Clear to Foster

We began the journey to Foster/Adopt fairly quickly upon moving to Moscow. We've felt it as a calling for a while now. Most strongly during our time in Kansas. Upon moving into our new home, we began the Home Inspection (is it safe) and Home Study(who are you.)

The home inspection meant delving into a world of cabinet locks, and child safety that I had truly never considered before. We feel like we're most in a place to best serve the needs of children 8 and up, though we did get cleared down to age 6. This means that we did not need to get a child gate for the top and bottom of our stairs. One our cabinets we went with Tot Locks which did not affect the appearance of our cabinets, could be temporarily deactivated for when we do not have a placement, and which seemed to be the most successful at preventing child access.

We installed a grand total of 4. One for stove cleaner and dishwasher detergent in the kitchen. I moved these things to the side cabinet so that we would only need one lock. The pots and pans are now under the sink. 

We also put a lock on a cabinet in our laundry room containing household chemicals. The last two went on the cabinet under Luke's bathroom sink. That's where our medicines are kept. In this locking tool box, we'll keep any prescriptions, and large Costco size bottles of meds. 

Lastly, because we're in a two story house, we got a fire escape ladder. Should you consider one in your future, know that there are one time use ladders and multi use ladders. In case we feel the need to practice. I thought this would be better. 

So yah, we've nested. We're all ready for this child (or children) we know nothing about to come into our lives. 

We pray for this child. We pray that we can show him or her love. We pray for patience and a steady calm. We ask that you keep us in your prayers for those things as well. 

Like the Toilet Paper Ladies

Val and I have been quilting, quilting, quilting. So many little stitches! On Saturday we had a quilting bee at our house. Lots of people came by, some to quilt and some to visit! It was just as good to have visitors as quilters because it kept us (Val and Me) quilting. Of course I didn't take any pictures because I was quilting. Sigh. I snagged this one of a friends blog. Here I am quilting with her little one. :) Making impressions on the future!

Caddies and Ladies

Some threatening weather moved us inside for our final photos. Lucky for us, the hotel we moved our ceremony and reception into had a nice central staircase for some group photos.

We had some very charismatic Flower Ladies and Golf Caddy's as members of our wedding party.

Abbey, Katie

Keegan, Tyler, Ethan

Tyler took on quite the persona with his knickers, argyle socks, and hat.

Keegan and Ethan were so professional I would have them caddy for me in a second!

Abbey and Katie were quite the ladies in their dresses and took extra special care to display their multi-colored bouquets!

Ring Caddies:

Hats...................................Gap (Found special by Aunt Becky)

Shirts.........................................................................Old Navy

Pants.........JcPenny Sweatpants, Golf ball/tee embroidery by me

Socks..........................................................Little Miss Matched

Golf Bags and Clubs.............................Hand Created by Jhrme!

Flower Ladies:

Dresses..........................................................................Dillards

Shoes......................................................................Their Choice

Flowers.......Created by Jhrme and inspired by Princess Lasertron

icecreamN4Quiche

So now Im working 40 hours a week. Whew. Its a new thing for me. Being with kids for 8 hours....I love kids. A lot. I think they're funny, personable, and each of them has their one thing that makes me as a teacher able to connect to them. Heres the thing. Even when I was subbing I was never with them for 8 hours. I would get there, have an hour to prep, greet the kids, spend the morning together working intensely on projects, have a breather during recess and spend some time getting recharged for the next phase  and so on...you get the picture. 8 hours with 15 kids with high levels of need is a new gig. I can definately use your thoughts, prayers and encouragement in giving these kids the love, encouragement, and energy they need from me as their educator and caretaker.

On another note, after a long day of work, when getting ready to mix up a nice batch of onion dip look what a pleasant suprise I found under the lid of our sour cream. I can't say it didn't make me smile. Im kind of a sucker for good marketing. I'll be the first to admit it.

Our "N" wall is growing. Some of the pictures need to be filled in, but Im liking how the collection is comming together. The next piece I hope to add is a 6 inch scrabble tile <check em out they're cool> and maybe someday I'll con my new brother in law Mark to make a big curly cue one out of wood! (I'm not very subtle am I.)

We've been having lots of fun playing with our new ice cream maker.  So far I've made a couple strawberry lime sorbet's, a Coffee Toffee ice cream for a play date with some of my co workers (inspired by Christa) and mint chocolate chip. Pictured below is all that's left of it. Im day dreaming of the next flavor to make.

I'm a little nervous about our oven because its kind of old and teeny tiny. Plus once again, we have no air conditioning so thats another thing that makes me heasitant to use the oven. A few days ago I made a roast in our crock pot and today I baked a quiche in our RED toaster oven! Isn't it glamourous?

Here's the finnished product! It has some hash browned potatoes and onion with Italian seasoning in the bottom, sauteed mushrooms and asparagus with some garlic salt, bacon, spinach and cheddar cheese. I followed the Better Homes and Gardens recipe called Spinach and Bacon Quiche for the egg mixture.

Some egg over flowed to underneath the crust and got shiny and hard, but that was my only "wish I'd done that better."

Lots to Do!

The time has been JAM packed! As I write I am a bit sunburned and tired because today we (group from work) went to the Sky Sox Kids Day and watched the first game of a double header.

You wont see too many pictures of me on my adventures because posting pictures of me and kids at work probably doesn't equal that great of an idea.

Tuesday was a full day of work after arriving back in Colorado Springs at 2:00 AM!

Monday was 18 hours in the car leaving Fresno around 5:00 AM

Sunday was an amazing wedding reception in Fresno! I got to visit with so many people! Much better than not getting to speak with anyone on the day of our wedding! PLUS I got to go out to dinner with many of the women in my family that night while the boys all watched recorded Germany game.

Saturday we got to Fresno at  12 30 ish and stopped by the Farmers Market (closed) watched soccer (football) and went to Mark and Cindys for yummy burgers! Top the night off with a trip to Sur la Table!

Friday worked a full day then left Colorado Springs right after work leaving behind some crazy rain and a tornado warning. The rain stuck with us but we lost it by Fresno! 

Thursday we went to the Denver Aquarium. Pretty cool! Especially after being biased by Monteray Bay Aquarium! Though it DID make me miss those CA beaches!

For dinner we had the best breakfast burritos!

Eggs with asparagus, chopped potato and onions, sausage, and feta cheese.

Wednesday we went to  Magic Town a gallery in Old Town Colorado Springs of Michael Garman's works. You can even look in the windows of all the mini buildings and spy on the people!

Dinner on this night was the best burger recipe I didn't really follow. I was in Whole Foods with Neola and Aunt Becky and we got this amazing looking recipe for Turkey Spinach Burgers. The recipe inspired my recipe which looked more or less like this:

1 pound ground beef

6 asparagus spears chopped

3 large handfuls of torn baby spinach

2 pieces of toast torn up into bread crumbs

1/3 cup minced onion

2 Tablesppons Worcestershire Sauce

Some good shakes of garlic salt

I mixed the ingredients by hand and packed them into 5 balls.

I didnt squash ours down bacause I cooked them on our new red George Foreman grill.

I topped mine with Feta and garnished it with mustard! Yum! I didnt feel the need to use a bun since there was bread in the burger!

They were DELISH! (If I do say so myself!)

Tuesday: Work Training, Full shift, Staff Meeting

Monday: First full day of work, field trip to John May Museum. One word bugs. Lots of them. Pinned under glass. Highlight for the kids: Starwars display in th space section. They wanted to know how those puzzles stay together to hang on the wall and in the cereal is still in those old boxes.

Sunday we organized our apartment some more, and got better settled in. Slept a lot. The altitude takes quite a bit out of me!

Saturday Luke worked, Jess slept like 12 hours. Then went to the pool and was mortified by the company she found there and now knows live in our apartment complex. She came back and puttered around organizing "stuff." 

Friday I went out for some interviews and dropped off resumes and cover letters. I also got hired for my job at the school! We had a neighbor up to join us for pancakes. Funny guy goes on 70 mile bike trips on his weekends....for fun?!

Thursday: was long and tireing. I was running around turning in job applications and was STILL not aclimated. I went to La Baguette and got some of their amazing French Onion Soup. I brough home an Ecclair to share with Luke....I saved him half right?

Maybe not. It was good!

One In Every Color-Driving Fan Base

Im truly loving these things that people keep sharing! Today I got a message from Tracy:
After church on Wednesday, Daniel and his friend were organizing cars according to color. I ran in and said, "I have to take a picture!" Marcy was standing there waiting to see why I was taking a picture. I said, "for Jessica and Cindy." She said, "That's who I thought of and I was waiting to see what you were taking it for."

 Thanks for sharing this fun photo and for thinking of me Tracy and Marcy! Goes to show that even young kids  can appreciate sorting things and color! Give em props!
Ps. If you can coach them into a circle next time  bonus points!

Calmer Waters

Literally. No rain today. Whew.

Woke up early, got a LOT of good work done in mom's Jr. High classroom. She starts on Monday! Eeek! Lots to do! I've got her bulletin boards mostly done, pencils sharpened, red pens flower-fied to deter thievery. We were there on Friday where the original teacher was supposed to be for his last day but he skipped out, and left a sub with not enough on her lesson plans.

Me being me and unable to leave students idle and prone to mischief (you know 8th graders give em an inch and they go for the marathon) I stepped in by the second class out of 5. I had students helping to take apart and clean up the classroom so I could start fresh. I also realised that even that wasn't enough to keep them busy for the whole day. So I told em to get out a piece of paper (something to keep em busy while I racked my brain for an assignment.) I told them to write their name, date etc. (still scrambling). Then I decide to give them a random question personal quiz that will allow me to get to know them while assessing writing skills. It was fun! I'm sitting here in an empty house, my music playing, tummy full, body exercised (that's right I went to the gym), sitting on the couch responding. I got some really good responses and am learning that these kids have potential to be really fun this year. Exhausting, but fun. Should you wish to participate here's the quiz:

1.) Using correct punctuation and capitalization, who was the last person to speak to you before school and what did they say?
2.)Answer the following question as if you are an expert from PBS. What three songs do you need to complete your music library.
3.)What has the potential to be your most embarrassing moment?
4.)What is the best thing your teacher could do for you?
5.)What would be the one thing that would ruin a persons reputation?
6.) What, in your opinion, is the best shoe in the world?
7.) What would be the best cafeteria food?
8.) Create a short dialogue between you and me.
9.)If you were working at your dream job, what would be something you would say to your boss?
10.) In a solid paragraph (Introduction, Filling, Closing 5 sentence min.) tell me something. Anything.

Some interesting things:

One student says his golf handicap is 3.2.

90% of another class said "The best shoes are Vans because they are AWESOME." Seriously...to the capital letters in awesome. I liked this answer:

"The best shoes in the world are....(drum-role please) VANS! I lah lah lah love Vans because they come in all colors and all shapes and they're very ADORABLE!"

Huh, they come in all color. Guess I better get me some Vans. I think we might hear more from this one. She also put Eye of the Tiger as one of her top songs. Yesss!

Lastly, I have yet to have one song repeated more than twice. Music is much more diverse than when I was in Jr. High.

Today it's hard to resist the urge to...

...yell loudly and kick things.

If you're reading this, I have yet to reconsider the post and delete OR someone has commented and I enjoy comments so much I couldn't possibly delete a post that has comments.

Why I want to yell loudly and kick things:
1.) I was awake at 6:00 AM.
2.)There was a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding our valley today during a break in the rain on my way to work. I was driving so I didn't try to take a picture and it started raining again....swift kick.
3.) The 5th day of rain.
4.) The 5th day of rain and 1st subbing in a fourth grade classroom.
5.) Not talking to Luke all day.
6.) Tutoring and reminding a kid that 20 is 20 for the 220th time this week. A two and a zero makes 20...really? Really? Is it THAT HARD?!! Or maybe that's the 5th day of rain talking.
7.) Talking to Luke...but only for 2 minutes because he has to go. Except I didn't know he had to go until he said I have to go...leading to an abrupt end of conversation and still an empty void from not talking to Luke all day. (The intro to conversation doesn't really count, it's usually formalities.)
8.) I get home, it's raining, my key takes 3 tries to turn.
9.) My quilt blocks have been disturbed on the wonderwall. I fully intended to sew them together this weekend. There's been a lot to do. I know the mover had no malicious intent in fact they had only kind and excited intent...but ugh...I have no idea where they went and I think I spent two hours staring at them to put them where I wanted. Ugh.
10.) Did I mention no Luke? He's in Idaho.

Suggestions?

When Bugs Get Smashed...

Their eyes pop out...
The Friday school was scheduled to get out I got called in for a sub job. (Woooh subbing on class party, candy, sugar day.)I hoped in my car and headed to rescue the administrator who was filling in until I could get there. I was on my way through a medical office complex and Mr. Smarty pulled out in front of me. I honked I braked...there was nothing I could do. Some of his first words to me were: "I have to go catch a plane" and "Can I run in and go to the bathroom? I really have to go." Hmmm. Think he was in a hurry? While it doesn't look too bad, the internal damage was...substantial. Whew. I was very glad his insurance called to accept fault. My sister and her boyfriend very kindly drove me to school, and picked me up, and took me to Sal's after for some yummy comfort food.

Then, on Wednesday:

Mom had her own little adventure. (More details here.)

Ugh. Let's just the week before Christmas 'twas rough.

One upside was I got to spend some of the time hanging out with my buddy Cady! She was catching up on her AR reading. During breaks we made wrapping paper for her Grandma's present...and went to get a Christmas Tree for her doll Zoey. Here are Zoey and Cady in the back of the rental car with the completely decorated tree!

On Umbrellas...Sort Of.

Soooo it's raining cats and dogs here. Sure it's not Forks, WA but you get the point. Anyway. As a person who works at schools I would like to know WHERE parents get the bright idea to arm their children and send them to school with umbrellas? And WHY do so many of the parents get this bright idea? Children's spacial awareness is already limited, but give them another appendage with sharp points to bump into things (or other people?) When kids go out with umbrellas, they really are armed and dangerous. THEN as soon as kids get to where they're going, the promptly get the water they "protected themselves from" all over themselves anyway trying to get the stinkin things closed. Then they leave it dripping and wet by their desks, and one of the little geniuses decides to open his/hers in the classroom, consequentially setting off a chain reaction as each of his or her friends open their umbrellas too. Then someones umbrella breaks. On the way home, one child accidentally takes another child's umbrella leaving us to deal with the tears of the child whose umbrella is missing, because the only umbrella left has a name on it.

So Puuuhlease people, just buy your children a nice waterproof coat with a hood.

Ps. Today in the post office, this darling little girl walked up to the door with a penguin umbrella. Her mom closed her own umbrella, the little girl did not. The little girl then proceeded to take up valuable space in the crowded post office with her wet umbrella. Then the mother realised the situation and took he girls umbrella saying, "I'm going to close this for you...."
but she ended her statement with the horrible questioning "ok?"
This is a big no no in the interacting with children world...ending with a question mark instead of a "." tells the child this is up for discussion, tears and disagreement will get you the umbrella back. Which the little girl seemed to know. She disagreed and cried and to pacify the girl the mom gave the umbrella back. To be honest I would have preferred standing in a line with a mom I knew stood by her word and was teaching her daughter courtesy even if it meant her daughter cried (Plus, then i wouldn't have gotten so wet.)

Okay, I'm climbing off my soap box. Next time I'll take on rolling back packs.