Help out a great cause!

I want to let everyone know about an opportunity to help out a great family. My good online friend, Gillian, and her husband Sergei are adding a beautiful little girl to the three girls the Lord has already blessed them with.

Their youngest biological daughter, Polly, has Downs Syndrome. They were missionaries in the Ukraine until Polly was born, when they returned home to give her the advantage of therapies only available here in the US.

Sergei and Gillian are now adopting another little girl from the Ukraine who also has Downs Syndrome. You can see her beautiful face on the button to the right.

International adoption is extremely expensive, and this family is running a fundraiser on their blog. For every $10 you contribute, you will receive an entry into a drawing for a really cool camera! Check it out here!!

If you can't contribute financially, could you please pray for them?

Thanks,

Happy Birthday, Joshua!!

Today is Joshua's 9th birthday. I have to confess, I feel a little shocked. I distinctly recall bringing him home from the hospital just a little bit ago. And now he's so grown up!! If I could get him to turn off the Star Wars Wii game and sit with me for a moment, I might say something like this:

Dear Josh,

Hello, big boy. I can't believe you are nine years old already! The time is just flying by so very quickly. You are so grown up -- so mature, and intelligent. I'm very proud of you, and so is your daddy. Neither of us could have imagined how very much we love you.

We love your caring spirit, how great you are with little ones, and your sense of humor. I love that you asked permission to start calling me Mom instead of Mama, because you didn't want to hurt my feelings. And I love that you invited almost everyone we know to your birthday party, including kids you don't particularly like, just so nobody felt bad.

Joshua Martin, your Daddy and I love you more than you will ever know. Happy Birthday, sonshine.

Love,

Mama

Update on Homeschooling

Since I dropped off the radar map for such a long time, I thought it may be time for a homeschooling update. We've been at it for three years now, and it seems to be working pretty well for us. Some days are better than others, obviously. I think public school teachers would say the same thing about their classrooms. Some days, the children are obedient and respectful and do all their work without complaining. However, on days that end in "y," there is at least one time where a child whines about his work. I ignore it, and we push on!

The interesting thing for me has been Justin. He is technically sort of working on a kindergarten curriculum this year. His birthday is four days before the grade cutoff for public school, and with his emotional issues, I think it's better for him to be the oldest in his "grade" rather than the youngest.

He really likes school, though. I didn't expect that, for some reason. I expected it to really be a struggle. But he seems to enjoy it, and asks to do school. I'm going to really focus on his schooling over the summer. I don't know if he'll start 1st grade next fall or if we'll still be in kindergarten. But the best part of homeschooling is, it doesn't matter!! He can be where he is, and I can meet him there.

Politics, Religion and Her

There's an old country song by a singer named Sammy Kershaw called "Politics, Religion and Her." The song talks about two old buddies who meet up, and one of them is telling the other a list of things they can't talk about. The chorus of the song says, "Politics can start a fight, Religion's hard to know who's right, And one more topic I won't touch, That one's her -- it hurts too much."

I don't have a "her" in my life, as I've never been in a real relationship that ended badly. And since I am involved in a church (and married to a pastor), religion comes up pretty frequently. (For the record, I actually do think I know who's right. But I digress.) Politics, though -- on that one, Sammy and I can agree. It amazes me how vitriolic people can become when discussing politicians and political viewpoints.

Overall, though, what really astounds me is the sheer number of topics that are considered off limits in the average discussion. If one is to be considered a polite conversationalist, one must avoid talking about money, religion, politics, or anything controversial (or interesting).

So I guess my question would be, how do you ever get to know someone if you can't talk about anything fun? I want people to know me, to know the real me. That means sometimes I must give my opinions on subjects that people disagree about.

Since I'm just starting back to the blogging world, it seems like a good time to state this:

Just so you know, we are next to broke, I'm an evangelical Christian who strongly believes Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and I'm probably more libertarian than anything, politically.

There you go. Now I guess we talk about the weather?

Car without kids

Well, thus far, my plan to avoid housework by blogging is working perfectly! I sit here on my bed, surrounded by the mess that five people in a small house easily produce, ignoring it all in favor of making sure I keep up with my new blogging responsibilities.

I'm dedicated like that.

I had the opportunity to enjoy one of my favorite activities this morning. I went to town, to drop a check off at the bank, and there were no children in the car!! I blasted the radio as loud as it would go and listened to any song that I wanted to.

Now, I don't listen to vulgar music or anything like that. But I do love some southern rock, and rockin' country, and other songs that might not be overly appropriate for a five year old.

I have learned to be very careful what songs come on the radio while my children are in the car. Even if you have the music coming out of only the front speakers, quietly, it's one of Murphy's laws that they will hear the one line out of the one song you'd rather they didn't.

After all, having your three year old son break into "Save a horse, ride a cowboy" in the church foyer is a good way to learn that lesson.

Back at this thing

I've decided to blog again. I decided to return, because I miss it. I miss putting my thoughts in written form, down on "paper." I miss carefully choosing a phrase for maximum impact. I miss seeing what the few loyal readers I had thought of what I wrote.

But most of all, I find myself recently having far too much time for housework. And that, my friends, is entirely unacceptable.