Next stop China

Next stop China
Next Stop China!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Ready for a day off work.

So nice to have today off. Actually, I haven't signed up to work any days until Saturday. I might work one just to get more hours in.
I ended up working 6 hours yesterday morning. Someone had called in sick and I knew they would be in a bind, so I decided to just do a half day.
I woke up this morning and was in the bathroom putting in my contacts when Hannah brought me cinnamon toast. When did she get so big? She is so sweet and loves to do nice things for people.
Just last week the girls we asking me about the penpals I had growing up. I had one in England for a little while, But I also had one in Austrailia and he and I wrote back for about 5-6 years during my teenage years. I probably stopped when I went to college, I don't remember hearing from him after that. It was neat. Anyway, last night at church in our kids class, one of the ladies that went to Africa last year was there and she brought a list of kids from a Christian orphanage that the kids could write to. These kids know English, so right now my girls are working on their letters to them.
Only 24 more days until we head out.
I can't believe we will be meeting our boys so soon. We will be arriving in Addis on March 25 0745, so I am thinking after we get to our Guest House, we will be picked up and taken to our boys.
There is a tornado watch here until 1pm. I guess I won't do any running around until after then. So much gets put to the side while I am working. So much that when I have a day off it is spent playing catch up. I am tempted to stay home all week, but then I remember, the more I work now the more I get to stay home with the babies.
I still have a few shots to get. I think I will go in the morning and get that done. I have my LAST! dentist appointment tomorrow at 11. At least until they find something else wrong. But I won't go back for a while for a cleaning, so I can go a little while without dental problems weighing on my mind. My doctor and dentist are in the same town 45 min away. Mom is off work tomorrow, so she can watch the girls and they won't have to sit in the dentists office for an hour.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Finally a flight!

The last week has been trying to say the least, but let me say this at the beginning... Seems like when things are trying, if I keep praising God, things turn out better than if I did things my way.
This past week has been busy with work. Aaron got home between 8-10 every night for about 5 days. Add that to me working evenings and we didn't get much of a chance at all to see each other. Or sit down at a good working computer and buy plane tickets.
Finally on Thursday, after looking a little on the church computer with Aaron and figuring out where we didn't want to lay over, Aaron gave me free reign to purchase tickets.
So I went to Mom's (faster computer) yesterday morning about 9am.
At 2 pm, I still didn't have tickets. I was sooooo stressed out. Hadn't even eaten lunch. Each time I would think I would have it, they would change prices, or not have the return flight available, etc.
I was about to pull my hair out. Then I went to work at 2:45 and Aaron went to Mom's to pick up the girls that night and try. He was about to purchase tickets when he realized that you had to have the names the exact same as on the passports. Well, the passports were 15 min. away at home so he didn't get them last night.
I took the girls to coop this morning and Aaron went to a fast computer to try. He took my Visa since he doesn't have one. He purchased tickets finally...long story short with that, I ended up having to call and answer some crazy questions so that they could verify it was me and I actually wanted to buy tickets to Ethiopia. Visa had declined the purchase until they could talk to me. So, I got the ok with Visa to call the Ethiopian airlines and have them rerun the card.
I call them, and 36 min. later, someone answered (our phone has a timer) I tell the man that I want to reprocess the card and he tries, but unfortunately his computer is not working and it is so surprising to him that he tells me to call back in 30 min.
In the meantime, I start thinking and come to the conclusion that there are forces that I am not seeing trying to mess up this transaction. Too many weird things preventing it. So I prayed that God show me- did he want us on this plane or did he not. I prayed that I wanted what He wanted and to please show us if we should push for these actual tickets or what...I just didn't know what to do. After a few minutes I decided to call Sue at our agency to see who she books with. Spoke with someone else and got a name and number.
I call this travel agent out of Utah and he finds tickets for us that would have probably cost $1500-$2000 less than we would have gotten if we continued with the other ones.
So I told him to hold that thought, save our info and I was going to call the Ethiopian airlines again to tell them not to process the other transaction.
I called them (46 min on hold this time) and finally was able to cancel the transaction that never went through to begin with.
Finally got through to the travel agent and we now have 5 tickets to Ethiopia. Leaving our house on 3/23 and getting home 3/31.
Such a load off my shoulders. Wow! two days to get tickets, however, when I think of the hours of work I would have had to do to pay the difference we saved, I thank God that He worked it out for us like that despite our greatest efforts to get tickets.
Now for the packing and making of lists. Looks like it will be hot while we are there. But shorts aren't acceptable. I think I may take next week to take inventory and see what other clothes we may need.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

booking a place to stay

Less than 5 weeks away and we'll be with our new babies. So excited.
I havent had much of a chance to plan though. I worked 12 hours Saturday (the day we found out) 12 hours Monday and 3-11 tonight. I work 3-11 Thur. 12 hours Saturday and then I havnt signed up for any more days. I know I will work some in march, but at least I can pack and plan also.
We haven't decided how long to stay, so once we book flights I will know. Right now we will for sure be leaving on the 25th, so we can get there by the 26th.
I have already booked rooms in a Guest House suggested by our agency. I told the lady there that we would give her our flight data when I got it. Terrified and excited at the same time.!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Court Date - March 28th

I woke up this morning to go to work and signed into our slow dialup computer to check email like I do every morning. We had an email from Sue that had "court" as the subject. I was so excited!
Took forever and the computer messing up a few times, but finally got the email to open and there was our court date.
Timeline:
November 19, 2010 Officially on boys/girls waiting list
December 21, 2010 Received our two referrals
February 3, 2011 Case submitted to court
February 19, 2011 Received court date.

Things are moving! Even though Sue said we wouldn't know when we had court until March and even though she said it would be at least 6 weeks before traveling after we found out, and that we wouldn't go to court until April, I have prayed and prayed that God speed it up!
We will probably try to leave on the Friday the 25th and get there sometime Saturday the 26th. I am so confused by time zones and how they relate to air travel, we just need to get there by Saturday night, so we can spend the day with them Sunday before court. We want to stay a week and Sue suggests that we get there right before court and stay after, instead of coming a week before court, so that is what we will do.
Maybe coming back the Friday or Saturday after court. Don't know yet. It will be so hard to leave them, but I still am trying to focus on what we will get instead of what we are missing.

We will be booking flights soon, very scary for the cost end of it.

Worked 12 hours today. Today was real busy, so the day went by pretty fast, although 12 hours is a long time. Aaron worked today also and is working tomorrow. Tomorrow is Aaron's day 8 of 12 days in a row.
Now it is time to plan.
What should I take, eat, wear? There is some stuff to download from our agency, I guess I will do that first.
Hard to believe that it is really happening after waiting for years. You know we started our homestudy March of 2007? Such a long wait, but worth it I am sure.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Vaccines

We didn't get started as early this morning as I wanted to. I put a lot of stress on myself and I guess I need to let some things go. Like the fact that if I am not going to get home from work until 11:30pm, I shouldn't feel guilty for sleeping late. That is the price you pay for working 2nd shift. It is either sleep til 9 or take a nap(if I have to work again the next day).
I told the girls this morning that they should work on their chores or schoolwork until I wake up. I have the sweetest girls in the world. Two days in the last week I have gotten breakfast in bed.
After school and lunch we went to Mom's to drop off some stuff and I made my CVS run. We were planning to go to 4H, but both Madelyn and Natalie have allergies/colds and sound awful, even though neither one is running a fever.
I did take them to the Health Dept. for their Hepatitis A vaccine for the trip. When I called last week, they said to just show up on Wed. So we did, but they didn't tell me that they needed copies of their shot records. So we waited for their regular doctor to fax them. All in all, there was probably 5 total people there and we were there for almost 2 hours. Ughh! Very irritating. But we finally got to go home. We stopped by Walmart to grab some stuff for supper and a few other things and made it home after Aaron did.
We ate supper then walked outside a while. We didn't go to church since 2/3 of the kids were sick and we are tired.
Aaron signed up to work every day until next Thursday. That will be12 days in a row. He is such a hard worker and I am so proud of him. He takes good care of us.
I don't know what schedule I will work in March
I am still holding out for a March court date even though Sue at our agency thinks it will be April. Mom's schedule at work will be changing, so she doesn't know when she is working yet. I guess we will see.
I hope and pray that I will only have to work my minimum 32 a month when the babies get home.

CVS Deals

Went to CVS today and got some good deals
Bought
2 -20oz bottles of Nyquil
16 oz bottle Listerine
6 oz Colgate Total advanced white toothpaste
2 - 13 oz bottles of Aussie conditioner
4 oz Crest prohealth sensitive toothpaste
7 oz Crest prohealth sensitive toothpaste

Retail price would have been $40.03
After sale prices $27.47
After ECB $16.68
After my clipped coupons $12.68
Total Spent $15.15 including tax
and I got $2 ecb to spend on my next transaction

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tired today

I worked 7-11 last night. I didn't get into bed until around 12:30am. I had done real good yesterday, walking 3 miles on our driveway. 10 laps to the mailbox and back is 3 miles. I have shin splints and my calves are so sore. I laid in bed until almost 1:30 am aching in my legs until I finally took a tylenol. Then got woke up while Aaron was up this morning at 5:30 am aching again, took more tylenol, then slept until 7:30. Natalie had a follow up dentist appointment at 9am, 45 min. from here. We stopped by Aldi on the way home. Got home, put up groceries, ate lunch and I laid down for an hour because I had to work today from 3-11. I just got home and I am so tired.
No work tomorrow!
We do have 4H and I am planning on taking the girls by the Health dept. for their Hep A vaccines. They don't know.
No news on our court date. I keep praying it is soon. I am loving the spring weather. I needed some sunshine.

Monday, February 14, 2011

God answers 4 year daily prayer.

This weekend started off bad..And got worse...but then got better...

Friday, you can read about my root canal and having my bill increased by $400. On a good note, although it hurts for any food to be chewed on that side of my mouth, it doesn't hurt constantly and I haven't had lortab since Friday night.

Aaron went and rented a machine Friday night in hopes that it would bring something very vital to living in our house back up to working better. The people to help who live over an hour away agreed to come and help him with this. He also spent $75 on some equipment at Lowe's and then renting this machine from 40 min. away. They people show up Saturday morning and the machine that worked fine on Friday night at the business will not start. I had to leave the house to take the girls somewhere and had to leave poor Aaron alone in this. A couple hours later I get a text message reading "we are officially cursed"

Machine wouldn't start, the men had made the drive for nothing, but agreed to come back and didn't charge us.

So, Saturday afternoon was a day of wondering why even simple things in our life wouldn't work well. I just won't get into it all. But Aaron took the machine back early this morning and they didn't charge for it, since they couldn't get it started either. Aaron and I had Saturday afternoon alone to be angry, be sad, and wonder why in the world things weren't working at all, almost like things were working against us.

I wouldn't say I was angry at God, just very frustrated. In my heart I know that God is on our side. I guess we just want a break. Tired of the lack of encouragement from our church family, saddened by the discouragement, and missing having friends and inviting people over because of trying to get this thing at our house fixed. Lonely for a more than a church, wanting a family. Having practically no one to vent to.

Aaron ended up working 12 hours yesterday. The girls and I went to church and someone handed me an envelope to open when we got home. Well, it had a check for $100 and a note for us to use it any way we needed to help us get the boys.

And that there is the answer to my 4 year old pray. We had sent out letters to some old friends and church family probably a year ago asking for financial help and heard nothing. Nothing at all. Again, making us feel more alone. Here is the thank you note I gave them last night and I think it says how we feel.



Aaron and I want to thank you for your generous gift you gave us this morning. For almost 4 years I have been praying almost nonstop that God prompt someone, anyone to help us with our adoption. To let us know that someone cared too. I can only assume from this, that God whispered in your ear that we needed encouragement.

Your gift will not only ease some of the burden monetarily, but even more, it has helped us emotionally, to know that other people we know care about the orphans. Care enough to act.

I won't go into all the details of our discouragement, but just to let you know that we have been low lately. Saturday was an awful day emotionally. Probably the most discouraged that Aaron and I have been in a long, long time.

People have asked us why we continued or why we even started, people have looked at us funny, people have openly discouraged us, and people have turned up their noses at us. What they don't see is the happiness we are getting. Almost like we know a secret and I keep trying to tell people at church, but they don't believe that were not crazy, that we will be the blessed ones. We will be the happy ones. Perhaps God wanted us to get to the lowest point to see if we still continued even if we knew that He was the only one that would help us and encourage us.

When things would go bad, I would think, there are two choices - either God is not wanting us to adopt, or Sata.n is not wanting us to adopt. Which is it" Well, I would got to my Bible and read what God says about taking care of the orphans. How could God not want us to continue?

I would pray "God, you know our income, I know you want me to home school and you want me home as much as possible. You are giving us a job that is not possible in earthly terms. Either I work constantly and go against what you and I both know you want for our family or we go under. You are going to have to step in at some point. I know you sent us on this journey, and we aren't quitting, but HELP!!!

I don't think you realize the difference you have made.


















Last Sunday night, Aaron and I drove separate to Church services so that I could go straight to the store and he could come home and watch the Superbowl. Aaron had the girls in the van when I decided to get out and drive the jeep, so unusually, I was alone in the car. Aaron left right before me. For a whole mile down the road I kept hearing weird rattling noises under the hood.

When I stopped in the middle of the road I heard a cat wailing. It wouldn't stop. Uh-oh!

So I got out and looked under the jeep and right in the middle I could see one of our cat's bottoms hanging from the jeep and it's tail just a swishing. I couldn't get to the cat, it apparently couldn't get out. I felt bad, but figured it was going to die anyway, no sense in letting it suffer longer. I tried to call Aaron to see if he could come back and fix the problem and I could drive the kids, but he didn't answer his cell phone.

So I got back in and started to drive again and saw the cat in the road limping off. I turned around to see if I could help it. When I got out of the car, she limped into the forest and I couldn't see her. It was after dark and I wasn't about to go searching in the forest alone at night for a cat that was going to die.

I went to church hoping that the guilt wasn't written on my face ( this was Hannah's cat Krystal).

I told Aaron. The kids didn't mention the missing cat all week (we have 5 others, I guess they didn't notice)

What do you know, but Friday night, there was Krystal, back in her spot on the porch. One front leg it sliced deep, but healed over. Her paw is curled up and she doesn't stretch it out or put weight on it, but she can still jump to the railing to eat. I left her almost a mile from our house and she made it back 5 nights later, injured, probably starving, past a pack of 10 neighbor dogs and survived the coyotes and wild hogs.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Dental Woes Root canal #3

Here's a synopsis of my horrible afternoon. times are approximate
11:45 arrive at dentist for dreaded appointment to replace a crown that was done 10 years ago and to fill the cavity in the tooth next to it and also get a crown for that tooth.
11:55 go back to dental chair to begin the torture. Dental assistant who was very good at explaining things shows me that I have a really deep cavity on one of the teeth and it is close to the root, so there is a possiblity of having to have a root canal. (me holding back tears and thinking of a happy place)
12:10 while dentist is numbing my mouth in the back, feel sharp pains in my lips? Start waving hand for him to stop, he explains he must have actually touched the nerve he was meaning to numb. oh well.
12:20 after two numbing shots, dentist comes back to start on my tooth.
12:45? starts hurting when the dentist is drilling on the bad tooth. waving again to let him know and mumbling "bff hffts" Or "that hurts"
12:45 dentist declares "that tooth needs a root canal" stands up with assistant and disappears from room.
12:47 assistant returns with consent for root canal, I sign and ask to go to the bathroom.
12:50 hold back tears in the bathroom, say a quick prayer and again think of a happy place, walk back to torture chair.'
at this point, time becomes a mute point, I am in it for the long run.
So I say "he is going to numb me some more, right?" she answers "sure, he will probably stick the needle right in the bad tooth, it will pinch a little" (Seriously woman??? I like you and all, because we both enjoy FoxNews and you explain things real well, but have you ever had a dentist stick a needle in your bad tooth with root exposed? Do you really know it only pinches a little?)
Me again holding back tears. My eyes are watering just thinking about it.
She then says that he will have to start the root canal, but may not finish today. What???!!!
I almost lost it, but she explained that he could finish when they seat the crowns. Ok, that I can handle, I do not want to come in between temp cap and permanent crown to be numbed again. Why in two steps? because they only allotted me 1 hr and 20 min. for my appt today. UGH!
Dentist comes back in with the shot in the tooth (ouch), then more shots in my gums. I was numb from my right ear to my nose and most of my tongue. I hate numbness, but I was praying for it today.
Finally, at 2:15 my temporary caps on the teeth. Yes, that is over 2 hours with my mouth wide open. My jaws are killing me. I yawned earlier and it hurt.
Sent me home with a prescription for amoxicillin and lortab. wishing me well and telling me to expect lots of pain the next few days. and a bill of almost $400 for the next visit. not to mention the $430 I paid today. Did I mention we are trying to adopt two orphans and it will probably cost around $37,000? Yeah, that is on my mind too.
texted Aaron who was running errands with the kids to let him know that I was on my way to Mom's. (her house is in town and closer to where he was. our house is 15 min. farther out than mom's) He was going to drop Hannah off with me while Madelyn and Natalie did a GS Cookie booth sale. He ended up just taking Hannah so I could sleep off the numbness and pain
I dropped off my prescriptions at CVS
Went to Mom's. managed to get my tongue and throat to work enough to drink some grape juice since I was starving. Took a tylenol and an hour nap. Woke up not numb and took 1/2 of a lortab from an old prescription. Called mom at work since she was getting off in 30 min. to see if she would stop by for my prescriptions.
Ate some mashed potatoes and wished I was not lactose intolerant since a milkshake would have been something easy and filling to drink.
Called into work and told and since there were 6 nurses for tomorrow and only 13 patients at that point, that I would not be there on Saturday. They were ok with that, but that also means that if I don't work, I don't get paid.
On the thankful side. So far, my tooth hasn't hurt as bad as I thought. At this point, the major pain is my jaw. I do have the lortab in me though. We'll see if I wake up with pain when it wears off while I sleep. And Aaron gets to work Sunday, so he will get some overtime and it will make up for me not working Saturday. I know God will provide, but this is really stressful.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

No Rye flour

We are now studying the Medieval period at home. We have lots of stuff to cook this next 30 days of study.
The first day we planted some herbs which we will be using hopefully towards the end. They are already sprouting.
I searched everywhere for Rye flour. We were supposed to make Pumpernickel bread. But there was none in this small town. I am sure they have some in the bigger town 45 min away. I finally broke down and bought a loaf of bread at Walmart today. We also made beef with barley soup to dip it in. It is actually really good. I didn't think the girls would like the bread, but they all liked it. Soup was another matter. Only Natalie likes soup.
I didn't get home last night until after midnight. Work was real busy, but I like it that way, so the time goes by faster.
It is flurrying here.
Begrudgingly walked 3 miles. Glad I did it now and I am also glad that I decided to blog about it every day. Because even if no one is reading this, there is a chance they are and it keeps me going. I told myself when I didn't want to that I had to so I could put it on here. And I even went above and beyond and threw in that 3rd mile, even though my goal every day is 2-3 miles.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Eye doctor and 2 miles

Finished school today. The girls are outside in the freezing cold playing with the new dog, getting their exercise. The girls had wanted money, so we decided to make a chore chart for them to do. They get paid 3cents per each chore. I know, not much, but normally at the end of the week they get around $1. From the beginning, I told them not to complain because most of the stuff was stuff they had been doing for free. And to remember that I had the right to make them do more than on their chart and sometimes I throw in an extra chore for more money that needs to be done. Like dusting, which the girls love to do, but I hate it because my nose always itches the rest of the day. Exercise is one of their chores, so if they run around a lot outside, I let them count that...if they don't then they have to do a mile of an exercise video. I even have a kids one that they do. Madelyn can act like it kills her to do a mile, but yet she will run outside up and down hills for an hour.
I have a contact checkup at 1:45 today and I get to pick up my glasses. I am excited to have current prescription glasses to wear around the house at night. And if I ever have a contact problem or eye infection I will still be able to see.
I am working 3-11 today. I'll drop the girls off at Mom's and then Aaron will pick them up around 5 and bring them home.
Me working evenings and passing off the kids back and forth reminds me of when Madelyn was born. I would work 3-11 4 days a week. Aaron was in school full time. I would be home with her my 3 off days and the mornings before I worked. He went to school in the mornings and then would have a lab 2 days a week in the afternoon (these were the days when I couldn't work) The nursing home I worked at, really worked around my schedule since I pretty much had to work every weekend. When Aaron didn't have class, and I wasn't at work, he would get in as many hours as possible working for a landscaper in town. This went on from the time Madelyn was 6 weeks old until she was 11 months old and I found out I was pregnant with Natalie. At that point, I told Aaron I was too exhausted to continue. Seems like he didn't work as much or maybe split his classes so he could be home more. But we worked hard and didn't depend on anyone. Had no family within 4 hours, had no babysitter, did it all alone. Made us stronger, and closer. Love that man!
Oh, I got my 2 miles in today also. I feel so much better when I am exercising and I don't seem to need as much sleep.
Funny story.. I was in the kitchen yesterday and I heard the girls yelling outside "Cotton is having babies" Cotton is our very fluffy cat that is hard to tell if she is pregnant or not because she is so fluffy. So I look outside, thinking she is giving birth, but realized what the girls should have yelled was "Cotton's getting pregnant"
Used to, when I could tell one of our cat's was within a week or two of having babies, I would put them in the room connecting the house to the garage, but after our flea nightmare, it is up to the mother cat to ensure their kittens survival. Perhaps I should tell the mother cats because we haven't seen kittens in almost a year.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Did it - 2 miles

Ok I know that 2 miles isn't much. Right after I wrote that last post, since we were finished with school for the day, I agreed to go into work at 1:30pm. Took the girls to Mom's and then headed to work. Got off early since I went in early and left work at 8:15pm. Went to Mom's, took a shower then headed home.
Didn't get home until almost 9.
Watched a video that our agency sent of our boys that she took in January while she was there. So neat to see them moving instead of just still photos.
Then got everyone off to bed and walked my 2nd mile at 9:45pm, just to make sure I didn't fail on my first day of Couch to 5K(ids).
I am not sure what my goal will be.. Probably 5 miles a day by the time we go to Ethiopia. I have a Walk Away the Pounds video that does 5 miles in 1 hour 5 min. I will have to work back up to it though. I like it because I get done so quickly, I don't like it because it has a 10 min. walk/jog mile. Oh well, something to look forward to.
Need Prayers.... Our agency lady said it would probably be at least March before we even heard when our court date would be. Things are postponed and taking longer since they took the month of Feb. off from court dates. Anyway, I was reading a blog from someone else that uses our agency. I was reading their timeline. Their case got submitted to court on Jan. 17 and they were assigned a court date on Feb. 5. Only 19 days later....awesome. And she said their court date was 4 weeks away, so I am assuming it is the first week of March.
Ok, this is me getting my hopes up... Our case was submitted to court on Feb. 3. If we were to get our court date in 19 days from then, it would be the last week in Feb. and 4 weeks from then would be the end of March. Oh well, I am always trying to keep up with other adopters timelines. I am hoping that our agency predicts long waits so that when you get a shorter wait, you are excited.

Couch to 5K(ids)

Have you heard of Couch to 5K? Well, I'm not planning on running a 5K, however, I am going to adjust this slightly and do my own version...
Couch to 5Kids.
See, I am out of shape. Couple that with the fact that I would love to lose 40-50 pounds and you have me. It is hard enough to get in shape when you don't carry extra weight. Even harder when you do. However, I am not blaming anyone but myself. Noone has ever force fed me or made me sit around.
When I was pregnant, I gradually made it to birth by gaining 40-50 pounds each time. Or somewhere around there, towards the end, I just didn't want to know. So, looking back, my body got used to carrying around extra weight... you have the baby, lose about 25 pounds of baby, fluid, etc. in the first few days and then you carry around a 7 pound baby in your arms. What I am trying to say is...I am at a bad point where in a few months, I am going to have even more weight to carry around. x 2.
So, I need to get into better shape.
In 2009, our family was going to the mountains of NC with some friends for a week of hiking. Not real hard hiking, since our kids went too, but still...
I started doing Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds videos. I love her videos. They are not too hard to do, you don't have to be supercoordinated, and you don't need a lot of space. I had 6 weeks to get into shape. By the time we went I was up to 5-6 miles probably 5 times a week, don't remember for sure.
Of course, as always, I don't lose weight by exercising, although I do get more toned, which is a plus.
We went on our hikes and I kept up and was in such good shape for someone with 40 extra pounds. Oxymoron I know.
I was able to hike up to Clingman's Dome without stopping. Something I was not able to do when we lived in NC when I was 25-30 pounds lighter and younger. It was great!
I am a great loser when it comes to losing weight. And I mean loser like I can't ever win at losing weight. Very depressing.

But I can get in better shape. So, that is what I am trying to do.
Here is my pity party.
UGH...
Many things on traditional "diet" lists I can't eat.
Soy Protein - sick as a dog. Comes and goes for about 2 weeks. Misery.
Eggs - diarrhea, nausea and stomach cramps - can eat them in cakes, recipes as long as they are not in the "egg" form...go figure, I guess somehow the protein changes when it is in a cake or bread that I am able to digest
Almonds - eat them, wait an hour, throw them up
Milk - I can tolerate cheese, yogurt almost every day, but straight milk - stomach cramps and gassy belly

Back to the 5 kids
I would like to get in shape soon. Soon as in before I have 30-40pounds of kids to carry around.
The next 7 days, my goal is 2-3 miles every day except Sat, where I am working (on my feet) 12 hours.
Probably inside since the highs are in the 30-40s. I just can't make myself do it if I am miserable because the weather. Once spring hits, I am looking forward to going to the park with the kids, dogs and their bikes and walking there.
I will try to post every day how far I walk.
Today I have already done a mile. Work is wanting me to come in early and help. I may do that if they let me off early.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Busy weekend

Last Thursday night, it snowed and sleeted again. Aaron came and left the jeep for me to drive home from work since I get off at 11pm. However, when I left work, the roads were just wet, not slick. The last two miles of gravel road to our house were covered and would have been slick if I slammed on the breaks, but it wasn't bad. I was thankful for that.
Because our county's schools were 2 hours delayed, our coop skipped the 1st hour class and started at 10 instead of 9. Which meant I didn't have to teach AL history. Normally from 10-11 I am not busy, but I agreed to help with the 3-6th grade PE class. It was fun. We played dodge ball and some other game, which the other teacher called Pizza. I called it Octipus when I was growing up. Anyway, it was fun to peg kids with dodge balls. I have paid for it with soreness though, which means I need to be moving more.
Friday afternoon, Mom called from work and said she thought she was sick. I asked her what was wrong, and she didn't know, but she couldn't remember the babies' names. I told her their names and she acted like she had never heard the names before. She then told me how she had been nauseated and real shaky. I asked her if she could remember the boys' names and she couldn't just 3 minutes after me telling her. I told her to stay at work and I would pick her up asap. Took me about 20 min. to get there. Aaron was getting off work in 10 min. so I called him to see if he would stop by her house and grab every pill bottle with her name on it, since I had no idea what all she takes, then meet me at the hospital.
He actually got there about the same time we did, since I had to pick her up, and she wanted to try seeing the doctor in her office instead of ER which was across the parking lot. Doctor wasn't in, so we went to the ER. They ended up admitting her for observation overnight. I sat with her until about 9p Friday night, then left her in good hands of all the friends I work with. Even in the room, she told me the same story 7 times in 1 hour (I counted).
Came home and about 11, as I was crawling into bed, Madelyn came running into the room, saying her stomach hurt. She was half asleep and crying, so I yelled "run to the toilet" So nice when your kids get to the age to hit the toilet. Anyway, she threw up once, but a lot. I thought, great here Mom's in the hospital, now we are all going to have the stomach virus. But, Madelyn went back to bed, we gave her a trash can, and she slept all night. Never to get sick again.
Thankfully, Mom was feeling better Saturday. I was cancelled Saturday and Natalie and I went and sat with her for a few hours that morning. Then I brought Natalie home, and Mom called and said she was discharged, so Natalie went with Aaron to Lowes and Madelyn and Hannah went with me to get mom and take her home. All of her tests were negative. They are doing a carotid doppler on Monday to see if that is what is wrong.
Church this morning. Then Dad came and brought back the dog we gave them back in October. we had told them if they didn't want her we would take her back. Wish it was warmer so we could play with her more and get her used to us. But today is supposed to be in the 50s so that will help. I am getting ready to change out of my skirt and go walking with her and the girls. I am supposed to work 7-11 tonight. So far, the last few Sundays they have cancelled me. Sunday nights are proably when the census at the hospital is the lowest

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Still waiting for a court date

Worked 3-11 yesterday. Working 3-11 tomorrow. Mom is watching the girls tomorrow for me.
Got an email from our agency today that said we may not get a court date until April. I hope it is in March. Trying to look on the bright side. Maybe I can make more money before the trip if it doesn't happen until April, but I really just want the boys home. Praying for a miracle.
When I left work last night at 11pm, it didn't feel real cold, but this morning it was in the 20s, but real pretty and sunny. The girls played outside for about 30 min. before we started school. I don't see how they stand it.