Adoption 3

Along with all the information gathering, we were required to take a class. A class was starting about a week after we received the initial information. It was only an hour away. Usually the classes are held about 2 and a half hours away, if we didn't take this class we would be traveling quite a distance for the next one! We had to decide quickly.

We decided to go ahead. Friends or family watched the kids while we completed the 30 hour class. We went once a week for about 10 weeks.

There was a lot of reading to do. We read about 2 books and a binder full of information. Some of it was redundant but we learned a lot. We had some written exercises and many discussions. We also had to watch the movie "Coach Carter" at home and discuss it in class.

We learned about most of the many problems the kids may have and why they probably have them. We discussed what we should do when the problems arise and we were encouraged to find resources in our area that would help us with the children and help the children themselves.

We discussed many topics that should make our adjustment and the children's adjustments a little easier. Also we hopefully learned enough that we won't be too shocked when we hear what these children have been through.

Many of the people taking the class had a good sense of humor. Every now and then one of our discussions would end with laughs. I can almost say the classes were fun. The hour drive even worked well for us. My husband and I were able to have an hour of quality time to and from the class to talk about the adoption and the things we were learning in class.

Having to take a class always seems like a drudgery. This one was interesting and sometimes entertaining. Most of all it helped us understand the lives these kids are coming from.

A God like that

I was reading in Genesis the other day about the Israelites exiting from Egypt. It was pretty interesting. I've heard this story a million times but never really looked at a map to see what was really happening.

The Israelites could have left Egypt by going around the Red Sea. They were above the Red Sea and could have bypassed it altogether but God had them travel to a place between the Egyptians and the Red Sea. He had a plan.

When the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites He moved His cloud from in front to behind the Israelites and kept the two apart. Next comes the part we all know. When the Israelites came to the Red Sea, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord parted the sea and the Israelites walked across on dry land. Amazing!

The Egyptians then followed. God slowed them down and when Moses stretched his hand out again, the Egyptian army was destroyed. This pretty much prevented Egypt from bothering the Israelites again. Also other countries thought twice about messing with the people whose God fought for them.

God led them where He wanted them, protected them, and gave them a way out. God was honored in it all and His people's lives became better because they obeyed.

What an awesome, loving God.

Do you know a God like that?

I do.

Adoption 2

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Our adoption is moving along pretty well. We should be done with all the info collecting on us. All this info is called the home study. It includes background checks, up to date physicals, and references. We provided a copy of many documents such as: birth certificates, marriage license, tax return, proof of insurance, driver's licence, will with guardianship plan, and photos of family.

We also needed to supply 6 names of references who have known us for at least 3 years. Family, nonfamily, neighbor, boss are most of the categories. Of course we picked people who know us pretty well and like us.(We like them too:)

Along with all this is an autobiography of the adoptive couple. That means that my husband and I each had to write the story of our lives. It was an interesting experience. Our adoption worker told us that it usually writes itself once you get started. It did.

Here are some of the guidelines we were given: childhood,teen and adult experiences both happy and sad. What were your father and mother like? brothers and sisters? dating, school, etc? How did you and your spouse meet? What do you both enjoy, how do you settle disagreements? What does your faith in God mean to you? Was religion a part of your upbringing? What changes do you anticipate with a child coming into your home? Add anything that you think has helped to make you the person you are today.

We ended up with one autobiography 11 pages long and another 9 pages long. How long do you think yours would be? What would you put into it? I bet it would be very interesting.

One thing I need to note is that all the info that is gathered is kept confidential. Nothing is shared without our written consent.

The Five Love Languages

This is the title of a book that I just finished reading. It is written by Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing). It tells of five ways we express love and receive love.

The first one described is words of affirmation. This is when we tell our mate how great he is. We encourage him with our words and verbally demonstrate how proud we are of him.

The second is quality time. Here we spend time sitting and talking to him. We show him how much we value him by doing activities with him and wanting to hear what he has to say.

The third is receiving gifts. A small gift goes a long way to say "I love you". It doesn't have to be expensive, just a little note or his favorite candy bar.

The fourth is acts of service. He may value a tidy house, his shirts ironed, or food on the table each evening. The things we do speak volumes to him.

Finally, the fifth one is physical touch. Most of us would say yes THAT is it. This isn't the physical touch that we usually think of. This is a kiss, hug or pat that you may give him during the day. How about a back rub? It doesn't have to lead to anything, your touch is a sure sign of love

Sounds easy? Here is where it gets difficult. We all have only one main love language. The way we show love may not be received as a sign of love if the other person speaks a different language. You may keep the house spotless but he needs a hug at the door to feel loved. What about all the praise you give him? If he longs for time spent with you, you would be wasting your breath. Do you get the picture?

How do you know which one he is? Well, one way is to listen to what he complains about. Does he wish you'd clean the house, give him more hugs, say something positive about him,...? Another way is to watch how he is trying to tell you he loves you. You may not pick up on it if it isn't your love language but most people love the way they are able to receive love. A third way is tried and true- just ask him what makes him feel loved.

If you are like me and can't tell definitely which one, try doing all of them and see which one he responds to the most.

If you find out his language and it isn't one that you speak well, ask him what you can do to help him feel more loved and do your best. Remember a husband who is full of love definitely has it's benefits.

Well I'd better go. My husband is breathing on my neck. No- nothing exciting, he just wants the computer:)

Adoption 1

We are trying to adopt. Many people have wondered why. They point out that we already have 4 kids. But too many kids out there have noone. We hope to provide a family for 2-3 of them.

Who are we adopting, is usually the next question. We are going through an adoption agency. In this process the children are identified (looked for) after all the paper work is completed. We look at all the information that is available for many children and try to find a match for our family. This is the hard part. We will seriously pray about this decision.

Where are we getting them from? We will be looking at the children in the foster care system. I hope we can find a match in a county that we don't visit much. I'd hate to run into someone the child knows. It would be nice to give them a fresh start.

When will we receive the children? It's hard to say. Most adoptions take at least 2 years. Our process has gone pretty smoothly but there have been a few snags. Also we want a good match for our family. That may take time. None of these kids are perfect. All of them have many problems. We will need to decide what problems we are able to deal with and which ones will put too much pressure on our family. We want to build a stronger family not destroy the one we already have.

What do we have to do? Right now we are collecting all our information. But lets go back to the beginning. First we made an appointment and talked to an adoption counselor. She laid out the whole process. We thought about it and decided to go for it. Here is where I leave you in suspence. More about the process later:)

Midlife crisis

Hi! Is that title scary or what? What will you do when that time comes? Maybe you already did it. I hope it was fun! I also hope it was constructive. Many times we hear about unhealthy crisis's. You know that man who bought a new convertible he couldn't afford and is now wearing a toupee. Every now and then he also trades in his wife for a younger model. Women also do crazy things in a quest to regain some of their youth. Some are detrimental to them selves and their families. It is very sad when men and women place so much value on trying to regain something that they will never have again and in the process loose what they worked most of their lives to achieve.

I believe I am going through my midlife crisis. Oh no!!! Don't worry. I'm just acting a little crazier that I used to. I know you couldn't tell. Thanks. Anyway, it all started when we were getting ready to go to Washington D.C. I almost never wear make up or paint my fingernails except when my husband and I go someplace special. The night before we left I painted my nails. The color I normally wear is a brownish pink. I like the color but when I put it on that night my hands looked about 90 years old. Not good. I of course took it off and wished I had a pretty, light pink color. I made do with clear. After the trip I came across a pretty, light pink polish and bought it. While waiting for my kids at soccer practice that night, I painted it on. Friends of mine came for their son and were almost blinded by my polish. So they say. They were surprised at the color and others were surprised that I had any on at all. I don't think my husband has got over the shock yet! I liked the color. I then went and got a dark blue polish. Recently I purchased a red and a white. Can you guess what I did with those? Look below and you'll see.

That is in honor of Veteran's Day. As you can see, there are four hands. The old bony ones are mine and the young pretty ones are my daughter's. A very good benefit of my 'crisis' is that it helps me connect with my daughter. That is a very big plus.

So if you feel you need to regain your youth, do something constructive and FUN! A midlife crisis doesn't have to be negative. It can contribute to and enrich the life you have and want to keep.

I think a nice green would work. You know hunting season is coming up!

From the Bottom Up

Have you ever started something from practically nothing? I'm attempting to start a group in our area. I don't believe I'm gifted in this type of thing. You know- organizing, coordinating, keeping people interested. Sometimes the thought of taking on something like this scares me. I like to be easy going / very low stress. I'd rather not do something that takes too much effort or time. So why am I doing this?

One reason is that I enjoy the activity, but for me that's not enough. The big reason is that I know that God wants me to do it. It'd been pretty cool too. We have made progress. What has been amazing is that every time I get worried and the doubts creep in, God reminds me to dedicate it to Him and He will do the work for me.

I've had a hard time coming up with a cheep place to meet. He then pointed out how big our living room, dining room and kitchen are. There is enough room there for us to grow a little and when that is full I'm sure He'll provide somewhere else.

Some times I worry that I'm all along. He reminds me of my friends who are eagerly waiting to take part and my husband who has been encouraging me. I am blessed with many people waiting to jump in when help is needed.

I was a little frustrated today. God then reminded me of a few of my other friends. I called and they know how to do what I'm trying to set up and are willing to help. They also know of a few existing groups that are further away but that we can visit and get some more ideas.

Am I doing all this for nothing? No, We are having fun building up the group and God has showed me many ways we can use our dedication to honor and glorify Him. May God be glorified in all that I do!!!!

Sweet Sixteen

That is a very deceptive title. I'm definitely not 16. Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It's amazing but 16 really isn't a long time but I can't imagine life without him. It almost seems like we have always been together.

Last year he got some comments from the people who work with him. They were actually surprised that we had been together that long (15 years). It wasn't surprise at us personally but that anyone could stay married that long! It's sad when 16 years of marriage is an incredible feat.

This year we celebrated by going out to dinner and hanging out together(without kids!!!). We really enjoyed spending this time together. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's for icecream. There were 2 men in there who started talking to us. When they found out we were celebrating our anniversary they volunteered their accomplishments. The one has been married to the same woman for 50 years!!! The other told us that this year would have been their 34th anniversary but she had passed away 7 years ago. He was clearly still in love with her.

Love that lasts 50 years , 34 years, even 16 years is a rarity in many lives. I remember when I was growing up, if a marriage didn't make it to 30, 40, 50 years it was because one of the beloveds had passed away. Divorce and "broken homes" were just starting to become more common. Now- if your family is intact you are in the minority. I hope we remain in the minority!

Thankful

I am reading the book Created for Work by Bob Schultz. This sentence really hit me. "A secret to worshiping God is to forget what you can't have and thankfully find pleasure in what you do have."

As most of us some days I wish my life were more perfect. You know -quieter kids who jump and run when asked to do something. Who never make messes:) A very attentive husband who brings me flowers and chocolate every day. A self cleaning house. This includes dishes and laundry! I know a little over the top. But in all honesty if we could have some of the more realistic wishes we would miss out on some of the joys.

My house is a fixer-upper if we had lots of money we could have contractors come in and fix it good. But then I'd miss the time my husband and I have had to spend together fixing it. It's amazing how well you can learn to work together if given many opportunities. I've found with my kids that they get reasonably quiet if I play a game with them - or just spend time with them. Who would want to miss that? I'm still working on the self cleaning house idea but in the mean time my family is usually good at helping or overlooking.

When we find ourselves wishing for those things that we don't have we need to be thankful for what we do have. I am thankful that I have pretty good kids, a husband who shares the computer with me, and a house large enough and sturdy enough to keep all my treasures safe! I am greatly blessed!

lol

lol. My friend put that in one of her e-mails. We had just got the internet again and I thought that was so nice that she ended her message with 'lots of love'. As time went on she stuck it in every where. So I figured that I must be wrong about the meaning. Well, she had it after light hearted stories or silly things that her kids have done--so it must mean 'lots of laughs'. That went with things better. It still didn't seem quite right. Today in church there was a skit about texting. A family was sitting around the dinner table talking like they texted. They were saying all the abreviations. It was a good thing that they had the translation typed below because I was clueless. So was the father in the skit. I am not alone. Any way when his family found out that he didn't speek that language they lol, laughed out loud! They even went further and blol. Belly laughed out loud. Now I know. Can you tell that we don't use the text feature on our phones?lol

Family games

We enjoy playing games as a family. We each seem to have different priorities during the game. These can change depending on the game. Some can't wait to get it over with. I guess they have something more important to do. Others want to stomp the other team or players. Winning is everything! Then there are those of us who just hope we don't get stomped:) Mostly we try to make it a good time to spend with each other.

The other day we were playing Cranium Cadoo. My husband had one team and I had the other. We were one question away from winning. My poor husband's team kept getting combo cards where if we win the card both teams put a piece on the same square. In a tic-tac-toe type game that wasn't good. My team got many solo cards. Which was very good. We had pieces on the squares that they picked out and on the ones we picked out. Saddly, we had only been playing about 20 minutes and part of our family was going to get stomped royally. I let my team mates answer the winning question and put our piece on a square that didn't help us at all at that time. After their groans quieted, I said," Why don't we see if we can fill the board without there being a winner". Luckily my husband picked up on it and the game lasted at least 20 minutes longer and we were all winners. As it turned out the last space filled in gave both teams 4 in a row!! We don't play like this all the time. I usually get stomped good but I love the people doing the stomping so it isn't so bad.

Basketball anyone?

Two of my nieces play basketball. This is their first year (maybe second). We got to see them play the other day. It was nice to see how they are maturing and learning to play on a team. I watched them dribbling and shooting. It reminded me of when I was in school. I was in high school and one night I went to an open gym and one of the chaperones commented on how well I could shoot baskets. He suggested that I try out for the basketball team. I was surprised! I'm not the athletic type. But our school was small maybe I had a chance? As luck would have it, I never heard the announcement for try outs. I wondered what would have happened if I had made the team. I know some of my past experiences would have been different. I know I would have gained more self discipline and my self esteem would have gone up. I probably would be president right now if I had heard that announcement! A little silly isn't it?

We all have wondered if our lives would have turned out differently if we had done this or that differently. If we could go back we would change that one decission. What about what happened because of that change? Well just go back and fix it. Oops, Well go back and fix that one too. Easy no problems- except that one. I'll fix it! Would going back and reliving that time really change anything? Or would we just end up living in the past and miss the life that we do have? I believe that is why God did not make it possible for us to go back. He wants us to learn from our mistakes and live our lives in the present.

We all go through "what if" thoughts. Most of the time it is when things aren't going well in the present and sometimes it is when we are bored because our nieces aren't playing at that moment.

I wonder?

Hi! I heard on the radio that each job opening has on average 6 applicants trying to get hired. I remember when I've applied to some jobs and there were many more than 6. I didn't think that was very bad, but I guess it is usually 1.7 people on average for each job. If there's more people competing for a job will job performance go up? I would think so. I hope so. My husband is a manager. His biggest complaint about work is people not doing their jobs. When he gets together with other managers it seems like that's their biggest complaint also. If job performance does go up it will benefit society greatly. If everyone is doing their jobs well there would be less wasted money and more money going to more productive projects and better jobs. It would be great to become a nation of people proud of the work they do.

Arlington Memorial Bridge

Washington DC has many bridges in it. This one is the Arlington Memorial bridge. The arches on it are beautiful and the Potomic river peacefully flows under it. The side opposite Washington DC is adorned with 8 ft high eagles. I'm sure that you guessed that this bridge takes you to Arlington National Cemetary. Also on that side of the bridge is the former home of General Lee. It seems ironic that the first thing on the Washington side is the Lincoln Memorial. This was done on purpose to symbolize the coming together of the North and the South.

This huge statue is one of the four

that were given to the U.S. from Italy. They stand on pedestals near the Washington side of the Arlington Memorial bridge. They are beautiful Greek revival horses and riders. One is called Music and Harvest. Another is Aspiration and Literature. This one is called Valor. The last one is Sacrifice. I love the smoothness and detail in the muscles of the horses and people depicted in the statues. They seem so noble and honorable -two characteristics that I value greatly.

Washington Monument

This is a view of the Lincoln Memorial from the other side of the reflecting pool. It is calm and peaceful around the pool.

Many people seem to enjoy walking and jogging around the pool. It's hard to believe how many joggers we saw. They made me feel guilty (and tired). Ducks also enjoyed the pool.

The picture below gives new meaning to 'bottoms up'. I knew my kids would love to see that one! I'm sorry to inflict that on you but I just had to <:)

At the other end of the reflecting pool is the Washington Monument. It is amazing. I seem to have hundreds of pictures of this monument. It seemed like no matter where you were you could see it. Some of the people in our group used it as a compass to find their way around the city.

Here is a closer shot. It's easier to see the two different colors of the monument. We wondered about this. It so happened that the building of this monument was disrupted and after a time started again. The builders I guess used slightly different stone to finish it.

WWII Memorial

This is the World War II Memorial. It is between the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. I really enjoyed the small and larger fountains. Lit at night it is beautiful!

Some where on this memorial is a wall of gold stars. These 4, 048 stars are in honor of the 405,000 plus American lives that were lost during WWII. I'm sure I missed many significant features at this memorial, but it is hard to miss the two large pavilions. One is dedicated to the Pacific area and the other the Atlantic area.

This is a picture looking through one of them. The sculpture inside looks like a wreath being carried by doves (maybe eagles ?). I'm sure there is a lot of meaning behind this. I like to think of them as a vision of peace. It just seemed so natural for these birds to be carrying these huge wreaths and working together for peace.

Another thing I noticed was this doodle on one of the walls of the monument. (I did the one pictured below) I couldn't understand why no one cleaned it off. I should have realized that it belonged there since that area was kind of 'roped off'.

As it turns out, this was a sign of hope used during the war. It's beginnings is almost like an 'urban legend'. The most popular story of its origin was about a shipyard inspector who signed the items he inspected with a version of the figure above. The sailors would see this and liked it. They would then leave it in ports where they docked. The troops would then see it and like it and leave it other places. Soon where ever troops went they would find the figure and in turn would leave it for others. It was great comfort to know that Kilroy was there before them paving the way and stayed behind bringing up the rear. This website http://www.kilroywashere.org/ has many stories about Kilroy sightings. I really enjoyed the one about Stalin in a latrine!

Vietnam Memorial

This memorial is located near the Lincoln Memorial. It is the Vietnam Memorial. I guess I should say that it is a part of the memorial. It is the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall.

It is a very emotional memorial to visit. It starts small and gets bigger as you go down then smaller again as you go back up. The top of it is level with the ground. When you get down in you are surrounded by all these names. Over 58,000 names of members of the U.S. Armed forces who either died in service or were(are) unaccounted for during the Vietnam War.Many people come to find the name of some one they lost in the war. There is a directory up above on the main walk that tells you where the name is. Often people make a rubbing of the name when they find it. The lady in the green jacket is doing that above. Down below is the corner of the wall. Someone has left a wreath for their loved one. I also saw a note pushed into one of the cracks of the walls. It can be seen in the top picture on the right side.

There are two more parts to this memorial. This is the Three Soldiers Statue. It is located near the front of the wall.

This is the Vietnam Women's Memorial. It is located off to the side. They are both very touching dedications to those who gave of themselves during the Vietnam War.

One emotional moment for me was when I saw two men grasp each other's hand and shake it. One was a Vietnam War Veteran and the other was a WWII veteran.

Birthday

Hi, I'm taking a break from Washington DC.

We celebrated my youngest's birthday today. On my kid's birth date we have a little birthday with just the immediate family. Later we have an extended family birthday party. Today he got to pick out his special breakfast (pop tarts) and a cake and ice cream substitute (brownies- cake and ice cream is for the big birthday).

We had fun this evening.

My daughter wanted to light his candle. I let her.The first match went out when it touched the candle. The second one did the trick. She then blew out the match (and candle) all in one breath. The third match broke when she tried to light it. It actually flew and landed on the brownies! She picked it up and lit the candle with it. SUCCESS! She then picked up a tooth pick and lit it on the candle flame. I was very nervous. I made her put it in the sink before she blew out the candle again.

I took the cake into the living room

where he was waiting. It was so dark that I pretended to not know where he was. I walked around to everyone else while we sang Happy Birthday!! He knew I was teasing him. I finally 'found' him and we sang again. He had fun and really enjoyed his presents:)

Roosevelt Memorial

The Roosevelt Memorial was kind of like a walk in the park. It was set up with trees, plants, statues, and waterfalls. It was beautiful and relaxing. Well the stuff I could see was. We toured it at night and some of the lighting wasn't very good.

One of the first statues was of Roosevelt in his wheel chair.

Another was of a man listening to his radio. That seems silly now a days but soon people will think it odd to watch TVas we do. There are other statues that depict life in those times and at least one more of Roosevelt with his cape covering his wheelchair.

Near the middle were these eerie pillars. I think someone said it was a tower that told the story in braille(?) It had impressions of people's faces. They were pretty neat. I thought my kids would like to see them.

I reallly enjoyed the waterfalls andwater features. These are really relaxing and the lights on them were beautiful.

Lincoln Memorial

Much like the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial has many columns. As you can see it is very sharply rectangular. It is modeled from the Parthenon from ancient Greece. I really love this type of architecture.

Above the pillars are engraved the names of the 36 states that were in the union during Lincoln's Presidency. I had a lot of fun walking around looking for Pennsylvania. See if you can find it.

I love the extra embellishments.


Inside is a large statue of our 16th
president.

The inscription above him reads:

IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

It is beautiful.

Jefferson Memorial

Our night tour included a stop at the Jefferson Memorial. This is Mr Jefferson himself. He stood by himself in the middle of a large room. There were inscriptions on the walls. The one below was very interesting. I enjoyed reading what he thought of God and religion. I also believe that all should be allowed to believe what they want without fear of punishment. I also believe there is only one truth. One way to heaven.



All of this was housed in round building. It had columns on the front and a domed roof.

This is a view of it from a distance and at night. You can see the domed roof and columns. If you look closely at the blurry picture you can see Jefferson standing in the middle of the building and picture.

This one is at night also but up close and from the front.

It was beautiful.

Home

We're back! It's nice to get away but I always love to get home again. The kids and animals survived our absence. The teenagers seemed to enjoy being "on their own" a little. They did a great job with the kids. The kids even said so.

Back to our trip. We rode on a bus most of the first day. After we checked in it was time to eat. They had appetizers then a buffet. With over one hundred people in front of us we decided to wait to get our food. It was worth the wait. I loved the salad. It had water crest in it and some other different greens in it. The prime rib and fish were good also. I must enjoy eating too much-I almost missed the next activity trying to finish. After this we went on a night tour of the monuments. We were on the top of a double decker bus. My seat was right on top of the speaker so I was vibrated most of the time. What a weird sensation. My muscles loosened up good though. I'm glad they didn't charge extra for the massage.

The next day we were on our own most of the day. Being the industrious go getters that we are- we woke up at the unearthly hour of 10 o'clock (what do you expect we were on vacation). We started by going to some memorials that we missed the night before. Hopefully you will get to see pictures of them later. The most memorable was the Vietnam memorial- The Wall. My husband had never seen it before so he was very impressed. After that we went to a few Smithsonian Museums. We started to go into the Museum of American History but we had trouble with the weapons check. My Swiss Army Knife was passed but when the guard saw Scott take his machete out of his pocket she told us we couldn't go in. We decided to take them back to the hotel then try again. We went and visited a few museums but by that time we were getting sore from walking and were running out of time. So being the old people that we are we vegged in the hotel watching T.V. That night we went to ESPN Zone. Scott loved it. They have TVs every where. Even in the bathrooms. I hope Scott doesn't get any ideas! They also have an arcade in the basement and Scott's company gave us a charged card so we could play. It was exciting to see these older people (mostly men) enjoying themselves on the games. I played a basketball hoop game against Scott. He won one game and I won one. It was fun!

The next day we loaded up and went to the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport. It was amazing to see all the aircraft. There was even a space shuttle there. WOW! Our last stop was home.

It was a great trip. I spent a lot of time with my husband and ate way too much food but it was fun.

Hello and Goodbye

Hello this is my first post. I guess I shouldn't be saying goodbye. I am though, only for a few days. My husband qualified for a trip with his company. We are going with other managers to Washington DC. Sounds exciting! We've gone with them the last few years. The people are great and they put together a wonderful trip. I mostly look forward to time with my husband (he's great) and lots of food that I don't have to cook or clean up after. It's perfect my husband and food. What could be better? Well I must say that having the kids there would be great also.



Kids? Yes we have a hand full of kids. They are pretty good though. They add something special to everything. My Mom usually watches them but this year she can't. You know you're blessed when your friends start fighting over who gets to watch them. One problem though, we have a 1 yr old black lab mix who can't stay at someone else's house. Well he probably could but I may loose a friend that way and good friends are hard to come by. We decided to see if someone would stay at the house and watch the kids, dog, bunnie, turtle, the works. Its hard to believe but we have been doubly blessed- the teenage daughters of our friends volunteered. They are going to fill in for each other when the other has an activity. Amazingly I actually trust these girls with my children. How many teenagers can you say that about? So these young ladies are going to stay in our house for 3 days and look after our kids. God has blessed us greatly!



Se ya later!