A great start to our week!

What a wonderful Lord’s Day we had this week! It was our monthly guest speaker/potluck/singing Sunday, and Teddy L. was our speaker. All of the Joiners came over to hear him, too. Plus Sheila had Cara, Heather and Allison down for the weekend, and they all came over for the day. So we had a full house Sunday morning! Teddy did a great job, as always. I love listening to him! He has such a sweet, gentle nature and speaks from his heart. The Fields opened up their home for the potluck, even though Heather wasn’t feeling good at all. She tried coming to the morning service, but Maddi had to take her home before we got going good. They still wanted everyone to come over, and Layne and the kids did a great job of hosting. We all enjoyed the good food and fellowship. Nam and Asher had a blast playing outside together!

Jeremy and Kylie’s family showed up for our second assembly. They were headed home from a weekend with the Moores. It was great to see their sweet family! Eli and Nam hit it off quite well. I look forward to seeing them play together again at the Salem meeting over Memorial Day weekend!

Daddy wasn’t feeling very well yesterday. He has come down with a bad cold or something. He is coughing and very congested. He did lead a song yesterday morning, but I could tell it was hard for him to get through it. Then as he was headed back to his seat, he tripped on a chair and almost fell. I was halfway out of my seat, ready to try to catch him, as was Phillip J. Thankfully, he caught himself before going down! There were several of us who almost had a heart attack watching him! I took him to the doctor today to make sure it wasn’t getting down in his lungs, and they are clear. The doctor said it was a cold and allergies. He is feeling quite a bit better today.

Tonette picked Daddy up this Monday morning and carried him to Arlington to visit Bobbie. I went over there after lunch to pick him up. He really didn’t need to be there, as sick as he was, but I knew he wouldn’t change his mind about going. Dennis took him over Saturday for a few hours, since I had some cooking to do for the potluck. She was feeling much better yesterday and is being discharged from the hospital sometime this afternoon. They will be moving her to rehab in Weatherford. That will make things so much easier on everyone!

Sheila got her tax refund (with her adoption credit) last week and spent it on a new (for her) car…a 2014 RAV4. I am SO thankful that she has finally gotten a better vehicle! Her Honda was a good car, but it was getting very old and starting to have quite a few maintenance issues. This vehicle is also roomier for carrying around the stuff she needs for Nam. Kids definitely take a lot more space! I hope this car lasts her as long as her Honda did. She kept it for eight years!

I am officially on sabbatical from my CASA work. After a year and a half, the case that I was still active on finally ended. I had hoped to be off of it before we went to Vietnam, but that didn’t happen! It was one of those cases that had us concerned the whole time about what was in the best interest of the child. I can only hope and pray that we all made the right decision, and the child does well with her grandmother as her permanent caregiver. I plan to take off the rest of the year to focus on taking care of Nam and my dad. As Nam starts pre-k in the fall, my time should ease up some. Of course, we never know what to expect with Daddy and Bobbie. Right now, I just feel like I need a bit of a break. Tending to my family and dealing with all of their concerns pretty much takes all of my energy, physically and emotionally. I’m sure that after a few months, I’ll be ready to jump back into the fray.

Ricky has his appointment with the GI doctor this afternoon. I know they will still have to schedule a colonoscopy, so it will be awhile, yet, before we know anything. He has been feeling better, but is still having problems. At least he has started gaining some weight back…about 10 of the 30 pounds that he had lost.

Looking forward to this weekend! Stephen’s family is coming Friday to spend the night. This will be the first time we’ve had all three grandsons in our home at the same time. Things will be quite lively, I’m sure! Nam is very excited to have his cousins coming for a visit. I hope the weather is pretty, so that we can get out and do something.

I hope you all have a great weekend with friends and family!

The past week...

It has been a busy week! Let me see if I can sort through it all…

Last Wednesday, we were sitting around the table after lunch. Nam was standing in his chair and someone saw a squirrel in the neighbor’s back yard. Nam turned around to look, leaned forward too much, and down went the chair…busting out a bottom pane on our bay window. It scared us all, but Nam didn’t have a scratch on him. Ricky cleaned up all of the glass and Dennis boarded it up until we can get a replacement pane. We have always wanted to put in double paned glass to save on energy, so I guess we will get started on that….

Thursday, I decided to bake cookies. I wanted to try Nam on oatmeal cookies again, but also made a batch of snickerdoodles, just in case. He liked the oatmeal cookies this time, but “snickermoodles” are still his favorite!

Tonette took her mom to the orthopedic doctor Thursday morning, and he determined that she had a couple of cracks in her foot, a bone cyst on her ankle and possibly a hairline fracture on it. He wants her to wear a boot and stay in a wheelchair until she is healed. Then Saturday morning, she woke up short of breath and was taken to the ER. Her hemoglobin was about 6.5 and she tested positive for blood in her stool, so she was admitted and given 2 units of blood. There was a GI convention going on, so they ended up sending her to a hospital in Arlington, which was supposedly the only one in the area to have a GI doctor on call for the weekend. They did an endoscopy on Sunday and a colonoscopy on Monday. They found a stomach ulcer and some internal hemorrhoids and diverticulitis, but none of them were the cause of the bleeding (which they never did find). Even though she had just had an iron infusion on the previous Monday, and was given 2 units of blood in the Weatherford ER, her hemoglobin only went up about one point. Then she had a bad nosebleed Monday night, which dropped it back to 6.8. They gave her another unit of blood yesterday. She still needs to have the test done where she swallows the camera capsule, so they can look throughout her digestive system, but they want her to do that as an outpatient with her normal GI doctor. She is also being referred to a hematologist to see why she is so anemic. We are hoping that she is released from the hospital today, but she has developed a bad cough, and they are going to do a chest xray first. She really needs to go into rehab for awhile until she can get around better in her boot. The girls are trying to get her into the one in Weatherford where she has been before. That will make it SO much easier on everyone!

Sheila had planned a First Night Bag party at Heather’s house on Saturday morning. There is a place in Weatherford that provides goods for foster families. They also put together 1^st Night Bags for foster kids which include PJs, toothbrush/toothpaste, underwear, socks and something fun. The idea of the party was for everyone to bring items for the bags and to assemble as many as we could to donate. We ended up having 12 filled bags and quite a bit of extras to donate. Nam and Asher had fun playing together, and with Bethany (who was great to look after them!). It was a good party (although I was a bit distracted with Bobbie’s situation)!

I had asked Jamae (Tonette’s daughter, who was helping with Bobbie that morning), if she could take Daddy with her over to Arlington, and then I would come later in the evening to pick him up. That saved me from having to make two trips over there that day! After I finished up at the party, I went home and took care of some things around the house. Then after supper, Dennis and I headed over there. Daddy was totally exhausted. I was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to make the long walk back through the hospital and out to the car. We had to stop several times for him to rest, but he finally made it. Sunday morning, we took him to church. Then while the other guys stayed for a business meeting, Daddy and I went back to Arlington for the afternoon. I was nervous about him wanting to stay with Bobbie at the hospital, and she asked him to, but this time he realized that he needed to go back home. We headed over first thing Monday morning and stayed until about 2:00. I needed to get home to cook supper for my bunch (Sheila and Nam spend Monday nights with us). We had hoped Bobbie would be released yesterday, but her nosebleed caused them to keep her another night. I am really hoping today is the day she gets to go back to Weatherford!

Yesterday morning was Daddy’s back procedure. They burned the nerve endings in his back to deaden the pain that he has been having for years. His legs were slow to “wake up” after the procedure, so I brought him home with me for a few hours, until he could walk ok on his own. Nam was really sweet with him. Every time Daddy had to get up, Nam would go hold his hand to help him. Then he would tell Dennis, “Grandad! Come help PawPaw! He too old, he needs help to walk!” I love watching how Nam interacts with Daddy…it is the sweetest thing!

Dennis dropped Daddy off on his way to take Nam home. I checked on him last night and this morning, and he is doing great. They had told us to expect him to have more pain at first from the procedure and that the “pain-free” benefits might take several weeks to kick in. He said he can already feel the benefits of the procedure and can stand up straight. He isn’t hurting at all…just fells some “tightness” in his back. I am SO thankful to see him feeling better already! I hope this “fix” lasts the rest of his life! I have business to take care of at home today, so I can’t drive him to Arlington. That will “allow” him an extra day to recover, which should also help. Hopefully, Bobbie will be moved to Weatherford today anyway!

Nam got a phone call from his primary caregiver from the orphanage on Sunday. He was thrilled to “face time” with her! The call has generated a lot more conversations. He talked to Sheila about one of his friends who “didn’t have a momma and daddy, they died”. Nam was really sad about that. Then he perked up and said, “Maybe Jesus will make him a new momma and daddy and he can come to America to live and have toys!” Sheila later found out that he has been adopted, so that makes everyone feel better!

Sheila contacted me last night to let me know that she had “the adoption talk” with Nam. I just sat and bawled over the things that he told her. But with his improved language skills, he can finally talk about his fears, so that Sheila can alleviate them (as best as she can). He is such a sensitive little soul! I’m SO thankful that Sheila decided to adopt him, and that she is doing such a wonderful job at providing the love and training that he needs!

Well, Dennis and Nam will be here soon and I’m still in my robe! I have enjoyed having this morning off! I was totally wiped out last night. I have to get ready today to testify in court tomorrow morning. That stresses me out BIG time! I’ve never had to testify on the stand before, and this is not going to be an easy case to start with. I don’t do well speaking before an audience in the first place. I know I don’t seem like a shy person, but I definitely suffer from “stage fright!” Plus there are a couple of lawyers that I am terrified to answer questions from. At least in our court, Judge Moore does NOT let the attorneys “bully” his CASAs.

Well, I really have to go! Happy (2^nd day of) Spring!

So happy to have my guys home!

Well, things didn’t exactly turn out as expected on Sunday. I picked the folks up and took them to Highway that morning, and I thought everything was going well. As soon as we got in the car, Bobbie said she needed to go home right after lunch…her restless legs were bothering her. So we ate as soon as I could get everything on the table, but Bobbie sat in the living room and said she couldn’t eat. Anita helped me clear the table and put up leftovers, then they left and we loaded up and headed to Brookdale. I guess she got to feeling better, because I didn’t hear back from them or Brookdale. By this time, I wasn’t feeling too great…stomach issues and totally exhausted…so I just rested the remainder of the day (other than cleaning up the mess in my kitchen).

Nam was a little angel when I picked him up Monday morning. On our way home, we stopped by Brookdale. Daddy had some errands he needed to run. (Bobbie had to go for her iron infusion, so she didn’t come with us.) We went to the bank, then to Office Max, and finally to WalMart. Daddy had to show off Nam to everyone we encountered along the way! Nam would hold PawPaw’s hand and “help him walk”. At Office Max, he carried PawPaw’s stuff for him. Then he rode on the electric cart with PawPaw at WalMart. I had been concerned that he would get tired of all of the stops we had to make, but he really enjoyed himself! Daddy also gave him a little plush green frog that they had won at Bingo. Nam loved it! He amazes me at how sweet he is with Daddy and Bobbie. He understands the importance of caring for our elders…a rare thing among kids nowadays!

The guys got back from their trip right at noon on Monday. Nam was one excited little guy! He couldn’t get enough of Grandad! That afternoon, the guys rigged up Dennis’ computer to play a slideshow of their trip pictures on Ricky’s big screen tv. We all enjoyed looking at the mountains and snow and ice. Nam really wants to take a trip to the mountains with Grandad now! We keep telling him that we will try to do that when he gets a little bigger. Dennis said he kept playing a game yesterday morning, where he went to the mountains and saw snow, deer, elk, eagles…and elephants. LOL! That kid!

While we were waiting on the guys to arrive Monday morning, Nam and I saw the neighbors outside playing frizbee with their dog. Nam wanted to go watch, so we headed over. The dog was as scared of Nam as Nam was of her, so we had to work with both of them to get them to play together. It was mostly my neighbor handing the frizbee to Nam, and Nam throwing it back over the fence. But he and the dog both seemed to enjoy the game!

Yesterday was filled with catching up on laundry from the trip, plus what I had around here, and buying groceries. I still felt like I was running on fumes (I guess it is partly the time change bothering me), so I didn’t do much else other than that. After naptime, Dennis hooked up the boat and the three guys went out to the lake. They all seemed to enjoy their outing. It was time to load up and take Nam home as soon as they got back.

Tonette called me yesterday to tell me Bobbie had fallen again. They took her to Urgent Care, where they xrayed her foot/leg and said it looks like it might be broken just above the ankle. She goes to see her orthopedic doctor tomorrow to see what he thinks. They put her in a wheel chair and said not to put any weight on that foot. If it is broken, it may turn out to be a rough ride for a while. She will be needing help to bathe and dress, among other things. It will be interesting to see what Dr. Brock says. Prayers are much appreciated!

Spring allergies are giving all of us fits around here. It is really turning gorgeous outside, but along with the pretty flowers and new foliage comes sneezing and stuffy noses and sore throats. My two favorite times of the year are spring and fall…both bad allergy seasons for me. Oh well, such is life! I’m looking forward to getting outside more and being more active. Nam definitely makes outdoor activities more interesting!

A day of peace and quiet! 😉

Today is the 4 month anniversary of Nam’s adoption. It’s hard to believe it has already been one-third of a year since he joined our family! But it is also getting hard to remember what our lives were like before he arrived…he has become such an integral part of our existence.

This week has been quite exhausting! I have a newfound respect for single parents. With Dennis and Ricky gone, I have had Nam by myself during the day, plus I’ve had to do all of the driving to pick him up. Trying to keep up with my normal chores, keeping him entertained, and dealing with any and all discipline issues has worn this old woman out! He was REALLY good Wednesday and Thursday. But I think he didn’t realize how long Dennis was going to be gone, and it started getting to him yesterday. He was really missing Grandad, and it definitely showed up in his behavior. I was ready to hand him off to Sheila last night and have a weekend to myself!

The guys made it all the way up to Carbondale, CO, near Aspen, yesterday and are headed back to Bayfield tonight. They expect to be home sometime Monday. I was hoping they would make it back then, since I kept telling Nam Grandad would be home in 3 days yesterday. We ended up calling and talking to him for a few minutes yesterday morning, which helped for a while. But afterwards, when he got upset, he would cry that he wanted to go see the snow with Grandad! I showed him on the map how far away it was, but I don’t think he really understood the concept.

Tonette was out of town this week and needed to get some medicine to her mom, so Thursday, we dropped by on our way home from FW to pick it up at the pharmacy and take it to Brookdale. As usual, Nam charmed everyone that we came in contact with! He is such a friendly little guy! Then we took the medicine to the office manager at Brookdale and dropped in to see Memaw and Pawpaw for a few minutes. Daddy had received his final refund check from an insurance policy that Momma had had (and had never been canceled when she died, that I’ve been working on trying to take care of for the past few months), and he said he needed to take it to the bank. I suggested he just endorse it and let me take it for him (so I could just go through the drive-thru and not have to get Nam in and out again). Bobbie also had a check she wanted me to cash, but she told me that I could just give her the money on Sunday. So, we ran those errands and then headed to the house. After lunch (and a good nap), we went to Walmart to buy a few groceries. Nam loves to operate the portable scanner that they now have. He does a really good job, too! Thursday night, I cooked chicken pot pie for supper and also prepared a (frozen) dish of mashed cauliflower with garlic and bacon bits. Nam ate two helpings of the pie and cauliflower, and then grabbed the serving dish of cauliflower and finished it off! I just love to watch this kid eat! He has a good appetite and eats such a wide variety of food (unless he is distracted or upset!).

Sheila has been working with Nam on learning everyone’s names (hers, mine and Grandad’s, and Nam’s full name). It is so cute to hear him tell you that he is Nam Josiah Gerrald! He really likes his middle name. Sheila read the story of Josiah from his children’s bible to him, so he knows he is named after a king. He does really well at remembering Sheila’s name and my name. For some reason, he has trouble remembering Dennis’. We have also been working on learning to catch a ball. It looks like he has never even had the opportunity to play with any kind of ball before. We have a tennis ball that we’ve been using to teach him. He is picking it up pretty well, but he gets so excited that he starts jumping around while he tries to catch it…which doesn’t work and frustrates him. He is also starting to turn into an outdoor-loving kid. He wasn’t very interested in playing outside when he first arrived from Vietnam. That’s probably because it was so much colder than he had ever experienced! Now that spring is just around the corner, he is loving going out to play. He really loves going to the park…especially when there are other kids to play with there. It really warms my heart to see him starting to act like “a normal kid”. He has made SO many adjustments and had to learn SO many new things, but he has really handled it very well!

Thursday night was Sheila and Nam’s night to spend the night. I normally fix pancakes once a week when they are here, so Friday was it. Nam ate 4 (small) pancakes for breakfast, and then wanted another one plus his bacon (that he didn’t eat at breakfast) as a morning snack. That kids LOVES pancakes! Yesterday afternoon, we decided to bake cookies. He wanted Snickerdoodles, so that’s what we did. He helped me mix up the dough, then I scooped and shaped it, and he rolled it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and placed it on the baking sheet. He really likes being involved in whatever anyone is doing. I have a wooden step ladder that I keep in the kitchen for him to stand on. It reminds me of when I was little and used to “help” my Grandma Mahaffey in the kitchen. As Vicki F. likes to say all the time, “making memories”.

This morning I slept in until 7:40! What a luxury!!! I have quite a bit to get done today (writing a court report, doing laundry, cleaning house, and baking a cake for tomorrow), but I have all day by myself to get it all done, so I’m not getting in any hurry. I may not even get out of my PJs and robe until noon!

Since it would have been just me and the folks tomorrow for Sunday dinner, I invited Anita and Sherrod over to eat with us. Sherrod will be great for keeping the folks entertained! I don’t know about anyone else, but when I’m around someone a lot, I run out of things to talk about. Therefore, our Sunday afternoons are pretty boring! It will be nice to add another couple into the mix to liven things up.

Well, tonight we “spring forward”. I do NOT like time changes! It doesn’t affect me as bad as it does Dennis, but it does take a few nights to adjust. Sheila is actually looking forward to it this year. She is hoping that with the change, Nam will start sleeping until 6-6:30, instead of getting up every morning at 5-5:30! It will also give them more time in the evenings to do things together before it gets “black” outside. I hope the time change has no ill effects on you, and that you all continue to enjoy the joys of watching springtime arrive. (The pear trees, here, are gorgeous right now!)

Making progress and looking forward to spring

We hit some new milestones last week. On Thursday, I took Nam to Gina’s house to stay until Sheila got off work. Gina was cooking supper for them and Jessica. I left Nam there with her for a little over an hour. He did great! He wasn’t scared and really enjoyed himself. I think we’ll be able to do a whole day within a week or so.

Dennis and Ricky are going to try again to go on their road trip this week. They plan to leave Wednesday morning and be gone until sometime next week. I think Nam will do just fine while they are gone. I know he’ll miss Grandad, but it will give us some special time together. Right now, as long as Grandad is around, I'm primarily just a beloved caregiver. He showers all of his affection on Grandad. Maybe I'll get some more enthusiastic hugs and kisses when we are alone together!

Nam's language skills continue to improve every week. He is using more complete sentences and learning to vocalize more abstract ideas. He repeats almost everything that is said. If he doesn't understand something, he furrows his brow and holds his hand up to his ear. Sheila is really working with him on being polite, and he is getting very good at saying "yes, sir or ma'am" and "no, sir or ma'am." He has been obsessed with super heroes since we first met him, and he likes to play like they are "bad guys". So we are really working on curbing his enthusiasm over bad guys. When it really got noticeable was when we would read to him from his picture bibles, and he always wanted to see Pilate and the soldiers and other bad guys in the bible. So we are working on making our house a "bad guy-free zone". Little boys! Ha!

Ricky is feeling quite a bit better. He never did get in to see a doctor. He has an appointment with a gastroenterologist toward the end of March. It will be interesting to see what a colonoscopy will tell us. He was really feeling rotten all last week. I’m glad he finally got some relief. Our only other option was to take him to the ER.

Daddy and Bobbie were ready to go back to visit at the Henrietta Creek congregation, so we took them over there yesterday and spent the day. It was good to see everyone! Daddy and Bobbie loved being able to visit with old friends. A group of us went out to eat hamburgers between services. Another milestone:  Nam sat with the “big boys” during lunch. He is really enjoying having the boys at church to play with. They have all been so sweet with him! He really likes the older ones who show him attention. He talks about Parker a LOT!

Spring is definitely on its way! The grass is starting to green up…especially in the Aledo area where they had the big fire. A lot of the trees (especially fruit trees) are beginning to bloom, and all of them are budding out. The rain that we’ve so abundantly received lately is getting everything ready to take off, and the warmer weather is lighting the ignition. Dandelions have been blooming like crazy for weeks now! It won't be long before the other flowers follow suit.

Enjoy the sunshine and milder weather! Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things! Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you-The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. (Joel 2:21-23 NKJV)