Phinally! More photos!

First of all - today was a beautiful day!  We had a lot of fun outside!  Which, of course, means I took a bunch of pictures....

Super Moses!

Mushroom man, taking after his momma.

So I added warm water to the mini-greenhouse thing, hoping it quickly expand the 'dirt plugs'.  It did.  I laughed rather loudly when I noticed HOW they expanded...anyone else think they look funny?  Like...um...waste products?  ;)

Dave hatched chicks in his classroom again!  So far only 3 have made their grand entrance, and that might be all, but we are enjoying Pip, DeeDee and Lois a lot!

Finally, what would a fun day be w/o goofy pictures of ourselves?!

May I be late?

It's late May and I haven't done a goals update!  Here we go...
Physical
-DRINK MORE WATER!  Well, I'm am drinking more...but I find it easy to fall back into old habits.  
-Get 8 hours of sleep each night.  Nope, not happening.  Re-committing myself to this one right now!
-Complete a 5K in under 30 minutes before the snow flies at the end of 2011.  If you've been reading here lately you know I finished my 1st 5K in a while =)  I came in just under 36 minutes!  So this goal is totally do-able!  I am planning to run another 5K (I keep typing 5L for some reason...??...) the Saturday of Memorial Weekend.  More on that later...
Personal
-Have a weekly planning time.  I have just instituted a plan to do better than this - daily planning time.  More on that plan in the spiritual category.
-Go out on a date w/Dave every other week.  GOOD NEWS!!  For the past 6 weeks or so we have gone out every week!!  It is so cool - we put the kids to bed and have a great sitter come over.  We go out kid-free for 2 hours - mission accomplished.  We hope to keep it up during summer!
-Two hours of scrapbooking, sewing or crafting each week.  Another thing not happening.  Again, re-committing myself to this one.
-Go on a women's retreat before 2011 is over. Proud to say I 'survived' a 2 day women's conference at our church.  (I don't say survived b/c the conference was bad - if you remember from the goals post in January, I explained some of my issues w/women's events...)  The cool thing was, this conference included worship in Spanish, a rockin' awesome speaker in Spanish and just some really cool topics.  I felt very inspired by the women/speakers and I know this will help my attitude about attending more!  =)
Spiritual
-Track my Bible reading.  Still catching up on The Purple Book, but I have just joined Inspired to Action's   Hello Mornings Challenge.  I am getting up before everyone else to have 'me' time - worshipping, reading my bible, praying, getting organized for the day, and exercising if there's time.  So far so good!  This also ties into getting to bed earlier each night.  All around, all good stuff for me to be doing...it's not that hard, but my inner morning person has gone into retirement lately and needs a jump start.  I think this will be just what I need!
-Family Devotion once a week.  I am currently blaming life for this one.  Too many activities.  Not happening.  Over summer would be a good time to start...
-Go on a missions trip???  There's a reason this one has question marks behind it!  No progress here, no surprise...

Narco dog

I was reminded of this funny story today and thought I'd share it here for my kids (and the 3-4 extended family members who actually read my blog =)!).

When I was in college, I used to go to the animal shelter w/a couple of other kids from my dorm to walk the dogs.  It was a lot of fun!  Big dogs, little dogs, noisy dogs, happy dogs!  We were not allowed to walk the dogs together, so they sent us all out on different routes, which made sense, until the day I was handed the leash of a narcoleptic dog.

Yes, narcoleptic dog.

They told me this dog frequently fell asleep in the midst of whatever activities, but not to worry, b/c he liked walks and we probably wouldn't be gone long enough for an episode.  (You can see what's coming here, can't you?)

At this point in the story I would like to include the detail that the animal shelter was back in a quiet, almost empty, industrial area of town, like on the edge, tucked back by a field and such...So the dog and I set out for a 'wog' - walking jog, or maybe you prefer 'jalk'? - anyway, we were off through the field towards town.  We happily made a loop around the grocery store, sniffed around the bushes by the local 2 year college campus, and generally wore ourselves out.  When I was convinced this dear dog's tongue could hang out no further, we turned back to the shelter.  We began to cross the field and I was talking to the sweet boy, telling him I'd come again and such, when I felt a tug at the leash.  Those of you who have walked a dog before know how you can get going and looking on ahead, not noticing that your dog has stopped to do business or something and it catches you off guard, but you feel the tug of the leash and turn your head and look down and stop when you see what he/she is up to.  Well!  I felt the tug of the leash and I turned to find my furry friend flat out flopped down in the grass.  Out cold.

I had no idea what to do!  I had no idea how long it would last!  I called his name, I massaged his belly, scratched his ears, tried to make him think I had bacon, etc...and there were no signs of life.  A car went by and it wasn't until it disappeared around the bend that I realized that since this was a secluded area, another probably wouldn't pass for a long time.  What was I going to do?  Carry him??  He looked to weigh close to the same number as me, and despite thinking I was young, strong and active, that was just not going to happen.

Sigh.  I was beginning to feel like I was on candid camera or something.  I looked around for someone, ANYONE!, who could help me...

And then the dog jumped up on all fours, gave me a look like, "What are you doing just standing there??" and we picked up right where we left off!  I laughed so hard all the way back to the shelter!  I kept telling that crazy dog how he scared me, how he should never do that again and how I really hope there is a special family out there to adopt him!  I told him I hope they love you and laugh w/you =)

The shelter people were not surprised by my story, of course, and they told me my guy was quite the character...the next time I went back he was gone, so I guess that's good, right?

You're probably wondering why I labeled this post as adoption and foster care (or maybe you're not but I'm going to tell you anyway!).  You see, in a weird way, I think this story says a little about fostering and adopting people too.  Lots of kids have character.  They have quirks and qualities that you might not think kids are capable of having.  Up until I met that dog, I didn't know dogs could be narcoleptic.  Up until I met some of our foster kids, I didn't know really young children could be so affected and changed by their life situations.  Like the narcoleptic dog, kids of all kinds need love, a family to laugh with, and someone to take them on walks =)  Like the episode in the field, if you just hang on and hang in there, some of the kids' issues will pass and you will carry on...

If you didn't already know, May is National Foster Care Month.  If you have been reading here for long, you know how that is one of the topics I am passionate about.  I encourage you to ask me questions if you have them or find someone in your area who can assist you.  I pray for all the foster kids in waiting, the kids up for adoption, the parents in waiting, the families in the process of getting certified and those that are part of foster and adoptive families.  God bless you all!

(PS - thanks for reading the long funny story that took a turn into soap box land...)

Springing into action

I know, you are all waiting w/baited breath to see how well I did in the foster care/adoption 5K...go read about the success and failure of the day (yes, both!) at the other blog!

In other news...I've been pretty busy w/end of the school year stuff, laundry (it's finally stopped raining a little so I can hang stuff outside!) and a few other around the house projects.  I've been plotting a lot of things for summer - garden, camping adventures, a few changes to our food/eating habits...I've also been on the hunt for summer clothes for Colleen.  We don't have girl clothes stashed away in the basement like we do boy clothes!  Nothing from last summer fits her, praise God!, so that means I'm visiting the consignment shops and thrift stores.  So far, so good...I keep thinking that if I just put her in sun dresses every day, I won't need to find both shirts and shorts!  I'm all about the one piece outfits...=)  Let's hope she is too!  She likes wearing dresses to school, so I think she'll have fun w/it.

It seems like it has taken forever, but spring is slowly coming around...every year I celebrate tulip week - when they all open and wave in the wind, like colorful bling for my house!  We are almost there!!!  The oranges started already and the reds are not far behind.  When we moved into this house (closing in on 10 years) I planted like 60+ tulips all over.  Just the walkway from the sidewalk up to the house easily has that many now!  How can a person (well, me, anyway) be grumpy when they are surrounded by their favorite flower??

We just bought a book titled 101 Places to See Before You Are 12 and have plans to visit many of them over the summer!  Moses and I are also going to the library to find books on Lewis and Clark - did you know they started their expedition in May?  He sounded very interested in what they did and he was excited to learn that they started in St. Louis - "We've been there!"  Maybe when he's older we can go and trace their route.  Another thing we are looking forward to is getting our bikes back.  We had them in the shop for a tune-up and it's time to get riding!  Can't believe we are almost half-way through May already....

Seis

MY FIRST 5K IN OVER A DECADE IS IN SIX DAYS!!!

6 DAYS PEOPLE!!!

The blog in my brain...

...gets updated every day.  But this one is neglected at times.

There are so many things I want to say!  So again, you are subjected to a random list of happenings...
- The adopted baby in our extended family gets to stay in our extended family!  There was a moment there where his birth father came forward and things were shaky, but all is well now.
- Friends from college met their 3 soon-to-be-adopted daughters this weekend.  They will be bringing them home forever in 2 weeks!
- Friends from high school found out they are approved/matched/whatever the appropriate word is to adopt an infant, coming in June!  All this adoption news is making me itch.  =)
- Turned down a foster care placement.  The kids were older and that's just not what we're ready for right now.  That itch just got bigger.
- Spring has come and gone a few times - today it's here.  My hot hubby is working on the garage while my sweet son follows him around, swaggering...toolbelt around his waist, cap on his head, pencil behind his ear...
- In a mere 6 days, I will participate in my first 5K in over a decade.  No, I'm not ready.  But who cares?  Ready enough!  I may not accomplish this task on the first try, but if I don't try, then I most certainly never will.  I saw a cool motivational poster - it said, "Yesterday you said tomorrow."
- Mo is looking forward to summer t-ball.  He has been going to 'gym and swim' at the Y and plays sports outside all the time!  He yells at me when I ask him to practice riding the 2 wheeled bike (no trainers!) but then when he actually gets on he likes it.  No falls yet, no blood, but I still hold on most of the time.  We'll get there...
- Colleen is going to need orthotic foot braces again.  =(  And one of her huge IEP goals for next year is to work on her attention.  It's not getting any better, and the tasks in school are getting longer and harder. I have a lot of emotions attached to issues like these...there seems to be no way we can help.  You can't do exercises or activities to change a kid's brain.  Can you?  If you know of some, please, do tell!  But it seems more and more like there's not much we can do to help this.  I'm still wrapping my brain around it all and I think that's good.  The more I process it before we take the next step the better, right?
- Everyone keeps talking about camping!  Dave brought the camper home for the day and we got it ready...now everyone wants to go!  It's still too cold for the momma to allow it yet.  SOON!!!
- I should be cleaning.
- I realized I haven't bought new clothes for a long time, for anyone really, but mostly myself.  I may need new jeans and khakis soon.  If I start now I might have some by 2012!
- A few weeks ago we went out to the syrup farm =)  We got to learn all about how they make syrup!  I love visiting the farms and letting the kids see where our food comes from.  The barn was open, they called us in and kept working while we talked.  Needless to say, I won't need to hunt for maple syrup this year!  We are set!
- That makes me think of the farmer's market...can't wait!!
- I need to get outside and enjoy the sun.  I will post more this week...