Bell Ringing Bliss

Tis the season! I have always wanted to ring bells for the salvation army. I tried to a few times as a family but got busy, no interest from home, didn't know where to go, etc. Now that I advise a middle school volunteer group - I coerced them into agreeing to do bell ringing for the holidays.
I (sooooo smartly) signed us up to bell ring for 5 hours on two days! Yep - last Friday and yesterday.

Okay - Friday from 4-9pm. Cold night. There were about 10 kids for the first hour. I told them to bring instruments if they had them. A trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, and flute showed up for entertainment. Of course no one seemed to know the same songs so we had more of a guess that tune among all the other tunes.
all the kids but my own two, all had left by 6 pm. That was pretty long. I still had an hour until the other advisor was going to relieve me.
My son just started playing the clarinet and knows jingle bells & hot cross buns. So after the 100th time of jingle bells, I turned on the "boom box" (do people call them that still?) and played my holiday CDs. My youngest danced, we gave out candy, we sang- it was a jolly time! Time flew!
We actually filled the kettle. OK- the real reason was probably that the store we were in front of had a big 50% off holiday sale. I will continue in my dream world to think I made it up in the ranks of bell ringing. But I should choose shorter shifts next year.

Yesterday was about the same except we had poor weather. It was a rainy slushy blizzard and no one was out shopping with the weather. We did not fill the kettle but my husband joined us and brought us hot chocolate.

I thanked my family for the best Christmas gift.
Let me explain what happened last year.....

Last year, all I asked for was a nice shopping trip as a family to purchase the sharing tree gifts. We arranged this on a Saturday & arrived right around lunchtime. We went to the food court & we let everyone choose their own lunch. Once everyone was fed - off to shop for others- goodwill- thinking of those less fortunate....

We went into a store looking for a sweatshirt hoodie for a teen. I didn't like the quality of what this store had so we left. As we are leaving my oldest complains first- "are we EVER going to buy these?" I patiently tried to explain that it will take time to find the best match. A few minutes later in the next store- my youngest complains next "Are we going to buy anything for US?"
I patiently explain that the day is about others not ourselves and these are gifts for charity. He then asked "Who is this charity person? and Why can't we go look at the toys?"
Then my husband's pager goes off and then he is on the cellphone with work for the next 30 minutes while I am trying to be patient with the whiny kids that don't know why I am looking around a store, checking prices and wish these guys could SHOP.

So I caved. In tears, I told everyone we need to go home that I was just going to lose it.
I got a lot of apologies and they weren't being mean or spiteful - they just don't browse or get a sense of good feelings to shop for gifts. I love to buy gifts. It is more fun than for myself. If this was a sporting goods place - it might have been different.

So my husband suggested I go and spend the afternoon alone- enjoying the time in peace. I ended up calling my 9 yr old goddaughter and she came with me. We had a delightful time! She never asked for anything, had great ideas, laughed at silly fashions, tried on hats with me, - so at the end I bought her a few fun things - just because.
I know this isn't with all men - but I am out numbered. My guys just can't. They can grocery shop on good days & are well behaved in stores & resturants. I guess this was just not making sense to them. Maybe I built it up to be something more than they saw.

BUT this year's bell ringing event was better than the shopping and it didn't cost us anything - just some good quality time together.

The Barber

Looking for a holiday gift for a 5-8 yr old? This is just the thing. I wouldn't have guessed it would be as fun as it has been. A blog friend (AD) sent me this for the boys to play with. G-man loves it! He dutifully waters it every other day. Here is the before picture.







Here is the hair stylist at works.







Here is the result.



I tried to encourage him to make a mohawk or go Funky. Sometimes I am just too "crazy" for my analytical family.

The winning photo

I just want to update from a previous post that this is the photo that won 1st in photography at the local nature center art competition. I went to look at the other photos on display. There were lots of frogs and dragon flies. There were some amazing views of nature. I feel very honored. I guess the unique thing about this photo is that G-man was one of two humans actually in a photo.
I went to a nice reception and rec'd a gift certificate towards a program there. G-man likes the summer nature camps - we will probably use it for that.
I am inspired to take a class at our local center for the arts called Right brain photography. I am very excited. It will be from 7-10pm . Will I be able to stay awake? Probably- it will be tough to sleep after actually engaging the brain.
I will post some pics once it starts in Jan for review.
As always - thank you for the kind words of support in the comments towards the photos.

Home study Update

We just had the social worker come today to update our home study.
Yesterday, I felt sad that it had been so long that paperwork "expires". I didn't think we would have gotten to this point.
But today after she left- I feel a bit closer to our adoption. It seemed a little more real again. I know that sounds crazy but talking with someone who helps make it "official" was ok.

Her agency does all types of adoptions. She didn't say that much about China. We did mention that this is longer than we thought going into it. She said that she just signed someone on for China and made sure they understood that it maybe a 3 year wait.

She did mention too that the few China adoptions they were doing have switched to other countries. We are also using another agency that specializes only in china adoption but need this local agency to do our home study. This local group will also be responsible for our post placement paperwork.

And overall, we are once again "good people" to adopt on paper! Whew!

CNC photo

This is the dragonfly picture. What I entered in the contest was: enlarge to 11x14 two of the photo and using an exacto knife to cut out the wings and put glue under it to raise them. It looks 3-D and sort of like it is flying. I finished it by putting a dark blue mat around it.

I just found out that I am one of winners in the photo category. I don't know which one won but I am guessing it is the dragon fly.

I really enjoyed the diversion to mess around with my hobby. It is expensive at times so you have to be choosey. I'll need to get a paying job to continue this - but then you don't have the TIME to take the pictures....Catch 22
My church asked if I wanted to set up a display of photos in the fornt hall. Now I am working on a theme- Nature or kids. Maybe two displays... Hmmm

photos

I am not going to mention anything about XXXXX (the country we are hoping to travel to in the next 2 years.)

I have other parts to my life. Yep there is the volutneering that is going well but I am enjoying the photography.
I am entering a photo contest at our local nature center. I can only enter 2. I have stared at these long enough to think they all are getting old. I am also driving my family crazy with waht about this one and what if I put a black mat on this, etc.
I am entering the dragon fly as an 11x14. I made two enalrgements and cut out the wings on one and placed it over the other. I sent it in already so I don't have a copy of it to post.
The other is gman in the water. I wanted to use the frog in hand but again only two. Enjoy.

New life - Ala Volunteer

I've been away for a bit. I do check in but haven't left many comments.It is really hard to deal with China and the wait - I am become the ostrich. Sorry.
What I have done away from the blogging world is become cheap labor:)
I am immersed in the "volunteer" world. Amazing how my plate is fuller than a teaching job. I have to learn to say "not today, but thanks for asking."
I - many of you will understand- feel that I have to prove something since I am not working. I can't just tell people that I took a year off - no I have to ramble on how I am doing this and that.
I am proud to say that the mentoring program I am coordinating as a "volunteer" has 42 people signed on, trained and background checked. The largyntis I had was diagnosed as viral (ie no magic pills) and has lasted almost 4 weeks with varying symptoms as it has kicked my butt.

I am pulling the energy together this week to start the mentors in 3 different math classes. The goal of the program is to improve confidence and performance in the basic math skills. SO Hopefully I will be on a schedule by Thanksgiving.

I have missed working with the 8th graders so I also "volunteered" to advise a school leadership group. The group is to serve and work on philanthropy projects in the good name of the school. It is good to be with the students in a non authority role and I enjoy their energy BUT organizing and running the 15 projects they have identified is not going so smoothly. They don't have enough experience to do timelines or focus on tasks that need to get done for the project to work. I am really trying to make sure that this is their activities and sometimes we don't get something done. After the adult mentoring gets started - then I can devote more time to this.

Last thing I am "volunteering" to do is coach the science Olympiad team. BUT I have enlisted about 5 other retirees and young scientists to help on certain events. I will just arrange the times and work on recruiting the kids.

Sounds pretty insane. Yep. It feels like it too but I am happy. I will want a "job" next fall. Where that will be I don't know. I am trying all these things I wanted to do first. I am able to help at the kids school too. Very rewarding and God Bless the elementary teachers!

In my original plan of life - which I know I have no control over anymore- I was to have traveled to China this fall and be home with a little girl and treat her like a princess. I have hyper focused into other areas to pass the time, enjoy the boys and family for now. This sounds confident but it is still a struggle to take during referral time.
Thanks for reading.
PS some of you change your blogs- how do I post when I have to subscribe?