Locking It Up

We tried to go without our little blue pill today, been GF, only one piece of candy on Saturday, that only lasted until 9:30 this morning.  He couldn't do ANY math.  Couldn't sit still.  Couldn't make eye contact.  Wouldn't cooperate.  The list goes on.  Oh what I didn't know!

I would love for him to not need his little blue pill.  We wouldn't be forcing breakfast, eating a little lunch and then becoming famished.  His moods would be consistent, not variable as the medicine wears off.  The amount of sleep he needs has been affected since the dosage increase.  That is to say, he doesn't sleep very much.  He's up until 9 or 10pm easy and is out of bed by 6am.  Everyday.  We would go back to the yellow pill, but it wasn't helping him to be able to concentrate enough to do school...

I thought I was just a failure as a parent.  That maybe I wasn't being consistent enough.  Loved him enough.  Brushed him enough (special brushing technique).  I resigned myself to maybe daily medication was what it is going to take for him to live and experience any measure of success.

While making dinner, we (me and another child) discovered that in the course of two days he's eaten three cookies (at least) there were only nine in the package and an undisclosed amount of M&M's. ~head shaking~
Today is a repeat of so many other days.  Too many to count.

We have tried to teach self control.  We have tried to communicate the need to ask.  We have hid the sweets.  We have not bought sweets.  We have tried, tried, tried...

Mr. Incredible is currently at the store buying a locking door knob for our pantry.  I want a keypad one, but they are over $120.  So we will get just a regular one and I will have to wear the key on one of those stretchy things on my arm like you see a manager at a store have...

I don't even ask God "Why?" anymore.  This wonderful, thought provoking, irrational behaving, blessing of boy that God brought into our family continuously gives me opportunities for growth, humility, gaining of wisdom, migraines, the chance to be less self centered and now to be a little more like a prison warden.  One day, the light will come on for self control, until then I guess we'll keep the food locked up.

Challenges

If you ever think your life is tough, watch this.

For all that have loving homes, there are so many more that don't.

Little Blue Pill

So math took an HOUR for a 1/2 of a page.  He was hungry during the day.  Shrieking and arm flapping along with bouncing everywhere were his modes of communication.  So how long did it take me to figure out that he didn't take his medicine?  Unfortunately, too long.  It was almost noon and after questioning him about any sugar consumption, I then remembered the "gum" that J Daddy found in a straw cup while he was doing the morning dishes.  No more straw cups at medicine time...  Yeah, it was THAT kind of little blue pill, not the other :-)

So glad that that was yesterday and not today, but it had to wait until it wasn't an all hands on deck kind of day to get posted.  Lol!

Tackling Stuff

I made it my goal today to clear off all the books littering the top of our kid level bookcase and culling through some of the books so that the shelves weren't two books deep...  The 18+ inch stack of books on top all have a home somewhere, but a child has pulled the book from a shelf and not been able to find it's home...  Now most of the books (with the exception of all the ones on top) are adult books (no not THAT kind :))- ie. marriage, finance, bible study, travel, organization, etc.  Books that I have been given, married and paid good money for and have sat on a shelf, some for almost 15 years- those are the marriage ones :)  So after an hour+ my shelves are dust free, organized and presentable to the new babysitter coming Thursday.  I read a couple of the chapters in the few that no longer have a home in our home and 'got' what I needed to out of them.  Only my shelf that deals with parenting and adoption is still two books deep, but I have enough room on another shelf that I could divide and conquer, hopefully.

So sorting out is half the battle, and the other half is actually parting with them...  It seems that I can sort and have determination and then the stuff sits in my garage and I then want to reclaim it.  It's a dark secret.  lol.

But why am I even concerned about having a clean bookshelf when the babysitter comes?  I have boxes in my dining room STILL!!!!!

One of the books on my shelf boasts of how to organize your house and your life.  It's one of the keepers and I've even read it.  The author doesn't have six kids though.  This author does boast that your house is a reflection of your life.  If your house is cluttered, then your life is cluttered, etc.  I can grasp some of this concept, but again the author doesn't have SIX KIDS! lol!

My bookshelf is reflective of my life though.  It looks great right now, but within a week (or maybe even a day) a noticable amount of dust will have accumulated.  It's easy to be in my comfort zone and let dust collect on my inside.  Don't ask when I actually had a quiet time last or when Mr. Incredible and I went on a date. It's something I want to do, but right now I am still living from fire to fire, what is essential gets done (essential being defined as feeding, clothing, schooling, bathing and mothering kids)  And just as children rearrange the books on a shelf, I have a tendancy of jumbling my priorities and letting outside issues cloud my judgement.  (Like being concerned about a bookshelf and not a quiet time)  This is not something that is always in my control.  Having to drop everything and run for an x-ray is never something you plan.  Neither is a child getting sick, but when it happens how you handle the disruption testifies to your maturity (or lack thereof).

So before I have to run and put out the next fire, I think I might go have a quiet time while the kids are watching cartoons.

Lawyerish Chickens

Well my trek down to our previous county's courthouse proved to be fruitful, I think!?!  After getting a cause number and 'almost' paying the filing fee, the staff decided that I would need to go take care of this in our new county. But wait!...  After 10 minutes of praying while standing at the filing counter it was decided that I could go ahead and file in our previous county.  So the filing fee was paid and I got a DISCOUNT!!! and I have receipts to prove my 2 hours of effort!

We are currently on the docket for Nov. 16th, our (previous) county's "Adoption Day".  (First ones!!!)  Now if there are any issues, we won't know until we appear in court, but hopefully, prayerfully there won't be.  We will be representing ourselves and as long as the judge accepts our paperwork then it's a done deal.  Whether US courts recognize our daughter's foreign adoptions or not is not a super huge deal, it just means that they don't have US birth certificates.  So even if some unforeseeable something happens, they are still ours and we will then just resubmit in our new county (and maybe hire a lawyer... :) ha,ha)

Going to the SS office wasn't too bad.  I had expected to not even be seen after hearing of horrendous waits and the filing at the District Clerk's office took way longer than I had anticipated, but I still had time before I had to head back home.  I waited maybe 5-10 minutes and then was seen by a wonderful, sweet woman.  It's amazing that all our Chinese documentation didn't count for anything, but only her US Citizenship and an insurance card with my name.  Thank goodness for insurance cards!  It's a little scary that they could look up whatever they needed to with the insurance card...hmmm. ((---someone's watching!--- do do do doo))

As I wrote the first three paragraphs M&M had some unsupervised time with the chickens....long story.  They are all alive!  But, we had to chase two out of the thorny woods and get them back in their pen... The three of us who are scratched up are not exactly 'feeling the love' and so for all of our sakes M&M is having some alone time in his bed.  I know I should be with him, but mom has had ENOUGH (for right now).


Within minutes of being home this afternoon (yes, I was out ALONE!!!)  Lolipop put a Lego up her nose.  This isn't the first time I've had to get a toy out of her nose...maybe I should invest in some of those medical alligator clips.  And my attempts at asking why she did it??  Only led to her telling me she did it ~sigh~.

Our washer is having issues as well...


So here's my job title for the day, you know us stay at home moms wear many hats, Lawyerish Chicken Farmer with Medical and Plumbing Experience Associate

Paperwork Time

I have spent the afternoon making copies of all of Little Mama's and Lolipop's paperwork.  Tomorrow afternoon I am going to our (old) county's district clerk's office to file for their adoptions to be recognized by US courts.  I have been waiting months for our lawyer to call us back and our friend that is a lawyer wasn't exactly sure how to do foreign adoptions... but, thankfully a travel mate sent out a link for the state of Texas!!!  YEAH!!!  I have been putting it off for a few weeks, but with the recent wildfires nearby and being out of town when they were the closest, I realized that the only proof that they were ours was in a house that could get burnt. Not good.  Since we have never received Lollipop's SS card, I am going (time permitting) to apply for that too!  :)

Prayers would be appreciated since I have tried this once before with just Little Mama's paperwork, but didn't have the information or forms (very official looking, that I just printed from the state website! :)) and was told to contact a lawyer... So if your from the state of Texas and don't want to pay lawyer fees on top of filing fees, visit here for the forms you need.  I'll let you know how it goes!

We Didn't Do So Good This Last Time...

I did great at taking pictures.  But not so well at posting them while we were in China.
Here's some of what you missed...

Photo Op on our way to the pool

mom! she's touching me!!!

On Lolipop's adoption day

I love my sister!

The "To Do" List

This was my list  for Monday:
-math with M, T- watch video and do A
-IEW with Z, J
-AAS with M, T
-History Z, J, M, T
-Science with J, M, T
-Handwriting Z, J, M, T
-Memory work Z, J, M, T
-Piano practice Z, J, M, T
-call -- about couch
-scan contract, then take to --
-scan time sheet, email to --
-pay bills
     -phone
     -mortgage
     -water for two houses
-call -- about readoption
-menu plan for two weeks
-return dresses to X and pick out other cloths
-call title company
-call -- about setting up seminar
-call restaurants about food donations for seminar
-call and ask about pool usage at X for therapy purposes
-cancel babysitter
-rehearsal at 7:15
-go grocery shopping

Tuesday's list never actually materialized, I didn't have time to write it down.  Ditto for Wednesday and a last minute three hour spur of the moment get the last of our stuff at our old house.  Yeah, dinner was at 10pm...

Thursday's short list
-whatever school doesn't require mom

-T allergy testing @ 8:30
-12pm counseling
-12pm piano
-pick up E @ school
-pick up repaired van
-rehearsal from 6-8:30pm
-various emails and calls regarding seminar and ministry
-get table from old house

Friday's is looking like
-go to dairy for milk, be back by 7:15am
-meet non-profit to pick up furniture
-9:45 M to doctor
-11am close on old house
-get milk now if it didn't happen earlier
-catch my breath and get ready for all day rehearsal on Saturday and small group.

Why I do what I do. :)

Fiery Arrows

As I plan our church's adoption/foster Orphan Sunday event, the shots being taken at us are closer to home and FIERY!  Guess Satan forgot I still have my 10lb. fire extinguisher from our foster care days :)!

Seriously though your prayers are coveted, appreciated and necessary for survival right now. 

Answers

This last week has been filled with so much. A trip to D, our science co-op, rehearsals, scheduling and then the normal part of life as well.

The trip to D this week makes two in two weeks and unfortunately each time while I was gone, a chicken died. Who would have thought that the person that gets lashed out at the most by a certain child, would also be the person most greatly missed by the same certain child. The chicken incidents are symptomatic of the anger and fear that ANY change causes. Hopefully more healing will occur in this area before I have to head to D again.  Hopefully.  Praying.

We also now have an official diagnosis for Lolipop. On the day that marked her 4 monthiversary with us we found out that she indeed has Osteogenesis Imperfecta. We knew she had this, but getting a US doctor/specialist willing to diagnose it and treat it has been another battle. A four month battle. In the coming weeks we will be seeing an endocrinologist about bisphosonate treatments. We also have to go back to have her cast off. :) Come to find out her right fibula was fractured, again. This makes three fractures in the four months she's been with us and somewhere around 13 in her life (that we know about). It may sound like we are bad parents, but we have no idea of when this fracture happened. However, this is common with OI and one of the symptoms of OI.

Here's some excerpts from some of the literature we have. "OI is initially diagnosed because of fractures that occur with little or no trauma or injury." "There is no cure for OI. The main goal of treatment is to limit the frequency of fractures and encourage mobility and independence."

On the way home, after hearing her diagnosis, I was overcome with emotion (while driving!  Why is it always great revelations happen when driving?!  lol!).  We finally know what the monster in the closet is.  We finally know how to proceed and we are not still searching for answers.  Though we have identified the monster and know a direction, it still doesn't soothe a mother's heart for not wanting her child to hurt and wanting to make the owies go away.  

I have comfort in that God brought Lolipop into our family.  He sees the end from the beginning and knows all and sees all.  He sees her pain and wants to comfort her, even more than I do.  In all of this, God has a plan.  But, at least now we have some answers.