Thrift Store Finds

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Today, on a whim, Hubs and I took 2 of the four kids and hit a few of our local thrift stores.  Here’s a few of the things we found:

  • A hat box for Eric’s more fragile costume accessories
  • A clipboard for Eric for field trips
  • A basket to hold all the veggies we have on our counter
  • A pewter platter
  • A wood platter
  • A to Z in tab dividers

The books we found are:

  • Heroes of the Faith – Jim Elliot
  • Tigger’s Giant Lift-The-Flap book – for our book girl
  • 24-hour Knitting Projects (I think I owned this book in the past and passed it on, so I’m jazzed to have it again)
  • Glorious Knits by Kaffe Fassett. Not sure I’ll knit anything from this – but wow, it’s some neat stuff!

Sure is fun to find all this stuff for so little!  Aren’t thrift stores the neatest adventure?!?

Bits and Bobs

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  • Hubs sold our big gold van. :D  But it’s a bit sad too.
  • Sissy fell head over heels off our porch this morning.  She is sporting an icky scratch between her eyes.  I think it will be ok once the swelling is down.
  • I found a few more pictures to share with you:

Amber & Cindy

Amber & Cindy waiting to get into Medieval Times.

Eric and I

When we got home, we gave J3 a special gift for helping with his Sissy and taking care of the dogs (he collects snow globes)
J3 and his Toy Story snowglobe

And, I tried to get a picture of Sissy with the crown on…sigh

"Turn this way"

"Turn this way"

"Hold still"

"Hold still"

Look up Sweetie

Look up Sweetie

Never mind

Never mind

I don’t like 2am

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We were up at 2am.  2am!! I might never get over that!

We loaded 5 scouts in our van and headed South.

At first they looked like this:

SoCal Trip 001SoCal Trip 002

and then the sun came up…

SoCal Trip 003

and they looked like this…

SoCal Trip 009

You can’t see them because they are laying down in various ways – except J2 who just laid back and snored! lol

We arrived with all 5 scouts

We arrived safely with all 5 scouts

Here are some other shots from Long Beach:

SoCal Trip 011SoCal Trip 013SoCal Trip 014SoCal Trip 012SoCal Trip 016SoCal Trip 020

And, then I was too tired to take many more pictures! lol

I think I have a couple pictures of Cousin Cindy and her daughter Amber from Medieval Times on my phone…and a few shots of our return home to J3 and Sissy.   But those will have to wait until tomorrow.

Because that 2am is STILL messing with me!

Our Adoption Story – Part 3

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Part1 :: Part 2 ::

So, we had J1 for about 4 mos when we learned that his Tummy Mommy (we prefer that over birth mom) had given birth to another boy.  Her lifestyle had not changed and, in fact, by the time the state called us, she had already disappeared.  It wasn’t that she didn’t love her children, but she is so totally without skills to parent.  I think she gets so completely overwhelmed that it is just easier to disappear and let someone else take care of her children.

We never hesitated about our decision that, if J2 was available for adoption, then we would do everything we could to make sure the brothers were together.

Even though the Tummy Mommy was out of the picture, they system would only work so fast.  So, while we wanted him the moment we heard about him, we learned that it would be awhile.  At first, all we knew was that J2 was in a medical foster home in the Portland metro area.  But eventually we were given the foster mom’s phone number.  I have my notes from my first phone calls with Laurie somewhere.  After a few phone calls (I hope I wasn’t a pest!) Laurie graciously extended the invitation to come visit J2 and her family.  It was a neat experience.  Not only did we get to meet and hold tiny J2, but Laurie and her family were a joy!

One visit, we went along with them to J2’s doctor’s appt!  I imagine that was something to see!  One dad (Doug was at work), one mom with a toddler, and another mom with an infant (J2) and a triple stroller and a few more kids! lol  But it was so neat to hear the Doctor give us an update on his withdrawal experience and development.  The Doctor seemed to roll with the fact that J2 had two mommies! lol

In December of 1996, Laurie and her family were planning a vacation over the Christmas break.  Laurie worked it out so that we would be her respite foster parents for J2.  So we were going to have him for 2 weeks!  We were pretty excited about that.  But then someone realized that we could just make the permanent transition from her home to ours.  After all, we were foster parents at that point too.  We weren’t considered his adoptive placement home (that would come later) but he could live with us as foster parents.  To be honest, I have NO idea who instigated it or even if it was acceptable.  But we were beyond excited!

On December 13, 1996, Laurie and her family drove to The Dalles and brought us the best Christmas gift!  We ordered pizzas and tried to make it more like a visit than anything really formal.  But as Laurie explained to me about his medications and feeding needs, I struck by the enormity of what we were doing!  I was going to be Momma to 2 boys – ages 23 mos and 3 mos old.  Laurie shed more than a few tears that night – I could only imagine how hard it was/is to pour so much of yourself into a little one knowing that it’s only a temporary situation.

Those early days of two babies is sort of a blur now.  But fortunately we have some videos and pictures to help us remember.  Maybe I’ll see what I can do about scanning some this summer!

There is so much more to share….3 more children…many moves….lots of stories!  But today there is no more time.  More soon – I promise!

~~~to be continued~~~

Totally random… again

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I should be writing part three of our adoption story … but real life intrudes!  Our two oldest boys are going to Camp Cherry Valley on Catalina Island for a week of boy scout camp.  Cheryl at TooManyHats and I had a few minutes of freaking out when we thought our boys were going to be there at the same time, but sadly her troop will be there the next week.  Have I ever told you about all the similarities we have found in one another?  It’s cool and weird all at once!

So, not only do we have to help them get their gear all together, we also are transporting 5 scouts in our van.  We offered in order to help save us some money in getting them to camp.  This camp is already SO expensive!  So, Eric and I are leaving Sunday morning – well, technically it’s still night – along with 5 scouts.  After dropping them off, we will spend a couple of days with my cousin and her daughter.  Then we’ll be home for a few days and head back down there again to bring them home.  Thank God for Grammy who will watch the two littles.

Completely out of left field, for those of you who make your own frozen waffles…how do you store them?  Obviously popping them in a freezer bag did not give me the results I wanted.  The waffles are still good after toasting them, but getting them apart was a mess!  So, is there a trick or something I missed?

My mind is all a jumble…here is what is running through it:

  • Need to call the groomers to get an appt for Tuvok & Janeway
  • Need to call another mom to see if boys can get a ride home with her from youth group tonight
  • Need to WORK!!
  • Need to do laundry and start packing
  • Do boys need jackets for Catalina Island??
  • What will I do with the chicken thighs that are in my frig and need to be cooked?
  • I need to get some cash for card making class tonight. I look forward to it…maybe I’ll finally decide if I want to keep (and use) all my stamping stuff or sell it.
  • I need to decide if I can go to the quilt store on Saturday with my friends or if I need to pass. :(  I hope I can go, but…well, things are crazy.

OK…this isn’t helping.  Guess I’ll go throw the chicken in the crockpot, make a few phone calls and then work.  Look for part three later today or tomorrow.