Wow!

It's been awhile since I posted! So sorry for the lack of communication. We arrived safely in North Carolina on June 14th despite Tropical Storm Alberto trying to drown us. We found a house about four days later only to find out that we couldn't close on the house until August 1st! It was good -and bad- to know that the general who owned the house couldn't even do anything to speed up the transportation office; he couldn't get movers in until the 30th of July. Just this once, it would have been nice for rank to have greater privileges. :)

So we stayed in a two-bedroom apartment with no internet access until we moved in here on the 3rd. I actually had to go to the library to check email. I mean, how uncivilized is that?? I realized how completely spoiled I was, and Daniel and I both realized that, books and La-Z-boy aside, we really don't need the other 80% of what we own. :) It would have been nice to have one more bedroom in the apartment, though, since all the kids were sharing. Jackson liked it tremendously because he had company for the first time since he was born. The girls liked having him in there a little less. I tried to call around to find another place to stay since our wait would be a long one, but I couldn't find a place that had the triumvirate: it had to be furnished, it had to be short-term, and it had to accept a big basset hound mix named Roscoe P. Coltrane. No deal. The apartment stay was actually not that bad; the only thing that made it stressful was that we had a downstairs neighbor who complained about the noise because she slept during the day and worked at night! How in the world am I supposed to keep four children and a dog quiet enough for someone below us in an apartment building to be able to sleep during the day?? We tried to get out soon after breakfast and stay out until lunchtime. We definitely explored Fayetteville! My mom and stepdad graciously took in the displaced persons, and we spent some time in Tennessee as well. What a gorgeous drive over the mountains!

So we are (somewhat) settled in our new place, and it's beginning to feel like home. The girls like having stairs and a fireplace - their only two requirements for a home. Jackson enjoys the stairs as well and tries to break his time record each day for sliding down backwards on his belly. Ouch! I enjoy having big pine trees and not being able to hear my neighbors when they talk in normal voices. Roscoe enjoys sleeping on the sunny deck. I think Daniel will enjoy his study (think wall-to-wall books) once he's able to actually sit down with all the projects yet to do in the house. He's in Germany right now for work, but he returns on Thursday night.

We have been in IBESR (Haitian social services) since April 17th, and it sounds like dossiers are starting to move a little faster through the system. We're praying that Adah and Nathaniel will come out of IBESR in September and be ready to come home in October. We really don't like the idea of them being in Haiti for hurricane season, but we trust that the Lord will protect them. He can certainly do a much better job than we can!

Well, I need to get our day started since we are back to school. Shiloh's favorite subject is art, I believe, judging from the prodigious amounts of artwork she creates. I bought several art books to help with her technique, and we'll be exploring different mediums as well. I'm enjoying learning Latin along with Shiloh, and Cora's favorite subjects so far are math and science. Okay, whose child is she?? I guess my Dad's engineering brain skipped a generation. She especially likes bugs, so we've been checking out books and videos from the library on beetles. Wow, I really like to read about beetles (said sarcastically). I'm with Shiloh when she says, "yuck." But I admire how the Lord gave her such an interest, and I'm doing my best to feed it. :) She really wants to catch the HUGE spider that hangs out outside our kitchen window, but I draw the line at spiders. I'm letting the spider stay there for now to encourage her observation, but sooner or later the spider has to die - whether naturally or by my hand, I can't say. I guess I have to live by my own rule when I tell the children, "if it's outside and it's not trying to hurt you, you need to let it live." Abigail is learning to read, and has just started blending three letter words. What a big step! As long as I keep the lessons very short, she wants to "do school" each day. She's also learning math concepts and some handwriting. I want to start earlier with her on correct positioning of the pencil in her hand since I've had to correct Shiloh's and Cora's to their - and my - exasperation. :)

I hope to post more often now that we are settled. Thank you to all of you who prayed for us throughout this move. We are very conscious of the Lord's mercy to us.
Love,
Casey

Moving Day

Well, we are packing out tomorrow, so tomorrow night will be spent at a hotel here in town. The kids are excited about that, and I am, too - I love hotels. We'll stay there Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night. And Monday morning it's off to North Carolina! Actually, we'll stay in Savannah that night. So we still have a ways to go before we get to our new temporary home. We've reserved a room at an extended stay hotel that has two rooms and a kitchen. Right now I don't really care about the lack of space; I'll just be glad not to clean for awhile! Keeping a house clean for showing was a pain. :)

Getting ready for this move has been a good thing. We have been donating or throwing things away left and right, and I like that organized, uncluttered feeling. Our version of spring cleaning is to move. It's not a system that would work for everyone, but apparently it works pretty well for us.

We're all well here, which is amazing considering the chaos of the household. Usually we have immune systems crashing, but I'm praying that we all make it through this move with not even a sniffle.

Daniel and I celebrated ELEVEN years of wedded bliss yesterday. :) It's so hard to believe that we've been married for eleven years and that we've known each other for fifteen. God has been so gracious to us to preserve us through those ...um...difficult...early years. :) We give Him all the glory, and we celebrate the fact that we are stronger now than we've ever been. May the Lord grant us MANY more years with one another. I'm eager to see how He changes us and where He brings us! It's all good with Daniel as my partner in life. Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. :)

Well, goodbye warm, sunny Florida. Goodbye, sandals all year round. Goodbye, lanai where I can sip my coffee on December mornings. Goodbye, pool water that is ninety degrees.

And back to reality...goodbye, hurricanes that can wipe us off the map! Goodbye, "love bugs" that smash against my windshield by the thousands in May. Goodbye, houses in cloned neighborhoods where the building is out of control. And goodbye, snakes in my hose box! :) I won't miss certain things, but I sure will miss being warm all the time. I REALLY hate being cold. :)

I'll try to post when we arrive safely in North Carolina.
Love to all-
Casey

A Not-So-Brief Update

We have not officially sold the house, but we have entered the government buy-out program, and Prudential Relocation Services apparently bought the house from us for $10.00. Now THAT'S a good deal. :) They will consider any offers we receive, and if we don't receive any, they will give us an offer based on two appraisals we had yesterday and today. We'll receive a check for 75% of the equity at that time, and the remainder of the money upon closing about June 30th. We'll also receive a letter to our lender assuring them that we can go ahead and put an offer on a house in NC because the sale is a "done deal" in the government program. Hooray for that! We might have an offer this evening (the buyers are supposed to sign the paperwork today) but it's Prudential's decision to accept it or not. We'll wait and see!

Meanwhile, we're packing out on the 8th, picking up on the 9th, and leaving on the 12th. If you haven't checked your calendar, that's NEXT WEEK!!! Wow. I can't believe it. I need to organize homeschooling stuff this weekend, and we need to make lots of lists. Other than that, we're relaxing and spending as much time as we can with friends and with each other at the pool.

By the way, I attended my first ever homeschool convention last weekend, and here's what I learned:

1. There are way fewer people wearing denim jumpers than I thought. I was a little disappointed.

2. Those pull-along carts are not for dorks, as I first thought - you really need them when you go into the vendor area and buy everything in sight.

3. Don't go into the vendor area if you want to have enough money to feed your family the next week.

4. Homeschooling families tend to have a lot of children. (*disclaimer* I know this is not always the case; it just seemed like there were ten thousand children there, which was okay, because they were not my children and I had no responsibility for them.)

5. The tapes of the sessions come in handy when you elect to skip sessions to lie around the pool. Lest you hurl insults at me like "you homeschooling slug," just know that I already know that. And three hours at the pool by myself is worth it.

6. Homeschool veterans are VERY wise, knowledgeable, and usually funny. They are a great resource.

So that's what I learned at the homeschooling convention. I had a WONDERFUL time of refreshment, encouragement, and relaxation. The hot tub helped with the last one, I think. :) I'm flying down to Florida for this homeschool convention next year. Florida's convention is supposed to be the swankiest, and I just can't come down from "lap of luxury" to "just ordinary" for my homeschool convention experience.

Oh, one more thing... I saw a T-shirt at the convention that said, "I'm not talking to myself. I'm having a parent-teacher conference." :) I like that.

Hope ya'll are doing well!
Love,
Casey

And you wonder why...

...Jackson thought his father was a terrorist and screamed when he saw him in the kaffiyeh?

Daniel says the next time he goes, he'll bring back a "man-dress" to complete the look. The kaffiyeh just doesn't accessorize a polo very well.

Nice House for Sale

4 bedrooms; 2 bathrooms; 2 car garage; large kitchen with island; ceramic tile in all hallways, kitchen, family room, and bathrooms...You can have the refrigerator, the washer and dryer, and maybe a really cute small child if you're willing to pay our listing price.

Anybody interested? We'll give you a good deal! Get it now before the government does in the buy-out program!

Love,
Casey

I Almost Forgot!

Shiloh had her portfolio evaluation on May 2nd, and she has been officially promoted to the second grade!!! Yea! She did a marvelous job, and I think she showed the evaluator every project she's done all year. Mama and the kids are taking a much-needed break this week, and then we'll continue with some light schooling until the move. We celebrated with a dinner out and then Daddy ended up coming home two days later, so this past week has been a wonderful one. Abigail was going around shouting, "Shiloh's in the second grade, Cora's in the first grade, and I'm in preschool!" She thought Shiloh's promotion meant her official promotion, too, which I guess it does.

Love to all!

One thing to cross off the waiting list

Daniel is HOME!!!!!! After finding a house in Fayetteville (or so we thought, but more on that later...) he called Wednesday night to see if we wanted to pick him up at 9:00 the next morning. Well, of course! We BARELY made it in time because of traffic; we ran from the van all the way to the gate and arrived just as the first group was coming off the trams. Phew. It was a good thing he was in the back of the plane. The girls had dressed in their Sunday best and made signs for Daddy. Jackson made a sign, too, although it was a little less understandable. :) The girls ran to him as Jackson watched from the stroller. Jackson didn't seem strange with him at all...he wanted to hold Daddy's hand as we walked to baggage claim, he wanted to hug him, and he called him "Dada." He didn't want to let go of his hand for Daniel to get the bags off the conveyor belt. :) He's been fine with him the whole time except when Daniel put on the kaffiyeh he brought back with him (the Middle Eastern headdress). Then Jackson totally freaked out, screaming "Mama, Mama, Mama" until Daniel took it off. Apparently Daniel looked like a terrorist to him.

So we've been enjoying the two unexpected days as well as the weekend with him where we got to worship together as a family again. How glorious! We've been to the Children's Museum of Tampa, the pool a couple of times, and we've played a number of games of Uno. The kids have also been catching up on some Daddy lap time, and Daddy reading time. Abigail just came into our bedroom this morning, looked around, and said, "Where's Daddy?" I said he had to go work today (he's saving leave for the move). She said, horrified, "Back to Iraq??" :) She was much reassured to hear that he'll be back for dinner, although I think she still thinks he's coming home for dinner from Iraq.

So the housing situation is...on hold. Daniel found a place he put an offer on, the owners counter-offered, and we declined the counter-offer. The owners don't seem to understand that the property will most likely be appraised by the VA at much less (going by the comps for the area) and that they are supposed to accept the VA appraisal. The wife of the couple is the one in the military and she's already gone on to the next duty station. The husband, who is from Trinidad, doesn't speak English and has been left behind to negotiate the home sale. :) They don't have a realtor, so our realtor has been trying to explain everything to them. We don't feel like fighting them when we still haven't sold this house and because we have a second, more-appealing choice that's closer to church and work in Fayetteville. I was dragging my feet on that one because the kitchen was small, but we've been creative in coming up with solutions that might work. Our biggest problem now is to get this house sold. :) Daniel has completed the paperwork for the federal government buy-out program, but he's encountering problems with the command at Ft. Bragg in living up to their end of the deal. If they sign for relocation, they agree to the buy-out program where, if our home doesn't sell in sixty days, they take over the sale of the house. If they receive an offer in the 30 days subsequent to the sixty day marketing period, then they will review the offer to accept it or decline it. But if it still isn't sold by the end of that thirty days, then they will buy it at "market value." We know that that market value will be less than what we would want for the house, but at least it will be off our hands. And because the market was so crazy last year, we still stand to make a profit even after only owning the house for a year, so we're very thankful for that. We have until the 25th (or around there) of this month to sell it on our own, which we would prefer to do, obviously. We're meeting with our realtor today to adjust the price again. We didn't put it on the market before April 1st because all indications were that it would sell pretty quickly, so now we're in a time crunch to try to sell it before we leave so that we can afford to buy a house in North Carolina. Otherwise, we'll have to rent, and we might have to make two house payments for 1-2 months. Yuck. We're doing all right, though - just thankful to be together as a family and thankful to be moving to the real south in about a month. :) Here, every third car has an Ohio license plate - no offense to my Ohio family! :) :)

Well, I'll just share an Abigail comment before I sign off to start the day here. I can hear children neighing in their rooms, so the horses are up. :)

At church last night, the pastor was preaching on troublemakers in the church. When Abigail heard the word troublemaker, she turned excitedly to me and said proudly, while pointing at her chest, "That's me! I'm a troublemaker!!" Well, I guess it's good to be aware of your role in life and to be proud of it. :)

Love to all-
Casey

Nothing profound

Hello everyone!
I find I have little motivation to write on the blog now that I can't post pictures of the kids! That was 50% of the reason to blog, so I really ought to get moving on trying to find a network with password protection. Things have been a little busy, though! :)

We had an open house on Saturday, to which no one showed up. That's a nice waste of a very clean house. Oh, well. I did enjoy my Sunday afternoon nap in my sparkling house! Roscoe had a beauty treatment at Petsmart so even he was clean. He tried to take advantage of it by jumping up on my bed. Ha! It only worked for about ten minutes or so. :) We had a "preview" this evening where an agent came by to see if the house would suit his clients before they actually took the time to come out. Since I haven't heard anything from my realtor, I'm assuming the agent decided against it. That's all the activity thus far, so we'll probably reduce the price at the end of this month.

It's pool season again, so we've been three times so far. The first time I refused to get in all the way, because I prefer the air temperature to match the water temperature. It's a good thing it's Florida, and that often happens! We went today, and Abigail is now out of her inner tube and in a floatation vest. She still swallows way more water than I would like her to, but she's improving. Cora is gaining confidence re-learning skills from last year, and after all the trouble to actually get Shiloh to take off her vest, you would think now that she was born in the water. (No, I'm not that weird and all natural, although I know someone who is! :) ). Her latest feat is to tread water. She looks a little funny while she's doing it, but it's effective. Jackson's just a happy boy in his baby inner-tube, and his favorite thing is to try to lean wwwaaaaayyyy over and put his face in the water. Yeah, that's a good idea. Twice he ended up snorting water, but he kept trying anyway because his sisters kept laughing. The need to impress women starts very early.

I went to the housing office today on base to sign some paperwork in order to go to a briefing to receive a pack-out date for moving. Because, of course, they can't give you the pack-out date on the FIRST visit; that would be too easy and non-bureaucratic. Thankfully and mercifully, we were out of there in thirty minutes flat, and the briefing was scheduled for the 18th, which means Daniel gets to go instead of me with the four children. I told a friend of mine that I was going to let the children run wild in the office (and my mom suggested letting them look grubby and sticky, too) so that the people working there would shout, "just give that lady a pack-out date - just make her go away!" But I didn't have to put my evil plan into action. Too bad. Abigail could have had some fun.

And so life goes on, and we're in The Waiting Place right now (ever read Oh, the Places You'll Go!) where it seems like we're waiting on the Lord for pretty much everything...for our house to sell, for Daniel to return home (VERY SOON!!!!), for a place to live in North Carolina, for a pack-out date, for moving, for settling in, and for bringing our children home from Haiti. This too shall pass, however, and I'll be so thankful when it does.

I'm Still Here

Yep, I'm still here, but not much is going on. We've had our house on the market almost two weeks, and we've had one showing. We were supposed to have two on Tuesday, but they both canceled. AFTER I cleaned the whole house and mowed the yard, of course. :) So the market has just about come to a standstill. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Honestly, I think I should be more worried than I am, but...I'm just not. The Lord will bring a buyer in His timing, and in the meantime, I like relaxing more than I thought I would be while selling a house. :) I would be relaxing even more if my DVD player worked and I could watch "Wives and Daughters" for the sixth time. Thanks, Tullys, for getting me hooked. :)

We're finishing up our school year, which is a wonderful feeling. Cora has finished her core curriculum, but we're continuing with reading and math. I think I might go ahead and start her math for next year since it's already arrived. I love the smell of new curriculum! :) Shiloh has to finish up her phonics program. I figure she probably doesn't need it, but it never hurts to reinforce the foundation. She will have her portfolio evaluation on May 1st or 2nd to determine if she's passed the 1st grade. We're doing some math review, and I'm so relieved to see how far she's come in a year. Abigail is eager to start school, but I don't know if it's better to wait and start her with Adah when Adah arrives home, or to go ahead and get her going. I'm still thinking on that.

Jackson, my child prodigy, is singing the ABCs and counting to 20. Ha! Fooled you. Are you kidding? This is the child who didn't walk until he was 15 months old. He's barely speaking 15 words, much less counting to 20. :) But he's a very smiley boy, and that makes up for his lack of motivation. :) He's also pretty cute when he roars like a lion.

Well, back to the nice, quiet life. I think I'll make myself some vanilla almond tea and read my "Southern Lady" magazine. I need to take advantage of the calm before the storm!

A benign photo

I thought this one would be okay to post, and it didn't hurt that I thought it was too adorable not to share.

Just a boy and his dog surveying their territory (which is not much to look at in Florida, but just wait until they get to our land in Tennessee!)

Love to all!

An English lesson and a Medical lesson

These two lessons come from my most linguistically interesting child, Cora. She is the one who will ask me, "Mommy, how have you been doing thus far this morning?" Thus far? Mom and I suspect she's a 50 year-old British lady stuck in a 5 year-old body. Anyway, I've been trying to break her of the habit of saying, "I amn't doing that" instead of saying "I'm not doing that." And then I started to think, "Well, why don't we say amn't if we say 'don't'?" Who the heck thought up the English language???

Secondly, Cora was Dr. Houseworth this afternoon in our household, and apparently Shiloh needed an operation. So, putting her stethoscope around her neck, she proceeded to tell Shiloh, "Lie down on the couch. You need a caesar section." Okay, so that's PARTLY correct (and still Latin), but she left out one of the more crucial parts. It's a surgical procedure, not a salad. So I don't think I'll be trusting her with anything more than a band-aid, or, as she calls it - because she's a 50 year-old British woman in a 5 year-old body - a "plaster."

Exciting day in the Houseworth household!

Good evening everyone!!!! We have great news to share. Our official referral came through today, and we are the proud parents of two little ones (whew! the easiest labor yet!! :) ). Our Haiti babies have names and faces now, and we are so thankful that we can see them in our minds as we pray for them. Our new daughter is named Adah Catherine, and she was born November 13, 2003. She's actually bigger than Abigail at 33 pounds. Our new son, Nathaniel Ericson, was born February 26, 2006 and he's a strapping 10 pounds and 20 1/2 inches. We pray that they will be joining our family by Adah's third birthday. Things are moving so slowly in Haiti right now with the processing of paperwork, but we are hopeful that when the new government takes control in April, the paperwork will speed up. It's hard to wait after seeing their faces, but we'll depend on the Lord to keep us patient. We're just rejoicing that we know who they are, and that they seem to be very healthy. Everyone is excited here, and Abigail is looking forward to sharing her very own bunkbed with Adah. She's insisting that she get the top bunk, though. :)


Here's a funny story about putting our house on the market, which also happened today (it was a big day, to put it mildly). We were driving along in the van discussing how we're going to sell the house and move to North Carolina. I said, "As soon as the new owners are ready, they'll move into our house." Abigail said, "Won't it be crowded, Mommy?" :) So we started over with the explanation. I then explained how we were trying to be reasonable about our asking price so that the house would sell quickly, before Daddy comes home. Cora said, "Why don't we make the price less, like $3.00?" I said, "No, sweetie, $3.00 is a little low." Shiloh said helpfully, "Maybe $3.59?" :) I'm not sure she'll pass the "comprehension of monetary value" portion of her portfolio evaluation. When I told her the real price we were asking, her eyes bugged out. "I don't think anyone's going to buy it if you ask that much!" Thanks for the encouragement, Shiloh.

Happy Tuesday

Well, I know I haven't been here in a while, and that's because I've been contemplating shutting down the blog. My mom called to tell me something scary...in the child porn ring that authorities broke up about two weeks ago, an investigator was asked where these evil, disgusting people get their photos of children, and the investigator said from browsing family websites. Well, that just turned my stomach. So I'll just be posting musings about life in general from now on, with no pictures. And how fun is that?? I wanted to be able to share with you how fast the kids are growing. What I'm going to try to do is find a network that provides password protection for blogs so that only those I want viewing the blog can have access. Blogspot used to provide something like this, but they don't anymore (to my knowledge). Meanwhile, here's a picture of our couch potato Roscoe P. Coltrane, not that he's a replacement for pictures of the kids. :) I don't understand why we allow our dog to get up on the couch (we never intended to!) but I think it has something to do with his big, brown, pleading eyes. He usually lies on his blanket so he doesn't get the couch all hairy, but his blanket was in the wash, so he made do with the pillow. :)

Here's a funny Shiloh story, though: We're doing a unit study on the human body, and I was reviewing the body parts we've gone over to test for comprehension. I said, "Shiloh, what does the brain do?" She said, "It's sorta like a Mommy." I said, "What? How is it like a mommy?" She said, "Because it tells the body parts what to do." :)

My friend Jeanne said she thought the mommy was the heart of the home, but apparently the mommy is the brain, too.

Have a good day!

p.s. I'll be removing all the pictures from the blog in the next day or so. I'll send out an email when I find a network where I can host another blog for free.

Update on stomach flu

Now Abigail has it. She started throwing up last night. She handles it pretty well except that she starts yelling in the middle of throwing up, "I wanna brush my teeth! I wanna brush my teeth!" I don't blame her. I want to brush my teeth too and I'm not even the one who's throwing up. Good thing I'm not a sympathetic vomiter. She doesn't have a fever, which is a relief after Jackson. She's resting in my bed right now in between spells. She's asking for some of "Jackson's juice" - pedialyte - so we'll have to go out and get some. Oh, I really hope the other two don't get this. :)

The Pitiful One

Jackson just had the stomach flu and he's slowly recovering. He had just decided to venture off my lap and do a little bit of exploring when he hit the lip of the door out to the lanai with the walker he was pushing, flipped the walker, and landed on his face. Well, it was back to my lap for the rest of the day, although he tried to remain cheerful. You can see his "cheesy smile" in the picture along with his fat lip. Poor baby.

Right before Jackson got the flu, I received a forwarded email from my homeschooling group, and as Jackson went through the flu, I worried more than usual and thought about this family quite a bit. All of you prayer warriors out there, please take a look: www.candacejoy.org This family amazes me with their strength in the Lord in the midst of what must be a terrifying ordeal. Their experience humbles me and makes me more willing to stop the household for a few days just to snuggle with Jackson and tell him I love him. I didn't sleep on the floor in his room like some better moms I know :), but I think I cleaned up the messes with a more cheerful heart than I would have otherwise.

Enjoy your kiddos, everyone...they're precious, aren't they?

GREEN LETTER DAY

I was going to say red letter day, but apparently I already used that title. How unoriginal of me.

Well, our dossier is on its way THIS VERY MINUTE by FedEx to Haiti. Okay, it won't leave until tomorrow morning because I missed the cut-off by about ten minutes, but it is STILL ON ITS WAY and should arrive in Haiti by the 14th. We are very excited!!

Molecules

We read about molecules this morning in Shiloh's reading lesson. We learned that the faster the molecules in something move, the hotter it is. The slower the molecules move, the colder it is. Then we did an experiment to test this, and Shiloh enjoyed it. So this evening at Steak and Shake as she's drinking her chocolate shake and shivering, she says, "Mommy, the molecules in my shake are moving veeeerrrryy slowly." Science in real life. And what better way to experience it than with a chocolate shake from Steak and Shake?

Abigail the Fearless

We went to our homeschool co-op today, where the lesson was about animal food chains. I got out of teaching the lesson because I still don't have a voice, and one of the other moms graciously filled in for me. That's inconsequential, so of course I thought I should share it.

Anyhoo, one of the moms in our church, who also homeschools but does not belong to our co-op, offered to bring her snakes and give a little presentation to the kids. Yes, snakeS, as in five of them. I don't even remember the different types she showed us, except the Burmese python. Here's what I learned about the Burmese python: it's BIG. I mean, it's REALLY BIG. Theirs isn't full grown yet, and they're stunting her growth so she doesn't get too big too fast. (She knows all about snakes, so I don't think this is animal cruelty.) They feed her only once a month, and she's about 13 feet already. She could grow to be about 23 feet. They don't feed a big snake like that little old rats. Oh, no. Don't read on if you're squeamish...they feed her bunny rabbits! Ugh. At this information, poor Shiloh turned around with a look on her face that said, "Please tell me that is NOT true, Mommy!" Burmese pythons are the third largest snake in the world after the anaconda and the reticulated (sp?) python. Why you would want to have the third largest snake in the world for a pet is beyond me. Apparently a lot of other folks in Florida who thought having a Burmese python would be a good idea thought better of it, released them into the wild, and this is happening: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html

Okay, enough with the grossing you out. Sorry about that. The POINT of the whole blog is to tell you that Abigail did not hestitate to walk up to that Burmese python, who could crush her and eat her, and hug it. Yep, she hugged it. She also pet all the other snakes and decided she liked the rough one, whichever one that was (it likes to fake out its predators by pretending it's a rattlesnake - does that help?).

I was so proud in a weird, repelled-at-the-same-time kind of way. My little girl is practicing dominion over the animals at a young age. Good for her.

p.s. If you want to know about how snakes shed their skin and what can happen if they have a "difficult shed," I'm the gal to talk to. It's amazing what you can learn at homeschool co-op.

A heartfelt prayer

I have my semiannual cold which makes me lose my voice. My mom thinks it might be an allergy reaction. I have no idea what it is, but it's annoying. I try to see the positive side: it makes the kids talk softer because they have to hear what I'm whispering to them. It's still annoying, though.

Here was Abigail's prayer at worship tonight:
"Dear God, please please help Mommy to not talk at all so her broken voice can be fixed. Thank you."

I liked the "please help Mommy to not talk at all" part. I think that was the most heartfelt part.

Hmmm

Okay, so here's a funny thing. Jackson does not like to have his shoes off. The first thing he babbles in the morning is "ssshhzzz, sshhhzzz" and points to them. He smiles and laughs when I put them on, and he's a happy boy. He doesn't like taking them off for naptime, and he's thrilled when I put them back on after naptime. What does this mean? Should I be worried that he has obsessive compulsive disorder? :) Perhaps it means freedom to him, because he's not allowed to go out on the lanai without shoes, and he likes to go out there. It's just something to wonder about.

Strawberry Festival Parade

Hello everyone!
This is my second attempt at posting about our day. My first attempt was wiped out when I tried to preview it. Note to self: always save the draft!!! ARRGHHH!! Well, I only have three loads of laundry to fold tonight, so I guess I'll still get to bed on time. :)

ANYWAY, my friend Mary invited us to attend the Plant City Strawberry Festival Parade with her today, and I decided to go with much reluctance. I don't like crowds, and I don't like to try to find parking. However, Mary's wonderful husband went this morning to mark our spot by putting down lawn chairs. It was nice to see that no one tried to claim them or move them. I followed Mary to a parking area, thus eliminating my nervousness at finding parking. So I relaxed and found that I really enjoyed myself - thanks, Mary! The girls weren't too sure what to expect with a parade, even after I explained everything, but once they discovered that people were throwing beads and CANDY at them from the floats, they were on board for this whole parade thing. I don't even know how many beads they ended up taking home, and I don't even WANT to know how much candy they consumed in the hour we were there. Yuck. I made a nuisance of myself by yelling "Go Army!" at the Air Force JROTC and recruiters. I was going to make fun of their pitiful marching, but I thought that might be taking it a bit too far. There were no Navy guys to make fun of, and I think Mary and her lovely daughter were a little relieved. We saw lots of bands, lots of tractors, and LOTS of beauty queens. And I do mean LOTS of beauty queens. Even the four year olds were doing their "queen wave." Yikes. It turned out to be a gorgeous day after a slightly overcast morning, so we took Mary up on her offer when she invited us back to their place afterward. The girls played so hard in their treehouse - oops, FORT! (I forget these differences when dealing with boys versus girls) - that the washcloths they used when we got home were nearly black. I had a nice, almost uninterrupted chat with Mary inside while the kids played. It was so nice not to worry about how loud they were...with the houses in our neighborhood only ten feet apart, I'm constantly worried that we're bothering the neighbors on both sides who don't have kids. I'm looking forward to a slightly bigger yard in North Carolina. The last four pictures were taken at Mary's house. Her daughter and son are budding photographers, and I was able to take a shot when her daughter was setting up a shot of the girls next to the azaleas. She probably got much better shots than I did, but I liked the sweet expressions on their faces.

Hope ya'll enjoy the pictures from the parade. Daniel, the pictures of the confederate reenactors, the Dixie float, and the Bonnie blue flag car are for you. :)
Love to all!

My Birthday, etc.

First of all, I had no idea you all would identify so well with Abigail's concern over the purple bears. Thank you for your support and helpful comments. I will let her know that she doesn't have to live in this paranoia alone.

Secondly, today is my 32nd birthday. I know it's hard to believe that I'm not the 24 year old you thought I was (ha!) but it's true. With Daniel gone, the girls thought they ought to be the ones to help me celebrate, so they all got up early. Shiloh made cinnamon rolls all by herself. I knew she was going to do this, so I showed her on Sunday how to do it - and don't worry - those oven mitts come all the way up to her elbows! Cora decorated the table, the older girls hung streamers, and Abigail cooperated by letting them get her dressed. They all dressed up in party dresses, and then they led me out to the table with my eyes closed. How cute. This is the first year that they've been able to do something like this, and I know that it just tickled them to feel so grown-up. After breakfast, they presented me with their presents. As any parent knows, when children do not have money to purchase something, they give away their own cherished possessions, which is what I got today. I also got some homemade things, which are going right into my "save" drawer. I felt pretty spoiled and loved, which is exactly how you want to feel on your birthday. :) Daniel owes me a dinner at Bonefish Grill, but he'll make good on that.

Hope ya'll enjoy my birthday!

Your tip for the day

Well, I have no pictures to share today, but I do have an interesting tip brought to you by the one and only Abigail. When I was drying her off after her bath this evening, she looked up from under the towel and said, apropos of nothing, "Mommy, purple bears are NOT kind."

There you have it.

I tried to question her further, but apparently that was the limit of her knowledge. I guess she just felt that she had to share it with me.

I hope we've all learned something today. I'm not sure what we've learned, except that maybe I better keep an eye on Abigail to see what kind of hallucinogenic drugs she's taking. :)

Mama's Race Day and Jackson Being Cute

Good evening everyone!
Well, I ran my 5K today, and contrary to my very skeptical husband's opinion, I did very well. :) I came in under 30 minutes, which was my goal. It remains to be seen what my actual time was, because I was wearing a timing chip. It's a device that you strap to your shoelaces, and it automatically starts timing you when you cross the start line and then stops when you cross the finish line. It's handy for races like this where there are so many people that it took about 3 minutes just to get to the start line from where we were in the field of runners. Running is so high-tech these days! :) I really had a great time, because the course was beautiful and it was a great day to run. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm - just the way I like it when I run. We ran right beside the water of Tampa Bay next to the multi-million dollar homes. The wealthy folks were all out in force to cheer us on, which I thought was rather nice of them. :) The course volunteers played music to motivate us every so often along the run, and that was inspiring. Everyone knows that you run 5Ks for all the free stuff you get, and they offered plenty of free stuff after the race. The problem was that I lost the people I came with, so I couldn't enjoy any of the free stuff while searching for them. We finally met back up at the car. All in all, it was a wonderful day. The kids had a great time over at a friend's house, and they were exhausted when we got home. I think the next one I'm signing up for is the first weekend in April, if there is not one sooner. I just love the camaraderie of these races, and I love the diversity of people...some are there as a warm-up run to the marathon they'll do the next day, and some are there to challenge themselves in a way that they have NEVER challenged themselves before in their lives. I saw one lady with her personal trainer encouraging her every step of the way. I hope she made it. Oh - don't be alarmed at the photo of me; this is a phenomenon I like to call "running hair" which is similar to "Oma hair" in its crazy wildness. The hat is a pathetic attempt to tame its wildness. No offense to any Omas out there.

This evening, I had quite the comedian on my hands during dinner. Jackson was in rare form entertaining everyone, and I caught a couple of good shots before he quit. He's learned to say cheese for the camera, so he was trying to do that. He also learned that sticking out his bottom lip when I tell him no makes the girls laugh, so he tried that a couple of times. I tried to get a picture, but he switched into entertainment mode when he saw the camera. What a ham.

Beautiful flowers

So I know it's more than a week since Valentine's Day, but I wanted to show you a picture of the lovely flowers that my dear husband ordered for all the ladies in the house all the way from Iraq. We had problems getting all four of them due to some miscommunication between USAA and Teleflora. Poor Cora and Abigail had no flowers for almost a week. The flowers also came in the same teacup, but Cora and I have arranged a deal where I will switch with her. The roses in the last two actually smell good, so we've been enjoying them.

Funny Abigail story unrelated to flowers...
She often asks questions where the answers are glaringly obvious or she has just asked the same question two minutes earlier. She will also ask questions that she knows are silly just to laugh when I make an exasperated noise. One day I told her that I would start giving silly answers to her questions. So two days ago as we're riding along in the van, she asks what I would qualify as a silly question. (I know, I know, for you better parents out there, there's no such thing as a silly question, but then again, you might not have met Abigail.) I was about to respond when she said, "I know, I know, green beans on my head." I said, "WHAT?" She said, "Well, that's silly, isn't it? Green beans on my head? That's a silly answer, Mommy." So now the standard answer for silly questions is "Green beans on my head." You might try that one on your kids and see the looks you get.

Also unrelated to flowers...
As I was chatting with the other moms after homeschool co-op yesterday, I heard the dreaded scream that no mom wants to hear: "MOM!!! COME QUICK!!" I know that this is no time to correct their grammar, so I go rushing to see what has happened. There is Shiloh, with blood dripping from her mouth, down her chin, and into her cupped hands underneath. Then Cora says, "Don't touch her!! She's bleeding!!!" Hmm...I'm not sure she would make a very good nurse or EMT. Anyway, I whisk Shiloh off to the nursery where I can wipe her down and see the extent of the damage. I also discover that her leg is scraped from hip to foot, and she has a very bloody knee. She bravely submits to my first aid, and we start to leave the parking lot. I ask her if she's okay to run the errands that we had planned for the day, and she says, "yes," but all at once she starts to bawl saying, "I NEED DADDY!" If there's ever a time when a mommy feels helpless, this was it. I just stopped the van, got in the back, and hugged her. Daniel, I know you already know what happened, but if ever you feel that you are not missed around here, remember this story. You are very much missed, especially by the mommy who knows that sometimes a girl just needs her daddy.

p.s. I thought about getting a picture of her two fat lips, but then I thought that social services might pay a call if I posted that, so I'll refrain. :)

Race Day

Well, today was the Junior Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa, also known as "the dreaded day" for Shiloh, who wasn't too sure she wanted to run in her race. She was tense when we got there, and then almost backed out at the last minute, saying "I just don't want to do it. I don't want to." I was just praying I was making the right decision as a parent to make her do it. I told her that we would pray about it, and then she was just going to be strong, run the race, and finish. She took a deep breath, we prayed, and then she calmly walked to the starting line. She was incredible. She ran the whole way (half a mile!!!), and she finished in the top 1/4 of the runners (not that this competitive mom noticed! :) ). She was smiling as she ran, and I made sure she heard me yelling for her. I was almost crying when she finished because I was so proud of the guts it took for her to do it when she was so scared. She was relieved, and she enjoyed the rest of the day very much. It was a good thing she went first!! Cora took her race in stride, as you can see from her photo. She also ran well, ponytails flying and a grin on her face. Abigail Emma...well, Abigail does things a little differently. I pointed out the Chick-fil-A cow mascots waiting near the finish line to give her an idea of where she had to run. I told her, "Run as fast as you can to get those cows when they say go." So she did indeed run as fast as her little legs could carry her, all the way to the finish and beyond where I had to scoop her up. I was telling her she did an awesome job, and she was protesting, "But I didn't get the cows- I didn't get the cows!" She literally thought she had to tackle the cows as part of her race. Because of her motivation, she got second place in her race. :) She was quite impressed with her medal, and even more impressed with the water bottle she received.

Jackson took everything in calmly from the stroller, and he was very impressed with the flight-for-life helicopter there for show. Apparently, all of the girls' running exhausted him since he fell asleep in the van on the way home.

What a great day. What a blessing to be a part of these kids' lives. We've had a couple of wonderful days together, and the only thing that's missing is you, Daddy! We love you!

Have a good Lord's Day tomorrow, everyone!
Love,
Casey
p.s. the photos are in reverse order - I'll do better next time!

Our trip to the State Fair

We had such a wonderful time at the Fair yesterday!!! It was a perfect day, with sunshine, warmth, and a nice breeze. It was cold the day before, so we hit it just right. We "milked" a fake cow, we squeezed oranges to make juice, we gathered eggs, we pet a bunch of dogs (Shiloh got to see a poodle, so she was thrilled), we fed some goats, and we saw a chick hatching out of its egg. Cora said, "Boy, that looks like a lot of work! He must be exhausted!" I was hoping to see a calf being born, but none of the mommas cooperated. Shiloh was just as glad. :) We brushed a cow, visited some "stinky pigs" as Shiloh said, and saw some adorable newborn goats. We saw some ladies square-dancing, and the girls loved their pouffy skirts and cowboy boots. In the craft building, I was pleasantly surprised to see how interested the kids were in the paintings, wood-working, and photographs. Congratulations go out to the son of a friend of ours, who got two first place ribbons for his photographs! I think his sister also got a ribbon, but I didn't see her photograph. We needed a break after all that walking, so we grabbed a spot underneath a shady tree to have a picnic, and we ended up having a wonderful view of the parade that got underway shortly after we started eating our lunch. There were marching bands, Shriners in little cars, farmers in huge tractors, Army vehicles, clowns, and lots more. We were also sitting on a small hill, so rolling down the hill became the main attraction after the parade was over. We set out for the horse barns after lunch, and we were able to see the mounted police, some Haflinger horses (I think they're from Australia or New Zealand), a Belgian pulling a fancy cart, and a team of six pulling a wagon. Shiloh got to pet a lot of horses. In the kid's section, they rode a saddle on a sawhorse, saw some donkeys with hats on, and got to groom a beautiful horse named Bourbon. All in all, it was just one of those days that makes you glad you have kids so you can see these things with them and see the wonderment on their faces. They were EXHAUSTED, and I don't mind saying I was, too! I put them to bed at 7:00 since we had another big day today with co-op, and I had to teach! :) That went well, so we did some errands afterward and then stopped at the park for a picnic to enjoy the beautiful weather. Well, that was our trip to the State Fair. Enjoy the pictures. Jackson looks a little hesitant about the goats in the picture, but he actually LOVED them getting so close. He was squealing and grabbing their ears. I guess he smelled good, because they kept trying to nibble his neck. That's a tickle spot for him anyway so he was really giggling. It was adorable.
Cora was the only one brave enough to have her picture taken anywhere near this Watusi. I tried to get her to hold onto his horns while my friend held her up, but she decided that was the line she would not cross.

This One's for You, Mary

Hello everyone!
I've been silent for awhile as we've had a hectic week this week. But I'm posting a recipe for a friend and anyone else who might like to try it, and I'll post some pictures from our outing to the State Fair yesterday. First, here's the recipe:

Butternut Barley Risotto

6 servings (although I think it would make enough for a family of 8 if you have little ones that don't eat that much like I do!)

1 butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds), seeded, peeled, and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces (you can also just bake it and scoop it out instead of peeling it, and I cut the pieces smaller for my kids to handle)

3 TBS olive oil
1 small onion, cut into 1/4 dice
1 cup diced (1/4 inch) plum tomatoes
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup pearl barley
4 TBS chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1. Blanch the squash in boiling, salted water until just tender, about 3 minutes.
2. Place the oil in a pot over low heat; add the onion and cook until tender, stirring, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, simmer the broth with the cinnamon stick in a saucepan, partially covered, for 5 minutes.
4. Stir the barley into the onions and tomatoes, coating well with the oil. Raise the heat to medium.
5. Stir 1/2 cup of the broth into the barley mixture; cook, stirring frequently, until it has been absorbed into the barley. Repeat, making sure each addition of broth is absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup, until the barley is tender and most of the broth has been used, about 45 minutes (or less if you take shortcuts like me and add 1 cup at a time! :) ) Discard cinnamon stick.
6. Carefully fold in the reserved butternut squash along with 2 TBS of the parsley. Cook until the barley reaches the desired consistency, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately in shallow bowls with parsley garnish.

I served with steamed green beans. I liked it, as well as Jackson. The girls weren't too keen on it, but then again, they're not too keen on anything, so I didn't judge the success of it by their reaction. :)

Miscellaneous, aka "I Hate Coming Up With Titles for Things"

Well, we've had a great week getting back into the routine of school, chores, outdoor stuff, and reading Little Women. The girls were outside the other day pretending to be the poor Hummel family, huddling up to one another for warmth because they had no fire and there were cracks in the windows. I thought it was cheating somehow to play this down in Florida where they have not the remotest chance of actually freezing to death. :) Well, they had a good time anyway while Jackson walked up and down the backyard searching for just the right place to put the sprinkler. He never found it. I'm beginning to see some motivation from this boy who didn't walk until 15 1/2 months. He had his pajamas on the other night, and he wanted to go out onto the lanai. I said "No, you don't have your shoes on." So he babbled something at me, went to his room, and came out with his shoes. Then he attempted, with much grunting, to get them on. He was pretty mad when he realized that the reason I'd given wasn't really the whole truth; I just didn't want him out on the lanai to get dirty again after his bath, and I never thought he'd go get his shoes. Note to self - never underestimate the boy.

I've posted two pictures of Cora's latest sewing project, which she just completed. (I hope you can see the stitches in the first picture). It's a four-square potholder, and I think it came out nicely. The picture of the stitches is for her Daddy, who told her that she needed to rip out the first set of whipstitches because she hadn't done her best on them. I figured she had done her best and that the second attempt would turn out like the first. Well, I was wrong. Cora was determined to make Daddy proud, and she set to it like only Cora can. Although the stitches are big, and Ma Ingalls would probably disapprove, they are even, and she was quite proud of herself. I was proud of her attitude when she gave it another try. I think it just goes to show you why kids need mommies and daddies. I would have given her encouraging words and let it slide. Daddy said "do it again," she did, and she learned something in the process. God sure knew what he was doing when He set up marriage, didn't He?

The following story is also for Daniel (who is following daily life through short phone calls every day and through this blog) but I'll explain it for everyone else. All three girls love these books by Kathy Appelt focusing on characters named Bubba and Beau. Bubba is a baby and Beau is his hound puppy. Daniel recorded one of the books, Bubba and Beau Go Night-Night, onto an audiotape along with many others so that they could listen to them at night in bed. Abigail can now quote the book in its entirety - in a redneck accent- because she loves it so much.
She came to me with a plea the other day before dinner, "Mommy, please put on Bubba and Beau because - Sister, those napkins came in handy," and then she walked off laughing hysterically. Bubba and Beau had made an awful mess with some raspberry swirl ice cream cones and the author was informing the reader that those napkins did indeed come in handy. I don't really know how Abigail's mind works, but I think it's pretty funny. Some kids are quoting Shakespeare by the time they are three, but it takes a special talent to be able to deliver a line like that with a redneck accent. I love this child. I just hope she passes one standardized test in her homeschool career. Please comment with hilarious stories/comments your children have made - I think kids are the funniest people in the world. My niece who is five does stand-up comedy, and I think Jerry Seinfeld could learn from her. Her favorite joke (which my girls now love to do) is the following:
Dyani: Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
Dyani: Interrupting cow
Me: Interrupt-
Dyani: MOO!! and then falls over laughing
I mean, what can be funnier than that?

Hope this brings to mind something that makes you laugh...
Have a great night-
Casey

This smiiiile's fer you, Daddy!

Try Again if at first you don't succeed

Here are some pictures of the girls' combined birthday party. The one of Abigail in sunglasses is referred to by my brother as her "Bono look." :) She loves the sunglasses, and she wore them in the car all the way back to Florida.

Home Again Home Again

Hello everyone!
We are now back home in Florida, and we just had a wonderful morning getting back to the routine of schooling, taking the dog for a walk, riding bikes, and weeding. Our yard only seems to grow weeds, but at least they're green! :) I need to buy some weed and feed, and I need to mow, I think. It still seems weird mowing the lawn in February. Well, I won't be doing that next February, Lord willing, since we'll be up in North Carolina. We hope to be settled there by the beginning of hurricane season. I don't really want to stock up on canned goods again, although we still have several cans of pork and beans; they proved to be a bad choice for the kids. :) I guess I need to sell our generator - the one we just bought for last season. We really should settle down one of these days! My dad said we're moving more now that we're out of the military, which is true. :) Maybe this will be the last one before we get to our land in Tennessee, but somehow I doubt it. I really will miss the friends we've made here and the Florida sunshine, but I won't miss hurricane season. We also look forward to joining a more like-minded church in North Carolina.

I hear from Daniel most every day, and he's doing well. We can't talk about much over the phone, which makes for one-sided conversations, but it's wonderful to hear his voice. He recorded a videotape and two audio tapes for the kids before he left, and they've just about worn it out already. They can already quote the library books he recorded onto the tape. :)

Jackson's getting back to normal after being so fussy on the trip. I don't know if it was having four teeth coming in at the same time, not having some "down time," being sick, or just plain irritability, but he was not the most fun person on the trip. He was a happy little man today, though, and it was a pleasure seeing his personality again. I have to wean the girls off of marshmallow cereal - thanks, Mom! :) -but otherwise they settled right back into the routine.

We celebrated Shiloh's 7th birthday and Abigail's 3rd birthday in Tennessee, which was a wild party. We had 17 people there, and my aunt and uncle were so kind as to travel up from South Carolina at the last minute to attend. They only found out about the party that morning (we couldn't decide what day to have it) and they jumped in their van to make it. It was wonderful. Shiloh was a little unsure about having that many people, being naturally shy and quiet, but Uncle Duncan made it all right. He's like having another kid there, except I think he's louder. He's older than I am. My mom was stuck at the table with Shiloh, Cora, my niece Dyani, and Duncan, and she said she felt like she was at the kids' table.

OH! And one more thing...I got to meet our adorable NEW niece Micah Marie, whose cheeks are truly kissable. She was doing the cutest cooing, and it was wonderful to meet her. Her big brother Caleb seems like he's a year older than Jackson instead of just three months. He is speaking very well, running all over the place, and he's HUGE. I think he wears 3T or 4T clothes. Wow. He did really well with four loud cousins, and Cora took to Micah, bouncing her like a pro. She's going to be a wonderful mommy to six boys, which is her plan for her family.

I'll post again soon now that I'm home.
Love,
Casey
Okay, I meant to post more photos, but it won't let me for some reason, so I'm going to post this message and then try again on another message.

Houseworth family minus one

Hello everyone-
The Houseworth contingent (Mama plus kids) is now in Tennessee visiting with Oma and Opa. It's COLD here! :) Daniel's plane arrived safely in the big sandbox, after an unexpected layover in Germany partially due to the European Union rules about "quiet zones" with no takeoffs after 10:00 p.m. I don't know why I find that funny, but I do. We're enjoying some down time, although I am trying to do some bare bones schooling while we're here.

Our last few days as a family were much busier than we wanted them to be, and in hindsight, we should not have tried to do househunting while we were there. It made for unhappy children who would rather have been playing with Daddy. (Well, it's not like the weather cooperated with that, since it was cold and rainy almost the whole time.) Part of our frustration came from finding the perfect house, only to realize that our timing was all off - there is no way we can get that house because of when we would be moving.

OH!!! How silly of me not to say up front that Daniel got the job he applied for in North Carolina!!! I had complete confidence in him, but he started to become negative after he didn't hear for awhile. Still, he found out within a week and a half, which I thought was pretty good. It's nice to know the outcome before he left, so that we know how to prepare before he comes home. We'll be moving shortly after he returns. It's exciting to think of new beginnings. We must really like beginnings, since we've had so many of them! :)

I have much more to write, but I need to get the children up from their naps. It's actually warm enough today for me to brave going outside with them, so we'll be heading out for some fresh air.
I hope you all are well!
Love,
Casey
p.s. no pictures until I return from Tennessee!

A New Houseworth Record

We are packed, the van is packed, the fridge is clean, the laundry is done, and all of this was accomplished BEFORE 12:00 a.m. the night before a trip. It's some kind of record, at least in our household. We're now contemplating whether we'll drive straight through to Ft. Bragg or stop in Savannah as planned.

In any case, we covet your prayers for a safe journey. We'll have several days together as a family before Daniel leaves, so we're all looking forward to that.

I plan to take lots of pictures on the trip, and I'll post them upon our return. Thanks for all your emails and comments; it's been wonderful to hear from all of you!
Much Love,
Casey

p.s. Thanks again, Mom - the comment about my grammar is now making me paranoid about my sentence structure when I'm supposed to be blogging from a stream-of-consciousness perspective. You're quenching my creative processes!!

Comments anyone?

I've been informed that our blog may not be allowing you to post comments (thanks, Mom, and sorry!). I hope this problem will be resolved, as I don't know how to fix it. :) Did I mention I'm new to blogging?!

Well, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off today trying to get ready for the trip up to North Carolina to say goodbye to Daniel. We did get everything done, though. The girls are looking forward to the trip, especially Abigail, who LOVES to stay in hotels. Being Florida girls, they naturally thought that they would be swimming at every hotel where we stay. Ha! They are in for a rude awakening when they feel the first draft of cold air.

And good news! Our adoption is now back in progress. We were waiting, and waiting, and WAITING for a response to an email we sent to the director of the orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Daniel finally just called him today, and he told us he's been able to read his email but not respond to any messages. Phew...I thought we offended him or something. Anyway, our dossier will be sent to the Miami Haitian consulate tomorrow for "authentication" (whatever that means other than costing us more money) and then sent down to Haiti to begin the LONG process of going through their system. We should know who the kids are in about two months, though!!! This is so exciting. For those we haven't told, we're expecting to adopt a boy/girl sibling set from Haiti. From the time that we receive the referral (when we know who our kids are) the wait time until we can travel to pick them up is about 9 months-1 year. The Haitian government is not...um...entirely stable, so the wait time has been extended by about three months because of their problems. I think - I hope - I PRAY - it will be worth it. It will be hard to know who the kids are without being able to go get them! :)

Well, I have more laundry to do before we can call it quits tonight. I do have a bowl of Moose Tracks frozen yogurt waiting for me right now, though.

Hope ya'll have a good night!

More practice

I will be posting more up-to-date news, but right now I'm just playing around while figuring out this whole blog thing, so I thought I'd post some pictures from the older girls' trip to the Nutcracker with Daddy. They had a wonderful evening. Cora was slightly disappointed to find out before they went that she wouldn't actually be getting on stage to dance with the ballerinas.

And one more...

I still haven't figured out how to post a picture beside our blog title (without downloading something that I don't really want to download), but I'll try posting a picture of the kids, Daniel, and Roscoe the basset hound on steroids as they sat on our lanai yesterday eating lunch. For those of you stuck in the frozen hinterlands up north...just don't look at the picture. Better yet, come visit us!

Red letter day

Well, we made the self-imposed deadline...just barely. Daniel decided that Shiloh should really learn to ride a bike without training wheels before she turned seven (at the end of this month), but we didn't think it was going to happen since he leaves shortly for Iraq. He wanted to be the one to teach her. However, he had a couple of days off since he didn't attend a conference in Colorado Springs as originally planned, so he decided to give it a try and at least get her started. He ran around the block about five times yesterday, but things were not looking any more promising at the end of the session than they did at the beginning. Shiloh was discouraged. Today, he put her on her old (smaller) bike with the training wheels off, gave her a push, and off she went!!! It just "clicked." After that, Daniel didn't have to run around the block with her; he just had to watch from a distance to remind her not to run into trashcans. All in all, it's an exhilarating and sobering experience to see your firstborn taking such a huge step in life.

Hello Family and Friends!
Well, we still don't know how a telephone works, but hey...we have a blog! :) We thought this would be a good way to periodically update everyone with pictures and anecdotes about our crazy, chaotic lives. Since we've moved so much in our ten+ years of marriage, we've left so many friends behind all over the world, and we would love to keep in touch with all of you. Please feel free to write in with comments and notes. There will be no thought-provoking, profound dissertations on life and theology (unless Daniel gets ahold of the blog), but it will be fun and (hopefully) filled with pictures.
Much Love,
Casey and Daniel