23 years...1 day at a time

Twenty three years ago today, I made a decision that would completely change who I am as a person. Some of you may remember me back then, (and some may not care to remember) but many of my friends these days don't even know the other person I was before that decision.

Today, I celebrated my "birthday" and ate cake with people from all walks of life; some of whom I would never have met if not for that one decision. That decision was the "what happened" in between "what it was like", and "what's it's like now." I was 22 years old, and it is rather surreal to think that I have lived longer on this side of life than I had on the other side when honestly, I had never intended to live to be 23 years old, period. Oh my. Now I'm 45. (You are probably shaking your head at this point and saying, "Yes, Liz, 22+23=45. Duh.")

The thing is, I never intended for it to go this far. I had planned to just use it a while and get my life together, then go on my merry way. God had other plans, it turns out. Plans for things like; a happy and marriage to a tender-hearted man, 4 little saints in heaven with our last name, several moves, 12 homes (so far!), some very painful losses, years of therapy, 4 unbelievable blessings from the other side of the world, repaired relationships, a crazy faith journey, and all along the way there have been friends. True friends who have been there at 2am to answer their phone, friends who have helped me move, friends who have shared holidays with me, friends who have cried and laughed with me, friends who loved me enough to tell me the truth, even when it was ugly, friends who are trudging the road of happy destiny just like I am.

I am so grateful for that day when I admitted I was powerless and began to let a power greater than myself restore me to sanity. I am so, so grateful that it has gone this far.

A few photos

This was our presentation for International Night with our home school group on Nov. 7th. Click onthe photo for a close up view.
The kids worked hard and did a great job. We were proud of them!
Anybody from Iowa know what these are?
hint: You might eat a pie made from them on Thanksgiving....they're pecans (or "pee-cans for NC'ers) from a tree next door!

Fall colors--a bit late

Our house and the beautiful oak trees with their red leaves
On the way into town
Looking out our bedroom window to the wet land behind our house
Another picture of what's behind our house. It was so pretty for a few weeks, but now has passed. For a while it seemed that the light actually "glowed" with color. It was very spectacular.

Sarah has been busy!

Sarah has been quite busy lately with sewing and knitting, and is becoming proficient in both of these handcrafts. Below are pictures of her with the place mats she made from her birthday "sewing class with Mama." She took to the sewing machine right off, and I think she will become a good seamstress in time. Sometimes a person "has the feel for it" and she obviously does--I could see it as she ran the machine and handled the fabrics. This, of course, made me smile inside. The top picture is of her knitting project. It is a gift for someone this Christmas; one that she thought of and then followed through on by herself with a bit of help from me.

Hives...revisited

Last week I was sick. Really sick, with a terrible sinus infection. I was able to get into the dr. on Sat. am and he gave me a very high dose prescription for amoxicillin. I starteed it Saturday and started feeling better by Sunday afternoon. (I guess that wasjust yesterday, huh?) Late last night I started itching around my waist but thought it was form the tights I was wearing. Upon further investigation, I had hives there and also in my hair, on my ears, and stomach. Somehow, I remembered that last time I had the hives, they had started after a double stint on antibiotics. The drs. had questioned whether or not I was allergic to them. About 2 seconds later I was in a near panic. I knew I could not endure another stint of hives like I had last summer/fall. Thankfully I had talked about it with a friend and she happened to be coming over today to dip Advent candles with us (another post for another day--we had fun). She is knowledgable in homeopathic stuff and reccommended colloidal silver. She had used it before with great results. Very thankfully, she had some and brought some when she come. I still can feel the sinus infection--it is a bad one this time, and I know it is not gone from just the 2 days on amoxicillin, so I have taken the silver and am praying for good results. If anyone has other ideas, please let me hear them. I'm willing to try about anything to keep from having those hives again.
Off to make supper--kids are hungry! We had a very fun and busy day, so it's a good kind of hungry tonight!

Totally weird

OK, it continues. I went to a knitting class Saturday and the instructor was a retired--------wait for it-----



adoption social worker. Maybe money will start falling from the sky tomorrow, then we'll be 100% sure what we're supposed to be doing. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm getting a little worried now

because during today's field trip another mom started asking me about the kids' adoptions (they are in process for Ethiopia). When we got home, there was a letter from Holt in the mailbox. Admittedly, it was asking for donations, but really--that's kind of strange since we haven't received anything like it for many, many months.

I

Hi Families

This is the name of the Holt magazine that started coming to our house when we were in process for the girls' adoption. When a family is not in process, the magazine stops coming. It started arriving not long before we started the process for Marty, even though we should not have been receiving it.
It was in yesterday's mail. It was in last month's mail. I cannot stop wondering who? Who is it, Lord, that you want us to know? Who is it that you want us to look for?

I'm not going to re-hash it anymore......

If your candidate won, congratulations. If he didn't,I'm sorry.
Here's my take on all of it: God is still God. He's still in control. We still have our work to do, whatever it is that God has given us. And because we are studying famous Indian people this week, I will add this quote from Mother Teresa: "Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at his disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts." Enough said.

I'll take this as forgiveness..

Below is the message I got from my sister this morning. She can't remember her google password to leave a comment on the blog itself. Hmmm.....must be her age creeping up on her.....

Oh my gosh Liz! You have a very creative mind for writing and an amazing memory. Ok, so I was a mean BIG sister. As other BIG sister's know that was our job and we took it very serious. but now I'm older (really older)and I realize I should've been a bit nicer. Official apology:
"I'm sorry" Thank you for all the nice things you wrote (I'm writing this through watery eyes)I love you too and am so glad we're sisters and friends.

I'm a believer

in the philosophy that's it's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission (ok...not in serious stuff), so I decided to share the birthday picture with you. But first, I would like to talk about why I even bothered to go to the lengths I did to get the picture in the first place.
My sister is five years older than me. I think we had a love/hate relationship for a lot of years, because I was a typical little sister and I bugged the daylights out of her. However, she had her moments, too.
Like when we were 4 and 9, in Maine. Apparently, she was upset with Mom and Dad and chose to play out her frustrations on me. I clearly remember pulling on her legs as she was "going up to heaven, because Mommy and Daddy don't like me anymore. Good-bye, Lizzie." It wasn't until many years later that she even knew that I remembered that and really thought she was going away. Right there between the pink canopy beds, she was leaving us. It was awful.
Or how about every. single. bridge. that we ever drove over and what she said as we drove over them? And there were thousands, because that's what we did-we drove home from wherever-we-were-living while Dad was in the Air Force. As the car would approach the bridge she would quietly (I'm sure so Mom wouldn't hear her) say, "I wonder how long it would take us to go under the water if the bridge broke?" Or maybe, "I wonder if that water is cold?" Or, "How long do you thnk we could hold our breath when the car fills up with water, Lizzie?" I am still nervous on bridges.
She would give Joe and I a potato chip and make us chew it 10 times before we could have another. She was mean! There are other stories, but I'm sure you get the idea already.
She was also very smart, and quite beautiful, and everyone knew it. I was compared many times to her and left wanting because I didn't meet those standards that others used to measure with. I thought she was perfect, and it wasn't until I was older that I began to see she had her own hurts, too.
Then, she went to beauty school, and I missed her. I spent a very fun week at her little "cabin" behind the school during my Christmas break one year, and she later sent me a bill for the room and board. We became friends and it was fun. She had the most adorable baby girl that anyone ever gave birth to, and I became the favorite aunt. Then she had the perfect baby boy, and I was pretty popular with him, too. We became closer friends, and it was even better. When I had kids, she became the favorite aunt, and continues to live up to that title. I was ecstatic when she moved back to Iowa and we were 1.5 hours apart. That was fun, and we really loved it. Now, I call her (too much) and talk about everything that matters and a lot that doesn't. She is my best friend, and I love her so much. That is why I would go to the trouble of making this package for her **th birthday. She is so worth it.

I love you, Le-Le. Please forgive me.