Busy doing and busy thinking

So much floating through my head lately. The hurricane, the new school year, getting the house organized before school starts in again, the anniversary of my mom's death, having the children dedicated at church on Sunday, then before that it was all "One Year Home" stuff. What a whirlwind of a month, but it's just going to continue on with the school year coming into full swing again.

Thursday marked three years that my mom has been gone. I feel horrible that I didn't remember that until the next day. That's when we went to my aunt and uncle's 50th. Aunt Karen is my mom's sister. She's so much like her in so many ways. Same hands, similar features, same way of speaking. Karen even wore Mom's perfume on Saturday. I overheard her talking to one of her kids about something or other and I *know* my mother would have used the exact same words, in the same tone of voice with the same expression on her face. It made me smile, but I did have a few lumps in my throat. It was cool to remember Mom in so many little ways that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise, and haven't thought of in a long time. I really miss her!

Sunday we had the kids dedicated at church. Actually, we had me and John dedicated to being the parents we need to be for them. The longer we've had these kids the more I realize what an emormous repsonsibility we have. It's pretty humbling. I really pray they turn out ok inspite of us! (I should say "me" - John is an awesome Papa!)

It's been a busy few days. I'm trying to get the house all organized and the kids' clothes all sorted and ready for fall, plus getting ready for the new school year to kick in. I had to snort a few times when I realized that amid all the shoe/undie collecting for the Ukraine packages, that OUR kids needed some too. So, this week we will all pile in the car to get some sneakers. How ironic! lol!

By the way, the very next day after we brought "Jeff" home, he made himself a cocoon-thingie in that plastic bin. Couldn't believe it. We have him under the deck, and hopefully he'll be safe over the winter. We hunted online looking for what kind of caterpillar we had. We looked at hundreds of caterpillar pictures, but we're pretty sure he's a polyphemus moth. According to the info we found, he'll stay in his cocoon until next June! Liana was crushed, but at least he didn't crawl away like I figured he would!

I don't know how many of you are affected by Hurricane Katrina, but even though I don't have any family down there myself, I'm just sick about all the chaos this storm has caused. My niece's husband's family lives in New Orleans. Check that. Lived in New Orleans. They have all pretty much lost everything. I can't even comprehend that. Not even slightly. Counting my blessings, but praying hard for those whose blessings have washed into the ocean. What a tragedy.

I've been chatting with a lady who is in the process of adopting three kids from Liberia, Africa. I didn't even really know you COULD adopt from there, so it has been interesting to learn a little more about it. At lunch today, just to see what the kids would say, I asked them, "So, if we ever adopted any more kids, should we adopt from Ukraine, or should we adopt from Africa?" Always looking for an adventure, Liana shouted, "Africa!" When I asked her why, she said, "Mama, we've already adopted from Ukraine." What cracked me up about that statement was the word "we."

I doubt we'll ever adopt again though. Maybe if our ship came in. I'd love to go around adopting sibling sets in different continents. That's a cool dream, but then reality hits and I realize that THIS sibling set at our house is about as much as I can handle! (And I do a poor job handling just them some days!)

Sorry this blogging stuff has been so inconsistant. I've been busy doing and busy thinking.