Victory

The food diary has been on hiatus due to camera failure. I just got it together Saturday so I will commence with it soon.

Tonight while I was waiting to take Daisy for her appointment to get "fixed", Nate called and said that we were eating dinner out with a senior member of his board and his wife. I had an hour to get ready, get the kids ready, take the dog to the vet and be home in time for him to pick me up. To make a boring story short, all my hard work of late with the boys paid off big time tonight. The couple in there late seventies said that our children were "wonderful", "respectful", and a credit to our parenting. It was a 2 hour dinner and we were only interrupted 2 or 3 times by the children, only once for being a little rowdy, and 2 or 3 times they wanted or needed something. Besides the one instance of rowdiness, if they needed something they asked the waitress politely or put their hand on my arm. It was delightful and I was proud of them even though they weren't to where I would eventually like to see them. I am trying so hard to be consistent and stay close by so that things do not get out of hand. I have the tendency to leave my children alone if there are no screaming fights happening, that does not make for good training so I have died to myself by not just leaving them to their own devices but actively listening and participating in their activities. When you are in this high intensity training periods it is imperative to not be in a closet or garage somewhere for hours at a time cleaning or hiding, but to be engaged all the time. So exhausting! yet somehow rewarding at the same time.

In adoption news, I heard from my facilitator that someone who recently went to Haiti to inquire on the status of adoptions was looking into my file along with some others who have been stuck in the same process as me. She should be contacting my facilitator in the next couple of days. If she didn't learn anything about my file I will try and take some other steps to see what is happening. That will be incredibly hard to do so I am hoping for some good news.

Autism

My high school friend Ginger has a son that developed Autism after he was vaccinated at an approximate age of 18 months. She has since been a champion, advocating research into the link between autism and vaccines. This week a ruling came down in favor of a little girl named Hannah, who was developing normally until she received 9 vaccines in one day at her well baby check up. Here is the news story about it. CBS Scroll down until you see the autism video, it is not the story that pops up initially. If you are a parent of infants I wanted to at least make you aware of what has transpired recently in this debate. It is so important to be informed. Here is a link to Gingers blog that she has dedicated to Autism research. The whole story of Hannah and other news related information is also there. http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/

Are you so blessed?

I hope that you are as blessed as I am in the friendships that you have with other women. I am part of a body of women that just don't let me get away with anything, and I do mean anything. I see this kind of interference as so welcoming and necessary in order to successfully mature as a believer. A few days ago I got a call from one of my friends who happened to believe that I may have spoken carelessly in a conversation that 3 of us were in. When I say carelessly I should clarify that it was not gossip in any way but more of letting the 3rd women off the hook with issues that needed to be addressed with her. The caller was most gracious and humble and I could really tell that she didn't want to be right about her suspicions, she just asked me to consider it and pray about it. Well I didn't need to pray about it, I could tell that her point was valid, but I said I would pray and so I did. Of course her concern had merit, so I did what I had to do which was validate her insight and thank her for her love. There was no damage done to the 3rd party, they would never have even noticed my excusing them or my frivolity.

One of the things that God has blessed me with is pretty thick skin. A gentle rebuke is about one of the best things that could happen to a person, especially a person who was just patting herself on the back for getting a second wind with homeschooling this year. More than the thought of my "mistake" was the thought of how truly and utterly blessed it is to be with people that care about the little things in my life. I could never live with vanity, greed, selfishness or a host of other things because my good friends would see and react. Does everyone always speak to me in love? A big NO would answer that, but honestly I don't really care. They may say something to me in anger and I might want to respond back in anger, however the scripture is true when it says " a gentle answer turneth away wrath." Really good friends are super hard to find, because it is really hard to be a good friend. Are you so blessed to have and be a good friend?