Groundhog Weekend

I feel like this weekend was a re-run of last weekend. JD ended up making two trips to a friend's house for trees and a trip to the Amish saw-mill. Although we were done with the wood trips, we were blessed with free big trees to make posts out of, so about three more trips and our fencing stash should be done. Speaking of Amish, my tomato plants I bought from them are still going strong. It's amazing how many tomatoes I've gotten off three plants. I'll be buying my vegetable plants from them again next year.

I am half way through Julia's braids. The Zulu knots lasted a few more days than I expected, but we needed a hair-do that will get us through next weekend. I really want to get better at corn-rowing. Here's Julia having a hair break.

It really isn't Julia that requires so many hair breaks. It's this little guy. He isn't impressed with his Mom focusing so long on someone that isn't him!

JD and I spent quite a bit of time today on the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace budget. We have definitely increased our expenses drastically the last few years with our international adoptions and our new house. So, after putting all our expenses on paper today, it turns out the kids are way expensive! I obviously already knew this as it seems every cent we have goes to one of them for something, but it seems so much worse now that it's on paper. Another big expense in my life is all these animals. Mind you, I rarely intentionally go and get them, but I find them around town and lately they get dumped in my driveway. We really don't even do vets anymore; I get everything rabies shots and spayed or neutered at the low cost clinic, but I still feed them all and put FRONTLINE on all of them! I still have two kittens from the dumped litter to get fixed this fall! Here's Kaden enjoying Elijah's attention. You know he's a good kitty to put up with Elijah's "petting."

The good news is that next weekend won't be a re-run; we are going on our annual "back-to-school" mini-vacation. I am really praying that my neck improves a ton this week!

On a P.S. happy note - I found my missing teacher's manual! I offered a $5 reward, but found it myself. It was on the piano shelf, folded open, blending in with the piano books. I'm just thrilled to be back on track for school tomorrow.

Interesting First Week

I left off my last blog on the note that we were heading off to hear an African children's choir. I was very excited and insisted on rearranging our normal Wednesday night schedule to prioritize taking the kids to hear them. Too bad I didn't prioritize reading the newspaper article more closely because I was a full week late! I knew it was a bad sign when the church looked deserted when we pulled up. So, maybe they'll return next year?

Since we were "in town," we decided to go out for pizza. We did the nice brick oven pizza place where you have to order and WAIT while they make the pizza. It was OK, but the kids would have been much more impressed with CiCi's. Here are my kiddos awaiting their food, well except for my teens who didn't come and Elijah who was everywhere except sitting nicely in his high chair!

Here's Elijah admiring the nice fan. I wonder why they stuck us in the little room by ourselves?

Here's my boys in their "Duggarish" new white shirts. I probably wouldn't have selected the new white church shirts if I had known the pizza sauce and strawberry smoothies that would have graced the front of them by the evening's end! I use my fair share of spray and wash and bleach!

So, yesterday I pulled out my Father's World teacher's manual and lesson book. Mind you, since I paid $90 for the spiral notebook, I really thought twice before writing in it. I decided, however, that there was no reasonable way that it would ever make it through the year and still be in resale condition, so I was filling in the blanks, etc. As we were finishing school and I was closing it up, Elijah grabbed the page, ripped it in half and partially ripped a few other pages as well. I scotch taped it up and left it on the counter. Last night, JD and I went out and the kids did the evening clean up. Guess what? I can't find the book to save my life. We all spent over an hour searching for it as it's the back-bone of our curriculum. I fear the worse, like Julia cut it to shreds and stuffed the evidence in a back-pack or Gabriel took it out with the garbage. I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure praying that it turns up this weekend!

So, the first week of school. I hoped for better but that would have been as unrealistic as my public school hopes.

First Day of School

I dove into the first day of school today in spite of my neck pain. I had my books and supplies ready about three weeks ago, but had delay after delay due to real life annoyances. Our public schools just started back yesterday, so in spite of it being so late, I'm not behind for our area.

I honestly wrestled with the idea of putting three of my children in public school this year. I have homeschooled for 13 years straight, but I'm very overwhelmed with the task before me this year. I would have felt the same way last year if my sister had not moved in and saved the day (or the year in this case.) The three children I considered sending are not a breeze to teach; each requires quite a bit of one on one attention and none of them can stay on track during the day with anything else going on. I had dreams of the school system "fixing" these flaws and returning me children next year that could read well, reason well and stay focused. The hard reality is that I don't believe the school system would have been able to do any of the things I hoped for and I feared the negatives that they may have brought home each day. What sealed the deal for me was watching a trailer clip from an adoption documentary. It was not particularly favorable and the Chinese woman in the clip talked about being made fun of when she was in school for being Chinese in a white family. I hadn't even considered this aspect with Ben, (OK, I realize I just gave away one of my three....) I think at this point that Ben has lived in our family for over two years and he has never had kids make fun of him for being African, being adopted or having white parents. I just thought how his little face would fall the first time some school bully would say something along those lines. Although I know there will be a day when I can't insulate him from people saying hurtful things, I still can now. And I will because he doesn't deserve that on top of all the other adjustments that he's dealt with the last few years.

So, reality is that today was day #1 of 180 days of year #13. I get a little overwhelmed with that thought, so I'll just take it one day at a time! The good news is that today went pretty smoothly, much more smoothly than many days will be this fall!

It is absolutely remarkable how messy the school and kitchen area are once we are done with school. We did My Father's World all together this morning, then we did clean-up and lunch, then the kids did their phonics/English and math. By the time we were completely finished, there were no cleared counters or tables and there were about 200 things on the floor. Those are the moments that you really hope no "friends" pop in !

There's a lot of competition for the school computers in spite of the fact that neither function really well. Apparently the children have down-loaded a few viruses that slow them down. Here's my brother, Kent, explaining Moriah's math to her while Elijah makes noise.

Tori loves her computer time! She didn't get it until official school was over, but she's a happy girl now.

Tonight we are heading to an African Children's Choir. I've wanted to see one for years and excitedly asked Ben if he wanted to go. His reply? "Well, if it's not too boring." Man, he's turned into an American!

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I Won't Do This Again.....

We are friends with a nice guy who works at our big local thrift store in the county. JD ran into him the week before I hurt my neck and he gave us keys to "the lodge" to go check out all the stuff that they had tried to sell at a big indoor yard sale. When I hurt my neck, I returned the keys without going but told him that I'd give him a call if we were able to make it over. Since my sister and brother were here today and we were looking for adventure, we thought we'd go take a look, so I gave Bill a call. He told me that they had just packed it up, but they'd bring it to my house for us to look through. I reluctantly agreed, but was regretting that decision a few hours later. Here's what Debs, Alei and I dug through for several hours.

Oh, and here's more -

This was towards the end when we were really regretting agreeing to this. My neck was aching and poor Debs was trying to wrap up with Julia and Elijah's help. What you can't see too well is the dog and three cats under the bench eating Elijah's hot-dog remnants.

We set aside some doozy (is that a real word?) outfits that we were going to put on just for a photo op. I found Alei a bright orange, polyester, one-piece pantsuit that the likes of I've never seen in my life-time, but we were so sick of ugly clothes by the end that we just shoved them all back in the last bag. Kind of a shame since Debs and I had coordinating shirts.... In the end, we did get some good stuff; I just think I'd rather fork over $20-30 at a thrift store than go through bag after bag on my front porch.

As for a crazy end to the day, JD, Elijah and I set out on a little walk; really little since walking hurts. We barely made it down our driveway when we discovered that the new guy who bought 69 acres next to us had put in what appeared to be a driveway. We wanted to see if there was a house-site, so we headed down it. It kept going and going, we couldn't believe it. It was too hard to push the stroller, so JD carried Elijah. Every corner we came around, there was one more bend. After some time, I sat down with Elijah and JD ran to the end and back. The end seemed to be 69 acres back. At this turn around point, JD had been carrying Elijah for quite some time, my neck was aching and our stupid, stupid cat Slurpee did his usual stunt of walking all the way to the turn-around point, then laying down and refusing to walk back. I was sure if I left him in the woods he'd be eaten by a coyote, so I carried him. The problem is he'd fight, scratch me, I'd put him down and he'd lay there and ignore me calling him as we walked. So eventually, we did what any reasonable cat owner would go. JD ran home and brought back the 4-wheeler with the cat carrier bungied on the front rack. So, Elijah and Slurpee both got their first 4-wheeler ride! I'm quite confident that Elijah enjoyed it far more than Slurpee. I only wish I had gotten a picture before we let him out! Next walk, he gets locked in somewhere.

Wood and Hair

Yesterday the boys helped JD stack the last load of Amish cut wood. Our "red neck" wood shed is now at max capacity, as James and Ben stacked the left side as high as the right.


Here's the over-flow fencing stacked in the barn. It'll be interesting to see if there will be any left after the cow fence.


My biggest yesterday project was Julia's hair. Here she is playing outside with her wild fro.

Here's my simple hair-do; I think they are called Zulu knots. They were pretty fast and easy and I already have the parts ready to go for longer lasting braids.

Last night at bedtime, we were met with the unpleasant news that there is a leak in a Geothermal line in the basement. So, other than cleaning up all the water, JD has spent the afternoon diagnosing and fixing the leak. There seems to always be someone or something in crisis mode around here.

Amish Trip, Neck Pain, and HAIR

Since my neck was aching yesterday, JD took Elijah with him on errands twice. Last night, Elijah went even went to soccer practice and grocery shopping with his Dad. He really likes his Dad and he was absolutely devastated when JD left without him for Amish country this morning. We thought the trip was too long and he would need his Mom at nap time. He spent quite a while pointing out the window and crying, "Da-da." I tried to distract him with Cheerios.

Although that didn't work, the camera helped.

In spite of my neck, the girls desperately needed their hair done. We took Tori's out several days ago and the friend from church who usually does her hair is out of town for a while. Yesterday I called another friend's daughter, who is also adopted from Liberia, and she came last night and corn-rowed it. Thank goodness, one down....and I think it looks really cute.

After taking this picture, Tori suggested I get a picture of her big eyes. Tori is known for her big eyes.
We took part of Julia's braids out yesterday. This morning, she was fighting getting the rest taken out. I assured her that she wouldn't be going to church tomorrow with her current look.

Since I'm the hair-washer and re-fixer, I assigned Alei the unpleasant task of getting the remaining braids out. I was surprised how quiet it was while Alei was working. This is why....

Julia is still on the couch asleep and I'm going to look online for less time-consuming hair styles for the next few days while my neck continues to heal. Then I'll re-braid.

On A Roll

Tori's on a humor roll lately. She found some old Toy Story stickers in our homeschool cabinet today, (the one that I cleaned out and no kids are supposed to be in.) Anyway, she showed them to me and I told her that she could use them if she put them only on paper. After last week when she glue-sticked her pictures to her bed-room wall, I thought the paper reminder was in order. She came back a little while later with a paper filled with neat little rows of stickers. I complimented her on her creation and she said, "do you remember when you used to be nice and let us put stickers on the wall?" I told her that I was sure that I was never that nice as I've never let anyone put stickers on the wall. She said, "Oh, yeah, that's right, you didn't let us, we just did it anyway to surprise you!" Lucky me!

Tidbits of Today

I went back to the "back doctor" today, he gave me some muscle relaxers and topical medicine as well as a really cool neck collar to wear eight hours a day. You won't see any pictures of me in that on the blog! Anyway, the weird thing is that I really feel so much better today, I even stopped at Costco on my way home, which would have been out of the question even yesterday. I dropped my prescriptions off, but I may be ok without them. Here's the first site that welcomed me home; nothing feels says "welcome home" more than 200 square feet of play-dough mess all over the front porch - at least it wasn't intermingled with duck poop!


This picture really doesn't do it justice, imagine this times ten. Anyway, I never know what adventure will await me upon my arrival home. Sometimes, the kids have done a wonderful job picking-up and it's better than when I left, other times not so good.

Here's Gabriel giving Elijah an afternoon sword-fighting lesson; good thing as Elijah is already 13 months old. He thought the whole thing was great entertainment.


Gabriel works quite a few hours a week and Elijah is always excited when he comes home from work. They have a sweet relationship for being brothers 16 1/2 years apart.

Lastly, here's my Tori humor of the day. When we were driving to pick up Moriah at soccer practice last night, Tori asked why all those zip lines were running next to the road; she was referring to the utility lines.

A few minutes ago, Tori asked Moriah if she would read her the "Alice the Wiesel" book. When Moriah asked her to find it, she pulled out...


I think the best part of having toddlers and preschoolers is their interpretation of our world!

iPod Photos

Alei has bought and played with some fun photo enhancing programs on her iPod, then she emails them to me. It is inspiring me to try to do some of the same on the computer; I just wish I wasn't so computer illiterate. Whenever I try to do anything on the computer, I end up frustrated and calling for JD, Gabriel or Alei. These are both birthday pictures I took of Elijah last month.

I think this one looks like a little angel; of course, most of the time he is a little angel.

My baby boy........

What Is Going On.....

I don't know what the deal is but I looked forward to summer all winter long because it seemed that every time I turned around someone was throwing up. Since summer hit, the sickness has slowed down, but not really ended. I have lost count of the number of ear infections that I've treated and the number of fevers I've watched. It's embarrassing the volume of antibiotics that I've picked up at the pharmacy and distributed in little droppers each night and morning. About a month ago, Julia was diagnosed with pneumonia and I also feared that she had lyme disease. Since the end of last week, Alyssa, James, Julia and Elijah have all been diagnosed with another ear infection. Alyssa and James have also what appears to be pneumonia and have been put on antibiotics, steroids and inhalers. To add to all the drama, I reinjured my back lunging to catch Elijah as he was falling off the bed. About three years ago, I was diagnosed with two slipped disks in my lower neck. It was so bad at one point that I couldn't do anything for a full month. So, now when I feel this level of pain and nerve shooting down my arm, I really panic. I spent a good bit of time at the chiropractor and massage therapist yesterday and today, but you know it isn't good when your chiropractor recommends that you seriously consider disk surgery. I am revisiting "my back doctor" on Friday! Until then, I'm reclining on ice between attempting to run the house.

I'm not sure what I can do to boost every one's immune system before winter comes, but I'm definitely going to try a few options. I already feed them well. Here's Julia with her lunch salad and Tori with her bowl of grapes, enjoying the beautiful fall-like weather.


As soon as Julia was done with her salad, she moved on to the grapes. They were rather sour, but she adjusted and ate a bowl anyway.


Elijah wasn't impressed with the sour grapes, he tried it once and then just stared at it suspiciously.