FLASHBACK TO 5TH GRADE

Can anyone guess as to which one is me? This is my 5th grade class. I went to school from Kinder to 12th grade with most of these people. Yes, we came from a very small town. We were very much in style back in 1978. My best friend was the girl in the front row, third from the left.

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my
favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always
talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of your time
and money to help people who had nothing, and I learned
that those who have something should give to those who don't.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take care
of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have to
take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you handled
your responsibilities, even when you didn't feel good, and
I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grew up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from
your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt,
but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw that you cared, and I wanted
to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I learned most of life's
lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive
person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you and
wanted to say, 'Thanks for all the things I saw when you
thought I wasn't looking.'

LITTLE EYES SEE A LOT

Each of us influences the life of a child.

Live simply. Love generously, Care deeply. Speak kindly.

HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE

George Phillips, an elderly man from Meridian, Mississippi, was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?"

He said "No, but some people are breaking into my garden shed and stealing from me."

Then the police dispatcher said "All patrols are busy. You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available."

George said, "Okay."

He hung up the phone and counted to 30.

Then he phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them." and he hung up.

Within five minutes, Six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George, "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

Don't mess with old people!

D is for...Daddy

is for...Daddy. I always knew Richard was a wonderful man, but he has become an amazing Dad. He's a hard working man, that will instill the love of learning and laughing in our son. Our son will have a great role model to emulate and if he can become half the man his father is, then he will do us both proud. God gave me a great gift and I am grateful everyday that Richard is my husband. 

TWO SENSE TUESDAYS #8...What would you do differently?

Being a new mother I seem to get a lot of advice, which can be helpful, but is also very frustrating when it's from people who are insistent that their way is the BEST way. I also get advice (because I'm an adoptive mother) from those who think that my son is just a stand-in until I get "the real thing."

Each week I will post a new question. I'd love it if you'd play along and offer us new mothers your pearls of wisdom.

HERE IS THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN...WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY IN RAISING YOUR CHILD?

DEAR DOGS & CATS

The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Racing me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me does not help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort, however. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretching out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out on the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom! If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years, canine/feline attendance is not required.

The proper order for kissing is: Kiss me first, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough.

Finally, in fairness, dear pets, I have posted the following message on the front door:

TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:

(1) They live here. You don't
(2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture.
(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
(4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.

Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
(1) eat less
(2) don't ask for money all the time
(3) are easier to train
(4) normally come when called
(5) never ask to drive the car
(6) don't smoke or drink
(7) don't want to wear the latest expensive fashions
(8) don't need a gazillion dollars for college
(9) don't monopolize the tv/phone that you bought and pay for
(10) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children

Baby Dedication

This is a Dutch Cradle Cross. The Dutch place cradle crosses over the beds of their infant children -  that this symbol of Christian faith might early become a part of the child's consciousness. It was given to us today at the Baby Dedication at "K's" church. It was very nice. We stood at the front of the church with the minister and "K" and her parents brought Samuel down the aisle to us. Afterwards we were invited to have lunch at the church as well. Everyone was very welcoming and Samuel was a star!

Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14

"Train up a child in the way of he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:06

GOD HEAR OUR PRAYERS #41

My mother has always had a prayer list and I've now started one of my own. So each Sunday I will publish the prayer requests of anyone who e-mails me. Please keep us updated as God answers your prayers too.

Who we are praying for this week...

* K-the birthmother of our baby
* my mother's health and well being
* Elisa's anxiety disorder and her trip to CA in June.
* my student's family situations
* Uplift Michele's spirits
* Dawn - husband to hear God and find his way to Him
* Christy prayers and praise
* our economy
* healing for Amy, her mom, dad and Allie.
* all service men and women that they may come home soon

Prayers that have been answered:

* Samuel is sleeping through the night
* Patti brought home her son, Samuel.
* Heather started her salary job!
* Rebekah has been matched!
* Nancy is pregnant
* Kelly has her baby home!

E-mail me if you have someone for me to add to the weekly prayer request. God Bless.

THE PURGE BEGINS

Remember this picture of my sewing room....well....

...it now looks like this, which isn't very impressive until you see....

....all the stuff that was in there, but is now in my garage ready for my yard sale.

I still haven't been able to sell this baby swing, which is under the green blanket in the last picture. I bet that will be snatched up right away.

I spent about an hour of Samuel's morning nap pulling stuff out of the sewing room. I'm sure I'll find more stuff too, once I go through my closet, some craft boxes and kitchen cupboards. I also have two bags of baby stuff to take to the second hand store. Now I want to get some matching containers to store all my craft supplies in. From now on, I'm only going to allow myself to keep out one project's worth of stuff at a time. I feel pretty good about the progress I made, though.

SPOTLIGHT ON....#3....Adoption and Infertility Help

One of the things I find myself doing a lot is looking on sidebars and clicking on blogs other people like to visit. I'm usually attracted to the names first, then the theme and design of the blog. If it looks interesting, I'll bookmark it to investigate later. I usually go back a few times before it either gets deleted (those that I don't find interesting or don't post often) or added to my sidebar and to GOOGLE READER. I thought I'd start a new series where I tell you about a few of the new and interesting places I've found.

PASS ALONG CARDS "are the latest tool for adoptive couples to find potential birth parents. They can be given to friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers and church leaders in hopes that they will know of someone who is interested in placing a baby for adoption. The cards can include information such as the hopeful couple's blog address, adoption agency profile address, email address, caseworker's phone number, etc."

Infertility Etiquette was like a breath of fresh air to me. To anyone who is going through infertility and has people coming up to them with insensitive comments or for those that don't know what to say...send them to this site. I wish I had know about this page 2 years ago.

So those are my BLOG SPOTLIGHTS that, I think, you should visit! Tell me where you like to lurk and what your favorite blogs are and maybe I'll feature them here. Happy Hopping!

Update on my life!

This year is just speading by! I can't believe Samuel is almost 5 months old. He's holding his head up, tracking objects, knows Mom and Dad's voices and faces. He makes my heart melt when he giggles and he loves being naked. I'm not sure if this last tidbit is a good thing or not. He grasps things and has discovered his ears recently. He's loving oatmeal and I'm loving that he sleeps through the night. We have a nice schedule going now. We're having a Blessing Ceremony this Sunday at "K's" church and then on May 6th he "officially" becomes ours.

Richard and I are doing well, considering the economy. We never had to touch the $4000 I saved for my maternity leave. Remember the goals list, where I said I wanted to save $10,000 this year. We're half way there and it's only April. We'll also be getting more money back once the tax man sends in the amendments to claim Samuel for 2008. Car sales are a little more difficult these days, but Richard is busting his butt. He's been working a lot of 12 hour days. He needs to relax a little. We don't see much of each other these days because I go to bed at 9 p.m. and I'm out of the house by 6 a.m. I like summer because I see more of him by staying up later and some mornings he doesn't have to leave for work until 10 a.m.

School is going well too. I'm finally back into the routine and standardized testing is over. We have 2 months left (It's a year round school.). We have fieldtrips, fun activities and more growing to do, to get ready for middle school. The kids are very interested in the HUMAN DEVELOPMENT UNIT that is coming up. A former student of mine, who is now a senior in high school (Boy, do I feel old.), is going to be interning in my classroom for the next month. It will be wonderful to have her help.

Family is doing great too. Everyone is healthy and all of my 7 siblings will be here in August for my niece's wedding. The last time we were all together was 14 years ago for my parents 50 wedding anniversary. My brother, Mark, just moved to California and is in the process of building a house and my brother, John's, son, Zachery is graduating high school this year. Mom and Dad are healthy too. I can't wait to start going to yard sales with my mother again. It should be interesting taking Samuel along.

Anyway, my life is going along very well. Samuel is wonderful, we have our health, home and jobs and I am enjoying the gorgeous weather. I may even try to tackle my overflowing sewing room this weekend.

God is so good!

FAVORITE THINGS FRIDAY #19...Yard sale find!

I got this last summer at a yard sale, long before Samuel was due and right now it is his favorite toy. It only cost me $2.00 and it came with all the toys you see. Yard sales can really save you a lot of money, especially if your looking for things for children. In the spring and summer, my mom and I try to go at least twice a month. We'll see how it goes with Samuel tagging along this year.

Advice to those having a yard sale: Please, don't advertise as "HUGE SALE," when you only have one card table of stuff, because I won't even stop. 

Your turn...What is your best yard sale find?

BUCKET LIST!

Back in high-school I started a list of things I wanted to do before I died. Now I've recently updated it and added the "correct" title. The items highlighted are what I have actually done. I used to have a lot of little stuff on there like: dance in the rain, skip class, plant a tree etc...now my sites are on bigger and better things. My tastes have changed too. At one time I had "Marry Shawn Cassidy," on there. It's a work in progress.

TRAVEL:

• Greece
• Italy
• Hawaii
• Take a cruise
• Tahiti
• Las Vegas
• Aruba
• Walt Disney World
• Grand Canyon
• Grand Canyon Donkey Ride
• Concentration Camp in Poland
• Mexico
• Acoma Pueblo
• Pyramids of Egypt
• Israel-walk of Jesus
• Taste of Chicago
• Climb the Statue of Liberty
• Great Wall of China
• Washington D.C.
• Cherry Blossoms in Washington D.C.
• Great Barrier Reef
• See the Atlantic Ocean
• See the Pacific Ocean

CONTRIBUTIONS:

• Work at a soup kitchen
• Tithe 10%
• Work on a Habitat for Humanity House

ADVENTURES:

• Whitewater rafting
• Zipline
• Skydive
• Parasail
• Helicopter Ride
• See active volcano
• Whale watching
• Swim with dolphins
• Bungee jump from a bridge
• Ride an elephant

ADVANCEMENTS:

• CPR class
• Dance class
• Build a dollhouse
• Go to counselling
• Pay off debt
• Pay off house
• Become a teacher
• Yoga class
• Learn to ride a horse
• Photography class
• Graduate College
• Painting class
• Karate lessons
• Graduate High School
• Read Bible cover to cover

FUN:

• Meet someone famous
• Own a bulldog
• See the Super Bowl
• Go to a Rascal Flatts Concert
• See the Macey’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
• Ski at Vale
• Spend week at a Spa
• Buy a new car
• Drive across country
• Grow bonsai tree
• Adopt a baby
• Meet 5 blogger buddies
• Be on a gameshow
• Get a tattoo
• Buy a new house
• Celebrate 50th Wedding Anniversary
• 100 followers on blog
• Redo a room
• Have a baby
• Get married

SWING A DING DING!

This is all in my sewing room! Do you think I need to have a yard sale? I want to be able to put a shelf in here for non-perishable food  and paper goods overflow. See the blue and white box in the foreground. I have a set of china in there, that I bought at a yard sale 5 years ago and have NEVER used. 

I'm trying to dig through other rooms a little at a time and the stuff I find that I don't need anymore, ends up here. There is actually a table under this stuff. This room is also used as storage. That's why I need to clean the garage too, so that I can keep the extra fan and things I really need out there and get my sewing room back.

I can't even get to that closet where my sewing machine and art supplies are stored. Buried under this green rug are two boxes of 9-12 month and 12-18 month clothes for Samuel too.

My first step is getting rid of this. We got this gorgeous swing, but Samuel has only used it a few times. He's really not that into it. So, I have posted this on Craig's list. If I don't get any hits in 30 days I'll save it for the yard sale.

DO YOUR KIDS LISTEN TO YOU!?!

WHILE I'M WAITING!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!

OUR ADOPTION HEARING HAS BEEN SCHEDULED FOR MAY 6TH AT 10 A.M. YIPPEEEEEEEEE!

So, not to make things too complicated, I'm going to give the gift certificates to REBEKAH who guessed May 1st!

TWO SENSE TUESDAYS #7...Does age matter?

Being a new mother I seem to get a lot of advice, which can be helpful, but is also very frustrating when it's from people who are insistent that their way is the BEST way. I also get advice (because I'm an adoptive mother) from those who think that my son is just a stand-in until I get "the real thing."

Each week I will post a new question. I'd love it if you'd play along and offer us new mothers your pearls of wisdom.

HERE IS THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

FOR THOSE WITH OLDER CHILDREN, WHAT WAS THE WORST AGE BETWEEN BIRTH AND 5 YEARS? WHY?

TOES AND MORE!

This was Samuel yesterday sitting up so straight....and then he eventually loses his balance and falls to the side. See how he flexes his toes....here look closer....

He's always flexing his big toes. You can also see, in this picture, how his second and third toes are fused together. It's like that on both feet. 

For those of you who posted your guesses for the upcoming court date, no news yet. After next Monday, I will open the dates up to the first two weeks in May and let you guess again.

New Normal!

We've fallen into a very nice routine.

My work week routine is as follows:

I get up at 5 a.m. and I'm out of the house by 6 a.m. So, besides a kiss, I don't see much of my son or husband until after 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Richard tells me that Samuel sleeps until 7:30 or 8 a.m. most mornings. Richard either leaves at 8 a.m. on his early days or 10 a.m. on his late days and then the babysiter takes over. By the way, she's wonderful! I love that Samuel can stay at home. He takes a 2+ hour nap at about 10 a.m., but is awake the rest of the day.

My students leave at 2 p.m. and then I have planning time. I've managed to do all my planning and correcting at school without having to take anything home, yet. At 3 p.m. I head for home and usually complete one errand on the way (bank, store, postoffice, etc...). I'm usually home by 3:30 p.m.

Now, that spring is here, it's nice enough that we go for a walk in the afternoons. Our dog, Menlo, realy looks forward to me coming home, for this reason. We then talk and play while I do laundry, vaccuum etc and around 5:00 p.m. Samuel gets his oatmeal cereal and then a bottle too. Then he usually takes a cat nap for about 30 minutes. After we wakes up we have a bath, read books, have tummy time and play with the dog. His last bottle is at 8:00 p.m. and then within a half hour he goes to sleep for the night.

On the weekends Samuel and I go shopping or to Grandma's house. The rest of the schedule stays pretty much the same. In the summer we'll have to take either an early morning walk or wait until sunset because the rest of the day is too darn hot. It will be nice to spend time in the back yard, library, and park too.

GOD HEAR OUR PRAYERS #40

My mother has always had a prayer list and I've now started one of my own. So each Sunday I will publish the prayer requests of anyone who e-mails me. Please keep us updated as God answers your prayers too.

Who we are praying for this week...

* K-the birthmother of our baby
* my mother's health and well being
* Elisa's anxiety disorder and her trip to CA in June.
* my student's family situations
* Uplift Michele's spirits
* Dawn - husband to hear God and find his way to Him
* Christy prayers and praise
* our economy
* healing for Amy, her mom, dad and Allie.
* all service men and women that they may come home soon

Prayers that have been answered:

* Samuel is sleeping through the night
* Patti brought home her son, Samuel.
* Heather started her salary job!
* Rebekah has been matched!
* Nancy is pregnant
* Kelly has her baby home!

E-mail me if you have someone for me to add to the weekly prayer request. God Bless.

SPOTLIGHT ON....#2

One of the things I find myself doing a lot is looking on sidebars and clicking on blogs other people like to visit. I'm usually attracted to the names first, then the theme and design of the blog. If it looks interesting, I'll bookmark it to investigate later. I usually go back a few times before it either gets deleted (those that I don't find interesting or don't post often) or added to my sidebar and to GOOGLE READER. I thought I'd start a new series where I tell you about a few of the new and interesting places I've found.


Bluebird's Classroom is a fun blog run by a middle school teacher. I love reading her rants and now I don't feel so alone. Keep it up Mrs. Bluebird.

Lana lives in Barbados. She is a 27 years old, single lady going through the adoption process. She also has her grandmother living with her. I know the process can be difficult. I wish her an easy and speedy journey.

Mother's Raising Boys "Mothers Raising Boys is about providing some feedback about how to raise your sons into fantastic men. Boys are wired differently so raising them can be a bit of a challenge. What we aim to do is give you a framework and a little bit of advice on how to raise your boys from women who can be considered experts. We are trying to create and build a community where mothers can do their socializing as well as find opinions and answers on questions they might have."

So those are my BLOG SPOTLIGHTS that, I think, you should visit! Tell me where you like to lurk and what your favorite blogs are and maybe I'll feature them here. Happy Hopping!