My Adoption Sermon

On Friday, one of the Mom's at our Friday Coop has foster children off and on and she had a 10 day old little girl. So sweet. Anyway, it got me thinking about our adoption and how long it has been and how far away we still are. Aaron was with me that day and he got to see her and the rest of the weekend was filled with my thoughts on our adoption.
All day Friday and esp Satur. my mind was flowing with certain Bible verses. First of all James 1:27 "Religion that our God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." But in the midst of that verse, and meditating on what steps God was wanting us to take next, He kept putting to mind the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.
What kept coming to me was that the Master (God) gave the servants (us) talents. But nowhere in the story do you get the impression that the master gave the servants money to spend on themselves, elevating their status. When the master came back, they were still servants. When the master came back, he held the servants accountable with the money he gave them. At no time was it the servant's money. Even while in the hands of the servants it was always the master's money.
I prayed and read about this, thinking on it and how it applies to me and our lack of adoption funds situation and the abundance of cash flowing through many Christians and how sick and sad it makes me that the ONLY thing standing between starting our adoption again is money. Silly, important money. Money that we don't have. Money that will take forever to make. Money that is keeping our child in the orphanage that much longer.
Fast forward to Sunday morning worship and what does Bill talk about, but Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents. Thank you God for preparing me for his lesson. However, Bill put a slightly different spin on it, that enhanced what I was thinking. He talked about a postage stamp and kind of showed how they compare to people. Each postage stamp looks different, each one has a value on it, they serve a purpose, etc. I can't remember all, but what I do remember is when he talked about when the price of mail goes up, and you have old 40c stamps and the price is now 43c, neither can serve the purpose of sending that mail on it's own. It takes both stamps to accomplish the goal. And it was then that I realized that Aaron and I were the 3c stamp and we need a 40c stamp and together we can accomplish the goal of giving a child or two a home.
So of course I thought on this all afternoon Sunday, ready to talk to Bill about his lesson and how it helped me realize that perhaps Aaron and I can't do it alone, that we will need help from the church, and then Duane preached.
He preached on the Year of Jubilee and how a lot of it was about money, captives, the oppressed,etc. Then he skipped to the new testament and spoke of denying ourselves, taking up our crosses and following Jesus, that now that He has come, we are in a forever year of Jubilee, We can all be set free.
So many times when I hear people talk about adoption they say stuff like well, we would, but we are past the baby stage and don't want to start over (deny yourself), we don't have the money (deny yourself),I am happy with just __ children (deny yourself) what if it turns out bad? (deny yourself) Perhaps adoption doesn't have to be about you, you, you. Perhaps it should be about them, them, them. Jesus says to deny ourselves.
If you read Matthew 25: 14-30 about the talents, don't stop there, because Jesus immediatly goes into another parable. I don't think it is coincidence that right after he talks about being responsible with the master's money he talks about helping the helpless. In Matthew 25 31-46 Jesus talks about separating the sheep and the goats. He will give the sheep on his right their inheritance "for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
To the goats on the left he tells the opposite and they are sent to eternal punishment.
I so wish our church would have an adoption fund and see adoption as a mission and not just for people who can't have kids or as a last resort.
And I know I am being judgemental, but these are some questions in my mind... How can you justifiy buying that 2nd house on the lake that gets visited twice a year, just so you will be cool? How can you see children in need, children without a mommy or daddy to hug them and kiss them goodnight and still think God gave you that ability to earn that money to spend on yourself. Did you ever think that God gave you the ability to make that money so you could use it in His kingdom?
I am all against giving the lazy money. I am so against all these govt. programs for so many people who don't want to get off their rears and work. I also think money to help others should be given freely and not taken from the rich.
On Friday a lady from church joked about her Mom (also a member) driving an expensive "midlife crisis" car. Perhaps it makes her feel better to have a nice, status symbol car, but as a Christian, wouldn't she have felt much better helping a child.?
What is the only thing that can get into heaven? Souls. That is it. You can't take your lake house, your new car, your jewelry, whatever, but the souls you touch can go. Souls of children without hope can have hope with you. You can be a missionary in your own home. I always wanted to be a missionary growing up> I know now that God is not planning that for me. But wait, my home is a mission field. And when you go to another country, or even to this country, you are not going there to preach, but you can bring that child to the mission field of your house. You can live Jesus for them, when they had no hope before.
God knitted the orphans in their birthmother's wombs with as much care as he knitted my biological children in my womb. They are His creation too and He has a plan for them. If only they had parents to show them the Lord.
Lastly, when praying last night, I kept going over with the Lord how I don't want other's money, I don't want to have to depend on others' money for this adoption. How I so don't want to have people just give us money for the adoption. Then I jokingly thought, I want your money Lord, why can't you just give us your money. I would gladly take your money. Then God gently whispered to me "It is my money" And He took me full circle to my meditation/obsession on Saturday with the parable of the talents. And what He kept impressing on me all day Saturday...that the money the master gives to his servants is ALWAYS the masters money. It is His. No matter where the money comes from, no matter if I work extra to earn it, if Aaron works extra to earn it, if our church starts an adoption fund or if some generous person writes us a check...it is God's money...It is His, it is from Him because it never was that other person's in the first place. And if Aaron and I have to swallow our pride and accept help from others to fulfill this adoption, I guess I can live with that now.

School is on...

I think the public schools around here started today, but we are well into day 9 of Kindergarten, 2nd and 3rd grades. After much whining about how it was too hot to play outside this summer, I decided the week before the girls went to camp that we were starting when they got back. That way, when we are stuck inside because of the heat, we can be productive, then when it is fall and spring, we can take some days off to play in the awesome weather. We are doing the Prairie Primer this year and are liking it so far.
We finished our schooling today around lunchtime. I had been working on a huge grocerly list complete with about 20 coupons. I wanted to go today, but was signed up to work 3-11. I went to Mom's at 1 in order to take a shower and lie down a few minutes before going in, and they called about 1:15 to let me know they didn't need me from 3-7. So instead of napping we all took off to the grocery store 25 min. away. It took 2 carts, lots of threatening and forever to complete this grocery trip. UGH!
Mom came with us to help unload and eat supper. Aaron got home the same time I did, saying they told him to pack his bags for a fire. So he will probably be leaving in the next few days for California? Never 100% sure until he gets there. I hate for him to be gone, but the money is a blessing.
I called work at 5 to see if they still needed me at 7 and if they were going to cancel anyone, please cancel me! She said she would call me within the hour. She called while the next paragraph was going on and cancelled me and I was very grateful.
While we were packing and Mom and the girls were eating we got the bad news that Hannah had thrown up all over the kitchen floor. That was a mess, but she hasn't done it since, so I am hoping it was a fluke thing and NOT the stomach virus. A girl can dream can't she?
Still trying to pay off debt so we can continue our adoption goals. I am sooo ready. We started this March 2007. Anyway, we applied for an adoption grant and an interest free adoption loan. Please pray that we get one or both.
Time to head for bed. Slept terrible last night and then Hannah woke me early.

Fort Morgan

I thought I would add some more pictures tonight while I was working in the kitchen.

A picture of the kitchen in the Fort

This picture was taken from the top of the fort, which was a little nervewracking up there with 3 kids, but looking in the opposite direction, there was a great view of the ocean.

This is Hannah posing with Josh, the tour guide.

This is Hannah posing on top of an old cistern.

Vacation

In this picture, you can see Natalie about to be drenched by the upturned bucket of water.

It has been so long since I have blogged. I thought about giving up blogging when I started to go on Facebook. But this last week, I have not been able to figure out how to post pictures onto Facebook anymore. What I used to do doesn't work anymore on my computer or on Mom's. Very frustrating.

Let's see...

We just got back Thursday night from Gulf Shores.

Sunday

We left Sunday morning and around lunchtime got to the Montgomery Zoo. We had never been and got in half price with our Birmingham passes. We ended up staying for almost 3 hours. It was better than I expected. The funniest part was this monkey. Hopefully, I will be able to post a picture.

Sunday we spent the night in Daphne.

Monday

We got up the next morning and thought we'd go for a walk down Gator Alley, which was a big disappointment. We did see 2 gators from the boardwalk, but it was pretty much a boardwalk under the interstate where people did grafitti. Natalie wanted to go to the Bass Pro Shop we saw, so we ended up walking around there for about an hour.

Then we drove on to Gulf Shores. We couldn't check into the hotel until 4pm, so we had some time to kill. We ended up going to the beach and swimming, then went to Pizza Hut, almost dripping wet for a late lunch, walked around a couple of souvinour shops then checked into the hotel. Later, we went back to the beach until almost bedtime.

Tuesday, we got to Waterville USA at opening time. So expensive, but so much fun. It was worth it. We were there about 2 hours and then decided to get some lunch. We drove through the drivethrough, came back and ate in the parking lot. The food would have cost us an arm and a leg in the park. Then we swam and went down water slides until around 4 when we went to the car for a quick snack, then back to play again until closing time at 6pm. I am so glad we went that day, because it cooled off some after that. The girls went right to sleep that night.

Wednesday

It was only supposed to get up into the low 80s this day with clouds. So we went to Fort Morgan this morning and toured the fort. It was interesting and the girls enjoyed going up and down the stairs and the place had a lot of hidden places.

We drove back to Gulf Shores and ate our only seafood lunch at the Original Oyster House, which was delicious. Then we decided to go to the beach in clothes to find shells, wade in the water, and build sand castles. We stayed there until around 7pm and even in the clothes, we all got pretty soaking wet. I was so tired of sand.

Thursday

Since it still wasn't supposed to be real warm, we decided to just swim in the hotel pool before checkout. Afterward, we packed our things and headed home.

Mom fed the pets and checked on the garden while we were gone. She had already picked 6 yellow squash and I picked 2 more since coming home. I have a spaghetti squash the size of a lemon, tons of skinny green beans, lots of cucumbers on their way to getting ripe and probably 20+ green tomatoes. So exciting. We have weeded off and on yesterday and today. Watered half of it today and will probably water the rest tomorrow, with water Aaron has caught in rain barrels.

Top is a picture of Madelyn, Hannah, and Lexi. Middle is Hannah and bottom is the kids getting ready to go for a ride.

Lonely and Quiet

The girls left Sunday with the granparents to go on a trip. They went to the grandparent's house Sunday and Monday night. Then left Tuesday for Gatlinburg to go to the Aquarium on Wednesday. Last night, they were close to Chattanooga, planning to see their Great Granny today and then going back to the grandparents tonight, then coming home tomorrow afternoon.

I would like to say that I got a ton of stuff done while they were gone, but I didn't. I worked 8 hours Monday. Then 5 horrible hours on Tuesday. It was a bad evening. So bad, that I had planned to call and see if I could work Wednesday, but decided to take the day off instead.

Yesterday, Mom and I went out to lunch. I got some paint at Walmart for the girls' bathroom (haven't started painting yet). Aaron left work after lunch. We ran a few errands, then came home. He sprayed weeds while I planted our puny tomato plants. I am hoping that being in the sun with room to spread will make them grow. I think they have been the same size for 3 weeks. If they die, I will just buy plants to plant and give up growing tomatoes from seeds. I never seem to get them to grow right.

Our garden is about 1/2 way full and we still have green beans, snap peas, and cucumbers, zuccini and more corn to plant. The peaches that were on the trees before it got real cold last week are bigger this week, so I assume that means that the frost didn't kill them.

Today I plan to plant my green beans and some cucumber seeds outside. Clean the living room and kitchen, balance the checkbook, start painting the bathroom and work 3-7. Guess I should get off the computer soon.

One more note... We had Natalie's party on Saturday. I hate planning for a party and then no one calls to say if they are coming or not. Most of the time no one calls, but we have a good crowd. This time, we heard one yes and one no. Out of 10+ invitations. Sadly, only 2 kids showed up. But thankfully, one of them was her best friend, so she was happy. Aaron and I were disappointed that we bought enough food for 30+ (since most parents stay and bring siblings). Oh well, hot dogs will freeze.
We had a great time. We hiked through the forest. Then cooked our hotdogs and marshmallows over an open fire. After that Aaron drove us down the road for a great hayride, right at sunset. it was beautiful. Then we came back, Aaron took them on another hike and everyone went home. Aaron's parents spent the night, so we all stayed around the campfire until about 9:30.

Fingerprints

Aaron and I dropped the girls off early at Mom's on Sunday morning before church and drove 25 miles to have our fingerprints done. We didn't want to have to take the girls into the jail. We have now been to 3 different jails and I think this is our favorite. The first, in our town, only has actual ink fingerprinting. So, if you mess up then there is no fixing it. Our fingerprints from that jail were rejected. Then we redid them at a jail about 30 miles from here in a tiny closet of a room with visitors to the prisoners constantly going in and out, where the police officer would stop and chat because everyone knows everyone and that was a little uncomfortable. But it was the new machine where your finger never touches ink. You put it on a screen and it scans it, shows if it is good enough right then, then at the end, they print the whole card. So, our fingerprints for our homestudy were mailed off today. When the social worker gets them back, she will officially complete our homestudy (for the 3rd time -patient woman) and then send it to us. Once completed, I can mail it off, plus a ton of other stuff to Citizens and Immigration to have our status changed from Vietnam to Russia and get a date to drive at least 1 1/2 hours to have our fingerprints done again for them.
While doing our fingerprints, the young woman told us that she was adopted - by a distant family member. Of how she is all for adoption and how she met her birth mom when she was 18 and immediatly called her adoptive mom to tell her thank you. It was just nice to have some encouragement from someone who has been there.
Don't have time to post a picture tonight. I am going to bed before 10pm.

Princess

Here is our dog Princess who we rescued from the animal shelter last fall. She is a good dog. Probably around 8 months old now. She is so big though and still a puppy, which is not good for the girls sometimes, since she plays a little rough.

We went to the Botanical Gardens today. It just took over 15 minutes to load this one picture, so needless to say, it will be the last one for tonight. They have a BIG BUG thing going on right now as you can see. We had a great day, although pale idiot that I am, I didn't put any sunscreen on and am very burnt. Oh well, I will be pale again soon enough. Heaven forbid I ever have a nice tan.
We got there around 10 and went around once with the homeschool group, but there were trails going in different directions that we couldn't see while trying to stay together, so we stopped and ate a picnic lunch, then went back in for another hour or two. Natalie's birthday is tomorrow, so afterward, Aaron's parents took us to McDonald's for ice cream. We then drove home, and I was able to get a nap in during the drive before going to work tonight 7-11. I am working tomorrow 11a-7p. I am glad to get hours in and may actually have overtime this week.
We still haven't gotten our fngerprints done for our homestudy renewal. I hate that and really don't know when I will fit it in. We have to go to the jai l to do it and I don't want to go alone, I don't want to go alone with 3 kids, we really don't want to take the kids at all. Maybe early Friday morning before coop, but then I will have the kids with me. Normally, parents aren't allowed to leave their kids at coop, but maybe if I give the director my cell phone to call in case of emergency, I could do it kid-free. Aaron could go Saturday, I am working then.

Blooming

Well, I am finally putting at least one picture on the blog. We will see how many I will get on here, since it takes FOREVER on our dialup. I actually waited about 10 min the other day and it finally loaded, I hit the wrong button and whoosh, gone. So, I gave up. I will probably end up taking the camera over to Mom' s, loading the pictures onto her computer and adding them there.

We took lots of pictures of the pretty blooming trees on the land. The first picture I am loading is of Madelyn sitting the the "bridge" Aaron made over our "creek". It is really just overflow from our pond. When it gets to a certain level, it goes into the culvert under our driveway and down, down into the forest. Madelyn and Natalie have loved playing in the creek, but I have to remind them ... "that pretty clear looking water in the creek, just came out of the nasty, algae covered pond 10 feet away" It is actually springfed when there is a ton of rain. About 100 feet uphill from the pond is a little area where water bubbles out of the ground. Pretty neat.

I am caught in the cycle of work, work and more work. I am very torn between Dave Ramsey's Gazelle Intensity and spending time at home and my guilt over working so much. Madelyn is really giving me the worst guilt trip. I feel bad, but I see the end of our debt in site and it is hard not to just sign up and work whenever they ask. And they have been asking a lot. There are at least 2 day shifters on Medical leave, so that leaves a lot of openings.

I worked 7-3 yesterday, then agreed to come in 1-7 today for a pregnant lady, so she didn't have to work 12 hours (On a side note, can you imagine working 12 hours while pregnant? I refuse to work 12 hour shifts now, I put in my share of them)

Anyway, I called right after church and she said they didn't need me, so I stayed and ate the potluck dinner with Mom and the girls (Aaron had a funeral to attend and left early). Then went to Mom's to await the time for a wedding shower, and they called me at 1 saying they did need me after all. So I went in 3-7.

Once this picture loads, I am off to bed, so I can get up, have school in the morning and then go back to work from 3-11. If this picture would ever load. It has been about 10 min. now. I actually have a library book to read while waiting it takes so long.

Field Trip - Cancelled

I signed us up for a field trip a few weeks ago and paid ahead of time so we could go to this Botanical Gardens about an hour away. It was with our Friday homeschool group. I was the first to sign up, so I am not sure how many other people had signed up after us. It was supposed to rain all day, so I emailed the coordinator to make sure that we were still on for today. Since Aaron took off work, and I invited his parents who were driving 3 hours to come.
I guess I wrongly assumed that we would be notified if the tour was cancelled, but when we arrived there at 10am, we found out that it had been postponed until next week. Very irritating.
Thankfully there are 3 musuems in that town that we have season tickets to. So we decided to go there.
First we went to a place called Constitution Village, with large houses built like they did in 1820s around the time the city was founded. I didn't realize that we would get our own tour guide -dressed in period clothing, talking in first person. At one point while she was demonstrating how to use the carpentry tools, she stopped to tell us that one of their apprentices had run away and that they were offering a 1c reward if we found him. And sure enough, throughout the tour there were posters everywhere offering a reward for his finding. It was funny. Halfway through the tour, we got another tour guide who led us through the rest of it. That took about an hour.
We had a quick lunch at Burger King and then dropped off the kids with Aaron's parents at the Children's Museum while Aaron and I went to find a camera. Aaron is not a big fan of the children's museum. Not a lot to do, but the kids LOVE it! They spent about 1 1/2 hours there.
Then we went straight to the Depot Train museum. Where we got another free personal tour guide. You learn so much more when you take the tour. At one time, on the 3rd floor, they housed civil war prisoners. Pretty neat.
By the time we were done with all of this, it was 4pm and they were closing, so we said our goodbyes to the grandparents and they headed to their house. Aaron wanted to look for some new hiking boots, so we stopped at a store for while looking, then headed to Cracker Barrel where we ate supper and headed home. We got home about 7:30. What a long day, but a lot of fun. And not totally ruined by the rude person who never called to tell me about the cancellation.
PICTURES TO COME SOON!!!!! I am so excited to finally have a camera. We got the kind that you plug in to charge like a cell phone, instead of the kind that sucks up the batterys. I hope it works better. Once it is charged, I will be clicking away and loading some up on the old blog.

Sinus infection

Well, I went to the doctor on Tuesday and he didn't do a strep test, but said he thought it was a sinus infection. Which is strange because I have never had a sinus infection without having any kind of nasal stuffiness. Oh well, I did have the drainage on my tonsils and the headache. It has gradually gotten better thankfully. I also had fluid on my Left ear. I know I am getting better, since normally, I sleep 7-8 hours a night at the most and this week, I have been going to bed between 9 and 10 and getting up around 8. I never sleep that long at one time. But tonight I tried to go to bed early and it is 11:30pm and I am still wide awake.
I signed up for 36 hours next week. The plans were for Aaron and I to drive the girls to TN on Saturday, so they could stay with the grandparents. They were planning on taking them to the Aquarium in Gatlinburg and then bringing them home and meeting us at their field trip Wednesday morning. However, his parents called tonight to let us know that Aaron's granny who has gradually gotten worse over the last few years, is now not eating or moving at all. So, the trip is on hold.
And I signed up for a bunch of days, thinking I wouldn't have to worry about babysitting. Thankfully , Mom is here and can watch them.
I had to take the dog back to the vet today. It is day 9 after the "fixing" and all of a sudden, she has these little bubbles about the size of small marbles coming out of the wound. Now I know I am a nurse but this is a new one on me. Post op procedures on animals are not quite as clean as on people. The bubbles looked to be filled with fluid and it didn't bother her for me to touch them. Anyway, the vet said that was normal and that the fluid collected in the stitching area was just making it's way out. Would have been nice to have been warned, since that was normal and all. I was all worried, thinking perhaps her intestines were working their way out and she would have to go back to surgery and then there would be 10 more days of keeping a 40lb energetic puppy on a leash all the time and up. Tomorrow!!! She can run free tomorrow!!!!! Yipee!!!!
We have found the videos of the girls when the were babies. They love watching them. Makes me want another one. We need a baby! Maybe next year. Although since the one we get from Russia will be at least 12 months old, it won't be quite as small.

Spring is Coming

It was sooo nice last week. So hard to do schoolwork while it was 70 something outside. I think it is supposed to rain more this week, but maybe we will have a pretty day today.
I only worked 8 hours last week. So hard to go into work when you can walk around outside. I was hoping to work this past weekend, but I didn't.
Friday we had normal coop. Aaron took us and dropped us off, then went directly to his doctor for a checkup. We had to get paperwork filled out for our homestudy update from our doctor's, so that is what he was doing. I am mailing it today, along with our financial statement and then our social worker can finish the homestudy. Still paying off debt so we can start again. But once we have the homestudy done, I can apply for some adoption grants.
After coop, one of Natalie's classes had a field trip to this Cooks Pest Museum. It is really a nice place, free. So we didn't get home until around 3:30 on Friday afternoon. The girls spent the night with Mom so that Aaron and I could get up early Saturday morning and go to an auction at a tractor place here in town. Aaron and I rented a couple of movies.
My headache started then, so that put a little bit of a damper on the weekend.
We went to the auction in the rain. I had bought some waterproof hiking boots the day before, thankfully. The mud was ankle deep in some places. We stayed about 3 hours, but didn't feel comfortable bidding on anything, so we still need a disc and a plow for the tractor.
I ended up not working the whole weekend, which was nice to not have anywhere to be other than church.
We went to church yesterday morning, then came home and worked on the house. Aaron has pulled down a ton of old rusted fence. Thankfully, we had kept it, so we used the bolt cutters and cut it into sections, the folded it into a circle and used pliers to wrap the ends around and now we have about 10 things to put around our tomato plants to support them in the garden. There is plenty more fence, so we will probably end up making more. I have almost 18 tomato plants growing in the house.
After we ate a quick supper, right before church services in the evening, my headache started up again. I almost didn't go. Our drive down the gravel road, adds motion sickness to my headaches which is almost too much. I took some medicine on the way which made it tolerable enough during services that I didn't have to leave early, but we left pretty soon afterward. I couldn't even sing or move my head normal speed from side to side. Aaron dropped me and the girls off at mom's apartment in town and went to get me some sudafed. Unfortunately, due to all the losers who use sudafed for something other than sinuses, it is locked up in the actually pharmacy part of the store and it was closed, so he had to get me the sinus medicine that is not sudafed. It worked ok. I took some and laid on the couch at mom's for about an hour until it got better enough that I could look from side to side without regretting it.
We drove home and went to bed pretty early. And that was our weekend.
I still have a little headache today, but have already taken a sinus pill. Hopefully that will stop it before it gets too bad.

Little Artists

Monday evening we went to the Art Fair at our coop. There were probably 30 entries. Mom rode with me and we dropped off the 3 pictures at 4pm. Judging wasn't until 5:30pm and Aaron was meeting us there at 5pm, so we went to Aldi. I came prepared with a cooler with some ice. I was barely able to fit all of my refridgerated stuff in it, but it was less than 40 outside, so it stayed good.
Got back to the Art Fair. When it was time for judging, they sent all the adults out in the hallway and let the kids stand by their art if they wanted to so the judges could ask them questions. I thought the judging would take around 15 min. Well, an hour or so later, they finally had placed the ribbons and were ready to hand out the results.
In Prek/K , Hannah came in first place with her drawing of Natalie holding an apple in each hand, standing next to a flower. (she was the only entry in this age group)
In 1st and 2nd grade Madelyn came in 1st with her picture of two people looking at a princess. and Natalie came in 2nd with her picture of Hannah and her picking apples on top of a flower covered hill.
There were 6 entries in Madelyn and Natalie's age group. I was proud of them and they were excited to get their ribbons. I felt sorry for the kids that came and stayed there for sooo long waiting and didn't win.
We went shopping for cameras on Friday and the one we picked out was out of stock. So we left and I will probably go again soon to find one. I hate not having a camera!
Our tractor made it here safe and sound on Monday night. Aaron had time to come by the house, pull it into the barn before coming to the art fair. I know he is dying to try it out, but it will probably be Saturday before he gets a chance. It barely fits in the barn.
I worked3-7 pm last night. I probably would have stayed if they had asked me, but they didn't so I assumed that everything was under control. Then the supervisor called at 9:30 as I was crawling into bed, to see if I wanted to come in. I told her I had just left at 7( which she didn't realize), so I went on to bed.
Worked 7-11 tonight and am fixing to go to bed now.

SNOW

Saturday, they were predicting 2-4 inches of snow for our area overnight.
We woke up Sunday morning to about 1 inch, but it continued to snow for a few more hours. The girls were playing outside by 7:30 that morning. We had a great morning. Church was cancelled, although I am not sure we would have tried to make it if it wasn't. We have 3 miles of downhill curves to get to town.
Aaron found a makeshift sled and we all sledded for a while. Then we made a snowman that was taller than the kids. After warming up for few minutes, we went on a walk through the woods, where the snow was deep enough that it covered my feet. Then we drove down the road about 1/10 of a mile until we got to the turnabout where you can see the whole town below us.
It was a good snow day.
I went to work 3-11.
Today we have an Art Fair at our coop. The girls each drew a picture they are submitting.

ER Visit

Thursday evening around 4pm, the girls and I were walking to the trashcans at the end of the driveway. Hannah starts running to beat us all. She was probably about 40ft in front of us when the dog sees her way up ahead.
Not ever wanting anyone to beat her, Princess takes off at a full gallop towards Hannah. Normally, when she does this, I guess she just wants to prove that she is faster than the kids, she stops about 2 ft ahead of them.
Well, about the same time Princess shifts to the side to tear around Hannah, Hannah stops and turns around right into Princess running full speed.
Princess took her feet right out from under her and she fell on her chin. So I go running to a screaming, bleeding lip Hannah, while Princess is jumping around all over her and all around her, thinking Hannah got on the ground to play.
By the time I got to her and carried her back into the house, her chin had really swollen a lot in the soft tissue underneath. It looked like she had a double chin. The small amount of bleeding was from her lip and her skin is almost completely scraped off her chin.
I was scared that her chin would swell into her throat, so I loaded up the kids real quick, grabbed an icepack and tried to convince Hannah to hold it to her chin the whole way there.
Thankfully, none of her teeth were loose, and the doctor said since she was able to talk and move her chin without extreme pain, then it isn't broken.
Our flirt of a 4 year old lit up when the young nice looking doctor walked in. Kind of funny. Kind of scary. Anyway, she had fallen asleep in the ER while waiting. I was able to get ahold of Aaron while he was on his way home and he came straight there to get the other two. He took them on home and we were done probably 30 min. later. We were probably there about an hour.
That night and the next day , she had a little trouble opening her mouth all the way and she talked kind of funny, but other than that, she is healing well.
Today, we went and bought a tractor. We looked at it yesterday and then went back to pay for it today. He is delivering it on Monday. Aaron is very excited. It comes with a bushhog. We will need a plow for the garden.
Supposed to snow tonight. We'll see. I worked 3-7 today. I was supposed to stay until 11, but they didn't need me and gave me the choice of going home, or they would call another girl off that wasn't there yet. Since, they have talked up this huge snow coming tonight, I decided to just get home before it started. 3-11 tomorrow.

USED! and angry about it in a surprisingly calm way

Here's the story. I can rant on here because I think I only gave this blog to one person here in town and that was a long time ago.
There is a little girl (I'll call her J) at that comes to church sometimes with her mom and the girls just love her. J is a year or two older than Madelyn. She is really sweet and I do enjoy having her over. She is also in Brownies with the girls. Every other week lately with Brownies, the girls want J to come home with us. We did that a few times last year and last fall, but since I am normally working those nights lately, she can't come over.
Last Saturday, the girls were going to be on the Cookie Booth from 3-4:30, so I told them that I would call J's mom to see if she would drop her off at the Cookie Booth and I would take her home with us when I picked up our girls. She said she would do it. She has told me numerous times to keep her as long as I want, come get her whenever I want.
Well, to the girls' disappointment, she didn't show on Saturday.
When I dropped the girls off at Brownies yesterday, the leader came out and said that "J's" Mom had called her today and told her that I was picking "J" up and I was going to take her home and feed her supper.
I said, "no, that agreement was for Saturday, not today, I am working tonight" So, in the interest of her child, seeing how I care more about her whereabouts than she does, I told the leader I would take her but I would have to get ahold of her Mom before 6:30 when I left for work. I was not leaving her with Aaron and the kids all night.
Leader gave me J's mom's cell and home phone. When I came back an hour late to pick all the kids up, I sat in the parking lot first and tried to call the cell - no answer and the mailbox was full.
When I tried to call the home phone, I was able to leave her a message telling her that our agreement was for Saturday and that I had to work tonight, to please call me at this number and that I had to have her somewhere by 6:30 when I left for work.
I ended up calling into work, because I wasn't feeling well, thank goodness, because I never heard from good ole mom.
Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I waited. Finally, I called the home phone (where I left the message before) and immediately got an answer.
Here is how the phone conversation went.
Them "hello"
Me "hi, can I speak to _______?"
Them "who is calling?"
Me "Karen Pirkle"
Them" Mom, Ms. Pirkle is on the phone"
What I hear in the background...
J's Mom "why did you answer the phone? "
J's Sister "I don't know, I didn't let it ring long enough for the ID to show up"
I sweetly talked to the smooth as honey voice on the other line, trying to process what I just heard. She told me they were home now (like they had just walked in the door) and that I could bring her home whenever, but feel free to keep her for as long as I want.
In other words, she had long gotten my message saying I needed to leave for work at 6:30. Not only did she expect me to take care of her daughter for her, but could care less about my job, and I had to drive the 10 miles there and 10 miles back to take her home.
It was 6:30 when I called and she wasn't planning on answering the phone for a long time apparently, if at all. I wouldn't be surprised if she would have never answered the phone and let J spend the night.
I told Aaron that I hated to even take her home to a house that didn't want her around. When we dropped her off there were about 5 cars in the driveway, a man outside leaning on a car smoking, so we waited until the door was open and she disappeared inside before we left.
I think there will be a confrontation at some point. I will keep the blog updated whenever it happens. Just had to vent now though.
Any suggestions?

Planting

I got a lot of my seeds that I ordered in the mail the other day. I haven't been able to get to Walmart until today to buy the soil and planting cups.
Some of the seeds that we got that weren't on backorder are...
cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, okra, banana peppers, squash, watermelon, corn and snap peas.
I hope we have a good crop.
We picked Mom up and went to Walmart around 10:30 and got home a few minutes ago. I let the girls play outside for a few minutes, but they are now back in doing the school work that we put off from this morning.
Brownies is from 3-4 today. I ordered a ton of cookies yesterday and will be able to pick them up later in the week, and hopefully, fingers crossed, I will be able to sell them all at work. I took 14 boxes the other night and with just 7- 8 people, I sold 12 boxes in just a few minutes. That was evening shift, when there are a lot less people there.
Nursing staff #9 down with the stomach virus. I am still being very careful and have sanitized my hands so much at work that they turn red and start to tingle a little. I asked them to call me off tonight if there was an extra nurse, but I don't see it happening. But just in case the census does go down, maybe I won't have to go in.
There is a Wild Game supper at church tonight. They have one every year. We missed the first one while we were here on our househunting trip. Last year we had the stomach virus, and this year I have to work. I am off Wed. and Thur.

36 hours!

I have worked 8 out of the last 9 days, and if I miraculously manage to avoid the stomach virus going around at work until Wed, I will have worked 11 out of 12 days. No wonder I feel out of the loop at home.
Housework is behind bigtime. But I feel the powerful urge to make as much money as possible while they are calling me every day begging for some hours.
There has been a bad stomach bug floating around the nurses at work. I know of 6 that have had it in the last week or so. So, combine a high census, almost full hospital with nurses calling out 1- 3 days in a row due to being sick and I get to work a lot. At the risk of the dreaded stomach bug.
I worked 7-3 today and came in right behind a nurse dragging down the hall on her way in. Within about 30 minutes she was vomiting, which was pretty annoying, since her kid was sick with the same thing. She knew before coming in she felt awful - put 2 and 2 together and don't come infect us all! After she left, I went to the bathroom and cleaned it down with these antibacterial wipes we clean with at work. The supervisor cleaned all the phones and desk area at the nurses' station, and one nurse went and bought some lysol to spray. But we're not paranoid.
Aaron had to work today too, so Mom came over early to watch the girls. She took them to her apartment around lunchtime. Madelyn and Natalie were signed up to sell Girl Scout Cookies at 3pm until 4:30 at Walmart, I Mom dropped them off for me. I came to Mom's, took a bath, then took Hannah with me to Walmart to pick the girls up. I had promised them that their friend from GS/ Church could come over afterwards today. So, I called her Mom last night to see if she would drop her off at Walmart at 3 too. Then I would pick all 3 of them up. Well, she said she would, but she didn't show. I am glad that this time, I wasn't the "bad guy".
I better get to bed. It is only 9pm, but I have been up since 5am and we have a lot to do tomorrow.
They asked me to work Sunday day shift. I told them I could work 1pm-7pm, so I wouldn't miss church, so they took that. We will be getting up, going to church early, trying to collect as much money as possible before church for the cookies we sold, then as soon as services are over, we will probably go eat at Mom's for lunch, rather than drive all the way back home for 15 min. before having to be back at work.

working extra

I have been very negligent in blogging.
I have been able to work extra these last few weeks. I was trying to average around 20 hours this week. However, I have been called in a few times, for instance, tonight and will have 33 hours on this week alone - if I am able to work the last 12 I have signed up for.
I got 3 messages within about 3o min. begging me to come in tonight and some for tomorrow. I went to church tonight for the first half, then went to work at 7:30 and stayed until 11:30. I am working 3-7 tomorrow, but they have already said they may call and ask me to come in early.
I hope with all this working, we can pay off the debt asap and start on the next adoption.
Still waiting for the partial refund check from our old adoption agency to come in the mail> I emailed on the 9th and they said it was either processing or on it's way.
We also filed our taxes on the 9th and we were supposed to get our refund back on the 13th. Well, it didn't come, so Aaron looked it up and the date was changed to the 17th. Still didn't come, so I called today and the lady said that they don't deposit checks on any other day than Friday. (Why they said the 17th on the website, we will never know) Supposedly, it will be here this Friday.

Searching

Does it seem like you spend half your day searching for stuff when you have kids? No matter how many pencils I buy, seems like they disappear within days. I make the girls do school work in pencil, so they can correct. It is a chore to find a pencil for each of us every day. We even have a big bucket we keep crayons, pencils, and pens in, but even then, pencils elude us. And if we do happen to find a pencil, I really hope it is sharpened, because finding the elusive sharpeners are even harder.
We have a library movie due back yesterday. Can't find the case anywhere. I know it has to be in this house or in the car. We spent about 20 min. already this morning looking for it with no luck. I am sure it will turn up, but probably not before I have enough fines on it to buy the movie.
Don't even get me started on shoes.
We are getting ready to leave the house in a few minutes. We are going over to Mom's before Brownies. Natalie and Hannah both have Fifths disease, but now that they have the rash, we know they aren't contagious. Hannah looks awful. Her rash actually was almost gone, but got worse Sunday and still looks bad. I looked it up on the internet and one website said it could last 1-3 weeks and actually look worse off and on, especially if you are in sunlight. Well, being 60-70 degrees the last 3 days, we have been in the sunlight.
I am so ready to get a digital camera, so I can take pictures again and post them on the website.
For example, Aaron burned a bunch of our land the other day and as I was watching, I kept thinking how cool it would have been to have a picture of Aaron, walking through fire and smoke with his driptorch. Anyway, it was cool and I love that a lot of the underbrush is gone. We also are in the market for a tractor. I am praying for a good deal.
I bought some onions the other day to plant. The girls and I found a bunch of big rocks to line the small onion garden with and I used a shovel and a rake to get the grass and weeds off the top of the soil.
You would think that with a 4 year degree, I would be smart enough to take the number of onion bulbs and the space between and make a good plot that would hold them all at correct spacing. WRONG!!! Not smart enough for that. I still have a ton of bulbs left. I think I will ask for help when we do the big garden. Aaron is really good with spacing and stuff like that.
I worked 7-11 last night and 7-3 on Sunday. They were desparate for help Sunday and I really don't like to work on Sundays, but I was able to go to church Sunday night.

Nice Weekend

We had a great weekend and some nice family time yesterday, since there has been little with me working most evenings and Aaron working most days.
I got in around 20 hours last week. I worked one 7-3 day that turned out to be so hectic that I was still at work at 5pm. I hardly ever have to stay after to catch up.
Sometimes during the 3rd hour of coop, where I have nothing to do, I will go and sit in the car and read if weather permits. I had left my cell phone out there, and while sitting there, a girl called from work to see if I could come in at 5pm instead of 7pm to relieve her so she could pick up her kids. I said yes.
I got there at 5pm on Friday night only to be told that they didn't need me after 7pm. The census had gone down again. So, I worked a whopping 2 hours Friday. They changed my schedule Saturday to 11a - 7p, which in my opinion, is a great shift to work. You don't have to get up early, you don't have to stay up late.
I had sent out invitations to 3 couples at church to come and eat lunch with us after the morning service. I made the main dish and dessert and listed stuff for them to bring. They all came and it turned out great. I think the last couple left at 3pm and since it was a beautiful day, Aaron and I and the girls went on our trail through our woods. A friend from Aaron's work let him borrow a leaf blower, so Aaron had blown off the trail while we were at coop on Friday. It is approx 1/2 mile long and doesn't run the whole property, but we are not sure about part of our boundry lines in the forest and don't want to mess up someone else's property by digging a trail through it. Then we walked around our cleared acreage.
The sermons lately have been so encouraging to our plight to adopt. I feel less crazy for giving up stuff for this adoption. Even if no one around understands, I know that God is behind us. And after complaining that no one cares about the adoption, I bet in the last 1-2 weeks, 7-8 people at church have asked how it was going. I did mention it in class a few weeks ago, so I don't know if that reminded people of it. I just wish we could start with Russia now. But I know that God's timing is the right timing. I would rather wait for God's plan than rush in with my plan and adopt a child God didn't intend in our family and therefore missing the child He did intend for us. I tis just hard to wait. Next month it will be 2 years since we started. What a journey.

early night

I just got off work at 7pm. I came home from work last night, took a benedryl, so would be sleepy and went to bed around 12:30am. I did go to sleep easier than normal and slept pretty well. Until 6:45am when they called me from work to see if I would come in to work at 11am instead of 3. I told her I would come in early if she would let me leave at 7pm instead of staying until 11 making a 12 hour shift. I haven't done 12 hour shifts since before Hannah. So, I am off early. They wanted me to work tomorrow, but I will probably pass.
I am thankful that the hospital is finally filling up and they need me.

Why can't I sleep?!!!

You would think that the more tired you are, the better you would sleep. Apparently not.
Working evening shift while your family is living in day shift has it's rewards and it's downsides.
Reward #1 When I go in at 7, I only miss about 1 hour of family time, and when I go in at 3, I only miss 5 hours, rather than 9 hours if I work day shift.
Reward #2 I get paid a few dollars more an hour.
Reward #3 We don't have to pay a babysitter since Aaron is usually home while I work. (sometimes I might pay Mom for a few hours until Aaron gets home.
Downside #1 I get home between 11:30pm and 12am, have to wind down and somehow go to sleep.
Downside #2 Even though I don't go to sleep until around 1am, I still have to get up with the kids who have been in bed since 8 or 9. (Usually around 7:45am at the latest)
Downside #3 If I work one night, then have to go back the next, that requires me lying down to take a nap since I hardly got any sleep the night before. Thereby taking away some family time.
Downside #4 I MISS AARON. We hardly see each other when I am on a working binge.

I think I am running on adrenalin. I worked a total of 35 hours the two weeks before this one and got a whopping big check today, which then helps to make you not so tired. Of course after writing all the checks, it is very quickly dwindling.
I worked 4 hours Tuesday, then I called yesterday afternoon to see if they would let me work 3-11 last pm and they did let me, then I got home around 11:30, took a bath, prepared for our coop classes, went to bed around 12:30 and didn't get to sleep until around 2am.
Then I woke up with Aaron's alarm at 6am and again at 7:15. Went to coop, went to Aldi to get milk while we were close (milk is only 2:69 a gallon there) then got to Mom's around 1, ate lunch and laid down for about an hour while she watched the girls.
We came home around 3:30 and work had called to see if I wanted to come in at 3 again. I decided to pass since I am still pretty tired. Aaron is getting home 2 hours late, so he will be here about 45 min. before I have to go back to work 7-11. I am working 3-11 tomorrow, then I have Sunday off. Yipee!!!!
That is a total of 24 hours this week and I am signed up for 20 next week, which will make an even bigger check in two weeks. I just try to tell myself that every shift I work gets us closer to being able to start our adoption from Russia.

Cool Story

Recently, I found the blog of an author who I really like. I haven't read any books of his lately, but I love his book Seeing the Unseen. I love to read, so authors are like my celebrities. Back to the story. I don't have much to write about, and seeing his blog brought this back to mind. I will try to make it short and interesting.
Back in 2002 we lived in SC. I was working at the hospital mostly on weekends. Aaron worked 4 -10hour days a week and was off every Fri-Sun. We were trying to save up enough money for our down payment on our first house. We already had a closing date. I had a lot of days where I had signed up to work and we were going to cut it close for having enough money for the down payment we had promised.
When Aaron got a fulltime job with insurance, I decided that I would stop working Sundays unless an absolute emergency.
We had $17 in the bank. It was almost Christmas. I debated over and over again as to whether or not to work this particular Sunday. It would mean extra money, but I remembered my resolution to not work Sundays.
I didn't go to work and found out when I got to church that morning that Joe Beam was preaching. He had family connections there and I was so excited. I literally would have cried if I had missed that service. Of course he was a great speaker.
Towards the end of the service, I was sitting there with the kids (Madelyn 2, Natalie 9months) Aaron was serving in the service somehow, I don't know what, but I know he was not sitting with me.
Joe Beam's family member came up, right before service was over and tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to come back to the foyer. I didn't know what in the world I had done, but went with the girls. Back there waiting for me was Joe Beam's wife.
Joe's family introduced me to her and then she told me.. (not the exact words, this was 6+ years ago)
Before coming into town, someone had handed her a $100 bill and told her to give it to someone who needed it. She had that bill for a while and had prayed that God lead her to the person who that $100 was meant for. She said when she saw me sitting there with the girls, she knew that I was the one and she handed me the bill.
Yes, the $100 was less than what I would have made that day, but not by much. Even more important, what a blessing I would have missed if I had went to work that day.
I told her that we were closing on a house in about 2 months and had only $17 in the bank, and how I almost went to work that day. It was just an awesome experience.
Here is his blog address if you are interested. www.joebeam.com/blog

adding to the last post

After rereading the last post, I realize I need to clarify. Those who I refered to as not being real encouraging were from this town. I don't want to include my friends that email and encourage me here on the internet.

Encouragement

I have been in a pity party lately with myself.
Sad that it seemed for a long, long time that no one really cared about our adoption.
I would go months without anyone asking what was going on, where we were in the process, etc. And truthfully, it has kind of hurt that no one seemed to care. We have been on our own.
I don't want to bring it up because I felt like if they didn't care enough about it to ask me, then they surely didn't care enough to want me to bring it up.
But then it struck me at church on Sunday evening, while listening to the sermon. Probably the last month, the sermons that have been preached, and the classes that I have been to have all been about getting off your rear, getting uncomfortable, sacrificing something for God.
God doesn't call us to a life of comfort, a life of sitting back and enjoying what "WE" have accomplished.
Are you rich and can buy any toy you want and have a big house and you think of all you accomplished- perhaps God blessed you with the ability to make that money so you would give some back to Him. Perhaps you thought you were buying your big house so you could have sooo much space, but perhaps God led you to that house so you could fit a few more children in it. Children with no hope. Children that could have a bright future with you.
Yes, it costs a ton of money to adopt, and yes the child may have a lot to get over, and yes, you may have to start all over again with small children even though you are out of that stage with your other children. But look how God has blessed you. Bless others with it!
This life is not about getting ahead. It is about taking what God has given you and using it for Him. Don't be so cocky as to think that you did it all on your own.
Anyway, I got off track. Back to the sermons and lessons lately.
They have been so encouraging for Aaron and my journey. For us losing so much money on the first two countries. Now we are working extra to pay off the failed adoption so we can start again and probably go into debt again. Why do we do it?
I am sure others are probably thinking the same thing. Some have said it to me. Some with so much more than us, question our sanity as to why we give up what little we have for this, when we could use the money on ourselves.
I have thought the same thing. When I am down, I think the same thing. But then God doesn't let me stay there long...
He brings us lessons like we have had lately. When we left church Sunday night, I told Aaron... "you know, this whole adoption, I feel like we have been on our own. No one cares. I have prayed to God that he would send people to encourage us. Why is there no encouragement?!! But then tonight and lately, I realized that God is not going through our friends to encourage us, but coming directly to us through the preachers. I don't need other people to encourage me, when God Himself is doing it! " What a blessing!
If we quit now, there will be at least one more little girl who doesn't have a home. Who grows up without a Daddy and Mommy. Yes, if we quit now, we can pay off our debt, and move on. Make some money and buy some toys and say "we tried" . It was too hard. Guess since it was hard and expensive, we should just forget about it. No one would blame us. Actually, most people blame us for starting in the first place.
But if we quit, Sa tan wins. And that little girl who almost made it to a permanent home loses. And we lose. We lose a blessing.
"Blessed is the man who perserveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the cown of likfe that God has promised to those who love him" James 1:12

Lots and lots of rain here. Our pond beside our house that was empty when we moved in has been full for a while now. When it reaches a certain level, it goes through a culvert under our driveway and down down into the forest. That is where the girls love to play. Aaron made a bridge out of a piece of wood and they cross their tiny river and he also worked on a 1ft water fall for them also.
Yesterday was so nice and spring like. We got up and went to our Friday classes for the first time since before Thanksgiving. The girls were real excited to see their friends again. We got pizza on the way home and ate at Mom's, then I came on home with the girls. It was so pretty, I told them on the way home that they could either play outside or come in and clean. So they played outside. We have been stuck inside so much because of all the rain.
This morning, raining again, and I took the girls down to the church building where the Brownie troop was meeting to go 40 min. away to a cookie selling party to start off cookie time. We came back home with Hannah and cleaned a while, then I went to the store for a few things and picked up the girls.
They spent most of the afternoon at mom's.
I worked 12 of the 16 hours I was scheduled for this week. I called last night around 6 (15 min. before I needed to leave) to see what the census was. It was 12. I couldn't believe they hadn't called me to tell me not to come in. So I called the supervisor to see if I was scheduled. First she said no. Then she looked again and apparently they had spelled my name wrong and anyway, they didn't need me and I had to stay home. Glad I called and didn't drive 10 miles into town to get sent home.
Worked 7-11 tonight.
Found another couple in town that are adopting internationally. I am excited to possibly have a friend in person that can relate to an extent to what we are going through.

toes in my back

Aaron is fully recovered- pretty much. Just a little bruising and soreness left. He did much better than we thought and didn't even fill his prescription for the strong pain meds.
I worked 7-11 the last two nights and it has been busy. They want all the RNs to have ACLS which is Advanced Cardiac Life Support. I have never been certified in it and they offer a few classes a year.
I went to sleep around 12:30 am this morning after working 7-11.
I set the alarm for 6:30am and was planning on getting up, taking a shower, dressing the kids, dropping them off at Mom's and making it to work by 8am.
Aaron has a cold and slept on the couch last night where he could prop up.
Somehow, Hannah can sense when there is an empty spot in our bed, and shows up.
At 2:30am this morning. Normally, Hannah is not bad to sleep with, she moves minimally and doesn't dig under or kick like the other two. Except for all this morning, where she would not keep her little toes out of my back. Constantly, I would push them over, she slept through it all, and pretty soon, I would have toes digging in my back again.
I woke up hearing Aaron's alarm clear in the living room at 5:20am. So did Hannah and Aaron sent her back to her bed.
Before he left at 6:45, she was back in our bed asleep, digging her toes in. Somehow sleeping, her body in a 90degree angle bent at the waist.
Needless to say, I decided not to go to the pre-ACLS class that started at 8am. I hadn't signed up anyway. But then I awoke at 7:10, slightly more refreshed, called Mom to see if she could make it to the house by 7:45.
She came over and I barely got out of here in time to make it to work by 8am. Dreading 6 hours of classes that I didn't want to take, after sleeping a very broken 6 hours, I found the teacher.
Who promptly said that if I was the only one who showed up, she wasn't going to waste her time teaching it to one person.
No one else showed up and she rescheduled. Don't know if Mom will be working then and I won't have a babysitter. Oh well, I tried and that is all I can do, right?
So, I came back home. Did a little school before lunch. We just ate lunch and the girls are playing. I think that I may not make it much longer before I have to lie down. Hannah could probably use a nap too.

Falling Ladders

Aaron needed a new ladder for Christmas. He got one. Now he needs a new ladder for his birthday.
We have a small wooden, shaky ladder that isn't very tall and has 4 legs. His parents bought him an aluminum ladder that I think will stretch out to 20ft. When it rains here, our porch fills up with water, especially right in front of our front door. So, we decided to put up gutters, just on the front porch for now. Last weekend, we got most of it finished. We needed a few more parts from Lowes to finish, so he went New Years day with the girls to go get those parts.
I was working New Year's day and I get a phone call from Aaron. Now he never calls me at work, so I knew something was wrong.
Here's the story. He was working on the last seam. He said he had been on the ladder in the same position for about 10 minutes with no problem. All of a sudden, the ladder is falling out from under him. The ladder stopped when it got under the porch and hit the concrete on the porch about 3 ft above the ground. Aaron was working on the gutters, probably 10ft up. His L leg slipped a little through some rungs and got scraped up pretty bad, when the ladder hit the concrete and he was thrown off onto his R hip. I think his leg getting caught, if just for a split second, probably helped slow him down.
Of course, all the girls were outside and Natalie was watching. Apparently, he was rolling around a little in pain, and Natalie doesn't do well with people in pain, so she went running in the house. Madelyn and Hannah came to watch Aaron, and Princess came to waller on him, probably thinking that finally someone decided to roll around on the ground and play with her.
Since he could feel all his limbs and move them all, he sent Madelyn inside to make sure that Natalie wasn't calling 911. (She has been taking a Safety for Kids class on Fridays at our Coop) She wasn't.
After lying on the ground for a few minutes and having Madelyn hold the dog off, he was finally able to painfully walk into the house, where he was able to call me at work.
The other nurses heard me asking nursy questions, so they were concerned when I got off the phone. My supervisor was standing there and there was an extra nurse that was going to take over for me when I left at 3pm (it was 1pm). So she told me to go on home and check on him.
I still had to give report and chart a few things, so I called Mom to see if she would at least go over there and watch the girls, because I knew she could get there before me. Plus, if I needed to take him to the ER, I didn't want to take the kids.
We did eventually go to the ER, since he had a small abrasion over his hip and he fell on rock. He didn't hit the padded part, but hit on a bony part. Thankfully, he didn't fracture anything.
The ER doctor was very impressed. He kept saying how good Aaron's bones must be for him not to have broken something falling from that height. We are thankful.
But he does need a new ladder. His is bent. We don't know if it bent during the fall, or if it bent and caused the fall.
He did fix the last seam that night, after going to the ER, by putting our old rickety ladder on top of the jeep and having me hold the ladder still while he climbed up to finish. If he had fallen off a 2nd time, I think I would have taken him all the way to another hospital, instead of the one where I work. But the gutters are done, now we wait for rain to see how well done they are.
I was able to work 10 of my scheduled 20 hours this week. They called me Tues. and told me to stay home. Then they called me on Wed. morning trying to get me to stay home, but the supervisor said he would call some of the other nurses to see if they wanted the day off. One did and he called me back and let me work.
Today, Aaron left to go hiking with some of the men from church. Apparently, there is a BIG TREE somewhere in the forest. It is probably a 2 mile hike to the tree. A hard hike. So he is armed with ibuprofen. The hike would normally be a breeze for him, since he does that every day, we were just a little worried about his hip. Don't know what the girls and I will do today.