Workin 6 days a week is wearing me out!

So, for the most part, I've been working 6 days a week (with 3 exceptions) for the last 3 months. Praise God for a job, but man! am I tired! We're working on putting in a woodstove. So, at the moment, we're keeping windows closed and running the dryer once or twice a day into the house to keep it warm enough. Along with canning and freezing produce and trying to keep up with cleaning the house, we've not had much time for anything else. The kiddos went back to their real mom a few weeks ago, but they're still able to go to church, which was my major concern. So, Praise God for that!
So, we're going to vote in a month for Prez...does anyone know what the policy is for write-ins? I like Sarah Palin and I'd much rather have her for Prez. Is that possible? Thoughts???? Can we do a mass write in campaign for her? Wouldn't that be cool? Well, I know this one's a short one, but I really don't have much time on here. My cell phone has already kicked me off once. Hope to hear from you soon!

I know, I know, forever and a day...

You've probably stopped checking by now, but I FINALLY got a chance to update this thang. I started a new job last week, so any (none) extra time that I had has now been reduced by 40 hours! I'm working at a small, privately owned financial institution in the area. It's interesting, never done this kind of work before. I'm still learning, but it's kinda fun. It's a laid back environment, which I like too.
I still have 2 kittens if anyone really wants one, I'm giving them away! :-) We're working on keeping up with the garden. We still have tons of lettuces. We have some cucumbers. We fried up our first zucchini the other night. I've been playing bee this last week. Our zucchini plants were dropping their blossoms, so we tried taking a paint brush to the inner parts of the flowers and we now have baby zucchinis!!! This morning I was ecstatic to see 4-5 bees (I don't know what kind, I just know they weren't bumbles.) pollinating the zuccini on their own!!! Yay! We dug up some of the red potatoes that the plants died the other day. We've gotta get out there and finish that up. The rest of the red potatoes and yukon golds are still growing. They may be huge! We have green tomatoes so far. They were a little farther behind because of the cool weather in May. We have some jalapeños, cayennes and hungarian wax peppers. We have some baby bell peppers. Our peas have come and gone, they're now in the freezer. :-) Yum! The cabbage is still growing and we'll have green beans in a few weeks. Hopefully they'll hold off til after the fair! The corn is still getting taller, the melons and pumpkins are still going well too. The garden is huge and going full force. And the weeds are hard to keep up with!
The kiddos came out a couple weeks ago. (The week before I started my job.) They stayed here all week while Fostermom played nurse at the campgrounds. It was fun.
Red, the guinea pig, died the week before that. He was an old man! We'll miss you Red Man!
This last week, we adopted 3 baby (3 days old) chicks from mom-in-law. They are part banny (sp?) chicken. They were the smallest babies I've seen. They're really growin' now and they're eatin' like piggies! Their mom and sibling were killed by a coon one night. So, we took 'em in.
I'm excited to have some new friends, Katie & Olvin. Katie got baptized a week ago, then on Friday of that week got the Holy Ghost! Now Olvin is talking about getting baptized this next week, but he really wants LJ to do the honors. He told Katie that he would've gotten baptized last night if LJ were there! I'm so excited for what God is doing in their lives!
Well y'all, it's the hottest day of the year (or at least it feels like it) so, I'm going to get off here and take a cool shower to hopefully cool off some. It's too hot to do any gardening that we really needed to do tonight, so we'll put it off to Saturday instead. Love y'all! Hopefully I'll be able to update more often.

Shout, For He has given us this city!

Revival fire fall! Since I've been walking the city streets all week, I've not had time to post about all of the absolutely awesome things that God is doing! Ok, really, revival started on Easter Sunday night. We had one lady (Jackie) get baptized in Jesus name and get the Holy Ghost. The following Sunday night (last week) one man (Terry) did the same. We started revival with the Cook's that same day. All afternoon on Sunday, we walked around town, hanging door hangers and handing out fliers advertising our big community day and giveaway event that is to happen today (and yesterday at the park). I walked the streets some more on Monday afternoon, Tuesday all day, Wednesday all day, Thursday all day and worked on stuff in the office, calling people and gathering a list of names on Friday. During Wednesday night's service, 6 were baptized in Jesus name (one of which got the Holy Ghost) and two others got the Holy Ghost! On Friday, Brother Cook went out talking to people on the street and he found a man that was in need of God and he ended up coming back to the church and getting baptized and received an awesome touch from God! I hope he shows up to the service today! So, since Easter Sunday, 9 have gotten baptized and 5 have received the Holy Ghost! And it's not over yet! The whole church has had an incredible anticipation of today's service. We all feel like it's going to be such a huge outpouring of the Spirit! I can't wait until 2:00 when it all starts!
On a side note, on Tuesday, my brother and sis-in-law told us that they're going to have a boy! I don't remember if I told you before, but at Christmas they told us the good news. So, for now, they have picked out Nathan for a name. She's due in early August. Yay! I'm going to be an auntie!!! :-)
Another side note, the kiddos' verdict came in for the March trial. The court is giving mom and dad another two months to get their act together. So, yet another trial some time in May. Woohoo.....

Let the Hallelujah Chorus Roll!!!

Everyone has been asking me lately, "So, you EVER going to blog again?!?!" Here I am! I'm going to try for once a week until I get more time.
So, Miss...what've you been doing for the last four months? Well, we're STILL working on the house. But there is a very bright light at the end that really isn't that far away. All that's left is to finish the spackling and sanding on the new drywall, priming, painting, trimming around windows, doors and the floor in a few rooms and a bit of work on the roof. Very little compared to before! I had to give up my responsabilities in the music dept. at the church so that we could get more progress much quicker on the house. We've come farther in the last month and a half than we have over the 6 months before! We've worked every Thursday night, all day Saturday and any days that Superhubby has off. I've begun selling things on ebay to get rid of the stuff we don't use anymore and we're trying to clean out the kiddie's rooms. This house really doesn't give us many options for storage. This last weekend, Superhubby didn't go to work because of the bad weather, so we worked all day then too. Saturday we fixed the attic entrance and put some stuff that would keep in an attic environment up there. So, other than that and the hall closets, we really don't have any storage space. Speaking of his job, he did finally get hired on where he was working as a temp since early last year. It became official mid-November.
As far as the kiddos, we may only try for two instead of three because the youngest of the 5 got sent back to his dad last month. We don't want one of them left without any sibs. Well, I've run out of time, hopefully to see you again soon! Hasta luego!

So much to do, so little time!

Ok, ok...so I'm being hounded again. So, here I am. I've been working my buttoocus off trying to get my house up to par so we can pass our "home study" for the kids. We found out from Fostermom that the permanent custody trial (the one that was supposed to take place July 26th, is now going to take place January 14th (?) I think. So, it'll take up to 3-4 weeks after that before we hear the verdict. We could feasibly have the kids in our home by March if things go right. But we have to pass "inspection"!!!! Aaaauuugggghhhh!! I'm really stressing, because I've gotten "slothful" as the pastor preached about on Wednesday...yes, he may have been preaching to you, but he was also preaching to me. It's called L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S! I lost all motivation and really didn't want to do a thing. Talk about selfish! So, here I am, getting caught up. I started last week on Thursday and spent Thursday and Friday cleaning and scouring the kitchen in any way that I could find. Rearranging some furniture and things and just redoing all that I had the fancy for. Monday I moved to the master bathroom and did the same thing and began on the master bedroom. I spent all day Tuesday, Wednesday and finished early yesterday working on laundry and cleaning the bedroom. In the meantime I also got boxes together to take to Goodwill. That's what took me so long on the bedroom...I had to sort through all kinds of stuff...clothes and all the junk that ends up in a bedroom. It's kinda the "catch-all" room, if you will. So, I started yesterday afternoon on the livingroom and that's where I am today. My momma called me earlier and practically ordered me (per one of my faithful readers) to at least put one entry on here. So, here I is. I took time out of my busy livingroom-cleaning day to let you all in on my busy doings. So, that's what I've been up to. Superhubby still hasn't been hired on yet at Big Bank Corporation, but God is still in control. I'm going to start up my Spanish classes for homeschoolers and adults here in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that. Well, gotta get to scourin' again. Love y'all, even though I haven't posted lately. I really do! God bless!

Pleased...

#1 - Superhubby's boss asked him to stay for 2 extra weeks after his temp assignment was supposed to be up. Maybe they're looking for a permanent spot for him. PRAY! :)

#2 - Last Sunday's Sunday School lesson went well. The kids realy enjoyed seeing all of the pictures, foreign money and stuff that I have from Latin America.

#3 - Hands of Praise (our church's "mime" team) had our first practice Tuesday. I was to teach the first song that we're doing this season. It went very well for the first practice. I even had some compliments on my teaching and my "choreographed" signs.

I'm so excited about this H.O.P. season. I think it's going to be really good and annointed. I never thought that I'd get into it this much! I used to be scared to death but really wanted to join. I've now jumped into wholeheartedly! It's exciting to be a part of such an annointed group.

Well, we're not watching the kiddos anymore. We'll only get them on weekends now because school started and I'd have to go into town (30 minutes one way) three times every day I'd watch them. So, we're not going to have them as much. The day that sis-in-law went into the hospital, I found out that their "permanent custody trial" had been cancelled. All because they are kids and really have split loyalties. They love Fostermom, but they have a connection with Realmom to whom they feel the need to be loyal. So, everytime the person that was supposed to speak for them in court talked to them, they'd say something different. (they wanted to stay with Fostermom or they wanted to go back to Realmom) So, they (the state) has to hire the kids an attorney and they are now (this month) filing for another trial. They say that it can take 2-4 months from the time of filing to get the actual trial scheduled. So, the waiting game continues...

I need to talk to the pastor first, but I'm thinking about getting a class started for Spanish for homeschoolers at the church. I'm also throwing around the idea of a "Spanish review" class for adults who would like to brush up on the Spanish that they took years ago. I'm not sure yet what days or how much I'm going to charge. I think, if nothing else, it would greatly advance our ministry with the Mexicans that live on the property.
Well, got so much to do! Superhubby's b-day is on Monday. I've gotta get things together.

Woo Hoo!!!

Ok, first of all...Jana has my black kitten now! His name is Lucky and the kids love him! I'm so happy I don't have 5 cats, only 4 now. Although, Patches was around on Saturday the 7th and when she came back last week I was going to take her to the vet to get her rabies shot, well...she never showed up last week! She didn't show up until midnight this last Sunday night! So, I took her yesterday. I can't believe she left for that long! I thought maybe she found a new home, but she came back skinny. Poor thing.
Saturday, we went to the Farmer's Market and one other place to shop and then came home. On Sunday morning we found that Joe's wallet was missing. Dear Lord! I was really, REALLY worried. He thought he had left it at that store we went to, but they didn't open until 10 am on Monday. We searched high and low, looked at his mom and dad's and in all the vehicles. We couldn't find it. I called the store Monday morning and she said that she didn't see it, but she wasn't the one there on Saturday and that she would have someone in the afternoon call me back. So, I went online to check the checking account and it was okay. So I walked back into the bedroom and low and behold...the first place I look, THERE IT WAS! I worried so much about that stupid thing and here it was on MY dresser instead of his under my guitar books! But, OH what a relief!
The kids are coming out tonight, Fostermom's got to work tomorrow and Friday. I'll have all three this time. The wall for their bedrooms still isn't finished, the siding on the house is getting there, the electrical issues haven't even been touched yet. I hope that we can get these things resolved soon, I'm tired of stressing over them.
Welp, I've got to go get some things done that I won't be able to do tomorrow because the kids will be here.
BY THE WAY JANA...I have no clue where your new blog is!!! I didn't get the message.

¡hasta luego!

Really just MISC...

Saw sis-in-law today. She's doing a great deal better. She's on step 2 of her detox (a few days early by doc's orders!) and well on the way to recovery.
Check out these cool lookin' moths that we found over the last couple days. The green one's just plain purty and the other one's just sweet!

See the cross?!?! Cool huh?
Also, Superhubbie and I were driving the other day and saw this bumper sticker. It kinda has that "Whoa!" effect to it doesn't it?

The Dolan's are getting the black and white kitten tomorrow! Yay! I only have one extra cat and I kinda want to keep her (the white one). So, we're good.

We dropped the boys off last night at camp and can I just say...I really don't like taking them to a chaotic place. There were so many people and the kids just wanted to run! It was really stressful for me. Well, Superhubbie and his dad are working on the siding of the house. I got done mowing the grass and I probably ought to hit the laundry now.

the kiddos...

We're going to camp tonight and we're dropping off the boys. I've really become attached and they act like they still don't want to leave. They love Fostermom, but it seems that they love being around here more. I do have to admit that 2 is easier than 3, but these last 2 weeks has been good for me because I have been able to ease into "motherhood" a little more easily than having all three dropping in my lap all at once. Really, the transition into "it" hasn't been as painful as I had expected. Yes, a lot of things are changing, but it's not really all that bad. They love me and I love them. It's weird really...how people can walk into your life and hold your heart in their hands in a short period of time. They need stability and I hope the court gives it to them on July 26-28, we find out if they go up for the big A word. Please be praying, many kids' lives are at stake here. Well, this weekend's going to be full of work. So, I'd better get the kids' stuff packed up and ready to go back to Fostermom's. Later!

Thursday Thirteen #3

13 Reasons Why I LOVE having the kids around...

1. The way Middlechild strokes my back or arm when he's sitting beside me. Even though he hasn't said "I love you" much, he says it every time he does this.

2. The way Oldest has attached to Superhubbie so much that while we're watching a movie on a Sunday afternoon, she climbs up on his lap and they both fall asleep sitting in the recliner before the movie is half way over.

3. The way Youngest is so smart! He usually learns his lesson the first time he goofs up.

4. The way Middlechild is just like Superhubbie so many ways.

5. The way the dogs (mostly Woody) plays with them - it's a sight to behold!

6. The way they lit up when I cleaned up and decorated the guest bathroom, put a dresser in there, put their clothes in it and told them that it was theirs. It gave them even more of a sense of belonging.

7. The way they keep me on my toes! I can't be a couch potato like I enjoyed in summers past. I like this!

8. The way I don't eat as much when they're around. I've lost 4 lbs. in the last 2 weeks!

9. The way Youngest goes to comb his hair and only combs over the front 2 inches because that's all he sees in the mirror.

10. The way Middlechild woke up from his nap and pulled a tooth all by himself.

11. The he woke up the next morning and I saw such a smile on his face when he found a dollar under his pillow from the Tooth Fairy.

12. The way they love coming out here and never complain, wanting to go home.

13. The way they know in their hearts that we belong together without anyone saying anything to them about what we want to do.

Wow! It's been busy!

Ok, you know the kittens I found last week? Well, I got to to know them better and look at them closer and look:

Do you see it??? Look at the eyes! One's greenish and the other one is icey blue! Isn't that sweet?!? Mom-in-law said that from the looks of its markings, it's got siamese in it, as it gets older it'll get more points and markings. That's pretty neat too.

Then, my hummies (aka: hummingbirds) have multiplied and are eating like CRAZY! I have officially counted 6 now, but I think more have come just in the last few days. I had Superhubbie buy another feeder a couple weeks ago and he bought a much bigger one. Well, I filled them both up yesterday after I had filled them BOTH up the day before! It's become a ritual to fill up the smaller one (pictured) every morning, but the bigger one is depleating much faster now too. I can't believe it! I told SH that it's more like a swarm of hummies than a flock (you know...flock = birds, swarm = bees). The way they sound, it's like this HUGE swarm of bees flying around. You wouldn't believe how much they are fighting over those two feeders. Plus mom-in-law got me a snapdragon hanging basket for "mother's day" and (I've actually kept it alive!) they love it too! They sit on my (sp?) bugamvia (another plant, native to Costa Rica) and use it as a perch. So, they've become like my little 'pets' too. So, I've got all kinds of animals running around here. Here's a pic so you can see my cute new friends.

And the boys were out yesterday. Oldest is at camp this week and next week. So, we took the boys home after church Sunday night and kept them until last evening. We've got church again tonight because of the holiday, so we're taking them home again tonight and we're going to see fireworks after church. I think we're going to have them through to Thursday morning. Then we'll have all three on Saturday and Sunday, then Oldest is going 'home' to pack for church camp for next week. We're going to keep the boys all next week because Fostermom is nursing at camp. I got some really cute pics of the boys yesterday blowing bubbles. Here's one for your enjoyment.

Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen things the kids did yesterday on our "first day" alone w/Missy (no Joe!):

1)Walked in the door and ran like wild children with the dogs for quite sometime.

2) Ate lunch (ravioli...mmm, yummy!)

3) Got into Joe & Missy's cowboy boots and wanted to take pictures!

4) Played with playdough! Every kid's favorite!

4) Played with the dogs...

5) Watched Nemo (to give Missy some time off!)

6) Loved on dogs while watching Nemo...

7) Played with the dogs...more...

8) Ate milk & choco chip cookies that Missy made fresh for us.

9) Played on the broken down John Deere that is sitting in the back yard because it's cool to play on a tractor! 10) Colored and cut construction paper into BEAUTIFUL things that were unidentifiable once we got done with the scissors! 11) Played with....well...you know... 12) Crashed for 45 minutes until Joe got home (the dogs did too!!!)

13) Ate supper (grilled cheese & tomato soup)

Then we got ready and went to church.

Kids and cats...

This'll probably be a quickie. I've got to go get the kiddos today and I've got to go shopping for lunch & supper today too 'cuz I wasn't planning on cooking for five. Fostermom's got to take one of her kiddos to the dr for her leg. She really didn't want to go with five kids, so I'm picking them up after Middlechild's summer school is over at 11:30 today at the school. It'll be my first day with them without help from the Superhubbie who always knows how to entertain these kiddies! So, pray for me?!? I'm pretty sure I'll be okay, they listen to me pretty well and they love coming out here. So, I don't think it'll be a problem. I just don't have a million things for them to do. They could play in the sprinkler, play with the puppies, hey! I do have some playdough they could play with, I'll see if I've got anything else. I'm sure I'll be fine. Just kinda nervewracking being "mom" by myself (no "dad" involved for the day) for the first time is all. So, I'll quickly introduce you to Patches then I gotta run.

Patches is a calico cat who used to be skin and bones. She is no longer skin and bones, I think she's saving up for a famine or something. I have no clue how old she is, I can just guess that she's probably around a year older than Luna. So, she's about 3-4 years old. I'm pretty sure that she's been fixed because we've not had the problems that we did with Luna at around 8-10 months of age. (Liz, you know what I'm talking about!) That gross, perverse problem of having a female cat in heat. YUCK! So, anywho...I can't really say much for Patches other than she's a princess that kills everything! Lately our animals have made our yard into a killing ground for birds, mice, moles, you name it...groundhogs, oppossum, rabbits, chipmunks. NOTHING is safe in our yard! So, I've caught Patchie with mostly birds, but a few mice. I don't know how she's keeping her shapely figure! We got Patches from Aunt Madge & Mark (that's Joe's side). They had found her and tried to keep her, but she was so skittish that they couldn't take care of her. So, we took her. She has s-l-o-w-l-y warmed up to us and now she loves us like crazy. But she hates it when "strangers" are in the house. She hides. So, here's Patches because I've got to get going...

Patches' names:

Patches (official)

Patchie (short)

Patch (even shorter)

Apachie (Joe thinks it's cute???)

And I forgot to add Luna's names the other day,

Luna/Loona (officials)

Lunie/Loonie (shorts)

Lunita (that's mine, with a Spanish flare!)

Lune/Loon

Things to do this weekend...

It's such a beautiful day again! What have we done to deserve such wonderful treatment, God? I just got done mowing the backyard a little bit ago, and knowing my Irish skin tone...I'm probably going to be feelin' it tonight and tomorrow! I dunno...we'll see.
So, I'm pretty much going to try (again) to lose this extra baggage (weight, not my husband!) that I've been carrying around for so long. The good news is, I haven't gotten any bigger for a year and a half...I've actually gone down some. But I've pretty much been at a plateau since around Thanksgiving time. You know all that good food...especially what my mother-in-law makes. The problem is...I live only 3 miles away from her and her doggone good cooking. She's been making baked goods for the Farmer's Market and whatever she doesn't sell, we've been getting some of it. That's not helping this body of mine one iota! But man is it good!?!
This weekend is going to be pretty busy around here. Tonight Superhubbie's cousin is getting married in Reynoldsburg. Then tomorrow, Superhubbie and his mom are doing the Farmer's Market until noon. That'll give me a little more time to get things done around here...work on more laundry, straighten up the house a bit, etc. Then, when they're done, they're going to come home and his dad is coming over to help work on the wall again for a while. At 4:00 I'm going to get the "kids" and we'll have them until Sunday night church service. They want to stay longer, but the middle child has summer school until next week...so he's kinda ruins it for them all...for now. That's okay though. We'll have fun! I think we're going over to mom-in-law's for pizza Saturday night because of the wedding tonight. (We usually have pizza on Fridays, but this week is messed up.)
You should see the kids with the doggies! The youngest tries to give Woody hugs and because Woody is so small and it's hard for him to trust people, every time youngest leans down to give him a hug, Woody growls a little. Youngest looks at me and says I'm just trying to hug him! But this last time they came out...we had a breakthrough! I wish I had my camera! They didn't know I was watching and he leaned down and hugged him for a long time and Woody just sat there like he had gained a new friend. It's adorable! Ladybug slept with Oldest and they both loved it and Molly just doesn't know how to calm down with kids around yet. I'm sure she'll learn. Middlechild just keeps trying to play like Molly does but it's after everyone's done playing. It's cute! So, everytime we have to take them back to Fostermom's, (keep in mind that they LOVE Fostermom to death!) they say in the cutest voice, "Nooo....I want to stay here forever!" It breaks our hearts everytime they have to leave. After the first time they came out, Oldest went home and cried her eyes out because she missed us so much. We love 'em all dearly. This is all in code obviously for security reasons, but you can at least get a look into what we're doing. Well, plenty to do, not enough time to do it all in...later!