It's Sort of Like Fuel

I am late.

I am always late to the cool things. Like by about a year or two.....or five.

I have never been one to keep up with trends or name brands. Ask Reckless. She is always the one in the know while I am baffled as to how she always....always is on top of things that are hip, new or the latest couture. I think I'm all cool and hip when I finally dive into whatever the thing is that everyone else has the t-shirt for while they are on to something else.

Whatevs.

A few years ago I opened an Instagram account. I loaded a few pics, some of which were PandaJoy and at the time she was still in the foster system, not officially ours. Her pics were not allowed online. If you've been around you remember because I would take keenly angled pics of her with her face cut out that were posted on this blog. I stopped instantly with Instagram and forgot all about it.

Last week I got the bug to check out the hype which really isn't hype anymore. Most teens have gone to it or other online media sites and have ditched the facebook playground due to too many mommies and daddies having accounts alongside the teens and that's just not cool. And a bit disturbing sometimes. On both sides. Side note: Almost a year ago I dropped 99% of any "friends" on fb that have not yet graduated high school. That was on account of someone graciously emailing me and informing that my new tattoo (the first one......they didn't know three more were on their way within the year) was a bad influence on the children and teens at church. So I dropped 'em all like flies. I keep a few that are like family and who live in areas other than our current place of service. Blah, blah, blah.....back on task >>>>>> When seeing a cyber friend's post about how the cutie little perfectly square Instagram pics can be made into a cutie little spiral bound book I about fell off my rocker. Way too cute. Must have them.

So started the Instagram Binge.

I'm on a mission to upload as many as I can because I think it takes 100 photos for one mini-book or something like that. I am addicted!!! LOVE the filters and the perfectly square photos. Love.  Because of my love of photography anyway, this little hobby is right up my alley. With every click of my phone camera button from taking the pic to editing to posting to......uhhhh. Just love it. It delights me greatly and fuels me on to see the good in life.

To feel the good in life.

It's a fresh breath that whisks me away from the not-so-good in life even if for just a moment.

Each little pic is a reminder of how very much God has blessed me.

Count your many blessings, name them one inch by one inch [square].

Hangin' Out on 3rd

Hi Friends!!!!

My time off was has been filled with quite a ride. For today, to e-a-s-e back into the bloggy world I'll keep it nice and surface-y.  A few pics to catch up on for those of you not on FB with me.

Hanging out on third just means that we really are close to coming home with this adoption.

The first week of March, PandaPop and I headed out to Cali-forn-I-A for a children's ministry conference in San Diego. I've only flown through the San Francisco airport on our way back from China with PandaGirl several years ago so this was my first trip to the west coast. We didn't have much time at all so we made the most of the conference sessions and took in a quick trip to Coronado Beach.

Well worth it.

I go to put my little toes in the chilly gold glitter sand beaches of Coronado and was in heaven!! If I weren't a Texan to the bone I'd so love to live in the Pacific Northwest where I could have cloud cover days, some sunny ones and the mountain AND beach at my back door. Love having both of them! The humidity was NOTHING. After living in Baytown, TX (Houston) where my glasses fogged up the second I walked out the door I thought all ocean front areas were the same. Nuh-uh. San Diego has it going on. Loved it.

We attended the conference with two other ministers from our church so we strolled along those sandy beaches clicking pics of each other. Picked up a few shells for our girls. Kissed on the beach.

I will show you later, but below is one pic of 8 that I have taken for the new children's hallway at our church. Nothing huge, just new paint, carpet and wall decor. I have to say.....the pics are AWESOME!!! They each depict something that is iconic from childhood and are professionally printed on gorgeous two inch hard standouts. Gorgeous. Very fun to walk down the hall and see my work. Of course, since they were so expensive to make then the time & talent it took to make the images all comes along in the package of I-am-married-to-the-minister-so-I'm-volunteering-my-time&talent-in-love. I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash.

I truly do get a huge kick-back every time I see the pics in the hall or someone says, "Did you take these?!!"  Yes, thank you.

Jesus Calling. So many people have talked about this devotional over the year. PP picked up the kids' version and I was looking for something new to get my spiritual life back on track......a nice new post waiting on THAT subject for ya!!.....so I purchased the original adult version.

Good stuff.

It is God's Word written from a conversation like manner from Him to me. Powerful.

Hell---o. This child above has kept me on.my.toes. Can you say precious?

Yes.

Can you say......BUTTON PUSHER???

I can!!!

I love PG dearly, but lately she has reaaaaaallllllly been trying to find her own voice.  She just has to learn that she can't use that darling little voice to have the last word....every single time.

She's coming along and so am I. Team effort.

As far as PandaJOY below?

Well, this little one has turned into some kind of awesome delight for me!!!!!!!! Very fun to be with, funny, busy, busy, busy, creative, imaginative, still tries to be bossy and as cuddly as ever!

We still have our moments, but this child thinks of me as her Momma. Me. ME!!!!! PandaGirl and I have such a different relationship that I'm taken aback at times when PJ WANTS to hold me or cuddle or sit beside or HAS to have Momma console her.

I'm like.....Whaaaaaaa?

Oh.....THIS is what motherhood should be like! I think I might like it.

That may shock some of you when thinking back at all the post from the years about PG.  I dearly love that child and God has rocked my world with her, but to say that I've had "fun" as a mother with her would be an outright lie. It has been a struggle to "feel" motherly with her.

God is granting me some favor and allowing me to get the sweetness of motherhood from the little bitty one.  He has plans for both girls in our family, no doubt.  Just different ways.

PandaPop.  What in this world would I do without him?

Implode probably.

He thinks I'm so strong.  I think I'd be a wild woman, strung out, dead or a Mormon.

There's a post in that statement just waiting to come to print. Hold on.

I don't want to be....without him.

Spruced up the back yard a bit with a new flowerbed put in by PP and a friend. He has plans to build me a new lovely wooden pergola on the patio, but it takes funds that are going to fix the A/C in the Tahoe that went kaput last summer. It's getting hot again and we.need.the.cool.air while driving.

Can I just tell you how TICKED I was that PP bought this blue and green Crayola sand (now teal)??!! I was going for the $2.97 version of regular beige play sand at the Wal**Mart. They didn't have any. So he purchased the colored sand. FOR $7.48 A BAG!!!!!!!! And the bag was a THIRD the size of the regular sand. I couldn't believe it!!!

Now I love the sand.

It is sooooo pretty and fun and sandy and beautiful and gets wet nicely and pretty and I love the sand.

OK....look below. Have you read or seen The Hunger Games? I got on the reading bandwagon just before the movie opened. Good reads and great distraction from real life.

I'm getting better with real life.  That is ANOTHER post waiting to happen.  I have so much to say and so little time to say it.  I have several people ask when I was going to write again on here. Since it doesn't show up in news feeders after going private then I have to go and TELL all of you that I've posted.

That's weird.

Arrogant?

Well.....whatever it is....thanks for caring about me enough to want to keep up.

More to come.  Way, way more to come.

****OH.....adoption....we SHOULD be adopting PJ in May.  We're not holding our breath.****

Clickety-Click

Has it really been since the 19th since I posted?!! Sorry for the delay, just in case you lay awake at night wondering when I'll post again.

I have booked THREE weddings to photograph this May, June & July with two waiting in the wings this fall. The funny thing about the two in the fall is that PandaPop will be officiating the ceremony while I'm doing the photos. Great team.

From a couple of the deposits I was able to upgrade and purchase my beloved Canon 7D!!! Yay!! I've done all my work so far on the little, bitty Canon Rebel XSi. Great camera, but the lowest on the low end of good cameras. I can't wait to see what comes out of the 7D! I got it for a smashing price from a friend who's daily camera and lens is in the range of about $10,000. Yes, you read that correctly.  $10,000. I thought I would just start clicking away on my new baby, but alas, I have to go through a crash course on DVD to help me learn it. It's a whole new ball game with this little baby! I also will be trying to learn the ropes of flash photography and the entirely different animal of wedding photography. OH!!!!! and I am so TICKED that Google decided to close Picnik photo editing. Heartbroken!!! I used it DAILY and now have to learn REAL hard-core editing software. Bleh.

I have a love/hate relationship with weddings and wedding photos. Those super close to me know the in's & out's of why, but since I'm private I can at least say that my wedding photos are one of the sorest spots in my life. Heartbreaking photos. Yucky, awful, no good, rotten wedding photos. That's what I have from our wedding. Well, besides a God-graced, fabulous marriage and best friend husband. ♥

So, it took many, many years for me to be able to sit through a wedding of someone else without crying and lamenting the loss I felt over my own.  Now, I feel this tearing between myself of longing to have my photos be something other than gross and blessing someone else with fab photography.  I know I can do it, but I just have to do it. Ya know? A wee bit nervous, but I have until May to practice and hone my skills. We'll see.

As you can see from the pic above that finding a home for my Rebel wasn't hard and didn't take long. PP has a great love for photography, too and can't wait to start clicking away at whatever tickles his fancy. So funny how Rookie looks as if he's posing for PP.  He wasn't a very good first model for PP, but I'm sure those two will work out a system over time.

Have you heard of Momastery yet? If not, you will. It's a blog from a woman named Glennon who writes beautifully, raw, real, loving, funny and poignant posts about her life as a recovering addict to alcohol, food, bad relationships, etc.  You will be moved by her writing. She has spread like wild-fire recently and is now in the works of having a book published of her writings.  She moves me.

I'm not ready yet to divulge more about me on this blog. I'm still raw myself. Healing takes time. Healing takes God-dependence.

Last week I sat with a dear friend who found another cluster of something weird in her breast. That's always scary to have to go see doctors and wait and wait and wait to find out if you need a biopsy and when to schedule and what is the result and more waiting and waiting and wondering and trying to not borrow trouble from tomorrow and waiting and trying to act as if nothing is wrong and trying to show faith in action and waiting.  Those are such grown-up things to do. Yucky. I love my friend and am praying for God's grace on her.

I also discovered something very seemingly frivolous this past week, but in it's core....it's glue to a relationship. My three college BFFs that I've talked about in the past year a few times and I have started this group texting thing on our iPhones.  I only say iPhones because if we didn't all four have iPhones this little party we've created wouldn't be the same. We all loaded an app that has cute little emotion icons to add in the text messages.  We have been having the time of our life by all texting at the same time for about 15 minutes at a shot going back & forth, back & forth, over-lapping each other's words, laughing hysterically over words that were mis-spelled or auto-corrected for us and basically gettin' all up in each other's business. What a ride!!! It's a rush and I love it. We all live apart from each other and this is a fun and fast way to keep connected. It's so private. So we think. It's just us 4 bonding even more than we already have. I adore them so. Since not all of us can always be on the phone at the same time or might be driving or something like that then we just talk for them which makes it even funnier. Soul sisters.

Another soul sister wrote with a desperate email to pray for her son.  She couldn't explain at the moment, but wanted prayer coverage because he was being attacked.  Knowing this family so well, I realize that attack means a spiritual one.  I prayed. I hurt for her.

We are already at the end of January 2012. Sounds so futuristic. Tomorrow is Jana Day. Did you know that? If you know me well then you know that 20 years ago when PP asked me to marry him on Jan. 23rd....he also created Jana Day a few days later. I guess he was so enamored by my stunning beauty and charisma...ahem....that he wanted to keep the celebration going. We've celebrated it every year on January 31st. Jana Day.  Thursday is PandaGirl's Gotcha Day.  Next week is PandaJOY's Gotcha Day. Whew!! Lot's of celebrating going on around here.  OH...and Super Bowl Sunday, too? Honestly, I have zero idea who's even playing in the bowl this year. Still fun to be a part of the hype, though.

Wow, so much to say, yet still don't feel right about writing it all out in print.  Hang around. I'll get there someday.

Have a blessed Monday, friends!

Eucharisteo---Thankful in All Things

I started reading One Thousand Gifts* by Ann Voskamp* last week and was so moved by her poetic writing.  This book has been out for a year or so, but just made it's way to my knowledge through several different ways in the past couple of weeks.  It's a must read.  It is purposefully making sure we thank God for ALL the things in our life.  All.

I took lots of photos of random things around PandaPop's parents' land.  They just moved into their stunning new home they had built this summer on their retirement land.  Three acres covered in a canopy of trees. It's so beautiful to be in the woods!! Seeing groups of leaves float down from the trees in a feather-like fall just stirs my soul!!!

We have been under a burn ban for the entire summer, but it rained a couple of days allowing the ban to be lifted, trash & brush to be burned (this is common out in the country!!) and making trekking through the area very muddy.  Our cutie-patootie boots came in very handy.

Remember back in the summer when PP started his collection of root beer bottles?  Well, he now has TWENTY different bottles in his man cave.  It's been fun to have taste tests of all the flavors that have come through our door.

PP has two helpers for his task of dwindling down the brush waiting to be burned.  The burn ban was lifted that very morning and there was a TON of brush to be burned.  Took him the entire day, but he loved every second of it.....gives him a sense of accomplishment when seeing things happen since in ministry he doesn't always get to see the result of his hard work. The little one was especially in awe since this was her first time to experience such a sight!

The next door neighbors have this emu that continually checks us out on the other side of the fence line making low drum beat sounds down in his (her??) chest.  Quite an eery sound.

Love the capture of this pic!! I can even see the heat waves!

See....this is just a smidgen of the mud we tracked around. Made us feel so earthy.

This girl was amazing in her big sister role this week.  Both girls were so great and an actual delight to be around!  They are growing and really learning how to be sisters.  We are STILL waiting on the appeal process to finish for PandaJOY, but in the meantime we live life like a family of four.

While on a mini walk through the woods I found the perfect walking stick.  I grew up in the country and it was just something we did to go walking forever through the woods and fields that my family all owned.  We go to my grandma's for lunch then anxiously beg to go "the walk". My aunt would always have a fabulous natural walking stick and tell crazy stories while me and my many cousins tagged along dodging cow piles (that's manure, for you city folk!) and keeping a watchful eye out for rattlesnakes.  Some of my most favorite memories of my childhood stem from these walks.

When I found my walking stick I brought it back to PandaPop for whittling and oiling, but alas......I broke the darn thing when playing around with it.  Stupid stick.  Must not have been walking stick worthy to have broken so easily.  Now I just have to find a new one. Smile.

Raise your hand if you love pumpkin pie!!

I think I've watched the Thanksgiving Day Parades (or just had on in the background) every year of my life! PP makes fun of it because it's really just one big gig for showing off Broadway shows and not much of a parade.  I think he's on to 'em.

Lovely fountain making a soothing dreamy sound in the back yard. I love seeing the sun come through the water.  In order to get this pic I had to stand on big rocks in my house shoes while getting splashed with water, but it was worth it for the shot.

Well, whadayaknow? These two CAN get along!

On over at the other grandparents' home who also live in the glorious country....they have neighbors with donkeys, goats and geese.  As soon as the entire crew heard us calling from across the tank (large manmade pond) they all started making their way to the fence. Felt like I was watching the nativity donkey embark on his journey.

The girls delighted in feeding all six (I think there were six) donkeys leaves from a tree and the recipients were just as happy to have something offered other than feed.

We spent some time out with the girls watching them get a bit of the natural world under their belt then went inside.  No sooner had the adults gotten settled doing something, but to see the Little Bitty come inside with huge tears saying the donkey bit her finger.  We took a look and saw that, sure enough, there were teeth indentions, but no broken skin.  Then PG told us that she was scared because another donkey bit her pinky and wouldn't let go! When we realized that they were both OK...we were cracking up with laughter!!!! I think it just sounds so funny to say that both our girls were bitten by donkeys!

No matter how long or short of a time we put PandaDoggie in the doggie hotel....he comes home utterly exhausted.  This is how I found him just an hour of being home.....completely out of it on the couch in the garage (or better known as The Man Cave). Poor baby.

We attempted to take some family photos while out on the land.  I had all our outfits coordinated, but of course, we couldn't get everyone to smile or look at the camera at the same time.  Crazy that we couldn't do it with only four people, but then again one is a three year old the photographer wasn't a pro.  We take what we can get and are happy to have what we have!  It's hard for me to be on the other side of the camera when I know much better how to work the thing and boss people around for their shoots yet can't even get a great pic of my own family! lol!! PandaPop took this one of me and my father-in-law took the one of us below.  I think he did pretty well!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are blessed beyond measure.  We have to find the way to give thanks in ALL things! Read Psalm 100 for a great start on how to praise God for all that he has done for us. Blessings!

Hey....Funderstorm...I didn't put the Pandaleidoscope Pics on the last two pics so you could click & drag. Love you!!

Around These Here Parts

PandaKitty has a psychosis. He has had it for as long as we've had him which is about 5 years now.   No matter how full his food bowl is he comes to find one of us and yells at us trying desperately to lure us into the kitchen to put food in his bowl.  I end up having to tap-tap his food bowl so he hears the kibbles & bits rattle around and all of a sudden he thinks I put new food in the bowl.  Doesn't matter if he SAW me put the food in the bowl......1/2 hour later he comes a-yellin' for more food. I know, crazy.

PandaDoggie is sitting on the back of our couch.  Yep.  That's a way to welcome guests to our home.  "The children can't walk on the couch, but the dog can. Help yourself up on the perch, too if you wish." Also, Mr. Deafy didn't seem to hear we had a time change on Saturday so he's been perky, wide awake and raring to go at 5:00 am every day since. He is precious, though.....if you can stand his high maintenance lifestyle.


The collage below is a tiny peek at the preteen retreat that PandaPop and I put together for our 5th & 6th graders at church. FUN TIMES!!!!  Do see PandaJOY hula-hooping?!!!!!! What three year old can do THAT?! That little bitty toot was cracking us up with the shakity-shake of her booty and hips until she actually GOT IT! PandaGirl mastered her feat of hula-hooping while reading.  Love these precious gifts of mine!!! (They still drive me absolutely crazy on a daily basis, but that's what make parenting fun, right? Smile. )

The Perks of Being a Minister's Wife

I adore my church, love the staff that PandaPop serves with and I LOVE the staff wives.  We all get along great and love to serve alongside our hubbies, but rarely get the chance to all be together in the same place, at the same time and able to actually talk.  The last time we met all together was a year ago August.  We recently just added two more to our bonded group so our oh-so-beloved pastor's wife invited us all over for lunch today and, true to form......she had a darling craft for us to do.  Christmas organization cutie-patootie file folders!!

We started out with a regular manilla file folder, followed her instructions on how to make it perfectly compact, picked out our Christmas scrap papers, measured, cut, inked the edges, spray glued and embellished our little projects all while gabbing the whole time.  I didn't mention that our pastor's wife, M, is one of my favorite people on this planet and is probably one of the top two of the best hostesses I know.  I adore her somewhat rustic, but a bit shabby chic decor taste and style of her home and she always cooks up perfect delectable delights for us to nibble.

 I want to be her when I grow up.

Nah...I know that I really want to be the me I'm supposed to be, but I just can't help but be mesmerized by her ease in homemaking and hostessing all the while being quite busy and active in the life of our church and she runs her own organizing business and works part time as the assistant to the owner of a dance studio.  Did I mention she has five grown kids and several grandchildren that all live in the area?  Busy woman who is completely sold out to the Lord.  Of course, she's not perfect and has flaws like the rest of us, but she is a doll. Love her. Love.

It was great to catch up with the other girls and fill in the two new ones about the rest of us.

Laid back, delightful time.

Anyone can have a group of girlfriends and make a cute Christmas organizer.  I have different groups of friends that I love to do things with like my college BFFs and my NOGs and friends that live in other cities.....or countries, but there is something really special about sharing life with other ladies who are married to ministers.  Just like any group of like-minded people who like to share joys and vent griefs it's nice to know that the others "get it" making the time shared comforting and freeing.  I respect these women and am very blessed to be a part of this group for such a time as this.  Believe me, I have found this closeness of staff or staff wives in no other church in which we have served.  It's rare and we are blessed.

(I just tried to link to my NOGs, but apparently I had uploaded that collage of us in our red shoes to flickr* and have since deleted from my account so what's the point of linking to a post with no pictures, right? None. )

Now I just need to actually use my darling new Christmas planner.

On a mommy side note: guess what my darling 3 year old said today?  On the way back home from picking up PandaGirl from school, PandaJOY busts out with, "Mom, you're a great mom."

WHAT DID YOU SAY???

"Mom, you're a great mom."

Awe.............I so needed to hear those words from her.  Can't even believe she articulated them so well.

As an update on that whole thing.....still in the appeal process and turning into skeletons as we wait, but are doing it with a joyful heart.  Things around here are getting better and even enjoyable as compared to our many months of adjusting to the new normal.  I even said today that I love this crazy deaf doggie.

Yes, I said I love him.

Even though at this very moment I want to strangle him for being too hyper and barking at the air, leaping off the bed and spinning circles down the hall.  Idiot.

Bonding

The Pigs are Flyin'

I never thought this day would come.  The day that these two polar opposites would attract for the slightest moment and actually lay side by side in perfect harmony.

Don't sweet sigh for too long, though.  They only made it for the picture and then promptly left each other's side for high stepping romps from PandaDoggie all over PandaKitty's belly.

We are getting along great with these two and with having TWO BEAUTIFUL GIRLS in our house! I am LOVING have PJ around.  Still can't even believe she's actually here.  Here with us. With US! Today is going to be a rough one since we have to take her two hours away for her required visit with her birth parents.  It's such a sad, awful, yucky hour that she had to spend with them.  The story is quite sad, but I can't really go into the details here.  Just know that it would be better for her if she didn't have to go. : (

This PandaMom does NOT want to drop her off in that room and leave her.  We will make it through, but this is not something that is on my top fun things for the day.

Hey, I have a question.  Are you organized?  I so want to be organized.  There are sweet girls in my church who are, people from blogs who are and lots of resources on getting organized......and staying that way.

I think my problem is disorganization.

Yep.

I am thinking that many other things would "come together" for me if I could just master the art of organizational skills.  If you think about it, it really encompasses all of our aspects of life.  If something is in disarray then it's all wonky and seems to be out of balance.  (That was quite a redundant sentence.)

Like right now, I am looking at several piles of papers that NEED to be organized and put in proper homes.  Why can't I just get it where it should go and keep up the good work?!!!!  I am certainly going to be praying about and working on getting organized in some sort of order.

ARE YOU ORGANIZED?
HOW?
WHAT?
WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED HELP WITH IN THIS AREA?

Two Little Peas

Here are these two peas in a pod doing what they do many times during the day. PandaDoggie is so great with her!!! Still can't believe I was desperately trying to find a home for him when she visited before placement. Makes me sad to think about it. : (

Today I'm venturing out with the little miss to the library for Toddler Time. I am so excited! I loved doing this with PandaGirl when she was a tot. What I am going to miss however is my wonderful playgroup that I made so many memories with when PG was little. If you've followed this blog for several years then you know all about our Chinese little girls playgroup that met almost every Monday for two years. It was the biggest blessing!! Endless memories made with all those girls and their mommies. Now I am going to figure out how to do the same with PJ with new friends. Now I'll just be the old mom with all these young moms! Ack!

Right now as I type PJ is in my lap doodling on paper with a red pen while listening to Pandora playing Raffi, Laurie Berkner and The Wiggles.

I love kid music.

A Boy & His Dog

I cannot believe that I freaked out so much that I almost gave away THE BEST DOG IN THE WORLD weekend before last when I thought life could not co-exist with him and PandaJOY in the same house. Wait....yes I can. I'm a freaker-outer.

We could not ask for a better pet. He is sooooooooooooooo sweet. Was that lame to put so many /o/'s on so? I don't care. I just want to express how gentle and sweet natured he is. He gets really hyper the moment we let him out of his kennel after we've been gone awhile, but other than that he is just following us around like a baby puppy and always at our feet when we sit. He loves to jump on the bed and cuddle up with us in the morning. Never thought I'd say those words. He "hears" things every now and then and barks at the air looking out the side of his eyes while his snout is straight up in the air. His ridge is up and he is in full bore protection mode from whatever evil he "heard".....i.e., vibration he felt.

I wish you could see him in real life to understand how gorgeous he really is. His fur is like velvet. His muscle tone is amazing. His eyes are the color of a swimming pool and he stands at regal attention.

I already have pics of him and PandaJOY on the couch together....laying together....in perfect harmony. He is so gentle with her allowing hugs, pats and even kisses on his head since they ARE eye level to each other.

Have you ever seen the movie "The Kid" with Spencer Breslin and Bruce Willis? That is a GREAT movie and one of PP's favorites. The kid in the movie wants to grow up and have the best dog in the world named Chester. My boy has the best dog in the world named Rookie......aka...PandaDoggie.

Not Even a Mouse

Happy Monday!

RMC

Isn't he just the cutest?!! I have totally fallen in love with this goober dog. Yes, he is high maintenance, but sometimes so am I. I fully know that the Lord is teaching me some life lessons through PandaDoggie.

I'm in the midst of making a quick collage of PandaGirl's 8th Birthday Party from Friday night and editing my first Senior Portraits today so for now enjoy my deaf cutie! ; )

Happy Monday!!

He Came From a Land Down Under

Have you ever gone to the store for one thing and came out with another?

Of course you have unless you faithfully follow a list on every. single. trip. you make.

Clearly, we have issues with sticking to a list.

After going to a Home & Garden show last Saturday just to get ideas for our house, we ended up "adopting"....term used loosely...this adorable 4 month old Australian Cattle Dog. ( I hate that the only word for adopting a pet is "adopting". Doesn't really hold great meaning to it when my "adopted" daughter is hearing everyone at the Humane Society table talking about adopting the dog. Really? Makes her equate her own adoption with that of an animal. Maybe I'll start a new word for adopting animals so that the word isn't associated with children and animals so interchangeably.)

Did you catch the word up in the collage: deaf?

Yes, this sweet little guy is totally deaf. As in hears NOTHING.

His gorgeous blue eyes just sucked us three right in and lo & behold, before we knew it we had done the papers and were taking him home. He has some kind of mutated gene that makes him white, ice blue eyes and deaf. Believe me, the real Aussie cattle dogs are, pardon me....butt ugly and I'd NEVER own one.

Puh-leeze.

What the heck are we going to do with a dog....in the house...who can't hear a blessed thing?

I certainly had buyer's remorse on late Saturday afternoon, but as of today I have fallen in love with this silent partner.

Let's rephrase that. He is silent at all times until he is put in his kennel and we leave the room.

Barkity-BARK-BARK-BAAAAAAARRRRRKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

Poor thing is gonna loose his vocal folds and then be a mute. Oh wouldn't that be nice? A dog that is deaf AND mute. Just sits around looking cute all day.

He follows me (us) EVERYwhere and is a great little lover-dog. So sweet and innocent. If he isn't looking straight at us, then we can forget trying to communicate. I just bought him two cute little metal tags today so that they'd "tink-tink-clink" on each other so we'd know where he is. We LOVE that he is so mellow and lays right on top of us wherever we are sitting. So cute!

We named him Rookie because we are ALL new at this training-a-deaf-dog-thing.

Our cat, Miao is not too thrilled, but he'll come around.