Spring Break With the Younger Set

Christina's April Fools joke on her dad!

The girls making cookies with "no help".

The boys teaching the Duckie his memory verse.

It's Reboot day #10 for me. I cheated a bit today. What's a mom with too many kids to do? No time to make my juices . . .

My Garden "helper". Mr. Destructo.

This kiddo was very serious about helping me transplant tomatoes, and then we got in a water fight. I won. :-) He giggled hysterically..

James and his experiments.

He tuned the glasses to the piano (sort of) and played Jesus Loves Me on them.

It might be spring break.... but it's a great time to learn! There were potato peelings all over the kitchen.

There are two kids not shown in pics. The foster kids. Pieter and Oscar. 

Pieter was suspended from daycare for half a day and he may yet get kicked out for good. 

I actually think he's bored there. He gets in a lot of trouble here when he's bored. He really, really has a penchant for mischief, but he is also a foster child with foster child behaviors which is trying his caregiver's patience.

Oscar is still crabby. He loved going to the pool tonight, but he spit and screamed and yelled at everybody all the way there. He's more work than the other daycare kids combined, so he may get asked not to come back, too. See the thing is, foster kids don't pay as much as regular kids and they can be more work. If the daycare workers LOVE their job and the kids it's one thing, if they are just making a living, it's sure not worth the extra work.

Things are not going well in their case. My heart breaks for their situation. Their mommy seems unable... in bondage and unable to break free but maybe clueless. She doesn't seem to understand. I wish there was a way to help her.

Yes, we've had a lot of sad happenings. No, Buddy and Duckie are not living with us. (someone asked). BUT they are here a lot with their siblings. Mom is picking herself up.... and finding her way around the odds and college. THANKFUL!

We've had some outbursts and some struggles that made Steve really, really think that taking the twins to Michigan with me for a month in the summer was not going to go well. At first I was doggedly determined that it was going to work fine. But we've had some outbursts that put me in an impossible pickle in public recently and it is possible that the same thing could happen there, too - only there would be more at stake.  I prayed about it for days. Then finally I decided that I would not go if that was what God wanted. Within a half hour I was talking to my sister and she asked me if I would take her son for awhile to get him some vision therapy that is not available in her town... and the lightbulb went off. Tit for tat! We can do a trade. ( NOT exactly a fair trade, but I'll try to cover her expenses!) She agreed to come and watch the kids for me. Steve will be here nights and days off. Vanessa will be here evenings and weekends. We can keep our in-home care-giver for Missy, and schedule swimming and other activities to keep them busy. My sister will be able to can fruit for the winter (she lives in the Yukon) and also have a chance to go to Lightbearers' campmeeting...  She's happy and I'm free to go with the girls! I'll be taking my sister's oldest son with me.  :-) Just to think, the Lord probably had this all planned out  long ago. I just had to come to the point of letting go.

Well, my brother -in-law turned 50 today. He celebrated by puking every hour.

I take it growing old is painful..... (actually he has a stomach bug! poor guy. Way to enjoy a milestone).

We went swimming tonight. Going out anywhere with our crowd is a riot. Well....

with an introvert like me playing mom to that many it feels like a riot.
BUT THE KIDS LOVED IT. 

That's what counts.

Not Forgotten

 There's so much to write. Stories, experiences, lessons learned.... Thoughts overflowing. SO many hurting people - damaged children, addiction, healing and relapses and pain. But when I sit down I can't get it together and my minutes to sit are few and far between - VERY few and far between. I am the proverbial Old Woman who lived in a shoe that had so many children she didn't know what to do!

My heart is sick of the evil and pain and destruction of character and lives. There are bright spots and glimmers of hope... but there are also mornings like this one when I put my head down on the steering wheel and let the tears roll. Investing in lives is not for the faint at heart and sometimes I am the faint of heart. I let my tears be the prayer I could not put into words and as I rested my head there, the CD in the player gave me a song. Naomi Jackson was singing Not Forgotten. The song is about me and it's about these suffering ones. Wish I could play it for you. Love Naomi's version....


When you think your dream is dying
He has not forgotten you
When your body aches from tryin'
He has not forgotten you

When you worry for tomorrow
Even though the sky is blue
See the sun is shining
He has not forgotten you

When July feels like December
He has not forgotten you
When it's painful to remember
He has not forgotten you

When it seems you can not win
And there is not much left to lose
He has got a plan
And He has not forgotten you

And hope will spring eternal
In the home of those who know
That loving eyes will follow
Every where we go

And even in the darkness
His promises are true
Keep this in your heart
He has not forgotten you.

He is faithful
He is present
He is listening
He is love

He is faithful
He is with you
He is listening
He is love

If your tired flesh has squandered
What your spirit would have saved
And your aimless feet have wandered
Far from all you truly crave

Turn and run toward your Father
Do not wait another day
See His arms are open
And He is calling out your name

And hope will spring eternal
In the home of those who know
That loving eyes will follow
Every where we go

And even in the darkness
His promises are true
Keep this in your heart
He has not forgotten you

He is in your heart
And He has not... forgotten..... you. (by Twyla Paris)