Homestudy and cleaning. . .

Ok, Now I realize that since we have the home study update sort of planned for mid July. . . we need to do some MORE decluttering, and MORE deep cleaning. Please understand. . . we aren't total pigs. We just have 7 people living in this house(give or take a cat or two), and most of them are under 12. So, it makes for piles, messes, and STUFF everywhere. Yesterday I was finally feeling better after dealing with a sickness over the weekend, so I got it in gear, put on music, and tightened my running shoes. I cleaned with a vengence. I reorganized our school shelf which has bugged me for WEEKS. I cleared and cleaned the entry. I was amazed that somehow, these spiders up in the far reaches of my entry had passed my notice! I am really observant, but these guys totally flew under the radar.(or crawled! ewww) I swept a few cobwebs from the corners. . . and a spider fell on me!! Ok it was tiny but I HATE SPIDERS! I washed walls, baseboards(BY the WAY, a plug here-- the dishcloths are awesome cleaning rags too. They are like small string mops and get everything)I freshened the whole place with my new lavendar cleaner. It was one room DOWN! Conquered. I sipped tea and emailed. Then, my littlest said, mommy, there are ants in here.(livingroom) So we made that our next spot. WHY would there be ants??? Well, after moving the sofa, I saw. There was a half a poptart they were thoroughly enjoying. I JUST cleaned this out 4 days ago! I promise!! I move the furniture in there and mop weekly. lol But it looked like it hadn't been done in a year. There was popcorn. . . a patch of sticky kool aid dried. Ok, so someone has been breaking our rule of no drinking and eating anywhere but at the table. I waged all out war on that mess. I cleaned and scrubbed and conquered THAT room.(and eliminated the ants!) Then I went to the kitchen. I hate to even tell you what I saw there. Well, apparently,(even though I didn't clean behind my fridge) a giant wolf spider has been living behind my fridge and we scared him out. My 5 yo son killed that one and it was so big he said he needed DADS shoe.(lol it wasn't THAT big, Dad wears sz 14s lol) So, the kitchen was conquered also, but after that scenario, I gave up for the night. I was a little scared to continue and it was getting late anyway. After yesterdays "finds" I want to hide under the covers and not dig out anymore scary things. I know we live in the woods and all. . . but sheesh!! The wildlife is invading! Last month we found 3 snakes. One was on our fenceline and the neighbor found it. It was 3 ft long!!!!!(btw that one was a harmless one too) Oh, and there was a small lizard in my hubby's bathtub. We think our hunter kitty brought it. She frequently brings us gifts like that. Just usually on the front porch. I am worried I will have to tell our sweet social worker, wear tall rubber boots, and bring a fly swatter. . . oh, and wear a little Off, but please, for the love of all that is holy, let us bring two more sweet children into our home?

dish cloth update!

Hey! We have had 50 dishcloths ordered since that first post! Thank you SO much ladies! I have a buy now button on my blog in the top left, it(so far) will only allow you to buy 1. I am working on that. But if you would like to try one donate to our adoption at the same time, one is a good trial. I have had several people say they are hooked(pun intended!) on these and have thrown out all their other ones. Now I have solid Ecru,varigated mauve, sage and ecru, and solid red and solid white. All the blue and yellow are sold out at the moment. But I am making more!! We have added over 100.00 to our fund in three days! Thank you!

New baby

HAH! Did you think for ME?? Nope, for my brother. I should introduce you to my brother. His name is Joe. He is a not yet thirty, baby brother. He is probably the best brother in the world. Seriously. I hate stupid lines like "you were always there for me" so I won't use that. But he is an awesome guy. He is deep thinking and deep feeling and so smart it blows me away. His loyalty is as deep as the ocean. He is a journalist and his writing is incredible..He is one of my closest friends. He is a husband. He is a daddy. (a daddy to a sweet, smiley blonde who acts JUST like him. lol) So, this daddy and his bride are having a new baby. Yesterday they went to see the pre birth pics of their newest little darling. And it is a BOY!! But here is the fun thing. We are kind of different in some ways. My Joe plans everything. I list everything, but my plans go astray because of kids or hubby. He sets up a kennel THEN gets a dog. I fall in love with a mutt then build a kennel(um, while keeping the dog inside.) He plans to have a baby,when and all. lol Audrey did not follow her daddys plan completely. I adopt kids I didn't even birth. We are different. But we are similar too. Our kids are a CRACK up and we are fun enough to enjoy it. They decided to tell Audrey the news, so they bought a book and told her the news. (I really begged him to video this but I have not been told whether he did it or not.) I called him later, and he said they explained and she said she wants a sister. . . and a sandwich. I am surprised she did not say, do fries come with that? Combo #3, a baby brother, a small drink, small burger and a new toy please.
When MY firstborn was informed of his impending new sibling, he said thoughtfully "I don't know if I want a sister or brother. How about we get a big red dog named Clifford?"

Childrens Theater

Here are a few pictures of my two theater kids. Riley played King Stephan, and Olivia played a singing bluebird. These were dress rehearsal. . . which means we aren't actually DONE yet. We have 5 shows in two days.(by the way, my Olivia is the bluebird on the left)

The three winners!!!

April, Misty and Angie are the winners of the free cloths! So ladies pick a color, and email me your mailing addresses. I will ship those out this weekend. I will get orders boxed up Monday. Thanks so far for the orders. Working on my paypal acct.More info coming I promise.

Mama's handy helpers

LOOK!! I can do pictures again! Ok, please take a look at these. (by the way, the blue one in the second photo is the truer blue. For some reason the first picture shows the blue as an aqua color)I am crocheting dishcloths to sell, to help add to our adoption account. We have two little girls, Joana (13) and Guadalupe(8) in El S*alvador waiting for us. They have been in orphanages since 2003! This is all I know of them. I have no pictures to share (YET!), but I do have God's promise that HE will move mountains on their behalf. He has asked us to "enlarge our tent, and spread wide our dwelling". I am spreading wide my arms and rearranging our home.(I almost have their room READY!!!) My heart is full and bursting with anticipation to meet them. our children pray everyday for their new sisters to get home quickly. Once Olivia knew we were working on the money. . . she immediately began praying, "thank you Lord for the money to come so our sisters can come home faster." Well, I am wildly working on home study stuff and paperwork. In the meantime. . . to pray and calm myself, I crochet. These dishcloths may appear humble. But as I was working on one this week, God was sharing with me a little encouragement. These are like moms. We are soft, but strong. We work hard for our families. We sometimes feel unappreciated(ok, so I don't know how my dishcloths feel, but I am sad to say they end up sort of piled in a heap at the end of a hard day. hmm. . . sounds like me.) Anyway, the widow woman was asked to give the last of what she had the "widows mite" was a small thing. But God takes the humble things to confound the wise. I have humble little dishcloths to sell, and they may seem like a small every day item. But everytime I use mine now, I thank God that he gives grace to the humble. HE will take my loaves and fishes and multiply them. He cares for Joana and Guadalupe even more than I do. I know when it is all said and done, HE will be glorified, and we will have obeyed, and the fatherless will be set in a loving home. Please consider helping our family by buying a dishcloth? (They make great gifts also!) They are 100% cotton yarn. They are economical because they last a long time and they cause you to use less cleaner or soap. They are SO effective, you really will clean faster and easier. And in the end. . . they are biodegradable. I am selling them for 2.00 each(plus a little extra for shipping) Right now I have these colors:
Poppy Red
Spring Blue
Snowy White
Sunny Yellow
I will be giving away three to the first three people to email me! If you are interested in an order, email me at : hezra_at_home@yahoo.com Thanks so much!!

New Computer, baby!

It is about to be Father's day, and my hubby wants to buy ME a new laptop. My current one has been a huge frustration. I haven't been able to use it for pictures,emailing, or blogging for over a month. Even when he reinstalled windows and added some anti virus stuff and "tweaked" it. So, this morning he wants to go get one. They are holding one! They only have 2!  It is a DELL. I said, oh, would you please ask them all the specs for me in computer geek lingo(he is the chief IT guy at our local univ.) then after it is all done. . . please? do this? it would bring me so much joy if me and the kids could see this. . . ask them this one question. . . "ok, so, um I gotta know. . . is there a farmer in the DELL?"  and look serious. Can you do that for me?

Mixed nuts

I have always known that I come from a long line of completely insane individuals. All individual in their insanity too. Yet, my brother and I have gained a sense of humor (and we joke that we are actually, secretly adopted because we act nothing like our parents-mom says we are Frasier and Niles ahh well there are worst things to be) Lately though, I realize there are a bunch of mini- nuts surrounding me.  And the giant nut known as Daddy here. I did a completely stupid but necessary thing. I took three kids (while two were in their summer theater class) to a store. I had a few very specific items. It really should be a short trip. It was not. We enter. Moriah decides she is going to beg for walking privileges(AKA not sitting in cart). I see big brown eyes looking *almost* tearfully cute. I cave. "okay but stay close to me and OBEY."(that may have sounded a little like a hiss but I can't be certain.)  Isaiah decides as soon as we enter to head to the toys. Which has us all running like thoroughbreds at a starting gate already schreeching "Isaiah!" We collect him, give the speech, give the  "if it happens again. . ." Then begin our modern day  hunting and gathering. swimsuits for girls: check check. school stuff:check check. kid shampoo:check check. No honey we don't need toilet paper. To which she screeches YES WE DO NEED TOILET PAPER. to which I hiss, there is extra in the hall cabinet at home! I promise. SHHHHHHHH!  where was I? um, bread. . .check check. oh dear, Lord in heaven, the bread is by the cookies and doughnuts and all other gooey delights and why the heck are they at KID HEIGHT!? Why can't they store that stuff on the top shelf? So I become like an octopus and a soccer goalie all in one. Fielding the sweets and stuff from our cart and fending off whines at the same time. When I feel we have made it, I run with the cart and say HURRY we have to go get the others from class!!! We check out. The boys decide while I check out, they are going to check out stuff. Medicine? Why does that have to be by the check out?? Seriously.  They are touching so much stuff. . . handling the toys. . . I feel like the security cameras are probably zooming in on what they assume to be two mini cleptos(spelling?) . My patience is thinner than paper. I feel anxiety welling. . . I pay and herd my herd of turtles to the van.(by the way, when IN a store-- they move so fast in 5 different directions all screaming HEY MOM LOOK AT THIS! all the freaking time! But then get them out of the store where you want them to kind of hurry to the car-- they drag their feet and moooove sooo sloooowly. What is up?Anyway, we get to the car. I throw in stuff. Buckle those who can't do it for themselves. And we are off. We pick up the other two and head for home. I sigh with relief, then realize we have a baseball game in an hr! That one gets his gear together and I start unpacking our goods. There were TONS of unauthorized purchases! Three kinds of cookies, and a bag of giant orange circus peanuts for starters.  Sheesh. Well, make the best of it. We had milk and cookies for snack. HEY! I sound like June Cleaver for a minute there. Ok, so I feed them and get them to the game. I sink in my folding chair and watch the littles play with their friends in the dirt, and the big kid starts warming up. Dad arrives later. I was so relieved to see him, I leaned over and started telling him(quietly) about my awful trip around town and the store.  I said, then the kids even threw in what appears to be a 2lb bag of circus peanuts!!! We move on. The kids lose their game royally. We gather our dirty offspring and load them into the two vehicles. When I finally manage to get all of them bathed or showered(I swear Isaiah needed one of each!), and read to. etc etc. . . I sit to check email. Dan, though, was opening cabinets and banging them shut. He looked more and more frustrated. I said "honey what are you looking for?" He said, the peanuts. I said what?? He said "the nuts you bought today?"   "I did NOT buy nuts today!" He said, "YOU said you accidentally bought party nuts"  I said, "um, are you drunk?"  He laughed and said, "NO! Maybe you said the kids threw them in."   ahhhh, realization hits.  hee hee. I said, "um, NOT party nuts, CIRCUS Peanuts-- you know the big orange sugary things?" Big Man looks all dejected. Oddly the same sad brown eyes Moriah gave me earlier that day.  "oh, you mean they aren't really nuts at all?"(seriously, was that a whine??)  "um,nope, but YOU, my dear ARE a nut!"  I am living in a great big can of mixed nuts. and most of the time it does kind of feel like a party. And no I did NOT let them eat the whole bag today. But if I did, I should clarify that between 5 kids they don't , or wouldn't get that many anyhow.  probably.

Power rangers and ninjas. . .

AHH My batteries are dead in my camera. But I will work diligently to get pictures of them in these costumes. I have two ninjas, an elephant and a spiderman. . . and they are going nutsy! Why oh why did I allow root beers at the ballgame? And Laffy Taffy. . . oh, and there were cookies earlier today. shoot. I lost the healthy mom award. But they are having SO much fun.
On another note--our 5 yo got new power rangers undies today too. He is way to proud of these things. When Daddy walked in, he turned around and bent over in "full moon fashion" and said "look Daddy! Power rangers!" My stunned hubby stood there in shock. This kid never ceases to surprise us. You can never stay just one step ahead of him. I hated that when he was two because we could never keep up with him and never figure out what he was doing next.(he never planned he just DID!) Now though, I find myself laughing at his thought processes and the AWESOME thing is. . . he giggles about them too! He gets the funny stuff now. He has a sprouting sense of humor and screams "I MADE A JOKE ON YOU!!!" and I love it. Now, if only I could find his darned volume button and turn it down. . . .

thankful for:

I am soooooo loving my new comforter for my bed! (oh and my amazing softy pillows.) I went to overstock(I HIGHLY recommend btw) and found a plain white feather comforter, king sized, for 29.00! And two pillows for 24(I think). I got it all for 55, and 2.95 shipping!! It was like sleeping on clouds as Elijah says. My comforter is funny though. It came with 5 star reviews but everyone says, don't worry, it does fluff up. lol I wish I had taken pictures of how it came. It was packed so tiny and flat for a king sz comforter. Then over the last two days it gets progessively puffier. Isaiah (who dilikes touching people, LOVES touching softy things), keeps patting the squares just to hear the sound and watch it magically puff back up. So, not only is it comfortable-- it is amazingly entertaining! Who would have known that a 29.00 COMFORTER could bring so much joy?

The elephant in the room

Today, my 5 yo son who has some autistic sort of qualities. . . dislikes physical touch, can't do imaginary play very well(at least that we SEE), doesn't get humor very well, and he doesn't play all that great with other kids. . . had a big moment. He came in the kitchen while I was cooking and had on the elephant costume. He said, (hiding his face in the hood and waving the trunk around), I am an elephant -- pet me mommy!!! He was playing with his sister(who was dressed as a dinosaur.) They had a crazy big animal chase through the livingroom. And he pretended TONS of stuff! I was so excited. I can't get the dumb computer to post pics right now but when I do I will show off my cute little "elephante"(that is the spanish word-- see? We ARE learning Spanish. Today, I see Dios es Bueno. God is so very good. Just when I feel overwhelmed and at the end of my rope, (esp with this boy!) and feeling there is no fruit, He shows me a little. And I have to smile. Mommy, pet me. NEVER thought I would hear those words from him.