The floodgates are opening

I had a great weekend. For starters our church had some special meetings (not revival) this weekend with some guys from Canada that I just love. They have been to our church 3 or 4 times before and have really imparted into our congregation.

Secondly, Dania's birthday is Friday, so they showed pictures of her in church and I got to give an update on the adoption status to the body. I also spoke about adoption in general and all the wonderful ways that God has met me along this journey. There are so many in my body that have a heart for the orphans and it is so encouraging to me. One more couple just made the leap of faith to pursue adoption, and I couldn't be more excited for them.

Finally, Nate finished up his huge assignment yesterday and will be able to take a breather for a couple of weeks. He is actually off today and we are headed out on the pond for some fishing. He and the boys went to pick up our little john boat and then we will head out.

Will update more later on the whole adoption thing.

Same ole thing

There is nothing new to report from this household so I thought I would update all the things that I am still doing and loving, and the stuff that has fallen to the wayside.

Still:
clipping coupons and going to CVS every Sunday and getting goobs of stuff for practically nothing. A few weeks ago I went in with $32 ecb, my starting total was $45, after coupons and ecb's I spent 19 cents out of pocket and walked out with $33 in ecb's. Now my ecb's are down to $16 and I need to try and build them back up, because this week I had to buy a medication that cost $13 and I used my ecb's even though the product gave me no bucks back.

I am still using the writing notebooks for the boys punishments for all kinds of disrespectful talking. I am not as on the ball as I was previously, but still doing it and liking the results.

I am still going to the chiropractor and taking all my whole food vitamins. I am feeling so great, I have energy, I'm sleeping better at night and needing less sleep. Also my Mrs. O saw me in the grocery store w/o makeup and thought that the dark circles under my eyes were diminished. Austin is also now going to the chiro, and I am soooo glad I got him checked out. His x-rays were a mess and even a newbie like me could tell he was very crooked. He was more out of alignment than I was.

Not doing:
The daily food journal. That was way to difficult to keep up with, uploading pictures everyday and remembering to take them in the first place.

any type of devotions. This is troublesome too me. I want to want to do them, but have no motivation at all right now. I still pray everyday, all throughout the day, but no studying or reading of the word for quite a while.

I am not staying on a healthy diet at all right now, and I can't blame Nate's hours on this. I wasn't doing well with that even before he started all this overtime.

So that is all for now. I have been pondering some things about adoption in general that God has been doing in my heart, but those posts are for another time.

Oh! We are getting sod laid in our front yard, and the guys on tractors were here today spreading dirt and such pleasantries. I hope it doesn't all wash away, becasue we are in for some t-storms over the next few days.

Work

So here I am sitting in Nate's office at 8:30 at night typing this post. This is the only chance I have of seeing hubby during the week, and some weekends. The madness was supposed to be over last week, and when on Wed afternoon Nate showed up at 1:30pm I congratulated him on a job well done. Little did I know that 4 1/2 hours later it would come back to bite with a vengeance. He got a call saying that the specs of the requirement were being changed. WHAT!!!!!!!!! The only way I can think of to describe the situation is like this: The govt. wants you to build a float, they want you to build it in the shape of a car. They want purple and pink roses on the car evenly spaced, and they want the float to beep! beep! when it rolls down the street. After you have spent weeks waiting to hear the specifications, planning your float, doing trial runs, doing what they specifically wanted and are sending it in for demo testing, they tell you that they want the float in the shape of a corvette. They then tell you they want flowers of various colors all over it, and to top it off they want working windshield wipers on your float, and you have an extra 2 weeks to get it done. That is what working for the govt. is like. The plus side is they pay you very well for your trouble, but trouble it is.

The good news is, Nathan is the boss here and I can come and bring my rowdy, distracting, dirty kids. I can come and distract his employees, because they have to talk to me the bosses wife after all. I'm not cooking much because he wants me to bring him and the guys working with him subs, pizza, Mc'D's or whatever, so I pick up stuff for us all and join him here. He also let me stash the kids here one night last week while I went out for coffee with my girlfriends, so I don't have it so bad. And Saturday when he was done with work, we went to see Expelled and out to eat. I will admit to gaining 5 pounds though, right back up to where I was when I did that diet in the fall.(sigh) I am buying surfer shorts for a swimsuit this year. (not kidding)

The movie Expelled No intelligence allowed was definitely a good choice to see. I found it nicely done and so very interesting. They made some really intuitive correlations with the past, but I won't ruin it for you. It is a documentary type film, so don't go expecting to be entertained, it is more of a thinker film. It is very worth supporting. Orphans and Evolution are my soapboxes for sure, but that is for another day's post.

Oh!! A friend from church is adopting a toddler boy from Haiti. I am so excited for them, when I started this adoption process I felt that there would be at least 4 people in my church adopting from Haiti and a lot more from the community. It has begun.

Spaghetti Squash

This was dinner the other night. I have no idea what the recipe is because I just made it with what I had. I loved it, Austin ate it, Luke complained, then ate it, Evan really complained, and took 1/2 hour to eat it, Nate wasn't home that night, so he lucked out, I have a feeling it wouldn't have been a huge hit with him. I will definitely make it again though, because I think they will grow to like it.

Ingredients for the filling:
scooped out inside of squash
sauteed onion and garlic
basil
bread crumbs
sausage
Parmesan cheese
sharp cheddar on top and bake at 350 for 25 min

Evan"s 9th B-Day

Nate had to work really late on Monday, so Sunday afternoon we decided to have Evan's party that night with just the family. Evan was all for it because that meant presents sooner. He wished his best friend (cousin Micah) could come to his party, but when he realized it was impossible for that to happen, he settled for just us.

A family party

Nate took this picture, and he always knocks my photo taking ability. I am absolutely devoted to this kid, he has been my greatest challenge and yet holds a special place in my heart. He is my sensitive, creative, animal lover and the most like me.

Tools

I had a great time at the ladies retreat. Our women are some of the best people I have ever encountered. There is no lack of love, confrontation, support and encouragement in that group. I brought along an outsider to our group and she noticed how well we all connected, and she felt totally at home.

One of the interesting exercise that we did was sit in a large circle and chose a tool out of an sundry of tools that was on a sheet in the middle of the circle. They were wooden replicas of practically every tool imaginable. We were supposed to pick a tool that represented who we were and how we fit into this body. It was so revelatory to see what people that I know and don't know so well picked. It helped me to understand where they were coming from and gain some insight into their personality and struggles. Someone chose a tape measure because they felt that they didn't ever measure up, someone else chose a bolt because they felt that they could go anywhere and hold things together. Another chose pliers because they felt that they could twist and pull out unwanted junk in others lives. Others really had a hard time picking something because they were unsure or felt that they could pick so many different things. I knew right away what I would pick even before I saw all the options. I wanted the longest, sharpest nail. My reasoning was that I can go deep, and be hammered without getting hurt. The negatives were that I can cause pain and that I get hung on, which makes me feel responsible.

In doing this exercise I realized how important it is to know where you fit and how you are used in the body of christ. The people that knew what tool they were, seemed more at peace and confident that they had a role to play. The ones that didn't know seemed more insecure and out of place. Also there was great comfort in seeing how we all work together to accomplish a goal and how important each tool is to get the job done. I have often had tool envy, wishing that I had more finesse like the ones that picked finishing tools. They always seemed so graceful and languid. Having "if only" in our repertoire is not helpful. If only I was creative, if only I was musical, if only I was more like her, these are unfruitful thought patterns that get in the way of our own giftings and cause dissatisfaction. It is really so important to embrace the giftings that God has given YOU and not wish you had anothers gifts. If we all used our own talents and giftings joyfully we could build something beautiful indeed.

I had to take a break while typing this due to dog vomit or diarrhea. She was coughing and sputtering(not unusual) but the smell seemed like the latter. I guess animals can cough and poop at the same time. This is why I hate when animals are partially indoor pets. I've cleaned up enough messes with just my kids not to want to add small animals to the mix.

When he realized they were pretty good pictures.
When I told him I was posting his work.

Evan's work

Evan walks around with the camera around his neck a good bit of the time, and here are some of his art expressions. I really should let him use our old digital camera because it scares me too have our nice one running around with him.

I have been cooking dinner, just not photographing it. Dinner time has been more chaotic w/o Nate and I forget until we are through.

Thursday's dinner was meatloaf, scalloped potatoes and corn
Wednesday was leftover chicken pot pie and salad
Tuesday was Chicken pot pie and salad
Monday Bean porridge soup (pictured above)with a side of cottage cheese.

I'm outta here

Today at 5pm I will be dropping off the kids at Nathan's shop so I can head out for the ladies retreat. I am already tired and I haven't even started getting ready yet. Nate is still burning the candle at both ends and will continue for the next couple of weeks. He will then have a short break and depending on whether or not he is awarded the contracts we may get a breather. I have literally been putting in 16 hour days this week. It's not that I am never sitting down or taking a break to read blogs or do anything relaxing, but when Nate comes home at 9 or 10 pm and then eats dinner, it makes the day seem so much longer. The boys are staying up till 10pm most nights as well so that they have some time to talk about their day, which puts me getting to bed at 11 0r 12pm and then back up at 6:30-7:30am.

Fishing and Israel

Monday was an exciting day around here for the boys. Evan came to me and asked if he could go fishing in the pond across the street, (you can see it from our front porch) I didn't know where the poles were or what kind of bait to hook up, but he said he could handle it, so he and Luke headed out. After a 1/2 hour I went down to check on them and they had already caught two fish, a bass and a sunfish. Evan didn't want to eat them so he let them go, meanwhile Luke was looking for some way to string them because he wanted to bring home any more that they caught. Luke found a worm for Evan and I helped him attach it to the hook and cast it out for him, as soon as it hit the water I gave the rod to Evan and he was bringing in another large sunfish or brim. They ended up getting 4 onto dry land and one got away, it was so much fun for them that I've had a hard time keeping them focused on school. Luke was trying to head out before 8:30 yesterday. I also love, love to fish so I'm sure that I will be heading down there after school today to try my luck. The pond is private for the neighborhood, and there are only 18 houses in the hood, so it rarely gets fished.

In other extraordinary news, we were laying in bed last night at about 10:30 getting ready to sleep when Nate says "Do you want to go to Israel in June with me and Tony(his business partner) and wife? The pros and cons are thrashing around in my head right now, and I am unsure. These are my thoughts:

Cons (because I always think this way first)

safety - the middle east is not exactly the most tourist friendly place to be heading when you are leaving behind minor children.

Nate is super busy and not a keen oversees traveller.

super long flight.(I hate flying)

leaving the kids for 7-10 days.

wedding to attend in early June

travelling with another couple. This could be a pro for some people, but I tend to desire the freedom that comes with not being accountable to anyone else's schedule. We also aren't super close friends since they live in Co.

mixing a business and pleasure trip. They just rarely work out like you hope.

Pros:

Israel!!!!!!!!!

Probably won't ever get the chance to go again.

Nathan's workload should be lessening by the time we are ready to leave.

Company paying for most of the trip. (I have to pay my airfare probably)

I can put my kids in a day camp for the week we are travelling so that the burdedn of childcare is lessoned.

So that is my dilema. I am leaning towards not going, I know shocking really! I could have gone to England and Australia but I declined those as well, and I'm glad I did. Tony ended up going to Australia and when Nate went to England he was busy working during the day, and then had an associate around in the evening. So that is it in a nutshell.

Run on sentence......

My life right now feels like one giant run on sentence. For the last month Nate has been working many late nights and then coming home to work on the RC cars with the boys. The sunroom is in a constant disarray due to the never ending maintenance those cars need. I would take a picture but the camera has not been charged. Nate left this morning at 7:30 so today will be like all the others. The weather has been uncooperative for putting me in a good spring mood, cold and rainy isn't ideal for long 14 hour days alone. I actually love rainy days, as long as it doesn't rain on Saturday. Even though I sound like I am gripping, I'm not. Surprisingly I am doing rather well with this stretch of boredom that I am encountering. Last night I was pretty tense because the boys had spent a good bit of the afternoon arguing and not obeying quickly. It is time to get out the notebooks again. I already have their pencils on the counter for any infractions that happen today.

Luke and Evan have made friends with a neighbor girl. She is 8 almost nine, she came down last week looking for her dog and when she saw the GIANT leaf pile Luke had raked up to jump in, she ran home to get permission to join in the fun. Since then we have seen her a couple of more times and Luke and Evan have been to her yard to jump on the trampoline. I think she is a tomboy because she is always wearing really long shorts and a baseball cap.

The boys just came racing down the stairs. It begins again.

Just call me sucker

I am a total sucker for anything healthy or new, in the line of health related topics. At first I am a hard core cynic, but as soon as I am convinced of something you might as well slap a sold sticker to my forehead. I had been having some neck pain after I woke up on Easter Sunday with a crik in my neck. The crik turned into pain, headaches, and an overall nauseous dizzy feeling. I caved and went to a chiropractor that Tonya and Deeann go to. Chiropractors have always been quacks in my book, all that popping and twisting and jumping around on your spine. No thanks!, no man was going to lay his hands on me and do that. (all Chiro's are male in my town)

Well this guy is all about health, nutrition, hormonal balance and just uses a popper to adjust you. The even better news is that it was just $40 bucks a visit and that included x-rays on both visits. The other cool thing was that he could show you what a normal spine looks like compared to yours. Well my neck was pencil straight, and if you know anything about the spine you will know that is not good. Your neck should curve outward and your spine should have an S flow to it. He told me that my pencil neck was holding up an 8 pound watermelon at a tilted right angle, which caused my top to vertebrae to twist and rotate in an odd way. I could see it all in the x-rays and my head is off center, which must explain why information doesn't stay in my head, it leaks out. I had x-rays the first day, adjustment day 2 followed by x-rays to see how much improved I was, and how much more adjustment I need. I go back one more time and then he said to treat chiropractic care like you do the dentist, just once or twice a year for maintenance is all you need. My straight neck is not good because it can lead to osteoarthritis, and my pelvis was tilted to one side and that can cause lower back pain. I was also amazed to find out that 90% of your nerves do not feel pain, so if your spine is off or nerves are pinched you might not feel it but it can totally affect so many areas of your health like liver function, sinuses, digestion and all sorts of things. See, sucker fits, because I could go on and on.

Gas

Ah ha! scared ya didn't I? I have this terrible habit of not getting gas in my car. I drive all over town on fumes and barely make it to the gas station. Most of the time I make it, but today I did not. I just left the library as the engine started to sputter, I coasted down the street waiting for the light ahead to turn green so that I wouldn't have to stop. I made it another 1/2 mile so that I could pull nicely into a shaded parking spot in a church parking lot. The whole time this was happening, I was having a pleasant conversation with Maura on my cell phone and giving her the play by play. She of course came to rescue us and we headed straight for the gas station. I know that this is totally weird, but I run out of gas once or twice a year. I would never risk it on a out of town trip, but around town I risk it all the time. Earlier in the day when I was out I passed several gas stations but decided to wait until after P.E to get gas, unfortunately I didn't make it. I have no idea why I take this chance. Is this the way I add excitement to my life? or could it be that I am a daredevil at heart? or possibly just a lazy weirdo? I bet I know which possibility will get the most votes.