VBS = Very Busy Sistah!

Last week I only had 50% of my kids in the house.  One is still in Africa and one was at camp in California.  So the two that were here participated in a Vacation Bible School program that lasted from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.  I love summertime!  It was a little slice of heaven for this sistah!  I felt like a mother who sends her kids away to school…. but just for five half days.  I didn’t quite know what to do with myself…. so I went shopping, out to lunch, bookstore browsing, shopping, out to lunch….etc.  And then the last day I just came home and did nothing.  Nada.  I didn’t even blog.  Seriously, I sat and looked through a few magazines… stared out the window enjoying the silence… nothing.

Nora has not really been away from me in a setting with other kids, other than Sunday School…. and that only lasts one hour!  So this was a stretch for her!  She told me on the second day that she had no friends.  I asked if there were other girls her age and she said there were.  So I explained that she needed to go up to them and say, “Do you want to be my friend?”  And she did.  She got in the van that afternoon and said, “Now I have lots of friends!”  If you want to have friends, show yourself friendly.  It works!

One of my FREE mornings, my mother and I went to a fabric store…. and my sewing creativity that had been dormant for over eight months burst forth into life.  I purchased two dress patterns for Nora and came home to check my fabric stash.  I had ample pieces for little dresses, but needed some zippers, some rick-rack, some sequin trim and a few extra pieces of material.  I finished two of the dresses and I’m onto number three.  They all have lime green, turquoise and dark brown in them, so I’m also working on a corresponding purse that works with all three!  Matching is SO important! 

Did I mention that I love summertime?

A First for this Mother

I believe I mentioned before on MSJ that my 17-year-old daughter is going to Tanzania, East Africa for three weeks in June…. WITHOUT ME!  She has gone on missions trips before but not to Africa.  This is huge for her…. for her outlook on life… and for me….sending my firstborn to the other side of the planet.  What was I thinking, agreeing to this?  Rick and I have always said that our children will go on missions trips and be aware of the living conditions in other parts of the world.  We think it is highly important for kids from one of the most prosperous nations on the globe to see how MOST of the world actually lives.  It’s not quite like Scottsdale, baby!  Trips like this make you thankful, and sad, and mad, and changed for life!

Larisa is going with a group of 12 people from our church… an amazing group of people who the Lord brought together… who didn’t even know each other six months ago.  Amazing!  They will be working with a home for boys in Moshi called the Emmanuel Center.  The leaders of the trip have been there before (which does this mother’s heart good.) The team will also head out and CAMP with the Masai tribe for three days (which made this mother laugh because Larisa doesn’t prefer camping!)  They will be doing workshops with people with handicaps, holding dental clinics, doing hospital visitation, some light construction, painting and a few church services.  ALL stretching and growing opportunities for my girl!  I’m thrilled that she gets this juncture in her life… it will change her path forever.

Am I nervous? Not really.  Am I scared to send her off?  Not really.  I know the Lord has plans for her…. WAY bigger than I could think of, and He loves her more than I do (hard to imagine!) so He will take care of her.

Everyone on the team needed to raise $3,400 for the trip.  Larisa is getting close… more than 2/3 raised at this point.  How can you help? Bid on an item or two at their auction site: www.MoshiMission.wordpress.com  Or you can make a tax-deductible donation on our church’s site:  https://www.ccvonline.com/Arena/default.aspx?page=12698&requestUrl=%2FArena%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fpage%3D14886

Simply Create a Log-In (so you get a tax receipt).
Select: Moshi, Tanzania Trip
And put: CROSBY in the Blank space.

A sincere Thank You, from deep in this Mother’s heart.

I Lied Today

A survey came in my email box from our adoption agency.  It was a quick ten minute survey on how the agency did, in my humble opinion.  I gave them a good grade, but I lied.  It was the age group thing again.  They were grouped:  30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49….. see the problem???  Had I taken the survey two weeks ago, I would have been in the same age bracket with my husband… the one that started with 40.  But NOOOOOO!  I took the survey today… and lied.

I justified my lying, however, and I’m okay with it.  I’m a bit emotionally spent at the moment…. and all with due reason: tomorrow marks our fourth month home with Nora, our Colombian princess; I started a new eating plan (talk about stress); there is one month left of homeschooling… and we’re not going to be done…. in fact I scrapped half of it a week or two ago and we’re just doing the basics (adding homeschool mom guilt); my daughter leaves for Africa in one month; we just passed tax season (this doesn’t stress me out at all, but it certainly does my husband); I spent the last two days on field trips with high school girls.  Bam!

If there had have been a “45 and 2 weeks” category, I might have been okay with that.  But there wasn’t.  It was the 4-ty-NINE in the same grouping that I had a problem with.  Instead of tears, I checked 40-44.  And I’m okay with that.

School Starts Today…..bahahahahahahah!

Yes, that was my sinister laugh. You see, we homeschool.  We don’t start today….but the rest of the kids who live in Phoenix do.  It’s 9:23 am and two of my three kids are still asleep…. happily dreaming of sugar plums and their favorite mother/teacher who doesn’t want to start school until September.  We are in a co-op for the boys that starts on the 31st.  So I guess we will be starting in August…. barely.  We’re studying Africa for four months.  Should prove entertaining.

My junior in high school starts this Thursday with one class, Economics (only on Thursdays).  That gets her warmed up for next week, when she starts Spanish 2 (only on Tuesdays). THEN the following week she starts Chemistry (only on Tuesdays, too.)  So she’s slowly starting her third year of high school….. not the cannon-ball style… the wade-in-slowly-while-you-get-used-to-the-water style.  Algebra is an ongoing force in her life.  And I still need to pick an English course for us to do together!  Yikes! (Hey, I have two more weeks!)

I’m not ready for school to start.  Usually by now (two weeks and counting down) I am full-blown into planning and gathering needed supplies and books.  Not this year.  I’m terribly distracted by our coming Colombian princess.  I knew I needed to finish her room before school started… and I finished last night!  Whooo HOoooo!  I asked the boys what they thought of starting school in November.  They smiled and thought it was my most brilliant idea EVER!  But it was a cruel joke.  My heart is in Colombia…. not Africa.  What doesn’t help my motivation is that we will travel to Colombia during the school year… which will wipe out about six weeks of school when my mind is mush.  I always thought I would have the kids bring at least math with them to Colombia.  I’m not thinking that anymore.  Spanish immersion is enough.