You Shoulda Heard Me from the Sidelines!

Hey Cats,

In midst of a busy season i must pause to tell you that Atley had his first soccer game on Saturday and scored two goals! After one of his goals he came over to the sidelines, ran by, and shouted, "i love you mom!" as he ran past. It was really cute and i hope he still does it the day he plays in his first World Cup. :) He just loves organized play! Anyhow, he was the smallest, youngest kid out there but you would have never known it. There were some kids that were most likley 1st graders but that didn't stop him from runnin' under them and stayin right up on the ball. I, of course, yelled the whole game from the sidelines. It was so much fun. However, the best part of the game for me as a mom was at one point when Atley was sitting on the sidelines and a kid from the other team got hurt and went running over to his parents. Atley, as soon as he noticed, got up and went over to him, bent down and put his arm around and talked to him to try console him. I don't care if he never scores another goal, so long as he continues to grow a heart of compassion for others.

I was thinking today about how, even in our children, we begin to see their little spiritual gifts develop. I think about Kenna and they way she loves to worship and Atley with how he loves to cheer people on and take care of them and you just really begin to see their little gifts and abilities develop early. It's just really cool. We don't deserve any of it.

As a side note, by dear daughter spent most of the game with my small trial size bottle of lotion rubbing it all over whoever would let her...not sure where that fits in the spiritual gift test!

Much love to you all!
Meow.
Mandycat

Hi Cats,

Liz, I love the YMCA story! What maddening feats we achieve for the sake of efficiency!!! I love you and I imagined your skinny naked butt!!! I laughed outloud. All is well in the land of corn and coal! We are finally in our house and settling in as well as we can. Scott works alot right now, adjusting to the job, but loves it overall. I start working part-time after labor day at a little pre-school called Jumpstart! I am excited! I also plan to tutor and host people from the BCH in my home. Liz---I feel like Mrs. Eubanks, but 100times less graceful! Anway, I love and miss you all! We will be in K-town the last weekend in September, perhaps we could meet for lunch--Catty-Bets-Klep???? See ya

Boxwoods

Our house has 3 boxwood bushes that sit right outside our front door. Every time I pass by them around mid-August and into fall I always think of old Johnson Hall. Every door to that dorm had boxwoods planted outside of them. Does anyone else recall that smell?
If you need to be reminded you're all welcome to our house for a little sniff...oh the nostalgia!
Liz

For a Good Laugh...

Chrisandchadgetskinny.wordpress.com

They are sort of catlike in the attempt to keep up with each other, don't you think?

Meow.
Mandycat

who can follow that?

after lizzie's post, nothing will seem as entertaining. i'll keep mine short and informational. thanks for the prayers, the politte clan is doing better. the kids are over their virus and are now fighting off and ear infection and a diaper rash from hell with a yeast infection, but they're on the upswing. my labwork came back and whether or not it was parvo-virus, i had already been exposed to it earlier in life and had anti-bodies to protect me. yay! gotta love protective antibodies. i have been on insulin for 2 days, now, and i'm not sure how that's going, yet. it caused me blood sugar to drop way too low yesterday, so I think they will have to adjust my dosage. we'll get it figured out, hopefully before I go into a diabetic coma.
we are enjoying a little bit of johnson reunion time, as Marcus and Amanda Fife have just moved to Cleveland. They are living about 20 minutes from us and we have gotten together countless times already. Marcus accepted a worship ministry at a christian church in the area, and steve is sure that his evil plan is starting to come together. they were up until midnight last night playing xbox, just like old times.
well, i have to go mail off invitations to the twins' 1st birthday party. wow, a year old already. this is crazy.
miss you all!
-fulty

A story for Momma-Cats and China-Cats alike

Hello Dear Feline Friends~
I have a two part story for y'all. The first part of the story is for all you Momma-Tats (as Kenna would say). I decided to take the kids to the YMCA tonight after dinner to go swimming. I also decided to take our bath stuff and the kids' pajamas along so that they could get all ready for bed. Well, a great plan in theory but rather comical when experienced first hand. Just imagine my naked self in a shower stall with two small naked children. Of course the shower curtain was too small and didn't cover the whole opening of the shower. On top of that I had to put Duncan on the floor of the stall because there was no where else to put his wiggly self. On top of all that I had to wash the three of us, shave my legs and armpits and keep Duncan from crawling under the wall into the adjoining stall. At one point I looked down to find Duncan lying prostrate on the shower floor! The whole time I kept having these uncontrollable laughs to myself as we teetered on the edge of disaster--I kept picturing myself having to scurry soapy and naked to the next stall to retrieve my soapy and naked son. Once showered I then had to try to get a towel around myself while holding Duncan so that I could get to the locker room changing area without all creation seeing my pink-puppies.

As if that weren't enough....(this is for my China-Cats)...I make it to the changing area, sit the kids down, and reflect about how quick I'm going to have to act in order to get us all dressed before someone comes through to see the spectacle. Before I get the chance to start, a Chinese woman and her young son come into a completely empty locker room and proceed to dress themselves to swim RIGHT next to us. So I'm dripping wet, Kenna's standing on the bench buck naked, Duncan's likewise naked on his back on the bench squakin' like a fool, the China child is staring at my puppies as they peak out and the China woman is giving me the biggest most friendliest smile as though no personal boundaries have been breeched in the least. My old feelings of irritation arose (as I'm sure you all can relate to when hearkening back to your China adventures) but then I decided to put all hostile feelings aside and engage her about the Olympics and let her know that I had spent some time in the land of China! She was warm and friendly as all Chinese are and I was able to be a good example to my children. Not only that but I also saw something that I had forgotten completely about--the blue spot that young Chinese children have just above their rear-cracks...still a mystery to me!?!?

Anyway--I hope I can bring a laugh to you all in some form or fashion. Eli read the blog and asked what I was thinking to dare such an undertaking. My only conclusion...I wasn't!

Au Revoir Pee Wee
Lizzy

Hi, Cats!

Sorry I've been a stranger...school's been back in session for about two weeks and we had a week of inservice prior to it. I'm really enjoying these kids that I have this year (so far). In fact, today one of our students brought a bird (yes a real one) into school in her purse because she heard one of us say how much we liked animals. so she thought she'd bring us one...alive and in person. she said, "Mrs. Duncan, look what I brought Ms. Ellis!" she proceeds to unzip her purse and out flies a bird...it flies all over the room, the kids are screaming and running around, we're all laughing, and our science teacher threw a lab coat over it to catch it. We put it in the hamster cage for a while and then freed it 6th period. :)

Also, there are trails of ants every morning going into various lockers where they find little pieces of food or sugar. And yesterday, a kid blurted out very loudly (who i've been over and over with about why we don't do that) and I said, "Excuse me, did you just blurt out?" you know, one of those rhetorical questions we ask. And he said very seriously, "No, ma'am, I didn't." I laughed and said, "Really?! You didn't?!" and he said again very seriously, "No, ma'am." And for some reason I thought that was so funny (it was 8th period) that I laughed until I had tears coming down my face and the kid said, "That's the second teacher I've made cry."

Eric starts back at school today - only a year of classes left and one semester of student teaching!!!!! He is very excited. We are still living in married housing which has it's HUGE disadvantages...mainly the riff raff of neighbors we have. You would not even believe some of the stuff that we've had to get involved in around here...polar opposite of JBC. But it's cheap, so as much as I want out and I want a cat, this is our home for now and it's saving us tons of money and I'm trying to think long-term in terms of debt. We'll get there. :)

Miss you cats and I"m so glad we have this blog...I love it, I love feeling connected still even though we are all getting farther and farther away from each other geographically. Bets and Fulty, I"m praying for your little ones. :) Byrd, hang in there...I know how much I want to go nuts with 23 twelve year olds in the room but I can't imagine what it must be like with two tiny ones. V-cat, glad you feel at peace where you are - and you're a celebrity! Lizzie, the pic of you and Kenna is priceless.

meow! -klep

Another year

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Klepper!

Sorry so I forgot to tell you yesterday, my parents are here to celebrate Brevin's birthday on Sunday so we were busy running around. Fulty- did you ever hear back from your blood tests? I am headed to the doctor on Monday for a check-up and to schedule my big ultrasound! Can't wait for that! Love you all.

Happenings...

So i spent two hours at the doctor's office today only to find out Ava is full of crap...constipated. Thanks Doc, knew that. Can i have my $35 copay back?

Atley is continuing to love soccer. He is soooo happy with organized play. He is definitely adopted. His mother is more of a professional at chaos. Here are some pics i thought enough of to share.

update

Well, we are all still alive so far. Anderson is doing much better, but he still has the rash all over his body, which means he is still contagious. As of tonight, Adeline is not doing so hot, but she's a trouper. She is getting the rash, has the fever, and probably the blisters on her throat- she just felt bad all night, you could tell. I had bloodwork done yesterday and haven't heard back yet, which I am choosing to assume is good. I would think they would have contacted me immediately if it were bad.

On the other matter, my glucose results did come back and I am diabetic again. I will meet next week with the dietician and go from there. Here we go again. That's alright, I've done it before and I can handle it. And it may not be bad enough this time to need insulin since it's not twins. Thanks for the prayers, it just seems to pile up sometimes, huh?

Fulty

say a prayer...

anderson has a virus, but he will be ok. however, they believe the virus maybe something called "slapcheek" in which case, this could be a problem for me. i have to go in for bloodwork in the morning to see if i have contracted it and if it is slapcheek. my ob wouldn't say over the phone what this virus entails, only that it is a concern for pregnant women, and she didn't want to worry me before we know what we're dealing with. i am fighting the urge to look up slapcheek and its effects on pregnant women on the internet because i know i will jump to conclusions and worry about something i can't do anything ab0ut anyway. all i know is that pregnant woman are not supposed to be exposed to it and i have to avoid the babies' "secretions" until this is over.

i also spent the day at the hospital for my 3 hour glucose test. i should get the results from that tomorrow, as well. it's always something with me, huh?

i'll update you when i know something.

-fulty

Girls vs. Boys

Well it seems everyone is doing well- Vanessa I hope you are finding ways to stay away from the paparazzi. : ) Things are good here. I go to the doctor on the 18th- the weeks seem to be going by slowly when I am waiting for my appointment, but quickly when I think it is already into August. I will be 15 weeks on Sunday- pants are getting tight and I have to wear big shirts. I think I have felt the baby move a few times, but it is sporadic.

In other big news- I have been just watching Brevin to see when he has to poop- you can definitely tell with that kid. So then I will just strip him down and when he has to go he will go sit on the potty. It has worked pretty well. But today I had him come in from the deck to get ready for a nap so I told him to go pee. Well, next thing I know, I look in the bathroom and he is sitting on the toilet so I ask him what he is doing and he says he is pooping. I figured he was just playing around and I heard him grunting a few times, again he likes to do this fake grunt when I tell him he needs to poop. I leave him in there a few minutes and then I hear, "I pooped!" I was amazed and so excited! Now I just need to get him to not poop in his pull-up at naptime (I haven't given that pull-up up yet because I don't want him to wake up in the middle of a nap wet- although he is starting to not nap, like right now, and he just talks to himself all nap time and reads books- anyone else going through this??? He might do this a few days and then nap for a few days- it isn't so bad though).

Also, he came in the bathroom the other day as I was getting out of the shower and he studies me for a little bit and then says, "Mommy, you don't have a pee?" So I explained how mommy is a girl and we don't have those like boys. He said it again when he saw Lauren (the girl I watch) getting a diaper change. Oh I can just imagine where these talks will take us in 10-15 years!

Hello Kitties,

Sounds like all is well, the norm with raving mad children and craziness. Gabe's new thing when he is mad is "I don't care about you!" , wonderful and precious child. Eliana is walking and is into everything she can possibly find! We are still waiting to close on our house, waiting for a water test, since it is well water. We will live somewhat out of town, which is nice in a small subdivision with a little pond. We are exciting about having so much space and definitely ready for a place of our own. Oh yes, I have already made the cover of the Carmi times!! I am teaching at a little pre-school in town, one of only three! So they did a write up and took of picture of me putting puzzles on a shelf. It made the front page! I actually had a lady come up to me, asking if I was the woman in the paper, the new teacher at Jumpstart. My fame is spreading like wildfire!!!!Anyway, God is faithful, and though this may not be the city with the adventures and conveniences we desire, He is definitely at work! Take care! HOpe to see you all for Corn DAy!!

Please Tell Me I'm Normal...

Cats, i am writing so that you can all respond and let me know i am normal. I think that if i had let my kids stay up even 5 more minutes tonight and if i had heard the name "mommy" one more time i probably would have dug my eyeball out with a plastic baby spoon. Does anybody else have kids who have days where daddy is not allowed to do anything for them, only mommy can do it? Lord, help me make it through to bed time each night!

Meow.
Mandycat

Our sister, Gloria

We're still here...we were busy with VBS last week. I unwittingly agreed when asked to lead the hand-motions for our sing time at VBS. At the time I did not understand that the job description also included singing on stage with a mic! You all know my feelings about singing in front of people. It's one of the few things that I am really self-conscious about. All in all, though, it ended up being an enjoyable experience. The children were fun and I loved to watch them sing and dance. For the closing program each night Kenna joined me on stage. She danced and did the motions as well. One night she picked up a microphone that wasn't turned on and sang into it. It was quite cute. I may have a little diva on my hands.

This is Kenna and I singing a song about not being afraid.

The other day she was brushing Murphy with her little play brush and she said to me, "This is my sister." I said, "Oh really...What is your sister's name?" She thought about it for a moment and then responded, "Gloria." I smiled. I have no idea where that name came from. She doesn't really know anyone with that name.

Duncan is my little sweet Pancake. He is turning into such a little sweetie. He smiles at people all the time when we're out and I love to hear him laugh when he is tickled. He also makes monster noises ALL the time. It's one of the first marks of boyhood that I have noticed in him compared to when Kenna was his age.

Eli is doing well. Last night he went to visit his officer friend who was shot. He has since been moved to a rehabilitation center and is doing remarkably well--talking some, feeding himself, moving most of his body. It's truly a miracle that he is at the stage he is at.

I miss you all.
Lizzy

Breaking the Silence...

Well i have been waiting for Jenney to post after her little posting mishap but i guess i will have to be the one to break the silence! Maybe the rest of you sorry cats will follow suit! :)

Life has been busy as usual around here. The summer is moving out quickly it seems, althought it will be hot until like October! There are a few updates and some stories to tell.

We were at Chic Fil A the other night getting icecream and letting the kids play on the playground. Daniel took Ava to the bathroom. He came stomping out red faced and here is what happened: she was sitting on the toilet and Daniel had his back turned (that was his first mistake). He turned around to look at her just in time to see Ava peeing with her hand on her va-jay-jay and thus pee was spraying up in her face, on the wall and all over Daniel nonetheless. She finished and with an accomplished grin on her face said, "Look at my hand." BADD.

The second one is just something Atley said the other day that was really funny. Instead of dive, when he is referring to swimming, he said "die." I knew this to be true but the other day we were in the car on the way to the pool and he looked over at Ava very, very seriously and said, "Ava, if you swim alone, you die alone." Now i know he meant dive but it was hilarious anyhow.

Thirdly, we were at dinner last night and we were conversing about Jesus living in their hearts. At one point in the conversation, Ava got quiet, lifted up her shirt, looked at her chest and said, "Can you open it?" I told her no i cant open it and from there she said Jesus was in here and pointed to her belly button and began rolling her stomach and laughing hysterically. What to say in response????

A couple updates, Daniel will be 30 on Friday! Yes, 30! We are soon to follow! Old cats. Still crochety though! Daniel and Greg Adkins are coaching the 4 & 5 Upward Soccer team in Powell. Atley had his first practice the other night and absolutely loved it. You should have seen him in his mini shin guards and cleats! I will try to post a pic when i find my stupid camera cord. So cute. Cats, don't go around tellin people that i drive a van and am officially a soccer mom. Liz!

Finally, we are beginning classes to start fostering kids sometime in the next month. We just feel very called to that. Be praying for us. I will post more about this some time.

Well, i broke the silence so you people better follow suit!

Love you cats!
Meow.
Mandycat

Where are you?

Happy Birthday Vanessa! Hope you have a great day.

Where is everyone???