Silverwaters

September 30, 2005

Yesterday was Cherise’s turn to wake up early. She had fallen asleep during story time the night before, so was chipper and cheerful bright and early. She asked if she could come down with me to help make breakfast (usually we let them sleep until we can get at least most of our Word) or if it was ‘too early’. We have a deal that if she wakes up too early; she can either go back to sleep or else take a nap. This was because in the summer, she was cracking her eyes open at six when the sun would be up. No problem, though, it wasn’t that early yesterday (days are getting shorter, after all), so I told her she would need to be dressed first. If you know Cherise, you’d know that getting dressed is not something she enjoys doing. However, being that she woke up in ‘angel mode’, she quietly got up and dressed before I even realized! We went downstairs together, woke up the boys and got to work. While breakfast was cooking, I decided to clean up snack dishes from the night before—something Cherise right away wanted to be involved in. She got her little stool, pulled up her pretty pink sleeves and got to work as she sang a funny little song she made up, called, Scrubby, Scrubby. Anyone who’s lived with me knows that I prefer it quiet in the morning. I find it the best time to make my ‘connection for the day’ and a lot of noise in the first hour or so of the day can put me in a grouchy mood for some time. But this sound…it was beautiful. I love it when I can spend one-on-one time with my kids, even just watching them. They grow up so fast!

Jordan is currently the ‘copy cat’ of the house. I caught him sitting at the desk and vigorously clicking away on the mouse (I wonder who he learned that from??). He also learned what phones really do, and now insists on saying hello every time he discovers me on the phone—regardless of whom I’m talking to! His special time with daddy each day is romping around and doing stunts on the bed. He lies on daddy’s feet with his arms stretched out, ‘flying’. His favorite word is ‘angan’ (translation: again), which means Jo gets his leg exercise every evening. When I come into the room, Jordan makes a mad dash for daddy’s arms, as he knows that I’ll come and give him the dreaded ‘cold’ (translation: shower). He’s real big on kisses and cuddles, and has learned to say sorry—something he learned since he discovered that pain can be given unintentionally, too, like when he rolls over Cherise’s toes with the tricycle.

Charlotte is showing what a precious caring heart she has. A couple of our friends have been going through a very difficult time in their lives right now, and had asked us for support and prayer. Although Charlotte is vaguely aware of the situation, we didn’t talk with her about the specifics. However, she decided all on her own to make two beautiful cards for them. Inside, she wrote them that they were her friends and then prayed and picked out verses to write inside. She did this entirely on her own, so I was impressed that the verses she had chosen were perfect for their situation. She has her little ‘mail day’ where she makes little cards and writes a verse or something she got from the Lord and gives it to different people in the home. It’s so cute how she comes up with these things all on her own and takes initiative to cheer people up.

We got our books today! Four new novels, the Early Readers for the girls and much more! I’m so happy, I’m going to keep this short so I can get started, ha. I was able to sort and organize the girls’ school books. Looks like I’ll have some studying to do, so I need to get going with that as well. The girls got a ’surprize’ for me today while shopping with daddy–chocolate. So sweet! I actually have a couple of ‘precious moments’ that I plan to write up of cute things they’ve been doing lately. I’ll do my best, considering I’ve been waiting for the novels for weeks, and love to read non stop in the evenings.

We continue to keep my mother in law in our prayers, as she is still in a lot of pain. She wrote that she has to go to the hospital every day to get her eyes scraped! It’s so painful, she’s passed out. Please pray with us that she will be better soon, as it seems nothing the doctors do is helping. Thank you!

Our long awaited school books have arrived. The girls are very excited (hope that lasts, ha), and happy about the belated birthday presents, especially the Bible that Jo’s Grandma sent. It’s large text, has all kinds of colorful study helps, maps, etc. I’m thankful that she’s reading better now, this way she can follow along and read at our daily Bible class time together. They also got some beautiful outfits from Jo’s aunt.

Jo is back as well. I spent most of yesterday and today doing cleanups–aside from the kids school etc–and now kind of need a break, but I know there is more to do tomorrow. I know, it’s my own fault for letting things get pushed into the back burner. That’s why I made the commitment to do certain cleanups every day, so that I don’t get behind. This may sound like simple logic, but for me, it’s an adjustment to keep the kitchen, two bathrooms, two rooms, the school room, dining room, etc clean every day. It was so nice when we had more people to rotate, heh. Oh, I’m not complaining, just thankful that I’m finally getting around to doing some jobs I’d put off.

Sorry for the long break, I’ll try and recap the last few days.

Jo is on the road for a week to 10 days, it’s not easy for him, as he’s without the car, as that was the cheapest way to go, so we’re keeping him in our prayers always. He had a good day today, and he does get to stay in a three star hotel with breakfast and dinner included. The kids miss him, Jordan especially gets excited whenever the car comes into the driveway. Thank the Lord, it’s not sooooo long….

I started school with the kids again. It’s great that Charlotte tries to read everything she sees, which gives her plenty of practice. She was so cute the other day; went and had some time to herself, listening to the Lord, and then drew a picture of what she got for me. It was a pic of all of us raising our hands to receive blessings that two angels were dropping on us. The verse she got was ‘My God shall supply all your needs. It was very encouraging for me, as we’re in a tight place right now. Cherise finshed one of her school books, which she was very excited about. Jordan was so cute today, doing everything he could to make us smile and keep us entertained.

We played hair dresser last night. I trimmed Cherise’s hair so that it’s all the same length, cut Jordan’s hair drastically shorter as well as gave Charlotte a good cut. It’s all good, they look neat, and Jordan’s hair didn’t come out as bad as I thought it would, seeing as it was the first time I cut his hair with scissors, and he did start getting cranky towards the end. Charlotte loves her new ‘do’, which I’m happy about, as I was concerned she’d miss the length of it. It just looks healthier now, which is what I was aiming for.

I had to turn the heating on last night and this morning again to get the house warmed up. I just can’t believe it! I seriously hope it warms up at least a bit, or else this will be a very costly winter for us!

Ok, this post is already very long, so I’ll quit here.

Yes, we’re back home–actually since yesterday, but I didn’t have time to blog–and the weather is the strangest thing! Three days ago, I was in shorts, playing a heated game of volley ball, wishing I would have brought a swimming suit so that I could cool off in the lake, and today I’m seriously contemplating turning on the heating in the house! What is this world coming to???

All in all, the get-together at the other home was plenty of fun. I got to talk to a bunch of girls–some I knew, some I got to know (seeing as I live with two guys and only two guys, I was in desperate need of ‘girl time’, heh), as well as catch up with my ‘uncle’ , trying to piece together information on our ‘lost’ relatives. (To those who don’t know, my dad lives in China and his wife’s brother and I get together whenever we see each other to see if one of us has more information on what they’re doing. Suffice it to say, they don’t write much) We had a fun dance night, though I really didn’t feel like dancing much, don’t know why…maybe was too tired, maybe didn’t feel confident enough seeing as I just met some of those guys a couple hours before, maybe cause there was no beer, maybe a combination, heh. Had lots of fun chatting with different ones, learning about life in the homes I haven’t been to yet, etc.

We had a grand barbaque, the aforementioned volleyball game, and the RJ guys put on a great show with their band which they hope will be going to the Eurorock. They did some great oldie goldies, some of the more recent songs, and a few songs they had written. Their drummer is only 14, but really does well. I’ll have to see if any of the pix I took turned out well enough to post. Jo got to do lead for a couple of songs, but quit when his head started pounding from being next to the very loud drums. He shoulda brought his ear plugs. Oh well.

Yesterday was a well deserved, much needed rest day, which meant sleeping in till almost 10 for me! Wow, don’t know if I’ve been that tired for a long time. We are trying to get enough rest and eat fresh fruit, etc to keep healthy with the drastic weather change. Jordan is teething, and a bit cranky cause he’s stuck in the house while it pours outside. He got to go out on the balcony which was great fun for him. Poor guy, not used to the weather at all. At least he’s staying dry–can’t dry huge amounts of laundry right now.

Tomorrow school will start in earnest again, so wish me the best, ha!

The kids are healthy in time for us to go to the other home for a weekend get-together of a lot of homes in the area. Thank God we can go, as it looked like we wouldn’t make it with the kids being sick and all. I will give you all the run down when I get back, just thought I’d let you know so you wouldn’t think I fell off the map or something.

Charlotte and Jordan are feeling better, Thank God. They were resting today, so we spent a lot of time reading, listening to drama CDs and coloring. Keeping Cherise happy was a challenge, though she was very patient. I’m very tired though, so this is it for tonight.

So, now Jordan and Charlotte caught the fever going around. I feel so sorry for the little guys, all rosy and weak. It comes on very suddenly, litterally from one hour to the next, their temperature sky rockets. Charlotte just registered 38.7 on the thermometer. Please pray with us for them, it’s so hard to watch them suffer.

My appologies for missing yesterday. Saturday is usually our ‘Bible class day’, which means cleanups in the morning, and then a marathon of classes for three different groups. I usually teach at least two of them, though yesterday, one of them fell through, I still felt really tired at the end of the day. It’s usually the one day I don’t get any rest time, so I make time first thing to get tanked up for the day, which included locking myself in a room with the laptop so I could read in peace, ha! As much as I enjoy giving classes, I think we could use more variety in the whole thing, so if you know anyone looking for a home, please write, ha! No, seriously, we need more personnel, like now! We’re praying that we will find more good people to work with before Christmas push begins, please pray with us.

Cherise is better, thank the Lord. It seems to just have been a ‘one-day-fever’, and today she is all her usual self. In fact, she’s sitting next to me right now making up a song about her dog washing his face.

This morning was one of those lovely experiences that I love to store away in my memory banks. Jordan woke up early (well, it’s relative. Early on Sunday morning means 8, heh) because he was very hungry. Well, he let me get him dressed, and then it was down to the kitchen we raced. As always, it was pancakes for breakfast, so I sat him on the counter and took out the bowl. He had so much fun mixing the eggs with the other ingredients, and then dumping in flour for me to mix. He then ohhhed and ahhed as I fried up the first one, saying ‘lecker’ (yummy in German) over and over. Believe it or not, he ate the whole pancake! And I’m not talking about a paper-thin ‘crepe’ either. My pancakes are more ‘American’–thick! He just sat there, eating the parts I cut up for him, and then asking me to cut more. It’s so much fun to have a kid that likes to eat! Not that the girls didn’t; they were just really small eaters. They could have maybe finished half a pancake at his age, max! Once he was done, he went right back to sleep. He was just so cute, trying to talk and express himself about everything we were doing. It’s nice to have quality one-on-one time with the kids from time to time. I do it more regularly with the girls, but now I want to add Jordan to that schedule, as he is old enough to benefit from it now, too.

Ok, enough thoughts for one day…please people, I’d really appreciate comments. How else do I know you’re reading this at all?

Cherise is sick. She came down with a fever last night. We found out that another family we were in contact with is also sick, so there must be something going around. Please pray that no one else gets it. I gotta hand it to that kid though, she’s quite the brave one. She never lets sickness get her down; I had to litterally put her back in bed several times, though she was so weak, she could hardly hold her head up. She’s done this before. I can remember the last time both girls were really sick with a tummy bug. Charlotte was a puddle of tears almost all day long, complaining about every little ache, and every time I’d try to distract her, she’d whine, “but I’m sick!” Cherise on the other hand got up, got dressed and refused to let it get her down. She went about her day as happy as could be, just not eating much. She was healthy much faster than CC. Don’t tell me attitude doesn’t play a role in how we feel.

We delivered more school supplies in the evening to two foster families with 20 children between them! It’s so nice to visit with them and see the loving way they interact with the kids, who call them Mommy and Daddy. The love they have for each child–often abused or gypsy or both–is so beautiful to see. They spend time making sure each child feels special even if just for the short time they are with them. I was sad to see that one of my favorite little girls was no longer there, though at the same time glad that she had been adopted. She needed a loving family as her mother had severly abused her as a young child–pouring boiling water on her which left her scarred. This time there was another little girl there on transition who was sucking her thumb the whole time. Her father burned her with cigarete butts among other abuse. My favorite has got to be the little boy who is always friendly and happy to see us. He is alergic to all flour, so has to sit there watching everyone else eat cake, bread, noodles, etc. The special flour that he can eat costs as much as 7 Euros for 1kg! We are going to see what we can do to get it donated for him so that his foster mother can make him special food. He has the sweetest smile, really shy but at the same time, once he gets used to us, gets out of himself in a cute way.