The Redneck Event of the Year

Monster Jam!!! This Saturday was a busy day, we were at the gym by 9am for Austin's basketball game, I still have not remembered to take the camera, there are only 4 weeks left so I better get on the ball. Right after the game, we headed to Amanda's dad and step mom's house to have lunch since we were going to be in their town for the Monster truck rally. We stayed a couple of hours, had lunch, Amanda got her hair trimmed since her Dad is an ex-beautician, and toured their cute apartment. Then it was time to head over to the Bilo Center for the main event. It was sort of like pro wrestling, staged 4 wheeler races between the north and the south with mock fighting and the whole nine yards. Then it was the monster trucks turn to dazzle us with loud noises and car crushing stunts. Somehow they got points for how high the front end went up and how fast they went over the crushed cars. Grave Digger was the favorite and every time he came out "Bad to the Bone" was played. Monster Mutt from Dogtown USA wowed us with "Who Let the Dogs Out" and chasing a giant bone. Great fun!! (tongue in cheek) The boys and Amanda seemed to enjoy it well enough but this is probably a once in a lifetime event.

I Feel Good

I feel really good today. My lovely mom came over today to help me organize the boys room. It was a giant mess that had gotten away from the boys and myself. I am a good (mostly) maintainer, but the giant projects like garages and basements and kids disasters overwhelm me. I just don't always know where to start or how to organize things, so I like to tackle those projects with someone not alone. It only took about an hour and a half, but I promise you if I had been alone it would have take a lot longer.

I also feel good because I had some valances made for the sun room, and they were completed on Tuesday. I hadn't found any curtain rods that I liked for a reasonable price in any of the stores I had been in so I searched the web and found the perfect ones on a closeout. The small ones were originally $59 down to $20 and the larger size was $79 down to $35, plus I found a coupon online for free shipping. Woohoo!! Nate hung them up for me today and the my jury is still out on whether or not I like them. I had better learn to like them because they were not cheap and I hate wasting money. I will try and post a picture of them, they are completely flat with no ruffles or pleats, kinda like a shade and while they look cute on the 5 small windows the 2 quad windows look a little off to me.

I feel pretty good about the fact that I am still walking 2-3 times a week in this frigid weather. If it wasn't for my good friend MW who throws rocks at my bedroom window in the morning to get me out, I probably would not be venturing out. I have come to enjoy them for other reasons besides the physical activity. We always have something important to talk about and it feels like an hour long therapy session for both of us.

I finished reading Sex God by Rob Bell today. I have to say that I always find his books thought provoking. I read Velvet Elvis first and although I don't think he is the most theologically astute author, I find his books very captivating. He always includes the most interesting historical outlines to explain things that are often confusing to our western mindset. Sex God is really about our connectedness to each other and God, and how our humanness is a picture of the heavenly kingdom. It made me ache for how far we have come from what God originally intended for us, and I can see clearly how beautiful it is going to be for us when we are finally completely connected to God.

The other reason for feeling good is that our legal mess may be resolved more amicably than previously thought. God has a way of stirring the pot when you least expect it. Our future is uncertain, but somehow that brings me hope and peace.

Life

It has been 10 days since our life took this crazy turn that was so unexpected, and yet it wasn't the end of the world. For me that is a huge deal, because if you know me the end of the world has come and gone a dozen times already. We are doing good, trusting in God's faithfulness.

I lost 3 more lbs and am now 3, no 5 lbs away from my goal weight, stress is a powerful weight loss tool for me. Oh dag nabbit the cookies Amanda just made were too hard to resist so we shall see if I can keep it off.

I just signed myself and Evan up for art classes on Wednesday afternoons. I have no knowledge of art so I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I think that we are taking a prisma colors drawing class. He is my artistic child and I thought it would be something just he and I could do together. He needs a little hobby besides computer/video games. Even though they only get 30 mins each of either computer/video games, I believe that this is the highlight of his day. I'm hoping he will enjoy learning how to make his art better, and since I am artistically challenged this should be good for me as well.

Luke is pestering the tar out of everyone these days. I have never seen a more pesky 7 year old boy. He truly reminds me of Dennis the Menice. He follows Amanda around trying to hug her a thousand times a day, and demanding 3 minute hugs. He walks around speaking nonsense spanish in an incredibly loud voice. He is calling people and inviting himself over or asking them to take him out to dinner, this w/out my knowledge until they call me. He looked at me the other day and said, "your face is falling apart." He asked the pastor if he could buy a mounted elk head in his home for 10 bucks. When the pastor told him "no it's not for sale," Luke said "What makes you an expert on a good deal." He told the pregnant tutor that her baby doesn't like her that is why she throws up everyday. He prays to God while he is crying, "Lord why did you make me so cute, I want to be ugly, please make me ugly and not so cute." In case you are thinking that I find all this funny and cute, I promise you that child "feels" my displeasure all day long. I have no idea where he came from. I don"t know anyone in the whole extended family who carries on like that kid. He asked the banker if she sneaks lollipops all day long, he told the bag boy not to waste the plastic bags. He told me that "his life was a night of endless torture." (this because he had 2 pages of phonics work) When Nate wouldn't take him to work with him one day 2 weeks ago he said, "I have no meaningful work to do."

In the meantime, as you can tell, I have tons of meaningful work to do.

I wish I was bored

I would like to be able to report that nothing new under the sun is happening around this place. I wish that we were in a routine of school, work, play, but alas that is not the case. We are in the legal battle of our lives thus far. I wish that I could use this platform to log my daily struggles and highs, but that would be against the rules and unwise, so all I can say is that everything that we have worked for in the last 5 years is in jeopardy, along with many others livelihood.

The good news is that neither my husband or I am freaking out. I wouldn't say that we are cool as cucumbers either, but the peace of the Lord is with us most of the time. I only lose my peace when I allow my anger to get my mind racing down the path of revenge and vindictive thoughts. I need to be renewing my mind every 30 minutes or so.

The other good news is that Nate and I have a very strong partnership and we are in this together. I know that I am needed and loved.

My advice is to never, ever skimp on good, solid legal advice. A thousand dollars could have prevented this mess.

Adopting Dania

It is ironic that 3 years ago tonight I was sitting in on my orientation with Lutheran Services.(my homestudy agency) We had already chosen the country of Haiti and my adoption was to be the first one from Haiti that the director at the time had ever worked with, so I was basically filling them in on the adoption process of Haiti. They were great, and I felt confident that they were the ones to do our homestudy so I paid the application fee and we were on the way.

It is ironic because today was the day that I finally heard some good news. Dania's file has officially entered Minister of Interior (MOI), the final legal process of this adoption. When she comes out of MOI she legally belongs to us (according to Haiti) and then we just have to get her visa and go pick her up. The tricky part is that MOI seems to be just as random as the rest of the process and it could take from 2-8 months to come out. Please pray that this wait is short and nothing else hinders us.

When people find out that we are adopting the interested ones ask us when we expect her home, and how long have we been waiting. I always cringe when I have to give the answer of "going on 3 years now", because there is always the gasp and head shaking. I sometimes worry that people will get discouraged and I will become to them one of those horror stories you read about concerning adoption. (you know the "I know a couple that has waited over 3 yrs")The honest to goodness truth is that sometimes I feel a little sorrow over the passing of time and the years missed, but mostly I feel amazed by the grace that he has given me to walk this path. So many people have a path similar to ours and so many people have an entirely different one. Not everything makes sense all the time, but for the most part I am at peace because he holds our futures in his hand and I can live with that knowledge quite comfortably.

I so want my journey to Dania to inspire others that are considering adoption, not discourage them from ever starting. My best case scenario is still 3 1/2 years, and that certainly seems long, God tells us that our time here is short and is like a vapor but the eternal is what matters. Dania in Haiti has very little hope of an eternal life, Dania with us has a great opportunity for life eternal and that is what I am working towards, that is what I am investing in, therein lies all of my hopes. Someday she will sit in our car, eat at our table, sleep in her bed in our house, and hopefully give her life to our savior. Amen!

Relaxed

I had a wonderful week after Christmas, Nate took the week off as well and it was the perfect remedy to our busy holidays. I still have a lingering cough that makes me feel tired and since it rained a lot this past week it was perfect for lounging, reading, movies and sundry of other pleasant activities. Sunday was a little dismal because I had the blues about vacation being over and starting school again, but it wasn't too bad a day, although 2 children have had several large discipline issues.

My baby cussed today at Amanda and that has filled me with trepidation about the future offenses. We never allow family members to say shut up to each other, but once the first kid did it one time all the others have followed suite no matter the consequences and we have yet to completely eradicate it from their vocabulary, so I am worried that this will proceed in the same manner. The word of choice was a dozy and I am kicking myself over the fact that he even learned it in the first place. Several months ago a boy his age was here visiting us, he used to be part of our circle but has since moved away and now attends public school. He told Luke that he had learned a bad word and then told him not to tell anyone about it. Luke came to me immediately and told me the whole story, which made me feel good that he didn't want secrets, but sad that my little bubble of protection was broken. I was not upset with this boy, I know these things are bound to happen eventually, it is just frustrating because Luke does not have the maturity yet to understand the consequences of this yet. I only hope that the discipline was enough to make sure he doesn't have a repeat. I have assured the older boys that if they decide to try it they will rue the day.

I'm glad that this has shaken me up, because I can't imagine how many of these scenarios we would have to go throughif they spent more time away, and although I actually don't mind discussing these things with the children, I have greatly enjoyed the luxury of keeping them children for as long as possible and for the most part introducing topics when I think they are ready not on anyone elses time table.

Happy New Year

Well it has been a while since we have done anything for new years, but this year someone in the church invited the whole church over for a party, kids included. We sent Amanda with some of her friends but us a 2 other couples decided to forgo the mayhem and hang out at MW's house which is 1/2 mile down the road. I went to the store and bought goodies for the big boys and rented a movie for them so that they could have a party of their own while we were gone. We packed up Luey since he is not old enough to stay home and MW's son is about his age. We rang in the New Year in our style, which was quietly and peacefully with just a few good friends.

Nothing looked more miserable than freezing to death in Times Square with hundreds of thousands of intoxicated people.

Resolutions have never been something that I can ever remember doing. I think that I may have said one here and there but not seriously. I love to hear what other people are hoping to accomplish, most of the ones I heard this year have to do with health or diet issues. I think that one of the reasons that I don't do New Years resolutions is that I am always striving to do something, whether it is eating better, reading more, or just figuring out a way to be a better parent. I have to be inspired to change and that just doesn't seem to happen for me at this time of year. There is one thing that I would be inclined to declare as a resolution and that would be that I want to practice my tactical shooting and really make this into a hobby, for 2 important reasons. The first is that this is something that Nate and I could enjoy together and gender isn't relevant to success. The second reason is that I lack personal hobbies, when people ask me what my hobbies are I have none to mention. I have interest's like cooking and reading but those are the only two. I read a Dad's resolutions somewhere in this blog land that I thought were so sweet. "Praise abundantly, criticize rarely, smile warmly, frown seldom, laugh heartily and cry freely."