takes the boys to the Home Depot Kids Workshop tomorrow.  That'll give us something to do if the rain continues.

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• Apr. 23, 2009
Words to Remember

This morning Isaac asked me if he could have a chocolate kiss.  I told him I would think about it after the living room was clean. 

He then said, “Momma, if your thinkin’ says no, will I still get to have one?”

That reminds me of another funny thing he said to me about a month ago at church.  I took the time to write it down because it was so cute.

“Y-E-S.  That spells I want hot chocolate!”

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• Apr. 8, 2009
It's the Craziest Thing

Sunday, the temperature was in the upper 60's and Taylor was outside playing in shorts.  Then Tuesday morning I woke up to this-

It's the most snow we've gotten all year!  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the upper 60's again.  Oh well, at least I haven't planted anything outside yet.  Not to mention the kids had a great time playing in the snow.

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• Mar. 24, 2009
Karate

We signed Taylor up to learn Karate.  This is a video from her 3rd class.  You can tell she's a beginner, but isn't she just too cute in her little karate uniform.

And here's a picture from the end of class where thay are doing a Bible study.  Not only does she have to become physically able to do the moves well to advance to the next belt, she also has to complete her Bible studies and memorize a certain number of scriptures.  Hey, I love anything that gets her more in the Word!

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• Mar. 24, 2009
She did it!

Taylor has been working for about 6 weeks to earn the money for a bicycle.  She washed baseboards, scrubbed walls, picked up a TON of sticks in the yard, and cleaned out the van.  She also made some little bracelets and sold them for a quarter a piece.  She was saving for a bike at walmart that cost $80, but after working so hard and saving $22 she learned the value of buying things used.  So we seached through the local classifieds and found a bike for $20.  I showed Taylor what the Bible had to say about tithing and giving.  She decided to go ahead and give $2.28.

When we met the lady to look at the bike, Taylor asked her if she'd take $10 for it.  Is my girl a barterer or what!  The lady eyed her for a second and said that since Taylor had worked for the money herself that she'd give her the bike for $10.  Taylor was so excited.  A lady from church pointed out to Taylor how God had blessed her.  She had willingly given to the Lord and he gave back to her.  Now she has a new bike and the money to buy a basket for the front of the bike also.  She may even have a few dollars left to buy her brother a b-day present.  What a great lesson to her!

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• Mar. 16, 2009
Cherokee

Here's a little video I compiled from our camping trip in Cherokee last weekend.  This is the coldest weather we've ever camped in, so we got a cabin at the KOA instead of camping in our tent.  It rained quite a bit, but luckily there was an indoor pool and hot tub.

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• Mar. 3, 2009
Little Girls Love to Dress Up

Yes, little girls do love dress-up.  So does mine.  The problem is, she is not so 'little'.  She's bigger than 95% of all girls her age.  Pretty impressive, huh.  She can't wear the normal dress-up clothes you can buy at Wal-mart and Toys-r-us.  Trust me, she's tried squeezing into dress-up clothes left over form her 2 year old days.

What's a girl to do?

We went to Goodwill and bought a slew of fancy dresses, hats, belts, scarves, sunglasses. and shoes.  It's funny really.  I had intended on the clothes being big on her, like dressing up in grown up clothes should be.  Unfortunately, my little girl is getting big quicker than I could have imagined.  Even the WOMEN's shoes that I bought her fit her almost perfectly- high heels and all.  We also bought a couple of nursing tops, so she could play doctor and veternarian.  Isaac has his own dress-up clothes also- firefighter, police officer, cowboy, pirate, etc.   They have a good time playing together.

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• Feb. 25, 2009
New Furniture

I'm so excited about our new couch and chair.  That may seem a small thing to some, but for me, it was long overdue.  To have the 'full picture' you must first have the 'before picture'.  OK, here goes.  (wince)

Yikes!  Pretty bad shape, huh?

OK, here's the new stuff!

Now that's much better if I do say so myself.  It's amazing how new furniture can make your house look so much cleaner.  This stuff is made out of microfiber and it is so SOFT.  I couldn't believe how well it matched our rug too.  Taylor was on the phone the other day describing the couch and chair to her Papaw.  She said that the couch was sky blue and the chair was dirt brown.  He he! 

Just a head's up- we bought this furniture used off of craigslist.  If you've never heard of craigslist, you need to check it out.  Now beware, there is plenty of stuff on craigslist that you want to stay far away from, but if you click on the safe categories you will be fine.  My personal favorite is the free section!   That's where we are trying to get rid of our old furniture.  Craigslist is worldwide, so check it out for your area.  www.craigslist.com

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• Feb. 19, 2009
I'm Back!!

Just a note-  I actually wrote this entry on Feb 4th in hopes that I could get it posted before now.  Obviously, I didn't. 

Hey folks!  Have you missed me in the blogoshere?  Life has been happening at an incredible speed.  Here is the rundown.  Our first full time fostering experience was for 2 little girls (ages 5 and 6).  They stayed with us for 2 months and left around Thanksgiving.  I still think of them most every day.  Every once in a while we will run into something that the girls left behind and I will start missing them all over again.  Also, Taylor picked up one of their words-toodle.  Toodle is a nicer sounding word for that great gust of air expulsion that comes out the backside.  J

Since the girls left we haven’t had any more foster kids.  Although we have plans to do respite for 3 siblings soon.  We will be a family of 7 for seven days!  I wonder what that will be like.

On to the next subject-  John was out of work for a while, and jobs were just not to be found.  God really provided for our needs though.  One time in particular was really memorable.  Our electricity was scheduled to be turned off and we had absolutely no way of keeping it on.  God worked in the life of a friend and brought their family some completely unexpected money.  That was awesome in itself, but then they paid off our electric bill.  Not just enough to keep the lights on, but absolutely every penny that we owed!  How amazing is that?

We no longer have our home phone or internet (which is another reason I haven’t been posting), but I’ve learned amazingly that I can live without them.  Who’d have thunk?  So for now I will try to write my blog posts in Word and then copy them to the blog whenever I’m somewhere with a signal.

School is still school.  Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad.  Math is still our struggle.  We were moving into division, but Taylor still struggles with addition and subtraction.  Not that she can’t do it; it just takes her forever.  So we backtracked and we’re spending more time memorizing math facts.  I’m doing it every way I can think of.  Flash cards, calculadder, wrap-ups, addition rap, and board games are a big part of school every day.  I think she’s improving.  We are continuing to drill multiplication also.  Our pastor’s wife gave us a big bag of chicklets (those little square pieces of gum).  So for every 3 flashcards she can get right in less than 10 seconds, she gets 1 piece of gum.  The first day I did this I told her that she could have 1 piece for every card she got.  She ended up with 19 pieces of gum so I had to put the kibosh on that.  J  She also gets a little reward for each level of calculadder she passes.  She’s on level five right now which is plus 3’s and review.  She almost beats it every day lately so hopefully she’ll pass it soon.

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• Oct. 27, 2008
Fostering

Our 1st fostering experience is going really well thus far.  We've run into a couple of things I wasn't sure about, so I've had to call our case manager several times.  I suppose I will get used to all the legalities as time goes on.  It's so hard to remember that the foster kids are not mine and I can't make decisions for them like I would for Taylor and Isaac.  A (our foster daughter)  ended up coming a day early.  Thankfully John had already put the bunk beds up!  We still haven't gotten an extra mattress, so we put Isaac's mattress on A's bed and blew up the air mattress for Isaac.  We put a big, thick comforter on it also and it's actually very comfy.  Isaac wants it for his bed forever.  Our Pastor's wife gave us 2 really nice bed sets complete with pillows.  One set is for a boy and one set is for a girl.  So we are good on bedding now

Church went really well on Sunday and A ended up knowing our Pastor's son, so he sat with us and helped her to feel welcome.  All in all it was a very good day.  At the end I was very tired and so I slept really well last nigh!

It sure is strange to have to get up in the morning and take a youngun to school.  Taylor was NOT very happy about having to get up so early.  He he!  On the positive side, we came straight home and got on our schoolwork, so we should be done well before lunch.  That will be nice, maybe I'll get to read some this afternoon when Isaac lays down!

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• Oct. 22, 2008
Great News!

After 4 months of training, and 2 months of waiting- we are finally able to foster legally in the state of North Carolina!  Yep, that's right, the long awaited license came in!

We have our 1st temporary placement starting next week.  It's only for 5 days, but that will help us get our feet wet.  We have several things to do in order to get ready.  We need to get a twin size mattress and put the bunk beds up in Taylor's room.  We also need to buy some bedding.  Preferably in colors that will match Taylor's tinkerbell room.  Hmmm, what else do we need.  Oh yeah, a dresser.  I want a fairly small 4 drawer one. 

Taylor doesn't even own a dresser right now.  She keeps her socks, undies, and pj's in a plastic tub under her bed.  The rest of her clothes are hung up in our closet because she used to change clothes so much it drove me batty! 

Since she'll be sleeping on the top bunk, I'd like to get her some sort of wall lamp so she can continue reading at bedtime.  I'd also like to put a little shelf of some sort where she can store her books and such.  Something like this but in a matching color.  And look at this cool flower lamp or this nice reading light.  I just love IKEA (although I've never actually been in one of their stores or owned one of their items).  The style just really suits me.

Oh, and since we are really dreaming here, I would LOVE to have one of these storage systems for Isaac and Taylor's rooms.  At least the middle sized one.  It would hold their toys perfectly since we only let them have 10 at a time.  They could carry the buckets around from room to room for ease in playing and more importantly- cleaning!

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