Tori's New Bike

If you read yesterday's post, you know Tori was in need of a new bike. Look what she was blessed with today at church, from a friend of Alyssa's. It's even pink and came with a helmet. Things like this are such a blessing to our family!

Want a Quick Trip into my Mind?

OK, I'm going to do a turbo blog post that is as scattered as my mind. Generally, there are a few "big" things I'm trying to mentally work on, and there are a million petty distractions that keep popping in. Here goes....we just returned from James and Ben's first soccer game of the season. Ben played last year, but this is James' first season. I was absolutely shocked how well James played! Normally, he moves around like the pokey little puppy and doesn't have a competitive bone in his body, so I was pleasantly shocked how well he did. He actually set up a goal and almost made another one! Ben played great too, but that wasn't surprising.

After the game, I hauled my three boys (now that Gabriel is gone, I only have three to haul) and Moriah to the Christian bookstore and Costco. Something about that Christian bookstore - Elijah dirties his diaper every time I'm in there! We always leave with a horrible smell trailing us. Today, he took up telling adults to "move" and flinging his arm at them; it wasn't cute and totally out of character for him.

When we were at Costco, Elijah looked at a brown (I like the terms peach and brown) man at the check-out and said, "Hi Ben." I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing; then Ben (the real one, not the man) did too. Elijah just looked at us like he had no idea what was funny about it. I'm sure the man was confused as well.

Which brings me to Elijah's Baby Einstein video, they show a bunch of babies of all nationalities. Elijah told me, "I like babies - I like brown babies." One of the girls asked him, "do you like the white babies, too." He said, "no, I like the brown ones." I'm taking this as my sign that we should adopt from Africa again, what do you think? (I'm just kidding, well, at least about the sign part.)

On that note, Julia asked me yesterday who was going to drive to the homeschool picnic. I told her that I was. She seriously looked at me and said, "you know how to drive?" I just wonder who she thinks has been hauling her all over the planet the last three years of her life. She is always entertaining!

Here's what Tori brought in to me the other day....


I bought this boys bike at a yard sale way back for Alyssa. It went through Alyssa, James, Ben and Tori; I think I got my $10 worth. The cool thing is that a friend of Alyssa's just offered us a hand-me-down girls bike for her. Tori was happy, but asked me, "what's a girl's bike?" My answer was, "it's probably pink, like Elijah's!" This boy/girl color code thing is not for big families!

Alei got cortisone shots in her back a few days ago. She is still in pain, but I really pray that they dry up the fluid pockets on her spine and this is a one time deal! Another side effect is euphoria or depression, thankfully, she definitely got the euphoria. She laughed at everything yesterday. The kids would walk by and do anything, and she would burst out laughing. It was actually quite entertaining.

Gabriel is doing well, but he and Alei have both told me that CO appears to be the pot capital of the country. The stories are remarkable, as far as it being readily available if a doctor recommends it! Gabriel said at Summit last year, the cops confiscated some on the street and they saw them later down at the bridge smoking it themselves. It sure isn't that way in Virginia; is it something about the high altitude or something?

Well, that covers enough of the kids for today; I need to go prep the boy's bathroom for painting. The walls are so gross, you'd think it was a public bathroom at a ball stadium or something. I'm continually amazed at how hard on things the boys are! I also need to clean up, make some dinner, fold some laundry, figure out what to do with the girl's hair, figure out if the water park is open tomorrow...you get the idea.

The Last Three Days

Today we went on a home school picnic; the kids had a blast. After it was over, we ran some errands and Elijah fell asleep on the way home. However, the three days before today, he fell asleep watching his beloved Baby Einstein videos. I know... I know....TV for a baby, but it's nice when lunch is over and he's tired. He used to watch it until I came and rocked him to sleep, but the last three days he hasn't made it that long.

Tuesday -

Wednesday - (I did not stage the DVD box.)

and Thursday - like the gloves and boots for sleeping?

He is such a little treasure.

The Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit

I am so, so excited about this -

Join Us for the Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit

Some of the speakers are Russell Moore (the book Adopted for Life) and Tom Davis (Fields of the Fatherless.) There are also "breakout" seminars that are on the exact topic that I've been searching for information on for the last few years.

To me, it's like Christmas and Disney World rolled into one!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a nice, quiet Labor Day with Aunt Deb here. She normally spends the night anytime she comes, but was unable to this time because she is house-sitting for a family almost an hour away. There was some talk at dinner about her rounding up the baby chickens and locking them in the chicken coop among other animal tasks that she is doing for this family. When Julia realized she was actually leaving, she started crying, "Why does Aunt Deb have to spend the night in a chicken coop instead of here?" I explained, but again this morning Julia started crying that, "she wished Aunt Deb had spent the night at our house instead of the chicken coop." It's tough not seeing the big picture!

I didn't take any Labor Day pictures other than work photos. Here's Elijah's shoe choice for helping Daddy mow the grass.

It's almost time to throw down more grass seed, which will be nice since the bare patches stir up a lot of dirt!

Here's Elijah showing me how dirty his hands are after helping Daddy.

Lastly, he finally likes the sandbox (and I talked him into taking off the socks.)

He fills the dump truck over and over, then dumps it out.

Or he throws it at his Mom taking a picture of him!

Hope you had a happy Labor Day. We started home school co-op classes today as well as resumed our regular school.

Big Kids - Colorado

I am just thrilled to announce that Gabriel and Alei spent their first day in Colorado yesterday. I truly am just so happy - it's not that I didn't think they would actually make it there, it's more that I have truly seen God's plan for Gabriel's year unfold and although it seemed too difficult at times - he is there. As a very basic overview, Gabriel was set on joining the Marines. I am very pro-military, but I did not feel that it was the right thing for him to do. I prayed and tried to arrive there, but I couldn't and didn't. There were times that I was very discouraged and Gabriel was very frustrated because I wasn't supporting what he wanted to do. The very weekend before he considered signing, I prayed for a clear sign if there was another direction Gabriel should go.


That very evening, in my inbox came a blog from a pastor's wife in Colorado that I always read. She wrote about this program, Escape Average Leadership Intensive, which is a leadership internship for kids the year after high-school and before "real" college. I read it and thought, "OK, God, this is all that is presenting itself." I pulled JD in to the office and we talked about it. He was fully supportive, but told me that he didn't think Gabriel would even consider it. When we presented the idea to Gabriel, he walked away saying that he would think and pray about it. We were both pleasantly surprised.


Gabriel had a few rough weeks, as he kind of lived frustrated that he had several options (I kept also pointing out the community college nearby,) and didn't know which way to proceed. After a somewhat frustrating, but humorous conversation, that began by JD reminding him that he really needed to be seeking God about His will for his life, he blurted out that "of course, God wants him to go to the leadership program, so he'll go."


After the decision, there were still definite hurdles - mostly financial. We told him that we would pay for the program, but he still needed to be responsible for 1/2 his monthly car insurance bill, all his car repairs, his gas and spending money. The tough part is that he isn't allowed to work at all during the nine month program, so he had to save up enough for driving across the country twice and the nine months in between. Due to the fact that Gabriel isn't a saver by heart, we had several conversations about his spending and how he wasn't saving enough... At one point, Gabriel really threw himself into it and stopped spending and started picking up extra hours. There were a few months of him working up to 12 hour days, six days a week and spending next to nothing. Right before he left, he had an unexpected $700 car repair and he had more than enough to pay it and still have his monthly living expenses covered for the year.


So, him being there is just a big sigh of relief. The family that he and Alei are currently staying with also seem to be a huge answer to prayer! It feels so good to know that at the end of the struggles and sometimes conflict, Gabriel is right where God wants him. We are excited to see what God does with Gabriel and through Gabriel this year.

Here's a look at the serious side of my son -




On a separate note, Gabriel attempted to do delayed entry for the intelligence program of the Navy days before he left, but due to the time of the month, they were unable to slot him into that either. So, we all feel that God wanted the doors left open or him.

School Supplies Stock Up

My name is Jenny and I may have a little bit of a back-to-school-supplies-bargain-shopping issue. You know how all the stores feature notebooks for 9 cents and glue stick packages for a quarter? I can hardly stand to walk by those kind of deals and not "stock up!"

I know what started this..........a few years back we ran out of spiral notebooks. Over and over, I paid $1.99 for new notebooks and all the while I kept thinking, "I know these things were like 10 cents at the beginning of the school year." I would almost rather chop down my own tree and make my own paper than pay 20 times more for something than I could of! From then on, I've made sure to have enough at the beginning of the year to see the year through. Then before we moved into this house, I had stuff stored in different areas; I even had a diaper box of spiral notebooks in the barn with mice nesting in them. (Of course, I didn't know mice had taken residence in them until I went out there and pulled a notebook out and a mouse came flying out with it. My mice issues could be a weekly post theme.....) Anyway, I didn't really know what I had, or where it was, so I kept buying more in fear that I didn't have enough to get through the school year. Well, this year, I have enough! I may have enough for a few years and some to donate to charity! On a humorous note, my cousin flew out to help me unpack my house in the two weeks between move-in and Elijah's birth. When she found my glue stick supply, she exclaimed, "My word, Jenny, is it even legal to own this much glue?" I haven't bought any since then and as you can see, I still have a few packages left.

The best part is that it's organized (and mouse free) in the basement this year!

Weekend

I think I have figured out why Julia never plays with her play kitchen - it's because I let her make big messes in the kitchen and they have proven to be more fun. She played at least an hour with her play dishes, water and the popcorn kernels that she dug out of the bottom of the bowl. I still stand by the idea that I would rather clean up a five minute mess than listen to an hour of whining.


I haven't blogged about miss Julia for a while. After having her tested at the Attachment Center in Charlottesville, they wanted her treated by attachment therapists even though she technically didn't have an attachment disorder. It has been a frustrating process to even get them to explain what they think she needs help for. On top of that, they won't release their information to me, but only to a certified therapist that works with them. To compound the matter, none of the select therapists will bill my insurance. I really feel that I was led to believe that once we moved passed testing into therapy, my insurance could be billed, but technically it can't because the therapy is providing training for us instead of directly treating her. I kindly explained that $10,000 cash was out of the question when I have two insurance providers. I furthermore kindly explained that each and every month we are still paying a hefty adoption loan and I adopted these children with the knowledge that although there may be issues, we had solid insurance that could cover those bills. I got no sympathy, not that I need sympathy, but I do need them to be willing to provide the testing information to a therapist that is willing to bill insurance.

The amazing thing is that just being told that she doesn't have an attachment disorder has freed me to discipline her as "a normal child" and that has provided some favorable results. On top of that, she seems to be out-growing the clingy, clingy thing she used to do for hours a day. So, all in all, unless something works for therapy that is soon and reasonable, we may really not need it!

________________

We are enjoying the beautiful weekend. We had a local family over yesterday during the day and a stop by our nephew and his girlfriend last night on the way to the beach. Tomorrow we are going to hit the water park after church one more time - the weather is getting cooler!

My big kids are on their final day of driving, but it's a long day. They spent the night in Oklahoma City last night and are driving 11 1/2 hours to Durango, CO today; they have passed through a total of four states today. They have really enjoyed their time on the road together and are anxiously awaiting to see the city that Gabriel will call home for the next year. Elijah keeps saying that Brother and Lee-Lee (Alei) should "come home red car;" poor little guy doesn't understand!

Lunch Time

Feeding my crew is generally not simple, and it's never tidy. It does seem, however, that we've fallen into a routine that works pretty well. We work on school, until everyone is complaining that they are hungry. The kids then clear the table while I make lunch. After we eat, the kids clean the school room and kitchen floor while I load the dishes. Then we make the mess all over again. (Julia did not want to take off her new purple nightgown today, it wasn't worth the fight.)

Left-overs are the coveted lunch at our house. When the left-overs run out, it's sandwiches. Today we had leftover hamburgers, enchiladas and spinach quiche along with peaches, cantaloupe and applesauce. It was better picks than usual!

What else makes lunch time clean up fun is Elijah, who rides laps around the kitchen island on his little trike. Fear of having my feet run over keeps me alert!

Rabbit Trails

Have you ever seen those studies that break down the time that public schooled students are actually learning? It's something like 1 1/2 hours in a 7 hour day once you subtract all the class changing, home-work handling, snack breaks and group pencil sharpening sessions. The idea of those studies are to convince homeschoolers that it's OK that we are only putting in 4-5 hours a day, since we don't have all the group distractors. WELL, those people never analyzed a day like today at my house! We'd have to put in a good 14 hours today to compete with that 1 1/2 at the public school! Days like today have so many distractions, that I'm often distracted from attending to my previous distraction.

Here's one brief example. We took a lunch break. I gave Elijah a cheese stick to eat while I made lunch. Charlie stole Elijah's cheese stick. Elijah insisted that Charlie sit in time-out. I had Alyssa handle that since Charlie is her dog.

While we were standing around watching Charlie do time, Elijah knocked a pile of junk off my desk and discovered Chuck E Cheese tokens. Since they have "big rat" on the coin, he knew what they were for and that reminded him that he likes to stare at the "big rat" pictures from his birthday on the computer.

While I was pulling up the rat photos, he then discovered his flip-flops under the desk. We had to put them on immediately, yes, on the wrong feet - with socks.

See what I mean? This is all lunch break, and that's just Elijah. I haven't mentioned that Tori kept calling me for help with her book, I had to wipe Julia, I had the distraction of trying to convince Ben that it takes longer to walk to the barn, to get his bike to ride the garbage back to the barn, that it does to just carry the garbage to the barn in the first place. I never got that through to Ben before James started his 4th pleading routine for mercy (for losing TV for the day.)

So, where was I?

This is the reason we often are not done with school by the time JD comes home from work!