The-Courier-recoveringnoah

I'm writing twice in one day! It's unheard of, isn't it? Actually, the kids have been quietly playing all day long.  No fighting or squabbling or yelling to be heard. It makes me think that perhaps the world might end tomorrow. Freaky.

Being that tomorrow rings in 2012, I thought I'd do what all other folk do this time of year and sit down and write some resolutions. Usually, my resolutions center around a common theme... quit eating chocolate, start exercising, and for the love of Pete, get Noah potty-trained.

I have miserably failed on every single one. Every single year. Which could explain my issues with self-worth and inability to trust myself.

But this year it's different. This year, potty-training is NOT going on the list. I'm just hoping it spontaneously happens and then I can go, "Wow! Will ya look at that? Noah's potty-trained and I didn't even make it a goal this year. How awesome are we??"  And then I'll take my left hand and high five my right hand and reach around and pat myself on the back and give myself lots of accolades for something that should have been accomplished 7 years ago.

Yep. This year will be different.

This year, instead of overwhelming myself with a huge list that will probably be broken by January 4th, I plan to make monthly resolutions. I'm hoping to sit down at the end of each month and evaluate what needs to be done or accomplished for the next month. We'll see if that actually happens come January 31st, but right now, I can let you know what's on the agenda for this coming month.

JANUARY 2012 Monthly Goals

1. No fast food for an entire month.

Translated into... NO CARAMEL MOCHAS, LESLIE T. Your body deserves better and you can't afford to buy new jeans. So cut the sugary coffee.

2. No gluten for me or Noah.

We both do sooo much better off it and I know it will help us both immensely, but I tend to get lazy. I mean I have the ability to go hard-core, but one little bite, one little cheat and it unravels everything.

See, I have a majorly addictive personality, which means I could never even dream of drinking or smoking or gambling or joining my neighbors in their annual pot smoking/burning leaves parties.  We had to cut DirecTV four years ago because I was addicted to Take Home Chef.

And the show wasn't that bad, either.

I can't even go on Ebay and I have to limit my time on Facebook and Amazon.

So. Absolutely NO gluten, NO pizza, NO cookies, and NO homemade bread with melted butter that is so incredibly fantastic that it makes me weep just thinking about it  for one whole month!

3. Do Noah's program 5x's a week at 75% of the program. I would explain that in further detail, but it'd just make me sound like a bad mom and I'm already suffering guilt issues from it all.

4. Do 30 minutes of exercise 5x's a week, which can include taking Noah out on his bike. It can also include walking on the treadmill while watching White Collar on Netflix, because breaking up with Netflix is something I'm not emotionally ready to tackle in 2012.

5. Eat a minimum of 2 fruits and 2 green vegetables and 1 orange or red vegetable a day.

Okay, I have to confess. My original goal was to eat 1 fruit and 1 vegetable a day, but Sim chastised me and said the FDA or whomever recommends 5 servings a day, so I had to change it so ya'll wouldn't realize how bad my diet has become...

But that will change starting tomorrow. Right now, I have to finish off this pecan pie with cream because I simply can't let good food go to waste.

6. Clean kitchen sink 5x's a week before going to bed.  Notice I did not say "clean the kitchen". I will do my best to actually clean the whole thing and not just empty my dirty sink onto the counter so that I can have a clean kitchen sink, and, therefore, meet my goal.

Ya'll, I have started and stopped FlyLady more times than I've showered this past year. I just can't do it.

But that will change starting tomorrow. (My current mantra.)

7. Do not watch anything on Netflix past 10.30pm.

Remember that addiction problem I mentioned? Well it includes having this inhuman desire to finish whole seasons of shows in a week - or something ridiculous like that. I am a one-track mind person. But I'm also a multi-tasker, so ifI can combine this with #4 while also eating a banana (#5), then I've just knocked three things out at once.   Booyah!

8. Limit coffee or tea to ONE cup per day. Not two. Not six. But one. First thing in the morning. And then just figure out how to get over my mid-day slump.

9. Limit computer time. I'm not telling you what I'm limiting it to because you'd be horrified how much time I spent on here. And I'm not even blogging or doing anything productive. I'm vegging. And trying to ignore the tremendous amount of things I should be doing.

But, rest assured, I can guarantee that if I told you that my goal is to limit my computer time to XX amount of time XX amount a day , you would feel like the best mother in the world because you'd be saying, "Her poor kids!" And then you'd turn to your spouse and say, "Honey, you think I have it bad? There's this woman in TX who spends XX amount of time on Facebook a day!"

Okay, I might be exaggerating a little bit. But probably not that much.

10. Work on necklaces for adoption fundraiser.

I haven't even mentioned Naveen's adoption in a while because we have hit snag after snag after snag. But I will.  In the meantime, though, a sweet sweet friend gave us boxes of supplies to start making glass tile necklaces as a fundraiser for our adoption. They are sooo cute! I really need to buckle down and finish them up.

Hey, maybe when I quit drinking coffee and start exercising and multi-tasking and knocking out 3 goals at once and going to bed before 10.30, I'll actually have the time and energy to work on them.

One month. I can do it for one month.

Will meet back here in 31 days to tell you how it went and to plan for February!

I just have to pop on here quickly to say that I AM RIGHT! Our neighbors ARE pot-heads. I told ya. I TOLD YA!

Now, if you read my last blog post, you'll remember that I've long subscribed to the theory that our neighbors are pot heads. EVERY SINGLE TIME anyone burns leaves in our neighborhood, I smell pot.

And you might recall that Sim has long subscribed to the theory that I am a crazy woman who likes to stir up trouble and who hopes to get on the local news.

Well, Sim just raked and burned 20 loads of leaves. And does it smell like pot? No it does not.  And why doesn't it? Because we don't smoke pot.

So here's the scenario that just played out in our front yard...

Me - Hmmm. Whatcha doin' there, Sim?

Sim - What does it look like I'm doing?

Me - Looks like you're burning some leaves there...

Sim - (Stops what he's doing and looks at me)  Go ahead and say it.

Me - Say what? I just came outside because I saw you burning some leaves and thought I could use a little pick me up. Thought I could inhale some pot,  if you know what I mean.

Sim - (rolls his eyes and again probably questions why he married me)

Me - And then I thought, wait a minute, I don't actually smell any pot. You're burning leaves, but I don't smell that pot smell. Why is that??

Sim - (rolls his eyes - again. He is either becoming an expert eye roller or is secretly a rebellious teenage girl).

You were right.

(Insert pigs flying and hail in the middle of August because Sim just admitted I was right).

Me- What? I didn't hear that?

Sim - You were right.

Me - What? I couldn't hear you over the roar of those burning pot leaves. Could you say that again? (And, yes, I'm aware that I am incredibly annoying, but it's just so much fun to be vindicated, isn't it?)

And then we came to the conclusion that we might actually just live in a pot-infested neighborhood full of  law-abiding lawyers and teachers and city officials by day.. .and shady characters by night.

And now I get to go all Sherlock Holmes and try to figure out which neighbors like to party with the ganja.

Anna, I wish you were here so that we could be vindicated together. You tell your family that you are right. Moms DO know what they're talking about. We're not just cookie makers and laundry doers. A lifetime of changing diapers has given us Champion Sniffers.  We're the bloodhounds of the family.  Can't put anything past us. No siree, Bob.

And Bob? I've got my eye on you....

A few days ago, one of my favorite bloggers did a blog post about some of her quirks. And then about 200 of her blog followers posted their quirks in the comment section. Now, I have quite a few quirks myself, but I wasn’t about to expose myself to a blogger who probably has about 20,000 people reading her blog each day.


So, I thought I’d just post them on here where all 8 of you can see it.


See. It pays to be unpopular now and then.


Therefore, I present to you my top 10 quirks. In no particular order…


1. I fake burp.


I can’t stand burping. I don’t why. I just think it’s gross. Even though I’ve been known to mimic a small earthquake after drinking an A&W real fast. But in general, I can’t stand it.


Growing up, my dad burped a lot. All. The. Time. (And I’m super sure he’s going to be pleased that I put this on here). And one day, after hearing him burp for the 1,000th time that day, I fake burped  after him. It wasn’t so much of a burp as it was an “eeggghghk!”.


Kinda like a cat coughing up a hairball.


And you know what? It felt good. Like I had cancelled out his bad nasty burp with my fake burp. And then I couldn’t stop. I did it for years. Endured stares and raised eyebrows, but I couldn’t help it. I was on a mission to save the ozone and the memory of burps ringing in my ears by fake burping every time I heard someone else do a real one. If I was a superhero, I’d be wearing a green cape with a big “F B” on the back of it.


As I got older, you know, around 34 or something, I started to feel a bit self conscious about it and so I started fake burping in my head. But, every once in awhile, if you burp around me, you might hear a small sound coming from me and you may think I’m just clearing my thoart…. But I assure you, I’m not.


I’ve just fake burped your burp.


2. I drink straight out of the water jug. Every time.


Listen, and I’m telling you the truth, if you ever come over to my house, you do not want to drink the water out of the fridge. Drink straight from the tap. It doesn’t matter if it hasn’t been reverse osmosised or whatever. Unless you want my backwash in your glass of water, you’ll want to do as I say.


I can’t help it. Maybe it’s laziness. I have a cabinet full of perfectly good mugs to use. And I would never ever think of letting the kids drink straight from the jug. Because that’s just plain gross.


But we can all be sitting at the table and I’ll actually get up and walk to the fridge to get a drink.
I don’t know. Maybe it just tastes better.And it’s always cold out of the fridge. It hasn’t been sitting around in a glass getting all room temperature and everything.


So, if you’re reading this and have actually been to my house and I poured you water from our water jug, man, I’m sorry. You might just  want to bring your own next time.


3. I’m convinced all our neighbors are pot heads.


I am utterly convinced that every time our neighbors burn leaves that they are actually crouching behind their houses smoking a spliff. I think they use the burning leaves things as a cover up.
Sim assures me that I am dead wrong on this one and that I’m actually just smelling leaves burning, but isn’t that what pot is? Dried leaves that you smoke?


Uh huh. That’s what I thought.


Now, I’m not much of a conspiracist, (okay, you might want to read that sentence with a grain of salt), but how come every time they decide to rake all their leaves together and burn them, they have a big ol’ burning party?


Uh huh. That’s what I thought.


Now, I have no idea how I ever came to this conclusion, and Sim assures me that I’m wrong, but I am absolutely convinced that our neighbors are doing something that is against every school campaign Nancy Reagan ever did.


And that goes for everyone. Including the sweet 80 year old couple who lives next to us and the retired school teacher who lives across from us. And I have no doubts about the cowboy on the other side of us. I am 100% convinced they are all potheads.


And because of this, every time I step foot outside during the months of November – February (prime leaf burning season in our neighborhood), I run back inside and whisper in hushed conspiratorial tones,


“Sim, someone’s smoking pot outside!”


To which he replies, “Do we have to do this every year? They’re burning leaves. Not pot.”


But I usually ignore him and  run to the bathroom to put on a bra because, heaven forbid, a cop in uniform comes to question me about my neighbor’s illegal activities and I don’t have a bra on. 


Or mascara.


And then I pull up a chair and wait by the window for the sirens to come blaring down our streets and wonder if I need to act serious when they interview me on TV, but they never show up.


Which Sim reminds me is because no one is actually smoking pot outside.


And, then in dejection, I go outside and start taking huge gulps of air all over the yard. And say things like, 


“I don’t understand the big deal of it. I don’t feel anything at all.”


To which he replies, 


"That’s because you’re inhaling the scent of burning dead leaves.”


Then he just slowly shakes his head and goes back inside. And I’m sure he’s wondering why he didn’t just go for that slut in college who had the hots for him, but whose advances he dismissed because he was charmed by my Southern naivety.


Uh huh. That’s what I thought.


4. I love the smell of cigarette smoke.


Okay, let me rephrase that. I actually hate the smell of cigarette smoke. It makes me gag and want to jump in the shower and scrub all my skin off with a pumice stone. It makes my throat close up and my head itch and I always think of those commercials of that old man with the blue skin warning us of our fate if we ever take a drag.


But I absolutely love the smell on Sim.


Now, Sim’s not a smoker. But he used to be. When I first met him in college, he was a pack a day guy. I have very vivid memories of him dressed all in black with his scuffed Doc Martens leaning over his desk in his dorm room rolling a cigarette while Slow Dive was playing on the tape deck. And I don’t know if it’s because I associate it all with those first few months of young love or maybe because subconsciously it reminds me of a time when we had no troubles in the world, but some women love roses and some women love diamonds, but this woman loves her some cigarette smelling Simeon.


Whew….. is it getting hot in here?


Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for his lungs, he kicked the habit cold turkey when we got married 15 ½ years ago and just one cigarette now will send him into an asthma attack, but I still can’t help but ask him every once in a while if he’ll just smoke one tiny little cigarette or go into the Coupon Lady’s house and pick up the weekly ads for me... because it only takes 10 seconds in her house for you to smell like you’ve been in a smoky bar all night long. And then I just bury my head in his hair and his shirt and breathe deeply and it takes me back to being 20 and living in Sheffield all over again.


And then he breaks the spell by muttering something about me just wanting him to smoke so that I can get his life insurance… and suddenly I’m 38 years old again living in a small town in East Texas. But for those 5 seconds of cigarette smelling euphoria, it was pure bliss.


5. I can’t pray with my eyes shut.


I can’t. I can’t do it. I think it has something to do with losing control. If I close my eyes and listen to someone pray, I’m totally afraid I’m going to relax so much that I'll fall asleep. Or worse yet… fart. 


Oh gosh, what if I closed my eyes while some preacher was praying and lost all awareness of where I was and then… farted.


Nooooooo! That would be so embarrassing. But now you know…


I don’t close my eyes when I pray because I’m afraid I’ll fart. 


And since God created me with all these quirks, I take it that he’s okay with my open eyed prayer.


And since I keep my eyes open when praying, I can take a peek around and see who else keeps their eyes open. And every once in awhile, I’ll make eye contact with a fellow fear farter and we’ll give each other that knowing look and then I imagine them busting loose with a silent but deadly one and then I get the giggles. So, not only do I keep my eyes open during prayers, I usually start giggling, too.


It’s tough being me.


Oh, and let me also tell you that this goes for when I pray by myself, too. I mean,  what if my eyes are closed and I can’t hear someone come up behind me and then I do it? Do you know how embarrassing that would be?


Probably equivalent to admitting this whole little quirk on my blog…


6. I’m convinced a deranged person/demon/clown lives under my bed at night.


Hi. I’m Leslie and, yes, I saw the movie Poltergeist when I was a child. I should have listened to my mom and refused to watch when I went to that slumber party, but I did. And it has scarred me for life.


Every time I go to the bathroom at night, I have to make a running leap from the bathroom to the bed in case a clown reaches out with one of his huge clown hands and grabs my ankle.


And since I’m probably being punished for watching all kinds of movies at slumber parties when I was little, I have to go to the bathroom approximately 3 times a night, which means there’s a lot of running and jumping going on in our bedroom.


And if you’ve read my blog long enough, you’ll remember the one time I thought Sim was going to leave me because I made a running leap and landed on his family jewels while he was in a deep, relaxing slumber.


Oh, let me tell you, he was so mad that I was ready to climb under the bed and beg the clown to take me back to whatever rain gutter it’d crawled out from. (Yes, I saw the movie It at a slumber party, too…). And for awhile, I actually stopped running and leaping and just made quick strides to the bed each night. But then, one day while browsing Netflix, I came across a Renee Zellwegger movie, and, you know, it’s Renee Zellwegger. She’s Bridget Jones. She can’t be scary. And don’t you know…. Don’t you know… it was a scary movie and they included a scene where the demon child goes under the… you guessed it.. bed. And that did it. I’ve been running and leaping ever since.


So, now, I’m no longer allowed to watch rated R movies, and Sim has learned not to sleep on his back.


7. If my husband is one minute late home from work I’m convinced something happened to him.


Sim gets off work at 4.45 each day. In theory. 99% of the time he works late, but because it takes him an hour and a half to get home and I need to know when to start supper, I always call him at 4.45 on the dot.. And if he doesn’t answer, I start to panic.


Is he okay? Did he have an accident? Did he work in a bad area today? Should I call the hospital?


And then I start to worry.


What if he’s dead? What am I going to do? How will I tell the kids? Will I have to live with my parents? Where will I work? Will I have to put Noah in school?


And then I start to cry.


Oh my gosh, I can’t be a single parent. I’m not even a good married parent. What will this do to Eli? Will he turn to drugs as a teenager? Will Nandi be a pregnant 13 year old?


Who would date me? No one would date me. I don’t even know how to date. I don’t want to date anyone from here! Will I have to go to Dallas to date? Who will watch the kids? I can’t pay a sitter. I’m a single mom.


Redbook said that men prefer Brazilian waxes. I don’t want to do a Brazilian wax! I nearly died trying to wax my upper lip. Oh my gosh, what am I doing? I’m thinking of dating again and Sim hasn’t even been gone 5 minutes yet.


What kind of wife am I? I’m a horrible wife. He deserves better. If he’s not dead, he needs someone better than me. I’m going to tell him that. He deserves better.


(SOB!) He’s going to leave me! He’s going to leave me for some 25 year old who gets a Brazilian wax! I need to work out. Oh gosh, I need a cookie. Where’s a cookie. Did I eat that last cookie? I bet if I didn’t eat that last cookie, he wouldn’t leave me! Maybe I should put a bra on. I bet he marries someone whose boobs are big enough that she needs to wear a bra! My boobs are too small!


(SOB!)


And, then, because Sim lives in a world called “Reality”, he always calls me back within 10 minutes and tells me he’s either on his way or running late. And at this point, I’m usually sniffling and a huge mess, but trying to act perfectly normal because I don’t want him to know that I’ve already planned his death, his funeral, and my next husband.


But, more importantly, I don’t want him to know how crazy I am.


8. I am absolutely convinced that the objects below are going to bring me great fortune one day. 


No really. I am. I’ve been holding onto these babies for YEARS. Right now, they’re going for approximately 5 bucks on Ebay, but I just know that if I hold on to them long enough, they’ll bring me riches…




 Yes, that would be a Spice Girls Doll Collection.


Don’t judge. You know you have some quirks, too.


And the sad thing is that I just know I had the Ginger Spice doll in her UK dress and I can’t find it! And I secretly thought, what if someone STOLE IT!! I actually stayed up last thinking about how that could have happened, but then I remembered that I sold it for $25 dollars a couple of years ago when we were raising money for Nandi’s adoption.


And, yes, I will fully admit that part of me is hoping some covert Spice Girl lover somehow stumbles upon my blog and says, 


“So, how much do you need for Naveen’s adoption?? I will fully pay the amount you owe in exchange for these amazing dolls that will complete my life.”


Anyone? Any takers? Email me. No really. Contact me. Please.....


And speaking of riches, I’m also going to admit to owning a pack of British Flamegrilled Steak Flavor McCoy’s crisps from 1997 featuring a special limited edition “Full Monty” movie cover. 


And I have never ever opened them b/c I was certain that if I held onto them long enough that I would be able to sell them one day on Ebay and make a fortune.








But I forgot that they’re an instant win bag with a chance of winning a thousand pounds. And even though the date to claim the prize would have expired 14 years ago, I now have this gnawing desire to rip open the bag to see if I won.


But I’m literally telling myself to hold on because one of these days they might release the movie as a 25th anniversary special edition and I can sell this bag of crisps for 5000 thousand dollars or something.


Hey, when I dream, I dream BIG.


9. I can't stand people to whisper in my ear.


Please. Don’t ever do it. It makes me want to curl up in fetal, suck my thumb, and whimper for my mom. It’s the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard or lying on the floor rubbing your head against carpet or feeling that horrible feeling of eating the last bite of a popsicle and feeling your teeth scrape against the wooden stick.


I could never be in the FBI or work for the CIA because it would be so easy for me to cave. Sure, you can tie me to a chair and dunk my head in water or shove bamboo sticks under my fingernails or make me watch Yo Gabba Gabba, but I will never tell you what you want to know. 


But, by golly, if you start whispering in my ear then I’ll immediately give you the secret location of the red button and the whole combination to a vault full of money just so you’ll stop.


And the thing is, my kids are at the age where they LOVE secrets. They’re the best. And they can’t understand why Mommy shoos them away every time they want to tell her a secret or why she starts saying crazy things like, 


‘Mommy can’t keep secrets! You tell Mommy a secret and she’ll put it on Facebook. I promise she will! Go tell Daddy. Daddy loves secrets! Go! Go! Go!”


Maybe Sim's next wife will like sweet nothings whispered in her ear. But not me. No way. No how.


Okay, so that’s only 9 quirks, but I’ve just given myself the heebies by thinking of someone whispering in my ear and I honestly need to go lay down. It paralyzes me. Oh gosh, I find it so revolting. Who wants hot breath in your ear?  I'm giving myself dry heaves.


So now I told you my quirks, what are yours??

Well, the cat's out of the bag. If you read Lori's post about the Coffee Fundraiser, then you know that we're adopting a little boy from Ind*a. And we're naming him Naveen.

I still can't give a lot of identifying information... and, boy, do I wish I could post his picture. You'll just want to reach through the computer and squeeze him up. He's adorable!  But I have to wait until we pass court to do any of that.  And right now we don't know when that'll be.

Because of the fundraiser, I had to break my vow of silence and announce Naveen's upcoming adoption on my Facebook page. I was hoping to keep it a secret until right before travel, but things happened which made us need to fundraise... and well, that's why we had to be a bit more open about things.

Anyway, I've had a lot of people email me or call me with questions. So I thought I'd answer some of them right here.

1. Why are you adopting from Ind*a again?


Well, we actually hadn't set out to adopt again so soon.  Sim wasn't even on board to adopt again, but I was secretly hoping that one day we'd be able to adopt from China. I've always been drawn to China. But then, by chance, a friend led us to Naveen's photo on a waiting child site and it was instant love. Even Sim felt it and he gave the go ahead to get more information. It all happened so quickly, but we both knew he was our son.

2. Does he have special needs?


Yes and no. We can't discuss his needs right now, but I'm not one of those people that gets real secretive about it. I just can't discuss them now because I feel we need to wait until we pass court. One reason, though, that I don't mind talking about his needs (eventually) is because I think it lets other parents, who are thinking of adopting, realize that many of these needs are so manageable and should never keep a child from having a family. Plus, I can't even begin to tell you of the supportive system I've found and the amazing friends I've found simply because our children share the same needs.However, as you've noticed with Nandi, I don't really discuss those needs once they hit school. I think, at that point, I need to be a bit more selective with what I blog about.


I will say that Naveen's needs are minor. He was born with a condition and had surgery. The surgery failed and he had to go back and have it done again. And now he's doing great. He's caught up in all areas and is doing fine. We'll need to monitor his condition, probably once a year, but it should not affect him in any way.

3. Why another boy? Don't you want another girl?

Honestly, although we'd love another little girl, I'm not sure it's in Nandini's best interest right now. She's doing so good and we think she needs to be the only "princess" in our family for the time being. We think there'd be too much competition and maybe even some jealously. It's hard to explain why we think she'll be okay with Naveen, but we just do. And, like I said, she is doing amazing right now and she can't wait to be a big sister.

4. How much longer until you travel?


Ah, the 10 million dollar question.  Well, we are following the exact same timeline that we did with Nandi. But in Nandi's case, we were already home this time 4 years ago.   Ind*a went through an adoption reform over the summer and the agency that handles initial clearance has a backlog of 550 cases. They're not taking any new dossiers until after December 31. Fortunately, though, we are in that backlog and we hope to hear something by the end of next month.  (I never thought I'd be thankful to be part of a 550 backlog!!).

After that, we'll go to court. However, it's a new court process and our judge is requiring us to fly to Ind*a TWICE.  That was a real kicker.  We understand why, but we were not prepared for this.  We have to fly for a 10 minute meeting.

No joke.

4 days RT travel. $$$ airplane tickets. For a 10 minute meeting.

But, honestly, I would travel a thousand times if that's what it took to get Naveen home.

Anyway, after the court date, Naveen should be ready to come home within 3-4 weeks. But, once you leave Ind*a on a tourist visa, you can't return for 60 days.  And there's no way we can stay for 4 weeks.

Plus, there are new post-placement requirements to the tun of an extra $2650.

Yep.

So that's why Lori's holding the coffee fundraiser for us. (THANK YOU, LORI!)

But regarding us travelling and when... we don't know.  We're hoping we'll get the first court date by the beginning of February, which means we can fly back at the beginning of April... because our paperwork expires mid-April and I get heart palpitations just thinking about it.

5. Do you plan on adopting again?


Right now? Nope! The adoption womb is closed for business. I think four is a good number, and, truthfully, I think this will stretch us as far as we can go. But we do joke that I'll probably get knocked up with quads when I'm about 45.  Can't you just see that happening?  Oh my gosh. And, you never know. We weren't planning on adopting number four... and look where we are now.

But, I'm pretty confident this is it. I don't think my heart can take the suspense and waiting of another adoption.  Plus, I'm driving my whole family crazy with my email stalking. I swear I check my email about every 5 minutes to see if there's an update.

If anyone has any other questions, let me know!

Ok so it's Lori here--not Leslie. I have hijacked her blog to tell you about an awesome fundraiser to help their exceptional family add another wonderful little boy to the mix. Leslie is the type of person who goes above and beyond for everyone else... I mean have you seen her passion for Central America that turned her into an overnight doll maker to raise funds for beds for a poor family in Guatemala? Did you recently participate in the auction for Sarah's Covenant Homes? That was the brain child of Leslie. Those are only two examples of how Leslie goes out of her way for everyone else.  I mean all you have to do is read thru her blog and see the fantastic way she and her husband are working their tails off for their children at home and their little cutie in India. Now it's our turn to love on her family.
  India is currently going through some changes in their adoption policies. Along with changes means more money is needed to complete some of the steps. In order to raise some money ---we are doing a coffee fundraiser. What an awesome gift to give someone and to buy some for yourself. It's all fair trade and all sounds so yummy. I can't wait to order some Tanzanian Peaberry and the new Holiday Falalalala blend. Let's show Leslie and her family how awesome they are and support their adoption. Here is the link  https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/recoveringnoah/ .

Buy some and feel free to advertise it on your blog or facebook.

Blessings !!!

Lori P.
http://americameetsindia.blogspot.com/

I posted this on Facebook - sorry for the repeat if you've already seen it.....

Eli is sick today and Nandi doesn't feel well, so I thought I'd better see how Noah was feeling, too...

"How are you feeling Noah?"

S-I-C-K

"You feel sick?"

Y-E-S

"Where does it hurt?"

N-O-S-E

"Does anything else hurt?"

S-T-O-M-A-C-H

"I'm so sorry. Would a pospsicle make it better?"

Y-E-S

"What flavor?"

N-O-T G-R-A-P-E

"Okay, orange or cherry?"

O-R-A-N-G-E

5 minutes later...

"Do you feel better now?"

N-O

"What would make you feel better?"

B-A-N-D-A-D-E

"A bandaid would make you feel better?"

Y-E-S

"But you're not bleeding."

N-O

"But it'll make you feel better?"

Y-E-S

"What kind of Bandaid?"

S-N-O-O-P-Y

"And where do you want me to put it?"

S-T-O-M-A-C-H

"So, let me get this straight. A Snoopy Bandaid on your non-bleeding stomach will make you feel better?"

Y-E-S

So I proceed to put a Snoopy Bandaid on his stomach... and he tears it off and tries to eat it.

"Noah, why did you tell me you wanted a Bandaid if you were going to turn around and eat it?"

C-A-N-T H-E-L-P I-T.

(Lightbulb moment).

"How did it make you feel to get a bandaid?"

N-O-R-M-A-L

Noah challenges my belief system everyday. I wish every parent of a nonverbal child - especially with autism - would realize that our kids are in there. They're normal, typical children on the inside... wanting popsicles and bandaids, just like every other kid in the world.

Me - Noah, what do you want to talk about today?

Noah -    I-N-O-T-T-A-L-K

Me - I know you can't "talk", but you know what I mean. What do you want to talk about?

Noah -  I-N-O-T-T-A-L-K

Me -  O-kay. What do you want to spell then?

Noah -  I-N-O-T-T-A-L-K

Me - Hmmm.... so you can't talk, huh?

Noah -  N-O

Me-  Okay, so tell me one thing that I need to know about you. Just one thing. And I'll leave you alone. Deal?

Noah - Y-E-S

Me-  So what's the one thing I get to know about you today?

Noah-  I-N-O-T-A-D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R

Me - Really. You're not a dinosaur?

Noah -  N-O.

Me - Good to know.

Noah - Y-E-S

Me-  Are you having a laugh?

Noah-  Y-E-S

Me - Do you think you're funny?

Noah - Y-E-S

Me- Yeah, you're pretty funny. =)

Once upon a time there was a monster. He was so nice. On Halloween he didn't scare no one.  Instead, he gave all the kids candy. The End.

Noah's really making me laugh today.  His spelling is still sporadic, but when he's "on" he is on!


We were sitting at the table and Nandi & Eli were spouting off math facts and getting them all wrong.


"7 + 3 IS nine!!'


"No it's not, it's 8!!!"


This went on for about 5 minutes and Noah got increasingly upset. Finally, he started rocking back and forth and shrieking while banging his head.


I asked him, "Noah, are you mad that they're messing up all the math facts?" (If you'll recall, Noah's favorite thing for me to do is to sing the multiplication tables.)


And he spelled out Y-E-S.


"Why"


"B-E-C-A-U-S-E  I  N-O  E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!"


I didn't point out that he obviously doesn't know how to spell "know".  We'll work on that one later. =)


We also started on Noah's diet again today. The past month was just awful. My hat is off to any parent who works full-time. I don't know how you do it!! I spent the last month working on the auction and our diet went by the wayside. I just can't seem to focus on more than one thing at a time. Anyway, today it's back to sweet potatoes and kale!


Well, Noah doesn't seem to be too happy about that. Sim made him a really tasty lunch with beef and sweet potatoes and zucchini, but Noah refused to do touch it.


I said "Noah, do you like what Daddy made you?"


N-O


"What do you think of it?"


I-T-S  N-O-T  M-Y  T-O-P  C-H-O-I-C-E.


That cracked me up. It sounded so much like Simeon. It'll be really interesting to see if Noah picks up on some of Sim's phrasing and the British slang he uses.


Finally,  Noah was tugging on me a lot while I was at the stove. I was trying to multi-task and cook, talk to my mom on the phone, and figure out what video Noah wanted to watch all at the same time. But Noah kept coming up to me and tugging on me. I ended up burning the pumpkin "pancakes" (they're just pumpkin and egg and VERY difficult to make, I think. They don't hold well).  Well, I got aggravated at Noah and he stormed off.  When I asked him what was on his mind, he spelled out...


"S-O-R-R-Y  F-O-R  N-E-E-D-I-N-G  Y-O-U-R  T-I-M-E  M-O-M!"


What a stinker!  It was like a knife to the heart... which he knew. But he spelled it with such attitude. He reminds me of me at that age. Scary thought! Have a I ever blogged about my third grade teacher who told my parents that I would end up in juvy hall by the time I was a teenager?  I was a pistol in elementary school. But I turned out okay.


I think.


And I'm pretty sure Noah's going to turn out just fine, as well.

Things have been so busy around here that I haven't had a chance to actually sit down and write much. Right now, I'm just writing down Noah's conversations so that I won't forget them.

Here's his first poem. He wrote it (well, pointed it!) last Friday when were in Austin to work with Soma.  She had him pick two words that rhyme and then she told him to make sentence using those words. I think it adds an extra dimension to his cleverness. =)

1.  The ride was long
     I heard a song

That was written after we finally arrived at HALO. It took 4 hours to get there because I was stuck behind a mobile home going 40 mph for a good 70 minutes.  I sure hope Noah didn't pick up any the words I was saying along the way....

2. I heard a noise
    I had no choice
    It came from running boys
    Not from toys

This was written after our lunch break. We were headed back and some college kids thought it'd be fun to dart in and out of traffic - on foot.

Again, I'm just waiting for Noah to spell out his first cuss word...  uh, I plead the fifth.

Last night we were at my parents' house and we asked Noah what his favorite thing about Papa is and he spelled out

S-T-O-R-Y

Then we said, "What else?" and he spelled out H-I-S  R-O-Y

That's when we realized that Noah was meaning the songs that Papa makes up. My dad is forever making up rhymes and songs and several of them call Noah "Roy" in them, after Roy Rogers. These songs were made up when Noah was a baby and they're all about Noah being Papa's future cowboy.. hence, the name Roy.  When he was little, my dad called him Noah Roy a lot.

Who would've known that Noah would catch on to that??!!

Again, it goes to show that our kids are constantly listening to everything we say and are constantly aware of everything that's going on.

Then we said, "What else do you like about Papa?" and he spelled out M-Y O-T-H-E-R  S-O-N-G-S.

Since Noah was the first grandchild, he has about 5 or 6 songs that are exclusively about him.

Anyway, I said, "Okay, Noah. Pick something else."  and he spelled out S-O-N-G-S.

"Noah, what do you like about Papa besides songs?" and he spelled out S-O-N-G-S.

Guess who has a stubborn streak?? lol

So I said, "Noah, pick something else and don't start it with an "S"! ", so he spelled out H-I-S  S-O-N-G-S.

Isn't that hysterical?  He's so funny. I mean, he's totally straight-faced while doing it, but you know that he's cracking up inside.

Oh, one more thing!  He brought me a can of Sprite from my mom's fridge and wanted it. Normally, I wouldn't give it to him (we are trying soooo hard with this new diet), but it'd been kind of a bad day and I was all emotional and gave in. Kids sure do know when you're most likely to say yes, don't they??

But I made him spell it! That counts for something, right?

So he spelled out S-T... then he stopped. Then, I kid you not, he looked at the Sprite can and then spelled it correctly. S-P-R-I-T-E.  He's never done that. It was so awesome. Then I said "What do you say?" and he spelled out T-H-A-N-K  Y-O-U.  Awww.

I will say that this definitely didn't happen overnight. We first took Noah to Soma's 4 1/2 years ago and he still has a long way to go.  With Soma, he does most of the spelling independently, but with me I have to hold his hand.  I don't move his hand at all, although it looks like it. We're really working on this because no one will ever believe that he's actually guiding his hand, not me, and he'll do it independently with Soma. So that's what we're working on now. Plus, he won't do it with anyone other than me or Soma. There's definitely a lot of work left to be done.

Gotta stop right now or the kids will be late for school.  Then it's home, therapy, and mailing out items from the SCH auction that ended on Monday. We raised over $1500 for Sarah's Covenant Homes! Niiiiiice.

I know that if I don't sit down right now and put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) then I'll forget. And I know that I owe a big explanation on what we're doing with Noah and all that, and I will try to write something soon.  In the meantime, Noah is amazing us lately with his spelling on the letter board.

Noah, if you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be? T-A-L-K

What's the hardest thing about being 9 (almost 10)?  N-O-T  T-O-I-L-E-T  T-R-A-I-N-E-D

What's your favorite song at the moment? S-O-M-E-O-N-E  L-I-K-E  Y-O-U

Noah! I change that song every time I hear it. (I'm a bit tired of it).  Do you want me to stop changing it?
Y-E-S

If you could live anywhere, where would you live? T-E-X-A-S  W-I-T-H   M-O-M

If you could invent anything, what would it be? T-O-Y-S  T-H-A-T  D-O-N-T  C-O-S-T

When were you the happiest in your life?  M-E-E-T-I-N-G   A-N-O-O-P  (when he met Anoop Desai backstage at the American Idols tour)

What's the one thing you would change in the world? T-O-I-L-E-T  T-R-A-I-N    E-Z

What's the one thing in the world you couldn't live without? M-O-M-S   L-O-V-E

And, finally,  I went to check on Noah last night and he was still up.  He grabbed my hand and put it to his mouth.  I knew he had a loose tooth, so I felt inside and saw that he'd lost it.  There was also a tiny bit of the blood on the floor. I immediately said, 'Oh Noah! Did you lose your tooth? You poor thing!?"  He got agitated and led me to the door and pushed me out.

This morning I asked why and he spelled T-R-E-A-T-E-D  L-I-K-E  A  T-O-Y.  I said, "I treated you like a toy?"  Y-E-S.   "How should I have treated you?"  L-I-K-E   A  S-U-N  (son).

And it was so profound! Had it been Eli, I would have been like "Cool dude! Hi-5!  Tooth fairy's comin' to see you tonight."

But with Noah, I treated him like a baby.  And he didn't like it. Not one bit.

I am so grateful for all the new things I'm learning about Noah... and the lessons he's teaching me.

I promise that when things slow down, I'll try to explain what we're doing and why I think it's (finally!) working.  In the meantime, we've come up with these "Conversation Starters" by googling Conversation Starters for kids.  We try to ask about 4 or 5 to the kids each night at supper. We're having a blast with them!

I'm sorry I haven't responded to my emails or blogged this past week. I fried our computer. Long story. In fact, it'll probably be a blog post later in the week. (And if you've been reading this for a while, then you may remember that I fried our last computer, too!).  Maybe this is a sign that I need to stay away from computers??

Anyway, in my last post about the upcoming auction for Sarah's Covenant Homes, I showed a picture of baby Emma. I'm proud to say that Baby Emma is home! She's now at Sarah's in Ongole and weighs 5.5 lbs. She needs to gain 1 more pound in order to have shunt surgery. Will you pray for her health?

You can also read all about Emma on Sarah's new post HERE.

And if you would like to participate in the auction, please let us know!

Thanks!

Many of you know that in January 2010, I went on a trip to India to volunteer at Sarah's Covenant Homes. It completely changed my life. I fell deeply in love with Sarah's mission to help abandoned children with special needs and I think I left a piece of my heart with every single child there.

Last week, Sarah brought home 21 new children from the government orphanage. This means 21 new beds, 21 new sets of clothes, diapers for 21 new kids, medicines and therapies and surgeries for 21 more children... it adds up fast.

We have decided to hold an Arts & Crafts auction to help raise money for SCH and their new children.  We've started a blog called Auctions for a Cause and you can find it HERE . You do NOT have to be crafty or artistic to donate. One lady sells Pampered Chef and is donating a Pampered Chef item. We've had people ask if they can donate gift cards. A friend of mine is donating the cowboy decorations from her son's room.  I have some aprons that I bought off Etsy a few years ago that I plan on putting in the auction.

The point is... if you want to help, you can. And all funds raised go directly to SCH.  You'll be able to help children like Emma...



And Jackie....



And Zinnia....



And Jamila



If you've ever wanted to make a difference, but didn't know how, this is your chance. You don't have to spend a dime. And, actually, if you have a business or an etsy store or are trying to raise money for an adoption or a cause, then this is the PERFECT opportunity for you.  Check out our section on "How To Make A Donation" to find out why.

I know I haven't been blogging regularly and it's probably cheeky to come on here and ask for help, but if you'd like to participate we'd be so grateful. And if you can't participate, will you help spread the word?

Donate a Gift.  Save a Life.

It feels kinda good, right?

www.auctionsforacause.blogspot.com

This may very well go down in history as the most boring blog post ever. It's just occurred to me, though, that I haven't updated in weeks, so I thought I'd sit down really quickly and type out a brief update.