Our Next Project!

 

 Most of the decor in our house is (thankfully) pretty bland, BUT the bathroom is pink with an angel border.  It's coming down!

What we found to work best was to strip off the top coated layer.  Then we sprayed the paper backing with windshield wiper fluid, let it sit briefly, and scraped away.  (I found it best to dampen it, but not soak it!)  Definitely work in sections and wipe the while afterwards to removed any sticky residue!  Works like a charm.  Glad the bathroom is so small--the kitchen will be a much bigger project!

Field Trip!

 Last week all of Shepherd got to go to Kelsey Farms.  This farm has been in existence since the 1830's and milks over 500 cows three times a day!  Our city slickers loved seeing the cows close up and watching the milking. 

 They had a corn pit for the kids to play in--never seen that before, but the kids LOVED it!

They had a straw mountain complete with tunnels and tires.  Good way to get rid of excess energy!

They had snack, lunch, went through a corn maze, and petted baby calves.  Not to mention picking out a pumpkin to take home.  This wore most of them out.

Here's the little cutie I got to sit with.  After showing him all the other pictures he wanted one of us together! 

Ana Wants You To Know...

She lost her first tooth!! She's very pleased and we're happy that the tooth coming in behind it can move up.  She's all set for the tooth fairy tonight!

Fall Break

 On my Fall Break I painted some very dark brick in my kitchen white--it will eventually have a tan wash over it as well.  Really brightens up the kitchen!

 Sewed kitchen curtains from some batik material.

 Covered Ana's blinds with some cute material.

 Scraped and sanded a bathroom window.

And worked on a shelf for the hallway--that gets it's own post later :)

Basset Cuteness For Your Day!

The stare

 Placing all her toys in strategic places on the stairs!

The what are you thinking look--she's got it down.

 

Mei Mei has been missing Ana (who is away at the Grandparents).  Ana is our general taker outer and runner arounder.  For a bassets Mei Mei is pretty stinkin' fast.  Our house has a short stair case into the kitchen so that you can run in a circle around our bottom floor.  (It's actually a really good work out with the stairs and a barking puppy nipping at your heels!)  She caught me a couple of times much to her delight!

 

We're so thankful to have a house, a yard, and a dog!

Solving America's Education Problems

Last week I had a student (4 yrs. old) come to school with his breakfast and lunch.  (Shepherd provides an extremely nutritious breakfast/lunch for free!)  His breakfast was a large container of chocolate milk and a double fudge chocolate cookie.  His lunch was a sprite, a bag of bugles (chips), and a entire roll of oreo like cookies.  Seriously--these kids aren't ADD or ADHD!  They just eat too much sugar and processed foods. 

My own kids are getting sugar from their teachers at school and church.  A little won't kill you--(I grew up eating sugar), BUT we've seen huge differences in their abilities to concentrate and behave well when they eat sugar. 

So I guess I'll be that evil parent/teacher and refuse to add to the already loads of candy my kids eat!  I don't mind being the bad guy--it's already resulted in Ana's love for fruits and vegetables.  I hope this is a lifetime habit for her!

Ahh...Chicken Rice!

 Just before we left China, a Singaporean Auntie passed us this box of chicken rice mix.  We are so glad she did!  Last night we enjoyed it to the fullest.

 I think the American chickens are a little bigger, but it still turned out all right.  (We also had to use Mexican rice--as the Asian is TOO expensive!)

Ana really enjoyed it!  Too bad we didn't have our favorite chili sauce.  Nothing can compare to our Lai Lin's Roasted Chicken Rice Stall.  We may have to import some more boxes soon :)

We're Nazarenes!

We were accepted as members at Shepherd. (Didn't know this was happening until this morning!) Shepherd was also hosting a Nazarene City Conference.  There were leaders from major cities all over the US. We appreciate how active Shepherd is in the larger Nazarene community.  Shepherd's steel drum team played a few songs which Ana was very interested in.  They did really well for ones so young!

Fall Foliage Festival 2013

 Matt and Ana went down today to Martinsville for their annual Fall Foliage Parade.  It was a beautiful day for it!  Uncle Jack and Aunt Kim joined them--AK was the candy bag holder--very important job!!

 I was once a Marching Artesian.  In those days the colorguard was fully clothed :)

 Lots of interesting things to see--what was Ana looking for?

 Candy!  She got loads (and one small bag of carrots--THANK YOU to whoever threw those!)

 There were old tractors, floats, horses, llamas,

 cute ponies, and

something we see EVERY single day--fire trucks!  Look forward to going again next year.

Girl, Adopted

So tonight I watched Girl, Adopted on PBS.   (Family, I think it would be great if you could watch this.  It's free for a few more days.  There are MANY similarities to our own situation!)

I had a lot of emotions.  Mostly it was helpful to see a family come through the early struggles.  (If you watch it note that it is 5 YEARS before she goes back to Ethiopia.)

At the end the adoptive father says something like, "I used to think that everybody should adopt.  Just open their arms and invite a kid in.  I don't think that anymore."  My view of adoption has changed too--esp. for older children.  I still think it is a good thing, but just because it's good doesn't mean it's easy!

I recommend watching this--in fact I'm going to ask the counselor if it wouldn't be a good idea to watch it with China and Mitike!

It Feels Like...

every piece of furniture in our house will have been redone soon!  This gorgeous oak dresser was left in the basement.  It was moldy--(sanding it was awful because it left a foul taste in your mouth even with a mask!) and had a very dark finish.  When I began sanding it though I couldn't believe how nice the wood was.  Now it is stunning and I'm jealous it's in my six year old's room!  But she needed a dresser and this one was free.  She is loving the mirror most of all.

Matt did this one on his own.  It is a cedar wardrobe of mine that we stained black to match our dressers.  I really like how it turned out and am glad to have a safe place to store my older quilts. 

We've got just one more refinishing project in the works--hopefully it will go quickly too!  We're getting pretty good at this--let us know if you have some projects for us!

The Brookside Neighborhood Association

I attended my first meeting last night.  VERY INTERESTING!  There was everything from a crime report, to a man from the mayor's office, to a church trying to make itself more relevant to the neighborhood, to the the head of the trash department!  We live in a very active neighborhood--people watch out for each other and work hard to keep the streets and alleys clean.  So much so that the mayor of Indy is coming to kick off our alley clean up day on the 26th.  Free hot dogs for anyone helping out-bring gloves!