Ok, life has been eating up my time, so here’s a brief update on what’s going on…
My back’s been acting up, but it’s not as bad as it has been at times. Still keeps me from doing a lot of household things. I’ve had a couple of chiro appointments and they’re helping, it just takes a while to get back to “normal” once it flairs up. In the meantime, I’m taking advantage of the couch time to read some books, something I rarely have time to do otherwise.
Joel has been working, doing the necessary house stuff that I can’t do (such as laundry washing and drying… I can fold), and also working on some projects on the side. For example, he’s making a craft table for me so that I can work on my jewelry again. I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t do it often because it takes so long to set up and clean up that I only have a few minutes of actual work time in between. With this craft table up (it’ll have fold up pieces on the edges to protect things on the table when not in use), I’ll be able to leave things out so I don’t have all that set up and clean up time so I’ll actually be able to use the whole time to work on the jewelry itself. Pretty cool, huh? 🙂 I have such a smart, woodworking hubby! I’ll have to post a picture of the table after it’s done. I’m amazed at the things Joel’s been able to design and create!
Alexis is starting on a five week Hip Hop dance class this afternoon. It’s just once a week and is through parks and rec, so the cost was very reasonable. (In other words, the class was fairly cheap.) We can’t spend a lot of extra money on things like this, but it’s neat when an opportunity like this comes along. She’ll love it. 🙂 She’s also a butterfly in the first grade musical, “Bugz”. There are a few butterflies, but she’s the only one who’ll metamorph in the middle of a song. Pretty cool? Very. But I have to make the costume. I bought a leotard and dance pants (all in black). Those will have snaps down the sides. I’ll create the wings (hoping to find a fabric that’s colorful and kind-of gauzy or translucent) which will attach to the snaps on the leotard and pants. The wings will simply hang by her side until she’s supposed to metamorph, at which point she’ll slip her middle fingers through clear plastic rings sewn to the edge of the wings and lift her arms, at which point the wings will expand. At least, that’s the plan. We’ll see how well it works! She’s thrilled at the prospect of flitting around the stage, anyway. 🙂 Oh, I’ve also resumed piano lessons with her, and she’s progressing very quickly. I’m trying not to let her move on too fast to hone the things she’s learning.
Branwen was told on Sunday that if she participated in EVERYTHING with her Sunday school class, she would be allowed to have M&Ms on her ice cream (which she’s been wanting). Guess what? She did it! Her teachers were amazed at how well she did, and we praised her up and down. 🙂 I reminded her this morning of how happy and proud I was on Sunday and asked her to do just as well in preschool today. For some reason she never wants to participate in music class there, though she’s perfectly willing to stand up in front of the class before they get started and sing a song that she’s made up. 😛 Anyway, we’ll see how she does. I’m nervous about kindergarten because I’m afraid she’s going to make the transition harder on herself than it has to be what with this choosing not to participate thing. On a different note, she wants to learn piano, too, but she’s a student like her mother…. annoyingly impatient. I don’t know how my piano teacher put up with me. She never wants to stay on one thing, but always wants to catch up to her sister. And she plays by ear more than reading the music (which is a way I cheated, too). Right now I dread my lesson times with her. Hopefully as she gets older and gets into more advanced stuff at the proper pace she’ll lose some of that.
Desta is her same old self… fun loving and happy much of the time, intensely whiny and frustrating the rest. What can I say? She’s three? She wants to learn piano, too, but I’ve been putting off teaching her. I don’t really think she’s quite ready to learn, but it’s hard to explain that to her. I think she’ll be much more ready in a year or so. I am planning on taking her and her two older sisters to swim lessons through parks and rec this summer, so I’m sure she’ll enjoy being grouped with them in that learning environment (even if they’ll be in separate classes). The two littlest will have to wait for swim lessons till they’re a little older.
Charis is a sweetie pie, as always, though she’s definitely a bratty little sister at times. And her expression even then is so sweet that if you didn’t know her well you’d think it was all the other person’s fault. *sigh* We’ll have to watch out for this one!
Eli is constantly making progress with his communication and development, playing with things in new ways and saying more and more words and phrases. True, we still don’t always understand what the heck he’s trying to tell us, but the key is that he’s trying! And he’s not running away from the puppy anymore, which is definite progress.
Cafall still pees on the floor, but we’ve noticed that he’ll go to the door and stand there sometimes when he has to go now. Granted, it’s not all the time, but it’s better than nothing! We’re getting there.
And now I must shower. This afternoon I need to take Desta to pick up Branwen from preschool and then take them both to Walmart to pick up a bunch of things (glue for Alexis who ran out at school, dog food, hamburger buns, etc.). This evening we’re planning on attending a meeting of the adoption ministry at our church. It’ll be a full day.
One prayer request:
I had mentioned before that we’ll need a 12 passenger van once our new daughters come home. Well, the Lord has really laid on my heart one of Alexis’ friends who is unchurched. We’re trying to convince her to join Alexis at Sunday school or Awana or maybe VBS, but it struck me that, especially for VBS where I’ll be taking all of the kids, the only way she can join us is if we have a bigger vehicle. We know the Lord honors these sorts of requests when they’re within his will. We prayed for this house so that we could host people who needed it, and the Lord provided it. (We’ve hosted two girls from a traveling choir so far and are planning on hosting a young lady long-term in the near future… more on that later.) So we’re praying now that God would provide us with a 12 passenger van. Please pray with us when you think about it, that God would show us His will in this matter, and that He would help us to be able to reach out to this little girl and her family.