More Birthdays, A Special Visitor.....and Adoption News....

Rebecca's 15th birthday was yesterday and we celebrated by going to the zoo. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. Friday we will celebrate all the March birthdays in our family...there are 4 of them!

We recently drove to Chicago to pick up a very special British visitor to our home!!! Chris has been Jennie's on line "relationship" for quite a while now. They have skyped untold hours, facebooked each other and texted for the last 2 1/2 years...and they were finally able to meet! What a wonderful time they (and all of us) have had this last week! He will be here for just under one more week and I'm sure there will be sooo many tears when he leaves! He is such the English gentleman...in a big, rugged sort of way!

Well....our adoption seems to be going nowhere. We have finally been able to contact our agency yesterday and she said that nothing is moving in the country we have chosen and is really pushing us to change countries. I'm not sure I feel led to do that....

However, we have been emailed information about two separate cases with a child in need of a home and we are prayerfully looking into that! One is a little girl aged 7 and one is a little boy aged 5. They are both beautiful!!! We can't have both. They each need the love and attention that being an "only" little child in the home could provide. I could love either one! But we are still in prayer for the situation and just as in the earlier adoption we tried in November, we would have to be chosen by the family who has the child currently. So...if you think about it, please keep us in your prayers. I don't know if I can handle being heartbroken again. I'm sure I can...because God gives us strength, doesn't He?
The strange thing is, if we end up getting either of these precious little souls, it would all make sense why we didn't get the two children in November! These current children are both from the same agency that handled the prior case. We didn't even know about that agency until then. Perhaps God was preparing us for the child He wants us to have. We'll see, I guess!! :)
We are seeking God's Will in this.

Blessings,
Beth

Lovely, boring, rainy day.....

The house is so quiet today...Becca is at her homeschool classes, Brody isn't with me today, so it is just incredibly quiet. I guess I should like it...but I'm not too crazy about it.
I've done laundry and dishes and I made tonight's supper yesterday.
Ewww....I suppose I should clean out the kitties' litter box....something I'm NOT supposed to have to do since I'm allergic to it....but....sometimes there's just no putting it off!!

Becca and Gideon have "Teens Involved" competition this weekend so we will be travelling to Illinois to compete against other churches on Saturday. They are both in the same puppet show and Becca is in a Trumpet Trio. Gideon is in a "Drama."

I'm pretty sure this coming week will be difficult for Becca to get a lot of schoolwork done. She is going to spend much of the week at Danny, Erin, Liam, and "baby bump's" house...without Danny. He is going to be out of the state training for his police department. Erin is looking forward to having some extra help with little Mr. Liam....who NEVER stays still! She is expecting a new little one (a.k.a....baby bump...) in August and is happy to have some help from Becca this week!

That is one of the WONDERFUL things about homeschooling! Becca is learning to have a servant's heart since she can take her schoolwork with her! (that's the plan, anyway...) Her homeschool group is also very interested in service...so that's cool!

I've done a little bit of scrapbooking today and plan to take it with me to work on while I wait for Becca's trumpet lesson to end this evening. I'm currently working on Christmas, 2010....isn't that terrible that I am that far behind? Actually, I'm in worse shape than it seems....I just picked that particular thing to get in a scrapbook! I could probably still find things from 1983 to do!! Good grief, I'm old......Anyway, I had an OLD OLD movie on while I journalled. It was an Agatha Christie movie called "And Then There Were None." I have seen other adaptations of this movie so I was very surprised at the ending! I'm not sure which one is accurate but it was still exciting!

This is the report of my very boring...yet pleasant day. Sometimes it's just nice to have a candle or two burning while it is raining outside and have nothing really going on! AHHHHHHhhhh......
Time to just....breathe.....(after I clean out the litter box...that is.....)
Blessings,
Beth

Birthday Blessings.....

22 years ago I was blessed by becoming Mommy to Marcella...later known as Marcie...then updated to "Marci-without-the-e".... I was the happiest young lady in the world! I had two wonderful and handsome little boys already and then I had Marci. Three years later...almost to the date...I had Jennifer! Marci is pictured on the left and Jennie is on the right. Out of my five children, four of them have birthdays in March! (and they're all redheads that are born in March!) Danny will be out of the state for his birthday as he learns how to join the S.W.A.T. team for his police department! (Strange way to spend a birthday....dontcha think?) Becca's birthday is late in the month.

You don't know how having a child...or an additional child...will change your life. I have been blessed to have them all.
Some are (slightly....) more serious than the others. I remember worrying that little Becca would NEVER develop a sense of humor. NO FEARS!!!!! She oftentimes has to be "hushed!!"
It is crazy when they are all together. Jennie seems soooo quiet when people meet her. At home, she comes out of her shell. When she AND Danny are together, spurred on by big brother, Aaron, Marci and Rebecca, it's just one belly laugh after another. Sometimes I just have to leave the room......!!!!!!

How is it that they can remember lines from stupid cartoons or shows or music lyrics at a moment's notice? How can there possibly be an appropriate.....ummm....sometimes inappropriate....line for every occasion????

Life with my kids.....I couldn't get along without them!!!!

Cooking lessons.....

Jennie and I went shopping for a new cookbook for her late last week. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked at Joanne Fabrics and spent WAY too much time there. We got to Half Price Books with only five minutes to shop...so we went elsewhere to look for a new cookbook. (Jennie was a very good sport......bad bad momma.....)

At HomeGoods, we found a wonderful book for her! It called "The Easy to Use Beginner's First Cookbook." That sounds so juvenile but wow it is really a good one! (and not at all for children!)

It takes her through some fundamentals but then it has her really use those basics in some pretty involved recipes.

Today she made Chili Con Carne. (with steak (!!!) and red wine.) I felt really awkward buying a tiny bottle of wine...we are non drinkers. Goodness, the house smelled like a distillery when she started using it to make the cooked sauce! I think next time we MIGHT use juice instead.

Luckily, my two teenage daughters are CONVINCED that wine is the nastiest smelling thing and they don't ever think they will drink it!

I'm very proud of her efforts...it is a long recipe and she did it all alone!

Blessings, Beth

Difficult Days....

Sometimes I hear terrible news that just absolutely takes my breath away. Faces in the news and in the paper usually just that...faces. Then other times, it hits close to home.

Yesterday my precious daughter in law called me very upset. She is the mommy to 20 month old Liam and is expecting another baby in August. She is married to my son, the police officer.

Immediately, I thought that something had happened to one of my precious people but she assured me that they were ok.

Then she asked me if I had heard about-----------. She said the name of a young man that I have known all his life and is one of my son's very best friends.

"Oh my gosh," I cried, "what has happened to him?" I was just sure that he had been killed or hurt.

"He has been arrested on child molestation of five boys," she sobbed. She went on to say that he was touching inappropriately.

We absolutely LOVE this young man and his family. When you go to a church most of your life and attend the same Sunday School with his parents and when the young man has been in all of your child's classes at school, the same birthday parties, class pictures, banquets, etc...they become a staple in your life.

We have had him in our home twice recently. His big sister took our family pictures for us.
WE LOVE THIS FAMILY......

So how do you react to this? No one in the news or who leaves comments online about him know him.
"He should be shot!"
"Worthless!"
"Scum of the earth..."
"Pervert..."

I haven't known the people that I see in the news either and I have almost always thought the very same thing. I AM SOOOO QUICK TO JUDGE. (because, of course, at that moment, I act like I'm without sin.....and we all know better than that, don't we?)

I head those words and I think about the little boy that has been one of Danny faithful friend...I just can't stand it. He has been so precious to us all his life. Sometimes you have a friend for a while and then they drift away. Not this young man. He has been a faithful, dear friend his whole life.

He's not some twisted disgusting person.
He's a sinner....and he has hurt young boys. He was soooo wrong.

His parents have been our friends for over a quarter of a century. They must be devastated.

I know we are.....