Pond Jumps & Bieber Fever

Long overdue is a recap of the 9th birthday of Eli the Squirrel...from the land of Fruits and Nuts.  We decided Eli could invite every girl in her class since we planned to stay on the reservation AND she may not be in Cougarville the next time her birthday rolls around.  We didn't quite realize the havoc 8 giggling, frenetic little girls could create in less than 12 hours. 

The girls came bounding off the bus and dropping backpacks and lunch bags everywhere.  Eli obsesses about her birthday year 'round, so much so that we had to make a rule that she couldn't talk about her birthday until April 1st each year.  You may think that is harsh but LITERALLY the girl would bring it up every day if she could - enlightening me on the latest activity, guest list, and cake flavor she currently planned to ask for.  So when the actual birthday party happens, she is goes into a whole 'nother stratosphere of hyperactive and starts running from room to room, showing off her "treasures" while talking a mile a minute.  We call this "company mode" as she starts acting like she can mouth off to her parents and break all the rules.  A quick nip from Momzilla reminds her that she's getting a little big for her britches. 

Supper with the girls went well and then Eli decided that she would show the girls how Lumpy and Spazzoid, our spastic black labs, like to swim in a nearby pond.  This led to the girls all trying to throw dog treats in the water from the dock while Lumpy and Spazzoid swam in circles trying to gobble up the treats - only to get mouthfuls of pond water that would make them hack and gag. 

  

 Then one thing led to another and the girls decided they were going to jump into the pond...fully clothed...in mid-May.  The water had to be less than 60 degrees but when they asked if they could do it, Husband and I just looked at each other.  I could see his wheels turning.  On the one hand, this could lead to a huge disastrous mob of wet girls with pond scum hair.  On the other hand, the girls would remember this party forever.  We decided to channel our childhood memories and said, "Sure.  But watch out for the snapping turtles."  We hoped to scare the girls into rethinking their decision.  No such luck.  One by one, they jumped into the pond except for the one girl who couldn't swim.  The dock did not have a ladder so Husband and I took turns pulling the girls up out of the water. 

We trudged back to the house where I shuttled all the girls to three different showers and dumped a load of stinky pond scum clothes into the washer.  Freshly scrubbed, the girls had cake and ice cream while Eli opened presents.  Then on to the basement for the viewing of the Justin Bieber movie "Never Say Never".  Quite frankly, I am about tired of hearing about "Bieber Fever" but the girls were enamored.  I came down the next morning to find lip and hand prints on the television.  Oh dear...

But I guess we all had our crushes.  I gazed adoringly at Kirk Cameron in "Teen Bop" magazine and my first poster to go up in my own room (when I finally didn't have to share with Erin) was Jason Priestly from "Beverly Hills 90210".  My sister Susan hid posters behind the clothes in her closet...Jackson 5, Duran Duran, Kenny Loggins.  She also had posters from "Dirty Dancing" (and the matching plethora of cut off jean shorts with rolled cuffs to match). 

So after much dancing to Taylor Swift, Bieber Fevering, and late night snacks, the girls finally drifted off to sleep.  And managed to sleep until dawn when they came bounding upstairs to make the most of their final hours together.  While Husband and I blearily came downstairs and tracked down missing shoes, made breakfast, and otherwise were thankful we only do this once a year per kid. 

Reynosa Part Uno: Scrapings at Dracula's House

We've just recently returned from our church's first ever mission trip to Isaiah 55 in Reynosa, Mexico.  In a fit of overconfidence, we decided to also take the two Squirrels along.  Unmedicated.  Ooo boy.  We figured they needed to get a taste of their upcoming "transition" to the mission field. 

Complete with pink polka dot suitcases and armed with sunglasses, Kate and Eli flew the friendly skies for the first time in their life.  They were delighted to be accompanied by 11-year-olds Maddy and Sarah who are both on swim team with our girls.  Beings that all the other people going from our church were guys, I had the distinct honor of playing Den Mother to all four girls for the week.  Which mostly consisted of trying to keep them from falling out their 2nd story window as they sang Taylor Swift songs to anyone on the street who would listen.  And identifying the congealed heaps of clothing found under beds, in the shower area, etc.and returning them to their rightful owners. 

The main assignment for the week for the females on the team (other than the girl who was crushing on someone who will remain nameless but whom we will just call "Schmyatt") was to scrape the peeling paint off the soon-to-be-storage-and-migrant-worker-housing abode called (and we have yet to figure out why) "Dracula's House".  Rumor has it this two-storied, stuccoed, marble-floored behemoth used to belong to a drug kingpin.  Through a set of circumstances that I never quite distinguished, the property is now owned by an American who rents it to I55. 

The Squirrels were thrilled to be working but thought scraping was boring.  The day finally came when they could paint and I sent them upstairs with some other teenagers from the trip.  I don't know how much paint made it onto the walls but I can verify that everything else was covered, especially the girls.  At some point, Kate came down complaining that no one was painting with her.  I didn't even know she was up there by herself.  She told me she was on top of the ladder, then proceeded to try to move the ladder by herself.  As it swung dangerously close to going through a window glass, I decided that NOW was the time for some Father-Daughter bonding.  She was quickly scuttled across the street to assist Husband in framing up doorways at the new deaf school. 

More on our week to follow...

So Much for the SHOW ME State

I can say with absolute certainty that the definition of insanity is trying to keep a house in a "show ready" state while you have young children.  Seriously.  I may have a stroke. 

Case in point is the last three weeks.  In preparation for moving down to South Texas to join Isaiah 55 Deaf Ministries, our big house in the little woods has gone on the market.  When I calculated what a 6% realtor commission would be, I made a decision that we would go the For Sale by Owner route.  Hours of cleaning later, I staged the house and took photos and made a mental TO DO list of all the things we had meant to do but hadn't in the three years since we have built the house. 

We had our first open house, complete with classical music playing in the background and the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.  The Squirrels and Hounds were carted off by Husband as a slow death by licking (from the dogs) is not exactly endearing to potential home buyers. 

During the next showing, Husband was halfway through his two week stint in Australia for Mama Yellow so I was left to my own devices to get the house ready.  I called in reinforcements (my mother) since I have not mowed a lawn in 15 years.  Not that I am not able...growing up, I spent many moons on the riding lawnmower on our farm in Iowa.  That's how I got my golden tan each summer.  Mom somehow overlooked our indecent swimwear if we were mowing the yard.  Or walking beans. 

But I digress...

So my mom came up to mow, resplendent in 45 layers despite the record temperatures, and her infamous straw mowing hat the screams Maxine from the Hallmark greeting cards.  Our riding mower was outside during a rather nasty windstorm that took the hood off the mower so now our mower is more of a Ghetto variety.  Plus, the cat likes to curl up in the engine compartment so the mower is probably rife with cat hair. My mom was not done mowing by the time the potential homebuyers arrived so she told me not to tell them she was my mom.  Like I am going to pretend some random lady is mowing my yard???

Again, I digress...

The lovely couple showed up with their two children to look at the house.  Much gushing later, they began to load up into their SUV.  Eli comes around the corner and shouts "DID THEY BUY IT?" to which I discretely tried to tell her a house is not something you plunk down cash on the spot for.  "YYYYEEEESSS!" she shouts while making fist pumping motions (she is not exactly overjoyed to be moving away from friends and a chance to weave the Maypole at school...a big deal for 4th graders).  The potential home buyers find this quite funny.  I wanted to crawl under the porch. 

A mere 6 days later is showing number 4.   This time, it is a single guy who is more interested in roaming the acres of woods in search of lot lines (which we have a hard time finding).  Typical guy.  They want to "walk the property line" and know how deep the well is.  The women want to know if the water is clear and if the trampoline is staying. 

As this single guy and his friend prepare to enter the house, my homeless-looking children, double-fisting cheese curls after playing outside all day, are sitting beside me on the porch swing.  May I mention here that it is a little weird to just turn your house over to others to wander through?  Who knows if they are opening up all my drawers and closets (which could be dangerous...).  The guys are almost in the house when Elisabeth shouts "CAN YOU KILL THAT SPIDER?".  I nudge her and she shouts "WHAT?" (she has one decibel level...and it's called SONIC BOOM).  I whisper that she does not need to mention spiders while people are looking at the house.  She stomps off wailing. 

Lovely.  So much for creating a mood of peace and serenity.  I could use some of that right now as I wait for our house to sell and try to undo the mass destruction caused in short order by two half-pint Squirrels with no school to distract them while trying to accommodate short notice for showings.  It's going to be a long summer...

Groovy Shoes & Strikes to Spare

Our local adoption support group had a free evening of bowling on a night that just happened to coincide with Eli's 9th birthday.  Husband was tied up in one of his interminable meeting of the minds at Big Yellow so I loaded up two spastic squirrels and headed to the Christian Center in P-town. 

Katybird decided she wanted to a green ball and wanted to bowl all by herself.  She could barely lift the ball before managing to fling it with a loud THUD on the lane.  The ball would roll ssssssllllllllooooooooooowwly down the lane (I think I saw a snail speeding past at one point) before barely knocking over a few pins.  I tried to get her to add a little oomph to her throw but her bird arms just weren't strong enough. 

Meanwhile, Eli thought this was like throwing a softball and would launch her bowling ball well into the air.  The attendant came rushing over and pulled up our bumpers or alas, Eli would have scored an 8 on her entire game.  She was very distraught that slow little Katybird managed to get a spare but Eli kept getting splits. 

Much free pizza, pop, and ice cream later, we played outside for a while before heading home.  (Note long hair on Eli...yep, my human hair extensions.  Was up at O Dark Thirty pressing her hair and adding these in so she could feel pretty on her birthday.  Sigh....)

Just a quick shout out...selected bowling alleys across the country are offering free passes for kids to bowl all summer long.  Go to http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/ to sign up.  Kids must be 15 years of age or younger.  Adults can get a summer pass for $24.95 for two games a day.  (Thanks, KF, for the heads up). 

Katybird's New Ditty

About every 3 months, Katybird crawls in my bed at O Dark Thirty and tells me she has a headache.  The first time it happened, I gave her some Tylenol and sent her to school.  She promptly threw up in her first grade classroom so now I know to tuck her back in bed and let her sleep it off...and to let her throw up at home.  Whatever ails her usually clears up by noon and then, all caught up on sleep, she is in rare form (and sans her Magic Blue Pill AKA ADHD med). 

This last Thursday was such a day.  By the early evening, Katybird had donned her pink princess dress and made up a new song for me:



I am without words. 

(Facebook followers will need to click on "View Original Post" to see the YouTube embedded video on my regular blog site). 

92 Year Old Has First Piano Recital

Last Friday, in the fair city of T town, in a small, chestnutty place on the south end of town, piano virtuoso Cleo K made his debut appearance as the oldest piano student of teaching phenom Meg K.  Cleo, a twice widower, made most recently so by the loss of the lovely Nancy K (dubbed "Grandma Nancy" by my kids) late last year. 

Cleo, in an effort to ease boredom, began taking piano lessons early this year.  His goal?  To play the "Starlight Waltz", the last song he ever practiced when taking lessons with his daughter 50 some years ago. 

The recital hall was packed by the many parents of other students and half the T town AC church that Cleo had invited.  After a dazzling display by the younger students, Cleo took the bench with a flourish, shuffled his piano music, and wowed us all.  He even had an encore number prepared. 

(Facebook reading my streaming notes will need to click on "View original post" to see embedded video)



Cleo declined to be filmed and interviewed by the local TV station.  "Why would they want to interview me?" he asked.  "Is what I am doing so unusual?"  Ummmm...yep...and may we all be so bold should we make it to 92!

 Cleo, 92, with granddaughter Abigail, age 9. 

Making a Run for the Border

In case you haven't heard...there is some BIG NEWS for my little family of Squirrels and Nuts.  This is a copy of an email I sent:

This Sunday (May 1st), we will be announcing to our church that Darren and I are moving to McAllen, TX (right across the border from Reynosa, Mexico) to join the Isaiah 55 Deaf Ministries mission group http://www.isaiah55.org/ . We had also planned on missions as a “second career” (i.e. when we became empty nesters) but God has made it very clear that the time is NOW!


About Isaiah 55 Deaf Ministries

Isaiah 55 Deaf Ministries was started by Nolton (“NoNo”) and Kate Beale to build schools for the deaf in Mexico. Currently, Mexico has no deaf education system so the deaf are either ignored or “integrated” into regular classrooms but not taught sign language nor provided a sign language interpreter. Isaiah 55 trains teachers, finds deaf students, and integrates them into a K-12 classroom. The parents come in for sign language classes on Fridays and two national pastors also lead Bible studies for the students and families. http://vimeo.com/7948385 My sister Erin has been serving as a missionary with this group for the last 8 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd4uvrJhA0w Construction has started on a second school in Reynosa and the plan is to build additional schools as funding and time allow.

We hope to come alongside the work that the I55 team is already doing and support them in communications, construction, medical work teams, and anything else they need us to do. We will live stateside for the time being so the girls can continue to go to school and cross the border as needed to work with I55. Erin lives in the city of Reynosa with another missionary from Morton, IL named Kim Kaiser who has been there as long as Erin.

To answer some of your questions:

Uh, like is your head going to end up in a duffle bag?

Sure hope not but YES, we know of the violence in Mexico. There are two major drug cartels with infighting in the cartels as well as fighting with each other. They are mostly targeting each other and not Americans but there is a risk that innocent bystanders will be caught in the crossfire. Reynosa has been relatively peaceful as the news you hear about mass graves and such is about 90 minutes away and Juarez, the murder capital of the world, is all the way over across the border from El Paso, TX. The needs of the deaf, however, do not cease to exist in the midst of this uncertainty. And if God has called us to serve here, we trust He will protect us until His purposes are accomplished.

How soon are you leaving?

As soon as the house sells, we plan to move to McAllen, TX. We will attend Mission Training International (MTI) in Colorado for an intensive 3 week course (our kids attend training as well). We will attend an intensive language school in McAllen to learn Spanish and will attend classes at I55 to learn Mexican sign language.

The economy stinks. Are you going to hit us up for money?

I will continue to work at least part-time for the company I currently work for until the arrangement no longer works for the company or for me. My current job allows quite a bit of flexibility to work during different hours and to work from home, which I have LOVED the past five years. This will account for approximately 50% of our income. In addition, since we adopted from the US foster care system, they continue to pay a “board rate” for the girls until they reach the age of 18. This will account for 13% of our income. The remaining 37% we will need to raise. The missionaries at Isaiah 55 are not supported by any of the monies donated to I55 but keep separate accounts with a sending organization called Go Ye Fellowship. That way, there is no opportunity for the abuse of I55 donated funds being siphoned towards “administrative” costs instead of directly benefiting the students, teachers, and school construction and maintenance.

Fundraising is something I used to completely dread as I felt like I would be begging for money but here is the deal...God is able to provide for us no matter what. When Darren was laid off in 2009, we learned how much “security” we had placed in his job. God took care of us then and He will take care of us now. If you feel called to support us, either by prayer or by funding, that’s awesome but if not, we know that God has not called us to this and then left us to flounder on our own.

So you’ll be like 74 miles from South Padre Island? Can we come crash your pad and visit Isaiah 55?

For sure. Consider this a standing invitation. I’ll even learn to cook a proper enchilada in your honor. We would love to show you and your family the students and the mission that has absolutely captured our hearts and to share the story of God’s call on our lives! Most major airlines fly into McAllen (just ask all the snow birds AKA “winter Texans”) and Southwest Airlines has a hub not far away in Harlingen, TX.

And YES, we do plan to become foster licensed again.  You may find it interesting that the tagline for Isaiah 55 is "Esperanza para los sordos" which means "Hope for the Deaf".  So my blog ID of "Adventures in Fostering Hope" still applies!