Super Tuesday's Coming!

This year, Alabama actually gets to have some say in the nomination process. In years past, our delegate selection was set for June, long after the nominees have been chosen. We get to vote in next week's Super Tuesday vote, which makes me happy. But not my parents, they say I vote for the wrong party. I'm pretty sure they love me anyway.

Here is a Quiz to see if your candidate actually thinks the way you do. Krista had this on her blog a few weeks ago and I thought it was pretty good. So here goes:

Candidate Match Game takes about 5 minutes to go through. It does list all of the original candidates, even those who have dropped out (but they are still on Alabama's ballot, if you feel left out!).

Which person are you voting for? All I'll say is that my candidate continually gets more votes than "Undecided."

Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego?

oops, I mean where is John today??

I got an email last night from John--in Australia. He was leaving there at 10 pm my time for the Solomon Islands. So, we hope they had a great day yesterday (really today?--they are past the International Date Line) and have a good rest of the trip.

Please keep the kids and me in your prayers, too--JT and I have caught a terrible cold and we're hanging on. I'm disinfecting everything I can and washing hands so often to keep Luci and Bryan well.

Heard from John

John is in Fiji right now. He sent me an email--so glad the power was on there. Apparently they've been in Cyclone Gene which has killed 6 on Fiji and also another 6 on Guadalcanal. The cyclone has passed now. If I'm reading the World Clock correctly, he is flying out of Fiji at 3 pm our time (9 am his time).

It was so good to hear from John.

Hello Darling, Love you and hope everyone is doing fine. We are here in FIJI. It is still pouring down rain. We will leave tomorrow at 9:00 am for Honoria. We will be going through Australia then on to Honoria. I am fine and doing good. I will try and check the email later on this afternoon. Over look the spelling. Love John

We also got an email from Randy, telling about his family's trip to the Solomons. It sounded pretty scary. He is usually so calm about travel--he has a story about him and his oldest son, who was about 7 years old at the time, traveling from one island to another in one of those little dug-out boats. The sea was pretty rough, and his son slept through the trip. He laughs about that! So for him to even email about the danger, it must have been bad.

What is it with this weather?? We had a terrible wind storm here last night and were without power for almost 4 hours. (Sonya, pictures of us in the dark are coming! We can blog anything.) The weather has been bad and deadly everywhere, even in Luci's province in China. Guizhou usually does not get bad winter storms but this year is the exception.

John's Mission Trip: Where Is He Now?

John just called, at 1 pm our time and wow, I thought his cell phone works in Fiji! No! He's still in Los Angeles. The weather was (and still is) bad in Fiji, so all flights there are canceled. He and his traveling companion, an 80-something man from Arkansas, spent the night in a hotel provided by the airlines and now are trying to use their $15 meal voucher for a meal that is 'way more expensive than that (don't they check prices and give them something they can use?).

I got online and checked the weather in Fiji, and this is what Accuweather.com had. My goodness. And to think I was worried about L.A. rains and traffic. Piece of cake, in comparison. Please keep John and his friend in your prayers...and also that once they get to Fiji that their connecting flight will have waited for them to go on to Honiara--I think there is only one of those a week, so he'd end up having to stay in Fiji (a burden, I know! ha!) until time to come home.

By the way, after John's military meeting on Saturday, he met up with his brother Bill and sister-in-law Pam who live in Tehachapi. John got to spend the night with them, go to church, and then they had supper at a restaurant with Pam's mom who lives in L.A. Bill and Pam took good care of John and they had a nice visit.

Okay, It Sounded More Like a Homeschool Family...

When I first saw this headline, it sounded more like a homeschool family than a "house of filth." (That is, after the Twelve Days of Christmas song got out of my head.)

HOUSE OF FILTH IN TEXAS: 68 dogs, 26 hissing cockroaches, 16 rabbits, 15 guinea pigs, 13 gerbils, 7 doves, 2 dwarf hamsters, 2 hedgehogs, 2 bearded dragons. an opossum and a pink toe tarantula...

We are the only homeschool family I know who does not have a pet of some kind. JT's pushing for a gerbil...he's been told that if Daddy goes on another long-term army trip (2 months or more), then we'll get a gerbil.

What a Day!

JT's basketball team is, well, not the best. They try hard, though. The first game they played today had the score of 12 to 0--that's twelve baskets to none. Sounds better than 24-0, don't you think? Remember that photo of JT with his team? Here it is again, just in case you don't remember it. I should have told you the name of the team--you won't believe this--it's Black Magic!


The second game was nearly halfway over when JT made the first basket of the day. HOORAY! Every parent cheered. It was great! I wish I had a picture of JT's face when he made that basket! What joy! That seemed to open up the flood-gates, because after that there were 4 more baskets by other boys on his team. So that score was 34-10.

I rescued Luci from the Baby Jail (what the boys call Child Watch at the YMCA) at halftime in the second game. I leaned down to tell Luci, "Hello, Beauty." She looked up at me and said, "Hi, Beast."

Here's Luci today--the t-shirt was on the boys' racks at Walmart but it was cuter by far than any of the little girls' t-shirts (they were too "kiss me" for me to pick one for Luci). This shirt seems to say it all, anyway.





(she has a peanut in her mouth, that's why her teeth look a little funny.)

Come Back!

John got a verbal hug from Luci today--he called from Barstow, CA, this morning on his way to an army meeting before the mission trip begins on Sunday.

Luci got on the phone and told him, "Come back!"


John's observation on Southern California's mountain region--

"It looks like Afghanistan out here."

Afghanistan: photo from TrekEarth

Reminds me of the "Welcome to Boise National Forest" sign that the boys and I found--but there were no trees in sight! And what about the Bradley cousin (which one was it? Dad will correct me--) who wanted to know about Vedawoo Forest near Cheyenne, Wyoming: "Where's the tree?!"

Ten Things

This was the question on the Vox blog today: I dare ya to answer it on your blog!

What are 10 things you've done that (most) other people probably haven't?

1 had some work published--Bible study for 2nd and 4th grade Sunday School
2 was born in a foreign country
3 been on mission trips to the Caribbean and East Africa
4 adopted a child from China
5 homeschool my children
6 traveled across country with 3 children, in a minivan, with no other grown-up (2,000 miles each way!)
7 won a free trip to Washington, DC, with a teacher's group
8 traveled to Africa all by myself (but met up with some missionaries over there)
9 made 26 Raggedy Ann dolls
10 been on a Disney cruise

John's Mission Trip

John left this morning for a mission trip to the South Pacific--Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons, east of Papua New Guinea. These photos are from this website. They look sort of "'way back in time," but the photos John took on his last trip there are similar. It still looks so lost in time. You might remember from history studies (or, if you are old enough, from the news stories) of Bloody Ridge. The last time John was there (in 2000 or 2001), he and Randy English preached in a church building up on Bloody Ridge. John has studied a lot about World War II, and it meant a lot to him to be up there.

This is John's first mission trip since 9/11--the last was in July 2001--and he's glad to be back in the groove of things. He'll be back home on February 6.

This morning, JT and Luci and I took John to the airport. Bryan stayed home, but got his hugs in before we left. Yawn!

Luci was not very happy saying goodbye to Daddy. She wants to get on a plane, too.
True feelings come out on the way home--or maybe it's just Luci's silliness!

What Does Luci Do ...

...when the rest of you are working on schoolwork? She puts her potty seat on her head. (yuck)
Entertains us with her dancing. The shoes don't match, but they are both pink (so in her eyes, they do match).

Plays peek-a-boo while we work on poetry.
Watches Cinderella upside down.
Rests in her closet.
Loads the printer with her own paper.
Gets on the trampoline (with her roller skates! and princess dress, of course) and then tries to take off the skates.CUTS HER HAIR! John actually asked me, "Why did you let her cut her hair?" Guess what I said in response.

Something a Little Serious

Luci has been saying to me, "Don't Leave Me."

This happens mostly at night when I am holding her in my lap, getting her to sleep. I tell her every time that "I am your mama forever, I will always be your mama, I will never leave you--except maybe to go get coffee sometimes. But I will always come back." She nods her head and cuddles in. We are pretty much joined at the hip and we are rarely apart.

Last night when she said. "Don't leave me," I asked her if anyone had ever left her. Surely she doesn't remember her China-mama leaving her at 2 days of age. It is possible that there is some physical memory of the director and nannies leaving her with us at age 9 1/2 months. Possible, but I am wondering if that is really likely. (She's 3 years, 3 months old now.) Maybe the sensation of being left. Anyway, her answer to that question was,

"Yes. In China. She left me." Who, baby? "China mama."

At this point, I am trying not to cry.

How much of this is she remembering because she's heard us talking to others? Now I need to quit talking in front of her, and I suppose even quit talking about her story without her permission at any time. It isn't my story to share. It's hers. (so I guess I need to ask her permission to blog it from now on)

I told Luci that I would always be her mama, I will never ever give her away or leave her, and I will always come back from that coffee. She nodded her head about the coffee and hugged me tighter. Later on she relaxed and I said, "I'm your forever mama. I will never leave you."

She crawled up higher in my lap and put her arms around my neck, and said, "Thank you."

I cried then.

Thank You, Denna!

Yesterday Denna gave me this blogging award. Wow, I am almost speechless. Almost! Can't shut me up. Denna is a friend I met through blogging. I thought her daughter from China looked a lot like Luci, and in my search for finding anything familiar for little Luci, I wrote to Denna and asked where in China her daughter was born. So a friendship began. Turns out that Brooke, pictured below, is about 3 months younger than Luci and is from a different Province. I think the similarity of Brooke and Luci at that age (12 months) is just striking. Denna also has a beautiful daughter named Courtney. We got to meet in person at the Birmingham Zoo 3 months ago, and her whole family is such a delight. They are a homeschooling family, Christian, so we have lots in common.

Denna said some sweet things when she gave me the award, and since it is not a humility award, I will share it with you.

• Susan from add one Chinese sister. I got to meet Susan, Luci, Bryan, and JT. I love to read her blog and see how the children are doing. She always makes me laugh. There always seems to be some excitement around her house. Susan home schools. I like to hear about her school days. Susan and I have a lot in common.

I try to be funny at times, I can't help it--I even married a guy whose last name ends with HAM. So, Denna, I'm glad I can make you laugh sometimes. I hope that when I'm serious that it comes across well, too.

Now that I have this honor, I need to pass it on--that's the rule with a blogger award, you get to share the fun by giving it to five others who have not received it yet. Right away, I thought of these folks, all of whom have a talent for writing and photography:

Gina T-S.--Her blog is private, but wow, it is such a good one. She has a great love for the Lord, and she has a great way of wording things. And she's smart!

Gena K.--she is the head of our education (birth-6th grade) at our church. She loves my children and that makes me love her. She makes me laugh, and she makes me think.

Krista M.--Also a friend from church. She has lots to say about many things and is always interesting. She's not afraid to bring up any subject.

Kaylee--she is married to my nephew Connor, and she has such beautiful children! (they are related to me, what can I say?) She has a joy that comes through in her blog.

Jennifer--She is Luci's doctor at the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham. She also is the mom of twins, who are just 3 weeks older than Luci. Jennifer and her husband have such a heart for international adoptions and the orphans who cannot come home; I wish we could do what they do!

Julie--She is going to be a mom soon! She loves photography and she is so funny. I can't wait to see pictures of her baby all over her blog. (yes, I know this is SIX, but hey, I know a lot of great women!)

Okay, Gina T-S, Gena K, Krista M, Kaylee, Jennifer and Julie--you get to honor 5 of your own blogger friends! I can't wait to see who you pick.

School at Home, part 2

Oh my, this was fun. For me. Here, you can see JT's reaction at breakfast.



The boys packed up their backpacks and were given a sack lunch and milk money.


We got in the van at 7:22 and started our journey to school. I dragged Luci out of bed (NO she did NOT sleep through the night) in her pajamas. We drove about 2 miles and told the boys that Luci and I would surely have fun at McDonald's this morning while they were in school. Bryan and JT looked at each other and then me--"WHAT? WHERE is this school? I thought it was at HOME!" I said it was, but it was just fun to tease them a little more. Luci was more practical and said, "I in my 'jamas! I no go to McDonald's!" She really cracked me up. Her thought processes are so clear sometimes.

Then we drove right past R. school, the public county school (K-12) just a mile from our house. JT almost quit breathing. I even got in the line of mommies dropping off their kids for the day! My! How mean is that?! When we pulled past the drop-off point without dropping off any children, JT started normal respiration again.

They had to schlep all of their stuff everywhere they went. If anything was left behind, it would be confiscated and returned at the end of the day. Just like at a regular school, when you leave something behind, you might not see it again--lunch, that homework, a nice backpack. We hope everyone is honest but I wanted the boys to have the pleasure of carrying everything from class to class the way their friends do.


Between class periods, the boys had to move to their next class. To make it sort of realistic (not just sitting at the dining room table all day--we have never had school desks for our schooling), I had the boys walk laps between classes. We have an open floor plan and they walked the circuit from class to class. At one point, JT had to walk "way down the hall" to the bathroom--2 laps. Then 2 laps back, but oh no! He forgot to wash his hands. So back he went for 2 laps there, 2 laps back. All the while holding the lovely potty pass.

After walking 5 laps to Social Studies, Bryan made the observation that "I really feel like I'm going somewhere." Here he is going to class:



JT was starving by 9 am. He decided he loved his tuna sandwich, but like in "real school," he could not even nibble until lunch time.


I found ed Helper.com and it was a great resource. Almost all of our stuff for today came from there. I will be using it more in the future for supplementing our studies. Great for "regular" schooling and homeschooling alike, and for moms at home who want to help their kids review things taught at school. You do have to join (about $20 for the cheaper version) to have access to the printable stuff.

Here's the teacher. Do you know any teacher who is not part actor? I had the best time today being a different teacher in each class period. The boys had to deal with the different names and personalities. I think they really liked the "free spirit" who was the English teacher.

Bryan trying to keep busy without talking after getting done early with his work. The boys only had access to the dining room (classroom), bathroom and circuit (laps to to the next class). They were not allowed to go to their rooms to get anything, or snack, or play games.





Waiting in line for lunch. P.E.

Luci even got into the action in P.E.



Do you like "regular school"? Having the day last much longer than normal, no breaks when you want, having to be in the same room as your brother all day?

What about Homeschooling?



I sure hope that means the attitudes will be better. Still doing our checklist, to keep track of attitudes and behaviors we desire to see in them.

Things that I learned:

• It is ok to change things up radically to achieve the results we want--"school at home," using a new resource (ed Helper.com)


• I really, really like my kids. All of them. Really.


• I can use my teacher voice more (the one I used to use with my students in TX and LA 'way back when) instead of my impatient-mother-"don't-you-understand-yet?" voice that I too often use with the boys.


• No one wants to earn extra credit by changing a dirty diaper.
  
  
  
  

Update on Mom!

Mom is fine! I just called their house and she answered the phone--what a nice surprise for me!

Mom even bragged on the omelet she was served while in the hospital today; she was treated very well while there. Dad was able to stay with her the whole time, and he was a real trooper, according to Mom.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for my Mom today.

Please Pray for My Mom

I got this email this afternoon. Boise is simply too far away to "just go visit."

Dear everyone,

I took Mom to the ER this morning at about 6:00 because she had her left leg go numb - nearly collapsed.

She has been moved to a Stroke/Heart monitoring section of St Luke's Meridian where she will have an MRI and ultrasound on her carotid arteries. They think it is a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) and haven't yet found any problem.

We hope she will be able to come home this afternoon.

More when I hear it!

Love,
Dad

School at Home

Okay, so here's what we are doing today:

We have an experiment going on today here at the house--"real school" instead of homeschool. I've pulled out all my tricks of boredom as a former teacher and will subject the boys to an 8 am -3 pm school day, which they have never had. Even have a "potty pass"--Luci's porta-pottyseat if they have to go during class instead of making it in between. HA! (Thanks to Mr. Holsclaw in 8th grade--Lowell Scott Jr High--for the idea!)

They've been such boogers lately, that I told them they were spending the day at a school, to get a taste of what their friends go through every day. They don't realize how special their days really are, I hope they learn their lesson. They have called all their friends to see what they should expect at school. Until yesterday, Bryan and JT thought they were going to either M.H., a private school that many of their church friends go to, or to W. the school that several other friends attend. We are even getting them into the van for a "ride" to school, complete with Luci's favorite DVD to bore them silly--the Teletubbies! I am so mean. They better not lose their milk money.

Something my kids have never had the pleasure of doing--packing a backpack the night before and carrying their lunch.
Update when it's all over.

Just some silly stuff

Luci is the Static Queen. This was at YMCA this morning. Luci thinks it is pretty funny. Yesterday, during worship, she kept rubbing her head on John's sweater to make her hair stick up. We don't even bother with ribbons and bows anymore on days like that.
What a grin!

What a talent! We use the cup to rinse bubbles off of a certain little girl.
Luci took these last pictures. She grabbed my camera and took off, and came back and showed me her "treasures." Hmm. Looks like she loves the tub, aka swimming pool.

What Is Going On Around Here?

Today in worship, we could not find Bryan to work the power point stuff--didn't know where he was until time to go home. Turns out he was in another worship taking place on our campus, but we've asked him to please come to ours in the future. JT decided worship was a good time to get out his Nintendo DS and play some games with his friend--seated in another row, so I went over to take it away from him (MOM! Do you know how embarrassing you are?? Yes. I do.) And Luci was an absolute monkey the whole time. Did you know that 4 of John's 5 children have ADHD? (Note to those children reading: you can think of yourself as that calm one, if you wish.)

We have a surprise for the boys on Tuesday, relating to their schooling. Update on that on Tuesday night. So far, the boys have been wailing and gnashing their teeth in anticipation.

With Apologies to Neil Sedaka

I love, I love, I love my colander girl

Yeah, sweet colander girl

I love, I love, I love my colander girl

Each and every day of the year

Notice the red shoes? Good! That was Luci's intention.

M.O.T.H. (Scheduling) Update

M.O.T.H. (Managers of Their Homes) was a great idea but just not for our family. It does work for many people, and I love order, but it just doesn't work for us.

Remember those charts?

They are in the garbage now. I did keep the chore lists (NO, Mom!!) .

We now have a checklist in place for schoolwork and behavior so I am no longer the bad guy. The boys can get a check for 1) getting up on time on their own, 2) completing chores before playing, 3) completing schoolwork before playing, and 4) "getting along." They can earn four check marks every day. Yesterday both boys got three check marks each. No comment on which boy slept in (he's the teenager) or which boy didn't get along with others (he's the other one).

See? We *Did* Have Snow!

One very happy little girl!
It's not much, but down here we take what we can get! The back yard:
JT teaching Luci how to make a snow angel. There wasn't enough snow to do this in the yard.
I've got it, JT!
Luci's first EVER snow angel! JT was so excited to be the one to teach Luci how to do this.