I was stunned last night to learn of the death of Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter from China, Maria. Due to the fact that it was this mans adoption testimony that led Jordan and I to adoption, I feel like his family is somehow my family. I am sad beyond words. Here is the link that explains kind of what happened. www.stevencurtischapman.com
So last night was a Monday like any other. Jordan was at school and I was contemplating what to make for dinner. I did not feel like exerting too much energy so I opted for fish sticks and mac n' cheese. I set the oven to preheat and carried on about my business. The back of the fish stick box said to set the oven at 475 which is a little high, but I've done it before without a problem. I heard the oven beep once it had pre-heated and a few minutes later I finally made it over there to pop in the fish sticks. I notice a small spark through the window on the oven door. It sort of looked like a sparkler had been placed inside. I just stood there for a second, calmly mind you, wondering what to do. I quickly turned the oven off and stood back to see what would happen next. Nothing. I opened the door to see where exactly the sparks were coming from. BAD IDEA!!!!!! It went from sparking to a full on fire! I shut the door quickly and watched as the inside of the oven was nothing but bright orange. I knew that water is not what you use on electrical fires and that flour is used for a grease fire. My only option was to use the fire extinguisher. Two sprays and the fire finally died out, but I could have never imagined the disaster zone that would have resulted from this choice. The stuff that came out of the extinguisher was like a powder. Two squirts COVERED my kitchen, living room, and trickled into the bedrooms even though I ran and shut the doors. I could not breath and Sammy was rubbing his eyes. I ran and put him in the back yard then went back in and opened all the doors and windows. It was unreal! I am standing there on the back patio counting all the times that day I had been happy because my house was so clean. I just stood there for a minute as I watched the powder billow out of my house into the clean outdoors. What to do, what to do. I called my mom and told her what happened and she told me to bring Sammy over. Actually her first response was laughter! It was good though because I needed to laugh. It really was quite Lucille Ballish. Anyway, I dropped Sammy off and went back home to clean up. Jordan got home from school and walked in to our powdered filled house and got right to work. He was so sweet about the whole thing. We were wiping down everything. Walls, floors, blinds, cabinets, furniture, dishes, bed linens, baseboards. Strangely, through the whole thing I never cried or anything. Only once did I loose it and might have let a curse word slip when my vacuum cleaner stopped working half way through the cleaning up process. Other than that my spirits stayed relatively high. I think I was just retreating into my happy place. I don't know. Our house is about 2/3 of the way back to normal. I still have some wiping down to do in the studio, bathrooms, and my bedroom. I look back now and laugh at the fact that I thought fish sticks would easier!!!!! If only I had made spaghetti.......
So Kristin and I thought that it was important that we give this orphan outreach program a name, but we have just been stumped. We were meeting with our pastor Monday and he suggested "O2", which represents the double "O" in orphan outreach. I thought that was brilliant! So I started doing some internet searching for a graphic to go along with that. I found one on this great website called www.istockphoto.com. You pay a certain amount for an illustration and then download it onto your computer. My brother-in-law is a whiz with graphics stuff, so I told him which one I wanted and then also told him how I would like to manipulate it to fit the look I was going for. He took my suggestions and whipped out the most awesome result. It's a little abstract, but we want people to have to ask questions. Especially if we have t-shirts made. Anything that can start a conversation is great. The only problem is that "O2" is the symbol for oxygen and I don't know how that really ties in. I choose not to worry about that right now. Let me know what you think!
but my son is a shover and a grabber! I don't quite know what to do. Do you remember those days when you didn't have kids and you silently judged a parent by how their child behaved in public? I remember all too well. Let me say one word "karma"! Those of you who have met Sammy know that he is a sweet little boy and can just light up a room with his smile. But let me introduce you to the child he becomes when other little children are in his range of motion. So it's like this. We walk into church Sunday and Sammy bolts for the fish tank at the children's desk. Not a problem. Looking at the fish, good. Shoving three older kids twice his size out of the way so he can get a front row view of the aquatic life, not good! Suddenly you go in to panic mode. It's almost as if you haven't parented this child a day in your life. Your brain starts spazzing out and you forget the brilliant intervention plan you had formulated for moments just as these. So you switch to the default setting and calmly tell your child that they do not touch their friends. I somehow quickly convince myself that Sammy will realize that about a billion eyes are on us(not really, but you assume that the world stops and turns when your child acts up) and will decide to make a good impression on the people. Instead it's almost as if Sammy looks at me and contemplates whose idea is better. His- be right up at the glass and charge the other children a fee to catch a glimpse, OR mine- wait your stinking turn! Yep, you guessed it. He chose his idea. So, default setting number two. Remove him from the situation and take him straight to Sunday school class. Drop him off in class which turns in to him wailing for Mommy and Daddy(major separation anxiety these days). We were somehow able to focus during church and the service was amazing. We leave the service pumped! Walk back to Sammy's class and see him sweetly playing in a corner of the room. He sees us and runs (cue music) to our open arms. Without really thinking, the following words fly from my mouth.."so, were there massive amounts of pushing today?". Why did i have to ask. I tried so very hard to real the words back in before the bait hit the water, but it was too late! Why Heather, WHY???????? The teacher said that Sammy and one other little girl pretty much shoved and grabbed from each other the whole time! She also said that Sammy kept trying to take everyone else's snacks. You sort of want to crawl under a rock when you hear that kind of stuff. It's embarrassing! You want to scream "I swear I discipline him!". Sammy was a doll the rest of the day, but I kept racking my brain trying to figure out why he behaves like this. I know that he is an only child and is very territorial. He has also been pushed and shoved by other children quite a bit in his little life and has probably figured that if he wants to survive he better learn how to defend himself. Or I guess it's more like he thinks he should just walk into the room and shove you so you know up front not to mess with him. The reason I share this story is so that perhaps you mothers of boys out there could give me some insight on what to do. It would be easier if this was a problem we had to deal with daily. If he was receiving constant instruction on not pushing or grabbing from his friends, then the rule might stick. But once or twice a week at church is not getting through. I thought that maybe if I had some of his little buddies over to our house every once in a while, it might help him learn to share. So, tomorrow morning my friend Kristin is bringing over her 2 and 3 year old. Don't be afraid for me! Her kids are really sweet and it's only for an hour and a half. I guess we can call this experiment number 1. I will let you know how it goes.
My friend Kristin and I are going to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida May 1-3 for the Summit IV Christian Alliance For Orphans Conference. It is basically a training seminar for churches who want to start an orphan/foster program. (http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/) Kristin's sister has a condo out there so we will have someone to stay with AND someone to drive us around town. We are totally pumped about all the wonderful breakout sessions as well as the free time we will have WITHOUT kids! I love my baby more than words can say, but I feel like some time away will be good for me. Kristin has four kids so I'm sure some time away will be nice for her too!