The Giant VBS Musical

Keree couldn't wait to get to the musical this evening. She even made us leave the house almost 1 1/2 hour early to make sure we weren't going to be late. When we arrived, we had quite awhile to wait but finally it was time to drop Keree off with the other kiddos in the choir. 

When she came in, she was at the other end of the line but the Choir director came and moved Keree to the front of the row. She just shined there and I may be a biased Momma but Keree did great. She knew the songs and hand movements and unlike some of the other kiddos she wasn't all over the place (I can't even count how many kids jumped off the steps in the middle of the songs).

 There was over 600 kids in the choir and the church had over 1900 kids in VBS over the course of the week. Which just blows my mind when you consider that they do the entire vacation bible school for free.

After the performance, I cannot even count how many people came up to me and said there were mesmerized by Keree. One older Grandma said that even though her Grandson was close by Keree, she just couldn't take her eyes off of Keree. I honestly was amazed by all the compliments she got.

 After the musical, the church had tons of bouncy houses, which sadly Keree couldn't do. But she was ok with that because instead she got to have snowcones and cotton candy. I swear that the church went through 2-3,000 bags of cotton candy, it was crazy.

Emotional Saturday

This morning, we all woke up on the wrong side of the bed. My plan for today was to work upstairs, of course, my Mom wanted to work outside all day. So instead, Keree decided to head outside with my Mom, while I worked upstairs. I didn't get as far as I wanted but I'm happy with my progress. While outside, Keree spent her time cleaning off her water toys and then she played a little bit in her water table. After about 2 hours outside, Mom and Keree headed inside. 

So Keree joined me upstairs, so I let her do a few home school assignments. Well after about an hour, Keree needed a little help and as I was helping her, she collapsed into  sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she said that I was going to yell at her. I have no idea where that came from, so we stopped and tried to play, nope didn't help. Finally, she begged me to hold her and sing Farmer in the Dell. So, I held her tight and sang. After about 2 hours of sobbing uncontrollably, she finally calmed down.

She still couldn't tell me why she started crying in the first place but I'm thinking maybe it has to do with her week at VBS, they talked extensively about orphans and orphanages and I think deep down it  upset her. The previously years, they barely touched on the subject and by the time I found out they were talking about orphanages and orphans it was basically the last day. In the evening, she started talking and asking about her orphanage and how if I hadn't adopted her, she wouldn't have been able to adopt her stuffed Kitty. We took tonight easy, Keree is super excited that she gets to sing tomorrow in the VBS musical, so we practiced the songs and hand movements and also washed several cartoon movies.

Last Day of VBS Musical Practice

Today was the very last day of Vacation Bible School. Needless to say Keree was a little on the sad side that the week was already over.  But on the other hand she was super excited that she was getting to bring her lunch so she could stay for the Musical practice. 

 My Mom and I arrived about 20 minutes before the end of practice. We saw almost the entire show and was amazed at how many kids were in the choir. I marked where Keree was with the Orange arrows because it was so hard to see her otherwise.

 It was so weird because where they had placed Keree in the line-up, there was a spotlight that came right down on her. It literally made her look like she was the star of the choir. Also the little boy next to her, totally was had a crush on her. He kept trying to hold her hand and everything it was so cute because Keree was having none of it.

 After practice got done, we headed home. It was super hot and miserable but all Keree wanted to do was watch the movies we took of the practice. So she spent the night practicing the songs and hand movements.

Fourth Day of VBS

Keree was so excited when she got out of VBS to show off her sticker. She loves that she's old enough this year to stay later tomorrow to practice for the musical. On her sticker it says to remember to bring a sack lunch. Well being that you have to bring something that can't be refrigerated, has to be thrown away and can't be nut related. It was hard to come up with something that wasn't going to spoil in 107 degree heat. Finally we decided to just send some jello and cheezit cracker mix. Then we decided that we would just have a real lunch after we picked her up. 

 Being that today was basically the last day of VBS, Keree made a windsock and also got her VBS certificate of completion. Once we got home, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying to stay cool. Honestly, I have to say it would have been nice to have a/c today because it seemed like all the fans were doing was blowing the 106 degree hot air at us. But we all agree, we are lucky to at least have fans and plenty of ice water to drink.

VBS Day 3

Today Keree said that they learned about needs today in VBS. She said that they talked about if Baby Jesus was alive today what would he need. They even had to draw a picture of it, which Keree drew a bib, bottle and spoon. They also made a suncatcher with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus on it.

 Then this evening, we had our Scout meeting. I'm not sure what was going on but most of the Mom's seemed a little grumpy and basically snapped at my Mom (aka our Leader). We had planned a few super easy crafts to finish up the journey along with our book. And basically the night was, why do we have to do this or that. Seriously, this is suppose to be the girls doing the activities and having fun. Keree made her own recycled soda bottle flower. She did all the cutting and decorating herself. Which it makes me sad when the other Mom's don't let their girls do it and take over the project. 

This is our group with their finished service project. They made birdhouses to hang outside in the trees for our local retirement community. The Girls are so super proud of their birdhouses because they painted them all by themselves.

Day Two of VBS

Keree was excited again to head out to VBS. Her day started with them practicing their singing for the big musical. Then they pretended to visit Austria. They also learned about how God likes for people to celebrate and make a joyful noise. So they made musical instruments, some made horns, while Keree chose to make cymbals. They also made foam airplanes, which Keree tried to fly and it didn't work to well. 

First day of VBS

Today was Keree's first day of Vacation Bible School. We don't attend the one held at our church because it's so expensive ($40 a child). Plus, growing up, I always attended the Baptist Church's VBS because that was the church my Grandparents attended even though they weren't that religion. But back to Keree, she's been looking forward to VBS all year because this year meant she was old enough to sing in the musical!  This morning when we arrived, they started practicing their singing and she was downright giddy. Today they pretended to visit Brazil, Keree said that they painted a picture of the ocean. They also learned about one of the church's many missions they support in South America.

After VBS, we headed over to the Library to have Keree's reading log stamped. For her weekly prize, she decided to choose a foam donut.

EXHAUSTED

That is how I'm feeling right now. The last 17 hours of this day has been a total disaster and here tomorrow is my Uncle's wedding and I feel like I'm 3 days behind because of today. There was one bright and shiny moment...actually it is more of a miracle that occurred about 7:20pm tonight and it lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders, actually my family's shoulders. All I can say, is if things go alright tomorrow morning, I think we are finally crawling out of that dark downward spiral we have been in, Thank You Spirit Above!
Otherwise onto today, since tomorrow is my Uncle's wedding that meant today was Keree's last day of VBS. At the last moment my Out-of-town Aunt and her Daughter wanted us to watch Jeb. They were suppose to be here at 830a, so I could take both Jeb and Keree to VBS and then spend the entire time there. Well when that time came and went, I took Keree to Bible school so she wouldn't be late. When I arrived back home, they had just dropped off Jeb, so I turned right back around to take him to VBS. He got to Bible school 40 minutes late but Keree was thrilled to see him and they were very sweet to let him visit for the day. Well since I had promised my Out-of-town Aunt and her Daughter that I would stay and watch Jeb the entire time, that is what I ended up doing. Today they learned the story of the Loaves and Fishes, it was so cute that at the end they gave them all goldfish crackers to eat. The also finished up their stick horses and they were sweet enough to make Jeb one, that way he wouldn't be left out. Keree was so sad when I came to pick her up because she really, really loved Bible School. I hope that maybe we will find another Free VBS before the summer is over. Once we got home, we let Jeb and Keree play outside on the swing set while we waited for my Out-of-Town Aunt to show up to pick him up. She finally called around 1pm, saying they were grabbing some lunch before picking him up. Well my Mom flew off the handle at that point because we had planned on picking up grocery's after they left, so of course none of us had eaten cause we didn't have any food in the house. Once they got here, my Southern Uncle (my Mom's brother) who was traveling with his other Sister (out of town Aunt), shared some of his lunch with Keree so she could get to eat. He stayed and visited for a few hours, while we waited for my other Aunt to get off work and to pick up Out-of-Town Aunt and Jeb up. Finally, Southern Uncle needed to leave to head up to my other Uncle's house. So my Out-of-Town Aunt called my Aunt who we were waiting on and she said she would be there in a 1/2 hour, it was now 3pm.....needless to say after alot of frustration, she showed up at 735pm to pick them up. Of course our day was totally shot! I didn't get any of my running and errands done, plus I still needed to finish the Wedding glasses my Grandma decided my Uncle needed to have for tomorrow. And on top of it all, I hadn't eaten all day, so I was getting a nasty headache. So I ran to the one store I absolutely had to run to today, picked up Arby's for dinner because it was way to late to cook, started charging all the camera batteries and packing everything we needed for tomorrow. Finally, I sat down at 1230am, to work on hand-engraving the wedding toast glasses. The first glass went fairly fast but the second glass had tons of air bubbles, so my engraver would hit an air bubble and then skip. I was so furious because there was nothing I could do to make it look any better. My Mom said I'm my own worst critic but it really made me mad that they couldn't be perfect. When all was said and done, it's now 256am and I'm finally heading to bed.

VBS

Keree was so excited to arrive at VBS this morning. She was also so bummed out when she realized that the week is almost over. So for the first hour and a half of VBS, my Mom and I headed out to try finding some new shoes for the wedding. I have to say I hate shoe shopping almost as much as I hate clothing shopping. But to tell you the truth, I needed some new shoes. The shoes I'm wearing currently are sandals and they are over 5 years old. I wore them almost the entire time I was in Vietnam adopting Keree, since them I wear them no matter if it's the summer or winter months. They soles are almost non-existent and I've actually used silicone to build them up so I could keep wearing them. Yep, that's how desperate I was to avoid shoe shopping. So I knew, I was looking for another pair of sandals and within 42 seconds (yep I actually timed myself) I found the perfect pair of sandals, they were so amazingly comfortable. Now trying to find my Mom a pair of shoes took forever. When we got back to the Church we saw that they made paper cowboy hats. They also learned all about Cowboy church. I have to say I found it quite interesting their take on Cowboy Church, since I had already seen a documentary on it. This is what the learned about instead of Bumuva and we also got to watch them work on their stick horses. They also got to bring home a few of their projects they have made thus far in Bible School. When we were driving home, we were reading the digital marquees to see the temperature. The first one said 109, the next one said 115, the next 111, the next 111. So I'm going to go with that it was 111 outside without the heat index, so with 97% humidity that Weatherguy said it felt like 128 outside. All I can tell you is that the single window unit felt like it was blowing hot air and it was just downright miserable. This evening my Grandparents came to stay the night with us before heading up tomorrow to help with my Uncle's wedding on Friday. Keree had a nice time playing with her Great-Grandparents even though it was way too hot really to even move around. We didn't get around to our school lesson because they were here. But we did practice reading sentences out of the book for them.

4 years, VBS & Lesson 16

Even though we were up in plenty of time, I got hung up doing a few projects around the house and we were 10 minutes late to VBS. Not that it mattered because I think half the class was just as late. This morning, I overhead them say that there is 1729 children in VBS this week. That number just totally blew my mind. After dropping Keree off, I headed home because I had some important phone calls to make and take care of. Once I was finished, I asked my Mom if she wanted to ride along to pick Keree up and run to Wallymart. We got to VBS about an hour early, so that way I got to watch some of the activities they were doing. My plan was also to be able to sneak a few pictures. We arrived right after they were being told a bible story and then they made stick horses from a wooden dowel rod, cotton candy (that's what Keree called the stuffing) and a white sock. I then got to watch the video they showed about Buvuma. This time the video tried to teach them a few Buvuma words. Of course again they talked about the conditions of Buvuma and of course Keree focused in on they drink potty water that is really dirty. But I have to say seeing her sit next to another little boy, both of them with their arms linked together, both having their hands in prayer and heads bowed praying for the people of Buvuma. It was oh, so precious and I guess this little boy has taken a real liking to Keree because as I watched that is who she played with and sat by.
After we picked Keree up, we headed to Wallymart, of course it was a total bust other than sending the money gram I needed to send. When we got home, it was past 1pm. So after a quick lunch, I sat with Keree on the bed hoping she would fall asleep. Before I knew it, I was asleep, I think I was asleep for about 1 1/2 hrs. Luckily Keree was still asleep when I woke up. Once we got up, my Mom decided that I needed a new top for my Uncle's wedding on Friday. UGH! Seriously, she's right, she knows my wardrobe and I did need something nicer or at least not stained. But I absolutely hate clothes shopping for myself. I hate having to try on shirts, I hate picking out what I'm going to try on and so on and so on. So I picked out 4 shirts, vowed to my Mom that this was all I would try on and if none of them worked, I would find something in my current wardrobe. Luckily the last shirt I tried on was perfect and I actually liked it. Once we got home, we spent almost the whole evening outside. Keree had fun playing on her swing set. This morning we ended up changing up the swings on it, so she was excited that she has a bucket swing on it now. I swear she flipped herself around in so many positions it was plain crazy. By the time we headed inside, it was after 830p. We immediately sat down for school. I practiced most of last night and today on compound sounds, so that way I could properly teach Keree the sounds. Luckily, the lesson went super easily, probably because she heard me practicing all day. We were going to start Lesson 17 and got half way through it before Keree declared she was all done.
Now on to 4 years. I spent most of the day debating if I was going to write anything about today's anniversary. But then decided I needed to document today even if I decide not to continue. So 4 years ago today, in the midst of the Hell that was Keree's adoption, my paperwork was Logged in, in China. For 4 years, my paperwork has sat on some shelf collecting dust and as those years have passed, so has everyday life. So much has changed, yet I still dream about my Daughter. But after 4 years, I'm not sure she's in China anymore. I know Keree will someday have a Sister but I don't know when, I don't know where from and I don't know how I will add her to my family. She could quite possibly be from China (honestly I pray she is) and that is why I leave my paperwork still Logged In, instead of withdrawing. But honestly if my referral came in the next 6 months, I don't think I would have the funds to finish my adoption from China. Keree's medical bills wiped out any and all of my adoption savings and even though business is going well, it's not to the point I have extra money to save yet. I was disillusioned to think that if my Dad had left me money in his will, I was going to be able to use it to complete the adoption. Well we all know I found out last week that was not happening. So instead I sit here, dreaming of my Daughter who is yet to be and praying for a financial miracle.

VBS & Lesson 15

When I got up this morning, it was hot, bright and sunny and within 5 minutes, it grew eerily dark and windy. I expected that at any moment we would get slammed by a storm but instead as quickly as it got eerily dark and windy, it cleared up. We got ready for the day and headed out for Keree's first day of Vacation Bible School. Growing up, church was not apart of our weekends because my Mom was always working. But she did read Bible stories to my Brother and I by Kerosene light. I also knew when Summer came, I would get to go to VBS. I remember all the fun we would have and all the cool craft activities we would do. So a few weeks ago, we got a flier in the mail for a Free VBS at the local Baptist Church. Which trust me a Free VBS is rare, most churches charge now anywhere between $40-$60 for the week long, 3 hours a day of fun. So I signed her up and we have eagerly talked about it. So this morning, when we arrived at the Church, I was blown away at how many people were there. The parking lot, which holds over a 3,000 cars were packed, every parking space was taken. Outside the main doors was a gigantic billboard with an alphabetic listing of the child and what room they were in. We found Keree's name and headed inside. I had hoped they would have signs directing you to the room numbers but no such luck. I asked directions because I wasn't going to wander around the 67,000 sq ft complex on 44 acres trying to find her room. Needless to say, the people who were suppose to be the ones directing and helping people get to where they were going, didn't know there way around either.....we got told wrong directions twice. Finally, a nice Lady helped us to Keree's room, of course as we walked she told us all about her 2 yr old daughter adopted from South Korea. I got Keree checked in, put her bracelet on her and then she panicked. I promised her I would stay for awhile but since there was no room in the classroom, I had to stand outside looking in the window. I watched as she worked on her 1st project which was making finger prints and then looking at them closely with a magnifier glass. I then watched her as she moved around to the different games they had set up. I watched through the glass window for almost an hour, before my stomach grumbling got too loud. So I left for about 10 minutes to get a Sweet Tea and a breakfast sandwich. When I got back, Keree's class wasn't in their room, it turns out they rotate rooms and do different activities along the way. When her class finally got back, I waited a few minutes before I went and peeked back in. They were learning about Buvuma, when I got home I looked it up and it's actually an Island in the middle of Lake Victoria in Africa. Keree was so excited when I came to pick her up, somewhere along the way all the kids got feathers (hers was yellow) but she was disappointed that she didn't get to bring home her craft activities. Luckily since I got to see some of the things they were doing, I was able to ask her questions. She told me they sang songs but they sang them different than she sings them. I asked her what she learned about Buvuma, the only thing that stuck in her mind was that they go Potty in their water and then they drink Potty water. Needless to say we had a lengthy conversation on sanitation and drinking water.

We then stopped quickly by home to pick up my Mom before heading to PT. It was a struggle for Keree to stay awake during PT. Our session did go alot smoother then last weeks and I was relieved. Our PT also let us know that she will be gone for the last week of June and all of July. So we will have a SubPT, which we met once for about 30 seconds. I'm hoping the sessions go smoothly. We had some running to do afterwards, so while we waited for my Mom to do a few errands, I decided to call my Grandma. Now I haven't talked to my Grandma since before my Dad died and honestly the way our relationship is with her, I didn't expect her to pick up and of course she didn't. So instead, I ended up calling her Older Sister, my 96 yr old Great-Aunt. It amazes me that she is 96 because she is still sharp as a tack, drives and is as active as any 20 yr old. I thought, I could just make a quick call but instead it was over an hour. I knew whatever I said to her, she would repeat back to my Grandma, so I stressed to her that if my Grandma cuts contact with us the only person she is hurting is Keree. I'm hoping my Grandma gets the hint. Once we got home, it was almost dinner time. Keree and I started Lesson 15, which was actually a review and went super quick. Keree was pushing me to start the next lesson but I was having trouble making the compound sound correctly to teach her. I found a video of someone pronouncing it and hoped after hearing it a few times, she would pick it up correctly and not need my help. It didn't happen, so we will just do Lesson 16 tomorrow. We had a late dinner and before I knew it, it was bedtime, which is where I really need to be right now.