Ordinary Time

Here is Gretel. She's bigger, huh? At 3 1/2 months, she is now over 20 pounds. Sometimes we think we can see her grow. She is a sweet thing and is getting better and better about not using small children as a chew toy. She is also pretty adored by everyone. Here is how she spends a good portion of her day: She is most definitely a lap dog. I don't know what this is going to look like when Gretel is full grown. It could be amusing. Unless the child she is sitting on doesn't want to be underneath. Then it could be loud. I will say that having a puppy and two three year olds is exciting, especially when all three are learning toileting skills. I am greatly anticipating the day when not one of the three pees on the floor. The closest we've come is one accident for the dog and one accident for one girl. The worst day was when nearly everyone pooped on the floor. Don't you wish you lived here, too? You'd have to promise to use the toilet. I think the ...

The other piece of blog fodder to arrive in my inbox yesterday was an email from an adoption agency (I seem to end up on lots of email lists) advocating for a pair of 6 year old twin boys in Ch*na who are waiting to be matched with a family. (They are cute boys, if you're interested, email me and I'll send the contact info. to you.) None of that is what made me start composing blog posts in my head. It was the line in the text that made a plea for a family to make these boys' "dreams come true". This is the most wrong-headed adoption thinking that I've seen in a long time. The whole "dreams coming true" idea isn't really healthy for anyone, mainly because it's a fiction; something that may happen for a moment, but doesn't continue in an unchanged state for the rest of one's life. If we live with that expectation, we are bound to be disappointed. While this kind of thinking can be unhealthy for an individual, when it is coupled with ...

Just when I'm about to sit down and write a really interesting update on the puppy because I seriously can't think of anything else to write, I had not one, but two items that will make great blog fodder land in my inbox.  You are saved from endless puppy drivel. This time. And you just don't even know what else you escape here by my careful screening of my inbox. There are all sorts of companies and individuals who are all ready to allow me to offer their product on my blog. Usually I just hit delete without a second glance, but the one which appeared today gave me an idea of what to write about. This email was wanting me to share a new business which offers free, ready-to-repurpose test questions. (Their phrase, not mine, though it does sound a bit tongue-in-cheek.) The email writer thought that homeschoolers would be particularly interested in this opportunity. It made me realize that when you are marketing something to someone, or especially want that someone to mar...

Every time a major change happens within a family, it takes a while to find a new normal. This is true if you move, or change jobs, or add a child, either by birth or adoption. All of these things throw you out of your normal schedules and routines that instead of being automatic, much of life requires actual thought. It is the routines of life that allow us to spend energy on things other than just getting through the day. Changes, even small ones, shift our energy from extras and back to the basics. After 10 children, you would think that I have this down, but it catches me by surprise every time. I know that we will have a time of finding our feet again, but I think I always underestimate how long this process actually takes and how much energy I am using to reach this new equilibrium. It is only after life begins to head back to its more automatic nature that I realize how much work it has actually been. I think we are beginning to find our new normal around here. How can I tel...

is that often you are forced to take your own. Just a few days ago I was chatting with a new mom about being able to stay home with her new baby. It can be a scary thing to lose an income and it takes some work and a lot of faith and prayer to make it work. I shared that God has always provided for us and somehow the bills get paid, though I can't always explain how. You get used to living on a shoe string and learn that life is so much more than material things. I also said that it's only those who take steps of faith that have the really cool God stories that everyone likes to hear. If we are comfortable and self-sufficient, there isn't a whole lot of reason for God to step in. That step of faith can be scary, though, especially in the interim between the stepping out and when we see God show up. (You'll note I said when we see... God is there, in charge, working, even if we are not aware of it.) And it is in this place, the vaguely scary place where you don't k...

Have you ever had something fall in your lap that you really wanted, but it seemed so trivial and frivolous that you hadn't even really prayed about it because it seemed just a little too selfish? Well, I've had one of those moments. For a while now some of my children have expressed a desire to see a circus. We went once as a family a long time ago and so many of my children haven't seen one or don't remember. And really the reason we haven't gone is that it's just so expensive to buy tickets for everyone. It was really hard to justify the money. Just a few days after D. told me again how much he wished to see a circus, I had an offer come into my blog email about a chance to promote the circus in return for free tickets for my immediate family. Any other mother to a large family will understand when I didn't immediately jump and down, because we've been burned too many times about what constitutes an acceptable immediate family. I emailed for cla...

Yesterday was a day of highs and lows. In the morning I had a little mini-vacation because J. had agreed to stay home with the masses so that I could do the radio interview I was scheduled for actually in the studio and not by phone. As a result, I was able to meet P20 (whom I hadn't seen in far too long!) and have breakfast with her. Then, the radio interview went well and I have a lovely lunch with a friend whom I don't get a chance to just sit and chat with very often. Throw in a chance to sit and read for a while and a visit to a bookstore (both of which I also did) and you have just about my perfect morning. Lovely. And then came the evening. Not so lovely. Really unlovely, in fact. Helping a child heal can be a difficult thing. This is especially true when you think you have made a lot of progress and the set-back seems completely out of the blue and you have no explanation. I think it is the disappointment that is the hardest to deal with. I was pretty unhappy when I ...