Hibernating again

I have been hibernating.
I hate the cold and it has been very cold in the Berkshires.
I also am tired of people who haven't enough sense to realize they are a waste of skin.
I guess I should save that for another post.

Kevin is going to be a Daddy. For those of you that know Kevin, you shouldn't be surprised, not because he is a Don Wan or anything, but rather because he always longed to settle down and be his own family. He has always had this distinct rescuing personality and has tried time and again to rescue and reform wayward girls. Indeed he has been successful, but when his "subjects" were back on top..they walked. Being used is a very big component of our personal histories.


Now Kevin has this sweet beautiful tiny girl whom he is madly in love with and hopefully she feels the same. We have been through days of agonizing about options and the final answer is...
they will parent.

More later...
Got to stoke the fire and meditate over my tea....

Parents-to-be

another level of parenting

Tim and I have entered a new realm of parenting. We are going to be grandparents.
It is very hard for young adults to make it today. Then you add a child into the equation, and it makes for a long road with an uphill climb. But, they are determined, committed to each other and willing to work hard. And they have us to guide and support them along the way.

I am still in shock and wondering how to sort all of this out for all of us. I am sad to say that she doesn't feel like she has any support from her parents. She left home a few months ago. She is scared. She feels alone. She is just a kid herself....

Motherhood makes you humble-

Wish for Wordless Wednesday

Special-

"God doesn't give children with special needs to strong people; He gives children with special needs to ordinary, weak people and then gives them strength. Raising a child with Down syndrome, brain injury, CP or other special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family." Passing this message forward.....

This kind of day-

Nathan relaxing in his room

Jake soaking up the heat

SILLY Seven

I have been blog-neglectful.
It is skin-stiffening FRIGID up here.
I worry abut my husband out in this all day long.
He burnt his boots by the fireplace so bought some new ones..really high end for sub sub zero weather.
Good thing, because he NEEDS them-
Too bad it took fried rubber to get him to do that. He is an awesome man (most days)!

Here is a clip of each of the kids. They are all doing very well and are healthy (monsters!). We just got down from the breakfast table on a lazy COLD Saturday morning in our warm haven we call home.

Response to question "what would you like the world to know about you?"

~ENJOY~

alone and forsaken

These artists are from "my time". When I watched this on the Hope for Haiti telethon, I sobbed.
This needs no introduction or words..

Dave Matthews - MTV Shows

Alone And Forsaken

We met in the springtime
When blossoms unfold
The pastures were green and
Meadows were gold

Our love was in flower as summer grew on
A love like the leaves has withered and gone
The roses have faded
There's frost at my door
The birds in the morning don't sing anymore

The grass in the valley has started to die
Out in the darkness the whippets will cry

Alone and forsaken
Oh lord if you hear me then hold to my hand
Oh please understand

Where has she gone to, oh where can she be
She may have forsaken some other like me
She promised to honor, to love and obey
Each vow was a plaything that she threw away

The darkness is falling
The sky has turned gray
A hound in the distance is starting to bay

I wonder, I wonder what your thinking of
Forsaken, forgotten without any love

Alone and forsaken
By Fate and by man
Oh lord if you hear me then hold to my hand
Oh please understand
Oh please understand

everyday life

Back to Front:

Oki Korea 11
Shon Korea 12
Diya India 5
Jake Philippines 7
Nathan Russia 6
Arun Cambodia 7
Saidi India 7

Not much new happening in this flooding duck town.
Oki went back to school today with a note for no gym for 6 weeks. An ordinary school would understand that NO GYM for 6 WEEKS means just that. A less than normal school would call the parents for clarification. However, a school that has no intentions of every including parents in the child's school life, would have the audacity to call the doctors office directly and perhaps see if the "on-professional-letterhead-with-original-signature" note is even authentic.
Guess which category SNOB SCHOOL USA falls into? GIVE ME A BREAK!!

Shon is doing well in school. His gym class sounds like fun. They are taking old tunes from the 70's (did I say old?) and creating dance steps to them. It is so funny for him to come home humming a song that I know the words to! He starts each day with "Mom, i have 2 questions" He has now earned the name TWO QUESS BOY (say it 10 times real fast). He is such a nut..

Jake is next for more cleft surgery. He needs his nose fixed, his lip straightened out and the bone graft from his hip. It will be a most trying time for all of us so we are setting it up for next year (yes 2011) because then is when Dr. M is booking into. When you go with the Best of the Best...you wait. Meanwhile..he is doing amazing in school.

Diya loves school. I have to tell you that she comes home everyday and tells everyone's business. She is the class queenie, no doubt. She keeps tabs on what everybody is doing, who has what for snack, who went where when they shouldn't have. We call her "and now live..DIYA DIRECT reporting the daily kindergarten news".

Nathan doesn't care much for Diya's reports when he was on that dreaded "shouldn't have" list. Nathan is a riot. His GF is no longer. As he puts it..it is over. When Shonnie said "did she dump you" Nathan quickly replied "no, she quit on me and she just isn't a girl anymore?!". We left that one ALONE. Nathan is really coming around. I am very pleased with his progress and his willingness to learn and try. We really are blessed and lucky to have him.

Arun is still so witty. He is doing well in school. He is back on the little bus and that is a great comfort to me. He asks me at least once a day if spring is on the way. He absolutely hates winter. Today, he assured me that it was spring because it is rainy and muddy. He will be socked in the heart when we get the next snowfall.

Saidi is see sawing like crazy. I am not sure what sets her into a tail spin but I believe it is old ghosts and very fear-based. It is very hard for me to watch her communicate via crappy behavior, but I know it is the best she can do. Sometimes, I feel so incapable ...i just don't know how to help her. When she is UP, she is awesome, funny, energetic, fierce, bold (you get the picture). But when she falls she is angry..and the anger is secondary to something...i just am not sure what.

Tim finished tiling the back splash in the kitchen. I really like it. We just have to grout it and that is my least favorite part of all of this, especially because we are using BLACK grout. It looks like wet soot. It cleans up about as easy as wet soot too! Next we have to refinish the cabinets. As luck with have it..we have taken the "c" word (contractor) out of our vocabulary but the contractor is yet to be out of our life. We still have the court battle...just another battle in our everyday life...

Peace to all...stay dry.

contractor boycott

Well, Tim and I plan to finish up laying tiles in the kitchen and then watch football. Kids are all doing well, we are trying to play catch up before spring hits, although tomorrows forecast is calling for heavy rains and thunder storms (January thaw?) causing flooding. I wish we could take this beating and then get on to mud and flowers...but January thaw is usually just a tease.

Speaking of teases
Here are two of my biggest ones:

before and after

I haven't felt much like blogging lately.

But Oki finally is stitch free. She is still swollen...but look at the difference already.

perfect beautiful peaceful innocense