Advocating for Victoire

Last time, I advocated for Ahondo and she is now sponsored. Yay! Now, I came across Victoire's picture and it just makes me chuckle. It's just such an expression that you could capture on Pudge, given the right circumstances. Obviously she was upset about something. Maybe she didn't want to have her picture taken. Maybe she's mad about having to wait her turn. I have no doubt that she is a passionate little girl and would love to have a sponsor.

Victoire

 

Information

 

Age: 5 (Birthday is December 31, 2009)

 

She lives with her father and mother

 

Her parents are sometimes employed

 

She is responsible for carrying water, washing clothes, and helping in the kitchen

 

There are 2 other children in her family

 

She is not currently attending school

 

She likes to sing, play group games, and listen to music

 

She regularly attends church and Bible classes

Thankful for medical care here

I know that mentioning Obamacare can result in some powerful responses from people. Regardless of your feeling on Obamacare, we are blessed to live in a country where it is relatively easy to access medical care. Now the cost of medical care is a different story and will not be the subject of this post.

Last weekend, I noticed that Pudge had gotten a bug bite on her leg. No big deal, probably just something that happened while we were in Florida or something. I kept an eye on it and noticed it was starting to get worse. Finally a few days later it started to show signs of infection. Then I was presented with some options, I could take her to her doctor but would have to wait one more day or I could take her to urgent care. I opted for urgent care so we could get the antibiotic started and not wait one more day. With my background in microbiology, I don't want to mess with sepsis. 30 minutes at urgent care and we had a prescription for antibiotics to pick up later.

Let's think about what would happen in a third world country. First off, going to the doctor is not an easy thing. You might have a "local" medical place, but that is probably still a time-consuming trek. Then once you get there, there isn't exactly a receptionist, so you wait and hopefully by the time you are seen they have the supplies required. Even with our flawed health care system we are truly blessed.

For us, this was a very minor medical condition. Pudge's bug bite has been improving with the antibiotics. We were given signs to watch for in case it didn't respond and developed into sepsis. But even in that scenario we would still have the ability to go to an ER a few miles away for treatment in a hospital that is adequately staffed and supplied.

Here's another story about the blessings of our health care and the difference we can make for those living in other counties.

Kids and Laundry

My kids are starting to figure out that I don't check pockets when things go through the wash. Daddy Ringleader (DRL) also knows this. Usually it goes fine. Sometimes though I end up with a washer full of things like pea gravel or screws.
Well, now I will need to let the kids know that I also do not do a thorough inspection of the dirty clothes hamper. This just went through with M's laundry. Oops. I don't think Katniss had these problems.

Post Office + Toddler = Trouble

Here's a little story from a couple of weeks ago.
It was the Friday before Christmas and I needed to run to our little post office to get stamps for DRL's business. Not just regular stamps, postcard stamps. And I needed to buy 200. DRL was home and the girls had had an early release from school, so I picked Bubba up from daycare and headed to the post office.
As soon as we walked in the door Bubba started having a fit. Now being the Friday before Christmas, there's a line about 8 people deep, so this wouldn't be a quick in and out trip. But, I only had the one kid and I wasn't in a hurry, so really it wasn't anything to stress over. I pick Bubba up and try to console him. I point out the cute little girl in the red coat behind us. "No." I point to the reindeer display on the wall. "No." Just cry, cry, cry, and say no about any attempt at distraction.
One of the postal workers finishes up with the customer she is helping and asks the queue if anyone minds letting the crying baby go first. No one does. So up we go and I plop Bubba onto the counter. He immediately stops crying. He is all happy throughout the transaction and out the door and back into the car. Such a little stinker, but rather handy. He has already been requested by some friends for next year at Christmas time.

Meet Our Family Booklet

We have a new correspondence child. Shaeila from Kenya was added yesterday. Her paperwork says that she will be 6 next month, but she looks quite a bit older than that in this picture. I've asked Compassion to look into whether the age is correct or if perhaps the photos got mixed up. Either way, she will be getting a booklet of our family.

 

Shaeila



For Mawupemo, I cut each sheet in half and then everyone in the book got their own page. I taped our pictures in. Compassion actually advises against tape because some of the climates that the kids live in makes the tape not so happy and it isn't sticky anymore. This time, I was lazy and used PowerPoint to lay everything out and then just printed it directly to the card stock. This also shortened the book from 6 pages (I didn't have a page with information about our city) - which was difficult to get stapled together, to 4 pages.

Front cover

First page
Our birthday, favorite color, brief description of our jobs, and our favorite Bible verse

Second page
Birthdays, favorite colors, what they want to be when they grow up, and favorite Bible story

Final page
Birthday, favorite color, a few sentences about him and what he likes to do
The city information may change for the next revision. I may add a landscape picture

 

In addition to the booklet, I will also send Shaeila a few maps. I have been sending these to all of our kids, usually with just a few labels, but I found our Crayola stampers and they ended up being perfect. I like this USA map and this world map. The maps were just printed on regular copy paper because A) PowerPoint was getting cranky and B) Stapling through 6 cardstock papers does not agree with my stapler. Mostly A though.

 

Happy faces for where we live and where Shaeila lives which are connected with pink hearts. Areas where our other kids live (sponsored and correspondence) are shown with a blue squiggle.

Green exclamation mark to show where we live. Happy faces to show were my grandparents live, plus where DRL grew up, and where DRL and I were born.







A Reminder

Sometimes one little thing can stop you.
It doesn't happen often enough to me.
Last night was another round of bed times. Daddy Ringleader (DRL) was in charge of stories. I was probably messing around on the computer when I knew it was coming.
Another round of good night routines with Pudge. Every night after story time she has to get out of bed to go brush her teeth. It cannot be done before story time. I have already tried that. Once teeth are brushed it's back to her room where she needs a cup of cold water within arms reach. Lights off, dream light on. Cuddles, tuck in, and the first verse of Away in a Manger. Every night. Some nights I fall asleep while DRL is reading to them. Last night I didn't quite make it to bed.
Instead, little feet came paddling out. I  picked her up and made it halfway to her room when it hit me. That sweet, innocent, almost-5-year-old nestled against my neck. That love. That reminder that I prayed and waited for moments like these. It wasn't another night of bedtime routines. It was a chance to marvel that we had been blessed with this wonderful little girl. Thank you God for the reminder of the joy of raising little ones. That the effort is worth it. That tantrums and sibling bickering is not all of it. That one little girl with her head against my neck is mine.