Friendship - It's a Vivas Thing!

Oct 12 2009

Warm and Fuzzies

What is it about childhood things that take us back to the warm and fuzzies?

My niece has her green bunny. I gave this to her a couple of years ago and she won't go to sleep without it. She was devastated when a child pulled it's ears off and thrilled when I was able to sew them back on. So the other night, as we were saying our prayers and cuddling with green bunny, she asked me if I had a cuddly from when I was a child. I did. I still do. Mine was an old-fashioned stuffed monkey that my parents bought for me on my first birthday.

I've held onto this monkey for almost 40 years now, and he isn't going anywhere. To be honest, I don't really have any memories of him until I started getting older, but I know that he's always been there with me. He's tattered and worn, and not played with anymore, but he represents a time of warm fuzzies. Much like the green bunny for my niece.

And Simba the Lion for my oldest daughter. I remember walking through the store with her on her first birthday, and she saw him; and she fell in love and 14 years later, she still has her Simba.

For my oldest son, it was a stuffed Mickey.

For my middle son, it was a blankie…so tattered and worn it fell apart. The other day, I found the pillow that went with it and showed it to him. He smiled; you could tell it brought warm and fuzzies, and so he asked me to keep it for him. I have.

For the youngest son, it's a blankie…and a blue teddy.

And for my youngestdaughter, it's a Boo doll.

There are certain things in life that we never get rid of. We never forget. They represent a time that was special for us. A memory that we hold on to. A feeling that we can never let go.

May we all remember a warm and fuzzy today!

Oct 05 2009

Blogs R Us

There are certain people who have asked when am I going to blog about them. I've told them that I'm trying to come up with something, but when I blog, it usually isn't planned. It just happens. Something has to inspire me. Take this past weekend, for instance.

Friday night, I volunteered to take a group of girls shopping for clothes. Some adults might think it's weird for adults to hang with the teens, but I happen to love it. I've been part of our youth ministry now for over four years! Anyway, we had our serious shopping time at the mall. Ok, I lied. It was anything but serious. I laughed and laughed. We laughed at how how clumsy certain girls are; at racing through parking lots. We laughed at dresses and pants and how they are supposed to be worn.

We laughed at boots.

We ended up at one store after the mall had closed and discovered fun clothes to try on. See, this is what I like about shopping with girls. They are willing to try on anything just to see what they'd look like. And when they're in groups, you can talk each other into almost anything! I remember going shopping with my mom and we'd try on all sorts of formal dresses, etc, because we could.

The pictures were so funny, I had to blog about it. If you know these girls, you know that they'd never wear anything like this in public…or even out of a dressing room, which makes it even funnier!

Oh my word how I laughed at this photo!

With these girls, it's not all about shopping although we did come away with some cute stuff! I can call them at the drop of a hat for hard work and they'll show up! They have helped me get my house in order for a party (yes, for them) on more than one occasion. And they help clean up after! They'll also babysit at the last minute for forgotten appointments and even peel potatoes with spiders in them!

This weekend was not only about shopping, but creating.

And being silly!

and harassing small children!

Ok, this was actually his idea!

And just when I thought I was done for the weekend, we had an extra day. So we did this!

Because nothing goes better with a new outfit, then a new hair color!

Sep 25 2009

Hubby Missing; Hubby Returned

Why is it when the hubby goes out of town everything falls apart? That's why I haven't blogged in a few days! Monday B-boo had dental surgery, and well, we all know how that went! That turned into a fiasco of well, gross things, for the past four days. On top of that, the bird dog got into a bag of m & m's hidden in B-boo's room. Really bad. That made for a lot of gross things on my carpet…a mixture of peanuts and chocolate on a tan carpet is never good, especially when you have a daughter who has a fatal allergy to nuts. (And no, I don't usually allow peanuts into the house, but this was a sealed bag, in a closed room…who knew the dog would find them!) Literally, at the same time, we had a…er…clog in the toilet. Great, just great. Hubby goes out of town and I'm at home with, well, I'm sure you can figure it out.

And the week just kind of went on like that. I think those things happen so that I can appreciate my hubby even more, because if he were here, he would have been the one plunging the toilet and moving the furniture around for the carpet cleaner yesterday. Not that I mind doing it, but it's just one of those things I love about being married.

On the other hand, while hubby was gone, the Talented One started getting up earlier and having an omelet for breakfast and a cup of coffee with me. I realize he's only 16, but it's been fun to have my young man moment with him. We don't have those often. I used to make him breakfast every morning, then he stopped wanting it. I'm not sure what happened this week, but it's been nice to be able to share those few moments with him.

Which is another reason why I like to get up early and enjoy the shifts of the morning. It's nice to have a few minutes with B-boo and the Talented One before everyone else gets up. Our time. Then, as soon as I drop them off, I wake up the Smart One and he has his omelet and we spend some time reading a passage from the Bible and discussing it and talking about what the day holds. If the little ones decide to get up, they are to quietly get ready for their day upstairs and then spend some time reading or coloring in their room until the next shift starts.

Once I drop off the Smart One, the little ones come down.I then make them breakfast, share things with them, memorize verses, sing together, etc. and then we ship them off.

And then, it's finally the Drama Queen's turn! And we get a whole 2.5 hours together to homeschool!

Anyway, back to the missing husband. When he's gone, it's hard to function. He likes to call me supermom, but really, it's because he's my partner in crime! For instance, he always calls me and asks whom he is taking where. In a family of 8, that is very important! Wednesday night I had four different place to be at the same time! Needless to say, for the first time in 6 years, I missed open house and meeting my kids teachers. We've always done open house together, so he missed it, too. I had to call in recruits to help get the kids to church and back! (Thanks, friend!)

And finally, he came home..to a clean carpet and a messy kitchen! And he's so good, he didn't complain at all about the kitchen, but instead told me how much he liked the clean carpets. Oh, and he took his shoes off, too!

I think I'll keep him. 🙂

Sep 20 2009

Cousins

These days, whenever we can, we take the time to relax and spend time with someone we love. Imagine my glee when I found out yesterday that my sister-in-law was not working and we had nothing to do for the afternoon! That meant a day of relaxing by her pool, letting all the cousins swim while we relaxed and enjoyed some free time. Ahh…I could just imagine the taste of lemonade as the children swam happily, played Marco Polo, and left us alone; every once in a while asking us to look at how wonderfully they were playing, leaving us alone to just be.

Hello, wake up! This is our family we are talking about!

A) There was no lemonade. Water by the jar is our way to go!

B) Kettle popcorn…need I say more?

C) I brought five of my brood, two of whom can't swim, so life jackets are a necessary thing. She has three of her own…all boys…very much boys.

D) There is no relaxing poolside, cause, well, you get splashed..a lot, so you might as well just jump in the pool!

E) It's great to hang with her, because we share our worlds. She has adopted a child out of the foster care system and I have two that I am fostering. We do not have *normal* families, and while so often others may sympathize with what we are going through, it's great to be able to be yourself and KNOW that the other person really KNOWS what you're family is going through, because well, until you've walked this path, it's hard to imagine sometimes.

So, our afternoon consisted of swimming, splashing, dunking, dodging, and throwing children large inflatable balls. For a while we begged them to stop splashing us, but they just couldn't help cannon balling into the water to soak us; in groups. When they weren't practicing their cannonballs, they were plunging over the giant inflatable ball! Frankly, I'm surprised there was any water left in the pool after we left!

Finally, we gave in to our own childish whims and challenged them to a game of volleyball…with the giant ball. We're not one for tradition, which means we don't play by the rules either. We ended up dividing into two teams; boys vs. girls…and the girls ended up on the deep end. Not an easy task when you're only 5ft! The Drama Queen quickly came up with a plan. Whenever the giant ball would come flying our way, she'd jump from the edge of the pool into the ball, slamming it back to the other side. This meant wet fun for her and near drowning for her boy cousins. Comments like, "Don't drown your cousin!" and "Do you think the ER would give us a 2for1?" were a common theme throughout the day! B-boo wasn't swimming yesterday, but she made sure to get into the volleyball fun. There's nothing like your older cousin, a GIRL, yelling at you to hit the ball when she throws it at your head! Poor little Chicken Noodle Butt tried his hardest, but he was having enough problems trying to stay afloat in his life jacket, let alone smack a giant ball zooming towards his head! This went on for a good hour before the adults tired the children out and they gave up on us. A job well done, in my opinion!

We moved on to poolside popcorn while the younguns' continued to swim; hopping out to open their mouths while we tossed popcorn at them, before jumping back into the pool. We laughed so hard, we actually decided that we'd make a great reality tv show. I heard they make $20,000 per episode…sounds good to us!

About that time a friendly spider decided to visit us me. We'd finally reached the point of relaxation when I felt something crawling…well, in a place where nothing should be crawling! I looked down, saw the little eight-legged creature, and proceeded to jump up and scream. I had enough sense to turn my back to the pool before tearing my swimsuit top apart, but jeesh! Succeeding in getting it gone, I sat back down to try and relax, but sister-in-law was a little on edge since we couldn't figure out where the little critter had been thrown to! You know, it may have been tossed into the pool for all I know; we never did see it again! There was a comment about that making the episode worth than a lot more than $20,000 though! At one point, I turned to her and asked, "You moved back for this?"

I tell ya one thing…those kids sure did sleep good last night!

Sep 16 2009

Hobo Ministry

I wrote about the beginning of this ministry here if you scroll down under the pictures. The ministry was started out of B-boo's heart for the homeless. To be honest, I'm not sure if it's because we have a family member who had been homeless for a long time, or if it's because she just can't take seeing a homeless person on the corner and not being able to help them somehow. Regardless, God has place these people on her heart. She lovingly refers to them as hobos. She doesn't mean this in a derogatory way at all, so please don't take offense.

The beginning of the ministry started out with us searching for a water bottle in the van anytime we came upon a person on the corner. Then, she started having me keep water bottles in the van so that she could be prepared to give them something. Sometimes, if we had a snack type item in the van, we'd give that to them, too. If we happened to be at a fast food place, it meant we'd be getting them a meal. Still, it wasn't enough for B-boo.

We started talking and came up with the following idea. What if we had bags, prepared in advance, for them? They would be paper bags, filled with a drink, snack, hygiene items, and a personal note with a scripture attached.

B-boo presented her idea to our youth pastor and we began taking donations. The group came up with the following scripture, to be placed on a note card. One side is left blank so a personal message can be added.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:12-13

The first group of bags were assembled a couple of weeks ago. There were several students who participated in putting them together and taking them with them. We will assemble more this coming Sunday evening to take out again. I can tell you that it was great to be able to hand someone a bag of *treats* if you will, when they were not expecting it. The look on their faces as they realized someone had taken the time in advance to prepare for a small portion of their needs was priceless. I pray that they will learn of God's love for them through this ministry. I have no doubt that God will place those who He wants in our paths to serve them.

The ministry may go slow at first, but even if we only serve a few, God is able to use that! If we leave ourselves open to Him, He will use us for His purpose.

Right now, we are trying to come up with a name for the ministry. We can't keep calling it "B-boo's Hobo Ministry." I talked with a former homeless person who said that he liked the name and didn't find it derogatory at all. Hmmmm.

Names we have come up with so far are:

Curbside Caring

Caring for the Curb

Helping Hands

Hobo Ministry

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

For those of you who live in our city, donations are always welcome. We are looking for snack items such as granola bars, chips, fruit snacks, etc. Juice boxes and water bottles are also needed, as well as paper bags.

Hygiene items such as toothpaste, tooth brushes, small bars of soap, mouthwash, chapstick and gum are also welcome. For those of you who travel, please keep us in mind when you see the little bottles that the hotel leaves in the bathroom for you!

Donations can be brought to my home, or to our church. For an address, please email me at itsavivasthing@gmail.com