Tyler seems to like his new school. His only complaint is that the school is full of "nerds". People are nice, just a little "strange".

He said that one kid walks around with 6 decks of cards in his pockets.

Well, maybe that is a little different.

However I still prefer the "nerdy" school to the previous high school.

God has blessed our decision to move to the new school. One of my main concerns was that this school is 30 miles from our house. Those of you who have kids know how hard it is to get them all to just the most basic of activities on time. Traveling 30 minutes each way was going to pose a large problem.

However, our God has it handled.

We take two days a week and another family takes the other three days. I only have to pick him up on Mondays, another family brings him home on the other days.

Yeah God! This is such a blessing.

In adoption news; Our agency gave out 10 referrals at the beginning of this week. That means our magic number is now 58. That is our overall number which doesn't really tell us all that much. Those in front of us could be asking for a different gender or age range. We really have no idea.

It is fun to have a number, and count down as referrals come in. I mailed of the addendum our social work did for our home study today which means we are now approved for 2 children up to the age of 8. Our agency doesn't place out of birth order (generally) but I really felt God leading us to make this change to our paperwork. Now it is all up to him.

I pray everyday for our new children. I can't wait to hold them in my arms.

It has been kind of a stressful week with some things going on that I can't share yet. A friend of mine sent me the picture below this week. It made me laugh.



A trip to the spa sounds wonderful right about now. However, I think I am going to have to settle for a nice hot shower until I can work that into my schedule (and my budget!).

Labels: Adoption, Ethiopia, High School

Last spring and throughout the summer our middle son, Tyler, attended wrestling clinics at our local high school. It was something we thought he might enjoy and it turned out he really liked it. He went to all the clinics and was told that he had made the team for the 08/09 season. This was exciting for him as an incoming freshman and he was anxious to start the school year and formally join the program.

A few weeks before school started in August I went to the wrestling website for our school and saw that Tyler was listed on the Junior Varsity team. Cool. Very exciting.

You see, Tyler's older brother plays baseball at this same school. As I have told you before the school is HUGE with over 5000 students. Making any sports team is quite an accomplishment. The baseball team has hundreds of kids that try out each year. I watch men with young little leaguers watching tryouts each year trying to figure out what to do to give their kids an edge when they reach the high school stage of their baseball career. Baseball is HUGE in California. Think Texas and football and you will get an idea of how huge it is. When someone finds out our son is on this baseball team they are always impressed. He must be really good they say.

We are very proud of our oldest son. He works hard at his baseball and has big dreams. However, our middle son was not a sports star. Were any of you the younger sibling to an over achieving older sibling? If you were...I feel a little sorry for you.

This is one of the reasons I felt so happy for Tyler when he made the wrestling team. It was something of his own. He was really good at it. It's the one thing he could beat his older brother at. Actually all the boys on the baseball team wrestled him for fun. Tyler beat them all, and earned their respect.

At the end of September the new wrestling coach called a workout for anyone who hadn't tried out before and wanted to. Those who had already made the team were to go as well. They had to be at the school by 5:30 a.m. every day that week for workouts.

Tyler went.

He loved it.

When the new roster came out a few days later Tyler had been cut from the team, with no explanation given.

Hubby spoke to the coach and no real explanation was given. Everyone was shocked.

I was furious. I stood upstairs in my laundry room folding clothes and crying my eyes out.

Why?

This child who always has to live in his brothers shadow finally had something of his own and it was taken away.

Why had they listed him on the roster for months and then cut him at the last minute?

Why put him on there at all if you weren't sure. I just didn't get it.

Tyler took the news well and said he would try again next year.

I continued being hurt for him and furious with God for letting this happen.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no
faith?"

Fast forward a few months to this morning.

I dropped Tyler off at his new school.

The one I love. The one who teaches a Christian world view and not a secular world view.

The small school where he is going to play football. He is excited.

I realized this morning that if he had stayed on the wrestling team his Dad and I never would have moved him from that high school (which I hate!).

Last week when I had to go into the attendance office to un-enroll him from his current high school I ran into one of the wrestling moms. She asked me why Tyler quit the team? Ha, that is funny, I thought. He got cut. The parents have all been shocked by this. It seems no one has ever been cut after being placed on the roster. Tyler was good. He gets good grades. He doesn't cause problems. Why in the world would they cut him?

No one has been able to get an answer to this question.

However, this morning it hit me that this might have been a plan orchestrated by God. I pray everyday that God's will, not my own, will be done in our children's lives. Is this part of his plan for Tyler? Is this the reason that he was cut?

I don't know the answer to that question for sure, but I do know that an incredible weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. I never wanted him at that other school. I wanted him at this one. I felt very uneasy about him being there, heck, I feel uneasy about our oldest being there, and that is a whole other story for another day.

Today I am basking in the love of a Heavenly Father who took care of my family even when I was clinching my fist at him in anger.

Oh I of so little faith.

Jesus told them "Don't be afraid; just believe."

This week we were suppose to set some goals for our weight lose journey.

I was tempted to write something like this.

Stop Eating. Lose Weight. The End.

That's probably not what Brenda had in mind though when she thought up this challenge.

So....here goes.

1. Plan meals and have healthy snacks available at all times.

2. Put some healthy and low calorie snacks in the car. I need to put a big plastic tub in my trunk with all kinds of snacks. The busiest part of our year is upon me (baseball season) which means I will spend A LOT of time at the field with the snack bar and all those wonderful smells coming from it. I need to make sure I always have another option available to myself so I will be less likely to go order a big tray of nachos. Or Frito pies. Or a warm pretzel smothered in salt with a side of cheese for dipping. No, I need to stay away from that place.

3. Do some form of exercise at least three days a week. I really like the Wi Fit but I have not been getting on it enough. Samantha asked me to go on a walk with her yesterday. I didn't. I finished the dishes instead. Next time I'm going to leave the dishes and go with her. After all, I'm sure they will still be waiting for me when I get back. (Uggh)

4. Organize my life better. I need to get back to having the kids do specific chores on set days, enforce a strict bed time, get back to more structure. Since we started home schooling even the younger kids stay up later. It was fun at first but now I really need them to get back on a schedule. I need my time in the evening to be alone and think and plan. I notice that if one area of my life starts getting out of control, the other areas quickly follow. We definitely need to get back on a set schedule.

5. Pray everyday for God to give me the will power and strength to live a healthier life. I have actually been doing pretty good in this area, but I could still improve. One of the pluses of #4 above has been that my kids sleep in (due to their later bedtime) and that gives me time in the morning to spend with God before anyone wakes up. I have really enjoyed this. I can still do it if the kids are up earlier, I just need to make sure I set my alarm and get up before they do.

6. Have Fun. I know this is kind of a funny goal but I feel like I spend so much time worrying about my house and the laundry that I miss a lot of fun times with my family. I want to have set hours for house work each day and if everything doesn't get done to leave it for later. I want to play more games with my kids, run around outside with them (also good at helping with #3) and just BE WITH THEM. I used to be so good at this. As they have gotten older and life has gotten busier I have gotten worse and worse. I want to do better. I'm going to try.

There it is. My list.

This past week was kind of hard with lots of activities and eating out. I didn't gain back any weight but I didn't lose any either. I'm hoping to lose at least one pound this next week. I don't want to beat myself up. I need to remember that slow and steady wins the race. I tend to forget that a lot of times.

If you want to join in with the challenge visit Brenda and sign in on her Mr. Linky. Let me know if you do so I can come an visit you.

Aww teenagers.....you just gotta love them.

Paige: Mommy, come look at Pablo (the hamster), he looks so cute.

Me: Hi Pablo, what are you doing? (Pablo seems to be cleaning himself with his front paws)

Paige: Mommy you are so silly. Can't you see he's reading his Bible?

We tend not to argue with Paige to much. She walks around armed with these hulk hands most days.

She has been trained by the best.

These two have been her primary instructors.

Labels: animals, faith, kids

It's late Friday night and I am waiting for Samantha to get home from the drive in movies. She went with another family and was soooo excited to have her first drive in movie experience.

When ever I want to go the kids look at me like I am some kind of backwards freak. However, it seems, when you are invited by another family it is fun.

Go figure.

My boys are all playing video games, Dave's watching old baseball games (I'm sorry, I guess they are called "classic") on cable and Paige is hanging out with the dogs.

She's trying to get them to dance with her, but she's not having any luck.

You would think since she got all dressed up in her flapper costume someone would take her for a spin around the house.

Tonight I am just leaving everyone alone to do their own thing.

Do you ever have days where you feel so mentally exhausted you just want to crawl under the covers and never come out?

I do.

I'm having one of them today.

To much stress, to much drama, to much of everything.

Uggh.

I'm taking comfort in the fact that tomorrow is a brand new day.

Have a good one my friends.

Labels: hubby, kids, Mom Stuff

This weeks fitness challenge is to tweak our wardrobes. Buy something to make us feel better about ourselves. Wear different pajama's to bed. Buy a new top, maybe some cute new undies.

I was all for this challenge. I like to buy new clothes as you will remember from this post. However, I am plum out of money (after paying our 435.00 co pay for Zach's dental work yesterday, yikes!).

I could probably afford to still buy some new panties. Some of the ones I still wear are technically "maternity" panties.

My baby is 5 years old.



I forgot to measure myself before I started the challenge so I'm going to try and do that in the next few days. It will be fun to watch the inches disappear.

I also started exercising this week. I have had fun with our Wii Fit. I have become a little addicted to it. My legs were so sore the first time I did the yoga and aerobics I almost died. Very fun though and you forget you are exercising.

The game weighs you and gives you your BMI (Body Mass Index). You don't want it to be over 20 to be healthy. Mine was 30 and in the spirit of keepin it real here is the picture of the lady (who is suppose to be me) telling me I am obese.

Ouch!

Not very nice but it is a good way to get motivated. Nothing like pure humiliation to get a person moving.

Here are some pictures of me doing aerobics.



These pictures are definitely not of my best side

I can't believe I'm showing you these pictures of me exercising in my old ratty pajama's.

Perhaps I should add a few jammies to the pantie order I'm going to make later today.


If I'm going to make a fool of myself in front of the whole bloggy word I should at least be wearing some new cute pj's next time. Don't you agree?

Labels: weight loss

Yesterday we spent the morning at the Aquarium with our home school group. Paige thought it was the best thing ever.

We hung out with friends and saw some really pretty fish life.



Do you guys remember all these rules?

I remember feeling fine within 24 hours.

Zach, however, is going to take full advantage of the situation. No chores for him for a few days he says.

I think we will just have to see about that.

The boys stood holding hands in a circle on the basketball court. One team in white the other in blue. A prayer was said for a good game.

Then they played ball.

That would be BASKETBALL.

We are trying to branch out and try new things around here.

I had a great time watching the game and talking with all the other parents.

Unfortunately Garrett's team got their butt's kicked.

It almost killed my husband.

I think the Dad who is coaching doesn't know that much about this sport. However, he tried, and he voluneered. So as far as I am concerned he did great.

I reminded wonderful husband that we signed Garrett up for this homeschool sports league so he could have fun and meet other kids who were homeschooled.

He has. And he had an awesome time, even though they lost.

Hubby agreed. He was OK.

Or so he said.

He kept groaning under his breath as he watched the game.

As we were leaving he said he was glad Garrett had such a good time......but the seaon just might kill him. He wasn't sure he could take it.

Hang in there honey, the season will be over in 3 months. Plus, baseball is just around the corner, and your team needs you.

Labels: Home Schooling, sports

Today marks 3 months waiting for our referral.

Three months waiting to see the faces of our new child or children.

If you add together the time we spent looking at agencies, and paper chasing we are now entering our 17 month on this journey.

At times I grow weary of the wait.

Our agency was closed for the holidays and reopened the first week of January. Since then there have been NO referral's.

I am sure they are working hard in the office and things are happening but it is really hard when you are just sitting around waiting.

There were 15 referrals last month. Our agency has said they expect to double the amount of referrals given out this year. I can drive myself crazy doing the numbers.

I called today and was told we are number 71 on the entire list. The list of everybody waiting for a referral. This doesn't really tell us much. Our request is pretty broad (0-4 years). So, if the person who is #70 is asking for a child 0-12 months and our agency receives a 3 year old we would obviously jump over the people at #70. I really want to know how many people we could potentially jump over. It seems like that is information I can not receive.

I feel a little frustrated about that.

I keep praying that we will get a referral by April. I am so afraid of getting one later than that and then getting stuck in the court closure in August.

Waiting all summer until October for a court date would be awful! I know others have done it but I am praying hard this will not happen to our family.

OK, now I have whined enough. Thanks for listening.

Lord, when my soul is weary and my heart is tired and sore, and I have that
failing feeling that I can't take it any more; then let me know the freshening
found in simple, childlike prayer, when the kneeling soul knows surely that a
listening Lord is there.
Ruth Bell Graham

Labels: Adoption

Anyway, I was reading my Bible this morning and came across this verse.

Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Mathew 11:28-30

I was reading a commentary by Diane Head and this is what she says about this verse.

"If ever anyone needed rest, its today's mother. And I have great news. There is rest for us-a rest more rejuvenating than a long and leisurely nap, and more soothing to frayed nerves than a Brahms concert. This rest reaches into the depths of our souls and claims us from within."

Hey, I want that! What about you?

There is nothing better than rest for the soul. Our emotional, physical and spiritual health are all connected to it. The only way to receive this rest is to sit at Christ's feet and hear his word. We need to take some time out of our busy mommy schedules to learn more about who He is and what he is like.

So, the next time one of the kids is yelling at me during my quiet time I'm going to yell back "Leave me alone, I am refreshing my soul."

I can hardly wait!

Labels: faith

Yesterday while I was waiting for Tyler to get out of his testing appointment I picked up the most recent People magazine and read an interview with Laura Bush.

I really like Laura Bush. She always seemed very down to earth and someone I would enjoy chatting with over a warm cup of coffee.

Anyway, at one point in the article she talks about how the press has "gotten" her wrong and has liked to portray her as a cookie baking house wife. She goes on to talk about the work she has done on behalf of women's rights all over the world.

Here, however, is the sentence that really got me.

She says that not only does she not bake cookies but that she hasn't cooked a meal in 14 years.

14 Years people?!!!

Oh how heavenly.

I actually like to cook but wouldn't it be wonderful to have the choice.

Or just have someone there to clean up after you had messed up the kitchen cooking?

I just can't imagine.

14 years.

Wow.

*****************************************************************************
Here is how I split myself into three people yesterday.

1. Garrett ended up spending the night with friends and they took him and his friend to the clinic. Thanks so much Jim and Kathy, you are awesome!!!

2. Zach drove himself to his clinic. I really didn't want him to do this as he has only had his license for 3 months and only driven on the crazy California freeways a couple of times. He did fine. I of course had to lecture him on everything I thought he needed to know about safely driving on the freeway. He, of course, just rolled his eyes at me. He was fine.

3. I took Tyler to his testing and slept in the car for an hour and then read the aforementioned people magazine until he was done.

Thanks for your suggestions on my predicament. Some of them really cracked me up and just made my day.

Labels: baseball, Mom Stuff

On the calendar for today;

8:30 a.m. Drive Tyler to new high school (which is 30 miles North of us) for testing. Yeah, new school!!!

8:30 a.m. Zach is suppose to be at a baseball college camp 30 miles east of our home.

9:00 a.m. Garret is suppose to be at a Little League clinic 15 minutes from our house.

7:00 a.m. Hubby is suppose to be at the Junior High for a program our District Little League is putting on that somehow he ended up being in charge of. This, however, means he is not around to chauffeur children to where they need to be.

I need to be three places at once tomorrow morning

I need to be three separate people.

Anyone have a recipe for doubling or tripling yourself laying around?

Labels: baseball, Mom Stuff

What Tyler said to Samantha yesterday.

"I haven't really liked dinner this week. It's been strange."

Samantha's response.

"Well, mom says she is tired of being fat and we are going to start eating healthy. You better get used to it."

Thank you so much darling daughter.

Yes, I am tired of being fat. I am determined that 2009 will be the year I get my act together in this area.

So, today I am participating in Brenda's fitness Friday to help keep me motivated.

The "strange" food my child was talking about has been baked salmon with rice and yummy green beans stir fried in soy sauce and sesame oil (they are sooo yummy, and very few points if you are a weight watcher person), grilled vegetables wrapped in a whole wheat flour tortilla with carne asada and salsa, chicken stuffed ravioli with spring mix salad and light vinaigrette, just to name a few.

Very little fat but lots of yummy.

I'm the mean mom now. No longer acting as the short order cook making different meals for those who don't like what is being served. When I heard a few complaints I put a box of cereal in front of the whining child and walked away.

I. WILL. NOT. BE. CHUBBY. ANY. MORE.

I want to have more energy and feel like myself again.

I want to lose 48 pounds in 2009.

Four pounds a month. Totally doable.


Well, this week I felt good when I said no to the Chocolate Chip cookies my girls had just made.

I felt good that I have read my Bible every morning this week and started my day off on the right foot.

I feel good that I have a husband that still loves me after 23 years of marriage. We still smile at each other.

I feel good that I am making my kids help more around the house even though they shoot me dirty looks from behind my back.

I feel good that I made healthy meals this week even when I knew not everyone in my family would be happy about it.

I feel good when I take a little time to take care of myself, so I will have more energy to take care and nurture others.

I felt good when I got on the scale this morning and saw that it had moved down a few numbers.

I guess I just feel good about everything. I am a pretty blessed lady.

Labels: weight loss

Does anyone else feel like it is taking them FOREVER to dig out from the holiday mess and get their houses back in order?

Our play room is a disaster with all the new "stuff" and I just haven't felt like going in there and tackling it. The dirty laundry is piled up (I'm up right now at 2:00 a.m. doing laundry so the high schoolers will have clean clothes for school today), bills need to be paid and we need to get back on our school schedule.

Hubby is home for another week which makes it a little hard. We want to play, not work. He had extra vacation at the end of the year which he needed to take so hence the extra week off. He has been home for 3 weeks now and we haven't killed each other yet. I guess that bodes well for our retirement years.

My heart has been heavy this past weeks regarding the atmosphere at the school our teenager's go to. Without going into a lot of detail I will tell you that we have decided none of our other children will go to this school. To be honest, I have been agonizing over a way to get my two boys out of there.

I have said before that I really wanted them to go to the Christian High School about 30 minutes from our home. However, with adoption expenses this year that seemed way beyond our means. This problem has been heavy on my heart for months and I have spent much time in prayer over it.

Things came to a head in the last few months when one of the boys coach's was suspended for changing players grades, letting the boys chew tobacco, and possible knowledge of steroid use just to name a few things. My son had to go into a private meeting (I was allowed to sit in) with the school district and answer questions about these charges. He was not involved in any of it but was asked about his knowledge. Not a very comfortable situation for a kid that doesn't want to lie but also doesn't want to get his friends or coach in trouble. There were a lot of yes/no answers.

For what ever reason, even though some of the accusations turned out to be true, the coach was reinstated and life is going on as normal. I don't really understand why he is still the coach, however, we all know how hard it is to fire a teacher. My sister-in-law, who is a teacher, told me that it has gotten so bad that if a teacher is accused of molesting a child he "may" get fired. Depends on all the circumstances. Huh? Really, what has this world come to?

Anyway, this past week I have really been convicted to get our youngest out of that school. The other high school has an Independent Study Program where you can home school them half the time, they attend classes half the time, and they can participate in all sports, clubs, etc. on campus. This sounded great, and is quite a bit cheaper than enrolling them full time.

However, upon further inspection, the schedule would really not work for our family this year. Next year it would be fine. The only real option was to put him in full time for the second semester if we wanted to move him this year.

I am all for that. So is hubby.

The only problem is we don't have $4,000.00 laying around to pay for it.

The only money we have has been set aside for the adoption.

So, I have been fretting and praying. We are sure God wants us to move him, just not sure how to do it.

Yesterday in my quite time I read this verse;

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Mathew
6:34

If I really believe God wants us to move him, don't I also believe he will provide the way?

We have decided to have faith. We know God is a lot bigger than a mere $4,000.00.

We will take money from our adoption fund to pay for it and trust that when we need it again God will provide for us.

My heart has lost it's heaviness now. I'm feeling so much better.

We would love to move oldest as well but he is almost done with High School so we will let him finish where he is at. There are other reasons he needs to stay put for a while but I don't want to invade his privacy by sharing that here.

Besides, one son who doesn't like me very much right now is enough. He isn't quite as happy about the change as his dad and I are.

Oh well, it isn't our job to make our kids happy all the time. It is much more important to do what we feel God leading us to do.

Sometimes being a parent is so very very hard.

Labels: High School, Home Schooling, stuff

We traveled up the freeway about 30 minutes to a large park that is situated on around 500 acres.

I decided this was a great way to spend the day because if we had stayed home I would have been forced to deal with all the Christmas decorations still all over our house.

Yes, this would definitely be more fun.


Except it was freezing outside. For those of you in the North West that would be around 50 degrees for us wimpy California people.

Paige was thrilled to feed the ducks.




Garrett had fun feeding them to0, they were really hungry. Ignore my fat butt and the very bright pink sweater I had on in the picture below please.

Labels: Family Fun

Last night hubby put Paige into bed around 9:00 p.m.. All of the other kids, except Tyler, had already passed out in their beds.

New Years Eve did not end until I ordered everyone to GO TO BED. That was at 5:00 a.m.. (on January 1!) I kept trying to fall asleep but all I could hear was the sound of screaming teenagers (they said they were trying to be quite) playing some sports game on the x-box.

I remember I used to be able to stay up all night.

Now it makes me sick to my stomach. It really is hell getting older.

Anyway, back to my original story.

With all the kids sound asleep by 9:00 p.m. and Tyler (who got a nap) not feeling like he needed to go to bed, hubby and I snuck out of the house for a date at Barnes and Noble.

We searched through all the sale items and they had all their classic books buy 2 get one free.

IT. WAS. FABULOUS.

I love dates like that. We had Starbucks and read through books without any one asking us when we would be leaving.

Pretty close to heaven if I do say so myself.

They stayed open until 11:00 p.m. and I spent way to much money on Christmas books from the 50% off table.

I simply could not resist.

What kind of fun did you have this first day of 2009?

Labels: holidays, hubby

We are having a calm and uneventful New Year's Eve.

A table full of teenage boys are battling it out over a game of Monopoly. They are playing the new way. With credit cards. Apparently there is no way to cheat when you play electronically.

This is something they have been talking a lot about. In between stuffing their faces with nacho's and chocolate candy.

Garrett (10) got invited over to some good friends of ours home for the evening. The fact that his best friend and his three brothers live there had nothing to do with his excitement at going. Dave said when he dropped him off all the boys were jumping up and down in excitement to see each other.

They are keeping him all night so I am down one 10 year old. However, I am up two extra teenagers and one extra 12 year old girl that Samantha has spending the night.

It is definitely not quiet in our home this evening. I think I could still fall asleep before midnight though. Its amazing how much noise I can sleep through.

I have been pondering this year and the year to come as I sit hear under the Christmas lights.

Here are my three New Year's resolutions.

1. To continue to grow in my walk with Jesus and to seek him in all area's of my life.

2. To have more patience with my family. Remember to grant them as much grace in hard situations as God grants me.

3. Get healthy. Start exercising, lose a little weight and stop being a chicken and make a dentist appointment. I am really afraid of the dentist.

That's about it for this year.

What about you? Any grand plans for 2009?????