foringerfamily's Xanga

I Hate Change, But.....

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:55:08 GMT

I really don't like change, but I feel I need to move my blog to blogger. My paid xanga site is up in just a few weeks, so it's now or wait another year. The first reason that is pushing me to move is the reality that no blog publishers will turn xanga into a blog book. My chief motive for writing this blog is to chronicle the day to day life of our family for my children's memories. My husband has spent several hours trying to hunt down a publisher and for some reason they only exist for blogger, wordpress and typepad. In light of that, JD has also spent many, many hours reformatting my past blog entries to turn into a book for our family and at the rate I write, he will never be able to catch up. Switching to blogger will enable that to become automatic, therefore once he catches up the last two years, his blog reformatting hobby can retire!

The second even more important reason for moving to blogger is that I should never have linked our last name to the blog. In light of our U.S. adopted son and the mess that his adoption entailed, it was a risk that I didn't fully consider when I named the blog with our last name. I have been cautious to not say where in Virginia we live, but it makes more sense to not have his full name pop up on a google search.

So, in light of those two reasons, I have created www.ourplansmultiplied.blogspot.com. You wouldn't believe how difficult is was to find a name that wasn't already taken, but our plans have been multiplied by God and the title fits us perfectly. So, the truth is that I have many, many xanga friends that are constantly an encouragement to me and I don't want to lose you guys. I will maintain my xanga account for reading other's blogs and I'm not sure how I'll handle my current xanga blog. For now, it will just sit and I'll continue on at the new blog address.

Julia - tude

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:35:52 GMT

If I've ever given the impression that Julia is a breeze to parent, rest assure that isn't the case. She has an attitude bigger than her cute little cheeks. I'm amazed that you can add an 8th child to your family as a baby, and she comes assuming that she should run the show! It's kind of humorous because when we added Julia if was because there was a flood of baby girls that came into the orphanage that week that needed families. We thought, seven or eight - what's the difference; we can do it. Well, there's a difference! What Julia has so going for her is that she is so funny and really such a joy, that it more than makes up for the struggles. This is the Julia I just found when I emerged from putting Elijah down for his morning nap.

I asked her where her clothes were as I had personally gotten her dressed this morning. Her reply, "I peed them." I launched into my reminder that Dad isn't going to bring her a fruit leather home from work, due to her accident. She told me, "I know Mom, I don't get it, I peed, I'm so sad." This is my latest attempt at bribing Julia to be truly potty-trained; she was totally capable over a year ago! Will it make a difference? I don't know.... Julia has a mind of her own! (and excellent fashion sense, why get new clothes out of the drawer when you can create a wrap out of a hand-towel that is fit to wear outside.)

As an example of the moments that she melts my heart - Yesterday I came home and she came running to the door, yelling, "Mom's home, my best friend, my best friend, Mom." Yah, I'll keep her in spite of the peed clothes on the bathroom floor!

It Had To Be Done

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:04:25 GMT

I couldn't put it off any longer -

I was constantly brushing Elijah's hair out of his eyes -

Look how long it was all the way around -

So, I trimmed it all the way around. It wasn't easy and it's probably not truly even, but the trauma was minimal. He contemplated crying, but didn't actually give in.

Best of all, he recovered very quickly -

And then we did his favorite thing - made cookies. I'm not kidding, my barely one year old loves to make cookies.

Here he is playing the drum on the flour tupperware and singing along.

And the good news is that we can now see his eyes.

Simple pleasures.

Adam, Eve and Tori

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:52:53 GMT

Tori was looking at the cover of The Beginner's Bible with its many cartoon Bible characters. She pointed to Adam and Eve and asked, "are those two the bad guys?" I told her that I wouldn't call them bad guys. She looked closer and said, "yes, that's them; they are the two that snuck into the garden and ate the poisonous apple."

JD and I had a long haul to a doctor appointment with just Tori and Elijah the other day. She talked nonstop for about seven hours! I guess that's normal, but she usually has many other kids to share her jabber with. It was hours of "Mom, mom......" At several points we had to tell her to stop talking long enough that we could finish a thought. She was very entertaining however. When we parked in a parking garage with different animals on each level, she explained to me that the sign showed that there were crabs in the garage walls, hence the crab pictures, and we needed to watch for their claws. On the way home, we ate dinner at a Chinese buffet. When I took her in the bathroom, she exclaimed, "Boy, I've never been in a bathroom like this!" I asked her why as it looked much like 100 bathrooms that I've taken her in before. She said, "because, this is a Chinese bathroom!"

I love the reasoning of little people!

Aside from Tori's funnies, this last week without phone or internet has been filled with challenges. I often think back to the logic that the good and bad in life run parallel, like railroad tracks, much more than the mountains and valleys that everyone refers to. In fact, often the good and bad are closely intertwined as the model is good that God designed, but tainted with sin. It seems obvious that having nine children would mean that I'm asking for challenges to my day, but somehow I still get disappointed when they occur. I am praying for wisdom in how to precede in a few situations in life. In the meantime, I need to work on maintaining joy as much during four hour standoffs over writing five sentences as punishment -

as I do in making cookies with my helpers!

James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.........

Down Time

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:54:41 GMT

Yesterday morning, our new neighbor installed his new mailbox right where our phone and DSL cable lived; now our lines are dead. Of course we called the phone company and they promise to be PROMPTLY out by next Friday. So, this obviously provides a wonderful opportunity to focus on our family and our new fall plans. Be back when I have wires. God bless..

Jenny and crew.

The Weaver

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:54:00 GMT

The Weaver by B. Franklin

My life is just a weaving
Between my Lord and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaves so skillfully.

Sometimes He weaveth sorrow
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not ‘til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And explain the reasons why-

The dark threads are as needful,
In The Weaver’s skillful hands
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.

Positive and Negative Media

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:33:49 GMT

I've been pondering the power of the media in all of our lives; it's a great influence even if you don't want it to be. Take for example Spiderman. My boys love Spiderman even though they've never seen a movie. He's plastered on cereal boxes and backpacks, as are Hannah Montana and countless other names we all know even if we wish we didn't. Other media messages are more subtle, yet also powerful. I was considering two movies that one could consider "love" stories - Titanic and Fireproof. I recently heard Titanic referred to as one of the greatest love stories of our time. That baffles me as there wasn't any love in the movie that I can recall at all; it was basic lust, pure and simple. Now, I only saw it once, so maybe there was a love story in there somewhere that I don't remember, but it definitely wasn't between the main characters of the movie! I think that movie was a huge disservice to young people everywhere that saw it and bought the lie that the main characters were "in love." If those two had married, they wouldn't have lasted two years! Contrast Titanic to Fireproof - that's a love story. The husband worked to love his wife; sometimes against every emotion that he was feeling.

Love is patient, love is kind.........does not seek it's own. I Cor. 13

On the same media contrast thought, Warner Brothers produced a recent horror movie entitled "There's Something Wrong With Esther." This movie does a huge disservice to the orphans in our world today. It portrays a modern day orphan as a psychopath in the movie. There has been a campaign to shame WB into giving proceeds from the movie to orphan charities; which is the least they should do considering the damage they are causing to the children that are most vulnerable in today's world! Thankfully, on the coat-tails of Esther, there is

The Blind Side -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg2rZ_3mgWU

It's not everyday that I cry just watching the trailer to a movie. I hope it's as good as it looks!

As for my puppy happy ending, the last puppy will be heading off to his new home tomorrow. I found excellent homes for all four of them AND I succeeded in not acquiring a 5th dog. It wasn't easy though; look where little Magnum sleeps waiting for his kids to come out and play.

On a hilarious footnote, as I was posting this blog, Tori said, "Mom, are we going to keep Magnum?" I said, "No, we are not. He is going to his new home tomorrow. His new Mommy is coming to get him." Tori asked, "Does his new Mommy look like him? I mean, is she white, with black spots?" I laughed and said, "No, Tori, his new Mommy is a person, not a dog." Her eyes got huge and she said, "How can that be, Mom?"

Starting Early

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:09:31 GMT

Elijah has discovered the board book basket, just in time for school to begin.

It's incredible to watch him concentrate at barely a year old.

Well, I'm Ready - Pretty Much

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:06:58 GMT

It's amazing how many hours go into planning a new school year. Since I'm using My Father's World, most of the work has been done for me, even the lesson plans are preprinted (for only $90!) However, there is still gathering the materials, extra books, reading and planning. In my case I spend time and anxiety on how am I going to juggle all the little people and keep the school kids on task? Also, how am I going to have the "read aloud" time that this curriculum calls for? There are no perfect years, so we'll just get up everyday and accomplish all that we can, (and work right through next summer if we have to.) So, it's almost two in the afternoon and I'm not yet dressed, BUT I found my school table which means the books are organized and put away.

I also cleaned out "the cabinet." The cabinet is where all the hands on stuff as well as the preschool stuff is stored. The little kids aren't allowed in the top part, but I give them "school" items out of there most days to occupy them during school time. The bottom part they can get in themselves, but only during school hours.

While I was finishing up, Ben started pushing Elijah around the kitchen in a box. Elijah thought it was a great time and would start whining anytime Ben stopped. When I showed Ben the pictures I took, his response was, "Good, my teeth look good and white in that picture." Our big Ben dental bills haven't been to whiten his teeth, but I'm glad he's happy.

Just when I thought we were tomatoed out, look what was dropped off at our house last night.

The good news is that we are just eating them; these little guys aren't being turned into salsa!

Not Happening

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:31:56 GMT

Today was begin 1/2 of our new school curriculum day - it's not happening! For starters, here's my school room table. Everything on that table is there for a reason, like I have to read it, organize it, figure out where it fits in, etc. So, once I clear the table and clean out the cabinet that I use for all the manipulatives, puzzles and other school time items, we should be ready to go. Since we are doing VBS every night this week, I'm thinking next week is better anyway. But since I have three major doctor appointments with three different kids next week, the week after may look even better!

The good news is that I finished braiding Julia's hair today. It took several hours spread over three sessions, before and after salsa making. She woke up in time to snap this picture; not in time to be happy about the picture, just in time to take it! (I'm thinking it actually looks better in real life than the picture.)

We are off to VBS.