Washing Machine Woes Or....

How To Spend A Zillion Bucks At The Laundry Mat!


The Washing machine and I have a love hate relationship. I love it when it works and hate it when it doesn't. This week, I hate it.

It is broken yet again. It is only 9 years old so I really don't get why it is so tired. Although DH did pull two dollars and 56 cents in change and a guitar pick out of the water pump last year.

Well, I had several loads of laundry to do, because I kept doing the same load over because it wasn't spinning right and the laundry was too wet. It finally died and refused to spin any more. It wasn't a burned wire like last month. It was the motor.

So, since we are going camping this weekend and need clothes to wear, and I do not like going on vacation without a clean house, we took a lovely field trip to the laundry mat.
Do you know how hard it is to find one of those babies? They aren't very popular around here. We had to drive quite a ways and the place was pretty decent. But a load of laundry was between 1.00 and 1.50, depending upon the pre-soak choice.

The dryers were 25cents for a 10 minutes. Then you had to pay again. Of course it was about 75cents to a dollar by the time we were done drying.

The grand total was 14.50!

I have been directed to look at LG washing machines. So far consumer reports are great. The prices are a little steep, but if you consider how much laundry mats cost, they are cheap.

Goats Are A'Comin'

It has been 7 long months without sheep or goats in our yard. In previous posts I mentioned how our sheep were devoured by coyotes. It was a sad event, and we have done some research on dogs that protect livestock etc. But.... I just hate dog poop. If the girls were a little bit older, maybe it wouldn't be an issue, but I just don't like the idea of Erika falling in the yard and landing in dog poop.

Goat poop is great stuff. Great for the garden, and it is hard and round, so even if you get near it, it isn't nearly as devastating as dog poop.

That said, Dad made a shelter for the Turkeys, and we are going to convert the former Chicken coop into the goat barn. Here are some picures of the girls, "Will Work For Goats!"

Today Is Becca's Birthday

Happy Birthday dear Becca.

Becca is one of the most beautiful people I know, both inside and out. She is the loving wife of our 3rd son Joe. She is the loving and dedicated mom to our Grandson Sam. (who will be 1 at the end of this month)

I am so glad that Becca is in our lives. The first time we met Becca face to face was when Joseph was still in college. The two of them had been conversing over the years and were dear friends.

Then.... She came for Thanksgiving. Wow! What a week. She and Joe went from teenage friends to adult friends with futures in mind all in one week! By the end of that visit, they were talking marriage! They had their first date that week and Joe took her to Down Town Dallas by train. (so his driving wouldn't scare her to death) He even got off on the wrong exit and left her on the train. Somehow, they found each other on the tracks, and it was full steam ahead after that. LOL

She has been such a delight to our family and we love it when they come to visit us from Maryland.

Happy Birthday dear Becca. :)

Tim's Birthday

Tim's birthday was yesterday. February 15, 1981 at 6:00 in the morning. Tim is our delight and our favorite #2 son. :) He has grown up so much and is a MAN. Wow, all our guys are "MEN". I'm so proud of him. He is a good son,brother,husband and uncle. Most importantly, he loves and trusts the Lord with his whole heart.
Happy Birthday dear, favorite #2 son. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

It is another Valentine's Day. Love is in the Air, along with the smell of Chocolates and Steak. :)

We are having our Annual Valentine's Dinner tonight. Every year we invite a different couple and have a steak dinner, with table cloth, low lights, nice dishes, etc. We don't go anywhere, we do it at home, while the kids have a pizza party in the other room. The kid rule is: Don't disturb the dinner guests. They get to stay up late and watch a movie and eat Pizza.

Today, we are making some fun things in school, all Valentine Related. Word search, story, color pages, and the All important Valentine.

Mike was surprised by a card this a.m. (I can never wait) Inside, Sony and Cher singing
"I Got You BABE"! Ahhh. too fun.

Erika's Surprise

This morning Erika was up when we thought she was still getting her normal beauty sleep. I heard a few little bangs in the room but didn't think anything about it.
When she wakes in the a.m. she always calls for us to come and get her.
This a.m. however was different.

Bouncy Sarah came running into the kitchen to tell us that Erika was UP and DRESSED!
What?

So we went to investigate. Sure enough, she pushed past her fear and became brave. She stood without her legs on and got her clothing from her drawer and dressed herself.

This is HUGE. As she learns to get more proficient at it, it will free her up to get around when she doesn't have on her feet. So in the middle of the night if she needs to use the toilet, she will be able to go without calling for us to carry her.

What a great surprise.

Spud Night At Awana

Tonight was bring a Spud night. Here is what the girls came up with.

Joseph's Birthday

Tomorrow, will be Joseph's Birthday. He is our FAVORITE NUMBER 3 Son! I remember when the boys were young I used to tell them... You are my favorite #2, #1,#4 or #3 son, depending upon whom I was talking to.

I remember Joe being a baby just like it was yesterday. Where did all that time go?
Now Joe is a father himself!

When Joe was little, he was just a big bundle of energy. He was what today would be called ADHD, with some attitude added to that!

The Lord used him in my life to keep me on my knees in prayer and in the Word, searching for ways to reach that stubborn yet tender little heart of his.

Joe went to bed with a glazed over exhausted look on his face that was saying "I MUST PLAY" "I MUST PLAY" "I MUST PLAY".
And he played with his whole heart, his whole body, his whole soul. And when something went wrong, he mourned with his whole heart, his whole body and his whole soul.

Maybe Joe is why I'm so exhausted to this day. :)

Well, I was so worried when he was 3 that he'd be one of those kids who went to prison OR he'd be the Apostle Paul. I knew there would be nothing in between for him.

At 10 his goal was to learn every guitar cord in the history of guitars and at 12, he started to look at theology very closely.
He started reading RC Sproul and all about "forensic justification".

And now, he is in Seminary. (reformed theological seminary) He is married to his wonderful wife Becca, whom he met in an RC Sproul Chat Room where NEITHER was supposed to be, but my guess is they were the only 13 yo's in there. :)

So, happy birthday to my wonderful, favorite #3, energetic, ADHD with attitude, non prisoner, Apostle Paul lovin',wife lovin', baby lovin', seminary lovin', Jesus Lovin' Son.

When It Comes To Adoption....

How old is too old? I'm speaking of parents here not children. A child is never too old to be adopted, though some misinformed believe that to be true. I think some of this stems from a well respected man called James Dobson. I remember him saying children learn most of their values by the age of 5. (don't quote me on that exactly)
Meaning, by 5, a child is pretty set.

I say a big Respectful BOLOGNA!

Parents are much more set in their ways and need to relearn many things as each child is born or comes into the family to help mold and shape us into what the Father wants us to be. :)

So how old is too old? I believe in the United States, you can adopt until the age of 63. In Ukraine, there is no age right now.(they were looking at no more than a 40 year age difference. Meaning if you are 45 you could not adopt a child under 5.) Different countries have different views.

So do you have bedrooms just sitting there? Kids gone or in college? You are in your 40's or 50's? Don't you have fond memories of those earlier parenting years?
Why not open your heart and home to a child who will most likely wind up on the street?

For those who think it is too late for an older child, think about how our Heavenly Father looks at us? Are we too old for him to reach? Are we too old for him to change? If he can reach down and change the heart of a 50 year old alcoholic, is His arm to short to reach down and change the heart of a 5 year old, or a 15 year old?

We are to work until HE comes. Consider how you might fulfill that job, and fill up those spare bedrooms!

(the above photo is of a few teenage orphans in Kharkov Ukraine, in about 2 to 3 years, these girls will be sent out onto the streets and probably face a life of prostitution, drug abuse, or worse)
They look like the girls down the street, and they could be at home sleeping in one of those "spare" bedrooms. :)

All About Losing

I have been keeping up with a couple of blogs, and the issue of loss and losing has been coming up. We are almost 2 years down the Road with Erika, and 3 with Sarah, 4 with Anna. Yet, the issue of loss is always there. YES there are gains, but there are also losses. Every birthday, they are reminded that they lost a birth mother. Every Christmas, they are reminded that there are people out there probably celebrating Christmas without them.
The issues aren't necessarily on the "front burner" of their minds or even mine, we love birthdays and Christmas, but they are there.

I was thinking about what our children "lose" when they become our children. They lose EVERYTHING. Even their underwear. They take NOTHING with them. Then, those little fragile lives are placed into the hands of complete strangers and they get on a train, then a plane, then in a car, and these are traumatic experiences for them. They go off into the unfamiliar, unkown armed many times with misinformation like, "your new parents will beat you, sell you, they are going to take body parts from you" etc.

So not only are they stripped of their dignity, they are armed with fear.

These experiences are so related to our spiritual walk.

Aren't we ALL sick, and naked and fearful and imprisoned and many times don't know it? And here comes our Lord in to rescue us from the pits of despair, and many times because of misinformation, we respond in fear, and we follow kicking and screaming into LIFE because we don't know what it is like to really be alive, we are so used to the familiar.
And just like the orphaned child, grieves his loss and is then able to embrace his gain; we realize, WOW! We have a REAL LIFE I can really trust my Lord. I WANT to hold His hand. I WANT to sit at His feet. I Want Him to love me. I am FULL of Joy unspeakable. This is real LIFE. It is incomprehensible that we would have wanted to stay in our sin.

Our losses become GAIN. It's the process that hurts. But on the other side, we become thankful for the breaking process we go through, as it helps us to understand the joy.

As adoptive parents, it is our ministry to our children to guide them, to lead them to life and to love them through the process, eventually introducing them to yet another hand to Hold. That of our Heavenly Father. What they will come to realize is that He was holding their hand the whole time.

I Changed My Template

It was just a little too pink. :)

More Pictures of the Day

The girls had a great day! Tonight, Daddy and his friend are installing shelves along the border of the girlies room. Pictures to come. :)

Ever Hear Of Twisted Sister?

Our neighbor gave the girlies a game called Twister. I was concerned that Erika wouldn't be able to enjoy it. NOT! I forgot, she LOVES to tell her sisters what to do! It is the perfect game! :)

How Do You Know?

Today the question came up, "How do you know when the baby is born if it is a boy or a girl?" I honestly thought we had this covered last year, but apparently my scientific gardening lesson of planting seeds went way over the heads of my students!

Anna piped up and said, "Girls have hair and boys are bald!" Daddy said, "girls have bows and boys don't, bye, I'm going back out to work!" thanks Daddy.:P

I said, "Remember what the billy goat and ram looked like?" Erika said, "that thing?"
Yes. That thing. Girls don't have one, and boys do. Hmmmm. Sarah was mysteriously cleaning the floor and didn't dare get involved in this conversation. :)

Next time, I'll leave Daddy with them and say, "I have to go shopping".

The Mrs. Potato Heads

You Smell Like Ukraine!

This is what Erika said to me this afternoon after I had put on some much needed Oil of Olay. The last time I used Oil of Olay, was in Ukraine! It is so funny how our brains remember smells, seasons, how something felt...
Sarah did something very similar when I pulled out my flannel nightgown that I had not used since we were in Ukraine. She smelled it and it still had a faint scent from the laundry softener used there. She said, "oh mama, this smells like Ukraine." You know, she was right! I smelled it, and it put me right back into our little Apartment in Kharkiv.
But... these are pleasant memories. What if the memory of something we smell or feel, or a certain season evokes a bad memory and causes us pain.
Many times with our children who have had unspeakable torment in thier young lives, this is exactly the case.

I remember hearing such a sweet song, actually so sweet that I have it on my blog to listen to. At one time, it wasn't so sweet. I called 5 year old Anna into our room to hear it and let her press the button. When the song started she got a huge look of fear on her face and said, "I know that song". Then she started to cry and squirm and wanted it turned off NOW! wow.... how could such an innocent song bring such torment to a child? I don't know. But it did.
For the other girls there have been things that have caused them distressing memories.
Seasons for Sarah, and darkness for Erika; a sense of being alone.

How do we get through the tangled mess of distorted memories, tormented pasts, and seasons, songs, smells, familiar looking people?

I don't think we can without the help of the Lord. He is our shelter and our peace, a comfort to us in a time of trouble. If we teach them to run to the Cross when they are frightened, to turn to the Lord for help, to run to mom and dad who will comfort and pray with them when they need stability then these "giants" of our past don't seem to be so big.

Thankfully today, our Anna can listen to that cute little song and likes it.
Sarah isn't as tormented by the season which upset her so much. Erika isn't as
afraid of the dark as she used to be. (still working on it)

Thanks be to the Lord who comforts us and takes away all our fears.

The Weekend

We had a huge weekend. It is Monday a.m. and I think it is still going on. One of the fallouts from loads of activity, is the house work gets left in the dust. So, instead of doing language arts right now, we are cleaning a bedroom. Instead of spelling, we are sorting laundry and instead of writing, we are cleaning ashes out of the fire place.
Will we catch up? Yes. We will. But there is nothing worse than trying to do school in a mess.

Now that that confession is off of my mind....
Friday morning Mike started volunteering at Scottish Rite Hospital. Right now he is in the Radiology department. He really enjoyed it and I'm so glad he is doing it. Friday night we had Timothy, Emily and Kenny over for Friday night pizza. The girls made gifts for Mike's birthday and I got him a gift or two too! His Birthday was actually Saturday, ground hogs day. After a full day, we headed off to ministry group and had a great time of fellowship. We met up with our new out of town friends David, Julie and Daniel, who have just moved here from Atlanta. After a late night, we crashed and got up early for Church. After church, we moved on to having lunch at the favorite Wylie BBQ joint,where kids eat for free, and then headed home for a couple of hours. Then it was off to the Verkler's for a football party. I still couldn't tell who was playing, but from the screaming and cheering from the other room, there was "the most incredible play ever in the history of the game." Something about a guy catching the football in the inzone with his hand and the ball held against his helmet.

Some of us girls were in the Verkler dining area having a pretty intense discussion.
I have much to think about and ponder.

But on a lighter note: here are a few pictures of the girlies getting around the house without legs and feet.

Sarah and Her Daddy

Yesterday I caught this sweet picture of Mike and Sarah. Sarah woke up and couldn't find her leg. "I can't find my leg!" was the first thing we heard in the morning.

Anna went and found it for her while Sarah and Daddy were cuddling on the couch. Here is her reunion with her leg. :)

Three Aunts and a Niece

The girls had a lot of fun with a recent visit from Katie :)

Some Things Just Can't Be Fixed

I was thinking today about a conversation I had with a dear couple at our church.
They asked about Erika, and how she was doing. They noticed that she is not sitting that much better than she was before the huge surgery. I had such high hopes that the surgery would cause her to sit better and cause her to walk better. While she is bending a little more, and sitting a little better, it didn't accomplish what I had hoped for in my heart. I had this grandious idea that she would be sitting like me, and bending like me and that her leg would be turned more. The surgery did some important things, like reconstructing the hip socket helps to keep her hip in place instead of going out, but it didn't do much for the onlooker who would be looking for a bigger change.

I have known all along that much of what is going on with Erika's body cannot be fixed this side of eternity, short of a miracle that is. There are those times when I think about it, and mourn for her losses; especially her loss of freedom to completely be independent. And yet there is this part of me that trusts. Trusts the Lord that HE is in complete control of Erika's body and in her future. Who am I to question the creator? Maybe it is meant for another person in her future to be blessed by becoming her caretaker/aide. And I guarantee, it WOULD be a blessing for them. She is the sweetest, kindest, gentlest child. I am so proud of her, and happy for the progress we have made together. I love caring for her. I pray for the person who will come after me and Mike, when we are gone, and she is living her own life, be that person her husband, or her friend.
So when my heart hurts, like right now, I know where to go for comfort. To my Lord.
He already knows.