Tulip Girl

It didn't occure to me (or the thought just never stuck) that I've always wanted to adopt, but so far that isn't in the cards so far so I have worked with foster care kids and supported teens through all manner of things. When I was a CASA, Court Appointed Child Advocate, I witnessed a child go from living with his family to learning they were indeed not actually his family to living in an overflow home where kids go when there isn't an available foster family. That is all I can say about what I know, however, the details of this child's life are in my mind and heart and I will never forget that day. It broke my heart. God be willing, it is a wound that will never heal. This child went from having a family, a home, a bed, video games, toys, friends, security. When this child left, all that went with this child was a duffle bag and what it could hold. Through my degree I learned of foster families "lending" things to the children and then when they leave...

My two babies (one baby, one babe) are sick today. Miss Wiggles has had quite a runny nose and a bit of a cough. Daddy has drainage. Leo and I are doing our best to take care of them. At the moment, Leo is Hubby's lap warmer. The snow continues to fall. Its so beautiful. I've been thinking about what I would love to do to this house we are renting. I am loving painting all the eggshell trim white (I got permission first) and then paint the walls a springy pale blue (the hardest thing I've done, picking out a pale blue). I have an old six paned window I will paint black and add coat hooks and a small shelf under it. On the floor i will put a long rectangular basket and line it using a vinyl table cloth as fabric for us to throw our shoes in it. The floors here are beautiful recently refinished hard wood so you can be sure we will take care of it. I should get to work but that would mean getting up off this couch and out of my jammies as the snow continues to fall and...

A good friend, a trusted older sister in Christ once told me that sometimes God doesn't call us to the physical front line of action but through prayer to the spiritual front line fighting for those who are more visible in their walk with Him. Moses held his hands up to help the Israelites win their war. When his arms rested, they lost, when they were up, the were winning. Moses interceded for the soldiers on the front line and Moses had two men helping hold his arms up. I think that is a good example of how we can support each other as we all work to walk in God's will. Prayer is the key. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against what is unseen, against Satan , against the power of darkness and the principalities of this world. I have some prayers for the ministry, Restoring the Foundation that I lean on to help me hold my hands up against Satan and his evil forces. I also have prayers from Stormie O'Martian; Power of a Praying Woman and Power of a Pray...

I have an admission to make. As I continue forward in my neurotic nester tendencies, I realize my tooth brush scrubbing isn't so much about cleaning as it is about peace. I was reading Billy Coffey's blog regarding searching for peace written in that way that is so pleasant to read, you don't realize you've just gotten a spoonfull of medicine to your spirit. My scrubbing is my attempt to make that moment when I finally feel home come faster. I want to not feel new here, or fresh off the bus. I want to be settled, feel settled, be at peace and free of the unsettled feeling. My normal wall color erks me simply because it reminds me now of a cardboard box, lots of them like the ones filling my guest bedroom. They are mostly gone from every where else, but a room painted the same color makes me feel like I'm living in one. I'm sure I will get over that eventually. I just don't feel like waiting for eventually so I scrub and scrub. I want to walk into a ...

My first attempt at decorating a mantle. The plant to the far right is gift from my MIL and the light hous painting is a gift from a friend many years ago. This is my kitchen. These pictures of course aren't that great but I kind of am ok with that because that will make the before and after that much more fun. We are getting new counter tops and you can see how worn the cabinets are. Hubby is looking into how to fix that. Gotta love the windows all the way to the floor lots of light and of course Leo the cat loves that. Oh how far my office has to go. Hubby is going to make me a shelf to help organize. I seriously need all the help I can get. Paint, curtains, a rug and a shelf and I will be in action. I really don't know what color to paint in here. There will be no painting the furniture white however. I don't know if I have told you the story of that desk table there. Its a good one but I'll save it for later. The family room of course is in full swing u...

I have a new nephew I am quite excited to announce! C was born yesterday late afternoon. He is quite beautiful with light colored hair. I will be able to meet him in March since he lives kinda far away from me, as in on the other side of the country. Can't wait. Teething seems to be coming to a close. After fevers is when the cranky comes out. Miss Wiggles is great sick but it takes her a bit to get herself back to normal emotionally. I'm sure all we gals can understand that, the trying to get normal emotionally. I've been trying that for thirty years and still haven't been succesful. I am sorry there hasn't been pictures or really to much interesting things to share. Things seem to be a bit out of sorts here with teething, mold, a heavy work load and house induced allergies. never fear though. All will be better starting next week. Our ducts will be cleaned and that makes me happy. So far new air conditioner (less than two years old), new water heater...

Hubby's office, the "library", only needs the pictures hung and a rug. My office needs, well, a lot more than that. I did get it a lot further along than it was though. Hubby has plans to make me a nice cubby shelf to help me organize. That will help oodles and oodles. I promise, tonight, there will be pictures! No word though on the kitchen counters. I'm beginning to doubt they are going to be switched out. We do have a clean kitchen though, a working kitchen and a good oven. I am thankful. Its pouring rain and occasional crazy gusts of wind, so I am also thankful for this home to keep us safe and warm. :)

I'm hiding in the family room. We're painting the living room or as we call it, the library. I don't want to paint anymore. I used to love it. I don't anymore. Hubby just asked if I want to start on the kitchen. Like I said, I'm hiding. Miss Wiggles now has four teeth. The third finally poked through sometime this morning around 2am. Poor baby girl. We are trying to keep up on the Motrin and Orajel (or however you spell that). She's growing so much. I love her. The library does look great. The walls are a neutral tan and the colors are different shades of blue. Thats kind of a no brainer for me. Blue is our favorite. The dining room and family room will be blue. So will my office. Throw pillows and micro fiber chair are all blue. Thank goodness Hubby graduated from the Air Force Academy and I from Old Dominion University. Both have blue and silver as their school colors. No arguing when we hang our school stuff. They all match. Thats cool.

We've got a teether people! Miss Wiggles woke up yesterday with a fever. There is been little to no napping here today. I just put her down for betime and she if finally asleep. Who cares if I put her down for the night at 4:30. Honestly, its only about an hour early for her. She probably needs it. I need it. In house news, there is an intense smell of stale moisture in the vicinity of my washer/dryer, fridgerator, garage door area. It smells like it may be the floor. There is vent there but I don't smell it anywhere else so I'm at a loss as to what it is. It smells like when you forget a load of laundry in the washing machine to long and they get to stinkin' again. Its that smell. I've already ran bleach through my washer. It hasn't helped. A theory if you will. I don't quite understand why this house is a rental rather than the sellers selling it way back when they moved out in the 80's. They could have gotten a lot of money if they sold thi...

Is anybody else having this problem? I not only can't see who follows my blog but I can't see the Followers list on any one else's either. Does anybody know how to fix that?

I've got several books on my shelf that I've read in the last year. One is about a boy who was a child soldier, a Lost Boy of the Sudan. Another book portrays several children's and young women's experience in child slavery and the sex slave trade. The reading material on my eliptical is a Vogue. The attitude in my heart well, I'm humbled once again. Trying to unpack, clean the years of other people's funk and making my house pleasant to all my senses has left me somewhat like a, well, a spoiled brat. I was stopped in my tracks when one of my favorite decorating bloggers admited her moment of what she calls "sickness" the, I want a pretty house and I want it now, attitude while well Haiti. I was stopped in my own tracks by her confession. I was stopped in my stewing, complaining stressed out about color, decorating, boxes upon boxes etc. I have a house, an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter. I could be living in a mud hut. I could be living in ...

The cleaning, unpacking etc. is put on hold for the moment. Miss Wiggles has another one of her fevers. She now has Motrin and is asleep. When she has a fever, it is the only time she will lay on my chest. I so want to keep her there and sleep with her in the glider but I know that my body heat isn't going to help her fever. If only she would lay down in my bed with me but that isn't going to happen no matter how sick she gets I think. Mommy and Daddy's bed is a play ground. I brought her in here (I'm typing from bed) with me and she emmediately sat up and started singing and crawling around. Then she threw up. Yuck. So back to her crib where she promptly fell asleep. I left the door open so I can check on her and am keeping close with the monitor scrutinizing every noise she makes. Big sigh. Poor Miss Wiggles.

Oh, goodness. I've been wondering what happen to my camera over the last couple weeks only to find out that Hubby has been keeping it in his work back pack (he isn't into brief cases) for safe keeping. I'm gonna be a snapping fool tomorrow. I've got lots and lots to show you. I wish I could have gotten a before and after of the tile in the bathroom. I took tile and grout cleaner and a tooth brush to it and the black grout is now mostly grey...ish. Next step is seal the grout. Then I think I might feel ok being barefoot in the bathroom. Probably not, but maybe. :) Here is a run down. Painting: No room fully done but three rooms have been started; library, dining room and kitchen. I am painting that yucky eggshell white trim bright white. What a difference! Unpacking: Miss Wiggles, Family Room, Kitchen, Master Bedroom unpacked Painting needs to preceded further unpacking. Cleaning: Oh gosh, what haven't I scrubbed? Well Everything has been scrubbed accept t...

There is a new blog I have found, Haiti Happenings . Missionary Roger Clark and his family are currently in Haiti. Hop on over and offer some encouraging words as the continue to do what they can to help meet needs both physical and spiritual.

1. Finding a new pediatrician made difficult by a lack of availability of good pediatricians (the ones I want aren't accepting new patients) and a need to transfer records here and there including a specialist appointment with a urologist that means a whole list of difficult finagaling I won't go into. 2. We had a blue trashcan in Richmond and thought the blue trash can here was our normal trash can only to find out it isn't, its recycling which is great to have a big recycling trash can accept that we have mountains of trash and the trash man comes Monday but its MLK but then they come on Tuesday which is our first chance to call and get the proper green trash can but then will miss getting our trash picked up until next week. We run the risk of looking like a literal dump with all these bags of trash. 3. Gas company thinks our credit stinks (which it doesn't, its practically perfect) and wanted a 400.00 deposit to hook us up. Heck no. Its bad enough we have to have...

Today was our first day at our new old church. Though we were gone to Richmond Virginia for two and a half years, it seems like we are sliding right back into the fold. This evening we enjoyed dinner with friends reminiscing and catching up. Where once we were all childless, we all now have children. Watching them all play together was just awesome. Miss Wiggles is now among many other babies and I am thankful to say comparitively speaking she is now back to average size. In Richmond the only other two baby girls she spent time with weighed the same but were almost two years old. I was getting a might tired of all the chunky baby comments. Now there are chunky babies every where and Miss Wiggles blends in just fine. Not only that, she had a ball with all her new friends. She socialized and then spent most of the afternoons hanging out by herself in her crib. I really do think I have myself a little introvert. If she is around a lot of people then she usually likes to hang o...

I really missed the Internet these last few days. I don't know how I survived without facebook . We are in the new house. No we didn't sell that last one (I get asked that a lot). We are renting it out while we rent. Fortunately our landlords are letting us paint. That is a big big deal for me. I don't like white walls. I mean, if you use it as a decorating theme its cool, but white walls definitely don't go with my way of things. There will be pictures. Especially of our kitchen. Right now it is beyond yuck but new counter tops are coming soon and my hubby is trying to figure out how he can fix the cabinet doors. Hard to know what I'm writing about without pictures I'm sure but they are coming. I am quite bleary eyed but boxes are being diminished. For now though, I need some sleep!

Yesterday we recieved the keys to our home in our new city. I'm super excited about this and overwhelmed by all the work to be done. Even though it is only a rental, we still wanted to paint it. We should be living in it for about three to five years and I don't want to live only half settled for that long. Paint has that kind of influence on me. I am not a fan of white walls. While yes there are blogs out there that boast about white as a key decorating color, I am with McKMamma on the whole color thing. I am going with a neutral colors on the walls but plan to add the turquoise colored door turned dinner table, super colorful rugs, pillows, throws, wall hangings and what ever else I can come across. I like the turqoise, wine red, chocolate and burnt orange color palet. We will see. Maybe I'll throw a yellow in there. Fortunately, I have everything I need accept the rugs. I am super excited to use Dan's old Air Force Academy trunk as our TV stand. How cool is t...

This week I was all kinds of cranky for no reason. I tried to be nice, but it just wasn't happening. I didn't have it in me to make my words kind, gentle or loving. I was impatient, unforgiving and mean. I succeeded at zingers and sarcasm, barbs and bullying. I bullied Dan in his attempts to appease me and got mad when he just walked away from me. Wed. morning I sat down and looked up "Strength" in my Hebrew/Greek dictionary to get a better sense of what is in my strength and what is in Gods. Here is what I found. DUNAMIS: strength denotes power: Rev. 1:16, 1 Corinthians 15:56, 2 Corinthians 1:8, 12:19, Rev. 8, 12:10 ICHUS: strength denotes ability: Mark 12:30,33, Luke 10:27, Rev. 5:12 KRATOS: strength denotes force: Luke 1:51, Ephesians 1:19 I am thankful that though the out pouring of the fruit of the Spirit is beyond my ability, it is never beyond God's power to express what is of His Holy Spirit through me forcing my living in my flesh to be an example of Hi...