Numbering My Days

The note hung on the last page of the day's workbook assignment.

 

Several pages had been assigned. Irregular verbs and demonstrative pronouns, adjectives disguised as prepositional phrases, comparative forms and principal parts and diagramming. It had been grueling.

 

The note looked like a way out of that last assignment.

 

"Why?" I asked. "You can do this yourself! You don't need me!

Why didn't you get this finished?"

 

"Because this part is fun, Mom, and I wanted to do something fun with you."  (It was a crossword, an attempt by the publishers to lighten up the grammar load.)

 

And so the note brought another one of those slap-you-in-your-face-Momma moments, ice cold water on the head, breath knocked out. I stopped
and scrambled to make sense of the heaviness in my throat.

 

Because if I am anything, I am not the "let's have fun while we're doing school!"

kind of mom.  Really!  How can I be with all I have to do around here and all

that's on my plate and all that's screaming for my attention from the moment

I get up til the moment I lay it on the bed?  Can't you just get your school work

done so we can move on to the next thing?  Yeah, that's who I really am as

I pursue the me-time with my feet up, the time that actually never exactly

 comes and so continues to look like greener grass on the other side...

 

All the while, time comes and goes with a swiftness that doesn't even register on my radar anymore.  And I am missing it.  I am missing this God-ordained, God-blessed life.  I am missing out on so much with my boys.

 

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

 

We finished the assignment together. I watched his face more than usual. I tried to really live every second of working that page together, using all my senses to take in the ten minutes it required of me.

 

The note will hang on my kitchen cabinet until it looks too bad to stay up. A reminder above my coffee pot, my first stop each morning.

 

I am praying that I will never fail to see it. To remember that these days

of being asked to work on homework together, the seeking-out-Mom

-to-do-something-fun, are fleeting. Praying that I will be reminded

to stop, just stop, more often, and for longer. To sit.

 

To walk with, and not just point the way.

I know that the kindness of God is behind my reminder-note.

So I thank Him, and look forward to watching for opportunities

tomorrow to stop and enjoy my family.

C'est la Vie

Such is my life, that this young man lives in my home, a sweet and cherished gift from God...
 

 

Such is my life, that this young dog lives with us as well, another sweet and cherished gift from God (although not as sweet and cherished as the above mentioned young man)...

 

Such is my life, that the aforementioned dog should develop a nasty eye infection, the sight of which causes much "gack! somebody clean Cole's eye!!" from me;

that due to one illness after another in our family, no one's had time to get said dog to the vet; therefore, said eye infection is, while better, taking longer to clear up;

that aforementioned young man, after being exposed to the sight of the infection for far too long, thinks sticking his probiotic capsule in his eye to mimic said nasty-eyed dog is hysterically funny;

thereby causing everyone at the dinner table to fall over laughing; as do I, even though it's my job to teach the young men here that this is not ~ I repeat NOT ~ acceptable dinner-table conversation (snort! snort! where's the camera?)...

 

 

Such is my life! Maybe we've been stuck in the house too long?

Jelly Time

Some of those dark, rainy winter afternoons just beg for jelly makin'. Especially when I'm looking for ways to bring my stress level down. I love doing this.

 

You get your ducks in a row, first...

 

which of course includes choosing the perfect background noise...

 

 

I always clip my SureJell instructions here...

 

 

secured to my grandad's water ladle.  As a young boy on his family's farm in Hope, he used this often and spoke fondly of drinking some of the freshest,

coolest well water around.

 

 

I keep it hanging at the back of my stove top.

I always smile when my eyes find it.

HOW I miss my Grandpa...

 

 

Counting the sugar using my grandmother's yellow bowl.  This grandmother was married to the water-ladle grandfather.  They were the BEST grandparents.  I love using my grandmother's things.  The toothpicks help my middle-aged brain keep

up with how much sugar I've scooped.  The toothpick holder?  It sat on my

family's table from the time I was 7 or 8 years old.  I think I have

way-over-the-top sentimentality issues, yes?

 

 

You ever picked blackberries?  Then you KNOW how much work went into this bag!  5 cups of blackberries that have been half-ruined by an Arkansas drought meant somebody (whose initial are K.E.I.T.H) stood far too long in the hot daylight.

 

 

Now we're cooking!

 

 

Always the messy part.  I still can't do this very well.

 

 

And they will stand on their heads until they cool.

Hot water baths are just way too much extra work, in my opinion!

 

 

What?  It's never too early to sample!  It's good when it's warm and runny!

 

 

Might as well do a batch of peach while we're at it...

No store-brand ever compares to homemade!

 

Help for Adoptive Families

Have you adopted an older, international child?  An older child?
An international child?  A baby?  Anyone?

Are you planning on adopting?

Are you a long-term foster family?

If so ~ and if you're a typical adoptive/foster family ~ I'm betting you're finding yourself wading through some challenges. Maybe feeling overwhelmed?

If this is true of you, I'd like to recommend a resource that has helped me... probably more than any other source. [And I mean this, that it's helped more apart from the Bible.  God's Word has all that we need (2 Timothy 3:16), and we need only
to ask God for the wisdom we need (James 1:5)].

I want to recommend this because, while we read several books about adoption
before and after we brought Jake home, I found myself more annoyed and
frustrated with most of the reading material ~ I was definitely not getting the help
I was looking for.  Honestly, there's only been 2 or 3 books that have
truly helped us.  So many of them are full of child-centered,
child-glorifying malarky.  Most of them, I didn't even finish because
I found it too difficult to look for the information that fit our beliefs
of what we felt God was calling us to do with our children.

So when I found this & began to read, it was like a gift from the Lord.  Hopeful
encouragement on every page.  I've borrowed the copy I'm reading
from my local library and am hoping to purchase it at a later date.

 

 

I can't tell you, adequately, how much I'm learning from this book.  And I need

to say that so far, this book is for any adoptive parent (international

or domestic), regardless of whether you have other kids. 

 

This book is about equipping parents to understand what it means to come into

a family carrying the tremendous trauma of loss. This book is about recharging, revitalizing, your love for your child.  This book is about understanding someone

who's come from a very dark place you haven't been and needs a different

kind of parenting to help him become all he can be.

 

This book does address those sibling relationships, in the context of helping your already-at-home kids understand their newest sibling, but the helpful insight it provides in every paragraph is for everyone in the adoptive family.  I am taking

tons of notes as I read that I plan on sharing with all of my kids, hopeful

that all of them will gain a better understanding of what adoption means

to an individual as well as the family that person becomes a part of.

 

Here's a website for the author: arletajames.com

 

I'm so confident this book will help any of you who are looking for a deeper understanding of your sweet child as well as the unique challenges

that come with adoption!