Vacation

A New Family Photo

The Rock Wall at WonderWorks

A Night Time Visitor to the Cabin

DollyWood

Dinner at the Black Bear Jamboree



We've been on vacation. We went to TN.
Although we've been there several times before (my brother and his family live there), we decided to rent a cabin (instead of staying with them), and do things we haven't done before.
We did go to Dollywood, even though we've been there several times already (Leila hadn't).
We went to Splash Country, which we all loved. I can't believe that as many times as we've been there, we'd never gone there. It was great.
We had our picture taken at one of those old-timey places.
We even went to a couple of dinner shows.
We did a few other things too, and other than being hot, the weather cooperated too.
Overall, it was a nice time.

We came home Sat night. Austin left for boy scout camp on Sun. He's working down there (about an hour away) for the next 4 weeks. He's going to be washing dishes. We think/hope it will be a good experience/practice for him.
Darrell will join him next week. Big difference though - Darrell's going to camp and have fun for one week. Austin is there for a month to work.
Nevertheless, the house will surely fill empty next week.

Leila had her 1st speech therapy session on Mon. Although I was a little curious as to how they plan to do speech therapy with one her age (and at her cooperation level), the first time went really well.
There are 2 different ladies. Although they work together, one deals more with the speech side of it and the other deals more with developmental aspects. We like both of them, but more importantly - Leila likes them. They'll come for an hour once a week and will alternate weeks.
The session on Mon was with the developmental lady (Lisa). Mostly it consisted of a full hour of Lisa and Leila playing. Leila loved it.
Then she gave us some suggestions on things to work on for the next week. It included things like finger play (Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc) and naming body parts (Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, etc.)
The best part - they come to our house, and it's FREE. It's part of what's known as the 'Birth to Three Program'. It's run by the state, and will provide for her until age 3 at which time, she can attend the preschool program in the public schools. How great is that!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to David and my Dad.


'The Family of Adoption'
By Joyce Maquire Pavao

You cannot change the truth,
These are your children,
but they came from somewhere else.
And they are the children of those places and of those people as well.

Help them to know about their past and about their present.
Help them to know that they are from extended families,
that they have only one parent or set of parents,
but they have more mothers and fathers.
They have grandmothers, godmothers, birth mothers, mother countries, mother earth.
They have grandfathers, godfathers, birth fathers, and fatherlands.
They have family by birth and by adoption.
They have family by choice and by chance.

Childhood is short;
They are our children to raise;
they are our children to love;
and then they are citizens of the world.
What we do to them creates the world that we live in.
Give them life.
Give them their truth.
Give them love.
Give them all they came with,
Give them all that they grow with.

Your children do not belong to you,
But they belong with you.
You cannot keep them from what is theirs,
but you can keep loving them.
You do not own your children,
but they are your own.

Brothers

I want Leila to be a girly-girl, but not a sissy. For the most part, I think I've got that.
She's definitely not afraid to try new things. It doesn't scare her a bit when Austin throws her a good 3 feet up in the air in the pool. She jumps off the edge without hesitation. She thinks it's hilarious when Darrell carries her upside down over his shoulder.
And yet, she'll let me paint her toenails. Most of the time, she'll let me fix her hair. She absolutely loves jewelry and purses.
She does not however, see any point in stuffed animals. And baby dolls - well, she doesn't have much interest in those either. She is starting to show a little tiny bit of interest here lately, but not much - I still have hope though.

Now most of the time, the boys are really wonderful with Leila. You would think with 11 and 15 years between them, that they wouldn't fight. I guess sometimes though, the urge to pick and aggravate her is just too much.
Leila has a doll stroller that she really likes. It's not the doll in it that she likes so much - it's the stroller. I know this because the boys took the doll and put in a football - that was okay. Then they replaced the football with a shoe - that was okay too. Then they took the stroller and started pushing it themselves - that was NOT okay. She started yelling, MaMaMaMaMa. That of course, earned her the title of 'Tattletale' for the night.

More 1st's

Since our old swing set is long gone, we need a new one. We haven't decided what kind to get yet though, and I don't think it really matters this year. We don't think Leila's really able to do much besides swing right now anyway. We decided to just buy a swing for now and hang it from the deck. That gives us another year to decide what to get. And she likes this just fine.

Since we're going on vacation next week, we needed to pick up a few things before we go. We went to the mall yesterday. They boys thought Leila needed to ride one of the quarter rides while we were there. I hate to think we started something, but I think we did.

I was so iffy about Austin getting his license. I just didn't think I was ready for that. I gotta say though - I'm really liking being able to send him on errands though. There are some definite advantages to this.

Sweet Sixteen

Our oldest turned 16 today. He also got his driver's license today. Wow, it's exciting and scary both at the same time. It seems like he was just little, and now here he is - almost all grown up. He was so sweet and cute and innocent back then. Now ... well, those are relative terms. He can still be sweet and cute and innocent - it just doesn't ooze out like it did way back then.

They change and grow up WAY too fast. It's just not fair. Even looking at Leila. Just look at how much she's changed in just the 8 short months we've had her. She's such a completely different child now than the one we brought home last Sept. And, oh my, is she rotten. Rotten to the core. Makes you wonder - would she have been this ornery anyway, or is it something we've done to her?

Swimming

Today was Leila's first time in the pool. We've had so much rain this week that the water was a little too cool for me. When she first got in, it took her breath for a minute. After that, she loved it. (Not that we had any doubts.) I'm afraid it won't be long until she starts jumping in on her own - with or without someone there to catch her.

Sidewalk Chalk

We decided to try playing with sidewalk chalk the other day. Not real successful. She tried to color her shoe - not allowed. She tried to eat it - it wasn't good. Marking on the sidewalk - well, apparently that's just plain boring. She finally found what was fun - holding 2 pieces in each hand and running up and down the driveway. At least it WAS fun - until she fell 3 times and skinned up her knees, hands, and head.

Broke

We've been broke.
Now I hate to complain, because I do realize that things can always get worse. BUT, I am getting a little tired of things around here being broke.
In just the last few months, it seems like its been one thing after another.
It started a few months ago with a small, slow water leak in Austin's ceiling. Then the lawn mower wouldn't work. The air conditioner didn't come on. The vacuum cleaner wasn't right.
That's when things started to snowball.
There was a water leak bubbling up in the front yard.
While David was getting the church's tractor tire fixed (another thing), someone hit his truck. Did they wait around, or even leave a note - of course not. We've had to turn it in on OUR insurance.
We opened the pool, but the liner was messed up, the pipe coming off the filter had a leak, and there was a leak by the faucet under the concrete.
Oh, yeah, and I'm waiting for the dishwasher repairman to come today.
Wonder if I've forgotten anything?
Nevertheless, all the breaks are breaking us.