ARCHIVES — June 2007
I forgot to mention that our Yard Sale on July 20 – 21 will be held in Jonesboro. I will be in town several times before the sale so if you have stuff and you want to get rid of it … I am happy to come and get it.
100% of the proceeds will be put to help fund our adoption. Please contact me by leaving a comment on this post. I will not publish the comment so all your personal information will be kept private.
I don’t think a single day goes by that the kids don’t mention our adoption. Recently during lunch, the girls were full of questions ….
“Can we go in 10 days and go pick our China baby up? I am really missing her.”
“Will our China baby have eyes that look like this?” (the girls both use their fingers and slant their eyes)
“Will her eyes always be that way?”
“I can’t see that good with my eyes like that. She won’t be able to see very good either.”
“Will she speak Spanish when she gets here?”
“OH, she doesn’t speak Spanish?”
“Can she speak “China” and talk like we do?”
“I wish we could see her right now.”
“Why do we have to wait so long to get her?”
Well that last question is one we have to try and answer for almost everybody. On February 26, 2007, China received our big packet of information (which took us six months to complete) that included family photos, a home study, and permission from the US government stating we could adopt internationally. March 19, 2007 is our LID (log in date) where China “logged” our names in their records and put us officially in line to receive a baby girl. Now we are just waiting. The current trend is telling us it should take at least 18 months to receive our referral (where China sends us a picture of an infant that they have matched to our family). Why so long? Well there seem to be a ga-gillion reasons, some I understand and many more I don’t. Thankfully most days I have a peace about the wait, other days it’s hard. I know there is a baby intended just for us who God placed divinely in a Chinese woman’s body and he knew all along she belonged to us.
So … why China? We get asked that a lot. The desire to adopt from China has been present since the beginning of our marriage. We have always wanted a big family and we knew we needed a daughter from China to complete our family unit. Several years ago, we were able to to go on a short term mission trip to China and it completely changed our lives. From the first moment my feet touched the ground on that foreign soil, the burden I had for the lost was … just indescribable. I immediately fell in love with the people. They were so friendly, loving and kind, but I also felt very defeated. I had the best news of the greatest gift ever offered to mankind, yet I couldn’t share it. It was completely against their government for me to speak about my beliefs. That trip really ignited my passion for the gospel to be radically spread throughout China. About a year ago my heart began to cry out for another child. All 5 of us wanted another child. We then knew it was time to begin the adoption process. Raising one Chinese girl in a Christian home and giving her a chance to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior is one way to express my love for and hope for China. We are so blessed here in America. We hear the name Jesus all the time. There are churches everywhere. I hope that one day that will be true for China.
On July 20 – 21, we are joining with another family, who is also adopting from China, in having a HUGE yard sale. 100% of the proceeds will be put to help fund our adoptions. We are looking for donations to help boost the sale. If you have stuff and you want to get rid of it, please contact me by leaving a comment on this post. I will not publish the comment so all your personal information will be kept private. I am willing to come and pick up whatever you have.
If you want to help out in any other way … someone has anonymously set up a grant for us with Helping Hand Ministries. You can contact them for more information and through them all donations are tax-exempt.
#2 is trying to figure out different types of meat.
#2 – Can we have black meat tonight?
Me – Black meat?
#2 – Yes the kind we have at Mom-Mi’s house. (She is referring to my mom)
Me – That is called steak. It is from a cow.
#2 – Well then can we have cow tonight?
Me – No, sorry all I have is chicken.
#2 – How do you make cow? Do you just cook the chicken until it burns and turns black and then it’s cow?
Me – No, honey. It’s from a cow, like moo- the animal cow. Chicken, you know it has feathers, that is where the chicken we eat comes from. It’s two different animals.
So when she sits down at dinner she looks at her plate …
#2 – Where is my cow? I wanted cow to eat.
Sweet baby kitty Juicy is getting pretty comfy in her new home. I think she is beginning to really love us. She just hangs out curled up in our shirts and purrs away. My fears of losing her in the house have almost subsided. Her crate is still her “room” and that is where she stays when she’s not taking turns being smothered by each child. She is a scrawny little thing and I am hoping she’ll gain some weight soon. I think she is definitely the runt of her litter. From reading her paperwork, I figured she is 12 weeks old, but she is so tiny she looks only 6 weeks.
Well, we have a happy house. For now. At least for this moment. Um, I take that back. I hear #2 crying. She is upset because Juicy Fruit just scratched her.
Meet … Juicy Fruit. The kids talked me into going to adopt a kitty today. We made a trip to the Humane Society and came home with a baby kitty. She has been here about 2 hours and so far so good. I have a crate to keep her in when we’re not holding her so we don’t have any episodes like before. The only problem is she cries constantly when she is in it. So, the kids and I are carrying her around every where. Shes like to hang out the front of our shirts. It’s really cute.
She’s not fluffy, she not a boy, but she was a baby AND she only cost $50! That included her “fixin”, bag of food, shots, micro chip and one month of health insurance (which we will not renew). June is adopt a cat month at the Humane Society, so the cat adoption prices are cut from $150 to $50. I almost came home with two.
The kitty search continues and just minutes before I load the kids in the car to head to the humane society I see an ad on pet finder for three pretty kittens. They are 16 weeks old, I was hoping younger, but this lady has them in her home and she is a volunteer for an animal rescue organization. I call her and the conversation goes exceptionally well. Next thing you know me, the kids and my neighbor Amy are in the car and on our way to pick out a new kitten. The visit goes really well. The kids and the cats are just precious together. Problem is she can’t permanently sign them over until they have had they baby making parts taken away. I am fine with that, and she says she’ll schedule for the next day. So, as we are getting ready to head home, the lady has the brilliant idea to let us take them home for a “trial run”. Sounds perfect to me, so we head home with a bag of cat food and two kitties in a crate: one for us and one for Amy. The plan was to let the cat stay in the laundry room at first to get used to us and then after a week move her outside. We get her out of the crate, hold her, love her and then she jumps down and runs to hide. No problem she’ll come out later. After dinner the kids head to the laundry room to give the kitty another dose of lovin and she is NO where to be found. I freak out thinking she escaped out the back door and we’ll never see her again. We look all over the laundry room, house, yard … no cat. Then my man says, maybe she got up inside the back of the washing machine. There is a small 8″x 8″ opening on the back of the washer that the cover had been taken off. My man squeezes back there and with a mirror he was able to finally get a glimpse of a frighten little kitty. By this point it was bed time for the kids so we just hoped she’d come out the next day.
In the middle of the night I am awaken by little baby meows. I get up to go comfort her and as soon as she hears me coming, back into the washing machine she runs. This happened 5 times. By morning I am grumpy and I am beginning to think, this kitty is not going to work out. She continues to cry and cry and cry but we cannot persuade her to come out. So, it’s lunch time. I am ready to return her, I know I am going to have to get her out on my own. I examine the washer and try to figure a way to pull off the front panel. No good, so I go and get my man’s thick work gloves and put on a thick padded coat. I try once again to sweetly coax her out … uh, no way she was budging. I block off the laundry room door to keep the kids at bay and in I go. Wouldn’t you know that sweet baby kitty instantly turned into a little demon. I have never heard noises like that cat made. Inside I was terrified and I knew she was as well. I was grabbing blindly at anything I could, hoping it was her. She kept dashing from on end to the next and howling like she was ready to rip me to shreds. Then I smell this smell. This horrible horrible smell. I had no idea that cats were able to produce a smell that could make you instantly want to throw up. I learned first hand what cat spray was. After about 15 minutes I finally grasp her. I pulled her out and she literally had the “poop” scared out of her. I felt horrible, the poor thing was attacking my hand, thankfully I couldn’t feel a thing through the thick rough glove. I wrapped her up in a beach towel and sat on the floor. Through the towel I began to stroke her, trying to calm her down. The smell was still permeating through out the room, and I felt completely exhausted. She finally stopped hissing and began to tremble. I let the kids in and we all lovingly petted her until she became some what normal.
Once I returned her and explained what all happened the lady felt bad. She said she should have warned me to keep her in a crate. Well, little too late now. I just hoped the cat is not mentally messed up for life. As for my washing machine, the cover is now over the hole and a separate round of each: bleach, pine-sol and vinegar finally calmed the stench. When washing clothes it seems to stir up the scent again but I don’t know what else to do.
So, the kitty search continues, only I am taking a few days off before we go and visit any kitties again.
So, long story short. We no longer have Charlie. There are many reasons as to why he is in another home, one being he tried to bite #3 several times. To ease the pain of getting rid of the dog, we promised the kids a baby “outdoor” kitten. This promise was to mainly satisfy #2. She is coo-coo for kittens.
The search for the right kitty: My neighbor informs me that she knows this old lady who has a litter and needs to get rid of some cats. I go and look. 3 kittens: 2 boys and a girl. The boys are JUST precious, striped and fuzzy with white paws. Some of the cutest little kitties I have ever seen, but I want a girl. I say “no thanks.” Now I am on the search for a girl kitty that looks just like those little boys. I look in the paper and call every number. No fluffy girl kitties. So I back track and remember speaking to one college student who had two litters of kittens. Surely there is one in the mix we’ll like. We arrange a time for me to come and see them. I pull up to the house and the kids and I get out. We walk up to the house and we are politely greeted and asked to excuse their mess. They are in the process of moving. So we head back to this hallway and the girl opens the door with another apology, “Sorry, we have a lot of cats and it smells real bad”. As we enter I am hit in the face with the most revolting smell. It was scary smelly. Cats and kittens galore. I asked about a specific one we had discussed on the phone. She pointed in to the bathroom and said she was in there. I pause … expecting her to go get it… Oh, I guess I need to go and pick it up. I pull her out and now I am really ready to vomit. I will spare you the details. The kids had kittens climbing all over them. As I held the girl I realized she and many of the kitties had mucus all over their eyes and they were covered in fleas. I got really germ-a-phobic. With my anxiety level escalating I try as politely as I can and say, “I think the kitty we are interested in is sick. Maybe we’ll catch you on your next litter.” We then made a quick exit. Once in the car I gave strict instructions, “DO NOT touch anything. We are going straight home to scrub down.”
So, the hunt for a kitty was still on. I am back to the paper and now I am calling all the vets. Still no fluffy kitties, oh and now I have changed my mind, I want a boy. See I wanted a girl so we could have a litter and the kids could experience it. (They tell people I had the vet take all the babies out of our current cat so she couldn’t have any.) When I learned that animal control puts down 35 kittens a day and with some persuasion from my husband and neighbor, I decided fixed kitties are the best kitties. Now I am kicking myself b/c I could have taken one of those cute striped fluffy male kitties and I wouldn’t be spending my time trying to find another one just like it. The stress goes on.
Part two coming soon … An over night trial run kitty won’t come out of the washing machine.
Monday- My mom and dad were here and we had a great visit. The kids were feeling crafty so they painted little figurines and I painted their faces. #1 had a character crisis. He was having the hardest time picking his daily character. He ended up asking to be a ghost, so I said sure. #2 was Kiara from Lion King and #3 was a kitty cat.
Tuesday – Our home school group decided to meet at the local roller rink. I was completely dreading it. None of my kids skate. For the first hour, it felt like hell. Tuesdays are two dollar skate days, the place was so packed. With music blaring and drowning out all hope of hearing any conversations, all four of us rolled onto the rink. At first I couldn’t stop laughing. It was like the kids were all on slippery ice. My giggles faded as I began to sweat bending over and over and over picking up my poor little girls. They were on the verge of a breakdown, gripping to me for dear life and begging to go home. Little did they know, I was mentally on the edge too. I just smiled and held on to each girl as my arms felt like they were being pulled off and my back was screaming, “STOP!” The suffering went on for about an hour. Then magically the crowd diminished to just a few and I finally got the brilliant idea to only take one kid around at a time. At this point #1 was holding his own and the girls moral was picking up. #2 was determined to learn to skate. We finished out the next 45 minutes strong and then exhausted we headed home. The kids have asked to go back today. I don’t think my body can handle it, but maybe next two dollar Tuesday I will be daring enough to do it again.
I have been tagged by a new blogging friend to do a meme. I think I am supposed to post 8 little tidbits about myself. Hummmm…….Okay.
1. Every time I am in the checkout line at the grocery store, I wish I could work as a cashier. I have tried the self checkout lanes, but it just not enough. I want to scan other people’s groceries and push the buttons on the cash register.
2. I grew up thinking my belly button was very unusual and I was embarrassed by it for a while. For a wedding present to my man, I went to get my belly button pierced, I know, how romantic. Well the guy at the shop told me that b/c of the shape of my navel, I couldn’t get it pierced, so I got a tattoo of a daisy instead. I chose a daisy because my man proposed to me by using 279 daisies to spell out “WILL YOU MARRY ME”.
3. I am an only child and growing up I had an imaginary friend. His name was Boy.
4. I LOVE killer/orca whales. I used to go to Sea World and cry while watching the “Shamu Show”. I would give about anything to be an killer whale trainer.
5. I would love to live in a home that was made out of recycled trash or an earthship. Not that I am really into recycling I just think it would be a cool artistic house to live in .
6. I have this strange urge to want to go in and explore old abandoned houses.
7. One of my most favorite things in the whole wide world is to get my back scratched.
8. I have a punctuality disorder meaning I really suck at time management and I am rarely on time.
So, now it is your turn – If I read your blog and you know I do, then play along and do a meme!
The girls were in the mood to paint today. To my kids, being creative means making a big mess and usually the results are the same for me as well. These are the pics of the first two portraits. For some reason I forgot to take a picture of the next ones. The longer they painted the less clothes they wore, the less they stayed in the lines and more of the floor got covered in paint as well as their face, tummies and arms. When the masterpieces were complete, I found splatters of paint everywhere. Note to self: Next time set up the paint outside and then hose them off.
Notice #3’s blue bodily fluid? Nice?!
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