Milestones

It's hard to believe, but my little man was officially 1 1/2 yesterday. Since he and Julia are exactly two years apart, Julia turned 3 1/2. It's amazing how time flies!

I feel like I have so many things hanging, in real life and on the blog. We are still praying, and hoping, to close on the final loan of our house, in spite of the value dropping another $85,000. It was a really bad time to build, although we had no idea when we began.

We are also still struggling along with our renter. Although he has officially been evicted in court, we have allowed him to stay in the house under strict agreements. It has been a very trying and stressful situation for months; the by far most stressful part of the arrangement for me is how casually he views the situation.

Thankfully, all our frustrations in life are only that - frustrations. Everyone is healthy and happy (most of the time) so I'm very thankful for that!

Food for Thought

Normally, I just add articles by a link, but this is so good that I'm hoping everyone will take a few minutes to read it. I feel so helpless to help the people of Haiti. I've given some money; I'll take clothes and food to the local place that is trucking them to Haiti, but it just seems so small in the face of such a huge crises.

Here's an article that is written by Randy Bohlender. I don't know anything about him other than the little clip that accompanied this article. He raises some huge concerns that I didn't think of before reading it. Let me know what you think.

January 20,2010 by Randy Bohlender


I got a call from Senator Claire McCaskill’s office today. Allow me to say that while I probably don’t agree on a lot of issues with the Senator, her staff has been incredibly helpful and responsive. Double thumbs up to the Senator and her team on this.
They were getting ready to get on a conference call with the Department of Homeland Security to discuss a recent memo from Secretary Janet Napolitano and wanted some clarification of what I was hoping to do in bringing in orphans, along with any questions I might have should they get a chance to ask them.
Uh, yes. Thank you. “Ask them what the plan is for orphans who were clearly orphaned before the earthquake but who were not yet assigned to US families…”.
Those are my mission right now. The kids who have US moms and dads batting for them will find their way out over the next few days….but many kids whose orphanages have been decimated will not get humanitarian parole.
Believe it or not, after the conference call, Senator McCaskill’s office called me back to let me know how it went. I told you they were helpful.
As it turns out, according to strict interpretation of the memo, there is the chance of humanitarian parole for those already in process with a family, but not for those who were not in process (which is to say ‘most of them’).
Early on, the government suggested this applied to 250 orphans with assigned parents, although they’ve already identified 600 sets of parents so estimates are being revised to reflect reality. No estimates so far on how many were without assigned parents and therefore not eligible for parole, but you can multiply the other number by….a lot.
“So what’s the plan for the children left behind?” I asked. I’m particularly concerned about these kids because the conditions they’re living in are atrocious.
One orphanage worker, Troy Livesay with Heartline Ministries, twittered today: “Our clinic turned into a hospital, and our sewing room into a surgical ward,and an arm was amputated with a reciprocating saw.”
What about those orphans left behind in that atmosphere? It turns out the US is a little skittish about just coming in and taking charge (not sure when we developed this neurosis) and so we are hoping that Unicef or some other international organization will come in and set up a ‘Safe Haven’ for those children.
At this point, I’m sitting in my office balancing Piper in my lap, trying to keep her from mashing down on my keyboard. ”A safe haven? What’s that?”
“It’s a camp.” The senate staffer tells me.
I grow a little sick. I went to camp as a little kid and didn’t really like it. I wondered what this camp was going to be like. “A big camp for all the orphans? Where will that be?”
“In Haiti.”
That’s it. At this point, that’s our federal response to the Haitian orphan crisis. A big camp in a country that was poor and chaotic before the living snot got shaken out of it a week ago, after which it really went to pot. Enjoy camp, kids.
But wait! Aren’t children getting out? I see it on CNN!
Yes, I know you’re reading about groups getting out, but those are groups who already have parents waiting for them. We are getting our own out and putting the rest in camps. That’s not humanitarian. That’s taking care of ourselves. And for those left behind, can we just go ahead and paint a big target on Haiti and declare “Sex Traffickers Apply Here”?
Nicollette Grams had a horrifying piece in today’s The Atlantic, where she wrote:
“In Haiti’s unstable post-quake atmosphere, at least one industry is poised to flourish. For those who buy and sell children for sex and cheap labor, Haiti is ripe with opportunity.” THE ATLANTIC :: 1.19.09
Here’s the scoop.
I am not proposing we fly in with a C130 and scoop up every child in Haiti. I am saying that in cases like one specific orphanage that I’m in discussion with – where the fifty children escaped with their lives when their orphanage ‘fell down’ (their words), and only fourteen of those kids are eligible for humanitarian parole under current regulations, that I want those other thirty six children here in Kansas City where we will care for them in a safe, secure location until such time as the US Government figures out what the heck to do with them or the Haitian people rebuild their world.
I’m not asking for wholesale adoption. I’m not asking to place them in an over burdened state foster care system. I’m asking for the church to step up and make a way for these kids that satisfies state requirements, honors Haitian sovereignty and keeps a door open for their return to Haiti in due time.
I know, I know, it’s never been done before. Probably not true, but it’s never been done by us before – so that’s suddenly the measuring stick of what we do or do not do?
The secular media is ringing the warning bell. If we don’t take them in, the traffickers will. Are you okay with that?

Hair Tales Today

Julia headed off to church today with her hair loose and beautiful. She has gorgeous, little spiral curls, but they knot up the minute she takes a nap or rolls around at all. Here she and Tori are modeling their new Poppy Dip dresses (http://www.itspoppydip.blogspot.com.)

Once we got home, I settled on a fast, easy, no-small-braids or beads style. Here's the twists I watched a YouTube video on. They were fast and easy and I think they are cute on her.

I'm hoping they last until next weekend with a bit of freshening, but that may be wishful thinking!

The good news is that I'm done for this weekend. It would have been far less time consuming to have painted another room of the house. I guess that's what I'll plan on for next weekend!

Hair Horror

Ok, I learned a lesson the hard way. Supposedly, the smaller the braids or corn-rows, the longer they can remain in. So, I did Julia's hair is almost 80 little braids and left them in for a month. It was horrible to get out! Horrible! I'm embarrassed to admit that my cousin, who only has a Liberian son, came up with the idea of soaking the braids in oil to help get them out and that helped tremendously. (Why didn't I think of that?) I believe that we took over six hours to get that poor baby's braids out! I worked so long yesterday that my elbows ached so badly last night that I couldn't sleep.


Here's Alei doing a late shift; we were trying to accomplish a chunk of it while Julia slept last night.

The difference between Julia and Elijah is that Elijah had a long nap while Julia had no nap at all.

Alei doesn't wear her glasses too often, so Elijah was quite interested in checking them out.

He tried them on a few times; Julia slept through it all.

I did a lengthy shift this morning, in spite of my elbows, but we really saw the end when Alei and my sister pulled a double-duty hair shift this afternoon. I didn't want to work anywhere near the carpet the way we were dousing her with olive oil, so Moriah loaned Julia her portable DVD player. (I am hoping that it works again tomorrow after all the spilled tea evaporates out of it.)

When Julia got tired this afternoon, I got her blanket and pillow for her and the work continued.

Tomorrow Julia is going to church with wild and free hair, then we are going to attempt a fairly simple style that will last about a week. It will be quite a while before I do micro-braids again! In fact, I am planning on looking into locing her hair into permanent tiny braids. I know everyone has an opinion on the good and bad of locs, but continuing to spent this kind of time on Julia's hair is pretty difficult for me as a homeschooling mother of nine!


I wish I had taken a picture of Julia when we were done. I promised her that I would take her out for fried chicken when we finished - she about deserved Disney World with how well she did for so many hours. Anyway, she had her hair sticking up everywhere, a frilly, summer white dress, jacket and emerged with her red high-tops. It was beyond comical. I let her wear the dress, but convinced her to add church shoes instead of the high-tops, and Alei, Aunt Deb and I headed out with Julia for chicken! We had a good time.

Haiti and Orphan Future

I got all excited when I saw that the state on TN was making a list of home-study ready parents for orphans in Haiti. According to this article, I'm not sure there is any reason to do so. I'm thrilled that the in progress adoptees are being sent to their new homes immediately, but I grieve for all the ones that are left behind!

http://www.rainbowkids.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=691

I put tiny, tiny braids in Julia's hair the last time I did it - I'm really regretting it now that I'm taking her hair out. We've been at it well over two hours and I'm maybe 1/6th of the way through it! It's going to be a long day tomorrow - for her and me! I'm hoping to do a new style on her that will match her flair for fashion!


That's my girl.

Tori is a Whole Hand

Little Tori turned five yesterday. It's been her dream for months to go to Chuck E. Cheese. We literally haven't set foot in the establishment since we took her for her third birthday, but it's all she's dreamed of for months. Chuck E. Cheese is one of those things that we did frequently when we only had two - four children, but it's definitely not cost effective for a family of 12 (including Aunt Deb.) Even with my new-found frugality skills, the night cost a small fortune. Oh well, a Liberian princess only turns five once (and it will be a long while before we return.)

It was Elijah's first time meeting Chuck E. JD has always referred to him as "the big rat." When the animated Chuck E. would light up and start singing, Elijah would point and yell, "rat." He was pretty impressed with "the big rat."

When the dressed up Chuck E. made his rounds, my girls were first for pictures. They love any dressed up thing. I really want to take them to Disney World while they are still little enough to be thrilled with dressed up princesses!

Of course, they loved the games. Julia liked virtual horse racing.

Elijah was impressed that Barney had eyes.

At the end, we pulled out the cake and presents. Tori wanted an all-pink strawberry cake, but chose a variety of primary candles. I'm not sure why I didn't pull the cake out of the box, guess I was slightly distracted by the fun chaos.

Check out Elijah waiting for cake cutting time.

Tori has wanted Heelies for a long time since her four older siblings have them. She isn't always the most graceful princess, so we weren't sure it was a good idea when she was three or four, but now.........the big five. So, Heelies she got. That smile says it all.

At the end of the evening, all the kids put together their earned tickets and donated them to Tori. She chose a fine assortment of cotton candy, other candy and plastic junk. The best choice had to be the 200 ticket, large plastic cock-roach looking bug that she carried around in her back pocket.

Happy, happy birthday Princess Victoria!

Haiti

All I can think about is Haiti and all the children. I can only hope that the government of Haiti is going to make adoptions easier, faster and less expensive as so many, many children are suffering and will continue to suffer otherwise. As of now, you can only adopt from Haiti if you have three or less biological children; adopted children don't count - explain the logic behind that law? Anyway, there are so many people that will open their hearts and homes if Haiti will allow it; I pray they do!

So I Don't Get Bored....

What should a mother of nine do when math is droning on and on and she doesn't think she can take it another moment?

She should start taping the kitchen for her weekend paint project, of course.

However, once she pulls out the oven and the fridge, a decent amount of cleaning behind them is required.

Once that is done, everyone is hungry for lunch. (Although math still goes on...)

Once bellies are full, Tori reminds me that I told her that she could play with the modeling clay THAT day.

There are, or course, countless interruptions, like pulling Elijah off the ladder over and over.

The good news is that after the math, and lunch, and the clay, and a hundred other things, Elijah took a nap and it was warm enough for the other kids to play outside, so I actually painted one side of the kitchen.

Even better, I love the color; it was the color that I was going for in the entry way and didn't achieve. Now I'm going to re-paint the entry way, but only after the school room, dining room, living room, hall and stairway.

Did I mention that I got a good deal on paint the other night? Good thing I like the color!

Pool Ball

Elijah is a pool fanatic, not the swimming type of pool, but the pool table and pool ball kind. For months he has been slightly obsessed with the pool table, balls and the game itself. In fact, his first word combination was "good shot!" He has been saying it for months and considers it the ultimate compliment. The phrase has carried over to the point we compliment each other for a variety of activities during with the day with "good shot." When he's upstairs and hears the clang of the pool balls, he bolts for the stairs; he doesn't want to risk missing a good shot! Here's our little Buddy with the game.

Thankfully, he can't reach the balls yet without assistance.

The game has now carried over to the little girls. They often play pool on the toy train table, with raquet balls and whatever works as a stick. Here they were yesterday, notice Tori's little fingers holding the pool cue just the way she has observed.

I have looked for a small pool table on Craigs list that they can actually play; I think I need to keep looking.

Tori Toes and School Helpers

Warning: Poor focus picture ahead, but I wanted to remember Tori's story. On Sunday she wore her faithful off-white "hoses" for the obviously last time. When I put them on her, they were just worn in the toes, but when she came home and took her shoes off...........

Her eyes were huge, as only Tori can do, and she looked at me and said, "Look Mom, my feet grew so much while I was at church that my toes grew right out of my hoses." She was completely serious.

On a school note, we have serious pen and pencil issues at this house. It doesn't seem to matter how many new ones I put in the pencil cup, they all disappear! Yesterday, I pulled out another box of pencils and started sharpening. I was soon joined by my helpers; they did a pretty good job.

And my friend, Ms. Wendy, is right - Ticonderoga pencils are the best. They sharpen well and the erasers actually erase without leaving smudges. They are worth their high-pencil price tag, unless your children lose them at the rate that mine do.

Life is an open book, fill it with hope, love, dreams and memories.

Green Walls and Smart Buddy

So, my greenish entry way that I liked pretty well yesterday looked neon green last night in the artificial light. My kind husband did point out that the light cover is a shade of brown that distorts the light, but it's still not the color that I want to paint my entire upstairs. This is my second round of painting that I just haven't gotten the color that I hoped. So, I'm going to pick again and paint another area, then probably re-paint the entry area again at the end of my up-stairs paint-a-thon. At least it doesn't have dirty walls for now.

On a seperate subject, I refrain from writing that my children are cute or smart, as I know that everyone thinks that about their own children. I try harder to just tell their story as that is what I want to remember years from now. This is one of those times, however, that I am amazed at Elijah's little mind. He saw me once put the light cover back on and hours later, when he managed to get a screw-driver, he headed right over to it and concentrated to get the screw-driver in the actual screw. Of course, he was wearing Julia's mittens the whole time which only added to the humor of it. I'm amazed out how much they learn when you have no idea they are even paying attention.

I have to find this little guy some play tools. He cries for JD's tools, which is just like Gabriel at that age. Gabriel also wore red mittens the whole summer that he was two - amazing similarities!

Laundry Dress-Up

Do you notice anything different about this enormous laundry pile? (Other than it was supposed to be folded and put away last night?)


Good thing that the laundry stayed, because it provided a great morning game of dress-up.


My favorite was Tori in JD's jeans - too big was an understatement.

Then they started performing for all of us trying to do school. Since I couldn't even focus, you know James and Ben didn't even remember what subject they were on.

I had to relocate the boys to another, more quiet, room. I can't imagine life without my Liberian princesses!

Socks, Food and Hidden Actions

So, here's my random post for the week. First of all, I recently bought James and Ben TWENTY pairs of new socks, never mind the many pairs they already owned. The idea of 20 pairs of the same socks is that it makes laundry folding much more mindless. Wouldn't you think that in light of doing whites every few days, they would always have abundant socks? I present you James' feet this morning while he was reading. I just sighed and kept walking.... then came back with my camera. He never noticed.


Next topic - food. In light of the new year, we are trying to return to more healthy eating. Our family can consume an enormous amount of fruit and veggies and the affordable selection is so boring this time of year. I went grocery shopping yet again today.

Here was tonight's dinner: chicken, broccoli and carrots on rice. There were two carrots leftover, not even enough for JD's lunch tomorrow.

Lastly, I'm contemplating what I should do with a child that is being consistently mean to his siblings behind my back. He almost never is even remotely rude in front of me, but I'm getting too many reports of the ugly words and actions behind my back. Does anyone have any ideas that don't turn the other kids into constant tattlers? I'm really frustrated with lecturing children who stand there and repeat "yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am" but have no real interest in the right thing to do.

OK, three random topics for Tuesday, maybe my brain will be more organized tomorrow.

Back to the Grind

Today marks the beginning of our back to normal life. JD has been home the last two weeks, allowing me to sleep in most of those days! We have so enjoyed the casual days without school, but all fun must give way back to the norm of life. Today we are starting back to school and JD headed back to work. JD drove Grandma back home on Saturday and I finished packing up the Christmas decorations.

On a good note, I finally got rid of our excess 10 roosters. Thanks to them, we haven't had any farm fresh eggs in months. I put them on Craigslist for free a few times and always had people respond but never show up. Saturday a man came with his father to take the roosters for breeding. We were relieved they weren't going to be eaten, but in reality I was giving them to whoever came for them. It was freezing outside and James, Ben and I headed out to catch them for the taker. When I turned around, the rooster that I had just handed the older man was laying on the ground, unable to stand up. I immediately thought that he must have broken the rooster's wings and started to freak out. I figured I misunderstood his broken English and they were going to have them on the grill anyway, so transporting them would be easier if they just broke their wings. I asked him to please not do that in front of my boys. The nice man said, "no problem" and proceeded to "fix" the wings. It was quite remarkable as I had no idea that you could fold chicken wings in a way that they couldn't move. As soon as he showed me, I looked at Ben and asked, "have you ever seen that before?" thinking that technique would be pretty handy for transporting chickens in Liberia, but he shook his head no with a still anxious look on his face from thinking the rooster was hurt and his Mom was about to have an anxiety attack. Anyway, in the end, the man tipped Ben and James $20 for catching the roosters for him, which really made their day!

So, as most years, our New Year goals involve eating healthier and I'm preparing to start painting the whole upstairs. It's going to be slow going, but slow is better than not at all.

Since I haven't taken any pictures in the last few days, I present the contrast of my oldest and youngest sons on Christmas morning.

Have a blessed day and a blessed New Year!