Serenity Now

Despite all the electrical mishaps (I won't even go into what happened with my computer this weekend) and what we are going through with Boots, the earth keeps turning and the regular things march on whether we will them or not. Homework must be completed, laundry must be done and I have to acknowledge that.... my kids are getting older - hence so am I!!!

Sheriff celebrated another birthday this past Sunday.
He had a difficult time waiting until the appointed day and just about drove us crazy with the "what day is it" "how many days until my birthday?" routine. The day finally arrived, however, and he was able to have the traditional pancake breakfast (made by his dad) and open his birthday presents.

I think his brothers showed a bigger reaction to his birthday presents than he did although he still loved them. His brothers just loved them MORE.


This is Smiley's look of awe over Sheriff receiving a basketball.

I can't even describe the sound that came out of his mouth - sort of a half whimper, half "whoa". Sheriff might want to put that in a safe place.


Of course there came a moment during the day when Sheriff looked a little sad and I asked him why he was sad. He said to me "you and dad are being the bossiest you have EVER BEEN and it's my birthday!!!" I managed to keep a straight face as I told him that it would only feel worse as he gets older so he might as well find a way to deal with it.

He's not even a teenager yet!

This afternoon was a tougher one for me. I thought I was doing better since getting the news that Boots would be going home soon. I cried pretty much non-stop the first week and then it tapered off. I realized that the tapering off just meant I was in denial but I was hoping that part of me was dealing with it better. Not so. It really was denial. This afternoon my mind was doing too much thinking and so my Kleenex box became my friend again.

I am working on a photo album for Boots that she can take with her when she finally transitions home (still don't have a final date on that) and as I looked at one of the photos it made me reflect on some of the things that I have learned from her and why we are told to become as little children. I won't go into all the things I have learned except to say that I love the joy that she takes in life - in just the simple things. The happiness she finds in the everyday interactions with family. These are beautiful lessons for me. Ways for me to try and follow in her footsteps... to learn from the example of a 16 month-old who brings so much joy to others around her with her loving nature, her easy smiles, her frequent hugs and her ready laugh.

As if black fingers and being scared to death with the bang of the prong being blasted off wasn't enough, insult was added to injury (well I wasn't really injured) when I discovered that as a result of of the outlet mishap my dishwasher wouldn't work!!! Oh the inhumanity!!!! I may not have not have been a casualty of the electrical surge but my precious dishwasher was.
To add further insult, however, I discovered that the next morning after doing all of the above dishes.... my dishwasher was up and running just fine. What the what???

But my home was not finished betraying me.... oh no. I went to curl my hair on Friday only to discover that the outlets in the master bathroom were not working. The bathroom lights worked just fine. The lights in the mainbathroom did not work but the outlets DID work. What in the world was going on???

I could go without curled hair though - and have done on many a day. What I could NOT go without was heat. This was my thermostat in the mornings this weekend...
It did not get above 67 as hard as I tried and prayed and wished it to. I normally set it to 73 and am still cold and wearing multiple layers. At 64 and 67 I was suffering from frostbite.

I thought it was a result from my electrical mishap but it turned out with a $75.00 service call later that it was just a dirty furnace filter. Now I'm no longer wearing my coat in my house. Yeah!!!!

I know there are differing opinions on how many times a person can be struck by lightning in a lifetime but has research been done on the number of times a person can accidentally be electrocuted?

When I went to the Philippines for my brother's wedding a couple of years ago my sisters were too chicken to try their curling irons and hairdryers in the outlets not knowing if they would be compatible so I volunteered to be the guinea pig. A spark, bang and burnt thumb later (plus no working hairdryer) and I had my first experience with an outlet. It didn't actually hurt but it was really freaky to see all the black on my thumb.

Today when I went to plug my sewing machine in to the island outlet in the kitchen in order to quilt with a friend the same thing - a spark, bang and black fingers on both hands.

It blew the prong off the extension cord!!!

It was so powerful that it has blown the power to the island, pantry light and fridge - BROKEN. With the help of my friend we pulled the fridge out and plugged it into another plug. Needless to say I'm very nervous when I have to plug anything in today!!! (and my thumb feels kinda tingly)

From this experience one of two things needs to happen... either we up the insurance on me OR I invest in rubber shoes.

I thought I was smart on Sunday night and watched the news for the weather report. The weatherman very confidently reported that Monday would be partly cloudy with mild temperatures and no snow or rain in our area. He said if by SOME chance we DID have a snow or rain shower it would not last longer than .... wait for it.... 5 minutes. Does anyone recall yesterday's weather? Totally overcast ALL DAY with constant sprinkling of rain and occasional increased showers.

I'm a very trusting person.. I even trust weathermen. So I told my kids that seeing as it was a holiday we would do a special outdoor activity in the afternoon. Everyone got all excited, got ready and we piled into the car only to pull out into the soaking wet driveway and dark outdoors. I don't swear... but my thoughts weren't nice. I considered pulling straight back into the garage then and there but optimism was still there because the weatherman said the rain would only last 5 minutes and it would be at least a 20 minute drive to our destination... surely it would be done by then and the sun would break through the clouds drying up the land? Right? Right?

Okay so Monday's lesson was that weathermen are liars and you can't trust everyone. But I remembered that my boys are no sissys when it comes to rainy holidays. We have done many activities in the rain. Siteseeing, waterfall watching, hiking, going to the zoo, amusement park rides... why not add to it a farm with animals? Bring on the mud!




One of the reasons I wanted to go out was to have Sheriff take some pictures with his camera of Boots and I before she fully transitions home to her birthfamily. Boots is our little fostergirl (I call her boots because she loves her pink boots). Taking pictures of her and I didn't work however because she was tired, crying and screaming. The boys are smiling in the picture below because as I take their picture they think it is funny that Boots is having a temper tantrum at my feet.



It is time to go and get Boots home for her nap. We counted 11 different kinds of animals that we saw (that included the dead fish in the creek).



Wonder what we'll do on our next rainy holiday?

This year I'm trying to deny that I will soon be leaving my 30's. My husband's family loves to tease me with the fact that I am soooo much older than Brett (by 3 years). So Brett will get to say that he is in his 30's for another precious 3 years.

The fact that I am getting older was brought to home when Sheriff was doing homework a couple of weeks ago and we were actually having to correct some mistakes that he had made. The answer had to do with the number of baby chicks that you would have and the correct answer was 15 chicks. Well Sheriff wrote down the answer then looked up at me... grinned... and inserted an arrow with the word hot in front of the number 15. I think I almost fell off my chair!!! 15 HOT CHICKS!?!

Trying to keep a straight face and at the same time freaking out inside wondering what happened to my little boy ... I calmly say... "do you really want to keep that answer? Your teacher is going to see that." He reluctantly erased it. Maybe I should have had him keep it and turn it in to his teacher so she could fall off her chair.

Even after my worst day my hubby has the gift of making me smile ... or should I say his Valentine gift made me smile.

Before I tell you what he gave me I need to preface this with a little story. I got into bed one night (don't be scared... it's a clean story) and my husband says to me "are you wearing socks?" I wasn't. True story.

Let's rewind a little further in time to when I was younger and would watch my dad massage my mom's rough feet while they watched t.v. It always creeped me out to see how dry and cracked her heels were and I thought it was weird - I was sure she was the only one in the whole wide world with feet that looked like that. I guess after the socks comment we need to add one more to the world.

Fast forward to my Valentine's gift. He gave me a nailcare set, a sea salt scrub for removing dead skin and a lotion to put on afterwards to soften the skin. I ask you.. was the gift for me or to preserve his legs in bed??? :) you decide. hahaha!!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I went to my boys' school today to pick them up and to bring Sheriff's friend back to our house so they could play together. I arrived a few minutes early because I needed to get something from the office. As I entered another mom was leaving with her son and I heard her say to him in a frustrated voice "I have had the WORST day! Your dad is sick, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong and then THIS happens" (in reference I'm sure to having had to pick him up from school for whatever the reason was). I felt like running after to her to see if I could compete with her for the worst day/week but I really don't have my older sister Sheri's personality so for me it was only a fleeting thought.

But you never know... maybe her day really WAS worse than mine. You never can tell what is going on in the life of a person. Some people suffer silently (I'm not one of those by the way). I wear all my emotions on my sleeve, my pant cuffs, even on the bottoms of my shoes... my emotions are everywhere! I'd make a HORRIBLE poker player.

But I know these are difficult times for many. People are struggling with all kinds of things. I'm so grateful for the kindness of others - for kind words, kind thoughts, kind prayers, and warm hugs. They make the world a friendlier place.

So if you see someone having their worst day... send a little bit of kindness their way - a hug wouldn't hurt too (unless administered by one of my boys).

Life doesn't always turn out how you plan it to or how you expect it to. This is certainly the case in my life. I got married later than I wanted to ...


but I have the best husband in the whole world (and he's holding an award for best father so he has that going for him too).

My plan long ago was to have 4 children (it didn't matter if they were boys or girls). They didn't come when or how I expected. Sheriff took his own sweet time coming with lots of medical procedures and expenses. Wannabe, Giggles and Smiley came years later through adoption.


I learned many things as I went through these experiences - waiting for something special to happen in my life. In the case of our little fostergirl our long wait to find out her fate has ended and she will return to her birthfamily. We are not empty handed however as she brought something special to our home the last 7 1/2 months. She brought a softness to our family that girls and babies bring. She melted our hearts, brought smiles to our faces, brought boys big and small to their kness, had me playing Primary songs on the piano to put her to sleep, and drew our family closer together as we prayed for her future.

As her time with our family draws to a close she will take with her our prayers, our hopes for bright and beautiful future, and the love of a family who will always remember her and think of her.


Thanks to all for your kind thoughts, prayers, tears and hugs!

When we started fostercare in March 2007 we knew we were doing the right thing. We welcomed 2 little girls into our home and said goodbye 3 weeks later. Then we welcomed 3 little boys into our home and they stayed and became a permanent part of our family.

In June 2009 we again welcomed into our home a beautiful 8 month old baby girl. We were there as she learned to roll over, learned to crawl, learned to go from the bottle to baby food to solid food. We watched her get her first tooth, and then some. We were there for her first words and then some. We accepted her hugs, her kisses, her bites, and gave her hugs and kisses in return. We watched her take her first steps with help and then on her own.

Today we were there as the judge ruled that this beautiful (now 15 month old) girl is to return home to her birth father. How do you tell your heart to stop breaking, the tears to stop falling. How do you wish her well in her birth home and still wish she was staying with you? How do you sleep again at night wondering what she is doing, how she is doing, whether she is missing you, wondering why the mother she has known for 7 months is not there to feed her, hug her, play with her, comfort her.

How do I?