Answer: Crackers and Candy and Drink

Question: How are birthdays celebrated at Julie's orphanage?

Yesterday was Miss Julie's birthday; she turned 11 years old, joining my other two girls. She was basking in delight from break of dawn through nightfall, just glowing and grinning and full of herself all the livelong day.

Truth be told, it wasn't much of a birthday, but she didn't seem to notice.
She got soaking dripping wet at Rosie's soccer game (along with Rosie's friend Alyssa), but then got to warm up at Mickey D's with a chicken nugget happy meal that had a Kidz Bop CD as the prize.
She had to sit in the car for nearly 2 hours in order to take Alyssa to our pre-arranged drop-off spot and then back to our house, but she enjoyed giggling with the girls in the backseat and watching a movie on the DVD player.
She got to eat the dinner of her choice, which was spaghetti. Even though Mom hadn't pulled it together to make it a complete meal with salad and Italian bread, she didn't seem to mind.
She got to open presents from her family, and she loved every last blessed thing that her brothers and sisters had bought her:
A jumbo pencil
Happy Birthday sunglasses
Goo
A rubber ball
A pretty blue baseball cap
A self-inflating whoopie cushion (will advances in technology never cease?)
A jewelry kit
Some hair barrettes.

Her Dad and I got her a Nintendo DS and a couple games to go with it and she was just tickled pink. She kept running back and forth to both of us to give us one bear hug after another. She played with it most of the night until we finally cracked the whip about lights out.

After presents we had cake and ice cream, and she looked so full of herself sitting in front of her white frosted cake with little pink hearts and her name spelled out in candles. A bit over-excited, she didn't understand to wait till the birthday song was over before blowing out the candles, and I don't know if she made a wish. I'm kinda guessing her wishes have come true. I know mine have.

While everyone was eating their chocolate cake, I asked Julie to tell us what she usually did for her birthdays in Kazakhstan. She said they have crackers and candy and drink. And if I understood her correctly, they have one of those Barbie heads where you fix the hair and do the make-up, and that is brought out for the girls to play with on special events like birthdays.
The sense I got was, even though today was far from perfect, this was the best birthday of this sweet young girl's life.

Happy Birthday to you, Julie. And many more ......

Get Your Head in the Game

Rosie, James, Julie and I participated today in a brain cancer awareness walk. We walked with a team called Christina's Crusaders. Christina was the daughter of an aquaintance of mine who passed away in the last year from a brain tumor. Rosie was able to walk with her good friend Alyssa, who was a friend of Christina's.

I also walked in remembrance of my brother Donald. We wrote a message to him on the "Memory Wall" and I wore his picture and life dates on a card hung around my neck. It's coming up on 13 years that he passed away. It was nice to have an event like this to bring people together and raise awareness.

I was glad some of the kids wanted to walk in this, and we took the time this morning to look on the website at the pictures of the people being walked for. It's so wonderful, I think, when kids are able to see outside their small world every now and again, and to realize how truly blessed they are.

Of course, they also loved being part of the walk so they could enjoy pizza and popcorn, and dance to the live music. Bottom line is, it was a very memorable date for all of us, and I think it will have a lasting impact on them.

J & J Meet P & C

James and Julie got to meet their Paw-Paw and Granny Caggy from KY, who came up on Weds night and left this morning. They were very excited to meet two more family members and warmed up to them immediately.

I have to say that's one area of "firsts" that delights me most for these kids-- meeting new family memebers. In the last week they've met two grandparents, two aunts, an uncle and a cousin. And there's more to come in the next few months. From going most of their lives with no family, to joining a family with parents and siblings, to meeting all the extended family members, it's all new to them and they seem to be basking in the love!

Easy V-Z

I had to drive Rosie down to her soccer game in Dover on Sunday, about an hour and a half from home. Fred set up my VZ Navigator on my phone prior to the trip for me (I hadn't used it before) so I could find my way more easily.

I faithfully followed her instructions on the way down, but I have to say I wasn't all that impressed. I thought Veezy (I say her name like Weezy) took me kind of a long way around. Plus she took me through Newark right in the middle of a March-of-Dimes Walk-a-Thon and I had to wait not once but twice for masses of people to cross the street. Not her fault, mind you, because how could she have known, but I'm just sayin'.

So on the way home I set her up to direct me back, but decided I might tweak things a bit and try a few tricks of my own. She was not pleased. Here is the playback:

VZ: Prepare to turn left in .... point .... 4 .... miles.
VZ: Turn left now.
Me (continuing straight)
VZ: ..... Recalculating route.
VZ: Prepare to turn right in ......point ..... two ..... miles.
Me (turning left)
VZ: ..... Recalculating route.
VZ: Prepare to exit in .... point ..... three ...... miles.
VZ: Exit now.
Me (continuing straight)
VZ (through clenched teeth): ......Recalculating route.

This went on for awhile, with me doing my own thing, and Veezy getting increasingly more irritated with me. I finally noticed that I wasn't getting any more verbal instructions and I looked down at the screen. It said: "You are off route. Would you like to start a new route?"

That's right. She had stopped speaking to me. Reckon I pissed her off. I guess it could have been worse, she could have gotten nasty with me. Prepare to go to hell ..... now.
Bottom line, I got home in way better time than she got me down to Dover.
Maybe I should get her some chocolate in case I need her to help me out again in the future. But I probably shouldn't hold my breath.

Holy Communion, Batman!

Daniel celebrated his First Holy Communion on Saturday 4/25. It was a beautiful day, and the event was attended by his godparents (Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary) as well as his Aunt Ronnie and Uncle Jamie, Aunt Donna and cousin Megan. Despite being nervous, Daniel did great. The church is still standing and not one head spun around the entire time.
Good job, Daniel!

"Mom. You're so old".

My kids so enjoy reminding me of my antiquity. Sometimes I feel even older than they think I am, but other times I feel like a spring chicken (OK, maybe a summer chicken). But am I indeed OLD?

I've decided to make up a short quiz to help me figure out if my kids are right about me. Feel free to take it yourself to see where you rate on the age-o-meter:

1) Do you believe the waistband of your pants should be worn at your waist?
2) Have you ever thought you needed a bikini wax to wear a pair of jeans purchased at the mall?
3) Have you ever had a conversation with your friends or spouse in which you discussed fiber, gums, or your colon?
4) Have you ever had a banana seat or thought of committing a felony to get one?
5) Are you old enough to be the parent of any of your kids' teachers?
6) Have you ever uttered any of the following phrases:

* "You'll poke your eye out"
* "Because I said so"
* "You'll catch your death"
* "Turn that down"
* "No, you cannot get that pierced"
* "Not till you're 30"

7) Do you still have some old cassette tapes lying around?
8) Are any of them Olivia Newton John?
9) Do you remember watching the following movies as an annual event:

* Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang
* The Wizard of Oz
* Rudolph
* seasonal Charlie Brown specials

10)For these movies, do you remember having popcorn that was made on the stove?
11)Did you ever watch the same movie 35 times in a week when HBO first came on the scene?
12)When playing Atari Pong, did you think things just couldn't get any better?
13)Was there a time in your life when "wings" was a hairstyle term and not a maxi-pad feature?
14)Do you know the words to the elevator music?
15)Have you ever purchased anything for a penny?

To calculate your score, add up the number of 'yes' responses. If
0: What are you doing reading this, it's past your bedtime.
1 - 5: You probably still hold your breath when driving past a cemetery.
6 - 10: You've probably priced plots in a cemetery. Stop dragging your feet and commit to buying one already.
11+: Time to outfit your plot with wireless and get comfy.

Oh my God. My kids are right.

Love Your Mother

Lucky for Mother Earth, she is very "in" right now. When I took my girls shopping the other day I noticed how popular she, and her good friend "Peace" were on t-shirts, sweatpants, the backs of short-shorts, and every accessory known to teen-kind. While I know this is not much more than a fashion trend, I can't help getting excited because I know that any press is good press. The more people are bombarded by images of Earth, nature, green, peace, the more we will benefit, both locally and globally.

In fact, all this buzz about going green has gotten me to examine my life to see if I could be doing things a little more eco-friendly. And you know what? I found that by tweaking a few small things here and there, I can make a difference. It's a minuscule difference, given that I'm one of about 6 billion people in the world, but it's a difference nonetheless. And if the 2.3 people who read this blog can also make a small change, well then I've done something here, haven't I?

With that in mind, here is a short list of simple things you can do to make this world a more habitable, sustainable, everyone-hold-hands-and-sing-kumbaya - able kinda place:

Do Something Drastic, Cut the Plastic
Buy yourself a bunch of those canvas bags and keep them in the trunk of your car. Whenever you go shopping use these in place of the plastic grocery bags for bagging your food. Keep one or two folded up in your purse for times when you run into a department store but forgot to bring your bags with you. I estimate that by using canvas instead of plastic, I will keep about 1000 plastic bags out of our landfills and oceans every year. If you want more info on how harmful plastic bags are to our world, check this out: http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=the-dangers-of-plastic-bags-do-something-drastic-cut-the-plastic-&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

Just Say No To Disposable Plastic Water Bottles
About a year ago I decided I was throwing my money away buying plastic water bottles when I have water flowing like water from my kitchen tap. My hat is off to the guy that got the world to fall for that one. Not only is it a waste of money, but those bottles are a HUGE problem that won't go away. Remember all the trash that Wall-E had to clean up? That's what's coming if we keep piling water bottles in our landfills. Plus now they're saying the bottles have some kind of chemical that gives you some kind of cancer of some kind of organ, and who needs that? If you're thinking to yourself that you can't live without water bottles, go back in your mind to when you were a kid. What did you do when you got thirsty? Filled a glass at the tap? You can do that again, I promise. When I was a girl, I don't remember the streets being filled with people who dropped dead of dehydration. When we were thirsty, we got a glass of water, no big deal. For times when we're out at a sports activity or we're taking a roadtrip, I have bought water bottles from Wal-Mart that are dishwasher safe. That's right, they can be used more than once! You think your kids need to drink the bottles of vitamin water you buy them? Here's a thought, give them a vitamin and a glass of water. NO MORE PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES!

Buy Fresh, Buy Local
By buying food that is in season and produced locally, not only do we support local farmers, but we cut back on how much food is transported by diesel-fed behemoths across the country. So wait till spring to eat your asparagus, and then buy it from a farmer's market or look for a "locally grown" section in your produce aisle. No need to be eating fresh asparagus in January that's been imported from Chile.

Reduce/ReUse/Recycle
Reduce the amount of stuff you buy and clutter up your home with, because eventually you'll get tired of looking at it and want to throw it away (I'm talking about impulse purchases, not spouses).
Before you throw it away, ask yourself if it can be "repurposed". Ricotta cheese and Cool-Whip containers make great Tupperware. Old school worksheets can be cut into quarters and used as scratch paper for taking phone messages. Pause before you pitch and see if you can get creative.
Recycling. Just do it. Don't doom your cardboard, paper, glass and plastic to a life in the landfill. Give them new life by tossing them in your recycle bins. Who knows what they'll be reincarnated into?
Stop the Stuff
Remember when I said you eventually get tired of looking at the stuff you buy and it ends up in the trash? Wow. You were paying attention.
That's the problem with 'stuff'. We all have way too much of it and it ends up in a landfill because it's too small, too old, too last-year, too boring or broken. So first, stop buying so much crap for yourself, your house, your kids, because you just don't need it. Second, come gift-giving time, instead of buying stuff to give someone, consider some alternatives:
*A donation in their name to a charity like Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, Nothing But Nets, etc. There are a million good causes out there in desperate need of funds and there are countless gifts we have to give throughout the year. So let's kill two birds with one stone here.
*A gift of something to do out in the wide world such as gift cards to the movies or miniature golf, a family membership to a zoo or museum, a pottery class or pony rides.

Get up. Get out the door. Live life. Discover our world.

It's a good place.