Boomerang

Just as we were all getting used to our home with no Troy, (which means when it's Youth Group night, EVERYONE goes away and means that when we watch a scary movie, NOBODY has to go to bed first and I never have to remind ANYONE to brush their teeth) I get a phone call. His Auntie asks if I've heard the news that he's coming back. Seems that all the paperwork wasn't really completed and he's coming back to finish the school year. I'm so worried as she talks that he's traumatized about having to come here again. She puts him on the phone and he says, "So..Mom...which car are you picking me up from the airport in?" He was mostly concerned that I bring a car with no front airbag so he could have shotgun. As he walked back into the house, he barely nodded to me and said, "Hey Mom." Within minutes he had annoyed his sister till she said, "Troy, stop it...leave me alone." He had a very satisfied look on his face which said, "I'm home." So much for trauma.
Tonight I had to sit and listen to him read his story for homework. This isn't an activity for an impatient person. He didn't brush his teeth the first time and of course he needed a story read in bed about trucks.
Oh well...he's so darn cute.

Welcome Company

We have some relatives that if they weren't related to us we would have picked to have as friends anyway. My husband's great Aunt Louise and his second cousin Tony are here visiting and they're awesome. The first time I met them I was a newlywed 18 year old at my husband's family Christmas gathering. I was shy and awkward and ready to run out the door. Aunt Louise turned to me and started reeling me into a conversation till I was laughing with abandonment. I've loved her ever since. We've visited back and forth over the years (they live in Portsmouth, New Hampshire) and it's always wonderful. Amazingly, Aunt Louise is 92! This five generation picture is from the left- cousin Tony, Aunt Louise, my husband James, daughter Kara and her daughter Scarlett in the stroller.

Stephen, Josh, Nate & Ruben

I was thinking the other day how surprising it was that I liked all four of my son-in-laws. You'd think that with four daughters getting married at least one of them would have picked a jerk. I know some mother-in-laws who are convinced that their child's spouse wasn't good enough for their daughter or son. On the contrary, I've had moments when I hoped that my son-in-laws wouldn't give up on my daughters. Not that there's anything wrong with the girls...just that they can have moods at times. You know....ugly, not speaking, sure that they're right and he's wrong, kind of moods. But the son-in-laws hang in there and love their wives.
The four of them are very different in personalities but all are great Daddies. I've been there when the grand babies were born and each has made me want to cry as they stood there holding their new baby with that look that says they have fallen completely in love with this child. They have rocked babies at night, bathed them, taken and dropped them off at daycare and been the "babysitter" whenever needed (my daughters will say you can't "babysit" your own child) and they all make sure that their families go to church.
How can I not love these men who love my grand kids and my daughters like this?

Ressurection Day

Our entire group celebrated Easter at a sunrise service on the beach yesterday. The music was very cool and the gospel message was given to the hundreds of people gathered there to listen.
After a huge breakfast we drove around the island to the North Shore where the kids got to swim in a waterfall and have a picnic lunch.

Just talked to my friend Anita in West Virginia and it's still snowing. I may never come back!

She Looked So Good till You Got Up Close

Still in Hawaii. And for everyone who said they were jealous... don't forget the CHAPERONE part of this trip. Ever try watching 15 teens at one time?
Hawaii is amazing, no doubt.
As a tourist, there is everything to do here. I see the sun set and sailboats are silhouetted between the palm trees while the surfers are lined up and catching the perfect wave. Little kids are playing in the sand...bongos and guitar music in the distance...every store has something you want. The land has been blessed with incredible beauty.
We walk with our girls along the streets at night. They've never seen homeless people before. They've never seen people perform for dollars or make a living with their body and they think that these must be "bad" people. We have to explain that God loves the people just as much that live like this as He does their nice church friends and that His death was because he loved that old woman in the leather outfit and black boots and bleach blond hair as much as He loved their Sunday School teacher. My heart breaks at their needs.
Hawaii has such beauty and such loss. It must be a lot like the Garden of Eden..almost perfect till sin showed up.

Aloha from Hawaii

My husband is a Jr. ROTC instructor at our local high school and he takes his 4 year seniors on a trip to Hawaii each year over spring break. Of course, he needed me to help chaperone. The two youngest girls are along...homeschool in Hawaii!
After a very long plane ride, we have arrived. Our motel is on the beach in Honolulu and breakfast was outside. I understand why this place is called paradise. (My son just called from West Virginia and it's 34 degrees and snowing.)
I'm liking this!

Better to Have Loved and Lost

Being a foster parent is about the greatest thing I can think of to do. You get to have a ton of kids without all the stretch marks. They don't always look like you, but in my case, the kids probably think that's a good thing. Dull moments are non-existent and flexibility becomes your best trait. I've gotten to parent some of my favorite people in the whole world.
And then there's the hard parts.
We've had a delightful, goofy, sweet, strange little boy with us for the last year. He has enough "labels" to fill a psychiatrists clipboard front and back. He's in special education at school and has occupational and physical therapy.
We just like him and he likes us.
Tomorrow he moves to his aunts house and becomes her little boy. It's a good place for him and she's excited to have him. Troy says he's "a little happy" and I am too...and a lot sad. He's flying out tomorrow with a huge part of my heart.