Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Look, Bryan is taller than I am.

File This Under "DUH"

Study: Kids Do Better in Foster Care Than Orphanages

A paragraph in the article:

For now, (Dr.) Nelson tells adoptive parents, "The older the child is when
they leave the institution, the more likely that child may have some
developmental problems and the more difficult it may be to ameliorate those
problems. ... The message to parents is simply to go into this with their eyes
open, but not to give up."

We are so thankful that Luci was released for adoption at such a young age (we first held her at age 9 1/2 months). She was in an orphanage from two days of age until we got her. I think she just does not remember as much as the older children, and that's why it has been easier for her. Quite a few children we've seen adopted after 14 months of age, whether in foster care or in orphanages, have so many extra burdens to carry. It hurts so much to see those families struggling and distressed while helping the little hearts and minds of their children heal. It is encouraging to know that every child we've seen with those wounds have indeed healed, or are in the process of healing.

Check out my Slide Show!

Christmas Celebration

Today Heath and Shanna and their two girls, Sophia and Sara came for Christmas. We all had a good time. We had tons of pictures of everyone except Bryan! So his picture here is from a camping trip. Just imagine him playing video games while the rest of us visited.

Luci and Sophia had the most fun. You'll see in the slide show. This seemed the easiest way to show you the 18 pictures I wanted to share.

Bring Him Home, Santa

This song is so good--but you must have a tissue before viewing. Even Bryan teared up a little! It is a song about your Daddy being overseas on Christmas. Like I said in a post earlier today, we lived through that twice with John's deployments. The boys really understood the emotions and meanings of this song. Get a tissue!

http://www.bringhimhomesanta.com/index.php?page=video

The email that came with the link:
This new Christmas song really tugs at your heart strings. . .

A new holiday song has struck a chord with so many people. Radio stations are getting more and more requests for "Bring Him Home, Santa” It is a song written by a couple of local writers at Giantslayer Records, Rory Feek and Tim Johnson.

The singer is not known and probably will never be. “The parents and all of us never intended to exploit a sixth grader,” Feek told News 2. “She doesn't even know what she did. She just came in and sang a song one day.”

Feek and Johnson came up with the idea to do a Christmas song one year ago.
Feek said, “I had an idea of a Christmas Song that possibility a little child could sing.” It wasn't until just a few weeks ago that the idea came to life. “I started working on it and called Rory and said you better get over here now and we wrote almost all of it that morning,” said Johnson.

After writing the song, they wanted to make sure it was about the song and not the artist so they auditioned several girls until they found the right one.

She even designed the art work. Thompson said, “For the longest time when she was rehearsing it she couldn't sing it because she kept crying in the middle of it. Because it broke her heart to think someone's dad wasn't going to be home for Christmas.” The song is about a little girl who writes Santa a letter and tells him she wants her daddy home for Christmas. She is even willing to trade her wish for and new Barbie and soccer ball.

The song has even become a hit on YouTube.com which Johnson and Feek think is wonderful. “When you see the YouTube.com video that some anonymous person made and you see the end of it, it just rips your heart out,” said Johnson.

About the artist, Feek said a great song doesn't care who sings it and it doesn't matter who the little girl is, it could be any little girl. Half of the album's proceeds will go to St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis. Both Johnson and Feek plan to go there later this week to visit sick children.

A Difficult Thing About Homeschooling

A friend, Dawn, told me what she thought was the only hard thing about homeschooling: Christmas shopping. Because she always has her son with her. (Actually, I bet Dawn would have quite a few other things she didn't like about hs-ing if she had two or more to "school" at the same time. She has two older boys, graduated from school, and one younger son who is the homeschooled child. But that is for another post or two or a hundred.)

It is hard to shop for those presents when the kids are with you. Luci is easy--she doesn't know she is supposed to peek under the jackets in the shopping cart. Bryan and JT think it is a big game.

The two Christmases that John spent overseas with Enduring Freedom, the boys and I had a "train" thing going in Walmart. (Luci wasn't home with us yet.) We all took big coats and each of us had a shopping cart. I was in the front, then JT, then Bryan. We were all very good about not peeking, and the gifts were hidden under the coats. Those were fun memories for all three of us ("OK, this is the kitchen gadget aisle. I love all of this stuff. I'll be at the end of the aisle, looking the other way.") Sort of exciting, and so different. The only tricky part was paying at the check-out. The cashier got a kick out of us trying to hide things from each other, and she was really good about helping us keep the secrets. That's what got us through those deployments--finding something fun and trying to do things a little differently.

This year, the boys are big enough to leave at home one at a time while I take Luci and one boy to the store, and I also had some days that I could just "bug out" with the kids all at home with John.

But one day this past week, the kids and I were at Walmart and I just had to get a few items while they were with me. We ate breakfast in the McDonald's in the back of the store and then the boys headed out to the Electronics section with Luci strapped into her stroller--she is a good rider, and will put up with a lot if the stroller keeps moving. I actually got to sit there and drink my coffee in peace. Why didn't I think of doing this a long time ago? Coffee all by myself and no dishes to wash. After the coffee was gone, I made my mad dashes around the store, hiding things under the roll of paper towels and potato chips, and made my way to the Electronics section.

I get to the shoe department and I can hear it...."I have to go potty! I have to go potty!" over and over. Finally I make it to the correct aisle, and there are the boys, playing "Guitar Hero" on the store's X-Box 360 and Luci is straining at her stroller straps, yelling, "I have to go potty!"

Maybe this wasn't such a great idea! I had to wade through shoppers 3 deep to get to Luci ("Excuse, me, that's my child"), we made it to the bathroom where she decided she didn't have to go after all, and the boys ended up seeing most of what was in the cart. Rats. Maybe next year's shopping secrets will be better kept.

For the Grandparents

Dear Nana and Papa,

Dear Grandpa and Grand-Je,

(First of all, I tried and tried to get these videos directly on the blog. I'm sorry it didn't work out. If you want to see them, just click on the highlighted links.)

I thought you'd like to see Luci in action. We had a Christmas party at church last night. The 2-4 year olds got to get up in front of everyone and sing 3 songs. Here are parts of two of them. The first video just shows Luci being cute. Look for her smile at the end. Oh yeah, Bonnie is the one who cries. Luci calls her "Bunny."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mlon_fc5RLU

This video shows Luci actually singing, or trying to. Last year she wouldn't even get up on stage, so this was pretty fun for John and me to witness. Bryan and JT got a kick out of it, too. Watch for Parker, standing behind Luci--he's the one with the reindeer antlers.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=idvRj2y0n0Q

Santa showed up, and Luci ran through a pretty big crowd to get to him first. What a change from just 3 weeks ago! After the party was over, Luci ran back up to Santa and he carried Luci to John. We were so astonished at Luci's reaction.

Spacing!

This spacing thing in the blog is just too mind-boggling. I space things nicely and evenly, then post, and it looks ridiculous. When I go back to change it, it does not do what I want it to do. Just maddening. I'm sorry the last post especially looks so disjointed.

Sleep Issues

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. ~Leo J. Burke


Quite a few of these precious children who come home from China seem to have "Sleep Issues." Perhaps it should be labeled "Lack of Sleep Issues."






To those of you moms whose children (biological or adopted) have slept through the night within weeks of being home, I am so jealous. None of my children have slept through the night until they were home at least 8 months (JT) and 11 months (Bryan) and now that Luci's been home for 28 months, I'm still waiting on her to sleep through the night for a whole week straight. I've never been one to let the kids "cry it out," and when you add abandonment issues to the mix, it seems too cruel by far.




We've had 4 days in a row this week! A record! And then she messed it up by waking up before 6 a.m. today. I did manage to get her to go back to sleep, but by then I was wide awake (and doing laundry--JT was sick in the night and the boys' whole bathroom needed attention).

When we were in the apartment, I held Luci as she fell asleep, keeping her from crying out as she had done in the crib at home. While in the old house, I was able to lay Luci in her crib and then sneak out of the room. If she cried longer than 5 minutes I was back in there to soothe her. But in the apartment, I could not do that--it would bother 3 other apartments so I continued to rock her to sleep. Now I am paying for it, as she needs to be held to go to sleep. I like doing that, but I'd rather have her go to sleep on her own. I'd also like that half-hour to spend with JT (still dealing with jealousy) or just read a book or something. She can get out of her bed and run off, and her bed is in our room so she won't just wander the house getting into things when she wakes up. Also, John goes to sleep about an hour before she does (he gets up so early!) and she would disturb him if I let her stay in the bed to fall asleep on her own.





We had her in the crib for a long time, but Luci's sweet little nieces taught her how to climb in and out (thank you Heath and Audrey for having such athletic daughters!), so we had to move to a toddler bed. That was no good: you can't really put a bed rail all around those because of the way they are built. She falls out of everything. She ended up on the floor. Smack! that little head hit the floor hard. I would get up and find her in the oddest positions--once, all I could find were her feet sticking out from under the toddler bed, just like the Wicked Witch of the East under Dorothy's house in The Wizard of Oz.








So we put her baby bed mattress on the floor. That was no good, either: she rolls off of that and still smacks her head on the floor--and it's only a 3-4 inch drop. Or: she would roll off the mattress and then roll underneath our bed. She tries harder than most children her age. Now her mattress is next to my side of the bed, with the bed rail next to the big bed, blocking her way. There are pillows around the mattress but that hasn't stopped the head-smacking completely. Her "bed" is close to the bathroom door--I found her once, sound asleep, in the bathroom near John's sink. Did I mention that she moves in her sleep like a wrestling octopus?

I've read quite a few blogs written by moms with children from China and laughed and sighed about the sleep problems. I guess this post is meant to show solidarity with you.





Here are some rare shots:




Completely sacked out after a trip to the zoo:




This had never ever happened before: sleeping on the floor. Luci's sound asleep as I put away groceries from our trip to Redstone Arsenal Commissary:

Fell asleep on the couch by herself (a rare thing--usually she needs to be in my lap to fall asleep--another issue I can't seem to get around):

Payback for JT's octopus-wrestling when he was younger:

And some quotes I couldn't pass up:

And if tonight my soul may find her peace in sleep, and sink in good oblivion, and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.~D.H. Lawrence





If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters. ~Author unknown, attributed to Jim Davis





The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep. ~E. Joseph Cossman





I'm not asleep... but that doesn't mean I'm awake. ~Author Unknown

Our Sunday

It Had to Happen; and Some Other Stuff



Sooner or later, you know it's going to happen. Our newest driver was backing the van out of the garage and--well, let's just say the garage door kissed it. Driver, van, garage all doing fine.



Here's Luci in the latest "Miss Millie Creation." Isn't it so cute? So is Luci, by the way. I was so happy to find some red tights and white blouse in the closet already, so this outfit was good to go for church this morning! Thank you, Miss Millie!


The boys getting ready to have tea this afternoon. We use Nana's china, paper plates and some pottery ware that I found years ago--the boys have their own little cups and plates with Bible verses on them. Mom, that Wedgewood Wellesley is tough stuff--I accidentally dropped the lid to the sugar bowl and it survived the fall. You'll also be glad to know, Mom, that we used the sugar tongs with some sugar cubes today (the boys got in trouble for playing with the cubes).


On a very bright note, John told me today that I looked cute! He said I'd even be a cute old lady--which is coming sooner than we think--I found a long, gray hair today!





I am the Queen of Quite-a-Lot and Luci is Princess of Everything-Else.

JT, Luci, and Why I Love Greenhill

First of all, JT got a basket!! during one of his games today. We all cheered! He said I was the loudest of all the parents. Of course. His team tied one game, which was considered a win by the parents. Remember, these other teams are like giants.



Here is Luci sitting? and listening? to 'Twas the Night Before Christmas during our party today. I am going to have to get strict with her diet--the Feingold diet worked wonders with Mr. Energizer Bunny, aka Bryan. If you have a child whom you think might be afflicted with adhd, do yourself a favor and check out the website. It is a non-medical adhd intervention. Just a change of diet. And you can eat junk food.

Why I love living in Greenhill: Tonight at 8:44, I discovered Luci had no more Huggies sleeping diapers. I made the executive decision to run to Foodland and get some more (John is in Cullman visiting lots of relatives). The store closes at 9 pm, and I was back home with the diapers by 8:55. Wow, I love living close to a grocery store!

Check out my Slide Show!

Our LadyBug Group--Families with Children from China

We had a very good time at our Families with Children from China Christmas party today. Many thanks to Lisa Rhodes, Susan Stafford and Kristy VanRennsaler (sorry, I am pretty sure I spelled that wrong) for the crafts, drinks and main entree, plus all the hard work you did putting it together.

I think I have another "target child" for the Feingold Diet--Luci. She got into cupcakes that had lots of green and some red coloring, and who knows what else. Oh, and don't forget those bright orange Cheetos. She was the only one who was not able to sit during the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas reading. I had taken about 15 pictures during that time (in hopes that I'd have a couple turn out nicely) and in every one, she is in a different position and in one, she is running from the group.

Sewing For Gracie

A blogger friend, Desiree Christopher, is pursuing her second child from China. Gracie is the child's name. Desiree is earning money toward the adoption by Sewing for Gracie--making these cute little outfits. When we got home today, this little outfit was waiting in the mail. Luci stripped off her clothes and immediately put this on! It is so cute. Please visit her blog if you'd like a similar outfit. She has several materials to choose from. The dress has little pleats at the bottom, and the jeans have a pleated ruffle, too. I didn't know those were pleated when I ordered--it is a nice touch. You can get just the dress, or get the jeans and hair bow, too.

Frank and Ernest

Blessed Be THE NAME

This project turned out very nicely. For a whole hour today, Bryan and JT were totally wrapped up in the Names of Jesus. Can't have any better homeschool project than that!

This bulletin board is in our dining room. Also on each little paper is the Bible verse where that particular name of Christ can be found. I remember Gordon Teel, during a sermon in Boise, read from his Spanish-translation Bible. He read from Romans 1:5 (in English: "We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name, ...")

In Spanish, that little phrase is "por amor de se nombre..."

for the love of His Name

That has stuck with me all these years. Isn't that phrase so simply beautiful?

I Forgot This One!

When we left Santa the other day, Luci decided she really, really liked him. A lot. So when we walked to the Sears entrance, she saw Santa for the last time and shouted, "'Bye Santa!" over and over until he heard her and turned around and waved. This was my favorite photo from that visit.

Menu for the Week

Monday was frozen lasagna with leftover tired salad--nobody liked the store bought lasagna. They did eat the salad. Go figure.

Tuesday was fried rice with all the snarky leftovers in the kitchen.

Today JT was desperate for baked potatoes so I had him make enough for all of us and then I brought home dollar hamburgers for us all to go with the potatoes.

Good grief, could I get any lazier about supper?

Thursday might be breakfast--that is pretty easy.

No clue about Friday. Any ideas?

I Love Santa....Now

After seeing Clifford last week, Luci decided she could possibly, perhaps, stand to visit Santa. So after the big dental visit (no cavities, by the way!), we headed to the mall. After a quick change of clothes (you must be dressed properly to visit The Man!), we found Santa Claus. Luci ran right up to him and posed for pictures. I love this one: Visiting with Santa.
JT got in on the visit and told Santa one last-minute wish (just in case, he says).

How to Survive the Dentist

First of all, pick the right dentist. We go to Dr. Norvell. He is a hoot! That is his big foot next to Luci's little one. The boys love this dentist and his staff At nearly every visit the kids wear Dracula teeth or those awful Bubba teeth, and when told to "open wide" they give Miss Tammy (the hygienist) and Dr. Norvell a jolt.

The last time we were in the office, they checked Luci's teeth from a distance--she was screaming, and they just peered into her mouth ("Looks fine to me!"). Today she did great. I was so surprised. Miss Tammy promised bubbles if Luci did well, so I think that little carrot on a stick worked very well.



Miss Tammy, Luci and the LOOT!

Christmas Bible Study

Growing up, Christmas was a time for fun and gifts and Santa Claus. Our church tradition was not to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas. I can understand why, but usually it just gets ignored all together. For instance, yesterday Luci's Sunday School take-home paper was about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the Fiery Furnace. It seems prudent to study the birth of Christ and the miracles surrounding His coming during the month of December--after all, many folks do celebrate Jesus' birth now and Bible study is always a good thing. So, with our homeschool activities, I decided to incorporate the Advent of Christ into our Bible studies. We began actively doing this in 1997.



Here's the book we started with:

It is an easy study for me to do, and includes crafts for the kids to do. Let's Get Ready for Christmas is on amazon.com.

A couple of years ago, we added this book, Adorenaments:

It came with a big book of little cardboard booklets that you can put on a tree. The whole study is about some of the names of Christ, and what those names mean to us. This year we are using the study book to make a bulletin board entitled, "Blessed Be the Name."

We have had various Advent wreaths with candles, and this is the one we use now. It is pretty and the tea lights make it safe for us to have around Luci.

We have a tea party on Sunday afternoon, studying what is in Let's Get Ready for Christmas. We light the next candle and have tea (or hot chocolate, or chamomile tea) and cookies, cheese and crackers, and other little snacks. Mom, we use Nana's fine China for this--it is quite fun, and the kids learn how to use the really nice things with proper manners. We also sing a few carols from some little song books that I found at Books A Million on the sale table for $1 apiece. Everyone picks out a carol (the traditional things, which are Biblical songs, really--like The First Noel) or a Christmas song (like Jingle Bells). It is a lot of fun, and even cool-cat Bryan still has fun doing this. Mostly, it is fun watching Luci with all of this. Children keep the fun going, even with something we've done over and over and have pretty much memorized. The boys looked forward to our December tea parties. Another bonus to having the tea parties: it keeps the hungries away when supper is so late because of evening worship.

Here's the Nativity set Mom and Dad got when we lived in Japan--Charlie, Tom, Sam and Janet, did you wonder where it disappeared to? If any of you had been the one born in Japan, it would be yours. Just the luck of the draw. I like it because it is a family treasure. Also because even the animals have slightly slanted eyes. Must be because they were created in Japan.

I've had to keep this in storage because Luci is in that climbing, grabbing and throwing stage and we can't watch her every moment, such as when I am helping the boys do their lessons.

Here's the one we have out now. I got this last year from Fisher-Price. Luci-safe. A few pieces are missing--did I mention that Luci is in that grabbing and throwing stage? No idea where the shepherds landed.

All About J.T.

Here are some things JT has been doing the past week-- Delivered presents for a little girl in foster care. It is fun being Santa!

Started basketball season at the YMCA. This is one of JT's coaches. This is JT's first time to play basketball.
Waiting on the sidelines. We were proud of JT's attitude during the game. This group is a 10-12 year old age group and the other teams have players much bigger--one boy looked much older and even had a really good moustache going (you could see it across the floor, all the way where we were sitting). JT was not intimidated by all of these big kids and got in there and played hard and played fair. I think soccer helped with that "go-get-'em" attitude. His team lost both games--kinda hard to win against giants. Oh well, we are in this to learn the game and to have FUN.

Next to his favorite cheerleader

Practicing before the game

The adoring fans

Look-A-Like Meters

The Wal-Mart Cat

A blonde was weed-eating her yard and accidentally cut off the tail of her cat, which was hiding in the grass. She rushed her cat, along with the tail over to WAL-MART!

Why WAL-MART???

WAL-MART is the largest retailer in the world!!!

Thanks, Lori, for sending me this joke!

Enchanted

John and I just got home from a date (how rare!) for dinner and a movie. We saw Enchanted, and it really was enchanting. Such a sweet date movie! I highly recommend it if you don't want a heavy movie for a date. John even sang to me on the way home. I'm going to try singing "A Little Cleaning Song" on Monday to see if it helps the kids and me with our chores.

When we got home, JT met us in the garage with some complaints about the babysitter (Bryan) and Bryan was vaccuming our bedspread. I don't think I want to know why.

Still feeling somewhat enchanted, though!

Check out my Slide Show!

Children's Museum

Watch the slide show in the post above to see photos about all of this:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Bryan volunteered at the Children's Museum of the Shoals. (Dad, that's where you took the kids while Mom and I did laundry in June--and if you click on the link, you'll see Luci's picture on their website! She had the very first birthday party in their Enchanted Kingdom room.) Bryan helped school groups through the exhibits and, at times, was Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Today there was a special lunch with Clifford. I was pretty sure that Luci would scream and run away, but I signed up Luci, JT and me anyway. "Surprise, Surprise!" as Gomer Pyle would say. Luci met Clifford earlier in the week when Bryan had on the costume and she loved him. Today, Luci started out very shy but, as you can see here she warmed up really fast. We may have to try Santa again.

A good thing happened this week for Bryan: He began his first real work, as a volunteer, and he loved it. More importantly, they loved him! They ladies in charge of the museum have asked Bryan to be a regular volunteer! I am so proud. He will be busy for the rest of the Fridays in December, helping with the morning story and craft time. Nice job, Bryan!!

For Mom

Mom, I thought you'd like to see how we decorated the front of the house. I've always wanted lighted garland, and I really like those kitschy lighted deer. So here we have it! All of those items were on sale today when I went to "just look" at them. Lucky me! We also have two little fake trees in pots flanking the front door (on sale the day after Thanksgiving at Linens-N-Things). Can you see Luci on the very far left of the front porch? She's standing on the railing and her head is just above the top of the railing. The deer are standing in our little flower garden area. It was fun putting everything out. Luci helped, sort of, and Bryan and JT did a lot of work. John got home in time for the "finding another extension cord" phase. I think John was surprised that we did it almost all by ourselves and didn't wait for him to do most of the work. It is nice having a decorated house--at our old house, we were in the woods and no one could see the house, so no decorations there. I'm enjoying it.
Here's a countdown calendar I made in 1995 from directions in Woman's Day or Family Circle magazine. Good thing it got done before children #2 or #3 got here--certainly I feel like there's no time anymore for really crafty things that take time and need room to spread out while I'm working on them. I thought you'd like to see it--I don't think I've ever told you about it, much less shown you a picture. Just another look into our lives since we are so far away. Now, don't cry! Luci wanted to pose for me--she has her little right foot propped up against her left leg. I have no heart to tell her that fashion models are always tall. She loves posing, she loves clothes, she'd make a good fashion model.

This Is the Best She Could Do

Luci has a love-hate relationship with Santa--love the presents and chocolate, scared of the big guy. Today at Wal-Mart Santa showed up, and we hustled Luci over in hopes she would say "hi." Luci would not get out of her stroller, but seemed interested in telling Santa that she wants a Snow White dress and some chocolate. So we wheeled Luci up to Santa and she just stared at him, hoping he'd keep his distance. Later I asked her if she told him what she wanted. I got the "oh no" look. I reassured her that we could tell Santa later. Maybe next time she won't be so scared.
I got a vanity plate thing for the front of the van--I've been looking for one of these for a long time. Online they are very expensive. We finally found a family operation at the Redstone Arsenal PX who would make what we asked. I love it!