Random Photo Friday

So, I've discovered that my "Random Photo Fridays" have been hijacked and are now being cleverly disguised as "Insta-Friday" by some in other circles. Hmpf.  Well, since I'm not part of the circle that is Instagram, we shall continue with the Random Photo title over here in these parts.

And, in protest of Insta-Friday (I jest), today I'm doing Random Photo Tuesday instead.  Just because.

Ohhh, doesn't this look just awful?  ;-)  Several months ago, I started having this feeling like something was stuck to the bottom of my heel.  I would check, and there would be nothing there, and I'd forget about it.  Then the next day or so, I'd feel it again, and there'd be nothing there.  Well, after a couple of weeks, the "something" started to grow.  And it grew and grew until it felt like I was walking around with a marble inside my heel.  Walking on a marble = not fun.
 


So I went to the podiatrist and....it was a wart!  Now mind you, there was no evidence on the outside - just that marble-like feeling on the inside.  But anyway, of the 3 options he gave me for treatment, somehow strapping an acid pack to my foot seemed like it would be the most fun.  Yes.  So they stuck a little pad to my heel, packed it full of acid, wrapped it up in about 3 bandages, told me not to get it wet for 6 days, and to take Advil if I needed to.

Oh. My. Word.  It started out not-so-bad.  But by about day 3 I could hardly walk on the thing.  Three advil at a time wasn't touching it.  Um, ACID on your foot?  Maybe not such a good idea.  I can't get my foot into a shoe, so I had to borrow a velcro-strap sandal from my mom.  I've been hobbling around like a little old lady, trying to set a good example for my kids about not complaining. Ha!  It's finally starting to get a little better, and thank the Lord, I go back to the doctor tomorrow.  Pray that the acid has done its magic and I get go back to walking semi-normal!

Now after all that foot talk, let's discuss dinner, shall we?

Cereal night. I heart cereal night. Why yes, that is a box of Cap'n Crunch you see there. Why yes, the whole box was consumed in one sitting (not by me alone). Don't judge. Please also notice the boxes of Cheerios, Cascadian Farms, Corn Flakes, and Kashi. Thank you.

All those letters that gave me and my family such stress back before Christmas? I thought it'd be fun to make some more. :)

And by the way, now that I'm a spray painting expert (oh, please hear the sarcasm in my voice) here's my humble opinion about spray paint - cuz baby, I've used a. lot. of it in the past four months: Valspar. With primer inside. Krylon? No. Say it with me: Valllll-Sparrrr.  The end.



Happy happy happy-ness that came in my mailbox today ~

This?  This would be what happens when you put a bag of frozen strawberries in your refrigerator to thaw, and said bag has a hole in it that you don't notice until 3 days a while later and all the juice leaks out all over your refrigerator and runs down the back (of course it has to be the back) of the shelf to all the happy shelves below.  And then said juice turns into pretty red cement.

And with that, I bid you a happy Wednesday!

On being a doer (or notsomuch)

*This post was written way back at the beginning of December.  Old news, but thought it was worth posting anyway.  I didn't want all that effort to go to waste! :)  If you're friends with me on facebook, you've seen the end results of this post already, but now you'll know the back story....

I am SO not a doer. Not one of those choleric personality types who sees a need and goes after it until it’s met. Oh, I see the need alright, and I go after it alright. I’m a great starter. A great idea-er. In fact, a little too eager for my own good in the idea department. Ready to jump into all sorts of projects and activities at the drop of a hat. Great on the uptake; a little lacking in the follow-through.

I’m more of the phlegmatic runner-out-of-gas-half-way-through type. And it frustrates the dog out of me – not to mention everyone else around me.

And that’s where I find myself now with a project I started to raise money for Ebenezer Children’s Ministry in Kibuku, Uganda.

Ebenezer was started by my sweet friends George and Sylvia Kooli, who I met during my first trip to Uganda in 2011. George was the director at Canaan Children’s Home (I talked briefly about him here) – where my sweet Christopher lives – during both of my trips there. When my team was there this past summer, we learned that George would be leaving Canaan shortly after our trip. I was SO SAD. But George had clearly heard the call of God on his life to start his own children’s ministry, and in obedience to that call, George and Sylvia spent their entire savings to secure a home and small parcel of land in the town of Kibuku, about 3 hours away from Jinja (where Canaan is).

George, Sylvia, and Baby Leslie

Oh friends. If you could only see the place where they live. And where they have taken in 20 HIV-infected and -affected children. When I saw the pictures I was stunned. And I’ve seen lots of stuff in Uganda.

They have cement floors (which is common), no electricity (they use TORCHES for light), and up until a couple of weeks ago had no running water.

Front of the house

bunk beds in the living room

kitchen (!)

back of the house

Sweet Sylvia tidying up the room where 20 children sleep.

Waiting for lunch.

Not long after they took in their first group of children, I received an email from George (it was a group email – not just to me personally) asking for monetary donations so that they could BUY FOOD for the children. They were out of money (remember they spent all their savings), and now that George had quit his job they had NO source of income.

Oh. My. Word. Can you even imagine? Truly. Truly. Stop for just a second and imagine that being your family.

Their only source of water at the time was a community well (hole in the ground) where they had to pull water up out of the ground in a jerry can. When the rainy season came, the well (hole in the ground) got contaminated, and they started having to buy bottled water to supply their needs.

Their water source - those are George's feet in the picture.

Now let’s back up for a minute. They didn’t have enough money to buy FOOD to feed themselves or the children, but they were having to PAY to buy bottled water. George really wanted to have running water installed at the house (which – mind you – means a spicket outside, not faucets inside). I asked him how much that would cost, and he replied apologetically that it would cost 898,000 shillings.

EGAD!! 898,000 shillings??

Um. Hold up a second. That’s $373.00 U.S.  Are you kidding me?

Oh, how I wished we just had the $373 we could send him. But we didn’t. And so I began to pray that God would show me a way I could raise some money to help them. And every time I prayed, a picture kept coming back to my mind of a picture I had seen on Pinterest of some giant wooden letters painted so cute with all manner of polka-dots and a cute bow on top.

I thought, “I could make those and sell them to raise money for George!”

Ahem.

Yes. Yes, I could.

(Great on the uptake. A little lacking on the follow through.)

And so I began a quest to find these gigantic wooden letters for a price that would still allow me to make a profit. I found the letters, tossed out an order form at Jacob’s school, and promptly got orders for FIFTEEN!! Wahoo!

Ahem.

And then I started buying ribbon to make the bows. And I bought the wrong kind and had to take a bunch of it back. And then I figured out I didn’t know how to make bows, and the lady who offered to teach me said what I really needed was one of those Bow Maker as-seen-on-tv thingies. So I bought one of those.

And then I bought spray paint and tried to paint my 15 gigantic letters and found that the wood sucked in the paint so fast you couldn’t even SEE any color on them! So I went back to the store and bought spray primer, and came home and found that one can would only cover about three letters.

Sigh.

Back to the store for more primer.

And then I read on the back of the spray can that you can only paint if the temperature is above 65 degrees. In December. Good thing we live in West Texas. And there has to be no – and I mean ZERO – wind. Not so good that we live in West Texas.

And so in between waiting and waiting for the temperature and the wind to cooperate at the same time, I started making bows. I would paint a couple letters, then make a couple bows. I made about 3 before I had to go back to the store for more ribbon.

And then more paint.

And more ribbon.

And OHMYGOSH, CAN I JUST QUIT ALREADY?!

There are probably a dozen other “ands” that I could tell you about – from trying to find the right size of painting sponge to trying to find fluorescent orange wired ribbon to the paint that literally disappeared when it dried – and with each and every one I wanted (and still want) to yell, “Just forget it!!”

But I have already told George I’m doing this fundraiser and by NO MEANS am I going to back out on him.

I’m so happy to report that some other very generous (and probably choleric) donors have already provided the money needed to install running water at Ebenezer. (THANK THE LORD they’re not waiting on me to come through! I could be here until NEXT Christmas!) But I am determined to finish this project and send the profits (which will be about $2.37 by the time I’m done making 47 trips to the store) to George and Sylvia.

Besides the fact that there are these people who’ve ordered 15 letters to give as Christmas presents and are depending on me to come through!

Oh Lord. Whatintheworld.

Please pray for me. I am truly going to need the grace of God to help me get all these letters done on time.

And please, PLEASE don’t ever let me do something like this again!

*Edited to add: By God's grace, I DID finish all the letters by the skin of my teeth.  I never wanted to see one of those giant wooden letters again.  And then....by God's grace and fabulous sense of humor, as I was making all my deliveries people started coming out of the WOODWORK clamoring to get more of them!  Before I even knew what was happening, I had orders for 15 more!!  Needless to say, my hubby and my children are not thrilled.  BUT....I asked God to show me a way to raise money for Ebenezer, and truly, my first efforts didn't really produce any profit.  I learned a lot, and have lots of paint and ribbon left over, so I'm hoping and praying this next lot will be much more profitable!  Wish me luck!  Pray for me?

CALLING ALL MY SEWING FRIENDS....

Oohhh, this one is near and dear to my heart!

I only have a minute. I'm heading out to JoAnn's to buy yards and yards of flannel....and then the dollar store, where I hear you can get microfiber towels 2 for $1.00. (or Sam's, where they're supposed to be 24 for $11)

Whyyyy, you ask?

And I'm so glad you did! You see, by some weird twist of fate, or alignment of the stars God's divine plan, I just "happened" to stumble upon this blog post today. It turns out, Lara knows Shelly, who is the wife of one of the directors of Sixty Feet. SIXTY FEET!! Total coincidence, right? Um, yeah, ok.

So anyway, it turns out Lara is heading to Uganda in a couple of weeks, and has been praying about what things she could bring to donate at the various places they will be visiting and ministering. She asked a friend of hers who lives in Uganda what kinds of things are most needed. She says her friend's answer "shocked" her, and then made perfect sense. She said there is a huge need for

panties
bras
ibuprofen
maxi pads

Can you even imagine not only having to go through the mysterious and sometimes awkward and scary process of "blossoming" into womanhood WITHOUT a mom to guide you, but also in an orphange or remand center filled mostly with BOYS and run by MEN?!

To quote Lara, these young ladies "are in need of these basic things every girl should have. I've heard stories of girls missing school, using scraps of cloth or even trash while on their periods. No girl should have to do such things."

Because of the cost and impracticality of disposable "sanitary" items, Lara has come up with a handy-dandy tutorial for how to make reusable cloth maxi pads. Sounds gross to us, but really, so much more practical and feasible to use in an orphange in a 3rd world country.



SO...here's where YOU come in! I know you sewers are out there. I'm NOT a sewer (and FAR from anything that could be considered a seamstress), but even I can follow her easy-peasy instructions. Really, if you can sew a square, you can do this! PLEASE, please consider helping. I emailed Lara today, and she said they are in desperate need of people to SEW! These are so quick, so easy, and so cheap to make, but would make all the difference in the world to a young lady (some of whom I even met on my trip!) in Uganda.

This is how you can help! You can DO SOMETHING for girls on the other side of the world! Go to Lara's blog - here - to read about this project and get the instructions, then run out and pick up some flannel (dark colors are probably best, for obvious reasons) and some microfiber towels/washcloths, and go to work!

Ohhh, this is such an easy thing to do. Such an easy way to be Jesus' hands and feet to some precious young ladies who have no one else. Please help. Just a couple of hours of your time will make such a huge difference.

But hurry! Lara needs to receive these by August 8th. Perfect reason not to put it off!

Go!

Hurry!

And thanks. :) From the bottom of my heart.

I now know more about the causes of the American Revolution than I ever cared to know.

I didn't like history when I had to take it in school, and I don't like it now that I'm taking it vicariously - albeit unwillingly - through my daughter.



Well, actually, if you remember this post, I really do like history. It's history books that I don't like. The tedious reading. The names. The places. The causes, the effects, the dates. Ohhh, the dates.

But thanks to my Kloe's 5th grade Social Studies project last week, I can now tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the French and Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763, the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act (and how it's misunderstood by most Americans), the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, and the First Continental Congress. AND how each of these events contributed to the American Revolution.

It really was quite a learning process for all of us. We learned a little about U.S. history, and a whole lot about learning. I was determined that Kloe was going to be responsible for this project, and I wasn't going to keep nagging her about getting it done. She either had to decide to do it or face the consequences.

So she would go into her bedroom, armed with the Mister's laptop, a dictionary, and papers from school, and every once in a while I would pop in and ask, "How's it going?"

"Ummm."

"Are you finding the info you need?"

"Soooort of....."

"Do you have anything?"

"Weeell....."

And my resolve not to nag would go right out the window.

"Kloe...blahblahblahblahblah.....!"

"I know! I am! I will!"

Half an hour later we'd have the same conversation all over again.

After a few rounds of this, I would go in and help her find websites, look up information, tell me in her own words what she had read, and type it up. Then I'd leave her on her own, and we'd start all over.

Me: "How's is going?"

Kloe: "Ummm...."

Ok, so call me slow. (just say it quietly to yourself, k?) It took well over 3 1/2 hours for me to have the bright realization that Kloe doesn't know how to do research. Duh.

It's her job to do the work. Yep. It's her responsibility to make sure the project is done on time. Yep. It's up to her to take the initiative and get it done without my having to constantly remind her. Uh-huh.

Except she's never had to do a research project before. Poor thing, she didn't even know how to start, and all she got from me was nagging about how it's her job, her responsibility, not mine, blah blah blah. Ugh. Definitely not one of my finer parenting moments.

I eventually did have the light-bulb moment I needed, and sat with her and showed her how to look up websites, scan them for the info she needed, take notes and write in her own words. Quite different from the old days when we had to go to the library and use encyclopedias. :)

We trudged through all the information together, pulled out pertinent facts together, and wrote up her report together (meaning - she dictated and I typed). So now I'm one tiny step closer to understanding how to help Kloe learn how to learn. Kloe's an expert in doing research (*wink*), and we're both experts on the causes of the American Revolution (*double wink*).

So go ahead, ask me anything.

Except for the names. Ohhh, the names.

One more thing to do, please.

Please pardon me while I have a meltdown.

I just spent an hour and a half working on this post. I was just about ready to publish it. I hit preview, and when the preview screen came up, about 3/4 of the post was gone. Vanished. Kaput. Are you kidding me? I'm so stunned I can hardly breathe.

I may need a moment to regain my composure.

....

....

....

(please stand by)

....

....

....

(this may take longer than I thought)

....

....

....

I'm not really feeling better, but it's late and I need to get to bed, so I'm going to try again anyway.

Ahem. Let's see, where was I? Oh yes....

It's ridiculous how many projects I've had going on the past week or so. Ridiculous, I tell you.

• I've been trying to get these cardstock planets mounted on foam board to hang in Jacob's long-in-the-works space room. The special foam glue I bought made the planets wrinkly, so I went back and bought spray adhesive. We'll see how it goes.





• There's a ton of yard work around here I've been trying to get to. Spraying weeds, re-cleaning out the flower beds (the grass is creeping in again), and I still have 3 more vincas waiting to be planted.


• At the last minute, I decided to copy these fun summer buckets I saw on Jen's blog. I don't know how I would make it through life without copying. In my defense, though, Jen said she also copied. :) I ran into our favorite teacher, Mrs. J., in Target at 10pm a couple of nights before the end of school as I was buying things to go in the buckets. She asked, "Who are you making the buckets for?" I said, "My kids. Because Jen did it and I'm copying." She said, "That's how we learn - by watching other people." Yay! So see, I'm not copying, I'm learning. :)




Aren't they fun? I included bubble swords, water guns, water balloons, a roll of drawing paper, a book to start off our summer reading plan, fun baking mixes (credit for these also goes to Jen), tiny little starter pots and veggie seeds, sunglasses with a case, sidewalk chalk, and a Sonic card. Almost everything came from the $1 aisle at Target. Well, you know, except for the Sonic cards.

Wondering why there are 3 buckets? I couldn't resist also making a fun family bucket - also from the dollar aisle (some things were in the $2.50 section). It had a horseshoe set, a badminton (this is how Mr. Spellchecker says you spell it?) set, a watering can (b/c Jacob broke Kloe's a couple of weeks ago), the frosting for the baking mixes, a couple of water bomb splash balls, and a frisbee.

They made short work of all my efforts!




• I worked until the wee hours Wednesday night/Thursday morning making these cute (if I do say so myself) tote bags for end-of-the-year teacher gifts.





• And then there's more yard work.


• I've been researching and scheduling fun summer activities for my kids to do....WITH THE BABYSITTER. But I'm not bitter. Much.


• We recently bought Jacob a new dresser. We also ditched the huge Rubbermaid tub that was posing as his toy box, and bought a new shelf to hold small canvas toy bins. A LOT of stuff (aka, toys) had to come out of his room in order to keep it from feeling like an earthquake zone. And so on the side - and on the sly - I've been sorting through two giant tubs and a paper sack full of toys. Oh, the joy.


• It's that time of year again to sort through all the closets and dressers for outgrown and unloved clothes and shoes. The trunk of my car is almost full and there's still more to do.


• And there's still more yard work.


• And did I mention we're wanting to put our house on the market sometime in this decade?

And then there's all the regular day-to-day stuff. Laundry, dishes, cleaning, groceries, cooking, bills, blogging....I'm exhausted!

And I've gained 4 lbs.

It's ridiculous.