Managerie

**Thank you to those of you who contributed to The Ripley Foundation's "Change a Life" grant fund! Thanks to you, "D" will be going to sewing school when the new session begins, and six months later she will be starting a whole new career! We are now raising money for grant #2!

**Thank you to those who have remembered Bright in your prayers. I had complete peace last week. Tonight, the worries are creeping in a bit. I just don't want my baby to have to deal with anything else. He's got enough challenges before him without adding physical stuff.

**This weekend we bought an inexpensive cultivator. WOW--I love this tool!!! Tonight I was able to cultivate the front flower bed in no time flat. Tomorrow we add mulch, and then Wednesday we can add the pretty flowers we purchased over the weekend. Thanks to my hubby for spending his b-day gift certificates on a tool that will mostly be in my domain.

**Ferns. Ferns make me happy. They are so fluffy and nice. If you come to see me I now have one on my porch to greet you. =-)

**Crochet. I have a hankerin' to feel the calming routine of stitches being worked over and over again. Alas, no time for a project of the crochet kind right now. Hopefully the hankerin' will hang around until things calm down around here. Taevy is crocheting up a storm and is making me jealous and proud at the same time!

**Computer/Internet and Kids: Eric and I are really struggling with this right now. Sometimes I just want to unplug the computers and shelter them as long as I can. Other times I wake up and know that they are growing up in a world that is online every second of the day. How do I teach them balance? How do I teach them self-control? We've had lots of issues with the internet lately--to the point that I have literally unplugged their computers. We usually do school online, but for now they are stuck with good 'ol Rod and Staff (curriculum used for Amish and Mennonite schools)! Does anybody have a very good "internet nanny" program to recommend? Hmm...would one of those programs stop my 10 year old daughter from visiting and posting on Ravelry (a crochet/knit site)?! Yes, my 10 year old can get herself in trouble visiting Ravelry! Not fun when people are saying, "Where is this child's mother?!" I'm here! She's literally 3 feet behind me, but she's too smart for her own good!

**August. I am thinking August will be my next trip to Ghana. It is already WAY overdo, but I don't think life or finances will allow a trip before that. I am already counting the days. I literally have about 10 people/places to visit within Ghana. I also hope I might go to Togo and (if the stars align) Guinea. Planning a 3 week trip and I have a feeling it will not be long enough!

**My mother-in-law appears to have beaten breast cancer! The surgery to remove the damaged breast is on Thursday. Please keep her in your prayers. We are glad she beat this and are ready to have our Grandma G back in full force.

**It was a way awesome week last week in AAI's Ghana program. Some long-waiting kids found their families, and more are being matched very soon. The program is growing at such a great rate (not too fast, not too slow). Our partners in Ghana are doing some amazing work. It's so nice to feel good on every level about the people I work with.

**It was a way discouraging week last week in AAI's Ghana program. Injustice was served upon an innocent child, his biological family, and his should-be adoptive family. Hate is such a destructive thing. This hate is spreading lies to others. I pray this hate is completely stamped out. I am glad that my God will take care of pay-backs for me. Otherwise, I would be organizing some whoop-*ss right about now.

**It's sort of awkward to be doing a job that is going so amazingly well on some levels, and so poorly on other levels. It makes me want to walk away from the phone and computer for a few days to pretend that I am "just" a homemaker and teacher to my children. But then I think about "my" families and I'm right back to work.

**Eric and I had a rude awakening on Sunday morning. jerk....jerk...jerk... Eric was in a fit of diabetic convulsions. Almost always the Lord wakes me up when he is low, so that I can get him some sugar before he goes into convulsions. Not Sunday morning. [Ironically (or not) I was in the middle of a very bad dream in which we were stuck in some huge unfriendly church and I couldn't gather my family so that we could leave.] Anyway, I ran and got the maple syrup and started giving him spoonfuls of it. Waited. They weren't going away. 911. It's pretty sad when the EMSA folks "know" you. "Hey guys! Haven't seen you in a while. How are the kids?" It's also pretty sad when your kids sit and watch cartoons without concern while EMSA folks are attending the daddy. Oh well. After I called 911 I started praying over Eric--particularly that the Lord would allow him to just BREATHE. His breathing is very weird and labored during these convulsions. "Please Lord, just help him to relax and breath." Then, he took this huge clear breath. As he exhaled, he smiled. That was the end of the convulsions. Thank you Jesus. That happened right as EMSA pulled up. =-) Eric's sugar was at 34 after 6 spoons of syrup, when he came out of the convulsions. I don't think I want to know what it was BEFORE the syrup!

I guess that's it for tonight. All of the ups and downs of the past week have just left me feeling worn out--ready to hop off of the drama bus for a while!