Room Mother Joys

I love being Kara's room mother. My mom was for me and now I get to carry on the tradition. So far I have done it every year. I was paid a great compliment this summer. A second grade teacher came up to me and said that the other teachers told her that she should want Kara in her class b/c I am such a good parent to the class. It really made me feel good. Tomorrow at school we can bring a snack and drink to the kids. It is not actually considered a party so we can't stay. I found a cute magazine with all kinds of Halloween ideas.

These little spiders looked cute to me and somewhat simple. Well, after about 3 hours I now know that is not true. But, I feel like they are well worth the time and effort. I started out by adding Snickers pieces to the cake batter. It is all melted and gooey inside. Then I iced the cupcake with chocolate icing. Next came the sprinkles. I had to half marshmallows for the eyes. I put icing on M&M's to make the eyes and nose. The hardest part was cutting the Twizzlers in small pieces and using a toothpick to to make the spider legs.

Strep and no Pep

Joel is sick again. I guess the 4 year old antibiotics he used for two days didn't do the trick. I wonder why. :-) He is going this afternoon to get a penicillin shot from a doctor that Joel has insured.

My brother called today and Seth's package is safely on its way to Holt Sahathai. They even called the agency before they mailed it. The first package I mailed from here (which was lighter than this one) cost $22. Greg used the hotel mail service and still only paid $7. Woo hoo, that is a ton cheaper than shipping it from here and no customs to worry about. I sent a small list of things that I would like from Thailand and Jamie has gotten almost all of the items on my list. They bought the newly released DVD "Meet the Robinson's" in Burma for $2. Seth has a new King shirt. I will send it in December. Kara really wanted a dress from Thailand and they got her one.

I am blue this week about our investment predicament. I will blog about it later. We are being affected by the national real estate crisis. I know that God is in control - we will see this through - He is my Jehovah Jireh, my provider.

We are waiting, waiting, waiting for an update. I can't wait to see a new picture of Patsakorn. I hope he doesn't look too old. I want him to stay little until we get there.

Girls

First, let me say that we are all well. KC is spending the weekend with us. We are so glad to have her. Her parents are in Thailand on the mission trip with our church. I went to get her today after school and she will stay until Sunday night. She and Kara get along so well. They have been playing together since they were babies. I don't have to referee and they play independently. Tonight they have had the tent in the living room, played cheetah and Indian and have had a tea party. We went to dinner with my parents and they sang to the top of their lungs in the car. What a treat for Kara to have a playmate for two nights!

Sick House - Why I'm a Germ A Phob

It all started about 3 weeks ago. When we were camping William came down with 5th disease. He had a low grade fever, stuffy head, and later broke out into a rash. This only lasted about 3 or 4 days. He has never really recovered, he has goose egg lymph nodes, snores, and more ornery than normal. :-) After two kids I have learned to not go to the doctor unless absolutely necessary. They won't give you anything unless its bacterial and you usually bring home a different illness then what you brought in. I caved and finally took him in Monday. It was just a sinus infection and she gave us an antibiotic and Nasonex.

My mother in law came in to visit this past weekend and came down with strep throat. She stayed upstairs in the game room and tried to keep away. Joel came home early yesterday with symptoms of strep throat. He is still in the bed tonight. We borrowed antibiotics from my parents. The expiration date is 2003 so I hoping they still work. Don't laugh, I know how ridiculous this sounds.

My girlfriend's in Thailand so I took 2 of her 4 kids to the doctor Tuesday for strep throat. I told the pediatrician that I liked her so much that I had to bring more kids in just so that I can see her.

This morning at 5 a.m. I woke up with severe pain. I thought it was a urinary tract infection. After looking online and talking to friends I knew that I had to get an antibiotic. Heavens!! When it rains it pours. I went to the doctor and I told him my symptoms. I also told him about Joel so he checked my throat. Guess what. Yep, it was red. So he gave me 2 medicines by mouth and a penicillin shot just in case for the strep. That was nice. I told him that the Momma can't get sick. He agreed. He have me a script for a $4 prescription from Walmart. Evidently there's a whole list of generics at Walmart that are only $4. I paid $62 for Will's antibiotic at Walgreen's. Don't get me started on insurance. I'm married to an insurance agent but I'm telling you health insurance in America is immoral.

The only one in the house not on antibiotics is Kara. I keep asking how she feels and I'm watching for symptoms.

Enough of my belly aching. We have a pumpkin painting party Saturday night. I have to get busy DISINFECTING!

Seth's Christms Gifts

Greg and Jamie


Greg and Jamie (my brother and sister in law) left this morning for Thailand. They are traveling with a group of 13 from our church to an orphanage in Chiang Rai. This is where our adoption journey unofficially started. Joel went with the mission team last year. He came home so fired up and in love with the Thai people that it was contagious. Their journey is long, well over 24 hours. Hudson is being split between the grandmothers. Joel and I plan on going to the orphange when the adoption is over. My MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group had 90 soccer balls donated from Nike. We also raised $100 for an ice cream and fruit party for the kids. Joel and I donated the ball pumps. I can't wait to see pictures.

They will travel to Bangkok first and then travel to Chiang Rai, and then come back to Bangkok on the way home. We sent Seth's Christmas gifts with them with hopes that they will have time to drop it off at the adoption agency's office. If not, maybe when they leave. Worst case they can mail it in country for us.

Here's what we sent:
1. Play mat with little alligator puppet attached (imagine that!)
2. Phone with rotary dial that can be pulled. My kids had never seen a phone like that before. Man, I'm old!
3. Elephant toy that rolls and makes noises. Peanuts swirl around in the middle.
4. Classic ring toy
5. Lavender baby wash and lotion. I love, love, love this scent. Hope foster mom does too.
6. Bag of mini Hersey chocolate bars for foster family
7. Here's the coolest one: teether keys (3) that had places on them to insert your pictures. One key was Joel and I, one was Kara, and one key had Will's picture in it. FYI - we found it at Marshall's and the name brand is Infantino. I hope he enjoys the toys.

Something really great happened Sunday afternoon. A relative of a relative came over to buy some flip flops. She brought her dil and grandson with her. The grandson has the exact birth date of Seth - January 27, 2007. So, so cool. I held him and loved on him. So sweet and cuddly. I told them that he can come over and play anytime! As wonderful it was it was also a little sad. I am missing this innocent time in Seth's life. I enjoyed my babies so much.

Well, now I have to sit on my hands to not send any more packages for a while. I might send a "happy" in December. I am thinking about laminated pictures from Kara and Will and a Build a Bear animal with our voices on it.

Zoo Boo

We went to Zoo Boo Saturday night. Greg (brother) and Jamie (sil) came with Hudson (nephew). The kids loved it and there were lots of cute costumes. We rode on a hay ride, saw a magic show, watched a ballet of "Peter and the Wolf", got a cool flashlight, ate free ice cream (well, it did cost $48 to get in even though we are members), enjoyed cool pumpkin carvings, and not to mention the animals that were available. I did see an owl that was just beautiful. They really are amazing creatures. Glad the kids loved it because it will our only year unless the price goes WAY down. Kara and Will are Indians this year. Will now has a headdress that looks way cool that he will wear on Halloween. He is actually riding a horse. It's kind of hard to see from the pictures.

Will's Words of Wisdom

Last night's prayer:
"Dear Jesus, thank you for monkeys, our hotel (mind you, we haven't stayed in one since May), and Seth... amen".

Tonight at the dinner table:
Will was turned around looking at the back of his chair and moved his index finger all around the wood bars and said "you go dis way and dis way and dis way to get to our Thai baby". It made Joel and I smile. He does get it. Kind of.

Land of Cotton

It's cotton picking time here in the south. As we were coming home from camping the tractors were humming as they were harvesting the cotton fields. We stopped and picked a few bolls to save for our trip to Thailand. I thought that we would bring it to the foster family to show them what we grow in our area. They are farmers too. Like I said before, I am not a country girl but I do like to watch the cotton crop. I like to see the huge bales of cotton in the fields that show the fruits of the farmer's labor. From what I understand this was a good year for cotton. Nice and dry. We live near the delta which has some of the richest soil in the world. The landscape is changing down in the delta (around 20 miles from here) as some farmers are switching their crops to corn. They are growing it for the ethanol - a corn based fuel. Here's a place to learn more about cotton. The National Cotton Council is in Memphis. When I was little my parents took me to the Cotton Carnival that was held downtown. The king and queen of cotton would arrive on a river boat. They had rides, food, etc. on the banks of the Mississippi River. It was exciting and something that I loved. Maybe that's why I love to watch the cotton fields.

The sun was bright and I couldn't get the kids to look at the camera

Look at What We Made!!

Genghis Khan

I am so upset and mad at my 13 1/2 year Pekignese, Genghis. This is not his first rodeo. He has done this one other time before I had Kara. I was doing the same as today when it happened. We have 2 houses still for sale in a subdivision and I went by tonight to lock up. Kara and I took both dogs. Joel and Will went to a football game with my dad. Locking up the first house was uneventful. At the second house Kara wanted to get out and go inside. She enjoys exploring the upstairs. Once we went inside we noticed that Jocy had gotten out. We just let her go inside with us. As we went back to the car Kara said "Momma, the car is locked." Genghis' paw is obviously the same size of the lock button on the door. He locked himself in the car with it running, lights on and Kara's movie playing. We worked for several minutes to try and get Genghis to push the button again. It was to no avail. Thank the Lord I had my phone in my pocket and not in the car. The extra set was in the car as well as the other spare that I keep in my wallet. Mom came and got us, took us to my house first to try and dig up another key. After calling Joel (which I hated to do) we went back to her house to get Joel's keys which he left in his car. Absolute ciaos. It all worked out but my nerve's are shot. And Genghis was glad to see us...

Visa Application

Joel and I had an appointment today at our local USCIS (immigration) office in Memphis. We submitted Seth's visa application. We received his legal documents Friday from Holt. They were really neat and special to me b/c they had his mother's signature on there. I think about her and how she must have felt signing the papers. The USCIS is very formal and official. We had to make an appointment to get in the door. They run your things through a scanning machine and you also walk through a metal detector. We could not bring in our phones. The good part was that there was no waiting. I brought my adoption folder which is about 5 inches thick. She asked for our 1-600A approval and our birth certificates & marriage license. Thank goodness I came prepared. It takes about 8 weeks to get an approval. I never thought about this before but the US doesn't let just anyone in the country. You can't just go to another country and bring a child back. They first want to make sure that you are financially able to provide for a child and that you are not a criminal. Secondly, the US wants to make sure that your child is actually an orphan. The US says that our idea of poverty is not the same definition in other parts of the world. When we get approval they will send his approval letter the the visa processing center and then have them cable it to the US Embassy in Thailand. We will pick it up when we travel to get Seth.

Camping

We went camping Friday at Blanchard Springs, Arkansas. It is a beautiful place with lots of moutains, trees, streams, and waterfalls. I have a lot of wonderful memories there as my parents have been taking me since I was a little girl. I loved being able to tell Kara what "mommy did when she was her age." It's a great place to get away and do nothing. We took the kid's bikes and they loved catching "critters" in the stream. It was hot, hot and very humid. The clothes we hung to dry never did dry from Friday to Sunday. It was in the 90's during the day. The funny part is that you can't go camping without a fire. So, on top of the hot weather we had the fire to add to the temperature. We went with my parents, my brother, his wife, and their son. My kids love it and we overall had a good time.

Seth's First Package

His first package was mailed off Thursday. I had been so overwhelmed about trying to decide what to pack my child half way around the world in a third world country. I just tried to tell myself that this is not going to be his only package and that I just needed to mail it. Here's what we sent:
1. Will's blue "lovie" that he never really used.
2. 2 books that make noise and have different fabrics.
3. A rattle that Kara picked out.
4. Sweet baby boy outfit in blue.
5. 3 t-shirts that Uncle Greg and Aunt Jamie bought at Old Navy
6. Lightweight pullover t- shirts including one yellow one that I labeled "Patsakorn's King Shirt."
7. Will's smocked gator outfit. I love it b/c it is smocked and Joel likes it b/c it's orange and has gator's on it. Oh how I hope and pray they take a picture of him in this outfit. He doesn't even have to wear it except for the pictures.

The reason we are sending so many shirts is that our information from Holt said that kid's in Thailand don't wear bottoms or diapers. Can you imagine? His foster home looks like they probably don't have electricity. Being from Mississippi I can understand country folks living simply. I myself am a suburban girl who likes big cities.

I will be sending toys with Greg and Jamie in the next couple of weeks when they leave for Thailand. My Holt friend, Sharon, said that toys are very expensive in Thailand. I think this is a great way for him to have some toys and we won't have to worry about customs.

Over the next few months as the waiting gets harder I think I will abide by the old saying "when the going gets tough the tough go shopping."

:-)