LOVED

Have you ever noticed that God works through other people? That just when you think nobody understands you, you are reminded of His love for you from other people?

I had a particularly difficult weekend for a variety of reasons the biggest one being I had way too much time to think and surf prison blogs and forums! That is just like picking a scab and should be very much discouraged for people who are trying to be positive. It is just like a bad car wreck, you just keep checking out stories that make you feel better about your own story, but pretty soon you are crying for other moms going through the same thing, no fun!

Add to that the whole hormonal upheavel of pre-menopause, there Mom I finally admitted it :), and you have a bad case of the blues.

This morning one of our students showed up with flowers from his home stay mom. She and I are friends with a very limited vocab between us, but none the less friends. She had sent me this beautiful boquet.

A couple of hours later the mail man came with not one card but two from my best friend Karen in the U.S. Me and Karen go back to the age of 3 if you can believe it. She is in the process of coming to visit and was telling how excited she was and that if I ever needed anyone to talk to she is there. Isn't that cool? I just cried to think that God loved me so much to send me friends like this that listen to Him and watch over little ole' me!

HAPPY 25 BIRTHDAY

Today is my daughter Rebekahs' 25 birthday! It was fun and we had a great day celebrating. We took the girlies to the pool for the day, then it was out for ice-cream, then it was home to make her favorite dinner, salmon patties, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

It is hard for me to believe that 25 years have raced by so quickly. I was telling Rebekah while we were at the pool that the day was very similar on the day she was born. She was born in Wahiawa Hawaii, so the weather was pretty much like it was here in Costa Rica today. About 80 degrees with a slight breeze and beautiful.

Rebekah was one month early so she was only five pounds when she was born. She also was born with her thumb in her mouth! It took us about 10 years to pry that thing out of her mouth and that would explain why she is wearing braces now at 25.

I have to brag about her a little bit since it is her special day. She has always been very quiet and mellow. She is a super hard worker and a great mommy. I am very proud of the mom and woman and hotmom she has grown up to be. I am thankful for her and that we are best friends, running partners and partners in most crimes. She told me when we made our resolutions this year that like alcoholics that avoid friends that influence them to drink we influence each other to eat and should really not hang out if we really want to get skinny!

Forget that I will take the extra 10 lbs. and a great friend to hang out with. Happy Birthday Rebekah!

FIESTA DE NAVIDAD

Wow what a bash! We were not sure if the friends we have here in Costa Rica would understand the concept of a pot-luck, guess they did! We had to take three rounds to finish off the food, and there was still enough left for every family to take plates home to share with family that could not make it. We sang Christmas songs in Spanish and then had another round of food. Then we put on some Cumba music, danced and ate another round. We are already on plans for next year, gotta add the fireworks! Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

WEEKLY SERMON

I found an awesome blog site yesterday and would highly recommend it to anybody who has, will or is adopting a child. It is A4everFamily.org. I learned a lot from it about some of Maleahs behaviors, as well as my reactions.

After raising six children you would like to think you have it somewhat figured out. Guess what, I just keep being amazed at how much I do not have figured out! Just when I think I have it figured out the rules change, or the kid changes, or the world changes, or I change! You get the idea, there are no rules, there are no constants except the values and principals we live by.

The real trick I guess is learning to apply our principals on every situation we run into with our children as well as ourselves. A good example of this is the belief I have that it really does matter who your friends are and who you hang out with.

My daughter is just starting to believe me on this one, but it is really difficult to learn. She would like to believe that as long as she is doing what she knows is ok it is all good. Unfortunately it is not like that anymore.

She has an older brother who is going to be in prison for at least five years because he did not believe this concept. He thought and actually still thinks that it is ok to go along with the group, as long as you don't "inhale" so to speak. Not true as he has very painfully been made aware of.

I guess this is my soap box for the week, and why I love blogging! I get to choose who I check out and who I hang out with! There are so many blogs and so little time. I have a great new word for friends who blog "frogs"!