A LITTLE OF THIS. A LITTLE OF THAT.

Re Model

2009-03-10T10:22:00.006-04:00

We're about to start a renovation project in our house. We have a lot of work to do. Next Monday, the workmen are coming in to take down two kitchen walls in order to open up the space between the living room and kitchen. It's a small space to begin with so by opening it up, it will appear to be much larger. We're doing a breakfast bar type thing. I'll post pictures of the progress.

I'm very excited to have it done. I'm just trying to figure out where the kids and I will go during the process. We can't stay in the house because there isn't any other place we can go, but the living room. We're not going to spend the days in our bedrooms. We'd go crazy.

We are also getting all of our walls skim coated to create a smoother surface for painting, but that involves stripping off the wallpaper that is in our dining room that we have painted over. We're also taking down the chair rail.

Since we're at it, I really hope Sean will remove the old radiator baseboards that are now defunct since we just got our new heating system. It's going to be a huge job, but now would be the time to do it since we'll be skim coating the walls.

Sean has already taken out one of the horrible bookshelves that are in the living room on either side of the fire place.

We will also be getting our ceiling re-dry walled to cover up the nasty texture that isn't consistent from one room to the next.

So, we will be knee deep in dust through the summer.

Other projects include new windows throughout, which will be done before next winter, re surfacing the fireplace with a stone facade, and re modeling the bathroom.

Catching Up

2009-03-01T15:56:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile since I blogged. I'm not that into it these days, but my mom has been bugging me to update so, I'm updating, kind of.

First, I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my daughter Lydia. She is 13. She was born on a leap year so her birthday wasn't on the calendar this year.

This weekend we had the pleasure of keeping Chad's biological sister. She is such a sweet little girl. She is very well behaved and really cute. I loved showing her off at church today. I've talked about Carmon to my church family for the last couple of years and today they got to meet her. It was fun.

When I took Carmon home to her grandmother's house, Joyce shared something very unexpected with me. She told me that both of her daughters told her she should let me have Carmon. I told Joyce that she is always welcomed at our house. I would keep her forever, if that's what she wanted.

Joyce is 65 years old and it's getting harder and harder for her to care for Carmon who is an energetic 3 year old.

Joyce looked different to me today. She looked tired. She has been depressed since her mother died on Thanksgiving day and it shows. I feel bad for her.

We'd be happy to have Carmon so she can be with her brother. We'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, before the conversation with Joyce today, we had been pursuing adopting another special needs child. There are two little boys that stole our hearts. We don't know too much about them other than one is medically fragile and the other is non-verbal. We have submitted our homestudy and are waiting to hear back from their social workers. One little boy, Christian, is in VA. The other, Jacob, is in FL. I'm not sure if we're the right fit for either of these boys. It's up to their social workers to decide. Christian is almost 1 and Jacob just turned 3. I wish someone would contact us, but we're waiting.

On another note. The tool trailer ministry is coming along nicely. Slower than I would want, but moving forward. God didn't tell me how quickly it would come to fruition, just that I needed to do it. So, no matter how long it takes, it will be done.

We have a great group of people on the board now. Five in all, including one pastor, so it's cool!

I had wanted to launch in the Spring, but because there is another community project(the community farm) launching in the Spring, we don't want to steal their glory so we'll launch sometime after that.

First Responder

2009-02-09T18:31:00.011-05:00

My Class Photo.

What a fantastic CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) training I had this past weekend. I am now qualified to be a first responder in the event of a natural disaster, terror attack, or any tragedy. Special thanks to Dr Gary Evans, my trainer. A great man of the Lord.

I am now certified to help those who have just gone through any stress situation, including domestic violence, witnesses to tragedy, victims of rape, trauma (mental, physical, spiritual), someone contemplating suicide and so on.

I will now partner with Christ In Action in the event of a disaster. Christ In Action is a very large operation based out of Manassas, VA which is right in my own backyard. They have deployed to The Pentagon on 9/11, hurricane Katrina, hurricane Ike, and Virginia Tech, just to name a few.

This group sets up a base camp, which is named Camp Hope, near the disaster area and they feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give hope to the hopeless. They are truly Christ In Action.

Being a first responder is no picnic. You may work for 18 hours straight, get a few hours of sleep and then get back to work. I asked where we would stay when deployed. The answer was where ever you can rest your head. They slept in an abandoned hospital, on the second floor of a flooded church, on the ground and in their cars. I think I'll bring my car. Denny Nissley, the founder, said we can even shower every 3 days whether we need it or not. lol

They have a huge set up including a trailer with showers, a trailer with internet connection and computers, a huge tent, huge cookers and smokers for cooking, and just about anything you can think of that would help people in a tragic situation.

Of course, I would deploy every time, if I could, but it isn't practical right now having kids at home. I will respond, though, if needed on the east coast.

Sean is going to Richmond to take the same training in April. I encourage you to look for a training in your area and take it. They will be going to Houston, TX in April as well. It's so worth your time.

Compassion

2009-02-05T09:21:00.011-05:00

Our pastor has been doing a sermon series on compassion for the past month. He challenged us to say to God "Here I am". This is one area that I do not struggle in. God has given me the gift of compassion. I cry in church every week he speaks about it. It just touches me. He challenged us to see people how Jesus saw and sees people. I do look upon people who struggle in their daily lives. It breaks my heart to see homeless people or drug addicts. I help them whenever I have the opportunity. This is what God tells us to do- Isaiah 58:7.

Sean, however, never had a compassionate bone in his body. Well, I think he did once. While I was pregnant with Devyn, I was on IV's at home and could barely get out of bed let alone take a bath. I was so weak I couldn't lift my arms to wash my hair. My dear husband gave me a bath and washed my hair. I remember sitting in that tub crying because I couldn't bathe myself. I was helpless.

Imagine feeling that way every day of your life. What if you were homeless? What if you couldn't feed your family? What if your car broke down on the side of the road and everyone just kept driving by without even slowing down to help? Where would you turn? That's where we, as Christians, need to step in. Whenever and every time you see someone in need, YOU need to do something about it. Don't turn away. What if you were in the same situation? For crying out loud, show them the love of Christ.

Since becoming a Christian, Sean has slowly been developing compassion. It started with his agreeing to provide foster care to children in need. We've had 12 so far. Well, last night, Sean saw a stranded driver on the side of the highway right at the crest of a large hill when he was on his way home from the grocery store. As he was driving past the guy, he realized his car was broken down and smoke was coming out, so he did a u-turn and went back to help.

The man explained that he lives in Quantico, which is over an hour drive from where he was stranded. He was on his way to see a bird cage someone had offered on Craig's List. The guy, Will, was going to call the lady with the cage and cancel, but Sean offered to take him to the lady's house. She lives in a neighborhood close to our house. After looking at the cage, Sean called to let me know that he was bringing Will to our house.

They came in and we were introduced. I was making an easy dinner, just pork barbecue sandwiches. I told him his car should have broken down the night before because I made a really good dinner. He was grateful for the sandwich. He called his wife and told her the story. He was shocked that Sean picked him up when he was stranded and now he was eating dinner at our house with our family. He said tons of people drove right by him and didn't stop to help.

He gave his wife directions to our house because she was going to pick him up, but that changed when he called AAA and arranged to meet the tow truck for a ride back home.

We had fun talking to him. He's a Pharmacist and an animal lover. Boy did he come to the right house! He showed us pictures of his pets and a great video of him sledding down a hill on his stomach, going over a ramp, and landing standing up on the sled like a surfboard. He's going to put it on Youtube.

After making arrangements with AAA, Sean drove him back to his car.

What I love most about this story is that Will had asked Sean why he stopped and Sean told him it's because that's what God asks us to do. That simple act of helping someone in need showed Will the love of Christ in action.

Way to go Sean! You good and faithful servant. Matt. 25:21

Devyn's Creation

2009-02-03T16:21:00.008-05:00

Devyn spent all day working on this house and I let her. She outfitted it with a bunk bed, patio, and patio set. I think it's adorable and ingenious. She used plastic wall anchors to stabilize the straws which she used as the framework for the house. The only materials she used were; straws, tape, wall anchors, paper, and glue. She just made another chair while I was writing this. She put it in the "living room".

The Patio Furniture

Construction

Devyn "building" her house.

A "girl" sleeping on the top bunk.

Disaster Relief

2009-01-29T10:20:00.002-05:00

Wow, how convenient! I just heard about a 2 day disaster relief seminar being held in my town next weekend. So, I signed up. I can picture hooking up the tool trailer and heading out. God forbid there should be any disaster though.

Chad Can Count

2009-01-19T19:29:00.003-05:00

Chad can count to 5 without any help from us. We just ask him to count and he starts. I'm not trying to presume that he is a genius, but can you say Rain Man?

Miracle on the Hudson

2009-01-17T21:07:00.002-05:00

I think this will be the picture of the year. How awesome is this photo?

Photo credit: Steven Day. Associated Press

The Beginning

2009-01-16T15:51:00.003-05:00

I love that I will be able to keep an ongoing log of this tool trailer journey. To think that it all started over a year and a half ago when taking Chad to visitation. As we drove by a dilapidated house, God said, "Start a tool trailer". It had to have been His idea because I would never think of it. And so it began.

This week was a very exciting week. So far we have a committee of 3, but I expect that more people will come on board as we go. Have to start somewhere. Two men from my church are helping in this adventure. I'm so grateful. Mike and Steve are fantastic. Mike is a carpenter so he brings all of that experience to the project and Steve ran a tool ministry for 4 years in California so he brings that experience. Steve approached me at church to offer his help. I recruited Mike who is the same guy I helped build the shelving for the food bank with.

What experience do I bring? I don't know. At one point during our meeting we were going over a list of tools that are a necessity to get the trailer up and running and I told them that God asked me to start this project, but I didn't know why because I don't know that first thing about tools. I find it very comical. I feel like Moses, "Who am I, that I should be running this tool trailer?", but don't get me wrong, I am really excited to do it, albeit a little scared.

We did get a lot accomplished during the meeting. We were able to make a list of all the tools we need to get started. It's about $2500.00 worth, not including screws and nails. I have a starting budget of $1000 and I'm trusting God for the rest.

We talked about what the policy/guidelines for borrowing the trailer would look like. Steve will be working on putting it in writing. Mike will install the shelving when he gets a chance. By the end of February, we will be ready to start loading it with tools.

We're well on our way to blessing our community.

Here is the empty trailer. The red van on the right may be the vehicle that pulls the trailer. Someone donated that too.

Here are the guys moving the shelving into the trailer. Mike, Steve, and a college student from church, Nathan.

Success.

A side note on my dog Rose: Test results came back positive for Addison's Disease, which is a heck of a lot better than cancer. I took her to get her first steroid shot today. She has to get one every 23-25 days for the rest of her life. And yes, she is worth it.

Rosie's Home

2009-01-13T16:42:00.001-05:00

I didn't think she'd walk out of the hospital. I'm so happy. It's a miracle.

She's OK

2009-01-13T09:10:00.002-05:00

The vet called and he is 90% sure that Rose does have Addison's Disease. We will be able to treat her with two different steroids. One we'll give at home and the other she'll get once a month at the vet's office.

I was praying for the best, but I had really prepared myself for the worst. I'm so happy she's going to be ok.

I'll pick her up later today. : )

Not Again

2009-01-12T17:58:00.003-05:00

We had to take our dog Rose into the vet today, unexpectedly. This afternoon she wasn't able to stand up. She had managed to work her way out into our woods where she was lying when I found her. I carried her into the kitchen and stood her up, but her back legs couldn't hold her weight. She just laid on the floor.

I called the vet and got an appointment for 3:30. Sean and I took her in and after 2 hours of testing and waiting for results, they found that her adrenal glands are not producing the steroids that they should. I won't bore you with the physiology. They are keeping her overnight and giving her IV fluids and a steroid shot. If it is indeed "Addison's Disease", she will respond immediately to the drug and will be able to bounce back with continued treatment. If she doesn't respond, she likely has lymphoma. CANCER.

If it's cancer, we have decided that she'll be euthanized tomorrow. Wow, that was even hard to type. Since she can't stand, she doesn't have a good quality of life. It would be the right thing to do for her. Not for me though.

Rose is the dumbest, sweetest, most gentle dog I have ever known. She had been a stray when she wandered onto our property nearly 9 years ago. Even though, when she first joined our family, she didn't know how to be an indoor dog and dug a hole in our mattress and also our couch, we loved her. She eventually learned to be a house dog and was the best. Is the best. No this is not a eulogy for my dog, She is still with us.

Our Testimony

2009-01-06T07:58:00.004-05:00

Our sound guys were able to recover the recording of our testimony. A portion of the very beginning is missing (about 7 min.), but you can still hear most of it. If you'd like to listen to it click HERE Then click on Dec. 28th.

Tons Going On

2008-12-30T10:57:00.004-05:00

It's been awhile since I blogged. We've been enjoying some down time. I just wanted to give a short update on the trailer and other things.

Apparently lots of people in my community are very excited about the tool trailer. It's something that Habitat wanted to do, but didn't, so now they will have full access to the Community Tool Trailer (official name) and they are excited.

I met with Tom Benjamin between Thanksgiving and Christmas and he put the entire project in my hands. I'm to form a committee who will be responsible for creating the trailer policies and guidelines. I already have one other person on board. I was given a budget to get started in purchasing tools and in early Jan. we will start to outfit the trailer with shelving.

Tom has someone who will put the logo on the side of the trailer for free. It will also have Hope Christian Fellowship's name on it as a thank you for donating the trailer.

I must admit that I'm a little nervous at this huge undertaking, but I have first hand experience in obeying what God directs me to do and it always works for my greater good, so I know it will work out.

We gave testimony to what God has done in Chad's life and ours, on Sunday, at our church. I think we did ok. I've been hearing that people were touched and lots of people cried.

I had hoped to post a link to the audio, but there was a glitch, so hopefully the sound guys will resolve that this Sunday and I'll be able to post it then. I really want to hear it and want to be able to share it with others.

My mom and her husband were here visiting so they were able to attend and our neighbors Donna and Steve came too. Chad's grandma, Joyce was there also. Chip was suppose to be there and Joyce was trying to get her other 3 children and their families to come, but none of them made it. I was happy that Joyce joined us though. It was a very special service. I saw Joyce crying during our testimony because she went through it with us, although not to the same extent since she only saw Chad once a week during that time.

When we got home on Sunday, Donna and Steve came over and made dinner for us. It was very nice. They thanked us for inviting them to our church. In fact, their kids mentioned that they liked our church better than their own. They go to the local Catholic Church.

We had a nice Christmas. We went to our church's Christmas party the Sat. before Christmas and on Christmas Eve, we went to two open houses and also to church. I stayed in my PJ's the entire day of Christmas.

I'm looking forward to the New Year and seeing how God will work through the people at my church. It's my prayer that we will have a major impact on our community.

After seeing these pictures, I know I will be getting healthier this year. Not a resolution, a promise.

2008-12-23T13:05:00.001-05:00

The Search Is Over

2008-12-12T17:00:00.005-05:00

I've had quite a time trying to find a little dog to join our family. I have been doing web searches for a couple of weeks and on Wednesday, I found a little dog. He was in the local shelter, but they are closed on Wednesday so, I planned on going first thing Thursday morning. They opened at 11 and the girls and I got there at 11:10. As soon as we walked in, I asked about the little dog named Rebel. They lady said that he was being adopted as we spoke. I was disappointed, but knew that he wasn't the right dog then. We looked at the other dogs, but they didn't have any suitable dogs for us.

I came home and put in two applications at different rescues for two other dogs that I saw. One of the dogs was being looked at that afternoon. I haven't heard back from them, but that was just yesterday.

I did a search of all rescues within a 1 1/2 hour radius of my house. I found another dog at a shelter 1 hour from here. I called yesterday, but I didn't have enough time to get there before they closed so I planned on going today.

I had a meeting, this morning, about the tool trailer (VERY exciting. I'll post later on that) so we didn't leave for the shelter until 1:00. It was pretty full of people when we walked in. They were obviously having a Christmas Adoption Event because Santa was even there.

I asked about the dog I had seen on the internet and spoke to the lady about the day before, and wouldn't you know, he was in the process of being adopted as we spoke. Two days in a row, I was too late. That's ok, because I knew he wasn't the right dog or it would have worked out.

We asked if they had any other little dogs and a really sweet boy took us around. They had a few. We looked around and actually chose a dog that I wouldn't have typically picked, but he just looked so cute and he was small. We took him into a visitation room and he leaped right onto each of our laps. We spent some time hanging out with him and decided to adopt him.

He is really fun. He's a Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix and he's about 25 lbs. He loves our other dogs and they don't mind him. He's definately a smart dog. So far, so good.

It took us awhile to come up with a name. I liked Nash because we had a Crosby (Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young), but no one else liked it. Lydia wanted Sparky. I said, "No way". Devyn liked Lewis. I thought that was cute, but Sean said no. I didn't think we'd ever come up with a name, but we did.

Meet Newton. As in Sir Isaac, not Fig.

A Great Quote From Al. Who Was Dyslexic, By The Way.

2008-12-11T21:52:00.005-05:00

"Science without Religion is lame. Religion without Science is blind."

Home on the Range

2008-12-04T18:44:00.002-05:00

One of the things associated with Kabuki Syndrome is sensitivity. Chad has always been a sensitive child, especially when we tell him no. He gets very upset. He used to bang his head on the floor or on the furniture. I think he came to realize that doing that hurt too much because he hasn't done it in a few months.

Another thing that he is sensitive to are particular sounds. Now, I can't exactly pinpoint the exact sounds that bother him, but one sound was the sound an Elmo doll made. I said made because we threw him away. I don't know if it was the tone or the words, "again, again", that bothered him.

We also gave away a horse on a stick. You know, the stick with the horse head attached that a child can pretend ride. The horse made a cute kloppity klopp sound and then a neigh. It was the neigh that bothered Chad. He cried every time.

Well, the other day, when I returned from church, Sean told me to listen to the song he was about to sing to Chad. He started singing, "Home on the Range". A nice, almost monotone song, right? Chad started to cry. Of course, I just thought that it was Sean's singing that did it, but then the next day I sang him the song and he started to cry.

The high pitch sound of the smoke detector doesn't bother him though. Weird!

Our Tree

2008-12-03T11:53:00.006-05:00

I have been on a search for the perfect star for our tree topper, but have not been successful in finding one so, for our entire marriage, we have used the angel that had been on my tree my whole life. Needless to say, she is pretty worn out. So this year, since we haven't found a star yet, Sean put a sombrero atop our tree. I guess it's going to stay unless I can find that star. It's different and unexpected and cute, I think.

Oh, and if you look closely (double click on the photo), you can see our Elvis Christmas ball. Along with the angel, he has been on my tree every year since I was a kid.

So Very Grateful

2008-11-29T20:50:00.002-05:00

I called my grandmom on Wednesday to wish her a happy birthday. She is 92 now. She just found out, last year, that her birthday is not the 26th, but the 27th of Nov. (my wedding anniversary). I asked her which day she considered her birthday and she said both. lol

She told my mom that she doesn't think she should drive much longer. That made me feel so sad for her, but grateful that she realizes that she doesn't have the reflexes that she once had and doesn't want to hurt herself or anyone else by continuing to drive herself.

We had a super nice Thanksgiving. We made tons of food. We could have fed 2 other families with all of the food we made. Our neighbor, Steve, made a really sweet toast before we ate, which made me cry, and then Sean said a very heart felt blessing to thank our Lord for all He has done for us.

Earlier, we watched the Macy's Parade, but didn't see their daughter, Anna, in the crowd of her 500 member marching band, but it was still fun watching their performance.

The adults watched a couple of movies during the day. We watched Blades of Glory; the goofiest Will Ferrell/Jon Heder movie ever. It just cracked us up. Then we watched Hancock with Will Smith. It was pretty good. Sean really liked it.

Now, everyone in our family has a cold and I am still coughing. It's been almost 1 month. I'm totally tired of it. Just when I think I'm over it, the next day I feel horrible again.

Today we had the privilege of visiting Chad's grandmom Joyce, his bio. dad Chip, and his sister Carmon. We had planned on going over to their house yesterday, but Joyce called to inform us that her mother died on Thanksgiving day and she and her sisters were going to make funeral arrangements yesterday. So, she invited us to go today.

We arrived there about 2 PM and many of her relatives were there. We always enjoy spending time with their family. They are very welcoming and a lot of fun to be around. Many of Joyce's relatives live right on the same acreage as she. It's must be so nice having them so close. Well, at least I think so. I've been missing my family lately.

While we were eating dinner, Chip said how blessed he is that we are taking such good care of Chad. I told him that WE are the ones who are blessed to have Chad and to be a part of their family now. It was very heart warming.

Then Chip brought out a couple of photo albums of Chad's mom. The only picture we had ever seen of her was a photo copy of her drivers license. She was a beautiful women. The pictures were of her when she was pregnant with Chad's sister Carmon and of Carmon as a newborn. I felt so blessed to see those photos. I hope to get copies of them for Chad.

I wish I had the words to expressed the awe I have for our God who has orchestrated this whole relationship between our two families. I just can't fathom how it turned out this way, but I am so grateful.

Tool Trailer Update and Other Things

2008-11-25T16:57:00.005-05:00

After three weeks of Bronchitis, I'm finally feeling better. I have more energy and I'm not feeling as run down, although I am still coughing.

I'm starting to get used to the idea of not having my Crosby with me. For the first week, after he died, I kept thinking he was still next to my bed. At night, I'd make sure I didn't step on him. During the day, every time I walked into my room, I'd think he was there. I miss him, but know he is better now. I don't cry anymore either. I'm starting to remember the spunky little "Cross" of his youth. That makes me smile.

I had a chance to speak to Tom Benjamin about the tool trailer. He did take possession of it from my church and it is currently being used as a refrigerator. Believe it or not, he is storing turkeys in it for the food bank. That's what I call doing double duty.

We are going to get together between Thanksgiving and Christmas and begin by putting together a committee. We'll ask someone from Habitat for Humanity to join and I'm hoping someone from my church will want to help too. In January, we'll start to purchase tools and hopefully receive some donations as well. We should then be on schedule to launch in the spring.

This guy is really out there doing God's work. He told me that the county has agreed to lease him a 10 acre farm for the next 3 years in order to plant and grow food for the food bank. He wants to get chickens too so he can provide eggs as well. How awesome!

We are looking forward to making a nice Thanksgiving meal for our neighbors, Donna and Steve, and their family. We're making it at their house since it's larger than ours. We're going to hang out with them for most of the day. We're starting off, in the morning, with bloody Mary's while we watch their oldest daughter march with JMU's marching band in the Macy's Parade. They have 500 people in the band. Wow! We plan on eating an early dinner and then coming home and spending some time together.

Thanksgiving day happens to be our 15 year wedding anniversary. This past Saturday marked the anniversary of our blind date 17 years ago. Wow, how time flies.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Col. 3:17

Look!

2008-11-24T17:18:00.004-05:00

We decided on a bigger dog instead of another small one. Ha ha. Just kidding. We're dog sitting for the week. This is Connie. She is a 140 lb. Mastiff.

He's Gone

2008-11-14T16:42:00.002-05:00

We had to say goodbye to our little Crosby today. It was clear, this morning, that we needed to take him to be euthanized. He stopped drinking water and could barely stand up.

I spent a couple of hours, until the appointment at 3, holding him. He was very weak and I was praying that each breath he took would be his last. I wanted him to die in my arms.

The doctor was very kind to us which we were grateful for.

I'm glad God made our hearts so strong because I just lost a huge part of mine today.

: (

OBX Slide Show

2008-11-12T19:59:00.001-05:00

2008-11-12T18:02:00.011-05:00

I am writing this as I am on Codeine for my cough. I hope it's coherent, but if not, you know why.

We left for the Outer Banks of NC last Saturday. We had decided that we would leave Christopher with another foster family so we could have respite. What a great idea that turned out to be too. Prior to leaving, I had been suffering from headaches. During times of stress, I tend to clench my teeth while I'm sleeping and I had had a headache every day for about 2 weeks. The very first morning on vacation, I awoke without a headache and haven't had one since.

We had a few days of really nice weather so we were able to walk on the beach and just enjoy the awesomeness of God's beautiful creation. From sunsets, to wild mustangs, to the crashing waves, we took it all in. We also saw dolphins almost every day. In the middle of the week we even got to experience a rain storm. When on the third floor of the house, we could feel it gently sway from side to side, due to the wind. The water in the toilets was even swishing back and forth in the bowl.

I did develop bronchitis in the beginning of the week. It totally wiped me out. I had such a persistent cough and the only way for me to fall asleep was to either take Nyquil or a shot of whiskey. The whiskey helped me fall asleep without the horrible hang over effect that Nyquil has on me, but if I wanted to sleep through the whole night, I had to take Nyquil instead.

The kids had fun playing with our niece Molly, going in the hot tub, digging in the sand and doing cross stitch. I didn't read or knit as I had planned. We watched a few movies too.

While away, I spoke with our friend, Tabitha, who was taking care of Christopher and we discussed his staying there instead of coming back to us. We had struggled with his placement in our home from the very beginning, but wanted to continue due to our obligation to foster him, but it had become clear that we just couldn't do it anymore. Tabitha agreed with me that he has attachment issues, but she said that she just accepts that he is high maintenance. Based on Christie's recommendation, we took him off of all milk products to see if maybe he had an allergy. Tabitha continued with it, but said that she didn't see a difference. She seems more equipped to handle him than we were. He needs a lot of attention which was virtually impossible for us to give him given that we have to feed Chad every two hours and each feeding lasts about 20-25 minutes. That didn't allow much time for us to focus on Chris.

I called his social worker from NC to discuss the situation. I didn't hear back from her so called her again when we returned. I wanted to make sure that she didn't think we were trying to do her job and decide what was better for Chris and to make sure that we weren't stepping on any one's toes. She said she was fine with it. She worried how that would look when going to court in 3 weeks, but thought that it didn't make sense to have him come back here just to fulfill our obligation to keep him until his parent's court date. Since he had already spent over a week at Tabitha's and she and her husband were willing to keep him either for the next three weeks or forever, she said he could stay put.

The social worker and I decided that the beginning of his formal placement with Tabitha would begin this past Monday. She would consider the previous week our respite week. As we were talking, his social worker informed me that Chris' parents had relapsed over the weekend and she had just found out that morning. If we had any doubt, before, over our decision not to keep Chris, we feel that God has made it perfectly clear that we did the right thing for Chris. On the exact day that he was formally placed in Tabitha's care, we find out of his parents relapse. It's almost like God saying, "Alright, now that Chris is where he belongs, I'll release him to them".

We brought our old dog Crosby with us to NC because he needs us to carry him outside to go to the bathroom. He is declining fast. He stopped eating and, therefore, pooping about 5 days ago. He is still drinking water. He is weak, but can still move around, but his back legs sometimes give out and he drags them behind him. I know he isn't in pain because for his whole life, even if his feelings were hurt, he would cry. He sleeps almost all of the time. He does pee when I take him outside twice a day. Poor little guy can't lift his leg anymore to go. Probably because he'd get off balance and fall down. The second I thought he was suffering, I would take him to be euthanized, but I suspect he'll go in his sleep. At least that's what I've asked God for.

We got Crosby when he was 8 weeks old. He was the cutest little Shih Tzu/Poodle ever. He was our "first baby". Sean and I were remembering, last night, how he used to play with Blaze (our Rottweiler/Lab). Because Crosby was so much smaller than Blaze, he could bit her ankles and quickly move under her body to get away from her mouth as she tried to nip him back. We even taught him how to jump over Blaze and then go under her. It was their "stupid pet trick". lol Everybody loved Crosby. People would even tell us that they never liked little dogs, but they loved Crosby. Of course, I had many nicknames for him. One appropriate one was spunk spunk. We really love him and we will miss him so much. In the meantime, he sleeps right next to my side of the bed, as we wait for him to leave us. For his whole life, he slept in bed with us, right next to me. I miss that.

I went to the doctor on Monday and have three medications to take. I do not feel any better and it sometimes feels like I'll never get better. I can't wait to feel like myself again. Luckily and because we have had workmen here for the past three days putting in a new heating and air system, Sean has been off from work so he is able to pick up the slack.

I'm Back, but...

2008-11-11T21:31:00.003-05:00

I've been really sick. Got bronchitis while away and it hasn't gotten any better. I went to the doctor's yesterday and I'm on meds. Just wanted to post to say I'm back from my vacation and I'll post as soon as I feel well enough. There is lots to talk about.

Update On My Cousin Jeff

2008-10-31T22:25:00.002-04:00

For those of you who have been praying for my cousin Jeff, please keep praying for him. He is so lost. He failed to appear for his court hearing in FL this past week so therefore, they have issued an arrest warrant. A bail bondsmen had put up his bail so now, I guess, they could come after him too. He is digging a deeper hole for himself. He just cannot "man up" and face the music.

His trial by jury is to begin on Nov. 3. I don't know if he'll be there or not.

God be with him.

World Series Champs

2008-10-29T22:07:00.002-04:00

I haven't watched baseball since the Philadelphia Phillies won the 1980 World Series, but I just had to tune in to watch the last few innings of this World Series.

Congratulations to my hometown team! Yeah!!!!

Vacation

2008-10-28T21:37:00.003-04:00

We're getting ready to go spend a week with Sean's parents at their Outer Banks, NC house. His youngest sister, our brother in law, and our niece will be there too.

We cannot wait to get away. I wouldn't care if it rained all week because I'm RELAXING. I just may stay in my PJ's all week.

I look forward to having some fun times, doing some reading, and knitting.

I'm going to be on blog vacation too. So, I'll make sure to post when I get back.

Girl's Day Out

2008-10-25T18:25:00.004-04:00

We went to see High School Musical 3 this morning. It was so good! I just love these movies. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD. I may be just as excited as my girls or maybe even a little more.

Lydia and Devyn each brought a friend with them. We went to Bath and Body Works first. Isn't that store every pre-teen/teen girl's favorite store? They knew they had to spend their own money in the store. Lydia had a coupon so she made out like a bandit. Devyn even bought her girlfriend a couple of things. Devyn is so giving and generous.

It reminds me of our church picnic. Devyn had a deviled egg on her plate and her friend Amy's eyes light up at the sight of it. Amy hadn't seen the deviled eggs on the food table. Devyn told her it was the last one and immediately offered Amy the egg. I thought that was so sweet. I think Amy said no thanks, but Devyn cut that egg in half and gave Amy half. Maybe I'm doing something right after all.

Lydia also has a generous spirit, but in a different way. Lydia likes to work at the food bank every week with me. I was very impressed with her yesterday. She remained busy for the whole 5 hours we spent there. She loaded pounds and pounds of chicken breasts and steak into the freezer. She helped people "shop" and she helped stock the shelves.

I'm grateful that Sean lets us go every week because he stays home with the other three kids. He had a really rough day with Christopher too. He was at the end of his rope when I got home. Then I turned around and left him with the boys again today. This was planned in advance though and thankfully, he had a much better day today.

2008-10-22T18:18:00.005-04:00

We took the boys to the doctor's for their 9 month and 2 year check ups, respectively, today.

Chris weighs in at 21 lbs. 4 oz. Chad is 22 lbs. They both got their flu shots. We all need to get flu shots to help protect Chad which is a small price to pay. We were told that Flu Mist, for the girls, is a better way to protect Chad. They are scheduled for next month. Lydia prefers the shot. Go figure, but she's getting the mist.

Here are a couple of cute pics of Chad.

When asked to do a funny face.

This is the face Chad does when you ask him to give the "evil eye". It's a real crowd pleaser.

Walk Down Memory Lane

2008-10-20T21:02:00.008-04:00

I was just telling Sean how much I love reading other's blogs and how I have made blogging friends from all over our country. I don't know what made us go into a rendition of Sesame Street's "People in Your Neighborhood", but I just had to hear Bob sing it one more time. His singing is much better than ours. Then I just went crazy remembering all of my other favorite TV shows. I have always loved TV.

After finding Bob, I remembered The Great Space Coaster which starred Gary Gnu.

Do you remember the Electric Company. Check out Morgan Freeman and of course, Bill Cosby.

Bill Cosby's Picture Pages.

Captain Kangaroo.

Sigmund the Sea Monster

Shazam

Good TV.

Foster Care Update

2008-10-20T14:38:00.002-04:00

We met with Chris's social worker today for a brainstorming session on what steps we can take to help Chris. We will continue to care for him until his parent's hearing in early Dec. and then we will re-evaluate what to do from there. In the meantime, we're going to see what services might be available to help him with what may not necessarily be an attachment disorder, but a sensory one. We told her that if we can get the tools needed to help him, maybe we'd be able to continue to care for him beyond Dec.

It all may be a moot point because the judge could send him back home in Dec. We'll have to wait and see. Anything is possible.

Odds and Ends

2008-10-15T16:07:00.011-04:00

Some of the shelves I helped build for the food bank.

Ember crawled into this empty bag. I love when cats do that. She is so cute.

Cat in a bag. Chad in a box. Sounds like the making of a Dr. Seuss book.

Devyn & Crosby. Crosby just got his hair cut.

You can see Crosby's cataracts, but what you may not be able to see is his diaper. We have to diaper him now because he's been incontinent. He is 16 1/2 years old.

Better picture of his diaper. He actually wears Chad's diapers. lol

Foster Care Challenges

2008-10-13T18:24:00.008-04:00

I've been thinking about posting my thoughts, on the challenges of foster care, for a very long time now.

I thought we had it easy with Chad and all of his special needs. Even having over 70 doctor's appointments that first year, having to give him an injection every day for 4 months, the challenges of tube feeding, and having to drive him to visitation every single week, and so on, it was a breeze compared to caring for our sweet little Christopher.

From the beginning of his placement with our family, he has been very difficult. In the first days, we thought he was blind. He would not look at us or even track when we shinned a flashlight in his eyes. It took two weeks before he would track and look at us. We have come to realized that he, most likely, has an attachment problem. We are the fifth place he has lived and we got him when he was two and a half months old. Some "experts" say that a child has until 3 to bond. Others say until 6. I strongly disagree. I think bonding takes place in those, first, very precious few days and weeks after birth, but I'm just basing that on my own experience with this one child.

Chris is a beautiful child. A precious child of God, yet we have stuggled with him since the beginning. We are awakened every morning to his screams. He doesn't work up to screaming by first making small noises and then escalating into screaming. No. He goes from zero to scream at the drop of a hat. It's been SO hard waking up to that every day. We get out of bed angry. It's not a great way to start your day.

Then there's the dreaded visitation day. Each and every week, I take him and meet up with his social worker who drives him to his parent's apartment for a one hour supervised visitation. I sit in my car for that hour waiting for his return.

Last week, I waited for over an hour and 15 minutes without any sign of Christopher. Then one of the social workers called me to ask if they could borrow my carseat to go and pick him up. I was puzzled because the social worker had his carseat in the car she transported him in. Turns out, and I had to figure this out on my own, that his parents had unsupervised visitation. And so it begins. We are now easing into a transition of his returning home.

We know, after having him for these last 7 1/2 months, that we will not be able to keep him indefinitely or adopt him, even if he is freed for adoption. He would be best suited with a couple who doesn't have any other children or a couple who could give him tons of one on one attention. He screams for the better part of each day because we cannot give him all of the attention.

I'm not sure when he will be returned to his parents, but it will be very soon. I doubt if they will be able to care for him properly. He does, however, need to be placed with his forever family as quickly as possible so they can try to make a connection with him.

I feel as if he will have a problem as he grows. He isn't like your typical baby who gives and receives affection and love. He refuses affection most of the time. He almost never gives it. It's hard for us to get accustomed to a baby who won't rest his head on our shoulder. He always pulls away. At night, when I want to cuddle with him, he kicks his legs and arches his back so I cannot hold him. I've never met a baby like that.

We do love him, but if we are honest with ourselves, we have to confess that he needs someone else. It sounds horrible, but I know that all of my other foster friends know how I feel. We were told, in our training, that not every child will be a fit for your family. We had trouble believing that. How could a child in need not be a fit? Now, we know what they meant.

I know God has someone else for our family. One of my other foster friends said that she can visualize the children God has for her and asked if I can visualize as well. I can. She totally understands how I feel.

We will continue to pray for Christopher after he is returned home and we will pray for his parents. I fear that he will not have a good life if he remains with them, but I trust that God has a plan for him and I can rest in that.

How fitting that the Bible verse of the day, on my sidebar, is Jer. 29:11.

If We Are The Body

2008-10-12T19:25:00.007-04:00

I helped with another benefit yard sale, for foster children, this past Saturday. It was extremely slow, but we managed to raise a little less than $150. All in all, it was a great day sitting and chatting with my other foster family friends.

It was held at the home of our friends, Wendy and Ed, who lost their little girl to drowning just this past August. I asked how the children were doing, since I'm sure it hit them very hard witnessing the death of their sister, and Wendy assured me that they were doing ok. They receive counseling at school.

One conversation that stuck in my mind was one that I had with a friend named Theresa. She and her husband attend an outreach church in Winchester, VA. They drive 1 1/2 hours to church every Sunday to attend this awesome church. She said they have homeless people, drug addicted people and prostitutes attend each week. She told me of a man who walked in and stood next to her son during one of the services. Her son, a 10 year old, reached for the man's hand, but he pulled away. Her son reached again, and again the man pulled away. Then the man went into the men's room (she thinks to wash his hands). When he returned, her son reached for his hand a the third time and the man reached back. How touching that story was to me. That is church. That is the exact example Jesus set for us to follow-"Love One Another". I will never forget that story.

It reminds me of this Casting Crowns song:

If We Are The Body

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girl's teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgemental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

Jesus payed much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

Jesus is the way

My Boy is 2

2008-10-05T19:46:00.006-04:00

We celebrated Chad's 2nd birthday today. We were joined by his grandmom, sister, and his bio. dad's girlfriend Amy. Our neighbors, Donna and Steve and their kids came over as well.

Chad has a cold, but I think he enjoyed his day. His sister, Carmon, helped him open his presents. She is also 2 years old. She turns 3 next month.

We had dinner and then cake. It was a great day.

Trailer...Check

2008-09-30T22:30:00.003-04:00

We had a church family meeting tonight which I could not attend. I stayed home with the kids and Sean went. We were voting on two new elders and a new governing document. Little did I know that the church would also be voting on selling their spare trailer to me for the tool ministry. What? According to Sean, they were all supportive and voted to sell it to me for $1. For the second time in the last two weeks, I'm saying to myself, "You have got to be kidding me"?

One thing I know for sure is that God has placed the idea for this ministry in my heart/mind and I knew He would make it come to fruition, in His timing. May His will be done here as it is in heaven.

Use me, Dear God, to draw those who do not know you, to YOU, through this ministry.

Silly Sunday

2008-09-28T19:52:00.002-04:00

I wore two different socks to church today. At least they were both black. : )

Food Bank

2008-09-26T16:16:00.004-04:00

I am so excited today. Lydia and I worked at the food bank for 3 1/2 hours. It was so awesome to serve the people who came in. It's set up like a mini-grocery store with carts. The number of people in the household determines how much of each item they can receive. Every day there is a whole different selection of food too. We got to walk each person through the "store" and help them select their items.

Lydia was a great help. She really jumped right in. She had to remind me how many of each item the people could get. Aaahh, to have a 12 year old mind. I've lost mine.

What was so telling about our present economy is that every person who came in has a job. They just can't make ends meet.

One thing that I found so important was to treat every single person like a human being. I know, from experience, having foster children who have Medicaid, that we are treated differently because people have a tendency to look down on you because of it. Also, we get "special" looks when we present our foster child's WIC (Women, Infants, Children) checks at the grocery store. It's not right. We are all God's children and He loves us all whether we are billionaires or homeless. It's hard for these people to have to go into a food bank and ask for help. We don't need to make them feel worse. We could be in their same position tomorrow and we'd want to be treated with dignity.

I also got a chance to speak to Tom about the tool truck ministry. We know how to get started. The first thing we are going to do is collect tools. We will be able to buy tools at a steep discount, if need be, but I hope to be able to have most of them donated. Tom hopes to have a warehouse to store them in, in the next three months, but until then, we will store them in our shed.

The next step will be to get a vehicle. Either a trailer or van. Tom has a bus which he wants to use as a mobile food bank and we may be able to convert that to use as a tool truck/food mobile.

So, we have the green light-already. Yikes!

I can't wait to see where this goes and what God does with this ministry.

Brief Chad Update

2008-09-22T12:30:00.007-04:00

Sean just called me after taking Chad for an appointment with the geneticist. The doctor would not make the diagnosis of Kabuki Syndrome, but said that there isn't anything else it could be. So why not make the diagnosis? He won't because he's not an
"expert" in Kabuki. Chad just doesn't have ALL of the classic facial features of the syndrome, but does have many of the features. He said if it's not Kabuki, then Chad has a syndrome that hasn't been identified yet. Chad Syndrome? Sounds like a Kabuki diagnosis to me.

Until they discover a genetic marker for the syndrome, a diagnosis is only clinical and subjective. It could be years before they discover a marker and then we'll know for sure.

Ministry Opportunity

2008-09-21T18:41:00.003-04:00

For a long time now, I have known that God has called me to start a ministry. I just didn't know when the time would be. Just recently, He has opened a door for what could be the start.

While I was helping to build shelving units for the local food bank, I got talking to the executive director, Tom Benjamin. (I mentioned him in an earlier post because I was so impressed by his heart for people in need) I told him how God has told me to start a mobile tool truck/trailer. The truck or trailer would be stocked with tools and we'd be able to move around the area and help people with home repair work that they would otherwise be unable to afford. I am aware of two families, right now, who need roof repairs, but cannot afford to repair them. This is the exact type of need that would be met by this ministry.

I mentioned to Tom that I was starting to look into becoming a 501(c)3 (non-profit organization). Tom said that I wouldn't have to do that because he would totally support the ministry and we could start it under the umbrella of his already established organization. Wow! He even said that we could tap into his long list of volunteers. I think I said, "You have got to be kidding me". This is incredible, but this is how God works.

Now, I have to set aside some time to go speak to him about it. I don't know what this will end up looking like, but the door has been opened and all I have to do is step through it. That's scary, but again, I have to be obedient.

I'm excited to see what becomes of this. Will this take off in the near future or will it be years away? I don't know the answer, but I can't wait to find out!

Another Family Reunion

2008-09-20T19:02:00.013-04:00

We went to another of Chad's family reunions today. It was the most beautiful, perfect day. I can smell fall in the air! We had a very relaxing day hanging out with Chad's grandmom, Joyce, and her sisters, eating great food, and having lots of laughs. Here are some pics. The best part of the day was Chad going down a big slide all by himself, for the first time. I even had enough sense to take this video of him.

Tomorrow is our church picnic. One of my favorites things to do is worship our living God in the park. I can't wait!

Unexpected Surprise

2008-09-15T18:42:00.005-04:00

I was so excited to have an impromptu visit from my Aunt Sher and her friend Pat this evening. They are heading to a resort to celebrate their 50th birthdays. Pat's is tomorrow and my Aunt Sher's is Wednesday. They were driving basically right by my house and so they made a quick detour to visit. I was SO excited that they stopped.

In this photo, my aunt is on your right.

My aunt and Pat have been friends their whole entire lives. They only lived a few houses from each other while growing up and went all through school together. I have known Pat my whole entire life too. How incredibly blessed they are to have had each other all of these years.

My Aunt Sher has been like a sister to me and I just love her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT SHER & PAT!!!!

P.S. They have asked me to join them at the resort. I will be going on Wednesday and spending the night. Looking forward to some quiet time. I need that every once in awhile. It's good for the whole family for mom to come back refreshed and happy.

Our Date

2008-09-15T00:01:00.005-04:00

We did it! We went out-together-without kids. We dropped Christopher off, this morning, before church, with our friend Dawn. After we dropped the other three off at our neighbor's house later in the day, we were FREE.

As we were driving down the main road from our house, into town, to meet the friends who were treating us to the concert, I started to laugh. Sean asked why I was laughing. It was because we were driving down the road in silence. We were just enjoying the quiet and it really made me laugh.

The concert was FANTASTIC! It was beyond what I had envisioned. We had such a great time. We saw many friends from our church and our old church. One of my friends was even sitting 5 rows behind us in the exact same seat number as me. Did I mention, we were in the 12th row, center stage? We had awesome seats. I can't thank my friend Dina enough for taking us.

The concert got increasingly better with each band. My favorite, by far, was Third Day. They put on one big praise fest. They even shared the Gospel with the crowd. They were awesome!

We will have to do this more often.

P.S. I have to give props to Robert Randolph and the Family Band too. They were awesome. I now recall seeing them on David Letterman. A flashback to 70's funk, in my opinion, but better.

Ike

2008-09-12T22:11:00.005-04:00

Sean spoke to our friend Jim tonight. Jim, his wife, and their 10 month old little girl live in Houston. They are about 40 miles from Galveston, where Ike is likely to hit land. They have not evacuated, but have prepared a place under their stairs to ride out the storm. They are expected to have 75 MPH sustained winds.

Join me in praying for our fellow countrymen in the path of Ike.

Update 9/15/08: Sean spoke to his friend Jim today and they are without electricity. He is heading to Home Depot to see if he can buy a generator. (Good Luck with that) His family faired well, but a tree fell on his garage. Thank God that is the only damage and they are all ok.

Date Night

2008-09-09T12:52:00.004-04:00

I am SO excited to go out on a date with my husband this Sunday evening. My friend, Dina, has invited us to go to a concert. We are going to see Third Day, Jars of Clay, and Switchfoot. I love Third Day and Sean loves Jars of Clay so we are in for one great evening. This is only the 3rd time in the past two years that Sean and I have gone out together, without children, and one of those times we went to Home Depot. Does that count?

We have even arranged babysitting for our 4 kids. Lydia, Devyn and Chad will be staying with our neighbors, Donna and Steve, and Christopher will be staying overnight (Yeah!) with our friends Dawn and Bob.

I don't know if I'm more excited about the date/concert or the fact that Chris is staying overnight at our friend's house. I might miss his screaming in the morning, jolting me awake.

Happy Birthday Devyn!

2008-09-08T13:46:00.003-04:00

Devyn has just entered double digits. She is very excited that today is her birthday. Here is a picture of her doing a little dance because she got Guitar Hero for her DS for her birthday.

Kim the Builder

2008-09-06T17:23:00.005-04:00

I spent 7 hours today building shelving for our new local food bank. A fellow church member, Mike Del Gallo, and I managed to build 5 huge shelving units, with some help from Tom Benjamin, who runs the food bank. We still have 3 more to do. Hopefully tomorrow after church we can finish up.

Mike and I had some great fellowship time with lots of laughs and lots of hard work. Mike really planned very well. He copied the shelving design from the shelves that are already there, but ours look much nicer than those thanks to Mike.

I am now very sore. I did lots of work. I cut almost all of the wood, I nailed, I lifted, I screwed, I carried, I measured, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I said this before; I get so much energy by helping others and I was really energized today.

Tom was a blessing to spend the day with too. It was so refreshing, to me, to know that there ARE others who are being lead by God to serve our community. I feel so uplifted today. What a pleasure it is to serve.

Tom even bought us lunch.

I learned so much from Tom today about the food bank and how they get food and who they serve. It was very interesting.

Did you know that for every $1 that is donated to the food bank, Tom can buy $12 worth of food? What he told me was that they can do more with monetary donations than with actual food donations. Very good to know.

When I got home, Sean and Devyn were baking cookies. What's wrong with this picture?

I have to go take some Advil now. Until next time. :>}

Blog Help

2008-09-05T19:24:00.001-04:00

I know I don't have a large fan base reading my blog, but if there is anyone out there in computer land that can help me figure out why my header is off center on my PC, but not my MAC, I would be forever indebted to you.

A Life in Shambles

2008-09-03T20:32:00.006-04:00

My 35 year old cousin Jeff's life is out of control. Jeff has such a tender heart beneath his drug and alcohol addiction. I can see behind the wall of his addiction to the nice, gentle person that he could be.

He and his brother, John, are my only first cousins on my mom's side. (My only other first cousins, on my mom's side, had been adopted by my grandparents after the murder of their mom, and I have only known them as my aunt and uncle.)

His brother, my cousin, John, spent a few years in jail and 6 months after his release, he died of a drug overdose. On the night of John's funeral, I found my cousin Jeff sitting in his truck doing cocaine. I said, "Jeff, your brother just died from doing the same thing. What are you doing?" Drugs have such a hold on Jeff.

Jeff always dwells on past events. The death of his brother, the death of our grandfather 2 years later, the death of his wife a few years after that. (That's a story in itself. Jeff had already abandoned his wife and two children before she died. He was going to be turned away from the funeral home if he tried to attend her funeral. I drove him there hours beforehand and begged the funeral director to let him see his wife. She allowed it. After all, no matter what he had done, she was his wife and he deserved to say goodbye.) He has "poor me" syndrome which he uses as an excuse for everything. Over the years, I've tried to minister to him. I have shared the Gospel with him and always tell him that I love him and I do.

He recently went to FL and was staying with a lady who had taken his dad (homeless) into her home. It wasn't long before Jeff took full advantage of the poor lady. He, and the girl he went to FL with, stole from the lady. Then they were arrested for not returning a rental car and Jeff had a gun with him. He was bailed out by a bail bondsman and has returned to PA. He is awaiting trial. I'm not sure if Jeff will return to FL or not. He is already on the run in PA.

I saw his mug shot tonight and it just tore me up. I started to cry. He looks at least 15 years older than me and he is, in fact, 5 years younger.

My heart breaks for him. Drugs have taken over his life and he has lost all control, assuming he ever had control. His brother died before he was 30 and I have always said the Jeff will either be dead or in jail by the time he was 30. He would be in jail, if he wasn't on the run. He has warrants in PA and now, if he doesn't return to FL, he'll have them there as well.

Heavenly Father, if ever there were a soul that I want you to save, it's Jeff's. Please help him to remember YOUR words that I spoke to him years ago. Help him to reject his sin and trust you. You are the ONLY one who can save him, now and for eternity, and I'm asking that you draw him to you. Help him see that there is no high like the Most High. Thank you Jesus, Amen.

2008-09-02T19:18:00.005-04:00

Here is a fun free link for typing practice. Personally, I love it.
http://www.typeonline.co.uk/index.html

Head over to Val's blog and enter her contest.

V.P. Pick

2008-08-29T17:06:00.002-04:00

I am pretty excited about John McCain's V.P. pick, Sarah Palin. I am frightened by Barack Bin Biden (lol) and was also frightened that McCain would pick Mitt Romney so I was resigned not to vote at all in the election.

McCain did a great job of keeping his pick a secret. The news media thought they had it figured out, but he pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Way to go!

My Wonderful Husband

2008-08-28T18:21:00.009-04:00

Sean received this award today. You can double click on the image to enlarge and read his citation. It's the second highest award given at the Patent Office. I am so proud of him for his dedication to his work, while never putting it before his family.

Since he works from home, he had to make the 2 hour drive into his office to receive his award. I only wish I could have been there, but he was only allowed to bring two guests and without a place to leave the 4 children, I had to stay home and just admire his nice plaque after he returned-and dad McGarry, you know that I'm Sean's biggest cheerleader!

Great job, Sean!

Call Us Crazy

2008-08-25T19:23:00.002-04:00

And we truly are. The organization we started doing foster care through, VEFC (Volunteer Emergency Families for Children) has not let us do long term care and VEFC, which is emergency short term (not longer than 3 weeks) at the same time...until now. We have been asking to be able to do both for the last two years.

Tonight, we got a call from them. They were needing to place six children from the same family. No, we did not agree to take all six, but after a family discussion, we did agree to take the three oldest girls, ages 13, 11, & 9. Two would have slept in Lydia's room and one in Devyn's.

They called us back to say it was a no go. They did not come into care, but we are really glad that VEFC will finally let us have our long term foster children and still be able to take kids on an emergency basis.

Wine Country

2008-08-22T19:29:00.025-04:00

We live in VA wine country. We haven't visited many wineries in the last couple of years, but we did have the opportunity to go today. Our friends from PA, Chris and Jane, and their daughter Jillian are visiting and so we decided to go to a winery we have never been to. I am so glad we did.

For those of you who are local and appreciate good wine, I highly recommend Sharp Rock Vineyards. They have a darling welcoming committee too.
This is a picture of one of their greeters, Bo. They also have Emma and Oliver, but I didn't get their picture.

The winery is located on beautiful grounds with wonderful scenery. Here's a picture of the winery which is inside this converted barn.

As soon as the kids found the creek, they had a blast playing in it.

Here we are at Unicorn Winery. This one is about 1 mile from our house. Because it was Friday, we were the only ones there. They let us hang out on the deck after the winery closed too. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed spending the day with our friends. We don't see them nearly enough.

Header

2008-08-19T17:21:00.002-04:00

I know my header is off center. I am playing around with HTML and don't know what the heck I'm doing. I'm having fun learning though.
NOTE: I just switched from my PC to my Mac and my header looks fine. Lisa since you have a PC will you tell me how it looks on your computer? It was very off center when I looked at it on the other computer.

Yoga

2008-08-19T14:56:00.004-04:00

I started doing Yoga yesterday. I used to do Yoga and Pilates all the time when I had time to go to the gym (before having foster children). I forgot how much I love doing Yoga until I did it yesterday. Yoga is great for working and toning every body part.

I have found a gold mine too. FitTv. I can do all of my exercising at home. They have everything from cardio to strength training to Yoga. I love it.

New Look-Again

2008-08-16T16:55:00.001-04:00

Bear with me as I revamp my blog. I was tired of the same old, same old.

Blog Contest

2008-08-15T20:43:00.002-04:00

I've been visiting this blog for quite some time now and I really like Bridget's craftiness. Well, she is having a contest to win some of her handiwork.

Just clink here and enter her contest for a chance to win. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

I just did.

It's My Birthday!

2008-08-13T08:52:00.002-04:00

Must be my old age, but I had trouble getting out of bed this morning. My back was killing me. Is this what I have to look forward to? lol

Sean gave me 40 punches and a pinch to "lose" an inch. lol

He sang me a song too. To the tune of Joe Cocker's "You are so beautiful". Sean sang, "You are so beautiful to me...even though you can't hold in your pee". "You are so beautiful to me...even though you're almost 43".

He loves me.

Tragedy

2008-08-09T17:09:00.008-04:00

We went to Half Moon Beach today with another foster family and our neighbors. Half Moon Beach is an old quarry turned lake where you can rent boats, fish, or swim.

The kids were having a great time playing in the water and my friends youngest was playing in the sand. Wendy was constantly looking around and counting her kids. She had 5 with her. One was a teen, but the others were 4, 5, 6, & 8 approximately. I was even keeping an eye on hers as well as mine. She and I were sitting in the water talking when the life guard ran into the water next to us. Another life guard jumped in at another spot. We didn't see anyone in the water so Wendy joked that they must be practicing. Then they brought a little girl out of the water. It was Dakota, Wendy's 6 year old daughter. We both jumped up and ran over to where they laid her down. I immediately started to pray. It was my first reaction without even thinking. I was holding Christopher in one arm and I raised my other hand up toward heaven. I was just standing there praying out loud as they started CPR. Dakota spit up some water, but didn't come to. Someone shouted to continue CPR. Another women heard me praying and she put her arm around me and she started praying with me. Someone asked if anyone called 911. Someone was calling at that moment.

This was all so surreal and still is. Wendy's husband must have seen her and their children standing around and started for them. I told Sean to let him know that it was Dakota. I thought I would vomit. I was shaking and had to move away to get a drink of water.

As I sat drinking my water and after I informed my neighbors that it was our friend's daughter, I looked over and saw Wendy and Ed standing at Dakota's feet and their 4 other children standing a little ways back from her head. I went over to comfort them. Dakota's brother, Joey, was crying. They were both recently adopted by Wendy and Ed after being in foster care. I hugged him and told him that they are doing everything they can to help his sister.

What I will never forget is watching the little girl turn blue. When the paramedics got there, they lifted her lifeless body onto the body board and raced her to the ambulance. Wendy and Ed were stunned. We all were. I told them I would take their kids home with me, but Ed wanted them to go with them to the hospital. Wendy rode in the ambulance. Ed followed in his car. We brought all of their stuff home with us.

Everyone on the beach was just sitting there in disbelief. I walked to the rest room before I left and the beach was eerily silent. People were just sitting there, not knowing what to say.

I tried to contact another friend who was meeting us there, but didn't have her number with me. I heard from her a couple of hours later. Dakota didn't make it.

Wendy is blaming herself. Please disregard my silly little prayer request in my last post and please pray for this family. They do not know Jesus and therefore feel hopeless.

Wendy and Ed have had over 50 foster children in the 25 years they have been doing foster care. They give selflessly to children in need. Please pray for them.

Please pray for the lifeguards as well. They were very distraught and crying after they took Dakota away. They did the best they could do for her. They are just teenagers and I could tell they felt horrible. Please pray that they do not feel any guilt.

Chad Update

2008-08-06T21:20:00.007-04:00

Chad has made huge strides in his development lately. He started walking last week. He can walk all the way down our hallway without falling. He has been climbing all over the place. I really have to keep an eye on him now. The other day I came out of the kitchen just as he pulled himself up onto the window sill. He climbed up onto the back of the couch, stepped onto the window sill and was holding onto the the window. I'm just glad that my scream of panic didn't help him crash down to the floor.

He does three baby signs now. Sleepy, baby, and down. We're working on others. He says quite a few words too. Daddy, baby, eat, dog and a couple of other words.

On Wednesday, he had four doctor's appointments at UVA. His developmental pediatrician said that when he sees kids who have had Infantile Spasms (seizure disorder Chad had) and they are doing well, he has to say Hallelujah. We told him that we say Hallelujah all the time.

Chad was evaluated for the feeding program they have at Kluge (the hospital where Chad lived his first 2 1/2 months in this world). The speech pathologist tested his receptive language and expressive language. He scored 85% on receptive, which, according to their particular scale, was below average. He tested even lower on the expressive test (75%) which is poor. It doesn't matter to us at all what the test scores say. He can understand us and can express himself, which is more than we could have ever hoped for. We will get a report and find out whether he qualifies for their feeding program. He is still a little young for it. They have a waiting list until January and by that time, he may be old enough.

Meanwhile, the nutritionist has given us a new feeding schedule. We are actively trying to wean Chad off of his feeding tube. This new schedule has us either oral feeding or tube feeding every two hours for a total of 8 times per day. For those who are reading this and would like to pray for us, we can really use your prayers. I am very concerned about this years homeschooling and how I will fit schooling in with all of this feeding. Not to mention, we do have a 7 month old too and boy does he like to eat--and scream.

The appointment that we were most looking forward to was with the neurologist. Dr. William Taft is a great guy and we really enjoy just chatting with him.

He could not believe Chad's progress. He was so happy to see Chad walking. Chad started walking last week. Just shy of 22 months of age. Yeah!!! Some of the comments he made were, "He is a miracle child", "I am so glad you brought him in. It shows me that there is hope for the other children with Infantile Spasms", and "I am pleasantly baffled". We were thrilled by his comments. He wants to see Chad again next year. Not because he needs to, but because he wants to. He wants to follow Chad's progress. I think that's great.

He is baffled because Chad is the total exception to the rule. We were told that Chad had a 90% chance of having seizures for the rest of his life. That is what the statistics show. Chad has been seizure free for almost a year (Sept.). Dr. Taft said that almost all of the other children with Infantile Spasms are not responding to their medications.

After we left the office and were walking through the lobby to leave, Dr. Taft called to us. He brought his colleague, Dr. Rust, out to see Chad (the miracle child). I told Chad to say hi and he waved to the doctors. It was so cute. Dr. Taft was telling Dr. Rust about Chad being seizure free and Dr. Rust asked a few questions, which Dr. Taft or I answered and he, too, was very happy to see Chad doing so well.

One thing I found most interesting is that Dr. Blackman, Chad's developmental pediatrician, said that Chad looked just like a few other patients of his. Patients who have Kabuki Syndrome. Dr. Taft thought the same thing. We think the same thing as well. It's interesting that the doctor in Philadelphia (the "expert") said no to Kabuki, when everyone else thinks it is. It doesn't make a difference one way or another anyway though.

It was a long day, but a great one. Chad is being released by one doctor after another and I thank God for it. God is the miracle worker. I've seen His hand throughout Chad's whole story and I couldn't be more grateful! Thank you Father!!!!! : > )

Cardboard Testimonies

2008-07-29T09:05:00.001-04:00

Please head over to my pastor's blog and watch this video. Grab some tissues.

Childhood Friends

2008-07-28T13:39:00.015-04:00

Before I went out of town, we had the pleasure of watching Chad's biological sister, Carmon, for two days. She stayed overnight and we had so much fun with her. She is so sweet and has such good manners for a two year old. Her grandmom is doing a wonderful job raising her.

When Chip came to pick her up, he hung out with us for about two hours. It was really nice.

Here are a couple of pictures of her.

We all went up to Johnstown, last week, to help my mom and Ron move some furniture. The kids and I stayed for the week. Johnstown reminds me of my childhood home, Manayunk. It's an old mill town. Here are a few pics. These were all taken out of my car window while the car was in motion. On my next visit, I want to walk around and get some really nice pictures of all of the churches. Every ethnicity has their own church. I passed the Hungarian church, Croatian church, and every other Eastern European church you can think of.

Then I drove my mom home to Philadelphia. The girls are staying in Phila. for the week. My mom is taking them to Wildwood, NJ for three days at the shore. What fun!

On Saturday, I had a reunion with old childhood friends. I grew up with Lisa Malloy and we were friends all through elementary and junior high school. We lost touch when in high school because I moved to northeast Philadelphia and went to school there.

Just recently, we got back in touch. It was through MySpace.com that she found me through another friend also named Lisa. I've been friends with Lisa Tenuto since second grade and she agreed to host our reunion at her house.

I went and picked up my friend at her house Saturday morning. I cried when I saw her. We just stared at each other for awhile trying to see some familiarity from our childhood looks. We determined that we both look the same, just older. She would not let me take her picture.

Before we got to our other friend Lisa's house, we drove around our old neighborhood. Here are some pictures of it.

Lisa's old house:

My old house:

My grandparent's old house taken from in front of my old house across the street.

Picture of Jamestown St. where I used to sled, play, and ride my bike.

Steps I walked up and down to and from junior high school. They are across the street from my grandparent's house.

Like I said, my friends wouldn't let me take any pictures of them. Blah!

We had a really great day reminiscing and laughing. I hadn't seen Lisa for about 25 years. Wow, how time flies.

I also visited my 91 year old nan. Here's a pic. of her with 3 of my kids.

This is a picture of my mom's childhood home. There were other houses attached to it when I was growing up. They have since been torn down. Looks like this one is about to fall down on it's own. It's a shame.

I'm SO happy to be back home.

Christian the Lion

2008-07-16T20:27:00.003-04:00

I just checked this out on Snopes.com and it's true. It's beautiful. Please watch.

Fender Bender

2008-07-11T22:17:00.003-04:00

Sean is really mad at me. I went to the airport to pick up my neighbors from their trip to Hawaii. Lydia came along with me.

We waited near their gate and I was excited to see them round the corner and walk down the hall onto the concourse where we were standing. What I saw first was Steve's burnt bald head (well, it is) and Donna's burnt forehead. They looked great. They had a fantastic time and talked about their trip all the way home. But...the first thing they wanted was...coffee. So, they were willing to wait until we got closer to home to get some Starbucks.

I pulled up to the door and let them out. Lydia went with them. We allow her a treat of a Frappacino every once in awhile and when Steve offered to let her go with them, she jumped at the chance. I was going to park the car and wait. A car had their backup lights on to back out of a space and I was going to take it, but I needed to back up to allow room for him to back out. I looked in both side mirrors and even turned my head to look out the back, but because my neighbor's luggage was piled on top of both baby strollers, in the back of my car, I couldn't even see the little red Prius that I backed into. We both pulled over and exchanged information. There was very little damage. I didn't even feel the tap. He had a little square shaped impression in the front of his car where my tow bar hit.

So, like I said, Sean is mad. I looked. I couldn't see. It was my fault, I apologized to the guy and I'll pay for the damage. I'm glad no one was hurt.

Lydia's Room

2008-07-08T19:07:00.005-04:00

Still a work in progress, but it's looking good.

Chad's Family Reunion

2008-07-07T12:29:00.010-04:00

We had so much fun meeting and mingling with Chad's biological family this past Saturday. They really know how to put together a party. I was so impressed how close their family is and how they honor God first, family second.

Chip spent about an hour playing with Chad. He was so happy that Chad could walk alongside him while holding his hand. Chip had been waiting for that day for a long time.

Chad's big sister, Carmen, had fun with Chad too. Here are a few pics. of them together.

The sweetest picture of all is this one of Chad and his great-grandmother.

Happy Independence Day

2008-07-04T19:48:00.003-04:00

We were so blessed to have our friends, Peter and Lois, bring us dinner tonight. They knew we were still busy finishing our home improvements (Lydia's Room), so they brought the picnic to us (including their grill). We had a nice time catching up with them. We cherish their friendship.

Our poor daughter has been sleeping in the living room for almost 2 months now. We re-finished two bedrooms, but haven't finished hers yet. The painting is finished so now we have to lay the new flooring. She wanted a futon for her room and wouldn't you know, one of our homeschooling friends had one for sale. It's going to look great in her new room. I forgot to take a before picture, but I'll post an in progress picture soon.

Lydia picked out the paint colors and matched them to her new bedding. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Another Sketch By Devyn

2008-07-02T19:20:00.000-04:00

Hawaii Bound

2008-07-01T18:30:00.006-04:00

Not me, but my friends and neighbors, Steve and Donna. I chauffeured them to the airport at 4 AM Sunday morning for their trip to Hawaii. I wanted to make the trip special so I had Sean pick up a few little bottles of champagne and an ice bucket. I picked them up in my Suburban and if you've ever seen this kind of car, you'd know that it's very long. We folded down the middle row of seats and I placed the ice bucket with the champagne on the folded down seats and had two glasses and a card for them. They felt like they were in a limo.

When I arrived at their house, Donna was about to get in the front seat when I opened the back door. They climbed in and saw the champagne. They felt like royalty. They kept thanking me for doing that. It was so nice to see them so happy. It's just the little things that can make someone's day. I think Steve thanked me at least 5 times.

Monday afternoon, my phone rang and it was Steve. He said, "It's 6:20 AM here and the sun just came up over the horizon. We're sitting here on the balcony drinking our coffee." I asked if they got laid...at the airport. He said no. They were very disappointed that everyone around them were getting lays except them. They were really looking forward to that too. NOTE: My mom is upset that I asked Steve if they got laid. Yes, it could have a double meaning, but I meant with FLOWERS.

I lent them my video camera so I can't wait to see the video. I'll make them a DVD of their trip.

The best part of their being in Hawaii is we are borrowing their Wii. What fun! I found my new favorite...Guitar Hero. I made it all the way through Guns N' Roses Welcome to the Jungle. Quite a feat for me.

Fun Quiz

2008-06-26T12:07:00.001-04:00

I just took this quiz and it was right on. I am from the city of Philadelphia. It's fun. You should try it.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Northeast
The Midland
The Inland North
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Chad's First Baby Sign

2008-06-26T11:11:00.006-04:00

I have been signing to Chad for quite some time now and yesterday he did his first sign-sleepy. The way I showed him to do the sign is by tilting my head to the side and putting it into the palm of my hand, like putting your head on a pillow, but this is the way Chad interpreted the sign so now that's his sign for sleepy.

Isn't he cute?

Bathroom Remodel

2008-06-22T18:41:00.006-04:00

Here are some pictures of what Sean has been doing day and night for the past three weeks. We did the tiling together, but Sean did the rest all by his self. He did a great job too!

We found the small colored tiles at Home Depot. They are from the Dominican Republic and we love them. I think they jazz up the bathroom nicely. We still have to clean some of the grout that's in the nooks and crevices of the tile and put in the lighting fixture, but other than that, we have a working bathroom, well, half bath.

We had totally gutted it two weeks before we got Chad in Dec. '06. Yes, it has been that long. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. I cannot wait to do the main bathroom. It really needs it.

Before:

During:

During:

After:

My Friend is a Star

2008-06-20T15:25:00.002-04:00

The leader of my Hope Group and my friend, Scott Pierce, is playing Capt. John Smith in this add for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. If you knew Scott, you'd be cracking up watching the video. He's a nut! He had to shave off his real beard for this cheesy one.

Unexpected Passing

2008-06-19T20:20:00.004-04:00

Our church's outreach team was in the process of building a wheelchair ramp for a lady in need. Well, she passed away on Sunday after many medical problems and a heart attack which took her life. She was only 49 years old.

I went to her viewing tonight. It was odd, in that, her family wasn't standing up front so I didn't know who was who. I asked for her one daughter and was directed to her. I had spoken to her a couple of times while her mom was hospitalized. I was able to give her my condolences.

There must be a reason that God brought our two lives together. Was it so she could bless me? Or was it that I was in some way a blessing to her?

Only God knows.

My Fathers

2008-06-16T19:28:00.002-04:00

I called my fathers on Father's Day. Yes, I have two. My biological father, Ken, and my mom's husband of 10 years, Ron. Although Ron has been in my life for less years than my own husband, he is definitely a father figure in my life. He doesn't have any children of his own so I hope he considers me one.

My own dad and mom divorced when I was around 4 years old so I only have a faint memory of their being together. My dad was never really in my life when I was a child. I saw him on occasion. He lived only a short walking distance from where I lived with my mom. I would walk over to his house often, but more than half the time, he wasn't there so I would just visit my grandparents whom he lived with.

I am his only child and we were never close. In fact, he didn't meet my children until they were 1 & 2 1/2 years old respectively. We had been somewhat estranged I would say. I always had to initiate phone calls and visits and I finally got tired of always trying to "push" a relationship so we lost touch.

I moved to VA one month after the birth of my first child so I didn't have contact with him for at least 2 years...until...I was attending First Baptist Church of Alexandria, where I became a Christian after hearing God's truth, and heard a sermon on forgiveness. Our pastor encouraged us to go home and call the person we were estranged from and forgive them. I went home and wrote my dad a letter. A few days later, I received a response. We wrote back and forth for a couple of weeks and ironed out our differences.

I invited him to come and visit and to meet his, by then, two grand-daughters. He and his, then, girlfriend, now his wife, came to visit. The girls and I went to church that morning and when we got home, there was my dad and his girlfriend, Eileen. It was a great visit. We went into DC and visited the Vietnam War Memorial. My dad is a Vietnam Vet. and he had a difficult time viewing the wall with all of the names of vets. who lost their lives there. He was doing fine until he spotted the name of someone he knew. Then, he "lost it". We left the wall right after that. He was visibly shaken. He said that he didn't know that guy had lost his life in Vietnam.

We had a really nice visit and more importantly, we reconciled. We have had a very good relationship ever since then although I don't see him enough. When I called him on Father's Day, I said that maybe he could spend next Father's Day with me, his only child. I hope he takes me up on that.

Ron, my mom's husband, is a really great guy. I am so glad my mom has him. He came down here last weekend to help Sean put trim around all of our newly hung interior doors. I don't know what we would do without him. He is always the first one willing to drive to VA to help us with our home improvement projects.

Poor Sean. He didn't get breakfast in bed this year. He did get a nice dinner though. He and I spent the whole day tiling our bathroom. It came out so nicely too. I'll post pictures very soon.

I am so grateful for my Father in heaven. It's my pleasure to praise Him everyday, not just on Father's Day.

Name This Disease

2008-06-10T20:42:00.003-04:00

If you guessed Lyme Disease, you would be right. Can you guess who's leg it's on? Yep, it's Chad's.

We pulled a tick off of his leg about 1 1/2 weeks ago and the thought did cross my mind about the possibility of Lyme.

This past weekend Lydia and Devyn were helping our neighbor pull poison ivy from her yard. They all got it and since Chad had been outside sitting on our front step, right next to some poison ivy, we just assumed that the rash behind his knee was poison ivy too.

Today, I looked again and there was a ring. That's a tell-tale sign of Lyme Disease. I asked Devyn what leg we took the tick off of and she said, "The one that has poison ivy". I said to myself, "Ok, that's not poison ivy". I called the doctor and we went in tonight. Dx-Lyme Disease

He started antiobiotics tonight. He'll be on the treatment for three weeks and it will be gone. We caught it at the perfect time to treat it.

Of all people to get it, it had to be Chad. Good grief!

Benefit Yard Sale

2008-06-09T18:42:00.003-04:00

I spent all day Saturday participating in a yard sale to benefit foster children in my area. It was really fun interacting with the community and getting to know perfect strangers all while raising funds and awareness for foster children.

We have built a strong bond with the other foster parents in our county. We meet once a month for a support group where we share foster care stories, food, and support one another.

We are dedicated to help bring attention to children in foster care by raising funds and lending support to parents of foster children. It's a really great group of people from all religious backgrounds. I worked alongside a Jehovah's Witness, another Christian women, and an unchurched family. We exceeded our goal and raised over $300.

It was 98 degrees that day and hot as heck. I am now officially a red neck. No, not because I live in the south and participated in a yard sale, but because my neck got really burnt. Ouch!

It's A Small World

2008-06-09T18:28:00.005-04:00

I recently received an email from Classmates.com which directed me to a photo album of people who went to my high school. So, I went to the site. I was looking at each picture-some were of the school itself, logos of the school, and pictures of attendees.

The one that caught my attention was a wedding picture. The bride and groom were standing at the front of the church they were married in surrounded by family members. I immediately recognized, not the bride or groom, but the church. It was a picture of my old church, WBF (Warrenton Bible Fellowship). What? Wasn't I looking at pictures of people from my high school? I went to school in Philadelphia, PA and the church is in VA.

I immediately emailed WBF and asked if anyone knew the lady in the picture. The pastor, John, emailed me to tell me he actually presided over their wedding, but has since lost contact information on the people.

Today, I received an email from the lady in the photo. She lives in my town. We went to the same high school 10 years apart in phila. and attended the same church in VA. How cool is that?

A Bunch of Pictures

2008-06-09T16:36:00.000-04:00

G-Tube Fun

2008-06-01T10:01:00.004-04:00

What I've been afraid of happening-happened this morning. When I unzipped Chad's pajamas, his g-tube was missing. I thought he pulled it out. That wasn't the case. I searched inside his sleeper and found the button. When I looked at it, I saw that the balloon had burst.

I remained calm. I called Sean, who was already at church setting up. I then prepared the new button, but before I tried to put it in, I had the notion to look at the literature that came with it. This was a brand new version of his old tube and we had just put the new one in two days ago. Yesterday, as I was feeding him, it was leaking right out and dripping onto the floor so, I added two more cc's of water to the balloon. I don't know why I thought to look in the literature this morning, but I questioned the volume capacity of this new balloon. Sure enough, the maximum capacity is 10 cc so yesterday when I added 2, it went over the max. The old tube's maximum capacity is 15 cc. I would think that the representative from the company would have informed me of the difference when we spoke about changing tube models. You live and learn.

I tried to put it in the hole in his abdomen, but it wouldn't go in. I don't know how long it had been out, but I was aware that the stoma would close within 4 hours of being left opened.

I called Sean again to tell him that I couldn't get it back in. He started for home. In the meantime, I talked to two surgeons from UVA and the local emergency room. Before heading to UVA, I called the local ER to see if they had the capability to help. They did.

Sean arrived home and took Chad to the local ER. I haven't heard anything from him yet.

Update: They are back home. The doctor's were able to get the g-tube back in, but it took awhile. Chad was sore and exhausted when they got home. This boy is a trooper though. With a little Tylenol, he'll bounce back. He's sound asleep now.

Happy 40th Birthday Sean!

2008-05-31T13:37:00.002-04:00

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Act of Kindness

2008-05-30T21:23:00.004-04:00

My homeschool group had a used curriculum sale today. I don't know why, but I don't feel comfortable selling my used books or my brand new books that we've never used.

I've been waking up every morning around 4 o'clock and that is the time of day that I hear God's will and direction for my life most clearly. A few days ago, He told me to offer my books for whatever people thought was a fair price and for me to give 100% of that money to charity. So, what should I do? OBEY! A no brainer. So, today was our sale. I can't really even tell you what books were taken from my bin, but since the majority of them were math, I'm sure they were math books. I left with $25.00 and change.

My intention was to go to the grocery store, where I'm told, at the end of the month, senior citizens are at the end of their social security money, for the month, and don't have much money left to buy food. I was geared to hold on to the money until the Holy Spirit nudged me to give it to a senior at the grocery store.

However, I don't think that is God's intention. It's not much money, but as I was speaking to some of the homeschool moms, I became aware of some major needs. People are really suffering in these days of home foreclosures and unemployment and I thank God I am not one of them. I could be.

I know who God wants to receive that money and it's not an unknown senior citizen at the grocery store. I will give that money to the only person who's been on my mind since the sale. I know it will go to that family as a gift from God and it will bless them.

I encourage everyone reading this to do some act of kindness for someone in need.

Reminiscing

2008-05-29T16:27:00.002-04:00

Today, I was thinking about how Sean and I met and how sweet it is to grow old together. As Sean's 40th birthday approaches (it's this Saturday), I can't help but think of how cute he is with his gray hairs growing in.

It's been nearly 17 years since our first introduction. I was working as a dental assistant in Philadelphia and my coworker/friend, Kelly, asked if I wanted to go on a blind date with her boyfriend's roommate. I didn't hesitate to say "NO WAY". She assured me that if I didn't like him, I never had to see him again. She was right. I had nothing to lose so I agreed.

After work on Friday, November 21st, we went to her apartment to get ready. We drove over to Jesse and Sean's apartment in North Philly (bad neighborhood), but beautiful old townhouse with a marble fireplace that had a huge mantel to ceiling gold framed mirror, hard wood floors, and gorgeous light fixtures.

We rang the bell and Sean answered. I didn't know if it was Jesse or Sean until Kelly introduced him as Sean. We said hi and shook hands.

We spent every day, after that, together and eloped two years and 6 days from that first date.

Now, after almost 15 years of marriage, my heart continues to grow fonder as we grow older. There isn't anyone else on this planet that I could imagine going through life with than the love of my life Sean.

What We Did On Our "Staycation"

2008-05-27T16:42:00.007-04:00

We have been very busy with our home improvements. We were able to get tons accomplished over the Memorial Day weekend.

Before:

After:
The boys' room.

I stained 5 doors and polyurethaned them.

We still have tons more to get done. We'll be working on the other bedroom and our half bath, this week. I'll post more before and after pictures as we go.

Family Pics

2008-05-23T22:25:00.001-04:00

Respite

2008-05-23T19:16:00.005-04:00

We made the very tough decision to have respite this weekend. We needed to send Christopher to another foster home. I have conflicting feelings about the whole respite issue. If he were three years old, I would never send him away because he would feel like an outcast. On the other hand, we really needed this break. Not only because he screamed for two full days this week, but because we have SO many home improvement projects to start and finish. Sean needs my hands to help.

This weekend we are going to take advantage of the long holiday without the baby. On the agenda is emptying the girls' room, painting it, laying Pergo flooring and moving both boys into the room. Then emptying Chad's room, laying Pergo flooring, and moving Devyn into that room. Also, we hope to start putting our bathroom back together, staining all of the new doors we hung throughout the house, staining and putting up the trim around the doors. Then we can focus on getting Lydia's new room in the basement finished.

I already feel so relaxed not having the baby. I don't miss him yet. Fostering children is a very unique experience. When you get pregnant with your own child, you have an immediate bond. When they come into this world, there is no question that there is a special bond between you. You don't have to wait to feel that bond, it's already there. It's different with foster children. As I have experienced, it's different with each placement and each set of circumstances. Our very first placement were twin 2 1/2 month old girls. I bonded immediately with them. They were only here for 5 days and nights, but I felt the pain of their leaving. Some children are easier to let go because you know they are going to be ok. Others, you never know what happened to them or how they are doing. I bonded with Chad within the first 5 days of being with him. Maybe because he didn't have another mom who could care for him because she was on life support. It's different with Chris. I love him, but I feel like I'm just baby sitting him. Sean and I both have a feeling that he will go back to his parents. I don't know why we feel that way, but we both do.

Recently, I have had to step down from my position on the admin. team for my church. I've had to set priorities and because of all of my responsibilities at home(homeschooling, caring for my children, and trying to be a good wife), I had to let something go.

I am the outreach coordinator for my church and much rather focus on helping others. Nothing else gives me such energy and enthusiasm as helping others. Outreach gives me life. God has absolutely put this ministry in my heart. People can't believe that I'd much rather stay in my house and never leave, but it's very rewarding to meet the needs of those who cannot help themselves. Our current project is building a wheelchair ramp for a sweet lady named Lois. We were also able to provide her with a couch and lamps. A couple of other ladies from church will be taking her lunch and ministering to her. I don't do it to feel good, but God rewards me by giving me this awesome sense of pleasure from helping. I am compelled to help. I can't help myself!

We also just found out that a dear little boy, a friend of one of the families from church, has brain cancer. We did a food drive for his family and many are helping by providing his family with meals.

I love how the body of Christ steps up to help those in need. It's awesome!

Mother's Day Remembered

2008-05-12T14:01:00.003-04:00

I had an incredible Mother's Day yesterday. As is the tradition in our family, I get breakfast in bed every Mother's Day. Now, to be fair, Sean gets the same treatment on Father's Day.

Sean set his alarm so he and the girls could make and serve me breakfast before heading off to church. Good thing we went to Chad's grandmother's church because the services there don't start until 11 AM. I had plenty of time to enjoy my breakfast before heading off.

As Sean carried the tray into our room, Lydia and Devyn followed behind with home made cards-the best kind. I opened Devyn's first and laughed out loud. On the inside, she drew a picture of our whole family standing and holding hands. I had to turn the paper sideways to see the picture of me. She drew me lying in bed with a breakfast tray on my lap. So very cute and funny. Totally a Devyn thing to do. Lydia wrote me a sweet note telling me that I didn't have to do anything that day. She would help take care of the babies so I could have the day off. I wish everyday was Mother's Day.

After breakfast, we were off to church. We attended a beautiful service. The choir brought me to tears. Then the pastor encouraged us to give a testimony about our mom. Many people stood up to tell of the treasure that is their mom. A few talked about moms that have already gone to heaven. One young man paid a beautiful tribute to his mom who was sitting next to him. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. At one point, the pastor had to turn around to compose himself.
Chip even stood to thank his mom for her help in raising his daughter. Before the end of the service, every mom was handed a beautiful long stemmed red rose. It was a lovely day.

Chip and Joyce invited us to go over to her mom's house because her mom wanted to meet Chad. Her mom is 96 years old and was as sweet and funny as could be. We enjoyed the day along with all of Chad's relatives. We are really building a nice relationship with his extended family now too. I told Joyce that since we are now a part of their family, I have to start bringing food too. The food was so good.

When we got home, I sat and held the baby, Chris, and told him, "I am your mommy this year for Mother's Day, but I don't know whether I'll be your mommy next Mother's Day". I also wondered how his mom was feeling on her first Mother's Day. Even though he is in care because of some mistakes she has made, I couldn't help but feel bad for her having to go through the day without him. I'll be meeting her tomorrow.

The Three Musketeers

2008-05-04T18:39:00.004-04:00

No. Not Lydia, Devyn and Chad. I'm speaking of three of our dogs. Blaze, Greta & Rose. On Friday, they decided to go on a field trip. Sean left the back door open and off they went. I'm sure Rose led the way. Not because she's the alpha dog, but because she's a hound and when she focuses on a scent, there's no stopping her. What surprises me is that Blaze and Greta followed her. Blaze is the alpha, but somehow wasn't able to stop them from running so she just followed along.

I was just leaving a friend's house when Sean called me to inform me that he had been searching for the dogs for 45 minutes. So, I was frantic. I came home and went out on my bike looking and calling for them on my road. They usually go and visit the Rottweiler that lives at the end of the road, but they weren't there. They were gone.

I came back home and called the animal shelter to see if anyone called in a dog sighting. The lady told me that someone just called. She gave me the lady's number and I called her. Sure enough, she saw them. I immediately called Sean, who was already in the vicinity of the dogs.

Sean said that 4 ladies were helping in the search. He found Blaze (Rottweiler/lab) first. So they both set off to find Rose (hound) and Greta (shepherd mix). Sean was calling their names when out popped Greta. She, in turn, led him to Rose. What a relief. He found them in the woods,in the creek.

They were gone for about two hours. I think I must have taken two hours off of my life.

Here are the culprits. Rose on the left, Greta in the middle, and Blaze on the right. Look how sweet and innocent they look.

Bragging Rights

2008-05-01T19:55:00.003-04:00

This is a drawing that Devyn just finished today. She is only 9 1/2 years old and is doing art like this. I can't even draw stick people so I can't say she gets her
talent from me. It's a McGarry trait. We are very proud of her achievements.

Why I Love Spring

2008-04-30T17:39:00.006-04:00

Surprise Visitor

2008-04-30T12:57:00.003-04:00

Chad's birth father, Chip, surprised us with a visit this morning. We were thrilled! We hadn't seen him in quite awhile so it was really nice catching up with him. He spent over an hour with us and was SO happy to see the progress Chad has made. I could see the joy on his face as he watched Chad walk behind his little push toy.

In Chip's family, half of them are Redskins fans and half are Cowboy fans. We found this out on Christmas Eve when some had on Redskins attire and some Dallas. Today, as Chip sat in the living room, I went into Chad's room and brought out his Redskins sweat suit. Chip is a Dallas fan, which I knew, that's what made it so funny. Chip's mom is a Redskins fan and loved the outfit when I showed it to her. I told Chip I am going to have Chad wear it this Christmas Eve. He laughed.

He asked us if we had any scrap metal that he could take. Sean said yes and they loaded our old washing machine, some lighting fixtures, and other scrap metal onto his truck. Hey, if he can make a buck, we're glad to help him out. He helped us, too, by taking it off our hands.

During our visit, we discussed our next visit to his church. He told us he's been going to church again. We are so happy.

It was a great day!

When It Rains, It Pours-Literally

2008-04-23T22:28:00.002-04:00

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever. Sorry, dad McGarry, I know you look forward to catching up with us through my blog.

We have a lot going on at the moment. We really have our hands full with Chad and the new baby. The baby is almost 4 months old now. He is really sweet and a very easy baby. He's still not sure if sleeping through the night is a good thing, but we're happy because he has slept through the night for the last few nights. He does fall off the wagon though. He's thrown us a bone before and fallen off the wagon so, we take it day by day or night by night.

We have to take him once a week for visitation with his parents. Here we go again! It's a real chore getting him to social services for the hour long visit. The very first week, I got up, got him bathed and dressed, drove 30 minutes only to receive a phone call from the social worker telling me that there wasn't visitation that day. I was 5 minutes from the office and had to turn around. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but with the gas prices these days, holy cow, it adds up.

We're still trying to work on mouth feeding with Chad. He continues to make very slow progress, but any progress is terrific in our eyes. He is the joy of our family. He makes us all smile.

Lydia and Devyn are really loving taking care of Chad and playing with him. Devyn even tube feeds him.

Lydia is doing very well in school. She is very self motivated. I don't have to ask her to get her work done. She just does it. She is a real math wiz too. She has always been good in math.

I continue to work with Devyn on her Dyslexia. It's very difficult, for her, as she has severe Dyslexia, but if we persevere, she will be able to overcome it. I have a great curriculum to help her.

Next year, we are going to do a co-op with a friend of mine. I'm going to teach Chemistry. She is going to teach History and hopefully we'll get another homeschool mom to teach a business class. We did a co-op three years ago and it was our best year ever. We had a blast and learned so much.

We've had to replace some major appliances recently. Just last week, our oven caught fire. Luckily, I was standing right in front of it at the time. It wouldn't stop sparking until we unplugged it. So, off to Sears again. The second time this year. We picked out a nice new stove and overhead microwave. It was to be delivered on Monday...and it was, but the delivery guys couldn't install it because it is a slide in type. We weren't told that there would be an extra expense for installation so we called Sears right away to rectify the situation. They were very apologetic and promised that an installation person would call to schedule installation at no charge. So, we got to admire our new stove in the middle of our kitchen floor for three days. They came today to install it and the very first thing I cooked in it was...chicken wings. Yummy! It's really nice and the wings were really good.

Sunday, after church, we came home to a flood in our basement. Just after Sean had built a new office and laid new carpet too. The reason the water came in was because about a month ago, a tree fell on our house and took out the gutter. The water had no place to go but down into our basement. I felt so bad for Sean. He had to pull up the new rug, hang it to dry, suck up all of the water with the wet/dry vac and try to divert the water away from the house from the outside. Whatever he did, it worked. The water stopped coming in and it was really pouring outside. My husband is so resourceful and I am so blessed to have him.

Thank God my mom is here for a week. Well, that week is almost over already. We have been able to deep clean my house, which was looooonnnnnnggggg overdue. Everything got put on hold since we got Chad. I feel so much better, now, having deep cleaned. My mom even caught up on all of our laundry. I'm so grateful for her help and wish she lived closer to us.

Now you are caught up on our crazy life.

My Decision

2008-04-06T15:56:00.004-04:00

I haven't blogged in awhile. I just haven't felt like it. Too tired to think, I guess. I came across this today and wanted to post it. I really love it. Wish we could ALL live it out.

"I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy spirit power, the die has been cast, I've stepped over the line, the decision has been made, I'm a disciple of His, I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chinsy giving and dwarf goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, positions, promotions, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by presence, lean by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, labor by power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, let up or burn up until I'm preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I'm a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know and work till He stops and when He comes to get His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me."

Author Unknown

HE'S OURS

2008-03-27T10:35:00.002-04:00

Chad's adoption was finalized this past Monday. He is officially a McGarry.

Lots of Changes

2008-03-14T16:11:00.003-04:00

We have had a week of changes. First, we got a new baby, then, we were told that our church needs to find another place to worship on Sundays, and finally, we had to buy a new car because we outgrew our minivan with the addition of the new baby.

It's going well with the new baby. He's very easy. He even slept well last night, which is good for me. A rested Kim makes a nicer Kim. : )

The biggest shock was our church news. When I first heard that the school was no longer able to let us meet there, due to a shortage of custodians, I must admit, my first reaction was fear. Oh, no! What are we going to do now? Then I came back to my senses and claimed the truth that God did not create me to fear. Then I was excited to see where God was going to plant us next. For the past three years, we have been meeting at the middle school, but now we are trying to find something more permanent. When we do find it, we will all get to experience the blessing God has for us because we'll know it's from God because there isn't anything out there. We have been looking for a place for months to no avail. It will be fun to see what happens.

We spent a good portion of this week researching and looking for a new vehicle. I cannot believe we have outgrown our minivan. With the two babies in the middle seats, Lydia and Devyn had to get into the front and crawl to the very back. Ridiculous and dangerous.

We were fortunate to have what I call "our car fairy" find the perfect car for us. Our friend is the manager at one of the car dealerships in our area. When we went to see him on Tuesday, he didn't have what we were looking for, but he was headed to buy some cars that night. He called us and told us about one he had found, but it wasn't what we wanted. He called again to say that he found one that we may like. We went and looked at it and took it for a spin. It's really nice and we got a GREAT deal on it. Can't believe our good fortune.

With gas prices reaching an all time high, we had to buy a Chevy Suburban. It actually doesn't get any worse gas milage than our van.

Surprise!

2008-03-08T14:14:00.008-05:00

We received a phone call this morning at 7:30 AM about taking an 8 week old infant boy. We said we would. So I brushed my teeth and headed out the door to the Sheriff's Offfice to pick up our newest bundle.

We will have him very long term. Could even lead to adoption.

It's crazy how they just hand us other people's children. I can't get over it.

Chad's Story-continued

2008-03-06T22:12:00.005-05:00

We have grown to really enjoy Chip and Joyce's company. We get along very well now. We just needed to break down some walls, Chip's and ours, with God's help, to be able to communicate with them, which is in the best interest of Chad.

Chip did eventually join us at our church. I told him not to dress up because we dress very casual for church, but he showed up all decked out in his shiny gray M C Hammer suit. I told him how snazzy he looked, but that he didn't need to dress up. After reflecting on the situation, Sean and I concluded that Chip just wanted to make a good impression as not to be looked down on for having a child in foster care. Just an assumption on our part. Not that anyone at our church would feel like that.

We also had the opportunity to join their whole family, 70-75 people, for Christmas Eve. We had a great time and had great food. We exchanged gifts with them and were blessed to hear a couple of the young people in their family sing Christmas carols. It was awesome!

Then there was the hearing on January 4th. The court was asked to changed the plan to adoption and for termination of parental rights. Much to our surprise, Chip voluntarily signed over his parental rights. I think I blogged about this before. The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Because he had 10 days to change his mind, the next hearing was set for Jan. 24th. The termination was final on that day. We went directly to the social services office and signed an adoption placement agreement. It wasn't long after that that we signed adoption papers. I just spoke with social services, last week, and they informed me that the adoption should be final in about 3 weeks. I can't believe it happened so fast.

Chip and Joyce visited Chad, in our home, for the first time, last week. They stayed for about an hour and were thrilled to see how big Chad has gotten and how much progress he has made.

I can't begin to explain all of the highs and lows we went through during this past year. I know I've left tons of things out. Mostly medical stuff, I think. We're still working on a diagnosis, but that won't change a thing. We love our little guy so much. Lydia and Devyn love having a baby brother and they are the best big sisters he could ever ask for.

He was chosen for us.

Chad gets physical therapy once a week and speech therapy (to help with feeding) two times per month. We are thrilled with his PT and the progress he is making. It's awesome to see. He is such a joy to watch.

Warning...Goofy mom stuff ahead. I call Chad cute, cute or my little cute cute. It's funny how I make up nicknames for each of my kids. I called Lydia beautiful girl and would sing the John Lennon song, "Beautiful Boy" to her only I would change boy to girl. Or I would sing the Van Halen song "Beautiful Girls", but change the lyrics to Beautiful Girl. I called Devyn little bitty pretty one and of course, there was a song to go with that too. I prefer the Johnny Maestro version. My lyrics were, Little bitty pretty one, come on and smile for me. Little bitty pretty one, my little Devyn Ede. Her middle name is Edith. OK...end of goofy mom stuff.

We continue to tube feed Chad as we try to encourage him to take food by mouth. It is a big challenge. Not too big a challenge for God though. We know that Chad will eat by mouth. We just don't know when. So we keep trying.

One of the biggest challenges we are facing now is the return of severe reflux. There was a time, during his ACTH treatment, that he didn't have any reflux. The medication slowed everything down, from development to reflux. We were happy about the latter. It returned shortly after the cessation of the drug. Over the Christmas holiday, we were feeding Chad 2 oz. every hour. Sean would stay awake until 1:30 or 2 in the morning to make sure Chad got enough calories. This became a big drag before too long. We were beside ourselves. Short on sleep and short on temper.

In January, we were able to increase to 4 oz. and now we are pushing 6 at a time. On Monday, he went on three medications for reflux. The doctor told me that although Chad is going from no meds. to three, they work well in conjunction with one another and we should see a good result. We have another visit to see the GI surgeon at the end of this month. If the meds. don't help, we are looking at the prospect of fundoplication surgery. We want to avoid that at all costs.

The "fundus" (hence the term fundoplication) of the stomach (top portion of the stomach) is wrapped around the back of the esophagus until it is once again in front. The portion of the fundus that is now on the right side of the esophagus is sutured to the portion on the left side to keep the wrap in place. When completed, the fundoplication resembles a buttoned shirt collar. The collar is the fundus wrap and the neck represents the esophagus inside the wrap. This has the effect of creating a one-way valve in the esophagus to allow food to pass into the stomach, but prevent stomach acid from flowing into the esophagus and thus prevent GERD.

We are counting on more healing.