Struggling not to rescue

Poor Pudge.
She turned 5 yesterday and got the LeapsterGS that she wanted. Unfortunately in her quest to keep it squeaky clean, she learned that water and soap are not good for things that take batteries. So now we have a dead LeapsterGS.
It would be easy to buy her a replacement one. Easier on the heart too. But I think learning at 5 that items don't magically get replaced is a better lesson to learn. Especially since she can use a lesson in taking care of her stuff. But my heart still hurts for her and I wish I can fix it.
And that dead Leapster on the counter just brings up emotions like regret and sadness. Regret that no one checked on her when she was in the bathroom washing her Leapster. Sadness that we haven't been able to revive it. I stuck it in rice yesterday. DRL cracked it open and got more water out of it. It revived a little bit. We got audio, but nothing on the display. But then it died again.
It was a sad day at the circus yesterday.

2 month reflection

Monday will mark 2 months since we started sponsoring Mawupemo.

So, what has happened in 2 months?

Compassion has had more than 10,500 children sponsored from the website.

We had not only continued our sponsorship, but have become correspondence sponsors to 9 more children. Similar to adding biological children to our family, the heart continues to expand with each new addition. And then I try and think of what things would be like without that child, and I can't imagine not having them in our "family."

I have been moved to tears hearing how some of these kids have never received a letter or how it's been 4 years since they've had one. 4 years of mail arriving at the project, but never a letter for them. How incredibly disappointing. So now, it is my privilege to shower love and encouragement on them. Remind them that they are a loved child of God.

We received our first letter!

What will the next 2 months bring?

Hopefully more letters. :)

Perhaps new correspondence kids.

Hopefully not any lost children.

Hopefully a sponsor for Victoire.

Here's to another 2 months of wonderful Compassion kids.

10th Anniversary Trip - Day 1 Recap

DRL and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this year.So I we decided to return to the scene of the crime. Actually, with each child I've used the "we should go to Disney now while they're still free." Eh, it's worked each time and now that we're out of kids, it will probably be awhile before we return again. I actually told DRL we should go again in 15 years for our 25th anniversary by ourselves. Bubba will be 17, so M can come home and make sure he doesn't throw some massive party while we're gone.

Anyway,we took the kids to Disney. World. Yeah, that would be a cross-country trip with a 7, 4, and 2-year-old. Our own traveling circus. And because we're traveling across the country we have to be up at the crack of dawn, or before dawn cracks, to get to FL at a decent time. This trip I was actually on the ball and had the kid bags packed on Sunday for a Tuesday flight. Monday night was full of my own packing and packing food for everyone on the plane. With a 50 minute layover, there wasn't really a lot of time to grab food between flights. Remember, traveling circus.

Tuesday morning I was up at 3 am to get the last minute packing done. M woke up shortly after I got up. Then it was time to wake up Pudge and Bubba. All my kids can be early risers, so they were fine with the early morning wake up. We got everything loaded up and got the kids packed up. By 4:30 we were out the door. I was shooting for a 4am departure, so only 30 minutes behind schedule is pretty good for us.

The seats I had requested on the first flight got shifted. Instead of having all 5 in one row (3 together and 2 together across the aisle), we had 3 in one row and 2 directly behind them. I really really really wanted to put DRL with M and Bubba since those two are the ones that get along the best and Pudge is insanely attached to me. However, the potential stress level of DRL made me arrange the seating so he had M while I had the younger two. I am such a good wife.

For those wondering how to manage the bags from the car to the baggage counter, we put Bubba in the stroller, which I pushed. I took one of the large suitcases. Pudge and M wheeled their own. M wore her carry-on backpack. Pudge complained that her carry-on backpack was too heavy to wear, so it was carted for her. Bubba's diaper bag hitched a ride on the stroller. DRL managed the other two bags plus his own carry-on.

We get the bags checked in, which is no easy feat getting through the line with kids that are a little haywire from the early morning while the adults are loaded down like pack mules. Plus the kids have an uncanny ability to station themselves in the path of strangers, so we are forever telling them to get out of the way and come back to us. They seem to mysteriously go deaf at these times.

Okay, step 1: Baggage drop off is done. Now onto Step 2: Security. Ugh. This is one of the worst times to be outnumbered by children. Especially such young children. A small saving grace is they can leave their shoes on. However, while I am sure this is a shocker, we don't fly that much. So the kids have no idea about anything. Oh and being a traveling circus, we need about 50,000 tubs for all of our crap. So, we've got about 8 tubs on the belt, 3 kids wandering around, one adult trying to collaspe the stroller, while the other one is trying to herd cats children. Pudge decides to just meander through the metal detector. Great. Until she decides she needs to come back to me. Awesome. So then they're trying to get Bubba to walk through on his own. Yeah, while that could happen, he doesn't exactly follow a straight path. Awesome. So I get to hold him and walk through first. Ok. Cool. Oh but wait, I've been "randomly" selected for additional screening. Because things aren't fun enough. Luckily, it's just a hand swab and I'm free to go. DRL finally gets through and we start trying to get our stuff out of the 50,000 bins we've used. Bubba decides that he's done with the stroller and has a fit that he has to return to it. However, DRL and I need to get shoes back on, bags picked up, and all sorts of other fun stuff, so Bubba has no choice and has to ride.

Now, our airport is pretty rinky-dinky, so it's not some great trek to our gate, but there are quite a few people there for our flight and another one. I get some drinks for the family and let the kids chill while we wait to board. Pudge pitches a fit that Bubba drinks too much juice.

Waiting to board the first plane

Finally we get to board. We do the pre-boarding since we're a traveling circus. We walk out to our plane (remember it's a rinky dinky airport, so outside we go). Bubba tries to just cut through the queue of people making their way down the airplane. Then we get to our seats. I am trying to get Pudge settled in and stow bags, the next thing I know Bubba has toppled out of his seat off the side and backwards. Luckily he missed the armrests and seats across the aisle and just hit the ground. So, I get him settled into his seat while DRL and M settle in behind us.

Our first leg is around an hour and a half. Not too bad. Bubba does okay for it. He eats snacks, plays on the MobiGo, doodles on the MagnaDoodle thing. However, once we start decending he is not a happy camper. He does not want to sit in the seat or my lap. Finally though, we land. Leg 1 Done.

We made good time and got in a little early, so we stop at McD's to pick up some breakfast, mainly for DRL. See the smoothies in the below pictures? I will come to regret getting those.

Waiting for the next plane

Pudge is upset about something

Since we are going to be stuck on a plane for the next 4.5 hours, I let Bubba wander around by our gate. This quickly becomes "follow the toddler, while trying to get around his sister." Pudge wants to come with me (remember she's my very attached child) and can be a bit of a hinderance. Bubba walks/jogs his little legs off. Pudge and Bubba knock their smoothies over about twice each. Pudge's finally gets pitched, but Bubba takes his through to the plane. Or that was the plan. About 3 feet after we pass the ticket agent to board it gets dropped and smoothie goes everywhere. Awesome. The best part is the smoothie puddle in the middle of the walkway.

 

On this plane, Bubba gets the window seat and Pudge gets the aisle. It's a long flight. Bubba does okay. It could have been worse, it could have been better. Remember how this is a 4.5 hour flight? Do you know how long Bubba naps? 45 minutes tops. He probably would have slept more, except I kept getting asked by Pudge to get things for her.

 

We finally land in Florida and get on the shuttle to the main terminal. Since I have Bubba in the stroller, I take the escalator down. DRL and the girls go to the escalator. However, DRL doesn't realize he has to go to level 1 for Magical Express. We finally find each other, get on Magical Express and our on our way!

 

The ride to our hotel isn't too bad, but Bubba is getting tired of sitting. He does sort of like the tv that is on. There are about 2 or 3 other hotels that the bus has to stop at first, but then we are finally at Port Orleans - Riverside. DRL and I stayed here on our very first Disney trip together 10 years ago. Since we don't have unlimited money, we can't do a deluxe hotel. As a moderate resort, it's a bit closer to the parks than the All-Star resorts. Some buses go to both Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter and some buses only go to one of them. Riverside can be a bit spread out, so with this trip I would go to the dining hall each morning while the family slept and fill up the mugs. Since our dining plan didn't include breakfast, this eliminated a trip to the dining hall with the whole circus. But we love Riverside. We love walking on the path through the resort. We love the boat ride to DTD. So yes, each time we go we stay here. Although DRL would love to stay at the Contemporary since it is so close to MK.

 

Anyway, we finally get checked in and off to our room to drop off our carry-on bags. Then it's onto the boat to DTD to catch a bus to the Polynesian Resort for our Ohana reservation. Yes, it was a lot of traveling in one day. DRL wasn't too happy about the amount of travel needed to get to dinner. Then once at the Polynesian, one of us had to chase Bubba around while the other one watched the girls. Finally it was time to sit down. Our 8pm reservation meant that as we were sitting down, Wishes had just started and we could see the fireworks from our table. The girls loved it!! Also because it was such a late reservation, we got to participate in the last coconut race of the evening. Pudge and Bubba participated, but M sat it out. Bubba figured out he didn't have to actually sweep his coconut. He could just put his broom behind it, run, and push it where he wanted to go. Corners were a bit tricky. It was a fun end to our dinner. Dinner itself, was pretty yummy. DRL and I enjoyed it. There were some things that M liked, but Pudge and Bubba weren't really that impressed. They were much happier once some mac and cheese was brought out.

 

See the mac and cheese?

MobiGo was our friend

It's been a long day

 

 

After dinner, we caught the monorail to MK and then got a bus back to PO-R. It was a very busy day, but it was wonderful to be on vacation.



Kid mail

We received our first letter on Saturday.
It was Alberlin's introduction letter. I am pretty sure she wrote it when she was registered because a) it arrived fairly quickly (just over a month) and b) was addressed to the generic "dear sponsor." But that is okay! It's just how some projects work. It's a trade-off, either a personalized letter which takes longer or an informative general letter which arrives quickly. My kids, especially M, were excited about the letter.
Alberlin introduced the members of her family and listed some of her favorite foods. She asks for prayers of strength because they miss her dad who passed away.
Alberlin also included a drawing with her letter.

 

M was excited to write back to Alberlin. She still wants to know if Alberlin has received the birthday care package that we sent.
We are also working on a craft for our kids. M made one of Stivenson's letter that I mailed yesterday. Pudge worked on one for Mawupemo. Each kid gets a piece of paper with them atthe bottom with balloons above them listing descriptions of them. Stivenson's said "you are..." and we had balloons for things like smart, handsome, loved, special. I had visions of a "nice" looking craft to send, but I couldn't say no to M and Pudge helping, so while they may not look as orderly as I originally visioned, I hope the kids appreciate the effort that M and Pudge put in.

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.