Be specific!

I know I'm dating myself when I say that I've watched all of Bill Cosby's comedy sketches.  On VHS.  One of my favorites is the one when he tells his children it's time to get a shower. He makes sure to remind them to turn on the water, to wash - with soap, to rinse, and to turn the water off and be sure to dry off.

He has a point and I try to implement these specific instructions when telling my children what to do.

But I guess that when I asked someone to let the dog in,

I forgot to also ask her to unhook the chain as well.

Poor Linus was patiently waiting for me to rescue him.

Better luck next time.

My son can't see

There are moments when I forget.  Like when the Good Doctor was trying to get Victor to sleep for the night.  I walked into the room and turned the light off, absentmindedly asking, "Does that help?" Or when I walk toward someone and, making small talk, ask Victor, "Do you want to see so-and-so?"

There are other times when it can be consuming. Like when we're trying to take pictures. You can't call Victor's name and expect him to look at you. You can't make eye contact and hope for a cute smile.  You can't make goofy faces to get his attention or that perfect smile for the picture. When you hold him and wish you could get a smile by locking eyes. When you see another child of similar age smiling, rolling over, sitting up, even starting to crawl.

Every now and then, a great smile or belly laugh.

And then there are the questions. What are we going to do about schooling? What family traditions should we change because they are based on sight? What family activities will we avoid? Will he be musical? Can I continue to interpret for the deaf when I have a child who will never see me do so? Will my church have a place for him? Will he have friends?

But at the end of each day, I know that we're going to be okay. Victor is right where he is supposed to be. We are so blessed to have him and he is blessed to have life. Like the rest of us, he will find his place in this world. He will make a difference. He will serve others. He will shine a light in dark places.   Yes. This is what he was created to do and he will fulfill all that God has planned for him. He will be victorious and in the process, he will teach us to be victorious, too.

Finalization celebration, part 7

I learned something new today; my Facebox inbox has an "other" box. Who knew? Unfortunately for the people who thought they were contacting me in the past few years, I'm a little slow. My apologies. The good news is, I replied to each and every one. The bad news is, my replies were a little late.

One of those "other" messages was a letter for us about Victor and his adoption. This is from a family that is still grieving the loss of their precious son and brother. Thank you for your words. And to the many who are still sending us your reflections, thank you. I have not published all of them on this blog but we are keeping them for Victor. How special each and every one is to us.

"It's been in the back of my mind since you first requested to hear how Victor has touched the lives of the community. It's incredibly hard for me to put it into words. While you were in Utah, I followed each blog post and excitedly waited for more to come, hoping and praying for good news. I have some understanding of what it feels like to see the struggles one little man can endure. Our oldest son ... had his own hurdles to cross and unfortunately, it never seemed like he did that. For 3 and a half years, we had a newborn. His room was filled with special equipment needed to survive each day. He ate liquids through a tube (and we tried 3 different kinds!) but loved any purees we would spoon feed him. He needed his temperature and heart rate monitored, and sometimes went for a few days at a time hooked up to oxygen. And with all of the specialists he saw and 6 therapists coming into our home, we never had any idea how long his life would be but expected him to grow old with us. With his birthday tomorrow, he has been on my mind almost constantly. When I think about Victor in contrast, I am hopeful for a long, blessed life for him. It fills me with joy to see how he has changed and grown since you first saw him and shared him with all of us! I am thankful for Victor, the smallest, cutest, most loved super hero I know. Thank you Kings, for your open hearts, for your love and sleepless nights and for putting the story into words for us! And Mr. Victor-ious, I'm sure that if we meet someday, you're going to be in for one giant hug, with tears of joy on the side."

Call me blessed

I'm not a Proverbs 31 woman.  Mostly I try to ignore that passage. It causes too much guilt and discouragement. I've never brought food from afar nor have I provided food for my female servants. I've never bought a field or planted a vineyard.  My lamp always goes out at night and I've never held a distaff or a spindle.  I've never clothed my children in scarlet nor would they let me even if I tried. However, there is one item on the list that I find myself dreaming of on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis.  It's verse 28: Her children arise and call her blessed.  I'm waiting for the day.

I'm waiting for the day that my children arise and call me blessed for making them eat healthy food. Right now it sounds more like complaining.  Or whining.

Someday my children will arise and call me blessed for homeschooling them.  Actually, one has thanked me for her few years of schooling at home and just recently another unexpectantly thanked me for teaching him about adverbs.  Baby steps.

I can't wait until my children arise and call me blessed for making them wear a coat when it's cold.  The other morning one child left the house in a huff because I made him put on a winter coat, on top of his short sleeve shirt.  Looking out the window, I saw him take a few steps into the wind and immediately pull the coat tighter around him and he even pulled his hood over his head.  It's kind of like arising and calling me blessed, isn't it?

I think that there will even come a day when they will arise and call me blessed for making them clean their rooms.  If opposites attract, then all of my children are going to marry neat freaks.  For the sake of marital bliss, I'm certain that they will one day thank me that they know how to keep things clean.  At the very least that they know how to placate a neat freak.

For now they just roll their eyes because I keep telling them that someday they will arise and call me blessed.

Start the bidding!

It's that time again!  Last year around Thanksgiving we ran an online auction through 32auctions to raise money for our next adoption.  He's home but we're still raising money so now through Monday evening at 8PM EST you can bid!  Please share this link with your friends, email and Facebook and whatever.  Still celebrating Thanksgiving with your family?  Share the link, browse together.  Bid for Victor!

We have almost 100 new and used items: Christmas decorations, new hardback autographed books, doilies, pillows, antiques, etc.

32auctions.com/victorious

Shop for a cause

The King family does not like to talk about debt.  Nor do we like to be in debt.  Other than those pesky house payments, we've been able to avoid both the talk and the action.  Oh, there was that one time we bought a brand new vehicle.  But other than that... We didn't plan for there to be so many expenses surrounding Victor's adoption.  Prior to his case, we had avoided situations with such high expenses.  It makes no sense that Victor's bills were as high as a healthy white newborn when he was neither.  But regardless, he needed a home and God said ours was the one.  So, even though we don't like to think about it or talk about it, we're steadily moving on.

Last November we had an online auction the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It went amazingly well and afterward people kept asking for another one.  Some were folks who said they wanted the excuse to clean out basements and attics to donate items to the auction.  Others were ready to Christmas shop for a cause again.  So, we've listened.  We have already started to collect a number of items but my bedroom isn't full of goods yet so we'd love more.

Friends, relatives, blog acquaintances, we'd love your new or gently used items.  Homemade goods, gift cards, those gifts you've never used?  Toys you wanted to sell or get rid of but never found the time to do so?  We'd love to have them to put on our auction.

Auction will be up and running the weekend after Thanksgiving so skip the crowds and check out our listings first.  Or come home from shopping, prop your feet up, get on your computer and shop for a cause.

Thank you.

Feelin' Good

Wanna know why I have a mountain of clean laundry in the back of the laundry room?  Wanna know why my bed is not made?  Wanna know why there are dishes in the sink?

'Cause I've been busy working on Victor's Quilt of Many Textures.

It was fun to collect fabrics and ribbons from all of you.  They came in snail mail, in church mail, and hand-offs at the front door.

The Good Doctor took the little ones out for an afternoon so I could cut squares.  And more squares.  And... you got it, more squares.













Another afternoon found Eden and HopeAnne dying felted alpaca wool which had been donated with instructions for adding color using Kool-Aid and Jell-O.

Yes, my daughter likes to use tights as bunny ears.  And I had an invisible friend named Phoebe when I was little.  Judge not until you ask your mom what you did as a child.

I have to admit, I've never been fond of sewing with specialty fabrics and this quilt has definitely solidified that feeling.  For those who sew, just imagine sewing a silk next to a burlap or a satin next to a fleece.  No one does these things.  Until now.  But the reason for this labor of love made it all worthwhile and so much fun.

No rhyme or reason to the placement of the squares.  How could I?  It was a little of this and a little of that.  It has tabs of ribbons along the outside for attaching toys, for feeling, and of course, for eating.

So this is my happy little guy enjoying his quilt for the first time.  Yes, it's already been christened with spit-up and yes, that is a pom-pom at his feet. Victor loves to explore noises and believe it or not, kicking his bare feet in crinkly pompoms is definitely his favorite activity to date.  Please don't tell his oldest brothers.

And the fun is not over yet. Victor's vision therapist suggested I make bean bags of varying textures, 2 of each, so that when he's older we can play a matching game with textures.  So with all of this fabric left over, time for Project for the Visually Impaired, Part 2.  But first I need to finish a quilt for Jesse's bed.  Preferably before Andrew comes home for Thanksgiving break and needs his quilt back.  Don't worry, Jesse, I won't use these textured fabrics.