Josephine's million questions

Josephine comes up with some cute ones lately. Yesterday she must have asked me, "Whatcha doin, Mommy?", a million times! :)

She's also been asking, "What's that?" a lot lately. This evening when we went out to eat, it was a fairly noisy restaurant. When I took her to the restroom, we could actually hear the music playing. She asked me, "What's that noise?!?" I told her it was music, and she responds by dancing around a bit - yup, right there while sitting on the toilet. Well, she didn't really have to go anyway, but since her siblings had each made a trip already, I suppose she just thought it'd be fun for her to go in the restroom as well. The music and dancing just made the evening a little more exciting for her... and we all got a good laugh about it on the way home in the van - and she replayed the dancing from her car seat, laughing because we were laughing about her. :)

FHG Reunion - St Louis, July 2010 (Part I)

Last Thursday, we drove to St Louis, MO, to spend a 3-day weekend with other families who have adopted children from the same orphanage where Elijah & Josephine lived. It was a FHG Reunion. We had a blast, and it was SOOOOOOO good to see other kids from the orphanage and their families together. There wasn't a large turn-out, but it was nice to see a few families we'd met before on trips to Haiti or in Florida when our children arrived in the U.S., and also nice to meet in person, a couple families we’d known previously only from phone and internet.

It was nice for the kids to be around other Haitian children, and they enjoyed themselves fully. Especially of interest was when one little boy who had been in Josephine’s room in the orphanage, called her by her Haitian name – letting us know that they did remember each other – or at least he remembered her! I think it may have been confusing for them though, since their names were different than they were in the orphanage – but it was good to hear that anyway. Also, all the kids have changed and grown so much since they’ve come home to their forever families, so that probably adds to the confusion a bit too. There weren’t any children there that had been in Elijah’s room, so we didn’t get to experience that interaction.

I didn’t hear much Haitian Creole being spoken throughout the weekend. What little I did hear was from the older kids talking to each other. Even that was a mix of Creole and English, but was fun to hear anyway. All the kids seem to have a very good grasp on English. I think for my kids, they do still understand some simple Creole phrases that we use regularly at home, but because they never really spoke Creole to begin with, I don’t think they’ll really be able to continue learning/speaking it. It’s kind of sad because it’s their native language, but language is very much a “use-it-or-lose-it” thing.

All the kids seemed to get along nicely, and had great fun playing with each other and seeing the sights of St. Louis. Kaylen made the comment to Jock after the first day, something to the effect of: “It’s not fair, I wish I was from Haiti.” I think the fact that this event wasn’t totally about her, or even about her and Elijah and Josephine equally, was getting to her. Conversation ensued about being happy with who you are, and something to the effect of her having lots of friends that look like her where we live, but Elijah & Josephine don’t have as many, so we have to make those opportunities for them as well… She did have a great time at all the attractions, and had a lot of fun getting to know one of our Haitian-Minnesotan friends. It was so cute to see them holding hands and playing together much of the weekend. She also played with several other kids, so I think it was, overall, a successful trip for her as well.

What a great weekend it was! We had a blast, and really enjoyed seeing the other families that could make it. A very big thanks to Dawn and Natalie for organizing things for us: budget-friendly meals, events, and lodging! We were chatting on the way home about how we’d love to take a family vacation every year – which we haven’t really made a point to do as much up until now. We’d also love to incorporate some sort of get-togethers with other families with Haitian kiddos. I think Dawn said she’s planning a reunion for Chinese adoptive families next year, so is anyone else up for planning a gathering for next year? Colorado? Omaha? Ohio? The Dells? St Louis again? Elsewhere? Those are just places that I know of several other families living nearby, or fun places in the Midwest because that’s where I live. But I know there are families on the coasts too, and we’re not opposed to longer road trips...

...More posts on what we did in St. Louis, as well as photos, in the next few days.

Annoyed

Yes, I was annoyed with my blog design. It takes time to re-design the header, once I decide on a style. I liked the brighter colors of the last one, but since it wasn't even showing up, I switched to a different design - which I like better anyway!

Six Months Later... (Part 5)

Big Sister:
Kaylen is doing such a great job being a big sister. She’s really settled into helping when she’s asked, or even when she’s not asked but she knows it’s needed or we’re not right there. Elijah and Josephine sometimes don’t like Kaylen to help them, but at times I have to remind them that I want Kaylen to do it and they usually cooperate then. She’s also getting better at stepping aside when there are things that Mom and Dad need to take charge of – although sometimes she needs a reminder that she’s not in charge of them all the time – especially not of disciplining them. She still has to be reminded many times that Elijah and Josephine copy her every move, and you’ll probably hear, “You need to be a better role model for your brother and sister, “ said at our house quite often.

Kaylen’s getting better at playing with Elijah & Josephine – although sometimes they act like typical 3-year-olds and just don’t cooperate – and that can frustrate her. She’s pretty good with reading books to them, making tents with blankets in the house, or playing hide and seek – although sometimes that gets a little too rowdy or she hides too well and they can’t find her. It’s so awesome when she can get their attention and get them interested in playing something with her. They truly enjoy and look up to her – and like to copy her every move – which at times gets annoying, but she can laugh along with them too, so it makes things fun. If Kaylen laughs about something, Josephine usually follows suit like it’s the most hilarious thing to have ever happened!

Kaylen had a difficult time coming to realize that life is often times not fair, that she doesn’t always get to do the same things or get treated the same as Elijah and Josephine, but that we do still love her the same. I read another adoptive mom’s advice a while back, that she had to give herself permission to treat her children differently. After all – they are different kids, who have different strengths and different needs. Giving that some thought really helped me a lot with Kaylen. Often times when Elijah and Josephine first came home, she would whine and cry that it wasn’t fair that Elijah or Josephine got to do things that she didn’t, or we spent more time with them, or even would say in a sassy tone, “You don’t love me as much as you do them!” We’ve had long talks about how E&J are younger and need more help with things, and about how there are many, many things that she does get to do that they don’t. We’ve also made a big effort to do things just with her at various times, and lots of reassuring her that we do love her the same, and always will. There were days that I thought we’d never get past it, and the lie still rear its ugly head, but we’re able to talk through things and get back to acceptance of our new normal – a life with siblings, where you don’t get 100% of the attention anymore, but you still have a mom and dad who love you very much and always will – no matter what!

Six Months Later... (Part 4)

Playtime:
It’s awesome to see Elijah and Josephine really playing. When they first came home, they would just sit next to me or watch me do things. They’d follow me around a lot. Josephine still likes to play near me – or at least play and come check on me every so often, but they play really well on their own now, which is nice for me to be able to get a few things done around the house. At first, I would help them pick out a toy but we’d have to sit down and really show them how to play with it. This I’m sure comes from just not having toys at the orphanage. Both have stopped some of their hoarding behaviors – for a while they’d just pick out a box or something – fill it with as many toys as they could and carry it around – empty and fill over and over, etc. Now, they will go get a toy and really play with it.

Elijah will roll his tractors and other vehicles around on the floor – and see how fast he can make them go, while making “vvvrrrrrooooommmm” noises. (Too cute!) Both of them pretend to be puppies or kitties and crawl around on the floor barking or meowing. Both of them like to play babies – and they like to feed them and change their wet diapers. They also put them in time-out sometimes, which is quite interesting to watch. The best is that when they get out the tea sets, they pray. They also pray when they put the babies to bed.

Both Elijah and Josephine love to play outside. They like the slide, swings, and trampoline, or just running around with balls. They both like the pool, although Josephine is a little more cautious, while Elijah is a dare-devil who LOVES water! Elijah is awesome on a bike of most any size. At daycare they have tricycles, while at home he rides Kaylen’s old 12-in bike with training wheels – he doesn’t notice that it’s a princess one. J At a friend’s house last month, he was riding an 18-in with no training wheels, with no fear – and he’s fast!!! Josephine just likes the tricycle she got for her birthday, and does well on it. Sometimes she still just moves it with her feet on the ground but she’s getting better at pedaling too. And she’s good at steering, which I’m surprised about because Kaylen had difficulty with that.

Six Months Later... (Part 3)

Preschool-type learning:
Elijah is also very smart – but he can fool us on that as well. Once in a while in the car, we’ll occupy the time by counting, or singing the alphabet. He often times is just quiet and acts like he doesn’t know things, but sometimes we’ll get him to join in. He does know most of the alphabet song, and can count fairly well too. I can’t just remember how far he can count though. Josephine also loves to sing the alphabet – although without help, she tends to sing, “A-B-C-D-E-I-E-I-O,” and then it turns into a medley of “Old McDonald…puppy, Woof-Woof.” J She can count, but needs some work. Without help, she tends to count, “1-2-3-8”. We also need to start working on coloring/writing. We really don’t do that much of it at home, but I’m thinking I’ll have them start doing that some days while I’m getting dinner ready. Neither Elijah or Josephine can do much more than scribble, but I want to start working on them learning their colors and shapes. I don’t think they know their colors yet, although I’m starting to suspect Josephine does – as when I ask her what color she wants she’ll usually say, “boo” (blue). Last week, she said “boo” and then pointed to the blue bottle of bubbles. I don’t know yet if that was a coincidence or not though.

Always more things to work on, but they’re learning things so fast. Little kids have little sponge brains, and it’s so neat to see! We had talked with daycare initially about possibly moving Elijah up into the preschool classroom in September, if we think he’d be able to participate. Elijah will be 4 in early August, so he’d be one of the youngest. He would be old enough to go to kindergarten next fall, so if I thought he could be ready, we wanted to try. But I’m just not sure yet. Even though I think he has us fooled about how much he is aware of, with him not talking very much yet, we’re thinking at this point that we might wait. Then again, if we wait until next fall, when he turns five (his birthday’s in early August) to start preschool, he and Josephine will both be in the same grade in school. I definitely think Josephine will be ready for preschool next fall when she’s four, and then ready to start kindergarten on time when she’s five. I’d be interested in hearing from others on the pros/cons or how things have gone with their kids being in the same grade, when they were not twins but close in age.

Six Months Later... (Part 2)

Language:
Language development is coming along nicely. We noticed Josephine’s language skills really take off somewhere around late May. She’ll just babble on and on, telling us quite seriously all about her day, about a picture or book we’re looking at, etc. We’d catch a few words here and there. She continues to do this, and we’re able to pick up more and more words – although still not the most clear speaking. We noticed Elijah starting to talk more a few weeks after Josephine – although he’s still fairly quiet. He doesn’t go on and on about things like Josephine does, but we figure that’s fairly typical of a boy. He’s also not very clear – he doesn’t open or move his mouth very much, so we’re working with him on that a little bit. When he says something (that we know what he’s saying), we sometimes have him slow down and try to enunciate. He’s doing better, but still a ways to go. I’m beginning to wonder about maybe needing speech therapy, but we’ll see. Ending consonants are a big issue for both Elijah & Josephine, but we’re working on those too. All consonants are an issue for Elijah – for example, he calls Josephine, “O-a-peen.” The “F” and “H” sounds are difficult for both of them – although Josephine is starting to get the “H.” Elijah will say a “P” sound in place of an “H” or “F” sound sometimes. He’ll say, “Pah” for hot, but when we try to get him to say it right, he’ll say “H-pah-tch.”

Both Elijah and Josephine understand most everything we say to them. But Elijah can be tricky with the language, because he is also stubborn. Sometimes will give a blank stare as if he doesn’t understand – especially if he doesn’t like what you’ve said. I think he’s fooled some of the teachers at daycare and some friends/family that don’t know him well, by doing this. I do think there are a few things he just doesn’t get though. For example, yesterday he threw a toy across the room – it just missed Josephine and hit a window. I had a talk with him about not throwing toys after his time-out. I had told him, “We do not throw toys.” Then I asked him, “Do we throw toys?” His response was to nod his head as if to say, “Yes,” (and he does know the difference between a “yes” nod and a “no” nod. I said, “No,” and had him say, “no, ” and nod his head the other way. Then I repeated to see if he understood, and he again nods, “yes.” This went on and on, so I’m not sure he gets questions sometimes – that or just sometimes he nods “yes” because that he understands that he shouldn’t throw toys – like he thinks he’s supposed to be agreeing with me. It’s frustrating, but I at least know the message got through because he didn’t throw things again for a while after that. Hmmmm…

Heard often at our house:

Topping the list by far, from all THREE children (grrrr!): “Mine!” or “My ______!” (fill in the blank with just about anything or anyone!)

Both E&J: “Potty, Mommy!”

Both: “I gungy” (I’m hungry), “I on eee” (I want (to) eat), or “I on Mowa” (I want more!)

Both: “Pease” (sometimes prompted and sometimes on their own, which I love!)

Both: “Don-koo” (Thank you)

Elijah: “Eye-Pie” (high five)

Both: “I wub ooo” (melts my heart - every time!)

Josephine: “my too, a-coo me” (I toot, excuse me)

Both: “Pay?” (play), “Ale machin?” (Creole for go in the car), “Eee?” (eat), “baa?” (bath), “Bush-a-tee? (brush your teeth) ...usually when trying to figure out what we’re going to do next.

Both: “I on ow-sigh” (I want (to go) outside)

Josephine: “shimm-een” (swimming) – less frequently but cute!

Six Months Later... (part 1)

This weekend marks six months since we brought Elijah & Josephine home. What a whirlwind our life has been since then... and what a blessing! I'm going to take a few posts to tell you about how things are going for us, and how they've changed.

In general, I’d say we’ve settled into routines – although sometimes we have a wrench thrown into things (my surgery, vacation, etc). The kids are growing and learning. The differences in all three kids in the last six months is nothing short of amazing!

Food:
Both Elijah & Josephine eat well. Elijah is a little more tricky because he’s not a fan of vegetables, but we’ve figured out a few things that work well, that doesn’t frustrate any of us or end in tears. We’re finding this summer, with our fresh garden produce, that he eats his veggies REALLY well if there’s dip. We just have to make sure he’s actually taking bites of the veggie instead of licking off the pile of dip he puts on each tiny piece. If we have any kind of tougher meat like steak or chops, we have to cut them up really tiny for both kids, and smother them in ketchup for them to eat it – yuk! But a small price to pay to get the nutrients in. J Josephine is probably our best eater. I didn’t think it was possible, given how good of an eater Kaylen is, but she’s not learned to be picky like Kaylen is. There are only a few things she won’t eat. Sandwiches are the funniest to watch E&J eat – they’re so messy. Josephine usually ends up taking hers apart (or it falls apart) and she eats the pieces separately. Both of them like to take them apart and lick off the mayo or butter or ketchup before proceeding – although less than they used to. I still think their favorites are applesauce, yogurt, bananas, and any grain – noodles, bread, rice, etc.

Health:
Josephine & Elijah are both healthy. At last check, Elijah was still borderline anemic but hadn’t changed in two months. The doc said to just continue making sure he’s eating proper nutrition, and no supplements are needed. Both E&J have received what they can of their vaccines, given the CDC-prescribed catch-up schedule. I think Elijah will have another one or two this fall when they do his 4-year check-up, and I think Josephine’s good until her 4-year check-up as well, which will be next spring. We will probably request a check for another type of parasite that is not part of the common checks. We heard from another family that their adoption medicine clinic tested for it, but most docs don’t know to check for it – and one of her sons tested positive. Yikes! So many things to consider. I’m so thankful for the community of adoptive families that I’ve come to know via the internet!

Another Potty-Training Update

(Sorry for those of you irritated by such private matters, or annoyed the incessant nature of this topic. If you've been here before, you probably understand how both stressed and excited we moms get about such topics. :)

Elijah has only had one accident in his underwear at daycare all this week - although I haven't picked him up yet today - and he's not going tomorrow. That one accident was wetting at naptime, when his teacher had to leave right before naptime and forgot to tell the assistant that he wears a pull-up at naptime at daycare. She apologized profusely, which wasn't needed - I expect there to be accidents from time to time, so it's OK. It actually probably helps him when he does have an accident because he learns how yucky it is to be wet all over, and I think it helps him learn to hold it longer - which he's been doing a great job with.

He's continuing to tell us (and daycare teachers) when he has to go #2 - even when it was in a rush because we'd all pigged out on sweet-corn the night before! But still not very good at telling us when he has to go pee-pee.

Also, Jock said something this morning about his owie clearing up, but since he was wet this morning it was about the same as yesterday... What?!? What do you mean since he was wet?!? You mean he wasn't wet one morning?!? Yup!!! He said Elijah's pull-up was dry yesterday morning when he woke up!!! I almost cannot believe it, except that Jock wouldn't lie or joke about such things. Maybe we won't be wearing pull-ups at bedtime forever after all!!! :)

... and because Josephine doesn't like to be left out when we praise Elijah for being dry ("I dry! I dry! I dry!", until we acknowledge/praise her too), I'll just say she hasn't had any accidents at daycare or at home (or anywhere else) for quite some time (I've stopped keeping track) - and she's still not wearing pull-ups at all. I don't have to even tell her when/how often to go except we do at bedtime, in the morning, or before we go somewhere.

New Blog Design

As if I didn't have anything better to do tonight (like sleep!), I decided my blog needed a new look. It'd been a while since I'd updated it. It's still a bit of a work in progress, but it'll get there.

Potty-Training Update

Potty training has been very interesting, to say the least. We worked really hard on things while we were on vacation. I knew this was my time, since I’d be with them most days, we didn’t have a lot of things planned (were vacationing/relaxing at my dad’s). Also, I didn’t have to worry about puddle clean-up as much at my dad’s because, the kids played outside on the patio a lot, and the house doesn’t have much carpet.

Josephine had been doing REALLY well before vacation – she had basically already trained herself. She tells us when she has to go, too. Sometimes she’s just saying it but doesn’t really mean it – especially since I was taking Elijah frequently and she wasn’t getting as much attention. She has a bladder the size of Texas and can hold it a long time – so if it’s only been a half-hour I just let her go in by herself. In this case, she’ll go in and play for a minute or pretend she’s going. Then she’ll say, “no potty,” and come back out of the bathroom. I don’t have to tell her when to go, except we do first thing in the morning. The switch to panties was very easy. During the day, I think she’s only had two accidents, when she got REALLY busy playing and ran to the bathroom, but she couldn’t get her pants pulled down in time and peed on the floor in the bathroom. She’s usually dry all day and most nights (unless we sleep in too late).

The funny thing was, even before we switched to panties, one day we had a family 4th-of-July party up at the pole barn. We had a big cooler of lemonade for the kids to drink. Josephine must have drank 30 little glasses of lemonade that day. It was hot, so she was thirsty, but she also LOVED the lemonade! Then she said, “potty mommy!” about 10 times within 2 hours. Since we were about 100 yards from the house, the port-a-potty was a necessity – but I was sooooo glad that the company they rent from has newer clean ones – and they have installed those disinfectant dispensers. But, it was so hot in that thing, because it was in the sun! Since it was just family around, I’d just stand in the doorway while she went, but then turned over the potty duties to Daddy. It was so funny though – she usually only goes – at max – every 2-3 hours, but that lemonade was a hit!

Elijah is a little more complicated – typical of boys, so I’ve heard. He would wet his pull-up several times per day, as well as going in the potty – and at least squeezing out a few dribbles – several times per day. He seemed to have a bladder the size of a pea, and no control! He’s always soaked when he wakes up in the morning, so we’re keeping him in pull-ups overnight. But during the day, while we were on vacation, I switched him to big-boy pants. The first day, he only had one accident – when we had gone to a local nature center for about 1½ hours – so I wasn’t surprised, and it wasn’t his fault – there were just no restrooms nearby for me to continue his every-half-hour potty-breaks. He was even dry thru nap – and I caught him right when he woke up and had him go right away.

The second day wasn’t so good. I tried extending to every 45 minutes, and he went through about 5 pair of pants before I switched him to pull-ups to go out for supper - then he told me he had to go in the car on the way to Pizza Hut - go figure! The following few days were good as long as I made him go every 30-45 minutes. Once in a while I’d forget and extend to an hour, and he still did really well. He still won’t tell me when he has to go #1, and says, “no potty” but I make him go anyway, and he does go. He does, however, tell me, “potty mommy!” when he has to go #2, so it’s nice to not have to worry about that clean-up.

When we left my dad’s house on Sunday for the 3-hour drive back home, I put a pull-up on Elijah. He now hates wearing pull-ups – he wants to wear underwear, and whines when we have him put a pull-up on (except at bedtime, so I think he knows it’s necessary then)... But I didn’t think 3 hours would work, so I put the pull-up on him despite the whining. To my amazement, he was dry when we got home. BIG praises for Elijah for that!

We debated whether to continue using pull-ups at daycare, but I decided I didn’t want to lose ground. I just explained to the teachers that he needs to go slightly more often than hourly, and I'd put in his bag several changes of shorts and underwear – and one pull-up in case he got down to the last pair of shorts. The first day, he only had one accident – and it was at naptime. So I had the blanket and one outfit to wash that night. I was so surprised – he did great! The second day at daycare, they put a pull-up on him at naptime, but no other accidents. I was pleasantly surprised to see him in the same clothes when I picked him up. I do kind of wish they’d given it more than one try at naptime though, since he’d been dry for me at naptime most days on our vacation. I wondered though, if he just drinks more at daycare than he does at home - they said he is running to the drinking fountain frequently - so that makes sense.

The third day I didn’t send a pull-up to daycare, but he did have a pull-up on when we got home. He'd had two accidents in the morning, and then was on his last pair of pants so they found one to put on him. He was dry when we got home, but complained of an "owie". The doc put him on an antibiotic and it's clearing up well for him. I don't think it's causing him any more problems on the potty-training though, so that's good. I replenished Elijah's bag for daycare, and he did great on Thursday and Friday - no accidents, although they are continuing to put a pull-up on him for naptime.

Elijah's teacher did say that she's checking to see how wet it is and it's been lessening. She said today it was just barely wet. Hopefully soon we'll be done with naptime pull-ups too! I'm so thankful for such good teachers at their daycare. I was concerned that they wouldn't want to deal with his tiny bladder - especially since he's in an age group classroom where most kids are already fully potty trained, but they're doing an awesome job with him. They just picked up with him where I left off last week, and he's coming along very well. :)

He's been doing great in the evenings at home as well. Although I will say that after tonight's puddle in the entry-way, that I need to help the kids get inside and get Elijah to the bathroom as soon as we get home. I usually have the kids go on in the house, while I check the mailbox, and then grab my stuff out of the van. I'd really rather not have to add cleaning up a puddle to the already-busy evening routine.

Now that we're starting to get past the initial daytime pottying with Elijah, I’m guessing the final hurdle - dry nights - will extend out quite a while. Not really sure how to handle that one, but for now I'm looking forward to only using one pull-ups per day instead of buying a big package every week. Once he can tell me when he has to go pee, can hold it for longer than an hour during the day, is dry through naptimes, or maybe when he's not nearly quite so wet in the mornings, I may just try doing underwear at night – my thought is that maybe he’ll not like sleeping in wetness, and train himself. But I don’t have another change of the waterproof mattress pads – I guess I better get on that so I’ll be ready!

Oh – and I’ve got some 2T-3T girls pull-ups that we won’t be using if anyone wants/needs them – there is almost a full package of Huggies and about 1/3 of a large package of the Walmart-brand. Just let me know - first-come-first-serve.

6 Months Since the Earthquake

With the 6-month anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti having been Monday, I’ve been watching the news coverage on CNN this week regarding how things are going in Haiti now. Haiti will always be in our hearts, and it pleases me that they are again getting coverage that is so desperately needed to bring attention and much-needed help to this tiny nation. It pains me to watch some of the coverage, yet I remain glued to the coverage, in hope of what could be.

It’s brought tears to my eyes to see the people still struggling so with basic living activities – that seem like they should be so simple, yet they remain so difficult in a country of so little – even before the earthquake. I can see pain in their eyes, yet a people so strong and resilient, because they have to be.

I’ve been angered by a few things I’ve seen and heard, such as the corruption in the customs officials in the port, where equipment and supplies – even a shipment of beans – are being held for ransom for months, when they could be put to such good use if released… and all the while the president (who was interviewed on AC360) seems to be unaware or perhaps unwilling to make sure that the situation is corrected. Or the enormous warehouses full of food, yet an orphanage almost next-door that isn’t sure how they will feed the 50 children beyond the pot of beans that is currently cooking.

I’ve smiled at seeing great things accomplished – or even seemingly small things, that to one person, is a great thing: medical treatments, food and water supplies provided to people in need, a wall being built for protection, a home being planned for a family that lost theirs, shoes or diapers or sanitary napkins provided to families living in a tent city.

So I continue watching, in prayer, hopeful for the small miracles to be transformed and multiplied into large ones. And I pray for each and every one of us watching – and those not watching – to learn of even the tiniest way that they can help someone in need, even today. Maybe someone can spare financial resources to donate towards a cause. Maybe someone has had it laid on their hearts to adopt a child. Maybe someone can take a week to travel and share their skills on a mission trip. Maybe someone can spare a smile to brighten someone’s day and encourage them. There is so much we can do. I pray for the LORD to show me how he wants to use me today, right now, for His Glory!

Sneak Peek of Family Pix

My Men:

Me and my girls:

Garden!

We doubled the size of our garden this year. Well, actually we had a raised garden and just made another the same size right next to the one we started last year. We have mostly the same produce we had last year, with the addition of jalapenos, spinach, and more tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers. we also added kohlrabi, but haven't had much luck with them - we planted from seed and my mom/sister always did/do plant seedlings. Because of my surgery, I wasn't able to get out and thin them like I should have. There might still be hope, but we'll try again next year.

The radishes, spinach and lettuce are done - they were yummy. We didn't quite get the crop I would have liked to on the lettuce and spinach, but we had a fair amount before I had my surgery. Our onions are doing beautifully - we're enjoying picking them as we need them. I planted a bunch, but I'm not sure how many we'll have left to save for the winter, because we keep pulling them to eat. Oh well, at least they're not going to waste.

We just started getting in cucumbers - and they're plentiful. The zucchini and yellow squash aren't looking good. :( The jalapeno's are bountiful. The green bell peppers are coming along nicely - should be able to make stuffed peppers this weekend! :) We've had two tomatoes so far, and there are many more that just aren't ripe yet.

Tonight Jock grilled cheeseburgers, and we cut up a smorgasboard of garden vegetables to go with - our small tomato, onion, cucumber, green beans, sauteed onion and onion/jalapeno mix - yummy!!!

The kids and I stopped by the grocery store on our way home to pick up bananas and milk, and a 4# of strawberries jumped right into the cart (they were on sale for $5, and they weren't going bad)! So for dessert I mashed some to have over ice cream, along with a little banana and some chocolate syrup (except for Josephine who just had the fruit/syrup). Yummy again!!!

Crazy-boring blog!

I know... Only two posts last month, and this month is almost half over, and I haven't posted yet. Well, my excuse this time is that I just got back from a 10-day vacation - hanging out with my family.

I've got tons of pix to share, so I'll try to work on a few this week at least. I've got photos of t-ball, animal sightings, swimming lessons, hair-dos, E&J's dedication, vacation/4th of July, etc., etc., etc. We even took some family pictures over our vacation that I'll hopefully be able to post soon. They were shot by my sister and neice with the assistance of my other sister, my dad, and two of my nephews, and my professional-photographer step-sister has offered to do her editing tricks on them as well--but she's a busy gal. I might have to give a pre-editing sneak-peak, so keep your eye out.

I'll just post a couple landscape photos I took at my dad's place one night this past week. The rainbow was off to the east, and the sunset was off to the west when I walked up the driveway in the light rain. Not the best photo, as I was experimenting with my camera's panoramic options after the rain subsided - but the colors showed up almost exactly how they were that night - beautiful country up there!

I am going to do just a general update on how our kids are doing, but I'll likely wait until later in the month to post that, as they'll have been home 6 months on July 25th! The earthquake struck 6 months ago tomorrow. We're still praying for Haiti. It's still such a weight on our hearts, the stories we continue reading about the struggles there...

For now, I need to get some sleep. Monday morning, after a vacation, is going to come TOO early for all of us! G'nite!