Christmas is upon us

WOW it is barking at my back door louder than our dog does (truth be told he doesn't bark much at all). I cannot believe it. It's like I looked up for a second to check reality and >BAM< the Holidays are here, one being already gone.

I think the older I get the faster all the holidays seem to come and go. Sheesh. Like let's just speed up this process man... gooooolllllly. Maybe it is just that when I was younger I didn't have as many cares or stresses as I have now so the days played on unhindered (well for a kid).

Now that there are said stresses and cares I am pushing on to get to the end of the day so I can have a break from chores, editing, cleaning, Bear, cooking, "organizing". I need to get a umph in my step and enjoy the days as they come and not dread them due to the things that need to be done in them.

Our cat Charlie is still missing since Sunday night. I have searched our land and all the surrounding lands and he is nowhere to be found. I did, however, find a dead dog/coyote (hard to tell really) and a dead opossum. But NO Charlie!

Bear is doing great. He has been learning all his numbers. He can now count to 20 (with some help here and there). He has been learning to write his letters and can now sign about 5 of them. It is still hard for him to position his fingers just right. Although, he can tell you what all the signs are of the alphabet when shown.

We have been working with him on "reading" (memorization really). I made him some index cards with a picture of an object/animal on them with the word written out to the side. He can now read cat and dog. I have not been working as consistently with him on that as I have with his writing and numbers lately.

J and I have been working on labeling all the things around the house to help aid him in learning to "spell and read".

He has not really shown any more signs of being "lonely" since the kids left. There are still the moments where he looks like he is wandering aimlessly (during his alone time). But for the most part I think he is so busy learning so many new things that his attention is focused there.

I have been getting to keep up with Miley Bird on Facebook. :) Her new mommy updates on there frequently and so i get to see SWEET pictures of our precious little girl! I sure do miss her but am happy that she is being very well taken care of where she is. The family is wonderful and very precious.

I hope you all are well and warm. I was shocked to see snow flurries this morning. Nothing to stick or cover the ground but they were there creating a nice white winter feel this morning.

nutshell

His ant bites have all blistered and popped. We have been putting some bactriban cream on it and praying against staph infection. So far they are looking very dried out and that makes me happy!

On the other hand we are all sick now. J got sick earlier this week and thought it was nice to share. So here we all sit... SICK! It really started this morning (so all of you that were around us last night... don't fear (much)). If it does not subside before Thursday we will be forfeiting Thanksgiving dinners in all locations. Sad but true. I DON'T share when it comes to this crud!

I heard from Miley Bird's new mommy and she says she is doing great. I am happy to hear that she is so very loved and attended to there. She said they took her down to get her ears pierced. I was shocked. I think she will look beautiful with earrings no doubt... as long as her personality continues to shine she will be beautiful no matter what!

I am so grateful for the blessing this family has been to us in keeping us updated and allowing us access to see their pictures of her growing up.

My heart has an empty place in it but it has healthy soil that is being tilled. This family is a new seed entirely and I cannot wait to see the friendship/relationship that sprouts forth from this new seed. Blessed am I.

On a different note. I got a call Friday for another placement. He was a 6 day old Native American. I had to decline seeing that we just said goodbye to our precious Miley Bird Tuesday. My heart still needs to grieve her in a healthy way... and completely!
Also I have been eyeball deep in pictures ( I so far have done, in two weekends, approximately 25 families with Arrow Child and Family Ministries). I finally got last weekends pictures all edited. NOW on to this last weekends pictures. 5 families from one day and maybe 8 from yesterday. WOW! Maybe the new year will bring in some paying clients from the "publicity" I am getting out there.

I took my lens in to a camera specialty shop here and they confirmed for me what I had been thinking. My lens is a piece of ... ahem... work or broken work rather. It is not focusing the way it is supposed to and so that means that all my work from this Saturday is pretty disturbing. Sunday I shot solely with my 50mm and so that days' worth of work was GREAT! Saturday... sore subject. I am going to be shopping The day after Thanksgiving for that new lens. I am praying I can come across a great deal!

Hope you all are wonderful and staying warm. Best wishes to you all!

OUCH

Bear has an attractive manner about him. He is pleasantly charming as well as witty and handsome. BUT the part where he is sweet is way too irresistible for the fire ants in our yard.

We have treated our yard and I believe the last time was in Spring/ maybe summer. But since the rains came it has created quite the nesting ground for these pesky varmints!

He always plays by the storm shelter. He goes up the side and comes sliding down the front cement slope. This time he went a bit far; he went trekking over the back side. I was a bit nervous because the grass has been grown up around there for a while and I KNEW of the POSSIBILITY of ants. So I called him to me. He didn't come. I called him again, still no response.

** We have been using this new technique that we just learned in a fun "parenting" class at our church. We call him and he responds "coming" and stops whatever he is doing and comes running and greets us with a smile and says "yes (ma'am, sir)" ... RECENTLY though he has been cutting his TOP molars so here we go again with the CRAZY behavior. He doesn't listen and respond like he normally does when he isn't teething. DRIVES ME NUTS that he can be so well behaved then BAM... one day their little mouth is in pain and they regress back to a 6 month old!**

So anyway. He wasn't responding to my calling him. I start getting a bit agitated that he is not listening and then he starts screaming and comes running around the storm shelter... COMPLETELY COVERED IN FIRE ANTS... HAIR TO SHOE SOLE!

I start brushing him off and then just strip him down in the front yard (good thing for secluded country living ;)) Then I have to find them all over him and start picking them off. They were all in his hair and on his stomach, groin, hiney, feet, ankles, even between his fingers and on his neck.

I brought him inside and dropped him in a vinegar/baking soda cool bath. He freaked out but the stinging stopped and he calmed down finally. I call his dr. the receptionist told me the dr. only was there for a half day and was already gone. So she agrees that I should take him to the ER. We go. They look him over and he has no severe symptoms of reaction. So they prescribe him some Benadryl and Bactriban cream for when they "rupture" to prevent staph infection. I was also given instruction that if it got really red to take him in for a follow up with his dr.. I am watching the area on his wrist right now. IT is pretty red.


It is scary that Bear gets Staph so easily. The smallest spot on him will become a HUGE deal if untreated. So here we sit today trying to take it easy and NOT get into any more trouble!

Guess if it is not raining this weekend we will be treating our yard again!