Day 32-Heading into a new month!

Heading into our third different month with Rod gone.

A busy month to be sure.

All the end of the school year activities.

Birthdays.

Stuff, lots of stuff to do.

Making Poppa's list of stuff that I need done also.

Mom and Poppa will be here on Saturday.

I'm eagerly counting down the days until they get here!
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Today was a pretty quiet day.

I went to the association office to fill out some paperwork

Got Makkiah from school and attended the parent meeting.

Got all the details about his graduation ceremony.

Made dinner.

Cleaned the cats cage, again.

Gave the cat a bath as he was being eaten alive by fleas. Poor thing

Had out AWANA awards ceremony. I'm so glad it's over and we can start planning for next year!

We will get a nice break for the summer and hopefully with the support of the church we will have an even more awesome program next year.

We had a great group of volunteers that made it run but just something about the support of the church that makes it better.

Other than that, not much going on!!

Day 31-The girls are gone

The SW came and got the girls this morning.

I was sad to see them go but after the last few days with them it was almost a relief to have them gone.

They had short timers - BAD!

It's been so quiet around here.

When they left this morning I had to bite my tongue.

I don't know why their new social worker has to make everything a battle.

She's really got to have the upper hand and she doesn't hide her prejudice at all.

She didn't want to take the girls "junk".

Now mind you it was not JUNK.

It was their toys.

Their baby dolls, barbies, princess house, books, puzzles, etc.

Things that they deserved to take.

But the social worker didn't want to take it because she didn't want to create a safety hazard in her car.

Well phooey on her.

We got it all packed into her trunk and she was dumbstruck!

I wanted to laugh in her face but I was respectful and waited until she left.

It really irks me because they compalin about how foster parents don't send their kids with anything and then this social worker tries to tell me that their stuff will just have to stay here.

I don't think so, it's theirs and they have a right to take it.

She really is a very arrogant person.

I'm glad that I no longer have to deal with her.

It amazes me that she can come into a unit and play god like she is doing.

The scary part is that she can do it without anybody else blinking an eye.

I feel sorry for the parents who are getting them because I know that they were not given accurate, truthful information.

I know how they were the last few days thinking that they were going to grandma's house (yes I did try to convince them that they weren't). They were more than a handful.

I just hope that these parents are willing to stick it out with them. They will need lots of love and patience, LOTS!

It's been pretty quiet around here.

No fighting, no name calling, no little fingers in things that aren't theirs.

But they will still be missed!

Day30!

It's been thirty days already and I feel like I've gotten so much accomplished!

Today I painted the front door.

It was white but you have to paint it for the warrenty to be in effect.

I've had the paint just not the time.

I need to get a sponge roller to put the last coat on but other than that it's done!

I also painted the little desk that I bought but,

Angie peeled the paint off the seat.

She's got short-timers, BAD,

and she's killing me.

She thinks that she is going home to her mom,

instead of to her new mom and dad.

She is going nuts.

Hate to see how she is when she figures out that she is going to someone elses house.

I got all theri stuff packed and ready to go.

They will be leaving tomorrow morning.

I will wish them luck.

Them AND thier new parents!

Day 29

I talked to Rod this morning for just over an hour.

Started my day off great.

He's in port right now and hoping to do some sight seeing.

We're almost down to 2 months left until he gts back-WOOHOO.

I primed my front door and the desk I bought.

The primer is pink and the kids think I'm going to have a pink front door.

WRONG!

It will be a burgandy color but I had the primer tinted so it won't take so many coats.

I think it will look good when it's done.

The other doors need to be stripped and repainted.

I think I'll wait to do that after Mom gets here!

The previous owners didn't do a very good job on them and they look really bad.

That and the molding on the doorways and floor.

Need to paint it as well.

That can only be done at nap time though!

Day 28

I finished painting the girls room today.

It looks REALLY good.

Got a picture to put on Taniyah's shelf that is really cute.

Her room is almost completely done!
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Went to Big Lots today and got a few things.

I saw a bench that I thought would look really good in the hallway.

It was $100 and I didn't have it so I passed on the bench.

Went to the throft store and they had a long bench for $20.

I can buy some coordinating fabric for a few dollars at Walmart.

Recover the bench for less than half of the new one.

I also got a childs desk.

I'm going to repaint it and put it either in the living room or on the front porch.

It was really to cute to pass up and goes with my antique, country theme.

At least it will when I am done with it!

I've got kids in bed and I'm going to go start painting the front door.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Day 27-One month!

Rod left one month ago today.

The time has gone by very quickly.

Much quicker than I remember it going the last time he was gone for this length of time.

I've gotten a lot accomplished around the house in the last four weeks.

And much more on my to do list left to go!

Today I painted the hallway a nice sunny yellow color.

It makes the hallway look much better.

All the different shades of white are covered and gone- YEAH!

I'm almost done painting the baby room where the cabinets and new door went in.

Next will be hanging pictures on the wall!!
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I put new pictures in my Flickr.

You can go to them by clicking on the Flickr badge to the right of the screen.

Here are a few of the ones that I put on there.

Here is a picture that Rod sent to me from the ship.

Here is the "Table set for One" from the Vietnam Traveling Wall. It was modified to include a cover from each service.

A picture of the team when they had the chance to present at the Moving Wall. It was an honor and a privilege for the team to present for the veterans who served.

Day26- Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Today would be Jeremy's 34th birthday.

I sure do miss him.

I have an appt set up with a criminal psychic to see if she can help us out.
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Got to talk to Rod this morning.

I must say that it's nice being able to hear from him more than twice in a deployment.

Some jobs have great benefits!!
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The girls went on their visit today.

While they were gone I called and talked to her supervisor.

I let her know that I would not be fighting the removal.

I could, don't know if I would win or not, but I could hold it off.

I'm trying to look out for the girls and not fight over them.

I did let the supervisor know that the SW was discriminating and she agreed to look into it.

She said that having a large family is NOT a reason to not allow adoption.

We had a long conversation and I was able to clear some things up with her.

I think I will take a short term baby.

They are so much easier!!

Day 25

Today has been a long exhasting day so I'm not going to write much.

We did find out today that our 2 little girls will be leaving on Tuesday for thier new adoptive home. It saddens me.

God has it all in control and I won't give me any more than I can handle, I know but it still saddens me.

Day 24- A breakthrough

Makkiah went to school reluctently today.

He was fine until we got there and then he didn't want to stay.

I did convince him to stay and knew he would do alright.

When I went to pick him up I got good news and not so good news.

One teacher he really likes and he does well with her.

Her hubby is on deployment and her son is the same age as Makkiah,

so she knows what he's going through. She tends to be on a better wavelength with her.

The other teacher, well, he's never really cared for her and tends to ignore her most of the time.

She told him to do something and he told her that he didn't want to listen to her! Oops.

BUT the good news is...

He got upset because he wasn't the first one outside to get the ball and...

instead of throwing something or YELLING,

he told his teacher (the one he doesn't care for) that

He was angry!!!

I'm so glad that he used his words and expressed that instead of the alternative!!

Our company left this morning and we were blessed to have them.

Other than that nothing much happening around here.

Day 23-Company

I got the new wall in the babies room primed an a few spots in the hallway.

Why do my children feel the need to drag their hands, pencils, toys, markers, shoes, etc down the wall? Why can't they keep those things to themselves, where they belong?

My intentions were to finish priming after the I picked up the kittle kids from school but that didn't happen.

That didn't happen.

Instead we got company.

ACTION camp is this weekend and the team from headquarters came in today from Branson MI.

They were on the road for 30+ straight hours.

I get an e-mail last night asking if anyone had a spare room for a couple and thier 3 children.

I said that I had a spare room even though I am a little out of the way.

I got an e-mail this morning that they would probably end up sleeping on Linda's living room floor since they wouldn't be getting in until after 10pm and they would be up and leaving early.

As I left at 4pm to take the kids to practice I got a call that they were less than 1.5 hours away, they were sleep deprived and they wanted to use our room.

Turns out that they had slept in the van (I'm not sure exactly how many of them but I wouldn't want to sleep in a van with 3 kids after driving that many hours) and they were tired.

I gave them directions, told them that I left the door unlocked and to make themselves at home.

When I got home Jenny had dropped them off. So they are sleeping in our guest bedroom tonight - two ACTION interns as well as their 3 children ages 5, 3 and 4 months. They were so glad to be able to eat a nice dinner, shower and sleep in a real bed and not on a floor. I'm glad that I could accomodate them!

In less than two weeks the room will be used again for our long term guests!!! I can't wait for them to get here. I love having company!

Day 22 - Happy Sunday

Not much happenin around here today.

Went to church.

Took the kids to see Ice Age 2 at the base theater.

It was a good movie and all the kids did great.

Even the babies sat through it.

I found out today that I'm teaching 1 & 2nd grade at Vacation Bible School.

I told them I would do it as long as they had appropriate childcare for my babies.

Angie and Makkiah have their own class so I don't have to worry about them so much.

I know there is something wrong with my page but I'm not sure what so I don't know how to fix it!

Guess I will have to research it a little.

Day 21-Halfway Party

The ships halfway party was today.

We had a lot of fun, going to the park and meeting other spouses from the ship.

It was hot though and I burned my face pretty good, I should have put sunscreen on.

I took some pictures from today which I uploaded onto Flickr but thought I would share a few of my favorites.

Here is Taniyah playing with her shadow.

Here is Taniyah and Ellie making Rod Father's Day cards.

Taniyah was so serious about making her card and she didn't want anyone to touch it. Ellie scribbled for a few seconds and was done.

There was a clown who came and made the kids balloons, did magic tricks, and painted faces. Here is Makkiah showing off his sword and shield.

After we were done there we went to Faith Community for their annual fundraiser. The ACTION kids who were going to camp presented 4 songs and the other kids played games. It was fun but by the end I was tired and burnt. We headed home, made an easy dinner and everyone went to bed. That's where I'm headed!

Day 20- Another bathroom painted

Today the advocate came and took the girls to the park.

She wanted to put the sleeping baby in her bed but I graciously declined!!

I don't want her going any farther than the front.

Gives her less to complain about!

While the girls were gone I changed the light fixture in the kids bathroom

and rehung their mirror since the other one I have is to small.

Put the shelves back up and thier bathroom is looking good!

I also painted the bathroom in the baby girls' room.

It's now a light lilac color instead of stark white.

I must say that it does look better.

Next project will be priming the new walls and painting the hallway.

I will be so glad when my hallway is one consistent color!

Oh and my camera has been found.

It was returned to me desk by whoever "borrowed" it.

So I will be able to add pictures again.

I did upload some new pictures to Flickr.

I'm waiting for others to put new pics up there also - hint, hint!!

Day 19 - Makkiah read a book!!

Had my second parent-teacher conference for Makkiah and Angie.

Angie is doing better at paying attention and participating.

Makkiah is just blowing his teacher away!!

She doesn't know what to do with him anymore.

He read a Kindergarten phonics reader today.

He sounded out the letters, put them together and read the words.

I was so impressed with him!!

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Angie started to not feel good at school and was asleep before we got home.

At least I didn't have to hear -"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO BED!"

when it as naptime.

Hope she feels better by tomorrow though.

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Took Destini, Jaleel and Makkiah to the Open House at school.

Brayana played on her flutophone with her class.

We walked through the art show and the book fair.

Went and visited all the classrooms.

Then Brayana started crying because she had a headache.

So I took her home and headed to my meeting, which I was late for but, oh well.
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Got to my meeting and there was the trainer and one other person - UGH!!

Tell me why I do this again.

When we try to get rid of it people show up.

When we try to keep it going no one shows up.

I think I may just cancel it.

Afterwards I headed to Walmart to get childrens tylenol.

What a way to spend away from home when I finally have a babysitter!

Day Eighteen

Got the kids ready for school and walked them down to the bus stop

only to hear a few minutes later

"Dad's on the phone" from Ladaria

who was at the end of the driveway talking on the phone.

I had to yell down the street three times-

the first because a car drove by and I couldn't hear her at all

the second because a car past and I thought she said that Dad was on the phone

and the last because I wanted to make sure that she said Dad was on the phone.

I ran back to talk to him. He needs me to scan something and e-mail it to him. I didn't care what he needed, it was just good to talk with him.

Makkiah got to talk with him also for a minute.

He ended up getting angry at school and got sent home.

We talked about Dad being out to protect us and keep us safe -

Makkiah asked me how he can keep us safe if he's not here?

How do you explain that to a 5 year old whose Dad has been away only a few days total since he was born?

He drew Rod some pictures and mailed them.

That seemed to help, guess I better stock up on stamps!!

The rest of hos day was pretty good.

I'm trying to make sure that I give all the kids extra hugs, letting them know that I love them, that Dad loves them.

I'll be glad when my Mom is here with extra arms to give hugs with and extra arms to just sit and hold little ones who need some extra comfort.

This is a totally foreign concept to them and I'm feeling it.

Day seventeen

Not much excitement today.

I spent the day doing the mundane things around the house -

watering the flowers and the grass,

dropping kids at school,

picking kids up from school,

cooking,

cleaning,

playing with babies,

talking with Ms. Joyce,

checking email,

and trying to read the papers from the last two weeks.

Nothing exciting which is ok in my book.

Oh, wait, I did have something that I wanted to write about last night but I forgot.

Makkiah and I were sitting at the table last night.

He cut a little piece of paper, wrote on it, glued something and gave it to me.

It had a heart that he had cut out and he had written the word MOM on it.

I asked him what it said -

He says "It says MOM for mothers day!"

He didn't even ask me how to spell it!

I put it on the fridge so I can marvel at it.

It really is the little things that make me happy!!!

Day Sixteen

Another day down!

I think I had such a hard day yesterday so that I could get it done with,

in order to deal with the majority of my kids having a bad day today!!

Taniyah was very clingy today and whiny,

unless I was holding her she was screaming,

and

since Taniyah was clingy Ellie had to be also,

because if one does it the other follows.

I went to pick up Ang and Mak at school,

Ang was wet and sandy,

all up her backside.

She didn't want to listen to the teacher and kept taking pitchers of water onto the slide,

then sliding down it.

Had her stand by the door while I went to get Mak,

who also had a bad day,

hitting and breaking down because somebody sat by him,

and

BUMPED him!!

I guess he was really upset and hard to calm down.

Discovered that Brayana has a book report due tomorrow,

and not just any kind of book report,

more of a project book report,

and she wasn't happy about having to do it,

while we played at the park while Tyreque and Ladaria were at practice.

Destini decided that she didn't feel well at the park,

and that she was tired,

and she didn't want to be there,

so

she was very WHINY,

and asked me every 5 minutes if,

it was time to go yet!

For TWO hours!!!

Jaleel decided that he was going to get upset about EVERYTHING.

Tyreque and Ladaria on the other hand were great today!!

I didn't get a whole lot accomplished,

except keeping peace and tearfree kids.

Hopefully tomorrow is better for ALL of us!!!

Day fifteen

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.

Today was probably by far the roughest day I've had.

It was emotionally draining to me.

I had to keep myself busy - grocery shopping, doing dishes, making dinner, doing laundry.

Otherwise my mind wandered.

Today I really missed Rod and felt really lonely.

I called my Mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day and that made me feel a little better.

I guess it's just been "one of those days" where the weight of it all is being felt.

I'm sure that tomorrow will be better,

sunnier skies,

bluer horizons.

I guess I kind of got the feeling of what it is like to be a single mother on Mother's day.

Whether you are a single mother through divorce, death or temporary seperation - it's tough to be alone on Mother's Day.

And I wasn't even really alone, in the sense that no one was here, because I had eight of my children home all day.

I guess it's hard to describe what I mean.

Anyway, I hope that all you mothers out there had a wonderful day today.

Day fourteen

I started off my day with a phone call from Rod.

He's rockin and rollin out at sea.

It was 9am Sat here and 1am Sunday where he is.

Didn't get to talk long but...

he's doing good,

enjoying his job,

and I have a better idea of when he will be home!!!

He says this is the best job he's every had.

Made the kids pancakes and eggs for breakfast.

I really need to go to the grocery store but haven't managed to do that yet.

Maybe tomorrow.

I mudded the drywall on the halfwall that John and I built.

After sanding it I will put the second coat on and attempt my first shot at texturing.

We'll see how that turns out.

I also scraped some more in Makkiah's room.

There are so many layers on the wall I'm wanting to redo.

The main thing is getting all the loose stuff off of the wall.

A few more scraping sessions and it should be ready to retexture.

Add four loads of laundry and it equals another busy day.

Day thirteen

Rod's been gone for two weeks now.

I'm staying busy so the time is going by quickly.

Today I went to the awards assembly at the school.

Jaleel got an award for honesty.

It was given to the two people in each class that consistently tell the whole unedited truth.

They put the wrong assembly time on the paper so I got to sit through the 3-5th grade assembly.

Then they had a reception thing with donuts, cookies and muffins before the K-2 grade assembly.

By that time the babies had been sitting in the stroller for over an hour.

We stayed until Jaleel got his award and then we left.

The little ones were done sitting by that time.

After we left there I took the four little ones to the sitter.

I went to the church to work on ID badges.

We need 100 made before Sunday so I got those printed and lamentated and headed back to the sitters house.

Cut all of them and hole punched them.

Came back home and headed off to home group.

Afte home group I went to Wally world to get some ribbon for the ID badges.

Then finally came home to eat something.

It was a long day.

I'm tired!

Day twelve

Today we (meaning John and I) rebuilt the halfwall at the top of the stairs.

I had built a halfwall after taking down the spindle railing but it wasn't as steady as it could be.

John was nice enough to come over, again, to help me with this project.

We dismantled the wall I built and used the pieces from it to rebuild the new wall.

We started around 10am and by 130pm we had a new drywall covered halfwall.

Now I need to spackle the screws and the seams, prime it and paint.

When that is done John is going to come back and finish the top with a piece of wood that we can paint to match the boys room.

It will be more durable on the top than drywall but I need to get the other stuff done first.

After we finished that I did some laundry and made dinner before heading off to a children's ministry meeting.

I've been tasked with making 100 ID cards for Sunday for our check-in/check-out procedure.

Everyone is in bed and I'm going to eat dinner.

I was going to paint another bathroom tomorrow but I think that I will be laminating instead!

Pictures from yesterday's projects

The kids bathroom
The new door into the babies room

Day eleven

No pictures of today's project as my camera is MIA.

And I got a lot done today!

I had a guy come drywall the door area in the baby girls' room.

It looks good and will look even better when I get it primed and painted.

I painted the kids bathroom.

It turned out really good.

All the kids think it's really cool so I must have done alright!

To bad I can't find my camera.

Tomorrow John is going to come over and help me do the halfway in the the oldest two boys room.

Starting to get some color on the walls and it's continuing to look better.

Our attorney is filing our court papers this week regarding the house.

Then we just have to wait for Rod to get home so that we can get this stuff finished up.

Hopefully I can find my camera (I put it somewhere but don't remember where that where is!)

Day ten

Hmm, did i do anything interesting today?

I mowed the grass.

At least I suppose you can call it that.

The last time Rod used the lawnmower he damaged the blade.

I shook and shimmed all over the place trying to cut the grass.

I got the main part done before I noticed that the mower had vibrate a screw right out of the gas tank.

It is being held partway on by the other screw which didn't vibrate all the way out.

Oh well, at least I got the large part of the yard done.

Scrubbed the wall in the kids bathroom,

which I now realize was smoke soot,

most likely from the fire that the sellers say never happened.

I'm going to try to get a little painting done tomorrow.

Signed lease papers for the condo - yeah am I glad that's done.

Hopefully these two guys stay for the whole lease.

This renting out thing sure is harder than I thought it was going to be.

Hopefully we have some great new tenants and I don't have to worry to much about it.

Ang and Mak went on their fieldtrip to Seaworld today.

They told me about seeing the sharks, dolphins, and whales.

I think they had fun.

Ang fell asleep on the bus before they were out of the parking lot.

Note to self:still need to take care of the cats, have Poppa replace the blade on the lawnmower and screw the gas tank back on, get at least one thing painted tomorrow

Day Nine

Not really a whole lot to talk about today.

I got the lock put on the sliding glass door - FINALLY.

I had to buy three different locks to find one that actually worked on our door.

Now I need to put the door handle back on but I don't remember where I put the screws!

So now I have to buy new screws before I can put it back on.

I also rearranged the baby girls' room.

We scooted the closets out some before putting the door in so I have a little more room in their room.

I hung up the valance in their room which has been sitting on the windowseal since I bought it months ago.

It's up also - FINALLY!

I took off the rest of the wallpaper border that Ellie has been tearing down.

It came down a lot easier than it went up.

Moved the cribs around and plugged the freezer in where our washer is plugged in.

Took Ladaria to practice and decided that due to gas prices I would hang out on that side of town.

We went to Walmart.

And picked out paint for - the kids bathroom, the babies bathroom and the hallway.

I don't think I'll say what colors I picked out.

I think I'll just post pictures when I'm done!!

After much tears and gnashing of teeth between Angie and Makkiah who wanted everything in the store - including the ABC gum we headed over to pick up Ladaria.

Then headed to get gas in the big van - $75.00 for 3/4 of a tank. Thankfully there was a 1/4 of a tank already in it!

Headed home to make dinner to discover that the freezer that I had plugged into the GFCI outlet was not working.

Plugged it into a different outlet - it tripped also.

Tried a different extension cord - tripped again.

Gave up and plugged back in where it was - no wondered it shocks you if you don't have rubber soled shoes on.

Scheduled an appt to have Sears come out and look at it.

Will try a different extension cord tomorrow.

Made dinner, did devotions and put the kids in bed.

Tomorrow Ang and Mak are going on a fieldtrip to Seaworld.

Note to self: Treat the cats for fleas!

Day nine

Got a lot accomplished today.

Went to church and worked in the childcare room. Arrived to four kids in a room playing with play-do and no adults in the room. There were two moms who walked in before me to pick up their kids from the previous class and weren't to happy about their kids being in their with no supervision. Hopefully that will change soon.

Met with Pastor J after church to find out what had been decided in the meeting that they had Friday morning. There will be an application and interview process that starts Mother's Day and goes for two weeks. There will also be a meeting this Thursday with IE and Pastor Jeff that I was invited to.

Came home so the kids could eat lunch and headed for HD. I got a different lock for the sliding glass door, a scraper for Makkiah's wall, a watering can and a door handle. Got home in time for John and Liz to come over and help me put up a new door.

Tyreque, Ladaria, and I had to move one of the cabinets out of the hallway, so it's now in our storage room.

John measured and thought and measured and thought some more. Then he went outside and built a wall with a door opening in it. So here it is laying on the walkway.

Then John and Liz carried the wall in while I directed and took pictures (I have to have something to show!). Then John and Liz manhandled it into place. It definetly went in easier than the cabinet came out!

Shimmed the door, screwed it in, screwed it out, reshimmed, etc, etc. I had to laugh at the two of them. Just like married old people. I'm sure that Rod and I sound the same!! The door just wouldn't fit right (must be that the floor is not even in this old house) so John solved the problem by cutting the bottom off of one side of the frame. Put it back in, shimmed, screwed, and wala! - A DOOR!

John put on the new doorhandle, then fiddled with the latchplate until he could easily open and close the door. So the two babies now have privacy in their bedroom! I'm sure all the privacy that two baby girls need!!

Went to the store for milk and hamburgers. It's the first time in over a week that I haven't cooked. I had something out to make for dinner but the door took longer than expected. Oh well.

Day eight

Today was a busy day.

Stuartand Jessie graduated from Christian Heritage College and I watched Cindy's two babies so that she could watch them walk.

Vinnie (the little baby( has pretty bad exzema) and Cindy had given him benedryl to help with the itching. He lasted about 15 minutes, had a bottle and slept until the came back.

Lib cried for a few seconds when they left but then was happy and playing.

Ellie thought that it was all good and enjoyed playing with Lib.

Taniyah on the other hand was not impressed with that other baby that I was holding and she let us all know her feelings on the situation!

After Cindy, Rosalie, and Samuel came and picked them up we headed off to the presentation. The team presented at the Vietnam Wall Dignity Memorial in Balboa Park. It was an awesome privelege to be invited to go to this and honor our fallen military members.

Destini and Jaleel did rubbings of names of the wall and I was able to explain to them what all those names represented. I was so proud of how well behaved they were during the event. So many people who were there who had lost somebody in that war.

The team did an awesome job and we got many compliments about the pieces that we did. It was incredible the number of people who sat and watched the whole thing. Hopefully it was able to minister to them in the way that they each needed it.

We got home, did dinner and the girls made slushies. Then we waited to see the kids on the news. I fell asleep and missed them. I think only Tyreque and Ladaria saw it. Somebody taped it so I will try to get it. I also forgot my camera but Kristi is going to send me pictures. I will post them when she sends them. I was in such a hurry running around to get people ready that I forgot the camera!

Day seven

Today started EARLY. Or should I say that yesterday extended into today, yes I do know that this is the way it normally works, and the day started WAY to early.

Taniyah went to bed in my room.

She tried to throw herself off the bed while in her sleep which effectively woke her from that sleep.

I didn't want to wake the rest of the house SO I decided to let her stay in my bed.

At 1am I had my sweet little 3 year old who came into my room to find the gum that I had moved. Since Taniyah was not asleep, neither was I when my little darling came in. Needless to say she was suprised when I hopped out of bed.

Put her back to bed and turned off all the lights that she had turned on while making the journey to my room.

I tried to bear with Tete. Really I did, but after several hours of her patting my face, kicking me, feeling my nose, etc I just didnt care if the rest of the house was up. At 2:57am, yes that does say AM, I took my lovely little baby to her own bed in her own room. She fussed for a few minutes and then fell asleep. I fell asleep shortly after that. 6am came shortly after that.

After I got everyone off to school I took the youngest four kids to the zoo.

We went through the Children's zoo area and they had fun. I like going on the weekdays as it's less crowded. Today proved that. It was nice and quiet.

Taniyah kept trying to get the goats in the petting zoo to come to her. She would bend down, and pat her legs and "cluck" to them. They weren't impressed but it sure was cute.

Day six

Anyody getting tired of my counting of days yet?!

Today was a pretty typical day.

Getting kids ready for school,

making doctor appts,

making dentist appts,

fielding phone calls,

changing diapers,

cleaning house,

checking e-mail,

making dinner,

doing laundry.

Rod sent me his e-mail address. If you want it e-mail me and I might be nice and give it to you. He's doing well on the ship and has pissed off most of it. They were without a chief master at arms and now he is there doing his job. They don't really like that to much.

He e-mailed me and told me that he was doing daily birthing inspections with the XO and she is really great to work for. I told him that I had hoped there wouldn't really be need for those types of inspections on his ship. He thought it was funny but he really meant berthing inspections.

Not much excitement here but it's good therapy for me!! Since I don't have Rod to talk to about how my day went I can share it here in cyberspace for all to see!!

Day five

Another day, another set of stuff to do.

After getting all the kids off to school I started scraping the wall in Makkiah's room.

All of the walls in his room are plaster but one wall in particualr has issues.

When we bought the house it had boards in some kind of mosaic style.

Those boards came down thanks to one upset teenage son.

So I've decided to scrap the wall and refinish it.

The layers are:

1)plaster

2)paint

3)wallpaper

4)drywall compound

5)paint

6)adhesive

ALL of the layers have to be scraped down to the plaster. I did that for 1.5 hours and got a bucketful.

Then I picked up Ang and Mak from school and headed to the sitters house.

Mak had a pulmonary appt at 2:30 which went well.

A few adjustments in his meds, school action plan and a new diagnosis.

Dr W thinks that we are looking more at allergic croup and told me what to do when he gets croupy. We are really trying to stay away from the high dose oral steroids when possible so we'll see.

Headed off to the pharmacy where we waited for an hour and a half for the eight meds to be filled. Took longer for the meds than it did the doctor visit. AND

we don't have to go back for 6 months!!! If he keeps vomiting and spitting up after we make one med adjustment I do have to call him back so we can look at changing that treatment since he isn't gaining weight very well.

Went and picked up the babies from the sitter and came home in time to pick up the other kids and head off to AWANA.

Another busy day with a few things accomplished. I think Friday I'm going to take the younger kids to the zoo. A change of scenery will be good!

Day four

Today was a great day.

Makkiah had a great in school.

Angie actually brought me candy that she found instead of eating it!!!

Mrs Joyce came so my house is nice and clean.

AND the investigator came out.

She is closing the case with only a few minor violations-

1)the outlets which are fixed

2)the cleaning closet door which is fixed

3)the garden tools behind a locked door which is in progress

4)a door on the babies room which is in progress and

5)the kickwall in the boys room needing to be better stabilized which is in progress.

She told me that when I got these other things done to call and let her know but they are a huge deal as they aren't really safety issues and we are in the process of fixing them. They are actually issues that we created because we are doing work on the house which she understands. SO that is all taken care of. Now the only thing left to worry about is the girls adoption worker and advocate.

Pray that we get a large, family friendly adoption worker so that we have a chance at adopting these girls.

The ship is already nearing their halfway point. Pretty good for us since Rod just left.

Tomorrow will be a busy day with a trip to the pulmonologist for Makkiah.

Day Three

Today was a long day.

I got a lot of little things accomplished while the girls napped.

Cleaned the front porch,

Put the cable wire under the stairs.

Taped some wires down,

Discussed a door for the girls room with John,

as well a post upstairs to stabilize the wall,

folded ACTION shirts,

and generally picked up.

Then I got everybody ready for the ACTION fundraiser and showcase.

Still did get it taped.

They sent my camcorder back but didn't fix it.

They cleaned it and serviced it.

Did a full diagnostic, but didn't fix the darn thing?!

Talked with the girls social worker-

this is going to be a long, uphill battle.

I'm off to bed.

He made it

Rod called this morning to let me know that he had made it.

The ship is underway so it was a short call.

Long enough to hear his voice,

know that he made it safe,

and to say I love you.

Oh and to find out what time it was here and which day of the week!