As the ticker at the top shows, we have currently been somewhere in the process of adoption for 1 year, 7 months, 2 weeks and 1 day. We have been waiting for a referral for 1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days. I've read that the average length that international adoptions take from start to finish is between 1 to 2 years. We are officially slower than average.
Even if we get a referral tomorrow, we are not likely to make the 2 year cut off. The most recent estimate from my coordinator is that from referral it is taking 6-12 months to get the child home, with most being around 8-10 months. For those of you keeping track, even if we get that referral next week, add six months to that, and that would put us in February, more than two years from when we started.
As part of our "celebration" of officially taking a long time, we get the "prize" of getting to redo paperwork that we have already done. One of our forms expires in January, and like I mentioned above, the bare minimum from referral to homecoming is past January, so we have to get an extension... which means we have to redo fingerprints... and our home study. I am not sure what updating our home study is going to include, but at minimum it means that we have to have the interviews again, and have to pay more.
Most days, the time it has taken doesn't bother me. The fact is that everyone I know who has ever had kids says that life changes when they come, and that we will miss the time with just us, and I know I do appreciate this time with my husband. Also, it has given me more time to work, which means more money saved, and a bigger cushion for the adoption. I have a lot of freedom on a day to day basis, and I like that too.
But something about having to start the process of redoing all this stuff really brings me down. I can't really explain it, but just waiting is one thing, and having to do extra things BECAUSE it is taking so long is another. Imagine you are in line at Disneyland, you expected it to be a long line because of the estimated wait time, but now it is taking longer than expected, and as if that isn't enough, now they say you have to climb an extra 3 flights of stairs because the line is longer, which you wouldn't have had to do if the line was shorter. You would be understandably frustrated!
I hope and pray that our referral comes soon, because I don't want to be the kind of person that dwells on the negative, and it would be a lot easier for me if I had a referral to hold on to like an anchor as I deal with the "joys" of getting to do this paperwork again. I hope our referral comes soon so that I can finally have some real news for family members and friends, many of whom have given up asking because they don't want to hurt me by asking when I yet again have no new news. I hope that our referral comes soon so that I can give my employers any kind of general timeline for when I will be taking a break for our child.
But the biggest reason that I hope for my referral to come soon is that I want that 6-12 month timer to start ticking down. It is hard enough knowing that even once we get the call it could take another year after that without being very aware that any additional time from now to referral is just added to that wait.
Deep sigh.
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." Isaiah 55:8
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
“Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told. " Habakkuk 1:5
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. " Ephesians 3:20-21
Deep breath. God has a plan. I believe it is a good plan. I just have to wait and see what He has in store for us.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
My Heart
"I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
Please help my people
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God"
The above quote is from a song in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. To me, it is the most appropriate quote for my heart to try to raise money for Adoption Advocates.
When I started signing up for races, there are countless charities that you can run for, and they will give you the race entry for free if you agree to raise money for their cause. Some of them will even train you. But I didn't sign up for them. Not because they are not worthy causes, because there are many great causes out there, but none of them even come close to my heart for Adoption Advocates.
This, as many of you know, is the adoption organization that we are working with for our adoption. As an organization, they have been more than kind and helpful in answering our questions and guiding us through our process. In the world of adoption, I think they are something special as they take a firm stance against bribes and corruption in the process. I have read books that tried to tell me that bribes are just how it works in other countries, and that never sat right with me, and I appreciate this organization's commitment to not work with corrupt officials as it helps me sleep at night, knowing that nothing inappropriate will be happening in our child's journey home.
Social Welfare Officer has a valid case to investigate, and is willing to do it--but not for the usual cost of transportation and time. Instead, he wants to make a flat out profit. Let's have $500 instead of the $100 that would have paid for transportation and time. No $500? No investigation report--at least not until he is to the bottom of the pile that will pay the $500. That scenario is VERY common in Ghana. What is an agency to do? Well, our answer has been to go elsewhere or to wait until we work our way to the top of the pile. Some entire regions are full of officials like that. Go elsewhere. Thankfully, there are regions (and officials within regions) that are doing their work for a decent living wage and in order to benefit children. Believe it or not, there are some very ethical individuals working within the courts and social welfare offices of Ghana. Corruption is there, but you can work around it if you are only patient.- Quote from our coordinator's blog
But a donation towards them goes farther than just showing our support of their ethical commitment. There are many adoption organizations out there that work on getting kids out of that country and into homes in the United States, but AAI's first priority is keeping the kids with their families!
In poorer countries like Ghana, there are parents who love their kids so much, they know they can't afford food and schooling for them, so they approach adoption organizations, and offer their kids for adoption just for the hope of giving them a better life. Some organizations just accept that and place the kids up for adoption, but not AAI. Instead they look at the parent's background, and see if they are really showing effort (like keeping a job, actively trying to earn income) and then give the family an option to put the kids into a sponsorship program instead of putting them up for adoption. Money from donations to AAI helps these kids in the program by giving them the food and schooling they need, and then they can stay with their family, which I think everyone can agree is better for the kids. This is just one of many reasons that our referral takes longer than if we had gone through another agency, because AAI tries to keep the families together even if the family had initially tried to give the child up!
AAI also helps orphans that for whatever reason can't be adopted, and also tries to help families who are willing to adopt special needs kids, but need some financial assistance to do so because the need to place special needs kids is so great.
Breast cancer, children's health and the myriad of other good organizations already have huge fundraising campaigns, and millions of dollars are donated to them every year. AAI doesn't spend any money on advertising, and frequently the only people who hear about this great organization are those connected with someone who is working with the agency.
I have currently run 60 of my 300 miles that I will run up to and through the marathon, and my half marathon is less than a month away. Please prayerfully consider donating towards my cause as a way to support me, and my huge running goals for the year, but also as a sign of support to this organization that is such a huge part of us becoming a family someday, and also does so much for families in the country, and does it in such a good way. Next to my ticker at the top is the button to donate, and it will take you to the page that I set up for donations to this non-profit organization. It would mean a lot to me, and also a lot to every family that it benefits whether in Ghana or here in the United States.
I'll leave you with another quote from my coordinator on her blog in an answer to someone's question about where our adoption fees go:
I think there is a *HUGE* myth out there that all adoption agencies are somehow making money off of adoption programs. Seriously, that is simply not the case with reputable agencies. Instead, those agencies are trying to figure out how to make ends meet to both cover the actual expenses involved in the adoption process and all of the humanitarian projects they sponsor within the country. I promise! I'm telling you this as someone who 4 years ago would have never guessed the TRUTH! I thought they brought in the bucks too! I hate it that some agencies out there have inflated fees in order to have cushy offices or higher paychecks, and caused ALL agencies to suffer because of the myth. The program I run didn't come close to being balanced last year. Much more was sent to the country than was collected in fees or donations. Donations we receive don't have a penny taken out for administrative costs. It ALL goes to the designated project. Please, help me in educating others that there are many agencies who are NOT financially benefiting from the work being done.
Feel free to pass this on to anyone else who you think might be interested in donating towards this great cause that is near and dear to my heart.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Novelty and Challenge brings happiness
http://happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2009/03/how-to-make-friends-and-have-fun/
http://happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2009/11/the-happiness-of-doing-something-new-the-audiobook-version/
This summer I read a book called The Happiness Project not because I am unhappy, on the contrary I generally feel very happy. I just happened to see it at Target, and since I have trouble spending money on books when it isn't necessary, I then checked it out of the library.
The basic story is that the author felt that she could be happier, and then set out to research happiness, and from there design a way to incorporate many of the things she learned into her life in a way that each month added more resolutions while keeping all of the previous month's resolutions.
The majority of the book I enjoyed as a story, and as interesting to note, but not something to directly apply to me. However, this is with one big exception. She talked about how research shows that friends and a social network of people to talk to is important, and a good way to build that is to join clubs with people with similar interests. She also talked about how though it is really tough at the beginning to do something new, the research is clear that after you have done it, it brings happiness to conquer those feelings of insecurity.
Combine that with the fact that I have been reading books about running, and many of them talk about they recommend joining a running club for various reasons. I was nervous, but of course the book covered that too, and my fear of the unknown wasn't a good reason to avoid this adventure.
So, at this point I have the happiness book recommending it, the running book recommending it and then there was one final motivating factor- my unavoidable marathon training.
I am doing longer and longer runs every other weekend, and though Blake is very sweet to ride along me while I run, I know it isn't his ideal way to spend a weekend, especially not when I need to get up early in the morning to beat the summer heat. Meanwhile, already existing in Orange County is a club that meets Saturday mornings to run early enough to beat the heat.
After some quick internet searching, I found South Coast Roadrunners. They regularly run fairly local to me on Monday and Thursday nights, and then a longer run that changes locations weekly on Saturday mornings. Every Saturday run is followed by a meal together, and once a month the Thursday run includes a pizza dinner afterwards. I know Thursdays won't work for me once my Bible study starts again, but for now it's fine. I may switch to Mondays then, since I don't really want to take two nights and a morning away from my time with Blake. At least until my marathon, Saturday morning runs are a part of my schedule either way, so this was pretty ideal. For motivating their members, there is a club race every month that members can submit their times and they turn into points with prizes, and there is also the fun of that many members doing a race together. I am already signed up for so many races, I am not sure I will be able to join many this year, but maybe I will do a few, but not worry about points. If I decide to stick with it after my marathon, I might aim more for their races (half marathons and less distances primarily is my thought at this moment) and see how I would really fare as far as points go.
I learned that once a month they have their new members night (the pizza night) and I felt like I was out of excuses, I HAD to try it. I will fully admit that I was very apprehensive about my first run with them, and I had really no idea what to expect. So last Thursday I went to the meeting place, and the first person I happened to start chatting with was also new, but at least had been in a running club before. I asked her about how we figure out who to run with, and she said that her club would sort people before heading out on the runs.
This conversation proved to be somewhat detrimental as a few minutes later, after a brief introduction by the club president, she says, "Let's get going," and then everyone starts running! I was completely unprepared for that start, so I was fiddling with my Garmin, and starting off really fast. Once I got that recording, I looked around me... and there are only guys ahead of me. This immediately told me that I was going too fast. I KNOW I am not faster than all the girls in this group, and if I am currently in that spot, there is no way I could keep it up for any distance. I slowed down to the speed of the fastest girls in the pack, and asked them about what their pace was, and learned that, yep, they were too fast for me. I then asked who in the group was running closer to my pace, and they referred me to someone else in the pack.
I continued to slow down till I got near that person, only to not be able to catch their attention. I did catch the attention of another girl in that area, and found that her pace was pretty similar to mine. Yay! So I stuck with them, and we kept following the pack for a while. At some point she, and the other girl with us, asked about how far everyone was running that day. After some discussion, we decided on six miles. My favorite thing about this six mile run was that we talked the whole time, and the time passed quickly, while I also maintained a great pace for me. It was really fun!
Thursday's success (which continued at the pizza party) was enough motivation for me to try the Saturday run, especially since I knew that there was not going to be any sorting unless I did it myself. According to my training program, today was a 10.5 mile run, and I knew my pace was around 10 minute miles, and so as we gathered at the meeting spot, I started asking around how far other people were planning on running, and what speed. I found a group that was a little slower than my pace and were only planning on doing 10 miles, but that was close enough for me. I had another great day running with the group, and talking about all kinds of things with them.
Even though I have gotten used to music on my runs, I found from these last two runs that a good conversation works as well or better than music to distract you from the portions of running which are difficult. Every person I have talked to has reassured me that you can almost always find someone else who is planning on running similar to you and your goals, slow or fast, short or long.
I hope and expect that these two runs are what I can expect in the future. Some nights I will likely find groups that are planning on running farther and/or faster than I would run on my own, and it will push me to be better. Other runs, I will compromise for the sake of having a group, and I will run with people slower than me and shorter than my plan. The nice part of this was that I felt good at the end, and I had moments where I could tell that I was talking easier than my running partners. This was especially significant for me because last August, I was dead tired and winded after a single mile jog, and today I had more energy and breath to talk than someone who has already finished multiple marathons after running 8 miles! It was a great feeling.
Also on the point of a great feeling, I watched the 10k Olympic race today, and putting aside the thought that I took twice as long to finish than those winners, it made me happy to think that I ran that distance this year!
Running may make me tired, and sore, but there is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a good run, whether it is good based on pace or distance. Less than a mile to my half marathon!
http://happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2009/11/the-happiness-of-doing-something-new-the-audiobook-version/
This summer I read a book called The Happiness Project not because I am unhappy, on the contrary I generally feel very happy. I just happened to see it at Target, and since I have trouble spending money on books when it isn't necessary, I then checked it out of the library.
The basic story is that the author felt that she could be happier, and then set out to research happiness, and from there design a way to incorporate many of the things she learned into her life in a way that each month added more resolutions while keeping all of the previous month's resolutions.
The majority of the book I enjoyed as a story, and as interesting to note, but not something to directly apply to me. However, this is with one big exception. She talked about how research shows that friends and a social network of people to talk to is important, and a good way to build that is to join clubs with people with similar interests. She also talked about how though it is really tough at the beginning to do something new, the research is clear that after you have done it, it brings happiness to conquer those feelings of insecurity.
Combine that with the fact that I have been reading books about running, and many of them talk about they recommend joining a running club for various reasons. I was nervous, but of course the book covered that too, and my fear of the unknown wasn't a good reason to avoid this adventure.
So, at this point I have the happiness book recommending it, the running book recommending it and then there was one final motivating factor- my unavoidable marathon training.
I am doing longer and longer runs every other weekend, and though Blake is very sweet to ride along me while I run, I know it isn't his ideal way to spend a weekend, especially not when I need to get up early in the morning to beat the summer heat. Meanwhile, already existing in Orange County is a club that meets Saturday mornings to run early enough to beat the heat.
After some quick internet searching, I found South Coast Roadrunners. They regularly run fairly local to me on Monday and Thursday nights, and then a longer run that changes locations weekly on Saturday mornings. Every Saturday run is followed by a meal together, and once a month the Thursday run includes a pizza dinner afterwards. I know Thursdays won't work for me once my Bible study starts again, but for now it's fine. I may switch to Mondays then, since I don't really want to take two nights and a morning away from my time with Blake. At least until my marathon, Saturday morning runs are a part of my schedule either way, so this was pretty ideal. For motivating their members, there is a club race every month that members can submit their times and they turn into points with prizes, and there is also the fun of that many members doing a race together. I am already signed up for so many races, I am not sure I will be able to join many this year, but maybe I will do a few, but not worry about points. If I decide to stick with it after my marathon, I might aim more for their races (half marathons and less distances primarily is my thought at this moment) and see how I would really fare as far as points go.
I learned that once a month they have their new members night (the pizza night) and I felt like I was out of excuses, I HAD to try it. I will fully admit that I was very apprehensive about my first run with them, and I had really no idea what to expect. So last Thursday I went to the meeting place, and the first person I happened to start chatting with was also new, but at least had been in a running club before. I asked her about how we figure out who to run with, and she said that her club would sort people before heading out on the runs.
This conversation proved to be somewhat detrimental as a few minutes later, after a brief introduction by the club president, she says, "Let's get going," and then everyone starts running! I was completely unprepared for that start, so I was fiddling with my Garmin, and starting off really fast. Once I got that recording, I looked around me... and there are only guys ahead of me. This immediately told me that I was going too fast. I KNOW I am not faster than all the girls in this group, and if I am currently in that spot, there is no way I could keep it up for any distance. I slowed down to the speed of the fastest girls in the pack, and asked them about what their pace was, and learned that, yep, they were too fast for me. I then asked who in the group was running closer to my pace, and they referred me to someone else in the pack.
I continued to slow down till I got near that person, only to not be able to catch their attention. I did catch the attention of another girl in that area, and found that her pace was pretty similar to mine. Yay! So I stuck with them, and we kept following the pack for a while. At some point she, and the other girl with us, asked about how far everyone was running that day. After some discussion, we decided on six miles. My favorite thing about this six mile run was that we talked the whole time, and the time passed quickly, while I also maintained a great pace for me. It was really fun!
Thursday's success (which continued at the pizza party) was enough motivation for me to try the Saturday run, especially since I knew that there was not going to be any sorting unless I did it myself. According to my training program, today was a 10.5 mile run, and I knew my pace was around 10 minute miles, and so as we gathered at the meeting spot, I started asking around how far other people were planning on running, and what speed. I found a group that was a little slower than my pace and were only planning on doing 10 miles, but that was close enough for me. I had another great day running with the group, and talking about all kinds of things with them.
Even though I have gotten used to music on my runs, I found from these last two runs that a good conversation works as well or better than music to distract you from the portions of running which are difficult. Every person I have talked to has reassured me that you can almost always find someone else who is planning on running similar to you and your goals, slow or fast, short or long.
I hope and expect that these two runs are what I can expect in the future. Some nights I will likely find groups that are planning on running farther and/or faster than I would run on my own, and it will push me to be better. Other runs, I will compromise for the sake of having a group, and I will run with people slower than me and shorter than my plan. The nice part of this was that I felt good at the end, and I had moments where I could tell that I was talking easier than my running partners. This was especially significant for me because last August, I was dead tired and winded after a single mile jog, and today I had more energy and breath to talk than someone who has already finished multiple marathons after running 8 miles! It was a great feeling.
Also on the point of a great feeling, I watched the 10k Olympic race today, and putting aside the thought that I took twice as long to finish than those winners, it made me happy to think that I ran that distance this year!
Running may make me tired, and sore, but there is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a good run, whether it is good based on pace or distance. Less than a mile to my half marathon!
Friday, August 3, 2012
Orange County Fair Visit
I have been going to the Orange County fair for as long as I can remember, and though I do a lot less on a typical fair visit than I did as a child or even as a teenager, I still make it a point to visit at least once every year.
Wednesday I had the chance to visit along with my friend from high school and her two kids.
Since I am a teacher at heart, I couldn't help but incorporate a little lesson into the day's activities. After clearing it with their mom ahead of time, I started the day by telling both kids (ages two and four) that they would have ten dollars to spend, however they wanted, but when it was gone, it was gone. They agreed, and seemed pretty happy about the prospect.
The first thing we went and saw was the animals. Elaynea, the four year old, was very impressive as any time I referred to an animal as a "baby ____" she would correct me with the appropriate term. Me- "Look at the baby goats" Elaynea- "Those are kids" Me- "Do you see the baby cow?" Elaynea- "That's a calf" and so on for most of the animals in the area. Her mom Erin informed me that many of their books that they read (over and over again) have animals with their babies and all of the appropriate names. So it was even more interesting to me that when we got to the chickens, she didn't know the term chicks, though Erin said it was because this particular fact was in only one of their books.
After seeing all these animals, and not being able to touch most of them, Elaynea decided rather emphatically that she wanted to go to the petting zoo. So, we looked on a map, and headed towards the petting zoo, which was on the opposite side of the fair. On the way there, we had our first possible money spending encounter as the two year old, Jeremiah, saw the spider man inflatable, and he said that he wanted it. So I asked how much it cost (and how much some of the other items cost that Elaynea was interested in) and learned that it would cost ten dollars. Now, we wanted the kids to learn about spending money, but we didn't want them to spend it all on one item at the very beginning and regret it later.
So, instead of just letting them spend it all now, we told them that we were going to keep walking around for now, and if they still wanted it in a couple of hours after doing other fair things, that they could come back and buy it. The kids were pretty agreeable to this. We finally make it to the petting zoo (it takes a lot longer for a four year old to walk somewhere than to just walk at adult speed) and there was another opportunity to spend money to buy feed for the animals.
So, we talked to the kids, and explained that they could buy the two dollar cup of food, but then they couldn't get those inflatables, and after some consideration, both kids decided that was a good choice (and we adults agreed with this logic). They got quite a bit of enjoyment out of those cups of food, and they tried to share it evenly with the different types of animals, with the exception of the calves, which were a bit too big for Elaynea's taste, and she was too afraid of their big heads to be willing to feed those. The big hit of the petting zoo was the piglets, and both kids gave a lot of feed to those little snouts.
Elaynea finished feeding first, and was done, and we were waiting for Jeremiah to finish his cup, but he got over it, so we just gave it to a random kid in the area to enjoy feeding animals with.
Right by the exit to the petting zoo was the ark where they tell Bible stories. Elaynea saw the boat first, and asked if she could go there. Free Bible story? Of course she can go! And where she goes, her brother follows. Erin took this opportunity as a golden chance to get to use the restroom without little ones underfoot, and I waited outside the ark. At one point, Elaynea raised her hand and said, "Excuse me, but I want to say something." I didn't hear what she wanted to say, but I thought it was pretty funny that this four year old didn't have any trouble speaking her mind. When the story was done, they both got a little beaded bracelet that was supposed to be their reminder of the story. So, Erin and I asked Elaynea what the beads meant, and while she remembered the first few, she couldn't remember the rest, so little Elaynea said, "I'll go back and ask her," and proceeded to go right back into the ark and ask the teacher. So cute!
We adults had decided it was lunchtime, so we started heading back toward the food area, but we were stopped briefly at the next booth where they were giving out free new testaments. These two little ones thought it was amazing that they got their own books, and spent the majority of the rest of the day holding on to them, or asking us to read them.
My highlight of lunchtime was that Elaynea wanted to write her name in her Bible. So, I got out a pen, and let her try to write her name. She got through the first few letters, and then couldn't remember how to write the rest even with prompting, and then she decided to start over. She didn't get much farther on her second try than her first, and instead of going for a third attempt, she handed me the pen, and told me to write her name. Of course, Jeremiah wanted his name written in it as well, so that was my next mission. Our next stop was the pig races, and then the kids decided their next purchase would be to have their faces painted.
Jeremiah got balloons, but I didn't manage to get a picture of that because right when I was about to take the picture, he got upset, and started crying.
You see, the kids were in the big sand box area, playing with the communal sand toys placed there for the kids to play with, buckets and shovels and such. Elaynea and Jeremiah have been trained really well to respect other peoples' things, and so if they wanted an item, even one that looked like it wasn't being used, they would politely ask first (Elaynea even got a positive comment from the mom of the child she asked).
Not so with the other kids there, who would just walk over and take an item if these two did not currently have their hand on it. One of these moments was when I was about to take his face paint picture, and we just narrowly avoided it happening a second time when Erin told the child that was about to take another tool that he was still using it. Sigh, it really worries me about the future of the nation the lack of manners these kids have.
Anyways, after enjoying many of the activities in this area, including some paper crafts and other play areas, we were ready to head over to the rides and games. In addition to admission, our clothing donations (Wednesday fair promotion) got us a free carnival ride per ticket. Erin was smart enough to realize that while her kiddos didn't need tickets for admission, if she brought enough clothes for them as well, we would have four free rides instead of two! So smart! We, loving those kids so much, were willing to give them our rides. So, they got to choose two rides to go on. Jeremiah is at that age where he isn't big enough for every ride, and even the rides he is big enough for, he has to go with someone taller than the line (so even four year old Elaynea counts for that someone, which I think is funny). The first one they chose was very much like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland.
After walking around and looking at the various rides, Elaynea, and thus Jeremiah, decided they wanted to go on one of these:
(not my picture, but hopefully you can picture this kind of thing).
After various obstacles and climbing and suspension bridges, they go on a slide back to the bottom. Yet again, Elaynea was tall enough to not only go, but count as Jeremiah's chaperone. I had my doubts, but figured it was Erin's call, and she was willing to try it. Things were going well until the rope climb part. Poor Jeremiah got his little legs stuck in the squares between the rope, and though Elaynea was trying to encourage him, there wasn't much else she could do to help. I was growing more and more worried and frustrated as older kids just kept passing this little one struggling without helping get him unstuck. After a minute or two of this, one of the ride operators noticed and helped him get his legs out, and he was able to finish climbing up (though I did note that she stayed there in case he got stuck again). At the point of the suspension bridge it was Elaynea who got scared and needed our encouragement. She was brave, and pushed past her fear and made it to the slide, and ended the ride on a high note. The kids really wanted to do it again, and they still had some of their ten dollars left, so technically they could, but we (again) intervened and reminded them that they wanted to play a carnival game (which they had mentioned previously in the day).
So we used another portion of their money to give them a chance to play the balloon popping game. The best part of the game that we encouraged them to play is that it advertised that kids under twelve automatically win. Good deal. Turns out the game set up was easy enough that they didn't even need a consolation prize, and they both popped balloons with their throw (almost impossible to miss, with each balloon in a square). Elaynea quickly and happily chose a purple whale. Jeremiah was more picky. First he chose a green fish, then since Elaynea got a whale, he changed to a black whale. Then for whatever reason, he didn't want the black whale either, and switched to a blue whale. We were cracking up at his lack of decision. We left this area pretty quick after choosing the blue whale so he couldn't switch again.
By this time, it was time for dinner, and Blake had joined us. My meal caused quite a stir as I walked around with it, and I actually was stopped multiple times by people asking where I got it from. It was half a pineapple, carved out, and filled with rice, chicken and pineapple served with sauce on the side. It was really good, and much lighter than your typical fair food. I guess to counteract that, the adults at the table also shared a blooming onion.
We offered a piece to Elaynea, who asked if she could try it and were first puzzled when she said, "I had that before, the circle ones." After a bit of thinking, we figured out she was talking about onion rings!
Blake wanted to see the garden, so we headed over to that area. When we were in the bee area, the kids saw that they could make their own candles for a dollar, which happened to be what they had left after the game. Another great use for the money. They also enjoyed some honey sticks. We looked at the area where people could enter their largest or best produce, and they had a great section for little ones like these two where they could pick up and touch a bunch of different fruits and vegetables. I really enjoyed watching Elaynea with it especially as she would try to guess what each thing was, and was very often right. A few times, when she wasn't sure, we would encourage her to smell it, and many times she would then be able to figure it out (especially citrus fruits).
Our next stop was the carnival of products, which is really just like a mini swapmeet, but fun to see all the items that they are selling. At one stand, I happened to be holding Elaynea, and then after giving her a sample, the woman asked if her mom would want one. I quickly corrected her, but apparently Elaynea's face was a look of puzzlement, like she couldn't figure out why in the world the lady would think such a strange thing (even though I was holding her, and have some similar physical attributes as her).
It was getting later, so the kids' patience was starting to wane, and so before entering the carnival of products, Erin told both kids that if they were really good during that time, that they could have ice cream afterwards. Jeremiah fell asleep during the walk through, so he missed out, but Elaynea had earned it, and we went to go get dessert. When we met back up after going to different dessert places, we got to hear about the generosity of strangers, as one of them had heard Erin decide that she didn't think she should spend the money on a banana split for herself in addition to her daughter's cone, and the person behind her decided to buy it for her! Isn't it great to hear that things like that still happen?
Our last stop for the day was the craft area, and Blake stayed back with Jeremiah sleeping in the stroller and gave us girls a chance to look around at all of the handmade crafts for the year.
It was a great fair day, and I am thankful for the chance to share days like that with my friend and her kids.
Since I am a teacher at heart, I couldn't help but incorporate a little lesson into the day's activities. After clearing it with their mom ahead of time, I started the day by telling both kids (ages two and four) that they would have ten dollars to spend, however they wanted, but when it was gone, it was gone. They agreed, and seemed pretty happy about the prospect.
The first thing we went and saw was the animals. Elaynea, the four year old, was very impressive as any time I referred to an animal as a "baby ____" she would correct me with the appropriate term. Me- "Look at the baby goats" Elaynea- "Those are kids" Me- "Do you see the baby cow?" Elaynea- "That's a calf" and so on for most of the animals in the area. Her mom Erin informed me that many of their books that they read (over and over again) have animals with their babies and all of the appropriate names. So it was even more interesting to me that when we got to the chickens, she didn't know the term chicks, though Erin said it was because this particular fact was in only one of their books.
After seeing all these animals, and not being able to touch most of them, Elaynea decided rather emphatically that she wanted to go to the petting zoo. So, we looked on a map, and headed towards the petting zoo, which was on the opposite side of the fair. On the way there, we had our first possible money spending encounter as the two year old, Jeremiah, saw the spider man inflatable, and he said that he wanted it. So I asked how much it cost (and how much some of the other items cost that Elaynea was interested in) and learned that it would cost ten dollars. Now, we wanted the kids to learn about spending money, but we didn't want them to spend it all on one item at the very beginning and regret it later.
So, instead of just letting them spend it all now, we told them that we were going to keep walking around for now, and if they still wanted it in a couple of hours after doing other fair things, that they could come back and buy it. The kids were pretty agreeable to this. We finally make it to the petting zoo (it takes a lot longer for a four year old to walk somewhere than to just walk at adult speed) and there was another opportunity to spend money to buy feed for the animals.
So, we talked to the kids, and explained that they could buy the two dollar cup of food, but then they couldn't get those inflatables, and after some consideration, both kids decided that was a good choice (and we adults agreed with this logic). They got quite a bit of enjoyment out of those cups of food, and they tried to share it evenly with the different types of animals, with the exception of the calves, which were a bit too big for Elaynea's taste, and she was too afraid of their big heads to be willing to feed those. The big hit of the petting zoo was the piglets, and both kids gave a lot of feed to those little snouts.
Elaynea finished feeding first, and was done, and we were waiting for Jeremiah to finish his cup, but he got over it, so we just gave it to a random kid in the area to enjoy feeding animals with.Right by the exit to the petting zoo was the ark where they tell Bible stories. Elaynea saw the boat first, and asked if she could go there. Free Bible story? Of course she can go! And where she goes, her brother follows. Erin took this opportunity as a golden chance to get to use the restroom without little ones underfoot, and I waited outside the ark. At one point, Elaynea raised her hand and said, "Excuse me, but I want to say something." I didn't hear what she wanted to say, but I thought it was pretty funny that this four year old didn't have any trouble speaking her mind. When the story was done, they both got a little beaded bracelet that was supposed to be their reminder of the story. So, Erin and I asked Elaynea what the beads meant, and while she remembered the first few, she couldn't remember the rest, so little Elaynea said, "I'll go back and ask her," and proceeded to go right back into the ark and ask the teacher. So cute!
We adults had decided it was lunchtime, so we started heading back toward the food area, but we were stopped briefly at the next booth where they were giving out free new testaments. These two little ones thought it was amazing that they got their own books, and spent the majority of the rest of the day holding on to them, or asking us to read them.My highlight of lunchtime was that Elaynea wanted to write her name in her Bible. So, I got out a pen, and let her try to write her name. She got through the first few letters, and then couldn't remember how to write the rest even with prompting, and then she decided to start over. She didn't get much farther on her second try than her first, and instead of going for a third attempt, she handed me the pen, and told me to write her name. Of course, Jeremiah wanted his name written in it as well, so that was my next mission. Our next stop was the pig races, and then the kids decided their next purchase would be to have their faces painted.
Jeremiah got balloons, but I didn't manage to get a picture of that because right when I was about to take the picture, he got upset, and started crying.You see, the kids were in the big sand box area, playing with the communal sand toys placed there for the kids to play with, buckets and shovels and such. Elaynea and Jeremiah have been trained really well to respect other peoples' things, and so if they wanted an item, even one that looked like it wasn't being used, they would politely ask first (Elaynea even got a positive comment from the mom of the child she asked).
Not so with the other kids there, who would just walk over and take an item if these two did not currently have their hand on it. One of these moments was when I was about to take his face paint picture, and we just narrowly avoided it happening a second time when Erin told the child that was about to take another tool that he was still using it. Sigh, it really worries me about the future of the nation the lack of manners these kids have.
Anyways, after enjoying many of the activities in this area, including some paper crafts and other play areas, we were ready to head over to the rides and games. In addition to admission, our clothing donations (Wednesday fair promotion) got us a free carnival ride per ticket. Erin was smart enough to realize that while her kiddos didn't need tickets for admission, if she brought enough clothes for them as well, we would have four free rides instead of two! So smart! We, loving those kids so much, were willing to give them our rides. So, they got to choose two rides to go on. Jeremiah is at that age where he isn't big enough for every ride, and even the rides he is big enough for, he has to go with someone taller than the line (so even four year old Elaynea counts for that someone, which I think is funny). The first one they chose was very much like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland.
After walking around and looking at the various rides, Elaynea, and thus Jeremiah, decided they wanted to go on one of these:
(not my picture, but hopefully you can picture this kind of thing).After various obstacles and climbing and suspension bridges, they go on a slide back to the bottom. Yet again, Elaynea was tall enough to not only go, but count as Jeremiah's chaperone. I had my doubts, but figured it was Erin's call, and she was willing to try it. Things were going well until the rope climb part. Poor Jeremiah got his little legs stuck in the squares between the rope, and though Elaynea was trying to encourage him, there wasn't much else she could do to help. I was growing more and more worried and frustrated as older kids just kept passing this little one struggling without helping get him unstuck. After a minute or two of this, one of the ride operators noticed and helped him get his legs out, and he was able to finish climbing up (though I did note that she stayed there in case he got stuck again). At the point of the suspension bridge it was Elaynea who got scared and needed our encouragement. She was brave, and pushed past her fear and made it to the slide, and ended the ride on a high note. The kids really wanted to do it again, and they still had some of their ten dollars left, so technically they could, but we (again) intervened and reminded them that they wanted to play a carnival game (which they had mentioned previously in the day).
So we used another portion of their money to give them a chance to play the balloon popping game. The best part of the game that we encouraged them to play is that it advertised that kids under twelve automatically win. Good deal. Turns out the game set up was easy enough that they didn't even need a consolation prize, and they both popped balloons with their throw (almost impossible to miss, with each balloon in a square). Elaynea quickly and happily chose a purple whale. Jeremiah was more picky. First he chose a green fish, then since Elaynea got a whale, he changed to a black whale. Then for whatever reason, he didn't want the black whale either, and switched to a blue whale. We were cracking up at his lack of decision. We left this area pretty quick after choosing the blue whale so he couldn't switch again.
By this time, it was time for dinner, and Blake had joined us. My meal caused quite a stir as I walked around with it, and I actually was stopped multiple times by people asking where I got it from. It was half a pineapple, carved out, and filled with rice, chicken and pineapple served with sauce on the side. It was really good, and much lighter than your typical fair food. I guess to counteract that, the adults at the table also shared a blooming onion.
We offered a piece to Elaynea, who asked if she could try it and were first puzzled when she said, "I had that before, the circle ones." After a bit of thinking, we figured out she was talking about onion rings!
Blake wanted to see the garden, so we headed over to that area. When we were in the bee area, the kids saw that they could make their own candles for a dollar, which happened to be what they had left after the game. Another great use for the money. They also enjoyed some honey sticks. We looked at the area where people could enter their largest or best produce, and they had a great section for little ones like these two where they could pick up and touch a bunch of different fruits and vegetables. I really enjoyed watching Elaynea with it especially as she would try to guess what each thing was, and was very often right. A few times, when she wasn't sure, we would encourage her to smell it, and many times she would then be able to figure it out (especially citrus fruits).
Our next stop was the carnival of products, which is really just like a mini swapmeet, but fun to see all the items that they are selling. At one stand, I happened to be holding Elaynea, and then after giving her a sample, the woman asked if her mom would want one. I quickly corrected her, but apparently Elaynea's face was a look of puzzlement, like she couldn't figure out why in the world the lady would think such a strange thing (even though I was holding her, and have some similar physical attributes as her).
It was getting later, so the kids' patience was starting to wane, and so before entering the carnival of products, Erin told both kids that if they were really good during that time, that they could have ice cream afterwards. Jeremiah fell asleep during the walk through, so he missed out, but Elaynea had earned it, and we went to go get dessert. When we met back up after going to different dessert places, we got to hear about the generosity of strangers, as one of them had heard Erin decide that she didn't think she should spend the money on a banana split for herself in addition to her daughter's cone, and the person behind her decided to buy it for her! Isn't it great to hear that things like that still happen?
Our last stop for the day was the craft area, and Blake stayed back with Jeremiah sleeping in the stroller and gave us girls a chance to look around at all of the handmade crafts for the year.
It was a great fair day, and I am thankful for the chance to share days like that with my friend and her kids.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Precious Pups
There are days I think that our dogs believe they own the house, and we are just the humans they allow to live with them. It made me smile when I walked into the living room one day last week and saw the two of them like you see above. It actually isn't that uncommon of a sight, but I did finally manage to get a picture of it. It is almost as if they are saying, "What? Don't these chairs belong to us?"
Today, this was the sight I saw in the living room, the result of our two wonderful dogs having a marvelous time tearing one of their stuffed animals apart and spreading the fluff all around the room.
I didn't really mind, I knew that that particular toy was due to go any day since the neck had already started to open, and the last time I saw the dogs with it they were playing tug of war with it, with Roxie on the head side and Tasha on the body side. My first instinct was to grab a camera, and send the picture to Blake. He said it is his favorite picture of the dogs we have. I did tell them to sit for the picture, they had come into the room where I was reading before I walked into that room.
One of these days I am going to get a picture of them playing together. Yesterday, I had so much fun watching them play in the back yard. They started with some tug of war over another toy (a circular one) and then Roxie got it, and ran away. Tasha, predictably, chased her, and they started running full speed around our back yard. At one point Roxie pulled a complete feint by dropping the toy on the ground, and staying still near it. Sure enough, right when Tasha bought it enough to try to go for it, Roxie snatched it up and ran around again! I wish I had gotten it on camera! Since I am at home, I can reasonably predict that they will have one play time in the morning and one in the afternoon/ evening. The rest of the day they spend sleeping and following me from room to room.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Workout Class Pet Peeve
I have been attending a workout class that I have thoroughly enjoyed this summer, mostly for the instructor. She manages to work out every part of my body in the hour class, and it even goes by quickly!
However, today there was a substitute. I have no problems in particular with the idea of a substitute, I am just there to get a workout after all... but I couldn't stand this one. I left halfway through because she kept doing the same super irritating thing over and over again!
Pick an exercise, any exercise. She starts with, "Let's do eight of these." Dutifully, you follow the class and the instructor as she counts down from eight, including, "last one," as you do the eighth exercise. THEN she says, "next set, eight more." ARG! I would much rather that she said let's do two sets of eight, or sixteen of these, than for her to tell us eight, and then have us keep going. She also says, "last one," and then "one more," after the last one, even in the second set, sometimes a couple times. Maybe some people need that to be motivated to go through the class, but I think it is misleading, and makes it more difficult. If you are pushing to get through eight, and then you think you have a rest, or a change in exercise, it does not motivate you when you learn you were actually only halfway done, and I know I wasn't the only one who felt this way because I saw others looks every time she did it (which was every exercise). When I decided to walk out early, two other women joined me (maybe they would have left anyways... but they did leave too).
The regular instructor works you, but works you honestly. She would tell us we were doing twenty of something, or two sets of eight. They were equally hard, equally challenging, but when she said last one I knew she meant it. Sigh, it wasn't even worth the workout to stay because of her need to basically LIE on every single set.
/end rant
However, today there was a substitute. I have no problems in particular with the idea of a substitute, I am just there to get a workout after all... but I couldn't stand this one. I left halfway through because she kept doing the same super irritating thing over and over again!
Pick an exercise, any exercise. She starts with, "Let's do eight of these." Dutifully, you follow the class and the instructor as she counts down from eight, including, "last one," as you do the eighth exercise. THEN she says, "next set, eight more." ARG! I would much rather that she said let's do two sets of eight, or sixteen of these, than for her to tell us eight, and then have us keep going. She also says, "last one," and then "one more," after the last one, even in the second set, sometimes a couple times. Maybe some people need that to be motivated to go through the class, but I think it is misleading, and makes it more difficult. If you are pushing to get through eight, and then you think you have a rest, or a change in exercise, it does not motivate you when you learn you were actually only halfway done, and I know I wasn't the only one who felt this way because I saw others looks every time she did it (which was every exercise). When I decided to walk out early, two other women joined me (maybe they would have left anyways... but they did leave too).
The regular instructor works you, but works you honestly. She would tell us we were doing twenty of something, or two sets of eight. They were equally hard, equally challenging, but when she said last one I knew she meant it. Sigh, it wasn't even worth the workout to stay because of her need to basically LIE on every single set.
/end rant
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Deck of Cards Workout
Since I am currently in training for three obstacle course races in October, I have been trying to mix up strength training with my runs so that I have the ability to do whatever obstacle I am faced with in those races.
I am always on the lookout for a new and different way to do a workout, and today I found one I really enjoyed and wanted to share!
It's called the Deck of Cards Workout. You start with a well shuffled deck of cards, and then assign an exercise for each shape. The goal is to choose four exercises that will give you a well balanced routine.
Then go through the deck, and the card tells you how many reps of which exercise to do. Royals are worth ten, and though the website I read said to do aces as 11, I took it as 11 or 1 depending on the exercise and my exhaustion!
I chose:
Hearts- Basically mountain climbers, but a variation that I learned in yoga where I hold plank position and then bring my knee to the outside of my elbow, then switch legs. I counted one rep after I did both legs.
Spades- Dips to work my triceps. I had my hands on the coffee table, with my elbows behind me, and then I raised and lowered myself with arm strength alone.
Diamonds- Pushup burpees. I would crouch down, then go into plank, do a pushup, and then bring my feet to my hands and jump. This was the hardest portion of my circuits.
Clubs- I did squats with weights in my hands, and then as I stood up from my squats, I curled the weights, and then brought them into an overhead press before lowering them again.
The article I read said to do the whole deck... but after I got started, I realized that even half the deck was going to be too ambitious for me. I ended up doing 15 cards, as displayed above. So what you are looking at is actually my workout today. Notice the many diamonds in the beginning! Those were tough, and honestly on one of them I had to switch it to just push ups.
I loved my choice of cards, because it was fun to see different seashells as I did the exercises. The biggest reason that I recommend this workout is that it keeps it varied and fun, and you can be excited when you happen to draw a two!
The original website I found this on is HERE.
I also did some hill reps today on my run, trying to improve the time of my previous hill. Of the three I timed, I was successfully the fastest on the third one. My times for the three hills, up and down, was 3:17, 3:20 then 3:04! I read that hill runs can help increase your stamina for long runs.
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