7 Quick Takes (vol. 27)

#1 - No more sick kids! No more! We have had nonstop sickness around here for weeks. When we've got a child sick, both of us have to be here for number reasons, so it makes it really difficult to get anything done. We just came back on duty yesterday, had one day of no sick children (although Blueberry has been coughing), and then we wound up with another sicko this morning--strep no less. Sigh. Enough is enough! Oh, and since we were going to the doctor any ways, we took Blueberry in and she has another ear infection. Need to look into ear infections some more and see if I can find some more natural preventative stuff for them. The really bad thing about her ear infections is that she shows no symptoms. Never complains of ear pain. Has no fevers. Just gets a nasty cough which eventually proves to be triggered by the ear infection itself. Hard to treat when you don't realize its happening.

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#2 - In addition to the sickness, its been a dramatic few weeks here at the cottage. Between sicknesses, we had multiple court dates for a number of our ladies. One found out she will be staying here with us for a very long time, another two found out they are still stuck in limbo. That's so hard on a child not knowing if this is going to be home for a long time or if they are going back to whatever they came from before. And for some there is the tear of "I love my parent...but I know deep inside that this is safer for me." How do you balance those conflicts?

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#3 - So isn't the "why" phase supposed to start at age 3 or 4? Either way, we're in full-blown "why" gear around here. It actually started with Butterfly but little Miss Blueberry picked it up right away. "Why" has become very old, very fast. Although, I admit, I did have to laugh when I decided to reverse it on her the other day and asked her, "why", and she calmly looked at me and said in the most matter of fact voice possible, "Because."

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#4 - Blueberry has also begun saying, "Yes, ma'am" to things. As we do live in the south, it is a campus requirement to teach the kids to say, "Yes, ma'am" "No, sir," etc. Otherwise they are seen as disrespectful at school and other places. So she has heard it for the last year and apparently has decided it is high time to put it into practice herself. The most startling moment when I noticed it was when she was telling Doggie off about something (he's been a most disobedient stuffed dog lately) and she looks at him and says, "No, Ma'am!" very sternly.

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#5 - Christmas presents and shopping are going pretty well. Not quite done yet, but we're on our way. Just a few more things to tie up and I can't write that off my list. For our cottage girls, we finally decided to do a mini picture book for each of them of the last year. Having a love of my camera, I tend to take lots of pictures, so putting all of them together into scrapbooks for each of the girls has been fun. Course it takes quite a bit of time, but I think the end result is worth it. And with all the good deals out there on photo-books, it ends up being relatively affordable (which is important when you're looking at 7 kids). Sure the girls get presents from sponsors and other people, but we like to give them something directly from us. Its just hard knowing what to get that isn't just another generic gift.

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#6 - OK, I just had a laugh at a very apropos sight. I'm sitting at the computer eating my lunch, typing this, and I glance to my side and see my nativity set sitting up on the bookshelf. Its a very pretty set, complete with the typical wise men, angels, Mary, Joseph, the Lord Jesus, and, in our case, a cough drop. GAH! The sickness is creeping in everywhere! Make it stop!

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#7 - Its my big brother's 35th birthday today. Somehow I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around this--he's 35? Seriously? I remember when 35 sounded so old, and while it feels young now, my ingrained perspective of many years is that 35 is ancient and decrepit!

Any ways, happy birthday big bro. I love you. You are amazing and talented in so many ways. I'm honored to have a big brother that I can look up to and admire so strongly after all these years. Take a break at some point today.

 "Unca Jon" and Blueberry