Wow, it's been a while!  When I was last on here, we had had 6 foster children in the year we'd been doing it.  Since that time, in the past 6 months, we have fostered 13 children.  We currently have 5 little girls.  Four are sisters - twins who will be 5 next month, a 3 1/2 yr. old, and the baby, who will be 1 in a week.  The other little girl we have is 14 months and has been with us for 3 months.  The sib group has only been here 2 weeks. 

So life is hopping!  And in spite of my houseful, my family graciously allowed me to veg at the library tonight!  Some groups of kids are just easier to parent than others and this group has been a little exhausting in numbers, but wonderful all the same.

Before I homeschooled, I kept a very clean house.  I even have pictures and video to prove it.  But then came the schoolbooks, craft supplies, posters, holiday decorations (because the schools have them, don't they?), bulletin board displays, etc. Mary Pride talks about bulletin board displays in her book, "Schoolproof".  She says they "give precious little information in a precious huge format."  I think I was motivated by the appearance of my daughter's kindergarten, which she attended for two months.  And have you ever seen a neat and orderly public school classroom?  I did try to keep things organized at first, but there's just no way to make this stuff look good.  I challenge even Martha Stewart to make a school area that looks like it's just an extension of a family home!  And then she has to let 3 or more elementary kids in for 4 hours a day!

So it went downhill from there.  My best friend's husband even commented on the difference.  (Thanks, Stephen!   )  

Then we moved to the country and got goats, dogs, chickens, etc. Forget about neatness!  Every piece of wire, every stick of lumber, anything that can be used to shore up a cage or fence has to be saved.

Now that we're done homeschooling (theoretically, because learning becomes a way of life), we're doing foster care.  Back to storing baby bottles, playpens, strollers, walkers, highchairs....SIGH.  Though I will admit, the thought of a DCS worker coming to visit or bring a child is a great motivation for cleaning!

Today I came across an idea that I think sums it up.  This is from a book on country living, "Creatures and Contentments", by Barbara Webster, published in 1965.  She said, "I have learned that neatness is a pinnacle, a split second in time.  You are always working up to it, or receding from it."  Ain't it the truth!

This has been a really nice 4th of July.  We stayed home and enjoyed it as a family.  As much as I love a party, sometimes it's nice just to be us.  This year it was important because the girls and I are leaving in a couple of days for a much-needed vacation in Wisconsin.  Kurt wasn't able to get the time off and we're really going to miss him. 

So we played Pinuchle, swam in the pool (including a night swim with the pool lights on - Cool!), and grilled burgers, of course.  Oh yeah, we may have shot off some fireworks,  which might be illegal in our county. Though to judge from the sounds in the neighborhood, it's not seriously enforced.  Earlier in the day, Kurt actually went shoe shopping with me and did the mile walk at the mall.  It's amazing what I can get away with when he's going to miss me!  Shoe shopping!?!  What a sweetie!

Hope your Fourth was happy and safe!  God bless our troops and bring them home soon!

May I start off by saying, "I LOVE the new server!"  Before, I couldn't get to any blogs 4 out of 5 tries.  Now I have no problem whatsoever.  Good job to whoever worked it out!

For the time being, we are foster-kid-less.  The 3 children we were watching got to go home to their Grandma and Mom, which is what we were all praying for.

We had a fun time at Veronica G.'s party last Saturday.  After much prayer and searching, the G.s found the perfect place to have their dance.  I love watching all the young people out there dancing.  They're a great group of kids (and young adults!)  Kurt and I even took a turn or two on the floor.  Jen Ig has the evidence posted on her blog.

Here is the skirt and top Rachel made for Emily.  This is fulfilling a promise I made years ago to make her a Cinco de Mayo outfit.  Rachel bailed me out!

Emmiko and I were dueling with cameras!

John Mark and Daniel just being themselves!

Nathaniel "pleading" with Heather.  Is he asking to be picked or left with the hat?

 Jaime has a tough choice to make between two lovely 18 year olds, Coie and Emily!

My mom said I couldn't quit!   She says she likes getting on here to look at the pictures and such.  (She knows I'm terrible about sending them otherwise :-) )  Also my aunt and grandma want me to continue, too.  And you don't mess with a grandma who spanked you when you were little!  Love you, Grandma!

Plus QueenoftheHill gave me some ideas for blog entries.  And debcorley gave me permission to blog only occasionally.  Hope they don't come to regret their encouragement!

We've had some switching around with the children we watch.  With the school year ending, Tori is now at home with her big sis and Naomi is at home with her mom, who is a teacher.  Tori will only be coming back as a guest because she starts kindergarden this August!  We've watched her since she was 4 months old.  Hopefully Naomi will be stopping in occasionally this summer (when Mom and Dad need a night out!) and will be coming back for daycare this fall.

We had one day "off" with only Summer to watch when we got a call to foster a sibling group of 3.  So our summer has kicked off in a busy way!  God's timing is amazing.  We couldn't have accepted these 3 last week.  And what a blessing we would have missed!  They are great children and have adjusted well to being in our home.   We went to the library on Saturday for the summer reading kickoff and the girls (Isabel, 8, and Victoria, 3) got butterflies painted on their cheeks.

Isabel spent some time the other day playing cards with our cat, Tansy.  I'm not sure who won!

And the littlest, Moonie, 7 months, just hangs out with me in the living room!  Since we usually only take girls, we've had to scramble a little to come up with gender-appropriate blankets, bottles, etc.!  While he might not care about drinking from a pink bottle, his big sisters think it a little weird!

I've had a lot of fun with this blog, but I don't think I'm cut out for blogging.  So this will be the last post.  I'll probably leave it up for a month to make sure.

On a more positive note, we graduated our last daughter on May 24!  Homeschooling has been a "grand experiment" for us for the past 17 years, beginning in the fall of 1990 when our oldest was in kindergarden.  We are very pleased with the results!  What a trip it has been, from the start with the requisite flag, globe, and pictures of Washington and Lincoln to the scary step into unschooling in 1998 to the grand finale of graduations, driver's licenses, and first jobs!  How weird next year will be without joining SMHEA and BHEA or shopping for curriculum. 

Congratulations, Emily!

Last Wednesday, May 2, we received a call to take a 2-month-old baby girl.  It was a no brainer!  So Baby Bella (my nickname for her) came to stay with us.  Unfortunately for us, not for her, she only got to stay for a week.  DCS was able to find relatives who wanted her.  But we had a wonderful, if somewhat crazy and busy, week.  She is a sweet little girl, such a cuddler and a cute thumb-sucker!  When she has to sneeze, she makes two or three abortive attempts which end in a coo.  It made me laugh everytime.  She was a dream to foster and I miss her.  It's amazing how quickly these little ones snuggle into your heart!  I won't say we spoiled her, but she got ALL she wanted to eat whenever she said she was hungry and if she wanted to sleep in someone's arms instead of that big, lonely crib, well...in her short life, there has been little enough of this.