Winter "Fish Bubbles"

We are ready for March's lamb!  I know I can hardly complain considering that it hasn't snowed here at all this year-wait-we had a flurry the other day, and it rarely gets below thirty degrees, even at night.  However, we've noticed that temperatures lower than fifty degrees do not mix well with C.'s asthma.  

He has had to have regular nebulizer treatments this winter.  Thankfully, the treatments, along with his prescriptions, have stayed off any actual asthma attacks.  Prayerfully, the warmer weather to come in March will keep us from having to spend mornings attached to the neb. machine like we've doing lately.  But, C. doesn't seem to mind as long as he can hold the "fish bubbles" (the mask is a plastic fish) and dance around the room to "Choo Choo Soul"!   This one is NEVER still or discouraged!  He has started to tell us, after a coughing fit or when his breath is wheezy, that he wants fish bubbles. That's a good sign-that he can recognize the symptoms himself and take action to breathe better.  So, we've enjoyed a lot of indoor play when it's "cold" (relative word, I know...) lately.  

March should be better though.  Tim's best friend will be here next week (he's here a week every 2-3 months for work); I'll turn 31 (yikes!), but it's better than 39 or the alternative, so I'll have a good attitude about it!  My mom (Lola to the boys because that's grandma in Tagalog) will be here; St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, daylight savings time begins, and hopefully, some warmer weather!   Happy March! 

Room shift

Our house has undergone a massive shift.  The need for transition began because the boys destroyed their room every night.  I woke up each morning to EVERY toy dumped out, clothes thrown out of drawers, curtains pulled off the walls, sheets ripped off of beds...DISASTER! (see above)  It got so bad that C. hasn't been allowed to sleep in there for the past five months or so since he was the primary offender. I preferred him sleeping in the pack-n-play in the living room to cleaning that room up everyday! And before you say, "Those boys just need a good spanking!"-we've been there and done that. Didn't help.

  

In addition, we have a new addition coming our way this year and there is no way new baby is sleeping in the boy's room!  He or she needs a much more gentle environment.  So, we needed a new room.

Our grand plan?  Move ALL the toys from the boy's room into what used to be my study (above). All that is left now in the boy's room is the bed and their clothes.  What used to be my study is now a play room with a crib for the new baby-see below:

But...my study needed a new home.  So, we converted the screened in porch (that was primed and never painted and missing three screens from the dog) into a new study for me. We found a wonderful contractor who did an amazing job. We hired him to put in storm doors, a patio and a fence too! It took less than two weeks, and I love it!  It's off the kitchen and dining room and is painted the perfect "avacado" shade of green.  The electrician even got my my grandma's old telephone installed and working.

Here are some of my favorite parts: 

I'd like to say that all is well now, but the boys are having a very difficult time adjusting to sleeping in the same room again.  HOPEFULLY, after a week or two it will be smoother.  But on the bright side, C. is out of the living room, new baby has a bed, and I have a study.  

All we need now is the baby!

Why moms park their grocery carts in the middle of the aisle, thus annoying the now blocked-in retired old men trying to buy Metamucil:

Tim and I are getting tired of unplanned purchases.  It seems that everytime we go to the store C. manages to force us into a sale that we otherwise would never have considered.  The above is  a prime example.  Not that giant yellow rubber duck and three rainbow colored ducklings wouldn't have fit perfect under milk and above whole grain spaghetti noodles on our grocery list, mind you.  We just didn't budget for it.  

C. has had a fascination with ducks for as long as I can remember.  Where most toddlers moo like a cow before they develop the "q" sound, and can point a dog out of a barnyard lineup in the crawling stage of development, C. preferred to "Quack!"  Too many afternoons with bread at the pond maybe, but he has developed a love for ducks.  So it shouldn't have been a surprise when he grabbed this genetically disproportionate faux feathered...thing... off of the shelf, and in one deft motion, ripped open the attached embryonic mesh bag that held its pink, blue and green babies, sending them flying down the shampoo aisle.  We then spent a glorious fifteen minutes listening to a toddler-robbed of his hard work and cat-like sneaky skills-scream, "I want duckie!  Quack Quack!  I want it NOW!!!" Another happy trip to Walmart...

After C. made good choices for a day however, he was rewarded with his kidnapped duck, and they are currently inseparable. He feeds the duck (see above), talks to the duck, has the babies walk all around him (yes, he informed us that the big duck is the DADDY duck, NOT the mommy!), and wants to sleep with it.  

Clearly, our days of running into a store, buying the few things on our list, and walking out, are long since past!

How to Blow Away One of the World's Darkest Clouds:

C. and me: one week old

I was reading some adoption blogs lately and came across an interesting fact in a post that is circulating.  I looked it up, did the math myself (risky, I know....) and found it to be true.  Here it is:

There are 143 million orphans in the world, according to UNICEF.

There are 2 billion people who consider themselves Christians in the world, according to government censuses.  

All of these Christians are adopted, according to the Bible:

14For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.   15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"  16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.    Romans 8:14-17

However, less than half of the 143 million orphans are adoptable because of insufficient paperwork (birth and death records, for example), religious laws forbidding adoption to Christian families (Muslim orphans), poor relations between the US and the orphan's government, or lack of a transparent adoption system in place to guarantee ethical adoption (Cambodia).

Therefore, if only 7% of Christians chose to adopt ONE child, all 143 million of the world's orphans would have a permanent safe home!  And since this is unrealistic because of the above listed reasons, if only THREE-yes- 3% of the world's Christians adopted ONE child, all adoptable orphans would have a permanent safe home and a forever family.  WHAT?!  That's all it would take?!  

Disclaimer: I firmly believe that not everyone is called to adopt-Christian or not.  But I also firmly believe that, at the very least, 3% of 2 billion Christians have been given this calling, especially since scripture defines the mark of pure Christianity as caring for orphans (see below)!  It's simply a matter of obeying the call and returning the enormous gift of adoption that God has given us to a child who needs a home.

Turns out some of the world's problems are easily fixed.  Peace in the middle east?  I have no idea.  But the orphan crisis???  This one should be easy.

27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27.

P.S. We got our I-171H in the mail this week!  (The paper from US Customs and Immigration that says we are cleared by them to adopt a child).  It says, "You have approval from the US to adopt one or two (twins) infants of either gender aged 0-6 months."  One step closer...and the I-171H is a HUGE step!  Thanks for your prayers.

What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin?

That was the question our music teacher, Mrs. Barth, posed to us in 3rd grade.  Like any self-respecting huddle of 3rd graders, we called her Mrs. Barf.  She taught me piano for awhile, and outside of the classroom, she wasn't so bad.  Anyway, I remember when I felt like I'd won a million donuts when I was the only one who could answer her question.  Donuts are yummy, but it's bad to have a million of them, and it was disastrous to my reputation (at least for that day) to reveal to my peers that I knew that much about not only orchestral instruments, but country music.  Oh well-we're products of our raising, I guess.  Now that I think of it, I still get made fun of for listening to some of this music!  But I listen to other genres as well-don't worry!  

The answer to the title question, as I'm sure you know, is that they are the same instrument.

But as an adult who for some reason is really drawn to folk and bluegrass lately-maybe because of places I've lived..., I know that isn't really true.  They aren't the same.  I knew this not to be true even when I played the violin.  When I played Mozart, it did NOT sound the same as a guy I dated who played the Orange Blossom Special.  

This difference is epitomized in the fiddler for The Old Crow Medicine Show.  I love these guys! This video is of Wagon Wheel-the old Bob Dylan tune-but they reworked it and added lyrics.  I love them because they are young, funky (click on the 2nd related video in line that comes up after this clip is over and you'll get a better taste of them, but the official video for this song didn't seem totally...appropriate... for the blog!)  They cross genres, harmonize, and the fiddler is a FIDDLER, not a classically trained violinist trying to pass as a fiddler like so many young players in string bands now.  Here's a comparison:

VIOLINISTS:

1. Violin is held high on the shoulder with chin on the chin rest.

2. Fingering wrist is straight under the neck.

3. Rosin is cleaned off of the instrument after every song.

4. Bow hold is delicate with pinky on frog.

5.  Vibrato.  Lots and lots of vibrato...

6. Play one string at a time, unless music marks otherwise.

FIDDLERS:

1. Violin is in front of them so they can see what they're doing.

2. Fingering wrist is bent into the neck.

3. Rosin cakes everything and bow hairs fly loose.

4. They tend to clutch the bow like a stick.

5. No vibrato.

6. That "fiddle" sound comes from playing more than one string at a time.

*In summary: violin-neat and tidy.  Fiddle-sloppy and messy.

They are not the same.  And I love them both.

Another funny thing about this song:  My boys love it.  They request it in the car, "Rock me, Momma!"  Obviously, they are gleaning an entirely different meaning from the chorus than OCMS intended, but that's the loveliness of children...innocence.  And I'm blessed to have two beautiful boys-one who is becoming quite the little cellist-who still love to be rocked by their mommy.