Tuesday, February 26, 2008

What You Don't Want To See At Your House




Yesterday afternoon, as I was doing my best to sleep off the flu, I heard the dogs making a big ruckus. Peering out my bedroom window, I saw a guy outside of his parked truck, with his back to me, staring at these woods, which are directly across the street. I could not figure out what he was staring at, and finially losing interest, I crawled back into bed. Next thing I know, someone is knocking on the front door. I knew it was him, and I was groaning, not only because I felt like h@ll but also because I looked like it. And guess what? He was real cute. But guess what also? Those woods were on fire!!! My garden hose was too short to reach, but he'd already called 911.



So, the volunteer fire department arrived, and they got it out pretty quickly. Meanwhile, I dragged on some clothes and hauled my pasty face out to sit on the porch. Turns out it was obviously arson, kids playing. So now they will be doing an investigation. But I am real glad that cute guy stopped and made the phone call. The forest floor is covered with pine needles, and were somewhat damp due to a heavy rain we had several days ago. Also, there was no wind. But the flames were less than 100 feet from my house!
This is the burn spot. I took the picture this morning in the rain and it is very dark. The black is the burn.

I am deathly afraid of house fires. I qualify for being OCD when it comes to making sure all electronics are unplugged when I leave the house for the day. Sometimes I will get out of the driveway only to go around the block, and come back to check, and check again. It stems from family history. When my father was 14 they had a house fire, and his 18 month old brother died in that fire. He never talked about it much, but the last time he did, shortly before he passed away, he couldn't finish the story without choking up, and my dad was a John Wayne kind of guy.


On second thought, under the circumstances, I guess this is what you want to see at your house!




Friday, February 22, 2008

Corgi Love

Tyler Carey, still my youngest son


Anyone that follows this blog has figured out that I love dogs. It's a miracle I only have 3. I don't go to the fabric store on Saturdays anymore because it is next to the best pet store in town, and they do pet adoptions every week-end. Invariably I want to take a dog home with me, and have to fight with myself all the way through the parking lot to get out of there. I am already up to my ears in adoption and pets.


I have 2 rescue dogs. A very old golden retriever, abandoned as a puppy on the side of the road many years ago. She was my only dog for quite a few years, and what a beautiful treasure she is! I also have a chow-golden retriever mix that I found at the pound in Anderson South Carolina as a 3 month old puppy. She is sweet to her family, but is the best watch dog I will ever have. If she doesn't know you, she is not letting you in, so be warned!


Then I have my Welsh Pembroke Corgi. Up until this month I always called him my youngest son, and he acts that way! However, he turned 2 this month, which makes him 14 in dog years, and the same age as L, so he barely qualifies as my youngest son anymore, and I am trying to get out of the habit of calling him that. Yes, he is one of those dogs that acts like a person, not a dog. He's bossy and full of himself. He's also LOUD, demanding loving, loyal, funny, playful, and sweet. There is a lot of corgi love out there on the net. Corgis have funny expressive faces and seem to take on human qualities. Corgi owners think their little dogs rule.



Yes, he has a mohawk!



I found this video and it makes me laugh. Somehow the girl that did the cartooning has captured the essence of this breed in her drawings as well as her story. When I get to the point in my hour/day/week/month where I can no longer wrap my head around Haitian adoption and all it's complicated and mind-bending scenerios, I play this video, I look at my dog, I throw the ball, and I laugh. Its all good.




Wednesday, February 20, 2008

A Nice Surprise...



I was not expecting to get these pictures of the girls, so what a wonderful surprise this was today! One of our visiting French-Canadian adoptive moms managed to make it over to the house where the older children live, and get photos. A bunch of them, in a 15 minute photoshoot! Having been there, I know this is not easy, and I really appreciate her thoughtfulness and dedication.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Got Kids?????


Yes, I believe it is a giant slingshot. I found it as I was poking around in the yard yesterday.

Kids are so funny. The things they come up with! I don't post about my teenage son a whole lot. He is a pretty laid back guy, into his friends, video games, and whatever is going on at school. He does like to read, but I don't have to force him to play outside. He'll stay outside for hours kicking a soccer ball or shooting his pellet gun. And apparently making giant slingshots. He thinks girly things are pretty dumb, but he tolerates me. When we go to the movies now, we often don't go to the same film. I mean, I just could not sit through the latest installment of Rambo, but he was dying to see it. So I went to my movie, he went to Rambo, and we met in the lobby afterwards. The other thing is that because his father and I have joint custody, he is not with me all of the time. Half of what happens in his life does not happen on my watch, and I really hate that and always have. But, the good thing is my boys' dad has always been in their life. Yesterday afternoon though, my son called me and asked me to please come get him from his dad's house. It was 24 hours too soon. Usually I try to get him stick it out, not for my benefit, because I miss him, but because I don't want him manipulating the situation, and because I do want him to have his time with his father. But he sounded so pitiful, and said he just could not take it anymore this week-end. The problem is the step-mother, and I am just going to leave it at that without elaborating. Both of my boys have had tremendous problems with this person.

So....I caved, and went and got him. I dont think the step-mother was unhappy to see him leave early, but his dad was. My son did have a surprise belated Valentines Day gift for me , which I was not expecting. It was a very expensive bottle of perfume accompanied by the complimentary body lotion. I thanked him, but wondered how in the world he afforded it. He said his dad paid for it.


That left me feeling just a little strange.... But I will say, my son did a good job of picking it out, he has good taste!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

It's Official....

Angel holding the angel necklace I gave her at Christmas

Her birth certificate was viewed and her age is correct. I had questions about it, mainly because she has lost her baby teeth so late, by our standards, anyway. So far I can't find any information on why this would be the case, except that she may have gotten her first teeth late. I suppose that could be due to developmental delay. Anyone who has ever met Haitian children sees immediately how small they are.
And no, still no news from IBESR.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Latest Photos Are Here!

Always grateful to get any new pictures of the girls!





I really, really miss them.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Adoption Article Of Interest

I saw this yesterday. It's mostly about Guatemala, but has obvious implications for all international adoptions.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/Column2.aspx?UrlTitle=usa_makes_adoption_harder&ns=JohnStossel&dt=02/06/2008&page=full&comments=true

Monday, February 4, 2008

Prison Break



Yesterday after church I was taking my shortcut home and I saw where someone had made his escape from domestication. I also noticed there were lots of babies on the other side of the fence, so I stopped for a photo. Apparently this freaked out little Mr. Wanna-Make-A-Prison-Break, because when he saw me, he hi-tailed it back across the road and wiggled thru the slatted fence to safety! He was a sight to see, fighting and wiggling to get his hiney thru the fence, whaaaa whaaaa whaaa the whole time. He also got the rest of them stirred up, but I got a few shots first!
This is for you, L and L, and all you other farm animal lovers!


Sunday, February 3, 2008

School


I wanted to post a few additional pictures of school in progress. Of course, I'm sure that they were somewhat disrupted by the visiting moms with candy and cameras! It is amazing how much the "O" has progressed in just the relatively short period of time since I have been involved. When I first started, they did not live in this big building, and there was no school. The school started sometime in November or December of 2007
.
The classroom is somehow reminicent of the one-room school houses that can still be found in rural North America, although I never saw anything like this on "Little House On The Prairie" reruns! A friend who has not been to Haiti saw these pictures and was taken back that they did not all have a place to write i.e. desks. I would imagine they take turns at the tables for that. I would imagine that they spend a great deal of time reciting, listening to the teacher, and learning off the blackboard. My friend, like most Americans, does not understand what a huge leap of progress this represents for the "O" as well as for these children, individually. I would be surprised if even one of these kids has ever been in a learning environment in their past. One can read about the illiteracy rates in Haiti but most people cannot comprehend how this translates into reality unless or until one pays a visit with eyes wide open.

And clearly, the children adore the teacher. I know this because I have his crayon portrait, from the eyes of a child artist on my refrigerator!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Somebody's Birthday This Week-end!

I am so proud to have the privilege of being her Mama. It's bittersweet because I'm missing this day....need I say more?

Love you baby!
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a4d304d446b314e513d3d0d0a&campaign=blog_playback_link

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