LOVE

Did I ever tell you how much I love these folks?
I'm one lucky lady, for sure.

Saturday....At the Park (edited)

It was a long morning at the park today.
Ever tried to herd cats?
Pictures at 10am and a game at 11:15.
The wind was blowing 20+mph.
Pollen count high.
Kids are exhausted.
It was a good day!Funny side story:
A young man came up to me while we were on the playground. He asked where Turner's brother was. I pointed to Judson and said, "Him?". Nope. I pointed to Sawyer and said, "Him?". Nope. He said, "He's the same color as I am". I said, "Turner is the only child I have that has the same brown skin as you" You'd have thought I had 2 heads. He absolutely could not understand it. Not sure how he came to the conclusion that another child was Turner's brother. Maybe he just assumed or maybe some kid told him that. It is always interesting when we go out. Last week, some little girl decided she was going to be Sawyer's keeper. Too bad, Sawyer didn't see it that way.

You'll have to click on the pics. Sorry I made them 'small'.

Help Lucy Find Her Home

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/03/please-help-lucy-find-her-family.html

Need a Cute Dress?

Check out this give away

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/03/girlie-giveaway.html


Ansley loves her Poppy Dip dresses/skirt. Very well made, too.

Boy of Summer

Here we are exhibiting a bit of a Tommy Lasorda'ish attitude

Here he is with his 'handlers' playing outfield

His escort


Batting Cleanup


Waving to the crowd as he circles the bases


This is the kid he started pushing. Why?
Because that's what Stricklins do.
Pick fights even when they are severely mismatched.

Personal Take on Healthcare

This isn't about whether the current health care bill is good or bad. Should or shouldn't be passed. Is or isn't going to take our country into a socialistic society. My take is, even if this bill is passed, the next generation of congress will come in, repeal the part that their constituents dislike and take credit of the part that seems to be working. Thus, the cycle continues.

My take is personal. I just read a story of an 11 year old boy whose mom died due to lack of health care coverage. This is NOT about whether Democrats are exploiting this child's loss. (If you know of any political party who has NOT used these tactics, please stand up. I'm waiting. Ah yes, since you've all stayed seated, I'll continue)

My story is about this little boy

He was born with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. This condition was considered a death sentence. We were told there were several experimental drugs but none were known to cure his disease. They might prolong his life but not likely. They gave us the option of choosing which meds we would use because you see, they had no hope this little guy would make it past his first birthday. (Many doctors washed their hands of our case and never came by to visit with us again) So we researched and we chose which medicine to try on our little guy. That medicine cost was $1500/month. We were one of the lucky families. We had insurance. Our insurance covered the cost of this medicine plus 2 other medicines. Not only did that medicine control his PAH, it brought it down to the point that surgery could be performed on our little guy. That surgery corrected his PAH and he has since been medicine free. He is now 5 years old!

Had we not had insurance our option would have been to try to get on Medicaid and hope they would pay for the medicine. Ever tried to get on Medicaid? Not easy. And it is NEVER quick. Ever try to find a doctor (much less a specialist) who will take Medicaid, yeah, then you know what I mean.

So, extending Medicaid to those who have no insurance would not be my first choice in health care coverage. (It is better than nothing, I would think) Insuring that all people in this country do have access to adequate and time appropriate health care, is something that should happen. In a country like ours, it is disgraceful that all do not have access to quality health care.

So my beef with Washington is, partisanship again takes precedence over what is best for our country. He said, She said takes up their time instead of working out something that would help everyone. Fox vs. CNN is all crap! (You know I wanted to say something else) EVERYONE is complaining about the other side's ideas but NO ONE is working on something together. Right wing blames this President. Left wing blames a previous President. People who have health coverage don't think anything is wrong, thus nothing needs to change.

Nothing is wrong if you work for big corporate America and have insurance. If you work for Mom and Pop and can't afford insurance, yikes. If you have no job, yikes. If you are senior and are going on Medicare, yikes. If you get sick and can't work (right when you need health care), double yikes.

So my message to Washington is "I'm sick and Tired" (Tired always follows Sick). Sick and Tired of partisanship. Sick and Tired of you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Sick and Tired of bickering. Sick and Tired of finger pointing. Sick and Tired of you NOT working for me. Sick and Tired of you not working together. Sick and Tired of PACs. Sick and Tired of choosing sides. Sick and Tired that you are not working together to make this country a better place for my children!!!

Leave a legacy worth writing about in the history books. Fix something. I don't care. Choose something: Deficit, Health care, Economy. Do NOT blame a President or your counterparts. Work together! (Cause if you continue to argue I'm going to advocate that you all be put in timeout. It works at my house.)

Good News, Good News

Little T has decided he wants to be potty trained! (I was going to wait til summer when he turned 3 to start) The other good news? He only had 2 accidents last week.

Batter Up!

The Original Uniform

Modified with our own pants!

First game, March 20th!

4 Jumping Beans

Today was a day to burn energy. So we went to our favorite jumping place. While there were 4 children, only 3 were mine. The fourth was our friend, Luyushu. We were the only ones in the whole place. So, they had to wake up all the jumpy thingies.


Some folks didn't like the noise.

Most times they all enjoyed it (as much as 2 'control freak' girls can). It's pretty funny to witness the dynamic of 2 very strong personality girls and 2 little boys who had no clue.

Out with old, In with the new

Basketball is OVER!!!!

Baseball Season starts next week!
No pics yet

Wrestling is ALWAYS in Season!

What do you do when you have 4 children (Luyushu came with us) to keep busy at a basketball game? Give them a camera and tell them to take pictures, of course.
(This little girl's brother plays on the team w/Judson)


Luyushu

The Twins

What??? You expected them to take pics of the game????

Sawyer

As I went to get Sawyer off the bus today, he said "I had a hard day". I said, "You had a hard day?" He said, "Yep".

I suppose all that work I was saving for him to do after school will just have to wait.

Thoughts on Adoption

Judson
(while watching tv with Mom and Dad)

Judson: We need to adopt 4 more boys!
Me: Isn't that neat. He has a heart for adoption.
Randy: *coughing* *sputtering*

Me: Why do you want 4 more brothers?
Judson: So we can go together and win against Ansley.

Me: Ahhh, not a heart for adoption. A need for survival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ansley
(while shopping)

Ansley: Mom, why are you buying baby clothes?
Me: They are for Miss Cookie. She is having a baby.
Ansley: Oh. When is she going to pick it up?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawyer

No comment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Turner
(While looking at pictures of Ethiopia)

Turner: Oh. Isn't that sweet. We need 3 more Turners.
Me: Why?
Turner: They look like me.
Me: Are there 3 more Turners?
Turner: No. I the only one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me

If nothing else, we've created in them a new and unique way of viewing the world.
That creates many questions but in the end hopefully, it will create more acceptance in them for other people and other viewpoints.

Meet Tamirat

He is our Kolfe son. Isn't he handsome? We cannot adopt him since he is 19 years old. Yet, he is part of the family. Currently, he is living at Kolfe orphanage in Ethiopia. There are approximately 160 boys (+/-) living there. Tamirat is going to school to become a teacher. He graduates in a few months and will move out of the orphanage to live on his own and begin a new chapter in his life.

He is full of great and insightful thoughts such as this:

BLAMING

'' When you plant lettuce ,if it does not grow well,you don't blame the lettuce.You looke for reason it is not doing well.It may need fertilizer,or more water,or less sun.You never blame the lettuce.''

Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family,we blame the other person.But if we know how to care of them,they will grow well ,like the lettuce.Blaming has no positve effect at all,nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument."

Pretty neat, eh? Thanks Kristy for taking pictures for me!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE This

http://simeonstrail.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-are-we-afraid-of-down-syndrome.html#comment-form

I Love This Blog

for oh-so many reasons.
(She home schools. She has a child with Down Syndrome. She has a high achieving first born. The list could go on.)
Go ahead, read the 1st couple of posts. She is such a cool mom! I hope I can be so cool some day.

http://www.hannigans.blogspot.com/

Basketball

We won!!!

Judson had a hard time concentrating today. That frustrated me. Then I read the card that someone wrote about Judson and playing basketball.

"He showed great hustle and was the epitome of JOY. He always has a smile on his face."

Yep. That's him!!!

xp: Facebook

I did post this on facebook but thought it worth reposting here. Annie is a very special young lady with a heart of gold. I admire her greatly. I LOVE this post. I think it's good reading for anyone.

http://iwillliftupmyeyes.blogspot.com/2010/02/just-one-child.html

Ansley, getting ready to go to a P-A-R-T-Y

Her bangs are NOT that short. She just slept weird, they are crimped and I cannot straighten them out.
C'est la vie!

Snow!!!! (click on the pics to make them larger)

I estimate 4 inches of snow!!!
Based on a ruler and my deck railing.


Sawyer would not go outside to play in the snow. This is right after he got off the bus. It had just started snowing.

Finally....

The much anticipated snow has arrived.
Everyone is chomping at the bit to go outside.
I am waiting til Randy gets off work so we can do a family snow outing.
Judson went out to play with the dogs.I did NOT go out but rather took the picture through the window.
I would rather enjoy snow from the comfort of my warm home.
Yes, I know I'm a weenie.
I accept that about me and won't beat myself up over it.