True Confession

UPDATE at the end!

Luci went to play video games and spend the night with Bryan and Valerie Saturday night. We saw them all at church Sunday, and they begged for "more time, mama!" so we let Luci stay Sunday, too.

Enter the ice storm, and then five inches of snow. So thankful to see the sun this morning--but in reality it may be tomorrow late afternoon before we can get to her to bring her home.

Now it's Friday, and I miss my baby! This is the longest we've been apart since she came to us in August, 2005.

Yeah, I know, "she's doing fine," "she's having more fun with them than you," etc.

If you have a child who suffers from adoption trauma with its separation and anxiety issues, you'll understand.

yesterday: the main road to town

                                                                        our road

today: the sun came out!

She made it home! John said this last turn, into our driveway, was the worst part of the trip.

I'm so glad to have my darling home.

(I think she's glad to be home, too.)

The Sweetest Little Girl in the World

Our air conditioner has not been doing a good job all week.  We thought it was just the hot, hot muggy days--it never does well on very hot and humid days.

It finally gave out on Saturday morning.

John found the papers on our unit and found our warranty is still good (yay! because this week we also discovered our washing machine was not doing its job, either, and it is out of warranty--boo!).  The man could not come until Sunday afternoon.

Saturday afternoon, Luci wanted to work on her photo album.  The only room in the house where we can work on it is the dining room--because of the big table.  It is also the only room that does not have a ceiling fan (we are not counting the bathrooms).

I was sticking to the table cloth (vinyl, because we have kids who do crafts).  Busy fanning myself, Luci said,

I wish I was an ice cube.

Me: If you were an ice cube, would you rub yourself on me?

Yes.

Awww.   We managed to complete two pages in her scrapbook before we melted.  

Later, proving she is indeed the sweetest thing, she brought me our little Frogg Toggs Cooling Towel all ready to go.  What a keeper!

JT and Luci using our Frogg Toggs:

PS:  the air conditioner needed a new something-or-other and will get more coolant later this week.  Right now it's doing its job and we are no longer melting.

2:25

in the AFTERNOON.

Rainy, rainy day!

and, wanting to copy this most-favorite photo for use elsewhere:

Rain, Glorious Rain!

Tropical Storm Lee came our way.  It was not as vicious as Hurricane Irene, thank Goodness.  But up here, nearly 400 miles from the Gulf, we managed to get 7.41 inches of rain during the past two days.  SEVEN and nearly a HALF inches.  It all came in a nice, soaking rain, too--not horrendous flooding that seven inches would usually make. 

Totally made up for the previous lack of rain. 

And the heat wave has broken!  We've had 90* and higher (with humidity through the roof) nearly every day since early May.  Today's high was 62*.

Wish we could send some of our rain to Austin, Texas. 

How we are helping...

You can help, too!  Check out this site from our church:

Turning Point Ministry

Check out these sites, too:

Samaritan's Purse

Josh Willingham Foundation

Red Cross

Here is what we've been busy with this week.

First, we took items to our church--that was Thursday, immediately after the tornadoes. Here is Luci with Rhett (Josh and Ginger Willingham's oldest--no relation to us, but we'd be happy to claim them).

Bryan went to Tuscaloosa with a group from our church.  This was yesterday, Monday.  Here are some shots he took with his cell phone.   Here is some furniture the guys brought down.

 Do you remember seeing the Tide--Loads of Hope commercials about Hurricane Katrina?  Bryan was happy to see Tide set up here, too.

Getting items ready for give-away.

Bryan's group had to come home the "long way."  Normally it is a two-and-a-half hour trip down to Tuscaloosa from our town.  Straight down, through some of the worst-hit areas.  Since there is a curfew on many of the roads between here and Tuscaloosa, they had to come home the "long way"--it took an extra hour.  Bryan got home after 9 pm.  Thank you, Randall, for dropping Bryan off on your way home instead of taking him all the way into town to church.  That saved us a 50-minute round trip to town to pick him up.

~~~~~~~~~~

Today we went to the Friendship Center at our church to help sort and put away things.  Lots of things that people are donating are just useless to folks out in the field--come on, people, why on earth are you bringing WINTER clothing?  Summer is almost here, and this is HOT and HUMID Alabama.  THINK, People!  Also, don't bring worn-out things, or dirty items!  Please THINK.

So, we put away winter clothing and hung up other items.  Luci worked harder than she ever has, and did a very good job. JT helped her some, when she would let him (where does she get this stubborn streak?).  (these were taken with my cell phone)

 Mrs. Diane (in the background) got the men to build some hanging racks to fit in this new trailer (bought by these men!  WOW) and Mrs. Diane set up a "store."  Tomorrow morning, she and several others are heading out to Hatton Community to give out children's clothing.  Later they will go back with clothing for adults. 

 Some of the men who worked on the shelves.  They are taking it easy now, but they really worked hard, and did a fantastic job.  John (on the right) supervised--he is having surgery on his shoulder tomorrow and can't do much right now.

 Of course, Sonny had to get silly.  Here he is right before he sneaked up on the others. 

Today has been hard on Luci.  It has been raining all morning.  Pouring at times--we got over an inch of rain today (totaling more than 8.40 inches since last Monday!).  Today John was going to meet us at the church building and take Luci with him to go shopping (Mother's Day is coming!).  Luci would not leave my side.  She cried, and cried, and cried.  She was worried that something bad would happen to me, or to her, while we were apart.  The weather was scary to her.  We reassured her that it was only rain, that the weathermen (all of them!) said NO TORNADOES today.  Prayed with her.  Nothing helped.   So she stayed with me and worked with me while John had to wait until I was done--he waited over two hours as I hung up clothes.  (I think he enjoyed the male companionship in the other part of the Center, though.)  By the time we left the Center, it was just sprinkling hard and she willingly got into John's truck.  I got to go home by myself.

Biblical Proportions

Yesterday, April 27, 2011, will go down in the history books as the worst tornado outbreak in forty years.

At one point, I was close to tears as we hid in our basement safe room.  John thought I was fine; I told him I was just acting fine for Luci's sake.  It was terrifying, knowing what had already hit elsewhere and then was heading our way.  

It is just devastating, seeing the news.  Overwhelming.

I don't know why our county was spared, but I am thankful.

We are helping as we can, giving supplies that those in the communities hit hardest are asking for.  Today Luci, JT and I got some things and delivered them to our church...as part of the outreach ministries.  It was wonderful to see so many people bringing things.  As we pulled in, we saw many cars also pulling into the church's parking lot.   They planned to take a big van and a delivery truck; both were filled when we got there and there was much still to load.


Please pray for the survivors.

Today

Jeremiah 10:12-13 (New International Version, ©2011)

 ¹² But God made the earth by his power;
   he founded the world by his wisdom
   and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
¹³ When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
   he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
   and brings out the wind from his storehouses.


Isn't that a cool Bible passage?

Today at 10 a.m. the sky was so dark that our security light turned on:

Seen this afternoon:

the remains of Luci's chocolate Easter squirrel  beaver  bunny.  We're not entirely sure what it was when it started out on Sunday morning.

We have about 4 more hours of stormy weather to go through.  Thankful, thankful for the electricity!

Where were you...

at 4:05 a.m. this morning?

We were in our tornado shelter, our safe room in the basement.

Today we have a big system moving through, and I am scared stiff.  Trying to hide the nervousness from Luci, who has recently been diagnosed as "O.C.D., hyper-vigilant, and high-anxiety."  Like i need her to be more nervous than she already is!  She's like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers on normal days.  Add tornadic weather, and, well, it's not fun around here.

Except for right now--JT is keeping Luci calm by wrassling with her in the master bedroom (I was going to say, "on my bed," but since I still sleep with Luci in the living room....).  They are watching the Disney channel's Junior programming...how calm is that? 

Very early this morning, as I woke from the NOAA weather radio siren, I noticed something.  I am the only person in our house who can hear the blasted thing!  It is loud, and annoying, and my mommy-brain can not block that out.  Maybe because it sounds a lot like children whining about their siblings.  "M-o-o-o-o-o-o-m!  Come NOW!" 

So I herded the family to our safe room, and watched Luci entertain us for the duration of the warning (45 minutes worth).  One child, who shall remain nameless but has red hair and the initials J.T., was such a grumpy-Gus (no offense intended to any of you named "Gus.").   Bryan told him, "You are the last person on Earth I'd want to share an apocalyptic event with!"

Keep us and all of us in the South in your prayers today.  It looks like it could be a very bad day.

Luci's comment

We've prayed, and done the spoon thing.  So now we have just enough snow in the yard to sled on in the morning!  Yay!

As the snow came down after supper, Luci stood at the living room window, looking out on the back yard.  John and I were still at the table, talking.  We heard the sweetest thing from Luci.  She didn't know we could hear her.

"Thank you, Lord!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That snowflake is from here.  It looks like an interesting site!

Friday Morning

It happened again.  The Superintendent of our school system felt the need to call us at 5:22 a.m. to let us know that school will be delayed until 10:30 this morning.  H-E-L-L-O-ooooo!  We are homeschoolers and don't care.  I also don't care to be called at 5:22 a.m.!  Did I mention it was early??!!  There is sleet in the area--at our house, it's just rain.  But never mind, the Super says it's URGENT that we homeschoolers know, too.

Since John didn't get up until 7-something, I did not feel guilty at all when Luci took him over after breakfast (a breakfast that I cooked hot and fresh, by the way) and dragged him hither-and-yon (well, as hither-and-yon as you can get and still be inside the house). 

Here they are having a "Cinderella Art-Off," which means they are both drawing Cinderella, and Luci is the one who judges who did the better job.  She always wins the contests.  As if there were any doubt.

Yes, it's cold in this house.  At least Luci's dressed! 

Encouraging the Snowfall...

We have heard some pretty strange traditions folks around here have to "make it snow." 

Something about flushing icicles was one of the oddest.  Around here, there are very few icicles so we can't do that--it's just not usually cold enough for icicles to form before it snows.  So we have to resort to other means.

Luci's Sunday School teacher told us one method...besides prayer, I mean...it involves spoons and pajamas. 

Here's what you do:

The night before you want it to snow, put on your pajamas inside out.  Then, put a spoon under your pillow and go to sleep.

It worked!  Thursday night Luci and I camped out in the living room (those sleep issues again! she still needs company), wore our pajamas inside out, and put a spoon under each of our pillows. 

We got 3/4 of an inch of snow...enough to delay school opening for 2 hours.  Yes, we live far enough South that even a tiny bit of snow just about shuts things down.  Here are Luci's pink cheeks after playing outdoors.

 Well.  Guess what is predicted for this coming week?  Perhaps another HUGE snowfall!  Depending on where the low pressure system tracks, we will have anywhere from 2 inches to TEN inches of snow! 

Guess what I found Luci putting under her pillow?  If one baby spoon gives you 3/4 inch, then this ought to bring on the heavy stuff!

Mom said I haven't blogged in a while, so...

This is for her.

We've just been busy doing schoolwork (can't you hear the boys groaning?), even during the snow days.  The local county schools had the whole week off, plus Martin Luther King, Jr, Day off, too!  Our back roads remained icy in many places, so buses couldn't run.   Since homeschoolers don't have to worry about buses, the kids had schoolwork Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Monday.   We ALL played on Monday and Tuesday!  Even me.  Luci and JT played a lot the rest of the week, too.  But we also managed schoolwork so we aren't behind at all. 

On Monday, we watched The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, starring Cicely Tyson, courtesy of Netflix.  That was in addition to regular schoolwork.  I remember watching the show on TV in 1973.  Powerful story, and it is even more moving after living here in the South for the past two decades.  We've seen some people in real life espouse the hatred, and we know some who are like Miss Jane.  The boys learned a lot from the movie.  They actually paid attention, even though it was not Sci-Fi or a shoot-'em-up movie.

Luci and JT are learning that having the last pile of snow in the yard is a point of pride in the neighborhood.  Since our snow usually melts by nightfall, this past week was one of wonders.  Our snow was nice and fluffy all the way until Friday.  It melted and all but disappeared over the weekend, and all that is left in our front yard is our snowman.  JT was fun to watch as he diligently added to the snowman and then moved him to a shadier spot early Monday morning (this Monday!  The snowman was still visible that long! Seven days--it must be a Biblical snow.).

The kids in our house are looking forward to more snow on Thursday night.  So far, "slight accumulations" are all that are expected.  But all five of us are hoping for LOTS! of! SNOW!


.

Also for Mom--here I am after losing 46 lbs.

sn*w

 John built this!  The fort has 3 windows, too.  Really good job, John!  He's using an infrared scan (a Christmas present) to measure the temperature of the snow blocks.  (hint:  it's below freezing)

 Luci used this fort for throwing snowballs at mommy.  Hmmph!

Snow Day!

Nine inches of snow, measured on our deck. Unreal, wonderful snow!

The neighbor's dogs "helped" JT sled down the hill.

There's an angel in there somewhere...

The road less traveled...seems like my whole life I've chosen the more unusual path...

Our house.  I love our home.

Wish his eyes were open!  Otherwise, I love this shot.

I was there, too.  John insisted I get in some photos.  Nice of him to let it look as if I helped with the snow girl.  Nope.  I stayed inside until it was done.  I'm smart that way.

Bryan worked at building a snow fort.  Luci called it an Ee-Gloo.

And this little booger had too much fun chasing me with snowballs!

It's been so H-O-T

Really brutal weather.  High 90s and humidity that rivals Guangzhou in August.

Saturday John wanted to do the weed-eating on our yard.  Which does not sound so bad, but it's a whole acre.  I begged him to not do it, since spending the afternoon in the E.R. with him suffering from heat stroke  is not on my bucket list.

John lived through it, though, with quite a few breaks and lots of water.  Afterwards he took Luci down to the creek and cooled off.  The picture above shows Luci on the way home, sopping wet and content.

It's that time of year again...

Tornado weather.  The storm room in the basement got a good work-out on Saturday night.  We went down twice...the second time a funnel cloud was spotted by trained weather-spotters not far from our home.  Here is what happens when we are down in the safe room:
.
Dance time!  Anything to keep the scared feelings at bay.

These items make the trip:  A bag full of important papers like Luci's adoption papers, insurance stuff, and several flashlights, and there's always at least one cell phone.



The radio is important...not only for those dance moves, but also because the local stations report for us until it's all clear.

Tired from all that dancing...



and the boys played on in the "Man Cave" next door.  When the storms got closer, they got in the safe room with us.