Blackmail

I had an idea for today's post but then didn't get around to taking the picture to go along with it.  But then I was on the Good Doctor's Facebook account (yeah, what of it?) and found the perfect source for a post.

I've always known that the Good Doctor was something of a lady's man, BC (Before Cindy).  His family doesn't have many family photos, especially of Child #5, but of the few they snapped, John is surrounded by girls in most of them.  Apparently he was just following orders as his dad was known to remind his sons, "Be like Jesus and love 'em all."

You have to be careful about the kinds of things others tag you in.  Someone from his high school class, who must have attended the same summer camp as John, recently uncovered this letter in a box and decided to post it.  I owe this woman a lot of money; I shall be using this in so many ways in the near future.  There's no denying that his signature is right there, first on the list.  I haven't done a full handwriting analysis but I'm pretty certain he was also the transcriptionist.  Oh, this should be fun!

They love me

Two little girls were having a little trouble getting along.  I told them to choose a task out of the "Uh oh, we were fighting so now we have to work together..." jar.  Would you believe, they fought through that assignment as well?  So, they had to pick again.  The second time around they chose this task:  Together, compose a list of 10 reasons you love Mom.  Oh, fun.

Between them, these are the reasons they love me (you can probably figure out which ones were written by the 6 year old and which were written by the 8 year old).

1.  BKOS SHIE IS THE ABE2T MADOR

2's.  S's.  Same thing, right?  I believe this says that I am the best mother, as in "Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder" from the popular camp song.  Or it could say that I'm the best matador.  The author couldn't remember.

2.  She gives me lots.

I'm not sure what I give lots of, but it appears to be appreciated.

3.  I LOV U MOMMY VR HF

She loves me very half?

4.  I LOV U Y FOL MIE HRT

Stick with me here but I think it says, "I love you wif all my heart."  Those y's and w's get her every time; I even saw her peeking at the alphabet chart but I don't think it helped.  And spaces between words, who needs them?

5.  She plays games with us.

I'm not sure if she's referring to board games or head games.  Because I admit to doing both.

6.  MOMMY IS BE2T MOMMY BKO2 HELET ME VI2IT MOME SHEDO

Don't worry, I had a little trouble with this one, too.  It was interpreted by the author as, "Mommy is the best Mommy because she helped me visit Mommy Chanda."  Mommy Chanda is her birthmother and while Hope doesn't remember visiting her, we have pictures until Hope was 1 1/2.  Yes, that one melted my heart.  And continues to do so each time I read this.

7.  She gives me food.

This may not mean much to you but since it came from the child who refuses to eat at least half of my meals, I'll take it as a compliment.

8.  She tells me what to do.

Glad you like it.

9.  She helps me when I am sick.

Yeah, we just had the flu around here.

10.  I LOV U BKO2 U ODOPT ME

She loves me because I adopted her.  I think I'm going to cry.

Fight the good fight

It was a rough week.  It's been a rough month.  In fact, things have just been a bit crazy for quite some time.  Car trouble.  All three cars.  Tempers.  Tantrums the likes of which have never been seen in my house.  Attitudes.  Some days I feel like I'm living with Jekyll and Hyde, and there are nine of them!

And then I ran across this blog, written two years ago but so relevant for my family today.  Really, I don't think adoption is the key point here; I think that anyone following God's will, opening doors for others to join the kingdom, will find battle.  Unfortunately, we were caught off-guard, our defenses were down, and we suffered the onslaught.

But in the midst of turmoil, breakthrough.  Tonight, as I said my usual, "Good night, I love you," it was returned with, "I love you, too."  Three words I've never heard from this child and often wondered if I ever would.  Really?  You chose tonight to speak them aloud for the first time in this home?  In the midst of anger and resistance?

Yeah, I'm counting my blessings over here.  We may have suffered in a few battles, but we're not losing the war.  It's already been won!

1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight for the true faith.  Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.

Please remember us in your prayers.

The art of re-buying

The Good Doctor married me because I hate shopping.  Well, either that or because he knew I'd allow him to bring some big ole black cauldron into the marriage with him, carefully storing it in every garage in every home we've ever lived, but never letting it see the light of day.  But that's a story for another day and besides, I'm pretty sure it's the first reason.

So, it was quite a shock that yesterday I decided to brave the mall.  Maybe it can't really be called "going to the mall" since I knew I was only going to one store, and one store only, but the location was most definitely the mall.  I received a gift card for Christmas and then a one-day coupon came through for $50 off a purchase of $100.  With a $50 gift card in hand, even I could do the math and figure out that I'd be getting much more bang for my buck.  And yes, even I can figure out that the store is still laughing all the way to the bank at their profit, but I don't think there's much that I can do about that.

I stopped at Panera to get to my pick-me-up cup of Chai, a self-medicating way to get the courage to walk inside the mall and tackle the task of shopping.  Then there I was.  The trying on process was not that difficult and I had my items, equally as close to $100 as possible but definitely NOT going under.  All was well and within no time I had exited the store, the mall, and was on my way home.

Halfway home I realized the awful truth that I had forgotten to use my gift card, the sole purpose for making this trip!  What was I to do?  I could use it as an excuse to have to return to the store to purchase $50 more in the future.  Or, I could return to the store immediately.

I did what any sane American would do.  I exited at the first exit, turned myself around, speed walked back to that store, returned my clothing, and then re-bought everything, being certain to use my gift card this time.  Okay, maybe any sane American wouldn't have done that.  But every cheapskate like me knows exactly why I did what I did.  I feel so much better.

And think of all that extra exercise!