Glitches

I keep getting emails from you folks that your comments are not showing up. Sorry about that~ but I have no idea why that is happening or how to fix it. I surely do love to hear from you all! Perhaps it will fix itself soon. 

There were other glitches today as well. I sent eldest out to water the garden and let the goats out into the pasture. When she came in I set the timer on the oven to remind me to check on the goats. They've been known to grow bored with our salad bar and meander off our property. The grass is always greener on the other side of the lane, you know. So we periodically have to run outside and call them back toward home by shaking a bucket of corn and yelling, "Come on, goats!"  Yes, it is just about as inefficient as it sounds.

Right after I set the timer for the goat check I put in a batch of muffins for tomorrow's breakfast. Then I stirred supper, answered a phone call, jotted things on the grocery list, checked tomorrow's calendar, fed the fish, moved the laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, and bossed the kids around while they picked up the living room. Ten minutes later the timer went off, I ran back to the kitchen and pulled the muffins out.

"Hmmm. That's funny. These aren't done," I mused. I reset the timer, put the muffins back in, and went back to setting the table. You can probably see where this is going. 

I'm sorry to say it took me a while, but in the end I finally remembered that the timer was the goat reminder, and had nothing to do with muffins. The muffins did eventually come out OK, in spite of me. And the goats hadn't wandered too far. This time. 

From now on I refuse to do more than 9 things at once. I think that's my limit. 

Thankful

We feel so blessed. Hurricane Ike passed us by on Saturday. The outer bands of destruction stayed just a few miles east of our home. We only had a little bit of rain and some breezes.

So many people lost everything in this storm. The scenes of destruction along the coast and in east Texas make us especially thankful that we are safe and sound today. 

Ike

We've been prepping for Hurricane Ike around here today. We did what the checklists recommend: fill the cars with gas, stock up on bottled water, stash some cash, put away the porch chairs and outdoor toys, and grab extra food and batteries. We even had to take the onions down.

Then we faced the big question not covered on the checklists: What do you do with chickens during a hurricane? We live nowhere near the coast, so we don't get many hurricanes. I actually have no idea how to help these poor birds through this event. Chickens like lots of fresh air, so their home is a 3-sided hen house attached to a big wire coop. Most of the coop is covered but it is all open wire on the sides. When it rains they love to hang out up on their roosts where they stay nice and dry. 

But I'm not sure if their 4 little toes will be strong enough to hang on during 50-mile-per-hour winds. And if they get blown to the ground in a torrential downpour they might not make it back up on the roost at all. And those are the conditions forecasters are calling for this weekend.

Maybe we should leave those biddies loose in the pasture and let them try to find a good place to hunker down? That might work, but I can imagine some potential problems. Chickens have very small heads, as you know. And their brains have to fit inside those tiny heads. Enough said. If they fly into the tree tops to try to roost there, they'll be blown into the next county. If they chose a low spot to squat they'll be drowned. Oh my.

There is still a chance that Ike will not pack the punch that they've predicted, so we are praying for that. Big prayers for those on the coast who will really feel its power. 

Now That's Better

I have to admit that last week was rough. I wasn't quite prepared for our first week back to school. We managed to get it all done anyway, but the rest of our home life suffered and I was meeting myself coming and going all week. Then we tacked on a string of later-than-usual bedtimes for the kids and the resulting cranky attitudes, a busy Saturday of catching up around the place, a full day on Sunday of worship services, and a Sunday afternoon sewing project with church friends. Mama was pretty whipped by Sunday night. 

But thankfully we got off to a better start today. I prepared everything during the wee hours of the night, and we were ready to hit the books right after breakfast and chores this morning. The new chore charts were a fun change for the kids and the on-time bedtimes made a huge difference on the cranky meter. Duh. I learned with my first child that bedtime is the axis around which all moods revolve. So I'm not sure why I need to periodically remind myself of that law of nature the hard way. Now I just need to get my bedtime back to a good place and we'll all be perky.

Today we enjoyed filling in characters on our giant wall timeline. We fill it in every few weeks and review our history as we post those characters up there. To be quite honest, I grew up thinking of Bible history and world history with two different sections of my brain and they never really connected well. So I'm very thankful for the opportunity to refresh my learning alongside the kids. That timeline is one of our very best learning tools. 

For fun we are listening to audio recordings of American Tall Tales. Beethoven is our composer study for music appreciation, and we are just starting a very cool art curriculum I found called Artistic Pursuits. It's going to be great, I can tell! For geography we are working on a lapbook about Ethiopia. Math is going well for everyone and we always enjoy science and nature study. Nature study in the great outdoors is cancelled for now and we are studying through the windows. I know some of you up north suffer through the snowbound months of winter, but we do our suffering in the summer, when swarming mosquitoes could easily carry off a small child. 

Hopefully we will stay on track and finish this week out strong. My goals for tomorrow include getting back on my menu plan so I don't have to scour my brain for a supper idea at 4pm. That never works out well. I also must tackle Mt. Laundry before it takes over. If we can get those two things accomplished in addition to school we'll call it a success!

Country Kid

Our 10-year-old daughter plopped down at the table for supper. She looked out the window and saw her grandparents, uncle and cousin working in the pasture. 

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed in despair. "I wanted to help, but they're worming the goats without me!"

She had already had her bath so we didn't let her go back out to help. But we did let her watch the proceedings from the window while we ate. Does that count as dinner and "a show?"

We are definitely raising a country kid. 

Sunday Singing

Let Every Heart Rejoice and Sing

Henry S. Washborne and Geo. J. Webb

Let every heart rejoice and sing,

Let choral anthems rise;

Ye aged men and children, bring

To God your sacrifice;

For He is good, the Lord is good,

And kind are all His ways;

With songs and honors sounding loud,

The Lord Jehovah praise;

While the rocks and the rills,

While the vales and the hills

A glorious anthem raise;

Let each prolong the grateful song,

And the God of our fathers praise,

And the God of our fathers praise.

He bids the sun to rise and set;

In heav'n His pow'r is known;

And earth subdued to Him, shall yet

Bow low before His throne;

For He is good, the Lord is good,

And kind are all His ways;

With songs and honors sounding loud,

The Lord Jehovah praise;

While the rocks and the rills,

While the vales and the hills

A glorious anthem raise;

Let each prolong the grateful song,

And the God of our fathers praise,

And the God of our fathers praise.

Promise of Things to Come

God had this pretty little bud waiting for me this morning, and it gave me hope. I was so glad to see it, because it was just what I needed.

Like most of the adoptive families that we know, the single biggest challenge we face with each adoption is pulling together the funds to complete it. In our efforts to bring this little girl home from Ethiopia, we've been incredibly blessed to receive gifts from dear friends and family to help build up our adoption account. We're also being pretty creative in earning and saving and squeezing the family budget. In an effort to come up with the rest of the funds required, we've submitted lengthy applications to several grant organizations that help families pay the adoption fees to bring a child home. We are now waiting to hear from those groups and are praying the Lord will use them to help us get the last bit of funding we need for this adoption.

We've been plugged into the adoption world for so long that I sometimes forget how much the rest of the world doesn't know~ if you haven't adopted a child, you may not realize that adoption expenses are usually $20,000 or more. When most people hear that number, their jaws drop in disbelief. I know mine certainly did when I first called an adoption agency more than 10 years ago. 

Many people assume that agencies are ripping off adoptive families with those high fees. Or they assume that it all goes to lawyers. But from our experience with agencies that we love and trust, neither of those is true. We are confident that the money we pay during the adoption process is used carefully by reputable agencies who really care about vulnerable children. 

I use this comparison to explain adoption fees to people. Imagine that you had to put your child in daycare for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The daycare would meet all her basic needs every day all day: meals, clothing, sleeping quarters and supervision. They would also provide medical care when she was ill, hospitalization when required, and check-ups when they could manage it. Suppose that your child needed this kind of care for weeks, or months, or even years. When you came to pick her up after all that care every day and every night, can you imagine what your bill would be? 

Orphanages run by caring people all over the world struggle to provide all these things and more to the children in their care. One of the ways that adoption agencies fund those orphanages and childrens' services in other countries is through fees paid by adoptive parents. 

But just because the money goes to a worthy cause doesn't mean it's easy for a family to fund an adoption. In fact, it gets exhausting and daunting and downright depressing trying to figure where it will all come from. But we know how to work hard, and God does provide. Over the years He has directed us toward new ways to earn and save for adoption expenses. Other times, He has met the need through generous friends and family who contribute to our adoption fees, because they know the very best way to change a child's life forever is to wrap that child in her forever family. We thank God they understand and share our heart for children in need. 

We are told in Psalm 68 verses 5 and 6 that "God sets the lonely in families." It is His desire that all children have families to love and teach them. We know from experience that He will provide if we will step out in faith and walk in His will. 

So now we continue to pray~ with great hope in the promise of things to come.