Sunday, January 20, 2008

 

Yesterday was Abby's birthday. We awoke yesterday morning to a surprise! There was about 2 inches of snow on the ground! It was still coming down with big huge flakes too. This was only the 2nd time that we've had snow and we've lived here almost 12 years now. It was the first time that it was still snowing in the day time. It didn't stop until almost noon.


Here are some pictures of us playing in the snow.

Abby's Strawberry Snow Cream

While we were 'sledding,' a man from the local newspaper pulled up and said, "This is just begging for a picture!" So, we are looking for our pictures to be in the paper next week. And, of course I told him it was Abby's b-day!

Labels: fun, snow, winter

Dawn posted this at 8:25 PM.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

 

Writing news!!!
I actually have writing news to share! My father-in-law knows someone who owns his own production company. They produce basically documentary-type shows now. It has always been the owners dream to produce a fictionalized movie. He had an idea in mind, he just wanted someone to write it. Well, my FIL told him about me and the guy asked to see some of my work. I sent him a couple of chapters of a novel and he liked it. He's asked me to write a couple of scenes of his screenplay and he'll see what he thinks of it. There's been no mention of payment - yet.

But I am enjoying it. The fact that I'm working on someone else's framework is fun. He had a bare-bones story (about 20 mins of screen time) and wants me to flesh out an interesting story that hopefully could be 1 1/2- 2 hours of screen time. It's a tall order, but so far I'm managing to add in some interesting stuff. He focused mainly on the main character and I'm fleshing out some minor characters at the same time showing the main characters 'character' also. I'm very pleased at my ideas so far. I'll keep things posted here - now that I have actual writing things I'm doing! It's good to be back with 'pen in hand.' :)

On the adoption news, there's been so much I haven't posted. Basically, the girl mentioned in the last post rejected us. Since then we found a brother/sister pair that seemed just perfect for our family. But our paperwork (grr, dreaded state government red tape!) didn't go through in time and the kids are going home with someone on MLK Day! We just heard one day last week and we were devestated. Now we have no other children in mind and are in a waiting period agian. It seems at every turn God is teaching me patience. I am not a patient person and some days it feels that I've learned nothing from this experience. But I press on. We were just about to give up on the adoption thing entirely. I spoke to Xander about it. At over six years old I figure he can at least influence our decision a little now. He wants us to find a boy about his age for him to play with. It is a nice idea - if we could find the right one. I grew up in a family with 1 oldest boy and 3 younger sisters. Most of my childhood memories our brother had left home, so I'm used to girls around the house. Boys are a bit rambunctous for me. I'm not opposed to having another boy, but I'd like another girl to tone down things a bit.

We don't know what God has in plans for our family, but one thing is for sure, He does have plans and we will hang in there until the end. ;)

Dawn posted this at 11:46 AM.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

 

Time sure flies by! I figured it was waaaayyy passed time to update things here.

The kids are growing by leaps and bounds. Ds is reading about a 2nd grade level and about to graduate from home school kindergarten. Dd is now over 2 and talking some. Her first sentences were, "I want...." and then usually followed by "cookie," or some other treat. Today she looked at a picture of herself and said, "Doll." That about sums her up. ;)

We are anxiously awaiting the states decision an whether we can try to adopt a young lady or not. We picked this young gal out of the 100 or so available for adoption on the state's website. She is older, but we hope that won't matter. She needs a good home. We have one. What more is there to say?

We've been doing a lot of praying about this and we really hope she will fit into our home. Many of our family and friends that we've shared her picture with already say she looks like us. I'm sure it is too much to hope for that she'll act like us too. ;)

Dawn posted this at 10:28 PM.

Monday, May 08, 2006

 

My kids first ER trip...

Last night after church I was supervising 5 kids (2 were mine) while my hubby (the preacher) and another young dad from our congregation went to visit someone. We were all playing on the playground.
The toddler swing was occupied by another little boy about 18 months. The 8 yr old girl and her 5 yr old brother were swinging on a double bench swing on the swing set (the metal swing that has two benches so the kids face each other while they swing). I was pushing Xander on the single swing and was teaching him how to 'pump' (where you move your legs back and forth to gain momentum without being pushed or pusing off yourself). My 15 mo old was toddling around and I was being very careful about watching her and the swings, but pushing my son distracted me for a moment.
I heard the thud of the double bench swing hitting her and turned around as the 8 yr old said, "The swing hit Abby!"
The image that came to mind was a doll with it's head smashed in and I was so afraid of a severe head trauma. There were two kids on that swing after all and they were going pretty high.
She was face down and when I turned her over there was blood. 'Okay,' I thought, 'a bloody nose. I can handle that. Get her washed up.' I left the 8 yr old in charge while I ran to the house with Abby. She was crying and I suppose that was a good sign. I grabbed a washcloth, wet it and wiped up some of the blood. That was when I saw the cut. It was about a cm long or more and it started on the side of her nose. The nostral was sliced through.That was when I grabbed the phone and called 911. I had never done it before for anyone I knew and I was scared!
They contacted my hubby and the ambulance. My hubby got there first! He calmed us both down some.The ambulance came and the medics said that they didn't think there was any fracture, but it needed stiches. We decided to drive her ourselves.
At the hospital, they told us she'd need to be sedated and would be out of it for about an hour and a half. They said it was a deep wound and needed internal stitches. The doc checked for tenderness around the wound and Abby didn't react at all to that, so he said no fracture. The nurse gave us a cotton ball with a topical painkiller on it. We held it in place for about 20 minutes and the doc came in to seriously look at it.
Abby laid perfectly still while I held her hand and sang. The doctor commented how amazing a child her age (and after fighting with us earlier) was being so calm and still for him! He checked it out closer and decided the internal stitches weren't necessary and that it went together cleanly enough to do the dermabond liquid adhiesive. Abby stayed still for him to do all of that too - without any sedation!
We are so blessed that it turned out better than it could have. I keep thinking about how close she came to having it hit her eye, teeth, ear or temple. I think by hitting the nose the way it did that the cartilige probably absorbed some of the blow since cartilige is flexible and all.

Dawn posted this at 1:24 PM.

Friday, April 14, 2006

 

Wow! It really has been a long time since my last post!

Lots of things are happening. I'm now a private tutor for a 9th grade girl. We are finished with our homestudy for adoption through the state and now we wait on the state to finish the paperwork and approve us, which could take two months (or more).

The biggest news is my new home business. "I sell the books kids love to read!" I sell Usborne books. Check out my on-line bookstore: www.noendbooks.com I love it! I can give away free books to hostesses, libraries, schools and pre-schools. Also my favorite children's charities can recieve free books. If you'd like to do something to help hurricane Katrina-effected schools/libraries or other charities, let me know! If you'd like to start your own home business, let me know too. My e-mail is: blessedmamadp@yahoo.com.

I have been sooo busy with so much going on but my brain is true to form. I'd hit a road block in my writing and whenever I don't have time to write, that is when my writing gears start moving. So, now I have a much better feel for the conflict in the second half of the novel I've been working on for 8 years! One of these days I will finish it. :)

Be blessed!

Dawn posted this at 10:14 PM.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

 

It has been a good week. I had a wonderful birthday. For a change, I was content. I was happy to be surrounded by my family and we had a good day together. When I got up, I opened the package from my sister (I had been waiting a week to open!) and found Dee Henderson's book, God's Gifts and a cook book I wanted inside. I read the book that day and finished it the next as we traveled. As I was getting ready, my hubby left a rose scented candle on the bed where I'd find it. He was sneaky with his gifts this year. Then as we were leaving, he snuck a card in my purse. It was a sweet card that said all the right things. We all left, my in-laws too, to go up and see "Big Nanny," my hubby's grandma. Big as in great nanny for our kids benefit. We had a good visit with her. She is in a nursing home and cannot talk or move her right side due to a stroke about 3 or 4 years ago. It is still a joy to visit her as she smiles at us and laughs at the kids. Then we went to Little Rock and the hubby took me to the $1 theatre and we watched "The Fantastic Four" while the in-laws took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. When we got back in the van from the movie, the hubby asked me to get a sucker out of my purse for him. When I opened it up I found a nice jewelry bag with a gold locket in it. The front of the locket has a rose etched on it and the words, "I love you." It is beautiful. Then we went back to the in-laws house and after the kids were in bed, we played Bible Balderdash until 2 A.M. The next day when we got home there were books my hubby had ordered for my teen girls Bible class and he surprised me by throwing in "For the Love of a Child" by Wilburta Arrowood http://www.wilburtaarrowood.com/. I read all of it the next day during a doctors visit and some at work (it has been slow at the library for the two hours I work). It was a great book and I'm looking forward to the sequal due out next year. The author has been very kind in answering my e-mails and has even agreed to help me polish off a novel to see if it could be published by her publisher.
It was a great birthday and my cup overfloweth!

Dawn posted this at 12:39 AM.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

 

I'm writing again! It feels good. I'm working on 2 projects at once, although the novel has been put on the backburner for now. I'm working on a non-fiction project. There are 13 chapters planned and 2 finished. I'm hyped about it.
The best news about it? I already have a publisher that is interested! I've been kicking the idea around for 3 years, but was very unsure about doing it and how to get it published. Then I had the opportunity to meet this publisher several times and finally pitched the idea to her. She wants to look at it! I'm hoping to have it done (maybe still in the revision stage) by my birthday in about 2-3 weeks. It really shouldn't take long. Those 2 chapters I have finished really only took me a day a piece.
Anyway, and my novel is historical, so I e-mailed my college history prof and I'm awaiting her answers to several history questions. Which is why it is on the back burner at the moment.
Oh, and this publisher might publish my fiction work as well. She's not really sure about it because they've done one fiction work already and it has not done well. I still remain optomistic about the situation. :)

Dawn posted this at 10:53 PM.