Eggs

James' hens seem to be trying to outdo each other....

Sick . Math . Sick

I have been sick. Trying to decide  if I should teach choir today or not. I have no desire to expose all those kids to that bug if indeed it is still hanging around.

Our house is very lived in. So many people in the house can be a recipe for a disaster if no one is keeping tabs on the daily, hourly clean up....

The little guys were here all day yesterday as their mother had some undesirable, interesting trials regarding transportation... Those little guys are sick, too.

Steve took Missy to Children's today. She should come home with her hearing aid this evening.

James and I have been working really hard on his math facts. 

I don't think he knew that he could just look at a flashcard, know the answer and just say it. 

It was always this long drawn out process of looking at the card, 

saying the problem out loud a couple times 

and then counting on his fingers to get the answer.

 While I know he is learning, he gets more and more behind his class.

In fact all the math papers he brings home are 10 % correct

and the skill level only keeps increasing and nothing has changed. 

Math was looking like a lost cause.

 I had to fine tune my strategies a few times but suddenly he's catching on. 

He finally gets it and just says the answer quickly. 

I am "rewarding" him for doing so well with "allowing" him to do a math program on Khan Academy on the computer. It has no flashing lights, no bright colors, and nothing even slightly hypnotic about it and when I say he's done he walks away without the slightest rise of anger for which I am thankful. 

I am very close to dismissing our "homework helpers" as we started calling the health care workers from DDD. It's kind of a joke. I get more done in 15 minutes than they can do in 2 hours times two people.  My expectations were way too high, apparently.

I had this big conversations at the EQ Summit with a Speech Pathologist over supper and I'm really contemplating putting both kids back into speech at the hospital. What they get at the school is not enough.

I would like to ask for prayer for a family from our church. About the time that I had that tiny twin go into the hospital with RSV, this little man (2yrs)  went in also for the same thing. Then he came home and all was fine. Sunday the girls babysat both these kids. Monday the little boy had emergency surgery for intussiception of his bowels (basically bowels swallowed themselves). Now he has pneumonia. His sister (3yrs), off and on, has had seizures and some fairly recent, and mom had knee surgery, and they are trying to build a house,  (right near us), and the stress (and financial strain of the medical crisis) is rather discouraging. Here are the faces we are praying for!

* 9 * Years Old!

There was a birthday at our house!

Someone is pretty pleased it's finally her turn!

So happy to finally be 9 years old!

I went all out on the gluten free cupcakes because apparently cupcakes trump birthday cake. At least according to one little 9 year old girl!

Dad was soley responsible for the gift buying this year. I say he probably did better than i would have.

Ummmm.... that would be a rousing game of badminton being played in my living room. Andrew and Dad showing James how.

He received equipment for more than one game.

Pleased as punch.

Back to Reality

No time to waste... I've been made to put my new learning into action already and I've only been home a few hours.

We've had some serious cognitive distortions taking over and influencing some bad decisions. Before 7 o'clock we've had one boy child wet his pants, throw a tantrum, refuse to speak to me, miss the bus, go into a stand-off, yell, etc...  I hadn't so much as had a chance to say good morning yet. My best guess is that it was mostly  a non-verbal statement of, "You were gone too long, and I need your attention."

Missy was just fine, though, she's given everybody at home a run for her money. I'm sure she'll make her statement in one way or another before the day's over.

It's amazing how far and how deep and how fast the cognitive distortions will lead a guy. No time like the present to put into action the knowledge gained. We talked about how the brain works in teeny tiny snippets and I showed him how his negative thoughts made him choose bad actions that led him to the sad place he was in. Next we did a stimulating hydrotherapy shower and a salt glow rub down.  He then rested after his hydrotherapy while listening to classical music for thirty minutes -because the whole process was rather stimulating. We heaped on the ground flax on his breakfast... we went walking for 40 minutes using intervals for 30 seconds fast and 30 seconds slow for two miles. He is busy doing extra household and barn chores and we'll get to the extra homework soon.  He has some scripture memory verses to work on also.

Yes, he is missing school. Sometimes that's just the way it has to be.

I'll say he's made an amazing turn around. It's a good thing because I am hurting all over and getting sick.

I'm Ready

My brain capacity to learn from a lecture is nearly maxed out, I think....

Just a few more classes in the morning before I fly home.

I'm not sure if the family is ready for me to come home, though....  I've got some serious frontal lobe enhancing strategies planned for the whole gang. Like it or lump it, I refuse to waste all this amazing information and knowledge gained. I imagine I will have to do a fair amount of studying to retain anything. My brain is not in the best of form.... more like a sieve, but I took notes as fast as I could and gathered what handouts were offered. I also have a pile of books. I actually missed one lecture because I just couldn't think anymore.

We enjoyed a great concert tonight. Dr. Nedley was providing us with a good example of frontal lobe enhancing music using his own boys and their fabulous talent along with some of their friends. They gave us a few examples of non-brain enhancing music for contrast - just little snippets on the piano that was kind of entertaining, to be honest, but the rest was really, really good. I'm signing up for the quartet's new CD coming out shortly.

EQ Summit

I thought I would be sharing bits and pieces of what we are learning here at the summit, but it's like drinking from a fire hydrant. . . I can hardly take it all in, let alone be organized enough to spit it back out in an intelligent manner. I am processing the information bit by bit. It's been worth all the hours sitting in the ever changing temperature.

The room is too hot, so they put on the air conditioning. Soon it is so cold you half expect to see snowflakes coming from the ceiling vents. Then they turn it off and in an hour or so, it is so blasted hot we can't stay awake. It's an all or nothing system.

The first 16 hours of classes were training for the Nedley Depression and Anxiety Recovery Program.  The subjects included: Identifying depression and it's causes, Lifestyle treatment for depression, nutrition and the brain, how thinking can defeat depression, positive lifestyle choices, stress without distress, living above loss, and how to improve brain function.

I am now a  certified facilitator. Tom is here and he was certified as a Director. I don't think either of us had any plans to do this as a program in our church, but it just may lead to that. I know that Mel is also certified, so if we got a few more facilitators we could be set. My intentions were to use the principles and the program with our foster kids' families as opportunities arose. In fact, Buddy's family has a few members interested... Tom had intended to use it to improve employee health and wellbeing and productivity in his workplace.

So, I had to fill out a test to find out how depressed I am. I don't have the results yet... but I can say with certainty I had a few flashing lights on the hit list. It wasn't until today in Dr. Nedley's lecture did it strike me just how set up I was for major depression just a few short months ago.

Here is the hit list:

Genetics
Developmental
Lifestyle
Circadian Rhythm
Addiction
Nutrition
Toxic
Social/Complicated Grief
Medical condition
Frontal Lobe

Then here is the list of the major symptoms of clinical depression:

Deep sadness
Apathy
Agitation
Sleep Disturbances
Weight or appetite changes
Lack of concentration
feelings of worthlessness
Morbid thoughts
Fatigue

So you take a busy 40 + year old woman with 5 kids - two of which come from a history of trauma and loss and take a ton of energy and daily interventions, you add a toddler getting into EVERYTHING, making messes EVERYWHERE, and then a super needy newborn  affected by "whatever" it was he was affected by, so that he is not an easy, calm or peaceful child, but needed constant nurturing. You add in the lack of sleep because said baby does not sleep well, has stomach issues and wants to be held even in the night and because this person doesn't sleep well anyway, plus the usual summer work of canning and caring for gardens and even a market garden. This mommy then finds herself no longer exercising and finding herself gaining weight, cooking less, making do... Then her best helpers leave town for a month.

It's almost a given, pretty soon this gal could really relate to extreme fatigue, weight gain, sleep disturbances, crying for no reason, slow and sluggish movement, inability to make decisions, less tolerance towards annoying behavior from the kids, and the VERY WORST ONE OF ALL... lack of concentration.  This inability to read and retain, pray a whole prayer without forgetting what she was doing, remember people's names, or remember WORDS at all becomes frightening to say the least. There follows some sadness and cognitive distortions....... And wallah ~~~ it doesn't just go away just as soon as the helpers return and the baby and toddler are given back to their rightful parents, either.


I really wouldn't reverse the situation if given the chance. I don't regret being a foster parent. BUT somehow some of those lifestyle hits and stress points need to be guarded on the next time around. Exercise can't stop. Nutrition must be a priority, etc....

The last day and half has been a different program. The EQ Summit. Hopefully, I be able to share more on that in a bit.

The food is vegan and fabulous. Food is served like a banquet every meal. I'm enjoying the beautiful hotel, the enjoyable company, a lot of interesting people, and the lectures.  I feel like I'm on a vacation.

And some asked. Yes, the little babies were returned to their foster parent early in the week so we don't have a placement at this time. This event was well marked  on the calendar even at DSHS. I'm wondering if they'll give me any hours for my license hours. So much of what I am learning on the brain and such applies to my work with kids.
 

All Alone

In Texas! :-)

On Duty

Vanessa's been on duty for two plus days.

Being it's a long weekend it's not possible to
get a hold of the baby's social worker,

which means no one can give the biological mother permission
to be with her own baby

while he's in the hospital

even though she was allowed to be there last week with his twin.

Sometimes the system really fails people where it matters.

Foster mom can't be in two places at once and the

hospital won't allow her to bring the twin into the hospital room

because this babe is in isolation.

That kind of left her between a rock and a hard place.

Vanessa had been attending the baby when he was under my care 

because I couldn't be in two places at once either....

besides, she said, "This is my opportunity!!"

So when the foster mom was frantic and the tears were beginning to roll,

Vanessa volunteered to continue to be his attendant.

It hasn't been much of a hardship.

All the nurses love her... she can hear them talking in the halls,

"Did you know that's STEVE's daughter?"

Everybody knows him.

Soon everybody will know her...
and I don't think she'll ever have trouble getting a job there.

 Little Lad is recovering. He is off oxygen and meds.

I think he may be discharged tomorrow.

Of Wrecking Surprises and Sick Babies

 

Twins seem to be accompanied by

a LOT of Drama!

When you know how it is to be sleep deprived and exhausted and someone in that state asks you for help, how can you say no?

That's how it came about that I said "Yes" to 5 respite kids from one phone call. Friday we had the little girls for a couple hours.

But Friday evening we got boys. Twins ~ 7 week old identical 7 pounders.... and a 20 month old Little Boy Blue.

I knew that one of the babes had been recently released from the hospital with RSV. I had no idea that they were not healthy little things, growing and progressing and that they were not passed the crisis.

It was quite a NIGHT!! They were still so congested and struggling. To prop them up at a good angle we had the babes sleep in their car seats. At one point I had the supposedly "healthier of the two propped up in my arms". I must have dosed. Only a mother knows the fright of waking because there are no breath sounds.  By 5:30 am I went looking for nursemaids and the girls took over so Steve and I could get an hour's worth of sleep. It was a big concert day, after all. I needed a little energy for that.

The house was a bustle of activity getting ready for church, but I still noticed Baby K's breathing. Even Andrew asked if babies usually breath that fast.

By the time we got to the church I was really concerned. Tina, Katrina and Tamara all had a look and commented on his breathing and his color. It actually seemed he didn't care to breath at all sometimes... I was getting worried. Steve hadn't arrived yet as he had to teach his class at our church first. But by the time I had to go up front with the choir I was frantically calling him every 2 minutes willing the miles away and telling him he had to take this baby in.

As the choir filed into position on  stage I found my place behind of the director's music stand.  I prayed that the Lord would allow me grace to relax and trust that the babe was getting the help he needed and that my face would not reflect any anxiety I felt. I had to give the kids my complete attention. This was a concert I had been most concerned about. The sound of that church is very different from our church and where we usually practice. It's so very hard to control the sound there. The piano is too far away to keep the connection with the singers well, and I could not see the heads of my littler pianists.  We had done everything ~reconfigured the way the kids were arranged, changed the mic positions, etc... and we could not capture OUR sound. It may as have well been a a different choir.... a very untrained one, at that.

However, the moment when the kids' opened their mouths to sing the first verse of that first song, I breathed a sigh of relief. I believe the Lord gave Katie the idea of putting the choir mics behind the choir and above their heads. I knew THAT sound.

The children looked lovely in their black and white outfits... and then I looked down and saw my shoes. My BLUE shoes! Anyway, at least they are comfortable. Missy was having a problem, too... She was mad at the girl beside her because they both wanted the same spot and I deferred to the other child thinking Missy might as well stand close to Brianna. I didn't have any good choices available. Take her out screaming and create a scene, or let her make a spectacle all by herself. I chose the latter. People noticed. Oh well. That is who she is, but let me tell you, I will think twice about letting her sing at the next concert.

Meanwhile, Steve had the babe in the ER. The diagnosis: RSV and pneumonia. I arrived as they were admitting him to the pediatric unit. They very nearly flew him to Children's.... that might have caused us a lot of logistical issues.

Steve had been planning a big surprise for quite awhile. He had connived with Buddy's Dad to take Buddy's Mom and me out to a valentine's banquet. He had reservations and everything. I didn't know a thing. I knew he kind of sounded a tad worried when I accepted this respite placement, but I had no clue why. The girls were going to babysit, but when Buddy's mom heard about RSV she was worried and rightly so. They canceled.

Well, here I was at the hospital. The rest of the family with a couple of babies at home and everything falling apart as far as his plans . . . . But the girls wouldn't let everything be a complete failure, so Vanessa took over at the hospital. Christina and Brianna and even Andrew fed the other four and put them to bed. Steve took me out to the banquet.

When I heard the whole plan I felt really bad. BUT knowing all we did now about how sick the babe was and how exhausted the foster mom was from having the other babe in the hospital earlier in the week, etc... I don't think we would have changed anything necessarily. While we knew a lot of the people at the other tables, we sat alone at the center table and were alone to ourselves. We talked through the whole mess of our day.... and we talked about how fostercare has stretched us in ways we never imagined. For example, though we have five kids we have never had occasion to take them to the ER. Steve has worked there for 12 years and I have never set foot in the department, let alone admit any of our kids to the hospital (Our twins have in their past life and we have medical appointments for Missy, but on our watch, we have not had this experience). In so many ways we've been ushered into another world.

The banquet was nice. A funny thing happened, though. As part of the package a rose with a pink tag, a box of chocolates, and a little serenading was presented to me. The tag on the rose was blank and Steve was like, "Isn't there suppose to be a message on it to her from me?" And they were like, "You needed to email the message but here's a pen so you can write it out..."

He laughed and told me he had emailed them a poem he had written himself, but it must have gotten lost. I joked that some other woman must have gotten his poem....  At which he started hee-hawing with laughter because it went like this;

A Long time ago I found love at the core, when

"My feet met your feet, one day at the door,

Our two feet made four feet and now there are more!

How four feet turned ten feet is a mystery to score.

And now 14 feet run through that same old worn door,

So trusting the fate of this feverish foot farm

to the Lord who alone knows whatever may come.

But faithful and true, I'll always be to you,

though poor, not alone with our feet at the door."

God give us your grace that we might explore to

help one find true love, real meaning and more.

If he'd have counted how many feet were under his roof that very morning he would have counted 22!

Oh, and, he just might be the next Dr. Seuss.

PS. I lied. I just now thought of a time Brianna went to the ER. She was a tiny thing and rolled down the stairs and broke her arm at Grandma's House in Canada just before my sister's wedding. Steve took her that time and I took her to the clinic a few years later with another broken bone. I may have a selective memory..... :-) But you get my point.

My Kind of Walk

Buddy walked almost all of the two miles himself...

Today we enjoyed a little sugar and spice.... 

two little foster girls needed a place to go for a few hours today.

Now, we're waiting for our next respite bundles to arrive. 

Happy Valentines

I heard a knock at the door. 

And when I opened it, there standing a little more than two feet tall,

 was a little boy with a bouquet of tulips, 

a big pink envelope and a huge grin. 

SO CUTE!! 

 Love that little Buddy.

 What if we had said, 

"We could NEVER do foster care because we could never give them back

without breaking our hearts to pieces!"

You've heard it,
or said it,
and it's true...
there are big risks.  

But just look at how much joy and love we would have MISSED!

Her First Day of Clinicals

* It's a pretty exciting day for Vanessa... as you can see.

* I stopped by the store to pick up few needed items on the way home from the twins' music lessons. James had some money of his own with him. I gave Missy 5 bucks and a chaperone (Vanessa). The back story on this is that she had come home one day last week and gleefully told me she had thrown away her spoon with her lunch at school. It was so random and so "and what are you going to do about that?" kind of thing. There wasn't much I could do. I just told her I was disappointed that she threw away a perfectly good stainless steel spoon and now she didn't have one. For the next week as I would pack her lunch I would have to modify it to something that didn't need a spoon. She kept asking why her lunch was different from James' and I would just say, "because you don't have a spoon." So, we set her off on a mission to buy herself a spoon. Well, with her helper, she found 4 for 99 cents. And she decided to buy a couple of doll bottles and diapers... As they waited in line a middle aged couple behind them were so tickled with finding a little girl buying bottles and diapers for her dolls that they begged Vanessa to let them buy them for her. Okay! You win some, you lose some. I got my 5 bucks back, she's got a few spoons for her lunch box and someone gifted her with her hearts' desire, but I don't know if she learned anything about money. :-)

* James was set on buying Legos. He only had $6 dollars egg money on him. As anyone knows you can't buy very many Legos with six dollars. He found a tiny motorcycle kit. . . . He didn't really want it, he just wanted to spend his money. Took me awhile to help him focus and realize that he didn't want that kit. By the end of our shopping trip he asked if he could put it back. YES! score.

* Christina found a home for the two big ducks. A farm with two ponds and a family that are really pleased with how friendly they are. The lesson learned here is that she texted me in my class about it and said they would be picked up before I would be back. Right. Let me get this straight. You invited a stranger to come to our house, while you, a 15 year old girl with the flu, is home alone?  She had to scramble to have someone come over..... the neighbors kindly obliged and hopefully a lesson was learned. However, it turned out that a family came to pick up the ducks. But you never know.

* Missy is making some progress on that violin. Brianna was quite pleased with her lesson yesterday and the "recital quality" of her tone on her new song... the teacher then gave her another new song. James needs some encouragement. He's plodding along, but hasn't come to the place where practicing is a JOY. :-)

*I've had the WORST migraine this week. Yesterday I was hanging over the tub with my feet in hot water wondering how in the world I was going to drive back to town for the music lessons when my pains meds wouldn't kick in ~~  when I remembered a new kind of med someone had given me to try. It took an hour to do anything, and it did not deal with the nausea and all that, but it helped enough that I could function anyway. MY next move is to get some Cell Power from the health food store and give it a go...

*In my foster care classes we had a discussion that was a lightbulb moment. We were discussion the do's and don'ts of reflective listening. The two teachers highlighted that actually, *I* statements and *feel* statements DO NOT WORK with kids from with a trauma history.  They went into the whys and wherefores, etc... but it got me thinking. So during a break I talked to them about the behavioral therapist that we are seeing and explained the things he wants me to say and use during issues with the twins and how often it totally backfires. They were not at all surprised. They said, "of course!" this guy does not take into consideration their trauma history. Those very things will either cause the child to blow up or shut down...."  EXACTLY what is happening, especially with James. They said this kind of stuff works very, very well with special kids and regular kids who don't have a trauma history. And they gave me the name of a therapist that works with adopted kids. . . (Ack! man, this world is SOOOO complicated.) Anyway, the TRAUMA HISTORY Key is also what other parents looking on and criticizing adoptive parents totally miss. I tried to talk to them also about how onlookers think I should not be so bent on consequences for behavior due to mental deficiencies and they totally dismissed the conversation as nonsense.  Oh, whew! It's been quite a week for me in this regard.....!

And then James had quite a flare up of anger - on the bus yesterday and there was a backpack flying. I was on the bus in a flash and he was down on my lap on the steps of the bus quicker than he could blink. He snapped out of it in a hurry. It's a good thing. There was a delayed child who witnessed the event freaking out and the bus driver had to do her best to assure him everything was fine.

* As expected, sending your kids to public school has it's downsides. Listen to this transcript of an unbelievable exchange between Missy and I, yesterday. Don't forget, she's in SECOND GRADE!!

"Mom, Mom!! Guess what! We're going to a dance tonight at the high school."

Me: "Ummmm.. What? Actually, no, we are going to your violin lesson."

"But mom! There's a dance at the high school tonight. I want to go to the dance."

Me: "No, honey. We don't go dancing. We are getting ready to go to your music lesson, remember?"

"But mom!! Everybody else is going!!!" (Steriotypical teen talk, but I've never even heard my big girls say that!)

Me: Silently in my head, of course, and dripping with sarcasm.... "Right. I am SURE EVERY second grader is going to this high school dance except you."

and then with panic...." What in the world am I doing to my kids!!! "

~ and out loud, "Sigh, well I am sorry kiddo, but you are not going dancing at the high school tonight." 

Highs and Lows

Missy's high peaked.

And you can imagine what happened next.

I am so grateful for those happy weeks where we were able to get close to the real kid. She is actually attaching. She can be peaceful. She can be a delightful child. It's more than just good to be able to interact with the child I just described.

The children's choir sang on Sabbath. She was thrilled to have new clothes, and new shoes and to sing in the choir. She was an enthusiastic singer. We had a fellowship meal afterwards and everything was just dandy.

Then she crashed in the parking lot on the way out. James sat the seat of the van she wanted and she had a complete melt down. The rest of us just kind of smiled and took it gently because we were quite aware of the extra high the morning had been for her and were well aware she couldn't maintain that forever.

The next morning she was still crashing and screamed for over thirty minutes about not wanting to feed the dog.

By afternoon she had it together and I think she might level out yet. But her birthday is coming. There's another high in sight :-)

I see much progress in every aspect of her life recently. I ran into her teacher at the grocery store and we both have seen huge improvement.

Everyone knows that it takes a lot of energy and vigilance to meet this child's needs. Not everyone understands though, how unwavering a parent needs to be, how absolute consistence is required. 

A Day for A Walk!

 

Play

James had a friend over to play.

Actually, I was babysitting Buddy, Duckling and their Big Brother last evening. Big Brother is 7. He and James had a great time. I'm always so thankful to see another boy play with James and kind of lead the way and show him how.

Actually last evening, the two boys seemed to be on equal footing and James led the play just as much as the Big Brother did. Brianna and Christina sort of directed the play some of the time.... that always makes things interesting. They played with hot wheels. They built a forte in the living room with chairs and blankets and turned out the lights and went on bear hunts with flashlights. They found bear "eggs" (golf balls) and a baby bear (The Duckling) and bear feet (Bri's bare feet) and Buddy hunted along behind them bonking his head on the furniture in the dark everywhere he went. . .

I don't know if anyone out there can understand the satisfaction of seeing my boy being able to interact in this way and be totally accepted as just a regular kid like the rest of them... I know he doesn't really have a friend at school. According to both Missy and him they are all their friends, but I don't see that being reciprocal much at all. It's sad because they try so hard.

The kendamas have become a real big thing. The Big Brother is teaching the twins how to use theirs. It takes a lot of coordination, but they are doing it! It's a good healthy activity.

From Cover to Cover This Morning

Just read my second book cover to cover this week. 

 Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder - a mother's story of research and recovery is the one I read this morning

 FASCINATING!! 

I could not put it down. It reads like a novel, but is packed with absolute truth.

I have to say there are some similarities to what I have observed in the twins, though, I still cannot agree they have autism.(Especially since James was tested for it) But I would be more willing to accept they are on the high end of the spectrum if I had a diagnosis for PPD - which I don't at this time. Such a puzzle. As far as this book goes, though, if they are, I am absolutely on the right track with the dairy free, gluten free diet and being absolutely vigilant about their bowl health and treating yeast..... It's all a part of the issues with the brain, believe it or not.

ONLY... I think rather than getting more lax as I have been wont to do lately, I need to be absolutely more strict of GF thing.

Well, I should be folding laundry.... Kids will be home soon. I await them anxiously and hope that today is not the forth day in a row that James wets his pants at school. If it is, then we shall make an appointment with the doctor to make sure he doesn't have UTI - highly unlikely, but it has been months, and months since we've dealt with this issue and I must be sure. The teachers are on board with me, and yet he still came home soaked through. He's missed a lot of things on account of it this week.

When Pictures Speak for Themselves

There are no words necessary.

Memory Work Challenge

I made little headway in the de-clutter department yesterday outside of putting some bags of stuff in the back of the care and pawning off a few books on my friend. My next step in making that sitting room homey was to print up some of Brianna's best photography for the walls and the external hard drive has decided it has a problem and isn't sharing, so I'm sort of stuck. I found a plain, cozy throw in the right color to go on the love seat. My sister is making the pillow slips and saving me an applique for the throw so that they will all match. ONE PIECE at a TIME this will come together. We chose the carpet, but all our old cars decided they needed the attention first. Don't you love old cars ;-/

GYC has put out another memory verse challenge. They are memorizing the books of Revelation and James. I decided to start with James. If that's all I accomplish, then so be it. However, I already pretty much memorized  the first chapter of James. I can't believe how much easier it is than Acts.

A lot of those memorizing have joined the groups on Scripture Typer. I recommend it. It's a fun way to go. It's also fun to see where you rank so you can keep yourself motivated. It's special to know that people are praying for each other and nice to get the messages of encouragement. I go by Safords f. if you want to be my friend there. I am in the group James: Before Men and Angels. Seeing I am not smart enough to post the html tag successfully to this post I will put it in my side bar on the top left. Blessings! Hope to see you there. Lets fill our minds with the WORD.

PS. I am actually typing in all of my other memorized scriptures into the Scripture Typer program as I have time. It's a great tool for reviewing and helping one retain previously memorized portions of scripture. It's amazing. The things I memorized when I was a little kid are much more firmly planted than those that I have memorized since. And the Scriptures put to music and SOLID. No question about it. Music speaks my language.

The Rat Room

I haven't lost my steam.....

My mother dubbed the closet under the stairs The Rat Room. When we first moved into this {abandoned and repossessed} house there were mice. Actually, I can hardly recall ever moving into a house that did not either have mice or even a rat or two ....

Every woman needs a husband like mine.

He has always made it a priority to eradicate the rodents first thing and then he goes around with his cans of spray foam, extra strong wire mess and a  fine tooth comb looking for a crack  large enough for a spider to crawl thru and seals it up tight. We have NEVER had another mouse in any house after that. 

BUT of course, the nick name stuck. This is The Rat Room.  Before yesterday afternoon you would not have been able to walk in. Trust me, I dared not take a before picture.

I picked up another $12.99 dollar deal last evening. This file cabinet is a place for all my hubby's important papers. Which if you ask me, could just about take over the planet. I don't know why we never bought a file cabinet before.

The two boxes up by the front of the file cabinet are mine to sort.... photos and keepsakes, I think. Haven't decided how to handle them yet.

Oh my! But we have a lot of garbage these days!

Missy's pleasant attitude persists. We feel like a normal family. Why, she even practiced violin for an hour last evening! Whoever heard of that??

Sick and Happy

I realize those two words don't usually go together.

One child is really sick. He is worse instead of better. Still no fever. 

He just can't seem to keep very much down. 

This morning he couldn't keep his water. 

He's thin enough... it kind of worries me. 

He hasn't an ounce of fat and I can't seem to add anything to him.

The other has been VERY happy. 

So happy, in fact, that she has us cracking up half the time. 

She really enjoyed her three day trip with Steve and Andrew.

 They went to the zoo. 

It was empty of people and all the animals were playing and hamming it up for them to see. 

Missy is also looking forward to her birthday already... 

It is so good to see her pleasant side.

She is as vigilant is ever. 

Steve thinks he secretly bought her a surprise birthday present. 

She told me all about it already.

She isn't beyond bargaining, either. So funny sometimes. She asked for toast this morning. 

I monitor how much of that gluten free bread she gets 

because she has problems if she eats very much. 

She asked if she could have a toast for breakfast and when it was looking like the outcome would be positive she quickly said, 

"One or two?" 

and before I could even answer  my face must have reflected in the negative, 

because she quickly changed it to, 

"One now and one for later today?" 

I'll take that over her getting her nickers in a twist and spiraling off into the abyss!!!

Little Light Ministries is presenting Battlefield Hollywood at the Performing Arts Center. 

Because of James illness I'll not get to a single meeting, 

but they closed our whole church down for this so everyone else is there. 

I can watch the DVD's later.

Steve and I went for a walk this morning. 

A first in a long time. 

We are completely socked in with fog after a few SPRINGY days of SUNSHINE and warm weather.

It really can't be long until spring now!! :-)