recap on last years school

We are busy cleaning out the school room and reorganizing our supplies. Preparing a list of things to purchase and getting ready for the new school year. I love to sort and organize so this is always refreshing for me (and yet slightly depressing...we have so much junk to pitch out).

As I look back at our school year, it wasn't as unfruitful as I thought it had been. When I step back and look, we really did get a lot done. We studied ancient history. Began a science study on botany. Completed a whole years worth of grammar. Figured out fractions and Epsilon in Math U See. Not to mention reading, handwriting, thinking skills, spelling, phonics, nature studies, junior naturalists study on reptiles. We also participated in a Keepers group where the girls learned about baking, gardening, cake decorating, food preservation, first aid, library skills. They also joined the homeschool swim group and swam every week at our local rec center and have taken up Karate.

This summer we have done our girls friendship bible study and they are part of an American Girl club and are studying Kaya. We have also kept up with our math each week and spelling too. We have continued on with science and just yesterday spent time identifying a tree from its seed and leaves.

So, I guess it is good to stop. Look back. And see that we really did accomplish a lot last year. Even if it was a crazy year with adoption paperwork, getting our referral, traveling to Africa and adjusting to 2 new boys. Guess I should give myself a break. (wink wink)

It might be time to shut it down

I'm getting tired of all the spam comments I am getting on my blog here so I am seriously considering shutting it down or going private. If you are interested in following a private blog you can contact me via email or FB. It's been a fun ride, but it is getting annoying so it seems like it's time to let it go. I don't keep my blog as a place for odd spam comments and it is a shame it has come to this.

I blog as a way to share our life with our family and friends. I blog to keep a journal for our children. I blog to be a testimony for God and how He has worked in my life. I blog to encourage others along their own journey. I blog to share about homeschooling and letterboxing and composting and organizing (all of my different and varied interests). I blog to share out about our families adventure in adoption.

I do not blog for spammers and foreign language comments that fill my inbox with links to vague sites.

unplugged

While I have been off line...

I have managed to...

• learn to play Wii tennis (we are borrowing a wii for a bit)

• packed up all the christmas stuff
  

• relearned to play a song on the piano (haven't played in over 20 years)

• made a quilt from old baby clothes for the girls

• read some books

• narrowed down our "american" name choices for the boys

• sorted and reorganized my coupons

It hasn't been ALL bad not having internet for a few weeks. But I do miss you all. I should be back up and running this week. And with plenty of pictures of all our happenings.

Happy New Year my friends.

revolving door

Our home has been somewhat of a revolving door since the middle of October. As soon as one batch of company leaves, I have just about enough time to wash the sheets, clean the bathroom and restock the pantry before the next group arrives.

We have been blessed with lots of visits with family and friends over the last 2 months. We just said goodbye to some dear friends this morning and we are anticipating a visit from Chuck's uncle tomorrow. We had Chuck's parents here for a week in October and again for Christmas. My sister and her family were here for just over a week for Thanksgiving. And we were able to squeeze in a visit from a college friend for a few days.

We have had a great time, but needless to say...we are a bit tired. I am sure everyone is tired right about now. Christmas is over and packed away...and we are ready to get back into a normal routine for school. We have been extra busy with adoption stuff and we haven't had much of any time to take a breath.

I still have very limited internet access and that is why I haven't been online blogging or staying in touch. Sure miss staying connected, but we haven't had a lot of extra time anyhow. I hope you all had a great Christmas season and are staying happy and healthy. Hope to post some pictures soon of all our enjoyable Christmas holiday.

Still here...just not connected

I have been so busy and haven't had time to update the blog these days. Plus I haven't had internet connection so I have been completely cut off from the world. We have also sold our car (yay!!! so we can use that money to help fund our travel to Africa sometime this spring). Without a car, we have been a little stranded and not connected.

On a positive side, we have had fun making lots of christmas gifts (homemade ones are the best). And yummy baked goodies. Oh how it feels like Christmas here. We just haven't been very motivated to get our school work done or do any needful.

I just wanted to let you know we are still here and doing just great. Hope you are having a great Christmas season and are safe and healthy.

Stand with us

We have had a busy holiday week with family and lots of celebration for Thanksgiving. I hope you all had many things to be thankful for this year. My list of gratitude continues to grow. I can't wait to post pictures of some of our goings on and our visit with my sister and her family.

We will get back into the swing of things this week as our family leaves today. I feel like I need to get back to schooling and take advantage of the few weeks before the Christmas break.

Just very quickly I am asking for my blogging friends to PLEASE pray with us in these next few days. We have seen God working in amazing ways (looking forward to sharing more). I will share details as soon as I can, but we are praying that God provides in a big way in the next week. I can see clearly how His hand has been on our family both here and in Africa and that His timing is perfect.

Trusting in a mighty God. Stay tuned for details....

We have been BUSY !!!

We have been so busy and trying to squeeze everything in these past few days. Chuck has been working round the clock on a big video shoot for the past week. He is beyond tired. The girls and I helped him out on Saturday at his shoot. Needless to say, it was fascinating. I loved watching him in action, directing and organizing all the chaos. He does such a great job and it was a treat to be involved.

God provided the money we needed to press ahead on the dossier and we have been busy trying to get those documents done and notarized (click the peapod for updates). It is a paper chase. We spent most of yesterday in the car going from office to office getting the last few things done. It is amazing to see God's mighty hand at work in all of this.

We have had construction workers in the house for almost a week working on our bathroom floor and shower. There has been a major leak and water has built up and caused a mess. I can't get into my closet so I have been wearing the same outfit for days. =)

I am teaching my portion of our keepers group today and we are taking a field trip of sorts to the library to learn about the organization system that is used there. I am also working with a friend on a junior naturalists club that we formed this fall. We have that meeting on Thursday and I need to squeeze in preparing for that lesson. I have left it all to the last minute. I hate that about myself.

We finished our last class of education on Monday night for our adoption training. Glad to have it done, but we have learned so much and appreciated all the education we have been able to take part in. My mom has faithfully helped us out with watching the girls all those Monday nights as we have had to travel to the "city" to take these classes. We are SO thankful for the support.

So...all that to say, my house is a MESS. With running in every direction, I haven't had the time to get it cleaned, or put away, or hardly made a meal for my family. I will be happy to have all the paper chasing done before the holidays approach. My sister and her family will be here for Thanksgiving and I can't wait for that. It will be such a treat to get together again.

In the spirit of keeping it real. A tiny peak at the mess around here.










When you don't sort through the mail in days, it can really pile up. Working on our paper work for the dossier.









I haven't been able to get to my closet and put any clothes away. So...they just keep piling up.

some of my favorite games

We are a family that loves to spend time together. We value our time at home as a family and try to create time that is special. Often on Friday nights we make homemade pizza and might watch a video. We try to eat dinner around the table most nights and if there is time we will play a game together or some other kind of family activity.

I thought I would share some of our favorite games that we play together. Soon you might be looking for gift ideas as the holiday season quickly approaches. Here are 2 of our new favorite games.I picked this game up at a yard sale for a dollar (really good deal - you can find it HERE). I had never heard of it before but it has quickly become a favorite. Kind of a mix of counting and memory. You search through the forest to find the trees and look underneath them to discover the hidden treasure.
Then race to the castle to reveal where the treasure is located. We all have enjoyed playing (even Chuck so it isn't too girly). I bought it because it is made by a favorite company that makes good quality puzzles and games. (HERE)
Another one that is a new favorite is Quirkle. I bought this one months ago (mainly because it was a game that had won 3 awards) and pulled it out for Tally's birthday. As much as I love games, I hate reading the instructions and learning how to play.
We aren't a very competitive family so we don't often keep score when we play games. We also shake every ones hand when the game is over and congratulate the winner. I want the kids to be good sports and have fun playing if they win or lose.


This one has beautiful colored blocks with shapes and colors. The idea is to make a row with one of each color or shape. Great for pattern grouping. I also tend to like games that are educational. We have just used the blocks with little kids and grouped them in like groups (all the red, or all the squares).
These are just a few of our new favorites right now. Do you have any ones that you'd like to share?

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On the adoption front, we are done with our homestudy and waiting for it to be reviewed by the international agency. We are also almost done with our dossier and ready to send it in. We are short the funds (that are needed to send in with the dossier) right now so we are praying for God's wisdom on what to do in that situation. We have also finished up one (out of 3) of our adoption education classes that we are required to do. Just mailed of the completed book (With Eyes Wide Open) for it to be reviewed by one of the workers at the agency.

We have another class tonight and are almost done with the other 2 education classes that we are doing. One is online and one is a local class with other adoptive families.

We are eager to finish and mail in our dossier to the agency and it is then that we are put on the waiting list. Trusting God for His timing and His leading in all of this.

Sunday Salad Spectacular

If I could eat crunchy food today, this is what sounds good to me. Taco Salad. Yum !! I always make it the same way, lettuce, tomato, cheese, black olive, taco seasoned ground beef, Frito chips, topped with catalina dressing.

We eat a lot of salad around here and most of our meals are meatless. I have made this with boca burger meat, but it just isn't the same. I mix it all up together and serve it with the dressing on. Chuck likes his with extra dressing. =) He is all about the condiments.
I am feeling a little bit better today with my mouth. Still very sore and honestly, I haven't eaten much since Wednesday night. Eating even soft food really brings on the pain. On a positive note, it is a good way to shake a few pounds.

I feel like I haven't done anything all weekend and I am hoping to have enough energy to get all the needful done tomorrow. The girls are taking swimming every Monday and Tally heads back to the ortho for an adjustment. BTW, her teeth have responded very well to the braces. Her two front ones look almost normal. (HERE for the beginning picture) We also have another adoption education class tomorrow night, we are working hard at getting all of the requirements done. Hope to get that homestudy done in the next week or 2.

Oh...one last note, I didn't make it to church this morning (thanks to the oral surgery), but I heard Tally volunteered to say the verse from memory up on stage in front of everyone. So proud of her and her confidence. I love that they are hiding God's word in their hearts.

itty bitty update

Can't write much...my mind is foggy with pain killers from the oral surgery. All went well, I now have 2 less teeth and I wonder if I am less wise (wisdom teeth). It kind of makes me wonder what is the purpose for those extra teeth ? Most people don't keep them forever and most people are smart enough to have them taken out when they are young and bounce back quickly. All that to say, I am hurting and hopeful that there are no complications. That doctor got me good and scared when he went over the list of possible complications. Here's to hoping that I don't have dry socket or any other awful complication.

Hope you have a great weekend. Eat lots of crunchy foods for me ~ since I will be eating pudding for a few more days.

big week

The rest of the week will be a big week here. Today is our last homestudy meeting. This time the case worker comes over and visits our home and meets our girls. Nothing to be nervous about, she has already warned us she isn't coming to look in every closet, just a nice visit. This is nothing compared to having your home ready to show for real estate. Been there...done that.

We also need to decide the age range of a child we are willing to accept. That one has been a hard choice for us. We have decided that we will accept boy or girl (which most likely means it will be a boy). It has seemed unnatural for us to pick the gender of the child. At the moment, we are thinking one child zero to 18 months old (at the time of referral).

Once we have this last homestudy meeting, it takes the case worker about 2 weeks to write the report then we have a week to have it approved by the international agency before it is printed and notarized. Then we just have a few more things to finish up for our dossier. The dossier is the pack of information that is country specific. Once the dossier is sent in, it goes to Ethiopia and is translated and then we are placed on a waiting list. The problem for us is, when we send it in, we need to send it in with our next large payment. We are still waiting on the funds. That is why we have been working hard on the call-me-cards (HERE) and the yard sale. We have worked really hard to cut our own budget back to the bare bones, and we are praying that God provides the needed funds when we have our paperwork done.

Another big thing this week is oral surgery for me. I am having my last 2 wisdom teeth removed tomorrow. Needless to say, it will be a big deal. The doctor was reminding me of all the complications that can take place and warned me that it is much harder to recover when you are in your thirties. Yikes. Trusting and praying it goes smoothly and there are no complications. I am putting my faith in God on this one...He is sovereign.

Like I said, it is a big week. =)

Oh...BTW, I was trying to make the blog into 3 columns and it didn't turn out quite right and had to go back to a generic design. Not sure what I was thinking, I don't know a THING about Html codes, but for some reason, I thought I could figure it out.

Hard to believe...we had a yard sale in the pouring rain !

We ended up having our yard sale on Saturday morning (well...technically, it was a GARAGE sale). We never really had enough break in the weather to put our things out in the driveway. But we had gathered our donations and I spent the week pricing the items, so we figured we should give it a try. I am bummed that I was too busy to take pictures. I will try and remember next time. And YES, there will be a next time. We have some left over things and I am going to start taking more donations of items for the next yard sale.

When Chuck was putting the signs out early in the morning, he said he was doing it in faith that people would come and the effort would be worth it. And God blessed the effort. We were swamped with people and sold almost everything. We were not prepared to display the items in the garage, but that didn't stop our shoppers. They dug through boxes of items and clothes and didn't seem to mind the mess. It felt a little crazy and messy, but all in all it was a good day.

The girls sold baked goods (that my dear friend donated) and we had signs up that said it was an adoption fundraiser and people were very encouraging and many were generous. We raised $500 !!! We were thrilled and shocked that it went that well. Worth the effort it took and we are going to try and do another one in a few weeks. This last one we pulled off in just one week (no wonder I am tired).

I just love it how it was another reminder that even though the circumstances were not ideal, God isn't held back by it. I am grateful for the wonderful reminder that He is STILL in control.

We have been at the doctor every day this week and we aren't even sick.

Seriously...every day to the doctor for some adoption physical or testing.

MONDAY - Girls had their physicals and their arm test for TB (a requirement for the homestudy process).

TUESDAY - Chuck and I had our physicals and our arm test for TB.

WEDNESDAY - Back in to have the girls arms checked out for TB. Arms started to look like a positive result, scheduled to go back the next day to check again.

THURSDAY - Back to the doctor to have them look at the girls arms again. Sure looked positive for TB. Went over to a lab and had chest x-rays done to see if it was active TB. (It was NOT).

FRIDAY - Chuck and I went in for our blood work and had them look at our TB arm test. Those results all came out just fine. No worries.


So...all that to say, we have been to the doctor every day and we aren't sick. Of course sitting there in the waiting room as they mention that the arm TB test was positive made everyone there give you freaky looks. Like we are some kind of diseased family. Yep...I felt like I had to justify to everyone "We are not sick. We don't have TB, it just means we have been exposed to some TB sometime in our lives. We are not contagious."

As you can imagine, we were washing our hands every time we walked out of the waiting room.

On a positive note, we just got back from a fun play date at the park with other families in our area that have, or are in the process of adopting from Africa. I found out one of them lives in our neighborhood. How cool is that. What a neat area to be in and find such neat support. I love how God works out those details.

You will also notice, I have put up our adoption time line to help you get an idea of the process and how we are progressing. We just had our second and third (max of 4) homestudy meetings. And we have been really busy getting ready for a HUGE yard sale tomorrow as a adoption fundraiser. Please pray with us that it doesn't rain.

This and that

• We hosted a little get together for Tally and her tween age friends on Friday night. We did a movie and pizza and popcorn and candy. It really was a fun party and I will post some pictures and details soon.

• I resisted the urge to school my kids yesterday. I feel like it is so hard to take a day like that off, but at the same time it is needed to enjoy down time as a family.

• We all dressed in Chuck's team t-shirts and took part in the free chicken sandwiches at Chick-fil-A. It was yummy!!

• I recently found some errors from both our bank and a different organization that accidentally charged us too much for a few different things. It pays to pay attention.
  

• I have noticed some trees already starting to turn color. OH...I am going to love it here this fall. I haven't had a real "fall" feeling fall in several years.

• Our first homestudy meeting was today. It was successful and we came home with LOTS of homework type of paper work. I will have to be very diligent to getting all these things done in the next few weeks.

• Got our finger printing done today and I will mail those documents off tomorrow.

• I couponed for the first time this week. I am hooked. My bill was about $120 and I saved $61 and paid $59. That's right...I saved more than I paid. Just what I need to help us save some more money around here.

• I love praying for this new child that will someday join our family.
  

I'm alright, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth !

I had a friend email me yesterday to make sure I was still around and doing OK. I guess that means I haven't blogged in a really long time. It has been about a week and a half. I shot back a quick email to say all is well, we have just been really busy.

My last post was about cleaning out the cupboards and I didn't mention that we were preparing to be gone a week and who wants to go grocery shopping right before a trip. Not me. We just got back from visiting Chuck's family and attending his cousins wedding. We had a great time and I do have many pictures to post and sort through my thoughts about our time. I have to get my pictures uploaded and I just haven't had the time. We came home on Tuesday and I wanted to jump right back into school and get a few really good days of work into the week.

This year with the girls being in 4th and 5th grade, our school day seems much longer and is even more of a full time job. I desire to give the girls the best education I can and that means I don't have as much free time as I used to.

I have been meaning to share some pictures of a little project that we did not long ago. In my constant longing to reduce, reuse, recycle as much as I can, I came up with this cool idea.

Tally had been given a pair of jeans that didn't fit my friends daughter. Tally wore them for several months before she sprouted up and was too tall for them. We needed more shorts for the summer and we found a few pairs of pants that we trimmed down and turned into shorts. This particular pair has such cute trim on the cuff of the leg that I just couldn't throw them out. I wanted to use them for something. Came up with the idea of making a little purse out of them.Here she is wearing the shorts and the purse. I used the cuff at the bottom the pant leg as the opening of this purse. Then just sewed one seam on the other end (while it was inside out) and added the ribbon as a shoulder strap. My mom added the cute green bow. I thought they turned out adorable. I just love them. The girls each got one from the one pair of jeans. The ribbon as the trim was on the leg of the jeans already.



They are big enough to hold a book and a toy or a bottle of water while we are out running errands. Aren't they just too cute ???

I will post about our trip once I get our pictures uploaded. ~~~ One quick little request, please pray for us as we are making some decisions. Praying for wisdom and guidance. Thanks !!!

I'm OFF -

I am off duty this weekend. (You know, from that 24 a day job). I am taking a little road trip to go and visit my friend Christy. And when I say friend, I mean MY friend. Not my kid's friend's mom. Christy is my friend and we could talk for hours. In fact I have a few friends that I no longer live near that I don't talk to very often on the phone because when we do, I have to have about 2 hours carved out of my day in order to say all we need to say (you know who you are).

I am looking forward to our time together. I have been thinking I would go and we could "can" for a few days (she is really good at that). But this visit will include a trip to a homeschooling expo/conference. I am really looking forward to some encouragement in the homeschooling department for school is starting just around the corner.

One of the things I am going to check out is My Father's World for school next year. I have several friends who use it and really like it and I have been looking at it for awhile now. That might be my big purchase for the upcoming school year.

I'll be back online in a few days. Hope you have a great weekend.

this and that

Just a few moments to sit and use the computer...it has been a busy week so far. Here is my crazy list of thoughts.

• The girls had a great time last week at camp and then I forced them to rest most of the weekend to prepare for this week.
• We have 3 extra kiddos around the house this week. I am taking car of a friends kids while they are in Ethiopia adoption their daughter. So far we are having a good time and it is going really well. I am sure they are really missing their mom and dad by now but they have been able to hold it together. Hope that continues until Friday when we head to the air port to pick them up.
• I have been treating this week like camp with organized activities and a schedule of events. I think it helps everyone involved not just to have free time all day. Our days have been full of swimming and craft time and other things like that. I even get them to rest each day after lunch.
• I have enjoyed trying some new things with my produce from the farm. I guess no one else had heard of the tuna on a potato. Did I scare you all off with that? Will I freak you out when I share about ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES?
  
• Still so thrilled that the scooter was returned. God is so good.
  
• I got some neat pictures of the kids at camp. And when I have a few seconds to myself, I will post them. Let's just say...that rock wall was TALL !!!
• I am a month into a new exercise routine, and it is kicking my hind end into shape. I am working out like a maniac and sweating like a dog. Whew. I hope to see some great results.
• Next week I take the kids to the ortho to be fitted for retainers and braces. Cha-ching.
• I measured the girls the other day. They have each grown over an inch in the past 3 months. Can we say...growth spurt. I think when Tally out grows her shoes she can pass them on to Grammy. Then she will be in a women's size 9 (she is still only 10 years old). There are times I notice that she is taller than adult women.
  
• We have gone 6 months with no cable TV and to be honest...I don't miss it at all. I am sure 6 months is nothing compared to some of you, but remember, my husband works in the TV industry.

Pictures coming soon...with lots of recipe posts too.

Sunday Salad Spectacular (and a scooter update)

This one is a little bit of a salad stretch...but I wanted to share it anyway. And again, I am not sure what to call it. Maybe Tuna Salad Topper (maybe Chuck can help with a creative name).

I learned this from some friends that were from England. If I remember correctly, they said it was common to find a baked potato cart (like a hot dog cart) where you could put different toppings on your potato. It all sounded yummy until they mentioned tuna. That's right...TUNA SALAD on a baked potato.

Let me just say...give it a try. It is actually pretty good. Here we have a baked potato (cooked in the microwave, so it is fast and doesn't heat up the kitchen) and yummy toppings. I topped it with tuna (I like the foil package tuna flavored like herb and garlic), cheese, tomatoes and green onions.

I made this twice this week for lunch when Chuck was home. It sounds kind of odd, but it is surprisingly tasty.

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And just one quick note...the scooter that was stolen last week has been found and is home. It looks like some kids took it and joy rode it (scratches all down the side). What a blessing to have this answer to prayer. Thanks for praying for us. Someone called the police after seeing it behind a vacant building here in our town. Bummer no finger prints were found on it and we don't know who took it (nor will they get punished for it). But alas...it is home.

Not sure what to write ???

Do I share some recipe ideas that I have come up with from the fresh produce I get each week?


Do I post some cute pictures of what the girls have learned at camp?


Or do I give updates on the missing scooter?



















OK....I would want to know about the scooter too. =) We thought we had a lead on the missing scooter yesterday. Chuck has been checking Craig's List from the first day to see if it might show up for sale. We have also had our eye on things for sale by the side of the road. Yesterday there was an add for a scooter for sale with no title so we hunted it down and requested some pictures.


The pictures don't match Chuck's scooter, but we will keep looking. Such a bummer. Not giving up hope yet. We kind of feel like detectives now. =)


I will post the recipes and camp updates later. Somehow, they just aren't as dramatic as hunting for the scooter.

enjoying the play set

We finally got our play set up and the girls have been enjoying it so much. We have had this play set for 5 years. We have had it at 3 houses now. After much hunting, we decided to go for the Rainbow play set and it has been a good investment. I'll be honest, they aren't cheap, but they come with a really good warranty. When we were moving this last time, we took it apart in just a few major parts and loaded onto the truck in big pieces. We had to order a lot of replacement wood to take care of the rotten areas. After the replacement wood arrived (under warranty) we hired the local Rainbow play set place to come and replace all the wood and put it back together.

I had no idea they had to take almost every piece apart and put it back together again. I think it was worth hiring the professional on this one. It looks like a huge puzzle with no picture to follow.

Most of the wood is new. After being in a REALLY humid area, a lot of it was rotten and needed to be replaced. I have been impressed with Rainbow and how they stand behind these products. It has been a joy to work with them.

Can you believe it is 5 years old??? It looks practically brand new. We were able to find a spot in the yard that gets afternoon shade from a hack berry tree. The girls have really enjoyed playing out there and the neighborhood kids have been over to play a few times too.

This is one of my favorites...a new place to read.Sorry for the lack of posts here in the Peapod. We have been busy and today's activities included checking out a dentist, orthodontist and getting 2 teeth pulled for Tissy. Prayers appreciated for my little one.