Way up... and back down...

Back on the roller coaster ride:  Yesterday Brooklynn's case worker got a call from some distant relatives who just discovered she was going to be adoptable.  So they want to adopt her.  The laws have changed since I adopted Derrick; foster parents who have cared for a child over a year are no longer considered at the same level as relatives who want to adopt.  In other words, the relatives will likely be preferred over me in this adoption, unless they are considered too far distant.  Feels like a punch in the gut.

What single moms really need...

(I wrote up this list during a frustrating evening at a discipleship class.  The topic was on single parenting, but should have been more correctly titled "Divorce Care".  I understand that there are very few single-parent families that fit my situation, but the needs of ongoing single parenting are much the same.)

• to be part of an involved extended family
• to have close friends who will stop by and tell a son/daughter that their mom loves them and deserves respect
• trustworthy men who will take sons of single moms along on manly-man outings with their own sons (hunting, fishing, 4-wheeling, doing yard work, fixing cars, etc.)
• extra grandparents to pour on the love and the discipline; we won't resent you telling them not to take a fifth cookie
• married friends who will live out godly marriages (complete with healthy disagreements) in front of the children
• occasional financial/material assistance; the gift of a women's retreat can save a single mom's life
• a day or evening off without the cost of a sitter
• offers of help with car maintenance, yard work, home repair, cooking, homework projects, or any other overwhelming task; we're usually pretty independent and hate to ask for help
• 48 hours in every day
• acceptance when their kids are dressed funny (if at all), when their children's hair sticks up and they have Saturday's lunch on their faces at Sunday school, when they've forgotten crucial information, when they come in 10 minutes late, when the darlings are screaming, when the task of being both mom and dad 24/7 becomes too much for one person alone
• and last of all introductions to eligible, wealthy, handsome men who want an instant family!

My Favorite Things

But I'm not Oprah, so you won't find a basket of these under your chair.


The first year I've had tomatoes that look like they (I hope!) will ripen!  I also love my portable fence section that I'm using for a trellis right now.  Those 5x3 sections have a lot of uses!

  

My rain barrel -- doubles as a redneck splash park for the kids.



I love, love, love my flower garden!  It's full of masses of brown-eyed Susans, lupine, and a bunch of other anonymous flowers.  I also love finding surprise visitors out there, like this bee and grasshopper.  Right after I took this picture, the bee tried to land on the flower the grasshopper was on, but he kicked at her, and she startled away.




I have a sparrows' nest right outside my window in the carport.  They've nested there for years, but this winter a windstorm cleared out all three nests.  One pair rebuilt and have raised a noisy family this summer.  I love the sound of the "pio pio pio" in the morning.




Who doesn't love frogs?  These fellows have been living on our kitchen counter all summer.



Cardamom is the spice of the gods, I'm sure.  Just the scent of it in my spice cabinet makes me feel wealthy.  It's delicious in chai, coffee, bread, rice, and anything else.

Many years ago I got rid of my beautiful matching dishes and collected mismatched, brightly colored ones instead.  I like variety.

This is my newly redone bedroom.  I painted over the old manufactured-home wallboard (the paint is the color of peach smoothie), replaced the thin plastic wood molding, ripped out the mauve shag carpet and painted the floor brown, then put in new curtain rods, curtains, and comforter.  I didn't put my niece there; she rolled herself into the photo.

The Gospel According to Brooklynn

On the topic of naps:
B. ~ Why do I have to have naps?
Me ~ So you won't be grumpy.
B. ~ I'm not grumpy.
Me ~ Oh?
B. ~ No, it's only the part of me that is grumpy.  In my bones.  But I am happy in my heart.  My heart is all full of happy.
Me ~ I see, so which part is the grumpy part?
B. ~ The grumpy part is all swept away from my heart.
Me ~ Where did the grumpies go?
B. ~ Far, far away when Jesus put all my grumpies in the sea.  I asked Him to.  In my dreams.

We're on our way... I think

Parenting has its normal ups and downs, but adoption is bipolar.  The ups are way up, and the downs are devastating.  It's an Up today:  Brookie-B could be ours before Christmas!  I almost don't dare hope.  Please pray for all involved during the next month, that this will go through smoothly.

Random Thoughts

I got a new phone, which the kids think is top-of-the-line (it's actually pretty basic) because it takes pictures and records their voices.  So now my ringtones consist of, "I love you, Mom!", "Okay, Mom, you got a new message," "It's a picture!", and "Grampa's calling..."  I also have half of "I love you more..." sung in a wavering seven-year-old voice.  We played with it so much that we ran the battery down in an hour or two.

The kids started swimming lessons.  Derrick's class has two kids and two teachers.  He's on his fourth attempt to pass level 3, coordinating arms, legs, shoulders, and side breathing.  He is slowly learning not to flip vertical in the water to take a breath!

Brooklynn, meanwhile, has started Preschool level 1, beginning bubble blowing.  She has a boy teacher, which means she will try anything he asks of her -- even to releasing her death-grip on his arms.


I feel like a quitter this summer -- I'm finally giving in and seriously considering buying an air conditioner.  Until then, we've been spending most evenings at Cline Falls, with our wonderful water dog.  Buddy likes to chase sticks and things in the water, but he's at least half blind, so he usually misses the stick, and he almost never brings it all the way back.  Can a dog have ADHD?

I had a great workout the other day, hauling four children across the river so they could stand on the "big rock" and say they'd crossed the river.  (Barby wouldn't let me take the baby across, fearing, perhaps, a repeat of the Moses story.)  Then the girls made mud pies and the boys hunted tigers.